For Firefly-class - cus I like your name

Under the Rain

The rain fell in fat heavy drops, splattering against the windscreen of the Mazda as Dom drove his way through the half empty streets. The torrential rain having managed to convince most people to stay inside despite it being a Friday night. Dom was making the most of the light traffic, putting his exquisitely put together little machine through its paces. The neon orange car hugged the road and might as well have been flying, the ride was so smooth.

Then through the rain speckled window he caught sight of a familiar figure trudging along the sidewalk. Her head was bent in a futile effort not to become soaked to the skin and her wet hair had formed itself into a wild mass of rattails, but even in her rain spotted leather Letty Ortiz was still recognisable. Ignoring the way the car behind sounded its horn Dom cut across to the sidewalk and stopped just ahead of the girl.

"Letty?" Dom called out as he rolled the passenger window down when she came level with the car. He had to fight not to laugh when she stuck her head through the window. She was not only giving a good impression of a drowned rat, but a sea tossed drowned rat at that.

"The one and only." The girl responded as she tired to comb her hair out of her face, she gave up when her fingers caught on a particularly large tangle. In an effort to keep the rain out of her eyes Letty had been walking with her head down, which had only meant that instead of getting in her face the water had been running down her back.

"Get in," He said, leaning over so that he could open the passenger door from the inside. "I'll give you a ride."

"Thanks." Letty almost ended up in his lap, such was the speed at which she scrambled into the car desperate to get out of the rain. But she ducked her head back out side just long enough to wring the worst of the water out of her hair before shutting the door gratefully on the summer storm.

Dom pulled back out into the flow of traffic while his soggy passenger tried to settle herself comfortable into the butter soft leather. Letty pulled a disgusted face as she pulled at her bright red tank top, now turned burgundy by water, and it sucked at her damp and clammy skin. He felt for her, he really did, wet clothing wasn't fun at the best of times, and sodden jeans had to be the worst of all.

"So," Dom started, when Letty had finally given up trying to do anything about her clothes, there was nothing that could be down without the help of both washer and dryer. "I thought you had a date tonight."

"Yeah," She said, reaching out to flick on the heating, she'd rather be warm and damp, than cold and clammy. "But he was a asshole."

"Oh?" He took his eyes off of the road long enough to give her an enquiring look, Letty had a definition of asshole that could easily be applied to the majority of the population. And that was on one of her good days.

"Yeah, he tried to introduce his hand to my cleavage." The look that crossed Letty's face made it clear what she thought of his actions. Not that she was against a good grope, far from it, but both parties had to be willing and, for preference, good looking. Her date had been the first, not the second and almost failed to reach the requirements to be considered human.

"So you…?" Dom encouraged her to give him the punch line and wondered if it would turn out to be a physical one as well as a metaphorical one. Considering the girl in question, and her current expression, the odds were good.

"So I introduced my knee to his balls." Her tone was full of vindictive self satisfaction, indeed she sounded positively gleeful. But that might have also have had something to do with the fact that the heater, running on full, was finally starting to dry her out.

Dom's first reaction was the expected hiss of masculine sympathy, you might wish a guy dead but you'd still wince if you saw him hit in the groan. But within seconds he was openly laughing. Any boy, and it was clear the one in question didn't have the common sense to be called a man, who was stupid enough to try and grope Letty Ortiz without her consent deserved whatever the little Latina dished out.

They travelled in companionable silence as Dom easily wove through the light traffic, the sound of the rain and the swish of the wipers the only sound other than the thrum of the engine. Letty thought briefly about switching on the sound system, but decided against it. The inside of the speeding car was like a little bubble of calm in a storm, and music would only shatter the peace that surrounded them.

The interior of the car was bathed in red light as Dom eased the car to a stop at the traffic lights and waited for them to change. They didn't have long to wait as the light quickly shifted from red to amber, then to green and the Mazda's engine roared. The tires bit deep, gripping the road and sending a fountain of spray out in there wake as the small car rocketed forward.

"You drive fast." Letty murmured, her voice a low grey silk whisper, making it sound as if she were half asleep.

"Only speed I know." Dom responded, taking his eyes from the road long enough to look at the girl curled contentedly in the passenger seat.

"You like the rush." She looked up at him through half lidded eyes framed by thick sooty lashes, several strands of wild ebony falling to frame her face.

"And you don't?" He questioned, but the only answer he received was a soft smile, half coy and half shy. As if they didn't know full well that the rush was what they both lived for.

(A/N) Just some sweet young Dotty nonsense for you this time. No plot and no point, just a little moment for you to enjoy. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and sorry for not replying, I have no excuse other than my inability to get my arse in gear.

Lamanth xx