Chapter Two

Thank you so much for your reviews and favorites for last chapter! Much appreciated!

This was far from their first run but Dom still insisted on acting like it was. He wasn't leaving the safety of his family, safety that he'd been the one to compromise by cooking up the hijacking scheme, to chance or put it at risk because he was just going through the familiar motions with his head half someplace else.

Once they'd settled into their last place, the one they'd just left behind, he had gone ahead to track down the next town and meeting place they'd use if (and, as it turned out, when) they had to run again. It was a run down bar in the middle of a slightly more crowded city than they'd just left. Blending into crowds was hard enough with white guys like Vince and Leon and even harder with a blond like Brian, but to do that there had to actually be a crowd. Too small a town and they ended up sticking out way easier.

Every time they did this, he drove as fast as he could, racing to that one meeting point, praying with everything he had that his team had all made it in once piece. There had been only once that he arrived to find missing members, when Letty and Mia had been forced to change course to avoid leading bounty hunters right to the rest of the team, and though they had only been two hours behind him it had still been two of the longest hours of his life.

This time when he pulled into the rundown bar, La Muerte Bonita, his eyes quickly found all three cars that he needed to, all parked right next to each other. Dom pulled in next to Letty's car, killed the ignition and leaned back in his seat, body relaxing for the first time in most of a day. He closed his eyes and let out a quick thanks to whoever had been on their side thus far.

They'd made it…

Now, all they had to do was lay low, keep moving, watch their backs and soon enough they would be safe to find a new place to live. He was seriously considering getting off the whole damned continent for a while but that was something he'd have to run by the others.

The car door opened and Dom was moving before his eyes were even open. If it wasn't for Mia's unimpressed sigh she might have ended up with his fist in her face which would have been shit for everyone involved.

"You're tense," She said, dropping into the seat next to him.

Dom watched her shift in the seat to face him, closing the door with a soft click and raised a single eyebrow. She had the good grace to flush.

"Fine, you have reason to be," Mia conceded. "But we're past the hard part."

Dom rolled his eyes, "We just drove," He downplayed with an affectionate squeeze to her hand, "Now we have to decide where we want to stay, find someplace where there isn't already a garage and does have a house that fits all of us and then listen to Vince whine about something in it for the next month. You call that easy?"

Mia laughed, her smile lighting up the whole car. He felt some of the guilt for dragging her across a foreign country and putting the life on the line easing at the sight of her happiness. Of course, that she'd insisted on coming too didn't really factor into it.

The moment eased the tension in the car and Mia squeezed his hand back. "Letty met up with Brian and Leon halfway through, they all got here first." She said, giving him the report she knew he wanted. "Vince and I made it about two hours after them and we've all been here an hour waiting for you."

"No surprises?"

Mia hesitated, "Nothing with the bounty hunters, if that's what they were this time."

"Out with it, Cara Mia," Dom said, waving an impatient hand.

"Brian's sick," She said, looking serious. "I think really sick."

Dom sighed, turning away from her to stare out the windshield for a second. The concern in Mia's voice was obvious. Though she and Brian had been initially attracted to each other, Dom had pretty much purposefully put an end to that by seducing Brian himself. Brian and Mia had settled into a casual friendship that had started with commiserating glances over Dom himself and had evolved into something deeper, two people in the strange place of having expected something higher in life but having made the decision that family meant more than that. When Mia had shown up in Mexico with Leon and Brian, something Dom hadn't expected, she'd told him that he'd made a good choice in Brian… something that had sounded strange considering what had gone down. He'd been forced to deal with the supposed narc though, they all had, and they'd gradually come to see that he wasn't the big lie they thought he was and that really, he'd just been doing his job.

That he'd betrayed them hadn't taken away the sin on their hands.

So Dom pretty much owed his entire relationship with Brian to Mia, something that gave her a bit of an edge when it came to talking about things like this. Leon stumbled over any mention of love, Vince sulked even still and Letty had decided she didn't care nearly as much as she thought she did. Even Brian seemed to tip toe around it, as if he wasn't sure what to do about someone that actually loved him but, in Brian's opinion, had no reason to whatsoever. If anyone was going to give it to him straight, it would be Mia first and Brian last.

