Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I'm just having fun.
A/N: First, thanks to all of the poeple who have been reading, reviewing, and adding the story to their alerts. I am so flattered that you are enjoying what I am writing. That being said:
Ok. So I am almost done with the companion piece Evolving Into Me which tells Letty's story of why she is away. However, I have also written chapter 11 of this story... but I don't think it would be fair post it until I finish the other story. While you don't have to read the companion piece, I feel that for those who are reading it, you'll have a richer understanding of Letty's behavior when she returns to LA. All this plays out in the upcoming chapter. Fortunately I have an extended vacation. I am making it my priority to get things rolling at a faster pace to finish up there so I can finish up her. Bear with me ~ Tonks1
Chapter 10: Accelerant
"Oh yeah girl, you missed it. It was awesome. But don't tell the boys that, they'll never let me live it down," Mia's voice carried as she moved around her bedroom two weeks later. I looked at the door and frowned, annoyed because I'd forgotten to close it completely when I stumbled in two hours ago. As a result Mia's side of the cell phone call had finally shaken me from oblivion. I heard the rustle of bags then hangers being shifted in her closet.
"Erm, ah, no," Mia stammered out then followed with a giddy laugh, "They were occupied with other…Well I guess when you put it that way, nothing. Well maybe it was Dom's fist fight with Johnny Tran or Vince winning the top prize."
I perked up. Who in our circle of friends wouldn't know about my dramatic break up with Joi? And who would Mia be willing to call to pass that information along? For a moment I strained to hear more of the conversation. If I had to be up then I guess I could make myself useful. Mia started laughing fit and I quickly dismissed the conversation, deciding that had to be one of her annoying girlfriends from school. I was contemplating gathering enough energy to shuffle across the floor when she whispered something then shut her door. I heard the gentle muffle of her voice but couldn't make out the words. It was enough to get me back into the groove of sleep for a couple more hours.
When I awoke the second time it was five in the afternoon. Lazily I pushed myself out of bed, showered, then shaved as an afterthought. The growl in my stomach helped lead my feet downstairs into the kitchen. It took me a second to really soak in why I came to a complete halt at the door. Flour covered the table, a large cloth covered one of the counters, and a large metal pot of sauce simmered on the stove. My ears perked up for noise outside of the kitchen but I found none, confirming my suspicions. Mia was making homemade sauce and ravioli, complete with handmade noodles… I approached with caution.
"Mia?" She was standing facing away from me, her hands diligently filling the empty pasta squares with my favorite filling: ricotta cheese, spinach, and mushroom.
"Yeah, Dom?" she replied absently, now adding tops to the squares then mashing them closed on the ends with a fork.
I went to the sink to grab a rag and start cleaning the table before responding, "So ravioli…"
"That's obvious," she huffed. The completed ravioli were being transferred to the white cloth, covered, before being abandoned for the process to start again with a new batch.
"There's an awful lot there."
"You do want the rest of us to eat after Vince has had his share right?"
I laughed then proceeded to start cleaning up around Mia: sweeping the floor, putting away discarded ingredients and finally making my way to the sink to wash dishes. I was standing to Mia's left, giving me a profile look at her face. It was a combination of sadness, frustration, and desperation. In other words, it was the reason why she was doing something as maniacal as making dinner from scratch to calm her nerves.
"So what's for dessert?" If Mia was making dessert from scratch too I may just go out to join the guys wherever they were hiding, uh, hanging out.
"Vince said he'd pick up Cannoli's and ice cream," Mia said, a wan smile appearing on her face.
"So are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" My stomach grumbled. I finished the last dish in the sink before moving to the fridge to grab the makings of a turkey sandwich. Mia grabbed another big pot and started filling it with water. I quickly moved to pick it up and place it on a free eye before she could strain herself. The nasty look she threw me hastened my retreat to my sandwich. She started throwing in pinches of salt and waited for the water to boil before adding the ravioli's to cook. I just watched, knowing that my help had been tolerated…barely.
