AN: I had a really long bitchy author's note written for this but I took it off because you know what? It doesn't matter. I have some friends that I made because of this site and I miss the days when all I met was friends. Now it feels like half the people on here are duplicitous, only here to stir shit and it's only gonna get worse when three fast comes out. Anyway, personal issues kept me off the net. There is more info about the whole scenario in my bio, so anyone who cares to know more can go to www dot fanfiction dot net/tempestraces. Fix the dots to . and put it in the address bar. I won't force the rest of you to sit through my rant if you don't give a fuck. I personally don't give much of one myself anymore. Due to some wannabe fanfiction police officers you will also have to go to my profile to find Velocity shift (The story of Storm and Taylor among other things) because I have to pull it down out of this section. Some people clearly have too much time on their hands and many of them seem to take pleasure out of stalking me and no doubt others around the net.
Puzzling Pieces
By -TempestRaces
Ch.48 – Be The Girl
cuz i'm not here to be around
and be that girl that you forget about
cuz all i want is just to be a song
that you can feel longer than just right now
so come on baby let me be the girl
that you can count on to rock your world
and then you'll see there's so much more than curves
and then you'll see that you and me belong -Aslyn
If she had a bone or body part that didn't hurt she couldn't name which one it would be. It was all she could think about in the darkness her world seemed to consist of at that moment in time. Even her hair seemed to be in excruciating pain, her fingernails crying out for a Tylenol. Every nerve ending was highly sensitized to her surroundings. She could feel the incredibly smooth softness of the well washed cotton sheets on her lower legs and arms. There was something to be said for hospital sheets. They got washed so often that they took on an almost silk texture and moulded themselves right around you like a lover's caress. Too bad you had to be in the hospital to get them and they couldn't hide the antiseptic smell that screamed hospital in the very oxygen you had to breathe to live. She could feel the slightly scratchy feeling almost like cheesecloth of the hospital gown on her body. Well, not on her whole body. She could feel down her back and behind where the gown left off and her skin was still in contact with the gloriously silky sheets. It made her want to wiggle out of the paper-like gown and just wrap herself in the clean white cotton.
But that awful smell just wouldn't go away; it still shouted hospital. It must have been that every hospital on earth used the same cleaning products and antiseptics. She'd spent enough time in hospitals to be well versed in the smell. Her brother had played enough team sports as a child to end up with a few concussions and broken bones. Not to mention Taylor and all his scrapes. And a few of her own more embarrassing incidents had ended her up on their wonderful sheets before as well. Yep, there was no way she could hide where she was from herself. Not even semiunconscious. She'd always been very smell oriented, a mere whiff of some familiar smell enough to take her to another place in her mind. Unfortunately this was no different.
She wondered what drug they had her on that would account for how sensitive her sense of touch and smell were when she couldn't hear or see a thing. As her brother had often called her his little werewolf because of her already overly sensitive nose when her sense of smell was enhanced anything bad smelling was almost unbearable. Such was how she felt about the overly clean smell of her hospital room. She forced herself to think back, back to what ever had ended her up trapped in a hospital once again. She remembered being in the car listening to Bob Dylan after her crash and then everything went black. Black and very painful. She'd wrecked the car; the evening came crashing back on her in snippets of intense colour and sound, like flashes of someone else's life. Loud pounding bass accompanied by flashing lights, drink after colourful drink, a parade of different guys dancing with her, allowing them liberties she never would have had she not been out of her mind, even before the liquor had ever started to flow. She forced herself to move away from her memories. Memories were never going to get her mobile. She continued her inventory of her body.
She could feel where an IV was under her skin and where the clear tape holding it in place was adhered to her flesh. The tape was always clear. She didn't have to see it to know it was. She could even feel the sticky, tacky iodine they had swabbed her skin with before putting the IV in, knew that she'd have a little brown ring of the antiseptic on her hand all around where they'd inserted her IV. It was all very itchy and she managed to wrinkle her nose but not to move her other hand to scratch it. Her throat was on fire from her mouth all the way to what felt like her stomach. She could feel her hair down around her shoulders and head, which made her aware some of her hair was caught in stitches on her scalp. She hoped she didn't have a huge bald spot. But as far as opening her eyes and finding out just where she was, not a chance.
And oh boy did she want to open her eyes. She wanted to get away from her recollections of one hell of a weird dream. As a person who didn't remember her dreams, ever, that dream had been both eye opening (not literally of course) and slightly unsettling. All the black holes where vital organs should have been had been disturbing. She wanted to find out just how badly messed up she was. She had sensation in her whole body, but she also had pain in her whole body too. She was half hoping the drugs she was no doubt pumped full of accounted for her dream.
Then again there was a lot to be said for remaining unconscious. Remembering the car wrecked around her brought to mind how the car came to be wrecked. She'd behaved like such a stupid child. If the cops weren't waiting to bring her up on impaired charges she would still bet her dad and or brother were waiting to rip her a new one. Not that she didn't deserve it, but with her head and the rest of her body hurting like it did, she'd still like to delay things as long as possible.
Maybe the fact they were all getting their wish would make them a bit more mellow. After all she was now on forced bed rest and judging by how she felt is was gonna be more then the one night they'd tried to make her promise. She wondered how Matty was doing, Stacey too, and realized that if she was tied to IV's and hurt then she wouldn't be able to visit them. She had to get conscious and figure out how bad things were.
She fought with her brain again, willing her eyes to open. Both her will and her brain were determined to come out on top of the debate, but as was really no shock, her will won in the end. Her eyes blinked open.
And then quickly squinted back shut. The light, even dimmed for night time as it was, was blinding to her. How long had she been out? With a deep breath she forced her eyes open again, narrowly. She noted she wasn't on any monitors which could only be a good thing. She looked down farther and saw the top of a dark head of hair against her white blankets. She looked a bit closer and saw a dear face.
Matty.
What was he doing out of his bed? A stern lecture about taking proper care of himself came to her lips. It died there. How could she lecture Matty about taking care of himself after what she'd done to herself? And to his poor car! She'd forgotten about the fact she'd been driving his car when she'd crashed. She'd really messed up this time. It was one thing to play Russian roulette with her own life and property but quite another to do something that could hurt innocents and wrecked other people's stuff.
With a great deal of effort she raised her hand and brushed his hair back out of his face, passing her hand over his head softly. Her brother had clearly fallen asleep watching over her. It was no less then she'd done for him, but when it was Matty it was different. He was hurt himself, hurt worse then her. He should be in his bed safe and comfortable, not sleeping in a chair hunched over onto the edge of her bed with his hand under his face like a little boy. After all, he'd been injured trying to protect someone innocent. She'd been injured doing something incredibly stupid. She was just lucky that to the best of her recollection she hadn't killed or hurt anyone but herself.
She brushed Matty's hair again and watched as his eyes came open with a blink as he let loose a sleepy groan.
"Storm, you're awake." Matty said incredulously, as though he had figured his sister was never waking up. He'd been having the worst dream. His sister had been fine one second and the next she'd been setting off alarms and they'd kicked him out of her room while they worked on her. He was just glad to see she was really ok, that she hadn't really flat lined. Matty could only surmise it had come from his subconscious thinking about Stacey O'Connor and her complicated surgery.
"Yeah." She croaked back. Was that her voice? Damn she sounded like a smoker with a ten pack a day habit. Her throat hurt so bad every word was a new agony.
