A/N: I've looked back on this story and realized how excruciatingly long the chapters are. I decided to completely overhaul the story since I wasn't too happy with any of it really, right down to the title and summary. So the story is now undergoing/has undergone a complete overhaul. Though, chances are I'll come back someday and realize the chapters are too short and do it all over again :). I'm just never happy. ::shakes head::
Disclamer: I don't own Tommy Vercetti or any of the characters of Grand Theft Auto, you all know how that goes. However, to the best of my knowledge, I do own Lee, Dom, Marty and Molly. So far.
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It had been three days since she'd woken up on a grassy shoulder of the road. It seemed to her as if she was between the boardwalk and the strip. She woke up in the dead of night,taken abackby the bright lights and glamorous people. There were mostly hotels there, but she'd noticed a few other businesses lining the street as well.
She had wandered around aimlessly since she'd woken up, having no money and nobody that she could contact to stay with or even take a shower and have a bite to eat. In fact, she didn't even know where she was, or even how she'd gotten there. All she knew was that her feet were tired and the lack of shower and change of clothes had begun to take its toll.
That morning she'd somehow wandered into a parking lot at the water's edge. Until that point she hadn't really thought to find out what the massive white building in front of her was, but curiosity had finally won over her exhaustion and she glanced up to the sign.
"Ocean Bay Marina." She looked through the glass doors at the people walking around inside, wishing she knew where she was. Maybe it was the exhaustion of not having slept for three days, but it didn't occur to her to walk inside and ask anybody.
Finally, after staring for about 5 minutes at the people wandering aroundinside the building, she turned her gaze toward the sparkling ocean and walked over to the cement railing to gaze out over the massive sheet of glass. She leaned herself against the metal bars, as her body was becoming progressively moreexhausted and she knew that she would soon have to find a safe place to lie down and sleep.
Soon afterward her feet grew tired and she decided to shuffle over to the winding curb that rested at the far left edge of the parking area. She sat down on the sun-heated cement and relaxed her muscles a bit, picking one leg up and crossing it over her other knee so she could massage her aching feet. She picked up a piece of a shattered beer bottle that lie in the grass beside her and attempted to look at herself in it. Through the distorted view of the curved, tinted glass she saw that she was dirty and tattered looking. She ran a hand through her long, dark hair in an attempt to straighten it out a bit and make herself look somewhat presentable. Not that she had anybody to present herself to, but just for principle purposes.
Soon she dropped the piece of glass and her body tensed a bit as the feeling that she should get up and move swept over her nerves. After a brief debate between her sixth sense and her tired body, the tired body won and she decided it wasn't worth it to try to find a new place to sit for such aminor reason.
Soon after, however, she found herself dodging out of the way of a very nice looking red sports car. Apparently, her mind had begun to wander since she'd never even heard the screeching tires heading toward her.
Though it could've been just as much her fault as the driver, her immediate instinct was to stand and yell at whomever may be driving the crimson killing machine.
"Hey!" she yelled, "watch where you're going! You almost hit me, you bastard!" She walked over to the car and peered in angrily, only to find that after her yelling and obscenities, nobody was in the car after all.
"Hey, sorry. Didn't see ya' there," came a mans voice from behind her. She spun around briskly and backed away, startled. "We were, uh, practicing the safety of jumping out of sports cars as they're still running," the strange man joked. The girl glared up at him and cocked an eyebrow, but the man just smiled and extended his hand. "I'm Dom." The girl smiled back and shook his hand. After a few moments of silence, Dom spoke again. "Uh... would it be presumptuous of me to ask your name?"
The girl shook her head and willingly opened her mouth to answer, but stopped and glared at him as a confused guise slowly took over her visage. She shook her head and looked up at the man with pain-stricken eyes. "I... I don't know." Dom glared at the girl for a while before finally speaking again.
"Well, where you from?"
The girl glared at him yet again with the same confused demeanor about her.
"I don't know that either. I don't even know where I am." Dom just watched her as she looked around, frightened and confused.
"Maybe she has that disease we were talkin' about, Dom..." a voice chimed in. Both Dom and the girl turned around and looked at another man standing behind Dom. "Ya know... that amnesia." Dom just glared at the man before finally speaking.
"Just get back in the car and shut up, Marty." Marty turned to where the car had stopped and kicked a pebble as he walked toward it, head down and self-esteem shattered.
"You," Dom began, turning back to the girl, "do you have anywhere to stay?" The girl shook her head.
"Do you think if I had somewhere to stay I'd be walking around a random parking lot for noapparent reason looking like this?"shequestioned pointedly.Dom narrowed his eyes for a second beforecrossingthem and eyeing her up cautiously. When he finally decided she was no threat to him, he spoke again.
