Chapter 6

"Where you goin?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he leaned back in his chair.

"Help Mia with dishes." She replied nonchalantly.

"Uh-uh. C'mere." He demanded, motioning with his finger for her to come over.

"Dom, that's rude. I'm not gonna let her clean up after you pigs all by herself." She snorted, hand resting casually on her hip.

"Let Brian help."

"I thought you hated Brian." She retorted.

"Well, he's lucky. Today I like him. C'mere." He growled, patting his leg with one hand.

She rolled her eyes but slowly made her way over to him and took a seat on his lap. He pulled her in close as she wrapped a tan arm around his neck.

"What's your deal?" She asked curiously, wondering what had put him in such a good mood all of a sudden.

He pushed a stray strand of hair back behind her ear and smiled. They were all alone outside. The boys and Mia had made their way into the house and were up to god knows what. It was approaching 8:00 and the sun was beginning to set. There was a slight chill in the air but it was perfect. He wrapped his massive arm around her waist and pulled her in even closer.

"Let's have a baby."

"What?!" She exclaimed, laughing.

"You heard me."

"Dom, you can't be serious."

"Does it look like I'm joking Let?" He replied, eyes dark yet gentle.

"Dom, your crazy." She laughed.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

They were always good at that. Answering a question with a question.

"Because look at us Dom. We can't even take care of ourselves. We race cars and run from cops til four in the morning." She rationed.

"So we'll stop."

Letty lifted an eyebrow.

"You're tryin to tell me that you're gonna stop racing and go all maternal? C'mon Dom. What's this all about?" She asked, completely baffled. The conversation had come completely out of left field. They'd been together six years and never once talked about having kids. Until now.

"I dunno Let. I've just been thinking lately. I mean, we're not getting any younger."

"Woah, speak for yourself there champ. I'm twenty two. How's that old?" She asked laughing.

"You don't want kids?" He responded, the smile slipping from his face.

"Dom I don't know. I mean, I never really thought about it. I just... we never even talked about this before. I didn't even know you wanted 'em." She replied.

"Let, I love you. I want them. With you." He whispered, running a hand through her long black hair, smoothing out the tangles.

"Aw, Dom." She cooed. And Letty never cooed. "This is so weird. I never thought about us as parents. I mean, we're still kids ourselves, dontcha think?" She asked.

"Well, maybe it's time we grow up little girl. Party less... Race less... We could start when we get back from Mexico."

"Start?"

"Yeah. Start calming down. Try for a baby. You know. I mean, if you want to."

"Oh my god Dom. This is so crazy. I'm nervous!" She giggled. "You'd be such a cute dad." She whispered as she played with the dog tags that hung securely around her neck.

...

"Dom, did you even hear a word I said?" Mia asked angrily. She rarely got angry at her brother but he'd been crashing at the house for the past three days and between him, Vince and Leon, the place was a mess.

"What?" He asked, scratching his head.

Mia rolled her eyes. He obviously hadn't.

"I SAID, I need you guys to help me clean up this pig sty of a house. I'm happy that you're staying here big brother but when did you become such a slob?" She laughed.

Debbie's New York business trip had been extended so Dom had been staying at the house, citing the reason as the condo being too lonely without her. Mia had almost made a snide remark about the reason being that Letty was two houses down from them but she decided to keep that comment to herself.

"We were gonna try for a baby." He said quietly.

Mia knew immediately from his tone that he was not talking about Debbie. She set the broom down and took a seat next to her brother on the couch. She wasn't sure what to say, or where he was going with this, so she just listened.

"Right before...you know...we talked about it. We were gonna go to Mexico and then when we got back we were gonna take a break from racing and try for a baby." He said quietly, head hanging low.

"Dom." She said softly, resting her head on his shoulder. "I never knew that."

"We never told anyone." He replied.

They'd gone to Mexico alright, but not for the reasons that they had planned. And when they got back, it had been all downhill.

"Dom you need to talk to her."

He looked up at his sister and shook his head.

"I tried. You saw what happened." He said, remembering his world war III confrontation with Letty a few days ago.

"No you didn't Dom. You let your emotions get the best of you and so did she. You guys need to sit down and really talk. You know? Get everything out in the open."

"What's there to talk about Mia? It's over. We moved on. There's nothing else to say."

"Dom, all I'm saying, is that you should try. Try one more time to talk to her. I think you'll feel better if you at least try. No yelling. Just talk." She stated.

"I don't know. She hates me. And I can't really say that I don't hate her either."

"Oh Dom. C'mon. You don't hate Letty. You could NEVER hate Letty. And I'm sure she doesn't hate you. It's just...it was a tough situation. I never took sides Dom, but I saw both sides of what was going on. You were both at fault."

"She fuckin gave up on me Mia! I never would have done that to her. Do you have any fuckin clue how much that hurt? I fucking loved her so much." He said, voice just above a whisper. There were tears forming somewhere far back, but he kept them at bay.

"And I don't want her back." He continued. "I swear. I love Debbie. It's just...it ended so badly. I have so many questions. I just need some answers Mia."

"Then go get them." She said firmly.

Maybe Mia was right. Maybe he did need to talk to her. Their fight had been tearing him up inside for the past three days. The closure he'd needed and never gotten.

"Fine." He stood up. "I'll talk to her. But, if this goes bad, I'm blaming you." He said, laughing a little as he pulled his sister in for a bear hug.

"Good." She replied, hugging her brother tightly. "Now help me clean this house." She laughed as she threw a Dom a broom.