AN: Next chapter time. This chapter is actually likely NC-17. I just don't care. I'm tired, sunburned and Gin is playing a role in my Saturday night sitting home on the interweb, so I decided not to edit it. Oh well. Feel free to tattle on me if you must. If not, enjoy the chapter. Much love, Tempest.

The Funeral of a Good Girl

By – TempestRaces

Chapter 17 – Of Passengers and Scary Movies

They pulled into the parking lot just behind Dom and parked beside him. Letty and Leon weren't far behind. Jesse arrived a minute later.

"Damn T! That thing's fast, huh?" Jesse asked, jumping out of his car and rushing over to the Skyline. "Did you actually have it on the bottle on the expressway?"

"Yeah," she laughed out. "Oh sweet Jesus the feeling of it Jess."

"That good huh?"

"The best."

"I can't wait to see you race it in a real race."

Tempest didn't answer him. She just forced her smile to remain firmly planted on her face. She didn't have the heart to disillusion her cousin, but she couldn't afford to race the car. She knew she'd never come up with the money to buy into a race. Two thousand American dollars was out of her grasp. "We gonna see this movie, or what?"

"Yeah, let's go before all the good seats are gone. It's gonna be enough of a challenge to find six together." Leon started for the building after delivering his statement.

Dom and Letty walked out front, Dom with his arm around her shoulders. Leon walked on Letty's other side. Jesse walked with his cousin, still pumping her for details about her run, and Vince walked on her other side, listening to her retell the race to Jesse a hundred times in a few variations.

By the time they got to the head of the line Dom and Letty were already in the line up for popcorn. Jesse went to get his ticket, and much to Vince's frustration, he told the clerk two people, buying his cousin's ticket for her. It was something Vince had planned to do, but now he wouldn't get the chance. Jesse and Tempest waited on him to finish before they all got into the line up for snacks.

"You gettin' anything?" Vince asked Tempest, from where he stood in front of her.

"Naw, I doubt it."

"No popcorn or soda at a movie?"

"I can only eat like one handful of popcorn before I feel stuffed solid so there's not much sense of me buying any. They only come in huge, gigantic, and who the fuck can eat all that size."

Vince made it to the head of the line. "One who the fuck can eat all that popcorn and one large Coke," he said, grinning. Jesse laughed out loud when he heard what Vince had ordered. The poor kid behind the counter looked at him like he was insane. "I meant large popcorn. One large popcorn and one large Coke." He turned back to Tempest. "You sure you don't want anything?"

"Oh, a bottle of water." She was sure he wasn't going to be happy until she gave in and got something. He didn't seem happy that was all she wanted, but he did let it go. He retrieved his bucket of cola and barrel of popcorn and handed her her water. They waited for Jesse to get his snacks. He went for the slightly smaller versions of what Vince had. They joined Dom, Letty and Leon in the line up for the theatre.

When they got in, Tempest ran ahead of them all. She had a thing where she had to be the one to pick the seats. It was just something that had always been that way. There was only one place she liked to sit. She ran half way up the stadium style seats and darted out, counting seats as she went. When she'd counted the exact middle seat she sat with a plop.

"What was that all about?" Leon asked, still climbing the stairs.

"I have to sit in the exact middle seat of the middle row," she answered with a shrug.

Jesse reached their row and sat beside her. Leon sat on Jesse's other side. Vince climbed over them all to sit on Tempest's other side. Dom and Letty pushed past them all to sit on Vince's other side, Letty beside Vince and Dom at the end.

Tempest leaned over to Jesse. "This is gonna be really scary, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah," Jesse answered, obviously in glee.

Tempest sat back up and kicked her feet up onto the back of the seat in front of her. She really didn't like scary movies. But she wasn't about to admit she was likely to be scared for days. Not in front of Dom, Leon and Vince. And not when Letty had seemed so stoked to see the gory flick. They all joked about the way she'd beaten them all but Dom on the way to the theatre until the lights went down and the previews started.

The movie started out not too bad. The fact they were all in an abandoned institute for the criminally insane freaked her right the fuck out, but she was doing ok with it. Of course, at first not too much happened. A bunch of people made corny jokes, and the main couple were played by two actors who weren't especially good at it. Then the movie proper started. She managed to just flinch the first few times something startling happened.

