VIPER ♱ b. o'conner

07 : another lifetime

Brian pulled to a stop near Dom's wrecked car. He got out and ran over with his piece in hand. "Dom!"

Breathing heavily, Dom leaned his head against the headrest and side eyed him. "That's not what I had in mind." He started to slide himself out of the car then Brian helped him the rest of the way out. The two men stood there, breathing heavily from the adrenaline they experienced within the last few hours.

Brian took the keys of the Supra from his pocket, holding them out to Dom. A solemn look showed on his face as he took the keys from him. "You know what you're doing?" He questions the man he once called a friend.

"I owe you a 10-second car." Brian responds to Dom in dry humor. All he could do was think about Lala, if she was okay after the drive by targeting Jesse. He saw her on her knees by Jesse's body but he knew his death would hit her hard. Jesse was a kid and Lala always had a soft spot for kids.

Dom nodded in appreciation before going over to the car. He stopped and looked back at Brian. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about Lala. She was good people." Then he got in the car while Brian stared at his retreating figure. Was? Was good people? Was?

Brian walked briskly away from the crash site and made his way back towards Dom's. He needed to find his girl.

-

Lala reached up and wiped the tears from his cheek while a few of her own fell. "I'm okay, Brian." Her attempt to comfort him didn't work as much as she wanted. It broke her heart to see him falling apart in front of her despite everything.

"Brian...do you? Do you still?" She asked barely above a whisper without looking at him. His hand relaxed in her own. "You asked me in the desert. Do you?"

He smiled and and laughed quietly at her question, "I always have, even after everything. I think I always will. But..."

Even though they both knew how they felt about each other, all of their surrounding factors affected their choices. Mia, the fact that Lala joined Dom's crew, the fact that Brian was going to run.

"Mia?" She asked him with sadness in her voice. "You also love Mia."

"I don't know...I don't know if it's love but I do have feelings for her." With those words, Lala slowly pulled her hand out of his. "What about Leon? You two were obviously sleeping together, all over each other."

She raised her brow at him. "It's not like I was the one working the case. That was you, Officer. Besides, Leon and I both knew we wouldn't end up together. It was just something to pass the time for both of us. If things hadn't gone the way they did...I like to think I would've given him a chance."

"You'd move on?" He asked in a pained voice. It was another hypocritical moment of his, being hurt about her moving on when he had gone to Mia. "I-I didn't know we were moving on. That-that we were losing each other."

"Brian, you already have. You lost me the day that I finally woke up and you were still nowhere to be found. I went through so much without you. My pregnancy, moving, races, my new job. All of it." Lala shook her head.

Shock filled Brian's body. "Pregnancy? What are you saying? Are you saying we have a-a kid?"

Lala looked at the broken man in front of her. He was here now, he was here and it would all be okay. But it wouldn't. It couldn't. Because soon Brian would leave yet again, only this time it would be to run from the cops and Lala had to decide if she would run or take whatever deal they threw at her next.

All she could do was nod in response.

"Why didn't you tell me about this? Lala this is huge! You should've told me!" He ran his hands through his hair, he felt like running was completely off the table now. He had a kid. A kid that would need him.