Okay so I won't even try to do some sort of cute introduction to make it seem less bad about the length of time I've been gone. Nor will I try to explain. All I'm going to say is enjoy.

Disclaimer: I wish!

Falling

By Rosa241

Brian's POV:

As a cop I saw this kind of thing too many times. Walking into a crime scene as a cop something takes over, some kind of instinct or innate ability meant I could put the whole situation to one side and not think about the victim. I wish I could do that now. I wish that I could put that hat on and just forget about the fact that this time the victim is Letty. This time the victim is family. My family.

"Holy…" Jessie trails off and doesn't finish his thoughts not that he needs to of course. Gazing at him I can instantly see where his eyes are. They're glued to the same spot that mine quickly find.

Blood.

The bloodstain currently lying on the garage floor.

Letty's blood.

Block it out.

Block it out.

As hard as it is I try to force myself to forget, forget for a moment that it's her blood. Forget for a moment that she's in the hospital. Forget that she's family.

Block it out.

Block it out.

I may not be a cop anymore but I manage to pull on those instincts and after a few agonising minutes the initial panic scuttles to the back of my brain. Taking a deep breath I step between Jessie and the spot that his eyes are still glued to which breaks his concentration. It takes a moment before his eyes finally seem to focus on me and only its only when they do that I talk. He seems so small and young in this moment that I almost want to tell him to go home. I can't though. I can't. I need him to check on some things. He knows this place better than I do so he'll be able to tell much quicker than I can whether somethings missing.

"Jessie why don't you head into the back room? See if there's anything missing from there." He nods and quickly disappears away, eager to be away from the scene in front of him. Taking a deep breath I force my brain to stop.

That's it. Send him out, get him to focus on something else. Give him a reason not to fall apart.

Take stock.

Think.

It takes a few minutes before I can finally force out the bubble of nausea that's been building in my stomach since I stepped into the garage. Looking round I can quickly see that they didn't take the cars. They. I'm not sure what makes me think there was more than one person but I have a feeling. Just a feeling. I know Letty. Letty's tough, she's been rolling with guys twice her size most of her life she knows how to defend herself. She wouldn't have just taken this lying down. She'd have fought back. For someone to get the better of her they'd need help. It would have taken more than one person to take her out.

More than one. That feels right.

"Do you see anything missing?" The officer presses me. He's assuming that I'm panicking, that I'm struggling but I'm not. That's not what's happening here.

"Nothing plainly obvious." Gazing round the cars are still there both of them. If this was just a simple robbery then they'd have been the obvious targets. That's how it would have gone. Take Letty down, grab the cars and get going. It makes sense. They didn't do that. They didn't just take her down, they could have easily taken her down without putting her in such a state. Why didn't they? If they were just robbing the place why go after Letty? The answer comes quickly and it makes my heart thump louder in my ears.

There's more to this than a simple robbery then. Taking down Letty meant something.

I do as thorough a once over as I can right now but there's nothing missing. I didn't expect there to be. If the cars are still here I doubt anything else has been taken.

"I don't see anything missing in the back." Jesse says as he walks back into the room, obviously avoiding the bloodstain as best he can. Again I didn't expect there to be.

This wasn't just a robbery.

"Me neither." Jessie's eyes scan over the room as I stop and think.

This was personal. That much is clear but why? What's happened that could have brought this down on Letty? On us? My mind immediately draws back to before, before I moved here but I shut that down as quickly as it started. There's no way they could have figured things out. No chance. It doesn't make sense. If the cops had figured out what happened we'd have been arrested, if Tran had figured it out we'd all be dead. He wouldn't go after us one at a time and with his knowledge Dom would have been the first one to take out. He's the one that guy was really wary of.

"They must have been interupted." The officers voice brings me out of my thoughts with a start. For a moment I'd forgotten they were there.

"Interupted?" It's Jessie who asks but the same question is on my mind.

"The woman who found your friend. She must have interupted them before they could take anything." Maybe. Maybe she did. Or maybe not…

"Why don't we check the CCTV?" My brain stops at that.

"We have CCTV?" I ask as he gestures to the cameras in the corner of the room. I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me that they'd have them but it hadn't. I find myself nodding and giving him the orders before the officers even speak.

This wasn't just a robbery.

It was personal.

Dom POV:

Recovery.

My baby is in recovery.

The word should have made me weep in relief but all it does is send my emotions reeling. She shouldn't be in recovery. She should be at home right now relaxing on the sofa not lying in a hospital bed. We should be sitting down to dinner not sitting in a waiting room. She shouldn't be fighting for her life in this place.

"You get hold of Mia yet?" I'm sure I've asked him a thousand times but it's a distraction from the darker thoughts taking hold of my mind.

Letty needs you here, don't do this. My mind relays the words that Brian had uttered before he'd take off.

"No not yet. It's still just ringing out." Vince replies with a huff as he pockets his phone. Where the hell is my sister? She needs to be here. I need her. "You know Mia man. She's probably left her phone in the car or something. She'll be here."

"Yeah probably." We settle back into silence for a moment and I can't help the dark thoughts beginning to creep in again. Just as my mind rolls back to the dark place a small voice enters my mind.

"Excuse me?" We both look up, half expecting to see a doctor. Instead we're met with a face neither of us recognise. "I'm um…I'm sorry to intrude but the woman who…the woman…the woman from the garage…"

She doesn't finish her sentence but she doesn't have to.

