| Part 7 Another night and another race. Cam had come to enjoy these nights, not for the crowds, not for the noise, but to watch Dom shine like a lone star in a midnight sky. He was brilliant with a well tuned car and a wide open stretch of asphalt. He was hers and he made that clear to everyone. Now, Cam stood with Mia and Brian as Dom pulled up to the starting line, music pouring from his car. He glanced over at her, a confident smile on his lips. That same smile that could turn her limbs to rubber, the same smile that could make her beg. Melted, that's what she did when she was on the receiving end of that smile. The smile she returned to him was one that promised a long night to come. Win or loose he knew it would be the same, the two of them, touching, loving. Cam wound her arms around herself nervous about the coming seconds, seconds that the unthinkable could happen. But to her credit she never looked away, never failed to watch Dom speed away from her to a different sort of love. "Don't worry. He'll be fine." Was becoming Mia's scripted line just before the cars left the line. "Yeah, I know." Came Cam's standard reply. Her heart leaping into her throat as the cars screamed off down the pavement. She waited holding her breath, knowing what this race meant to Dom, the money that was on the line. It was soon clear that Dom was the hands down winner of the race and minutes later as he pulled near her he was instantly surrounded by a crowd congratulating him. Pushing his way through them he found her and pulled her roughly against the thick wall of his chest, his lips claiming her. "We're celebrating tonight." He told her, walking back to the car his arm holding her against his side, holding out a big wad of cash to her. "We celebrate every night, Dom." She winked teasingly at him, laughing. "Oh, wait, you mean outside of bed." She whispered, her hand under his dark shirt resting on the smooth hard wall of his stomach. "We're leaving..." He leaned down, running his tongue over her ear as he whispered. "Hear me complaining?" She smiled, her fingers working across his stomach to playfully pluck at the waist band of his pants. Pulling her around in front of him he guided her back to the car, whispering all the little erotic things that he had planned for her. Slipping into the passenger side she watched Dom walk around the car as she trembled with anticipation. "Think we'll make it home this time?" She nibbled seductively at her full lower lip, her hand lighting on his thigh and trailing upwards. "Not if you keep that up." He grinned, and wrapped his hand behind her neck and pulled her to him. He sealed their lips as his tongue thrust between her lips, mimicking what was to come, the promise of a more intimate meeting. "The garage?" She asked which was much closer than Dom's house. "No, not tonight, baby." He smiled against her lips, knowing it was gonna be a long drive home but he was determined to have a long slow night with her. Not some stolen moments in the garage because neither could wait. This was a special night, not because of the haul he'd pulled in but because it was the first night he noticed that Nico's death wasn't hanging around her, wasn't holding her in a tight grip of guilt. She gave him a long frustrated sigh. "Your gonna make it worth the wait." There was a moment when she wanted to roll with laughter as his features took on a offended twist. "Thought I always did. Never heard you complaining." He said starting the car and pulling out into traffic. "A little touchy aren't ya?" A giggle bubbled from her throat to fill the car, filling Dom's ears. "Fuck no, I know I'm good." He gave her a wicked little smile and reached out pulling her as close as the console would allow. His hand traveling back and forth over her thigh before it slipped between them to caress the soft denim covered mound. "Think I should be the judge of that." She whispered, leaning over to nuzzled at his neck. Her lips pulled the dusky skin between her moist lips, suckling and nipping. "Mmmmm...Cam..." He tried to center his attention on the road but she was quickly becoming an overwhelming distraction. "Wait. We're gonna wait." He gently pulled away from her, a heavy sigh falling from his lips. Her smile echoed the promise of sensual retribution she had instore for him. "Fine..." She shrugged, her chin resting on his shoulder, eyes boring into him. "Dom, your really are a piece of work." She giggled. Locking her eyes with the road ahead, determined to make it through the ride to his house. *********** Dom arched into her for a final time, pouring all his love into her waiting body. Sated, his chest heaved, trying to draw a calming breath as he nuzzled against her neck, her arms held him securely. Rolling to his side he took her with him, pulling her tightly to his side as she lay her head against his chest. "I guess there is something to be said for waiting." She giggled, tracing lightly against his abdomen, sighing in the after glow of their love making. "Told you." He yawned, his eyes slipping slowly closed as his heart settled into the same rhythm as the throbbing music from below. Cam cut here eyes