The Essence of Time
Letty runs full speed to the chopper that awaits her when her plane lands on the small island in Fiji. Her friend and confidante Michael Rhodes reaches out a hand to her and pulls her aboard the helicopter. The chopper is in the air as soon as she's fully seated.
Michael hands her a file filled with paperwork.
"Your life back."
"I can only hope it's not too little too late."
Michael sighs and looks over at her racked with guilt because of what this mission may have cost her. He was doing everything in his power to make sure this didn't take her everything. It took all his pull have her here right now.
"It's restricted airspace over there. If we fly this thing over there the authorities will shoot us down."
"Damn it Mike. I don't need more obstacles."
"There is a car waiting for you."
Letty looks at her watch nervously. Knowing that the one thing she doesn't have was time. She had to get there before. There was no other option. If she didn't she would lose the hope that had kept her going through it all.
When the bird lands she leaps out before it fully touches down on the ground.
Michael tosses her the keys.
"Good luck! I'll finish everything up and see you soon."
Letty runs over and hops into the waiting car. She starts it and pulls away in a messy cloud of dust and gravel.
She pushes the car well over 100 and still she can feel time being ripped away from her.
"Please don't do this Dom." She willed. "I won't survive this."
Inside the sprawling, white church the walls are bursting with activity. Dresses zipped. Hair pinned. Tuxedos on. Makeup applied. There is a wedding here today. Dominic Toretto and Elena Neves are about to be married.
Mia runs past Dom on her way to take care of some errand that has been left undone.
"Everything okay Mia?" Dom asks nervously.
"Everything is perfect! You and Brian go get into your places. I'll be there with your bride soon."
Dom smiles his half smile and heads to the alter to await Elena. Brian is already standing there.
The friends that have become his family are all seated and waiting for the ceremony to begin. It's a large place, but it is still an intimate gathering. This room is filled with people who truly adore the couple and want only happiness for them.
Dom had envisioned a wedding day many years ago. A different bride in a different place. But that dream had escaped his grasp when his mistakes had forced her to extremes to save what they had together. Never again would he waste time and lose out.
Elena was a blessing that he didn't deserve.
Then she appeared at the back of the church.
Letty raced towards the church. Flying was the word that came to mind. Yet, it still wasn't fast enough.
Finally, she pulls up to the building and jumps out of the car. She leaves it running and the door wide open.
Her footsteps pound the ground as she makes her way up the steps. She runs down the long hallway until she finds the place where everyone is gathering.
Pulling the double doors open and stepping inside her eyes see him directly in front of her. His lips locked on her mouth. Sealing the marriage with a kiss.
The gasp escapes her lips against her will. Mia looks up at the sound. She sees the anguished face of a ghost.
"Letty," she whispers, barely perceiving the vision before her.
Dom's eyes open at the word and begin to search out the cause of Mia's utterance.
What he finds is beyond anything he could imagine and above what he can comprehend.
The murmur of the audience rises as more people become aware of the presence in their midst.
"Letty."
He follows her gaze down to Elena's hand interlaced with his own. He drops it abruptly.
Letty rips her eyes away from him and runs out of the church. Not thinking about anything else he sprints after her. He bursts out of the front door in time to see her peel away.
People begin to pour out of the church and stand on the steps.
"Keys."
Dom turns around to the multitude forming behind him.
"Keys. Someone give me some fucking keys."
Han reaches into his pocket and tosses the keys to his car to Dom. Dom runs and jumps into the vehicle and speeds off in the direction that Letty left.
Everyone turns and sees Elena behind them now.
"Let's all go back in for cake." Brian says ushering everyone in.
Where the hell had she been? Where was she going now? Why wasn't she ten minutes earlier?
Dom speeds along in the direction that Letty fled. She was not getting away from him.
He sees her car up ahead and it looks like she's slowing down. Dom takes the opportunity to overtake her and pull his vehicle across the road blocking her escape.
Letty slams on brakes before smashing into the side of his vehicle. She throws the car in park.