"I noticed that," He admitted, glancing back to her. "He's had a cold for days."

"I think this is a little bit beyond a cold, Dominic." Mia answered.

Dom narrowed his eyes, more concerned than he had been even that morning when he'd seen how tired and ragged Brian looked and had made the choice to send him with Leon to get him as far from a fight he probably wasn't up for as possible. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he's got a hacking cough, he's squinting like the lights are shards of glass in his eyes and I'm pretty sure he's got a fever." Mia said, obviously worried and annoyed all at the same time. That was kind of a dangerous combination on Mia… Dom didn't envy Brian for bringing it out one bit. "If he says he's fine one more time…" She trailed off, but the threat was clear.

Dom might have smiled at that, but there was a tense sort of dread spilling out of his heart. They'd had such good luck so far…

There was nothing else to do but to head in and see Brian himself. Without a word to Mia, Dom left the car and headed into the bar, which seemed as slow as it had the first night he'd scoped it out. Mia slammed her door, obviously still a little on edge from the move, Brian and then Dom being less than courteous. With a sigh, Dom slowed down and held out his arm for Mia to take. She did, but neither one of them said anything to the other. Fine by him.

Inside, Dom quickly found the rest of his team, all sitting around a beat up table towards the back. There were a few empty beer bottles - probably Vince, the damned idiot - and mostly empty plates stacked in the middle. Letty and Leon were talking and laughing about something Dom couldn't hear and Vince was staring at some women sitting at the bar and making eyes at him. He could feel Mia's body tense at the sight and tried not to react. He wasn't going to touch that for anything.

Even as Dom took in the sight of the rest of his team, safe and whole, his focus was on Brian. The blond was sitting in an uncomfortable slouch, as though he'd been trying to keep up appearances but had almost given up, with a spoon in one hand and a mostly-full bowl of some sort of stew looking stuff sitting inside. Mia probably would have been happy to tell him how little of it had been eaten and how long Brian had taken to make even that small dent but she was still focused on, ah, other things.

Letty noticed him first, an old girlfriend sense that had mostly gotten thrown to the wayside over the last year. She nodded at him, face impassive, until she too noticed Mia and shot him an amused grin. Dom returned it with an eyeroll.

"Nice of you to show up." She greeted, like she always did, when the Torettos reached the table.

"Good drive, Letty?" He asked, only half listening to the answer.

He could hear the smirk in her voice all the same, "Got here first."

"Oh Jesus," Leon said sourly, like this had been a topic of conversation for a while now, "You were about thirty seconds ahead of Brian and I!"

With those two bickering and Vince and Mia stumbling all over each other, Dom was left to talk to Brian with a little more privacy. "Hey," He said, dropping down into the seat next to him.

Brian almost violently started, as though he hadn't even noticed Dom walking in. He blinked, "Hey, Dom."

Barely managing to suppress the wince that almost came automatically at the raw sound of Brian's voice, Dom reached out and gave Brian's hand a quick squeeze, the most he deemed safe out in the open like they were. Some towns they'd lived in seemed not to care that they were together but until they knew that, it was better to play it safe… especially in Mexico. Normally he wouldn't have even done that but he had a feeling that Brian was going to need a reminder that they were in this whole crazy thing together.

Brian flashed him a quick smile but it seemed exhausted.

"How you feelin'?" Dom asked, with another quick glance at Vince. The last thing that was going to get Brian to open up was Vince's heckling.

Though he seemed annoyed with the question, Brian answered readily enough, "Annoying cold," He admitted this as though it was both a great surprise and not a huge understatement, "But I'm ready to head out."

His sister's eyes were practically burning holes into the side of his head. He knew exactly what she wanted him to say... that they were going to stay in town until Brian felt better, to push him for a better answer, to do anything but what he was going to actually do.

