A/N: Thank you for the support, and love and reviews! I will always start off with saying this because true gratitude has no limits. I'm happy to announce that the 3rd quarter mile is less fighting, and more loving. I think I've tortured you good folks enough (sorry I'm a bit late on the update, but I do gotta pay the bills). BUT this section does hop around, from scenario to scenario, so don't get upset and confused.

NOTE: some viewers were a bit disturbed by the rape scenario. Don't over analyze it-don't dissect it word for word, line by line. The rape was a bridge for them to cross, and their cross to bear. It's not the defining factor in their relationship-they're better than that. Don't turn my characters into whimps! Give them a little more credit (laughs).

Disclaimer: I don't own Fast and Furious.

3rd Quarter Mile chapter 7 –Ride or Die


9 months later…

Mia sighed, looking out the window. She felt so helpless.

Her brother received a letter from the National Pro Stock Racing Corporation. It was some bullshit-non heartfelt apology about the life of their father, and how great of a racer he was. Punch line-they'd banned Dominic Toretto from the tracks for life, due to his conduct with a fellow racer.

Dom had gotten the letter and she'd literally seen him come undone. He'd gone into the garage and manically started beating the life out of everything- especially an old Chevy Buick pick-up truck that belonged to their mother.

She had begged Vince to go talk to him, but Vince declined. "He's grieving. Give him time." he advised.

Leon and Jesse tried to be as scarce as possible when Dom was upset. Everyone worked, ate dinner and got the hell out of dodge.

The house still needed repairs, and they were one mechanic short for the summer rush that was about to hit.

"We need a miracle." Mia sighed, walking out of the kitchen.

Vince heard the engine of a '74 Plymouth. He smirked, knowing who it belonged to. They just may get one.


Riding up to 1327, Letty sighed as she pulled into the driveway, turning off the engine. It felt damn good to be home. She and her mother had resolved their issues, of how she'd left her daughter to bear the weight of Julian's death alone.

Letty had apologized for making her mother feel like she'd chosen the Toretto's over her own family. But she needed her mom to understand; that the team was her family, and she'd made the mistake of abandoning them once-she wouldn't do it again.

She approached the garage with caution, taking off her aviators. It was usually hot today so she wore a skimpy sheer olive wife beater and low riding shorts.

She'd heard all the commotion from the driveway and went to investigate, ready to fight whomever she had to.

What she found broke her resolve and her heart. The garage was a mess. Dom appeared to be in a trance. Similar to the one he was in when Kenny Linder had showed up at the gas station. But his eyes….there was pain there. Real, raw…pain.

Letty glanced to her right to see the letter from the National Pro Stock Racing. But couldn't make out the words from so much grease.

Dom was still working the engine into shambles when she turned to him. "Dom." Letty called.

He was beating the life out of the truck. His mother's old truck. He let out a growl and shattered the front windshield.

"Dom!" She shouted louder, ducking as he swung the led pipe with incredible force.

"DOM!" She roared.

Dom paused, turning to her, his rage radiating off his body. His eyes went blank, as he stared at her like she was a stranger. That shouldn't have been a surprise-she'd been gone for nine months.

Letty knew she had two options. She could pity him, and try to get him to explain his reason for being so reckless-be the consoling girl next door. Or, she could be herself. The bad ass he'd fell in love with.

"You look a bit tired. Why don't we go upstairs and you give me a massage." She offered steadily.

Dom didn't say anything as she grabbed his hand and pulled him through the house, upstairs to his room. It wasn't like she hadn't been there before. In fact, it was like her body had committed it to memory.

Letty knew she wasn't one for wasting time, nor was she shy about her body. It had been two years since she'd been with Dom…but all of her unease drifted away as he watched her undress.

She then undressed him, marveling at the massiveness of Dominic Toretto. What really caught her attention was the pendant necklace she'd given him-her necklace.

Seeing where her new attention was, he said quietly, "I never take it off."

Silently, she led them into the bathroom, where they just stood, under the shower, staring at each other.

