Title: Coincidence

Author: Constance Truggle

Fandom: Buffy/Fast and the Furious

Rating: FR13

Pairing: None

Summary: With some favors owed, some things get set right.

Disclaimer: Don't own Buffy or Fast and the Furious

Word Count: 2869

Author's Note: This is set post the first movie and post Chosen. This is AU as soon as the movie is over. Brian went to prison for whatever they could nail him with, and Bilkins found the perfect opportunity to put the Slayer's abilities to work. He puts them on the Verone job from 2F2F instead, and things work out in their favor.

When Brian left Chino, he was bemused to find keys in his personal belongings. And a car waiting for him. The keys, unsurprisingly, went to the car. Inside the car was a note.

Brian,

Did a job for the FBI and got your release as my payment. My friend was in on it, and she really didn't have any need for a favor from them. So she's giving it to you. Call Special Agent Bilkins, he said he knows you. Tell him you're cashing in Faith's favor and get whatever you need from him.

Out of the country for work, or else I'd be there to get you. Go to my place and get feeling human again, yeah? I'll be home soon as I'm done.

Buffy

Following that, she'd scribbled down her LA address. He found cash in an envelope with his name on it in the glove box along with a cell phone and the car had a full tank of gas. Righ+t then, he really loved his sister.

When he got to the address listed, he found a house with four bedrooms upstairs. Two were very obviously in use, and one had his name taped to the door. It was plain, but there were clean sheets on the bed and, best of all, privacy. It was a blank slate for him to make his own, and he dropped his meager belongings onto the dresser. He opened the closet and was surprised to find all of his clothes there. He found more in the drawers, but he couldn't find any of his knick knacks. He'd ask when Buffy got home.

In the bathroom he found some men's shower stuff, and some shampoo and conditioner that didn't smell like a girl and he relished in the very private shower. In fact, with the exception of his missing sister, whom he'd been looking forward to seeing, he felt like he was as close to heaven as he could get. Then he called Bilkins and heaven got just a tiny bit nicer.

It was nearly a week later when he heard that his request from Bilkins came through. In fact, he'd heard it in the oddest way possible. Buffy and her friend – Faith, he'd learned – were due home that evening. Buffy had said they'd be taking the Wiccan Express in, so he didn't need to worry about picking them up. But that afternoon, before the girls got back, he received a couple of visitors. Four of them. He was sitting out on the porch, enjoying a cold Corona when two cars came roaring up. Mia and Dom got out of the first one, and Leon and Vince came from the second. Brian stood slowly, watching them warily. He was glad that Bilkins obviously cleared them and now Dom and Mia could have their family back, but he didn't know why they were there. He was hoping they didn't think they were going to get to beat him down on top of everything else. As far as he was concerned, they were squared and wouldn't get even the first one free. But Mia disconcerted him by speaking first, the three guys arrayed behind her at the bottom of the porch steps.

"When Bilkins called and told me what you asked for, I almost didn't believe him," she said. Brian raised his eyebrows slightly but otherwise kept silent. "So then he told me where to pick up the official paperwork to clear the team and I started to believe him then. And then he told me you were staying with Buffy, and I was shocked again. But it all started to make sense, you know?"

Mia's eyes moved behind him and he turned to see his sister standing behind him in the doorway. She must have gotten home earlier than she expected.

"Hey, Mia," Buffy said, her eyes shuttered as she looked at the scene before her. "You may as well all get comfortable while we have this talk." The blonde pushed the screen door open further, and Brian followed her in. Mia came next, and there was no way the rest of them would let her in there alone. So it was a full house that Buffy welcomed to sit wherever. A brunette came down the stairs, and smirked at Buffy.

"Damn, B. Some good lookin' meat in here. Something I should know?"

"Nah. They're from Brian's old life," Buffy said, stressing that he had a new life now. "Brian, this is Faith. Faith, my brother, Brian."

Mia blinked in shock at Buffy as Faith sauntered up and circled the blond man, appraising him.

"I didn't know Brian was your brother, Buffy!" Mia exclaimed.

"Wait. You know Mia, Buff?" Brian asked.

"Yeah. We have some classes together. I'm assuming, since she was talking to you, that she was part of that whole clusterfuck last year?"

"Yes and no. She ended up being collateral damage-" Brian cut off as the big bald man growled and the tatooed man started to get up.

Buffy rolled her eyes and talked over the burgeoning testosterone. "Bri, it's really not a good idea to call a woman collateral damage, no matter how shitty things got. We'll talk about this later, though. Who're your... whatever they are to you?"

Brian pointed them out as he named them. "You already know Mia, that's her brother Dom. Then there's Vince and Leon, part of Dom's team."

