An End and a Beginning
Summary: They didn't work out the first time around, but they have something tangible between them that forces them to be in each other's lives forever. They are getting a second chance, but with Dominic and Letty, nothing comes easy. Rating: M - eventually Chapter 14
Aiden's birthday – September 27th
The summer ended, but the hot weather had stuck. Aiden began second grade with the usual excitement- he hadn't learned to hate school yet. And Dom and Letty managed to plan Aiden's upcoming birthday with Mia's help.
His birthday was on Wednesday, so they planned a small family gathering the day of where they gave him his pile of presents and Mia had made cupcakes to go with the ice cream.
His actual party was on Saturday.
The O'Neil's came to spend the day with them, bringing both kids and the dog – it was an even trade to have two more adults to wrangle the rest of Aiden's friends that had come over.
They had counted ten more kids.
Letty's father had flown in Friday afternoon to join in the family fun. Susana's announcement that she was picking up Luis from the airport had received a wary look from her daughter.
"You two aren't going to kill each other, are you?" Letty asked flatly.
Susana raised an eyebrow, but shook her head, a pensive smile on her face. "We'll be stopping for coffee. He asked to speak with me first. Don't call the cops if we don't come back right away", she teased.
Letty's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What's going on?"
"I'll leave it to your father to tell you", she sighed. "I believe I already know."
She had.
Luis had dropped a small bomb on the rest of them that night with the announcement that he would be getting married in the next year. Susana hadn't had much to say except for the fact that her ex-husband had asked for her blessing, and she had given it.
Letty was still reeling a bit from the news, but she had yet to find time to speak with her father privately about the matter.
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Letty nearly got tackled by the herd of kids running through the kitchen. "Hey! Slow it down in the house!" she shouted after them with a laugh even as the back door slammed. "My god", she grumbled, glaring at Dominic who was laughing at her. "Who thought this was a good idea?"
"I'm pretty sure this was all you, sweetheart", he smirked.
"It was, wasn't it?" she rolled her eyes. "Awesome."
There was shrieking from the backyard, and Dom peered out the kitchen window. "Vince got out the Super Soakers."
"Yay", she grinned. "He can run them until they have a sugar crash. The other parents will love us."
"You ever think about it?"
She raised an eyebrow while wiping down the counter. "What's that? Getting hopped up on a massive sugar high?"
"Having more kids", he clarified.
She blinked, faltering slightly. Then she looked around the otherwise empty kitchen dramatically, "With whom exactly? Is there a line-up outside that I'm not aware of?"
"It's just a question", he said mildly.
"Sure it is", Letty rolled her eyes. She shrugged. "We didn't intend for Aiden to come along, and that- I don't regret it. I really don't. But I don't intend to have any more unplanned pregnancies. And I never really thought about having more kids with someone else", she said quietly. "You?"
"I don't hate the idea of more kids. I've just never met another woman I like enough to be attached to for the rest of my life."
She buried a grin and turned back to scrubbing at the sticky puddle of melted ice cream on the counter. "Guess you got lucky as hell the first go 'round, huh?"
"More than you know, Let", he said softly.
She smiled slightly and threw the rag in the sink. "We should go outside and supervise."
"We've become those parents, haven't we?" he asked ironically.
"No, we're still cool", she chuckled.
Dominic nodded. "We'll reevaluate if we need to buy a minivan."
"Sounds like a plan. Do you think you can still beat me at a water fight?" she challenged playfully.
"Do I have to play fair?"
She giggled silently. "You keep your kind of cheating to a minimum", Letty smirked. "We've got kids here for God's sake."
"Let's check that accusation", he growled teasingly, advancing on her as she backed out of the kitchen. "If I remember correctly, you pantsed me the last time we had a water battle. I know Vince will back me up."
She bit her lip, trying to contain a grin as she flushed slightly. "You cornered me. I went into attack mode."
"Excuses", he shook his head in amusement.
Letty turned and went for the door. "Come on", she said over her shoulder. "Let's go play with our kid."
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Dominic grabbed the hide-a-key from underneath the rock and let himself into the Ortiz house. Letty had left work early that day looking green, and he wanted to check on her.
He made his way through the silent house and went upstairs to knock on her bedroom door.
"Go away."
He tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. "You feeling okay?" he asked quietly.
"Ugh", she grumbled, not moving from where she had her back to him. "Go away, Dom."
Dom chuckled. "Letty-"
He was interrupted when she sprung from the bed and ran to the bathroom to throw up. She came out a few minutes later after brushing her teeth, and leaned against the wall weakly.
"Baby, you should get back in bed", he murmured gently. "You want me to get you some medicine?"
"Like that would help", she grumbled under her breath. Letty swatted his hand away from her forehead when he tried to gauge if she had a fever. "Stop it", she snapped, annoyed with his hovering.
"Let, I think you've got the stomach flu. You need to get your ass back in bed."
