Title: 'The Beginning of the end'
Summary: It was Letty! Letty, who used to follow him around like a hungry puppy. Letty, who used to annoy the crap out of him. Letty, who used to-- ... That's right, Dominic. Used to. Dom/Letty, how they started and how they ended.
Beta: Alycia
Rating: M (just to be sure)
Warnings: Language.
Feedback: Much appreciated.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fast & Furious, nor The Fast and The Furious, nor Dom, nor Letty, nor Vin, nor Michelle. And it sucks.
"Dom."
Why had Vince left him alone with her?
"Dom."
It's only Letty. Only Letty. She's like your sister. Get over it.
"Dom!"
Fuck.
"Dom, you fuckin' deaf?!"
"Sorry, I spaced out." Dom replied eventually, turning to look at her. She was dressed as usual, in her once white top and loose cargos, with the top of her boxers just peeking out above them, her hair tied up into a high ponytail, a few lose strands dangling around her sweaty face.
"You spaced out?!" Letty asked, raising an eyebrow at him "Man, I've been trying to get your attention for a good five minutes."
"Well, what do you want?"
She sent him a weird look and shook her head.
"I need you to help me here. I can't figure out what's wrong with this engine."
Dom closed his eyes briefly, cursing in his mind. He came over to her slowly, still trying to keep as large a distance between them as he could. It was too dangerous for him to get too close to her. If he got too close, he was sure it'd end up with him not keeping his hands to himself and that was what he was trying to avoid so much. Because she was Letty. Letty, not another skank to add to his collection.
After a few seconds she turned her gaze from the engine, back to him and frowned, seeing him standing practically a mile away from her with a dumb look on his face.
"What's your problem?" she spat, throwing her hands up "I smell bad or what?"
"Whatcha mean?" he asked nonchalantly, shrugging and digging his hands into his pockets.
It's just Letty; it's only Letty...
"Since when do you got such good eyes? How am I supposed to show you this shit, while you're so fucking far away?" she asked him, irritated at his behavior. What the hell was wrong with him?
He groaned and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. After another five seconds he slowly made his way to the car that she stood next to.
"Wow, finally! Somebody give the man a fucking prize," she announced sarcastically and he rolled his eyes. She was cute when she was pissed off.
Wait a sec, bro. Since when do you consider Letty to be even cute at all? No, no, wake up. She's your family. She's like your sister. You can't think she's cute.
"Just look at this!" Letty exclaimed, interrupting his thoughts. She moved a little bit closer to him and her arm brushed his as she was looking down at the engine "I think it's seriously screwed."
He felt hot and his stomach sank. Since when did he let her affect him this way? She had no right to do this to him. No woman did. He was supposed to do this to them and not the other way around.
Only... Letty wasn't just another woman...
"No, seriously, it's totaled," she spoke again and bent over the hood. Dom stiffened even more as his eyes roamed over her figure... Her bronze skin on her shoulders was shining from sweat and her tight top was plastered to her back. He just couldn't stop himself from looking her up and down and if it were only up to him, he'd spend hours doing that... But--
"Dom!" Letty snapped him out of his thoughts once again. He flinched slightly and looked up, not realizing she had watched him gape at her backside for quite while before she finally decided to do something about it, "Tell me you weren't doing what I thought you were."
He just kept gazing at her, as if he didn't understand a word she was saying.
"If I ever catch you looking at my ass again, I'll rip your face off." she glared at him with the familiar fire in her dark eyes and he actually blushed. He fucking blushed, "And now that that's settled, will you help me with this engine or not?"
He was staring at her with his eyes widened, as if he'd never seen her before. She furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms over her chest, about ready to explode.
"I have to go." Dom said, turning on his heels and walking away, before she could utter another word.
"You have to go?!" she called after him "Hey! You can't leave me alone here with all this work! I can't handle it on my own!" she continued to yell as he exited the garage "DOMINIC!"
He was already getting into his car, as she ran after him. With one last look at her, he drove off, leaving a cloud of dust and a very pissed off Letty far behind.
He definitely needed to cool off. His blood was boiling with excitement and anger. He was excited about what had happened yet angry with himself for letting it happen at the same time.
