An End and a Beginning
Life Unaccounted For Universe: Part 11
Summary: Part One of a series of one-shots in an AU setting inspired by a picture I found and put in the top corner.
Disclaimer: Hahaha, I wish! I own nothing.
Summers working at the garage were hot as hell, even with the industrial-sized fans blowing. They basically just circulated the hot air. Mia helped them out a lot during the summer. She was only taking one fast-track summer class; and Dom and Letty either worked around her schedule or Aiden spent a bit of time at work with them.
Sundays had gone back to being family day, which were just as rambunctious as they had been when they were all growing up – if not more. Age hadn't slowed them down much – and if it did, they wouldn't admit it.
Tony was on the grill, her mom was in the kitchen helping Mia, and the guys were chasing Aiden around with huge water guns. Letty was dozing on a pink and orange floating chair in the pool with her sunglasses on, tuning out the noise around her.
Needless to say, she nearly had a heart attack to find herself dumped out of her chair and submerged by water. She stood up, sputtering and swiping her hair out of her face, blinking the water from her eyelashes and pushing her sunglasses on top of her head. "Dominic", she hissed when she heard him laughing behind her, and she spun around and sent a splash in his direction. "Where is our son before I attack you?" she growled.
He just grinned at her, "Ran inside."
Her fingers itched to smack him. "What the hell was that for?"
"Couldn't help myself", he admitted wryly.
"I could throttle you", she said tightly, hands fisting with the restraint it took to keep from jumping at him and attempting to dunk him under water.
He flicked water at her absently, eyes traveling over the top half of her body that was above water. "You look good wet."
"I could- if you", she groaned. "I quit", she grumbled, hoisting herself back onto the float. "Shut up and leave me alone or get out."
He laughed under his breath. "Fine, I'll leave your boring ass alone."
"Boring?!" she repeated incredulously, glaring at him sharply.
"You're napping at four-thirty in the afternoon. How old are you? Eighty?" he teased.
"Screw you", she muttered.
"Promise?"
"Are we getting to the part where you stop bothering me?"
"You're no fun anymore", he complained.
She chuckled. "Shit happens, baby. Get a shovel."
Dom smirked. "That's a new one."
"When's dinner?" she sighed.
"About half an hour", he answered, sounding amused.
"You aren't going to leave me alone, are you?"
"I wasn't planning on it."
"I figured", she grumbled.
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Letty was helping Aiden pack up a few things to take to Dom's for the night. He had most important things in duplicates, like his toothbrush, a closet full of clothes, and some toys. There were a few things that got carted back and forth though –Aiden's stuffed frog Dom had won at the fair two years ago, and his backpack on week days. Sometimes the kid's shoes traded houses during the week.
She was digging in the toy chest for a stuffed monkey when her son asked her a question that made her freeze. She straightened up with a sigh, and went to sit next to him on the bed. She really should have seen this coming. The kid was smart, and there was no way she was going to get by with the half-hearted explanation she had given originally.
Half an hour later, she was emotionally drained, but felt like she had fulfilled her parental duties, as far as was necessary on the subject. She found Mia in the kitchen.
"Mia, can you take Aiden?" she asked tightly. "He's ready to go."
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Can you- just take him please? We can talk when you come back."
Mia nodded. "Okay… you're not going to start breaking plates or something, are you?"
"No. I'm fine."
"Sure you are. I'll be back in forty minutes. Stay put", Mia ordered.
0
It had taken very little direction from her to get the answer she had wanted from her nephew.
Aiden had asked about Trevor.
Letty had apparently done a decent job explaining the situation to her son, but Mia thought it would be best to get back home ASAP. If nothing else, her best friend just needed a shoulder to lean on for a bit. Mia knew it could take a while for the heart to heal no matter what the reason for the break-up. And even if it was the right thing to do, Letty was still a bit wounded.
Mia got them to the Toretto house and unloaded Aiden's bag, passed it to her brother and tried to make a hasty exit.
"Alright, what's wrong?"
