AN: If you're so inclined check out the song 'It ain't dark yet but it's getting there' by Bob Dylan. It sort of inspired this chapter in a lot of ways. So did my sister Cheer. I love ya girlie. Can't wait to see what you do with this next. And like cheer said I am writing Storm's history in another story called 'Velocity Shift' which can be found at if anyone is interested.
Puzzling Pieces
By Tempest-Races
Chapter 45 – Cadillac Luck
The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.
Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.
-Richard Bach
"Code Blue! Dr. Ellis to ICU room 300 Stat!"
The disembodied voice of some faceless nurse crashed into Storm as she stood in the hallway in a daze.
Code blue. Medical Emergency in the ICU.
Room 300. Mia's room.
She knew she had to get out of the area of Mia's room before someone put two and two together and she became their number one suspect. Not like she wasn't going to be anyway but she didn't need to give them more reason to suspect her. It hadn't taken long for Storm to start second guessing her actions.
The hospital atmosphere was oppressive as she strode down the corridor, none of her confidence lacking outwardly at least. Her stride was just as long, her face just as composed as ever. But inside things were different. The very air felt like it weighed a thousand pounds on Storm's shoulders as she walked back into the same bathroom she'd just left moments before. Moments that now felt like lifetimes. She leaned on the edge of the sink and stared at her face in the spider's web of cracks. She wasn't even sure she knew herself anymore.
Her reflection looked just like her soul felt. Split into a thousand pieces no one could put back together. There was no fixing her after what she'd done. What had she done?
She'd taken lives before. Hell, she'd taken Carter's and never batted an eye. She hadn't been losing any sleep over it either. Sure, she'd been losing sleep alright but not over what she'd done to Carter. It was just part of her job. In her world if someone messed with your boss or your property they knew the consequences. They expected to get whacked. Waited for it. If they killed you before you killed them then that was that. But if you killed them it was just what they had coming. You knew it. They knew it. It was the way things were, status quo. You both signed up for it when you signed up for the life. The world. There had always been two distinct worlds in Storm's mind. They had always been too distinct entities in Storm's life. Two separate places.
But in the world Storm found herself in now, the world she was inhabiting in L.A., the underworld she called her own, and the everyday world the 'citizens' inhabited were clashing. She found herself dealing with the characters of her world while the characters of the sugar-coated world on top watched. She didn't like to feel like a bug pinned under glass. She could feel them all looking at her, finding her different. The citizens knew she wasn't one of their number and when they looked at her it felt like they were thinking she should just crawl back where she came from. They knew she was one of those people. The people who made their living off crime.
It wasn't supposed to be that way. The world where she could kill another human in the blink of an eye wasn't supposed to meet the world where she was someone's big sister, someone's idol and role model. She'd always kept them so separate. Distinct. But the thick black line she'd drawn in permanent marker between those two worlds had somehow been erased and a new line drawn in grey charcoal pencil had been added in its place and smudged.
Blurred. The line was blurred.
She'd taken an innocent life. Ok, not really. Not in the strictest sense. But when it all came down to brass tacks it had been quite clear that Mia had been acting of someone else's volition not her own. The madness in her eyes had been clear to see at the end, but it hadn't been present when Storm had first met the dark girl. It had been added by Carter and his poison. Storm was quite aware of the venom Carter was adept at injecting into a person. She'd been subjected to it the whole time she'd known him, before, during and after the time they'd been dating. But she was lucky, and too strong for his mental games to have an effect. But Mia on the other hand had been suggestible and therefore susceptible to it.
And rather then take that knowledge and let life ride, Storm had decided to enact a little Old Testament justice on Mia, an eye for an eye. Mia's drugs had, in a technical sense, killed Stacey. So Storm gave Mia drugs to kill her. It wasn't her style and it even went against a lot of her morals. Twisted as they were her morals did exist in their own way yet she'd just acted totally against them. You let a guy know in subtle ways you were gonna whack him. Mia'd been unconscious when Storm had rung her death knell. Mia never would have seen it coming. Of course perhaps on some level she'd known she deserved to die for her sins, and had tried to dole out her own punishment with the same gun she'd tried to dole out Matty's for the sin of simply trying to save a 16 year old girl's life. Perhaps it wasn't fair that she'd killed Mia. It wasn't fair but in the strictest sense, at least in Storm's world it was justice and that was all she could cling to.
Not that Storm was even sure the drugs had worked. She'd injected what she thought was enough of them into the catheter in Mia's arm to kill a small horse, and she was betting the doctors wouldn't figure out what Mia had been given until it was too late, but it still wouldn't surprise Storm if they pulled a rabbit out of the proverbial hat and saved her anyway. There was nothing to do but walk tall and hold her head up. Admitting what she'd done to the team would only hurt them worse. Better they think Mia had died from complications then from Storm's hands. Telling them would only be to make herself feel better. To ease her guilt. She'd be able to put it in her past soon enough. Or so she told herself at any rate.
She left the bathroom after wiping the needle and bottle of drugs carefully clean and disposing of them in the biohazardous wastes bin in the bathroom beside the toilet. She headed back toward the waiting room in a pure aimless walk. It took her past Mia's room but the door was firmly closed. It didn't completely hide the noises coming from the room as the hospital staff worked to revive Mia.
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there.
Elsewhere some unknown nurse was telling Dominic Toretto about Mia, about the fact she might never wake up, that they might not even be able to keep her alive, that they didn't know what had made her crash, just that she had and they were working on it.
