Story rewritten (for the second time

Chapter 3

Lily had been sitting in Kip's old Honda across the road from Dom's house for the past 5 hours and was still no closer to going over there then she was when she first arrived. She'd left her house in Long Beach at eight this morning and it had taken her just over 9 hours to work up the courage to even work up enough courage to even drive to her old family house in Echo Park. Of course, two lines of cocaine at her dealers house had played a big part in her sudden boost of confidence, but even that couldn't help her take those steps up that driveway. As soon as she saw the house her legs had turned to jelly.

"So much for your anti- drug stance Lil'" She castigated herself

'Besides its not like I'm doing the hard stuff is it' she rationalized to herself. 'I can't have gone back to my old ways if I'm only snorting. I'm only a junkie if inject' Lily desperately tried to justify her actions with the same old crazy logic she used to use when she first started using. She'd always kept deluding herself that she could push herself to the next limit and the next, all the while never getting addicted, never being a junkie. Then before she knew it she'd be back shooting up religiously, spending hundreds of dollars a day on an addiction she 'didn't' have.

Wanting to keep the truth at bay, Lily reached over to the passenger side and put her hand under the seat and pulled out a little baggy of white powder from in between the seam of the chair and dipped her finger into it. Bringing her little pinky up to her nose she snorted off the excess powder, before quickly replacing the bag to its hiding place. Lily made a promise to herself that that was to be her final hit. But let's be clear about this, there were final hits and final hits. What kind would this be?

She lent back into her seat and closed her eyes as the head rush attacked her senses. She felt comfortably numb and if she had her say, this is the way she'd want to feel for the rest of her life. It made all those pesky little realities go away. Lily was beginning to wonder why she ever gave this feeling up in the first place.

The sudden ringing of her cell phone made her jump and bolt upright. She looked around the car frantically trying to figure out where the sound was coming from but when it finally dawned on her she relaxed some. Opened her bag she took out her phone and checked the number.

"Kip... Again"

She groaned and threw the phone back into her bag. She was still in no mood to talk to him. Kip had been calling every half hour since she'd left the house. He probably thought she'd skipped town

She looked out of the Honda's heavily tinted windows towards the house. She'd seen seven cars pull in to the driveway at 6:00 but hadn't seen who they were because they walked straight round the back. She guessed the cars belonged to Dom and the team though from the style and the roar of the engines as they raced down the street. She suddenly wished she had brought her '67 Mustang instead of Kip's un-tuned Honda, feeling a strange need to impress them and gain acceptance.

'But I don't care what they think. There a bunch of nobody to me' She said, trying to reassure herself.

Hearing voices she snapped out of her thoughts and looked toward the house. Seven people were scurrying out of the house, six of them talking and laughing amongst themselves while one walked out ahead of the rest towards a red Mazda RX-7 in silence.

"Dom..." The name slipped from her lips, almost inaudible. It was to dark to make out the peoples features but she knew it was Dom. Lily saw him glance curiously towards her car as he climbed in his. She was suddenly glad for the invention of tinted windows. All the cars engines roared to life one after another they sped off down the street. Lily glanced at the clock.

"11:00pm... They must be goin' to a street race". She had been to a few races herself, but the ricer scene had never really been her thing. She just liked to ride hard, fast and dangerous, and she was pretty damn good at it. Looking back at the now dark, vacant house she sighed deciding it was now or never. She figured she could just leave a note with her number on it.

"Yeah that'll do" She agreed with herself out loud.

Cautiously she steeped out of the car, her eyes darting both ways as she crossed the street, just to make sure they weren't coming back. Her fast pace soon slowed when she reached the sidewalk in front of the house though. Giving it one more look over she forced herself to walk up the pathway, towards the front door. She climbed somberly up the porch stairs and timidly raised her hand up and rapped on the door. She was practically begging whatever god that was listening for no one to be in. She didn't think that she could face them.

Getting no answer Lily released a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. Digging into her pocket she pulled out a small scrap of paper she had wrote her name and number on earlier and posted it through the letterbox.

'Well that's that done. At least it'll shut Memphis up. I mean who does he think he is anyway, telling me what to do' She though indignantly to herself

She turned to descend the stairs when something inside Lily made her stop. Her fear towards the house was still there but curiosity was quickly overcoming that feeling. She wanted to take a look around and see if anything had changed. Turning around she walked but to the door and twisted the door knob, testing the lock. It was locked as she thought it would be but that was an easy enough problem to overcome.

