The sun was just about to rise behind a row of downtown buildings. It was a usual weekday. People on their way to work by foot, bike and mostly car jamming the streets. Honking here and there. People heading in and out of the local coffee shop trying to get to work on time.

For a moment Brian sat in his car and stared at the steps leading up to a down LAPD building. It was way to early in the day for this kind of crap. Come to think about it...it was never a good time for this kind of crap.

About an hour ago he had gotten into the FBI headquarters extra early all dressed up in a suit and tie to prepare for todays meeting when his colleague had informed him that the LAPD had called. "Something about your brother." She had added with a worried expression.

So here he was. It had actually taken agent O'Conner a few minutes to persuade himself to come and get his little brother.
Angrily he got out of the car and tossed his empty coffee cup in a garbage can before he made his way into the building. His former roaming grounds-eight years ago when he started out in LA.
He didn't recognise many faces until he met Sgt. Hicks, whom he had done duty with for 4 months before going undercover. The man had become a little more bald and a little chubbier but his cocky grin was still the same. "Hey O'Conner. Lil bro's following right into your footsteps...and I'm not talking about the FBI ones." He joked referring to Brian's occassional run ins with the law eight years ago.
"Nice to see you,too, Hicks." He slapped the guy on the shoulder. "Where's the little shit?"
"Follow me."The man grinned leading Brian to the back where the detention cells were.
Inside he could feel anger rise but tried to keep a straight face among his colleagues while walking towards the cells.

For a couple of hours now, Jack, bored out of his mind, tried to entertain himself watching his fellow inmates in the detention cell he was brought in. On a bench across from him some drunk guy was sleeping it off while occasionally mumbling something incoherent. The stench of booze hanging around him was quite impressive.
In one of the corners a man in a suit was staring straight ahead with a dazed look in his eyes. It was painfully obvious it was the poor guy's first time behind bars as he nervously kept straightening out his suit jacket while he avoided all contact with others in the cell.
The sight of the guy alone made Jack smile, although smiling wasn't the best thing to do right now.
His jaw hurt like hell from the punch it had received that night and the area around his eye and eyebrow didn't feel to good either. If he had a mirror right now he would probably be looking at some bruises. But, at least he had thrown in a couple of good punches too and he might have even broken the other guys nose.
He shifted his look toward a young gangbanger, who had been brought in just about a half hour ago yelling "I didn't do nothing!" and had been pacing around the cell ever since.
The gangbanger noticed Jack looking at him and stopped pacing "What you looking at, white boy? Huh?". Unimpressed, Jack let out a short chuckle "Nothing man, just keep doing what you're doing." The gangbanger spat on the ground in front of Jack "Yeah, that's what I thought, scared little white boy" before he continued to pace again.
After more tedious minutes of watching the guy pacing, Jack lifted his head toward the hallway when two pairs of footsteps could be heard making their way toward the detention cells. He didn't think much of it. Probably some other guy who got himself busted and was being brought in. So it was to his surprise when he heard his name being called off "O'Conner, someone's here for you."
He lifted himself off the bench and walked to the still closed gate of the cell, wondering who could be here for him. After all, he didn't take his one phone call.

In the cell in between a bunch of different criminals Brian spotted his yóunger brother Jack.
Immediately his anger was mixed with happiness to see him.

Their ways had parted when Brian moved to LA 8 years ago and then spent a good while on the run before returning back to LA. They had been in touch, cards for Christmas, occassional visits and calls, which were mostly from their parents trying to get Brian to keep an eye on what Jack was doing because the kid was always in trouble. On top of that they had no idea what choices Brian had made along the way. Brian told them that Jack was old enough to take care of himself but did occassionally check up on the younger sibling. After all he liked him more than he would admit.

He wasn't about to show that now. He was going to give him hell.
So Brian stared into the cell with icy blue eye and simply mumbled. "Jack!"
Officer Hicks looked back and forth between the two, shrugged and unlocked the cell.
"Now that's a warm welcome. C'mon out, O'Conner. Your brother's here to pick you up."

