Hey, so this idea struck me yesterday and I haven't been let go of it. I'm surprised it grew so vividly when I initially just wanted a one shot but I knew it wouldn't be enough. So, I'm going to take a huge leap of faith and jump head first into this fandom with a multi chapter. Since, I haven't written these characters before I sincerely hope I don't screw them up too much. And I really, really hope you guys enjoy the characters I introduce since this is set well into the future. Hopefully, I'll live up to it 3

So, sit back, relax, and don't hate me for this cliche opening line. This is just the start.

Love, Brooke xx

Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters. I own all OCs, characterization of Jack O'Conner and Vince's son, Nico. I also own intellectual property.


"Ah, shit," came the muffled sound from under the popped hood of the car sitting near the garage doors. It was mixed with the strained sounds of radio static coming from the back room where Nico was, no doubt, trying to find an acceptable station to play music for their long afternoon. It was a futile task, mainly because Nico was picky, and because it was a Thursday afternoon, which meant very little variety outside of top 100s.

Brian O'Conner groaned, cursing under his breath again. He'd changed his shirt just twenty minutes ago and he'd already got grease on this one. He was starting to wonder if there was anything left in his wardrobe that didn't look like it was greasy rags stitched together. For a multi millionaire, he sure did look like a mess.

"Fuck this," he said, shaking his head and stepping back from the car. He wiped his fingers on his shirt, knowing it was a lost cause. He unbuttoned it and tossed it aside, hissing as the hot, sticky air hit his bronzed, scarred skin. His white tank was already sticking to him. Walking to the sink in the corner, he examined his exhausted expression in the mirror on the wall. He looked little like the bright, naive twenty three year old who'd come to California, eager to earn himself a Detective badge. Countless car wrecks, reckless driving, gunfire, and changed locations had left him with a scar riddled body, odd tan lines, and a constantly paranoid brain. He washed his hands, wincing at his expression as he hummed idly under his breath. Man, Mia was going to have a field day teasing him. He narrowed his eyes at the three new grey hairs that had decided to make an appearance amidst the dirty blonde. Yeah, long gone were the days when he thought he'd be young forever. Still, he didn't mind trading it all in for the one thing that he saw in his reflection that had rarely been there before. A sparkle in those blue eyes. Not just a sparkle from an adrenaline rush, or from excitement. Just genuine happiness and content that was always there, despite everything.

"Hey, Nico!" he called out. "Quit messing with that. Take lunch. Come on."

He heard the radio static fade into silence before the office door cracked open and his nephew walked out. Well, he wasn't his nephew technically. He wasn't related to him, even by law. It's not like Dom had adopted him or anything. Nico had been an adult when his mother died. It was more like Nico had adopted them, heading straight for California for the only family he had left after his mum was shot point blank, right in the middle of the fruit market. Nico had been devastated, but not at all surprised. He'd made peace with the fact that Vince had made a lot of enemies, and they were bound to extract debts on his leftover family.

When he'd first shown up at Dom's doorstep during one of the Sunday brunches, Brian had panicked. After spending their initial years in the DR, they'd decided to move back to California for simply two reasons. First, because they knew their enemies wouldn't think to search so close to their home. They'd expect them to get as far away from LA as possible, instead of moving only a few minutes away. Second, because, well, they'd missed home. When they'd packed up and moved to Anaheim, it had been strictly agreed that everyone was going to stay out of any shady business and not attract attention to themselves.

Although the Orange County crew knew them well enough, staying out of their old world afforded them anonymity without any lack of backup, in case anyone came sniffing around. Even when Dom had reassured Brian that it had been his invitation that Nico had followed, Brian had been paranoid for weeks. Comfort was not a luxury he could afford. Somehow, every time they got comfortable, well, shit happened.

"I'm going to break that radio," Nico's voice came, breaking Brian out of his reverie. The aggressive tone in the boy's voice made him sound so much like Vince that, for a second, Brain tensed. But he also knew that Nico was probably one of the kindest souls on the planet. His bark was louder than any bite. Actually, he didn't even bite.

"And I'm going to take it out of your paycheck if you touch that thing," Brian joked, smacking him upside the head. The two of them ambled over to where there was a small table and foldable chair set up, a huge table fan whirring away. The blast of wind was welcome. It was mid July and temperatures were soaring. It was one of the hottest summers in a long time.

