Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Brian’s mom had told her that there would be boys that would take her for a ride, tell her pretty little lies, and tear her heart in two for as long as she could remember. Her father had left before she was born, apparently not ready to be a parent at such a young age. Along with that, her mother's endless string of boyfriends, and her own experience, Brian had written off relationships forever. She always ended up screwing something up anyways. She did it with her mom by running away and continuously fighting, with Rome by becoming a cop, and pretty much every other relationship she had in some way or another. She had never expected Dom though.

She took the undercover case in LA because they needed someone who could drive, and everyone in the precinct knew about her juvie record. They all knew she stole a car and caused a five-car pileup. With the promise of a promotion to a detective, she was in. Brian needed the cash if she was going to try and help Rome get on his feet after he got out of jail.

Brian was 7 when she met Roman on the elementary school playground. Barstow was a small town which meant one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. Their friendship started off unusually. To this day neither of them can remember what the fight was about. All they know for sure is that Rome eventually pushed Brain saying she wouldn’t do anything because she was a girl, which made her swing her tiny little fist right into his face giving him a bloody nose. They were taken to the principal’s office immediately. While waiting for their parents, they began talking.

“You know you punch pretty hard,” Rome said his voice muffled from the paper towels he had pressed against his nose.

“Let me guess, I punch pretty hard for a girl, right?” Brain spit out as venomously as a 7-year-old girl could.

“No, I mean you hit pretty hard for a person,” he said in slight awe. Then with a giggle, he added: "I bet you hit harder than Alan Wilcox ever could.”

Brian smiled at that. That is the day they became best friends.

When Brian was 12, she ran away from home for the first time.

“I just don’t understand why he has to be here all the time,” Brian grumbled. This was the third night in a row her mother’s new boyfriend, Mark, had stayed the night.

“Aubrianne, I don’t want to hear it tonight so just drop it.”

Brain growled low in her throat “I told you not to call me that. Why can’t you just call me Brian?”

“Because I named you Aubrianne. If you don’t want to go by your full name, why can’t you at least shorten it to a more girly name? Like Aubri?” Her mother sighed irritably. They have had this conversation many times before.

“Because I’m not girly mom and my name is Brian.”

“Your name is Aubrianne. End of discussion.” She said harshly glaring at her young daughter as she left the kitchen to take Mark his beer and sit on the couch with him.

Brian stood there for a moment with angry tears in her eyes before she stomped into her room and slammed the door. She threw some clothes in her bookbag and silently slipped out her window. Hot tears streamed down her face as she made her way to Rome’s house about a mile away. When she got there, Rome had been the one to answer the door, his mother working the night shift at the local diner. He didn’t say anything just pulled her into a hug and held her until her tears stopped.

“Come on let’s play F-Zero so I can kick your butt,” he said as he released her and started walking to his room.

“In your dreams, Pierce,” Brain replied smiling and followed him.

This became almost a routine for them. Every time Brian and her mother would have a fight, she would show up at Rome’s house. Sometimes she would scream, sometimes she would cry, but Roman never failed to take her mind off everything and make her laugh.

Brian was 14 when a guy first tried to use her. Most of the town's teenagers have snuck away to race cars in the desert about 20 miles out of town. Brian had won her race for the night and caught the eye of a senior 19-year-old boy named Alex. Still high on adrenaline Brian somehow found herself pressed up against Rome’s car (because he was two years older than her, he was the only one of them with a valid driver’s license and therefore a car) making out with the older man.

She was on cloud nine up until Alex started to grab at her breast. She tried to push his hands away mumbling for him to stop. He just held her against the car harder and moved his hand around to her back and undid her bra clasp. Pushing as hard as she could she pushed Alex off her and punched him square in the jaw.

She yelled for Rome, and he ran straight over forgetting all about the other girl he was talking to near the fire pit.

“Brian what’s wrong,” he said hurriedly seeing her disheveled look.

