Collision Course

Collision Course 5: Rio

Dawn found Dom seated on the sand of Farme Gay, the beach were the gay community of Rio hung out. His knees were drawn up in front of him, his arms were wrapped around them, and his feet were bare. His discarded havaianas, the obligatory local sandals, were resting side-by-side on the sand next to him.

After the final fight with Letty he had left the garage and roamed the city. He had continued to wander the south side all night looking for answers, but all he had ended up finding was a gang of pitboys. The fight with the three mean-faced thugs had helped him. He had been able to take his frustrations out on their shaved heads and tattooed bodies. Physically, he had come away from the tussle with a few minor abrasions and some bruised knuckles. Mentally, he was no better off.

So he had come here, to watch the sun rise, to watch the crowd, and to try to figure out what was happening to him.

Letty had right about most of the things she had said, but not all. It hadn't started with the drag queen parade during Carnival. It hadn't started with that kiss. It hadn't started in Rio at all, though he had no doubt the city had escalated his problems.

No, he couldn't blame it on Rio de Janeiro, this fabulous city that was filled with the most tolerant, laid-back people on earth. He wished he could. He wished he could blame it on the climate, the hot sultry climate. He wished he could claim that it was the openness of the people, the Cariocas that all but lived on the beach. He wished he could convince himself that it was the way the men hugged and kissed each other with such natural affection and abandon that had caused the strange desires to build within him. But he couldn't.

Brian was the cause.

He squinted at the sun and finally admitted the truth to himself. He'd fallen for another guy over a year ago and had been denying it ever since. He hadn't been able to face it or admit to it, until now. Dom sighed and dug his toes deeply into the white sand as he allowed himself to remember.

===

Relief, that's what he felt when the orange Toyota went zooming by -- relief and supreme confidence. If anyone could save Vince, it was Brian, and Dom had no doubt that he would.

Just a moment before, Dom had been wallowing in the depths of despair and remorse and guilt, oh man, the guilt. The thought of Vince snarled in the cable, attached to the side of that maniac's truck with no hope of rescue, and the frustration of his own mortally damaged car was enough to make Dom wish for his own death.

He had gotten V into this, he had planned this hijacking, and he had failed. He had failed his oldest friend miserably. And now Vince was going to die, bleeding, shot, snared, and alone.

Then, like a something out of a dream, he had heard the distinctive purr of the Supra's engine rapidly approaching. With a streak of day-glo orange, the car had flown by.

Pride filled Dom, flooding him, washing away his despair. He wanted to scream, to shout with joy, to hug Brian, to kiss him, to tell him he loved him. He wanted to look into V's ugly face and say, "See! I told you we could trust him. I told you so. I told you so!"

Leon pulled up and Dom climbed into the car eagerly. He glanced back at Letty and was relieved to see her dark scowl. He was so happy she was alive, unhurt, and that Brian was going to get Vince off that truck!

"Go," he ordered Leon as he eagerly strained his eyes down the empty road, seeking some sign of what was happening up ahead of them.

Five minutes later they saw the orange car sitting in the desert alongside the road. The doors were open -- it was abandoned. With a sinking feeling, Dom recognized Brian's and Mia's forms bending over the prone body of Vince.

He rushed to them. Vince was moaning and moving. He was alive and Brian was working feverishly to keep him that way. Dom admired the practiced, professional manner in which Brian was administering first aid. Again Dom was filled with pride.

"If he doesn't get to a hospital in ten minutes he's dead," Brian said. Then he lifted a cell phone to his ear; his blue eyes were wide and pleading. "This is off-duty LAPD Officer Brian O'Connor. I need a medi-flight ..."

The rest of what Brian said was lost to Dom. All he knew was pain, anger, betrayal, and rage. To have been so deep in guilt, to have been so lifted with relief, to have know such self-congratulatory pride, to have felt such gratitude and love toward this golden-haired Adonis -- and now to find out that it was all a lie.

Brian was a cop, just as Vince had claimed all along. Brian was a narc -- a hated, fucking, lying, betraying narc.

Dom wanted to kill him, to pound the perfect face into the dry earth of the desert. He wanted to tear at him, destroy him, rip him to shreds. He wanted to ...

Soft blue eyes begged for forgiveness as Brian continued to speak into the phone, giving out information that would help the paramedics save V's life. Slender, tanned hands directed Dom's own, showed him how and where to apply pressure to the gunshot wound on Vince's side.

