Leaving For Good

Driving down the highway, the rain coming down in torrents, and the windshield wipers on high, Keira drove trying to get as far away from Los Angeles as she could. She wanted to forget everything back there. She just wanted to keep going never stopping, but knew that she'd have to; she was going to need her rest. Looking at the cell phone that sat on the passenger seat Keira noticed the battery was running low and she'd put the charger in the trunk of her Skyline. This car was her baby; she'd built it with her older brother. It'd been her graduation present. Glancing into the rearview mirror, she looked at the four year old girl sitting in her booster seat. Her niece meant the world to her. Especially since she was the only family she had left. Her brother and his wife Trish, had died in a car accident a year before, her dad had left when she was still a baby, and her mother while still alive was usually drunk and couldn't careless what happened to either of them. She'd been left custody of Haylee after the accident since Trish had no family and neither wanted the little girl going to her grandmother. Looking at her sleeping form, Keira knew she'd die before she let anything happen to her.

Floorboard's filled with baby toys,

An' empty coke bottles an' coffee cups.

Drivin' through the rain with no radio,

Tryin' not to wake her up.

Cell 'phone says "low battery",

God, what if I break down?

I'm just lookin' for an exit with a lotta lights,

A safe little interstate town.

Just a cheap hotel,

With a single bed, And cable TV:

Is good enough for me an' Emily.

She knew that eventually she was going to have to explain why they'd left like they did to Haylee, and she'd face that when the time came. Flipping through the radio stations, she stopped at a country station as a song came on. Listening to the lyrics she realized just how much she could relate to it. She was in the same situation at that very moment. It might not be her and her daughter, but she'd be damned before she ever let anything happen to that little girl. Keira knew that Haylee thought of him as her uncle, but she couldn't put either one of them through that again. She was too stubborn to go back now, besides she knew by now that if she ever did go back she'd be lucky to not end up in the hospital, he wasn't one to tolerate what she'd just done. Tears welling up in her eyes, she thought of what it'd been like when they'd first gotten together two years ago after he'd gotten out of prison. She hadn't cared that what he did was illegal, as long as he never tried to involve her in it. She didn't care what people thought, the only thing she'd ever done that was against the law was race and experimented a little with drugs. He'd respected her enough to keep her out of his business. They'd been so happy together, despite the fact that he was nearly eight years older than her. He'd been so understanding about all her issues with her mother, and about her continuously running to her brother when they'd had their petty little fights. It made her wonder how he could seem to be such a wonderful guy, and turn out to be such a horrible person. She couldn't see how she'd missed it. It seemed like the most obvious thing now that she looked back in retrospect. 'I guess this is why they say hind sight's twenty, twenty' she thought to herself bitterly. Keira didn't even want to think about what her brother would say if he were still alive.

Some day, when she's old enough,

She's gonna start askin' questions about him.

Some kid at school brings his Dad for show an' tell,

An' gets her little mind a-wonderin':

"Where's my Daddy? Do I have one?

"Does he not love me like you do?"

Oh, maybe I'll find someone to love the both of us,

An' I'll tell her when she's old enough to know the truth.

Will it break her heart?

Will she understand,

That I had to leave?

That's what was best for me an' Emily.

 She could still remember the first time he'd ever hit her. They'd started fighting about him bringing his work around Haylee. After yelling and screaming at one another for nearly an hour he'd gotten sick of it and hauled off and slapped her. She'd stared at him in shock for a few moments before walking calmly into the bedroom off the master bathroom, locking the door, and sinking to the floor crying. Later that night he'd walked into their bedroom finding all the lights off and got into bed. Turning towards her he apologized repeatedly and promised that he'd never do it again. That had been a lie, and every time after he'd hit her and made the same promise had been a lie too. Granted she'd taken worse beating from him since then, but it was that one time that seemed to be most vivid. It was that one time that made her wonder why she hadn't left him then. She'd always promised herself that she'd never tolerate a man hitting her, yet it'd been a year since the first incident. Keira knew she'd never figure out why she'd let him treat her like he had, but she knew that's she'd never let another man do her the same way. If anything this whole experience had taught her it was that it'd be a long time before she'd ever trust anyone she was involved with again. The tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks. 'How could I have been so stupid? How could I have actually believed what he said?' were the questions that filled her mind. Deep down she knew the answer to both questions, it was quite simple if she thought about it long enough. She'd wanted to believe with all her heart that what he said, she wanted to believe that he had really changed no matter what her head was telling her.
This last time had been her breaking point; she knew that she couldn't take it anymore. He'd come out of his office drunk and walked into Haylee's room demanding that she go into their own room. She'd refused, saying that Haylee had just had another nightmare and she wasn't gonna leave a four year old little girl terrified out of her mind. He'd gotten pissed and that's when Keira had called for Jen, the maid, to stay with Haylee. The last thing she needed was her niece to witness what she knew was about to happen, what everyone in the house knew what was going to happen. Going into their room where she knew he'd be she was confronted by him immediately. Soon the two were yelling back and forth, which was then followed by him shoving her into the wall. She couldn't remember much more than that, just that when she'd woken up the next day on their bed around noon she had a split lip, a bruised jaw, an inch long gash on her forehead, and a black eye. Getting into the shower to wash the dried blood off she noticed the two large bruises on her right side, and the one on her left rib cage. Trying to relax in the shower she realized his temper was starting to get worse, and that he was getting reckless about losing it around Haylee. It was then that she knew she had to get out. If she didn't she knew he'd soon be taking his anger out on her niece and she wouldn't allow that to happen. He could put her through all the hell he wanted but she was hell bent that he wouldn't touch the precious little girl in the backseat of her car. In that same day she'd emptied her bank account, and the account that her brother had left for her to help take care of Haylee and went to 'The Racer's Edge' getting Brian's number from Harry. She'd gotten to know him in the time he'd worked there and when he left he'd told her if she ever needed help to go to Harry and that's he'd know how to get a hold of him.

