We're coming to the end of the road...only one or two chapters left! Thanks for sticking with me guys! :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who took the time to review!: Mrz LOT (I LOVE that song!), nathansprincess, Rue Dawn, Fhiu (thanks for the review, but next time skip the chain letter part! hehe), xsparklesthemagicalunicornx, D274 (The songs you suggested are awesome and have been added to my playlist! Thanks!), hideher (I'm glad you like my OCs, I always worry about how their credibility!), shane vanson (wow, twice! That's awesome! :D), kjstarkey, and Beautiful Nightmare (who reviewed the other fic and has a pretty sweet TFATF fic of her own!).

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Alex and Michaela. :)

Diamond in the Rough

Chapter 65: Returning

By: LoveInk

Michaela felt stronger walking into the hospital with Letty by her side than if she had had to do it alone. After asking for both of their friend's rooms, they stood in the waiting room arguing over which to visit first. "Why don't you go visit Lee, and I'll go visit the baby?" Letty suggested. "Then we'll switch."

"Why can't I visit the baby first? It's my nephew!" Michaela fought back.

Letty rolled her eyes. "Because if you visit the baby first, you'll never go visit Leon!"

She scowled in response, Letty knew her too well. "I think my brother might be a little offended if I don't see him first!" she tried anyway.

"Woah," Jesse's voice cut off whatever Letty was going to say. "Um. Hi girls."

Letty glared at Michaela before turning to Jesse. "Hey Jess. How you livin' boy? Long time no see."

He dug a hand under his beanie and nodded."Good. Wasn't expecting to see you here," he replied, hugging her.

"What can I say? I like surprising people. I heard what happened, Jess, and I'm sorry."

Jesse waved her off. "Don't be. I raced Tran, I lost, and I ran. I fucked up. At least I got through it. At least we all got through it, right?"

"Right," Letty agreed with a nod. She watched as he shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. It was obvious he did not want to talk anymore about his mistake, so she changed the subject. "Jess, where do you think Mickey should go first?"

"Um, well, Lex'll be checkin' out soon so you guys should see her first. But Lee's really hurt so maybe Mickey should go see him and you go see them. Then you guys can switch!" he stated as though it was the best idea ever. "I gotta get to the garage and finish up a job."

Michaela's face fell. She was hoping Jesse would choose a different path. He was right though, she should go to Leon first. She wouldn't be able to fully enjoy meeting her new nephew otherwise. "Ugh. Fine," she muttered, following Letty as she began walking to the elevator.

Alex could hear Vince's soft singing from the bathroom where she was getting dressed. She pulled on a pair of Vince's gym shorts and his old football jersey before slipping on her flip-flops. It felt good to be out of a hospital gown. She made sure to open to door quietly so she wouldn't interrupt the father and son moment. It didn't take long for Vince to notice her. His blue eyes sparkled with happiness as he looked at her. "You look good, Tiny," he said nodding at her.

She smiled at him. That was his usual compliment to the women he loved. "Thanks, big guy. How's the little guy?"

"Sleepin'," he replied, nodding toward the crib.

Leaning her head against his arm, she sighed as she looked at her sleeping son. "We get to take him home tonight."

He nodded before dipping his head to kiss her temple. "You excited?"

"Uh-huh," she said, a bright grin on her face. "I just hope he sleeps through the night."

"Your dad called. Asked what best time was for them to come visit."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "My dad called you?"

"Yeah."

"How does he have your number?" she asked, confused. Her dad and Vince had seen each other face to face all of two times, and she'd never seen them exchange phone numbers.

Vince shrugged a shoulder. "I got Ronnie's cell off Mia, called him, and then called your dad for something."

"For what?" she pressed.

"I couldn't ask you to marry me without his permission."

Alex felt her heart skip a beat. Vince never ceased to surprise her. His proposal in the car that night had seemed so…random, so out of the blue. She had never even considered that he planned it out and called her father! He was the first of her siblings' significant others to ask her father for permission. She knew that because her dad would constantly tease her two brother-in-laws about it in mock offense. "And I thought I couldn't love you more," she murmured, looking up at him with a small smile.

