While at the Police Academy, Brian O' Conner had been brought to Sgt. Tanner's attentions. The Sgt. watched Brian finish the last of his training that dealt with magical influences. The time had come for the people who were magic to come out of hiding and the nation's police academies had their own department that was set aside for people of magical skill. Tanner watched Brian move things, make a healing ointment and basic first aid items, and he watched as Brian showed his ability to blend in with his environment. The last wasn't too magical but Tanner knew it took a lot of practice and expertise to do what Brian did naturally – he almost wanted to know Brian's past to see what influenced Brian to enhance his disguising skill.
After the lesson, the training officer had Tanner come out from behind the viewing mirror and told Brian to stay a minute. When Tanner walked over to Brian he held his hand out for Brian to shake. Brian just looked at him and put his hands in his pockets. Tanner didn't balk at the rejection but did ask, "O' Conner what are you hiding?"
"Nothing. What do you want?" Brian eyed Tanner with suspicion.
"What's your best magical skill?"
"I'd rather not say." Brian said as he took a step back.
Tanner seen the defensive moves and explained, "Some people are looking at you for UC work. They need to know your capabilities for a couple of cases."
"They don't need to know anything that I haven't already shown if they were watching. Wouldn't be a good UC if I showed all my cards to people I'm supposed to trust."
Tanner motioned to the door and Brian followed him outside to a patch of trees and shade. Tanner asked still seeing Brian closed off to most of the energies swirling around, with his hands in his pants pockets and a very guarded expression on his face. Tanner sent out a few mental waves trying to get inside Brian's head and he felt Brian shove him out as soon as he was in.
Brian moved into Tanner's personal space and growled, "Don't do that again. I might do something else besides push you out next time. You don't know me, you don't want to know me, so don't even try. You just want me in your little experiment of group and I'm not going so get out of my way." Brian moved around the sergeant and headed for his car – 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse rebuilt to racing specifications.
Almost to his car Brian stopped as Tanner yelled, "You can be a one man operation! You only answer to me!"
"No!" Brian yelled over his shoulder as he got in his car and sped off.
Tanner watched the man leave the parking lot and watched how even with his racing car he blended into the traffic of LA. He lost him two blocks passed the academy and swore at the new officer. He couldn't get an accurate reading from Brian O' Conner and that was killing him. He was specialized at reading people – both body and mind – and O' Conner had every shield possible up guarding himself. He figured his best option was to leave Brian alone for a few days before he tried again.
A week later, due to some urgency, Sgt. Tanner went to Brian's precinct he'd been assigned to and asked where to find him. Tanner found Brian in his office so he knocked on the door and Brian let Tanner come in to the office. He looked at Tanner and asked as he sifted through papers, "What do you want to know today?"
Tanner heard some anger in the question and he said, "Just want to know if you'll look over this case file and see if it's an undercover spot you want. I don't want to pressure you but when this crossed my desk you're the only person I could think of for the job."
"Let me see the file." Brian held his hand out and Tanner put the folder in his hand. Brian flipped through the pages and saw that it was talking about a team of people high-jacking semis and that it involved people in the street racing world. Brian looked up at Tanner and said, "It's only me and I report to you when I have information. Not when you see fit to pull me in and that shit."
Tanner saw Brian's resolute look and said, "Only if I think it's an emergency and you have to call me on the occasion and report in."
"I can do that."
"Well I'll leave you to it but call this number and that'll get you closer to the targets. His name's
Harry and he owns Racer's Edge. He'll keep you secret."
"Thanks. I've heard of him before."
"Does he know you're face?"
Brian looked affronted and said, "No. I order my car parts under another name."
"You sure are something O' Conner. Keep me up to date." Then Tanner left feeling it was better to leave on a positive note and let O' Conner think he was ahead of the game, which he was, but Tanner didn't want to admit that just yet.
Brian looked over the file and the pictures of the possible suspects to get a feel for their energies so he could go ahead and work on eliminating some of them. He was able to eliminate about half of them right off the bat and for the rest he researched their side of town and found that the leader of the team, most likely running the semis, inherited a grocery store and opened a garage called DT's. He gathered his files and left his precinct as he pulled out his phone to call Harry. He explained the situation of needing a place to crash for a while and that he'd be in and out of Racer's Edge if he could get a key. Harry agreed and Brian met him at his store with a duffel bag full of clothes and a safe big enough for his files, badge and gun. He kept the safe in a backpack and besides a dual combination and key locks, he had one of his shields protecting the contents.