"Well I guess it won't hurt to have a quick look around" She said aloud as she pulled out a small black wallet from the pocket of her leather jacket. She unzipped it and produced two metal objects. One was thin and straight while the other was slightly thicker with a hook at the end.

She looked up and down the street to make sure the coast was clear before kneeling down and began to work on the lock. Breaking in to a house was basically the same as boosting a car. In fact on some house, such as this one, it was easier because you didn't have to worry about alarms.

The click of the lock brought a smile to her face but it soon fell when she realized she had no excuse not to go in the now. She was about to go back to place that she'd been pretending didn't exist for the past seven years. She knew that as soon as she set foot inside there would be no denying her past and the fact that her whole family (including the team) just let her get taken away and didn't care enough to fight for her. Didn't even care enough to write a letter. Lily knew from her foster parents that Dom had a restraining order against him but what about the others? Nothing was stopping them from coming to see her but they couldn't be bothered. Ed, her foster father, had had taken great pleasure in using that against her constantly when she had lived there with him, always trying to break her spirit. But what he didn't realize was that you can't break something that's already broken

She twisted the door knob and slowly pushed it open. Breathing in deeply she entered the house.

"Home sweet home" She said quietly.

Once inside on pure instinct she reached out for the light switch and soon the living room was completely illuminated with a pale incandescent glow. Lily was surprised how much the house had not changed. The same old paint on the walls, same old furniture, heck, it even smelled the same. Motor oil, beer and the faint aroma of jasmine, which Mia had always used to cover the smell, but it was never been quite strong enough to cover the overpowering smell in a car fanatics house.

That single aroma brought back a plethora of memories. It reminded Lily of when Dom used to hug and tucked her in at night, of Vince when he used to put her in a headlock and tackle her to the ground, of Leon when he used to play basketball with her and cheat constantly by holding her back from reaching the ball, of Jesse when they used to spend hours going over car blueprints to figure out how to make Dom's car go even faster, of Letty when they would have so much fun scaring off the racer chasers, of Mia and the girlie nights they had that lasted to the sun rose and finally of her dad when he used to take her out in the charger to somewhere deserted and let her steer from her position on his lap while he worked the pedals.

It was almost too much for Lily to take and she began to feel physically sick.

'Get a grip Lil'. You can't break down now. God you've only just stepped inside the house'

Shaking her head Lily shut the door behind her and stepped further into the center of the room. She just stood there taking everything in for what only seem to be a few minutes to her but was actually more along the line of twenty. As she was turning slowly in circles something caught her eye on the book shelf in the corner of the room. She walked towards it and was honestly quite shocked by what she saw... Picture after picture of her and the team dominated each shelf. She hadn't expected that to say the least. This could mean that they actually missed her. She snorted inside at herself

'Huh probably just wanna remind themselves that they got rid of you' She scolded herself, erasing any hope

He eyes ran over the pictures one by one. They were all from happier times.

The first was a picture of her and Leon. She was wearing one of his numerous jersey's as she always did back in the day. It hung loosely on her small frame and came down to her knees almost. Leon stood behind her pulling a funny face. Despite herself she had to smile. She had only known Leon and Jesse for one year before she got taken away into 'care', so she didn't quite consider them family. They were more like best friends to her…. Well they used to be. Although they were protective of her they didn't treat her like a little kid like Vince and Letty did. That's not that she didn't love Letty and Vince treating her like their kid sister back then, but she enjoyed the different relationship she had with Leon and Jesse

This nextmone was of her and Vince. They were arm wrestling on the table in the back yard. She was seven at the time and course he was letting her win. He had this faked strained look on his face she was just giggling at him. Vince was always trying to toughen her up. She remembered that seconds after that picture was taken she had called him a sissy and Vince had got up and chased her around the garden, put her in a head lock an ran his knuckles back and forth over her scalp until she took back her comment

The next three pictures were of her on her own. In the first she was about 6 and had Dom's sunglasses on which looked abnormally large on her small face. She was grinning insanely at the camera. The second one was from her forth birthday. She had a multi-colored party hat on her head and was devouring and ice cream, paying no attention to the camera. The third picture of her was taken when she was nine. She had just gotten a skateboard and hadn't quite got her balance for it yet. In the photo she proudly held up her cast clad arm which had been signed by all the team.

