Guys thank you so much! The faves and follows and reviews are wonderful and really help to motivate me. I'm glad to be back writing again and I'm hoping I can keep this up. Spring break is ending soon so I'll probably be a bit slower, but I promise to finish this one out. I do plan to take the story from just after Furious 6 till Letty actually gets her memories back in 7, so I might put some stuff from the film and some stuff we don't get to see when she goes off-screen in near the end. For now, I'm just working through the missing years. Also if there's a place you want to see Dom or anyone take Letty, I'm open to suggestions. I'm also focusing on them doing things together that don't always hinge on the past, since she can't remember. Thanks and enjoy!
Week Three – Year One
There had been plenty of time to explore the neighborhood. Everything from taking a drive down to the local store for some beers to accompanying Mia on a walk with Jack. It was kind of a strange dichotomy that her life had become from what it was before. And some days she still had trouble believing it was all real. A year ago she was holed up in some warehouse with Owen Shaw and his team, looking forward to an endless lifetime of pulling jobs for him. At the time, the rush and thrill had been enough to get her through, even when she'd questioned some of the things he'd done. Some of the things she'd done for him.
Despite the fact that she knew Dom and the rest of the crew here had more than a little adrenaline in their veins their lives were surprisingly normal. As she gathered her life had been before she'd forgotten it all. Oh, they'd done bad things, she'd been assured. Jacking trucks, stealing gas, other sorts of insanity. Things that put them on the run in the first place. The reason why Dom hadn't been able to come home. Why she'd been working undercover to gain his freedom.
But all of that didn't mean they weren't just like other people. Woke up in the morning needing a cup of coffee. Usually Mia was the first one up, the joys of motherhood she supposed. Always seemed to have breakfast ready by the time Letty or Dom managed to drag themselves down to the kitchen. She was incredibly grumpy in the mornings, something they'd told her wasn't a new development, so conversation around the breakfast table was kept at a minimum.
Apparently the Rio job they'd pulled… quite the heist it sounded, kept their bank accounts quite full, so that no one really needed to get a job. But Dom had told her that before all that, back before they'd pulled jobs that had put them on the run, they'd all worked at the garage he'd inherited from his Dad. So when he'd offered to take her there this afternoon she'd agreed. She still more than knew her way around a garage, around cars. Whatever else she'd lost when she'd lost her memories, damn near everything, she still had that much.
Maybe she was hoping that something about that would help her to remember it, to remember a part of the life she'd lost. Realistically she knew it could never happen. That there was a chance that her memories were gone forever. That she'd just have to keep on the way she was. But it seemed so unfair. To have lost a whole life. Maybe she shouldn't think of it that way. She'd fought hard enough to keep on living, which meant she'd gotten a second chance. Not many people could say as much.
She didn't have much to complain about. She had people who loved her, a roof over her head, a place to sleep… And all the world at her fingertips to explore. Time spent in Dom's company was comfortable, even if sometimes she saw something in his eyes that looked vaguely like guilt. He wasn't pushing her to try and remember things. He was patient with her, even when she just needed her space. And the others too… Brian and Mia were always sharing little bits of what they'd gotten up to in the past, welcoming her back into their lives with ease.
After lunch she'd retreated to the guest room Mia had given her, digging out some loose photos she'd found in the garage… in a box with her name on it. Tried to place the names and faces she found there. Here was one with her and Dom, Han and some woman who she couldn't place. Not Gisele, that was for sure. It looked like they were somewhere on a beach, laughing at something, smiling. Happy. She brushed her thumb across the face that she knew was her own, then frowned, tucking the photos away in the drawer of the bedside table. A knock at the door had her lifting her head to see Dom standing there, leaning against the jamb.
"Hey," he said. "You ready to go?"
"I am," she agreed, pushing herself to her feet.
They walked together down to the driveway where Dom's car was parked and Letty slid into the passenger seat as he went around to the driver's side. The drive to the garage was made mostly in silence, but Letty felt no need to fill it with words. His company was enough for her. She watched the rows of house and buildings as they drove by, grass bleached brown from too much sun and not enough rain. The sky was clear of clouds, but hazy with the smog that always seemed to linger here, washing everything like a faded photograph.
