COLD METAL ICED NATALIE'S palm as she held the tool, sending light shivers trailing up her arm whilst she worked.

Her 1969 Ford Mustang had been raised by axle jacks ─ it was lifted high enough to allow Jakob to roll under the car on a creeper, but low enough so that Natalie could still work on the engine.

After a joyful, yet slightly tearful, reunion, the siblings had decided to catch each other up on the past six years of their life whilst finishing the final touches of Natalie's vehicle.

Currently, Natalie was filling her brother in on everything that had happened a year prior. Her hair was swept back into an untidy ponytail, and she now adorned an old pair of worn overalls with a tight-fitted tank top underneath. Grease was caked under her fingernails and smeared across the denim on her front ─ there was even a small amount streaked across the side of her forehead, Natalie having pushed a stray hair away from her face.

"I haven't heard a word from Letty since she was at the hospital with me." Natalie sighed, lifting her head from beneath the hood of the car. "I mean, I know that it would be hard to reach out with Dominic around and everything, but..."

"You figured she would've found a way." Jakob finished, rolling out from underneath the Mustang and looking at his older sister sympathetically. The Shaw woman nodded, returning his look with a tight-lipped smile.

"I gave her my number before she left to go back to LA with Mia and Brian, but obviously, she hasn't used it." Natalie remarked sarcastically, shaking her head as she chuckled bitterly.

She couldn't really blame Letty for not reaching out — hell, the Ortiz woman was an amnesiac who had no one for four years, before Natalie came bulldozing in. Yes, the Shaw woman managed to jog a memory or two, as well as some feelings that pre-accident Letty had buried away into the deepest depths of herself, but that was it: less than a handful of the millions of memories and emotions that made Letty Ortiz the woman that her family knew and loved.

As much as she hated it, the Toretto family and crew stood the best chance out of anyone in bringing Letty's memories back — Dominic was the love of her life, Mia was essentially her sister, and she had a family who fought tooth and nail for her when it mattered most.

Little did the Shaw woman know, the only place that Letty Ortiz wanted to be was next to Natalie Shaw. With Dominic and the others, there was this crushing expectation for her to remember how things were, but with Natalie, there was this unspoken understanding that things would never be the same, and that was okay: the two could make new memories instead.

Natalie radiated comfort and warmth that constantly pulled Letty in — she made the woman feel like she actually belonged somewhere in their unfamiliar and frightening world.

Unfortunately, Letty had no way of leaving Dominic: he thought Natalie was dead, and he wasn't prepared to let his amnesiac wife go, not without trying everything possible to bring her memories back. The Toretto man, or someone from his crew, was almost always with her, leaving her no time to try and reach out to the Shaw woman.

So, the best friends hadn't spoken in a year... and it had been slowly killing them both. 

The silence consumed the two siblings like thick, suffocating smoke, whilst Natalie closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Seeing that they needed to change the subject, the younger Toretto racked his brain for something else to talk about. Thankfully, ideas weren't too hard to conjure, considering he had missed quite a lot over the past few years.

"How is Mia, by the way?" Jakob wondered, having not spoken to his younger sister since before she broke Dominic out of jail and ran away to Rio.

Silently thanking him for breaking the silence, Natalie smiled at the mention of her baby sister.

"She's good, her and Brian are doing really well, and Jack is just the sweetest little boy." The woman grinned as she thought of Mia's little family. "She hasn't visited since before everything with Owen, but they call at least twice a week to check in."

One positive of the whole war between the two families is that Brian had found out about the shunned Toretto sister, meaning that Natalie didn't have to sneak around to talk to (and eventually visit) her sister and nephew anymore. If anything, the O'Connor had grown quite close with the Shaw woman, and was even friendly with Deckard on the occasions that the British man joined in with their monthly video calls.

Mia had explained to Brian everything that had happened fourteen years ago between the two eldest Toretto siblings ─ well, everything that she knew of, anyway ─ and made sure that he knew the truth, in case Dominic tried to tell him the twisted version of events that made Natalie seem like the person that had betrayed their family.

"Enough about me," Natalie dismissed, peaking around the hood of the car to lock eyes with her younger brother, "what have you been up to, Jake?"

The Toretto man got up from his position on the floor and placed the tools he had used back into their respectful spots in the toolbox.

