Summary: After intense bullying left her venturing into the vicious world of self-harm, Letty is checked into one of LA's best clinics. What awaits will change her life forever. Dotty. Multi-chap.

Thank you sooo much for your reviews. Now it's time for Letty to face the music, enjoy!


Sunday 21st September 2014 (continued)

"Oh my God, is this ever going to end?" Letty said, resting her head on the outside rim of the toilet seat.

"In a few days, it will all be over," Neela assured her, rubbing her back comfortingly and sweeping a few stray strands of hair from her face.

"Can you undo my hair? It's starting to ache my head and my life is so depressing."

"Ache your head? Nobody but a drunk person comes up with something like that. I think you need to go to sleep."

"You think I need to? I know I need to but I can't stop being sick," Letty replied, leaning over the toilet again to gag.

Neela started to thread her fingers through Letty's hair and pull out the Kirby grips. Chucking them onto the side, she unravelled Letty's bun and picked up the hairbrush.

"I think I'm finished now," Letty commented, going to stand up.

Neela grabbed Letty underneath her arms and helped her. It had seemed that since she had started walking, the alcohol had sunk in and she couldn't stand upright unattended. Neela herself suspected that Letty's drink had been alcoholic and didn't taste it because the non alcoholic drinks were meant to taste like the originals. It was an easy mistake for a bartender to make when they were dealing with so many people.

"Okay, where are your pyjamas?"

"On my bed, or under my bed, or something relating to my bed. They just live wherever."

"So helpful," Neela mumbled under her breath. Flushing the chain and the closing the lid, Neela sat Letty down on the toilet before going into her bedroom to find her clothes. Throwing back the bedcovers, Neela looked before ducking down to search under the bed. Sticking her hand under, she grabbed onto a piece of cloth and pulled it out. Seeing a crumpled up pair of shorts and a vest top, she carried them into the bathroom.

"Stand up and turn around," she told Letty. Letty complied. "Are you capable of getting dressed while I grab a glass of water for you from the main area?"

"Yeah, you make it sound like I can't walk in a straight line and I have no sense of direction."

"Letty, do you not remember that less than half an hour ago, you walked into a door and then tripped over an invisible dwarf as you put it?"

Letty pulled a face. "Just go and get me some water. I'll get changed and tuck myself into bed while you do that."

Neela looked at Letty suspiciously before turning on her heel and walking out. As she headed towards the water fountain, Sofia came jogging down the corridor. "Neela, Neela. Wait up a minute."

"Hi, Sofia. Has everything calmed down now?" Neela asked, grabbing a cup from the dispenser and holding it for the time being.

"I think so. I don't think many people saw what happened but I know I have to sort all this out."

"I don't think she drank on purpose. I can see how one of the bartenders could have given her an alcoholic drink, you know. The amount of people and the lighting was a bit dark. I don't think you can concretely say that Letty put herself in this situation."

"I'd like to hope so. She tried so hard to control her behaviour," Sofia agreed. "I'll have a word with the staff in the morning and see. Just get Letty into bed with a bit of water and we can hopefully clear this whole situation up in the morning. You're more than welcome to come back to the party once she's settled."

"Alright, thank you. I'll probably see you in a bit."

Sofia smiled at Neela before leaving the West Wing and going back to the ballroom. Neela walked back to Letty's room and found her tucked up in bed, covers to her chin and her eyes wide open like a child suffering from nightmares. Giving her the cup, Letty took long gulps before sighing and placing it on her bedside table.

"Are you alright here?" Neela asked, perching on the end of Letty's bed as the brunette snuggled into her covers.

"Yeah, I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright, I'll check on you when I come back. Sleep tight."

Neela got up and quietly closed the door behind. Readjusting her hair and sliding on her heels, she walked off towards the ballroom. Inside the ballroom, the party was in full swing. Tej was owning the decks and the dance floor was filling up as the night went on. Grabbing herself a drink at the bar, Neela waltzed over to the West C table and started up a conversation as if nothing had ever happened.

On the other side of the room, Mia puller her mother aside and pulled her into a hug. Relaxing into her daughter's embrace, Sofia took a deep breath before pulling away.

"Well if you wanted entertainment, you sure provided it," Mia said guiding Sofia to a couple of spare seats.

"Yeah but I didn't want that kind of entertainment. I feel like everything has been a disaster," Sofia replied, an edge of disappointment in her voice.

