ONE YEAR LATER

GENTLE, NIMBLE FINGERS TRACED delicate shapes on the skin of Deckard Shaw's shoulder blade, soothing the man, even in his deep sleep. Natalie drew whatever shapes came to mind - circles, stars, swirls, squares - anything to keep her mind distracted.

The gleaming moonlight illuminated the sheen of sweat plastered over her tanned skin despite the London chill having made its way into their bedroom. The Shaw woman had been surprised that her routine nightmare hadn't woken Deckard up, and whilst he told her to wake him after she had experienced them, Natalie couldn't bring herself to do it - he looked so peaceful, and peace was hard to come by nowadays.

The night of the plane incident had been really hard on Deckard, especially because of how he had been absolutely powerless and could do nothing to help the two people that mattered most to him: his wife and his brother. He truly thought that they were both going to die, and that he was going to listen to Natalie die over the fucking phone.

Deckard wished that he had never taken the job in Italy, or at least worked faster so that it was finished sooner. His mind had developed the habit of torturing him with the 'what ifs' of that night, and every time Deckard felt himself slipping away, Natalie saw right through him and would bring him back.

She'd take his face in one of her hands, smoothing soothing circles on his stubbled cheek with her thumb, and use her other to take one of his and hold it against her chest.

"See," Natalie would say, her voice gentle and light, "I'm still breathing, my heart is still beating - I'm alive, Deckard, I'm okay."

He would feel her chest rise and fall with her strong breaths, whilst her heart pounded softly against his palm. Over the last year, hearing and feeling the love of his life's heartbeat had become one of his favourite things, which is why he slept with his head resting on Natalie's chest most nights. Tonight was no exception.

Deckard laid with his ear against his wife's chest, listening to the steady beat of her heart, and an arm wrapped tightly around her waist, as though he was afraid she would disappear in the middle of the night. The man was sound asleep. His face was completely relaxed whilst he breathed deeply, his breaths completely even.

Natalie was surprised that the short, quick jerks of her chest which matched her unequal breaths didn't wake him, considering that he was usually a light sleeper, but she wasn't complaining. The nightmares had kept her husband up too many nights, and it made Natalie feel terrible.

She could deal with it by herself, just this once.

So, Natalie Shaw stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, trying to calm her breathing whilst her mind was assaulted by fragments of memories she'd rather not have.

The gunshot.

The blood.

Letty's cries.

The pain.

Oh, God, the pain.

The scars from her bullet wound flared up with an all too familiar burning pain, making the woman wince. It felt like someone had stabbed her with a hot fire poker and simply left it in her abdomen. A gruesome analogy, but an accurate one.

Natalie tried to breathe through it, pressing a trembling hand to the scar on the front of her stomach to somehow try and stop the pain, but it was just too much.

Usually the flare-ups were manageable, but for whatever reason, this episode made her feel like she was actually back on the plane, bleeding out and dying.

Bile rose in her throat - she expected it to die down, but when it remained after a few moments, the Shaw woman lept from the bed and raced to the en suite with a firm hand pressed against her mouth.

Her sudden movements had jerked Deckard awake in a panic, causing the man's frantic eyes to dart around the room looking for his wife. Once his eyes landed on the light slipping through the bathroom door and his ears registered the retching, Deckard quickly threw the duvet off of his body.

His feet hit the cold hardwood floor as he surged from the bed, hurrying towards the bathroom and pushing the door open. Natalie was leant over the toilet bowl, violently heaving as her own body turned against itself.

Deckard wasted no time in kneeling behind his wife and collecting her messy brown hair in one of his hands, before using the other to rub soothing circles on her back.

"It's okay." he murmured as Natalie fell back into him from exhaustion. Deckard knew that his wife hated throwing up more than anything, so he wondered what had caused the sudden sickness that managed to rattle her. All of his questions were answered when he saw Natalie using her hand to try and massage exactly where her scar was.

Deckard hated that he couldn't do anything to prevent his wife's pain - it was the worst feeling in the world, knowing that there was nothing he could do to just completely remove that night from their lives forever. What was even worse was that the people that hurt her were still alive and breathing, but hopefully not for long...

