MERRY CHRISTMAS! xoxo

-Katie

It's Not Christmas Without You

It was bitterly cold outside, which was rare for Los Angeles. But Letty felt herself almost physically shrink into the leather jacket she had pulled on before leaving that night. It was the closest thing, she thought, she was going to get to a 'white Christmas.'

It was almost midnight and Letty couldn't be more grateful for that fact. Christmas day wasn't her favourite thing, in fact she found it boring and irritating that nobody else felt the same way and got all hyped over it. Nobody but him, Dominic Toretto shared her mutual, annoyance to the matter and the holiday. They'd both spend the entire day forced into family celebrations; Dom's mother and sister were always beyond excited for the festivities and very family orientated on the average day, let alone Christmas. And then his father was the type of man to keep his favourite females happy no matter what, and with his amazing skills on convincing, Dom had been roped into staying home instead of going out to celebrate in his own way with a bottle of Corona and his other family; his other favourite people.

Letty's situation was almost exact in every detail, at least with regards to how she felt about being roped out of her own idea of a celebration which matched Dom's. It was just her and her father this year though, her mother had made the trip back home to the Dominican Republic to spend time with her mother, Letty's grandmother. After a long, heated debate between her two parents, her father had convinced her mother that he was staying. Where her parents had fallen so completely in love with each other, her mother's family had not fallen for the man in any way. And with that decision made, Letty had insisted on keeping him company, despite the fact she was as in love with the DR, as her mother was with her father. But she had other commitments that tied her down in Los Angeles, other than spending the Christmas holiday with her father so he wouldn't be alone.

And that commitment had her sneaking downstairs in a silent and dark house at 11:53, quietly leaving and making her way up the dimly lit streets at the same time every year.

And just as she had expected, like clockwork, there was a tall figure standing only paces away from her as he leant against a streetlight. She had passed exactly two houses to get to where he was, and as she glanced passed him down to the Toretto house, she confirmed that he had passed the usual two houses as well. At the sound of soft footsteps, Dom was turning to face the Latina, a vaguely knowing smirk gracing his features when his gaze settled on her. She matched his smirk faintly before dropping it to breathe an exaggerated sigh of relief before she took that final step to close the distance between them, and leant her forehead against his chest. His large arms came up instinctively to wrap around her shoulders. He glanced down slightly and his smirk grew as he realised the familiar leather that covered her torso was in fact his own red leather jacket.

"At least Mia didn't catch you this time," Letty mumbled against his shirt before shifting in his embrace to finally look up at him again with a soft smile.

Dom chuckled lowly at the memory of the year previous where his little sister, Mia, had caught him coming down the stairs to sneak out to see Letty. The brunette had given him a near heart attack from her position on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate, when she had spoken up suddenly.

"Where are you going?" She spoke suspiciously but there was something behind her tone that gestured that she knew full well exactly where he was headed off to. The older Toretto sibling had practically jumped out of his skin and stopped dead in his tracks to face his sister with a blank expression. Mia had rolled her eyes at his reaction and lack of response. "Can you really not go one day without seeing her?"

Dom gave a non-apologetic shrug to her question, "Its Christmas, Mi." Mia fought the urge to roll her eyes once again but instead, she cracked a very faint smile and Dom knew she wasn't about to yell and he had in fact gotten around her with ease, as usual. He strode across the room and planted a kiss to the top of her head and shot her a wink and boyish smile.

"Tell Letty I said merry Christmas," was the last thing she had said before Dom had finally left the house, five minutes later than usual.

It was how Letty had known he had been caught; Dom was always there waiting for her, he had always left on time. But Letty had the tendency to be late, even for something she looks forward to. But for that one year, she had arrived five minutes before he had.

Dom met Letty's gaze when she finally stole a look back up to him, but he didn't move his arms away, he didn't even loosen the hold he had on her in any way. "Mia ate double the amount she did last year; she's out cold," he responded with another low chuckle, pulling a faint laugh from her as well.

"She enjoyed herself then," Letty smirked. Dom's reply was only a simple nod.

Silence took over them and lingered between them both for several moments. It was a completely comfortable silence; it wouldn't have been anything else, Dom and Letty invented the art of comfortable between two people. Their eyes never left each other and the gaze they both held should have been enough to create at least some discomfort, but not one single drop of it radiated from them. After moments of them being frozen in time, the Latina was moving onto her tiptoes to give her the leverage she needed to be able to press a kiss to Dom's lips.

"How was it?" Dom asked when the two finally parted again. His voice was low and soft and created a small smile on Letty's lips.

She gave him a half-hearted shrug. "Same old. Well, same old, but without my mother." Letty cleared her throat lightly, realising just how intense his gaze was and how he watched her, a smirk sprung to her features when it was like she felt her skin prickling over with the heat he caused within her. "You know this is the highlight of my Christmas, though."

Dom gave her an amused chuckle before moving his arms from where they had settled around her waist, so he could take her hands in his as his fingers fiddled with hers. "One of these days," he spoke softly "Christmas will be you and me."

"Yeah right," Letty gave a smirk, clearly not convinced at all. "Like Mia's gonna let that happen."

"Nah," he shook his head once "I mean it'll be family. When you're not stuck bouncing between your parents and their bullshit, you'll be with us. You know, in ten years, twenty; it'll be me, you, Mia…"

"And probably the guys because you know they can't fend for themselves," Letty retorted with small laugh.

"Yeah," Dom nodded, a thoughtful expression crossing his features as he thought about it and came to the realisation that she was very right. "Vince is with us again this year; he passed out on the couch," he informed her with a ghost of a smile. "And we know Leon's mom ain't gonna be around much longer; Jesse's got his dad but – "

"One day," Letty spoke up, cutting him off with a small and very warm smile "Christmas will be you and me." She matched his previous words in a way of agreement, like a silent promise. "It'll be our own family."