August 15: oh sister, I will help you out [TFaTF]
Title: oh sister, I will help you out
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Rating: T/PG-13
Crossover: Fast and the Furious
Spoilers: Post-S5 AU for Buffy; right after The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Notes: Follows last year's an endless road to rediscover. Mia's perspective on Buffy's arrival in her life; and life going on. Title again by Avicii. (I have some Thoughts about how future Buffyverse and Fast and Furious-verse things will happen in this cross; not sure when I'll be able to get to them, though.)
Summary: For once in her life, maybe Mia didn't have to lose everything in order to gain something new. 2100 words.
The day after Buffy Summers came into Mia Toretto's life, she bit her lip, then placed a call to some friends of Dom's she was still in contact with. Her original family had shattered when their father died, and the one she and Dom had built afterward when he'd let his frustration and desire for escape land the team on the FBI's radar, but even if she didn't have anyone left close enough for day-to-day assistance, the larger community still looked after each other. She wanted very badly to believe Buffy was who she said she was, but she'd been burned badly the last time a stranger had walked into her life and asked to stay.
But the call came back clear; if anything, the girl from Sunnydale had undersold her own troubles. Mia sat down in one of the kitchen chairs afterward, clutching the phone to her chest, and let herself sag in relief for a long, weary moment. Then she pursed her mouth, thinking about what Buffy had said about wanting to be closer to her sister, then went upstairs and started boxing up everything Leon and Jesse had left in the guest room. Leon would be back for it or he wouldn't, but either way, he wouldn't be staying under the Toretto roof again anytime soon. Nor would Vince. Or Letty.
Or Dom. She'd forgive him, or course; he was the only family she had left. But if he'd just listened to her before trying for that last truck, if he'd treated her more like the partner in the family business she was than a little sister who still needed protecting, things would have gone very differently. She absolutely blamed Brian for lying his way into her heart and then breaking it, but she wasn't stupid; if it hadn't been him, it would have been some other undercover cop, and anyone else would never have avenged Jesse and let her brother go.
So now she had an empty house... and a brand-new friend with nowhere to stay in the city except for her father and very young stepmother's couch. Easy math. And whether Dom disapproved or not, he'd fucked off to Baja; he didn't get a vote anymore. It felt strangely cathartic to clear away the debris of the past few years anyway, splitting her life into yet another before and after. Maybe this 'after' would even last a little longer than the others. She could only hope.
The day after that, Buffy turned back up at the Toretto Market as promised, riding passenger in a black 1959 DeSoto Fireflite with darkly tinted windows driven by the same blond bad boy who'd been with her before. Mia hadn't got enough of a name to run by the friend who'd checked up on Buffy, but that car was a resume of its own; enough at least to give this Spike an initial benefit of the doubt. She'd sell the garage to Hector if she absolutely had to, but it had been the site of so many memories over the years, the thought of letting it go was like losing her family all over again. Watching Buffy climb out of that car... it felt like hope.
"Hey," Buffy said, clutching her hands together with a bright, nervous smile. "So I know we sort of cried all over each other the other day, but I know what it's like when you don't even have enough energy left to tell someone to back off. If you've thought better of letting a stranger all up in your space, don't worry, I won't hold you to it."
Mia smiled back, stepping forward to pull the other woman into a hug. "Are you kidding? You have no idea how much I needed that. I'm more concerned that you didn't know what you were asking when you suggested working here-- it's not exactly the most glamorous job in the world."
"Trust me, it can't be any worse than other places I have worked," Buffy said with a wry smile as they pulled apart again. "Or the kind of job I'd probably get stuck with if I stayed in Sunnydale. I'm pretty sure I could live my whole life without needing to know what the secret ingredient is in the Doublemeat."
"Don't say that until after you've tried my tuna," Mia joked, then sobered, clutching at Buffy's hands. "No, seriously. I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't come along when you did. I don't have time to show your friend the garage this morning too, but if you're okay with diving right in?"
"He's got other things to keep him busy today anyway," Buffy said, turning to wave the guy off. "He said he'd find someplace to stay while the market's open, come back tonight to ask more about the garage."
