They walked the adrenaline off, but the metallic scent of burning NOS wouldn't leave their noses.

LA had those sodium lights, the ones that made the universe orange. Walking with Dom under them was eerie, a filter that ate away the natural look of the world around him. Car headlights passed. Bus stops passed as well as cabs. Dom ignored them with a stride that was not rushed; too deep in thought and twitchy. He was listening for motorcycles. This loud engine passed and Brian swear Dom skipped a step.

Brian wasn't far behind in terms of unease. He wasn't watching out for any pursuers, though. He was keeping an eye on Dom. Since pulling his Skyline into the empty lot, the motorcyclists circling around them, he kept an eye on Dom, just following his lead. This was Dom's world, after all. The buzz of the motorcycle engines still sounded in his memory, overlapped by the sound of the crickets that had awoken under the settling heat on their path through the city. The little bugs sprang around on the warm pavement and off the stalks of dry grass that had gone unmaintained by the city around the fire hydrants and lamp poles. The air was rarely comfortable in LA, hot and smoggy, but tonight it was dry and clear.

There wasn't just a little chance Brian would be called into the office to talk about this tomorrow. There wasn't even a little chance that someone would be waiting at his house to talk to him.

"Care to explain yourself?" someone - Tanner maybe - would say to try to take Brian down a peg. "They are our number one and number two suspects on the truck jackings and you know it!"

Okay, so maybe Brian's body fizzled with energy on the inside. Whenever he was this wired and had no outlet for it, he'd just get a really tense expression that often put people off. The bosses liked Brian's cool, needed it with the sort of work he did with SWAT and the like. When he had this look on his face, people listened and followed him. Life was dirty. Better at least that he could keep himself cool even when pain and fear took him to a level of delirium - an edge to which he'd long since pushed further away and could now handle so much more.

So much more like tonight with Dom. The man was sexy even if he didn't know it…which he probably knew it. He was twenty-six and what man that age didn't feel a level of assuredness that others would think himself sexy in one way or another? Dom wasn't egotistical. Not how he walked, talked, or behaved. He was charming in the sense he probably knew what a good mother and father were. He had an easy smile, Brian had learned tonight at the race. He was casual under pressure, Brian had learned when Dom faced off against Johnny Tran. And right now Dom was tense and powerful as he took these moments to collect himself. Brian knew he felt safe again when his eyes wouldn't leave Dom's rear as he walked half a pace ahead. Brian wasn't falling behind…he was just cutting it close to have a better look at the stride.

Dom's steps were quieter than Brian would have expected. They rounded a corner where a grocery store was, open at this hour and oddly busy. They walked past it, which took longer than expected. At the next intersection, Dom pressed the crosswalk button and put his hands in the pockets of his brown leather jacket, back stiff. Their eyes met, brown on blue. Brian didn't see a trace of worry in Dom's expression. His young face and a killer body were powerful, though. Thoughtful expression.

"Let me ask you," Dom's voice was louder than the beeping of the signal as they waited, "did you look me up?"

Brian let his eyes play across Dom, from head to toe. Dom didn't get it at first, still looking patiently at him. Brian recognized that Dom wasn't understanding him, so he took two steps back on the cracked pavement, so that from this vantage he could settle his eyes down Dom's form again, getting a look at his ass and legs, smirking in approval, making Dom suddenly realize that Brian was answering his question with a lighthearted return.

Dom shook his head and laughed. He didn't at all think he'd laugh so soon after seeing the beauty of a Skyline fall victim to an explosion via automatic weapons into NOS canisters, but it felt like a relief somehow.

"That's what you meant, right?"

"You knocked your head," Dom said as Brian started up again and fell in line with him as he crossed the street. The mood after that was better for a time, but it once again faded. Dom needed a real answer to that question. "So…did you look me up?"

