Hey all, I know it's been a while, and I've got bad news: it'll take even longer for the next chapter. My Bat Mitzvah is coming up on Friday! That means much practice on my part, and not that much time for ATFV. Never fear, for I will return within 2-3 weeks with a new chapter! Perhaps less, seeing as I was talking to a friend and got an idea to get most of Chapter 4 done before I even started Chapter 3. J Sorry for the wait, so without further ado: Chapter 3!

Lazy-Sloth- yes, suspensefulness is indeed a word. At least, it is now. ;-)

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*Dom's POV*

Mel and I walked back into our villa, holding hands. I'm not sure whether I should be ecstatic or scared that I'm going to call my sister, as well as the rest of my team, in a minute or two. What if they blame me for everything that's happened? It's my fault, I know, but I don't think I could take their accusations. They're my family, and to be reminded by them that I'm the one who screwed everything up isn't exactly the kind of homecoming welcome I'd like to receive.

"Dom…phone's that way, baby." Mel…God, she's been with me this whole time, and I love her…but she could be wrong about them missing me. Sometimes I think I should have died when I went flying in my dad's Charger so many years ago…

"I know…I just wasn't thinking about where I was going." How can she be so calm about this? Here I am, Dominic Toretto, King of the Streets…scared to make a phone call. Making excuses to avoid the ringing that would fill my ears when I dialed the number to the shop.

Mel walked over to me, and placed a light kiss on my cheek. "Don't be scared…they're your family, they want you back. I know it."

"So, you're psychic now, aren't you?" I said to her. She'd read my mind, hadn't she? That's just like Melanie, that's why I love her- she probably knows me better than even I know myself.

"Always have been," she replied, grinning and pulling me towards the kitchen phone.

"Dial," she instructed, holding the phone up to me.

Taking the phone, I started dialing. 575-2203…ring...ring…after five more attempts to find someone on the other end, I sighed and hung up.

"What? Why'd you hang up?" Mel had a half-annoyed, half-confused look on her face.

"No one there. I'll try the garage." That's where they had to be, there's almost always someone at DT.

I dialed another number this time, and again came the ring. A phone is like torture at times. When you're waiting to hear something, all you get is the cold ring, and it never changes, just ring after ring, insisting that you wait, but offering no help to alleviate your anticipation.

Ring…

Ring…

Three rings, and a click, followed by a feminine voice. "Hello, DT Automotive repair, how may I help you?"

"Mia…"

"Oh my God, Dom? Dom, is that you?" She was nearly screeching, but I could tell she was crying as well…my baby sister, always the emotional one.

"Yeah…how…how have things been? Are you okay?" I had very little idea as to what else I could say, so I just let myself ramble.

"Dom, I've missed you so much…everything's going good here. Jesse's back on his feet, Vince has stopped complaining about his arm, almost, Brian came back- he cleared our names completely! Oh, and Letty and Leon are coming back from Mexico tomorrow! Dom, I've missed you so much, when are you and Mel coming back? And how is she? Speak!"

"Mia, Mia, don't get all hysterical on me!" I laughed into the receiver, it was so good to hear her voice again, and I felt so much better having heard how excited she was to hear from me. "That's great, about the team and all…I missed all of you so much. Mel's fine too, happy and all," I explained, still at a loss for most of my vocabulary and moving the phone so that Melanie could hear some of what was going on. I glanced at her for a second, mouthing to her, When are we going home?

She shrugged as if to say, "I don't know, but hopefully soon." I handed her the phone, a little regretfully- I didn't want to say goodbye to my sister so soon.

*Mel's POV*

"Hey Mi! Oh, we've missed you so much and…"

"Oh my God, Mel, I know! It's been so lonely here without you, and every time I ask for help with the chores, I get shit from Vince about how his arm hurts so much and…ugh, how have you been? Is my brother treating you okay? Is he packing the bags for your return home as we speak?"

I laughed as I heard V yelling at Mia for that comment about his arm, "Mia, your brother is amazing. I'd give you the details, but I don't want to give you a complex or anything."

"Ew."