The next one was of her and Letty after their annual go-kart race. The whole team had taken part. Lily was holding a makeshift trophy (which was actually a troll with some gold paint on it) in her hand while Letty tickled her. She had just whooped Letty's ass in a race and Letty wasn't even trying to let her win. Lily was the self proclaimed go-kart queen and always won. Of course they had always complained that because she was the smallest and lightest, her kart was bound to go faster but she just called sore losers. Nothing hurt the teams pride more then being beat at a race, especially by a kid.

She moved on to the next picture which had Jesse and her in it at the garage when she was nine. Lily had always spent her spare time at the garage, she even had her own child size blue overall. Mia and she had sewn little stars on it at one of there many girlie nights. On this day they had the hood of a Honda open and they were both intently looking at the engine, trying to work out the problem. Lily was always fascinated by Jesse's constant ramblings about cars and new design ideas; she loved the passion in which he spoke of them, like they were his babies.

The next picture was of Dom, Mia and Lily taken when she was eight. They were sitting in their father's charger, Lily sitting on Dom's lap behind the wheel. Their father had taken the picture claiming he needed a picture of the three loves of his life with his pride and joy. He had had it hung proudly in his office at the garage but she guessed Dom had taken it down and brought it home

'Well why would he wanna look at you while he was working' She castigated herself

She looked back at the picture. Dom had one of his arm protectively round her waist while his other was round Mia' shoulder, pulling her over to him. Lily just couldn't explain how he could fake the love that shone plainly form his eyes as he looked down at her but he was obviously a very good liar or else he wouldn't have left he on her own. She had spent her entire life running after him and looking up to him. Lily had idolized him. How could he have recklessly got himself sent to prison unless he had truly been lying ever time he had told her he loved her?

The last picture on that level on the shelf had her and Mia in it. Mia held her hands up to the camera showing Lily botched attempt at doing Mia's nails. Lily was eight at the time and had managed to get more varnish on the Mia's skin and the bed cover than she got on the nail. This was at one of there many girlie nights. Lily was too young at the time to really understand some of the things Mia said about relationships but that didn't matter to her, she just loved to hear Mia go on and on about which boy at school she wanted to date. I mean she was the only person she could really talk about this stuff with as Letty would have rather talked about carburetors and Dom than make up and other boys

Her head moved up to the next level of the shelf which help a single framed photo. She felt her stomach lurch at the sight of it. It was of Dom, Mia, Lily and her father taken a couple of hours before her dad had died. This was the last picture of them all together. A shaky hand reached a grabbed to frame and brought it to her face for a closer inspection. They all looked so happy and content in the picture. She'd smiled naively in to the camera not knowing that her whole life was about to be ruin in a few short hours.

She stared at it numbly for five minutes. Looking at pictures was just another reminder of how much she had changed, both physically and mentally. She wasn't that girl anymore. She could see her present appearance reflecting back at her on the glass. Her skin was a little paler than it was, too many years of fast living and bad habits. Her hair was much lighter, bleached platinum from the light caramel brown she'd grown with. Her cheek bones more prominent through ill nourishment. Her dark eyes haunted and empty. But the thing that scared her the most was how mentally different she was. She had no idea what the feelings her 11 year old self was feeling in the photo. She had absolutely no frame of reference to what happiness was anymore, it was foreign to her. A single tear splashed onto the glass and snapped her out of her daze, and in an instance all her hate and anger came back to her. She hated her dad for racing that day and leaving them, she hated Dom for getting himself locked up, she hated Mia for never writing, and she hated the whole team. All they had ever talked about when she was younger was that loyalty was the most important thing in life and yet they'd ditched her when times got rough. A frustrated scream tore from her lips and raising her arm up, she smash her hand down on the glass covering, shattering it. She didn't even feel some of the pieces pierce her skin. As she looked at blood run down her hand the photo slipped out of her hand, breaking in to pieces as it hit the wooden floor.

She was so focused on her bloody hand that she didn't even hear the familiar roar of engines pull into the drive way.

