Thanks so much for all your reviews! Sorry it took so long for me to update! My classes this quarter are INSANE!!! But I have the next chapter almost done so that should be up really soon! :)

As always, I welcome all reviews good or bad! Thanks so much for all the readers who do review! You guys are awesome! :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Michaela, Alex, and Fisher…

The Blue Diamond

Chapter 25: The Right Kind of Stubborn

By: LoveInk

Michaela couldn't sleep. She stared up at the ceiling fan watching the blades spin in slow circles while the past events drifted through her mind. She didn't want to leave. Her hand gently smoothed Leon's hair down as she thought. He was sleeping peacefully on top of her in his usual position with his head resting on her collar bone. It was going to hurt to leave him that she knew. She'd already dealt with the same pain before when she'd told him to leave but she had a feeling it would hurt more this time especially since she knew he loved her. Since she knew she had him to come home to.

"You're thinking too loud," Leon murmured against her skin, "and you're petting me."

She smiled softly. "Sorry."

"No worries. It feels good," he said on a sigh. He propped himself up on an elbow and studied her face for a brief moment. He could tell something was going through her head. "Talk."

Michaela gave him a soft smile. "This isn't normal, Lee. It shouldn't have to be like this. I should stay here with you until my vacation is over. I shouldn't be nervous about not renewing my contract…"

"Wait, why are you nervous about that? You have a two year contract. Those two years are over so you should be free to go," Leon said, a confused look on his face. "Right?"

She nodded in agreement. "I should be free to quit. I should be free to stay here. I should be able to date. Are you seeing a trend?"

"You don't think he'll let you go," he stated, a worried look passing through his green eyes. "You know he can't do that, legally. When you're contract is over, that's it. He has no power over you."

"Since when does Rick care what's legal and what isn't?"

Leon nodded; she was right. He'd seen the older man do things that were illegal before and suffer no consequences for them. "Let me explain things to Dom, and I'll meet you in Vegas. I can protect you there."

"Are you crazy! No! He'll kill you!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide in fear. "I'll be fine! I have Petey."

Leon didn't look too confident in her statement. Pete was her bodyguard; someone she claimed was like a father to her. He was a nice older guy, buff and balding but always cheerful. Michaela trusted him with everything, but Leon didn't. After all, Pete was on her boss's payroll so he was more likely to be loyal to Rick than to Michaela. "Rick pays Pete, Princess. I know you trust him and all, but you really shouldn't."

Michaela rolled her eyes dramatically. "Don't start this again, Lee. Pete has always protected me."

"On whose orders?" Leon questioned a smug look on his face when her look turned into a glare.

"Look, I feel safe around Pete, and I have this sense of intuition that never fails. It's a family thing. We know what people are bad and what people are good within seconds of meeting them, and Petey is good. I know it."

"Are you telling me you have super powers?" he teased with a grin. "Because, I've always had a thing for Wonder Woman."

"Oh yeah?" A sexy smirk pulled up the corner of Michaela's full lips. She used all her strength to push him off her and onto his back beside her before throwing one leg over his torso. "I'll show you superpowers," she whispered as she dipped her head to kiss his mouth.

Vince was surprised to wake up with Alex cuddled to his chest. His arm was draped over her shoulders holding her closely to his chest. He'd be worried about invading her personal space if her forearm wasn't resting on his hip. He gently nudged her shoulder trying to wake her up. She nuzzled her face into his neck and let out a quiet moan causing an unfamiliar sensation spread through his stomach. He figured it was hunger and shook it off without much thought. "Tiny, wake up," he murmured. Her eyelashes tickled his neck as she opened her eyes. "Morning sunshine," he said, chuckling as she jerked away from him in surprise.

She sat up and scooted a little farther away. "I am so sorry! I don't know what I was doing!" she apologized, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

"S'okay, Tiny," he said with a laugh. "I'm not complaining. I like being violated in my sleep."

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. She could not believe he just said that. "I did not violate you!" she exclaimed, grabbing a nearby pillow and smacking him in the face with it. Laughing, he took his own pillow and gently hit her with it. "You're a wuss," Alex stated sticking her tongue out at him. "Is that really all you got?"

"I'm not gonna hit a girl," he replied with a snort.

"Oh yeah?" she questioned, smacking him again, harder this time. She knew his competitive side would come out eventually. When he didn't react, she did it again. "C'mon, Vinnie! Stop being such a chauvinistic baby!"

"I'll show you chauvinistic," he grumbled as he sat up and hit her with another pillow. She giggled and retaliated with another hit. "You really want to fight with me?" Vince questioned watching as Alex got up on her knees, ready to strike again.

"Bring it on, big guy!"

They were both laughing as they smacked each other with the pillows. Vince managed to knock the pillow out of her hand so she tackled him. He fell back on the bed with her on top of him, their faces inches apart.

And then they were kissing. Alex didn't know who initiated it, but she couldn't deny the way his kiss made her feel. Feelings that were surprisingly foreign to her and impossible to explain. It just felt…right. She wrenched herself away from him, jumping off the bed to put as much space between them as possible. Every bone in her body told her to get back in bed with the handsome man in front of her and finish what they started, but her brain stopped her. "I have to go," she said grabbing her jeans off the floor.

"Tiny, don't…" Vince called after her, his lips still tingling from their kiss.

"No, I can't…I just…Eddie is…and you're…" Her brain was so addled by everything that she couldn't even form a complete sentence. "I just need to go," she managed to say as she left the room.

She hurried into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. "What happened to you?" a voice asked.

Alex gasped in surprised and wheeled around to find Fisher on the floor looking absolutely miserable. "Nothing," she said a little too quickly. "You look awful."