Dom studied him intently. Brian kept it locked down, though. The FBI reports on Dominic Toretto were sealed, for the eyes of the units involved only. Rome would know everything there was to know about Dom…if he cared to use it against him was up to him. Brian was flying blind, though.

"Naw, man. I don't want my Sergeant asking me questions about why I'm pulling old files. I didn't look you up." True enough.

Dom stopped walking then. They were in a dark patch of the night between a Burger King glowing up ahead and a self storage building glowing behind them. Brian had taken only half a step away, but registered Dom's sudden stillness and compensated. He stood there with this easy vibe, eyes still focused on Dom and radiating this assuredness that didn't make sense.

"Then you're an idiot," Dom said plainly.

Dom couldn't meet his eyes for a long moment, looking out somewhere over at the empty dark lot between the two closest businesses. Brian waited for Dom's head to clear, for the emotions within him to settle. Yeah, it might be foolish to hang with someone like Dom, but Dom had Mia by his side and that spoke louder for Dom's character than any rap sheet about his past could.

Brian didn't interrupt his thoughts. Well, yeah, maybe he was an idiot but he wasn't stupid. Stupid would be triggering the system with his ID and getting flagged by the Feds for checking into him or any of his crew. Brian had been flying blind, but he was using his eyes and judgment and look what that had got him: the company of a decent man.

Dom's eyes came back to check up on the changes to the cop's look. Brian never blinked, just kept a steely gaze.

"You should know who you're hanging out with. Who you try to make friends with," and like he was scolding a child who ate a piece of Halloween candy before their parent's checked the bag, he said, "I spent two years in Lompoc. I'm not ever going back, but that only means that I don't ever intend to get caught."

He didn't want to come up too strong, but instead wanted to make a point with proximity. There were maybe two strides between them. Brian covered more than half that distance, slow and easy…knowing he had Dom's full attention, he didn't have to make his words forceful, either. It was Dom's guts that kept him from backing down, from the side of Brian that was cop or maybe from the side of Brian who clearly enjoyed being this close to him.

"I've sent guys there, Dom. For a few months or a few years, some a lifetime. And if they hadn't just killed someone, or beaten their wives or their kids, I'd have felt sorry for them for losing everything. Guys go in there for all sorts of reasons, but I can't see a guy like you, who has Mia and a crew with Jesse on it, beating on kids or fucking someone over on purpose and coming out with people like them on your side. Whatever you did - "

Brian's words were cut short.

Dom had grabbed him, a hunk of his shirt. There was no thought in it; Dom just gripped him and seemed to be frozen from there. He had muted fear in his eyes. Mighty, red-black iron rusted within him.

Brian pulled himself into a trim and compact force and slid closer, settling a hand up by Dom's shoulder and over that leather jacket, and his other he covered Dom's hand that gripped his shirt. He held firm, rubbed into the thick material and the thicker muscle Dom had grown through heavy lifting and hard work, knowing such a massage produced those natural endorphins that Dom looked like he needed. This close, this easy, it made Brian less of a threat and more of a sentinel to watch over him.

Even in the dim light, Brian's eyes were eerie vivid. Dom's just radiated power and something mean; something never forgotten that he'd learned behind concrete walls.

Again, it was kudos to Brian for not flinching.

He told Dom clearly, "I promise, Dom. I promise I won't judge whatever you did. Mia loves you. What she loves is who you are. We're our choices, not our mistakes. I'm not looking to arrest you if I can think of another way instead. Like tonight, all you needed was a ride. Maybe you'll need one again on another day? So, if you need me you call me quick."

Dom looked all sorts of pained.

"Couple problems with that…" and Dom couldn't believe he was going to say this, but, "I don't really know you. I don't really trust you. And…I don't have your number."

Brian held out his other hand, palm up and open. Dom stared at it like it might bite, but was relaxing still because of Brian's grip on his shoulder. He reached into his back pocket and passed his flip phone over. He watched the screen come up and then the little glowing buttons get pressed one after another. Brian keyed in his number and pressed and held the 1 button, make himself the first speed dial.

