Written for the 2011 LJ Wishlist

Requested By: Callista

Fandoms: Fast and Furious/SVM

Characters: Brian, Mia, Sookie

Prompt: During Fast Five, on their way to Brazil, Brian and Mia stop at a little bar in town to eat something. There they meet Sookie.

Karma

Sookie scooped up yet another sad excuse for a tip and took the empty beer glasses from the table. If things kept going like this, she wouldn't even be able to afford the gas to drive the few scant miles to work. She briefly wondered if she could find a bike for cheap. Though sweaty waitresses probably made even worse tips…

It was a Thursday afternoon, not a big money maker in general, but she'd hoped Merlotte's would have a few more customers than they'd had so far that day. Maybe she should think about getting a second job… Though it would probably be tough to find a place that allowed her to be randomly absent for vampire business like Sam did.

When the front door opened, she looked up like an eager puppy, noticing Arlene do the same from her left.

Sit in my section, sit in my section, sit in my section, she mentally chanted. But when she got her first good look at the newcomers, her hopes for a big tip were dashed. A young, tired looking couple, their weary eyes and dingy clothes didn't exactly scream "I have wealth and I want to spread it around". Apparently Arlene felt the same because she stopped even looking at them and went back to wrapping silverware in napkins.

Sookie got her wish and they sat in her section, both looking around the room in a way that could be construed as curiosity but was more edgy than that. As Sookie got closer, she found out why. She'd been lax on keeping her mind guarded since they'd been so slow, meaning their thoughts came through loud and clear as she approached.

Good, it's dead in here, the guy was thinking. Hopefully no one will recognize us in a backwater like this…

We shouldn't have stopped. This is dangerous. That food smells sooo good, the girl thought, her gaze slipping longingly toward the kitchen.

Catching sight of the girls glance the guy almost visibly winced. Damn, I only have a few bucks left on me. I hope this place has something on the menu we can afford. Mia's been looking a little pale lately…

In the next second, Sookie found out exactly why this "Mia" was looking so pale.

I need to start eating better… The baby needs more nutrients than what I've been giving… God, how am I ever going to tell Brian… Worse timing ever…

By this time Sookie was good and curious and maybe just a little nervous about her new customers. It didn't take a genius to figure out they were on the run from something, probably the law. Immediately images of the young, attractive couple in front of her acting as a Bonnie and Clyde team came to mind, but she pushed them away as she reached the table.

"Hi there, I'm Sookie, I'll be your waitress," she said, nerves stretching her smile a little wider than usual. What if they were murders? "What can I get you to drink?"

"Water," they said in unison, though their thoughts said, A beer and A cherry coke, both followed by mental sighs of longing that almost made Sookie laugh out loud and set her a little more at ease. She didn't think evil people would think about something so mundane with such longing. If they were that bad, they'd just pull a gun and demand what they wanted.

"Two waters coming right up," she said, giving them a smile that was a little more natural and turning away. She wished there was some way she could actually get them a beer and a coke, but that would be more than a little suspicious, so water it would be.

After getting their glasses and a little dish of lemon slices, she headed back to the table.

"So, make a decision yet?" She asked, nodding at the menus.

"We'll both just have a cup of chicken noodle," the guy said, eyes downcast.

Sookie frowned as they both sat staring at the menus with thoughts of big juicy cheeseburgers floating through their heads. After a moment's hesitation she wrote an order for the burgers and gave them a smile.

"I'll get that right out for you."

She walked away and immediately started berating herself. She was such an idiot. How could she have a soft spot for two people that were probably criminals? And enough so to spend her own meager amount of money on them? Because that's what would happen if she put this order in. Someone would have to pay the difference and it shouldn't be Sam - he wasn't the dummy handing out free food to strangers. She gave a sigh and glanced at the order again as she stopped at the kitchen window.

"Whatcha need, hun?" Lafayette asked, putting down his gossip magazine.

She glanced at the order again, then gave him a smile. "Two double cheeseburgers with fries."

"Big spenders, huh?" He said with a grin, taking the paper from her and sticking on the tiny pile of other orders from the day.

"Yeah, big spenders," she repeated softly.

The sound of the front door opening again drew her attention, and also the attention of the couple in her section, whose eyes swiveled in unison as they tensed. But while they continued to watch the newcomer warily, Sookie slumped - her hopes for a decent tip once again dashed as her brother walked in.

"Hey there, sis," Jason said, giving her a smile and a one armed hug before sitting down on a bar stool. "How's it going?"

"Fine," she answered, automatically blocking out his thoughts of his latest conquest before they could scar her for life. "Hungry?"

"Yeah, a little. How about some of them chicken strip things?"

"Sure-" She started, but stopped as the door opened once again, her and Arlene's eyes immediately darting toward it.

"Stackhouse!"

She jumped as Bubba Inlow barked out the name, thinking he was talking to her for a moment before she got a glimpse in his mind of what he was prepared to do to her brother.

"Oh hell…" Jason whispered, obviously knowing why Bubba was there and mad as a hornet.

"What did you do?" Sookie hissed, watching the other man advance on them.

"You slept with my girlfriend, you sonofabitch!"

"That," Jason said.

"Oh, Jason…" Sookie sighed. "Not again."

Jason was by no means a weakling. He was a strong guy and could be mean as a snake at times, but Bubba was a beast. At 6'2" and about 220 lbs, he was someone Jason should've thought twice about pissing off. But when it came to women, forethought was something her brother was severely lacking in.

