When Angel had finished her cleaning she looked at Kei who was talking on the phone. Yawning into her hand she walked herself to his car and slipped into the left hand passenger's seat, reclining the seat a little so she could get some needed shut eye.
"Well Diablo, that was the car yard. The guy I know found you two cars and he'll be bringing them over later tomorrow," Kei said slipping into the driver's seat as he grinned at her, "That way then we can start working on them right after you finish that other dragon. Hey you still awake on me girly?"
Angel opened one eye with some difficultly, "Yeah I'm awake enough to understand what you said. That is awesome and I am seriously looking forward to the getting back to my car part roots."
"Good I'm glad you will be looking forward to all the hard work and money that's going to go into these cars. Do me a favor and when you get in tomorrow, go ahead and order the kits. I know you know the guy we work with, who can get them for you as cheap as they come, which will save you and Han a pretty penny," Kei said as he drove his little art angel back to her house.
"Not a problem Kei, you know I want to thank you for everything you're doing to help me out here. Han's going to fly off the handle if he even found out how much all this stuff is going to cost. And then our plans for getting our own garage is going to go down the tubes," Angel said lazily turning her head to look at him as she smiled softly.
"It's no big deal sweetie, anything for you. You know that I'm doing all this stuff so you can break out on your own. I can't say anything about the future but I know you're going to be one of the big hitters around here," Kei said confidently as he drifted corners as he headed towards Angel's place of residence.
"I'm glad someone is confident in me. I know my dad was never, he was always disappointed that I wasn't a girly girl. Disappointed I wasn't more like mom I guess, I don't remember her at all," Angel said turning her head to look away from him.
Angel missed the soft smile that graced Kei's lips, "You are your own person Angel, your old man has to recognize that. You'll meet him again," he said softly as he pulled the car to a stop, "This is your place babes, get some rest and food alright?"
"Alright I will," Angel said slipping out of the car as she walked around to the driver's side and opened to door to give her boss a one armed hug, "You are amazing Kei."
Kei grinned, "I try. Now shoo, you're letting all the bugs in."
Shaking her head Angel closed his door and gave him a backwards wave before she entered her house closing the door behind her.
She smiled as her Aunt walked out to greet her, "Welcome home Angel, we were just about ready to have dinner."
"Perfect, I'm going to quick wash up then I'll be at the table," Angel said giving the older woman a tired smile before scampering off down the hallway to her room.
Angel changed clothes going from her normal gothic attire to baggy sleep pants and a tank top, before she made her way to the bathroom to wash up. She hated it when she could still feel the paint on her skin even though she knew it wasn't there.
She walked down the small wooden hallway barefoot, knowing that she would need to convince Han to drop the money into her account so she could pay Kei all the money that was owed on the cars and all the trimmings. Her mind twisted and thought over the way that she would be able to talk him into pawning off basically all of his savings so she could go ahead and do the work for the both of them.
Angel smiled as she sat down with the others at the table, "Thank you for waiting for me," she said ducking her head letting them know she was in truth grateful.
"Of course dear," her aunt said smiling warmly as Angel settled in tiredly, "How was work?"
"It was good, long but it was good," Angel said bowing slightly to her uncle as he nodded at her.
"Will you have to be in early as well tomorrow?" her uncle asked as he picked up his tea cup.
"Yes Uncle, I still have lots of work to do before the weekend is over and I have to head back to school," Angel said in Japanese as she smiled softly at the older man.
Her step Uncle nodded slowly, "School is more important than the garage, so I expect your homework to be done and your grades to be high when they come in," he said to her in Japanese.
"Yes, of course Uncle," Angel said ducking her head as she avoided eye contact with him, the man very much so like her father.
The rest of dinner passed in silence, Angel was too tired to talk and the others seemed to know something she didn't. If Angel had been more awake she would have picked up on the silent glances Han was giving her, or the way her Aunt kept fidgeting slightly.
Angel's eyes felt like lead weights as she and Han excused themselves from the table. She walked next to her cousin who was guiding her to his room, her eyes slipping further and further shut.
"Han before I fall asleep walking, drop all your money into my account. I found us two cars and I need to pay the guy and I don't have enough in mine. Don't worry whatever is left over is going back into your account, promise," Angel said slowly as she started to yawn tiredly.
Han made a face biting his bottom lip nervously, "Alright, alright… Angel, there is something I need to tell you."
Angel stiffened; those were not words that were going to make her feel better about what was going on while she was out working, "What happened?"
