Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"I'm not negative. I'm just positive you're gonna mess it up."
~Rico Santos, Fast Five
_______________________________________

Chapter 13

Jace

I was hanging on a bar by handcuffs. Brandon was next to me, griping about the predicament.

"Brandon, how about you start using that brain to figure out a way out of here instead of whinging about it?" I suggested.

"I don't see you doing anything to help us get out of there," he retorted. "You have any ideas?"

"He might not, but I do," Jackson spoke up, walking into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Brandon muttered.

"Trying to help you. Listen, the bar you're dangling off of isn't exactly strong. All I have to do is loosen a few screws and one good yank from the two of you, you'll be free. The keys for your handcuffs are on that table over there. When Kaiser comes in to beat you two up some more, make your move. Together the two of you can take him. If he comes with someone else, as long as it's anyone but Lynch and not more than two people, you two have a pretty good chance of winning."

"Why are you doing this?" I inquired.

"Because Ember asked for my help and if she's going to get out of this predicament she's in, she's going to need you two."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to help her as long as I can without getting caught."

"And when you do get caught?"

"I don't know. Ember told me to come stay with her but I don't exactly trust Dom or Hobbs not to shoot me."

"They wouldn't shoot you. Ember would make sure of it. She prevented Dom from shooting me," I joked.

"Why'd he want to shoot you? Because you like her?"

"Actually, I don't think he minded that I liked her. He thought I got her back into racing which in a sense is true... I got on her bad side for a while and to blow off steam, she took one of her dad's cars and raced once. That was all it took for her to be hooked. You obviously know how good she is. She wouldn't be in this predicament if she wasn't."

"She beat me. That's the problem."

"If you didn't want her in this life, why tell Lynch about her in the first place?" Brandon queried as Jackson grabbed a screwdriver off the table.

"Because I didn't know who she was at the time."

"But why care about her getting into the life? Because I have a feeling if it was anyone else, you wouldn't give a damn."

"It's not of your concern about why I'm helping her."

"I would say it is. She's my sister after all."

"You're not her brother," Jackson snapped. "Not blood-brother anyway."

"So you know what happened to Jack?" I countered, intervening before Brandon could argue with our frenemy.

"I do," Jackson said grimly. "Lynch kidnapped Jack and turned him into his little protégé. He's the best of the best and Lynch will do anything to make sure that he doesn't realize who he really is. The loyalty to family runs strong in the Toretto-O'Connor family."

"So you're helping Ember because of Jack?"

"Yes."

"Has he seen her? Does he know about her?"

Jackson nodded. "Yes to both."

"Why hasn't he told her who he is? And why tell us about him but not her?"

"He hasn't told her to protect her and her family. He will tell them when the time is right. He wants to make sure he won't get killed in this whole process because he doesn't want to put them through any more pain than they've already been through. I'm telling you because someone ought to know from the family and I figure you'd understand where he's coming from."

"He seems to have told you a lot."

"I hate the life I'm in. I'd like to see Lynch crash and burn. All right, screws are loosened. When you two escape, use the window and turn right. Follow the road and it'll take you straight into the heart of Rio. From there it'll be up to you to get back to your base. Good luck you two."

"Thanks man," Brandon said. "Hey Jackson?"

"What?"

"Tell Jack we really miss him."

"And tell him that they never stopped looking for him. They never believed he was dead," I added.

Something flickered across Jackson's face, an emotion that was a mix between sadness and happiness. I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Thanks for doing this," Brandon told. I said something similar. Once Jackson was out of the room, my friend said quietly, "I'm not imagining things when I say it sounded like Jackson was talking about himself in the third person, right?"

"He was pulling an Obi Wan Kenobi. What he was telling us was true, from a certain point of view," I said.

"Now you're pulling a Kenobi. Let's just hope those goons get here soon so we can get out of here ASAP. At least we know Ember made it back safely."

"I really hope she doesn't know where we are because you know she'd come after us."

