Catalyst

by tempest-races

A catalyst is not consumed by a reaction, only precipitates it; remaining itself unchanged and yet instigating momentious change in the reagents. Like a catalyst, will they fall out of solution unscathed or will the reaction consume them both?

11. In the Rough

AN: Some questions were asked that I've never addressed. Sunshine37: I mapped out which songs I wanted to use when and what they made me think of when I heard them and then I started writing chapters in that order. I've always known what the first and last songs were going to be. The middle ones changed a bit as the order of the things I wanted to have occur changed too. I don't know what it was about Anna's album that made me think her songs were all telling a story from inception to finale but that's what happened in my head when I heard the album. Somewhere along the journey Gem and Vince took over the story and took it a bit off the course I thought I had all mapped out, but it's been a good thing, most of the time. I don't write quite the same way when I have a plan. It's not bad or good exactly. Just different.

It's hard for me to think that after this chapter there is only one song left, which by my plan means only one chapter left to write. I can't believe it. This story feels like my coming of age as an author. I can't explain that very well, but it's like with this story I've proven that I can write serious pieces based in reality if I'm so inclined. It just so happens that I'm looking forward to going back to my larger than life style when this is done. It's been fun and it's forced me to grow as an author more than I thought I ever could. If I hadn't I never would have pulled it off in a way that would make me happy about how it went. But this story doesn't totally feel like me. The feelings are an effort for me to write each and every chapter and it leaves me drained hard core. I'm much more in my element writing about Kat or Storm than I am Gem. I guess that comes from the elements of self insert about both those characters. Instead of trying to act like Gem would in my mind like I have to with this story, with them I can just ask myself what I'd do and write about it.

I hope the ending I have in mind doesn't disappoint anyone and doesn't leave anyone wanting for something for a character. I'm going to try and remember to tie up everything for everyone. But we'll worry about that more in the next chapter.

♫edited to do what I should have done in the first place♫

Catalyst

By - TempestRaces

Ch. 11 – In the Rough

"A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."

"She's good, this friend of yours," Dom said to Mia as the band started to pack up and leave the stage.

"Yes she is," Mia answered stiffly, before clamming up. Dom had a hell of a lot of explaining to do before she would ever accede to his presence in her life at something she considered her right. Watching Gem and Vince perform was her right as their best friend. Even if Vince had driven a wedge between himself and the girls in their group of three, they had still been a close group for a long time. A trying, emotional, unsettling, defining, long time, considering what a short time it had been, in terms of days and months. A long time that Dominic had been conspicuously absent from.

"I can't remember the last time I saw Vince put his guitar to such good use either."

Either Dom couldn't take a hint, or he was determined to win her over and thought praising Gem and her band was the way. Mia wasn't sure which was more likely. Or which she would prefer to be dealing with, for that matter. Dom hadn't made much of an attempt to explain himself yet. He had made attempts to have her and Vince simply overlook the year previous and allow him back into their good graces. Until such as time as he came to her, explained himself fully and asked her to forgive him she wasn't even going to entertain a thought of doing so. She was not going to overlook Dom's mistake this time. This one was too big, too damaging, too serious, to just overlook as if it was just another time he had shown up late to supper without calling ahead.

If Letty was willing to let him off the hook so easily, that was Letty's prerogative and Mia was having none of it. Same as she wasn't having any of the conversation that Dom was trying to start and was barely tolerating Leon's presence in the chair beside her. She was far from ready to let bygones be bygones. Not until she got some honest explanations to her questions and some heartfelt apologies to match. Not just from Dominic, but from Letty too. Leon, Mia knew, was both really, truly sorry for what he had done, and had told her so a few hundred times. She was still being cool to him, but it was lessening day by day. Her resentment with Leon would fade, now that he had told both she and Gem he was sorry for being such a moron, and meant it too. Plus, Vince had forgiven him. Dominic, no one had forgiven.

"I somehow doubt Vince would care to know you were here seeing it now," she bit out in answer to Dom's comment. A harsh reminder, but true as well.

Dom winced. Mia was right. That didn't mean he wanted to be reminded of the fact. Not when he was finally clued in to what he had been doing to his family. "We," Dom paused to plant another chaste kiss on the crown of Letty's head, "just wanted to see what all the fuss was about."

Leon did a double take when he saw Dom and Letty being affectionate with each other. For the last two weeks if either of them had tried anything like that the other would have blown up, wondering what the hidden motivation behind the gesture was. Now all of a sudden they were cool? They were in love again? Since when?

Mia was also touched to see her brother and long time friend acting so much more like they had when they had first started dating instead of the distant fire and ice way they had always seemed to treat each other once the heists had begun. She wasn't touched enough to let any of them off the hook.

"The fuss is about Gem following her dream. It was about Vince making something worthwhile of himself too, but you coming back sort of put an end to that part of it."

"How do you figure?" Dominic asked, starting to get mad and frustrated with his sister's attitude. She wasn't willing to give him an inch.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Mia asked with her head tilted to one side in mock question. She didn't wait for an answer, but carried on without pause. "Once Vince said all those stupid things about Gem to you and she heard them, she didn't just break up with him. She kicked him out of the band."

Dom looked poleaxed. He recovered fairly quickly. "Then why is he up there with her now?"

Mia shrugged. She didn't really know the answer so she wasn't going to offer one.

"Because he knew if he didn't come down here and make her let him play she wouldn't get to, Dawg. She might be able to sing, but from what Vince says she sure can't play the guitar."

"What the fuck is she holding in her hands than?" Dom asked, his ignorance of musical instruments showing.

"She plays bass," Mia filled in with a sigh of irritation. "It's a bass guitar, Dominic. Now you should leave before they get down off the stage and find you here."

"It's a free country." Dom's anger made him answer out of line. He knew that he was supposed to be trying to make his sister see how changed he was. Answering her like he was certainly wasn't helping him in that regard. He sighed. "I just wish someone could see I'm trying."

"You must have just started trying in the last ten minutes?" Mia asked cattily. "Because I really haven't seen the fruits of your labour in the last few weeks."

Leon looked over at Dom, and it was clear that his thoughts echoed this sentiment.

"Ok, you're all right. I haven't been trying. I've been acting like an asshole instead. I spent the last year acting like an asshole. But I'm going to try, if it means anything to anyone. If everyone is just going to treat me like I have a catchy disease anyway I might as well save my energy."

Letty leaned her head down on Dom's shoulder, as if to show she had again found herself on Dom's side.

That was all well and good for Dom and Letty, Mia mused, but it did nothing for the rest of their broken family. "You better start with Gem if you want to have a chance to make up with Vince," Mia retorted as she turned in her seat to look at Dom.

"I'd rather start with finding out if I'll ever have any sort of relationship with my sister first. Mia, we grew up in the same house. We had the same parents. I changed your diapers and chased off your first boyfriends. I taught you to drive, babysat you, fed you. I'd like to get some of my relationship with Vince back, I won't lie about it. But if you won't talk to me anymore, what's the point?"

"I'm going right back to my previous position Dom. If you want to have a chance to put any of this right, you need to start with Vince and Gem. I live with Gem. I won't have you around if it's going to upset her. She's been upset enough. She's not even from LA. She wouldn't have had anywhere to go if she and I weren't so tight." Mia seemed to vibrate with her suppressed rage. Dom was so obtuse! "She's in love with Vince! Are you too dense to see it, or does it just not matter to you? And he's in love with her! But then you waltzed in and pulled your same old shit and ruined it for both of them before they could even admit it to each other. Unless you can fix what you did to my two best friends I don't want you in my life." Mia stood up from the table and turned to leave before she said anything she couldn't take back.

"Mia, what do you mean my same old shit?" Dom growled out in anger.

Dom's question checked her and she turned back around to face him, incredulous he would dare presume to pretend he didn't know what she was talking about. "Are you sure you want me to go into it in present company?"

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about, so yeah, I'm sure."

"So you want me to talk about how Leon and Vince never had a girl in their life that you didn't 'test' for them to see if you could have her too? You want me to talk about how many of the girls you tried that stuff with fell for it? How many of them you didn't turn down after the damage was done, figuring if you already 'stole' them you may as well take advantage of that fact? How Vince actually thought that you would try that stuff with Gem and that there was a chance that she might fall for it too? You want me to go into that right now, in front of Letty?" Mia was out to hurt Dominic, and it was obvious. She regretted doing it in front of Letty, but it wasn't like Dominic had given her a lot of choice.

Leon looked away from the group of them, off over the tables filled with people to where the bartender was mixing drinks. He didn't want to seem like he had anything to do with this one. True as it was, he certainly didn't want Dom to think he was the one who had told Mia about it. Told anyone about it, for that matter. He knew that Dom would see the whole situation as a matter between 'boys', not one that should ever have been shared with anyone outside the men on their team.

Dom flushed deep red under his dark skin and tan. "That was a long time ago."

Leon's attention was stolen off the bartender and slapped squarely back on Dom. He admitted it? In public and in front of Letty? Was he insane?

"Yeah, maybe. Not long enough for it to be forgotten though. And not something that you ever admitted to doing and asked to be forgiven for either. Not something you ever told or showed the boys you'd stopped doing. Given how Gem thinks you were sizing her up, maybe not even something you're so far beyond either. No wonder Vince thought it would just be more of the same from you. It's all he remembers," Mia accused, trying to keep her voice down so the whole bar wouldn't end up knowing their business.

Dom rubbed his head. "You're right Mia." He couldn't deny it. She wasn't wrong and it would just be obvious at this point anyway. Dom could only surmise it was time for him to start owning up to a few home truths. "I'll start with explaining myself to Vince and see where it goes from there. Maybe I can convince him that I don't roll like that anymore. That I have the only woman I'll ever want in my life right here by my side."

Mia took a small measure of pity on her brother. If he was willing to say things like that about Letty right in front of Letty perhaps he really was trying to make a difference in his life. "You want some advice?" she asked in a tone a lot more friendly than the one she had been using until that point.

Dom nodded to the affirmative.

"Start with Gem. If you can get her to see why you did it and understand than she'll forgive Vince. If she forgives V than he'll be more willing to listen to you, and he'll be in a more receptive frame of mind to anything you say."

"The same Gem who shot Leon down? How am I ever going to get her to listen to me?"

"That's the part you'll have to figure out on your own. Don't hassle her while she's at work, and don't try to talk to her anywhere that Letty's around giving out nasty looks either."

Letty looked up in shock. First she had to have some harsh facts about her man thrown in her face. Like it wasn't enough to know them and live them every day, she had to hear that Mia even knew. Mia, of all people! Then she gets told that she has a bad attitude. Oh hell no! "'Scuse me?"

"You figured that she would be after Dominic from the second you met her. You never once considered how it might have been Dominic who chased those girls and not the other way around, not for a second. You never even thought to consider that Gem might only want Vince, might really care for Vince. You made a snap judgement against my girl and she noticed." Mia nodded yes softly in the face of Letty's disbelief. "You two need to work your shit out," she gestured between Letty and Dom, "and part of that has to be that you stop putting it on other people. He cheated on you. No other girls made him do it. And you accused him of it a hundred times more than it ever really happened. That stuff is between the two of you! Not the two of you and every other girl on earth that Dominic might find cute over the course of the next sixty years."

"Jesus Mia. I didn't know it was like that!"

"Oh save it Letty! A girl couldn't come around our place without you marking territory and giving her bad attitude and being in her face. No wonder I had no friends outside the team and the guys couldn't keep a girl around longer than one night. Not every girl on earth is a god damn racer chaser."

"I know that," Letty answered in a small voice. She wasn't use to being put in her place at all, let alone by Mia. Never mind so very violently.

"Then act like it for a change." Mia turned her back on the group again. She really had nothing further to say to them. Anything else she figured would just be overkill.

Dom let her go this time. He wasn't really sure what to say to her. Make it right with Gem, she said. How the fuck was he supposed to do that? Gem hated him. She had on sight. She had heard all the bad there was to hear, likely and then some, from Mia and Vince before he had ever come around her. Then he had sized her up. Not for himself to try and have, as both she and Mia seemed to think, but just to try and figure what about her had convinced Vince to settle down with her in the first place. He had just been trying to figure what about her was appealing to Vince, who normally went for the skankiest of the skanky, not the blonde girl next door who was looking for a commitment longer than until sunrise.

But both Gem and Vince had taken it the wrong way. Add to that what he had left Vince and Mia to go through without support from their family and he could even understand why Gem would have a very negative view of him and the hold he seemed to have over the rest of his team. But knowing that he had given her every reason to think he was everything his sister and former best friend had built him up to be, how was he now going to convince her that he wasn't so bad and was deserving of a chance to explain his side of the story? If he didn't find a way he might never have a relationship with his baby sister again. To say nothing of a friend who had been more like a brother to him ever since they were eight.

He wanted to set that all aside and fix what he had with Letty first. But he didn't think that was an option. He was going to have to try and fix both issues at once. He rubbed his head with a sigh. He just wished he had some idea how.

♫

Gem marched off the stage purposefully as soon as she had her bass disconnected from the amp. Rather than return to the green room as she normally would have done, she walked to the back room of the bar and stowed her bass there. She was in no mood to talk to Vince and did not want to see him out back, away from the prying eyes of the crowd. At least on stage they were in public and it limited what he could say, what interaction they could have.

When she left the back room and stood beside the bar, tying her apron on, it was a total shock to find out that he had respected her wishes and left. She had honestly expected to be avoiding him for the rest of the night as he sat in his corner and sulked while he drank. She was ashamed of herself for her feeling of bereftness that he wasn't there. Was that what she was reduced to? Being willing to be treated badly and feel bad about herself over a man she thought she simply had to have in her life? What had she been thinking, letting him stick around tonight? Mia would have every right to be pissed off at her when they saw each other next. She had gone and done the exact thing she had committed not to do anymore.

With a shake of her head she went back to work, willing her mind onto other subjects. The subject of Vince and how things were with him was a tired one. She had played it out in her head over and over again. The outcome was favourable only in her day dreams. In any semblance of reality he drank himself into an early grave and she worked the Cobalt for the rest of her life and rented a room in Mia's huge house she got when she was a doctor. She got to watch her friend be happy, live her dreams and have a family. All while she pined for 'the good old days' and 'what might have been, had I made it big in Los Angeles' and forgot to really live what was left of her life.

