Mia hadn't asked what happened, and Mykie hadn't given her any answers. She stared at the wall while the girl cleaned the wound and bandaged it again, hand gripped tight enough around her tumbler of scotch that she was almost afraid she'd crack it.

Brian sat in one of the chairs across from her, eyes revealing nothing while he stared at her. His elbow was on the armrest, hand covering the bottom half of his face so that he wouldn't start yelling and lecturing. He had noticed that something was different, something hard in her eyes that she didn't have before, but didn't think it was anything serious enough that she had to flee Europe with a gunshot wound in her side.

"Stop fucking looking at me like that, Bri." She finally snapped, tired of feeling his gaze burning into her face. "I already told you. I got twisted with some shit people in England, and when I tried to leave, we fought. End of story."

"No, not end of story!" He retorted, throwing his hands up. "Who are these assholes? You got shot, Mykie!"

She tensed up, glaring at him. "You really want to take this conversation that direction, Brian? Getting shot at? You want to, 'cause I have a whole bucket of problems I have with you-"

"Cut it out, both of you." Dom snapped, stopping the two before they could say something they regret. He was curious to know what she was talking about, but it wasn't his business.

They both glared at him for a second before turning it back to each other.

Mia sighed and sat up straight, taking her gloves off. "There, you're good to go." Already she was worrying about the blonde, and she had known her, what, a few weeks? Dom could drag people in easily, but it seemed that the twins had their own little pull.

"I feel like I should tip you or something." Mykie grumbled, looking down at herself. The stitches were neater than the quick job she had her only ally in England give her, that was for sure. Neither of them had known how to properly do it, which meant it hurt like hell for Mykie when they did it. It was by miracle alone that she hadn't gotten it infected.

"Just make sure you don't die from an infection and we'll be good to go." Mia gave her a fond look, making the blonde give her a small smile in return.

Brian stood up, walking over to his sister and grabbing her by the arm, pulling her up. She let him, knowing that she deserved his anger. They were close, they usually told eachother everything. This was a big something that she didn't tell him.

"Thanks, Mia. We'll be going now."

Mykie waved to the group, giving Jesse a reassuring smile when she saw him frowning at her. "Bye, I might be dead tomorrow. If I don't show up, it was Brian-" she was cut off by her own yelp, Brian yanking on her arm to get her moving.

She expected yelling, a fight, maybe some tears when they got home. Instead, Brian left her in the living room, going to his own room and shutting the door quietly behind him.

Somehow, his silent anger and disappointment was worse.

Mykie went to her room, falling into bed. She didn't even change, too upset to bother with the routine.

By the time she woke up, Brian was gone, but that was expected. She let herself lay in bed for a few more minutes, staring up at the ceiling. "I fucked up," she said to herself, running a hand down her face. "Shit."

She changed into some new pants and a tank top, throwing her hair up into a tight bun. If he didn't want to talk to her, she wouldn't talk to him. Let him work out his anger and then talk to him.

She needed to go to work, give herself something to distract herself with.

It had been a few days since she had driven her Camaro, since she had been carpooling with Brian. She almost forgot where her keys were, but found them in a pair of dirty jeans she had yet to wash.

"Sorry I haven't loved you in a couple days," she cooed, running her hand over the top of the car before getting in. It started with a loud rumble, and she wondered for a moment how she ever gave up driving so easily to carpool in Harry's truck.

Oh, right. She's way too lazy to drive every day.

Mykie twisted the wheel to take a turn, glancing back in the rearview mirror when a motorcycle pulled up behind her. Her heartbeat picked up as her mind automatically assuming it was Tran, or someone from his crew.

Had he found out that she was at the garage the night before? Were they coming to take her out or maybe even kidnap her?

She looked at the road signs around and let out a sigh of relief. She was close to Racer's Edge, somewhere that Tran couldn't go since he had an agreement with Dom.

Pulling into the parking lot, Mykie felt her heart rate start to slow down once the biker kept driving on. She leaned forward, resting her forehead on the steering wheel, gripping it tightly. She had panicked for nothing.

Gritting her teeth, Mykie leaned back and punched the steering wheel in anger.

"You're late." Harry told her as soon as she walked inside, pulling on her work shirt over the tank top.

Mykie had to bite her tongue to hold back a sarcastic comment. The guy was nice enough to give her a job, she couldn't go mouthing off to him. "Sorry 'bout that, Harry. I overslept." She passed him and grabbed her CD player and headphones from her locker, switching the CD inside out for a new one. She shoved the player in her back pocket and got to work.

Waking up with only a few hours of sleep, and almost freaking out over nothing, she was a little grumpy.

She ignored Brian completely as she walked into the garage, grabbing what she needed to work on the car that some rich kid had brought in.

She'd seen it inside the garage enough times in the few weeks that she's been working for Harry, that she had started to hate the guy that owned it. He knew nothing about the car, obviously, and kept tearing it up. She was half-tempted to buy it from him, but she didn't have that kind of money to spend.

Finishing the car took all morning, and she was late for her lunch break. Already being grumpy, and now being hungry, she was in no mood to be around people.

"Harry, I'm taking off for the day." She told him, pulling off her work shirt. Her side was aching, and there was little she wouldn't do for a couple of painkillers.

Harry let her go, and she took off the second she was able.

She drove down the coast, just because she could. It had been too long she had driven around with nowhere to go in mind, and the trip was long overdue. She leaned her head on her hand, just watching the scenery around her go by as she drove the limit for once.

The radio was silent, letting her stew in her own thoughts.

Mykie could understand easily why Brian was upset with her. She had lied, she had kept it a secret, and she had been doing dangerous shit. But she felt the same way when Brian went to do the exact same thing, on his job as a cop.

Feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket, she pulled it out. Jesse was calling her, which was a surprise. "What's up, Jay?" She answered, slowing down once she hit a red light.

"Where you at, girl?" He questioned. "Brian showed up at the garage, but you weren't with him." She could practically see the pout on his face.

Mykie pulled off to the side of the road, letting herself relax back into the seat. She shut her eyes, head tilted back. "Sorry, I went out for a drive. Wasn't feelin' too great."

"Oh, are you okay? You don't gotta come to the garage if you're not doing good." Jesse tried to reassure her, and she smiled. Just talking to him had lifted her spirits some.

"Nah, I'm better now. I'll head down to the garage, but I might take a bit. I have no idea how far I am from DT's, truthfully." She glanced around, looking for a road sign or something similar. None of them were ones she recognized, so she just decided that the best way to go is the same way she came.

When Mykie got to the garage, she pulled up to see the crew and Brian working on the Supra. Dom was lowering himself into the empty space where the engine was supposed to go, with Brian on the side watching. Letty, Leon, and Jesse were standing around the engine.

"Got a TR7 here, with a ball-bearing upgrade. What it's going to do is, it's going to spool up really quick." Jesse explained, gesturing and talking with his hands. Hearing the door to Mykie's car shut, he turned and smiled at the sight of her. "Look who finally made it," he teased.

"I got this set up for 24 psi." Letty added, glancing up when the blonde entered. She couldn't help but smirk when she saw how they practically lit up when they saw each other.

Mykie rolled her eyes and walked up to the three, pulling Jesse into a side hug. "Yeah, yeah. I was busy, alright?"

Brian looked over at his sister and saw that she looked considerably happier than when she was at Harry's. All because of Jesse. He sighed and turned back to his conversation with Dom.

"So, uh, Mykie..." Jesse pulled her aside, looking down and fidgeting with his hands. She arched a brow at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you busy tonight?"

"Not that I know of. Why?" She had an idea, but waited on him to say it.

Jesse took a deep breath, looking up at her. "Do you want to go out on a date tonight? There's this new restaurant that opened, and I thought it would be a good idea to go check it out, but if you don't want to-"

She gave him a crooked smile, reaching and grabbing his hand so he would stop rambling. "Dude, I'll totally go out with you tonight."

"Really? Great," Jesse grinned, pulling her into a tight hug. "Wear something nice, okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, sure..."

Dom called over to her, Brian standing up next to him, "Spilner, I got something to show you."

Mykie glanced at Jesse before nodding and walking over. The man led her and her twin to his car and they got in, Mykie being forced into the backseat.

They drove back to the Toretto house and got out. Dom unlocked the door to the garage, opening it up. Ever since coming to the house, she had been curious as to what was inside. And now, they were finally able to see.

Inside was a gorgeous black 1970 Dodge Charger. Mykie could have died and gone to heaven after seeing it. She stepped closer into the garage, circling it slowly.

"Wow," Brian commented, staring at the car in just as much awe as his sister.

"Me and my dad built her," Dom explained. He glanced up as Mykie made her way back to the front of the garage, stopping next to the man. "Nine hundred horses of Detroit muscle. It's a beast. You know what she ran in Palmdale?"

Mykie shook her head, giving all of her attention to the man. "No, what?"

"Nine seconds flat." Dom answered, pride evident in his voice. "My dad was driving. So much torque, the chassis twisted coming off the line. Barely kept her on the track."

"So what's your best time?" Brian asked.

Dom shook his head. "I've never driven her."

Brian asked the question that immediately sprung to her mind. "Why not?"

The bald man looked away, swallowing. Mykie frowned and put a hand on his arm, looking up at him. Dom looked down at her and saw that there was no judgment in her eyes, just kindness.

"Scares the shit out of me," he admitted, looking down at the Charger. He suddenly turned and pointed to a picture of a man on the bulletin board behind them. "That's my dad," there's so much fucking pride in his voice that it makes the two ache for what they could have had. "He was coming up in the pro stock-car circuit. Last race of the season."

He started walking around the car, pausing at the rear, "A guy named Kenny Linder came up from inside, in the final turn. He clipped his bumper and put him into the wall at 120. I watched my dad burn to death. I remembered hearing him scream. But the people that were there said he had died before the tanks blew. They said it was me who was screaming," he struggled to get out, looking back at the twins.

Mykie let out a shaky breath, looking down at the ground. Her mother came to mind, and her death. She had been screaming at the doctors to save her when her mom started flat lining, and had to have Brian drag her out kicking. Brian grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze.

Dom continued, starting to walk around the car again. "I saw Linder about a week later. I had a wrench, and I hit him. And I didn't intend to keep hitting him, but when I finished, I couldn't lift my arm." Brian sat down heavily in the seat at the desk, while Mykie leaned against it. "He's a janitor at a high school now. He has to take the bus to work every day. And they banned me from the tracks for life... I live my life a quarter-mile at a time. Nothing else matters. Not the mortgage, not the store. Not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less… I'm free."

They talked for a few more minutes before getting back into Dom's car. He started to drive back to the garage, but Mykie stopped him. "Actually, can you drop me off at our apartment? I need to start getting ready for my date tonight."

"Be careful," Brian told her, finally saying something to her. She looked at him, meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror, and nodded.

"Could say the same to you," she commented, having heard from Jesse that her brother was taking Mia out on a date. He looked away, and she sighed. That wasn't even meant to be a dig at him being under cover, but she guessed he took it that way.

This is shorter than I'd like but I felt better splitting this and the next chapter up into two than one long one.

Tell me what you think! Reviews help keep me motivated(: