hey, sorry it's been so long. I've had this written for a while and i just keep forgetting to post it. My bad. Anyway...i was gonna make this one really long chapter but i decided to split it into 2 and have a little cliff hanger...hah! the nextchap should be up in a day (maybe 2) and things will start getting a lot more interesting...

Enjoy and, as always, R and R

WHO'S THAT?

Surprisingly, Vince woke up relatively early in the morning. He laid in bed for a few minutes before hauling himself up and trudging to the door. He could hear Nicole moving around in the bathroom, so he went to the kitchen and immediately noticed that she'd already made coffee. He happily helped himself to a cup of it and sat at the table.

"Morning"

He lowered his mug to see Nicole walking in, making a beeline for the coffeepot. She still had her basketball shorts and t-shirt on that she'd slept in, and her hair was a little messy from sleeping. Contrary to what most girls seemed to think, Vince thought women looked cute when they'd just woken up – not that he told people that.

"Morning," he mumbled back.

Once she poured herself some coffee, she sat in the chair next to him. She shifted awkwardly a few times and finally seemed to get comfortable after she pulled her legs up so that they were up to her chest.

"Um...thanks for last night...and sorry if I woke up you..." she finally said after a few minutes.

"Nah, you didn't...and it wasn't a problem...I know how it goes"

Nicole nodded and gave him a small smile before getting back up and making them both some toast.

After breakfast they both changed and left their building to go to a place where they could get a set of keys to the apartment for Vince. That didn't take long and, once it was done, they just walked around the city for a while. She showed him some places that he might want to know, like nice diners, restaurants, bars, shops, and little things like that. Vince tried to remember what she was telling him, but he doubted he'd be able to find half of the places ever again. There were tons of buildings and a lot of them looked alike, so he decided he'd have to go places with Nicole until he got used to it all.

They ate lunch at a little café and weren't sure what to do afterwards.

"Wanna go to Luke's and see what everyone else is up to?" Nicole asked after they'd walked a couple blocks aimlessly.

Vince thought about it. He'd honestly been enjoying the day without the team, and with Nicole, but knew he couldn't avoid them. If he tried, they'd get offended and worried and he didn't want to have deal with that.

"Sure"

"Ok"

Nicole hailed a cab rather quickly and they were at Lucan's about 15 minutes later.

Luke's car was in the driveway so they just walked in, not bothering to knock.

"Hello?"

Luke came around the corner and smiled when he saw them.

"We were just talking about you two," he stated. "Come on downstairs, we got the PS2 out."

They followed him downstairs and found the team sprawled out on the couches while Jesse and Leon raced on the video game.

"Is this what you've been doing all day?" Nicole asked, shaking her head.

"Pretty much, yea," Luke answered, flopping onto the couch.

"Well I'm real glad we came," she said sarcastically.

"Yea, the girls are getting bored too...why don't you take them out?"

"Gee, I'm at your service"

"Shut up"

"I'm not bored," Letty said, looking at Luke like he was crazy to think she wouldn't like it.

"I am...wanna get out of here Nicole?" Mia asked, looking hopeful.

"If we can take Luke's car"

Mia made her sad face, which Luke couldn't resist, and he forked over his keys.

After saying their good-byes, Nicole and Mia left and drove around to find something to do. They ended up shopping. The didn't buy anything, but they had fun looking around. They didn't want to pay for dinner, so they headed back to Luke's in time for dinner.

They found the guys still in the basement but they were watching a movie, so the girls joined them. After they ate, Vince and Nicole called a cab and went back to the apartment. Vince was quiet during the whole ride and just nodded when Nicole asked if he'd had a good time hanging out with the guys.

It was still kind of early when they got to their room but Vince went straight to his room, leaving Nicole with only Tiger for company. She watched TV for a while before going to bed herself, wondering what was up with Vince.

In the morning, Vince acted normal like nothing had happened. He felt bad for being short with Nicole, but he really hadn't enjoyed the pervious afternoon. It just hadn't been the same as when he'd been hanging out with Nicole. She hadn't known him before so he could be however he wanted to be around her. Once he got back with the team he felt like he was stuck being how they expected him to be. He hadn't liked it and had just clammed up, not saying or doing much, the whole time wishing that he was still walking around with Nicole. She was calming and he felt better around her.

"What do you wanna do today?" Nicole asked after they ate breakfast. "I don't have to work 'til 5:00, so I'm up for whatever"

"I dunno...where do you work?"

"I'm a waitress at a restaurant called Olivia's"

"Oh...a fancy place?"

"Um...yea, it's nice...good tips"

Vince nodded and the rest of the morning went quietly while they got dressed and everything. They ended up at Times Square in the early afternoon, wandering around and talking about a little bit of everything.

Vince stopped to look up at one of the many huge buildings with advertisements on the side. He couldn't help but want to check everything out, even though that was nearly impossible. He turned to keep going and found that Nicole was gone. Before he could panic too much, though, she popped back up in front of him.

"Come on; what're you doin?"

"Nothin'"

She rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him along with her.

"Well come on then, we need to get back soon so I can get ready for work"

Vince didn't say anything, but let himself be led away to a less congested place so they could get a cab. On the way he let himself calm down. He didn't know what he would've done if Nicole and walked further without him and not found him again. Not having been there long enough to know his way around, he would've been screwed – simply put.

