The walk from the hospital main entrance through the parking lot and to her car never ceased to frighten Y/N. It was for that reason alone that she had purchased a small tube of pepper spray and attached it to her car keys. She was a gentle soul, but she refused to go down without a fight.
Finally, approaching her car she rushed to jam the key into the lock on her door and jimmied it around. It had been quite awhile since she had last seen Deckard, and Dom had been distant. His life had become more and more hectic leaving him no time for unexpected drop bys. For the first time in her life, Y/N felt totally alone.
She had caved to a coworker or two that had been asking her out for months, but no matter how many dates she went on each was more depressing than the last. Her finally straw with dating was when the sixth grade math teacher, Edward Nimitz, had tried taking her home with him. To absolutely no ones surprise, he lived in his mother's basement becasue "It saves both her and me money!"
Every woman draws a line somewhere, and living beneath her in laws was most certainly out of the question! She had even skipped out an a few of her volunteer shifts at the hospital. Lately, she just hadn't felt like herself at all.
The door unlocked and opened, but as she went to remove them from the lock the entire key ring fell to the gravel. Y/N whispered a few choice words to herself and bent down to pick them up.
"Never thought of you as the type to swear, love." Y/N jumped up and pulled out her pepper spray in a quick motion. Deckard lifted his hands up in surrender showing he meant her no harm. "Fiesty, aren't you?"
Y/N let out a large sigh of relief and draped herself against the open door.
"Deckard," she sighed out. It was at that moment that she remembered why the two hadn't been in contact for so long. She stood back up alert and crossed her arms over her chest as a sign of defense. It was the only thing she could think to do to keep herself from opening herself up to him so easily. "What are you doing here?"
Her sudden change in demeanor didn't go unnoticed by Shaw. He played it suave and laid back. "Just visiting."
"Deck, I know that Owen was moved to a different facility. Be honest with me."
He lifted a brow and shrugged off in the opposite direction. "I've been watching you for a few weeks." When he looked back at Y/N she was in complete shock and preparing to interject, but Deckard held out a hand to stop her and defend himself. "Relax. It's not what you think."
Y/N scoffed aloud, her mouth hung open in disbelief. She nodded sarcastically. "I suppose you're right. Nothing says, 'stable and sane,' like stalking your ex."
To her comment, Deckard was taken aback. He squinted with a clearly confused and irked expression. "Ex?" he clarified.
The tension reentered the conversation as Y/N blinked at Deckard. When she had told him to leave, she had never specified the terms of their relationship. To be quite frank, the two didn't really know where they stood with each other. When Deckard had left that evening, he had only figured he needed to give her time to cool off and reevaluate their situation.
"Deckard," Y/N started slowly. "You killed someone. Someone very near and dear to my family and me." She felt herself tearing up all over again. "That isn't something that I can just forgive and forget. You understand that, don't you?"
"I understand that." He was silent for awhile. Of course he could've argued against her and tried to help her understand his side of things, but no matter what he said it would be no good. They lived in two totally different worlds, and his world was just too destructive. "If I could take it all back--"
"Don't." Y/N was quiet when she spoke, but firm. "From what I've gathered though, Dom was the one that did that to Owen, right?"
"When I get hit, Y/N, I hit back harder. That's what you get with me." He took a step towards her closing the space between the two. Y/N couldn't face him, but she felt the heat radiating off of him... or maybe that was the flush of pink running throughout her body.
Deckard continued. "I know you can't forgive me or look past the man that I am, but I'm not just guns and violence." Y/N knew that too. Deckard sighed, thinking that he wasn't getting to her. He ran his hand along the back of her arm which caused a spur of goosebumps to chase up her arms and back. She shivered. "You make me softer than I thought I could be," he lifted her chin and met her sparkling eyes that he'd dreamt about time and time again, "and I like the man that I am when I'm with you, Y/N."
She sighed. "You're not a perfect man. No one is, not even my big brother... but I need to draw a line somewhere." It was hard to say, but it needed to be said. "I think the blood of my family on your hands is the right place to draw it," she whispered.
Y/N leaned up and kissed him softly. Deckard didn't kiss back, he was afraid that he knew what she meant.
With a heavy heart, she climbed into her car and settled herself in taking one last look at him. He was broken to, she could see it.
"I'll never stop fighting for you, Y/N."
She gave him a warm smile.
"Prove it."
Part 4?? Coming Soon!