"Finish some more of that soup. I'm going to go settle up at the bar. Did anyone stop and get some more supplies?" He asked, surveying the rest of them and purposefully ignoring Mia's outrage. "We're not stopping for as long as we can go."

Leon nodded, "I loaded my car with snacks and, um, stuff when we got here." He said, with a quick glance at Brian, who was half-heartedly giving his dinner a second chance.

"Go divvy that stuff up between the cars." He directed, glad when at least someone in his team jumped up to do as he asked. He jerked his head to the rest of them, pulling them from the table. Normally Brian would have been seriously pissed to be left out, but it was probably even more telling than his inability to finish dinner that not only did he not care, he hadn't even noticed.

Leon had lingered to see what Dom wanted to say and Dom immediately clapped him on the shoulder. "You look tired," He said.

"Brian drove for about the first five hours." He admitted. Behind them, Brian launched into a harsh, hacking cough that nearly had him bent double. Dom headed over to him as quick as he could but he still heard Leon continue, "Then that started happening waaaay too much."

Though Brian's skin had been nearly grey pale only seconds before he'd started coughing, by the time Dom reached him he was already flushed red with the effort of getting enough air through his obviously congested lungs. Once he was at Brian's side, he knelt down to try to get a better look at him. "Brian?"

As if to tell him to quit hovering, Brian shook his head almost angrily and pushed the chair back from the table and away from Dom. "I'm…" He started, breathing in carefully as the coughing began to trail off, "I'm fine. It's fine."

It was obvious that he wasn't going to give an inch. It was even more obvious that eventually it wasn't going to be a choice. Either way, Dom was going to choose his battles. Brian wanted to leave and that was the smart thing to do. A group of outsiders with flashy cars was enough, even if they tried to keep a low profile and they kept the paint colors down to a dull roar. Add in a pretty white boy with a hacking cough and they got even more noticeable. Reluctantly, Dom stood again, watching as Brian caught his breath.

He turned back to the team. "Leon, switch out Brian's stuff to my car and make sure everyone has some food and water to last them for a while. You said you got a chance to chill while Brian drove?" He asked, waiting for the confirmation. "Alright, pair up with Letty and give her a chance to sleep. Vince will drive her car. Letty, check over the cars with Vince."

Leon, Letty and Vince all gave him serious nods of confirmation and walked out quickly. None of them glanced backwards at Brian but it was obvious in the way they rushed to follow his orders that they were concerned. The stakes were getting that much higher.

"And I'm supposed to do what?" Mia asked, hands on her hips.

"Flirt with that bartender a little so he's less likely to want to sell us out." Dom said, a job he didn't relish giving her. He'd of kept Letty for it but Vince was half-useless when it came to finer mechanics. "Do a good job and I'll give you two minutes to tell me how I'm making a huge mistake not sending Brian to a hospital or something."

Mia pursed her lips and stared at him with a face so intense that she instantly reminded him of his mother, watching him and knowing exactly what was going on in his head but not wanting to give anything away so she could see what he'd do. Mia probably didn't know him as well but after a few seconds she seemed to give up. Hopefully, she knew that he didn't like pushing Brian any more than she did but they had to get away while he still could. It was pretty obvious that he was going to crash and burn, so their only choice was to decide where. The further away from bounty hunters that place was the better.

She nodded once and went over to the bar, an extra bit of swing already in her hips. He purposefully didn't look as she started talking to the bartender and instead got the attention of one of the few waitresses in the place and got his tab closed up. He left a good tip, not too much to call attention to themselves but generous enough that if someone did come by looking for them the waitress wouldn't rush to sell them out.

That done and Mia still working her magic, Dom was left with Brian who had looked to have only eaten a few more mouthfuls. "You ready?" He asked.

Brian didn't nod and Dom had to wonder if it was because his head hurt. Instead, he stood up from the table and dropped his spoon down. "Yeah, all set."

"You're driving with me." Dom told him, watching Brian's stiff movements. They walked towards the door side by side and Dom tapped Mia's arm on the way out. He heard her make a joke to the bartender, who laughed too hard for how funny it was.