“Nothing Rome get in the car now.” She said coldly as she opened the passenger side and climbed in. Rome obeyed and quickly got into the car taking off into the desert on the road back to town. He stopped about 5 miles out and demanded she tells him what happened. Once she had, he was cursing up a storm, furious and swearing to kill Alex with his bare hands. Brian didn’t say anything, just mumbled that she wanted to go home as she pulled her legs up into the seat and wrapped her arms around herself. Rome looked at her and just nodded his head, putting his hand briefly on her head and tucking her short blond hair behind her ear in a comforting gesture. She told her mother what happened when she got home, and all she said was “I told you so.”

The next day at school Alex was sporting a lovely bruise on his face from her punch and a black eye and busted up nose. She would have to remember to thank Rome for that later.

Brian was 16 when she went made a stupid mistake out of pure rage and spite.

“Hey Aubrianne, why don’t you go get me another beer,” yelled Jake, her mother’s newest addition to her list of shitty boyfriends, from the living room about ten feet away from her. Brian rolled her eyes and made no move to get up from her place at the kitchen table. She had an English project due and was currently preparing a poster about Macbeth.

“Hey I’m talkin to you,” growled Jake. Brian had learned quickly that he wasn’t a man with patience. Still, she made no move and continued to color in the Birnam Wood in the corner of the poster.

“Aubrianne O’Conner, get off your ass and do as your soon to be stepfather says,” Her mother says while she is curled up next to Jake on the couch high as a kite. That made Brian snort quietly to herself.

“You got something you wanna say, girl? And I know you aren’t gonna make me tell you twice to get me that damn beer!” Jake leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, his red shot eyes glaring a hole in her skull.

“Get your own damn beer,” she muttered.

He slowly got up and walked toward her. When he reached her, he pulled her out of the chair and shoved her into the wall. He smirked at her shocked reaction and walked toward the fridge and pulled out a beer. Brian knew she would regret what she was about to do, but Rome did always say she never knew when to quit.

“Hey, would you look at that, your legs do work,” she said in fake amazement.

The next thing Brian knew she was on the kitchen floor scrambling back to get as far away as the pissed of man towering over her. He grabbed her by the collar of her t-shirt and hauled her up holding her against the wall. She really should have expected the sharp sting of her left cheek as he backhanded her. Hard. So, she swung and unfortunately it was caught by Jake. He threw her arm down and punched her in the eye making her head reel back and slam into the wall. Then he swung his right fist into the side of Brian’s head, connecting right at her temple and suddenly she was falling. She didn’t have time to brace herself, so she landed roughly face first. The pain was radiating from her face and head so much she almost didn’t feel the wetness at first. Then she smelled it. Beer. Cheap, crappy beer. That bastard had poured his beer on top of her head while she was on the ground.

“Next time, listen” she vaguely even registered the drifting voice. Everything was drifting.

Brian didn’t even know she had passed out until she woke up. It was dark outside, and she could hear snoring in the living room coming from her mother and Jake. She slowly pushed herself up using the wall to help balance herself. It was 8:00 pm according to the clock on the stove. Great, she thought to herself, she had been passed out for almost two hours and her mother never even bothered to check on her. She was going to go to her room to lay down, but something caught her eye.

Keys. Jakes car keys to be more exact. Oh, this would be fun. She grabbed the keys and silently walked out the front door.

The blurriness of the next events would be blamed on the concussion she was sure she had. One minute she was driving down the freeway, windows down and blaring music. The next she is in the back of a cop car. The car in front of her had locked its brakes up, and the one behind her slammed into her from behind. Five car pileup. That along with Jake calling the police and saying she had stolen his car and the beer that she reeked of she was quickly thrown into juvie.

She spent two years alone without even Rome by her side, though he did visit her when he could. Two full years for her to think. She knew she had to get her life in order or she would end up dead. She would get out of this hell hole, get herself a respectable job, convince Rome to do the same, and they would live safe, boring lives together. So, when she got out at 18, she joined the police academy.

