AN: I'm sorry in advance for any wonkie formatting issues with this update. For some reason, will not allow me to upload anything but straight .txt files. And that messes up all my formatting. So I've tried fixing it in the edit stage as best as I can, but I'm not sure how well I'm managing. So, here it is, hopefully readable. Let me know what you think! I love to hear from you, no matter what you have to say. Oh, and I did do a little work on the last chapter of Catalyst the other day too, so no promises, but I did start it and that's something at least. ;) Much love, T

The Funeral of a Good Girl
By – TempestRaces
Chapter 15 – Of Testosterone and Simple Things

"What the hell did Leon put in that blender?" Vince asked, curious what had given her so much energy after the crappy night's sleep she'd had. Considering there was only three years between their ages, sometimes how very youthful she seemed next to him scared him. Sometimes, she was just plain buoyant. So happy it almost bothered him. And some days she was far less so, almost subdued. And sometimes she switched out of thin air between the two. Always to extremes though. There was no middle ground, no happy medium. When she was happy, she was happy. When she was down, she was down. And when she was mad, she was god damn furious.

"Is that really my Skyline?" she asked, rather than answer his question. Her voice was low pitched and it definitely sounded like she was in shock.

He looked up and saw that her car was in fact sitting back in the shop again. He was glad the boys he'd sent it to had worked as fast as they had told him they could. The car was on a slight angle and both the doors were open, allowing them to see right into the interior. From what he could see, the job done had surpassed all his expectations. Someone—likely Jesse—had also washed and waxed it so it sat gleaming like it was still wet under the florescent lights of the garage. "It looks like yours. I doubt Leon'll ever paint his with lightening, so it must be yours."

"But it has racing seats now. We didn't get anything for the interior yesterday. Other than the gauges," she amended.

"We didn't get anything here for the interior other than the gauges. Then I called in a few favours and got the boys down at StitchCraft to fix you up with a show worthy interior to match all that engine shit you guys did yesterday."

"Is that suede? Do I have suede seats in my car?"

He grinned. Yep, she was in shock. He had done the impossible. He'd rendered Tempest almost speechless. He went out on a limb and wrapped an arm around her middle. His day started to get upgraded from shitty to ok when she didn't fight him off or look upset to have his hands on her. "Well, suede and leather. The matte black stuff is suede. The inserts are leather, the dash is leather."

"Excuse me," she shook her head before looking up at him over her shoulder. "Did you say StitchCraft? You had my interior done at StitchCraft?"

"Yeah. You gonna go look at it up close, or admire it from way back here all day?"

"I'm scared to touch it."

He took a step forward, which forced her to take one as well. He didn't let her stop, but kept walking her forward until they were right beside the open driver's side door. "It's still just a car Trouble. A really nice car, but still just your car, same as it was yesterday."

She was in shock. She had no other explanation for what the perfectly fitted, suede and leather, brand new, StitchCraft designed interior of her car made her feel. She took in the carefully embroidered GT-R emblems on the headrests, as well as the Recaro logos embroidered on the seatbacks.

The seats were black suede with leather inserts. The inserted leather seating surfaces were printed to look just like the outside of the car, awash in lightning that almost seemed to glow. The dash and carpets were black. The dash, black leather and the carpet, inky black cut pile that looked plush enough to crawl onto and sleep in comfort. There were carpeted floor mats in each footwell, front and rear. They had 'Skyline GT-R' embroidered on them. All the embroidery was done in a shimmery mauve colour which matched one of the colours around the lightning perfectly. Her new gauges were now all cleverly worked into the interior and seemed like they'd been placed there by Nissan, not by someone after the fact. There were leather inserts on the doors to match those in the seats, and on each door the StitchCraft logo was embroidered.

"You did this?" she asked Vince as she continued to gape.

"Well, after all the work you guys put into making the go match the show, it was only right that you had actual race seats and a nice stereo."

"Nice stereo?" Now she had a nice stereo too? No more Crappy Tire purchased Sony Explode head unit? She wondered if passing out was an option.

"Why don't you just get in the damn thing and start it up so you can have a real look around, huh?"

