Quarter Mile at a Time

Chapter Six

Gaby readjusted her seat for like the hundredth time and settled in. It felt slightly strange not driving her own car but the longer she sat in the car, the more settled she became. That, and the fact that Vince's scent was all around her made her feel excited and relaxed at the same time.

"Nervous?"

Gaby looked over to see Vince crouching at her window, a smirk on his face.

"Of course not, what do I got to be nervous about?"

"Well..."

Gaby held up her hand, signaling for him to stop. "Don't want to hear it..."

Vince chuckled. "You'll do fine."

"I know I'll do fine," she said, exasperated. "The question is will I win?"

"I don't know. You're in control of that," he replied as he began to stand up.

He bent back down a bit and laid a soft kiss on her lips. "But that's about as encouraging as I can get. I do happen to live with Letty, ya know? She'll be the only competition you'll have."

Gaby pouted, but inside she understood what he was saying. Her rivalry with Letty was already making things complicated between her and V. The race was doing nothing to help the situation.

"You better stop that or I'm never leaving," Vince commented as he eyed her lips. Gaby rolled her eyes at him and gave him a chaste kiss before pushing him away.

"Meet ya at the finish line," she called out and V nodded at her.

Gaby rolled her shoulders and gripped the steering wheel and shift knob. She glanced up to see Hector talking into the two-way radio.

"Go time," she whispered as Hector whistled and raised his hands.

All down the line cars were revving. Closest to Hector was Letty, her eyes flickering over to Gaby for a second before refocusing on Hector. Gaby wasn't too sure about the other two girls on either side of her other than the fact that Vince said they were nothing to worry about.

Gaby checked to make sure that everything was in order and that the tanks were open. She pushed the clutched down and shifted the car into first. Glancing up to lock eyes with Hector, she gave the slightest of nods to signal that she was ready.

Hector began to wave his hands and Gaby took a deep breath. Everything fell into silence as Hector dropped his hands and all four of them squealed off the line. Gaby focused ahead and paid attention to the car, listening for the telling signs of when to shift. Glancing up for a split second, she saw the other two girls about a car length behind. Gaby herself, was up to Letty's bumper.

Her muscles tensed up as she pressed the gas hard, closing in on the 240SX. The nose of Gaby's car became even with Letty's driver side door. Gaby pressed harder on the gas, but it was too late. Letty's car passed over the line and the race was over.

The breath rush out of Gaby's lungs as she put the car in neutral. The world went numb, her heartbeat in her ears. Soon, the silence became deafening and the roaring of the crowd brought her back.

Outside, everyone was surrounding Letty's car and congratulating her. Gaby's heart was heavy with grief; grief over the fact that she had lost, but also because she felt that in a small way, she had let Vince down.

She slowly climbed out of the car, defeat making its home in her limbs. The eyes that were on her were laughing, but most were focused on Letty, congratulating her. She felt a pair of arms encircle her and tensed.

"You did good," he whispered in her ear.

"I lost," she replied in a small voice.

Vince turned her around, tilting her chin up and looking in her eyes. "You kept up with her and that's more than anyone was expecting. Just need a bit more practice is all." He place a gently kiss against her lips, letting her know that it didn't matter if she won or lost.

Gaby wrapped her arms around V and sighed. "I just wanna go home." He chuckled slightly.

"You don't want to go to the after party?"

"Party?" she asked, perking up a little bit.

"Remember, we always have one after races?" he reminded her.

Before Gaby could say something to him, a tap on her shoulder made her turn around and look straight into the face of Letty.

"I gotta give you props," she said, her face still cockily though. "You kept up chica, but I still beat ya. Now you know you're place. Don't forget it."

Gaby felt her hands ball into fist at her side, Vince's arms the only thing holding her back.

"Don't worry, you can have this one. I'll get mine," Gaby promised, anger boiling at the surface.

"Alright, break it up you two," Dom said, stepping between them.

"Dom," Gaby growled out. "I don't know what your girl's problem..."

"Your girl," Letty quipped. "Bitch, if you have something to say about me, say it to my face."

Gaby began to reply, but Vince sensed that it was about time the two separated and had a time out. "I got this," he mouthed to Dom and threw Gaby over his shoulder, causing the people around them to laugh.

