BOTH WOMEN CLIMBED OUT of Natalie's car, slamming their doors closed behind them. Letty gave her best friend a subtle smile and nod before walking away - she was going to keep her promise.

Natalie let out a breath of relief as a weight lifted from her chest; not only did Letty now know the truth about who she was, but she was also protected from being used as leverage, or even being killed because of Natalie.

But the nausea rumbling in her stomach refused to settle, as she knew that she had one more thing to do before the final mission: speak with Owen.

She knew that she would never forgive herself if the two went into the life-or-death situation without at least beginning to try and mend what was broken, but thankfully, it didn't mean that she had to fully forgive him. Forgiveness came with time, but most of all, effort from Owen.

She just needed him to know that, eventually, they would be okay.

Natalie absentmindedly picked at her nails as she scanned the cargo hold for her brother-in-law, only to find him talking to a member of his crew - the blonde woman, Vegh.

Just seconds after she had noticed him, Owen sensed her stare and made eye contact. His gaze softened as the two seemed to speak without words. He cut his conversation with Vegh short and dismissed the woman, who complied without even uttering another word, giving Natalie the opportunity she needed to walk over.

Owen's palms began to sweat slightly as his sister-in-law approached. The lump in his throat grew at the thought of Natalie never forgiving him; she was his sister, and her cutting him off would nearly kill him.

He knew that keeping Letty a secret for so long was wrong, but Owen really didn't intend for her to be hidden for four years. Nothing could have prepared him for Letty's amnesia persisting, making him doubt whether telling Natalie was the right thing to do.

Letty's death nearly cost the Shaw family their Natalie - if Deckard hadn't stepped up, his wife might've still been stuck in her dark place, with her mind wandering further and further away.

Thankfully, Natalie would always come back from her episodes - whether it took hours, days, or even weeks, she would always come back.

Owen didn't want to test the limit on that theory, though. So, he kept Leticia Ortiz a secret. Bad fucking idea.

Natalie came to a stop just in front of her brother-in-law- no, brother - and happened to have a car parked behind her. She simply sat on the hood, before gesturing her head towards the space next to her.

Owen hesitated for a moment before complying, taking the spot.

"I'm not sure how to say this, but I-"

The man's heart lurched in his chest; he was so sure that this was it, that Natalie would never talk to him again.

"I'm on my way to forgiving you, Owen - you just have to give me some time." Natalie spoke, swallowing her doubt as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I want more than anything to be able to forgive you, but-"

"The pain is still fresh." Owen said with a knowing tone, rubbing the left side of his stubble-covered jaw with his right hand.

"Yeah..." Natalie whispered, tightening her already-crossed arms and keeping her eyes locked onto the ground, "but Letty's remembering a thing or two, so I'm practically better already." She spoke sarcastically.

Owen couldn't help but chuckle, and despite everything going on, Natalie joined in too. The woman tried to muffle her giggles with her hand, but thinking about laughter made her laugh even harder. They both knew that they looked completely insane, but it felt cathartic - like all of the stress, pain, and tears of the past few days just melted away with every fit of giggles.

"Oh," she said as the laughter drifted to a stop, with both sarcasm and seriousness in equal measures, "if you pull another stunt like this that hurts me, Letty, or our family, I don't know if I could ever forgive you."

"Speaking of family..." Owen said cautiously.

"Oh, what did you do?" Natalie sighed, completely unsurprised that Owen had already done something wrong - again.

"I just need to run something past you, but before I tell you the plan, I need you to know that absolutely no harm would come to her-"

"Come to who, Owen?" Natalie interrupted his rushed explanation, holding up a hand to stop him from carrying on.

"Your sister."

Natalie's brows furrowed, "Alice? She's one of the top mercenaries in the world, I don't see how any harm would-"

"Not Alice, your other sister." Owen said as his eyes desperately darted around his sister-in-law's face, waiting for a reaction. It took a second before Natalie's eyes lit up in realisation, and another second for them to flicker to a deadly glare.

"Owen Shaw," Natalie growled, "are you suggesting dragging Mia into this, just so you can get back at Toretto?"

The man simply nodded before diving into his explanation, "Klaus and Vegh would retrieve her after we land in Spain, and they would be under very strict orders not to touch a single hair on her head. After I use her to get Toretto off my back, she'll be free to go home."

