I promised a quick and longer update so here I am literally 24 hours later with another update! I wrote this in like a day so I really hope it's okay and you guys enjoy it. I'm loving your lovely feedback so feeeeed me with more reviews because I love hearing your opinions on my writing and ideas and how I'm portraying these characters so let me know!
I apologise for any mistakes and enjoy! x
Dom's words weren't something you could respond to using only an "Okay."
You don't say "Okay" When someone tells you, or more specifically attempts to remind you, that you are the love of their life.
But, it was still what Letty had found herself muttering.
In any other situation that response wouldn't be anywhere near the category of acceptable. But under the circumstances, Letty watched Dom shoot her a faint smile and make no indication that he wanted to comment on it any further. The Latina gave him an uneasy smile of her own but as soon as the corners of her mouth twitched up even in the slightest, they were forming a warmer and more genuine smile as the thought of his words actually processed inside her head. Those kinds of words are enough to make anybody smile if they heard them.
They hadn't spoken for a while after that, Letty felt as though she had a frog in her throat and that if she so much as attempted to try to speak, that much would be evident. Their eyes were avoiding each other but neither of them knew if the reason behind not wanting to look at each other was a bad one. The picture they both created to anyone who would walk through the door could only be described as one of an old married couple who had just argued and now sat awake in bed, in matching positions, covers pulled to their stomachs and arms folded tightly across it. Both almost afraid to get comfortable in the bed in case they showed signs of caving to their argument. Or, in Dom and Letty's case, too afraid to get comfortable because Letty's memory, or lack of, was physically stopping her from being comfortable at all. And Letty's memory, or lack of, was also making Dom nervous to show just how comfortable he was with her and they were with each other once upon a time.
Letty suddenly felt the urge to ask if she could stay with him that night, but she didn't. It wasn't her style, whether she felt comfortable with a person or not. So, the brunette simply broke away from their picture perfect positions and shuffled until the covers were by her shoulders and she was fully lying down on her side, facing Dom. But where her eyes had no option but to be on him, her gaze was obviously far away and not taking in his top-less body at all. She felt his eyes graze over her briefly before he had made himself just as comfortable. She couldn't help it, her brown-eyed stare was on him once again as she mindlessly made the decision to move closer to him. Neither of them even really realised what was going on until Letty's head had already found his chest and she was shrugging her shoulders to move his arm over hers. And within a smaller time period than their lingered silence had been, they were both asleep.
The feeling of waking up in the morning, convinced you had only been asleep minutes when in fact it had been a full eight hours, consumed Dom when he woke the next morning and found he hadn't moved an inch since his eyelids closed. And the same went for the sleeping Latina in his arms.
Getting up, dressed and down the stairs without waking Letty had been mission impossible but after the endless years of rehearsals, Dom did it like a pro and only caused her to stir twice, but only enough to roll from her side onto her stomach and spread her limbs out over the entirety of the mattress.
"Dom!" Mia whined, shooting daggers at her bother as he wandered into the kitchen and gathered his nephew up in arms, forcing the toddler to abandon his place at the kitchen table and his uneaten breakfast.
Brian raised an eyebrow in amusement, his blue orbs flicked up and between the two Toretto siblings as he sipped on his coffee. "In Mia's defence, she's been trying to force-feed the kid different fruits all week."
"Defence?" Dom questioned. "Don't forget whose roof you're under, O 'Connor." His words were threatening despite the smirk on his lips that turned very quickly into a satisfied grin when he glanced back at his giggling nephew in his arms.
Mia stomped her foot once like that of an overgrown child who didn't get their way but neither Brian or Dom even flinched at the action they'd grown so accustomed to. With a sigh of defeat, she, and Dom, were moving to sit at the table.
"Where's Letty?" Brian asked and Mia scoffed.
"Is that even a question?" The younger Toretto smirked. "Letty sleeps till noon; not that much has changed."
The softest of laughs escaped Dom's lips without him so much as making eye contact with anyone other than Jack. "Yeah, she's still in bed." The room fell silent as Dom pulled a funny face at the toddler now balancing on his knee but as the silence finally registered with him; his gaze was flicking up and meeting the eyes that were burning into him. "What?"
"She's in your room," stated Mia like it was completely obvious, evidently not to Brian because he spared a glance at his girl at her words. "Well, the spare room, I mean." Mia gave a very soft shrug. "How does she always find her way to your bed?" Mia muttered light-heartedly with a faint giggle. The words involuntarily pulled a smile in Dom's lips.
Brian looked over to Dom with an amused expression and when nothing was said, he spoke up himself. "There's no denial," he grinned. Dom's smile was enough to shine through any attempts of denial anyway, but Brian had a point.
"That's a question for a different day, Mi." Dom spoke lowly with a raspy chuckle and soft shake of his head.
"Yeah," the voice was close, familiar and a completely new road from the conversation. Letty. "Because the answer is quite personal after all. And yet another one I couldn't answer."
All eyes were on the Latina now. She had tracked down the stairs after discovering the bed was empty besides her and after she had wandered into her room to exchange her pyjama shorts for denim shorts, to throw on with Dom's wife-beater she had been wearing to bed that night.
Letty's mood of irritation and current pissed off expression was enough to send waves of discomfort amongst the family.
"Morning," Mia tried with a cautious smile. Letty couldn't actually look at the girl without guiltily flashing a smile in response, so she simply chose not to look in her direction at all and just glare faintly between Brian and, spending more attention on, Dom.