Dom quickly texted Vince that he needed to come back to the garage and smirked as he read his reply: 'Your ass sucks, dawg.' He was probably mad at him for ruining his chance to be alone with Mia longer, because that's where he had driven off to. Mia was whining about how she needed some help at the store and Vince volunteered, claiming he preferred sitting on his lazy ass and reading some shitty magazine over working on cars. Of course everybody, even Mia knew it was bullshit. And what about Leon and Jesse? Well, they went to a party the night before and hadn't come back yet.
So that was how Dom had been left alone with Letty. And he couldn't even try to talk Vince out of going with Mia, because then he'd start to look suspicious and absolutely nobody could know about his little crush on little Letty.
Wait. Crush? You've got to be kidding me.
"For God's sake, it's Letty!" Dom yelled, pressing hard onto the brakes making the car stop with a squeak. It was Letty! Letty, who used to follow him around like a hungry puppy. Letty, who used to annoy the crap out of him. Letty, who used to.... That's right, Dominic. Used to.
"Fuck." Dom summed up his thoughts and started the engine again "Lompoc affected your brain." he murmured to himself, not really looking at the road "It really did... Shit, it's just Letty!" he then laughed at his own stupidity. It was just the sorrow after losing his father that possessed him to turn to the only person who could really understand his pain.
Yeah... Keep telling yourself that, Dom.
Flashback
About 2 years ago
Letty was playing video games, when he burst through the door into the living room. His white shirt was covered with fresh blood on the front, his eyes were blood-shot and watery, and his whole was body shaking.
She looked up at him from her spot on the floor and froze, as a look of pure horror appeared on her face.
"Dom," she gasped, picking herself up slowly "Are you ok?"
He didn't answer. She flinched as he ran over to her and pulled her into a hug.
"I did something really, really bad, Let. And I have to go away because of it. You won't see me for a while." he told her and she barely caught what he said, because he had his mouth pressed so hard against her shoulder.
Dom was glad that it was Letty, who happened to be awake then. He couldn't face Mia after what he'd done. And he knew that Vince, Jesse and Leon would want to go with him.
She didn't say anything, just wrapped her little arms around his massive torso, and pulled him closer. He could feel her tears through the thin fabric of his shirt.
"I love you." he confessed and maybe he imagined it, maybe it was just the effect of the state he was in, but right after he whispered those three little words to her, he could swear he heard her whisper right back,
"I love you, too."
He meant it when he said it. He knew he did. He loved her. She was his sister. She was his family.
There was just one thing he couldn't understand. When the fuck did that change? When did Letty stop being his little sister? When did she start to mean something more to him?
The answer was easy - right after he came back from Lompoc.
She was sixteen then and that's when it all started.
And though only few months had passed since he came back, nothing changed about his feelings.
He stopped seeing Letty as a little sister. She wasn't an annoying friend of Mia's anymore. She was just Letty. And that was why he loved her.
God, he loved her?!
Dom was so lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice the big tree looming right in front of him, and by the time he finally did, it was too late. He drove right into it and the hood crashed into pieces, as his body jerked forward and his head hit the wheel.
"Shit!" he yelled and pulled himself back up, pressing his hand to his forehead "God damnit!"
He got out of the car and looked around. He had absolutely no idea where he was. His head felt like it was about to explode and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly because of the pain.
Dom looked at the car and felt even worse. There was nothing he could do to make it work again. At least not here. Not alone.
Letty would help him if she were here...
Ah, shit. There you go, thinking about Letty again. Leticia Ortiz, get out of my head!He cursed himself and rubbed the back of his neck angrily.
But he couldn't stop. She was filling his goddamn mind all the time and although he was trying as best as he could to get rid of her image, he couldn't.
He went for his cell phone only to realize it must have broken or something when he hit the tree.
Beautiful. So what he was going to do now?
And then he saw a car coming up. He walked away from his own car, hoping that whoever it was could see him.
Then it hit him that the car looked pretty familiar. It looked very familiar. Almost like--
"Dom!" Letty yelled, as soon as she jumped out of her car "For God's sake, what the hell have you done with your fucking car?!"
That was another reason why he loved her. All the whores that he used to date would've thrown themselves at him, asking if he was okay, kissing him all over his face and head and shit like that. But not Letty. She wasn't interested in whether or not he was okay. Because obviously as long as he had two legs, two arms, his head and his penis it meant, for her, he was all right. All she cared about was that he had smashed the hood of his car into a tree.
