**Chapter One**


The LA sun hung low in the sky, directly above the city. Shimmering from the reflected beams of light, her blue Mitsubishi Eclipse drove along the coastline, towards the suburbs. She glanced in her rear view mirror, her sunglasses reflecting what she was looking at. A smile crept in the sides of her lips as she brushed aside strands from her light brown hair blowing in the wind, and then continued driving into the heat.

Mia tapped her clipboard lightly as she leaned against a covered engine sitting on a workbench. "Business is slow Dom." She continued looking down at the gap beneath the gold Mazda Familia. "Dom, I don't think we can make it through to next summer." Still no reply. "Dom? Please can you just sit down and go through these figures with me?" The faint tinkering of a wrench could be heard from underneath the car. Still, he made no sign of recognition to Mia. "Fine, be like that then. When you get some time out of your hectic schedule, you know where I'll be." She said before turning and walking out of the garage door. "Chained to the counter at the deli as usual." She added loud enough for him to hear as she jumped into her car, threw her clipboard onto the passengers seat, slammed her door then sped off out the driveway of the garage.

The wrench clanked as it dropped to the concrete floor. Dom pushed himself on the trolley from underneath the car and looked to see smoke from Mia's burnout replacing the vision of her car. He frowned and shook his head, mostly to himself, then went back under the car and back to work.


It had been three months since the hijacking fiasco. Officer Brian O'Conner was no more. After a brief period back in traffic duties he decided to opt for early retirement from the force. It wasn't after all what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Although his superior, Tanner, was disappointed, he accepted Brian's decision but only until the case of the hijacked trucks had been completely closed and the perpetrator in police custody.

Brian had killed Johnny Tran and Lance, luckily enough, had amnesia from the fall he took down the hill on his motorbike. The truck heists were pinned on them and the Torreto gang had the slate wiped clean. Brian felt, after experiencing the closeness of this group, it was the least he could do. For Mia's sake, especially. The only exception was that the whole team; Vince, Leon, Letty, Jesse, Dom and even Mia, were on a no racing ban for life.


But he hadn't seen any of them. He'd gone up to the hospital to visit Jesse and Lance once just to see how they were doing but Dom had stayed close to both of them while they recovered so Brian thought it best to stay away. For now at least. He had hoped that letting Dom drive away from the scene of the last accident would put him back in Dom's good graces, but no amount of contact, not even in its most remote measure, had been made.

Vince had come so close to having his arm amputated but one last specialist was called in and saved the procedure and in time the crushed veins in his arm healed allowing the blood flow to his fingers. The gunshot in his abdomen had grazed his liver and pierced one of his kidneys so he had lost that but other than eight weeks laid up in hospital, endless police interrogating him till he was blue in the face but not until he was out of denials, he was released.

Jesse had suffered multiple bullet wounds to his chest and came extremely close to dying. Too close. But he pulled through. He spent about the same amount of time in hospital as Vince so they were both transferred into the same room to keep each other company. At times they would bicker, Vince picking on his little brother, but most of the time they spent trying to beat each other at the Playstation that had been set up in their room.

Leon had followed through with the backup plan if anything had ever gone wrong in one of the heists. He had dropped Dom back at their house before he and Letty gassed it to Mexico. He had thought it best they stay there till they had heard otherwise from anyone else. The whole time down there neither of them could feel relaxed about anything. Leon especially felt helpless. He felt like he should have been there to help Dom with any situation that may have been brewing in LA instead of camped up in some swank motel down in Baja. But only two weeks later they received the phone call they had been waiting for impatiently and finally made their way back home.

Letty had been pretty beat up by the car accident but it wasn't much she could handle. She missed Dom terribly while she was away. She missed everyone but she was definitely grateful Leon was there with her. Until they were called to say the dust had settled back home, none of them had heard or knew about Vince's condition or even if they had found Jesse yet before Tran had gotten to him. She always tried to stay calm and focused, her tough exterior shadowing her real fears and anxieties. But it was all too much for her, and it had only been two weeks. Things had been put into perspective since the separation of the group, for everyone. And she just couldn't wait to be back in the arms of the one she loved most.

