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 for your reviews. I don't have a chapter for Dotty FM this time I'm afraid. I've started it but it's not finished yet so you'll get it with Chapter Eleven. Enjoy :)
Previously
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 form behind the hallway curtains caught her attention.
"Carlos," she whispered.
"Hello, Lena," her estranged husband greeted.
Thursday 25th September 2014
"What are you doing here," Lena asked, edging slightly backwards as she tightened her grip on the scissors.
"My sweet, Lena," Carlos drawled. "You don't need to be scared, I'm not here to hurt you."
"Then why are you here? I haven't heard from you for years."
"I didn't come back for you, I came back for my daughter. So that I can take her away from all this and to somewhere safe. She doesn't want to be there, she's not that kind of girl."
"Your daughter? Your daughter?" Lena repeated. She stepped forward, the scissors becoming her defence as she got closer to him. "You are not her father, you abandoned her. You abandoned both of us. And how do you know what kind of girl she is? You haven't seen her in twelve years; you're not allowed an opinion."
"I want to see my daughter, I don't care what it takes. I want to see her and I want to talk to her."
"It's not happening Carlos, no way."
Lena stood with her face directly in front of Carlos'. With every word she had slowly inched forward, still holding the scissors in a firm grip as she made her journey. Despite being dwarfed by Carlos, she stood her ground and maintained eye contact while he grumbled under her breath.
"Just go home, Carlos," Lena said, breaking the silence that had come with the start of their staring competition.
"No, not until I see Letty."
"You're not seeing her, end of."
Carlos chuckled lightly, he should have seen Lena's resistance coming. "You always were making it difficult for me."
"Me? Think about how difficult it was for me to be left on my own, think about how difficult it was for me to tell our five year old daughter that I didn't know where her daddy was."
2002
"Mama?" Letty called, running into the kitchen. Lena sighed at her daughter's muddy trousers and her French plait had been pulled apart.
"Yes, sweetie?"
"Where's daddy?"
"I don't know darling. Is he under the table?" Lena pulled the cloth up and looked. Shaking her head, she looked at Letty. "No, what about under the stairs, do you want to have a look?"
Truth be told, Lena didn't know where her husband was. She had heard him get up in the early hours of morning but just assumed he was going to the toilet so she went back to sleep. In the morning when he wasn't there, she had started to worry. It wasn't like him to leave the house before Lena had dropped Letty off at school and gone to work. Concerned, she had called him several times but he never answered.
"He's not there," Letty replied, running back towards Lena. "Where has he gone?"
"Maybe he's gone out with his friends for a bit."
"Without me?" Letty said, her face dropping at the thought of her daddy leaving her.
"Yeah, sorry, baby." Lena was more than worried now. It would be an understatement to say Carlos had a mild drinking problem but after a few bouts of uncontrollable behaviour, Lena had called on him to get his act together and he had. He had stopped hanging around with certain people and he was making an effort to spend more time with his family. But there was always a chance of a relapse and that was exactly what Lena feared.
"Come on, it's time for bed," Lena had called a few hours later. She had pushed Carlos to the back of her mind and focussed on Letty, feeding her and getting her ready for bed. She was now snuggled up on the sofa with a teddy watching cartoons.
"I can't go to bed now. I have to wait for daddy. I need my bedtime kiss."
"Daddy isn't here at the moment, maybe tomorrow," Lena suggested.
"No. I want it now."
"I'm not going to argue with you. Bed."
"You can't make me."
Lena raised her eyebrows. Where had she heard that from? "Leticia, you've got five seconds. One...Two...Three...Four..."
"I want my daddy."
"You can't have him. He's not here."
Letty's bottom lip started to quiver. Tears formed in her eyes and Lena quickly rushed forward to comfort her. "I want my daddy," Letty repeated again.
"I know, sweetie, I know. I want him too."
Thursday 25th September 2014 (Continued)
"You wanted me to change, I wasn't prepared to make that sacrifice," Carlos defended, putting some space between Lena and himself as he paced the living room.
"I wanted you to make an effort for our daughter. She was five, clueless, wanted her daddy. How could you do that to her?"
"You wanted me to change," Carlos roared, beginning to get angry. "I was happy with who I was and you just couldn't wait to ruin that. You brought this all on yourself."
