Chapter 42 - Everyone Makes Up.
AN: Sorry for the long wait but lately I'm as lazy as hell. But this is 9 pages of new story. I hope it was worth the wait. Here's one of my slight sexual content warnings for near the end. Don't think it jumps over pg13 but here's a warning all the same. Enjoy, review, it's all good. Peace, Tempest.
Nyssa glanced over at Leon. They were still waiting for the team and Leon looked nervous.
"It's gonna be fine Leon. They won't be too mad at you. I can handle Vince. I won't let him get too mad at you." Nyssa wanted to reassure him. She felt bad for putting him in this position, but Jesse was awake. Surely that was worth something. Plus she really didn't see Vince getting that mad when he knew Jesse was ok.
"I guess I know that, but I'm still worried about how Vince is gonna react to you being here."
"Leon, I know I tricked you into this and I won't let him come down on you for something I did. If he's gonna be mad and yell at anyone I'm gonna make sure it's me." Nyssa said, seriously. She didn't want Leon to worry about Vince blaming him for the whole situation.
Leon looked at her. She was such a nice girl. The more Leon thought about it the more he realized that nice wasn't the right word. It wasn't strong enough. She was down for the team no matter what. She was totally loyal to them. She clearly loved Vince. She'd fight to the death for Vince, maybe for the whole team. She looked out for Jesse. She could race, even if she wasn't fantastic at it. She and Letty were tight; it was nice for Letty to have a girlfriend who had more of the same interests. Not to mention the day she'd taken care of him when he'd broken down over Jesse. And she'd never let on just how much he'd broken down over that to the guys. Leon was very thankful for that. No matter how good his reasons for breaking down like that he didn't want the guys to know he'd cried like a baby. And while he knew Vince had tried to get all the details out of her about what had happened, she'd kept it to herself. Leon had to respect that. He couldn't get over how much Nyssa had come to mean to the team.
Leon found himself again wishing that he'd picked Nyssa up all that time ago and not Vince. He never wanted a girlfriend till someone else had one that he liked. He had his moments of being jealous of Dom over Letty too. Then he came to his senses and knew he wasn't ready to have a steady girlfriend. He knew that he and Nyssa probably wouldn't have made a good match anyway, but it didn't stop him from wishing he had a girl like her right now while he thought about it. He knew that he was far too easygoing for Nyssa. She'd walk all over him. For all Vince spoiled her he kept her in line too. She'd run roughshod over Leon because he'd never want to tell her no or put her in her place.
But Vince had this fantastic girl to come home to, to worry about him, to take care of him, and to worry and take care of himself. They were so good together and it was hard to watch while you were the only one who didn't have anyone. All he had was a steady stream of blonde girls, half of who's names he didn't even remember. And they were just using him the same as he was using them. Well, he figured that they couldn't both use each other, but it was always mutually understood that all that was offered was a one night affair. But sometimes he almost felt like no matter how often he said he didn't want a relationship he was looking for something, for someone.
"I let you trick me though. I coulda said no and not brought you." Leon didn't want to let her take all of the responsibility, he'd let her take some of it.
"You know if you didn't bring me I woulda just came on my own and that woulda been dangerous. I really shouldn't be driving. Even I know that. But I would have if you didn't bring me. So you really did a good thing. We'll work it out Leon. Don't worry about it." She stood up. "I'm going to go wait in Jesse's room. Comin'?"
"Sure, sounds good." Leon stood up and followed Nyssa out of the waiting room and into Jesse's room.
"Hey kiddo, how's it goin now?" Nyssa asked Jesse with a sunny smile.
"Great, they said I'm gonna be fine. But they won't tell me when I'll get to go home." Jesse looked sort of scared.
"Well, you need to get better first. Don't rush things." Nyssa answered. Leon gave her a look, she knew he was getting at the fact that she rushed to get home and rushed to get out of the house before she was supposed to be allowed.
"I don't want to be here anymore." Jesse was clearing upset, fighting tears.
"I know but you'd better stay till the doc says you'd be ok if you left." Leon sat down in a chair beside the bed. "You're gonna need to work to get better Jess. I know the doctor told you that." Leon tried to be gentle about what he knew would come as bad news to Jesse.
"But on the bright side the whole team is on the way down to see you." Nyssa told Jesse, sitting on the side of the bed and smiling down at Jesse. "They couldn't wait to see you when they heard you were awake. Dom just has to go get Mia and they're coming right here."
"I hope Vince doesn't send the two of you right back in here with me when he finds out you came here against the doctor's orders." Jesse laughed, but the laughter stopped when he saw how scared Leon really looked. "But I'm sure he'll be ok, he'll be so glad to have me back." Jesse tried to lighten the mood. Nyssa knew what he was up to and she leaned down and gave him a careful hug.
"Thanks Jess." She said softly so that only she and Jesse would hear. He smiled at her. She glanced at Leon who was looking a little pale. Just then the door to the room burst open and the whole team trooped in, laughing and in high spirits. Then Vince's eyes lit on Nyssa and a look of pure anger flashed onto his face.
