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Unfinished Business: Epilogue
You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
But believe in me baby and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'cos I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't wanna see it again ~ Telegraph Road - Mark Knoppfler
Unfinished Business
Epilogue:
The final interview in front of the parole board was grueling. Mostly because it was for form's sake and so the questions were ones Dom had answered a dozen times before. He was not bitching though. All in all, he'd spent precious little of the six months in prison between depositions and testimony and what seemed like a dozen separate trials, his own and Tran's. And when he was inside, Chino was a lot less crowded, a lot less strict, and overall a walk in the park after Lompoc.
Plus there was shit to do, like work on cars. The shop was not bad, and if the vehicles were unexciting, at least they were familiar. Having Vince in there with him helped too. Leon did sixty days and probation, and community service, Letty got probation and community service and Dom had to wonder if it wasn't because she wore a dress to the trial that made her look like a Catholic schoolgirl. He only caught glimpses of her, when he'd testified, and decided she needed to seriously consider acting as a career. She didn't cry or try to play poor little mislead girl -- she was pretty clear and calm, took no shit off the prosecutor but didn't let that temper of hers get the better of her. None of them had come out of this unchanged.
Leon's sixty ended up being more about traffic tickets than anything, which when he heard it, just made Dom want to roll on the floor and laugh. Twenty-seven hundred dollars in parking tickets. It was hysterical.
Even so, Dom knew they all had some people to thank for what they did get, himself especially. He and Vince, they'd actually been nailed for the attack on the trucks. Assault, especially at high speed, made juries truly nervous. So much so, that when the DA offered him a plea bargain, in recognition for both his "assistance" with the Tran case and the set sentence, Dom had signed with no hesitation. Three years, but he could be up for parole in six months and he knew someone had pulled some strings to get that set up. The same for Vince even though he'd had nothing to do with Tran.
There was other shit too, like reparation, a civil suit that got canned before it even got heard and again, Dom knew someone was yanking on the freight lines' chains, and that at some point, he was probably going to owe somebody -- probably the feds. The money they had left, it was nothing, meant nothing. It was gone.
The warning he got from the judge though, that if he so much as got a speeding ticket during his probation, he'd serve out the rest of his sentence someplace where there were no roads, he took seriously.
Dom had been a model prisoner.
Not that it had been easy, because even Chino had its share of assholes, but Dom played it cool and checked his own attitude where he could. Vince though, Vince got set off by stupid things. So much so that Dom and recognized his younger self there. It was a great reminder about what not to do.
He was, as they said, highly motivated.
So, he sat through another round of interviews by the parole board, listened again to the recommendations made by Detective Tanner, Officer Brian O'Connor and tried not to squirm.
Then he was done. Vince got out a week before him. Mia brought him street clothes two days before and when the gates unlocked and he walked out, his time at Chino faded from mind a whole lot quicker than Lompoc had.
Maybe it was the noisy crew of people waiting for him: Mia smiling as he hadn't seen her do in awhile, Letty looking smug and saucy and giving him shit about gaining weight, Leon and Vince bouncing up and down on the hood of the Pontiac like kids on a moon walk.
Or maybe it was Brian looking like somebody had just handed him the winning lottery number.
He'd seen a lot of Brian, more than he expected. Not at first because despite his protests that he was fine, it had taken Brian a more than a month to fully recover. It had taken him even longer to get through an LAPD Internal Affairs investigation that, from what little he told Dom, had actually been a whole lot more grueling than Dom's trial had been.
He'd come with Mia on Sundays sometimes, but more often he'd show up on Saturday's, alone. Chino had the downside of few visiting hours, but a more lenient approach. They weren't necessarily confined to a room. They were always under watch, but there was a pretty decent garden maintained by inmates and walking was a great way to put other physical restraints from mind
Sometimes, Dom couldn't remember what they talked about. It was odd in a way he'd never experienced before because Brian wasn't Leon or Letty or Mia or Vince. Their history prior to Chino had a grand total of six weeks and that was stretching it a bit, since for the first three weeks Dom had known Brian, he hadn't even spoken to him. He was just a guy sniffing around Dom's sister.
And what was between them now, they couldn’t talk about, or not easily, if only for the circumstances. A hand shake, a brief hug, the brushing of arms while they walked. That was pretty much it. It was something that was waiting for them, like a Christmas present already spotted in a closet somewhere, but months before it could be opened.
So Dom did what he always did when he found early Christmas presents: tried to peel back the tape and paper a little and see what was inside.
He felt like Brian knew everything about him from his birth to now. It wasn't true, but it felt like that. And getting information out of Brian was harder than it might appear for someone who talked so much. It was like reading a police report: Father - cop. Wounded in the line of duty. Currently resides in Barstow. Mother - homemaker, estranged. Currently resides in Boston. Graduated from high school, no honors. Associate Degree in Criminal Justice, ITT Anaheim. Prior employment: Truck driver, mechanic, legal assistant, substitute teacher.
It took Dom awhile to realize that for Brian, it wasn’t necessarily about hiding anything. It was about knowing the past only held on to him if he let it. His parents hadn't been Dom's parents, his understanding of people and family and all the things that shaped kids into adults, was skewed a little to the "be different than they were" rather than holding his parents up as some kind of model like Dom and Mia could do.
But other stuff he would talk about, like how incredibly boring riding a desk could be, which was what he was doing. Or how he'd learned to surf. Or that given a choice, he'd pretty much rather eat anything but Tex Mex. They talked about cars, because it was safe and Brian finally got the Mustang tuned up.
And they talked about what changes had hit that Dom would have to deal with when he got out, because it wasn't going to be the same. It wasn't going to be traumatic, but different. Dom was more grateful than ever that he'd never wanted to try and play head of the family and take back any of the titles on property or businesses from Mia. He might be broke, but the garage was still there, the house, the market.
.
She'd taken an apartment too, renting out the house as planned. There was a lot of stuff in storage, but she had two bedrooms, and one of them was for Dom if he wanted it. In a few years she might want to move back into the house, maybe if she met someone. Dom wasn't sure what he wanted, but he was willing to let Rosa and Santos stay on for a bit until he figured it out. The garage was open again, their customers seeming to hardly have noticed the closing.
