Chapter 13

He caught her out of the side of his eye, crouched in the corner of the garage, scowling at him. Her arms were crossed, her brows knitted together, she was pretty blatantly...pouting.

"What?" he snapped.

"Nothing."

"Letty!"

"What?!" she snapped back.

"What's your problem?"

"Nothing Dom. Forget it," she rolled her eyes and leaned even further back against the wall.

"Well, I'm tryin to work and your..."

"You said I could help." she mumbled.

"What?"

"Once I turned thirteen, you said I could help."

"Your birthday's not till tomorrow."

"Aw, come on Dom. It's not like I wouldn't know what to do. I've been watching you and your dad since I was a kid. And so far all I've ever got to do was hand you some lame wrench or some freakin break pads," she scoffed.

"Letty this isn't some game. Why do you think we didn't let you do anything? Cause you could get hurt, that's why. You want a two ton vehicle to fall on you and smash your ass?"

"Ugh," Letty rolled her eyes and stood up, "forget it."

Well, he had promised her...

"Wait," he called, and she stopped in her tracks.

"Come here," he said as he held out the familiar filter wrench. She reached out and took it in her hands. "Now what do you do?"

"Loosen the tube," she replied confidently.

Dom smiled. "So go ahead."

He watched as her tiny fingers worked the wrench, loosening the oil remover tube and inserting a tube from the pump kit to drain the oil.

She didn't ask any questions. She didn't ask if she was doing it right. She knew she was. He stood back, letting her go to work, all the while he was smiling from ear to ear. The scrawny little girl he'd known all his life was actually...a pretty damn good mechanic.

...

Debbie shifted nervously at her desk. Running a hand through her hair she tried to wrap her mind around last nights events.

Finding out that Dom had lied...

Finding out about his past with...her.

There was no turning back now. She'd asked Mia, and Mia had told her. And she wanted to know everything. And she was told...everything.

...

There was a loud jolt as the heavy steel door slid open causing him immediately look up from the letter he was writing.

"You got a visitor Toretto," the guard stated, motioning for him to stand up and come to the doorway of his cell.

"Turn around," said the guard as he gathered Dom's strong hands around his lower back, sliding on the ice cold handcuffs and then fastening them with the turn of a key.

Dom made his way down the long dark hallway, past the many cells identical to his. He'd almost forgotten what day it was. The days just seemed to blend together anymore, where the only thing that was distinct was the glimmer of sunshine coming through his tiny window, letting him know it was daytime. But he knew it was Sunday. She only came on Sundays, usually the first Sunday of every month. He didn't have to guess who his visitor was. She was the only one he allowed to see him. Even Mia, Vince, and Leon were forbidden. He couldn't let them see him like this... caged up... like some monster. Maybe he was a monster...

She'd come one Sunday, about a month into his sentence. He had initially refused her visit, but when the guard said she refused to leave until he saw her, he gave in. She made him promise to let him see her again, and he did. Her visits eventually became the only thing to keep him sane. He was facing up to five years, he needed all the sanity he could get.

He was led into the familiar room and the handcuffs were once again removed. He was ushered to the small cubicle where she sat on the other side of the glass. He picked up the phone.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hey," she replied. "How are you?"

"Fine. You?"

"I'm alright."

"And Mia?"

"She's okay. She's tough Dom, you know that."

He shook his head. He did know. He just had to hear it.

"How's things at the garage?" he inquired.

"Busy. We hired another mechanic though, Leon's cousin Jesse. He'd good Dom, real good with computer stuff," she stated.

"Good. That's good," he was relieved. He trusted their decisions. "And the store?"

"You know, the usual. Mia's got it under control. She said something about a food order check that bounced though."

"Fuck," Dom muttered, running a hand over his head.

"Dom... look, nevermind. Maybe I shouldnt have even..."

"No. Don't hide anything from me Letty. You promised me you'd tell me the truth about what's going on out there. Listen..." he whispered, leaning closer to the glass, clutching the phone as close to his lips as possible. "I have some money stashed. It's not a lot, but its enough to get you guys through some shit," he said as he proceeded to tell her where it was hidden. "Got it?"

"Got it," she replied.

"Toretto," the guard tapped at his watch, letting Dom know his time was up.

"I gotta..."

"I know."

"See you next month?" he asked.

"Yup."

"Okay. I'll see ya."

"See ya," she replied.

"Letty wait," he called, just as she was about to hang up the phone.

"Yeah?"

"I love you," he said, and hung up the phone.

He turned around once more, the ice cold handcuffs once again getting fasted around his back. He wasn't sure why he chose that moment to tell her. It just...felt right.

...

There was a knock at her office door, jolting her wandering mind back to reality.

"Dom's on line one," her secretary called before receding back out the doorway.

"Wait," Debbie called back, "can you tell him I'm in a meeting? That I'll call him later?"

"Um, sure. Everything okay?"

"Yeah," she lied, "I'm just...busy. So, just tell him I'm busy."

She didn't know what to do...what to think. She'd went home last night after talking to Mia and went straight to bed. And she'd gotten up early this morning, earlier than usual in order to avoid him completely. She was telling herself over and over again that her decision should be an easy one. She should leave him. He'd lied to her. He'd said he was with Vince when he was really with...her. Was he still in love with her?

"Ugh," she muttered, laying her head on her desk. She couldn't get the thought of them out of her mind. All the stories Mia had told her about them. They had so much history...

...

"Hey," Letty called as she stepped out onto the deck of their beach house. Dom was relaxing on a reclining lawn chair sipping a beer.

"Hey," he replied, staring off into the ocean.

Letty crawled onto the chair and took a seat in his lap.

"So I was thinking..." she started, taking a good whiff of the salty ocean air.

"About?"

"Well, remember what we talked about a few months back?" she smiled.

"We talked about a lot of things Letty."

She didnt like the tone in his voice, and her own attitude began to come to light.

"I'm talking about us having a baby Dom. How could you forget? You're the one who brought it up last time?"

"You wanna have a baby?" he asked sarcastically, almost laughing at her.

"I dunno. Maybe."

What the hell was his problem?

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" she huffed.

"I mean, why now Letty? You think a baby's gonna solve all our problems?"

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"Never mind," he muttered, running a hand over his freshly shaven head.

"No Dom, I don't think a baby's gonna solve all our problems. But that was our plan remember?"

"Yeah, well our plans got changed," he grumbled.

"What the fuck is your problem Dom? So because your feeling sorry for yourself, you don't want a baby anymore?" she yelled. She couldn't take his self loathing attitude anymore.

"I'm done with this conversation Letty," he snapped, lightly pushing her off him and standing up from the chair.

...

Debbie zipped up her briefcase. She had to get out of there. She was getting nothing done and her mind was obviously not on work. But...what the hell was she gonna do?