Chapter 48 - Contemplations
The alarm went off at 8 am the next morning like it always did. Sometimes Torrie got up with Dom and went to work with him and sometimes he reset it and told her to go back to sleep for another couple hours. The garage didn't really open till 9 so she didn't need to be there right away. Dom shut the alarm off when it rang and sat on the edge of the bed shaking the sleep out of his head. It'd been 1am when they got home and he was still tired. Add to that frustration the fact that he hated Mondays and the garage was backed up and it was clear that the day was going to suck. He decided to make this one of those days that he gave Torrie a few extra hours sleep, figuring she needed them, and reset the alarm for 10. He was feeling generous.
"Dom?" She murmured sleepily as she rolled from her side to her back. "What time is it? Time to get up?"
"Not for you baby. Go back to sleep." If she hadn't been so use to his morning voice she would only have had half an idea what he'd said to her. He leaned over her and brushed a chunk of hair off her face. "You look like you need the sleep." He brushed her forehead with his lips. He sat back up and sat on the edge of the bed again, needing a minute to really wake up. Torrie remembered that Vince never had gotten to talk, or rather yell at her, and he would likely be waiting for her. But not if she went with Dom now. The other guys never got up till like 8:30, then they rushed down to DT.
She took a second and rubbed her eyes. She really wanted the extra sleep that Dom was offering, but she'd be safer from Vince's lecture if she went with Dom now. She slowly got up on her knees and then threw her arms around his neck. He jumped a bit, thinking she was already back asleep, it normally only took her a second or two to be back asleep.
"I think I'll get up and come with you. It's Monday after all and the store's backed up." She kissed the top of his bald head.
"Yeah, but you can go back to bed and come down later when you wake up. You slept in the car the whole way home last night and didn't even wake up when I carried you into the house. You musta been really tired."
"Yeah, but I got that extra sleep in the car, I'll be fine after a shower."
"Well then, there's gonna be a problem cause I need one too."
"That's no problem. I go first." She laughed and went to jump off the bed around him to reach the bathroom first. He grabbed her arms and held them around his neck so she couldn't move.
"No way. I got up first. I go first." With that he went to remove her arms so he could take off for the bathroom. She wouldn't let him go.
"I go first. You only got up like a minute before me." Torrie knew he was about to try to take off, she held on for dear life. Dom stood up, Torrie hanging from his neck. He grabbed her legs and carried her into the bathroom. Torrie didn't have any idea what he was planning. He started the water with her still clinging to him and got in.
"Dominic Toretto!" She screamed as the cold water hit her. He'd set the water for a cold shower and then gotten in it with her still clinging to him. He laughed and set her down, turning so the brunt of the cold water hit his back.
"Yes baby?" He asked with a sly grin.
"You. You." She sputtered.
"Well, you wouldn't let go, and I wanted to go first. It's not my fault if you don't like your morning showers cold."
"No it's not." Dom was worried from the sly look on her face. She pulled his tank top off, leaving her wearing nothing at all. "But since I'm all wet, and really growing a taste for the cold water, it's so invigorating, I think I'll make the most of it." She went to step around him to get to the spray and her shampoo. Dom growled and pinned her to the back wall of the shower.
Once she was out and getting dried off she looked in the mirror. "Dom, look at my neck! Everyone that sees me is gonna know what we spent yesterday doin'." Torrie was embarrassed that it was so obvious. She couldn't even wear her hair down, they worked in a garage. She'd have to put it up before she started to work on cars.
"Yeah, well, I have one or two myself. Like I said it's not hard for people to see why I can't keep my hands off ya." He stood behind her in and looked at them in the mirror. He loved the way she looked against him, her skin so white and his so dark, her physic so small and his so large. She was soft everywhere he was hard, even though she was strong for her size her muscles didn't really show, she looked so womanly standing there in front of him. He loved her flat belly with it's little concave hollow that made her hip bones jut out a short distance past it. Her eyes met his and he smiled before he leaned down and kissed her on one of the little marks, his arms wrapped around her waist again.
"Ok, I can't be upset after that confession can I?" She asked with a little sigh, she was so happy Dom was being so caring of her that she didn't care if her whole body was one big hicky anymore.
"I hope not. Besides, it just tells other guys that you're my girl." Dom grinned.
"I'm the one that needs some sort of big stick to keep the girls off you. They think you're some prize or somethin'." Torrie laughed at the image of beating skanks off Dom with a big stick.
"They might want me, but like you said, they really want the image. Plus there's only one girl that has my attention these days." He tipped her chin up so she was looking at her own reflection in the mirror. "And you're lookin' at her." Dom put his chin on her shoulder and smiled.
"Aw. You can be so sweet sometimes." Torrie smiled back.
"And now we need to get dressed and go to work." Dom changed the subject before he got embarrassed about talking like this. They went and got dressed. But while they did they got carried away in each other as they often did so what should have taken 15 minutes took 30 and by the time they got downstairs everyone was up. Torrie was mildly upset that she hadn't made her getaway but she couldn't complain about what made her late. Her hair was still hanging wetly down her back, there had been no time to dry it. Dom had no hair but you could still tell he was damp.
They got knowing looks from everyone and Torrie got a look from Vince that let her know he hadn't forgotten he wanted to yell at her over what she'd said. She tried to make a break for it.
Torrie grabbed an orange. "I'ma head down to work baby boy. I'm not really hungry. See you there?" She said to Dom.
"Torrie, wait for me, eat some cereal or something and then we'll go together." Dom asked her.
"Ok. I'll wait but all I want for breakfast is this." She held up the fruit.
"Fine." Dom sat down at the head of the table and Torrie sat on his left. Letty straggled into the house.
"Where the heck have you been girl?" Torrie asked her.
"Um, out with friends." Letty said with a sly look.
"I see." Torrie grinned, she had a fair idea who 'friends' were. "Details later?"
"Of course." Letty grinned. How had she ever not liked Torrie? She noticed the new girl and raised an eyebrow in question. Torrie shot her a look that told Letty they'd talk about that later too. Letty nodded her understanding and sat down.
"I hope you're ready to work Lett." Dom stated. "We're gonna be busy."
"That's why I'm here Dom." Letty started to scarf down as much food as the guys. She was starving. The new girl was eyeing her up. They'd never met. Letty looked at her again and decided that while Torrie could give her details later she had to introduce herself. "Hey by the way, I'm Letty."
"I'm Chris." The girl said and went back to looking at her food.
