They were seated in a Hummer. It was as big as any van police might use on a stakeout with three officers, but these three were special forces and needed just a little more room and comfort than a cramped low-budget van. The tight spots on their bodies from past bullet wounds hated anything except the cushioned seats of a military type vehicle, too.

"He got us a solid lead," Hobbs said to the other two in the van who had listened in on the recorded call from O'Conner.

Wilks and Fresco may have been more reserved than usual. Since conducting three nights on surveillance with him, the two men were both in agreement that Brian was a brave undercover officer if nothing else. Hobbs was keeping it to himself that he was considering Brian cast iron.

"Did he really get paid to lap dance our suspect?" Wilks asked.

"Should one of us stay here?" Fresco asked, knowing it would be him if someone was. This wasn't an Asian neighborhood, so a black man sitting in a car alone wouldn't be spotted as so unordinairally as if Wilks was here.

For two reasons that was unnecessary. O'Conner felt this was a safe place. Looking off at the quiet house, Hobbs also got the feeling this was the safest place for the undercover officer besides the safe house where they were keeping Roman Pierce. Lance hadn't stuck around at all; clearly this was not territory to be seen in. And the second unnecessary reason for Fresco to stick around was the simple fact of the LA heat during the day. His agent would cook alive if left outside. They could visit Mia's diner or send in a car for repair. There were ways to get eyes in here.

"No. Let's leave him here."

"Back to base?" Wilks asked, igniting the engine to the dark hummer.

"Do we have his personal address?"

"Around here somewhere."

"Let's go there and hunt him down some real clothes. I want to take a look at his place, too. It might tell us what makes this guy tick."

Hobbs' cool remark was hit home with his two men. They weren't in disagreement at all of that.

Not long later, as Brian didn't live terribly far from Toretto's place in Echo Park, Hobbs and his men got their first look inside O'Conner's home. It was technically B and E, but they were use to worse. It was just as Hobbs had read in the report on all those like O'Conner who suffered from the effects of that strange 'earthquake': nothing filled with nothing. No personal effects. No excessiveness. Brian had a used couch, a coffee table with a magazine and a beer left on it, a small bookshelf with pamphlets from work, and the only clutter was in the closet where he kept clothes and his old work gear. There was a safe on the floor in there closed up. Brian also had a sort of lingering method of tucking the hem of the sheets under the mattress, left over from his days in juvenile detention.

"Is he a monk?" asked Fresco, shining his flashlight on the complete lack of clutter in the kitchen area.

"Creepy," commented Wilks. "Let's get his clothes and get out of here. If I hadn't met him and seen he's got orthodox and a personality, I'd say this was some psychopath in the making. What's with the low quality living?"

They hadn't read the X file. Not even Bilkins had read it. Hobbs was only brought in on it because he was asked by the Assistant Director of the FBI himself to join both cases. Part of agreeing to the assignment was that he write his own estimate of Brian O'Conner and Roman Pierce. So far, he didn't have to add anything to the report, as all of the guesses from the agents in Arizona were accurate. He might have just been signed on to give such remarks.

Hobbs felt he had to defend O'Conner, being as he was only one of a few people who were privy to the possibility that his mind was stuck in a cell block of a juvenile detention center, weird as that was.

"He's dedicated to the job, men. How much did any of you have while you were deployed?"

"Still, he's a monk," Fresco said, now at his closet and pulling out a gym bag he found behind the safe.

Hobbs went to the dresser and collected from it the smaller garments. It wasn't like he had to, but while the other helped pack Brian's things, Wilks went about digging around the drawers and through the lines of hanging things, even atop the shelf in there.

"What are you looking for?"

"Can't get over the fact that all this stuff is so boring compared to him. Not even a pair of women's panties!"

Fresco laughed.

"I already looked, too! Hobbs, really? Nothing in any of those drawers?"

Hobbs closed them after he had taken a few days worth of supplies. Believe it or not, all three of the special agents wondered about that and had checked.

"Let's just get back to base. I'll drop this off tomorrow for him."

They didn't linger.

