Author's Note: Hey guys! So people really wanted a Brian and Letty chapter, so here it is. It is VERY dialogue heavy, in fact most of it is just really them talking. That's pretty much how I roll anyway, but this is more than the rest. Hopefully you enjoy it. I really love their friendship and I'm glad that I still get to explore it on paper. Thanks again so much for the reviews, follows and favorites. I'm very glad people are enjoying my little story.
Week Sixteen – Year One
It was a lazy weekday afternoon that found her at the auto supply store with Brian. He needed a new muffler for his car and had invited her along. It was nice to get out of the house. To just take a drive somewhere with no expectations of remembering something. Of seeing a place she'd been before. Shops like these were almost the same everywhere and this was a familiarity she could recall.
She was lost in thought, staring at some ridiculous rims displayed behind glass when Brian came up behind her.
"Thinking about those for the Jensen?"
Letty laughed, shaking her head. "Nah, come on." Glancing in his direction she began to mill down the long aisle. "You find what you need?"
"Guy's holding it at the front. Want to look at anything else?"
She shook her head, glancing around. It was a nice store, with a variety of specialty parts. Plus if they didn't have something, you could always put in an order.
"I used to work here," Brian said, pulling her from her thoughts. "Sort of."
"How can you 'sort of' work somewhere?" she asked.
"Well I was undercover, trying to find out who was jacking trucks. We knew it was someone involved in the street racing scene here in LA…"
"Oh, you mean trying to find us?" She nodded. It was a story that she'd been told before. Brian had come to LA to catch them, but he'd fallen for Mia. Maybe he'd fallen for the rest of their weird little family too. "Why didn't you hand us over to the cops? Didn't you have the opportunity?"
"Maybe," he agreed. "Dom was still in town because of Jesse. After our race he wrecked the Charger. I could have called the cops on him, or let them just take him away. Instead I gave him the keys to my ride. Let him go."
"But why?" she asked. "Was it because of Mia?"
He was quiet for a moment, thoughtful.
"No," he paused. "I mean… a little but in the end it was about family, Letty. I never really had one growing up. You guys made me a part of yours."
"Even though we probably shouldn't have," she chuckled. "Mr. Undercover."
"In hindsight I am really surprised how welcomed I was. But Dom and I bonded over me saving him from the police and over some bullshit with Tran…"
"Wouldn't be the last time you broke the law for him," she commented, fixing him with a grin. "You sure it's not Dom that you really like?"
The teasing was easy between them, because they both knew it for what it was. The two men were close, a brotherly bond that transcended blood ties.
"With us it just comes back to family," Brian replied, leaning against the counter while the cashier rung him up. "Even if that means making our own."
"Then you married his sister and actually became family," Letty remarked, watching him pass over his credit card to be swiped.
"Yeah, though we were before that. A ceremony and a piece of paper don't make or break that."
"What about memories"?" she asked, going out to the parking lot with him. She'd driven, out of deference to his horrendously noisy broken muffler, and she unlocked the car so they could get in.
Looking over, Brian fixed her with a serious expression. "Do you think it makes you any less a part of this family because you don't have your memories?" he asked. "Is that what this is about?"
"I don't think you guys feel that way…but," she trailed off. "Isn't that what ties us together? Shared experiences? We're not related by blood or bound in some legal way. We're tied by history. And me? I don't have any of that."
"I didn't realize it bothered you so much," he said. "Did you tell Dom?"
"I can't," she sighed. "He's so patient and so…" she fell silent. "I do love him. But it's almost like an echo. It's not what he deserves."
"Your memories could still come back," he offered.
"They could. Or they could never come back."
"That doesn't mean they didn't happen, Letty." Brian looked at her in concern.
"To me they might as well not have," she replied, irritation in her voice. "Everything is just like a second-hand story. Like it happened to someone else."
"So if you never remember then what do you do? Start over? Do you think it would be better somewhere else? With people who don't love you?"
"No." She blew out a breath, shifting the car into gear to pull out of the lot finally. "This is where I want to be. I'm just… frustrated. I feel like I'm letting you guys down. Every day I can't remember feels like a disappointment. I can't share all those things with you guys. All the years I'd been with Dom…"
"So what?" Brian asked. "You have new memories already. And you'll make more. Dom knows what it's like to live only with memories, Let." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Honestly a lot of times after your supposed death… I dunno. I thought he wanted to give up. Like he'd just get quiet and stare off and it was like he was lost. Like he didn't know what to do without you."