"Gee, thanks Salvy," he muttered sarcastically as he ran a hand over his face. "And you look…well, to be honest, you look quite flushed. What the hell happened?"

She kicked off Vince's sweats and pulled on her jeans. Fisher didn't bother averting his eyes and she didn't care, either; they both knew he wasn't interested in her. "We kissed. I don't know who initiated it or how it happened but it did and…well…yeah."

"Well yeah what? Where are the details? The description? Was it good, bad, what?"

"I'll tell you later," she hissed at him. "Now, we're leaving. C'mon, get up!"

He shook his head. "Two word summary," he demanded.

"Amazingly confusing?" she spat out quickly. Satisfied with her answer, Fisher held out his hand for her to help him up. Rolling her eyes, she pulled him off the floor and to his feet. "Let's go, drunkie."

Grumbling, he stood and let her help him out the hall. They said a quick goodbye to Michaela before heading out the door. Michaela watched the car leave from the front door with an eyebrow raised. "That was weird," she mused to Leon who was watching a basketball game on the TV. "Vince!" she shouted up the stairs, the volume of her voice causing Leon to wince.

"I don't want to talk about it!" he shouted back down.

"That was the wrong choice of words," Leon mumbled to himself. Michaela smacked his head gently as she walked past him on the way to the stairs. He chuckled as she took the stairs two at a time on the way to her brother's room.

She knocked on Vince's door. "I want to talk about it! Open up!"

"Leave me alone!" he shouted back stubbornly.

"C'mon big brother! I'm leaving today and right now may be the last time we have a serious talk for three whole months! Open up! Please!"

"Rompicoglioni," he muttered under his breath before opening the door. "What do you want?" (Pain in the ass)

"Hi!" A triumphant smile spread across her face. "I want to know why Alex left so quickly. What'd you do?"

He glared at her. "What'd I do? Why'd I have to do something?" he asked defensively.

Michaela rolled her eyes as she pushed passed him into the room. "Okay then, what happened?" she asked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"I don't know, Mickey. One minute we're joking around, the next we're kissing."

"What?" she questioned with a happy grin. "She let you kiss her? Did she pull away right away or did she savor it? Was it a good kiss? Did you get some tongue in?"

His face pulled into a disgusted scowl. "This is not a conversation I want to have with you."

She frowned, disappointed. "Aw, why not?"

"Because if I open up to you, you'll open up to me, and I do not want to hear about your love life. Especially if you want Leon to live to see another year," he explained with a smirk. Sighing, he took a seat on the bed next to her. "When are you leaving?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "Too soon. My bodyguard, Petey, is coming to pick me up sometime around two or three. We're flying out."

"What about the car?"

Michaela smiled; of course her brother would be concerned about the car. "Mauro is coming with Petey. He'll drive it back."

Vince's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why can't you drive it back?"

She bit her lip. Should she tell him now? Just spill the beans and let him know all about her life and job in Las Vegas? "Because…I…I…don't want to. Especially not alone. And Petey's a huge guy. There's no way he'd be comfortable in the Corvy," she replied, totally chickening out.

"Vette. In the Vette. If you're gonna shorten Corvette, at least make it sound cool," Vince corrected under his breath. "I doubt Pete would be uncomfortable in the Corvette. It's got a lot of leg room."

Michaela raised an eyebrow. For some reason, she got the feeling that Vince knew Petey despite the fact that, to her knowledge, he'd never met him. She shook her head, smiling at herself. Of course, Vince didn't know Pete. He was just stating a fact; the Corvette did have a lot of leg room. "Yeah, but if we drive, I'll be late for the first rehearsal and we pay the choreographer way too much for me to be late," she made up on the spot.

"Whatever, Michaela," he said on a sigh.

She leant her head on his shoulder. "Hey V?"

"Hmm?"

"Will you take care of him?" she asked softly, her blue eyes looking up at her older brother.

She watched his jaw clench briefly before he nodded. "Of Leon? If by take care, you mean make sure he doesn't touch another woman, sure. I can do that."

"No, I'm not worried about that. I just...I don't know, I feel like he needs someone to watch out for him. He's always watching out for Jess and for everyone else, but I don't think he watches out for himself."

Vince shrugged a shoulder. "I'll keep an eye out."

"Thanks, bro," she said with a smile. "You going to miss me?"

He rolled his eyes and wrapped her in a headlock. "I'm not gonna miss you being a pain in the ass all the time, that's for sure."

"Ha ha, real funny," Michaela said with a roll of her eyes. She knew her brother would miss her "pain in the ass" moments because they gave him something to do. They let him be the overbearing, overprotective alpha male that he loved. It was one of the reasons she wanted him to find a girlfriend so he could focus on protecting her instead of his little sister. She remembered how much it eased Mia's pain when Dominic wasn't just focused on her. "Hey, about Alex…"

"Don't," he cut her off with a glare.

She grinned and elbowed him gently. "C'mon, V. Just call her, hang out. Girls like her like to be friends with a guy before anything else happens."

"She's got a boyfriend, Mickey. Drop it."

"I will not," she said stubbornly. "Get to know her. She'll fall for you real fast, I know it."

"What part of 'boyfriend' don't you understand?"

Michaela snorted and rolled her eyes. "Well, she let her kiss you didn't she?"

Vince smirked proudly. "That she did."

"You have a chance, V. Be stubborn about the right thing for once in your life."

"Whatever you say, Mickey," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Don't you have packing to do?"

She nodded, kissed his cheek, and left him with his thoughts. He ran a hand over his face and up through his hair. "Crazy girl," he muttered to himself with a shake of his head. "She's got a point, though."

Like it? Hate it? Let me know! Thanks!

The next one is coming soon...

~Love Ink