"Well, I've mainly just been travelling and racing wherever I go." He shrugged, avoiding his sister's eyes. Natalie, who's stare continued to burn into the side of his face, gave him an incredulous look, as if asking 'is that all?'.

"And there was this girl..." Jakob admitted, unable to resist the Shaw woman's mysterious 'older sister' powers (as she calls them).

Natalie grinned, almost squealing in excitement before wiggling her eyebrows suggestively and mocking her baby brother with a childish voice. "Oh, was Jake in love?"

She jokingly pouted, pinching a cheek with her grease-covered fingers. Jakob's face flushed a rosy pink as he shoved his sister's hand away, muttering an embarrassed 'shut up'.

The woman couldn't help but cackle and throw her head back, enjoying teasing her little brother and acting like nothing had ever torn them apart.

"Do I have to do the scary older sister speech?" She asked, grinning as she spoke, "Wait, how does it go? You break my brother's heart, I'll break your neck."

Her voice deepened with the last sentence ─ she pretended to be all serious, crossing her arms over her chest, furrowing her eyebrows as though it would make her more intimidating.

Jakob tried not to encourage his sister's antics, but a chuckle slipped through his lips at Natalie's words.

"There's no need for the speech now, Tal. We broke up over six months ago." He revealed, slightly wincing at the sight of his sister's face dropping.

"What?! Why?" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in shock. Jakob sighed, not really wanting to talk about the woman who had managed to worm her way into his heart, only to break it after a year of absolute bliss.

"We just weren't a good match, that's all." He answered vaguely. Natalie could tell that he didn't want to talk about it, so she left it alone... for the most part.

"Aw, does Jakob need a hug?" The Shaw woman grinned mischievously, opening her arms and displaying all of the fresh grease that decorated her overalls. Jakob frantically shook his head, taking a step back when his sister took a step towards him.

"Natalie, don't you dare." He raised an eyebrow, almost challenging the woman to take another step forward.

Well, challenge accepted.

Natalie darted towards him, giggling as he stumbled back, just barely missing her greasy grasp.

"No, no, no, no!" Jakob yelled, dashing towards the door of the garage with Natalie hot on his tail.

"Just one hug, Jake!" She called after him, laughing at the sight of her brother skidding across the hardwood floors, desperately trying to remain out of her reach.

His frantic yells and her manic giggles echoed throughout the house, the chase continuing through almost every room. It was the most carefree either of them had felt in the past several years, and it filled them with a joy that raced through their veins, exactly like how the siblings raced throughout the safe house.

EVENTUALLY, THE TORETTO SIBLINGS arrived at the King's LA home, where everyone was gathering to hang out before the next part of their plan began.

Natalie, who was now grease-free and dressed in a dark blue pair of bootcut jeans, along with a long sleeved black top, her favourite pair of heeled boots, and a brown leather trench coat to top it all off, wrapped her hand around the door handle. Jakob trailed behind her as she pushed open the front door and strolled into the house.

The chatter echoing from the living room led the pair straight to their family, who were all lounging around and talking about various things.

Hearing the click of his wife's shoes on the hardwood floor, Deckard turned to the doorway, only to furrow his brows in confusion and stand from his position on one of the sofas as he locked eyes with a Toretto he was not expecting to see.

Natalie stopped dead in her tracks when she caught sight of a familiar head of bright blonde hair and their pair of piercing blue eyes.

Simultaneously, Natalie and Deckard pointed to their spouse's siblings, jaws dropping as they spoke in unison.

"Hattie?"

"Jakob?"

The Shaw sister in question stood from her seat, pretending to pout as she jokingly placed a hand to her chest in mock offence.

"Oh, don't look so excited to see me, Nats!" Hattie spoke sarcastically, before dropping the act and grinning at the sight of her sister-in-law.

Natalie barrelled towards the woman, quicker than anyone else could process, and crashed into Hattie, wrapping her in the tightest hug she could manage. The blonde wasted no time in returning the gesture, unable to hide the bright smile that tugged at her lips as they clung to each other.

Hattie and Natalie hadn't seen each other since the latter's wedding, which was over seven years ago. Unfortunately, when the blame was put on Deckard for the murder of his entire MI6 team, Hattie had believed the lie that Eteon had practically spoon-fed her and the entire population. It turned the woman against her brother, and then against Natalie when she disappeared with Deckard.

The couple had no contact with her for four years, before Hattie finally worked up the courage to talk to Natalie. The two slowly, but surely, repaired their fractured bond over calls, messages, postcards, anything they could think of that wouldn't jeopardise Hattie's military career.

