A/N: Thanks to Lovecraft22, 2furious4u, Sparkles2004, vinlovedroolwish (welcome!) and Martell2981 for their reviews.

I'm making a proclamation: The next chapter will tell why Rae left, even if I have to write 5 million pages to get it done. Just for you.

This one gives some hints, though. HeeHee.

Review and Enjoy!


As she drove her rental towards LAX, Rae pondered over how things could change gears so fast.

A month ago, she'd been cut off from her chosen family, they'd been on the run, and Jesse was circling the drain. Now, she was back in LA, every one was cleared, and when she was visiting Jesse the day before, the doctor had told her that he'd had his final surgery, and that they were planning on taking him off the sedatives in a couple days. Things were looking up.

She had already told Mia and Vince the good news, and was planning on telling the others when she picked them up from airport. Alejandro was following close behind her, ready to do the same.

When Brian had called to tell them to good news, he'd asked that they didn't tell Mia, since he wanted to surprise her. It had given Rae and idea, and now she had it all planned out. Alex would meet Brian and his friend Roman at the domestic terminal, while Rae would go over to the international terminal to pick up Dom, Letty and Leon, who, having ditched their cars to stay inconspicuous, were flying up at roughly the same time. Neither Mia nor Vince knew anything, and since they would both be out of the house, Rae was planning on surprising them both.

She pulled into short-term parking, Alex pulling in next to her. They went their separate ways, slightly late, thanks to traffic. Rae wound her way through the crowds, dodging kamikaze luggage carts, trying to avoid broken shins. She found the right gate, just as people started spilling out, with the slightly dazed look that always accompanies air-travel, regardless of the length.

Spotting Dom's shaved head above the crowd, she jumped up and down, waving her hand frantically.

"Over here! Dom! Over here!" Apparently he heard, since the top of his head changed directions, and the crowd between them slowly split, revealing Dom, Letty and Leon to her smiling eyes.

Once again, she found herself tackled by Letty, but this time her cousin was still smiling when she pulled back.

"Hey, girl," Letty smiled, looking more than happy to be home.

"Hey guys!" Rae replied, hugging both Dom and Leon, before leading them all towards the parking garage. "How was the flight?"

"Great!" Leon replied, "I got three numbers, two flight attendants and the cute chick sitting next to me."

"Typical Le, always the ladies man," Rae laughed.

"What can I say? It's a gift."

Letty snorted while Dom just slapped him on the back.

"So, Alex is picking up Brian and Roman, and we should get back before Vince gets back from physio and Mia shuts up the café. They're gonna be so happy to see you all!" They were all already in on the plan, deciding to skip out on the welcome back party for a day or two. "Oh! I got some great news! Jesse's gonna be fine, they're gonna wake him up in a couple days. It'll be a good while 'till he's back to normal, but they're not worried about him, uh, not making it anymore."

"Thank god," Dom muttered, running a large hand over his head. Letty clutched Leon's hand, and for a moment, Rae could swear she saw tears in her cousin's eyes. Must have been the light.

Soon they reached the car, and there was no sign of Alex and the others.

"Nice wheels," Letty smirked, referring to the bland silver sedan that Dom was loading their bags into. Rae shot her a glare, missing her truck from back home.

As if reading her mind, Leon asked, "Whatever happened to that old truck of yours?"

"It's back in Chicago, I flew here from Mexico." On her sixteenth, Tony had taken her to a wrecked car lot and said she could pick a car, and the team could do it up for her as her gift. They'd all thought she was crazy when she'd picked the rust-bucket '39 Ford Pick-up, but she'd fallen in love as soon as she'd seen it. They had been later forced to admit that while it wasn't the fastest car around, it had a certain style.

Before they could talk more, the nearby elevators pinged open, revealing Alex, Brian and a large black gut that could only be Roman Pearce. They walked towards the larger group, and Rae felt everyone tense beside her. Brian stopped and couple feet from Dom, waiting to see what would happen. Rome was looking between to two curiously.

Dom took a step forward, and Brian flinched slightly, but stood firm. Dom held out his hand, which Brian slowly shook before being pulled into a manly-hug-back-slapping-thing.

"Thanks, man."

"No problem."

'Nuff said.

"This is my old buddy from Barstow, Roman. Rome, this is Dominic Toretto, Leon Thayer, and Letty and Rae Marquez."