After 8 years of little contact, Brian was the last person Jack expected to show up. Yet there he was, all dressed up in a suit, staring him down while the officer unlocked the cell.
Jack wasn't sure whether to feel happy or angry towards his older brother and the fact that this wasn't your average family reunion, didn't make things easier. So instead of making any decent attempt at greeting him, he just bluntly asked "What are you doing here?"
The officer locked the cell back up and padded Brian on the shoulder "After he signs the release papers he's all yours."
Without waiting for an answer, Jack followed the officer down the short hallway to sign the papers and collect the brown bag that contained his belongings: a watch, a belt, a lighter and a half empty pack of cigarettes. He stuffed the cigarettes in his pocket and put the watch and belt back on.
Now that he was a free man once again all he could think of was to get the hell out of this dump, but ofcourse there was still Brian he had to face..

Brian frowned at Jacks question.
"I came to get you or do do you want to stay at hotel California here?"
He'd expect a little more appreciation.
The FBI agent followed him to the desk where he watched him gather his belongings and sign out. A nodd to his former colleague and off they went.
On the way out Brian asked. "You're lucky that my buddy was the one who locked you up and gave me a call. He still owed me."
When the reached the entrance Brian had to shield his eyes against the sun. A few steps away his Skyline was parked.
"What did you do this time, Jack?" he wanted to know with a slightly annoyed tone.

Like younger brothers rarely ever do, Jack had no intention of showing gratitude and snorted at his older brother's remark. "Gee, thanks for using the favor on me bro".
As they left the station together, the sun immediatly hit their faces. It took a while for both of them to adjust, but Jack was already peering down the road with his eyes squinted against the harsh sunlight.
Aside from a Nissan Skyline, he didn't see many other parked cars.
Not expecting the Skyline to be Brian's, Jack jokingly asked "You came here by bus or something? Don't they pay you well enough?"
He turned to his brother for an answer, but instead of the answer, he got the million dollar question 'What did you do this time ,Jack?'. The annoyed tone in Brian's voice evident.
Jack shrugged and mumbled "Nothing, just had a little disagreement with some guy. Didn't your buddies tell you?"

Brian had always hated his brothers don't-give-a-flying-fuck attitude. Jack just didn't get that one day he would lget himself into serious trouble so he suddenly felt the urge to hammer it into his stubborn brain.
Like older brothers sometimes do he spun around, grabbed the shirt on Jacks shoulder and pressed him against the next wall with his forearm across the younger ones chest. "They told me that if it wasn't for me they'd let you sit in there and wait for your hearing cause nobody's paying your bail and that you probably will end up doing time because you pulled a few too many stunts and had a few too many disagreements lately. That's what they told me, bro!" He angrily glared at him.
When Brian felt that he had stared at him long enough his expression softened slightly. "You know what they do with pretty boys like you in prison?"
Then he let go of his shirt.

Before Jack knew it, he was pressed against a wall with a furious Brian invading his personal space. The whole thing had caught him off guard so all he could mutter at that moment was a lousy "shit".
In silence he listened to what his brother had to say, not like there was much else he could do with the arm pressing against his chest. The words struck him deeper then he wanted to admit. He wanted to say something, yell back at his brother like he always did, but for the first time in his life, Jack was at a loss for words. He knew his older brother was right and wasn't kidding around. Not this time.
After what seemed to be the longest angry stare, Brian's expression finally seemed to be softening up and Jack felt like he could breath again.
He adjusted his shirt after his brother finally let go. "Jesus Brian, you just had to say it, didn't you?"