A screaming protest came at him, but he ignored it as he walked to his car and threw Gaby into the passenger's seat. Once he was in the driver's seat, he braced for impact.

"What in the hell did you do that for?" she screeched. Vince started up the car quickly, knowing that at any second she could make a dash for the door and be out before he even had a chance to say a word.

"Because you two were acting like a bunch of lil' kids."

"Was not," she protested. "She started it anyways," Gaby continued as she pouted and slouched down in the seat.

"So you wanna stay for more races or head home?" he asked.

"I don't know, dad, what are you going to do, send me to my room?" she said angrily.

"Better watch it, I just might," he replied, his eyes running over her.

Gaby couldn't help but laugh. After a couple of minutes, she turned and faced him. "I'm sorry 'bout that. It's just..."

"I know," Vince replied, placing a hand on her knee. "It's never fun or easy losing."

"Don't I know it," she mumbled as she stared out her window. He pressed down on the gas and relaxed only when the warehouse was no longer visible from his rear-view mirror.

"Don't worry baby, there's always a next time," he reassured her, giving her knee a squeeze, accidentally making her giggle. He did it again, listening to her melodious laughter fill the car.

"Stop, you need to concentrate on driving," she scolded.

"Worry wart," he teased but took his hand back and continued driving back to the fort.

There weren't any cars at the house yet, since they were the first one to leave. Vince parked the car and she got out, staring at the full moon in the sky.

"What ya thinking about?" he asked as he held her to him.

"How much it's going to suck being around Letty now that she's won."

Vince laughed. "Baby, it'll be okay. She promised that she would try to be nice to you."

"Pfft, I believe that about as far as I can throw you," she mumbled while kicking at the ground.

Vince put a look of mock hurt and said very slowly, "Are you trying to say I'm fat?"

"Not fat," Gaby said, a smile forming on her face. "Just a little chunky."

"I resent that," he said turning his nose up at her but she could see the smirk on his face. He was glad he was finally getting her out of her mood.

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone," she teased, stepping up to him. "And I'll still like you, even if you are chunky."

"Better," he mumbled against her lips. They continued to kiss until the catcalls broke them apart and they saw that a few people had shown up, Leon in the front.

Gaby buried her blushing face in Vince's chest and began pushing him back towards the house.

"Come on, Chunky Monkey," she said, laughing.

"Chunky Monkey, eh? I'll show you Chunky Monkey," Vince said.

The tone in his voice sounded evil. Gaby knew he was up to no good and took off running. She didn't make it more than four steps before she was yanked up from the ground and pressed into a hard chest. Vince rubbed his bearded chin along her neck before tickling her stomach. Seconds later, he found her ticklish spot, the area right above her hips, and began to tickle her mercilessly. It wasn't until Gaby had tears rolling down her eyes from laughing so hard and they were both out of breath that Vince finally let up. At this time they were both on the ground with Vince straddling Gaby, who was left breathless. He sat back on his heels and looked over Gaby. Her hair was in disarray and a red tint appeared on her cheeks.

"You are so evil," she gasped out, wiping the tears away, as people stepped around them and into the house.

"That's what you get for calling me names," he bantered back. Slowly, he slid off of her and helped her up. Gaby brushed away pieces of grass and attempted to fix her hair. Once she regained her breath, she stared straight at him with a smirk, her own plan forming.

"You didn't seem to mind last night," she whispered into his ear as her hand caressed his chest. Then she sprinted away yelling Chunky Monkey behind her.

She pounded up the stairs into the house and heard Vince rush after her once his daze broke off.

The sound of his bedroom door slamming let V know exactly where Gaby was heading, downstairs to the basement. He took the stairs two by two as he headed to his room. When he reached his door, he found it locked. By simply jiggling the handle a bit, he managed to unlock the door. Once it was open, he stepped into pitch black.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," he said in a mock venomous tone.

The sound of something shifting in his closet caught his ear and he took a couple steps toward the door. Another noise from the closet confirmed his suspicion and he ripped open the closet door.

"Gotcha!" he yelled as he grabbed the person inside.

"Oh my hero," Leon fluttered his eyes and swooned. "How shall I ever repay you?"

Vince grunted in disgust and let Leon go, who was laughing at him. "You definitely have issues Le. Now where is she?"

