Chapter 44 -The future is waiting.
Brian drove down to the hospital with the windows down and the stereo of the Supra cranked. He was singing along to the song that was playing on the radio. He felt more free then he had in a long time. A great girl with a great family and a great bunch of friends were waiting for him there. His future was waiting for him there. The police force wasn't his future and he saw that now. And it was both scary, in that he'd always wanted to be a cop, he'd never wanted to be anything else, and liberating in that he felt his future was tied to Mia and Dom more then he'd ever felt it tied to the police force.
Not that he'd quit yet. But he planned on it. He knew Bilkins and Tanner didn't believe his story. He also knew they couldn't prove it was a lie. It had been too well planned. Too well executed. Nyssa's uncle was one scary dude, Brian thought, to have been able to make the civics disappear, Vince's car end up where it needed to be and Brian had a feeling that the fact that the trucker never came forward might be tied to Nyssa's uncle and the connections he had.
If Brian was right, and he thought he was, the truck had been hauling already stolen merchandise for some form of organized crime and therefore the trucker couldn't come forward. The only way things would ever backfire now was if they were wrong and the trucker did come forward. Brian couldn't see that happening after all the time that had already past. He figured they were in the clear. The thought filled him with joy. He was almost free. Free to be with Mia without guilt, free to be a carefree racer, free to enjoy his new family. It had been a long time since he'd had any family.
His friend Rome had been the last thing close to family he'd had and Rome hadn't been able to forgive Brian for becoming a cop. But the old pain and anger over that occurrence as fading as Brian realized that he had a new family to enjoy. He made a split decision and pulled into a store along his route. He was back on the road not a half hour later with an even bigger grin on his face. If that was possible. He whistled the whole way out to the hospital.
"Man, I wonder where the hell Brian's at?" Dom asked. He was getting worried. It had been a few hours and Dom had expected him to have been done already.
"I'm sure its fine Dom. They likely had a lot of questions and he had to be thorough in his answers." Nyssa said. "We rehearsed it and it's gonna be fine."
"She's right Dawg, he has to answer all their questions. He'll come when he's done." Leon said, looking up from his seat beside Jesse.
"It's gonna be fine." Nyssa said with a secret smile at Mia.
"What?" Mia asked Nyssa. "What're you thinkin girl? It never bodes well for us when you get 'that' look on your face." Mia laughed.
"Nothin. Nothin at all." Nyssa winked at Jesse who laughed.
"She's just picken on you Mi." Jesse said.
The door was at that point flung open and Brian burst in. He then carefully shut the door and looked around the room. He looked around with a panicked expression on his face.
"We gotta go! We gotta get outta here!" Brian exclaimed. The team just looked at him in shock till Dom jumped up. Brain cracked up laughing. "You should see the looks on all your faces right now Dude." Brian couldn't stop laughing.
"That's not funny Brian!" Nyssa yelled right before she jumped on Brian and started to beat him around the head.
"I mean the look on all your faces." Brian was still trying not to pee himself laughing.
"She's right Dawg. That's not funny." Leon looked just as pissed as Nyssa. Vince stood up.
"That's not even close to funny." He advanced on Brian.
"I was just jokin' guys. I meant it to be funny. Really. I didn't mean to make you all angry. I swear." Brian walked away from the advancing Vince.
"Damn Bri, that wasn't funny." Mia still looked scared. Nyssa jumped off Brian's back and looked at him.
"Well, I bet we did look funny while we all wondered what to do." She didn't want Vince to kill Brian. Damn, Vince had just been starting to at least respect Brian in small ways.
"Come on guys, it's just like something you'd all try to pull off if you could." Jesse laughed. He'd had a feeling Brian wouldn't act the way he just had if it had been really serious.
The team looked at the still stunned looks on each other's faces and cracked up. They couldn't help it.
"So, how'd it really go?" Nyssa asked Brian with one eyebrow raised.
"Awesome. It couldn't have gone better. I mean, they know I just told the biggest pack of bullshit that they've ever heard. But they can't prove any of it and it was obvious. They kept waiting for me to slip up but they asked the exact predictable questions we thought they would and I had rehearsed answers to everything. The lies came out so easy it was almost scary. I mean I was under oath and up till like 5 months ago I never woulda lied under oath. But I just did and I can't remember the last time I felt so...Alive."