She had two interviews to conduct the next day for the position of lead guitarist in her band. Even though she was sure neither of them would be what she was looking for, the thought that one of them might be still filled her with dread. When she found a new guitarist that would truly be the end. She would finally have to accept that her time with Vince was over. Final with a big, permanent, period. She sighed. Time to get on with her night. More pretending to be happy while she waited on genuinely happy people. Something had to give, and soon. How long could she go on living like she was a zombie inside while she tried to give off a normal front to the rest of the world?

The rest of the night passed swiftly, a small blessing Gem was very thankful for as she slid into the comfort of her Solara and headed for home. It was up early in the morning for her, back to the café for Mia. The café was starting to get to her. Go figure, what with everything else in her life falling to pieces. It wasn't in any way interesting to her. Working in a restaurant was what she had left home to avoid. Granted, running Mia's sandwich counter all day wasn't anywhere near as complicated as running her parent's place would have been, but it still wasn't what she wanted to do. Could she tough it out long enough for Mia to finish school? She was starting to doubt it highly. Could the place afford to pay the wages for someone else to work there during the day?

She would have to ask Mia about it soon. Working two jobs left her no time for herself, almost no time for her music, and no time to even think about practising with Tamica and Elliot during the week.

When she walked into the apartment it was to find every light off and Mia already in bed. With a grateful sigh Gem fell into her own bed after pausing only long enough to change into her night clothes. She fell asleep almost immediately for once and slept the night through, thoroughly exhausted.

She woke up the next morning later than she had been waking and wandered out to the kitchen to find Mia still drinking her first cup of coffee. "Morning," she yawned.

Mia did a double take. "Morning. How are you?"

"Tired, but ok otherwise. You?" Gem helped herself to the coffee before sitting down. She took a sip and grimaced before taking another one. Coffee was a necessary evil for her. No amount of cream and sugar could make it taste good, just tolerable.

"Surprised. Why are you still home?"

"I'm not going to leave for work so early anymore. There's no need."

"Good. You sure you're ok, after last night I mean?"

Gem's eyebrows drew together and her head cocked to the side as she thought about Mia's question. "I'm surprisingly alright." She nodded as if to confirm her statement. She was alright. Still not back to normal, but just–alright. "I have two interviews to do this afternoon in the hope of finding a new guitarist so it would be really super if you could try to make sure you get to Toretto's on time."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Mia answered before rising from the table and rinsing her mug before putting it in the dishwasher. "And if it was going to be I'd make sure it wasn't now that I know. I want you to find someone else soon, so that both of you can stop this game you're playing at–being half in and half out of each other's lives."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, finally. Just don't get your hopes up too high. These are auditionees number eight and nine and so far no one has even been remotely talented and able to read sheet music at the same time."

"Why's that so important?"

"Because I can't play the song for them, only write the score. If they can't read the notes on the page, if they have to wait to hear the song played how I want it played, they'll never know it. I'm just not good enough at the guitar to play it for them well enough for them to pick it up how it has to be played. Whoever ends up playing guitar for us has to be able to read written music. Even being proficient at tablature would be ok, but not only being able to pick up new stuff by ear. Most of all, they have to be able to interpret the song the way I feel it, not just the way I wrote it." Gem waved her arms around in front of her body to illustrate her inability to find the words she wanted for what she was trying to say. "I'm not sure how much of how well Vince played in Indigo was because of how good he was, and how much of it was because of how well he knew me and what I was trying to convey with my music."

"I never knew playing guitar in a band was so complicated. Vince managed to play in one rock or metal band after another in high school."

"Yeah, and most people who play in high school bands learn the cover songs they play off tabs or by ear, not sheet music. Heck, I picked up bass by ear but then I learned to read music in high school band. Add the fact that I need an adult to all that and it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack." Gem tossed her hands up in irritation.

"How can you say you need an adult when you've made due with Vince all this time?" Mia asked with a one sided smile.

Gem laughed, she couldn't help it. "I don't know." She turned serious. "Vince was quite adult when it came to feeling responsible for everything, including showing up on Thursday nights."

"Yeah, he sure did take on all the responsibility for a lot of what went on didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did."

Like neither girl knew where to take the conversation after that, they both trailed off. They stayed in the kitchen another moment or two, each lost in her own thoughts, before Mia noticed the time.

"Shoot! We both better get moves on if we don't want to be late."

Gem looked at the clock. "Aw man, you're right."

Within fifteen minutes they were sharing the elevator car on the way to the ground level. Each went her separate way in the parking lot.

♫

It was about ten o'clock. She stood outside the café that one short year ago she would have felt free to walk into, help herself to a cold drink from the cooler, sit down at the counter and shoot the breeze with Mia for a few minutes or even hours. Now she stood in the shadows at the side of the building, nervous as hell of walking into the interior and trying to talk to Mia's blonde friend. Mia's blonde haired, blue eyed, new best friend.

Damn that stung. They got to run for a year with no home and no clue what was going on with the only life they had ever known. Mia got to go back to school and got a new best friend. A normal, female best friend who acted like a girl and wore female clothes and didn't work in a garage. Mia hadn't had to put up with talking to no one but Leon and Dominic for a whole year. She got to come home and find out Mia had replaced her with rock star Barbie.

On some level, she knew Mia's life in the year previous hadn't been the lark she was making it out to be in her own head. But she was still hurting from finding out she had been replaced from Mia's life. Replaced with someone who fit better. Someone normal, like Mia. Someone who liked to cook and wear girly clothes and go shopping and drink wine, not swill beer right out of the bottle. Someone who was content to go to races and just be there, not someone who felt the need to out-race, out-cuss, out-tough, and just generally out-badass all the guys.

While they'd been running around Mexico, running like hell away from a non-existent threat and living day to day, Mia and Vince had been rebuilding their lives and moving on. Her world felt like it had paused one day last August and hadn't started again until just now, just when she had arrived back in L.A. It was like she had been living a huge nightmare since then and was just waking up now that she was home again. But things in the real world weren't the same as before she had gone to sleep. Like Van Winkle, it was like she had slept through a whole year, only to wake up and find that time hadn't stopped while she slumbered.

Time had marched on. While things had stagnated in Mexico, it seemed things had changed and developed in California. All their stuff was packed up from the house, just like they had never existed. Mia had replaced them with someone else in her life. Vince played guitar in a band and ran the garage. And what had happened in the desert had been the catalyst for all that change. It just went to prove that change wasn't always a good thing. Of course, if you believed Mia, change had been a very good thing in California. That was until they came home from running and ruined it all, at least.

Now it fell to them, her, Dominic and Leon, to try and claw back some of the past. Damn it, she wanted to wake up! Wake up and find out that life was back the way it was before. Before Dom and Vince got their way and they did the stupid truck heists, before Jesse died, before they spent a year running away from their family and the reality of that life. She didn't want to face the reality of trying to make a new life. She just wanted the old one back. But since that wasn't an option, she had to try and salvage as much of the old to bring into the new as she could.

Convince Gem, Mia had told Dominic. The self same Gem who had told Leon he didn't have a thing to say that she wanted to hear. How was hard headed Dom going to succeed where charming green eyes had failed? He wasn't likely going to. So when Mia had said they needed to change Gem's mind, her mind had been made up in that moment. She would try and convince Gem to hear Dom out before he got his courage together and went to talk to her. The more they wore on Gem's resolve the better, right?

On that thought Letty pushed away from the hood of her car with a sigh and started toward the large open front of the café. She pulled her pants up as she went. When she stepped up into the store front she pushed her shades onto the top of her head and tugged her ponytail tighter nervously. It was one of her only nervous fidgets. She wouldn't allow herself to have any that gave away the fact she was unsure. They had to be things she could pawn off as normal behaviour.

Seeing Gem had yet to notice her, she sat down and picked up one of the paper menus on the counter. She could only figure she had made a noise because Gem turned to her a second later.

"Get you anything?"

Letty realized that she could pinpoint the exact moment awareness of who she had just offered to help came over Gem. Her eyes went from merely bored to cold. "Naw, I'm good," she answered the question anyway. "You got a minute?"

"Yeah, only because Mia doesn't get out of school for two more hours. I'm pretty much a captive audience."

Letty sighed at the hostility. "I wanna talk to you about everything."

"What do you have to say that Leon didn't already?"

"I got some experience in how Dominic works that Leon don't."

"I don't care how Dominic works, or thinks, or acts, because he will never be a part of my life."

Letty watched as Gem attempted to suppress a shudder. Gem really didn't like Dom at all. At least she wouldn't be chasing after him, Letty mused candidly. "But he's really changed since we got back. I'm not just sayin' that either. Ok, maybe not since we got back, but in the last few days. He's trying to make it up to everyone, but he can't do that if no one will talk to him 'cause they're on your side and know you sure ain't on his."

"That isn't going to change. I can't believe I'm even talking to you! You of all people, who thought I was after the pig you date from the minute you met me." It was like the reason why Letty didn't like her washed over Gem in that moment. Because the Latina woman was scared that she would be after the 'king of the streets'. As if she would have ever chosen someone like Dominic over someone like Vince. She would take hardworking and dependable over a selfish, conceited pig any day. Image wasn't anything to her and that was all Dominic had to offer, in her opinion. The image he portrayed of a street racing king–legend. And Gem simply didn't care about any of it.

Letty looked like she had an angry retort to make to Gem's statement, of course being Letty she did have an angry retort, but she managed to keep it to herself. She knew that being a bitch wasn't the way to make Gem really hear her point. But damn, old habits were hard to break. "He gave me good reason to be suspicious of any girl around this place one too many times I guess."

Gem looked at Letty in shock when Letty made her admission. It was the last thing she had expected to hear. "Than why did you stay with him so long?"

Letty shrugged. "Dunno really." She looked up at Gem and saw some of the ice blue was gone from her aquamarine eyes. The only way to break through to the other side was to be honest, and Letty knew it. Being a bad ass just wasn't going to cut it. "Ok, that's a lie. Because he's Dom. You don't know him so you don't understand. He's just like gravity. He has the field around him that just pulls people in. I guess I was just always an easy target for his pull. I had a crush on him from the time I turned twelve."

"You were into boys that young?"

Letty grinned, lost in her thoughts. "Yeah, but I was into cars way before that, and way more than boys at first too. And Dom's dad owned the local garage, let us all hang out there on weekends and help. I guess my feelings for Dom grew the more I hung out around him at the shop. And he started to have some for me around my sixteenth. He has this," Letty waved her hands around in the air in front of herself, unable to find words for what she wanted to say, "intensity. I can't explain it so I won't even try. But he's hard to say no to once you're pulled in. You're the first person I can ever remember that didn't get sucked down into caring what he thought about you the moment you met him. Just look at Brian. He was a cop and he knew all the dirt about Dom there was to know before they ever met too. But Brian still got sucked right down into Dom's world. Just like everyone else. Everyone but you."

"After what he, and the two of you, did to Vince and Mia, why would I care what he thought about me? If he's going to do things like that to his sister and best friend, why would anyone care what he thought about them?"

"He made a mistake." Letty cut Gem off as she went to retort to her statement. "Yeah, he made a huge fuckin' mistake. A huge, stupid, selfish mistake. And so did Leon and I for allowing it to go so far and for not standing up to him and insisting to come home or find out what was going on up here at least. But Dom did a lot of good before he did that one really stupid, selfish, bad thing."

"Like cheat on his long time girlfriend all the time and try to keep his best friend subservient by making him think he liked being nothing but a less than intelligent follower. Like showing you all time and time again how easy it would be for the big bad king of the streets to replace you all," Gem said, frowning.

Realizing it wasn't going very well, Letty brought out her big guns. "Like raise Mia when their father was killed and she woulda went into foster care if he didn't fight to keep her, keep her in the house she grew up in. It would have been easier for twenty year old Dominic to let the state take seventeen year old Mia away from him. What twenty year old guy wants to be raising his little sister? If he hadn't been dating me already taking care of Mia would have put a big crimp in his chances of meeting girls, but Dom didn't care about any of that. She was his sister and there was no question that she would stay with him. There wasn't any selfishness in that."

"But like you said, she was his blood. How he's treated Mia isn't totally applicable to how he's treated everyone else."

"There's more Dom's done that wasn't selfish. Like give Jesse and Leon a place to live when they didn't have no where and would'a been living in their cars if he hadn't taken them in. Like give them jobs. Like keep us all together as a family when we could'a been spilt up all over California. Like work his ass off to keep the garage running and keep the house paid for and keep food on the table. Yeah, he ain't a saint. He messed around on me more than once because it was so easy to do. Yeah, he used Vince to do a lot of his dirty work.

"But what you're not mentioning is how Vince allowed it. How it made V's life easier so he didn't push it. How I enabled him to keep on doing what he was doing by taking him back time after time. But he's really trying now. I'm gonna give him one more chance not to fuck up this time. I'd really appreciate it if you would too. I think, in the long run, Mia and Vince would appreciate it more than you think, too. We were more than just a team. We were a family once. We could be again, but it all hinges on you."

"How do you figure?" Gem wasn't being obtuse. She really didn't see how she could possibly play such a pivotal role in the whole situation. If Vince and Mia wanted to forgive Dom they would. As she and Vince weren't even speaking, she didn't know what she had to do with Vince's desire to forgive Dominic.

"Because Mia won't even entertain thoughts of hearing Dom out if you still hate him. She told him as much. She said she won't have anything to do with him if she thinks it'll make you uncomfortable. And Vince is still so angry about everything that he won't talk to any of us. Well, 'cept Leon and since Leon could charm penguins into buying ice that don't count," Letty grinned cheekily.

"Those green eyes were pretty persuasive." Gem couldn't totally suppress the smile the lifted the corners of her mouth either. Leon had managed to make her both hear him out and think on what he said. So Letty was no slouch herself in the charm regard. Gem couldn't fathom why she was still hearing the dark haired girl out.

