AN: Hey all. Here's another rewritten chapter. It seems better than the original to me, but hey, what'd I know? Thanks for the reviews. Ringles, um, not sure what to make of yours but thanks anyways, I guess. Was there some mistake I made with chapter two? I'm not a big fan of riddles, so if something was wrong with it feel free to point it out.

Chapter 19 - Take the Skyline

Vince let himself in the house and the guys said hey. He answered them back absently as his gaze scanned the rest of the room. They settled on Letty and Nyssa talking together on the couch in the far back corner of the room. With their two dark heads bent together and intense looks on their faces he knew they were talking about something serious for sure. Something bound to make his life harder. They both looked up at him as he moved farther into the room, then both dismissed him with glares and went back to whatever talk had made their eyes flash fire his way. Vince had a funny feeling he was in trouble, bringing a sinking feeling to his gut. He was also very curious to know just what Nyssa would do about her anger.

As he stood waiting beside the couch holding the weight of Leon and Dominic he decided she wasn't likely planning to do anything. At least nothing right away if her plan was overt. She never looked up at him again, merely continued her chat with Letty. With a small shrug he decided to try and prod her into reacting. He sauntered over to them.

"So, how was your day?" He asked conversationally.

"It was fine." She didn't take her gaze off Letty and her posture and demeanour gave off the message of 'dismissed' clearly.

She was clearly planning to be frosty to him rather than fight it out with him, yelling and making a scene. Deciding that anything else he might do to try and raise a reaction out of her would be overkill, he walked away and sat down with the guys. They all played with the PS2, cat calling opponents and hollering their encouragement to those they were rooting for. Half an hour went by when Vince thought to look at the girls again. They were still talking.

"You know you can't stop acting mad at him until he tells you what you wanna know, right?"

"I'm not just acting mad! I am mad."

"Good. Keep being mad until you get your explanation. Otherwise he'll always think he can get away with murder."

"I'll keep that in mind. I just don't know if he's going to think me being mad at him is enough of a reason to explain himself to me."

"Told you, you shoulda been giving it up to him all along." Letty smirked.

Nyssa smacked her friend on the arm. "Letty." She drew her friend's name out in reproach.

"I'm just sayin'."

"I'm just going to bed." Nyssa said as she stood up and stretched. "See you in the morning."

"Night." Letty answered and watched her friend walk into the kitchen.

Vince watched out of the corner of his eye as Nyssa left her position with Letty and headed to the kitchen, presumably to go to bed. Vince gave her a five minute head start and then followed her down the stairs. He wanted to have the fight before Leon and Jesse decided to go to bed themselves.

When he opened the door of his room he found Nyssa seated in front of the mirror, brushing out her hair for the night. Because it was so long, curly and thick it was always an adventure for her to brush it. She was normally careful how she brushed it because she didn't want to break the strands or hurt herself. Tonight such care had been abandoned. She was ripping the brush through her curls. Vince watched as she winced for the fourth time since he'd started watching her. Deciding the time to have it out was now or never Vince crossed the room and took the hairbrush out of her hands.

"So you gonna yell at me or what?"

"I hadn't planed on it. Why would I yell at you Vince?"

"Cause I didn't tell you I was going to be gone all day and night and you likely worried."

"You don't need to tell me what you do with your time V. You're a big boy. Why would I care if you take off?"

Vince sighed. It was going about as well as he'd thought it would. He decided that instead of fighting about it he'd simply admit that he knew he should have left her a message or phoned her. "I should have told you I was going to be gone awhile. I know you worried and I know you're pissed at me. I'll tell you when I expect to be home next time."

"That's fine Vince. It makes no difference; I don't want to control your life. Come and go as you please." She looked at him in the mirror, her eyes flashing fire.

God she was stubborn. She wasn't showing any signs of giving him an inch. He was trying to get away without doing what he was now going to have to do. Outright apologise. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I went and when I would be home alright?"

With sigh she barely contained Nyssa was appeased. An actual apology was what she had been waiting for, but she'd been to the point of figuring he was never going to break down and give her one.

"I really don't care were you go Vince. It's none of my business. But an idea when you think you'll be home would be nice. I did worry. You never took off all day before."

"Deal. From now on if I'll be gone like I was today, I'll make sure you know."

She nodded, a small smile on her face.

Vince realized he still had her hair brush. He turned her back around in her seat and started to brush her hair for her. He started at the bottom of her long, black-red hair, picking out the snarls a bit at a time so as to not hurt her. Before too long he was able to stroke the brush from the crown of her head to the ends. She clearly liked it, she occasionally made a small, contented noise in her throat.

He watched her in the mirror while he finished brushing her hair. She had her head thrown back, exposing the long caramel column of her throat, the v of her robe, and her pretty face to his eyes in the mirror. He looked down at her face, those intriguing, too smart eyes closed in her pleasure, saving him from the scrutiny. She always looked at him like she knew him.

