Author's Note: Here goes another one. This is the mildest of Mary Sue's so those of you who are concerned should be okay. This is about as Mary Sue-ish as I can get but I think it fulfills my challenge requirement. Thanks again for all the feedback and for everyone that's reading the story. It's a wonderful encouragement that I really do take to heart. Extra special love to my beta who helps me polish up all of these rambling words. Enjoy!

Chapter Three

Three months previously...

Letty looked around uncomfortably as she absently ran a finger along her icy glass of gingerale. Her surroundings seemed surreal to her. She felt this way about her new life from time to time. Here she was in another anonymous hotel room hanging around until it was time to get back to work. Not that she was complaining or anything because things were going pretty well for her and she was thankful for that.

She had just finished her room service lunch brought up both because she really didn't have a permanent home or office in which to carry out these sorts of obligations she was presently handling and also because she didn't really want have the kind of conversation she was having somewhere out in public. The woman sitting across from her was nice enough, which in and of itself was a huge change from the people in her profession, but these things still made her nervous as hell. She smiled to herself thinking that most people would think nothing would make her nervous given the tough chick act she usually put on for the boys. But even she had her weaknesses. Revealing things about herself to others had always been at the top of the list.

"So …" the woman asked almost as nervously. Letty looked sharply over to her and stared at the little black box sitting between them and the pen and pad in the woman's hand. She opened her mouth to speak, thought better of it and, instead, looked back towards the passing clouds beyond the window to her left.

This conversation was not going how L.C. Jones had thought it would. From what she had heard and researched, the woman sitting at the table across from her, Leticia "Letty" Ortiz was a woman as intense in life as she was about racing. She thought it would only take a nudge or two to get something out of her. They had had a nice lunch and chatted like regular people do when they're feeling each other out. The afternoon had started out reasonably well. But here they were, trying not to make eye contact as they figured out what to say in this very awkward situation.

Letty sighed and pulled herself together. It wasn't like her to punk out like this, no matter how uncomfortable the circumstances. She had survived a tragic childhood, the loss of the people she loved several times over, and she had started over in life and had made something of herself when everything and everyone said she was crazy. And she had done all of this on her own terms. After all that, she sure as hell could get through one conversation.

Before she could speak Jones cut her off and spoke up. "Look, after getting to know you for a little bit, I know this isn't the most comfortable thing in the world for you. But I tell you what, why don't we put this away for now." She grabbed the tape recorder that she had placed in the middle of the table only a few minutes before and placed it back in her bag. She set the pen and paper aside folding her hands neatly in her lap. "Let's just talk. We can do this like normal people and forget that I'm a reporter doing a story and that you're a famous pit crew wench getting a story done on you." Letty smirked and raised an eyebrow at the woman's casual use of the title she had given herself as a joke. "We can just talk about some stuff and see what we've got at the end of all this."

Letty relaxed a little at the frank - and she had to admit, perceptive - assessment of the reporter she had been hanging out with for the afternoon. You wouldn't have put them together if you saw the two of them on paper but Letty figured she had proved herself enough to get a little something out of the deal. She had at least googled this L.C. Jones person before agreeing to the interview so it was on her to pony up. And truth be told, she didn't mind talking to her really. The woman had a job to do so she might as well let her do it. They could have sent the usual walking penis to write about her like they had tried before. She figured this chick was the best she was going to do in this department.

"Alright, girl, that sounds good. I don't mean to get weird on you but I'm just not used to all this. I don't think I'll ever get used to it actually."

"It's cool. It's not like it's your job to have everyone all up in your business. I know I'm a journalist but I understand that. And I respect that you'll tell what it is that you want people to know. I'm not looking to expose the skeletons in your closet. I just want to hopefully give people a glimpse of who you are and why I, at least, think people should know about what you've accomplished."

Letty laughed and rolled her eyes. "I don't know about all that," she responded trying not to show her embarrassment at the praise. "I'm just livin' you know."

