Today was the day that Dom went to trial to get out of Prison. Waiting in the court room was Brian who was the one who was going to try to get him out. Mia and Letty who were there to be there for him. Everyone was in talking until Dom had walked in.

As Dom walked in with his hands cuffed infront of him, he tossed a piece of paper at Brian, with in that paper had a little information about Braga. In how Giselle was going to bail him out by smuggling the prison with money that Braga had from all the drug transports. Hoping that Brian had read that other letter.

He sat down next to his lawyer, as the judge started to speak he turned to Letty and smiled. Then he glanced over to Brian and nodded.

Brian had dressed up in his work suit for todays trial. He wanted to make a good impression. His hair was neatly combed to the side in good old school boy fashion and didn't quite match the scratches on his forehead and temple from the rendevouz with Angel.
Nervously he was twiddling his thumbs. When Dom walked in he brieflyheld his breath. It was aweful to see him in cuffs and an orange jumpsuit. Dom looked like a caged tiger.

Before Brian could grab the note that Dom threw towards him one of the guards stepped in, grabbed it and shoved it in his pocket.
Brian frowned wondering what was so important that it couldn't wait until after the hearing.
He shifted in his seat and shot a glance at Mia and Letty next to her.

The judge entered the room and everybody was told to rise for his honour.
When the old grey haired man had taken his seat the spectators, lawyers and attorneys did as well.
"We're here today for the hearing against Dominic Toretto..."

Off in the corner the guard opened the note and read it, with in a couple of minutes he spoke "Your honour." and walked up to the judge to hand him the note. Dom glanced over at Brian with a nervous grin. Thinking in his head could this be a good thing or bad thing? what would the Judge say.

The Judge glanced through the note, he looked up "Officer O'Conner would you please step up to stand." Dom started to get wicked nervous, he began to sweat.

Letty didn't take her eyes off of Dom the whole time. She listened carefully as each side of the trial spoke in its turn. She took a glance at Mia from time to time, seeing her restless body language and her eyes...she's probably on the verge of crying. Letty had to be strong for her so she just kept a firm expression on her face, deciding to leave the tears for later tonight. She kept thinking to herself "what if...", she didn't want to, but she couldn't help it.

She rose to her feet as they said and sat back down on the wooden bench as the rest took their seats. When her legs no longer carried her body weight and she let herself lean against the back rest suddenly all these thoughts were striking her over and over. It hit her in the head and chest, that constant fear. Brian promised they'd let him walk away, they had a deal. It would happen. She wanted to believe in that, but she knew she couldn't be sure until she'd hear it with her own ears.

When his name was called Brians heart missed a beat. What was going on? What on earth was in the note. This didn't go accroding to plan. All he was supposed to do was hand in his statement before the hearing and everything would ge taken care of by the FBI.
Brian bit his lip and got up. He crossed the distance between his seat and the judge with fast step shooting Dom a questioning look on the way.
Then he approached the judge. "Your honour?"

The Judge wanted to show Brian that note. "I know you are not suppose to be apart of this but this note is addressed to you. Now tell me does this belong in the statement?" he asked Brian.


Dom didn't know how to react to all this. Although Brian was on his good graces he had this weird feeling that something wasn't right.

Brians eyes went wide when he read what was in the letter. It was true and he was already aware of it but this couldn't possibly work in Doms favour. After all it proofed that Dom didn't act to right his wrongs like Brian had written in his statement but out of revenge.

He looked at Dom helplessly and then at the judge.
"No, your honor. I don't want this to go into the statement. Mr. Toretto was trying to help me to bring Braga to justice and right his wrongs as far as I'm concerned. This information is supposed to help me catch Bragas middle men."
He looked at the grey haired man with a matter of factly expression on his face while he was cursing Dom for not waiting longer.

Dom new from the start that he had messed up big time. He was disappointed in himself, he began to bang his head on the table. Mean while Dom was thinking about that note, he lifted his head from the table to turn to his lawyer. He then whispered to him "The note has nothing to do with me and this trail it was a little side information for O'Conner's own personal work." The Lawyer then stood up "Your Honor, my client told me that that note as nothing to do with case." The Judge paused for a second; he handed the note to Brian. "Please be seated." The judge faced Dom's Lawyer "Your first witness."