The day of his release got closer and Dom knew the biggest change was going to have very little to do with his past and a lot to do with his future.
It had to wait though, at least a little bit, and Brian seemed to mind a whole lot less than Dom did, when they all loaded into the cars and headed back to LA. Dom road with his team, feeling a little weirded out by the fact that Brian was driving alone and outdistanced them pretty quickly. The why of it became obvious when Mia totally bypassed the route to Echo Park or even to her apartment in Silverlake and turned toward La Brea instead. It made sense then, because Santos and Rosa had the house, with kids on a school night and Mia's apartment was small. Brian's house wasn't small too, but it had a yard and what was a reunion without a cook out?
It was familiar and not. They'd actually hauled the grill over and it was hot, ready to go. The beer was cold, the music loud and not long after they got there, it became apparent that invitations had been sent out. Not a ton of people, but people Dom knew, like the older Gutierrez's who seemed to pretty much have adopted Brian.
Brian kept his distance without seeming to, but whenever Dom sought him out, all he got was that smile, and a sense of patience that was making Dom a little crazy. After six months, a few more hours should have been easy, but Dom felt hyper aware of Brian, and kept wondering if everyone around him knew but just wasn’t saying anything. It got reinforced when Letty was actually the first to check out, claiming that she was due out early in her community service gig in the morning. But then she kissed Dom and it wasn't exactly a sisterly buss. It felt more like a promise too. An hour later and it was still going, Papa Gutierrez had some seriously funny stories and the beer was still flowing. Dom caught sight of Brian, moving around the edges, picking up empties and trash and Dom gathered up his own and followed him inside.
The window had been replaced, and surprisingly enough, Brian's couch. There were actually pictures up, one or two that looked really familiar.
Brian caught him looking. "Mia informed me my house is…a little short on the style side," Brian said with a grin. The changes were minor, subtle, but yeah, it looked like Brian might stick around for awhile.
Dom dumped the bottles and backed up to the counter. "This is…nice. Not what I had in mind, but nice," he said and then sucked a breath in when Brian was suddenly a whole lot closer than he'd been in months.
"They missed you," Brian said simply. "This was easy to do. But you know, if you're tired, they'd understand if you fell asleep."
"I'm not…" Dom stopped. He could hear them outside: Mia's laughter, Vince's. Nina's…all of them. They could go on like this for hours and would if Dom was around to give them a reason. "I could use some rest."
Rest, right. Brian dared it, kissing him hard and swiftly, holding the sides of Dom's face and taking control. It was the first time they'd kissed standing up and Dom found himself a little caught off guard and a lot turned on by the fact that he had to lift his mouth up to make that perfect seal with Brian's. Dom barely got his higher brain functions back online before Brian was backing away, carrying fresh beer out to his guests. "You shit," Dom muttered and heard Brian laugh.
It still took some time, and even though he wasn't tired, laying down on Brian's bed felt incredibly good. For one, he wasn't surrounded by a hundred other guys, the bed was wide and firm and the sheets clean, and two, as much as he loved them, as glad as he was to be out, a few minutes of really not having to deal with anybody, of privacy, was a luxury he didn't even realize he'd missed.
And maybe he dozed a little because the next thing he knew the music was softer, and he could hear voices, pitched low. "It's not a problem, Mia. I'll bring him home tomorrow. I've got the room…he doesn't have to check in with his a parole officer until the 12th."
"There's a mess outside…"
"I'm off tomorrow, the rest of the week."
"Brian…" Dom knew that tone. She was about to say something she would regret later, but whatever it was, she stopped it before it could get out. "Meet me for breakfast?"
"Sure. The Coffee Company?"
"Yeah…ninish," she said. "I don’t have class until one."
"We'll be there," Brian said and then they were gone. Twenty minutes later, Dom heard what he thought was the last car pulling away, and watched the lighting change as Brian shut off the outside lights.
Dom waited, but Brian didn't immediately come back to the bedroom. He moved around a little and Dom heard the soft clink of glass, the rustle of paper, water ran for a moment then the kitchen lights was out and the music silenced.
Brian was moving quietly. In the bedroom, it was more dark than light. The light in the bathroom was on but the door nearly closed, casting a narrow sliver across the floor.
Brian stopped in the doorway and Dom didn't move. Brian thought he was asleep, that had to be it, because he wasn't coming any closer. He toed his shoes off and left them inside the door and peeled his t-shirt off, dropping it as well, but he didn't come to the bed. He only moved to turn the bathroom light off, slipped inside and Dom could see the sliver of light under the door while Brian took care of whatever he needed to do.
The anticipation was killing him, but the urge to watch Brian, all unobserved, was pretty compelling. Plus Dom was comfortable. He came out again, closed the door almost entirely, and turned the light on again. The light skimmed across his back showing a set of broad shoulders that tapered down to a slim waist. Even with the play of shadow and light, Dom could see the darker line across his shoulder just to the right of the blade. Brian would have the surgical scar for life.
Then he couldn't see as Brian turned away, studying him again. For a minute Dom thought he knew he was being watched, that Dom was awake, but he only looked and then headed back out into the living room
"Brian."
Caught. He stopped and turned around. "I thought you were sleeping." His voice was soft, a little low.
"I was. I'm not now."
"Need anything?"
Dom half suspected he was being set up, but maybe not, because Brian was still there, not moving closer. He swung his feet off the bed and sat up. "Do we need to talk about it?" Dom asked him.
"How about we talk about it tomorrow?" Brian said
That easy and Brian came to him and Dom stood up, ready and willing to take up where the kiss in the kitchen had left off. Not quite so teasing, and Dom had his fingers curled around Brian's belt even before his mouth tilted up to capture Brian's. Brian didn't exactly resist capture and managed to keep Dom from tripping on the bed when they both moved back a little.
Brian's hand slid around his jaw again, as they stumbled and it occurred to Dom that he could actually touch now. He let his fingers slid along Brian's belt to the buckle, feeling cool metal under his finger tips, denim and leather, textures he was familiar with but felt new and strange. Brian's mouth had left his and was leaving a wet path along his jaw, up under his ear. Dom hissed out a breath when Brian sucked on his earlobe, left a shivery chill on his skin. Beneath the denim, Brian was firm and hard, Dom feeling the strain in his own groin, heat in his belly as he traced that thin line of hair below the cloth.
