A/N: Thanks to dragonmama (do you really want to know?), 2furious4u (next chapter, I promise!), BabyD414, and Vinces-Girl, for their reviews of the last chapter! This chapter is the longest I've posted here so far, over 4,000 words!

Warning!: This is not a happy chapter, it's dark. Sorry if it upsets, but it had to be done. I promise, things will be cheerier from here on.

Review and Enjoy! (Sort of).

Rae's life had settled into a steady routine. During the week, she and Letty would leave the house quickly, avoiding their Abuela, and would head round to the garage, which was always open early. They'd hang out for a while with everyone, them they would all head to school. Dom and Vince were seniors, and Mia and Rae were freshmen.

During school hours, Mia and Rae would usually hang together, occasionally hanging out with Letty, Leon and Han, but more often just by themselves. Dom and Vince didn't deem any of them worthy of attention, preferring to spend their time stealing the cheerleaders from the jocks.

Rae and Mia soon became best friends, Rae standing up for the younger girl when kids at school would pick on her 'cause she was a year ahead. Unlike Letty, Rae never got violent when she was angry, but she sure could scare the shit out of people. She never really got into trouble because most people backed off when they learned Mia was Dominic's little sis.

As for school itself, Rae kept her head down, trying to avoid drawing the attention of her teachers. She always handed homework in on time, and always got decent grades, but she never volunteered answers, even when she knew them, and never tried to stand out. She never made any friends, and although Mia tried, she gave up when she realised that they just wanted a chance to get closer to the much-coveted Dominic Toretto.

After school, they would head back to the garage, where she and Mia would do their homework together, and the others would dive into whatever project they were working on. For a while, Leon and Han had tried to teach her the basics of auto repair, but had eventually given up, declaring disbelievingly that she was, indeed, cursed.

They'd stay there until Mr. T. chased them out, and more often than not, they'd end up back at the Fort where she and Mia would cook dinner. The first time she had offered to cook, everyone had look at her like she was mad, but she had persisted convincing them that they wouldn't regret it.

She had turned up the next day with a couple bags full of ingredients, which she refused to let anyone see, then had disappeared to the kitchen, banning everyone except Mia. They had been sorely tempted by the strange aromas to try and sneak in, but Letty, in a rare display of female unity, had stood guard, even though she was just as curious.

A while later, a slightly frazzled looking Mia had called everyone into the dinning room where they were greeted with the sight of multiple dishes of gooey, delicious looking Chinese food gently steaming in the middle of the table. They all sat down, Mr. Toretto saying grace before they dug in. Vince was eyeing his plate as though she was trying to poison him.

After they were sitting back, their bellies happily full; Mr. T. casually asked a smiling Rae where she had learned to cook like that. Her face immediately fell, and she quickly answered that her parents used to own a restaurant where her Ma would cook. She then quickly excused herself, going back to the kitchen to clean up. She never offered to cook again.

Life went on. Rae became close friends with all of them, except Dom and Vince. They pretty much ignored the girls, much preferring to work on their machines. Mia's fourteenth birthday came round, and everyone spent the day at the beach, swimming and eating ice cream.

Things at home weren't too good for Raeka though. Her grandmother was bitter, and was continually putting her down, calling her names. Most of the time, she would just stand there and take it, but occasionally Abuela would hit on a sensitive spot, and Rae would start screaming back. Letty had initially tried to intercede and defend her from their grandmother's bitter rants, but Rae told her nicely that it wasn't her problem, and that Abulea would only start on her too. After that, Letty usually let her cousin handle it, but she would always stay nearby in case things got out of hand.

When things got really bad, she would go and stay at Mia's. At first, she would sneak in, climbing up to the girl's bedroom, and tapping on the glass 'till she let her in, leaving in the morning before anyone woke. Mia never asked what the fights were about, and Rae never told her.

