A/N: Literally this was too much for me to read again, so any mistakes are mine. Also, this was a bit angsty, but we're getting somewhere.

Chapter 37

Los Angeles Police Precinct, 8:33PM

"Let's try this again. The victim, Mr. Owen Shaw was in the conference room alone with your wife when you stormed in and began attacking him."

"You don't have to answer that." Carter Verone told Dominic, his tone cool and casual.

"Do you know how much trouble you're in, Mr. Toretto?"

"You don't have to answer that." Carter repeated.

"What made you, a well-muscled man with plenty of boxing training, attack a slighter man with no training at all? Was this a crime of passion? Was your wife cheating with him? Was it jealousy?"

"And you definitely don't have to answer that." Carter mentioned to Dom with a smirk. Dominic sat back against the cold, steel chair with one leg casually crossed over the other. He hadn't said a word until Carter arrived, and for the most part, Carter spoke for him.

The two Law & Order wannabe detectives had been grilling him for the last two hours and getting nowhere. As soon as they'd sat Dominic in the interrogation room, Carter had waltzed in and they knew their show had been shut down. An "anonymous source" called the precinct and alerted them to Dominic's beating of Shaw. But there was no proof. Nothing but the simple he said, he said. Dom's word against Owen's.

Flashback (2 hours and thirty-seven minutes ago), Toretto Enterprises

"Dom, what the fuck?! You know how hard this is going to be to get swept under the rug? The man is the owner of Range Rovers for god's sake." Brian exclaimed. When Vince had called, Brian dropped everything and sped to the Toretto Enterprises offices.

"He touched my wife, Bri! I wasn't just going to stand there."

Brian closed his vibrant blue eyes and huffed, pacing the length of Dom's office.

"I know. I know. You did what any man would do. I know I would've if that scumbag had touched Mia." Brian stopped in front of Dom's couch where the CEO sat.

"You'd better." Dominic threatened.

"Where's Shaw now?"

"I had security toss his ass out in the street. They watch him stumble to his precious LR4." Vince replied. "They're getting the security tapes for me now."

"What you need to do is come down to the station, make a statement about what was done and then we'll go from there."

"I don't want the police involved." Dom told him. He laid his head on the back couch, placing his hand over his eye. "Fuck!" He shouted suddenly.

Leticia, who stood by the window, staring out at the incredible view, had been silent for the past few minutes. She jumped at her husband's obscenity, turning to look at the four men in the room. She opened her mouth to speak before the office door swung open.

"Sorry, Mr. Toretto, these officers are here to see you." Elle rushed through her explanation as two uniformed officers entered the room. One was tall, thin and pale and the other was shorter, more muscular and had skin like caramel.

"Dominic Toretto?" Tall And Thin inquired.

"Yeah, yeah." Dominic grumbled, standing from the couch. "Elle, call Carter Verone."

His assistant hopped to it, her blonde hair but a flash as she practically ran back to her desk to call Dominic's lawyer.

"No!" Letty shouted, finally yanked out of her stupor. She was in front of Dominic in a flash, her hands on his face.

"It's okay. Baby, it's gonna be okay." Dominic tried consoling her. "Kiss me, kiss me."

Letty complied, kissing his lips over and over before wrapping her arms around his neck. With her face pressed against his body, Dom wordlessly nodded his best friend to take over.

"Come on, L-Boogie." Vince said, pulling Letty towards him. Tears fell down Letty's cheeks, which she buried in Vince's chest. "He's gonna be okay."

"You're under arrest for the assault of Owen Shaw. You have the right to remain silent." While Short And Muscular turned Dominic and begin the process of cuffing him, Tall And Thin mirandized him. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you."

"Does it look like I can't afford an attorney?" Dominic smart-mouthed.

End of Flashback

"Well, Mr. Verone, why don't you tell us what your client can answer."

"That's easy. Anything that is of public record; his name, his birthday, where he went to school. I'll even offer you this: my client was acting in defense of a traumatized woman. His wife. The real victim in this situation. I'm sure she'd be more than willin to testify. And this alleged victim... this, Owen Shaw, surely isn't planning on pressing charges. Now, if you'll excuse us, my client has a wife to console and an empire to run." Carter stood from his chair, all grace and arrogance. "Dominic."

Dom stood as well, a smirk donning his face. He gave a faux salute to the two detectives who had been questioning him.

Gisele and Leticia's house, 9:27PM

Dominic knocked on the door and rubbed a head around his bald head. The door flung open and all Dom caught a glimpse of was a flurry of loose dark hair before he felt his wife's body slam against his chest. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Shock turned into pure adoration and understanding as Dom wrapped one arm around her waist, while the other hand cradled her head against his chest.

Breathing her in, Dom allowed his eyes to close and his body to relax. He missed her. And when he thought there was a possibility that he wouldn't her again for a long time, everything was put into perspective.

"Letty," whispered Dom.

"Jesus, you're so fucking stupid sometimes." She mumbled, pulling away and looking up at him.

