Lala sat on the rooftop of an old business in the heart of Rio. Her legs were crossed and her head leaned back against the back of somebody else. She sighed softly and crossed one leg over the other.
"So how'd you do it?" He asked after sitting in silence for a while.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the Brazilian heat. "Do what?"
"Die...stay dead...for so long." He mumbled while messing with rocks by his feet.
"Tej." She sat up and turned to him. "It's complicated, I didn't want to keep it from everyone but I had to. It was to protect myself and my family. You understand that, right?"
He sighed deeply, "I understand. I'm not sure O'Conner does, though." He opened his mouth to take back what he said but was cut off by everyone counting off their marks.
Lala rose to her feet and grabbed her binoculars. "I'll check in." She made her way over to the railing and scanned the area for the fifth mark. Finally, she found it. Her finger pressed the side of the walkie. "We got eyes on five."
Tej walked along the railing, tracking its drop point. "Lala, is that...?"
"The fucking police station." She confirmed in irritation and passed the walkie to Tej, kicking a pile of rocks.
"I know y'all said they were consolidating the money somewhere, but y'all ain't going to believe this." Tej spoke into the walkie as they stared at the station that was crawling with cops.
Not long after, the two were joined by the rest of the crew. Lala stood in her unspoken position between Dom and Brian with her arms set on her hips. She stared blankly ahead at the police station, feeling defeated before the job could really begin.
"Well this job just got a lot harder." Brian voiced everyone's thoughts from beside her. His arm brushed against hers lightly, goosebumps following the trail of where they touched briefly.
"If he's moving it into a police station he's got some serious brass in his pocket."
Lala stepped forward slightly and scanned the area. "I told y'all, he's a god here."
"Parece que esto va a ser un viaje más corto de lo que pensaba." Tego spoke from the end of the group with Santo agreeing, denying the group's ability to pull this off. (tr: Looks like this is going to be a shorter trip than I thought.)
"Can't? You mean shouldn't." Han disagreed with the other two men, gaining the attention of Gisele whom found the man intriguing.
"I think this doesn't change a thing. I say we stick to the plan." Dom states and Lala nods in agreement.
Of course, Rome didn't have the same standpoint as Dom yet again. "You say what? This just went from Mission Impossible to Mission In-Freaking-Sanity."
"You scared, Romey?" Lala poked his stomach with a giggle.
"Whatever man, I ain't scared, im just letting you all know that going in that building is crazy." He slapped her hand away and walked off with Brian chasing him back per usual.
She stepped forward and turned to them with an amused smile, "Reyes isn't the only one with brass in his pocket. My brother is in town on a job."
"Emilio? The cop?" Dom questioned with a slight glare.
"He got flown in to assist in a case, something with a guy named Hobble I think?" Lala scratched the back of her neck. "Apparently he's looking into something that could be big but didn't give me any details."
Dom crossed his arms again. "If we need your big brother, we'll be able to find him. For now we keep him in the dark about everything. We can't risk it."
Lala nodded in understanding and turned to look back at the police station. They thought they knew what they were getting themselves into but they had no idea how badly this would affect their futures in the long run.
-
"The beauty of public offices? Public records." Mia rolled a blueprint of the police station out onto the table in front of the team. Lala sat next to Gisele, sucking on a lollipop and flipping through a magazine.
"This is where he's keeping the money?" Brian questioned unsurely pointing to a room on the map, furthest from the doors.
Lala leaned forward and moved his hand over to the evidence room. "That'll be where it's at. The vault in the evidence room."
Mia exchanged a look with Dom, then looked at Brian who was staring intently at Lala. The two had yet to have an actual conversation but it was definitely brewing.
"Um...uh yeah, can I get everyone's attention, right here for a second?" Tej gained the eyes of the crew. "We're talking about breaking into a police station. Is anyone listening to those words? Anybody?"
Lala rolled her eyes and went back to her magazine. "Popo? Five-O. One time. Pigs. People we don't like."
Sometimes Tej could be just as bad as Rome with overreacting but pulled it off a lot better. Lala turned another page, mentally checking out from the team. She already knew what her game plan was but she needed Dom's approval before she made any moves.
"You know, police stations are designed to keep people in. Not out." Han reminded them.
Brian shrugged and tapped the table. "That's why it's a stealth mission. We'll be in and out before they even know we're there."