OK.Letty thought, not much of a talker. She couldn't wait to get the details from Torrie. They all finished eating and went to go to the garage. Vince moved to corner Torrie at the same time Dom and Letty did the same thing. Letty beat them all out. "Torrie, you ride wit me. I need ta talk to you."
"Sure Letty. See you guys at DT." She jumped in the purple Nissan and locked the door for good measure before Dom or Vince could protest. Letty hopped in and fired it up. "Shall I fill you in on the timid mouse first or would you like to tell me where in the name of god you spent the weekend?"
"First tell me what kind of rash you got while I was gone then tell me 'bout the chick." Torrie blushed, she'd known she was going to take teasing about this when she saw how noticeable the marks Dom had made on her neck were.
"Well, the rash is Domacitis." Torrie laughed and Letty joined her. "As for the girl, I guess her boyfriend brought her to the house on Saturday and Vince found out the guy was beating her. He kicked her boy outta the house and kept her. She's really shy and shit. Vince says he doesn't know if he likes her or not. She was crying and Vince was trying to comfort her and I stress trying, and I went to make sure everything was ok and she kept shooting me dirty looks. I can't figure if it's cause she thinks I'm after V and she likes him or if she thinks she knows me from somewhere. She don't, but she might think she does. So anyway after she was, well, I say mean to me, but after the dirty looks she asked how Vince got his nickname and I told her the honest reason." Letty whistled. "An now Vince is pissed at me and I been avoiding him since it happened."
"How are you avoiding him in the same house?"
"Well, Dom took me to a movie last night and I fell asleep in the car on the way home. He didn't wake me up so if Vince was waiting for me I was asleep and Dom wouldn't let him wake me up to yell at me."
"No he wouldn't." Dom was noticeably more protective of Torrie then he'd ever been of Letty but Letty wouldn't have stood for it anyway. "What movie did ya see?"
"Um, well, I think the movies they showed were 'The bosses daughter' and 'Freddy vs. Jason'. But we didn't really see much of either." Torrie turned beet red.
"Ah, drive in eh?" Letty laughed. "I've never been."
"It was sooo embarrassing Lett. I mean the security guard came up to the car and banged on the window. And we were doing just what he thought we were." Torrie giggled. "I'll never go back there again." She told the other girl the whole Dom's bare butt story and Letty had to pull the car over and get a hold of herself before she could drive further. She laughed till she cried and Torrie joined her. Just as Torrie figured Letty took her side in the whole Chris was a bitch situation and told Torrie she was too nice about the whole thing. Then she told Letty about the fight she'd had with Dom.
"So just to try and make him do something other then just stand there with that fucken calm look on his face I threw the time that he accused me of cheating with Vince in his face. I figured he'd blow up at me but he got so sad. I couldn't stand it."
"Yep, it's frustrating as hell when he doesn't react to anything but the extremes isn't it." Letty gave Torrie a knowing look. "I couldn't take it. I was always pushing and half the time even the pushing didn't make him act out. It was no way to live." Torrie just nodded. "But he's different wit choo, he tries harder. It's pretty obvious. Just don't fall into the trap of baiting 'im. You need to talk to him and just try to make him see that he needs to share shit wit choo. I don't know how it'll work out but you two are too perfect together for it not to."
"Oh Letty. You don't know how much that means to me. I've been so upset that we're never gonna figure this shit out. I don't know what I'd do without Dom."
"You'd live. He has this way of making girls think they can't live without him. You can. I mean I know you and him are," Letty made a mock grossed out face, "in love an all but much as you love him remember you can live without him and you can get other guys. Just don't let yourself loose sight of the fact that he is not your life, he might make your life better or more fun or whatever but he's not your life."
"Deep Letty. Now where the hell did you spend the whole weekend."
"Wit Brian's friend Rome." Letty actually blushed.
"No shit?"
"No shit." Letty looked at Torrie.
"So is it true?"
"Is what true?" Letty looked puzzled.
"That once you've had Black you never go back?" Torrie couldn't hold the laughter in any longer, the look on Letty's face was priceless. Letty playfully smacked her on the shoulder.
"You need to shut the f up, but oh, I can see why they say that fo sho." Letty laughed, seeing the humour.
"So are you seeing him or did you just have one hell of a weekend wit him." Torrie asked.
"Nope, I'm seein' him. He's pretty cool, and cute as hell. He's sticken' around for awhile at least and dependin' on how it goes if he leaves I might go wit him or try to convince him to stick around."
"Yeah well you better make him stick around. I love Mia to pieces but she and I would just spend the rest of our lives being sweet and nice to everyone. I need you around to make me stand up for myself."
"True dat. You need ta make sure you get yours girl, then worry 'bout other people an their feelings n'shit." They got out of the car at DT, they'd taken the long way to chat and the guys were gathered around outside watching for them. After they got out of the car Torrie gave Letty a quick hug.
"I'm happy for you Lett." She said simply at Letty's questioning look.
"I'm happy for me too." Letty smiled. "And I'ma make sure that I'm happy for you. If this girl gives you any more shit you let me know." Letty winked.
"Isn't that scary as hell brotha?" Vince asked Dom.
"Isn't what scary as hell?"
"Your ex and your current girl sharing shit and being close enough to hug." Vince looked at Dom and his reaction out of the corner of his eye.
"Naw, Letty's family and I'd rather they were friends then always fighting." Dom didn't care. It wasn't as though Letty was just using Torrie or vise versa, they'd just found common ground and had become friends. Vince nodded and headed Torrie's way, which was also Letty's way.
"Torrie, can we talk for a second?"
"Not right now Vince. I gotta get started on that stupid Neon." Torrie rolled her eyes. She hated doing mods to domestic compact crap boxes. Letty laughed. She knew Torrie was trying to avoid the conversation about what she'd said in front of Chris.
"This won't take long." Vince wasn't being put off that easily.
"Well then talk boy." Torrie tried to stay cocky. After all, Letty'd agreed with her, she'd had every right to be pissed and she hadn't lied or anything.
"Can we go somewhere alone?" Vince took her wrist and started to lead her off to the back yard of the garage without waiting for her answer.
"Geese Vince, stop dragging me around and say whatever you need to say so urgently that it can't wait." Torrie dug in her heals.
"I wanna know what the big idea was talkin' trash about me in front of Chris." Vince got angry with her again just thinking of it.
"I wasn't talkin' trash, I was tellin' the story. Not my fault if the truth bugs you." Torrie took a belligerent stance and shrugged.
"You put a spin on it to make me look bad."
