A/N: This is my first TFATF story. It takes place Sixteen years after the Truck heist gone bad. Please Please Please. R/R!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of The Fast and the Furious. I'm just having them over to play. Rosa belongs to me.
Dom was sitting in his office at Torretto's Café and Market. He was going over inventory sheets, figuring out what they needed to order, and what they had too much of. It was dull work, but it had to be done, besides, when he finished with this he could head to the Garage to do something fun.
Behind him, at the Café counter, his younger sister Mia sat behind the counter flipping through a car magazine and talking to her husband, Brian. The two of them looked extremely cozy as Brian ate his tuna fish sandwich on white with the crust cut off. No one could figure out just why he liked the tuna at Torretto's. Very few people ever ordered it, and the few who did, never ordered it twice.
Dom heard the phone ring, but he ignored it, knowing without looking that Mia was already reaching for the extension in the Café.
"Torretto's" she said, she paused, and Brian watched as her eyebrows raised.
"Yes, Mr. Bradley, he's right here, just a moment."
Dom noticed the concerned tone in his sister's voice, and he turned to look at her.
"Dom, it's Ro's principal."
Dom gave Mia a confused look and reached for the phone in his office, reaching over with his free hand to close the door as he did.
"Hey, this is Dominic…Is everything OK with Rosa?...She What!...For how long?....I see…Any idea which direction?...Thanks for calling….Goodbye."
Dominic hung up the phone, grabbed the car keys, and headed into the main café, where both Mia and Brian were eyeing him with concern.
"I'll be right back." Dom said.
"What's wrong?" asked Mia.
"Ro's took off from school, she's been suspended for fighting." It was said with soft disbelief.
"She what?!" both Brian and Mia exclaimed.
"Yeah, that's what I said. Listen, I'm gonna go look for her."
"I'm going too." Said Mia. "Brian can cover the shop while we're gone."
Dom considered for a moment, and then nodded.
"It'll go faster if we split up." He said. "Brian, if she comes by, keep her here and call us."
"Of course." Brian responded. He watched as Dominic and Mia left in their separate cars to look for Ro, then reached for the phone to call Letty at the Garage. He knew that it was just as likely for the car crazy teenager to go there as to stop at the Café, and he knew Letty deserved to know what was going on with her daughter.
Ro Toretto slammed the front door with a bang that knocked a photo off the wall. She ignored it, not even noticing it enough to be grateful that the glass hadn't broken. She stormed up the stairs walked in her door, and heaved her backpack across the room where it knocked over the nightstand and broke the lamp that was perched on top of it.
The fifteen year old could not remember being this angry. Just the thought of what had transpired in the last hour made her blood boil. The worst part was there was nothing she could do to change things.
She changed out of the clothes she had worn that day, tossing the discarded garments around the room with enough force to hurt if anyone got caught in the crossfire, and pulled on her favorite pair of baggy well worn jeans and a tank top, hoping that the familiar attire would give her some comfort. Unfortunately she didn't feel any better. She paused for a moment, decided that she could not stay in this room, spun on her heel, and headed back downstairs and outside.
Normally, since Mia was covering the café this afternoon on her day off from the hospital, Ro would go to the Garage to help on the cars. She turned and started to head that way, hoping that the teasing and joking of the team would help get her mind off things, then though better of it. She just knew that the school may have already called there to let them know what had happened, and she really didn't look forward to the lecture that she was sure to get. She turned and headed in the opposite direction, without any idea where her feet were taking her.
Ro walked around aimlessly for almost an hour before she heard the very familiar rumble of a car, a specific car. The sound came from behind her, and she considered cutting off the street and heading behind the houses here, but she knew that she would only be putting off the inevitable.
The car slowed, and Ro heard the window roll down. She kept walking.
"Come on Ro, get in the car." Said the driver.
"No." Said Ro.
"Ro, I'm not kidding."
Ro, didn't respond, nor did she slow her pace.
"Rosa Marie Torretto. Get in the car." This time, the driver's voice was calm, but no nonsense.
