TF&TF-FNL pt.17
Title: "Can't Get There From Here"
Rating: Mature (language)
Dedication: Brynwulf
Author's Note: And hopefully the muse is back and will keep me clipping right along.
Credits: TF&TF and FNL are copyright their respective owners. This is a work of love, not money.
---
"You sure this won't be a problem?" Mia asked as she cradled a cup of coffee.
Tim shook his head. "I come home Sunday mornings often enough." He smiled almost shyly at her.
Pause.
"You know this isn't -- this can't happen every weekend, right?"
A long silence followed as Tim kept his eyes downcast and his face utterly closed off before giving a heavy sigh and saying, "Yeah." Then, "So, you know you're going to hear things, right?"
Probably see them, too, Mia thought. But it wasn't as if she could ask Tim to become a monk, and also, it would be so much easier if he found another girl his age, not that she was eager for that to happen, but still .... Mia gave a heavy sigh and nodded yes. And half-wondered if she had just gotten snookered into giving some guy his fantasy open relationship.
I mean, Tim says all the right things ... she mused, but then again, so did Brian.
~oo(0)oo~
The phone rang just after 6am on Tuesday morning. Blearily, Mia reached for it. "H'lo?"
"Mia, something's w-wrong with Grandma,"came Matt's anxious voice.
Mia went from sludgy semi-consciousness to instant bolt upright awake. "What's wrong?"
"I can't really get her to wake up. She's just kind of mumbling and moaning a bit when I shake her."
Shit.
"I'm coming right over," Mia said, forcing her tone to soothing calmness. "But as soon as I hang up, you call 9-1-1."
Leaping out of bed, Mia threw on a pair of sweats, scrunchied her hair back and flew out of the house. Pushing her Vibe's handling and her driving skills to the limit, she pulled up to Matt and Nana's house just as the EMTs were loading her in.
Matt opted to ride with Mia as they followed the ambulance to the hospital.
For once, Mia almost felt grateful for paperwork. It gave her something to concentrate on during the awful wait. Finally -- although it probably wasn't much longer than 45 minutes -- the attending came out. "Hi, I'm Dr. Andrews. Her electrolytes were badly out of balance and she was pretty dehydrated. Has she been eating and drinking okay?"
Baffled, Mia and Matt looked at each other before saying "Yeesss…" in stereo.
"She on any medications?"
"Oh yes. She's got high blood pressure and her doctor's worried that it might lead to congestive heart failure so, she's on medication for that, and a diuretic. She's been taking both regularly -- I'm her home nurse, so I know she's taking them. And everything's been fine the past few days."
"I saw Grandma take her evening dose," Matt added.
Dr. Andrews bit his lip in thought. "Do you recall anything else? Maybe her drinking more? Or extra trips to the bathroom?"
Matt's brow furrowed in thought. "Noooo." Pause. "Well -- no, it's nothing."
"Anything, no matter how unimportant you think it is."
"Well, she said she had a headache and that her arthritis was bothering her, so --" a look of horror dawned on his face. "Mia … you don't think she got mixed up and took her pills instead of some Tylenol, do you?"
A sick feeling blossomed in her stomach. "She might have."
"That would explain it -- she might have taken a double dose of her blood pressure medication and the diuretic."
"Did Matt catch her in time?"
"Yes," Dr. Andrews said. "We've got her stabilized. Her salt and potassium are going back up where they're supposed to be. We'll probably be able to discharge her in a few hours if she continues to improve."
As they sat back down to wait more, Mia heaved a sigh of mixed despair and relief. "It looks like we're going to have to put all the pills in child proof bottles and keep them away from Nana."
Matt ran his hands over his face and through his hair. "Shit."
"Yeah." Mia put an arm over his shoulder in commiseration. "Look, I don't think you even want to try school today. So, I'll call --"
"Shit! Call Landry!"
Crap.
Mia dialed, but it was too late.
