I sighed. Everything was bound to catch up with me sooner or later. I was sitting on the curb in a car park of a roadside seafood restaurant. Brian had called not long after the kitchen incident and I suggested meeting today, and he suggested meeting here.

'Fuck!' I whispered angrily to myself as I scratched my fingers down my face. Mia was inside and I couldn't stand being alone with her. The car ride was bad enough.

'Something happen?' a voice above me said. I looked through my hands and found a pair of chucks standing in front of me.

'How you doin, Brian?' I smiled, standing up. I wrapped my arms around my brothers neck and sighed.

'Good, yourself?' he smiled, in return wrapping his arms around me.

'Actually a little nervous', I muttered, looking away before looking at him with a big smile, 'Let's go through, shall we?'

He looked funny at me before leading the way into the restaurant. Mia was seated at a table at the far end. We were going to sit outside, but we needed her out of the way, so that Brian didn't run. 'Is that what you were nervous about?' he whispered at me. He had seen her.

'Uh, yeah, but do me a favour; ignore her, pretend like you didn't see her', I smiled at the guy behind the counter and ordered fish and chips.

'Sure', he said awkwardly, as I paid for the food and took our number and headed outside. 'The point of it being?'

'She's going to surprise you', I muttered.

'Why?' he asked.

'Because, she was the one that sent me to you in the first place', I sighed, 'I don't actually need help with my car'.

'I thought it was a little bit iffy, you not once asked me for help with that car', he smiled. I knew I couldn't fool him, not for one second.

'Believe it or not, that doesn't surprise me, remember Jesse?' I smiled.

'Yeah, is he all right?' he said, looking awfully depressed all of a sudden.

'Still feels it when it's cold and when he coughs, but other than that, he's as good as gold', I smiled.

'Brian?' came a soft voice behind me. The way we had planned it, was that Mia wasn't here to meet me or him, she was here studying and just happened to run into us.

'Mia', Brian cheered, 'It's been ages'.

'Yeah', she said softly.

'I'll catch up with you later Bri, looks like you guys need to catch up', I smiled, I patted my brother on the shoulder and kissed the top of his head before walking out.

I took another drag on my cigarette and sighed. I hadn't smoked since I first met the torreto's. I had avoided it, much like the rest of the things I used to do, but I had been going well on this on. There was something that happened, I wasn't sure what, but something triggered my feelings back into smoking mode.

'Hey Jude', came a rather hushed voice from the front door to my right. I sighed softly before looking in that general direction. I had recognised the voice but had given myself the benefit of the doubt and looked, just in case.

'Letty…' I paused, trying to think of any excuse possible to get up and bolt.

'It's kind of cold out here, I brought you a jacket', she mumbled, sitting on the step beside me and passing me one of Dom's old jackets.

'Letty…' I tried again.

'It doesn't fit me anymore, I thought you might want it, that's all', she sighed, blowing into her hands before stuffing them into the pockets of her own jacket. I took one last look at her before slipping the jacket on cautiously and slamming my hands into the pockets.

'Letty…?'

'Seriously Jude, I've spent the last two hours talking about it with Dom, I really don't want to go through it again', she snapped quickly before sighing again. 'Sorry'.

'I just want to let you know I'm not interested in Dom like that, too much shit has happened between us for anything to happen and to be honest, I don't really want that to change', I mumbled.

'Jude?' a shout from inside the house made me jump softly.

'What's up, Mia?' I shouted back.

'Phone!' I turned from the front door to Letty.

'We cool?' I held out my hand.

'We cool', Letty smiled, shaking my hand. With my spare hand I flung my abandoned cigarette onto the step below me and stubbed it out with toe as I got up. I smiled at her quickly before disappearing inside.

'Who is it?' I yawned, reaching for the phone as I headed inside.

'Not sure', she muttered. She was looking dark all of a sudden and I knew it wasn't good.

'Hello?' I sighed into the phone, only to have shock appear suddenly on my face at the voice that came through the receiver. 'Twinkie…?'

I wasn't at all worried as I walked out of the plane and through the terminal. I was home and I could feel it. It wasn't as tense as it was back in L.A and I knew immediately that I would be celebrating as soon as I met up with…

'Twink!' I screamed pushing my way through the people in the airport to the short man sticking out like a sore thumb. He was the only person around carrying his steering wheel.

'D fucking K', he shouted, causing glares from the other occupants of the space, but neither of us cared. I wrapped my arms around his neck and wrapped my legs around his waist. I had missed him.

'I missed you', I muttered stupidly. As if he couldn't have gathered it from the monster hug.

'No shit', he laughed as I dropped to my feet and smiled sheepishly.

