Title: She Found Him In Texas
Author: Desi
Rating: T+
Summary: The one where Léa has a boyfriend. Follow-up/finale to She Left Him In Texas.
A/N: Whoa, it's really been nearly five years since SLHIT?
Twelve years later, Spur, Texas, Saturday 1:34AM
A stage whisper floated through the warm night's breeze. "You are the only Hell your mama ever raised, Léa!"
Seventeen-year-old Lèa Sol Toretto de Ortiz shoved a boot-clad foot through the rungs on her mother's trellis, careful of the prominent sunflowers and pulled herself upwards. She grinned wildly and turned to sass back:
"And yet, I'm still the only slice of Heaven you'll ever need, sugar."
Her boyfriend watched as she climbed up the trellis to the roof of her parents' house. She lifted the window that she'd left cracked and slipped inside, only pausing to blow him a kiss. He shook his head and got back into his car, pulling out of the driveway. He waited until he'd reached the a safe enough distance to turn his headlights back on.
"And just where have you been?" Letty asked, while flicking on her daughter's lamp. She sat at the small work desk, legs and arms crossed.
"Jesus!" Léa gasped, hand over her heart. "You scared the life out of me."
"Oh, don't worry, you won't need it once I tell Daddy about this."
Léa groaned dramatically. "How long am I grounded for this time?"
"Let's see: you're home way after curfew, which is automatically cancelled out by the fact that you snuck out in the first place. I'd said two weeks, but once your father finds out about your boyfriend, it'll probably be three."
"Weeks?"
"Years." Letty exaggerated.
"Can we wait until after my competition to tell him?"
"Oh no, you'll tell him at breakfast tomorrow."
Léa sucked her teeth.
"Lose the 'tude, kid. There are consequences to your actions."
"Daddy told me how you used to sneak out of your room to meet up with him."
"And how do you think you got here?"
"Eww, mom."
Letty stood from the desk chair, refraining from rolling her eyes. When she reached the door, Letty turned back to Léa. She watched as she teen toed off her boots and pulled a pair of lounge shorts from her dresser drawer.
Letty could see so much of herself in her firstborn child.
"Hey." She said, gaining her daughter's attention. "He's cute." Letty winked at her and shut the door behind her.
Léa smiled and changed into her night clothes before pulling back her duvet and slipping into bed.
*Just across the hall, Letty peeked into another bedroom and smiled. Her son, Diego, was sprawled out in his bed, snoring soundly. His arm dangled over the side of the bed and a car magazine was on the floor. He'd fallen asleep reading once again. Letty tiptoed into the room and turned off his bedside lamp before exiting once more.
When she finally made her way to the bedroom she shared with her husband, exhaustion finally hit her. She'd heard the rumbling of Léa's boyfriend's car and wondered who on Earth would be coming down their private driveway at such an ungodly hour. She had peaked out of the window and saw a car with no headlights on, but the driver's side door opened. A young man opened the passenger door and Letty couldn't believe her eyes when her daughter hopped out and threw her arms around his neck to kiss him.
Truth be told, Letty found herself more hurt than angry with her daughter. Léa told her everything. Had they finally reached the moment where they were best friends anymore? Did Léa really grow up so quickly?
"Let?" Dom grumbled, still half-asleep. She slipped back into bed, pressing her cool back against his warm chest and allowed him to drape a muscular arm over her waist.
"Go back to sleep." She whispered.
"You left me."
"But I always come back to you."
"Mm." He sleepily agreed. Dom pressed a kiss to the back of her neck. "Sleep."
And so, she did.
The one thing that Lana had warned Letty about when she became a mom was that moms never really sleep. Not like before they had kids. And Letty was no different. She was always the last one to bed and the first one up in the morning. When her family woke up, Letty was in the kitchen, the smell of bacon and blueberry banana pancakes wafting through the house.
"Firecracker." Dom greeted, leaning over shoulder to snag fresh blueberries before pressing his lips against hers.
"Bunny."
"You know I hate that." He said, kissing her again.
"Mhm. I do."