The two of them sat in comfortable silence, the only sounds being unwrapping saran and cracking open of cans. The two of them split a beer, touching their Fosters cans in a silent cheers. Nico liked taking full advantage of his recently reached legal age. It would amuse them to no end when Dom would come back and find the cans, and grumble something about finding anything other than Corona in his garage. Then, Brian would do the usual comeback of how it was his garage too. Then, Nico would make an offhand comment about Dom having shitty taste in beer.

It was a routine they all had pat down. So pat down that Brian's hand was already moving to his pocket a moment before it actually started ringing.

"What's up?" he asked, knowing exactly who was on the other end.

"Don't even ask," came a tired voice and he sighed sadly. He hated hearing her sound so exhausted, no matter how proud he was of her work.

"Long day?"

"The longest. Drunk teenagers crashed their car on the highway. It led to a pile up. Two survivors out of nine, and they don't look they're going to make it either. It's been hell," Mia said, and Brian knew it would be a longer night. Even though she put her heart into her work, she hated it when circumstances were out of their hands. She mourned for every death that she saw. She'd seen enough car crashes involving teenagers, right from when she'd been an intern. Now, as a senior nurse, she still maintained that they were glad their kids were out of the racing scene. God, Brian thought, not for the first time. We were such stupid kids. They'd done their part in sharing their love for cars with their kids, but they were glad this was behind them. They'd raised them to be responsible drivers.

"I'll have the nice wine ready when your shift ends," he replied to his wife, and he could almost see the sad smile on her face.

"Thanks. I should go. Just wanted to hear your voice. I'll see you later at home."

"Love you," he replied, aiming a kick at Nico who was making a gagging noise.

"You too. And, don't forget, you're making dinner today. I'm just not up to it."

"So, we're ordering pizza then?" he chuckled. He could barely boil water.

"Yeah, I guess."

She hung up after that, and Brian leaned back, putting a hand on his stomach. He felt full but the conversation about the dead teens had put him in a sour mood. Even tinkering with a car could do little to fix it. Given how many deaths they'd all caused in their lifetime, it surprised him how he hadn't grown desensitized to it.

"Hey," Nico spoke up. "Tio Dom will be here in ten. You head on home."

"You sure?" he asked, knowing that the kid had picked up on the mood.

"Yeah, get out of here."

Brian nodded thankfully and grabbed his dirty shirts. Tossing them into the backseat, he got into his car and pulled out of the garage. He hummed in relief at the thrum of the car under his hands. He denied it but Mia swore he'd been on the verge of tears when the kids had gotten their own car and they didn't need the minivan. Brian had happily exchanged that useless vehicle for a Supra in a heartbeat. He loved his children but he'd quickly gotten bored of driving a car that could fit booster seats.

He was four blocks from home when his cellphone rang again. He frowned. He didn't think he had any engagements left today. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID, where Gisele's name flashed.

"Hey, what's up?" he answered. "I thought you were at your friend's?"

"I am," she replied. "But Jack bailed on me. I need a ride home. Can you pick me up?"

"Uh, sure," he said. "Which friend is this again?"

She sighed, and then spoke up."

"Lauren."

He remained silent, knowing she'd pick up on his cluelessness.

"The blonde one who lives on Lincoln."

"Right," he said, immediately picturing the house. "Give me ten."

Ten minutes later, he pulled up outside the white colored house and honked twice. The front door opened a minute later and two teenagers stepped out. They hugged and the blonde one – Lauren – waved at him.

"Hi, Mr. O'Conner!" she called out.

Smiling in a friendly manner, he rolled down the window and waved back at her. Gisele waved goodbye to her friend and jogged up the driveway, throwing her overnight bag into the backseat. Getting into the front, she promptly put on her seatbelt as they pulled out.

"Nice sleepover?"

"Lauren bullied me into watching horror movies," she groaned, sinking into her seat. "I'm going to have nightmares for weeks."

"You're so paranoid," he grinned, poking his daughter's arm. She gave him a look.

"You know, if you just let us get you a car you wouldn't need to rely on your brother for a ride," he reminded her. She groaned.

"Not this again. I don't need a car. Everyone I know lives close enough, and Jack doesn't mind sharing the Prius. It's a waste of money."

Now, it was his turn to give her a look. Although the kids in this family had very sketchy ideas of how their parents had hoards of money – mostly from dodging questions and awkward changes in topic – they were aware of how rich they were. Buying a car for Gisele would barely be scratching the surface, let alone putting a dent.