Only Vince was there to catch his friend as he fell to his knees in grief. They were left alone in a room, the three of them, as Dom cried brokenly for his baby sister and Letty wept for the woman she'd loved like a sister almost all her life.
Even Vince couldn't totally keep the tears in check as the three of them sat on the floor together, crying for Mia. Their friend, sister, team mother, and caretaker.
Would their little family recover if it lost Mia? Not as she was since Carter, but lost her as she had been? They could all see her at the counter of their little café waiting on customers with a smile. See her hair cloud around her shoulders and down her back as she primped at races. See her sunny smile as she served them breakfast every day and worried if they were getting enough sleep and food. Keeping the house clean and inviting. What would they do without Mia? And who was going to tell Brian?
It's not dark yet but it's getting there.
Storm walked back into the waiting room to find Taylor all alone. She'd thought herself composed but seeing her childhood protector sitting in that room with his elbows on his knees and his head hanging down in fatigue brought it all back to her. There had been a lot of scrapes that Taylor had gotten her out of, rather then let her admit to her dad she was in over her head. How much of his current dejected state was her fault?
If she'd listened to Matty, to Vince, her mother and pop, to Taylor, would she had done what she'd done? Had she acted out of sorts because of her extreme fatigue? She'd never know because in true Storm fashion she'd disregarded all their advice and done what she wanted anyway. Never look before you leap, just dive in and do what feels right both feet first. She trusted her instincts much more then other people because she lived by them. There were times when her sixth sense was all that kept her from being in front of a hostile bullet. But she'd never allowed herself to get so run down. She couldn't remember the last time she'd truly slept the night through. It had been at least 72 hours since she'd even slept. The deprivation had no doubt thrown her normally finely tuned senses way off.
She must have made a noise because Taylor looked up to see her standing in the doorway with her bottom lip caught between her teeth and her eyes clouded over with her feelings. He just sat in his chair and stared at her, no emotion. She couldn't take it. It felt like he was condemning her for what she'd done even though he couldn't know. It was like he saw what she'd done and hated her for it. Yet he hadn't said a word and that was telling of just how much what she'd done had affected her. No matter their differences Taylor had always been on her side when it counted. He might fight her tooth and nail before hand if he disagreed but if she jumped in anyway she could count on him to be at her side when things got down and dirty, whether he thought it was the right way to go or not. He wouldn't be at her side this time. She'd crossed a line. One by one the tears started to fall as her shoulders started to quake.
"Storm? What is it?"
"Tay." She started to sob as Taylor jumped up. He wrapped his arms around her and just held on. It was almost scaring him to see her so undone. Never before had Storm allowed herself to so thoroughly break down. Her arms came around his waist and he started to walk backwards with her until the backs of his knees hit a chair and he sat, pulling her into his lap.
"Shush 'Ella." Taylor fell back into using his pet name for Storm. He'd never been the sweetie or baby type so he'd just come up with a form of her own name no one else used for when they were private with each other. He hadn't called her that since he'd left her. "Whatever it is, can't be this bad." Taylor just continued to croon nonsense in his deep baritone as Storm cried as though her heart was broken.
"God Tay." She just buried her face in his neck and continued to cry. She was trying to stop, she hated to have anyone see her the way she was carrying on but she couldn't stop.
"What happened Storm? Is it Matty? Is Matty ok?" Taylor started to get agitated when he started to think that Matty might have taken a bad turn. He shook Storm by the shoulders gently when she wouldn't calm down and answer him right away.
"Matty's fine. I…" She hiccupped and sniffed, then continued. "I did something pretty horrible Tay. Even for me."
"What did you do?" His brow furrowed in puzzlement, Taylor had no idea what Storm could have done that would make her so upset. She'd seen and done pretty much everything in her unconventional life.
"I was with Matty, and he woke up so I told him about Stacey, how she was getting her heart transplant. But then it just hit me how unfair it was that Stacey even needs this dangerous surgery and how unfair it is that Matty's in the hospital. I mean what did he do? He tried to protect Stacey and tried to stop Mia from hurting anyone, including herself. But what ends up happening? Matty gets shot, Stacey gets drugged again, almost dies and Mia half ass tries to kill herself."
"Life's not fair 'Ella, you know this as well if not better then anyone."
"Yeah, you're right, I do. But what does a Demaret do when things aren't working out in their favour?"
"Even the playing field."
"Exactly. So I was caught up on how unfair it all was and I decided to even the playing field. I went to the nurse's station when no one was around, got into their drug cupboard, took a needle and a bottle of pentobarbital and went to Mia's room. I was looking at her there, looking so peaceful and ok and it just drove me over the edge. My brother is looking at god knows how long of therapy and scars for the rest of his life. Stacey might never be ok again and Tabitha still hasn't even woken up. And no doubt it was Mia drugging her too. So I took that needle, filled it as full as it would go and gave it all to her."
"What's Pentobarbital?"
"A sedative made of barbiturates. In small doses it's good for helping people sleep or calming them down before surgery. But it's also used by Vets to euthanize animals. The dose I gave her should be fatal. I hope. It seemed like enough to euthanize a small horse. If she doesn't die she likely will slip into a coma she'll never wake up from." Storm closed her eyes and just let her head rest on Taylor's shoulder.