One day, however, when she was leaving, she lost her footing on the roof and slid down, catching her fingers on the guttering a moment before crashing into the bushes below. She didn't break anything, only bruised her butt, but when Mia had seen her friend start slipping down the roof, she'd started screaming, convinced that Rae had broken her neck or something.

It had woken the other two occupants of the house, and there was quite a little scene on the front lawn as Dom tried to comfort his sister, pointing out to the sobbing girl that Rae was fine. Antonio Toretto was not happy, but after she explained about fighting with her grandmother, her sighed and said that she was welcome anytime, as long as she didn't go climbing around on any more rooftops.

Rae became a regular around the Toretto's, never causing any trouble, and helping out with dinner and breakfast when she stayed. When she turned up on their doorstep, flushed with anger and tears in her eyes, they would never ask what her grandmother had said to get her such a state, Mr. T. would just wrap a big arm around her in a fatherly hug and let her in to the house.

It was on one of these occasions that things changed forever in the Toretto household.

Rae was asleep on the floor, with Mia gently snoring in the bed next to her, when there was a sudden loud banging from the door down stairs. Rae shot wide awaked, panic flooding her, as her nightmare seemed to bleed into real life. Mia was slower to wake, blinking and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Rae glace over at the pink clock glowing on the table above her. Two A.M. on a Wednesday, who was it?

Creeping out of her room, closely followed by Mia, the met Mr. T. and Dom at the top of the stairs, all of them still dressed in sleepwear. Mr. Toretto was holding a baseball bat and was making his way down the stairs, "You girls stay there," he ordered, his tone brooking not argument. Dominic followed his father down the stairs, both of them drawn towards the still-thundering door.

Mr. Toretto stepped up, looking cautiously through the peephole. "Shit!" he muttered, passing the bat to Dom, and went to open the door, stopping only to yell up the stairs, "You girls go back to your room NOW!"

Mia ran up quickly, but Rae stopped at the top of the stairs, out of sight, but still able to hear clearly. Mia, noticing her friend had lagged behind, turned and gesture frantically, sighing and returning to her room alone as her friend just shook her head.

Mr. T. opened the door quickly, catching the figure that tumbled through the door as soon as it opened. There was a moment of silence. "Aww, hell Vince! What happened?" he asked in a gentle voice.

"Dad lost his job," Vince half sobbed, "He was so angry! He wouldn't stop! I got away, I didn't know where to go, I'm sorry Tony, I'm so sorry…" Vince pleaded, his voice broken.

"It's okay Vincent, it'll be okay," Mr. Toretto soothed, giving Vince one of the bear hugs he gave Rae when she turned up on his doorstep. Rae peeked round the corner and saw Vince's shoulders shaking with silent sobs. Suddenly there was a loud screech of brakes and then more banging on the door.

"Vincen' Martelli, you get your ass ou' here righ' now!" an angry voice slurred from outside.

Vince stiffened, but Mr. Toretto gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's okay, Vince. You just stay here, I'll take care of it."

"C'mon BOY! I know you're in there!" his dad yelled. Vince could only stand there. He hated feeling so helpless, relying on others, but he was scared. He'd never seen his father like this before.

Tony and Dom pushed quickly through the front door, keeping his father outside. His dad was weaving drunkenly as he yelled at Tony, while he just stood there, tense. Dom was standing a little behind his father, arms crossed over his chest. He knew the kind of things his dad was saying. The boy deserved it, little punk. Gotta teach 'em their place. He was askin' for it, givin' me lip.

He had come home to find his dad already halfway through a bottle of tequila, and he immediately started in on Vince, blaming him for everything. He was almost the same size as his father now, a bear of a man, but as soon as his father started, he was the same scrawny little kid he was years back, and he couldn't do anything but curl up and take the beating.

But today had been different, he hadn't stopped after the first couple hits, and Vince had realised that his dad wasn't going to stop at all. So he'd ran to the safest place he knew. He had no doubt that if he had stayed, his dad would have killed him. As it was, his face was swollen, his lip was split and he was pretty sure he had some cracked ribs.