Natalie blew out a breath as she processed the information - she knew that Owen was telling the truth, that Mia wouldn't be harmed, and she knew he didn't want to jeopardise their just-repaired relationship. She trusted him.

"You swear that nothing will happen to her?" Natalie hated that she had so much trust in just one person, but deep down, she knew that she wouldn't change it for the world.

"I pinky promise."

All tension was eradicated from Natalie's body as Owen held up a singular pinky, a completely serious expression on his face.

The woman couldn't help but laugh as she interlocked her pinky with his own, sealing 'the most serious of promises' (Owen's words, not her's).

"I am allowed to warn her though, right?"

DOMINIC TORETTO LENT AGAINST his car, waiting for Brian O'Connor to return from his undercover trip to the prison - where Braga was being held - so that the crew could fly to Spain and stop Owen Shaw.

The others were packing their things and checking that everything was alright with their vehicles of choice before they had to go, leaving Dominic to process the past few days.

The love of his life was alive, but didn't remember a single thing from her life before (or so he thought); Owen Shaw had ties to Braga, making the whole ordeal much more complicated than before, and the entire team was moments away from being free from being wanted by every law enforcement agency in the world.

Despite having much more important things to focus on, his mind kept wandering back to the day that Riley, Gisele, Han, and Roman fought four members of Owen's crew (including Letty). Something that Riley had said afterwards irked him, and there was a very real possibility that another ghost from his past had joined the party.

Han and Gisele wandered back into the crew's main centre of command, hand in hand as they approached the rest of the team.

Staggering behind them were Riley and Roman - the latter having one of the woman's arms wrapped around his shoulder in order to help her walk. They'd done their best to stop her from bleeding out, but none of them were great at anything medical.

Torn pieces of Gisele's baggy tank top had been wrapped around Riley's thigh and upper arm, right where Natalie had shot her. Thankfully, Gisele had been wearing a tight white cami top underneath her once-grey tank, giving the three something to use to keep their temporary team member alive.

Riley's cheekbone was also badly bruised, leaving yellows, reds, and blues blossoming across the affected skin. Her lip was split, and blood was caked to the back of her head after her fall down the steps of the Underground.

Hobbs made his way over to his partner, and helped Roman sit her down on one of the chairs scattered around various desks.

"We met your girlfriend and her evil twin," Riley panted, looking over to Dominic, "they're... lovely." She said sarcastically, before yelling in pain as Brian prodded at her wounds.

He muttered an apology before continuing to assess her injuries. Out of all of them, Brian had the most medical training due to his history as a cop.

Dominic furrowed his eyebrows, confused about who the injured woman was referring to. "What did the second girl look like?"

"Brown hair, brown eyes-" Riley hissed as Brian cleaned one of the wounds with some alcohol he had found, "tanned skin. Fought like she knew what she was doing, and looked like she could've been your girlfriend's sister."

The eldest Toretto's skin paled as his jaw clenched, before running a hand over his tensed face. Surely he was overthinking it? She'd been gone for over a decade, and as far as he knew, didn't have any contact with Letty since the day she 'left'.

Before she had left, her and Letty were constantly mistaken for sisters, along with Mia. Some even joked that they looked like triplets. Clearly, people still thought that.

It could've been anyone, though, right?

Dominic absentmindedly turned his wallet over in his hand one, two, three times before moving to flip it open. He didn't even realise what he was reaching for until he pulled it out of the clear plastic slot.

At first glance, it was a photo of himself and Mia, smiling brightly as he held the camera. If you looked closely, though, you'd see a crease running down the side of the picture, right next to Mia.

Unable to help himself, Dominic unfolded the rest of the photo, revealing a beaming Natalie, who was practically leaning on Mia so that she fit in the frame.

It was one of the last photos that Dominic still had of his younger sister - he was under the impression that they had either been thrown away, or even burned (but Mia kept as many as she could and stashed them in her room).

At first, his stare was soft, as though nothing had ever happened between the two of them... but the longer he looked, the harsher his gaze became.

Dominic ran his finger over Natalie's face one last time, muttering her name before eyeing the crease - the photo had been folded for so long that the two pieces were practically falling apart. It only took a second for his mind to be made up; he ripped the photo right along the crease, separating the shunned sister from the remaining Torettos.

