Author's Notes: Hey guys. I know it's been a while. I'm probably going to be this slow for a while. I really don't know when work will lighten up and it's pretty exhausting. Love it but kids are pretty tiring! Speaking of which… this is about baby Toretto's first car trip to Mexico. Someone requested more chapters about her as a baby, so here you go. Also there's a little bit of Dom/Letty love in this one so enjoy!
A First Trip
Their daughter had been two years old before they took their first real family road-trip. Just the three of them, driving down to Mexico for a week. Brian could run the garage with Mia in their absence with some help from Tej and Roman.
They had a place in Mexico, a little house that had been in Dom and Mia's mother's family for generations, and was left to them when their Aunt had passed away about five years earlier. Dom and Mia had paid to have it fixed up, modernized it a little. This was the house on the beach where Dom and Letty had married, where Brian and Mia had gone for their second honeymoon.
They left mid-week, early in the morning – before the sun had risen. The drive to Mazatlán was nearly twenty hours long, but Dom and Letty had made it many times. They would trade off on driving, not bothering to stop somewhere along the way to stay the night. At first they'd considered it, but their daughter loved the car, content to be in her seat as they drove along. She would play in the car, sleep in the car. She could be contented by looking out the window, by singing nonsensically along to the radio, or just lulled by the sound of the engine.
And if that novelty wore off then Letty had packed a tablet loaded with movies and little games. She carried the still-sleeping toddler out and fastened her gently into her car seat. She was wearing her pajamas, red with the Hulk on them, with little attached feet. She slept on, mouth slightly open, head lolling forwards so that her baby-soft dark curls fell over her eyes. Smiling to herself she stroked a hand over the top of her head before closing the door.
They locked up the house – Mia would be by to check on the place for them, before getting on the road. They were outside of the greater LA area before rush hour, which was intentional. For a while the road stretched before them without much traffic, allowing Dom to pick up speed. Letty slept for the first two hours, then woke up when they stopped for breakfast burritos and iced coffee.
The little one slept a bit longer, lulled by the feel and sound of the car. When she woke she sleepily ate mini chocolate chip pancakes and drank some milk as she stared out the window at the scenery flying by.
She babbled to them from the back seat, repeatedly mentioning her favorite word "car" with a great deal of nonsense. Occasionally a 'Mami' or 'Papi' drifted from the back seat when she wanted their attention.
For the most part she entertained herself, or let the car entertain her. They stopped for lunch and for Letty to take over as driver. They set her up with some chicken strips and a movie to watch on the tablet and she fell asleep again for another couple of hours. They passed through Arizona without much trouble, then drove south across the border into Mexico.
They passed through the border without any issues and drove nearly two hours into Mexico before the child in the back finally began to get squirmy. She had napped so long that she was full of energy, and even her enjoyment of the car couldn't make her want to sit still any longer. They pulled off at a rest stop that boasted a picnic area. There were a scattering of other travelers; tourists who'd packed their own food for the trip, families walking dogs or solo drivers getting out to stretch their legs and grab a smoke.
Once out of the car the toddler raced towards the grass excitedly. Dom stretched out under the shade of a tree with a yawn, smiling as she ran in circles until she made herself dizzy. She collapsed beside him, giggling. Dom reached over to tickle her belly and she squirmed away, squealing. She grabbed onto her mother's leg and Letty chuckled softly.
"What's up mija? You want your cars?"
"Caws!" the child agreed happily and Letty handed her some hot wheels that had been tucked into the bag with the other baby stuff.
Cars clutched against her chest the little girl ran back over to her father's side, passing him one of the toys. They played in the shade for about twenty minutes before Dom and Letty were ready to get back on the road.
"Ready to get back in the car, sweetheart?" Dom asked his daughter.
She frowned slightly, looking uncertain. "Home?" she asked.
"We're going to our summer house," Letty explained. "It's in Mexico. Right on the beach. Remember, Mami told you we're going to play on the beach every day?"
The girl nodded, dancing from foot to foot. "Beash!" she cheered and raced back to the car, followed by her amused parents.
