Come Hell or High Water
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: A FatF FBI case file AU where our guys are the good guys. Drama/Romance ~Eventual Dom/Letty & Brian/Mia~
Rating: M
Chapter 1
Mia Toretto was at the courthouse downtown filing paperwork for a mediation when her cell phone received a text message, but it would be several hours before she could answer it.
A message that would sit idly in her phone, with no regard for how it could change lives.
'Your brother is on a plane. He's coming back to L.A. Permanently.'
In the meantime, Mia had to go back to the law firm she was working at and sit in a meeting about a new murder trial they were actually taking to court. She might take time to freak out later about her brother moving back from Washington D. C. where he'd been working for the last three years, but right now her mind was elsewhere only trailing from work to ponder if she'd have enough time to schedule a manicure this week.
It was four hours later, nearing seven-thirty when Mia finally got in her red Mazda CX-5, her day finally over, and checked her messages. The one from Letty took precedence over the voicemail from Planet Fitness about her gym membership renewal.
"Call Letty", Mia said to her bluetooth.
The phone rang through her car speakers.
"Hey, Mia", Letty answered after the second ring.
"What the hell do you mean my brother is moving back to Los Angeles?" Mia exploded, forgoing a greeting. "What the hell kind of bomb is that to leave is my voicemail!"
"Love you too, Mia", Letty said dryly.
"He called and told you?" Mia asked, lowering her voice.
Letty snorted. "Yeah, this morning. Right before he got on his plane. He's having the rest of his stuff shipped here. He's been planning this for a month apparently."
"Wow, I know my brother doesn't always think things through, but this is stupid, even for him. Umm, where exactly does he think he's living?"
"Oh, don't worry. He's got an apartment ready for him." Letty's laugh was bitter. "It's been three years… he's not moving in with me and he knows it. I can't, Mia. Not after everything-"
"I love you, Letty. No matter what happens. Now, order us a pizza and get out the vodka. We're going to need it."
"Mia, you don't have to-"
"Shut up. I'm crashing at your place tonight. I'll see you in twenty."
"Love you."
"Same."
0
Mia drove straight to Letty's apartment complex that was only ten minutes from her own. (It was a good thing it wasn't a longer drive. Her mind was reeling with this new information.) She had clothes there if she didn't feel like going home to change in the morning. Mia took her black leather work purse that was big enough to hold her files with her when she got out of the car, and she took the stairs to the third floor and used her copy of the key to let herself into Letty's apartment.
"Letty?" she called. Apollo, Letty's white German shepherd greeted her at the front door, and she paused to scratch his jaw before kicking her shoes off. "Hi, buddy. Where's your mama, huh?" she murmured.
"On the balcony", Letty's reply came filtered through the opened double doors where Letty had a small office set up.
Mia heard a knock on the front door. "Pizza?" she questioned as she went to answer it.
"Yeah. I paid over the phone. Just give him a tip, will you?"
Mia had long given up on fighting with Letty which one of them would pay for dinner when. "Did you remember the garlic knots?" she asked teasingly.
"From Romero's? Of course. What kind of heathen do you think I am?"
Mia pulled her wallet out as she opened the door, trading a stack of boxes for cash. "Hey, Tim. Thanks."
"No problem, Mia."
Mia relocked the deadbolt and walked through the back of the house, Apollo following her, tail wagging lazily. "Two pizzas and we're doubling down on the garlic knots?" she questioned skeptically, setting the boxes on the small table in between the patio chairs. "I don't need my own box."
"Sad girls need carbs", Letty said, raising a challenging eyebrow.
"Okay, that worked with various foods when we were in high school. But this girl needs to fit into her work pants tomorrow", Mia said seriously.
"Don't worry. I'll help you get your pants zipped in the morning." Letty smirked. "I've done it before."
"Am I doing all the work while you sit here and mope?" Mia sighed.
"What work? We don't need plates. Go change out of your snooty work clothes, and grab the vodka from the freezer on the way back."
"I'm going to bring you back a tissue box because if you cry in my food I'll have to murder you", Mia growled. "Then I'll have to be my own damn lawyer and try to explain to a judge why it was a completely justified homicide."
"You've got your own pizza and your own damn garlic knots. I can cry in my food if I want. Now go take out your bun, and remove that stick in your ass while your at it", Letty muttered snippily.
Mia smiled wryly and crouched down next to her sister-in-law of six years and best friend for over fifteen, winding her arm under Letty's on the chair's armrest. She got a quick lick on her cheek for her trouble, and she batted Apollo away gently, burying a laugh. "Letty… you are my very best friend. Even when you were ten and told me that Barbies sucked, you still couldn't get rid of me, could you?" she let out a watery laugh.
Letty groaned. "Everything was so pink."
