Chapter 1: A Lament For Time
She didn't know where she was going, but she knew it was somewhere other than there. Her past hurt, and what hurt more was the betrayl she felt for what her team had done to her. Team Avalon was her life, it had been everything to her, she gave it everything, until it happened. She had been out of town on business for the garage when it happened. The team had quickly taken over, making Puck and Relec team leaders while they hotwired her beloved Nissan Skyline GTR and headed for the border to sell it. She'd been pissed. She'd gotten back to Tucson and immediately followed the team, and gotten her car back. She was pissed that they had ripped apart her ignition wires, and had taken off. She'd stopped long enough to get race money out of the garage, it all added up to about four grand, but it would have to do. She had to win a couple of races soon, or she'd be on the street - not that she wasn't all ready - all that she had were her car and the clothes on her back.
It was a beautiful car, an imported Nissan Skyline GTR-32 coloured royal purple with personalized decals. The hood and sides were adorned with a misty mettallic white pair of angel wings. On the hood, connecting the wings was an upside down cross, the same misty colour as the wings. Below the cross the words 'Fallen Angel' were printed in Latin. The car was worth well over a million dollars, especially because of all the work she'd put into it, and the sentimental value it held. The design was significant in her life, and was the reason why she never wore midriff bearing or sleeveless shirts. Across her back and shoulders, and moving slightly onto her ribs was the exact same design - only it wasn't ink, but scars.
Her sun-streaked light brown hair fell around her face in a mess as purple tinted sunglasses slid down her nose. She had bright violet eyes, and wore a pair of deep, malachite coloured cargo pants over black boots. Her black baby tee was purposely shredded in front, and read 'I leave bite marks' in blood red. None of this mattered to her though. She had nowhere to go in one of the most dangerous cities in the USofA. Los Angeles was enormous, and she was horribly lost. Her car made a sound, and smoke emmitted from under the hood and she groaned, but sighed in relief as she saw a small grocery on the corner, she pulled up into the parking lot and climbed out of the car, popping the hood and lifting it, waving smoke out of her face.
Her fan belt looked shredded, and two of her spark plugs were unsalvageable. The worst though, was the brand new radiator leak that was causing all of the smoke to come from the engine. All of them easily fixable, but of course, she didn't have the means to fix it with. She groaned to herself before slamming the hood down softly and heading into the grocery, noting a line of cars outside it, built for racing. She stepped inside, blasted immediately by the cool air of a fan as she moved over to the counter. A young latin woman stood behind the counter, conversing with a young mexican woman softly. A skinny, messy haired kid stood off to the side with a tall, handsome latin man. And another guy who hadn't shaved in days sat staring into space. She sat down and the woman behind the counter looked up.
"Can I get you anything?"
"Yeah, water, and the name of a good mechanic." She sounded tired, even to her own ears.
The woman's eyebrows shot up and she had the undivided attention of everyone in the store, "What's wrong with your car?"
"She's complaining at me. I've got a frayed fan belt, two shot spark plugs and a leaky radiator." Her eyes narrowed in though, "I'd fix it myself, but I'm new in town, and everything I have with me is sitting in front of you."
"Well, there's a garage around back, and most of the mechanics that work there are in the store at the moment, what kind of car you got girl?" The mexican woman asked.
"Skyline GTR-32."
Eyebrows went up and the two women exchanged a look, "You race?"
"I'm that obvious?" She laughed sarcastically, "And here I was trying to look like a stupid white girl - damn."
The first woman laughed, "I'm Mia Toretto, this is Letty Dominguez."
"Reighn Landcaster, call me Ray, or whatever."
Letty looked past Reighn and shouted, "Yo, Leon! She's got a Skyline, your territory, go have a look!"
The Latin man at the back of the store grinned wickedly and left, followed by the skinny kid. Letty sighed, "Your new mechanic, Leon Thanos, and our Mad Scientist, Jesse Monroe. The hobo behind you is Vince Black."
The guy grunted something unintelligable and lifted his head from the counter, "Can I have a couple pain killers Mia?"
Reighn smiled slightly and then frowned and cursed slightly, wincing, "Oooh, me to, me too!"
