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Furious Exiles: Four

Summary:

She left the danger behind but her family still fell apart...

Work Text:

Galena sits, watching her son sleep. 

She's trying to figure out ...how to go back 

Han told her to choose. He wanted them to stay but she'd been thinking about him...  

Jakob. 

He'd asked her to go with him. When he lost the race and he didn't want to stay in LA anymore. 

After what he'd done... what Dom found out... and Jakob had just lied to them all.  

Galena hated being lied to.  

With Han... she knew there were things they weren't saying to each other. Galena just didn't want to see it because then it would have been like before. Because Han was supposed to have been different.  

Galena had always known, there was no way she could live on the run. Galena had never wanted the life of an outlaw, just some of the adventure and thrills. 

Being with Han... it had felt like they had been destined to meet and every day had continued to feel like they were living fast.  

So, why not go back? 

It wasn't like Galena had done a good job of staying out of crime on her own. She was part of Dom's crew, she took her piece of the profits, she helped plan the heists and honestly …  Galena was enjoying it. She had always liked testing the boundaries, seeing how far she could go and not get caught. 

And those few occasions when she did... well, she enjoyed the challenge of getting out of trouble. 

'We can do that together.' 

The cell phone is in her hand... 

But she'd been wrong about Han. He'd lied to her about the Yakuza. Galena didn't know if she'd be able to move past that, if she'd be able to trust him... 

.

Vince wants to know how much longer it'll be before the Toretto pad will once again begin to host party's. 

"As soon as I can find my own place," Galena smacks his leg off the coffee table. "You can go back to living like a pig." She grabs the two empties and drops them in his lap. "Recoje tu cochinero, marrano. We are not maids." Between Mia and Galena, the Toretto house looked better than when Mia had been on her own. Because Letty wasn't much help in the cleaning department, or cooking. The two things absolutely required to be done by the females in the Ortiz household. Obviously, Letty rebelled.  

"Please, don’t leave!" Mia begs. She's got a half smile and both hands in the prayer position. 

"We have to go." Lena laughs. "But I could always use a babysitter."  

Mia sighs. "I mean, if you have to go... you can just leave Jace with me." She grins. 

"Oh, si." Lena shakes her head laughing. Only Jace is already reaching for Mia who is cooing at him. 

.

Letty's bitching about the drive. 

"Como chingas." Galena rolls her eyes and looks over at her sister in the passenger seat. 

"How much farther?" Letty glares. 

"Estabas fregando, because I was looking at properties with Mia. So now that I'm bringing you along, sigues fregando. What the eff?" Galena sighs, just a tiny bit annoyed with her little sister. The condos had been too small and more expensive than Galena had wanted to spend. The houses were either run down, had been in the wrong neighborhood... nothing had been right. 

"You're about to go Wrong Turn out in the middle of the Hills Have Eyes!" Letty exclaims. 

Galena arches an eyebrow and after a moment busts out laughing. "You're so drama." 

Letty slumps in her seat and crosses her arms. When Galena looks over again she can't help pointing a finger and laughing some more. "You look the same as when you were six and Dad wouldn't turn around to go back for your monito." 

"I'm not six." Letty snaps. 

"Still look the same." Galena retorts, but it's still another 20minutes before they finally get to the ranch just a little out of her price point. 

"It's about 6acres." Galena walks with Letty around the veranda. "It’s a 3storie... It's kinda huge..." 

"It’s the house you wouldn’t shut up about when we were kids." Letty moves to the front door but its locked. The house her big sister had been dreaming of owning one day. With enough land to grow her own garden and maybe some chickens... 

'So she found her farm.' Letty hides the smile. She's happy for her sister... 

"Come on," Galena grabs her hand but Letty shakes her off. "Leticia, we're not breaking in!" 

"We didn't drive out here just to look in the windows." Letty snaps. Because she sure as hell didn't sit in the car on that long ass drive just to get out and stretch her legs.  

.

