AN:I apologize in advance if this story upsets people. This story has been begging me to write it for weeks, but i just didn't have the courage to post until now. My first 'fast' fic. Un-beta-ed, please read and review. Rest easy blue eyes.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters contained, nor do i own any of the places involved. Plot and thoughts are a product of my own overactive imagination.
Chapter 1-
Everything was supposed to be right now. They were finally free; No more running. They were home; 1327 finally back into the right hands and on its way to being restored to its former glory. The garage was back in business; the neighbors and loyal customers from years ago thankful that their cars could be looked after at DT's again. The store was also back to doing its modest business again in the neighborhood, now with Vince's wife Rosa looking after it. After all this time and all of the heartbreak along the way it seemed as though things would be finally going right.
Their family that was once destroyed now re-built from the ashes. They were happy, the happiest they'd been in years; but all that changed with one phone call.
When he left the garage all he could think about was Mia.
'My god Mia; did she even know? Had anyone told her?'
He prayed she was blissfully unaware, if even for a minute until the moment he crossed the threshold into their childhood home. The look on his face would tell her just enough. Something was horribly wrong, though she just wouldn't know who, what or why. She was always so in tune to the people around her; sensing emotions and picking up even the most subtle changes in body language.
Today would be different; Today he couldn't hide that he was hurting. It broke his heart that he would have to shatter her down to her very soul and tell her the words no wife wants to hear.
As he spun his tires on the gravel driveway and sped off towards home, earning quizzical and disapproving looks from the neighbors, he felt himself choking up.
"Mia bella, I'm so sorry…."
Time seemed to stop moving, like everything was in slow motion. He knew he was driving too fast, the numbers on the speedo reflecting that, yet it seemed as though he were standing still. Minutes felt like hours as he drove the familiar route from the garage to the house; too consumed in his thoughts to even pay half the attention needed for the journey. Thankfully this route was second nature, autopilot and memory taking him the distance necessary to get back to the house. To Mia.
As he pulled up to the house, all at once the emotions he was supressing hit him like a hammer.
'Why did this have to happen? Why them? Why now?' He thought.
The pain was sharp in his chest, jagged and raw like a knife thrust straight into his diaphragm; the emotion threatening to spill tears from his dark eyes. He paused for a moment to gather himself, lest his armor crack prematurely. She would need him to be strong for her, her world about to come crashing down. He replayed that phone call in his head over and over, trying to figure out exactly what he would say to her once he was in the house.
He rose from the driver's seat of his car, all at once feeling like his body weighed a ton. His heart was pounding in his chest; surely if someone were close by they would hear it thundering. The sound was thick in his ears, drowning out the sounds of the traffic on the freeway a few blocks away, the carefree screams and joyful laughter of the kid's two doors down playing animatedly on their front lawn. The thud of his heart was only eclipsed by the rush of his breathing; acutely aware that he was breathing heavily, his body reacting to his minds turmoil.
He flinched as he heard the car door slam behind him, knowing full well that she would hear and pick up on the subtleties behind that force. Damn her for having that intuition. She was so much like their mother. Nothing ever got past that woman. It was almost as if she had a sixth sense regarding the world around her. Every subtle facial expression or movement she caught. She always knew.
With feet almost as heavy as his heart, he trudged up the walk, pausing for a moment at the spot where Mia had placed Jesse's cross. He didn't particularly care for the reminder of that day, yet today it seemed comforting. He knelt down and whispered to the soft breeze as he placed his hand onto the cross.
"Take care of him Jess, he's gonna need someone to ride with him."