My Shadow

Disclaimer: "The Fast and the Furious" characters and plot do not belong to me, but to the good people at Universal Studios. Same goes for the song lyrics and the respective artist's studios. I'm writing this for the sheer fun of it and will not profit from my story in any monetary way.

The sweat was rolling down his neck and chest, making his grease-stained shirt even darker. Not that anyone would notice in this dive. On the side of a road to nowhere, Jimmy's was the kind of place you stomped into careful of the spilled liquor and blood that coated the floor and the rough-necked truckers looking for a round of fisticuffs to go with their ashtray of peanuts. Definitely not a five star joint by even a hair, but the music was loud and the beer flowed fast and after the day he'd had that's all that mattered.

Chugging his third Corona of the past hour he caught the eye of a young blonde in the corner who seemed to have an appreciation for grimy, burly men such as himself. She was at least five years too young and twenty pounds underweight to be holding that shot-glass of whiskey next to two empty ones, but that didn't stop him from eyeing her extra short skirt that was probably rolled up Catholic school-girl style under the low-cut purple t-shirt and her dewy face caked with one too many layers of makeup. Definitely trying too hard to be, as they say, grown and sexy – but that was her problem, not his. She gave him a sweetly seductive smile but wavered and turned away when his gaze stayed steady and called her sexual bluff. Good for her. Not as dumb as she looks.

He was signaling for his fourth bottle when he felt a draft by his right shoulder. Damn, his shadow had caught up to him. He wearily twisted his neck over his shoulder and tried flashing his best caught-puppy-dog smile. "What's up darling?"

"Don't fucking ask me what's up!" she screeched. "What do you think you're doing here?" Hmm, damn, she cursed. That was never a good sign.

"Look Mia, I can explain…" he started as he grudgingly turned his worn out and too little inebriated body on the stool to try and talk some sense to the woman who had decided it was her mission in life to be his nurse, nanny and mother – even if he was more than old enough to be holding his beer next to the growing line of empty bottles.

"I don't want to hear it." Crap, why'd she have to be so damn pretty when she was mad. She was catching the worst kind of attention from the gaggle of rednecks sitting by her at the bar. The same was probably true of the biker bunch that was now behind his cocked, nodding head.

"Vince! Are you listening?" Eh. Not really, but he thought it'd be better to not mention that. "How many times do I have to tell you? You're in no condition to be driving with the meds you're on. And what…" Crap, that's not a pretty look on her face. "Don't tell me those beers are yours." Gotta love Mia. She's as bright as Xenon HID headlights when it comes to those school books, but usually a little slow on the uptake with the obvious things in life.

"K. I won't." Okay, obviously not the answer she was looking for. Funny, he had never noticed that her forehead veins could throb just like Dom's when she was mad.

"We are leaving now. Get up!" Now, normally he would have put up a fight. In fact, he wanted nothing more than to give her a piece of his mind, but catching the look of growing liquid courage in some of the establishment's less than desirable patrons, he figured he'd let her have this one.

"Fine," he growled as he slammed his money on the bar and quickly led her out. Oh yea, those snickers and cat-calls definitely sobered up the ever-so-small buzz he had actually managed to get going. He had never gone so long without that simple pleasure, but since the incident had left him and Letty on meds that some sissy-brained doc deemed too strong to mix with his beloved Corona, Mia had become a beer Nazi.

It had been almost six months since the last heist that went so wrong. There were a lot of dark times those first few weeks that the gang's just starting to deal with. The buster did good and managed to save all of our butts from ending up in jail somehow, but in the beginning it hadn't been clear that was going to be the case. I got to know Vinnie and Tom, the cops assigned to cover my hospital bed real well. Had to laugh at that, the damn LAPD was dumb enough to think that I was a flight-risk when I could do little more than lift my fucking head for three weeks. Of course, that was just about all I could laugh at for a long while. Jesse was put six feet under while I was having one of my surgeries and Letty nearly followed him, trying to be brave and stay away from good medical care those first few hours when all her ribs and half her other bones were broken. She's got a thick head to be sure.

They were both doing better physically though and everyone had been back at the fort for at least two months now. Mia's little Florence Nightingale act sure had been cute at the start, but it was getting too much now and while Letty could usually get Dom to save her from the worst of it, he had no such luck. Which is why a trip to Jimmy's after a long, largely unproductive day of trying to get his stiff, mangled, cast-up hand to be of some assistance in the garage seemed like such a good idea. He figured Mia would never have the guts to chase him down here even if she figured out where he was. In fact, now that he thought of it, just how had she managed to track him down?

His thoughts were interrupted as he felt a tug at his pants pocket and Mia's slender manicured fingers digging deep. Man, back in the day he would have been damn near swooning with pleasure at this kind of situation. That was not this day.

"Damn it woman, what do you think you're doing?" He knew what she was doing, but he figured he'd give her the benefit of the doubt and a chance to come up with some more acceptable excuse to have her hand half-way to his crotch.

"You're not driving. I told you, you can't be driving yet." Damn, when did she get so strong that he couldn't pull her off? "Ha!" she grunted as she struck gold and pulled out his ring of keys despite his honest struggles for the contrary. He had to pay better attention at rehab if Mia was getting the better of him that easy.

"And just who do you think will be driving my baby home? The tooth fairy?! Damn it Mia use some sense." There was no fucking way he was leaving his beloved ride alone in this god-forsaken place. Why was she rolling her eyes and walking away? "Mia!"