"Nice to meet y'all," Rome said grinning wide and winking at the two girls. Letty raised and eyebrow, while Rae laughed, shaking her head.

"We'd better get going if we want to be back before Vince gets back," Rae said, moving towards the driver's side.

"I'll ride with you three," Dom said, "I've got some questions for Alex." The last time any of the Team had seen Alex was at Tony's service.

Soon, Rae was cruising back to the Fort, Letty next to her in the passenger seat, having called shotgun, and Leon sulking in the back.

"Where's that kid of yours?" Letty asked after a while, breaking the silence.

"With Mia. She's been real mopey, 'specially since Brian left, and it seems to cheer her up to have Ella around."

Letty nodded. "How old is she again?"

"Just turned three a couple months ago," Rae replied, smiling.

She felt Letty watching her. "What?"

"You must have had her just over nine months after your eighteenth, right? You met that guy pretty soon after you left," Letty said slowly.

"Yeah," Rae replied.

"Hmm." Letty and Rae's eyes met.

"It ain't fair. I got longer legs, I should be in the front," Leon sulked, missing the silent look passed between the two.

"Shut up, Le," the cousins said together.


"Faster, Pony! Faster!"

"Pony can't go faster, because Pony's about to melt in the heat."

"Faster!"

Mia sighed, shaking her head at the little girl on the back. It turned out that all of Rae's warnings about sugar were for a good reason. The kid was flyin' on a sugar high.

She set Ella down, taking the girls hand as the walked along their block. As she neared the house, she saw Vince stepping out of a yellow cab. Ella slipped out of her grip running towards something she'd seen across the street, the only thing stopping her from running on the road was Vince's quick reflexes as he grabbed her by the back of her overall-shorts.

"Kitty!"

"No kitty for you kid," Vince grumbled, still holding onto her.

"Thanks, V. Bring her inside, would you?" Mia called, happy for once to hand the hyperactive kid of to some else.

Vince lifted her, still holding her by her overalls, muttering about "Always bein' the damn babysitter."

"Whee! I'm a birdie!" Mia heard the girl call out behind her as she pushed open the front door.

"Hey, Mia."

She stared, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"Dom?"

Suddenly there was hugging and crying (on her part, at least), Vince was yelling at Rae for not telling them while at the same time laughing like he hadn't seen them all in years instead of weeks, and all the while Ella was running around like the Energizer bunny.

Mia found herself wrapped in Brian's strong arms as he whispered in her ear, "We'll talk later." She nodded against his chest, just happy to have him back.

When things had quieted down, and she'd been introduced to Rome, she found herself being stared down by Rae who was holding her wriggling daughter in her arms.

"I looked away for like a minute, and she got into a giant bag of gummy bears. I'm so sorry."

Rae chuckled, filling a no-spill cup with water and handing it to Ella before setting her down. "Drink."

The little girl resumed her circuit around the living room, taking random sips from the cup under her mother's watchful eye.

"So this is your kid, huh?" Letty asked, grinning.

"Yeah, but she's not normally this bad," Rae grinned back.

Vince snorted. "Yeah, right."

Rae stuck her tongue out him, earning herself a glare.

"Wow. V. and Rae bickering. All we need is Jesse and Han and it'd be just like old times," Dom laughed, leaning back and taking a sip of his Corona.

There was a silence as they remember the past.

"You think we could get 'im back?" Leon asked.

"Don't see why not, Tran was the reason he left," Letty mused.

"It might be kinda difficult to find him, though," Vince added. "All we know is that he's in Tokyo, right? I mean, how many 'Han's are there gonna be? That's assuming he's even using his real name."

"We'll find him," Leon said decisively.

There was another moment of silence before Dom turned to Rome.

"So, you plannin' on stayin', or just visiting?"

"Don't know, man. I gotta keep an eye on this one. I guess I'll just wait 'n' see, bro."

"What about you, man?" Letty asked Alex quietly.

"Ahh, I gotta get back to work eventually, or they might notice that I'm gone." He shrugged, "But Viv's been ragging on me, wanting to meet you all, so I was thinking I'd stay a little longer and she could come down, visit for a couple weeks, that kind of thing."

"Sweet, I gotta meet her," Letty grinned. "What about you, Rae?"

All eyes snapped to her. "I, uh… I thought I'd hang around 'till Jesse's copasetic, then…" she shrugged. "I don't know."

"We're glad you're back, y'know?" Leon said, watching her closely. She gave him a weak smile.