Rome was pissed but it wasn’t like they hadn’t fought before. She was convinced that he would come around. That was until two months after she joined the force that he got arrested. He made a stupid mistake and had eight stolen cars on his property for Gods sake. Three years in an upstate prison. All the while blaming Brian for his mistake. Brian’s mom had died while she was still in juvie from a drug overdose. For the first time in her life, Brian was truly alone.

So, she took the undercover job. She swore to herself to gain Rome back and make amends. It looked like it would be an easy job anyway. Infiltrate a gang of criminals who were hijacking trucks, get evidence to bust them, get out and make detective, and be waiting for Rome as he walked out of the prison gates.

She wasn’t expecting team Toretto.

Chapter Text

At first, she just started to talk to Mia. Three weeks of bad tuna sandwiches and small talk. Mia told her about how she was studying to be a doctor, how she and Letty had been dating since they were 16, and how on their first date Letty drove them through a retaining wall. Brian, in turn, told her stories of growing up with Rome in the middle of nowhere.

“So, wait you guys actually raced backward?” Mia asked incredulously.

“Yup,” Brian said with a chuckle “there wasn’t a whole lot to do in a small desert town, so we got very creative in our entertainment.”

“So why did you move away? I could never leave my brother like that, and you guys sound super close.” Mia asked innocently as she wiped down the counter with a damp cloth.

Brian’s face fell “We uh, had a falling out a few years back. Haven’t talked in two years.” She said quietly looking down at her plate. She didn’t talk about Rome after that.

Jesse was the first one to have a crush on Brian. He either didn’t try or simply couldn’t hide that fact.

“Oh, she is beautiful,” is what he said the first time he laid eyes on her, Leon commenting on how he liked her hair. She smiled down at her plate at the comments, hoping that her hair around her face covered it. She was no stranger to how she looked. Tall, tan, with breast on the smaller side, nice ass, wavy blond hair that reached her shoulder, and baby blue eyes that seemed almost icy. While Brian had always considered herself average, she knew that there were certain men, and women, that liked the way she looked.

While Jesse was the one to develop a crush first, Vince was the one who flirted with her first.

It was the day after her confession to Mia about Rome when Vince decided to make his move. Whether it was because he was impatient or could some strange sense her inner longing for something (namely Rome’s hug), Brian didn’t know. The day started normal enough. She pulled the truck into the usual parking spot and walked into the café with a car magazine in hand. Brian was really hoping Mia wouldn’t bring up Rome today and brought the magazine with her to hopefully convey she wasn’t in a deep conversation kind of mood.

“Tuna on white, no crust. Right?” Mia asked without looking up from her homework. Brian smiled. After about two weeks of coming in, they had started a little game to keep things fun.

“I don’t know, how is it?” asked Brian with fake curiosity.

“It was crappy yesterday, crappy the day before, and crappy today,” Mia says with her eyebrows raised.

“I’ll have the tuna.”

“No crust.”

“Yes please,” Brian says sweetly, making Mia grin.

She lifted her head to say thanks when movement caught her eye. She looked over and made eye contact with Dominic Toretto himself, taking a moment to look him up and down. She smiled in acknowledgment, and he nodded before taking a swig of his cola and going back into his office and sitting back down at his desk. Brian had known what he looked like naturally, seeing his mugshot and picture in the case file given to her to memorize, but seeing the man in person was something completely different. The man was a wall of solid muscle, tall and if she was completely honest with herself, gorgeous. The sound of engines filled the air snapping her out of her train of thought. Oh great. Brian really didn’t want to deal with this today.

The first real encounter with someone on the team besides Mia was with Letty. It did not go well. To say that Letty was possessive was an understatement. She declared Brian a skank the second she laid her eyes on her. After many times of Brian telling her, she was straight and Mia telling her they were just friends they had finally gotten to the point of polite head nodding in acknowledgment of the other. Brian called that a win.

