Current mood:	awake
Current music:	Stone Temple Pilots - Big Empty
Entry tags:	july jones, tfatf fanfic

July Jones, Chapter 15
So I was trying to think of something witty to put here, and I've got nothing. So you can all pretend I said something cool here and we'll just continue with the chapter...

Author: BloodyTearsOfLife
Title: July Jones
Rating: PG-13/R
Disclaimer: All characters from The Fast and the Furious belong to Universal Studios, yada, yada, yada. I only own the ones you don’t know. And no profit is made of this, this is just for mine and hopefully your entertainment.
Summary: July Jones has just learned she's been lied to for the last 10 years. Now she is in LA trying to find the real her but it won't be easy and what happens when she moves next door to the team.

[|All Chapters|] [|Previous Chapter|]





A/N: Sorry if the last chapter was too mushy. *g* I laughed at myself when I re-read it. I honestly don't know how I let it get so fluffy! But it was important plot point so I couldn't very well take it out. So I hope you all survived the super marshmallow moment. Feel free to tease. ^_^

Chapter 15: Talking It Out
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Earlier that night:

Letty kept true to her word and cleaned the kitchen, making sure to leave it how it had first been. July had just left a half hour ago. She hoped everything was going okay and that Vince hadn’t screwed up, well, at least not too badly. She left the kitchen; she still had her job to do.

Grabbing her keys, she headed out to her car and started it up, taking comfort in the steady purr of the engine. Where would Leon be? She doubled checked to make sure his car wasn’t over at Dom’s and found it still missing. She pulled out and began to drive, hoping that something would pull her in the right direction.

Luck was on her side that night because about an hour after driving around, when she was on the verge of giving up, she spotted his car in a hotel parking lot and parked next to it. There was no way of finding Leon by knocking on the doors, but she was half tempted to just start yelling his name until he popped his head out a door; but then again, not having to deal with the cops tonight would be a plus. With a sigh, she hitched up her pants to resettle on her hips and headed towards the hotel’s office.

“Can I help you?” the young woman behind the desk asked as Letty stepped through the door.

“Yeah, my friend is staying here and I forgot what room he was in. It’s his birthday and I want to surprise him by showing up early. We haven’t seen each other in a year,” she said laying it on thick, hoping the girl would buy the excuse.

“Oh, that’s sweet. Can I get his name? I could look him up.”

“Leon Thompson.”

“Let me see.” The tapping of her manicure nails on the keyboard lasted a few seconds and then she turned back towards Letty. “He’s on the second floor, room 218.”

“Thank you so much,” Letty said giving her the best smile she could manage.

Letty turned to the elevator and began her journey to the second floor. The elevator stopped and she got out and stood in the hall. Then it hit her, what they heck was she going to say to him? Well, she had never been much of a planner and decided to wing it. She easily located his room and hesitated outside of it. Finally, she raised her fist and knocked on the door.

“Room service, finally,” Leon grumbled as he opened the door and a surprised expression came over him as he saw Letty standing in the doorway. “Oh, it’s you. Let me guess, you want to talk,” he said with no bitterness in his voice.

“Yeah, I was hoping we could,” she said her throat feeling tight.

Leon gestured her in and shut the door behind her. He shut off the TV and sat on the bed. Letty sat at the small table and looked out the window. A silence took over the room and neither one of them said anything for a while, each lost in what to say.

Letty finally broke the silence and looked over at him. “Le, I know I hurt you, and I wanted to say I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“I know,” he said with resignation. “And I got what you mean about loving someone and not being in love with them. It’s like Mia and me. I love her, but I’m not in love with her,” Leon said looking up at her and seeing the tears coming to her eyes. Letty turned away, not wanting Leon to see her. She didn’t cry in front of people.

“I don’t deserve to be friends with you,” she whispered.

“And why is that?”

“Because you’re better than me. If this would have been the other way around, I would never have been as understanding as you are,” Letty answered. “I’m supposed to be the hard ass who doesn’t take anyone’s shit, and I’m so tired. I’m tired of pretending that nothing affects me. I’m tired of people talking about me. I’m tired of loving Dom. I just wish there was some way for me to take it away, cut that little chunk of my heart out,” Letty growled, digging her fingers into her chest as she surrendered to the tears she couldn’t stop. All the pain came surging back, overloading her and she didn’t have enough strength to keep up her mask.

