Chapter 21

The room was a delicate shade of lilac, a row of chairs lined three of the walls and a counter was protruding from the fourth. He walked in and up to the desk. The woman behind was old, early fifties perhaps, with dull brown hair highlighted with flecks of grey. She wore her glasses on the bridge of her nose and had an air of superiority surrounding her.

"Erm, I have a 2:15 p.m. appointment." She looked up at the man, before nodding and pointing to the chairs.

"Take a seat." She uttered, a sudden wave of sympathy creeping through her voice. As he sat in the room, his mind wandered through the various scenarios that could occur. It could be good news, in which case no one would need to know. It could be the same news, same outcome as before. He refused to let his mind contemplate the final option. There was no way back from there.

His fingers traced along the side of the chair nervously before he began tapping them on his thighs. His left leg was bobbing up and down. He hated these places. They always smelt so sterile and unwelcoming, despite attempts to make them homely. His eyes flitted around the room, gazing at the various posters and pieces of artwork. On the other side, a young woman was talking to her daughter as she played in front of her. The girl was only about five or six years old, but she was a real chatterbox. He smiled warmly as he thought of Letty and how that would be her in a few years time with Maddie. Though no doubt the conversation would be less about Barbie dolls and more geared towards a cars engine. He was able to relax slightly for a moment before the door pushed open. An older gentleman left, putting on his sunglasses before stepping out into the California sun. His demeanour suggested he had received good news.

"Leon Michaels. You can come in now." Leon stood up from the chair, took a deep breath and reluctantly followed the doctor into the adjacent room.

Vince threw Dom a wrench, but aimed a little too wide and it clattered onto the floor.

"Hand." Dom emphasised his point by pointing to his own before moving it towards the floor, "Floor." Vince shot him a smart ass stare.

"Letty, I'm about to knock out the new guy. That ok with you?" Vince shouted. A raucous laugh crept out from under one of the cars, as she saw Dom's feet pass by. Sliding out from underneath, she watched as Dom hit Vince upside the head before wiping her hands on a rag.

"Hey guys, do you think you could hold out on killing each other for a while whilst I go get some lunch as I'm going to leave Maddie here. She's fast asleep and I don't want to wake her."

"Of course." Dom replied as he walked towards her, "Thank you. It's good to be back." He smiled at her before kissing the top of her head.

"See you in a bit."

As she left, Dom wandered into the office and picked up Maddie. Carrying her into the main garage, he placed himself down into the chair.

"Wait now. No slacking off." Vince moaned from the other side of the garage.

"Come on, Letty's gone to get lunch, those other two guys have gone on a parts run. Having five minutes will not hurt anyone." Vince sighed in defeat and headed over to where Dom was sitting. Maddie was gently sleeping in his arms, "Surprised she can sleep through all the noise."

"She can sleep anywhere, that one." Vince replied with a degree of affection in his voice. He looked at his friend and decided to ask the question that had been bothering him since he arrived back, "So where did you go, Dominic? You were gone for three years, and not a peep from you. Three years is a hell of a long time, brother."

"Anywhere and everywhere. Headed to Mexico first. Stayed there for a while. Then just floated around. Worked as and when. Never really settled anywhere, never wanted to. I knew I would come back one day." Vince laughed and shook his head, "I know, it was stupid of me. I lost out on so much but I am not going anywhere now. I belong here with Let and Maddie." Vince noticed how much love he had for Letty's daughter and smiled. He knew she would never have to worry about John not being around.

As Letty exited the store, she noticed Leon's car parked on the opposite side of the street outside a restaurant. Deciding that Dom and Vince wouldn't miss her for a while, she crossed the road and entered the restaurant. It was a strange place and not somewhere they would necessarily stop at. Leon had his back to the door but she could tell he was lost in his own little world. She perched next to him and waited a few moments before speaking.

"You had the day off to eat on your own?" Leon jumped about three feet in the air as he became aware of her presence. "Jumpy. You alright Le?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Sorry was just thinking."

"Hey, I got a call from Ryan, the guy with the Celica. He said that he won't be able to pick up that car for another week, said something about something, I forget, but there's no rush to get it finished." As she looked at him she could sense not everything was right. There was something that had been taken away from him, his eyes looked downcast and it was almost as if a rain cloud was perched over him, "So why are you here?" She asked trying delicately to prise some information out of him.

He looked at the table, then at the menu in front of him before turning to look at her. 'There is never going to be a good time,' he thought to himself. His voice attempted to escape his mouth, but he was cut off by Letty's cell ringing violently in her pocket. Grabbing it in an instant, she rolled her eyes to see DOM emblazoned on the screen.

"Can't leave them for two minutes. Hello," Leon stared out of the window as she spoke on the phone, "How the hell did that happen? So you're at the hospital now. Right, well I will be there soon." Leon's eyes were firmly back on his friend, concerned at the mention of the word hospital. She hung up and slipped the phone back into her the pocket of her cargo pants before standing up from the booth.