"No it hasn't," Mia exclaimed. "It's been amazing. We've raised loads of money and everyone is having a good time. I don't think that many people even noticed it anyway because Dom sat her down and let her have some time. It's not like she was sick all over the dance floor."

"True."

"How is she doing?" Mia asked in regards to Letty.

"Neela put her to bed not long ago with a glass of water. She'll probably feel quite bad in the morning but she's adamant that she didn't touch a drop of alcohol willingly. Neela said that they were on non alcoholic drinks all night but she could just be covering for Letty. I really don't know what to believe."

"In my opinion," Mia started. "I don't think Letty would risk so much for the sake of having a bit of alcohol. She doesn't seem the type. And there's nothing on her file that says anything about alcohol abuse or anything like that. Have a word with the bar staff tomorrow and see. It might all just be a big misunderstanding."

"I really hope so," Sofia sighed.


Monday 22nd September 2014

It was seven thirty in the morning when Gisele started pounding on Letty's door. The Israeli woman had been instructed by Sofia to give Letty an emergency session before she started her sessions with West A. Pounding again on the door, Gisele was interrupted by Letty opening the door and glaring intensely at the Israeli woman.

"What do you want?" Letty asked aggressively. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her hair was rumpled.

"You and I need to have a session."

"Why? Last time I checked it was Monday not Wednesday."

"I am aware of that but I think we need to have a little chat about last night. Wednesday's session will resume what we were talking about last time so we need to talk about the ball while we can."

"And you want to do this at seven o' clock in the morning?"

Gisele sighed. "Your session will start at eight. I hope to see you there."

Gisele turned around and walked down the corridor, leaving Letty standing there with her arms across her chest and a scowl on her face. As Gisele walked down the corridor, a smirk came across her face, Letty would be there.

"I see you made it," Gisele remarked half an hour later as Letty took a seat at Gisele's desk. The younger girl was dressed simply and her wet hair was dripping down her back. She was still obviously annoyed at being woken up so early. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

"I guessed that. Shall we go through the evening step by step and see what you remember?"

"If we have to."

"Okay, try not to sound to enthusiastic," Gisele joked. She received a glare for her comedy. "Let's start from the beginning shall we?"

"Me and Neela got ready then we went down for the photos and Sofia's assembly. Me and Neela grabbed a drink then the fundraiser started and then I had a dance with Dom and that's when I started feeling sick."

"How many drinks did you have?"

"I think around four. I didn't knock them back, just took my time and drank them normally and just got one after I finished. Even then I waited a while."

"So in your eyes you drank responsibly?"

"Yes. I don't know how many times I need to tell people that I didn't do anything on purpose."

"Alright, alright." Gisele softened her voice as she used her hands as an indication for Letty to calm down. In her own mind she couldn't see Letty doing something so reckless but then again, she was a teenage girl. "You seem pretty passionate about that."

"My dad was an alcoholic. He treated my mum pretty badly and then left. I know what alcohol does to you and I've been there to witness firsthand what it does to others. I wasn't going to myself or anyone else in that situation."

"I see. Have you explained any of this to Sofia?"

"When have I had the time? I was either being shouted at, being sick or being woken up at half seven to come here." Letty raised her voice slightly. Her dad was a touchy subject and she hated talking about him. "Can I go now?" Letty asked; her hands already on the arms of the chair as if she was ready to move.

"Yes. I'll see you on Wednesday."

Letty left the room hurriedly and Gisele sighed. The session could have gone much better in Gisele's mind but they still had Wednesday to figure some of the other stuff out. Grabbing her notes, Gisele left her office, locking it behind her, and headed towards Sofia's office to give her an update.

"How did it go?" Sofia asked, ushering Gisele inside and offering her a seat.

"Not bad. She seemed annoyed that I woke her up early."

Sofia laughed. "Mia was exactly the same. Apart from that?"

"I don't think she did it. She talked to me about her dad and about how he turned into someone completely different when he was drinking. I think she's too emotionally damaged to even want to think about putting someone else through that, even her worst enemy."

"I'll take that into consideration. I've got a meeting with the bar staff later so I'll make some enquiries. Thanks, Gisele."

"I'll see you later."

At the Toretto household, Dom and Tony were enjoying a rare day off together and had used the time to shoot some hoops in an old net in the back garden. For September the temperatures were doing pretty well, the summer looking like it was going to carry on well into autumn.