"Dom, you do know that I'm a woman right?"
I coughed around a bite of my sandwich. Mia went to the fridge, pulled the top off a Corona, and handed it to me forcefully. I drank.
"Thanks. Yeah, I know."
"I figured you did. I mean, that's why you pick up heavy pots for me and expect me to cook all the time."
"I don't expect you to cook all the time," I said hastily, "but yeah, I try to take care of you."
She waved off the comment impatiently, "I know. But do you realize that Letty is a woman too?"
"I know she's a…"
"You know she's female but do you recognize her as a woman Dom?"
"Where is this coming from?" I countered, knowing that any answer I gave wouldn't be believed until she finished letting off steam.
"I know you're good at treating Letty like she's indestructible but she's not. And no matter how great she is at racing or tooling around in the garage she's not one of the guys."
"But Letty is like one of the guys. She not a…she's not…she probably kick my ass for the stunt I just pulled with you and the water just now."
"I know it's easy to confuse her liking to hang with the guys with being like one of the guys."
"I don't see a difference."
"Since she stepped foot in Papi's garage she's been proving that she can be as tough as you and Vince. And that translated well in shop class and at the races when she serves guys their junk in their hands. But it doesn't stop her from wanting to be treated like she's more than a buddy sometimes."
"I do treat her as more than a buddy. I'm not sleeping with Vince am I?" Mia gave a half smile. "I treat her different because she's as tough as Vince. She's just not as…frilly as you are."
"Just 'cause she's tough," Mia started then decided to try a different route, "The two of us express our femininity differently. I do it with dresses; she does it in leather pants. But we're still both women."
"I get it. What's your point?" I asked feeling agitated.
"Call her. Tell her how you really feel. And don't do it like you're talking to Vince."
"Mia, I've done that. I did that for months. And in case you haven't noticed, she disappeared."
Mia had the grace to look guilty before she turned to pull the cooked ravioli out of the big pot and replace them with another round of uncooked pasta. She mumbled, "Actually I caught her on her cell today."
I took a slow drink from the Corona, taking extra care to set it down without noise.
"I miss her Dom. This whole situation is just wrong. Papi…"
"Don't play the Papi card Mia," I cut across her angrily, "She left on her own. She'll come back on her own."
Mia turned to look at me again, rolling her eyes, "Typical."
"I heard what you said."
"Obviously not."
"What do you want from me!"
"She needs to know she's needed. You can't wait for her to figure it out on her own."
"Again, all stuff I told her before." I thought of the last time I saw Letty. I did more than just tell her how I felt that night.
"Yeah, but you went on to date Joi and pretend that it didn't matter if she was around or not," Mia continued, "In fact you've been slumming around ever since you broke it off with Joi."
"I don't have to explain myself to you Mia," I said defensively, standing up to get in her face. She stood her ground, poking a finger into my chest.
"Cut the shit and call her."
"What time is dinner?" I asked, changing the subject. I needed to go for a drive to clear my head.
"Six. The guys are probably hiding at DT's," she said in a dismissive tone. I hugged her and she hugged me back. No matter how unsettled the conversation had made me I knew Mia was looking out for me in her convoluted, female way. Grabbing my keys I sped off to the garage, not surprised to find Leon, Jesse, and Vince lazing around inside the computer in the office. Jesse was totally focused on his latest pet project, trying to find alternate ways to wire the cars for hidden nitrous systems. The computer screen was littered with layouts and digital pictures of Vince's current wiring schematic.
"I don't know Jesse," Vince was telling him, "I'm not sacrificing my shots for aesthetics."
"Dawg, you know what aesthetics means?" Leon laughed. I heard the sound of a book smacking into something.
"Are you three going to destroy my office," I drawled casually, leaning against the door frame.
"So is Mia cool?" Leon asked a huge smile on his face and a thick software manual prepped in his hands to launch. He seemed to think better of throwing it in my presence, at least for the moment.
"Why? You ready to come out of hiding?" I asked lazily.
