NATALIE WANTED THE SOFA beneath her to swallow her whole. Life was just too overwhelming, mainly because at that point in time, she was avoiding too many people.

Letty Ortiz was being avoided because it pained Natalie every time they had made eye contact - the lack of recognition behind Letty's gaze was enough to kill the woman ten times over. Leticia Ortiz's body may have returned from the grave, but her mind was still six feet under; buried away for no one to find.

Despite the two not actually interacting yet (which Natalie was beyond thankful for), Dominic Toretto was being avoided at all costs. They had experienced thirteen long, beautiful years apart, and Natalie wasn't about to be the one to reset the counter. Especially since she wasn't the one that was a stubborn, narcissistic hypocrite with a saviour complex.

Owen Shaw was also being avoided because he had single-handedly released a wrecking ball into Natalie's life, and demolished the shit out of whatever happiness she had felt in Italy. He was the reason Dominic had made an impromptu trip to London, and if Natalie really wanted to play the blame-game, he was the reason why she had mourned her best friend's death for the past four years.

When things got rough or overwhelming, Natalie's coping mechanism would be to completely shut down. She would spend hours in one spot, silent and still, as her mind attempted to sort its way through the mess that was on a rampage within her head. Her mind was a hostage caged in her own unmoving body.

The first year after Letty's 'death' was the most difficult - the shut-downs became horrifically frequent, to the point where Natalie would spend days at a time barely functioning.

Deckard had to make sure that she ate, stayed hydrated, went to the bathroom, and kept up with her hygiene. He truly loved Natalie, and didn't at all mind that he had to do most of those things daily, and certain tasks multiple times a day.

He had seen firsthand how far Natalie could fall during her shut-downs, so when his wife didn't pick up the phone (which was extremely unlike her), Deckard decided to call the last person he knew that Natalie was with - Owen.

When the younger Shaw saw his phone light up with the name 'DECKARD', he knew something was wrong - his older brother never called him about anything.

Owen answered the phone and pressed it to his right ear, unsure of what to expect.

"Hello?" He said hesitantly. It only took a fraction of a second for the voice on the other side to respond.

"Where's Natalie?" Deckard demanded, not wasting any time.

"Uhm- she left the base a few hours ago." Owen recalled, "Why?"

"Did you say or do anything that might've upset her?"

There was a pause from Owen. "...Yes."

"Oh, for fuck sake, Owen. She's been in London all of two seconds and you've somehow managed to upset her so much that she's not picking up her damn phone." Deckard seethed, unable to contain the rage that he felt.

Before Owen could get a word in to explain what had happened, Deckard hung up the phone.

WREN JACKSON-KING PEEKED INTO her daughter's room, carefully opening the door to avoid making any noise. Piper had been put down for a nap an hour ago, which meant that the 18-month-old would wake up soon.

To Wren's surprise, Piper was already awake and standing in her crib, waiting to be picked up by her mother. The little girl cooed at the sight of one of her favourite people (the others being her father, Xavier, and her Auntie Nat).

"Why, hello, little miss. Someone decided to surprise mommy, huh?" Wren spoke softly, placing her daughter on her hip, who then nuzzled her small head into the woman's shoulder.

Just as Wren had started to leave the room, her phone rang in her back pocket. Shifting Piper's weight so that she could be carried with one arm, she grabbed her phone, answered without looking at the contact, and placed it against her ear.

"This is Wren."

"Wren? It's Deckard." The worried mercenary paced as he spoke. Oh, how he wished that he wasn't in Italy right now.

"Hey, Deck." Wren beamed, having not heard from him in weeks. "Are you in London yet? Nat told us yesterday that you had a small job to do before you could fly over."

Piper babbled at the sound of Nat's name, which Deckard heard over the phone, causing him to crack a small smile.

"If you're with her, I think a certain someone would like to say 'hi' to her Auntie Nats." Wren giggled. Deckard sighed, which the woman heard, causing her smile to dim slightly.

"That's actually what I called about. I'm still in Italy, so I need you to go to the London safe house and check on Natalie." He felt like he was overreacting, but based on the information that he had, Deckard preferred to be safe instead of sorry.

Wren sandwiched the phone between her ear and her shoulder so that she could open the door to Piper's room and walk out, before returning it to her hand.

"Why? Has something happened to her?" She inquired, wanting to know what she was about to walk into.

"I think Owen triggered one of her episodes."

"What a fucking idiot." Wren cursed, placing her daughter into the baby carrier, which she would then carry to the car. "Do you know what he said to her?"

There was a heavy pause from Deckard before he spoke.

"I may or may not have hung up on him before he could tell me..."