Dom grabbed her hips and hoisted her to his waist bringing her face to face with his. "It's going to be okay." She whispered.

Looking into her eyes in that moment, Dom believed her. Without a word, he kissed her. Softly, thoroughly…and begin to do wonders on her body.


Two hours later, they'd found themselves in a tangle of sheets. Staring at the ceiling, listening to the morning birds. It was only 10 AM.

"I thought you were gone." Dominic said after a fashion. Letty nodded. "I was." She confirmed not giving up any more of an explanation, and he didn't pry.

"They banned me from the tracks, Let." Dom revealed, his voice lower than usual.

Letty recognized his pain, allowing the news to process. He would never be able to avenge his father, race in his honor, and all his dreams of becoming the world's fastest racer was shot.

"When I lost my mother, I thought that was it. Nothing else could be worse." He spoke, knowing she wouldn't interrupt.

Dom continued."…and then my father, my freedom, you…" he trailed off a bit"…now my racing career. So much in two years. Too much shit to deal…"

"You never lost me Dom. I'm right here." She said, grabbing his face in her slender hands as she rolled on top of him. "And you'll find a way." Letty told him with certainty.

Dom squeezed her tight. "You're not leaving."

She frowned at that statement. She didn't like anyone telling her what to do. Even if she was in love with him. "Dom…" she glanced down at him.

He met her gaze. "I can't give you up. I let you walk away once. So arrogant to think your childhood fascination with me would win out in the end. It wasn't till I heard the engine fade away that I understood..." Till he realized what he'd lost. Dom didn't finish the statement out loud.

"We're not the same people we used to be. Everything's changed." Letty told him, quietly reflecting on the past two years. So much of herself was so different from the kid she used to be down the street.

"Letty, some things never change." Dom stressed, indicating the fact by running a hand down her bare spine, resting at the crevice that led to her well-formed ass.

"Enough has." She stressed. "It doesn't matter, now. My mom needed me and I went." In truth, her mom had plenty of family and friends to comfort her in Mexico.

"I need you-stay. I'm not telling you-I'm asking you, begging…" Dom told her softly, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

For a while they were just quiet-both lost in their own worlds.

"I'm not going anywhere." Letty said with ease, closing her eyes. "I'm home."

"Ride or die…" Dom whispered to her as she drifted to sleep.

For the first time in two years, he was finally able to not only sleep, but rest. No nightmares, no headaches…just sleep with the girl he prayed would be by his side forever.


"What made you come back?" Dom asked as time drifted into the afternoon. They hadn't moved from his bed since they first laid there.

He was currently leaning on his side, running his fingers down the crevice of her chest, all the way to below her navel and slowly back up. Letty could barely concentrate.

She smirked, letting her eyes close, relishing the feeling. "Mia told me, that if I missed her graduation, she'd kill me. Like Machete style."

Dom smirked. Mia had graduated six months early. They'd thrown her a beach party, and grilled out. She must have neglected to mention that to Letty during her phone call. He silently made a note to thank his sister later.

" Tell me a secret." He whispered, feather kissing her neck.

Letty shuddered before she giggled. "I'm ticklish."

Dom smirked, "That's a fact, not a secret, and I've known that since you were 15. I want to know something you've never told anyone. " Recalling her words the day she left.

She sighed, thinking for a moment. "I love you." She whispered. Bringing her eyes to meet his, she told him, "…something I've never told anyone."

He just stared at her for a long minute, before smiling. "Why do I get the feeling, this will be the first and last time I'll hear you say those words?"

She smiled. He knew her so well. "I'm not one for repeating myself." Letty retorted.

Dom gently grabbed the back of her neck and brought her lips to his for a kiss. A kiss that practically took over itself, both getting lost in the sweep of their tongues, the heat of their mingled breath.

"I love you too." He breathed, his forehead resting on hers, his eyes closed. They just lay that way for a while, soaking in each other's words. They'd come so close to losing it. Allowing the world to invade, to bring all its bullshit. But they were back…they were back.

