So I went on a major writing spree. I've managed to update my other story and write yet another chapter out for this one...oh yeah...on a roll :DD Thanks so much to all that took the time to review and such. It means alot to know that I'm doing a good job :)
Happy Reading and I hope you enjoy!
XOXO-Erika

JACK POV

The past few days after the races were pretty uneventful. I was still bound and determined to figure out who Han's new girl was, but she never showed up to the races, and never came to the garage either. Han never really left the garage for any reason, and if he did, he always took someone with him, so I doubt he could go have a romantic rendezvous with his girl while Twink was sitting there, bouncing off the walls.

Han had vetoed to Twink drinking at all, so Twink substituted with energy drinks, namingly Monster and Redbull. I had been put into this category when I somehow showed back up with Neela at the races drunk off my ass. Someone had offered me some sort of weird red drink, so I figured what the hell, right? Wrong. Praying to the porcelain gods for two hours the next morning while Han held my hair was not what I planned on when I took that drink. Usually, if I wanted a beer or two, Han let me have it, as long as I didn't do the hard liquor stuff, but NOOOOO. That went down the drain, so I had been drinking Monster almost nonstop and I was constantly looking for something to do.

It was Wednesday afternoon and I was currently in a wrestling match with Sean in the middle of the loft floor. He had gotten lippy with me and I decided to tackle him and teach him a lesson. Only, it wasn't going so well. Sean had somehow gotten ontop of me, sat on my ass and wrapped my arms around me like a straightjacket. He had his legs entangled in mine so I couldn't kick him and his head was near mine, and he was laughing.

"Give up yet?" he asked.

I grunted. "NEVA!" I head butted his chin, kinda hard and he rolled to the side, groaning in pain. I flipped him over on his back and stood on my knees on his chest.

"FINISH HIM!" Twink yelled from the couch in his best Mortal Kombat voice.

I jumped up slightly and elbowed him in his shoulder, making him groan even more.

I stood up and grinned. "Flawless Victory."

Neela was just laughing at him, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Flawless my ass, I almost had you," Sean protested, still laying on the ground.

"I let you get me so you felt you were doing well," I said, crossing my arms.

"How about you stop beating up my mechanics," Han said, coming out of his office. "And start doing some work around here."

"HAN!" I screeched, and ran at him.

For the first time since I had been there, he looked momentarily panicked as I was running at him. I leaped into his arms and grinned. Ever since the races, I had been touchier with Han, like I had been Twink, Earl, and Sean.

He adjusted me so I was comfortable in his arms and looked at me.

"Is there a reason for this?" he asked, looking amused.

I shook my head and smiled. "Nope."

"Yeah, feel our pain Han," Earl muttered from one of the sofas.

"You guys are babies," he told them. "She's not that heavy."

I hit the backside of his head. "Not nice."

He just shrugged. I wiggled to be let down and he let me go after a quick squeeze and I sat in the floor infront of the television so I could play the videogames.

"So did you want to learn how to drift today or not?" Han asked from behind me. I spun around.

"For real?"

He nodded, taking a package of gummy bears from his pocket and eating some.

"YAY!" I hopped up, videogames out of the question and bounced over to Han. I wrapped my arms around his torso and hugged him with all my might before I let him go.

"You ever think about getting dressed first?" Sean asked, getting up and eyeing my pajamas. I frowned and looked down at my Pooh Bear shorts and my lime green tank top.

"What's wrong with this?" I asked, kind of offended.

"Nothing," Han said beside me. "But it might be a good idea in case we have to make some pit stops before hand."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Fine."

I trudged to my room, but then I remembered I was finally going to learn to drift today and quickly picked up my pace.

HAN POV

I watched her as she bounded towards her room and smiled a little to myself.

"That kid has serious issues," Sean said, rubbing his chin.

"And you didn't?" I asked.

He glared at me. "I'm not the one acting like Twink over here and being worse than the damn Energizer Bunny on Christmas morning."

I chuckled. "You guys coming?" I asked as I headed towards the garage. I leaned against the railing as the team all got up and headed for the garage. "You guys go ahead, we'll meet you there," I called out, eating a few gummy bears. When Neela passed me, she made a soft clicking noise, almost like a chastising mother.