Brian was now dressed in Dom's sweatpants and shirt, shut the light off and left the bathroom. Dom had one bedside light on, leaving the majority of the room shadowy. Brian left the door open to air dry the bathroom; in the climate of LA that would happen fast even at night. He stood by the doorway, just looking at Dom atop the covers, laying back on just one of the pillows. The other was next to him, set up for Brian's use. He was leaving it out, leaving it for him, and if that wasn't plain to see then Dom patted the pillow as a signal to call him over to it.

A shivering started in his stomach. Dom was pulling him in but Brian didn't know how close.

He didn't want a repeat of the garage.

"Got something telling me to go slow," Brian said quietly, not moving from the door jam.

Dom's gaze trailed down Brian's body and up again.

"Come over here and we can talk about that," he was just as quiet, more baritone.

It would have been easy to crawl in on the side and take the pillow, but Brian came over from the bottom of the bed, moving slowly up Dom's body, hovering over Dom and straddling him, pressing his hands on Dom's chest and looking down on him. The thought occurred to Brian that he wasn't exactly a lightweight guy at around six foot. Dom would be feeling that, so he took the pillow reserved for himself and pulled Dom forward. He tucked it behind him, making Dom's position look more comfortable.

Brian leaned down and nuzzled Dom's neck. As for Dom, he reached up and petted the blonde wet hair, darker now while damp. He lifted his neck and gave Brian room to lick across his clavicle, dip into the space where the bones met and tingle his whole body. Brian nipped the skin but not as furiously as Dom had those days ago. He was gentle against the heated and scented expanse below him. He met Dom's eyes. Blue on brown. Both were fascinated by the little colors they saw from this close.

"I understand going slow. I understand not going anywhere at all, too. I don't want to get stuck there…" again.

Dom touched his face with his lips, kissing his cheek.

"Then don't," he said compliantly.

They didn't talk for awhile after that. Dom laid still, learning to relax under Brian. He felt like Brian was being extra quiet, moving leisurely, not doing anything to draw out moans or tease out gasps even though what he was doing felt unbelievably good. Their clothes were still on but their bodies were moving in ways that shoved them aside. Shirts were jammed upwards and pants were taken below the thighs. Brian's legs spread downward and their manliness was aligned again to rub together. Brian's hand gripping them as one, but he was withheld, too.

If Dom ever wondered what it was like to be the car Brian was working on, this was it. This was Brian being in sync with the motor, joyously rebuilding something broken into something whole, never dropping a tool or rushing it. Touching everything. This was the build that would lead to the slow burn on new tires after a tune up…then on to the hard races, hopefully.

Hopefully?

When every muscle in Dom's body flexed, that's when Brian relaxed the most. He let the waves hit Dom and didn't interrupt them or let them crash. He let them roll. Quietly on and on as he helped the feelings escalate. Dom was so close to release and just needed that extra hard attention where it counted. Brian gave it to him with the flat of his palm and total dedication to an iron grip on his hard aching cock. The rush was so dizzying that Dom opened his mouth to cry out but was captured and smothered on Brian's tongue and lips. He bit the mouth that consumed him and rode the last hurricane wave.

When it was all over and he'd twitched his last, it was apparent there was more than just his own mess pooling on his body. Dom sighed in relief. He hadn't been alone in that experience. Knowing Brian had been there with him flared his heart and made his next breath more euphoric.

Before he had time to contemplate how hot it all was and how different it all was, he asked, "You got a thing about not making noise while you're in bed? I sorta thought you'd bolt if I made a sound."

Brian shook his head and buried it in the crook of Dom's neck.

Dom stroked his hair - mostly dry now. Brian stretched out and got up, putting his clothes back in place. Dom would have done the same except then all the spunk would soak into the material. Brian had gone right into the bathroom and got the damp towel he used to dry himself off after the shower, using it now to clean Dom off nicely.

"I just have this thing…" Brian muttered, wiping carefully across Dom's stomach and chest, up to his neck to catch the errant drops. He checked to make sure he got it all.

