Author's Note: Well guys, I literally just finished this chapter, but I was so pleased with it that I decided to post it right away! Hopefully I can keep this up. My goal is to be posting at least once a week. In this chapter Gisele arrives and Letty and Dom finally work through things. Enjoy!

Chapter 6 (This Plan is for me)

"Brian, it seems to me that your head is not in the game."

It wasn't the first time his boss had said something similar to him since they'd gotten here, since they'd been pursuing Dom. Brian didn't really understand it. There were worse criminals in the world, bigger cons to pin one's promotion hopes on. But maybe it was because of him. His boss thought because he knew Dominic Toretto he'd help bring the man in.

Boy was he in for a surprise.

"It's just there's a lot going on here," he said. "We could help people."

"We're not here to help people. We're here to extradite a criminal." Towers came to a stop in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest.

Brian fought the urge not to roll his eyes, keeping his expression neutral. "What if there's a way to do both?" he asked.

Towers frowned at him. "We don't have permission to get involved in Brazilian politics, O'Conner."

"I'm not saying to get involved. But look, Dom and his team have a history of pulling off…. Robin Hood-like jobs, if you know what I mean? Sure, they started robbing electronics off big companies to fund their street racing, but if you look at what they've done since then… in the DR with the gas trucks, for example. In Mexico."

"So you think they're here to help the people of Brazil out of the kindness of their criminal hearts?" Towers scoffed.

"Well, and for a big payout of themselves," Brian said. "That goes without saying."

"So what exactly is your suggestion here?"

"We catch them, by going after Reyes." At his boss' dubious look, Brian held up his hand. "I have a plan. I know they're planning something to move against him. I don't know what exactly, but I've been able to find that much out. We monitor Reyes, we get our own guys on the ground and when they strike, we can grab them. And maybe we wait until after they've taken out Reyes.."

"Because it 'helps the people'?" Towers asked, rolling his eyes. "Who knew you were such a softie, O'Conner." He paused then, considering it. "Well, we don't have other leads. They weren't staying with their old contact from LA…. if this is what they're actually doing it just might work."

"Yeah, I think so too," Brian agreed. He didn't bother to clue him in on the rest of the plan. That part was just for him.

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Han was sitting outside the warehouse when he heard the approaching engine. A motorcycle, he could tell at once. He couldn't ID the type. Cars were really more his thing. He reached into his bag of spicy chips for another as the bike drew closer. He kept watch as it drove up towards the warehouse and came to a stop.

The figure was slim, and when the person dismounted the bike, clearly a woman. He watched with greater interest as she reached up to pull off her helmet, releasing a wealth of long dark brown hair streaked with honey-colored highlights. She was lovely, and he took a moment to digest that as he watched her approach.

She saw him watching her and smiled, strolling casually up towards him. "Hello," she said. He couldn't place her accent.

"Hi," he said. "You looking for someone?"

"I was told I could find Mia here," she said.

"You must be the contact she got from Brian. Gisele, was it?"

She smiled, offering her hand when he stood. "That's right. And you are?"

"Han." He shook her hand. It was slim, but her grip was confident. When he let go he felt the strange desire to take it again. But that was ridiculous. He'd only just met her. "Come inside and meet the others."

She followed him in. Letty, Dom and Vince were working on the car that Leo and Santos had brought for her to drive. It had good bones, but it needed a solid tune up. Mia was back behind the tarps they'd strung up to make a sort of slapdash painting space, applying the first coat of primer to the garbage truck.

Leo and Santos had disappeared somewhere. He wasn't sure. Maybe they'd just gone upstairs to rest.

Dom was the first one to put aside his work when they came in. His face was nearly unreadable, but Han knew he was sizing Gisele up. He wasn't sure if they could trust the woman. That was fair enough, given what they were doing, and just what danger Dom was in every minute he remained here in Brazil.

"You Brian's contact?" he asked.

"Gisele Haribo," she said with a nod, coming to shake his hand. "I guess Brian thought you could use my expertise."

"And just what expertise is that?"

She smirked. "Name it. Moving illegal goods, large amounts of money, across borders, between countries. I can drive. I can fight. And I have considerable… other talents at my disposal."

"Doesn't sound like a cop," Vince said, looking the woman up and down. "But you kind of look more like you should be on the cover of a magazine. No offense."

She laughed. "None taken. It's just another weapon in my arsenal. I use it as necessary." She looked back at Dom. "And no, I'm not FBI or anything of the sort. I met Brian in Mexico when he and another agent took out my former boss' drug running operation."

"Wait, he actually managed that?" Letty asked, speaking for the first time.

"Not without cost. Braga, my old boss, found out that the FBI planted an undercover operative among the drivers he had crossing the border. He ordered them to all be killed. But it still ended up leading them right to us. I turned against Braga and helped them and now he's in jail."

"That was fast," Letty mused and Vince shot her a questioning look. She shook her head. "Just… I ran into Brian last month in LA and he was working on that job."

"Well, that seems to confirm at least that she's legit, right?" Vince asked. "We could use her help."

"Since when are you the reasonable one?" Letty asked, laughing.

"Well she definitely ain't a cop," Vince says. "They don't make cops that hot."

"Don't let Rosa catch you saying that shit," she warned, punching him lightly in the side of the arm.