"Your turn." Letty said stroking his head as he lay in the crook of her neck. "Tell me a secret."

Dom groaned, making her smile. She knew he hated being sensitive. He rose a bit, resting his head in his palm, as his arm supported his weight, trapping Letty beneath him.

"A week after you left, I went to the cemetery." Dom revealed. "To visit your brother."

Letty watched him as his expression became hardened as he tried to toughen up. "Why?"

Dom glanced at her, before returning his gaze back to her stomach. "To apologize in person. He told me to look after you, to protect you. And I failed."

Raising her hand to his cheek, she brought his gaze to hers. "Don't." she told him. She didn't want him bearing the weight of her pain. That was unfair to the both of them.

He kissed her palm, not commenting on her objection. "After that, I visited my father and I apologized for breaking my word. Before he died, he made me promise to be worthy of you…and I fucked that up too."

"I shouldn't have left." Letty told him truthfully.

"I shouldn't have let you." Dom countered.

A buzzing sound interrupted their private moment. Dom had been ignoring calls all morning. It was time to face the music.

He reached over Letty, giving her a kiss as he grabbed his phone. Eyeing the text message, he sighed.

The hell brother! We're sinkin' here! Bring your ass in! -V

Letty grabbed the phone from him and read the text. "Shit." She swore. "I told you, you should've gone to work."

"I did work. Put in whole half a day's worth." Dom replied casually, with a small wink. Letty blushed a bit before rolling her eyes. "Get up. We've got to go help out."

"We are not going anywhere. We ain't leaving this bed." Dom opposed firmly. He'd waited too long, had too many unfulfilled fantasies about the particular Latina in his bed right now. He wasn't ready to share her yet. For the first time ever, he was saying, "Fuck the garage."

And that's exactly what they did.


Two Years Later…

"Leon! Pull number 23 from the back!" Dom ordered as he multi-tasked between calls, bills, and repairs.

The past couple of years hadn't exactly been the best. Dom handled it with the calming demeanor he always had. Everyone was working overtime, making less money, but they hadn't complained, for which he was thankful.

"On it!" Leon called, heading to the back.

Letty walked into the office, sweaty and dirty from working since 6 AM. They had over booked appointments, and were now working double time. It was a lot of work, even for her. She grabbed a total work order sheet, crossing three jobs off the list.

Dom barely spared her a glance. "Letty, I need jobs 19 and 42 finished in the next hour." He ordered, not waiting for confirmation before going back to his phone call.

"Whatever you say, boss." Letty grumbled under her breath, she headed back out the door. She felt a grip on her wrist, yanking her back in.

Dom quickly pulled her body to his, giving her a hasty but fiery kiss, sliding his tongue against her bottom lip. Letty barely had time to register the warm feeling that was starting to pool between her legs every time he did that-it was over too soon for her liking.

He broke apart, eyeing her somewhat apologetically, "Thank you." He muttered quietly, before returning to his phone call. "What the hell do you mean the part's not in?!"

Letty rolled her eyes with a light smile, taking that as her cue to get back to work. While working on the two cars she assigned for the next hour, she realized that she and Dom hadn't had a moment's time alone together since she'd gotten back.

Did they have sex? God yes! And it was the best kind too-ravenous. Having worked all day in a garage, then making money at the races, and parties, they barely had the time. So when a day like today happens, they get it in when they can. Doing it on the hood of a Ferrari last week had been the highlight of her month.

She knew money was tight. Dom hadn't said it, but the way he kept over booking the garage, being relentless at the races, she knew what was up. And so did everyone else. No one complained about the work they had to do, they just got it done.

But today was one of the worst. All of these last minute jobs were killing them. For the past two nights, they'd been living in this garage, turning water into wine. They needed a break.

"Guys, I brought take out!" Mia called from the garage entrance. The Hallelujah chorus sang as everything at the garage paused. The clanking of tools could be heard as they marched toward sustenance.

