Chapter 5

Six hours later, Vince woke up groggy. He had gone into surgery to get the bullet out that was embedded inside him. His forearm was stitched up and put in a sling, leaving him in the recovery floor. He could hear someone in the room and his thoughts went to Mary. She was the last thing he remembered before the doctor and nurses strapped him in and he lost consciousness due to the anesthesia. "Mary?" He lifted his head from the pillow.

Immediately, Nurse Lamb came over to him and stopped him from moving. "Easy there, buddy." She had been told to keep a good eye on him on behalf on Mary. She adjusted the blanket over his waist and then checked his IV bags.

"Where's Mary?" Vince looked up at her and felt sleepy again.

"She isn't available right now."

Even when he was feeling sleepy and numb, he could tell the nurse wasn't telling him something. Looking over to the open door, he called out for Mary, hoping she was outside. "Mary?"

The tall curvy nurse held back from smirking as she thought he looked so cute trying to get Mary to come to him. But, it was true, Mary was still in surgery and Nurse Lamb didn't want her patient to worry just yet. "Relax. You're heavily medicated. Once you've rested, you can ask all the questions you want." She grinned him and then watched him put his head on the pillow. He fell asleep quick and she made sure he wouldn't wake up before leaving.

Meanwhile, out in the waiting room, Mia was sitting alone. She arrived on the ambulance with Jesse but she shortly received bad news of his passing. Silently crying, she listened to what the doctor told her and didn't put up a fight with Jesse's last wishes. Before the doctor could leave, she asked about Vince and was now waiting for him to wake up. Glancing at the clock, she bit her nails but was interrupted when she heard Leon's voice. "Mia?"

Mia immediately stood up and rushed to him. Wrapping her arms around him, she softly cried. "Jesse didn't make it."

Leon frowned and felt a pinch at his heart. He hugged Mia back as he couldn't believe Jesse was gone. They had gone through so much in the past couple of hours, he didn't expect Jesse to get hurt. Standing in the middle of the room, they kept hugging until Mia pulled away. Wiping her tears, Leon watched her and softly asked about their other teammate. "What about Vince?"

Mia nodding and sighed. "He's okay. Doctor said he should be awake in a couple of hours." She couldn't help but frown and then her eyes filled with tears again. "Oh, Leon."

Leon wrapped her in his arms like a big protective brother. "It's gonna be okay, Mia." He rubbed her back and kissed her hair. "I'll take care of you." He said softly into her ear. He knew he would step up for her since Dom was now gone and Vince was unavailable.

Placing her head on his shoulder, she sighed and then asked him, "Is Letty okay?"

"Yeah, they left straight from the garage." He glanced around to see other people coming in and out of the place. Seeing a little boy wearing a beanie in a wheelchair, made Leon think of his best friend. "Can we see Jesse?"

Pulling away again, they slowly sat down on the couch by the corner of the room. "Only after they finished donating his parts," She replied.

Shocked to hear that, Leon looked at her. "There just going to cut him up just like that?"

Mia sighed and knew Leon didn't know. "It's what Jesse wanted, Leon. The doctor said Jesse was a donor." She saw him process the information and watched him lean back on the couch.

Running a hand over his face, Leon knew Jesse wanted to give back to the world. That boy was an angel, he thought as he sat there a little longer. A few minutes later, Mia patted his leg. "Why don't we go see if we can see Vince now?" She stood up and then walked side by side with Leon. Their family had became small in just a few hours and knew they had to be strong for each other now.

By Monday morning, Vince woke up feeling less numb but still a bit groggy. He turned to see a different nurse checking up on him. Sweetly, she smiled at him and nodded towards the chairs next to his bed. "Good morning, Mr. Barlow. You have visitors."

Vince turned his head slowly and grinned softly. "Hey Mia. Leon."

Mia and Leon stood up and moved closer to him. "Hey, man." Leon clapped hands with Vince's good hand.