It was always like she was Matty's big sister. It was true her brother was four years older then her, but when it came to who looked out for whom it was Storm who took care of Matty most of the time. But ever since she'd been 8 years old and her dad had gone to jail and she and her brother had met Taylor in their new neighbourhood living with Teddy, Taylor had stepped in to be her big brother. He looked out for her and three quarters of the time she resented the hell out of him for it. She'd tried from the time she was 12 to catch his eye in a more biblical sense. But all that time, even the relatively brief time they'd dated, he'd still tried to be her big brother.
"Storm…" Taylor sighed. What had his impulsive Storm gotten herself into now? Taylor wondered if it was going to be the first scrape she got herself into he couldn't get her out of. "Can they prove it was you?"
"Not likely. Even if they find out what she had, they'd never track it back to any one person. But you know they're gonna blame me anyway."
"Deny. No different then any other situation you've ever found yourself in."
"It's easy to deny it when you don't feel any remorse. But I'm terrified all anyone is gonna have to do is look into my eyes and ask me outright. If I lie they're gonna know."
"'Ella, I'm the only one you can't lie to, remember?"
"Yeah. But I just feel so terrible. She deserves to die, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I wish she'd get better and Brian and her could go be a happy little family while Stacey lived in fear for her life the whole time, but everyone I've ever finished had it comin. Saw it comin, knew why it was comin. She was just lyin there ya know? I never felt like a horrible person before. I mean, I threatened to ice my own aunt in a limo and I only felt rage I didn't have my gun, but here I am upset over doing in the girl who tried to kill my brother. My Matty."
"It wasn't sporting Storm, she never had a chance to fight back."
"Thanks Tay, it's not like I don't feel bad enough." Storm sighed and rubbed her running nose on his tee shirt for revenge. He brushed her hair back off her face and looked down at her. Her eyes were closed, her lashes spiked together from her tears.
His 'Ella. He'd never wanted to see her hurting. All the times he'd ever hurt her it had always been to protect her from a bigger hurt he saw coming her way. But he especially never wanted to see her hurting like she was now.
"I didn't mean it like that. I meant, with you, it's the chase that you love. You like it to be a fair fight. That way when you double tap the guy both of you know that in the contest you were the superior predator. Both of you were predators until you cornered him and then he became your prey. Mia was never a predator in this case, she was always prey and you instinctively know it wasn't a fair kill. That's life 'Ella. They can't all go down clean."
xox
Vince was looking for Brian. No one had been able to find him since he'd signed the release for the hospital to start Stacey's transplant. He'd taken off just after and he wasn't answering his phone. They therefore hadn't been able to tell him about Mia.
Vince didn't want to be the one to tell him but Dom was grief stricken and Vince wasn't even sure if he knew where he was, let alone remembered about Stacey and Brian. Vince had had to get out of the room that Dom and Letty were in. The atmosphere had been so damn depressed that he simply hadn't been able to take it anymore. Besides, Dom and Letty had their own way of comforting each other and they didn't need him around. They'd get each other through. They always did.
Mia might die, she might never wake up, and no one could figure why
The last time Vince had seen Dom so distraught had been when his dad had been killed. But Mia was the only family Dom had left in his entire life. Losing her would leave him all alone in the world in terms of blood relations. No matter what she'd done recently she'd been their den mother and Dom's responsibility for a lot of years.
Vince wandered toward the waiting room on Stacey's floor, hoping that Brian might have gone in there to think and simply fallen asleep too deeply to answer his cell phone.
As he rounded the corner of the hallway into the room he stopped short and backed up to stay unseen. He didn't know what to make of what he was seeing. Storm was curled up in Taylor's lap, head on his shoulder and as Vince watched the dark man leaned over and kissed her forehead. Vince stayed back out of sight. He didn't know what compelled him to eavesdrop on their conversation but something wouldn't let him walk away.
"Tay?"
"Yeah?"
"Back when I was 20?" Storm asked in a small voice. Taylor sighed; he knew where this was going.
"What about it?"
"Did you care about me at all?"
"Storm." He rubbed his head with the hand that wasn't wrapped around her and tipped his head back against the back of his chair. There was no direction this subject could take that wouldn't make him very uncomfortable.
"Did you?" She was still curled up in his lap with her head on his shoulder, her warm breath against the side of his neck. Like so many times in the past. It hurt to know there would have been a hell of a lot more of them if he hadn't been such an ass. That she might still belong there, instead of simply being driven back to him for a moment in time. That she was simply looking for the person who got her out of all her scrapes on the block to dig her out again.
"Yeah kid. I did."
"Did you love me? Matty says you did and it scared you so you had to push me away. He said it wasn't really anything I did or really about Mitzy. Was he just sayin that cause he's my brother or was it true?"
"Do we have to go into this now?" Taylor cleared his throat. The subject matter was making him very uncomfortable. Even more then he'd figured it would.
"I'd really like to know."
"I think I did." Taylor sighed, she needed the truth. "I did." I still might. It went unsaid, and it seemed Storm was ignorant of it hanging there above their heads and Taylor was glad. He'd never made her truly happy. Of course he'd never really tried that hard either. She'd fit so well when he didn't try he'd been purely terrified to see how well she would have fit if he'd made an effort to make it work. But after her every other woman just looked like a shell to him. No one else understood him like she did. No one else got the theory behind their world like she did. No one could see what drove him to be the way he was the way she did. No one else stood up to him like she did. Toe to toe, nose to nose, shout for shout. He couldn't be with someone he intimidated just with a look. She'd given him so much and he'd never really given her back anything. Just small gestures. He had a chance to fix that now.