He gave her a questioning look, his head tilted to the side as he gently brushed a hair out of her face. "You could always love me more," he said, his tone implying something a lot dirtier than she'd meant. She giggled, standing on her toes to press a kiss to his lips. He pulled her in closer, one of his thick arms around her waist and one hand tangled into her dark hair.

Letty walked in to find Vince and Alex making out like teenagers. "Didn't you two just have a kid? Shouldn't you wait a few years before making another one?" Letty commented, smirking when the couple pulled apart; Vince with a proud smile on his face and Alex with a red blush coloring her cheeks.

"Look who it is, little Miss Letty," Vince drawled, dropping his arm from Alex's waist and going to hug Letty.

Letty sighed as she felt his strong, familiar arms wrap around her. "How you livin', V?"

"I'm doin' well," he said, smiling like a kid.

"What about you, Lil' Mama?" Letty asked, peering around Vince to look at Alex.

She smiled in response, going to hug her friend. "I'm tired and in desperate need of a shower, but happy," she answered. "Want to meet him?"

"Hell yeah," Letty replied, holding her arms out. "Let's see this little monster."

Alex gently lifter her son from his crib and carried him over to Letty. "Let, meet Maxi. Maxi, this is your Tia Letty," she introduced softly, placing the baby in Letty's arms.

"Hey Maxi," Letty cooed, rocking the baby gently in her arms. She looked up at Vince who was grinning, a proud look on his face. The thought that he was a father had been comical to Letty at first, but seeing the way he was watching his son with that protective gleam in his eyes made her think twice. She had no doubt in her mind that the Ole Coyote would be an amazing father. "He's precious, V. Looks like he got all of Lex's genes."

"Thank God," Vince muttered with a smirk. "That means he'll be smart too."

Alex scowled at him. She hated the way he always sold himself short. "You're smart," she said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Don't go making his head any bigger than it is," Letty put in. "He'll have problems fitting through doors."

Alex giggled in response while Vince flipped his friend off. "Speaking of big heads, you hear from Dom?"

Letty shook her head slowly. "He never came to Mexico. I got tired of waiting for his ass. You hear from him?"

Vince said no at the same time Alex mumbled, "Yes." Both of them looked at her in surprise. Letty because this was new information, Vince because he thought Alex was going to keep quiet about Dom. Alex sighed, running a hand through her hair. "He called me."

"He called you?" Letty repeated, still shocked. Out of all the people to call, why on Earth would Dom call her? He didn't even like her!

"Yes, me," Alex muttered miserably. "He called me because he was trying to get to Vince, but Vince wasn't here so..."

Vince slowly took Maxi from Letty's arms, knowing that at any moment, she'd drop him without thinking. Letty blinked at Alex, trying to process the information. "He called you…well, what did he say?"

"Not very much," she replied slowly. "Mostly because I yelled at him. He asked about you and Vince and Jess. I was surprised when he asked about you because I thought you two were together but…guess not."

"You yelled at Dom?" Letty parroted, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

Alex shrugged. "I was pregnant and hormonal and he was being rude. Someone had to do it."

Vince chuckled. "That's my girl."

"Did he say where he was?" Letty questioned, in full detective mode.

She shook her head, no. "He started talking to me in Spanish, though. The people around him were speaking it too. The accent was kind of…off. It was like island-y."

"You think he was in the DR?"

Alex thought about one of her fellow dancer on tour that had been from the Dominican Republic. She tried to bring up his accent in her head. "That would make sense."

Letty mentally smacked herself in the head. Why hadn't she thought of that before? They'd always talked about visiting the DR! "V, do you think Hector knows where he is? He's got cousins in the DR, don't he?"

Vince shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe. Wouldn't hurt to ask."

"Or you could just get there and follow the odor of skanks…" Alex suggested nonchalantly. "I'm sure that'll lead you straight to him."

Michaela hesitated at the doorway to Leon's room. Looking through the window, she saw that he still had his eyes closed and her heart dropped in her chest. Jesse had told her they wouldn't know the extent of his damage until he woke up. It'd been a few days…why hadn't he woken up? Was he that damaged?

