A.N. At last, this one's long been overdue. But with vacation time then real life crowding me up, it has taken me a month to get this very difficult chapter in. It's probably the hardest chapter that i've ever written, mostly because it was the most challenging.
I have never been a fan of Mary Sue's, mostly because very few people can get them right. So when a friend of mine challanged me into writing one, I thought i'd take her up and do a chapter on her...and damn, if I wasn't ready to crack my head, and my friends too (she doesn't like Sue's either)
So this chappie goes to all the Mary Sue writers out there. Still don't like Sue's, but after writing this, I have to say that I admire their courage to literally put themselves out there. --Kat
PS. I really wanted to get this chappie out, since i've been living with it for a month now. But due to the beginnings of a migraine, i've only gone through it once. Please excuse any typo's or missed words. I promise to fix those as soon as I'm able.
1987
"This sucks" Letty thought as she crossed the street from her bus stop
Adjusting the straps to her backpack, she watched as a car full of rowdy teenagers sped by, their laughter melting with the roar of the engine.
She stared at the car until it had turn the curb…kept staring even when it had gone.
"Someday I'm gonna get my own car" she told herself as she started on her long way home.
Present
Dom sighed and craned his head out the window, trying to see what was causing the traffic.
It was mid afternoon and the sun was making sure it baked everyone underneath it.
"And you had to take the fucking Supra" he muttered to himself
Of all the days for his car to get stuck behind everyone else's it had to be today, where the last car had to be Brian's, who'd driven to work with the fucking top off.
He sighed, leaning back on the headrest as he inched the car forward on the intersection.
Today had been one of those days where he would have gladly crawled back to bed and died.
"Optimism!" Mia had told him when she'd showed up at the garage after class
God, some days he just wanted to strangle his sister.
Though she was right. With his luck, he couldn't really call this a bad day, more like one where nothing seemed to go right.
The morning had started with everyone being late, including Mia. Which pissed him off, since it meant she didn't have time to cook and everyone had to rely on their good ole selves to make breakfast.
It was the end of the week, and the cupboards were running on empty. By the time he'd gotten down, Mia had left and the boys had consumed all the leftovers. He'd been stuck with a lone piece of bagel and starved on the way to the garage.
And if that wasn't enough, there was some problems with some parts that he'd ordered up at The Racers Edge that only he could clear up, thus the afternoon trip.
He honked his horn impatiently, wiping sweat off his brow and pushing up his sunglasses.
It was turning out to be a shitty day.
And that wasn't the only thing bothering him…
It was now officially four months, and so far nothing had happened between him Letty. Nothing.
Beyond their occasional bouts of flirtation, which had started on the first day, not a single fucking thing had happened, and it was driving him absolutely crazy.
The thought of seeing her everyday, of being near her, yet not being able to hold her, or even touch her, was enough to make him explode.
But what was worse was not being able to talk to her.
Granted, it was an area in their relationship that had been sorely lacking and something that the two of them had agreed to work out.
They'd made some progress by being friends, and now that they were able to exchange some personal banter, he was hoping that they were ready to move on.
Instead, things seemed to have taken a step back…
During the past few days, he noticed that Letty seemed to be…bitchier than usual.
At first, he thought it was PMS. It may be chauvinistic, but any guy fucking knew that even the gentlest girl could grow claws and some fangs on their "time of the month", and Letty was no exception.
But after a week of attitude, he knew it was something more than hormones.
Something had happened the past few days, and she wasn't telling him…fuck, she wasn't telling any of them.
And this made supremely pissed.
"Short fucking fuses all around" he thought, remembering the last two days at the garage, where everyone seemed ready to spontaneously combust
The car in front of him moved, and Dom let out a sigh as he inched towards the head of the intersection.
"Thank God" he breathed, looking up at the red light.
Just a few more minutes and he'd be out of this dreadful heat.
A honk and a giggle sent him looking to his right, where a pretty made up blonde was sitting in her red little Miata, smiling at him.
"Nice car" she called out
"Thanks" he answered back, politely
A year ago and his answer would have been a lot longer, and a lot less polite.
"My name's Katherine by the way, but my real close friends call me Kitty"
"Hi, Kitty." He obliged
She leaned over and gave him that look. The look that had broken him so many times in the past…
He felt like hitting his head on the steering wheel.
Instead the light changed, and he immediately put the car into gear, speeding off without even looking on his rearview mirror.
"At least something went right on this fucking day" he muttered as he drove home
1987
Letty was nearly to the Toretto's when a hot convertible slowed down next to her
"Letty!" a loud voice called out from the backseat
"Hey Vince" she called out, rolling her eyes when he reached out to tug at the straps of her backpack
"Nice bag" he snickered, looking at the school logo stamped on the red and black book bag
She just glared.
