There's No "I" in TEAM
Summary: How the team came to be-the past and all that shit, how I want it or think it was.
Rating: Will vary from chapter to chapter but mainly PG-13
Disclaimers: I own nothing except Letty's best friend, Adrian Cortez, her father, Mikhael Rodriguez, her mother, Lena Rodriguez and her adoptive parents, Jake and Ande McCune(that is my Best Friend's last name so don't you DARE say it's stupid or desperate measures will be taken!)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Chapter Six-Adrian Cortez
Letty looked over at Mia to make sure she was asleep before she snuck down the hall to Dom's room. Mia had lent her a shirt and pants to wear to bed and she was grateful. She opened the door to Dom's room and crept inside, closing the door softly.
"I was wondering when you'd get here." Dom's sleepy voice said, making her jump. She turned and guiltily stared at her feet. "Come on. It's gotta be cold out there." Dom said and Letty nearly leapt into the bed with him. She snuggled up to his side under the covers, clutching his middle as if for dear life.
"It's okay, Letty. You're safe here, you know." he said, stroking her hair, "Time to sleep." he finished, leaning down and kissing her head softly before falling asleep. Letty followed soon after.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The next morning, Tony called the cops and told them about Letty's situation. He told them that unless they caught Letty's father-who'd run when Tony had told him Letty was spending the night-and kept him away from her she was staying with them. And so Letty spent the next few weeks at the Torretto household as the 'adopted daughter'. Mia loved it, always gushing about something to Letty(which she usually found quite uninteresting...of course she liked cars so she couldn't say anything).
The first day after Letty had come, Tony had panicked when he couldn't find Letty in Mia's room. So not only had Dom gotten a telling off but Letty had too. This telling off put a damper on Dom and Letty's relationship and for the remaining time she spent at the Torretto's she slept either in Mia's room or on the couch. Once she woke up, unsure of where she was, and found she'd fallen asleep outside Dom's door. She scrambled back into Mia's room before anyone else woke up.
One day, about a month after Letty had come, a woman came from children services. Letty sat on the couch opposite her and listened.
"Leticia-because your father is unable to take care of you at this time, we're going to transfer you to another home. It's about five miles away from this area and the couple of the home is excited to meet you." the woman said, rustling through her paperwork.
"Five miles?" Letty whispered. That meant she couldn't just run to Dom when she needed help anymore.
"Well-we should go gather your things and then we can go, hmm?" the woman asked, stuffing her papers in her bag and standing.
"I'm not going in that house." Letty said.
"Leticia-"
"I'm not going into that fucking house!" she yelled.
"Fine. Fine, honey-just tell me what you want and I'll go get it. You don't even have to go further near the house than my beat up Volvo. Okay?" the woman asked. Letty stood and walked out the door to stand by the woman's car.
"Letty!"
Letty turned and saw Mia and Dom standing in the doorway. Mia was crying into Dom's chest and Letty's heart went out to the poor girl. But Letty didn't run up the stairs into anyone's arms-if she did she might not be able to tear herself away from the ones she called family. She and Dom locked eyes one final time before she climbed in the car and they pulled away.
Letty stared out the window as the woman-Lisa, she'd found out. Typical white girl name.-babbled on about how nice the neighborhood was and how many kids her age were there and all that bull shit.
"Letty?"
No response.
"Letty, you wanna have some fun?" the woman asked and Letty looked at her strangely, afraid of what this woman's definition of fun was. "It'll be fun-I promise. But we gotta take a little detour and my car ain't the best thing runnin' ya know?"
The woman took and exit and they drove for another fifty miles until they reached a flat stretch of land by a sparsely populated highway. And Lisa got out of the car, walked around to the passenger's side and opened the door.
"Scoot over." she said and Letty moved to the driver's seat. "Now-we're going to have some fun. Can you reach the pedal and see over the dash?" she asked. Letty nodded-she could just barely see over the dash. "Now-from what I understand , you're pretty good with cars-you know the gears right? Put it in first and hit the gas, honey. Let's ride." Lisa finished and Letty fell in love with this woman. Here she was, in the middle of nowhere, with this woman who was letting her race her car. Letty slammed into first and pumped the gas, squealing off into the desert on redline.
Two hours later....
Letty gasped for breath as she screeched the car to a stop right by the highway. Lisa had been laughing the whole time Letty'd been drifting and spinning donuts.
"You're good, girl. You should get into racin'. When you're older, preferably." Lisa said, laughing again. Letty grinned. "Now-I hate to stop you fine tuning your driving skills but we have a couple waiting to meet you."
