DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except: Angel aka Diablo, Aunt Suki, Uncle Jah, Kei, Jose, Catherin, Jasmine, Lu Sung, Alex and the plot line.
Dom yawned as his alarm went off early Sunday morning. Sundays were always the worst depending on how late his Saturdays ran because of the races. As he sat up rubbing his face he noticed that his skin was damp from the dreams he had from seeing her. The older Angel filling his mind of all sorts of things he would never willingly admit to while he slept. Groaning to himself he stood, shutting off the incessant beeping and grabbed some church clothes before heading off to the bathroom for a much needed shower.
When he came out of the bathroom he was feeling cleaner than his brain was. Nothing was going to be washing those images, which were seared into his sleep deprived mind, away as he walked downstairs and kissed his sister's cheek before grabbing his keys. On the key ring was the spare key to the Suko's front door. He tried to never use it except on serious situations, like Alex being sick, but knowing he had to get Alex up made him consider just letting himself in to perhaps catch Angel sleeping.
Swallowing he unlocked the heavy red metal door and walked up the stairs to the bedrooms. He didn't often come into the Suko house and let himself around, so he felt a bit like a robber as he flipped the nightlight out in the bathroom and peaked into Alex's room. Smiling he roused the girl and shooed her to the bathroom as he peeked into Angel's room.
He leaned on the door frame and rubbed his face, the blankets were twisted around the lower half of her body hugging, what he could just about see, were strong muscular legs. Her hair was down and fanned out under her still sleeping form, a tri colored waist length halo of tangled curls. But what had made his brain almost stop working was seeing her upper body curled around the teddy bear he had gotten her when they were kids, and how scarily similar the scene was from when she was still a kid. Alex tugged on his arm and he turned away from watching Angel sleep to smile at the little girl.
Alex had her arms crossed over her chest with a disapproving look, "You're such a creep Dom…" she whispered shaking her head.
"I've missed your sister," Dom said shrugging as he easily picked Alex up, "It's not creepy to want to spend some time with her."
"No but it is creepy to watch her sleep."
"I'm just looking in on her," Dom defended carrying Alex down the stairs as she rolled her eyes at him.
"You've got a thing for my sister," was the confident response from the six year olds mouth, "Though I thought you had a thing for Letty? You're not going to have a thing for both of them are you?" her whisper worried.
"I think that would be a bad thing for me," he paused not wanting to talk about this to the six year old that seemed to know way more then she should have, "How do you know anything about things anyway?"
"Jesse. I asked why Letty was always trying to get massages from you. He said she had a thing for you and you had a thing for her… I didn't want to know anything else," she made a face, "Adults are weird, always kissing and talking in code, like a bunch of spies. You aren't spies right?"
Dom had to hold the bark of laughter at her sudden horror, "No not a spy, just a mechanic and babysitter," he said as he locked the front door and headed back across the street still carrying her as she rested her head on his shoulder, "No going to sleep on me, won't get you out of church if you want chicken."
"But sissy doesn't have to be up for church and she is still going to get fed," Alex complained.
"Yes well your sister flew 18 hours to come and see you and us for a week, she deserves to get some sleep," he covered setting Alex on her feet so she could go inside and get the others up.
When Angel finally woke up she grumbled reaching around until she found her phone and looked at the clock which was reading well past noon. Still grumbling she got up and grabbed a change of clothes before heading into the bathroom and taking a cold shower which really didn't help wake her up as much as Dominic's laughter coming from downstairs did. She nearly bolted out of her skin, before remembering that he was supposed to take Alex to church with him. Shaking her head she finished her shower and toweled off before changing and forgoing make-up as she left her damp hair down to dry.
Coming down the stairs she could hear the TV playing some kind of kid's movie and she saw Alex, Dom and Vince all sitting on the couch watching this movie. She walked silently into the kitchen and started up the coffee pot, intent on getting some caffeine in her before the caffeine withdraw kicked in and made her a very irritable monster.
"Welcome to the land of the living," Vince smirked as he came into the kitchen.
Angel fixed him with a glare that could have peeled paint off a car, "Shut it brat," she growled before turning her attention back to the coffee pot trying to will it to brew the blissful substance faster.
"Glaring at the coffee maker isn't going to make it faster," he teased leaning against the counter beside her, "So you normally sleep this late?"
"Never, my boy normally wakes me up before he goes to school with a cup of coffee."