"Don't turn this on me. Oh wait, you always do. You could never take responsibility for what you did. Anything, everything, always my fault. Come to think of it I was better off without you anyway." By now, Lena was shouting at the same volume as Carlos. Her arms were shaking with anger and her eyes were throwing daggers in Carlos' direction.
"I will be seeing Letty soon and you can't stop." Carlos lowered his voice again and headed towards the door. "I'll be applying for custody as well for when she gets out."
"How do you plan on doing that?" Lena asked; wonderstruck. "You don't even know when she's getting out."
"I'll find out soon enough. I have more than a few people willing to help me."
"It's not happening and I will do everything in my power to stop you from even coming within a mile of her."
"You do make me laugh, Lena. Thinking you're all strong and powerful, untouchable. When really all I need to do is give you a little push and you're over like a little girl in a playground."
"Well this little girl is a lot stronger than you remember and if even you do manage to push her down, she'll get right back up again."
"We'll see about that."
"I guess we will."
Carlos gave Lena one last glare before turning and walking out of the house. He slammed the door behind him and Lena finally relaxed onto the sofa, her head in her hands.
"Son of a bitch."
Friday 26th September 2014
News of Amelia's involvement in Letty's antics at the ball had spread fast after Kaelyn's statement to Sofia. While they had promised to keep the information quiet, someone had overheard Sofia talking to Suki about it and now everybody knew. Not knowing the whole story, several rumours had been created; some saying how Amelia had spiked Letty's food while others were saying that someone else had dropped powder into Letty's drink. From the rumours Letty had heard, none of them were any closer to getting the truth, despite the fact everyone else was clubbing together and swapping information.
"I'm glad I can breathe a new air of excitement into the centre," Letty commented. It was lunchtime and Neela, Kaelyn and Letty were sitting around their usual table.
"You've certainly giving them a talking point," Kaelyn agreed. Letty and Neela had welcomed her to their table and she was proving to be quite a character.
"I wonder what's going to happen to her," Neela inputted. "She can't possibly come off with nothing but a warning. I've got my fingers crossed that she'll be out of here soon."
"Maybe. But this is here to help people and give people a second chance."
"She's had more than her fair share of seconds chances. She must be on at least eleven."
"If she's not gone in the next week there's definitely some favouritism going around. I heard that her parents are loaded."
"I heard that one too," Letty agreed. "Apparently they've invested in a lot of stocks and shares over the years."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they're paying extra for her to be here." Kaelyn and Letty both nodded in agreement. As the bell went, they both left to go to lessons while Kaelyn headed back to the West Wing. She had had her therapy session with Gisele that morning and now had the rest of the day off to study or revise. Of course that never happened but nobody needed to know.
Kaelyn was Los Angeles born and raised and had come into self-harming aged just thirteen. Her parents had split up when she was ten and after her mother's spiral into depression, she had been forced to look after her younger brother and sister. Aged twelve, her grandmother had took her and her siblings while her mother was hospitalised and while she maintained regular contact with her dad, she experienced some dark times and was led into the world of self-harm.
"See you later." Neela and Letty both waved to Kaelyn as she walked off in the other direction.
In her office, Sofia was gathering everything she needed to know before making an official accusation against Amelia. She was happy with Kaelyn's statement but it wouldn't be enough to secure a win if it went to court. She had arranged a meeting with all the bar staff individually and she was expecting TJ, the one Kaelyn had mentioned, next.
"Mrs Toretto, it's nice to see you again," TJ greeted, taking a seat.
"Nice to see you too. Tea? Coffee?"
"No thank you. I'm not really a hot drinks kind of person. I prefer a cold beer."
"My son is the same." Sofia smiled, pulling out a picture of Letty. "As you may have heard, there were some issues at the ball and I'm talking to each of your colleagues individually. Did have any contact with Letty Ortiz that night?"
"Yes. I served her quite a few times actually. Non-alcoholic woo woos, the girl and her friend have good taste."
"They do. But this is where our problem lies, we believe that Letty became ill after drinking an excess of alcohol. Now, if your story is how you say it is, it does not put you in a good position. Would you like to add anything? Such as who asked you to do it?"
"I think I'm missing something here. You think that firstly, I spiked Letty's drink in order to get her drunk and secondly that someone paid me to do it?"
"So someone did ask you to do it?"
"Where have you got that from?"
"You just asked me if someone paid you to do it. I asked if someone asked you. So who was it?"