"Don't worry about where you're going to sleep," Mia shook her head. "We'll talk about that later, all right? But sure, I'd like to get to know your friend a little more over dinner anyway, talk expectations. My brother and his friends mostly ran DT's, but they left in kind of a hurry-- I was able to cancel most of the immediate appointments, but I have no idea if the inventory is even up to date, and most of the people I know who could fill in were also my brother's rivals; that makes things a little tricky. It's always been a family business."
Buffy's smile went a little crooked at that. "Yeah, I understand how that goes. I just found out an old rival of mine is going to be moving back to Sunny D just as I'm moving away-- and my old mentor and most of my friends seem a lot more excited about that than about me mostly disappearing. At least she won't be living in my space too; my high school best friend is going to live in my house with her girlfriend while they're in college to cover the taxes and utilities. So I'm free to be here as long as you need me."
Mia knew they had just met, but it already felt like Buffy had skipped straight from stranger to inner circle; if Dom had felt that way when he'd first met Brian, it was no wonder Dom had let him in so quickly. Mia had had the excuse of her hormones, but Dom had been just as gone on him. Hopefully Mia's instincts were making better choices in this case. But she really did have a good feeling about Buffy.
"You might regret saying that later," she grinned, then turned to usher her into the market. "But I'll take advantage as long as you'll let me. So come on in and let's get started."
So that's how it began-- and how it continued, one day after another, until it had been several months since Buffy and Spike had first appeared in Mia's life. She wasn't sure where Spike lived, but he was always at the garage by sunrise and closed up around dusk; he'd found a couple other friends to work with him, and surprisingly enough began making a profit again right away. Buffy went walking out with him or visiting her sister in the evenings sometimes, on rare occasions she went out with her Sunnydale friends, and on Sundays Dawn and Spike often came by for barbeque. Spike was picky about eating outside due to some kind of sunlight allergy, and frequently peppered his conversations with rough British slang, but it was plain that he thought the sun rose and set in Buffy, though whether that was more a Vince to Dom kind of loyalty or Letty to Dom seemed to vary by the day.
Regardless, he had yet to do anything to make Mia regret hiring him. And aside from the occasional squabble about accidentally using the wrong scented dryer sheets on each other's laundry or nearly burning down the kitchen trying to boil water, she didn't regret one thing about Buffy's presence in her life, either.
She'd just started to think that maybe things had stabilized again when a tow truck showed up one day pulling a very battered Dodge Charger. The Charger. Someone had rescued it from being junked; someone who certainly wasn't Dom, since he'd just sent her a new address in the Dominican Republic the week before.
"Letty?" she gasped, stepping out onto the porch another very recognizable car pulled up behind it. And on second glance, the tow truck was being driven by one of Hector's crew.
Buffy sucked in a breath at her side. "Sister-in-law, ish?"
Mia nodded, licking her lips. "Dom sent her off with Leon when he headed for Mexico. I haven't seen her since. But that's Dom's car. Dad's car."
"An excuse to come back," Buffy guessed as Letty looked up at the house, doing a visible double-take. "Want me to clear off?"
"Don't you dare," Mia snorted as the tow truck started backing into the driveway. Letty waved to the driver, then parked at the curb before stomping up toward the house.
She stopped at the top of the stairs; she did look much better than the last time Mia had seen her, healed up from the injuries she'd taken in that last attempted heist. She seemed a little tired, and clearly not surprised not to see Dom with Mia, but the look she was giving Buffy over her sunglasses was distinctly wary. "Mia. Hey. Long time no see."
"It's good to see you too," Mia replied, reaching out for a hug. "I was worried about you."
Letty accepted it briefly, all wry muscle and tension in Mia's grasp. "Thought I'd stay away until they weren't watching this place so close. Then maybe go track down Dom again. Who's the new face?"
"Letty, this is Buffy; Buffy, this is Letty. She's a friend."