"Good to know." Dom finally recovered his voice and spoke. "Now if you ever pull a stunt like you just did again I'll kill you." Dom chuckled. "But it is just the kind of thing I might expect out of Vince or Leon."
"Well, the only thing that could happen that would screw things up now is if that trucker does come forward for some reason. I don't see it happening but it could I guess." Brian clearly didn't think so by the look on his face.
"Sweet." Jesse cheered. "Now if you guys could just get me outta here everything would be almost back to normal. There was a knock at the door and Vince moved to open it. He admitted the doctor.
"Good news young man. You can go home on Thursday." The whole team cheered at this announcement. The doctor left the room and the whole team shared a group hug.
"Now, we do need to make one thing clear." Brian began. "This kind of thing can never ever happen again. Because if it does I guarantee that they'll get us the next time. They'll never let the perpetrator get away again if it should ever occur again. It's going to be embarrassing for the FBI and the PD to admit they couldn't crack the case."
"We get you Brian. Our time of doing shit like this is over." Dom answered him with a look for the rest of his team that dared them to ever get involved in anything like the trucks again.
"We get it." Vince, Leon, Letty, and Jesse all answered at the same time. Brian looked at Nyssa.
"What, you don't agree baby girl?" Vince asked her.
"I'll never do anything like this, but I just can't speak for my dad when he gets outta jail. I mean, he was never into shit like this anyway but he is into illegal shit and I don't know if he plans on stopping or not. And I won't disown my own dad for being a criminal. I don't really care for one thing but he'd still be my dad if I did."
"Well as long as you don't run out and get caught breaking the law with him it's all good anyway Nyssa. I just meant the team can't ever be involved in illegal shit again because I mean, they know we did it." Nyssa noticed that despite the fact Brian had really only been around to prove the team broke the law he now included himself in the group of people who had done so. Brian was in for life. "They just can't prove it. So if, say, Leon got caught robbing a liquor store, he's goin to jail for the max time they can give him. No matter what the crime they're gonna make sure that the full extent of the punishment they can give is given to any of this team who gets caught doing anything."
"What about racing?" Leon asked. He didn't know what they'd do if they couldn't race anymore.
"Racing's just a fine man. I don't think they can throw much of a book at anyone over racing. I more or less mean felony type crimes. Misdemeanours are hard to beef up to anything more then a slap on the wrist." Brian grinned. "So as long as racing's as bad as we get it's all good."
"And so when Jesse comes home and back to work then things are going to go pretty well back to normal then?" Nyssa asked hopefully.
"'Cept that V'll still have his twice weekly visits for therapy." Leon said and stuck out his tongue. Vince growled at him and started Leon's way. He was still touchy about the therapy thing. He hated to have to go, but he refused to end up without the use of his arm.
"Jesse'll be joining me I bet." Vince said and Jesse groaned.
"Yeah but both of you have cool scars for us chicks to dig." Nyssa giggled as she pushed Vince back into his chair and settled on his lap.
"Oh, chicks dig scars do they?" Vince asked her.
"Oh yeah. They make a guy look so bad ass and tough. I guess if a girl isn't in to bad boys or tough guys then scars might be a turn off but most girls are into bad boys on some level, even if they'd rather not admit it." Nyssa looked up at Vince.
"I don't need scars to look bad ass or tough. I just am." Vince told her.
"I know, but trust me, it adds to the look." Nyssa laughed at the look on Leon's face. "And all Leon got was this lousy tee shirt." Everyone laughed at Leon.
"Well, Dom's in the same club." Leon didn't want them to think he was the only one that got off without a scratch.
"Dom looks bad ass enough already." Letty stuck up for her man.
"Thanks." Dom said as he pulled Letty down onto his lap too. Brian pulled Mia back against his chest and rested his chin on her head. Leon looked around the room at all the happy couples and he again felt the odd feeling that he was missing something or someone at this point of his life.
The two days till Thursday passed quickly as they prepared to have Jesse come home. It was going to be as big of a challenge to make him follow the doctors rules as it had been to get Nyssa to but the team was up to the challenge if it meant having Jesse come home.
AN: sorry this is short and not much happened, well, other then Jess coming home but I'm thinking up just how I want to end this to have it tie in with Adrenaline the way it has to as those who are following both stories will know as Adrenaline develops. But it is over in either one more chapter or two. It remains to be seen but everything I wanted to happen has pretty much happened. Well, I'll try to update again soon. Thanks for all the support over the course of this ride. I appreciate it greatly! Peace, tempest.