"What thing?" And wasn't Dom remarkably cool about all this? He took the corner of the towel, wiping off a place Brian missed on his chin.

"Back in juvie, my bunkmate told me not to let him hear me jacking off or he'd rip my head off. When it's for me…" and Brian lost his voice, became impassive, damn telling of the trauma of his past.

"When it's for you…?" Dom let that hang, wanting him to finish that sentence. It was because Brian was being so careful with him. So slow despite what they'd just done. He wanted the chat.

"When it's for me, I just want to be quiet. When I'm out doing this stuff for Vice, it's different. But personally…."

It was telling, just like Dom suspected. He fixed his own clothes and Brian repositioned himself off of Dom and pulled the blanket up both their bodies. They scooted down to a more prone position, with Brian's head on Dom's shoulder and their arms wrapped around each other in a cuddle.

"I think I know what you mean," Dom said quietly. "It didn't really matter in prison whether you were heard or not, though. Bunch of anxiety ridden horny teenagers…I guess I can see that being something to piss about."

"You didn't mind?" Brian wondered sheepishly.

"Here in the house, with Mia in the next room, I'm glad to be quiet."

"She knows I'm in here, Dom."

He nodded, taking a deep breath to steady himself as that thought really settled in. Before, while he was waiting for Brian to finish his shower and finish that phone call, he was thinking just that. That Mia knew. That Vince had known longer. That something like what they had just done might have happened. It wasn't even like he was satisfied by what they'd done. He was still feeling horny and there was still a kick left within him. He'd probably have this itch all night and wondered how Brian felt about being woken up to it…? He didn't mention the elephant in the room. Letty. His girlfriend. Not even his ex-girlfriend, because he'd kissed her goodbye that afternoon. Having Brian O'Conner in his bed was not something their relationship could survive…not something Dom thought he'd want to survive.

Instead of more talking, Dom rolled Brian over and lay over him this time, covering his mouth. It was probably half an hour later that their tired tongues calmed dancing and Brian gasped for a breath but looked fired up for more. Dom shoved his sweatpants down and his own again, too, this time being the one to grip both their demons in his hand.

He looked on Brian's scorching cheeks, his shiny lips, noticing a trail of saliva had escaped out the side of his mouth. He kissed over it and took his ear and sucked. His other hand rose to pinch Brian's tit, a castaway impulse from his time with Letty. Brian's were so much smaller, the numbs hard to grip. He rubbed with the pad of his thumb and scratched with his nail, causing him to moan and twitch. The audio was like the soundtrack of his appetite and he kept it up until he had full control of him again, causing him to shoot a white wet onto his shirt.

"God, Dom. Yes…amazing…" Brian was speaking breathlessly.

Those glossy blue eyes looked down to where Dom was still pumping himself and he made his move. He pressed Dom between his thighs and pulled him upwards so he was placed now to be straddling Brian's stomach, hovering. Brian's strength pushed him up further as he descended, planting himself under Dom's hips and opening his mouth to slobber down Dom's red and straining cock.

The tumultuous shout rose uncontrolled from Dom, the loudest sound of the evening. He was in control of Brian, securing him to the mattress below him and driven into place with the rod down to the far back of his throat, Dom's hairs tickling his lips and nose, his chin heavy with the soft weight of his balls. For a startling moment Dom held him like this, knowing he was suffocating and knowing this ravening was too good and he wasn't going to last long. He pulled slowly out, slipping along the path of the unyielding wet tongue that trailed along the twisting path of the thick bottom vein. Brian sucked when he wasn't too far removed and Dom's vision turned tar-black. He was overpowered and ruthlessly returned back into Brian's mouth. He thought he was in control, but still Brian had him.

Only six more swipes and Dom added more than salivary fluid to Brian's mouth. When he looked down and saw the undone look of adore of the man below him, Dom moaned again and dropped onto his chest without regard for the mess that would, hours later, have them waking up and stuck together. He was uncommunicative for the rest of the night.