Ro stopped, sighed, turned toward her dad, and got in.
Dom handed his daughter his cell phone.
"Call Mia and let her know that we're on our way back to the Garage."
Ro, showing the true Torretto anger, glared.
"Now Rosa, she's worried."
Ro picked up the phone and dialed her aunt, who answered on the first ring.
"It's me…I'm fine, we're on the way back to the café. Yeah, bye."
Rosa pushed end and handed the phone back to Dom, before focusing on the road in front of her. She knew that as soon as she hung up the phone, Aunt Mia would call Uncle Brian, who was probably at the Café right now, that Uncle Brian would call the Garage, and by the time they got to the café, Mom would be there, waiting.
She could feel her fathers' eyes studying her and knew why, she didn't look that great.
Ro's long dark brown hair was in shambles, but that was the least of her problems. There was a large bruise on her left cheek, which was making her eye swell as well, her lip was split, and the knuckles of both hands were bruised and bleeding. She folded her hands in her lap, self consciously, and turned her face to the window, and away from her dad's eyes.
The rest of the ride to the café seemed to take forever with her dad sitting next to her in silence, and yet as far as she was concerned, she got there entirely too quickly, knowing that when she got there, she was probably in for one of the longest lectures of her life, from both her parents.
The car pulled up in front of the café, and Ro climbed out and followed her dad inside. As she suspected, her Mom was waiting and rushed over to see her as soon as she got inside.
"Oh, Rosa. Are you ok, Poco Amor?"
"Mom, I'm fine." Ro said, knowing that it wouldn't do any good.
"Let me take a look." Said Mia, ever the doctor.
Letty stepped out of the way to let Mia look over Ro. Her aunt felt each of Mia's hands for broken bones. As the examination continued, Ro looked up into the faces of her parents, who were looking at her with a mix of concern, and disappointment. At that moment, the last of Rosa's anger melted away, and she only felt shame. She turned to look at the floor.
"She's ok." Said Mia after a moment. "Though she's going to be pretty sore tomorrow. We should put some Ice on her cheek and hands."
"I'll get it," said Brian, who was still standing behind the counter.
"Thanks, Brian." Said Dom, who then turned to his daughter. "Rosa, Mom and I need to talk to you in the office."
"Yes, sir." Said Ro. She turned and led the way into the office, with both of her parents on her heals.
"Have a seat." Said Letty, kindly, yet firmly.
Rosa sat down in the only chair in the office, her dads, while her parents perched on the edge of the desk. Ro was relieved. If they weren't getting comfortable, maybe this wouldn't last as long as she had thought. A moment later, Uncle Brian brought in a couple of ice packs.
"Thanks." Said Ro as she held on her cheek with the back of her left hand and held the other on her right hand.
"Brian, would you mind bringing in a couple more chairs." Asked Dom. Rosa sighed inwardly. Things were not looking good.
"Not a problem." Brian responded, he quickly returned with the chairs, and then left, closing the doors behind him.
Dom sat for a moment, looking at Ro. He had a million thoughts going through his head, just as they had been since Mr. Bradley had called. He couldn't believe that his little girl had gotten suspended for fighting. She had always been so cheerful and carefree, he couldn't imagine what she had been thinking to get into a fight, and judging by her hands, this was no small cat fight.
He knew he shouldn't be surprised, after all, just look at who her parents were. Both Dom and Letty had gotten into more than their fair share of fights when they were growing up. Heck, they fought as adults, but both of them had given it up when Rosa was born. They didn't want their daughter to think that kind of behavior was ok, so they didn't show it. Now she was getting into it on her own.
Dom took a deep breath.
"So, do you want to tell us what happened?" he asked.
"I don't suppose you would let it drop if I said I learned my lesson, would you?" Ro said hopefully, looking from her Dad, to her Mom, and back again.
"What do you think?" Letty answered, one eyebrow raised.
"I guess not." Rosa took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to explain what had happened at school that day.