Harry looked at Brian and asked, "Everything alright Brian?"
"It will be. Just need a place for a while. Thanks for letting me crash in the back room."
"Any time. Here's a key that works for the front and back doors. You can park your car around back if you want to keep it out of the way."
"Thanks Harry."
"No problem Brian." Harry smiled as he handed Brian the extra key he made and showed him the back room with a fold up cot, sink, and small closet he could keep his bags in while he stayed.
Brian sat his two bags on the cot and said, "I'm going to get out of here for a bit but I'll be back later."
"I'll be here til about seven working the books and closing everything up."
"Okay." After Brian put his bags up, he went to Toretto's Market.
He parked down the street and walked up the block getting a feel for the area and if anything or anyone was going to cause him trouble, he only felt one restless and angry male coming from the market. He didn't need this today but he'd take care of it anyways. He entered the store and glanced at the menu getting his order ready.
Brian sat on stool and a young woman who looked right out of high school came over to him and asked, "What can I get you?"
"Tuna on white, no crusts, please?" Brian said with a smile as he looked at the girl.
"Sure you want the tuna? It's not the best we have here." She asked bemusedly looking at the new guy.
"Tuna's good." Brian replied as he flipped open a car magazine near him.
"Coming right up. Tuna on white, no crusts." As she made the sandwich she asked, "Anything to drink with that?"
"Water is good." Brian replied not looking up. He had a better feeling of the upset presence and he wasn't going to like the outcome in a few minutes.
The woman sat the sandwich and water bottle down in front of Brian and asked, "What's your name?"
"Brian. Yours?" Brian asked as he looked up from the magazine.
"Mia." She held her hand out and he shook his head. Mia leaned against the counter and asked, "Are you a germaphobe or something? What's with the no touching?"
"Safer that way. Thanks for the sandwich." Brian let a small grin appear so she felt a little more at ease and then as he took a bite of his sandwich a group of people came in.
The group paused to take in the new customer they'd never seen before and the angry one came up beside Brian and knocked the magazine off the counter. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Just getting a sandwich man." Brian said calmly as he continued to eat. He'd be alright as long as the guy didn't try to outright touch him.
Mia looked at the two and said, "Vince you need to calm down. He just got here."
"He needs to leave." Vince growled moving farther into Brian's personal space.
"Brian's fine where he is." Mia said trying to buy Brian some time to at least be able to finish eating.
Vince yanked Brian off the stool after he knocked the sandwich to the floor. He slammed him into the counter and Brian just held his hands up in surrender. Vince went to punch Brian but before the punch could connect Vince was pulled off of Brian. "Stop it." Another man growled.
Everyone looked between the new person and Brian still against the counter but lowering his hands to his sides and straightening up. "Dom what's going on?" Letty asked looking between the two.
The two men looked at each other, and Brian felt everything shift around himself. He glanced around at everyone and then back at Dom. Dom looked at Vince and Vince held his hands up. "Get out of here."
Vince said, "What?"
"Nevermind." Dom turned back to Brian and he said, "Follow me."
He left the store and Brian turned to Mia and said, "Sorry about this." Then he followed after Dom.
Dom said, "Get in."
"Okay." Brian said as he got in the passenger seat.
Dom started his '93 Mazda RX-7 and drove them to the Pacific Coast Highway. He drove them to a shrimp shack on the ocean. The car ride was surprisingly smooth for the two men, no conversation but still passing and receiving information, and Brian leaned his seat back and relaxed remotely more than usual. At the restaurant, Dom found them a table with no one seated nearby so Brian could relax and take a deep breath. After the waitress took their order, Dom looked at Brian and asked, "What are you doing man?"
"What are you talking about?" Brian asked as he took in the ocean and pulled everything back inside himself.
"Exactly what you just did Officer Brian O' Conner." Dom said as he tapped his fingers against the table.
Brian snapped his focus to Dom and leaned over the table. "What do you know?"
"As soon as I seen you I knew who you were. What has you sniffing around now?"