He wanted Brian naked. He wanted to be naked. He wasn't expecting perfection or even stunningly good sex -- although it probably would be because he'd been doing all the work with his own hand for months and anything would be an improvement.
But Brian wasn't a guy in the next bed jacking off, and he wasn't Letty who Dom had had years to learn what she liked and didn't like. He hadn't taken a new lover in so long, he was out of practice.
Brian might be out of practice too, but he seemed to know what he was doing, because his hands skimmed under Dom's shirt, lifting it. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was thinking naked was good too. Dom pulled it off and tugged at Brian's belt open, then hunted down the rivet on his jeans and the zipper. Brian sucked in a breath and Dom found a gap against his belly, smooth skin under his fingertips and a tracery of hair that started below Brian's navel and disappeared under the denim and cotton. He pushed down and Brian's hands helped, shoving his jeans and underwear down in one easy motion and stepping out of them
Then Brian's fingers were tugging at his pants, tugging at his shirt, pulling them in opposite directions and Dom could help with the shirt, tugging it over his head. Breathing was suddenly difficult, because Brian had jerked his pants down, then his underwear and was suddenly kneeling before Dom had even really gotten a chance to see him, to tell him or show him what he wanted. Maybe it was what Brian wanted, because his hand slid around Dom's dick like it belonged there, and he had his nose and lips pressed to Dom's belly, nipping lightly, moving down. In a second his mouth was going to be…
Dom twisted a little and caught the back of Brian's head, his hair, pulling back lightly, getting his attention. "Let's turn a light on," he said.
Brian looked a little startled but he rose up, his fingers lingering on Dom's dick long enough for Dom to half regret stopping him.
It gave him time to finish kicking his clothes off and out of the way. Brian had only to twist a little to reach the lamp, both of them blinking when it came on, and Dom was really glad it wasn't like, 100 watts of brilliant, or they'd both be blind. It was enough though. Enough for Dom to see the scar high on Brian's shoulder, enough to see that solid as he was, those broad shoulders compensated for a build that ran more to slender than Dom's own stockiness.
Brian had turned and was looking too, moving back to spread his hands across Dom's chest, testing the muscle, the edges of his palms catching Dom's nipples in a way that made him grit his teeth and shiver.
Dom's hands spread across the sides of Brian's waist, tugging him closer until Brian's cock rubbed against his own, which sent a shudder through both of them. "I've been thinking about what you said for six months," Dom said and found to his delight that Brian had just enough height on him that Dom need only tilt his chin up to be able to press his teeth lightly along Brian's jaw. He liked what it did to his expression, which went kind of blank, and apparently made Brian a little breathless.
"Yeah…and what did I say?"
Dom grinned. "Something slow…to last awhile."
"Ohhhh….yeah." Brian ducked his head and tongued Dom's right nipple. Dom stumbled backward and Brian gave him a little push.
The bed was suddenly right there and Dom only had to sit, and then lean back. Elbows on the bed and Brian's mouth and body urged him further back. "That chick thing," Brian said when Dom was more on the bed than off, and Brian more on Dom than off.
Dom felt his eyebrows rise up. "Chick thing?"
"Yeah…the whole," Brian's mouth covered his, sweeping Dom's mouth with his tongue than backing off. "kissing and…rubbing," he murmured and let his hips drop, their dicks sliding against each other like they were dancing and Dom groaned and dropped back further onto the bed. Brian's face was only inches from his as he shifted and rocked. "That foreplay thing. Is that what you mean by slow?"
"Hell if I know. You said it," Dom accused and lifted his hips when Brian's hand slid between them grabbing them both firmly. "But that was the plan…" Brian was grinning at him, moving his hand slow and Dom was pretty sure his brain was going to short out. This was going to be over really fast. "You're messing with my plan, here, Bri--" Dom said.
"You have a plan?" Brian asked, his hand still moving, thumb rubbing over the head of Dom's dick.
"Yes, you shit, I have a plan," Dom said torn between laughing and just letting Brian get on with what was obviously his plan. Brian's hand didn't stop moving. He only grinned and lowered his face to Dom's again.
Fucker. Dom pushed his hands up, caught Brian's face and pulled him down. Brian absolutely had no objections to being kissed like that, or even having Dom leverage him over to his back. He had to let go, of course.
"Looks kind of like my plan," Brian gasped out when Dom let him up for air.
"Oh, yeah? Roll over," Dom said, grinning when Brian looked surprised and then suspicious, but not alarmed. He rolled to his belly.
"Stuff's in the drawer," he said.
Stuff? Oh, shit… Dom squeezed his eyes shut at the rush of blood to his dick. "We'll get to that," he said and Brian twisted, to look at him.
Dom pushed his shoulder down and leaned over him, burying his nose into the soft curls at the nape of Brian's neck, let his tongue bathe the skin under Brian's ear. It made Brian' scrunch up his shoulders. They were nice shoulders and Dom laid his hand on them squeezing firmly and releasing, and rubbing downward, his thumb trailing over the scar, then lower along Brian's spine. Brian's head came up and he tucked his elbows against the bed, twisting again. "Dom," he was a little breathless, and he was a lot hard. Dom let him roll back, and lined up their dicks so they could get acquainted again.
"Okay, your plan," Dom conceded, he was outnumbered, anyway. Brian and their two cocks were done with the foreplay.
Brian grinned at him, wide, brilliant, laughter haunting the edge of his lips and he shoved Dom over and made a dive for the bedside table. He almost end up on the floor but Dom caught him, which wasn't easy with nothing but bare skin, but the flare of Brian's hips gave him some leverage and then Brian was back, rolling them back, dropping a small bottle on the bed and tearing open the condom packet with his teeth.
Dom had the urge to help, but Brian seemed to have it under control, and seriously, his brain was not quite up with the plan just yet, although really, it was pretty simple plan. Amazingly simple. Brian reached down and held him, and slid the latex over Dom's dick with a certain amount of highly skilled precision. Little too much throttle though because Dom found himself thrusting into his palm when Brian over-handled just a tad.