Leon knew in that second that Dom had taken the easy way out and not told Vince that Nyssa was at the hospital with him. Finding her here was a total shock. Leon cursed Dom even as he prepared for the worst.
"What are you doin' here and how did you get here?" Vince growled, staring at Nyssa.
"I wanted to come see Jesse. We can discuss it in more detail later V." Nyssa shot him a look that she hoped Jesse couldn't see, warning him not to upset the boy when he'd just woken up. If Vince upset Jesse now Nyssa would have to hurt him.
"You better believe we'll be discussing it in more detail later." Vince sat down in a chair close to Jesse. "So, you finally rejoined us kid?" The anger left Vince's face while he was talking to Jesse. He'd always had a soft spot for the boy.
"Yeah, Nyssa told me you and Dom were starting to work on my car and I knew I had to come back before you fucked it up." Jesse laughed at his own joke. Dom chuckled and even Vince smiled.
"It's good to have you back Jess." Dom added to the conversation.
"Yeah, we missed you Jesse." Letty told him as she sat down on the bed on the other side from Nyssa.
"I'm so glad your ok." Mia said as she cried. She'd been so upset about the whole thing. Ever since she'd seen Jesse on the sidewalk looking so still. She couldn't believe he was awake and going to be ok. She leaned in and gave Jesse an exuberant hug.
"Go easy on me Mi." Jesse croaked as he tried to breath around Mia's stranglehold on him.
"Sorry." Mia giggled. "You gave me such a fright. Don't ever do anything like that again." She turned serious.
"Yes mother." Jesse laughed. Dom was like the father of the team, but Letty was not the mother. That was Mia's job and she was darn good at it.
Dom looked around at the team, his team, his family. It was good to have them all there, and to know they were all going to be ok. He was happier than he had been in a long time and it was a very good feeling. The cold knot of dread he'd had in his gut ever since everything went down loosened and finally disappeared as he watched Jesse carry on with the rest of the team. He realized that Jesse wasn't catching his eyes and hadn't really spoken to him since they'd gotten to the hospital. Dom couldn't blame Jesse for hating him. It was Dom's idea to get involved in everything and Dom had failed the boy by letting him get into trouble the way he had. He was supposed to look out for Jesse, he knew the boy was impressionable and he'd failed to do it.
"Um, could I talk to Jesse alone for a minute guys?" Dom asked. He managed to keep the fear out of his voice. Dom was finding himself quite scared that Jesse was going to tell him off, to hate him for how things had gone down. The team filed out of the room, shooting Dom looks as they went. They didn't know what was going down.
"Jesse."
"Dom."
They both started to speak to the other at the same time. "Go ahead." Dom offered.
"I'm sorry that I did something so stupid and I hope you're not too mad at me." Jesse mumbled out, staring at the blankets on his bed.
"Jesse." Dom sighed. Jesse looked up with tears in his eyes, he thought Dom was really mad at him and didn't want to forgive him so fast. "I'm not mad at you. I never was. Well, maybe for the first hour or two after you took off but never after then."
"Really. But you never came to see me." Jesse clearly didn't believe that Dom wasn't mad at him."
"Yes I did. I just didn't come as much as the other guys or say much while I was here. The truth is Jess," Dom took a deep breath and blew it out. He didn't want to say what he knew he had to. He hated to talk about topics dealing with feelings. "I'm surprised that you don't hate me. I got us into this mess. I should have known you'd get in over your head. I should have made sure you had money to race so you'd never have had to put up your car. I should have kept a better eye on you. The very fact that you're in here is my fault." Dom ended and looked Jesse in the eye.
"Dom, I did something stupid. I should have asked you before I raced, not just did it. I don't hate you, I'm surprised as hell you're not mad at me but I don't hate you." Jesse couldn't imagine ever hating Dom. Jesse had never thought that any part of what had occurred was Dom's fault. "I know I fucked up. You didn't make me race."
"No, but after you took off Johnny talked some shit to me about us being the people who narc'ed him out and I had to talk shit back. Then we had a huge fight and I pretty much pounded Johnny into the ground in front of everyone who was there. It was me embarrassing him like that that made him decide to go after you. He went after you to get revenge on me. I saw it in his eyes as the bastard looked up at me from all fours on the ground. It's my fault you're in here. He didn't want the Jetta. He can buy 100 cars that would blow it right out of the water."
"But if I hadn't raced him the whole situation wouldn't have happened." Jesse hung his head. Dom picked up his hand.
"Jesse, I'm not mad at you, none of this was your fault, and the reason why I didn't visit you as much as the rest of the team was because I was guilty over getting you into this mess. I let you down and I'm sorry. No more worrying that I'm mad at you, I'm not. Just get better."