"I don't know, she just told me to hide in here," he said shrugging his shoulders. He was bent over with his hands on his knees trying to regain composure.

Vince growled and headed out of his room. Once he was upstairs, he found Dom sitting on the couch with Letty.

"Hey, dog, you see Gaby anywhere?"

"Nope," he said, looking around.

"I see you lost your girl already," Letty piped in.

Vince sighed. "She's hiding from me, I didn't lose her. Sorry to disappoint you," he mumbled before walking off, still in search of Gaby.

A soft giggling from the kitchen caught his attention and he hurried through the door to see the screen door to the backyard finish closing. He opened that door and headed outside, pausing on the steps to see if she was outside. He found her sitting on the picnic table, her back to him.

"You know, I think Leon scarred me for life," he told her as he walked down the steps.

"Guess I'll have to thank him later," she giggled and reclined back on the table. Vince stepped up to her, standing between her legs.

"I think you're going to have to kiss me and make it better," he said in a low voice as he set his hands down on each side of her and leaned in.

"Tempting…" she replied, trailing off as Vince kissed her.

"Come on, my room's much more comfy than this table," he whispered in her ear as his arms wrapped around her and pulled her up.

Vince woke a few hours later when a quiet tapping came at his door. He had been in a light sleep, knowing that they had a job tonight. He hugged Gaby close to him and pressed a kiss to her lips before slipping out of bed. He dressed quickly and looked back longingly at her in the bed, hugging his pillow.

The tapping came at his door again and he opened it before it woke up Gaby. He nodded at Leon on the other side and looked back one last time before slipping out the door, hoping that she didn't wake up and realize he was gone.

It was a few hours later that Vince slipped back into the room. He shed off his clothes before sliding underneath the sheets and pulled Gaby to him. She molded her body against his, their legs entwining. He took a deep breath as his hand played with her hair. Her even breathing and the heat from her body relaxed him and he soon found himself drifting off.

Gaby rolled over and collided with a very solid chest. A grunt sounded in the room and she looked up to see Vince looking at her.

"Sorry," she mumbled, pressing a kiss to his chest before snuggling against him. Vince immediately felt guilty. How am I going to tell her what's going on? he wondered. A heavy sigh fell from his lips as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"What?" she asked, her eyes still heavy with sleep.

"Nothing," he answered, kissing her. Gaby frowned at him for a second before her face smoothed out again and she rested her head against him.

"I don't wanna get up," she stated curling her arm around him.

"I wish we didn't have to either but if I'm not wrong, we'll be hearing about it in three, two, one..."

"Vince! Get up!" Dom yelled from upstairs. "We can't all stay in bed all day!"

Gaby laughed and laid flush against Vince. "Do we have to?" she whined, pouting.

"I have to, and if you want your car ready for Race Wars, you will to."

"Fine," she said, sulking.

"I'm gonna take a shower, wanna join?" he said with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah, go get the shower ready," she said with a wink. She waited until Vince was out of the room before grabbing her cell phone out of her pants from the floor and checked her missed calls. She pushed a few buttons and waited for someone on the other side to pick up.

"Tanner here," the voice said as it picked up.

"How you doing Tammy?" she said incase anyone was listening.

"Finally you answer. The hijackers have hit again. Bilkins made his decision. We're gonna move on Johnny Tran and his guys at 0900 hours, unless you say otherwise. If you agree just say yes."

"Sure Tammy, but I can't go. I got stuff to do."

"Alright, but be back for recon at 1800 hours," Tanner said before hanging up.

Gaby put her phone away and sighed. She fell back against the sheets, her hands automatically falling onto her stomach. As she stared up at the ceiling, hundreds of thoughts ran through her mind. Guilt once again ran amuck through her. How am I going to tell him? Wait, I can never tell him.

The door to Vince's room creaked opened, and Gaby sat up quickly.

"Oh," Letty grumbled. "I thought V was in here."

"He's in the shower."

Letty nodded and started to head out of the door, but Gaby stopped her.

"Hey, Let, can we talk?"

"Only my friends call me Let," she replied, but stayed in the doorway.

Gaby smiled wanly and moved off the bed. "Okay, Letty," she said, stressing the last part. A sigh then fell from her lips. "Look, this, the bickering and fighting, is really tearing Vince apart, even if he doesn't say it, I can tell. It's not fair for us to put him through it. So how about we just agree to both be civil."