"Say what?" he didn't know what Jack meant.
"Point is that I haven't seen you in almost a year and here you are in a cell." He stared again.
"Shit, Jack!" Brian turned around to cool of.
When he faced him again he said in a calmer tone.
"If you don't want to end up in prison you have to get your act together-stay out of trouble for a while. We all know that my vest isn't squeaky clean either but I've at least learned from my mistakes." Inwardly he wondered whether that was really true. Where jack had a whole bunch of minor offences in his file Brian had some pretty big ones, which he could onbly evade but repeatedly making deals with the LAPD and FBI to clear his record in exchange for undercover work.
"I just don't want anything to happen to you. I care about you. You're my brother." Of course he left out the 'little'.
Then he reached out his hand and pulled him into a hug.
"Just think about what I said, okay?"

"Alright! Alright!" Jack threw his hands in the air as a sign of surrender. "I get it!" When Brian shot another glare at him, he averted his eyes. He didn't want his brother to see that the words actually did started to get through to him. Jack never really thought about the possible consequences to his actions and those consequences didn't include the occasional run-ins with local cops. He was just more of a do-er than a thinker. A sucker for temptation as he liked to call it.
"Nothing is going to happen to me.." He said more to himself than to his brother.
At first Jack was reluctant to answer Brian's hug, but he decided to give the 'tough brother' routine a little rest and finally hugged him back. "I'm sorry.. alright.." He added.
As the brothers ended their hug, tiredness washed over Jack. He had been awake for almost 24 hours now.
"Can I crash at your place for the night?" He mumbled "I kind of managed to get kicked out of the last place I was staying." Jack actually felt kind of ashamed for asking. He had already received a favor from his brother and quite a big one at that, but he didn't have much other options.

When Jack finally hugged him back Brian relaxed a bit and sighed. All he wanted was that he wouldn't end up like the bad guys Brian was chasing every day. That he would be safe and leading a normal life. He sighed knowing that it wasn't likely.
With a slight smile on his lips he ruffled Jack's hair and nodded towards the car.
"Of course you can crash at my place. Let's take a ride, bro!"
His gaze fell upon the Skyline, which he got to keep from his last assignment. Brian had put a lot of spare time into it and was quite proud of his ride even though he hadn't really raced it for ages.
He walked towards the car and got in.
"Do I need to know how you got yourself kicked out of your place?"

"Shit, that thing is actually yours?" Jack looked back and forth between his brother and the Skyline he had noticed earlier. Obviously, there were some things that Brian had kept to himself about his activities in LA. Which made Jack quite curious. But not as curious as the Skyline was making him at the moment.
With a smile on his face, he walked towards the car to take a closer look. His hand glided over the paintjob, his head nodding in approval. "If being a cop means you get to ride this, sign me in bro"
He opened the passangers-side of the car and got in next to Brian, immediatly checking out the dashboard.
"Do you need to know?" Jack paused for a moment, then shrugged "It was nothing, I swear".
He slapped his brother's shoulder and pointed at the busstation a little further down the road "You gonna start this thing, or are we taking the bus after all"

Brian smirked about the 'get a car like that being a cop' comment. Jack didn't even know how true it was. After all Brian had been introduced to street racing by his job.
He pointed behind Jack. "Those things are called seat belts. Put it on, you'll need it." With that he reved up the engine. There it was again. That awesome feeling fast cars gave him.
With a broad smile on his face he slowly rolled out of his parking space and into the traffic just to speed up a second later and do a neck-breaking U-turn in the middle of the morning traffic.
"So you've developed an appreciation for cars, have you? Don't even think about this one, Cracker!"

"Hahaha, you're just hilarious you know that" After hearing the engine come to life, Jack took Brian's advice and put the seatbelt on. After all, he didn't know what to expect with Brian behind the wheel.
He looked to the side at his brother who was obviously enjoying the whole thing when he suddenly got pushed back in his seat. Brian had sped up and made an unexpected U-turn evoking other drivers to honk their horns. "Jesus Brian, I thought you said you cared about me and now you are trying to kill me?"
Jack adjusted himself in the seat knowing this was going to be one hell of a ride.
Hearing Brian's comment a chuckle escaped his lips "A lot has changed since you've gone" He winked at his brother "Don't worry, it would be save with me"

