Author's Note: I don't own anything to do with any of The Fast and the Furious movies only Madison belongs to me. Don't forget to read and review, any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Can I just mention again for a quick second how awesome lunastars is? I can? Great, because she is amazing and do yourself a favor by hopping over to her page and checking out her stories you won't be disappointed! I have no excuse for the lack of updates but I can only hope that you are still sticking with me! FAST AND FURIOUS signifies a break in time.

Chapter 17

I cried until I had no more tears left with Leon never once leaving my side. At some point Vince had joined us out on the beach to check up on me and inform us that Dom had left if we wanted to come back inside.

"How's Let?" I asked softly my throat raw and hoarse from crying.

Vince laughed a little as he shook his head, "locked herself in one of the bedrooms. Mia tried to get her to come out but she chucked a shoe at her head and started yelling in Spanish."

"I should go talk to her, make sure she's alright," I sighed reaching a hand up so he could pull me to my feet.

"I'm more worried about you," Leon admitted standing as well and brushing the sand off his pants watching every move I made very closely like he was unsure of what to expect.

"I'm fine," I tried to convince them plastering on a smile on my face and using the back of my hand to wipe my tear stained cheeks.

"Yeah…right," Vince scoffed rolling his eyes.

My ol' coyote knew me too well. I was obviously as far from fine as one person could be but I'd had enough of feeling sorry for myself and I'd had enough of feeling so defeated. My heart was crumbling at the thought that someone I trusted with everything had so easily lied to my face but I let that hurt fuel the anger that was building inside of me and that anger was the only thing keeping me going.

I made my way into the house and was immediately engulfed in a hug by Mia that would have sent me tumbling backwards if it hadn't been for Leon.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered with her arms wrapped so tightly around me it was almost hard to breathe. "I swear I didn't know."

"It's ok, I'm ok," I assured her giving her a small hug back before looking to Brian for a little help. He gave a slight nod and carefully prying Mia off of me.

"Madison," Jesse's voice was so soft and innocent sounding I would have thought he was young child.

"I'm fine," I repeated again this time making sure to make eye contact with everyone in the room, each of them with looks of sorrow and worry on their faces. "Guys, really, I'm ok."

"Who are you trying to convince?" Vince questioned leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed.

"I think I'm going to try and get Let out of the bedroom," I replied intentionally ignoring his question and giving Leon's hand a small squeeze before I walked out of the kitchen that seemed to be getting smaller by the minute.

Then

In the months following the accident I had become a different person completely. My best friend was dead and it was as if James had just disappeared into thin air. Jesse spent countless hours on the computer trying to find him anyway he could but even with his impressive skills it seemed as though James had vanished.

The days were bad. I forced myself to eat, to shower, to even breathe because the pain and guilt I felt was so intense I wanted to give up. It took me three weeks to even be a passenger in a car without having a panic attack but the nights were the worst. I tried to avoid going to bed at all costs knowing my sleep would be plagued with nightmares but the exhaustion would eventually take over and I would fall asleep just about anywhere. The nightmares had gotten so bad that I would wake up screaming and shaking in fear and tonight was no different.

"Mads…come on, kid, wake up…Madison," Vince shook my shoulders trying desperately to wake me up. I shot forward with a gasp and looked around the room trying to figure out where I was. When I finally realized I was down in his room I curled back up into a ball on the bed and stared blankly at the wall trying to get the images of the burning car out of my mind. He tried to pull me over to him but I fought against him knowing that I wouldn't be able to keep up the wall I had built. Vince was just as stubborn as I was though and didn't give up until he had both arms wrapped around me.

"She's dead…I can't believe she's dead," I cried turning around and burying my face in his chest.

He stayed silent, letting me cling to him as if my life depended on it and I suppose in that moment it really did.

Now

I knew they were all worried I would fall back into the same dark place, that Dom's confession would crush me to the point of no return but I had to focus on the only positive, Carrie was alive.

I knocked on the bedroom door before trying the knob that was indeed locked. Taking a deep breath I pulled out a bobby pin from my hair and after a few tries I successfully picked the lock.

"I knew I never should have taught you that," Letty sighed as I closed the door behind me and relocked it to give us some privacy.

"It comes in handy," I shrugged as I shoved the bobby pin back in my hair and took a seat next to her on the bed leaning over so that my head was against her shoulder.

She rested her head on top of mine and we were silent for a good couple of minutes just enjoying the silence. We knew how each other was feeling and this was our time to figure out for ourselves what we were going to do without the rest of the team putting their two cents in.

"He left," I broke the silence.

Letty scoffed, "pussy."

I couldn't help the smile that formed on my lips before quietly asking, "What do you want to do?"

"I…I don't know," she admitted.

"I want to see her," I stated and Letty moved to look at me waiting for me to continue. "I need to see her, Let, I need to know she's alright and if she's happy I'll leave her be."

"And if she's not happy?"

"Then we fix it," I answer automatically. "I'll do this on my own if I have to but it'd be nice if you were there backing me up."

"Ride or die, right?" she half smiled with her fist out to me.

"Ride or die," I repeated connecting our fists.

"You know I'm up for anything but those boys aren't going to let you out of their sight after this morning."

"I have a plan," I smirked.

