Disclaimer: Not Mine
Author's Note: Hi!!
How is everyone? ) I know it's been awhile… on the bright side… there are two chapters instead of one! Yeah!
Anywho, according to my outline we have five more chapters and an epilogue coming!!
And yes I'm actually going to stick to my outline this time.
I'm giving you all fair warning… you will very likely be frustrated by the end of these two chapters… you will feel like bashing these characters (if not me) in the head with a brick.
However for your continued patience I offer up this promise: It is the last time these two (and we all know which two) characters will do this.
So have faith and keep reading….
Thank you all for your support. )
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The guys had gone back to the garage today -- actually it had been Mia who'd kicked them out -- claiming she was sick of having them in her house.
He would've gone too...
.... but one thought kept resounding in his head. It turned up at every corner:
It was time for him to leave.
So he'd stayed behind. Enjoying the time spent with his sister, with his nieces. He played with them and listened to them and did his best to block out every word and action that was associated with his last encounter with Letty.
A week had gone by...
... her wedding was in four days...
Mia and the guys kept giving him looks... these do-something looks.... and he wanted too... it was just...
It would be easier to leave... to turn it all off and go...
Mia had given birth.... he'd only promised to stay till she had the baby.
Brianna was here -- adorable and thriving -- it was time for him to go.
He should go... but there was Letty.... and he loved her... and there was not escaping that...
She was fighting though, like he had....
...only she was better at it...
She'd managed to look him square in the face and tell him it was over. To hold the door open for him and demand that he leave her alone. To tell him it was over without so much as flinching.
She'd been so convincing that he wondered if it was stupidity or faith that kept him thinking they still had a chance.
If he was, once again, fighting a losing battle... or if he was right... and she was lying... putting on false bravado to keep him at bay.
She was expected to visit today. The girls were whining that she hadn't been over in forever.
He groaned, the thought of leaving the girls making his gut twist. It was going to be harder than he'd anticipated. So much had changed since he'd come here.
His marriage was over and he understood that, accepted it... he still hadn't told his son though.
The garage in New York was barely a blurb on his radar anymore. He might as well sell it to the guy who was running it, he hardly ever spared it any thought and when he did it was to bemoan the fact that he had to call and check up on things.
The whole prospect of going to back to New York, of putting thousands of miles between himself and his nieces -- was unsavory.
The thought of staying if he couldn't have Letty was unacceptable.
He stood suddenly, needing to do something, besides sit and brood.
Downstairs Mia was running around; the baby monitor in her hand as she picked up after the girls.
"You didn't go to garage today," she stated.
He just stared at her, no response was necessary.
"Why?" she asked.
He shrugged, talking about it, was not high on his list of priorities.
She nodded, after a moment of his silence, "My dress was delivered today. For the wedding. I'm the Maid of Honor. Do you want to see it?" Her words were slow and steady... and mocking in such a subtle way that made his fists clench.
"I'm not going to force her to run away with me Mia," he stated.
She smiled sweetly, "You couldn't if you wanted to, Dom."
He glared, "You're such a brat," he stated.
She grinned, "Maybe but I'm a brat with common sense."
"What that suppose to mean?"
She set down the baby monitor, along with a pair of sandals she'd picked, gently on the end table. Then folded her arms, giving him a pointed look.
"You stroll into her office, tell her you want her, grab her, kiss her, and then wonder why she tells you she wants more..."
"How - " he began, his expression shocked.
Mia smirked, "She called like an hour later... needed to know if it was okay to freak out. I told her you were a jackass. Now I'm telling you - you're a jackass."
He frowned, "It's what Sonya told me to do."
Mia nodded, "Yes it is. And it's good advice... the only problem is that Sonya is not privy to the information I have -- which is that you have absolutely no common sense."
He stared at her blankly.
Mia sighed, "She told you tell her you wanted her, but she assumed, incorrectly, that you'd be intelligent enough to tell Letty why you want her."
Dom frowned, "Wha - "
Mia rolled her eyes, her hands outstretched, palms facing forward, "Tell her you love her!" she blurted out, exasperation coloring her voice. She needed her brother to do something! The wedding was in four days!!
"But she kno - "
"No, Dom she doesn't. She doesn't know. And you didn't tell her. You haven't told her in a long time."
He stared at her as if she'd just uttered the secrets to life.
Once again Mia rolled her eyes, scooping up the shoes and monitor, "Thank god I have girls," she muttered as she headed for the stairs.
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Was that the problem?
He marveled silently, wonder etched across his face. Did she not know? Couldn't she see....
Resolve stamped itself on his face.
Well, today, he'd show her. Today she'd know.
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"Can I talk to you for a minute Letty?" he asked, softly.
She looked up, Taylor was on her lap and there was one girl on either side of her. They were working on a puzzle on the floor.
He'd waited patiently all day.
Had planned carefully what he wanted to say... how he wanted to say it...
"No, she can't," Dolly responded before Letty could open her mouth.
"She's our-w-s today, Uncle Dom," Jessa continued.
"Yea, Daddy," Taylor added, nodding against her, "L-w-etty's playin with us."
He looked at all three faces, "I just - "
"Why don't you go play with da baby," Jessa interrupted, returning her gaze to the puzzle. Her tone almost scathing.
"Yeah you like her," Dolly finished.
Dom stared at their bowed heads a moment, before meeting Letty's gaze, she too returned to the puzzle quietly.
In an instant he was down on the ground, "I like you too," he said softly.
Dolly cocked her head to one side, "We know, you know just like her better..."
"...cause she's new..." Jessa continued.
"... the way we like new toys when we get them..."
Dom stared at them horrified for a moment, before he looked to Letty for help.
She met his gaze a moment as if deciding whether or not to help him out, than said softly, "Girls, that may be true about toys, but people aren't toys. Your Uncle loves you just as much as he loves Bria."
