Some old Volkwagen*Fast and Furious*

Chapter 4 - He's back in Town, Part 1

The friends had stayed until quite late: they'd sat outside talking until it became chilly and then they'd gone inside to watch a movie - one with many crashing and burning cars, of course. Mia hadn't minded, as Nelly had noticed, she'd sat snuggled up against her big brother, but in the end her eyes kept drooping and Nelly doubted she'd seen much of the film. It was past two when all those car-crazy boys left, but Nelly didn't mind, she didn't have to work the next day. When she got up at 9am, no one else was awake yet. Obviously, it was Sunday, so this was not really surprising. Nelly made herself a cup of coffee and took her laptop down into the kitchen to start working on her assignment that was due in three weeks' time. This was the reason universities always called holidays "lecture-free time" - you had to work anyways, you just didn't have to actually go to uni.

She hadn't accomplished much, though, before the radio - which Nelly had put on to have some sort of background noise - broke down and the music changed to an annoying fuzzing sound. The pull-out antenna didn't want to stay in that one position where it had a signal. Nelly sighed and looked about the kitchen to find something to help her fix the problem. Finally, she folded a piece of thick cardboard and duck-taped it to the antenna so it stayed where it should. She had just switched the radio back on when Dom entered the kitchen. He was wearing that cross again and Nelly made a mental note to really never let an atheistic comment drop when he was around. He brewed some coffee and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "You repairing the radio?" he asked with a slight chuckle. Nelly straightened up and stepped aside so he could see what she'd been doing. "Well, I'm not into technology at all, I've just... fixed the antenna," she said with a hint of a grin. Dom inspected her construction and nodded. "Seems to be working," he stated. Nelly sat back down at the table and tried to get some more work done, but after just a few minutes Mia entered and Nelly sighed and gave up. Today was definitely going to be unproductive.

Mia smiled at them, her hair was still damp from the shower she'd just had. "Morning guys." She hugged Dom and then stepped back to look at her brother. "I've got to ask you, Dom... I didn't want to at first because I was scared of your answer, but I spent half of last night wondering and I got to know." - He raised his eyebrows in expectation. Mia lifted her shoulders. "How long are you going to stay?" - He grinned. "How long do you want me to stay?" - Mia couldn't help smiling back. "Come on, Dom, you know I don't want you to leave like ever! - It's kind of solitary here with everyone gone," her tone had become serious in the last sentence. She sighed. "But I don't want you to get caught. You can't go to jail." - Nelly saw how Dom's eyes briefly flickered to her, probably wondering how much she knew. Mia waved her hand. "It's alright, I told her about the racing." - Dom nodded. "I can stay as long as it's safe. As a matter of fact, at the moment I'm not planning on going anywhere. I'll go when it gets dangerous." - Dangerous? Nelly felt a shudder running down her spine. She'd never... well, dangerous was an often used adjective, but mostly it referred to events quite far away from one self. She'd never really been in a dangerous situation herself. Mia nodded. "Okay. You could just, you know... hide. Be careful. The police might not even know you are back in LA." - Dom laughed. "They don't. If they did, they'd already have turned up on our doorstep. This is the first place they'd be looking for me." - Nelly frowned. "Don't get me wrong, but isn't it slightly... stupid to be hiding where they'll be expecting you will?" - He grinned. "Sure, this is one way to see it. I like to think, though, that because it is the most obvious place for me to be and I know they know that, they won't really expect me to be here. I'm quite sure if they ring that doorbell and Mia opens up and tells them I'm not here, they'll believe her." - It sounded sort of plausible, and since he hadn't been caught yet it seemed to be working... although Nelly wasn't quite convinced yet. But then, it wasn't really her problem, was it?

It was some time that afternoon when Mia joined Nelly, who was sitting on a deck chair in the sun. Dom had left before lunch and Nelly - who felt incredibly lazy, having not really done anything all day - was determined to go for a run when the air had cooled down a little bit. Mia let herself fall into the deck chair next to Nelly with a contented sigh. "So," she started, leaving it hanging in the air. Nelly smiled and pushed her sunglasses to her forehead. "So what?" - Mia blinked into the sunlight to see her expression. "You're okay, aren't you? I mean, when my brother's here he's quite... he does things his way. He can't be ignored." Mia shrugged with a sheepish smile. "I just wanted to check you're alright with all this." - Nelly had to laugh at that. "I'm 25, I'll cope," she grinned. - "No but I mean... it was sort of a surprise... I hope you don't feel left out or something." - "I'm fine, really." Nelly smiled reassuringly, knowing that she didn't even tell a white lie or said what would please Mia. It was true. - "Of course your sister can come and stay just as we'd planned, we'll find somewhere for Dom to sleep, don't worry about that..." - Nelly's head shot up. "Oh no, it's okay - I already told her I'd be coming to see her. It's perfectly fine, really. We'll do it another time. No bother at all." - Mia frowned at her. "Really?" - "Of course," Nelly touched her arm, inwardly patting herself on the shoulder for having prevented the disaster. Nelly loved her sister very much, but introducing her to Dom would be mortifying. Betty would be starting to whisper as soon as he had turned around: about his muscles and what he did and how strong he seemed and if he was working out much and whether Nelly liked him at all... No, that couldn't happen. Nelly would die of embarrassment. Plus, Betty had a way of seeing right through any lies, at least when told by Nelly, and so there was no use trying to pretend. Betty would definitely get the truth out of Nelly; and since Nelly herself couldn't be sure what an interrogation like that might possibly reveal, she was quite glad if it happened out of earshot from any of the Torettos.

Mia leaned back. "He'll probably ask you to come to races soon." - Nelly raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Me? Why?" - Mia laughed. "Well, us. Because that's what he does. You're my flat-share, my friend, so you're part of what we call the family." - "But he doesn't know me. The races are illegal, I might give him away." - Mia smiled warmly. "That's the thing about the family: it's based on trust. I trust you, so he trusts you." After a few seconds she continued: "I just wanted to say that you don't have to come. As you said, the races are illegal and sometimes the police find out and then we'll have to get out of there hell quick. No one's going to blame you if you don't want to be into this and you won't be excluded from our group because of it. - I just don't want that you feel you have to come." - Nelly nodded. "Are you usually going?" - Mia smiled, obviously caught up in old memories. "Yes. Even though I'm never racing myself." - "Is it fun? Watching?" - "Definitely. I mean, I like it. Dom always wins, so... You see, the diner isn't really throwing off any money, so most of what we have he won in races." - Nelly whistled. "Sounds like he's pretty good." - "Yeah, he is." Mia obviously couldn't hide the pride from her voice. "I just hope the police actually don't know he's in town. For if they do, they'll bust the next race for sure. They have..." Mia cleared her throat, "...undercover cops and if they suspect he's anywhere near they'll double the amount of spies." - "I think Dom's right about that, though: if they thought he was here they'd have turned up at ours already. Perhaps they wouldn't have expected to actually find him here, but they would have checked - for form's sake." - Mia put on her sunglasses. "Yes, I think you're right. They don't know."