"Good thing you didn't tell her it's still another eight hours away," Dom muttered to his wife.
"Please she has no concept of time anyway," Letty laughed. "Except that everything other than right now is a long time to wait."
Once they were back on the road they managed to pick up the pace, taking advantage of the long empty highways in Mexico at this time of the week. When they traded off driving again Letty climbed into the back seat to watch movies with her daughter snuggled in her lap and they stopped around six pm for tacos at a little roadside restaurant, choosing to sit on a table outside and eat so that the little girl could run around a bit and stretch her legs.
They drove along the coastal highway, watching the sun set across the ocean. It painted the sky with pinks and oranges, and a glowing gold that made everything look rich and warm. The toddler yawned in the back seat, mumbling sleepily to herself about the beach.
Letty glanced over the back of her seat to see her nodding off and smiled.
"Looks like the trip to the beach will have to wait till tomorrow," she murmured.
"Sounds good to me," Dom agreed. "I'm tired as hell."
She fixed him with a grin. "How tired?" Her dark eyes were wicked.
"Not that tired," he laughed.
They arrived at the house just after nine pm and Letty went to unlock the front door as Dom got their daughter out of her car seat.
The house itself was one story, sitting along the two-lane ocean road. Many other houses stretched out alongside it now, though Dom could remember a far-off memory when there had been many less. It had recently been repainted, a soft, faded blue color that warmed under the sun and cooled under the gaze of the moon. Gravel and shrubs, hearty dessert plants, rather than grass dominated the front yard of the house. The driveway was new, a simple strip of black pavement and there was no garage. The front door was yellow, the same door his Aunt had painted the sunny color, year after year. One thing he and Mia had insisted on leaving the same.
Inside it smelled of something spicy, with the faint hint of wood-finish and lemon cleaner beneath. Letty found a note in the kitchen from the neighbor who watched over the place, stating that she'd made them some food and left it in the fridge and that they should come by and say hello once they'd settled in.
Dom carried their daughter into the back bedroom, which had been where he and Mia slept whenever they came here as children. Now it was painted a simple white, with dark wooden floors and a pale green area-rug. The crib which Vince had used as a baby was here now, all made up with fresh sheets. On the wall old family pictures side-by-side with prints of smiling animals. Letty brought in the bag of baby clothes and he changed his daughter for bed, tucking her in. She didn't stir at all; a testament to how much the trip had worn her out.
He went back outside to help unload the rest of the bags, then locked the car. He and Letty carried their things to the master bedroom at the front end of the house. The large window had views of the ocean and if they cracked them open they could hear the waves crashing and smell the salt in the air. Letty stretched out on the bed, toeing off her shoes as Dom left the windows open, but drew the curtains. The moonlight filtered in through the fabric, bathing the room in a silvery glow. He sat at the edge of the bed to tug off his boots, then sighed, lying back.
"That drive seemed a lot shorter the last time we made it together," he murmured.
"You mean when we came down here to get married?" She laughed and turned to curl against him. "Maybe because you were nervous as hell. Also because we didn't have a small child in the car with us. I think we stopped maybe once."
"That's true," he agreed, wrapping his arm around her. "I was not nervous."
"Mmm hmm," she agreed, smirking against his throat. "Seemed nervous."
"I was anxious, it's different."
"What's the difference?" Letty asked, lifting her head to grin at him.
"It was more like… I couldn't wait to marry you," he said, threading a hand through her dark hair and pulling her down to kiss.
Letty wrapped her arms around him as he pulled her to lie atop him, his big hand inching down her back to rest against the curve of her hip. She sat up, straddling his waist as she tugged his t-shirt up and over his head, tossing it to the floor. It was joined by her top and Dom slid his other hand up her back to unhook her bra. Letty shrugged it off and tossed it behind her, leaning in close to kiss him deeply. His hands framed her face, fingers sliding into her hair, tangling there as she curled her tongue into his mouth, smiling against his lips.
The perfect start to their first vacation as a family.