She figured it likely had something to do with the fact that opening herself and her feelings up for the scrutiny of strangers wasn't something Letty did a lot of. Gem could just sense it. She was pretty much baring her soul to try and have a shot at having her family back. It meant something to Gem, it really did. She just didn't know if it meant enough for her to look the other way on her feelings of discuss and hatred of Dominic and allow him to say his piece. Of course, it might also have something to do with the fact she was very well aware how much it would hurt to have a boyfriend who cheated on you all the time, and because you were so in love with him you couldn't or wouldn't leave him.

She kept coming back to one thought, ever since Letty had stopped speaking. Did she really have the right to continue to be the reason that Mia couldn't have a relationship with her brother? Even if she couldn't forgive Dom, or at least come to tolerate him, did she not owe it to Mia to give her blessing for her to have her family around if she was so inclined? It just didn't feel fair for her to be the reason why Mia couldn't have a relationship with her brother if she wanted one. And if Mia was only saying she wouldn't entertain seeing him again because of what it would do to her, that wasn't right.

"I can promise you that I'll tell Mia I don't mind if she wants to see Dominic again. I can't promise you that I'll ever forgive him or want anything to do with him."

"Thank you for that much, but do you think you could at least just hear him out if he comes around here to talk? Just ten minutes even."

"I'll see what happens if the situation ever comes up, ok?"

"Sure. It's more than I thought you'd offer, to be honest." Letty stood up from the counter. "I better get back to the garage before they miss me gone."

"Alright. See you."

"Maybe you will," Letty answered enigmatically before walking out the door. A moment later Gem heard her car start up and saw it drive off down the road toward DT. She existed in her own world until Mia showed up at twelve sharp to relieve her. Instead of taking off right away she moved to the 'customer' side of the counter and sat.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Rather than answer her question Gem looked up at Mia from her seat with questions of her own in her eyes. "You do know that I wouldn't stand in your way or pass judgement or stop being your friend if you wanted to start seeing your brother again, right?"

"Yeah, I know that," Mia answered, her tone belaying the fact that she thought the issue shouldn't even be a question. "Why?"

"Because Letty was in here earlier. She wanted to talk me into talking to Dom because she thinks that you won't have anything to do with him or the rest of them until I forgive Dom."

Mia knew instinctively she couldn't tell Gem that she had put the idea into their heads to try and find a catalyst for Gem and Dom having it out so that each could see how the other really was and perhaps end up finalizing some things. She knew that Gem would resent it. She shrugged. "I don't know what they're thinking, other than that maybe because we're such good friends that if he manages to win you over that you'll come back to me and try to smooth things over."

"Could things be smoothed over with you Mia? Could you forgive him for abandoning you here to deal with Vince in the aftermath of what happened and for leaving you here to death with making final arrangements for Jesse all alone?"

"I think so, in the end. I mean, he's my brother. Couldn't you forgive Doug and Nick almost anything in the end, with enough time? We were raised together and he was all I had after dad died. Am I supposed to throw him away forever over something really stupid he did now that he knows how much he hurt me?"

Gem shrugged in answer, even though she knew the answer was yes she could forgive her brothers almost anything with time and no, Mia wasn't supposed to forget she had a brother over what he had done. "Does he really know how badly he hurt you and Vince with what he did though? Does Dominic have it in him to see things from someone else's point of view that clearly?"

"The old Dom likely wouldn't have, no. But the way he is now, he just might. He's different since they came back. Not right since, but since the last few days." Mia realized she was going to have to admit how she knew Dom had matured in a lot of ways. "He came down to the Cobalt on Thursday because he and Letty wanted to see Vince play. He was just, different. He was treating Letty like she was a lady and he knew she was alive. It was just strange, but in a good way. He even admitted he had been behaving like an asshole."

"Before everything, was he really as nice as Letty said?" Gem wanted to understand. Everything felt so unsettled again, and she needed Mia's info to attempt to put everything straight again. "Did he really take Jesse and Leon in just because they had no where else to go?"

"Yeah. He's a lot like Dad in that way. Dad kept Letty and Vince because they didn't have anywhere else to go. Dom gave Jesse and Leon a place to stay and a job for that same reason. He saw they were running from something that no one should have to deal with and he gave them a place to stop running. Dom's not perfect. He's always had an impulse control issue. Just look at what he did to Kenny Linder. But I just think he might have a chance to work past it all now. But he still has to atone to everyone he wronged first. And that means he has to at least explain himself to you and Vince."

"He didn't really wrong me. I wasn't a part of your world back then."

"He wronged you when he barged back into our lives and acted in such a way as to make Vince think life with Dom was again going to be same stuff, different day. Maybe it wasn't as direct for you as it was for the rest of us, but he still managed to hurt your feelings. And it was his own actions that made you hate him. You heard about them second hand, but they all still happened."

"I guess. Why hasn't he explained to Vince yet?"

"He's tried. Vince won't give him the time of day. Of course, with Vince drunk over half the time and hung over and nasty the rest, I guess it'd be hard to explain anything to him."

"Not that it isn't when he's in a good mood and sober either," Gem answered. "So you think I should hear Dom out if, and I stress if, he comes around to try and talk to me?"

"Yeah. I think if Vince hears you heard Dom out, he just might. And if he does than even if he can't forgive Dom for what he did, it just might stop eating him from inside the way it is now."

"Ok, I'm not going to go looking to talk to Dom, but if he comes looking for me I'll give him a few minutes before I send him packing. Ok?"

"Sure." Mia looked at the clock. "You should go if you don't want to miss your meeting at the Cobalt."

Gem checked her watch. "Darn! I'll have to really rush if I'm going to make it on time."

Mia didn't miss the glint of pleasure that entered Gem's eyes. "Yeah, you look really put out about that."

Gem laughed. She was busted. "Ok, maybe now that I have a nice car that's not going to fall apart around me I enjoy going fast every once in awhile."

"That's how it starts Gem! You just wait. You'll be racing that car in no time."

"Don't hold your breath!" Gem called back over her shoulder as she made her way out into the sun and over to her car. She started it and backed out of her spot before heading toward the Cobalt, where Barry had generously allowed her to hold her auditions.

She rushed into the bar after parking the car. She was ten minutes late. Thankfully, she had set up the first audition for half an hour after she had planned to meet Elliott and Tamica. She rushed up to her two friends after she pushed through the door. "I'm so sorry I'm late!" she rushed to explain. "I was talking to Mia and lost track of time."

"It's ok Gem. The first one doesn't show up until half an hour after you decided we should meet up, remember?"

"I guess it was a good thing too, huh Elliott?"

"If you're going to be running late on purpose so you can speed to your destinations, then yes, it's a good idea." Elliott grinned.

"You got me!" Gem admitted with a chuckle. "So, no sign of the first one yet?"

"Not yet. Its ten minutes 'til you told him to be here though."

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you should always show up fifteen minutes early to an appointment, Tamica? Good first impressions and all that."

Before Tamica could answer, the door of the Cobalt opened, allowing a slice of daylight to intrude into the darkened interior before the door swung shut again and left the bar again in shadows. Gem and her two friends were at the front of the room, beside the stage. The door was in the back wall, so the newcomer had to walk across the entire bar to reach them.

"This the auditions for Indigo Sound?"

The guy couldn't have been much more than twenty or twenty-one, Gem mused as she looked at him. He wasn't really anything to look at. He didn't have Elliott's flair for extreme colours or Tamica's flair for unique outfits. Gem noted his medium brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was of average height and weight as well. Gem thought, looking at him, that he might just be her counterpart in the male world. He was just–average. She hoped against hope that his guitar skills were anything but. "Yes it is. I'm Gem Davis, I sing lead, write our songs and music and play bass. This is Elliott, who plays drums and this is Tamica who plays piano slash keyboards, programs a lot of the alternative instrument lines into the keyboard and sings back up vocals too." Gem introduced everyone.

"I'm Kevin. How is this going to work?"

"Well, I have a song I want you to play. If you manage to play the first song on your own I'm going to give you a second song and we're going to play it together. Ok?"

Kevin shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

He moved to set up his guitar. Gem and her friends shared a look. Kevin really didn't have the attitude they were looking for, if his actions so far were anything to go by. Once he had his guitar plugged in Gem handed over the sheet music for the song. "I'll give you a few minutes to look that over, and you can feel free to use the music stand if you want to read along as you play."

"About that," Kevin looked slightly nervous. "I don't actually read sheet music."

"Ok," Gem fought an irate sigh. What part of 'must read music' had been so hard for all these people to understand? Had they read her add at all? "Do you understand tabs?" It wasn't her preferred way for their guitarist to learn their music, but she'd put up with it for someone who was good and fit in well.

"Yeah."

Gem gave him the sheets of tablature to look over. "You can go ahead when you're ready." The song she had given him was for Third Eye Blind's 'Semi-charmed kinda life'. It wasn't really the kind of music they played, but it was mildly challenging for a guitarist. She just hoped that Kevin didn't already, by some twist of fate, know the song off by heart.

After a moment of mock strumming and intense reading, Kevin put pick to strings and started to play the song. He wasn't that bad, but he wasn't fantastic either. Gem figured that he could become quite good, but it was going to take time and effort, both on his part and on the part of someone who would have to teach him to read music and the finer parts of playing the guitar in a band which wasn't based around screaming and heavy metal.

But he was still good enough that she intended to let him finish the first song and give him the second one, the one that the rest of the band would join in on to see how well he blended into their group. "That was pretty good," she said once Kevin had finished the song. She walked over to him and handed him the second set of sheets. "This is the second song I want you to do. We're going to play it with you to see how we function as a group."

"Ok."

Gem unpacked her bass from its case and jacked it into the amp. She couldn't stop the look of love that crossed over her face as she handled the blue instrument. So much in her life couldn't be held steady. But her bass, it was always there. Always ready to be played and always waiting on her.

The second song she had chosen to use for the auditions was 'Missing You' by Jem. The irony wasn't lost on her, given the artist's name, plus it was a good song which would challenge any guitarist they auditioned to pick it up in a few minutes. She turned to the rest of the band. "You all ready?"

Everyone nodded. Kevin looked pretty grim. "I don't know this song. How'm I supposed to play it if I never heard it before?"

"That's why I was looking for someone who read sheet music. We don't play cover songs very often, so you won't be able to pick up our music by hearing someone else play it on the radio. I don't play guitar well enough to play the songs for you either. You have to be able to pick them up on your own."

"How did you get by without a guitarist so far?"

"We have someone right now, but he needs to stop so we need to replace him soon."

"I'll try to play this, but I'm not sure if I can figure it out without hearing the song first."

"Just try," Gem told him with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "You start the song off, so whenever you're ready."

Kevin started to play and everyone else came in when appropriate. "I wish this could be a happy song. But my happiness disappeared the moment you were gone. Don't think I ever believed that this day would come. Now all I'm feeling is lost and numb."

They made it through the whole song, though not without incident. Gem shot Tamica a look behind Kevin's back. To make him work in their band he would need a lot of practise and help. It was time they really didn't want to invest. But Gem was starting to get scared they were not going to find anyone willing to be in their band who could just walk into Vince's place. There didn't seem to be anyone.

"Ok, well thanks for coming out Kevin. We have your number and once we've made a final decision we'll let you know, ok?"

"Sure," Kevin replied, without much enthusiasm. He packed up his guitar and left the Cobalt.

"That went well," Elliott drawled sarcastically.

"He was better than a lot of the others," Tamica offered, trying to be positive.

"Yes he was, but he still wasn't good enough for what we need. He barely got through the song off the tabs. Some of our more complicated songs would go right over his head."

"So we'll keep looking Gem, what else is there to do? If we can't keep Vince than we either find someone else or we rework all your songs for acoustic and you learn to play."

"We can't have a band with no bass and only one acoustic guitar. Where have you ever seen something like that before?" Gem asked Tamica. She was starting to get upset at what she perceived as her continued failure to find another guitarist.

"There's no chance we could talk Vince into deciding to play with us forever is there?" Elliott asked.

Tamica shot him a dirty look as Gem looked up with hurt in her eyes. "No," she answered softly.

"I'm sorry Gem. I didn't think about the other reasons why we need to replace him. I didn't mean it to come out the way it did," Elliott said as he put an arm around Gem's shoulders and squeezed her.

"It's ok Elliott, really. I'm ok. But even if we were still together, we knew he wanted out sooner or later. It's not exactly news to us that he didn't want to play with us forever. I know it was my decision to kick him out of the band, but we always knew he'd come looking for the same thing someday. It just happened sooner than later is all. You guys are right, we'll find someone. There's someone else coming in about five minutes and if he doesn't work out than we'll just keep on looking."

"Yeah, we'll find someone," Tamica said, sounding like she was trying to reassure herself as much as her two friends.

They were alerted to the presence of the next auditionee by the bar filling with natural light again.

"Hey there. You here to audition for Indigo Sound?" Gem asked the young man.

"Yeah. I'm Damien."

Damien was wearing jeans hanging very low around his hips. The jeans were very wide legged, and fell so low they eclipsed his shoes. He had a black tee shirt on, the logo of a skateboard manufacture on the front. He had both his ears pierced, an elaborate but small silver hoop in each one. His hair was jet black and straight. It fell across his forehead from part which ran down the left of his head, rather than the center, and around his ears in razor cut chunks. He had a small hoop wrapped around the lower left of his bottom lip and his right eyebrow was also pierced. The barbell in his eyebrow had balls which were coloured in blue and green swirls. It brought out the hazel of his eyes nicely. He was tall, though not quite as tall as Vince, standing about six feet instead of Vince's six two. In addition to his guitar, which was in a soft canvas gig bag and not a hard shell case he also had a khaki green canvas military surplus bag slung over his shoulder. The headphones of an Ipod snaked out of the bag and into his ears.

He looked like a skateboarder to Gem. In short, he really didn't look a thing like what she thought the next guitarist of Indigo Sound would look like. At this stage of the game, she wasn't willing to dismiss anyone out of hand over their appearance though. If he could read sheet music and actually play his instrument he was going on her list of people to have a second audition. That would make his chances pretty good, since he'd be the only one on the list to date.

"Well, I'm Gem, that's Elliott and that's Tamica. Go ahead and connect your guitar." She gestured toward the stage.

Damien moved onto the stage and started to unpack his instrument. He pulled a guitar almost looking tiger striped out of the soft side bag.

"What kind of guitar is that?" Gem asked.