"Hey Letty" Dom called out from the front seat, smiling as the driver—a blond with big hair—leaned over to take a good look at her "This is Justine"
"Hello Justine" she answered, trying not to look at how her chest was rubbing at Dom's shoulder
"Hi Letty" she smiled at her, giving a little wave
"And this here is Monica" Vince said, throwing a hand over the redhead's shoulders
"Hey" Monica called out "Does Holy Cross have to, like, put a brand on everything? I like your socks"
"They're knee socks" she deadpanned
"Uh, yeah" Monica said "But I like knee socks!"
Letty gave her a rather withering stare.
Maybe it was just the women that Dom and Vince kept dating because the kind of women they brought home since they started high school seemed sorely…lacking.
"Or not" she thought, watching as Vince started at Monica's impressive bustline
"Say Letty, you going to the garage?" Dom asked her
"Yeah, why?" she answered dubiously, knowing what was coming next
"Great! Could you tell dad--"
"Hell no!" she immediately yelled "I ain't gonna lie to Tony again!"
The two girl's eyes popped out at her "expressive" language, while Vince sniggered as Dom face was beginning to darken with anger.
"Letty, what did I tell you about the swearing?"
"And what did I tell you about the lying?" she smacked back "I ain't running any more interference for you, Dom!"
There was a snort, and she looked menacingly over the drivers' side.
"Is this what they teach you girls over at Holy Cross?" Justine laughed
She was about to answer when Dom cut in.
"Let's just fucking go" he huffed, probably knowing that she would say something that they would all regret "I'll just swing by later at the garage"
"Okay, baby" Justine just shrugged then looked over at Letty "You need a ride, Letty?"
"No, thank you" she answered caustically, matching Dom's stare "I like walking"
With one last glare, she watched as Justine drove off, with Dom looking at her from the mirror and Vince and Monica laughing at the background.
Letty gave one last look as the car turned the corner before walking ahead.
In truth, Justine seemed nice, but it didn't really matter.
Justine, Monica…Jessica, Angelica…Anna, Marie…whatever their names were. There was a different one seemingly every week, all with cars, all replaced.
And if Dom and Vince weren't going around trading girls, they were racing around with the boys.
She kicked a pebble on the road, the roar of the car and Justine's high pitched giggle ringing in her ears.
Dom didn't walk home with her anymore…neither did Vince. Not since they got into high school.
She kicked another rock, putting everything she had in it.
"I'm so gonna get a car of my own" she vowed, stomping the rest of the way home
Present
The first thing Dom noticed was the butter yellow Camaro RS parked on right next to Letty and Mia's cars.
It wasn't one of their regulars, and he didn't know anyone in the area who drove that kind of car.
After the incident with Jim, he was wary of seeing cars he didn't know, especially when an irrational pit of worry formed in his stomach just from looking at it.
"Jesus, you own a fucking garage!" his mind was yelling
Still, after locking his car and getting out his purchases, he resisted the temptation to run
His gut instinct told him that this was going to extend his shitty afternoon, so he was surprised to find an attractive Asian girl sitting on one of the stools talking to Mia and Leon.
And the first thought that came into his head was "Did I fuck her?"
It was an embarrassing but accurate reaction.
There were some rare instances in the past that a few of the women he'd "partied with" dropped by the store, completely misunderstanding their brief, one night arrangement.
Sometimes, Letty sent them packing, but most of the time, it was Mia.
And so far, Mia was letting this one stay.
One long look at the girl, and he was convinced why.
Despite the fact that she was dressed in a brown leather mini skirt and black knee high boots, she didn't look like any of the girls in the races.
Her shirt, though tight, wasn't bursting with cleavage. And her hair was drawn in a simple ponytail, revealing a smiling face with almost no make up.
Who the hell was this?
As if on cue, the three of them saw him standing there and Mia immediately set on the introductions.
"Oh, there's my brother now" Mia said, waving him over "Hey Dom! Come meet Letty's friend"
"Letty's friend?" he almost groaned, walking over while trying to keep a neutral face
"Yeah, from high school" Mia said, turning to introduce the girl
"Dom, this is Suzie Garcia, Letty's friend from Holy Cross" Mia said "Suzie, my brother Dom"
Dom almost snorted. Letty was friends with someone named Suzie?
Suzie extended a slender hand, which seemed six sizes smaller than his
"Hello" she said brightly "I've heard so much about you?"