--

Dom drove along the tiny Echo park street as fast as lightening on his way home from another race. Of course he had won yet again, he hardly even tried anymore. He was beginning to wonder why people even bothered to race him. He checked his rear view mirror to make sure all the team were behind him and then drifted in to thought

Things were good for the gang at the moment. They were home free as far as the hijacking charges thanks to Brian and they still had a lot of the money left in an off shore account. But no mater how good things were his life still didn't feel complete. Lily was his baby sister and without her here the sun didn't shine quite so bright. Part of his life was missing and he didn't even know where to find it.

He'd missed her so much when he was in jail and it was almost unbearable knowing that she wouldn't be waiting for him when he got out. He wanted Vince to put in for her adoption seeing as he was the oldest but it was denied. Something about it being a risk to her to be put in the care of people with a colorful criminal record. But they had still tried to make contact with her but they had never received any replies. Dom figured she must be mad at him. Hell he was made at himself. Just because he couldn't control his temper he had to watch his baby sister grow up through annual photos

He had been frantic when the police had turned up on his doorstep asking if he knew of her whereabouts. He could tell by their voices that they already assumed she was dead but he failed to believe that, hell he still didn't. Dom had had his contacts searching for her since that day but it was like she had dropped off the face of the Earth.

Everyday he woke up it would break his heart to know that she wasn't tucked in her bed where she belonged. When he was sure the house was empty he would sit up in her room just thinking, holding her pink fluffy pillow which her scent still clung to. Ironically Lily always seemed to smell of lilies, he guessed it was the bath products she used. He missed her so much he couldn't even bear to hear her name spoken anymore and when Mia had suggested that maybe they should have a service for Lily after a year of her being missing he was furious. He'd high tailed it out of their for a month and didn't speak to anyone, so it was well known to the team that Lily was a sensitive subject

Sighing he rubbed his hand over his face as he pulled into the driveway. The rest of the team was hot on his heels. He was glad that they weren't having a party tonight. He just wanted to go to bed once he got in. He got out of the car and walked with his head hung low towards the front door, digging in his back pocket for his key. He stuck it in the lock and twisted it, confused to find that it was already unlocked. It was then that it dawned on him that the living room light was on.

"I didn't leave that on" He whispered to himself.

The team was walking up behind him, laughing and joking like always. They all stopped behind Dom waiting for him to let them in but he just stood there still

"Yo Dom, let us in already. I need to piss dawg" Shouted Leon from the back, in his normal growling voice. Dom turned round his finger pressed to his lips before he pointed towards the front window. They all immediately tensed

"I'm betting it's our stalker from the Honda" Whispered Dom pointing to the car across the street. They had all noticed the car had been parked there all afternoon and they knew that no one on the street owned that kind of car.

"We going in dawg?" Said Vince, pulling his gun from the waistband of his jeans. He hope this person knew what they were doing when they fucked with the Toretto's

"Yeah. Mia, Jesse and Letty, I want you to wait here." Letty was about to protest but Dom shot her a look that said her wasn't going to back down, so she shut her mouth back up and huffed quietly to herself. "Me and Brian will go through the front, Leon and Vince will go through the back. Ready?" He asked pulling out his own handgun. They all nodded in reply. "Okay, let's go"

Vince and Leon sprinted round to the back of the house as Dom prepared to burst through the door.

"You ready Brian?" He nodded in reply. "1...2...3...Go!" He burst through the door aiming the gun at the person by the shelves that had their back to him. "What the fuck are you doin' in my house?" He growled. Receiving no answer he barked and order at them. "Turn around"

Lily gulped and tried to ease her ragged breathes. She hadn't even heard him till he burst through the door. Regaining her composure somewhat she put on her fake relaxed smile and turned around

"Is that anyway to talk to family" She asked, desperately trying to keep her voice calm with an arrogant air

Dom was in shock. As his mouth gapped open his gun slipped from his hands and thudded to the floor

"Lily?" He whispered. Dom couldn't believe his eyes and he was waiting for the dream to end any second. His Lily, his baby sister was here in front of him. Except she wasn't a baby anymore, she was all grown up. He always knew she'd be beautiful when she was older and he was never looking forward to the time when he would be beating guys up left, right and center for trying it on with her. Dom took a step towards her but he was cut short when a shouting Vince and Leon burst through from the kitchen.

