Joker had heard the news about Brian's death and took it hard. So hard in fact that he exhausted his resources trying to find Dom, Cole, Jack, anyone that could be part of what got Brian axed. He even came out of retirement to earn some extra cash, and now he found himself on a beach in freaking Monaco running the jet-lag out of his system. He had no leads on the Toretto family, guess they had finally got good at covering their tracks. Joker knew the game though, get a car, get on the street, get attention. Dom would pop up eventually.

He took a moment to calm himself down, the spike of anger he felt made him loose step and nearly tripped him up. It was a long time since he and Don ran in the same circle, but from time to time he'd beat himself up for ditching out on the crew. Recently though he'd spent so much time trying to act the clean life he completely lost track of his friends, and now The crew was on the run again and Brian was done. Joker closed his eyes and growled deep down in his throat, he had to bite back the rising anger. "Should have been there." Joker thought to himself.

He looked at the water and ran from the sand into the water, without hesitating he plunged into the waves and began to swim out towards a buey. He tagged it and came back, trudging back to the beach with his legs coated in sand. The cold water had shocked his system and brought his superman syndrome to reality. Brian was dead, ain't shit he could do about that, but he could get with Dom, figure out the why and how, then do figure out -who- he would hold responcible.

Everyday she found herself here. There was something about the beach that she loved, maybe because it reminded her of home and because of Brian too. The wind played now with her short hair as the sun burn her arms and legs but that only encouraged her to take off her sandals and walk on the damp sand as the waves crashed and made their way to cover her feet. She let her mind wonder welcoming the memories as she thought about Leon and Joker in particular that race she joined with the boys.

She wasn't much into racing, but that day when Joker announced to the crowd about how not only one Toretto was going to race but the two. She somehow missed that. Growing up in a world where not only her dad was involved in cars but also her brother... She looked back at her car parked in the distance. It wouldn't hurt to go back to race, she was looking forward for that adrenaline rush...maybe not this morning.

She shook her head and kept walking wondering if she would every see her old friends someday. Were they safe? Were they hiding like she was?

OOC: Joker! So glad to see you back here!

Joker slowed to a stop as he looked ahead of him. "What the..." his heart skipped a beat in shock while his mind profiled the woman a few yards ahead of him. It was Mia without a doubt and he didn't waste a moment closing the distance. "Mia." He said calmly and ran a hand though his wet hair, pushing the water and sweat down his back. Joker's mind was racing at the timing and convenience, he was more then a little suspicious about it but right now he had his chance to start piecing the last few months together.

Mia heard the familiar voice calling her name. She stopped walking and turned around, and there he was closing the distance. "Hey," she lost her voice for a moment, embracing him for a few seconds. Her arms dropped to her sides and took the courage to look at him in the eye, biting her lower lip trying to control her emotions.
Finally, she cleared her throat. "What are you doing here?" Was all she could think to ask, was all she could say in that instant. Was this a coincidence? Who cared? All that matter was that another member of her family was here...in Monaco and looking for answers.

The events of the last few months that led her here with Dom were buried deep in her mind and as painful as she knew it would be, she was willing to provide him with answers.

Joker opened his arms wide and hugged her out of reaction. "Mia, I'm so sorry." He stepped back a bit shocked at his own actions. "I," He cleared his throat, "I'm here to find you guys, and get in contact with your brother. I want to hit back at who got to Brian." His eyes iced over and he clenched his jaw. "Providing Dom hasn't taken that liberty yet." He crossed his arms and looked around to make sure no one was watching.

She looked at the ocean as he offered his condolences, Mia nodded hearing what he had to say. Her gaze stayed on him as he went on to explain he was looking for them, and when he mention how he was looking forward to avenge Brian's death, her jaw clenched and the frown on her forehead was hard to hide.

He made it sound so easy. To find the person who did this...the person responsible for Brian's death was not just any random person, it wasn't someone you could just find easily and kill. "It's not that easy..." She started to say.

"Dom will let you know everything you need and want to know," pulling out her phone.