"It's not the flu."
"What?"
She raked her hands through her hair roughly. "God, I just can't- we are way too stupid for this. And I don't even know how to- Dom, I am freaking out here!"
He caught her arms gently, stopping her rambling tirade. "Hey, easy- Letty, talk to me", he said seriously.
"I'm late", she managed hoarsely.
"What?" he repeated in confusion.
She groaned and dug the heels of her hands against her forehead. "I missed my period last month. I think I might be pregnant."
It felt like he'd just had an anvil dropped on his head.
"How long have you known?" he nearly yelled.
"I don't know!" she hollered defensively, shoving his hand off her. "All I've been doing for the last few weeks in praying like hell for my period! I've been a little too worried about possibly being pregnant at nineteen to even deal with thinking about how to tell you!"
"You haven't even taken a test yet have you?" he asked flatly.
"No! Are you not listening to me? I was praying for freaking miracle!"
He glared down at her before grabbing her arm, taking her wallet from the dresser and shoving it at her. "We're going to the pharmacy. You can pee on the stick or dip it in a cup, I don't care. But you've got to take a goddamn test, Letty. We'll go from there."
"Not the store at the corner", she said quietly after he had forced her through the house and into the front seat of his car. They were already roaring down the block. "They know us there."
Dominic headed across town, jaw clenching. It took a good ten minutes for him to ease up on his driving. When he stopped at a red light, he finally glanced over at her. Letty was curled up on the seat, feet tucked underneath her, chewing her thumbnail.
He could have kicked himself. Dom reached over and gently pulled her hand from her mouth. "Stop that. You've been worrying for almost three weeks." When he didn't get a reaction from her, realizing she was staring blankly out the window, he squeezed her hand. She gave no reaction, and he glanced at the light before focusing on her sharply, wondering if she might be having a panic attack. "Letty, breathe", he barked.
She gasped slightly, and shook her head. "I'm fine. Light's green", she muttered.
He drove another eight minutes and pulled into the parking lot for the drugstore and turned off the engine. "Come on."
"No, I'll go in myself."
"You sure?"
"Yeah- it'll only take a minute."
He caught her hand before she opened the car door. "Hey. It's going to be okay."
She snorted. "Tell me that again in half an hour if the test is positive."
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They got back to her house a bit later. The car ride home had been almost as tensely silent as the drive to the store. Dominic shut the door behind him as they went back to her bedroom. Letty threw the paper bag with the pregnancy test in it at her bed and rushed to the bathroom to vomit again.
Dom was standing in the doorway when she finished and went to wash her mouth out in the sink. "Do you still think it's the flu?" he asked wryly, setting the tiny box on the counter that had the power to decide their future.
"I really fucking hope so."
He reached for her, and she sagged weakly against him, burying her face in his chest. "Somehow, I doubt it. But we need to be sure. Take the test, Letty."
She sighed heavily and shooed him out of the bathroom. "One test I'd really like to fail", she grumbled, shutting the bathroom door for privacy. It took her a few minutes to get up her courage to open the box and take the test, but she finally left the bathroom. "Three to five minutes", she answered his look and went to stand next to where he was stretched out on her bed.
He pulled her down next to him, and she twined her legs through his worriedly, seemingly trying to burrow into him.
"It's gonna be okay, baby."
She groaned. "Please don't say 'baby'."
He chuckled. "You know I love you, right?"
"Dom… what if I'm really pregnant? What do we do?"
"Before or after our parents murder us?" he teased.
Letty squeezed his legs between hers in irritation. "Be serious! How the hell can you joke right now?"
"Because", he murmured, stroking her hair back from her face. "I know that we can handle anything."
"Even raising a kid?"
"We'll make it work. So don't pussy out on me", he teased, tweaking her nose.
She rolled her eyes, "Asshole."
Ten minutes later, they were arguing over the test results when Susana walked in on them. The day went downhill from there.
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"Just wait until I can tell Mia that you turned into a big ball of mush over an ultrasound", Letty teased two days later as he opened the car door for her to slide into the passenger seat.
"I wasn't the one who had the waterworks turned on", he raised an eyebrow.
"Hormones", she shook her head vigorously. "I had no control over that whatsoever. You can't hold it against me."
He leaned in and kissed her lips gently, "Whatever you say, sweetheart."
"Dom?" she looked at him, fighting a smile. "I think the baby wants a milkshake."
"The baby is about as big as a grain of rice", he said pointedly.
Letty laughed. "So?"
He eyed her with fond amusement. "Fine, but then we're going home, and I plan to have a little chat with our child about him enabling his mother's bad eating habits."
"Him?" she laughed. "You don't know it will be a boy. And it will be a while before we can find out the sex."
"That's alright. I can wait a while to have proof that I'm right", he said cockily before shutting her door and walking around the front to get behind the wheel. He paused at the light that would let them turn onto the road. "Do we need to stop anywhere before we go home?"