"Oh V." She sighed. She loved Vince, she didn't want to hurt his feelings. She was starting to lose hold of the anger, it was hard to keep hold of it when he gave her those sad puppy baby blues. "I didn't try to make you look bad. If you want the truth I tried to make her feel bad cause she had it comin' from how she talked to me earlier. Not how she talked I guess but how she acted."
"Well, she's been through a lot." Vince said, still mad, slightly less so since she was so upset when she'd thought that he thought that she was trying to make him look bad.
"Why is that an excuse for acting like a child?" Torrie screamed. She was sick of people making excuses for this girl just based on what this guy that the girl herself hadn't had the guts to leave had done to her. If she stayed with him that long then she brought it on herself, Torrie thought with the blissful ignorance of someone who'd never been in that position. It was like lately no one wanted to cut her any slack but she was supposed to be Mary Fuckin' Sunshine to everyone else. She couldn't take it any more. She continued shouting at Vince. "So what, the fact that my mom and dad died in the same 9 month time frame, I lost my home and nearly everything I ever had, was almost assaulted in my own office and fight with my boyfriend all the time don't count, aren't a reason for me to act out and get a little moody but some chick who's man was a bit mean to her should have every excuse under the sun made for her." Dom missed out on most of what was said, but not the fact that Torrie was very upset. Letty heard it all and so did Vince of course, and Leon and Jesse. Dom came up behind the now crying Torrie and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She turned around and threw her arms around his neck, buried her face in his chest and cried.
"What'd you say to her Vince?" Dom asked, clearly irate with Vince. Even though he was mad at Vince Dom hoped secretly that this might be the thing that drove the two a bit farther apart. Vince and the rest of the team were in shock. Torrie never exploded at people. It took a lot to make her angry. They didn't think they'd ever seen her mad really. Upset with Dom yes but not in a murderous rage.
"Nothin'. I didn't get a chance to say anythin' before she flipped at me." Vince was in shock. Letty knew what had happened. For all her efforts at being Mary Sunshine Torrie was hiding all the stress and hurt down inside her and the strain had finally broken through. Letty walked up to Dom and Torrie, giving Vince a nasty look.
"Come on girl, you're ok. Come into the shop." Letty took Torrie from Dom and led her into the shop. "You try so hard to be the nice one huh? Strain finally got to ya?"
"I think so." Torrie did try not to be the one to start shit, except with Dom.
"We all need to blow up every once in a while anyway. Keeps 'em on their toes around us. Hell, just blame PMS and it'll all be fine in a week." Letty laughed and Torrie joined her. She really had just had to snap, she felt better already.
"I guess I owe V an apology. He really didn't get to say anything before I blew up at him."
"Naw, you don't owe him shit girl, he shoulda kept to his own business and not brought up the chick. Then this nevva woulda happened." Letty smiled.
"Letty, you sure are a bitch sometimes." But Torrie said it with a smile that let her friend know it wasn't an insult. Letty knew how to look out for Letty. Something Torrie could stand to learn.
"Yep, but it keeps me sane. If I didn't bitch I might explode." Letty and Torrie laughed. Dom walked into the shop and saw Torrie laughing with Letty.
"You gonna be ok princess?"
"Yep. It was just time to snap." Torrie said. When Letty pointed it out it all did make sense.
"Ok, well then, get to work you two." Dom said, but he smiled when he said it. They got up and went to work on their respective projects. Vince came in and shot Torrie a nervous look, like he was worried that she'd flip at him again if he said anything to her.
She felt really bad for snapping at Vince. He always had her back. Always. Even though he was Dom's best friend he always had her back when she fought with Dom even. Vince was a constant in her life; he hadn't deserved to have her yell at him like that. But Letty was right in a way, if she admitted that she shouldn't have yelled it was almost like she was in the wrong but she didn't feel she was really. It was a quandary for sure.
Vince watched Torrie out of the corner of his eye, watched her attack a strut with the torch, heating a stuck bolt to get it loose. Then watched her attack the bolt with a wrench. He didn't know what he had done, other then say something to her about something she shoulda known better then to do. But Torrie did tend to, or seem to at least, let stuff roll off her back like it didn't matter. It was clear it did matter; she just didn't let on how much and then stored the anger inside her. She had been through a terrible time and because she acted so together they did tend to forget it. He didn't know what to say to her to make this better. It was like she shouldn't have said what she did, but maybe he should have just let it slide; let the girls work it out on their own.
But Dom didn't just let stuff slide, he stood up for Torrie against Letty and the world really. So wasn't it only fair that Vince look out for this poor girl who'd had a hellish two years? He knew what he'd do. He'd go talk to Mia. He left the garage and Dom just watched him go. Vince often did his own thing and Dom didn't figure he could make Vince stay or go. He wondered if Vince leaving had anything to do with Torrie yelling at him or not but he didn't want to go into it and he had about 20 oil, lube and filters waiting for him in the lot. He started pulling them through.
Letty cranked the radio to some hip hop station and the upbeat sounds of Fabulous and Ja Rule filled the garage. Torrie's mood was improving with every song that played. They played 'Gansta love' by Eve and Alicia Keys and her and Letty started to sing along. They slowly made their way out into the center of the garage and danced together, Letty singing along to the Eve parts and Torrie to the Alicia parts. Dom looked up from his position bent over the engine compartment of a car and saw them dancing. He'd normally have been a bit cheesed off that they were fooling around when it was so busy but he was so glad to see Torrie laughing and enjoying her day again he decided to let it slide. 30 seconds into the song she held out a hand to Dom, noticing him standing there.
"Come on baby boy, you know you wanna." She grinned. "I just wanna rock ya all night long ohhh ohhh." She sang along. Dom grinned back. He did want to. Letty grabbed Leon and they danced to the song, laughing and carrying on. Dom laughed at how he and Torrie must look dancing in the garage in matching dirty white wife beaters and dirty grey coveralls tied around their waists. She looked at Letty grovin' with Leon and laughed. No one noticed Brian walk into the garage.
"Now Dom, I know you normally frown on this sort of thing." Brian laughed from the door.
"Yep I do but when a pretty girl asks you to dance you don't say no." Dom grinned. "You do it then you go back to the sea of oil changes that are waiting for you because you gave the girl the fun jobs to do instead of the boring, monotonous string of bloody oil changes." Dom was still smiling.
"Poor baby." Torrie crooned in a mocking voice. "We'll switch up after lunch. I know how easily you get bored." She hinted at Dom having a short attention span.
"I'll hold you to that, just because I hate this work so much, I'd rather do almost anything." Dom went back to one of the two cars he was in the middle of.
