Thanks for the reviews, guys, they encourage me to write. When I stop getting them, I assume people have lost interest and I don't write anymore. So if you l ike it, review it. Good or bad, I'll take it. I don't know why I need to say it, but I don't own anything, thought I wish I could own Michelle Rodriguez. At least for an hour or so.

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"Hey, Vera, we're throwing a birthday party for Kate this Saturday," Vera turned her head from the car she was working on to see Victoria, Leon's wife, "we'd really like to see you there." She hesitated. "If you'd like that is, I mean you don't have to. There will be a lot of kids there, since Kate insisted on inviting her entire kindergarten class, even the ones she isn't friends with."

"Whoa." Vera offered up her hand and chuckled, cutting off Victoria politely. "I'll be there, as long as I can bring my little sisters. My mom's going out of town again this weekend."

"Oh, yeah, that's fine. The regular people will there. You know, Leon, Vince and Lilah. Dom will probably be there with Grace. Um… A couple regulars from the garage will be there. We're getting one of those big bouncy playhouse things that the kids can bounce in. Kate is so excited about this."

Vera suddenly saw why Leon never brought his wife into the garage. She talked… a lot. However, now that she thought about it, none of the guys brought their wives, or girlfriends.

"Relax, Victoria, we'll be there. What time is it?"

"Oh, it's from one to four. We're going to let the kids play around, then lunch will be around three and then we'll have cake and ice cream. Then hopefully the kids can run around and burn off the sugar from the ice cream after."

"Sounds fun. We'll be there around one then."

"Awesome." Vera turned back to the car. "Could I ask you something, Vera?" Vera turned back around. "Do you think that Leon is cheating on me?"

"What?" Vera questioned. "No." She shook her head. "Leon isn't a cheater. Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. He just seems so distant lately. Like yesterday, he came in after 8, when he told me he got off here at 5." Vera thought about it for a second. "Would you tell me?"

"Look, Victoria, I don't know Leon all that well. But from what I do know, he is not a cheat. He loves you and Kate more than anything. You're all he talks about when we do talk." Victoria gave a small smile and nodded her head. "I don't think you have anything to worry about."

"Thanks, Vera. I appreciate it." Vera nodded politely and Victoria turned away.

It seemed like hours before Vera pulled herself from under the car. She was finally finished. Glancing up at the clock on the wall she noticed it was almost dinner time. Having skipped her lunch break to finish the car on time, her stomach was angry with her and had been growling loudly for the last hour and a half.

She started cleaning up her mess when she heard footsteps behind her. Turning her head, her heart stopped when she saw Dom. He'd only heard from other people that he'd been back, but he hadn't actually made an appearance at the garage since he came back. He sat on the hood of the car she'd just been working on and watched her. She went back to cleaning her mess, trying her best to ignore the fact she could feel his eyes on her.

"How was New York?" Vera decided it best to break the silence, getting straight to the point. She walked to the sink and washed her hands carefully, trying to get as much grease from under her fingernails as she could. Not that she really cared, but when she got nervous she bit her nails. Finding old grease under her nails when she was nervous was never a very tasty thing.

"Things went pretty much how I thought they would. My son hates me, and my ex didn't want me there. Since she told me to leave, I decided to come back. I've got my wife and my daughter here still. That's enough for me." Vera turned from the sink and watched him. "Hey, I had a question for you." She shut off the sink and turned toward him completely, leaning against it. "Earlier this week, before that kid showed up, you were going to tell me something. What were you going to tell me?"

"Oh," she thought about it for a second, "it really wasn't anything important. I just wanted to say that I was sorry for blowing up in the garage that day. I was under a lot of stress from home and the added pressure from the garage wasn't helping. Maybe I should have just called off that day." He nodded and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Are you going to Kate's birthday party on Saturday?" Vera chuckled and nodded. "Cool, I'll have someone to talk to."

"Isn't Sandy going to come with you and Grace?"

"I'll be bringing Grace, but Sandy would probably rather die." Vera laughed and nodded her head in agreement. There was something about Sandy; she just rubbed everybody the wrong way. It was fairly obvious she didn't really like being around children, and she almost always gave Grace what she wanted because she never had the ability to say no, or to even punish her.

"So I guess I'll see you there?" Vera suggested, wiping her hands on her pants. He nodded and smiled, standing from the car.

"Guess so." With that, Dom exited the garage, leaving Vera alone. Mentally, she was kicking herself and she was screaming at herself on the inside.

"You should have just told him!" She half whispered to herself. "Stupid!" Sighing, she threw a random tool and exited the garage as well.

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"Hey, momma," Vera greeted with a smile, "you cooking dinner?"

