I don't own F&F. who's ready for movie 8!? international trailer just came out and i am WAY too hype. anyway enjoy this chapter, there's more coming :)

Two and a half days of work later Brian pulled up to the house in a fully loaded, ready to race Subaru. Dom was already outside in waiting for him next to his own Charger. "You ready for this," Brian asked.

Dom nodded and smiled. "Born ready," he said, appearing to be excited for the first time in a while. He'd taken a break from the racing scene for a while and was eager to get his feet wet again.

Brian pulled a small device with a button on it out of his pocket. He handed it to Dom. "Here," Brian said, "keep this on you. If we can get confirmation of Braga there's a whole team of agents ready to move on our signal and grab him. We'd just have to get him isolated enough that he can't call on his goons." Dom nodded and placed it in his pocket. Just then he heard footsteps approaching from the house.

He turned to see Letty, walking up in a black tank top, arms crossed across her chest, hair tied back in a ponytail. Her face was somber, eyes low, one eyebrow arched. Dom took a step closer to her, opening his arms to pull her in close. She looked up at him and he couldn't help smiling. He saw the younger girl who'd cornered him in the garage five years earlier, insisting he needn't always be such a "tough guy". Dom wrapped one arm around her waist and with his other hand pushed her chin up to meet her lips with a kiss. "We'll be alright," he said in a low growl. Letty nodded, not bothering to speak out loud. He kissed her again, already knowing her thoughts. Dom lifted the chain holding his cross up above his head and placed it over Letty's, the chain laying her hair down as it lay around her neck. "I'll be back for this," Dom said touching his finger to the center of the cross.

"Promise?" Letty asked, tilting her head to one side. Dom kissed her forehead as his hand slid slowly from around her waist and his hand came up to grasp her shoulder.

"Promise," he said. They took half a second more to make eye contact before he turned to Brian and nodded. Dom stepped into the driver's side of his challenger as Brian was swooping low into his own car. The engines turned over and Letty looked at Brian.

"Take care of him," she said in a level voice, not wanting to betray her worry. Brian nodded, straight-faced, business-like.

"Don't worry, Let. He's in good hands." The guys pulled out of the drive and Letty stood rooted to her spot watching them pull away, keeping eye contact with Dom until his field of vision was averted to the road.

7 Years Before

"Where the fuck are they?" Mia asked or the third time opening the blinds in the living room before going back to pacing the floor. Letty was sitting on the couch, arms crossed. She was no longer fuming but her expression was now cold and stony.

"Probably at some bar or some shit, Mi, you know how they are," Letty grumbled, picking up the beer can from the coffee table and taking an angry swig.

Mia stopped pacing and turned to face Letty with her hands on her hips.

"It's 4:47 in the fucking morning…they are not at a bar, what bar is even open this late on a Tuesday?"

Letty fixed her mouth and one eyebrow as if to shrug with her face, clearly uninterested in giving the issue any more of her attention. She continued to stare hotly at the television screen in front of her, trying to believe that she was really paying attention to what was on. Honestly, it was eating her up inside wondering where Dom and the guys were. She was hoping he wasn't out flirting with some skank but at the same time if he wasn't out enjoying himself then whatever job he hadn't allowed her to join might have gone wrong. Letty huffed a sigh and pushed it out of her mind, accepting that Dom was being a dick.

Mia paced behind the couch now, trying to reach one of the guys on the phone. There was no answer from Vince, no answer from Leon, and Jesse's phone buzzed on the kitchen counter in the other room. Mia rolled her eyes then stomped into the kitchen before returning to pace behind the couch. Letty looked up from the television, annoyed

"Mia, calm down, you're stressing me out."

Mia stopped pacing only to place her hands on the top of the couch. "How are you not worried," she asked in disbelief. Letty shrugged. She wanted to play it off as if she had confidence in the team to keep themselves out of trouble. But truthfully she was just pissed off enough that Dom had left her behind that she was able to swallow any anxiety and just maintain her annoyance.

"Why are you still up, then?" Mia asked, knowing full well that Letty should've been in bed by this time.

"So I can cuss Dom out for bein a slut," she grumbled, before taking another swig from her drink. Mia sighed and returned to the kitchen. She leaned on the counter and saw the flash of headlights pulling into the driveway. Mia scoffed and peered through the blinds, readying herself to scold each of them for making her worry when she saw them get out of the car.