"Her and the rest of them. Hobbs and Mia would try and stop her but she has too much of her uncle and dad in her. When it comes to protecting her family and friends, she'll stop at nothing to get what she wants, including breaking into an enemy base, even if that meant doing it by herself."

"Now I really hope she hasn't figured out where we are..." I grumbled. The two of us fell silent, waiting for our imminent beating. Thankfully (or maybe not), Kaiser came in. At least it was only him though. That would make our job much easier.

"So, you boys ready to talk?" Kaiser asked, walking past us to go grab some new instrument to hit us with. I looked at Brandon, mouthing, 'Now.' With all the strength we could muster from our starved and dehydrated bodies, we yanked down on the bar we were dangling from. Just like Jackson said, it broke off. I narrowly avoided being hit in the head by it.

"What the-" Kaiser began. He didn't finish his sentence as I slammed my foot into his groin. He went down to his knees only to have his head kicked by Brandon. It knocked Kaiser down and out. The two of us hurriedly searched for the keys before any more of Lynch's goons came to see what the commotion was about. I was the one that found them.

"All right, let's get out of here!" Brandon whispered.

"Hang on," I replied, grabbing my handcuffs. I put them on Kaiser and dragged him over to the pole. Brandon got my idea, putting the pole through the handcuffs. We quickly screwed in the bolts so he couldn't pull the maneuver we did. Afterwards, we hopped out of the window Jackson had instructed us to.
_______________________________________  

Ember

I paced up and down our makeshift living room, waiting impatiently for Jace and Brandon to show up. Jackson had texted me saying everything for their escape had been set in motion. My whole family had gone out in groups to search for Jace and Brandon. They'd left me by myself which I was far from okay with, but I had no other option. Jackson wouldn't tell me my friends' exact location, probably because he knew I'd come after them.

I heard a door opening. I hid behind a column in the warehouse. Dom had told me it was better to be safe than sorry and said whether it was them or not, to hide and see who was coming in before revealing myself.

"Ember? Are you here? It's Sam!" A girl called out. I knew her all too well, but peered around my column just to double-check it was her. Thank god it was.

"Sam!" I exclaimed happily, walking over to my friend to give her a hug. Sam was Hobbs' kickass daughter who also happened to be working for the DSS as well.

"What have you gotten yourself into?" she demanded, sounding half amused, half exasperated.

"You know the name Lynch?"

"Yeah, my dad's spent ages trying to catch him."

"He's after me because of my racing skills."

"But you don't race?"

"Heh, about that..."

"What did you do?"

"I was driving one of my dad's cars one night because I needed to blow off some steam and kind of got hooked on it. I avoided any trouble until I accidentally raced and beat Jackson who told Lynch about me."

"You beat Lynch's protégé? Damn, Ember."

"What can I say? It's in my blood. What are you doing here?" I asked, desperate to change the topic.

"My dad asked me to come help him with the case. He said if anyone would prevent you from getting into trouble, it'd be me. He said that was supposed to be Brandon and some guy named Jace's job but they got captured?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry, Em. Do you know if they've been found?"

"No, but I need to talk to you about that. Listen-" I was interrupted by the door opening again. Sam pulled out two guns, one of which she handed to me. We had them pointed at the door.

"Ember?!" Jace shouted, walking into the room with Brandon a few steps behind him. I instantly lowered my gun, running over to him and throwing my arms around his neck. His arms wrapped around my waist as he pulled me close to him.

"You okay?" I whispered.

"Yeah. You?" he replied.

"Much better now that I know you two are okay." I pulled away to hug Brandon.

"You must be Jace?" Sam said, staring at my friend.

"Yes ma'am?" he answered, confused by the new person who knew him.

"Oh, Jace, this is Samantha Hobbs. Sam, this is Jason Stark, but you can call him Jace," I introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Sam greeted, shaking Jace's hand. He said likewise. "So how did you two escape?"

