DISCLAIMER : Anything that's in the franchise, belong to the respective owner, they're not mine. Places and names that are real in reality, I'm just borrowing them. This is a non-profit fiction. Don't sue me.
I wrote and edited this chapter a few times, but i still can't express what i wanted in the characters relationship. Writing is tough :( .. my respect for all you writers..
Enjoy ...
FBI Academy, Quantico, Virginia
"Miss Ortiz, I'm Matthew Murphy, your Defense Tactics instructor" standing before Letty was a fine piece of male specimen, he had a tall and lean body, dark haired and blue eyes. His face showed determination, but his eyes showed witty, cunning and his smiled at her playfully, perhaps thinking what fun he could have with the small frame Latina in combat training.
"Hi, please call me Letty, I had enough people calling me Miss Ortiz" she shook his offered hand. "So what are you going to teach me today?"
"First, I need you to change clothes, here are your training suits, and the locker room is that way" he pointed to a door.
.
.
"All right, I'm set!" Letty felt excited about this. She always loves physical activities.
"We're going to have a PT test. It's a basic test to see how fit you are, and how determent you are to make sure you'll be able to execute our training standardization. Now, I want you to sit up as fast as you can in one minute" Murphy explained. Another instructor approached them.
"Hi Jay" Murphy greeted him.
"Hi Matt. Special recruit?" He asked.
"Yeah, Leticia Ortiz, Jay Foeller. Jay, Letty.." Matthew introduced them.
"Nice to meet you Letty" He shook her hand. She just smiled at the big guy.
"So.. Matt, need any help?" He offered.
"I do, but not right now, I'm gonna need your help at the track field"
"No problem, I'll just finish this off. I'll wait on the track" He walked away and returned to a bunch of trainee.
Letty stretched her body a few times, and then got on the floor.
"Ready!" She took her position. Murphy got down with her to hold her feet to the ground.
"Go!" Murphy pressed his stopwatch.
She tried her best, hoping her once damaged body didn't give up on her. She must pass this test.
Murphy watched her as she pushed her body faster and faster. Her face showed determination, or as Bremann puts it, 'stubborn'.
"Stop!"
Letty was puffed. She lay still on the floor for a few moments, catching her breath. Murphy stood up and gave her a hand to help her get up.
"So, how did I do?" she smiled arrogantly. She loved proving that she is better than anyone.
"You'll know about it later, now follow me, you're going to run for 300 meters, do push ups and 1.5 mile run" Murphy walked ahead of her.
"Whaat?!"
.
.
They're out on a track field.
"Come on, get on the line" Murphy ordered her.
She went to the line with a scowl on her face. Damn, this shit gonna be harder than she thought. She jumped a few times to warm up her legs.
"Just pretend like you're chasing a bad guy" He said.
" Try getting chased by a bunch of rabies dogs in El Savador" she scowled at him.
.
"She is something.." Jay patted Matthew's back.
"Yeah, tell me about it" Matt said keeping his eyes on Letty.
"Careful Matt.." He advised as he leave.
Matthew gave a small smile watching his best friend leave the track.
A week after she arrived in Quantico, she started to enjoy the training they gave, sure it was tiring as hell and gave her cramp whenever she tried to sleep at night, but Matthew was a good instructor, he reminded her of the late Mr. Toretto. His charming persona, his knowledge, his strict teaching, he kicked her ass more than she anticipated, but day by day, he makes her adored him. When he tested her on Hogan's alley, he reminded her of how she used to play war with her father. That is before her father died in a real war. Few times she felt transfixed when looking in his blue eyes until he wakes her with a bark or a punch. Damn, she was never felt this way before.
When with Dom, she felt butterflies in her stomach, with Matt.. she felt somehow... drawn to him.
Why did she even compared him with Dom? Is she falling for her defense instructor? Nope, she kept telling herself. It was purely an innocent admiration. Yeah, that's it. After the training she wouldn't even remember him, right? And when she reunited with Dom, he wouldn't even matter. Yes, absolutely, just a simple plain admiration; nothing to worry about.
"Hey Let, the academy held a graduation ball next week" Matthew said to her after they finished their training for the day.
"What about it?" she tried to be nonchalant.
"Would you like to go?"
Is he blushing? Couldn't really tell coz he suddenly wipe his face with a small towel.
"Don't know man.."
"There's gonna be an open bar you know.."
She chuckled "naah, I think you better asked your girl, I'm sure she'll loved to go with you.. A formal party, it's just not my thing y'no.." a lame excuse Let, very lame. She told herself.
"That's the problem; the only girl I met in the last few days is you." He puts on his best puppy eyes "Come on, it's better than spending time alone in your dorm room"
She tilted her head to the side "really?"