Mia winced. Sometimes it was really inconvenient that her brother could read her like a book. "Nothing- Letty's just about to have a meltdown. I've got it handled." Then she was out the door and jogging to the car before he could question her further.
0
Mia got back to their place with two pints of ice cream in tow – Cherry Garcia and Phish Food. She grabbed two spoons and sat next to Letty on the couch, passing her the chocolate one first and opening the other to start on herself. They would switch about halfway through.
"So", she broached quietly. "Aiden told me what he asked you."
Letty sighed. "How many times do I have to fuck up before I start making better decisions?"
"I really wouldn't know, Let", she mused. "But I think you're way too hard on yourself. Some things you can't control no matter how much you want to… and you haven't made nearly as many mistakes as you blame yourself for."
"I can't do it again. I won't put my kid in the middle of my relationship issues anymore."
"You deserve to be happy. The 'who' will be up to you – when you're ready."
"I just don't want to have another conversation like that with my son again. It's not fair to him, and it was wicked uncomfortable for me", she made a face.
"This is what you get when the two of you decide to be open and honest with your kid", Mia rolled her eyes.
Letty glared at her balefully. "If I hadn't talked to him about it, he eventually would have asked Dom. And that's a conversation that needs to happen never."
"You know that if you and my brother were as honest with each other as you are with Aiden, it would give me a hell of a lot less headaches", Mia said tiredly.
"Have we really been that awful?" Letty asked.
Mia groaned. "You know how much I love that little boy", she said softly. "He's a mix of some of the people I love most in the world – and someone I miss very much."
"Your mom", she said gently. "He looks like her. Dom and I never wanted to put you in the middle of our mess-"
"That's not what I meant."
"You know, when Dom was about seventeen – it was one of the few times he talked about her with me – he told me that one of the last things she told him was to take care of you, and be a good big brother", Letty said hoarsely. "When we found out I was pregnant, things were a mess. It was so much more than us not being ready to be parents, Mia. He'd spent the last, what, nine years more or less trying to be a good example. I mean, yeah, we did some stupid shit, but we mostly kept out of trouble, or at least were smart enough not to get caught. He felt guilty – more than he should have – but knew the only way to make it right would be to step up and be a good father… which he is. And then, after Aiden was born, you were only sixteen, but you helped so much Mia, you still do. He had to let go of the idea that you were still a little girl. As far as I know, he's still working on that one", she chuckled. "But I was a mess, and pulled back so hard from him that I still don't know how to make it right. And whatever our relationship is now, I don't know if we could ever even get back to what we were."
"Why didn't you tell me all of this before?"
"You know I like to avoid the mushiness you swim in", Letty smirked, then shook her head, face relaxing into more of a wry look. "And it's hard to know what to say. Half of it still isn't my story to share. It took a few weeks after my mom found us with the test, before she told me I had to call my dad and tell him that I was stupid enough to get knocked up."
Mia winced. "I remember the fight you and Dom had after that."
"We were so young and stupid… Dad was so angry. I would have rather listened to your dad and my mom rail on us for a month straight than have that conversation again. At the time, I thought it would be the hardest thing I ever had to do."
"It wasn't?"
Letty smiled weakly. "I wish."
"He forgave you. Luis loves Aiden. And he let you go stay with him."
"He did. He wasn't angry at me or Dom… he was upset because we'd made our lives harder than they could have been", she said softly. "Well, I have to admit, he was mad at your brother", she chuckled. "But he got over it."
"Yeah, how long did that take?" Mia laughed.
"Three or four years", Letty said easily.
"Is he coming to Aiden's birthday this year?"
"Yeah, he's gonna fly up for the weekend."
"Is he staying with your mom?"
"Oh, that's funny, Mia", Letty grinned. "I'll be sure to tell her that it was your idea."
Mia blanched slightly. "I take it back. You're mom can be terrifying."
"I always thought you had the brains, Mia mine", Letty teased.
"You're a riot, Let", Mia said dryly, eyes rolling.