Letty grinned the whole way to the McCune's house and floated out of the car with her stuff.
"Snap out of it, honey. You're still ten feet off the ground on adrenaline-doesn't make a good impression on anybody." Lisa said, grabbing Letty's shoulders and jokingly shaking her. Lisa reached out and pushed the doorbell on the huge house. Five seconds later a man by the name of Watson ushered them into the livingroom and went to get 'the missus'.
"I don't think I can do this." Letty said nervously.
"You'll like them. They just have a huge house cause of Jake's job." Lisa said.
"Lisa!" said a surprised voice and they both turned.
"Ande!" Lisa said, giving the Latino woman a bear hug. "How've you been?"
"I'm quite all right, Lis." Ande said, pulling away. "And who is this?"
"Letty Rodriguez." Letty said, looking the woman up and down. Ande wore a dirty, blue wife beater and greasy khakis.
"She's a mechanic." Lisa whispered in Letty's ear as she walked by. Letty's head snapped around, following Lisa in disbelief.
"Hey, listen, Letty-I'm sorry I'm so dirty. The Neon I've been workin' on just won't cooperate. So if you'll give me a minute to clean up we can have something to eat, okay? You like Hawaiian pizza?" Ande asked.
"It's my favorite." Letty said, nodding.
"Me too! That's a coincidence! I'll go call Pizza Hut then." Ande said, walking away.
"What'd I say?" Lisa asked, crossing her arms and glaring at Letty, trying to keep a straight face.
"How'd you do it?" Letty asked.
"My son did a background check on you for me and I tried to match you up with someone who was the most like you. Sorry that it's five miles away, but I'm sure Ande'll let you go visit whenever you want. She's really pretty loose about the rules." Lisa explained.
"Who's your son?" Letty asked.
"His name's Jesse. He's a computer whiz kid but he just can't seem to keep his attention straight in school."
"What? Does he have, like, ADD or something?"
"Bingo. He loves cars though. Maybe I'll bring him over sometime and you guys can talk." Lisa said. Ande came back into the room dressed in shorts and babydoll t-shirt that said 'Tiger' on it, with four claw marks running down the stomach.
"Bring who over?"
"Jesse."
"Oh! Bring him over anytime you want-I love him, he helps me figure out what's wrong with my cars." Ande spun around in front of them and stopped. "You like?" she asked. Letty and Lisa nodded. "Good. Now-let's talk about you."
Four hours later, Letty, Ande and Lisa had caught up with each other and learned about each other. Ande's full name Andrea(An-dre-a) Calita McCune and she was twenty-seven. She had been into cars since she was Letty's age and was now a full-time mechanic. Letty fell in love with Ande and couldn't wait to meet Jake.
"Well-I gotta fly, Ande. Letty here was my last kid today, luckily, and I got a hot date tonight." Lisa said, standing.
"With who?" Ande asked as she, Lisa and Letty walked down the hall.
"My television and a guy named Vin Diesel." Lisa said, laughing.
"I don't get your obsession with him-he is not that hot." Ande said, pausing to think, "Of course compared to Jake..."
Lisa cracked up as Ande pushed her out the door yelling in Spanish. She closed the door and turned to Letty.
"So what do you wanna do? You can wander around the house or outside, if you want. Meet some of the kids-there's a nice boy down the street named Adrian. I think you might like each other-he's into cars too." Ande said, clapping her hands together.
"I guess I'll wander around outside." Letty said shrugging.
"Try not to get lost okay? If you do just knock on someone's door and ask for directions to the McCune's house. Have fun babe." Ande said, going into another room as Letty walked out the door. She wandered around the area, trying not to stray too far from the McCune's, and sat down on the curb to think. As she thought, tears began to streak down her face and she rubbed them away angrily. Something hit her in the back of the head at that moment and she yelled in pain. She jumped up, turning to see a boy about her age and a soccer ball on the sidewalk.
"Watch where you're freakin' kickin' that damn ball! That hurt!" she yelled, rubbing the back of her head.
"You new here?" he asked, kicking the soccer ball up and grabbing it.
"Yeah, I just moved. I live with the McCune's now." she said.
"Are you Letty?"
"Who are you?"
"Adrian." he said and Letty silently cursed herself for being the smartmouth she always was. "Hello?"
"What?" she asked, blinking.
"You wanna play soccer?" he asked, holding up the ball.
"I'm not that good." Letty said.
"I can teach you. If you want." he said.
"I-sure, I mean-I guess." she said and he grabbed her arm, dragging her into the backyard.