"Your Dad is coming to visit on Monday. Mom said that he wanted to see you, I'm not sure whether or not you want to see him, but you don't need to get surprised by him."
"I hate him," Angel hissed her eyes narrowing dangerously; "I don't ever want to see him again. He shipped me off and then disowned me I don't ever want to see him again."
"It gets worse… He's bringing his girlfriend with him," Han said ready to hug Angel when she went off the deep end like he thought she would.
Angel nearly snarled like a wild animal as her face twisted in fury, "Mother... *expletive, expletive, expletive* … Hate him, stupid erf," she hissed as Han closed in on her and wrapped his arms around her.
"I thought you should know before he just showed up like that, because my dad might not know a lot of English, but he could understand that sudo sentence you just rambled off," Han said holding her tightly.
"Why? Why now, of all the times to try and come back into my life, why now? Wasn't it enough that I got banished here? But then he disowns me, and suddenly he's coming to visit so he can introduce his," she paused stopping the next swear from leaving her mouth, "Girlfriend?" she spat the word like venom.
Angel hated him; she hated him with everything she had. He was the reason all of this happened, he was the reason she wasn't with Dom. Her brain paused on that one single thought, 'wasn't with Dom' she hadn't thought about him for years now. It wasn't as if she had forgotten him but, she just didn't think that she would ever see him again.
Dom… she wondered what he looked like now, what he would say if she saw him again. What would she do if she saw him with someone else? Angel didn't even know why that last thought had crossed her mind, it shouldn't have mattered if he had someone, she was always going to be the one to have his back, his wing girl on the crazy stuff they'd do when they finally saw one another again.
Han pulled back from Angel her eyes blank, she seemed lost as if she had caught on to something and had just shut down. He wiped the single tear from her eyes as it rolled down her tan cheek, now he could be worried. Angel never cried about anything.
Angel pulled back away from Han and sniffed slightly, "Don't worry about me… I just need to think. Just don't forget about the money… It's important. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't," she said stretching and placing a soft kiss on his cheek, "Night Han," she breathed turning as she numbly walked into her room and closed the door behind her.
She had given him a kiss too, just before she left them there, standing just outside the school. It was like it had happened yesterday, Angel had never really thought about that day without the anger at her father coming back up. But now, now was different. It had been like someone had punched her emotions in the gut. She wanted to go home, not her house, but her home at the Toretto's.
Angel wanted to see Mrs. Toretto again, wanted to be caught in the garage by Mr. Toretto. She wanted so bad to be back in that junkyard jacking that old beat up car… what had they called it… oh yeah, 'ld Betsy. Angel covered her mouth as her breaths shortened into squeaking sobs as the tears over flowed, carving wet trails down her cheeks and over the backs of her hands and fingers.
She wanted things to go back to the way they had been, before she was forced to leave. It wasn't as if Angel didn't enjoy her time here in Japan, but it wasn't home. There was no Dom, no Letty, no Vince, and no Mia, there was only Han. Han was family just like her friends were but… he wasn't them. He couldn't make up for what she had been missing…all the barbeques and the mock fights. The games and the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, not to mention the hours spent in the junkyard trying to fix some of the other wrecks so they all could have a car of their own one day.
Angel swallowed thickly trying to catch the breath that seemed to keep running out of her lungs and into her cupped hands. That of course started the sick sounding hiccups, which caused the giggles that caused her to flop back into her bed. Angel couldn't help the giggles between the hiccups, she was laughing at herself. Here she was having a revelation about how much she missed her old friends and family, and she was acting like a girl about it.
There was no awe struck moment when she realized that she felt cheated of time with family, there was only the sobs about things she couldn't change. Angel hated acting like a girl about things, when she acted like a girl everyone assumed she was breakable, fragile, like china. But she wasn't, she never had been, Angel was tough, she was durable, she could take what was thrown at her and make something of it.
As the hiccups, sobs and giggles finally settled down Angel looked up at her ceiling; it had been plain white when she had got here almost 7 years ago, but now it was covered by a poster of a Dodge Charger and a poster of a Kawasaki Ninja. They were things that reminded her of home. Her old home, where it was always warm and there was almost no such thing as a cloudy day, well there were cloudy days but, they were ignored when they were kids.
Angel sniffed once more and smiled softly, almost hearing those moments in Cali, the ones spent in the summer sun playing games and laughing. As her eyes slipped shut, exhaustion catching up with her, the child Dom was there in her mind's eye his face bright with a smile as he waited, hand extended to her.
