Loving the Buster//Brian O'Conner

Thirteen

I still have the key to the house. I smile when I open the door. Mia must not have changed the locks. To my great shock Jason and Mia are making out on the couch.

"What the fuck?" I ask.

Mia pushes Jason away from her and he lands on his ass on the floor.

"Maricruz?" Mia asks.

Jason looks up at me confused. "Mari?"

"I think I should be the one asking the questions here," I state.

"What are you doing here?" Jason stands up and rushes to pull me into a hug. "You shouldn't have come back."

"It's fine," I assure him. "I cleared my name."

"Really?" Mia asks.

I nod my head. "Really."

Mia rushes towards me and pulls me into a hug. "I've missed you."

I laugh. "I've missed you too."

"How did you manage to clear your name?" Jason asks me.

"Brian actually," I tell him.

"O'Conner?" Jason asks.

I nod my head. "I went down to Miami after I left LA and then Brian showed up. We found ourselves running in the same circle. I uh... even lived with him on a house boat for a while. US Customs tracked Brian and I down and offered us a deal to clear our records if we helped them."

Jason looks at me confused. "You took down a drug dealer?"

I know my head. "Yep."

"And you and Brian?" Mia ask. "You forgave him?"

"He let me go. He let Dom go. He got my name cleared. Yeah I was angry with him. He hurt me, but he's also trying to make up for it," I tell them.

"So are you two together?" Mia asks.

I shake my head. "He's still Miami."

"But if he comes back?" Mia asks.

"I think I should be the one asking you about your relationship." I gesture to my brother. "When the hell did this happen?"

"Not too long after you left," Mia tells me.

I smile. "So Jason finally got the nerve to ask you out?"

Mia looks at me surprised. "You knew?"

I laugh. "Of course I knew. Jason has been drooling over you for years. I'm surprised it took you this long to realize."

"So what are you gonna do now that you're back?" Jason asks.

"I came into some money," I tell him.

"Legally?" Mia asks.

"Legal adjacent," I tell him. Mia shakes her head. "I'm gonna use the money to pay for my first semester of school."

"What are you gonna study?" Jason asks.

I shrug my shoulders. "I'm sure I'll figure it out."

"I'm proud of you," Jason tells me. "You're pulling your life together."

I nod my head. "I'm twenty one I've got a lot more of my life to live and I wanna do it right."

I sit on the couch not wanting to move. I just finished a shift at the store. Mia and I aren't ready to let it go yet. I grab the remote from Jason.

"Hey," Jason protests.

"Some of us have been working all day," I tell him.

Jason grabs the remote back. "Yeah me. I was in court all day."

Mia walks out of the kitchen and kisses Jason. "Long day?"

"Longer than Mari's," Jason insists.

I groan. "I think I'll just sleep here."

Mia laughs. "I made dinner."

I sit up. "I'll eat then sleep on the couch."

Suddenly the door knob starts to turn on the front door. Jason stands up and grabs a gun from beneath the couch. I look at him curiously.

"Go in the kitchen," Jason tells Mia and I. "Get a knife."

Before Mia or I can move, the door opens. Standing there is Letty. I look at her in disbelief.

"Letty?" Mia asks.

"Thank god you didn't change the locks," Letty jokes.

I rush to pull her into a hug followed by Mia.

"Where have you been?" Mia asks.

"With Dom," Letty tells us. I nod my head. "In the Dominican Republic."

"Why did you come back?" I ask.

"The LAPD is gonna be swarming the house if they find out that you're back," Jason warns.

Letty shakes her head. "I worked something out."

"Do I want to know?" I ask.

Letty shakes her head. "Nah. Just that it's all gonna work out."

Letty and I are in the garage working on Dom's Charger.

"What were you and Dom doing in the Dominican Republic?" I ask.

"Same things we did here," Letty tells me. "Gas prices were going up for a small town. Dom decided we should do something about it so we hijacked the tanker."

"So he got a new crew?" I ask.

"There were some good guys," Letty tells me.

I laugh. "He replaced us? Were any of them prettier than me?"

"Only me." Letty laughs. "What did you do to get your record cleared anyway?"

"I uh... I actually worked for the Feds in Miami. They promised Brian and I clean records if we took down a drug dealer."

"Brian?" Letty asks. "The buster?"

I nod my head. "Yeah." I smile. "We actually... We reconciled our differences."

"You hooked up?" Letty asks.

"Yeah." I pause for a moment. "Why did you come back?"

"I woke up one morning and Dom was gone," Letty tells me. "He said it was getting too dangerous."

"Well that's BS," I state.

Letty laughs. "I said the same thing."

I smile. "I'm glad you're back, Letty. And any time you need an extra set of hands to work on the Charger I'm always here."