"Well, I'm not mad at you and I don't think you got us into anything on your own. I guess we'll just have to mark the whole situation up to fate and leave it at that." Jesse looked at the top of Dom's bald, bowed head. Dom looked up.
"You're right. We all got involved in a stupid situation and that makes everything that happened simply the result of what we all did. Now I better bring the rest of the team in here before they go nuts." They shared a smile and Dom got up to go get the others.
While Jesse and Dom were having their discussion the rest of the team was watching Vince try not to explode. He was trying. He wasn't succeeding but he was trying.
"You aren't even allowed out of bed till next week." Vince shouted at Nyssa. "How the hell did you get here?"
"I had to come see Jesse. Something told me to come see him. So I did." Nyssa glared back defiantly.
"Answer my question. How'd you get here?"
"Leon brought me because I tricked him into it." She finally answered after pausing with a mutinous expression on her face.
"Leon!" Vince spun on his friend. "What the fuck were you thinking? She's not even supposed to be out of bed for Christ's sake." Vince roared as he turned on Leon. Leon held up his hands in surrender and went to start to try to explain himself.
"Vince, this is between you and me. Don't go in at Leon for what I made him do." Nyssa was getting slightly annoyed and it was showing in her voice.
"Well, he brought you here. How'd you make him do that? He shoulda known better." Vince was still looking at Leon but talking to her.
"I made him do it by telling him if he didn't bring me I'd come on my own."
"He knew you couldn't because I told him I hid all the car keys. You were as good as stranded and he knew it." Vince was so irate it was scaring both Mia and Letty. And Leon by the look on his face. Nyssa was the only one who wasn't scared of Vince. The other three had all seen first hand what he was capable of when he was this infuriated and Nyssa never had. But she didn't seem the least bit intimidated. She was giving it back to Vince as good as he was giving it out.
"Yeah, but what you didn't know is that not only can I break into the Mustang without keys, I can hot wire it too. So either way I was coming down here. Leon did you a favour by keeping me out from behind the wheel and making sure I didn't hurt myself. He made me take it easy the whole way here and after we got here."
"I hope he never does me a favour like this again. Damn it, you're gonna end up back in here if your doctor sees you." Vince had gotten his tone down to a dull roar.
"He has seen me. He took my stitches out. And you can ask Jesse. The only thing that made him wake up was me coming to talk to him. Everything happens for a reason and the reason why I came down here was to talk to Jesse and wake him up. Vince you're over reacting."
"I don't want you to get sick or hurt. You were told to stay home till at least two weeks from when you came home. Instead you turned around and snuck out of the house and Leon helped you do it despite the talk we already had about him letting you stay up out of bed. He knew better." Vince was back to all out shouting. Nyssa looked around the room.
"Could you guys leave us alone for a few minutes? Go get a drink or something, kay?"
The team all left. Vince made a move to stop Leon from leaving but Nyssa stopped him from laying a hand on the other man with a look from her flashing violet eyes. "Vincent, you're behaving like an asshole." She said once they were alone, she figured she'd pull out all the stops and start to use her big guns. Vince was pacing in front of her while she sat in one of the uncomfortable plastic hospital chairs.
"And you are acting like a spoiled child. You were told to stay in bed for a week, then to do nothing more strenuous then walk around the house for another week. Yet I find out one of my best friends helped you go against those orders and took you out of the house. Then you take this attitude like I don't have the right to be mad and you send people around and." Vince trailed off in sheer frustration. He wanted to scream. He hated to be called Vincent. He was not in a good mood.
"Vince, the doctor says I'm all healed up. I'm not sore at all. I didn't go run a marathon; I came to the hospital to visit a very sick friend. A friend who is now conscious because of my visit I might add. I'd think you could get over this, like Dom did, and be happy Jesse is awake. You have poor Leon scared to death. You know damn well that I can convince you guys to do anything for me. You can't blame poor Leon for this."
"The hell I can't. He's a grown man. There's no way he should have allowed himself to be conned into taking you here."
"Vince, get over it. Jesse's awake." It occurred to her how to diffuse this situation in that heartbeat. The doctor told her she was almost as good as new. That gave her an excellent idea of what to do.
"I'm not going to get over anything." He roared back and then watched as she stood up and walked up to him.
"Oh yes you are." She breathed out with what she hoped was a seductive look in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck, slid one of her hands into his hair and pulled his lips down to hers. She hadn't had anything more then chaste kisses on the forehead from him since she'd come home. She knew the doctor had likely told Vince that she wasn't able to be intimate with him till after she was better but she felt better enough right now. And she knew that after three weeks of not getting any Vince was likely more then ready to get some now. And she was going to use that fact to the best of her advantage. Plus she wanted him too, had for days but hadn't known how to tell him it would be ok.