Mia bringing lunch and dinner was the only thing Dom didn't fuss over. There was no point-Mia would certainly read him the riot act, calling him an automotive slave driver.

Usually, everyone just took their share and split, but today it seemed the team wanted to be as far away from the garage as possible; so everyone gathered in the back. Leon and Vince made a makeshift table of an old door on stacked tires. Letty and Jesse grabbed stools and they sat down. Mia went to pull Dom away from work.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm fucking tired." Jesse complained quietly. Letty, Vince and Leon just stared at him. Of all three of them, he had the least amount of work.

"Cyber porn must take a lot out of you." Vince teased. Leon cracked up, giving Vince a pound. Letty just smiled as Jesse frowned, giving them the finger.

Dom had arrived, sitting at the head of the table next to Letty, as Mia put the dinner on the table and sat on the other end by Vince.

"So what we eatin' baby girl?" Leon asked hungrily. Mia smiled, "Indian."

A chorus of groans went around the table. No one liked Indian. Vince glared at Mia. "What? Fat burger went out of business?"

"You could go swallow piston rings, bolts and gears springs with a nice cup of engine grease." She suggested sweetly. Vince shut up.

Dom opened the containers to find out that it wasn't in fact Indian. It was Italian. He smiled at his sister. "Thanks sis."

Mia winked at him as the team laughed, delighted to be served something that wasn't going to have them on the toilet for hours.

After Mia said grace, everyone started to dig into their plates. Jesse paused, looking around the table. Letty glanced in his direction. "What's wrong kid?"

Jesse just shrugged. "I just…it's been like two months since we all had Sunday dinner together…I missed it, ya know?"

Everyone paused, shamefully glancing around the table at each other, before Leon finally cracked. "Aww, you miss us pumpkin?"

They laughed, except Dom. Jesse chuckled, before saying, "Nah, it's not like that. I mean, we work, we race, we party, we sleep. Then we do it all over again. I just missed this, ya know?"

It was quite spectacular to notice that the kid with the shortest attention span, focus in on something so important. Everyone felt touched. Quiet as it was kept, they'd missed it too.

"We've missed you too man." Letty shrugged, sending him a smile. Jesse laughed. "Careful Dom, I've got Letty being all sentimental."

"Blow me." Letty spat back, with false anger.

"She's back." Vince retorted, and everyone laughed some more.

"Announcement time!" Leon called out. Announcement time was what they always said what was new, to the table. Good or bad.

"Dom, you first man. Lay it on us." Vince said, knowing he'd been carrying a lot of stress lately.

Dom put his fork down and sighed. "Cops raided our chop shop connect in Orange County. Apparently, we've been winning too much and Giving them too much attention."

There was a string of curses around the table. "So what now?" Mia asked.

"Up the price of the races." Vince suggested. "Two grand buy in, at least four cars-winner take all."

Dom nodded. It was a start, but it wouldn't last long if they continuously beat every racer that challenged them. They needed something to balance them out.

It was Leon's turn next. "My cousin boosted a cop car last week. And check this-he gave me the radio scanner. I can know any cop's position before a race. No more blind spots." He said proudly.

"Amen to that. I will not be flying through another wall with Letty the Lethal over there." Mia joked.

But Jesse came to her defense. "That shit was epic!" and the boys applauded. Letty rolled her eyes but smiled.

Dom nodded towards Vince. "Your turn."

Vince shrugged. "I thought I'd gotten this redhead pregnant from a month ago. False alarm." His information caused the team to almost choke on their food. Mia eyed him. "WHAT?!"

"I said it was a false alarm!" Vince said again, trying to ease everyone's panic. "What about you? Don't you have something interesting to share with the rest of the class?"

Mia scowled at him and Dom watched her. "You're hiding something." He looked to Letty. "What is it."

Letty held up her hands innocently. "She doesn't tell me shit anymore. Ever since I let it slip about Jordan-"

"By which you STILL aren't forgiven." Mia interrupted, with a brief attitude, before punching Vince in the arm.