"And they were your favor from Bilkins?" Faith asked.

"Yeah. Figured I'd get shit squared. Never thought I'd seem 'em again, though. How'd you get the FBI to owe you a favor, anyway?"

"This, I gotta hear," Dom said, his gravelly voice sending shivers down Buffy's spine. Faith grinned at her knowingly.

"They needed something done, and I wanted my brother out of prison," Buffy said.

"Yeah, but what could a couple of chicks like you do that was enough to get that kind of favor?" Vince asked. Buffy narrowed her eyes at him and Faith laughed. Even Brian's lips were twitching upwards.

"Shit, yo! When Bilkins found out who we were, he got so hard I thought he was gonna come right there!"

"Crude much, Faith?"

"What, B? 'Stotally true!"

"Details, Buffy! What happened? I know you were gone for like, nearly six months," Mia said, leaning forward.

"You've heard of Carter Verone?" Buffy asked.

"You mean that kingpin that was all over the news just a couple weeks... oh. Oh no! That was you?"

"Yeah, that was us. Then he escaped the prison transport and came after us. Never knew what he was dealing with."

Brian tipped his head, but it was Dom who asked the question on everybody's mind. "What happened to Verone, then?"

"He got grabby." Buffy's flat voice rocked Brian and Mia back on their metaphoric heels. Neither knew her to be anything but vibrant.

Faith snorted. "His bullet got grabby with B's face, and she deflected it back at him and now he's six under."

"Deflected." Dom's voice was skeptical at best. Vince and Leon also looked disbelieving, but Mia, to Brian's everlasting surprise, seemed to take it in stride.

"Yeah. Deflected. Got a problem with that?"

Buffy walked away, heading up the stairs before Faith and Dom could come to blows. Faith's dark eyes watched her with concern.

"She gonna be alright, Faith?" Mia asked.

"It was the first time she ever had to kill a human and it hit her hard," Faith said, sighing as she heard the shower turn on. "Now she's gonna scald the shit out of herself because she feels dirty. Verone didn't play nice, either once he found out that we were working for the good guys. He got hold of this drug to make her weak and did some shit that she ain't tellin' and fuck!" Faith exploded with that last word, pacing like a caged tiger.

"I'll go talk to her," Brian said, watching Faith warily. He knew she was the only other Chosen slayer, and for her to be helpless to help her sister-slayer must be killing her. He knew it would kill Buffy if their roles were reversed; that it had killed her once with this very girl.

Vince snorted derisively. "Yeah, like you can help."

Brian glared at him. "Raise your hand if you haven't killed a man before." Only Brian and Faith kept their hands down. "I think that rests my case."

"I've tried tellin' her, you know. That it wasn't her fault and that he was gonna kill her first, but she ain't listenin'. Maybe you can get through to her."

Brian left the room and it got awkward really quick. Faith didn't seem to notice, though, and she started chatting about inane things with Mia to try and distract herself and her new friend.

But Mia caught the dark slayer's slidelong glances, and eventually sussed out that she was watching Leon, of all of them. Well now. That could be a good thing. Leon was sweet and quiet and strong enough to handle Faith's brashness. He handled Letty for years, after all. She'd have to see what developed there.

Buffy and Brian came down about thirty minutes later to find everyone still there. Buffy's green eyes were pretty dull, but Mia had faith that with Brian and Faith there to help her, she'd get past this, too.

"It's about dinner time, so I'll just go whip something up, alright?" Buffy said, wandering towards the kitchen. Mia and Faith exchanged looks while Mia went to the kitchen and Faith tried to steer Buffy away.

"You burn water, B. Let Mia handle it."

Buffy looked at Faith, then Mia in the archway to the kitchen and something mischievous glinted in her eyes.

"You set me up!" Mia called, laughing.

"Of course! You cook better than all of us!" Buffy called back, sinking down onto the couch where Mia had been sitting. "Go help her, Brian."

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am!" Brian said, leaving the room before her laughter could turn into something thrown at him.

Buffy tipped her head back against the cushions, rolling it sideways to look at Dom, who was watching her with a curious look. "I'm gonna kill that boy one of these days," she muttered and was rewarded with a gust of laughter from him.

"Yeah, well. Back of the line," he rumbled, and she got shivers again. Faith watched, smirking, as her friend got all soft-eyed at the hot guy.

"Oh, no, mister! I've known him a lot longer than you, so your ass has to get in line behind me!"

At the smile on his face, Faith didn't think he'd find that to be too much of a hardship.

Buffy leaned forward a bit and looked at the other two. "So tell me, Leon. What do you do?"