"That's just how it came out," TJ defended. "I didn't actually mean it like that."
"But it still came out the same. So I'll ask again, who asked, or paid, you to spike Letty's drink?"
"I admit to spiking Letty's drink, I admit to adding alcohol to her cocktail. But I am not telling you who asked me to. That goes against everything."
"Goes against everything in the 'bro code' or against everything that your job provides you with? Like your house and your car. Look, I am willing to give a little here and cut you a deal of some sort. You tell me who it was and, if any, who they were involved with. For that, I will keep this quiet from your boss and from whoever it was that asked you."
"How do I know that you are going to keep your end of the deal?"
"Because this is all recorded." Sofia pulled out a Dictaphone from behind the vase showed TJ. " And you are more than welcome to have this audio afterwards."
"Okay. Michael Henderson and his girl, Amelia. They have a grudge against Letty. It's not the first time they've used me like this. But before you judge it's never drugs, always alcohol, just a little bit more than they usually have, that's it and Letty is the first underage."
"Okay, thank you. You can go."
TJ left and Sofia breathed a sigh and relaxed into her seat. Running her hands over her face and through her hair, she took a deep breath before throwing herself back into a seating position and grabbing her phone.
"Hi, Owen. It's Sofia."
"Hello, how are you?"
"I'm good but exhausted. I've been having meetings with some of the staff from Sunday. I would like to confirm Letty's presence at your taster day."
"That's brilliant. She deserves it."
"Alright. I've got to go but I'll ring you up soon to find out about times and days and all of that."
"Okay, I'll speak to you then. Go tell Letty the good news, she'll be awfully pleased."
Sofia hung up and gathered a few of her things. Heading down to Spanish, she greeted Elena before asking to take Letty out of the class. With a curious look, Elena granted permission and Sofia pulled Letty to one side.
"I've got some good news for you," Sofia told her.
"I get to go home?" Letty joked. "Relax, I'm joking."
"No, not quite. I have spoken to a few of the bar staff and as a result of this I have arranged your taster day with Owen."
"Are you shitting me?"
"No." A wide smile came across both Sofia and Letty's face. "I'll let you know days and dates nearer the time."
"I can't believe this. Yes!"
"Congratulations. And next time, mind the language."
"I am so excited for this."
Neela was already on the edge of her seat waiting for Letty's return and a big smile came across her face at Letty's excited expression.
"Come on, please don't keep me waiting. What did she say? Was it about Amelia?"
"No, have a little guess."
"I don't want to, I already guessed Amelia. Just tell me already."
"Sofia told me that I was getting onto the taster session."
"Ahh," Neela squealed, the whole class falling silent.
"Anything you want to share with the class, Neela?" Elena asked.
"No, nothing at all."
"I suggest you get on with it then," Elena said before giving them a knowing smirk.
"You heartless little bitch, why would you do this to my sweet angel?" Alexia Sanchez screamed through the dining hall. "You horrible woman."
Sofia covered her slight shock with a small cough and stood from her seat. Herself, Han and Gisele were having dinner in the hall with everyone else discussing Letty as Alexia came bounding towards them.
"Mrs Sanchez, how nice to see you. Please, take a seat or better so, maybe we can take this into my office away from the other patients."
"No, this is happening here."
"If you would like. Now, will we do this sitting or standing?"
"Standing, although you are very welcome to sit so I can shout over you."
"Somehow I think I already know what this is about."
"You should."
Earlier that day
"Mrs Sanchez, good afternoon."
"Good afternoon Mrs Toretto, please call me Alexia. To what do I owe the pleasure of your time?"
"I'm afraid it's bad news," Sofia said. "It's about Amelia."
"Oh no, has anything happened to her?"
"No. It's more bad news for you. We've had to come to the decision to terminate Amelia's time at the centre. We feel that while she has been welcomed here, she has been reluctant to receive out help and has done so by some very unacceptable actions."
"Such as?"
"With no disrespect, I feel that this conversation should take place face to face as opposed to over the phone. Perhaps we could arrange a time next week to talk things over but we will need you to come and collect Amelia tonight if that is possible."
"You're throwing my daughter out just like that?"
"It's not quite just like that. We have had a number of issues with Amelia, all of which you know of, and now we can simply no longer cater for her."
"She is a young girl," Alexia exclaimed. "Vulnerable, you can't do this to her."
