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The silence in the room was deafening. Mariella watched her parents body language closely from where she sat, as they thoughts about their answer.

'Do you want the truth?' Letty asked eventually, straightening up, while Dom looked at her.

'Of course I do...'

'Then I still would given you away' Letty said, honestly, causing Mariella to blink at her mother's bluntness.

'What?' Mariella winced as her voice cracked. 'Even if Dom hadn't gone to prison and you had a stable income?'

'Yeah. At fifteen do you really think we could've raised you ourselves either way?'

'Well... Maybe you should have thought of that when you were having unprotected sex! Have you ever heard of the pull out method?' Mariella snapped, causing Dom to raise eyebrow in surprise.

'She is seriously not us the talk, is she?' Dom whispered to his wife.

'Dom...' Letty snapped, the hint of a warning and annoyance in her voice.

Dom backed off before sighing. 'Look, Mariella... if you were pregnant at your age, would you keep the baby? At fifteen with your whole life ahead of you?'

Mariella glared at her father. 'Of course I would!'

'Really? So you'd be up doing the night feeds, the diaper changing, the calming down and getting he or she back sleep, all the while juggling school and homework and having no social life what so ever?' Letty asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Yes' the tone in which their daughter said it, didn't convince her parents one bit.

Letty shook her head. 'Honestly, we were still kids ourselves-'

'You had people to help out. You said you lived with his sister! She would've helped out!'

'Yeah and our friends, who were more like family. We already had Jesse with ADD, and Vince, who barely could go a night without drinking and bringing back a random skank, trying to make Mia jealous! Leon wasn't as bad, but still...'

'Well, why couldn't you have kicked the boys out? Aren't I more important?'

Letty ran a hand through her long hair, resting her head on her knees with groan.

'Listen to me, Mariella. Even if I hadn't gone to prison and we did have a stable income, there's still an ninety percent chance that we would've still ended up hijacking the trucks and going on the run! What kind of a live is that for a kid?' Dom asked his daughter.

'One with my...' Letty's head shot up as Mariella cut herself off before she could say the words her mother wanted to hear.

'A life on the run wouldn't have been suitable with a little kid. If we had gotten caught, you would've been separated from us faster than you can say 'Mom and Dad'. Would you have wanted that? A life on the run, always looking over you shoulders to see if the police are one step closer to tearing us apart? Uprooting in the middle of the night?'

Mariella blinked at her father, finally being rendered quiet by his outburst.

'Look... Mariella, regardless of anything, you have to believe us when we say there wasn't a day what went by where we didn't think of you'

'Everyone says that! You know what? I wish I'd never ever started looking for you guys!' The young girl got to her feet, unshed tears burning her eyes.

'You wanted the truth, Mariella! So there it is!' Letty shouted, getting to her feet and following her daughter toward the kitchen counter.

'I didn't expect for you to say you'd still give me up! I thought for one second you might have said 'yes, we would have kept you', not that'

'Sweetie... please! Just put yourself you in my shoes again and think about it!'

'What if you had been older? Like eighteen or nineteen and you didn't have to hijack the trucks?'

'Maybe... I don't know!' Letty said, rubbing her face with her hands. 'Look, it's been a long night, why don't you let us take you back to Darcy's?'

'No. I dont want anything you' Mariella told her mom angrily.

'Mariella-'

'You know what? I wish Darcy and Jon had been my real parents! At least then I'd know that I was wanted and loved!' Mariella before looking her mother in the eyes. 'I hate you for doing what you did! I'll never forgive you'.

Dom saw Letty flinch and the hurt blazened in her eyes at their daughters words. He stepped forward, gripping his daughters arm, gently but firmly. 'Don't you ever speak to your mother like that again, do you understand?' He asked her lowly.

'I'll speak to her anyway I want...' Mariella sniffled before she carried on. 'I'll make my own way home...'

'I'll drop you off... come on' Dom told her, grabbing his keys and heading for the front door.

'No! I just said-'

'Mariella!' Dom sharp tone cut through the air.