"What?" I asked innocently, knowing for a damn fact that my intentions were purely selfish.

She rolled her eyes and walked away, catching up with Sean. I heard all the cars start up and leave, leaving me waiting on Jack. I didn't mind, mainly because I knew she was majorly excited and it wouldn't take her long to get dressed.

Not two seconds after I had that thought, she sprung out of her room, looking more than excited. She had thrown on a white and black baseball shirt with some black cargo pants and her black Chucks, she put her hair up in a messy ponytail and smudged on some-not much- eyeliner. And she looked absolutely gorgeous.

"Where'd everyone go?" she asked, walking into the kitchen. I took it upon myself to follow her, mainly so I could check out how tight her pants were. I leaned against the door frame and watched her as she grabbed several cans of Monster from the fridge and turn towards me.

"They're meeting us at the mountains," I told her.

She nodded. "Are we going to go or not?" she asked impatiently.

I put my arm around her and led her to her car. "Why can't I drive?" she whined, sitting in the passenger seat of the car. I smirked and took my place in the driver's seat.

"We do want to make it there before Christmas ya know," I said, pulling quickly out of the garage and pushing the button for the doors to shut in the car. I had installed several things in her car personally (the GPS, the garage door button, etc. ), and was quite surprised that she never really said anything about it.

She narrowed her eyes at me playfully before stealing the bag of candy from my lap and started picking through it.

"Ya know," she said, once her mouth was full of red gummy bears. "I'm more of a visual learner, so I bet if I watch you drift a little more, then I could probably have this whole drifting thing down within a couple of days."

"Good," I said. "You can make me money faster than I thought then."

She hit me in my arm. "I'm serious Han. I'm a pretty quick learner."

I glanced over at her, then back at the road. "Says the girl who holed herself up in her room for almost a week because she didn't want to give her keys up for two days."

"You never said it was only going to be two days!" she said, clearly shocked. "I could've done that easily."

"Ah, but you didn't."

"Oh shut up Han."

I chuckled as I turned off the road to the mountains. She was looking out the window at the scenery. I thought it was great how she still acted like she loved the view, even though she had been up here countless times with me, mainly because of her temper, but still. She still had that innocent way about her that tugged at my heart, and I loved it. She was always so feisty and wanting people around her to be happy, so much that she'd drop her own problems just to deal with theirs. Jack was so sweet, but had enough of the kid still in her to be spunky, almost bratty even. It initially surprised me greatly when she apologized for the incident in the hospital, but I knew it was bound to come up one way or another.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, bringing me out of my thoughts. I hadn't even realized that the silence of the car had grown until she spoke up.

"Things." I answered.

"What things?" she asked. Cue the twenty-question game.

"Certain things."

"What kinda things?"

"The kind of things," I told her, looking at her briefly. "That I'd have to hurt you for if I told you."

She snorted. "I believe the term is kill you."

"If that's what you want, but I'm not sure Jesse would be too happy with me about it," I remarked.

She frowned and said nothing more. We pulled up to the picnic area where the team was already sitting on various old couches and lawn chairs, waiting for us.

"It's about time," Twink complained.

"You brought extra tires right?" I asked him quietly after I had gotten out of the car.

"Yeah, why?"

"Something tells me we're going to need them," I said, watching Jack scoot over into the driver's seat and giddily look in my direction.

NEELA POV

Jack was actually doing pretty good. A lot better than Sean when he first tried. I still shuttered at the memory of that poor car when he drove it to the roof of the parking lot, crushed and practically falling apart.

She had been really careful to keep the backend of the car away from the guardrails of the sharp corners.

"Damn," Twinkie said after a few minutes of watching her. "She's better than Sean!"

"Shut up Twink," Sean muttered beside me. I grabbed his hand and squeezed reassuringly. He smiled a little at me. I smiled back and turned back to Jack, who currently looked like she was telling Han, who was currently grabbing the Oh-Shit handle, to shut up. She had her tongue stuck out a little bit and a determined and stubborn look on her face as she actually did well on the turns, not forgetting to let off the gas and lift the emergency brake just long enough to swing the ass-end of the car around the corner and put it back down again, hitting the accelerator.