"Really?" he said, shaking her hand, surprised that she had such a strong grip "All good, I hope"
She gave a soft, rather tinkling laugh, and Dom couldn't understand why, but it seemed remarkably familiar…
"Actually, you've met me before" she said
Shit, I did fuck her…
If Suzie saw the panic in his face, she didn't show it. She merely smiled and went on to explain.
"It was way back, when I was about…I dunno, six or so?" she said "My dad used to bring his car here."
"Oh" he said, relieved "but you've known Letty…"
"Since we were in gradeschool" she said "But we didn't really hook up until--"
"Sophomore year in high school" Letty finished, walking in with a couple of drinks
"When the two of us spent a ridiculous amount of time making props for that years' school play" Suzie explained dourly "In lieu of detention"
Letty pretended to choke on her drink "Excuse me?"
"I meant, suspension" Suzie admitted, rather grudgingly "But I never really did anything bad"
"That's what they all say, honey" Leon smirked
That brought out a round of laughs, especially when Suzie stuck her tongue out at Leon in mock annoyance.
Dom was glad to see a genuine smile on Letty's face, the first one for this week.
"She's been so stressed lately…" Dom thought, wishing like hell again that she was home instead of 20 minutes away
He'd gotten used to not living with Letty, but it still fucking bothered him that she was gone.
He missed her.
But what was fucking killing him was this business of not knowing. It frustrated him that he didn't have instant access to what was happening to her life; that information that he'd taken for granted before now had to be given only with Letty's permission.
It used to be that he'd look at her and he knew.
He used to look into her eyes and all the worries he had in the world would fade away. For those few seconds, he could be certain about one thing in his life, and that was Letty.
Now that feeling was gone, and every damn day she spent away from him reinforced his fear of him never getting it back.
"I'm just gonna go put these things that I bought in the garage" Dom mumbled
It was good that Letty was smiling, and he didn't want her notice to his gruff demeanor.
But instead of making his mistake, Mia took the parts from the counter.
"Nah, I'll take these, I was supposed to do some inventory in the garage anyway" she said, smiling as she waved goodbye to Suzie and winked at Dom
As soon as she was out, Leon looked pointedly at the sunny vehicle and then at Dom.
"Yo Dom, Suzie told me that you used to work on her car before"
His eyebrows furrowed "I did?"
"Yeah, that's her dad's car over there" Leon told him "She's driving that baby now"
Suzie couldn't help but beam at the mention of her car "My dad gave him to me as a graduation present. He's put in a few modifications but I've been so busy with school that I haven't really had much chance to enjoy him."
"Oh yeah" Letty piped up "My dad and I worked on Robbie once, it'd be nice to get reacquainted"
Dom's eyebrows furrowed "Robbie?"
"The car" Letty explained, catching the keys from Suzie and dragging him to the driveway "C'mon, why don't ya take look at it with me"
He didn't have to be told twice before following Letty out to the parked car.
"Robbie?" he repeated, watching as she popped the hood
"What can I say, the girl gives dorky names to her car" she smiled
From inside, Suzie screamed "I heard that!"
"You were meant to!" Letty yelled back, laughing as she watched Leon try to get back Suzie's attention
"So, Suzie huh?" Dom asked "How come I've never heard about her?"
"Well, she ain't really that big of a friend" Letty grunted, looking through the cars engines "I've known her since grade school, but we only kinda talked when we did those shitty ass props for the schools fucking annual play, when we both got suspended"
"You were suspended?" he asked
"Yeah. Got caught with grease underneath my nails one too many times, while Mary Sue over there is chronically late" she smirked "That school's got way too many shit rules, so don't ask"
"So she was your friend…"
"Well, kinda" Letty explained "But we didn't really hang out together, like eat lunch every recess or some shit like that. It's just that while we were workin' together she mentioned Robbie and I remembered him. She and her dad like muscle cars and shit, so we had, at least this one thing in common. Anyway, we talk and shit, but I kinda always did my own thing while Suzie's just the type that's friends with everybody"
"No shit" Dom said, looking over at where Suzie and Leon were having a rather animated discussion "She's even talking to Leon and shit"
"Hey, he ain't just got pistons for brains you know" she told him "The boy can carry a conversation, he just ain't gonna get a date…well, from her at least."
"Why not?" he asked "She seems interested"
"In what he's saying" she said "That girl can talk about anything, which is why she gets along with just about anyone. Probably talked her fucking way through law school."
"So she's still studying?"
"Senior year at some Seattle law school, forgot which one. She moved right after high school, but we still email. She only got back here coz her cousin or something is getting married. Ass drove her fucking all the way over here!"
"And you've never mentioned her?" he asked, leaning on the hood
"Like I said, we weren't really that close. But she's cool, so we kept in touch."