He eased off and Dom didn't know if he should actually be glad about that, but then Brian dropped the little plastic bottle in his hand and rolled over again.
Make or break time and Dom fumbled a tad, getting the top off. The lube seemed too thin, but it was slick, glistening on his fingers, and Brian was stretched out beside him, arms folded under his head watching him with that smile on his face, one knee pulled up slightly but Dom could still see the tip of his dick, pressed to his belly. "You got the tools, man," Brian said and Dom started chuckling, leaning down, half lying down and Brian adjusted, pressing his mouth to Dom's.
Dom didn't need to see really. He could feel, finding his way across Brian's hip, where the skin was stretched tight over bone, down along his ass, where hard muscle gave resistance. When his fingers trailed along the shallow valley between Brian's cheeks, Brian surged against him, panting a little. Dom's dick felt like steel, afraid the slightest touch would have him spilling his goods all too soon. It would feel just as good, but he wanted all of it, what Brian had offered, and this was only part of it. Dom met more resistance but pushed and Brian opened to him, mouth and body.
Dom rolled back too, pulling Brian with him, fingers still working his ass until Brian snatched the bottle from him and slicked his own hand then covered Dom's cock, only to push up and straddle him. The bottle dropped to the floor.
I am so outmatched Dom realized and it didn't matter because suddenly, he was there and he squeezed his eyes shut as his dick slid past the tight muscle, the slick easing the way, and what couldn't be eased, Brian demanded. A jolt shot through him, into his balls, into his belly , spreading out through nerves that honestly didn't get much attention. He couldn't not move, instinct and desire making all the decisions and when he finally opened his eyes again, Brian was right there with him, eyes wide open, but darker, hips and thighs doing all the work. Dom didn't need to think about it all…… His own hips snapped up, thrusting deep and Brian gave a half moan, half grunt, but met him, breathing shallow and fast and dug his fingers into Dom's shoulder while fisting his cock with his other hand. Multi-tasking, Dom thought with a chuckle and his laughter had Brian grinning again.
No ten second ride. This was a long stretch, and Dom realized for all the command Brian had shown, Dom was the one doing the driving. He dug his heels into the bed, twisted and had the satisfaction of watching every coherent expression slide right off Brian's face. Not so bad for him either because there was a tension spring in his belly that was being wound tighter and tighter. He moved his hands, slid them along Brian's thighs, feeling the tight muscle there and worked his way up, covering Brian's hand with his own.
"Dom…" Warning, plea, Dom didn't know but Brian's head snapped back. Dom squeezed firmly, milking him and thrust hard and deep. Brian might have said something but it made no sense and come spilled over Dom's hand, onto his belly. Muscles Dom thought were already like steel seemed to tighten on his dick and he dug his fingers into Brian's hip and completely lost control. He heard Brian whispering in his ear but couldn't make out the words. For a moment he was blind, deaf and dumb, nothing but the blinding spill of sensation and heat, all centered in his groin. It sucked the air out of his lungs, and all the strength from his limbs. Coming back down was like being rocked.
Brian was half collapsed on top of him, breath warm and wet on Dom's shoulder. He moved his hands, cupping Brian's ass, smoothing over it, feeling between them where Dom's dick was till tucked warm and firm in Brian's ass and Brian shuddered a little, then lifted up.
He didn't go far, basically clearing enough space just to drop down beside Dom, one arm flung across his chest, a knee draped over Dom's legs.
When Dom could actually think again he found his fingers curling around Brian's thighs and managed to turned his head. Brian was still smiling but his eyes were half closed. "Now that," Dom said, feeling a hoarseness in his throat that could only come from yelling, "was a ride."
"Ten seconds, man." Brian said sleepily.
"No way…that was more."
"Way. I counted."
"Bullshit."
Brian's eyes opened, glinting and bright. His hand came up, thumb brushing over Dom's lips until Dom bit it gently. "Ten seconds," Brian said again and the warmth and surety in his eyes made Dom rethink it. Brian wasn't talking about time at all.
Ten seconds. Freedom.
Dom smiled and pulled Brian to him, biting lightly on his lower lip. "You're right. Ten seconds."
It was going to be the longest tens seconds of Dom's life.
~fini~
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
But believe in me baby and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'cos I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't wanna see it again ~ Telegraph Road - Mark Knoppfler
Unfinished Business
Epilogue:
The final interview in front of the parole board was grueling. Mostly because it was for form's sake and so the questions were ones Dom had answered a dozen times before. He was not bitching though. All in all, he'd spent precious little of the six months in prison between depositions and testimony and what seemed like a dozen separate trials, his own and Tran's. And when he was inside, Chino was a lot less crowded, a lot less strict, and overall a walk in the park after Lompoc.
Plus there was shit to do, like work on cars. The shop was not bad, and if the vehicles were unexciting, at least they were familiar. Having Vince in there with him helped too. Leon did sixty days and probation, and community service, Letty got probation and community service and Dom had to wonder if it wasn't because she wore a dress to the trial that made her look like a Catholic schoolgirl. He only caught glimpses of her, when he'd testified, and decided she needed to seriously consider acting as a career. She didn't cry or try to play poor little mislead girl -- she was pretty clear and calm, took no shit off the prosecutor but didn't let that temper of hers get the better of her. None of them had come out of this unchanged.
Leon's sixty ended up being more about traffic tickets than anything, which when he heard it, just made Dom want to roll on the floor and laugh. Twenty-seven hundred dollars in parking tickets. It was hysterical.
Even so, Dom knew they all had some people to thank for what they did get, himself especially. He and Vince, they'd actually been nailed for the attack on the trucks. Assault, especially at high speed, made juries truly nervous. So much so, that when the DA offered him a plea bargain, in recognition for both his "assistance" with the Tran case and the set sentence, Dom had signed with no hesitation. Three years, but he could be up for parole in six months and he knew someone had pulled some strings to get that set up. The same for Vince even though he'd had nothing to do with Tran.
