Chapter 29: Questions

"We have a problem," Mia said, emerging into the house an hour later. "That's my cue," Liz said, standing up from the couch and picking up Sam. They headed out back, giving the team their privacy. "Where's Amira?" Vince said, standing up and facing Brian. Dom stepped in between them, knowing that it wasn't the right time or place to have another infamous brawl between the two. "She's in jail. She's gonna do hard time because of us," Brian said. "It's why she told Brian where we were. So he could bring Sam down here. She's really going to prison," Mia said, tears falling down her face.

"Whoa. Hold on there. Explain what the hell is going on," Letty said, wrapping her arms around Mia. "There's a new detective handling the case. He's planting evidence against her so she would flip and tell him where you guys are. She wouldn't, so he arrested her. Threatened to find Sam and put her in a group home. They have no real case against you guys. The DA gave the detective a month to find something on you or else he would throw it out because there was no evidence that would uphold in the courts. Unfortunately, her case will," Brian said.

Vince dropped like a ton of bricks onto the couch. His head was spinning at the thought of Amira behind bars because of him. "She had nothing to do with this. I'll go down and turn myself in," he said, throwing his head into his hands. "He won't care. He'll take her down because he already planted the evidence and he would rather die than look stupid in front of everyone," Brian said.

"So what do we do now?" Leon asked, placing a hand on Vince's shoulder for support. "You guys wait out the month. Then you can go back to California, back to your life. Support her as much as you can from the outside," he said.

The team looked at each other, not believing that their cards had been dealt this way. They walked away without even a slap on the wrist, while Jesse and Amira paid for their fuck ups.

---

Leon placed his head between two of the couch pillows and groaned, trying to block out Sam's high pitched yelling. He glanced over at Letty, who was amused at the little girl's antics. "I like her. She reminds me of myself when I was little," she said, as Sam threw a pillow across the room. Vince groaned, throwing his head into his hands. "God help me," he mumbled.

"Oh come on, guys. She's a little girl. She can't be that bad," Dom said, walking over to the girl and staring at her. Sam stopped jumping on the couch and shut up. She stared up at the giant in front of her, a scowl on her face. "Listen, Sam. You can't jump on the couch and run around the house yelling at the top of your lungs. You know that's not right," he said, leaning toward her, reaching out to pick her up.

She slapped his hands away and grabbed on to the skin on his arms, pinching him hard. Dom saw red and pulled away from the girl. "What the hell?" He said, grabbing onto his arm. "Awww poor baby," Elizabeth said, coming down the stairs.

She was currently clad in a towel, her long, red hair dripping wet. She walked over to Samantha and began to count backwards from the number five, slowly. Sam groaned and jumped down off the couch. She sat down in the corner of it and crossed her arms over her chest, groaning. "I go upstairs to take a quick shower and you tear this house apart. You know better than this. One more outburst, out of you and you're finished young lady," Liz said, turning around and making her way for the stairs.

She glanced at Dom and laughed. "What did you expect? Look who helped spawn her," she said, motioning to Vince. Dom laughed, glancing back at V and shook his head. "Plus, I have a feeling she's a little ADHD, if you catch my drift," Liz said, climbing up the stairs. The team glanced at the little girl and smiled.

---

Vince's eyes sprang open, the tenth time that hour. He glanced over to the other side of the bed and sighed. He dropped his head back into the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. He was silently freaking out. What if he rolled over and smothered her in her sleep? What if he was dead to the world and she needed him and he couldn't help? What if?

His mind was running a mile a minute and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to fall asleep. He kept coming up with ridiculous scenarios that ended bad. He slid out of the bed and soon found himself in front of the television, a beer in hand. He kicked his feet up on coffee table and leaned back into the couch.

Floor board squeaked behind him and he turned, finding a very sleepy Samantha. "Where's mommy?" She mumbled, walking around the couch and crawling on top of him. He opened his mouth to answer but quickly shut it, realizing he didn't know how to quite answer that question. Before he could respond, he heard soft snoring coming from the head laying on his chest.

He smiled and continued to drink his beer while watching the television.

When Mia came down the next morning to get started on breakfast, her heart warmed at the sight of V with a small child on his chest. She watched them for a few moments in silence, before deciding to go about her day before it got any later.