"So am I in?" Gisele asked, watching the two of them drift back to their work on the car.

"You're in… so far," Dom said. "But I'm keeping an eye on you."

Han rolled his eyes, then smiled at her. "Come on, I'll show you where you can put your stuff. We'll have a meeting tonight to go over the updated plan."

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Vince had called it a night half an hour earlier, leaving Dom and Letty alone downstairs where they were working on the car. They were quiet, each of them involved in their own work and neither of them having to say anything.

But to Dom the silence didn't feel as easy as it usually did. And he knew why.

He straightened up, closing the hook of the Barracuda, wiped his hands on a rag and crossed to put some tools away in the chest. He could feel Letty's eyes on him, but he took his time before turning around to meet that gaze.

"Dom-" she began.

"Yeah," he said. "I know. We have to talk."

He hated feeling this distance between them. It certainly wasn't the first time they'd ever fought. When they'd been younger they'd both been volatile personalities. They'd fight, go their separate ways, then come together again with an undeniable burning passion.

He liked to think they'd matured some since then, but maybe he was still making the same mistakes he always did. Deciding what was best without listening to what she wanted. Maybe if he'd listened to her before she'd listen to him now.

"You need to know something," she said, breaking him out of the spiral of his own thoughts.

He raised his head to look at her as she moved to stand in front of him, leaning back against the body of the Barracuda.

"That job Gisele said she met Brian on," she continued, meeting his gaze with serious eyes. "When you left me in the DR and I went back to LA I ran into him. Brian, that is. I knew he was running some sort of operation and I told him I wanted in."

"Wh-" she held up a hand when he started to speak.

"Let me finish."

He closed his mouth again, trying not to scowl.

"Brian agreed. Though to be honest, I pretty much bullied him into it." She shot him a smirk that he couldn't help but return. It sounded like her. "But in the end… I ended up telling him I couldn't do it." Her voice had gotten soft. "If it had just been me, my life on the line… I would have taken that chance. Because I wanted so badly for you to come home. I wanted us to be together. Dom, that's all I've ever wanted."

"So why didn't you?" he asked, even though he was sure he knew.

"Because it's not just me anymore," she said, slipping her hand into his. "I know you think I don't get that, but I do. I need you to trust me to make decisions because you trust me to understand what is at stake."

"I don't understand why you want to drive on this job then," he said, squeezing her fingers gently between his own.

"Dom, listen to me carefully. Because after this, it's going to be shelved. You can't control me or what I do. Please don't try to take my autonomy away from me." She took in a slow breath and let it out. "The job I was going to do with Brian… I knew it was dangerous. He didn't want me to do it. I had a bad feeling from the start. But I was still willing to risk it to get you back. But then… once I found out about…" she trailed off, unwilling to voice it aloud perhaps and remind them both about the looming inevitability of parenthood. "I knew I couldn't risk it. Because I was going to be there alone. I knew I didn't have you to keep me safe, to back me up. And that's the difference here."

He listened, waiting for her to say her piece.

"Driving this job is safer the better the people driving are. I trust you to do what you need to do. Don't you trust me behind the wheel?"

"Of course I do," he said, biting down on the 'but' that wanted to creep out.

"Do you trust Vince more? Or Han? Or anyone else?" she asked.

"No," he admitted. They were all good drivers. And they'd probably be fine. But besides him, Letty was the best, and she knew him the best. Knew him in ways no one else could.

"So then if we both drive the way we're supposed to, the way we know we can, it's not that dangerous."

"We'll still have people chasing us. Probably shooting at us."

"That's what the rest of the team is there to handle. Would I be safer jumping off motorcycles? Driving the fake cop cars?" she asked. "Driving side by side with someone who isn't you?"

He didn't like that idea very much, and he was sure it showed on his face.

"And don't tell me you're going to make me sit safe back here on the sidelines because you can't have possibly thought that would happen," she said, fixing him with a raised brow.

He may have hoped for that, but he'd always known it wasn't going to fly, so he just gave her a shrug and a wry smile. "You can't blame me for wanting to keep you safe."

"I don't. I blame you for wanting me safe above everything else," she told him. "For leaving me when I was asleep. For doing exactly the opposite of what I told you I wanted to do. Please, I can't handle it if you do that to me again."

Her voice broke and that was all it took for him to pull her into his arms. Holding her close as she clutched at him. He stroked his hand over her hair, till the silky, curled strands tangled in his fingers.

"I promise I won't leave you behind again," he said, speaking the words against the crown of her head, pressing a kiss there.

She tilted her head to look up at him, giving him a small smile. "Well… it's a start," she said.

"And… I won't argue with you about driving on the job," he continued. "Even if I don't like it."

"Your protest is noted," she said with a smirk, then leaned up on her toes to press her lips against his. "Maybe this will make up for it," she murmured against his mouth, just before she slipped her tongue between his lips.

It was everything he had been missing since that night he'd walked out on her. Since he'd seen her here again and found himself frozen out. He cupped her jaw and kissed her deeper, pressing her back against the body of the car. She laughed when he hitched her up into his arms, reaching down to tug off his shirt.

"Better hope no one walks in on us," she teased, biting down at the edge of his ear.

"I can't tell you how much I don't care right now," he told her, kissing his way down her throat as she arched in his arms. The throaty sound of her laugh was music to his ears.