“I know baby,” Leon said walking over to her and picking her up. He sat on the bed and cradled her in his lap.

“Every time we get together, he promises not to cheat, to be loyal, and every time it’s the same. I thought that if I let him go and tried to move on, I could do it but I couldn’t. It hurt me to be leading you on and it was killing me.”

“I know,” Leon said rocking her.

“And I’m so sorry Leon. I am so sorry that I couldn’t be what I needed to be for you,” she said looking him in the eyes. Her normally hard brown eyes were puffy and red rimmed, and Leon’s heart clenched as Letty blamed herself again and he shook his head at her.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m strong. Just worry about yourself. You’ll be able to beat this, trust me. You’re a fighter. You have determination to do anything you put your mind to. Now come on, you need to sleep,” Leon said unzipping her boots and taking them off.

“Okay,” Letty agreed in a sleepy voice, suddenly exhausted. She allowed Leon to maneuver her into the bed and snuggled into the pillow as he pulled the blankets over her. She peeked open one eye to see him watching her. “Thanks Leon.”

“No worries baby, now go to sleep. We’ll work out everything in the morning,” Leon said with a small smile.

“M’kay,” Letty said closing her eye and falling into a dreamless sleep.

Leon sat for a while watching her. She looked so different when she slept. The hard lines of life left her face and she looked innocent and peaceful. He brushed her hair back from her face and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at July’s house:

July closed the door and couldn’t stop the smile that appeared on her face. She began to hum the song that Vince had sung her. She wandered into the living room and noticed the lack of Letty.

“Letty? Letty, you here?” she yelled up the stairs.
When the house stayed quiet she knew that Letty wasn’t there. She ventured into the kitchen and checked the answering machine and sure enough there was a message.

“Hey JJ, it’s me, Mike,” Mike’s tired voice came from the speaker. “I’m at the hospital. Mom’s in critical condition. It was a hit and run. They don’t know the exact details since there were no eyewitnesses. The doctors are trying to be optimistic but there isn’t much they can do right now. Uh…she’s broken a lot of bones and there is quite a bit of internal damage. I’ll call you tomorrow when I know some more. Don’t worry. I love you, bye.” The machine clicked and sounded a beep.

Vince’s dinner had been a nice distraction and reality hit her with a slap. Fear began to make its home in her mind. She was scared for Mike’s mom; she had always been like a second mom to her.

“July! I know you’re home!” Mia’s voice shouted outside the door as the pounding on the door finally registered in July’s brain.
July sprinted to the door and opened it up. “Hey Mia. Come in,” July said closing the door behind her. She flopped onto the couch and heard Mia settle close to her.

“Leon called and said that Letty was staying with him for the night.”

“With him?” July asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Not like that. She had a breakdown, she was a wreck, and Leon couldn’t send her home so she’s just sleeping at his hotel room. He promised they’d be back in the morning for work.”

“So they are all okay now?” July asked.

“Yeah. And I’ve been meaning to ask you, where’s Mike?” Mia asked looking around.

“Letty didn’t tell you?”

“No. I think the guys might know but she looked really lost during lunch but I couldn’t talk to her because we had a rush.”

“He’s gone,” she uttered quietly.

“Gone? Why?” Mia asked confused.

“There was an accident. A hit and run. His mom’s in the hospital,” she said saying it out loud for the first time, making it real.

“Is she going to be okay?” Mia asked taking one of July’s hands.

“I don’t know. She’s in critical condition and Mike said she’s pretty bad. I’m just scared. I don’t want to lose anyone. I’ve already lost enough people in my life,” she trailed off, her eyes losing focus.

“Don’t worry, if she’s anything like Mike, she’ll make it,” Mia tried to reassure, giving her a hug.

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” July said letting go of Mia.

“All right. I’ll let myself out.”

“Night,” July said heading upstairs. She heard the front door close and entered her room. She quickly changed and flopped into bed. She huddled underneath the covers feeling cold but it had nothing to do with the temperature of the room. She moved around, not finding sleep until the early hours of the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July was woken up when someone bounced on her bed. She gave a groan and pulled the blanket tighter around her and snuggling her face into the pillow, trying to shut it out.

“Wake up JJ, or we’re going to be late,” Letty ordered, still bouncing on the bed.