"I just don't know what to do with myself. I thought I'd be building it piece by piece with knockoffs for the rest of my life. Now here it is, all ready to go and done in twenty four hours." This was what he'd been up to when he'd asked her to leave her car behind and ride with him? Ok, perhaps to a normal female this wasn't that big a deal. But to her, getting her a new interior for her car done at the premier auto upholstery shop across two huge countries was downright romantic. Where the fuck had the Vince who'd planned this been when the other one had been ignoring her for sluts directly afterward? How could the man who'd come up with a surprise like this treated the woman he'd done it for so badly on the exact same night? I'll never, ever be able to understand them, she thought, shaking her head with a rueful smile. Men!

"You haven't even seen what I consider the best part yet," Vince said.

She looked up at him in shock. "I don't know how much more I can take, so you better go easy on me here."

He smirked before pulling a remote unit out of his pocket and clicking first one button, then a second. A white neon kit came on under the car, lighting up steady for a moment before it started to flash. Before it flashed a second time, from someplace inside the car the sound of thunder rumbled ominously. The 'lightning' under the car flashed on cue after the rumble. He dragged her around to the nose of the car. She looked where he pointed.

Inside a white neon plate frame was a California vanity plate which read 'TROUBLE' and above it a decal said 'Here comes'. She threw her head back and started to laugh. She couldn't help it. Here comes Trouble. It was perfect. "As soon as I get home, I'm getting an Island plate to match for the rear."

"You already got the neon frame for it. We put one back there too." Vince dragged her back to the open door. "Did you see how the white neon lights in the foot wells flash in time with the neon kit under the car?"

"No, make it do it again," she ordered. When the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed, both inside the car and out, she clapped her hands in joy. "I love it."

He loved the look on her face when she laughed with all she was. It was easy to see where the analogy 'glow with happiness' had come from. "I'm glad. I was scared you'd be pissed at me for doing it without your input."

"You thought I'd be mad about someone pulling strings to get me a StitchCraft interior and Recaro racing seats? A leather StitchCraft interior?"

"I sorta took the decision out of your hands what your interior was gonna look like."

"I couldn't have designed it better myself. In fact, I doubt I could have done it as well. It's starting to freak me out how well you picked up on exactly what I'd like. I didn't know they could put something like lightning on leather."

"I didn't either. I just told them about you and how it was painted and this is what they came up with." Her easy acceptance of what he'd done shocked him, but pleased him. He had a funny feeling she didn't surrender her right to make up her own mind about anything in her life very often. Her thinking he knew her well scared him deep inside, but he pushed it down.

"How? And when?"

"I know the owner, you don't wanna know how. And last night. That's why the guys let you off the hook about not wanting to take it to races so easily. They knew I was gonna try and put you up to leaving it for the night because they knew it was supposed to be down at the StitchCraft shop by ten thirty."

"You had them work all night at it?"

"Yeah, it was the only time. I knew you'd be down here looking to get it back today so it wasn't like they had days to work at it if it was gonna be a surprise."

"I just don't know what to say."

"I'd settle for a smile."

"There's that shimmer of something better again V. Better say something arrogant or nasty to hide it."

"Not today, Trouble. We'll work on my image tomorrow."

Unable to help herself, and overcome with how it made her feel to see her car completed, and to know that the interior was only done because of Vince, she impulsively hugged him. He hugged her back, resting his chin on the top of her head for a moment before letting her go. He wanted to hold her longer, lean down and taste her mouth too, but he didn't want to push his luck. So he turned her loose and let things stand at friendly.

Leon and Jesse came wandering up, the rest of the team not far away. "So cuz, what'd ya think?"

"I'm still not sure I'm not high from whatever Leon slipped me in the green slop he made me drink when I woke up."

"I hear you had a bit of a fright last night, after you promised me you'd respect your limits."

"I have limits?" she asked, head cocked to the side in mock question.

"Yeah, and if you ever step over them and scare me like you did last night, I'll never let you out of my sight without a chaperone again." Vince growled.