Vince didn't want to hear anymore. It was clear to him that Taylor still had feelings for Storm. He belonged in her world in ways that Vince knew he never would. Why'd she ask Taylor those questions if she didn't want to get back with the other man? He forced himself to walk quietly away to continue his search for Brian.
xox
"You gonna be ok 'Ella?"
"Yeah." Storm sniffled and burrowed closer to Taylor's warm bulk. She was so tired. Her bones felt weary. Her mouth turned down in a sad frown and a lone tear left over from the storm before tracked down her cheek.
"You did what you did 'El, can't take it back so don't beat yourself up over it too much ok?"
"I'll try not to Tay. I think I'll go sit with Matty some. You comin?"
"No, you go. But you go home tonight Arabella. You got it? Get a real night's sleep. You aren't doin anyone any good here living like the walking dead. Hear me?"
"I hear ya. I'll go home, I swear."
"And someone else drives you. You got no business behind the wheel."
"I hear ya. I'll see you later Taylor."
"Ok."
Storm stood up with a groan for her sore body.
"Storm?"
His question checked her. His voice sounded unsure and she'd never heard it such before. Taylor was like her, he was pretty sure of everything he ever did.
"Wha?"
"Did you?"
"Did I what Tay?"
"Love me?" He looked at his feet, not wanting to see her eyes while she answered. She didn't even hesitate with her answer.
"So much that I thought I was dying after what you did to me." Storm looked away with her admission. She'd always wanted to tell him the truth about it but she'd never been willing to show the weakness. Perhaps it was what she'd done, perhaps it was the fatigue that made her unable to control her tongue, but after all the time that had elapsed she didn't figure it could hurt to tell him now.
"Why don't you hate me then?"
"Even after it all you were always there for me. Plus what you did made me stronger. After that rejection nothing else was ever likely to come close."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You can't take it back, so try not to sweat it too much." Storm gave him a quirky smile after throwing his own words back at him.
"Maybe I wish I could take it back." Taylor looked up at Storm from his seat, his black eyes earnest.
"Don't do this to me Tay. Not now. It's not fair. Not when I finally found someone else who might just make me as happy as you did. Maybe even more. Don't try to take that from me, please."
"I'm sorry, you're right. I'm always here for you Storm. Know that."
"I do." She answered and left the room.
She walked into her brother's room and stood looking down at him for a full minute. It was then that a flash of lightning illuminated the world outside the window of Matty's private room. A few seconds later a cacophonous clap of thunder rumbled around the room. It seemed the weather shared Storm's feelings on the events of the evening. The rain started a few seconds later, slapping the window of the room relentlessly. Storm knew she should take Taylor's advice and go home, get a real night's sleep. It was long past visiting hours anyway.
As another forked branch of lightning illuminated the room in an almost unearthly glow Matty came to in his bed with a startled gasp. He first saw Storm looming over him in the eerie light and fought against calling out. He did let out a startled gasp.
"Shush. It's just me. I came to check on ya before Taylor forced me to go home."
"God you scared the hell outta me. Standin there in the fucken dark with the lightning behind you."
"Sorry. I guess I should go home." Storm sighed. She wasn't going to enjoy telling Matty what she'd done.
"Ok." Matty answered and looked away from her toward the wall. Storm knew very well from how he was acting he didn't want to be alone in the storm. He hated them, was scared of them. She didn't say a word, just crawled in the bed on his good side, pulled his blanket over herself and lay her head on his good shoulder. He wrapped his good arm around his sister with a sigh and allowed her exhausted deep breaths to lull him into the same sleep she'd found so quickly.
Storm and Matty, together against the world, and even bad weather.
xox
Vince searched for Brian in a fog of uncertainty about what he'd seen. Part of him wished he'd gone in and confronted her right away. Another part acknowledged that they'd never made a firm commitment to each other and he had no right anyway. But he'd thought they had something special.
But it was more important to find Brian then worry about it. Brian would never be able to cope if Mia slipped away and he never got to say his good-byes. Vince left the hospital in Mia's car. He'd taken the liberty of using it since his car was still tied up in the body shop getting repaired along with Storm's large black monster of a Cadillac.
He drove home through the pouring rain and blinding thunder to the fort and started searching. He found Brian asleep in Mia's room, holding her pillow. Much as he wanted to just let Brian sleep, hell, much as he wanted to just head down to his own room and pass out himself, he knew they had to get back.
"Brian!" He called from the door of the room. Brian only groaned and shifted in the bed. "Brian, wake up!" Vince yelled and Brian came too with a moan, blinking up at Vince. It took his mind half a second to realize he was home and Vince didn't look happy. Well, looked even less happy then usual.
"What? What's wrong?" Brian sat up quickly, knowing instinctively the news wasn't likely to be good.
"We need to get back to the hospital." Vince paused, wondering how much information to share right away, and how much to let the doctors impart to the blond man later. He wasn't the most tactful individual in the world, nor did he want to be the one Brian turned to for comfort.
"Why? What happened Vince? Is it Stacey?"
"No. Mia."
"God, what happened to Mia? She was sleeping peacefully when I left. They thought she was going to be fine."
"They don't know for sure but they think someone slipped her something Brian. It's not good." Vince agitatedly ran a hand through his hair and huffed out a deep breath. "We need to get back."
"I'll kill her!" Brian yelled as he got out of the bed and started to pull his jeans on over his shorts.
"Kill who?" Vince scratched his face, realizing his beard was getting really scruffy, even for him.