"Well, I was having some…trouble, in drivers ed today…" she began.
Rosa sat behind the wheel of the silver Ford Taurus, breathing deeply, and hoping that the butterflies in her stomach would go away. Next to her, Mr. Corpot was giving her instructions on where to drive, and giving her endless instructions on how to drive. She didn't know why he was being so detailed right now. After all, she had just spent three weeks in the classroom going over all of the road laws, he had been detailed enough then.
She glanced in the review mirror at the two people behind her, Mike and Mark Sullivan, who were totally ignoring her. The Sullivan twins were the most well known and most adored boys in their grade.. They played soccer, and had traded off being captain of the soccer team for the last four years. They were fit, but not necessarily muscular. They were intelligent, and popular, and would probably both be valedictorians. As far as Ro was concerned, they were the biggest jerks on the planet.
There was a time when Ro and the twins were inseparable. They would hang out together, play sports, go to movies, climb trees, and get into trouble. Then, Jr. High started. Ro was never sure just when things started to change. Mike and Mark started hanging out with guys more, because it was cool, and Rosa started helping out at the garage. One day, they were playing basket ball in gym class. Ro got past Mike, who was guarding her, and made the shot. That was the day the officially turned on her.
"OK, Rosa." Said Mr. Corpot, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Take it out slowly, and make a right."
Rosa nodded, to nervous to speak, put the car into gear, and crept forward. It's not that she was afraid of driving, she had grown up around cars and racing. No, her nerves stemmed from the Sullivan twins. She knew it was only a matter of time before they started their snide little comments. She also knew that Mr. Carpot wouldn't stop them.
The comments started sooner than she had expected.
"She's driving like Gramma…" Mark mumbled to his brother, before she had made it out of the parking lot.
"Nah, Gramma drives faster than this. I think she's driving like a dead person." Mike replied, a bit more loudly, with a grin.
Ro gripped the wheel harder, stopped at the street, looked both ways, remembered that she hadn't signaled, did so, looked both ways again, and pulled out onto the street, accelerating too fast and making the tires spin on some loose gravel.
"Easy on the Pedals Rosa, this isn't a race." Said Mr. Corpot, softly.
"Yes, sir." Ro responded.
"She probably doesn't know how to drive normally." Said Mark, getting a laugh from his brother.
"Ok, Rosa. We're going to take a left at the intersection up here." Said Mr. Corpot.
"Yes, sir."
Rosa signaled for a left turn, pulled into the turn lane, and started to brake. Unfortunately, the brake didn't engage as quickly as she thought it would. Ro panicked and pushed the pedal to the floor, making the car jerk to a stop.
"Way to go Torretto. You trying to give us whiplash?" said Mike from the back. Ro turned to glare at him over her shoulder.
"Ignore them Rosa, you're going to need to deal with distractions every day while you're driving." Mr. Corpot said.
Ro turned back to the front, waited for a break in the traffic, and turned left onto the next street. Unfortunately, a car pulled out in front of her from the curb without signaling and she had to brake hard again, triggering the driver behind her to honk their horn.
"Brother," said Mark sarcastically. "I hope you told Mom you loved her this morning, cause I don't think we're going to make it out of this."
Both of the boys started laughing again.
The next five minutes weren't much better, and Mr. Corpot finally had Ro pull into a parking lot to let Mark drive.
When they got back to the school, Mark turned to head to his history class, and Mike followed Ro toward their music class.
"Hey Rosa, Haven't you ever been behind the wheel of a car before." He said.
"Of course I have." Ro replied shortly.
"Then why aren't you a better driver? You're parents are the best racers in LA, and you can't even turn a corner."
Ro ignored this comment, and just kept walking, though her hands were starting to clench into fists.
"What, don't they care enough to teach you how to drive?" Mike continued, still pushing for a reaction. "Or maybe they just think too much of themselves to pass on what they know."