Mia has Jace in a high chair beside her when Galena shows up. She spares the cute blond with the crazy gorgeous eyes and smile, a glance before her attention is all for Jace. 

"So soon?" Mia pouts as she stands up. 

"It's been 5hours!" Galena exclaims with a laugh. "It wasn't supposed to take this long." But there had been stacks of forms to sign before she could get the keys. 

"You know I don't mind." Mia leans closer and tugs one of Jace's curls. "He's such a good baby and he's kept me company."  

"Well," Galena glances at the blond who's trying to pretend he's not eavesdropping. "Que te haga compañia el guero." She smiles and winks at him on her way to the back of the store.  She doesn't miss the blush on Mia's cheeks or the hasty head duck from the guy at the counter. 

She finds him in the cage Dom calls an office. "Ya esta grandecita para que la estes cuidando, Dom." 

He arches that eyebrow but doesn't put down the paper he's pretending to read. "I'm just minding the store." 

"Sure," Galena steps in and places Jace on the scarred desk where Dom holds him. "Ya esta." She holds up her new keys and jangles them. "Maybe we can have the next family meal in my new back yard...?" 

Dom smiles. "You're gonna owe me for Letty's bad mood." 

"Eh," Galena shrugs a shoulder. "Tu la saves contentar." And she makes the yuk face that reminds him of Letty's. 

.

It's his 1st birthday. 

His smiling face is covered in frosting… 

Han puts the latest picture in the box with the Christmas card and the lock of hair. He's even got a tiny set of framed foot prints. Items he'd thought Galena had sent... but it had been Mia. He should've known Galena would cut herself off from him. He hasn't spoken to her since the day she called to say she'd be dipping into their account. 

And she hasn't used it since… 

Still, part of him wants to be with them. He wants the life they'd talked about... He misses her. 

Neela smiles, her eyes following the image as Han puts it away and laughs softly. "He's beautiful, Han." 

"They are." Han sighs, his eyes rest on Lena for a little longer then closes the box. He looks around the office, but it's not where he wants to be. 

"Maybe..." Neela walks around the desk to sit in the chair. "You should go to them, Han." But eventually he shakes his head. 

Han told her to choose. He can't blame her for leaving, and he cant just show up on her doorstep expecting her to change her mind, to want him... 

Neela is annoyed. He walks out of the office that still feels more like Lena's than Han. He's being stubborn, even if he won't bring them back to Tokyo, he could at least talk to Lena... 

.

Mia has a grin on her face. The view from the sky is amazing. 

"You think I should include some type of meal, or drinks? Like a package...?" Galena looks over at her first passenger. 

"This is incredible, Lenny!" Mia barely spares her grin before she's got her nose squooshed up on the glass. 

Galena just smiles, she won't get anything from Mia, nothing other than happy excitement. She focuses on flying but her mind wanders. She thinks about Han and their life together... Maybe she could've convinced him to leave Tokyo... it makes her angry, this fantasy she keeps falling into, rescuing Han from the Yakuza and coming back to the US to live happily ever after. 

'Pendejadas. Tonterias. Waste of time!' She scolds herself. 

She's nervous about this next part. Making a life for herself, by herself, all on her own... and the worry, because she can't fail at this. She has responsibilities, she has Jace to think about... 

The Air Tour... its different than the shop with Han. The only thing she'd been responsible for was keeping the books. And she hadn't even done that good of a job. He cooked the damn books on her! 

But the best part about the shop was having something else with Han. She had loved working on the engines... it had reminded Galena of home, of hanging out at the Toretto's and the occasional day at the race track... Lena had begun to miss the kids. Not even Jesse could annoy her enough to forget about them. Galena couldn’t believe how much Tokyo had become 'home' for her. It hadn't taken her long to learn the language. She'd loved exploring the country side, the city... 

'Being with Han...' 

.

He's sober by force. Kamata put his foot down. Han had the bruises... a drunk 'business associate' is never good for business. It's harder to ignore their absence, he's barely slept in their bed because it still smelled of her shampoo... he thinks about them both. He's wondering what he sounds like, if he's even saying words yet... and it hits him, that he'll likely never hear his son call him 'Dad'. 