Mia grinned and pressed her forehead against Letty's shoulder. "Your hatred of pink is still well-documented", she promised, before sobering. "I love my older brother, Letty. Dom helped Dad take care of me when Mom died. Eventually… he went a little wild. I know Dad thought it was just a phase until he ended up getting picked up with Tran. You probably know how it happened better than I do."
"I remember. Your dad left him there for three days. When he found out what they were doing, he was so angry. I've never seen Tony so mad."
"Yeah. I never thought that after Dad told him he needed to get his act together that he would really be as focused on work as he ended up being..."
"Tony being that disappointed in Dom… it hurt him, Mia. He didn't want anyone to know that back then", Letty said quietly.
"So he ran away for a year and a half?"
"He didn't run away, Mia. You know that." Letty sighed. "The army saved his life. He's taken every opportunity given to him since then. I do understand why he took the job in D.C. I really do. It doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell that he chose to leave the life we had."
"I never thought my brother would be a career driven maniac", Mia snorted. "I still remember Vince yelling at him to get his face out of your cleavage during movie nights."
"Yeah, your dad loved hearing that", Letty laughed. "You hear from V lately?" she asked quietly.
"He's doing okay. He still likes Philly."
"Likes all the sandwiches", Letty joked mildly. Among other things...
Mia nodded. "Pretty much. Letty, we made it through the last three years. I promise we'll make through whatever happens next. We'll be okay."
"You gonna kick Dom's ass for me, chica?"
"Yeah, I can take him." Mia flexed her left bicep playfully. "Or at least I can probably ask someone to dig up some old parking tickets", she kidded before sighing. "He left me too, Letty."
"I know, Mia", she said softly. "But I'm his wife."
Mia sat there in a few minutes in silence. "I promise to giggle if you kick him in the crotch this time… instead of asking if he needs an ambulance", she promised before standing up.
"To be fair… he was making that dying cat noise", Letty snorted, hands running through the thick scruff on Apollo's neck as he rested his head in her lap.
"I'm going to change, and then we're going to eat and drink until we both regret it in the morning."
00
The next morning was grey with foreboding thunder approaching from off the coast. Letty and Mia were both up early, the news running in the background on the television like usual. Letty took Apollo for a three-mile run, and Mia showered before starting their breakfast and inhaling her first cup of coffee. Letty came back from her run, made sure the dog's food and water bowls were full before she got her own coffee, taking it into the bathroom with her to shower quickly. She and Mia sat at the breakfast bar and ate their eggs, toast, and small dishes of fruit mostly staying quiet while eating before continuing to get ready for work, both of them fighting good-naturedly over the mirror in Letty's master bathroom even though Mia could have used the guest bathroom to get ready. They'd spent spent their teen years getting ready side by side in the Toretto bathroom – which was much smaller – and it was still as easy as breathing. Mia took a quick call from her father while curling the ends or her hair. He was inviting her to family dinner which had Letty making throat-slicing hand motions to keep herself out of. Mia smirked and shook her head at her friend's lack of subtlety, but made an excuse for her anyway.
"No, Dad, Letty said her crotch-kicking days were over. I almost believe her", Mia finally said with a bit of amusement. "She loves you too. I'll see you at six-thirty."
Letty sighed and went to find a pair of shoes from her bedroom closet. Sue her if she didn't want to play nice with Dominic at family dinner when she still kind of wanted to wrap her hands around his neck. Work would be another beast entirely, but if they were going to eventually figure out where they stood on a personal level, they needed to do so without an audience – well-meaning or not.
"Mia, have you seen my black raincoat?" she yelled as she zipped her black ankle boots.
"Check the front closet", Mia called back. "Almost ready?"
"Just finding a jacket that won't smell like wet dog when I get rained on", Letty muttered, passing her to dig in the small front closet by the door with a quick glance to Apollo who had left the end of her bed and was stretched out on the couch with his bone and his stuffed monkey to keep him company for the day. Letty hummed a happy noise of success as she finally found her elusive black raincoat that had red plaid lining and slid her arms into the sleeves. "Now I'm ready- Mia, what?" she demanded, turning to find herself being stared at quite oddly.
"Look at you, dressed all professional… brings tears to my eyes", Mia used a thumb to swipe at imaginary wetness.
Letty cocked an eyebrow. "That's getting really old, Toretto. I've been successfully dressing myself for years."
Mia grinned, giving her friend an obvious once over, taking in the dark washed skinny jeans and plain black long sleeve shirt under her grey buckled cardigan. "Lookin' good, Let."
"Shaddup. Now you sound like Dom. Jesus." Letty shook her head, but she was grinning. "Let's go before you cry all over your silk blouse and you have to borrow one of mine, you dork."
"Come on. We have to go be grownups again."
"And we kick ass doing it", Letty said with a nod as she grabbed her purse and briefcase from the barstool.
"As your lawyer, I have to advise you against physical contact", Mia said drolly.
