AN: Cheer is not feeling very well and wasn't going to be able to update for a while so she and I talked about what she would like to have happen and I wrote this up. I did it pretty quick so please forgive me if it's horrible or doesn't make much sense. She'll be back soon, just as soon as she's feeling better. Anyway, on with the chapter and we're just going to keep the normal rotation so next I guess would be Lowryder. Please review!

Puzzling Pieces

By TempestRaces

Ch. 55 – We all Fall Down.

"We all fall down. The difference between us is found in how gracefully we get ourselves back up to carry on."

Storm walked into the court room with Matty and Taylor behind her. She saw her mother look up and waved. Her mother took in her daughter's look and her eyes widened. Storm smirked and cocked an eyebrow. Cara only shook her head with a small smile.

"Matty, how the fuck did you talk me into this again? I don't wanna be here. I wanted to stay in New York until after summer. At least." Storm asked her brother as they slid into a bench seat a few rows off the front of the court room main floor.

"That's our mother up there Storm. You can't not be here and you know it."

"Mom is quite capable of taking care of her own self. She don't need me here. 'Sides, pop sounded like he needed me when he told me he'd see me at home. He is getting up there."

"Pop's been doin on his own for a long time sis, he'll manage another few days. 'Sides he's not that old. He's got a lotta years of working left in him yet. Don't count on taking over for him totally any time soon." Matty said, putting an arm around his sister's shoulders as he said it. Storm shot him a dirty look. Matty had the ability to make her feel guilt like no one else. He gave her a small, quirky smile that told without words he knew that very well and had in fact been counting on it.

"You know you told the kid you'd be here." Taylor broke into the conversation from his position on Storm's left.

"So? She told me she'd stay put until I moved her. If her word don't mean shit then why should mine?"

"Because your word is your promise. You know that people have to be able to count on your word. Sometimes lives depend on your word being worth something."

"True, true. But what normally happens to people who give me their word and then break it?"

"She's just a kid Storm." Taylor replied and sat back in his seat, his look telling Storm he thought she was being too hard assed. It was a sentiment Storm didn't share with him.

"When does that change? When does someone stop being 'just a kid' and become responsible for their actions?"

"Dunno." Taylor said softly and then clammed up.

"Just chill sis. All you gotta do is sit there and look like you give a fuck either way. Can't be that hard can it?"

"You obviously don't know how much it sucks to wear a skirt around Matty. It's pretty shitty. I don't just have to sit here and pretend to care. I have to sit here and look like both a normal woman and a respectable one too."

"You scandalized mom walking in here with those boots on. You know that right?"

Storm looked down at her knee high, high heeled boots which laced up the front and added four inches to her height, and then up at her brother with a smirk. "I know nothing. Besides, these boots hide a multitude of sins."

"You're not packin heat in here are you?" Matty asked, looking angry at the thought of his sister with a gun in a courthouse.

"Of course not fool. We walked through metal detectors. My piece is in the car."

xox

"I need to know I have you with me on this." Dom said to Leon and Letty. They were seated in front of him at the garage where he'd called a secret meeting.

"On what Dom? You need to tell us what's up before you ask us to jump on side with you." Letty looked up from her seat on their old couch. She'd learned the hard way what going along with Dom's schemes without getting all the details could mean to your life.

"Ok, I'm getting there. I have this plan for how we can help Brian win his court hearing."

"How dawg?"

"If we had some leverage to make Ms. Miles drop her case then there wouldn't be anyplace else for Stacey to go other then home with Brian, right?"

"Sure, but you don't think she's gonna drop the case do you? Really Dom, even if you take the father out of the works the mother and Storm seem pretty determined to win."

"But if we had something of theirs that they wanted back as much as they have something of ours that we want back, I was thinkin we could make a trade off."

"What could we get of theirs that they'd want back bad enough to give up on Stacey for it?"

"We could get Storm." Dom said and stood back, looking down at his team.

"What!" Leon asked incredulously and almost stood up out of his seat. Dom held up his hand to hold the man in place. "Are you insane? Did you hit your head on something?"

"No. Hear me out. Their family would give up on Stacey for Storm. Storm is family and Stacey isn't. They'll pick family over Brian's sister any time."

"She'll kill us all and it won't matter anyway. Shit Dom, think with your head for once would ya?" Letty scoffed. "We all saw her in action. She killed her own uncle."

"No, her brother did."

"Same difference. She was ready to. She killed the other guy without too much trouble. She didn't even shoot him, she broke his fuckin neck like a twig."

