Ride Home To Me

Chapter 39

"You need a break."

"No. I'm not leaving her."

"Just come down to the cafeteria and eat something, please. We'll come right back up."

I hear faint voices nearby and then a curtain moving. When I open my eyes I squint for a second at the bright lights above my head. I feel an oxygen mask around my nose and a needle in my arm. My abdomen hurts.

I think I'm in a hospital bed. The setup of the room looks similar to the one... the one my ma was in. It's the emergency room. My stomach really, really hurts. Everything hurts. Breathing, seeing, even thinking. So I just close my eyes and go back to sleep.

•-•-•-•-•

I regain consciousness again several times, but never more than what lets me barely make out the voices around me and feel the pain in my stomach before falling asleep again.

The first thing I notice when I actually wake up again is my hand. There's something soft touching my hand. I don't want to open my eyes again, and get blinded by those bright overhead lights, so I just keep my eyes closed and try to stay relaxed. The voices are back, though, and I can make out what they're saying a lot better. Some people are talking, but I can hear quiet sobs among them as well. But who the hell would be with me here?

"Doctor says physically she's doing better but she still hasn't woken up yet."

"Is she gonna be okay?"

"How the hell would I know? I'm not the damn doctor. Ow!"

"You shut your mouth."

"Guys, scram. You're not helping. Just go wait outside, I'll call you if anything happens."

I hear shuffling footsteps and a curtain being jostled around.

Whatever's touching me moves, and with a jolt I realize it's another hand that's resting in mine, tracing circles on my palm. I hear someone take a shaky breath.

"You okay?"

Wait a minute.

"I never should've let her leave."

I know those voices.

"It's not your fault. It's on all of us."

I know all of those voices. The comforting motion on my hand suddenly stops, but is replaced by a much heavier weight right next to my arm.

I open my eyes just enough to get used to the light, then glance over at the figure resting her head on my bedside. I almost laugh when I see none other than Dominic Toretto barely balancing his head in his hand in the chair across the room. But my heart swells when I see Letty with her tearstained face turned towards me, falling asleep with her hand in mine. I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but feeling the buildup to either one just makes the pain in my abdomen flare up so I do neither. However, I don't necessarily stop myself from being a smartass.

"You-you guys look like shit," I say hoarsely, smirking.

Dom nearly falls out of his chair and Letty jerks up.

"Holy shit Gabi," he says.

Letty just sobs with relief and presses her forehead to my hand. I stroke her fingers with my thumb as Dom runs out of the room, no doubt to get a doctor or the rest of the team that he'd previously kicked out.

The next couple hours are just a flurry of doctors, police officers, and people I honestly thought I'd never see again.

The police ask me questions about the jobs with Tran and his gang and my involvement. I tell them everything I do know, which truly wasn't much at all. The officer who talked with me was kind enough, and told me he didn't know what kind of punishments I'd end up with, but that he'd try and smooth some things over. But for trying to kill me, and for whatever else happened that night, David Tran is being put away for a long, long time.

The doctors explain to me what happened. I got shot three times in my torso. Thankfully it wasn't so precise that any vital organs were hit, but I lost a lot of blood that night because of the extra beating that Tran's cronies were kind enough to send me off with. I had a broken rib from the beating, and the other wounds were deep enough that a minor surgery was needed to make sure everything was removed. Ah. So that's why my abdomen hurts so bad.

Once things have calmed down, and I've recovered enough to ditch the oxygen mask and sit upright, I'm left alone with Vince, Mia, Leon, Dom, Jessie, and Letty.

For a few minutes no one says anything.

"How long have I been here?" I ask quietly.

"Almost a week," Dom says. It's been that long?

"How did you guys know I was in the hospital?"

Mia glances at Dom. "You never changed your emergency contact after you left, so Dom got a call once they finally identified you. We all wanted to come, though."

I look at Letty, who is back in her chair next to my bed, but isn't meeting my eyes.

"All of you?" I ask, barely loud enough for just Letty to hear. She looks back up at me, and even though I fight it my eyes fill with tears. I see Dom gesture to the rest of the team and a few moments later it's just the two of us left in the room. A tear escapes my eye and rolls down my cheek, and Letty breaks.

"You scared the shit out of me Gabi," she says, crying.

"I'm sorry." I squeeze my eyes shut. No amount of times saying it would be enough. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Letty, I'm sorry I left, and I'm sorry I disappeared, and that I walked away, I'm sorry for all of it, I am so, so sorry-"

"I never should have let you walk out that door," she sobs. "I was so hurt, and I acted dumb, and now look at what happened to you." She lightly slaps my leg. "See what happens when you try and do stuff by yourself, stupid."

"I just woke up after being shot three times and you just wanna say I told you so?" I scoff.

A laugh escapes her and I finally smile. "There she is."

I take her hand and bring it up to my lips. She uses it to push some hair out of my face and then just rests it on my cheek, letting me turn and place a kiss on the palm of her hand.

"I missed you so much, Gabi."

"I missed you too."

"Don't leave like that again," she cries softly. "Please just... come home."

"Hey." I reach forward and take her chin in my hand, bringing her eyes to meet mine. "I'm right here. I ain't going anywhere."

She smiles. "Also promise me you won't do anything stupid like that again."

A deep voice cuts in and I look towards the front of the room to see Dom and the rest of the team.

"In our family promises like that are made to be broken," he chuckles.

"Hey Dom," I smile and nod at the others. "Guys." I look down and my smile falters. "I-I'm sorry."

Dom shakes his head. "I'm sorry. We should have come after you in the first place. You don't turn your back on family."

"But I did-"

"Even if they turn their back on you," Vince says.

"You're one of us, sister," Leon grins.

I can't stop myself from sobbing with relief at hearing those words. Everyone gathers around me, grabbing my hand, placing a kiss on my head, resting a hand on my shoulder, and in that moment it hits me. This is what it truly is to be loved. I haven't let myself feel it since my ma died, but here with this team, my team, I finally allow myself to relax into the comforting presence of my family. 

A/N: ahahahahaaaaa who went on another hiatus after promising more regular updates??? not me????? hah •_• sorrysorryyyyyyyy hopefully these last couple chapters being updated more regularly will make up for it a little. but aHHHHHH !!! nearly finished!! as always, thank you for sticking with it and continuing to read, I appreciate all of you and hope you enjoy!