Brian drove down to the hospital with the windows down and the stereo of the Supra cranked. He was singing along to the song that was playing on the radio. He felt more free then he had in a long time. A great girl with a great family and a great bunch of friends were waiting for him there. His future was waiting for him there. The police force wasn't his future and he saw that now. And it was both scary, in that he'd always wanted to be a cop, he'd never wanted to be anything else, and liberating in that he felt his future was tied to Mia and Dom more then he'd ever felt it tied to the police force.
Not that he'd quit yet. But he planned on it. He knew Bilkins and Tanner didn't believe his story. He also knew they couldn't prove it was a lie. It had been too well planned. Too well executed. Nyssa's uncle was one scary dude, Brian thought, to have been able to make the civics disappear, Vince's car end up where it needed to be and Brian had a feeling that the fact that the trucker never came forward might be tied to Nyssa's uncle and the connections he had.
If Brian was right, and he thought he was, the truck had been hauling already stolen merchandise for some form of organized crime and therefore the trucker couldn't come forward. The only way things would ever backfire now was if they were wrong and the trucker did come forward. Brian couldn't see that happening after all the time that had already past. He figured they were in the clear. The thought filled him with joy. He was almost free. Free to be with Mia without guilt, free to be a carefree racer, free to enjoy his new family. It had been a long time since he'd had any family.
His friend Rome had been the last thing close to family he'd had and Rome hadn't been able to forgive Brian for becoming a cop. But the old pain and anger over that occurrence as fading as Brian realized that he had a new family to enjoy. He made a split decision and pulled into a store along his route. He was back on the road not a half hour later with an even bigger grin on his face. If that was possible. He whistled the whole way out to the hospital.
"Man, I wonder where the hell Brian's at?" Dom asked. He was getting worried. It had been a few hours and Dom had expected him to have been done already.
"I'm sure its fine Dom. They likely had a lot of questions and he had to be thorough in his answers." Nyssa said. "We rehearsed it and it's gonna be fine."
"She's right Dawg, he has to answer all their questions. He'll come when he's done." Leon said, looking up from his seat beside Jesse.
"It's gonna be fine." Nyssa said with a secret smile at Mia.
"What?" Mia asked Nyssa. "What're you thinkin girl? It never bodes well for us when you get 'that' look on your face." Mia laughed.
"Nothin. Nothin at all." Nyssa winked at Jesse who laughed.
"She's just picken on you Mi." Jesse said.
The door was at that point flung open and Brian burst in. He then carefully shut the door and looked around the room. He looked around with a panicked expression on his face.
"We gotta go! We gotta get outta here!" Brian exclaimed. The team just looked at him in shock till Dom jumped up. Brain cracked up laughing. "You should see the looks on all your faces right now Dude." Brian couldn't stop laughing.
"That's not funny Brian!" Nyssa yelled right before she jumped on Brian and started to beat him around the head.
"I mean the look on all your faces." Brian was still trying not to pee himself laughing.
"She's right Dawg. That's not funny." Leon looked just as pissed as Nyssa. Vince stood up.
"That's not even close to funny." He advanced on Brian.
"I was just jokin' guys. I meant it to be funny. Really. I didn't mean to make you all angry. I swear." Brian walked away from the advancing Vince.
"Damn Bri, that wasn't funny." Mia still looked scared. Nyssa jumped off Brian's back and looked at him.
"Well, I bet we did look funny while we all wondered what to do." She didn't want Vince to kill Brian. Damn, Vince had just been starting to at least respect Brian in small ways.
"Come on guys, it's just like something you'd all try to pull off if you could." Jesse laughed. He'd had a feeling Brian wouldn't act the way he just had if it had been really serious.
The team looked at the still stunned looks on each other's faces and cracked up. They couldn't help it.
"So, how'd it really go?" Nyssa asked Brian with one eyebrow raised.
"Awesome. It couldn't have gone better. I mean, they know I just told the biggest pack of bullshit that they've ever heard. But they can't prove any of it and it was obvious. They kept waiting for me to slip up but they asked the exact predictable questions we thought they would and I had rehearsed answers to everything. The lies came out so easy it was almost scary. I mean I was under oath and up till like 5 months ago I never woulda lied under oath. But I just did and I can't remember the last time I felt so...Alive."
"Good to know." Dom finally recovered his voice and spoke. "Now if you ever pull a stunt like you just did again I'll kill you." Dom chuckled. "But it is just the kind of thing I might expect out of Vince or Leon."