He kissed her again, grinning, before he made his way to the fridge to retrieve orange juice. While he pulled a four glasses from the cupboard above him, Dom mentioned, "You were up pretty late last night."
"Yeah, I got up to pee and then you wouldn't believe what happened."
"Oh yeah? What's that?" He poured the orange liquid into each glass.
"Hi, daddy." Léa announced her presence. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed her dad's cheek. "For me?" She asked, pointing to a glass.
Dom handed her one and she drank from it.
"Speak of the Devil." Letty said.
Dom's brows rose. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Did anyone else hear a really loud car last night or did I dream it?"
Dom looked at his wife. "Is that what you were talking about?"
Letty flipped a flapjack and looked at her daughter. "You want to tell him or should I?"
Léa rolled her eyes. "Daddy, I just want you to know that I love you and you'll always be the most important man in my life."
Confusion was written all over her father's face.
"I was out late last night."
"How late?"
"After curfew."
"And?" Letty prompted.
"With who?" Dom inquired.
"My… boyfriend."
Dom stared at his daughter for a few moments before he laughed heartily. Nervous, but somehow relieved, Léa began laughing alongside him. Letty, however, knew better. Her husband was not happy. This was the calm before the storm. She turned back to her pancakes, plating them perfectly and sitting one in front of Diego.
"Thanks, mamí."
"That was a good one." Dom replied, still laughing. "Because you know I'd kill any little boy who tried to date my baby."
Léa's nervous laughter died down. "Daddy."
"You're not old enough to date."
"You said I could date when I turned sixteen."
"I lied."
"That's not fair. You and mamí were dating each other when you were my age."
Letty cracked a few eggs into a pan and threw in a few toppings to make an omelet. "Papí and I are different."
"Yeah. And anyway, you need to do as I say, no as I do."
"Could you be anymore cliché?" Léa asked.
"Hey!" Letty called as she flipped the omelet. "Watch your tone, kid."
"You can't be hypocrites!" Léa nearly shouted before storming off.
Dom made a move to follow her, but Letty stopped him, with a gentle hand on the crook of his arm.
"Let me handle this." She handed him the spatula. "Don't burn it."
Letty took the stairs two at a time and headed to her daughter's room. She turned the knob but it wouldn't budge, so she knocked.
"Léa Sol, you know the rules. No locked doors in this house." Letty pressed her ear to the door, waiting to hear movement. Instead, she heard a male voice.
"Léa, there your parents. They know best. Just hear your mama out. We'll do this their way. They've been through a lot and they just don't want to see you hurt."
She was no doubt video chatting with her boyfriend.
"Look, sometimes my parents make me madder than a puffed up toad, but they're my parents. I know everything they do, it's for a reason. Call me after you've talked to your mama."
"Okay." Léa said.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Letty leaned her forehead against her daughter's bedroom door. Without struggle, she could think of more than one occasion that she'd called Dom when her parents were getting on her nerves. Just like Léa's mystery guy, Dom would hear Letty out and then make sure she knew she was always surrounded by love.
"Léa Sol. I won't say it again before Daddy takes this whole door off by hinge by-," the door opened and Letty came face to face with her daughter, "hinge."
Léa turned on her heels and headed back to her bed with a huff. She pulled a book from her bedside table and opened it, pretending to read.
"You have to apologize to Daddy for your tone."
"I will, when he calms down." She flipped the page in her book roughly. "And when I calm down."
"Want to tell me about your boyfriend?" Letty asked, climbing into bed with her.
"Nope."
Sighing, Letty replied, "I gotta tell ya, kid, that hurts me a little."
Léa remained focused on the book in front of her, but Letty knew she was listening.
"I always knew you'd grow up and be your own person, but I was kind of hoping you'd take me along for the ride too. For awhile there, it was just you and me, y'know?" Letty shrugged. There was something in her mother's voice that made Léa look at her and close the book.
"Mom." She whined and lay her head on her mother's chest. Letty smiled and wrapped her arms around her firstborn child.