"Shit," Mia said, rushing for the door. "Letty," she called in an anxious tone. Letty looked up but before she could ask what had happened Mia was out the door and down the steps. A confused Letty pushed herself off the couch and walked over to the screen door, peeking onto the drive. She gasped and shoved the door open.

"Dom!" Letty called, rushing down the steps to the drive where Vince had Dom leaning on his shoulder with one arm and holding his side with the other. Dom's white shirt was stained dark red where his hand was grasping his side, blood dripping onto the ground at his boot. Letty rushed to him, pushing her hand under his to hold his side. She pushed her way under his now free arm to help support his large frame and she and Vince slowly walked him up the steps into the house.

"What the fuck happened?!" Mia stopped Leon as he was stomping up the drive after Vince and Dom, his hands balled into fists, an angry scowl on his face. He was breathing heavily as Mia tried to calm him down enough to reiterate the story. Leon shook his head hard, gripping at his scalp, clearly burning with anger.

"They fuckin…the fuckin bitches, Mi, they jumped him! They fuckin jumped him! Fuckin pussies!"

Mia, grabbed at Leon's arms, directing his gaze to her face. "WHO, Leon? Who jumped him? What happened?"

Leon raked his fingers through his hair, still fuming. "We…we did this job with Tran, he said he needed back up so we went to keep a look out for him."

"What job," Mia asked, searching Leon's face for answers.

"Just movin some shit,"

"What shit, Leon?" Mia asked more harshly this time, growing annoyed with his lack of information. Leon pursed his lips, shaking his head.

"Just some shit, Mia, I dunno it was Tran's shit we just went to back him up. And…Dom told us to stay in the car and he went with Tran to make the trade. I dunno Mia, I dunno how the fuck they did it, I dunno what the fuck the point was but Tran didn't come through on his end. He wanted to punk ol' dude and he took the shit, and he took the money, and he had his cousin come speed up and get him and he let Dom take the fall. They fuckin jumped him, mother fuckers had a knife, it happened all at once, I dunno Mia."

Mia sighed and nodded, taking the story in. "What happened to Johnny?"

"I dunno," Leon sneered, rage growing again in his chest ",but he fuckin left Dom out to dry and they got him before we even knew what hit us. They shoulda known! They shoulda known Dom didn't fuckin know Tran was gonna con 'em, he wouldn't just sacrifice himself. They fuckin knew and the…the sons of bitches, they didn't fuckin care. And Tran…Mia, I'll fuckin kill Tran!"

Mia threw her hands up to calm Leon again. "Le! Calm down, alright? You're not gonna kill anyone, just calm down." Leon started to steady his breath, raking his fingers through his hair again. He shook his head angrily but calmed himself, staring down at the pavement. Mia looked around for a moment

"Where's Jesse," she asked.

Leon nodded back towards the black Honda civic. "In the car," he said. "He's freaked out." Mia nodded and returned her attention to Leon.

"I'm gonna go get Vince, we're gonna go get some food okay? Dom doesn't need you guys all hotheaded around him right now. Just, get in the car, alright? Calm down."

Leon nodded and obeyed her instructions and Mia turned back to the house to get Vince.

Inside Letty was kneeling next to Dom who was lying on the couch. There was a bloodied rag on the floor next to her and she had a new damp rag pressed to his side while she stroked his forehead with her free hand, collecting beads of sweat. His eyes were closed but he was clearly awake, letting out a grunt through gritted teeth every one in a while. Vince was standing behind the couch, his eyes locked onto Mia as she entered the room. Mia took in a deep breath and quickly moved to retrieve a first aid kit.

She kneeled next to Letty. "Let me see," Mia told her. Letty removed the rag from his side. The gash was bright pink and wide but it had stopped gushing blood and it wasn't deep enough to expose any organs or bones. Mia breathed a sigh of relief.

"Think they just swiped him, at least he hasn't been stabbed through," Letty said, looking up over Dom. His lip was bloodied and there was a cut under his eye that was starting to purple but as far as she could tell there were no broken bones or critical damage. It was clear that more than one person had attacked him. Letty had never seen Dom lose a fair fight. Mia nodded as she worked on stitching up the wound on his side. Dom's eyes were open now and he silently chewed his bottom lip while she worked, refusing to make a sound or grimace too hard. As Mia finished he let a small grunt out and grimaced before heaving a sigh. Mia stood and motioned to Vince.

"Let's go," she said, "he needs to rest. And you guys need to cool down."

Vince silently followed Mia out the door and back to the car where she got into the driver's side. Letty watched them go and turned back to Dom. She stroked his forehead again with tenderness he'd only felt a handful of times from her.

