An End and a Beginning
Summary: They didn't work out the first time around, but they have something tangible between them that forces them to be in each other's lives forever. They are getting a second chance, but with Dominic and Letty, nothing comes easy.
Rating: M - eventually
Chapter 15
First week of October:
Dominic looked out the window when he heard his sister's Camry pull into the driveway Sunday afternoon. Then he watched in confusion when Mia got out with Aiden and luggage in tow. Dom went for the door and stood on the porch. "What's goin' on?"
"We're moving in", Mia rolled her eyes. "Temporarily", she added.
"Mama's sick", Aiden explained, dragging his backpack on the ground behind him as he walked.
Dom looked towards Mia with raised eyebrows, as he went to take his son's bag before it got covered in dirt he got a quick hug for his trouble before Aiden ran into the house.
"Letty has the flu", she answered. "She kicked us out for the week so she wouldn't get us sick. Someone's gonna have to cover for her at the garage."
Dom nodded. "We'll work it out. She didn't want you to stay and take care of her?" he teased.
Mia snorted. "I offered. She gave me a very explicit no. You know she hates that. She wouldn't even let me go to the store for her before we left. She said it would be a waste of food, and she was going to sleep for the next five days."
"Of course she did", Dom grumbled. "There's one car that's coming in to get detailed this week. Letty set the appointment for Tuesday. Can you do it if Leon helps?"
Mia nodded. "Yeah, I can manage."
"Thanks. You're the best", he kissed her temple and took the bag slung over her shoulder with an exaggerated grimace at the weight. "Geez, Mia, it's only for a week. This thing is like fifty pounds."
"You'd understand if you were female", she said blithely, moving gracefully up the porch steps with a smaller bag and Aiden's suitcase in hand.
"I'm sure", he chuckled.
Mia stopped with her hand on the door knob. "Dom-"
He sighed wearily. "You want me to go over there", Dom said tiredly. "You know I'm the last person she wants to see right now."
She shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. But I don't think she's gotten out of bed since yesterday except to stumble to the bathroom. In any case, I'm sure you could stop her before she got to the closet to unlock the case that has her shotgun in it."
"That's… comforting", he said wryly.
"It was just a suggestion. If you don't, I promise I won't guilt-trip you for it", she promised sincerely.
"Can I get that in writing?"
Mia flashed a grin and went into the house.
Dom groaned. "Dammit."
0
Two hours later, Dom was packing a bag of his own, still positive this was a bad idea. He was going to blame any bad outcome on Mia, who was smiling smugly to herself while coloring with Aiden in his monster truck coloring book.
He set his bag by the front door and went over to the kitchen table where they had a pile of crayons dumped out in front of them. "Hey, that's pretty good", he told his son.
"Mhm, I can stay in the lines", Aiden answered distractedly.
"You'll be good for Aunt Mia, right?"
"Yes, Daddy. Are you going to take care of Mommy?"
Dom sighed mildly. "Yeah, that's the plan. We've got to have her feeling better, huh, buddy?"
"Mama's no fun when she's sick", the boy frowned.
Dom laughed under his breath. "I know. Trust me; she's not having any fun either. You know what? I bet Aunt Mia would help you make her a card telling her to get better soon. She'd like that. I can give it to her for you tomorrow."
"It will help her feel better?" Aiden looked at his father a bit confused. "It's just paper."
Dom kissed Aiden's head. "It always makes someone feel better to know people are thinking about them."
The boy shrugged in compliance. "Okay, Daddy. Auntie Mia, will you help me make a card for Mommy?"
Mia grinned and ruffled his hair. "You bet. Can I make her one too?"
"Call if you need me", Dom said as he walked to the door. "I'll talk to you later. Thanks, Mi."
0
Dom went to the store and picked up the essentials to dealing with a sick Letty, and then drove across town. He let himself into her apartment quietly and locked it again; he found the table lamp in the living room on low, and the only other light on was the one over the stove. He flipped the kitchen light on and unloaded the groceries, piling the boxes of cold medication on the counter next to several boxes of tissues.