"Well, the only thing that could happen that would screw things up now is if that trucker does come forward for some reason. I don't see it happening but it could I guess." Brian clearly didn't think so by the look on his face.
"Sweet." Jesse cheered. "Now if you guys could just get me outta here everything would be almost back to normal. There was a knock at the door and Vince moved to open it. He admitted the doctor.
"Good news young man. You can go home on Thursday." The whole team cheered at this announcement. The doctor left the room and the whole team shared a group hug.
"Now, we do need to make one thing clear." Brian began. "This kind of thing can never ever happen again. Because if it does I guarantee that they'll get us the next time. They'll never let the perpetrator get away again if it should ever occur again. It's going to be embarrassing for the FBI and the PD to admit they couldn't crack the case."
"We get you Brian. Our time of doing shit like this is over." Dom answered him with a look for the rest of his team that dared them to ever get involved in anything like the trucks again.
"We get it." Vince, Leon, Letty, and Jesse all answered at the same time. Brian looked at Nyssa.
"What, you don't agree baby girl?" Vince asked her.
"I'll never do anything like this, but I just can't speak for my dad when he gets outta jail. I mean, he was never into shit like this anyway but he is into illegal shit and I don't know if he plans on stopping or not. And I won't disown my own dad for being a criminal. I don't really care for one thing but he'd still be my dad if I did."
"Well as long as you don't run out and get caught breaking the law with him it's all good anyway Nyssa. I just meant the team can't ever be involved in illegal shit again because I mean, they know we did it." Nyssa noticed that despite the fact Brian had really only been around to prove the team broke the law he now included himself in the group of people who had done so. Brian was in for life. "They just can't prove it. So if, say, Leon got caught robbing a liquor store, he's goin to jail for the max time they can give him. No matter what the crime they're gonna make sure that the full extent of the punishment they can give is given to any of this team who gets caught doing anything."
"What about racing?" Leon asked. He didn't know what they'd do if they couldn't race anymore.
"Racing's just a fine man. I don't think they can throw much of a book at anyone over racing. I more or less mean felony type crimes. Misdemeanours are hard to beef up to anything more then a slap on the wrist." Brian grinned. "So as long as racing's as bad as we get it's all good."
"And so when Jesse comes home and back to work then things are going to go pretty well back to normal then?" Nyssa asked hopefully.
"'Cept that V'll still have his twice weekly visits for therapy." Leon said and stuck out his tongue. Vince growled at him and started Leon's way. He was still touchy about the therapy thing. He hated to have to go, but he refused to end up without the use of his arm.
"Jesse'll be joining me I bet." Vince said and Jesse groaned.
"Yeah but both of you have cool scars for us chicks to dig." Nyssa giggled as she pushed Vince back into his chair and settled on his lap.
"Oh, chicks dig scars do they?" Vince asked her.
"Oh yeah. They make a guy look so bad ass and tough. I guess if a girl isn't in to bad boys or tough guys then scars might be a turn off but most girls are into bad boys on some level, even if they'd rather not admit it." Nyssa looked up at Vince.
"I don't need scars to look bad ass or tough. I just am." Vince told her.
"I know, but trust me, it adds to the look." Nyssa laughed at the look on Leon's face. "And all Leon got was this lousy tee shirt." Everyone laughed at Leon.
"Well, Dom's in the same club." Leon didn't want them to think he was the only one that got off without a scratch.
"Dom looks bad ass enough already." Letty stuck up for her man.
"Thanks." Dom said as he pulled Letty down onto his lap too. Brian pulled Mia back against his chest and rested his chin on her head. Leon looked around the room at all the happy couples and he again felt the odd feeling that he was missing something or someone at this point of his life.
The two days till Thursday passed quickly as they prepared to have Jesse come home. It was going to be as big of a challenge to make him follow the doctors rules as it had been to get Nyssa to but the team was up to the challenge if it meant having Jesse come home.
AN: sorry this is short and not much happened, well, other then Jess coming home but I'm thinking up just how I want to end this to have it tie in with Adrenaline the way it has to as those who are following both stories will know as Adrenaline develops. But it is over in either one more chapter or two. It remains to be seen but everything I wanted to happen has pretty much happened. Well, I'll try to update again soon. Thanks for all the support over the course of this ride. I appreciate it greatly! Peace, tempest.