As far as he was concerned, Natalie Toretto was dead.

What he didn't realise at the time was that Brian had made it back from the prison, and had seen the picture - he even heard Dominic mutter the girl's name.

"Hey, Dom." Brian said suddenly, making Dominic flinch in surprise. He quickly shoved the two pieces into his jeans pocket, along with his wallet, not noticing that Natalie's piece had fallen to the floor.

The blue-eyed blonde embraced his best friend for a moment, allowing him to look over Dominic's shoulder and to the floor, where the piece now laid face-down.

The two broke apart, clapping each other on the shoulder.

"I'm glad you made it back, Brian." Dom grinned.

"So am I, man." Brian smiled, before remembering what he had learned. His face dropped; everything about him suddenly reeked of guilt and regret, "I found out what happened to Letty - it's all my fault."

Dominic took a step back, allowing himself to take in Brian's guilt-ridden demeanour. "Brian, whatever you found out, that's for you. What we're about to do now, that's for her." He spoke, referring to Letty.

Brian nodded, a silent way of saying thank you, as Dominic passed him and clapped him on the shoulder one last time before walking away.

The O'Connor looked over his shoulder to check that there was no one there, before leaning down and picking up the fallen piece of the photograph.

He knew that it was originally from a photo that included both Dom and Mia, and by the woman's features, as well as her shining smile (which was almost identical to Mia's), Brian knew that there was a Toretto family secret that still remained buried, even from him.

JACK O'CONNOR SQUEALED IN delight as Elena Neves (Dominic's girlfriend) nuzzled her nose into his tummy, tickling the eleven-month-old until he was giggling so hard that he frantically kicked out his little hands and legs. Elena was currently watching Jack whilst Mia had to step out and take a call. The woman found it slightly strange that the Toretto woman was acting secretive, but chose not to let it bother her - everyone had their secrets.

Said Toretto woman was currently lent against the wooden railing of the porch, with her phone held to her ear. She scrunched up her face in confusion as the person calling spoke.

"You want me to do what?!"

"I know it sounds crazy..." Natalie sighed, "but it's just so that Dominic backs off long enough for us to leave."

"Let me just clarify what I have to do -" Mia spoke, pinching the bridge of her nose before speaking with her hands, "I have to willingly give myself up so that I get kidnapped by some of Owen's goons, pretend to be in danger when you need me to, and then I get to go home?"

"Well, when you put it like that..." Natalie winced, knowing that the whole plan was a bad idea.

"I'll do it."

"Come again?" Natalie retorted, fully expecting Mia to refuse Owen's ridiculous plan.

"I'll do it, because it means that I get to protect you for once, instead of you always protecting me." Mia said softly, toying with one of her necklaces - a necklace that Natalie had given her for her fifteenth birthday. It was a simple little thing: a small gold heart on a thin golden chain, but it meant the world to her

The woman had never taken it off - it was one of the only things that made Mia feel close to her sister, without the Shaw woman actually being next to her.

Natalie's heart melted when she heard her little sister's reasoning, knowing that Mia hated feeling powerless when her family was in danger. Hell, she was the same; it's the damn reason she was on this job in the first place.

"I love you, Mia." Natalie whispered, not trusting her voice to stay steady if she said it any louder.

Mia smiled, tears pricking her eyes, "I love you too, Natalie. Forever."

"Forever." The older sister's face twitched with a smile, before Mia hung up the phone.

The Toretto woman allowed her hand to drop from her ear down to her side, still holding the phone. Her other hand was still tightly clutching onto the dainty necklace - Mia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the humid Spain air, before taking another, and another. It wasn't until she heard Elena calling for her from inside the house did she open her eyes.

"Coming, 'Lena!" Mia yelled, leaving the porch and heading through the front door.

Mia Toretto was ready to play her part, but she wasn't ready for the pain it would bring her.

HAYLEY WRITES...
y'all aren't ready for the finale
lowkey scares me and i'm the
one thats writing it lmaooo

is there anything that you guys
wanna see in the final showdown
for this act? (any specific fights,
moments, etc) comment your ideas!

we're nearly at act two ahhhh!!
i can't wait to show you guys what
i have planned 👀

don't forget to vote and comment :)

until next time, lovelies