"So we'll have to tie her up and make sure she isn't armed. By the time they get her back it'll be too late for her to do anything about it."

"I guess." Letty capitulated but it was clear it wasn't without reservation.

"I guess I'm in too." Leon said, also sounding less then thrilled. "We can't let them win. Brian wouldn't know what to do with himself."

"I'm glad you guys see it my way. So now we have to get ourselves out to Miami and watch her. We need to get her alone. If we try to take her while this Taylor guy is around it'll never happen."

"Why don't we take the brother? He'd be easier to deal with and they'd want him back just as much wouldn't they?" Letty asked, trying to find a way around messing up close and personal with Storm, much as she really, really wanted to.

"Yeah, but if she's still on the loose she'll find her brother and kick all our asses. I'm betting that without Storm they won't know what to do with themselves and they won't be able to find her. They'll just panic for their leader back and try to figure what to do about it until we return her to them. Remember that the father said he wouldn't go to Florida?"

"If you say so." Letty gave in, seeing that Dom was set on his course and they weren't going to change his mind. "Why isn't Vince in on this? Coyote's better then any of us at this sort of thing."

"I don't think he'd go for it. I don't totally trust him not to run right back to her and tell her what we're planning. He still has a thing for her."

"No he doesn't Dawg. He did but he got over her pretty fast. He was talking to Erica just the other night at races."

"Well maybe he is over her and maybe he isn't but either way I don't totally trust his loyalties anymore." Dom frowned, showing that he wasn't pleased by his feelings.

"That's bull Dominic and you know it." Letty said, barely containing her snarl. "Vince picked the team over that puta and you saw him do it. If his loyalties were in question he would have picked her over us."

"I got some information around that they aren't back together because she shot him down." Dom said, rubbing his head. His loss of trust in his best friend wasn't something that made him happy. It was just something he had to deal with, and something he didn't think he could simply gloss over. "He went out one night and tried to get her back as some dance club."

"I don't buy it." Leon said. "But it doesn't change much. He wouldn't help us either way. You know that he's gonna be down for her in some ways no matter what." Leon shrugged. Dom nodded that he understood.

"Ok people, we have got a plane to catch."

"What are we going to tell V and Jesse about where we're all going?" Letty continued to pick apart issues she saw with Dom's big plan.

"Nothing. By the time they figure we're gone we'll already have the girl stashed in the place I got lined up. We'll be home in a few days, tops."

Letty and Leon shared a look, but as in most things, they put their faith in Dom as the leader and kept their mouths shut.

xox

Brian rubbed wearily at his eyes, which felt gritty from lack of sleep. He'd been up over half the night worrying about what he was going to say, what was going to happen, and how bad it would look when he showed up in a travel stained tee shirt and jeans to the court. He'd caught the look the judge had sent him and he knew it didn't bode well for what was to come. He planned on doing some quick shopping when the recessed for lunch but until then he was just going to have to hang tight in what he had on.

It hadn't helped when he'd seen the Demaret siblings walk in dressed to the New York nines. The brother in a navy suit with a burgundy shirt and grey tie and the sister in a navy blue skirt and blazer without much under it, if the way her cleavage was showing was any indication. The both looked rich, well dressed and sophisticated and he knew he looked like a down on his luck surfer.

He glanced over at the mother, who was sitting at the plaintiff's table. She was wearing an outfit that looked like it had come straight out of a Martha Steward magazine. Brian could easily see her baking cookies, sewing cheerleading costumes, carpooling to sporting events in her SUV and decorating mansions in her outfit and he figured the female judge was making similar comparisons. They'd had a male judge the first time, so Brian knew he didn't even have the small benefit of having the same judge who might just have been annoyed to see the case back in court when he'd already ruled on it.

He sighed as he rubbed at his eyes again and ran a hand through his disorderly hair. He was hardly paying attention to what was going on. He couldn't find any mental capacity for paying attention and he rationalized it by telling himself it didn't matter because Cara was still telling her side of the story and he already knew what she was going to say.

Cara Miles was surprisingly fair. She wasn't trying to malign him at all. Not like he knew Storm likely would if she was merely given the chance. She still might get her chance for that matter, Brian knew. The prosecuting lawyer was free to call whatever character witnesses he wanted who could contribute to clarifying the character of both Cara and himself. Since Storm had all the goods on her mother and all the dirt on him, Brian figured they'd see her on the stand before the proceedings were over.

