"Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Are you ever going to get your pathetic ass married?"

"Thanks. Jackass."

"Well?"

"Maybe maybe not. If I have to base it on right here and now…no. But I honestly believe that when I meet Mr. Right, I will know right then and there. A look in his eye, a spark as we shake hands, if he is Mr. Right you don’t need to get to know him, you already will. I refuse to settle. I don’t plan on doing it twice. Divorce isn’t an option, I’d rather not get married."

"Forever the romantic."

Angelina just smiled at her friends.

5 years later

Angelina and Shelby stepped off the plane "Woohoo, Vegas baby."

"Let’s go blow some cash." Shelby yelled.

"How bout we check into the hotel first?" Angelina laughed.

"Ok." they caught a cab and checked in at the front desk of the Luxor Hotel and Casino. "Now can we go blow some cash?"

"Sure what the hell, that is why we are here."

They wandered up and down the strip for a couple hours going in and out of every casino trying to decide which one they liked best. "Why don’t we head back to the Luxor and check on the shows for tomorrow."

As Angelina was looking at the show schedule Shelby wandered to another desk, "Hey Angel look at this."

"What?" she looked over her shoulder.

"Tony Stewart."

"Who?"

Shelby laughed "You know hometown dirt track racer made it big time, Two time Nascar Champion."

"Oh, you know I am not into racing."

"Surely you know the name, for God’s sake he grew up just miles from us."

"Sounds familiar, cute, looks like a teddy bear." she grinned looking at the poster on the wall.

"Good grief," Shelby rolled her eyes. "He’s signing autographs here tomorrow, let’s go."

"Whatever. What show you want to go to?"

"You decide. I am going to see when we need to be here for this."

The next day the girls stood in line waiting for their turn to meet Tony. Angelina didn’t care one way or the other but Shelby seemed really excited. "Look we’re next."

"Uh huh." Angelina was looking at a flyer of the show she had chosen for them for the next night.

"Angel. Angel!"

When she looked up from her flyer she found herself staring into the dark brown eyes of the ‘teddy bear’ from the poster the night before. "Um, sorry, hi." She found it hard to form words. She noticed the dark chest hair peaking out from the orange collard polo he wore. He really did remind her of a teddy bear and she found herself thinking what it would be like to get lost in his arms.

"Angel, huh? Seems fitting. Nice to meet you." He smiled up at her.

"Angelina actually but I go by either. Nice to meet you too." She couldn’t take her eyes off him. He looked away long enough to scribble his signature on one of his promo cards. He handed it too her. "Thanks."

She walked away from the table and Shelby grabbed her arm as they stepped out of hearing distance. "Oh my God, he was flirting with you."

"No he wasn’t."

"Oh yeah?" she pointed to the card in Angel’s hand. ‘To my Angel, please meet me in the Mummy’s Tomb bar tonight at 7. Tony.’

"Holy shit." she turned and looked back at the table and caught him staring at her. He smiled and nodded.

"You have a date with Tony Stewart. You have a date with Tony Stewart." Shelby sang as she danced out the door of the ballroom.

All Angel could do was smile and stare back at Tony. "What the hell just happened here?"

Chapter 2

Angelina woke up the next morning and rolled over into the arms of someone. "What the?" she slowly opened her eyes and saw Tony still asleep his arms wrapping around her and pulling her closer. She racked her brain trying to remember the previous night and couldn’t place what happened after they left the dance club other than the many drinks that came to their table. She decided to stop trying to figure it out and just enjoy the feeling of his arms around her. It wasn’t to hard to see what obviously had happened and she was right she could get lost in those arms.

Tony started to stir as Angelina walked into the bathroom. As he looked around the room he desperately tried to figure out what had happened. "Oh shit." he heard come from the bathroom.

"Angel?" He hoped as he got out of bed grabbing his boxers. She came out of the bathroom in a hotel robe in such a hurry that she about knocked him over. "What the hell is wrong?"

