[ FLASHBACK TO FOUR
MONTHS AFTER ACT ONE]
LALA shifted uncomfortably in her chair, she hated the hard and rigid shape of the seats they put in the interview rooms. They were even worse now with her leg in a brace. She glanced around the room with bored eyes. To her it didn't matter how many times they brought her in - she knew nothing.
The detective sitting across from her sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "So you're telling me that you had no involvement with the illegal actions involving Dominic Toretto?"
"Nope." She lied and leaned back in her seat. They'd already gotten her witness testimony from the drive-by, months ago, along with a personal testimony in regard to Dom's alleged actions.
He gave her a look and marked something down on the file he had in front of him. "Did you have any involvement in the disappearance of his crew member uh..." he checked the file, "Vince I believe it was?"
She shook her head. "I have no idea how he disappeared, hope the poor guy healed well."
Lala was the one who got Vince out of the hospital. With the help of an old friend she got him to a safe house where he was laying low and healing before fleeing the country. She knew it'd be too risky for Dom to come back for him and Mia barely spoke to her, too heartbroken to even come up with a plan to avoid Vince taking the fall.
The case files and reports were set on the desk in front of her. Brian's reports. "This is what you're looking at if anything remotely incriminating comes back tying you to this case, Aguilar. I hope you're prepared to face that."
There were eight photos spread fan-like over the folder. Dom and Vince - they had a bold red stamp on their surveillance photos that stated 'wanted'. Leon, Letty, Mia and herself, didn't have any sort of stamps but rather circles around their faces with question marks next to them. Then one of Brian was halfway hidden, he had two stamps on his. One had 'terminated' and the other had the same 'wanted' stamp as well. Finally, Jesse's photo came across her eyes. She ran her fingers down it gently, his had a stamp that showcased his unfortunate fate. 'Deceased'.
A throat being cleared broke her out of her own mind. "Despite your claims on not knowing where Toretto and the others are, we do have enough sufficient evidence to have you sentenced to at least 3 years. Now, the court is willing to work on an agreement with you. Parole."
"I'm listening." She crossed her arms and stared at the detective. Parole was better than prison.
"Three years of parole, the conditions are simple. You must make yourself available within 30 minutes of your parole officer reaching out to you. You cannot leave the state - it was originally the county but they made an exception. No drugs, alcohol, races - unless you want to finish your sentence off in jail." He droned on and on while Lala simply just stared. "We'll have to go in front of the judge so they witness and agree to the parole if you wish to proceed."
"I'll take it." She gave a stiff nod to him.
-
The next morning she stepped out of the courthouse with her representative. She pushed her hair back from her face with her sunglasses. A manila envelope was in one hand as she shook the woman's hand with the other while leaning on her crutches.
"Your best bet is to stay put, Lolita. Finish out your parole in state and go from there. If Dominic chooses to show up or reach out to you then you have to tell the detectives." Her representative, Sherri, spoke to her with genuine care for the young adult. "You have a daughter to think about."
A soft laugh left Lala's mouth as the woman spoke. "I know what terms I agreed to in there, you don't have to repeat them to me."
Sherri nodded and took out her keys. "If you need anything, reach out. Hopefully we won't be seeing each other soon." She gave a small smile to Lala and walked across the street to her car.
Lala ran a hand through her hair and shrugged to herself. "We definitely won't be." She muttered as she took her phone out of her back pocket.
-
Cartoons were heard coming from the front room as Lala hobbled into her stepmother's home. She missed her soft and squishy little girl over the past few weeks, it hurt her knowing she was going to have to miss her even longer. There's no way she'd drag Letty all over the place. She needed stability and safety. Two things that Lala couldn't provide for her right now no matter how hard she wanted to.
Haley, her stepmother, stepped out of the kitchen with the little girl on her hip. "Hey, I wasn't expecting you today. I thought we were meeting at the mall tomorrow?"
"I'm leaving the area for a while, I need to set out to meet up with Letty." Lala sighed and set the envelope on the catch all by the doorway.
"It's a good thing you gave me the job of looking after this little bundle of energy then, huh?" Haley joked lightly. She knew that when it came down to it, Lala would run through flames if it meant bringing her sister home safe. Even though the girls lived separate lives growing up - it didn't change the fact that they cherished their relationship and love for each other over everything else.
"You're still sure you want to take care of her? I mean...it's a huge commitment, Mom." The two sat on the floor with baby Letty crawling off to her toys on the blanket. "I can stay."
Haley cupped the younger woman's face with a gentle touch. "That's not what you want, mija. It's what you'll do if you absolutely have to but it's not what you need to do. You need to go set everything right and that includes you-know-who."