Placing one of his cold hands over Natalie's stomach, Deckard gently traced the scar with his thumb, making his wife sigh in relief. The fiery pain was finally fading, and the nausea was beginning to settle.

The married couple stayed like that for a moment - Natalie curled into Deckard's bare chest, both of them kneeling on the cold tiled floor of their bathroom whilst exhaustion flooded them in waves.

Lifting Natalie up so that he could loop an arm under her knees, Deckard rose to a stand with his wife cradled in his arms. He carefully walked back into the bedroom before laying the barely awake woman on the bed. The man went to move towards the door, but a hand caught his wrist in a delicate hold.

"Where're you going?" Natalie mumbled, not wanting him to leave. Deckard simply lent down and pressed a delicate kiss to her forehead. He pulled away and tucked a piece of hair behind Natalie's ear, looking into her drooping eyes.

"Just grabbing some things from the kitchen." He smiled reassuringly, making Natalie relax and lean into his hand, which had moved to cup her cheek. Deckard gave a cheek one final graze with his thumb before moving towards the bedroom door.

After walking down the stairs and passing through the living room, Deckard made it to the kitchen. He flicked on the light and winced at the sudden brightness, causing him to rub his eyes with one hand. Moving towards the kettle, he pulled it from its base and filled it with some water from the faucet.

After getting enough water for his tea, Deckard placed it back on the stand and flicked the button, making the water begin to boil. He glanced at the clock that was built into the oven and sighed: 4:02AM.

There was no point in going back to sleep, considering that he and Natalie had to get up in two hours. If he was really being honest, he didn't want to go back to sleep; Deckard wanted–no, needed–to make sure that his wife was okay.

She was his number one priority, and always would be - no matter what.

NATALIE STIRRED FROM HER deep sleep, her brown eyes fluttering open, only to have beams of sunlight shining directly on her face. Groaning, the Shaw woman shielded her eyes and sat up, suddenly aware of the new texture beneath her that felt much more uncomfortable than her usual sheets. She pulled the duvet from her body, only to find a towel laid down beneath her.

Frowning in confusion, Natalie glanced at the floor next to her bedside, where she found another towel laid down on the hardwood floor, as well as an empty bucket.

Reminders of the night before flashed through her mind, making the Shaw woman grimace in not only disgust, but also slight embarrassment - she just wanted to handle it herself one time, only to have it completely backfire.

Not to mention the fact that Natalie had never actually thrown up because of the pain before. Sure, sometimes it made her feel nauseous, but she had never actually ended up leaping from bed to kneel by the toilet.

Looking to the other side of the bed, Natalie's heart couldn't help but melt - Deckard was sound asleep, but it was quite obvious that he had tried to stay up. He had his pillows stacked up behind him, allowing him to comfortably sit up whilst leaning against the headboard. His head had lulled to the side, looking like he had just nodded off without even intending to.

The flat screen TV (which was attached to the wall opposite the end of their bed) was on some random channel that Natalie didn't recognise, and the remote was still in Deckard's loose grip.

Pulling the duvet back over herself, Natalie shuffled closer to her husband, allowing her body to curl into his, and for her head to rest on his bare shoulder. Instinctively, Deckard's arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer against his skin.

"Hi, darling." Deckard murmured, his eyes barely open as placing a soft kiss to Natalie's hairline. "What time is it?"

"A little after six." Natalie hummed, nuzzling her head further into the warmth of her husband's neck.

"Five more minutes?" The man smiled, using his other arm to wrap Natalie in a tight but comforting hug. The woman couldn't help but melt in his hold, sighing in content as all of the muscles in her body completely relaxed at Deckard's touch.

"Five more minutes."

"IT'S GOOD TO SEE you, again, Miss Natalie." Nora, one of the King estate's housemaids, greeted after opening the front door for the Shaw woman and her husband. "You too, Mr Shaw."

Both Natalie and Deckard stepped into the foyer hand-in-hand, away from the bitter London weather that consumed the bustling city. Slipping off their black trench coats (which ironically were identical to each other) and handing them to a grinning Nora, the couple joined hands again and began moving towards the living room.