"The pharmacy? We can drop off my prescription for the prenatal vitamins", she reminded.
He nodded, "Anything else?"
"No. I just want to go home and spend some time together", she said quietly. "I have a feeling no one will leave us alone ever again." She knew they both needed a little time to absorb the turn their lives were about to take before they talked to anyone else.
He sent her a pointed look. "We're both over eighteen, Let. They can't make decisions for us. We can do this how we want, alright?"
"Is that how our family works?" she asked with a sarcastic laugh.
Dominic grimaced. "Good point."
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They were back at Letty's house because Susana wouldn't be home until after seven. Tony would be expecting them for dinner later, but they were free until then.
Letty was curled up on her side, hand twisting at the corner of her pillow case. Dom sat on the edge of the bed and they studied each other carefully, asking and answering questions that couldn't be spoken aloud at the moment.
"I love you, and I'm going to love our son", he promised finally.
She grinned. "What are you gonna do if it's a girl?"
"The next one will be a girl", Dom said confidently.
"What? You're in charge of your sperm? I don't think that jives with any science I learned in school", Letty argued playfully.
"You want to bet on it?"
"How about we talk about the fact that I'm knocked up with our child, and you're already planning on a second."
"It never hurts to be prepared", he teased.
"Prepared?" she repeated incredulously. "Us prepared would not have me pregnant right now! And if you don't start freaking out with me, I'm going to feel like an idiot."
He shrugged. "I worried about it in the car earlier. Now I'm good."
"I will knock you on the floor", she threatened.
He rolled his eyes. "Let, right now I'm more worried about you than how we're gonna figure this out. You've got to calm down. You're worried about whether or not we're ready to be parents, when I know this might be the best thing we ever do. I'm worried about how this is going to affect everyone else. But for the next few hours, let's just ignore that and focus on the three of us, okay?"
"The three of us? I kinda like the sound of that", she admitted softly.
Dominic grinned at her, leaning to kiss the side of her mouth. "Me too", he murmured. "Now sit up and scoot over. I want to hold you and our baby."
They shuffled around on her bed until Dom was sitting against the headboard, knees bent, and she crawled between his legs and leaned back against his chest carefully.
His hand crept up the bottom of her t-shirt and spanned across her still-flat belly. He kissed her neck. "How long do you think we can stay like this?"
She chuckled. "Probably until I have to throw up again", Letty shook her head.
"Poor mommy", he murmured.
She frowned. "Let's not jump the gun on anyone calling me 'mommy' just yet."
He rubbed soothing circles across her stomach. "Aw, don't hurt the baby's feelings", he teased.
"You're not funny", she said honestly.
"The baby thinks I'm funny."
"It doesn't know any better yet", Letty muttered dryly.
"You're so mean to me."
"Mean?" she cocked an eyebrow. "I'm having your baby, aren't I?"
He grinned. "Hell yes you are!"
"That seems pretty nice of me."
Dominic grabbed her waist, and flipped them easily so she was underneath him as he lay between her legs. He held her hips, pinning her gently to the mattress and kissed the skin just under her navel. He took her right hand in his, lacing their fingers together and settling them against her mid-section.
"Something tells me I'm gonna get sick really quickly of people poking at my stomach", she rolled her eyes at him.
"It's mine. I get to poke it whenever I want", he said seriously.
"Isn't that what you said about-" her words were muffled by his free hand.
"Hush with your dirty mouth", he chuckled. He pulled back when she nipped at his palm lightly with her teeth. "There's a baby in here."
"Uh, yeah, Dom, the baby doesn't have ears yet."
"No, but it will eventually and doesn't need to hear its mother talking like a porn star. I'd like to wait until he's born before we start causing emotional damage", he said dryly.
"No sex until after the baby's born; got it", she nodded definitively, mouth twitching.
"Wait a minute", Dom backtracked. "I didn't say that."
Letty smirked. "Wait and see, Dominic. Let's just wait and see."
He rolled his eyes. "How do you want to handle telling everyone?"
She shrugged. "Oh, I thought you could do it", Letty said easily.
"Let", he growled warningly. "How about you tell Mia, and I tell Vince."
"Scared of your baby sister, Toretto?"
"When I'm smart", he admitted. "She's tiny but fierce."
"Mia will be an aunt. I think she'll be thrilled", she smiled slightly. "Although, she might get up your ass about all the safe sex talks you've been trying to give her lately", Letty snickered. "And Vince will probably congratulate you on knocking me up. Stop stressing about it."
"I still think you should tell Mia while I'm far away."
"We're telling them together", she ordered with finality.
"Hardass", he grumbled.
She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. "I thought you said no cursing in front of the baby!"
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A/N: Wow, okay! This was interesting to write. What better time than Aiden's birthday for a chapter about how he happened? Let me know what you think!