Her hand shook as she pulled open the door and slowly made her way in. Standing in front of him, she felt even guiltier than she had before. This was all her fault. Why had she left him? She didn't need to go on tour. It didn't give her anything. She needed to be here. With her family. With him.

He'd been right all along, though she hated to admit it. What was she thinking demanding a family from him? Demanding to get married? Leon was not a planner. He went with the flow and did whatever felt right in the moment. Of course, he hadn't thought about marriage! He probably hadn't even thought about what he was doing the next day!

Sighing, she sat down on the edge of Leon's bed and grabbed hand. It was weird to see him in that awful blue hospital gown. His tan seemed to glow against the stark white sheets of the bed. She swallowed the lump in her throat and sniffed. "Um. Hey Lee. It's me," she said softly. "God, I miss you," she said on a laugh.

She squeezed his warm hand, wiping at her tears with the back of her free hand. "Um…I just…I wanted to say I'm sorry for…for being so…stupid. I should've listened to you, Lee. I've had a lot of time to think about…stuff…and I think…I think you were right. Sort of…I don't know. You were right about…waiting. I mean, I want kids but I don't need them right now. I'm not Alex and you're not Vince. They're on like a completely different planet as far as I'm concerned."

Now the tears were falling faster than she could wipe them away. "I understand now what you meant about…having fun and just living in the moment. And I want that too. I just…everything happened and then Lauren came and I was so scared I was going to lose you that I...I went too far. I expected too much."

She swallowed hard and shook her head. "Fuck that was hard to say and I bet you didn't hear any of it so I'll probably just have to repeat it again which…sucks because I'm sure I won't get it right."

"Sos un boludo. Ella te esta derramando su corazón y estas fingiendo ser dormido. Te va a matar por eso," Alex said from her place in the doorway. Vince stood behind her looking very confused while Letty was chuckling to herself. (You're an asshole. She is pouring out her heart to you and you're pretending to sleep. She is going to kill you.)

"Lex, I don't understand Spanish. You know that," Mickey stated scowling at her friend.

"You don't, but he does," she said nodding toward Leon. "He's awake."

Michaela quickly looked to Leon who was sitting up and glaring at Alex. "Thanks for that, sis" he grumbled, fighting off a grin.

"Someone has to call you on your bullshit," she said, a devilish smirk on her face as she walked away, pulling a very angry looking Vince along with her. Letty waved at Leon before disappearing after them.

"You little shit head!" Michaela exclaimed, smacking him with the hand he wasn't holding. "I can't believe you! I'm sitting here pouring my heart out and you pretend you're sleeping!"

"Ow stop! Still injured here!" he shouted, trying to dodge her slaps. She stopped and just sat there, staring at him, a look of disbelief still on her face. He bit back a laugh, knowing it wouldn't help his case if he laughed at her. "I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I fucking hate you."

He chuckled, squeezing her hand gently. "No, you don't."

"No, I don't. You're kind of hard to hate." She let out a long sighed before leaning over to catch his lips in a quick kiss.

Words couldn't describe how good it felt to feel her lips against his again. He tangled his hands into her wild hair and pulled her in for another one. He could feel the world slowly slipping away, leaving only him and her, together.

She pulled away first, her blue eyes shining with happy tears. "God, Lee, you scared me," she said softly, her forehead pressed to his. "I thought I'd lost you."

"I told you I wasn't going anywhere," he murmured. "I'm staying right here with you."

Michaela smiled, she loved the sound of that. She ran her fingers over his cheeks and smiled happy to be with him. Not everything was perfect, they still had some problems to work out, but they were getting there. Being without him made her realize just how much she loved him. How she could never just let him go and get over it. She was meant to be with him and only him. Yeah, they had their difference, but she was confident they could work it out somehow. It would take time and some struggle, but they'd manage it. "I love you, Lee," she whispered, kissing him again.

"You too, Princess."

:) Did you like it? Love it?

Anyone see the tie-in from Vin Diesel's short film, Los Bandoleros? (If you haven't seen it, look it up on youtube and watch it for some amazing Dotty-ness!)

As always your comments, criticism, suggestions, etc. are always appreciated! :D Let me know what you want to see and I'll try to work it in! hehe

~Love Ink