(a/n) First f/f fic! Inspired by this t-shirt that I have that says "Hey, you and I are going to have a big love affair and it won't work but somewhere in the middle, my god we tried"
She had always been beautiful to him. Even when she was 13 and just finding her way around an engine block, the grease under he nails only made her more gorgeous in his eyes. Her skin a deep mocha color that glowed in the summer months. Her jet black hair untamed and lustrous had always filled his hands in fits of passion. She was a wild beauty.
And time had only been kind to her. From the tomboy to a young tough chick on the racing circuit, she stood a grown women commanding the air that hummed around her.
"Letty!", Mia's squeal shot a deafening ring through the reception hall as she ran up to her best friend. "You came!"
"And miss this, O'Connor trying to make an honest woman out of one of the terrible Toretto's", she laughed heartily at her petite friend. Letty had heard all about Dom's escapades and the heist they pulled in Rio. How could she not, word among the unsavory travels fast.
She looked different in the years the team had spent scattered across the four corners. The lines of a tiring life beginning to show around her mouth when she smiled, but even they couldn't mar the glowing face beneath. The mischief that sparkled in her eyes was ever present. She looked simple and magnificent all at once as she stood there in cut-off shorts and a loose button down to stave off the brutal heat that encompassed them all.
"It just had to be a tropical island didn't it?", Mia couldn't help but giggle at her oldest friend. Letty had grown up in the Dominican Republic and spent most of her life in Los Angeles, but had never been one to reckon with the heat. By this point the two friends had abandoned the wedding rehearsal. Brian having corralled the occupants towards the bar, one in particular, for a much needed drink.
"Don't be such a baby, you look like you've been living in a spot under the sun. Where have you been?" The conversation turned serious as Mia looked in the eyes of the ever mysterious Leticia Ortiz.
Every now and then she'd received post cards from Letty about her well-being. They started to show up just after Rio, just after baby Luciana was born. Letty hadn't died, she hadn't been buried in the cold ground in Los Angeles. Alive, but not necessarily well. It'd been like a punch to the gut when she'd read the first post card. How could Letty have let everyone grieve for her. But in all the letters and post cards and odd packages over the years, only slivers of their time apart had been exposed. From what Mia could surmise Letty had gone into some sort of witness protection. She worked for the Bureau outside of the US working undercover jobs. Berlin was where the jist of it had taken place as Mia had gathered.
But here Letty was. When Mia had started planning for the wedding she was distraught about the prospects of her best friend not coming. No thought to Dom's feelings came to mind as she had Brian pull strings to find Letty. And with no argument the invitation was sent, with no promise of her arrival.
"Around girl. I was in Germany for a couple years and bounced around Europe. But most recently I've been in Australia".
Mia nodded, noting how little Letty divulged. Mia could see it in her stance and her intonation, things had changed. Letty had changed. She was calmer, older, wiser and smarter in some ways. Though it was evident that years on the road had broken Letty a little. She seemed less inclined to leave tread marks on anyone's face that got in her way.
"How has he been?", Letty wasted no time in asking about Dom.
"He's been -" But shouting brought both women out of their reminiscent reverie as Brian could be heard yelling Mia's name.
"Yeah, Hi, sorry to interrupt this girl moment", which earned Brian a slap on the arm from the two, "but, something with catering and I don't know."
"Oh God. I can't believe..." Mia huffed off in a rush, her wedding already going off the rails.
Brian studied Letty for a moment. They had become something akin to siblings in the few months that he had tried to help her infiltrate Braga's ring. He smiled at her with a sad smile thinking of all that he had caused, and the life that she had missed. The life they had all created in her absence.
"Don't look at me like that Chumpy. Now give me a hug because you miss me and let's go get this girl a Corona." Brian complied pulling Letty into a bear hug as they walked back up the beach to find her the much needed drink to quench her parched lips.
"What're you looking for?" Dom's voice reverberated throughout the kitchen.
Letty paused as she rifled through the refrigerator. Dom snorted at the realization.
"Midnight snacks, of course, I don't know how you could eat so much especially this late at night. Did Ole Coyote know that you could eat him out of house and home".
"Some habits don't change." She softly sighed out.
"Yeah." He nudged her out of the way, not daring to look her in the eyes quite yet. He'd spent the better part of the day avoiding her, unable to say all the words that needed to be said.
"How about some leftover rice and beans?"
Her eyes glittered just thinking about Mia's cooking. It had been years since Letty felt fully satisfied with the food around her, nothing compared to even the simplest things that Mia whipped up.
Dom began to busy himself heating up the food as Letty sat on the counter and studied him. Memories of late nights fueling both their thoughts. Hot summers full of laughter and teasing flashed before their eyes. Young love. Heartache. Chaste kisses. Fiery passion. Loss - Memories of a lifetime ago.
Dom sat the bowl next her thigh. It was then he took in her form. Black boy shorts and a loose tank top, she had never looked better. Letty peered down at his inspection, also taking him in. He'd changed too. Still a wall of muscle, but his face was harder as if he smiled less and sneered more. Letty felt guilty thinking she may have been the root of this.
They had spent years apart, making different lives for themselves. And here they found themselves at the wedding of one of the most important people in their lives. But, they were at an impasse.
"She seems lovely, you know." Letty finally broke the silence.
