I am so sorry that I wasn't able to update last week. College has been kinda busy and this research paper was giving me a headache so many apologies. Also, I will try to have Standing at the Top of a Hillupdate tomorrow (I'm still working on the update for that.) Anywho, with many apologies for the lateness, onto to the chapter.

After a chaotic breakfast, Bree strolled into the gym only to stop dead in her tracks. She began to backpedal out the door as Trisha started to talk.

"Wait!" she yelled out but Bree was already out the door. The sound of her sneakers on the pavement was soon joined by another pair.

"Wait Bree! Please!" Trisha shouted. Bree stopped and turned around so suddenly that Trisha almost knock into her.

"What do you want?" Bree all but growled out.

"Just give me five minutes, please?" Trisha pleaded.

"You have three, now start talking," Bree answered as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"I just wanted you to know that I do feel really bad and I'm sorry. I never meant for it to happen. I don't even know how it happened. One minutes we were talking and the next thing I know we were kissing," Trisha explained. Bree saw the dark circles under Trisha's eyes and for a second felt badly for her before she berated herself and stoned herself off again.

"And what? You're clothes just magically disappeared along with your conscience?" Bree snapped back.

"No! I'm not explaining this right at all," Trisha said with a sigh.

"Trish, you were my best friend. You knew that I knew something was up and you stood by and listened as a prattled on thinking that Daman was going to propose when all along it was the fact that he was cheating one me. With you!" Bree shouted back and watched as Trisha flinch under her verbal assault.

"I know and I really am sorry. I never meant for this to happen. I just wanted to tell you sorry and to tell you…" she trailed off not sure how to say the next part.

"Tell me what?" Bree asked as her patience began to grow short.

"I'm pregnant. That's one of the reasons Daman left you," Trisha finally squeaked out.

"Oh…my…god. I can't. I can't deal with this," Bree said as she shook her head. "I can't just can't deal with this right now. I have classes." She turned and stalked back to the building, stopping just outside the doors to look back at Trisha. "Find yourself a new mentor, I'm dropping you!" she shouted before heading inside.

Bree squeaked into the front of the store. She could see Mia pop her head up at the sound and smile as she saw her. Bree grabbed her light jacket and slipped it on as she got out of her car, making sure it covered most of her hands. The jacket rubbed against her raw skin and she kept in the slight grimace it caused.

"Hey you're late. The guys have been calling, wondering when you're going to take up lunch," Mia said as she walked up.

"Yeah, sorry about that, had to help someone out and kind of lost track of time," she replied, the lie rolling off her tongue. "Why don't you just put my stuff with the guys and that way I can get going."

"Already did," Mia said with a smile, passing over the cooler and grocery bag.

"Thanks. So I'll see you later."

"Bye!" Mia waved at her as she got into her car and headed off to the garage.

She hadn't taken more than two steps into the garage before the guys, mainly Vince, attacked her.

"Alright, calm down! Man, you'd think you guys hadn't eaten in days," she said as she passed out the sandwiches.

"We haven't eaten since this morning, that's long enough for me," Vince mumbled around a mouth full of food.

"V, do me a favor and don't talk when you have food in you mouth. Dom in the office?" she asked as she looked around.

"Yeah, want me to take it?" Brian asked.

"Nah, I got it." Grabbing two Coronas and two sandwiches, she headed into Dom's office, knocking on the door before walking in.

"Hey, I brought lunch," Bree greeted as she waved the food before setting it down on his desk. His hand shot out and grabbed hers just as she let go of the food.

"What happened?" he asked as his other hand went to push up her sleeve. Bree tried to pull back her hand but his iron grip stopped her. Dom slid the jacket up and looked up as Bree let out a hiss when the material snagged on her skin. "What happened?" he asked again.

"Nothing," she answered and Dom raised an eyebrow at her.

"This don't look like nothing."

"I ran into Trisha this morning and learned some things; so rather than take it out on her, I took it out on the punch bag."

"You know, I can remember someone fixing me up just the other day. She seemed pretty upset about it," he said almost teasingly but Bree could feel the underlying seriousness.

"I know," she replied quietly.

"So what exactly happened?"

