Away From Myself

Disclaimer: I was so stunned when I found that I hadn't written a disclaimer for this story and I am so sorry that I haven't done this before. I regretfully admit that I don't own anything to do with The Fast and the Furious or 2 Fast 2 Furious, though I do own the plot and Joseph O'Connor I make no money from the story, only please my sadistic muses!

I was awed by the reviews submitted on the last chapter… I thought I was sealing a death warrant when I wrote it… But I am so glad that people saw it was just part of the story line, and could deal with what I wrote and want me to write more… Thank you all so much!

Dom, Rome and Vince pulled into an old seemingly abandoned warehouse, where Dom used to have meetings with the Trans. He had worked for them when he was a teenager, because he could do things that others couldn't and the pay was good. He had needed to support Mia, because with both their father and mother dead he was the man of the family, and the one who had to take responsibility for his sister.

There were three black Honda Civics parked on the other side of the warehouse, in plain sight to the racers, but unseen by other prying eyes. All three of them walked into the warehouse, Dom leading, with Rome and Vince flanking him on either side. They saw the big man take a deep breath, Vince knowing why, and Rome knowing that it couldn't be a good thing; but they continued on anyway.

When Dom, Rome and Vince saw Johnny, Lance and a few of their 'henchmen,' Dom asked, "What did you do to Brian?" His voice was a low growl.

"Let's just say that he got reacquainted, and they used to know each other very well, it was an intimate occasion." Johnny said, and Rome paled, looking as if he was going to lose his lunch.

"You… You didn't put him through that?" Rome asked his voice unusually small for the black man. When Johnny and Lance smirked, Rome tried to lunge at them, only stopping because Vince and Dom caught him and held him back. The two men gave him questioning looks, but he ignored them, and snarled at the men standing feet away from them, looking smug for all the world to see, about letting Brian's father rape him. "It took him years to get over that, you bastards!" Rome growled, his eyes deadly looking.

The men smirked again, and it took all of Dom and Vince's strength to hold the man back. "What did his father do?" Vince asked, and Rome looked at him, his eyes full of hurt and worry for his best friend.

"That… That's Brian's secret and if he wants to tell you, he will; but I can't betray his trust." Rome said, his voice small, as he finally calmed enough for Dom and Vince to let him go; but both men were at the ready to catch him if he decided he wanted to go for the Tran's throat again. Any other time that Rome wanted to kill them, it would be fine, but right now they were outnumbered with men and guns, and they still needed to get to Brian.

"You may not be able to tell them what he did to O'Connor, but I can." Johnny said, smirking, and Rome growled at him. "Joseph O'Connor used to rape Brian when he was younger and well lets just say they did get really intimate when they got, shall we say, together; this afternoon." Rome bowed his head, and cursed them out; while Vince and Dom went completely white; and the Trans smirked.

Rome launched himself at the smirking Trans, and Vince and Dom weren't fast enough to stop him, though they didn't know that they would if they could. Dom and Vince joined the fight as soon as Rome had landed the first punch on Lance Tran's nose, snapping it, and Lance let out a choked scream. Johnny pushed Rome back, and motioned for his henchmen, to raise their guns.

Rome, Vince and Dom stopped as soon as they saw all the guns level at them, thinking they were going to die. When Johnny saw the look, he said; "Don't worry I'm not going to kill you, yet… I have unfinished business with you two," Tran said pointing at Dom and Vince, "and you, you just broke my cousin's nose, I think he might like a little payback." He looked straight at Rome when he said this, and raised a hand gun to him, pulling the trigger as he said, "Perhaps Joseph O'Connor will like to have a little fun with you too," Rome growled, and a tranquilizer dart pierced the skin in his neck, making him stumble backwards, before he fell to the ground unconscious. The same thing happened to Dom and Vince, both of them falling unconscious before they hit the ground.

"Stupid idiots!" Tran sneered at the three fallen men. He looked back up to his 'henchmen' and ordered, "Tie them up and get them in the cars!" He walked out of the warehouse, with Lance following him. With a thought, he looked back in the room, and said; "Take them to the same place we are housing O'Connor. Put Dominic and Vince in the same room, chained to the wall; and put Pearce in O'Connor's room, chain him to the wall, leave enough slack, so that he can almost but not quite get to O'Connor." The men nodded, and Johnny walked back out, getting into the car that Lance was in and drove him to the family doctor, one who wouldn't tell a soul what he saw.

