Mandated community service meant at 24 years old Dom had returned to high school. As if it hadn't sucked the first time around – although this time at least there was no homework. The position was an office assistant for the staffed nurse, which meant Dom quickly became familiar with cleaning up after hung-over students, changing sheets on the resting cots, and stocking supplies. Basically he was a janitor. Students avoided him, which he was thankful for, it meant he could usually get through the day with minimal conversation. The nurse was an okay lady – prematurely gray and quiet. She had zero biological children and was responsible for approximately eight hundred others that she treated as her own. Dom could tell she genuinely cared for the teenagers, God knows how; he had mopped up enough regurgitated cheap vodka to already be sick of them.

The position had few benefits but the biggest and most important one was that by cooperating Dominic Toretto did not have to go to jail. Secondly, he reported to the school at 8:00 AM and was released at 2:00 in the afternoon so he still had time to work at the shop. At 22 years old Mia could handle running the store until he got there and the boys handled the garage business. As he neared the end of the third week of his service Dom noticed a familiar face walk into the nurse's office. Jaida Grazziati was the youngest child of Joseph Grazziati – a close friend to Dom's late father. After his dad died Joseph stopped coming around but since he lived less than a block from the garage the families would run in to each other every now and again. Last year Joseph and one of his two sons met a cement overpass support wall head on going nearly 100 mph. The irony that he had died in nearly the same manner as Dom's father didn't escape Dom. Maybe the old bastards were sipping beer in the afterlife, wagering on whose car reached top speed first. Dom, Letty, Mia and the boys attended the funeral – the Grazziati boy had grown up with them and their respects needed to be paid to the surviving family; Joseph's 14 year old daughter Jaida and 19 year old son Marco. Since Marco had graduated from high school the year before and was working steadily at another local garage, the state allowed Jaida to remain in the home under his supervision. Dom had occasionally sent Mia to their house with homemade meals and cash but he always found the same amount of money in his mailbox the next day. The Grazziatis were raised like the Torretos and their pride would not allow them to take unearned money.

Dom continued re-filling a metal cabinet with gauze and band-aids while listening to the nurse's conversation with Jaida. The girl apparently had a migraine and requested to spend the class period on a cot in the dark resting room. The nurse handed Jaida two small pills, Dom guessed they were Tylenol or something similarly ineffective for a migraine, and a cup of water and led her past the metal cabinet to the resting room. As Jaida walked past Dom he was reminded by her small size; she couldn't have been taller than 5'3" and lean from running track. Her stature, combined with large green eyes and a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose made Jaida look even younger than 15. Dom silently nodded to her when she caught his eye, she gave an almost imperceptible nod back and set her backpack on the floor next to the cot. The nurse returned to her desk and Dom finished stocking the cabinet. As he continued with his duties his eyes would wander to the resting room where a small sliver of light allowed him to see Jaida on the cot. She made the cot look big, which took incredible talent since most of the student's feet hung off the end. She was on her side, her knees curled to her chest and her arms folded around her stomach. Jaida's chin length black hair fanned over her face and Dom couldn't see the tears on her cheeks until a small hand reached up and wiped them away. Dom frowned – he worried about Marco and Jaida, they were too young to be on their own but their mother had died when they were small and neither parent had siblings who could step in to raise them after Joseph passed. She was still curled up on the tiny cot when Dom was released at 2:00.

Evenings at the Toretto household didn't have a lot of variety. After locking up the café and garage at 6 pm the family (Leon, Vince, Brian, Jesse and Letty included) headed home to congregate around the giant dining room table for dinner. Mia and Brian usually prepared the meal, unless it was grilling out, and the boys took turns helping Mia with the dishes. After dinner the gang would settle in for drinks and a movie or head to the streets in their impressive vehicles to earn easy cash. They'd stumble to their respective rooms sometime before dawn and do it all again the next day. Even the drama between the "temporaries" that the un-attached boys brought home and Letty became part of the routine. The Grazziati house hold was different.

Jaida couldn't pinpoint when she started resenting her brother. To be honest, she thought the sympathy and resentment might even be equal. She knew he felt the loss just as strongly as she did; no parents, their brother gone. She tried not to blame him, he was still too young to even legally buy beer, and she knew he must feel the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he had changed. Deep down in the dark places where they both felt empty – he had changed. She needed her big brother and these days he was nowhere to be found. The home that their parents had cherished was constantly littered with liquor bottles and strangers. Jaida started locking herself in her room each night, she decided this was a necessary precaution after two wasted party-goers barged into her room while removing their clothing. Despite her noisy protests they had gotten down to just their socks before they realized where they were. Both were too inebriated to be sorry or embarrassed and Jaida was hurt by Marco's lack of outrage when she told him the next day. Bleary-eyed and distant, he had simply turned around and walked away, his food colliding with a small glass pipe that clinked as it rolled across the wood floor.

