Matty cursed, slamming the phone back into it's cradle. She had waited several days before calling Vince. She needed to speak to him. See him. She needed to know that everything was alright. But now she had finished calling every number she could get her hands on and they were all turned off. She didn't know what to do. She drove by the house and nobody was home. The garage and store were closed. She was officially worried.
"Awww, what happened? The pool boy not picking up?" Mark asked, taunting her from across the room. She flipped him off, not understanding why he kept insisting on looking down on her friends. Her family. Matty walked out of the room, heading upstairs to lay down for a nap. The baby was due any minute and there wasn't much she could do without getting tired right away.
---
The nurses pushed the stretcher through the double doors and disappeared into the operating room. Mark ran a hand through his hair and breathed deeply, secretly hoping that everything went well with Matty's delivery. He chose to wait outside, knowing that would just be in the way as the doctors and nurses went about their business. He would just worry and stumble amongst his words and limbs, becoming a nuisance for them.
He paced the waiting room, watching the clock go by for hours. He switched chairs, did push ups, read magazines, called friends for support and he still knew nothing. A few more hours went by and his heart skipped a beat as a doctor emerged from behind the double doors and headed towards him. Everything after that became a blur. All he heard was that there were complications. That Matty had to be sedated. That's all he heard before he collapsed into a chair.
---
Matty sat on the back porch, a bottle of whiskey at her feet, a cigarette dangling from her hand. Mark approached her, leaning against the banister."How ya feeling?" He whispered, a worried look on his face. She shrugged, waving her hands around, no response to explain how she felt. Everything had gone to shit between them ever since the doctors had told her that the baby didn't make it. That she almost died giving birth to him. She had named him and everything- Eduardo. Eddie for short. Hector's middle name.
She fell into a deep depression, only waking to drink and smoke. He barely knew her anymore. Barely even saw her. He tried. The last couple of weeks, it was hell for both of them. He didn't know what to do or say. All he could do was throw himself into his work. Forget all about it. Clearly she had decided that too. Any way she could.
"I was better off anyway without the bastard baby," she whispered, taking a pull of her cigarette. Mark shook his head and sighed. "Do you hear yourself? You wanted this baby so bad. You reinvented yourself to give this baby a better life than you had. Do you think Hector or him want to see you like this?" He asked. Matty laughed. She really laughed. She laughed long and hard. It was like music to Mark's ears to hear her laugh but he knew that she was laughing at him.
He got fed up and walked inside the house, shaking his head as he went into his office to finish up some work. Before she knew it, Matty's laughter had turned into sobs as she thought about what Mark had just said. It had finally hit her. She was all alone. She had pushed him away. She had pushed them all away. She was all alone. She had reinvented herself only to be down and out once again.
She couldn't give up. Not now.
---
She took Mark's example and soon found herself lost in her work. She had gotten a job as a mechanic at a local garage and spent the majority of her waking hours there. She started spending all of her money on tattoos and races. Whatever extra time she had on her hands, she would spend it working out and not with Mark. They barely saw each other any more. Barely knew each other. She had reinvented herself once again.
Matty found herself underneath a 2006 Honda Civic, performing an oil change. Not the most glamorous part of her day, but someone had to do it. Not everyone could get the high end jobs. She found herself frozen as a customer came in announcing the news at the top of his lungs. The great Dominic Toretto had fallen. He was on the run with his team.
She refused to believe it, but it explained a lot. She couldn't get a hold of them for the last few weeks. They were gone off the face of the planet. She needed to know the truth. Matty wheeled herself out from underneath the car and told the boss she was taking the rest of the day off- medical reasons.
She hopped into her skyline and sped off, not really knowing where she was going but before she knew it, she was in the Toretto's driveway and turning her car off. Matty used the key she had from when she used to live there and let herself in, beginning her quest for any clues that would tell her where the team was hiding out at. She had to make sure they were okay. She had to see them.
Matty made her way through all the rooms, finding nothing but empty drawers. She threw herself on to the couch, trying to think of what to do next. She rifled through the massive amount of mail on the coffee table and found nothing but bills and advertisements. She threw her head into her hands, grunting at her failed mission. She sensed movement behind her and eyed the baseball bat at the end of the couch, wondering if she could make it without getting hurt by whoever was behind her.
She reached for it, turning around and facing the person. He put his hands up, showing that he came in peace. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" She asked, getting ready to swing if need be. "I can say the same to you. I haven't seen you around here," he replied. Matty took a few steps towards him and cocked an eyebrow. "My name is Matty. I used to live here," she said.
"My name is Brian. I'm a mechanic is Dom's shop," he said. Matty lowered the bat she was yielding as a weapon and smiled at him. "Do you know anything about what happened or where they are?" She asked, hating the fact that she was in the dark. And that's when Brian enlightened her with the truth. The entire truth. Him being a cop. Dom and the heists. Jesse's fatal 's arm. The team in Mexico.
Matty sat on the couch arm, shocked. "You have to get them off, Brian. No matter what they did or didn't do, they were a family to me and you," she said, trying to fend for them. He shook his head. "I let them get away. There was nothing I could do or say. They stripped me of my badge. Every cop has it out for me now," he said, plopping down into the couch.
"Do you have any idea of where they are? Anything I could go on?" She pleaded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue sticky note. "There were calls placed from a little mom and pop shop to the hospital. Specifically asking for updates on Jesse's condition every 3 to 4 hours. They never asked to be connected or anything. Just wanted to know how he was doing. They stopped when the nurse told him that Jesse had died on the operating table. And we know it's Dom because the nurse specifically remembers the deep voice and how sexy she thought it was," he said, passing her the piece of paper.
She pocketed it and stood up from the couch. "I'm guessing the only reason you know this is because you still have friends in the department. I'm also guessing that the LAPD doesn't have jurisdiction to hunt them down in Mexico," she said, heading for the door. "Be safe," Brian said, as she exited the house and jumped in to her car.
She was on a mission.
She finally felt alive.
She was back.
The prodigal daughter had returned.