"Gibson Joe Perry 'Boneyard' Les Paul," he answered rapid-fire. "You know much about guitars?"

"No, but if you know that much about them you'd get along well with Vince, our last guitar player. His is a Les Paul too, but I don't know exactly what kind."

"What's it look like?"

"Like a cream and black bullseye."

"Ah, the Zakk Wylde Signature. Nice."

Gem shrugged. "I know a lot about basses but not so much about guitars. It could be the kind you said, I suppose."

"That a Sonus you play?"

Gem looked shocked. "Yeah, I've never had anyone guess what it was like that. Zon isn't the most well known company unless you're talking to a fellow bass fanatic."

"Yeah, but the bassist of Third Eye Blind has a custom Zon based on the Sonus platform and I'm a bit of a closet Third Eye Blind fan."

Considering the first song they were going to ask him to play, that was likely a good thing, Gem mused. "Me too," was all she said.

"So, do you read sheet music?" Tamica asked, conversationally.

"Yeah, read music, tabs, play by ear. Whatever works."

The three current band members shared a look. He read music?

"Well, here's the first thing we'd like you to play." Gem handed over the sheet music for 'Semi-Charmed Kinda Life' and watched as Damien looked it over slowly before setting it down and mock strumming his guitar a few times. He looked the music over again before setting it aside. "Ok, I'm ready. What would you like me to do?"

"Just play," Gem said, with a shrug. There was nothing to it other than that.

With a shrug of his own Damien launched into the song. Gem leaned over to Tamica after watching Damien play for about a minute. "He's pretty good," she whispered.

"No kidding. He really doesn't have our look though."

"I frankly don't care at this point. If he blends as well playing with us as he does up there alone, plus can read music I don't care if he goes out and gets a hundred more piercings. We're not in a position to dismiss anyone over looks at this point."

"You got that right," Elliott broke in. "He's for real."

Damien finished the song as Gem nodded her agreement with Elliott's statement. She walked closer to the stage. "Ok, now we're all going to perform the next song to see how we work as a band, alright?"

"Sure."

Gem gave him the music for the second song and they all took the stage. The song went very well. Damien had talent and it wasn't hard to see. They all left the stage when they finished and Damien put his guitar away in its bag.

"So, when were you going to make a final decision on who you're picking?" he asked Gem once he had his guitar safely stowed away.

He seemed genuinely interested in being chosen. He wasn't the first person who had, but he was the first who wasn't awful and hoping they would pick them anyway out of desperation. Gem found herself wondering if there was a catch. Was he only eighteen, or a drug addict? "We didn't really get as far as talking about that part," Gem admitted. "But to be honest you're the only person we've auditioned so far that even came remotely close to what we're looking for. My instinct is to ask you to show up here on Thursday at eight pm to see us play and if you like what you see when we're singing our own stuff we can go from there."

"How are you going to play if you don't have a guitarist?"

"We do have one right now, but he needs out for other commitments," Gem answered vaguely. She looked at Damien. "I have to ask. Why are you willing to join this band?"

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone else bailed when they found out there wasn't any money in it yet, or they were so untalented it was obvious they were hoping we were simply desperate enough to overlook how bad they were. But you're good. So why are you seriously wanting to do this? It's not that sweet of a gig."

"I want to play in a real band," Damien said before shrugging. "I don't want to play other people's shit. I want to be involved in creating something interesting and new. I'll show up on Thursday night. If I still like what I see and think I have something to contribute, and you still think I'm what you're looking for, we'll talk more after, ok?"

"Yeah, that sounds perfect," Gem answered. Damien turned to leave. "See you!" she called after him. He waved, looking back over his shoulder. Once the door closed behind him Gem looked at Tamica and Elliott. "I think we just found our permanent guitarist."

After letting that sink in for a moment it was like it finally occurred to all three that now they didn't have to worry about Vince abandoning them with a moment's notice. The fell into a group hug with a happy squeal which quickly became a chuckle as they jumped up and down with their arms around each other's shoulders.

They found someone who could work out just as well in their band as Vince had. It would remain to be seen whether he was something of a guitar prodigy like Vince or not, but since he'd picked up Jem's song fast enough, it only stood to reason that he could pick up Gem's songs just as quickly.

"We shouldn't get too excited yet. What if he sees us play our own music and doesn't like what he sees?" Elliott asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Gem answered.

"How could he not like our stuff? It's good," Tamica said, her tone saying the issue was closed.

Elliott wisely gave in to her. If the girls wanted to take it on face value that Damien would want to be part of Indigo Sound than he'd allow them to feel that way. God knew Gem needed to have something go right for her. It was about time something did.

"Well, I have to go. I have a class in half an hour." Tamica headed for her messenger bag.

"I have to work tonight," Elliott said with a groan. He really wasn't fond of his day job.

"I have about four hours until I have to be right back here," Gem added. "If I don't talk to you guys sooner, I'll see you all on Thursday."

"See you then," Tamica and Elliott said in unison.

Gem waved as they walked out the door. Instead of leaving right away, as she had figured she would, citing her need to shower and get ready for work as her reasons, she stood on the stage behind the microphone, guitar slung behind her back. As she looked out over the empty bar room she slowly spaced out.

The room was packed solid with people. They were talking amongst themselves and it made a loud rushing sound in the air, as they waited for the concert to start. The air felt electric with the excitement of the crowd waiting for the show to begin. The four of them stood just off stage right, waiting for their cue to take the stage.

She was wearing a black top. It was slightly sheer and was slashed diagonally across her chest and stomach. The shirt was paired with a pair of black flair bottomed pants sitting low around her hips. Her electric blue guitar and strap seemed to glow against the starkness of her clothes. Her hair was down around her, the top layers lightened by the sun to a rich gold, and bottom layers a contrast of dark blonde, Mia's latest efforts with the scissors allowing it to have the soft waves she had come to like so much. She felt confident and excited and nervous all at once.

She glanced at Tamica, who was wearing a burnt orange and yellow swirled peasant blouse and ripped bell bottom jeans. Her hair was coffee brown and in cornrows across her scalp until it fell off in braids in the rear, falling a quarter way down her back. Tamica looked happy.

She looked to her left and saw Elliott standing there. He was wearing his trademark electric blue, button down shirt and indigo jeans. He had a set of drumsticks in his left hand and he was just grinning. His black hair was artfully spiked and arranged on his head, making his blue eyes stand out dramatically in his face.

Finally her gaze found Damien, just slightly behind Elliott on her left. He had his guitar strap around his shoulder and his tongue was toying with the silver ring in his lip. His mental gymnastics were obvious from the intense look in his eyes. No one looked scared though. They all looked like they were ready. Like they knew they had finally arrived where they were meant to be.

Their first real concert. They were ready. As the MC said their name over the PA system they took the stage. The crowd took to their feet and cheered. They plugged in their guitars, shared a look. Gem moved toward the mic.

"Gem, are you ok?"

Barry's question brought her crashing back to the real world. But it was ok. She had never allowed herself to daydream about really making it before. Surely the fact that she now was, was a good sign that her subconscious saw her making it now. Right? She shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about the future, and if we'll really have one."

"Of course you will kid. But you're going to spend the whole day here if you don't go get some supper soon. It's gone to four while you were standing there thinking."

"I should go home and see about supper and getting changed for work." Gem got down off the stage. "Thanks for letting us use the Cobalt for these auditions, Barry."

"No problem Gem. I want you to find somebody to play for you. I want to see you happy again," Barry said earnestly.

"I want to be happy again. And before that will happen I have to have the whole band situation settled. But that last guy, Damien, he was good. I think he's going to work out fine. I know we'll take him on if he likes what he sees on Thursday and is still interested."

"He sounded pretty good with you guys. But why didn't you play one of your own songs?"

"I don't know why I didn't want to audition people with our own music. I think because I just wanted him to play, I didn't want him to pass judgment on what he was playing or judge me as a songwriter before we even knew how well he would fit in. I just wanted him to judge the band on how well we handle our respective roles, not judge us for my creative ability."

"I guess that makes sense. Go home," Barry pointed toward the door.

Gem laughed. "Ok, I'm going already. See you at six."

"See you then."

Gem drove home, showered and dressed for work before starting supper for her and Mia. Mia cooked a lot of the time, but since she had nothing better to do, she figured she'd give Mia a night off. She made chicken caeser salad, not in the mood for anything heavier, and when Mia got home they sat down to their meal.

"So, how'd the auditions go?" Mia watched as her question caused Gem's face not to fall, as she had expected, but to glow with happiness.

"Excellent! I think we found somebody. He was really good and seems interested in playing with us. He's going to come down to the Cobalt on Thursday to see what he thinks and if he thinks he'd like to play with us and we still think he'd fit in I guess he's going to be our new guitarist. He even plays the same style of guitar as Vince, so his sound won't be all that different from what we're use to."

"So that means that this week will likely be the last time you need Vince to play with you?"

"I guess so," Gem answered.

Admitting it didn't hurt her as much as she thought it would. There was a bittersweet feeling to it. It was the end of a very important period in her life, and the end of Indigo Sound the way it had been born. But that didn't mean it couldn't be just as good, if not better, once it was reborn. It would be better to have Damien onboard, knowing playing guitar in a band was something he wanted to do than have Vince and always be wondering when he was finally going to get bored and leave them.

"Well, that's good."

"Yeah, yeah it is good. We can finally look to the future with a serious eye to creating something we can build on, instead of always waiting for the other shoe to drop with Vince."

"I know what you mean. I still wish there was a way for us to make having him and the rest of the guys in our lives without always thinking about what they did and if they'll do something like that again. Without it preventing you from moving on with your life and meeting other guys who might be better suited to your life and personality."

"Well Mia," Gem started. She couldn't believe she was about to say what she was about to say. "You never know what the future might bring. All you can do is sit back and see how it goes."

With that Gem finished her last bite of salad and stood up. She put her dishes in the dishwasher and headed for her room after giving the shocked Mia a sunny smile on her way by.

With a shake of her head Mia finished her meal. The progress Gem had made since finding this Damien person was astounding. If she didn't fall right back into a well of depression after Damien started to play and she stopped seeing Vince all together that was. Mia shrugged. Like Gem had just said, all she could do was sit back and let the chips fall where they would.

She added her own dishes to the dishwasher and turned it on before going to her own room to get her books. She had a lot of studying to do. The sheer amount of homework generated by a program as intense as the one she had taken on never failed to astound her. Sometimes she wondered how in hell she thought she could pull off all the school work she had to and the café. She thought that she just might have to hire someone on to work the day shift and perhaps go back to her earlier plan of opening later into the evenings and doing that shift herself. It would allow Gem to go back to work for Barry full time, something her blonde friend longed for, even if she was too well mannered and too caring to give voice to it, and would allow her to hang out at the College after classes and study with her peers.

She made a note to herself on her notebook to talk to Gem about it soon. There wasn't time before Gem left for work tonight, but soon. They wouldn't have as much money left over from the café's earnings if they had to pay someone a full time salary, but that wouldn't affect Gem that much anyway. Gem used her own money from her job to pay for all her expenses. The café paid the rent and gave Mia her spending money for the month. She knew she could get by on less. Everyone had sacrificed so much to make sure she got her second chance. It wouldn't be fair to herself or to everyone who stood behind her if she didn't do her best because she put too much ahead of her education.

Mia looked up and waved good-bye as Gem left the house for work. She knew she'd be in bed long before Gem ever got home from work. Gem stayed right until the bitter end on Friday nights and Mia knew she'd never last that long if she knew she had to get up at seven to go open her café for eight.

♫

Gem was awake and watching TV when Mia got home from the café at lunch. She tossed some bags of groceries down on the counter before coming into the living room. Gem was idly tossing one of Allegro's toys while she studied the TV. When she sensed Mia's eyes on her she looked up and stretched. "Hey. How was your morning?"

"Good. How was yours?"

"Ok. I slept for most of it." Gem made a face. "Feels like all I do is work and sleep lately."

"About that," Mia started. She felt bad when Gem looked at her and didn't hide the look of horror on her face off the bat. It was clear Gem thought she was about to be asked to take on more of the responsibility for the café and dreaded saying yes, which Mia knew she would do, if it was her intent to ask Gem to take on more hours.

"What is it Mia?" Gem asked in a resigned tone.

"I think we need to hire someone to work the Monday to Friday day shift at the café. I can't handle my course load and a full time job and I won't ask you to take on any more full days there than the Monday shift you do already. You're tired all the time Gem, and it's not helping you with your issues in your life any."

"I don't know about that Mia. I mean, can we really afford to have a full time employee?"

"I think so. If someone else worked the eight to five shift than I could start staying open until eight or nine in the evening again. That would make some extra profit because it's really the only corner store in the immediate area. I could handle three or four hours a day, but these whole afternoons are killing me. And I can tell you hate working there. I think we'll be ok if we take someone on for minimum wage. I mean, you pay your own way anyway."

"No I don't. The café pays the rent and the only reason I let that slide is because I'm working there part time and not getting a direct salary. If you hire someone than I'll have to start paying my half of the rent out of my money from the Cobalt."

"No you won't. It's my idea to fire you, as it were, from Toretto's so you don't have to. We'll still be ok."

"Mia, I won't watch you kill yourself to run that place almost single-handedly and go to school full time, and get a free ride off your work at home."

"Ok, so you'll start paying half the rent separately from the half I pay. Is that going to be a problem?" Mia asked, concerned. What if Gem couldn't afford to pay half the rent?

"No it's not a problem. I have more than enough money to get by on every month when I'm not paying rent. It's been nice, but I'll get by. At least I don't have a car payment to worry about."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Mia?"

"Yeah?"

"How can someone do something so nice for someone like buy them a car and make it into something so personal, something that shows they knew you almost as well as they know themselves, and then screw you over so bad?"

Mia sat with a sigh. "Because men don't think like we do Gem. You should know this already from dealing with your brothers. They have some odd notions about what's a good idea. What brought this about?"

"I was just thinking about you and Dom. If you think you can forgive Dominic for being such an idiot, shouldn't I think I can forgive Vince for saying what he said? Yeah, it was stupid and it hurt a lot, but what about all the other, nice things he did for me, and for you before he said what he said?"

