Cooking with Mia, joking around with Leon and Jesse, sitting around the table with everyone… It was nice. Peaceful and easy, he felt like he was finally home. Even getting stuck with clean up after breakfast couldn't quell the undeniable happiness he felt being back in the Toretto household.

Everyone had cleared out to do their own thing by the time Dom stuck his head into the as Brian was finishing the dishes and his conversation with Mia. Apparently, a lot had happened since he'd left. They were no longer braying for his blood for being a cop. Mia and Letty were both dating people, Mia had found a nice guy in her class and Letty had found a wicked driver who rivaled Vince in skill and who could also apparently draw the most realistic charcoal portraits the team had ever seen. They weren't officially together yet so Letty and Dom still slept together when they both wanted a fuck with no commitment, but the two were getting there. Just very, very slowly.

Jesse had quit smoking after he'd been shot and was forced to stop. Vince wasn't as much of an asshole anymore according to Mia and Dom was still running the streets here in L.A. but the business was now clean as crystal glass. Brian was happy for all of them and glad for the normal conversation, so he was decidedly let down when Dom stared Mia down and she left to find something else to do.

They stood in silence, awkward silence, until they heard Mia yelling at Leon and Jesse for starting a fire out the back before Dom spoke.

"Where have you been Brian?" Dom asked. Brian swore he could almost see the concern emanating from Dominic's words. Brian considered them as he casually shrugged.

"I've been around." He replied. Dom sighed and gave him the look. Thankfully it wasn't the look that said 'tell me now or I'll break your face' unfortunately though, it was the one that said 'even if you don't tell me, I'll get it from you eventually'. Brian wanted to tell him, tell anyone, where he'd been the last eight months, who he'd been with and why. He wanted to tell someone he could trust, everything that had happened to him. But he couldn't, it wasn't the right time. Nobody needed to know nor did he feel comfortable revealing some of the more… vile details of his little trip through hell.

"Brian.." Dom started. He gave Brian a once over as he paused and seemed to rethink what he was going to say. "It's good to have you back."

The change left Brian feeling a little numb before the words Dom spoke registered with him and he smiled, most of the tension winding in his body zipping out in an instant.

"But go take a shower, you smell like you look and that's not good. I'll get you some clothes but call me before you get dressed. I wanna see how messed up you are before you try to play it off." Dom ordered with a small smile in return.

"Yeah, yeah. It's nothing too bad, just a few scrapes and bruises. Nothing too serious." Brian said, making sure to walk extra close to Dom who wrinkled his nose in disgust and lightly pushed him away. "It's good to be back Dom." Brian muttered as he trudged up the stairs as slowly as he could without drawing attention to his intentions. He didn't realize Dom had heard him until he felt his large hand smack him on the back in response.

#

It felt so good to finally be able to have a warm (boiling hot) shower. Steam filled the bathroom and seeped under the door like it was a sauna. Brian loved it though it hurt, it relaxed his tense muscles as he sat in the bottom of the shower and let the water wash away all the blood, dirt and mysterious substances from his body. The water ran all manner of odd colours down the drain by his feet as it thrummed into his back. He sighed happily, he had always liked the pressure in Dom's shower. Though he was absolutely positive it was a custom made enhancement. You just could not get this type of pressure from normal showers. At least, none he'd ever been in.

Loud rapping of knuckles on the bathroom door made Brian jump and reach for the soap, reckoning that it was probably someone telling him to hurry the hell up or they'd turn off the hot water on him.

"Brian, you all good in there?" Dom's muffled voice called through the door. Brian grunted and washed himself off quickly, unfortunately reopening some rather painful cuts along his ribs and back.

Dom knocked again as Brian turned off the water, his agitation palpable through the door.

"I'm fine Dom." Brian replied. He wrapped a towel around his hips and swung the door open. Dom raised an eyebrow at him as steam tumbled out around him, shrouding him in thick, white fog. He had wondered why it was so hard to see in there… Brian smiled sheepishly at Dom.

