A MILLION thanks to: Rue Dawn, Vincesdirtygirl (I'm so bad at writing smut! Sorry! :\ I'm sure your imagination is great! Hehe I hope you do well on your paper!), Mrz Letty Ortiz-Toretto, xsparklesthemagicalunicornx (Thanks! My exams actually went fairly well!), Violet201, xXBXx, and D274. You guys ROCK!

Exams are done for awhile! Time for an ice cold Corona before seeing Fast Five…again. :D

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Mickey and Alex

Diamond in the Rough

Chapter 45: Family

By: LoveInk

Leon and Michaela were the only people Vince wanted at his sentencing. He'd made that very clear in the phone call he'd made home. Michaela had seen the hurt in Alex's eyes when he told her. Alex had fought him tooth and nail, yelling every mean obscenity she could at him. She was his fiancée; after all, she deserved to be at the hearing. Somehow, he'd broken down her defense and with a few tears; she gave in to his wishes.

Sitting at the sentencing, Michaela knew why he'd wanted Alex to stay home. It was hard as hell to watch him stand up there in his ugly orange jumpsuit while his sentence was read. Through the whole thing, she wanted to cry out and yell at the judge. This was all Dominic's fault. Vince should not be taking the fall for this. She held tightly to Leon's hand, squeezing it very time the urge to curse and swear at the judge came.

Leon's jaw was tightly clenched through the whole thing. He knew he should be up there with Vince; after all, he had taken part in the heists too. He told Vince he would take responsibility for his part, but the other man had almost killed him at the mere suggestion stating that someone had to be home to take care of his girls. And he would take care of them. Michaela, Alex, and Mia were his family now. If they needed him, he sure as hell was going to be there for them.

When the sentencing was finally over, Michaela hugged her brother tightly. Leon nodded to him. "I got eyes on the girls and the baby," he said, his voice low and rich with promise.

Vince nodded appreciatively. "Thanks." He told Michaela he loved her and to be good and with that, he was taken away by the police.

Once they were finally in the car, Michaela broke down. This wasn't right! Vince didn't deserve to go to jail! It was Dominic they wanted! It was Dominic who should be sentenced and kept locked away where he couldn't hurt anyone else. "This is so wrong," she said, silent tears falling from her eyes.

"I know," Leon agreed softly. He lifted his hand off the shifter and brushed away some of her tears before putting it back. "He'll be fine, though. He's a scary fucker. No one will mess with him."

Michaela smiled slightly and nodded. "I know. It's just hard to see him like that. Orange is not his color."

He chuckled lightly before growing serious. "I'm more worried about Alex. That judge was an ass. A whole year! He doesn't deserve that."

"Better than five years," she replied on a sigh. Tears pricked the corner of her eyes when she thought of what that sentence meant. "God, he'll miss the baby."

"He's got a chance at parole in a few months. He might make it out on good behavior."

Michaela gave him a doubtful look. "Right. My brother. Good behavior. Didn't he sink his fist into your face once for a sarcastic comment?"

Leon nodded. He remembered that punch to the jaw very well. "To be fair, I deserved it. I should know better than to make sex jokes about you in front of him."

"You don't think people in prison will deserve it?"

"He's got a lot more to lose in a situation like that," he replied on a shrug. "I don't think he'd risk it on some punk who doesn't matter in the long run."

Michaela sighed, running a hand through her long hair as the house came into view. "How am I going to tell Alex?"

"You don't have to. I will," he said as he pulled into the driveway. He walked around the Skyline and opened the door for Michaela. She grabbed onto his hand and held it tightly as they opened the door.

Alex was waiting on the couch in the living room with Mia. She was wearing one of Vince's sweatshirts and a pair of his workout shorts. Her hair was a complete mess and the bags under her eyes were evidence that she had not slept at all the night before. Upon seeing them, she jumped up from the couch and rushed over to them. "So? How long?" she asked, her voice frantic.

Leon shifted nervously, wondering what the best way to break it to her was. He didn't want to upset her too much, knowing it wasn't good for her. "Lex…" he started on a sigh.

"How long, Lee?" she demanded, her green eyes frustrated. She was sick of everyone treating her like she was fragile. First, Vince not wanting her to go the sentencing and now, Leon didn't want to tell her what his sentence was! She was pregnant, not made of porcelain! "Months? Years? C'mon!"

"Months."

She wanted to smack him then for hedging around the direct answer. "Was there a specific number of months, Leon?" she asked through clenched teeth.

When he hesitated, Michaela sucked in a deep breath and answered, "Twelve."