The real him, not the Vince that people thought they knew. The team knew the real him and up till Nyssa they were the only ones. And even then he could often hid the real way he felt from the team. But not from Nyssa. Everyone else in the free world thought he was just big dumb Vince, Dom's friend. Mostly he liked it like that. No one wanted to mess with him, and when people didn't expect too much from you it was hard to let them down.

With Nyssa, he thought, it was hey that's Dom, Vince's friend. It was nice to come first. Sometimes it hurt to have people think he was dumb all the time. He knew he should drop the act. But it was how he survived for so many years. But Nyssa saw through all his crap. There was something to that. With one last stroke of the brush he finished getting all the tangles out of her hair and tied it back with one of her elastics, the way he'd seen her do so many times.

When she felt the weight of her ponytail against her back she opened her eyes and sat back up straight on her chair. Her eyes sought his in the mirror and to Vince it felt unnervingly like she was looking right into his soul. He felt like he could see right to hers as well, and he liked what he saw. She wasn't mad at him when he didn't come home because she wanted to micromanage his time and life. She was mad because she worried about him, knew he was doing dangerous things and didn't like it.

In that moment Vince was sure about one thing. Nyssa was the girl he wanted right now. The future had a way of figuring itself out and he was through denying himself the pleasure of having Nyssa in his life as his girl. The mere thought of her with some other man, sitting in someone else's room, worrying about some other guy when he didn't come home, filled him with rage. The thought of Mia with Brian no longer did, but if he thought of Nyssa with Leon, or even some random guy from her school he wanted to lay a beating on whoever it was he was thinking of at the time. That level of jealousy out of someone like him, who rarely got jealous at all had to mean something.

Decision made, he leaned over her and kissed her neck. She leaned back against his chest and closed her eyes again, not only allowing his attentions but encouraging them.

Nyssa felt the subtle changes in the way Vince was treating her. He had never been anything but sweet, but he always held a part of himself back from her and she knew it. There had always been a limit to how deep he was willing to let her in. There wasn't now. He had finally let it go. With that knowledge came the knowledge that something in her world was about to fundamentally change. Things were never going to be the same again. Whether the change would be for the best or not was something only time could tell. Something in her heart told her it would all work out in the end, but she didn't know how far she could really trust that little voice inside.

All she knew was she cared for Vince. She worried about how he put himself at risk, even though she only sensed he did so. There had been no talk of how they would go on, how things would change, but that was something which would just have to be played by ear because she wanted this, wanted these changes in their relationship. She had for some time but it had to be his decision. She knew that. She knew trying to force anything on Vince was a mission doomed for failure before it even began. But tonight, it seemed like he had finally made his decision.

Her musings were cut short as he picked her bodily up off her chair. She giggled as he swung her up into his arms with such ease it set her in awe of his strength.

He tossed her down onto the bed and chuckled as she bounced with a laugh. Any thoughts of laughter left his mind as she reclined on her elbows and watched him standing beside the bed with her robe starting to come undone. With a quick movement devoid of self consciousness, only filled with purpose he pulled his shirt off over his head and crawled into the bed with a growl.

He leaned down and claimed her mouth again. While she wasn't paying his hands any mind he started to untie the sash on her robe.

Once she realized what he was doing Nyssa helped him along, already having made the decision this time nature could take its course between them. It was more than time.

With a groan for how stupid certain parts of his anatomy figured he was being Vince stopped himself from taking the step that would carry them past the point of no return. He had to know she was sure he was what she wanted before they went to far to turn back. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

Touched by the fact he was concerned for her wants, and also sensing the question was more about wanting him in soul more than in body she nodded yes. "I'm sure."

She still didn't look totally sure to Vince. "Really? You're sure?"

"I'm sure. It's just that it's been a while since I was with anybody like this and it wasn't the best time of my life then. It was three years or so ago and there hasn't been anyone since." For some reason, despite the fact her admission embarrassed her like she knew it would, she wanted him to know.

Floored by the fact she trusted him so much, and cared about him enough to want to sleep with him when it was clearly something she didn't do with just anybody Vince couldn't keep the smile that curved the corners of his mouth up slightly off his face. "Well, let's see if we can improve your opinion of the experience shall we?"

Nyssa watched with fascination as his face moved toward hers again

Some time later as she lay cradled in the sleeping Vince's arms Nyssa mused she had to give it to Vince; she may just have remembered that even if she was drunk. She decided to tell him that at some point, but for now she was so sleepy all she wanted to do was savour the warmth and safety of his embrace and sleep. So she did, smiling as she drifted off. Vince too had felt so content, better then he had in a long time that he had also fallen asleep with a smile on his face.

