Author: Moon Roses or Moony
Rating: R for language
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Feedback: Not necessary but greatly appreciated.
Recap: Because of the beach day with Brer, she hadn't found time to call Letty and let her know that they would indeed be attending. She only hoped there was enough room and food for them, and that their seats were as far from Kim's as they could get.

Chapter Forty Eight

The street in front of the house was bumper to bumper with cars so she parked a few houses down. She let Brer out of the car and grabbed the chicken dip. He sang "don't step on the cracks, or you'll break your mothers back" under his breath at every quick jump over a crack on the pavement. She followed him up the steps, smiling at the saying she used to sing when she was a little girl. The door was wide open and she could already hear everyone trying to talk over each other. Brer had taken Letty's words to heart, and without knocking he pulled the screen door open and disappeared inside.

Shorty shook her head and braced the dishes against her chest one armed, reaching for the door with the other. Hector greeted her at the door with Brer already hanging over his shoulder. "Couldn't stay away, huh?"

"If the shoe fits," she smiled, edging around her brother and waving to Pedro, Jesse, and Beto.

The music was considerably louder than the last dinner she'd been to at the Toretto's and she wondered what had brought on the livelier ambience. As she walked through the archway into the kitchen Brer came barreling past her and slammed out the back door to find Lalia. Mia was marinating steaks at the counter and smiled at Shorty when she saw the Tupperware.

"Hey Shorty, what'd you bring us?"

"Some chip dip, but I still have to finish it."

Clearing a spot on the counter Shorty set the food on the counter and rummaged through the cupboards for a baking sheet. Spreading the pita triangles on the baking sheet, she mixed a small amount of oil with the Cajun seasoning and brushed it over the pieces. She slid the tray into the already hot oven, and added the chicken dip on the lower level.

"Lett told me you weren't coming."

Shorty grinned and hopped onto the counter next to Mia, "I got hungry."

Leaning back she caught sight of the Letty, Dom, Vince, Marvin, and Miguel shooting baskets on the driveway. Lalia was sitting upon her father's shoulders, shrieking in glee while Brer watched from the sidelines. He looked like he was analyzing the situation before he committed to having fun with everyone. When he finalized his game plan he nodded at Vince and sprinted straight into the older mans arms, before being swung up onto his shoulders. They faced Dom and Lalia head on, and Letty, Marvin and Miguel laughed at something Brer said to the team in front of them.

Mia nudged her, nodding at Vince and Brer, "I never thought I'd say it but he's amazing with kids."

"Probably because he's got the mental capacity of a four year old," Shorty replied, still uncomfortable with how easily Brer seemed to fit into Vince's heart.

The man couldn't find it in his heart to forgive her, but he seemed unable to hold Brer out of it. Once upon a time that'd been her. But she reckoned if she couldn't be the one to bring back the Vince she'd known there was nothing wrong with it being her son who managed it.

"Whatever it is, Brer seems to really like him," Mia said, flipping the steaks one last time before taking them to the barbeque.

She left Shorty sitting on the counter watching the scene through the small window. Her team meshed so well with the DT team, and she wondered when exactly they'd become an ever expanding makeshift family. Was it because she'd left all of them? They'd needed shoulders to lean on, so had they chose each other in her absence? Whatever the reason, Hector and Mia would only bring them closer together and for that Shorty was thankful. It should have been solely on her shoulders to fix everything, but their relationship fixed quiet a bit without meaning too.

Brer was laughing when Kim walked into the kitchen with Leon. He was dressed in his usual jersey and jeans and Shorty wondered if he ever realized that it was her who'd stolen his favorite jersey. He lifted a flat of beer onto the counter and nodded at her. He began unloading the beer into a cooler by her dangling feet while Kim set a tray of fresh veggie's on the counter.

While prying the plastic lid off the veggie platter she eyed Shorty with barely concelead wrath. Her warning hadn't made much of an impact on Shorty and she could see that Kim found it appaling that she dare show up at the Toretto's.

"Hi, Kim," Shorty smiled innocently.

"I heard you weren't coming tonight," she answered, her voice sickly sweet for Leon's benefit.

Shorty shrugged, hopped off the counter, and grabbed a carrot off the platter, "Oh, someone changed my mind for me."

She bit the end off the carrot stick and walked around the couple. The kitchen was definitely too small for the three of them and she didn't want to attract Leon's full attention to soon. In fact, now that he was there she was having second thoughts. How could she avoid the topic of Brer when it was staring everyone in the face?

Letty and Mia were watching over the grill while Dom and Lalia teamed up against Brer and Vince. She pulled a cooler full of beer over to the chair nearest the grill and sat down. Popping the cap off a Corona she took a deep pull and threw her feet up on the lid. She kept one eye on Brer and the other eye on the back door.

When Leon and Kim didn't appear from the back door she settled back in her chair and relaxed. Avoidance had always been her friend in the past.

Taking another pull on her beer, Shorty smiled when Marvin and Miguel pulled up chairs beside her. She dropped her feet and dug out two beers, handing them out before settling back into her comfortable position. The shrieks and laughter was still coming from the driveway when Marvin kicked her leg lightly, "Thought you weren't coming."

