And in this chapter, we've got the meeting! And, as I've told a couple of you, it's stretched out over two chapters, and that's because there's a lot to fit in. Does that sound promising? ;) On with the chapter!
"You got this," Gisele said to Letty as they walked up the footpath to the Toretto house, where Brian and Mia were now living. Gisele and Han had come in a separate car from Letty, and she had arrived a couple of minutes before then and was waiting for them to pull up behind them. "Just don't let on how much you're affected by it—be a hard ass."
"You talk too much," Han noted, nudging her in the side.
"Damn right you do," Letty huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. Gisele made a face at the pair of them as she reached the front door and rapped her knuckles against the wood. Letty glanced around the front yard. The barbecue was covered in meat and slices of onion, with a couple of beers scattered over the picnic table. She was about to warn Gisele to take a step back, but then thee door was swinging open and there were about ten people crammed into the kitchen.
"Welcome back!" Came the shouts of everyone in the room, their combined voices creating an almost deafening volume. Gisele stepped aside to let the group surround Letty and cover her in kisses and hugs. Han raised his eyebrows across at his girlfriend, who just grinned in response.
"Are you wearing make up?" Jesse scrunched up his nose. "You look like such a girl."
"That's because I am a girl, ass swipe," Letty muttered, but her head was buried in his shoulder and she was grinning at the younger boys words.
"Yeah, douchebag," Leon rolled his eyes and grabbed Letty's hand, pulling her over to him and wrapping his arms around her and giving her a tight squeeze. "Good to have you back," he told her, before letting her go and passing her onto Vince. Mia and Rosa gave her hugs as well, even though they had already recently seen her.
"That's him," Gisele murmured as a man entered the kitchen, holding back a little in the doorway. Han nodded in recognition and then turned to smile at Mia, who was leaning into give him a greeting hug and kiss.
Letty swallowed hard as the attention purposefully shifted from her to Gisele and Han, probably to give her and Dom a second alone. God, he looked so good in jeans and a white wife beater. Letty had to swallow hard to try and keep her composure—Dom definitely looked a lot calmer than he had the other night.
"Hey," Letty managed to get out.
"Hey," Dom gave her a tight smile and leaned forward to give her a stiff, one armed hug. He smelt a little different, undoubtedly he was wearing a different type of cologne to what he had when he was nineteen. There was also a softer smell—a baby smell, and then there was the underlying scent that was Dom.
Just plain Dom.
That made her heart ache.
"We should probably get back out there before the food gets cold," Vince piped up. The boys all shouted in agreement and headed out the back door, dragging Han along with him. Dom looked as though he was going to join them, but then there was a squeal and a cry from the lounge and he disappeared through the doorway. Letty felt like she was frozen to the spot as both Mia and Gisele gave her an encouraging nod. She followed after Dom, stopping a few feet away from where he was crouching beside his daughter.
She was absolutely beautiful.
She had these big brown eyes that were framed with these incredibly long eyelashes, and this thick mop of hair, which was beginning to curl at the ends.
Letty thought that she might actually be sick.
"Oh," Dom gave her a surprised look when he saw her squatting behind him, and swallowed hard before looking down at his daughter. "Letty, this is Hadley," he looked down at Hadley, his face instantly softening. "Hadley, baby, this is Letty." The little girl turned her big eyes up toward Letty, who smiled down at her.
"Hey, Hadley," she said, her voice shaky but soft as she reached out for the girl with an open palm. Hadley looked up at her quizzically for a few seconds before reaching down to pat Letty's hand with her own warm palm. She let out a giggle and pulled back, throwing her arms out to Dom. She was so small that even with both of her hands on either side of Dom's arm didn't make it all the way around. He grinned down at her and made a face, which set her off in another round of giggles. Letty looked between the two of them with a small smile at how natural the two of them looked together.
It was a sweet scene.
And yet she was now almost positive that she was going to be sick.
"She's going to be walking soon," Dom said, almost as though to himself. "And that's going to be scary." Letty watched for another minute before standing up and smoothing out her shirt and turning back to look toward the kitchen where Mia, Gisele and Rosa were bustling around and pretending not to pay any attention to the pair. The key word being 'pretending', and not very well either. Letty didn't have a cute little bundle to distract her like Dom did, and she could see right through their charade.
"She's gorgeous, right?" Mia sounded completely head over heels in love with her niece.
"She's beautiful," Letty agreed, quickly turning away from the touching scene in the lounge and distracting herself by helping Mia with the salad. "I never really imagined Dom being good with kids," she mumbled as she went to work, shredding a couple leaves of lettuce. The other woman in the kitchen exchanged looks but they didn't say anything.
The rest of the afternoon went by without a hitch. Letty and Dom managed to avoid each other without looking too obvious about it. Han and Gisele fit in well with Letty's old team and it didn't take long before everything fell back into place, like it had been all those years ago.