"That was Mia," Dom said coolly.

Brian didn't hesitate to correct his error, and he held down the number 2 key. "That better?"

"That was Vince."

Brian held down the number 3 key. "Your girlfriend?"

Dom nodded. "Letty."

Brian's hand was still working deep in Dom's shoulder. The tense muscle was just making that transition into jelly, though. Brian spread his fingers wide and took a new grip, thumb sinking in and causing Dom to visibly relax.

"You really want to keep going?" Brian asked with a sneaky grin. He held down the number 4 key. "Who's this?"

"Looks like you, now."

"Looks like that's right."

Maybe Brian was letting his emotions hang on his sleeve, but Dom was still letting him get in his space. No one let Brian do that, not since juvie and Rome and him were forced to spend hours together not more than four feet apart. Now, the world was around them, but here he and Dom were sharing air and heat. Brian felt downright joyful. He handed Dom his phone back, patted the shoulder he'd just thoroughly caused to melt, and grinned widely.

Dom looked baffled, brow furrowed. "You know you owe me a 10 second car?"

Brian's smile still didn't drop, but he looked like a challenge had been made against him.

He met that challenge.

"I get off work between three and four. And I can come over on my days off. If I bring you a car it may need some work before she's ready for you."

"I think I know a guy with a garage," Dom said matter-of-factly.

They naturally started walking ahead again, a bright intersection coming up.

"Hey," Dom said coyly.

"Huh?"

"You do that regularly? That another one of your things?"

Brian cocked his head. Dom flipped his finger thereabouts around his shoulder where Brian had kneaded him like raw dough.

"What?" Brian asked vacantly…or maybe he was just playing dumb. He let a little smirk fall, though, letting Dom know which it was.

Dom rolled his eyes.

"Really, what?" Brian jibed. "Like you don't get a massage from your girlfriend?"

"She doesn't have a grip like - you."

Brian heard the catch in his words. It was complementary and excellent how Dom was willing to talk to him, even knowing Brian's proclivities.

Not willing to play more games, he stepped out ahead of Brian, looking suddenly in all directions. They'd made it to the large intersection, lit up with street lights, shops that were still open - fast food, movie rentals, the like - and lots of traffic. People were even waiting at two of the other pedestrian crosses. Brian let Dom lead and didn't head for the button to light up the walking figure. Good thing, too, because Dom raised his hand in the air and waved down an oncoming taxi, and the crosswalk button would have hindered the traffic.

"Let's go home," he said over his shoulder at Brian.

The taxi came to a stop ahead of them, flicking its light off on top.

Dom motioned for Brian to get in and got in behind him, then gave the guy directions.

"Gonna be ten minutes," Dom told Brian casually.

Only a minute into the ride, that was when Dom reached up and scratched his shoulder, the one Brian had been working on. They were in the backseat together, Dom looking out the side window and Brian keeping his eyes open to everything and more. He was only just there, so Brian reached out and let his fingers ghost over Dom's shoulder, smooth up and clamp down solidly on the trapezius that had so far been ignored, and he got to work better than he had before.

The cab had turned onto the speedway, meaning it was rather dark but with LA spread out and sparkling all around them. Brian kept his eyes out his side of the window now, taking in the view. He also had a bit of reflection whenever they passed under a street light, using each opportunity to catch sight of Dom. Dom was stoic, just seemingly ignoring the fact he was melting like butter. The only real indication Brian got that Dom liked the tendance of his hand was that Dom had closed his eyes and relaxed for the last minute on the speedway. And wasn't seeing him enjoy it this much just like getting a slice of cake?

The car took an exit for Echo Park, and it wasn't more than a minute later that they were stopping across the street from a two story white house with a dozen cars crowding the edges of the residential roads, music beating from the inside. Brian had taken his hand back at the intersection before they were let out.