"Hey Mia." Vince said as he sat down at the counter. He had let Chris sleep in this morning, he was going to take her to Mia at lunch if she wanted the job.
"Hey Vince, what're you doin' here? I thought Dom was swamped." Mia asked.
"He is. I wanted to talk to you 'bout something." Vince looked upset, which was strange to Mia, he didn't really get upset, angry yes.
"What's up?"
"I went to talk to Torrie 'bout what she said at dinner this morning and she blew up at me." Vince now looked puzzled and upset.
"How so?" Mia couldn't see Torrie blowing up at anyone.
"She flipped. I said she shouldn't have said that stuff in front of Chris, shouldn't have tried to make me look bad." Mia interrupted him.
"She never tried to make you look bad."
"I know that now I guess, but at the time it felt like she was trying to make me look bad, so I told her that she shouldn't have done that. Then she said that Chris had it comin for how she was actin' and I said that we should go easy on Chris because she's still not use to us and she hasn't had it easy." Mia nodded, made sense. "Then Torrie just, flipped. She said, and this is pretty much exactly what she said, why is it that you guys all expect me to put up with this girl being mean to me because she stayed with some guy who was mean to her. You want me to cut her slack but no one wants to cut me any when I get mad even though my parents both died inside 9 months and I lost pretty much everything and I fight with Dom all the time. Dom didn't hear her thank god, just heard her shouting at me not the words then Letty took her into the garage and calmed her down."
"Letty?"
"Yep, Letty. I gather they're friends now. Torrie rode to work with Letty and everything this morning. I think she did it to avoid me." Vince sighed. "I don't know what to do about it. She's right in a way I guess, we do tend to forget that she had a rough year because she's got it so together, but I don't think I was too out of line for saying something to her about what she said in front of Chris."
"Well, it sounds like the stress of putting on the brave happy front for us just got to her and she snapped. It might be best to just let it go Vince." Mia was still struggling with the fact that Torrie had snapped at anyone.
"Maybe. You think I should just let it drop and try to act like I always have around her, like nothing happened?"
"I can't tell you what to do V, but I mean what could you really say except that you're sorry for not thinking of how hard she tries."
"Nothing I guess. You're right. Thanks Mia."
"For what?"
"Just for bein' so smart I guess." Vince chuckled. "I can't get shit like this right. It's not what I'm good at."
Mia laughed. "You and 50 percent of the remaining population." Mia said, hinting that all men didn't get that sort of thing.
"Well, see ya."
"Yeah, see ya. You talk to Chris yet?"
"No, I'm goin' to soon and I'll bring her by right after lunch if she's interested."
"Sounds good." Mia went back to her math book.
Vince went home and found Chris. She was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book.
"Hey." He started.
"Hey." She looked up with a smile for him. He sat down.
"I was meaning to ask you, Mia needs help at the café, if you want the job it pays ok and you can still stay here. It'll give you a chance to get back on your feet. Then you can do whatever." Vince told her. "You don't have to but the job's yours if you want it."
Chris thought about that. She thought it might be nice to be allowed to work for her own money and spend that money however she wanted to. She liked Mia. It was time to start to get her life back in order after all.
"That sounds interesting Vince. When can I start?" She looked at him earnestly.
"You really want to, you're not just doing it cause you feel you have to are you?"
"No, I really want to."
"You can start now. I'll run you down and Mia can start to show you the ropes."
"Ok." They left and Vince left Chris at the store. He then went home. He wasn't in the mood to work in the garage right now.
Torrie ended up with a splitting headache. She cried off on the rest of the day and took Dom's car home, telling him that she'd come down for him whenever he called. He agreed with a worried look for her but let her leave. She went straight home. She was quite surprised to see Vince's car in the drive.
'Just great.' She though. 'Cause all I need is to deal with Miss Attitude and Mr. Angry look when I already feel like shit. She hoped she could get to Dom's room unnoticed. She opened the front door and walked in softly. She had a view into the living room and she saw Vince. He was all alone sitting on the couch, his eyes were closed and he looked really sad. She couldn't take it anymore.
She wasn't saying she was sorry, but they had to make up. She snuck up behind him and threw her arms around his neck. He jumped. She giggled. "Love ya V." She sighed.
Vince knew everything was gonna be ok. "Love ya too princess. What're you doin' here?"
"Don't feel good." She sighed. She didn't sound good either. Vince hauled her over and sat her in his lap.
"Don't feel good how?" He asked, looking down into her face.
"Headache. I just don't feel good." She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. It felt nice to have Vince back. She'd been upset and jumpy the whole time they'd fought. Maybe that was why she felt so ill. He looked down at her face and smoothed her hair.
"Come on. I'll carry you to bed."
"I can walk to bed, I just need to rest for a minute." She said and Vince could tell she was slipping of into sleep already. She was also thinking even though they'd made up the girl was still not going to like her and Vince being this cozy. She slipped off into sleep on that thought and Vince carried her up the stairs and put her in Dom's bed. Sometimes when they were all alone like this he still had twinges of a feeling that he wanted to put her in his bed, that that was where she belonged. She was such a perfect example of the kind of girl he'd always wanted. All sweet femininity and delicate features. It was just because he was taking care of her and she clearly needed him. He always wanted a girl that needed him. Torrie needed him so much. She was always fighting with Dom, or getting into trouble that would get her in even further trouble with Dom when he found out. Vince was the one she turned to. He always felt protective of her when that happened. He figured that was only natural. He stood up from where he had sat on the side of the bed and turned to leave the room with a contemplative look.
She wimpered and cryed in her sleep. Vince turned and went to her side. "Wake up Torrie." She didn't obay, she wimpered again. "It's ok baby girl, you're ok." He shook her gently but she didn't wake up. Vince slid into the bed and held her against him. She quieted imidiately and settled down against him.
"Vince?" She murmered, waking up partially.
"Yeah. I'm here Torr, what's wrong?"
"I had a bad dream." She sobbed. "Don't leave."
"I won't. Go back to sleep." He held her tighter. And he didn't mean to stay long. Just till she was back asleep. But it was nice to hold her, and it was warm and cozy and he hadn't slept well the night before because he was so upset and confused by his fight with this girl, his angel, his baby girl, his baby sis, he reminded himself, but he was tired and he drifted off as he comforted her.
"What the hell is goin' on here?" Dom shouted from the door of his room a few hours later.
AN: Dudundun! Oh no. What'll happen? Hate me yet for leaving you there? I'll write more as soon as I can.