They disappeared up the mountain, but we could still hear her, shifting gears.

"Hey Earl," I called out. He looked up from his comic book at me. "What was that about she's not shifting the gears right?"

He stuck his tongue out at me and hid behind his book again.

"Speaking of her shifting gears," Sean said. "Have you noticed how close those two have become lately?"

"Han just loosened up a bit around her is all," Reiko said, looking up from filing what was left of her nails.

"No," Twink said, shaking his head. "I think it's more than that. Han's never acted the way he does when she's around. And he damn sure doesn't let other people get away with saying half the shit that comes out of that girl's mouth at him."

Sean nodded, agreeing. "What do you think Neela?"

I shrugged. "I think it's none of our business what goes on between Han and Jack."

"Agreed," Earl said from behind his book.

"And if I were to actually sit around and gossip like old women at a hair salon," I said, eyeing the both of them. "I would think that Han may actually need someone like Jack in his life."

They were quiet after that, just listening to the music that was coming from Reiko's iPod and the screeching of tires on the mountain road.

JACK POV

I finally reached the top of the mountain where there was a sort of parking spot where you could bust a bitch and go back down.

"Go ahead and stop here so your car can have a rest," Han said from beside me.

I looked over at him and grinned. "Does the car need a break or you?"

He narrowed his eyes and unbuckled the safety harness and got out of the car. I sighed and killed the engine. I got out and joined Han at the front of my car, sitting on the hood. It was a bit warm, but not so much that I couldn't lean back and lay across it.

"That was so much fun," I breathed out after a second.

"I'm glad you like it," he replied after a second. I could hear the smile in his voice.

I propped myself on my elbows and looked at him as a thought came across my mind. "How come you never race?"

He looked from the view of the city over at me. "What's the point?"

I frowned. "It's fun."

"Yes," he agreed. "But in the end, egos always get in the way, and feelings get hurt. What's the point of truly racing if it's not for something important?"

I pondered his words for a moment. "That's deep."

He laughed. "Leave it to you to ruin the wise lesson between a teacher and his pet."

"Pet?" I glowered at him.

He smirked, knowing it irked me.

I sat up. I hadn't realized that Han and I were so close together, but I said nothing about it as I looked out upon the city.

"Are you sure Jesse didn't teach you how to drift?" Han asked me. I looked up at him and saw a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"Yeah. I'm a visual learner. After watching you drift so much when we come up here, I just kind of mimicked your movements, and it worked. "

"So monkey see monkey do?" he asked.

I playfully glared at him. "I don't know about the monkey part, but yeah."

I looked out at the view again, wishing that I would at least receive a call from my family back in LA.

"What's with you?" he asked me quietly.

"I miss them."

He was silent as I thought about the family that I missed so much. I always wondered if they were okay, I mean, they were risking their necks for me.

Han pulled me close to his side, wrapping his arms around me. I gladly took the comfort and hugged him closely. I felt him lean his head against mine as I let out a few sniffles. I didn't want to be a bawl-bag in front of anyone, least of all Han, so I just hid my face in his chest.

"It'll be over soon enough, and they'll be here before you know it," Han murmured.

I knew he was just being nice, but I pulled away and looked at him.

"What?" he asked me.

"Why are you so good to me?"

I could tell the question caught him off guard. "Explain what you mean."

I sighed. "I know I get away with a lot around you, and I want to know why."

He was silent as he stared at me. Before I knew what was happening, Han had leaned down and kissed me on my lips. I was too shocked to react at first, but I did eventually. His lips were soft, like he constantly applied chapstick. He tasted like gummy bears, and I loved it. I managed to snake my arms around his neck as our lips moved feverishly against each other. He put his hands on my hips and squeezed gently. I moved closer to him, wanting more. This kissing was nothing like kissing Dom. It was sweet, despite the after-candy taste, and it was almost perfect.

The thought of Dom stopped me in my tracks. I froze and pulled away, looking at the ground.

"What's wrong?" he asked, though I had a feeling he already knew the answer.