"I promise, if you don't like it, we can always go to Hogan's alley and shoot each other to death"
She laughed "alright, I'll go"
"Cool, I'll send you your dress for the ball.."
"Wait, didn't I get to choose my own dress?"
"Well, you are restricted to go anywhere beyond the academy, remember?"
"Don't worry. I'll order it online"
"Dead person don't have credit card Let"
"I'll charge it to Bremann" she said with a wide grin.
Letty looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. God, how she wish Mia was here to help her. She was so frustrated she can't pick a single gown to her liking, until she finally hit with an idea. She brushed her hair to her left side, tied it together and let it fall in front of her left chest. She should've cut it to a bob and bleached it blond. Nope, too much effort. She slipped on her plat formed black high heels.
Once again she looked at her reflection. Her gown was black and had side split cut all the way to her thighs, coz it was actually a cosplay dress of Aya Brea of Parasite Eve. She smiled, remembering the first time when they chatted, she said she usually practice shooting on video games like Resident Evil or Parasite Eve, and Matthew laughed but said he loved those games too. Wait 'til Matthew sees her, she chuckled at the thought. All she needs now is a gun.
.
.
"Letty.. You.. I..." Matthew was speechless when he sees her opening her door.
"Well that's the first I ever seen you without any witty comment" She smirked.
He smiled, "You looked amazing Letty" he gave her a questioning look "or should I call you Miss Brea?"
She laughed "I'd figured you'd said that,"
He offered her his arm "shall we?"
She hesitant for a moment, but clung to him anyway, "let's go get drunk!"
.
.
"Why, miss Ortiz.. I'm surprise to see you" Bremann greet her at the entrance.
"Nice lie old man, I know you missed me so much you'd just had to come and see me" she gave him a brief hug.
"Mister Murphy, good to see you again" Bremann shook Matthew's hand warmly. "She's not giving you any trouble did she?" the old man winked at the younger man.
"Don't worry Mr. Bremann, nothing I couldn't handle"
"We'll see about that" Bremann said, leaving them to greet another guest.
.
.
They were escorted to their seat, the music softly playing; a few couple was already dancing, lost in each other's embrace. Soon after, Letty started nursing her drinks, it pains her to realize, she and Dom never get a chance to slow dance, the party they used to go were all wild, and the music were mostly hip hop or house music, not really a choice for slow dancing.
"Have I told you, you looked beautiful tonight?" Matthew woke her from her thoughts.
She smiled, "You cleaned up pretty good yourself Matt"
"Would you like to dance?"
"It gonna took you more than a glass of wine to get me to dance" she raised her glass.
"Liar" he stood up, and took her hand, while his other hand taking her glass and push it further away from her.
She glared at him.
"It gonna took you more than a glare to stop me" He pulled her to the dance floor. She hesitantly followed him, afraid if she started resisting and pulled back, she'll trip on her high heels.
He placed her arms around his neck and placed his own around her waist. "That's not so hard"
She looked up to him. "I never slow danced before" she confessed.
"What? Not even with your boyfriend?" she shook her head.
"Your father then?" again, she shook her head.
"Then I'm honored to be the first, Miss Leticia Ortiz"
Always a gentleman. She smiled.
"So tell me about your boyfriend."
"I .. Umm.. Well.. He's about your height, more muscle, lots of muscles"
"Owh, like Hulk then?"
She rolled her eyes "nooo.. But he tends to lost control in anger though"
"Ah, I see, and that's what sent him to jail?"
"Yeah.." she bit her lower lip at the fact.
"So you like those macho, musclely, strong dudes? It's your type right?"
"Muscle-ly? Is that even a legit word?" she laughed softly, didn't want to attract attention.
"Come on, answer the question" he challenged her.
"I don't know, he's my first love, I've known him since ..basically.. forever! I never date anyone else, so I don't know my type. All I know is I love him."
He gave her a questioning look.
She laughed "why are you looking at me like that? He IS a nice person actually; he looked after his family, a protector, a provider"
He gave her another questioning look.
She sighed "alright, so he can't control his temper, and he did bad things.." she paused and throw him back a questioning look "why are we even talking about him?" he chuckled and kissed the top of her head "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start an argument with you" she was silence.
"So tell me about your father, you once told me he's a soldier."
"He was a sergeant. He was send to the gulf when I was 15. In only 4 months, we was send back to us in a box.." Letty bowed her head.
"Hey, let's not go there.. Let's remember the fun time you have with your dad, okay?"
She chuckled "I remember we used to play war with water guns, he was guarding a flag, and me and my brother, sometimes Dom and Vince would join us. We would team up against him. He doesn't like using the water gun, his favorite attack method was to wrestle and tickle us. We always end up getting wet and covered with mud. My mum would then bring out the hose and sprayed us on the front lawn until we're cleaned. Then he would hoist me up on his shoulder and take me to the shower"
"He sound like a good man" he smiled at her; she looked up to him, and saw his eyes soft on her.