Matt groaned ruefully. "He'll probably figure enough out when he gets there and nobody's there."
"And if he gives you any grief about it -- I'll rip him a new zip code." She handed him the phone. "Call coach."
~oo(0)oo~
"I - I don't know what happened," Nana said when they discharged her a little after noon.
Mia gently smoothed her hair back. "You accidentally took the wrong pills, Nana. It happens."
Nana looked ready to cry.
"Grandma," Matt said, giving her a loving pat on the back as he guided her toward the car, "It's all over and you're okay. That's what's important. Don't worry --" his eyes met Mia's over Nana's back "it won't happen again."
"I just don't want to be a burden," Nana sobbed as Matt helped her into the back seat.
"You're not, Grandma, you're not."
Mia handed a Kleenex over and said, "Nana, we'll get you home and then we'll all have a cup of tea, and then we'll all feel better, okay?"
~oo(0)oo~
"I'm going to the game on Saturday!" Nana slammed her paperback onto the coffee table. "I may be old, I may be kind of sick, but I'm not dead yet, and I want to see Matt play." She crossed her arms and glared at both of them.
"Grandma, you know how much you hate road trips," Matt said cajolingly.
"I do. But this is semi-finals, Matt. And you're playing the Permian Panthers, and that's going to be a real good game. I want to be there when you win."
~oo(0)oo~
"Hey, Billy," Mia said, "Do you want to car-pool for the game tomorrow? And do you think it's possible to find a hotel over there at this time?"
"Yeah, and you can crash with Tim and me. But don't you have to take care of Nana?"
"Yeah, but actually, Nana's pitched a fit. She insists on going."
"Well …"
"That's what I thought. Crap."
"Call Tami Taylor. She'll get it all sorted."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. She handles a lot of that stuff."
~oo(0)oo~
"Billy, listen to me. We can't all fit in your truck. Well, we can, but it's not going to be comfortable for Nana. We're taking my car."
Pause.
"What?"
Longer pause.
"Out with it, William."
Slight chuckle. "Only my mom ever called me that. It's … you're going to kill for this, but I just think it's weird when the woman drives, okay?"
"You can drive."
"I mean, I know it's old fashioned of me, but there it is."
Mia laughed. "You can drive my car. But, there's one thing."
"Yeah?" She could hear the smile in his voice.
"You know that whole 'driver picks the music, passenger shuts their cakehole' rule? Oh no. My car, my music."
He laughed. "Okay. I never heard that one -- I'll have to try it the next time Tim and take a ride. Um …. Please tell me you don't like gangsta rap."
"Well, some, but we are taking Nana along, so, no. Oh, and another thing -- you get a speeding ticket and you walk home."
"Fat chance of that happening. I got the Riggins charm. I'll find some unsuspecting pretty thing and --"
"You are so lucky I'm not hanging up on you."
~oo(0)oo~
They were just getting Nana bundled into the car when a dark Ford Crown Victoria pulled up.
Oh shit, no.
Sure enough, Special Agent Wallace stepped out.
Motherfucker.
Billy frowned at her. "Mia?"
"Let me handle this, Billy." To Nana she said, "Just get in the car. I've got to talk to this gentleman for a few minutes and then we can go. Don't worry." She gave Nana's hand a reassuring pat.
"Hello, Mia."
"I never gave you permission to use my first name."
He had kept his sunglasses on, but Mia could see his mouth tighten into a hard line. "Miss Toretto," he bit out.
"Thank you," she replied, saccharine sweet. "Billy, Nana," she called, "this is Special Agent Wallace of the FBI." Stepping over to him she asked, "What do you want this time?"
"You sold your Integra."
"Yes I did." She crossed her arms. "It doesn't fit my lifestyle anymore."
"Of crime?"
"You're too funny. Spit it out."
"I have a couple of questions I need to ask."
Mia shrugged. "Ask."