Dom's heart clenched in his chest. Her bare face held evidence of recent tears; red, puffy eyes and nose. He pressed his lips against her.

"People do stupid things when they're in love." retorted Dom. Letty rewarded him with a sad, tired smile. She looked at him with wonder, as if she could hardly believe she was in front of him, and traced her fingertips down his cheeks. It was how she used to look at him and Dominic hoped she'd look at him like that for as long as they both lived.

"Your sister's here. She called your parents. You're in so much trouble." Letty mentioned, crossing her arms over her t-shirt clad chest.

Dominic wasn't sure if he'd ever seen his wife in just a plain white t-shirt before. It was... kind of sexy.

Snapping him out of his nearly-dirty thoughts, Leticia took his hand and pulled him into the house. He shut the door behind him and was led into the living room. Gisele sat on the couch and Mia stood behind her, arms crossed, expression smug.

"You called Mom?" Dom accused.

"You're in trouble." the younger Toretto singsonged.

"Damn it, Mia! You know how Mom gets." He kissed Letty's palm before Letty go of her hand to pull his phone from his pocket. Tapping the screen, he placed the phone to his ear and walked towards the kitchen.

"Mom?" Dom started. In a heartbeat, he snatched the phone away from his ear, wincing. His father had answered.

"What kind of hothead are you?!" Anthony was yelling when he started listening again. "I didn't raise you to be some kind of brawler!"

"Pops, the son of a bitch sexually assaulted my wife. There is no way I was going to let him get away with that."

Anthony calmed immediately. With a resigned sigh, he asked, "Did you at least destroy the surveillance footage from your office?"

"Yeah, Vince took care of it."

"Good. You need to do something big to thank Vince. And Leon. And your sister's husband, who could lose his badge if this goes to court."

Dom was nodding his head as if his father could see him. "Yes, Pops, I know. I will. Where's Mom?"

"I gave her a Valium with a glass of wine earlier. She's sleeping. I'll have her call you in the morning."

"Fine."

"How's my daughter?"

"Which one?" As he walked around the kitchen talking to his father, Dominic stopped to play with the little trinkets he found on the fridge; souvenirs from all the places Gisele and Letty had been.

"Letty." Anthony answered, matter-of-factly.

"She said she was fine earlier, but I want to get her alone. She's more honest like that."

"Well, tell her we love her and we're so sorry this happened. Call me if you need anything, son."

"I will, Pops. Love you."

"Love you too."

Hanging up, Dominic started back into the living room. When he entered, his three girls stopped their hushed chatter and looked up at him.

"What?"

"I'm gonna make a drink. Mia, you want one?"

"Yes, please." The two taller brunettes stood to leave the room. Gisele gave Dom a hug and a kiss on the cheek and Mia followed suit.

"You scared the shit out of us, big bro." She pointed her finger at him. "Don't do it again."

"I won't."

In seconds, he was left alone with his wife. Making his way over to the couch, the exhausted Cuban plopped down and patted the space next to him. Leticia practically ran to the couch and curled up beside Dominic, and welcomed his arms around her.

"I'm sorry. I really am." He told her, kissing her hair.

"I'm not scared of many things," began Leticia, "but in that moment, I was terrified of what he was going to do to me. Then, only minutes later, I was afraid of what you would do to him. If you would stop. Or kill him. And when those cops came into your office, I-."

"I know. I'm here, baby. I'm right here. And I'm not going anywhere."

"You can't know that."

She was right. He couldn't possibly know what was going to come of this. He'd never arrested before. Sure, he had a few speeding tickets here and there. But they were paid on time. There were a few close calls at the drag races when he was a teen, but nothing ever came of it. Truth be told, Dominic was scared too. He could only sleep on it and see what the new day brought.

He looked down at his wife, lifting her chin so she could see him. Dom angled in and pressed a soft, slow kiss to Leticia's mouth. Three of them to be exactly before Letty slipped her tongue past his lips. A groan sounded, neither sure from who's throat it escaped. Nor did they care while the kiss deepened.

"Mm." Letty hummed, pulling away just enough to look into his eyes. She was trying to say something.

"Let?"

"Take me home," she whispered.

The Penthouse, 10:05PM

"Do you want a drink?" Dominic inquired, playing the perfect host.

Leticia shook her head, but walked with him towards the kitchen. It was strange; she felt like a guest in her own home.

Was it still her home? Technically, half of it still belonged to her. Something felt different. Fresh. New. But what?

She watched intently as the muscled Cuban pulled a bottled water from the fridge. He poured half into a clean glass that he pulled from the dishwasher and placed it in her hands.

"Drink. You must've cried out of half of your water supply."

Letty nodded and he took her hand, gently tugging her into the den. They made themselves comfortable on the rug in front the fireplace which Dom turned on.

"Letty."

Brown eyes slowly dragged away from the glass of water and towards Dominic's.

"What are you feeling?"