"When we're in the Hogan's alley, you reminded me of him"
"That's nice" he pulled her closer, tighter until she can felt her breast pressed against his chest.
Letty inhaled deeply, he smelt of something sweet and earthy, like the smell of fresh cut grass or something. The music stopped. They released their hold and applaud the band.
The ceremonial start, a bit boring to Letty, but Matthew always found a way to distract her; a gentle touch, a whisper, a comforting squeeze of hand, few jokes and few glasses of wine.
.
.
"Do you mind if we go outside?" She asked him. "I just need some fresh air"
"Alright" He helped her out of her chair and escorted her out of the ballroom.
Once outside, Letty chooses to go to the garden surrounding the building. She stayed silent.
"Are you alright?" Matthew asked. Letty just smiled, she saw a white rose and gently caress its petal.
"Mia love white roses.." she said barely audible.
"You miss her?"
"I miss my family.."
Matthew pulled her to sit with him on a park bench.
"I have a lot of thing on my mind.." She didn't continue her sentences.
"I'm here if you want to talk about it" Matthew took her hand and caresses it.
"I know.. It's just.. I'm scared.." She confessed.
"You? Scared?"
"Yeah, go figure.." she chuckled.
Matthew gently squeezed her hand "It's alright to be scared, it makes you think twice about your decision.."
"Do you know why I took the mission?"
"Well, from what I read in your files, your boyfriend's freedom"
"No.. that's not really the reason.."
"So what is it?"
"For Jesse.." she looked at his hands, still caressing hers.
"He was like a little brother to me. He got this ADD shit, so most people find it hard to be around him.. Other kids would bully him because of his disorder" Letty smiled remembering the times she had with Jesse. "We would argue about engine mods, he always had this freaking idea of how to mod an engine... switching parts from one car to another.. Always updating me with new gears and mods on the market.. and.. "
She sighed and took deep breaths.
"He died. I wasn't even there when he took his last breath..I didn't have the chance to say goodbye!.. I can't even remember the last time I saw him alive! I was too busy running from the cops... I found out about it when we're already in Mexico. I insisted to go back for his funeral, but my boyfriend won't let me..."
Matthew held his gaze on Letty, noticing how hard she tried not to cry in front of him. Somehow, that brought a sharp pain in his heart. Obviously this Jesse person is someone very dear to her.
"I don't want his death to be vain; I felt like I have to fix our broken, shattered, fucked up family" Letty gaze the dark sky, wishing Jesse was up there, smiling down on her. "Live a clean life, no more running, no more heists. Like the way it used to be before he died"
"He would love that" Matthew smiled at her.
"That's the problem, I'm afraid I'd let him down" She bowed her head.
"Hey, stop it" He lifted up her chin, so he'd looked into her eyes " That's not gonna happen. You are the bravest and the most strong-willed person I know. You gonna accomplish the mission and reunited with your family again" He stroke her upper arm, offering her comfort.
She smiled and pulled back, her heart beats faster, noticing how close they've become.
"Do we have training scheduled for tomorrow?" Letty asked him, her head is starting to get heavier. Her body felt hot.
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"I think I'm gonna call it a night. The wine starts kicking in"
"I'll walk you to your room"
.
.
"I'm sorry..I'm not much of a wine girl" Letty slurred apologetically. "I've ruined your night.."
"No, no no.. Don't be sorry, I had a great night. Hadn't had a night like this in a long time"
"Well.. I never had a night like this" she smiled, leaned to her room door.
"So.. Thank you for coming with me tonight.." he inched closer.
"Thank you for inviting me.." she looked him in the eyes, her mind start to blur "I enjoy.. The dance"
He leaned closer "me too. Thank you for trusting me"
He reached for her cheek, running his thumb over it gently. She leaned her head to his hand, enjoying it. When she opened her eyes, his face was inches away; she can feel his warm breath on her skin. She looked at his lips, they're opening slightly, inviting.
He's looking at her lips, seems soft and sweet. Should he? How would she react? Would she freak out and bust his balls? That would be awkward. He was still thinking when he felt her soft lips on him, nibbling his lower lip. Her hands rub his chest slowly. God, her lips felt better than he imagine, she tasted heavenly sweet, tasted like... wine! She's drunk! And she'll regret this tomorrow!
He pulled away quickly. Letty looked at him, confused look written all over her face.
"I'm sorry Let.. You're drunk, and I cannot take advantage of you. Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow" his face felt hot.
"Good night" he kissed her forehead, and left.
I hope Dotty fans don't hate me.. not to worry, I'm a Dotty fan too.. bear with me a few more chapters.. :D