Sorry I'm updating so late. Couldn't think of anything lately. Anyway, enough talk- go read (and review)!

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Jesse and Kat made their way down to the kitchen table, greeting the others who were happily eating Mia's current batch of home made pancakes. Leon briefly connected eyes with Kat and each looked away, shortly becoming the bright color of embarrassment. Leon coughed to clear the sudden tension in the room and attempted conversation with Vince.

"So…what are we doin' today, Vince?"

"Um…working. What else are we going to do?"

Leon looked away from Vince's early-morning, before-coffee sneer and turned to Letty, quickly swiping a strip of bacon off of her plate. "Thank you, baby," he cooed as she turned to find the food mysteriously out of its place.

During that transaction, Melanie and Dom wandered in, each one as sleepy-eyed as the other. Melanie took her place at the seat that was to the right of Dom's, and greeted the others who were already sitting around the table.

"Peaceful morning," commented Letty as she took her revenge out on Leon's extra pancake.

"Quiet, for once," agreed Melanie. Oddly enough, the house resounded with nothing but silence accompanied by the pleasant chatter created by the members of the household.

Dominic placed his plate down and stood back up, calling everyone's attention to himself. "I've got something important to say- listen up." He looked meaningfully at Melanie and she smiled encouragingly back at him. "We're not going to the races this Friday. I was thinking we could just have a team night to ourselves- no racing, just us." He waited momentarily for objections and sat down, taking hold of a knife and fork.

"Why aren't we going, Dom?" asked Vince.

"I figured we should use Friday to go out to a restaurant or some clubs or something. Take a break from all the competition," replied Dominic.

"But we do that kind of thing on Sunday," interrupted Jesse.

"True, but we don't stay up all night on Sunday because of work on Monday," said Dom, placing a piece of bacon into his mouth as a closing point to the argument.

Mia hugged Dom from behind while saying, "I think it's a great idea- in fact, we should all go see 'Uptown Girls'!"

The rest of the girls (excluding Letty) nodded in agreement only to have the thought knocked away by the men's heated requests of 'Freddy vs. Jason'. Melanie shook her head to downplay the guy's choice. "Seriously, that movie is just a sorry excuse for some lame-ass special effects and gore. I think I speak for the women when I say we are NOT seeing that."

Further discussions ensued.

~ ~ At Night ~ ~

"Hey V, what's with the outfit?"

Vince scrutinized himself in the mirror as he dabbed on cologne. He grimaced at Jesse, who'd broken his careful concentration. "I'm goin' out," he said gruffly.

"Really? With who?"

"Josie."

"The chick from the new half of the team?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't you already go out with that other one? Cici or something?"

"Yeah."

Jesse looked carefully at Vince, who seemed to have turned a rather pale shade of whitish-green. "You okay? You look a little sick, man."

Vince turned to face Jesse with a brief look of pain and anger reddening his features. "Jesse, this is the second date I've been on since O'Connor took Mia. All I've ever known is her, what am I supposed to do if this is just another failed attempt to move on? Especially after the first try went terribly. She hated me."

Jesse gaped, words refusing to leave his mouth. Vince had never been a real 'emotional' type of guy. Is that why he's always angry? Because he doesn't have Mia? "V…" he said, sympathetically.

"Look, I'm out or else I'm gonna be late. I'll see ya later," Vince huffed, pushing past Jesse to get out of the room.

~ ~

Vince carefully climbed up the slightly rickety steps of the new team's house across the street. A woman that was about 5'6" answered the door. She looked him up and down with an air of disdain and then let him in.

"Jo'll be down in a minute. Wait here," she said, flipping her red hair and walking into a room that was filled with a group of girls and one or two guys mixed in. Vince tried to remember the girl's name and decided that it was Trinity. He watched the other team's interactions and saw two fighting over a movie.

Something's not right…the thought struck him and would not let go. The motions of the people in front of his eyes were not fluid, not like those of people who'd spent a good part of their lives together. He shivered as Trinity intercepted the current fight with a cold glare and hissed at them to just put the movie in, which was another action that struck him as odd. How could she be so irritated over a spat as small as that?

Vince shook his head clear of the present thoughts and turned his attention to Josie, who was cautiously making her way down the stairs in tall, black sandals. She was wearing a light black dress that hugged her slight figure. Her dark hair was straight and moved a little bit as she waved cheerily to Vince. He grinned and waved back when she finally joined him on the lower landing at the foot of the steps.

"Ready to go?" he asked, scanning her behind low-lidded eyes.

"Always am," she declared with a smile.

