*Forgot to mention: DeShawn Santos is portrayed by Omari Hardwick and Gabreilla Velasquez is portrayed by Lela Loren.
Miami, FL
After a long drive from Raiford Prison in Raiford, Florida to Miami. Miami was home. Home to a lot of different people. The city meant something to a lot of different people. But to Shawn, it was home. Always has been. Always will be. And he was happy to be home. The house was a 2-story, 4-bedroom, 2 bathroom home with a pool in the backyard and a 2-car garage with a pretty big house was in Kendall, one of the best neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County. And that's probably why it cost them a lot of money and that's one reason Shawn had to do what he had to do. To make money for his family and their lifestyle.
The 'Vette pulled up to the curb of the childhood Santos home. Parking on the side.
"And here we are home sweet home." Gabby said as she put the car in park. Gabby turned her head, setting her dark brown eyes on Shawn who stared out of the window looking at his home.
"Come on, let's go." She said playful punching him in the arm, breaking him out of his daze.
"Yeah, let's go." He said putting his hand on the door handle pushing it outwards and stepping out of the vehicle, grabbing a hold of his box filled with his personal belongings. Gabby pushed her door to close it and quickly walked around the sports car grabbing ahold of the box from Shawn.
"I'm gonna hold this for you. And don't you dare say anything." Gabby said as Shawn simply nodded and walked through the grass to the front door of the house. He turned to look back at Gabby and turned his head to look around, seeing a few cars in the driveway and on the side of the road. Shawn sighed as he looked down at the ground for a second closing his eyes as the nerves set in on his body.
He hasn't been home in 8 years. 8 long years away from everyone that loved him. Including some of the people in the house. Gabby sat the box down and walked up to Shawn standing beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay."
"8 years away from them. I missed everything. I missed JJ's 18th birthday, 21st birthday, hsi graduation. Brianna's 16th and 18th. I missed her first day of High School. Her first day of middle school, teaching her how to drive, her prom, being there to scare off boys."
"It's okay. Yeah, you missed those moments but you can be here to create new moments and that means more to them and me than the moments you've lost." Gabby said.
"You're right Gab."
"I'm always right." She said with a smirk as he chuckled, shaking his head before he placed his index finger on the doorbell pressing it making a ringing sound go through the house. It only took a few seconds for a woman to come to the door. A short Aftrican American woman with a salt and pepper pixie cut with brown eyes.
"Hey mom, it's me." He said as tears started to well-up in his eyes. His mother, Maria didn't say anything but simply looked at him as tears started to well up in her eyes. She reached out and engulfed him in a tight embrace.
"My baby's home." She choked up as the tears started to stream down both of their faces. And now he was home. The most important woman in the world to him was now in his arms and he was back in her embrace. His mother slowly unwrapped her arms from around him but moved her hands up to his feet cupping his face and leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek.
"Everyone, look who made it home." His mother said as he stepped to the side allowing Shawn to step into the home, he was raised in for the first time in 8 years. Walking in he noticed the house hadn't changed much since he got locked up except for some of the photos. He smiled as he looked around the room not only seeing the pictures but seeing some of the people in his home. Seeing old friends and distant family members like cousins and what he guessed were friends of some of his family members.
Walking in, he waved around getting a wave back from multiple guest some he recognized, some he didn't.
"Hey man, welcome back." One of his former partners-in-crime (literally), Scott Hardwick said walking up to him giving him a hug patitng him on the back. Scott was a caucsian male standing at about 5'11 with short brown hair cut into a buzz cut with a fade with crystal blue eyes and brown eyebrows with a tattoo sleeve on his left arm featuring a dragon with a bit of red ink. Scott wore black jeans with black boots and a red v-neck shirt with a black watch on his wrist.
"Hey, how've you been?"Shawn said as he gave Scott a hug patting him on the back.
"Good, I've started working at a nightclub as bartender. Pretty good money. I used the money from our last job to buy a pretty good house down in Golden Glades."
"Good, how's the family?"
"Well, see for yourself." Scott said as he turned his head and pointed towards the mother of his child, Michelle Williams.
"Hey Shawn." Michelle said, standing up with a hand on her belly. Shawn smiled as he looked Michelle up and down seeing the baby bump she had. Michelle was short, probably standing at about 5'3, maybe 5'4. She had black curly hair with brown eyes and tanned skin.
"Michelle, you're-"
"Yep, pregnant. This one here wanted to give it another go for a boy." Michelle said, pointing to Scott, who shrugged his shoulders. "It's good to see you, Shawn." Michelle said as she gave Shawn a hug while he chuckled.
"And who is this little lady?" Shawn said he pulled away from Michelle and kneeled down getting on one knee as a little girl stood behind Scott's leg hiding. Shawn smiled as he locked his brown eyes on the little girl who had her mother's black hair with her father's blue eyes. The innocent of a child could warm up the hearts of a man who had done a lot of bad.
"This is Angela, our daughter." Scott said as he placed a hand on Angela's shoulder.
"How do you know my daddy?" She asked, making Shawn chuckle.
"I'm a friend of your dads. We used to work together."
