Title: Semper Fidelis
Author: Desi
Rating: T
Summary: The one with the lost memories. AU military drabble.
It rarely rained in Southern California, but it poured the day they buried her. A twenty-one gun salute followed the procession of her family and friends as her beautiful mahogany casket was lowered. Dominic tossed in a hibiscus flower, native to Puerto Rico, and a yellow walking iris, indigenous to the Dominican Republic. Two beautiful flora that represented both parts of Master Gunnery Sergeant Leticia Ortiz. He didn't cry.
At least, he didn't cry until he was home alone, locked in his room where her scent and memories washed over him just as the rain had. He could think of nothing but her big smile, powerful laugher and contagious aura. There was nothing about his wife that he didn't love.
But now, she was gone. Forever. And he tried with all of his heart not to blame the Service. After all, Letty had been trained in combat by the best of the best, but when your time was up, it was up. He knew that, deep down, but he couldn't help but wonder 'what if?'. What if another Marine had been a few feet closer to her? What if someone could have pulled her away from that wreckage before the tank blew? What if she died trying to save someone else's life?
They said she died a hero, but they always said that about a fallen comrade. Dominic just wished he would've been there, if not to save her, then in her last moments to remind her that he loved her with every fiber of his being.
Now, all he had were his memories.
Six months later...
"Dominic, get the door!" Mia yelled from the kitchen.
Grabbing his beer from the coffee table, he eyed the game on the television until he could no longer see it around the corner. His team was winning anyway, it was really just the principle. He liked to see all of the plays as they happened.
Turning his attention to the front door, Dominic took a gulp from his Corona and opened it.
"Dominic Toretto?"
The clear glass dropped from his hands, shattering into hundreds of pieces and splattering amber liquid all over the floor of the front hall.
In front of him stood a ghost. One he had never expected to see again in his entire life.
"Letty?"
Her eyebrows crinkled at the familiarity. "Are you Dominic Toretto?"
His expression changed, hardened. Why was she playing these games with him right now? What kind of sick joke was this? Had the Marine Corps faked her death all this time and not told him?
"Letty, I-."
"Dom? I heard glass breaking. What happ-?" Before Mia could even finish her sentence, her eyes rolled back into her head and Dominic had to catch her as her knees went weak upon fainting. He pulled his sister into his arms, honeymoon-style, and walked her to the living room, allowing Letty entrance.
"Letty, what is going on? I thought you were dead. The Marine Corps told me you were dead. Who the fuck did I bury? Who or what is in my wife's grave?"
"Wife?" Her impeccably perfect posture straightened a bit more as she removed her cover, smoothing her hair back in the process. "We're married?"
It seemed to finally dawn on Dominic that the woman before him was not the woman he'd known since she was ten years old. This woman was was devoid of any memory of who he was. "Letty... what happened?"
The next sentence from her mouth made Dom feel as if Letty had ran her service knife through his heart. "I'm sorry to show up like this, sir, and I'm terribly sorry for what I'm about to say but, I don't remember you."