Even though she had woken up sharing a bed with Vince for the past chunk of her life, everything felt different the next morning. She knew she should have anticipated that but she hadn't. She came to full consciousness with a yawn and rolled onto her elbow to look at Vince. Finding him still deeply asleep she simply watched him awhile. He looked so different while he was sleeping, so much softer and younger. Almost innocent. She abolished her self for the clichéd thought even as she smiled at herself over it. Didn't every bad romance novel ever written have a flowery scene where one of the love interests watched the other sleep and mused at their innocence? Nyssa decided it was written into those books simply because it was quite true.

At no other time, in no other sense did Vince ever look soft or innocent. In sleep his hair fell onto his forehead and the cynical lines his ever ready scowl brought to his eyes and forehead were erased by his relaxation. It took years off his face. The blankets were tangled around his waist, revealing the tanned expanse of his flat stomach and wide shoulders, as well as the colourful artwork wrapping around one well defined bicep and shoulder. There was something to be said for a man with beautiful tattoos, Nyssa thought as she studied the jewel tones of the dragon on Vince's arm. She'd never thought herself one to find tattoos sexy but she'd been wrong.

As her eyes moved up to his face she found the ghost of a grin still on his face. Was it thoughts of her that had kept the smile on his face all night? She certainly hoped so. As thought he felt her eyes on his face he woke up, his blue eyes opening sleepily about half way as he looked up at her. His smile grew, becoming a grin in short order.

"'Mornin'." He said with a smile in that gravely morning voice of his, she loved how he sounded before he had his coffee.

"Hey." She said back. She smiled back and turned bright red. She had never had sex with a guy and then woke up in his bed. The only other time she had been that intimate with a boy she had to sneak home lest her dad catch her staying out all night, guess why and kill the guy. Now she was all grown up but it was still strange. She wondered if it was strange for him or if there had been so many mornings after that it was routine to him.

"You ok?" Vince asked, concern creeping into his face for a moment when it took her a second to get her thoughts together and formulate an answer.

"Couldn't be much better. You?"

"I 'm awesome." He pulled her down for his kiss. After the kiss he smiled at her with a look that might be wonder on his face. She wondered what that was about then caught a look at the clock.

"Oh shit, it's already 12pm. God damn it, I meant to set the alarm." Nyssa jumped out of bed and headed to the dresser. She was so focused on getting dressed she forgot she had just paraded across the room naked.

"What's up?"

"I gotta meet Manda at her house in a half hour and it's almost that far away and I'm not even dressed yet."

"Call her and tell her you'll be late and come back to bed." Vince said.

Nyssa groaned. With that bad boy smirk on his face, tousled hair, and sheet fallen down to the lowest point it could fall and not reveal the 'full Monty' it was very hard not to do as he asked. "I can't, they're having a party for her mom's birthday and Manda and I have to drive there together. I have to pick her up right at 12:30 or we'll be late. Much as your idea sounds so much better than an afternoon of Manda's snotty mother and her side of that family. Oh man. I gotta get dressed. What'm I going to wear?"

"Oh, I see, not the kind of thing you can just get out of huh?" She shook her head no to answer his question. With a shrug Vince answered her question, even though he figured it had mostly been rhetorical. "Wear your little blue leather skirt with the silver dragon on it and the black shirt with the dragon on it, plus your boots that go up to your knees."

Nyssa thought about those items paired together. He wasn't half bad at picking out outfits, although it was more skin than she knew it was smart to show around her hated aunt. "When did you become an authority on women's clothes?"

"I just know what I like to see you in. And I have a thing for dragons." He glanced at his dragon tattoo.

As she somehow managed not to admit she also had a thing for dragons, both on him and off, Nyssa started to pull on the outfit Vince had picked out. She wore it so her thong straps would show on her hips, knowing that she was decently dressed but for that and that her look all put together would annoy the hell out of Manda's mom, who she hated.

"What car should I drive? Should I take the Skyline just to piss them off? When they see that thing it'll give them all heart failure. Or I could take your car and let them wonder what kind of guy I hooked up with that he has a nice, family car with tens of thousands of dollars worth of mods and nitrous to boot?" She had let Vince put a decal package on her car so it would fit in better with the team and now it had a rampant dragon on either side. Vince designed it for her. He was a bit of an artist as well as a guitar player. But the skyline would match her outfit. Vince came to the same conclusion and told her,

"Take the Skyline for sure."

"I thought so too. See you later baby, I'll come back as soon as I can." She leaned over and kissed him. She remembered what she had wanted to tell him and decided now was the best time when she could escape and he would have to dress before he could follow her up through the house. "Oh, and I just wanted you to know, after last night, I'm sorry that I laughed when you told me I would remember no matter how drunk I was. I know now that I would have." With that she ran out the door and up the stairs, laughing the whole way.

Vince groaned. She was always doing stuff like that. Telling him something he would want to hear then running away when he couldn't chase her. If he did right now someone would get a view of more than they wanted to see because he would be running through the house naked. Just like she had no doubt counted on.

One thing Nyssa didn't seem to know but was going to learn in the most delicious ways, he decided in that moment, was that paybacks could really be a bitch.