That house was never clean enough;

his dinner never warm enough.

Nothing I did was ever good enough to make him happy.

So, I guess, he gave me what he thought I deserved,

But it would kill me if he ever raised his hand to her.

Big rigs are throwin' rain on my windshield,

An' I feel like they're laughin' at me.

Fin'lly the storm is lettin' up,

An' the mornin' is breakin' free.

It's a brand new day,

It's a second chance.

Yesterday is just a memory, For me an' Emily.

Floorboard is filled with baby toys,

An' empty coke bottles an' coffee cups.

Least there's one good thing that he gave me,

An' she's startin' to wake up.

Picking up her phone and praying that it still had enough juice left to make this call she dialed the number Harry had given her, and prayed that it would work; she needed help more than she ever had in her entire life. As she held the phone to her ear she gripped the steering wheel tighter, anticipating the answer once it was finally picked up on the other end. Soon she could hear it being turned on and a woman said,
"Hello?"
"Umm is this Brian O'Connor's phone?" She asked, completely unsure of herself.
"Yeah can I ask who this is?"
"Listen tell him it's a friend from L.A. and can you hurry my phone's almost dead and I really need to talk to him."
"Sure hang on." And placing her hand over the receiver so she didn't make the poor girl deaf Suki yelled to the back of the garage. "Hey Bri, there's a girl on the phone. Says she's a friend of yours from L.A." Looking at her strangely, he jogged over to her and grabbed his phone.
"Hey, this is Brian who's this?" he asked wonder how anyone from Los Angeles had gotten his number.
"Brian, its Keira. You know how you said if I ever needed you to call? Well I need you now."
"What's wrong Keira?"
"I'll explain everything when I get there. Where are you?"
"Miami. I'll give you directions on how to get where I am." Soon he had rattled off the interstate exit and precise directions on how to get to Tej's garage. Telling him that she'd see him the next day because she was going to stop a motel for the night, they hung up. Feeling a little bit safer now that she knew she had somewhere to go, Keira slept that night not interrupted by one nightmare. Meanwhile Brian was having a hard time sleeping wondering what could have the pretty and fearless red head he'd gotten to know while working at Harry's to sound so worried.
The next day as Tej, Rome, Jimmy and Suki worked in the garage with Brian they all noticed that he seemed a little bit preoccupied. None of them knew why, but they knew that for him to be that far off in space something must have happened, and all of them were willing to bet it had everything to do with the phone call he'd gotten the day before. Around five o'clock they all noticed the black Skyline coming closer to them. On the hood there was a design of two cherries wit the stems and a leaf, flames that started as blue and steadily turned orange starting at the bottom and flowing across the rest of the hood. On either side the car had more of the same flames running up and down the body. As it pulled into the parking lot they could make out the word 'Sizzles' monogrammed under the driver's side door in a bright red, loopy writing. The windows were tinted so dark that they couldn't see inside the car but, Brian didn't need anyone to tell him who it was. As the girl got out of her car, she flipped her mid length red hair over her shoulder and walked around the car helping the little girl out of the car. As they all studied her they noticed her hair was cut in shaggy layers with honey blonde streaks running through it. She had on a black tank top, blue denim capris, and black platform flip flops with pyramid studs running across the straps. She was wearing dark sunglasses that hid her bright emerald green eyes. The little girl who's hand she was hanging onto had light sandy brown hair pulled back into a French braid and the same color eyes as her aunt. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a light pink shirt that said 'Surf's Up' in white lettering. She was wearing white tennis shoes to match. While the two moved closer to the Brian noticed that she had a split lip and that under her eye and at the base of her jaw there were two bruises slowly fading. As he made these observation the anger rose inside of him, wanting to beat the hell out of whoever had done this to her.
"Hey Keira. What brings you here to Miami?" He said trying to keep thing light hearted for the moment.
"That's something I need to tell you inside, you remember Josh's daughter Haylee, right?" She asked knowing full well that he was trying to lighten things up, but also knowing that he had saw the bruises and split lip and wanted to know how she got them.
"Yeah I remember her, but the last time I saw her she wasn't even a year old. She's grown a bit. But yeah now I'll introduce you to my crew." Then pointing down the line he started naming them off, "This is Tej, Suki, Rome and that's Jimmy."
"It's nice to meet you all." Keira said with a smile, "Now I'm guessing you wanna talk about what the hell happened to my face."
"No I know what happened, I wanna know who the hell did it to you so I can beat the living hell outta them."
"Calm down Brian, I'm fine. Let's just chill for now and talk. You forget that in the last week I've only had adult conversation with waitresses and gas station attendants besides that short conversation with you."
"Alright but we're gonna talk about this first thing in the morning."
"Fine we'll talk in the morning." The rest of the day was spent with them all getting to know Keira and vice versa and working on cars a little bit. By the time they left they we're all laid back and hanging out at the house they all shared together. Sinking down onto the large, overstuffed couch, Keira couldn't help feeling more free than she had in a very long time.

A/N: Okay ya'll so I started a new ficcie. What do you think so far... I know it's only the first chappy but I wanna know. What can I say... I'm impatient. If I don't get any positive feedback I'ma take it down and maybe work on it some more then try and post it again. This was basically just an idea that hit me on the ride home from the movies when that song, which is called 'Me and Emily' by Rachel Proctor and in italics, came on the country station my mom listens to. I luv ya all. Oh and Read and Review... I'ma a review junkie what can I say??

Jess