The woman sat back and returned Letty's laughter. "I know. But still I've been doing my research on you. What you've accomplished is pretty bad ass and I bet the average person that knows anything about racing doesn't know shit about what you do. You started from the bottom, supporting a local racer and then worked your way up through the system to be the first female pit crew lead on the Circuit. And you did all that with your team winning title after title. Now everyone wants a piece of you. You're just a pretty face and a hot body to them - and that's fine, I guess but they need to also see that you've got major skills that deserve the same respect as any man out there making a living off of this."

"Please! I work harder than most of those assholes on the Circuit and they know it. AND I put up with their shit on top of everything else." Thinking about all the dudes out there either trying to take her job or trying to make things harder for her, always got her riled up. Luckily, her teammates were a solid group of guys and didn't let anybody fuck with her. Of course, she did the majority of the skull-breaking when it came to that. Her boys knew she could hold her own and it was Letty having the last laugh on the situation now.

The owners hadn't wanted her on the team at first, mostly because they were the most sexist fuckers Letty had ever met. But they had been talked into taking a chance and taken a lot of shit for it in the beginning. And now it was paying off in a big way. They got so much press for simply having her on the team. Especially when they started winning, they got in on a lot of sponsorship money from people wanting to cash in on the hype.

So yeah, Letty was pretty satisfied that she was the hottest shit out there on or off the track. When she calmed down a little, she looked at the reporter with surprise. "Getting me to go all feminist on you, huh? Nice job."

The reporter smirked and sat back in her chair while taking another sip of her wine. "I'm just trying to make conversation is all." Jones wasn't trying to be manipulative but it had come across that way unintentionally. Letty didn't seem too bothered by it, she noticed with some relief. If anything, it had gotten her in the mood to talk about her experiences and that was the whole point of their meeting wasn't it?

Letty picked up her drink as well. "It's cool." I guess I'd rather have you write about that than what color nail polish I'm wearing or some shit."

They both chuckled at that. "Believe me, I haven't forgotten that this piece is still for a car magazine read mostly by caveman males. When they're not staring at your photo spread, they're certainly going to want to know that you know your way around a car."

"Tell me about it. I've been around boys and their cars my whole life and I know exactly what goes through their simple little minds."

"Really? I don't think I've read much about your time before working on the Circuit. Was it your family that got you into racing? A best friend? A boyfriend?" She hoped that Letty would be willing to share some information about her past since as far as she knew, no other reporter had gotten that information out of her. Of course, knowing her colleagues, they probably hadn't come close to asking for this kind of information.

Jones looked up and saw that Letty had stilled noticeably and the air of casualness that they had established thus far had deflated quickly. She had obviously hit a nerve.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry. Well, I did mean to pry, actually, but not in a way that makes you uncomfortable. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, although I admit that I would like to know and I think a lot of other people might be interested too.

Letty couldn't begin to describe the array of emotions going threw her mind and heart at the mention of her past and all of the memories from what she simply called "before." When she had left L.A. and hooked up with Hector, she had planned to put all of the bullshit from the past behind her. She thought that all the tragedy with her family was the hardest thing she had ever been through but leaving her second family for what was now her life definitely had that beat. She never would have thought she'd leave Mia, who she thought of as a sister, or Vince, who was her big lovable older brother. Jesse and Leon had been harder because they were closer to Dom and they hadn't known anything about Letty from before they were a team. They hadn't understood and were probably still really angry at her. But Mia and Vince knew and they, more than anyone else, understood why she had to go.

As far as Dom went, well, he was the easiest to leave because just looking at him made her ill and sad. But it hurt the most to let him go.

So she had followed Hector on his little adventure that got her foot in the door and like most everything else that she set her mind to, she ran with it and never turned back. Now she was this world traveler, professional racing wench that got people's attention wherever she went. There was no hovering behind any other larger-than-life personality. Hell, she was the larger-than-life personality. And she lived life by her rules and no one else's. She vowed never again to lose herself in another person like she had with Dom. She couldn't take the heartbreak anymore.

But she wasn't going to tell this reporter all that. They were cool but they weren't that cool. Still, it wouldn't hurt to give her something to chew on and it wasn't like she was intentionally trying to dodge anyone. She hadn't spoken or heard from anyone in her old life outside of Hector but she wasn't ashamed of where she came from. She was only trying to find her own identity after so long of being a part of someone else's.