FAST AND FURIOUS

Letty had never been more right that day. When I didn't come back downstairs Mia started banging on the bedroom door pleading for us to come out, Letty reached for another shoe but I carefully took it out of her hand. It was decided that it would be better to go home and get a good nights sleep in our own beds. Dom and I had managed to stay away from each other for the first five days that we were back at the fort. If he was home I spent my time in the basement and I had avoided going to work giving me more time to work on my car in the small garage we had at the house.

The house fell deafeningly quiet as Dom walked towards the front door at the same time I made my way out of the bathroom and down the stairs. He turned and glanced at me for a brief second probably thinking it was another team member until he saw it was me and completely turned around. Eyes darted from me to him and back to me anxious on what was going to happen or what was going to be said. After getting over the initial shock of seeing him for the first time since his confession I continued down the rest of the stairs and walked right past him on my way to the kitchen where Letty was waiting for me.

"Are you sure about this?" Letty asked in a loud whisper for the millionth time since I had filled her in on my plan.

"Yes," I sighed at having to explain myself yet again. "We all know he is going to check up on Carrie, it's Friday, so we give him a few minute head start and we go after him. I can't see him actually going up there to race, he's probably just making sure she is alright. So, we get in on one of the races and see how much she really remembers."

"I don't know…I don't have a good feeling about this," Letty admitted giving me an uneasy look.

"You and your feelings," I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah and I was right last time," she grabbed my shoulders and moved me so we could see Vince sitting in the living room watching television the scars on his arm standing out.

"Well, I'm not jumping onto the front of a moving truck," I exclaimed grabbing my keys off the hook. "You don't have to come; I told you I can do this on my own."

"No…I'm coming," she answered hesitantly as she followed me out the backdoor and over to my car that I had strategically parked on the street so I didn't have to worry about being blocked in.

The music blared from the speakers as we drove and I would have been lying if I said I wasn't basket of nerves. Letty didn't seem to be any better as she kept playing with her cell phone all the way there. I parked off to the side and was about to get out when Letty grabbed my arm.

"Are you really sure about this? I'm telling you something feels off."

"Leticia, stop it!" I declared getting ready to smack some sense into her. She was supposed to be here supporting me not making me more nervous than I already was.

"Fine, Madison," she snarled pissed that I had used her full name. "I'll go find George and see if I can get you into the race tonight."

"Here," I said grabbing the money I had in the glove box.

"I got it," she waved me off and pulled out a wad of cash from her pocket. I gave her a questioning look and she just laughed. "He deserves it for lying to us."

Letty went to find George and I leaned against the hood of my car scanning the crowd for Dom when a voice from behind made my blood run cold.

"You know someone once told me 'it's not how you stand by your car, it's how you race your car'."

I spun around and there was Carrie admiring my car.

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm racing tonight," I answered trying to keep my voice steady. To say I felt like I was in the twilight zone was an understatement as I talked to my old friend like she was just some stranger on the street. "I'm Madison."

"Melanie," she nodded but it was the silver necklace she was wearing that caught my eye.

Then

"Happy anniversary, sexy," James purred in my ear as he clasped the necklace around my neck. A simple silver chain with the letters 'JG' hanging from it.

"It's beautiful," I glanced at myself in the mirror rubbing my fingers over the letters.

"It's to show you are mine. 'James' Girl'. You will always be mine, Madison, and the world needs to know it."

Now

"Nice necklace," I commented as an uneasy feeling started to build in my stomach.

"Yes it is," she half smiled catching my eye. "My boyfriend gave it to me before he was killed."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," I replied with as much sincerity that I could muster up but the more she spoke the more I felt something was off.

"Well, you know what they say, 'Karma is a bitch'," she winked before walking away.

I stood there watching her blonde hair get lost in the mass of people and I almost jumped out of my skin when someone placed their hand on my shoulder. I whirled around ready to give a black eye to whoever it was that thought it was ok to put their hands on me when they grabbed my wrist stopping me.

"Vince?"

"We've got to work on your people skills, kid," he shook his head letting go of my wrist and motioned to Leon who was standing behind him. "Thought you could use some backup."

"How the hell did you know where we went?" I asked angrily not wanting the extra stress of them being there.

"Letty text us, said she had a bad feeling about tonight so when you left we told Mia and Brian that we were going out for a couple of beers," Leon replied walking over and kissing me on the forehead.

"What about Jesse?" I questioned realizing he had been left out.

"Umm…" Vince cleared his throat and tilted his head. That's when I saw him totally engrossed in conversation with some other racers as he pointed out what improvements could be done.

"Mads," I heard Letty call out and I turned to see her shoving her way through the crowd. "You're in the second race…" she trailed off when she saw the boys standing behind me.

"Forget to tell me something, Let?" I plunged my thumb behind me in their direction.

"So, sue me. After last time I learned to trust these 'feelings' as you so kindly put it."

"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes again at her as Leon wrapped an arm around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder so our cheeks were touching.

"Anyways," she sighed, "You're in the second race. It's a straight shot down and back like last time…"

"And?" I questioned knowing she was leaving something out.

"It's just you and Carrie."

"So?" I shrugged accidentally hitting Leon's chin and Vince covered his laugh with a cough.

"I'm telling you something is off about this," Letty almost pleaded with me this time.

I almost gave in, the feeling of uneasiness growing in my stomach by the minute when George said I was up.

"We can still go home," Leon whispered in my ear.

"No, I'll be ok," I assured him kissing him on the cheek.