"I'm afraid we have been left with no choice."
"You'll be hearing from me very soon." And with that, Alexia put the phone down.
Friday 26th September 2014 (continued)
"The way you have treated my daughter is unacceptable. I have not even heard the reason why yet."
Sofia sighed. People like this got on her nerves, always seeing the good in their children was a positive but sometimes parents took it too far. "As I said before, we can take this into my office."
"No, I want to hear exactly what Amelia has done and I want everyone else to hear it too."
"Okay. Amelia and another student paid a member of the bar staff who worked on the night of our fundraising ball to spike another of our pupil's drinks. This is highly unacceptable and adding to Amelia's previous record, we can no longer keep her here. I am a firm believer in second chances but she has crossed the line. Gisele, if you could go and tell Amelia to collect her stuff."
"You haven't told her?"
"Yes, earlier. But she was adamant that she would not be going anywhere. Now seeing as you are here to collect her, she can gather her things."
"I cannot believe you."
"This is probably the best entertainment the centre has had in all its four years and I haven't even been here a month," Letty whispered. She had eaten her dinner earlier and had gone back to her room but once the news spread of Alexia's arrival, almost the whole centre had gathered at the canteen.
"It's the best since I've been here," Neela agreed. "At least we can say she gets from her mother now."
"Mother! What are you doing?" Amelia shouted through the hall. Her bags were dragging behind her and Gisele was carrying a small handbag.
"Amelia, how nice to see you."
"Why is this happening? Why are you not doing anything?"
"I have tried, but you'll have to speak to Mrs Toretto about this. I could not find a suitable reason for your expulsion so to say."
"Mrs Sanchez, Amelia. We have both had conversations about this and while I understand why you would want to do this in front of everyone, I really think this is the time to take this into my office. I don't want to embarrass either one of you any further."
"No, I don't even want to hear it. Amelia, let's go. You'll be hearing from my lawyer," Alexia threatened, grabbing Amelia's handbag from Gisele and storming off. Amelia quickly followed after her.
Just as the hall fell silent, an outburst of chatter occurred. Patients turned to each other and began talking, all surprised at Amelia's dramatic exit.
"She deserved it."
"I'm not surprised, she had it coming to her."
"Maybe this place will be a bit more happier now."
"Okay. I know you're probably a little bit sick of them by now but I think it's fair to see that we need an assembly." At their groans, Sofia sighed. "I don't want to do this either but seeing as most of you are already here we might as well do this now. Gisele, Han, if you can go and round up everybody else, assembly starts in ten minutes."
Sofia grabbed her plate and dropped it into the tray and walked through to the assembly hall. Everyone followed her reluctantly and by the time Gisele and Han were back, Sofia had already planned her speech in her head and repeatedly it four times. Receiving a signal from Gisele and one from Han, Sofia began.
"I'm sure you're all aware of what happened in the dining hall earlier. Amelia has left our care and will not be returning. But while she has, she has left leaving behind a very important message. You are here to heal and to get better, if you cannot understand these terms and follow these rules you will be leaving. What Amelia did was unforgivable and she put another member of this centre in danger. I hope I never need to repeat this process again. Any questions?"
Freddy Calderon was brave enough to raise his hand. "What exactly did she do?"
"Freddy, if I told you, I would have to kill you. You are dismissed."
Saturday 27th September 2014
Like most days, Letty dragged herself into Gisele's office and sat down. She was greeted with a small smile from Gisele and she gave a grunt in return.
"I see we are ready and waiting this morning?" Gisele joked. The older woman found Letty's morning routine funny every time. Slowly walk into the office, mumbling and grumbling, take a seat and then glare until Gisele started asking questions.
"I don't know why you expect so much from me," Letty replied. "I mean, since when was it acceptable to make people get up this early in the morning?"
"You'll need to get up early for cardiology anyway so you might as well start somewhere. I heard the news from Sofia, congratulations."
A smile instantly came across Letty's face. "It's amazing isn't it? I can't actually believe this is happening. I really thought that the ball would have ended everything but I guess not."
"From that smile it wouldn't be hard to guess that you are happy about that but unfortunately we need to cover some of the unhappy times as well. Seeing as this is all related to school in some way or another, tell me how school influenced your self-harm."
"You're going to do this to me now? But I'm so happy at the moment," Letty moaned, her bottom lip poking out in protest.