Mia wasn't the same. Her fling with Brian may have been brief but she still felt the void of his absence. It was finally as though she had found someone that actually got along with the group, her family. And to even have Dom's acceptance of Brian was just the most rare and amazing thing she had every experienced. She wouldn't say she was in love with Brian but she did have a strong attraction to him. And he was gone. Nobody had heard from him. Nobody wanted to hear from him. She would often try to busy herself with doing the business accounts and trying to keep on top of their family's waning profits but it didn't do much. Just made her even more stressed at the thought of selling the only things they have left reminding them of their parents. The garage was Dom's and the Grocery store was Mia's, but both weren't territorial about any of it.

Dom was stressing too but nobody realised. He kept it to himself. As if anybody else didn't have enough to worry about. He knew the reason why business was slow. After being completely ruled out from racing at all, not even at Race Wars, his popularity dropped, along with his profits. Racers didn't want to have the cars kitted out by an old 'has been'. Some new person had reclaimed his throne down at the old strip they used to race at and the DT Team had been forgotten. Dom felt old. Letty had changed. She had started becoming, how would you put it, like a girl. Gone were the days of silver chains hanging around her neck, short singlets and tight leather pants. Now it was knee length skirts, pastel blouses and subtle make up. No jewellery, big boots, nothing. Her hair is even a lighter shade of brown instead of the black it used to be. Although he loved her and would accept her any way that she was, even her attitude had changed. She was polite, didn't like getting messy anymore, would rather spend her time with Mia down at the grocery store than with the boys and the hood of a car, grease and everything.
He wanted the old Letty back. The adventurous Letty, the playful Letty. He just wanted everything to be as it was before Brian ever showed up on the scene.


She had been driving for what seemed like a decade now and felt relieved to be in LA finally. On her way into town she couldn't help but notice the large amount of kitted up cars entering and leaving the city. She knew she'd fit right in once she met the right people. After all, people love other people with accents.

She pulled into a gas station, her engine purring as she brought it to an easy halt. Stepping out of the car, the attendant first noticed her golden tanned toes in her strapped sandals. His eyes moved up her tanned legs, over her knee-length blue, summer dress, her slightly muscled arms. He caught his attention on the way her dress crossed over her chest, like a nightgown worn by some adored film star, the vintage style of it all showing off her casual mood. Her light brown hair glistened under the scorching sun, strands of blond becoming more noticeable. The attendant swallowed the growing lump in his throat as the whole show seemed to reveal itself in slow motion. She removed her sunglasses from her eyes and shook her head, letting the cool breeze flow through her hair. Placing her glasses on top of her head she walked casually around to her gas tank and began pumping her gas.

Fumbling off his chair the attendant rushed to her aid, much to the dislike of a few waiting customers. "Ahh here let me take that for you." He managed to stumble out as he grabbed the pump from her hand.

He caught her off guard but she smiled at his slight geekiness. "Thanks," she said glancing at his nametag, "Eddie." She walked warily inside the shop to pay for her petrol, noticing the slight glimpse of what looked like dribble coming from the side of Eddie's mouth. Making a mental note to grab a map of LA when Eddie comes back inside, she walked to the back of the store and found the pay phone she had been looking for. Her cell phone had run out of steam way before she hit the state line and she couldn't find her charger in her bag so instead of fishing it out of the boot, she thought she'd call him when she arrived into town.
She pulled out a small piece of paper that had been folded and tucked away neatly in her wallet. Glancing from the paper to the numbers on the phone as she dialled his phone number, she felt her stomach flip. She had to question it though.

"Hi, I'm not home right now so leave a message and I'll call you back. Later."

She laughed slightly then put the phone back on the hook. Noticing Eddie was now back in the store waiting for her to pay for her gas she smiled at him and walked up to the counter. "Sorry for making you wait Eddie."

Eddie blushed as she said his name. "Oh, that's no problem at all ma'am. Just the gas was it?"

"Ah, actually I was wondering if you could help me out a little. You wouldn't happen to have a map of LA around would ya Eddie?" Her thick accent making her more the noticeable.

"Oh you're not from around here. I could tell you know. You sound different." He let out a small snort as he laughed then brought himself back together. "Yeah sure. No extra charge seen as though you ain't local."

She smiled looking out at her car. "Thanks Eddie." She paid for her petrol and left him a little extra. "You've been a great help." She then walked confidently back to her car, started her engine which vibrated the whole petrol station, then moved off without the usual fuss of a car with such power.