"This." she held up her left hand showing off the silver band around her finger. He looked at his own hand and saw a matching band on his hand.

"No, we wouldn’t of…" he looked at her as he sat on the bed. "Would we?" Angel in her pacing of the room picked up a piece of paper off the table. He heard her gasp, "What?"

She handed him the paper. "The marriage certificate." She now slumped to the floor against the wall.

Tony tried to register what the hell was going on. "The Little White Wedding Chapel." That’s when he heard her sobs. "Oh Angel." He sat next to her and pulled her to him. "It’s going to be ok. We will figure this out."

They sat there for the longest time when Angel finally spoke up. "Think we could get it annulled?"

"Probably. Look let’s go back to this chapel and talk to someone and see what happened."

"What are we going to say? ‘Hi, we are the drunks that accidentally got married last night.’"

Tony really wasn’t sure what they would do but hopefully they could shed some light on the subject.

An hour later they were at the reception desk. "Oh you two must be back for your photos. They turned out amazing." The woman set a video and a photo album on the counter. "Of all the couples in here I have never seen two who looked more perfect together than you two."

They looked at each other. "Uh thanks. Do I owe you for these?" Tony asked.

"Nope all paid for last night. Congrats again." Tony just smiled and nodded to the woman as they walked out the door.

They took the video and photos back to the hotel to look through them and see if the video answered any of their questions. They ran into Shelby in the lobby. "Hey you two." She grinned knowing Angel never came back to the room the night before.

"Hi."

"What’s wrong?"

Angel looked at Tony and he nodded. "Come with us."

Tony sat looking at the photos as Angelina told Shelby what they knew. "Holy shit. I can’t believe you guys got married last night. You didn’t even invite me." She laughed.

"This isn’t funny and we didn’t exactly know what we were doing."

Shelby realized quickly they weren‘t laughing about this whole mess. "What about a license? You have to get one to get married."

"Apparently we went down to the courthouse and got one. They are open most of the night."

"Huh, only in Vegas." Shelby muttered still amused by the whole situation in some way.

Tony popped the video of the wedding in the VCR and all heads turned to the tv. The video started from the moment they started talking to the receptionist and signed in. It showed Angel signing them in and doing most of the talking while Tony stood more to the side taking in his surroundings.

"Come on Tony, tell me you don’t feel it?" Tony looked away from her to the small chapel. "Tell me it doesn’t feel right and I will drop it."

Angel stared at one of the photos of her and Tony. The look in their eyes, the way their hands fit together. "Stop, stop it I can’t watch this." She stood turning off the tv.

"Don’t you think we should see what else happened?"

She held up her hand, "I think we freaking know what happened."

"Well I am so sorry the idea of being married to me is so sickening to you. But this was your idea, there is the proof." He yelled pointing to the tv screen. "You are the one who wanted this and now you are hell bent to stop it."

Her tears fell as she ran out of the room.

"Shit." he started to go after her.

"Tony, wait. Let me." Shelby walked out of the room and Tony couldn’t help it he had to know, he hit play on the VCR hearing his voice on the video for the first time.

"Can you tell me you love me? You don’t know me, I don’t know you. This is insane, how on earth is this going to work?" Tony looked at her trying to reason with her.

"Because it’s right, you’ve been programmed to not allow your heart to take over your brain. Maybe I can’t say I love you but I can say you are who I am suppose to love. It feels like everything in my life has been to get me to this point in time with you."

He continued to watch the service, it was a fairly normal wedding if that word could be used in this situation. He couldn’t believe this had happened but if truth be told he wasn’t sorry, he felt it too, like he had known her all his life and that she was the one to be by his side forever, he just wasn’t about to admit it out loud.

Shelby found Angelina back in their room. "Look,"

"Just leave me alone."