Despite Natalie trying to convince her, the blonde Shaw woman never regained contact with her brother, and asked her sister-in-law not to say anything about their communication. Natalie never understood why, but the truth was, Hattie was terrified that it was too late to fix her relationship with her brother ─ she had turned against him, and to her, that was unforgivable.

So, the two Shaw siblings hadn't spoken to each other, until now.

Whilst Hattie and Natalie were practically squeezing the life out of each other, Deckard made his way over to his brother-in-law, who stood, almost nervously, in the entryway of the living room.

"It's good to see you, Jakob." He said warmly, a small and welcoming smile tugging at the corner of his lips. The Shaw man offered a hand, which the Toretto grabbed and shook. The handshake only lasted a second, but it was enough to ease Jakob's nervousness.

Deckard led his brother-in-law towards one of the sofas, where Xavier and Nick were settled and talking about whatever sprung to mind.

Natalie and Hattie finally broke away from their embrace, grinning from ear to ear whilst the former Toretto wrapped an arm around her sister-in-law's shoulder and guided Hattie to another sofa.

"I have so much to tell you." Natalie laughed excitedly, flopping down with Hattie as she began to fill her in on everything she had missed.

Alice and Bianca were curled up on a wide armchair, a phone held between them whilst a familiar voice reassured them over speaker.

"The twins are fine, I promise." Wren soothed the worried mothers, bouncing a calm Leo in her arms. "They're both sleeping well and taking their bottles right on schedule. They're perfect little angels, you guys."

"Are you sure you don't need us to fly home and help? Three kids is a lot–" Bianca started, but was gently interrupted by Wren.

"You both stay right where you are." The Jackson-King woman said in the motherly tone that she typically used on Piper. "We have this under control. My sister and I are taking great care of your baby boys."

Alice sighed, having full faith in her sister-in-law and Wren's sister, Devon, but she wanted nothing more than to hold her babies right now. Bianca rubbed her thumb in soothing motions on the back of her wife's hand, knowing exactly how Alice felt.

"Okay, tell Lukas and Leo that their mamas love them." Alice said, smiling as she spoke. "Love you, Wren. Stay safe."

"Love you too, A. We'll see you when this is all over."

The couple hung up the phone. Alice rested her head on her wife's shoulder, allowing Bianca to wrap an arm around her shoulders and press a delicate, loving kiss to her forehead.

There was only a moment of peace between the two before every phone chimed simultaneously with a message.

Natalie grabbed the phone Ana had given her from her jacket pocket, opening the new text from the redhead.

Andy, who was standing next to the sofa Natalie and Hattie were lounging on, broke the silence.

"Well, I guess we're going to Azerbaijan." The woman announced, prompting the group to get up and begin gathering everything they needed for their next encounter with the Toretto crew.

"YOU KNOW, I DON'T remember why I thought letting you drive was a good idea."

One of Natalie's hands clung to the dashboard in front of her, whilst the other secured the tablet that rested on her lap.

The Shaw couple's off-roader car violently shook as it sped over the incredibly uneven ground and through the tall trees that crowded the land.

Deckard simply chuckled, drifting through the dirt before taking a glance at his wife. The terror on her face was almost laughable, considering that she was experiencing what anyone who has ever been in the passenger seat of her car has experienced at least once in their lives.

Hell, the first time Xavier, Nick, and Alice all took a ride in Natalie's car, they had to beg the woman to slow down before they all threw up on her recently refurbished leather seats. Thankfully, Xavier and Alice managed to keep their nausea under wraps, but Nick, on the other hand, had to dart from the car as soon as it skidded to a stop so that he could throw up by the side of the road.

Safe to say, Natalie's driving took some getting used to.

Looking down at the tablet resting on her thighs, the Shaw woman watched the little red dots move, but still remained to the left of their car.

Ana had managed to sneak undetectable trackers into each of the crew member's cars whilst they were fixing them up, allowing the Kings and Shaws to track their every move.

The Shaws' car drove closer and closer to the main road, causing Deckard to turn towards his wife.

"Brace yourself, darling." He warned, before swerving their car onto the pavement and into the side of Dominic's car.