"Something's seriously wrong with you and you're damn lucky I decided to follow your ass here!" she continued, coming over to him "You need therapy, Toretto."
He gaped down at her, as she stopped before him with that familiar frown at her face. He smiled at this. He couldn't help but smile.
"What the fuck are you smiling about?!" she exclaimed, annoyed "Do you have any idea how much this car cost us?!"
He was wondering if she noticed the cut on his forehead...
"Oh, and great!" she added after a while, when he wouldn't reply, "I guess crashing your car into pieces wasn't enough, huh? You actually had to hit your goddamn head too, to make me take you to the hospital and pay some fucking prick for fixing your fat ass!"
And that was the moment when he couldn't hold it back anymore and he burst out laughing. She sized him up and his behavior only seemed to feed the fire in her eyes.
"Oh, you think it's so funny, huh?" she spat "Well, let's see what Mia's gonna say about this. And then I'll be laughing my ass off when she makes you wash dishes and run the store for the next million years!"
"You actually think she can make me do anything?" he mocked. She was really cute when she was pissed off.
"Well, maybe she can't, but I can." Letty told him, apparently trying to challenge him "You can bet your ass I will too, papa."
It was the first time she called him that and hell, he liked it.
"Just for the record, you don't have to pay them at the hospital." Dom remarked, making her roll her eyes in annoyance.
"Do you feel strong enough to walk by yourself?" Letty teased, smirking "Because I ain't gonna carry you."
He just shook his head at her and they both walked away to her car.
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"Sit down."
"What?"
"Sit. Down." Letty repeated, pushing him on the couch. He landed on it with a thud and looked up at her with furrowed eyebrows "What? I need to take a look at your head, it looks pretty bad."
"I thought you didn't care."
"And I thought you could actually drive." she snapped back at him and left the garage, calling over her shoulder, "Don't you dare get up from that couch! You sit on your ass and wait for me!"
She was pissed. Really pissed.
He didn't know why he listened to her, but he did. He waited patiently until she came back with a first aid kit in her hand.
The next thing he knew she was sitting in his lap, looking through things in the kit. He stiffened and his stomach sank even lower. She didn't seem to be embarrassed at all. Like it was normal. Like she sat in his lap every day.
"It's gonna hurt a little," Letty warned him, as she soaked a piece of gauze with some kind of transparent liquid and pressed it to the cut on his head, which was beginning to bruise. He hissed in pain and she smirked.
"What are you smiling about?" he questioned her, grimacing a little.
"You're a big baby, Dommy," she announced, keeping the gauze pressed to his head. He hated it when anyone called him 'Dommy'. So how weird was it that when Letty called him that, he didn't mind? He actually liked it.
His breathing hitched a little, as she continued with her torturing. Not that she knew that having her sitting in his lap like that was torture for him. But it was.
"You gonna tell me?" she asked after a short while, breaking the silence. He swallowed hard and glanced up at her.
"Tell you what?"
"Why you're acting this way?" Letty questioned him and he noticed she wasn't mad anymore. She actually looked a little worried. And he loved it.
He remembered the last time she was worried about him. And that was exactly when big, bad Dominic Toretto fell in love with little Leticia Ortiz.
Flashback
Few months ago
He opened the door of his old bedroom and smelled eggs. It was probably Mia, making breakfast in the kitchen.
He had come back home from Lompoc yesterday evening and was welcomed by his family. By Mia, Vince, Jesse and Leon. And Letty. It was so great to be with them again, but at the same time he felt uncomfortable and awkward around them. And he also felt guilty as hell for missing so much in their lives.
Dom made his way to the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks, as he realized that the person in the kitchen wasn't Mia.
She had her back turned to him and he couldn't help but look her up and down, admiring her curves that formed while he was gone. She was all grown up now. She wasn't the kid he remembered anymore.
Letty ran a hand through her hair and turned around, jumping a little at his presence. He quickly glanced up and smiled at her uncertainly.
"Good morning," she greeted him softly. She seemed almost nervous, somehow.
"G'morning." Dom replied and took a place by the table.
