For you two (TFATF/XXX-Crossover)

It took all of us some days to get settled in Germany. Well, adjusted to Germany would be more like it.

From highways with no speed limits over trash that had to be painfully sorted into different buckets, not all people being capable of the English language, the technical supervisory association which did - or, in more cases, didn't - allow most fun parts in an automobile and even banished some from the streets because of their poor condition, alcohol and cigarettes being openly consumed in the streets to, of course, Germany's hilariously high gasoline prices, everything had to be covered. Not to mention the almost unexplainable difference between 'Du' and 'Sie', both being 'you' in English.

Oh, and Vince blew up his electrical shaver when he plugged it in the first morning without a suitable adapter for the higher power output.

Not to speak of the jetlag.

I found myself wishing several times that I had given them some sort of 'Training for survival in Germany' back in the states when I hadn't been that tired all the time.

To my comfort I mostly only had to take care of Dom; Vince and Brian lived at Michael's place during our stay and could therefore harass him instead of me. That, of course, would only be valid until Xander would arrive because he, and this is something Dom insisted on without me having any valid arguments against it, would want to be together with his brother for his stay.

Michael, Vince and Brian spent lots of time at the garage, sorting through parts and even working on the two other incomplete cars Michael owned so that they, too, could be taken back to the US in an almost finished state when we would be going back.

I will never forget the faces Dirk and Christian made when we five arrived at the garage on our second day.

"See, Dana, told you that you'd be able to keep him." Dirk grinned.

"Gosh, never thought you'd import so much." Christian stated, shaking his head.

Took me and Michael some minutes to actually translate to Dom, Vince and Brian what they had said; their English was rather poor.

As I had almost expected, my three US guys were extremely fascinated by the work Dirk had done on the blue Kadett. However, when they heard that this work had taken him twelve years, they were thoroughly shocked.

Afterwards we had a long discussion about the technical supervisory association and what was allowed on Germany's streets - or rather, what not - and they were extremely surprised to learn that the only thing you didn't need any kind of technical statement or release for was the length of the gearshift in a car.

Sometimes I found myself just sitting on the wielding apparatus in the garage and listening to them, in my mind comparing their conversations now to those I had with just my boys here before I went to the US, and to the ones I had while being in the US before and after Michael had arrived.

Damn, I had changed so much in those five months.

Coming to think about it, we had all changed so much in that time. Not Christian and Dirk, of course, but all the others who had been involved in what we had done there.

Before all this had happened nothing would have kept me at home at night. I had been driving around, meeting people, going out. Now it was Dom and me, Dom and the team and me or just me and the team when Dom did whatever he was doing when he had the need to go out alone.

I didn't even ask, and he didn't tell.

Clubs? Discotheques? I didn't visit one during those five months after I had met them first. Even the cinema had become rare, and that had been something I had visited once a week before I had gone away.

Not to speak of men. The only men that had touched me during that time had been the guy I took the GTO from, Verone and Dom. Perhaps Roman, too, if one could count the little 'play' we staged in Houston in. Of all those, the only one I really had sex with had been, again, Dom. It wasn't that I needed or wished for anyone else; it was just something I noticed while thinking about it.

In short terms I came to the conclusion that my life had become boring even if it was now filled with more people than before.

I had become boring.

Not that I was bored, but still.

And there were moments when I really asked myself if I wanted to go back to the US with them. I never spoke that thought out aloud to anyone, though. I just thought that I didn't want to end up as a boring house-, garage- and racetrack owner who would always somewhat stand in the shadow of Dom Toretto's name and presence.

Which, after all, was what I became ever since I lived with him. Not that it wasn't entertaining. Not that I didn't get my share of the fun. Not that he didn't take good care of me.

But I had become a part of the team - his team - nothing more. I couldn't blame Brian for still preferring to live in Miami with Roman, just paying us occasional visits. I couldn't blame Letty and Hector for going back to Mexico even if Letty's records, too, had been cleared.

In fact, I slowly but surely understood what it was like to be just 'one of Toretto's team', even if, of course, I was also referred to as 'Toretto's woman".

I didn't want to be that. I wanted to be Dana, the woman driving the shopping cart.

I talked about this to just one person while I had still been in the US, and that had always been a monologue. Sphinx, as scary as he had always been to me, was a good listener. Of course, because he never spoke.

This had been the only solitude I found - visiting Otto's garage, having those conversations with Sphinx or, as already mentioned, rather with myself; and sometimes I was making jokes with Sway who - even if I never talked to her about it - probably was the only one who understood how I felt.

I loved them, I loved them all to bits. Had willingly given my life for any of them if I would have been in a situation that would have required this. Knowing that any of them would do the same for me, though, didn't help either.

Sometimes, I mentally sighed, friendship wasn't enough. Sometimes the coolest relationship wasn't enough. Sometimes the greatest place on earth to live in wasn't enough. Sometimes I wished it was just me again, being free.

And sometimes it's really just bad if the tidal wave of real, everyday life is washing all your fantasies away.

