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KINDA SORTA SPOILER IN MY AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END FOR TOKYO DRIFT. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, JUST SKIP OVER IT, REVIEW THE CHAPTER AND READ IT AFTER YOU SEE IT. There are two notes, the first one you can read, the second one is the Tokyo Drift one. Or if you don't care… just read it anyways.
Brian braced himself for an ambush, and was surprised when it never came. He was expecting the ass kicking of a lifetime, not that he didn't deserve it, but everyone just stood in front of him. Waiting.
He thought that they were just waiting for the moment where he thought he was safe to attack. Any more standing around and he was going to make the first move. Time to stop running, he thought.
He opened his mouth to say something, but Dom held up a hand to stop him. "It's been awhile, Brian," he said in his deep voice.
Brian paused for a second to find his voice. "Yeah," he replied. That was all that he was able to force from his mouth, but he seemed okay with that.
"Your name is pretty well known around the country," he added.
He stuck his hands into the pockets of the shorts he borrowed out of a nervous habit. He stared at the ground, not able to stand the gazes of the six people in front of him. "Made a lot of friends when I ran," he said his voice trailing off with each word.
"Ran?" Jesse asked.
"I thought that the force fired you and you just made your way down here," Leon said.
Brian combed his hand through his hair, pausing and scratching the back of his head. "I wish it was that easy," he sighed remembering the trouble he had caused.
"Why don't you tell us what happened?" Dom asked. But he wasn't really giving Brian a choice.
Brian let out another long sigh. "After Jesse and Vince got better and was able to leave LA, I was brought in for questioning. They wanted me to tell them everything about you guys. The truck hijackings, why Jesse got shot, how you guys got away."
"And you wouldn't," Mia said. "You even covered for Vince."
The sound of her voice made him look up. "Yeah. I couldn't betray you guys twice in my lifetime. I made up my mind, but they gave me a few days to think about it. Then I ran. Came to a junction where I could have gone up to New York, but I chose down here. A lot of good that did me."
"What do you mean?" Mia asked.
"They found me down here. Dragged me into another case. Almost got killed. But it's okay. My record got cleared."
Vince stepped forward. "And what about our records?" he asked. He wasn't really concerned about Brian as he was about himself.
"They have nothing. I tried to find a way to contact you and tell you it was okay for you guys to go back home, but I didn't know if you guys would listen."
"Well, we're listening now," Dom said.
"Yeah," was the only reply that Brian had.
Dom took a few steps forward and Brian visibly tensed. Dom stopped and actually took a few steps back. "Why are you so tense, Brian?"
"Habit," he whispered.
"You look like you're getting ready for a beat down."
"Am I wrong?"
"Yeah," Letty said, walking forward her fists ready to fly.
Dom held out his arm to stop her. Letty stepped back and waited. After a few seconds, Dom walked toward Brian again. He raised his arm and put in on his shoulder. Brian looked at it and assured himself that it was on his shoulder and not connecting with his face. "I don't get it," Brian said.
"Look, I have a lot of reasons to hate you. We all do. I admit that. But I have more reasons to thank you. And for some reason, the good stuff outweighed the bad."
"I don't deserve this."
"But you do. You made sure that the people who shot Jesse got what they deserved and you stayed with him in the hospital when we couldn't. You got Vince help when he needed it. And from what you just told us, you had to run because of us when it would have been easier to turn us in. I'm thanking you right now."
"But—
"If you really want to get your ass kicked, I can let Letty and Vince beat you a good one. They can't forgive you as easily as some of us can."
Brian laughed nervously. "No, I'm good."
"Can you blame us?" Letty said.
"I just never liked you from the beginning," Vince added.
"Yeah, I gained your trust, then I lost it. I'm sorry."
"You gotta earn it again," Dom said.
"And you gotta stop apologizing, Brian," Jesse said. He stepped forward, wanting to have a talk with him. "Oh yeah, that was a nice Skyline back at the market. Who was the guy that did the work?"
"Shane. He's a mastermind. But he got a lot of work to do to be able to do the stuff you do," Brian replied.
"Shane, huh?" Dom asked. His tone sounded like he wanted to take Shane under his wing.
"Yeah, Shane," Brian smiled. His smile quickly turned into a frown when he realized where he was and where Shane was. "Shit. Shane. I left him at the market. I gotta get back to him."