Summary: How the team came to be-the past and all that shit, how I want it or think it was.
Rating: Will vary from chapter to chapter but mainly PG-13
Disclaimers: I own nothing except Letty's best friend, Adrian Cortez, her father, Mikhael Rodriguez, her mother, Lena Rodriguez and her adoptive parents, Jake and Ande McCune(that is my Best Friend's last name so don't you DARE say it's stupid or desperate measures will be taken!)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Chapter Six-Adrian Cortez
Letty looked over at Mia to make sure she was asleep before she snuck down the hall to Dom's room. Mia had lent her a shirt and pants to wear to bed and she was grateful. She opened the door to Dom's room and crept inside, closing the door softly.
"I was wondering when you'd get here." Dom's sleepy voice said, making her jump. She turned and guiltily stared at her feet. "Come on. It's gotta be cold out there." Dom said and Letty nearly leapt into the bed with him. She snuggled up to his side under the covers, clutching his middle as if for dear life.
"It's okay, Letty. You're safe here, you know." he said, stroking her hair, "Time to sleep." he finished, leaning down and kissing her head softly before falling asleep. Letty followed soon after.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The next morning, Tony called the cops and told them about Letty's situation. He told them that unless they caught Letty's father-who'd run when Tony had told him Letty was spending the night-and kept him away from her she was staying with them. And so Letty spent the next few weeks at the Torretto household as the 'adopted daughter'. Mia loved it, always gushing about something to Letty(which she usually found quite uninteresting...of course she liked cars so she couldn't say anything).
The first day after Letty had come, Tony had panicked when he couldn't find Letty in Mia's room. So not only had Dom gotten a telling off but Letty had too. This telling off put a damper on Dom and Letty's relationship and for the remaining time she spent at the Torretto's she slept either in Mia's room or on the couch. Once she woke up, unsure of where she was, and found she'd fallen asleep outside Dom's door. She scrambled back into Mia's room before anyone else woke up.
One day, about a month after Letty had come, a woman came from children services. Letty sat on the couch opposite her and listened.
"Leticia-because your father is unable to take care of you at this time, we're going to transfer you to another home. It's about five miles away from this area and the couple of the home is excited to meet you." the woman said, rustling through her paperwork.
"Five miles?" Letty whispered. That meant she couldn't just run to Dom when she needed help anymore.
"Well-we should go gather your things and then we can go, hmm?" the woman asked, stuffing her papers in her bag and standing.
"I'm not going in that house." Letty said.
"Leticia-"
"I'm not going into that fucking house!" she yelled.
"Fine. Fine, honey-just tell me what you want and I'll go get it. You don't even have to go further near the house than my beat up Volvo. Okay?" the woman asked. Letty stood and walked out the door to stand by the woman's car.
"Letty!"
Letty turned and saw Mia and Dom standing in the doorway. Mia was crying into Dom's chest and Letty's heart went out to the poor girl. But Letty didn't run up the stairs into anyone's arms-if she did she might not be able to tear herself away from the ones she called family. She and Dom locked eyes one final time before she climbed in the car and they pulled away.
Letty stared out the window as the woman-Lisa, she'd found out. Typical white girl name.-babbled on about how nice the neighborhood was and how many kids her age were there and all that bull shit.
"Letty?"
No response.
"Letty, you wanna have some fun?" the woman asked and Letty looked at her strangely, afraid of what this woman's definition of fun was. "It'll be fun-I promise. But we gotta take a little detour and my car ain't the best thing runnin' ya know?"
The woman took and exit and they drove for another fifty miles until they reached a flat stretch of land by a sparsely populated highway. And Lisa got out of the car, walked around to the passenger's side and opened the door.
"Scoot over." she said and Letty moved to the driver's seat. "Now-we're going to have some fun. Can you reach the pedal and see over the dash?" she asked. Letty nodded-she could just barely see over the dash. "Now-from what I understand , you're pretty good with cars-you know the gears right? Put it in first and hit the gas, honey. Let's ride." Lisa finished and Letty fell in love with this woman. Here she was, in the middle of nowhere, with this woman who was letting her race her car. Letty slammed into first and pumped the gas, squealing off into the desert on redline.
Two hours later....
Letty gasped for breath as she screeched the car to a stop right by the highway. Lisa had been laughing the whole time Letty'd been drifting and spinning donuts.
"You're good, girl. You should get into racin'. When you're older, preferably." Lisa said, laughing again. Letty grinned. "Now-I hate to stop you fine tuning your driving skills but we have a couple waiting to meet you."