Vince moaned in pain and Dom tore his eyes away from Brian's in order to look down at his friend.

He didn't look at Brian again. He couldn't. When the chopper landed and bundled Vince onto the gurney, Dom walked away. It wasn't until he was getting back in the car and realized Mia wasn't with them that he turned.

She was near Brian and it enraged Dom.

He bellowed for her. Pointed his finger at the ground at his feet, demanding her to come – and, after a moment's hesitation, she did.

She left Brian's side and it enraged Dom.

Stupid bitch. How could she leave him? He wondered even as he shoved her into the backseat of the small car.

One last look at Brian, at the narc, and he squeezed his frame into the passenger seat and let Leon drive them away.

He hadn't expected to see him again, certainly didn't expect Brian to be blocking his driveway, pointing a gun at him, threatening him.

"Move your car," Dom growled as he adjusted the shotgun in his arms.

Brian's eyes narrowed with resolve as he refused. Dom knew that Brian wouldn't let him go and a tiny shiver of *something* went down his spine. Instead of lifting the shotgun he let it fall to his side and tried to explain about Jesse and, as if his words had conjured the boy up, Jesse's white Jetta pulled in.

Everything happened so fast -- Jesse's whining explanation, the buzz of the motorcycles, the rapid pops of the machine guns, Mia's screams. Dom found himself flying through the air, desperately trying to get to Jesse, to throw his body between the confused boy and the deadly missiles. He hit the ground hard and too late. Mia cradled the dying boy in her arms as she cried and rocked him.

The scene was so unreal that he couldn't believe it. He couldn't handle it. He couldn't --

The sound of the Supra's wheels screaming against the pavement brought him back. Brian was once again chasing down Dom's enemy, once again doing what Dom should be doing.

With a determined stride Dom marched to the Charger. He'd be damned if he'd feel any more obligation to Brian Spil-- , er, Officer Brian O'Connor.

The chase went by in a blur of colors and sounds. The only things Dom really remembered were knocking Lance off the road and the sight of Brian putting a bullet through Tran's heart. Then nothing until they sat side-by-side at the light, waiting for it to change.

He was so tired, so emotionally spent that he felt nothing other than resignation. He'd never be free of Brian. He knew that, so he wasn't even going to try to run. Officer O'Connor would get his man. Dom wanted just one more thing before he would allow Brian to chain him and lead him away.

He wanted ten more seconds of life. He wanted one last race.

Fitting, it was so fitting. Halfway to the tracks the engine blew. His father's car was dying too. He had mortally wounded it, but still it ran on. Dom saw the train and felt relief, there would be no prison in his future. Even as he pressed down on the accelerator, he knew that the car wouldn't make it. It wasn't possible. He would die as he had always wanted to -- in a car, going fast and furious and free. He glanced over at Brian and knew from the look on the handsome face that Brian understood. Dom gave his friend -- yes, since he was about to die, he could call Brian his friend -- a final look. Brian was still there at his side and somehow this comforted Dom. Then he turned his head forward toward the road and braced himself for impact.

The back bumper of the Charger cleared the train by less than an inch.

His first thought was -- Brian. He turned to look and felt relief and euphoria rush through him. Brian had made it too! Maybe, just maybe, they could ...

Brian's face twisted with horror. Dom turned his head to see --

The collision caught him unaware. The high screech of twisting metal, the bright sparks of chrome scraping asphalt, then silence as the car came to a stop. He crawled out and there was Brian, waiting, worried.

Dom gripped his wounded arm and blinked his eyes to keep from crying. He could hear sirens approaching. Now Officer O'Connor would put the cuffs on him and take him back to jail.

Instinctively, he caught the keys. Amazed, he raised his eyes.

"I still owe you a ten-second car," Brian said with a soft smile.

Dom didn't think, he just moved. He took Brian's Toyota and never looked back.

Until now.

===

"Hey, man. Want to play?"

Dom looked up at the handsome young man standing next to him.

"Yes, I do." Dom hooked his fingers into his sandals as he rose and followed the *Barbie* to the volleyball net. There were several other gay men already there; playing the Rio version of the game that was a unique combination of soccer and volleyball. Nothing above the waist was allowed to touch the ball, just feet, legs, and hips.

Dom played with them until the heat of the morning forced them to stop, then, he willingly followed his friends to one of the many baths houses that dotted the south side of the city. He politely declined the rent-boy's offer to help him *relax*. Maybe another time, he said gently as he soaked in the warm water and watched his newfound companions interact with each other.

.