There was other shit too, like reparation, a civil suit that got canned before it even got heard and again, Dom knew someone was yanking on the freight lines' chains, and that at some point, he was probably going to owe somebody -- probably the feds. The money they had left, it was nothing, meant nothing. It was gone.
The warning he got from the judge though, that if he so much as got a speeding ticket during his probation, he'd serve out the rest of his sentence someplace where there were no roads, he took seriously.
Dom had been a model prisoner.
Not that it had been easy, because even Chino had its share of assholes, but Dom played it cool and checked his own attitude where he could. Vince though, Vince got set off by stupid things. So much so that Dom and recognized his younger self there. It was a great reminder about what not to do.
He was, as they said, highly motivated.
So, he sat through another round of interviews by the parole board, listened again to the recommendations made by Detective Tanner, Officer Brian O'Connor and tried not to squirm.
Then he was done. Vince got out a week before him. Mia brought him street clothes two days before and when the gates unlocked and he walked out, his time at Chino faded from mind a whole lot quicker than Lompoc had.
Maybe it was the noisy crew of people waiting for him: Mia smiling as he hadn't seen her do in awhile, Letty looking smug and saucy and giving him shit about gaining weight, Leon and Vince bouncing up and down on the hood of the Pontiac like kids on a moon walk.
Or maybe it was Brian looking like somebody had just handed him the winning lottery number.
He'd seen a lot of Brian, more than he expected. Not at first because despite his protests that he was fine, it had taken Brian a more than a month to fully recover. It had taken him even longer to get through an LAPD Internal Affairs investigation that, from what little he told Dom, had actually been a whole lot more grueling than Dom's trial had been.
He'd come with Mia on Sundays sometimes, but more often he'd show up on Saturday's, alone. Chino had the downside of few visiting hours, but a more lenient approach. They weren't necessarily confined to a room. They were always under watch, but there was a pretty decent garden maintained by inmates and walking was a great way to put other physical restraints from mind
Sometimes, Dom couldn't remember what they talked about. It was odd in a way he'd never experienced before because Brian wasn't Leon or Letty or Mia or Vince. Their history prior to Chino had a grand total of six weeks and that was stretching it a bit, since for the first three weeks Dom had known Brian, he hadn't even spoken to him. He was just a guy sniffing around Dom's sister.
And what was between them now, they couldn’t talk about, or not easily, if only for the circumstances. A hand shake, a brief hug, the brushing of arms while they walked. That was pretty much it. It was something that was waiting for them, like a Christmas present already spotted in a closet somewhere, but months before it could be opened.
So Dom did what he always did when he found early Christmas presents: tried to peel back the tape and paper a little and see what was inside.
He felt like Brian knew everything about him from his birth to now. It wasn't true, but it felt like that. And getting information out of Brian was harder than it might appear for someone who talked so much. It was like reading a police report: Father - cop. Wounded in the line of duty. Currently resides in Barstow. Mother - homemaker, estranged. Currently resides in Boston. Graduated from high school, no honors. Associate Degree in Criminal Justice, ITT Anaheim. Prior employment: Truck driver, mechanic, legal assistant, substitute teacher.
It took Dom awhile to realize that for Brian, it wasn’t necessarily about hiding anything. It was about knowing the past only held on to him if he let it. His parents hadn't been Dom's parents, his understanding of people and family and all the things that shaped kids into adults, was skewed a little to the "be different than they were" rather than holding his parents up as some kind of model like Dom and Mia could do.
But other stuff he would talk about, like how incredibly boring riding a desk could be, which was what he was doing. Or how he'd learned to surf. Or that given a choice, he'd pretty much rather eat anything but Tex Mex. They talked about cars, because it was safe and Brian finally got the Mustang tuned up.
And they talked about what changes had hit that Dom would have to deal with when he got out, because it wasn't going to be the same. It wasn't going to be traumatic, but different. Dom was more grateful than ever that he'd never wanted to try and play head of the family and take back any of the titles on property or businesses from Mia. He might be broke, but the garage was still there, the house, the market.
.
She'd taken an apartment too, renting out the house as planned. There was a lot of stuff in storage, but she had two bedrooms, and one of them was for Dom if he wanted it. In a few years she might want to move back into the house, maybe if she met someone. Dom wasn't sure what he wanted, but he was willing to let Rosa and Santos stay on for a bit until he figured it out. The garage was open again, their customers seeming to hardly have noticed the closing.
The day of his release got closer and Dom knew the biggest change was going to have very little to do with his past and a lot to do with his future.
It had to wait though, at least a little bit, and Brian seemed to mind a whole lot less than Dom did, when they all loaded into the cars and headed back to LA. Dom road with his team, feeling a little weirded out by the fact that Brian was driving alone and outdistanced them pretty quickly. The why of it became obvious when Mia totally bypassed the route to Echo Park or even to her apartment in Silverlake and turned toward La Brea instead. It made sense then, because Santos and Rosa had the house, with kids on a school night and Mia's apartment was small. Brian's house wasn't small too, but it had a yard and what was a reunion without a cook out?
It was familiar and not. They'd actually hauled the grill over and it was hot, ready to go. The beer was cold, the music loud and not long after they got there, it became apparent that invitations had been sent out. Not a ton of people, but people Dom knew, like the older Gutierrez's who seemed to pretty much have adopted Brian.
Brian kept his distance without seeming to, but whenever Dom sought him out, all he got was that smile, and a sense of patience that was making Dom a little crazy. After six months, a few more hours should have been easy, but Dom felt hyper aware of Brian, and kept wondering if everyone around him knew but just wasn’t saying anything. It got reinforced when Letty was actually the first to check out, claiming that she was due out early in her community service gig in the morning. But then she kissed Dom and it wasn't exactly a sisterly buss. It felt more like a promise too. An hour later and it was still going, Papa Gutierrez had some seriously funny stories and the beer was still flowing. Dom caught sight of Brian, moving around the edges, picking up empties and trash and Dom gathered up his own and followed him inside.
The window had been replaced, and surprisingly enough, Brian's couch. There were actually pictures up, one or two that looked really familiar.
