AN: Its likely mostly just filler, but I'm still trying to get my head around how to do the next part, so it's what wanted to come for now. Sorry, but hopefully you can enjoy the interactions even though not much happens.

Lose the Road

By – TempestRaces

Chapter 14 – Lost in Time

"Now I don't know what I'll find. Just want to get in the car and drive. It's time to escape the shade. Been living too long this way."

When she got back to the hospital, a force stronger than gravity drew her into Vince's room, not Jesse's. It was Jesse she had come here to be with in the first place. But she could be more honest with herself to Vince. Could just plain be more honest. She wouldn't be trying to put on a facade with him. Wouldn't be faking a superwoman act. She'd asked him who would be strong for her, and he'd taken up the challenge. No matter how hurt he was, he was strong enough to cope with the truth. Jesse wasn't, no matter how much he might try to convince himself otherwise.

She walked into his room and he was awake, lying on his back staring at the ceiling. "Hey," she said softly to announce herself.

He shifted into a sitting position as best he could before he answered her. "Hey." There was a pause while they just stared at each other. "Where you been?" he finally asked.

"Trying to get some things organized."

"What kind of things?"

"Just what's going to happen to the cars, the shop, the store."

"None of that's your problem," Vince answered. It wasn't, but he was touched she cared. And puzzled. What they'd done had put her under unimaginable strain, gotten her cousin shot and put in the hospital, dragged her 24 hours driving straight through the night into god knew what, and she'd spent a day trying to figure out what would happen to Dom's store, Dom's cars, Dom's garage. She shouldn't have cared, and he was more surprised she did than he would have been if she hadn't. "I'd have thought you'd want to see Dominic lose everything."

"Even if I did, what about Letty and Mia and Leon? Besides that, all I sorted out was the cars and I didn't even need to do that anyway. It was already done."

"By who?"

"Harry."

"Why'd Harry have anything to do with this? It was his fault the fuckin pig go so close in the first fuckin place," Vince spat. "If he hadn't given him a cover story, Dom never would have let him get so close."

"Maybe. But Harry either gave Brian the job, or he went on trial for receiving stolen property. And implicated you, Bryce. Me," she reminded. "I was angry when I found out at first as well, but he had no choice. He tried to throw Brian off on tangents as much as he could, but he couldn't tell the cops no when they told him to give the guy a job."

"So you're saying Harry stashed the cars out of guilt because he put Brian into a position to get us in the first place?"

"No, I'm saying he likely did it because he knew I'd want him to," she snapped. Why did every conversation with him turn into a flurry of hurled accusations and defensive jabs?

"What does Harry care what you want?" Vince's eyes narrowed at her as he asked.

"We've kept in touch," she answered evasively.

"Why?" he asked forcefully.

"Because he offered me a job two summers ago, which I was gonna take, but skipped out on, thanks to you. He's been trying to convince me to forget and forsake you for two years and come take it anyway. Jesus Christ Vince, he sent me the architects' plans of the shop he was going to build me!" she roared in his face, totally losing it when confronted with his attitude again. "We would have put Dom out of business. I could have ended up famous in the import circuit with him. And I lost it all because of you! And now I'm losing it all again over you. Because once I pull this off I can never come back again. Don't you get that? Harry's my friend. He's been my friend since two years ago and he's kept tabs on Jess for me. How he didn't manage to catch wind of this until after the shit hit the fan I'll never know."

"Why would a guy like Harry want to be friends with you? You're half his age. What could you possibly have in common?"

She could understand where he was coming from, even if his tone did grate on her nerves. "I don't know," she shook her head and memories made her smile. "We've just always gotten along. Just one of those things. He looks out for me, as best as I'll let him."

"And he didn't try to talk you out of this?"

"No. I said he looks out for me as best as I let him. I'm sure he can spot a losing battle when he sees one."

They spent another moment just looking at each other before he answered. "T, come sit down."

She thought about telling him where to go, making it into a big deal she didn't intend to take his orders, let him boss her around. But in the end she caved to the easy and went and sat on the edge of the bed where he indicated.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, and where you're coming from. I really do. But even if I am well enough to go from one hospital to another in two weeks, I'm never going to be well enough for what you want to do. And it's too dangerous. Take the job with Harry. If you're free when I get out we'll see."

