Disclaimer: I do not own anything that does not have my name written next to it in pretty pink pen. I only own my own fictional characters, this include my OFC Nicola Andrews and her family. I also do not own any of the songs used to write this story…except on CD.
Reviews etc. are always appreciated and adored.
Summary: "Do you remember that time I fell out your window and you came jumping out after me?" There was a twinge of humour to her husky voice and Leon smiled for her benefit. For three years he let himself believe that he would always save her from everything, until he was the reason she was in that ambulance, a broken back and their baby was gone.
Ava – I know- I want a boyfriend like Leon! I'm glad it was okay because I was still relatively hungover when I wrote it. But thanks for the awesome review!
Mrz Letty Ortiz-Toretto – Well I love the dedication to the cause- reading it on your iPod! My eyesight is terrible so I can never read it on my iPhone! And thanks for the recommendations. I will get around to reading them as soon as I can! Thanks for the great review
Also to the nameless person that left me a review =D Thank you so much! I will never touch anything other than Southern Comfort or Rum oh or Coronas (because lets face it they are good!) EVER AGAIN. So you will never worry about my health haha. Thanks everyone who read!
Playlist-
Whatever you Like – TI
Little Lion Man – Mumford and Sons
February 2000 – Barefoot on that Summer Night
Pulling up outside the restaurant Nicola grinned over at Leon.
"I never thought I'd say this, but I love this car." She laughed and he climbed out of the car and walked around to open her door. Leon grabbed her hand quickly and kissed her fingers as they made their way up to the restaurant making Nicola grin even more as they stared at each other.
"Happy Birthday!" There was a loud collective greeting as they walked through the door and Nicola smiled at the sight of her family. Mia rushed forward and pulled her into a hug looking down at her dress.
"Happy Birthday, La, love the dress by the way." Nicola looked around the restaurant to see that the whole place was empty except for about twenty people that were there with the Toretto's.
"Wow, thanks guys." She said fondly as one by one the team came forward and hugged her, then her father stepped out from the crowd and Nicola finally dropped Leons hand and rushed forward to hug him.
"Happy Birthday, darling!" He said as he hugged her back tightly.
"Daddy! What are you doing here?" She pulled back and looked at him raising an eyebrow.
"Anita and I came back here before going home. I wasn't missing my baby girls birthday." He laughed and she leant into him again, wrapping arms tightly around his waist.
"Thank you so much Daddy."
Anita was standing behind her father and hugged her tightly as well. The rest of them sat down as she sat along one side next to Leon and Mia before the waiters came out with large platters of food.
"This is so amazing." Nicola leant into Leons side and Leon pointed over at Mia.
"It was all Mia. She was so excited I had to rein her in a bit." He said and Nicola turned around to Mia.
"Thank you so much, Mia."
"Hey I helped!" Letty growled and Nicola laughed at her.
"Sure, girl, I'm sure you did." Letty flipped her the bird making the few people around her laugh.
"Well I chose the clubs we're going to." Letty shrugged and took a sip of her Corona.
"Clubs?" Nicola asked looking at her friends.
"Yes, clubs. We're going out after this, because you're finally legal!" Mia said nudging Nicola.
"I'm so excited!" Nicola clapped and finished eating quickly.
The music could be heard thumping from down the street as they made their way towards the neon lights. Nicolas father had offered to drop them off at the club and given her some cash for a taxi home.
They all lined up in the crowd and Letty and Nicola chatted away with excitement. After flashing her ID with pride Nicola, Letty and Mia strutted into the club, leaving the boys to follow behind. Looking around in awe Nicola couldn't believe she'd finally turned twenty-one.
"Lets dance!" Mia yelled over the music and led the other girls towards the crowded dancefloor.
The boys watched from the bar as the three girls danced without a care in the world. "Where are the girls?" Vince heard a sweet voice in his ear and turned to see Nicolas red headed friend Steph standing beside him.
"Dancefloor." He pointed and she smiled gratefully before walking off and Vince watched the way her ass moved in the short denim skirt and wondered why he hadn't met the red head before.
"Stop staring at Steph." Leon said as he leant against the bar with Vince.
"No harm in admiring a fine body." Vince took a long sip of his beer as he watched the four girls laugh at something Letty said before pushing their way further into the crowd of dancing bodies.
"Yeah right." Leon said as he watched Nicola disappear from sight and sighed.