"I'm so gonna kick your ass," Tony baited, dribbling the ball down the court.

Blocking him, Dom took the ball, ran round to the other side of the court, and shot in a three pointer. "Your small talk ain't gonna distract me. I've got mad skills."

"Mad skills? Oh dear, and I thought I'd raised you properly. You've been hanging around with Matt too much. Mad skills my ass."

"Oh shut up, old man."

"Hey! How are you calling old?"

"Nobody," Dom said, preparing to take another three pointer from the edge of the D. Truth be told his dad's tactics had nearly caught him out.

"Didn't think so. So I saw you sharing a dance with a lovely lady last night," Tony commented, the pair going over to the bench to sit down.

"We had a dance, that's all."

"With Letty. Our resident drunk," Tony teased, seeing how Dom would react.

"She's not a drunk." Dom quickly leapt to Letty's defence. "She didn't do anything wrong. She was fine when we were dancing and then as soon as we finished she started feeling sick."

Tony stayed silent and took a long gulp from his water bottle. It seemed as if his son was developing an affection for Letty, shown through his defence of her and their weekly training sessions. He could have chosen anyone to be involved in his training programme, yet he chose a teenager who had been admitted to a rehabilitation centre for self-harm whose behaviour was sometimes unpredictable.

"I know what you're thinking, dad. She's too young and she's vulnerable. I've had this all from Roman before and I certainly don't need it again."

"What was Roman doing?" Tony asked, his protective dad instincts kicking in.

"Just telling me to watch out for what I was doing. Things could end up getting messy, I know that."

"Just watch out, I don't need no parents knocking on my door. I had enough of that through your earlier teenage years."


Wednesday 24th September 2014

"I have seen this room far too many times this week already," Letty remarked, taking a seat for the second time in three days in Gisele's office.

"Letty, this is the second time," Gisele said without turning around, grabbing her file from the cabinet before slamming the door shut and taking a seat.

"It's still once more than usual. And I really don't feel like it today."

"Well to make to easier, I'll just start by asking some questions and you can either nod or shake your head, that's it."

Letty raised her eyebrows. She wasn't expecting Gisele to be so relaxed. Nodding her head in agreement, she waited as Gisele jotted down some quick questions and leant back in her chair.

"So, Letty. Are you feeling better now?"

Letty nodded.

"Did you have a nice day off yesterday?"

Letty nodded again.

"The canteen food improved?"

Letty squinted her eyes and semi-glared at Gisele. "Are the questions going to carry on like this?"

"No, but you've done exactly what I wanted you to do."

"What do you mean?" Letty asked. As far as she knew all she had done was nod her head like a dog.

"You realised that when you were saying nothing back, I had nothing interesting to say. I'm not here as your friend or your mum, I am here to talk to you and listen to you so you can overcome this. If you don't talk back to me, there's no point in you coming here. You can try and say that's fine and you'll leave happily but you are enjoying the benefits of not having so much weight on your shoulders."

"I'm not much of a talker," Letty pointed out now seeing what Gisele was getting out. "It's not really one of my strong points."

"We can work on that, we can get to a point where you feel confident talking about your feelings."

"Maybe someday."

"Maybe. Now, how do you think your mum is going to take this whole situation?" Gisele asked.

"She's going to go mental. After everything with my dad, she's going to flip. I won't be able to get a word in edgeways for at least ten minutes."

"Has she ever been restrictive about you drinking before?"

"Not really. She goes with the theory that if I'm allowed to drink moderately when I'm younger, I'll go less crazy when I can legally drink."

"I agree with her. A lot of teenagers that aren't allowed to drink and are restricted completely from drinking before twenty-one seem to go full out. It seems like a massive milestone and they feel the need to celebrate by getting completely hammered. The novelty of drinking wears off after a while," Gisele agreed. She had gone through the same process when she was younger.

"But I feel like I've disappointed her once again and even though I know that I haven't done anything, she won't see it that way."

"I'm sure if you explain to her exactly what happened like you did to me on Monday, you'll get through it."

"I really hope so."

After her session with Gisele ended, Letty went back to her room to take a shower and wait for Neela's session to end. She was putting her hair into a ponytail when Neela knocked on the door, giving a shrug that symbolised 'same as always' when Letty asked her how her session went. Taking a seat, Neela relaxed into Letty's bed and pulled the covers over her legs.