"Nope you are going to hear me out. I know damn well that you aren’t upset about being married to him." Angelina looked up at her ready to say something. "I’ve known you for years and I see it in your eyes. You’re just upset over all this pressure you’ve put on yourself. If you annul this or get divorced then your life is over, or so you have said since you were five. Angel, you have always said that you would know when it was right. I saw the way you were acting when you looked at him for the first time. You can’t tell me that you didn’t feel it. You are just scared to admit it and I don’t blame you. Admitting it means you believe in love at first sight, in fairy tales, in everything we’ve ever dreamt of but never thought we’d find. Angel, you can’t run away from this, no matter what you two decide you are in this together."

Angel got up and walked out of the room. She found herself in front of Tony’s door. When he opened it neither said a word, she just walked in and hit play on the VCR. She sat and watched the whole video, she looked through the photo album, then turned to him. "I meant every word on that tape."

She caught him off guard. "What?"

"I don’t love you but something is telling me you are who I am suppose to be with. I am just scared that you don’t see it that way."

"I am not too sure what I think right now. This is all a little insane."

"I don’t know what to do. I always saw myself in a church with all my friends and family, white dress, blah, blah, blah. That was if I ever got married. Now here I am ring on my hand and I don’t remember my wedding let alone my honeymoon." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He was watching her intently. He felt it too, he was just too scared to do anything about it. "What do we do?" He stood there leaning against the wall. "Tony?"

Tony looked down at the ground as if weighing his options closely then looked back up to the her sitting on the bed. There was something about her, something he couldn’t ignore. There was also the feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him he was an idiot if he screwed this up. Taking a deep breath he quickly closed the gap between them gently pushing her back on the bed as he laid beside her letting his fingers explore her arms down to her fingers before returning to her shoulder. He traced lazy circles on her arm as she rested her head in the crook of his other arm. "Are we crazy for even considering this."

"Maybe. More than likely. You know wedding, honeymoon, get to know each other, I think we have it all backwards."

He laughed as he studied her features. She was beautiful, her shoulder length chestnut hair framed her face and looked adorable all messed up in the morning he had already decided. Her brown eyes were big and wide and he couldn’t help but to think how their kids would be little clones of them. She noticed the far away look in his eye. "Tony, you ok? You sure you want to do this? I mean we have to figure out where we are going to live, how we are going to tell people, what…"

His mouth hovered above hers for a moment before making contact and shutting her up. "Shh." He kissed her once more before deciding he needed to get off that bed.

She watched as he stood and paced the room. "Tony? Did I do something?" She asked sitting up.

He stopped turning hearing the disappointment in her voice. "No, nothing wrong, look I know we already." He paused and looked at the bed. "You know, but I don’t think we should again, not yet."

She thought about what he said and it made sense, they really needed to get to know each other. "Your right."

He sat next to her on the bed. "Angel," he took her hand in his. "I could probably get lost in you very easily but I want to give this a fair shot and I think you’re right, we did this backwards. We can’t go back and start over but we can move forward from here. Yes we are married but let’s get to know each other before we move forward on the marriage."

She smiled. "Ok, so what now?"

"I guess we need to decide what happens. I can’t leave North Carolina, everything for me is there." He didn’t want to sound like a jerk but she would have to be the one to move.

"The racing thing. I can’t just up and leave, I have a job, an apartment to take care of, friends, family."

‘The racing thing?’ he thought to himself as he stood and began pacing again. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy but she had to realize that this wasn’t just a ’thing’ it was his life. "I know you have your life but I can’t move, we could live separately but I don’t think that’s going to help the cause."

She knew Shelby had made a big deal about him racing, champion or something and the edge to his voice showed he was obviously aggravated. She realized they didn’t talk much about themselves at all over dinner the night before. What did they talk about? She racked her brain and honestly other than talking about Vegas and taking a few days off to relax they drank and danced. "Ok, so I have already pissed you off apparently." She said as he slowed and looked at her. "Sorry. I guess this is where not knowing each other is coming into play huh?"