She glanced at him briefly. "But he said he was the one that left. Why would he do that if he needed me?"
"He needed you alive." Brian shrugged. "Misplaced sense of protectiveness. Pure stupidity. You never were the type to sit quietly on the sidelines."
"Didn't he know that?"
"What he knew and what he wanted to be true were two different things. I don't know… you should talk to him about this. Even after… when things were really bad he never opened up to anyone. Not me, not even Mia. He just does this thing where he locks all the pain inside."
"He still does that," she murmured. "But I can always tell."
"See?" he laughed. "You don't need memories to know him. To see him better than anyone else."
She fell silent, thoughts wandering as she took the familiar roads back home. Was she giving herself too little credit? Did she need all that missing history to know Dom? To know any of them?
"You guys never talked about any of it?" she asked, glancing over at him dubiously.
"I knew he was hurting, and I knew it was because you were gone. But we didn't like… sit down and talk about it. We went after Braga and his guys. I think he just needed someone to blame because he blamed himself…" he sighed. "I didn't help much on that front."
"What do you mean?"
"We fought. He found the cell phone you'd been using to contact me while you were undercover. It was in your box of things. He got pissed because I was the one who'd put you into that dangerous situation. And well… I felt guilty about it too."
"Brian…" she looked at him. "We talked about this."
"And you were right," he agreed. "You came to me. I told him that. You did it to clear his name and bring him home." He sighed. "I couldn't have hurt him more if I'd stabbed him through the heart."
"He left… and I was trying to bring him back home," she murmured. "I can see why he'd blame himself."
"He learned a lot of things from losing you," Brian answered. "It's fucked up… but it's the truth." He shook his head. "I remember when you first came to me about helping with the Braga situation. He needed drivers. Somehow, you knew." He laughed. "I told you no at first."
"What changed your mind?"
"You did. You were determined and you really wanted to clear Dom's name. I thought… maybe it would work." Shrugging he tugged a hand through his hair. "You'd surprised me though. We hadn't seen each other in years. Hell… we'd basically been kids the last time. And you were a lot different. A lot more grown up."
"A lot more pissed off at Dom?" she smirked.
He laughed. "That too. But more than that you really loved him. I remember thinking he was a world-class idiot, to be honest. If someone loved me like that I'd never let go for a second."
"Not even if you thought you were protecting them?" she asked.
Silent for a moment, Brian frowned. "Well… Mia isn't like you, so it's hard to compare the situation. I would do anything to keep her safe. But she was there in the thick of things for a while at Rio. It couldn't really be helped."
"And you guys have Jack now, so that makes a difference," she agreed.
"Yeah he needs at least one of his parents," Brian said.
"Both would be ideal."
He laughed. "Hey, maybe things will be nice and calm for a while. We'll have time to get bored with a normal lifestyle."
"You think it will bore us?" Letty asked.
"I'm afraid of that sometimes," he admitted. "When I was a kid I was always getting into trouble. Boosting cars with Rome, off somewhere doing something I shouldn't be. I thought in the FBI I could turn my life around, but still keep some of that excitement, you know?" He laughed. "Chasing bad guys just like in the movies."
"Is the FBI really like that?" she wondered.
"To be honest, most of it is paperwork," he chuckled. "Not as glamorous as the life of a criminal."
"So you're just looking for your thrill, same as the rest of us." Letty grinned over at him.
"Yeah. Just need to figure out how to catch those thrills and still be a good family man. Still do right by Mia and Jack." He sat back in his seat. "Maybe I'll go skydiving or something. Want to come along?"
She laughed. "Sure, why not? I've done crazier things."
"That's for damn sure," Brian agreed as she turned off the highway towards the streets that would take them home. He reached over to lay his hand against her arm lightly. "And if you can do something like that, risk your life and jump into danger, then it isn't that unbelievable that you could do something as scary as put your faith in us, Letty. Even if you never remember. This is where you belong."
"Thanks Brian," she said, offering him a smile.
He was right. It was scary sometimes, to think that she might never get her memories back. But when she was here… with her family, well it didn't feel so scary. It felt right. And she was going to hold onto that.