"I like my showers hot." He offered. Dom continued to take him in, in silence. From his now long, hair weighed down and wavy with water, to the towel wrapped precariously around his hips. To the water droplets running from his hair to the towel and sticking to the bruises and burns, cuts and scrapes and new scars and blood seeping from his side where he pulled open partially scabbed gashes. He didn't look pleased to say the least, especially as he watched the blood from his ribs trickle down and bleed into the towel.

"Brian. You will be telling me what happened. Whether it's now or later, you will be telling me."

"Yeah. I will Dom it's just.. There are some things I can't tell anyone at the moment."

Dom pursed his lips in dissatisfaction and pushed Brian back into the bathroom. Now that all the steam had dissipated and they could finally see clearly, Dom could do what he brought everything for. He made sure to shut the door behind himself and lock it so no one would walk in before grabbing Brian's towel and yanking it off him.

"Dom!" Brian jumped back and grabbed for the towel as Dom threw it to the ground.

"Relax Brian, it ain't nothing I haven't seen before." Dom replied. He didn't even look at Brian as he set out everything he'd need to clean him up. Brian backed into the shower door and tried to control his rapid heart beat as his throat contracted and his lungs squeezed. Dom was just trying to help him, that's all. Clean up his wounds, get him dressed and they'd be out of there before he knew it.

The snap of the lock echoed in his ears as Dom turned to him and frowned. Brian could give a good guess as to what had made him look that way. He was pressed up against the shower door, tense and panting shallow breaths in quick succession as if he'd just run a race whilst holding his breath. And if the stuttered rattling wasn't all in his head then he was probably shaking to.

"Brian?" Dom stepped toward him slowly despite there only being a little over a meter between them. Brian shut his eyes and turned his head down as memories he'd had under lock down flowed unrestrained into his mind.

Dirty cement floor, blood drenched floor. Manacles grating around his wrists and ankles clinked against the ground.

"Brian."

On his knees in the old style redwood office, a glowing poker brought closer from a crackling fire. "You will tell us everything." Faceless men surrounding him. Holding him down.

"Brian, calm down."

He flinched away from the hands on his shoulders.

Unknown hands of his captors roamed his body as an unknown language reached his ear. He couldn't see them.

"Brian it's okay."

Something else, no, someone else was muttering. It wasn't the familiar deep voice of the worried person trying to get his attention. Who was it? Where was it coming from? Who…

Gunshot cracked through the air.

Pain, excruciating pain. Pain beyond belief. He couldn't move. They'd strapped him down. Cold. Searing pain sliced his skin, too hot. What was happening? He couldn't hear anything? He couldn't see!

The cliff, the building in the middle of nowhere. Sharp pain in the back of his head.

Nothing…

"BRIAN!"

Brian slapped Dom's hands away and sunk to the floor. He took shaky breaths was his head held in his hands to calm himself, curled up with his knees to his chest. Dom squat in front of him a foot away and stared, his mind consuming worry evident within his gaze.

"You al-."

Frenzied knocks on the door cut Dom off with five voices zipping through the door at once. What was happening? What was going on? Was Brian alright? What's wrong with Brian?

"We're all good here, don't worry about it." Dom called back. Slowly, everyone trickled away from the door as their worries were assuaged and Dom looked back to Brian and sighed. At the very least he looked calmer than before.

"Are you okay now?"

Brian looked up at Dom as if he were an idiot.

"Does anything that just happened point towards me being ok?" Brian shot back, voice shaky and light. Dom shook his head and stood, he held out his hand to help Brian up before moving him to the sink in silence. Dom didn't say a word as he began to clean him up, wiping away the new blood before patching up every laceration, bruise and burn that marred his skin as best he could.

"Jesus Brian."

"I know Dom, believe me I know. Don't tell." Brian pleaded, head hung in embarrassment and insecurity.

"I won't. But you have to tell me what happened Buster." Dom spat out vehemently. Brian smirked and breathed out a harsh sarcastic laugh.