"Mia." Dom sent a warning tone for her to spit it out. Mia sighed. "Nothing came of it."

Vince decided to spill the beans. "She got an offer by the owner of 4Play Gentleman's Club."

"WHAT?!" Dom roared. 4Play was one of the most expensive strip clubs in Los Angeles.

"I turned him down!" Mia defended. Vince snorted. "After keeping his card for a month."

Letty nodded in appreciation. She knew for a fact that you had to be drop dead gorgeous to work there. The owner must have thought Mia pretty special to extend a personal invitation. "Congrats on the offer girl."

Mia smiled at Letty, glad that someone understood. "Thank you!"

"You were going to pass up the opportunity to go to the best school in the state, and 3rd best school in the nation, to be a stripper?!" Dom bellowed, still a bit shocked.

Mia's eyes raised in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Dom's nostrils flared. "Don't play dumb with me. I saw the acceptance letter from Stanford in the trash. Even though you tried to hide it by ripping your name off."

When he saw the letter two months ago, he'd been so proud. After high school, he'd agreed to give her time off because she deserved it, but college was still on the table. He'd been meaning to talk to her about it, but all hell had broken loose not too soon afterwards.

Leon chuckled at the memory of seeing the same letter. "Oh nah, Dom. That wasn't Mia who got accepted. It was Letty."

Letty's eyes grew big as saucers as she kicked him under the table. He promised that he wouldn't say anything! Dom turned to Letty, and she began to fidget under his withering albeit startled, stare.

She just fiddled with her pasta, sending daggers straight for Leon's balls. Motherfucker. She thought.

"Let, you got into Stanford?" Mia asked, delightfully surprised. How could she not know this? Hadn't they been living under the same roof for two years?

"Wait," Vince said confused "…don't you gotta be smart to get in there?"

Dom cut him a glare, before turning his attention back to Letty. "She is smart." Despite Letty's best efforts, she blushed.

"But...don't you have to be...I dunno, like really smart?" he pressed not knowing how to express his words without sounding like a dick. He thought Letty had dropped out of school.

"She was a candidate for valedictorian in high school before she dropped out." Mia offered, clearing up some confusion. "And she made the dean's list three years in a row."

"Mia!" Letty barked a warning for her to shut it. Mia just raised a brow with a smirk. "An eye for an eye sis." Payback was a bitch.

"Letty a genius, no shit!" Jesse appraised with a smile. "Why didn't you tell us?" Vince asked.

Feeling uncomfortable at all the attention, Letty lifted a shoulder, before she hardened up. "Because there was nothing to tell. I wasn't going to go. I only wanted to see if I could get in."

"So you just filled out that long ass application and wrote that extensive essay on Da Vinci vs. the Mechanical Mind for shits and giggles?" Leon ratted.

The scowl Letty cut Leon made him swallow-hard. "I will fucking kill you, Leon. Swear to God." She threatened. Vince eyed him suspiciously. "How do you know so much about it?"

"Uh… "Leon said refusing to look back at Letty. "…because I let her use my laptop to write it." She'd forgotten to delete it from the recycle bin.

Mia appeared hurt. "And you didn't tell me?"

Not wanting to linger on the subject, Letty warned them all, "Drop it. NOW."

The table grew quiet again. Dom spared each one of them a glance lingering on Letty the longest. She exhaled, knowing that the topic of her and school was far from over.

"No more work on Sundays." Dom declared after a thought. It seemed too much had happened in the past two months- too much for him not to know. They needed family Sundays back. "Salute Mi Familia."

Cheers went around the table.

After everyone had gotten back to work, Jesse approached Dom back in the office. "H-hey man, can I talk to you about something?"

Dom raised a brow. This was new. Jesse usually only talked to Leon or Letty. "What's on your mind Einstein."

"Well you know my dad went to jail earlier this year for boostin.'" Jesse said.

Dom sighed. "Jesse, if you thank me one more time for crashing' on my couch-"

Jesse shook his head. "No, no! I was gonna say my cousin's husband is a dispatcher for Mack trucks. He knows the invoices of each one. So I was thinking..."