The alarm went off at 8 am the next morning like it always did. Sometimes Torrie got up with Dom and went to work with him and sometimes he reset it and told her to go back to sleep for another couple hours. The garage didn't really open till 9 so she didn't need to be there right away. Dom shut the alarm off when it rang and sat on the edge of the bed shaking the sleep out of his head. It'd been 1am when they got home and he was still tired. Add to that frustration the fact that he hated Mondays and the garage was backed up and it was clear that the day was going to suck. He decided to make this one of those days that he gave Torrie a few extra hours sleep, figuring she needed them, and reset the alarm for 10. He was feeling generous.
"Dom?" She murmured sleepily as she rolled from her side to her back. "What time is it? Time to get up?"
"Not for you baby. Go back to sleep." If she hadn't been so use to his morning voice she would only have had half an idea what he'd said to her. He leaned over her and brushed a chunk of hair off her face. "You look like you need the sleep." He brushed her forehead with his lips. He sat back up and sat on the edge of the bed again, needing a minute to really wake up. Torrie remembered that Vince never had gotten to talk, or rather yell at her, and he would likely be waiting for her. But not if she went with Dom now. The other guys never got up till like 8:30, then they rushed down to DT.
She took a second and rubbed her eyes. She really wanted the extra sleep that Dom was offering, but she'd be safer from Vince's lecture if she went with Dom now. She slowly got up on her knees and then threw her arms around his neck. He jumped a bit, thinking she was already back asleep, it normally only took her a second or two to be back asleep.
"I think I'll get up and come with you. It's Monday after all and the store's backed up." She kissed the top of his bald head.
"Yeah, but you can go back to bed and come down later when you wake up. You slept in the car the whole way home last night and didn't even wake up when I carried you into the house. You musta been really tired."
"Yeah, but I got that extra sleep in the car, I'll be fine after a shower."
"Well then, there's gonna be a problem cause I need one too."
"That's no problem. I go first." She laughed and went to jump off the bed around him to reach the bathroom first. He grabbed her arms and held them around his neck so she couldn't move.
"No way. I got up first. I go first." With that he went to remove her arms so he could take off for the bathroom. She wouldn't let him go.
"I go first. You only got up like a minute before me." Torrie knew he was about to try to take off, she held on for dear life. Dom stood up, Torrie hanging from his neck. He grabbed her legs and carried her into the bathroom. Torrie didn't have any idea what he was planning. He started the water with her still clinging to him and got in.
"Dominic Toretto!" She screamed as the cold water hit her. He'd set the water for a cold shower and then gotten in it with her still clinging to him. He laughed and set her down, turning so the brunt of the cold water hit his back.
"Yes baby?" He asked with a sly grin.
"You. You." She sputtered.
"Well, you wouldn't let go, and I wanted to go first. It's not my fault if you don't like your morning showers cold."
"No it's not." Dom was worried from the sly look on her face. She pulled his tank top off, leaving her wearing nothing at all. "But since I'm all wet, and really growing a taste for the cold water, it's so invigorating, I think I'll make the most of it." She went to step around him to get to the spray and her shampoo. Dom growled and pinned her to the back wall of the shower.
Once she was out and getting dried off she looked in the mirror. "Dom, look at my neck! Everyone that sees me is gonna know what we spent yesterday doin'." Torrie was embarrassed that it was so obvious. She couldn't even wear her hair down, they worked in a garage. She'd have to put it up before she started to work on cars.
"Yeah, well, I have one or two myself. Like I said it's not hard for people to see why I can't keep my hands off ya." He stood behind her in and looked at them in the mirror. He loved the way she looked against him, her skin so white and his so dark, her physic so small and his so large. She was soft everywhere he was hard, even though she was strong for her size her muscles didn't really show, she looked so womanly standing there in front of him. He loved her flat belly with it's little concave hollow that made her hip bones jut out a short distance past it. Her eyes met his and he smiled before he leaned down and kissed her on one of the little marks, his arms wrapped around her waist again.
"Ok, I can't be upset after that confession can I?" She asked with a little sigh, she was so happy Dom was being so caring of her that she didn't care if her whole body was one big hicky anymore.
"I hope not. Besides, it just tells other guys that you're my girl." Dom grinned.
"I'm the one that needs some sort of big stick to keep the girls off you. They think you're some prize or somethin'." Torrie laughed at the image of beating skanks off Dom with a big stick.
"They might want me, but like you said, they really want the image. Plus there's only one girl that has my attention these days." He tipped her chin up so she was looking at her own reflection in the mirror. "And you're lookin' at her." Dom put his chin on her shoulder and smiled.
"Aw. You can be so sweet sometimes." Torrie smiled back.
"And now we need to get dressed and go to work." Dom changed the subject before he got embarrassed about talking like this. They went and got dressed. But while they did they got carried away in each other as they often did so what should have taken 15 minutes took 30 and by the time they got downstairs everyone was up. Torrie was mildly upset that she hadn't made her getaway but she couldn't complain about what made her late. Her hair was still hanging wetly down her back, there had been no time to dry it. Dom had no hair but you could still tell he was damp.
They got knowing looks from everyone and Torrie got a look from Vince that let her know he hadn't forgotten he wanted to yell at her over what she'd said. She tried to make a break for it.
Torrie grabbed an orange. "I'ma head down to work baby boy. I'm not really hungry. See you there?" She said to Dom.
"Torrie, wait for me, eat some cereal or something and then we'll go together." Dom asked her.
"Ok. I'll wait but all I want for breakfast is this." She held up the fruit.
"Fine." Dom sat down at the head of the table and Torrie sat on his left. Letty straggled into the house.
"Where the heck have you been girl?" Torrie asked her.
"Um, out with friends." Letty said with a sly look.
"I see." Torrie grinned, she had a fair idea who 'friends' were. "Details later?"
"Of course." Letty grinned. How had she ever not liked Torrie? She noticed the new girl and raised an eyebrow in question. Torrie shot her a look that told Letty they'd talk about that later too. Letty nodded her understanding and sat down.
"I hope you're ready to work Lett." Dom stated. "We're gonna be busy."
"That's why I'm here Dom." Letty started to scarf down as much food as the guys. She was starving. The new girl was eyeing her up. They'd never met. Letty looked at her again and decided that while Torrie could give her details later she had to introduce herself. "Hey by the way, I'm Letty."
"I'm Chris." The girl said and went back to looking at her food.
