A/N: None of the characters you know and love are mine. Thanks so much for all the reviews and support!


So now I question what you're gonna do
Now that everything's caught up with you
You believe the shit you say is true
But everybody's on to you
Life remembers everything you do
Your karma has caught up with you

"Falling Down" by Staind

xXx

My phone rang the second I stepped foot outside the sliding glass door of the hospital. I cringed when I saw the name on the screen, then took a deep breath and answered. "Hello, Daddy."

"Hello, Mia." He cleared his throat, a sure sign we were about to start a conversation I wasn't going to like. "Your brother tells me you ran off. That you're in Trenton, as a matter of fact."

"That's right," I answered, holding my head high as I started down the sidewalk.

"And what's in Trenton that you've run to?"

"Business, Daddy."

"That includes Manoso?"

I cringed. He had too many connections. It never surprised me, it always irritated me. "He's also in the bounty hunting business," I said quietly. It wasn't a lie. Manoso did help out with high bond skips every now and then.

"I see." He took a deep breath. "This has nothing to do with Santos, then?"

See, this was where he always caught me. I could bounce around the truth with the best of them. I couldn't outright lie to my father. Not because I had some sort of high moral conscience or something, simply because he'd find out on his own and the repercussions of lying to him just weren't worth it. "He got hurt. I'm just here to help out until he gets better."

"It's not your place, Mia. Let them take care of each other. You're not part of their team."

I bit my lip, holding back the rage. "Maybe you don't think so, but they think so. Manoso called me for help and I came gladly."

He sighed. "You don't belong there, princess."

My father always had a way of hiding insults within phrases that might have been endearing. I'd gotten better at standing up to him, though.

"I'm staying until he's better, Daddy. Please try not to cause problems for that short amount of time." I hit the button to hang up the phone and resisted the urge to throw it into the road.

My walk wasn't so therapeutic after that. My mind was tormenting me with memories. Of the time when I'd actually had a good marriage and thought, for that brief moment, that I might actually be able to have a normal life. He hadn't even given me a chance to try. Lester and I had only been married for six months when he showed up and ruined it. I never forgave him for that. It was bad enough that he treated me like a possession, but to treat Lester like dirt just wasn't okay with me. I didn't talk to him for a full year after that. I'd moved back to Baltimore and started up my business all by myself. At least, he wasn't physically present. I wasn't stupid enough to think I'd done it all on my own. Daddy might have been an asshole, but he had a lot of influence around the area.

I made it two blocks away, then turned and headed back. My phone rang again and I glared at it. It wasn't Daddy, but it wasn't much better. "Mother," I answered calmly.

"Did you really hang up on your father?"

I sighed. "Yes."

"Amelia Ryann Marinella!"

"Mother." I tried to keep my voice calm and even, despite the use of my whole name. "I'm in Trenton. I'm with Lester. Daddy doesn't like that and I don't really care. He's hurt and I'm going to help him." She was silent, torn between obeying the man she loved and giving in to my reasoning. "If it was Daddy hurt, you'd be here for him, wouldn't you?"

"Of course," she answered quickly. "But that's different."

"How?" I challenged. My father had never informed the rest of my family about my taboo marriage, but my mother knew how much I loved Lester. I'd made sure of that.

"Well," she started, then sighed. "You shouldn't hang up on your father. No matter what."

"I don't want to argue with you, Mother." As domineering as my father was, my mother was the exact opposite. A whisp of a woman who more closely resembled a doormat than the industrial strength one I had outside the office in Baltimore. It wasn't her fault, really. Daddy had always treated her as such. It was all she knew for the past thirty or so years. "I'll call you when I'm back in town, okay? I have to get back into the hospital."

She gasped. "He's in the hospital?" She asked quietly.

"Yes. He's probably going home today, though. We were in ICU overnight and we've been on a regular floor for the past three days." Finally, she was grasping the situation.

"He's going to be alright?" She was practically whispering, now. Daddy must have been close.

"Yes. He's going to be fine, but it's going to take awhile. So, I'll be here for awhile."

"Okay, Mia. Let me know if I can do anything for you."

I sighed. She could grow a spine, for one. "Thanks, Mom, but we're good."

I realized, as I walked toward the elevator, that I felt worse now than I had before taking my walk. It was a little ironic, really, but I was glad they'd called while I was outside. I didn't want Lester to hear me fighting with Daddy. The room was silent when I walked in. Lester was asleep, probably exhausted from his work out, and Tank was sitting back, holding the nudie magazine sideways.

"Hey," I said quietly.

Tank snapped the magazine shut and dropped it from his hands.

I covered my face to stifle the laugh. "Caught ya!"

He narrowed his eyes at me playfully. "Just don't tell Lula."

Yet another person I didn't know. I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Lula?"

He waved his hand around. "Another time. We'll have to have a party once Santos gets out."

I nodded in agreement, moving toward my designated chair in the corner of the room near Lester's head and giving Tank a hug as I passed by him. "Thanks."

He gave me a smile, saluted me, mockingly, of course, and headed out. I stretched and tried to get comfortable in the stupid, hard chair. I hoped we were going home tonight because one more day in the hospital just might kill me.