"I guess I let you down twice T. I left you to run from the cops on your own at races and I didn't even think to keep an eye on you last night afterward."

"Jess, what I do with my body and life isn't ever going to be your fault. I drank way too much and no one made me do it. It was all my own stupidity. Damn J, you're only two months older than me, remember? Who died and said you had to be the mature one all of a sudden?"

"Dunno."

"Can we just say yesterday was pretty crappy for all involved and let it drop? I don't want to spend the foreseeable future rehashing what happened yesterday."

"Sounds like a good idea." Leon finally spoke. "So, when are you gonna take me for a drive in this car? I seem to remember a conversation about three inch pipes and a blow off valve."

"Open the bay door baby! Let's take a run." She slid onto the new driver's seat and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath in through her nose to just enjoy the smell of new leather. The new leather wrapped MOMO steering wheel felt like heaven in her hands. She pushed the clutch in after fixing the seat to suit her. Without ever opening her eyes she slipped the car into neutral, pressed the brake and flicked the key. The car came to life with a roar which evened out into a powerful grumble once it was idling. She was sure she had a stupidly happy look on her face but she couldn't help it. "I don't even know what to say." She finally opened her eyes and looked up at Jesse, Leon and Vince, who were all standing around the door. "Thank you doesn't seem like enough. This car was the only dream I ever had that came true. I thought the day they unloaded it off the transport truck out front of my house was the happiest day I'd ever have. This is better. It's the car I knew it could be, but didn't think I'd ever be able to make it."

"Don't get all mushy on us Cuz. It's just a car. Next thing you know we're gonna be in a group hug, talking about our childhoods."

"It's just a car that'll take that damn Jetta and whip its ass all around the block and back." She grinned.

"Take it out for a spin, for god's sake. We're never gonna know how it really sounds just sittin' there." Vince was ready to do something that would take the focus off their feelings, and any discussion about them.

"Get in," she gestured to the interior with a backwards nod of her head. "We'll take it up into boost."

With a glance at each other, Leon and Vince slid into the back and let Jesse take the front. Tempest let the car coast out of the shop and into the street. Once she was clear of the parking lot she revved it up in first and dumped the clutch. They took off with an ear shattering squeal. The roar from the huge, high flow exhaust was loud, but not annoyingly so. It sounded purposeful, not broken. When she shifted from first to second there was an audible 'whoosh' from the blow off valve.

"See, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!" Leon said, laughing. "Sounds tight."

"Sounds like fast, is what it sounds like," Tempest answered. "Holy shit!" She laughed, a breathless, happy sound. She couldn't believe she was driving her Skyline. It wasn't like the same car. She felt like she could race the world and come out on top in the car, the way it was now. "The difference in the car is unreal. It pulls like no tomorrow now. It was always scary fast, but now its big leagues fast." She glanced in the rear view. "You wanna race me Leon?"

"Um, I'm not sure about that," he hedged.

Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout. "You scared?"

"Naw, I just don't wanna hurt your feelings when I kick your ass."

"I don't think you could."

Vince and Jesse ooohed. "Sounds like a gauntlet was thrown there, Leon," Jesse said, laughing.

"We'll see. Won't be today."

"I can't believe that we don't go racing again 'til Saturday. I can't wait to roll up in this car."

Her words only served to remind Vince that he'd blown his only chance to have her at races with him. She might hang out around him from now on, but she'd always be her own person with her own ride and own agenda from now on. She'd never just be there to be there. Now she'd be there to take her car down and show it off. "We should swing by to show Harry," Vince reminded, wanting to take his mind off the subject.

They fed her the directions she needed to find 'The Racer's Edge' and they did go show Harry. He was suitably impressed and they hung out with him for a while, talking about her plans for the car long term and how it drove. By the time they left Tempest was the proud owner of two 'The Racer's Edge' babydoll tee shirts and the guys were convinced Harry was in love with her.

"He ain't in love with me."

"He gave you free stuff."

"He gave me a tee shirt. He has a vested interest in me wearing it around while I'm driving a car that little ricer boys everywhere will have wet dreams about."

"Harry doesn't give anything away for free. Plus, he practically drooled on you."