A groan escaped her mouth as she threw herself backwards into the couch. She didn't want to forgive him, she wasn't ready to forgive him. "No, Ma. I'm not setting anything right with him." An over exaggerated frown found its way onto her stepmother's face.
"But he's mi princesa's papi, all three of you need each other." Haley pulled her back to a sitting position. "Look at that baby girl and you tell me that you don't think she'll ask for her papi. She has one, she deserves to know him."
Lala looked at her beautiful daughter and sighed softly. She knew Brian would want to meet her, he'd asked about her in the hospital the last time they saw each other. Of course Lala insisted it was too soon and too fast for them to meet. But she'd been talking about herself not Letty and Brian.
"Fine, I'll make things right with him. I'll go to him first since I know where he is then I'll go find Letty." She grabbed her phone and looked back at Haley again. "If the cops come..."
"I haven't seen you," Haley brushed her hands off of each other, motioning like she was dusting her hands. "Last day we saw each other was at lunch last week."
Lala pulled her into a strong hug. "Thank you for everything. I'm so grateful to have you in my life."
Letty crawled her way back over to them with her bunny in a baby death grip. She grunted and crawled onto her mother's lap. A giggled scream came out of her mouth after making herself comfortable.
"I love you, princesa." Lala lifted her into her arms and held her to her chest. She peppered her daughter in kisses while the little girl squealed in laughter. "So so soooo much!"
Lala left that night, starting her drive to Miami.
-
YEAR: 2005 (CURRENT)
LOCATION: MIAMI, FLORIDA
Panting heavily, Lala laid back on the bed. Her hand ran through her hair as she attempted to even her breathing. The man laying next to her sat up and stretched his back.
"That was fun." He chuckled and stood up before going into the bathroom.
Lala laughed and shook her head while pulling on her clothes. She slid her metal brace up her leg and strapped it into place. Just as she was shrugging on a hoodie from the chair, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and rose a brow at the message on her screen.
come thru need u 4 a 2nd wave
Leaving his place, she rushed out and ran to her car before hauling ass to meet up with Tej. Lala no longer had her cherished 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, she had given Dom the car for him to go meet up with Letty. In return Lala got his 1993 Mazda RX-7, she loved the speed she could reach in it but nothing could beat the muscle. Luckily, he promised to bring it back to her when it was safe.
Once she got to the circuit, after pit stopping for a snack, she noticed everyone was crowded around another car for the first wave. She couldn't see who it was but they must've been a big deal - bigger than she was down here which was hard to come across. For a second she thought it was Brian but shook the thought off. Ain't no way it was him, he was back at the boathouse. Lala pulled off to the side and parked her car while scanning for her crew.
Somebody whistling as she stepped out of her car quickly captured her attention. Tej pointed to her and motioned her to come over to where he was standing. "Get that ass over here, girl!"
Lala raised her brows as she approached him, "what's good, baby?"
He sported a mischievous grin while rubbing his hands together. "Now, before you put your hands on a brother - this was a pure coincidence!" His words confused her until she heard Suki from behind her.
"Shit, it's Brian."
Lala let out a groan of annoyance. "Tej, can you not run a circuit without him? Did you text him first or me?" She gritted her teeth.
"Technically I texted you and called him, so if you think about it - there was no first or second." He replied in a smartass tone which only irritated her more.
"First or second wave?" She asked while crossing her arms. If he was in the second wave with her, he had a high ass chance at beating her with all the new mods that she made to the Skyline.
Tej shook his head with a laugh. "Don't worry, Viper. He's first wave with Suki, OJ, and Slapjack."
Brian chose that moment to walk up to the duo, not noticing it was Lala since she had the hood pulled up over her head.
"What's up, Tej?" He greeted their mutual friend with a bro hug and Lala turned her head to the side to avoid his gaze, she wasn't supposed to be here tonight. She promised to take it easy. "Thanks for the invite."
"No problem at all, man." He leaned in a bit to Brian with a hushed tone. "Just, uh...just remember me when you wax, a'ight?"
They turned away from the waiting racers slightly. Unfortunately the way they turned was the way Lala had tried to hide her face. She and Brian locked eyes, their tension immediately filling the air as she gave him her dazzling, yet guilty, smile.
Brian kissed his teeth in reaction to seeing Lala there. With a quick clearing of his throat, he finally spoke to Tej again. "They got deep pockets?"
Tej gave him a look and nodded. "Real deep."
The three of them faced the racers again, Lala sizing up the competition while Brian tried to ignore the goosebumps from how close she stood to him.
"What's up, Suki?" Brian acknowledged the young racer with a smirk. He knew it'd get under Lala's skin even though she's the one who slept with Suki - not him. Feeling a slight pinch to his back, he knew it worked.