"We'll need to get eyes in there." Dom scanned the group. "At least to find out the make and model of that vault."
Lala gave Dom a look, pleading with her eyes to be sent in. She would kill to be a part of the action instead of working communications.
"So the vault and then, so...it's crazy." Rome mumbled to himself, eyes scanning the map in front of them. "Who's supposed to do all this?"
He was met by silent eyes as Mia, Brian and Dom looked down at him. "What do you mean? Why me?"
"Because you got the biggest mouth." Brian stated as if it was common knowledge.
"That's for damn sure." Tej shook his head.
Lala smiled widely, completely forgetting her previous wish about going in. "Oh I gotta see this shit."
Dom delegated the task to Rome but sent Tej, Lala and Brian with him for tech support. So, here she was sitting in the front seat of the van with Brian hovering over her shoulder. She was tapping her fingers on her lap in anticipation while Tej set up his equipment.
"Scale of 1-10 how badly do you think he's gonna fuck this up?" Tej questioned in curiosity.
"It's Rome, he can talk himself out of anything." Lala sighed and listened to the com in her ear. She could hear him mumbling to himself about busting somebody's face in. Pressing a finger to it, she spoke gently. "You good, baby?"
Brian shrugged, "just a little hungry."
"Box is dropped on my way out." Rome responded to Lala as Brian flushed red with embarrassment at his slip up. Tej gave him a look and slapped the back of his head.
She shook her head and hit the button to unlock the back door for Rome. Brian cleared his throat and looked over at her again. "Sorry."
"All good." She nodded shortly and shifted in her seat, uneasiness filling the air around them. They definitely needed to talk.
Thankfully, Rome came jumping into the van with a smug smile. "It's done. See, I think I make a better special agent than you ever did." He laughed and high fived Lala.
"Well that depends on how you define special." Brian quipped at him causing Rome to give him a look of annoyance. Brian chuckled and rubbed the back of Rome's head before slapping it lightly.
"Pull up the feed." Lala spoke to Tej while the two grown kids in the backseat continued to bicker.
Tej nodded and pulled it up, driving the rover around messily giving them a crappy camera view.
"T, come on bro." Lala groaned and reached for the controller which was held out of her way. "Give me the remote!"
"I'm going to need you to shut the hell up, girl. I got this." Tej continued to drive as if he's never driven a day in his life. Rome joined in on the complaints as Lala sat back and crossed her arms.
"Go left. It looks like something right over there to the left." Rome pointed out, gaining everyone's attention. "What is that?"
Tej zoomed the camera lens out and gave a proud look. "Bingo."
"What is that, six-by-six?" Brian questioned.
"Eight-by-twelve." Rome incorrectly corrected him.
Lala shook her head, Tej answering. "Seven-by-twelve. Fitted with 18-in-thick steel reinforced walls with an insulated copper core to protect against thermal lance."
Her eyes glazed over the vault in amazement. She'd never seen one in person or this close before, only in training videos that she stumbled upon in Mr. Nobody's files. "A Class-3 electronic lock with a surefire Griffin retumbler and a biometric palm scanner. Ten tons of top-of-the-line security."
Brian did a double take between the two tech lovers and laughed slightly. "Do I want to know how you two know all that?"
"I had a life before you knew me, O'Conner." Tej mused and gave Lala a smirk. "Her on the other ha-"
"Let's just leave it at that, alright." She cut him off. "She is a beauty though, y'all."
"A beauty as in good?" Rome questioned, looking at her then Tej.
Tej shook his head, "beauty as in, she's going to start off playing hard to get. Then, no matter how much I caress her, no matter how much I love her...in the end she still ain't going to give up that ass."
The boys all laughed, fist bumping each other with giddy smiles on their faces. Lala just shook her head at their antics while secretly enjoying being with them right now. It took her back to 2005. Late night hang outs in the garage with Tej, Brian, Rome, Suki, and Jimmy just bullshitting for hours on end.
Once they got back to the abandoned plant, Lala grabbed a snack from the fridge in the makeshift kitchen. She felt a presence behind her and turned around while opening the fruit cup. "What's up, Mia?"
"I just...I wanted to come talk to you myself before Dom forces us into a room together." She gave a half-hearted smile, her body language off-putting.
"Okay, let's talk." Lala sat on a stool by the counter while Mia leaned against the table. There was only few feet between the girls but mentally and emotionally they couldn't be further apart.
