Coffee, Cigarettes and Apologies

By Jet-Indigo

Chapter Nine – History

She awoke to the worst wave of nausea she had felt yet. Getting up as fast as possible from the bed that really belonged to Vince, she made her way quickly to the bathroom before puking up the past twenty-four hours worth of food that she had consumed.

She was feeling a little better but then the cold sweat came along, sending shivers up her spine. She wiped viciously at her mouth with the back of her hand before flushing the toilet and dragging herself to her feet. She caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror, realising how much the sick-time was draining her. She took a mouthful of mouthwash, swilling away the acidic taste that had been left on her tongue.

Stumbling back into the bedroom, she fell onto the bed, eyes heavy. She was drifting off when she heard a key in the front door. That's when she panicked.

Leon was in bed, there was no reason he would have to be out at 4.52 in the morning. Surely, if he had gone out, she would have woken up to him considering how unsuccessfully quiet he managed to be. She could hear heavy footsteps now, and the hallway light was flicked on, illuminating the space beneath the floor and the bedroom door. What to do? Pretend to be asleep or just step up and go out there?

But before she could wager the question with herself, she saw a shadow under the door and then the door was opened quietly. At first she was unable to make out the figure in the doorway, obviously looking at her but then, of course, how had she missed it. Dom...

"Dom…?" She said, in a voice that sounded so small she almost didn't recognise it.

He turned the bedroom light on, leaving his hand to hover over the switch a moment before he let it drop back to his side. They remained like that for a moment, both of them just staring at one and other. Eventually, he moved from his spot leaning on the doorframe closing the door and slowly he walked towards her, their eyes never breaking contact. He stopped before her, fluidly leaning down to kiss her lips. She brought herself from a sitting position to steady on her knees to accommodate his height, feeling all the bitterness she had been feeling towards him just slip away in that one moment as their lips met.

"I've missed you so much," he whispered, having broken their contact momentarily for air. There was something in the way he kissed her that was desperate, somewhat hungry. He lifted his knee up onto the bed, his hands falling from her jaw down to her waist to touch the bare skin between her vest and pants.

Pulling away from him, she lay back down on the bed, eyes probing his. For a moment he let his eyes roam her body, soaking up every last inch of her, his lover. His Letty.

…

After they made love, they lay in silence, breathing in sync with each other. Letty vaguely noted that dawn was breaking, and she sighed in contentment. She knew there was going to be many a talk with Dominic about everything that had happened but at that moment, she was just thankful that he was there with her. She hadn't realised just how much she really missed waking up next to him.

"I love you," his voice rumbled in her ear. He kissed her forehead and pulled her closer, his hand trailing a line up and down her back.

As she was drifting off to sleep, she whispered back "I love you Dominic."

…

Dom had left Letty in her deep slumber in the bed room, carefully covering her with a sheet and making his way into the kitchen. Leon had been at the window, smoking a cigarette and the silence that followed had been almost deathly.

He had flicked the cigarette out of the window and marched over to Dom, who for the first time ever had actually thought Leon was angry. Instead, Leon had pulled him into a hug. When they pulled away, Leon was shaking his head, a strange smile playing on his lips.

"I don't believe it." Leon said.

"What?"

"You came back," he said simply. If anyone else had said it, it probably would have sounded offensive, but with Leon it was just a simple statement.

"Of course I did, Le. I wouldn't have left you high and dry," Dom started. "I know it might have seemed that way but I had to get rid of the heat," he added, holding up his bandaged arm.

"So what happened to you? Last thing we heard, Jesse had been shot and the Trans are dead but…"

"Jesse…I'm so sorry Le."

"I know," Leon said, before Dom could go any further, holding up his hand. It was an unspoken acknowledgement that he didn't need to go on. Leon sighed, and nodded his head slightly.

"Johnny's dead. I don't know about Lance, but I have a feeling he isn't. I think something's about to happen; I've just got this feeling that we need to get out of here."

Leon nodded slowly. This was suddenly a lot to take in. they hadn't seen Dom in almost three weeks and suddenly he was back and falling back into his leader role straight away. It wasn't something that usually bothered Leon but he wanted answers. He didn't want to be told that Dom had a hunch about something and that they were to start running already.

He knew that Dom only had everyone's best interest in mind, but he wasn't just going to take everything Dom said as face value. Three weeks didn't sound very long but for him, they had been the longest three weeks of his life. Jesse, his brother and best friend, had died. Vince…Well Vince could be anywhere by now. And what about Mia?

"Where's your sister?"

"She's in Mexico. She's safe…I didn't tell her I was coming, I didn't want to put her in danger too." Dom replied. He leaned back against the kitchen counter and ran his hand over his slightly stubbly head. He was looking tired, there were dark circles around his eyes and his usually clean-shaven self was far from smooth.

Truth be told, he had been in hell ever since that day. He had been scared. Though he hadn't shown it in front of Mia.

"She's gonna kill you for leaving her there," Leon half-smiled, knowing just how much Mia hated to be out of the situation. Although he was thankful she didn't get too caught up in the heists. If anything, he reckoned things would have affected her worst because she'd thought the whole thing was a bad idea especially the last one. But of course, Dominic being the stubborn man that he is, they went ahead with it anyway. And she was so right, but she wouldn't throw it back in his face. She would just go along with everything, not saying a word because he was Dominic and she was Mia and that was how things worked with them.

For the most part, it always seemed as though Dominic was the protector, the alpha male of the 'team' but behind him, there was a great woman. And although Letty was the one who kept the man in line, Mia looked after the rest of the team. She was the mother-hen as it were; she made sure everything was in order, and that everyone was fed and cared for. They didn't show her as much appreciation as she deserved, but they all loved her for her quiet, caring way.

"Have you seen Letty?"

"Yeah. She's asleep."

"You should probably sleep then, we'll talk about this in the morning." Leon said, starting to make his way to his room. He stopped half way there and turned back to Dom. "A lot's happened Dominic, and things have changed my outlook on everything. But there's stuff that you need to know, just like you've probably got things to tell us. But Letty should be here for this."

Dom opened his mouth, as if to say something but thought differently. He nodded at Leon and watched him go back to his room.

But Dom knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep. The sun was rising and he would sit and wait for it.