"How do you feel?" Matty asked as he sat up and tidied Storm's hair.
"Horrible." Matty leaned closer to hear Storm speak in her low raspy voice. "I'm sorry I wrecked your car."
"Storm, how can you be worried about the car now?" Matty asked as he started to get mad. "You coulda died and you're worried about the car. You are in the hospital with head injuries, broken ribs, and you almost had alcohol poisoning. Do you know how close you came to being killed?" Like he knew he was upsetting her he changed his tone. "Are you in pain?"
"I know it was stupid Matty but it was your car. I took it without asking and then crashed it. I'm sorry. And yeah, I'm in pain everywhere. But no less then I deserve. I was so stupid."
"Don't say that. Yeah it was stupid, but you were under a lot of stress. I'll get a nurse to give you something." Matty moved to get up.
"Matty stay. I'm on enough already. If you knew what it felt like to be in my skin right now you'd know I don't need any more drugs. Everything is so intense right now. Everything feels so surreal." Storm was still croaking out her words. "Why does my throat hurt so much?" Storm couldn't figure why her throat would get sore when she'd had a car wreck.
"They had to pump your stomach when they brought you in. You had a blood alcohol level of .38. In someone your size they said that level could have killed you. They couldn't give you more drugs to fix your injuries with that much alcohol in your blood." Matty poured a glass of water out of the carafe on the table beside his sister's bed and helped her to drink it.
"I didn't know I'd had that much." Storm looked sheepishly at her brother as she licked the last few drops of water off her lips.
"Well, when you're that fucked up it's hard to know just how fucked up you're getting. What were you thinking driving like that?"
"I normally know my limit and when I drink Vodka it's pretty much not a limit. But I was drinking Tequila and everything else that Lindsey got for me not to mention all the drinks guys bought us. It was my turn to be stupid I guess. But damn, your poor car." Storm couldn't get over wrecking a car she'd taken without asking. "No one but me got hurt right?"
"The trucker was a bit shook up when he saw you with blood pouring out of your head and you wouldn't wake up but he wasn't hurt. His truck only got a few scratches. He wouldn't even let dad pay for it he was so happy you were gonna be ok."
"Wow, that guy should wake up to an extra story on his house tomorrow for that. I was worried that the cops'd be after me for DUI along with everything else. God I'm sorry Matty. I didn't ever wanna put you through this. I mean, should you even be outta bed?"
"They're not happy I'm up but they're dealing. I didn't want you to wake up in here alone." Matty's eyes, a much darker green then Storm's, clouded over when he though about how he'd felt thinking his sister might wake up alone in a strange place and not know where she was or what had happened. No requests or orders for him to go back to his bed had mattered with that thought in his mind.
"How's dad?"
"Worried. Upset and worried for you and pissed at me. I kinda said something stupid to him when they told me about your wreck."
"What did you say?" Storm looked very concerned when Matty looked really upset.
"I accused him of doing it to you because he wanted you out. I accused him of messing with your car. I just couldn't believe you'd do something like this. I assumed it was the Toretto guys and then when Pops assured me it wasn't them I figured it had to have been him. But I guess it was really just an accident."
"Yeah, just my own stupidity. Matty, I know pops doesn't act like it but he loves us both. He's not gonna do away with either of us, no matter what we do."
"I know but I was so messed up. They wouldn't tell me anything and they weren't gonna let me come visit. I sorta flipped out. You know Taylor hasn't stopped pacing since they brought you in right?"
"Really? Taylor's worried about me?"
"Yeah. What'd you think he'd be?"
"Pissed mostly. That and calling me names like stupid." The longer they talked the better Storm's voice got. "How long was I out?"
"24 hours. Stacey's awake. She's been asking for you. Since Brian still doesn't know who tried to drug her he asked Taylor to keep an eye on her. Stacey kicked Brian out of her room once already. She won't see him. Taylor's staying with her, he says cause he knows you'd want him too. It's kinda cute how they go on together."
"How'd Taylor get his ass outta jail? Dad work it out?"
"Taylor knew one of the cops. Dirty cops make the world go 'round Storm. Shouldn't I get your doctor?" Matty moved to get up again.
"No. I'm fine." Storm looked up and it was one of the first times Matty had ever seen her scared. "Is daddy mad?" She hated how much like a little girl who got caught with her hand in the cookie jar before dinner she sounded.
"I don't think he's mad. More like he's very disappointed." Matty touched his sister's bruised cheek as he watched her fight tears. "He's glad you're gonna be ok. But this was so outta character for you Storm. It sorta threw everyone for a loop. Me, Taylor, Pops, Mom. You don't do stuff like this. You're too controlled, too self contained to pull this stuff. Ever since…" Matty slowly stopped talking. He wasn't sure if he should go into it, into what had turned his sister from a volatile spitting vertigo into the icy queen of calm. Seeing the bruise on her pale cheek had brought it all flooding back to him. The time he was recalling hadn't been a good one in either of their lives.
"I know." Storm waved a hand, ending her brother's conversational drift. She didn't want to go there either. "I don't know why I did it."
"I do."
Storm looked at Matty incredulously. "How could you know why I did it when I don't?"
"Because I know you better then you know yourself a lot of the time baby girl."
"Then why did I do it?"
"Because you really liked that Vince guy and how he treated you really messed you up. I saw you with Taylor, remember? The only other time you lost it so bad was after the two of you broke up. You never really liked Carter so the thing with him didn't bother you that much. But after you and a guy you really like break up you go just a touch insane. I just call it the storm front."
"I did like him but I can't be with a guy who doesn't believe me at all."
"I tried to tell him that you wouldn't have done what he says you did but he didn't listen." Matty got indignant on behalf of his sister even as she looked ashamed of herself.
"About that Matty." Storm looked away from her brother and took a deep breath. This was the moment she'd been fighting to avoid.
"God Stormianna, don't tell me you did what he said you did."
When Matty actually looked mad at her Storm lost it and started to cry. Here she was, in the hospital hurt, father disappointed in her, mother worried, not with Vince anymore, not with Taylor anymore, wrecked two cars in less then two weeks and now her brother, the one person who was never upset with her, who supported her no matter what was mad at her. "It was just that it was so unfair you were hurt and Stacey was hurt and that bitch was gonna be fine. She drugged Stacey and Tabitha and tried to kill you and Stacey and I was just so tired of it all."
"And just plain tired." Matty looked at his sister as she looked at him in shock. "Yeah, they told me the night you crashed with me was the first time you'd slept in days."
"And all I could think was I wanted that one night before I had to tell you what I'd done. Then the Toretto's figured it out faster then I thought they would. And they accused me of it in public; Brian had cops there to arrest me while they investigated. Then Taylor sacrificed himself so I wouldn't have to go but then Vince broke up with me. I'd been totally denying it was me who drugged Mia up 'til that point but he wouldn't believe me. He said he knew it was me."
"It was you though."
"I know, but I said it wasn't and he just plain didn't believe me. He left me over it without any proof at all. I just can't win Matty. You are the only man in my life from now on. The rest of them are too much trouble." Storm sighed and lay her head back on her pillow and closed her eyes.
"Don't say that sis. That Vince guy's been all red eyed since they brought you in. Taylor beat him up pretty good and he still just sits in the waiting room down the hall like the living dead."
"Taylor beat him up?"