"Which is why you are trying to murder the empty coffee pot?" Vince asked receiving another glare from Angel, "Will you relax, I'm just teasing you."
Angel growled lightly grabbing a mug from the cabinet pouring herself a steaming cup from the still brewing pot before letting it finish. She scooped sugar and cream into the cup before leaning cattycorner from Vince sipping on the almost burning liquid as her eyes finally opened the rest of the way and she sighed.
"Me without caffeine is a bad thing for most people, I get a migraine and that just makes me meaner," she shrugged breathing in the coffee flavored steam rising off the mug.
"God you slept forever," Alex whined dragging out the word forever, "I thought I was going to have to jump on you until you got up."
"You do that and I will not be held accountable for my sleep deprived actions," Angel said looking at her sister seriously, "So how was church?"
"Fine," she said making a face before giving Angel a hug around the middle before darting off to finish her movie as she dragged Vince with her as Dom came over to grab a cup of coffee.
Angel glanced him over and sighed softly, "Afternoon Dominic. You know it is weird seeing you standing here in this kitchen. When we were kids I would never see you even think about setting foot inside this house."
"Well it's still weird being in here," Dom shrugged reaching a hand out to brush a stray curl behind her ear, "But it's not like your old man is in country or that we are kids anymore."
"So about last night…" Angel started before he took another step towards her.
"What part of last night?" Dom questioned a playful smirk on his lips, "The us talking or the us kissing? If you're thinking about the kissing, I can always keep doing it until you get used to it."
"My sister is less than 100 feet away," she said firmly putting a tattooed hand against his chest, "Damn you are solid…" she dragged her hand across his chest as his eyes followed her hand with some amusement, "So if I lifted your shirt up would I find a six pack?"
"I thought your sister was less than 100 feet away?" he teased but nodded to her question as he licked his lips, "In about an hour I'm going to start lunch and dinner, you want to come over before hand and we can do some catching up?"
"Oh that is an invitation if I ever heard one," she snorted letting her hand drop as she leaned further back, spine arching ever so slightly, "How about you take a long lunch on Monday while Alex is at school? We can catch up and what not without me having to worry about where my little sister is."
Dom smiled, "Your mom side is showing," he teased kissing her cheek as he leaned over the empty coffee mug in her hands, "Races tonight? Once Alex is in bed?"
Angel shrugged turning slightly as she refilled her mug, "We shall see how tired I am come tonight. Now I am going to go check over my car, he was chugging a bit getting here."
"Need any tools?"
"Nope, packed a basic set of everything I needed to fix him, in the trunk before I left home. I like being prepared," she leaned up and kissed his cheek before heading towards the door to the garage, "Alex I am going to be outside for a little bit, keep an eye on the boys."
"Sure thing Angel!" Alex called back with a salute.
Angel staid outside fiddling under the hood of Reaper calming her hormones back down to a manageable roar, because the mere thought of lifting Dom's shirt up was enough to distract her into saying things before she thought about them. Groaning beside herself she leaned back laying her forehead on her forearms as she heard the stomp of Letty's boots.
"Where's Dom," Letty snapped as Angel closed the hood down.
"Inside watching movies with Alex," Angel wasn't in the mood to deal with obnoxious girls at the moment as she buffed the grease marks off her hood.
When Letty went to go into the garage Angel looked at her and snorted, "I didn't say you could go in Letty, you asked I answered. Now get your presumptuous ass off my property."
The look Letty gave her was priceless as her face scrunched in a growl before the woman launched herself as Angel. She ducked and caught Letty under the ribs with her shoulder before lifting her up and walking heavily to the end of the driveway.
"Do it again and I will hit you," Angel threatened tossing Letty to the ground, "Now either run home or go over to Dom's house, but you stay the hell away from here unless you got a damn good reason for coming over here."
Letty stood up brushing herself off, "You think you can just come back here and rule the roost? Well I got news for you, Dominic is mine. You left and I took him and I am not giving him up."
Angel shook her head and licked her lips, "If that was the case Letty, why is he inviting me over to get caught up. For the record though, I don't need to rule the roost to stomp up and down your ass like a show pony. I worked my ass off to get where I am today, you just grabbed onto Dom's shirt tails and got a free ride."
She almost winced at the blow to her cheek as Letty clocked her with a look of anger, "You have got no right. I worked my ass off to get here too, yeah I'm no tatted up tramp like you but at least I was here for my family."