"Exactly. As for that whole packing thing, hang on, let me ask Dom, he's right here…"

I motioned to Dom, straining for a chance to listen in. "When are we going back?"

He grinned as he replied, "Tomorrow, the guy that let us rent this place is coming back. All we have to do is gather our shit, and sell what we don't need."

"How convenient. There's just one thing. Before we go back to LA, I was thinking that maybe we should stop at my parent's house. I mean, I haven't really seen them in a while, and I want them to meet you. We should stop there for the weekend, is that okay?"

He nodded, and I went back to Mia, waiting expectantly on the phone. "We're leaving Italy later tomorrow, and we have to stop at my parents for the weekend…so…we'll be home in about four days, depending on flights and stuff like that."

"YAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!" Was the reply Dom and I'd been waiting to hear.

"So, that's okay with you, right?" I joked, laughing as I heard Mia yelling to the guys that we were coming back.

"Mel, it's perfect, I love you, and tell Dom I love him too, and I'll see you when you get here! I've got to go now, Brian's calling, lots of love, bye!"

Still laughing, I looked at Dom, who was beaming like a kid who'd just found out that he was getting a puppy for Christmas, and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Mmm, we're going home, home, home…I can't wait."

"Neither can I," he whispered, pulling me into a hug, "What about your parents? Do you think they'll like me?"

Oh shit. My parents…"Dom, they'll love you. How could they not? You're sweet, charming, funny, and cute…they won't be able to resist you," I told him, enforcing each word with a kiss. I knew how they could resist him…let's think: Conservative Russian Jewish daughter left her 'perfect' lawyer-in-training boyfriend to date 'The King of the Streets'. Oh yeah, they'd love Dom. Hopefully; they'll see how much love we have for each other and let us be. Or they'll tear us to pieces. I'll be the mistake of the family. I cuddled into Dom even more. So warm…

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*flashback*

Mel and Dom still weren't talking and I'd found her in her room, crying.

"Aw, Mel, don't cry. It'll be okay…" I wasn't the best at soothing a sad person, and I wished so bad that it wasn't Melanie who was crying, it was always ten times worse if she was this sad.

"He's…Jesse, I love him. But how can I…I can't ever tell him, he's so possessive, and I doubt he even cares about me in that way. Tell me, I was just a one-night stand, wasn't I?"

"No…not you, he'd never do that to you. He loves you, I know he does, he's just had some bad relationships, you know? He doesn't know what to do if he's got something good. Give Dom some time, it'll work out." I said to her, pulling her shaking form into a hug. I sighed sadly…no one would ever cry like this for me…no one would care like this for me.

Mel pulled back. "Jess? What's wrong?"

"You cry over Dom, Letty cries over her lost baby with Leon, and men are always worshipping Mia. Everyone has someone. Except for me. I'm always going to be alone, and…it sucks."

Compassion crossed her face. "Don't think like that, Jesse. You're a great guy. There's a girl out there for you somewhere." She smiled, hugged me, and turned on some old movie that was playing so that we could both take our minds off of what we'd just talked about.

*end flashback*

Melanie was right. Here was the finest girl I'd ever seen- she was about 5'6'', and I looked at her from the feet up. Incredible body, leading up to short black hair that had red highlights, and then I met her dark green eyes. They flashed for a minute, some kind of mix between interest at seeing me, and boredom at realizing that I'd been checking her out. Damn, she may have been the one for me but I sure as hell wouldn't be the one for her. She was so far out of my league, reminiscent of Melanie, Mia and Letty- that kind of perfection.

I could still try, though. "Hi, I'm Jesse, how may I do you? No! I mean, how may I help you? Help…that's the key word…" Did I really just say that? 'How may I DO you'? Oh God, this wasn't my day. Watch her slap me and walk away…

As if by some miracle, she just giggled (showing off a cute smile) and replied, "You may help me by changing the oil in my car. I'm Katherine Marie Lopez…call me Kat."

"Yeah, I'm Jesse. Nice to meet you."

"You already told me your name." Damn. Damn damn damn.

"Haha, I guess I did. Um…yeah, anyway, just, come here, and I'll um…I'll…just come here." I said smartly, pointing towards the register.