Three Hours Later…

Roman Pearce woke to a pounding headache, and found himself in a pale gray room chained to the wall. He could feel someone else in the room, and waited a minute for his vision to clear before he looked around the room. There was a bed and he could tell someone was on it, but he couldn't quite see who, he had to stand up to get a good look at the person.

Rome stood up on shaky legs, and closed his eyes, waiting for a wave of dizziness to pass that came over him. When he opened his eyes, he gasped at who was strapped to the bed. "Brian?" His voice was a harsh whisper and he started to walk over to the man, but the chains that held him, stopped giving him room to walk when he was about a foot away from the man that was his best friend and had been for years.

Brian was limp on the bed, his face pail and pained. There was a sheen of sweat on the man's chest and face, matting his usually bright blond hair to his head, darkening the limp strands to a light brown. There was a bandage on his shoulder, and though it should have been white, there was a growing red stain, marring the fabric. There was a shallow stab would in his left side, that had dried blood around it, and another in between his ribs on his right side. His eyes were moving fast under the lids, the REM sleep would have been fine with Rome, if the man hadn't been moaning, trapped in a nightmare as he was.

"Brian!" Rome called, trying to wake the unconscious man, who groaned at the sound, trying to fight off the fever induced slumber that held him tightly. "Bullet!" Rome called, seeing if the man would respond to the name that only his friends would call him; and Brian shifted a little in the bed, cried out in pain and fear, and his eyes snapped open.

"Rome?" He slurred, when he got a good look at the man who was standing next to him. "Wassafuck you dowin' 'ere?" Brian asked, the man, his voice still slurred from the drugs, even as his memory started to come back to him. He remembered Tran drugging him and making him think that Lance and Johnny were Dom and Vince as they stabbed him, and left him to be raped by his father. He flinched away from Rome as the memories flooded his already fragile psyche.

Rome watched as emotions flooded through Brian's face and eyes, and saw him visibly flinch, when he remembered what must have been his father. "Brian," Rome said gently as he waited for Brian to look at him and know that he wasn't going to hurt him. "Brian, Tran told us about your father, and he told Dom and Vince about what happened when you were younger, I wasn't going to tell them anything, but Tran is a mean son of a bitch, and I couldn't stop him." He saw Brian shift uncomfortably as he told him about Dom and Vince knowing everything.

"How hard did you hit him?" Brian asked after a minute, knowing the man had hit him. Brian had known Rome since they were each six and he knew the man had a nasty temper, when someone threatened or taunted his friends; and Brian and Rome were best friends, so he knew that the hit had been hard, he could only hope that Rome had hit Lance. Brian had never liked the midget and he had blown up his car wearing queer snake skin pants. "And who did you hit?" He added as an after thought.

Smirking, Rome said; "You know me two well bro, I hit Lance and if the resounding crack served as any knowledge, I broke his nose. He ain't gonna be pretty no more," Rome said and Brian smirked, not quite laughing, but at least he was smiling. Rome didn't know how Brian could cope so well after something so horrific had happened to him. Rome would have been holed up in his mind, wondering what he had done to deserve it; and who knew maybe Brian was doing that but at least he was talking and he had smiled.

"I've known you since you were six, so yeah I know you have a nasty temper when it comes to family and friends." Rome laughed and Brian smiled again, almost forgetting where he was.

Almost…

The door opened and both Rome and Brian snapped their heads in that direction, Brian's expression going pale as he saw the Trans and his father. "Sorry to interrupt the moment, but there is a little issue we have to get back to, and we can't dwell too long without dealing with it." Johnny smiled with glee as he saw Brian's expression.

"We'll just leave you three alone…" Johnny said as he and Lance walked out the door, leaving Joseph O'Connor alone with Rome and Brian.

A/N: Tell me what you think and thank you all for the wonderful reviews…

Take Care

Ana