"We were handcuffed and dangling on a weak bar. One good yank and we were free. We just had to wait for the right time to make our escape," Brandon explained.

"I'm going to go call Hobbs and Dom, let them know you two are back. Why don't you go take a shower?" I suggested.

"What, do we stink that bad?" Brandon laughed.

"You both stink, don't get me wrong, but a shower made me feel better when I got back. I thought it might do the same for you, that's all."

"I'm going to take you up on that offer," Jace remarked. He kissed me on the side of the head and disappeared. Brandon gave me one last hug before trying to catch up with Jace try and shower first.

"So, you and-"

"Don't even go there Sam," I interrupted.

"But he just-"

"Don't. I'm going to go call Dom and Hobbs."

"You call your uncle. I'll call my dad." I nodded. When I called my uncle, he picked up on the first ring.

"Everything okay Em?" He asked immediately.

"I'm fine. Listen, Jace and Brandon escaped. They're here. They're kind of beaten up but otherwise they look unharmed. I'm going to cook them something to eat and get them something to drink because I'm sure they weren't given anything while they were held captive."

"You're probably right. I'll let the others know. Have you told Hobbs?"

"No, Sam is calling him."

"Sam is there?"

"Yeah, she got here right before Brandon and Jace did."

"Good, you have some protection. Not that I doubt you can take care of yourself."

"I know what you mean. I'll see you soon. Love you."

"I love you too. Be careful." I hung up and went to the kitchen where I started making an omelet for Jace and Brandon. Jace was the first to emerge from the bedroom. With the dirt and grime washed off, his bruises and cuts were much more prominent. It made me cringe to see him like that.

"What?" he asked, going to the fridge to grab something to drink.

"I didn't realize how beat up you were. You need to put something on those cuts to make sure they don't get infected," I told him.

"Ah, they're fine," he said with a wave of his hand.

"Actually she's right. Those tools they were beating you with most likely weren't clean. You could get tetanus, impetigo, and a bunch of other nasty infections that would ruin that pretty face of yours. Ember, you clean him up. I'll cook."

"Don't burn the place down."

"You're never going to let me live that down are you?"

"Never. You're a worse cook than me, and that's saying something."

"Shut up."

"Do I want to know?" Jace inquired, looking half amused, half worried.

"No. Don't worry. Come with me. All my first aid stuff is in my room." Jace followed me, sitting on my bed while I rummaged through the drawer. I pulled out some rubbing alcohol, cotton pads, antibiotic cream and some pain relief ointment.

"So did Jackson help you escape?" I asked as I sat down on the bed.

"Yeah," he replied, watching me as I put some alcohol on the cotton pad.

"This might sting. I'm sorry. I'll try and go quickly."

"It's fine. I've had worse," he said nonchalantly.

"What do you mean?" I questioned seriously.

Jace seemed to have realized what he said because he hastily replied, "Nothing. Ignore me. I'm tired and hurting."

"Jace, I'm blonde but I'm not that big of an idiot. What did you mean?"

"It's nothing, drop it," he said bluntly. I bit my lip, trying my hardest to listen to him. If he didn't want to talk about it, who was I to pry? But I cared about him, more than I wanted to admit, and to think he'd been through worse than what I was currently seeing, it made me curious more because I wanted to hurt the person that hurt him.

For the next ten minutes, I took care of the cuts and gashes on his face and torso.

"You're still thinking about it aren't you?" He stated, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yes."

He let out a sigh. "Alcoholic mom with a temper. That's all that needs to be said."

"That was the family issues you were telling my mom about that day you came to my house, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. I got out of there the moment I graduated high school and have been on my own ever since. Although honestly, I've been on my own much longer than that. I don't consider her family. I don't have any family. No siblings, never knew my father, my grandparents died before I was born."

"You have a family in us," I told him.

He chuckled humorlessly. "I don't think any of your family view me as family."

"You wouldn't be here if they didn't."

"I'm here because I helped get you into this mess. They want me to right that."