Once on his feet again, Dom rotated his loosened up shoulders. Brian stepped back as the cab left with Dom's cash and smirked at the fruits of his labor. Dom caught his smug expression. He dared Brian to say something with just a look.

Brian didn't let him down. "You know I'll really get the friction going if you let me?" he asked coyly, earning him a dazzling snort. "Not like you'd have to even ask nicely."

"I have no doubt you would, Officer," he replied evenly.

He was charmed by Brian by now, because Brian was saying what he thought, not trying to hide himself under some false mask. It made a dent in Dom's defenses. Together, the two of them found keeping things real such a luxury.

Dom turned and went up for the stairs, looking in at the party in full swing. Looking into his house, he would be mistaken if he couldn't see everyone in his crew settled in and completely carefree, not a single worry for where he was right at this moment. It was one of those candid camera moments, with Dom getting to be the host who showed them that the shit really was staged and the real world was going to come crashing in.

He glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see Brian there, but he'd taken himself off along the sidewalk and away. Dom could let him go right then, cut ties and see the guy on another tuna lunch break. But after a night like tonight, after all the favors he'd done Dom, some repayment was in order. Maybe even some dramatic repayment.

"Yo, O'Conner!" He called, preparing himself internally for what it would take to keep this guy around. "You want a beer?"

His eyes went around the room in one sweep. Feds wanted something on Dom, well, they had it. The party was in full swing with a litany of offences. There was open use of drugs, a weapon on the table, half naked women probably picked up for a cash exchange. This was like every night while undercover for Vice. Brian couldn't help feel a bit on edge. If someone was casing the joint, they'd have seen him walk in. If they sent a raid on the place tonight, what could he say? He'd really have to think about that.

Dom had already made half the rounds among his group, gathering their sorry asses behind him as suddenly he was coming up to Brian with a beer in hand for him. From behind Dom, Vince made his angry presence known.

"What's the buster doing here, Dom?" he demanded.

Dom swung around on Vince, not letting his friend get away with that tone of voice. "Cuz the buster kept me out of handcuffs! He didn't just run back to the fort! The buster brought me back."

And for Dom, it was the sheer size of Vince recoiling and sitting in place that satisfied that need to dish out punishment where due; because a cop brought him home, not a friend. Perhaps that was the lowest hit to Vince; that he wasn't there. The tattooed and scruffy man clicked his tongue behind his teeth, firing bullets at him with his eyes now.

Dom sized Brian up, checking him out as Brian's eyes left the room and settled back on his. Dom had to wonder what was going through the cop's brain, because he certainly wasn't giving much away. This was normal. This was why Mia stayed upstairs. Dom might have just spotted another reason his sister would like this guy: not into these sorts of parties.

Dom made it back to the side of the man who…well, who he trusted to play cool. He took a beer.

"That's Vince's. You enjoy that," Dom said smugly.

Because if that's how Dom wanted it, then Brian was going to oblige. He wiped the top, just to see Vince look more pissed.

"Brian?!"

A girl's voice, high and, yeah, high. Shrill and slow with the drugs she'd taken. She was standing in the archway with Jesse hanging onto her for balance, but her eyes were glued on Brian with a smile. Dom had seen her moments before pasted to Jesse's front, lips puffy with the press of sloppy kisses over Jesse's lips and stubble, because they were trying to dance but really…not very good at doing both at once. Dom looked from her excitement at seeing Brian, over to the man by his shoulder, who looked suddenly fierce in that way he had back with Tran.

"Oh my god!" Slurred the brunette, stumbling out of Jesse's grasp and over, slapping her hands to Brian's chest. She didn't even come up to his shoulders, her head was tossed back looking up at him.

"You know him?" Dom asked seriously.

From somewhere behind him, he heard Letty scoff and mutter, "Brian's such a white boy's name."

