Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates things have been hectic. I really appreciate your support and your reviews. You guys have been a big help at when I needed it most. I promise I'll update again this week.

"It's been two months since the bitch was sited and you still haven't made a move." James huffed with great irritation. He crossed his arms like a child and threw himself back into the large leather chair. Mr. Thompson lifted his brow looking towards the elderly man who was sitting across from the pouting boy in amused disgust.

"I really don't see how it is any concern of yours what I chose to do with my property, James." The man answered him without looking up from writing.

"She could ruin everything for you, if she goes to the cops she-"

"Wouldn't be believed, James." Mr. Thompson interrupted the boy. "Besides, she hasn't gone to them yet and I don't foresee that changing." The boy glared at Mr. Thompson but knew better than to say anything against him. He opened his mouth to say something but the old man raised his hand to silence him.

"James I think it's getting late." The boy closed his eyes in defeat before swinging himself up off the chair.

"Yes, Father." The men waited until they were sure the boy was far down the hall.

"I don't see why you keep letting him in here." Mr. Thompson said in his usual monotone voice.

"What can I say? I kind of have to have a soft spot for him. Besides he's proven useful, maybe he'll be of some use in the future." The man smirked as he put the ear piece of his glasses to his lips. "In fact…" He pointed his glasses at Mr. Thompson in thought. "We do need to bring the brat back, maybe James can be of more use than we thought."

Mr. Thompson smirked at the other man's devious smile. "Oh Marcus, I like where this is going. What's the plan?" Marcus eyes gleamed in dark glee as he discussed the information with Mr. Thompson, getting his input when needed. The two schemed and schemed until the plan seemed perfect.

"Marcus, you are indeed the most sinister man I have ever known." Marcus sat back in his seat thoroughly pleased with himself.

"You know, I think you're absolutely right." The man picked up his pen again but before his started to write he gave one last shake of his head. "She's never going to know what hit her."

"You got everything?" Dom asked as he threw his bag into the small trunk of his car

"How am I supposed to know? You won't tell me where we're going!" Alex pouted wanting for Dom to just tell her. She'd been healed for some time now and she'd been begging him for her surprise now for weeks and now it seemed that it was finally coming to pass, but it was torturing her not to know. Dom smirked at her pouting lips before he leaned down to give her a swift kiss.

"Quit whining." He smiled ruffling her hair. "Mia knows what's up and she packed your bag with anything that you could need."

"Is that why she packed me two bags for a weekend trip?" Alex asked raising an eyebrow. Dom shook his head as he looked at the cramped trunk, knowing he'd have to put stuff in the back seat now since it was full.

"She likes to be prepared?" Dom shrugged. "Come on, let's go." Dom said finally putting the last of the bags in. Alex excitingly climbed in with him ready for her surprise. She thought she was ready at least. After a not so long drive, which seemed to take forever in Alex's mind, Dom finally pulled off the freeway and towards a sign the read "Frazier Park." She watched as the city disappeared being replaced by a never ending expanse with trees as the car climbed up the mountain.

"This is beautiful, Dom!" Alex bounced in her seat alternating between looking out her window, the windshield, and Dom's.

"You should see it during the winter, place is covered in snow, it's amazing." Dom smirked at her sporadic movements as she pointed everything out.

"Snow? Like real snow?"

"Um, yeah. I'm guessing you've never seen snow before?" Alex shook her head. "This winter I'll take you out in the snow."

"Really?" Dom saw the sparkle in her eyes and couldn't disappoint her.

"Promise." He winked at her as she smiled up at him.

"You're the best, Dom." Alex leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, for everything." Dom smiled down at her as he took her hand in his. He gently kissed the back of her hand while he rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. Dom pulled into a section marked tent camping and drove down the road a bit.

"What's that mean, Dom?"

"What's what mean?" Dom asked trying to find the turn he was looking for not really pay attention.

"Tent camping only." She quoted the sign.

"It means you can only camp in tents here, no RVs allowed." He said distractedly.

"What's camp mean?" Dom nearly slammed on the brakes to look at her.

"Camping, is when you're outdoors and you sleep in a tent and…" Alex had her brow raised not understanding what he was talking about. "You'll love it, promise." Alex shrugged trusting that Dom knew her better than she knew herself most of the time.

"Here we are." Dom smiled as he pulled up to a site. "Same as always, people are too lazy to come this far in." It was Dom that was getting excited now. "Come on." He urged jumping out of the car and grabbing Alex's hand. He walked further into the campsite until he heard Alex gasp.

"Dom." It was all she could say as she stared in awe at the most stunning sight she'd ever seen. There were trees that grew along the bank of a river that flowed water as clear as crystal. The water reflected in the afternoon sun making the rays dance along the flowers that lined the pathway to it. The scene looked like something right out of a movie and it made Alex want to smile and cry all at the same time.

