Thank you, thank you, thank you to: xsparklesthemagicalunicornx, matthotty101 (Thanks for your "feeling" that Eddie had other intentions. I hadn't thought about it, but I liked it so I kinda wrote it in! :]), Mrz Letty Ortiz-Toretto, XXmelissaXXrayanne, Rue Dawn, Anonymous, and VincesDirtyGirl (I had written a slap in there but I thought it'd be wrong for Mickey to slap Alex while she was pregnant and I couldn't see Alex slapping Mickey while Vince was there…)

As always, your reviews are appreciated and your comments/suggestions/dislikes are all taken into account as I write my stories! I have been inspired to change the story more than once by you awesome reviewers so keep your suggestions coming!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Alex, Mickey, and Eddie

Diamond in the Rough

Chapter 61: Realizations and Accidents

By: LoveInk

A month. Michaela had been gone exactly one month. Everyone went about their days as though nothing had changed, but Leon felt like his world had been turned upside down. Even though they hadn't been together, he'd still grown used to seeing her at least once a day. He missed her voice, the way her cool blue gaze studied him when she thought he wasn't looking, and the way she always managed to touch him when she walked passed.

He looked at the reflection that was staring back at him from the shine of the Skyline's window. Even he could see how tired he looked. No wonder Alex was always worried about him. She was quiet about her worrying, though, and he was happy for that. The only way he knew she worried was the look in her green eyes when he caught her glancing. She tried to hide her worry as best she could, but sometimes he saw it. He didn't know what she was worried about. This wasn't the first time Michaela had left him.

Three times. She had left him three times. "Third time's a charm," he muttered to himself as he wiped down his window with a cloth. A charm for what exactly, he wondered. Did it mean she'd come back to him and stay this time? Or that she'd never come back and he'd finally get over her? Which one was the "charm"? Neither of them seemed too appealing.

The first one was ridden with bumps and curves; more fights and more pain. There would always be the lingering issue that they'd eventually have to deal with. The second was one he couldn't even contemplate. He didn't want to live his life without her in it in some way. He could suffer being just friends if it meant he got to be around her. But this distance…this distance was killing him.

Three months. Leon had been left behind in LA three months ago, and she had yet to hear from him. Alex talked about him every now and then in when she called. Michaela never asked, but Alex always managed to slip some comment in there about his well-being as if she knew that Michaela was dying for an update.

She was sitting on the tour bus with a guitar on her lap, strumming at it lazily as she watched the scenery go by. She wasn't good at it. Vince taught her a few things, but it always bored her when he taught and she hated to practice so her skills didn't improve very much. The tour was heading into Arizona now, Leon's hometown. She had promised Adri she'd visit, but now she wasn't so sure she wanted to. It would only bring about more questions, more memories. She just wanted to stay away and forget.

"Bored?" Eddie questioned as he sat down next to her.

Michaela shrugged a shoulder. "When Lex talked about going on tour, she forgot to mention how boring it was."

"It wasn't boring when she was on tour. She and Ronnie could entertain themselves and the rest of us for hours with a simple piece of paper," he explained with a sad smile. "Once they used two cans and a guitar string to make a phone and strung it between their bunks."

She smiled. "Did it work?"

"Ronnie's so loud it didn't matter. They kept us all laughing through the night."

"You really loved her, didn't you?" she said, slowly coming to that realization.

Eddie sighed, his hazel eyes looking sad as he glanced out the window. "I didn't realize it until I couldn't have her anymore. I always figured she'd be there. But life changed on me and now she's happy with someone else," he said on a sigh. "I have to admit, I didn't have the sincerest of intentions when I brought you on tour with me."

Michaela raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she asked playing dumb. She wasn't blind, she'd seen his flirtatious moves and had caught his innuendos, but she hadn't had the heart to tell him she wasn't interested.

He nodded. "I thought I could somehow get back at Lex and that ogre she's with by being with you."

"That's a shitty thing to do."

"I'm a shitty person if you haven't noticed. I'm sure Lexi has told you."

She scoffed at him, shaking her head. "First off, Lex rarely talks about you. Sometimes she'll call you annoying or rude, but if you jump on the bandwagon, she'll cut you down real fast. She knows you're a good person and she's told me that. I think you're a good person. A good person who makes shitty decisions."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Yeah," she said looking back down at the guitar strings. She strummed a chord and then stopped. "What stopped your evil plan?"