"Well look, I have some business to take care of inside. You stay here until I come back out and we'll see what we can do about your problem." The girl nodded. "The one with your situation, anyway." The girl scowled at him andplaced a hand on her hip. Before she could retortand he hadalready turnedto run to his destination, somewhere around the other side of the building -- Marty trailing closely behind.
In what seemed likethe eternity before the men came back out, she contemplated what had happened. She couldn't understand why she hadn't jumped all over him as soon as he jumped out from... wherever he had jumped out from. She guessed she was too startled or too tired to put up a fight. Although she wasn't sure she should be badmouthing a man who randomly jumps out of red sports cards and has a partner of some sort named "Marty."
Soon her thoughts were interrupted as she heard men yelling in the distance. It sounded as if it was coming from where Dom and Marty had run to the building, but before the girl could further inspect it, the mencame running back from the building. As soon as they reached the girl, Dom grabbed her arm and ran with Marty back to the car. She hadn't had time to turn around and look at the men running after Dom and Marty, guns drawn, cocked, and ready to shoot.
"Come on, hurry up, get in!" he yelled.
"But there's no..." the girl began, confused and more than a little frightened.
"Just sit on Marty's lap! C'mon, let's go!"
As soon as she got in they sped away, driving up over the windy curb where she had been seated earlier. She turned and watched as three men dressed in blue uniforms ran after the car,riddling the trunk and rear windshield with bullet holes.
"Jesus Christ," the girl began, "what's wrong with them?" she asked later on as they were now calmly driving through a much nicer area of town.
"Among other things, a poor sense of fashion." The girl chuckled and Dom smiled, feeling somewhat proud that he could make her laugh. "You need a place to stay" he began, "You'll stay with me."
Moments later he pulled into the driveway of a very nice looking house.
"Yeah well, you owe me for nearly killing me anyway." The girl grinned. Dom looked at her with a quick defensive glance, but smiled back when he saw her grinning face.
"Come on, we got to get you settled in." The girl stepped out of the car and looked up at the house in awe.
"You live here?" she asked, surprised. The house wasn't necessarily spectacular. It wasn't near as nice as themansion they'd passed just before turning onto the road this house rested on, but considering the fact that she hadn't seen the interior of the house for what seemed like years, it was a definite sight to behold.
"I don't just live here,I own this house; along with several otherhouses and businessesthroughout the city." Dom smiled as the girl's piercing blue eyes widened.
"Yeah, I'm partners with a childhood buddy, lives down the street. Tommy Vercetti, if you don't know the name now, you will." The girl smiled as he sounded like some kind of corny television advertisement for laundry detergent.. "Come on, I'll show you around a little so you can get settled in." She walked past him up the steps of the house and checked back to see if he was following. Upon entrance, he began to show her around the house a bit.
"Okay, over here to your left is the kitchen if you need anything to eat, it's always fully stocked. Over here is the livin' room if you need to kick back and relax." The girl stepped aside, allowing him to lead her up the stairs. He walked to a door to the right of the stairs and opened it, stepped aside and motioned her inside. "This is your room for now. You got a bathroom over there," he pointed to a door to their left, "your bed here, a TV over there, and.... god damn it. I told that prick to have this mini bar ready. Can't depend on any bastards these days." The girl stepped inside the room further, looking around in awe.
"It's alright... I'm not much of a drinker anyway," she replied distantly, still somewhat awestruck by the room.
"Alright then, if you need anything just call and someone will be up. Marty'll stay here and keep you company for a while; make sure you get settled." Dom glanced at Marty who was staring at him with a deploring glare, but Dom opened his eyes wider at him and nodded. Marty dropped his head slightly and nodded to the girl.
"Yeah, I'll be here," he stated flatly. Dom looked back at the girl.
"I'm goin' out to take care of a little more business. My number is on that notepad over there by the phone if you need me," he nodded toward the phone, "you just go take a shower and Molly here will bring you a change of clothes and fix somethin' for you to eat, won't you Molly?" he asked in an almost domineering tone. Molly, his maid/housekeeper/cook just smiled and nodded willingly. "Good, we're all set. See you in a couple hours," he said, glancing over at the girl. He walked over to Marty and leaned down to speak in his ear. "Keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't try anything." Marty nodded in agreeance and Dom left.
The girl then turned and attempted to shut the door when Marty placed his hand firmly on it.
"What are you doin'?" he asked, interrogatively.
"I'm closing my door so I can get undressed and shower... I don't usually enjoy an audience for that." Marty immediately took his hand off of the door and blushed, smiling faintly at her. The girl closed the door and proceeded to remove her clothes and soak in a much-needed bubble bath.
Hours later, Dom returned home to find the girl curled up on the couch in front of the television in the living room, sound asleep. He smiled, vaguely remembering the last time he remembered enjoying watching a woman sleep. He then walked over to the couch and gently picked her up, carrying her to her bed where he tucked her in and wished her goodnight.