She sounded like a five-year-old who'd been given a cookie. Mia laughed, and complied.
A few moments later Leon and Jesse re-entered the store and Leon wandered over, "A couple hours tops if you take her 'round back."
Jesse spoke, "I fixed your wiring system for ya."
Reighn looked surprised, then frowned, "Thanks. I forgot about that. Can I use your phone?"
Mia nodded and led her back to where the phone was. Reighn picked it up and dialed a number.
"Hello?"
"Puck."
"Oh, shit. Ray."
"Yeah me."
"What you want girl? Where you at?"
"You think I'm gonna fall for that after what you pulled?! Hell no!"
"What are you talking about?"
Reighn scowled, "Don't play innocent with me David Lee Parker! You jacked my car you fucking prick! Not only that, but you took off with it to Mexico to sell it and kicked me off the team! You idiot!"
"Whoa! Calm down chica - "
"Calm down? You want me to calm down? Here's calm for ya! If I ever see you or anyone in the team again I swear to anyone who's listening that I'll kill you for all the shit you've put me through."
"Damn Ray, you got tons to look forward to!"
"I do? I have the clothes on my back, my frickin' car - which, by the way, is protesting your abuse - and four grand! All I have to look forward to is a park bench!"
"Come home - "
"No."
Reighn hung up the phone and sighed, then looked up to see five pairs of eyes staring at her. She groaned, "You heard all of that didn't you?"
"Yup."
Mia cut in, "You need a place to stay girl?"
"Kinda." Reighn shrugged and sat down, putting her head in our hands.
"I know." Letty said, "You can come home with us, and we can get Dom to give you a job in the garage. You can race with us."
Reighn looked up and smiled softly, "If I get to race, I'm not gonna complain."
~ * ~
Reighn sighed happily and streched as she let herself drift back to sleep. She rolled over onto her side, and pulled the covers to her chin, snuggling further into the embrace of the warm body next to her. She eyes snapped open and she gazed at Leon's face with wonderment. How had she gotten here? She remembered falling asleep on the couch. Maybe he brought her up to his room. She climbed carefully out of bed and wandered over to his closet, a small grin covering her features as she watched him roll over and wrap himself around the pillow she had just vacated. She scanned his clothes and settled for a pair of his blue jeans and white wife-beater. She slipped out of the room and into the bathroom, jumping into the shower quickly and dressing in Leon's clothes. She grinned to herself as she bucked the belt around her waist and looked up at her reflection. Why was it, that wearing a guy's clothes always made her feel safe? She shrugged to herself and ran a brush through her quickly drying hair before slipping from the room and back into Leon's. She tracked down her shoes and put them on, turning her gaze to the sleeping man next to her. He looked so peaceful asleep as he was. Like a three-year-old with his favorite teddy bear and his thumb jammed into his mouth - only, Leon wasn't sucking his thumb.
Reighn made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, where Mia and Letty sat talking over coffee while Mia cooked breakfast. Letty looked up and grinned at Reighn's new clothes, knowing exactly where she got them from, "Comfortable?"
Reighn returned Letty's smile, "Always."
Mia looked up and giggled slightly, "Aren't those Leon's?"
"Yep." Reighn replied as she sat down at the table, "He's not here to stop me."
A cheeky grin covered her face as a crash was heard upstairs followed by a loud curse. The three women exchanged a look and Mia spoke, "Looks like the peace and quite is gone till tomorrow girls. And I'll betcha fifty bucks that that either Vince or Dom."
"Nuh uh. You'd win girl." Letty replied with a snicker as a second curse followed the second, only the voice who said it was deeper. Vince and Dom both came clambering down the stairs in sport pants and boxers respectively. They stumbled into the kitchen and sleepily poured themselves a cup of coffee, both grumbling about it being too early in the morning. Reighn raised an eyebrow at Letty and muffled a laugh in her glass of orange juice while a wicked grin covered Letty's face. Mia giggled mercilessly and Letty spoke, "Nice boxers Dom."
Dom looked at Letty and then down at his apparrel, and with a curse he dashed upstairs, returning a moment later in pants, followed by a cross looking Jesse. Jesse poured himself some coffee and sat down next to Reighn, staring hard at her clothes for a moment before muttering confusedly, "Aren't those Leon's clothes?"