The girl - twenty but not a day older - nodded furiously. Brian looked up at Dom, over at Vince and Jesse as they lined up behind her. Leon was right on their shoulder, too. Letty was already within earshot, leaning against the door jamb to the dining room.

The new girl's vowels were long and airy, hinting at a second language, as she said, "I know him from San Francisco! We turned tricks together!"

Brian's mouth went suddenly dry with the flavor of the beer. A rackety breath escaped him.

"Stop it, Vaness," he said pleadingly, eyes roving to Dom once again.

She laughed, swaying against him and getting into his game as she was with Jesse.

"I missed you, angel! The cops busted our place on my night off and I didn't see you again! Looks like we both came here!" Vaness swirled around and bumped her soft body into Jesse again. Jesse wrapped his gangly arms around her, but he was staring over at Brian with a confused look again.

"What are you talking about?" Jesse muttered, holding his chin high and squinting at her.

"He's a stripper I used to know," Vaness giggled.

"What the - ?" Vince had lost his voice.

"Gets better than this?" Letty sniggered, too, checking out the startled looks on the guys. Dom especially. She noted his growing hostility and went over to him, laying an unheeded hand on his arm.

Jesse looked the worse for wear. Vaness took pity on him and patted his shoulders.

"What's wrong, baby? It was just a bit of fun and a nice way to make some cash. We only hooked up with the serious paying customers, not anything cheep."

She pouted under Jesse's chin, trying to bring herself back into his focus.

"He's a - what? A hustler?" Jesse wondered with worry.

"Don't trouble yourself, baby! I'll make it better! Bri even taught me this trick with my tongue you'll like. Calms a person right down."

Jesse looked ready to pass out. Her words caused even Vince to pale.

Brian saw it in Dom's eyes: awareness and…drawback. It was the suspicion that hurt the most. He turned his face away and saw the door handle back outside. He reached for it, but suddenly another hand was on it, and Dom also had a firm grasp of his shirt, holding him there.

"Nuh-uh. You're staying. I want your side," Dom muttered to Brian.

But damn, did the stampede in Brian's head still not slow down, even as he met Dom's eye and the world around him stilled for a micro second.

"Did you say he hooked up with paying customers?" Vince needed clarification, poking the girl in the head to get her attention.

She winced and swatted his hand away, disliking Vince's behavior but nodded, her eyes dilated and her mind aloof.

"Yeah, I said that," and her head lulled to Brian with some aggression now. "You're not bothered, are you? Your striptease was damn hot stuff. Couldn't do it like that."

The sound of footsteps pounding down stairs was a peripheral to the beating music. It brought Brian's gaze behind him, across the faces of people who were listening in on the whole ordeal, and right onto Mia's smiling face as she made it down the last of the steps.

She was suddenly standing by his side, but looking around at all of them, easily picking up on the mood. "Whoa, did I miss something?"

It was Dom who moved first, grabbing Brian and pulling him out the front door.

"Dom!"

"No, Mia!" Dom denied her whatever it was she protested. He needed this situation solved.

He couldn't demand they all stay back, though. And truth be told, none did. He had them all on his tail, stepping out and down the front. He guided Brian in front of him all the way to the garage, not being too forceful. And from the look Brian was giving him, he was doing this by choice. He wouldn't really put up with this shit, otherwise. Brian stood tall by the garage, staring at Dom with a raised chin and speaking immediately before the others made it.

"Vice," he said straightforwardly. "Undercover Vice, Dom. I was on the clock. It wasn't personal. I didn't do as much as pretended to do. Vaness was one of the smart ones who didn't belong there. I pushed her out before the units would come. She doesn't know I was a cop trying to bust them."

Dom took a deep breath, stepping back and tearing his eyes off Brian to look out at his family coming up. Standing here, now, facing them, he felt like he'd brought home a puppy and it had chewed on the furniture legs.