"You wanna boost a Mack truck." Dom finished. That was it-his salvation-he could feel it. And it was coming from the kid who slept on his couch.

"It was my dad's last idea, before he got caught. I did the math for it. It's pretty simple shit and we got the right amount of people..." Jesse hunched his shoulders, not sure if he was going to get chewed out or laughed at.

Dom folded his arms over his chest. "I'm listening..."


Later that night, after Dom had closed up shop, drove home. No races tonight. The team just chilled-Sunday tradition.

Vince, Leon and Jesse were all on the couch, debating which movie to watch, while Mia hummed to herself, making them bowls of ice cream.

He made his way upstairs to his bedroom, where Letty was on their bed, removing her boots.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey." he responded simply.

With a huff Letty got up from the bed. "So that's it? You're not going to ride my ass."

"I was planning on you riding me-later." Dom informed her casually, as he took off his worker shirt. "But I thought we agreed no more secrets. So the question is," he continued turning to her, "…when were you going tell me?"

"About the same time you were planning to tell me that we're 30,000$ in the hole." Letty countered, crossing her arms.

Dom just stared in puzzlement for a moment before he acknowledged that she was right. 'Damn…' he swore mentally.

"The constant phone calls, late part orders, over time at the shop." She listed, "A 2g buy-in isn't going to cut it. It would need to be at least five to keep us above water. Besides the way we smoke 'em already, there wouldn't be any that could afford us." Letty told him, doing the math in her head.

"Unbelievable." Dom just shook his head in wonder. "All that intellect, and you're wasting your time doing oil changes and tune up jobs with me."

"I don't need a damn piece of paper, to validate me, Dom." She argued. "I know who I am."

"But you had a chance to get the hell out of here! To do something with yourself- but you'd rather stay here with you fucking head in the sand!" He snapped. "Look around, there ain't much goin on!"

Dom refused to believe that this is what she truly wanted; drowning in a river of debt beside him, going nowhere fast.

"Just because I don't have a degree doesn't mean my life is worthless!" Letty snapped. Calming down a bit, she said " I have everything I need right here."

"I doubt it." Dom said, and went into the bathroom, to have a shower. He closed the door behind him.

Letty fell back on the bed with a frustrated growl. She wanted to punch him. Dom could be such an idiot sometimes. Couldn't he see this is where she wanted to be? If it wasn't by his side, then to hell with it. They'd gone through too much shit, for it to be any other way. She promised she wouldn't leave, and she had no regrets about turning down Stanford. Maybe that's what he needed to hear.

Stripping down to her birthday suit, she went into the bathroom. She'd found Dom under the spray, letting the heat wash away all his stress.

She stepped into the shower, wrapping her arms around his waist, resting her head on his back. "You don't always have to be such a touch guy ya know." She told him quietly.

Dom scoffed, before turning around, meeting her gaze. Cupping her face, his voice timber and mellow. "I don't want you giving up anything. Not for me."

"'Ride or die'" she quoted. "I didn't choose to miss out on my dreams. I chose not to leave my family."

"I don't deserve you, you know that?" He asked her, running his hands down her slick body.

"Yes you do." Letty told him. "We deserve each other."

"I've fucked up so much already. I don't want to lose anything else." Dom confessed, tiredly.

Letty nodded, understanding. "You won't. We're in this together-all of us."

"You sure this is what you want?" He asked, meaning the simplistic, next to shit life they currently had.

Letty answered with a passionate and well arousing kiss. Dom took that as a yes.

EOC


Trivia: The Dom and Letty romance wasn't in the original script for The Fast and the Furious. I guess we're a little luckier than we thought!

A/N: Thank for reading- this one of my lighter and a bit funnier chapters. I'm glad for so many reviews and posts and comments (criticizing or complimenting). Special thanks to the viewers who reviewed, who actually UNDERSTAND the characters that I'm attempting to create! I'm so glad somebody is riding the wave right!

-R.