Dom jumps out and sprints to her window. He sees her with her tearstained face and puffy eyes. He yanks the door open and pulls her from inside and into him arms.
He crushes his lips to hers and shoves his tongue into her mouth tasting her. In every vision and dream once their lips touch she always fades away.
Letty pushes him away roughly.
"Dom you're married."
She smears tears across her face though the intent was to wipe them away.
"It's too late for us."
"You're crazy if you think I'd let anything come between us. Including a marriage. I've asked for you everyday for the past three years. Every fucking day. I'll never give you up."
Dom pulls her back to his mouth and kisses her passionately again.
He pulls her by the arm leaving her car in the middle of the unpaved road and gets into his. He drags Letty across his lap and grips her tightly thwarting any possible escape as he maneuvers the car around and heads farther down the road away from where this day began.
"Dom." His name crosses the threshold of her mouth in a sob.
Letty lays her head on his shoulder and quivers at the feel of his skin against her lips.
Tears roll down Letty's face into the collar of Dom's shirt. He rubs his face against her as he struggles to focus on the road and their destination.
Finally, Dom reaches a secluded stretch of road and turns into an unpaved driveway that leads up to a cabin.
Letty shifts in his lap and leans back against the steering wheel when he stops.
"Are you really here right now? I'm not going to wake up from this in my bed alone without you there?"
Letty shakes her head slowly.
Letty traces her fingers over his face.
Dom reaches over the handle of the door and opens it and Letty climbs out. Dom never allows his hand to leave her body as he follows behind her. Fearing that breaking contact might cause her to vanish into thin air.
He tows her to the door of the cabin after retrieving the hidden key from its place under the porch. He locks an arm around her waist and lets them into the darkened house.
"Where are we?"
"Somewhere I do go think." Dom answers, flicking on the lights.
They walk inside and Letty looks around at the rustic décor and thinks it couldn't be less like Dom here. Dom keeps a firm grip on her hand and guides her to the living room, squishing her into a chair beside him.
"Where were you Letty?" Dom's voice is heavy with exhaustion.
She looks down at his hand and thinks of it holding his wife's. It starts to burn her and she flinches at the heat. Dom strokes it with his other hand. Letty lets the action soothe her into finding her voice again.
"I was taken into custody by the Feds. I've been working with them all this time. I put a rush on finishing my work for them when I found out you were getting married. My friend went to bat with his bosses for me. I was still too late."
Letty exhales and tries to rub her face with her hand but Dom holds it tighter and pulls it closer to his body.
"Never!"
"You married her. That just doesn't disappear Dom. You obviously love her." Letty barely speaks the last two words.
Dom picks her up from next him and puts her in his lap.
"Standing at that alter, committing my life to her, didn't give me a slither of the joy that just a glimpse of your face in the back of that church did. I can't go back to being dead now that my lungs are filled with you and my heart is beating for you."
Dom places her hand on his heart and watches as she feels it pound. He pulls Letty into another suffocating kiss. This time finding no reason to stop he doesn't. He doesn't stop kissing her as their breathing becomes labored. He doesn't stop as they tear at each other's clothes. He doesn't stop as she opens herself to him letting him inside.
Neither of them speak a word as their bodies greet and rediscover each other after far too years apart. The only sounds are the moans of their pleasure and the sobs of their former separation.
Finally, when their bodies are pushed beyond their natural limitations and drained of all their remaining stores of energy do they give into exhaustion and rest. On the couch they are a tangle of legs and arms that are so tightly wound they form an inseparable creature with eight limbs.
Both of them have their eyes closed drifting into a peaceful sleep. Dom using his last breath to utter a thought that crosses his mind in his last second of wakefulness.
"I didn't sign the marriage license."
It is Finished
A/N's - I have a couple of fics on my computer that I've written in the past few weeks. All your reviews on 'That's the Way Love Goes' made me want to move forward on posting this. Thanks for the response!
This was inspired by the Adele song Someone Like You. It was bouncing in my mind, dying for escape. STR8BKCHICK helped me get it out and strongly and persistently recommended that I post it for you guys!
It's my first Dotty one shot.