"You want to spend money on me? Save it for the Ivy League I'll get into," she added.

"I have two years to panic about that. For now, you're stuck with us." He gave her a half hearted smile. He loved how driven she was, aiming high and getting glorious grades. She was an all rounder. Mia and Brian had an entire trophy case of pride for her, all kinds of medals from top grades and extra curricular activities. But it still stung to think about how his kids were going to leave soon.

"What's for dinner today?" she asked, as they pulled into their own driveway.

"We're ordering in," he said, getting out of the car. Gisele cringed as she got out.

"Bad day in the trauma ward?" she asked, referring to Mia.

"Don't even get me started."

But Gisele was already busy on her phone.

"Hey," Brian asked, after he'd showered and settled in front of the television. Gisele was sitting at the breakfast counter, watching some kind of YouTube video. She paused and turned.

"Where did your brother go? Why wasn't he around to pick you up?"

She shrugged.

"I didn't ask. He just said he was meeting up with some friends."

Brian narrowed his eyes at her. He was rather unfortunate – his expert lying gene had passed onto both his kids. It had been a terror when Jack had been younger, and he was just lucky Gisele wasn't someone who had a lot to lie about. They were good. But not good enough to trump someone who'd known them their whole lives.

"Liar," he accused, muting the TV. "Does he have a secret girlfriend or something?"

She froze at that, her mouth shaped like an 'O'. It was a bit amusing. She looked so much like Mia in the moment – her dark hair slightly frizzy from the heat, her dark eyes wide in shock, her brown skin flushed from being caught in a lie.

"He – asked me not to say anything. Please don't tell him you know something. Or Mom. It's not my story to tell. Please," she begged.

Brian sighed.

"You don't get to ask me to keep secrets from your mom. I won't ask him, but it's bothering me why he can't just tell us. We don't really have a problem with him dating. He's not seeing a convict, is he?" he joked.

Gisele rolled her eyes.

"No, I don't know why he wants to keep it quiet. But he does. So, please, don't ask."

"I won't, I told you. But if he doesn't say anything in the next few weeks, I will. He shouldn't have to keep that a secret from us."

Gisele cringed. Brian simply turned back to the TV, more bothered by the lie than he let show on his face.


The fact that his son was lying to him about some girl, combined with the sour mood from his wife's day, and the heat, had left Brian in a rotten state by the time dinner came around. Even Mia didn't try cheering him up, her own sad mood stopping her from attempting. Gisele remained awfully quiet the whole time the three of them sat in the den, the TV playing some rerun of some crime show. He changed the channel when he saw the FBI jackets, the costumes hitting too close. He flipped to the news.

The doorbell rang and Gisele looked up.

"It can't be here that fast," she said, referring to the pizza she'd ordered only ten minutes ago. Getting up, she went and opened the door. She stood stunned for a second before she smiled widely, thankful for something to lighten the mood.

"Uncle Dom!" she grinned, throwing her arms around his waist. She wasn't exactly tall enough to hug him around the shoulders, and he laughed, hugging her back.

"Hey, kid. Your parents home?" he asked. Gisele nodded, greeting Nico and her Aunt Letty in a similar manner. The last person to enter the house was her youngest cousin. Hanley wasn't exactly her only cousin – Gisele knew her dad had an estranged sister somewhere who had kids. They'd probably met once or twice at her parents' wedding, and she'd been so young back then that she didn't really remember them. For all intents and purposes, Hanley and Nico were her only cousins. She knew little of her paternal family, and she knew that's exactly how her dad wanted it.

"Hey Gigi," the twelve year old girl in question said. Gisele high fived her. Hanley was the only one allowed to call her that, and that was only because it took the kid forever to learn the pronunciation when she was younger.

"Come on," she said, putting an arm around her cousin and led her to the den. Brian and Mia were standing, both appearing to be much happier at the surprise visit.

"Brian, got a beer?" Dom asked, tilting his head in the direction of the kitchen. Gisele watched with curiosity as Brian nodded, getting up and following the older man out of the room. She would never get over all the silent conversations this family was capable of. She wondered what they had to talk about.

"Hey," she heard, and turned to watch her aunt put an arm around her mother. Mia leaned into Letty, resting her head on her sister in law's shoulder. Letty didn't say any words of comfort, already sensing the work stress she must be under. Nico and Hanley stood awkwardly in the doorway, not knowing what to say or do.