Alex's anger quickly faded. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Twelve months. She wasn't fooled by the month part, she knew twelve months was a year. A whole year by herself. She'd have to deal with all the baby stuff by herself. The doctor's appointments, decorating the baby room, getting big, actually having the baby…she'd have to do it all alone. "No," she breathed, tears coming to her eyes. "No, he can't. That's not right."

Leon moved forward to embrace her, but she stepped away. She shook her head at him, still in denial. "You're lying," she gasped as her tears fell. "You have to be."

She turned on her heel and practically ran back to her room. She spun around, slamming the door shut behind her and locking it. Pressing her back against the door, she slid down until she was sitting. She leant her forehead against her knees and just cried. He was going to miss everything.

"Baby girl, open the door," Leon tried, jiggling the handle. The sound of her crying was breaking his heart. "C'mon, Lex."

Michaela watched him fight with Alex through the door. Finally he gave up, leaning his forehead against the door. "Give her some space, Lee," she suggested, echoing Alex's earlier words. "Let her deal with this her own way."

Hours later, Michaela found Leon kneeling in front of Alex's door, the tools for his miniature cars lying on the ground by his knee. He had one in his mouth with another stuck in the door lock; his green eyes were concentrated on the little keyhole. "Baby, what are you doing?" she asked, leaning on the wall next to the door.

"She's been cryin' in there for hours," he muttered around the tiny screwdriver. "I can't take it anymore. She needs someone and I'm gonna break open this fuckin' lock to get to her."

She couldn't help but smile at his obvious concern. She'd never seen him so wound up about another girl. "This brother-sister thing you two have going is legit, huh?"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "What?"

"It's just…you don't really know each other. I mean, me and Dom are like brother and sister because we've known each other for years and same with Mia and Vince, but you and Lex…you barely know each other."

Leon scowled at her, shaking his head disappointedly. He never thought he'd have to explain himself to Michaela. "She's got a good heart," he explained vaguely. Truth be told, he and Alex knew a lot more about each other than people thought. When Michaela was gone, before Alex and Vince were official, they had spent hours talking while they waited for Michaela to call. Alex knew more about him than most people.

"Okay, Lee," she said leaning forward to peck his cheek. She knew that was the best answer she was going to get from him at the moment.

He watched her walk away, completely confused by the whole exchange. When she disappeared into their room, he shrugged it off and went back to work. Moments later, the small click of the door unlocking made him grin in triumph. Getting to his feet, he opened the door slowly and headed into the dark room. The moon light that filtered in illuminated her small shape. She was curled into a tight ball, her eyes staring at a picture frame.

"Hey baby girl," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and gently pushing the hair out of her face. He took the picture frame out of her hands. It was a picture of Vince driving, a small smile on his face, the wind tousling his hair. He had that dumb grin on his face that he always had when he was with her. "That's a nice picture."

She sighed. "It's from the first day we met."

Leon was surprised that the picture had been taken that early in their relationship. Had it really been love at first sight with those two? Because from where he sat, the look on Vince's face had love written all over it. "Did you know then that you loved him?"

Alex shrugged a shoulder. "I was with Eddie," she said softly, "but I felt this…pull to him. I tried really hard to ignore it. I told myself that he was just another friend like Ronnie or you, but…some things you can't deny."

He nodded slowly, setting the frame on her nightstand. "He's going to be all right, you know. This isn't his first time."

She sighed again, blowing her hair out of her face. "I know. But I'm still…I'm so scared for him," she whispered, the feeling bleeding into her voice.

Leon sighed and lay down next to her. She scooted in closer, laying her head on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her back. "He'll be fine, Lex. It's just a few months."

"It's a year, Lee," she said back, her voice still sounding choked. "I'll have had the baby by the time he gets out. All by myself."

He gave her side a squeeze. "Shorty, you'll never be by yourself. You have a whole army of aunts and uncles that are here for you no matter what. You have to know that."

As if to emphasize the point, both Michaela and Mia snuck in. Michaela sat lay down next to Leon, leaning her head on his shoulder while Mia lay on Alex's other side. "We can go visit him," Michaela suggested softly.

"And I'll take tons of pictures to give him," Mia put in. "He can decorate his cell with them."

"Ronnie's on his way too," Michaela said, a small smile on her face when she heard Alex's surprised gasp. She knew the girl needed her best friend, so when she saw Alex's phone sitting on the counter, she made the call. "I didn't tell him everything. You can still be the first to tell him about Gremlin."

Alex reached over to grab Michaela's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you."

"Of course," she murmured in response, squeezing back. "We're a family now. We have to be there for each other."

So what'd you think? Let me know in a review please! I look forward to reading them! As always your opinions, ideas, etc are always appreciated and well loved! :D

There's a small nod to FastFive...can you spot it? ;)

~Love Ink