Brian caught him looking. "Mia informed me my house is…a little short on the style side," Brian said with a grin. The changes were minor, subtle, but yeah, it looked like Brian might stick around for awhile.
Dom dumped the bottles and backed up to the counter. "This is…nice. Not what I had in mind, but nice," he said and then sucked a breath in when Brian was suddenly a whole lot closer than he'd been in months.
"They missed you," Brian said simply. "This was easy to do. But you know, if you're tired, they'd understand if you fell asleep."
"I'm not…" Dom stopped. He could hear them outside: Mia's laughter, Vince's. Nina's…all of them. They could go on like this for hours and would if Dom was around to give them a reason. "I could use some rest."
Rest, right. Brian dared it, kissing him hard and swiftly, holding the sides of Dom's face and taking control. It was the first time they'd kissed standing up and Dom found himself a little caught off guard and a lot turned on by the fact that he had to lift his mouth up to make that perfect seal with Brian's. Dom barely got his higher brain functions back online before Brian was backing away, carrying fresh beer out to his guests. "You shit," Dom muttered and heard Brian laugh.
It still took some time, and even though he wasn't tired, laying down on Brian's bed felt incredibly good. For one, he wasn't surrounded by a hundred other guys, the bed was wide and firm and the sheets clean, and two, as much as he loved them, as glad as he was to be out, a few minutes of really not having to deal with anybody, of privacy, was a luxury he didn't even realize he'd missed.
And maybe he dozed a little because the next thing he knew the music was softer, and he could hear voices, pitched low. "It's not a problem, Mia. I'll bring him home tomorrow. I've got the room…he doesn't have to check in with his a parole officer until the 12th."
"There's a mess outside…"
"I'm off tomorrow, the rest of the week."
"Brian…" Dom knew that tone. She was about to say something she would regret later, but whatever it was, she stopped it before it could get out. "Meet me for breakfast?"
"Sure. The Coffee Company?"
"Yeah…ninish," she said. "I don’t have class until one."
"We'll be there," Brian said and then they were gone. Twenty minutes later, Dom heard what he thought was the last car pulling away, and watched the lighting change as Brian shut off the outside lights.
Dom waited, but Brian didn't immediately come back to the bedroom. He moved around a little and Dom heard the soft clink of glass, the rustle of paper, water ran for a moment then the kitchen lights was out and the music silenced.
Brian was moving quietly. In the bedroom, it was more dark than light. The light in the bathroom was on but the door nearly closed, casting a narrow sliver across the floor.
Brian stopped in the doorway and Dom didn't move. Brian thought he was asleep, that had to be it, because he wasn't coming any closer. He toed his shoes off and left them inside the door and peeled his t-shirt off, dropping it as well, but he didn't come to the bed. He only moved to turn the bathroom light off, slipped inside and Dom could see the sliver of light under the door while Brian took care of whatever he needed to do.
The anticipation was killing him, but the urge to watch Brian, all unobserved, was pretty compelling. Plus Dom was comfortable. He came out again, closed the door almost entirely, and turned the light on again. The light skimmed across his back showing a set of broad shoulders that tapered down to a slim waist. Even with the play of shadow and light, Dom could see the darker line across his shoulder just to the right of the blade. Brian would have the surgical scar for life.
Then he couldn't see as Brian turned away, studying him again. For a minute Dom thought he knew he was being watched, that Dom was awake, but he only looked and then headed back out into the living room
"Brian."
Caught. He stopped and turned around. "I thought you were sleeping." His voice was soft, a little low.
"I was. I'm not now."
"Need anything?"
Dom half suspected he was being set up, but maybe not, because Brian was still there, not moving closer. He swung his feet off the bed and sat up. "Do we need to talk about it?" Dom asked him.
"How about we talk about it tomorrow?" Brian said
That easy and Brian came to him and Dom stood up, ready and willing to take up where the kiss in the kitchen had left off. Not quite so teasing, and Dom had his fingers curled around Brian's belt even before his mouth tilted up to capture Brian's. Brian didn't exactly resist capture and managed to keep Dom from tripping on the bed when they both moved back a little.
Brian's hand slid around his jaw again, as they stumbled and it occurred to Dom that he could actually touch now. He let his fingers slid along Brian's belt to the buckle, feeling cool metal under his finger tips, denim and leather, textures he was familiar with but felt new and strange. Brian's mouth had left his and was leaving a wet path along his jaw, up under his ear. Dom hissed out a breath when Brian sucked on his earlobe, left a shivery chill on his skin. Beneath the denim, Brian was firm and hard, Dom feeling the strain in his own groin, heat in his belly as he traced that thin line of hair below the cloth.
He wanted Brian naked. He wanted to be naked. He wasn't expecting perfection or even stunningly good sex -- although it probably would be because he'd been doing all the work with his own hand for months and anything would be an improvement.
But Brian wasn't a guy in the next bed jacking off, and he wasn't Letty who Dom had had years to learn what she liked and didn't like. He hadn't taken a new lover in so long, he was out of practice.
Brian might be out of practice too, but he seemed to know what he was doing, because his hands skimmed under Dom's shirt, lifting it. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was thinking naked was good too. Dom pulled it off and tugged at Brian's belt open, then hunted down the rivet on his jeans and the zipper. Brian sucked in a breath and Dom found a gap against his belly, smooth skin under his fingertips and a tracery of hair that started below Brian's navel and disappeared under the denim and cotton. He pushed down and Brian's hands helped, shoving his jeans and underwear down in one easy motion and stepping out of them
Then Brian's fingers were tugging at his pants, tugging at his shirt, pulling them in opposite directions and Dom could help with the shirt, tugging it over his head. Breathing was suddenly difficult, because Brian had jerked his pants down, then his underwear and was suddenly kneeling before Dom had even really gotten a chance to see him, to tell him or show him what he wanted. Maybe it was what Brian wanted, because his hand slid around Dom's dick like it belonged there, and he had his nose and lips pressed to Dom's belly, nipping lightly, moving down. In a second his mouth was going to be…
Dom twisted a little and caught the back of Brian's head, his hair, pulling back lightly, getting his attention. "Let's turn a light on," he said.