"Leticia Ortiz," Letty said, grudgingly extending a hand. She was closer to Buffy's height than Mia's; dark haired to blonde, brown eyes to green, they made a visually striking pair. It reminded Mia of Brian's introduction to the family all over again, though it was her they were getting territorial over, not Dom. "But yeah, call me Letty."
"Buffy Summers-- just Buffy. I've been helping Mia keep everything going."
"Since when does Mia need help keeping things going, Just Buffy?" Letty snorted. "You look more like a race bunny than the help."
"Since not a single one of you came back to work after Race Wars," Mia replied, very dryly. "I get it, and I love you, but I'm not taking criticism about my life choices, okay? Just like I won't criticize yours." She jerked her chin toward the car, which had been lowered onto the drive just in front of the garage; the tow truck was already gone again. "That thing is a curse, you know."
"You're not making your new 'friend' sound any less like a race bunny, you know," Letty answered in kind, the corner of her mouth finally starting to curve up. "And I know it is. But it's Dom's. If anyone's going to decide to junk it, it's gonna be him. In the meantime, you still doing Sunday barbeque?"
Buffy had gone a little red in the face, but she didn't look upset; Mia took that for encouragement enough and nodded. "As much as we can with just us and sometimes Buffy's family. But since when did you need an invitation? I packed up the boys' things, but I left Dom's room alone, and I'm sure some of your stuff is still there if you want to stay until you go after him."
"You sure?" Letty asked, glancing between them again. "I know things ended a little rough."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Just don't do anything else that stupid while you're living here, okay? I could live without seeing any of my family arrested, ever again."
"I can promise to try at least," Letty shrugged, smiling; and at Mia's side, Buffy smiled too.
"I hear that," her newest friend said to her oldest. "Sounds like you must have some pretty good stories...?"
"Oh, now come on, don't make me regret introducing you two," Mia groaned as she opened the front door again.
"You have no idea," Letty said conspiratorially, chuckling as she followed them inside.
So maybe this newest after wasn't an entirely clean cut from its before? But that was okay, too; better than okay, even. For once in her life, maybe Mia didn't have to lose everything in order to gain something new.
-x-
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Rating: T/PG-13
Crossover: Fast and the Furious
Spoilers: Post-S5 AU for Buffy; right after The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Notes: Follows last year's an endless road to rediscover. Mia's perspective on Buffy's arrival in her life; and life going on. Title again by Avicii. (I have some Thoughts about how future Buffyverse and Fast and Furious-verse things will happen in this cross; not sure when I'll be able to get to them, though.)
Summary: For once in her life, maybe Mia didn't have to lose everything in order to gain something new. 2100 words.
The day after Buffy Summers came into Mia Toretto's life, she bit her lip, then placed a call to some friends of Dom's she was still in contact with. Her original family had shattered when their father died, and the one she and Dom had built afterward when he'd let his frustration and desire for escape land the team on the FBI's radar, but even if she didn't have anyone left close enough for day-to-day assistance, the larger community still looked after each other. She wanted very badly to believe Buffy was who she said she was, but she'd been burned badly the last time a stranger had walked into her life and asked to stay.
But the call came back clear; if anything, the girl from Sunnydale had undersold her own troubles. Mia sat down in one of the kitchen chairs afterward, clutching the phone to her chest, and let herself sag in relief for a long, weary moment. Then she pursed her mouth, thinking about what Buffy had said about wanting to be closer to her sister, then went upstairs and started boxing up everything Leon and Jesse had left in the guest room. Leon would be back for it or he wouldn't, but either way, he wouldn't be staying under the Toretto roof again anytime soon. Nor would Vince. Or Letty.
Or Dom. She'd forgive him, or course; he was the only family she had left. But if he'd just listened to her before trying for that last truck, if he'd treated her more like the partner in the family business she was than a little sister who still needed protecting, things would have gone very differently. She absolutely blamed Brian for lying his way into her heart and then breaking it, but she wasn't stupid; if it hadn't been him, it would have been some other undercover cop, and anyone else would never have avenged Jesse and let her brother go.