"Come on," Gisele told them. "Let's go to my room. My friend, Lauren, let me borrow some DVDs. We'll watch a movie."

The two of them looked grateful, happily following her up the stairs.


Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Dom leaned against the island with his arms crossed. Brian was slow in getting out the chilled Corona bottle, searching for the bottle opener. He already knew from Dom's stance that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear. He felt like childishly covering his ears and running away. His day couldn't exactly get worse. But he couldn't not know either. When he couldn't waste any more time, he passed the bottle to Dom and sighed.

"What is it?"

"Hobbs," Dom said, not bothering to sugarcoat or build up the talk. Brian closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. This could not be happening. They had been out of this nonsense for sixteen years. They'd taken an oath to stay out of it when Jack was born, and then broken it twice. After Gisele came into the world, Brian had backed out and meant every word. And, frankly, while Dom had some trouble staying out of it, he'd been diligent in keeping his promise after Hanley had been born. Brian and Dom both knew that even when they were at their weakest and tempted, they only had to remember the people they'd named their kids after to get a harsh reality check.

"Dom. You remember what we swore. I'm not flying around the world and leaving my family behind. Again," Brian whispered, worried that one of the kids would overhear.

"That's the problem. It's not another country's problem. It's not even another state's problem. It's in L.A. It's too close to home."

"What is too close to home?" Brian asked, standing up straighter.

"Ivankov."

Brian shook his head, his fist clenching and unclenching.

"Fuck," he allowed himself to swear. That was a name he didn't want anything to do with.

Alexei Ivankov was someone he'd known even before he'd gone undercover in L.A. Head of a small splinter cell in the Russian mob, Ivankov had started off as a small time drug dealer near San Diego. He'd caused some local problems, but the FBI had assigned a small team to work with SDPD for it back then. Nobody was too worried. San Diego was too close to Braga's territory, even on this side of the border. They knew that the possibility of a mob war was slim to none. Ivankov had been too unimportant to the Russians, and Braga wasn't a match for him.

But after Braga had been taken out, and so had the Shaw brothers, the sixteen years since then had let Ivankov spread his roots. He'd moved on from being a drug dealer to full on smuggling, and arms dealing. He was making his way north across the state, expanding his territory. He'd already established himself well in L.A, and Brian knew all too well what illegal arms trade in this region would do to the area where they lived. It wouldn't be long before someone figured out who they were and tried to stir something up. What was worse was having their kids thrown into the mixture.

"What are you saying Dom? That we do the whole routine again? Think about what you're saying. It's been too long. Everyone has moved on. We're not young anymore. We've got teenage kids. We're scattered. And even if we do it, then what? Someone dies again? We have to move again? We can't do that to the kids. We've got it good. Let's just –"

"Stay out of it? I really hope that's how your sentence was going to end," Mia interrupted, looking angry as she walked up to them. Her face showed that Letty had already told her what was going on.

"Yeah, it was," Brian reassured her, a little offended that she suspected he'd say anything else.

"We can't do this, Dom," Letty said. So that's why they'd come over. Letty wanted them to help her convince Dom to stay out of it.

"You think Ivankov won't hesitate to come to Anaheim? You know what that's going to do? To our garage?" he asked, turning to Brian. "To the kids? You think any of their classmates won't get roped into this shit? How old were we when we messed with the wrong people, Brian? You think they won't?"

"They won't!" Mia stressed. "We raised them to not get into this stuff. We raised them to stay out of it."

"And what if Ivankov figures out who they are? Then what? We may have never messed with the Russians before but that doesn't mean they don't know about us. They had their own connections. You think they don't know who fucked with Shaw? Or Braga?"

"I think you're forgetting what undercover work means," Brian hissed. "The whole point of moving back here was that we didn't have to worry about that."

"You would know," Dom snapped.

"Hey!" Mia snapped back. "Don't go there."

Dom scoffed, running a hand across his forehead.

"Look," he held his hand up, as if he was trying to talk to children. "We're not unknown in these parts, even if we've stayed out of the game. People talk. You think they don't notice our homes or the kind of money we spend? Or that no cops knock on our doors? That an ex-agent is amongst us? They know we're trouble, and they're either too scared to do anything or they've been waiting us out."

"And getting back into it is doing exactly what they want!" Brian replied, his voice heated. "What did Hobbs tell you? Why now? What does he want us to do?"

