VIPER ♱ b. o'conner

07 : another lifetime

"B, I tried to tell you so many times but you were barely home, work was your priority over everything! Especially over me. I was already four months along when you took the case. I guess part of me just figured I could tell you when you came back from your assignment...but you never did." Lala's hands played with her necklace subconsciously, it always brought her comfort but in this moment it felt like burning metal.

Brian's face couldn't even begin to portray the mix of emotions going through his mind. Most of all he just wanted to be mad, to yell, to scream at her, to let all his anger out. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"We have a daughter, her name is Leticia Brianne." Lala had wanted to include something for the two people who meant the world to her, her sister and the person she once viewed as her soulmate.

He laughed while still reeling from the shock of the news and conflicting emotions. "Brianne?"

"After her father." Lala forced a smile while blinking away her tears. Brian, on the other hand, couldn't be as strong as her in that moment. Tears fell down his face steadily.

"My god," he wiped at his face and sat back in the chair.

"She's a really good baby. She finally started to sleep through the night last month." A smile stretched across her face at the thought of her little girl. Her little Letty. "She's with my stepmom in Barstow."

"When can I meet her? Did you leave the apartment?" He asked, already knowing she had. The only reason Brian knew that is because he went back a few weeks ago, another young couple lived there, but he wasn't going to admit that to her.

"Leticia, Fluffy, and I all live in Arizona now. I couldn't stay there and be reminded of you every day. You can meet her one day just...not so soon. It's too much too fast especially with everything going on." She planned on keeping the promise of her daughter not being hurt by her father's actions.

Like clockwork a cop passed by the room, glancing in with a nod as he passed by. That was his cue.

"Lala I have to go." He stated abruptly. "They'll be here soon."

"Are you serious?" Her face quickly got angry at him. "Are you serious right now, Brian? You just asked to meet her and now you're leaving?!"

"Look, I let him go. I let Dom go."

Lala's mouth dropped open in shock. "You let him go? Brian...I-I don't know what to say."

He shook his head quickly. "You don't have to say anything, I'm not sure why I even fucking did it. Regardless, it goes against the number one rule of this whole operation, now I gotta go because if they come asking questions or start digging...everyone is going down." He paced back and forth near her bed only pausing briefly to motion to her, "including you since you joined his crew, since you were on that fucking highway! I'm not letting that happen."

Lala watched him going back and forth. She knew he didn't want to go, he wanted to be there to be her support and to meet their daughter. "Go."

"I don't have anywhere to go, that's the problem. I've never been this deep into shit before." He ran his hands through his blonde hair.

"Pass me my phone." Lala held her hand out as he gave it to her and dialed a number by heart, hoping she'd get an answer.

"Hello?" The voice asked on the other end, the noises of a busy building in the background.

"Hey, baby, it's Viper. Look, I need your help. Brian's in some shit and he needs a place to go." She spoke about him while he looked over, freezing mid pace. "Please do me this solid."

They sighed deeply before agreeing to help. "You know I got your six, girl. Tell him where to go when he gets here. I'm at the shop most days so just send him there. I'll set him up."

"Thank you, I owe you big time." She made a kissing sound into the phone before hanging it up. She then wrote an address on the little notepad that the nurses left on her side table. "Go here, let them know I sent you. It's a far drive but at least you'll be safe there. They'll help you until I'm recovered enough to check in with you."

He took the paper from her, "I can't ask you to do that, this is...it's gonna change everything." Brian bit his lip and looked at the paper, there was an address to a place in Miami. "Wait, is this-?"

She cut him off, "Yes it's them and you're not asking, I'm offering. I'll see where I stand after the cops take my statement and the doctors release me. Either way, I'll come down there eventually. Dad had his vacation home that Haley inherited. I can stay there if need be. We'll figure all of this out... together. They'll no doubt pull me in on some shitty charge once I'm medically cleared so I gotta have a backup plan anyways." She looked at the clock, "Mia should be back any minute so you really should go before the Feds show or your scorned girlfriend turns you in.

Brian gave her a look. He went to the door and turned back to say something but no words came out of his mouth.

"I know." Lala gave a tight smile before waving him out of the room. Once he was gone, her collected demeanor immediately crumbled into nothing as she cried silently. She cried for Jesse's lost soul, for her sister being cast out, for losing her love to another, for the bullets that missed ending her life when some part of her deep down wished they had.

The same part of her wishes she never came back to visit her sister, that she never left Arizona. At the same time if she had stayed home then she never would've known what Brian was doing, never would've been able to help her sister and friends. Was all of this even worth it? Potentially becoming wanted by the police? Walking out on a job she genuinely loved? Being with Brian again? Her mind drifted off to Leon's words - in another lifetime. She imagined one where she was happy, in love, safe, with her family.

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This concludes Act One of Viper.
Act Two will be posted within a few days. If you have any requests or suggestions for the upcoming chapters or Lala, please comment or PM me!

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