Before they could even leave the foyer, the cutest little steps pattered against the floor, followed by the squeals of a very excited toddler.

Piper King, who was now two-and-a-half years old, came barreling towards her godmother with open arms and little grabby hands. It was no surprise that the girl was the first King to greet them properly - despite being a year older, and becoming the most adorable and talkative little girl who always found new ways to make her family laugh, her intensive favouritism towards Natalie hadn't changed. If anything, it had only increased by tenfold.

"AUNTIE NAT!" Piper squealed, giggling in delight when a grinning Natalie crouched down to catch her and toss her in the air.

Setting the girl on her hip, Natalie nuzzled her nose into Piper's cheek, making her shriek with laughter whilst she tried to push her godmother's head away.

Deckard couldn't help but watch the scene with so much adoration that his heart felt like it was going to burst - Natalie was the best aunt and godmother to that little girl, and hopefully one day, she would be the best mother to their children. One day.

"Hey, don't tell me you've forgotten about your Uncle Decks, hm?" Deckard mused, moving to stand behind Natalie and booping his goddaughter's little button nose. Piper giggled, grabbing at his hand over her aunt's shoulder.

"Hi Decks!" The girl beamed, not having quite mastered the word 'uncle' yet, so she stuck to just his nickname. She was one of the cutest kids the couple had ever seen - Piper had her mother's big brown eyes that just gleamed with mischief, and had somehow managed to inherit the signature dirty blonde hair that her father had when he was a child. They weren't sure if the colour would grow out like it did with Xavier, but there was a chance that it would stick around (like it did with Alice and Andy).

"Guess what, Auntie Nat! Guess what!" Piper bounced in the woman's hold, practically vibrating with excitement. Deciding to play along, Natalie pretended to think for a moment, humming before widening her eyes as though she had thought of an idea.

"Mommy gave you donuts with sprinkles for breakfast!" The Shaw woman gasped, making the girl giggle and shake her head wildly.

Joining in, Deckard tapped a finger to his chin, looking thoughtful whilst he came up with something that was sure to make Piper laugh.

"Oh, I know," He started, a smile tugging at his lips when the young girl tried to muffle her excited laughter with her small hands, her little cheeks rosy from smiling so much, "Uncle Nick chopped off all of his hair!"

Piper squealed, kicking her feet, and shaking her head - Natalie couldn't help but grin at the little sunshine in her arms, and Deckard chuckled at the pair.

Wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulder, the man began leading them towards the living room, where he could make out the King family's muffled chatter.

"Lukas and Leo here!" Piper revealed, beaming at her aunt and uncle, who had excitement dancing across their faces.

Lukas and Leo King - the newest members of the family, and Natalie and Deckard's new nephews. Six months after the plane incident, Alice and Bianca adopted the newborn twin boys, having been wanting to start their own little family for a while. The two babies were cute as buttons, and the entire family was completely smitten with them.

Andromeda was overjoyed about being a grandmother again, and couldn't help but shower the newborns with every gift she could think of – toys, clothes, stuffed animals, furniture — hell, she even paid for everything that went in their nursery.

Xavier and Wren doted on them with as many hugs, kisses, and cuddles as they could give whenever the couple saw them. They were typically the ones that would have the baby boys nap on them; Wren and Xavier just couldn't get enough of their nephews' chubby little faces and the baby cuddles.

Piper absolutely loved playing with her cousins, even if they could only watch her play with the latest toy that her Uncle Nick had gotten her (who was not only spoiling her, but he was spoiling her in hopes of becoming the young girl's favourite. Safe to say Nick's attempts had been unsuccessful).

Speaking of Nick, he and Zoey were a lot like Andy in spoiling the twins with gifts, as well as taking them out for walks and picnics. Yes, they couldn't walk or eat solid foods yet, but the babies loved rolling around on the picnic blanket and being pushed in their double stroller.

Because of recent events, Natalie and Deckard had only seen the little boys a handful of times. That didn't mean though that they hadn't melted at every single photo that Alice or Bianca would send, or made sure that they bought every cute outfit and stuffed animal that they saw for the twins.