Brian looked a little startled but he rose up, his fingers lingering on Dom's dick long enough for Dom to half regret stopping him.
It gave him time to finish kicking his clothes off and out of the way. Brian had only to twist a little to reach the lamp, both of them blinking when it came on, and Dom was really glad it wasn't like, 100 watts of brilliant, or they'd both be blind. It was enough though. Enough for Dom to see the scar high on Brian's shoulder, enough to see that solid as he was, those broad shoulders compensated for a build that ran more to slender than Dom's own stockiness.
Brian had turned and was looking too, moving back to spread his hands across Dom's chest, testing the muscle, the edges of his palms catching Dom's nipples in a way that made him grit his teeth and shiver.
Dom's hands spread across the sides of Brian's waist, tugging him closer until Brian's cock rubbed against his own, which sent a shudder through both of them. "I've been thinking about what you said for six months," Dom said and found to his delight that Brian had just enough height on him that Dom need only tilt his chin up to be able to press his teeth lightly along Brian's jaw. He liked what it did to his expression, which went kind of blank, and apparently made Brian a little breathless.
"Yeah…and what did I say?"
Dom grinned. "Something slow…to last awhile."
"Ohhhh….yeah." Brian ducked his head and tongued Dom's right nipple. Dom stumbled backward and Brian gave him a little push.
The bed was suddenly right there and Dom only had to sit, and then lean back. Elbows on the bed and Brian's mouth and body urged him further back. "That chick thing," Brian said when Dom was more on the bed than off, and Brian more on Dom than off.
Dom felt his eyebrows rise up. "Chick thing?"
"Yeah…the whole," Brian's mouth covered his, sweeping Dom's mouth with his tongue than backing off. "kissing and…rubbing," he murmured and let his hips drop, their dicks sliding against each other like they were dancing and Dom groaned and dropped back further onto the bed. Brian's face was only inches from his as he shifted and rocked. "That foreplay thing. Is that what you mean by slow?"
"Hell if I know. You said it," Dom accused and lifted his hips when Brian's hand slid between them grabbing them both firmly. "But that was the plan…" Brian was grinning at him, moving his hand slow and Dom was pretty sure his brain was going to short out. This was going to be over really fast. "You're messing with my plan, here, Bri--" Dom said.
"You have a plan?" Brian asked, his hand still moving, thumb rubbing over the head of Dom's dick.
"Yes, you shit, I have a plan," Dom said torn between laughing and just letting Brian get on with what was obviously his plan. Brian's hand didn't stop moving. He only grinned and lowered his face to Dom's again.
Fucker. Dom pushed his hands up, caught Brian's face and pulled him down. Brian absolutely had no objections to being kissed like that, or even having Dom leverage him over to his back. He had to let go, of course.
"Looks kind of like my plan," Brian gasped out when Dom let him up for air.
"Oh, yeah? Roll over," Dom said, grinning when Brian looked surprised and then suspicious, but not alarmed. He rolled to his belly.
"Stuff's in the drawer," he said.
Stuff? Oh, shit… Dom squeezed his eyes shut at the rush of blood to his dick. "We'll get to that," he said and Brian twisted, to look at him.
Dom pushed his shoulder down and leaned over him, burying his nose into the soft curls at the nape of Brian's neck, let his tongue bathe the skin under Brian's ear. It made Brian' scrunch up his shoulders. They were nice shoulders and Dom laid his hand on them squeezing firmly and releasing, and rubbing downward, his thumb trailing over the scar, then lower along Brian's spine. Brian's head came up and he tucked his elbows against the bed, twisting again. "Dom," he was a little breathless, and he was a lot hard. Dom let him roll back, and lined up their dicks so they could get acquainted again.
"Okay, your plan," Dom conceded, he was outnumbered, anyway. Brian and their two cocks were done with the foreplay.
Brian grinned at him, wide, brilliant, laughter haunting the edge of his lips and he shoved Dom over and made a dive for the bedside table. He almost end up on the floor but Dom caught him, which wasn't easy with nothing but bare skin, but the flare of Brian's hips gave him some leverage and then Brian was back, rolling them back, dropping a small bottle on the bed and tearing open the condom packet with his teeth.
Dom had the urge to help, but Brian seemed to have it under control, and seriously, his brain was not quite up with the plan just yet, although really, it was pretty simple plan. Amazingly simple. Brian reached down and held him, and slid the latex over Dom's dick with a certain amount of highly skilled precision. Little too much throttle though because Dom found himself thrusting into his palm when Brian over-handled just a tad.
He eased off and Dom didn't know if he should actually be glad about that, but then Brian dropped the little plastic bottle in his hand and rolled over again.
Make or break time and Dom fumbled a tad, getting the top off. The lube seemed too thin, but it was slick, glistening on his fingers, and Brian was stretched out beside him, arms folded under his head watching him with that smile on his face, one knee pulled up slightly but Dom could still see the tip of his dick, pressed to his belly. "You got the tools, man," Brian said and Dom started chuckling, leaning down, half lying down and Brian adjusted, pressing his mouth to Dom's.
Dom didn't need to see really. He could feel, finding his way across Brian's hip, where the skin was stretched tight over bone, down along his ass, where hard muscle gave resistance. When his fingers trailed along the shallow valley between Brian's cheeks, Brian surged against him, panting a little. Dom's dick felt like steel, afraid the slightest touch would have him spilling his goods all too soon. It would feel just as good, but he wanted all of it, what Brian had offered, and this was only part of it. Dom met more resistance but pushed and Brian opened to him, mouth and body.
Dom rolled back too, pulling Brian with him, fingers still working his ass until Brian snatched the bottle from him and slicked his own hand then covered Dom's cock, only to push up and straddle him. The bottle dropped to the floor.
I am so outmatched Dom realized and it didn't matter because suddenly, he was there and he squeezed his eyes shut as his dick slid past the tight muscle, the slick easing the way, and what couldn't be eased, Brian demanded. A jolt shot through him, into his balls, into his belly , spreading out through nerves that honestly didn't get much attention. He couldn't not move, instinct and desire making all the decisions and when he finally opened his eyes again, Brian was right there with him, eyes wide open, but darker, hips and thighs doing all the work. Dom didn't need to think about it all…… His own hips snapped up, thrusting deep and Brian gave a half moan, half grunt, but met him, breathing shallow and fast and dug his fingers into Dom's shoulder while fisting his cock with his other hand. Multi-tasking, Dom thought with a chuckle and his laughter had Brian grinning again.