"You want a break? I slept most of the way here." Brian offered.

Was there a diplomatic way of saying 'Don't be a fucking idiot' to a boyfriend who already got touchy if any implication of weakness came up? Probably not but luckily for Dom he had a pretty good excuse already built in. "Nah, I got a next location in mind. I'm too wired anyway. You might as well chill."

"You sure? I can follow directions." Brian offered again, pressing for reasons beyond what Dom could figure out. He'd given Brian an out, was it too much to ask that his lover take it gracefully?

Mia caught up with them and tucked her arm into Brian's. "But can Dom actually give coherent directions is the real question."

Brian smiled but it was strained as though he wanted to laugh but knew better and was trying to suppress it. With the coughing that Dom had already heard, he could understand why he wanted to avoid anything that might set another bout of it off. Mia seemed to catch it too and gave Dom another dire glance, as if Brian was about to keel over dead. His lover was sick, that was for sure, and Dom had the bad feeling that it was going to be pretty bad when Brian actually gave in to it but he was also pretty sure that Mia was being her regular dramatic self. Not that he was ever going to tell her that. He had enough problems on his plate.

The three walked out to the parking lot where Leon, Letty and Vince were ready and waiting. "All right," Dom started, giving his usual run-through for the second leg of their escapes. The next location, orders to stick close and keep from calling attention to themselves, the regular spiel about honking twice if anyone needed to stop and about trying to cut ahead to ride alongside his car to let him know that they'd spotted a tail. That had only been once, luckily, but it never hurt to go over it again.

"We got it, Papa." Letty said, crossing her arms and hitching a hip to give off her regular vibe of cool and in charge.

"Be careful, Leticia." Dom answered.

He nodded to the cars and they all broke up to where there were supposed to be. He and Brian walked over to his car and he could see Brian's bag sitting in the back seat already, Leon's work. Beside it was all the bottled water they could ever need. Brian saw it and grinned. "I've been working on three quarters of lukewarm water since we left. Leon's being a smartass."

Leon was probably just being prepared and concerned but far be it for Brian to see that. In Brian's seat was a bag from a convenience store with some Mexican brand of cold pills, tissues and anything else that looked like it could work for a sick person. "Jesus, man." Brian said when he'd moved the bag, sat down and opened it up to inspect the contents.

Dom was glad to see it. "Take some of those pills."

Brian looked over the box. "My translations aren't so hot but I'm pretty sure he got the kind that makes you sleepy."

"So? I'm driving, you can sleep." Dom said, "Take them."

The blond looked like he wanted to fight about it for a while longer but Dom gave him a hard look, hoping to show him just how pointless that would be. Either Brian caught the look and the meaning behind it and decided to quit while he was ahead or he really was too tired to fight it.

Dom sort of hoped it was the first one.

Brian knocked back the pills with such an exaggerated, slow swallow that Dom almost groaned, and not because he was turned on. That had looked painful.

"How far away are you thinking?" Brian asked, settling back against the seat with one hand still gripping his water bottle as though he knew he'd be coughing in seconds and would need it.

Dom could have pretended to not be sure but Brian would see right through that. He always had to have at least the next two locations stuck in his mind. He wouldn't put his family at risk any more than he already had. "About eight hours."

"Long drive." Brian commented.

"I want to be sure we lost them. 'Sides, further we go, chances are longer we can stay." Dom pointed out. "You'll like this one. It's a beach town and they're more used to people renting or vacationing."

Brian glanced at him with a smile, "What you're trying to say is 'You won't stick out so much, Blondie.'"

Dom reached out and ran his hand through Brian's blond curls. "I meant, we won't stick out as a group and you can surf, but sure, you won't stick out so much, Blondie."

With a wide grin, Brian started laughing. All too soon, that laugh turned into a hacking cough. Brian fumbled with the cap to his water but couldn't seem to get it fast enough. Dom pulled the thing out of his hands and undid the cap, passing the cool water over to Brian. Sipping it clearly helped but only so much. "Shut up." Brian said, voice hoarse from the latest fit.