The look that crossed Joker's face would make lava run cold, he sneered. "I don't care if he's Muhammad "I'm hard" Bruce Lee...I will find him...I will hurt him...and eventually I will tear down his life around him and watch him bleed to death in a pit of piranha...Dom said he's family then he's family, and you don't fuck with our family." He said calmly despite the rage he was holding back. Joker eyes Mia up and down and took a deep breath relaxing. "I bled for that man," He held up a hand slowly showing the scars over the damaged fingers from the incident at the hospital. "And I will be damned if I let anyone make my sacrifice be in vain." He shook his head as she dialed Dom's number, they hadn't left on the best of terms but he was not insane enough to think this was going to turn out good for him. Dom owed him an asswooping and Joker knew damned well he deserved it. "Let's walk and talk I don't want to stick around too long...any word on very special agent Hobbs...last time we talked he seemed upset...about how much red tape he'd have to go through to arrest me."

He still didn't get it. No matter how tough he was, going against the one person who killed Brian was no walk in the park, but didn't say anything else. She took off her flip flops feeling the sand between her toes as she walked with him. She held her phone against her ear waiting for Dom to pick up. Her brothers phone rang at the other end of the line. "I haven't heard from Hobbs since we left LA," it was true, she never heard about Hobbs including Mira and her twin babies...Brian's babies. "It's like we never lived there. I Lost contact with Leon and Faye too," she stopped talking to Joker for a moment as Dom finally answered.

"Dom, there's someone that needs to speak with you..."

Dom was doing a random visit to the hospital, visiting Shawn and seeing how he was doing when his phone began to ring. With Shawn not actually being dead, the crew had to take turns watching over him in order to hopefully prevent them from coming back to finish the job. Dom answered his phone noticing who it was calling him. The last time him and Mia spoke was in the Toretto casa garage so seeing her call him, was very much welcomed. Sliding his finger over the green button, he finally spoke, "Hey Sis, what's up?"

"Dom, there's someone that needs to speak with you..."

The first thought that came to mind was that if that fuck had his sister in his grips, this was going to be world war fucking three. He already had Piper and put Shawn here and now he was going to fuck with them more and make this personal? "Are you safe?" he asked coldly awaiting the worst answer possible as he rose to his feet prepared to leave his watch over Shawn.

Dom's cheerful voice change in a quick second when she let him know about that someone wanted to talk to him. "Everything's fine. Don't worry..." She should've explain right away that Joker wanted to speak with him, It had been months since the two spoke. "I should've explain myself right away. Hold on." She passed her cell phone to Joker as he took it, and hesitated for a moment. She combed her hair with her fingers, a clear sign she was nervous not knowing how her brother was going to react when he heard Joker's voice. So, she waited looking at his reactions as the sound of Dom's deep voice was heard.

"Hey Dom, it's me..." He let the silence hang for a minute. "I'm not here to cause trouble. I want back in the family. For good." Joker eyed Mia up and down while he talked. She was nervous and he didn't blame her. Joker had left them high and dry when they needed him, Jessie was dead now, Brian too, God knew where Vince had wandered off to, and as always they were on the run.

"Everything's fine. Don't worry...I should've explain myself right away. Hold on."

Dom eased up a bit and sat back down as he waited on hold for the brief second. Honestly anything was running through his mind right now that would make Mia put him on hold like she did. She could have been stuck in traffic, she could have been eating and trying to swallow something before speaking again. There could've been a million reasons for him to be on hold. But what he wasn't expecting was what actually came.

"Hey Dom, it's me...I'm not here to cause trouble. I want back in the family. For good."

Walter? Again, Dom stood to his feet again. Walter was a friend he grew up with along with Vince and he also was a friend he could trust at one point. Now though, he wasn't so sure. This was the same friend that used to be family. The same friend that had the crews trust at one point until he screwed Brian over and framed him for that impossible 40 car heist. Cops were all over the place for that bullshit that Walter caused.....and now he wanted back in like nothing ever happened? Dom got quiet.....real quiet and wasn't sure to tell Walter where to go, or tell him to go back where he came from and get away from his sister, or just plain ask him where they were at so he could stick an exhaust pipe where the sun don't shine. Either way, Dom was pacing now in Shawn's room not knowing what to expect. It was really odd that he had done jobs for the Italian mafia before and now that Shawn was in the hospital he shows up out of nowhere. Coincidence maybe? Dom had his doubts. 