"Well, Mr. Santos," a man in a lab coat walked into the room, his voice booming, yanking both Lester and me from a light sleep. "Oh, sorry," he chuckled.

I rubbed my eyes and looked over at Lester, who was doing the same.

"Everything looks great. We're sending you home today!"

I did a happy dance in my head. After that, it was all rush, rush. Men in black showed up and took care of everything. I loved Manoso sometimes. By the time I took a breath, we were set up in the apartment on the fourth floor of Manoso's building. There was a ton of food, fresh clothes, plenty of bandages and other supplies, and a whole hoard of men at my beck and call. Lester was still being stubborn, but I wasn't taking no for an answer. Between the heavy rehab and the move home, he was in pain. I wrenched his mouth open, threw two pills into the back of his throat, and held his jaw tight until he swallowed.

"Open wide," I commanded, searching every nook and cranny of his mouth.

"Happy?" He asked with a wide smile, hands on my hips as I straddled him on the couch.

"Almost." I picked up the water bottle behind me and held it up. He took it and gulped it down quickly. "Now, I'm happy."

"Good," he said with a devious smile. "Now, it's my turn."

And with that, he crashed his lips down on mine. It was heaven actually kissing him again. Since he'd been in the hospital, I only stole the occasional, chaste kiss. This was not chaste. This was passionate and desperate and urgent. It was everything I'd missed about Lester. Soft, but hard at the same time. Needy, but strong. I moaned and wrapped my arms around his neck, digging in deeper. When his tongue moved along my bottom lip, I shivered and opened for him. His right arm was still in a sling, but he tossed it off and held me so tightly, I was having trouble getting air in. I didn't care about the air, though, because all that mattered now was that I felt right. For the first time in three years, I felt right.

"I've missed you so much, mami," Lester whispered in my ear, moving his lips along my jawline. "Every moment of every day, I thought about you."

I moved my head to expose more neck for him. "I missed you too, papi."

He groaned quietly. He loved it when I called him that. "You kill me, Mia. You drive me crazy."

I smiled, bringing my face to his and kissing him hard. I didn't even have the capacity to tell him how crazy he was making me, so I showed him. I ripped his shirt off and moved gently down, kissing him everywhere. How I had missed this man's hard body. He was shivering and straining to control himself. We'd had reunion sex so many times, it was an old habit for us. We'd be gone for months at a time on assignment, and sex afterward was always this desperate. It was the longest amount of time I'd gone without him since I'd known him, though, and the feelings erupting from me were catching me a little off guard.

I yanked him up and dragged him to the bedroom, pushing him down onto the bed and ridding myself of clothing on the way down. I helped him out of his pants, since it was still hard for him to work that right arm, and jumped over him. Without wasting any time, I slid over him and bit back the scream of pleasure. Lester held my hips tightly as I moved up and down, my head thrown back. It didn't take long for us both to finish in a mess of moans and kisses.

I collapsed onto him, putting my weight on his left side. "Jesus," I sighed, digging my face into his neck.

Lester chuckled quietly. "That was pretty pathetic. Like five seconds?"

My lips touched his neck gently. "The second time is always better," I whispered in his ear.

That was all the motivation he needed. He took over this time, turning me onto my back and kissing me gently. He pulled back and looked at me, his eyes dark with desire. "I don't see anything new."

I gave him a small, devious smile, then turned onto my stomach. My smile widened when he moaned. "Like it?"

"When did you get this?" He asked, his voice deep with lust.

"About a month after I got back to Baltimore." I turned over again and looked at him. "You really like it?"

"Mia," he said, crashing his lips down onto mine. "Te quiero y solamente usted," he mumbled, quoting my tattoo.

I'd gotten the little quote on the back of my right hip, the same spot where Lester had inadvertently sliced me with a knife during our second meeting. It was the only scar on my body. It was my fault, really, but he never forgave himself for hurting me. I'd used that against him to get what I wanted, too. So really, that particular knife had been the beginning of a long, somewhat tumultuous, and very hot relationship.

"I love you and only you," I translated. "I wanted to add 'always have, always will,' but I got bored and it was too much. Plus, the guy said I was getting too close to the scar and..."

Lester was apparently done talking. His lips bruised mine and I loved every second of it. And I was right, the second time was better. And the third. And the fourth.

"Les," I giggled when he turned over and started kissing my back. "You need to sleep, love."

"I'll sleep when I'm dead," he said groggily.

"You'll sleep now." I turned over and kissed him lightly. "I fed you pain pills, I know your shoulder's hurting you, and you start rehab tomorrow. Close your eyes and turn off your dick."

"With you in my bed, my dick doesn't turn off." He smiled wildly, then sighed and pulled me into his chest. "I missed you, mami."

"I missed you, too." I put a hand on his face. "But if you don't go to sleep right now, I'm going to get Brown and he'll sedate your ass."

"Fine." He turned me over and pulled me into him. "But you're not allowed to move."

I wasn't sure what made him think I was planning on moving. In fact, I was pretty sure I couldn't move. I was pretty sure I was going to be walking funny in the morning. If I could walk at all. My body was covered with marks. I laid there and enjoyed all the little sensations that were dissipating. When Lester's breathing finally evened out, I closed my eyes and settled in. I'd never slept so well in my life.