Angel shot awake as her door was opened, "Angel sweetie, I have coffee for you. I know you said you wanted to be at work early again so I figured I'd make sure you'd be up," her aunt said walking into the semi lit room, steaming cup offered to the startled girl.
"Thanks Aunt Suki," Angel said taking the cup as she ran one hand through her hair, trying to piece together at what point she had fallen asleep.
"Are you alright Angel? You don't look like you have slept very well," her aunt said sitting down on the edge of the bed looking intently at Angel who was staring into the cup of coffee as if it held all the answers in the world.
Angel looked up and took a sip of the coffee, "Yeah I'm fine, just was doing a lot of thinking last night, and I was just trying to figure out where I fell asleep in that process. Nothing big I promise," she said flashing her aunt a smile.
"Alright Angel… well you know where to find me if you want to talk. I'll leave you to get ready, go ahead and take your time I can drive you to work," she said standing and leaving Angel's room closing the door after her.
Angel sighed softly, "Thanks Aunt Suki," the words almost silent as she gulped the coffee down and changed into work clothes at a decent pace.
She opened her door after sliding her wallet into her back pocket; she had everything she would need in that black leather bi-fold wallet. Given that everything meant one credit card, one bank card, the little bit of yen she did keep out of the bank, her check book and her metro pass. That wasn't much of anything in her opinion, but it was her lifeline.
As she walked out to the dining area she saw the back of Han's head, must have been important if Aunt Suki had managed to drag her step cousin out of bed at an ungodly hour. Shaking her head Angel set the empty mug on the counter and refilled it, she needed more coffee that was for sure. She turned with the now full cup and looked at Han who gave her a slight smile.
"So how did she manage to get you up?" Angel asked blowing the steam off the cup as she settled down on the floor in front of the table.
"It didn't take much, I didn't sleep very well," Han admitted as he looked at Angel who nodded understandingly, "Then again it didn't sound like you slept any better than I did."
Angel shrugged, "Dunno I don't actually remember falling asleep actually… I was thinking and then I woke up."
Han nodded slowly, "I could hear you talking in your sleep; something about Ol' Betsy and Vince."
She laughed softly shaking her head, "I was remembering all the stuff I did when I was still state side, the things I wish I was still doing instead of being shipped here. Not saying that I don't enjoy spending my life here in Tokyo… it's just some of the things I miss."
Han shook his head, "I know it's one of those things that you don't wanna talk about but you should know by now I'm always here to listen should you need me for anything. You 'member Angel your best friend Han, your loveable Asian step cousin?"
Angel looked at Han like he had grown three heads before she shook her head and took the offered coffee cup as her Aunt joined them at the table, "Really Han is that necessary? It's not even 8 am yet, where do you get the energy to come up with that crap?"
"Angel," her Aunt warned with a stern look, "Leave Han alone and finish your coffee so I can take you to work."
"Yes ma'am," Angel grumbled into the lip of the mug before she took a deep gulp from the warm sweet caffeinated beverage, "Thank you Aunt Suki for the coffee and the wakeup call, I really needed it."
Her Aunt nodded sipping on her own coffee as she watched her step son and her niece talking to one another, "Angel I wanted to let you know that your dad will be here on Monday. I was going to tell you yesterday but you looked tired and I didn't want to upset you before you went to bed."
Angel looked at her Aunt with a slight tip of her head, "Han told me yesterday night. I appreciate that you want to protect me Aunt Suki, but there are times where I don't want to be protected from things that can affect my ability to cope with situations."
She was trying to go about this with a bit of diplomatic tenderness, that way she wouldn't blow her top and get upset over a situation she couldn't control. Not that the thought of her father coming here with his girlfriend was going to make her life any easier, not after he disowned her and was probably here to rub it in her face.
Her Aunt nodded slowly, "Next time something like this comes up I will make a point in informing you that stuff is going on. Please try not to be your normal Diablo like self, I'm sure he's excited about seeing you and talking to you about everything that has been going on."
"Yeah… Aunt Suki he disowned me, somehow I don't think he wants to talk to me about how I've been."
Aunt Suki looked tense for a moment before she nodded and stood, "Come on Angel let me drive you to work. I have errands to run in the area."
Angel stood ruffling her step cousin's hair, "Yeah sure not a problem. See you tonight Han, and thanks again for everything."
Han nodded, "Have fun at work Diablo, don't work too hard, we still have school tomorrow."
Angel rolled her eyes and walked out of the house following her Aunt before slipping into the passenger's side of the car with a soft sigh; it was going to be a long ride to work.
