Title: Through Another's Eyes

Rating: T

Ship: Dom/Letty

Description: A background, foreground and future fic surrounding Dom and Letty and the circumstances invloved in the movie. Answering a lot of questions the movie left open.

Disclaimer: I wish. The things I could do with Dominic. ;)

Chapter 8

Letty's POV

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The two years Dom was at Lompoc were hard. To say the least. Life had to resume no matter how much my family and I wanted to bury our heads and wait. The garage had to be reopened, so did the store. There were bills that had to be paid, and Mia had to be cared for.

Mama and Papi really stepped up to the plate though. Mama had taken over the running of the Toretto's store after Maria died, and now without Tony and Dom, she'd also taken over the running of a second household. She'd tried to convince Mia to come live with us, and sometimes she did just that, but Mia didn't want to leave the one constant thing in her life by leaving her house. I didn't blame her, neither did Papi and Mama. So the weeks that Mia stayed in her house, Mama or Papi stayed with her, and the weeks she was with us, were like we were a real family. But there was always so much missing.

Vince was great. He'd started working at the garage full time, along with Dom, after they graduated, and with Dom away he worked twice as hard, but there was so much. We hired Leon, that guy from the party, after he came around looking for work one day. Turned out he's a really good mechanic. Dom wasn't too pleased when I told him, but he got over it. I helped out too, after school and on weekends, until I graduated 6 months after Dom went away, then I started full time. Papi worked so hard, he helped run the garage and the store, took care of the finances for both households all the while holding down his regular job. It was tough, but we did it, cause we'd do anything for each other. To the ends of the earth, and all that.

I missed him though. Everyday. We spoke on the phone whenever we could. We wrote every week and I went to see him a few times in the first year. I would have gone more, but Dom wouldn't let me. He didn't like me seeing him like that. Dom is a very proud man. He always has been. Being locked up was like cutting him down. He refused to let Mia see him like that. And although he never said it, never acted that way when I was there, I know he hated me coming to visit too. Not because he didn't want to see me. But because he didn't want me to see him. He wanted to spare me that. He wanted to stay the man, in my eyes, he'd always been. But he did. Nothing that happened changed that. It never has. But by the second year he was almost begging me not to come. So I didn't. I stayed away. I let him know without any confusion that I wasn't happy about it. But I respected his wishes and I stayed away.

God I missed him. With everything we'd been through Dom was always a constant, and he was the man I loved. I wanted him back. I wanted him back in the house, sitting on the sofa with his arms around me like we used to do. I'd get really depressed sometimes. When I hadn't spoken to him for over a week. Mama would come sit with me while I cried silently. I remember lying on my bed with my head in her lap, her hand stroking my hair as I cried. She would whisper 'I'm sorry baby' over and over again in spanish. It was comforting, but it wasn't Dom.

It was like I was grieving for him. Add to that, that I'd never actually grieved for Tony and I was a wreck for a while there. It was pretty bad. I couldn't go to school for days, didn't even go to the garage. I just stayed in bed, crying mostly, as tough as it is for me to admit that. Mama and Papi tried to comfort me. But I needed this. I had been so concerned for Dom and Mia that I hadn't let myself grieve the loss of my psuedo father. I had to mourn for him, and for Dom. I pulled myself together once I was all cried out and went back to work and school. Dom doesn't know about that time. Only that I did finally grieve for his father. I asked everyone not to tell him. He had enough to deal with. I couldn't imagine what he was going through, I wouldn't burden him further.

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Dom's POV

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Two years I spent in that hell hole. Two years away from Mia. Away from Letty. Away from the closest thing I had to parents, Lucy and Eddie. It was rough. I won't lie about that. It was prison, of course it was rough. I was surrounded by men who did brutal things to innocent people. Men who didn't have the right to call themselves men. Not after what they had done. And I was one of them. Letty says I never was, regardless of what I'd done, that I could never have been one of them. It's one of the many reasons why I love her. But for those two years I was one of them. Nothing we say will change that. It was my cross to bear. As they say, I did the crime and I did the time. But I'll never go back there. I'll die first.

