ʜᴇʀᴍᴇs - the fast and the furious

V-V

Hermes looked up as Mia stormed into the warehouse, coming back from grocery shopping. What she didn't like, was that Vince was following close behind her. Mia quickly explained that Reyes' men were waiting for her at the market, and Vince had saved her life. Dom glanced up from the table he, Han, and Hermes were seated around.

"You hungry?" He called.

"Yeah, sure." Vince replied.

"Good. 'Cause you're saying grace." Dom stated. Brian shook hands with him.

The sun began to set, and Leo began terribly barbecuing ribs for the team. Santos went over to scrutinize his cooking, and the two began pestering one another as usual. It was comforting.

Hermes was seated on a couch in between Han and Tej, listening to Roman rant about the world. They clinked their drinks together.

"So, we in Brazil. It's the good life. So you got a little more than 10, $11 million coming. What you gonna do with your money?" Roman asked, pointing to Tej. Hermes turned, genuinely interested.

"Me?" Tej asked.

"Yeah."

"Actually, man, I've been thinking about opening up a garage back home. A place where people can bring their cars and not get completely ripped off, you know what I mean?" He explained. Hermes raised her glass. She knew. Roman looked over judgementally.

"So your dream is... to start a day job? That's stupid, like why--"

"Don't you dare hate the day job. That was my life from 19 to last year." Hermes said, pointing a finger over at Roman. "Best garage in LA, Roman. You can't deny."

"Yeah, yeah. Everybody loves Greece."

"Yeah, man. We love what we do." Tej agreed.

"That don't make no sense to me." Roman mumbled.

"I know what I'm gonna do with my money." Rico said as he walked over, placing a platter of burnt ribs on the table. "Buy some cooking lessons for my man." 

"See? See?" Tego yelled. "There you go with that negativity, man. You know me. Money ain't a goddamn thing." Roman picked up a rib, the black char flaking off. Hermes laughed.

"It's gonna take a little more than money to learn how to cook, bro. That's... that's horrible. But I heard they was looking for a chef down at this animal shelter. I know the manager..." Roman went on. 

Hermes turned to Han, who was staring into space. She stood, turning to face him. He looked up, and she jerked her chin toward the corner where they could talk somewhere more quiet. He gratefully obliged.

"You gonna go back to your garage?" He asked, placing his beer down on an oil barrel. Hermes shrugged, folding her arms against the growing cold.

"Probably not. I've spent my life elbows deep in an engine. Sometimes you need to look around once in a while. Besides, my lead mechanic has more than earned his promotion." She explained. Hermes smiled, thinking of Tony. "I need some time to learn about myself."

"That's fair." Han said, smiling a bit. Hermes smiled back. Roman's yelling across the warehouse brought them out of the conversation, and the pair walked toward where he stood with Brian and Mia.

"Are you serious right now?" He cried. "Is that why you let him beat you in the quarter mile?" He asked Dom, who only grinned. He laughed. "That was a baby gift!"

"No, that's messed up." Brian replied, frowning.

"It wasn't." Mia lied.

"No, you're not taking that from me!" Brian argued.