"I’m not pissed, it’s just your phrasing of the racing ’thing’ like it’s a hobby. It’s my career, my life, and that isn’t going to change." He looked at her trying to level his emotions that were swirling around his head. "I really want to try and make this work and I know you are thinking I’m a total ass for wanting you to up and move your life and if you decide not too I will understand but it really is how it has to be."

She stood. "I really need to think." He nodded, he understood. "I’ll come by in the morning and tell you what I am going to do."

She walked to the door. "Angel? Good night."

She smiled. "Night."

It was still fairly early and Angel found herself wandering the Strip staring at the people, the lights, the buildings. She wandered into Caesar’s Palace and placed herself at a slot machine and ordered a drink, a strong drink. She had been feeding money into the machine for over an hour when someone sat beside her. "Hi." He said dropping a quarter in the slot.

"Hi." Angel said as she glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. He was tall, even sitting, blond hair, blue eyes.

"Matt." He extended his hand.

"Angel." She accepted his hand and couldn’t help but notice his beautiful smile.

"Angel?"

"Angelina actually but I go by either." They talked while dropping money into the machines over their drinks. They found themselves walking down the strip when he suddenly stopped and dropped his mouth to hers. She kissed him back as she ran her fingers through his hair. As he pulled back and smiled she couldn’t help but notice his striking good looks, he had high cheek bones and was very thin. He was actually the exact opposite of Tony.

Tony. She pulled away from Matt. "Something wrong?"

"Yes. I can’t do this, I’m sorry." She turned running back to the Luxor and straight to her room. Shelby was no where to be found, which she was slightly thankful for. She fell onto the bed not bothering to change and closed her eyes.

The next morning she found herself at Tony’s door, it swung open. "Hey."

"Hi, I come in?"

"Of course." He stepped aside allowing her to enter. He was silent wondering what she had decided.

"Ok, I think I should tell you what caused me to come to the decision I did before I tell you what it is." She looked up at him and he was studying her closely. "Last night after I left here I went walking, trying to clear my head. I met someone, a guy." Tony perked up to this, he was trying to figure out how he could feel a twinge of jealousy over someone he didn’t know. "We spent a couple hours talking, which I might add was a lot more than we did on our first date. I know where this guy is from, what he does for a living, and his parents and siblings names. I can’t say that about you at all." She looked up at him and saw the flash of disappointment on his face. "I’ve decided to go back to North Carolina with you for a day or two, so we can tell whoever you want to tell first, then I am hoping you will do the same for me. After our families and friends are told I will move out to North Carolina and live with you."

Tony looked up at her shock settling in on his face. "What? Why? I mean it sounds like you and this guy hit it off great."

She smiled at him. "We did and he even kissed me and that was when I knew." She walked over to him running her hand down his cheek forcing him to look at her. "I always said it would be in the way he kissed me, the look in his eye, the spark when he touched me. Every time your skin touches mine or you kiss me it’s like fireworks are exploding. When he kissed me I thought of you."

She leaned forward kissing him until his hands circled her waist and pulled her closer. "You’re sure?" He whispered still not sure he believed this was happening.

"Yes, but are you. You really ready to give up all those women?"

"All? I think you have me mistaken with Dale Junior."

"Who?" He looked at her like she had two heads. "Oh wait isn’t he the one on all those Drakkar bottles?"

"Are you serious?"

"I’ve heard his name but…"

"You really don’t have a clue about what I do, do you?" He laughed and she shook her head. "How is in you grew up in Indiana and you don’t know anything about racing?"

She shrugged. "Guess I have a lot to learn."

Chapter 3

Shelby promised not to tell anyone until Tony and Angel could get back to her hometown and tell everyone themselves. They had made up some pathetic excuse as to why Angel didn’t come home with her, which she knew no one would buy they just had to let it go for a day or two.

They landed in Concord early in the day and Tony drove them straight to his crew chief’s house, knowing he was going to need the support when the rest of the world found out. "So this is one of your crew?"

