Sean waited half an hour before leaving the garage and hailing a cab. He stopped it about two blocks from the house and took back alleys until he could sneak in through the back yard. When he walked in to the living room, Mia and Twinkie both sat on the couch, staring at the television as tears streamed down their faces. He took a breath before he braced himself and stepped into the living room. Mia looked up at the sound and her face briefly registered shock before she jumped off the couch and threw her arms around him. Twinkie stared in equal shock as Sean caught Mia. Mia pulled back and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" Sean protested.

"What the hell?!" Mia demanded, gesturing to the flaming wreck on the television screen.

Sean fidgeted, "Everyone else back yet?"

Mia glared.

"Look, I'm fine. I just… we need to wait for everyone else."

Mia nodded jerkily and pulled him onto the couch in between her and Twinkie. Twinkie gave him an awkward hug and Mia wrapped her arms around one if his and rested her head on his shoulder, but still stared at the flaming wreck on the screen.

It seemed like hours passed in the mere thirty minutes it took to drive back to the house after Shaw let them go. Brian slammed through the back door with Letty, Dom, and Rome right behind him.

"Mia!" Brian called.

She came running from the living room and straight into his arms. He buried his face in her hair as he wrapped his arms around her and took a steadying breath.

"Mia…" he choked out. "Sean… he –"

"Is fine." Mia cut in.

Brian pulled back and looked down at her, confusion clear on his face.

"Sean is fine. He's in the living room. I would've called, but we agreed not to use our phones 'til this was all done, and…"

Everyone rushed toward the living room as Mia trailed off. Sean stood from the couch and had the grace to look a little sheepish.

"What the fuck, man?!" Letty found her voice first.

Sean shrugged, "I wasn't driving."

"We watched you take off." Brian said.

Sean bit his lip and shuffled his feet before repeating, "I wasn't driving."

"Fine. Then who the fuck was?" Rome demanded.

Sean took a deep breath, "Mara."

"Alright," Sean drawled, "he's gonna try and kill me. How is that not gonna work?"

"We're switching the cars." Mara repeated.

Sean nodded. "Someone's still gotta be driving the second car, though."

Tej grinned, "Not necessarily."

"Explain." Sean demanded, getting impatient.

"There's another reason it's gotta be your Evo. 2006. It's all computerized."

"Oookkaaay?"

Tej held up a computer chip about the size of his palm, "I install this in our duplicate car, and we'll be able to drive it remotely."

Sean looked doubtful, "Well enough to win a race?"

Mara chuckled, "Well enough to intentionally lose a race."

"I'll set up a sort of simulator by attaching cameras to various points of the car. She'll be able to drive it almost as if she was in it." Tej explained.

"With the added benefit of no one getting blown up." Hobbs added.

"Alright, that all makes sense, I guess. I even get why we've got it set up in Tej's garage – it ain't being watched like Toretto's."

"But?" Mara prodded.

"Why are we the only ones here?"

Mara bit her lip, "We can't tell anyone else." she took a deep breath, "Their reactions have to be genuine. Shaw will know if they're faking."

"They have to think I died."

Mara nodded, "Just until after they confront Shaw."

"This is bullshit."

Mara grimaced, "I know."

"What do you mean Mara was driving?" Dom's voice rumbled from the living room as Mara and Tej snuck through the back door.

Mara darted into the living room and leapt between Dom and Sean as Dom was apparently reaching for Sean's neck.

She held her hands up, "I'm fine. I was driving it remotely."

Relief warred with rage across Dom's features.

Letty spoke before either could win out. "What the fuck?!"

Mara took a deep breath and turned to face the rest of the crew, "Look, I'm sorry. This one is all on me and you can hate me for it as long as you want."

"Explain, now." Rome demanded, plopping into a chair to her left.

"We duplicated Sean's car. We switched them out when he was out of sight long enough and I drove the duplicate remotely from Tej's."

"You knew this was gonna happen." Rome sounded disbelieving.

Mara nodded, "I know how this bastard operates."

"You didn't tell any of us." Letty accused bitterly.

Mara shook her head.

"Why?"

"Our reactions." Brian said.

Mara nodded.

"What?" Letty glared at him.

"Our reactions had to be genuine. Shaw wouldn't have believed anything else." Brian elaborated.

"That's fucked up." Letty snarled, but there was a little less venom in her voice.

Everyone else seemed to relax marginally. Mara was too scared to turn around and face Dom, so she met each crew member's eyes in turn, offering silent apologies. When Dom's hands settled heavily, but gently, on her shoulders, she took it as the peace offering and forgiveness it was and leaned back against him, letting the stress-induced exhaustion of the last few days start to sink in a bit.

"Wait." Letty said, "There was a body. I saw it."

Mara grimaced, "Hobbs bought a cadaver from UCLA. Close enough to Sean's age, height, and build that hopefully this will be over before Shaw realizes he's not dead."

Letty shook her head and shuddered, "That's nasty."

Mara nodded in agreement as silence settled over the room.

"So what's next?" Dom's voice rumbled next to her ear.