Eddie shrugged a shoulder. "I realized you weren't into it because you're still head over heels in love with Leroy."

"Leon," she corrected.

"Whatever," he said, waving his hand to show he clearly didn't care about names. "You just don't seem…happy."

"Mmm," she mused as she thought. "Sometimes I'm okay. Other times…it's hard, you know? I just…miss him."

"I miss her too. All the time," he admitted, looking down to contemplate his tan hands for a moment before his dark hazel eyes met hers one again. "But you don't have to. Since Lexi is with your brother, missing her is all I have. But you? You still have a chance."

"It can't work," she repeated automatically. Those words never failed to leave a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Don't be so hard-headed. Relationships are like a…a windy road," he started, thinking a car metaphor might work to explain it. "You keep going in one direction; you're going to drive straight off the road and kill yourself. You have to turn the wheel sometimes. Give in a little. You know, swerve."

Similar things had been said by her family, but hearing it from Eddie somehow made it sink in. Maybe she was being too hard-headed. Maybe she needed to change her way of thinking. She ran a hand through her long hair, her throat tight as everything hit her. "God, I'm stupid."

Vince loved living in Los Angeles but he hated the traffic. Alex had just gotten her first contractions, and while she assured him they were just Braxton-Hicks contractions and the baby was just practicing, Vince wasn't so sure. Despite her protests, he convinced her to go to the hospital and now they were stuck in traffic. Needless to say, he wasn't happy. He looked over at his fiancée who was on her phone, calmly calling each of their family members and filling them in on what was happening. Every once in a while she'd wince and he pushed on the gas just a little faster, tailgating like a maniac. She finally hung up and smiled. "Vince, I'm fine. I'm not going to have a baby in the Maxima. I'm telling you, Grem is just messin' with us. Calm down," Alex reassured him, wincing again as another particularly painful contraction hit. At his worried, look she shook her head. "Calm down. You're making me nervous!"

"I fuckin' hate this," he muttered switching lanes yet again.

Alex studied him, taking note of his white knuckled grip on the gear shift and the way he could not stop moving. Every five seconds, he'd run his hands through his hair, muttering to himself in Italian. She knew if he didn't calm down, he'd cause an accident with his crazy driving. It was one thing to drive fast and weave through traffic with a clear head on your shoulders, it was quite another to drive like that when a million other things were going through your mind. She decided to distract him. "Big guy, what kind of car is a Pathfinder?"

"Nissan," he replied without much thought.

"Oh," she said before testing him with another one she picked randomly from the cars around them. After awhile, she decided to up the ante. "What logo has the running horse?"

"Mustang."

"What about the one with a leaning L?"

"Lexus."

"And the fork?"

Vince raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "What fork?"

"I dunno. It looks like a fork," she said pointing at the car next to them.

"Tiny, that's a trident. It's a Maserati," he said on a chuckle as he relaxed into his seat. "This a new game?"

She smiled in triumph, he already looked calmer. "I'm testing you. You're pretty good."

He smirked. "I've worked on cars since I was ten. Try something harder."

"What about the horse on his back legs?" she said, turning to face the window so he wouldn't see her wince in pain.

Vince went through the car brands in his head. "Does it have stripes or is it yellow?"

"Stripes."

"Porsche."

"Wow," Alex said, clearly impressed. "Okay what about the bridge looking thing?"

"You mean the 'H'?" he asked, his tone telling her he thought the description was stupid.

She scoffed. If she had described it like that, the clue would've been far too easy. "I can't disclose that. You have to take my clues as they are."

"Is it leaning or straight?"

"Leaning."

"Hyundai."

Alex nodded, beaming proudly at her fiancée. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, showing an unknown number. Curious, she answered it. "Hello?"

Vince watched as Alex sat up straight with a quiet gasp. Her hand went to her lips and her green eyes grew glassy with tears as she nodded, listening intently to whoever was on the other line. "Tiny? What? Are you okay? Is the baby coming now?"

She held up a finger to signal him to be quiet. "Thank you, Officer. We'll be right over," she said before hanging up the phone. She swallowed hard as she looked at Vince. "Lee's been in an accident."

Dun dun duuuuuun... :) What do you think?

I'll try and post the next chapter ASAP!

~Love Ink