"Wait, don't you want to see my car first? I mean, I wouldn't say I'm an expert…but you may want to just check out my car before you charge me."

"That would definitely help." I grinned, a sad, pathetic offering in attempt to lighten the depressing state I'd crawled into within my first sentence, and followed her to her car.

"Ah! That's a nice car! Who did it for you?" I asked, staring at her 95' black Nissan Skyline GT-R. There was an angel painted on the hood, with silver and purple flame decals going down the sides of car. I prowled around the machine, taking in the every bit, and I stopped at the license plate. 'Falling Angel'.

"I did it all by myself," she stated proudly.

"Good job. I like the decals…" What the hell had happened to me? My ADD was pretty bad, but this was just crazy. I couldn't get a sentence out correctly, and I was asking the stupidest questions.

I busied myself by checking the engine out, analyzing what had to be done, besides the oil.

"Hey, Kat. There are some things in here that need to be taken apart and replaced. It looks like someone's been driving high-speed all night. What have you done to this car?"

Something flashed across her face again; was it fear? I couldn't tell, because she'd started to answer me. "I've always wanted to go to Los Angeles, so I guess when I saw the 'welcome' sign, I started to rush. Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

"No, it's okay, we can fix everything. So you just moved here? Do you live anywhere around this particular area?" Please say yes, please say yes…

"Yeah, do you know that house with all of those supped-up cars out front? There's a yellow Skyline, and then a light blue Eclipse…"

"That's my house!" I think I said it a little too loud- Kat took a step back.

"Right, I just moved in next door. I just came here from…never mind where I'm from, actually. It's not important." She said the last sentence in a sigh, like she was just tired. Again, that dark look flashed across her face.

That was alright, I wouldn't push. Instead, I changed the subject. "Do you race?"

"I've only done it once, and I had such a great time. Then, I heard about Dominic Toretto, and the whole Toretto team and I just had to come down here. Wait a minute…they call you the Mad Scientist, don't they?"

She knew me! Me! "Yep, that's my name. Besides Jesse, that is," I added with a grin.

She laughed again and started talking, "Wow, I've heard about all of your skills with cars. I'm kind of honored that you're going to work on my GT-R! Um, by the way, maybe…do you want to hang out with me sometime, or something?" She'd gotten as nervous as I had been a couple of minutes ago. Okay, so, now that we were kind of on the same level, I could ask her to come over or hang with the team…she'd be around all of the guys, so they'd boost my rep, and I'd hang out with Kat.

"Sure, how about you come over to my place on Sunday? We have a barbeque every week, so I'd be happy if you could come over. Mia won't mind, she loves having more people over."

"Really?" Her eyes grew wide at the offer. "Is…is Dominic going to be there?"

"No…he's not here now…he went to Italy with his girlfriend. He'll be back in a week, I think." Not another Dom worshipper…I put an accent on girlfriend, just to make sure that she knew I was the one who wanted her attention. 

"Oh, alright then, I'll be over on Sunday, okay? Oh, and when should I pick my car up?"

"Well…" I flexed my powers right then, "we're pretty busy now, so normally, your car would have to wait for a little while, but, you're new here, so I'm going to try to squeeze you in early and finish your GT by tomorrow. Do you need a ride to come pick it up?"

"Sure, wow, you're so helpful, Jesse. I've got to go now, but I'll see you later, it was nice meeting you!"

I grinned, watching her walk away… 'Nice meeting you…' her last words rung in my ears.

Life was good.

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Woo! Go Chapter 3! Funny thing that I realized as I wrote in Kat. My best friend is named Kat, and I was going to have her be Jesse's girlfriend before I put in the Create-Your-Chara thing (closed at the mo) and got Fallen Angel's bio. What a coincidence. Quick note: Everyone must go download District Sleeps Alone Tonight by The Postal Service. I was at Hot Topic when they played it, and now I'm crazy about the song, particularly when it gets up to 2 minutes and 50 seconds into the song, and after. It sounds so nice; I love it!! *stops shameless advertising*

Love you all *smile*,

~*Mel*~

P.S.- The genre of ATFV is Action, and there will be action, I promise!! Next chapter…muahahaha…