"Yeah, I'm getting hungry," Vince said. I glanced at him noticing a he had a pink bakery box open next to him. He completely polished off the one in his fingers then reached in the box, coming up empty.
Leon laughed again, "I just bet."
"I need to make a stop before dinner," Vince mumbled.
"You better. You saw her when we left."
"Jesse, wrap it up. It's time for dinner," I called out. He waved his hand absently.
"You never said if she was better now," Leon reminded me.
"She made spinach and mushroom ravioli," I deflected.
This time Vince laughed, "Mia was making Dom's favorite. We're off the hook."
"Just hurry up," I told them before turning around to leave. I heard the book flying through the air, a loud smack, and the quick scrape of a chair.
"Dawg," Leon's voice held an edge of placation, "I was just playin'…" I smiled.
I sat with my cell in my hands Sunday morning at eight. I kept turning it over in my hands, hoping that the phone would ring and save me from having to make the call. I wonder why I hadn't considered that Letty would have taken the cell phone with her. Then again, I'd forgotten that she had the stupid thing anyway. I should have known, then again, since Mia was in charge of paying the bills…
The rustling from behind me broke my concentration. I felt a pair of hands slide up my back before reaching around to loosely hug my neck. The body pressed against me was warm, female, and nakedly willing but I wished she would either just go back to sleep or leave me alone. She started kissing and licking my ears in a seductive way but I bowed my head out of her reach. Not to be discouraged, the girl moved her lips to my back to kiss my shoulders. I stood up, tossing on my shirt and pants before fumbling around for my shoes.
"You're leaving?" She sounded shocked even though she was stating the obvious. I nodded and she slumped on the bed dejectedly. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No Camille," I responded while shoving my feet in my shoes. I checked for my wallet, stuck the cell in my pocket, and palmed my keys.
"But we didn't…You never…I mean, don't you want me?" she asked confused. I could understand the confusion. I'd driven her home after winning my race last night. I'd felt her up, prepped to take things with us to the next level, then I'd asked to postpone the main event till this morning. And now I was leaving before we began. But before I could answer with a truthful 'Not really' I decided that I wouldn't act like a complete jerk to spare myself possible hysterics.
"Yeah, but maybe some other time."
She seemed to mull this over for a minute before getting up to walk me to the door, still naked. I shook my head. "Can I still say we slept together anyway?"
"Sure," I told her before giving her a quick peck on the cheek and stepping into the morning sunshine.
Twenty minutes later I was standing in my own room, staring at my cell again. I paced the room for a moment then decided to suck up and call anyway. I wouldn't be able to focus until I at least attempted to talk to her for Mia's sake. As the phone rang I contemplated the stupidity of calling Letty this early on a weekend. It was just closing in on eight thirty now. She might be angry, then again she may not pick up at all. I could deal with either scenario but selfishly I wanted to hear her voice even if she wasn't happy to speak to me. I wasn't surprised that I got her answering machine, just disappointed. I flipped the phone closed to end the call then opened it again, dialing her number on the off chance she was up and trying to avoid my call. The ring back should spur her into action. When I didn't hear the answering machine go off or the phone ringing my heart started thumping irregularly.
"Letty?" she didn't respond so I tried again, "Letty, you there?"
"Ahhn," she grunted. She sounded like her face was muffled by a pillow. She sounded more than sleepy and it took a few seconds for me to figure out why she might sound like that.
"Are you drunk?" I asked curiously.
"Ah, no." Definitely a drunken response. Letty had been drinking last night. I laughed. She barely had more than two Corona's at a time around here.
"You're hung over."
"What do you want Dom?" Ah yes, there was her grumpy voice.
I stayed calm searching for something to say, "Nothin'. Actually the garage has been really busy lately if you needed something to do."
"Did Mia put you up to this?" her voice had gotten accusatory and less inebriated.
"Mia? What does my sister have to do with any of this?" I played confused. She didn't have to know Mia had laid into me yesterday.