"I told you, I ran into Trisha and we talked. I got pissed at something she said. End of story," Bree said defensively.

"Come on, we both know there's more to the story than that."

"Look Dom, I told what you need to know and that's it. It's my personal life." Bree's anger was bubbling at the surface and she pulled her hand from his.

"I'm just trying to help you. Now tell me what happened," he commanded as he stood up.

"I don't have to tell you shit. I'm outta here," she said before running out of the office. Dom followed after her and watched as she took off in her car.

"What happened?" Vince asked. Dom stayed silent, debating what to do. He felt the weight of his keys in his pocket and pulled them out. He could hear Vince yelling after him as he got into his car and drove in the direction Bree took off in.

Remembering where he had found her the first time, he pulled up to the beach and immediately saw her car. Jogging over to it, he chuckled as he found her shoes discarded on the ground, same as before. Looking up, he saw her running towards the water. Quickly pulling off his own shoes and socks, he went after her, the sand was warm against his bare feet.

He stopped just behind her, waiting to see if she knew he was there. He could see her shoulders tense up and then slump in defeat. Dom edged towards the left, trying to look at her face.

"You couldn't just leave it alone," she stated as she kept her eyes towards the ground.

"What can I say, I'm stubborn, remember?" he said and was rewarded with a small smile. Her face turned somber again and he tentatively took a step towards her. "So you want to tell me what happened?"

"She's pregnant."

"Oh."

"And it's not the fact that's she pregnant that bugs me," she continued, "It's the fact that she said it was one of the reasons he left me. And the night that he told me what was going on, he said that he wanted to be with me, that he had broken up with her. It's like I'm just something to be used. He lied to me. If I can't even trust someone I've known for three years how am I suppose to trust anyone?" she asked knowing the rhetorical question had no answer, or at least one she knew of.

Dom stood in silence, not sure what to really say. Not ever experiencing something of this nature, he wasn't sure what he should say or do. Bree turned her tear filled eye towards him, daring him to say something, anything. He did the only thing he could think of as he stared into her hazel eyes: he kissed her. Her lips were soft beneath his and he felt her arms reach up and wrap around his neck. His own hands found her back and he pulled her close. Their kiss seemed to last an eternity but they pulled back, both gasping for oxygen.

Bree surprised herself when she pulled him back down for another kiss. His touch ignited something within her and she latched onto it, loving the way it felt. They both reluctantly parted, both breathing hard. Bree yelped as the cold water washed over her feet. She jumped away from the water, bringing Dom with her. They both lost their balance and fell towards the sand. Bree's giggles got him laughing and soon they we both clutching at each other, laughter racking their bodies.

"Man, talk about graceful," she commented as her laughter died down.

"Yeah. This is nice," he said as he pulled her closer to him.

"Hmm?"

"This, just being free for a bit."

"Yeah it is," she replied. They lay silent for a bit before Bree got the nerve to speak up. "Dom?" He grunted in response and she continued on. "What is this?"

"I don't know. What do you want it to be?" he asked back.

"I don't know," she said and gave a small laugh. "I'm not even sure if I'm ready for this to be something."

"We can just take it slow for now. That okay?" he asked and for once, he was really concerned about the answer.

"Slow, very slow," she said agreeing. Dom gave her a chaste kiss before getting up and then helping her up.

"Back to the shop?"

"Back to the shop," he confirmed.

The guys were milling around when they entered and questions shot out of their mouth as they saw them.

"You guys okay?" Vince asked.

"We're fine V. Just a little miscommunication. Nothing big," Bree answered.

"Alright, so my favorite helper is here," Leon said as he slid an arm around her. "So girl, you ready to help me out?" he asked with a smirk.

"You bet," she answered as she allowed Leon to pull her over to the car he was working on.

"So what happened?" Vince asked as soon as Bree was out of hearing range.

"I did what I normally do," he confessed as he ran a hand over his head. Vince scrutinized him for a minute before the light bulb went on in his head.

"You like her," he stated more than asked.

"Yeah, but I don't want to screw this up. She's different," Dom said unable to find the words to elaborate. Vince mentally sighed, knowing that Dom had his sights set on Bree and there was no stopping him, so he asked the only question he could think of.

"So, you think she has any cute relatives?"