Brian didn't feel quite in control now, like he had while he was in uniform with them. Right now, he felt like he was at their mercy. One more bit of himself exposed today, it had to end eventually. He always tried to be unbiased with the people he met, knowing they lived a life before the moment he met them in; he wondered how these people thought of him. And how'd they treat him. When it came to Vice, he never wanted something from girls like Vaness, not personally, neither on his side or theirs. He wanted the bust. He wanted the drugs off the street. He wanted the houses filled with happier kids. And right then, Brian realized that though it had only been an hour since the feelings started, this powerful group of friends was one that would make him feel orphaned twice over if they made him leave.

So, they had a choice now, and him included: let it go or put up with it.

"What's it going to be?" He heard his own trepidation in his voice, holding out his arms and showing himself off, Vince's Corona still in his hand.

Mia finally moved in and took a place by his side.

"What is it? Not a fight, right? Or was it the party?"

For Mia, cops coming here and seeing all that shit that went on at the parties was an old battle with Dom. He saw it and thought of a good time, but she saw it all happening like one big slide into Dom going back to prison and her life falling apart.

Brian shook his head, arms dropping, speaking quietly. "Naw, Mia. It's not about that."

"Then what?" She looked at Dom and asked her brother, "You brought him around and what? I know you wouldn't have done that if you didn't trust him here. You usually don't like anybody. What's happened, though? One second you're fine, and the next you drag him out here for a beating?"

"It's not like that…" Dom shook his head, taking two steps away and facing the street. He wished they'd walked for another few miles. Maybe that they'd have walked the whole way home. Why was he feeling like he'd lost something?

"Who's being the complicated one here?!" Mia demanded of all of them.

"Just get out of here, Brian!" Vince finally broke the quiet with a snarl.

"Leave it! He stays!"

"He's not one of us!"

Dom turned around and pointed at Brian. Oh, but that was a dangerous threatening tone in Dom's voice. "He fits, Vince! What about him doesn't?!"

Vince starts the list with five fingers raised, then with his other hand he raised more in sequence. "Let me see, there's his job! That's one! He bats for the same team, there's another!"

Vince met both Dom's and Brian's cold eyes, trapped there. That was it.

List done. Almost.

Vince stretched it. "He's a fucking stripper!"

That got Letty bad. She burst out laughing. Leon was soon to follow, but was trying to hide it under a covered mouth. Mia looked lost, befuddled.

"He's a what?" She wondered, blinking like a doe. "And…Brian?"

Maybe it was the first time she thought to get his name, or maybe Officer O'Conner was enough until then.

"I was undercover for the job, with a hooker nametag," he confessed, mostly for Mia's sake. "We were focused on the people dealing and luring teens in. Underage shit that just doesn't fly in anyone's book. It was last year, before I came to LA on duty to deliver a prisoner for booking. That's how I met my new sergeant and got out of Vice and into the department around here. It wasn't like I was asked to join in or let people feel me up, wasn't like I was supposed to, either. But it got the information I needed to pass on to my superiors, and…and it was a frickin' excuse to touch somebody, so…"

The stars tonight were looking blurrier. Brian fiercely tried to reign in his pounding sensitivity.

Mia's hands came up automatically, taking his face in her hands. She brought his gaze to hers and showed him such worry, such care. Brian was lost for a moment. Yeah, it was to get some of this. Some real connection with someone. He felt like he hadn't got something this good since he was a kid and his mom would sometimes look at him like this. Police, councilors - there were sometimes others who did. He missed it.

"I should go," he said despondently.

Dom came back over, not waiting for Brian to find his voice again.

"Come on. Let him go, Mia. I'll drive him home," Dom said.

Mia turned to her family. "Dom, you come on. Let me take him."

Dom couldn't compete with those words. What excuse did he have to leave with the cop? Letty was already saddling up to his hip, he had Vince and Leon studying him closely, and Mia was breaking new ground with this mother-hen thing she did now and again.

