A year later…

Gabriella moved from the car over to the shed and opened it up. The smell of burnt…something filled the air. She couldn't put her hand on it but it smelled horrible. It looked horrible. It was beat to shit. But they saved it. The Charger. It was still as beautiful as ever, but whatever Dom did to it he royally messed her up. She shook her head as she grabbed the towel off the table and wiped her hands with it. "Oh Dom, I don't even know where to begin."

"How about on the engine?" Letty walked in. Gabriella just stood there staring at the Latina. Letty had a smile plastered on her face as she walked into the garage.

"Letty…" Gabriella whispered. "LETTY!" She screamed running over to her throwing her arms around her neck. "Wha-? How?"

"It's a long story."

"Where's Dom? You shouldn't be here."

"It's okay, I promise. I will tell you everything, I just saw you in here."

Gabriella shook her head. "Where's Mia?"

"She's at school. She started back. She is going to be so happy to you see."

Letty smiled as she moved around the car. "What is it?" Gabriella finally asked noticing the look on Letty's face.

"He left me Gab. I have no idea where he is."

Gabriella's face fell as she walked over to her friend. "There has to be a reason Let, he just wouldn't—"

"He was protecting me. He just left me in the middle of the night, with these." She threw the money on the ground. "And this damn necklace." She tossed that too. She rubbed her hands over her face as Gabriella bent down picking up the necklace. "The heat was coming down on us, I don't know. I don't even know what the hell I am supposed to do right now. We were together, wasn't that all that mattered?"

"That's how I felt." Gabriella bowed her head. "I lost everything that day Let. Everything. Yall were gone in a blink of an eye like you didn't exist in the first place. I was in the hospital for a month and a half. I didn't have a clue what was going on. I haven't seen my brother since the trucks. I saw Vince once, he snuck into the house. He's been gone since then. I know how it feels Let. I know. And there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about you guys and wonder if you were thinking about me." Tears filled up her eyes. "But you get through it. You overcome it and you move on. It's been me and Mia for a while now. Stay with us. Let's try to be a family again. Dom thinks he is doing the right thing. You know him, always trying to make decisions on his own."

"Gab, I am so sorry about Jesse."

Gabriella turned away nodding her head. "I wish that-" Letty started.

"It's okay Let, I really honestly don't want to talk about it. It's been a while now, I just-. He was special to me, and I don't know I feel like I was the only person who lost someone that day." She wiped her face from the tears. "Then I think of Mia. She lost Brian, but the not the way that I lost Jesse. He is still here. He is still alive. He's the one who should have died that day not Jesse."

"Jesse was scared Gab. He was so scared that he ran. We all underestimated what Tran would actually do…"

Gabriella shook her head. "Johnny Tran underestimated me my entire life."

"Did you ever-"

"Brian came to the hospital and told me he was killed. I didn't ask how and who. I wanted him to get out of my sight."

"Do you want to know?"

Gabriella nodded her head as she fought back the tears. She moved over to the wall and slid down to the ground. Letty moved over to her pulling her hair back from her face. "He was running from Brian and Dom, Brian had shot him down and he thought he was dead I guess. Dom wanted to make sure. He stopped the Charger in the middle of the road and stormed over to him. He jerked his helmet off his head and Johnny was just staring at him. Dom began screaming and screaming but Johnny didn't respond…"

"Did Dom know that I was shot?"

"Yes. It almost killed him Gab. He didn't know what to do. When I found him, he was a mess. He tried keeping it together but I don't know something gave in him that he just freaked out. Anyways, Johnny lifted his head up and the only thing he said to Dom was 'I'm sorry.' That was it. Dom put the gun against his head and pulled the trigger."

Gabriella turned her head as the tears flooded down her face. She gasped for air as she tried to speak. "I don't get it Letty, he hated this whole family so much but loved me just the same."

"He loved you till the day that he died Gab."

"I picture him in my sleep sometimes, I wish that I didn't but I do. I can see him standing there, begging me to talk to him. But I won't do it. I won't even look at him. Then I am standing where I was standing the day that he killed Jesse. But it's in slow motion, his hand is on the trigger and I can hear him pulling the trigger then he gasped. I hear the breath that gets caught in his lungs. He didn't mean to shoot me, I know he didn't but he did. He did Letty. That gang, or whatever you want to call it took a hold of his life and it changed him. It turned him into a killer. How do I forget that? How do I move on from that?"

"You don't."

"I have to. If I think about it too long, I go crazy. I survived that day but Jesse didn't. He died. We didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't know anything but it happened so quickly. It turned to shit so fast that I don't even remember most of it. I lost my family in an instant."

"I know you are mad-"

"Mad? I am so pissed off that I could burn this whole city down and my anger still would be there. He left Letty, he just left. His anger and his revenge was too much for him that he didn't even check to see if I was okay. I wasn't down there with Mia. I was shot on the steps, laying on the ground. He never once checked on me. He was gone. I haven't seen him since that day and you know how I remember him? Angry. A bloody mess. He had Vince's blood on his shirt and a shot gun in his hand. His face, I have never seen his face like that before. That's how I remember my brother."

"That man loves you Gab. You have to believe me when I tell you that."

"I do believe you but he is a selfish man."

Letty nodded her head. She moved in front of Gabriella and sat down. She grabbed her hands bringing her into her arms. "I have missed you so much. It's not the same without you around."

"I've missed you too Letty, I don't think I imagined what this day would be like as many times as I have. I thought it would never happen. How are you here?"