The only thing that gave him hope was his lawyer knew of her history, knew what she did for her father. If she took the stand she'd find herself facing questions about it. It could be just what they needed to bring the rest of them all down. Unless she lied about everything, including what her father did. It would be hard to make any lies about her father hold water when there were loads of news paper articles about his three year stint for RICO charges.

All being charged under RICO technically made him was an embezzler and into racketeering, but it should be enough to call his whole character into question. It didn't prove he was a MAFIA boss, but there had been enough speculation over the years that it should be apparent that was in fact what he was.

Brian glanced back over his shoulder and saw a bunch of strange faces filling the court. No one cared who he was. He doubted that many of the people present cared about who Stacey was or who won this case. They were only present because they liked to go and watch open court cases. No one gave a sweet fuck what the outcome was and there was no one in his corner. Unless of course you counted his lawyer, but Brian didn't. The man was being well compensated to be present and care about who won. It didn't mean he really cared. It just meant he liked earning his pay check.

The situation changed when you looked around and thought about faces present that were familiar to Cara Miles. She had three people standing in her corner cheering her on. At the moment Brian looked back both men were leaned into the girl, talking to her in turns while she had a nasty, not at all happy look on her face. No doubt being in a court of law made the law breaker in her uneasy. Since there wasn't anything but lawbreaker in her that was likely a whole lot of unease.

He turned back around and fought to pay attention to the judge. Nothing important was really being said. The judge was more or less feeling out why they were there. She hadn't gotten around to any questions yet. Brian leaned over to speak in low tones to his lawyer. "What chance to do I have of winning, honestly."

"Honestly?" The lawyer asked on a long suffering sigh.

"Yeah. Honestly. What are the odds?"

"About ninety ten in their favour. After all the stuff I saw in disclosure they have on you, plus the fact your sister, at sixteen, is old enough to decide what she wants and where she wants to live those are the odds I give. She's old enough for the judge to declare her an adult and therefore able to pick where she lives. We'll do our best here Brian but no promises."

"Can we put Storm on the stand? Even though her mother is the other litigant?"

"Of course we can call her as a hostile witness but what good will that do? She saw a tape which makes it look like you raised a hand to her sister. Why would you want her on the stand?"

"I likely should have told you this sooner but she's her father's consigliere. It's not just that her father is Benny 'Chains' and she's involved with him but she's his fuckin right hand."

"Yeah, you should have told me this sooner. When you told me who the ex-husband of Cara Miles was would have been a good time Brian. We have the consigliere of one of the ruling families of New York in this courtroom and you were never going to tell me?"

"Girl has a dangerous temper."

"Exactly why I should have known Brian! This isn't getting you out of a few misdemeanour street racing charges or a few noise complaints. This is taking on one of the families that rules the underbelly of one of the country's most dangerous cities. Do you know they started calling Benny Demaret Capo di tutti capi when his daughter got on board? The boss of bosses. I mean, he doesn't call himself that. They never do because they don't want the issues it brings with it but the press has declared them the ruling family of the city's organized crime scene. I'm not qualified to mess with them Brian. If it was just the ex and her kids fine but if 'Chains' is actually involved no way!"

"He's not involved. He said he wouldn't have anything to do with it because he doesn't own this judge. The mother's on her own. The only help he's giving them from what I understand is bankrolling the whole thing."

"Well at least it explains how they can afford Stan Livingstone. Jesus Brian. This is bad. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought maybe we could win just because I'm Stacey's brother and they're nothing to her."

"She's so old you can't just use that anymore. The judge is going to look at who's most capable of caring for her first and foremost. Cara Miles has a stable home life, a happy healthy daughter Stacey's age, a stable, respectable job, and her job lets her work from home allowing her to be home for the girls all the time. You live in a house full of men who run a garage and street race on weekends."

"I'm LAPD!" Brian defended himself hotly.

"You're part time LAPD special unit. It's a good job but it's also a job that could see you go undercover for an extended time. Who'd care for Stacey then?"

"Letty and Mia. She likes Vince."

"Mia's character is going to be slandered to the point where she's going to be nothing but a weight around your neck in this court Brian. The girl could end up doing time if Matty Demaret presses charges. I would advise you as your legal counsel not to say anything about Mia Toretto unless you have no way around it."

"Gentlemen!" The judge called from her bench, breaking up their conversation. "As I've been trying to ask you, do you have any objections to breaking for lunch at this time?"

"No your honour." Brian's lawyer answered contritely and gave Brian a dirty look for making him miss the judge's question.

