He's Fast, She's Furious

zTiamaTz

:-:-: - Denotes the beginning/end of a flashback.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

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++Xander POV++

"So his car was so beat up, it wasn't worth keeping?" Cordelia asked.

Dom shook his head. "Nah, some engine work is one thing, we could do that in a day with the right parts. But what was the point, do all that and car still looks like crap?"

"Yeah, you remember how messed up that thing was. Especially after I hit that uh- wild dog."

Cordy nodded, she'd heard all about the Sisterhood of Jhe, and what had gone down that night. She'd heard a lot more then I wished she had though, any possible chance I'd had with her went out the window when Faith started throwing it in her face.

Dom on the other hand just gave us a look, I knew I'd said too much.

I would have liked to tell them about the nightlife, but I had a good thing going here. I got out of Sunnydale, because I had no future in demon hunting. There was an order to how things went there, and I was on the bottom. So why start that crap all over again?

"If it was such a piece of junk, how did you get anybody to buy it?"

:-:-:

I sat on a stool as I watched Dom under the front of my car. The guy actually had my car towed to his garage on his own dime. Now, he was looking to see what, if anything we could do to fix it.

Shortly after, he slid out on one of those wheeled things. Looking down at him, he had a grin on his face, I was hoping that was a good thing. "Is it fixable?"

"Yeah," He said, as he stood up, wiping his hands off with a rag. "Problem is, finding a tranny that's going to fit. It's not like they're just sitting around these days."

Great, this is what I got for trying to take a forty two year old car on a road trip. The damn thing was almost two and a half times my age. "So I should just junk it then?"

"Fuck no." He growled. "This thing's a classic."

I got up, and ran my hand along the car as I circled it, the thing was a mess. "It sure doesn't look like one."

"I'm gonna cut you a deal." He told me, as he leaned against the hood of the car. "I'll drop the tranny in, and you sell the car as a restoration."

"Who's gonna buy this piece of crap?"

"Some old man, with too much money on his hands. We're in LA, the city's full of 'em."

"What's the deal?"

"Whatever you get, you give me cost for the tranny, minus twenty percent."

I appreciated that he wanted to help me out, but I didn't see the point. "Why go through all the trouble of putting one in, if they're going to restore it anyway?"

Dom snorted. "Most of 'em just want it to run, they're more interested in making it look pretty. Plus, you could triple the sale value, no promises on that though."

I thought it over, the seven bucks an hour at Rhonda's was getting me nowhere. Eighty percent of something, was better then a hundred percent of nothing. Besides that, he was offering me a much better job in the mean time.

Walking around to the front of the car, I nodded. "I just have one condition."

"What's that?" He asked with amusement.

It was my moment of truth, I'd never really been good at anything in my life. This was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. "Let me help you, I want to learn how to do this stuff."

:-:-:

~~Cordelia POV~~

"And you were a quick learner too, those fucking teachers of yours had their heads up their asses." Dom stated.

I knew that, I'd helped Xander make the bomb in the library. He'd hooked everything up with precision, he checked, and double-checked everything. Soldier memories or not, you still needed smarts to make that happen.

Even with his head ducked, I could see him blushing. The big dork still didn't know how to take a compliment.

"Hey Harris, just because you got a guest, doesn't mean you can't do dishes!"

Looking over to the back door, I saw Letty standing there, twirling a dishcloth in her hand. I let out a giggle as Xander gave an exasperated sigh, and got up, slowly making his way toward the house.

"With you around, they're really laying it on him."

I smiled at that, trying not to look uncomfortable. Normally, I was a very outgoing person, and had no problem speaking my mind about anything. But these were Alex's friends, and I didn't want to come off as a bitch, like I was in high school.

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"Yeah, but it's all in fun, he and I used to go at it for hours. In the end, it was what kept us together for as long as we were."

"He didn't say what happened between you guys, but I know he hasn't gotten over you."

I sighed, might as well get it over with. "We just-"

Dom held up his hand. "It's none of my business, or any of theirs either." He nodded toward the house.

"So why bring it up?"

"We're talking right now, because Mia and Letty like you. If they didn't, then they'd be doing the talking."

It didn't take much to figure out what that meant. "I'm a lot tougher then I look." I warned him.

"Good, there's too many girls out there that wanna stand next to the pretty car, or hang off the guy that pulls in the cash..."

That was it, I stood up, knocking the chair over and stalked toward him. Alex's friend or not, I wasn't going to take this crap. I glared down at him, and decided to let him have it.

"I don't care who you are, I'm not some gold-digger. I didn't come looking for Alex, in case it didn't get through your thick skull, he found me."

Dom snorted, and took a sip of beer. "Damn, he wasn't kidding."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Alex told me you were the last person on earth I'd want piss off." He gave me a smile. "I wanted to see what he was talking about."

"You-" I couldn't believe he'd set me up like that. "That dork is so dead."

"Don't be too hard on him, we had this barbecue tonight to feel you out. Alex had a lot of balls to tell you the truth about what happened, we just wanted to make sure that wasn't a mistake."

"So what would have happened if I didn't live up to your oh so high standards?"

"He'd have to make a choice." Dom told me with a shrug. "I love the kid like a little brother, but there's a lot of money to make in what we do."

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Alex had handed me four thousand dollars like it was nothing to him. Obviously Dom wasn't joking about that fact, I was just wondering how far he was going to take it. "What do you want from me?"

"There's a lot of bullshitters out there, and usually the girls that speak their mind, are the one's that have nothing to say."

"Is there a point somewhere in there?"

Dom chuckled at that. "You like him, you don't, that's up to you. You're gonna have to deal with the fact he isn't the same guy."

"I already figured that out genius." I snapped at him. "Alex is obviously doing better, now that he isn't under the thumb of those two bimbo's in Sunnydale."

"That doesn't sound so bad to me." He replied, before taking a sip of his Corona.

"Fine, if you don't mind spending your school years as a loser, simply because you have manipulative redhead leading you around with the 'poor me' routine. That dork could have been in the popular crowd if he'd bothered."

"This isn't a popularity contest," He told me, as he handed me another beer. "I like loyalty, I know none of these guys are going to stab me in the back just to make a buck."

"So you're trying to find out if you can trust me, I guess you'll just have to figure it out on your own. I trust Alex, you and everybody else here are going to have to earn it."

"Is that right."

I nodded, letting that sink in. "Take it or leave it, that's the best you're going to get."

"As long as we understand each other."

"I think we do." I told him, before taking a long sip of Corona. It was actually pretty decent.

"Good, they should be done by now," He told me as he got up and headed toward the house. "I hope you're up for some naked Twister."

"W-what?"

"What I meant to say was; let's go see what Vince and Leon picked up from Blockbuster." He yelled over his shoulder.

Great, another wise-ass. Like one in my life wasn't enough...

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END