Brian smiled slightly. "They're my stepsisters. Their mom married my dad when I was twelve; George was nine, and Mo was just a little thing of two. That was back when I was always getting in trouble. I was grounded a lot and they kept me company constantly. Mo would call us the three musketeers. Maeve, their mom, she was amazing. She's the one who got me straightened out really; got me out of trouble."
"That girl looks awful young to be raising a teenager." Letty said grabbing a soda from the fridge.
"God, George is twenty four now, which means Mo's got to be seventeen. A senior in high school. And George, well she got married to John Maddox right out of high school. I'm not even sure she was eighteen yet."
"High school sweethearts?" Mia asked with a smile.
"No, John's nineteen years older than George. I was never particularly found of him, but George said she loved him, and Mom, their mom, seemed to like him well enough him. I wonder what the hell happened there." he murmured. Shock showed on their friends faces. It was quite an age difference.
"You're family's here." Leon announced walking into the kitchen. Brian went out to meet them and escorted them into the kitchen.
"Georgia, Maureen. I'd like to introduce you to Mia Toretto." After hands were shook he turned to the others. "This is Dom, Mia's brother; Letty, Leon, Jesse, and Vince." The other two had come to the doorway.
"It's nice to meet all of you!" Maureen's voice was upbeat and cheerful. Georgia nodded to everyone with a small smile.
It wasn't long before the men went outside to make manly noises over the grill. The two girls helped Mia and Letty carry things outside. They were in the middle of eating, with almost everyone noticing that Georgia just picked at her food, when her cell phone went off. It was almost like she jumped a foot in the air. She heaved a huge sigh and her shoulders slumped.
Maureen was frowning. "Just let it ring George."
George looked at her sister. "You know better Mo." She turned to the rest of the table. "Excuse me for a moment." She walked a short distance away from the table and answered the phone.
Maureen stared at her plate dejectedly. Brian cleared his throat. "What's going on Mo?"
She looked up at the brother she hadn't seen for two years. "He calls constantly, and it makes her a nervous wreck. Look how much weight she's lost, and she sleeps like shit. She's just not the same."
"So why doesn't she just let it ring?" Letty shrugged. To Letty it seemed a simple enough solution.
Mo's eyes widened slightly and she looked over at George nervously. "Because she can't. He'd get angry if she didn't answer. Real angry."
Brian was frowning now; it was hard reconciling what Mo was saying and how George looked from the John he'd met. "What would happen then Mo?"
"He'd come find us Brian. And it would be bad, maybe worse than last time." Mo whispered. George's voice was raised in agitation.
Dom was not getting a good feeling about this. "What happened last time?" he asked the girl. She turned eyes on him that were the same bottle green as her sisters, and they were scared. He didn't know these women, and wasn't really wanting to have them drag their problems into his family's world. However, Brian was his family now, and the women were Brian's family. It almost made him feel responsible in a way.
"I'm not supposed to talk about it." she murmured, and clamped her lips together tightly. Brian looked as if he was ready to protest her silence, but Georgia picked that moment to return to the table.
George felt like throwing up. Every time she spoke with John she felt like throwing up. She'd been such a fool to believe in him. Such a fool to marry him. "Sorry about that."
Brian seemed like he was about to say something, but Mia stopped him with a hand on his knee. "So Georgia," she said with a smile, "How long are you going to visit for? There's tons of stuff we could go do and see."
George seemed a bit surprised. "Oh, I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it. I just want to be settled somewhere soon so that I can get Mo enrolled in a good school."
"Are you in high school?" Jesse asked. It sort of startled them because he didn't seem to talk much.
"Actually, no, I'll be a freshman in college. I graduated a year early."
"That's awesome Mo!" Brian grinned with pride. "I always knew you were a smart little shit."
"Gee thanks Bri." The younger girl shoved him.
"Have you ever thought of attending school in LA?" Mia asked. "We've got some great schools here."
The smile left Mo's face and it was as if a flame was extinguished. She looked at her older sister. Georgia answered. "Actually, we thought we'd head as far north as possible."
"I got a full scholarship to both Cal-Tech and University of Washington." Mo told them with a proud smile.
"I told her she could go to Cal-Tech if she wanted to." Georgia murmured.
"And I said no, I'm going where you go. We need each other too much to be separated by distance like that." Maureen said stubbornly.