"Hey, man-" Was as far as Jason got before Bubba reached him. He grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him out of the stool like he weighed no more than a child.

"Hey!" Sookie yelled, grabbing the arm that was the size of her thigh. In hindsight, it was really stupid. She'd been working as a barmaid for long enough to know not to get in the middle of a fight. But this was her brother and she acted before she really thought about it. Of course she was rewarded by this grand act of stupidity by Bubba's meaty hand shoving her in the chest hard enough to send her ass over teakettle onto the bar floor.

At least it's clean, she thought randomly as she laid there, for once glad for the lack of customers that day.

She heard a yell that sounded like Sam and sat up to see that he'd come out of the office. Great, he must've just made it in time to see her graceful floor dive. As embarrassing as that was, she was also relieved - Sam could break up the fight much better than she could. A squeal drew her eyes back to her brother and Bubba, sure she was going to see it was Jason making that sound, but was surprised to find it was Bubba. It seemed that Sam wouldn't be needed after all.

Even though he was only about Jason's size, the blond stranger had managed to pull Bubba off of her brother and was twisting his arm behind his back. He was currently red faced and bent over double, the limb cranked up between his shoulder blades in a way that made Sookie cringe.

The guy was talking to Bubba while gripping his arm - his voice low and calm, asking Bubba if he thought beating Jason to a pulp was really worth going to jail for assault over. After a tense second, the fight seemed to go out of Bubba and he shook his head. The stranger released him, but stood close, his body like a coiled spring, ready to grab him again if he changed his mind. But he didn't, with a dark look at Jason that gave Sookie the feeling her brother better watch his back for the next couple weeks, Bubba turned and left, rubbing his shoulder as he went.

After the door shut behind him, there was a moment of silence before Sam rounded on Jason.

"Don't bring your crap in here like that again, Jason."

"I didn't-"

"And apologize to your sister," he added with a growl before disappearing in the back again. Slow days made Sam grumpy.

"Hey man, thanks for that," Jason said, brushing the drama off and focusing on the stranger that had saved his ass. "Let me buy you and your girl a drink."

"Oh, no that's not-"

"He insists," Sookie interupted. "It's the least he can do for you stopping the ass-whooping he had coming."

"Hey!" Jason protested.

The guy smiled and Sookie had to blink a few times to believe the change. With one smile he was transformed from worn-down and scruffy to bright and shiny. She could definitely see why the other girl was with him now. Heck, she wanted to run off with him and have his babies just looking at him.

Introducing themselves as Steve and Michelle (fakes - Sookie heard in their heads they were really Brian and Mia), they chatted with Jason for a few minutes before Hoyt came in and he excused himself to join his friend for lunch. Sookie in the meantime felt a certain pleasure in finally being able to get them the beer and cherry coke they'd been dreaming about. It being at the cost of Jason just made it better in her opinion.

She'd actually forgotten about changing their orders until she sat the steaming plates in front of them and saw their looks of confusion and longing.

"This isn't," Brian said, pausing to swallow hard. "This isn't what we ordered."

"Oh crap, I'm sorry, my mind must've been somewhere else. Tell you what, you can keep those - on the house of course - and I'll go get your soup right now," she said, then made a face to add to the story. "Unless you're vegetarians or something?"

"No, no," the guy said a little too quickly, making the girl snicker. "Not vegetarians."

"Oh, good then. I'll be right back with your soups."

She watched them discreetly from the bar as they dug into the food with relish, feeling satisfaction as she emptied her pockets to pay for the food and a little more. While they were finishing up, she took some chips and cold cut sandwiches and stuck them in a to-go bag, then snuck out to the parking lot. It wasn't hard to tell which car was theirs - she knew everyone else in the bar.

She leaned in and sat the bag on the back seat, hoping they wouldn't notice it until they were on their way out of town to avoid any awkward questions. When she got back in, she waved away their attempt to at least pay for the soup - lying and saying Sam insisted on covering it for the help with the fight earlier.

They were just going out the door when something occurred to her. Something she'd heard Bud Dearborn thinking about just the day before. After a second's worth of waffling she ran after them, catching them just a few feet into the parking lot.

"Hey, wait just a second," she called, causing them to stop as she slid a little in the gravel when she caught up.

"Um, listen, I just wanted to let you know that, uh, well, the police department hired some new guys and they're doing a training exercise this afternoon out on 167, one of those where they stop everyone and check ID's and look for drunks," she said, watching their faces pale. "So, I figured, being from outta town and all, you're probably in a hurry to get somewhere else, so if you're headed west, you might want to take 150 and cut over instead."

They both eyed her suspiciously for a moment but after a tense moment nodded and gave her tight smiles and thanks before heading for their car. Both their thoughts whirling with wondering about what she knew and if they could trust her.

Sookie headed back inside, thinking that despite the fact that she'd be leaving the bar that night with less than she came in with, she still felt it was a night's work well done.

Two months later Sookie got to Merlotte's to find Sam waiting with an envelope for her, postmarked in South America. She blinked at it in confusion, looking to Sam for an answer, but he looked as clueless as she did. Ripping open the flap, she pulled two slips of paper out slowly.

The first was a note in a clean flowing hand that just read - Thanks for the help.

The other paper was a money order for ten thousand dollars.