"You'll have to figure that one out on your own Gem. Besides that, you tried to talk to him. It really isn't your fault he was drunk and obnoxious and not having any of it. All I can say is the same as what I said about Dominic. We might just have to give him a chance to explain himself and take it from there. Just don't close yourself off to the possibility that one day Vince might be able to redeem himself." Mia seemed to consider her position a moment before continuing. "But I also stand by my position that you shouldn't have anything to do with him until the day he comes to you, sober, and explains himself without yelling, cussing or making excuses."

"Without cussing? Like that will ever happen!"

Both girls laughed at that. It would be a big stretch. "What are you doing until you go to work?"

"This is it," Gem said, gesturing to the room in general.

"Want to go to the beach instead?"

"Sure! That's a great idea. Just let me get my sunblock."

The girls stayed at the beach until four thirty, then they headed for home. Gem was getting changed for work when the phone rang. She snatched up her cordless. "Hello?"

"Hey Gem."

"Cory! How are you?"

"Good. What are you doin' tonight?"

"Working. What about you?"

"Well, I was wondering if you and Mia wanted to go down to races with me, but I guess you don't if you're working," Cory sighed.

"Well, I could likely get off at eleven thirty if that helps you any."

"Hell yeah! That'd be sweet if you could. I'll give you my cell phone and you can call me when you know, ok?"

"Sure, let me grab a pen." Gem got a pen and some paper and jotted down Cory's number before promising again to call him when she knew anything and hanging up. She finished dressing before going to find Mia in the living room.

"Who was on the phone?" Mia asked.

"Cory. He wants us to go racing with him tonight. I told him we would if I could get off early. You up for it?"

"Sure, it sounds like fun. How early are you going to try and get home?"

"I was thinking eleven or eleven thirty. That work ok?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Call me when you know if you're going to be able to make it or not so I can start getting ready, ok?"

"Sure. I have to call Cory when I know the same thing."

"Talk to you later then," Mia called as Gem went to walk out the door.

"Later," Gem called back and shut the door behind her.

As she figured, Barry was fine with her leaving early. It hadn't been too busy on the weekends since school had gone back in. It would pick up again when people got over the culture shock of going from having too little to do to too much. But for now, Barbara could easily handle the last three hours of the night on her own. In the end, Barry called his niece to come in for a few extra hours.

Gem rushed home and got ready. Both girls headed down to the parking lot got in their respective cars before driving to Cory's together. Cory was waiting in his car when they pulled up. They drove to the warehouse and allowed Cory to take the point of their modified v, the two blue cars bringing up the rear. They managed to find three parking spots side by side and got out of their cars.

They walked over to where Hector was hanging out and started up a conversation. They had been around the alley about half an hour or so before there was a commotion at the entrance. The attention of everyone was turned toward the source of the disturbance. The cause of the excitement became clear to the girls a moment later as the crowd parted.

A red RX-7, yellow Skyline, Purple Silvia, and blue Maxima had just rolled into the alley.

The king was back to claim his throne.

"Is that who I think it is?" Hector asked, clearly in shock.

"That's my brother," Mia answered. Her tone gave away her upset at the event.

"Great!" Cory answered. It was clearly anything but. Cory's stiff posture made that clear.

Frankly, Gem didn't care about Dominic showing up. It was the fact that Vince had chosen to come to that really upset her. Would she have to see him? Would it turn into a fight? Would he be drunk, or half way there? All she could do was wait and see.

Mia was having some similar thoughts about Dominic. Did she want to talk to him? Could she avoid a fight if she had to? They both knew it was either leave before the two groups met, or stay and see what happened.

Gem gave voice to their shared thoughts first. "So, are we staying or going?"

"I say we stay. It's a free fuckin' country," Cory growled.

Gem was once again struck by how much of Vince had rubbed off on Cory while they had been working together. "We'll stay if you want. I have no problem with it. Mia?"

"We're here now. Might as well tough it out."

Gem hopped the place was big enough that they wouldn't have to talk to Dom or anyone off his team anyway. What were the odds that peasants like them would ever be in the presence of the king himself?

They all went back to talking to Hector, and to Edwin and his friends when the dark man realized they were finally back at races for the night.

♫

Letty looked around the scene from her position next to her car. She took in the careful way Dom was keeping the racer chasers away from him. She could tell it was because of more than the fact he knew she was watching and she was glad. It gave her hope. She allowed her dark eyes to move off of Dom and over to where Vince was seated on the hood of the Maxima. He looked so much like he always looked at races. Wearing dark denims and two layered tanks, sitting on the hood of someone's car, reclined back on his palms.

Only her knowledge that all wasn't well with Vince made the differences of tonight apparent to her. His eyes looked weary and his mouth was tight. He wouldn't look at anyone but Leon and people he knew from around. It was like the rest of the team was dead to him. There had been a time when he would have been play fighting with her in the middle of the alleyway, but for all his attention to her now, she might as well have been dirt under his feet. It hurt. Her eyes scanned farther out, beyond Dom and Vince out over the rest of the crowd.

When they rested on Mia and Gem, laughing at something Edwin had said, she did a double take. Mia and Gem were at races? And was that Cory with them? If Vince saw them he was libel to freak out. Letty was torn between thinking she should point them out to him just to see him finally react to something and making sure he didn't see them so the night could retain some semblance of peace. The decision was ripped from her hands when Dom spotted Mia.

"That my sister over with Hector?"

"Yeah, it's Mia," Letty answered reluctantly. She watched Vince's interest perk up, as much as he fought to retain his bored look and not let on.

"That Cory with her?"

"Yeah, that's Cory."

"What are we gonna do about it?"

"What'd you mean what are we gonna do about it Dom? What can we do? It's a free world. We can't stop them from coming down here if they want."

"I know that Letty. I meant are we going to go talk to them, or ignore them? They know we're here. They must have been here first to be parked way down there. Is it better if we just don't say anything to them, or should we go say hi?"

Letty thought for a moment. "Well, it would be a bit strange if we didn't go say hello to Hector and Edwin. Since Mia and Gem just happen to be there with him, it would be even more strange if we didn't say hello to them too."

When he heard Gem's name Vince couldn't even pretend to hide his interest. "Did you just say what I think you just said?" he growled at Letty.

"Yeah," she answered reluctantly.

Vince stood up and looked out over the crowd. His eyes finally settled on Mia and Gem. When Dom and Letty started to head their way he decided he'd follow. He wasn't waiting alone and Leon was walking with Letty. The walk over took some time because every second person stopped Dom to welcome him back to the scene. Being the king he was, Dom couldn't pass any of them by without saying hello back and pausing to shoot the breeze for a moment.

When they finally reached their target group Hector saw Dom first. "Dominic!" he exclaimed with a smile. "It's been too long homes!"

"Hector," Dom drawled with a smile. "You got that right."

"Dom," Edwin held out his closed fist and Dom knocked his on top with a grin.

"Edwin. How we doin' this tonight?"

"You're racin?" Edwin asked. When Dom nodded yes his face lit up. "Yes! That's what I'm talkin' about."

"First race, two g buy in. Find me second, third, and fourth and you got a race."

A murmur went around the crowd. Though the buzz was huge Edwin only got two other people who wanted to race. No one knew if it was because no one wanted to take a risk on losing their money to Dom, or if it was because everyone figured Dom was washed up after his disappearance and was no longer unbeatable. It left a pause while they waited to see if a third would step up or not.

As it became more and more clear no one else was going to step forward Vince made a bold decision. With Gem's many speeches about not being a follower from necessity and being just as good as Dominic if he really wanted to be Vince walked up to where Dom and Edwin were talking in hushed tones. He handed Edwin a roll of money. "Count me in."

Edwin looked from Dom to Vince in shock. He could sense the tension underlying the situation. He made himself scarce under the guise of needing to talk to Hector to set up the street selection.

"Hell no V. We're on the same team. We don't race each other."

"We don't feel like much of a team lately Dom and I think I want to race. If I have to race against you to do it than I guess that's just the fuckin' breaks."

"Why are you doin' this V?"

Vince shrugged. "I told you. I just want to race. Since you're already in the race it just works out that we'll be racing each other."

The two hard headed men faced each other down for a few minutes but it became clear neither was going to give in.

"As long as you know I will take your money," Dom finally relented.

"Good luck with that," Vince growled back.

He knew that Dom was seriously good. He was also counting on the fact that so was he. That and the fact that Dom had only been driving the seven again for a week or two and he hadn't had a chance to race it yet. He was going to be rusty and Vince was hoping the fact that he wasn't would give him an edge. He didn't plan to lose. He didn't want to look too close at why. He knew if he did he would see he was hoping to show Gem he hadn't fallen back into being subservient to Dom.

♫

"Is it bad that Vince just threw down to race Dom?" Cory asked as he slunk back from where he had watched the confrontation.

"He what?" Mia asked in shock.

"He just threw down to race Dom. And Dom said no but Vince wouldn't back down so they're going to race. Them and two other people."

"I can't believe it. No two people off the team have ever raced in the same race. It was one of Dom's rules. They only broke it once before and it wasn't good."

"I guess Vince just forgot the rules," Gem mused out loud. She thought she had a flash of something that might have been pride when Cory made his revelation. Vince was facing down one of his demons. "Well, let's go watch. This is going to be the race of the night, after all."

"Race of the year," Mia added. "Neither my brother or Vince will ever give in. They're going to race and no matter who ends up winning it can't end well."

"Why not?" Gem asked.

"Because if Dom wins it's going to tick Vince off and he's already pretty ticked. If Vince wins it's going to crush Dom and set the whole street racing scene on its ear. I don't know if Dom has ever lost."

"Are we going to go watch, or speculate what might happen all night?" Gem asked impatiently.

"We're gonna go watch," Cory whooped.

In the end they picked the starting line to watch from. The results might be known faster at the finish, but after the race the racers would come back to the starting line, back to the warehouse, and that was where the fallout would occur. And the fallout was going to be far more interesting than the results of the race.

The four opponents lined up. Dom got preference in where to start from and he picked the far right, much as he always did. There was a car between he and Vince, who was third from the right, and one other person to the left of Vince. They sat revving their highly tuned engines as they waited for Leon to get a clear scan on the radios. He was looking from blue car to red over and over again. He didn't figure Dom and Vince going head to head was a great idea.

Look where it had ended them up the first time it had happened. Both of them in the hospital over night. Vince with a concussion and a broken bone or two in his dominant right hand and Dom with several broken ribs, a broken nose and an eye so black it was swollen shut. Vince was big but he was quick. Dom wasn't quite so good at getting out of the way.

But when it came to the streets, Leon wasn't sure how it was going to go down. As long as there wasn't a physical fight afterward, it should be ok. He returned his attention to the scanner for a moment. It felt like a quiet night in Los Angeles. That was bad news for them. A quiet night, crime wise, meant there were plenty of cops to come bust their asses if they caught wind of the 'street tension' as they liked to put it. Leon's attention left the scanner and his green eyes scanned the crowd. When his gaze fell on Mia and Gem he groaned.

In the drama which had occurred after Vince challenged Dominic, he had forgotten the girls were here. So now Dom and Vince had even more reason to fight in the alley after they fought in the street. Now it was about more than a car race, some money and some bragging rights. Now it was about who would look like the big man to Mia and Gem. And Leon knew that there was no one on earth that Vince would like to impress quite as much as the little blonde who wasn't speaking to him.

On that note he got a hit on the police band. Hostage situation in Santa Monica. Since it was a ritzy neighbourhood they'd send lots of pigs to take care of it. It should leave a small number of cops to be summoned for something as petty as street racing. He picked up his Nextel. "I got a hostage situation in Santa Monica. We're good to roll."

"You sure?" Hector asked. "This one has to go smooth homes."

"I know that better than anyone Dawg, but this is as good as it gets. Good neighbourhood so they'll send a shit load of pigs to take care of it. We're good."

"Ok, let's race then!" Hector handed his Nextel to one of the girls beside his car and lifted his hands into the air. The four cars on the line revved their engines even higher. Three of four shot flames into the night.

♫

The crowd went so wild Gem feared for her eardrums. She was so caught up with Cory in the moment she didn't even realize she was cheering just as loud as everyone else. She glanced at Mia and like she saw the fear that was there she became more subdued. "You're really worried about them aren't you?"

"I can't help it. I just can't help but fear there's more riding on this than some money."

"Well, that's true," Gem admitted as she leaned closer to Mia to make herself heard. "There's Vince's self esteem too."

"How do you figure?"

"If he beats Dom maybe he won't fall back into being under Dom's thumb."

"Yeah, and maybe one of them will kill the other too."

Gem looked at Mia in shock. "You think?"

"They came close enough last time."

"They've raced before?"

"Yeah, and Vince won. They fought and then didn't speak for over a week."

"That's not so bad."

"They didn't hate each other before the race that time," Mia reminded.

"I'll have to keep my fingers crossed than."

"Fuck, I hope C kicks his ass on the street and then in the street. Asshole has it comin'!" Cory said, bloodlust lighting his eyes.

"He's still Mia's brother!" Gem hissed in Cory's ear.

"Not like she talks to him."

"She might want to someday. I don't think she wants to see Vince kill him."

Cory shrugged. He clearly didn't care much either way.

Hector picked that moment to drop his arms and the cars took off with a squeal. The guy in the outside car fishtailed on launch and fell off the pace right away. The second car, a black Subaru, was off the pace, but still running with the two main players. The main competition was clearly between Vince and Dominic. The blue car and the red were side by side, flying down the public road.

From where they were standing it was hard to tell if one or the other ever got the edge. They both surged ahead at seemingly the exact same moment. Cory informed Gem it was likely when their nitrous had kicked in. Gem wasn't sure if she even wanted to know what nitrous was. She knew a small amount about superchargers and what they could do just because Vince had taught her enough to allow her to take good care of the Solara and be safe driving it. He hadn't put nitrous in her car and she was glad he hadn't, if that kind of speed was the result.

When they saw the tail lights of the RX-7 and Maxima come on they knew the race was over, but weren't sure who won. The results came back to Hector's Nextel a split second later.

Mia and Gem shared a look as the result flashed through the crowd like wildfire. Vince won. They watched the cars drive back, unsure what to expect. Leon and Letty rushed up to them at that moment.

"You gotta come with us!" Letty said, very wound up.

