“For her to be kidnapped, it doesn´t make sense, I mean they would´ve call you but our phones stopped working that day at the docks. If someone took her don´t you think they´ve would have called her father by now if they couldn´t reach you?” Either way Mira was gone, as cruel as her words sound, it was true.

Mia didn’t know Mira that well but what she did of running away, instead she should´ve gone to her father. He would´ve protect her and his grandchildren. Why would she pull a stunt like this? If she wanted to keep her children safe then, that was not the way to do it, to take the children away from their father… it devastated her to see what Brian was going through. He had enough in his plate for the last couple of weeks and to add this to his ´stress list´ wasn’t helping at all.

“Mira took off, Brian” as she ran her hand through her long hair.

Her words made sense even though Brian didn't want to follow her thought pattern. Most likely they hadn't been kidnapped. they only reason to kidnap them was leverage so Jack would cooperate. That was now out of the picture so there was no reason.

Grimmly he listened to Mia but his eyes didn't look at her once. Her words stung, even though she didn't mean to hurt him.
For some reason when she finsihed off that Mira took off Brian's eyes were suddenly glued on Mia's friendly features. His eyes were shooting daggers in her direction that could have killed the poor woman while his voice was suddenly ice cold.
"Don't you say that! You have no idea!"

The posibilty that his girl friend could have run off with his children was to cruel to even think about it.

Brian turned on his heal to head for the car. For him this conversation was done. Mira would call him sooner or later.

She reached for his arm before he could walk away and spun him around frowning at him. The coldness of his voice made her tremble but it was true. Damn it! It was!
“You can hate me all you want, Brian, and as cruel as it sound what other explanation do YOU have? You are the cop here, you tell me?” She turned around and walk away from him to the car delivering those words with the same coldness he did.

Each step she took to the vehicle made her anger rise and rise towards Mira. Why?! He didn’t deserve that. There was other ways for her to protect her children. Didn’t Mira love him? For god´s sake! He was the father of her children! Mira was being way too selfish.

Mia understood the woman was afraid, heck she was afraid too of where they all were with the mob, of not knowing whether they would get another day to breathe or die in a matter of hours even seconds… she just couldn’t understand Mira, as much as she wanted to find an excuse she just couldn’t.

Of course his words would set off Mia. After all she was a Toretto, who weren't famous for remaining calm under all circumstances.
Even though he didn't want to listen to her Brian had to after she grabbed hold of his arm.
He held his breath while she was talking but then she put the 'cop' in there.
Brian had to do everything he could to keep his frustration and anger under controll and not blow up in her face.
All he barked at her was. "Your wrong, Mia!" Brian wasn't going to accept that as the truth when there could be other reasons.

Mia left him standing there and climbed in the car so he followed her and sat down in the driver seat still fuming.

A lot of rubber stayed on the parking lot when the BMW spun around and shot off the lot.

The emotions inside of Brian were hard to describe. He was emotionally and physically exhausted while a mixture of anger, dissapointment and despair seemed to threaten to tear him apart.

If only Mira would call.

A few times the German car barely missed other cars so Brian forced himself to slow down. Not one word was spoken between them anymore until he stopped in front of Coles house half an hour later but didn't get out.
"I'm going to search for her." Brian announced without looking at the brunette at his side.

He could tell her how wrong she was, but he knew what the truth was, was it hard to accept? Of course. Moments later he climbed to the driver seat and drove away from the hotel to Cole´s house. Not a word was spoken between them because if they did then they were going to blow up, if there was one thing in common between the Torettos and the O´Conners was their tempers.

Brian started to drive a little too fast but that wasn’t surprising to her at all, he was pissed, she was too. Anger was eating at him and he had to slow down. Finally, they were outside Cole´s house. There was no eye contact between them, she looked straight ahead the road as he let her know he was going to look for Mira and she just walk out of the car closing the door a little too hard, without looking back.

Right now Mia's emotions didn't interest Brian too much because he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts and feelings.
Once the woman, he had once loved, was out the door he backed out of the drive way and pulled onto the street way too fast.
He would purchase a new phone and call her again. Then he'd drive to all the usual spots she could be at including her father.