"Storm Demaret. Who else woulda slipped Mia anything?"
"Let's not say things we can't take back Brian." Vince said before he thought about the situation. Before he remembered what had occurred in the waiting room all he could think was that the woman he was fast falling for couldn't do what Brian had accused. Then he remembered the fact that she'd been clearly distraught in Taylor's arms and she hadn't been there with Taylor when he'd been in that room a half hour before. In fact Taylor hadn't been in the waiting room then either.
It hit Vince like a ton of bricks. No matter what Mia had done none of their team would have done anything to harm her. They all would have helped her to get well. But Storm and her associates lived and worked by a different code. There was every chance that Storm had been the one to give Mia something and had then felt bad about it or been worried about getting caught.
"You know it was her same as I do. Her or someone her crooked family paid off to do it. And I'm not gotta let them get away with it. I'll likely end up losing my sister. I won't lose Mia too. Not without getting my vengeance." Brian headed for the door. "Let's go."
Vince followed Brian out of the house but refused to let him drive. Vince started the Acura and backed it out, speeding toward the hospital yet again. They arrived and went to the room where Vince had left Dom and Letty. They were still there, only much more composed then when Vince had left them.
"Have you heard anything?" Brian asked Dom as he stopped just inside the room and stood, looking intensely worried with his brow furrowed and his eyes shaded dark blue with his fear and rage warring there.
"They've kept her alive. They don't know anything else about if she'll live or die." Letty answered, her brown eyes red rimmed from her uncommon tears.
"Where's the witch?" Brian snarled.
"Who?" Dom looked up in puzzlement and his eyes were also red rimmed and puffy from his tears.
"Storm."
"Why?" Dom asked, still not drawing a line between the hard young woman in Stacey's life and the damage done to his sister.
"Who else do you think did this?"
"I don't know but I damn sure will find out." Dom stood up and rage had replaced sadness on his face as well. "Where'd you see her last?" Dom asked Vince, knowing Vince was the closest to an informant he had on Storm. Vince looked torn, like he didn't know what to do, answer Dom or protect Storm from the rage of the two men in front of him. "Damn it Vince! That's my sister. You said you were in love with her from the time she turned 16 until like 6 months ago. This girl who no doubt tried to kill her means more to you then Mia? Then our friendship?"
Dom was right. The option of not taking sides because neither could win wasn't open to Vince this time. He was a member of a team, and that had to come first before a woman who might very well have been playing him all along as she waited for her chance to go back to her mob thug anyway.
"She was in the waiting room closest to Stacey's room." Vince answered. He wasn't happy to do it but he ratted Storm out. Dom was like a brother to him and he couldn't hold back from his brother. Not now.
"Let's go." Dom told Brian and the two of them took off just under a dead run for the waiting room. Vince followed them, torn between hoping Storm got smart and just took off for home before they found her, and wanting her to face the music for what she'd done. And the more he thought on it the more he realized that it really couldn't have been anyone else.
They found Taylor alone in the waiting room, asleep in the chair where Storm had left him. Brian woke him up with a violent shove. Taylor came awake fighting and Brian just missed out on a black eye. "What?" Taylor snarled. He had no love or loyalty for any of these people. He'd be just as glad to see the back of them and get Matty home to New York. Storm too if she'd leave with them.
"Where is she?" Dom asked, voice so deep it was hard to understand.
"Who?" Taylor sat back lazily, a study of indifference. He was starting to go into deny mode. All that was on his mind was saving Storm from their vengeance, no matter what form it took.
"You know who. That bitch you run around with that tried to kill my sister."
"You better watch your step." Taylor said, almost insolently as he watched Dom, fighting to stay relaxed in his seat and not give away any of his uncertainty. "If you mean my boss, Storm, I haven't seen her in a few hours. She was here the last time I saw her."
"Where did she go when she left here?" Brian asked, his anger almost making him shake.
"Home as far as I know, to get some sleep. You better watch who you make those kind of accusations to there." Taylor pointed first at Brian, who didn't really bother him at all, then he pointed at Dom, longer and his eyes were more serious, more hard. His message was clear. "You never know who might hear you. If Benny hears you say his daughter tried to kill someone and didn't succeed, it might be the last thing you ever say. If Storm wanted someone dead they'd be dead. There's no trying in her world."
"Cut the crap. We know it was her." Dom wasn't intimidated. He was too upset to realize that he likely should have been. "Where is she?"
"Home." Taylor raised his voice only slightly, but it was enough to make Dom realize he wasn't getting anything further out of the big man. He made a motion with his hand and his team followed him out into the hall.
"Vince you know where her house is, you take us there." Dom didn't ask, he ordered and Vince knew he had no choice. He just nodded tersely and led them down to the car park. They drove to Storm's house but it was clear there was no one there.
They went back to the hospital and searched but didn't find her anywhere. They did check her brother's room but didn't see her. In the dark all they did was peak in and check the visitor's chairs. It never occurred to them to check in the bed, where she was mostly concealed behind her brother's form.
xox
"I found her." Benny Demaret reassured his estranged wife over the phone as he looked into his son's hospital room. He'd been searching for his daughter for entirely different reasons. He was just worried about her. His two children were curled up around each other on the narrow hospital bed. He had no idea the Toretto's had spend the night looking for Storm, out for her blood.
"Is she ok?" Cara's voice held more worry then any one person had business carrying, but she couldn't escape it when she now knew that due to her daughter's chosen occupation there was no doubt someone after her every day of her life. When she went missing she might never turn up again and her mother couldn't forget that.