"Why?" Mia asked. Her uncomfortableness with Letty was clear.

"Because when they start to hit each other it's gonna take all of us to get them off each other."

"You think they'll actually come to blows over a car race?" Gem asked.

"Hell yes. After Dom told Vince to let it go and Vince forced his hand? No question. Plus the thing between them has been coming to a head since long before tonight."

"Let's go then," Gem capitulated with a sigh. She didn't want any contact with Vince or Dom, but she wouldn't stand back and watch them kill each other in front of half the city over a car race either.

The four of them ran over to where the two cars were just coming to shuddering halts. Both men bounded out of their cars, and just as Letty and Leon predicted, they locked up between their cars the second they reached each other.

"I told you not to race. We're supposed to be a team. We're supposed to be friends."

"You ain't no friend of mine and weren't long before you wrecked my life by coming back into it!" Vince spit out.

"I been tryin'. You won't let me fix things so how'm I supposed to? You god damn prick!"

"Mother fucker!" Vince roared before he got free of their grapple grip on each other and hauled off and punched Dom in the stomach.

The girls watched as the crowd formed a tighter circle around the two combatants, preventing them from reaching their side. They continued to try and fight their way through as Dom and Vince continued to take their issues out with their fists.

Vince shook his head as Dom landed a blow to his jaw. He swung at Dom and was satisfied by the twack his fist made against Dom's nose. Blood started gushing down the front of Dom's white shirt and he cried out with a roar. He came at Vince again, but he managed to sidestep and avoided the well aimed blow to his midsection. He used Dom's momentum against him and threw the larger man to the ground. He landed on him with a sense of déjà vu and pulled back his arm before letting his fist fly.

♫

"Let us through!" Letty yelled. When the man in front of her didn't listen she shoved him hard.

He stumbled out of her way with a curse. "Bitch."

She punched him in the face, but didn't slow down long enough to see if her blow had done enough damage to satisfy her ire over being called a bitch. His cry of outrage told her it was likely good enough. She didn't want to waste time on a visual confirmation. Not when Vince was busy killing Dom between their cars.

She spared a glance over her shoulder and saw that Cory, Leon, Gem and Mia were all on her heels. It was good. They were going to need all the help they could get to get Vince off Dom, who from where Letty was standing appeared to be unconscious. That hadn't stopped Vince. He was still landing blows.

"Vince, get the fuck offa him!" Letty roared.

Vince showed no signs of having heard her. She grabbed his upraised arm but he shook her off like a fly.

Letty took one look at the state Dom was in and started to panic. This was worse than last time. No one had gotten knocked out last time. And when they almost hit her they stopped. Vince was so caught up in his anger he didn't even realize he'd thrown her to the ground some distance behind himself. She watched as he hit Dom again. She felt perilously close to tears. If she couldn't make Vince stop, what hope did they have if the rest of the crowd would just rather watch the fight than stop it before Vince did something he couldn't take back?

When she saw Gem start his way she tried to get up fast enough to stop the foolish girl, but Gem was closer than she was. She watched, frozen in place by her fear as Gem walked right up beside Vince.

"Vince, stop this right now!" Gem screamed. "Can't you see what you've already done?"

Vince hauled back to hit Dom again.

"No!" Gem said firmly as she grabbed his arm. "You've done enough."

Much to Letty's shock, and she was sure the shock of everyone watching Vince looked at Gem and stopped. He looked down at Dom for a moment and it was like the reality of what he'd done crashed into him. He grabbed Gem around the waist and pressed the side of his face against her stomach.

As she watched his shoulders shake in remorse for what he had almost done she couldn't find it in her to push him away. She ran a hand over his hair somewhat awkwardly at first but with more confidence when he allowed it without flinching. "Are you hurt?" she asked softly of Vince. He shook his head no, still trying to get a hold of himself emotionally. "Can you help Leon get Dominic to Letty's car so she can take him to the hospital?"

He nodded yes and let her go.

Letty walked up to Mia as she watched Vince and Leon lift Dom between them and lay him in the back seat of her Silvia. She sighed, knowing that she'd be spending all day tomorrow trying to get the blood stains out of her upholstery. "That was fuckin' amazing. How'd she make him stop like that? Just with one word."

"I told you. He loves her. If there's one person in the world Vince cares about what they think of him, it's Gem. Just because they're fighting and not speaking didn't make that love go away. He'd never do anything to disappoint her. Not if he had a way around it."

Letty stood in awe of that kind of love. There was a time she'd had that with Dom. Now she could only hope they could again. If Dom wasn't dead in the back seat of her car. She shook her head. "Can she deal with him for the rest of the night?"

"Can she? Yeah. Should she? I don't know. I'm just starting to get her to the point she can talk about him without tearing up. Now she's got to marshal him all night?"

"I'll be in the ER with Dominic. I can't do it."

Mia gave in with a sigh. "We'll take care of Vince. You worry about my stupid brother."

"Thank you Mia," Letty said with a relieved sigh. "Can I call you for an update when I know more about how Dom's gonna do?"

"I guess so. Here's our number." Mia took a pen out of her bag and wrote the number on Letty's palm.

Letty rushed over to her car. Mia sent Leon with her and watched as Leon started the Skyline and followed the Silvia out of the alley. She knew Letty would need all the help she could get with Dominic. She looked around for Gem and found her standing beside the open passenger side door of her car, leaning toward the interior. She could only assume Vince was sitting in the Solara as she didn't see him anywhere else. So that would take care of how Vince was getting away. But what to do with the RX-7 and the Maxima? She turned to Cory.

"Can you make sure that the seven and the Maxima make it back to Dom's house? Just get people to help you, I don't even care who as long as the cars get home safe. I'd imagine that Vince will be in Gem's capable hands for the next while at least."

"I'll take care of it Mia. Do you think C's ok?"

"With a skull and hide that thick? Of course he's ok." Mia tried to smile reassuringly at Cory. That thick skull and hide also made Vince very good at ignoring his own pain and discomfort if he wanted to do so. Such as to go ahead and continue beating on someone even if he was injured bad enough that he should stop. Mia headed for the Solara.

"I'm just saying V, I don't like the way you're breathing so shallow. What's wrong with you?"

"I'm fine."

The tone of Vince's voice when he made that statement was anything but fine. Mia frowned.

"Listen to yourself Vince! You can barely talk. What's wrong with you?" Gem's tone was starting to take on a frantic cast.

"I'll be fine Gemmalynn." Mia watched a hand come out of the car to cup Gem's cheek. "I promise you I'll be ok. I just need to go lay down somewhere for awhile, ok?"

"No it's not ok. You'd never say something like that if you weren't really hurting Vince. Why can't you breathe right?"

"Think the fucker broke a couple of my ribs. Once I lie down I'll be fine. Please just run me home."

"Forget it. I'm having you go curl up somewhere and dying because there's something seriously wrong with you!"

Mia was inclined to agree. She walked up to the car and grabbed Gem by the arm, pulling her away from the open door by the wrist. Gem fell after her in shock. Mia stopped about ten feet away from the still open door of the Solara.

"Mia, I don't know what to do!" she wailed. "He's really hurt and I know it and I shouldn't even be speaking to him after everything and after tonight but I can't leave him alone someplace to die!"

"Gem, calm down." Mia took her friend by the shoulders. "You're right. You can't leave him alone. Letty took Dominic to St. Francis medical center so you'll have to take Vince to Cedars-Sinai. We can't have them meeting up again until they have some time to cool off. Cory and I are going to make sure the cars get home, ok?"

"I," Gem ran a hand through her hair as she fought to get a handle on her thoughts, "I guess so Mia. I'll call you on his cell phone later and make sure everything's ok."

"Ok. I might check on Dominic later. He was pretty messed up."

"Sure. I'll call you when I know more and if you need me for anything call Vince's cell phone. I'll take custody of it as soon as I get in the car."

Mia nodded and ran off. Gem slid into the Solara wearily. She looked at Vince, who was reclined in the passenger seat at an odd angle, clearly in pain. "This wasn't what I had in mind when I agreed to get off work early and take Cory down here to race, you know?"

He cracked one eye open a fraction before closing it again with a groan. "Is that why you came down here?"

"Yes. It certainly wasn't to prevent you from murdering someone who used to be your best friend in front of about ten thousand witnesses."

"Is Dom gonna be ok?"

She was mildly touched that he thought to ask so soon after what he'd done. "I don't know Vince. He was still unconscious when Letty left with him." Gem started the car. "Give me your cell phone."

"Why?"

"Because if Mia needs me she's going to call your phone. You don't need to be talking on the phone. You can barely stay conscious just sitting there."

Vince went to get her the phone but he couldn't get his left arm to co-operate. "It's in my left pocket but I can't get it out."

With a sigh Gem fished the phone out of his pocket before setting it on the dash of her car. She headed for the only hospital she had ever seen, which happened to be the one Mia had in mind. When she arrived she parked the car and got out before walking around and opening Vince's door. "Ok, up."

"Where are we?"

"The ER of some hospital, Vince. Where did you think I was going to take you?"

"Home," he moaned.

She hated to know he was really hurting. She was getting worried there was something seriously wrong with him. "You've got to get checked out V. I won't take no for an answer. Not with how much pain you're obviously in. Up."

He cracked his eyes open and swung his legs out of the car with a sigh. He stood up and almost fell over. Only Gem pushing her hand into his chest held him upright. She kicked the door of the car closed and used the keyless to lock the doors and arm the security before sliding his right arm over her shoulders and putting her arm around him to help hold him upright. When her hand closed over his left side he cried out. The fact that he gave away a hint he was in such bad pain scared her almost more than anything to date had. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong with you? It's not nothing!"

"Upgrade 'I think he broke some of my ribs' to he definitely broke about three of them and one of them is badly out of place," he finally admitted through clenched teeth. "And I have a splitting headache."

"No wonder! You have a black eye the size of China." She moved her grip on him from his side to his waist and tried to get him moving again. "Come on. You have to get checked out."

He started walking slowly, leaning on her heavily. More heavily than he needed to, technically. It was just that, even though he was in more pain than he remembered in recent memory, he felt better than he had in forever with her arm around him and his over her shoulders. He could smell her shampoo and it was nice and comforting. They made slow progress to the emergency room door and Gem sat him carefully in the chair in front of the duty nurse. She looked up from her paperwork.

"There must have been a rash of street fights tonight. He's the second one in the last ten minutes."

Gem fought down her panic. Mia said Letty was taking Dom to St. Francis. Not Cedars-Sinai. She scanned the waiting room. No sign of Dom, Letty or Leon to be found. The waiting room was almost empty. A blessing she was sure.

"What's the trouble?"

"He's got a headache and isn't breathing very well. He thinks he's got broken ribs on his left side and doesn't have full use of his left arm," Gem answered for Vince with a hand on his shoulder. There was nothing to show you how attached you still were to someone like knowing they were really hurt.

"Does he have ID?"

"V?" Gem asked. He didn't answer her. "V?" she shook him as she asked again.

"Wha?" he rasped as he came to, cracking his eyes open before shutting them with a squint.

"Do you have your wallet with you?"

"Back pocket," he slurred.

Gem fished it out, knowing asking him to do it wasn't happening. She fished through his cards until she found his driver's licence. Well, the one with the right name on it, but she didn't figure he'd want the nurse to know he had two with other names on them too. "That's him," she handed the card over along with his medical card, which she had also found as she searched. She slid Vince's wallet into her own back pocket rather than try to fight to get it back in his. She knew it would be hard to do, and she knew that he wouldn't want anyone going through it and seeing some of the stuff he had in there. She shook her head at his folly. I thought he wasn't into the kinds of things he needed fake ID for anymore.

"Ok, we'll take him into an exam room right away. You must have a guardian angel with you tonight that we're not busy. Are you related to him?" The nurse switched topics.

Gem thought fast. If she said she was just a friend she likely wouldn't be allowed to wait with him and she wasn't ready to have him out of her sight. "Yes, I'm his g—fiancé," she amended.

"Ok, if you can get him up we'll move him to room one. If not I'll have to call for an orderly."

"It would be better if I could move him."

"I'll just bet," the nurse answered. The heavily muscled man looked like he had a nasty temper and the fighting skills to go along with it. He was no bigger than the last man she'd checked in, but he was scarier for some reason she couldn't put her finger on.

Gem just smiled tightly at the woman and crouched in front of Vince. "V, I need you to wake up and listen to me again."

"I'll get up in a few minutes princess, but let me sleep a bit longer. I'm so tired."

"I know you are V, but you need to come with me. It'll only take a minute." Gem's panic fought to get free again but she tramped it down. He was clearly slipping into delirium if he was calling her princess again. It was like he didn't remember all that had fallen between them in the last weeks. "Up V."

His eyes opened and he stood up with considerable effort. "That's it Vince. We're just going right into this room and then you can sit down again, ok?"

"Ok," he growled, irate at being awake and forced to move when all he wanted was to lay down and sleep for days.

Gem and the nurse helped him sit down on the bed. Gem followed the nurse to the door.

"The doctor will be right with you."

"Thank you." Gem stopped the nurse again. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure sugar, what's on your mind?" She expected to be asked about the prognosis of this 'V'.

"The man you admitted before Vince. Was he about the same size but darker and bald?"

"Yes, why?"

"He's," Gem started. She paused herself. She didn't know if Vince and Dom could get in trouble for what they had done to each other. What if Dom decided to press charges? Would he do that? Gem just didn't know.

"Did they beat each other up?" the nurse asked perceptively.

Gem nodded with a grimace. "They're best friends, but they had a falling out over something a while ago and it came to a head tonight. But they're going to be sorry as hell when they realize what they did to each other. It's just that I know Vince gave Dom a little better than he got. Is Dom going to be ok?"

"He's been admitted overnight at least. His girlfriend and sister are with him now but he hasn't come around yet. We expect him to be fine."

"Ok, thank you." Gem's head fell back and she heaved a relieved sigh. Now all she had to concentrate on was making sure Vince didn't kill anyone or flip out for the rest of the night.

The nurse left and Gem sat in the chair beside the bed Vince was on. He moved in and out of consciousness as they waited. The doctor arrived about fifteen minutes after the nurse left.

"I hear your young man was in a bit of a scuffle tonight," he said as he walked up to Vince.