He went down the hallway and around the corner towards her bedroom, turning the handle and pushing the door open, grateful that the only noise it made was from the bottom brushing the beige carpeting.
She was asleep, snoring horrendously, much to his amusement. He still felt like a burglar. But he rested a hand on her forehead, and decided her fever wasn't in a dangerous range, and if the medicine on her night table was anything to go by, she had already taken something. He crossed the room and sat in the smallish chaise lounge at the corner end of her bed. She would see him when she eventually woke up.
He turned on a low reading lamp, grateful for the low, yellowish glow that didn't disperse throughout the entire room, and he picked up her newspaper that she had nearly torn to pieces, sections strewn on the floor.
He was tempted to finish her crossword puzzle just to piss her off, but decided against it for the time being, not wanting to stoke the fire just yet.
Two hours later, she stirred slightly, pushing at her blankets with a groan before her eyes opened.
"You'd better damn well be a feverish nightmare", Letty croaked, glaring at him sleepily over her blue and silver comforter.
"Sorry, sweetheart, not a mirage", he said softly.
"Go 'way", she muttered. "I'm sick. You don't have to babysit me."
He chuckled, "Yeah, yeah. Just stuff it with all that, 'I am Letty, hear me roar crap'", he teased. "You're about as intimidating as a wet cat when you're sick, and you know it."
"Come on, dude. I do not have the energy to fight with you right now. Just go home", she whined.
Dom arched an eyebrow. "Did you just call me 'dude'? How much medicine have you taken?"
"I took a dose of Nyquil. I read the bottle", she muttered, slightly irritated. "Go home, Dom. I'm going back to sleep."
"Uh-uh", he argued. "You can sleep in a few minutes. You need to drink something. Orange juice or Sprite?"
"I have apple juice and milk in the fridge", she said flatly.
He rolled his eyes and stood up. "I went to the store, so tell me what you want."
"Sprite."
He nodded and headed back towards the kitchen, muttering to himself. "Don't need a babysitter my ass."
"I heard that, Dom!" she called weakly.
0
Hours later, after Letty took another nap, she dragged herself out of bed to go take a shower – despite Dom's warning that if she passed out and he had to come in after her, she'd better not complain about him seeing her naked.
Twenty minutes later, he had opened her window and changed her sheets. The water was still running, and he went to knock on her bathroom door. "I haven't heard a thump. You alright?"
Her hoarse reply of, "I'll be out in a minute", was mostly drowned out by the pounding of water, but he heard it.
A few minutes later, the water was shut off. He leaned against her dresser, listening to her blow dryer that sounded like a freaking whirlwind even through the door. She finally came out wearing a grey tank top and red and black flannel pants, and she looked ready to drop.
He grabbed her by the waist as she wavered slightly, and walked her back to bed. She smacked his hands away when he tried to cover her back up, and she curled up on her side, holding her extra pillow against her chest. "Stop it, I'm hot."
He reached over her and checked her forehead again. "You've still got a fever."
"Thanks for the assessment, Dr. Know-it-all", she muttered weakly.
"Yeah, yeah, you're tough shit", he rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna get you some juice, and you're going to take some more medicine." He rummaged through a few drawers despite her protests, and then tossed a pair of fuzzy socks on the bed next to her. "Put those on."
"Bossy", Letty grumbled.
"That's right, I'm the boss-"
"Don't get cocky, Dominic."
"Do us both a favor and tone down your insanely large independent streak for a few days, and just let me take care of you at least until you can manage to be upright for an hour without getting dizzy and landing on your ass", he growled seriously, and then left the room before she could think of a comeback.
00
Some time the next afternoon:
"Tell me you don't plan to sit there and stare at me all week", Letty groaned in annoyance, "Because it's going to get boring and awkward really quick."