Both Letty and Mariella jumped at Dom's tone, but the youngest stubbornly stomped her foot; grabbing her bag and storming out of the front door when Dom swung it open before following her out to his car, slamming the front door behind him...

The drive back to Darcy's house was tense. It was only when Dom parked up and turn off the ignition, that Mariella spoke.

'Would you have kept me? All them years ago? If it was up to you?' Mariella asked, putting empathise on the word 'you'.

Dom was silent as he thought about how to word his answer. He undid his seatbelt and turned to his daughter.

'I wanted to keep you from the second you born' he revealed, looking at her. 'I was the first one to hold you and I remember gazing down at you, completely terrified but at the same time, feeling like I never wanted to let you go'

'Then why did you?' Mariella asked, as a tear slipped down her cheek.

'Partly because of the fact that your mom had already gone through most of the adoption process, but also because I knew it was right thing to do at the time. You deserved a life free from police and the social. I never would have wanted you to have experienced any of that, hell I didn't even expect to be a Dad at eighteen'

'How did you react?' Mariella asked, gently.

'Half of me was horrified, of the fact that your mom was going through it without me by her side, but the half found determination. Determination to get out of Lompoc and be the best Dad I could...'

'What about when she said she wanted to give me away?' Mariella sobbed, her tears falling freely now.

'I resented her slightly. You were ours, not anyone else's. We made you, we should be the ones to look after you, but then she made the point of the fact that we were only kids ourselves, I only lost my Dad a few months earlier and then she tells me she's pregnant... I wanted my Dad to just appear there and then to talk to me...'

'Tell me more about when I was born' Mariella asked, her voice whisper, after a few minutes of silence.

'There's not much more to tell. Before we gave you to Beth, we held you and we told you that if you wanted to find us one day, you were more than welcome to! And that one day... when you were old enough, you'd realise why we did what we did... we kissed you on the forehead...' Dom swallowed hard to keep his voice strong.

'Not even a slight hesitation? You just handed me over that?'

'There was a second where I thought your mother was call it off. It was when she held you for the first time, she burst into tears and I could see her doubting the desicion, but before I could question her, she put her emotional walls back up, until she had signed the papers and Beth walked out with you...'

Mariella turned her head from her Dad to stare out of the windshield, the tears staining her cheeks as she took deep shaky breaths to keep her emotions in check.

'Mariella... it's been a long day and-'

'If you could turn back time... would you still sleep with Letty so soon after your Dad died?'

Dom's silence answered her question.

'Thought so. I wasn't concieved out of love, it was lust-'

'Yes, you were! Your mother has loved me since she was ten and I've always loved her too, even if it did take me five years to admit it to myself that it was always going to be her. Don't ever question me on that'

'Were you together? When you did it?'

'No... But I knew I loved her, even if it did take me two years, after I admitted it to myself, to admit it to her'

Mariella raised an eyebrow. 'Why should I believe anything you say?'

'Because one thing you should never question me or your mother on, is our love for each other!' Dom told her, his eyes shining with honesty.

Mariella sighed and rubbed her hand across her head, her body sagging in defeat. 'You know what? I'm done here...Just... Just stay away from me' She said, before she flung open the passenger door and quickly climbed out of the car, slamming the door and rushing towards the place she called home...

'Let? Letty?' Dom shouted as he entered the apartment. He slammed the front door a little harsher than intended.

When she didn't answer, he grabbed two bottles of Corona from the fridge and opened them before heading for the bedroom, finding his wife sprawled out on the bed, fast asleep.

He took a sip of Corona and placed both bottles on his bedside table, dropping a kiss to his wife's head before heading into the bathroom.

He shut the door and the stared the reflection in the mirror. Tired and emotionally drained, Dom sighed. He leaned his head against the door rubbed his hands over his face and let out a deep breath.

His chin dropped onto his chest and it took a few seconds to spot the trail of dark red spots leading from the sink to the door. He frowned, opening the door and looking at the light oakwood flooring of his and Letty's room.

They stopped at the bed.

Where Letty laid.

Unmoving...

R&R X