"That's a mild way of putting it doctor," Gem answered. "Just let me wake him and tell him you're going to look him over."

"That's not necessary."

"It is if you're going to do anything that might hurt. He'll come to with his fists before he starts to ask questions." The doctor motioned for Gem to proceed so she did. Vince growled at her when she said that what had to be done was likely to hurt but he did allow the doctor to examine him.

They ended up giving him a local before moving his ribs back into place. Gem had to turn her head, she couldn't watch. Vince was like an invincible force in her mind. She hated to think of him really hurt. She hated to think of the worry that Mia must be dealing with, thinking her brother was really hurt and she'd never made her peace with him as well.

She realized the doctor was talking to her about then. "I'm sorry," she said with a weary smile. "I was a million miles away."

"I understand. We're going to release him. He's going to be fine and we can't justify keeping him here for his injuries when there's nothing else we could do for him and we're likely to get swamped when the bars close for the evening. We'll give you a prescription for pain killers for him. Other than that just let him sleep. Wake him every two hours or so and make sure he knows who he is, what day it is, that sort of thing. Other than that, just give him one of these pills every eight hours for the pain and let him sleep as much as he wants. I'll have an orderly help you get him to your car."

"Thank you."

Once she had Vince in her car she started for his house. She realized on the way she couldn't get him down the stairs to his room on her own. She changed her path and headed for her house. She could get him up the elevator easily enough and he could sleep in her bed while she used Mia's.

After another fight to get him up out of the car and into the building and up the elevator she had him settled in her bed in his shorts and tank top. He had fallen asleep pretty much the minute she had helped him lie down on the bed. She sat on the edge of the bed beside him with a sigh and brushed a chunk of hair back off his forehead.

Why does fate hate me? she asked herself. She was just starting to get her life back on track and then fate steps in with a slap to the face. Now here she was with Vince back in her bed. It was the last thing she had ever foreseen when she had left her house earlier in the evening. On that note she stood up with a sigh and headed for the living room. She called Mia's cell phone. It was answered on the fifth ring, just before she was about to hang up. "Hello?"

"Hey Mi. How are you?"

"Ok I guess. Dom's still not awake."

"I heard when we were at the hospital. You and Letty holding up ok?"

"For now. I just hope he's ok. What will I do if I never get to tell him that I'll forgive him Gem?"

"Shush Mia. It's not going to come to that. The nurse told me he's going to be fine in a day or two, ok?"

"I know that, but I always hate it when he gets himself hurt. It's why he wanted me to be a doctor, you know. Because he knew he'd be getting himself hurt and he wanted me to be there to put him back together."

"Mia, there's more to it than that and you know it. Dom's going to be fine and you can tell him you want to work out your issues when he wakes up, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. How's Vince?"

"Passed out in my bed off a concussion and prescription pain killers. He's got three broken ribs and had a dislocated shoulder too. They wouldn't keep him in the hospital because they said there was nothing else they could do for him but let him sleep."

"Why's he in your bed?"

"Because there was no way I could shlep his overgrown butt down a flight of stairs when he's half asleep. It had to be our place. I'm going to use your bed and go to sleep if you don't mind. I have to wake up every two hours and wake him to make sure he can still wake up."

"I don't mind. I'm going to stay here with Letty until Dom wakes up. She's not taking the whole situation so well." Mia paused for a moment. "Gem?"

"Yes Mia?"

"I'm sorry that you're getting dragged back into him like this. I wish there was a way around it."

"It's ok Mia. I'll be ok. When he wakes up tomorrow he can go home. Until then someone has to watch him and with you guys all busy with Dom there's no one else. I'll be ok. I'm going to go to bed."

"Night."

"Night, call me if you need anything. I'll find a way to help you, ok?"

"Ok."

They hung up and Gem went back into her room to check on Vince and grab some night clothes. She crossed to the side of the bed. "Vince, you ok?" she asked loudly.

He moaned, but he opened his eyes and squinted up at her. "Where the hell am I?"

"My place. I couldn't get you down the stairs at your place . What day of the week is it?"

"Depends on what time it is. Either Saturday or Sunday."

"It's Sunday. What's the date if it's Sunday?"

He answered her grumpily, irate at being kept up when all he wanted to do was sleep off his concussion and the heavy pain killer she'd slipped him. But he was correct and it took a bit of the load off her mind. "Ok, I'm going to go get some sleep in the other bedroom. I'll be just down the hall so call me if you need anything, ok?"

"Gem?"

"Yes?" she asked with a sigh.

"Don't leave me alone, please?"

She cursed herself as ten times the fool because she couldn't say no to him. She changed her clothes and climbed into the bed, pulling the covers around her and turning on her side as far away from him as she could get. Allegro jumped onto the bed and found his spot over her head. She had the presence of mind to set the alarm for two hours in the future before she allowed sleep to claim her.

After the third time that Vince woke up at her command and answered questions about where he was and what day it was and what had happened she figured he was going to be ok and didn't set the alarm again. She figured she'd get as much sleep as she could before the long day she knew she had coming. And when Vince woke her up in the grips of one of his rare but violent nightmares she had no choice but to comfort him and allow him to crush her to his chest with his one good arm. She ran a hand through his hair and crooned nonsense to him, hoping he would go back to sleep and not hurt himself further. For once fate seemed to smile on her and he did so. When she next woke up it was almost lunch time. Vince was deeply asleep and she left him that way.

She gathered up clean clothes and took a shower before dressing in the bathroom. She headed back into her own room and found Vince awake, but looking pretty woozy. "How do you feel?" she asked, feeling his forehead for a fever.

"Concussed and drugged."

Gem couldn't fight the chuckle that escaped her. "You got the nail pretty much on the head. How does your side feel?"

"It and my shoulder are on fire."

"I'll get you another one of the pain pills the doctor prescribed."

"No thanks," he said. She looked at him quizzically. "I got hooked on them after my arm the first time. I'll be ok without."

The gruff admission made her take pity on him again, even though her anger had returned with the daylight. He had beaten Dominic to a pulp over a stupid car race. Of course, they all knew it was over way more than a car race. The car race had just been the catalyst for all Vince's frustrations over every other thing Dom had ever done to him to come out in a physical release.

"I'm going to take Mia a change of clothes and some coffee. You should likely try to go back to sleep."

Rather than take her advice he sat up and swung his legs over the side of her bed. He sat there for a moment shaking his head, clearly trying to get his bearings. "I'm fine. I'll get up and go with you."

"I'm not sure that's the best idea right now V."

"It'll be fine Gem. Just get Mia's shit together and I'll get dressed."

"You don't get the right to order me around anymore Vincent. You lost it back when," she paused for thought. "Back when you said what you said."

"I didn't mean it like to be bossy Gem. I just meant it reassure you that I'll be on good behaviour. Just do what you gotta do and I'll be ready when you are, ok?"

"Ok," she gave in with a sigh. She was back in her room a few moments later when his cursing filled the air. "What is it?" she asked as she pushed into her room. His problem became obvious when she walked into the room. He couldn't pull his pants up with his left arm still too sore to be any good to him. She couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out at the sight of him with his pants around his ankles. The hardship was less than he deserved. "Want a hand pumpkin?"

He snarled at her and went to answer with a rude come back. He stopped himself in time. After their tentative truce the last the he wanted to do was alienate her or hurt her feelings. "If you wouldn't mind." He couldn't prevent the snarling tone to the answer.

She set the things she had gathered up for Mia down on her bed and gave him the hand he would never have asked for before showing him where the bathroom was. "You think you'll be ok on your own in there?" she asked as he walking into the room.

"I dunno. I might need your help again. You up for it?" He asked, a suggestive smile on his face as he looked back over her shoulder.

Gem realized her mistake in a heartbeat. "I'm sure you'll be fine," she said and shut the door between them with a jerky movement. It didn't muffle his laughter enough for her to miss it. When he immerged a few minutes later she was still bright red.

"You ready?"

"Yeah. You sure you coming along is a good idea?"

"Yeah. I'll have to say my piece sooner or later."

"He might not even be awake yet."

Vince flinched. "That bad huh?"

"Yes, that bad."

"Let's get this over with."

They headed down to the car together and Gem drove to the hospital.

"You handle this car good. You really grew into the five speed."

"Thanks. I love my car. Thank you for building it for me."

He shrugged off her thanks. "I wanna think of you out there in that fuckin' Honda even less now that you live in your own place," he growled.

Gem let it go. They pulled into visitor parking and stopped the car in a space before inquiring which room Dominic was in and heading up the elevator. Gem pushed into the room first to find Letty and Mia sitting side by side at Dom's bedside. Gem was glad to see that Dominic was awake, at last. "Hey," Gem said softly. "Mia I brought you some clothes and coffee. I'm sorry I didn't think to bring you anything to wear Letty."

"Don't sweat it girl. I'ma be goin' home soon anyway."

"Good. That's good." Gem handed Mia the bag. "I'll leave you all alone then, I just wanted to see how everyone was."

"What did you do with V?" Letty asked. "Did you murder him in his sleep?" She chuckled.

"Not quite, no." Gem fought off a small smile and lost. "He's fine. He's waiting in the hall. He wouldn't stay in bed so I'm just going to run him home when we leave here."

Dom finally spoke. "Could you sent him in and give us a few minutes to talk?"

"You sure that's wise?" Gem asked softly.

"I don't think he'll finish me off in the hospital, no. I'm kinda bummed I didn't get him as good as he got me. What's his damage?"

"Three broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, concussion, and a heck of a black eye. But he won't take anything for the pain because he got addicted the," Gem trailed off guilty, realizing it was like throwing Vince's last hospital stay in their face.

"Finish the sentence Gem," Mia prompted.

"Last time he needed them." She sighed. "I'm quite sure he wouldn't appreciate me revealing that weakness to you guys, so let's just pretend I didn't, ok?"

She and Mia shared a look. They had never even discussed the nightmares they both knew Vince had on occasion. They were both that sure he'd be irate if he knew they talked about him that way they just never had.

"If you're sure about what you want I'll tell him you want to speak to him though."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

The girls all quit the room. Gem walked up to Vince. "He's awake and he's asking for you. Think you want to see him?"

Vince ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah." He started into Dom's room. "Wait for me to finish would you? I have some things I'd like to talk to you about, if you're willing."

"V, I'm your ride, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Ok. I doubt I'll be long."

"Take your time." Gem sat in a chair which was sitting in the hall and waited for Vince to come out of the room. He was in talking to Dom for about half an hour before he came out again, looking sheepish.

"Sorry. I didn't realize how long we kept you waiting. He'd like to talk to you, if you'll talk to him."

It felt like a low blow, to ask to talk to her when he was in a hospital bed. How was she going to say no? "Don't worry about it. I guess I better make a few minutes for the invalid, huh?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I guess so."

They traded places and Gem headed into the room. She stood stiffly beside the bed, unsure what to do with herself or what to say.

"Thanks for agreeing to see me," Dom started.

"Sure," Gem answered, unable to forget her manners, even under such circumstances.

"Have a seat. Much as I hate you guys seeing me like this when the bull is out wandering around, there's not a lot I can do about it." Dom smiled to take away the insult of his words and Gem felt a small measure of the pull Mia and Letty had assured her he had. There was something about that smile. He left Vince to feel like he might want to kill himself all alone! That thought brought her back to her angry place. Too bad that place wasn't as angry as it once had been. She sat.

"Back in the day, before everything went down there was this guy." Dom started, looking at his hands which were folding in his lap. "And this guy had a reputation in the streets to uphold. And somewhere along the line having a rep for driving a car faster than other people got mixed up in his head with a rep for being a huge player who could have any girl he wanted.

"He already had a great girl and he knew she was great. But the guy was young and never outgrew stupid either and sometimes he resented that girl for being so great because it meant that he knew how lucky he was and didn't feel worthy of her a lot of the time. So he cheated on her with these other, lesser girls who didn't mean anything, but didn't remind him of how great they were so he didn't have to feel unworthy. And sometimes he resented his guy friends for being happier with their situations than he was and for not having half the responsibility for so many other people's happiness like he did, so he'd mess around in their lives to try and make them as confused and hurt as he was by his life.

"It was stupid, but back in the day, when this guy was trying to convince himself all that mattered to him was the freedom of being the fastest, of flying for ten seconds at a time, he didn't let himself see what he was doing to his family. And then money got really tight for him and his family and he and his best friend cooked up this plan to get all the money they needed. They both knew it was stupid but they were young and they decided to do it anyway. The great girl and their other friends got off on the rush too, so it actually brought them closer, for a while.

"But then one day everything fell apart. This guy watched as his girl almost got killed by flipping her car off the highway about eight times. The fact she was even there driving that car was all his fault. And then his best friend, the one he'd cooked the scheme up with and took the most dangerous job for himself in the whole thing because it was just his nature to want to protect the rest of the family got hurt doing that job. And he got hurt because he took that job on to protect the first guy and the girl and the other two guys who weren't as tough as he and his best friend were.

"And then this blonde guy that was only still around because the first guy kept him around ended up being a backstabber who broke the first guy's baby sister's heart. And when all the fall out from all of that was done happening that first guy panicked. He sent his girl and the one of his friends who was left and not hurt away to a place he knew of so he could meet them there and then he ran."

Dom finally found the courage to meet Gem's troubled aquamarine eyes. "He was a stupid asshole, that first guy. He didn't stop to think of anyone but himself because he panicked. Once he was done and realized what he had done, he convinced himself it was too late to go back. He convinced himself that everyone was better off without him.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I was an idiot. I was a fuck up. I fucked up on my sister. I left Mia to deal with Jesse's death alone and I left her stuck taking care of Vince even though I knew he's a terrible patient. I let Jesse down because I should have been looking out for him at Race Wars but I was too caught up in my own agenda. I let Vince down because it was easier to let him do the hard job than to fight with him or to have to worry about doing it myself. I let Letty and Leon down by ripping them away from their family for over a year and not giving them much choice in the matter. Fuck, I even let Brian down by taking his keys instead of waiting to get picked up for what I'd done and taking the blame for it all like I should have. Even Brian had to go on the run and give up his job all over letting me have a few more months or years of running from my responsibilities."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because Mia brought it to my attention that you thought I was checking you out with an eye to trying to take you from Vince. I won't deny that's something that I use to try to do with Vince and Leon's girls they brought home. I won't even deny that it's something I managed to do more than once. But it wasn't anything I ever had any idea to do with you. I'm not saying you would have fallen for it anyway," he held up a hand to cut off her outraged answer. "I'm just sayin' it was never my intent. I was just trying to figure out what it was about you that had Vince so infatuated. You're not really the type of girl he was into before everything went down."