Jaida hadn't gotten used to the changes in her brother or her home, in fact she avoided going home as often as she could. She'd get to school over an hour early and sit outside the doors with a book and her breakfast, she'd go to the library after school was done and sit there until they closed each night at 8. She hated the weekends, there were even stranger characters in her home then, and for longer periods of time. She'd been offered a variety of drgs a number of times; pills, powders, needles, plants, some items she couldn't identify. Jaida couldn't deny that it was getting more difficult to turn down the offers, her stress and depression had reached an all-time high and the escape beckoned to her. Her grades were starting to slip, she couldn't sleep through the night and she was becoming more and more nervous about the people staying downstairs. Luckily, her afternoon classes were all electives and didn't require her presence as long as she turned in the work, she discovered that afternoon that she could catch a couple of hours of rest in the nurse's office and complete her class work at night when she couldn't sleep.

She had been surprised seeing Dominic Toretto in the nurse's office. She knew he had gotten in trouble and was offered community service instead of time inside, but she had no idea he was working at her school. She never went to the nurse's office until today when the idea struck her that it may be the perfect place to sleep – it was called the resting room after all. She liked Dom's whole family, although thinking about them made her miss her own even more. Jaida could tell they worried about Marco and her, but she always took the money back to the Toretto's, her parents never took handouts and she wouldn't either. Marco didn't know about the money, and then one day he did. It was the first time she didn't give it back to Dom – Marco wouldn't let her. He was angry with her, for which she couldn't understand, he had been raised by the same proud people afterall. He had taken the $200 and stormed out, returning hours later with rattling pockets. Pills. Jaida worried about Marco, she knew pills could be very dangerous, if the wrong ones were mixed, or taken with the wrong thing, he might never wake up. She had learned about the growing problem of prescription addiction in her health class through a cheesey animated movie. While the other students talked or texted she took as many notes as she could, writing through the realization and fear that she had seen many of these medications carelessly strewn throughout the house. She didn't know who to turn to, worried that the state would put her in foster care until she was 18 if they discovered how unfit Marco was as a guardian.

Jaida got home around 9 that night, deliberately taking her time after the library closed. She could tell several people were inside from the raised voices audible from where she stood on the porch. Taking a deep breath, the 15 year old stepped inside and silently closed the front door. She tried ignoring the guy sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall with half lidded eyes. Jaida stepped over his feet and hurried up the stairs to her room, feeling his gaze on her like crawling bugs. Tomorrow she could escape for a few hours, but tomorrow would be Friday and after the library closedshe would be trapped in this hell hole for 2 ½ seemingly un-ending days.

Dom was thankful it was Friday. Races would dominate the weekend and he would have time to catch up on some of the work piling at the garage. He reported to the school on time and had an unremarkable afternoon dusting and mopping the office. Jaida Grazziani came in at the same time she showed up yesterday. After exchanging a few words with the nurse she silently walked by Dom, set her backpack on the floor and curled up on a cot. Dom wondered what was up with her, was she sick? After weeks of working in the nurse's office and never seeing her he had now seen her two days in a row. The nurse announced she was leaving for her half-hour lunch break and left a sign on the door. Before leaving she quietly told Jaida that she was free to stay while she left for lunch. As soon as the office door closed Dom walked into the resting room and sat on the cot opposite from Jaida. She didn't acknowledge his presence. Dom waited a few moments before opening his mouth,

"you okay, kid?"

Dom had to strain to hear her quiet "yes"

"Why aren't you in class?"

"I'm tired. And trying to take a nap."

"Maybe you shouldn't party so hard," Dom responded.

Jaida instantly sat up and glared at him. While Dominic Toretto was surprised by the ferocity of her expression she still looked so young that the glare was almost amusing.

Jaida's tone was clipped, "Maybe you shouldn't make assumptions about why I'm tired, Dominic."

Dom had a small grin, "Fair enough. Why are you tired, Jaida?"

"None of your business."

Jaida turned over onto her other side, wrapping her arms tightly around herself.

Dom waited a couple of minutes before speaking again, this time without a hint of sarcasm or amusement.

"You sure you're okay?"

He saw rather than heard the sob that racked her frame. He saw her shoulders quake, her hands covering her face. Dom reached out and put a hand on her back.

"Jaida…"

Jaida shook his hand off, stood and slipped her backpack over her arm. She didn't meet his eyes as she tried to move past him. After refusing to leave the doorway to allow her to pass, Jaida finally raised her eyes to his. He understood the pain, at least on some level. Although he was older when his dad died he had seen a similar look on Mia's face for months afterwards. Dom wanted to reassure her, to help, but he didn't know her well enough to feel comfortable hugging her. Instead, Dom took the cell phone from her hand and added his number.

"Call if you need anything. You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, Mia and Letty are always available too."

He placed the shiny pink phone back in her hand and stepped aside.

Jaida's eyes refilled with tears and she quickly wiped them away. He saw her swallow around them and nod. She whispered a thank you and hurried out of the office. The nurse's office was catty-corner to the main doors and he watched as Jaida walked out into the day.