Letty was confused. She and Mia switched looks between the men's talking. What the hell was going on? what was written in that note? a small piece of paper they were making such a big deal of...She didn't know what to think.

Brian was talking to the judge so she couldn't ask him either. Letty felt helpless once again. She hated not knowing what was going on and she had a feeling that things weren't going too good for Dom.

Brian turned and walked back to his seat next to Mia.
He was simply shaking his head in disbeleive and hoped that the judge would not take it into consideration.
He sat back down next to Mia even a little more uncomfortableb than he was before. With a few brief words he filled the two women in and the listened to the witness' statement.

Mia had been fine up until they had lead Dom into the room. Seeing Dom in jail, handcuffed and all, was completely different from seeing him here like this. She felt tears sting her eyes and she bit her lip to keep from crying.

Brian had promised that everything was going to be okay. She kept repeated that over and over in her head, blocking out most of the rest. If Letty and Brian hadn't stood up when they were supposed to, Mia probably wouldn't have even noticed. She sat back down, looking between her friends carefully.

Mia froze, mouth dropping open in confusion when Brian was called to the stand. She looked at Letty, but found her friend to be just as confused. She was shaking slightly in nervousness when Brian sat back down. She grabbed his knee, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "What the hell was that about?"

Brian kept his blue eyes on the judge so he wouldn't miss anything but leaned a little closer and mumbled. "He wrote me a note about the case we've been working on together but it kind of said that he wanted revenge when he went after Braga." Brian flinched. "I told the judge to disregard the note but I don't know if he will."
He looked at her while Mia was trying to avoid eye contact. Brian could see that her eyes were wet and she was trying not to blink so the tears wouldn't fall. She kept a straight brave face but it almost broke Brians heart. For a moment he was lost for words so all he could do was to wrap his arm around her shoulder to give her some comfort.
His teeth were clenched while he fixed his eyes on the judge again.

Dom looked up at judge wounding what he was thinking "Is there anyone who wants to say something about Mr. Toretto?" Dom turn around and looked at Letty, he nudged his head toward the judge.

Letty took a deep breath in and closed her eyes, regaining her strength. She knew these were the critical moments. Someone had to speak in favour of Dom. She eyed the judge blankly and then turned to look at Dom.

He was standing there, handcuffed in an orange jumpsuit, looking jaded and broken. She felt the urge to speak from her heart but fought it, thinking a love story between two thieves won't change the jury's mind. Letty pursed her lips and thought hard, what should she say? where would she start? It was Dominic Toretto who stood accused and humiliated. What can she possibly say to change the judge's mind?

Letty thought about all they have been through and couldn't put the finger on any event to start with. Her fingers clenched into a fist, if only she could beat the crap out of someone to make it all go away and make her man free again...it was so much easier! But no, she had to try and talk the judge out of it.

"My name is Letty Ortiz, I'm a close friend of Mia and Dominic Toretto, I would like to say that Dominic had told me about his deep regrets for his actions." Her voice sounded firm, yet flat. "I hope the jury would notice how sorry he is and grant him an opportunity to rehabilitate himself." Letty said and took a glance in each and every member of the jury. Letty gulped and then sat down, feeling all eyes on her.

This whole hearing that was original supposed to be an easy-in, easy-out in Brians mind turned out all wrong. Brian grew more weary by the minute and he was aware Lettys words wouldn't make much of a difference since they were coming from 'another criminal'.
Maybe Mia should speak out or...maybe Brian should on top of his written statement.
He just couldn't let his buddy down. He had to try.
So the agent raised his hand and waited until the judge allowed him to speak.
"May I come to the stand?"

Doms lawyer looked at his papers but couldn't find his name.

The judge raised his eyebrows. "We already have your statement, agent O'Conner."
Since Brian didn't sit back down he asked. "Is there anything else than in your statement?"