"Yeah. Taylor won physically but from what he's told me Vince got in a few good mental blows. But sis, don't write him off yet. He seems to really care about you."
"Whatever. I'm so tired Matty."
"Go back to sleep then baby sis. It'll all keep 'til you feel better anyway."
"Matty?" Storm whispered, sounding like a little girl again.
"Yeah?" Matty traced random patterns on the back of Storm's hand with his finger tip.
"Don't leave me alone yet?"
"I'm not goin anywhere sis. I'll be right here when you wake up. Shove over." Matty helped Storm move over to one side of her bed and stretched out beside her, knowing she needed him close, just like he needed her when he was scared. They'd gotten each other through a lot of scary times in their past. They shared a bond much like twin siblings were purported to just because they'd been all alone to raise each other so much of the time with their father in jail and then just generally distant with them.
When Matty was sure Storm was deeply asleep he got up. He made a promise to Storm he'd be there when she woke and he planned to keep it. But in the mean time everyone worried about her needed to know she'd woken and had been coherent and had seemed fine but shaken and sore.
Matty limped out of the room and found his father sitting with his mother in the waiting room that for once Vince was not sitting it.
"Matty! You shouldn't be up." Benny chastised as he watched his son limp into the room.
"Storm woke up."
"Is she ok?" Cara jumped up and rushed over to Matty. She hardly knew her own son and the fact saddened her but the daughter she knew very well was her primary concern at the time.
"She's really sore but otherwise ok. She and I talked a bit then she fell back to sleep."
"Oh thank god." Cara sat back down and tipped her head back, weary but grateful Storm was ok.
"Did she seem ok for real Matty?" Benny asked lowly so that Cara would not hear. He was worried that Matty was sugar coating the news to save his much weaker mother the distress.
"Yeah. Sore from where they pumped her stomach and from where the seatbelt rebroke her ribs, among other things. She was real upset about wrecking the car and about disappointing you."
"That girl is gonna get her ass kicked all the way home when she's feeling better. I can't believe she did something so stupid."
"She's beating herself up pretty good pop. I don't think you need to add to it right now."
It was one of the few times that Benny saw the steel in his son's backbone. Mostly Matty was the easy going one, the one who just followed the group. But when he felt strongly about something, or as in this case, someone, he could show his convictions. And it was clear he was not going to have anyone upsetting his sister, even if that someone was the girl's own father. Benny threw up his hands.
"Fine have it your way."
"I'm gonna go tell the kids she's ok."
"I'll come with you." Cara Miles stood up. She walked slowly beside her limping son as they made their way to the room that Stacey and Tabitha still shared. "How's that Toretto girl doing?"
"I'm not sure." Matty answered. "I can't really care that much about her after what she did."
"Of course not. I just thought you might have heard something."
"Nope." They pushed into the girl's room and looked at the scene.
Taylor was snoring softly in a chair in the corner of the room. Some guard he was, Matty thought with a smile. His friend was just tired out from his worry about Storm and Matty knew it. Stacey was also drowsing, her chest rising and falling rhythmically. They had Stacey on a lot of drugs to keep her calm and let her abused body have a chance to heal. Tabitha however was awake and reading a magazine with headphones on. For Matty seeing Tabitha was always like getting thrown back in time to seeing his sister about 8 years younger then she currently was.
Tabitha heard them and looked up in surprise. She knew it was time for lights out but with the resilience of youth she was feeling much better and wasn't sleepy. She felt like she'd been doing nothing but sleep for months. "Hey mom. Hey Matty." She looked chagrined at being caught up reading. She'd never gotten use enough to Matty to really think of him as her brother, even though to her knowledge he was her half brother, same as Storm was her half sister.
"How you feeling?" Matty asked as he watched his mother pull up the extra chair beside his sister.
"Good. I wanna go home. I want Storm!" Tabitha whined, sick of the hospital and worried about her big sister. Stacey picked that moment to hear them talking and woke up.
She blinked a few times and then looked around .She was already feeling much better then she had been even before Mia drugged her the second time. She took in Taylor's sleeping form and giggled. "Some guard he is."
"He's had a hard week." Matty stood up for his sleeping friend with a chuckle. Stacey looked serious with her thoughts.
"Haven't we all." She stated with a tone that was old beyond her years. Matty hated the fact that such a young person was becoming jaded so early in her life. "Did you hear anything about Storm?"
"Yeah, that's what we came here to tell you guys. She woke up for a while. She was fine but the drugs they have her on made her sleepy so she's gone back to sleep now. But she's gonna be ok."
"When can I see her?" Tabitha and Stacey asked in unison.
"Soon as she can come in here to visit for you." Matty said, pointing at Stacey. He just wanted to be honest because he knew Stacey wasn't allowed out of her bed. "But I imagine if she's awake tomorrow morning during visiting hours they'll let you go see her." He told Tabitha.
"It's not fair. I want to see her too. I have to talk to her." Stacey said, big blue eyes filling with tears as she thought she wasn't going to get her way. She pouted.
"We'll see what they say tomorrow ok?" Matty asked, caving as much as he had the ability to under the onslaught of Stacey's tears. Matty had his doubts that her brother would allow her to see Storm even if the hospital was willing to allow it.
"Ok." Stacey lay back after she got her way.
"I'm gonna wake Taylor up and take him with me for awhile. I'm gonna send Tony in here to sleep in the chair for awhile. That cool with you ladies?" They all nodded. Just as Matty went to shake Taylor awake the big man opened his eyes and yawned.
"Matty! What are you doin up?"
"Storm woke up. I just wanted to tell pop and the girls."
"She awake now?" Taylor stood up, ominous glint in his eyes.
"No, she's back to sleep now. Let's go talk in the hall." Matty shuffled to the door and waited for Taylor in the hall as he sent Tony in to keep an eye on the girls. It was mostly for show now. They all knew it was Mia who'd been doing the drugging and they felt reasonably sure with Mia in a coma everyone was safe.
"What is it Matty?" Taylor asked, itching to get to Storm's room now that he knew she'd regained consciousness.
"You can't go in at Stormianna. She's down on herself enough about everything and the last thing she needs is someone yelling at her over any of it. Got it?" Matty was back to demanding boss mode. Taylor had always respected Matty's requests when he took that attitude. Matty insisted on so few things that when he cared enough to do so most people listened.
"She was that upset huh?" Taylor rubbed his mostly bald head agitatedly as he sighed.
"Yeah."
"Why don't you go back to bed and I'll go sit with her for awhile?" Taylor asked, wanting to see Storm just to assure himself she was ok. There was a time that when Storm was hurting she would have run to him, not gone out and done something stupid like she had.
"You promise not to yell at her?"
"I promise."
"It's just that I promised her I'd be there when she woke up." Matty hedged. Taylor could see that Storm had been scared, just from how Matty was acting.
"I'll stay with her until she wakes up or you come back ok? You need rest too or the two of you are never getting out of here."
"Ok, ok, I'm goin." Matty caved in and headed to his own room. Taylor walked up to the door of Storm's room and peaked in. She was all alone and still asleep. He walked in and just looked down at her. Her face was lightly cut and bruised, nothing too noticeable. He hated it when she got herself hurt.
He thought back on all the times she'd been hurt where it had been up to him to take care of her. She'd done a lot of stuff he considered stupid in her day but this about took the cake. She was lucky the trucker she'd hit had been so grateful she wasn't dieing that he hadn't pressed charges. If he had the cops wouldn't have been so easy for Benny to placate.