"You need to get your head around this. I understand. But it will happen. So you do need to resign yourself to it. When the whole thing is sorted out, Harry will still be waiting. He's got his heart set on me," she smiled lopsidedly. "I've been telling him the same thing, move on, pick someone else, it'll be fine, for the last two years but he keeps insisting 'no I'll wait for you, it's you I want, no one else will do,' every time we talk about it."

He couldn't help his grin. She was so arrogant, just like he remembered. "So, you think you could put Dom outta business huh?"

"Well duh! How many men you think gonna pick seeing him hot and sweaty in a shop over me? Harsh reality is more men drive high performance cars than women. Fact of the matter is Dom don't have the right set of tools."

"Letty might," Vince smirked.

Tempest didn't rise to the bait, just smiled in a way that clearly showed she thought there was no contest. "It's Dom's shop," she finally finished, taking the safe road and not putting her thoughts into words.

"There is that," he answered, chuckling along with her.

"Yeah. I should go sit with Jesse for awhile before Harry picks me up."

"Why's Harry picking you up?" The suspicion was back in his voice.

"He's taking me out for a meal." The look on his face made her feel the need to justify this, despite the fact she knew she had no need to justify herself to him. "I gotta eat."

"You don't gotta eat with Harry."

"Stop thinking of him as the enemy. He's my friend, who's worried about me."

"I'm glad it's so easy for you to get over Brian's role and how he managed to get close to us in the first place. But from where I lay there ain't nothin' easy 'bout it."

"I'm sorry you think I should be mad at Harry for having no control over what you were doing, instead of you and the rest of them for doing it, and then if you were gonna do it in the first place, for getting caught at it! Harry didn't make Dominic stupid enough to befriend the cop." Tempest rolled her eyes.

Vince sputtered for a moment before he gave up. She was right. Didn't mean he had to tell her she was. He'd tried to tell Dominic the same damn thing enough times. But with Dominic, just like with Tempest, no one told them anything they didn't want to hear. He sighed. "I thought you were going to sit with Jesse."

"I am," she answered as she stood up. "See you tomorrow. I dunno when I'll wake up and Bryce is supposed to call me sometime after lunch."

"Temp," he started, in a warning tone. "Please don't go getting piss loaded. You'll do something stupid."

She sneered evilly his way. "Well, since I'd need a fucking extension ladder to climb to the heights of stupid you fell from, I don't think you have a place to get judgemental from."

"Fine, point taken. Just go do whatever you feel like. Never mind that you're here as someone who don't know me, don't know Bryce, and certainly doesn't fuckin' know Harry."

"I can take care of me, worry about taking care of you," she snarled, internally puzzled at his ability to make her go hot and cold from one sentence to the next. She stormed out of the room and stood in the hall between the two doors, breathing heavily and needing a few minutes to stop shaking in rage. Deep inside she knew that it was The Rage from before, because no matter how ok she was pretending to be with him right now, she was far from okay with him in Reality. Nothing from before had changed. Nothing was settled, nothing was closed. And she was still living in the Place Where She Was Irate with Vince. Just pretending she wasn't livid every second she was around him for the sake of peace, and the sake of keeping Jesse happy. And for the sake of keeping the part of her that was the Still Hopelessly in Love part happy as well.

She rolled her eyes at herself before pushing into Jesse's room.

"You sort anything out today?" he asked her as soon as she was all the way in the door.

She shrugged dismissively. "Maybe. Hard to say. Goin' out with Harry for dinner to try and hash out more of it." She held up a hand to inspire silence when she saw his mouth go to open. "And since I stopped in V's room before I came in here, can you save me any rants or lectures about Harry and how Brian is somehow his fault?"

"Why do you always end up being best friends with inappropriate men?"

Tempest could only laugh at the teasingly rueful tone of Jesse's question, glad he hadn't intended to take her to task over her relationship with Harry after all. "Just lucky I guess." She crossed the room and sat in the chair beside Jesse's bed.