"I'm making breakfast, d'you want some?" Let offered and he nodded with a thankful smile. It felt so great to be home again.
She sent him yet another smile, before turning her back to him again.
"How'd you sleep?" she asked him suddenly, continuing to prepare the eggs.
"Never better." he drawled in response and she smirked, knowing very well he couldn't see it.
"After sleeping on those hard bunk-beds for the past two years, your own bed that you used to hate so much must have been like paradise, huh?" she said sarcastically, glancing at him over her shoulder. He watched her for a few moments before slowly breaking into a huge grin. But he didn't reply. Letty shook her head with a smile and got back to making breakfast for them.
"I'm sorry," Dom said suddenly, making her stop what she was busy doing to turn around and face him.
"You've got nothing to be sorry about, Dominic." she announced seriously, using his full name to prove her point. "Nobody here blames you for what you did."
They stared at each other long and hard, not daring to blink.
"It was hard without you at first," Letty confessed, not dropping her gaze "But as you can see, we handled it. We kept our balance... for us," she took two plates with sandwiches and eggs from the counter and looked at him "and for you." she added and came over to him "We're so damn glad to have you back, Dom."
He gazed up at her and smiled, not really knowing what to say. She just smiled back and put one plate down on the table in front of him.
"Now eat," Letty said, smirking "And don't think about it anymore, ok?"
He let out a heavy breath and nodded eventually.
"Aight."
"Enjoy your breakfast." she whispered and then bent down to kiss the top of his head, sending shivers down his spine. He smiled up at her again and she exited the kitchen, leaving him alone.
And that was all it took. Just one little innocent kiss made him fall in love with Letty. He just didn't realize it at first...
"Dom?"
He shook his head to get rid of his memories and glanced up.
"Let me guess, you spaced out again?" Letty teased him, placing her hand on his head just next to the spot where she had the gauze pressed against his cut. His hands shook a little at her touch and he clenched them hard and gritted his teeth. Why the hell did he let her make him feel like this? This was against his rules! Just one look from her and he was a putty in her hands.
She probably didn't notice how she was affecting him, but he was afraid she would feel it soon anyway...
The whole situation seemed ridiculous to him. Letty used to be so shy around him and he knew what the reason behind her shyness was. He knew she liked him since the very beginning, but he didn't give a damn, he was too busy trying to get into as many girls' pants as he could. And even if he actually liked her back, she was still way too young for him.
But now, as he gazed up into her eyes, he didn't see the same little kid. And it scared him. If it were up to him, he wouldn't feel that way. She deserved better. She wasn't just another ho he would easily have in his bed by the end of the same day.
"Ok, I guess you're not much of a talker today, so I'll leave you be," she brought him back to reality, packing everything back into the kit and tossing the gauze she had used to clean his head towards the trash. "But I'm always here for you if you need to talk, you know that, right?"
Dom looked deep into her eyes and nodded. Her eyes were another thing that drew him to her. She had the kind of eyes that could look right through him, right through the whole mass of bullshit and actually find something good. He fell in love with those eyes.
"Good," she smiled and leaned in closer to kiss him on the cheek, as if it was normal... as if she had done it many times before.
He felt a lick of fire in the pit of his stomach and something took him over.
Before he could stop himself and before she managed to pull back fully, he had his hand on the back of her neck and in a matter of a few seconds, his lips were on hers, kissing them with a passion, that Dom himself didn't even know he had. It surprised him that she didn't push him away, but it shocked him, that she actually started to kiss him back.
"You told me to come back for this?"
Dom and Letty pulled apart quickly and she jumped up off of his lap as if it burnt her. They both stared at a smirking Vince with widened eyes.
"It took me long enough to get here, so have I at least walked in on almost the second round?" he continued to tease, crossing his muscled arms over his chest.
"Fuck you," Dom gasped, slowly getting up "We were just--"
"Exploring," Vince finished for him with a smart-ass look on his face "'Bout damn time, dawg."
Dom glanced over at Letty, who seemed to be a little smaller than usual under the burning stare both men were giving her. By the time Vince turned his gaze back to his best friend, he spotted the cut and big bruise on his head.
"Wow... Let, I knew you were rough, but I didn't know you were that rough."