All Taylor wanted was Matty, himself and Storm on a plane back to NYC. He'd had enough. Enough of fighting idiots, enough of ex-bosses back from the grave, enough of Matty getting hurt, enough of Storm getting hurt, and enough of kidnapped kids. And most especially he'd had enough of seeing another man with his hands on his Storm. Enough was enough.
The sooner they all went home and life went back to normal the better off they'd all be. Storm could go back to working for her dad, taking the occasional trip to Miami to visit her mom and sister. Hell, he'd go back to going with her every once in awhile. Her mom was actually pretty cool. He'd go back to taking Storm upstate with him to visit his mom, who never stopped nagging him to 'bring that nice Demaret girl with you next time you visit.' His mom had always loved Storm, even though she knew who Storm was and where she came from. It had been surprising for his mom to endorse Storm since she hated the life Taylor had chosen and Storm was pretty much the life embodied.
And the sooner they all got home the sooner Storm could forget about this Vince punk and move on with her life. And when she saw just how nice and changed he, Taylor, could be, well she'd have no choice but take him back. So it was settled. Just as soon as they could all leave the hospital they were all going home.
He pulled Matty's chair closer to the bed and sat down. He figured he'd just wait on her to wake up again so he could tell her all about his plan to take her home with her brother. He sat back in the chair and leaned his head on the back. The next thing he knew he was waking up to Storm giggling in the bright morning sun. He squinted at her in puzzlement. He had a hard time remembering the last time he'd heard Storm giggle. It had certainly been in much more private and personal circumstances then they were currently in.
"Taylor you snore more then you use to."
He sat up and tried to twist the kinks out of his neck. "It's sleeping in these god damn chairs. Take me home to bed and I'll snore just like I use to." He grinned boyishly.
"What did you do with Matty?" Storm didn't want to touch his offer with a ten foot pole. She didn't know if he was teasing or serious, but more over she didn't know if she wanted to take him up on it or not.
"Sent him to bed. He needs his rest too."
"Matty told me you were watching over Stacey and Tabitha." Storm looked mildly annoyed with him, as though she was mad he wasn't there now.
"I left Tony there with them. The only way I could get Matty to bed was to promise him I'd stay here until you woke up. How you feelin?"
"Like I was in a car that was run over by an 18 wheeler." Storm answered glibly and smirked.
"Funny oh sarcastic one." Taylor chuckled, but then sobered. "You could have been killed 'Ella. I don't know what you were thinking." He forgot his promise to Matty to let it go.
"Guess I wasn't." She answered, not sounding mad he'd brought it up. "You're ok? Nothing happened to you before you got free?"
"Happen to me?" The idea was clearly absurd to Taylor. "Of course not. I told you I could take care of myself. 'Ella?"
"Yeah Tay?"
"I have something I wanna say to you and I want you to hear me out ok? No getting mad, no interrupting, just listen to what I have to say. Then you can say all you want but just let me say my piece first, Ok?"
"I suppose." Storm cocked a brow and waited on Taylor to say what he so clearly felt he had to.
"I been doin a lot of thinking." He looked up into her eyes, his face devoid of any artifice or subterfuge. Storm fought a sarcastic comment about smelling smoke, remembering her promise not to interrupt. That and he just looked so damn serious, it hardly seemed fair to be sarcastic with him when whatever it was he had to say was clearly so important to him. "When they let you and Matty out of the hospital in a few days I want us to all go home. Matty'll get better faster in a familiar environment and I think you could use a break from all this mess too. It's time to put this behind us and get on with life. Our life, the way it should be. This is not how we were meant to live Storm. As soon as we get home we can get back to what we were trained to do. My mother misses you and it's high time you went to visit her, let her know you're ok. We can set your mom and sister back up in a new house in Miami, make sure your sister gets back to her old school, settles in. Then everything can calm down and be normal again." Taylor leaned forward eagerly; sure that Storm would see the fact that what he'd said was the only way things could properly be. She'd managed to be quiet for the whole thing after all.
"That the whole speech?"
"Yeah." Taylor looked down after he'd finished, waiting for her answer.
"I can't promise you that Taylor. Stacey has a long road ahead of her and even Mom and Tabitha have no home anymore, and I'm not sure they want to go back to Miami. They need me here. I can promise you that I'm not going to let it get away from me again like I just did. And you don't need to worry about staying here either. I know you hate it here and I'll understand if you take Matty with you when you and Dad go home. I'll be back sometime, but I just can't leave until I know I've finished what I've started for Stacey."
Taylor sighed. He didn't agree but her argument was valid. Stacey was terrified of Mia and angry and hurt over her brother's perceived favouritism for his fiancé over his sister. He'd been doing some talking with her. She was pretty cool and he was almost ashamed of how easy she found him to play for her own way. "I guess I understand Storm, but you will promise me to be more careful from now on, about everything you do."
"I promise." Storm looked around the room and noted the closed door. "About that. Did she…?" Storm trailed off and waved a hand to fill in her blank.
"No. But its one of those 'heal yourself' things doctors talk about now. If she's gonna get better she needs to fight for it herself. They can't do anything else for her. They say she's not likely to die, but they give her a 50/50 shot of ever waking up. The other half chance is that she spends the rest of her natural life in a vegetate state. You think we should…" It was Taylor's turn to trail off, leaving her to finish his question. She knew he meant should we finish her once and for all.
"I think we'll leave it up to fate. If she deserves to die then she'll never wake up. If she deserves a second chance then she will wake up."
"Ok." Taylor gave his word to respect her decision.
"What time is it?"
"10am. Why?"
"I want to go visit my sister." Storm got her infamous stubborn look on her face. When she got that look on her face and didn't get her way, people had been known to turn up dead for thwarting her.
"No way. The hospital would never allow it but even if they would I'd still say no way. You got broken ribs and a concussion. You belong right where you are."
"I want to go see my sister."
"Well, she's awake, she can come here and see you."
"I don't want her to see me like this." Storm had always been the strong one to her little sister and she didn't want Tabitha to see her laying so helpless in a dorky hospital gown. "I'm feeling much better and certainly ready for my own clothes. I only had a concussion and some broken ribs. It's been like 48 hours now. I'm ready to get my life on here."
"Storm, why can't you just do what the doctor and your family tells you for once here?"
"Because I'm a Demaret and we have no patience?"
"But we're supposed to be intelligent." Benny said from the door.
"Hey daddy." Storm answered, the daddy part slipping out without conscious thought.
"How you feeling Stormi girl?"
"Good. Much better then when I was talking to Matty last night. Even though the good drugs they had me on have all worn off." Storm gave her father a quirky smile. "Dad, get me outta here please? The longer I stay here the more insane I'm gonna go and you know this."
"If, and I'm saying if, I sign you out, against my better judgement, will you let Taylor drive you home and then take it easy?"
"After I visit my sister for awhile I will."
"Ok, I guess that's good enough. I'll go see what I can do about it. Your mother saw this coming, I swear that woman knows you almost as well as Matty does. She brought you some of your own clothes from home."
"Where is mama?"
"With Tabitha. You want me to get her?"
"No, I'll see her when I get over to the girl's room in a few here." Storm replied as she sat up in her bed further and adjusted her position with a grimace she fought to hide and only minimally succeeded. Her father left to go do the paperwork needed to let her leave the hospital.