"This is your uncle Shawn. The man I was telling you about." Scott said as the girl walked from around his leg and walked towards Shawn.
"La familia lo es todo." The little girl said, making Shawn smile.
"Family is everything." He said as he raised his up for a fist bump. The girl gave him a fist bump making him chuckle as he stood up and kept walking, making his way into the kitchen immediately seeing his little brother with a few of his friends.
"Bro, you're home!" Shawn's little brother, Jason "JJ" Santos said as he ran up to him giving him a hug wrapping his arms tightly around his big brother tightly. JJ had an amber-like skin complexion with chocolate brown eyes. He had curly black hair with a faded undercut on the sides and back of his curly fro. His brother wore black skinny jeans with "Zebra" Yeezys with a black v-neck and simple gold chain with gold diamond earrings.
"Yeah, I'm home. Man you've grown." Shawn said as he patted his brother on the back. Shawn pulled away, stepping back and looking his brother up and down.
"Yeah, I'm all grown up now. I'm a man. I'm the man."
"Alright, if you say so." Shawn said as he chuckled, shaking his head.
"Shawn." He heard making him turn his head to see his little sister who was standing behind him with tears welling up in her eyes. Brianna had grown to look much like mother. She had cocoa brown skin with chocolate brown eyes. She had black curly hair and stood at about 5'0 or maybe 5'1.
"Yeah, it's me. Bri. It's me." Shawn said as Brianna came rushing towards him jumping into his arms as she sobbed. Shawn sighed as he wrapped his arms around his sister holding her as she weeped as he held her tight in his embrace. On the outside looking in, you might not be able to understand what was so emotional about this moment. From an outside perspective, you could just say it was a brother being reunited with his sister but everyone close to Shawn knew it was more than that. It was a brother who was like a father being reunited with the girl he helped raise.
"I'm home. For good this time." He said as he gave her a kiss on the forehead.
(!)
It felt good to be home for once. It especially felt good to be able to eat and not have to look over your shoulder to make sure no one was gonna try to jump you while you eat. He had all of his favorites on one plate. He had Cuban marinated steak with rice and beans, mac and cheese and a side of cabbage greens getting a taste of his latin culture and black culture all on the same plate. And on the side he had his favorite beer, Modelo. When he started to contribute to the household at an early age, his mother began to let him drink even if he was underage at the time. He sat at the kitchen table with Scott, Gabby, Bri, JJ and his mother all surrounding him.
"Let me tell you about your brother here," Gabby said as she pointed at JJ who started to laugh making Shawn look at him with a frown as he grabbed his beer. "This fool right here decided he wanted to do it big for his first car. You remember that AMC AMX 3 right?"
"Yeah, how could I forget that ugly piece of shit?"
"Language!" His mother scolded, lightly slapping him on his chest.
"Sorry ma."
"Your brother managed to get his hands on a ugly piss yellow 1970 AMC AMX 3. He somehow managed to get me to give him some money on it and he figured out the rest. He took care of it for like a week." JJ started to chuckle louder as Shawn turned his head and looked at him with a smile on his face.
"A week?! You had the car for a week?"
"Look, the brakes weren't all that good. But I was able to sell it. Save some more money and get a '94 Trans Am GT."
"You? A Trans Am?"
"Yep."
"Did he crash it?" Shawn joked asking Gabby, making her chuckle as JJ rolled his eyes.
"No but he was close."
"I remember I had to come save him a few times. He's got that Santos fire in him." Scott said pointing towards JJ making Shawn and JJ chuckle. One thing about the Santos', they knew their cars. They knew how to drive them fast and they knew the roads. Street Racing was in their blood. If there was anything that they do better than anyone else, it was street racing. And the Santos' had a bit of an ego problem, it was common amongst them. Especially when it came to racing, that's when you would see some of the most arrogant moments from them.
"That's my little brother. Of course, he ain't better than me but I suppose he's pretty good." Shawn joked, getting a laugh from everyone at the table. Shawn turned his head seeing his sister staring at him.
"You good, sis?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just missed this. I missed all of us together." She said as she looked around the table at the men and women who sat there.
"I did too." He said with a smile as he reached and gave his sister and his mother's hand a light gentle squeeze.
"I'm back. And I'm back for good." He said, getting a smile from his mother and sister. And with that the family spent the rest of the night talking and reminiscing over the good times with little known about the events that would follow over the next few days and weeks.
A/N: Alright so kinda uneventful, originally I was gonna have some action happen in this chapter but it wouldn't have made sense and it would've thrown off the whole vibe I had going with Shawn reuniting with his family. But I promise on everything, the next chapter is gonna have a call back to what Fast and Furious is really about. A yes I am still taking characters for this story, I'm gonna have a few appear in the next 2 or 3 chapters.
J.J. Santos portrayed by: Elijah Blake
Brianna Santos portrayed by: Kat DeLuna
Maria Santos portrayed by: Jennifer Lewis
Scott Hardwick portrayed by: Matt Schulze (Kinda a call back or tribute if you will to Vince a member of the OG Crew)
Michelle Williams portrayed by: Nina Dobrev