He kissed her like he was drowning in her for about three minutes but it felt like forever to the two people who'd been denied each other for the last three weeks. Then Vince tried to break it off. He wasn't ready to stop being mad at her. He knew if they kept kissing lust was going to replace his anger. Nyssa felt him try to back away from her mentally so she did the only thing she could do. If he wouldn't kiss her mouth, she could think of several things to do with hers that should keep his interest. She started with nibbling down his neck while she slowly started to move her hands from around his neck down his back.
"No.. Oh.. That's so g..Oh yeah.. No.. Stop that..Oh, don't stop.. Argh!" He groaned. Vince knew what she was up to. And he wanted her to stop so he could stay angry almost as much as he wanted to pull her into the first empty room he could find and start to peel her cloths off her. He'd been deprived of her for too long. And as much as he knew she was playing him to make him stop yelling, he could sense the desperation in her for him too. And it made him feel euphoric. She wanted him just as bad as he wanted her. So when she started to walk him backwards he didn't fight her. The backs of his knees hit the edge of the plastic chair and he collapsed into it as she climbed onto his lap straddling him.
"Baby?" She asked, breathless.
"Yea?" He answered her, not doing much better.
"Can we go home soon?" She asked him with a look that Vince would have had to call sex crazed. He knew the feeling. He imagined she could see pretty much the same look in his eyes too.
"You think I don't know what you're up to?" He asked. It was no use, he wasn't mad anymore. He grinned at her.
"Oh, I know you know. But I know what you're 'up' to too so I think it's a good time to tell the team that we'll see them later." She started to nibble on him again.
"I love it when you do that." He groaned and pulled her lips back to his for another breath stealing kiss. And that was how the team found them.
"Guys, this is a hospital for crying out loud." Mia said. Leon looked very relieved. Letty laughed. She pulled the same trick on Dom all the time. Make him forget he's mad by turning him on.
"Um, we're gonna, we've gotta.." Vince struggled to find the words he needed to make a graceful exit.
"I think I left the iron on and we have to go check it out." Nyssa said with a giggle and a blush. She didn't know who they thought they were fooling.
"Yeah, that's it." Vince added. "Tell Jesse we'll be back after we check it out." He stood up taking Nyssa with him.
"But won't he know it doesn't take an hour to check if you left an iron on?" Letty asked with a smirk and saw how Vince and Nyssa were looking at each other. "Or two hours?" She asked with one eyebrow cocked.
"Better make it three." Nyssa answered then blushed a very bright red. Vince threw his head back and laughed till he cried. He started to walk out of the room trailing Nyssa behind him. She turned around and looked at Leon. "Marshmallow." She mouthed so that Vince wouldn't hear her then turned back around and followed him out of the room. The remainder of the team laughed. Leon shook his head. Maybe old coyote was a marshmallow for his girl. He sure as hell wasn't any other time, but maybe he was for Nyssa.
Dom came into the room minutes after Nyssa and Vince had left.
"Where are V and Nyssa?" Dom asked.
"They had to go, um, make up." Leon stammered out.
"I see. So we'll be seeing them some time tomorrow then?" Dom asked with a grin.
"Something like that." Letty answered. The remaining team went to go visit with Jesse.
Nyssa teased Vince mercilessly the whole way home from the hospital. As soon as they got home he dragged her out of the car and down the stairs. They immerged from their room at 9pm starving. As they started to make some supper for themselves they got a rousing round of applause for the auditory show they'd been putting on. Nyssa blushed scarlet and if she wasn't mistaken so did Vince. But they ate and then went to put on act two.
Nyssa was worn out. She'd fallen asleep with her head on Vince's chest. Vince was starting to nod off too when a knock came at his door. He groaned as he got out of bed and struggled into his shorts. "Wha?" He asked as he opened the door. Who ever it was had it coming. They shoulda known he wouldn't want to be disturbed after what they'd all no doubt heard. It was Leon.
"Can we talk for a second?" Leon asked, looking scared.
"Sure." Vince sighed. "What do you wanna talk about?" When had he become such a hard ass his own friends were scared of him? It wasn't something he was proud of. If making your friends scared of you was part of not going soft then he all of a sudden realized it was time to go soft. Or at least softer then he had been, obviously. Leon should know that no matter how mad he was at members of his own team he wouldn't beat them up. He tried to look less intimidating.
"I know you weren't happy you never got to finish yellin' at me, and I want to know if we need to have it out, or if we're cool." Leon had never had a situation arise where he had to worry about one of his own team mates beating him up but he figured if it was going to happen it would be over this. Vince had been enraged when he'd found out Nyssa was at the hospital and how she'd gotten there.
"It's cool. I know how she is man. I was pissed at first but she's totally right. If she wanted to go she'd a gone if you took her or not. You kept her safe as you could and well, I'm feelin' pretty mellow right now." Vince gave Leon a very satisfied smirk.
"I would be too Dawg." Leon laughed as he walked back up the stairs. Vince returned to his bed, crawled back in, pulled his girl against him and went to sleep happy for the first time since the shit all hit the fan. He had his girl back 100 percent, Jesse was awake and it looked like they were gonna get off. Everything was going to be ok.