"Aw, come here. My little lion." She kissed the top of Léa's head. "I know. Dads can be tough, but that's because they want to protect us from everything. Papí made a promise to himself long ago that he would never let anything bad happen to you. That includes heartbreak. He just wants to know that this boy, whoever he is, won't hurt you."
"She's right." Dom said from the doorway. His daughter and his wife looked up at him. "We, as parents, just want our kids to be happy and to have the best."
"I think he's the best." Léa told him. "I really do. He's not a bad person. He actually reminds me a lot of you, dad."
"Incredibly handsome and wildly brilliant."
Letty laughed while Léa simply shook her head, her eyes rolling naturally.
"And so humble." Letty added.
"Damn right." Dom grinned. "Look, you're right: I would be a hypocrite if I don't at the very least meet this boy and learn a little about him and his family. So, you can invite him to the Sunday barbecue."
"No way, so you and tío Brian and can grill him over ribs?"
"She's got a point."
"Fine. How about family dinner tonight?"
"Really?" His daughter was wary, but also Dom could see the hint of relief in her expression.
"Yes, really. If he's going to be dating my daughter, he needs my blessing."
"We're not getting married."
"Still, it's the respectful thing to do." Letty interjected.
"Exactly." Dom agreed.
"I'm sorry for being disrespectful, Daddy."
"I'm sorry for not hearing you out."
"Am I still grounded?"
"Oh, yeah, Like a naked mole rat." Dom affirmed. "No parties, no lake, no laptop for a week."
"Diego, less is more, papa." Letty said as she strolled by his bedroom door. He was picking up the cologne that Dom had gotten him for Christmas.
Diego rolled his eyes, muttering, "Yeah, yeah."
Letty's head popped into his room. "I heard that."
Her son gave her a sickly sweet smile and she grinned back. "Smartass."
"Mom, do I have to be at dinner tonight?"
"Well, seeing as how it's a family dinner and you're a part of this family, my money's on yes."
"Fine."
"Maybe you'll like your sister's boyfriend, papito."
"You think he likes video games?"
"You can ask him at dinner."
Diego nodded.
Just then the doorbell rang. Léa's bedroom door opened and she flew down the hallway, her flips flops slapping against the hardwood floor as she ran down the stairs.
"Please, please, please be normal and don't make him feel uncomfortable." She was shouting to her immediate family.
"Ready to go be weird and make him feel as uncomfortable as possible?" Letty grinned, holding out her fist to Diego.
"Definitely." He grinned back, bumping his fist against his moms.
At the bottom of the stairs, Dom and Léa stood at the open front door. A tall, handsome boy stood at the doorway, holding two bouquets of sunflowers in each hand. He handed one to Léa and the other out to Letty.
"Thank you for inviting me to family dinner tonight, Mr. and Mrs. Toretto. It's an honor."
"Jack O'Connor, as I live and breathe. You are the spitting image as your father."
Dirty blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes beamed back at them. When he smiled, perfect teeth and faint dimples lit up his face.
"Yes, ma'am. That's what they tell me."
"Well, get on in here." Letty ushered him inside.
Jack crossed the threshold and kissed Léa's cheek before shaking Dom's hand.
"Wait, your boyfriend is Jack?" Diego asked his sister.
"Yeah. You got a problem with that?"
"Does that mean if you two get married, Mr. O'Connor would be our real tío?"
"Yeah, I guess." Léa shrugged.
"That's so cool!" Diego ran after his father and Jack. Letty looped her arm with Léa's. "Your dad trusts Brian with his life. This is the icing on the cake."
"So," Léa tried, "still grounded?"
"Like a naked mole rat." Letty mocked her husband. "Nice try, though."
She pulled her daughter along as they made their way to the dining room to begin their meal.
FIN.
A/N #2: I couldn't remember if I gave Mia and Brian a kid originally, but if not, fuck it, he's here now. Get over it. Also, for those who haven't read She Left Him In Texas, I have two notes: 1) don't read it, it's absolute TRASH! and 2) it was AU, Dom and Mia weren't related. Therefore, Léa is free to date Jack. No kissing cousins bullshit.