Jesse let them sit in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again, "Brian was an alright guy."

Tempest looked up from the magazine she'd snared off his bed side table at his words. "Oh? Was he?"

"Yeah. He tried to stop me from even racing Tran in the first place. I just didn't listen."

"I see," she answered, unsure what to say. "And why didn't you listen to him then?"

"I just really wanted the other car I guess. Now I don't even have one. Dad's gonna kill me."

"No he isn't. It'll be fine. I'll drive out there and explain it all to him in the next couple days."

"How you going to explain off the fact he says he doesn't have a daughter?"

"Betting that when they tell him a girl named Jessica is claiming to be his daughter and requesting visitation, he goes along with it if for no other reason than to see how it pans out."

"Yeah, sounds like the old man."

"I thought so," she paused, gathering her courage. "So, did Vince hate Brian so much for the reason I think he hated Brian so much?"

Jesse sighed. He thought about trying to play it off like he didn't know what she was asking. Like he could pretend he didn't know she was asking if Vince hated Brian because Brian got Mia's attention. All of it, and kept all of it. "Partly yeah. Mia was his safe bet—his comfort zone—and you were long gone, and not speaking to him."

She lifted her eyes to the ceiling and shook her head minutely from side to side, her mouth pinched in disappointment as she fought tears. "Well, that took all of what, five minutes after I left? After he drove me away?"

"A lot longer than five minutes. It was just familiar for him, and he fell back into it."

"Great."

"You wouldn't even speak to him."

"Yeah, and that was my fault? It was my place to make the first move after what he did? Is that what you're saying? Because Harry, who's a man not a boy by the way, certainly thought it was my place to wait and his place to grovel." She wished she could tell Jesse why Harry had a vested interest in her forgiving Vince and moving to L.A. but she couldn't without hurting his feelings.

"Maybe he would have if he'd thought there was a chance it wouldn't end in you telling him to fuck off anyway. You're not the most forgiving person in the world T."

"He didn't know me well enough to know that Jesse."

"He's not the type to grovel."

"I'm not the type to come begging for more after I've already been beaten black and blue."

"No, I know that. But what was he going to do then? Wait around for something that would never happen?"

"He was supposed to listen to Bryce, who told him several hundred times to get up off his ass, get over himself and come speak to me in person."

"Bryce again? Why's he really care what happens to Vince anyway?"

"They've known each other forever," she answered evasively, knowing that revealing their connection wasn't her place, and that it would hurt Jesse that his idol had kept something so important from them all.

"And you're keeping something from me, but I'm too tired to fight with you about it just yet."

She sighed. He could read her really well, considering they hardly ever saw each other. "It's just that it's not really my business, my situation to discuss, you know?"

"You mean that the other one is V's older brother?"

She looked at Jesse in shock.

"I'm a wiz with computers remember? I made it my business to find out who he was the night he practically kidnapped you out of Dom's. I didn't tell everyone else for the same reason that you weren't going to tell me. He's a scary dude though."

"Maybe sometimes, but never with me."

Jesse nodded to show that was good enough for him. "If you're going to meet Harry at the front door at 7, you better head down soon or you'll be late."

She checked the clock on the wall and found it was in fact five minutes to the hour. "Yeah, you're right. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok, see you tomorrow. T?"

Her name phrased as a question checked her at the door and she turned back, "um?"

"Be careful ok? Don't go making a scene or being too obvious. They'll be starting to think about why you're hanging around Vince so much as it is. If they put you together with Harry and having an interest in Vince they're going to dig into who you really are."

"I know. I'll be good. Don't worry so much." She waited for Jesse to nod and then left the room. She paused briefly in front of Vince's door, wondering if she should say good night or just leave and save herself the headache. In the end she wasn't mean enough to leave him wondering alone all night. She opened the door enough to just lean in, figuring it was safer than going in all the way. "I'm heading out," she advised.

He looked her way. "Alright." He shook his head, wondering at his stupidity for going there again. "Please be careful. Spending time with Harry isn't the smartest thing you could be doing in the first place, but if you draw any attention to yourself, it'll have a lot of people asking questions we'd all rather they weren't asking."