"Get your fuckin' hands up bit... Lily?" He asked, a frown marring his face.

"Ol' coyote, nice to see your views on personal hygiene haven't changed all these long years" She said, trying to act casual, like this wasn't a big deal but her voice was threatening to break any minute. She couldn't handle them all at once, it was too much. And she knew for sure that with her tear stained face she probably looked like shit. She was about to speak when Letty burst through the front door, flanked by Jesse and Mia

"Dom what's going on? Hello Earth to Dom." She questioned him waving her hand in front of his face, not noticing the girl in the corner of the room. He didn't answer, just simply turned her face towards Lily. Her eyes widened in shook. Mia and Jesse followed her gaze.

"Oh my god, Lily?" Mia screamed. She wanted to run over and hug her but her legs just didn't want to work. So she simply just began to sob. Brian placed his arm around her shoulder and hugged her

The room fell silent

It was only now that Dom was getting over the shock that he took in her appearance. Her once bronzed hair was poker straight icy blonde color .She thin, a little too thin. Her top was tied up above her navel and he could see quite easily her ribs beneath the skin. Her navel was pierced and he could just make out a small tattoo on her hip peeking out from under her jeans. She looked totally different from the little innocent girl that he once new. Something was off about her, he just knew it.. His eyes trailed down her body and saw her bloody hand that limply hung at her side

"Your hurt" He exclaimed stepping forward. But he stopped mid way there when he saw her recoil and take a few steps back. She raised her hand up and examined like she only just remembered it.

"Oh yea... I... had an accident" She said looking down at the broken frame. "I'll buy you a new frame" She said absently

"I'm not worried about the frame, I'm worried about you" She resisted the urge to snort.

"It's fine really... I've had worse" Her mind flashed back to the numerous beatings her foster parents had given her. She still remembered each one vividly. She closed her eyes tight for a second to try and block the images, forgetting about Dom and the team being around

'God, just get this over with will you' she thought, annoyed with herself

She opened her eyes to find that everyone was shifted around.

'How long did I have my eyes shut for?' she pondered.

Dom and Lily were the only ones in the same place, his eyes boring deep into her. The others who had managed to compose themselves were now seated on the couch and staring at her expectantly. She was just waiting for the round of questions that were going to come. Vince didn't disappoint.

"Where were you baby gurl? Why did you run away? And why the hell didn't you call" His voice was calm but she could tell he was pissed at her for disappearing and not calling. She sighed irritably at their obviously fake concern.

"I've been living anywhere and everywhere in L.A. In Long beach at the moment." She was about to continue when Vince interrupted.

"LA! You've been living in LA all this time and you never visited to let us know that you were alright?" He yelled but Dom shot him an angry look so he sat back down and tried to stay calm. The truth was Dom wanted to yell at her to, but he'd only just got her back and he didn't want her to leave and never come back

'I could ask you that same thing Vince. Where were you for the five years I spent in Detroit?' she silently screamed to herself. The sadness at seeing them again was quickly being replaced by anger. Anger that had been festering inside her for years. 'How dare any of them get angry at me? They have no right to; the bunch of hypocrites' She grounded her teeth to release some of the tension in her body before she continued.

"And I ran away because... Because my foster 'dad' Ed was... ah... he used to beat me and t... Well he just wasn't a nice person to be around" She stopped a moment when she heard Mia and Letty gasp. She looked up to see how the guys were taking that news. She was surprised to see the furious looks that Dom's face, he looked like he was about to explode. Vince was now pacing back and forth clenching his fist. Leon still had his gun in his hand and he was clenching it so hard his knuckle went white. Jesse face marred by a frown as he looked at the floor deep in though. And blondie looked pissed too...

"Wait a minute, who the hell is blondie?" She asked pointing to Brian. She felt like this was a good way to change the subject. Mia stopped her sobbing and grabbed a hold of Bryan's hand

"This is Bryan, my fiancée" She gushed. Lily looked him over. God he was like a perfect rendition of what Mia had always told her was her ideal man. Tall, blonde, big smile and basically an all round goody goody.

"Figures" She muttered to herself looking back at the ground. "Anyway I didn't call because...Um..."

