For my shangri-la

Breaking the Rules

Dom lead the girl, whose name he couldn't quite remember, through the hallway and into the front room, kissing her enthusiastically every step of the way. He'd pulled her part way down onto the sofa when someone squawked and kicked violently out from underneath him. Stumbling away, Dom fumbled with a lamp needing light to find out just what the hell was going on. It snapped on revealing himself, a dishevelled looking redhead and a rather pissed off Leticia Ortiz , the later was what had apparently kicked him when he sat on her.

"Letty!?" He blinked at her in owlish confusion, and also irritation, while she calmly pulled headphones out of her ears and rubbed the leg he had sat on. "What in the name of hell are you doing here?"

"Uh, Mia's bed was taken and I figured you'd prefer me here to you room. Seems I was wrong." Letty gave a shrug and shoved her hair from her face ignoring the way the touch made her cheek sting. If he was going to fool around with a girl he should at least do it with the light on, though looking at the redhead in question, Letty guessed it wasn't so much about looks more like how quickly she'd put out.

"Smart ass." Dom snapped, his expression clearly showing he'd have preferred her anywhere apart from his house, he could see the night he'd had planed vanishing before his eyes. "I mean what the hell are you doing in my house, at almost two in the morning and why the hell are you -"

"Papi's being court-marshalled." It wasn't quite the truth but it was close enough, it also had the desired affect of cutting Toretto off mid rant. Instead he just held her gaze and when she nodded he muttered a quick apology to the girl on his arm and proceeded to hustle her quickly out of the room and then the house.

Letty could hear the girl complaining in the hall way and promising to do things that Letty was pretty sure were physically impossible if Dom let her stay. Most guys wouldn't have been able resist keeping her around just to find out if she could do half of what she said Dom, however, was unmoved. He just said he was sorry and something about a family emergency and shut the door in the redhead's still protesting face. Letty had to smile at that, because it was nice to come first with him sometimes even if it was only because her Papi was facing some serious shit.

"Mama got a call a few hours ago, he's in the brig and they're charging him with assault." She said it as soon as Dom re-entered the room, a bottle of corona in each hand, he had ditched his date for her so she figured she at least owed him a quick explanation. Also Letty felt that if she didn't tell someone soon she might just burst, and she hadn't really been able to tell Mia who would have just burst into tears.

"Assault? Your dad? I don't fucking believe this." And he didn't, it didn't fit with the man he knew. He was a Jarhead sure, but Miguel Ortiz was no thug. Assault? Letty was quite capable of it, and she still hadn't explained the red mark on her face, but her father just wasn't the type.

"Oh it's true, I had Mama snarling down the phone as proof. Turns out he and a couple other marines were in a bar and there was this guy there who kept knocking this woman around. Papi warned him he better stop, the guy ignored him and hit her so hard it bust her jaw. Papi and his friends then beat holy hell out of him." She had to grin slightly because even though the end result could just start with him losing his career she was proud of what he'd done, it had been the right thing to do.

"Can't say as I blame him, I'm pretty sure I do the exact same if I came across some snot nosed punk hitting a lady." Dom said simply and it was true, he wouldn't have been able to walk away from something like that and he was no hero.

Letty's father was though. He was the sort of old school knight in shining armour who always rescued the princess. It was odd then that he ended up with Siena Ortiz, who was just like her daughter, both of them would happily mug the first knight they met for his sword and the give him a lesson in how to really slay dragons. The Ortiz woman didn't do 'damsel in distress' well at all. But they were pretty distressing damsels if you got on the wrong side of them.

"Yeah," Letty eyed him sideways and gave a sardonic smile, he hadn't heard the best bit yet, not even close. "Only problem is the lady was no lady, she was a pro and the snot nosed punk, as you put it, beating on her was the deputy JAG officer's favourite nephew. So now his uncle is going though the personal files of Papi and his friends to see if they can build a case to have them court-marshalled."

"This is fucked up." Dom said running a hand over his face and head, he didn't know much about the internal workings of the military but from the expression on Letty's face he could tell things were bad. "But I still don't get why you're here or what happened to your face?"

"Oh that," Letty shuffled her feet and had the grace to blush so her whole face was the colour of the hand print. "Mama kinda slapped me." From the way she was tilting her head and refusing to meet his eyes Dom could guess that Letty had probably given her mom a whole lot of provocation and it would also explain why she was here. She'd give her mom space to clear her head and then go home and apologies in the morning.

"So?" He questioned, Siena Ortiz wasn't the kind of woman to rise a hand to her child without good reason. And while Letty just being Letty was a whole lot of good reasons he wanted to know what she'd done or said that had pushed her mom too far. It would also probably be best for Letty spill it all as she was looking rather ashamed of herself.

"She was stressing and freaking out and I pointed out that Papi was just that kind of hero, and she shouldn't be mad with him for just being who he was." She gave a sort of half shrug as if the whole thing made perfect sense. "If it was me wouldn't she want someone stepping in to protect me, never mind how I earned my living? And if they discharged him so what, we'd manage, we always do."

"Go on." Dom prompted, because it was clear that she was holding something back. He also kept from pointing out that in the unlikely event of some guy trying hit her, Letty wouldn't be the one in need of rescue. More likely she'd need him to come and bail her ass out of jail when she was the one charged with assault.

"Ugh fine," Letty swallowed hard against the bitter taste in the back of her throat, she'd known when she started to tell Dom what had happened she'd have to tell him everything. "Then I might have accused her of not wanting him home."

"Shit girl, you're damn lucky." She looked at him quizzically and he clarified. "If I'd been you mom I wouldn't have just slapped you I'd have put you through the wall."

"Yeah… me too." Letty had to admit it was true, if it had been the other way round she would have completely freaked, being a parent meant her mama didn't have that luxury. "Sorry for ruining you night. And I bet she was granted all the way action."

"It's no big thing." Dom dismissed her apology with a bump of his shoulder against hers, though Letty was not the girl he had been picturing spending the night with. "You need me, and you know I'll always have your back."

"Yeah, you got my back." She agreed and then because Letty was Letty and would always be a smart mouthed little brat couldn't keep from adding, "You'll just never get me on my back."

Dom just threw back his head and laughed at that because there was nothing else he could really do. And then, because she was incorrigible and they were both damned already he handed her the other corona he'd brought with him.

(A/N) So much fun with this prompt, so many people breaking so many different rules. I like writing teenage Dotty even their angst is fun for me. Thanks so much for all the support, you guys are the best.

Lamanth xx