I apologize in advance, I am no medical expert so if anything sounds unrealistic or stupid or wrong, I'm sorry! I tried to look everything up to see if it was possible but it didn't help. So, please forgive any outrageous medical information! -Danielle

Chapter Twenty-One:

I sit in one of the many plastic hospital chairs and bounce my knee. Mia left to make a phone call, I'm assuming to Dom, or Letty and Leon. A nurse came in an hour ago to tell us Jesse was in surgery and will be for awhile. She said at this point his fate is uncertain but there's still hope. It was very hard to remain hopeful though when his blood stained your clothes.

The same nurse came back with some scrubs in her arms. "I didn't think you'd want to wear those clothes anymore." She smiles sympathetically at me. I accept them and go the bathroom. I change out of my pajama shorts and tank top, the scrubs aren't very comfortable but they are an improvement from my previous blood stained, dirt covered, sweaty clothes. I toss them in the garbage and go back out to the waiting room.

Mia is back and she doesn't look like she has good news. I sit beside her, she takes my hand. "Dom's gone. I don't know where. Leon and Letty are safe. It was hard to convince them to stay away."

"What happens now? To Vince and Jesse. Will they be arrested?"

"Probably." A tear slides down Mia's cheek. Just like that her whole family has been ripped apart. "I can't believe Brian was a cop. this whole time he's been lying to us, to me. I actually thought he loved me." She covers her face and cries. I wrap my arms around her but it feels wrong.

"Mia... I..." I can't figure out how to say it. "I knew Brian was a cop."

Her head shoots up, she stares at me as if I was a different person. "You knew?"

"He was the officer who helped me with Dixon."

Mia jumps up from the chair and narrow's her eyes at me. "You knew and you didn't say anything! I let you into my family, I trusted you."

"I'm sorry! I couldn't tell you, and I didn't know he was going after everyone. All I knew is that he was trying to find out who was doing thr truck jackings, that's all, I swear." My eyes start stinging.

"I can't be here right now." She storms out of the room.

I slump in my chair and let myself cry. "Mia Torretto?" A nurse asks.

"She just left. Is it about Jesse? I'm his sister." I spring to my feet eagerly, hoping it's good news.

"No. It's about Vince Romano. Are you family at all?"

"I'm the closest thing he has. Is he alright?"

She thinks it over, trying to figure out if I'm lying or worthy. "He's fine. He's out of surgury now. The doctor saved his arm but it will be badly scarred for the rest of his life."

"Can I see him?"

"He is asleep right now, but in a few hours you can." With that she leaves the waiting room.

I sit in the waiting room alone for three hours before a doctor comes in. I rush to him immediately. "Is Jesse alright?"

He gives me a look that makes my stomach drop. "We managed to get the bullets out but it doesn't look good. There were five bullets, three of which missed all major organs and were removed easily. The other two however were very difficult. One was very close to his heart but we managed to get it out safely. The other went through his lung and severed his spinal cord. We don't know yet how extensive the damage to the spine is but right now we are just hoping he will survive the night."

"Can I see him?" I ask queitly.

"Of course, follow me." I follow the doctor down long, white halls. The lights are dimmed for the patients, giving the place an eery feel. He leads me into a private room. Jesse lay in a bed with many tubes coming out of him. "He ws having troubles breathing on his own so we had to insert a tube. It's not a pretty sight, and I don't mean to be harsh, but you might want to say some form of good bye, just in case." He gives my shoulder a sympathetic squeeze then leaves the room.

I go to the bed and hover over him. If it weren't the the beeping of the heart moniter I would have thought he was dead. His skin is pasty pale and covered in blue spider veins, his eyelids are dark, and his cheeks are sunken. He looked like a corpse. I pull the only chair in the room beside the bed and grab his cold hand. "Hi Jesse. It's Lanna." I say. "I need you to pull through this. I just got you back and I'm not ready to let you go. Although, when you wake up you'll probably hate me." I take a deep breath. "Brian's a cop... and I knew. I didn't know he was after you guys though." I pause. "Mia hates me now, and when everyone else finds out they'll hate me too. I wouldn't be surprised if you told me to get lost and never wanted to speak with me again. I'd deal with it though, as long as you were alive." I feel tears slide down my cheeks. "Vince is here somewhere. I don't know all the details but I guess he injured his arm somehow. Letty was hurt too, her car flipped over, but she's strong and she pulled through it." I don't know what else to say to him, not that he could hear me though. "I have a secret, something that nobody knows and I'm going to tell you. When I took all the pregnancy tests I was so scared, but when I saw the positive symbol I felt... happy, it was just for a second but it was there. I think it was because I liked Leon, without knowing it, and I thought this would push us together. But as quickly as that emotion came, it went. Then I was angry, and confused, and sad.

I really did like Leon, I still do. It's funny that I can admit it to myself now, after he's gone. He said he liked me to, and that he was falling in love me with. Then, he asked me to run away with him. How romantic. But I told him no... I let him leave. And I helped pull this family apart. I got dad sent to jail, I let a cop weasle his way into their lives, I pushed Leon away, I made Mia hate me. I just hope that you can forgive me because I love you Jess, and I've missed you, and I can't have you hate me." I dry my cheeks with the bottom of my scrub. "I need your help now more then ever because it's looks like I'll be taking care of this baby alone. So please, if not for me then for your niece or nephew, can you pull thought this? Please." I squeeze his hand tightly, hoping it'll wake him up.

"You won't be alone." Someone says. I look up to see Vince standing in the doorway, leaning on his IV pole. I jump up from my chair and offer it to him. He happily takes it, and carefully sits himself down. "I'll stick with you." He adjusts himself so that his bad arm rests gently on the arm of the chair. "I knew he was a cop, from the very begginning."

"I'm sorry Vince."

"Don't apologize Kitten. We all have our reasons for the things we do." I sit at the end of the bed by Jesse's feet. "We made our choice, and we knew we wouldn't be able to get away with it forever. This was suppose to be our last job, then we would go to Mexico or something, and treat it like a vacation, even though we'd actually be in hiding."

"Is that where Letty and Leon went?"

"Nah. They went a few states over, we have some friends there."

"Dom's disappeared."

"Mia told me."

"She saw you? But you just got out of surgery a few hours ago?"

"She was here about an hour ago, she told me everything."

"She hates me."

"I don't." I turn around and see Mia standing in the doorway. "I feel... betrayed, but I don't hate you."

"Can you forgive me?" I ask.

"I think I did right after you told me." She sits on the end of the bed across from me. "I've lost too much of my family today. I don't plan on pushing any of them away." she reaches over and gives me a hug.

We all sit in silence and look at Jesse. "He's tough." Vince says.

I look at the faces of each of my friends and smile. In such a short amount of time I had become so attatched to these people and grown to love them. They were all I had and were all I needed.

The end! Well, except for the epilogue. Jesse's not dead, yet. Vince is alive and kickin, Lanna has come clean, and everyone has forgiven her. Oh what a happy day, but not really. Leon and Letty are in hiding, Dom is M.I.A., Brian is a traitor, and Jesse's in bad shape. but, he's not dead, Vince is not dead, Mia is there for Lanna, and that is what we call the silver lining. It might take awhile for me to write the epilogue because I want it to be perfect. Just warning you so you don't get angry at the lack of update. Till then! -Danielle