"I won't be manipulated." Her voice continued to rise in anger and volume.
"I'm not trying to," I said quietly and then the bitterness of the last few months crept into my next statement, "I thought we were still friends. And right now I need people I can trust in my garage."
I wasn't surprised by her answer even though her voice was more controlled, "I can't."
"I figured you wouldn't," I guess I will have to take Mia's advice after all, "Letty I miss you. I want you to come back."
"I can't," she repeated. I braced myself, my mind repeating, 'Treat her like she's my girlfriend, not my best friend'.
"Letty, I don't care how far you are, how long you stay away, if you hate my guts," I thought of Camille this morning, "I could date a hundred girls," I remembered what Letty had asked at the beach, "Hell, I don't care if you date a hundred guys. You'll always have me," I thought of Sam and how jealous his friendship with Letty made me, "You've had me since you were sixteen. And right now you're the part of my family that's missing," I remembered how I felt in prison, "I can't function without all of my family Letty."
She didn't respond. I hoped that I still knew her well enough to believe that she may be crying. Normally she didn't make noise when she was crying but then my mind went back to the day I'd pushed her. "Letty? You still there?"
"Uh huh," she muttered, sounding stuffy. I felt bolstered by her response. She was crying. I hadn't completely screwed up.
"I don't care where you're at Letty. I'll come get you if you want," I impulsively offered, instinctively reaching for my keys.
And then I heard a man's voice close by, "What's wrong?"
My forehead furrowed and I felt heat haze over me, "Who's that?" Shit. Hadn't I just said I didn't care if she was with other guys? Guess that made me a liar.
Letty ended the call but not before exclaiming, "Oh fuck."
I stared at the phone. I didn't feel like I would be able to control myself right now if I called her back so I left it alone. After all, she'd hung up on me right? She should call me back. But inside I was going nuts. So Letty was sleeping with someone else. The rational part of me knew that we'd broken up nine months ago and that I had slept with tons of girls since then. I'd dated Joi Tran! But the irrational male part of me had maintained deep down that she hadn't been with anyone besides me. Or at least that had been the case until three months ago. Looks like her travels included at least one new experience that I could have lived without her having.
Stomping downstairs angrily I flung open the front door, not bothering to see if the force of the swing would snap it shut. My foot mashed the pedal to the floor, causing a large burn of rubber as I shifted to standstill to second, totally skipping first. It was the kind of rebellious move that might bother Jesse when I returned. His worry would be for the rx-7's transmission though. But if I was already going to hear him gripe about my driving then I would push my system to the limit.
God bless those Sunday morning drivers, diligently on their way to church or wherever their place of worship might be. I sped around them, not bothering to use my horn or care about trifles. I was clearly in the wrong for riding into lanes for opposing traffic. I barely slowed to go through turns. I even blatantly ran a few red lights. It wasn't until I finally had to apply the brakes or risk being run down by an approaching train that I had finally took a moment to breathe and think about the consequences of my rash actions. I could have been arrested and charged for about thirty infractions in the last ten minutes. In fact, I was very luck that the cops hadn't caught on to me. I'd covered a good bit of ground between my house and the train tracks.
I watched the train barreling past me and cursed because it was taking too long to pass. I was starting to return to rational thought. I didn't feel like being rational at the moment. I wanted to smash in the face of the buster moving in on my girl. I wanted to rage at her for leaving me behind, for being strong enough to leave me behind. I wanted the ringing in my ears to stop. Wait. That was my cell. I checked the number hoping I'd get a chance to take out my anger on her but it was only Vince. Well he would do for the moment.
"What!" I yelled.
"That's what I want to know. The front door is hangin' on one friggin' hinge and the glass is shattered."
"Why don't you fix it? I mean, that's what you're good at right?" I spat nastily. I was angry. Apparently the whole team thought Vince could fix everything. He'd stepped up when I was in prison. He'd run the garage and oversaw the shop. He'd looked out for Mia. He'd kept our family together when I'd fallen apart. He'd taught me a lesson when I lost my temper on Letty.