Mia was so happy to see Vince awake and pulling through. "How you feeling?" She asked him, knowing he was going to be in pain for the next couple of weeks.

"I feel...like shit." He said groaning as he wanted to sit but couldn't.

"That's pretty much how you're going to feel for a couple of days as you recover." The nurse commented as she adjusted his IV bags and then moved his bed up a little without hurting him.

Looking at the nurse, he waited for her to finish. Once she locked eyes with him, he looked as serious as he could. "Where's Mary?" He wanted to see her, he wondered why she wasn't there.

"Nurse Mary?" She asked, knowing that there was only one Mary she knew and he was a special patient since they were all keeping an eye on him for her. "Like you were told before, she's not exactly available right now."

Vince frowned and hoped seeing him like she did, didn't make her run away. He wouldn't blame her but he wanted to at least explain to her. Unless, the cops already got to her. "Why not? I saw her in the emergency room." He sprung forward to get out bed. He wanted to find Mary but Leon and the nurse forced him back against the bed.

"Easy, there Tiger. You'll get to see her once the doctor says you can get out of bed." She couldn't believe why Mary was so intriguing to him but all the nurses liked the girl, so they didn't mind checking in on him. After Vince was settled in, she sighed and grinned softly. "For now, relax. I'm gonna go get you some water." She turned and left before he could ask anything else.

When she was gone, Vince push the blankets off with his good arm and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Mia went around the other side and stopped him. "V, she just told you to relax. Stay in bed." With Leon's help, Mia got Vince back in bed.

Vince gave up since he still felt weak. Looking at his family, he pleaded. "Please, go get Mary."

"V, we don't know where to even look." Mia replied as she was clueless as to why that woman was his so important right now. She then saw it in his eyes, Vince was in love and wanted to see her.

Looking from one to the other, he quickly gave them information. "She works here. If she's not here, find her at home. Her apartment number is..." He put his head back on the pillow as he felt a little sting on his side. Taking a deep breath, he finished his sentence. "Her apartment number is 22B."

Leon patted Vince's shoulder and knew that the least he could do was go look. "Alright, I'll go see what I can get out of the nurses." He grinned at his other best friend.

"Thanks, Leon." Vince said with satisfaction. He watched Leon step out of the room and then watched as Mia tucked the blanket around his legs. He knew she was awfully quiet. Then it hit him, that Dom nor Letty was around which meant two options; jail or Mexico. "Dom?" He asked Mia. Her eyes made contact with him and he knew he wasn't arrested. He then had to ask about Letty. "With Letty?" Mia nodded her answer. Vince looked up the ceiling and held back from getting upset. "It's for the best. Buster was going to turn us in anyway."

Mia then snapped back, "Well he didn't. The cops did come by. Brian told them your wounds were inflicted because of self defense." She saw him look back at her in shock. She sat down on the edge of the bed and felt a bit glad. "He didn't turn the team in, V."

Surprised, Vince sat there looking at her, hoping he heard right. Blinking a couple of times, he processed everything. Before he could say anything, there was a gentle tap at the door. They both looked over to see a different nurse standing there with a glass of water.

"Vincent Barlow?" Lori stepped in and walked over to him.

"Yeah?" Vince wondered who she was. Lori was taller than Mary and had light brown hair. Her skin tone was a light tanned but it was clear she was more white and Latin.

Smiling, she set the glass by the nightstand. "I'm Nurse Lori. Mary's friend and coworker."

Hearing her name, Vince dropped everything else, even his anger was gone. "Where is she?" He said a little roughly.

Lori glanced over to Mia and then relied the information, Mary allowed her to say. "She's recovering from her surgery she had about a couple of hours ago. She wanted me to check on you."

Fear, worry and confusion filled Vince's mind. Searching around her, part of him hoped Mary was fooling around but the look on Lori's face told him she was speaking the truth. "Surgery? What happened?" He asked wanting to know everything.