upwards watching his features relax into sleep, watching the hard edges sooth to that of a younger man. Watched the burden of others he carried, so seemingly easy, melt away. She sighed, happy, content for the first time in the months since Nico's death. She was just allowing herself the needed peace to slip into her own sleep when I light knock came at the door. "Cam?" Came Mia's hissed whisper. Looking again at Dom Cam began to untangle herself from his sleep saturated limbs, legs that closed over hers, hands that held her tightly, but some how she managed to move off the bed without waking him. Padding to the door she eased it open and peered around it's edge. "What is it, Mia?" She asked, yawning. "There was a phone call for you about an hour ago. The guy said you gave him this number and he said something about picking up a sculpture first thing in the morning for a show in San Diego." Mia explained nervously, her eyes boring into Cam. "Does that sound right to you?" "Oh shit!" Cam's hand came up to cover her mouth. "Yeah....Yeah...It does...He commissioned some work about six months ago and I've been in contact with him off and on since then." She whispered, dropping her hand. "It's not done..." Cam turned into the room, leaving the door ajar, throwing on a light colored T-shirt and her discarded jeans. "I gotta get over there and finish it up..." She whispered, slinking out into the hall beside Mia. "Cam, you can't. Dom said..." Mia started, trying not to play the over protective friend but failing miserably. "Cam, you shouldn't be over there." "It's ok, Mia. I won't be long, an hour at the most." Cam promised and started down the hall. "Don't worry." She smiled over her shoulder at the other woman. Bounding down the stairs she spilled out into the temperate summer night. At the end of the block, behind dark windows, hard menacing eyes watched her sprint across the street. Weeks and weeks of surveillance had paid off in those few second and the car was sent rolling slowly towards the house, her house. ************ Taking a deep breath Cameron turned the key in the lock of the front door and slipped inside, reaching for the light switch just inside the door. Bright light suddenly flooded the room around her and she breathed as sigh of relief. Marching through the living room into the kitchen she headed strait for the fridge, throwing the door open she withdrew a chilled Pepsi and a bottle of whine, a bottle Nico had given her for her twenty first birthday. Looking at the bottle she sighed sadly reading his family's label across the dark glass. Replacing it on the counter she decided that she would share it with Dom, share it in a special moment, a happy and joyous occasion. Turning she popped the tab on the Pepsi and took a deep draw from the can, trying to forget the aching in her body, the tiredness that seeped into her bones, a residual effect of hours spent with Dom. She walked towards the back door, her hand touching the chilled knob just as the lights overhead flicked out. She jumped, her skin instantly producing goose flesh along her limbs. "Fuck!" She hissed in the over quite of the now darkened house. Turning back into the kitchen she felt her away long the counter tops, bumping a knee here, and a thigh there, trying to figure out where she had put the only flashlight she owned. ************** Sleep didn't last long for Dom, his bodies demands waking him, renewing the driving need for the woman that should have been wrapped loosely around him, wrapped like she had been so many nights before. But as his eyes cracked open he realized not only was she not draped over him she wasn't even in the bed. Rubbing a work roughened hand across his shorn head he sat up at the edge of the bed. "Cam?" He called seeing the soft glow of light from under the bathroom door. When there was no answer he stood and walked to the door pushing it inwards. There was nothing but separated laundry and a dripping facet inside the room. Turning he sighed grabbing up his jeans from the floor and pushing his legs into them. At the head of the stairs he watched as the party below went on unimpeded by the hour. His sleep glazed eyes scanned the crowd in hopes of seeing Cam there, but he quickly realized she wasn't there and probably never had been. His steps carried him back down the hall to Mia's room. Lifting his hand, poised above the cream colored paint of her door, he knocked lightly. The low resounding knock belied the size of Dom's hand, mocked the gentleness that he gave to that moment. "Mia?" He called through the door. "Just a sec, Dom." Came back to him, along with the sounds of her scurrying around inside. He took a step back as the door was suddenly pulled open. Mia stood there, hair gently tussled, holding the edges of her thigh length robe together. A narrowed gaze went to the lounging figure in her bed, accepting the situation but never getting use to seeing his sister like this. Across the room Brian ducked his head, averting his eyes as a slight shade of rose settled over his skin. "What is it, Dominic?" Mia nearly giggled, trying to rein in her own humored reaction at the two. "Have you seen