Dom tilted his head at her curiously. "I'm just trying to figure out why you switched sides of the bed", he offered.
"That's nice", she murmured thickly. "Just keep on wondering then."
"Do you have something better to do besides talking to me? Some pressing matter that will have you dragging your amazingly toned, exhausted ass out of bed?" he cocked a pointed eyebrow.
"Sleep", she retorted instantly, ignoring his remark about her backside. "My crossword puzzle – which you better have left the hell alone… catching up on all my television shows."
"Sounds thrilling", he drawled.
Her eyes rolled. "Jesus, Dom, you don't have to stay here. I've got the flu; I'm not dying or anything."
He glared. "Don't be cute. That shit isn't funny."
"Relax", she chided lazily. "You're just upset I'm not begging for a sponge bath."
Dom smirked. "Now, there's a fantasy", he acknowledged. "But I still want an answer to my question."
"What's that?"
"When did you get over your aversion to the left side of the bed? I seem to remember fighting you for the right side and losing."
She shrugged. "Maybe I was just being difficult."
"Let", he sighed exasperatedly.
"I took your side of the bed after we broke up. So what?"
"Don't make this conversation like a bad trip to the dentist."
"Hey, that wacky gas isn't half-bad", Letty retorted dryly, before finally deciding to give a straight answer. "It felt weird sleeping by myself after we'd been together so long. I didn't get much sleep the first few months. I guess maybe I was waiting for you to get in bed behind me or something. I don't know. Finally I tried the other side of the bed. Trying to throw myself out of wack, I guess. It worked more or less. At least I got some sleep", she sighed. Then she shot him an irritated look. "Any other questions you wanna hit me with while I'm stuck here?" she asked sharply.
Dominic smiled slightly. "Sorry."
"Not half as sorry as you'll be if you messed with my crossword puzzle", she grumbled into her pillow.
"What do you want for dinner?"
She raised her head again incredulously. "Crackers", she said flatly.
He chuckled. "I'll heat up some of that soup Mia brought over earlier. Can't live on crackers, Let."
She made a face. "My stomach says otherwise."
000
Two weeks after Letty had gotten over the flu, Dom got a call from Susana. It was nearly nine o'clock in the evening. If she was calling- he picked answered the phone.
"I think I made it worse", she said by way of a greeting.
He blinked. "What did you do?" Dominic sighed exasperatedly.
"I swear we were just talking", she said tiredly. "My daughter does not know how to deal with her feelings, and I'll take most of the blame for that. Long story short, she walked out saying she was going to beat the hell out of something."
"Maybe you should just let her", he rolled his eyes. "She'll come back when she cools off."
"She's hurting, and I don't know how to fix that", Susana admitted quietly.
He groaned. "I know where you're going with this. Do not ask me to go get her. She's avoiding me like the plague."
"She needs you. Even if neither of you want to admit it."
He snorted. "I'll admit it. But I'm not going to tell her that. I like my testicles how they are, thanks."
"Letty doesn't need or want a Knight in Shining Armor, Dominic. Just you", she said quietly.
Dom laughed under his breath. "It almost sounded like there was a compliment somewhere in there."
She sighed. "I know I've been hard on you. You got my teenage daughter pregnant, if you recall. The two of you started a family far before it would have been considered a good idea, and you both suffered from it. Your father and I both struggled; watching your kids make mistakes is hard. The two of you needed time to grow up… maybe you could have done it together, but we won't ever know that for certain. Letty is an amazing mother, and you've become a good man – and a good father. And despite everything, you still take care of the mother of your child. That counts for everything, Dominic. She'll come back to you eventually. Just give her a little more time to recover. Letty has always known what she wants. She's just been certain she couldn't have it."
"Alright, alright, I'll go talk to her", he said wearily.
"I'll stay with Aiden until you come back. He's already asleep."