As he watched the scene unfold outside, he felt a movement behind him, but before he could move, something blessedly cool was gently pressed against his face, soothing and numbing the pain. He turned to find Rae standing there, holding the bag of peas to the side of his face.

He took them from her, positioning them where he hurt the most, while she took a towel she had brought through, dipped it in a bowl of water and began to clean the blood off his face. "I'm fine," he grumbled. She just raised an eyebrow and continued her work. He was too tired to argue.

Outside his dad began to move towards the house, but was stopped when Tony took a swing at him, sending him flying back on his ass. He yelled something then came back into the house, Dominic close behind. When he entered, his eyes snapped to Rae. "I thought I told you to stay upstairs."

She shrugged not stopping. "Don't worry, I've seen worse. Mia's still upstairs though."

Tony frowned at her, but turned his attention to Vince. "Why didn't you tell us?" he asked quietly.

Vince just shrugged, wincing at the pain in his ribs. Rae's small hands quickly felt around. "I think he's got a couple cracked ribs," she said to Tony. Turning to him she added, "If you have trouble breathing, you should go to the hospital."

"Well, you can stay with us, no arguments. You're only a month away from eighteen, and I doubt your dad'll make a fuss. Dom and me'll pick up your stuff tomorrow. You can crash in Dom's room for now," he said. "Dom, go check on Mia. I'll make some cocoa and you can tell me what happened."

As he went to the kitchen, Rae began cleaning his broken skin with anti-septic, putting band-aids on the larger cuts. By the time she was done, Dominic was coming back down the stairs. Packing the first aid kit up, she disappeared upstairs without a word. Tony came out of the kitchen with a tray of hot drinks, spilling them a little as he brought them to the nearby table.

They sat down with the drinks and Vince told them everything. How long his dad had been hitting him, how his Ma had skipped out a couple weeks ago, how his dad had lost his job. Tony looked sad that he hadn't been able to help sooner, but Dom was furious, and the only thing stopping him from running after Vince's father was a few stern words from Tony.

The next morning, Dom and Tony acted like he'd always been there, laughing and joking with him. Rae pretended that last night hadn't happened, which Vince appreciated; it was definitely better than Mia's sympathetic glances.

The rest of his life continued as normal, Tony insisted he continued at school, and he helped out around the garage, earning his keep, even though the older man argued that it wasn't necessary. Letty, Leon and Han caught on pretty quickly what had happened, but didn't say anything.

After Tony had fixed it up a little, Vince moved into the basement, giving him some privacy. Sharing with Dom was not fun. The guy was a slob. Not that Vince wasn't, but there was a difference between his mess and someone else's.

His birthday came and went, he and Dom celebrating by getting drunk and passing out in the living room.

Rae stayed over with increasing frequency. Vince thought it might have something to do with the old lady, but Letty seemed okay, so he wasn't sure. She and Mia were pretty tight, even though they were a bit of an odd pair. He didn't know whether it had anything to do with Rae staying over, but rumours were floating around about her mother, that she was some kind of hooker or something.

It didn't quite fit with the little she had said about her family, and although her was inclined to believe her, he over heard her grandmother gossiping one day in the fresh produce aisle, whispering conspiratorially with another old lady. "The older one's a good girl, does as she's told, but the young one…niña de Diablo! I wouldn't be surprised if she grows up to be a whore, just like her madre. You know, that puta got my poor boy killed!"

He didn't much care what her Ma was, he sure as hell didn't want to be judged by his parents, but he didn't like the idea that she was lying to the Toretto's. Everyone knew what had happened to Letty's mom after her dad had died in a training accident at the navel base where he was stationed, she'd gotten into drugs, dumped Letty, and then disappeared. Maybe Rae's mom wasn't much different.

Vince soon found out.