With a deep frown and a rather unfortunate mix of emotions cursing through his body Brian followed his own plan. He didn't stop once to have breakfast or a coffee.
The only thing he bought was a bottle of water and new phone since his last one hadn't survived his nightly swimming session in the LA harbor.

Then he called Mira's phone again to leave her his new number.

From one restaurant, favourite beach, friend to another Brian searched for the woman and their children for hours. It was damn hard to stay positive and focussed when his thoughts were drifting to the worst options what could have happened to them.

In the late afternoon Brian was at the end of his rope and stopped on the side of the road to plan his next step when his phone rang. The sound made him jumped because SHE was the only person who had that number.
With shaking fingers he picked up just to hear Mira's voice on the other end.
"Where are you?" He asked with trembling voice. In the background he could her the cooing of one of the babies, which almost brought him to tears.
"In satefy."

During their conversation it became clear that the events of the previous days had scare Mira so much that she wasn't ready to come back to LA. Neither would she tell Brian where she was because she was afraid that he might be trailed. No pleas, no arguments, not even his sobs would get her to change her mind. The only thing the ex-cop was left with in the end was the promise that she'd call him every day and soon meet him.

Brian wondered whether it made any sense to threaten her but decided against it. Maybe she just needed time to come around.

He spent the night at a motel and despite the crazy situation and emotions he slept for almost 12 hours.

She tossed and turned in bed unable to sleep thinking back to the events of a few hours ago. Boy, was she pissed off, now that she thought about it she never saw even heard herself this angry, it didn´t help either Brian was the same way, it was natural for them to clash with each other. Since the afternoon that Brian left her all she did was sat in the sofa, she passed on dinner and went to bed not wanting to have Dom interrogate her about where was Brian.

By six o´clock in the morning she was up and damn grumpy. Maybe a cup of coffee would help, quietly she exited her room and went downstairs to the kitchen to make and drink some coffee. She leaned on the counter and looked outside the window; there was no sign of the sun or Brian. No matter how angry she was by how everything happened yesterday she just hoped he found her and his kids.

The clear glass turned to a brownish dark color as she poured the coffee and drank some of it. The lack of sleep was taking its toll on her and she yawned walking back to the sofa, instead of waking up she was falling asleep so she made herself comfortable. “You better bring back good news, Brian” she thought and in a second she was asleep on the couch.

A day and half later Brian returned to Coles place. Why here out of all the places? Because he had no other place to go nor did he have anybody else but the people here.
The ex-cop didn't feel like talking but he knew that the others, especially Mia, deserved to know what was going on.

Emotionally drained he rang the bell hoping that somebody would be home.
When the door was finally opened it was Mia who stood there with a cup of coffee and bags under her eyes.
For a moment Brian searched for the right words but neither "She doesn't want to come back" nor "I hate her for leaving and not telling me where she is" did quite cut it. So he simply sighed with hanging shoulders hoping she'd understand anyway.

The few hours of sleep didn’t help, she could feel her eyes a little heavy. She went straight to the counter to add more coffee to her system just in time to hear the door bell, with cup in hand she opened the door and saw Brian standing there and turned around to take a seat and let him walk in. He didn´t look worried since yesterday, he probably found her, but did he get the answers he wanted to? Maybe not. The situation was different between Brian and Mira, that was for sure.

She looked down at her cup not knowing where to start. Should she even say a word to him? She kept quiet running her hands through her tired face. The last thing she was looking forward was to argue with Brian again.