"Yes, my crew chief, runs everything on race day basically, we’ll get into that later. He is also one of my best friends. He is the one person I know I can count on for anything. We call him Zippy." He filled her in as they stepped on the porch.

A woman answered the door with a screaming boy in her arms. "Tony, hey welcome back come in." She eyed the young woman sticking close to his side.

"Hey Nan, whoa buddy, he said pulling the boy out of her arms." Angel couldn’t help but notice how quickly he quieted down.

"I swear I’m hiring you as his nanny." She laughed.

"Greg here."

"No have a seat, should be back any second. Can I get you a drink?"

"Um maybe in a minute." He looked to Angel. "Ok, Nan, this is Angelina, Angel this is Greg’s wife Nan, and their son."

Nan extended her hand to the young woman. "Hi nice to meet you."

"Same here."

"Yeah well, Angel and I kind of got married this past week."

Nan stopped dead in her tracks then started laughing. "Yeah right, one of these days you are going to have to knock off these practical jokes." Tony stared at her dead serious. Nan looked at Angel who had a pale sickened look on her face, then she noticed the rings. "Tony? You always did go all the way on your jokes." She said shaky.

Tony sat the little boy on the floor and handed him the white tiger stuffed animal he bought in Vegas for him. "I’m not joking Nan. We got married, it’s a pretty insane story actually." He smiled as Greg came through the door.

"Hey Smoke."

Angel looked at Tony. "My nickname. Hey buddy."

Nan’s eyes dropped to their hands still intertwined and watched as Tony gently rubbed circles on the back of her hand trying to prove to her it would be ok. She watched as he explained the name Smoke. "Oh my God, your serious." Tony looked to Nan then back to Greg.

"What? what’s going on?"

Nan sat, she wasn’t upset just shocked. "Sit down Greg. Trust me."

He sat and pulled his son into his lap. "Tiger daddy."

"Yeah, pretty cool huh. Did you thank uncle Tony? So what’s up?"

"Um, well, first, Greg this is Angelina, Angel this is Greg." They both nodded. "Second, we kind of got married out in Vegas."

"Good one and you even got her to go along with it." He directed towards Nan. "Now really who is she?" Tony just stared at him as Nan put a hand on her husbands shoulder. "What? You don’t actually expect me to believe that you got married behind all our backs, not told a soul, to someone whom I’ve never even seen before."

"We met out there. We didn’t exactly know we were getting married but we decided that we were going to try and make it work." The look on Tony’s face made Greg sure he wasn’t screwing with them. They had known each other too long and it was hard to pull one over each other anymore.

Greg was shocked. They were serious. "Holy crap."

The next several hours was pretty much the same as they stopped by Gibbs racing, a few friends houses, before heading to Tony’s place in Cornelius. "Wow. This place is amazing."

"Thanks." They entered the house and he placed their bags off to the side before checking his messages. As he hung up the phone he noticed her still standing near the door. "What’s wrong?"

"Oh nothing. How long you lived here?"

He stared at her. "A couple years. I’ve been in North Carolina for a while but just moved into this house about two years ago. Angel, you can come in. I mean, this place is yours now too." He quickly turned the ramifications hitting him suddenly. "Need a drink?" She nodded. He went into the kitchen grabbing two bottles of beer. His mind started reeling as he looked around and realized that if this didn’t work all this could go to her. The horror of the Jeff/Brooke saga raced through his head. "Fuck." He started back into the living room. "Bud ok?"

"Sure." She took the bottle from him as she looked at the photos on the walls. Photos of people she didn’t know, what had she gotten into?

"I am assuming you will stay in the guest room tonight?"

"Yeah." She followed him as he showed her the bathroom, where everything was, and then his room across the hall.

"If you need me just yell. I guess tomorrow we will head to Fort Wayne to do this all over again."

"Night Tony."