'God think of and excuse. You can't say I didn't call cause I hate your guts when you're just about to ask for help'

"Um... well 'cause I was afraid that if I came back the police would catch me and take me back to Detroit." She said quickly. That would do as and excuse.

Dom just stood there silently staring at her. He still hadn't got over how she said her foster parents had treated her, he couldn't believe it. Dom wanted nothing more then to track this guy down and beat him into a bloody pulp. But he was also mad at himself, for not only had his foolish mistake got her sent away it had also got her beat up by some bully asshole. Just another thing to add to the list of pain he had caused her. He was also concerned by her abrupt change of subject. He was praying that nothing else had happened to her up there which she just wasn't telling him about. He didn't think he could handle any more news like that but he had to ask.

"Hang on a second, back up. This guy hit you?" He said bringing the conversation back on topic. She nodded.

"What is his full name?"

"Edward North."

"Jesse I want you to get on the internet and find out this guys address. We're gonna pay him a visit." Jesse got straight up at Dom's demanding tone and walked towards the staircase to go fetch his laptop.

"Hey. No wait. That's not necessary. It's taken care of" Lily interrupted, stopping Jesse in his tracks

"It's taken care of? What do you mean its taken care of? Dom questioned.

"Like I said, it's already been dealt with" Off their questioning looks she grudgingly elaborated "I know people who know people in Detroit, alright? Let's just say I doubt he has it in him to go to the bathroom unaided, let alone hurt me anymore" She snapped. 'God this is fun. Getting the third degree like old times' she thought

They all were staring at her with shocked expressions. She huffed in annoyance.

"Look, it doesn't matter; it's not why I'm here. I... I'm kinda' in a bit of trouble. Me and my boyfriend..."

"You have a boyfriend?" Dom interrupted.

"Yeah" Lily answered off handedly

"What's his name?" Mia asked with excitement in her voice.

"Kip... Kip Raines"

"Kip Raines?!" Dom repeated incredulously. "Memphis Raines little kid brother?"

"I hate that little punk! He tried to jack my car once" Said Vince angrily

"Yeah, I remember that dawg. You were gonna..."

"Hey" Lily shouted interrupted their rambling. "I'm not here to talk about my choice of boyfriend! Do you guys know a guy named Carter Verone?"

"Yeah. He's a big criminal in the LA area now. He's got his hands in everything, especially exporting stolen cars. And not a very nice guy by all accounts" Brian contributed

"What's he got to do with the trouble you're in?" Asked Jesse

"Well... He's my new employer"

"What?!" Dom practically roared.

"He contacted me and Kip a month ago. He liked our work. Carter offered us alotta money to just do this one job"

"And what was the job?" Dom interrupted

"To boost 50 specific cars..."

"Your boosting cars now?!" He said disappointedly. When he had imagined in his head been reunited with his sister he never dreamt it be under circumstances like this.

"Will you just let me finish! All we had to do was boost the 50 cars on this list. They we're rare cars or hard to boost but it was a simple enough job. But three days ago the warehouse where we were storing the cars was raided. We lost everything, 30 cars impounded. We tried to go to Carter, to tell him that we fucked up and we couldn't fill the order, but he wouldn't listen. Kip woulda been dead right now if it wasn't for his brother Memphis. He said that if we didn't get the cars in ten days he'd personally kill us. So… I guess I'm here to ask for you're help. I'm mean I know I'm basically a stranger and I understand if you don't wanna? We got Memphis helping us so we might make it without you…" She paused, losing her nerve. "You know what, it was stupid for me to come here...I...I should go" she said beginning to walk towards the front door. It was Dom's grip on her arm that stopped her

"We'll help" Dom said. He pulled her in to and awkward hug. His arms wrapped tightly around her and he leaned down to kiss the top of her head. She didn't respond, just stood as stiff as a board with her hands at her side he noted to himself. Her stubborn personality refused to let go of the grudge she had with him. "Of course we'll help" He was angry and disappointed with her, but she was still his baby sister and he was just so glad to see her alive that all the bad stuff didn't seem to matter "Have you got the list of cars on you?" He asked, finally releasing her.

"Yeah" She said reaching in to her back pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper and handing it to him. He opened it up and sighed rubbing his head with his free hand

"Shit" He muttered "Did you say that Memphis was helping with this?"

