Disclaimer: I don't own The Fast and the Furious, Fast & Furious or any of its characters, merchandise, TV/film rites, ect… (I think you get the point.)

Summery

ONE SHOT – It was just another day, the same as any other, there was no indication at all that he had just laid eyes on the girl who would change his whole life.

"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished and persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot." -Mark Twain

Lamb: As always sorry for any bad spelling and if you feel the need to throw things at me please wait until I've hidden behind the sofa kay!?

Dedi: This is dedicated to BabySpeed

Muse: On with the fic!

Waiting, however long,
I don't like waiting, I'll wait for you,
It's so hard waiting, don't be too long,
Seems like waiting, makes me love you even more,

Turn in the Road

It was just another late summer afternoon, seemingly no different from any of the others that had come before it. The sun was blazing down from a cloudless sky, turning L.A. into a boiling furnace and as per usual a fourteen-year-old Dominic Toretto was on the drive helping his father work on the Dodge Charger. It was how the days past during the long summer holidays, his little sister Mia would be off with some friend or other and so it would be time for just his dad and him.

Nothing was different, yet it was the day that would change his life forever and he didn't even know it. The first hint of change came in the form of a laugh, which carried easily over the sounds of music that was coming from another house down the street. It was a sweet and very definitely female sound and instinctively Dom's head was up as he looked around to find the source.

The family was easy to spot as the walked down the sidewalk each step bringing them closer to the Toretto house. All four of them were dark haired and dark eyed with the same golden bronze complexion that just screamed Latino. Two adults and two kids, and all it took was one look and Dom could easily see it was one tight nit little group.

"That's the Ortiz family," Noticing his son's lack of attention, Antonio 'Toni' Toretto had looked up to see what had districted the boy. "They moved into the old Garret place last week."

Dom nodded in response his focus still on the small group. The man was the first one that caught his eyes, and not just because he towered over the rest and looked as if he could punch his way through a brick wall. No, it was the way he walked with his arm around the waist of the woman beside him; Dom could remember his dad walking just like that with his mom.

Even as he watched the woman pulled away, laughing the laugh from before, her dark eyes alive with happiness and her gleaming ebony hair streamed out behind her as she all but danced across the street towards her new home. For a moment Dom was filled with an intense longing for his own mother, to have her there to hold him just one more time.

Shaking his head slightly to clear it of such thoughts his eyes landed on the girl. She had to be around his age and was a perfect miniature version of the woman who could only be her mother. The navy jeans and cream tank top were well cut flattered her figure well and over all Dom had to admit she was pretty. But her eyes, when she glanced in his direction were board and dismissive and he got the feeling that he'd not be able to hold a conversation with her about anything. Every aspect of her screamed girly girl and Mia would probably love her on sight.

"What sort of car is that Papi?" The voice was filled with awed wonder cut through Dom's thoughts like a razor blade. There was an enthusiasm in the tone that made him want to smile and for the first time he looked at the fourth member of the little family. A small girl who looked no older than ten, if that.

Like her older sister she was clad in jeans and a tank top, but they were crumpled as if she had just thrown on the first things she had grabbed and they hung off her stick like figure. Also her jeans were ripped and tattered, the cream top looked as if she had spent most of the day climbing trees in it and the laces of her battered boots trailed on the ground.

Her hair, though just as glossy as her mother's, was just a wild tangle of ringlets that formed a dark halo around her head. But it was her eyes that really caught him; they were so dark as to be almost black and were huge in her small face. They almost seemed to be burning as she stared hungrily at the huge black car as if it was the only thing that she could see.

"That's a Dodge Charger baby," Her father said as he followed the line of the girls' gaze, one hand absentmindedly reaching down to tousle her dark hair. "Probably 1970 or something like that, at least I think so."

"I'm gonna have a car like that one day." The determination in her voice was what held Dom's attention; her small face scrunched up in a stubborn frown as she all but glared at the car. Almost as if she were daring it to contradict her.

"Huh." The other girl gave an, older sibling sort of dismissive sigh and increased her pace, long legs eating up the ground as she too crossed the street and walked away but the other two remained standing at the bottom of the driveway.

"I can have a car like that, can't I Papi?" And there was just a hint of uncertainty in her voice and she turned wide, dark eyes to her father. It looked as if she were silently pleading with him to tell her she wasn't wrong and in that moment she showed a flash of the prettiness both her mother and sister possessed.

"You can have anything you set your mind on chica." His smile was warm and wide as he bent down and scooped the laughing girl up into his arms. "Anything at all. I promise you that."

Still laughing he spun her around in the air before continuing his intrepid journey down the street, the young girl now clinging monkey like to his back. Dom wasn't sure why he watched the pair of them, but wished that he hadn't because when the kid turned her head, to catch one last look of the car, her dark eyes caught his gaze on them. Dark brows furrowed in evident irritation and then, of all things, she stuck her tongue out at him. Dom turned away, pretending that what had happened really hadn't, but his father's low chuckle made it clear that he had seen what had taken place and found the whole thing very amusing.

And maybe that was part of what would start it, maybe his dad liked seeing him get cheeked by a little kid. Maybe that would be why when 'the brat' as Dom privately dubbed her, started hanging around to catch glimpses of the Charger, Toni wouldn't tell her to get lost.

Many nights Dom would lie awake and wish that he had, because his life would be so much easier if Leticia Ortiz was not a part of it. He wouldn't spend days being pestered by her. Then afternoons wondering why he suddenly didn't mind her attention and why he felt irritated when she abandoned him to do her own thing. There wouldn't have been weekends lost in detention because he'd got into fights over her. Girls he dated wouldn't have screamed at him in public because he'd blown them off to spend time with her.

There wouldn't have been the feeling of dread that sat like a lead weight in his gut when she slapped his face the first time he's dared to kiss her. The hellish moment wouldn't have stretched out interminable before, by some miracle, she pulled his face down and kissed him back. In years to come Dom wouldn't have spent nights tossing and turning, worrying like hell that this time he'd really messed up, because it had been almost as week since the fight and she still refused to even look at him. Jealousy wouldn't have filled his days, as in every shadow he imagined people who would try and entice her away from him.

She wouldn't have thrown her life away as she followed him into a lifestyle that put her very freedom at risk. The panic wouldn't grip him, cause his heart to freeze as her car flipped end over end across the road, while he was powerless to help her. And he wouldn't end up feeling as if his world had fallen down around him when she was cruelly snatched away from him forever.

But that was all in the future, things that would happen but which Dom was happily, blissfully ignorant of. For now the fourteen-year-old just quickly bent back to the task in hand, silently cursing the dark haired brat for her cheek and pretending like hell he that didn't know his father was smirking at him.

Please R and R I'd love to know what you thought.

Big love and inspiration

Lamanth