"Come home right now, I'll fix you," Vince growled low and menacingly. I was itching for a fight. Granted it wasn't the one I wanted to have but if Vince was willing then I'd take him up on the offer. Savagely I hung up. The rage had returned. I turned the car around then sped off to make the return trip home. I changed my route, just in case the cops had been called to investigate an aggressive driver in a red sports car. I still didn't slow for yellow lights, but I gave deference to red ones. I should have made an attempt to stop at the yellows too but I was still feeling reckless. I was forced to make a quick left at the corner to avoid a slow driver making right turn and then I passed by the statue of Confucius.
I heard the roar of an engine before I could completely escape Tran's turf. I'd been hoping that my luck would last but I pushed it further than I should have this morning. Well good. If he wanted to get into it today I would be happy to oblige him too. I stopped at the next red light, put the rx-7 in park and hopped out. Tran seemed shocked but he got out of his car too. The people in the row next to us wound up their windows and slunk down in their seats as if the light couldn't change fast enough for them.
"I thought I told you to stay outta my neighborhood Toretto."
"I'm sorry," I said aggressively stalking towards him. I couldn't be less sorry, "I didn't realize this street was in your turf too."
"Don't play dumb Toretto. Your buddy Vince does it better," he said casually standing his ground.
"I'll make sure to tell him you said so."
"You have a lot of balls coming here after what happened in the desert."
"Really? I remember coming off better than you did."
"There we had to play by their rules. Here," he smiled falsely motioning to the guy in the passenger seat of his car. The man was waving a semi-automatic gun at me, "the rules are less defined."
The light changed and the people in the other lane sped off quickly. Johnny was looking for me to back down and the part of me that didn't want to be riddled full of holes in the next few minutes begged to be sensible, walk away. But the angry part of me was raring to go, bullets be damned. Johnny stared at me, probably seeing the interplay of my thoughts on my face. He laughed in amusement, noticing that I had decided to break his neck anyway despite the threat of weapon fire. He waved his hand in a careless and dismissive manner.
"Go home Toretto. Clearly I'm not the biggest bully in your play park," he said ruefully before hopping back into his car. He rounded me and sped off, his passenger waving the gun again in salute. I took a calming breath then trudged angrily to my car to leave. I'd gotten about two lights down when I heard the roar of Tran's engine again. He was approaching me from behind. First I thought that he would ram into my car so I slammed on the gas, eager to give him a moving target. But Tran surprised me, driving over the yellow line to give his passenger a clear shot at me. Instinctively I ducked and I heard the ping of bullets as they hit the side of the car, the clink of glass as the driver and passenger windows of my car took on the spray, and the destruction of my windshield.
Crazily I slammed on the breaks, hoping that Tran would be surprised by my actions or at least have his man stop shooting. The gunfire did stop and the whine of his engine faded as it sped away. I was stunned but not enough that I wanted to be caught on the corner by the police when they showed up. I didn't even have a clue how I would explain the bullets. I opened the door to look at the horror struck faces of people frozen on the sidewalks, cautiously coming to their feet after the metallic rain had ended. Great. Witnesses.
I wanted to make a break for it but at that moment a black and white careened to a stop nearby. I stared at the flashing lights, feeling dizzy. I expected for a crazy moment that the police would draw their weapons and ask me to lie face down on the ground. At the moment I wanted to lie on the ground. I guess my spurt of adrenaline was coming to an end and I was going to crash at any moment. I saw one of the officers speak into the radio attached to his shoulder then begin cautiously approaching me. I heard the sirens coming and knew they were coming for me. Couldn't they tell that I was too stunned to fight?
"Sir? Sir? Are you alright? Have you been hit?" It took me longer than should have been necessary to process that he wasn't going to cuff me. He was trying to assess if I was hurt. I would be treated like a victim. Guess luck was on my side.
