Forgotten Past
Summary: MAJOR SPOILERS for Fast 6 – The brief aftermath of Dom's first encounter with Letty, and how she might get her memory back. One-shot.
Rating: T for a bit of language
Disclaimer: Yeah, I own nothing.
Dominic drove back the way he had come from, shoulder burning, confused as hell, and more than a little pissed off if he admitted it. Not that anything really went the way he expected them to – ever.
Half an hour later, he pulled into the abandoned warehouse they had taken over as a base. All eyes were on him when he got out of the car.
"What happened?" Brian asked finally, concern mixed with exasperation, because hell if this didn't feel like déjà vu.
Dom allowed a scowl to cross his face. "She shot me", he said flatly.
Brian stared. "Letty? Letty shot you", he repeated shaking his head in disbelief.
"She looked at me like she had no idea who the hell I was, and didn't give a shit. Now I need someone to dig a bullet out of my shoulder."
"Mia's asleep. I'll go get the med kit", he sighed.
"If we're already pulling bullets out of people, I can't see this gettin' better any time soon", Rome muttered under his breath.
00
She felt her gravity shift under her feet and suddenly she was flying into the air. Letty heard her name being screamed, in a way that was all too familiar.
Dom.
He was wrapped up in nearly every memory of her life that she hadn't been able to access. And this sudden rush of adrenaline from what might actually kill her this time, had brought all of it back.
Letty remembered being fifteen and jealous that he was flirting with some girl out in front of the garage that he was probably screwing. She had known she was way too young for him – he was nineteen. But she knew she liked having his attention. She had run up behind him and jumped on his back, saying that if he was done admiring his life-size Barbie, they actually had work to get done.
A brief flash of being seventeen and Dom was teaching to her race.
Being eighteen and mourning the death of a father-figure… and the loss of the boy who she had grown up with.
He was the man who had told her once, 'if you put enough faith in me to jump, I always be there to catch you'.
She saw a younger version of herself doing impossible feats, completely comfortable in the knowledge that he had her back.
The loss of their friends…
Making love in his car…
Letty saw a more recent version of herself jumping off a trunk and onto his car. He had caught her then.
The two of them walking hand in hand down some unnamed stretch of beach…
Lazy nights in bed talking about a future…
And the furious anger that she hadn't been able to control the morning she had woken up alone in the Dominican Republic to find that he had actually left.
Her entire life ripped through her mind in those few maddening seconds.
It seemed impossible this time around, but somehow, she knew. He would catch her.
Talk about a trust fall.
She didn't want to die like this.
He needed to know that she remembered.
0
They were lying in bed the night before they were all supposed to get on a government issued plane with free passes to start their lives over.
"Shit, Letty, I don't want to do this ever again", Dom said seriously. He was lying on his side, hand tracing patterns on her stomach under the sheet.
"What's that?"
"Be apart", he answered.
"If I have any say, that won't happen", Letty shook her head.
"All this could have gone differently if I hadn't left you that night."
"I'm not disagreeing, but we don't know what might have happened. We could be together and safe with a few kids running around, or one or both of us might be dead or in prison. There's no use beating yourself up over it. Just move on. And know that if you ever walk out on me again, I'll shoot you in the foot", she smirked.
"You fuckin' forgot me, lady", he stared at her incredulously. "I still don't know how to take that. I'm astonished that it was even possible."
"I had amnesia. You can't actually be angry with me because I got my head smacked so hard my entire life fell out."
He shook his head, deflating. "I'm not. Let, when I found off you were alive, I felt like I had just woken up to find that my arm had gotten chopped off, and I had no idea where it was. You've been part of me for so long… I felt like the biggest bastard for not knowing you were alive and not having any idea where you were."
"You came and found me though", Letty said quietly. Her eyes drifted to the still healing bullet wound on his shoulder, and she thumbed the edge of it carefully. How could she have done that? "I'm sorry."
He took her hand, kissing her palm. "What were thinking before you pulled that trigger?"
She let out a slow semblance of a laugh, and shook her head. "I was pissed! You wouldn't stop following me. And I knew I couldn't have you chasing me back… to Owen. Not that I knew about the games he was playing with you then- I thought you looked like a man on a mission. It was a little intimidating because it seemed completely directed at me, and I didn't get it. All the questions I'd been trying to avoid just started bombarding me. I didn't know why, but I didn't want to kill you."
"Thanks for that, by the way", Dom said wryly, making her grin. "What did the doctors tell you?" he asked after a minute, "About your memory coming back?"
Letty bit her lip. "They said it should kick in eventually, but there was no saying when. They said I might only get bits and pieces, or it might all come back. No one was sure."
The idea of her being completely lost in the world by herself – with that psychopath – made him sick. "Let-"
The look she gave him, made him shut up. "I tried… the first few months. They tell you not to try and force your memory to work. But fuck that shit, I wanted my life back. The more time passed- I got so frustrated I finally gave up. A few months after that, I started getting hazy flashes that felt like dreams. Nothing that made sense or helped me out. I didn't want to remember. I felt like I had this whole other life that I would never be able to get back, and it hurt. Then in Berlin… you kept showing up. And you kicked my ass in that race, and it felt so familiar. When you handed me that picture", she paused briefly, trying to control the emotions that were still liquid just beneath the surface. "I felt like I should know that you loved me… but I didn't get it."
"You without your memory… it was like you at sixteen all over again. Sarcastic and belligerent, and an attitude miles wide", he raised an eyebrow. "It reminded me of those times when you were only soft for me."
She snorted. "Yeah, I don't know why anyone thought you needed to step out for some excitement. How many versions of Letty have you had over the years?"