OK.Letty thought, not much of a talker. She couldn't wait to get the details from Torrie. They all finished eating and went to go to the garage. Vince moved to corner Torrie at the same time Dom and Letty did the same thing. Letty beat them all out. "Torrie, you ride wit me. I need ta talk to you."
"Sure Letty. See you guys at DT." She jumped in the purple Nissan and locked the door for good measure before Dom or Vince could protest. Letty hopped in and fired it up. "Shall I fill you in on the timid mouse first or would you like to tell me where in the name of god you spent the weekend?"
"First tell me what kind of rash you got while I was gone then tell me 'bout the chick." Torrie blushed, she'd known she was going to take teasing about this when she saw how noticeable the marks Dom had made on her neck were.
"Well, the rash is Domacitis." Torrie laughed and Letty joined her. "As for the girl, I guess her boyfriend brought her to the house on Saturday and Vince found out the guy was beating her. He kicked her boy outta the house and kept her. She's really shy and shit. Vince says he doesn't know if he likes her or not. She was crying and Vince was trying to comfort her and I stress trying, and I went to make sure everything was ok and she kept shooting me dirty looks. I can't figure if it's cause she thinks I'm after V and she likes him or if she thinks she knows me from somewhere. She don't, but she might think she does. So anyway after she was, well, I say mean to me, but after the dirty looks she asked how Vince got his nickname and I told her the honest reason." Letty whistled. "An now Vince is pissed at me and I been avoiding him since it happened."
"How are you avoiding him in the same house?"
"Well, Dom took me to a movie last night and I fell asleep in the car on the way home. He didn't wake me up so if Vince was waiting for me I was asleep and Dom wouldn't let him wake me up to yell at me."
"No he wouldn't." Dom was noticeably more protective of Torrie then he'd ever been of Letty but Letty wouldn't have stood for it anyway. "What movie did ya see?"
"Um, well, I think the movies they showed were 'The bosses daughter' and 'Freddy vs. Jason'. But we didn't really see much of either." Torrie turned beet red.
"Ah, drive in eh?" Letty laughed. "I've never been."
"It was sooo embarrassing Lett. I mean the security guard came up to the car and banged on the window. And we were doing just what he thought we were." Torrie giggled. "I'll never go back there again." She told the other girl the whole Dom's bare butt story and Letty had to pull the car over and get a hold of herself before she could drive further. She laughed till she cried and Torrie joined her. Just as Torrie figured Letty took her side in the whole Chris was a bitch situation and told Torrie she was too nice about the whole thing. Then she told Letty about the fight she'd had with Dom.
"So just to try and make him do something other then just stand there with that fucken calm look on his face I threw the time that he accused me of cheating with Vince in his face. I figured he'd blow up at me but he got so sad. I couldn't stand it."
"Yep, it's frustrating as hell when he doesn't react to anything but the extremes isn't it." Letty gave Torrie a knowing look. "I couldn't take it. I was always pushing and half the time even the pushing didn't make him act out. It was no way to live." Torrie just nodded. "But he's different wit choo, he tries harder. It's pretty obvious. Just don't fall into the trap of baiting 'im. You need to talk to him and just try to make him see that he needs to share shit wit choo. I don't know how it'll work out but you two are too perfect together for it not to."
"Oh Letty. You don't know how much that means to me. I've been so upset that we're never gonna figure this shit out. I don't know what I'd do without Dom."
"You'd live. He has this way of making girls think they can't live without him. You can. I mean I know you and him are," Letty made a mock grossed out face, "in love an all but much as you love him remember you can live without him and you can get other guys. Just don't let yourself loose sight of the fact that he is not your life, he might make your life better or more fun or whatever but he's not your life."
"Deep Letty. Now where the hell did you spend the whole weekend."
"Wit Brian's friend Rome." Letty actually blushed.
"No shit?"
"No shit." Letty looked at Torrie.
"So is it true?"
"Is what true?" Letty looked puzzled.
"That once you've had Black you never go back?" Torrie couldn't hold the laughter in any longer, the look on Letty's face was priceless. Letty playfully smacked her on the shoulder.
"You need to shut the f up, but oh, I can see why they say that fo sho." Letty laughed, seeing the humour.
"So are you seeing him or did you just have one hell of a weekend wit him." Torrie asked.
"Nope, I'm seein' him. He's pretty cool, and cute as hell. He's sticken' around for awhile at least and dependin' on how it goes if he leaves I might go wit him or try to convince him to stick around."
"Yeah well you better make him stick around. I love Mia to pieces but she and I would just spend the rest of our lives being sweet and nice to everyone. I need you around to make me stand up for myself."
"True dat. You need ta make sure you get yours girl, then worry 'bout other people an their feelings n'shit." They got out of the car at DT, they'd taken the long way to chat and the guys were gathered around outside watching for them. After they got out of the car Torrie gave Letty a quick hug.
"I'm happy for you Lett." She said simply at Letty's questioning look.
"I'm happy for me too." Letty smiled. "And I'ma make sure that I'm happy for you. If this girl gives you any more shit you let me know." Letty winked.
"Isn't that scary as hell brotha?" Vince asked Dom.
"Isn't what scary as hell?"
"Your ex and your current girl sharing shit and being close enough to hug." Vince looked at Dom and his reaction out of the corner of his eye.
"Naw, Letty's family and I'd rather they were friends then always fighting." Dom didn't care. It wasn't as though Letty was just using Torrie or vise versa, they'd just found common ground and had become friends. Vince nodded and headed Torrie's way, which was also Letty's way.
"Torrie, can we talk for a second?"
"Not right now Vince. I gotta get started on that stupid Neon." Torrie rolled her eyes. She hated doing mods to domestic compact crap boxes. Letty laughed. She knew Torrie was trying to avoid the conversation about what she'd said in front of Chris.
"This won't take long." Vince wasn't being put off that easily.
"Well then talk boy." Torrie tried to stay cocky. After all, Letty'd agreed with her, she'd had every right to be pissed and she hadn't lied or anything.
"Can we go somewhere alone?" Vince took her wrist and started to lead her off to the back yard of the garage without waiting for her answer.
"Geese Vince, stop dragging me around and say whatever you need to say so urgently that it can't wait." Torrie dug in her heals.
"I wanna know what the big idea was talkin' trash about me in front of Chris." Vince got angry with her again just thinking of it.
"I wasn't talkin' trash, I was tellin' the story. Not my fault if the truth bugs you." Torrie took a belligerent stance and shrugged.
"You put a spin on it to make me look bad."