A shrug from petite shoulders.

"Talk to me. I need to know what you're feeling." His voice had never been softer, calmer.

Letty sat down the glass of water and crawled over to her husband's lap. She placed her hands on his face and kissed him deeply. It wasn't long before he responded in kind and turned them until Letty's back was on the carpet and he was lying between her legs. Dominic grabbed her hands from his face and gently pinned them to the ground, breaking their kiss. Leticia lifted her head, wanting to be reconnected with him, but Dom turned his face.

"No. We're not doing this." He told her. There was no malice in his voice, no anger, only understanding. Dark eyebrows furrowed and she gave a half attempt to pull her hands away from him. Dominic, however, was stronger. Not that Letty was truly trying to get away from him in the first place.

"Tell me what you're feeling. If you're going to cry, cry in front of me. And if you want to hit me, then do it. If you have to scream, scream. We promised we'd communicate. We swore we wouldn't use sex as a bandaid. So," Dom loosened his already light grip on her wrists and held her hands. He kissed one cheek and when Letty turned her face, he kissed the other, "tell me what you're feeling."

Turning her face away from the fireplace, half of her features was bathed in shadowed light and he felt her upper body begin to shake and she started to cry. At first it was silence and then whimpers of sadness and hurt. And finally full-blown sobs as Leticia let out everything she'd been feeling.

Dom's eyebrows knitted together, feeling her emotions as if it were second nature to him. Letting go over her hands, he wrapped them around his waist and Leticia clung to his shirt as she continued to cry.

"Oh, Letty." Dom rubbed her hair with one hand, while the other wiped away her consistently falling tears. "I love you. I'm sorry this happened."

In repetition, Dominic told her that he was sorry. And that he loved her. And that he'd never let anything like this happen again.

For hours.

Until finally, the sun was rising and Leticia stopped crying. And they just lie there, in front of the roaring fireplace, holding one another.

Office of Dr. Megan Herrera, Tuesday, 5:45PM

Dr. Herrera looked at her watch. Today, she decided that she would implement her "you go first" tactic. So far, they'd spent forty-five minutes in silence. Both Dominic and Leticia seemed to be in deep thought. They would look at each other, communicating silently until someone broke contact. Megan had been doing this for a long time. She knew they were trying to understand how much the other wanted to share in a session. Silently, she hoped that they would share everything. Because once it was all out in the open, the healing could really begin.

"I was sexually harassed by a... former client of ours. In my own conference room." Leticia finally blurted out. "And Dominic... he was there for me like no man had ever been there for me before. Not my father. Not even my grandfather, who I loved with everything in me. He was there. And I didn't second guess that he would be. He put his own life on the line for mine. The sacrifice this man was willing to make for me was just... incredible.

"In my... let's call it denial, I attempted to seduce him. But he wasn't having any of it. He forced me to focus on my feelings and I just cried. And he cried. For what seemed like an eternity. I feel like we're starting anew with a clarity that we haven't had for awhile. I'm just disheartened that it had to come from such a... disturbing experience. "

Megan, stunned, scribbled a few sentences on her notebook as Leticia talked. The brunette was in a trance, reliving the past couple of days.

"I'd give up any- and every thing for you. You know that." Dominic said, grasping her hand in his.

"Firstly, I'd like to say I'm sorry you experienced sexual harassment. Second, I want you to realize that most clarity does come from an intense or even disturbed experience. But it's not what you should dwell on. Look at you two. I can honestly say, I've never met a couple with as deep a love as you two share. I mean, people read books and watch films about the type of love that you two hold.

"It's so very clear to me that you both are making a lot of progress in such a short amount of time. It's only been three sessions. That's three weeks. You two are trying to remember your own individual strengths which is a great thing. But sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the idea that, when two people are meant to be together as much as you two are, you become each other's strengths."

"Doesn't that make us, I don't know, co-dependent?" Dominic asked, confused.

Megan chuckled. "Not at all. Unless you need Leticia to stand next to you to brush your teeth. Or if Leticia, say, has to have your opinion on every purchase she makes. Honestly, it seems like you two have spent every day with each other for the last decade. First as boss and employee, then as friends and eventually as lovers. I'm actually shocked you two aren't co-dependent.

"It's all about perspective and focus. If you want things to change in your marriage, change them. Sure, it's easier said than done, but you two are well on your way."

The grandfather clock in her office chimed.

"Well, it looks like our time is up. But, I'd like you two to try something, if you're ready." Megan paused to gauge their reactions. The pair looked at her, expectantly.

"Write a grocery list, if you will, of all the things you've always wanted in a partner. And next to each item, put a check or a heart or tick mark beside everything that you found in each other and then give them to each other." Megan suggested. "And I will see you both next week."

"Actually, we'll be in the desert next week for a company thing. So, we'll be in the week after." Dom spoke up.

"That's perfectly fine." Megan replied. "I'll see you two in two weeks, then."

Up Next: Race for Research.