Chapter 17

After sitting in the empty hospital room crying, Gina went back to check on Jesse. She walked in his room and found the doctor was checking in on him. The doctor nodded at her and waiting until she stood on the other side of the bed to start speaking with her.

"Miss Toretto, your friend has sustained three gun shot wounds. The ones in the shoulder and the thigh aren't life threatening. The one on the side is. We're not sure if he is losing blood and we'll have to do exploratory surgery. We will let you know as soon as there is anything"

Gina put her hands over and face and again felt tears in her eyes. She let out a sigh then thanked the doctor. When she and Jesse were alone, Gina sat down next to his bed.

"Jesse," she said in a low voice, "you're gonna make it."

~~~~~~~

The next couple of days were tense. Gina was awoken early in the morning by a nurse.

"Miss Toretto, we're taking him to surgery now."

She smiled at the women then got up and walked over to Jesse.

"I'll be here waiting," she told him before kissing his forehead.

As they took him out the room she prayed that he would make it.

An hour after surgery, the room door opened and Brian walked in. He smiled at Gina then walked over to her.

"Gina."

"Brian he's gone and Jesse they don't know."

Brian took her in his arms and held her tight, "this wasn't your fault."

She pulled away from Brian and walked over to the window. "They took Vince, thank God he's ok. Jesse was losing so much blood. Brian, why didn't I stay in Chicago and not come here?"

"You had to come. This is your family. I never was close to my family. My parents divorced when I was young, so I never knew what it could be like. Then I met your family. Even Vince started to kinda tolerate me. I hated to do this to them, but it was my job."

Gina turned back to Brian. His eyes filled with guilt. What he said was true. They both hurt people they cared about.

"When will they know anything?" he asked turning the conversation back to Jesse.

"Uh...I don't know they said they will let me know."

After a few more words, both of them sat in silence waiting for any news about Jesse.

~~~~~~

Dom pulled up to the house that sat a ways back from the dirt road he'd been driving on for the last day. He looked over at his best friend sitting next to him then looked back at Mia who was sleeping in the back seat. The events of the last week replayed in his mind. Jesse lying there will blood all over him. Looking out his rear view mirror as Let's car flipped and Vince hanging on the side of the semi. Letting out a deep sigh he reached over and tapped Vince on the shoulder.

"We here brother."

Vince opened his eyes then shut them again because the glare from the window. "where are we?"

"Mexico."

Dom turned and leaned towards the back seat and woke Mia up. She yawned and wiped the sleep out of her eyes.

He smiled at her then got out the car.

Leon noticed that someone was driving up so he stepped out onto the porch. He walked up as the car pulled up. When he saw Dom emerge from the car he smiled and walked over to him extending his hand.

"How are you brother?" Leon said while he hugged Dom.

"Ok, I got Vince and Mia," Dom said before looking back at Vince who was sitting in the opened passenger side door.

"Where's Jesse?" Leon asked

Dom couldn't look his friend in the eyes, he turned his head back in the direction of Leon but stared down at the ground.

"Dom, where's Jesse?"

"Ah...Tran..." Dom started but was cut off by Leon.

"WHAT?" Leon yelled as he took hold of Dom and shook him. "What the fuck happened to Jesse Dominic?"

Dom stood there letting Leon scream and yell. He felt tears swelling up in his eyes. For a second he'd wish Leon was hit him. Hurt him because he wasn't strong enough to save all of them.

"No," Leon said while looking into Dom's eyes. "Not Jesse."

The young man let Dom go and took a step back he looked around then pushed past Dom to go over to Mia and Vince. Dom turned and watched as Leon and Mia got Vince out the car and into the house.

After he brought there bags inside, Dom noticed Letty sitting in the living room. He slowly made his way over and knelt in front of her.

"Baby," he said.

"Don't," she said as looked down at him, "just let me deal with this."

Letty stood up and walked towards the room where they put Vince.

Dom was left staring at the chair she had been sitting in. He laid his head on the cushions and cried.

~~~~~~~~

Gina and Brian had fallen asleep while awaiting news from the doctor. The door opened and the doctor walked in. He woke them up and told them about Jesse.

"The bullet went threw his spleen. We removed it a small portion of the spleen. Now the he will make a full recovery but it will take some time and he will be in a great amount of pain. He's a strong a young man."

After the doctor finished Gina stood up and hugged the doctor so tight she was cutting off circulation.

"Oh I'm sorry," she said after letting him go.

"That's ok. They're bring him down now," the doctor said with a smile before leaving.

Brian walked up and put his arm around Gina's shoulder. She smiled up at him then went back to the couch.

"Brian, I have some information about Tran and his people."

"Ok" he said while sitting next to her.

"Jesse helped me."

"He what?"

"Jesse knew we were cops the entire time. I needed to get back into Tran house and he helped me," she told him before pulling a disc out of her inside jacket pocket. "Here I don't want Dom and them in any trouble."

"There not. I spoke with the FEDS and they are taking care of the trucking companies. Tran was what they were after," he told her. Brian took hold of the disc and slipped it into his back pocket.

When the door came open again they both stood up. Jesse was rolled in, he was still asleep from the surgery. Gina smiled at Brian before taking hold of Jesse's hand.

~~~~~~

Jesse stayed in the hospital for two more weeks. By the time they discharged him he was more than ready to go home. Gina made sure that he would stay with her so she could take care of him. When arriving home Jesse saw his car sitting in the drive way and it looked brand new.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Brian and I fixed it for you," Gina informed him.

"She looks beautiful," Jesse exclaimed with a huge smile on his face.

"Come on lets get you inside," Brian said as he came up behind them.

~~~~~~

It took a month for things to settle down in Mexico. Everyone helped Vince get back to feeling like normal. Leon and Letty slowly began speaking to Dom again. Both were still so filled with anger. Mia and Vince had become very close. She'd become his own personal nurse. Vince and her would talk about Brian and Gina. They felt like they were in the same boat, both loved someone who betrayed them. The month rolled into six and time hadn't healed everyone wounds. At dinner one night, Letty stood up and declared it was time for them to go home.

"This isn't the place for us anymore Dom."

Dom looked around the table at his family and knew they all wanted to go.

"You're right, we need to go home." He said before continuing to eat.

Later that night Dom sat outside on the porch. Letty walked out and sat next to him. Things had become different with them. He felt like she didn't care about him anymore but he didn't blame her. When she took hold of his hand it cause him to flinched. Dom turned to her and say she had tears in her eyes.

"Don't cry Letty, please," he pleaded with her.

"Dom I love you and I will always love you. I understand that you wanted to protect and take care of us but baby you don't have to," she told him.

"I love you so much." Dom told her, "I am so sorry about hurting you guys, you're all I have."

Letty wiped away a tear that fell down his cheek. She placed a kiss on lips then said, "We all did this together, so we all share the blame."

Dom wrapped Letty up in his arms and thanked god he had her in his life. "Lets leave at the end of the week."

"Sounds good," she said before snuggling up closer to him.