Brian threw a glance at Jack while he was shifting down in order to overtake somebody.
"Did I never tell you?" For a moment he thought about how much Jack really knew about his job and other activities. Knowing how dangerous it could be at times the cop had always tried to keep his job and family seperate and tell them as little as possible.
The Nissan wove in and out of the traffic in the two lanes until it had to stop at a red light.
"You really want to know? I don't want to give you any stupid ideas."
He looked into Jack's eager blue eyes.
"Okay. My first undercover assignment was in the street racing scene. Been hooked ever since." He shrugged with a grin.
"What about you? Any new hobbies?"

The answer Jack received from his brother sort of explained the car, but not much beyond that.
"What was so special about the street race scene that they needed someone undercover?" Jack looked at his brother slightly confused.
He didn't know much about what went on here in LA, just some things he had heard on the streets. All he knew about the street race world was what he had seen in Barstow and that wasn't very impressive. Certainly not impressive enough for the police to get that much attention. Just a few busts here and a couple of warnings there.
He shook his head at his brother's questions "Don't change the subject now bro" Jack's curiosity had been tickled and talking about himself wasn't something he liked to do. He felt there was a lot more to that assignment than Brian let on. And he wanted to know.

"What?" Brian asked innocently while making the wheels spin out when the light went green.
"It's an old and pretty long story about a team of racers, who hijacked a couple of trucks and a cop who was supposed to stop them but ended up becoming their friend and letting them go and spent the next 5 months on the run."
Brian stared ahead almost zoning out lost in memories. That was a long time ago but still gave him goosebumps. It changed his career, no life. For a moment he was lost in thoughts reminiscing about Dom, Mia, Letty, Vince, Leon and Jesse.

He blinked and avoided running into the car in front of him.
"Old story really."

Then he looked at Jack and searched his face for a reaction. That was the first time he had ever confessed to his brother how badly he fucked up in his job. He did it because he wanted Jack to know that he was far from perfect but still tried his best to be a good person.

First a smile appeared on Jack's face. He always knew Brian wasn't a saint, but he had never known how far his older brother had gone in his screw ups. After watching the serious look on Brian's face, Jack just couldn't help but crack up. "Guess I'm not the only fuck up in the family" When he saw his brother wasn't amused like he was, he turned his face to the window and regained himself. Jack had a tendency to be insensitive towards other people's feelings and make inappropriate jokes. Something which got him into trouble every now and then. Mostly with women.
"Must have been some team" Jack looked at his brother. He could see Brian still cared for them by the look in his eyes and decided it was better to leave it at that.
Suddenly the urge for a smoke came over him. He hadn't lit one up for hours and the addict really needed one. So he pulled the cigarettes out and placed one between his lips, ready to light, when he realized his brother didn't smoke. "D'you mind?"

"Heck yeah I mind. " He grabbed the cigarette and pulled it out of his mouth just to toss it out the window with a loud laugh.
"Smoke in my car...you kidding?"
Brian glanced at him.
"If you need something in your hands grab the wheel smart ass!"
He pulled over and nodded at him. "You know how to drive, right?"
Then he tossed the keys in Jacks lap.
"I gotta go by work before we can go home. It'll only be half an hour. Show me what you got, bro!" He waited for Jack to trade seats with him.

He didn't need to be told twice and grabbed the keys out of his lap. "I thought you'd never ask" With a smile on his face he traded places with Brian.
The car roared back to life and Jack revved the engine a few times, just to hear it's power.
Just like his brother had done before, he made the wheels spin out while he maneuvered the Skyline back on the road.
He followed Brian's directions and at the last turn before their destination, Jack decided to spice it up a little. He looked sideways at his brother as he sped up and pulled the E-break while pulling the steer in the right direction. The car drifted through the turn. "You're not the only one who can pull stunts!"
Finally, the Skyline came to a screeching stop when they had reached the FBI headquarters. "Shit, that was fun"