'I have to tell her…' I decide after hours of lying awake with Mia sleeping mostly while laying on top of me, my right hand idly sliding up and down the gentle curve of her back.
Gently pushing Mia off of me and onto the bed, I slide out of bed and walk over to the wall-mounted first aid kit. Pulling the metal door open reveals highly advanced for the early 2000s—recording tech. I grab the fat tape, pull the audio film out of it and into the sink.
Walking back over to the bed, I reach underneath it and grab hold of the medkit. Dragging it out, I open it and pull out a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. Back at the sink, I twist the top off and soak the audio film.
Then I grab a matchbook, strike three matches, and toss them into the sink, watching the film go up in flames.
"Brian…what are you doing?" Mia asks me in a sleepy voice.
I turn to see her leaning up on one arm, her bare chest catching my eyes for just a second before I force myself to focus on her face. She uses one hand to wipe sleep from her eyes.
"Brian…do I smell smoke?"
I turn on the faucet and walk over to her.
"Mia…" I say, my voice tight, "I feel like I need to tell you about myself…"
"Brian, what's wrong?"
"I can't sleep, Mia. Not with all this on my mind."
She sits up and slides closer, interlocking her arms behind my neck. "Brian, whatever it is…we can talk about it later… let's just go back to sleep."
"I can't...sleep...Mia...not like this, not without your knowing the truth."
She frowns. "Okay, Brian… tell me."
I sigh. "To begin with, my name isn't Brian Earl Spilner. It's Brian Michael O'Connor. I'm the son of second-generation Irish immigrants. My dad took off when I was three, my mom fought addiction while trying to raise me. I started boosting cars, doing whatever we could to survive. Juvenile detention, group homes... that was life after my mom overdosed."
"Oh Brian, I'm so sorry," Mia sobs, hugging me tight.
"Thanks. After a two-year stint in juvie, I got out. Things were better… until a close friend of mine was raped. The cops wouldn't help. So I decided I'd become a cop who actually gave a damn about people like us."
"Brian…" Mia's voice trembles, while she slides backwards on the bed away from me.
'Damit, I already miss her touch.'
"Please...Mia, let me finish…"
"Okay."
"I joined the force. Aced the academy. Got a beat. Wore the uniform. Then I got tapped by the FBI and LAPD for an undercover job. They picked me because I'm handsome, I've got a criminal past, and I know how to drive."
"Are you saying all of this...me...us, was all fake? Did you just to get close to me to use me?" Mia asks, eyes welling up with tears.
"No! I came in to investigation...fully concentrated on investigating a string of truck heists. But the moment I saw you...while driving Harry's truck during my first delivery, at the same time I casing the area...I saw you and I couldn't take my eyes off you."
"You almost hit that parked Oldsmobile Classic," Mia giggles through her tears. "That was because of me?"
"Yes."
"What was I wearing?" she challenges, half-heartedly.
"Red and white checkered dress. One of those cute little red-pink sweaters. Hair in a ponytail."
Mia wipes her tears, smiling a little. "Why… why tell me this now?"
"Because I didn't expect to fall in love. I didn't expect to fall for the sister of the guy I'm supposed to be investigating. I didn't expect any of this. And I can't bring myself to destroy your family just to get revenge for someone who's already gone."
"Did you know it was Dom when you asked me out?"
"No. He was a suspect...but I didn't have proof. Could've been Dom, Hector, Johnny Tran... anyone really."
"Did you sleep with me for information?"
"No. I slept with you because I love you. Because you are the most beautiful, sexy, and amazing woman I've ever met. I destroyed your confession Mia...I destroyed evidence...not only because it was from our first night together...but because that's how much I care. That's how real this...you we are to me."
"Why didn't you stop me from talking earlier?"
"Because I was afraid that if I opened my big mouth... you'd hate me and I'd lose the greatest thing to ever happen to me in this life." I confess and I can see that Mia believes me but is still on the fence.
"If you hadn't woken up, I'd have told you the moment you did. I swear."
Mia turns away, pulling the comforter up to cover herself. Her shoulders tremble. "I need time to think, Brian. Please… please leave while I get dressed."
"I'm sorry, Mia… but I can't leave you like this." I sit beside her, gently resting a hand on her back.
She doesn't push me away. Instead, she leans back against me and cries.
"Can you take me to Letty's? Please?" she asks after a long, silent half hour.
"Of course."
~~ — — — — — — — — — — ~~
Letty Ortiz's house three houses down from the Toretto house
~~ — — — — — — — — — — ~~
"Mia...I..." Brian starts to say but closes his mouth with a click.
"Brian, I need time to think... please give me space."
"Okay Mia..." Brian murmurs defeatedly.
Mia enters Letty's house using the spare key left underneath the doormat, the tv's on some horror movie...Letty only watches those when she's really hurting.
Mia walks over to the couch and finds that Letty is curled up into a ball and crying, "Move over sis." Mia says and then proceeds to curl up on the couch with Letty wearing a pair of Brian's sweatpants and hoodie.
"Brian's an undercover cop...I told him everything after..." Mia says and clears her throat in lieu of saying sex.
Letty raises an eyebrow at that. "So…it was so good it made you tell everyone's secret?"
"Yes...Brian burned the recording of what I told him...he told me that he loves me...he told me everything about himself Letty, his mom and dad abandoned him, he survived by boosting cars...then when he got out of Juvie a friend of his was raped that's why he became a cop to help people like her... and people like us who the cop's don't give a shit about..." The words just pour out of Mia while Letty hugs the younger woman from behind.
"Mia tell me something was it worth it, and do you love him?"
Mia doesn't answer right away. "Yeah," Mia says, her voice raw with emotions. "It was...I love him Letty."
Letty smiles softly but there is also a hidden sadness Mia can't see right now. "Then you already know what to do... I'm sure." Letty murmurs and Mia nods.
"Alright let me up." Letty murmurs and Mia does Letty walks out into her kitchen and returns with a massive tub of chocolate ice cream that she saves for heartbreak emergencies... and wonderful things...two spoons clutched in her left hand.
"Ohh no...the chocolate...does this mean?"
"Yes I broke up with Dom...now tell me how is sex with Brian and what kind of things did you guys do?" Letty asks with a smirk on her face as she plops down onto the couch and hand Mia a spoon.
Mia describes her first time and Letty smiles softly as Mia gushes, "It all sounds very vanilla...tell me Mia do you want to suck his cock...ride him, show him how much you love him back by fucking each other's brains out?"
"Yes...since you're not with Dom anymore.. maybe you could join us and give me some pointers... I'd feel better having you there teaching me like how you taught me to drive and then race..." Mia looks at Letty with big hopeful verging on puppy dog eyes.
"I don't know...would Brian even...want me?"
"Letty...he tired not to look at you when you come into the cafe, but he can't take his eyes off of you unless it's to look at me...he wants you...and I...I, I'm afraid that now you and Dom are broken up I'll lose you, so please do this for me just once and if it makes you uncomfortable I'll never ask you again."
Letty sighs... "I can't believe I'm going to agree to this...but we'll give it a try just once, that's all I'll promise Mia."
"Thank you Letty...I love you and I know Brian will too."
"We'll see about that I guess..." Letty mutters.
~~ — — — — — — — — — — ~~
Letty Ortiz's house end
~~ — — — — — — — — — — ~~