Author's Note: One shot. How it might go the first (second) time Dom and Letty meet after finding out that she's alive. Skipping the scene where she shoots him because obviously there isn't much chatting there. I own nothing.

The Confrontation

"Walking down to the water's edge
Asking why I'm here instead of home
Now I stand alone
I stop to stare at the ocean side
I'm breathing in just to feel it's side
with his
like you were here with me"

Is It My Fault – Imagine Dragons

His shoulder throbbed as he stepped out of the car, as if his body was reminding him about the last time he'd come face to face with this woman. But he ignored the pain as he crossed the chasm of distance between where he'd pulled his car and where she stood leaning against her own. Her shoulders were hunched, her arms crossed in front of her, guilt painted into every line of her body. Or maybe that was just fear.

As for himself he didn't even know what he felt anymore. The sight of her was like someone had carved his heart out of his chest and he felt all hollow. It hurt in a way he hadn't since first learning about her supposed death. The betrayal he felt… that she hadn't thought he deserved to know she was still alive. That she'd run halfway across the world.

Instead of running to him like she'd used to.

But maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised by that. He'd made it too damn hard for her chase him.

Dom dragged a hand over the top of his head as he came to stand in front of her. There was nothing but a tense silence between them. Letty's hands went down, resting on the car behind her. She seemed to find some strength in the support, but she didn't look up at him. Her dark lashes were a feathery sweep against the bronze tones of her skin. She was still beautiful, but she looked so damn tired, paler, thinner than he'd ever seen her before.

"No guns this time?" he asked, couldn't keep himself from asking.

She sighed, sagging slightly, defeated. "Dom…" she said, and let it rest at that. She was too tired. "Why are you here?"

"Why do you think I'm here?" he asked. "Jesus, Letty you were dead!" He threw his hands up, then curled them at his sides. He bit back the strangling emotions that threatened to swamp him, but his eyes were shiny with them.

Letty lifted her head just slightly, offering him a glimpse of those dark eyes… the ones that had always seen right through his bullshit and he knew he saw pain slice through her gaze before it cut away and she was turned stubbornly away, her muscles tense and her teeth caught on her lower lip and looking for all the world like she wanted to turn and run.

She didn't say anything, and so he did. "Do you know what you put me through? What you put all of us through?" his voice was soft and she shifted on her feet but didn't look up. "Mia had to plan your damn funeral," he hissed. "She had to pack all your shit away in boxes. I know… that I left. Maybe I didn't deserve to know the truth. But she did, at the very least."

Letty tensed, silent and stiff as she listened to his words, the guilt making her want to curl in on herself, the anger making her want to punch him in the face. Or maybe in that bullet wound.

"Damn it Dom you act as if I had a fucking choice," she said harshly, her voice a rasp of sound that slid into the spaces between them and he was stepping back, confusion on his face and she was spurred onwards by the expression, lifting her gaze and stabbing her finger in his direction. "Yeah. That's right. It's not like I played disappearing act out of choice. It was you I pulled that fucking job for. I just wanted to get you home and then I was lying in my car dying and I thought to myself… Jesus… I failed. And this is where my life ends. Right here alone on a dark road in Mexico. I didn't pull myself out of the wreckage. I didn't wake up for months afterwards. And when I did? I was dead… the line to the house was disconnected. Mia was gone, you were gone, even the damn buster was gone. "

He stared at her silently for a long moment, wanting to gather her close and hold onto her, but every line of her body screamed that he shouldn't touch for she was more than liable to bite. He remembered all too well the little girl she'd been, afraid to let anyone close, ducking away from affectionate touches and squirming free of hugs. Coming from a home where you were just as liable to be kissed as to be smacked.

"How did you end up here," he settled for asking, finally. "With these people, Letty? They're dangerous. They're killers. That's not you."

"How would you know?" she asked. "You don't know me anymore." The words had a finality to them that Dom ignored, shaking his head. Letty lifted her chin. "I made some mistakes," she admitted. "This is where they've led me." She didn't say it, but the look in her eyes told him that she had no way out.

"Letty… I can help you."

"You can't Dominic. You can't always save me," she said tiredly. "I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm not even the woman who thought you were her everything anymore." She pushed away from the car, turned her back to him to stare out over the city at night time. "That Letty is dead. You should just let her go."

"You're crazy if you think that's going to work," he said, his hand curled into a fist and his eyes flashing and she smiled slightly, picturing the expression though she wasn't looking at him.

"I don't. But I'm telling you anyway. There was a time when I knew you'd always catch me Dom. But those days are gone."

Dom closed his eyes as she moved to open the door to her car. The past few years flashed before him. Years of struggling to accept her death, of living with the loss of her every day. And no matter how hard he'd tried to move on and be happy, she'd always been this hollow space in his heart that he couldn't fill up. His hand closed around her wrist and surprised, she turned.

"I'll still catch you," he told her and Letty searched his eyes with her own, looking for something and then she shook her head.

"How badly we've fucked each other up, Dominic… there might be no fixing this," she murmured, her hand coming up to cup his cheek.

And he was leaning into her touch, seeking the warmth of her hand against his skin. Tears pooled in her dark eyes.

"We'll never know unless we try," he replied, thumb coming up to brush away those tears. "Let me help you."

Half smiling she reached back to open the door of her car, pulling away to slide into the driver's seat. He let her go, watching as she pulled the door closed, then rolled down the window.

"Maybe," she said, and then she was driving away. Dom found himself staring after her as painful hope blossomed in his heart. Maybe.