In the end, they pulled up to Brian's house in Mia's car not long after.

"Do you want to come in for a beer?" Brian offered.

"I will come in. And you don't even have to tell me more about what happened tonight, okay? We can just hang."

He nodded, appreciating that. He was willing to tell her everything…except about the hijackings. He wasn't stupid.

To say she was pissed about Tran was an understatement. To say she was heartbroken he'd lost that GT-R…yeah, she was into cars in a big way, too. It wasn't just her brother and his friends. An hour after the retelling, with the TV set to a channel of Mia's choice - a Gilmore Girls rerun with a plot Brian couldn't follow - they'd gotten past most of the hard stuff and were just chatting.

Mia hadn't really looked around Brian's small one bedroom house, but just from this room she got the feeling there wasn't much to see. The walls were bare, the furniture was sparse, the only reading material on a lonesome bookshelf was badly stacked magazines and police pamphlets. On the coffee table was Brian's badge and that bulky belt he wore, devoid of a few gizmos. She saw a large empty compartment that took her an hour to realize was where he kept his taser. The radio was missing, too. And the gun Brian had already told her was in a safe in his bedroom, where he put it whenever he left the house not on duty.

"You could really use some interior decorating," she said at last, then pointed at the sitcom house on the TV. "Get a rug and some pictures. See how they brighten a place up?"

Brian shrugged. "The thing with being an in-the-closet cop who likes to street race and get results as an undercover prostitute is that it tends to narrow my interests."

She smiled like it was cute what he said. Somehow, it was.

"Well, I was going to say the opposite," she said, like she wasn't pushing the subject but just had a little more to say. "You seem the type to really have a style. Your car was hot, so clearly you have some sense. Not your clothes, though," and she looked at his shirt which - even he had to admit smelled a bit strongly of body odor by now, "which you might think of working on, too."

Brian laughed.

"Is this an intervention? Why aren't we watching channel 4 instead? What's the point of my clothes and my house? They don't define me."

"That's not true for most people," she said in reply.

She shoved him playfully when he started to close off.

"My own curiosity is getting the better of me…" she started a bit hesitantly. "But who was the last person you dated? Why didn't it last?"

Brian dropped his arm off the back of the couch and leaned in to get his beer off the coffee table, finishing the last of it. He took his time gathering his thoughts, then shrugged.

"Couldn't really say I have an answer for that. There was this guy I grew up with and spent all my time with. He was straight and I never came out, so we were just friends. But that was enough for me. Better than telling him I wanted him in every way and he shut me out because of it. Naw, I never really found the time to tell him. Even if he had a girl on his arm and pushed one onto mine, I found it was enough just to let things keep going like that."

"So, are you telling me you've never dated anyone?"

Brian rocked his head from side to side. "Guess I'm just not the type."

"Where is this friend now?"

"Twenty questions, Detective Mia Toretto?" Brian asked jokingly. "Are you the good cop or the bad cop?"

She bit her lip and finished her own beer. So, Brian didn't want to talk about it. It was a soft spot. She got that.

The show ended and she was at the front door, outside and looking in at the warm light that bathed him from behind, making his blonde hair sparkle.

"When are we going to see you again?" She asked.

"Tomorrow, or day after tomorrow?" He let her know. "Don't tell Dom, but I've got the whole police impound lot at my disposal to find him a car. I'll do it on my lunch break, so I'll be skipping your tuna tomorrow. Sorry."

She shook her head. "Don't be sorry. That stuff will kill you."

Instead of just leaving, she jumped back at him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. He grinned and reached out, taking her in a hug and planting a real lingering one on her lips. Closed mouth. He was sensual even if he wasn't often showing it.

"Honest to god, Mia, you may be my favorite person on the planet."

She pinched his cheeks good and hard, just to make sure he knew she liked that.

"And you're selling yourself short! You deserve more."

He once again couldn't quite agree with her, but he took it as a compliment.