'Where's Neela?' I questioned looking around, hoping to see her.

'We had a slight…malfunction if you will', Twink muttered, looking any where but into my eyes.

'Twink…' I started, 'what happened?'

'Neela's in the hospital, Jude', he sighed, finally looking at me.

'Let's go', I snapped, adjusting my bag and heading for the exit. All hope of a celebration lost as all sorts of scenarios raced through my head.

'You're bags?' he asked, grabbing my arm before I could run off.

'Oh, yeah, right', I muttered stupidly, leading the way to the baggage terminal.

'You don't look to crash hot', I mumbled, walking into her hospital room. Kamata had obviously insisted that she be in a private room. He still looked in on her from time to time.

'Jude!' she practically screamed, attempting to scramble out of the bed. I had never seen her so excited in the whole time I had known her.

'Okay, it took me ages to get the nurses to let me up in here, don't ruin that', I smirked, walking to her bed and giving her the hug she was so desperate for.

'Well hello to you too, Jude', she smiled softly. I sighed as I sat in the small chair beside her bed, awkwardly.

'What happened?' I questioned, taking her hand and looking her in the eye.

'You were gone for over a year', she muttered, looking at me sternly.

'And you're avoiding the subject, don't do that', I snapped.

'You were gone for over a year, Jude', Twinkie stated, looking me in the eye intently. 'DK doesn't disappear for over a year without someone wanting to race them during that time'.

'Neela…' I gaped, looking at her.

'They knew the new DK was a girl…' she tried.

'Neela', I growled. 'What happened?'

'A guy from America showed up', Twinkie started and I closed my eyes, completely and utterly frustrated.

'And?'

'We raced. He lost', Neela said simply.

'He came to race the DK and lost against someone who can't beat me, well, he can't have been very good', I snapped, opening my eyes suddenly.

'Uh…' Twink mumbled from the corner.

'Please tell me you didn't have anything to do with it', I growled, turning to look at Twink.

'I may have', he said simply, shrugging.

'Continue', I mumbled, now giving up completely as I turned back to Neela. I rest my head on the side of her bed, letting go of her hand.

'Someone', she said, emphasizing it, 'tampered with his car. He didn't find out until we started racing. He didn't make it up the ramp. His brakes gave way and everything just went…'

'Wait, hold up, everything went, as in, no control whatsoever?' I questioned, looking between Twink and Neela.

'No control whatsoever, his car went smack into the wall before banging it's way back down the ramp, and bang into the pillar at the bottom, man', Twink stated.

'So how did you get caught up in all this?' I asked, looking from Twink to Neela.

'He thought that's how I, well you, won races, by disabling people's cars', she mumbled, looking around the room, avoiding my gaze. 'As I was heading home…'

'Oh no', I snapped, glaring at them both, 'who tampered with the car?'

'I, uh…' Twink muttered.

'Twink, who tampered with the car?' I growled, standing up now.

'You're American friend', he stated softly, looking anywhere but at me.

'When did this race happen?' I questioned.

'Just after you left', Neela muttered and I just shook my head.

'Can't have been him, he was in L.A', I whispered. Although, I didn't know the exact day Dom had flown back in. He could have flown back in two days before I rekindled the friendship with him. That's when it hit me. 'Shit!'

'What?' Twink said in surprise.

'If you had of told me this, he could be here', I snapped, glaring at a stitch coming lose in the bed spread. Why did that matter now?

'Who?' he asked me, a little confused.

'Dominic', I muttered, looking away from the stitch.

'We'll be back, Neela', Twink snapped.

'Twink, time difference, and plus, he wouldn't get a plane out anyway', I muttered, looking up at Neela. 'So what happened to have you in the hospital?'

'Two weeks ago, the guy I had raced, plus some other guys showed up', she stammered, as if it hurt to remember, 'and the next thing I know, I ended up in here'.

'Have you seen Kamata, lately?' I questioned seriously staring at her, my cop instincts starting to shine through.

'No, after Takashi left', she faded off and I knew it was a sore subject. Even though he was a complete and utter ass hole to her, he had been all she had known for awhile. He had practically been family.

'Good, try and keep him out of it, yeah?' I mumbled before standing up as she nodded. 'Twink, take me back to the garage, I've got to make some phone calls'.

'Okay', he said slightly culpable as I made my way over to him. I had just told him that there was no point calling but I knew I wouldn't sleep until I did.

'We'll see you soon, Neela', I smiled softly before I attempted to exit her room. Twinkie stopped me and looked more guilty than he had before.

'Jude…' Neela muttered. I stopped trying to get passed and stood stock still. What had happened? Who went missing? What went missing?

'Jude…' Twinkie whispered.

'No!'