A/N: By far not my best, but it covers a few things I wanted to get over and done with. Again.. Thankyou for the reviews! .. please don't pelt me with rotten tomatoes ..

It was late by the time Letty got home, her head aching from the emotional wringer the last twenty four hours had put her through. She eyed the seemingly empty driveway for a minute, then paused her ascent up the yard. A dull, barely there glimmer of blue caught her eye just as a cloud moved to uncover the moon.

"He didn't.." she crept forward, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. There, tucked safely up in front of the garage was Vince's Maxima. It hadn't been there when she left for the hospital this morning. Leon must have gone and gotten it during the day sometime.

She shook her head slightly and walked up the back steps, unlocking the door as quietly as possible. The silence inside the house was deafening, all the lights out, television off. Sparing a glance at the clock, she noticed that it was only eleven thirty. She smiled slightly. Leon always had been the one to head off to bed earlier than everyone else. The man loved to sleep and hated to wake up. Hell, she would too if she had a bed as comfy as his.

Not feeling like heading off to bed yet, she turned toward the basement door and tread as lightly as possible down the stairs, skipping over the ones she knew would creak. It was even darker down here than upstairs. There were no windows to let in any light whatsoever, so Vince and Jesse had installed little touch lights at random intervals. Each one barely even bright enough to be classified as lights. More like a barely there glow. Dom had argued at the futility of the gesture, but the three basement dwellers were more than happy with it. All three of them were more comfortable in the darkness than the bright lighting of upstairs. It never failed to amuse her when she saw Vince, Jesse or Leon emerge from the dark stairwell with their arm over their eyes, wincing at the sudden brightness. It had been their refuge, a place to escape from the world. There was always sound of some kind coming from one of the three bedrooms, whether it was a television that was left on, music or the tapping of a keyboard. Not now though. The silence was so thick it was stifling.

Once she reached Leon's door, Letty knocked gently, then pushed the door open and poked her head inside. Sure, his car wasn't there, but it didn't hurt to check.

"You here, Le?" Inky black darkness pushed at her, cold and uninviting. She waited a minute for his response, moving inside when she received none. "Leon?" her fingers brushed over one of the many touch lights, this one just on the inside of the door. A dull, barely there glow illuminated the immediate area she was in just enough for her to make her way over to the bed without tripping over. It was empty. He wasn't home.

Silently, she crawled up onto the bed, her knees sinking into the pillow top mattress, the down quilt making that soft crinkling sound she loved so much. Curling herself around one of the continental pillows, she closed her eyes and inhaled. The room itself smelled like a mixture of some expensive cologne she couldn't place, peppermint and grease. A smell that every man living under this roof at any point all shared. It was comforting.

"I'm not needed here.." Letty frowned. Why had he said that? Of course he was needed. Leon was her rock as of late. He kept her sane. Damn straight he was needed. She needed him.

Hugging in closer to the pillow, Letty sighed. As soon as they made the turn into their street two days ago Leon had shut down. He wasn't speaking much, he wasn't really eating. Then there was the whole hospital episode. Vince had told her what happened, how he threatened the nurse on his behalf. Leon became the protector, trading places with Vince for those few minutes. Quietly, Vince had admitted that it felt good to be the protected instead of the protector for once.

Vince.

Now there was something she wasn't expecting. She had returned thinking that the first thing she would see him doing would be making some poor nurses life hell. Instead, he had been highly medicated and asleep. From her limited conversation with Juliet that morning, she gathered that he had only caused problems the one time. It was very uncharacteristic of him. Vincent Noah "Coyote" Orello was like a time bomb waiting to go off. But this Vince… he had found every reason he could come up with to stay in physical contact with her and when she moved out of his reach he would panic. The accident had changed him dramatically.

Letty sniffled against the pillow, determined not to cry any more. Giving the clock one last glance, she let sleep claim her.

"..mutherfuck.." a crash followed the quiet cursing.

Letty cracked one eye open and bit her lip to refrain from laughing. Her efforts were forfeit when she started to giggle. It was close to four am.

Sitting on the floor, pants around his ankles, Leon sat looking at her, doe eyed. "I tried not to wake you." He mumbled, unlacing his boots. When Letty kept laughing, he shot her a dark look and threw one of his shoes at her. "You think that's funny? Well I got something that's sure to ruin your glee.." he threw the other shoe towards the end of the bed and yanked his jeans the rest of the way off. "Dom called. Three fucking times." The last was growled.

Letty felt the lump in her throat before he finished the sentence. Just because she left him didn't mean she wasn't in pain.

"What did he want?" Her eyes followed Leon to the bed and watched as he climbed in beside her.

"First time… Wanted to know where the hell we were." He shimmied down the bed and turned to face her, "We're in Baja, ok?"

Stifling a chuckle, she nodded. "Second time?"

"O'Connor got in touch with him somehow. The charges have been dropped. We're all in the clear."