"You really like him, don't you?" she asked, her arms crossed as she stared her down.

"I do. Sometimes I think it might be more than like but I don't want to push it," she said as she stared at her hands.

"I hear ya. Just, you break his heart, I'll break your neck," she threatened.

"Not going to happen," Gaby promised. Letty nodded and then disappeared from the room as Gaby got up to join Vince.

Gaby walked into the garage later on with a skip in her step. Things had been going rather well for her so far and she expected her good mood to carry throughout the rest of the day.

"Thanks for the ride, Leon," she called over her shoulder to Leon, who was walking toward a car that he had been fixing for the past week.

Vince had left while she was in the shower, in hopes of getting some work completed at the garage. He had been a little distant, but Gaby didn't worry about it too much.

As she headed near her car, or rather the one she and the team was fixing up, she smiled. Dom, Vince, and Jesse were standing near the hood of the car talking about what still needed to be done to the beast.

"Anything I can help with, boys?" she asked, slapping Dom and V lightly on the back.

Dom glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled before looking back at the empty space where the engine used to be. "Yeah, Arizona, we gotta get some parts that we haven't picked up already. If ya want, I can send you and lover boy to go pick 'em up."

Gaby rolled her eyes and shoved Dom playfully, while Vince gave him the one-soldier salute.

"Alright, let's go Chunky Monkey," Gaby said to Vince, breaking out in a grin as Vince scowled at her.

"You better watch it or you're going to get what's coming to ya," he replied, his eyes scrutinizing her.

"Is that a threat?" she taunted back.

"That's a promise," he whispered into her ear, causing shivers to run down her body with the hidden meaning behind his words.

"Go get the parts before you start making out in the middle of the garage," Dom said, the smile on his face taking the sting of out his words. Gaby gave Dom a cheeky smile before grabbing Vince's hand and started walking out of the garage, enjoying the feel of his bigger, calloused hand in her smaller one.

The two of them got into Vince's car and they headed down to Racer' Edge. Harry had loaded the parts into one of the company trucks and Gaby drove it back to the garage. The morning was spent working on her car and by lunch, a good portion of work had been completed.

"Alright, have fun guys," Gaby said wiping her greasy hands on a rag and pushing back her hair from her eyes.

"Where ya goin'?" Vince asked, looping a finger through one of her belt loops and pulling her close.

"I have a shift this afternoon and then Harry wants me to do some inventory stuff tonight."

"Oh," was all Vince had to say.

"Yeah, so I'll see ya tomorrow?" Gaby wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her head up, looking into his blue eyes. He lowered his head, kissing her.

"Count on it," he said when he pulled back.

Gaby slammed the truck door and headed into the house they were using as headquarters. Her 'shift' at the shop had dragged on and she couldn't shake off the feeling of foreboding as she entered the house. Tanner motioned her to sit down while Bilkins paced in the background, talking on the phone.

"Yes, sir…Yeah, I know, but…Yeah…Yes...Yes, sir...Yeah, I got it," he said before slamming the phone down and staring up at her. "The DVD players were purchased legally. All we've got on Tran and company are a couple of low-rent weapons charges and some outstanding speeding tickets," he bite out.

"So they're out," Tanner acknowledged.

"Yeah, father bailed 'em out. Is this the kind of intelligence I can expect from you Vasquez?" he questioned as he stared her down.

"You're gonna put this on me?" Gaby asked incredulously.

"I can put it on whoever I want to, kid. Perks of the job," Bilkins shot back.

"I'm just doing my freakin' job. There is no way you're gonna put this on me," Gaby almost shouted as she stood up.

"No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me tell you I don't care if you have to put a gun to someone's head and blow your cover to smithereens. You've got one week to crack this bastard, or you might want to be thinking about another career," he snapped and turned away. Gaby shot out of her chair and out of the house, stopping to stand by the pool.

"It's Toretto, Gaby. It always has been Toretto. Tran and Hector are...they're just fumes. Well, I know you've been lying to me. My question is this: have you been lying to yourself because you can't see past Vince?" Tanner asked.

"He won't go back to prison," Gaby answered, turning to look at him.

"Well, that's a choice he's going to have to make. There's all kinds of family Gaby, and you're going to have to pick. It's us or them."