~ ~

Vince and Josie sat across from each other in a small, comfortable Mexican restaurant, chatting amicably and waiting for their check. Vince had learned two things from this girl so far: 1) she had a great smile, and 2) he was definitely attracted to her. He nodded absentmindedly as she continued what was becoming a one-sided conversation with herself and considered the possibilities of what might happen after the night was over.

"Don't you agree, Vince?"

"Huh?" Vince's ears perked up at the mention of his own name and he blinked in confusion at the big blue eyes pointedly locking him in a staring contest. "I'm sorry, what were you asking?"

"I didn't ask anything. You just looked like you were in your own little world, and I thought that I should bring you back," she chuckled, still not letting go of his gaze. "Got something big on your mind?"

"No, it's a very small thing, really," he rumbled in his husky voice. "I was wondering what would happen after I said goodnight to you…"

"Well, I'm going to go up to my room, change into pajamas, and go to sleep. What about you?" She grinned at him mischievously.

He grinned back and replied, "I was planning on calling you."

Josie raised her eyebrows in mock surprise, saying, "Oh, you'll have missed me that much by the time you walk yourself home?"

"I'm missing you already," laughed Vince.

"Ooh, you're a charmer, Mr. Black," she cooed happily while Vince accepted the bill from their waiter and promptly paid for the meal.

"Of course I am, didn't I tell you about the time a snake was about to attack Dom and I had to charm it away from him?"

"That didn't happen!" she cried incredulously.

"Oh you don't believe me?" Vince waggled his brows comically and laughed. "He screamed so loud he messed up his voice. Why do you think he sounds the way he does these days?"

~ ~

Vince and Josie approached her door hand in hand. As she reached to dig the keys out from the bottom of her pocketbook, Vince turned her chin up to face him. Smoothly, he brushed his lips against hers slowly, so as not to scare her away, and engulfed her into his massive arms.

"Just wanted to say goodnight," he mumbled as the gap that separated their mouths began to grow back.

She nodded, still visibly shaken by Vince's sweet movements. She fought a brief fight within herself as to whether she should let him in or not. Not, she figured, refusing to let herself become another notch on the bedpost to him.

She kissed him again on the cheek, his prickly stubble rubbing against her lips, and said, "Goodnight, Vince… call me?"

He nodded and hugged her once more before he backed away and walked across the street to his own home, humming "Brand New Colony" by The Postal Service to himself. Was he over Mia? Almost, he thought, contemplating every romantic possibility with Josie. He smiled to himself and fell asleep on the couch, still fully-clothed and consumed with the thoughts of his new girl.

* * * Friday Night * * *

*Mel's POV*

I snuggled into Dominic's arms as the team walked out of the movie theater from seeing American Wedding. I smiled slightly to myself, loving the way Dominic's dark, caramel skin blended with my own light skin in the moonlight. He was so beautiful. I turned around to kiss his cheek when my actions were interrupted by the sounds of sirens, both police and ambulance. They sped right past us, the blinding red and blue lights of the LAPD and the Glendale Hospital vans speeding urgently past us. I blinked. They were heading towards the location of tonight's races.

"Fuck," said Dominic to himself, letting go of me and walking the short distance between the theater and the alley where the races were taking place.

The rest of us followed him until we reached the races, gasping at the scene that was unfolding before us. Cars were punctured with bullet wounds, at least those that didn't have NOS in them. There had clearly been explosions, dozens of random car parts littered the ground. People were in even worse condition. Many lay in stretchers with limp arms hanging off the sides, and others were jumping around in hysterical frenzy, trying to tell the police or ambulance men what had happened. Those that weren't speaking to the police or being taken away on stretchers were being herded into the backs of police cars, clearly being taken into custody over the night's illegal actions.

Dominic rushed over to Hector, who stood trying to comfort a girl that I'd seen hanging around his crew before. "Hector, what the hell happened?"

Hector stared up at the tall man before him with painstakingly cold venom in his eyes. "Someone came here with guns, man, lots of them. Started to yell and shit. He looked like he was one of your guys, from that new team or something. Finally, when we understood what he was shouting about, he said that you'd told him to do it. He said you'd paid him big money to come up here and shoot all this shit up. He hit some of the cars. Hit some of my people. After that the cops came and took everyone who could still walk away." Hector glared at Dominic one last time before walking away with the girl still attached firmly to his arm. If looks could kill…

Dominic looked back at us with pleading eyes, begging us to see that he hadn't done anything, that what Hector had said wasn't true. He watched my eyes slip to a passing ambulance with two worried people-friends of mine- staring back out at me through the glass.

There was blood on the street that night, and allegedly on Dom's hands.

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So…if Dom says he wasn't responsible, than who was? R/R please!