No ten second ride. This was a long stretch, and Dom realized for all the command Brian had shown, Dom was the one doing the driving. He dug his heels into the bed, twisted and had the satisfaction of watching every coherent expression slide right off Brian's face. Not so bad for him either because there was a tension spring in his belly that was being wound tighter and tighter. He moved his hands, slid them along Brian's thighs, feeling the tight muscle there and worked his way up, covering Brian's hand with his own.
"Dom…" Warning, plea, Dom didn't know but Brian's head snapped back. Dom squeezed firmly, milking him and thrust hard and deep. Brian might have said something but it made no sense and come spilled over Dom's hand, onto his belly. Muscles Dom thought were already like steel seemed to tighten on his dick and he dug his fingers into Brian's hip and completely lost control. He heard Brian whispering in his ear but couldn't make out the words. For a moment he was blind, deaf and dumb, nothing but the blinding spill of sensation and heat, all centered in his groin. It sucked the air out of his lungs, and all the strength from his limbs. Coming back down was like being rocked.
Brian was half collapsed on top of him, breath warm and wet on Dom's shoulder. He moved his hands, cupping Brian's ass, smoothing over it, feeling between them where Dom's dick was till tucked warm and firm in Brian's ass and Brian shuddered a little, then lifted up.
He didn't go far, basically clearing enough space just to drop down beside Dom, one arm flung across his chest, a knee draped over Dom's legs.
When Dom could actually think again he found his fingers curling around Brian's thighs and managed to turned his head. Brian was still smiling but his eyes were half closed. "Now that," Dom said, feeling a hoarseness in his throat that could only come from yelling, "was a ride."
"Ten seconds, man." Brian said sleepily.
"No way…that was more."
"Way. I counted."
"Bullshit."
Brian's eyes opened, glinting and bright. His hand came up, thumb brushing over Dom's lips until Dom bit it gently. "Ten seconds," Brian said again and the warmth and surety in his eyes made Dom rethink it. Brian wasn't talking about time at all.
Ten seconds. Freedom.
Dom smiled and pulled Brian to him, biting lightly on his lower lip. "You're right. Ten seconds."
It was going to be the longest tens seconds of Dom's life.
~fini~
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Bwahahahaha!!
Thank you!
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I've absolutely loved it.
This final chapter has most definitely been the icing on the cake & I just can't thank you enough for sharing.
*hugs*
One question though - when do you find time to sleep?! (g)
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And sleep? What would this sleep be?
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And you're right - forget about sleep. You don't need it - just write instead (g).
*big hugs*
Unfinished Business
(Anonymous) 2004-09-26 09:00 am (UTC)(link)Catty
Re: Unfinished Business
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Thanks so much for taking us all on a magnificent ride!
My only question is this...when's the next departure? {vbg}
dawn
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at the moment, this was a one way trip..but I never say never any more {G}
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"No way…that was more."
"Way. I counted."
Splorfle!
Maygra, my dearest, I want you to know that this story has been a fantastic 10 seconds.
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so...shouldn't you be writing right now? {veg}
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the very worst part of finding a long story you love is when it inevitably ends.
he as outnumbered, anyway. Brian and their two cocks were done with the foreplay. after taking so long to get to, the kissing in the kitchen (and subsequent sex scenes at the end) was chocolate icing on the best brownie ever - rich, sweet and just perfect! Dom's realization that he needed to reach *up* for their kiss was a wonderful bit, the slight height difference is often overlooked, or even reversed by writers.
It's been a fabulous ride, and you've got me seriously hoping you'll tackle another tF&tF story again soon - I won't plead for a sequel, but surely there's got to be another idea or two for these guys roaming in your brain?
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(Anonymous) 2004-09-26 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)Anna.
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I'm working over the final draft if you still have interest or time to run a beta -- and I will absolutely understand if you don't. Just let me know.
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I'm heading home tonight so should have more time on my hands soon.
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Just a little note...
...heat in his belly as he tugged Brian's shirt up.
Brian already had his shirt off by that line.
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I really enjoyed this.
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Damn. Nothing else, just... Damn.
Well, maybe a little something else...
Came here off the rec of
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go read the epilogue again cause... Guh.
thanks
(Anonymous) 2004-09-26 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)lurker here. just wanted to thank you for the fic, which i have read avidly and enjoyed. and in particular props for updating so promptly - when you've found a well-written WIP, it's a great feeling to know the author is a reliable post-er. you can get fully invested in the story, since you know you won't be left hanging. plus, it's like opening a little present every time you check the site - great feeling!
and while i think you'd be appreciated in any fandom, in a small fandom like this you're a treasure (as i believe others have already noted).
thanks again - s
omg
i think dine said it best:
"the very worst part of finding a long story you love is when it inevitably ends. "
i knew it had to end at some point but oh did i wish it wouldn't. this was such a great story!! i was wondering...is this your first TFATF fic or do you have others lurking in here?
thanks again...it was wonderful!!
jenn
Re: omg
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wow
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stayed up late to finish this!
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AFSFGJKLKF;
This had just incredible characterisation of Mia and Brian and Dom, beautiful plotting, AND you made Dom/Brian believable. Those two guys... they had a wonderful tension between them that led to a satisfying conclusion. The climax (hah!) of the story with the kidnapping and Tanner pulling strings for them in gratitude was equally satisfying. I have never read a better sequel to movie! *two thumbs up!*
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Great characters, I like how they interact, how your Brian and Dom are close to the ones in the movie and still an AU.
I loved it ;o)
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Well, I hope you're doing fine (this was really written in 2004? Wow, that seems like a lifetime ago...), great, actually. A person with this much of a writing talent certainly deserves to be doing as good as life would let us.
Is there anything more to this story/pairing in your archives? I'm gonna go look around.
Take care!
Oh, btw, Happy New Year!!!