“Hmm?” July mumbled, her eyelids fluttering open to see Letty standing on the end of her bed with her hands on her hips. “Oh, hey Letty.” July yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with the back of her hands.

“Leon’s downstairs making breakfast.”

“Leon’s making breakfast?” she asked thinking she might of heard wrong, but Letty just bobbed her head yes back at her. “Oh. So what happened?” July asked sitting up and Letty sat down next to her.

“Well, we talked and we decided that me staying here is a good idea for a while, if that’s okay with you.”

“Yeah that’s no problem. So everything’s okay?”

“Yeah. I still feel really bad though,” Letty admitted with a small frown.

“I don’t know Leon all that well but he seems pretty understanding,” July said getting up and stretching.

“Yeah, he is. So hurry up and get dressed or there won’t be any pancakes left,” Letty said leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

July entered the kitchen ten minutes later to find Letty already stuffing her face and Leon flipping the last of the pancakes off the stove.

“I swear if you tell anyone I cooked for you, I’ll hurt you,” Leon said pointing at her with the spatula. July and Letty cracked up laughing at him.

“Yeah, whatever you say. We should get him an apron that says ‘Kiss the chef’,” July said sitting down and helping herself to a plate of pancakes.

“You do that baby doll and I expect you to be the first one in line,” Leon tossed back, puckering up at her.

“In your dreams,” July replied, giving him a grin through a mouthful of pancakes. Leon just rolled his eyes and muttered back at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The week went by in a blur. Her days were filled with painting the car and shamelessly flirting with Vince during work and sitting together, talking during lunch. She got the paint job done by Friday and Jesse helped her start designing some modifications.

Every day she got a call from Mike, each one grimmer than the one before. By Friday, she was an exhausted mess and didn’t know what to do. There were races that night but she didn’t feel much like going and had already talked to Dom about it.

She entered the living room after showering to find Vince sitting on the couch, flicking through the channels.

“Hey,” she mumbled, falling tiredly onto the couch next to him.

“Hey,” he said wrapping an arm around her as she leaned into him. It had amazed him how surprisingly easy it was to be with July. They’d only been together for a week but it felt so much longer than that. He pressed a kiss to her head as she wiggled beside him, fitting herself perfectly against him, her hand resting on his chest and her head pillowed on his shoulder.

“So when are you leaving for races?” she asked and he could hear the pout in her voice.

“I’m not,” he answered looking down at her.

“What? Why?” she questioned, bringing her head up to look back at him.

“Because I’m staying here with you.”

“Really?”

Vince nodded his head and kissed her lightly on the lips in response.

“I’m surprise Dom let you stay. He was really reluctant about me not going,” she commented with a frown.

“I don’t need Dom’s permission to stay,” Vince said just as there was a pounding at her door.

“Right,” July shot back with a roll of her eyes. “And how much you want to bet that’s Dom?” July got up and answered the door, stopping Dom in mid-motion as he raised his hand to start knocking again.

“Careful, you might break my door,” she tried joking.

Dom gave her a look and then peered inside. “Where’s Vince?”

“I’m in here,” Vince called out, and July knew well enough that he wasn’t getting up. She gestured Dom in and followed after him into the living room.

“Mia told me you’re not coming to races,” Dom said standing with his arms crossed. July hesitated at entering the room, not wanting to get in the middle of their confrontation.

“That’s right. I’m staying with JJ tonight,” Vince replied back as he got up.

“Uh huh. Are you forgetting something?”

Vince tilted his head for a second, and scratched at his beard. “No, I don’t think so.”

“We show up together, we leave together. We’re a team,” Dom growled out.

“I think I know that better than anyone,” Vince said absently rubbing the scar the snaked around his arm, catching Dom’s attention and his eyes gave the tiniest flinch.

“Fine, just tonight,” he said shooting a glance at July. “But next week we all go, together.”

“Sure,” Vince replied flippantly.

Dom left apprehensively, not likely the idea much but guilt was a great motivator.

“Good luck Dom.” July shouted after him as he walked down her porch. He gave her a smile and nodded at her before walking to his house. July closed the door and went back into the living room. “You’re lucky, he looked about ready to pound you.”

“Yeah, but he wouldn’t have,” Vince said as he grabbed her and pulling her towards him.