He turned at the door. "Night Angel." He left her in the room and headed to his own. Jumping into the shower he let the hot water fall over his body. He leaned against the shower wall closing his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he had gotten himself into. He didn’t know this woman, where she came from, the type of family she grew up in. Family…man his mom was going to kill him.

Chapter 4

"Mom?"

"Hey baby, what’s going on? How is the weather down there?"

Tony paused before speaking into the phone again. "Well, I’m actually in Indy."

"What? Why? Better yet why aren’t you here?" She laughed.

"Mom, I need to talk to you. There is something you need to know."

"Tony what is it?"

"I kind of got married this past weekend."

"Tony, I know I’m getting old but I swear you just said you got…"

"Mom I did, I’m married. Her name is Angelina, she’s from here in Indy, I’m at her parents house now. I wanted to bring her over, let her meet the family. I’ve called dad and Nat and they are going to meet me at my, our place in an hour, I really want you to be there." Silence. "Mom, come on say something."

"My only son gets married to some woman I don’t know, I’m not invited to the wedding, what do you want me to say?"

"That you’ll come meet her, you’ll be there." Again silence. "Mom, please."

Upset or not she could hear the little boy on the other end of the phone that needed her. "Of course I’ll be there."

"Thanks mom. I love you."

"Love you too Tony."

Later that night after the family had left Angel found herself finally alone sitting on the back porch watching the sunset. It had been a very long couple of days between her family and his, things had gone as well as anyone that didn‘t tell their families they were getting married could expect. Tony‘s mom had been obviously agitated and despite being an avid race fan so had her own father but everyone seemed to deal with the situation and their were hopes of getting the two families together in the near future, they would have to meet sooner or later.

He watched her from the doorway for several moments before joining her with a cup of coffee. "There you are." He handed her the cup and started to sit but stopped. "I’m sorry, maybe you’d rather be alone."

"No, it’s ok, sit. Thanks." She said as she took the cup from him and scooted over on the bench she was sitting on. "I was just," she paused. "I don’t know, trying to figure out…" again silence.

"What the hell we got ourselves into?" He said with a smirk.

She couldn’t help but laugh. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

The smile slowly faded away from both their faces as they just enjoyed the silence that fell between them. They sat there for several minutes before she spoke up. "So what were you and your mom talking about for so long?"

"I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left you like that, I just, I just needed to talk to mom, you know."

"Yeah I do, it’s ok your sister and dad are great." She paused not sure if she should go on. "What did she say?" She didn’t have to ask the question.

He shrugged before looking at her. "She isn’t happy, doesn’t like how it happened and honestly I told her we weren’t happy with the way it happened…"

"But?"

"But she told me I had to do what my head and my heart were telling me to do."

"So now that we’ve come this far what is it that your head is saying to do?"

He sighed. "Well the house I grew up in, mom sold several years back, it’s back on the market and I was thinking of making an offer before but now… It would be a place I, we, could come back to, you would have a place to stay if you wanted to come home to visit. I really would like to buy it."

"You don’t have to ask me if, oh, it would be our home, wow, how long do you think before I get use to that? Where is it?"

"Gonna be a while I’m sure, the house is in Columbus."

"That’s not too far." She sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I think that’s a great idea." She half smiled and he studied her face.

He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and when she turned to face him he caught her lips with his, gently, sweetly. He pulled away slightly brushing the hair back from her eyes. "I’m heading to bed, we need to be out of here by nine in the morning to catch the flight. You going to be ok out here alone?"

She nodded. "Yeah, gonna sit here a bit longer then head to bed myself."

"K, I’ll see you in the morning."

"Night."

Over the next several weeks she spent a lot of time trying to make North Carolina feel like home and trying to get to know Tony better. She really didn’t understand it all but everyone around Tony seemed so real and down to earth that she felt fairly comfortable. She wasn’t making the trip to the track with Tony on a regular basis yet and was never seen out in public with him, the last thing Tony needed was the media jumping on the rumor bandwagon. She always stayed in the coach watching the race, Nan had joined her on more than one occasion trying to explain what she could, everyone knew Tony wasn’t the most patient person in the world. He had not so much blown up but got obviously annoyed with having to answer all the questions that were so second nature to himself all the time. It seemed today was starting no differently than all the others.

