"Always. Will you stand by me?" I asked. I felt desperate. It was one of those times when I knew what he would say. But, when you are waiting to hear an answer, one so important, you can feel it in the pit of your stomach. Of course, it may have just been a broken spleen or something at this point. But, I looked up into his eyes. When I said I got lost by looking in Dom's eyes, that was an understatement. In fact, when Dom and I were having a moment, it was like there was no one else in the room. I don't know if this was just the passion of our relationship or if it was because there were frequently so many other people around. But, for that few seconds, we were alone in the world.

"You know I will. No one else, baby. Just you and me, and always gonna be," he said. He sounded so genuine. So real. There were so many times that I heard Dom feeding bullshit to people that his words were transparent to me. These were real. And, despite all Dom's flaws, which were extensive, I knew at this point I was stuck with him forever. And, that made me smile. Had I felt like having any sense of humor, I may have ragged him for the rhyme he inadvertently just made. But, it just wasn't in me right now.

I nodded my head and accepted his kiss. I started to stand up. It hurt. He felt my arms quiver and helped me up to my feet. I got my balance and my mind was so jumbled with thoughts that, for a few seconds, I forgot about the pain. I started following Leon to the door. What had just happened? I think I was still in shock by the day's events.

"Wait, I don't want to leave my car to get impounded," I said, finally thinking with some clarity for the first time in what seemed like days- realistically it was just a few hours. It's strange how, sometimes, a few hours can be so uneventful. And, sometimes, it can alter your entire life.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Just ride with Leon. I won't let anything happen to your car," he said. I trusted him. Besides, he knew how important my car was to me. It was really the only possession I'd ever had that meant anything to me. And, Dom had a lot to do with that.

"Listen, we'll meet you in Tijuana, okay?" Leon suggested. This was the closest city over the border. I didn't know how the hospitals in Tijuana were. I was somewhat interested in seeing if they cured everything with Tequila or not. This was not exactly a medical procedure that I was opposed to. So, all in all, I was fine enough with it not to oppose the idea.

"Sounds good. Take care of her Leon," Dom said seriously, handing Leon the stack of money he tried to give to Mia.

"You know it brother, take care of yourself," he said, giving Dom a hug and holding open the door for me to follow.

"Be careful," I said, begging him with my eyes. He could read my eyes like no one else. Sometimes, I didn't have to say anything to him, just look, and he knew exactly how I felt. But, this required words.

"Wait," Mia said, running down the stairs. In all honestly, I hadn't really noticed that she'd left the room. I was too wrapped up in the moment. She handed Leon a bag. "It's clothes for you guys. I figured they may come in handy."

"Thanks, Mia, be careful. Don't let Dom do anything stupid," I said to her. I knew that Mia never really had any control over Dom's actions. But, she always liked to try. I figured that if I said something, it would give her a little bit more motivation to persist with him.

"I think it's too late for that," she said making an annoyed laughing sound.

With that, Leon and I left. Nothing else needed to be said. I knew that Dom would take care of Mia- at least he would in the best way he knew how. He wouldn't let her get hurt. I was somewhat glad to be leaving the wasp nest that I knew would be forming. And, as much as I worried about Jesse and Vince, I was really starting to hurt now. If Dom thought, seriously thought, that we needed to go to Mexico then we needed to go to Mexico.

It took just over two hours to drive the 135 miles to Tijuana. Leon and I didn't say much in that time. He had asked me if I was hungry, but I wasn't. And, after we got in the car, I didn't want to stop. I wanted to drive until we got there. The sooner we got there, the sooner I could see Dom and put this entire thing behind me. Of course, it would never be behind me. I knew that. But, at least it wouldn't be staring me in the face. I've had enough tragedy for one life. At this point, I wasn't opposed to just getting the hell out of dodge. I was so worried about Dom, though. I wasn't sure if I could handle him getting sent back to prison. If he went back now, he would do serious time. I couldn't think about it so I just stared out the window and tried to breath through the pain.

When we crossed the border at San Ysidro they asked us if we were planning on staying more than 72 hours. Leon and I figured that it was a pretty safe bet, and got some cards. Besides, if the cops knew we were in Mexico they wouldn't really be looking for us. But, I knew I wanted to come back. I needed to know that I could come back- some day. I would stay with Dom in Mexico however long it took for the dust to settle. But, I wanted to come back. I was born in Mexico. I spent the first eight years of my life living between Mexico and California. I didn't have any positive experiences in Mexico.

When we pulled up to Hospital Angeles. It was an amazing hospital. Much better than what I remembered from my days in Mexico. But, I hadn't lived in Tijuana. Leon and I had to fill out a ton of paperwork. Being American citizens and all, we had to get IIRC, essentially insurance, but it was pretty cheap. I finally got in and saw a doctor. I never really used my Spanish much, even though I lived in LA, but it was like riding a bike. And, I think more people in Tijuana spoke English than in LA.

"Do you want me to come back with you?" Leon asked. It was entertaining, and sweet at the same time, to see Leon being quasi compassionate and caring. But, he was a good guy. And, he'd promised Dom to take care of me.

"I think I'll survive," I said. "Or, well, hopefully I will." I could handle it alone. I felt a lot more comfortable taking on unfamiliar situations alone. That was just my nature. Too many years of being forced to be independent way too early had instilled this type of autonomy in me.

The doctor had been a nice enough fellow. He was middle aged and seemed to know his stuff. He told me that I had a bruised sternum and gave me some prescriptions for some pretty interesting pain medications. He was nice in this regard. I think that this may have been one of the main differences between American doctors and Mexican doctors- prescriptions! With the amount of pain medicine he prescribed me, I wasn't going to be feeling anything for a while. I was okay with that. I'd felt enough this past day to last me for a while.

I went to the waiting room and found Leon. He had fallen asleep. I guess the adrenaline of the day had finally taken its toll on him. I told him about the medicine and we headed to the hospital pharmacy.

"Have you heard from Dom," I asked, as we walked down the hospital corridors.

"No, not yet. But, I'm sure he's fine," Leon said. By the tone of his voice, I wasn't convinced. It had been about five hours since we left Dom's house. It was pushing four o'clock. I started to feel concerned. If they had arrested Dom surely Mia would have called. I couldn't imagine what they would arrest Mia for. Brian had ended up being an ass, but he was too infatuated with her to see her behind bars.

We made it to the pharmacy. I gave them the prescriptions and showed them the IIRC card. They handed me six bottles.

"Wow," Leon said, enamored with the medication they gave me. "I wish I would have bruised me sternum."

Just then, his phone rang.

TBC

---

AJ