"Shut your trap, Vince." Letty snapped, only making him grin wider.
"Get your stinky ass out of here!" Dom growled, rubbing the back of his head in frustration. Vince held up his hands in mock surrender.
"I wouldn't stay here even if you told me to." he laughed and then turned around and left the garage. After five seconds, they heard his car drive off.
There was an uncomfortable silence that lasted for several minutes while Letty stared at Dom and he gazed at the floor.
"I'm sorry." he spoke eventually and she narrowed her eyes at him with a weird expression on her face.
"What?"
"I wasn't thinking, Letty. That shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry." he mumbled, feeling her burning glare on him. "Someday you'll find a perfect guy, who won't be a player and will actually respect you and love you the way you deserve."
Letty didn't know what she should slap him for first. Though it was quite a shock to hear Dominic Toretto admit to being a player.
"I don't need that kind of guy," she said, making him look up "I don't want a perfect man. I don't want my life to be a fairytale. What I want is standing right here in front of me. And I'm gonna have it." she announced certainly, coming closer to him.
"Let, I," he began, shocked with her attitude "I will hurt you. I know I will."
"So? Then I'll just kick your ass for it." she said seriously.
"Look, you're young, smart and beautiful. You can have any and every guy you like--" he tried again, but she wasn't having any of it.
"But I want you." Letty insisted stubbornly and for a second he had a funny image of her stomping her foot like a five year old, demanding to get what she wanted. "I want you and nothing is going to change that."
"I can't give you what you want."
"Yes, you can!" she spat angrily "In fact, you already did! You are what I want. Nothing more, nothing less."
"You know how I treat women," he murmured, ashamed. It was right then, that he finally understood how much it must have hurt Letty to see him with all those girls. It all came to him so suddenly.
"I'm not just another woman, Dom." She told him bitterly and he smiled a little.
"That you're not." he confirmed and turned to walk away, but was stopped by the firm grip of her hand, taking his.
"You can't go kiss somebody and then act as if nothing happened, Dom." she barked, as her glare hardened even more "You can play with every single girl you meet, but you ain't gonna play with me."
"I'm not playing with you," he objected "I just don't want to screw up your life."
"My life's already screwed up."
"In that case I don't wanna screw it up even more."
"Why are you doing this to me?" Letty asked and he was horrified to see tears slowly welling up in her beautiful, dark eyes. His gaze softened, as he slowly approached her. She didn't pull back and didn't react. A single tear escaped her eye and rolled down her smooth cheek. Dom rose one of his big hands and wiped it away ever so gently.
"Because I love you."
And he walked away. He walked away only to realize he couldn't control his feelings. He was back by her side faster than he expected. He had walked out of the garage, knowing very well it was for the best, but he hadn't even managed to blink and he was back inside, kissing her again, as if it was supposed to save his life. It was their beginning. The beginning of the end...
And now that he was watching her sleep in the middle of the night, he knew their end was close.
He couldn't risk her life again. She'd almost died during their last heist. He couldn't let that happen again. The cops were getting closer and closer and he knew it was just a matter of time before they got to them. He needed to leave.
Dominic got up and took his backpack in his hand, not taking his eyes off of his still sleeping Letty. She'd never looked more beautiful. She really showed that 20% of an angel she had in herself when she was asleep.
He wondered what she was dreaming about. She looked so peaceful, as if nothing could wake her.
It broke his heart when he thought about her waking up the next morning without him there. But he hoped she would understand.
It was the second time that he'd tried to protect her, but this time... he wasn't going to come back.
With one last look full of pain and sorrow, Dom turned and left the room, trying to remember every single detail about her. Trying to remember the smell of her hair, the taste of her kiss and the fire in her eyes.
This was it. This was the end of them. But he knew he was doing the right thing. It was for the best.
The beginning is the end. Everything ended before it even started. There were so many things he didn't get to tell her, so many things he didn't do. They spent so many wasted hours arguing. He wasted so many days making her feel bad because of the whores that were always around him. He understood just how much he loved her, when he had to leave.
He knew he would probably never see her again, never touch her again, never hold her again.
It was the end. The end of his life, their relationship, everything...
But it was for the best, wasn't it?
A/N: Basically my first Dotty fanfic ever, so really hope you enjoyed. :)