Shorty kept her eye on Vince, making sure he kept his hands firmly around her sons ankles so he didn't tumble backwards off his shoulders, "I wasn't going to. I didn't want to deal with Brer and Leon in one room, but Kim told me I couldn't come."

"So you came?"

"When have I ever let some blonde tell me where I can and can't go?" she answered, lifting her beer to her lips again. "Of course I came"

"How you gonna deal with Brer and Leon situation then?" Miguel asked.

"I'm gonna do what any smart, respectable woman would do. I'm going to ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist."

Marvin laughed softly, raising his beer in a salute, "True to form, as always."

She settled into silence and watched how well Vince was interacting with her son. She wondered whether he was using Brer as a way to resume their old friendship or if he actually enjoyed spending time with her kid. And even wondering that made her feel guilty. Of course Vince enjoyed spending time with Brer, everyone did. He was a precocious cutie who saw more than the average adult but had the nature of a child. What wasn't to love?

Shanking the thoughts from her mind, she turned her attention back to the grill where Mia and Letty were doing their hardest to grill like Dom. While Mia was a whiz in the kitchen, the grill was definitely Dom's domain. As if sensing he was needed, Dom called an end to the game and set Lalia on her feet. Vince lowered Brer back to the ground and together they made their way over to her small group. With Dom manning the grill, Mia returned to the kitchen to finish the rest of dinner and Letty collapsed into a seat next to Marvin.

"Hey Mia, can you take the stuff out of the oven. It should be done now."

"You cooked?" Letty asked.

"Barely."

She laughed along with the rest of the group. The absurdity of her developing skills needed to take care of a child was ridiculous. She'd learned to cook with both Beto and her mother but she'd spent all her time avoiding it, preferring to buy it premade or allowing friends to cook for her. Even in Mexico she'd waited until Brer was born to start learning. Besides avoidance, she also relied on procrastination.

When Mia reappeared with the homemade pita chips and chicken dip everyone left inside followed the food to the table. She set it in the middle of the huge makeshift eating area and returned inside to start bringing out the salads and sides. Shorty pulled her chair up to the table and lifted Brer into the seat beside her. She waited her turn and scooped some of the spicy chicken dip onto a plate and added a handful of chips and veggies.

She shared the plate with Brer and smiled at the slightly nervous faces around her. The members of her own team had already dug in, but the DT team and Kim looked like the appetizer in front of them had been poisoned.

Once more Mia came from the back door and set some fried potatoes and coleslaw on the table. She seemed surprised that no one was eating except Shorty and her family. "What's the problem?"

"Shorty made that?" Jesse asked, gesturing at the large dish of dip nervously.

"Good Lord," Mia snapped. She reached forward, snatched a pita chip off the platter and covered it in dip before pushing it into her mouth. "It's good. Edible, nothing toxic."

Before she could finish chewing the rest of the group dug in and she turned and went back to the kitchen to grab the remainder of the food. Because food had always been so important to the two teams she wasn't surprised at how quiet they became when Dom placed the steaks on the table. What did surprise her was Kim asking, "Did you cook anything besides red meat?"

Every eye turned to her in disbelief. No one asked Dom what he cooked. He cooked it and you ate it. End of discussion. But in all the time Leon had been dating Kim he seemed to have forgotten to tell her how it went in Toretto's house. King of the Streets and King of the House.

Both Shorty and Vince snorted as Dom's head turned towards Kim in impossibly slow motion. She caught Vince's eyes and they snickered simultaneously as Mia set the last side dish on the table and sat beside Hector. She'd missed the question but she couldn't miss the tension at the table.

"No, I didn't."

Kim seemed to sense that she'd done wrong and she tried to recover her slightly flustered composure in the face of Dominic Toretto. "No biggie, I like steak too."

That was the moment she chose to look across the table at her. Shorty refused to be the first one to look away. She was determined to become the dominant female in the battle of wills but she hadn't expected Brer to break her concentration with a tug on her sleeve. "Mami, can you please get me some apple juice?"

"I sure can, babe," she answered, reaching forward to grab the box of juice.

As she was turning back to her son she caught the look on Kim's face and she instantly regretted coming. Who cared if she'd been told to stay away? She'd never listened to anyone before, why would she now? It seemed cruel to throw something so huge as Brer in the other woman's face. Because from the glistening eyes and the way she pulled her hand from Leon's, Shorty knew Kim had put two and two together. There was no mistaking that Brer was the love child of she and Leon.

"I have to go," she managed. She stood and pushed her chair away from the table, pulling her hand roughly out of Leon's grip as he reached out to stop her. "I'm sorry, but I just remembered Edwin's having a party tonight."

"Kim, come on," Leon answered, as she made her way up the back steps and into the house. He pushed away from the table and cast an angry look at Shorty before following his girlfriend into the house.

Every eye turned to her and she wondered how many thoughts were angry, and how many were glad. Leon could still pretend he hadn't made a child, but Kim definitely couldn't. Shorty's insides twisted as Dom bowed his head to say grace, something he hadn't done in all the years she'd know him.

A/N: Thanks to D27427, wrestlenascargirl, lady-kira6606, Teleliniel, and ILoveAnime89 for the reviews!

Cheers!