"Good. We'll meet back here at two pm to continue then. Dismissed." The judge rapped her gavel on the bench and stood up to leave the room.

xox

"Do I have to come back?" Storm whined at Matty as they walked out of the courtroom. "I came, I saw, I left?"

"No way. You're here to the bitter end. Suck it up and deal with it."

"Sometimes you can be a real bastard Matty."

"Must be why you love me."

Storm made a sarcastic face at her brother as they stopped in the hall outside the court room to wait on Cara. "Don't push it."

"Storm, stop complaining. You know you belong here." Taylor growled. "You shoulda hauled ass to that hospital already to make up with the kid."

"I'm not ready to not be angry at the kid right now." Storm looked up at Taylor and the lightening brewing inside her was obvious in her eyes. "I want to drop this topic now."

"Ok." Taylor agreed. They didn't need the fireworks indoors or in public. He'd have it out with her in private later. "What the hell were you thinking when you got dressed this morning?"

"You like?" Storm adjusted her blazer with a smirk Taylor's way. She raised an eyebrow suggestively and watched the answer light Taylor's eyes long before he ever spoke a word.

When he saw she was aware of what she did to him Taylor's face took on a look as though he'd tasted something unpleasant. "I think you look like a…"

"She's still my sister." Matty broke into the conversation in a sharp tone. Taylor shut up with a deep frown.

"It's not like lots of business women don't dress like this. Just be happy it's not jeans and a tank top, a'ight?"

Cara walked out into the hall at that moment and walked up to her children, Taylor long ago having been honorarily adopted into her fold. Of course she'd hoped that he would officially be her son in law by now, but she figured she'd just hold out hope since it looked like her daughter might be coming to her senses and getting ready to take him back.

"I'm so glad you came after all!" Cara exclaimed as she rushed up to Storm and hugged her. "It'll mean so much to Stacey."

"Well I came for you mom. I just want to see this thing done and settled so I can get back to my life."

Cara gave her daughter a look but didn't say anything. Like Storm's father, she knew her daughter's temper burned hot. It would run out of fuel sooner or later. Starting with a smaller fire, then embers, and finally ashes.

"Where's Tabitha?" Storm asked, looking around.

"I left her at the hospital with Stacey for today. There won't be much happen today. We'll get into it more tomorrow."

"You doin ok?" Matty asked his mother. "You find a place to stay and everythin?"

"Yes dear, we're staying with some old friends of mine while we're here. They're older and have no one left at home with them so they have lots of room for Tabitha and I. You're all welcome to join us there as a matter of fact. The family who owns the house is vacationing in Italy right now. Of course soon we'll need to start thinking about where we're going to live if we win this case."

"I was thinking you might want to use the L.A. house." Storm said and then paused in thought for a moment, collecting her ideas so she could relate them to her mother. "Stacey doesn't want to live with her brother and we should respect that. But Brian's not so bad, not really. I'm not saying that he should win because he shouldn't. But I just don't think it's fair to move Stacey across the world from him either. He might come to his senses some day and want to shape up and prove he's worthy of her trust again. He can't do that if she's living on the other side of the country. Plus it's not like you and Tabitha have much of a life here anymore so it really wouldn't matter to Tabitha much if she got to start over in L.A. Stacey has friends there and I know Tabitha will fit right into their group if she wants. It'd be best for both of them in the long run."

Cara smiled at her daughter. The smile started small but it slowly grew until she was literally grinning.

"What?" Storm asked with a scowl on her face.

"That my dear was one of the singularly most selfless things I've ever heard you say. Are you finally growing up?"

"Not a chance! It's just that I had a great older brother my whole life and I don't like to think of Stacey hating hers."

"Aw, how sweet." Matty smiled as he put an arm around his sister. "And you were slightly less of a pain in my ass then a lot of other guy's little sisters."

"Gee thanks loser." Storm said as she shoved her brother away from her.

"You know you love me. Always have…"

"Ever since I came home from the hospital." Storm said in a mocking voice wrinkling her nose. "We've heard the story Mathew. We don't need to hear it again."

"Is that any way to talk to the reason why you weren't suck getting teased for being Arabella in school?"

"You are perfectly awful." Storm answered. The rest of the crowd around them laughed even as Matty planted a kiss on his sister's cheek, rendering all their words harmless play among close siblings.

xox

Brian stood out of direct sight and watched Storm and her brother carry on. The sight filled him with jealous and anger so hot he almost couldn't stand it. That should be him and his sister. The easy way they had together, the teasing, the trust, the love.