The vicious shaking of the vehicle made Natalie wince, a small wave of nausea washing over her when the off-roader repeatedly crashed into Toretto's car. The tablet clattered to the floor, shuffling under the woman's seat, causing her to curse. Fingers crossed they wouldn't need it anymore, because there was no chance of her retrieving it whilst her husband was driving like a maniac.

Ramsey, who was struggling like a fish out of water on the bonnet of Dominic's vehicle, skidded further away from Toretto's outstretched hand with every collision.

Deckard continued to smash into his brother-in-law's car, attempting to get Ramsey to fall, but to no avail. The only thing he managed to achieve was scratching the goddamn paint on Toretto's car.

Eventually, Dominic managed to jump the front of his car so that Ramsey's body lurched towards the opening in the roof. The terrified woman frantically climbed into the car, sighing in relief when she felt the leather seat beneath her. She was safe, for now.

Not wasting another moment now that Ramsey was in the passenger seat, the Toretto pushed the Shaws towards the trees, forcing them away from the main road. Deckard swerved away from Dominic, regaining control of the car just as they raced down the hill.

Some of Jakande's men were in pursuit, but they were quickly taken care of. Between Deckard and Dominic's near insane driving, those guys didn't stand a chance.

The couple kept bouncing in their seats from the uneven road and occasional air time that they gained from racing down the side of the mountain. Natalie's heart lurched in her chest as she glanced at her husband, who was entirely focused on getting them off that cliff alive.

Natalie eyed the last vehicle belonging to Jakande that was driving alongside them, and as though he had read her mind, Deckard slammed into the car, causing it to flip on its side. The couple's problems only grew when the car began tumbling down the cliff, threatening to crash into them and force them to meet the same fate.

"Deckard?" Natalie said fearfully when she caught sight of the drop ahead of them. Her husband didn't have time to respond before their car was airborne, sailing down the hill.

"Holy shit!" The Shaw woman screamed, fear clawing its way up her throat as her body lifted from her seat. She came crashing back into the leather beneath her when their off-roader met the ground, thankfully with their wheels on the dirt.

They continued to race towards what Natalie guessed would probably be their death, with the men constantly glancing between each other and the path ahead, glaring with their most murderous expressions.

Natalie couldn't help but pale at the sight of an actual cliff ahead ─ one they were headed straight for. Bile swirled violently in her stomach despite her breathing deeply in an attempt to push it away.

She was used to racing on streets, on solid ground, not on rocky terrain where she had the very prominent chance of falling to her death.

"Deck..." The Shaw woman said in warning, watching as the cliff edge got closer and closer. "Deckard!"

Hearing the pure terror in his wife's voice made his heart pound ─ the Shaw man clenched his jaw to mask his own fright as he made a sharp left turn, forcing the car to speed along the edge of the cliff with Dominic closest to the rocky rim.

Natalie gripped the dashboard again, trying to calm her racing pulse whilst her husband tried to send her brother over the cliff.

One curveball the couple weren't expecting though, was Roman fucking Pearce.

The jokester's car flew in from behind them, ramming into the backend of their off-roader, and causing Deckard to lose control of the car. Before he could even try to straighten the car, Dominic finished them off by crashing into their side, and sending them tumbling down the cliff.

Instinctively, Natalie's hands went to the roof of the car to support herself. Her stomach violently lurched at the intense, dizzying movements, making the woman panic even more than she already was.

The windshield detached during the crash, causing dirt, leaves, and even small branches to flood the off-roader. She heard Deckard grunt in pain, but couldn't bring herself to open her eyes, which were tightly squeezed shut, and check on him.

The woman's head ended up slamming into the window to her right. Natalie's vision blurred before darkness crept around the edges, forcing the woman into an unwilling sleep.

After what felt like minutes, when in reality it was only a few seconds, the car finally rolled to a stop at the bottom of the cliff. It landed so that Natalie's side was pinned to the ground, and Deckard's side was facing the sky.

Deckard groaned, immediately looking to his right to check on his wife, only to find her body limp and her eyes closed. Fear instantly dug its claws into his chest, clutching his heart in its grasp as he gently shook the woman.

"Nat, darling, open your eyes for me." He pleaded, only to shake her harder when her eyelids didn't so much as flutter. "Natalie, wake up."

His heart lurched in relief when the Shaw woman groaned, her eyes fluttering open and her hand instantly going to cradle her pounding head. Deckard quickly grabbed a black duffel bag (which held the disassembled gun) from Natalie's footwell, before moving to climb out of the car.

