Montequinto, Central America

Next time, they were all getting armoured vehicles.

Seriously though. At this point in the game, they seemed to always have someone after them, usually shooting at them, so why not armour up?

Like right now: they were being shot at while being chased through a field of landmines.

This time, Rio had traded her bike in for an ATV which was proving rather good for this expedition, except for being out in the open. That's where the bullet-proof vest and helmet came in handy.

Letty and Dom were ahead, Letty with the package: the device left to them by Mr. Nobody. Rio was in the middle while Tej, Ramsey, and Roman brought up the rear.

"Everyone still in one piece?" she radioed.

"So far!" answered Letty.

An explosion sounded behind them, spurring them onwards, and then: "Ahhh! My ass is en fuego!" Roman was screaming into the radio.

Maybe at this rate not everyone would still be in one piece for very much longer.

"Ramsey, how much further?!"

"Just up to that palm plantation, then we're in the clear!"

Tall, proud palm trees rose up in the distance, still distant, but not too far.

"Vamos!" She kicked her ATV up a gear and sped onward, trying to ignore the mine blasts occurring all around them.

Finally, she hit the palm trees and was able to drive freely again - and breathe.

Well, at least free from the mines. The military were still in hot pursuit of them, not backing down.

"Wait, okay, I think I found us another way out," came Ramsey. "Two miles to what looks like a bridge across the border."

"Good! The sooner we get out of here the better," said Letty.

A buzzing roared in from behind them, signaling the approach of more military members, this time on ATVs of their own.

One sped up a slight hill and gained altitude, striking Letty. She went flying, sailing through the air. Dom made a quick maneuver to position his car so she would fall on the hood to break her fall.

Her bike went flying in the opposite direction, the device separating from it.

With Letty safe and sound, Rio adjusted her position and drove to swoop in and retrieve the device - but she wasn't fast enough.

A blue car, coming from seemingly out of nowhere, cut her off, gliding smoothly over with the front door open so that the driver could grab the package on the way by. Prize in hand, he looked up at them, and in that moment everything changed.

Her eyes locked onto his blues and suddenly they were teenagers again, their whole lives and the whole world stretching ahead of them, full of endless promise and potential.

"Jake?" The name she hadn't spoken in years - decades now it was - fell from her lips like no time had passed at all. Shock coated the moment, painting everything in a dense fuzz. Was this really happening?

When he looked back at her, he didn't seem as surprised to see her as she did to see him. Then he turned and gave Dom and Letty a smug look before slamming the door closed and skidding away.

Now it was her turn to be in hot pursuit - she could hear Dom and Letty driving behind her.

The military chase was still ensuing. Now that they were on the other side of the palm plantation, they were swarmed once again.

SMASH! In came Tej, Roman and Ramsey from the side, clearing the path.

"Always check your mirrors, bitches!" came Roman's voice.

Usually, Rio would have laughed at something like this, but not this time. No, she was much too distracted, that shocked fuzziness had not gone away, and clouded everything. All that mattered was staying on the tail of that blue car, which contained the device, and, more importantly, Jakob.

Who was still in the lead. He shot ahead, gaining speed - and drove right off the edge of the cliff.

"NO!" Her shock was only quickly broken by panic, which just as quickly turned to shock once more as a sleek jet swooped in from overhead, catching the car mid-drop before flying away. And just like that, it - he - was gone.

It all happened so fast, so fast that now she was reconsidering if it had even happened at all. Those landmine blasts could have totally messed with her head.

But no, it was true, he had been right there, so close she could have reached out and touched him. Jake... Her Jakob.

"Rio!" She was briefly snapped from her shock by Dom and Letty yelling at her from the car. "The bridge - go!"

She tore across the rickety structure that could hardly be called a bridge, right on the tail of Tej's truck, and when she reached the other end, and found her feet back on solid ground, she was frozen.

In the span of just a few minutes, so many shocking things had happened. She barely registered Dom and Letty making it across the 'bridge' as well, let alone how.

No, all that mattered right then and there was one thing: Jakob was back.

And clearly, alarmingly, he wasn't on their side.

"Brother?"

The other team members echoed, dumbfounded.

"You got a brother?" Roman, naturally, had a lot to say on the topic. "A brother? Who also happens to be some kind of super spy with his own private army, who drives literally like a bat out of hell. Who preplanned an aerial jump and landed at the bottom of an airplane? I mean, who does that?"

"Who does that?" repeated Tej. "A Toretto."

"Exactly," agreed Rio. "Jakob Toretto, to be exact. The middle child. My ride or die." This only served to shock them further, but with their silence, she continued. "My childhood was, well, not good, let's put it that way. One day, I met the Torettos, and suddenly I understood what family was supposed to be. I got older, and I fell in love, and had people who loved me. Life suddenly wasn't so dark. Jakob and I were teenage sweethearts. Then Mr. Toretto died, and Jake left - the grief took over. Couldn't blame him."

"So you've just been waiting for him this whole time?" asked Roman.

"No, I've been living my life, but holding space for him for when he comes back."

"When, not if?"

She gave a sure nod. "When."

"What makes you think he'll come back?" Dom spoke up, voice low and cautious.

"You know the answer Dom: family is forever, and we're still his family."

Letty cornered Dom away from the others. "You know now that he's back you have to tell her," she told him in a low voice. "Tell her what really happened. If you don't, you'll risk losing her too."

And we're diving (driving ;)) right in!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)