Breakfast was Dom's idea. He pulled Brian out of bed and dressed him in a new shirt, insistent on pancakes. Separate bathroom runs. Dom tossed the hooker clothes Brian had come in with in a trash bag and walked it outside right to the bin. They put the ingredients together, made coffee, had about a dozen pancakes left to spare. There wasn't any conversation yet, but there was touching. Brian's hand sliding over his hip. Dom kissing his neck and nuzzling between sips of coffee.

Dom took another bathroom run and when he got back in Vince was at the table and pouring himself a cup of coffee, a plate of food already collected. Vince took in Dom's presence with a tired yet humored smirk.

"I've seen it all now," Vince greeted Dom.

Dom couldn't agree, not unless he'd been watching them in the bedroom last night on the sly. There were some things he'd sure Vince hadn't seen before.

He'd put his best friend through the ringer sure enough. Though he had no idea what Vince's limit might be now that Dom was with a man and Vince was okay with it. As for Brian sitting at the kitchen table across from him, that was something that solidified the design of Dom's life. He had to admit, not all of the glitter was yet off Brian's skin, but for the most part he looked like the guy who stepped out of the Skyline those weeks ago. Happy, glowing.

It was an amazing addition, but a scary one.

Vince stuffed pancake into his mouth, admiring his friend's guts.

"You coming by the garage today?" Vince wondered.

Brian nodded. "Think so. There's only today and tomorrow left until Race Wars, and I haven't even test driven the Skyline. How's she looking?"

"All painted up!" Vince replied.

Their conversation was light.

In her room upstairs, Mia was thinking about just staying hidden or maybe heading straight out to their store and opening early, but the smell of food and the sound of Vince's voice in conversation with them encouraged her to go meet the others. She spent the night tossing and turning, knowing that if she opened her text book she'd not be comprehending a single word so didn't bother. She wasn't listening for sounds of them, but the implication of her brother having a man in his room and it being past midnight was heavy on her mind.

Mia came down the stairs silently, entering the kitchen and seeing them all sitting there. A clean plate with a fork and knife were sitting in an empty spot. There was coffee and pancakes with syrup on the table.

"Hi Mia," Brian said when he saw her.

He was dressed in Dom's clothes. He looked popular this morning, a bit tired.

"Did you two…? Do I gotta be asking?"

"Don't ask if you can't handle it," Vince warned.

Mia swept her hair back and pursed her lips. She was being stupid thinking this was a bad thing. It was just a relationship between her brother and another man…she wasn't against it. She came into the room and to her designated spot. She pulled her guts out of storage.

"I can handle anything after a lifetime with you two idiots. I'm fine with this. I'm happy for you, Dom. Happy for you both. Never thought…" I'd see such a thing, though.

Brian smiled bashfully. It brought Dom back to reality.

"Thanks Mia," Dom replied for them both.

"You're dating a cop, Dom," Mia pointed out, picking up a pair of pancakes and happy that Vince snorted into his sip of coffee. "How will…Letty feel?"

Brian's flirtations with her brother had been something she'd wanted to talk about with someone, but she'd kept it to herself feeling like it wasn't impossible but it was highly improbable that something would come of it. Now she had her chance to talk with someone about it and why shouldn't it have been these three?

Vince seemed ready for an answer to this question, too.

For his part, Dom expressed a troubled look. They'd all thought of Letty before now.

"We'll work through it," he said warily.

Mia bit her lip, yet to take any bites of food. She was leaning over her plate with elbows on the table. Her eyes were glued to Dom.

"There you go, thinking she can handle one more thing on top of another."

"It's not like I didn't think of her," Dom said clearly. Even sitting here showing more of himself, he couldn't help feel a bit embarrassed that he'd fallen for a man and would have to confess this to Letty. He looked upon Brian. "But how could I turn away from this?"

Those words lingered in the air. Brian had never felt so cared for.

Letty was for Dom to sort out. Dom and her were together but it wasn't like the way Dom had looked at Brian last night…the way he'd pled for him to stay away from Johnny, pled for Brian's life, for him not to hurt himself. That was different than how he behaved towards Letty. He would risk her life when they went out to hijack a truck, clink beers after, sleep it off in their own beds at their own homes…Friends with benefits. Family, yes.