He and Dom had finally gotten the heap of a car running smoothly, and had decided to celebrate with a beer or four. Dom's dad was okay with them drinking, preferring they did it under his roof instead of elsewhere, where they might get into trouble. Mia, Letty and Rae had apparently been out shopping for some upcoming party, coming home laden with shopping bags from the mall.

To say he and Dom were slightly buzzed would be a bit of an understatement, but Vince wasn't drunk enough to miss the disgusted look that Rae gave them as she passed to go to the kitchen. Feeling the anger build in him, he couldn't resist asking, "Was your Ma really a whore?"

Mia gasped, and Dom growled a warning, but he didn't hesitate, walking up behind her stilled form and repeating, "Was. Your. Ma. Really. A. Whore?" He didn't get to ask a third time as her small fist came out of nowhere, ploughing into his cheek. He stumbled back, losing his balance and landing on his ass, more from shock than from the force of her blow.

"Who told you that?" she asked, her voice dangerously low, her whole body humming with barely restrained anger. Vince realised he had crossed a line.

"I overheard your grams talking in the store," he answered, staring up at her, sobering up quickly. Her eyes flashed, meeting Letty's, then she was gone, the door slamming behind her, Letty running quickly behind her.

"You bastard!" Mia screamed, running up to her room.

Dom stood over him for a moment, then held out his hand, helping his friend up. "You okay man? Girl's got a mean right, huh?" he asked, voice full of amusement.

"Ha ha. Laugh it up," Vince grumbled, flopping into a nearby chair.

"Come on man, you were askin' for it."

"Asking for what?" Tony Toretto asked, coming in through the door.

"He pissed off Rae again, just like the first time. Only this time, she hit him," Dom replied, grinning.

"Seriously? Good for her," Tony replied, with little sympathy for Vince. "You realise it's almost a year since she turned up at the garage?"

Dom just laughed.

About an hour later, there was a knocking on the door. Dom answered, leading a flushed looking Rae and Letty into the living room. Rae was staring at her shoes, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Letty spoke to Dom, leaving out the usual flirtatious attitude. "Is your dad here? I need to talk to him." Realising the seriousness of her tone, he nodded, jogging up the stairs to get his dad, who was currently trying to convince Mia to come back down.

Soon, all the Toretto's were downstairs, with Tony looking worried. "What's wrong?"

Rae just looked uncomfortable. Letty stepped towards him, speaking up. "Abuela kicked her out. For good. She needs somewhere to stay 'till we can call her brother and sort things out. Is it okay if she stays here for a few days?"

Tony looked at both of them, then nodded. "Does this have anything to do with the stupid thing Vince said earlier?" Vince winced, obviously Mia had told her dad what had happened.

Rae still didn't speak. "Sort of. She went home to confront her, and they got into this huge fight," Letty shrugged.

"About what?" Tony asked. Rae didn't reply. "If you're going to stay here, I need to know the truth, I won't judge, none of us will, I promise."

She finally raised her eyes to his and nodded slowly.

Her brother was off for the weekend, boating with some friends on Lake Michigan. She had helped out for a while, clearing tables in her parent's restaurant, then had sat in one of the corner booths doing her homework. They had shut at nine, and by eleven, all the staff had headed home and the place was empty, except for her mom and dad, who were doing the last few jobs before heading upstairs to their apartment.

She was sitting on the bar, watching her mother go over the menu for the next day, making sure they could get all the ingredients. Every so often, she would tuck a stray piece of her silky black hair behind her ear, only to have it fall back in her face again. As if feeling her daughter's gaze she looked up, smiling lovingly before looking back at her work.

Her father was putting away the last couple glasses behind the bar, when he suddenly stiffened, staring out of the window. Before she even had a chance to look around, he had pulled her down behind the bar, tucking her small frame out of sight as he whispered, "Stay here and be quiet, what ever happens, okay?" Scared by the desperate look in his eyes, she nodded, eyes wide.