"I didn't say a word." Dom protested. He kept his eyes on the road but kept darting glances over to Brian. His cheeks were flushed red from the force of his coughs and he was breathing rapidly to try and make up for the oxygen lost.

"I can hear your thoughts from there." Brian said, "I'm okay."

"Get some sleep." Dom instructed.

Dom was waiting for an argument, because apparently illness brought Brian to his most stubborn, but he didn't get one. The other man slid down in his seat and pressed his face against the cool glass of the window. He figured there was a fever involved but didn't push it and ask. Whatever cold pill Leon had bought was definitely going to include something to knock Brian down a few degrees.

He was aiming to put as many miles behind them while he could. His attention was pulled in what was beginning to feel like twenty different directions. He kept an eye on the road, on the team, on Brian, on his gas gage, on the signs and mile markers around them. He didn't have enough eyes to go around, but he had to make it work. He kept shifting in his seat, restless and wired, like he told Brian. He wouldn't be able to power down until they were where they needed to be.

Every mile closer, Dom sent up a little thanks.

He wasn't the only one full of restless energy, though. Brian's sleep looked tense, painful and pretty much anything that didn't also mean relaxed. He kept coughing, a raw hacking cough that was beginning to sound wet. His forehead glistened with sweat, so much so that Dom kept some of the windows down, hoping to cool him off. He didn't want to waste gas on the A/C, but pretty soon he was thinking he was going to have to. That probably wasn't what he was supposed to do, some old rhyme about fevers echoed in the back of his head, but Brian looked so miserable it only seemed right.

Still, he was pretty conked out, for all that.

They made it six hours and one bathroom break (Vince, while Letty cackled) before anything happened.

Dom had been glancing at Brian every once and a while, touching his cheek to check his temperature and listening for changes in his breathing as often as he could. The sun was just coming up but Brian had been sleeping so long Dom thought it would make up for the early hour. He'd been figuring that Brian would be due to wake up soon, so he'd been watching out for that too.

So when Brian shot forward, gasping and shaking, he'd scared the fuck out of Dom.

"Jesus! Brian?" Dom asked, slowing down so he didn't accidentally kill them and reaching out a hand to grab the back of Brian's neck. "Fuck," He swore under his breath when he felt how hot Brian's skin was. He hadn't been so hot not even an hour ago.

"Gotta… gonna be…" Brian panted, his hand already pulling at the handle for the door.

"Wait, baby, wait." Dom said, reaching across Brian and holding the door shut as he pulled the car over as quick as he could. If he'd had another hand, he would have honked the horn to let the others know but he was pretty damn sure that the squealing tires were going to be a dead giveaway.

The second they were stopped, still rolling even, Dom let he door go and Brian practically fell out.

Dom opened his door and ran around to Brian's side, just in time to see his lover on his hands and knees, heaving his guts up on the sandy shoulder of the highway. One of the others honked their horns and Dom was glad they'd noticed enough to stop.

He dropped down next to Brian and wrapped a hand under his stomach to keep him upright and not face down in his own puddle of puke. "Just get it up, Bri." He said softly. "You're gonna be okay." That he'd make damn sure of. He was trying to keep cool but the way that Brian's puking turned into dry heaves broken up by gasping for air was sending a cold tingle of dread down his spine.

"What the fuck happened to two honks to pull over, Dom, what's the… Holy shit…" Vince's voice went from pissed off to grossed out in ten seconds flat.

"Get me a water bottle." Dom directed. He heard the door to the car open and leaned down to Brian's ear, "You gotta breathe, okay? Calm down, just breathe."

The muscles of Brian's stomach were rock hard and spasming with each new bout. Dom used the hand already around him to try and massage them into giving up. He felt a cool water bottle press against his arm and grabbed it with his free hand, "Thanks," He said shortly. He heard Vince retreat when there wasn't a new order to fulfill. Dom didn't blame him. "Can you sit up, Bri? Drink some of this."