"This is stupidity." Taylor growled. "There's no way you should be getting up."
"Seems my father would disagree with you." Storm said as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"You know he's only letting you pull this shit because he still feels guilty over-"
"Taylor that was 4 years ago. He's not letting me get away with stuff now because of a mistake he made 4 years ago. Do you know my father at all?"
"I know him enough to know he never forgave himself for what he did to you."
"Maybe not, but it's not the reason why he's getting me outta this bed."
"Then why is he?"
"Because he knows if he doesn't I'll get up anyway, take the IV outta my own arm and do what I want anyway. He figures it's better to let me out properly, put the condition I gotta let you be my guard for the next few days on it, and have some small measure of piece'a mind about where I am and what I'm doin."
"Maybe." Taylor's response was the height of noncommittal.
Storm slid down out of the bed and her legs almost buckled beneath her. She grabbed the side of the bed and stood still for a moment while she waited on the room to stop spinning.
"Yeah, this is a real bright idea." Taylor mumbled angrily as he watched Storm try not to fall down.
"Taylor, stop being so damn overprotective and help me out here."
"Help you out how?" Taylor folded his arms.
"Pinch this line off while I take it outta my arm." Storm indicated her IV.
"No way. Wait for the nurse to do it."
"I wanna be dressed when the nurse comes back with my old man so do me this favour. I'm good enough to stitch you up when you get your ass shot but not good enough to take out one little IV line?"
"I couldn't go to the hospital and we had no choice. You got a choice here so let the professionals do what they get paid for."
Seeing she wasn't going to change his mind Storm looked over her IV and found the little white plastic clamp that was already on the line for just the purpose she had in mind. "Never mind, there's a thing to clamp it off with right here." She clamped off the flow of fluid and then set about taking the tape off the back of her hand. Grabbing a piece of gauze off the little table of supplies in her room she positioned it over her hand where the IV was under her skin and then pulled the needle slowly free. It came out with a spurt of blood that turned the center of the gauze pad red. Storm pressed down over it to stop the bleeding. "Hand me a piece of that tape I can use to hold this in place will ya?"
Taylor handed her the tape with a sigh, knowing any further protest would be futile since she'd already done what she wanted anyway. He helped her tape her bandage in place and refused to turn his back as she pulled her underwear on under the gown.
"I can't reach the ties in the back, you undo them." Storm turned her back to Taylor and waited impatiently for him to do as she asked. He undid her ties, even though there wasn't much he'd like to do less, and watched as she pulled on the wide leg yoga pants her mother had brought her, leaving them low on her hips. She had her back to him, but he could still clearly see where her ribs were taped. She started to try and pull on the fitted Everlast tee shirt her mother had given her to go with her pants but she couldn't get the shirt over her head due to the limited mobility in her sides. "Taylor, help me out here."
"Storm, this ain't right. If you can't even dress yourself how the hell can you justify being outta your damn bed?"
"The only way I'm gonna get to see Stacey is on the pretence of her being in the same room as my sister. If Tabitha comes here I don't get to see Stacey. I have to go to them. You gonna help me or am I going over there topless?" Storm looked back over her shoulder at him, green eyes flashing fire. Taylor sighed. He couldn't let her walk around without her shirt on, and he knew her well enough to know she was like to do just that if she didn't get her way.
"I'll help you. What do you want me to do?"
"I'll put my arms in and pull the shirt up as high as I can. I want you to pull it over my head."
"Fine." Taylor sighed. After some manoeuvring and a lot of swearing on both their parts they had her dressed. "What are you gonna do when it comes time for that to come off again?"
"I'll cross that bridge when I get there." Storm answered, slightly out of breath as she sat back onto her bed and kicked her legs up, laying back down to take a break while she waited on her father.
The next person to enter her room wasn't her father but her brother. "What are you doin dressed?"
"Dad's springing my ass free." Storm smirked.
"No way. You need at least another two days of bed rest and the only place you're gonna get it is here."
"Guess that's too bad then cause I'm getting out."
"Under strict orders that Taylor takes you home directly after your visit with your mother and sister. A visit that will last no more then one hour. And when Taylor takes you home you will go straight to bed and I will not see you back here again until tomorrow. Got it?" Benny asked in his 'no nonsense' tone of voice from the door of the room.
"I got it dad. I appreciate it." Storm got up.
"Who took the IV out of you? I just now convinced the doctor to let you out."
"I got it covered pop, don't sweat it." Storm brushed past him out the door. He caught her gently by the arm.
"Time comes to let people you're payin do their job Stormianna. I hope you don't learn that the hard way."
"I'm fine pop, I'ma keep on bein fine. I got some stuff to handle here is all and I need to be free of this place to get things done. I'll take care this time, I promise. We good?"
"Do you always have to be so calm about things Storm?"
"Yeah, it's how I had to be." Storm and her father shared a look that let both know they were remembering her abrupt change from wearing her feelings too on her sleeve to keeping them too close to her chest. Storm watched her father's eyes cloud with remorse. "I told you once I told you a thousand times that it's all in the past pop. Yeah, it made me how I am but who's to say I'm not better off now huh? Beats shutting up all the witnesses when I act before I think doesn't it?"
"Yeah, sure. You're right. You know I never meant to hurt you like that?"
"I know pop. Past is the past." Storm finished walking past her father and down the hall toward her sister's room, her steps coming a little slower, her gate less sure. She was feeling the after effects and it was hard for her not to let her pain show more then she was. She reached the door to the girl's room and found Brian sitting in a chair outside the room. She ignored him and went to push in.
"Where do you think you're going?" Brian asked as he looked up at Storm from his seat.
"To visit my sister. What's it to you?"
"I don't want you around my sister. Not after what you did."
"You can't prove a damn thing and you've been quick to ask my friends to keep an eye on your sister for you."
"As far as I know the person who did this to my sister is still out there." Brian's face was etched with stress and worry. It was clear that he hadn't been sleeping much.
"Brian, if you would simply accept the truth it would take a whole lotta stress outta your life. We all know it was Mia. If she wakes up then you got call to worry but until then you got no reason to think anything will happen. Don't you think I'd be worried for Tabitha if I thought the person drugging the girls was still out there?"
"You can think its Mia all you want but I can't. Not until she tells me it was her. But you took any chance of that happening away from us when you drugged her and left her for dead."
"If I wanted her dead she'd be dead. Do you honestly think that if I tried to kill her, and didn't succeed, that I'd just leave her there alive? Don't you think me or someone I hired to do it woulda finished her by now?"
"Normally yeah, but from what I hear it looked like you were having a fit of conscious in the waiting room with your buddy Taylor."
"I was upset over my brother. You think that I'd have any problems killing Mia think again. She was drugging my sister and yours, working with Carter, the man who r…" Storm stopped herself, she didn't share that information with anyone if she could help it. "Who was my mortal enemy; she shot my brother and Stacey and drugged Stacey again. If I'm the person you seem so convinced I am it should be clear that I wouldn't care much about offing her and if I wanted her dead she would be."
"I still don't want you around Stacey."
