THE ROAD IS LONG
Howdy, howdy, howdy! Long time no write, huh? Sorry 'bout that but I'm back, fresh from my hols and ready and raring to go, lol! I'm just a little happy at the moment as I have found out that I did not, in fact, fail my degree at all. On the contrary I did quite well considering that I did a full time course in part time hours. I passed! I have a degree and my tutor (stupid woman!) is deny that she ever told me that I failed! I dunno what she's on but I don 't care at the moment! Lol! Anywho, the last few chapters have been…lacking something. I don't know what quite yet and this chapter isn't much better. But bare with me and hopefully they'll be getting better as the plot thickens. Again comments and ideas are gratefully appreciated and thanks to all of you who are sticking with me and are continuing to read and review! Thanks to you all so much! Righty, Happy Reading! Gem xxx Chapter 29: A Bone to Pick. Vince was quite content, pottering around the kitchen still humming 'Puppy Love' as he went. That song was liable to be stuck in his head for the rest of the day now and he only had himself to blame. It had been worth it though, just to see the infuriated look on Jesse's face. It made him chuckle to think about how smitten the younger man was and slowly his choice of song changed until he was whistling 'Addicted to Love' instead while almost dancing as he concocted his breakfast. Letty's deep laugh dragged him from his karaoke moment making his head snap around in her direction. She leaned languidly against the bottom most banister, one arm draped around it, one hand propped on her still pyjama clad hip as she smirked at him and his antics. "Someone's happy this morning." she teased, raising her eyebrows. "I wonder why…?" her voice managed to be sarcastic and jovial in the same instant. She was loving every single minute of torture that she was inflicting upon him, of that Vince had no doubt. He jabbed a finger at her accusingly. "You!" he growled low in his throat, only making her amusement grow. "You and I need to have words, woman!" Letty's mouth quirked into a taunting, sideways smirk as she sauntered towards him, grabbing half of the bacon sandwich that he had just slaved over. "As good as that sounds, V, I think I'll take a rain-check." she laughed at her own wickedness before taking a large bite of her stolen breakfast and mumbling through her chewing. "Got a more interesting conversation with Dom planned for this morning." "You dare, Letty! You fucking dare tell him and I'll kick your skinny ass!" his voice deepened again, dangerously, until it was little more than a guttural warning. "Yeah, V. I'd like to see you try!" Letty continued, chuckling every so often between mouthfuls and swallows. "I'm not shitting around, Letty." Vince responded and his serious, desperate tone drew her mirth-filled eyes up to meet his, sandwich pausing halfway to her open mouth. "You know I'm only kidding, man, right?" she responded after a pause, slapping him lightly on the shoulder in an attempt to lighten the suddenly uncomfortable atmosphere, though his face remained stoic. "Jesus, Vince, I was just jokin' around! No need to be all uptight and pissy about it! I wasn't even going to tell Dom about you and Don-" Vince slapped his hand over Letty's mouth before she could finish her sentence and much to her annoyance as the sofa creaked and Leon sat up, blinking blearily around. "I smell bacon." he grunted, scratching at his scruffy, tousled hair. "Do I get bacon?" Vince slowly removed his hand from Letty's mouth, countering her irate scowl with a pointed glare of his own. "Here, you can have mine, Lee." Vince said moving and placing his plate and food down onto Leon's lap. "Thanks, dawg." Leon mumbled, scrubbing at his squinting green eyes but Vince had already crossed the room to the back door and was ushering Letty outside. She folded her arms across her chest, stepping out into the growing heat of the morning and Vince grabbed her by her upper arm, directing her forcefully around the corner of the veranda and out of sight of the Jesse, Frankie and the back door. "Care to be a little more discrete about this, huh, Lett?" he demanded sarcastically and Letty bristled, shrugging his hand from it's firm grip on her shoulder. "Okay, Vince! Like, have a fucking cow, man!" she hissed back. "I was having a laugh, where's your sense of humour?" Vince rubbed a hand across his bristly jaw, brows still drawn together into a frown. "It's a big deal, Letty. You can't joke around when people's feelings are involved. You were gonna tell Dom, and don't even argue because we both know you can't keep shit from him. He'd go and tell Tino and Donni would be in the doghouse and I would get fucking punched in the face again!" Letty snorted out a laugh but stopped at the furious look on Vince's features. "I'm not laughing, Letty, please!" he warned. "Okay, okay! Fucking Hell!" she snarled in return. "I don't know why you're so worried anyway. Something like this has never bothered you before and you hounded Mia for how many years with Dom on your case?" she paused, watching as Vince shook his head and leant, arms folded, against the railings of the veranda. "Tino's gonna find out sooner or later, man, and you and Donni are both