" Leon, be serious. Besides, he's gotta be like what? Forty? He ain't scammin' on me."

"Why isn't he scammin' on you just 'cause he's forty?"

"'Cause he didn't seem like no pervert to me. If he was a forty year old guy who seriously wanted to pick up a nineteen year old chick, he'd be a huge ass perv."

"No he wouldn't," Vince broke in. "He'd just be normal for a guy. You never seen an eighty year old guy with a twenty something wife? It's just the male instinct. The strong, mature, older man wants to get with the younger women so he knows he'll be able to carry on his genetics."

"You're telling me that Harry wanted to get with me because I've got so many of my reproductive years left?" Tempest asked, looking at Vince in her rearview with an eyebrow cocked in disbelief.

"I'm just tellin' you that's how men think. I'm not tellin' you that's what Harry was thinkin' this time. Just that the logic of the whole younger woman, older man thing does seem to make sense. To guys anyway."

She rolled her eyes. "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. Testosterone has a lot to answer for."

Jesse laughed. "Yeah, it sure does."

"You're not supposed to agree, loser. You're a guy and a product of it."

"To you, I'm not a guy. I'm your family. It's different."

"Yeah, you're right. It is. I don't see you as a guy. I see you as the little kid I use to be bathed with, and share a bed with when our moms would take turns babysitting us."

The guys laughed when Jesse turned bright red. "Shut up! I know where you two live!"

"Yeah, we're real scared Jesse."

Jesse gave up. He knew he wasn't going to win. Being the baby had its advantages, but it had its disadvantages too. After they went out and got some lunch they headed back to the garage.

Much as she knew she shouldn't spend her whole vacation in another garage, Tempest found herself sucked into helping out at Dom's. The shop had gotten busy while the four of them were out joyriding, and as such she felt somewhat responsible for the build-up of work waiting. She'd taken all Dom and Letty's help with her, leaving them alone to handle the backlog of work that landed en masse, which was often the way things happened in a shop, as she well knew.

It did piss her off that Dom kept giving her weak jobs to do. She decided, in the middle of her third oil change, that she was out of there the second she was done. Helping was one thing. Being slave labour on her vacation was another. She'd done her time at the bottom, doing oil changes. She was beyond it now, and had earned her way there. Perhaps not working for Dominic, but she was still seriously better than he was giving her credit for. She finished what she was in the middle of and pulled the car out of the garage. On her way back in she heard Dom swear while talking to Letty.

"I just don't fuckin' get why the damn thing keeps on doin' this!" Dom told Letty, raising his voice in frustration and making like he was going to throw the flare nut wrench in his hand across the room.

"I don't know and I didn't make it that way, so don't yell at me," Letty snapped back.

Tempest looked over and found them standing beside the open door of a late nineties Sunfire sitting on four axle stands with no wheels on it. She decided to go find out what the problem was. She wandered over, trying to seem nonchalant. "So, what does it keep doin'?"

"Nothin'. Don't worry 'bout it. I'll figure it out."

"But will you figure it out before you go crazy and throw all your tools around the shop?" Tempest asked, her voice dripping with a desire to rub Dom's nose in his issues.

"You think you could figure it out faster, Trouble?"

Dom put a sarcastic lilt on the nickname Vince didn't, and it was one she didn't appreciate. She knew somehow that fixing the car when he couldn't would satisfy her more than any verbal sparring match with him could. She was conscious of the looks she was getting from Leon, Jesse and Vince as well. "I'm pretty much positive I can."

"I didn't even tell you what's wrong with it yet!" Dom's incredulous shock at her assurance was delivered with a tinge of anger at her cocky attitude.

She shrugged. "Don't matter. You tell me what it is you can't figure out about it and I'll fix it. I'll have it fixed inside flat rate time too."

Dom raised his eyebrows. "You'll have it done in flat rate time?"

She nodded to the affirmative. "Unhuh."

"Ok, hot shot." Whodoes she think she is? "I had to put new callipers and wheel cylinders on it, and now I can't get the system to bleed."