"You wouldn't have Stacey if it wasn't for me. Mia would have drugged her to death by now. You got a lotta nerve. Oh, and you wanna find out how bad bad can get, you try any of that shit with the cops you pulled over the whole Mia thing again. Things'll go from fucken bad to worse if you ever do that shit again. You might have some pull but I got dirty cops Brian and dirty cops are far more dangerous then pull. Your pull makes them try to rush things in their legal channels. My kind of sway with dirty cops makes evidence and bodies disappear. Poof!" Storm tossed her hands to the sides and stepped in at Brian when she made the disappear noise. Brian jumped back in his seat and Storm laughed low in her throat but without mirth. "Thought so." She pushed through the room door while Brian sat in his chair, not sure what to do.
"Storm!" Tabitha called as her sister came into view. "I was supposed to go visit you later."
"I got out early on good behaviour. Something I hear you won't be doing. Staying up all night reading and sneaking off to the snack bar when no one's around." Storm grinned. Her sister was so much like her it was uncanny.
"But I get so bored. I'm ok, I'm ready to go home. Tell Mama that I'm ok. I want to get back to my real life. I'm 16 now and you promised that you'd be the one to teach me to drive and buy me my first car and I'm missing a whole summer of cheer practice and you promised that you'd take me riding in central park this summer and its summer now! I want to get outta here and do all the things you promised me. You promised!" Tabitha almost started to cry in her frustration.
"Tab, if you were ready the doctor's woulda let you out. All those things I promised you will keep another few weeks, and we'll still do them I swear. There's a certain long awaited surprise sitting in the garage at home for you and as soon as some things here are settled we'll go check it out ok? 'Sides, don't you think you should stick around to keep Stacey company?"
"Yeah, but I still get bored."
"I know you do. I'll see about getting you a TV ok?"
"Ok." Tabitha looked over at the still sleeping Stacey. "Is she gonna get better?" Tabitha asked in a whisper.
"Of course. She's getting better already. Can't you tell?"
"Yeah, but they don't even want to let her sit up. She's not allowed to get out of her bed yet or anything."
"But she'll be fine. You just gotta give it time."
"Are you and Taylor back together?" Tabitha asked, her attention span for any one topic was that of the young and bored beyond belief.
"No, what would give you that idea?"
"He spent so much time here, and he mutters in his sleep."
"Oh does he?" Storm asked, eyebrow cocked. She wondered what Taylor had been muttering about.
"Yeah. I couldn't make out much but your name was there a lot."
"Cause I'm such a pain in his ass would be my guess."
"You sure you aren't back with him?"
"Positive. Why all the sudden interest?"
"I like him, I thought you guys would be together forever. You seemed so happy with him, not like now."
"I'm not happy now because I had a stupid car wreck with a transfer truck Tab, not because I'm not with Taylor."
"Even before that. Back when you were with Carter, you weren't happy then either."
"No I wasn't. But that was because Carter was an idiot, not because I missed Taylor. I don't need a man in my life to be happy, least of all Taylor Reese. Don't forget it."
"Sides, she has a thing for Vince." Stacey said, looking like she sucked on a lemon.
"When did you wake up missy?" Storm asked, trying to appear mad and failing miserably.
"Right around when Tabitha started almost begging you to get back with Taylor. I just think she thinks he's cute and she thinks if you get back with him he'll be around more."
"Do not!" Tabitha was quick to defend herself against an accusation of liking a boy. "I think that Vince guy is ok. He comes in here a lot to sit with Stacey. Maybe he's over you and into her." Tabitha teased. While her comment was clearly directed to Storm it wasn't clear which person she was more after embarrassing.
"He's just my brother's friend. But he tells me things when he thinks I'm asleep and don't hear him." Stacey looked up at Storm.
"Stacey O'Connor! Letting him think you're not listening is just as bad as eavesdropping." Storm admonished, not wanting to know just what Vince had told Stacey.
"Yeah well, he misses you and he thinks he's a big idiot for what he said, how he acted. How do you like that?"
"I don't. I'm done with him, done with Taylor in that sense too. I got you guys and Matty to worry about. I don't need any men in my life. It's a mess enough right now. I know I don't need it worse."
Like Tabitha sensed that her friend wanted a few minutes alone with Storm she jumped out of her bed. "I'm just gonna make one of those secret trips to the snack bar. Either of you want anything?"
"Pepsi." Both Stacey and Storm answered in unison. Tabitha nodded and left the room on her search of junk food.
"So, how you feeling kid?" Storm asked as she sat down beside the bed.
"Good. Much better. But Storm…" Stacey looked up, eyes seeming almost too big and blue for her face. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Are you sure you're done with Vince?"
"Fairly sure, why?"
"If you say yes to what I'm gonna ask you he's not likely to want anything else to do with you any more either."
"I think you better tell me what this is about Stacey." Storm sighed as she twirled a piece of the girl's blond hair around her finger. She kept thinking back to her disturbing dream about Stacey. It didn't bode well for what was to come.
"I can't go home with Brian. Not when he thinks that Mia wasn't doing this. What if she tries again? I mean if she ever wakes up. Brian doesn't think it was her so he's not gonna even be watching for it. She'll kill me where she failed the first time."
"Mia's not likely ever to wake up Stace. They told Brian and Dom it doesn't look good."
"It didn't look good for me either but here I am. Even if she doesn't wake up Brian still didn't believe me. I want to go live with you." Stacey waited for her friend's reaction.
"Stacey." Storm wearily pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'd love to have you I really would."
"Then why do I feel a huge but coming on?" Stacey tried not to start to cry, but the tears filled up the bottom of her eyes anyway.
"Because they're never going to let a single 24 year old woman who doesn't even have a job she can put down on paper have custody of a 16 year old girl. No matter what I do, no matter how much I'd love to be able to do this for you, it just wouldn't happen. Your brother will fight it every step too and he's got a fair amount of pull in this city. It'll never be me Stacey, the law will never allow it."
"You work for your dad, why can't you claim that as a job?" With her child like logic it was clear Stacey had the situation all planned out and settled. She'd never thought it out enough to see the reasons why her plan wouldn't work. Storm sighed. "I don't see why it matters anyway, job or no job you always have enough money to take care of yourself and I won't be too much trouble. I'll even go live with you in New York if you want. I just can't go live with Brian."
"Stacey, because of how young you girls were and how much I didn't want this life for you, I haven't been completely honest with you. I'm not a driver for my dad."
"Well then what do you do? Do you street race for all your money? I want to race too. Tess's brother was gonna build my car. I'm ok with you racing."
"I race but that's just a past time for me. I work for my dad alright but not as a driver." Storm looked deep within herself and decided it was time Stacey heard the truth out of someone. The girl had been lied to and 'protected' by having the truth kept from her one too many times and look where it had ended her up. "All those times I joked my dad was a mob boss and he brought me in to work for him?"
"Yeah?"
"I wasn't joking. Not really. He is and I do work for him. So does Taylor. That's why I don't have a job that would qualify me to take custody of you from your brother. I'm a 24 year old mob under boss who's one misstep from doing hard time. What kinda life would that be for you? Worrying every time I was late coming home if I never was coming home again, huh? Living alone or with my brother while I'm locked up in jail. I don't have the kind of stability to offer you that you need kid. It's all fine and good for me to hang out with you, take you to games and on trips and stuff but I'm not dependable enough to be raising you Stacey."
"I'd be happier that way then knowing that my brother thinks I'm a liar and that his girlfriend, if she lives is out to kill me. You're already more dependable then Brian. At least you and Vince believe me about Mia. Besides, you're too good to get caught or you would have by now. You really work for your father in the mob?"