Brian kept his eyes locked with Dom's and he tried to see more than he knew already but Dom had a wall up that Brian couldn't get around. "Dom I'm here to do a job and then I'm gone if you want me gone."
"You're not going to find what you're looking for." Dom said as he poked Brian in his chest.
Brian wanted to curl up in the chair and try to hide everything from Dom but he would've toppled the plastic chair. He took a deep breath and said, "I know." He leaned back in his chair in time for their Coronas to be delivered to their table. He took a long pull from the bottle before he sat it down and he looked at Dom. He asked, "Why'd you wait on me to show up? Why didn't you ever try to find me?"
"I did. Why do you think I orchestrated the truck jackings?" Dom eyed Brian. He continued, "Why didn't you go off on Vince?"
"Didn't want to hurt your sister or your other friends. People don't understand my no touching thing at all."
"Only people you trust with your life right?" Dom said with a wry grin. "Same here."
"Yeah and my list of people is awfully small right now after what I went through."
"Do you still include me on that list?" Dom asked as he watched Brian finish his beer and order two more for them.
"I don't know. I want to but you know how things work out sometimes." Brian replied as he let slip some of the loneliness he felt and went back to watching the ocean.
"Can I try?" Dom asked carefully as Brian got comfortable in the chair again and his hands played with the label on his beer bottle.
Brian shrugged and held out one of his hands on the table. Dom took it for the permission it was and barely brushed his callused fingers over Brian's before he pulled back suddenly. Brian smiled goofily, "Forgot about that. We'll try later."
Dom heard the rest of the sentence in his head and asked, "You stayin' at Harry's?"
"For now yeah. Why?" Brian asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Let's go for a drive. See if it helps." Dom suggested.
"We're eating first." Brian laughed.
"You still have your appetite." Dom grinned as he rested his hand near Brian's. It felt good even if they could really do anything but talk for the time being. They would work their shields and bodies back up to touching each other and hopefully a whole lot more than that. At least that was what was going through Dom's mind. He missed Brian terribly over the years they couldn't be together and had to create separate lives from each other. It was exactly why he'd started the truck jackings because he knew Brian was a cop and given his knack of blending and love of racing; Dom knew that someone in the department would find him and talk him into going undercover - Dom would help with the real reason he got Brian undercover and that was because he knew there was someone bigger who needed to be taken down.
Brian glanced at their hands a couple of inches from the other and their fingers moving, wanting to touch but Brian didn't want things to explode so he kept his fingers curled away from Dom's stretched ones. He knew Dom had started the jackings to get his attention and now that they had each other's they couldn't do anything until their magic and minds got used to being around each other again.
It was a little scary having two sides of the same coin so close. No one really knew what happened except very few were actually helpful to the other as they seemed to cancel each other out but with Dom and Brian - their history showed such synchronicity that they were sometimes forced by circumstance to create different lives and work their way back to the other. They didn't like their deal but they made the most of it and survived to tell their tales.
After they ate, Dom gave Brian his keys and said, "You can drive."
Brian gave a snort and said, "Duh." He led them out of the restaurant and after sitting in Dom's car for a moment he peeled out of the parking lot and headed south. Any further north and Brian started to get queasy so he didn't drive there.
"Where we going? Thought you might want to check out that old house we used to have?" Dom asked as he noticed Brian looking a little gray around the edges.
Brian swallowed and said, "I went back a few years ago and as much as I know we're good, that place isn't anymore."
"What's the matter Brian? I thought everything was going alright?" Dom asked worriedly as he reached for Brian's arm to rest his hand gently.
Brian pulled his arm away and said, "Please Dom? It feels like I get carsick going that way."
"It looks like you're going to be sick any minute now."
"I'll be fine. Let's change the subject please?" Brian asked as he pulled onto a deserted part of the beach and went over to the surf not worrying about his shoes or pants getting wet.
Dom watched as Brian kicked at the water and sand as he shoved his hands back in his pockets and worked on pulling his feelings and thoughts away from Dom back behind a wall. Dom wanted to go and comfort him but he didn't know what he could since he could touch him and he didn't know what kind of topics to talk about without the conversation ending up right back here where they were stranded it seemed.
He just wished he knew what to say to break the cycle.