He threw the bag to the ground, not giving two shits about it until he knew his wife was okay ─ Deckard leaned back into the car, holding out his hand for Natalie to take.

"Come on, baby." He spoke softly, making a disorientated Natalie look up to find his outstretched arm. Reaching to grasp it, the Shaw woman clutched onto her husband's arm with both hands, allowing Deckard to pull her from the wreck.

He carefully lowered her to the ground before jumping down himself. Instantly, his calloused palms were cradling the pale face of his wife, worry pooling over his face and rooting itself deep into his eyes as he scanned her body for any obvious injuries.

The hit to the head hadn't broken the skin, only bruised, and he couldn't see any other wounds, making him sigh in relief.

Natalie opened her mouth to say something, only to clasp a hand over her mouth and rip herself from her husband's warm grasp, startling the man. She stumbled a few steps away before dropping to her knees and throwing up onto the dirt floor of the forest.

Deckard quickly snapped out of his shock and dropped down behind her, gently gathering her hair in his hands and rubbing soothing circles over her back. The woman heaved for a moment more before sighing in exhaustion and relief when the nausea subsided.

"I think I might have a concussion." The woman muttered sarcastically, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt. Deckard couldn't help but chuckle, despite their situation, and place a delicate kiss on his wife's uninjured temple.

The two climbed from their seats on the dirt ground, with Deckard helping Natalie stand steady. The woman squeezed his hand, which was clutched in hers, three times, before moving to grab the black duffel bag.

Concern overtook Deckard's face, but Natalie simply nodded her head towards the direction they were meant to be going before smiling reassuringly at her husband. Trusting his wife's judgement, he caught up to her and the two jogged towards their vantage point.

During their short journey, the two tossed pieces of the gun back and forth, moving in sync as they built the rifle whilst traipsing up the mountains. They reached their vantage point in record time (considering that they were literally just tossed down a cliff), and Natalie propped the weapon up on its stand before peering through the scope.

Her vision swam slightly as she tried to focus, but she didn't let that stop her ─ she watched as cars surrounded Dominic and smirked, knowing exactly who had joined the party.

DOMINIC TORETTO HAD BEEN driven into a corner by just over a dozen identical black SUVs, forcing him to rack his brain for a way to make it out of there alive.

Every driver side door opened, revealing multiple armed people with black, plastic masks hiding their identities. Each person was either a member of the King family, close friends of the King family, or a mercenary-for-hire that they paid for. They all raised their assault rifles and aimed right at Dominic and Ramsey, the latter cowering in her seat from utter fear.

The passenger side door of the SUV directly opposite Toretto's car opened; feet adorning black stilettos stepped out, shocking Dominic. The woman stood to her full height ─ she didn't wear the same mask as all of the others, instead she had a pair of sunglasses resting on the bridge of her nose, and sported a white long-sleeved blouse with black dress pants.

Her posture radiated power, almost making Toretto reflexively shiver. The woman appeared to be in her mid-fifties, with dirty blonde hair that fell just below her shoulder.

"Quite an impressive heist you've accomplished." The woman's British voice spoke confidently and clearly, not a single pause or stutter in sight. "But then again, you're all about committing heists, aren't you, Dominic?"

The man in question froze at the sound of his name, his tan skin paling ever so slightly as the colour drained from his face.

Andromeda King couldn't help but smirk at the fear written across the Toretto's face. She took a step forward, pushing her sunglasses up to rest on her head so that she could make clear eye contact with the man that had caused her daughter so much pain.

Her smirk quickly transformed into a scowl, before she addressed all of those equipped with weapons.

"Fire on three." She yelled, watching as Dominic quickly spun his car around to generate smoke. The woman chuckled, finding it amusing that the Toretto man thought that he had a way out of here.

"One."

Dominic stopped spinning so that he was facing the cliff.

"Two."

He revved his engine, ready to do what he needed to do.

"Three!"

Bullets assaulted the tail of his car as he drove towards the edge of the cliff. Ramsey screamed as they sailed off, staying in the air for a long moment before completely crashing into a sharp edge of the slope. The totaled car landed in a heap at the bottom of the cliff, and Andy could only hope and wish that the stupid stunt was the end of Dominic Toretto.

But unfortunately, not all wishes come true.

HAYLEY WRITES...
this chapter took FOREVER
to write omg 😭

let me know what you thought
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