A particularly violent scene came onto the huge screen. She tried to keep her eyes downcast, knowing if she closed them it would be too obvious. But she knew if she didn't flinch, jump or groan in time with everyone else, they'd all know she wasn't watching—that she was scared. So she forced herself to watch, even though she really just wanted to get up and leave the room.

The third time she jumped a small scream escaped her as well. Vince glanced down at her face and found her eyes looking at her lap more than the screen. He used leaning over to whisper into her ear as an excuse to put an arm around her shoulders. "You ok?"

"Fine," she answered tightly.

"Not big on scary movies?" he asked.

His lips brushing against her ear almost had her forgetting the movie altogether. Then a ghost rushed one of the five guests of the party and she remembered with a start. "Not really, no," she whispered back.

He leaned closer to her and tightened his arm around her just a bit more. He figured she must feel slightly better when he heard her crunching and looked down to find her helping herself to his popcorn, her eyes focused intently on the screen for the first time since blood had started to flow. A moment later he watched her drain the last of her water out of the bottle. A moment after that she reached across him and picked up his Coke. After helping herself to his drink, she settled back against his side, still watching the movie. When blood splattered again, she buried her face into his side.

"Is it done yet?" she questioned a few seconds later.

"Yeah," he answered, laughing at her.

She made it through the whole movie. Though she did hide her eyes against him a few more times. When the lights came on they all stood up to leave. Walking across the parking lot, Tempest realized that she still had Vince's arm around her shoulders.

"You were terrified," Jesse was teasing her.

"No I wasn't."

"Then why did you scream like five times?"

"I got startled is all."

"Yeah, right," Jesse laughed back. They arrived beside the Jetta first. Letty, Leon and Dom all got into their cars, agreeing to meet at home. Jesse leaned on the roof of his car. "You were down right scared."

"You know I never did like that kind of movie."

"Then why did you go?"

"'Cause you wanted to," she answered with a shrug. "I'll be fine. It wasn't my first choice of movie, but it was alright."

"Ok. I'll see you guys at home," Jesse said before sliding into the Jetta.

"You wanna drive home?" Tempest asked Vince as they finished the walk toward the Skyline.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I'm tired. I mean, if you can drive the Skyline. I don't wanna put you on the spot if you don't know how to shift backwards."

She wasn't trying to put him down, just acknowledge that not everyone knew how to drive a right hand drive car, so he didn't get mad. "I might be a little rusty, but I have taken Leon's out for a few spins."

She tossed him her keys. "Ok, have at it then." She slid into the passenger seat and watched as Vince fixed the seat to suit his length and started the car. He backed it out and headed for the expressway without incident. He was driving rather sedately. "I won't get mad if you really drive it. I've seen you drive and I know you're capable of competent driving over the speed limit."

He chuckled. "I was worried it might be some sorta test."

"Nope. Not this time. I know I shouldn't admit this to anyone, and please don't ever tell Jesse, but sometimes I just don't wanna drive. Sometimes I like to be a passenger and just enjoy the scenery."

"I get why, I just don't agree." Vince glanced her way. "I hate to be a passenger."

"I do if I don't trust whoever's driving. But if I feel safe, I'm just as happy sometimes to sit back and relax."

They made it home slightly after the rest of the team did, because they didn't really rush, even after she gave Vince permission to do so. They just took it easy and left the stereo at a reasonable volume. After they parked and got out, Vince gave Tempest her keys back. They started up the lawn. "Thanks for letting me get chance at drivin' that car."

She shrugged off his thanks. "Hey, you let me drive yours."

When they pushed into the house, it was to find the whole place in darkness. The rest of the team must have headed for bed the moment they'd gotten in. "Guess they didn't wait up," Vince said. "You stayin' up awhile?"

"Naw, I think I'll turn in. See you tomorrow," she answered.

"I don't think I'll be too far behind you. Fuckin' shop."

She laughed softly. "Not really a morning person, are you?"

"Not really. But it really all depends on how I wake up," he said, and winked at her, watched her get flustered.