AN: Sorry for the long wait but lately I'm as lazy as hell. But this is 9 pages of new story. I hope it was worth the wait. Here's one of my slight sexual content warnings for near the end. Don't think it jumps over pg13 but here's a warning all the same. Enjoy, review, it's all good. Peace, Tempest.
Nyssa glanced over at Leon. They were still waiting for the team and Leon looked nervous.
"It's gonna be fine Leon. They won't be too mad at you. I can handle Vince. I won't let him get too mad at you." Nyssa wanted to reassure him. She felt bad for putting him in this position, but Jesse was awake. Surely that was worth something. Plus she really didn't see Vince getting that mad when he knew Jesse was ok.
"I guess I know that, but I'm still worried about how Vince is gonna react to you being here."
"Leon, I know I tricked you into this and I won't let him come down on you for something I did. If he's gonna be mad and yell at anyone I'm gonna make sure it's me." Nyssa said, seriously. She didn't want Leon to worry about Vince blaming him for the whole situation.
Leon looked at her. She was such a nice girl. The more Leon thought about it the more he realized that nice wasn't the right word. It wasn't strong enough. She was down for the team no matter what. She was totally loyal to them. She clearly loved Vince. She'd fight to the death for Vince, maybe for the whole team. She looked out for Jesse. She could race, even if she wasn't fantastic at it. She and Letty were tight; it was nice for Letty to have a girlfriend who had more of the same interests. Not to mention the day she'd taken care of him when he'd broken down over Jesse. And she'd never let on just how much he'd broken down over that to the guys. Leon was very thankful for that. No matter how good his reasons for breaking down like that he didn't want the guys to know he'd cried like a baby. And while he knew Vince had tried to get all the details out of her about what had happened, she'd kept it to herself. Leon had to respect that. He couldn't get over how much Nyssa had come to mean to the team.
Leon found himself again wishing that he'd picked Nyssa up all that time ago and not Vince. He never wanted a girlfriend till someone else had one that he liked. He had his moments of being jealous of Dom over Letty too. Then he came to his senses and knew he wasn't ready to have a steady girlfriend. He knew that he and Nyssa probably wouldn't have made a good match anyway, but it didn't stop him from wishing he had a girl like her right now while he thought about it. He knew that he was far too easygoing for Nyssa. She'd walk all over him. For all Vince spoiled her he kept her in line too. She'd run roughshod over Leon because he'd never want to tell her no or put her in her place.
But Vince had this fantastic girl to come home to, to worry about him, to take care of him, and to worry and take care of himself. They were so good together and it was hard to watch while you were the only one who didn't have anyone. All he had was a steady stream of blonde girls, half of who's names he didn't even remember. And they were just using him the same as he was using them. Well, he figured that they couldn't both use each other, but it was always mutually understood that all that was offered was a one night affair. But sometimes he almost felt like no matter how often he said he didn't want a relationship he was looking for something, for someone.
"I let you trick me though. I coulda said no and not brought you." Leon didn't want to let her take all of the responsibility, he'd let her take some of it.
"You know if you didn't bring me I woulda just came on my own and that woulda been dangerous. I really shouldn't be driving. Even I know that. But I would have if you didn't bring me. So you really did a good thing. We'll work it out Leon. Don't worry about it." She stood up. "I'm going to go wait in Jesse's room. Comin'?"
"Sure, sounds good." Leon stood up and followed Nyssa out of the waiting room and into Jesse's room.
"Hey kiddo, how's it goin now?" Nyssa asked Jesse with a sunny smile.
"Great, they said I'm gonna be fine. But they won't tell me when I'll get to go home." Jesse looked sort of scared.
"Well, you need to get better first. Don't rush things." Nyssa answered. Leon gave her a look, she knew he was getting at the fact that she rushed to get home and rushed to get out of the house before she was supposed to be allowed.
"I don't want to be here anymore." Jesse was clearing upset, fighting tears.
"I know but you'd better stay till the doc says you'd be ok if you left." Leon sat down in a chair beside the bed. "You're gonna need to work to get better Jess. I know the doctor told you that." Leon tried to be gentle about what he knew would come as bad news to Jesse.
"But on the bright side the whole team is on the way down to see you." Nyssa told Jesse, sitting on the side of the bed and smiling down at Jesse. "They couldn't wait to see you when they heard you were awake. Dom just has to go get Mia and they're coming right here."
"I hope Vince doesn't send the two of you right back in here with me when he finds out you came here against the doctor's orders." Jesse laughed, but the laughter stopped when he saw how scared Leon really looked. "But I'm sure he'll be ok, he'll be so glad to have me back." Jesse tried to lighten the mood. Nyssa knew what he was up to and she leaned down and gave him a careful hug.
"Thanks Jess." She said softly so that only she and Jesse would hear. He smiled at her. She glanced at Leon who was looking a little pale. Just then the door to the room burst open and the whole team trooped in, laughing and in high spirits. Then Vince's eyes lit on Nyssa and a look of pure anger flashed onto his face.