"What happened?" Letty asked in a low voice. Dom sighed, not proud of his current condition or the story that had led him here.

"Tran wanted back up for a job. I left the guys in the car at the meet up. Didn't wanna roll too deep. But then he had Lance come grab him…he took their money and he took the drugs."

"Drugs!?" Letty snapped. Dom grimaced, knowing he wouldn't be able to avoid to telling her now. "Are you outta your frickin mind, Dom!? Two years in Lompoc! And now you wanna be a frickin gang banger?! What, theft aint enough now!?" Letty berated him, her anger tangible. Dom lay quietly waiting for her to finish. "That's why you left me behind! What the fuck were you thinking?!"

"He was gonna split the money with us," Dom started.

"Dom we don't need his fuckin money! We have the shop, we gyp trucks…you have a whole frickin store!" Letty slapped her thigh as her hand came down angrily. Dom chewed the inside of his cheek. He wanted to get angry back, yell and shout back, tell her to let him lead but he was drained and he knew she was right. He didn't have a response. He looked up at her, his eyes betraying a weakness no one else ever saw.

Letty sighed and kneeled next to him again slowly, rubbing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger. "Dom," she started, her voice lowered, tone softened. She had a rasp to her voice that indicated to him she was done berating him. "We should get you into bed," she said. Letty finished putting ointment and bandages on his face and side. She gently cleaned the blood from his lip and brushed dirt off of his neck, gently wiping at the scrapes where he'd hit the ground. She helped him off the couch and up the stairs to their room. Dom struggled down to sit on the bed and settled himself best he could. Letty took his boots and jeans off carefully and helped him to get comfortable before climbing into bed next to him. She sighed, feeling somewhat defeated, though she'd won the fight between them.

When Letty looked over at Dom, her face almost as exhausted as his he reached his arm around her to pull her close. She laid her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "Just…don't leave me behind on these jobs. We're a team I wanna have your back. You ride, I ride. You fight, I fight," Letty said sternly though her voice was soft.

Dom sighed but nodded, unable to form an argument. He didn't like to risk Letty's safety but he knew well enough she could handle herself. He'd taken Jesse along there was no way that Jesse would handle any situation better than Letty could.

Letty sighed, relieved not to have to argue. She took in the feel of Dom's skin under her cheek and a feeling enveloped her that she had never acknowledged before. She was more than relieved to have Dom by her side safely. He'd gotten hurt but he was alive and he was there next to her and a warm feeling passed through her that she couldn't deny anymore. "Dom," Letty whispered, not taking her cheek off of his chest.

"Hm," he mumbled in response, reaching up to run his fingers through her hair.

"I love you," Letty whispered. Dom stopped his hand in her hair and his breath caught in his throat. He'd admitted his feelings for Letty maybe twice before but she'd never verbally reciprocated them. He looked down at her, his expression unusually soft.

"I love you too," he whispered back in a deep husky voice. He kissed her forehead and rested his head back again, closing his eyes. Dom couldn't help but grin up at the ceiling.

"I should get stabbed more often," he said with a smile.

"Keep playin, cabrón, I'll do it myself," Letty muttered from his chest, un-amused by his joke.

"Hah!" Dom laughed, kissing her again. He'd met her at 15; crushed on her at 16, fell for her at 18. Now, 4 years later at 19 he'd finally won her heart and he felt like he was glowing.

"I've loved you since that one barbecue with your dad and everybody that summer when I was 16," Letty admitted, as if she could hear Dom's thoughts. Dom furrowed his brow, looking down at her again.

"That long? Why didn't you tell me," Dom asked.

"I dunno," Letty admitted. "Guess I didn't realize how easily I could lose you til now." Dom planted another kiss on her head and smiled.

"I ain't goin nowhere," he reassured her cockily. Letty rolled her eyes but kissed him sweetly.

"Okay, tough guy."

XXXXXXX

Letty stood in the drive, watching until she couldn't see Dom's car anymore. She crossed her arms across her chest and looked down at the cross around her neck, remembering her vows.

"You better come back, Dom," she said into the open air. She stood there for a long while before her name caught her attention.

"Letty!" a man called, walking up the street. Letty whipped her head to the side in surprise. She recognized the voice but was sure that it was her imagination. She tried to turn her scowl into a smile but was finding it difficult with annoyance rising in her chest as she watched Manny approach her with an expectant, arrogant expression.