Brian nodded and walked up to the stand where he explained.
"Your honour. I'm aware that Dominic Toretto has done a couple of illegal things. In the past couple of months he came to the realization that his behaviour was wrong and tried to right his wrongs by cooperating with the FBI and bringing down one of the biggest drug lords in California. He has risked his own life and done what none of our agents were able to do. He captured Arturo Braga and a couple of his leading men."
Brian looked at Dom and paused. "And if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here today."
The cop had never really thanked Dom for saving his life. He just nodded at Dom hoping he would understand.
"On top of that he hasn't stopped working together with us while we put him in jail. Dominic Toretto has passed on some valuable information, which will possibly lead to closing down Bragas still active pathways on the outside. If you ask me Mr. Toretto has proofen that he's on a better path and he has been promised his freedom by my superiors."
Brian was fully aware that he was walking on very thin ice now and might have just screwed himself. His superiors would not appreciate this.

For a moment he looked at Mia, who was following his words. Then he gazed at the judge before he stated that he was done and walked back to his seat.

Dom nodded back at Brian. Dom only saved Brian because of all the times that he had saved him. Dom was shocked when Brain had mentioned about how he was helping out Brian and the FBI with Braga. He had this feeling now that one line of him say that Dom has gone a better path may actually get him out of Prison.

Dom look up the Judge to see what his reaction was. Before Brian took his seat Dom lawyer said "nice job agent." As soon as Brian sat down, the jury took a moment to go over the evidence. Dom glanced back to Brian and grind, he then turned back then looked at judge thinking is head "I am free."

The jury spoke "we have come up with a decision. We have decided that Mr. Toretto has been secretly been helping out the FBI." The judge looked as Mia "Miss Toretto you have anything to say?"

Mia watched Letty and Brian stand up for her brother and felt a wave of gratitude and sadness rush over her. She knew Brian was risking it- after all, he was basically questioning what his superiors had said before.

Letty hadn't said much, but Mia hadn't really expected her to. The jury wouldn't care that Letty knew Dom better than most of the world or that what she was saying was true. All they would care about was the facts and the lawyers.

Mia knew she should be saying something, but she just couldn't think of what it was. After all, she was Dom's sister- was she credible in any way? She waited for Brian to sit down, mouthing 'thank you' to him before she stood up. She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Your honor? My name is Mia Toretto. I'm the defendent's sister."

She let that settle in and glanced at Brian, before taking a big breath to continue. "I know that I can't say anything different than what the others have said, but I wanted to ask for my own sake that you forgive my brother." She eyed Dom, then looked back at the Judge. "What he did was for the better. He tried to be good, tried to help. I know that if he's given another chance, he can turn over a new leaf and start over again. Just...I'd just like to ask that you give him that chance."

Overwhelmed with emotion, she sat down looking to Brian and Letty for encouragement. She hoped that what she said was worth it all- Dom just had to get out.

"All rise. The court has come to a decision."

Everybody in the room rose to their feet and listened to the next words with bated breath.

"We've taken Mr. Torettos recent actions into consideration. Also we've taken agent O'Conners statements into consideration. However this court feels that a few good deeds don't make up for a lifetime of wrong."
Over the rim of his glasses he looked at Dom.
"Therefore I sentence you to a lifetime in prison with no option for early parole."
The sentence struck like lightning and thunder at the same time. It seemed like all clocks stopped ticking for a moment.

Dom thought in head "A lifetime whatever happened to twenty-five years with out early parole." As soon as the judge said "This court is dismissed" Dom looked over to Brian through the glass and mouthed "Get me out of here." The prison guards took back into his cell.

As soon as the sentence was finished Brian stood up to leave. He didn't trust his ears or eyes. Nothing made sense right now. This was the most unjust thing he had ever heard. He just didn't want to stay and hear or say any more. The cop couldn't hold Mias hand or look into Lettys eye. The last thing on his way out were Doms words. Brian stared at him blankly and without thought nodded.

Outside he walked down the hallway with his pace getting faster and faster until he was running for the door. With force he pushed it open and stood on the bright daylight and fresh air of the back parking lot. He was free-able to run whenever he pleased. Dom wouldn't be free...never again.
Before he could do anything emotions overwhelmed him and he scrunched up his face, turned around and smashed his fist against the door. "Fuuuck!"