Letty grinned the whole way to the McCune's house and floated out of the car with her stuff.
"Snap out of it, honey. You're still ten feet off the ground on adrenaline-doesn't make a good impression on anybody." Lisa said, grabbing Letty's shoulders and jokingly shaking her. Lisa reached out and pushed the doorbell on the huge house. Five seconds later a man by the name of Watson ushered them into the livingroom and went to get 'the missus'.
"I don't think I can do this." Letty said nervously.
"You'll like them. They just have a huge house cause of Jake's job." Lisa said.
"Lisa!" said a surprised voice and they both turned.
"Ande!" Lisa said, giving the Latino woman a bear hug. "How've you been?"
"I'm quite all right, Lis." Ande said, pulling away. "And who is this?"
"Letty Rodriguez." Letty said, looking the woman up and down. Ande wore a dirty, blue wife beater and greasy khakis.
"She's a mechanic." Lisa whispered in Letty's ear as she walked by. Letty's head snapped around, following Lisa in disbelief.
"Hey, listen, Letty-I'm sorry I'm so dirty. The Neon I've been workin' on just won't cooperate. So if you'll give me a minute to clean up we can have something to eat, okay? You like Hawaiian pizza?" Ande asked.
"It's my favorite." Letty said, nodding.
"Me too! That's a coincidence! I'll go call Pizza Hut then." Ande said, walking away.
"What'd I say?" Lisa asked, crossing her arms and glaring at Letty, trying to keep a straight face.
"How'd you do it?" Letty asked.
"My son did a background check on you for me and I tried to match you up with someone who was the most like you. Sorry that it's five miles away, but I'm sure Ande'll let you go visit whenever you want. She's really pretty loose about the rules." Lisa explained.
"Who's your son?" Letty asked.
"His name's Jesse. He's a computer whiz kid but he just can't seem to keep his attention straight in school."
"What? Does he have, like, ADD or something?"
"Bingo. He loves cars though. Maybe I'll bring him over sometime and you guys can talk." Lisa said. Ande came back into the room dressed in shorts and babydoll t-shirt that said 'Tiger' on it, with four claw marks running down the stomach.
"Bring who over?"
"Jesse."
"Oh! Bring him over anytime you want-I love him, he helps me figure out what's wrong with my cars." Ande spun around in front of them and stopped. "You like?" she asked. Letty and Lisa nodded. "Good. Now-let's talk about you."
Four hours later, Letty, Ande and Lisa had caught up with each other and learned about each other. Ande's full name Andrea(An-dre-a) Calita McCune and she was twenty-seven. She had been into cars since she was Letty's age and was now a full-time mechanic. Letty fell in love with Ande and couldn't wait to meet Jake.
"Well-I gotta fly, Ande. Letty here was my last kid today, luckily, and I got a hot date tonight." Lisa said, standing.
"With who?" Ande asked as she, Lisa and Letty walked down the hall.
"My television and a guy named Vin Diesel." Lisa said, laughing.
"I don't get your obsession with him-he is not that hot." Ande said, pausing to think, "Of course compared to Jake..."
Lisa cracked up as Ande pushed her out the door yelling in Spanish. She closed the door and turned to Letty.
"So what do you wanna do? You can wander around the house or outside, if you want. Meet some of the kids-there's a nice boy down the street named Adrian. I think you might like each other-he's into cars too." Ande said, clapping her hands together.
"I guess I'll wander around outside." Letty said shrugging.
"Try not to get lost okay? If you do just knock on someone's door and ask for directions to the McCune's house. Have fun babe." Ande said, going into another room as Letty walked out the door. She wandered around the area, trying not to stray too far from the McCune's, and sat down on the curb to think. As she thought, tears began to streak down her face and she rubbed them away angrily. Something hit her in the back of the head at that moment and she yelled in pain. She jumped up, turning to see a boy about her age and a soccer ball on the sidewalk.
"Watch where you're freakin' kickin' that damn ball! That hurt!" she yelled, rubbing the back of her head.
"You new here?" he asked, kicking the soccer ball up and grabbing it.
"Yeah, I just moved. I live with the McCune's now." she said.
"Are you Letty?"
"Who are you?"
"Adrian." he said and Letty silently cursed herself for being the smartmouth she always was. "Hello?"
"What?" she asked, blinking.
"You wanna play soccer?" he asked, holding up the ball.
"I'm not that good." Letty said.
"I can teach you. If you want." he said.
"I-sure, I mean-I guess." she said and he grabbed her arm, dragging her into the backyard.