Noticing his weary expression, Letty closed the hood and faced him.
"So what exactly is this about?"
"What are you saying?" he asked, even though it was a dumb thing to say
Letty had always known if he was lying, or was trying to get around something. He never could hide anything from her, and he fucking wished he had the same thing…
Or maybe he did, and he just fucking ignored it.
"Don't do that, don't ever fucking do that!" she hissed "You told me no more lying, and that fucking includes this."
His eyes widened at her sudden outburst. "What the fuck, Letty! I just wanted to know why I've never heard of her."
"And what the fuck have I been telling you, she's a friend! Or were you afraid that I was screwing her too!"
His mouth opened, but this time he listened to that little voice in his head that told him that talking was not a very good idea.
"You know what Dom, fuck you. I thought we already made it clear that we were gonna be honest with each other, looks like not much of anything has changed."
"Let…"
"All you had to do was fucking tell me" she said heatedly, stepping back and moving towards the direction of the garage "I'm gonna go to the garage. To talk to Vince. So I can tell him to move his fucking car out of the way coz I am heading back home. Try and sleep the rest of this shitty day away. That enough information for you, Torretto? Or you wanna follow me home to make sure?"
He watched, confused and slightly dazed.
"What the hell just happened!" Leon was yelled from the store
"I dunno" he answered, amazed at what just happened.
Of course, he'd seen Letty mad, but this was truly an unusual outburst. He knew he'd pissed her off, but the reaction he got was way too much. She wasn't just mad, she was mad on a fucking nuclear capacity.
He had just decided to follow her in, hoping to ask her what was wrong and using her little "honesty speech" as a conversation opener when Mia came rushing out.
"Dom" she sighed "What the fuck have you done to provoke her?"
"Nothing!" he yelled, throwing up his hands "I was just asking why she never told me about Suzie, and she just fucking blew up!"
Mia rolled her eyes and dragged him over to the side of the store.
"Yeah, well, she's tearing up the stock room. Thank god all the shit we keep in there's made of metal."
"It was just a fucking question!" he growled
"And what a stupid fucking question it was" she smacked back "What the hell were you thinking Dom, are you gonna be like that to all of her friends?"
"Forgive me for being a little bit paranoid, but four months ago I just learned that the woman I loved was screwing another guy"
"Dear God" Mia sighed again, rubbing the bridge of her nose
"And I didn't fucking have a clue Mia! I didn't--"
"Oh shut up Dom, we all didn't have a clue. And quite frankly, even I was a bit disappointed with myself for missing it. But you don't see us dragging it out in the open every time someone asks for Letty" she answered, pinning him with a stare
"She has friends Dom, like it or not she does know people who don't know you"
The look of hurt on Dom's face softened curbed Mia's anger, and she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You know what I mean Dom, it's just…she's got other interests besides racing Dom, and she's got friends outside of racing too"
"Then she should have just told me about her."
"Well, you aren't exactly receptive to talking that time in any of our lives…"
She watched Dom's face changed, his walls immediately coming up. It hurt her to see her brother like this, but she knew that someday he would have to talk about his time in prison, and it seemed like that day was fast coming.
But she also knew that she wouldn't be the one that was going to get to him.
"Look, it's just that with everything goin' on you knew better than to provoke Letty, especially when you know that she's always had an issue with her."
The small bit of information snapped Dom out of his dark reverie and right into the present.
"What?"
"I said you should have been more sensitive, especially since--"
"I heard you" he said "I just don't know what the fuck you're talking about"
The moment he said those words he saw Mia's face pale.
"Dammit, she promised me she would tell you" she hissed, shaking her head
"Tell me what?" he asked worriedly
Fear and anger seemed to mix at the pit of his stomach, making him want to retch and hit something at the same time.
Whatever it was, it looked as if he was really gonna get to try Letty's little honesty speech.
"Look Dom, it's not really in my place to say, but I really think you should know…"
"Know what?" he asked "C'mon, just fucking tell me!"
"It's the reason why Letty's been upset" she answered hurriedly "A week ago I was going through the mail and there was one addressed to Letty."
The feeling of dread seemed to have increased by a factor of ten as Dom waited for his sister.
"Just promise me you won't flip out when--"
"MIA!"
"It was from Maria" she said, bracing himself for his reaction
There was a long pause as her answer sunk in. At last Dom blinked and looked at her disbelievingly.
"What?" he asked, not know knowing if he'd heard right
"I didn't believe it either, but when I gave it to her she just, she wigged out…" she explained tearfully "It's from her Dom, it's really her…it's from Letty's mother"