"Seriously?!"

"I know - not my brightest moment." Deckard admitted, silently kicking himself for ending the call with Owen so soon.

"Now, when have you ever had a bright moment? Let's be honest." Wren joked in response, before continuing with the topic at hand. "I'll call you back after I check on Nat. Bye, Deck."

"Thank you for doing this, Wren."

"Of course, she's practically my sister."

The two ended the phone call, and Wren turned to Piper, who was snuggled into her carrier.

"Okay, honey, let's go and check on Auntie Nat." The child clapped in response, lighting up at the sound on Natalie's name.

Wren grabbed her coat, car keys, and her daughter before making her way out to the car. She hoped that she could pull Natalie back from the edge of one of her 'episodes' before the woman became mentally absent. If not, well, that wasn't an option that Wren wanted to consider right then.

NATALIE DIDN'T KNOW HOW long she'd been sitting in her living room - it could've been hours, it could've been days. Her perception of time had been skewed by her own fucked up mind.

She didn't even register the sound of keys jingling in the front door, or footsteps on the hardwood floor. Natalie continued to zone out, leaving her eyes focused on no particular thing.

Wren came to a stop just in front of the still woman and took in her appearance - her eyes were red from tears (old or fresh, she couldn't tell), her lips were chapped, cracked, and even bruised from where the woman had bitten and picked at them.

It was worse than she thought it was going to be, considering that the Shaw woman had only been in London for a day.

Piper wriggled in her mother's hold in an attempt to get to Natalie. The girl began to whine, so Wren placed her down in between her and Natalie.

The small child wasted no time in climbing up onto the sofa and into Natalie's lap. Wren watched as something flickered in the woman's eyes, but her facial expression remained void of emotion.

The mother sat in the space next to Natalie, and gently moved her so that the woman was leaning on her. After Natalie's head found its place on Wren's shoulder, Wren began to run her fingers through her loose dark brown curls.

"It's okay, Nat. Let your feelings in." Wren spoke in a soothing tone, hoping to help snap her out of her dissociative state. "You can be vulnerable every once in a while, especially since you've been so strong for far too long."

Meanwhile, Piper took Natalie's left hand and began playing with her wedding rings, completely enamoured with the diamonds and how they sparkled when they caught the light.

The young girl's mother visibly sighed in relief when a tear trailed down Natalie's cheek, which was followed by violent sobs.

"It's okay... it's okay - let it all out, honey." Wren cooed, moving her hand from Natalie's hair to her back, and began rubbing her back in soothing circular motions.

Surprisingly, Piper didn't shy away from the loud noises her aunt was making, instead she curled into Natalie's lap further and tried to wrap her small arms around the grownup's waist.

It took many minutes for the sobbing woman to calm down enough to speak, and when she did, Wren wanted to murder Owen.

"Letty's alive," Natalie cried, tears still streaming down her face, "and Owen knew about it-"

A sob ripped through her lips before she could finish her sentence. Natalie took a few shaky deep breaths before continuing.

"He knew about it for four years."

Wren had never wished that she had taken up her husband's offer of training her to become somewhat of a mercenary, but as of right now, she wished she knew at least ten ways to make sure the younger Shaw brother suffered immense pain.

"Four years? Isn't that how long it's been since-" Wren asked, realising exactly how bad this revelation was.

"Yeah, since Letty supposedly died."

Oh my God, he'd known since the beginning, Wren realised.

"There's more..." Natalie spoke quietly, "Letty lost her memory because of the crash that nearly killed her, and Owen's job has brought Dominic and his crew to London."

It was a miracle that Wren had managed to snap Natalie out of her 'shut-down', considering all of the shit that had happened within the space of a few hours.

The two of them stayed like that for a while - cuddled up on the sofa together, trying to work their way through what was happening. Wren was bouncing around ideas of what to do next, in hopes of helping Natalie see that there was a way to solve everything.

With the help of her sister-in-law and the rational side of her now having more say than her emotions, Natalie had figured out what to do next.

She knew that she couldn't let Letty slip through the cracks, especially since the Shaw woman was technically the only family she had at that moment.

Natalie would do everything in her power to protect her best friend, even if it meant facing Dominic Toretto. Nothing could stop her from protecting her loved ones - not even someone who meant the world to her, once upon a time.

Owen, on the other hand, was going to be lucky if he didn't end up six feet under by the time Natalie was done with him.

HAYLEY WRITES...
owens gonna have to catch these
hands fr

little bit of a shorter chapter,
but this felt like a good cut off point

get ready for some cute nat & letty
moments next chapter, as well as some
badass nat ;)