"I took a trip around the world."

They worked in silence from then on, words only shared between them when Dominic needed Brian to move so he could reach each injury and patch him up properly. Without the hot water, dissipating steam nor any clothes on his body to keep him warm, an ache began to thrum through his muscles as they grew cold and contracted.

Brian looked down at Dominic as he covered a small burn with a bit of cream and placed a patch of gauze over it.

"Dom, are you almost done yet?" The glance at his front revealed he was more gauze than skin at the given time and Dom wasn't going to answer him until he was finished tending to his injuries. He didn't appear to have much left to cover, the only place free of any sort of bandage or Band-Aid being his shins.

With the silence between them stretching on Brian let his mind wonder to everything he had lined up ahead of him. He really should check in with Bilkins once Dom was finished with him, no doubt the agent was mourning his 'death' or driving himself up the wall with worry if he believed Brian was alive. He needed to see Rome and Tej and Suki as well, they were without a doubt gutted at his disappearance though whether or not they believed him dead was another matter entirely and one he sincerely hoped he would not have to deal with.

"Don't even think about taking off anytime soon Buster." Dom's voice rumbled up from the floor. Brian showed no reaction to his sudden words but gave an uncommitted hum in response. "I mean it Brian, if you think you're going anywhere out of sight for the next few weeks you've got a whole other thing comin'."

"So it's ok to go somewhere if one of you are with me?"

"Brian." Brian smiled with a huff and kicked his leg out of Dom's grasp.

"Relax Dom, I'm not going anywhere out of reach. I got some friends down in Miami I've gotta go see." He said, holding his leg above Dom's hand when he reached for it.

"I'll take you down there when you've healed." Dom replied as he grabbed Brian's ankle and held it still whilst the other tapped against the cupboards under the sink in a steady rhythm.

"By then I could just drive myself."

"Or I could send the whole team down there with you and wrap you in bubble wrap from head to foot so you won't get too many injuries." Dom shot back. Brian laughed at him.

"You think I'll get hurt from going to meet my friends?"

"Brian, you get hurt walking to the supermarket. Something will happen, something always happens when you show up." They fell silent again, the words, though said in jest, held an undeniable weight to them.

"..I've gotta go see them Dom. They probably think I'm dead."

"We all thought you were dead Buster, you can't just disappear for eight months and come back expecting people to know you're alive, the feds declared you dead officially. They held a public funeral for you." Dom said, a hard tone seeping through his words as he taped the last needed patch of gauze to Brian's leg. "You're done, get dressed and we'll talk about you meeting your friends."

"Sure thing mom." Brian replied when Dom was out of the bathroom door. Dominic stopped and turned back to him, an eyebrow raised.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing Dom. I said nothing." Brain waved him off with a forced smile as he shut the door in Dom's face and turned to the clothes.

"That's what I thought." He chuckled as Dom's voice burrowed through the door. His steps were muffled as he walked away and thumped down the stairs to the ground level where he was bombarded by boisterous voices beating questions at him a mile a minute. Brian took the time to listen to Dom quell the voices before he got dressed in what were obviously Dom's clothes.

Could he not find anything smaller? No old clothes nor even some of Leon's? They were at least around the same size whereas Dom was about three or four sizes too big for him. He'd be swimming in these clothes!

He sighed, it was all he'd been given so for now he chucked the baggy, oversized grey tracksuit pants and donned the low hanging white tank top that started half way down his pecks and could pass for a slutty dress. This had to have been the smallest size Dom had, or the smallest he could find because his muscle was no joke. He'd probably burst through the seams of something the fit Brian comfortably. At least he also left a hoodie in there, a nice dark blue shade that looked like it's keep him warm throughout the harshest of winters… Or maybe that was because he was freezing right there in Dom's bathroom, shivering in the cold humid air of the bathroom that was quickly turning icy now that the shower wasn't churning out enough hot water to last a family of three a week, or to keep the place warm enough to be a sauna.