"Why? Because I'm not pretty like those girls from races and don't paint my clothes on?"

"No, because he normally would have run the other way screaming from any girl looking for a commitment, let alone one he wanted to give that commitment to. But he didn't run from you. He let you get deeper into his life on purpose. I was curious what about you had caused that to happen. It wasn't a bad kind of curious, but it was there."

"I'm glad you cleared that up Dominic, but I don't know what it changes."

"Now that you know where Vince was coming from, maybe you could see your way into rethinking how badly you took his outburst in the kitchen. He was just talkin' out of his ass to try and head me off. And now you know I gave him lots of reason in the past. We all broke Vince and hurt him badly. Mia too. We all had our reasons to use him and all had our ways to keep him in line. Well, maybe not Leon." Dom shook his head. "But from what Mia says you were staring to make him better, make him normal. And then I came back and ruined it all. I'd just like to see that old Vince back more often and like Leon says, when he's around you or looking at you or talking about you I see flashed of him the way he use to be. Long before any of this stuff happened. He was a better person back then. You could make him that Vince all the time. If you just found it in you to talk to him."

"I don't know if I have it in me to go back to that place Dom. My heart and trust aren't two things I can put back together on a whim because you're sorry. It doesn't matter how really sorry you are. It's still a big mess."

"Just think on it. It's all I can ask, and more than I have a right to ask of you, I know. But I think that I have a chance to have some of my old relationship back with Mia and even Vince after the conversation we just had. But they both love you, and I don't want either of us to come between them and the other, you know?

"I was holding the responsibility for all these people in my hands and I tripped. I know that. I'm so damn sorry. If you could just see your way into believing me when I say I'm aware of it now, I'm changed."

"I'll think about what you've said."

"Ok, thanks for hearing me out."

Gem nodded and left the room. She had a splitting headache now that she had so much to think about. She just wanted to take Vince home, leave him there, and be alone for awhile. When she left the room Vince stood up and Letty and Mia went back in. Mia stopped for a moment to ask Gem if she was ok. She assured Mia she was fine and watched as the door closed behind her. "Ok, let's go."

"You ok?"

"Fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I have a headache. I'll be fine. Come on, I'll run you home."

They headed for the car, Vince walking slower than Gem was used to. She slid behind the wheel and waited until he had his belt done up before she started the car. She pulled out of the lot, driving sedately for once. Her head wasn't able to take any speed or sharp corners.

"Gem?"

"Yes?" she asked. Her tone was short. She wasn't interested in having a deep, soul searching conversation.

"I'd like," Vince paused, sighed, and ran a hand roughly through his hair. "I'd like a chance to explain myself."

"You don't have to Vince. I know what use to go on and I know why you thought the way you did. We don't have to rehash it now."

"I know you know all about Dom and what a dog he use to be. There's more to it than that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You were right. I was scared. I was scared that I'd wake up one day and realize one of two things. That you had realized that I was right all along and you were too good for the kind of life I could give you, or on the other hand, that I had held you back from the life you could have had all because I was selfish and I wanted you in my life instead of wanting you to have the life I knew was out there for you. I was getting panicked about both those things and when Dom came back I felt totally backed in a corner. I reacted the way I did because I was plain terrified. I don't think I was as scared back in the Alley when I thought I'd gone and killed the moron as I was when those two things became clear to me."

"That's just ridiculous Vince. I could have had my life as a performer and my life with you. I could have made time and a place for both. I wouldn't have had to choose. And if it came down to it I would have chosen you of my own free will. I was happy."

"But the only thing you ever wanted for yourself was to make it as a performer."

She shot him a quick glance before turning her eyes back to the road. "The only thing I ever wanted was to be successful and independent from my family. If that ended up happening with you instead of with the band that would have been fine with me. I won't lie, I want to make it as a band now more than ever. But I could have been happy the way we were before too."

"Well," Vince looked out the passenger side window of the car, trying to scrape together his courage for what he wanted to say. "If you could have been happy the way it was before whether you made it or not, maybe you could be again?" He rushed to elaborate before she could interrupt. "You having your own place will be ok. We can just sorta date again. Take it slow. I can show you that I can do better!"

"Vince, it's not that simple for me. I was there. I heard what you said." She spared a look his way again and hated the strain in his face. "I'll think about it ok? Maybe we could start with just trying to be friends again and see if it goes anywhere from there, ok?"

He sighed. "I guess so."

Gem took him home and made sure he made it into the house before she pulled away and went home. When she got home she took a long, hot bath and put her Blue Rodeo CD on. It allowed her time to do the thinking she wanted to and gave her muscles and headache time to relax away.

After the events of the evening previous and morning present she was sure of one thing. She had it in her to be friends with Vince. Maybe she didn't have it in her to date him again. That much she wasn't sure about. But she could find it in her to be his friend again. If it grew to more again, nature would just have to take its course. She could also envision a time when she could be friends with Leon and Letty as well.

She just wasn't sure about Dominic. His story had mostly rang true, but parts of it hadn't felt as sincere as she would have liked. She would have a lot more thinking to do on the subject of letting Dom into her life before it was something she was willing to do.

She would also have a lot more thinking to do on how far into her world she was willing to allow Vince again.

When she got out of the bath she decided she wasn't in the mood to sit at home. She took her car for a nice long, fast drive and came home. When she got back, she put pen to paper.

Her week went well from that point on. She and Mia started interviewing people for the job in the café. Mia picked someone on Wednesday. The new girl was training with them during the week and was going to take over fully on her own on Monday. Gem was so thrilled she didn't know the words to express it. Her time at the café being over was one of the best things that had ever happened to her. Not to mention time went faster for her when the new girl was there. It was someone to talk to.

She allowed Vince to take her to a movie on Tuesday and ducked Mia's disapproving look about it with a sheepish smile. She didn't know how to explain to Mia how much more settled and correct her life felt since allowing Vince back in. Well, in the limited and restricted way she had done so. She still found herself being cautious around him. She had to think that would fade with time.

She had her song finished no sooner than Thursday morning. She hadn't ever gathered up the courage to tell Vince she had finally managed to replace him, or at least thought she had. She knew he would have been irate about it before Sunday, but she was hoping now that they were being friendly again he would just be relieved he didn't have any responsibility for the band anymore.

She, Tamica and Elliott were talking to Damien in the green room on Thursday night when Vince walked into the room, guitar case in hand.

"Hey V," Gem said as she looked up from the music sheet she was showing Damien.

"Hey." He stood waiting for an introduction.

Gem stood up. "Vince, this is Damien. Damien, Vince. Vince, Damien is going to watch us tonight and if he likes where we're going as a band he's going to take over guitar for you."

Vince nodded. He had known the day was coming that Gem found someone permanent. Since he wasn't sure what he wanted himself he'd never told Gem not to replace him. He wasn't sure how he felt about the fact she had, however. He simply held his hand out for his music, which Gem surrendered with a shuttered look his way. He watched as Gem and Tamica left the room to talk to Barry and Elliott followed them. He started to memorize. He looked up once he had his music figured out to see Damien picking out something on his own guitar.

"Not bad," Vince said, gesturing toward Damien's instrument.

"Thanks. I hear yours is a Les Paul too."

"Yeah," Vince answered, shoving his guitar case toward the younger man with his foot.

Since it was clearly an invitation to take a peek, Damien did so. "Nice. Zakk Wylde huh? Doesn't really seem to fit in with this band very much."

Vince shrugged. "No, but it did fit in with the kind of music I use to do before I met Gem." He nodded toward the instrument cradled to Damien's chest. "Tom Perry ain't exactly her style either."

Damien grinned. "No, but he use to be mine," he threw Vince's own words back at him.

"You any good?" Vince asked gruffly. He didn't want Gem stuck with some second rate musician in the name of getting on with her career.

"Not bad. You?"

"I'm pretty good. But I guess you'll get to see that first hand here shortly."

"Sure will. So, mind if I ask you something?"

"Naw, go nuts." Vince didn't know why or what, but something about Damien just took his guard down. He instinctively liked the new man.

"Why are you quitting on her? It's not hard to see there's more there than you wantin' to move on and its oblivious you and her are more'n friends. So why?"

"This isn't what I do. I only started because she needed a guitar player and I didn't see anyone else signing up for the job back then. I'll give you a little piece of advice. Don't let Miss Gemmalynn anywhere near a guitar that isn't a bass. She'll shatter your eardrums within three chords."

"That bad?" Damien asked, his pierced brow cocked.

"And worse," Vince confirmed.

"Girl sure can sing."

"That she can."

"Whatever's up between you two, is it gonna be a problem in the future?"

"Nope. Gem and I, we're cool now."

Damien clearly didn't buy it, but he did let it drop. A fact Vince was grateful for. The rest of the guys returned to the room. Damien went to find a seat in the audience to watch the show and a moment later the band got called to the stage.

"Hey everyone! We're all set for another night here at the Cobalt and our song selection for the evening will again be another never before heard tune I wrote. I hope you enjoy 'In the Rough."

They started to play. There was about twenty seconds of music only, mostly guitar and drums before Gem started to sing.

"You say you fell while holding diamonds in your hands. It's your fault for running holding diamonds, I said. And I offer no sympathy for that. I hear that it was you who died alone. And I offer no sympathy for that. Better off I sparkle on my own. And someday—yah—yah love will find me, in the rough. Someday—yah—yah, love will finally be enough."

From where Dom was sitting, watching and listening it sure didn't sound like Gem had been able to find much favourable in what he'd said to her. He couldn't think of anyone else her song could be addressing, as she was again talking to Vince.

♫

Gem really hoped her feelings came across. That while the first part of her verse was about Dom and how she felt about him, the part about love finding her while in the rough was about how she needed a break from the seriousness of her relationship with Vince, but that someday they would both find their love for each other enough.

"I turned around three times and wound up at your door. Now you say you know all you did not know before. And I offer no sympathy for that. I hear that it was you who died alone. And I offer no sympathy for that. Better off I sparkle on my own. And someday—yah—yah, love will find me, in the rough. Someday-yah—yah, love will finally be enough."

"I got your love letters and I threw them all away. I hear you think that I'm crazy. I'm drivin' 95 and I'm driving you away. I shine a little more lately. Ohhhh. Someday—yah—yah, love will find me, in the rough. Someday—yah—yah love will finally be enough. Someday—yah—yah love will find me in the rough. Someday—yah—yah, love will finally be enough.

"I shine a little more lately," she finished with a smile.

She was so happy with In the Rough. She did shine a little more lately. Having all the things in her life sorted out, or sorted out for the most part made things so much easier to deal with.

That was until she saw a very sad looking Dominic sitting alone in the audience. She hadn't expected him to show up. She knew the song came off like she still hated him, and that wasn't the real message. But now he was going to think it was. She sighed. She was going to have to go explain how it was more about her inability to forgive him for what had happened but how she had found the ability to look beyond it within herself. How she found it in herself to shine despite of it.

If it wasn't Vince she was setting off with her need to put her life into a song, it was someone else. She shook her head and headed Dom's way. "I didn't expect you to come down here."

"I guess not."

"Mind?" Gem asked as she pulled out one of the other chairs at Dom's table.

"No," he answered.

She sat. "Listen. I know how that came off. I knew how it would, there was just nothing I could do about it. But the point I was attempting to make wasn't that I was going ot continue to hold everything against you. It was that I can't forgive it, but I can let it go and go on to still shine as myself. Do you get it, do you think?" She didn't' want to be in a fight with Dom so soon after Mia had finally started talking to him again.

"I guess," Dom gave in. "So you and Vince are talking again, huh?"

"Looks that way."

"I can't tell you how much more relaxed the house is now that we're all talking again and I know that I have you and the way you played more than fair to thank for it."

Gem shrugged. "I didn't do anything I didn't want to do, so don't make me out to be some sort of super woman." Gem stood up. I should get back to work.

Dom watched her go. She got stopped by a dark haired man over by the hall to the green room.

"So, Damien, what did you think?"

"You wrote that whole song, all alone?"

"Yeah. I've had help on some of them as far as the music goes, but that one I got done by myself." Gem resigned herself to hear that they weren't doing the kind of music that he wanted to be involved in.

"Well than Gem Davis, if you shine more lately I guess I'm gonna shine along with you, if you still want me."

"Heck yes we do!" Gem grinned. "Welcome aboard."

With a grin of his own Damien shook her hand and left with his gear, promising to call her sometime over the weekend to make arrangements for the practise session he insisted they were going to have to start having.

Gem darted back to the green room to find Tamica and Elliott. "He's in!" she hollered.

"No shit?" Tamica asked.

"No kidding," Gem confirmed.

Elliott and Tamica cheered. Vince shot her a smile as he finished packing up his guitar. He wasn't as exuberant as the other two. "You know you'll still be welcome to come and hang out down here any time you want to, right? Well, as long as you don't go back to getting stupid drunk in the corner," Gem amended, going to sit on the arm of Vince's chair so no one else would hear.

"I know. I'm happy for you guys." He was. But it was also bittersweet for him. Going and playing Gem's music, being involved in her life so deeply was important to him, and now if he didn't want to lose her he was going to have to find another way to share that connection with her. But he'd find a way, he resolved. He was going to prove how much he'd changed to her if it was the last thing he did. "Dom get over what you said?"

"Once I explained it to him. I have to get back to work. You sticking around or going home?"

"Going home. My arm's still kinda fucked up."

"Didn't show," Gem said even as she glanced over him, looking for visible evidence of his pain.

"Good. I'll call you later—over the weekend. Ok?"

"Sure. Talk to you then." She watched Vince leave before leaving the green room herself. She wasn't in the mood to answer to her friends about her renewed friendship with Vince. She went back to work, able to finally enjoy her job again now that she wasn't feigning happiness in the face of all the happy people around her.