Leon knew in that second that Dom had taken the easy way out and not told Vince that Nyssa was at the hospital with him. Finding her here was a total shock. Leon cursed Dom even as he prepared for the worst.
"What are you doin' here and how did you get here?" Vince growled, staring at Nyssa.
"I wanted to come see Jesse. We can discuss it in more detail later V." Nyssa shot him a look that she hoped Jesse couldn't see, warning him not to upset the boy when he'd just woken up. If Vince upset Jesse now Nyssa would have to hurt him.
"You better believe we'll be discussing it in more detail later." Vince sat down in a chair close to Jesse. "So, you finally rejoined us kid?" The anger left Vince's face while he was talking to Jesse. He'd always had a soft spot for the boy.
"Yeah, Nyssa told me you and Dom were starting to work on my car and I knew I had to come back before you fucked it up." Jesse laughed at his own joke. Dom chuckled and even Vince smiled.
"It's good to have you back Jess." Dom added to the conversation.
"Yeah, we missed you Jesse." Letty told him as she sat down on the bed on the other side from Nyssa.
"I'm so glad your ok." Mia said as she cried. She'd been so upset about the whole thing. Ever since she'd seen Jesse on the sidewalk looking so still. She couldn't believe he was awake and going to be ok. She leaned in and gave Jesse an exuberant hug.
"Go easy on me Mi." Jesse croaked as he tried to breath around Mia's stranglehold on him.
"Sorry." Mia giggled. "You gave me such a fright. Don't ever do anything like that again." She turned serious.
"Yes mother." Jesse laughed. Dom was like the father of the team, but Letty was not the mother. That was Mia's job and she was darn good at it.
Dom looked around at the team, his team, his family. It was good to have them all there, and to know they were all going to be ok. He was happier than he had been in a long time and it was a very good feeling. The cold knot of dread he'd had in his gut ever since everything went down loosened and finally disappeared as he watched Jesse carry on with the rest of the team. He realized that Jesse wasn't catching his eyes and hadn't really spoken to him since they'd gotten to the hospital. Dom couldn't blame Jesse for hating him. It was Dom's idea to get involved in everything and Dom had failed the boy by letting him get into trouble the way he had. He was supposed to look out for Jesse, he knew the boy was impressionable and he'd failed to do it.
"Um, could I talk to Jesse alone for a minute guys?" Dom asked. He managed to keep the fear out of his voice. Dom was finding himself quite scared that Jesse was going to tell him off, to hate him for how things had gone down. The team filed out of the room, shooting Dom looks as they went. They didn't know what was going down.
"Jesse."
"Dom."
They both started to speak to the other at the same time. "Go ahead." Dom offered.
"I'm sorry that I did something so stupid and I hope you're not too mad at me." Jesse mumbled out, staring at the blankets on his bed.
"Jesse." Dom sighed. Jesse looked up with tears in his eyes, he thought Dom was really mad at him and didn't want to forgive him so fast. "I'm not mad at you. I never was. Well, maybe for the first hour or two after you took off but never after then."
"Really. But you never came to see me." Jesse clearly didn't believe that Dom wasn't mad at him."
"Yes I did. I just didn't come as much as the other guys or say much while I was here. The truth is Jess," Dom took a deep breath and blew it out. He didn't want to say what he knew he had to. He hated to talk about topics dealing with feelings. "I'm surprised that you don't hate me. I got us into this mess. I should have known you'd get in over your head. I should have made sure you had money to race so you'd never have had to put up your car. I should have kept a better eye on you. The very fact that you're in here is my fault." Dom ended and looked Jesse in the eye.
"Dom, I did something stupid. I should have asked you before I raced, not just did it. I don't hate you, I'm surprised as hell you're not mad at me but I don't hate you." Jesse couldn't imagine ever hating Dom. Jesse had never thought that any part of what had occurred was Dom's fault. "I know I fucked up. You didn't make me race."
"No, but after you took off Johnny talked some shit to me about us being the people who narc'ed him out and I had to talk shit back. Then we had a huge fight and I pretty much pounded Johnny into the ground in front of everyone who was there. It was me embarrassing him like that that made him decide to go after you. He went after you to get revenge on me. I saw it in his eyes as the bastard looked up at me from all fours on the ground. It's my fault you're in here. He didn't want the Jetta. He can buy 100 cars that would blow it right out of the water."
"But if I hadn't raced him the whole situation wouldn't have happened." Jesse hung his head. Dom picked up his hand.
"Jesse, I'm not mad at you, none of this was your fault, and the reason why I didn't visit you as much as the rest of the team was because I was guilty over getting you into this mess. I let you down and I'm sorry. No more worrying that I'm mad at you, I'm not. Just get better."
