Chapter 36: Distress

The team stood out on the porch as Vince pulled his car into the driveway. They watched as Amira emerged from the car, her face blank as she walked towards them. The only thing that let them know that she wasn't a mere figment of their imagination was Mia running off of the porch and throwing her arms around her.

Must be true. She didn't just go poof and disappear. I know I would've if I could, Sam thought, as Mia began to squeeze the very breath out of Amira. The childhood friends held onto each other for a couple of minutes, Mia squeezing her as tightly as she could. Letty and Liz couldn't hold out much longer. Liz literally shoved little Jesse into Dom's arms and ran towards her friend.

As the team began to bombard her with questions and physical contact, Amira stood there frozen. She smiled weakly and nodded, replying softly to everything and trying her best to please them. She didn't know what to say or do, she just figured all she had to do was make it through dinner. One step at a time, nice and slow. Dinner first, then she could tell Vince she was tired and go hide out in a dark corner of the house somewhere. Then she could process quietly and think of a plan to get through breakfast and better yet, the rest of her life.

She spotted Sam standing off towards the side, her arms crossed over her chest, a cross between a half-assed smile and a scowl on her face. Amira smirked and watched as Sam began to make her way towards her. Definitely not what I expected, Sam thought, drinking in the tattooed sleeves her mom had. Her eyes didn't skip over the scar that wrapped around her throat, and as her heart skipped a beat, she tried her hardest not to let it show that she was flipping shit on the inside.

Sam tried her hardest to control her breathing as Amira and her hugged, reuniting the lost mother and daughter after ten years. They held on to each other, not believing that it was finally true. They were together. But as the mother and daughter were relishing the fact that they were finally together, Vince leaned against his car and scowled.

He tried to keep it hidden, but a stern look from Dom let him know that his attempts were futile. No one would be able to understand the distress that V was currently in, the fact that his mind had turned on him. He had spent countless nights picturing how today and the rest of their lives would turn out. He had planned every detail. He had picked the house, the new car, the bedroom set. Everything.

But now, his point of view was starting to shift. His mind literally flipped the script on him. The images flowing through Vince's head were no longer full of love making, but rather fighting. He could picture Amira and him fighting over Sam. Amira would want to leave, take Sam with her. She had no reason to stay, she made it clear that there was nothing going on between the two of them. He knew that it was just a matter of time before Amira got back on her feet and was out the door.

She did it before. She would do it again.

It was just a matter of time.

---

"She's not the same," Mia whispered, bouncing little Jesse on her lap. She glanced behind her to make sure that Vince, Sam and Amira were nowhere in sight. "She's not the Amira we knew," she continued to say. Dom sighed and ran a hand over his head. "Well, what do you expect? She's been locked up for a decade. Give her time to adjust and get back into the swing of things," he said.

"Plus, she's dealing with a lot. Vince, Sam. That alone will probably send her packing. I give it a day before she snaps and shanks someone," Leon joked, sliding a new toothpick into his mouth. The rest of the team- Letty, Liz and Brian, turned at stared at him, not believing he actually said that.

But he was only voicing what they were thinking. It was true, Amira had been distant and cold throughout dinner. She responded to their small talk, but they could tell that it was forced. They could tell that she would've liked to have been eating dinner by herself, rather than with a group of people shoving information her way. Telling her everything they had done for the last ten years. Every God damn thing.

Mia leaned back in the couch and snuggled Jesse into her side, a small smile on her face. She ate a lot though. I'm happy that she's at least eating, she thought to herself. She began to mentally make a list of the feast she would prepare for breakfast, only the best for her close friend.

Dom stared off into the distance, thinking back to when he was a freshly released inmate. He thought about how hard it was to adapt to being back in public. In prison, he only had two choices- segregation or general pop. And neither of them could even resemble being back in a house full of people. The only thing that saved him was Vince. He kept him on his toes and offered all the support he needed. I should have a talk with her tomorrow. Let her know that she's not alone, Dom thought, realizing that if he let Amira depend on Vince for any sort of support, all hell could break lose.

He glanced down at Letty, who was asleep at his side and smirked. He slid his arms around her and picked her up, heading for the stairs. "See ya'll tomorrow," he threw over his back, as he disappeared upstairs.

The rest of the team took that as their cue and began to head for the door. They each looked back over their shoulders at the basement stairs, realizing that they were being left in suspense. All they wanted to know was what was going on downstairs. All they wanted to know was if when they came back for breakfast tomorrow, the house would still be in one piece.

Leon smirked, picturing Amira getting naked for V.

Liz frowned, imagining Amira crying herself to sleep.

Mia scrunched her eyebrows together, realizing that V and Ami could very well kill each other in the basement.

Brian sighed, realizing that their family was now officially complete.

Baby Jesse cooed, playing with his pacifier, not a care on his shoulder.

Unlike others.

Who were in distress.

----

Vince laid down in the couch in the small living area they had made in the basement. He glanced over his shoulder and over towards his bedroom door, where Amira was currently staying. The girls had cleaned his room up and made it as close to clean as they could. Made her a new home. He didn't mind giving up his room, but what he did mind was the insane thoughts running through his head.

His eyesight shifted to the next room over, where Sam's bedroom was. He could see her walking around in her room, but decided not to go in there. He didn't want to set off another fight, give Amira any reason to doubt his parenting skills- not that he wasn't doing that already.

He leaned into his pillow and sighed, welcoming the darkness that enveloped him in the cool basement. The entire house was silent except for the sounds coming out of Sam's room. It gave him time to think about his next move. About what to expect or rather, what he shouldn't be expecting from Amira.

