Chapter 26 – Starting Over
Present. South Pacific. Rental House.
Dominic is awakened by the slight padding of little feet on the hardwood floors in the hallway. He scoops his boxers off the floor and puts them on just as the door opens.
"Hey Little Lady."
"Hi Daddy," Ana whispers. "I would like water pwease." (Hi Daddy. I would like water please.)
Letty opens her eyes and looks at her daughter. "Okay sweetie."
As she starts to sit up Dominic places his hand firmly on her back indicating for her to stay in bed. It still amazes Dom how easily Letty wakes up for all things Ana. He walks around the bed to Ana and they head to the kitchen.
"You're not going to pee in the bed are you?"
"No!" Ana says smiling at his absurdity. "Pee goes in the potty Daddy."
"Alright, I just had to check."
He reaches into the cabinet and gets her a cup and then gets her water out of the refrigerator. He puts her on the counter to drink it.
"Daddy, are we going to get a new house tomowow?" (Daddy, are we going to get a new house tomorrow?)
"I'm not sure. Why?"
"Han and Noly were saying that you and Mommy were 'made up' and we would get a house. But I didn't see any make up and didn't know if the house pawt was real." (Part.)
Dominic laughs loudly. "No, we made up means that we're...best friends again. Not that we were wearing makeup. I don't know about tomorrow, but we'll look for a house soon. We have to talk to Aunt Mia about it."
"Is she going to live with us?"
"Probably not with us, but near us. We have to stay close so you and Luci can spend lots of time together."
Ana finishes her water and gives the cup to her father.
"I like that baby!"
"Good, so do I."
He takes her to the bathroom and then puts her back to bed.
In the early morning hours Dominic comes out of the shower to a still sleeping Letty. He sits on the bed and his movements cause her to open her eyes.
"I'm sorry. Good morning."
"Hey," she says sleepily and then yawns.
He sits down on her side of the bed. She rolls onto her back to look at him.
"Last night was intense."
"It was."
"I've been up most of the night taking in everything you said to me."
"I've been trying really hard not to hurt you Dom. That's not what I wanted."
"I know. That's not what I wanted either."
She sits up and looks him in the eye and gives him a kiss.
"I know you do. I'm not going to act like I'm never going to be pissed off about any of it again. But I'm not going anywhere."
"I expect you to be pissed at me. Quite often actually." They both pause to smile. "But that last part is what's important to me. I don't want you going anywhere or thinking about going anywhere, because it will never cross my mind again."
"Better not. I'll hurt you."
"I got that message last night."
"Good, I meant every word I said last night."
"So did I."
He leans forward and gives her a heartfelt kiss. Taking her top lip into his mouth and massaging it with his tongue. Letty reaches over and removes the towel from his waist and climbs her naked body into his lap never allowing her lips to leave his.
Dominic moves his hands in frenzied motions up and down her body. Grasping onto her still missing her like he's been away from her for three years. Like he didn't taste her mouth or feel her body against his merely hours ago. As if he hadn't held her in his arms while he lay awake feeling her breath on his chest. He didn't know how long it would take before his mind and body accepted that he was really seeing her, holding her, making love to her.
Letty lifts herself slightly and reaches down to push him inside her. She bites down on her lip from the pleasure of all of him. Dominic groans and holds onto her tightly. Both of them moving together and pushing into each other.
Neither of them had been able to get through one time together without the words faster or harder coming to mind. Slow always turned to fast. Gentle always turned to furious. Still never translating to reality.
Dominic lies back on the bed overwhelmed by the feel of her. Letty moves herself over him creating an in and out motion to makes his heart pound and her stomach tighten. When his breathing and hands clinching her hips signal his imminent orgasm she removes herself from him and strokes him through it.
"Shit Letty."
Taking only seconds to catch his breath he puts two fingers inside her and uses his thumb on her clit to encourage the convulsions of her climax out of her.
Dom engulfs Letty in his arms and rests his cheek against the top of her head.
A few hours later.
When the sun is much higher in the sky Dominic walks into their bedroom and stops on her side of the bed and places a kiss in the center of her back. Her body shivers as she awakens.
"Mia's here with Luci. Brian and I have to go out."
Letty just nods and yawns. She pulls herself out of bed and goes to brush her teeth and pull on some clothes. She walks out to the kitchen to see Mia, Brian, Luci, Ana and Dom all there waiting for her.
"Good morning," Mia says.
Letty can't help but smile having all the people she desperately wanted to be with under one roof.
"We stopped and picked up breakfast since I know you don't cook and you don't get up early enough to go get anything."
"I've managed so far." Letty grumbles.
Mia just smiles at the familiar attitude of Letty in the morning.
Letty walks over and takes Luci out of Brian's arms and kisses the sleeping little girl.