"They totaled my car man," I slurred. I stupidly turned to look back at my car. I could see more flashing lights surrounding the scene but the edges of my vision had been blurred.
"Victim appears to have a gunshot wound to the shoulder," I heard the cop behind me say as I sunk to the ground on my knees. Hearing him confirm that I had been hit by something made the fire in my shoulder sear. And that was the last I heard before I felt them catch me and lower me to the pavement.
Movies and television don't get it right. I woke in the hospital in searing pain. The room was dark, disorienting me. I recognized that I was too wacked out and my mouth was too dry to do more than drunkenly whisper for help. And for five agonizing minutes no help came. Annoyingly a monitor around me began to beep in earnest, waking a blurry figure that I assumed flipped on the light.
"Mom?" I whispered in horror. The figure patted my hand reassuringly. I just wanted her to help me. Another woman approached me, but she was blurry around the edges too.
"The pain meds seem to have run out," the unfamiliar voice said. Well no shit. I didn't want commentary, I wanted help. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain Mr. Toretto?"
I was waiting for Papi to answer. And then things drifted out of focus then back into focus. Oh, she was talking to me. "Eight."
The unfamiliar voice tsked then marched from the room. Wait! If she was in charge of making the pain go away I wanted her to stay. But my Mom stayed and patted my hand.
"Mom? Mom, I hurt," I said hoarsely.
"I know Dom," she replied, she sounded strong and reassuring.
"And I'm thirst too," I threw out pitifully. But it was ok, my Mom was here and she wouldn't care how childishly I was acting. And I was glad I told her when she brought a bendy straw to my parched lips, allowing me to take two grateful sips. That was all I was allowed before she went back to patting my hand.
The unidentifiable woman came back, fiddled around for a second with something outside of my vision then gave a satisfied, "That should help ease the pain Mr. Toretto," before bustling back out of the room. I heard my Mom sigh and then I clutched at her fingers desperately. I just realized that my Mother, who had been dead long before my Papi couldn't be here with me right now.
"Stay with me Mom," I begged as sleep began to overtake me, "I need you to stay with me."
She used her free hand to rub my clutching fingers then bent to kiss me on the forehead. "I'm not going anywhere," she promised and then I gave up to unconsciousness.
The next time I woke the lights were on and I could focus on the people surrounding my room. I recognized Leon and Jesse sitting to my right by the window, their faces oriented to the TV centered at the foot of my bed. I wanted to test my voice but it didn't seem like I'd be able to muster more than a whisper. I briefly wondered where Mia and Vince were and then I felt my fingers tense around a slim feminine hand. I shifted my head to look down at Mia. She was sitting in a chair next to me, her head on a pillow that was propped on the side of my bed. The position she was in looked very uncomfortable. I took in her hair pulled back into a ponytail that hung oddly off her shoulders. My focus sharpened and I took in the hand rubbing circles on her unresponsive back. It took me less time to follow the arm up to see Vince's face. He was also watching TV although his hand was idly trying to comfort my sister.
I felt the urge to cough to clear my dry throat, noticing the three guys pulled their faces away from the TV to check mine. Jesse's smile was immediate, genuinely full of relief and joy. Vince's face shifted from inattentiveness to alert. His eyes shifted momentarily to Mia then back at me. He nodded his head in an acknowledging gesture. It was a testament to our friendship that I knew he was relieved to see me awake from that exchange.
"So was it a jealous husband or bad timing?" Leon asked, catching me off guard. His reaction may have seemed insensitive to people on the outside, but it was his way of showing how stressed he was. He always tried to smooth over stressful situations with humor. After my fight with Letty he'd calmed the house with his open ear and tongue-in-cheek comments that got the team loose enough to talk through their distress.
"Johnny Tran." There were nods of understanding from each of the guys. I coughed again and Mia stirred from her awkward sleeping position. She sat upright and looked into my eyes, relief etched there for everyone to see.