"Got a new one?" Earl peeks over Han's shoulder to see the smiling pair. "Yeah, kid sure gets his good looks from her side." He moves to lean on the car, smiling but it doesn’t get him any response. "You should just call her-." But Han abruptly walks away. "Ookay..." 

"Did you piss him off?" Reiko scowls. "I still need to place the order." He shakes his head and mutters under his breath. 

"He's been in a bad mood since... you know." Earl glances around but Han is gone. "...Lenny left." 

.

"I've got an idea!" Jesse shouts from the ground. His voice echoes in the Hangar. Startled, Galena dropped the wrench and frowned down at the kid. Jesse stood, fidgeting with excitement.  

Galena smiled. "Ya voy, guerito." 

Jesse grinned, gave one of those nerdy fist bump-hop combos and took off to her office. Galena had wanted this to be the life with Han.  It wasn’t easy changing the plan but as long she cut off all contact with him, it was bearable. The silence on his end hurt, it wasn’t like she'd meant anything to him... He wasn’t knocking on her door... 

"Jesse!" She hurried to get down. "How much is it going to cost?" She sprinted to her office, because if he'd placed an order... calling Han to let him know she was dipping into their account again was not going to happen. And she couldn’t join Dom's heist now that they'd been busted. Who'd of thunk, el guero, wasn’t just mooning over Mia? He'd looked so into her... 

Everything... it all fell apart. 

Galena left Tokyo, left Han... to keep Jace safe. So he'd have a life free of criminals and yakuza and gangsters... 

'Que buen trabajo hize...' 

She might as well have stayed with Han and helped him deal with the Yakuza there. Because she jumped right into the criminal activity with Dom and Letty and the others...  

'And now they're gone.' 

She's answered all sorts of questions from the police but they don't know Galena was involved. Dumb luck... that's all, because she got out way before it all fell apart.  

The funeral was small... putting Jesse to rest wasn’t easy and it just reinforced Galena's resolve to follow through. She could never go back to Han and the life he'd chosen. She couldn't  help her little sister or Dom, where ever they ended up. Mia was the only one left... but after the funeral, Galena kept her distance.  

.

Galena shows up to the street races. It wasn't hard to find them, even with Dom gone, and although it feels familiar there are so many new faces in the crowd. 

'When did I get old?'  

It just reminds her of Tokyo, it makes her sad all over again, makes her miss what she left there... 

"Lena!"  

She startles but finds Hector's smiling face. She remembers how the races used to make her feel... happy, excited... Now it all just makes her sad. The way it was is not how it is... 

"So, you racing or-!" Hector fumbles the rolled wad of cash she tosses at him. 

"Babosos, con cash, Hector." Galena turns away, back to her car... By the end of the night she's only raced twice and the cops ruin the rest of the fun. 

Galena heads to the Toretto's. She'd told Mia she might need a babysitter sometimes... but when she walks into the living room, Letty is pacing. 

"About time." Letty snaps. 

"Que haces?" Galena cant believe she'd come to Mia's. "The cops are looking for you! They have eyes on this place, thanks to both of you! Mia cant even go a block-." 

"I need to find Dom-."  

That's all Galena hears and she's seeing red, her ears have this hollow roaring sound and before she realizes, Galena jumps forward and smacks Letty. "What the fuck is wrong with you!"  

"What the fuck, Lena!" Letty shoves her back and almost swings.  

"Both of you, stop!" Mia comes in. "Enough!" She raises her voice when the sister shove each other again. "Jace is sleeping." 

Galena backs off but she's furious with her sister. "Que quieres, Leticia?" 

"I got a lead on Dom..." Letty huffs out a heavy breath. "I just need help getting out." 

Galena scoffs a laugh. "Help." She shakes her head and looks at Mia. "You planned this...?" 

"Please, Lena..." Mia walks the rest of the way into her living room, she takes Lena's hand then reaches for Letty's. 

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