It was when she let go to get into the cab that Vince realized they'd been holding hands. He wasn't really the kind of guy who held hands with girls, but he found he kind of liked it. Her small hand had fit perfectly in his larger one, and he kind of missed it.

He was left alone the rest of the evening once they got home. Nicole had changed into black pants and a white shirt before hurrying out to her job. He hadn't even asked where it was at, but reminded himself to sometime. Maybe he'd go sometime when she was working to see what it was like, as long as it wasn't too fancy. He hadn't brought 'nice' clothes with him and wasn't really into fancy restaurants anyway.

Just when he was getting sick of sitting with only the cat for company, the phone rang. He debated it for a minute, but picked it up. After all, he lived there too now.

"Hello?"

'Vince?'

"Yea...who's this?"

'Lucan...where's Cole?'

"At work"

'Oh yea! I forgot...one sec'

Luke gave the phone to Dom and he told Vince their plans. Luke had a friend who owned a garage and they'd all be able to get part time jobs there. It wouldn't be everyday, since there were so many of them, but they'd figure something out. They had to go to the garage the next day to sort out the details.

'That cool with you, V?'

"Yea," Vince answered, knowing he needed a job, even if he didn't really want to be around Dom.

'Aiight, see you tomorrow then. We'll come pick you up around 11:00'

"K, later"

:click:

Vince hung up the phone and sighed. As much as he wanted too keep hanging out with Nicole, he knew he needed a job if they were staying there for a while. Besides, she had a job, too, and probably worked during the day sometimes.

He was left alone again until Nicole got back at 11:00.

"Hey Vince"

"Hey"

"Whattcha been doing while I was gone?"

"Just watching TV"

"Ooo, bet that's fun"

"No, not really"

She just chuckled and went into her room for a few minutes, coming back out in sweat pants and a t-shirt. She flopped down on the other end of the couch and crossed her legs beneath her.

"Not tired form work?"

"Nope, wide awake. Did anyone call?"

"Oh yea; Lucan and Dom. They're gonna pick me up at 11:00 tomorrow and we're going down to where we're gonna work."

"Oh, the garage?"

"Yep, that's it"

"Sweet...like cars then?"

"Love 'em. We used to race back in LA"

"Shouldda brought your cars then; there's street racing here," Nicole informed him.

"Yea, but we needed a change; that's why we came"

"A change to legal things?" she asked in a joking way but frowned at the look on Vince's face. "Sorry if that was out of line; I was just kidding."

"Nah...you're right. We got in some deep shit...just needed to leave for a while..." Vince answered, waving away her apology.

Nicole nodded but didn't say anything else, feeling awkward for what she'd said.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Vince assured her.

"Yea...mind if I ask what you did? Besides racing, I mean," she asked after a moment, sounding rather hesitant but curious.

Vince sighed. "That's a long story...I'll tell you about it later"

"Alright, it really wasn't my place to ask"

Vince shrugged and looked around.

"Mind if I ask you something?"

"Shoot"

"Alirght...what's up in the loft?" he asked, pointing to the stairs.

"Oh yea! I forgot to tell you, huh? That's like my 'studio' of sorts..." she stood and opened her arms, sighing dramatically. "I...am an artist." She lowered her hands and grinned. "Come on, I'll show you."

Vince, his curiosity peeked, followed her up the stairs and into an open, rather spacious, room. Some pictures hung on the wall and there was an armchair in the corner, and two other comfortable looking chairs were situated in other places. A tall stool stood in front of an even taller easel with a large pad of paper on it. Smaller sketchpads were here and there around the room, along with pens and pencils.

Vince looked at the pictures on the wall and was surprised at how good they were. There were some cityscapes and some of people, and they were all good, to him.

"I ain't no artist, but these are pretty damn good"

"Thanks; I went to an art college and wanted to make a career or it, but it's really more of a hobby. Maybe I could make some money...I dunno..." Nicole shrugged and flopped into the armchair.

They stayed up in her 'studio' for a few hours before going down the their respective rooms for sleep.

When the next morning came, Vince was far from happy. He was looking at an afternoon spent with the team and he'd be lying if he said he was looking forward to it. He was quiet during breakfast and mumbled a good-bye over his shoulder when Lucan called and said they'd be there in 5 minutes.

Just as he'd figured, the day wasn't fun. The only good thing about it was that he'd be working with Leon. The garage didn't need four people, so they were going in pairs on different afternoons. Him and Leon got Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while Dom and Letty worked Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Mia didn't work with cars, so Lucan was still looking into getting her a job. He was hoping she could get a job with Nicole, but he hadn't checked on it yet.

Vince was trudging to the door of the apartment around 6:30, wanting nothing more than a nice, cold beer. When he got inside, he heard voices in the kitchen and shrugged off his jacket, laying it over the back of the couch.

"Hey Vince, come in here, I got somebody I want you to meet," Nicole called to him.

"Comin'"

He walked through the doorway and into the kitchen to see what was up. He looked to the table and almost dropped his keys when he saw the guy sitting at the table with Nicole.

hah...i'll just leave u with that for now. Like i said, the next chap should be up in a day or two and you'll see who it is...(hint/fyi: he's not from the movie...not bringing in any other characters...yet?...)

anyway, see that review button down there? click it and tell me what you think...thanks