"Hi Mia," I said sheepishly. If I could have spared her anything it would have been the possibility of losing another member of her family. I would do anything to spare her the loss of me all over again in a much more permanent way. Mia didn't cry or fuss. Instead she reached for the bedside table, filled a cup, and placed a bendy straw to my lips. I gratefully took a few long drafts of the cool water. "Thanks."
"How's your shoulder? What's your pain rating?" She asked searching my face, ready for me to lie.
"My shoulder is uncomfortable but the pain is bearable," I told her truthfully. She looked at me piercingly for a minute before moving to stretch. I noticed that Vince's eyes lingered on her longer than what I felt necessary but I didn't have the strength to address my concerns at the moment.
"I'm going to see if I can get your doctor to visit," Mia told me as she patted my hand. I watched her walk out of the room then moved to interrogate the others.
"What time is it?"
"It's just after eleven Dom," Jesse supplied readily.
"How long have I been here?"
"Just overnight," Leon answered before adding as an afterthought, "It might have been safer to keep her."
I found the humor in his dark comment, "You might be right."
Mia walked in trailed by a nurse who started taking my vitals, changing my IV's, and throwing Leon flirty glances which he oddly ignored. I guess he was more stressed than he was letting on. As the nurse left, the doctor showed up.
After a glance at my chart she addressed me. "How are you feeling Mr. Toretto?"
"Like I've been shot at."
She smiled wanly, "From what I understand you were shot at. Fortunately the car took most of the abuse. You did however get a ricochet bullet imbedded in your shoulder."
"Oh is that all," I said working to make it sound like it was a small thing.
"Besides the small cuts from glass and a scar that will serve as a reminder, pretty much. The bullet didn't travel far but it made you bleed enough to scare the officers and medics on the scene."
I grinned, "Well then at least it wasn't a waste."
The doctor gave me a shrewd assessing look, "This young lady says that we should release you into her care. Originally I wanted to keep you for observation but I can see you are going to be a problem patient. I think it would be saner for everyone if you just go home and take it easy for a few weeks till that wound closes up. Keep it clean and come for stitch removal in two weeks ok?"
I nodded eagerly. I didn't need telling twice. I was getting a pardon with barely any effort involved. I could kiss Mia right now. The doctor shook her head. "I'll just go sign those release papers."
"Thank you doctor for being so understanding," Mia said graciously, patting my hand a little harder than she had done earlier. That was punishment I could live with. Discharge was handled quickly and I was eased into Vince's car with an appeal not to bleed all over his upholstery. He must be reassured that I'd live. He was getting back to his reliably surly self.
Two months later I finally got my car back. I'd answered the obligatory questions the cops had asked. For all intensive purposes I had participated in their investigation. I just left out the part about knowing who had shot at me. Johnny and I had some history and I didn't feel like having him do a retaliatory strike on my family for narcing on him. Besides, my history with law enforcement left me less inclined to want to point the finger at anyone. If they came by the right conclusion in their investigation it could be chalked up to good police work. However Tran was smart enough to dispose of the weapon and the witnesses had been too frightened to see much more than the pavement. The case ended up being closed due to lack of good leads.
The car had been written off as totaled by the insurance company. I got a puny little check from them which I had yet to cash. I wanted to make sure I had money for the repairs, if I could repair the seven. For a moment when it came in on the wrecker I felt a pang of melancholy for the poor thing. It was riddled in holes. There was a crazy load of water damage: the fire department had felt compelled to keep the thing from igniting. It looked like they had emptied the contents of a public swimming pool on the thing. Jesse's face mirrored the disbelief I felt deep down inside.
"Jeez Dom," was all he could get out before he walked away in shock. He didn't return until I'd gotten it moved to a corner of the garage and covered with a large white sheet. It looked like a corpse in the morgue. I found the analogy very appropriate. Jesse joined me, Leon, and Vince at our vigil at the now covered hood.
"Would it be appropriate for us to say some words or…"Leon trailed off. Vince hit him in the arm.
"I can't even deal with this right now," I said slowly. We each turned away to rejoin the projects currently on deck in the garage.