"She's asleep with Matty in his bed. It stormed last night."
"So?"
"Matty hates storms. Has since his sister was born." Benny let the statement trail off, as both of them remembered the birth of their daughter. It was also the night that Benny had sent his wife away to live alone, without him or their children. He'd done it for her own safety but she'd never forgiven him for it. It had been a horrible thunderstorm the night Storm was born, hence her name. Matty had never forgotten the fact that the thunder had taken his mom away, since Benny had always told both his children their mom had died having Stormianna.
"Oh."
"Come up here and see them." Benny hung up and a few minutes later his ex-wife joined him in the door.
"They're very close aren't they?" Cara asked as she looked in at her son and daughter.
"Too close I think sometimes. Always have been. Ever since Matty told me point blank the first time I let him hold her that her name was Storm. No way was his sister being called Arabella."
"I wish I knew him. He was such a sweet child."
"He's still sweet. Especially if you listen to Storm. You ask her some day why Matty isn't ever gonna take over for me when I retire."
"What will she tell me?"
"Because he's so pure of heart." Benny answered, looking at his injured son and finally slumbering daughter with mixed emotions. His Storm had bent but hadn't broken under the pressure of the last few days.
"He killed his uncle Teddy. Not once but twice in some ways." Cara looked at Benny, confused. Benny shrugged. He couldn't really explain how Matty had found it in himself to kill his uncle.
"He'd just found out that Teddy had been trying to break his spirit his whole life and Teddy had just killed his two best friends and shot Taylor. It's actually pretty noble that Matty only shot Teddy to avenge his friends. Getting my money back was just an afterthought to the kid."
"And the second time?"
"Protecting his sister. That and finishing what he started. No matter what he's still my son."
"And she's your daughter."
"Yes she is. Despite my attempts to make her something else."
"What possessed you to let her work for you Benny? To take her on like you did?"
"She's that good at what she does. I guess everyone has a calling and hers is to work for me. It's no different to me then if I owned a major company. I'd still make her my president because she's got that cut throat drive."
"She could have gone to business school and gotten a legitimate job then." Cara abolished.
"Just like her brother? Fat lot of good that Bachelors of Sports Management did him. Took him years to find a job and he barely got the one he ended up with. Outside of Brooklyn these kids don't normally have a shot."
"She could have come and lived with me full time. She still could. I don't like her being in danger like this."
"I don't either but she's grown now and we can't tell her what she can't do." Benny moved to shut the room door. "God knows I never could, not even when she was small." He wanted to let Storm sleep as long as she could. God knew she needed the rest and Matty wouldn't wake her. Even if he woke himself he'd just watch his sister sleep. She was about the only thing Matty got fierce over.
Just as Benny had closed the room door fully Dom and Brian stopped in front of him, a reluctant Vince in tow.
"Is she in there?" Dom's mood had not been helped by the fact he'd searched all night for Storm and she'd never turned up.
"Yes my daughter is in this room if that's what you're asking." Benny answered tersely, not appreciating the Italian man's tone at all.
"We need to talk to her." Brian responded, turning on the charm to hide his anger and to cover for Dom's brusqueness.
"She's asleep, getting rest she really needs so you'll have to wait until she wakes up to talk to her. Sorry boys." Benny stood his ground in front of the room door.
"This is too important to wait." Brian lit on the only good news he'd had in forever and decided to use it to his advantage. "It's about my sister. Her operation was a success and Storm really should be told. I know she'll want to visit with Stacey."
Benny did some mental math and realized his daughter had likely been asleep since Taylor had sent her to visit Matty at around 9pm the night before. She'd been asleep all night and part of the day in other words. There really wasn't any reason why they couldn't wake her up. She'd likely be pissed they'd let her sleep so long anyway and she would want to know about Stacey. He moved out of the way and the three men pushed into the room. They realized why they couldn't find Storm the night before as soon as they saw where she was. She'd been concealed behind her brother in the dark.
Storm came to, disorientated about where she was. She couldn't figure why she was in Matty's hospital bed asleep with her brother. It had been a long time since one or the other of them had crawled into the other's bed for comfort but Storm had to admit she'd slept better there with Matty then she could remember in the last very long time. She yawned and stretched. As she opened her eyes after stretching she became aware of the fact she was not alone with Matty. Dom, Vince and Brian were standing in a row beside the bed, blocking her path to the exit and looking very angry. She knew what was coming just from the looks on their faces.
She put a finger to her lips and glanced at her slumbering brother, indicating they should be quiet and not wake Matty. She gestured to the door as she stood up and waited for them to leave a head of her. After tucking Matty back in Storm followed them out the door and they surrounded her, herding her to the abandoned waiting room down the hall.
"What's up boys? Is everything a'ight? Stacey make it through her surgery ok?"
"Yeah she did. But everything isn't ok." Brian turned very serious.
"Well, what's up?" Of course Storm already knew just what they were leading up to but she knew it was important she feign ignorance. They couldn't know she was already aware of why they'd come looking for her.
"Why'd you do it?" Dom snarled.
"You're gonna have to be a bit more specific here pal, I've been doing a lot of stuff in the last few years that would make people angry. I did lots of it for different reasons so you might wanna tell me just what you're getting at here."
"Why'd you try to kill my sister?" Dom roared.
"Lower your voice dude. I have no idea what you're on about." Storm stood with a hand on her hip and gave Dom and Brian what she hoped was a confident look full of her confusion as to how they came to think she'd done anything to Mia.