In a low growl of a tone, he talked calmly into the phone, his voice speaking shades of embarrassment and shame towards Walter when he said these few words. "It's a crew vote now, but tell me, Walter, what makes you think you deserve this "family" after what you did." he said staring at one object as the rage began to build within. "To be frank, I'm not even sure I want you within the same country as my sister, yet alone standing next to her. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't come give you a beat down?"

"Dom, When I found out that Brian ran with you I bent over backwards and even brought down the fucks that set that whole gig up...I have a nice little reminder next to my spine and a matching one through my chest." He looked down at the scar the bullet left. "Hell I barely have functioning fingers from that one." Joker looked at Mia again and pulled the phone away from his head for a second. He covered the receiver. "Guess no one told him I tried to fix that mistake huh?" He closed his eyes slowly. "Dom," He returned the phone to his head, "I needed drivers, he was the only one that made the list...then his brother got involved...it was a mess. Not as clean as boosting semi's huh? You ain't perfect either Dom, remember that shit. Bad calls are us, even after Brian let you off the hook you still managed to end up on the run time and time again. You want to beat me upside the head then do it after you have the full facts."

Things were going downhill, She could see it in Walter's face and not only that but his tone of voice gave it away. "I needed drivers, he was the only one that made the list..." She heard him say and suddenly she couldn't look at him in the eye. Rage ran through her and she had to look away. 'Not the time or place to take out your anger,' she had to remind herself that. She wasn't perfect either after all she was the one who asked the Italian mob to help her free Dom, not knowing where she was getting herself into.

The conversation escalated quickly and she wondered if talking to Walter was a good idea, apparently it wasn't.

"Dom, When I found out that Brian ran with you I bent over backwards and even brought down the fucks that set that whole gig up...I have a nice little reminder next to my spine and a matching one through my chest."

Dom raised his voice into the phone, not all out screaming, but the tone did get louder and more firm. "THAT was to straighten out the mess and make things right with Brian. NOT ME!" 

"I needed drivers, he was the only one that made the list...then his brother got involved...it was a mess. Not as clean as boosting semi's huh? You ain't perfect either Dom, remember that shit. Bad calls are us, even after Brian let you off the hook you still managed to end up on the run time and time again. You want to beat me upside the head then do it after you have the full facts."

Was he seriously trying to turn this around and make it the same as What Dom got into? Now Dom was getting pissed and he was yelling into the phone, "You WERE family, even before the crew. We grew up together. You were someone I could trust! We were like brothers. Now tell me, when does setting up and framing someone come into the picture? When have I ever done that to someone that didn't deserve it? What did Brian do to deserve that before you knew he ran with me? You only made things right when you found out you screwed the pooch. I thought I knew you better than that. If he wasn't running with me, you would have still set him up. and then on top of that, you ran, like a bitch. No one knew where you were or where you went. You just disappeared. I DON'T SET UP MY FRIENDS! I DON'T RAT ANYONE OUT! AND I DON'T RUN! SO DON'T COMPARE YOU AND ME LIKE ITS THE SAME!" 

One of the doctors finally had to come in and ask Dom to leave the room because he was disturbing  the patients, but Dom didn't budge. Instead, he calmed down, sat down, and lowered his voice until the doctor finally had given him another chance and left the room.

Dom's voice was somewhat calm again but the rage still coursed through his blood as his hands shook. "Like I said, Its a crew vote, so gain their trust, until then you're gonna have to prove yourself to me. Stay away from my sister until you have my blessings, that is your only warning. And if you want my blessings, you're gonna have to do something for me. Are we clear?" he ended with a slight growl.