"Yeah. And my dad is the best there is and he even ended up doing three years, so no one is ever too good to get caught." Storm thought on the situation, head hanging down in thought. There was no way she could ever get custody of Stacey away from her brother. All her money and connections wouldn't be enough for a single female anybody to get custody of a child away from her brother who was her legal guardian. Even with Stacey being old enough to decide what she wanted on her own, any court in the world that her father didn't own at least, would take one look at her suit for custody and laugh her right out of the courtroom. However…Storm looked up, hope lighting her eyes. She knew Stacey needed a stabile home life and she wasn't going to get it with Brian. Not if she was worrying more on what could happen to her then she was about getting better.
"I can't go home with him Storm I just can't." Stacey's tears broke the barrier and started to flow down her cheeks.
"I know. I have a plan."
"You do?"
"Uhuh. I won't get custody of you but my mom might. She's got Tabitha, her job as a publisher, and I think the L.A. house might even be registered in her name. She's totally detached from my father so his name won't be a problem as far as the courts go when this gets to court. I know it's not quite as good as living with me," Storm smirked, "but what if you got to go live with mom and Tabitha full time? I can't promise you I'll always be around because my dad does need me but I do spend an awful lot of time with my mom and sister, as you well know, and I never miss the important things."
"You think Cara would have me?"
"She tried to have you in the first place but Brian was sure that he was doing what was best for you. He still is just doing what he thinks is best Stacey. He never meant to hurt you, you know? He's hurting a lot himself. It's not that he doesn't trust you; it's that he doesn't want to believe even though he knows we're telling the truth. He'll come around. I think that even if you come live in our house you should see him, supervised if you'd be more comfortable and without Mia, if she ever wakes up."
"But you hate Brian. How can you ask me to keep seeing him after all this?"
"Because he's your brother. He's trying hard and because he's a man we can't hold it against him he's not having much success." Stacey couldn't help the giggle that immerged.
"But you get to hold it against both Taylor and Vince. How's that fair?"
"It's not but Demaret's don't play fair, we play to win."
"Will your mom play to win even though she's a Miles not a Demaret?"
"That's a little secret I'll let you in on. Even when you change your name, once a Demaret always a Demaret. She was married to my dad and had his name at one point so even though she uses her maiden name, she's still one of us. You ask my dad some time how I'm like her."
"How are you like her?" Stacey asked, not wanting to wait.
"Dad says I got her smarts, her strength."
"I hope this works Storm. I won't go live with Brian again. When I get out I'll run away. I can't stand thinking they all think I'm making up what I said about Mia, or that I was delirious."
"I know kid, I know. I'll work it out. Think you'd see Brian for a few minutes now if I went and sat in the chair in the corner while he was here? He's been sitting in a chair at the door for the better part of the last few days from what they tell me. Think you could just let him see you're ok and getting better?"
"Yeah. I guess. Should I tell him about not wanting to stay with him anymore?"
"Might be for the best. If you can explain it to him honestly why you feel you need someplace else to stay and be careful not to make it his fault, it might be better then letting him find out when he gets served to show up in court to a custody hearing."
"Ok, you can't leave though, just sit over there and make sure nothing bad happens."
"Sure. I'll tell him to come in then, ok?" Storm asked over her shoulder on the way to the door and Stacey nodded tightly. Storm stepped out of the door and found Brian in his seat scowling at her.
"I know your sister's been gone a while now. What did I tell you about you and my sister?"
"Brian, Stacey has some things she'd like to say to you and she's willing to see you now if I sit in the chair on the other side of the room while you're in the room with her." Storm shrugged as though to say take it or leave it. Brian stood up with a growl. He pushed into the room and Storm followed him. She went to her chair and sat down. Brian sat in the chair beside Stacey's bed and looked at his sister. To Storm the love was still evident and she couldn't figure why he was still clinging to the notion that his 16 year old sister would make such serious accusations up.
"Hey Stacey, how you feeling."
"I'm ok, I guess." Stacey clearly wasn't sure what to say to her brother. She looked over at Storm, but found her older friend reading a magazine with almost too much concentration.
"Doctor's think you can come home soon. Maybe next week. You'll have to come back here for physio every day but you'll still get to get out of here." Brian's eyes lit up with so much happiness it was almost too hard for Storm to take as she watched surreptitiously under her eyelashes as she pretended to be reading Tabitha's Teen magazine. No matter how dumb he was being he did love his little sister. What Stacey was about to tell him was just about likely to break his heart.
"That's what I wanted to tell you Brian." Stacey took a deep breath and continued in a rush. "I don't want to go home with you I want to go home with Tabitha and her mom. Storm thinks that it'd be ok with Cara and they're maybe even going to stay in L.A. so it's not like you'd never see me again and then I'd be happier because I wouldn't have to worry about Mia all the time and I really want to go live with Mrs. Miles." Stacey stopped and looked at her brother who momentarily looked like he was going to cry before he got angry.
"This is your doing!" Brian stood up and pointed at Storm.
"It's not as a matter of fact. Stacey asked me to take her, it wasn't my idea, it was hers. I knew there was no way you were gonna allow it to be me, let alone what the courts would think of that idea. But I did offer the solution of my mom. If she's not comfortable living at your house then you owe it to her to let her be comfortable to get well someplace else. You continue to hang on to the belief that Mia wasn't behind this shit and until you wake up to reality I totally agree with Stacey that she can't live with you. If you ever pull your head outta your damn ass and rejoin us in real land then maybe Mia will get the help she needs and Stacey can live with you again."
"I"ll fight it. I'll fight with everything I can." Brian snarled. "She's my sister not yours! She belongs with me." Storm went to retort but Stacey bet her to it.
"I'm a person not some car or possession for you to own, and after all I've been through because you were a cop before you were my brother and because you couldn't believe me instead of Mia don't you think you owe it to me to let me go live where I want." Stacey was silently crying.
"She'll visit with you Brian. You can come to the house and see her, take her out on day trips. Get to know her again. I know it sucks and I'd be just as mad if it was my sister but it's for the best. Best for Stacey." Storm tried to put it in perspective, knowing Brian still wouldn't appreciate her interference.
"Yeah, it's best for her to live around the kind of influence you are huh? I mean you just got outta the hospital using Daddy's influence. Same way you didn't end up on charges for that stupid stunt you pulled!" Brian had no notion of how loud his voice was.
"Take it outside?" Storm growled as her sister slid back into the room with a few cans of Pepsi and a bag that no doubt contained about 20 bucks worth of junk food. Storm didn't intend on the girls ever knowing the full story behind her accident and she damn sure wasn't going to let Brian tell them in what was essentially a fit of jealousy.
"Gladly." Brian snarled back and stalked out the door, leaving Storm to follow. "I know you put her up to this." He started back as soon as the door was closed behind them.
"I did not. Stop beating the dead horse already will ya?"
xox
"What are your brother and my sister fighting about?"
"I wanted to go live with Storm but Storm thinks I should go live with you instead of going home with him and he didn't like the idea." Stacey looked more hopeful already that it looked like she might get her way.