It wasn't fair for them to have all those things and for him to have nothing left with his sister. Matty and Storm Demaret had faced down more then their fair share of adversity themselves but they were still close. Closer then a lot of couples Brian knew. Just looking at them standing together in the hall, the taller Matty with his arm over his sister's shoulders as they leaned on each other made him want to hit something.

They were law breakers. He had dedicated his life to upholding it. He'd only made an exception for love. They did it for money.

He had to win his case. It was the only way he stood a chance of rebuilding his relationship with Stacey.

He walked down the hall the opposite way from the group of family he was so envious of and headed out into the sunny air. He had to get some clean clothes first and foremost and then he had to go see his sister, try to make her see things his way. Hailing a cab he told the driver to simply take him someplace where he could shop.

xox

"You didn't tell me it was gonna be so god damned humid here." Letty told Dom as they walked from the plane to the terminal.

"You're not the only one who's never been farther from home then Texas Lett." Dom answered irritably. He wasn't any happier to be out of California then Letty was.

"Can we just get a car and get outta here?" Leon broke into their quarrel. He wasn't happy to be here, he wasn't thrilled about their plan and he just wanted it done.

"Yeah, let's go." Dom said as he picked up his bag and lead the way into the airport and over to the Avis rent-a-car kiosk.

"Is renting a car under our own name smart? What if they trace it?" Letty said softly as Dom pulled out his licence as the clerk went to go and see what cars were available.

"What are they gonna do Letty? Call a cop? I don't think it'll matter if they trace it. They aren't going to call the police so unless they find our safe house it isn't going to matter one bit." Dom looked away from Letty and smiled at the clerk as she came back with some forms.

"I have one Chevy Cobalt, one Chrysler 300M, and one Cadillac STS. They range in price up from the Chevrolet."

"We'll take the Chrysler." Dom told her and handed over his driver's licence and credit card.

"Would you like the insurance?"

"Of course." Dom replied, knowing he was more then likely going to need it. He might be willing to bend some laws for Brian, but he couldn't afford to pay for wrecking a rental car.

The clerk did her thing and handed Dom the keys to the car and his cards. "You'll find the car parked in our section just outside these doors. It's navy blue."

"Thank you."

The three of them left the building and found the car without too much difficulty. They piled their luggage into the trunk and then got in, cranking the air conditioning on full blast.

"What now?" Leon asked from his position in the center of the back seat.

"Now we go get the place ready and then we get her. From there we can set things in motion."

"Ok." Leon nodded, a resigned look on his face.

This was either the nicest, bravest thing he'd ever done for another person, or the stupidest thing he'd ever done to himself on anyone's behalf. It remained to be seen which was true.

They pulled up to a dilapidated building in the middle of no where about half and hour later.

"Where are we?" Letty asked as she took in the grey two story house in front of her.

"Everglades national park. Not too far from Miami and no one comes in here. I found out about this place from an acquaintance that's from Florida. He used to use the place for some of his business and he was never bothered. It's far enough in the park that no one will find us and far enough that without a car, even if she gets lose she'll never make the city."

"This don't feel right Dawg."

"Don't start. Just help me unload the car."

xox

"What do you think they're talking about right now?" Stacey asked Tabitha as they sat together in Stacey's room.

"Dunno. You?"

"I hope not."

"Well, isn't that most of the point loser?"

"Shut up. I guess it is but I still hate to know they're talking about me and I'm not there to hear it."

"I think my mom wanted me to stay away so I wouldn't hear what was going on too. I wanted to go, you know, take notes sorta thing but Mom said no. I was sorta hopen that they'd ask me stuff about my mom so I could tell them how great she is."

"Compared to my brother she's a saint. I hope the judge knows that."

"Storm said that the judge would 'haveta be fucken blind not ta see who's the betta person here.' You know how her voice gets when she's tired. She went all Brooklyn on me."

"Yeah, well she won't even talk to me. Not since she said hello when we got here."

"She'll come around. She wasn't gonna come but she did."

"I guess. When do you think court will be over for the day?"

xox

Court was long. Storm yawned then checked her watch for the millionth time and then glanced at Matty under her lashes.

"Almost over sis. Surely they'll stop at five for the day."

"I hope so." Storm yawned again and tried to stretch without drawing attention to herself. She looked up to find Taylor's black eyes on her. "What?"

"Nothin." He retorted and turned his eyes back to the front of the room.

