Persevere

Chapter 13

"The hell I am." I argued, quickly getting mad.

"You're going home, Penelope."

"Again, the hell I am. I will see this through whether you want me to or not." I growled back.

"Let's give them a moment." Hattie said, her worried eyes focused on my husband and I really had to resist the urge to shoot her and get it over with..

"Yeah, we'll be . . . somewhere else." Marguerite said.

"Sorry love, he has to know." Deckard said, patting my shoulder before ushering the women out of the room.

"Penelope Toretto, you're going home." Luke said and I felt the little tear in my heart, it was well aimed.

"Toretto, huh? Okay, I get it, you don't like how things are unfolding so now it's Toretto?"

"You're not going with us." he insisted.

"You do not get to tell me what to do. I understand that you're worried and that this is dangerous but I won't go home until I know that you're coming with me." I said, reaching out to him but he stepped away.

"I can't believe you'd do this, you're leaving and that's it."

"You are my husband, not my father. You're not telling me what to do and I'm not gonna sit back while you go play Superman."

"Did you know that you were pregnant when you came out?" he asked.

"Yes."

"So you knowingly put yourself and our baby in danger? Even after everything we've been through trying to conceive."

"Luke . . . you know I can't just sit home."

"Why?" he asked me and I can hear the exasperation in his voice.

"Because this is what we do! Our babies are in danger, you are in danger, hell, the whole world is in danger! I'm not about to sit at home and wait for a damn notification from some government body. I refuse to sit there and hear on the news about the death toll rising because of some unknown disease that they can't control or regulate! I can't sit home Luke, I . . ."

"You have to sit home! You can't risk . . . this is not the time to . . . you're going back home. You just want to be a part of the action and that's stupid, it's too dangerous." he interrupted.

"Either you let me go now, or I'm just gonna go right after you. No one is going to stop me." I argued.

"Penelope . . ."

"We'll figure out what the hell I'm going to do but this isn't over yet and I refuse to go back home knowing what's at stake." I insisted.

"How the hell could you be so irresponsible? Damn it, I said you're going home!" he roared, grabbing my arms tightly and shaking me.

My heart is beating a mile a minute. I just stood there staring at my husband's red face and listening to his labored breathing. He's never put his hands on me in this manner before and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. Anger, frustration, desperation, that I get but . . . those feelings have never been directed at me this way before and it did scare me a little.

"Let go. Hobbs let go." Deckard said, pulling Luke's hands off of me.

"Are you okay?" Marguerite asked.

"I'm . . . fine." I whispered, still slightly frightened, for the first time, of my husband.

"We're leaving without her. Get ready." Luke said, walking out of the room.