"You gave my sister some sort of drugs and now she's in a coma."
So Mia hadn't died. Storm didn't know to be happy or angry about that. On one hand she'd started second guessing her actions pretty much the minute after she'd done what she'd done. But on the other hand she still pretty much figured Mia had to die. "I didn't give her anything. I haven't seen her but for a split second when I found Brian in her room."
"And you were sure mad about it, weren't you? Who else would try to kill Mia but you or your crew? And we all know who runs your crew. You! So anything they did you may as well have done yourself."
"In case you missed the short Italian guy runnin around in a member's only jacket and Dockers, my dad's in town. I pretty much bow out to his authority when he's around in person. I got no idea what you're talking about." Storm looked away. Inside she was slightly panicked they were this on to her. She'd thought they'd back down right away in the face of her denial. It hurt that Vince was on their side, believing them without even talking to her first too.
"Let's see if the police feel the same way when I call them." Brian said as he took out his cell phone and turned it on.
"Really. You gonna call the cops and tell them what? What proof you got I did anything?"
"I know you have motive. I know you've dealt drugs so I bet you have the know how. No one knows where you were when it happened and they found a vial of the drug used and a needle in a bathroom on this floor with a broken mirror. How'd you get those cuts on your hand Storm?" Brian looked smug.
"Oh, I broke the mirror. But I didn't drug Mia." Storm kept repeating Taylor's words in her head. Deny. Deny. Deny. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into if you call cops into this. They're not gonna touch me unless they have the most airtight case that ever went down in history. They couldn't handle the bad press and embarrassment when I got off on a technicality because they didn't have enough evidence. Think about who I am. If I wanted her dead she'd be dead, of a bullet in the head."
"Well, you're the only one with motive, opportunity, skills, and we can put you in the area at the right time with the broken mirror in the same bathroom as the needle." Brian started to raise his voice. "And you'd be surprised what a little pull gets done in this town." Brian smirked.
Just then two uniformed officers came into the room. They'd heard everything because Brian had called them a while ago. He'd wanted to see if he could get her to confess, gloat about what she'd done thinking no one would ever prove it. She'd been too smart for that, but the evidence they had was enough to hold her pending a more thorough investigation.
"You're gonna regret this Brian. I kid you not. I didn't do a thing and when mine and my father's lawyers get through with you for false reports and LAPD for wrongful arrest I'm gonna own your whole life." Storm managed a laugh.
"Sorry miss but you're gonna have to come with us." One of the uniforms moved to cuff Storm. She froze him with a glacier glance from her frozen green eyes, warning him he better slow his roll until the conversation was over. The cop froze in place. He was fairly aware of who he was dealing with and he had to admit he was a bit in awe of the girl. If she'd really done all the things they attributed to her she was pretty dangerous. Armed or not.
"Then who did it? Huh, tell me that." Dom growled. What Storm said made sense but he didn't care. His heart told him that Storm had to be the one who hurt Mia. Storm growled with her teeth bared at Dom. She was to the point of telling them all she had done it they had her so mad.
"I did." A deep voice retorted from the door. "She had it coming for what she did to Matty. He's my best friend and that stupid bitch shot him over trying to save your sister." Taylor pointed at Brian menacingly. "I decided to put her and all the rest of the world out of misery."
"You bastard!" Brian yelled and rushed Taylor, who swatted him away like an annoying insect. Storm went running up to Taylor, looking up into his face.
"Taylor, don't do this."
"I have to 'Ella. I've been to prison before, 'member? It'll break you. Better it's me." Taylor's dark gaze would have been unreadable to anyone but Storm, who could see why he was doing what he was.
"You can't do this Tay. I won't allow it." They were talking in low tones so the rest of the room didn't hear them. Taylor had a very stoic look on his face, he was resigned to his fate. "If you hadn't opened your big mouth they wouldn't have had enough evidence to charge anyone anyway."
"I can't let them take you in Storm, even if it would only be for a few days. Jail isn't the same for us as it was back in the stories your uncle told. You wouldn't be able to buy your way into a country club vacation girl. You can always tell which ones in jail are the proudest and those are the ones that the guards and even the other prisoners get the most joy outta tryin to break. I'm big and scary enough not to end up as anyone's bitch." Taylor gave Storm a reassuring smile.
"They wouldn't have been able to hold me long. They have no evidence but you just confessed."
"God knows I didn't do right by you 4 years ago Storm but I sure as fuck am now. I will not let you go down for this. It's my job to keep you outta trouble. Not to mention my duty to your brother as his best friend and my duty to you. You're the boss 'Ella and maybe it's just time I acted like it for once."
"I didn't do anything and neither did you. Take it back." Storm stamped her foot in frustration at not getting her way.
"Can't." Taylor cupped her shoulders in his hands and slowly forced her to the side, out of the front of him. "Take care of Matty Storm. We need you out to deal with all this stuff more then you need me around."
"Pop will get you out Taylor. A few days at most is all you'll spend there. Don't confess to anything else again. Say you didn't do it and have no idea who could have. Don't do anything stupid in the name of making up some stupid dept to me you think you have because you broke up with me."
Taylor only nodded and allowed the cops to cuff him and lead him out of the hospital.
"We know it was you, not him that did this." Brian stared at Storm. "I'll find a way to prove it. You're not getting away with this and you're not letting someone else take the fall for you either. You will face the music for this one."