Storm crossed her arms and also turned her eyes to the judge. It was exactly five o'clock when the judge again rapped her gavel down on her desk. Storm popped up with almost maniacal glee.

"I'll see you guys at home later?"

"Where you goin sis?"

"Just out Matty. I'll be home but I gotta get some stuff done first. Tell Mom I'll see her later."

Storm left before her brother could reply and took off. She was gone before anyone could do anything about it but stare after her.

Taking herself to the house they were all staying in at the insistence of the friends of her mother who owned it Storm quickly changed into gym pants and a tank top with sneakers and headed out again before anyone else could get home.

She ate quickly in the local drive thru joint then continued to drive. She ended up at a mostly deserted section of beach with some big flat topped rocks along the shoreline. She climbed up on top of one of them and sat, her knees to her chest and her chin resting on them. Staring out at the smooth water she simply cleared her mind and allowed herself to just do nothing and think nothing.

xox

"Can we just grab her already? She's never going to be more alone!" Dom asked in a low whisper as they watched the girl curled around herself on top of the large stone.

"I don't think so. Not yet. I have a bad feeling." Letty said. She said it with so much conviction that Dom let it go. They'd wait another few minutes. It was a good thing they did because another car pulled up behind Storm's and Taylor got out.

They watched Taylor walk across the beach to the side of the rock and climb up on top of it with Storm.

"Shit, good thing we waited." Leon sighed.

"Yeah, good thing." Dom growled and leaned back against a tree. Good thing alright.

xox

Taylor sat behind Storm and kicked a leg out on either side of her then rested his chin on top of her head.

"How'd you find me?" She asked, her eyes never leaving the water in front of her. She didn't have to ask who it was. No one else would know where to find her and only Taylor fit around her so perfectly on the first try. No adjusting his seat or his legs. He just knew where everything went to surround her with him.

"You always come out here when you don't want to deal with what's going on. At least this is the spot you come for that when you're in Florida."

"I shoulda picked a new spot today I guess."

"Maybe. What's with you lately 'Ella?"

"What'd ya mean Taylor? What's with me lately how?"

"The out there clothes, the gettin loaded, the drivin after you get loaded. Missin work, lettin Matty tell you what to do. Something ain't right with you Storm."

"I'm fine Taylor. I'm just goin through some shit right now. I'm dealin, it's nothin' for you to sweat."

"Someday I hope you learn you don't have to go it alone all the time Storm. Me'n Matty, not to mention your pop, we're all here for you but you never tell us shit."

"I got use to doin on my own Taylor, that's all. It ain't nothin personal."

Taylor tipped his head down to kiss the crown of her head. How had he convinced himself he wasn't still in love with this stubborn woman? Now wasn't the time to go into it. "I wish you wouldn't run off alone like you do Storm. What if something ever happened to you while no one knew where you were?"

"Not gonna happen."

"Oh yeah? Where's your gun right now?"

"In the car. I hardly doubt I'm on anyone's list right now Taylor. Besides I've always kept out of the press, I'm driving a rental car, and I'm in the middle of no where. No one knows who I am."

"I still don't like it."

"No one asked you to." Storm shrugged. The wind changed direction and came in off the water. It was colder, made Storm wish she'd brought a sweater.

Taylor noticed the wash of goose bumps on her arms and started to rub them briskly. "It's gettin late and it's gettin cold. Come home Storm. You've been out here long enough."

"Soon Tay. I'll come back soon. I just need a few more minutes. Ok?"

"Ok. Don't stay here too much longer 'Ella. It's getting dark."

"I won't. I'll see you at home soon."

Taylor nodded and, letting her go, stood up and climbed down. He strode back over to his car and left. Storm simply sat, not willing to go back to her life and its issues just yet.

xox

"Ok, he's gone. We move now before she leaves and we miss this chance. Let's do this." Dom pulled the black mask down over his face and watched as the others did the same. They started out across the beach, moving silently up to the side of the rock, behind Storm.

Dom climbed up, glad he was fit enough to do so silently. When he was up he grabbed Storm around her waist and tossed her down at Leon quickly. She screamed and started to fight back. Leon kept his arms around her, pinning her own arms to her side. Letty moved quickly out of the way of her kicking feet. When Dom got down he tied her feet together and then tied a rope around her to keep her arms pinned.

"Let me go! You don't know who you're messing with." Storm growled at her attackers, not realizing who they were. No one had said a word to her. "You are going to be so sorry when I get my hands around your necks."

"You're in no position to make threats bitch." Dom snarled.