A few beers later Leon and Jesse made their way out onto the dancefloor to find the girls. They found them near the DJ, all dancing in a small circle. At the sight of Leon, Nicola walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck, her hips still swaying to the beat as she placed a kiss on his cheek then on the corner of his mouth.
"Lets go home." She whispered in his ear as he leant down to her.
"But it's your birthday." He replied and she raised her eyebrow.
"Exactly." She pulled his head down to meet her lips and kissed him hard.
"Lets get a taxi." Leon said quickly and grabbing her hand dragged her towards the exit.
August 2000
Scrounging through the fridge Nicola made a sound of triumph when she pulled out a plate of cold lasagne. She put the plate in the microwave before looking over to the kitchen table where a large pile of books was sitting.
"After my lasagne." She decided and watched the plate go around and around in the microwave finally beeping. Nicola carried the hot plate over to the table of books and sat down, pulling the top one off the pile. Scanning the pages she forked the food into her mouth and shook her head. It was a mess.
"You're home late." Dom walked through the door wearing an old pair of basketball shorts and a white tank that hugged his huge figure. He too went to the fridge and pulled out a beer before sitting down across from Nicola and picking up her fork and stealing some of her lasagne.
"There was a shitload of parts delivered just after you left and I decided I should do some inventory while I was there." She replied and he handed her back the fork. She took another bite before putting the fork down and closing the book to look at Dom seriously. "Dom, the garage and store aren't going to stay afloat for much longer if we keep going on like this. I've been looking at the books…"
"Lala, it's fine." Dom interjected and held up a hand to silence her. She hated when he did that.
"No it's not fine Dom. We don't have enough money." Ever since the incident with the Lancer the year before she'd been assigned to the book work and after nearly twelve months of sorting everything out she'd managed to get everything in order. "No-ones getting paid and I've had to buy all the food with the money I earn on the weekends at the dance studio. Leons been doing extra work for Harry and Vince is working his ass off for my Dad when he can. We can't keep doing this Dom." She stated and Doms jaw clenched.
"What do you propose we do then?" He said gruffly.
"Go back to servicing non-race cars. Up the charge on modifications, but open the garage to other customers. You started with civilians, that's what got you off the ground originally so go back to that." She showed him old receipt books from the garage and he shook his head.
"No, we do mods and that's it." Dom stated and Nicola sighed heavily.
"Look, if you keep going like this we will lose everything Dom. Everything. Your precious car, this house, the garage…" She trailed off when Mia walked through the kitchen door.
"Hey. La I need to talk to you." She said and Nicola looked over at Dom, pushing her food towards him.
"We'll finish this later." She said to him sternly so he would know she wasn't fucking around before following Mia out into the living room.
"Leon just called." Nicola nodded at Mias words, "and he told me not to tell you, but you're the only one that can help." She waved her arms around dramatically and Nicola grabbed one to stop the movement.
"Just tell me what happened." She said calmly.
"There was a brawl down at that bar that they go to all the time and ah…Vince and Leon have been arrested. They need someone to go and bail them out." Nicola stared at Mia who waited for her answer.
"You're kidding?" Nicola said and Mia shook her head. "Fuckers." Nicola muttered before fishing her keys out of her pocket and grabbing her handbag from the table by the door. "I'll be back soon." Mia watched her go as Nicola jogged down the driveway to the blue Mustang.
Walking into the precinct Nicola greeted the lady behind the desk before asking for the boys. She was buzzed through into the station and a constable walked with her to the holding cells where about ten guys sat, all hanging their heads. Nicola smirked slightly at the sight of Leon and Vince sitting in the far corner, Leon running his hands through his hair in frustration while Vince rested his head against the brick wall with his eyes closed.
Nicola looked over at the young constable and rolled her eyes.
"I'll take the two pretty ones in the corner." At the sound of her voice Leon and Vinces heads shot up and looked over at her standing there. The constable gestured to them as he unlocked the doors and released them.
As Nicola signed them out Leon and Vince stood behind her looking ashamed. Walking out into the carpark she finally spoke to them.
"What did you two stupid fucks do?" She asked as she unlocked the car doors and they climbed in.
"It wasn't our fault!" Vince said as he climbed in the back seat and Nicola glanced over at Leon who had a slowly forming black eye.
"I'm sure it wasn't." She replied and drove towards the house.
Walking through the door she threw her keys down on the table with her handbag as Dom walked out of the kitchen.
"Where've you been?" he asked as the two boys followed her in.