"Spaghetti with meatballs," her mom replied happily, "Alex had been asking for meatballs all week." Vera smiled and nodded her head. "And Sissy's teacher called this afternoon."

"Uh oh," Vera muttered, taking a can of Coke from the fridge and cracking it open, "what did she do this time?"

"She hasn't been doing her homework and she's starting to fall behind in her math class." Vera watched as her mother stirred the pot with the spaghetti in it. "So you, my dear daughter, are taking the day off of work tomorrow, as she's been suspended again. You are going to stay here with her and help her with her math and the rest of her homework." Vera shook her head, taking a drink from her Coke.

"Mom, I can't just call off work. I can't afford to do that, you know that." Vera sat her Coke on the table and looked back at her mother, who looked like she was about to argue that statement. "Mom! I can't afford to cut one hundred plus dollars from my paycheck for one day. I do help support this family."

"Veronica Marie Vincent, you will listen to me. Dominic isn't going to mind you taking a day off work to help around the house. Tell him I have to go to work."

"Mom…" She was about to argue, but she was cut off.

"Vera, do you honestly think you can hide the fact you have kids from the people you work with forever? Do they honestly believe I had another baby at forty three? Come on, Vera, get real now." Vera huffed in frustration and glared up at her mother.

"Mom, I know."

"I swear, you kids are going to kill me one day!" She shouted after her daughter as she headed down the stairs.

Vera's room was a complete mess; she'd been meaning to clean for weeks now, but never found the time. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and dialed the garage, hoping somebody would still be in. It rang five times with no answer, so she flipped her phone shut and started digging through her top desk drawer. Swearing loudly, she cleared the entire desktop with one swipe of her hand, sending papers flying across the room. "Shit!" She swore, pounding her fists on the desk.

"Mom?" Vera turned quickly, almost knocking down someone half her size.

"You didn't hear that." Vera warned, then knelt down to start picking up the papers she'd just knocked on the floor. The kid shook her head and smiled, getting down on her knees to help pick up the papers. "Thanks Sissy."

"Did grandma tell you what happened today?" Vera nodded and sighed unhappily. "Oh."

"Why aren't you doing your homework?" The girl shrugged and Vera hit her upside the head gently. "You need to do your homework. You don't want to repeat any grades, do you?" She shook her head furiously and Vera chuckled. "Then you have to do your homework."

"But it's hard and you're not here to help me." Vera felt a pang of guilt in her chest and sighed again.

"I'll be home with you tomorrow. We'll go over it together, okay? We'll get you caught up." Vera looked at her and smiled. "You're smart like your mom; you just don't want to show it yet."

"But everybody thinks I'm a teacher's pet."

"Cecilia, it doesn't matter what people think of you, as long as your happy. Aren't you happy when you read your books?" She nodded a little. "Then don't stop doing it because you think it's not cool."

"But I don't have any friends."

"You'll find friends that like you for your brain. It just may take some time, okay?"

"Okay, mommy," she paused for a minute, "Are you mad at me?"

"No, I'm not mad at you. I'm disappointed, though. I know you're smart, you shouldn't be playing like you aren't just to get the attention of other people at school." Cecilia nodded at her and smiled a little. "Hey, guess what."

"What?" The tone in her voice changed drastically. Now she was excited.

"We got invited to a birthday party, the day after tomorrow." She smiled more and her face showed excitement. "Only one thing though, and we have to remind Alex too."

"We can't call you mom, I know." Vera nodded a little and watched the kid stand back up. "Can I go watch TV?"

"No, go get washed up for dinner. Grandma's almost finished with it. After we'll work on your homework, okay?" Cecilia frowned a little then nodded.

Vera watched the kid walk up the stairs then went back to picking the papers up off the floor, searching frantically though them.

0 o 0 o 0

"How was the party?" Victoria asked Vera nervously. "I think I could have gotten more balloons." Vera turned her head and looked at the balloons which looked as if the table they were attached to would float away at any moment. "How was the cake? I think it may have been too floury."

"Victoria," Vera cut her off, "the party was great. To kids, cake is cake. To them, it's just an added treat they don't get to eat every day."

"Good. I was worried Kate's friends wouldn't like it." Vera shook her head and laughed.

The last of the kindergarten class that had been invited had left about ten minutes ago. There were just a handful of kids, all of which Vera knew by name, still bouncing on the inflatable bouncy hut.

"I'm going to go talk to Leon." Victoria stood from the table and walked over to where Leon and the guys were sitting, talking. Vera turned her head and watched the girls bouncing. They weren't exactly being supervised, but when bouncing on something that was made out of the same material as water wings, you wouldn't think it necessary. Vera laughed when she watched Alex, the youngest of the girls, fall on her back and starting giggling uncontrollably.