It was odd for Mia not to say anything. No word about Mira or the babies, no questions, no nothing. Maybe she was still upset about their argument.
Brian followed her inside. He really wasn't in the mood for apologies, explanations or discussions, yet he felt she deserved something after helping him out so much.
"I'm sorry about the other day." Was the brief apology he offered her before sitting down on a grey leather arm chair opposite of her.
He was still wearing the same clothes he had borrowed off Cole two days ago. By now the road rash had partly turned into scabs while it was still oozing and sticking to the old bandage in other spots.
The whole time Brian had paid attention to it because he was too busy with being worried sick.
Leaning his elbows on his knees he looked at her for a moment.
"I talked to her. She won't tell me where she is because she's afraid somebody might follow me when I come. She said she'd call me in a few days so I can see them."
Staring ahead he thought about what that actually meant. By now he was running on fumes, he had nothing left and the adrenalin had long worn off.
Suddenly tears started filling Brian eyes and he found himself sobbing like a baby. All he could do was hide his face in his palms from Mia's looks.

OOC: I hate this..I think I have to skip ahead a month soon.

She nodded when he apologized to her. It was hard to explain how he looked, exhausted, and his eyes lost that sparkle, he looked empty as he started to explained he had found Mira but things didn’t go as he wanted them to. She stood up from the chair when he broke down and knelt down taking his hands on hers forcing him to look at her.

“She´s scared for her safety and the kids, it´s understandable. You found them, Brian, and they are all fine. Give her a few days and she´ll come around. I know all of this isn’t easy,” wiping away his tears, she didn’t even know how she delivered those words without her breaking down too.

“I may not get along with Mira but, she will never prevent you from seeing your children, like I said give her those couple of days…"

For a good few minutes Brian lost all self controll and let all the bottle up frustration and hurt of the past days out. He didn't want to be strong and keep it all inside anymore. Even with Mia there he couldn't care less. He was a mess and didn't feel like hiding it.

It took Brian a while before he could actually listen to Mia's encouraging words and try to see it her way.
That's when it suddenly occured to him that he'd never been as close to Mira as he was to the woman in front of him. Nor did Mira care about him and his feelings as much as Mia did. For a moment he looked up at her with red rimmed eyes and a look of confusion in them.
Then he got up, squeezed her shoulder and said. "Thank you." before turning away and going abck out to Coles car.

Then he was gone.

His eyes locked with hers for a second, she could tell he was confused. But why...? He eyes were still red but there was no tears. She came out of her trance as he squeezed her shoulder and thanked her, she never stood up until she looked around and Brian was gone.

"Brian," she called out to him but the sound of the tires burning on the pavement deafened the sound of her voice, the only thing she saw was the car driving away from Cole´s house. Where was he going? More importantly what was he going to do?

Where he was driving he didn't know yet. Away from here, away from it all. Brian needed space and time to clear his head and come to terms with what had happened.

He drove out of the city and stayed at a small place up the coast with rental trailors because he was quite short on money. Nobody here knew him or bothered him.
Most of the time Brian was just sitting on the beach staring out at the never ending lines of waves rolling in. In the back of his mind was always hoping that Mira'd call and one day she did.

Brian drove another 200 miles to see her and his children. He barely knew the two but felt the connection. Of course he gave Mira a piece of his mind for just running off with them, which she wasn't too fond off. An argument started and if he hadn't been for two screaming babies, that argument would have lasted much longer.

Finally the two agreed that Brian would always know where they were and come visit them every day but that him and Mira would go their seperate ways for a while because things between them simly didn't work the way they were supposed to.

Almost two weeks later Brian drove back to LA. he still wasn't happy or content with the situation but felt he had no other choice. Maybe they were really safer away from all these troubles.

One fine Saturday afternoon he knocked on Cole's door again ready to apologize for 'stealing' his BMW.

OOC: Sorry I cut it so short but i didn't want to dragh this on.

Mia didn´t go into much detail the day after Brian left, what she couldn’t avoid was being question by Dom and Cole. She told them the events of what had happen in a way not to worry them so much, but when two whole weeks went by and there was no sign of Brian she was worried sick. Lots of bad thoughts came to mind, was he in jail? Was he hurt? Who could she call? She waited day and late nights for him to return but he never came through that door or a phone call.

She figured he must have been with Mira for the first day, or was it for the entire two weeks? She sat on the sofa, that place became her favorite spot even to sleep. She took the newspaper and starting to flip through the pages not really interested, she was reading but not paying a lot of attention about what she was reading until somebody knock at the door.

