Brian hadn't expected Letty to seek him out so soon. Things had always been a little tense between them, especially when Dom had started showing an interest in him. "Come on, man, we're going for a drive."

He glanced at her empty hands. "Where's your car?" he asked curiously, wiping his hands on a rag and putting his tools away.

Letty's eyebrow lifted. "Thought you'd be more comfortable if we took yours." She crossed her arms, studying Brian. He had changed a lot since LA, now he was more like Dom.

Brian laughed. "Don't have a car Letty, no point in owning one if I don't race, is there?" he smirked when she stared at him in shock.

She frowned in thought. "You had one back in LA…" she hinted, starting to realise the full depth of the changes in his life.

He nodded slowly. "I had a lot of things back in LA." He replied softly, he didn't like them seeing just how much things had changed, didn't want them feeling guilty for his decisions. "Come on Letty, we'll take a walk instead hey?" he suggested, hoping to distract her from whatever it was that was putting that sad look in her eyes.

They walked in silence for so long that he was starting to wonder whether Letty actually had something specific to say to him or not. Finally, she spoke up. "When Dom first insisted on letting you in, to everything, I was pissed. I was so sure that no one new could understand just how important our family is, let alone protect that as well as it ought to be protected. A newbie would bolt at the first opportunity, I was sure of it. And yet you protected our family, protected Dom, more than anyone else ever has. I wanted to let you know that you are more than just welcome in our family, you are needed. We all love you to bits man, even me and Vince. Especially Dom. When we couldn't find you…shit man, I've never seen him lose it like that. Not even when his dad died."

Brian nodded to show he had been listening but wasn't sure how to respond to that, or what Letty expected him to say.

"So, when are you going to stop dicking about and come home?" she asked bluntly, seeing he wasn't sure what she wanted from him.

Those electric blue eyes widened in shock and he shook his head. "Letty…you guys have known you've been looking for me from the start. Last I heard I was a piece of shit that no one wanted to see again, and then I lost everything else – all in LA. It's taking me a while to wrap my head around it all."

She nodded, a slow smile tugging at her mouth. "Just as long as you haven't already decided against us and you're just letting us run in circles." There was the teasing Letty he was used to.

Brian shook his head quickly. "Just…getting used to how everything is. And trying to decide if everyone means what they're saying now, instead of the reactions back then when you all found out I was a cop."

x x x

"Tej would be his friend, but Brian keeps him at bay, keeps their relationship professional. The only one he seems to be remotely close to is Rome, but he doesn't talk to him much I don't think." Mia spoke softly, mostly to Dom but the others needed to know too.

"He doesn't have his car or his apartment anymore either. They confiscated them when they arrested him, never gave them back. He doesn't even own a car." Letty grumbled, it made her mad to think how badly he had been treated.

Jesse fidgeted in his seat. He didn't really want to tell the others what had happened in the garage, but he knew they needed to know. If only to be a little gentler with Brian than they had been back in the day. "I…uh, I kind of snuck up on him one morning. He had me by the neck before I even realised he'd moved and it took him a second to realise it was me. A second longer to calm down enough to let me go. It freaked him out, realising that he could have hurt me."

Dom nodded. "Lompoc can do that to a person. Never saw a cop put in there, but I would think it would be a whole other shit storm to survive."

Leon leant forward, his arm wrapped around Mia's shoulders. "So, we just tread lightly around him. We've had to do it for family before, just never expected to do it with him. But he's more than worth the effort."

Vince was nodding in agreement. "He gave up more for us than anyone else ever thought to, and he didn't expect anything in return. I say he's worth anything we can possibly do for him."

Dom nodded, pleased to see his family so eager to bring Brian back into the fold. So eager to protect him and help him in any way that they could. "It might take him a while to fully understand how serious we are about this. This place, it might not seem like much, but it's a safe place for him. Don't expect him to leave it too eagerly. Like he said to Letty, we've known all along that he's family, but he spent years thinking he was disowned."