"Your boys here got into a brawl down at Jimmys. They're fucking lucky he didn't press charges." She shot them a look that told them they were very lucky. Dom smiled slightly before making his way towards the stairs. "Hey where are you going?" Nicola called after him.
"To bed, its late." He replied still climbing the stairs.
"We need to talk Dom!" She shouted after him but he ignored her. "Asshole." Nicola growled and stalked into the kitchen where Mia was waiting.
"You got them?" She asked sheepishly as she looked up from her book.
"Yep." Nicola gestured over her shoulder to the two boys following her in.
"I told you not to tell her." Leon growled when he saw Mia and Mia shrugged.
"My cars not running and she was the only one with a car." Mia replied before looking back down to her book. Nicola made her way over to the fridge and pulled a packet of frozen peas out of the freezer and threw them to Leon.
"For the eye." She said and he smiled gratefully before holding the peas to his eye. Nicola sat back down and opened up the books again, resting her head in her hand as she stared at the figures. Slowly everyone went to bed and eventually it was only Nicola. Writing down a few more numbers she felt a warm hand on her shoulder and looked up at Leon who was standing behind her in a pair of grey sweatpants, fresh from the shower.
"Come to bed, La." He said softly.
"I've just got a bit more to do." She replied and he leant down and kissed her behind the ear.
"It will still be there in the morning. Come to bed, Lala." Putting her pen down she let him pull her up and down the stairs to the basement, dragging her feet with tiredness.
The next morning her alarm went off at five am making Leon groan and hit it before she had a chance to get up. As she crawled out of his arms he called her name but she ignored it. She had more pressing issues like keeping their home. Making her way up the stairs in her pyjamas she started the coffee machine before sitting down in front of the pile of books and staring at them. The machine beeped before she had a chance to pick up her pen and she got up and poured herself a cup of coffee.
A list of parts from the last delivery sat in front of her and she flipped it over to face the blank back of it.
"That's better." She muttered as she looked down at the paper and sighed. She picked up her pen again and started to draw, procrastinating.
The first sound of anyone else in the house Nicola glanced up at the clock and swore. It was eight o'clock and they were leaving in a few hours for race wars. She looked back down at the piece of paper and the picture she'd drawn of a charging knight. It was her idea for the decal on Leons Skyline and it had turned out better than she thought.
"You're up early." She heard Mias voice and flipped the paper over quickly before spinning in her chair to look at Mia.
"Yeah, just trying to get these books in order before we go anywhere." Mia topped up her coffee cup before pouring herself one and making a new batch.
"That bad?" Mia asked as she sipped at the coffee.
"Bad enough that if your brother doesn't get it through his thick skull, we'll lose everything." She replied and sipped at the new coffee and Mias face fell at the realisation making Nicola sigh. "I've got a plan. I don't mind paying for all the food, but it's with the money I earn at the studio because we're not getting paid at the garage. Your brother is very lucky all those boys are so loyal." She flipped her books closed at the sound of another person entering the kitchen.
"Did you know La's been paying for all our food with her own money?" Mia said and Nicola looked up and realised it was Dom.
"We're not talking about this now." Dom said firmly to his sister before looking at Nicola. "We're leaving in two hours you better go and get ready." He turned around and Nicola flipped him the bird before making her way downstairs to find Leon lying on his stomach in the bed.
"You asleep?" She whispered.
"I've been awake since you got up at five." He replied, his voice muffled by the pillow. Nicola crawled across the bed and looked down at him.
"I'm sorry, baby." He rolled over and glanced up at her sitting over him. Noticing the dark blue bruise on his eye Nicola bit her lip and touched it gently making Leon wince. "What happened?" She asked and Leon sighed.
"Some guys got drunk and started harassing some kid. Vince and I stepped in and well I got a black eye then someone called the cops." Nicola smiled.
"So I'm not the only one you play knight in shining armour for?" She kissed his lips gently and Leon smiled softly not saying anything. "Hey you know what?" She asked.
"What?" Leons husky voice asked.
"It's our two year anniversary." She said and Leons smile got bigger.
"You remembered?" He asked and she beamed down at him.
"Course I remembered. Though I was hoping you wouldn't have a black eye." He leant up and kissed her. "Come on lover, we're heading off soon. And I need a shower." She crawled off the bed and made for the bathroom, Leon following her quickly.
A/N: Okay thanks for reading- will start writing the next one ASAP just gotta go and watch Home and Away! Then Glee…but I can multi task. REVIEW x