Growing up in a face-paced life, Rosalie idolizes her brother and wants to be just like him, even if that means learning to become a street racer. Is Dom ready for his sister to get into the racing world, or will he do anything to keep her out of t...
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Dom sat on the hood of the supra as his team worked on another car, a car that he hadn't told his baby sister was actually hers. The team was building it for a present after her graduation.
They all knew she'd pass effortlessly; she was smarter than a lot of them already.
Well, mostly Vince. Rosalie always says he stopped helping with the homework when they had to calculate bigger numbers than he had fingers.
They all knew Rosalie wouldn't be expecting them to build her a car, she probably thought they would buy one, but there's no better feeling than a car made just for you or by you.
Rosalie took after Mia for intelligence, so she was great academically. Unfortunately, she was more like him and Letty in every other sense, so he had to find ways to get her to study in school.
She just didn't focus; according to the parent-teacher conferences they had been to, she was a troublemaker. So if bribing his sister with a car would do it, then he'd bribe her with a car.
Dom had already come to terms with his life being the way it was, but he'd be damned if his sisters went down the same route. Which is why he'd been so hard on Mia to pursue medical school and for Rosalie to finish high school with good grades.
Glancing over at Rosalie and Brian, who were sitting in front of him with the blond explaining to his sister about the car and what they would need to do to fix it up.
Dom knew that he needed to talk to Brian, knowing the kid had a thing for Mia and the big brother inside of him wanted to know what was up. He wanted to see if he was trustworthy, especially if he was around his baby sister too.
"You got big plans tonight?" Dom asked monotonously as the blond looked up at him, as did his younger sister. Her eyes quickly darted between him and Brian.
"Yeah. We're going out to dinner" Brian gave a short nod keeping his facial expression in check. He obviously knew this was going to be the 'brother' talk.
Dom glanced over to Mia, who was writing things down on her clipboard, laughing along with Letty about something. "You break her heart, I'll break your neck."
"That's not gonna happen," Brian said with a serious expression as Rosalie coughed a laugh before walking to Letty. The blond gave a small chuckle at her action. "I already had the talk from Rosalie. The kid's a little scary when she wants to be".
Dom gave a short laugh of his own "Yeah, she's a lot like Letty in that way. She's the only mother figure Rosalie's really known" He noticed Brian was hanging on his every word and decided to let him in a little "I want to show you something."
Driving back to the house, Dom walked over to the wooden garage they had at the top of the driveway. Opening the doors, he smiled when he saw the Dodge Charger was exactly where he had left it. "Me and my dad built her."
The garage was full of medals, pictures, and other pieces that belonged to their late father. The Toretto siblings had kept the garage as a shrine to their dad. It was also how Dom kept their dad in Rosalie's life; she knew so little about him.
Brian walked forward and whistled appreciatively. "Nine hundred horses of Detroit muscle. It's a beast," Dom told him and smiled reminiscently. "You know what she ran in Palmdale?".
Brian shook his head, his gaze never moving from the car as his eyes roamed over the vehicle in total awe. "No. What?".
"Nine seconds flat," Dom boasted with his eyes glistening. "My dad was driving. So much torque the chassis twisted coming off the line. Barely kept her on the track," he laughed, thinking back on the good old days.
Brian followed him around the car. "So, what's your best time?" Brian questioned him inquisitively, his face clearly anticipating a good race time from him.
"I've never driven her," Dom admitted almost solemnly. His smile dropped from his face almost instantly.
Brian gave a small chuckle, almost in disbelief, as he looked over at the older man. "Why not?".
Dom looked over the car silently. "It scares the shit out of me" he turned and pointed to a picture on the wall. "That's my dad." Jack Toretto resembled all his kids, but Mia and Dom had his eyes.
He started to walk around the car, deep in memory. "He was coming up in the pro-stock-car circuit. Last race of the season, a guy named Kenny Linder came up from inside in the final turn. He clipped his bumper and put him into the wall at 120. I watched my dad burn to death. I remembered hearing him scream, but the people that were there said he had died before the tanks blew".
Dom glanced quickly at Brian, who was watching him with a look of interest and pity. "They said it was me who was screaming. I saw Linder about a week later. I had a wrench, and I hit him, and I didn't intend to keep hitting him, but when I finished, I couldn't lift my arm".
He finished his lap of the car as Brian sat down, still listening intently. "He's a janitor at a high school, he has to take the bus to work every day, and they banned me from the tracks for life."
"I live my life a quarter-mile at a time. Nothing else matters. Not the mortgage, not the store, not my team, and all their bullshit" He let out a breath. "For those 10 seconds or less... I'm free".
The blond blinked slowly, almost unknowing of what to say "man... I'm sorry, and you got two years for it?" He questioned as he rubbed the back of his neck in surprise, though Dom wasn't sure why.
"Yeah, two years for assault and battery. I remember Ro's small hand holding me tight, crying when Mia told her I had to go away," Dom recollected as his hands tensed. "She was just a kid when it happened. I don't think she even remembers him."
"Mia would call me crying that Rosalie needed me. She would ask why I wasn't there to put her to bed or take her to the park," Dom sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "For months, she'd ask Mia if I was taken away because she had been bad."
Dom heard Brian sigh heavily, looking sad for the young girl who had been caught up in their world. "What about your mom?" the blond asked tentatively.
"She, uh, passed not long after Ro was born" Dom cleared his throat, trying not to think about his mom. "Letty and I took over the parenting thing after my dad died, and that's all she's ever really known."
"Things were tough for a while, still are, but I will never go back. I promised her that I would never go back, and I intend to keep that promise," Dom stated as he remembered his promise to his sisters.
Looking back at Brian's passive face, Dom knew he had him deep in thought. "So I know you'll keep Mia safe because I don't want to break that promise I made."
Smirking at Brian's surprised look, Dom stood and walked back out of the garage with the younger male following him.