"So you coming out to the pits today?" Tony asked as he searched the closet for a tee. This was the first time he had actually shown an interest in her coming out of the coach.

She shrugged slightly surprised. "You want me too?"

He took a deep breath and stepped out of the closet. He hated it when she did that. "Can’t you just answer the freakin question?"

"What is your problem?"

"When I ask you something, do you always have to answer with a question?"

He was a bit of a hot head she was learning but it never amounted to anything and it blew over just as quick as it started. She had to admit it was quite fun to get him going and couldn’t help but to think how much fun that could be in bed. She couldn’t help but grin at the thought and at him pulling a tee over his head.

"Now what are you grinning at?" He asked getting irritated as he tucked the tee into his fire suit.

"Nothing." She answered as her cheeks blushed. "Look, you seriously don’t know why I do it?"

"If I did, would I be asking?" He threw back at her mockingly.

She grimaced he really was upset. "Because I don’t know how to act around you, I don’t know if my actions are going to be a problem for you or make your life more difficult, hell I don‘t know you. I do know that I obviously annoy you, your routine, your life. I’m just trying to not mess that up more than I already have. "

He turned looking at her feeling like a complete jerk. "I’m sorry, I didn’t realize."

"It’s ok." She looked down.

"No it’s not." She looked back up at him as he sat on the bed across from her chair and started pulling on his shoes. "I know nothing about this situation is easy for either of us and I need to chill. Yes, I would like for you to come out and sit in the pit or at least in the hauler and get an idea of what I do. I know I haven‘t been the best at trying to make you comfortable around the track." He looked up from his shoes to her. "Or anywhere else for that matter. But on the same note it could get a little insane. The media is usually pretty good about leaving girlfriends and wives alone but the rumors of us getting married secretly are running rampant. I would understand if you chose to stay in here."

She studied him and the concern in his voice. "I have to do it eventually, the sooner we get it over with maybe we can get on with our lives. I want to understand what you do and what goes on in your life, I want to know what you go through out there, understand it all, I don’t want to spend the next year living like this." She paused. "Cause if we do, we’ll both go insane."

"I promise I’ll make it all up to you and give you the racing 101 lesson soon." He had an idea and just needed a little time to pull it off. He stood, walked to her, placed his hands on either arm of the chair, and let his lips gently brush hers. "What were you smiling about a little while ago?"

His face was just inches from hers and she could smell the Old Spice and shampoo mixture as her breath caught deep in her throat. "You."

"Me doing what?" He asked with a sly grin plastered on his face.

"Nothing. Stop." She playfully slapped at his arm as she felt the heat rush from her cheeks to her neck.

"It’s ok, you can tell me, I am your husband." He let his mouth drop to her neck as he nuzzled her skin.

"Tony." She whispered.

He was falling for her. "Ok, guess I will just have to use my imagination." He captured her lips once again slightly more forceful this time but still sweet and gentle. He pulled back slightly and her fingers slid down his cheek as her thumb traced his bottom lip and the hint of lipstick that was left behind.

One more deep breath and he stood extending his hand, helping her up and leading her down the hall and out the coaches door. They stepped out into the warm sun and headed for pit road. Pulling the sun glasses down onto her face, she held his hand and her head up high amidst the stares and whispers of those watching them walk by. This was the first time anyone had a face to put with the rumors floating around. Tony hadn’t even had the chance to introduce her to his fellow drivers yet. He watched her out of the corner of his eye amazed at the confidence she showed, he grinned at her hand squeezing his letting him know she wasn’t comfortable but she could handle it. He squeezed it back and dropped a kiss to her cheek as they entered his pit.

Yeah, he was falling hard.