Reighn smirked, "Not for today they ain't."
Jesse shook his head as Leon entered the room and stopped in his tracks when his eyes landed on Reighn. He stared, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stared a minute more before stating to the world, "You're wearing my clothes...."
"Thank you for that statement Captain Obvious, would you like a cookie?" Reighn asked with a cheeky grin as Leon sat down next to Dom and glared at her balefully before muttering something under his breath and speaking.
"Am I gunna get 'em back?"
"Sure." Reighn replied. Mia snickered, Reighn continued, "But that doesn't mean I won't be wearing your clothes again tomorrow."
Letty let out a laugh, "Ooh. Ouch. Well, boys, I suggest you hurry, we gotta open shop in an hour."
Dom looked at the clock and cursed, and the rest of the morning became mayhem.
~ * ~
"Grah!!!!"
Leon looked up as Reighn hurled a wrench at the wall. It clattered to the floor and lay there motionless.
"Gee. What'd the wrench do to deserve such treatment?" Jesse questioned, looking up at her.
Reighn glared at the skinny kid, "Don't start boyo."
Leon smiled softly, she stood there in his clothes, his white tank covered in grease, smudges of the stuff under her right eye, strands of sun-kissed hair framing her face while here violet eyes sparkled with anger. So it wasn't a mini skirt and a tube top, she was still a vision. Leon stood from his position of sitting by Jesse and wandered over to her, pulling out a pink troll doll and placing it on her tool box. She looked at him questioningly and he just shrugged and went back to his chair. She turned to the troll and picked it up, gazing at it intently and then setting it down as a small smile graced her features. Jesse snikered, "Boy, you got it bad."
"Huh?"
"You just gave her the pink troll doll, you've had that thing floating around this place since we got here." Jesse remarked as Leon stared at him with a blank expression adorning his face. Leon just shrugged for the second time and returned to the jumble of tools on the floor in front of him. He frowned slightly and started organizing them so that they could go back where they belonged and glanced over at Reighn, who was now happily working on the Impala before her and shaking her hips slightly as the radio played in the background. She was singing along to a song about spider-man. Hadn't he seen Jesse doing the same thing? What was with that song and wiggling your hips with you fixed a car?
The low rumble of a engine interrupted his thoughts as a burnt orange Nissan 240XL pulled up and a guy with really long white hair got out of the car. He removed his sunglasses and looked around, missing Reighn as she ducked behind the hood of the car again. The guy wandered over to him as Dom walked over, "I'm looking for Reighn Landcaster, I was told she's working here."
"Who're you?"
The guy turned ice blue eyes to Jesse, "Call me Puck."
Leon frowned as Jesse's open, friendly look dissapeared. Dom spoke, "Beat it. She doesn't want to see you - or any of you for that matter."
Puck's eyes narrowed, "Who the hell are you to say what she wants or not?"
Dom's eyes narrowed, "Watch it boy. You ain't on your block anymore, I rule here."
Leon stood, "Just leave her alone."
"I have a right to see her." Puck shot back.
"No you don't. Not after what you did two weeks ago, so I'd watch my mouth esa." Leon said, stepping forward.
Reighn appeared in his line of sight, her head cocked to one side as she stood behind Puck, pink troll doll clutched in one hand. "What the hell do you want Puck?"
Puck turned and grinned, "Just to talk Ray."
Her eyes narrowed and she shook her fist, which, coincidentally was clutching the troll doll in his face. She noticed, turned red before hiding it behind her back and saying, "We've got nothin' to talk about."
Puck's eyes narrowed again and he took her arm, "We're going to talk."
"No you're not." Vince's voice came from behind them and Puck looked around. Four ment stood glaring at him, Leon looked about ready to rip his guts out, Jesse was red with anger, Dom looked livid and Vince had his arms crossed across his chest, one eyebrow raised, "You're gonna let Ray go, you're gonna get in your little car, and go back to whatever crevasse you crawled out of."
Puck let go, knowing he was outnumbered, "This isn't over." he told Reighn as he got in his car and left.