(note: I hope this is ok, I mean I'm just reacting Dom to what I read n Cole's updates, so if I'm missing any details that Dom "already" knows about, fill me in and I can edit. Other wise, we'll just keep things as is and go with the flow. )

Joker took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Yeah you're right Dom. I disappeared on you guys, but you remember who I drove for. You don't flip on men like that. If you do, you don't stick around long enough to see it through. I was with my fiancé when they tried to kill me...My fiance was Faye, Dom. Faye! Leon's fucking sister!" Joker had to force himself to be calm. "I had to get out and I was given the opportunity." He shook his head and looked at Mia. "Even when I was setting up drivers I was already planting clues to who was running the operation. No one was suppose to get pinned for it. No fingerprints, nothing tracable to the drivers..." It finally hit him, the full force of it. He dropped to the sand landing on his ass. "I'm sorry Dom, I did this to you guys." His face was emotionless as was his voice. "I'll make up for it, I promise." He couldn't think of anything else to say, truth be told he was responsible for all this. Whatever lead up to Brian dyeing was on his head...and he had no one to take it out on for once in his life.

((Nah it's all good, Joker kinda screwed himself into a corner and made this happen lol. The rube Goldberg machine of bad mistakes. I'll PM you in a sec.))

Shouting of the two men back and forth made her head hurt. Even if Joker left them...so what? Brian was dead. There was no turning back. 'Damn headache' she cursed in her mind as she massage her temples in attempt to make it go away. She hated this! She hated running and hiding, she hated watching over her shoulder wherever the hell she went. She was tired of it all. It was surprising that until this point she hadn't taken all that rage out on Dom or any other person. She rather take a bullet to the head and stop all this madness. Even if Joker made up for what he did what good would it do in the end?

Dom cleared his head for a moment to think, but with all the contacts that Walter had, he wondered if he could dig something up on what was going on here. He had a rough guess from what Jack had told him already, but he wanted to make sure that what Walter found and what Jack was telling him were the same.

"You want my blessings? You want in? One of my guys is in the hospital and someone has Piper. Find out who and get me some information on them. Whoever did this, fucked with the wrong people." he said in a stern voice. "Now put my sister on...."

He waited for Mia to be given the phone when he finally spoke into it. "Stay away from Walter until we can trust him. I've given him something to do, so we'll see what he can dig up. Until then, I'm asking you to please stay away from him. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt." he said, his voice calmer than before and almost in a pleading tone. "There's been too many secrets for too long now, we need to know who we can trust. It's time to be a family again."

Dom blamed himself for being away and setting himself aside from everyone else for the last 6 months. Maybe if he hadn't let Brian's death get to him so much, half this shit wouldn't be happening. Maybe half the secrets everyone had wouldn't be coming out in the open and destroying lives. He'd take the blame for that seeing as everyone had to virtually go their own separate ways with him gone. But that was over now and it was time to get things back to the way things use to be.

"I love you sis, you know that right?" he spoke sincere and pulled the phone away from his ear to hang it up.

(Dom out)

"Will do." Joker took a deep breath and held the phone up over his head without even so much as blinking. He started preparing a mental checklist and waited on Mia to finish her part of the conversation in silence. He had a lot to make up for and even more to prove. Ride or die, that was the saying right? Ride, ride, ride, but eventually someone had to buy the farm. The crew was always doing stupid shit with stupid people, even Dom had to know that eventually it would catch up with them. His heart skipped a beat as he went over the events he knew about in his head, even so much as going back to when the crew was still working in Dom's father's garage.

Walter finished talking to Dom and gave her the phone. Dom pleaded with her to stay away from Walter until he could trust him completely. Trust was easy to lose, but harder to obtain once that trust was broken. That was the case with Walter and Dom. Things kept happening around them and the last thing he needed was for Mia to get hurt, kidnapped or.... Killed. She looked at Walter while speaking with Dom. "Yes, I'll do it..." Could she really do that and stay away from Joker? 'Just do it! Don't go looking for more trouble' a voice inside her head started to say,

Her brother's voice had her full attention once again. " I love you, sis. You know that, right?' And before she could reply the line went dead. She ended the call placing her phone inside her purse. "I - um.. I have to go," she started to turn around not giving anymore explanation to Joker.