"If you'd just come with me -- "
Mia smiled sweetly and said, "No. We're about to take a three hour road trip to watch a play-off game. And you damn well know that if I get in that car with you, it's going to be in cuffs, and that I'm not going to say a word to you without a lawyer present.
"I'm going to say this to you one more time. My brother and I have no contact. You want to talk to me again, we'll make an appointment and I'll bring my lawyer. And you'll hear exactly what I'm telling you right now. I don't know where Dom is.
"Selling that car doesn't let you off the hook. It was bought with laundered money."
"Take it to the grand jury. The only thing that can be proven about that car is that it was bought with cash and titled to me."
"Dom's business was dirty."
"We have nothing more to say to each other, Agent Wallace. Get in your car and drive off. Now." Mia turned and stormed back to the car, hopped in and slammed the door.
"Well, he certainly didn't seem very nice," Nana said.
Mia burst out laughing at the understatement. "No, Nana, he's not. He's the kind of prick who let his badge go to his head."
"I'll say," Billy groused, getting behind the wheel. "I mean, I knew you said your brother got mixed in some dirty dealings but …."
Mia looked at Billy. "Set it on cruise control -- he's the kind of guy who will look for any excuse to have us pulled over."
"Right." He backed the car down the drive. "So, what have we got for music anyway?"
"Do you have any of that nice Patsy Cline? Roseanne Cash? Bobbie Gentry?" Nana piped up.
Thank God, No.. "No, Nana. I got a little Johnny Cash, but that's it for country."
"Amy Grant?"
"You're out of luck." Mia said, as she slid Dido in.
~oo(0)oo~
Agent Wallace tailed them for 45 minutes before growing bored and circling back.
~oo(0)oo~
Smash set a division record for most yards gained in a single game.
Tim caught a shovel pass and bowled over several people on his way to a 40 yard touchdown.
The Permian Panthers won with a field goal as time ran out in the fourth quarter.
Silence ruled the drive back to Dillon the next day.
---
Chapter16
Chapter18
Rating: Mature (language)
Dedication: Brynwulf
Author's Note: And hopefully the muse is back and will keep me clipping right along.
Credits: TF&TF and FNL are copyright their respective owners. This is a work of love, not money.
---
"You sure this won't be a problem?" Mia asked as she cradled a cup of coffee.
Tim shook his head. "I come home Sunday mornings often enough." He smiled almost shyly at her.
Pause.
"You know this isn't -- this can't happen every weekend, right?"
A long silence followed as Tim kept his eyes downcast and his face utterly closed off before giving a heavy sigh and saying, "Yeah." Then, "So, you know you're going to hear things, right?"
Probably see them, too, Mia thought. But it wasn't as if she could ask Tim to become a monk, and also, it would be so much easier if he found another girl his age, not that she was eager for that to happen, but still .... Mia gave a heavy sigh and nodded yes. And half-wondered if she had just gotten snookered into giving some guy his fantasy open relationship.
I mean, Tim says all the right things ... she mused, but then again, so did Brian.
~oo(0)oo~
The phone rang just after 6am on Tuesday morning. Blearily, Mia reached for it. "H'lo?"
"Mia, something's w-wrong with Grandma,"came Matt's anxious voice.
Mia went from sludgy semi-consciousness to instant bolt upright awake. "What's wrong?"
"I can't really get her to wake up. She's just kind of mumbling and moaning a bit when I shake her."
Shit.
"I'm coming right over," Mia said, forcing her tone to soothing calmness. "But as soon as I hang up, you call 9-1-1."
Leaping out of bed, Mia threw on a pair of sweats, scrunchied her hair back and flew out of the house. Pushing her Vibe's handling and her driving skills to the limit, she pulled up to Matt and Nana's house just as the EMTs were loading her in.
Matt opted to ride with Mia as they followed the ambulance to the hospital.