Brian caught Dom's eye and knew the other man was thinking the same thing. Why couldn't they both stay in California? Why did they want to go as far north as possible? Something was off and he knew George wasn't going to confide, which meant he'd have to corner Maureen and get the full story.
"You still singing Georgia?" Brian asked.
It looked like she was about to speak, but Mo beat her to it. "No, not really. She hasn't sung in ages! John didn't like it."
George gave her sister the death glare and turned her bitter little half smile on the others. "John just felt it took too much time away from trying to start a family, taking care of the house, that sort of stuff." The wind was blowing lightly, and the stars had come out. "Is it always so nice at night?"
"No." Leon snorted. "But it is definitely a nice night." Dom had motioned Vince and a moment later Vince came in with his acoustic guitar. He handed it to her.
"What's this for?" She asked him with wide eyes.
"Would you play something for us?" Dom asked. "It isn't often we get someone with actual musical talent."
She smiled and it changed her whole face. They could see that she was quite stunning without the lines of worry and exhaustion on her face. "You don't even know if I'm any good."
"I trust Brian." he said.
George sighed and tuned the guitar. She strummed several notes working her fingers before beginning.
"Wait a minute man, you mispronounced my name. You didn't wait for all the information before you turned me away. Wait a minute sir, you kind of hurt my feelings. You see me as a sweet back-loaded puppet, and you've got a meal ticket taste.
I see right through you; I know right through you; I feel right through you; I walk right through you.
You took me for a joke; You took me for a child; You took a long hard look at my ass, and then played golf for a while. Your shake is like a fish; You pat me on the head; You took me out to wine dine sixty nine me, but didn't hear a damn word I said.
I see right through you; I know right through you; I feel right through you; I walk right through you.
Hello Mr. Man; You didn't think that I'd come back. You didn't think I'd show up with my army, and this ammunition on my back. Now that I'm Miss Thing; Now that I'm a zillionaire; You scan the credits for your name, and wonder why it's not there.
I see right through you; I know right through you; I feel right through you; I walk right through you."
Georgia did indeed have talent with the guitar and a good singing voice, and as she finished the crew started clapping. "That was awesome." Letty grinned. She had cuddled up to Leon and he had his arms around the short Hispanic girl.
"Definitely good." Vince complimented.
"It was okay." she demurred. "If I'd had more practice it would have been better."
"Talent like that you shouldn't just let it go to waste." Dom told the woman. "You should at least play for your own pleasure or ours now that we know." he grinned.
"Mo's the real talent in the family." she smiled, accepting the Corona that Brian offered.
Later that evening George was laughing at something Leon had just said when her phone rang again. Once again Georgia walked away from the group; the tension lines returning to her young face.
"Spill it Mo." Brian was frowning.
"I promised Bri. I promised Georgia I wouldn't tell you about it." the younger girl seemed torn by her loyalty to her sister and her desire to help. Then she shrugged. "Besides, we aren't staying long anyway. You wouldn't be able to help, and there's no way we're dragging your friends into our mess. We'll be okay."
George joined them again. "We should be heading back to the hotel." she said with a tight smile.
"Did yall get to go to the beach today?" Brian asked.
"No, there was no time." Mo pouted.
"Why don't we go tomorrow?" Brian offered, and Mia shook her head enthusiastically. "Say, two o'clock?"
At Maureen's expectant look George shrugged. "That sounds fine."
"Cool." Brian smiled. "Let's meet here." He hugged both women and they left quickly after. There was silence on the porch until they pulled away. "They're running."
"Yep." Dom agreed.
"But not from the law." Vince added.
"No, they wouldn't do anything illegal, but I wish I knew what they were running from." Brian murmured.
"You sure you want to know?" Dom asked.
"I have to know. I've already let them down enough." Brian sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Mia sat next to him rubbing his back.
Dom looked at Jesse. "Do a run on John Maddox. See what you can find. Be real discreet about it though. If they're running from him, we don't want to lead him here."
Jesse nodded and headed into the house to the computer. Leon looked at Brian. "Don't worry Bri, while they're here we can make sure they're okay."
"It isn't you guys problem."
"We ain't gonna let them two girls get hurt right under our noses." Vince frowned. "Not if we can stop it. Consider it payback for our sins in previous lives."