She stood up and went to open the door. Her left hand held the newspaper and her gaze was down still reading. Dom decided to head out, she really wasn’t sure where he was going but for him to come back this quick meant he forgot something. “What did you forget this time, Dom?” her gaze was on the person standing in front.

“Brian, come on in,” she suggested to him. “How´s Mira and the kids?” as much as she wanted to ask him so much more and also scold him, she stopped herself from doing that. Mia didn’t feel like pushing him to tell her what had happen or where he was, she knew that if he wanted to then he would share.

OOC: Don´t worry about it.

it was a bit strange to find Mia open the door again after two weeks. Was she living at Cole's place now? He had expected the young blonde but couldn't hide a small smile. Her face was the only one he really wanted to see in n=his current mood because she didn't need big explanations and would always be on his side.
"Hi."
Brian followed her into the house to find it exactly like it had been two weeks ago but nobody else was around.
"They are good." He stated with a lack of enthusiasm. It wasn't like somebody was casually enquiring about his happy family.
Walking over to the kitchen Brian poured himself a glass of water and gulped it down in one go. The drive down the coast had been long.
Then he turned around to face Mia, who surely had a million questions.
"I'm sorry I didn't call." The explanation why he didn't never left his lips.
"I saw them each day but we decided to go our seperate ways. Things are complicated." His voice was low, barely audible because the facts that he was presenting hurt too much.
"Have you heard from my brother? Is he okay?"

“I´m glad they´re doing good,” a small smile lingered on her lips as she remembered his twins, but erased it as she saw him drank some water and heard his apology. She sat down placing her elbows on the table.

“You don´t have to give me any explanations-“ but he continued to tell her about his day, she looked down for a moment until she heard the ´we decided to go our separate ways´ she look up at his reaction and was at a loss of words for a moment.

“I´m so sorry to hear that, Brian” her words were sincere as she delivered them. “I haven´t heard from Jack… I´ll ask Dom once he comes back,” the silence fell on them, she went back to read the newspaper, her eyes could see very well the little letters on the grey paper with colorful pictures but she wasn´t following. Brian´s words took her by surprise but she didn’t show it.

Brian sat down on the same table placing his glass of water in front of him. He started turning it in his hands as if it would change with the movement when he simply needed something to do, something to occupy his mind.
Mia was back to reading her paper, which probably meant she didn't want to hear about the woman she didn't like.
Drawing in a deep breath and letting it out as a long sigh Brian talked about her anyway. Somehow he needed to get this out otherwise it would tear him up from the inside.
"What relationship would survive being shot at, your babies being kidnapped and almost going to prison. She lost her job because of me..." The list was actually much longer than that. Trouble with her father, getting pregnant out of the blue, Brian not being able to tell her that he loved her...
With all that on his wrap sheet he couldn't even look Mia in the eye, knowing very well that he'd also broken her heart and done her wrong.

He had her full attention the moment he sighed and started to talk about. She set the paper aside trying to find the appropriate words. “I believe there´s always a way to make it work, but I am the last person to give you advice on this when it was me who walked out on you,” he broke her heart. True. But didn’t she do the same to him?

It was her turn to look down at her hands. Any relationship could survive any kind of ordeal a couple might have but the question here was: How much they wanted for that relationship to work? Also, Did Mira love him? Did he love her (Mira)? Questions she couldn’t dare to ask, questions that she never answered herself when she let him go.

It was good to see her put the paper down, which meant she was willing to listen and talk even though it was most likely a sore subject for Mia.
"There is if you want it to work." Brian stated grimly. "I don't know, Mia."
Brian leaned his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands."I just don'tknow. I suck at relationships. Never been able to maintain a good one."
Unfortunately that was true. Brian had had many short term relationships, some longer ones but none of them worked. Partly because he was never able to forget Mia.
"I wish you hadn't..." He suddenly muttered under his breath as realization dawned on him why Mira and him never worked.
"Too late now!" He qunatified a moment after the words had slipped from his lips.