Pushing open the large double doors, the couple and young girl entered the living room, where all of the Kings were lounging on the various sofas. Hearing the click of the doors made them all look up, and then grin when they saw who it was.

Piper began wriggling in Natalie's hold, so the Shaw woman knew that she wanted to be put down. Placing her feet on the floor, Natalie watched as her goddaughter dashed towards her mother, Wren, who was cuddling with Leo, the younger twin.

Andy was the first one to leap from her seat and greet the married couple with the biggest grin on her face.

"Darlings!" She cheered, wrapping her daughter in the tightest hug she could muster. Andromeda knew that the past year had been extremely tough on Natalie and Deckard, and tried to help out as much as she could - but deep down, she knew that the two were doing the best just supporting each other, just them two.

Natalie still couldn't believe that she had Andromeda King as her mother. The comfort she gave just by being near people was incomparable; her hold made every single one of the Shaw woman's tensed muscles relax, exactly like how her father's embrace did before he died all those years ago.

Breaking apart, Andy held Natalie's face in her hands, gently rubbing her cheekbone with her soft thumb.

"Are you ready for today?" Andy questioned, her eyes analysing the woman's face for any uncertainty. She watched as Natalie's stare hardened from what she assumed was pure rage, before the woman took a deep breath and nodded. Nothing, absolutely nothing, would stop Natalie Shaw from going through with their plan, and honestly, that scared the life out of Andy. She refused to let her daughter get hurt, or worse, whilst making Dominic Toretto pay for everything that he's done – which is why the Shaw woman wasn't the only one enacting their vengeance.

"Are they here yet?" Natalie asked, wondering where a certain dynamic trio was. Andy simply shook her head, before giving her daughter one more smile and moving to greet Deckard.

Leaving the two to their embrace, Natalie made her way towards her brother, Nick, who was holding Lukas in his arms and cooing at the boy.

"I'm your favourite, aren't I? Uncle Nick has to be your favourite, because between you and me, I can't be second place to your Auntie Nat again." Nick spoke in a light tone, referring to Piper's choice of favourite relatives, making Lukas smile and babble incoherently.

"Oh, Nick, we both know that you aren't even second place." Natalie joked, taking the seat next to her brother. "It's more like fifth."

"Ha-ha, very funny, Nats." Nick deadpanned, trying to seem serious, but couldn't resist the grin that was tugging at the corner of his lips. Not wanting to risk the man dropping the small child, Natalie simply wrapped an arm around his torso and rested her head on his shoulder.

Holding her free hand out to the six-month-old, Natalie grinned when Lukas' little chubby fingers wrapped around her pointer finger and tried to pull it towards his mouth. Gently shaking her hand, the Shaw woman made the newborn giggle in delight.

"Hi, Lukas." Natalie cooed, watching how the boy's eyes gleamed with awe. "Oh, aren't you just the cutest!"

Lukas flashed the pair his adorable gummy smile, making both adults melt. He really was one of the cutest babies they had ever seen. Just moments later, little frantic steps pattered against the floor, distracting the siblings from their nephew.

"No, Lukas, no!" Piper exclaimed, running over to where Natalie and Nick were sitting, scrambling to sit in the Shaw woman's lap and wrapping her small arms around Natalie's waist as tight as she could. "My Auntie Nat!"

The Kings couldn't help but laugh as Piper frowned at Lukas, and clung to Natalie tighter. The Shaw woman chuckled, pressing a kiss on the top of her goddaughter's head before hugging her back. She rubbed soothing circles onto the girl's back, which made Piper rest her head against the woman's chest.

It filled Natalie's heart with a warmth that she thought she had lost fourteen years ago, after being kicked out by the person she trusted most, and losing the remainder of her family. She couldn't believe how her life had turned out, and she couldn't be more thankful that she had her true family who loves her more than anything.

The Shaw woman was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the front door opening, and Nora's soft British voice echoing from the foyer. The final pieces of their plan had arrived.

Two women and one man stepped into the living room, standing tall whilst their power and confidence practically oozed from their demeanors.

The woman on the left had bleach blonde hair with waves that billowed down to just above her waist. Her roots had a touch of brown, which matched her eyebrows. Her eyes were sharp and calculating, and lined with black eyeliner.