"They let me stay."

Gabriella tapped her hands on the table as she waited for Mia to arrive home. Letty stood near the counter. Gabriella looked at Letty cocking her head to the side. She knew she was lying.

"Gab, are you home?" Mia walked into the house calling her name.

"In the kitchen." She replied never taking her eyes off of Letty.

"Wha-?" Mia stopped in her tracks as she looked over at Letty. "Letty?"

"Hi Mia." Letty smiled. Gabriella couldn't help but give a soft smile as she watched her sister run to her best friend. She wrapped her arm around her neck. Gabriella could hear the soft cries as Letty looked over at Gabriella. "It's been a while."

"How are you here? Where is Dom?"

"That's a very good question. I have no idea. He left me in the Dominican Republic and I haven't heard from him since."

"Why?"

"He was being Dom, thinking he was protecting me I guess."

"Why are you here then? Is it safe?"

Gabriella looked over at Letty who quickly looked away. "Its safe yes." Letty replied.

"What's going on? What arent you telling us?" Mia could see the tension.

Letty shook her head. "Its nothing, I came back to the states. They only want Dom, thats it."

"They want everyone who had something to do with those trucks." Gabriella replied. "Including you."

"Look, I cant really talk about it because I dont know what's going on either. I just know that I need to lay low, the trucks thing has blown over now. Just trust me okay, its okay. I am safe to be here."

"Does it involve the cops?" Gabriella asked. "They have finally left us alone Let, I do not want them back in our lives."

"Brian?" Letty asked looking over at Mia.

"He came to the hospital when Gab was there. He told us about Johnny Tran, then Gabriella threw a phone at him. I havent heard from him since." Mia rolled her eyes. "Gab is right Let, I want to trust you. I really do. But I dont want them here anymore."

"They arent going to be here, I promise. I wouldnt be here if I knew it would hurt you guys."

Gabriella gave a soft smile. "You guys have every right to feel the way you feel right now. I dont blame you. I am home. Cant we just be happy about that?"

Gabriella walked over to her wrapping her arms around the girls neck. "You dont know how happy I am to see you Letty, and you are right. I think we are just paraoid.'

Letty began to laugh. "Everything is going to be alright. I promise."

Gabrielal sat in the swing with her legs up to her chest when the front door opened. She looked up as Letty came walking out. "When I was in the hospital, I don't know I guess it was when I was first brought in, I had a dream…I don't even know if it was a dream because it seemed so real…" Letty sat down next to her. "My dad was there. I was sitting in the hospital bed and he woke me up. He told me what happened to me, I begged and begged him to let me stay with him but he wouldn't let me. He told me I had to come back because my brother and my sister needed me. He held me in his arms Letty and he kissed my head, I have never felt something so real in my life."

"Your body went through a lot of trauma."

Gabriella shook her head. "I think about him all the time now. What would have happened if he let me stay?"

"You would be dead Gab. You wouldn't be here with us right now."

"I'm thinking about going ahead with the project that Dom wanted Jesse to do. You know open the garage in San Diego. I need to get out of here Letty. I can't be in Los Angeles anymore."

"If that's what you want to do…"

"I don't know what I want to do anymore. I don't know, I just know that I can't be here. It hurts too bad, there are too many painful memories to keep right now."

"When do you plan on doing this?"

"I talked to one of the owners of the garage we were supposed to buy. I told him I would stop by this weekend and see what it looked like. If everything works out, I will be down there in two weeks."

She nodded her head. "I never meant for any of this to happen Gab. If I knew me coming back would make you leave, I wouldn't have done it."

"This has nothing to do with you Let. When I saw you today, when you were standing in front of me, I thought I was dreaming again. I thought this couldn't be real. But it is. You are here. Alive. And okay. I felt a peace for the first time in my life since the accident."

Letty sighed as she sat back letting the swing rock back and forth. "But I have to live with that fact that I will never see Jesse again. I have to live with him being shot and killed just right down there." She pointed to the sidewalk. "Those memories will never leave me. Mia…she will be okay. We don't really get along anymore, hell we never got along…" She looked over at Letty. "It's for the best Let. I know it is."

"You have been through so much man, I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you hold on."

"Dom wouldn't let me let go."

Letty nodded her head wrapping her arms around Gabriella's neck. "I'm going to get that car fixed back up, he is going to come home and me and him are going to come visit you okay. You are going to be alright. I promise you that. We all are. Have you told Mia yet?"

Gabriella shook her head. "I will tell her when the time is right. I don't know when that is, but I will tell her." She bowed her. "I just really miss my brother, I really want to just hear his voice one more time."

"I miss him too."

"And Vince, I just want everyone to be here with me. I feel like I took them for granted, I never knew this would happen."

"None of us did Gab."

They sat there on the swing together until the sky turned black and the stars came out, the only light they had was the moon. They were slowly becoming a family again, one by one they were coming home. She knew Letty was the only one brave enough to come back. She knew Dom and Vince couldn't come back, she knew it. It would be a miracle if they ever stepped foot in Los Angeles again.

"Whatever you are involved in Letty, dont let it become you. Its still dangerous out there..."

"Gab-" Letty started.

"I know when you arent telling the complete truth. I guess I am saying...be careful Let. Dont do something stupid."

AN: Soooo i spilled water all over my computer last week when i was supposed to update. I got it to work again so i am sorry for posting so late! i hope this chapter makes up for it! REVIEW! let me know what you think!