Chapter 7

Sacrifice

The next morning Lily, Jesse, and Alex went over to Dom's house. "Hello, anybody home?"

"We're upstairs!"

Jesse took Alex upstairs. Lily saw Dom's coat on the floor and picked it up. A small card fell out of the pocket. It had an address on it. She turned it over. It was a business card, for J.J's garage. "Oh shit." She put it in her pocket and went upstairs.  "Hey guys."

"Hey Lily."

"I wish I could stay, but I have to go."

Jesse turned to face her. "Where?"

"Joe ordered some parts for my car. I have to go pick them up."

"Okay, see ya later."

"Bye."

She gave him a kiss, then drove to Joe's garage. When she got there he was underneath his car. She kicked his foot to get his attention.

"Ow! Who…" He got out from under his car to see who kicked him. "Oh, hi Lily."

"Hey Joe. Those parts come in yet?"

"Not yet, but that's not really why you're here is it?"

"No. I need to know if J.J's planning on racing anyone anytime soon."

"I haven't heard anything."

"If you do can you let me know?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

She left and went back home

***1:30 am***

Lily was asleep in Jesse's arms when her cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Hey Lily, it's Joe."

"Joe, do you know what time it is?"

"Your boy Dom is gonna race J.J in an hour."

"Shit. I knew it."

"I couldn't find out where, but I know the race is at 2:30."

"I have the address. Thanks Joe."

"No problem. And Lily, don't do anything stupid."

"You know me."

"That's why I said it."

She hung up the phone and quietly slipped out of bed and got dressed. She left a note for Jesse saying she couldn't sleep and went for a drive. Then she went over to Dom's house. She went into his room, careful not to wake him or Letty, and took his car keys. She just stared at him for a moment, thinking of all the good times they've had together. "You protected me, now I have to protect you." She lightly kissed his forehead and left. She took his car and drove to the address on the card she found in Dom's jacket. J.J was already there.

"Well well. I wasn't expecting you Lily. I'm supposed to be racing your buddy."

"Well you're racing me instead."

"Oh really?"

He was trying to intimidate her, but she stood her ground. "Yeah. Dom is no part of this anymore."

"I have always wondered about you. Okay, it's just you and me then."

"I want to make it clear that whatever happens here is on me, not him." She was scared to death about how this could end, but she couldn't let Dom get hurt.

"It's all on you. I got it."

"What're we racing for?"

"5g's"

"You got it."

She took out the money and gave it to one of J.J's guys. They lined up on the starting line. The race started. J.J pulled ahead. Lily tried to make it look like she was trying to beat him, but really that wasn't what she planned to do. She knew she had only one option. She had to let him win. When the race ended, and J.J won, he got out of his car looking very pissed off.

"What the hell was that?"

"What'd ya mean?"

"You know what I mean Lily. You let me win."

"No I didn't."

"Don't bullshit me girl!" Now he was getting very angry. He and his gang were surrounding her. "I don't like it when people screw with me like this."

"She knew what was going to happen. She was just glad it wasn't Dom.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Dom woke up at 2 am to leave for the race, but when he went to get his keys they weren't there. He looked out the window and saw that his car was gone. Letty, Mia, and Brian, were still in bed, so they couldn't have taken it. He quietly went over to Lily's house. He saw that Vince and Leon were still in bed, but when he got to Jesse and Lily's room Lily wasn't there. He thought to himself, 'Why would see take my car? We fixed hers. Unless…' He reached into his pocket and realized that the card J.J had given him wasn't there. 'Oh no.' He went over to Jesse and shook him awake. "Jesse, get up man!"

He went over to Vince and Leon's rooms. "Get your ass's up guys! Hurry up!"

Jesse came out into the hall half asleep. "What going on Dom?"

"I think Lily may be in trouble."

That woke them all up. "What? Why?"

He told them about his plan to race J.J. They were mad, but all they cared about at the time was saving Lily. They got Brian and Letty and went to the address J.J had given Dom. Mia stayed home with Alex. Dom wanted Letty to stay home too, but she wouldn't.