"What do you think of LA so far?" Dom asked, glancing over her as they pulled onto a street in the business district.
"I don't remember it," she replied. "But everything feels easier here. More like… I just know it somehow."
"Makes sense," he agreed. "You lived here most of your life."
"Sometimes it's just nice to drive around… without any real destination. See where I end up." She smiled.
He chuckled. "And where have you ended up?"
"Almost got lost a few times," she admitted, shrugging. "Found this little… taco stand on the south edge of the city. Maybe we could swing by there for dinner."
"Yeah," Dom agreed. "That sounds good." He smiled over at her, not mentioning if it was a place they'd been or something they'd done before. Not everything had to be something from the past. They had to go forward too.
"Found the speed trap on the old beach highway," she added, watching as they drove past rows of buildings sandwiched together, the next one looking shoddier than the last, grass overgrown around the power line poles.
"Got a ticket?" he asked.
"He let me off with a warning," she said, then laughed at his incredulous look. "What?"
"Maybe it's been too long since I've been home but the cops aren't usually that nice."
She shrugged, smirking over at him. "Guess I know something you don't, huh?"
Dom let out a chuckle, turning into a long narrow driveway between two brick buildings. "You always have," he said, shifting the car into park.
Letty looked out at the building through her window, fingers closing on the door handle. It was old, brick that had been painted white once but was peeling and worn away now. No sign proclaimed the name of the place anymore. Instead a simple "For sale" orange lettering on black had been mounted on the closed doors. Chains and a large padlock held them shut and she straightened up, looking at them with mild disappointment. "I guess we're not getting in?" she wondered, glancing over her shoulder at Dom.
"There's a door around the side," he said, motioning for him to follow him.
The dry grass crunched underfoot as they walked, and clearly some local kids had taken to hanging out around here, given the amount of beer bottles scattered around, old tires piled to fashion some sort of seating area. Letty kicked an empty can of cheap beer aside as Dom moved up to the old wooden door. One good shove with his shoulder and it gave. Pushing it wide he stepped inside and Letty followed, her eyes adjusting to the gloomy dimness of the room.
Some sunlight filtered through the windows, but the glass was hazy with age, and motes of dust drifted through the weak shafts of light. Someone had cleared the place out, no shelves or cars or old parts. Cobwebs clung to the lift that was still raised. Grease spots stained the concrete floor and along one side Letty could see an office space walled off from the rest by a row of windows. She turned a slow circle, boots scuffing on the cement floor. It looked… like a garage. An empty garage.
She strolled across the space to the back wall, stared at an empty shelf and let out a small sigh. Turned to glance back at Dom who was lingering near the doorway.
"What did it used to look like?" she asked. "When we worked here."
He chuckled, rubbing a hand over his head, looked around as if he was making a picture in his mind.
"Well for one there were always cars in here. We usually had a couple we were working on at a time. That whole wall there was full of tools…" He motioned to the empty space besides the main entrance. "And over there more shelves, spare parts. We had a basic set up in the office with a desk and computer and all that shit but Mia mostly dealt with that. An old couch against the wall over there…"
She followed where he indicated with her eyes, trying to picture and map out what he was telling her, but she only really had a vague guess shaped in her head. She pushed aside the frustration of that. "What the hell was the couch for? Someone sitting down on the job?"
Dom laughed. "Not often. Sometimes for crashing on if one of us ended up staying late catching up on work. Or… various other uses."
Something about the tone of his voice had her biting her tongue to hide the grin that threatened, until she let it go, arching one dark brow at him. "Oh yeah?" she asked, drifting closer to him. "Working hard, were we?"
His dark eyes followed her, amusement lingering in them as she drew closer. "Working hard, playing harder," he replied, reaching out to snag a lock of her hair.