"I see," was all she said in answer. "Well, night."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

She went through the dark kitchen and he heard her travels down the stairs. He gave her a fifteen minute head start to be changed and settled on the couch before he headed down to his room. He noticed that again, she hadn't bothered to unfold and make the sofa bed up, but had rather curled up on the couch the way it was and wrapped a blanket around herself. He went into his room and shut the door.

His brain was too busy to let him sleep was the only reason he was up to hear the strange noises in the dark about an hour later. He lay still, waiting to see if whatever had been would be repeated. He wasn't able to place the noise or figure out what it could be. When he heard it again, he figured he'd have to get up and check it out.

He opened his door and listened again. The noise was coming from the direction of the couch. He started that way, curious if it was Tempest making the noise. When he got over beside her he realized she was in the middle of a nightmare. He crouched down beside her. "Hey, Trouble. Wake up. You're having a bad dream," he said, his voice low and he hoped soothing. She shook her head but she didn't wake up. She made a muffled noise which he was sure would have been a scream had she been awake. He reached out and shook her gently by the shoulder. "Hey, it's ok, wake up. It's just a dream."

She woke up then, saw him looming out of the darkness and started to let out a full blown scream. He put a hand over her mouth before she could really let loose and wake the whole place. Not only because he didn't want to listen to them all, but because he knew she'd be embarrassed to have the whole place know she'd had nightmares over a scary movie. "You're awake now, but you were having a nightmare. Don't scream, ok?" He waited for her to nod before he took his hand off her mouth. "You gonna be ok?"

"Yeah," she answered. Her voice was wavery and she didn't sound very convinced of her own answer.

"You sure?"

"I should be ok."

"You gonna have more bad dreams?"

If things when the way they normally would, the answer was yes. But did she really want to tell him that? He took the decision out of her hands. Her pause to think must have clued him in that the answer was yes.

"You wanna come bunk with me?"

Did she? She was sure he'd keep his hands to himself at this point. But could she say the same about herself? Unfortunately, an even more important question was could she stay in the infinite darkness of the strange basement room with no windows without scaring herself out of her mind? She nodded yes to his question with her lower lip caught between her teeth. She couldn't. She'd just creep herself out all night and they'd find her in a quivering mess in the morning, wild eyed and awake.

He cursed himself for the offer. He knew that she had no intention of picking up where she'd left off with him. So now he was going to have to try and get some sleep with the heat and sound of her sleeping next to him, knowing he had to keep his hands to himself. It was going to be a bigger hell on earth for him than any nightmare she could have would be for her. "Come on then," he stood up and held out a hand to her, which she took and allowed herself to be led into his room by. "Climb in," he told her and watched as she listened, instinctively sliding under the blankets on the opposite side of the bed from the one he liked to sleep on. He watched her settle before turning out the light and feeling his way around to the other side of his bed.

Knowing that he wasn't getting to sleep any time soon, he reclined on his back, hands under his head. He was still like that half and hour later when she rolled over in her sleep and curled up against his side with a sigh. When he felt her breasts press against his side and chest he fought a groan. He wanted to reach down and test the weight of one of them with his palm, feel her nipple pebble against his skin, pinch and roll it until he got her to make that little breathless noise she made. He wanted to taste her lips, her skin. But he couldn't. So instead he lay in the dark, unable to help the hard on that grew out of his thoughts of what he'd like to do to her, and have her do to him.

At some point he could only figure he'd managed to get some sleep because he woke up when, in the dream he was having, Tempest bit him over his collarbone as he brought her to climax and he came inside her with a snarl. To find out he'd just climaxed in his shorts from a wet dream while the girl who'd starred in it slept unaware beside him was downright embarrassing. What was he, thirteen?

He didn't know how on earth he was going to make it through the next week if she didn't totally forgive him. He knew that until she left he couldn't hook up with any other girl, whether they resumed their 'benefits' or not. But if the end result was not, he was going to be very frustrated by the time she left. But when she was just out of reach, it wasn't like any of the easy skanks really had much appeal anyway. Why would anyone want what they could offer when they were looking at so much more, sitting just beyond their hands? Maybe he and Leon and Jesse always settled for the second best chicks. But they didn't always have the real deal right in front of them then, either.