When they got there J.J and his gang were beating the shit out of Lily. J.J even had a bat in his hand. Lily was laying on the ground in a pool of blood.

"Hey! Leave her alone asshole!"

"Well, you finally decided to show up. You know, this never would've happened if you had come."

Dom lunged at J.J and everyone else went after his buddies. Letty was afraid to fight because someone could hit her in the stomach and hurt the twins, so she just went over to Lily, pulled her away from the fighting, and checked to see if she was alright.

J.J finally got away from Dom and ran to his car. "Let's get outta here!" He and his gang quickly drove off.

As soon as they were gone the team ran over to Lily. Jesse knelt down beside her and looked up at Letty. "Is she alright?"

Letty's face worried everyone. "She's bleeding from her head and she unconscious. She's still breathing, but barely."

"Someone call 911."

Brian took out his cell phone and called 911.

Jesse gently took Lily's hand in his. "Lily, wake up. Come on baby wake up. Please. You can't leave me Lily. You can't leave me."

When the ambulance came Jesse rode with Lily to the hospital, and the team followed close behind. Brian called Mia to tell her what happened. She dropped Alex off with one of Lily's friends and met them at the hospital.

When the team ran into the hospital Jesse was in the waiting room staring at the door the doctors had taken Lily through. He turned around when he heard them come up behind him. He went right up to Dom and did something no one ever expected him to do. He punched Dom hard in the face. "How could you! This is all your fault!"

Leon grabbed him before he could hit Dom again. "Jess, calm down man! Come on, let's go." He dragged Jesse down the hall and took him for a walk to cool him off.

Letty helped Dom up off the floor and looked at his eye where Jesse had punched him. He was already getting a bruise.

Next Mia got up in his face. "He's right you know. It is your fault! If you hadn't been such a dumb ass this wouldn't have happened! Do you ever listen?! She told you to stay away from him! Now she could die because of your stupid pride!"

"Mia stop!"

She turned to see Brian's tear stained face. He was trying very hard to keep it together, but it was getting harder by the minute.

"Please stop."

She could see that everything she was saying was just making him more upset. She went over to him and hugged him tightly.

Dom started to walk towards him. "Brian…"

"Don't Dom. I don't even want to hear it."

Dom could see that Brian would love to hit him too if it would make any difference, but it wouldn't. Dom started walked down the hall. As soon as he turned the corner so the others couldn't see him he broke down and cried harder than he ever had, even when his father died.

Letty followed him and saw him fall apart. She ran to him and held him close.

"What have I done Letty? What have I done?"

She lifted his face to make him look at her. "Dom, this is not your fault. Yes, it was stupid for you to try to race him after Lily told you not to, but she choose to go there. She chose to take your place. She knew what she was getting into, but she did it anyway because that's the way she is. This was not your fault. It was not your fault."

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Hours later the whole team was sitting in the waiting room still waiting to hear if Lily was okay. Leon was trying to keep Jesse calm, Mia was trying to comfort Brian, and Dom and Letty were just trying to keep each other from breaking down again. Finally they saw the doctor come down the hall.

"She's going to be fine. Her left arm is broken, she has 3 broken ribs, and a pretty big bruise on her head, but she'll be okay."

"Thank god."

Jesse stood up. "Can I see her?"

"She's still unconscious, but sure you can see her." The doctor had a nurse take Jesse to Lily's room.

When he went in and saw her he almost starting crying right there. Her left arm  was in a sling, she had a black eye, a split lip, a huge bruise above her left eye, and he knew there were more bruises under her hospital gown. He sat down next to the bed and gently took her hand in his. "You really scared us baby. We thought we were gonna lose you. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. I need you. So does Alex. I can't raise him alone. He needs his mommy. So no more heroics, okay? You probably can't even hear me, but I'm just gonna talk to ya anyway."

Suddenly he felt her hand lightly squeeze his, then she slowly opened her eyes.

"Hey Lily. How ya feeling baby?"

"Who are you?"