"I wasn't counting, just enjoying the ride", he smirked, rolling on top of her again. "Being with you is the best adventure I've ever had."
"That's so cheesy I'm embarrassed for you", she grinned.
His mouth covered hers, lips and tongues meeting as they seemingly tried to absorb each other after such a long absence. Finally, Dom pulled back, hands in her hair holding her gently in place as he stared down at her curiously.
"What's wrong?"
"What happened with Owen?" he asked finally.
She blinked, and then stared at him in shock. "What the hell kind of question is that?" Letty demanded angrily. "I can't believe you think I would have gotten in bed with that lunatic!"
He held a hand up in a placating gesture. "Let, you didn't know who I was. You lost your whole life. I just have to ask, because I think you've spent this last year and a half not knowing who you were either. Besides that, I saw the way he looked at you. I wanted to rip his fucking eyes out."
She rubbed her forehead in annoyance. "I didn't let him touch me", she said flatly. "I may have lost my memory, but I did have more than two brain cells to rub together. Give me some credit, Dominic."
"I'm sorry. I had to ask, or it was going to drive me crazy."
"Yeah, well next time think before you ask me something that stupid", she grumbled.
"I'll work on that", he said dryly.
"Dom… you saved my life", Letty murmured quietly.
"I'm still shocked as hell that shit worked", he admitted.
"Thank you, for everything."
"Letty, you've been saving my life since we met. I just never realized it until it was almost too late."
"I love you more than anything."
"Trust me when I say that goes both ways."
She chuckled. "You know, most people in love just get married."
"You ready to go home tomorrow?" Dom asked finally.
"I hope so."
00
Two days after they got back to L.A.:
"Can I come out?"
Letty looked over her shoulder and found Dom standing on the other side of the screen door. She shrugged and turned back to look out at the street. "It's your porch."
"I'm pretty sure what's yours is mine at this point, Letty. Don't say stupid shit like that." He lowered himself onto the landing and stretched his legs down the cement steps. "How you doin'?"
"It's… surreal, being back here", she murmured. "It looks the same… but everything feels different."
"Yeah", he nodded, "For me too."
She shifted slightly, wrapping an arm around his leg. "You never told me what happened to the Charger", she said finally.
"Hobbs", he said after a minute.
"Bastard", she hissed darkly.
Dom let his fingers play through her hair. "It's okay", he said finally. "It was time to put some ghosts to rest. I'm really glad you weren't one of them."
"Dominic-"
"I've been using that car to hold onto my father's memory for too long, and I think you know that. It was time to let it go."
"What now?" she asked quietly.
He shrugged. "I find a way to lead this family in a way that honor's his memory… without acting like an overbearing asshole." Dom raised an eyebrow at her.
She poked his side playfully. Their blowup this morning had been epic, and so loud that Brian and Mia had taken the baby out for the day. "I'm sorry", she laughed. Then she sobered and shook her head. "You've been hovering since we got back", she murmured. "It's making me a little nuts."
He sighed. "I know. I just don't know how to help you right now, Let."
Letty shook her head. "I have to deal with what happened. The person I was… looking back, that person scares me. That I turned into that- I think I was frozen. I think maybe you have to deal with it too. You're here, Dom. It helps."
"I almost lost you – more than once. Take your time. We've got a chance to have the lives we were supposed to have. We'll do this the right way this time around."
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Is this one of those baby talks again?"
"Busted", he murmured teasingly.
"Go play with your nephew", she said dryly.
"I like that my sister has a baby, and is starting a family, and I love that kid. But I want a baby with you. I want our family. You know this isn't coming out of left field for us. We've talked about it before." He smirked and nudged her. "Or did you forget?"
Her jaw dropped in surprise that he was teasing her. She swatted him roughly. "Ass!" she scolded. "You don't make fun of the person who had amnesia!"
He grinned and pulled her back against him, kissing the top of her head. "You didn't answer my question."
"I remember", she answered finally, watching as he took her hand in one of his, twining their fingers together. "I don't know if I thought about it seriously. We were living our lives so fast… It was more of a 'never gonna happen in a million years, but it's a nice idea' kind of thing. I don't know how to be a mom."
"I don't think anyone has the parenting thing figured out before it happens, Letty. And we deserve to have it if we want to. But this is up to you right now, okay? You know where I stand. I'm just saying that the future is barreling down our asses, and we've wasted a lot of time."
"Tell me you're not trying to convince me we should have kids by telling me that my biological clock is ticking?" she raised an eyebrow.
"I said that?"
"Kind of", Letty chuckled. "Ride or die, Dom?" she asked softly.
He nodded. "Ride or die."
She looked up at him wryly. "Maybe we should stay away from that last one for a while though. I'm kind of tired of it."
He laughed. "Good point."
Her mouth met his eagerly; her fists clung to his shirt, his hands on her face and in her hair. A car whizzed by a minute later, horn beeping obnoxiously, and they broke apart laughing.
"We should probably go inside", Letty mused. "Giving the neighbors a peepshow is probably a bad idea at this point."
"Bedroom?" he suggested roughly.
"Oh, yeah", she purred, standing up, gesturing him to follow.
He scooped her up in his arms and she laughed in surprise. When they crashed onto their bed a few minutes later, he paused before taking her shirt off. "You're my life. I need you to know that", he said seriously.
Her hand found the side of his face and she leaned up to kiss him gently. "I know. I promise. I'm not going anywhere, Dom. It's always been you and me."
Fin
00
A/N: Okay, well, this ended sappily. Shocker! Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think. Fast and Furious 6 is going to be in theaters on May 24th in the U.S. One week, two day countdown starting today!