Authoress Notes: I have returned from my accidental hiatus. I ended up moving and whole bunch of other stuff. This part goes back to the plot and if you didn't read part seven due to the adult content you didn't really miss anything. So here is the next part. I hope you enjoy it. Please read and review.
Crossing Lines: Part Eight
Mia lay back on a beach towel and listened to the sounds of the ocean and her little niece naming her lunch items one by one. She smiled contentedly, enjoying the sunshine and wished her stomach would relax.
"Are you ready for some lunch?" Jenny's quiet voice broke into Mia's thoughts.
Mia sat up and looked at the sandwich that Jenny was offering her and her stomach turned. She shook her head and looked away drawing in a few deep breaths.
"Are you okay, Mia? First you didn't eat breakfast and now lunch? I hope my cooking didn't make you ill."
Mia chuckled, "Oh no, it couldn't be that. Brian wouldn't have been able get out of bed this morning."
"I'm confused." Jenny handed Sofia a little piece of banana.
"Nana." Sofia grinned chewed the piece loudly.
"Brian has kinda of a weak stomach. If someone sneezed on his breakfast, he'd be puking by 11am."
"Weak stomach huh?"
Mia laughed out loud. " Definitely, he's the complete opposite of what I'm used to." She lowered her voice to impersonate Brian. "Tuna fish sandwich, no crust."
"No crust, huh?"Jenny bit into her own sandwich. "So he was a mac and cheese kid and you and Dom were...?"
"Dom and I are Cuban and Italian. My mother believed in traditional cooking, experimentation, and that love and spices should go into every dish."
"So you have a stomach of iron." Jenny handed Sofia her sippy-cup.
"JU-ice!" Sofia clapped her hands before taking her cup.
"Not exactly, but I'm used to more exotic foods." Mia sipped on her bottle of water.
"But you did get sick last night, didn't you?" Jenny looked at Mia's confused expression and explained. "I've been getting up with Sofia for almost 8 months; I woke up when she started crying. I thought I heard someone throwing up."
"Yeah, I don't think my body was ready to be on-the-run. All the stress of the past few months has caught up to me I've been nauseous and I just feel off." Mia rubbed her stomach.
"Are you late?" Jenny questioned.
"Late? What would I be late…" Mia eyes widened as the realization hit her. "Oh god, today is the fifth, I am late. I'm really late. Oh my god. I need to take test." Mia's eyes flashed to the house, then to the ocean. "I have to get a test without my brother or Brian finding out."
"Okay." Jenny stood up and scooped up Sofia. "Town's about 20 minutes from here. You go tell Brian that we're going into town and that I need him to hang around here in case Morgan comes home. We should be back in about hour."
"Alright." She drew a breath. "I shouldn't panic unless I know I need to." Mia scrambled up and started walking towards the ocean.
Jenny shifted Sofia to her hip, "Let's go sweet-girl, we're going shopping."
"Shop-ing!"
Mia waved at Brian as she got to the water's edge and motioned for him to come up to the beach.
Brian swam back up and smiled at Mia. "What's up?"
She smiled back at him, "I'm gonna go into town with Jenny. Do you mind hanging out here, in case her son comes back?"
"Yeah, that's fine." He frowned, as Mia rubbed her arms. "Is everything ok?"
Mia nodded. "I'm fine."
He leaned forward and gave her kiss, careful not to get her wet. "I love you."
"I love you too." She smiled again, then turned and started walking away.
.:.
"I can't believe you got me an appointment at a clinic, just walking in." Mia sat in a green hospital gown on the examination table. She rubbed her hands on her knees and looked over at Jenny and a now sleeping Sofia. "Does she just crash out like that?"
Jenny looked down at Sofia, "Oh yes, she moves faster and faster then she collapses. And as far as the appointment goes, it's just an advantage of living in a nice town."Jenny paused, and then asked, "Do you want some privacy? I can go back to the waiting room."
"No, I think I'd rather have someone here." Mia answered a little too quickly, "My family kinda crashed into your life and that's not fair. I just don't wanna be alone right now, I'm sorry."
"I don't mind. Morgan and I are kinda on our own out here. Besides, I crashed my life long before Letty came into it." Jenny laid Sofia down on the chair, and stood up to stretch her legs. "I miss having family."
"Me too." Mia sniffled.
Jenny looked at the younger girl. "Letty told me that you and Dom lost both of your parents."
"Yeah, our lives would have been so different if we hadn't lost them. I miss both of them so much."
"Letty told me that your father died in a crash at a race track, but she never mentioned how your mother passed."
Mia shook her head, "That's probably because we lost her father that day too."
"I don't understand."
"My mother got sick; she had cancer and there weren't really any good treatments back then. Letty's father was nurse and he offered to help out if my mother would help him explain 'girl-stuff' to Letty."
"That's sweet. Were Letty and your mother close?"
"My mother was the only mother Letty ever knew, but everyone loved my mother. She was sweet, but tough. She fought hard when she got sick. One day, my mother must have taken a turn for the worst, because Letty's dad tried driving her to the hospital and someone ran a light; killed them both."
"Oh my god."
Mia nodded. "It was bad. Letty and Dom got into a fight on the lawn after my mother's funeral. They were both so angry. Letty jumped on my brother, kicking and punching, and he was so upset, he just lost it. He threw her to the ground and punched her in jaw. She was about eleven and he was sixteen I think. My father came unglued at Dom. He punched him, and screamed at him that, that wasn't how you treated a girl. I'd never seen my father lose his temper before. I was crying on the front porch, with V trying shield my eyes."
"V?"