"Mechanic," he said. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I should've guessed. I think I'm the only one here who doesn't mess with engines of some sort."

"Shit, B. I only work on my bike. Cars so ain't my thing."

"Yeah, but I don't even have that. Remember, I grew up in the prissy part of this city. Good little cheerleaders didn't take auto shop and they didn't associate with the grease monkeys."

Faith snickered. "But you ain't been a good little cheerleader for years."

"They don't offer auto shop in Sunnydale. Sorry."

Faith thought that was funnier than anything for some reason. The guys just looked between the laughing girl and the blonde with the small smile on her face as she watched her friend.

"Sunnydale? Isn't that that crater up north a ways?" Vince asked.

"Yeah." Faith said, snickers still escaping. "B lived there for a few years after she burned down her high school gym."

"What can I say? Hemery needed a new look," Buffy shrugged.

"You apparently thought that a lot, since you blew up Sunnydale High for your graduation."

"You did what?" Dom asked, intrigued by this girl who didn't seem like the type.

"Faith, you make it sound like I run around planting C4 for the hell of it and blow up random buildings. There was an... issue with one of the speakers. He planned on killing the entire graduating class, so we took him out first." Make of that what you will, Buffy thought.

Dom thought about it, alright. He recalled Faith saying that Verone was Buffy's first kill, so how did this fit into that story? Was she like her brother, and putting on a front? If so, what was her angle? If not, then what the hell was she talking about?

Faith smirked. Yup. She'd hooked the hottie for B, and that meant the other hottie would be coming around more often, too. She couldn't wait.

Brian and Mia worked in strained silence until finally, Brian couldn't take it anymore. "Would it help if I told you I never meant to hurt you, and that whatever else I had to do to get info on Dom, I liked you for you?"

Mia took a moment to puzzle it out and figured he meant that he cared for her even when he wasn't supposed to. She could work with that. Brian was the man she'd fallen in love with, after all. Best not to let him off too lightly, though.

"You hurt me, Brian. Did you tell me you loved me just to get closer to Dom?"

"No, Mia! What I felt for you had nothing to do with Dom!"

"Everything had something to do with Dom, Brian! If it wasn't for Dom, you never would have met me."

"That's true. But I don't regret meeting you. I just regret what you must have thought when everything went down, and how much I hurt you." Brian sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "Look, Mia. Except for the undercover cop thing, and my real name, I never lied to you. Especially not when it mattered."

Mia watched him for a moment, wondering if that was really true, then went back to working on the meal. "Is Buffy alright?" she asked instead.

"She will be. I worry about her, though. Her job is hard enough without getting the Feds involved in her life."

"Yeah. She's strong, though. And she's got you and Faith to help her."

"And you. You're a good friend, Mia, and she's gonna need you. Can you do that? Can you be there for her?"

"Yeah, Bri. I'll be here whenever she needs me."

Dinner was a loud, often bawdy affair. With Faith and Vince there, what else could be expected? Faith flirted equally with Leon, Vince and Brian, but she always left Dom alone. Buffy talked quietly with Mia, casting quick, often blushing glances at Mia's brother, who was already looking back at her more often than not. She'd blush even more when he caught her and it never dawned on her that he was watching her as well. Mia grinned like the cheshire cat every time her friend turned a new shade of red. Brian was on Mia's other side, and he caught her attention enough that Buffy ran out of a conversational partner. She'd just started talking with Dom about her car, which he told her bluntly was a piece of shit, and she asked him what it would cost for him to make not so shitty when her cell rang.

"Summers," she said.

"Oh, hello Agent Bilkins." Buffy rolled her eyes at Faith.

"Look, I'm glad you got everything sorted out with Brian, but could you maybe call later? We're having a kind of celebration dinner right now-" Buffy cut off mid sentence, her face going grim.

"Yeah. We can be there in thirty minutes."

"No. I won't ask him."

"No," Buffy growled, sounding pretty menacing. "Look, we're hosting the Torettos right now," she smirked as she said this, "and I'm pretty sure that he's not interested in working for you."

"Well, see, all he has to do is say the word and the Council has a spot for him."

"Well it's not the Council's fault that the FBI was too stupid to see what they had right in front of them."

"You shouldn't have put him in prison, then!" She snapped her phone shut and glanced at Faith, her eyes chips of peridot ice.

"Saddle up. We have some demons to exorcise," she barked, leaning over to kiss Brian's cheek. "Good to have you home, bro."

As they left, Buffy couldn't help but hope Brian could clear the air with his old friends. She had a feeling he was going to need them, and she wouldn't mind seeing more of Dom, either.