Leon and Jesse were still jackasses, going on loudly about the girls they had been with last night, comparing conquests. Vince attempted to join the lewd conversations, but received a slap upside the head from Rosa. Dom didn't join in at all, which was definitely different. Even though he never disrespected Letty like that, he would still jibe the other boys on.
To be honest, Dom didn't do all that much talking at all.
Then again, it's not like this was easy—especially for him and Letty.
By the time six o'clock rolled around, Letty was feeling a lot more comfortable. Han and Gisele left for their dinner reservation, and Vince and Rosa headed off shortly after. It was actually pretty adorable to see gruff ol' Vince completely doting on the curl haired girl. She had known Rosa back in school, but they hadn't run in the same circles, but she had always seemed nice.
Clearly, Vince had branched out.
"Come on, bro," Leon nudged Dom's arm. "Been a while since I kicked your ass at GTA." Dom rolled his eyes in a long suffering way and didn't look as though he was too keen to get up from the comfortable outdoor couch that he was sitting in. Hadley had been keeping him busy for most of the day, she seemed over tired and just wanted her daddy. It was almost seven, and Mia had just managed to get her down to sleep.
"You scared?" Jesse teased, joining in with Leon's teasing. Dom raised his eyebrows at the pair.
"What are you guys—twelve?" He asked, but there was a grin creeping onto his face.
"You guys go inside," Mia told them, giving Brian a push with her hip. "Me and Letty can clean up." The boys—including Dom—including took the opportunity to get out of the dishes and headed up into the house. The sun was sinking and the temperature was cooling down as Mia and Letty began picking up all the plates and utensils. Despite the amount of food that had been put out, everything had gone except for one piece of crusty bread, which Letty snagged and took a bite out of.
"You feeling better?" Mia asked, her voice low as the two girls started scraping the scraps off the plates and dump it into the bin.
"That obvious, huh?" Letty gave her a rueful grin and Mia rolled her eyes at her best friend.
"You're kidding, right?" Mia laughed. "I was there when you and Dom were caught making out in the bathroom by dad before you told him you were together—you had the same face as you had when walking up today." Letty cringed and ran her hand through her hair, a nervous habit that she had picked up over the years. Mia let out another laugh and slung an arm around Letty's shoulder and leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek. "It's gonna be fine. I'm so fucking glad that you're back!"
"Language, girl," Letty muttered. "There's a kid in the house now."
"That's why we have a swear jar," Mia winced. "Don't tell Brian."
"You know my mouth is dirtier than yours. I'll probably end up paying more than you," Letty made a face and then glanced toward the stairs. "I'm just gonna pee and then I can help with the dishes."
"Anything to get out of washing!" Mia accused as Letty headed toward the stairs.
"My mama told me to stick to my strengths," Letty called over her shoulder with a smirk. "And I'm a pro dryer!" Mia grumbled under her breath as her friend disappeared upstairs. It was only half a minute before Dom wandered into the kitchen, an empty beer bottle in his hand, Mia glanced at him sideways as she plunged her hands into the hot soapy water and started scrubbing at the first plate.
"What are you creeping for?" The youngest Toretto asked, breaking the silence after a few minutes.
"I'm not creeping," Dom protested as he dropped his glass beer bottle into the recycling bin and then grabbed another one out of the fridge. Mia gave him a knowing look and his eyes widened defensively. "I'm not!" He repeated.
"Right," Mia muttered as she looked back at the dishes. Dom was cracking off the lid for his drink when he suddenly heard Hadley wails from upstairs. He sighed and put his beer down on the kitchen table. "Poor girl. She should probably go home so she can settle in for the night."
"Is that my baby's sisters way of kicking me out?" Dom joked and Mia rolled her eyes.
"Take it however you want," she sung out to him. Dom dropped a kiss to her forehead and then jogged up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He walked down the hallway to the end room, the door partially open and Hadley's cries sounding as though they were subsiding inside the dark room. Dom approached thee door and then froze as he heard a soft voice from inside.
"Hey, darling girl," Letty cooed, looking a bit hesitant as she approached the cot in the corner of the room. Hadley had pulled herself up to her feet and was hanging onto the side of the port-a-cot. She was swinging a little unsteadily on her chubby little legs, and she was blinking her wet, long eyelashes up at Letty. "I'm pretty sure you're meant to be asleep." Hadley had stopped crying and was just staring up at Letty with big, inquisitive eyes, her head tilted to the side.
Dom felt his heart thundering in his chest as Letty reached out one of her hands and Hadley smiled angelically, taking one hand off the railing and holding it out to the striking Latina. Letty seemed to make up her mind, because she closed the distance and picked the little girl up.
So, so, so, so? Do we like it?
Did I do okay?
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And I'll send you a preview, if you want x