Dom nodded and to his astonishment the girls grinned, their eyes twinkling, "We know," Dolly answered cheekily.
"Just double checkin..." Jessa added.
Dom stared in surprise... god there was so much of his sister in them.
Before his eyes narrowed as reached for the dark-haired girl, "Just checkin huh?" he said as he started tickling her.
She giggled begging him to stop, the other three looked on, smiles on their faces. He stopped after a moment, looking at Letty seriously, "When you're done here... I need to talk to you."
She nodded silently.
He met her gaze steadily a moment before, saying goodbye to the kids and leaving the room.
His heart was pounding as he thought of what he had to say... pounding with excitement, with expectation, with fear....
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"If this is about..." she paused, "I don't want to talk about it," she said the moment he laid eyes on her.
She'd just walked into the kitchen and spit the words out -- in front of Mia, who was now all ears.
He glanced at his sister quickly, before looking back at Letty, "Well, I do want to talk about it," glancing at Mia again, "...but not here."
He walked towards her, intent on leading her out the door, Don't," she said sharply, "...touch me."
He paused, then nodded gravely. Silently they left the kitchen. Mia's eyes following them the whole through.
In the living room though, they found Leon, in the hallway Brian, in his bedroom Taylor...
... and so forth...
There wasn't an empty room in the house.
Suddenly, he grabbed her, shoved her into a room, and shut the door.
She glared at him, "Dom this is a bathroom," she said, her eyes flashing.
This was ridiculous, he'd dragged her from room to room and now shut them together in a bathroom?
Together!!
Did the man learn nothing??? They couldn't be Alone!!??!!
He grabbed her again, pulling her to the far end... away from the door.
"I don't want to talk about what happened..." she said again, "And definitely not in a bathroom."
"You don't have to talk. You have to listen... and what I have to say I'd rather say in private..."
She stared at him. He looked tense, but determined. Nervous, but confident. She knew that look. Had seen it right before they'd gone out to pull the last job.
Had leaned to fear it.
"Dom - " she began.
He cut her off, "You said you never stopped loving me," he said smoothly, his deep eyes piercing.
Her heart stopped.
He reached out gently, snaking his arm around her waist. He was done beating around the bush. She was pulled against him firmly.
Shock at his abruptness kept her still.
"Neither did I," he continued, "Not for a moment..."
She shook her head, struggling a little, pain glimmering in her eyes, "You got married," she whispered, her throat tight.
His grip tightened on her, "I won't lie to you Letty. I loved Kara. I always will -- she gave me Taylor, but it's - "
She tore away from him suddenly, ripping herself out of his grasp, "Why do you have to keep doing this?!" she cried, tears glistening.
"Isn't it enough that you tore me apart everyday for years!! That you broke my heart?! Why do you insist on bringing this up!" she was yelling now, the tears falling, her eyes wide with rage and pain.
"It's over Dom!! You and me are finished... and we were finished a long time before you left!! And every time you look at me and say things like that, it... it kills me inside..." she trailed off a moment, before her eyes were rejuvenated with rage, "So stop it!! Stop acting like you loved me all this time when you freakin married someone else!!! Stop acting - "
"Dammit Letty it's not acting!!! I LOVE YOU."
The words roared out of him, cutting her off, and making the bathroom reverberate.
Her mouth remained open, even though no words came out.
He took a deep breath, thankful that she'd finally shut up. Slowly he reached out and took her hands in his. " I love you Letty," he repeated softly.
She stared at him a moment longer before pulling her hands out of his grasp, "Dom don't..."
"Your smile, you laughter, your hair, your eyes... your... everything..."
She took a small step back, her heart stilled, her breathing stopped.
He took a step towards her, baring his heart, his soul to her. "I always have. It's just before... before I used to think we didn't have the grow-old-together kind of love. I used to think we were too fast, too furious to slow down for it; that we were to volatile to last. And after that night I... I was sure everything we had was over, that we could never be again."
He paused, and gently reached out to her again, taking her hands in his -- intertwining his fingers with hers.
She was mesmerized by his words, by the sincerity in his eyes, the ardor in his voice.
"I was wrong, Letty," he said intently, "You and me... we have every kind of love that exists. I know that, I can feel it... and if you let yourself, you can feel it too, Lett. We belong together... Letty, you're not just my right-now girl, your my right girl.... and I want you to be my wife."
She stared up at him uncomprehendingly.
"Will you marry me, Leticia?"
It might have been his use of her full name or that perhaps his words had actually managed to trickle into her brain, but suddenly she yanked her hands out of his and her eyes took on a frantic quality.
"Wha- what?" she stuttered out, taking another step back.
"Will you marry me?" he asked again, his heart in his eyes.
She met those eyes for a moment and was nearly torn in half.
Her heart cried yes.
Her brain screamed no.
"I...I... oh god... oh god...I'm...I'm engaged...I... think... I'm going to be sick," she cried, and started backing away hysterically; turning her back to him.
"Letty - "
"No! Don't come near me!" she yelled, grasping at the doorknob... trying to turn it... but her hands were shaking so badly... she fumbled with it...
"Letty - "
"No, no," she cried, pausing for a moment, her tone defeated... weary... as she leaned her forehead on the wooden door, "I can't... I can't... oh god I can't..." she sobbed, pure agony permeating her voice.
His heart broke -- for her anguish -- for his -- he tried one last time, "You can."
She was a silent, then she lifted her head, "No, no, I can't..." the words were barely above a whisper, but they were final.
She wrenched the door open and barreled down the stairs and out the door, without a word or a glance to anyone else.
Dom stared at the open door.
The chill once again, taking over.
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READ AND REVIEW BEFORE YOU GO PRETTY PLEASE!!!!
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