"Fuck you cop boy. You don't know shit. Your fucken priorities are so messed up that I can't fucken fathom it. You got a sister who just had major surgery, you got a fiancé who is apparently in a coma who tried to kill your sister and my brother, but what are you worried about? Making up wild ass stories about people trying to kill your woman and who gets blamed for it. Did it look like I was trying to let him do anything to you, you stupid fuck?"
"Mia's the only family I got left. You think I should just stand back and let you kill her because someone brainwashed her and made act out of character?" Dom growled, not happy that Storm didn't have to face her own justice for what she'd done either.
"What I think is there's all kinds of family and my…my…" Storm didn't even know what word to use to describe Taylor's place in her life, "my Taylor is in jail for something he didn't do right now."
"So you admit it was you who did it?" Dom asked, incredulous.
"No, I'm saying it sure wasn't Tay is all."
"He only said it was him to protect you. We all know it. I don't know why you keep on denying it. Why else would he have confessed to it? He confessed to it because he knew you were going to jail for it if he didn't."
"You're right about why he confessed, but he didn't do it because I'm guilty, he did it because he knew they'd take me in and hold me on the circumstantial evidence and he didn't want to put me through that, not even for those few days. He's loyal to me because we're family. A concept I see that most of ya'll don't fully comprehend."
Benny came into the room just then. "Storm, what's this I hear about Taylor going to Jail?"
"Let's go Pop, I'll tell you all about it in the car on the way down to get him out."
"Storm, can I talk to you for a minute before you take off?" Vince asked and his voice wasn't as pleasant as she was use to. She'd figured he'd believe her innocence even if the rest didn't.
"Sure V, what's on your mind?"
Vince gave the rest of his team a look and they all left the room, leaving the two of them alone. "If you wanted to go back to Taylor couldn't you have told me about it?"
"Back with Taylor? What are you on about? I don't want to go back with Taylor." Storm's brow wrinkled in confusion. She didn't know where Vince had gotten his idea.
"I heard you asking him if he loved you and stuff Storm. I know you want him back. And he wants you back too. I'm not blind or stupid, no matter what you'll hear from my team."
"I don't think your stupid Vince. Well, I didn't until you came out with this. I was upset about M…" Storm caught herself about to say Mia. Her voice gave a barely perceivable hang as she continued "Matty and Taylor just comforted me. It was something that had been on my mind for a long time now and the fact that I hadn't slept in over 72 hours wasn't making me the most coherent person in the world."
Vince didn't look totally convinced. "It was looking awful cozy."
"That's just me'n Taylor. If you'd hung around long enough you would have heard me forgive him for how he broke up with me and him tell me he wished he could take it back. Then you would have heard me tell him that it wasn't fair of him to try and mess up what I had with you because I was happy with you."
"You really said all that?"
"Yeah. I really did." Storm looked away from Vince's eyes. She didn't want to acknowledge how much his lack of trust in her hurt. Vince tipped her head back up so they were gaze to gaze again.
"Not that I'm not glad to hear that Storm but," Vince sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know you say it wasn't you and I know Taylor says it was him, but I know it was you and I don't know how I feel about that. I know what she did to Stacey is pretty shitty and I know how protective you are of your brother, but no matter what she did at the time, Mia's family to me. I don't know how ok I am with what you did. So for now, there is no us. I need time to think."
"Fine, if you have so little faith then do what you want." Storm walked away. She hated the fact she was fighting tears again. Men were too much trouble even for the fun they provided. She decided she was done with the male sex as she found her father waiting on her in the hall.
"Everything ok?"
"Fine. Let's go rescue Taylor."
They headed down to do just that but it turned out it wasn't going to be as easy as Storm had figured. It was going to take some doing to get Taylor out so for the time being he was just going to have to stay put.
Benny started working on it right away but it was going to take some time.
Storm got him to take her home and headed in to shower and change her clothes. By the time she'd cleaned up and changed it was 9pm and she was spoiling for trouble. She knew she should go back to the hospital and sit with Matty for awhile but she just couldn't face them all yet. Especially Vince, who she saw as having rejected her with his earlier decision. She called up her friend Lindsey from the club. The two made plans to head out and Storm was going by to pick her up right away. She knew she was dressed like a hoe. She'd done it on purpose. Her knee high boots and short black skirt weren't so bad but her black tube top and black leather trench coat pretty much sealed the deal.
The two girls partied hard all night long, drinking everything they could get their hands on and getting into a few fights with girls that were mad and jealous about how the two blonds were dancing with their men.
Before she knew it the night was over and Storm found herself alone in the car after dropping Lindsey off at her house. She'd refused the other girl's offer of a place to crash for the night. She wanted nothing more then her own bed and the privacy of her own room so she could lick her wounds privately.
Lost in her own thoughts Storm didn't realize she'd turned up a one way street the wrong way. Didn't notice until the lights of the oncoming transfer truck blinded her and the wail of his air horn startled her into awareness. She cut the wheel hard to the left but it wasn't going to be enough to avoid the crash. As Matty's car crumpled around her, Storm's last conscious thought before slipping into unconsciousness to the tune of 'Not Dark Yet' by Bob Dylan which was still gamely playing from her CD, was that she sure had bad luck when she drove Cadillacs.
Shadows are fallin' and I've been here all day
It's too hot to sleep and time is runnin' away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I've still got the scars that the sun didn't heal
There's not even room enough to be anywhere
It's not dark yet but it's gettin' there.