Chapter Text
I own nothing!
Samantha Hobbs knows her life is unusual. She has a father who routinely saves the worlds, and in the process, has left her alone for quite a bit of her life. She has a stepfather, whom she affectionately calls Papa Shaw, whom she is sure was a terrorist at one point in his life. She’d tried to ask her father about this once and received a long-winded answer which simply put meant her stepfather had accepted the blame and a dishonorable discharge to keep the whole of England safe.
Since she knew her father had done the same thing at one time, the time they had almost lost her Auntie Elena, she just nodded her head and let her respect for her stepdad go up by a million degrees. Her father at least had had his record cleared, her stepfather however had to live everyday with the reminder of his sacrifice and what he was given in return.
Of course, Grandma Shaw didn’t say it in such nice words. Grandma Shaw, Samantha was sure, ran a criminal empire. This she claimed was the consequence of her country’s lack of loyalty and betrayal of her sons. Uncle Dom had a strict family code around loyalty that her dad followed. Grandma Shaw had one as well that her stepdad, Uncle Owen, and Aunt Hattie followed. Somehow, they had found a middle ground and were now one big happy family.
Of course, some family members were more visible than others. Aunt Elena couldn’t walk, something no one talked about least of all Aunt Letty and Uncle Dom. Uncle Brian and Aunt Mia were in hiding with her cousins Jack and Mina. Aunt Ramsey was off in Japan for a hackathon with Uncle Tej, and Uncle Roman and his fiancé Little Nobody (whom she knew was really a man named Eric Reisner but no one called him that), were off doing something, somewhere, and Sam was not allowed to ask any more questions about it; which of course meant she would ask Grandma Shaw later.
Samantha loved her life; for so long it had just been her Dad and her. Then Aunt Elena came along , then Uncle Dom and his crew, and, after the time they never speak off, Papa Shaw, Uncle Owen, Marcos, Aunt Hattie, and Grandma Shaw. Her life was full of love, some pain, lots of questions, and both heroes and anti villains who were doing their best to raise, the Four, as they were affectionately called; Jack, Mina, Marcos and her; the right way.
But sometimes she had to wonder; what the hell was wrong with her family. They were car thieves, criminal Queen pins, vigilante justice black ops spies, it was all confusing because how was Sam supposed to know what she should do when she grew up? Grandma Shaw was insistent that she would go to boarding school in England for ladies and then work for the British Crown because she was a Shaw and the Shaw family still owed her majesty some payback for Papa Shaw and Uncle Owen.
Dad wanted her to stay away from law enforcement at all costs. He was insistent he wanted her to become a librarian, historian, or manager of a bookstore. Apparently books were safe. He loved that she played football (soccer), knew haka’s, and was totally into their Samoan heritage. Uncle Dom was teaching her how to drive, something Papa Shaw thought was a waste of time when he felt she needed to know how to defend herself and shoot a gun.
Papa Shaw took her shooting and taught her self-defense himself. She loved it; bonding time with him was the best. He was the most patient of all her teachers, including Aunt Letty, and was not insistent on training every time they went to; sometimes she just got to vent, something she wasn’t always comfortable doing with the others. Uncle Dom and Aunt Letty were super protective of Marcos and her; their thinking being that if she and Marcos were going to be around the crew then they had to be wrapped in a bubble. Uncle Tej and the rest were in and out all the time so their connection wasn’t as deep. Grandma Shaw lived in a series of semi trucks that seemed almost too much for Sam, and Uncle Owen often disappeared for days on end.
Her dad worked with Mr. Nobody now and her Papa Shaw stayed at home with her. It was great to have one parent who was always there; now she knew her father loved her beyond reason, but he also had this drive, this need to defend, and help others. Papa Shaw, according to Grandma Shaw, had done his time and was finally enjoying the fruits of his labor. Though to be honest Sam had to wonder sometimes how taking care of her was the joy of his life.
When they fought Sam never threw in his face she wasn’t his actual daughter; that wouldn’t have been fair especially considering she had overheard the conversation where it had been decided unless it was a family emergency Deckard Ian Shaw was retiring to stay with Sam full time. Sam knew it was hard for him to not be with her father watching his back; as the saying went they were men cut from the same cloth.
But home he stayed, for her, because he loved her and her father enough to give Sam the stability and full time access to a parent that she needed. When it had first come to the table that her father was contemplating working for Mr. Nobody Sam had been pissed, she hadn’t spoken to either of them for a week. She was polite but resolved.
Then they had brought out the big guns; her Grandmother had shown up in all her British loveliness to tell her she was right and to keep it up. Their plan had backfired spectacularly and Sam had enjoyed a month of tea, British colloquialisms, plans for her the citizenship papers, and her Grandmother encouraging her to stand her ground.
“Love these men will run all over you if you don’t start taking a stand! You are a Shaw! Shaw women never give up on the things they believe in, stand firm and you’ll see it done.”