"Well, I'm not mad at you and I don't think you got us into anything on your own. I guess we'll just have to mark the whole situation up to fate and leave it at that." Jesse looked at the top of Dom's bald, bowed head. Dom looked up.
"You're right. We all got involved in a stupid situation and that makes everything that happened simply the result of what we all did. Now I better bring the rest of the team in here before they go nuts." They shared a smile and Dom got up to go get the others.
While Jesse and Dom were having their discussion the rest of the team was watching Vince try not to explode. He was trying. He wasn't succeeding but he was trying.
"You aren't even allowed out of bed till next week." Vince shouted at Nyssa. "How the hell did you get here?"
"I had to come see Jesse. Something told me to come see him. So I did." Nyssa glared back defiantly.
"Answer my question. How'd you get here?"
"Leon brought me because I tricked him into it." She finally answered after pausing with a mutinous expression on her face.
"Leon!" Vince spun on his friend. "What the fuck were you thinking? She's not even supposed to be out of bed for Christ's sake." Vince roared as he turned on Leon. Leon held up his hands in surrender and went to start to try to explain himself.
"Vince, this is between you and me. Don't go in at Leon for what I made him do." Nyssa was getting slightly annoyed and it was showing in her voice.
"Well, he brought you here. How'd you make him do that? He shoulda known better." Vince was still looking at Leon but talking to her.
"I made him do it by telling him if he didn't bring me I'd come on my own."
"He knew you couldn't because I told him I hid all the car keys. You were as good as stranded and he knew it." Vince was so irate it was scaring both Mia and Letty. And Leon by the look on his face. Nyssa was the only one who wasn't scared of Vince. The other three had all seen first hand what he was capable of when he was this infuriated and Nyssa never had. But she didn't seem the least bit intimidated. She was giving it back to Vince as good as he was giving it out.
"Yeah, but what you didn't know is that not only can I break into the Mustang without keys, I can hot wire it too. So either way I was coming down here. Leon did you a favour by keeping me out from behind the wheel and making sure I didn't hurt myself. He made me take it easy the whole way here and after we got here."
"I hope he never does me a favour like this again. Damn it, you're gonna end up back in here if your doctor sees you." Vince had gotten his tone down to a dull roar.
"He has seen me. He took my stitches out. And you can ask Jesse. The only thing that made him wake up was me coming to talk to him. Everything happens for a reason and the reason why I came down here was to talk to Jesse and wake him up. Vince you're over reacting."
"I don't want you to get sick or hurt. You were told to stay home till at least two weeks from when you came home. Instead you turned around and snuck out of the house and Leon helped you do it despite the talk we already had about him letting you stay up out of bed. He knew better." Vince was back to all out shouting. Nyssa looked around the room.
"Could you guys leave us alone for a few minutes? Go get a drink or something, kay?"
The team all left. Vince made a move to stop Leon from leaving but Nyssa stopped him from laying a hand on the other man with a look from her flashing violet eyes. "Vincent, you're behaving like an asshole." She said once they were alone, she figured she'd pull out all the stops and start to use her big guns. Vince was pacing in front of her while she sat in one of the uncomfortable plastic hospital chairs.
"And you are acting like a spoiled child. You were told to stay in bed for a week, then to do nothing more strenuous then walk around the house for another week. Yet I find out one of my best friends helped you go against those orders and took you out of the house. Then you take this attitude like I don't have the right to be mad and you send people around and." Vince trailed off in sheer frustration. He wanted to scream. He hated to be called Vincent. He was not in a good mood.
"Vince, the doctor says I'm all healed up. I'm not sore at all. I didn't go run a marathon; I came to the hospital to visit a very sick friend. A friend who is now conscious because of my visit I might add. I'd think you could get over this, like Dom did, and be happy Jesse is awake. You have poor Leon scared to death. You know damn well that I can convince you guys to do anything for me. You can't blame poor Leon for this."
"The hell I can't. He's a grown man. There's no way he should have allowed himself to be conned into taking you here."
"Vince, get over it. Jesse's awake." It occurred to her how to diffuse this situation in that heartbeat. The doctor told her she was almost as good as new. That gave her an excellent idea of what to do.
"I'm not going to get over anything." He roared back and then watched as she stood up and walked up to him.
"Oh yes you are." She breathed out with what she hoped was a seductive look in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck, slid one of her hands into his hair and pulled his lips down to hers. She hadn't had anything more then chaste kisses on the forehead from him since she'd come home. She knew the doctor had likely told Vince that she wasn't able to be intimate with him till after she was better but she felt better enough right now. And she knew that after three weeks of not getting any Vince was likely more then ready to get some now. And she was going to use that fact to the best of her advantage. Plus she wanted him too, had for days but hadn't known how to tell him it would be ok.
He kissed her like he was drowning in her for about three minutes but it felt like forever to the two people who'd been denied each other for the last three weeks. Then Vince tried to break it off. He wasn't ready to stop being mad at her. He knew if they kept kissing lust was going to replace his anger. Nyssa felt him try to back away from her mentally so she did the only thing she could do. If he wouldn't kiss her mouth, she could think of several things to do with hers that should keep his interest. She started with nibbling down his neck while she slowly started to move her hands from around his neck down his back.