"Apparently Ivankov's been using the road networks for his arms dealing. But they've got intel that the kind of weapons they're about to make available are a whole new level. We're talking war-level equipment – on the fucking streets. In the wrong hands, we could be looking at riots every other week. Those things are going to be bad on the street."

The other three didn't say anything. Mia just shook her head and walked out, shrugging away when Letty tried to stop her. Brian just rested his elbows on the counter, his head in his hands.

"Fuck," he groaned. "Hobbs hasn't given us a choice, has he?"

"He has. He hasn't got any leverage on us when we've been clean all along. But don't pretend you don't miss it. You want in."

Brian didn't say anything. In that moment, he hated Dom. Not for bringing the news to him, but because he was exactly right.


Gisele wasn't concentrating on the movie, staring anxiously at her phone the whole time. She'd texted Jack at least three times by now and he hadn't replied. Every message said the same thing: Don't come home. Need to talk. Meet me in Trader Joe's parking lot when you're near.

Her phone buzzed and she jumped, looking at her brother's message : Come. I'm waiting.

She jumped up from the bed, and Nico threw her a look like he knew exactly what was up. Well, he did, but he knew better than to spill any secrets. He wasn't one to cause trouble in someone else's family.

"Occupy her," Gisele mouthed, pointed at Hanley. Nico nodded.

"I got this," he mouthed back. "Go."

"I'm going down. This is boring," Gisele announced, out loud. Hanley, from her spot on the floor, merely waved her off.

Gisele jogged down the stairs, peering into the kitchen. She saw that it was empty and ran to the fridge. The carton of Greek yogurt was still one fourth full but she took it out. She silently asked for forgiveness for being wasteful before she took a spoon and emptied the contents in the sink. Running water over it, she threw the carton in the trash and loudly said, "Oh, no. We're out of yogurt."

"What?" Mia called out from the den. Gisele grabbed her keys from the counter before going to the den. Her parents and aunt and uncle sat in silence, watching TV. All of them looked solemn, but she had other things on her mind to worry about it.

"We're out of yogurt. I'm going to go buy some."

"Why?" Brian frowned. "Just put it on the list. We don't need it tonight."

"No, tonight is smoothie night," Gisele said, shrugging. Her parents sighed. They had given up questioning her strict dietary quirks a long time back. "Besides, Trader Joe's is, like, a two minute walk. I'll come back in ten."

She waved bye and then practically ran down to the shop. When she spotted the silver Prius in the lot, she climbed into the passenger seat. Her brother was leaning back with his eyes closed, but he whispered a greeting.

"Please, please, tell me you didn't spend the day in Palm Springs," Gisele whispered. Jack opened his eyes, turning his icy gaze to her. She had long grown immune to the unnerving feeling. Even when he was being warm, the blue color prevented it from shining through.

"What do you think?" he replied. She groaned.

"Look. Dad knows I'm covering for you. He asked today."

Jack quickly sat up, all laziness vanishing and replaced with a mix of anger and fear.

"Please tell me you didn't open your mouth."

"What do you think I am? An idiot? No, I didn't say anything. He thinks you have a secret girlfriend so I just acted guilty and played along. So, for now, you have a girlfriend."

"Christ, Gisele!" he said angrily. "Couldn't you have said anything else?"

"And have him think even I'm lying? No, thanks. Look, he promised he won't ask any questions but he's upset you're lying about dating someone. He said if you don't say anything in a couple of weeks, he'll confront you. I've only bought you that window, so come up with an excuse."

"Oh, this is so convenient," he slammed his hands on the steering. "How upset did he sound?"

"He said you shouldn't have to lie about dating and he's worried if it's someone who is bad news."

Jack snorted. "Ironic."

"Shut up," Gisele said in an icy tone. "We were clear about that one. I keep your secret, you keep mine."

"I know that," Jack snapped. "Trust me that's the only reason I'm even keeping quiet about this shit."

"Well maybe you shouldn't! What you're doing is illegal. Maybe you shouldn't be doing it all."

"You don't get to lecture me about legality when what you're doing is illegal too."

"Don't be an ass. What you're doing is dangerous. You could die. It's street racing! What you're doing could get you killed!"

"And what you're doing is equally bad. Danny isn't good news, Gisele."

"We're not having this conversation again. Look, I only called you here to give you a heads up. Either you get better at excuses, or you find yourself a girlfriend to bring home."

"Fine. But for now, we still have our deal. You keep my secret."

"And you keep mine."