"I know. I'll be careful. I can't imagine Harry intends to take me to some red carpet, Michelin starred restaurant that celebrities and paparazzi hang out at."

"I guess not."

"Ok, I'll be around tomorrow at some point."

He nodded and she leaned back out of the room, letting the door close behind her as she turned away and wishing she didn't feel a distance between them, didn't feel like he couldn't be what he was to her then now, and never could be again. On that melancholy thought she headed down the main doors and found Harry waiting for her in a Mercedes SLR convertible she knew must have set him back around half a million.

"Where the fuck do you get off owning half a million bucks worth of convertible? Where did you even get half a mill to drop on a car?"

"Knowing me as you do, do you really think I paid retail? Besides, I have no wife, no kids, thus no drains on my resources. Besides, you don't think The Racer's Edge is the only thing I do for business do you?"

"No, but I don't see you as the kind of guy to spend this much money on a," she shuddered delicately as if the very word was repugnant to her, "German car."

Harry felt the laughter build up and then wash over him, and he laughed until he was almost in tears. "You're such a car racist."

"I am not!"

"Oh really. Then what's wrong with my German car."

"It's not Japanese or Italian."

"What good cars come out of Italy?" he asked with a sneer, purely to wind her up.

"Oh I dunno, just Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Alfa-Romeo, to name a few."

Harry laughed when he managed to make her indignant on the behalf of a few cars. "You couldn't care less about Ferrari."

She figured out what his plan had been and laughed along with him. "You're right, but I could care even less about Porsche."

On that note Harry put the car in gear and pulled sedately out of the parking lot, heading toward the international airport, if the road signs were to be believed. "Where are we going?" she finally broke down and asked.

"To a nice little restaurant I know. You'll like it."

"Am I going to die of embarrassment that this is only how dressed up I bothered getting?"

Harry eyed her undershirt tank and jeans. "Yes, but the food will be worth it, and because we don't want to draw any attention I've asked for a table in the back anyway. It'll be fine."

"Yeah, only because you're the kind of guy who buys five hundred thousand dollar cars and they'll all assume I'm just the flavour of the week."

Harry's answer was a non-committal noise. She tipped her head back into the headrest and tried to relax, hoping the meal came with enough wine to help her mean it when she tried to relax. She almost managed to turn her brain off until they were parking in the small lot beside a pink stucco building, signed over the door Valentino. She laughed softly. "I should have known when it was you and me and food, it'd be Italian food."

"Yeah, you likely should have figured that one out. We'll blame it on you being tired and hungry. Come on."

She got out of the low slung convertible with some difficulty she blamed of fatigue and followed Harry up to the door. When he pushed it open and they stepped inside, the maitre de greeted them instantly, and as she suspected sneered at her jeans in distaste. But it was clear he knew Harry and that Harry had a table reserved. They were taken through a vast maze of small dining rooms until they reached the smallest, the walls of which were made up of racks upon racks of wine bottles. "Wow," she breathed out. It was all she could say.

"Nice huh? My brother's place." He pulled out a chair. "Sit."

She did as ordered, and simply watched as he ordered a bottle of Podere il Caio and waited while it was opened, and a mouthful was poured for her to taste. "I'm tasting the wine?"

"I'm driving remember? Mostly for you."

She shrugged in answer, smelled the liquid deeply before taking a taste. "It's so good I'd swear you knew I spent most summers between 15 and 19 in Naples even though I don't think I ever told you that," she laughed. The waiter took her comment as invitation to pour.

It was Harry's turn to laugh when she ordered her meal in perfectly accented Italian, and charmed his dragon of a brother into submission with her stories of summers in the Campania region when the older man came over simply to say hello—and likely had intentions of taking her to task for her outfit—and ended up joining them for dolci—dessert and a glass of wine. He couldn't help but be glad the conversation kept her to two bottles of wine and kept her out of negative thoughts. When he checked his watch and saw it was gone 11, and the staff had the restaurant mostly shut down he knew it was time to go.