“Hey,” Letty greeted coming into the living room and frowning at July as she noticed her outfit. “You guys not going to races?” she asked zipping up her boots.

“No, we’re just going to stay and watch some movies,” July answered.

“Bet Dom had a fit. That was him pounding earlier, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, you got that one right, Let,” Vince said as they shared amused smiles.

“Now kids, I’ll be home later, behave yourselves,” Letty teased as she dodged a pillow that July threw at her. She held up her hands in surrender as Vince picked up a pillow. “Okay, I’m going. I’ll see you guys later,” she said and disappeared out the door.

“So Vinnie, what do you want to watch?” July said.

“You’re asking for it, better get ready for it firecracker!” Vince said as he started to advance on her.

July felt her body freeze as the word ‘firecracker’ echoed in her ears. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard it spoken before but when Vince said it, it broke something loose in her and she felt herself spiraling into blackness, into the unknown.

Vince was helpless as he watched her face turn white and she began to fall. He caught her before she hit the ground and cradled her, gently lowering her to the floor. Her eyes were blank and wide open. The slight rise and fall of her chest told him she was still breathing, but it was shallow and his hand against her wrist felt her heart beating erratically.

“July, wake up! Please!” he yelled, shaking her lightly.

July experienced the same thing that happened at Arnold’s house when she had fainted. She watched as her memories appeared before and correct themselves. She watched as the images of Sam and Mary faded and were replaced by her real parents. Everything fell into place and it felt right. She watched as all the memories rushed back and she spent what felt like hours reliving them when it was only seconds.

Finally, the images cleared and she was left looking at Vince, who looked like he was shouting at her. She couldn’t hear him, the sensation making her feel like her head was underwater. She tried to say something but found she couldn’t. She felt like she was choking and after what seemed like an eternity, she gulped in a big breath of air and resurfaced to find Vince cradling her to him.

“Vince?” she whispered quietly.

“July? You okay?” he questioned, smoothing back her hair, his eyes still wide.

“I’m okay,” she said reaching up with a shaky hand to cradle his cheek. He nuzzled his face into her hand.

“What happened?” he asked, concern written on his face.

“I need some water first,” she said, her throat feeling dry and rough.

Vince lifted her onto the couch and left. He reappeared seconds later with a glass of water and handed it to her. She sipped it carefully and then set it on the coffee table.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked sitting next to her and brushing her hair out of her face.

“Yeah, this is not the first time it’s happened.” July let out a shaky breath and pulled Vince down next to her. “It’s time for you to know everything,” she whispered.

July spent the next hour pouring out her life story to Vince, about how she found out she was adopted to meeting Amy again. She told him everything, hardly leaving a detail out. When she was finally done, she sat back, drained but feeling like a weight was lifted from her shoulders.

“Wow,” Vince said sitting back too.

“Yeah,” she agreed.

“So does anyone else know?”

“Just Mike and Dom,” she admitted almost unwillingly.

“Dom knows?” Vince repeated, slightly upset that he wasn’t the first person she told, well after Mike, since that was a given.

“I only told Dom because he kept asking questions and wouldn’t leave it alone. I got mad and just kind of blurted everything out. I didn’t tell him because I wanted to.”

Vince was quiet or a moment, still letting everything sink in. “So why haven’t you told anyone else?” he finally asked.

“Because then everyone would be like ‘poor lost little girl’ and I don’t need a pity party,” July began to explain. “I just wanted everyone to treat me normal and not make exceptions for me because they felt sorry for me.”

Vince gave an understanding nod. He knew that if the tables were turned, he would have felt the same way.

“So we’re okay?” July asked, biting her lip.

“We’re more than okay,” Vince said kissing her lightly.

“Good. So… what movie are you going to put in?” she asked curling up and batting her eyelashes at him.

Vince couldn’t help but give a laugh as he kissed her again. They finally decided on a movie, and he did get up and put it in. They ended up falling asleep on the couch. Vince was stretch out length wise on the couch, July lay next to him, half on top of him as she rested her head on his chest, her black hair fanned out on Vince’s shoulder as his arm curled possessively around her waist. This was the exact way that Letty found them when she got home. She quietly turned off the movie and covered them with a blanket. She stood admiring them for a second before turning off the lone lamp and heading upstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

tbc…