Dom looked at her quizzically still trying to grapple with the years and lifetimes that had passed.
"Elena, that's her name right, she really is lovely."
He let out a heavy sigh. If this had been their younger selves there would have been yelling and most likely breaking of glass. But they had both been defeated over the years.
"Yeah, there was Rio and she was a big help. Then after everything-"
"I know." She simply stated, "I may not have been here, but I kept tabs, we were all family once you know."
"Let's sit at the table." Dom wasn't ready to fight or yell quite yet. He had just gotten Letty back in his life and he didn't know for how long.
Conversation remained light. He filled her in on the heists, baby Luciana, how Vince had passed and how they all ended up here on this island. But, she remained still and silent.
"Now come on, I've just poured my heart out and you're not going to tell me why you pretended to be dead all these years?" He had meant it to come out light and flirty, but he sounded harsh and cold.
"Does it matter, Dom?" She didn't want to talk about the years apart. Not out of a need to hide it from him, but after everything, she had washed her hands clean of the past years. Nothing could be done.
"It should matter."
But Dom nodded in understanding. She would always be this stubborn little Latina. She had made her bed, and he would get nothing out of her.
"You have a little..." and he smiled at the rice that has stuck to her lip," Let me just..."
When he reached over to brush his thumb over her lips, it was like the first time all over again. He cradled her face gingerly as if she were glass or a mirage ready to drift away. Her eyes were wide as he stared down at he mouth. Without a word they move towards each other with practiced ease. It was simple and gentle as their lips met, chaste and virginal.
It was like none of his dreams in which she came back to him, but it was everything he could have asked for.
He moaned softly into her mouth and she was jogged out of the dream.
She roughly pushed him back. Out of breath and felt as if her lips had been burned.
"Dom, I can't, you can't... we, we can't" She stammered, a million emotions playing through her eyes as she ran her hands nervously through her hair.
Dom let out a growl as he ran his hands up and down his face. He stood up from his seat and paced for a moment.
"Why, why not? What's stopping this?" He motioned in between the two of them barely keeping his yell down.
Letty sighed again. Another sign of her aged mind, she was too tired to scream.
"You have Elena, and from everything that everyone has told me, you love her. You left me and I left you. We've been apart for five years, but it feels like hundreds. I can't go back to who I was with you and I don't want you to go back to who you were. We're happy, the way things are."
"Happy, happy? I killed for you, grieved for you, went to hell and back for you. And you think I'm happy with another woman? What do you want me to say Letty? You're right I do love Elena, but I don't know if I'll ever be in love with her as I was with you."
They were both standing now. A face off of old lovers and foes, but she remained silent.
"How could you do that to me, throw away the life we built together by disappearing. When Mia told me that she had known you were alive for years I thought I was going to kill her. All I saw was red, and then you were invited to this wedding. I have a life now with Elena and I didn't plan for you to ever come back. But you're here. And you act like nothing has happened like this was how our lives were meant to be, apart."
His voice came out in ragged breaths, yelling with intent, but he didn't care if he woke the whole house.
It was then he noticed that she was shaking, reeling from every emotion both had locked away for a long time.
"I, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to yell", he reached out for her but she backed away, "I didn't mean to kiss you."
He was lying of course. But he would have done anything to stop the pain the played out on her face.
She finally looked up. Her eyes were glassy with tears she didn't dare spill for a man that she no longer shared a life with.
"I'm sorry." She didn't know what she was apologizing for. Her tears, the kiss, the life she left behind.
"I know."
And this time when they kissed they both knew it was a goodbye.
She turned to leave, but paused as she made her exit.
"We tried didn't we? My God, we tried."
He nodded at her words, hoping she'd run into his arms and take everything back. That the can forget they broke each other hearts too many times to count. But she didn't come running. And neither did he. He looked longingly at her retreating form.
The wedding was beautiful and somehow everyone that had ever been a part of the life of the youngest Toretto was in attendance. Despite early hurdles in the wedding, the ceremony went off without a hitch.
Dinner and dancing had come and gone. Both avoided each other. Dom stayed glued to Elena's hip, for fear that if he was to be away from her he would have jumped into the arms of his former lover.
He took a short respite out in the cool night air holding a ring he didn't know if he could ever use.
"She's a lucky woman."
Dom jumped, seeing Letty as she emerged from the shadows.
"It's a beautiful ring Dom, for a beautiful woman. You should be happy. Happy with what the future holds."
He grunted. Dom could only think that the ring would have looked better on the brilliant Latina's small hands. Hands made for nuts and bolts of an engine.
"I really do hope you have a wonderful life together." Dom detected the mild sorrow in her voice as she gave him her blessing.
She took his hands in her own squeezing them in one final goodbye. It was only then Dom noticed the faint pale line on her ring finger. She had indeed moved on. And though he yearned to know the man that had tried to love, he knew he deserved none of it. He wanted to ask why she wasn't wearing a ring? If she took it off only for his sake. Or if the love between them had died and Dom really did have a second shot. But he said nothing.
"You'll keep in touch won't you?" He asked even though he knew the answer. She wouldn't keep in touch, not with him. It would hurt too much for the both of them. And she was no one's second best. She deserved to be his first and his only. He knows that she wasn't the one that got away, but simply the one.
She nodded and walked out of his life.