So now she had an empty house... and a brand-new friend with nowhere to stay in the city except for her father and very young stepmother's couch. Easy math. And whether Dom disapproved or not, he'd fucked off to Baja; he didn't get a vote anymore. It felt strangely cathartic to clear away the debris of the past few years anyway, splitting her life into yet another before and after. Maybe this 'after' would even last a little longer than the others. She could only hope.
The day after that, Buffy turned back up at the Toretto Market as promised, riding passenger in a black 1959 DeSoto Fireflite with darkly tinted windows driven by the same blond bad boy who'd been with her before. Mia hadn't got enough of a name to run by the friend who'd checked up on Buffy, but that car was a resume of its own; enough at least to give this Spike an initial benefit of the doubt. She'd sell the garage to Hector if she absolutely had to, but it had been the site of so many memories over the years, the thought of letting it go was like losing her family all over again. Watching Buffy climb out of that car... it felt like hope.
"Hey," Buffy said, clutching her hands together with a bright, nervous smile. "So I know we sort of cried all over each other the other day, but I know what it's like when you don't even have enough energy left to tell someone to back off. If you've thought better of letting a stranger all up in your space, don't worry, I won't hold you to it."
Mia smiled back, stepping forward to pull the other woman into a hug. "Are you kidding? You have no idea how much I needed that. I'm more concerned that you didn't know what you were asking when you suggested working here-- it's not exactly the most glamorous job in the world."
"Trust me, it can't be any worse than other places I have worked," Buffy said with a wry smile as they pulled apart again. "Or the kind of job I'd probably get stuck with if I stayed in Sunnydale. I'm pretty sure I could live my whole life without needing to know what the secret ingredient is in the Doublemeat."
"Don't say that until after you've tried my tuna," Mia joked, then sobered, clutching at Buffy's hands. "No, seriously. I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't come along when you did. I don't have time to show your friend the garage this morning too, but if you're okay with diving right in?"
"He's got other things to keep him busy today anyway," Buffy said, turning to wave the guy off. "He said he'd find someplace to stay while the market's open, come back tonight to ask more about the garage."
"Don't worry about where you're going to sleep," Mia shook her head. "We'll talk about that later, all right? But sure, I'd like to get to know your friend a little more over dinner anyway, talk expectations. My brother and his friends mostly ran DT's, but they left in kind of a hurry-- I was able to cancel most of the immediate appointments, but I have no idea if the inventory is even up to date, and most of the people I know who could fill in were also my brother's rivals; that makes things a little tricky. It's always been a family business."
Buffy's smile went a little crooked at that. "Yeah, I understand how that goes. I just found out an old rival of mine is going to be moving back to Sunny D just as I'm moving away-- and my old mentor and most of my friends seem a lot more excited about that than about me mostly disappearing. At least she won't be living in my space too; my high school best friend is going to live in my house with her girlfriend while they're in college to cover the taxes and utilities. So I'm free to be here as long as you need me."
Mia knew they had just met, but it already felt like Buffy had skipped straight from stranger to inner circle; if Dom had felt that way when he'd first met Brian, it was no wonder Dom had let him in so quickly. Mia had had the excuse of her hormones, but Dom had been just as gone on him. Hopefully Mia's instincts were making better choices in this case. But she really did have a good feeling about Buffy.
"You might regret saying that later," she grinned, then turned to usher her into the market. "But I'll take advantage as long as you'll let me. So come on in and let's get started."
So that's how it began-- and how it continued, one day after another, until it had been several months since Buffy and Spike had first appeared in Mia's life. She wasn't sure where Spike lived, but he was always at the garage by sunrise and closed up around dusk; he'd found a couple other friends to work with him, and surprisingly enough began making a profit again right away. Buffy went walking out with him or visiting her sister in the evenings sometimes, on rare occasions she went out with her Sunnydale friends, and on Sundays Dawn and Spike often came by for barbeque. Spike was picky about eating outside due to some kind of sunlight allergy, and frequently peppered his conversations with rough British slang, but it was plain that he thought the sun rose and set in Buffy, though whether that was more a Vince to Dom kind of loyalty or Letty to Dom seemed to vary by the day.