Cam?" His voice was low and filled with growing worry. Mia nodded slowly and cringed, taking a deep breath she handed over Cam's where abouts. She knew Dom would be angry, consumed with worry, and the possibility of him lashing out at her was a very real one. "She went where?" He stared stunned at Mia, not sure he'd heard her right the first time. "She went across the street to her house, Dom." "GODDAMN!" He spat, slamming his open palm, with jarring force against the door frame. Mia Jumped in surprise as she watched him whirl and rush down the hall, moments later she head the door slam below, heard it over the music and knew it was lucky to remain in the frame at all. ************** Cameron was just reaching into the brimming drawer next to the stove for the flashlight when she heard something, faint but distinctive. It was the ominous hiss of crafted metal sliding, of a round being chambered in a semi automatic, and to her horror glancing down a illuminated red dot appeared above her left breast. She dropped heavily to the floor a moment before the first shot ricochet off the stainless steel stove. "Oh shit!..Oh shit!" She chanted, her mind a muddle of paralyzing terror. Crouching there, her hands over her head she heard Dom's voice in the recesses of her mind urging her to move, urging her to safety . Slowly lifting her head she crawled around the end of the counter, lifting her hand with tapered fingers danced across the Formica, searching. Searching until she encountered the thick wooden block that housed the various lengths and widths of razor sharp knifes. Curling her fingers around the largest handle she slipped the wide butcher's knife free of it's resting place, pulling it towards her, pulling her only instrument of protection from the counter. And with her retreating hand she encountered something she hadn't expected, bumping lightly with the silvery tip of the knife, the cylinder rolled off the counter top and slammed against the floor beside her. She jerked the knife down, throwing her empty hand over her mouth. She pitched her back flat against the smooth wooden side of the counter, her shimmering eyes wide in the darkness. There was another pinging shot the echoed through the kitchen, creating sparks as it impacted and then went trailing across the kitchen. She waited, breath suspended, movement curtailed. Why hadn't she listened to Dom? Why had she come over for that damn sculpture? She berated herself knowing she had made a deadly and stupid mistake.Daring to pull her bare foot upwards in preparation for a move, preparing to get out of the kitchen she encountered the silver cylinder. Reaching out she grabbed it up, clutching it along with the knife close to her chest. With her knees pulled under her she began to crawl towards the backdoor, but she suddenly changed direction as a shadow washed across the glass above. There was no escape through the back and so there was only one avenue left to her. Nearing the doorway between the kitchen and living room she inched up the door frame, listening, her eyes darting here and there. The knife proceeded her, raised and ready as she clicked on the flashlight and released a shrill scream. A face appeared and then contorted with pain, pain and shock. "Oh my god! Dom!" She gasped, feeling the slick warm trickle of blood coating her fingers at the hilt of the knife. There was nothing but a rush of breath as his weight pulled them both to the floor, her hands automatically going to the gleaming protrusion from his side. A heartbeat before she would have jerked the knife from him a heavy weight settled on her shoulder. Whipping around she saw Brian's concerned face. Shaking his head he lifted one hand from here it was wrapped around a gun and reached for a towel. "Stop the bleeding as much as possible." He hissed in a whisper, his eyes falling over Dom's still form as he handed over the towel. The searing pain in his side stole Dom's voice but his eyes were pinned directly on Cam. He saw the terror clearly and he didn't know if it was because of him, the intruder, or equal parts of both. "Oh god, Dom! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!...." She whispered over and over, wrapping the cloth around the knife in his side. "Cam...listen to me..." He gasped, feeling the moments of his consciousness waning. "wasn't your fault....I love you.." Tears streamed down Cameron's cheeks at those words, knowing no matter what he said the guilt would be a long time in leaving her. "Dom, I love you too! Just don't talk, okay? Just...Just..." She was close to dissolving into hysterics as the stem of blood didn't seem to be slowing, instead oozing down his side and pooling below him. It was just then that another shot whizzed by and Brian lurched to the side. Lifting his own gun he returned fire at the shadow that detached from the wall and fled. The front door was thrown wide and Brian sprinted through the dark after the phantom gunman, yelling over his shoulder for her to call 911. