Oh no! Aw, LazySloth, I knew I forgot something!!!!!! Okay, Josie was in the last chapter, but she was…um…hiding in the shadows! *feels awful*

Seriously though, I was going to call out your name for realizing what had gone wrong and all. *hangs head* Sorry!

Anyway, for everyone else who has reviewed, thank you so much, I really appreciate your comments, and so, I give you Chapter 9…

Waking Up

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I laughed and tipped back what must have been my fifth beer for the night. Stupid Toretto, did he think that he could destroy me when he took Johnny? Now he'd learn…now he'd pay…

I was hanging around with Vengeance, all of us proud of the pain that was going to go down tomorrow morning. I loved this new arrangement, I was Melanie's 'loyal friend' and I'd do anything to spite her, and she'd just be trusting and naïve…I giggled again.

Down with the Toretto name. Without his precious Melanie, Dominic would just break down and hand the streets over to me…I'd have everything…almost.

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Yelling…he was yelling for me to hang back…

Dominic…trucks…

No, the gun- VINCE, HE HAS A GUN!

Italy…home…

The car, oh God, no…don't, TRINITY!!!

I woke up, cold sweat dripping down my face, my shoulders…I gasped and dropped my head into hands, trying to keep it from spinning out of control. Memories, they were all flooding back in a violent torrent that wouldn't stop for fifteen minutes. I moaned as I realized what I'd done, who I'd listened to.

I looked to Dominic, lying quietly beside me. He was so innocent when he slept, like his horrible luck in life didn't bother him. He was perfect and peaceful when his eyes closed and he fell into slumber. I loved him so much…

I gasped again as my heart jerked in confusion and tears cascaded from my eyes. I had to wake him up, I had to tell him everything...Trinity was driving…

I brought my gaze back to Dom, and saw him raise his upper lip in a sleepy smile and whisper my name, but right then, his eyes became squeezed tight, as if he was having a bad dream. I leaned down to kiss him softly on his forehead and he relaxed a little bit. I had to wake him up and tell him what I'd meant to do to him.

I moved my hand to shake him gently, and once again, it caught my eye. That photograph of Dom and me when we were sitting together, just happy to be in each other's presence. That was what had done it. That's what had reminded me of him.

"Dominic…wake up, please, wake up," I whispered, rubbing his arm insistently. He yawned and opened an eye halfway and looked up at me dreamily.

"Morning, beautiful," he said, reaching out to kiss me. I pulled back and he withdrew a little bit, hurt written all over his half-awake features.

"Dom, I remember."

"What do you mean? You told me that yesterday. That's why you let me take you upstairs…you fell asleep, though," he smiled sadly at the last part.

"Natsu Lee came to me after I got out of the hospital and said we'd been friends, she showed me some digitally altered pictures of us hanging out. I didn't remember anything about her, but I went along with it. Anyway, she old me about how you'd 'wronged' her, and she asked me to help her get revenge…"

"So you come here, act like you're in love with me again, then disappear in the middle of the night while I'm still sleeping?" He finished, looking down at the plain white sheets on his bed. On our bed.

I looked away while I answered him. I'd been so terribly wrong about everything, if only I could fix it all. "Basically. Dominic, I remember everything though, when I saw that picture of us, our past came back into my mind. I love you, Dom, you have to believe me," I pleaded, staring down at him.

He lay there watching me, not moving a muscle except for his eyes darting from me to the old picture, wondering which path he should take. Should he continue to mourn the past, or accept what happened and take me back?

"I love you, too, Melanie, I don't want to be without you…but…I need you to prove that you're for real this time."

"I'd do anything."

"Two things." He placed his hand over mine.

"Okay. What do you want?"

"First, answer this: What were we supposed to talk about after we left your parents' place?"

"Easy. Getting married," I smiled, leaning down to kiss his cheek. One task down, one to go.

"That's right", he whispered, rewarding me with another kiss. "Now for the hard part. You have to kiss me and make me believe you're in love with me. It has to feel like it always has. Fireworks and explosions."

"That's not so hard…"

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pushed my mouth onto his. I'd missed him so much…we kissed as though we'd been separated for years –not days- getting carried away in the fact that what had once been was taking place again- we were back in the clouds, flying free above all of the bullshit in our lives.

Finally, I pulled back, slightly breathless, and lay back into his arms, staring up at his penetrating eyes.

"I think that was an atom bomb compared to all of the other explosions, Dom," I whispered, giggling a little as I ran my fingers up and down his chest and getting laughter back in response.

"Mmm…yeah…we should do it again, huh?" He replied, still chuckling a little over the movement of my fingers. He was ticklish right on his stomach…

"Of course we should, Dom…" I pulled my head back up and started to kiss him again. He wrapped his arms around my waist and returned every kiss I gave him.

Oh damn, I was supposed to tell Dom about Trinity trying to kill me, wasn't I? I pushed him off of me (with much grumbling and frustration from both of us) and sat back.

"D, I forgot to tell you something else…"

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Help! I'm not as evil as I thought I was. If anyone can help me out with revenge on Team V, send me an e-mail; don't post your advice as a review (don't want to give it away). Thanks in advance to whoever helps!

By the way, what did you think of this chapter? I'd love to know…