"You!" Storm said, her eyes widening. "Oh boy, are you in deep shit. You bit off more then you can chew this time baldie."

"I'm the one with the rope, and the gun this time so shut the hell up." Dom growled as he helped Leon carry the bound Storm to their car, where it was hidden off in the trees.

"Yeah and just what the hell do you plan to do? Shoot me? You don't think they're not going to start looking for me when I don't come home? You don't think someone's going to figure out who has me?"

"They'll know who has you when they get the ransom call."

"You're going to ransom me to who?" Storm asked, her confusion evident.

"Your family."

"What do you want? Money?"

"No. We want the case dropped. Your family gets you back if they back off Stacey and let Brian keep custody of his own sister."

"You have got to be kidden me." Storm actually laughed. "That is the worse plan I've ever heard. My family is going to find me and they're going to kill you all. And I'm not even going to be able to feel all that guilty over it because you'll all have it comin'. And then do you know what I'm gonna do because'a what you did to me?" Storm said, sounding like an old school Italian mobster with her accent, than paused, a grin on her face.

"No, what do you think you're gonna do about any of it." Leon asked, trying to keep up his brave front when he didn't feel anywhere near brave. He just kept thinking that it wasn't going to stop with the brother and Taylor. There were going to be fathers and uncles involved in this too and it wasn't going to be good.

"After my father ends the three of you's then there ain't gonna be no one left to protect precious Mia and I'm gonna take great pleasure in finishing that job personally."

Dom snarled and as Letty turned around to look the car swerved. She was driving and in her anger she'd wrenched the wheel. She straightened out with a curse.

"I'm not gonna hear any more of this shit." Dom said and with a growl he knocked Storm out with the butt of his gun, the same way he's seen her knock out her friend in his living room. "Well, I feel better already."

They got back to their hideout and put Storm in one of the upstairs bedrooms. There was a single high window in the room. They left the single bare light lit and locked the door behind them. They pushed a heavy dresser in front of it for good measure, since it opened outward.

"Now what?" Letty asked hesitantly, not sure what she'd gotten herself into.

"Now we wait until we know for sure they've missed her and then we call the mother."

xox

"Did Storm ever come back?" Taylor asked as he came down the stairs from his shower.

"No. Why, do you know where she is?"

"Yeah, but she was supposed to be following me home a few minutes behind."

"She never came back." Matty looked worried.

"I'm gonna go find her." Taylor said and picked up his keys. He stalked out of the house and over to his car. He left the driveway with a squeal. Twenty minutes later he was back at the beach Storm considered her own. He could see the rock he'd left her on silhouetted against the moonlit sky but she wasn't on it. Her car was still parked by the fence separating the gravel parking area from the beach proper.

Taylor parked and ran out to where he'd last seen Storm. He saw the signs of the struggle on the beach sand. He looked up at the sky with a snarl. Someone had messed with his Storm. Someone was going to pay with their life. All he had to do was figure out whom.

As he started to his car his phone rang. He'd fought tooth and nail against having a cell phone but Matty had insisted, saying they never knew when they'd need him. "What?" He roared into the phone.

"Where's my sister?" Matty asked.

"I don't know." Taylor sighed. "I think its bad Matty."

"What! What are you talking about?"

"I know where she was. I went back to get her. Her car's still here but she's not plus there were signs of a struggle in the sand."

"Jesus. What are we gonna do?"

"Wait until we know who has her and then what we have to do."

"I got a call coming in on the house line. I'll call you back."

"Ok."

Taylor went back to the parked cars. He searched Storm's car thoroughly but didn't find anything that might lead him to her. He locked the car up after taking her guns and other identifying papers out. Getting back into his own car he started it and headed for the house where Matty waited.

xox

"Hello?" Matty answered the phone gruffly.

"Cara Miles. Now!" A slightly familiar voice demanded on the other end of the line.

"She's not home. Who is this?"

"This is the person who has your sister."

"What do you want?" Matty asked.

"You tell your mother to drop her case against Brian O'Connor and she gets her daughter back. She doesn't do as we ask then…" Dom let his voice trail off ominously. He didn't know what would happen then but he knew he had to make it sound serious.

"Listen Pal, I don't know who you are but you don't know what you're getting yourself into here. You better let my sister go."

"Not until we hear from Brian that the case is dropped and his sister is going home with him. Got it? You can reach us at the number we used to call you but it's a satellite phone so don't get any ideas about using it to trace us."

The call was abruptly ended and Matty could only sit and stare at the phone in shock. He pulled himself together a minute later and dialled his father's home number. Benny answered after two rings.