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Part 8 Aching soreness, raw unabated fire rolled along damaged flesh, the pull of it's neat seam, were the first things that Dom was aware of as he slipped into the conscious world that went on around him. A world that continued uninterrupted with it's daily progression, uninterrupted for all else except those that cared for him. Cracking heavy lids open he winced from the gleaming white walls that blasted back at him. Beside him he heard a light, sleep laden sigh and turned his throbbing head in that direction. The barest hint of a smile turned up his lips as he watched angelic features caught in restless sleep, seemingly fighting its hold on her. Cameron's dream was filled with nothing but gun fire, blood like a river, and Dom's face twisted in pain. Images that haunted through sleeps tightened embrace, images that came over and over without end. She fought to break their hold, fought the drowning tide of them, but in the end there was no escape. Dom moved a heavy hand to her head, caressing along the silken strands of her hair. He fought his own battle, a battle against the pain numbing drugs that coursed through his system threatening to pull him back into the world of dreamless sleep. "Cam.." He croaked, throat dry, searing with the vibration of his vocal cords along the unused tissue. "Cam..." He hissed again when there was no response from her, not the slightest twitch from her ackwardly bent frame. How someone could sleep like that he would never know, one half crammed into a small molded plastic chair, the other draped across the side of his bed. He was calling her, she was sure of it. Her name and his voice, and it was only a matter of swimming to the surface of wakefulness, a matter of opening her sealed eyes. Every so slowly she began the journey, letting his voice guide her. Finally, she lifted her head slowly turning drowsy eyes to him. Dominic?" She whispered, reaching out a hand to his, shaking off the last thread of that other world. "Hi, baby," he whispered, eyes meeting hers in a dramatic collision of feeling, of unfathomable emotion. If ever there was a moment that he doubted she didn't belong in his life it faded in the light of her welling tears. "Oh god, Dom. I was so scared..." Her voice broke on the sob that was lodged in her throat. Her trembling hand lifted to his cheek, caressing warm animated flesh, assuring herself this was real, assuring herself the life force that pumped through his veins was real. "I didn't mean to, Dom..." "I know...I know..." He reached up and pulled her hand from his face, lacing their fingers. "You okay?" He asked while his eyes traveled her form, noting the blood that lay in grotesque patterns across her white T-shirt. She gave a quick chirp of laughter at his question. "Your the one that was nearly gutted and your asking me if I'm okay?" She shook her head at the tears continued to fall. "A little shaken up but I'm fine." "Good. That's good." He sighed, attempting to lift his arm and draw her onto the bed with him. There was a sting and then a limit of movement, looking to the side he saw the thin translucent IV tube preventing his arms mobility. Releasing her fingers he plucked at the point where he was connected to the dripping liquid. "Dom, No! Don't!" She pushed his fingers away and gingerly crawled in beside him, careful to avoid the neatly bandaged wound in his side. Just as she settled in the door pushed slowly inward. "Cameron?" Came a whispered voice. "Come on in, Brian, he's awake." She called as the blonde head appeared around the door. The relief that crossed his face made Cam's heart twist. Ambling into the room Brian made his way to the bedside and slipped into the vacated chair. Automatically nervous habit took over and he pushed his hands through his sweat stiffened hair. "Damn, Dom, you had me worried...." He started, aware that was the biggest understatement of his life. Dom simply stared back, the deep knowing gaze practically forced the admission from the other man. He had to know what happened to the gunman, if he should be concerned about Cam's safety. Brian shook his head, the nights events weighing heavy on his soul. "Sala's dead.." He hesitated before continuing, almost wishing he could take credit for that one but he couldn't, only the two that had broken into Cameron's house. "How? Wh...When? Was it you?" Cameron's eyes grew round, almost afraid to believe it was true. "No...No...Some old debts caught up with him. It was goddamn car bomb." Brian met first Cameron's eyes and then Dom's. He knew there would be other questions that followed, questions about who he was, and he steeled himself to answer them honestly. "Brian, your a..." Dom began, the accusation coming hard to his lips, only to be interrupted by a loud gasp coming from the doorway. And the scene was banished to another time and another place as Mia rushed into the room followed by the rest of the team. Dom was swallowed up in family, swallowed in the love that they radiated, the care that came so easy from the people around him even though most would never see it. This was his life, his life that Cameron was now a permanent fixture in. *********** FINI |
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by L |
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