"This is… it's… I don't know a stronger word for beautiful." Dom wrapped Alex in his arms pulling her back to his front.

"I understand exactly what you mean." Dom smiled kissing the top of Alex's head. Alex turned in his arms and wrapped hers around him laying her head on his chest.

"Thank you, Dom." Dom chuckled.

"I haven't even shown you your surprise yet." Alex pulled back in confusion.

"You mean this isn't it?"

"Well, it is… kinda but not all of it." He smirked. "Come on." He urged looking at his watch. "We got to set up camp before it gets too dark." Reluctantly Alex let go of Dom and let him guide her to the trunk of the car where the two pulled out all of their gear.

Setting up camp seemed to be an adventure in itself. The tent that was guaranteed to take fifteen minutes or less took closer to forty-five, the bear proof food cabinet also seemed to be Dom and Alex proof, and collecting wood for a fire seemed to turn into a competition to who could get more scrapes and bruises. Throughout all of this though Alex couldn't stop laughing, couldn't stop smiling. This in turn made Dom smile and laugh even when he was struggling to insert pole A into slot B.

"I'm sorry, Alex." Dom said when he was finally done and he was looking over the scratches she'd received from a thorn bush she'd tripped into in her search for firewood.

"For what?" Alex asked with her brows furrowing and her head cocked to the side.

"Well, this isn't going quite the way I planned." He said rubbing the back of his head.

"Are you kidding me? This has been wonderful! I don't think I've had so much fun in my life!" Alex laughed as she rocked from heel to toe, seemingly unable to stop moving.

"Really?" Alex smiled up at Dom's doubtful face, before she reached up and gave him a gentle kiss.

"Really." She confirmed. Dom still looked doubtful so she tried a different way. "Come here." She led Dom down to the brook, found two smooth rocks for them to sit on and put her now bare feet into the water. Before she spoke she tilted her head back and basked in the light of the sun, delighting in the way it seemed to warm her skin and touch her soul.

"Did I ever tell you about the first time I was outside?" Dom gave her a stunned look but he tried to recover quickly. He thought that he was past the point of her shocking him but apparently not. Dom tried to think about the first time he'd ever seen the sun but even his earliest memory wouldn't go back far enough.

Alex saw the appalled look and gave a small sad smile. "I didn't think so." She reached her hand down and touched the water from the running brook. She gave a small laugh as the water trickled through her hand. "It was day I ran away."

"That was the first time you were ever outside?" Dom asked alarmed. He pulled her closer to him as if he could protect her from her past.

"Yeah, I ran away at night. The first thing I saw was the stars. They looked like hope to me. I picked a star and I started running to it. I thought if I could reach it, I'd be far enough away from them." Dom tightened his grip on her has she shivered at the memory of them.

"I remember when the sun started to come up, and made my star disappear. I panicked, I didn't know what to do. And then I saw the sun. It took away all the shadows that I thought they were hiding behind. I remember seeing flowers for the first time, the smell of grass, I remember seeing a squirrel for the first time." Alex smiled at the memory of her first animal encounter. "When the sun came up I also saw cars for the first time."

Dom seemed to brighten at this. "What was it?"

"I didn't know at the time, but I messed around with Jesse's computer until I figured it out." Dom smirked at her proud of how much she'd learned and grown since she first came to them.

"So don't leave me in suspense, what was it?" Dom nudged her. She gave a little laugh.

"It was a garbage truck. I thought it was some kind of monster." Dom laughed at the image of her and as Dom laughed Alex laughed harder, it was nice to be able to laugh about something that had been so terrifying at the time. As Dom sobered he looked to Alex remembering what she had said about escaping, it was the first time she'd ever been outside; they had just locked her away.

"Hey Alex," Alex looked at him with a small sad smile as if knowing what he was going to ask. "How was it that you'd never been outside before then?"

"It's kind of a long story." Alex warned. Dom picked the small girl up and placed her in his lap.

"Comfortable?" Alex gave a confused look but nodded. "Good, me too and we've got nothing to do for a few hours. Spill." He commanded. Alex nodded tucking herself into Dom's chest. Dom in turned tightened his grip on her letting her know he was right there with her.

"Well, when I was born my mother died in child birth, like I told you." Dom nodded as he remembered her horrible whipping story. "My father was really sad, he didn't want anything to remind him of my mother so he put me down into the basement. I stayed there for the time I was born to the time I was eight years old. When I turned eight he'd allow me to come upstairs to punish me or just yell at me, but whenever he did that he had the windows blocked up with blanket type things."

"Curtains?" Dom didn't know why he was informing her of this, he wasn't thinking about curtains but it seemed his brain was trying to find some safe topic for Alex, and more than likely himself too.