"You found her." She gives me a shaky nod and steps a little into the room. Honestly she looks like she's seen a ghost.

"I um…I just…how is she?" It takes a moment before she gets her question out.

"She's in recovery, we can see her soon." No one speaks for a moment but eventually she nods, steels herself and sits on the opposite side of the room.

"How did you find her?" It's Leon who speaks but the question is on my lips too. Part of me doesn't want to know, part of me needs to know. Vince tenses beside me and I can tell how he feels just the same as me.

"My car it's err…it's ancient. I've been telling my husband for months it needs to go to the scrap yard but he's too cheap to buy a new one. Well I'll tell you something he'll be buying me a new one after this you mark my words." I want to tell her to get on with it but a sharp look from Leon stops me. This was the woman who'd saved Letty. I can afford to give her a few minutes. "Sorry I'm rambling. I was driving down the road and the damn thing started smoking and making all this racket. Figured I was all set for an evening on the side of the road when I spotted your garage. Couldn't believe my luck."

An old car and a cheap husband? To think that I've got that to thank for finding Letty. Who knows what would have happened if she'd waited until I'd gotten back with Leon.

"So I pulled in and that's when I found her." She doesn't say much else but from the look in her eyes I don't think I want to hear anything else. Part of me hates that a stranger was sitting with my baby in the ambulance, part of me is glad I didn't walk in on her. I don't know if I could have handled finding her like that. Knowing it happened is bad enough but seeing it? No. No I don't want that.

"You came with her to the hospital?" She nods her head at Vince's words.

"It didn't feel right leaving her alone like that. Last summer I had to go to the hospital after a fall at work, I was all alone until my husband got there and I remember how scary it was so I just thought…well. No one deserves to be alone in a place like this."

"Thank you." She takes a breath before steadying herself again and stepping out of the room. She'll never know it but she did more than she knows tonight. Letty hates being alone. Not that she'd ever admit to that of course. It's always been one of her biggest fears as far back as I can remember. Being left behind, being alone…

I'm not leaving you alone baby. Never again.

Mia POV:

That can't have been it. It can't be! There must be something, anything here. There has to be.

Shaking my head I empty the contents of my purse once more in the desperate hope that I find some. I can't have used it all. I can't. All I need is a little. Just a little.

Just to get me through.

Just a little.

There has to be some. There has to be.

When my frantic searching of my purse comes up empty again I throw the useless thing against the wall with a scream.

"Aaaaaah!" Dropping my head into my hands I grab fistfuls of my hair and find myself pulling hard.

What do I do?

There has to be a way to get hold of some. Just a little. Just to get me through. I just need a little. I'm dimly aware of my phone going off in the background but I ignore it. Right now I can't focus on that. On anything.

I just need a little.

After a few minutes I let go of the tight grip on my hair and grab my phone. Ignoring the missed calls, they can't be important, I scroll down until I hit the name I hate so much but so desperately need.

Jake.

My finger hovers over the call button for a moment. I have no doubt he'll answer but what then? He'll still want one of the cars. He won't give me anything until I hand one of them over.

I could give him mine. Tell Dom someone stole it.

Yeah.

Yeah that's it.

That's perfect.

Jake gets his car, I get what I need and everyone's happy.

I just need a little.

Just a little to get me through.

One more time and I'll stop.

Just one more, just one more time. That's all I need just one more.

"Mia, Mia, Mia." The creepy voice makes me jump and despite the hatred flooding through me I can feel the sheer relief enter my body as I catch sight of him. He'd taken far too long to get his ass over here, part of me thought he wasn't coming.

"Jake. Jake I need some more. Please you have to help me." If I wasn't so desperate I'm sure I'd feel some sort of shame flowing through me. I don't feel anything though. Nothing other than complete and total need. Desperation. Please.

"I'd love to do that Mia but I don't think you have what I want." No. No, no, no.

"No. Please no I need you." Grabbing my purse from where I'd flung it earlier I pull out the keys and practically throw them at him. "Take those. You see? That's my car, right out there." Pulling the curtain back I gesture to the car sitting in front of the house. "It's a good car, you can take that one. Please I need you to take that one."

"It's a good offer but I think I'll need a little more to sweeten the deal. You see there was this car in the garage I saw." I can feel my blood freeze as he speaks and in a heartbeat I know which car he's talking about. "You know the one I want."

"The Charger." Of course the car had come with us when we moved. It was never going anywhere else. Usually it stayed at the house, Dom unwilling for it to be anywhere else, but he'd spotted a problem a few days ago. One of the door locks was busted, old age plus some wear and tear, so he'd moved it to the garage. He was waiting on a replacement part and the garage had better security than the house.

"Yeah. That little beauty is going to fetch a good price. I take your car it clears your debt, you don't owe me nothing anymore. You can walk away with your conscious clear. Of course that means no more of my fine product." He steers himself around the table and steps up close to me as he speaks again. "If you want my product though, you want some more of this fine white powder then I need that car. So what do you say?"

So what will Mia do? Is she really going to give up the Charger? Well you'll have to wait and see.

On a separate note I hope Mia's portion of this chapter shows her desperation right now. I've never written a drug addict before (nor do I have any experience with them) so I was a little unsure if this read the way I wanted it to.