"Oh V." She sighed. She loved Vince, she didn't want to hurt his feelings. She was starting to lose hold of the anger, it was hard to keep hold of it when he gave her those sad puppy baby blues. "I didn't try to make you look bad. If you want the truth I tried to make her feel bad cause she had it comin' from how she talked to me earlier. Not how she talked I guess but how she acted."
"Well, she's been through a lot." Vince said, still mad, slightly less so since she was so upset when she'd thought that he thought that she was trying to make him look bad.
"Why is that an excuse for acting like a child?" Torrie screamed. She was sick of people making excuses for this girl just based on what this guy that the girl herself hadn't had the guts to leave had done to her. If she stayed with him that long then she brought it on herself, Torrie thought with the blissful ignorance of someone who'd never been in that position. It was like lately no one wanted to cut her any slack but she was supposed to be Mary Fuckin' Sunshine to everyone else. She couldn't take it any more. She continued shouting at Vince. "So what, the fact that my mom and dad died in the same 9 month time frame, I lost my home and nearly everything I ever had, was almost assaulted in my own office and fight with my boyfriend all the time don't count, aren't a reason for me to act out and get a little moody but some chick who's man was a bit mean to her should have every excuse under the sun made for her." Dom missed out on most of what was said, but not the fact that Torrie was very upset. Letty heard it all and so did Vince of course, and Leon and Jesse. Dom came up behind the now crying Torrie and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She turned around and threw her arms around his neck, buried her face in his chest and cried.
"What'd you say to her Vince?" Dom asked, clearly irate with Vince. Even though he was mad at Vince Dom hoped secretly that this might be the thing that drove the two a bit farther apart. Vince and the rest of the team were in shock. Torrie never exploded at people. It took a lot to make her angry. They didn't think they'd ever seen her mad really. Upset with Dom yes but not in a murderous rage.
"Nothin'. I didn't get a chance to say anythin' before she flipped at me." Vince was in shock. Letty knew what had happened. For all her efforts at being Mary Sunshine Torrie was hiding all the stress and hurt down inside her and the strain had finally broken through. Letty walked up to Dom and Torrie, giving Vince a nasty look.
"Come on girl, you're ok. Come into the shop." Letty took Torrie from Dom and led her into the shop. "You try so hard to be the nice one huh? Strain finally got to ya?"
"I think so." Torrie did try not to be the one to start shit, except with Dom.
"We all need to blow up every once in a while anyway. Keeps 'em on their toes around us. Hell, just blame PMS and it'll all be fine in a week." Letty laughed and Torrie joined her. She really had just had to snap, she felt better already.
"I guess I owe V an apology. He really didn't get to say anything before I blew up at him."
"Naw, you don't owe him shit girl, he shoulda kept to his own business and not brought up the chick. Then this nevva woulda happened." Letty smiled.
"Letty, you sure are a bitch sometimes." But Torrie said it with a smile that let her friend know it wasn't an insult. Letty knew how to look out for Letty. Something Torrie could stand to learn.
"Yep, but it keeps me sane. If I didn't bitch I might explode." Letty and Torrie laughed. Dom walked into the shop and saw Torrie laughing with Letty.
"You gonna be ok princess?"
"Yep. It was just time to snap." Torrie said. When Letty pointed it out it all did make sense.
"Ok, well then, get to work you two." Dom said, but he smiled when he said it. They got up and went to work on their respective projects. Vince came in and shot Torrie a nervous look, like he was worried that she'd flip at him again if he said anything to her.
She felt really bad for snapping at Vince. He always had her back. Always. Even though he was Dom's best friend he always had her back when she fought with Dom even. Vince was a constant in her life; he hadn't deserved to have her yell at him like that. But Letty was right in a way, if she admitted that she shouldn't have yelled it was almost like she was in the wrong but she didn't feel she was really. It was a quandary for sure.
Vince watched Torrie out of the corner of his eye, watched her attack a strut with the torch, heating a stuck bolt to get it loose. Then watched her attack the bolt with a wrench. He didn't know what he had done, other then say something to her about something she shoulda known better then to do. But Torrie did tend to, or seem to at least, let stuff roll off her back like it didn't matter. It was clear it did matter; she just didn't let on how much and then stored the anger inside her. She had been through a terrible time and because she acted so together they did tend to forget it. He didn't know what to say to her to make this better. It was like she shouldn't have said what she did, but maybe he should have just let it slide; let the girls work it out on their own.
But Dom didn't just let stuff slide, he stood up for Torrie against Letty and the world really. So wasn't it only fair that Vince look out for this poor girl who'd had a hellish two years? He knew what he'd do. He'd go talk to Mia. He left the garage and Dom just watched him go. Vince often did his own thing and Dom didn't figure he could make Vince stay or go. He wondered if Vince leaving had anything to do with Torrie yelling at him or not but he didn't want to go into it and he had about 20 oil, lube and filters waiting for him in the lot. He started pulling them through.
Letty cranked the radio to some hip hop station and the upbeat sounds of Fabulous and Ja Rule filled the garage. Torrie's mood was improving with every song that played. They played 'Gansta love' by Eve and Alicia Keys and her and Letty started to sing along. They slowly made their way out into the center of the garage and danced together, Letty singing along to the Eve parts and Torrie to the Alicia parts. Dom looked up from his position bent over the engine compartment of a car and saw them dancing. He'd normally have been a bit cheesed off that they were fooling around when it was so busy but he was so glad to see Torrie laughing and enjoying her day again he decided to let it slide. 30 seconds into the song she held out a hand to Dom, noticing him standing there.
"Come on baby boy, you know you wanna." She grinned. "I just wanna rock ya all night long ohhh ohhh." She sang along. Dom grinned back. He did want to. Letty grabbed Leon and they danced to the song, laughing and carrying on. Dom laughed at how he and Torrie must look dancing in the garage in matching dirty white wife beaters and dirty grey coveralls tied around their waists. She looked at Letty grovin' with Leon and laughed. No one noticed Brian walk into the garage.
"Now Dom, I know you normally frown on this sort of thing." Brian laughed from the door.
"Yep I do but when a pretty girl asks you to dance you don't say no." Dom grinned. "You do it then you go back to the sea of oil changes that are waiting for you because you gave the girl the fun jobs to do instead of the boring, monotonous string of bloody oil changes." Dom was still smiling.
"Poor baby." Torrie crooned in a mocking voice. "We'll switch up after lunch. I know how easily you get bored." She hinted at Dom having a short attention span.
"I'll hold you to that, just because I hate this work so much, I'd rather do almost anything." Dom went back to one of the two cars he was in the middle of.