So, Sam had and the result had been Papa Shaw staying home with her. Of course, they weren’t alone, unless it was an emergency Uncle Dom and Aunt Letty had made the same decision thanks to Aunt Elena and Marcos. So, Sam and Marcos were being raised together by a plethora of people via in person daily contact and skype, and all the adults breathed easy for it.
“Papa Shaw will you read to me tonight?” It was bed time and although Sam was thirteen years old nothing beat having her stepfather read to her before bed.
“Course I will Love, you all brushed up then?” Sam had to smile, her stepfather’s words and accent never failed to fill her with warmth; they meant home, safety, and the promise of her father.
“Of course Papa, wouldn’t want you to traumatize anymore dentists!” Sam loved teasing her Papa Shaw, he was a slender man with close cropped hair and eyes that were ice cold. He was a man of few words who never raised his voice at her. He was also the love of her Dad’s life and his husband.
“Shouldn’t a been raising his voice to you then.” Papa Shaw of course showed no remorse about making her last dentist pee himself after he had scolded Sam for not flossing.
Sam snickered, as she settled in on her side of the bed, normally they didn’t share but her Dad had just left on a mission and Papa Shaw was aware enough to know she wouldn’t sleep if they didn’t bed down together for the night.
“Right then let’s see where we stopped,” Deckard picked up his childhood copy of Watership Down and began to read as Samantha snuggled in.
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Sam was out by the end of the second chapter and Deckard set down the book as he watched his stepchild sleep. She was beautiful, all soft innocence and joy. She was as fierce as her father and twice as tough as them both. He would kill anyone who ever tried to harmed her.
It was always hard for her when her father left for a mission and while they both enjoyed parenthood, they also understood the need to help keep the Earth cleansed of filth for her, little Marcos, Jack, and Mina. Four babies in the Toretto-O’Connor-Hobbs-Shaw clan. Deckard stood, tucking in the blanket and going to do his final sweep of the house, shutting down access points, and enabling the three different security systems.
It was hard being away from his husband, but he knows he made the right choice to stay with Sam. She needed a parent she could have access to 24/7, and as his mother and husband often told him he’d done enough. It was true and not true, he hadn’t asked to be the weapon the British government made him into, neither had Owen but when life gave them lemons, they made napalm. He didn’t regret it, well not all of it, he does regret “killing” Han, but that’s water under the bridge, considering the fucker was still alive.
He’d saved Marcos before that revelation so, it’d all been forgiven even if it has not been forgotten even before the miracle of Han’s return. He washed up before joining Sam in bed smiling as she rolled right into his arms and latched on like a sloth. She had a strong grip and the only way he’d be getting up leave was in the morning when he had to start breakfast or if she woke in the night, ghosts both her parents are guilty of creating, dodging her footsteps even in sleep.
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The next few days’ pasted in a blur of routine. Getting Sam to school, checking old sites for information, checking in at the black site, talking with Dom, sharing parenting tips with Letty and Elena, stalking his brother and sister via satellite feed, and trying to convince his mother he was not screwing up his child; no, she did not need to visit nor did they need to go to England; Sam was in school for Christ’s sake.
Day five brought a creak on the steps and Deckard up and out of Sam’s arms in a flash, gun in hand, ready for whoever it is. The thump followed by swearing had Deckard smirking as he stowed his gun and turned to make sure Sam was sleeping. He watched amused for a moment as she reached for his pillow to smash her face against as she snorted.
Deckard slipped out of the room to see Luke Hobbs holding up a converse shoe, one of Sam’s, set in such a way to make someone trip.
“Must you booby trap our house?” Luke asks as he reaches for his husband.
Deckard allows a kiss before he answers, “Of course, how else am I supposed to get some alone time with my husband before our child wakes up?”
Luke smirks as he leads his husband to their spare bedroom, “Oh, it was a trap just for me and not any of our enemies?”
Deckard flashes Luke a look as he undressed his husband needing skin, “Well if it had been an enemy they would be dead for daring to come anywhere near her. You I want to give a proper welcome home before the day begins.”
Luke can only moan, he’s missed his husband and daughter, needed them both so much, but he also needed to keep them safe. It was a need Deckard understands well. His husband is a decorated military hero, a man used up and then tossed away, it still hurt, made a ball of anger clench tight in his stomach that the British Crown has been so cruel to his lover and his brother in law, but the same could be said of the US Government. For Queen, for country it was all the same in the end, only Luke hadn’t reached where Deckard Shaw had, hadn’t been labeled expendable.
No, Deckard was a gift and Luke was so thankful he had been given the chance to learn, to see who his husband was; they had almost lost Elena and nothing could ever make up for her suffering and pain, but she had done everything to protecting her child, and had given them all a new lease on life in doing so.
“Ian hurry, we don’t have much time,” Luke felt desperate, always craving the touch of his husband, needing him to surround Luke, and make him feel safe. This brave, strong, violent, cold man loved him and what was more loved his daughter as his own. It was a heady feeing and one Luke never got tired of. He had a family, he had a home, and that's was all he needed, all he had ever wanted.