"No, you're here because you're in danger as well." Jace didn't respond. He just put his shirt back on since I'd finished fixing him up. "I'm going to go take care of Brandon. You're welcome to eat or sleep, whichever one calls to you the most."

"I'll come eat. Thank you for fixing me up."

I kissed him gingerly on the cheek. "Any time."
_______________________________________  

Four days later...

It was around midnight as I ate a bowl of cereal in the kitchen area. I was unable to fall asleep because my mind was too busy running away with terrible thoughts about what could be happening to my family right about now. Except for me, Jace, Brandon, and Sam, the rest of my family was out doing reconnaissance, trying to find Lynch's hideout. Needless to say it wasn't going well. On the bright side, at least Lynch hadn't found ours either.

"What are you doing up?" Jace queried, walking into the room. For some reason things had been awkward between us since he'd told me about his mom. I had no clue why but it was bothering me.

"Couldn't sleep. Worried about everyone..." I confessed. "So I chose to eat my stress away. You?"

"Headache."

"How are your cuts?"

"Healing."

"Good..." Jace grabbed a bowl of leftovers from the fridge and began heating them up. We stayed in an awkward silence until I got up to wash my dish in the sink. Unable to hold my tongue any longer (my courage also might've come from my lack of sleep), I said, "What's wrong? You've been super quiet around me ever since we had that conversation about your family. I'm sorry if I prodded into an area that you didn't want to talk about but I was genuinely worried about your well-being."

"I know you were. It has nothing to do with that conversation, Em. It's something else entirely."

"Can I help with that issue, whatever it is?"

"It's something between me and Brandon."

"Are you two dating?"

Jace started laughing. "No, no, no. We're not dating."

"Do you like someone you're not supposed to?"

"I mean I like you but he and everyone else here knows that."

"You still like me after the way I treated you?"

He shrugged. "I kind of deserved it."

"No, you didn't. You had no idea I liked you so how would you put it together that I was upset you started getting with your ex again? I should've pushed down my feelings and moved on. Maybe if I had, none of you would be in the predicament you are."

"You would've started racing sooner or later. It's in your blood. And we're in this predicament because we care about you and we want to make sure you're safe," he said, leaning against the counter next to me.

"I don't want any of you getting hurt any more than you already have. I'm not losing another family member either. I can't go through that again. Not when I've finally gotten in a good place." There was a flash of pain across Jace's face, prompting me to ask, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about any of us. We have each other's backs," he promised. We stared at each other. I felt myself leaning in towards him. Unless I was severely mistaken, he was leaning in towards me.

I would've had my first kiss right then and there had my phone not started ringing, making us jump apart violently as if we'd been caught doing some very illegal. Feeling my cheeks flush from embarrassment, I answered my phone.

"Hello?"

"Ember? They found out!" Jackson exclaimed, sounding extremely out of breath.

"Jackson? What are you talking about?" I demanded. Jace came into my line of sight, appearing concerned.

"Lynch and his crew found out I was helping you! They're chasing me and- AH!"

"Jackson?!"

"Oh shit..." he was groaning in pain.

"What happened? Answer me!" I ordered.

"I've been shot... I've been... I've been shot..."

"Where are you? I'm coming to get you," I said, heading for my purse.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, walking groggily into the kitchen with Brandon behind her, looking a little more alert.

"Something's wrong. Get ready to go," Jace commanded.

"No," Jackson replied. "If you come, they'll capture you and I'm not-" Jackson began.

I interrupted him. "I'm coming with back up. I'll drive you back to our hideout. Now tell me where you are."

"I'm hiding out in a building. They're searching for me but they won't find me. Not here. I'll text you the address. When you're here, I'll make my way out."

"What if you're not up to it?"

"Then leave me. I'd rather die knowing you're safe."

"Don't talk like that, you're not going to die. We'll be there ASAP. Save your strength and text me the coordinates. I'll see you soon."
_______________________________________  

Reviews would be lovely :)