I backed around to the driver's side. "I can't do this right now." I got in the car and started the engine.

"Jack, wait a second," he called out, coming towards me. I put the car in gear and tore the hell out of there and down the mountain. I felt my pulse wildly out of control. I sighed a shaky breath as I looked in the rear view mirror. Han was just standing there, his hands now in his pockets, now watching me as I drifted swiftly down the mountain.

NEELA POV

"What the hell is taking them so long?" Earl asked, getting restless.

"Would you shut up already? I'm sure they'd call if something was wrong," I said, leaning my head on Sean's chest. The moment came out of my mouth, there was tire screeching, and it sounded like she was coming down the mountain, insanely fast.

We all stood up, watching as she rounded the corner with ease, not even bothering to stop by and say hello, she just kept going down.

"Where the hell is she going?" Twink asked nobody in particular. She kept going, until she was totally out of sight.

My phone suddenly rang, making us all jump. "Hello?" I answered.

"Neela? It's me."

"JACK? What the hell are you doing driving and talking?"

"I'm using the handless thingy. I need you to go get Han from the top of the mountain."

"What?" I asked, not believing what I was hearing.

"What's she saying?" Sean asked me. I waved him off.

"Just go get him. He's at the very top at the u-turn place," she said, sniffling.

"Why are you crying?" I asked, pulling Sean by his shirt over to his car.

"I'm fine. I'll explain it all later. I'll be back at the garage in a little while though, okay? I'm just going to drive around a little while," she said.

"Alright, but don't be out too late though, okay?" I told her. "I'll be waiting up."

"Bye Neels," she said, and she hung up.

I put my phone away as I got in the back seat of Sean's car. "What are we doing?" he asked me.

"Go to the top of the mountain, she left Han."

"She did WHAT? WHY?" he demanded, putting the car in gear and jolting forward onto the road.

"I don't know, but she didn't sound too good," I said, looking out the window.

JACK POV

My mind was racing and my body was on autopilot as I turned onto the freeway and made my way into the city.

I pulled into a little café that Twink and Sean had taken me to one morning and I sat down at one of the tables. A cute little old Japanese woman came and asked me what I wanted. I pointed to a picture of some herbal tea that Twink had talked me into getting last time I was here. She nodded in approval and hobbled off to get my order.

I studied the grain on the wooden table as I thought about what I had done with Han. I closed my eyes as I remembered all the times he had said little things that made me laugh, and he seemed genuinely happy. Had he been harboring feelings for me all of this time? Ugh. I felt a headache coming on.

The little old woman came back with my cup of tea. She sat it on the table and left again.

"So this is where you came to hide out," Neela said, sliding into the seat across from me.

"What do you want Neels?" I said, dropping my head in my hands.

"I came to figure out why my best friend proceeded to not only drive away from us like a bat out of hell, but why she left our boss stranded at the top of a mountain-top without any way of getting home besides walking."

I sighed and groaned, not even really wanting to get into all the details. "In small words, I got upset, Han tried to comfort me, we ended up kissing, I freaked out and did what I do best and ran like a prison escapee. "

I had been looking intently at the napkin disposer while I spilled the beans, but I looked up to see she was staring at me.

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up. He kissed you?" she exclaimed. A little old man behind a small window to the back started yelling our way and Neela looked a bit sheepish. She returned a few words and the yelling stopped.

I rolled my eyes. "You heard me."

"Wow, I didn't think he was going to move this fast," she mumbled. I nearly choked on and spit out my delicious herbal tea.

"Say WHAT? You knew he was going to do this?" I demanded.

She winced. "I talked to him a couple of weeks ago and I put two and two together."

"Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the camel," I said, almost not believing what I was hearing. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged. "Like I said a couple weeks ago when you came out of your room."

"Oh my god," I replied. "That long?"

She nodded, but said nothing after that.

I had to do something about this. Don't get me wrong, I was a bit flattered at the fact that he liked me that way, but I had no clue in hell what I was going to do about it. Wrong, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to have to man-up (figuratively of course) and do what I had to. I was going to confront him about it.

R&R :DD