"Ah, calm down coyote and just call me Tinkerbelle." So she'd managed to rope in Leon for this little kidnapping escapade. That grinning fool had probably been the one to crack under Mia's questioning too. So much for being able to count on your fellow man and trusted homeboy to have your back in the face of an irate woman. What was he saying? Mia could crack the best of them – not even Dom stood a chance against her when she had her mind on something. At least he could trust Leon to not crash his beloved.

"Tinkerbelle was a pixie, not a fairy," came the tart interjection from his raven-haired stalker. Oh yea, cause that detail really mattered to two men at three in the morning in the parking lot of a second-rate gin joint. Leon shot him a look of sympathy before getting behind the wheel. Sympathy was not what he needed right now. What he needed was a six-pack and at least 100 miles between him and his perky, obstinate little PI-wannabe. Sadly, he was in short supply of both so he settled for taking a few deep breaths that his rehab counselor was always telling him to take before finally dragging himself into the passenger's seat. He had really come to loathe the right side of automobiles. It just felt so unnatural to be forced into sitting there.

Here's the thing we started off friends… It was cool but it was all pretend…Yeah, yeah …since you've been gone...Oh hell no. She could take away his beer and his right to enjoy the solitary company of the dredges of society, but the hell she was going to force him to listen to any more of this bubble-gum pop. He had had more than enough of his fill the first two weeks he'd been home, when he couldn't figure out a way to reach the radio and when he was still actually feeling bad about Mia having to help him. That was before he'd realized she was going to take care of him whether he wanted her to or not.

Pulling the plug on Kelly Clarkson drew Mia's attention back to her unwilling companion. She almost flipped the switch back in a fit of stubbornness, but instead took the opportunity to start grilling into him with the interrogation skills of a grade-school teacher. Hmm, now that's an idea. Maybe she could start substitute teaching for extra cash. It would get out of his hair for at least eight hours a day. He'd have to remember to mention the idea to her tomorrow, when she was a little more open to suggestions from him.

"Why'd you do it? Do you know how worried we all were? You can't be pulling these kinds of stunts," she calmly reprimanded, like he was five and had decided to jump off the top of a jungle gym.

"Oh yea, I bet Dom and Letty are just losing sleep over my disappearance of four hours," he growled back. No, he was not going to let that look of concern get the better of him this time. It was her best ruse for getting him to go along with whatever she wanted, but he was catching on to her. He could withstand that look if he really wanted to. Just think of the beer, Vince. Just think of the beer.

"Well…" Ha, he had stumped her. "They might not be losing sleep, but I sure have." Oh god, not the guilt trip. Mia had to have been born with a secret mother gene fused somewhere in her DNA, like a latent superpower. "You know you're not all better yet Vince."

"No, but I'm not some invalid anymore either. You need to chill with this mother bear act Mia. I'm a grown man with needs."

"Needs?" Oh, that arched eyebrow was not cute at all and what was that inflection in her voice all about. He sure had that hot little blonde interested, hadn't he? Maybe he should have given the girl a little smile or something. Maybe then he wouldn't be forced into a 45-minute ride of having to explain himself if he had. Note to self: stop being surly to attractive young women, even if they are jail bait.

"Yes Mia, needs. As in my need to be able to go more than two feet without being followed and without having to explain myself to you…as in my need for some good, old-fashioned manly fun every once in blue moon."

"Manly fun?" What was with the echo effect?

"You know, like spending the night with a couple of cold brewskies, loud music, rowdy company and good-looking skanks. Places like Jimmy's where I can go and not have to worry about anything but keeping up with my tab and whatever brawls start up in punching distance of my pretty ole mug. Places where nice girls like you don't belong." Why was he even wasting his breathe trying to explain this to her? Didn't she understand he just needed to get away from everything back at the fort for just a couple of hours.

"Ok, I understand that." Good, he was finally getting through to her. "But couldn't you take five seconds to ask Leon or Dom to go with you so I'm not up half the night worried you've driven yourself into some ditch."

"Jesus, Mia, I'm not some kid who needs permission and a ride to go to the damn school dance. I can come and go as I please, do you understand. And fuck what those docs say, those pills don't affect my driving one bit. You think I don't have a tolerance for that kind of shit." Ugh, he could use one of those damn pills. This conversation was making his head and arm throb.

Oh, she was doing that little huffing and puffing thing. She only does that when she's getting down to her last nerve of patience. Maybe this little chat will be over soon.

"Well, I still don't want you going off alone while you're on them. So here's the deal. You want to go have some manly fun, you tell someone…Ah, don't interrupt me. I know you're not a kid, but you're still not one hundred percent. You can drive if you want, but someone has to be in the car with you…Ah, and if the boys don't want to join you, then I will." Oh Jesus. "Don't roll your eyes at me. Jimmy's wasn't that bad. I can be just as good as one of the guys and I promise to not get in the way of any of your needs if you let me go with you."

"Mia…" Was she on crack? Yea, he could just see himself toting her along to Hooters or the strip joint down on Lacy Street. Now wait a second. That image wasn't half bad. She probably wouldn't last a couple of nights of chaperoning him and he could have some fun with his little shadow for once. "K, Mia. You got yourself a deal." Heh, now that took her by surprise. She was just getting herself roiled up for another bout.

"Ok, good. I'm glad we have all that cleared up," she said flipping the radio back on.

I've had a bad day…And nothing ever seems to go my way…I've got a heartache…Don't wanna think about it…Oh for heaven's sakes. "Miaaaa…."