Her hand clenched and popped Letty one in the nose feeling the satisfying pop of one broken nose under her colored knuckles, "One not a tramp, two I have every right, and three it's not like I had a choice in the matter WHEN I WAS 10!" Angel roared like a demon as the other woman cowered holding her nose, "Now you say anything like that to me again, that broken nose is going to be the least of your problems."
Vince grabbed Letty as he nearly body checked Angel into Dom as he suddenly appeared by her elbow, hands already grabbing her wrist to stop any future fighting, "The hell chicka!"
"She called me a tramp," Angel shrugged as Dom released once wrist to rub his face.
"You broke her nose because she called you a tramp," Dom asked as Vince checked the damage.
"That was the main reason," she shrugged again ignoring the hard glare Letty was fixing her with, "Plus she hit me first."
Both males turned and looked at Letty, "And she damn well deserved it. She left this family and now she thinks she can just come back and act as if nothing has happened! I stayed here, I was here and still am and now you all are taking her side."
"I am not like an evil step mother Letty… Shit happened yeah and there is nothing I can do about it. We all grew up, we are adults and yet you can't let the shit go, it's been 12 years. Let it go," Angel snapped shaking Dom's other arm off, "Now I am going to walk over there and spend time with the family I have missed for those 12 years. You want to join us you and me are going to do the whole civil thing, because I do not want to make Mia pissed because you and me can't ever get along."
Vince sighed and pulled Letty to him, "I'm taking her to the doctors to make sure your demon didn't do any permanent damage," he snapped looking at Dom.
Alex came out and peeked around the garage, "Is it safe yet?"
Dom glanced over his shoulder, "Yeah its safe. Come on kiddo, you, me and your demonic sister, are going to head over."
Alex smiled as she ran towards Dom and he picked her up tossing her over his shoulder, "So did you get her good Angel? Cause it looks like she got you good."
"Yeah I broke her nose, but don't you dare ever do what I just did at school. Someone hits you, walk away," Angel snapped looking at her sister who nodded quickly.
"Can I do it when I am older?"
"Only when you have to defend yourself off of school grounds," she compromised, "And don't tell your parents I said it was okay."
"Not a problem sissy I swear I won't tell them you said it was okay to hit people that hit you," Alex beamed making her older sister sigh softly.
"It is scary how much like me you are…"
Dom grinned, "Sorry about that Ang, I may have told her all the stories of us as kids," he opened the gate and set Alex down on her feet, "Hey Mia, you ready to start food?"
"Where is Vince and Letty?"
"Hospital," Angel said bending and kissing Mia's cheek, "Letty tripped and whacked her nose real good so Vince took her up there to make sure she would be okay."
"I'm sure that's what it was," Mia snapped giving Angel a hard look and tapped her cheek, "She at least punched you before you punched her."
"Oh you saw that did you…"
"Yeah right after Letty came looking for Dom and couldn't find him so she stomped herself across the street. So I watched to make sure the two of you didn't kill one another."
"I won't kill family, I swear…"
"You're right you won't. Now come help me make food, Alex inside and go play with Jesse and Leon. Oh Dominic you are staying outside to cook, I will not have you snacking while we prep."
Dom held up his hands and smiled at his younger sister, "That's fine except the chicken is inside the house…"
Angel covered her mouth stopping the laughter at the venomous look Mia had sent at Dom, "Okay I am going to leave you two to your bickering…" before she escaped to the inside of the house to grab an icepack for her cheek.
Dom smiled coming inside behind a fuming Mia, "I'll take the chicken and stay out of your hair I swear. Give me the burgers and I'll make a quick lunch for everyone too. You aren't a vegetarian or anything right Ang?"
"No… I eat my veggies and all but I like my chicken and beef," Angel shook her head gingerly prodding her now numb cheek.
Dom grabbed her chin lightly and turned her head to look at the red mark, "I'd keep ice on it, it will stop the bruising."
"That's my plan Dom, that's my plan. Now shoo before your sister murders you," she pushed the larger man away with a half smile as she pressed the ice pack back on her cheek.
She leaned back against the counter and watched him; he was so comfortable with her here. It was as if nothing had changed, that someone had snapped their fingers and they got 12 years older and neither one of them noticed the time had passed. It was so good to finally be home.