Regardless, he had yet to do anything to make Mia regret hiring him. And aside from the occasional squabble about accidentally using the wrong scented dryer sheets on each other's laundry or nearly burning down the kitchen trying to boil water, she didn't regret one thing about Buffy's presence in her life, either.
She'd just started to think that maybe things had stabilized again when a tow truck showed up one day pulling a very battered Dodge Charger. The Charger. Someone had rescued it from being junked; someone who certainly wasn't Dom, since he'd just sent her a new address in the Dominican Republic the week before.
"Letty?" she gasped, stepping out onto the porch another very recognizable car pulled up behind it. And on second glance, the tow truck was being driven by one of Hector's crew.
Buffy sucked in a breath at her side. "Sister-in-law, ish?"
Mia nodded, licking her lips. "Dom sent her off with Leon when he headed for Mexico. I haven't seen her since. But that's Dom's car. Dad's car."
"An excuse to come back," Buffy guessed as Letty looked up at the house, doing a visible double-take. "Want me to clear off?"
"Don't you dare," Mia snorted as the tow truck started backing into the driveway. Letty waved to the driver, then parked at the curb before stomping up toward the house.
She stopped at the top of the stairs; she did look much better than the last time Mia had seen her, healed up from the injuries she'd taken in that last attempted heist. She seemed a little tired, and clearly not surprised not to see Dom with Mia, but the look she was giving Buffy over her sunglasses was distinctly wary. "Mia. Hey. Long time no see."
"It's good to see you too," Mia replied, reaching out for a hug. "I was worried about you."
Letty accepted it briefly, all wry muscle and tension in Mia's grasp. "Thought I'd stay away until they weren't watching this place so close. Then maybe go track down Dom again. Who's the new face?"
"Letty, this is Buffy; Buffy, this is Letty. She's a friend."
"Leticia Ortiz," Letty said, grudgingly extending a hand. She was closer to Buffy's height than Mia's; dark haired to blonde, brown eyes to green, they made a visually striking pair. It reminded Mia of Brian's introduction to the family all over again, though it was her they were getting territorial over, not Dom. "But yeah, call me Letty."
"Buffy Summers-- just Buffy. I've been helping Mia keep everything going."
"Since when does Mia need help keeping things going, Just Buffy?" Letty snorted. "You look more like a race bunny than the help."
"Since not a single one of you came back to work after Race Wars," Mia replied, very dryly. "I get it, and I love you, but I'm not taking criticism about my life choices, okay? Just like I won't criticize yours." She jerked her chin toward the car, which had been lowered onto the drive just in front of the garage; the tow truck was already gone again. "That thing is a curse, you know."
"You're not making your new 'friend' sound any less like a race bunny, you know," Letty answered in kind, the corner of her mouth finally starting to curve up. "And I know it is. But it's Dom's. If anyone's going to decide to junk it, it's gonna be him. In the meantime, you still doing Sunday barbeque?"
Buffy had gone a little red in the face, but she didn't look upset; Mia took that for encouragement enough and nodded. "As much as we can with just us and sometimes Buffy's family. But since when did you need an invitation? I packed up the boys' things, but I left Dom's room alone, and I'm sure some of your stuff is still there if you want to stay until you go after him."
"You sure?" Letty asked, glancing between them again. "I know things ended a little rough."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Just don't do anything else that stupid while you're living here, okay? I could live without seeing any of my family arrested, ever again."
"I can promise to try at least," Letty shrugged, smiling; and at Mia's side, Buffy smiled too.
"I hear that," her newest friend said to her oldest. "Sounds like you must have some pretty good stories...?"
"Oh, now come on, don't make me regret introducing you two," Mia groaned as she opened the front door again.
"You have no idea," Letty said conspiratorially, chuckling as she followed them inside.
So maybe this newest after wasn't an entirely clean cut from its before? But that was okay, too; better than okay, even. For once in her life, maybe Mia didn't have to lose everything in order to gain something new.
-x-