"Yeah. Him and his friend Otto" Dom nodded slowly.

"It'll be tight but I reckon if we work hard we can do it. Are you guys in?" Dom asked the team, but already knowing what their answer would be.

"Of course we are" Said Vince, sounding slightly hurt that Dom would even have to ask. He walked towards Lily and roughly pulled her in to his embrace, slightly winding her as she thudded against his solid chest. "Good to have you back Kid" He said as he let here go. Lily was about to say something not so nice back when Mia grabbed her and hugged her for dear life.

"Oh my god! I missed you so much" She sobbed

"Yea I bet" Lily mumbled sarcastically in to Mia's hair

She shared one sided hugs with the rest of the team, except Brian. Lily put on her beautiful fake smile and pretended to be happy to see them. After she finished with the polite greetings she was just about ready to either burst out crying or puke at all her false sentiment. Of course deep down she was happy to see them but she would never admit that to herself, let alone them. All she could think about is that she would never ever forgive them. It was a matter of pride.

"Well I better be goin' now..." Moving to the front door

"You're not staying?" Asked Mia sadly

"Well Kip will be worried. I haven't spoke to him since this morning so it's probably best I go home."

"What's the plan for tomorrow then?" Asked Dom

"Well we're going over to Otto's garage tomorrow at 9 so you can meet us there. It's the one over in Palermo Ave., Long beach. You know it?"

"Yeah. You got a number we can reach you at, just in case" Lily looked down and saw the scrap of paper she had posted through the door earlier. She picked it up and gave it to him.

"That's my cell number; you can reach me on that anytime. Well, I better..." She started to repeat what she had said earlier but was interrupted by Dom

"...Get goin'?"

"Yea, I'll see you all tomorrow" She opened the door and stepped outside. Once she got to the bottom of the steps she turned to look back at Dom who was standing in the doorway. "Thanks" She said slowly. Then she turned and walked quickly to her car. The engine hummed as it started up and she sped off down the road without out backwards glance.

Once the house was out of sight she pulled the car to the side of the road, unable to hold in her emotions any longer she let out violent sobs and rested her head on the steering wheel. After about 15 minute she was able to compose herself. She reached for the little bag under her passenger side chair and snorted some of its contents, trying to straighten her mind out. She replaced the bag and then looked in the rearview mirror. Lily ran her hands through her hair and wiped away the tears from her face in an attempt to look presentably. It occurred to her that she had cried more in the last 24 hours than she had in the past five years. But she made a promise to herself that they would never see her cry, never. She wouldn't show that weakness. If there was anything she'd learnt in her troubled years is that false fronts are your best defense. She started her car back up and she headed for home.

When Lily finally arrived home at three in the morning (after a quick stop off for 'supplies') she found kip sitting at the kitchen table, looking extremely anxious and nursing a cold cup of coffee. His tired red eyes belied the fact he'd obviously been crying. She had crept into the house so quietly it seemed he hadn't heard her enter, too caught up in his own thoughts. Lily tapped the ring against the door to get his attention, not really wanting to talk to him but feeling some semblance of guilt that he'd worried about her. Spotting her Kips face cleared of worry lines and he rose from the chair and began to walk to her. Whether consciously or not he chose to ignore he dilated pupils and slightly shaking body. Sometimes the mind doesn't see what it's not willing to accept

"Baby…" he began to apologize but one look at her angry face stopped him in his tracks. Kip knew better than to try and make amends when she was in this kind of mood. Backing up a few steps he waited to be spoken to. She stood there for a moment looking out window and he was beginning to wonder if she'd ever speak.

"Their going to meet us at Otto's" Lily answered the unspoken question that was hanging in the air, then turned her back to him and headed to bed. She didn't actually feel like sleeping but at least pretending to meant she didn't have to speak to Kip or have him staring at her like a wounded puppy. She didn't like how that look made her feel inside, heck she didn't want to feel at all.

She climbed in bed without bothering to undress and pulled the covers high over her head, the universally sign for 'don't disturb me'. About ten minutes later she felt the bed dip on Kips side and the lights go out. She decided to at least try and get some sleep herself now that the effects of her high were ebbing away. Something told her she was going to need all the energy she could in the morning.