But Letty wasn’t the one she was worried about today. No today was about Vince. Every time he was in the café at the same time she was he would stare at her.

The team filed in after they took some time to look under the hood of Vince’s ride, Leon and Jesse had moved to the side of the store to snack and watch Vince most likely strike out. Letty immediately addressed her girlfriend first, leaning over the counter to put her hand on the back of Mia’s neck and pull her into a kiss which Mia went in for gladly. Vince slid smoothly into the seat next to her, looking her body up and down appreciatively. Brain had to use every ounce of control not to roll her eyes. He continued to stare at her until Mia came up for air and realized what was going on.

“Vince,” Mia tried, growing more agitated as he ignored her to stare at her friend.

“Vince,” she tried a little louder and smiled slightly to herself when Vince broke eye contact with Brian’s body and gave a glare at her for messing with his flirting, “Can I get ya anything?” she smiled sweetly.

Vince waved his hand at Mia in an attempt to shoo her away and turned his attention to Brian.

“You look good,” he all but purred as he leaned over and put his hand on top of her knee and squeezing it gently. Brian had already had enough and stood up quickly, reaching in her back pocket for her wallet and taking out a few bills for what she owed and a tip.

“Thanks a lot, Mia. See you tomorrow,” she said as she walked out into the parking lot.

Vince was not the fastest thinker of the group and often got things wrong because he acted before he really thought. So, when he jumped out of his seat and trailed after Brian, everyone was a little worried. They were hoping that he was going to put his arm around her shoulders and walk her to her truck like they had seen him do before with race bunnies.

“Hey, why don’t you try Fat Burger from now on bitch. Mia’s got a girlfriend.” Vince said.

Brian felt the push she wasn’t prepared for and ended up slamming against her truck, her hands coming up to brace herself on the glass. Without thinking Brian turned and swung at Vince with a left hook, sending him to the pavement. Vince stopped thinking then, forgetting Brian was a girl and ran on only adrenaline. He got up and tackled Brian, grabbing her around her middle and slamming her back into the side of the truck. Brian had grown up with Rome, and they used to wrestle like this when they got bored, and video games and cars wouldn’t cut it. Rome also insisted on teaching her how to fight and how to throw a punch, something he ultimately regretted when he pissed her off. So, when Vince tackled her she wasn’t intimidated by his size and strength, she instead pushed off the truck and used the momentum to run Vince into the back of his car.

Everyone in the café froze in shock when Vince first shoved Brian. Mia was the first to recover and screamed for her brother. Dom got up and turned around to see what the commotion was when Brian started punching Vince in the gut. Dom froze for a second too because it’s not every day that Vince gets the shit beat out of him by a girl. Mia screamed his name again, and he quickly walked out of the store with a stunned Leon and Jess following closely behind.  

When they reached Brian and Vince, she had managed to get him on the ground, straddling him and was about to punch him in the face when Dom grabbed her. He threw her a little harder than he thought and winced slightly as she was sprawled out on the back of Vince’s car. Brian slid off the car quickly and got ready for another fight. Leon was dragging Vince away as Dom screamed in his face that he was an embarrassment. Dom turned away from Vince to look at Brian, looking her up and down for injuries.

“Jess give me the wallet,” Dom said as he reassures himself that the girl in front of him wasn’t hurt other than some scrapes and probably bruises. Jess handed him her wallet that had fallen out during the fight and Dom opened it to look at her driver’s license for a name.

“Aubrianne Spilner? That sounds like a serial killer.” He commented as he handed back her wallet. He watched her roll her eyes at the name.

“It’s Brian,” she said shortly, taking her wallet and walking back to the truck.

“You probably shouldn’t come around here anymore,” Dom called to her retreating form. Yea, Brian thought as she started the engine and drove away from Toretto’s, if only it were that easy.