The bell above the door jingled, and her father stepped out from behind the bar, saying, "What ever you want, just take it."

"The money!" a muffled voice yelled. The bank-issued moneybag scraped across the bar-top as her father handed it to them. "Shit! This isn't half of what you said there would be, man!" the voice yelled, apparently at his partner.

"That's all we have," her mother's soft voice answered. "We took the rest to the bank yesterday, I swear."

"Fuck!" another voice yelled. "I knew this was a bad idea! I shouldn't have let you talk me into this!"

There was a tense pause. Then the first ground out, "I told you to keep your trap shut, man! They recognised your voice, bro. Now we're gonna have to kill them," he said, seemingly unconcerned with the change in plans.

"No! Please, we won't tell, just let my wife go!" her father pleaded, his voice loosing it's calm for the first time.

There was another tense pause. "Well ain't you a pretty little thing, just like a china doll," the first voice said.

"No. No! You stay away from my wife, you bastards! If you touch her, I swe…" There was a loud crack and then a thump as her father's unconscious body hit the floor.

"Stay where you are baby, whatever happens, stay hidden!" her mother said in Chinese, knowing the men couldn't understand her.

"Pleading ain't gonna help, sweet cheeks. If I ain't gettin' a pay day, I'm certainly gettin' somethin'" the first man said coldly.

"I don't know about this, man," the second guy said uncertainly.

"Look, if we're gonna have to cap 'em anyway, what's wrong with havin' a little fun first? I ain't goin' back to prison, just cause you frightened of a little pussy, that's for damn sure," the first man argued. The second man didn't reply, but obviously gave in as her mother started praying under her breath.

Rae covered her ears, trying to block out her mother's screams as the two men took their turns raping her; her eyes squeezed shut, trying not to start screaming herself. She stayed like that, curled up and gently rocking as two shots rang out, her mother's screams being cut short, then another spray of bullets as the men shot up the bar, shattering glasses and sending glass showering over the still-hidden girl.

The doorbell jingled again as they left, and Rae counted to a hundred, waiting to make sure they were gone. Then she crawled around the bar, not noticing as the glass on the floor cut into her already bleeding arms, old enough to know what she would find, but still hoping she was wrong.

Her father was lying next to the bar, a single bullet in his head. Her mother was much the same, but her clothes had been torn off and there was blood on her thighs. With a shaking hand, she closed her mother's empty eyes, giving her one last kiss before covering her with a tablecloth, doing the same for her father before she reached for the phone, dialling 911.

"I need the police. Some guys robbed out restaurant," she asked the operator.

"Okay sweetie, is anyone hurt?" the operator asked.

"Yes," she sobbed.

"By the time the ambulance got there, I had nearly bleed out, apparently one of my arteries got cut. The cops found the guys that did it, one was a guy my father had hired then fired in one day for slacking off, and the other was his ex-con brother. They pled guilty and I didn't have to testify. We stayed with friends for a while, but then Alex got the scholarship.

We don't know why, but my father's mother always hated my mom, and when he chose her over Abuela, she decided my mom was evil or something. That's what we fight about. She calls me all these names, which I don't really care about, but sometimes she starts talking about my mom and it's not right. When I found out that she'd been saying those things to everyone else…" she shrugged trailing off. She was still staring at the dining room table where they had gone to sit, and she had told the whole story in the same even, empty tone.

Mia was crying softly. Letty was holding her cousin's limp hand in her own tight grip, for her own comfort or for Rae's, it didn't matter. Dom looked like he wanted to kill someone. Tony was looking at her with a mixture of deep sympathy and respect, like he want to bundle her close and shield her from the world, like he did with Mia.

Vince…he felt sick, the things he had said…they were unforgivable. He stood up sharply, causing his chair to fall back, and stomped towards the basement. Before he shut the door, he heard Rae ask, "Who's he so angry at?"

"Himself," Tony replied.