Mia brought a hand to her neck, toying with the charm on the necklace. She was no longer wearing Lala's old jacket but she couldn't shake the fact that she was wearing her necklace. "How are you adapting? To everything, having everyone here after hiding for so long."
"I wasn't hiding. I've been here, in the open, everyday." Lala spoke softly. "I came back but you were too busy on the run with my husband, playing America's Most Wanted."
"Ex-husband." Mia corrected her angrily, annoyance was evident in her voice especially after Lala rolled her eyes. "You died, he moved on. Sorry to be blunt but that's how it works, Lo."
Lala shook her head and popped a grape in her mouth. She hoped the action of chewing would stop the tears from forming. "If you say so."
"What did you just say to me?" Mia stepped closer, her arms crossing over her chest. "What did you say?"
Her tone started to rise gaining the attention of Brian and Dom who weren't too far away from where they stood. Luckily, everyone else was on the other side of the old garage.
"I didn't stutter. You may be with him now but I'm his wife. He's risked everything for us and our fami-" Lala was cut short by Mia unloading a heavy weight onto her shoulders.
"I'm pregnant." Mia stated with a slight edge to her words almost as if she was weaponizing her situation against Lala. "Brian and I are pregnant."
Suddenly, Lala's eyes widened in shock as the truth hit her like a lightning bolt. "Pregnant? You're pregnant with his child?" Her voice was a mix of disbelief and heartbreak. Her once hard glare was now one full of sadness and despair.
Mia looked away, unable to meet her best friend's piercing gaze. "Lala, I... I didn't mean for it to happen like this. It just did." She sighed and took a few steps towards her. "Look, Lo. Brian loves me now, he's moved on from you. You were gone, and he needed someone." Her voice faltered, her words condescending with her tone.
"When did it start?" She whispered lowly, her voice barely being heard over the hum of the fridge.
"You don't want me to answer that." She shook her head reluctantly.
"Mia."
Mia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "A few days after we had the funeral for you and Letty."
"Oh my god." Lala's hands locked behind her head as tears started to flow down her cheeks. "Oh my god."
"Lo, I-"
"Don't!" Lala's loud tone cut Mia short on her words. "Don't even try to explain, Mia. I trusted you, I confided in you - treated you like my own sister, and this is how you repay me?" Lala's voice was a cold whisper now, the pain in her eyes evident as she struggled to mask her emotions.
"I am your sister." Mia drew her brows together, a crease forming on her forehead.
Lala shook her head, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "No. You're not." Lala stepped around her, now clasping the fruit cup in her hands with a tight grip. "You know what? You've made your choice, Mia. And so have I." With one final glare, Lala turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Mia alone with the weight of her actions.
She breezed past Dom and Brian, who reached for her arm and missed by a millisecond. Her boot clad feet stomped their way across the old abandoned garage and into her room. Lala's heart was racing in anger, sadness, betrayal. She felt like she was going to be sick at the thought of Brian bringing another life into this world with somebody else.
Did she have the right to be angry? Could she even be upset over this? He wasn't hers anymore, he was Mia's. Mia. Her best friend, Mia. Her sister, Mia. Brian was with Mia.
Her door opened without a prior knock, making her turn around and whip the plastic container of fruit at the person's head. Unfortunately, he ducked in time and the container flew into the wall behind him. "Seriously?"
Lala's chest heaved up and down in anger, his face just made her heart race even more. "What do you want? You want to rub your new family into the wound your girlfriend start? Go right ahead."
He sighed softly, his eyes watching as she took off her boots and threw them against the wall. She then lowered herself onto the bed with her hands covering her face. "Can we talk?" Brian asked with a frown. He just wanted to hold her, to tell her everything would be okay, to tell her he still loved her.
She sniffled, all of her anger slowly dissipating into sadness and heartbreak. Her hands wiped her face as she looked over at him and gave a small nod. She took deep breaths to calm herself down and blinked the loose tears away.
Brian turned and closed the door, making eye contact with Mia. He gave her an indescribable look with his emotions closed off to her. This is not how he wanted Lala to find out about the pregnancy, he never thought he would have to break this news to Lala in the first place. If he knew she was alive then he never would've been with Mia. In his eyes, Mia was a way to cover the grief of loosing Lala. He would take it all back in a heartbeat if he could.
angst. angst. angst.
hope y'all enjoyed the double upload!