Brian turned and began walking toward the market. "I can take you," Mia said.
Dom stood beside his sister. "We're all going," Dom said to his sister.
"No, but he's riding with me."
"Fine," he conceded. "Try not to kill him on the way there."
Mia shot her older brother a 'don't mess with me right now' look and Dom had no choice but to back off. "Funny," she spat.
Dom smiled knowing just the right words to say to his sister. He didn't expect her to act so fiery, but he didn't expect to see Brian down in Miami either. With him thrown in the mix, anything was expected.
Mia turned around and trudged off to her car. She got in, but didn't start her car. Brian looked back and forth between Mia's car and Dom. "I think she's waiting for you," Dom said.
Brian timidly walked to Mia's car and opened the door. He bent down and looked inside. "Get in," she said.
He got into the car and he could have sworn that he heard the other team members laughing. Mia started the car before he closed the door and sped off after it closed. She didn't wait for everyone else to follow them. "Um… do you know where you're going?" Brian asked after about a minute of driving.
"How have you been, Brian?" Mia asked ignoring his question.
"I've been good, I guess. Could be better, could definitely be worse."
"That's good," she said, then the car fell silent again.
"I imagined this conversation going totally different in my head," Brian said, not being able to handle the quiet. "Turn right."
Mia took the turn and kept her eyes on the road. "You call this a conversation?"
"Yeah. Sorta."
"Is that good or bad? The conversation now compared to the one in your head, I mean."
"I don't know yet."
Mia slowed the car and glanced over to her passenger. "Do you want to find out?"
He looked at her and their eyes met for a split second before he broke the stare. "I don't know. Mia, I'm sorry. I didn't—"
Mia gassed the car, interrupting Brian's apology. "Brian, stop. Jesse already told you that you gotta stop apologizing. And besides, Dom already forgave you."
Brian looked behind to see if the other cars were following them. When he saw two cars pull up behind him, he returned to facing forward. "That doesn't stop Letty and Vince from having their doubts about me. Take a right at the second stop light."
"Do I look like Letty or Vince to you?" she spat.
"Mia," he said trying to get control of the conversation.
"Look, what happened in the past, that's where it needs to stay. You've been forgiven from the team. From certain individuals? I can't really say the same."
"Can we talk about it?" Brian asked.
"No," she said adamantly.
"I wish things were different," he said hopefully.
"I don't know if I feel the same."
"You happy with how everything turned out?"
"Of course not. But things can't go back to the way they used to be. No matter how much I want it too."
"Okay," he conceded. He could always talk to her about it later. Preferably after he's had some time to get back in all of their good graces. Or maybe he'd just let it go, like she wanted him to. "Take a left here," he said pointing down the street.
Mia sped up and took a left where Brian had pointed. They pulled into the parking lot and saw Shane pacing in front of the Skyline. They parked facing the Skyline and the rest of the team's cars followed suit. Brian got out of the car and ran toward Shane. "Shane," he said.
"Where the hell have you been?" he yelled. "I thought you were kidnapped or something."
"Shane. I'm fine." Brian looked at Shane's hand and saw that he had a cell phone in his hand. "Shane? What did you do?"
"I called Tej and everyone else. I was worried."
"Shane," Brian chastised. "Call them and tell them I'm fine."
Shane began to dial the number but stopped when he heard the familiar sound of the Spyder and three more cars. Everyone in the parking lot turned their head toward the entrance. Too late, Brian thought.
Yeah, I know the resolution between Brian and Dom's team was lame. But even though he's been forgive, it doesn't mean that it's the end of the problems with some of them. He still gotta earn their trust. And there is more of his past coming to bit him in the ass. Next chapter is Tej, Dom, and Rome meeting. What a great mix. Please review. Lil-Rock
TOKYO DRIFT AUTHOR'S NOTE…
So I just saw Tokyo Drift. There's not much I can say about it. Cars were gorgeous. Almost cried every time the main guy crashed any of the cars. There was one awesome character. Han is badass! So I was wondering, should I pay homage to him in this story or should I write a whole different story that could eventually tie into this. If you haven't seen it, you won't know what I'm talking about. Yes or no? All right, so this is the next chapter. Thanks for all the great reviews from before, and please review this chapter. Lil-Rock
