Chapter 1

The hood cranked open, revealing a badly fucked engine. Beneath the hood used to lie a 1997 cc, 4-cylinder, 16-valve turbo engine with a HotShot exhaust system, a bored-out throttle body, and an Injen air filter. Now all it resembled was a burnt down piece of shit. "A ten second car, yeah right" Brian exclaimed. "I'm gonna be here for years fixin' this".

In an attempt to get his mind off the team, he'd turned again to Tanner, who'd pulled some strings and managed to return Brian's car, pretty much the same way it was before he'd given it to the Police, who'd then given it to specialists to modify. They'd managed to turn it from a factory standard Mitsubishi Eclipse, into a suped-up rice rocket which would do a quarter mile in 9.3 seconds. "Where the fuck do I start?" he said to himself aimlessly. With that he picked up a wrench and started to pull out the engine.

Brian awoke in a hot, sticky sweat. That night's dream was just as bad as the others. The vision of Vince hanging helplessly from the truck, like a bug on the windscreen, had made him relive the whole nightmare. Worse still was the look of betrayal, hatred, and confusion on Mia and Dom's faces as the realization of who he really was hit home. It was permanently fixed on his mind, and plastered to the inside of his eyelids, so that even when he closed his eyes, he couldn't escape them. Brian's mind was brought back to the biggest question facing him. Should he go after Toretto, Mia and the rest of the team? He looked at his clock, 5:47 am. With an exhausted sigh, he pulled himself from the sweat soaked sheets and into the bathroom. The water from the shower ran warm and looking into the mirror he saw his reflection. "Get a grip asshole!"

He played over the possibilities in his head. "What if I go after them, get pounded to shit by Dom, shouted at and dismissed by Mia, and thrown out by the rest of the team?" Although the prospect of being hammered by Dom sounded bad, he still had hopes of convincing Mia that everything he ever said about her was real, and despite everything that had happened, still respected and wanted Dom's friendship and trust. "Shit" he swore. Back to square one again. He had been here so many times. This question was too much too think about, he needed to get his mind back onto fixing his car and racing again, he badly needed the money. After buying the many hundred parts it would take to get it running like before, he wouldn't be left with money much at all.

"Good news Brian", Tanner sounded happily, "The hijacking case is closed as of this morning. FBI charged Johnny Tran 'coz they found his prints all over the remaining Civic, and seeing as he's dead, case closed. You're off the hook!!" Brian was speechless. Finally, it was over. The stress, fear, and worry of the past few months was over. "You gonna say something then?" He was brought back by Tanner's question. "Sorry. Yeah, damn!!!!!! It's just come as such a shock, you know. It's over." "Yeah, Brian it is" Tanner responded, also sounding relieved. His ass had been on the line too. "Listen, I know you didn't have to help me out back there, but thanks. You kept me and Dom outta prison. Thanks, man", truthfully he didn't know what to say to Tanner, as he hadn't believed in his heart that their plan would work. But it had. "I didn't do it for Toretto, I just didn't want to see ya go to inside when all you did was commit a few felonies and break a few laws. Ya know" Tanner said sarcastically. Brain laughed at his remark. He was so thankful for Tanner's help after he was arrested, and didn't know how to thank him. He practically saved his life. His and Dom's. "Yeah thanks, but I gotta go, my car needs some work, actually, it needs a shit load of work", Brian thought aloud. "How's that goin'?" "I should be done in two or three years!" he said sarcastically. "I'm goin' to Harry's tomorrow to get parts!" "Yeah, just wanted to tell ya, panic over. See ya later Brian" "OK, bye Tanner, thanks again". Brian ended the call on his cell phone.

He got back to his apartment that night and his thoughts were again brought back to Toretto. "Should I go tell Dom it's clear for him to come back to L.A. Shit will he want to come back now? FUCK IT!!!!" he shouted. "I don't know where the fuck he is anyway".