For once, Mia almost felt grateful for paperwork. It gave her something to concentrate on during the awful wait. Finally -- although it probably wasn't much longer than 45 minutes -- the attending came out. "Hi, I'm Dr. Andrews. Her electrolytes were badly out of balance and she was pretty dehydrated. Has she been eating and drinking okay?"
Baffled, Mia and Matt looked at each other before saying "Yeesss…" in stereo.
"She on any medications?"
"Oh yes. She's got high blood pressure and her doctor's worried that it might lead to congestive heart failure so, she's on medication for that, and a diuretic. She's been taking both regularly -- I'm her home nurse, so I know she's taking them. And everything's been fine the past few days."
"I saw Grandma take her evening dose," Matt added.
Dr. Andrews bit his lip in thought. "Do you recall anything else? Maybe her drinking more? Or extra trips to the bathroom?"
Matt's brow furrowed in thought. "Noooo." Pause. "Well -- no, it's nothing."
"Anything, no matter how unimportant you think it is."
"Well, she said she had a headache and that her arthritis was bothering her, so --" a look of horror dawned on his face. "Mia … you don't think she got mixed up and took her pills instead of some Tylenol, do you?"
A sick feeling blossomed in her stomach. "She might have."
"That would explain it -- she might have taken a double dose of her blood pressure medication and the diuretic."
"Did Matt catch her in time?"
"Yes," Dr. Andrews said. "We've got her stabilized. Her salt and potassium are going back up where they're supposed to be. We'll probably be able to discharge her in a few hours if she continues to improve."
As they sat back down to wait more, Mia heaved a sigh of mixed despair and relief. "It looks like we're going to have to put all the pills in child proof bottles and keep them away from Nana."
Matt ran his hands over his face and through his hair. "Shit."
"Yeah." Mia put an arm over his shoulder in commiseration. "Look, I don't think you even want to try school today. So, I'll call --"
"Shit! Call Landry!"
Crap.
Mia dialed, but it was too late.
Matt groaned ruefully. "He'll probably figure enough out when he gets there and nobody's there."
"And if he gives you any grief about it -- I'll rip him a new zip code." She handed him the phone. "Call coach."
~oo(0)oo~
"I - I don't know what happened," Nana said when they discharged her a little after noon.
Mia gently smoothed her hair back. "You accidentally took the wrong pills, Nana. It happens."
Nana looked ready to cry.
"Grandma," Matt said, giving her a loving pat on the back as he guided her toward the car, "It's all over and you're okay. That's what's important. Don't worry --" his eyes met Mia's over Nana's back "it won't happen again."
"I just don't want to be a burden," Nana sobbed as Matt helped her into the back seat.
"You're not, Grandma, you're not."
Mia handed a Kleenex over and said, "Nana, we'll get you home and then we'll all have a cup of tea, and then we'll all feel better, okay?"
~oo(0)oo~
"I'm going to the game on Saturday!" Nana slammed her paperback onto the coffee table. "I may be old, I may be kind of sick, but I'm not dead yet, and I want to see Matt play." She crossed her arms and glared at both of them.
"Grandma, you know how much you hate road trips," Matt said cajolingly.
"I do. But this is semi-finals, Matt. And you're playing the Permian Panthers, and that's going to be a real good game. I want to be there when you win."
~oo(0)oo~
"Hey, Billy," Mia said, "Do you want to car-pool for the game tomorrow? And do you think it's possible to find a hotel over there at this time?"
"Yeah, and you can crash with Tim and me. But don't you have to take care of Nana?"
"Yeah, but actually, Nana's pitched a fit. She insists on going."
"Well …"
"That's what I thought. Crap."
"Call Tami Taylor. She'll get it all sorted."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. She handles a lot of that stuff."
~oo(0)oo~
"Billy, listen to me. We can't all fit in your truck. Well, we can, but it's not going to be comfortable for Nana. We're taking my car."
Pause.
"What?"
Longer pause.