The conversation quickly changed to what happened in Miami, and everyone listened wide-eyed as Brian and Rome told the story, frequently stopping to argue over details.

A couple hours later, Rae picked up her fast-asleep daughter and took her down to the make-shift bedroom they had set up in to games room in the basement, knowing that most of the rooms would be taken, the only empty one being Jesse's, which just felt wrong to sleep in still, despite the fact they knew he'd be okay.

She didn't notice Letty following her until the older woman spoke.

"Cute kid. She looks like you."

"Thanks. I think," Rae laughed quietly, stroking Ella's hair off her face.

"Is she Tran's?"

Rae's hand froze. "Why would you say that?"

"Well, the way you were acting with him at the races the night before you left, then nine month later, out pops Bella." While Letty's tone wasn't quiet as vicious as it could be, it wasn't exactly friendly either.

"Fuck you."

"It was just a question," she snapped.

"No. She's not Tran's. I promise you that."

"Then who?" Letty asked, her voice softer.

"I told you, I met a guy in San Francisco," Rae said, looking back at Ella.

"Right. You met a guy." Letty sighed. "When you decide you want to talk about it, let me know, 'kay?"

Rae didn't say anything, just looked down at her daughter, wishing things were different.


"Rome seems pretty cool," Mia commented as she went to stand next to Brian in the cool night air. They were alone for once, finding solitude in the back yard.

"Yeah, he's a good guy. A pain in the ass, but a good guy."

"I'm glad you had him watching your back."

"Mia-"

"It's okay Brian. I'm just glad you're okay," she cut him off, not wanting to hear his polite, well-worded brush-off.

"Mia-"

"I mean, I know you didn't use me or anything, but it was a little stupid to start professing love when we barely know each other."

"Mia-"

"I just feel that way, y'know? And I had to mmph-" she was silenced by his lips crushing down on hers.

"Just shut up and let me talk will you?" Brian said when he pulled back, slightly breathless.

She just nodded, her eyes wide.

"I realised something when I was out there. Actually, more when the car was hurtling towards the boat, really, and I'm sorry I never got to say it sooner." He moved close to her, cradling her face in his hands. "I love you, Mia Toretto."

Mia was ecstatic, but all her thoughts soon disappeared as his lips descended on hers.


Last night had been great. Relaxing, catching up, making new friends. Everything was close to perfect.

Yeah. Right.

The next morning, all hell broke loose. It became increasingly clear that Letty and Dom were having some kind of silent argument, and that Leon had taken Letty's side. Dom still wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of Mia being with Brian, and nearly hit the roof when he caught him coming out of her room in the morning.

Vince was nursing a mean hang over, thanks to being nearly tee-total since he got out of hospital, and was snapping at everyone, especially Rae. Ella was bouncing around, full of energy, and generally making a lot of noise.

There was also the problem that ten people just could not live in the Fort. It was too much.

The following morning was the last straw for Rae. She got up early, needing the bathroom, and swung open the door, only to feel like she was caught in a time warp.

Vince was in the shower again. Naked, of course. His hand already stroking himself. Of course. Rae just stood there, frozen, except for the heat shooting through her belly at the sight.

But unlike the first time, his hand stopped, and she looked up to find him watching her, his face unreadable. She drowned in his blue eyes for a moment, before realizing that she was standing there with the door wide open and her sleeping daughter in the next room.

Finding her voice and courage she didn't feel, she cleared her throat. "Hurry up would you? I need the bathroom." She turned, and just before the door shut, she called out, "And next time, lock the door!"

She could hear his laugher through the wood.

She went upstairs, finding the other bathroom blessedly empty, then went to start breakfast. She made a huge batch of Mexican eggs, trying to ignore the biting pain of the chillies on her bare hands, then went downstairs to wake Ella and get her dressed.

By the time she made it back upstairs, most of the food was gone, dirty plates were everywhere, and egg was trampled into the floorboards, and most of the guys sitting watching cartoons. Just then, Vince had the misfortune to come up the stairs and ask, "What's for breakfast?"

Rae snapped. "That's it! I've had it. I did not come all this way just to play mommy to the rest of you. Mia girl, I have no clue how you do it, and I don't want to know. I'm gonna get a motel room for me and Ella, no offence, but this house is just not made for this many people." She turned and snapped at Vince, "And you can get your own damned breakfast!"