"Yeah, I think so." Alex nodded. "So I never got to see outside. The basement didn't have any windows." She shrugged. To her it was normal to grow up living in a basement, to live without knowing the smell of fresh cut grass on a Saturday morning, or the feel of the sand between your toes, never climbed a tree, never learning to ride a bike. This was Alex's childhood, four walls and darkness.

"Who took care of you if not your dad?" Alex gave another small smile.

"Ms. Robertson." The girl sighed burying herself into Dom more. "She wasn't allowed to do anything more than feed me and clean me. She wasn't supposed to talk to me, she wasn't supposed to hold me when I cried. All she was allowed to do was the bare minimum. She use to sing to me through." Alex's eyes welled up with tears but she blinked them back. "She sang this song about a star that would twinkle."

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?" Dom asked. To which Alex pulled back to look at him.

"You know it?" She asked astonished.

"Um, yeah it's kinda popular." He tried hard not to sound condescending about it, and with the smile that she gave him she guessed it had worked.

"When they found out about her singing to me and talking to me they fired her but by that time I was already six years old. I didn't need anyone to look after me anymore. A man would come and give me food, but he wasn't nice like Ms. Robertson." Again Alex shrugged as if it was nothing.

What else did she know though? For the first eight years of her life all Alex knew was her basement. Sure she wondered where Ms. Robertson went when she wasn't there, but whenever she asked what was beyond the basement door the woman would just tell her that she was better off in her basement. Alex just wished that she'd believed her and not snuck up when she had the chance. Alex shuttered at the memory moving herself into Dom's side to block out the memories of that night.

"So why didn't she try to get you out of there?" Dom asked angry that there was someone there who would act like they cared but wouldn't get her out.

"I asked her if I could come with her one time, but she said she couldn't take me from my father. She said that he was a good man, he was just sad. That was when I was really little. As I got older I think she saw what he'd become, that he wasn't a good man, but by that time she'd already been fired." Dom shook his head, she spoke so highly of this Ms. Robertson and yet she'd let them hurt her.

"Please don't be mad at her." Alex said softly. Dom sighed softly closing his eyes. It was something that he loved about her, always seeing the best in people. Alex didn't judge him so what right did he have to just this woman? He nodded but said nothing not liking the idea of forgiving this unknown person that didn't help Alex when she could have.

"You know my father told me that there was a study done where kids were left without any affection at all. Someone took care of their needs and nothing else; like what Ms. Robertson was supposed to do. According to him more than half of the kids died before they stopped their experiment. It's the whole reason he put me down there. He wanted me to die, Dom." Dom tightened his grip on the small girl in his arms, so small and yet so strong, so resilient. "It was only because of her that I lived, I owe her my life."

"It wasn't just her Alex, you're tougher and braver than you give yourself credit for." Dom urged Alex, but she just shrugged. Dom sighed knowing he wasn't going to get through to her right now.

Dom kissed her temple burying his nose in her hair not knowing where he'd be without Alex. After Letty had left him, it had hurt him more than he wanted to admit. Instead of grieving though he had become irate and short with everyone. He knew it wasn't fair, but his anger seemed to fill the hole that she had left. The moment that he set eyes on broken little Alex things seemed to change, at the time he didn't notice, he only saw a girl in need. His want to help turned into caring for the girl, and now? How did Dom Toretto feel about this girl he cradled in his arms? He had feelings for her, he cared for her deeply, but did he love her?

Dom sighed not knowing how to answer the thoughts running through his busy brain. He lifted his eyes and saw the sun was setting. "Come on." He stood letting her slide down him with ease. "Well start the fire, eat something and when it gets dark enough you'll get your surprise."

"Really?" Dom nodded. "What is it?" She asked as she watched Dom setting up the wood in the pit. He smiled up from his kneeling position before he pulled her down next to him. He gave her a sweet kiss that seemed to last forever, and yet was still too short for either of their liking. He put his lips to her ear and whispered.

"We're going to go chase some stars."

Hopefully the wait was worth it. I know it's shorter than normal, but again I'll update again this week. I appreciate everyone who followed and favored:

Neverephemeral, arkansasgrl101, Brooklynnewyork6, t0neverland7, taterbug0491, KendraTheVideoGameNerd, , naviskyy, Lil-Randomer, thewickedendax7, BelikovXOXCullen, DreamingUntilForever11, and LucyJ27.

And for everyone that followed:

Barbie on Crutches, caleb's babe, tatyasdias, Guest, Flowerchild23, AnimeFan001, and Lil-Randomer. You guys are really amazing and I really appreciate your kind words and encouragement! Thanks for reading and reviewing it really means a lot to me. See you later this week.