AN: Hey guys! Years after publishing it, I've actually rewritten this story. A few chapters are mostly the same, but I've added a few scenes and there's more chapters now. I've taken your reviews into consideration as well, so some of the changes are based on your recommendations. The general storyline is still the same, as is the outcome.
To those of you who've read the old version: I'd love to know if you think this is an improvement. Thank you so much for your helpful reviews so far!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, except for my OCs.
It all started with that fucking phone call. Or perhaps it didn´t. Perhaps it started the second Brian decided to hand over the keys to his Supra to Dom, choosing him and the crew over his job.
And since Brian wasn´t exactly the type of guy who did things by halves once he´d made a decision, he'd made sure that all evidence disappeared, even the fingerprints on the cars. There had been nothing left to tie the hijackings back to Dominic Toretto or any member of his crew, for that matter. Brian´s superiors had been mad at him like hell, but he'd sat right through it all, knowing that for once in his life he'd done the right thing.
He hadn´t exactly anticipated that they would fire him right away, though. For all his skills and potential, he would´ve thought he´d get a second chance. But the LAPD had needed a scapegoat and so he'd had to hand over his badge and his gun and had walked out of the office in disgrace.
After that, it took some time for him to regain his footing. He didn't work at Harry´s anymore, since he didn´t fancy coming face to face with Dom ever again. He did like his life enough to want to continue living it for a bit longer. And he was quite sure that if Dom would get a hold of him, he´d beat the ever-loving shit out of Brian for sneaking his way into his family and then betraying them all. You didn´t mess with Dominic Toretto like that. Not without him coming back at you.
Still, he couldn´t bring himself to leave the city, either. So, Brian had found work at yet another store like Harry´s, trading car parts for a good part of the day. The owner didn´t ask too many questions about his past, once he had proven to be very familiar with the business which was all that mattered to his new boss.
He´d found himself a small apartment near his workplace, which was really more of a single room with a stove in the corner and a small bathroom attached to it. The neighbourhood wasn´t the safest of all, either, and it was rather shabby, but it was all Brian could afford, since selling his car, the only one he still possessed, had never even been an option to him.
Three months after the car keys-event, Brian had managed to get used to his new life. He avoided Dom´s house, the garage and the general vicinity, and so far he hadn´t met any of them. Still, he couldn´t quite keep from looking over his shoulder from time to time.
He was busy going through a list of special parts for one of their regular customers and was making a mental list of where to go looking for them, when his mobile went off, startling him out of his deep concentration.
The number had been disabled which made Brian feel a bit uneasy. He didn´t get many calls these days and none of his contacts ever blocked their number.
"Hello?" Brian answered, keeping his voice even.
"Am I speaking to Brian O´Conner?" It was the deep voice of a man that Brian couldn´t recall he´d ever heard before.
Still, it set him on edge that the caller knew his real last name. It was known almost exclusively to the LAPD, since he had chosen to give his new employer another fake surname. He was paid cash and his boss hadn´t required any documents for identification purposes which had made it easy enough for him.
"That depends on who you are," Brian replied after a short pause. His curiosity was getting the better of him. And talking to someone on the phone couldn't really be dangerous, now, could it?
"Someone who would very much like to meet you," came the simple response.
Okay, where phone calls posed no threat, a meeting was another thing. "Just exactly why´d you think I´d agree to such a proposal?" Brian was getting annoyed. He didn´t like people who beat around the bush and wasted his time. Who did this guy think he was?
The man must have registered the alteration in his tone, for his reply was blunter this time. "I know what you did for Toretto, O´Conner. And I am fairly certain you would do next to everything to keep him and his friends out of trouble." There was another pause while the man let the information sink in before continuing. "I happen to have come upon something that links them to the hijackings."
"They have been cleared due to lack of said evidence, you know," Brian threw in, trying to sound bored and even a bit patronising, not allowing the growing nervousness to creep into his voice. He had an increasingly bad feeling about this.
"Well, if you are so sure of that you might just ignore my call, see what happens and regret not having listened afterwards. However, if you really care I´d recommend you meet me tonight at seven."
Brian really wanted to believe he hadn´t overseen any evidence. His instincts told him, though, that this was no empty threat and as much as he resented the idea that his devotion to Dom and the crew was evident even to this stranger, he wouldn´t take any risks.
So, instead of making some smartarse remark, he simply asked, "Where?"
"I knew you would be reasonable, O´Conner. Meet me at the train tracks where you let Toretto escape. And I know you´ve probably figured as much but just to be sure: don´t tell anyone about this." The line went dead and Brian was left to his thoughts, which for the rest of the day did not centre on special car parts.