"What's up, Bullit?" She gave a nod his way.
"What do you say we kick it a nickel?" Brian challenged and the others looked at each other.
"Nobody said nothin' about raisin' the stakes." Orange Julius protested and Lala rolled her eyes, she put a hand on Brian's arm to stop him from walking over to him just so that she could do the confrontation.
"Oh here we go." Tej muttered and threw his hands up at Lala's retreating frame.
She stood in front of him with a sly smirk and leaned in close. "If that's the case, why don't you ask these nice people here..." she motioned to the crowd behind his car, "...to back off the line so you can go home? Or better yet, would you rather go up against Viper and lose again next wave?"
The pure embarrassment and irritation was enough for them to know he'd bump up to the new buy in. As the crowd made sounds of amusement to the confrontation, he hushed them before giving Lala a stiff nod. She nodded her head to Tej, signaling for him to come over and collect the money.
As he made his rounds, Lala walked over to where she previously stood by Brian. "I could've handled that, Lo."
"Nah it's fun getting under his skin, B." She spoke while pulling the hood down from her head. They made their way over to the Skyline. "Also, stop making eyes at Suki."
Brian laughed and opened his car door. "I knew you'd bring that shit up."
Lala rolled her eyes at him and put her hands on her hips. "Whatever, O'Conner. Just keep it in your pants."
He gave a shit eating grin before glancing over her shoulder, seeing a woman staring intently at the two of them. Chills ran up his back as they stared at each other for a few seconds. He broke out of it and looked at Lala again, his eyes flickering over her body quickly. "You look good in my hoodie."
She looked down at the hoodie and noticed it was in fact one of his from the bedside. Lala guessed that she must've snagged one of his after their hookup this evening after work. Brian cheesed and got into his car, Lala shutting the door behind him. "Shut up, be safe." They did their handshake quickly and she stepped over to Tej.
She had no doubt Brian would kill it, especially since he learned pretty much everything he knew from her. If there was one thing she knew about that man it was that he thrived in this scene down here. It was a major change from his old life and it was much needed. He had adapted to her lifestyle, one that they lived similarly to Dom and Letty.
-
Once the race ended and Brian won as expected, she made her way over with Tej. "Tell me y'all saw that, man! Bullit and Suki sprayed the bridge!"
Lala grinned next to him, "We knew they had that in the bag."
"I need to start making y'all pay to see this shit." Tej shook his head at the crowd and Lala leaned back against the skyline. "got over 10 stacks for my man right here, a'ight?"
Brian took the stack of money from Tej with a smug smile, separating a portion of it. "That's what I'm talkin' about, man. Play with it. Smells good, don't it?"
Lala nudged the back of Tej's leg with her foot and gave him a look, letting him know he was getting weird with it again.
"Yeah, I'll buy that. Right there." Brian handed Tej the portion he had separated from his winnings then turned and handed the rest of the stack to Lala, "hold onto that for me, baby."
Lala nodded and put the money into her crossbody bag and zipped it up.
"Right. Y'all see this?" Tej showed everyone the money he was handed. "Everybody take a real good look. This what you call mutual respect!"
Brian shook his head at Tej and looked over, seeing the lady staring again. Then he leaned against the car next to Lala. "Don't make it obvious, there's some chick standing over there just staring us down."
Lala casually pulled her hair into a ponytail and scanned the crowd. Her eyes quickly found the woman, Monica, staring at Brian with a smug expression. "I'll give her something to stare at." She stood up and Brian nudged her back down again.
"You're not fighting some girl at a street race for staring at us like you're a teenager again, Lo. I'll be right back." He squeezed her arm and walked over to the woman while Lala seethed silently.
The woman smirked at Brian before turning to leave. "Hey, where you going?" He questioned her as he finally made his way over.
She paused, looking over at him. "It's time to get out of here." A faint smirk came across her mouth again.
Who was this lady and why was she so interested in watching the two of them? He definitely didn't know her. Based off of Lala's reaction she didn't know her either but she definitely didn't like her.
"Why's that?" He asks with furrowed brows. His question was answered almost immediately by cops flooding the area.
Lala's eyes widened and she quickly made her way over to her car the best she could, the metal brace on her left leg making it more difficult. She tapped the roof of her car while waiting for Brian to take off in his. He must've been doing the same because his eyes scanned until he found her. They gave each other a nod before taking off in different directions.
Luckily, Lala managed to avoid the police and get back to Tej's garage. As she parked her car she noticed that Suki, Tej, Jimmy, and a few others had stashed their cars in the garage and the lot. The only car she didn't see was Brian's which sent her on edge.
She walked through the back to the boathouse. All that was left to do was wait for Brian to show up.