"Out with it, William."
Slight chuckle. "Only my mom ever called me that. It's … you're going to kill for this, but I just think it's weird when the woman drives, okay?"
"You can drive."
"I mean, I know it's old fashioned of me, but there it is."
Mia laughed. "You can drive my car. But, there's one thing."
"Yeah?" She could hear the smile in his voice.
"You know that whole 'driver picks the music, passenger shuts their cakehole' rule? Oh no. My car, my music."
He laughed. "Okay. I never heard that one -- I'll have to try it the next time Tim and take a ride. Um …. Please tell me you don't like gangsta rap."
"Well, some, but we are taking Nana along, so, no. Oh, and another thing -- you get a speeding ticket and you walk home."
"Fat chance of that happening. I got the Riggins charm. I'll find some unsuspecting pretty thing and --"
"You are so lucky I'm not hanging up on you."
~oo(0)oo~
They were just getting Nana bundled into the car when a dark Ford Crown Victoria pulled up.
Oh shit, no.
Sure enough, Special Agent Wallace stepped out.
Motherfucker.
Billy frowned at her. "Mia?"
"Let me handle this, Billy." To Nana she said, "Just get in the car. I've got to talk to this gentleman for a few minutes and then we can go. Don't worry." She gave Nana's hand a reassuring pat.
"Hello, Mia."
"I never gave you permission to use my first name."
He had kept his sunglasses on, but Mia could see his mouth tighten into a hard line. "Miss Toretto," he bit out.
"Thank you," she replied, saccharine sweet. "Billy, Nana," she called, "this is Special Agent Wallace of the FBI." Stepping over to him she asked, "What do you want this time?"
"You sold your Integra."
"Yes I did." She crossed her arms. "It doesn't fit my lifestyle anymore."
"Of crime?"
"You're too funny. Spit it out."
"I have a couple of questions I need to ask."
Mia shrugged. "Ask."
"If you'd just come with me -- "
Mia smiled sweetly and said, "No. We're about to take a three hour road trip to watch a play-off game. And you damn well know that if I get in that car with you, it's going to be in cuffs, and that I'm not going to say a word to you without a lawyer present.
"I'm going to say this to you one more time. My brother and I have no contact. You want to talk to me again, we'll make an appointment and I'll bring my lawyer. And you'll hear exactly what I'm telling you right now. I don't know where Dom is.
"Selling that car doesn't let you off the hook. It was bought with laundered money."
"Take it to the grand jury. The only thing that can be proven about that car is that it was bought with cash and titled to me."
"Dom's business was dirty."
"We have nothing more to say to each other, Agent Wallace. Get in your car and drive off. Now." Mia turned and stormed back to the car, hopped in and slammed the door.
"Well, he certainly didn't seem very nice," Nana said.
Mia burst out laughing at the understatement. "No, Nana, he's not. He's the kind of prick who let his badge go to his head."
"I'll say," Billy groused, getting behind the wheel. "I mean, I knew you said your brother got mixed in some dirty dealings but …."
Mia looked at Billy. "Set it on cruise control -- he's the kind of guy who will look for any excuse to have us pulled over."
"Right." He backed the car down the drive. "So, what have we got for music anyway?"
"Do you have any of that nice Patsy Cline? Roseanne Cash? Bobbie Gentry?" Nana piped up.
Thank God, No.. "No, Nana. I got a little Johnny Cash, but that's it for country."
"Amy Grant?"
"You're out of luck." Mia said, as she slid Dido in.
~oo(0)oo~
Agent Wallace tailed them for 45 minutes before growing bored and circling back.
~oo(0)oo~
Smash set a division record for most yards gained in a single game.
Tim caught a shovel pass and bowled over several people on his way to a 40 yard touchdown.
The Permian Panthers won with a field goal as time ran out in the fourth quarter.
Silence ruled the drive back to Dillon the next day.
---
Chapter16
Chapter18