Getting Brian off his hands and knees to drink was slow going. Brian seemed so out of it he hardly knew which way was up and that freaked Dom out more than he'd say. The blond's long legs were sprawled out and Dom got him leaning up against his chest. The car door would have been better, but the metal was probably already hot from the drive and the early morning sun.

"Can you drink this, Bri? Slow, okay?" Dom said. He held the water bottle up to Brian's lips and tilted it. Once some cool water hit, Brian's hand came up to hold the bottle himself. His hands were shaking, so Dom held it too. He tried to tell himself that waking up and needing to immediately hurl would throw anyone off their game and make them shake but that didn't make him any less worried. Brian hadn't said a word since either and that wasn't a damn bit reassuring.

Mia came around the other side, "Dom? What's wrong?" She asked, Brian's wide open door hiding them from her side.

She stepped around it and the answer was pretty fucking obvious, Dom thought. She winced and stepped around Brian's puke to kneel next to them and press her hand against Brian's forehead. "Dom, he's burning up."

"I can feel that, Mia." He answered, because he could.

"You should have stopped sooner!"

Dom grit his teeth, "Fifteen, twenty minutes ago he wasn't nearly this bad off. He woke up and had to puke, out of nowhere."

"So his fever is spiking," She concluded, catching up to where Dom's mind had been since Brian had shot awake nauseous and out of it.

There were no good options here, Dom knew. They could stop, which Brian obviously needed, but they ran the risk of the bounty hunters catching up. They could keep going to avoid that but Brian seemed like he was hitting some sort of crisis point, and that should happen with a bed and running water, at the very least. His lover might be most comfortable in a car but that wasn't really working anymore.

Mia's concerned face shifted from Brian to Dom and mixed in with a bit of pity. She knew the choices as well as he did.

There wasn't really a choice.

"Leon!" Dom shouted, turning away from Brian so he wasn't yelling right in his ear. Leon came around the car damn quick and Dom had a vision of Leon, Letty and Vince awkwardly shifting foot to foot around the other side of the car.

"Yeah, Dom?"

"Take Letty, find a motel that's got at least two rooms. The more secluded the better. Definitely someplace were we can park the cars in back, or just out of sight. That'll be a quick way to spot us. Tell Vince to keep his eyes out until you get back." Dom said. He heard Mia's sigh of relief and he tried not to get pissed at her. He wasn't going to risk Brian, no fucking way. She should know that.

Leon nodded and glanced over at Brian, who was still slowly sipping water like it was the only thing keeping him from hacking up a lung. There was clear indecision on Leon's face, like he wanted to ask but realized that he probably didn't want to know. Instead, he nodded again and retreated back over to the awkward huddle he'd been in before. He heard the discussion, Vince saying something to Leon, but nobody raised their voices or came back around to him, so Dom didn't really give a shit about it. Two car doors slammed and then tires shifted on the gravelly pavement, Leon and Letty heading out to find them a spot to crash.

Brian pulled all of Dom's attention back to him, coughing out of nowhere into the bottle and choking.

They both pretty much dropped the bottle, sending the cold water into Brian's lap. Brian gasped, his breathing sounded almost wet. All the water he'd been sipping came spilling out of Brian's mouth, drenching his shirt along with his pants.

Neither one of them moved, even with Brian puking up water.

"Brian, come on, breathe okay? Just calm down," Mia said, running her hand over Brian's cheek.

If Brian had control like that, they wouldn't be having problems like they were, Dom thought a little bitterly. Hell, if any human had that control, medical costs would be way, way down. Convincing Brian that he really did want to breathe properly wasn't going to do much. Instead Dom shifted behind him, pulling Brian up to sit straighter, since he'd noticed Brian doing that in the car when he'd coughed.

It seemed to help a little, at least. The coughing died down but the wet, painful breathing only eased so much.

That was going to be a real problem, Dom knew. Somewhere right between fever and vomiting, breathing problems were going to risk doing Brian in if he kept coughing like that.

They needed a new plan and fast.