adults. You can go out if it's what you both want to do. Tino has no say over that." "But he does, Letty!" Vince countered, turning to face her again. "Just like Dom has over you and Mia and all of us if we're honest about it and don't you deny it!" he pointed at her as she opened her mouth, taking a deep breath in order to protest. "Family are a big deal to Donni and Tino. They've only had each other to count on over the past, what? Ten years? If Tino disapproves of me and Donni it'll drive her crazy, but there will only be one choice in the long run and here's a newsflash, Letty-ain't gonna be me…" he gave a humourless laugh and watched as Letty's easily ignited temper fizzled out slowly. "If she breaks it to him slowly and gently though, there may be a chance that he'll get used to the idea." "You really like her, huh?" Letty mused quietly and Vince replied with a wary, single nod of his head after a long pause. "I dunno, V." she sighed with a shrug. "I think Tino's gonna be protective of her no matter when he finds out. He may even be more angry if he finds out it's been going on behind his back all this time." Vince glanced down at her in concern and Letty smiled more gently than before in understanding, patting his shoulder comfortingly. "Okay, V. I'll keep it quiet." she replied and a wide grin of relief spread across his face like wildfire. "Just give me a heads-up when you're gonna tell Dom and Tino." "Why?" he queried dubiously and Letty's deep throated laugh sounded out loudly once again. "Because! I want to have the popcorn ready for that fight!" she taunted ducking away from his mock-swipe. "You owe me though, Vince. You owe me big time!" she joked. Vince scowled and rested his fist on his hips, waiting as the woman before him considered her demands carefully. "Your car!" she grinned, proud of her ultimatum. "I get to borrow your car when I want to!" "Hell no!" Vince barked back and Letty smirked, shrugging with exaggerated nonchalance. "Okay, but I don't know how tight my lips are gonna be sealed…" Vince growled between his teeth, dark blue eyes narrowed as he made to snap a smart retort but a high pitched squeal stopped them both where they stood, turning their heads in the direction the sound originated. Footsteps pelting out a run on the dusty ground first and then the wood of the veranda steps echoed around and Frankie dashed into view, her features and voice a mixture somewhere between uncontrollable panic and hysterical laughter. "Jesse…Jesse's just fallen off Piccolino." she gabbled, suppressing her sniggers. "What the fuck was he doing on the horse in the first place? He can't ride!" Letty demanded incredulously and the teenager winced, wringing her hands together. "I was…um…teaching him?" she offered with an apologetic smile and Letty rolled her eyes in exasperation causing Frankie's temper to flare at being reprimanded. "It's not even my fault!" "Is he hurt?" Letty queried ignoring the outburst and Frankie shrugged sullenly. "Well, can he move?" again the girl shrugged and Letty growled in irritation, cursing the hormones that made teenage girls so difficult to deal with. "Just…go get your uncle Dom, will you?" she huffed finally and Frankie disappeared into the house, scuffing her riding boots as she went. "Teenagers, huh?" Vince sighed and Letty made a grunt of agreement. "C'mon. Let's go and see what damage the 'Boy Wonder' has done to himself this time." -00000- She closed the window gently and as quietly as she could, ducking out of view as Vince and Letty wandered across the dusty yard and into the grassy paddock where Jesse was struggling to sit up and rubbing his head. Slowly, so that she wouldn't lose her balance in her suddenly dizzy state, she moved back from the window entirely, wobbling slightly and ending up sat on the floor anyway. Her legs simply couldn't hold her. They seemed incapable of doing so, shaking as they were. Blood thundered in her ears in great whooshing crashes, underneath which a familiar ringing started. A ringing that told her that she was going to pass out. Her skin was clammy with cold sweat and her vision began to blur into darkness around the edges. Distantly she was aware of Frankie dashing up the stairs and rapping on Dom's bedroom door, that was next to where she was sat in the bathroom on the floor. The young girl's voice blared out but her mind couldn't comprehend what she was saying or Dom's reply. She didn't even register when the pair raced back down the stairs and out into the yard hollering and cursing as they went. She didn't care either. She didn't, at that moment in time, care that Jesse had fallen from the back of a horse. She didn't care that she should go down there and help out with her medical knowledge. She didn't care about a single thing in that moment. All she could do was stare at the cracked plaster of the wall, a single thought rising achingly in her mind. She'd lost him…He loved her cousin… -00000- The plot thickens. Warning this is the start of some major changes for the Team. There's going to be some tough times ahead but I'm going to start introducing them subtly. Watch out for little bits here and there at first. I wonder if anyone can guess where I'm heading with all this?
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