"That's all?" Tempest asked, smirking. That was what Mr. Big-Bad-Bald-Beautiful—if you were into muscle bound slabs of testosterone—couldn't fix? It was going to be so easy to show him up; it would make taking candy from a baby look challenging.

"Get it done. What's book time to bleed the brakes on this thing?"

"I think it pays point five, but I won't need half an hour for this." She took the wrench out of his hand with a flourish and made a show of making sure it was a correctly sized 10mm—as if he couldn't get that right, either—before motioning Letty toward the driver's seat. She put an exhaust hose on the car, went to the rear right wheel and called out to Letty. "Ok, start it up and pump it up."

Letty did as asked, wondering if Tempest would really succeed where Dom had failed. The only thing she had done differently so far was having her turn the ignition on. Surely that couldn't make that much of a difference, could it?

"That's what I did! How do you figure that it's gonna work now just because you're the one doing it?" Dom didn't miss out on what Letty had also picked up.

"Just chill out for five minutes baldie, and let me work."

Dom growled. Leon laughed behind his hand, not sure pushing Dom so hard was a great idea, but unable to ignore the humour. Vince got ready to get in another fist fight with his best friend. He figured when Dominic went for her throat—which he was quite likely to do—he'd have to get in the middle of them and save her ass.

She moved from the rear right to the rear left wheel, telling Letty when to hold the pressure on the brake pedal and when to pump it up again. After the rear left she moved on to the front right and finally the front left. She stood up and went over to stand beside Letty. "How's the pedal feel."

"Good," Letty answered, one eyebrow raised. Why had it worked for Tempest and not for Dom? "How'd you manage?"

"Because on a lot of GM's, newer J bodies especially, you can't bleed the brake system unless the car's running. Since there wasn't a hose on it, I figured you guys didn't know that, and hadn't tried bleeding it while the engine was on. Has something to do with how the ABS control is actuated by the ECU."

"How'd you know that?" Dom asked. It was clear her victory didn't please him.

"Because I'm a factory trained tech for this car. Its part of our training to know how to do simple things like bleed the brakes."

Dom walked away, shaking his head and mumbling to himself. Much as she was sure the things Dominic was muttering were far from flattering and likely did involve her bruised and broken in a ditch somewhere, Tempest couldn't wipe the grin off her face to save her soul. For the rest of the day it was like Dom decided to punish her with the hardest of the hard jobs.

Dom did pick through and give her the most challenging work. Much to his chagrin she did ok. And when she didn't know or couldn't figure something out, she wasn't too proud or ashamed to ask Jesse or Leon for help. That pissed him off almost more than her besting him with the Sunfire did. She was supposed to be too proud to ask for help. She was supposed to suffer her inability to find the problem in silence, get frustrated with her lack of skill, and in a perfect world break down in tears somewhere after admitting she wasn't as good as she'd let on. She wasn't supposed to stay stress free and ask for help when she needed to. He was brought out of his thoughts as she called out to her cousin.

"Jess?"

"Yo?"

"You got a big power handle?"

"For what?" Jesse asked as he walked her way, wiping his hands on a rag that had seen better days.

"To get this exhaust flange unbolted."

"That should just come right off."

"How do you figure?"

"Cause this ain't Canada, and things don't seize down here like they do up there."

"Ok, but if it snaps off it's gonna be your fault."

"Just try your half inch drive ratchet. It'll be enough torque to get that off, trust me."

"Ok." She went back to the car she was working on, replacing a cracked exhaust manifold, and tried to get the down pipe unbolted from the manifold with a normal ratchet, against her instincts. "Well fuck me! You were right Jess."

"I told you!" Jesse called back. "Just another reason why you should be working down here. It's so nice to work in a place where things don't rust."

"Fuck you!" Tempest called back with laughter tingeing her voice. Maybe it was nice, that didn't mean he had to rub it in that things sure did rust where she was from.

"Against too many laws and my morals baby girl!"

"Get your damn mind outta the gutter J!"

"It likes it down here," he called back.

Tempest just laughed at his verbal antics, going back to what she had been doing. By the end of the day they had all the work done.