Dom had given him tomorrow off, told him to stay home with his girls. He promised him breakfast and then he would make sure that the trio was left alone. Vince had planned a day at the beach, some well deserved family time, but he didn't know if he could go through with it. Spending the entire day with Amira, with his head full of so many questions, so many doubts.

She clearly wasn't in the talking mood, and that he could understand. He had experienced it with Dom when he first got out, but he couldn't help but want to be close to her, touching her. He couldn't help it, he simply couldn't. All he could do was take it nice and slow with her, while securing his future with her. With his family.

Vince fell asleep that night, another movie playing in his head again. But this time the movie was full of hope, not like before, when he knew that things would go that way. This time he wasn't so sure if there was going to be a happy ending to his story.

---

In her borrowed bedroom, Amira found herself pacing in the dark. It was the usual for her. Lights out was early; she wasn't used to being up and about this late. So she did what she normally did at this time- she turned the lights off and stripped, followed by a brisk pace around her cell, or in this case, Vince's bedroom. She finished it off with a set of crunches and then she sat down on the floor, leaning her back against the bed.

She put her hair up in a ponytail and drank the room in. All the pictures of Vince and Sam that lined the walls, showing their love for each other. She didn't know what to think of them, of their future together. What would they want to do? What options did she have? Move out? Stay here? She had no job. She was a recently released inmate. She had some college education, no formal training. But she was good underneath the hood of a car, even better behind the wheel. That's something to think about, she said to herself, realizing that if all else failed, she could pick up where she left off. Plus, she made some connections on the inside. She knew some people that needed a driver. If all else, failed.

---

And that's where Sam found her in the morning, sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed. She opened the bedroom door and snuck her head in quietly, making sure not to wake Vince. She didn't want him to start bitching; she didn't want her mom to think that things between them weren't kosher.

"Hey," she whispered, snapping Amira out of her daze. Sam drew in a deep breath and mustered up as much courage as she could. It had taken her all night to come up with a plan to approach her mother. But she only knew how to deal with things one way and only one way- the Letty/Dom/Vince way.

Upfront. No bullshit.

She walked over to Ami and sat down in front of her, a small smile on her face. "How did you sleep last night?" She asked, pushing back hair behind her ears nervously. Ami shrugged and sighed. "I didn't," she replied, her eyes studying her.

Sam chuckled. "It's dad's stench, isn't it? The man refuses to do laundry. I think somehow the smell of car grease, sweat and skanks permeated the walls and got stuck there," she said. Amira cocked an eyebrow and stared at her. Sam's eyes widened as she realized the words that left her mouth. "Did I just fuck up? Was I not supposed to say anything about Dad's extracurricular activities?" She asked.

Amira laughed and shook her head. "No, it's not that. It's more like you've been hanging out with Letty for too long," she said, motioning to her and her current outfit, cargos and a wife beater. Sam nodded and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Mia's too prissy for me. I sorta just fell into step with Letty and Dom. I like to think of myself as a little of everyone in the team," she said.

"How so?"

"Well… I'm book smart like Mia. I'm pretty amazing underneath the hood of a car because of Dom. I can hold my own courtesy of Letty. Leon taught me everything I need to know about scanners, evading the cops and strangely enough, how to get what I want out of guys without taking my clothes off. Brian showed me how to give that killer smile of his. Liz showed me how to fix up the team when they're out fighting and what not."

"What about your dad?"

"Ahh… daddy dearest taught me how to have fun. He's really good at that, ya know. Putting a smile on my face."

Amira smiled and for the first time since she had arrived, it wasn't a fake one. It was an honest smile and it felt good. She felt herself warming up to her daughter and realized that she had made the right decision by not turning the team in.

"Yeah, he's pretty good at that usually. Until he puts his foot in his mouth and fucks up, or until he decides he wants to fight for no reason. Then he's a pain in the ass," she replied.

"Yep. We get into it a lot. Letty claims it's because I remind him of you and apparently you guys can't deal with each other."

"And then some."

Sam drank her mother in and realized that she was scared for no reason. She seemed to be easy going and what not, but she knew that nothing was what it seemed. "Do you think you guys will ever get back together? I heard the stories from the team. You guys were pretty intense when together. And there was something about a wedding ring before you, ya know," she said.

Amira's eyes fell on the wall behind her daughter and sighed. She thought back to the ring currently lying on Vince's dresser. She had made sure to leave it where he could see it. She didn't know where they stood right now and she felt that it wouldn't be right if she kept the ring and led him on. She was different and he was different also. And judging by what Sam had said about the skanks, her decision was right- he had moved on. But she wasn't so sure if she was ready to move on.

"I won't bullshit you, Sam. It's just not in me to do so. I don't know if me and your dad will ever get back together. We both have self destructive behaviors and together, we are at our worst. But maybe things will be different this time around, maybe they won't. Right now, my life is a mess. I don't want to complicate things by letting Vince in. I need to figure out what I'm doing with myself before I can even start to conceive the idea of us being in anything resembling a relationship again."

Sam nodded, understanding where her mother was coming from. Dom had gone out and gotten her some reading materials on how to deal with recently released convicts. She knew the life decisions her mother was currently facing and she knew that she had to be supportive no matter what. "Whatever you decide to do, I'll support you a 100%. I have no expectations. Just support."

---

She doesn't want to complicate things with me? Vince thought to himself, as he leaned against the wall next to his bedroom door and listened to the conversation between Ami and Sam. He continued to listen as Sam and Amira spoke about the future. Sam's plans for college. Her boyfriend. And when Sam asked Amira about her plans, Vince's stomach started to churn.

He shook his head and stepped away from the door.

His worst dreams were coming true.