Brian being around had driven them closer but only so far as when he was with the two of them. When Brian was off being a cop in the mornings, things were regular. Letty was uncultivated in her relationships due to long understanding of needing to be the dominant one or become hurt. She'd take this as a blow, but not a loss. Dom had confident they were a forever thing.

A night out with Mia never meant a hangover the next day. The girl wasn't a big partier, even if the party they went to was big. They'd gotten into the club as easy as pie and didn't leave until two in the morning. It was still a work day, though. Letty got up and ready no matter how groggy she was. She grabbed her keys and left on time.

The air was hot just before nine in the morning. She locked her door and stretched an arm up behind her shoulder, scratching an itch. Rubbed her eyes as she descended the two flights of stairs. Sunglasses went on now that she was in the glare of the sun. Not baking-hot yet, but warming her skin right up. She rounded the corner of the building and lifted some dirt with an errant drag of a foot. Dom was leaning against a post by her car. She halted the paces away.

There wasn't much distance between her place, Dom's place and the garage where Leon and Jesse slept in the two Airstreems, but he had rarely come by like this. She was the only one with a place outside their life, but that was just because Letty knew she'd get sick of them all if she stuck too close for too long. She didn't have any wild aspirations like Mia to have a career and she wasn't into the mind altering substances the other guys were, so her evenings were free. Her and Dom could only hang out so many nights a week before the little things made them too irritated and they'd start a fight.

"Hi, Dom. Who died?" Letty said. Her voice sounded natural enough to her own ears, but it was a little overwhelming to have Dom coming to her place and waiting for her, his arms crossed and this expression on his face.

"Can I take you to breakfast?"

She tilted her head to the side and walked forward, getting almost within touching distance when Dom's hand came up and rubbed the back of his own neck. It brought her to a standstill. Letty could see a jackass when it showed its face. This was Dom being one clear as day. When his hand scratched across his neck like that. When he kept glancing away. Not to mention the fact he was here.

"Fuck. Morning to you, too. I already ate."

"Something I need to tell you," and the way he said it…

"Spit it out, Toretto."

Dom was hesitating. He looked around. "Can we go inside?"

She didn't say anything. Fine. Inside, outside, whatever.

Letty felt the building rage. Her body could feel this energy coming off Dom that just didn't belong in their relationship. She felt like she was being dumped. It was impossible not to feel the air was different. The need to dig her talons into him and rip him apart showed itself. She often didn't question her hate; it'd never failed her in the past.

Her hand shook as she put her key back in the lock. Her fist slammed on the cheap wood and burst the door open. She marched across to her fridge and busied herself to keep from facing Dom. Fuck him! She poured herself some orange juice. Fuck Dom's whole face! She breathed deeply and drank the juice down, shaking in rage.

He had stopped on the arm of the couch, sitting there with his elbows on his knees, hardly at ease. Letty saw him and recognized the cheater's posture for real now. Scratching his neck and looking away still. She leaned on the wall that separated the small kitchen from the rest. She wasn't calm. She radiated exasperation. When Dom looked up at her, her bitchface was hidden below her sunglasses, leaving Dom only her scowl to judge her mood.

"Gonna fucking tell me what this is about?" Letty demanded.

Let him say it.

"Letty…" His voice sounded strangled to her ears.

"Just say it!" She wasn't yelling. There was a new baby in the place next to her and she kept it quiet for them. But how could she deny what her intuition told her? Something had happened.

"What bitch is it this time? Monica? One of Hector's cousins? The cop?"

But oh my god it was the cop.

If he'd thrown a skillet at her head she'd be less shocked.

The shit he pulled off in the beginning it was one thing. Dom was just out of prison and dealing with a lot, and they weren't back on as seriously as they were when he had gone in. Dom was a fluid man when it came to getting along with people and solving situations; he pulled himself out of that dark funk and back into being a good man, creating a good life for them. She'd call it love because it was. Capable. Loyal as fuck except not. Add faggot to the list. Fuck Brian the cop whore.

