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Disclaimer: I own nothing but Michaela

The Blue Diamond

Chapter 14: Stop Saying That

By: LoveInk

Vince let his eyes fall on Michaela and Leon dancing once again. They both looked like they were enjoying themselves, and he was surprised to see their dancing was relatively tame compared to the grinding couples around them. Leon spun her out and pulled her in close, his hands staying in the appropriate place as they did some kind of salsa dance.

"I thought you were the designated tonight," Dom said leaning against the bar next to Vince and nodding pointedly to the beer in his hand. Letty and Mia had gone off to the bathroom leaving him alone with Colton. Dom ditched the kid the first chance he got, he hadn't liked him in high school and he sure as hell didn't like him now that he was showing interest in Mia.

"I've only had this one. I'm good to drive," Vince mumbled without looking at his best friend. His eyes were still watching his sister, waiting for Leon to make a wrong move, to check out another girl behind her back, to touch her in the wrong way, anything to give him an excuse to kick his ass. "Do you think I need to let her go?" Vince asked finally. "Let her decide for herself for once?"

Dominic shrugged and glanced at the girl he considered to be a little sister. "Who brought it up?" He knew Vince was too over protective of Michaela to think of that by himself, someone had to have put it in his head.

"The mad scientist did," Vince answered, running a hand through his hair. "Would you let Mia go?"

"I would," he said with a bob of his head. "I'd give him a stern warning not to mess with her, though." He added brandishing a fist, a big smile on his face. After a moment, the smile faded. "You know what I think?"

"They knew each other beforehand?" Vince asked. He'd been thinking the same thing for awhile now.

Dominic gave him a deep nod. "Which means…."

"She's the girl he's been trying to forget."

The team had only heard the story of why Jesse and Leon left Las Vegas one time. It had been the duos second weekend with the team and Letty had said some snide comment about how there was yet another "manwhore" in the group. Jesse had defended his partner in crime saying that the only reason Leon slept with so many girls was to fill the gap another girl had left when she told him to leave.

"Shit." They both said in unison.

Letty looked between them. Unbeknownst to the boys, she'd been standing there since the "warning" comment. "You know it's really creepy when you two do that." Her only response was their loud laughter.

A few hours later and the team was ready to leave. Vince did a head count of everyone and found two to be missing. He growled low in his throat and pulled Jesse aside. "Where are they?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Mickey was feeling sick so they took a cab home," Jesse explained. It was the truth. Michaela's alcohol induced high was short lived and after spending a few minutes puking her guts out in the bathroom, Leon had decided to take her home.

"A likely story," Vince uttered under his breath. He was even more anxious to get home with this information. He'd beat Leon unconscious if he found him doing something inappropriate with his little sister. Once he herded a very drunk Mia into the back of Jesse's car, he took off. Since Jesse had two open seats, Vince was able to go straight home without dropping anyone off at the fort.

He threw open the door of the house and was surprised to find Leon lying on the couch with the TV on watching the West Side Story, Michaela's favorite movie. When he stepped closer, he found Michaela to be lying on her stomach on top of him. His hand was gently stroking her hair as he watched her sleeping rather than whatever gang fight was on the television screen. Michaela was wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a black tank top and he was happy to see Leon was still wearing what he had worn to the club. "She all right?" Vince asked giving Leon a death glare.

Leon decided to play it cool. Maybe Mickey was right. Maybe if he didn't make a big deal of it, neither would Vince. "I think so. She'll be feeling it tomorrow, that's for sure. I swear she didn't even drink that much."

"Weren't you watching her?" Vince growled. If Leon liked her like Jesse had been suggesting, wouldn't he take care of her? Make sure she didn't go overboard with the alcohol?

"I was, but I swear she was sneaking shots behind my back!" he exclaimed quietly. "Those damn waiters and their trays of shots! She'd take one every time they'd pass by!"

Vince hid a chuckle and shook his head. "Why didn't you stop her?"

"Maybe because she takes shots faster than you do," Leon whispered aggressively. "I don't how she did it without puking her guts out on the spot.

"Practice," he answered with a shrug. In high school, Michaela had to take shots quickly or risk them being taken away by her two overprotective brothers who happened to show up to almost every party she went to.

Leon smirked. "I don't want to know."

Vince opened his mouth to shoot something back when Michaela stirred, her brow creasing ever so slightly. Her eyes opened and she bolted for the bathroom. Both men watched her retreat, looked at each other, and then followed her; each shoving their way through the hall to see who could get there first. Leon did. He found her huddled over the toilet throwing up what was left in her stomach. He swept her hair out of her face as he knelt beside her.

"You all right, Shorty?" Leon asked his eyes concerned as they fell on her.

She spit one last time, flushed the toilet, and nodded. "I'm pretty sure that was it. Ugh. I'm so sorry, Lee. This is nasty."

Vince watched as Leon gingerly moved a piece of hair from her face and pushed it behind her ear. The whole moment was alien to him. It was weird to watch another man take care of his little sister. It was weirder still that it was Leon who was taking care of her. He stepped into the shadows of the hallway suddenly feeling the need to give them some privacy deciding to wait there to over hear their conversation and see if he could discover just how much Leon cared about Michaela.

Leon shrugged off her comment and helped her get to her feet. She looked herself over in the mirror and groaned, "I look like a disgusting train wreck!"

He handed her what he assumed to be her toothbrush. While she brushed her teeth, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, setting his chin on her shoulder. "I think you look beautiful," he said pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

"You need your eyes checked," she mumbled around her toothbrush but a smile crossed her face just the same. She finished brushing her teeth and turned in his arms with a loud sigh. "Thanks for taking care of me," she said into his chest as she squeezed him tightly.

He kissed the top of her head. "Anytime, Princess. You feeling better now?"

She groaned and nuzzled her face into his chest. "My head hurts."

"That's what happens when you take shots like they're going out of style," Leon said with a chuckle. "I swear you've never done that before."

He felt her smile into his chest before she pulled away so she could see his face. "That's because when Dumb and Dumber are around, I have to get drunk quickly or stay sober the entire night." She heard her brother grunt at the nickname and smirked in triumph. "Yeah, that's right. I called you Dumb and Dumber. You can pick which one you are, you eavesdropping lunatic," she shouted toward the open door. Vince's stepped into the light of the bathroom, leaning his bulky frame against the doorjamb. Leon instantly pulled away, taking a step back so he was leaning against the bathroom wall. Michaela rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Hi Vince."

"Oh, hi Michaela," he answered in a sarcastically sweet voice. "Long time no see."

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She knew that tone of voice and knew what it meant. "I'm in trouble, huh?"

Vince nodded, his eyes serious as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Truck loads."

She rubbed at her forehead, trying to banish the headache that was making it hard to think. "Can I be in trouble in the morning?"

"Already is the morning, sis," he said with a smirk on his face.

Michaela glared at her brother. "Right," she whispered. "How about around noonish? I don't think I can handle you yelling right now."

Vince shrugged. "I'm free."

She pushed herself off from the counter she was leaning on, grabbed Leon's hand, and walked past Vince, pulling Leon behind her. "Good. I'll be in trouble around noonish. Right now, I'm going to bed," she tossed over her shoulder.

"Hey! Leon!" Vince shouted down the hall. Michaela winced at the volume of his voice and stopped walking. She squeezed Leon's hand reassuringly as he slowly turned around and nodded his head at Vince to show he was paying attention. Vince pointed at him and then at himself. "We need to talk," he said before turning and walking to his own room.

Leon turned around to face Michaela an accusing glare on his face. "You are trouble."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "I really wish you'd stop saying that."

Thanks again for reading and please review!!!

~Love Ink