"Yes, I am. I'll start with a question shall I? Were your friends supportive or not supportive towards your self-harm?"
"I didn't really have many friends, so to say. I had this one girl when I first started but then she left so I was on my own."
"Did you find it particularly hard to make new friends?"
"I would say so. If you were to walk into my school right now and ask anyone their opinion on me or how they felt about me leaving, I bet half of them wouldn't have even noticed I'd gone."
"Do you think your inability to make friends contributed significantly to the start of your self-harm? If you were to rate it out of ten, with one being not at all and ten being absolutely, it was the only reason."
Letty sat quietly as she thought about her answer."I'm not sure, maybe a four." People's opinions of her didn't really affect her as they did other people. "But it did contribute to other things that made me start."
"Such as?"
"They would often bring up the fact that my dad wasn't around and it was just me and mum. Of course, they all had their perfect little families."
"And this all leads back to your dad not being present during your childhood."
"Yeah."
"Okay, I think your rating may be a little off course. By the sounds of it, school was a massive influence because it triggered everything. Your dad was essentially an underlying problem but school triggered it all off. Without the input from everything at school this may not have happened. I think it would be good if you went away and thought about that as well."
"Okay, I'll have a think about it." Gisele raised her eyebrows at Letty's relaxed response. "I promise."
"Alright." Gisele looked at her watch. "You've got ten minutes left but you can go. I think we've been over enough today."
Letty almost leapt out of her chair and left the room, leaving Gisele shaking her head behind her. Heading back to the West Wing, Letty was pulled over by Sofia who guided her over to a bench in the corridor.
"Good morning, Letty. By the time I'm guessing you've just finished up your appointment with Gisele although you seem to be a few minutes early."
"Yeah, we talked about some pretty heavy stuff so she let me leave once we were done."
"Okay, I just wanted to catch up with you about Amelia and all the dramas of yesterday."
"If I'm being honest I'd just like to put it all behind me and move forward. She's gone now so I don't need to worry about it and the gossip will die down as soon as any more drama comes along so that shouldn't be too hard to do."
"Okay, if you're absolutely sure. You know where to find me."
"Thank you."
After getting back to her room, getting changed into her gym gear and having some down time, Letty made her way to the gym. Dom was already there setting up the equipment and he smiled when she appeared. Letty dropped her bag near the door and headed over to where Dom was standing over some boxing gloves.
"Are you all ready for today? We're boxing."
"I'm glad about that," Letty said, leaning down and picking up the gloves.
"You're very eager, bad session?"
"You're very nosey. It was just a bit heavy, nothing a few punches won't get rid of."
Dom picked up his pads and they set to work on some simple punches before moving onto hooks and then combinations. To start with they worked on the punching technique before looking at Letty's footwork and how best to position her feet to get the most control of her balance.
"I have a question for you," Dom stated.
"What's that?"
"How cold is it in New York in October?"
"You won the trip didn't you? It's not too bad, but then again I'm used to it. I wouldn't pack shorts and a few jumpers might come in handy but just normal clothes should do. When are you going?"
"I was thinking going from the third of October to the tenth. That would give me a long weekend and plenty of time to see the sights and relax a bit."
"That does sound good. Maybe you could swing it so I can get out of here and show you around. I know the place well."
Dom chuckled, his baritone voice echoing off the walls. "I don't think it quite works like that."
"But it could do? I'm sure you need a tour guide."
"Somehow I don't think that's going to fly with my mum but you're more than welcome to ask."
"I think I'll pass with that one. Maybe I was being a little over ambitious."
Dom smirked and told Letty to get on with her combinations. Using his body to block her shot, Dom acted as if he was about to hit her in the face before stopping. He explained to her about how she should try and incorporate ducking into her movements to try and get under him and attack him from a different angle. Starting again, she did so and jabbed him the side of the face gently.
"That was the most pathetic hit I have ever seen."
"I was being gentle," Letty reasoned. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Yeah right. We haven't mentioned this but have you decided about whether we're going to be carrying these on?"
"I thought I had three weeks to decide."
"You got given as long as my mum gave you to prove herself and given the fact that you have been accepted onto the course, congratulations by the way, I thought the same thing might be applied to this."
"I think I'll carry it on. Someone needs to help you build up a couple more muscles."
"Shut up, my muscles are defined enough as they are thank you very much."
R&R