"That's the fun part", Letty waggled her eyebrows.
"You can lecture me about 'fun physical contact' when you're not the one who's been celibate for an extended amount of time", Mia's eyes rolled as the walked out the door, her purse dangling from her arm, as Letty locked the deadbolt with her key. "And no, your vibrator doesn't count." There was a tsking noise from up the landing and Mia winced. "Sorry, Mrs. Harrison."
Letty buried a grin. "That woman may be nearing eighty, but she's just jealous."
Mia elbowed her hard. "Hush. She has ears like a bat."
Letty's laughter escaped as she pushed Mia toward the stairs. "C'mon, we're gonna be late."
00
It was such a long day for Mia, she almost forgot that her evening was going to likely cause an emotional breakdown in one way or another. Almost.
Letty did not have that luxury.
Deputy Director Hobbs called her into his office within her first hour of work – blessedly interrupting her mind-numbing rewriting of a case file that had been corrupted in the system – and asked her if she was aware Dom was coming back to work in their building. When Letty said 'yes', he asked if there was going to be problems at work.
Letty shrugged. "Dom and I are essentially separated... But we've always been professional at work. I don't see that changing."
Hobbs sighed wearily and rubbed his forehead. "I don't do this PR sharing and caring bullshit for a reason", he grumbled. "Why did I take this job?"
Letty smirked and leaned back in her chair a bit lazily. "I'll get you some Pamprin."
"Skip the lady drugs and make it a bottle of scotch. I'm elbow-deep in paperwork and it's half your fault."
She snorted. "Bitch, bitch."
"Were you keeping tabs on him in D.C.?" Hobbs asked seriously.
Letty took a deep breath and sighed. "I heard enough." He'd done a lot of good, but he'd become known for his recklessness.
"I can't let him fly loose out here, Letty. You know that I appreciate a take-no-prisoners attitude, but there's throwing out the rulebook in the field, and then there's setting it on fire."
"You can't put him behind a desk, Luke. He'll lose it", she said.
"I wasn't planning on it. He needs a partner."
"Who the hell- oh, shit." Her eyes were wide in shock.
Hobbs arched an eyebrow. "Now who needs Pamprin?"
Letty folded her arms across her chest and shook her head. "This is going to blow up right in your face. When's he coming in?"
"Early Monday to sign the transfer papers."
She nodded. "Okay. I'll get out of your… office", her mouth twitched.
Hobbs ignored her. "Let me know if you need anything, alright?"
Letty grinned. "Dangerous offer, Luke. Isn't that how you ended up in this office?"
"Regretting it already", he muttered. "Get out of here", he muttered. "I have paperwork to do."
00
Mia luckily got to leave work on time. The last thing she needed was another lecture from her father on how she was being over-worked like a hamster running in it's wheel on top of her already growing anxiety about her brother's return. She loved Dom. He'd been a large focal point of her world when they'd grown up with a widowed father, and she'd idolized him… but he'd caused some damage when he'd left.
Both times.
God, she'd missed him.
Mia drove the forty minutes from her law firm in the city downtown to the home where she'd grown up in Echo Park. She let the drive and the music relax her. She pulled the pins out of her hair at a stop light and rolled her front windows down. Mia pushed her black cat-framed sunglasses up and thought back to the days when she and Dom used to play gin to figure out who had to do which free chores their father had listed for the week. The free chores were the ones that they were allowed to fight amongst themselves to decide each week. When Letty was included it got more complicated than just a game of gin. Usually it involved scratches and bloodshed.
She pulled her SUV into her father's driveway before she could get too emotional reminiscing about the past. Mia did a quick check in the mirror to get rid of any smeared makeup under her eyes before grabbing her small bag that had a change of clothes and her purse as she climbed out of the car, setting the alarm and dropping her keys into her bag as she walked purposefully up the driveway. There was a black Charger in the driveway that Mia assumed was Dom's new car. It still boggled her mind that her brother had spent the majority of his time in D.C. not driving.
Her brother. Not driving.
She was still waiting on an explanation for that, or anything that gave her a clue about what her brother was thinking when he'd left Letty and gone to D.C., but it wouldn't be forthcoming, and she knew it. She also knew it wasn't very practical for him to keep a car in the city, it just made her brain short out a bit thinking about Dom without a car.
The front door opened and Dominic stepped onto the front porch as her foot hit the bottom step. Mia had been awake since before five, and the power of her four coffees was running low after spending all day on her feet, but the sight of her brother after so long made her mouth stretch into a wide smile.
"Mia, look at you." He grinned at her.
She bit her tongue hard against the chatter that wanted to tumble from her lips, and jogged up the steps to find herself wrapped in a tight hug. "I missed you", she managed to get out, muffled against his shoulder.
00
A/N: Well, this was chapter one guys! Let me know what you think! I'm excited for this!