"Hospital?"

"Yeah, Vince somehow managed to put his hand through one of the windows. I sometimes wonder how that guy gets through each day alive. You coming?" Leon thought for a second before moving to stand. He followed her out of the restaurant and towards his own car, "I'll meet you down there." She hollered as she crossed the road. Leon hoped that this would distract her from asking him any more questions, but as she got into the car she knew that she still had to find out what was going on with him. Both cars peeled out at the same time, Leon being gracious and letting her in front of him.

They entered the emergency room and saw Dom sitting with Maddie on his knee, talking to her. Letty wandered over to him with Leon slowly trailing behind her.

"So come on then, how did it happen?" He shrugged as he handed her Maddie, "People don't just put their arms through windows."

"I went out of the workshop with Maddie for some fresh air. I was telling her about the cars and the next thing I know Vince is screaming blue murder. I come back in, his hand is through the office window and blood is dripping everywhere. Then he passed out, I called for an ambulance, Xander?" He paused for a second, trying to figure out if he was right with the name. Letty nodded and he continued, "Xander came back in, the ambulance came, we came down here."

"So Xander is at the garage still?" Leon questioned.

"Yeah, and the other guy. I think they took Vince to x-ray or something. Was told to wait here." Letty slumped down next to him and sighed loudly, "It was pretty sick." Letty suddenly sat up straight.

"Which arm?" She asked

"His left. I have no idea what he was doing, but it was a mess." Dom replied as he watched Leon wearily sit down on the chair opposite, "You ok, bro?" Leon nodded a little too enthusiastically trying to throw him off the scent. Thankfully, it hadn't aroused any suspicion.

They had been sitting in chairs for over two hours. Several trips to the vending machine had ensued and Leon was slowly getting wired off the six cups of coffee he had drunk. His legs twitched incessantly

"What's taking so long?" Leon pondered out loud, echoing the thoughts of both Dom and Letty. Simultaneously they shrugged prompting him to shake his head in amusement. At that moment, a nurse approached them and asked that they follow her. Dom slapped Leon on the arm as the walked behind her.

"She's barely legal. Don't go there." He whispered, or at least he thought he had whispered. The nurse turned and threw an unimpressed look in Dom's direction.

"22 actually, but don't worry, I'm married." Letty couldn't help but laugh. There was something satisfying about seeing Dom being shot down, though she would never admit it to his face. They approached room 214 and could see Vince through the narrow window in the door. "Your friend, he's a bit tetchy at times. Not a fan of pain I am guessing. We had to sedate him so he will be asleep for a few more hours. The lacerations in his arm were deep and it's likely he will be scarred. Though having seen his other arm, they won't be that bad. He will need to come back in a week or so to make sure everything is alright. Feel free to go in and see him."

Leon pushed open the door and wandered in. Dom was about to follow when he felt Letty's hand grabbed his arm. He looked down at her.

"Something's wrong with Leon. I don't know what it is but before you called it looked like he was about to tell me. Is there any chance you can stay here with Maddie and I will drag him off somewhere?" Dom nodded, a move that surprised Letty a little, "You're acting as if you know."

"No, he hasn't said anything, but he doesn't need to. The guy isn't the same. I know I am no expert and I haven't been back for long, but there is something wrong with him. He looks, I'm not sure. He looks ill, very ill." Letty nervously smiled. If Dom had noticed in the short time he had been back then she suddenly felt extremely guilty. How had she missed it? She had lived with the guy for eight years, he had saved her life after the heist and him and Vince were the closest thing she had to a family. Dom noticed the worry on her face and placed his arm around her shoulder. They finally entered the room.

Vince looked so peaceful, all dosed up on morphine and sedated. His left arm was in a clean white bandage and placed carefully by his side. Letty pulled up a chair next to Leon and placed Maddie on her knee. She looked at Dom, his expression having turned from a relative calm to one of apprehension.

"Trust him to do something stupid." Leon laughed, though neither Dom nor Letty had the energy to join him.

"She was saying that he isn't gonna wake for a few hours. I think I might get back to the garage." Letty spoke trying to orchestrate a way to get Leon on his own.

"I'll stay here with Mads, and we can wait till he wakes up. I think I owe some friendly hospital support seen as the last time he was in one of these places I bailed on him." Dom's attempts at lightening the mood failed. Letty and Leon both shot him a look of disdain for having brought up the whole heist situation. Clearing his throat, Dom tried to patch up his faux pas, "So yeah, I don't mind staying here."

"Leon, can you give me a lift? I'm gonna leave my car here so Dom can get home later." He was about to protest, but stopped. He knew better than to argue with Letty, despite everything inside of him screaming out for her to let the issue drop. She passed Maddie over to Dom and walked out of the door, closely followed by a reluctant Leon. As he watched them leave, Dom exhaled loudly.

"So much for being dealt that good hand, eh baby?" He wearily stated.