"That'd be so sweet." Tabitha bounced on her bed. "I've been working on my mom to get to stay in L.A. or go home to New York with Storm. Mom can do her job anywhere. All she needs is the net and her laptop. We could live half the year here and half in New York. Storm took me there once for Christmas. Her dad has a huge house in the suburbs and they do this parade thing in the city and she took me to see Manhattan and 5th avenue. I got to go to FAO Swartz and all these other cool stores, and I got to see Cats on Broadway. It was so fun. We got driven around everywhere in a big black limo. She even took me with her to meet her friend CJ and Devon at her races one Friday night and I got to stay up until 2am so I could stay to the end. Her dad's kinda scary sometimes but I didn't see that much of him. Storm promised me we could go back for the summer and go horseback riding in Central park and see the Statue of Liberty. She promised she'd teach me to drive too, and she just told me she already bought my car. I bet she'd get you one too and you could learn to drive when I did then when we came back we'd both be able to go to races with her. Wouldn't it be cool?"
"Yeah, assuming that it ever happens. Storm said that she wouldn't be able to have custody of me cause she's too young and she has no job."
"Sure she does, she works for Giando's catering hall. She's a bartender or something there. It's her dad's business. I think it's a big front for the mafia. Her dad's likely in the mafia, he's pretty scary." Tabitha lowered her voice to a conspiratory level. "I mean Giando's? Sounds a lot like John Doe's to me. Like they make a lot of John Doe's." Tabitha's eyes were wide as she sat cross-legged on her bed, facing her much less mobile friend.
"It's the mob actually, not mafia." Stacey imparted to her friend, sounding very important about knowing something her friend, Storm's own sister didn't know.
"Really?!" Tabitha questioned, shocked she was right.
"Storm told me it was another reason she'd never get me, because her dad's name anyplace near a custody fight was a sure mark toward the other side. But your mom has nothing to do with him anymore so she thinks it's the only way."
"How cool is it that you're finally gonna get to be my real sister, at least by adoption and that my other sister is a freaken mob boss. I predict a lot of A grades at school." Tabitha giggled. "Or my 'step' father will make my teacher's sleep with the fishes."
"You can't tell people about her silly." Stacey admonished, also giggling. "It's supposed to be a secret. Why do you think she never told us for so long?"
"Dunno. I won't tell. I just hope that you get to come live with us. Where would you rather stay, here or New York?"
The girls launched into a big discussion about summer in New York and winters racing with 'their' sister in California. In their minds it was a done deal.
xox
Storm and Brian were still fighting in hushed tones when Vince walked up to the duelling pair.
"What are you two fighting about? Isn't it bad enough around here without you two making it worse? And how the hell are you even out of your bed?" He questioned Storm, who ignored it totally.
"Yeah, well, not my fault Brian can't just be thankful for small miracles and let it go." Storm looked away pointedly from Vince, her whole posture stiff and not because of her bound ribs or her pain.
"This, this…" Brian fought to find the words to say what he wanted to without calling Storm a name that would wind him up dead, either from the girl herself or from Vince, who no matter what he told the team and the world, was still totally infatuated with her. "Woman!" Brian exclaimed, unable to do better, "convinced my sister that she'd be better off living with Cara Miles and Tabitha then with us."
"That true?" Vince asked Storm as he watched her continue to look everywhere but at him.
"Don't see how it's any of your damn business." Storm mumbled as she stared mutinously at her sneaker clad feet.
"Can we have a minute Brian? It turns out Storm and I have some things to discuss." Vince's blue eyes had a very dangerous sheen to them when Storm finally forced herself to meet them. "What's the big idea of you doing this to Brian huh?"
"Did I not just finish tellin you to mind your own business?"
"My team is my business!"
"Ah yes, your precious team. Why don't you go find them now and get the fuck outta my face?"
"Because you're splitting us up and I don't like it." Vince growled. "Stacey belongs with her brother."
"Stacey belongs where ever she's gonna be happy and that ain't with a group of people lookin at her like she's making up something that she feels very strongly about. You know the only person on your whole team," Storm sneered while she spit out the word team, "who believes Stacey is you and even you're still standing up for Mia's interests ahead of Stacey, even after all that Mignotta did. How'd you like being the only one thinking I wasn't totally evil, how'd you like it when no one listened? Because that is how Stacey would be feeling every day of her life and she's just a kid." Storm stuck a pointed finger into Vince's face to accentuate her point violently. "A kid who's had one hell of a month. So don't presume to lecture me about family. It means more to me then it ever will to you and Stacey shoulda been with my mom all along."
"How can you tell me that family means more to you then me when you're trying to break mine up and I'm trying not to let you?"
"Because family to me is doing what's right for the other members of the family, not what's right for ourselves. You guys only want Stacey to stay with ya'll because of some jealousy issue that she picked me and my mom over you guys. She's such a sweet kid who looks out for everyone's feelings before her own that it's just so easy for you guys to walk all over her. She wants to go live with me more then she wants anything else in the world, and even I wonder why in god's good name she picked me, but before she'd even ask me she made sure that you and I were finished, so that she wouldn't mess anything up for me! How can you ask someone who'd rather put everyone's interests before her own 99 times out of a hundred to give up the one thing she really wanted bad enough to ask for?"
Vince opened his mouth to say more then shut it again. He wasn't sure what to say. Storm had a few good points. He was also shocked to hear her put it so baldly that they were through. He'd told her he needed some time to think and all of a sudden they were done?
"She's right you know? If you go through with taking Stacey from us then I can't have anything else to do with you, you know that right? I'll owe my loyalties to my family, Dom and Brian, and I couldn't betray them by being with you."
"You got some nerve pal, thinking I'd ever have had your ass back again after how little faith you had, how little anything about any of it meant to you. I don't get involved with guys that often, but I let the guard down for you and look where it got me. I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I ever let anyone in again, let alone you." Storm growled. It turned to a gasp as she shifted her weight and it jarred her ribs.
Vince's eyes clouded over with worry, same as they had been for the whole 48 hours she'd been out. He might put on a brave front and talk a lot of big game to her and his team but he was far from over her, and he could see it in her eyes she was hurt by their parting and as far from over him as he was far from over her. She stopped him from touching her with a snapping glare. He took his hands back and just stared at her.
She hated the way his gaze cut right through her. No one had had that ability since Taylor and Storm found it unnerving to have it happen again. She hated guys she couldn't lie to as much as she knew it was the one's she'd let into her heart that she couldn't. But she wouldn't have someone who picked some 'because it's always been that way' loyalty over a relationship that had personally cut her to the core. She'd defied her father, brother, uncle, her whole life's foundations and rules to be with Taylor. That was true love to her. Vince wasn't even willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to her, let alone that kind of blind faith, and she wouldn't settle for less since it was all she had to give. She couldn't live or love in half measures.
"You shouldn't be up, you're barely on your feet." Vince growled softly, hating he wasn't free to make her take it easy, when he would have been only 72 hours ago.
"It's not your concern." Storm answered, hand to the wall while she waited for her head to clear.
"No, but it is mine." Taylor walked up behind Storm on silent feet. He'd always made her wonder how on earth such a big man could move so quietly. "Hour's up Storm, let's go home."
"Yeah, home." Storm started to walk toward the elevator, leaving Taylor to follow. Something he did as soon as he'd shot a threatening glare at Vince, who simply watched them go, wondering what exactly he'd given up when he'd let her walk out of his life.
do you know my vice
and how to get under my skin
just what i like
and where i want you to begin
do you know my middle name
and where i'm sensitive the most
that each night i pray
and do you think i fit that mould
do you know?