Her name was Katya Petrova - a Russian assassin with a dark past, which happened to be heavily intertwined with a certain blonde King-by-law. She was one of the best in her field, making her the perfect asset for this job. The woman was more than willing to help, considering she had (at more than one point throughout her life) been romantically involved with Owen Shaw.

The second woman, who stood on the far right, had long red hair tied up in a messy dutch braid and pulled over her shoulder. She wore a simple grey Henley, along with black skinny jeans which were tucked into her heavy-duty combat boots. A black leather jacket completed her outfit - the woman had one of her hands tucked into a pocket, whilst the other clutched onto the strap of the backpack she had hanging on her shoulder.

She was known as Iliana Starling, or Ana, as she preferred; a highly-trained American spy who, like Katya, was top of her field. She had a strong connection to a certain shadow government that made her a crucial part of their plan. Ana had worked with multiple members of the King family on many occasions, and had actually become relatively close to them.

The final member of their little group stood tall with his hands tucked into the front pockets of his jeans, and a playful smirk dancing across his face. His dark brown hair had a slight curl to it and reached just above the base of his neck. It was clear that he had tried to comb his hair back slightly, but couldn't succeed in making it stay where he wanted it.

His stubble was thick across his lower cheeks, jaw, chin, and upper lip line, so much so that it qualified as a short beard. The man's dusty blue eyes had a glint of mischief, which wasn't surprising to those that knew him. He had a habit of taking on the role of 'jokester', even in the most serious of situations.

His name was Finnick Briggs, but those close to him called him Finn. Finnick was a British weapons specialist, and originally served in the military with Deckard - they even became Black Ops together after both being 'dishonourably discharged' (attacked and nearly killed for being too good at what they did). Finn remained a close family friend over the years, and even visited Deckard and Natalie after they had to disappear six years ago.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" Finnick exclaimed with a cheeky grin on his face, clapping his hands before rubbing them together. "Let's get this party started."

AFTER LAYING EVERYTHING THAT they needed onto the large coffee table, the group began to go through their plan – or, at least, the majority of it. It was hard to make a bulletproof plan, especially with all of the variables revolving around Dominic Toretto and his crew.

Thankfully, Ana had put her skill set to use by earning herself a job working for Mr Nobody. She had heard some chatter that he was planning on recruiting the Toretto crew for a job in the immediate future, and knew that it would put a massive kink in their plans ─ so, she did what she does best: she went undercover.

Nobody's shadow government knew her as Lia Jones, an ex-military strategist with a glowing recommendation that made her perfect for the job. He just didn't realise that she was too perfect.

"These burner phones have already got every number you'll need in them." Ana explained as she picked up multiple ziplock bags; each one had a generic burner phone in, as well as one family member's name scrawled on the outside.

She passed each person their allocated phone, and when Natalie got hers, she immediately opened the bag and examined the phone ─ turning it on, she scrolled through the contact list to find that everyone's burner phone numbers had already been put in. The Shaw woman hummed in satisfaction before powering the phone back down; she didn't want to waste the battery.

"I'll keep in contact as much as I can, but it's gonna be hard with Nobody watching me." The redhead sighed, crossing her arms. "I'll probably only reach out when I have important information, so don't be surprised if there's some radio silence on my end."

Everyone nodded along, mulling over her words whilst they thought of anything they needed to bring up. Finnick was the next to talk.

"The bomb that you asked for is all prepped and ready to go. Well, not ready to go off at any moment 'cause there's a detonator you have to use, but–" Finn joked, but was interrupted by Katya clearing her throat and raising an eyebrow at him, giving him a 'seriously?' look. The man wasn't fazed. "Do you need a cough sweet or something? There's probably some around here somewhere– ow!"

Finnick winced, rubbing the back of his head right where Katya had smacked him. Natalie couldn't help but muffle her laughter with her hand when Finnick smacked the Petrova woman's arm right back. Just as Katya was about to swing at his face, Andromeda piped up.

"That's enough, both of you." The King matriarch said sternly, despite the amusement dancing across her face.

