Author note: This is my first Fast and the Furious fic and so I hope I am doing a good job so far. If you don't think I am, review and let me know. Or review just for the heck of it!
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Lee wandered into the kitchen where Leon sat playing solitaire at the beaten up table and rummaged in the fridge for a drink.
"Leon ?"
"Yeah, kid ?"
"Who's the chica outside with my dad. ?"
Leon leaned over in his chair to look out the small window which faced onto the lawn. He straightened suddenly, too suddenly for Lee's liking and looked back at his cards.
"No one."
Lee rolled her eyes and hopped up onto the counter, clutching her icy can of Coke in one hand.
"Don't bullshit me, Leon. If she was no one, Papi wouldn't have sent me into the house."
Leon shifted nervously in his seat. Damn the kid is smart! But, I don't want to be the one to tell her that that's her mom out there.
Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the jangle of the telephone. Lee hopped off the counter and ran over to the phone, forgetting her interrogation.
"Hola?"
There was a distinctly annoyed voice on the end of the phone and Lee winced when she realized it was her principal, Mr. Snider ( A/N: Yes I am borrowing the name from Buffy)
"Hello, is this Dominic Toretto ?"
"No, this is his daughter, Lee."
"Hello, Ms. Toretto." His voice was stiff and he was definitely pissed about something. Lee prayed to the great lords of the big car lot in the sky, that whatever he was pissed about, it didn't involve her.
"Is your father there, Ms. Toretto ?"
"Uh, yeah. One minute please."
Lee laid the phone down on the stove and leaned out the open window.
"Papi ?"
"Cuál es él, heces?"
( What is it , Lee ?)
"Sr. Snider en el teléfono."
( Mr. Snider's on the phone.)
"Qué lo hizo usted hace?"
( What did you do ?)
"¿ Yo ? Nada !"
( Me ? Nothing!"
"Estaré adentro, en un minuto."
( I'll be in, in a minute."
"Seguro!"
( Sure!)
Lee pulled her head in from the window and picked up the phone again.
"Mr. Snider ? My dad's just coming in."
"All right."
Dom snuck up behind her and lifted the phone from her hands, picking her up around the waist with his free hand.
"Papi ! Puesto me abajo!"
( Dad! Put me down!)
Dom grinned, but his face turned dark as he heard what Mr. Snider had to say. He hung up the phone with a loud thud and then grabbed his jacket off the back of one of the kitchen chairs.
"Papi ? Cuál es él?"
( Dad ? What is it ?)
"Sus hermanos en apuro otra vez."
( Your brothers in trouble again.)
"Oh."
Dom headed for the door, but then turned and looked back at Lee.
"What about you ?"
"What about me what ?"
"Have you been getting in trouble lately ?"
"No, Dad. No trouble. Not at School, not at the garage....." Suddenly a look of panic crossed her face and she glanced at the kitchen clock.
"Oh shit!"
Dom grinned again. "Language. But, what is it ?"
"I promised Aunt Mia that I'd come by to finish off her shift, because she has medical school and I was supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago."
"Do you want me to give you a ride ?"
"No, I've got my board. Besides you've gotta pick up T.J."
Lee grabbed her own coat from the hall closet and then running backwards towards the door, called out.
"Bye, Papi! Bye, Uncle Leon! I'll see you for dinner! And, Papi ?"
"Yeah ?"
"Don't kill T.J. I know you're pissed off, but he's the only brother I've got and I'd like to keep him around for a while."
Dom laughed. "Okay, I won't kill him. I might yell at him, but I won't kill him. And remind your aunt that we're having a barbecue tonight."
"I will. Okay, bye. I love you."
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Letty heard the friendly conversation coming from the house and then she was almost bowled over by the dark streak that was Lee running out the door.
"Oh, shit ! I mean, damnit! Augh, I mean sorry! Gottagoitwasnicetomeetyouokay,bye!"
Lee grabbed her board from underneath Leon's car and disappeared down the darkening street on it.
"You okay ?"
Letty looked up to see Dom standing next to her.
"Yeah, I think so."
"You're lucky. Not many people survive a close encounter of the Lee kind."
"Is she always like that ?"
"Nah, just when she's late to get to the diner and knows her Aunt Mia's going to be really pissed off at her."
Letty smiled and thought fondly about how much Lee had grown up.
"Listen, Letty. I've got to go pick up my son from school because he's in trouble again, but do you want to stick around ? Leon is inside and Mia'll be coming over later."
Letty could tell that Dom was trying to be nice, because ever since she had walked out on him, she had been a sort of exile from the team. Not that there was much of a team left. Jesse was dead, Vince was in jail, probably taking the rap for all of their crimes and god knows where Brian, if that really was his name, was.
As much as she'd like to stay, she knew she shouldn't. Even though Mia had told her they could still be friends, Letty knew that she had never really forgiven her for hurting Dom the way she did.
"No, that's okay. I got to be somewhere tonight any ways."
"Okay. Well, I'll see you around, Letty."
He pulled his keys from his pocket and slid behind the wheel of his car. Gunning the engine, he pulled out of the driveway and drove off down the street.
Letty shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans and headed down the street to her own chair. All the while, as she walked, she was mentally kicking herself.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! Did you really think that you could just show up and everything would be all right again ? Wake up and smell the coffee, Letty. You could have been part of this. You could have been a mother to those kids and a wife to Dom. And you gave it all up, because you were scared ? You walked leaving Dom alone with two little kids, because you were young and you didn't want to be tied down. Maybe if you had thought of that before you said "I do." And now he doesn't want anything to do with you and your youngest daughter doesn't even know who you are.
A tear ran down Letty's cheek, snapping her back to the present. She realized she had walked past her car and she jogged back to it, wanting to get away from this place, this happy little family scene that she could never be part of, because she had been such an idiot.
As, she slid behind the wheel she realized that the thing that had hurt the most was the way Dom had said "my son," like she didn't even exist. Of course it was unintentional, but it still hurt worse than a punch to the gut.
Letty leaned her head on the steering wheel and with shaking shoulders, sobbed like her heart was broken. Which it was.
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