Dom wasn't really the type to fight. He was the type to tell a person how it was going to be, not just circle around; he hated his own heart being stabbed and hated stabbing other's, too. But this time Dom grew quiet. There was no great plan. No great idea like hijacking semi trucks for fast chunks of cash to solve their woes. He had nothing for her. That hurt just as bad as the revelation of what was happening with him.

It meant he had given up on her. She didn't know what to do other than to let the anger build.

"You screw eve-ry-thing up, Dom-in-ic," Letty said with her teeth held together and a clip to every syllable.

He kept a pained expression.

"I think I found something," he said quietly.

"What'd ya find, Dom? A cop's dick to suck?" She was a viper, speaking soft. "Learn that in prison and just had to go back to it?"

He tensed.

"Excuse me," his voice rumbled. It wasn't even a question.

"Excuse you? You have some nerve feeling offended now, Dom!" And he wanted her to be nice about this? What did he really expect? "I don't know what happened to you, Dom. One day this blonde cop shows up for Mia and the next you're calling him part of this crew. And now you're fucking him? When - ? Last night? Is that why you wanted me out of the house?"

The lack of awareness of what Dom had done with Brian added one more layer to it all, and by that point her nerves were just about gone.

"I didn't intend for anything to happen. It just did."

"It just did? Like an accident? You want me to believe that? I don't even know if this is just another phase and I should let it slide! This whole time there has been something between you two, but do you really want to call it this? When are you going to stop fucking me over, Toretto?!"

"You want me to say I understand where this came from?" He was laying it bare now, she realized. Much more exposed with her now than ever he had been when he wore nothing at all. "It would make it easier for the both of us if I said that I understood it, but I can't."

"No, of course not. You can't tell me shit about why you did this, just like you couldn't when it was any other time you cheated on me. Oh, damn it. Damn it, Dom! You never once even tried to stop this from happening! I was specific as hell that that boy wanted something from you and you always brushed it off. When did it all suddenly happen that you turned into a cop's fuck toy? What if he's playing you?"

"He's not playing me," Dom took on a guileless tone. "And about that cop thing…you can't go around telling anyone that's his job. He's working for the Feds to get Johnny Tran. He's pretending not to be a cop right now as his cover. They'd kill him if they knew he wasn't my mechanic."

Letty couldn't even register what this new feeling was. Three quarters anger and zests of jealousy and betrayal; she was long past believing he wouldn't cheat again. It was just another on the list of shit that Dom somehow found a way to make more complicated. Sister Tran was the complication that would get Dom killed if he ever tried it again, Johnny made that clear. It was either that she leave him then and let Tran move in, or cover his ass and protect him by turning away any temptations that Johnny might have snuck under the door to catch Dom. She knew that was a possibility.

Brian had been the first serious competition Letty had run into, but if she had said anything before now about that then she would have to come to terms with Dom being into the guy. Maybe she had been going at this blindly. Maybe she never had a chance stopping this. Dom just kept finding danger. That was all he was good for. She was pissed because he was going to get them all in trouble when he finally found it. Well, she couldn't help feeling that now he'd found it. And with a guy. He couldn't have even started small; it had to go and be a cop, too. Now, Letty wondered what it was all for.

"They're not the only ones who would kill you if they found out he was a cop! You think I didn't already know to keep my mouth shut about that?!"

"You're acting like I'm doing this to hurt you. I'm just…not trying to do that. I'm trying to do the right thing."

How many times had he ever said that to her? Never, probably. Dom did what he wanted to do, not what was right or wrong. This was a personal first.

"Nobody does the right thing, least of all you, Toretto. I want you to leave. That's it for breakfast."

Dom accepted the request. He swung back and then lifted his butt off the couch arm. He was right by the door and opened it. The sun was at an angle and lit his white wifebeater brightly, making her wonder where his wings had gone. He looked behind him at her without a mask, which made his voice uneven and sad.

"I wanted to tell you the truth. Do this the right way."

"You think there was a right way to do this? Don't expect me for awhile," she warned him, teeth still gritted together.