"Hey Mia." Vince said as he sat down at the counter. He had let Chris sleep in this morning, he was going to take her to Mia at lunch if she wanted the job.
"Hey Vince, what're you doin' here? I thought Dom was swamped." Mia asked.
"He is. I wanted to talk to you 'bout something." Vince looked upset, which was strange to Mia, he didn't really get upset, angry yes.
"What's up?"
"I went to talk to Torrie 'bout what she said at dinner this morning and she blew up at me." Vince now looked puzzled and upset.
"How so?" Mia couldn't see Torrie blowing up at anyone.
"She flipped. I said she shouldn't have said that stuff in front of Chris, shouldn't have tried to make me look bad." Mia interrupted him.
"She never tried to make you look bad."
"I know that now I guess, but at the time it felt like she was trying to make me look bad, so I told her that she shouldn't have done that. Then she said that Chris had it comin for how she was actin' and I said that we should go easy on Chris because she's still not use to us and she hasn't had it easy." Mia nodded, made sense. "Then Torrie just, flipped. She said, and this is pretty much exactly what she said, why is it that you guys all expect me to put up with this girl being mean to me because she stayed with some guy who was mean to her. You want me to cut her slack but no one wants to cut me any when I get mad even though my parents both died inside 9 months and I lost pretty much everything and I fight with Dom all the time. Dom didn't hear her thank god, just heard her shouting at me not the words then Letty took her into the garage and calmed her down."
"Letty?"
"Yep, Letty. I gather they're friends now. Torrie rode to work with Letty and everything this morning. I think she did it to avoid me." Vince sighed. "I don't know what to do about it. She's right in a way I guess, we do tend to forget that she had a rough year because she's got it so together, but I don't think I was too out of line for saying something to her about what she said in front of Chris."
"Well, it sounds like the stress of putting on the brave happy front for us just got to her and she snapped. It might be best to just let it go Vince." Mia was still struggling with the fact that Torrie had snapped at anyone.
"Maybe. You think I should just let it drop and try to act like I always have around her, like nothing happened?"
"I can't tell you what to do V, but I mean what could you really say except that you're sorry for not thinking of how hard she tries."
"Nothing I guess. You're right. Thanks Mia."
"For what?"
"Just for bein' so smart I guess." Vince chuckled. "I can't get shit like this right. It's not what I'm good at."
Mia laughed. "You and 50 percent of the remaining population." Mia said, hinting that all men didn't get that sort of thing.
"Well, see ya."
"Yeah, see ya. You talk to Chris yet?"
"No, I'm goin' to soon and I'll bring her by right after lunch if she's interested."
"Sounds good." Mia went back to her math book.
Vince went home and found Chris. She was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book.
"Hey." He started.
"Hey." She looked up with a smile for him. He sat down.
"I was meaning to ask you, Mia needs help at the café, if you want the job it pays ok and you can still stay here. It'll give you a chance to get back on your feet. Then you can do whatever." Vince told her. "You don't have to but the job's yours if you want it."
Chris thought about that. She thought it might be nice to be allowed to work for her own money and spend that money however she wanted to. She liked Mia. It was time to start to get her life back in order after all.
"That sounds interesting Vince. When can I start?" She looked at him earnestly.
"You really want to, you're not just doing it cause you feel you have to are you?"
"No, I really want to."
"You can start now. I'll run you down and Mia can start to show you the ropes."
"Ok." They left and Vince left Chris at the store. He then went home. He wasn't in the mood to work in the garage right now.
Torrie ended up with a splitting headache. She cried off on the rest of the day and took Dom's car home, telling him that she'd come down for him whenever he called. He agreed with a worried look for her but let her leave. She went straight home. She was quite surprised to see Vince's car in the drive.
'Just great.' She though. 'Cause all I need is to deal with Miss Attitude and Mr. Angry look when I already feel like shit. She hoped she could get to Dom's room unnoticed. She opened the front door and walked in softly. She had a view into the living room and she saw Vince. He was all alone sitting on the couch, his eyes were closed and he looked really sad. She couldn't take it anymore.
She wasn't saying she was sorry, but they had to make up. She snuck up behind him and threw her arms around his neck. He jumped. She giggled. "Love ya V." She sighed.
Vince knew everything was gonna be ok. "Love ya too princess. What're you doin' here?"
"Don't feel good." She sighed. She didn't sound good either. Vince hauled her over and sat her in his lap.
"Don't feel good how?" He asked, looking down into her face.
"Headache. I just don't feel good." She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. It felt nice to have Vince back. She'd been upset and jumpy the whole time they'd fought. Maybe that was why she felt so ill. He looked down at her face and smoothed her hair.
"Come on. I'll carry you to bed."
"I can walk to bed, I just need to rest for a minute." She said and Vince could tell she was slipping of into sleep already. She was also thinking even though they'd made up the girl was still not going to like her and Vince being this cozy. She slipped off into sleep on that thought and Vince carried her up the stairs and put her in Dom's bed. Sometimes when they were all alone like this he still had twinges of a feeling that he wanted to put her in his bed, that that was where she belonged. She was such a perfect example of the kind of girl he'd always wanted. All sweet femininity and delicate features. It was just because he was taking care of her and she clearly needed him. He always wanted a girl that needed him. Torrie needed him so much. She was always fighting with Dom, or getting into trouble that would get her in even further trouble with Dom when he found out. Vince was the one she turned to. He always felt protective of her when that happened. He figured that was only natural. He stood up from where he had sat on the side of the bed and turned to leave the room with a contemplative look.
She wimpered and cryed in her sleep. Vince turned and went to her side. "Wake up Torrie." She didn't obay, she wimpered again. "It's ok baby girl, you're ok." He shook her gently but she didn't wake up. Vince slid into the bed and held her against him. She quieted imidiately and settled down against him.
"Vince?" She murmered, waking up partially.
"Yeah. I'm here Torr, what's wrong?"
"I had a bad dream." She sobbed. "Don't leave."
"I won't. Go back to sleep." He held her tighter. And he didn't mean to stay long. Just till she was back asleep. But it was nice to hold her, and it was warm and cozy and he hadn't slept well the night before because he was so upset and confused by his fight with this girl, his angel, his baby girl, his baby sis, he reminded himself, but he was tired and he drifted off as he comforted her.
"What the hell is goin' on here?" Dom shouted from the door of his room a few hours later.
AN: Dudundun! Oh no. What'll happen? Hate me yet for leaving you there? I'll write more as soon as I can.