Finnick and Katya both grumbled, crossing their arms in an attempt to keep their hands to themselves. The woman glared at the Briggs man, but he simply stuck his tongue out and scrunched his nose before turning his head away.

"The only thing we need is the location of Toretto's friend, Han Seoul-Oh, and then Xavier and Nick will take care of him." Alice pitched in, glancing at her sister before speaking her next sentence. "But the only way to get it is hacking one of the DSS's computers in person."

Deckard's jaw clenched whilst Natalie simply looked down at her hands and began toying with them – every person in that room knew exactly who worked for the DSS, and every person in that room wanted him dead.

"Let me guess," Deckard said grimly, sarcasm seeping into his tone, "it has to be Luke Hobbs' computer, doesn't it?"

Alice simply nodded, squeezing Bianca's hand tighter, causing the woman to stroke the back of the mercenary's hand with her thumb.

"Deck and I will do it." Natalie's voice said, completely void of any emotion. Now wasn't the time to get wrapped up in her trauma or pain, now was the time for revenge, and Hobbs was at the top of her list, second only to Dominic. "We have an advantage - they think I'm dead. We'll have the element of surprise on our side if it's me and Deckard."

Glancing at her husband, who was sitting next to her, Natalie gave him one swift nod and took his hand in one of hers. Deckard thought about it for a moment, keeping his eyes locked on his wife, before looking back to the rest of the group.

"We'll get the location." Deckard agreed, squeezing Natalie's hand three times - I love you. The Shaw woman felt her lips tug into a smile, and she did the same three squeezes - I love you too.

"I think that's everything we need for today–" Ana began, but was interrupted by Natalie.

"Wait, do you have it?" Natalie asked, desperation flooding her veins as she hoped Ana had remembered to fulfil the favour the Shaw woman had asked for.

The Starling woman simply zipped open the front pocket of her backpack and pulled out a small piece of card, which had been folded in half. Ana held it out to Natalie, who quickly took the paper and opened it, reading the contents.

"And you're sure this is where he is?" Natalie questioned, a flash of weakness flitting over her face which was quickly erased when Ana reassured her with a nod of her head.

Unable to help herself, the Shaw woman flung herself into the redhead, wrapping her arms tightly around the woman's shoulders. It took a moment, but Ana hugged her back.

"Thank you." Natalie whispered, unwilling tears gathering in her eyes as she thought of her brother-in-law.

For almost ten months, Natalie, Deckard, and the entire family were under the impression that Owen Shaw had died that night, having fallen to his death after being flung from the plane by Toretto.

Thankfully, Owen was a difficult bastard to kill.

They didn't know the extent of his injuries, if he was in a coma, or if he could even still walk. All they knew was that his heart was still beating.

After finding out he was alive, Natalie and Deckard had cashed in as many favours as they could to try and find out where he was ─ the couple didn't even know if he was still in a hospital or in a black site prison, until now.

Ana had used her newly gained position working for Mr Nobody to find out where Owen was being held, which meant that Natalie and Deckard could finally visit him. They didn't care if they had to walk through fire to make it to his room, the Shaws would find a way.

Always.

SITTING ON THE EDGE of the hospital bed, Natalie felt as though her heart was being crushed inside of her chest. She held her brother-in-law's hand as if it were the most delicate thing in the world; the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him even more than she already had.

Nasty burns covered over half of his body, including the hand she was holding, scarring the pale skin with what looked like dark pink lightning. It had almost completely consumed the left sides of his face, chest, abdomen, and arm. He was on life support with a breathing tube coming from his neck, and was in a coma. The doctors didn't know if he would ever wake up, and somehow, that was worse than him being dead.

At least if they could lay him to rest, (as awful as it sounds) they would be able to try and move on, and he wouldn't be in so much pain. The couple were wishing and hoping with everything they had that he would wake up, even though they knew he had a long road of recovery ahead of him.

Finding the sight of his brother one of the most painful things he had ever experienced, Deckard was facing the large window instead, which displayed the many modern buildings of Central London.

"They say if you want a glimpse of the future, just look behind you. I used to think that was bollocks." Deckard began, trying to prevent himself from choking up with emotion. "Now I realise, you can't outrun the past."