"She annoys me sometimes," Neela started.

"Who?" Letty asked, not taking her eyes off the mirror as she finished her ponytail.

"Gisele. She always feels the need to bring up some kind of shit that just needs to be buried in the past and covered in soil and never, ever in the history of the entire world needs to be exhumed."

"She did that with me this morning as well. Went on about how I need to talk to her and that if I don't I shouldn't bother coming. Then she went on about how whenever I talk to her a weight is lifted off my shoulders. I think she needs to be the one in here sometimes."

"Exactly," Neela agreed. "Did she say anything more about Sunday or did she cover all that in your early morning session on Monday?"

"She brought it up...again. We talked about my mum a bit. I just want to know what happened so that when my mum comes storming in and decides to bite my head off, I have something to tell her."

"Could you imagine what would happen if someone had set you up? Like someone had told the bar staff to spike your drinks. Imagine the scandal. That would be worthy of something on CBS."

"I would kick their ass if they did that. But who have I managed to piss off that much?" Letty asked.

"Amelia?"

"Could you imagine if it was her?"

"I might be able to help with that," a timid voice from the door called. Kaelyn Garrett was the newest member of the centre and had joined only days before the ball. She was small and the volume of her voice matched that. Put in West B, she kept mostly to herself and was often seen with her head in a sketchbook.

"Help in what way?" Letty asked, inviting her into the room with a beckon of her hand.

"I overheard Amelia and another boy talking about how a bit of alcohol would make the evening interesting and about how she wanted to ruin your chances with something to do with a deal you have with Sofia."

"That little bitch," Letty remarked. "Kaelyn, how do you feel about reciting all of that to Sofia? You don't have to if you don't want to, I don't want to pressure you into something-"

"-Honestly, I don't mind. I don't like her anyway, she is horrible to everyone anyway. I don't think there's anyone that would want her to stay."

"Let's go then."

In Sofia's office, the older woman was sitting at her desk with her arms folded over one another as Kaelyn explained what she had just told Letty and Neela. Speaking with confidence, every word convinced Sofia that Amelia was behind it, and that Letty was innocent all along.

"Letty, who served you that night?" Sofia asked.

"I think I heard that his name was TJ but I'm not sure."

"That sounds about right," Kaelyn interjected. "They said about getting TJ in on it."

"Thank you, Kaelyn. You've been very helpful. Girls, take a seat." Once Kaelyn had left, Sofia continued. "Now I have heard Kaelyn's side of the story, I need to know if you are willing to an accusation against Amelia. But I want to say to you now that if you do, it could turn out to be very messy."

"I understand that but I'm not letting her get away with it. If she's done this, she's going to pay for what she's done. As well as whomever she was talking to. They had a part in this too."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely."


Thursday 25th September 2014

Lena quickly stopped her car before grabbing her bag and sliding out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her. She had just listened to the voicemail on her house phone from the centre about Letty being involved in some drunken behaviour. Her phone had been snatched on a recent trip outside of town and she had only just got back. She had listened to it the day before but had decided to sleep on it so she didn't get the wrong end of the stick. But she woke up feeling the same way and had jumped in the car as soon as she had the chance.

"I'd like to speak with my daughter," Lena shouted as she stormed into reception. Her bag was swinging furiously from her arm and her eyes were in narrow slits.

"If you'd like to calm down for a second please. Who is your daughter?"

"Leticia Ortiz, West C."

"Okay, hold on a second." Marcia typed for a second before a regretful look crossed her face. "I'm sorry but she is currently in a lesson, if you'd like to wait fifteen minutes until it finishes and then we can go from there."

"Well, I'm sorry but I don't think you're listening to the seriousness of my voice. I want to see my daughter now. And if she is not brought to me in the next five minutes I will go in there myself and get her. Do you understand?"

"Okay, I'll give Sofia a ring and see if she is available to come and talk to you."

"Do it quickly," Lena snapped.

Marcia picked up the phone and dialled Sofia. "I'm sorry to disturb you Sofia but a Ms Ortiz is here. She is requesting to speak to her daughter but Letty is in lessons at the moment, I wondered if you would be available to talk to her. Yeah? Brilliant, I'll see you in a couple of minutes."

"Is she coming?"

"Yes."