It was a hot day, 90 degrees in the shade and unfortunately there wasn’t much of it. Track temperature was reaching triple digits and the interior of the cars were reaching around 130.

"Pit in three Smoke." Zippy’s voice came across the radio to Tony. "How’s the car?"

"Perfect, don’t mess with anything." There was a pause. "How’s Angel? She given up yet?"

Greg looked to her. "Nope, she’s here with us giving me the thumbs up signal. How are you?"

"Hot. Really need to cool down."

"Ok boys, four tires, gas, and ice and water for the driver." Angel watched as Tony’s net came down and an ice pack and water bottle was passed to him, two cans of gas and four tires all went on in 14 seconds.

"What will he do with the ice?" She asked Nan who had been trying to help her understand the rules and happenings of a race.

"He will place it down the front of his fire suit to try and get his body temp down."

She leaned over to Greg. "He is ok right?"

He caught the concern and knew she didn’t understand what was going on. "With Tony it’s hard to tell. He isn’t one to complain about how he is feeling to much, he has driven through a lot worse. He’s hot and probably feeling pretty sick but he’ll be fine." She looked more scared now than she did before. "He’s ok, he really is."

In the end Tony’s car wasn’t strong enough to win but held tight for a 2nd place finish. Angel followed Nan and the rest of the crew to the hauler to meet Tony. He was feeling pretty bad and didn’t want to deal with the pit road mad house. The media was told he would do the interview but they had to come to him.

Angel stood off out of the way watching the team hustle to get the tools loaded and turned her attention to Tony as he started to climb from the car. He paused sitting on the door catching his breath and searching for her. He winked as he swung his legs out of the car and then Angel watched in horror as he disappeared below the car. "Tony."

Greg turned to see Tony on the ground pushing himself back up so he was sitting against the car. He hurried to his side as Angel froze in place. "Get the doc."

"I’m fine. My legs just weren’t there to catch me." He half smiled trying to laugh it off as he tried to find Angel through the crowd that had gathered around him.

"Get the media out of here. Interviews later." A voice came from behind them all as a hand was placed on Angel’s shoulder. "Go on it’s ok." She turned to see Joe urging her forward towards her husband, she knelt beside him.

Tony saw the fear on her face. "I’m ok, really."

The Gibbs Racing doctor appeared and they got Tony into the hauler. He was quickly put on an IV for sever dehydration and they were watching him for Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Angel and Tony were finally left alone for a few minutes in the back of the hauler.

"This a typical race." She said staring off at the wall, anything other than Tony afraid her emotions would win the battle with her brain.

"Yeah, pretty much."

There was a moment of silence before she turned. "Then I don’t know why in the hell you do it." Tony was shocked, he thought she had enjoyed herself, Nan said she asked questions all day and studied what the crew was doing. He was suddenly disappointed, if she hated racing, this would never work. "I mean look at you, how on earth can you say that you enjoy this? You can’t walk, you have an IV in your arm."

Tony quickly realized she wasn’t talking about the actual race. "Whoa, slow down, come here." She just looked at him. "Please." Again she didn’t move.

Tony swung his legs over the couch and started to stand and then started to fall. "Ok." She dove to catch him and help him back to the couch. "Ok, I’m here." He pulled her onto the couch with him so she was laying between his legs.

He felt her body relax slightly as he ran his hand up and down her arm. "I meant the race was normal, the situations around it weren’t. It isn’t normally this hot, something must have been wrong with the fan cause the carbon monoxide isn’t usually a problem anymore. I haven’t been this dehydrated since last year at Bristol."

"So you aren’t usually this sick?" She looked up at him.

"No." He whispered as he brushed a lock of hair out of her face. He thought about giving her a hard time about caring about him so much but thought twice knowing how upset she was. He tightened his grip on her. "Stay here, I’m not ready to leave this yet." His hand tangled in her hair and both of them closed their eyes.

It had been another long stressful day for both of them. There had to be an end in site, he wasn’t sure how much more they could take.