She lifted her gaze, their eyes meeting, breath mingling where they stood close together. She tilted her head as Dom leaned in to catch her mouth with his. She could feel his hand brush against the curve of her hip, drop down to cup her ass, drawing her closer as she parted her lips against his. It was a kiss like others she'd known with him, but only from the last few weeks. There was a heat between them, a slow simmering burn that she couldn't deny. And every time he touched her it was like he was desperate to reassure himself she was really there. But she was rediscovering everything about him and he already knew just where she wanted to be touched.
She pulled back to catch her breath and he dipped his head, their foreheads pressing together as he stroked his hand up her back. Her eyes had fallen shut and she lingered there a moment before lifting the veil of her lashes to look up at him, carefully easing away. She pressed her lips together, the taste of Dom still lingering on her tongue as she reached out to snag his hand with hers. There wasn't anything for her to find here, at least in regards to memories. She needed to keep her eyes in front of her. On the man standing before her. And on her future.
"Come on," she said, tugging at his arm. "Let's take a drive before dinner."
"Any destination in mind?" he asked, following her out of the garage, reaching back to yank the door tightly shut behind him.
"You can drive wherever," she replied, smiling at him. "So long as I eventually get my tacos."
Grinning Dom leaned in to catch her in a quick kiss before releasing her hand, moving around to unlock the car. She buckled up and they pulled out, leaving the hilly side streets to hit the open road, where he could kick the car into higher speeds. Letty rolled down her window and let the wind tug at her hair, watched the scenery move by as they drove down the winding highway. She could see the hills rising in the distance over the retaining wall, houses perched up there amongst the green. Turning her head she watched Dom as he drove, his eyes trained on the road, one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the gear shift between them.
She studied his profile, wondering how different he might look from the last time they'd seen each other.
A small smile tugged at his lips. "I can see you staring, you know?"
"I know," she replied, unabashed. "It's not a problem, is it?"
"No," Dom glanced over at her. "Something on your mind?"
Letty sighed, rolling up the window to quiet the wind rushing past the car. "Seems there always is," she said softly. "It's like my head's full of questions I don't have the answers to."
He reached out, caught her hand with his. "You don't need to have all the answers, Letty."
"I'm trying to remember that," she replied, twining their fingers together. His hand was so much bigger than hers.
"You'll find them," he told her. "Even if it's discovering them all over again."
He sounded so confident that she couldn't help but feel it too. She met his smile with one of her own, before releasing his hand so he could shift down a gear and get off the highway. They took the side streets out towards Southeast LA, Letty adding the path to the map she was building in her mind. Here the businesses gave way to apartments and houses crammed together, until they came across a little market right on the border of Huntington Park. At one end of the wide parking lot a small stand with a walk-up window, tables and chairs scattered under a sunshade. Most of them were full of people already as they pulled up to park.
They ordered food and a couple of beers and settled down together at one of the empty tables, watching the sun burst orange over the horizon as it sank lower in the sky. People around them were talking, in Spanish, English, a mixture of both. The smell of roast pork and spices wafted from the grill behind the tiny stand. Letty looked over at Dom, who was watching her now and paused, mid-bite of her taco to shoot him a questioning glance.
Taking a sip of beer to wash down the food she sat back in her chair. "Now who's staring?" she asked. "Something on your mind?"
"Not really," he said. "Just looking at you. Right now."
Letty smiled over at him, relaxing in her seat. They ate their tacos and talked cars, made tentative plans for the weekend. It was easy to talk, about nothing in particular, about stuff they'd done in the last years they'd been apart. They took their beers and walked across the street as the last of the sunlight disappeared from the sky. The light pollution and the haze of smog hanging over the city made it near impossible to see the stars, but the moon was bright and round and hung above the city, washing the things below in a silvery light. Letty perched on the guardrail along the side of the road, looked down on LA as the city lights winked on to cut through the darkness. Dom was a warm presence beside her, his arm brushing hers as he sat before he lifted it to wrap around her shoulders. She leaned into him as the breeze washing in from the shore ruffled at her hair. It felt good… peaceful, right. Even if she didn't remember, or couldn't explain all the parts of why she belonged here. She still felt like she did.
Every day, making new memories, just like this one.