The only good thing about prison... going home. I remember the day it was time to go home. I called home when my parole hearing came up and it was granted. I spoke to Eddie. I asked him to tell Let and Mia and Luce that I was coming home. But not to tell them the exact date. To pick me up and stay quiet. I wanted to surprise them. I hadn't seen Mia in two years, Letty in one. I'd seen Lucy. Couldn't keep her away. She always said that they could take me away from her day to day life but they weren't taking her boy from her completely. It was nice. It was something I needed to hear.

I was on eggshells the week leading up to my parole. I didn't want to do anything to screw up. I stayed in my cell for most of it. If I went out in the yard I was terrified I'd get into a fight and have to stay. And there was no way I was letting that happen. I walked out of the gates and Eddie was standing by my car, waiting for me. I walked as cool and calm as could over to him and dropped the paper bag by his feet as he hugged me. We stood there for a while. It had been so long. My whole life this man had been like a father to me, he was the only father figure I had left and he was in front of me, after two years of being denied physical contact with anyone I loved. It wasn't tough guy material, it was more like I was 10 years old again, but I needed it.

He threw me the keys when we pulled apart and I smiled some goofy grin as I got in the drivers seat. I couldn't believe how much I'd missed driving. You know there's this thing with driving. Either you're a driver or you're not. If you are, you live one life time before you start driving and then another one after. I'd missed it.

The drive home Eddie had filled me in on everything that had happened while I was locked up. He told me about Letty's graduation. We laughed at a story about her trying to refuse to go. Saying it didn't mean anything, it was just another day. That was Letty though, she was so modest, she didn't like the attention. Lucy had threatened her with something completely stupid, like sending me a photo of her naked in the bath tub when she was 2 and she gave in. I remember the photo from graduation, Lucy had sent it to me, Let looked beautiful. I wish I had been there. Lucy also sent me the photo of her in the bath tub. But I never did tell Let. It made me laugh. She was such a cute kid.

We pulled up at the house. I was amazed at how little it changed. I guess the sound of my engine pulling up was something they weren't used to over the past two years. Cause suddenly Letty was standing on the front porch with a confused look on her face. I remember I just sat in the car for a few minutes. She'd only been 17 when I went away. At 19 she was incredible. She was so beautiful. She had been before I left, she always was and she always will be. But seeing her standing there in her leather skirt and her black lace bra peeking through her transparent top, had my breath catching in my throat. She was gorgeous. Eddie got out the car and the confusion increased on her beautiful face. It knocked me back to reality. I opened the door and got out slowly. The look on her face is something I'll never forget.

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. I'd changed a little myself. With nothing else to do but work out, I'd beefed up. But I know that wasn't the cause of the surprise on her face. Nor was the fact that I'd shaved my head. The shock disappeared and was replaced with the biggest smile I'd ever seen on her beautiful face. She screamed. My Letty actually screamed... somewhere other than the bedroom. She bolted down the front steps and the next thing I knew, her lips were on mine and her legs were wrapped around my hips. I held onto her as if my life depended on it. I'm man enough to admit it. I'll even admit that I got a little teary eyed holding her, kissing her. God I'd missed her.

We were so wrapped up in each other, kissing each other senseless, that we didn't hear Lucy and Mia clearing their throats. Loudly and dramatically. We were only brought out of our reverie when we heard Lucy yell "Hey! Don't make me get the hose you two!" incredibly loudly. We broke the kiss but we didn't let go of each other immediately. I mouthed 'I love you' to her and she returned it. I couldn't take my eyes off her face. Reluctantly I let her down and we pulled away from each other as Mia ran towards me. She threw her arms around my neck and hugged the dear life out of me.

"I missed you too chica." I whispered against her hair. She was crying and she was beautiful. She'd grown up so much in two years. She was 18 and graduating high school. It was amazing. At least I wouldn't miss that graduation ceremony.

When I managed to pry Mia out of my grasp, Lucy came over. She took my face in her hands, like she had so many times before, and kissed my forehead.

"I've missed you my darling boy." She whispered with tears in her eyes. We may not have been blood, and although I loved and missed my Ma, Lucy was my ma too. My eyes must have become watery, cause she pulled me down to her height and hugged my tightly. Her hand rubbed my bald head and I could feel her smile at the sensation. When we pulled apart we went inside. We all slept in the house that night. None of us could bear being apart from each other. I lay awake all night looking at Letty lying beside me. Trailing my eyes around my familiar room. I was home.

TBC...

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xx Ally