Letty looked down and started playing with the arrangement sitting to the far side of their table. "Naw, it's fine. I don't have anything to hide, it's just I usually don't talk about that kind of stuff." Actually, she had plenty to hide but all of that crazy living with the heists and the street racing and all that was ancient history. "I'm from L.A. and lived there all my life until a few years ago."

"You left when you started working with the Green Phantom?" she joked. Letty chuckled too over Hector's stupid nickname for himself.

"Yeah, I left around that time." She shifted in her seat, not sure how much about her old life to reveal. "I had the usual fucked up childhood. I had some good friends and we all had some good times getting into trouble in the streets. But, you know, it was time to move on." She smiled wistfully, thinking about all the shit she had gotten into in her early life. And always in the middle of it was her old crew, her old family; Dom, Mia, Vince, Jesse and Leon.

"It was a guy wasn't it?" Letty looked up sharply at the comment. God, was she that transparent about Dom? Talk about seriously fucked up. "Don't look at me like that, I know these things. I'm not implying that you're going all girly on me but shit happens and sometimes it's the same kind of shit we all go through."

Jones was right. It's not like she and Dom were special. Obviously, if they were, they'd still be together. But it was a damn shame that they ended up like they did. She didn't like to be reminded of that.

"A guy was part of it, I guess," Letty answered nervously. She didn't know why she was telling all her business like this but she didn't think Jones was out to start some shit over her pathetic life. And like the woman said, it's not like her drama was all that unique or interesting. "But it was more than that too. I needed to make my own way in the world. And when this relationship got to be too much, I think I just decided that I had to change everything or it would be the same bullshit over and over again." Letty sighed deeply and leaned back in her chair in resignation. "I left some good friends behind but it was the right thing to do. I don't ever want to look in the mirror and see that girl looking back at me." The revelation was an intense one for Letty but a truth nonetheless. She regretted that she had to let good people go but she couldn't feel bad about leaving that girl that she was behind.

Jones nodded in understanding but Letty didn't notice, so lost in the past was she. They both sat there in silence, letting the moment run its course.

"Well that was serious," Jones said interrupting their introspection. "Enough of that crap. Why don't we talk about something worth a damn? How about we talk cars?"

Letty looked over to her and smiled. This chick was alright. "Why don't I ask you a question first?"

Jones looked dubious but thought, what the hell. "Fire away. It's only fair."

"What does 'L.C.' stand for?" she asked seriously.

"Oooh no. We're not going down that road. Some things weren't meant to be shared."

"Uh uh, girl. You said it's only fair. I googled your ass and saw all these crazy articles on education and the welfare system and all this do-gooder shit. And all of them by L.C. Jones. Since I know you're not going to tell me what a journalist like you is doing writing articles for a car magazine …" She paused giving Jones an opportunity to prove her wrong but the older woman just sat there confirming her lack of interest in expanding on that particular topic. "Fine. Then I want to at least know a tiny, itsy, bitsy piece of information."

Jones continued to look at her giving no sign of volunteering the requested intelligence. Letty cackled at that and let it go. "Wow, it must be really bad. Alright, let's talk about cars then. That, I can handle. Where should I start?"

Jones smiled in relief over the topic change. "Anywhere you like. And don't leave any detail out. I drive a Prius after all. I need the remedial tour of your world."

"Shut up!" Letty replied laughing her ass off. "How the hell did you get this assignment, you don't know shit about cars?"

"Hey, I'm a persuasive girl. You should appreciate that. Besides, I didn't want to focus on the cars. Any of my asshole colleagues could do that. I want to surprise people about how engaging you are. After having met you, I don't think I'll have a problem convincing people."

"We'll see about that. And if you want a tour of my world, we're going to have to do better than lunch in my hotel room. I hope you brought some comfortable shoes and some clothes you don't mind getting dirty. I'll try not to embarrass you, or myself for that matter."

Jones could see the wheels of mischief turning in Letty's head and was looking forward to getting one hell of a story out of the next 48 hours. "I'm ready with whatever you've got. And don't worry, you'll do great. This is the easy part-wait until you get to the photo shoot. You're going to LOVE that," she responded with an evil grin.

TBC