Rosa snapped. She spun around and punched Mike as hard as she could…in his shoulder. Too high on adrenaline and anger to feel the pain in her hand, she followed with a left jab to his nose, that knocked him a few steps back. Shocked at what she had just done, she stopped, wide eyed for a moment, allowing Mike time to recover and punch her, bruising her cheek and splitting her lip. The impact knocked Ro out of her trance and she landed one more punch to Mike's eye before she felt herself being pulled back by the strong arms of one of the security guards at the school.
"So they took me to Mr. Bradley's office, where I got suspended. I was still so mad, I just left." Ro finished her story softly, still feeling angry, but this time it was at herself, for letting the twins get to her.
There was a moment's pause before either of her parents spoke.
"Rosa, go wait out in the café. You're dad and I need to talk." Said Letty.
"Yes, ma'am." Ro replied. She stood up from the chair, and left the room, closing the door behind her. Only then did she realize that the rest of the team had arrived while she was talking.
"Hey, Ro." Said Vince. "Nice shiner."
Rosa struggled to crack a smile, gave up and just sank down onto one of the bar stools and put her head in her hands on the counter.
"I am so dead." She said, to no one in particular.
"No you're not." Jesse answered. "In trouble, yes. But you'd have to do something far worse before you're parents would kill you."
"Like what?"
"Like wreck you're dad's car." Leon replied, eliciting chuckles from the group. Unfortunately, it hit a bit too close to home for Ro, and she felt a tear start to slide down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly, hoping that no one would see.
Brian noticed her attempt to hide the tear, and he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Rosa, you're parents can forgive anything. Trust me, I know."
Ro only nodded. She knew they would forgive her, eventually. She just didn't like the fact that she had disappointed them. Looking around at the team, she knew that she had disappointed them as well, after all, they had all helped raise her. Even Vince was looking at her differently. She looked up at the window to the office.
Dom and Letty were deep in discussion. They always talked about it before they disciplined Rosa. They wanted to make sure that they both agreed on it. Finally, they came to their conclusion and waved their daughter back into the room.
Rosa sat back down in her seat and faced her parents. She felt like she was on the witness stand, facing the jury.
"You know we don't want you fighting." Dom said.
"I know." Rosa said softly, looking down at her hands, which still had the ice on them, though she had give up on icing her cheek.
"You've always been good at controlling your temper, until now." Letty added.
Rosa only nodded.
"You're grounded, for three weeks." Dom finally said.
"What? Three weeks!" Ro exclaimed, it was the longest she had ever been grounded.
"Yes." Said Dom, simply.
"But, he had it coming."
"That's not your decision." Said Letty.
"Mike and Mark are always picking on people. Someone has to stop them?"
"Do you think that what you did will help." Dom asked.
Ro almost answered yes automatically, then stopped. The Sullivan twins were always calling her a tomboy. Saying she had too much of a temper, and that she was too much of a jock. And now she had given one of them a black eye.
"No." she replied softly.
"I don't think so either."
"So…" Ro asked after a moment. "Can I still work at the Garage?"
"Of course." Letty replied. "You're too much of a help for us to keep you from there."
"What about the races Saturday nights?"
"No races." Said Dom, firmly.
"But…"
"No buts." Dom interrupted.
"Yes, sir."
"Good." Said Letty, looking out the window into the café. "Looks like we have an audience. You want us to tell them?"
"Nah, I will. They'll find out soon enough anyway." Ro turned toward the doorway.
"Oh, Ro?" said Dom.
"Yeah?"
"This weekend, you're Mom and I are going to teach you to drive."
"In what?" asked Rosa, thinking they would never let her drive their cars.
"In mine, for now." Said Dom. "And we'll start to look for a fixer upper for you."
"Really?" Ro asked, shocked.
"Yep."
"Thanks!" Rosa ran up and hugged her parents, then headed out to the café.
Dom and Letty watched her leave.
"You know," said Letty. "I've seen the Sullivan twins. They each outweigh her by about twenty five pounds."
"That's our girl." Said Dom.
The headed into the café after Rosa.