"Vince." Mia's eyes misted over. "My second older brother, Dom's best friend, he practically lived at house. His dad was drunk, so Vince was always hiding at the house. This one time, before my mother died, Vince's dad came over to get him and he was so drunk and so angry… My mother was half his size and she just stood there holding her ground telling him that Vince was staying there for the night."
"So he was part of your family."
"Yeah, Dom and I created a new family after he got out of Lompoc. It was Dom, Vince, Letty, Leon, Jesse, and me, but that only lasted until the heists. Oh God, V was still in prison when we ran down here."
Jenny walked over and hugged Mia. "I'm so sorry."
Mia accepted the hug. "Thanks."
There was a knock on the door, "Miss Vinnia, I have your test results."
.:.
"We got come up with some rules." Dom's low voice rumbled in Letty's ear.
Letty stretched lazily and looked up at him, "If you're talking about family planning rules, you're a little late."
He chuckled and pulled her closer. "I mean about dangerous stuff; about jobs, if we pull anymore."
"If?" Letty sat up and arched her eyebrow, "Did I miss something?"
"No, I did. I missed our daughter being born." Dom tucked a lock of hair behind Letty's ear. "Why didn't you contact me when you found out?"
She sighed, "I was still mad at you I guess. After I got done being mad, I wanted you back, but I wanted you to be able to come home."
"You knew that couldn't happen with all the shit we pulled."
"Yeah, what can I say, I'm an optimist." She squeezed his hand. "I just kept picturing you in the back yard, by the grill, with Sofia on your hip. So I left her here, just in case someone was still holding a grudge, and I started nosing around the old neighborhood."
"Looking for what?"
"I don't know, for whatever was gonna fix it all. I got pinched one night with Hector and his boys running a race. I'm sitting in county lock-up and who bangs on the bars of my cell, Brian the fucking buster. He flashes his FBI badge and says I'm an informant and he needs me. As soon as we get clear of camera's I knocked him on his ass in punch. I'm in his face screaming about how he betrayed us and all the shit from before. And he stops me cold, says he's got this case if I help I can get us both clear."
Dom snorted, "And you believed him?"
"I needed to. I needed to believe that Sofia could see all the places that meant so much to us. I wanted to see her at the garage with grease on her nose, and at the store sitting on the counter with Mia making sandwiches."
"When did you get so sentimental?"
"I don't know; I keep blaming left over hormones."
Dom laughed and leaned over and kissed her softly. "I bet you weren't so bad."
"Don't say that in front of Jen." Letty leaned against him. "I shoulda called you. Sofia was so cute when she was born. Did Jen show you the pictures?"
"No, but I'd love to see them. Bet she's even got a few of you before Sofia was born."
She growled, "Probably, but you ain't gonna see 'em." She pushed herself up from the bed and pulled out some clothes from the dresser. "Come on, I'm hungry."
Dom shook his head and started putting his own clothes back on. He glanced over at Letty pulling on a pair of jeans and frowned at how loose they fit her. "You okay?"
Letty, who was fastening her bra, looked down at the bruises on her stomach and the loose fit of her jeans. "Yeah, these are from just after Sofia was born. I've lost all the baby weight."
Dom wrapped his arms around her, "And then some."
"Hey papa, I'm fine. It wasn't the Hilton, but I'm safe now." She leaned into him.
"I know you're safe. I'm gonna keep it that way too." He tipped up her chin and looked into her eyes. "You promise me right now. If we plan a job together that's fine, but only one of us goes."
"Dom…"
"No, you promise me right now, Leticia. We gotta make sure one of us will be there for Sofia." Dom held her face and kissed her gently, "She's gotta have one of us."
"No, she's gotta have both of us. We're gonna raise her together. I'll promise you that I'll be careful when you promise no more disappearing acts."
"No more disappearing. If I need to go for some reason you'll know. I promise." Dom kissed her again.
"I promise I'll be careful." She hugged herself to him and felt him kiss the top of her head. "Okay, seriously, enough of the drama, I'm starving." She opened the door and walked out into the hallway towards the kitchen. She crooked her finger at him motioning for him to follow.
Dom shook his head in disbelief, but followed behind her slowly, just watching her move. He heard the back door open and Brian's voice.
"Hey buddy, slow down would ya."
Dom rounded the corner to see Letty scooping up Jenny's son and swinging him around.
"Aunt Letty! I missed you!"
"Hey Morgan, How are you, Hero?" She grinned at him and set him back on the ground. "You got bigger since I've been gone."
"Yeah, I did." He stuck out his lower lip. "You were gone too long. You missed my birthday."
"I'm sorry." Letty hugged him again. "I'll make it up to you, ok?"
Dom looked around the kitchen, "Where are Jenny and Mia?"
"They went into town, took Sofia with them. Just running errands I guess." Brian answered. "It was a while ago. I thought they'd be back by now."
As if it was on cue, the front door opened to reveal the women in question. Jenny was holding a still sleeping Sofia and Mia was holding a pair of brown paper bags.
"Ah look, Sofia's parent. I'm sorry guys she's really getting heavy, could one of you come take her, please." Jenny asked looking at both Dom and Letty.
"Sure." They both answered.
Dom chuckled and took Sofia from Jenny's arms into his own. "I'll put her in her crib." He started up the stairs with his daughter.
"I'll come up with you." Letty started up after him.
"I thought you were hungry."
"She's more important."
Jenny shook her head at the couple's interaction and opened her arms, "Come here, Hero. I need some help upstairs."
"Okay mom." Morgan hugged his mother and walked with her up the stairs.
Mia looked at Brian. "We need to talk."