Sofia came around the corner moments later and redirected Lena to her office. She could already tell from Lena's hard face and if she were to breathe a little harder, Sofia could almost swear that smoke would come out her nose.

"This is an unexpected visit, Lena. Do what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I was out of town earlier this week and my phone was taken by a stranger. I was unable to contact the centre to inform you but I figured that gathering you are a top class centre, I would have no problems and no need to speak to you. That was until I came home yesterday to find a voicemail from your receptionist telling me that Letty had been involved with alcohol and had to be taken out of the ball. I would like to know what happened."

Marcia knocked on the door. "I've got Letty for you." The younger girl ducked her head and avoided her mother's eyes as she shuffled into the room and sat down on the chair next to Lena.

"You and I will be having words after this," Lena whispered to Letty.

"Lena, while I am sure that you are angry about how the situation has been presented to you, it does not give you the authority to come in here, a place of rehabilitation, and disrupt Letty's lessons."

"Oh no, don't start with me. For someone that allowed my seventeen year old daughter to drink so much that she was sick repeatedly, I don't think you have much room to talk."

"Okay, okay. I see your point and I am sorry that it ended up the way it did. I take full responsibility for that. But you have to understand that I cannot keep an eye on fifty patients while interacting with the rest of the guests."

"I should think so," Lena said, ignoring the last part of Sofia's small speech.

"Mum," Letty hissed.

"Letty, I am not very happy with you. What on earth were you thinking? Has your childhood not taught you enough about drinking?"

"Don't you dare bring that up. You have no right. I did nothing wrong, I didn't ask for alcohol in any shape or form that night."

"Then how do you explain your drunken antics? Or were you just showing off to your friends? Trying to make yourself look big in front of them?"

"Of course not." Letty raised her voice. "You really don't have any faith in me do you?"

"It has nothing to do with how much faith I have in you. I am dealing with the facts here. I had faith in your father and we all know how that turned out, don't we?"

"That's not fair, mum, and you know it. That was nothing to do with me."

"Look," Sofia started, gaining both of the Ortiz woman's attentions. "We believe that another girl in the centre who has a grudge against Letty arranged a deal of some sort with one of the bar staff to give Letty alcohol. At this present moment, we haven't spoken to her about it so I'd appreciate it if you kept it quiet until we have the chance."

"I'll keep quiet but I want this sorted. If Letty was set up I want to know as soon as possible. I'll leave my new number with your receptionist. Letty, we'll talk about this in private when we're next both available."

"Okay."

"I'll see you later." Lena leaned over to give Letty a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room. Letty gave a sigh as Sofia gave her warm smile.

"It'll be alright," Sofia assured.

After giving her number to reception, Lena headed home. She had three hours until she was due at work so she thought she would get some housework done. While Letty wasn't there, the work load was considerably less and she was free to blast her 80's music as loud as she wanted to. Pulling out of the car park, her fingers were tapping along to the radio and her head was banging slightly.

"I hate all people sometimes," Lena said as some pedestrians crossed the road after the green man had turned back to red. "Why do they have to do that?"

Feeling a sudden hunger in her stomach, Lena pulled over to a corner shop to get some chocolate. Paying for it and grabbing a magazine to read later, she left the shop. However, pulling out into the road, a car pulled in front of her and she slammed on the breaks.

"Asshole!" Sighing to herself, Lena calmed herself and got over the shock before driving home. Pulling in her drive, she was waved over to her neighbour's house by the old man that lived there.

"Ah, Lena. Did you have a good time away?" He asked, sitting her down before flicking on the kettle.

"It was rather good considering it was work. How have things been back here?"

"Not bad. I actually have a parcel for you that came the other day. I signed it for you, I hope you don't mind."

"No, no, no. That's brilliant. Thank you. You've saved me a trip into town."

The old man smiled. "I'm glad I've helped you. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Actually, if you don't mind I better not. I've got the cleaning to do and then I'm back off to work but I'll definitely come round at some point in the next week."

"Okay, let me get that parcel for you."

Lena left the house with the parcel under her arm. Unlocking her door, she dropped the parcel on the table before going into the kitchen and grabbing a pair of scissors. Ripping open the packaging, Lena gasped, a hand coming to her mouth. It was a picture of her and Carlos, on their wedding day. A chuckle from behind the hallway curtains caught her attention.

"Carlos," she whispered.

"Hello, Lena," her estranged husband greeted.


R&R