Dom shifted a silenced, yet oblivious, Jack off his knee into Brian's lap instead but not once did he break the eye contact with Letty. Once again proving he knew her better than anyone else, Dom read her expression like an open book and she was pissed. Not Letty pissed, but slightly ticked off would be a better way to describe it. And Dom was moving from his seat the minute Letty took a single step into the kitchen to swipe Dom's car keys off the counter and he was hot on her trail as soon as she was leaving the room, and eventually the house.
"No, Letty, Let – " The older Toretto called after her but gave up chasing by the kitchen doorframe. His words cut off and he cursed under his breath, to mainly himself. "Shit."
"Swear jar," Mia chimed in but instantly regretted her timing and grumbled in the back of her throat. "Reflex," she condoled and almost slouched in her chair in an ashamed-child-like manner. Dom made an impatient noise at the back of his throat followed by a defeated noise straight after it. His arms went limp and he slouched back into his seat. Multiple moments of silent dragged on between the three, save Jack who was poking his dad's cheek repeatedly, before Brian spoke up.
"She keeps taking your car, man."
The sentence would have been funny if it weren't for Dom's weak glare in the blonde's direction.
Han's cheap motel room wasn't on Letty's list of places to run away to. She was generally shocked that she had even remembered the random Motel name Han had briefly mentioned to the family, let alone that she had decided to pull up in the parking lot and begin searching for his room.
His choice of places to stay didn't have anything to do with the large amount of money he head; it was clearly a lazy decision as he was convinced her wasn't going to be there long. And when he answered the door to the Latina and she caught the sight of half packed bags on the guy's bed, she was convinced as well.
"Letty," his voice was shocked, or as shocked as someone with a continuous even tone could be. The words hung on the end of his tongue briefly as Letty stuffed her hands in the pockets of her denim shorts. "I should be shocked, right?" he asked, the question more than fair and completely understandable. It was enough to make the brunette pause to revaluate the situation her magic appearing act had caused, and then she nodded slowly.
"Uh, yeah," she responded in w vaguely guilty tone at just how strange it was she had gone to him of all places. Someone she knew but didn't. The girl flashed him an innocent smile. "Sorry."
The guy managed a small smile of his own before shaking his head softly and widening the gap the open door was creating for her to be able to slip inside. "No, no, come in."
Letty took almost cautious steps inside Han's motel room, closing the door behind her; she couldn't help but eye his bags once again. "Tokyo?" Her tone was easily questioning.
"Tokyo." His reply was short and confirming along with his single nod as he threw, what seemed to be the last item needed, into the open bag. His eyes then met her with a faint concerned look behind them. "What you doing here, Let? You alright?"
Letty pressed her back against the wall across the room from the bed, simply wanting something to share her body weight so she didn't have to carry it. She had slept so well last night that she was definitely able to carry herself with no issues, but the action was a poor attempt to lessen the never-ending weight on her shoulders.
She gave a tired smile. "Continuously overwhelmed." Han nodded, giving a soft smirk at the obvious statement, to be honest; he hadn't expected anything else and doubted anybody else hadn't either. "I guess I just came here because – "
"– Because it's a better option than Roman?" Letty chuckled lightly, more so at Han's smug smirk than the actual dig towards their friend. But she didn't respond. At least not straight away to give him an equally joking or slightly sarcastic agreement. The moment had passed quickly before she spoke up and took a different direction in the conversation.
"I don't know," she muttered, her eyes finding the floor. "Maybe I just wanted the chance to say goodbye because I get a strange feeling you weren't planning on goodbyes."
Han gave her a one shouldered shrug, "I gave my goodbyes at the barbeque the other night."
Letty pursed her lips and tilted her head slightly, her eyes boring into him. "You did? Forget anyone?"
He sighed lightly, "I didn't wanna overwhelm you with a heartfelt goodbye from someone you don't remember."
"Heartfelt, huh?" Letty couldn't help but let out the faintest laugh. "Just how close were we?" Letty heard Han laugh lightly himself.
"Closer than you and Roman," Letty smirked. "And you and Tej, and you and Hobbs."
"Right, so I actually knew you at some point. You're right, that's pretty close, you were sure to shed a tear if you had to say goodbye to me." Letty's tone dripped sarcasm.
Han's light chuckle faded into nothing as silence overtook them and filled the room. Han watched her carefully but Letty hadn't even realised due to the fact she refused to move her gaze away from the floor. You didn't have to be a genius to work out why she was there or why she was overwhelmed, you just needed to be someone who knew her and Dom. And Han definitely did. After all, he had known her before her accident and had mourned her death as the rest of the family. He had known Dom for only a week or so longer and he had noted the difference between him from beforehand and the moment Letty had showed up in the Dominican and turned Dominic Toretto, the guy he had assumed to be tough, single, ladies' man, into someone who was obviously completely head over heels for the Latina. And ever since, Han had had some sort of respect for the couple and their relationship. He didn't know much about what they had been like before, but from what he had learned, he knew their relationship almost as well as Mia did.
It had taken him just as long as it took for him to learn about their relationship, to learn about the remake of their now extremely, heartbreakingly complicated relationship; which wasn't very long at all. Han had always had this extraordinary talent for reading people that threw new people off and set them back hugely every time he displayed the skill. And that was what he was doing right now and for Letty, it was as knew as it would have been for a stranger.
"Go home, girl." She picked her gaze up and looked at him and took in his softly sympathetic smile. "You're not doing any good working things out from here. Trust me, and you should know it too, life's too short to avoid things." Letty watched him silently for a few seconds before she let out an almost irritated groan. Han smiled a little more at how obvious her reaction was to admitting he was right. He walked across the room, hesitated for half a second and pulled the brunette into a gently hug. "Go home, Letty."