I wasn't so sure if having Dom and Xander at my home would improve the situation.

There were moments when I was close to asking Dom if he didn't want to spend a few days over at Michael's house, but then again I knew that this wouldn't help as the garage was practically in my backyard.

I thought about taking some kind of holiday, away from them all. But I knew none of them would understand me. Especially Michael, Dirk and Christian often mentioned how much I had changed, how much more... accessible I had become. They liked it. Everyone liked it.

Except of myself, of course.

But there's no point in playing out your stubbornness if all other people around you are so terribly cooperative, know you so well, unless you really want to put up a fight.

Which, of course, would be pointless. Putting up fights with people you live together with is childish unless you have a really good reason. Something they didn't give me, not at all.

This was why I wasn't the least bit unhappy when Dom, while we were standing in my kitchen on the evening Xander should arrive and I was emptying the dishwasher, told me that he wanted to pick up his brother from the airport alone. Actually, it was more like he was asking for permission even if he didn't need to. He knew it and that was what unnerved me.

"No, you just go do that. Bet you two have lots of things to talk about. I think I'll go to the cinema or something." I said and put some plates in the cabinet.

"Cinema? Alone?" He frowned.

"Yeah, did that often before I went to the US. Actually, before I got to know you, I did that there, too." I replied, not even really looking up from what I did.

"If you're happy with it, just do it. Just thought maybe you'd want to do something with the others..."

"I have the others on my neck all day long, Dom." I said a bit miffed.

"Sure. I'll take the car."

"Didn't expect you to walk to the airport." I said. "I'll take a cab if I need to."

The car. That was the only thing we could argue about.

As the Corsa and all other cars had remained in the US, we had to rely on Michael's remaining car, another Corsa, but much younger than mine was. Dom had rented a SUV with navigation system for himself so that he was able to find his way whenever he had to go somewhere. Plus, in contrast to Michael's Corsa, it was comfortable enough to fill all the five of us in.

Said SUV was the car in question now. I didn't mind not having it around, I didn't like it anyway. But then I didn't have to like it; it was a vehicle that took you from A to B, nothing more.

Nothing compared to the Corsa. Or the Pacer. Or the GTO.

Boring, I thought again. Fucking boring.

"Anything wrong with you?" He said, and even without looking at him I knew that he was biting his bottom lip, as he always did when he asked something like this.

I stared into the dishwasher for a moment. Now or never, I thought.

"Just thought that my life became a bit boring." I finally said, desperately trying to stay calm.

"Why, you have me, Michael, Vince and..."

It took a good portion of my self control not to explode.

"That's not what I was talking about, Dom." I just hissed into the dishwasher which by now was empty but offered a good point of focus for my anger.

"What else?" He said and I could hear him coming closer behind me. Two arms were put around my waist, pulling my body to his.

Just the closeness I didn't need right now. I tried to shrug him off, but he didn't let me.

"What's wrong with you?" He whispered to my ear. "Feels like you've been slipping away from me for some time now. Already noticed that in the States."

"Don't know." I replied. "Perhaps I'm thinking that I don't want to become the old and boring housewife of Toretto; which is not too far from Toretto's woman which is what I'm currently being called by most people."

The embrace around my waist loosened a bit.

"Who calls you that?" He asked, and I knew he was frowning.

"Everyone who doesn't live in the same household as we do or once was part of the team." I said.

"Is that so?" He chuckled. "Well, I think I'll have to teach them your name."

That, I thought, is exactly the problem, Dom. I don't want to be called by my name because you tell them to. I want them to speak out my name because of the respect they should have for me, as a person, not as your woman.

But arguing was so pointless in this case...

"Yeah, you go and try that, Dom." I just sighed.

"Love you, Never forget that." He said and kissed my cheek.

"I won't." I replied.

"Say, baby..." He turned me, still keeping his arms around my waist. "When was the last time we had sex?"

"Funny you mention it. That was back in the States."

"What about having sex now?" He suggested and pressed me to the kitchen counter.

"No, you have a brother to pick up at the airport at half past eight, that's in two hours and you still have to drive at least one and a half of them. And I'm not really in the mood for a quickie right now." I replied.

"Later perhaps? When I return?" He asked, and it sounded a tiny bit disappointed.

"Yeah, perhaps. Won't promise that, though; I'm a bit tired." I so utterly hated to make dates for having sex. Also something he never really understood, I guess; but right now I just wanted him out of the house.

"Might be very late before I return. I might take another walk or have a beer with Xander." He said, already letting go of me.

"Got that. If anything is wrong, you can still call. Besides, if I go to the cinema, I might also return late."

Another kiss to my cheek, and he was gone. I kept standing at the kitchen counter like a frozen statue and stared through the kitchen window with unfocussed eyes.

Boring, I thought. Boring.

And damn, when had it become so easy to get rid of him as soon as something was wrong? I remembered the times when he had practically forced me to speak about my problems. Those times seemed very distant now.

I was chewing my lip for a few minutes; and then, after letting out a short sigh, I continued to clean the kitchen.