"Too cute."
"See you later." Dom kisses Letty. Then Luci and Ana.
"Bye baby." Brian says to Mia and then rubs Luci's cheek.
After they leave Mia fixes herself a plate of food and sits down beside Ana. She takes advantage of a quiet, hands free moment to eat.
Mia eyes Letty who rarely takes her eyes off Luci.
"You're good at that." Mia comments.
"Well, I've done it all before."
"That you have. So are you going to do it anytime soon?"
Letty looks up at Mia. "The funny thing is I know he didn't even put you up to this. You Torettos love trying to get me pregnant."
"Mommy, what's pwegnant?" (Mommy, what's pregnant?)
Mia spits some of her drink. Letty gives her a look before turning to Ana. "It's when a woman has a baby in her belly."
"Are you pwegnant?" Ana asks with wide eyes. (Are you pregnant?)
"No baby, I don't think so."
"How does a baby get in there?"
Mia is barely keeping her composure. Letty turns red.
"Daddies put them there."
"Otay." Ana finishes her drink. "I'm done. May I see Noly now?" (Okay. I'm done. May I see Noly now.)
Letty gives Luci to Mia and helps Ana wash her hands.
Once she's out of the room Mia doesn't attempt to control her laughter anymore.
"Shut up."
"At least she's still young enough where the simple answers are good enough. If she would have asked you how Daddies put them in there I would have broken out the video camera."
Letty shakes her head.
"So Dom's ready to have a baby?" Mia asks thinking about the 'you Torettos' comment.
"Yeah. It's come up a few times." She has to actively avoid rolling her eyes.
"How exciting! I can't picture you pregnant. That's going to be fun."
"Uh, time out." Letty says. "That's not happening. Ana is enough for me right now."
Mia looks shocked. "That's an important thing to not be on the same page about."
"Yep."
"What are you going to do?"
Letty looks confused. "What do you mean what am I going to do? I have an appointment with your doctor to take care of it. Why do you think I asked you for it?"
Mia struggles with whether or not to say what she's feeling to Letty.
"Letty…if Dom really wants a baby…"
"Then I should have one?" Letty snaps.
"That's not what I was going to say. You should just consider his side of it."
"It's my body and Dom already has a baby. He should be more appreciative."
Mia holds up her free hand in surrender. "Okay. I wasn't trying to upset you. I'm sorry. Want to hold Luci while I finish eating?"
"Of course! You pop out all the kids, I'll do the holding."
Mia hands Letty Luci and continues eating.
"Can I ask why?"
"I used to want Ana to have a sibling. But everything is still so hectic and crazy and up in the air I can't even wrap my head around a baby right now."
Mia looks at her. "What's up in the air? Are you and Dom having problems? Things have been tense every time I've been with you."
"I mean, no more than always. They've just festered longer. The bigger issue is where the hell we're going to live. That's really up to you."
"To me?"
"Yeah, you came to this island because you had to. Are we staying here now? Are we moving somewhere else?"
Mia stares off into space a bit. "I hadn't thought about it. Between Luci and you my brain is fried."
"Well we're going to live wherever you want to live. But we have to find a house and get Ana settled before I throw another thing her way. Then once I'm settled I don't know if I'll want another thing thrown my way. The idea of calm and peace is very appealing lately. It's another one of those things. When I was away from Dom, I wanted it a lot. Especially when Ana was around one. But now time has passed and things have changed it's not a place in my life I want to revisit."
"Wow," is all Mia replies.
Dom and Brian return a couple hours later. Ana is napping, Han and Nola are out and Luci is sleeping on Mia's chest. Brian sits down next to her. Dominic takes Letty by the hand and leads her outside.
"You bought a new car." She feels her stomach doing flips from the excitement of never having to get into his other car again.
He wraps his arms around her. "Of course I did. I told you, just tell me. I'll fix it. You'll do anything for me. You have to know I'll do the same."
He kisses her neck and breathes her in. She pulls out of his arms and turns to look him up and down.
"You aren't the only one who can get a new wardrobe."
"I see that."
She gives him a kiss. "I talked to Mia and she wants to stay here. But get another place maybe stateside for hurricane season. So we've covered clothes and cars. Let's go buy a house."
"I'll call a realtor right now."
He grabs her by the hand and walks her inside.
A/N - So now to get them settlled into a new life! Then you guessed it! It's ending! I'd say around Chapter 35 if not sooner!
Thanks so much for reading. Please review! I'd love to hear you thoughts.
Sorry for those of you who wanted Elena and Letty to meet. Letty was too volatile for that. I believe in the end it would have made her more tortured. Right now she's just a figment of her imagination through pics. I didn't want that real life memory to go along with all the other stuff she was upset about. I tried writing it but it didn't work in a way I could live with.