"Are you serious?" Letty felt a hint of shame. The cops hadn't even crossed her mind until now.

Leon closed his eyes and rolled onto his back with a yawn. "Yep."

"What about the third time?"

"I told him to go fuck himself and hung up on him before he could say anything. Then I got rid of the sim card."

Letty sat up in shock and stared at him, trying to gauge his expression. Was he serious? "You're kidding, Le." He sat up so quickly that she jumped backwards with a squeak. His expression was dark, bordering on furious.

"Letty, if you wanted to be with him, then why the fuck did you come back here?"

"I never said I wanted to be with him! It was only a question, Leon!" she snapped back, "It just seems so final, is all."

Leon relaxed slightly, though still visibly tense. "No, Let. Final is ripping the teams deals off your car and torching them on his bed."

Letty felt her eyes widen. "You.. no.." she looked at him in disbelief. His silent response was nothing more than a quirked eyebrow.

"I don't believe you.." she said, flinging back the covers and sliding onto the carpet. She took the stairs two at a time, her socks skidding along the floor as she swung into the bedroom she used to share with Dom.

"Holy shit!"

The covers lay neatly, the bed still made. The room remained untouched, the scent of Dom's cologne still hanging in the air, along with a more unpleasant burnt plastic smell. The only thing that looked even remotely out of black was the charred black spot in the centre of the queen sized bed, curled and melted remnants of the vinyl decals from the Skyline stuck to the pale material.

"Holy shit," she repeated, quieter this time. "He really did it." A hand reached out to touch the blackened remains. The coarse brittle plastic crumbled under her touch, falling to the bed in heavy flakes. It was the ultimate slap in the face. Something that meant so much to Dom, his empire so to speak, being destroyed in the very place he slept. Obviously, Leon's anger wasn't temporary. It was as permanent as it came.

Letty looked around, taking everything in. There was nothing left in the room for her any more. All her belongings had been packed and taken with her when she left for Mexico. Her relationship with Dom was done.

As she turned to walk out the door, a flash of hot pink and black caught her eye, peeking out from behind the dresser. Curious, she knelt down and grabbed at the pink and black object, the sensation of fur tickling her palm.

"Oh.." she whispered, covering her mouth. In her hand she held the most hideous looking stuffed cow in existence. It was black and pink tiger print with big, sad eyes and a soft, plush dummy hanging from its mouth. Jesse had given it to her for Easter earlier in the year, claiming bunnies were overrated and that 'cows need love too'. Now that he was gone, the gesture seemed so much sweeter.

"Let? Are you mad at- What are you doing on the floor?" The light flicked on overhead and Leon walked toward her. All anger had fled his face and it was instead back to the same concerned expression she had grown used to the past few weeks. He stopped beside her and looked down at her hands, then to her wet face.

"Oh, Let.. Come on sweetheart." He leant down to pick her up, "You can bring Mr. Bunny with you." He soothed gently, tucking her against his chest, cow and all.

"I'm sorry Leon… I'm so sorry." She sobbed, hugging the toy closer.

He manoeuvred her in his arms and switched off the light, then made his way back down to the basement.

"Don't worry about it, Let. I don't mind."

As he arranged her on the mattress and climbed into bed beside her, she watched him. "I really am sorry, Le." She sniffled. He shrugged lightly.

"Like I said, don't worry about it. I don't mind sharing with Mr. Bunny." He motioned to the cow.

"No, Le. You're being deliberately dense." He looked confused, "You lost him too."

Realisation blossomed on his face. He sighed. "Oh." He fell quiet, staring at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.

"Leon.." Letty prodded his arm until he turned to look at her. When he did, she pushed the cow into his hands. "You need him more than I do."

He looked at the stuffed toy for a while, just staring at it. "What if you need him?"

Letty shrugged elegantly and curled into his side. "If I need someone, Leon, I'd rather have you to hold than a toy. You hug back."

He levelled her with a look but made no move to push her away from him.. "So you'd rather Mr. Bunny here consoling me if I needed it? I'm not allowed to turn to you?"

"No! I mean yes! I mean.. I just didn't think you would let me." At his silence, she knew she was right. "How about we share him."

"How do you propose doing that? You take a horn and I'll take the udders?" he muttered sarcastically.

Letty smothered a laugh. "You always were a breast man."

"Hey, now!" He shouted indignantly, half sitting up now. Letty grinned and pulled him down beside her, squashing the stuffed cow in between them.

"There. Sharing."

He looked at her with a bemused smirk on his face, "I sincerely hope that it's stress making you this random."

She nodded in earnest. "Of course it is. Now shush.. Sleeping." She nuzzled closer to Leon's warmth, her head touching his chest. After a minute, his arm curled over her hip.

"G'night, Let." He kissed the top of her head gently.

Only once she was asleep did he allow himself to utter a whispered thankyou.