The Shaw man turned around, now facing his younger brother and wife. Natalie had a lone tear trailing down her cheek as she looked down at the motionless hand in her grasp. Silently moving towards the other side of the bed, Deckard stood behind his wife and laid a gentle hand on her upper back.

Moving it in a soothing circular motion, the Shaw man wished that he could take both Natalie and Owen's pain away ─ if there was any possible way that he could, he would do it in a heartbeat. But there wasn't.

Even though he wasn't visibly showing it, Natalie knew that Deckard was badly hurting, and she wanted more than anything for it to go away. She'd do whatever it took, even if it meant eradicating Dominic Toretto from this world for good.

"When we were kids," Deckard spoke softly, "you started fights with the toughest bastards in the yard. I was the one that had to step in and finish them."

The couple's faces became tense with determination as the Shaw man continued on. "Rest now, little brother, while we settle you one last score."

Pressing a gentle kiss to his hand, Natalie allowed one more tear to fall before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Once she reopened her deep brown eyes, they were void of any emotion that would distract her from the job at hand – the only glints that remained were one of resolve, and one of pure rage.

Placing her brother-in-law's hand back down onto the bed and then wiping the remainder of her tears, the Shaw woman stood and took her husband's calloused hand into her own soft one. The pair moved towards the door, but paused to look back at two trembling nurses who were cowering in a corner of the room.

"Take care of my brother-in-law," Natalie spoke, her voice having an edge that made even the strongest of people falter from fear, "If anything happens, we'll come back looking for you, and I can promise that we won't be nearly as merciful towards you as we were today."

Continuing through the doorway, the couple strolled through the destruction they had caused – medical trolleys had been toppled over, sending medical supplies scattering across the floor; glass cabinets had been completely shattered from bullets, covering the floor in clear shards; ceiling tiles were crumbling and raining down on the remaining hospital staff who cowered behind the nurses' station, and members of SWAT were strewn across the floor from where the pair had taken them down with ease.

Deckard pressed the button for the elevator, causing the silver doors to slide open and reveal another unconscious SWAT member propped up against the wall. Stepping into the confined space, still hand in hand, Natalie clicked the button for the ground floor, before resting her head on her husband's broad shoulder.

He gently rested his head on top of hers, relishing in the comfort she gave him. After a few moments, the doors slid back open to reveal a completely destroyed reception area – the far wall and a car that had crashed into the building was on fire and billowing clouds of dark smoke; large chunks of ceiling were falling to the floor, sending plumes of dust through the air. A SWAT person was stumbling to his feet, trying to regain his bearings when Deckard walked over to him with a grenade in his hand.

Pulling the pin, the Shaw man passed it to the unstable agent, "Hold this."

Shoving the now-screaming man into an office chair, Deckard wrapped an arm around Natalie's shoulders and led her towards the exit. Just as they had made it outside, the grenade went off, forcing burning hot air towards the two; it simply felt like they had their backs to a lit fireplace. The couple didn't even flinch at the debris flying towards them, nor did they react when a part of the hospital collapsed behind them.

Pressing a delicate kiss to his wife's temple, Deckard continued to lead Natalie towards their untouched and pristine-looking white sports car. Once they got close enough to the vehicle, the two separated and opened their respective doors, before climbing into the leather seats and slamming the doors closed.

Natalie released a shaky breath as they drove away, feeling as though Owen was bedridden and half-dead because of her, because of her brother and her shitty decisions. Resting her head on the cold window, the Shaw woman felt rage and hatred bubble within her, and she knew exactly who it was directed at.

Dominic Toretto and Luke Hobbs.

Luckily for her, she and Deckard were about to pay the latter a visit, and boy, was it going to be so much fun.

Well, for the Shaws, at least.

HAYLEY WRITES...
and the first chapter of
act two is done!

let me know what you thought
of it! i really hope you enjoyed.

how do you guys feel about
the new additions of finn,
katya, and ana?

i can't wait to show you
guys all the stuff that happens
this act... it's a wild mf-ing
ride 👀

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and comment any predictions
or ideas you have for this act!
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until next time :)