Two weeks passed before the hospital would release Brian. The bruising on his face, arm and abdomen was terrible; he looked like a horror picture! Now, as Laura sat in the back seat of Letty's car with him, she couldn't help but look over at him every two seconds. Every time they went over a bump he would hold his breath, scrunch up his face and squeeze her hand a little harder. She felt so sorry for him but knew there was nothing she could do. It killed her to watch him suffer for so long. She knew he wanted revenge as much as she did, maybe even more, but it would have to wait.
He caught her eye as the drove up the drive to the house and smiled reassuringly. It's all he seemed to do lately. Laura returned the smile and stroked his arm,
"You Ok baby? You wanna go upstairs and rest?"
He grinned, "Sure. You wanna come up too…?"
She laughed. No matter how much pain he was in he always took the opportunity to make her laugh. He was full of cheesy comments…and he knew she loved them.
"I'll take you up…but I'm not gunna stay with you. I'm sick of havin' to fight you off me…" she laughed again at the forlorn look on his face.
She got out of the car and made her way round to his door. She tried to help him out but as usual he ignored her outstretched hand. He had too much pride to accept anyone's help. As she followed him into the house the rest of the team met them. They were all glad to have Brian back home and Mia seemed more than happy to spend an eternity hugging him. Vince handed Brian a beer but he shook his head,
"Can't man. I'm on meds…"
Vince frowned, "So what…it won't do you any harm."
Brian thought for a minute, shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the bottle.
"Don't even think about it…you're goin' to bed. The doc told you to take it easy…" Laura grabbed the beer and led him upstairs, giving Vince a very agitated look.
Vince was still grinning as Laura led Brian into his room. She watched as he lay on the bed, wincing again as he clutched his ribcage. She sighed. What would it take for him to just be him again? No cuts…no broken bones…no bruises… He needed a miracle.
"I'll come up later…when you're rested a bit. K?
"Hold on a mo. Come over here."
Laura grinned, knowing full well what he was thinking, but followed his orders anyway. She sat beside him and he leaned forward and kissed her. It was a long, passionate kiss, one she was getting very accustom to. Her skin fluttered as he pulled away and glared at her,
"Thanks…for everything. I couldn't have got through all this without you."
"Don't be stupid. I didn't do anything…"
"You didn't leave me once, Laura. You stayed in that room with me for two weeks! God, you just about left for the toilet or to shower…and I'm really grateful for that."
She giggled nervously, "It's Ok. It was no problem…I wanted to be there."
He smiled, "God…where were you for the past, like… decade?"
"Uh…in Ireland."
Brian laughed, "Do you feel at home here?"
"Yeah actually, I do. Do you?"
"Yeah of course. I guess I'd prefer it though if the Tran's weren't around though. It makes me nervous…the fact that they're still out there…and so are you. Promise me something?"
"Sure…"
"Promise you won't go out alone… even when you're driving…just until we get stuff sorted. And don't go out there looking for them either…"
Laura frowned, "Brian, I cant just become house bound because they're still out there. And they're always gunna be there anyway. Even if you do get rid of some of them, scare them or whatever…there will still be more. I can't hide Brian…I won't."
He sighed, "I knew you'd say something like that…"
She kissed him lightly on the lips, "I'll be fine. I swear I'll be careful and I won't go looking for trouble. Now rest and stop worrying so much…"
Brian nodded and she left the room and made her way downstairs. She hadn't actually realised what she said was true. No matter how much they wanted to get back at the Tran's there would always be more of them. Truthfully, they would always be in danger…always have to watch their backs. It wasn't a nice thought.
"Hey girl. You wanna come out with me…for a drive or something? We could go get some food or somethin'. It'll take your mind off things…" Mia looked at her expectantly.
Laura could see the rest of the team waiting intently for her answer and she suddenly realised they were trying to get her out of the way,
"What are you all up to? Why do you want me gone?"
Mia looked innocent but she could see Vince and Letty grin. Letty turned to Dom,
"Look Dom, it's not fair leavin' her outa this. She deserves to be in on it. She's too damn smart to fall for some cheesy 'lets go for a ride' ploy anyway."
Laura looked around the team for an explanation, her eyes falling on Dom,
"What the hell are you up to Dom?"
He sighed impatiently and gave Letty an overpowering look, "Laura it's not a good idea for you to come with us. I don't know if you can take care of yourself like these guys can. You might just get in the way…"
Laura felt the anger rise in her, "You were gunna go after them… weren't you? Without me! This is my fucking fight Dom! There is absolutely no fucking way you can leave me here while you go off and… I can't believe this. If it wasn't for Letty speakin' up you would have left me here!"
Dom saw the anger in her eyes and realised he had started something,
"Look…Brian ask me not to bring you along…he's worried you'll get…"
Laura cut him off, "This isn't up to Brian. It's up to me!"
She could feel the rage ripple through her body and before she could stop herself she flung herself at Dom. She swung a punch at him but Vince pounced on her,
"Wow there girl. Don't be like that! We were just lookin' out for ya…"
Laura felt her fury subside for a second and she realised what she had done. What was her problem! This was her family…and she was going hostile on them!
"Fuck…I'm so sorry Dom…I just…I need to do this. I can take care of myself. I can't let you guys go out and do this when it was Brian and I they attacked. Brian should be in on this too."
Dom looked surprised and a little impressed at her outburst. He stood for a minute staring at her before speaking,
"It'll take months for him to recover Laura. He agrees we should go pay them a visit now. And he didn't want you there in case you got hurt. I'm only respectin' his wishes…but I see where you're comin' from. If you need to come then you should come."
Laura nodded and she could feel her breathing return to normal,
"Listen I'm really sorry about that Dom…I don't know what came over to me…"
"Don't worry about it…it proves you have enough rage in you for something like this…you'll need to swing a couple of good punches at these guys tonight…you definitely up for it?"
She nodded and Dom grinned at her, holding her glare for a little too long. Letty sighed impatiently,
"So lets go already!"
Letty pushed her, Dom, Vince and Jesse out the door. Mia said she'd stay and keep an eye on Brian (which worried Laura more than she liked) and Dom didn't want her to go anyway.
"It would be handy to have Leon here right now…he was always good to have around in a punch up…" Vince muttered towards Dom.
Dom nodded, "Well, that's why Hector and a few of his guys are meeting us at the garage. We'll probably need all the back up we can get…"
Laura suddenly felt worried…were there going to be enough of them? She got into the back of Vince's car with Letty and Jesse, and Dom sat in the passenger's seat. Vince pulled out of the drive and as they accelerated away Laura looked up at Brian's bedroom window. She saw him staring out after her, an anxious look on his face and she realised she had promised him she wouldn't go looking for trouble. It was too late now though…she had to do this…he would understand. What made her more uneasy was the fact that Mia walked up to the window and stood beside him, stroking his shoulder… Was Mia telling the truth when she said she didn't love Brian anymore? Lately Laura had begun to doubt this very much… especially since the attack.