Disclaimer: I don't own the Fast and the Furious or Paul Walker or Vin Diesel. In fact I don't really own anything, that's sad.

Warnings: This is an AU story. Brian is sixteen years old (he graduated high school at 12) and Dom and Letty's son. The story line starts as the same.

Hi, guys!! I'm sorry for the lateness, again. Real life really messes with my writing schedule, as do real ideas. Sorry, but I finally wrote a chapter.

P.S This chapter is dedicated to all you guys…thanks for the awesome reviews, this is the first story of mine to have crossed the hundred reviews mark. You guys rock. Hope you like, Love, Brownie 

Our Son

Chapter 8: Race Night II

"You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win." Zig Ziglar

'It's show time,' thought Brian as the cars passed by him and then slowed to a stop. His attention was on the red car, the one leading the pack, or more specifically its driver: one, Dominic Toretto. Brian watched as Dom got out of the car and immediately was greeted by all the racers, 'I gotta give it to him, he's got their respect,' and then what he seemed to enjoy more: the ladies.

"Hey, Dom. How you doin'?"

"Jamille..," greeted Dom, slipping his arms around the pretty, but definitely not Brian's type, girl's waist.

Brian found a smile covering his face as Letty, he'd read her file and knew all about the dysfunctional relationship between her and Dom, saw the scene after getting out of the car and immediately went to attack the completion. After growling, she said, "I smell…" and then, after pretending to sniff, continued, "skanks. Why don't you girls just pack it up before I leave tread marks all over your face."

It wasn't a question and Brian could see the girls got the message when they turned around and said, "Okay," as they made to leave. The look on Dom's face, when that happened, looked eerily similar to that on a kid's face when his or her mother said, "It's time for bed."

"Letty, I was just talking to them," said Dom as he read the look of disappointment in Letty's face.

"Yeah, whatever," she snapped, and left presumably to talk to someone else. Brian's smile faded as he remembered what else he had read on Letty's file, 'I wonder if Dom knows that he could have had a kid who'd be…exactly my age, right now. Talk about coincidence.' He felt sorry for Letty it had barely been a month since the anniversary of the day her son had died.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Dom saying, "Hey," before turning to find the person he was addressing, "Hector."

"Hey, what's up, Man?" Asked Hector, walking up to Dom. He was then joined by Edwin, who greeted Dom with a fist bump and a, "Yo, wassup?"

"Edwin," greeted Dom obligingly before Edwin asked, "How we doin' this today?"

"One race – two G buy in, winner takes all. Hector, you're gonna hold the cash," explained Dom.

As he threw in his buy in, one of the racer's asked, "Why Hector?"

Edwin answered his question, "Cuz he's too slow to make away with the money, Man." This declaration was met with laughter and a series of "oohs"; it reminded Brian of a kindergarten class after someone was called to the principal's office.

Brian remembered that he wasn't here just to observe, when Dom patted Hector and the guy that asked the question on the back as he said, "Okay, good luck, guys," and made to leave. That was when Brian acted, calling out, "Hey, wait, hold up," as he headed toward their little group.

"I don't have any cash, but," he said, pausing as he raised the white sheet of paper, "I do have the pink slip to my car."

It was Jesse who commented first, "Hey, you can't just climb into the ring with Ali cuz you think you're box." Brian could honestly say he had no idea what that meant and so he just pointed at Vince and said, "He knows I can box." Not seeing Vince's frown because he was still facing Jesse and Dom, Brian said, "So check it out, it's like this: I lose, winner takes my car – clean and clear –, but if I win, I take the cash and I take the respect."

This declaration, too, was met with laughter and Dom mutter, "Respect," like it was a joke, so Brian, looking straight into Dom's eyes, countered, "To some people that's more important."
Dom looked contemplative before he, nodding toward the car, asked, "That your car?" The response once he nodded was instantaneous, everyone headed toward the car after Jesse and Dom. Then Jesse popped the hood revealing the parts that Jesse called out, "I see a cool-air intake. It's got a NOS-fogger system and a T-four turbo, Dominic. I see an A.I.C controller. It had direct port nitrous injection."

"Yeah, and a stand-alone, fuel management system," he then looked at Brian and continued, "Not a bad way to spend ten thousand dollars." Brian just shrugged; it's not like it was his money.

"See that shit," commented Edwin disbelievingly, "he's got enough NOS in there to blow himself up!"

"Yeah," agreed Dom, looking at Brian. This time Brian didn't react; he knew that and he also knew that this would make him look like a rookie, which was exactly what he was going for.

"So, what do you say? Am I worthy?" It was everyone against him, but that didn't bother Brian, it had always been like that before he'd me Rome, he knew how to deal with it.

"We don't know yet," said Dom with a smirk covering his face, he then pointed bills worth a total of two grand at him and said "but you're in," the pointing them toward the cars he said, "let's go!" And everyone did, getting in their cars and heading for the starting point. The guys that were racing lined up while everyone else except the Torettos that weren't racing parked on the side. The Torettos, however, used their cars to cover the road making an improvised blockade.

Even as Brian parked into his spot, he saw a pizza guy come up on the road, honking when he saw the blockade, then jump out when no one moved. Brian saw Leon say something and, although he was too far away, he got the gist of it and he couldn't help, but laugh, it was funny and ''Sides,' he thought, 'I'm a kid, I have the right to be immature.'

He was getting the heady feeling that always came from the adrenaline rush that racing gave him and his legs starting bouncing up and down (that usually went away when the race actually started.) Then once someone had checked the police scanner for cops, the signal was given for the racers to rev their engines and move to the starting line. Everyone cheered as the moved to the red line and Brian started the ritual he always did to prepare himself for a race while everyone else did their own.

For him, it was closing his eyes and getting himself into the right mindset for the race; For Dom, it was turning on his music; and for Edwin, it was Monica, or some lady whose name started with an M (Brian really had not needed to see or hear her little pep talk.) It went without saying that everyone checked on their NOS and navigation systems to make sure they both worked properly.

"You're gonna win," Brian said to himself, after setting everything up. "I'm gonna win," he affirmed one last time, looking at himself in the mirror. He then took a deep breath even as a megawatt grin lit up his face when Hector held his hand up in the air as if to say, 'We're good to go,' and then as everyone cheered at the sounds of roaring engines he brought his hands down and yelled, "Go!" And, just like that, the race had begun.

…TBC…

(If you want me to?)

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