BEFORE I START THIS:

Veronica is going to be the daughter of Claudia Zacarra and Gino Soleito. I hated the whole Johnny is Claudia's son shit, okay? It made no logical sense, so therefore, it did not happen in my story. Veronica is unaware because she was adopted by a family in New York after Claudia gave birth but BEFORE Claudia is sent away to Italy by Anthony, if that makes sense. Everybody uses Sam, and given the ties here, I thought that having Veronica be Claudia's daughter and stuff could make things really intense in future chapters.

Johnny is Veronica's uncle and yes, he's figuring it out..

Pairing is Michael III x OC.

Also, trigger warning because Veronica is in a mildly abusive relationship with a guy named Ben that she's trying to leave... So yes, drama on that front too. I'm going to try NOT to be too graphic if confrontations happen between Veronica and Ben, but essentially, Michael gets to play hero, Veronica will later show her own strength and Johnny gets to be a protective uncle too.

There was just something about her, it kept drawing him back to the dance studio and he'd stand there for minutes that seemed like hours watching her dance quietly. She had long brown hair, warm golden brown eyes and this softness to her voice.. And something about her was very familiar to Michael, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it if he had to try doing so. He just knew he'd seen her before, somewhere.

Normally, he managed to tear himself away from the sight of the brunette dancing in the dance studio up the hall from the gym, but today was different.. Today, the music stopped and she froze in mid twirl as their eyes locked on each other. A shy smile formed on her lips and she turned to face him completely, a hand dragging through sweat dampened hair that was escaping a waterfall braid and she walked over close to the door, gathering a neon pink and black gym bag as she opened a water bottle and took a sip from it.

"You're back." Veronica broke the silence as her eyes fixed on the muscular and handsome, well toned body of an older Michael Quartermaine. Her tongue slid over her lips slowly as she sat down her water bottle and nodded in the direction of the hallway. "I've seen you down there.. You box.."

"Yeah, I do it to get rid of stress."

"That's why I dance, Michael." Veronica answered, stretching a little as she wiped down her face and sat down the towel on top of her gym bag. "I remember you, don't look so shocked.. You were as big as James Dean when you got shuffled off to Pentonville.. All the girls were so into you.. At least the ones in mine and Kristina's year." she remarked, giving a soft laugh and a shake of her head at the stunned look on Michael's face as she called him by name.

She felt the need to explain, "We were in Bio together.. Lab partners?"

It hit Michael then and he smiled and nodded, raking his hand over the back of his head as he asked, "It was Veronica, right?"

"And finally, he remembers. If I were one of those egomaniac kind of girls, Michael, I'd be really hurt." Veronica gave a shrug as she smiled at him and then nodded. Michael asked her with a smile, "We also had to do that unit on dancing for our gym class.. And you and I had to do the jive or something?" Michael asked, smile growing a little because he remembered switching places with one of Kristina's guy friends to wind up being partnered with Veronica for the unit.

"It was swing dancing but you're pretty close." Veronica gave a laugh as she asked with a friendly smile, "What are you up to now?"

"I work at ELQ."

"Ahh.. So you're a suit now?" Veronica asked as she gathered her bags and looked at her watch and grumbled.. If she didn't hurry, Ben was going to start his shit with her, calling every ten seconds, accusing her of cheating.. Her stomach tensed at the thought of another fight with him tonight.

The phone in her hands rang and she slid it to ignore, hiding it -and hopefully any signs of nervousness or fear she felt currently, as best as she could, but Michael had always been a receptive person, so he picked up on the signs and asked quietly, "Everything okay? You looked scared just now.."

"it's nothing." Veronica lied, hoping he'd drop the matter. She was trying to work up the nerve to leave Ben. Every time she'd get it in her head to do it though, Ben would go back to the guy he'd been before he became this possessive and jealous and volatile monster he was turning into. He was really starting to scare her with all the mood swings he had lately.

Michael knew she was lying, but he also knew that pushing the issue wouldn't do anything but ruin the conversation they were finally having.. He'd been working up the nerve slowly to approaching her for the better part of a month now, and they were finally talking, he didn't want to ruin that. Instead, he asked quietly, "Want me to walk you out? It's getting later out and this place is in a bad area of town."

"I-I'd like that." Veronica knew she shouldn't have answered with a yes, she knew that if anyone Ben knew saw her walking out with Michael then Ben would find out and there would be hell raised about it and just thinking about it had her stomach twisting in knots already, but… She'd been wanting to approach him since she'd noticed him a few weeks earlier in the gym working out.

Fear of Ben and what might happen if she dared to try to reconnect with an old guy friend and he found out about it were the things that kept her from attempting conversation. But the situation she was in right now was her own fault.. She'd fallen in love with a bad guy, only to fall out of love with said guy when she realized just how bad and how scary he could be.. And now she was afraid to leave, afraid of what he'd do if he finally did snap like he'd been threatening.

They walked out of the dance studio together, stopping about three minutes later in front of her Nissan Altima. Michael stood there a second and then said quietly, "It was nice to see you again.."

"It was nice to see you again too, Michael. I missed our talks in Bio, honestly… After you left, I mean. You were always one of my few friends. I'm glad to see you're okay." Veronica admitted as she unlocked the door of her car and went to get in, rolling down the window as Michael leaned in and then said with a smile, "Yeah, it was nice to see you again.. Hey, do you want my number? I mean so if you want to talk as friends or something…"

She shouldn't have let him put his number into her phone, she knew how Ben was, but she did anyway. She put her number into Michael's phone and they switched phones back. "Maybe I'll see you around, Michael."

"Most likely. This is a small town." Michael waved as she drove off and he smiled to himself a little… Yeah, he still felt that pull towards her, the one that made him befriend her but keep her distant back then because of his rage episodes and his fear of hurting her during one.

Now he was just trying to get his head around Sabrina choosing Carlos over him and leaving town, how the one thing he'd been looking forward, having a kid of his own, having someone to love, settling down… All that was going up in smoke around him. And it was taking a lot to get his head around it.

But maybe things happen the way they did for a reason, he hoped to himself as he walked towards his own vehicle and got into it..