There was a rambunctious knock on the door. Letty made a face and got up. Leon was at the door with Jesse and Vince. "Dare I ask?" she muttered dryly.
They grinned at her mischievously. "Dom sent us over", Leon answered.
Letty whipped around to glare at Mia. "What did you do?"
Mia frowned. "Nothing…? I might have mentioned you were a bit upset, but-"
"Mia", she groaned, completely exasperated. "Okay, why are you three knuckleheads here?"
"Fireworks!" Jesse explained. "Dominic said you had to come with us to stock up for the fourth."
Her mouth twitched. "He pawned you guys off on me? I thought it went pretty well when you went by yourselves last year."
"Letty!" Mia whined. "That did not go well!"
Letty rolled her eyes. "Lemme get my purse. And I'm driving." She caught their dude high-fives as she turned and went back to her room. She grabbed her purse and keys, and then snatched her phone from her dresser.
She shot off a quick text to Dominic.
You owe me. So big.
All he sent back was 'Have fun', and she knew he was laughing at her.
"Let's go, bitches!" Letty hollered.
"No bottle rockets this year!" Mia countered as Letty appeared in the living room. "Dad will kill us if another one lands on the roof."
"It was an accident!" Vince retorted.
0
The guy who checked them out at the warehouse that had been rented for the sole purpose of selling fireworks and Fourth of July paraphernalia gave them some strangely amused looks. Letty figured it had a bit to do with her attempts at man-wrangling – she was going to kill Dominic – and the accessories they had collected along the way.
Letty had a Abraham Lincoln sized stars-and-stripes hat on her head, Vince had a pair of red, plastic star-shaped fake glasses without lenses – only wearing them after Letty called him a giant chicken. And she had wrapped Jesse's neck with a giant blue boa that he kept tickling her nose with despite her threats. And Leon was wearing enough red, white, and blue beaded necklaces to be a supplier at a Jerry Springer show.
She had been so busy being distracted by whatever Jesse was talking about, that she didn't notice until later that she had paid for the stars-and-stripes bikini that Vince had tossed at her earlier as a joke. She finally saw it as they were loading all the bags into her trunk.
"On what planet do you think I'm actually going to wear that?" she hissed, slapping his shoulder.
"Come on, Let. You've got the body. Work it."
Both her eyebrows disappeared beneath her bangs. "Since when did you become my gay best friend?"
Leon smirked in amusement, but Jesse cracked up laughing and nearly fell down in the parking lot.
He glowered at her. "You need laid in the worst way", Vince said seriously.
"So what? You're pimping me out?" she laughed. "Can you please leave the role of fashion consultant to Mia?"
"Come on, you just need a decent wing-man to get out there again. You're my girl; let me help you out."
Letty snorted. "You telling other guys that I have an awesome rack doesn't make you a good wing-man."
"Hey, that worked once! You know… until Dom caught us", he laughed as they finally piled back into her car. Leon and Jesse settled in the back seat to listen to their reminiscing.
"Poor Ryan Simmons", she said dryly. "He had a black eye for a week."
"Ryan Simmons!?" he whined incredulously. "Dom nearly handed me my ass when he found out I was trying to get you laid."
She laughed. "Yeah, well, I had just turned sixteen not that long ago, and he was still figuring it out that I was actually a girl."
"Let, those tits were a dead give-away", Vince said sarcastically.
"Oh, my god, are we done?" she complained. "V, I don't need your help to get a man."
"We'll see."
"Yo, Vince. You think Dom would freak if we tried to get her hooked up this summer?" Leon wondered innocently.
"I think it would be fun to find out", Vince laughed.
"Dude, he'd go postal", Jesse snickered.
Letty nearly slammed on the brakes. "I will make you dickheads walk home", she threatened harshly. "That shit isn't funny."
She was going to kill Dominic.
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A/N: Holy crap! You guys went over one hundred reviews with that last chapter. That's so insane! Thanks so much for all the love. You guys are awesome. So happy I got this done in my two hours of free time in my crazy day. Let me know what you think.