"Hey pop, it's Matty."

"Hey Matty, what's up?"

"Someone kidnapped Storm." Matty didn't know how to lead into his news so he didn't. He just laid it out.

"What?"

"They just called and said unless mom drops her suit against Brian we don't get her back." Matty was trying hard not to panic. "They wouldn't tell me who they were."

Benny sat in his office with the phone in his hand and just thought about it. "It has to be the guys Brian lives with. They thought they were smart but they made a fatal error."

"Mom has to drop the suit; we have to get Storm back." Matty said to his father, a note of panic creeping into his voice.

"We're not dropping anything son. We're calling their bluff. Storm can take care of herself and they ain't gonna kill her. They're not that stupid. When Cara wins then they'll let her go. If Storm doesn't beat them to a pulp herself in the mean time. Just hang tight kid. I'm coming down."

He hadn't wanted to but now he had no choice. He'd come get his daughter back and if he was in a good mood the guys who'd dared to touch her would die fast. If he wasn't then they might live to regret it.

"If you're sure Pop."

"I'm sure. I'll be there in a day tops." Benny hung up and so did Matty.

Taylor burst into the house. "Who was on the phone?"

"They wouldn't say but pop thinks its Brian's friends. They have Storm. They're holding her for ransom until we drop our case against Brian."

"I'll kill them." Taylor snarled.

"Like Pop says, only if she doesn't kill them herself in the mean time. He's says we won't drop anything. He's calling their bluff. I just hope he's right."

xox

Storm came to with a groan. She found her hands tied up and her feet bound too. Her head felt like her brother had been using it for ball practise all day while he used an aluminium bat.

She took inventory of her situation. She was on a small bed in a dingy room with the only window so high she could only see out it if she stood on the dresser and it didn't look that likely to hold her. Her hands were tied in front of her and she smiled derisively at how stupid Dom was when it came to tying someone up. It wasn't going to be hard to get free of his ropes. Getting out of the room might be another matter.

Raising her bound arms to her mouth she used her teeth to start to tug at the knots in the rope. A few minutes and a few curses later she had her arms free. She noted the rope burns with a sort of clinical detachment as she rubbed the feeling back into her hands. Then she got her legs free and waited for the tingling to leave her feet. That done she got up and walked the perimeter of the room. She had nothing to use for a weapon other then her own smarts and a few lengths of rope. Just great! She thought as she sat on the bed and cursed herself for letting her guard down and going about without her piece.

There had been a phone in the room at one point but someone had smashed it and torn the jack off the wall. If it came down to it she might be able to tinker something together and call her father. Even if she did she had no idea where she was or how she'd gotten there.

This was another one of those self made messes she was just going to have to clean up herself.

xox

Vince woke up with a start. Something wasn't right. He didn't know how he knew that but he did. Something bad was going down and he didn't like it one bit. Swinging his legs over the edge of his bed he groped in the dark until he found the switch for his lamp.

Turning it on flooded his room with light. The clock on the wall said four am. With a groan he got up and headed upstairs. The house was quiet. Perhaps that wasn't so strange given that it was so early in the morning but it was almost too quiet. There were none of the night time sounds a house normally made when so many people were sleeping in it.

He knew where Brian was and where Mia was, but what about everyone else? When he'd come in at two he'd just assumed they were all already in bed. He started up the stairs quietly and looked into Dom's room. The bed was empty. He headed back down to the basement and looked in Jesse's room. He found the kid asleep holding a pillow. He closed the door back over and cracked Leon's. His room was just as empty as Dom and Letty's had been.

He walked back up to the kitchen with a confused look on his face. He found a paper detailing flight numbers next to the phone. It didn't take him long on Jesse's computer to find out what flights those numbers matched up to. All of them ended in Miami Florida.

"What the fuck are you doing Dom?" Vince asked the empty house as he sat back in the desk chair. Whatever his friend was up to, he knew it wasn't good. Not good at all. "What the fuck are you doing brotha?"

He jumped up and rushed to his room. He packed a bag quickly and went into Jesse's room. He couldn't leave the kid home alone. They'd come home to either a dead Jesse or a burned down house.

"Wake up kid!" He shook the younger man.

"I'm up." Jesse sat straight up in shock then looked at his clock. "It's four am Vince. What do you want?"

"We gotta go to Florida."

"Why?"

"Cause Dom's up to somethin' stupid and if we don't save his ass it might be the last stupid thing he ever gets up to.