Saving Jane

Chapter Three: "Janie?"

A/N: Please keep in mind that this is a first draft of sorts, and once the whole thing is complete I'll go back and revise. No flames. Thank you.

~ Jane

Jane-G

The hot water felt wonderful against Jane's travel-weary body. Every drop seemed to ease away a little more of the pain while making her all the more aware of her exhaustion. She still didn't know what had possessed her to come home with this guy. What did she really know about this Dom anyway? Perhaps it had been a combination of her weariness and how trustworthy he had seemed when she looked into his eyes. There was something there that seemed to whisper "I want to protect you. Trust me, Jane. I won't fail you."

Jane couldn't help but feel how strange it was for her heart to want to trust anyone while her head told her not to. It was a very rare occasion that her heart rebelled against the workings of her mind and logic, but when it did Jane always found herself following her heart, despite herself.

She didn't know how or when it had happened, but some part of her had latched on to Dom and his kindness. Perhaps it was on the car ride home, when he'd opened the door for her and leaned over her to protectively buckle her in. Or when he'd jumped out of his seat so quickly when they arrived to help her out. Maybe it had been in the diner when he'd watched her so intently while she ate and tried to keep the others from pestering her too much. Maybe it was because he cared, though she couldn't for the life of her guess why.

Jane shrugged off her thoughts and soaped up her body, trying not to think of all the new confusion in her life.

She hissed in sudden pain when she moved the wrong way, aggravating her broken ribs. She looked down at the purple skin, rubbing her fingers across the area gently. It had been a while but they were still healing, and all her hard traveling hadn't helped. Jane had the strangest feeling that she'd be able to rest now though. She couldn't help feeling for the first time in her life that she was truly safe.

But despite that, she couldn't stop herself from sliding down the shower wall, sobbing like there was no tomorrow.

Dom-T

Dom couldn't help staring when Jane walked out of the bathroom wearing a pair of his sister's jeans, one of his old Angels' sweatshirts, and her own black leather gloves. The shirt was so big that it reached her knees and hung off of one of her fragile shoulders. The jeans he could barely see.

Dom got a strange, protective feeling in his gut. It was just how vulnerable and delicate she looked, with her long black hair hanging down to her waist, making her face seem even more gaunt and pale. And yet, she was rather pretty. Her green eyes seemed to sparkle in question as she looked up at him, having to tilt her head as far back as she could due to his height. Her hair, even if not healthy and shining as it ought to have been, was extraordinarily long. She had definite potential in the looks department.

"I'd say 'take a picture, it'll last longer,' but it didn't do me any good last time," she said grinning up at him cheekily.

Dom chuckled at her lightly.

"No, I guess it didn't. Sorry for staring, Janie," he said lightly.

"Janie? I've been here less than an hour and you already have a nickname for me?" she asked, folding her arms and smirking up at him.

Dom blushed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"You shouldn't apologize so much, Dom," Jane said, hitting his stomach with the back of her hand lightly before walking down the hall toward the stairs. "Actually, I kind of like it. Janie. No one's ever called me that before."

Dom smiled before following her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Jane-G

Jane had spent the last few hours trying to be as nice to Dom as possible. She wanted very badly for him to know that she wasn't anywhere near as witchy as she had acted at the diner. It's just that having been on the road as long as she had been, she had had to learn how to turn guys off of her quickly, and had become wary of strangers.

Despite his protests, Jane had opted to make dinner for everyone as a way of repaying them. It didn't take very long for her to feel comfortable with Dom, though as desperate as she was to have someone to talk to that didn't hit her for giving her opinion she might have felt comfortable with Marilyn Manson. And she did like talking to Dom. He listened to her and made her feel smart and important, and he never asked anything about her past, adding more immeasurable gratitude to her already growing amount of it.

Jane had to wonder if she felt safe with Dom because of Dom, or because she was so desperate to feel safe. And then she just didn't care anymore.

Dom-T

Dom couldn't help feeling irritated when the others showed up. They seemed to gather around Jane like she was a rare exhibit at a museum. They asked her question after question.

It was even worse at dinner.

"Are you settling in alright?"

"Where are you from?"

"What is your last name?"

"How old are you?"

"Where are your parents?"

"How did you end up on the road?"

"Why are you so thin?"

"Don't you have any money?"

"Where did you learn to cook so good?"

The bulk of these questions seemed to come from Jesse, Vince and Leon, who were drawn to her much the same way as moths are drawn to light. Jane seemed to handle it all rather well, carefully avoiding their questions while still being polite. Eventually though, even Dom had had enough of the interrogation.

"Enough, alright? Lay off of her. She's had a long day," Dom said gruffly from next to Jane, stabbing a green bean and shoving it into his mouth irritably.

"We're just curious, Dom," Letty said. "You've had all day to find out about her."

"There's not much to find out," Jane said. "To be honest, Dom doesn't know any more than you do. I don't really feel comfortable yet talking about myself. I haven't had a lot of experience with trusting people and it may be a while before I do feel comfortable talking about it."

"And that's perfectly alright, honey," Mia said from Jane's other side, placing a sisterly hand over Jane's gloved one. "Just take your time and worry about getting your health back. Everything else can wait."

Dom watched Jane smile and his sister, and he found that he couldn't help smiling too. He had a feeling that those two were going to be two peas in a pod.

He didn't notice the frown on Letty's face.