"No.. Oh.. That's so g..Oh yeah.. No.. Stop that..Oh, don't stop.. Argh!" He groaned. Vince knew what she was up to. And he wanted her to stop so he could stay angry almost as much as he wanted to pull her into the first empty room he could find and start to peel her cloths off her. He'd been deprived of her for too long. And as much as he knew she was playing him to make him stop yelling, he could sense the desperation in her for him too. And it made him feel euphoric. She wanted him just as bad as he wanted her. So when she started to walk him backwards he didn't fight her. The backs of his knees hit the edge of the plastic chair and he collapsed into it as she climbed onto his lap straddling him.
"Baby?" She asked, breathless.
"Yea?" He answered her, not doing much better.
"Can we go home soon?" She asked him with a look that Vince would have had to call sex crazed. He knew the feeling. He imagined she could see pretty much the same look in his eyes too.
"You think I don't know what you're up to?" He asked. It was no use, he wasn't mad anymore. He grinned at her.
"Oh, I know you know. But I know what you're 'up' to too so I think it's a good time to tell the team that we'll see them later." She started to nibble on him again.
"I love it when you do that." He groaned and pulled her lips back to his for another breath stealing kiss. And that was how the team found them.
"Guys, this is a hospital for crying out loud." Mia said. Leon looked very relieved. Letty laughed. She pulled the same trick on Dom all the time. Make him forget he's mad by turning him on.
"Um, we're gonna, we've gotta.." Vince struggled to find the words he needed to make a graceful exit.
"I think I left the iron on and we have to go check it out." Nyssa said with a giggle and a blush. She didn't know who they thought they were fooling.
"Yeah, that's it." Vince added. "Tell Jesse we'll be back after we check it out." He stood up taking Nyssa with him.
"But won't he know it doesn't take an hour to check if you left an iron on?" Letty asked with a smirk and saw how Vince and Nyssa were looking at each other. "Or two hours?" She asked with one eyebrow cocked.
"Better make it three." Nyssa answered then blushed a very bright red. Vince threw his head back and laughed till he cried. He started to walk out of the room trailing Nyssa behind him. She turned around and looked at Leon. "Marshmallow." She mouthed so that Vince wouldn't hear her then turned back around and followed him out of the room. The remainder of the team laughed. Leon shook his head. Maybe old coyote was a marshmallow for his girl. He sure as hell wasn't any other time, but maybe he was for Nyssa.
Dom came into the room minutes after Nyssa and Vince had left.
"Where are V and Nyssa?" Dom asked.
"They had to go, um, make up." Leon stammered out.
"I see. So we'll be seeing them some time tomorrow then?" Dom asked with a grin.
"Something like that." Letty answered. The remaining team went to go visit with Jesse.
Nyssa teased Vince mercilessly the whole way home from the hospital. As soon as they got home he dragged her out of the car and down the stairs. They immerged from their room at 9pm starving. As they started to make some supper for themselves they got a rousing round of applause for the auditory show they'd been putting on. Nyssa blushed scarlet and if she wasn't mistaken so did Vince. But they ate and then went to put on act two.
Nyssa was worn out. She'd fallen asleep with her head on Vince's chest. Vince was starting to nod off too when a knock came at his door. He groaned as he got out of bed and struggled into his shorts. "Wha?" He asked as he opened the door. Who ever it was had it coming. They shoulda known he wouldn't want to be disturbed after what they'd all no doubt heard. It was Leon.
"Can we talk for a second?" Leon asked, looking scared.
"Sure." Vince sighed. "What do you wanna talk about?" When had he become such a hard ass his own friends were scared of him? It wasn't something he was proud of. If making your friends scared of you was part of not going soft then he all of a sudden realized it was time to go soft. Or at least softer then he had been, obviously. Leon should know that no matter how mad he was at members of his own team he wouldn't beat them up. He tried to look less intimidating.
"I know you weren't happy you never got to finish yellin' at me, and I want to know if we need to have it out, or if we're cool." Leon had never had a situation arise where he had to worry about one of his own team mates beating him up but he figured if it was going to happen it would be over this. Vince had been enraged when he'd found out Nyssa was at the hospital and how she'd gotten there.
"It's cool. I know how she is man. I was pissed at first but she's totally right. If she wanted to go she'd a gone if you took her or not. You kept her safe as you could and well, I'm feelin' pretty mellow right now." Vince gave Leon a very satisfied smirk.
"I would be too Dawg." Leon laughed as he walked back up the stairs. Vince returned to his bed, crawled back in, pulled his girl against him and went to sleep happy for the first time since the shit all hit the fan. He had his girl back 100 percent, Jesse was awake and it looked like they were gonna get off. Everything was going to be ok.