"Hey," Vera jumped almost a foot, not even hearing him sit, "Oh, I didn't mean to scare you."

"I didn't hear you." Vera insisted, smiling at him. "How did you like the party?"

"Grace is having a good time." Dom smiled at her and she smiled back. "So, what are your sister's names? I don't think I've actually been introduced to them."

"The oldest, the one in the tight jeans and tank top, that's Cassie. She can be a bitch, but she's pretty awesome when she wants to be. The blond in the red, that's Tiff, and do not under any circumstances call her Tiffany. She hates it. The one in the shorts is Cecilia, we usually call her Sissy, and the baby is Alex."

"They look like their having fun."

"I'm sure they are." Vera looked back at Dom and smiled. "How are you and Sandy?"

"We got into a pretty nasty fight yesterday. She packed some things, said she was going to her moms, and I haven't heard from her since."

"What about Grace?"

"What about her?" Vera nodded.

"Well, that's her daughter. If she was leaving, why didn't she take her daughter with her?" Dom raised a brow. It was a good question.

"I don't know," he said with a shrug, "something told me she never wanted her in the first place anyhow."

"I don't understand how a mother could not want her child. I mean, carrying them around for nine months, birth is the hard part, and then you have to tote them around for another six years or so."

"Okay, the way you just described it…"

"Oh, Dom, shut up."

It was suddenly too quiet. She had to tell him,

"Hey, Dom, I need to tell you something." Dom got quiet and looked at her. "I don't know if you figured it or not, I mean… I was completely wasted and I was young and stupid."

"Mommy!" Vera recognized the voice and turned her head quickly. Alex had yelled, and Sissy was lying on the ground, holding her arm.

"Fuck." Vera took off across the yard. Sissy was in tears by the time Vera reached her. "What happened?"

"I'm so sorry, Vera, I didn't mean to knock her down." She looked up at Grace, who had tears in her eyes, afraid of getting in trouble.

"What hurts?" Vera asked, turning back her kid. "Your arm?" She nodded her head and the tears kept rolling.

"I got her, go get your car." Dom was right at her side, kneeling down to gently pick up the crying child. "Grace, stay here with your aunt, okay?" She nodded and frowned at his tone.

"Alex, come on." Vera reached down and picked her up, then started jogging back down the yard to her car.

0 o 0 o 0

"Is Sissy going to be okay?" Alex asked.

"She's going to be fine, sweetheart. She just really hurt her arm. They're going to put this cast on her arm. It's really hard and it helps her broken bone heal. Then in a couple months, they cut it off and her arm will be all okay." Alex rested her head on her shoulder and yawned.

"Thanks for coming with us, Dom." Vera whispered as she rubbed Alex's back to soothe her. "I don't think I could have stayed very calm when the nurse told me to sit down and wait while my daughter is howling in pain."

"I couldn't." Dom thought for a second. "You just said daughter."

"Shit," Vera muttered, looking up at him.

"She's your daughter?" He questioned.

"Yeah, she's my daughter." Vera hesitated. "So is Alex."

"Yeah, but Cecilia is, what, like, six?" Vera shifted Alex's heavy form to the chair between them and laughed softly when she slid, landing her head right into her lap.

"She's seven." Vera was whispering now, almost afraid of what he would say. He only nodded. "I was fourteen when I had her. Yes, I made a mistake, but I wouldn't change it for the world. She's my baby. She's smart, she's talented, and she's just a good kid. She's never really given me any problems, even when she was a baby." He nodded again. "Alex is three. The guy you ran into last week was her father. You'll probably never see him again."

"Does he help you out at all?"

"No, he doesn't have a job. If you don't get a paycheck, there's no way for them to take it." She shrugged her shoulders in frustration. The law should have been a little better on that. Sure, there were guys who owed tens of thousands in child support, but isn't that all cleared once the kid turns eighteen anyway?

"What about Cecelia?" Dom questioned and Vera opened her mouth to answer hesitantly.

"Ms. Vincent," Vera looked toward the voice and smiled when she saw a smiling seven year old with a bright orange cast on her right arm. Vera grinned at her and opened her arms, which the child thrust herself into sleepily.

"Vera, can we go home?"

"Sweetie, Dom knows."

"So I can call you mommy now?" Vera nodded and smiled. "Look! It's orange! Isn't it cool?"

"Awesome. We ready to get home?" Sissy nodded her head and smiled, turning toward the door. Vera turned back to the chair where Alex was now sleeping, and Dom stopped her, extending his arm out toward her.

"I've got her." She nodded with a smiled and walked behind him, chattering with Sissy all the way to the car.

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As always, feedback is appreciated, and taken into consideration when writing. I have serious issues ending stories. I just always have, so I may recruit some help with that, if anybody is interested in ideas along the way.