Dominic shut his phone, debating on throwing it for a brief second, but shoved it in his pocket. He grabbed his jacket and keys, hopping in his car to drive to the garage, parking his behind hers on the street. Once he got out of the car, he heard the loud, repetitive clanging of iron against metal. He walked out behind the garage towards the junked car they had torn apart for spare parts.
Letty was beating the shit out of it with a tire iron. She was even wearing her fingerless leather gloves to keep a good grip. She meant business. Dom almost grinned. He approached cautiously, but stopped with enough distance between them that she wouldn't hit him.
"Hey!" he called sarcastically. "Your mommy called and said you ran away from home."
She faltered briefly and turned only to glare at him viciously and growl an irritated, "Piss off!" before she put another dent in the door.
Dominic groaned. He hated that look. "Letty, stop. The car's dead, okay?"
"What part of 'piss off' don't you understand?" she hissed, taking another swing.
"The part where you don't actually want me to leave", he mumbled under his breath and then approached her silently until she raised the tire iron again and he grabbed it firmly. She attempted to jerk it out of his hand, but it didn't loosen his hold.
"Dom-"
"I said no", he said seriously. "You're done, okay? You killed it. Knock it off before you hurt yourself."
"I am so pissed off right now- just let me hit the fucking car, Dominic!"
But he could feel the tremors shooting through her body; her arm was shaking, her fingers loosening their grip on the tire iron. He pulled it away from her and dropped it on the ground, spinning her around and wrapping his arms around her. She went limp against him, tears soaking through his shirt.
"Sorry", she muttered against his a few minutes later, her breath hot and damp against his shirt. "I know I've been acting like a crazy-ass lunatic."
"You say that like it should be news to me", he teased.
Letty dug her nails into his side for a brief second. "I'll just take back that apology then?" she raised an eyebrow; stepping backwards to put some space between them as she quickly wiped her face dry, fully intending to pretend she hadn't lost hold of her emotions for even a minute.
"Back to whatever store you bought it from", Dom rolled his eyes. "I'd demand a full refund too, because that was pretty shitty."
"What?" she grumbled. "You want it written in blood or something?"
"Nothing nearly that dramatic", he said wryly, reaching for her hand again. "Come on."
She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Why?"
"Because it's nearly ten o'clock and I had to come out here to track your ass down. The least you could do right now is shut up and follow me", he said pointedly.
She tilted her head back to look skyward and let out a dramatic sigh, "Fine."
"You. Are. Killing me here", Dominic gritted out through his teeth. He grabbed her wrist, tugging her after him back in the direction of the garage, ignoring her stifled laughter as he pulled out his key to unlock the back door and let them in.
"Why are we in here?" Letty sighed tiredly as he flipped the lights on for the back end of the shop.
He just gestured to the couch in the corner. "Take a seat." When he came back a few minutes later after digging through the fridge, two beers in hand, she was leaning against the arm of the couch. Dom sighed. "Are you being difficult on purpose, or can't you help yourself?" he asked off-handedly as he took a seat, sprawling over half the couch.
"I- don't know", she admitted, shaking her head.
"C'mere."
She smiled warily, eyeing his arm that was stretched across the back of the couch invitingly. Her insides ached. She wanted, so badly, to just let him hold her, remembering the way being in his arms seemed to just make all her problems go away. "Dom-"
"I have your beer", he reminded lazily. "Not gonna bite ya."
"It's not the biting that worries me", she muttered, slightly amused. It was the licking and sucking that followed that usually got her into trouble. But she slid onto the couch properly and reached for the bottle he was taunting her with.
He caught her wrist gently enough she could have pulled free with little resistance. Their staring contest was a brief battle of wills, and Letty gave in with an irritated curse before settling against his side. Every time he touched her these days, she swore she felt her resolve crumble a little.
"Our world isn't going to explode just because we cuddle, Let", he chuckled.
"We're not cuddling", she argued roughly even as her head dropped wearily to his shoulder, swallowing a mouthful from her bottle.
He grinned into her hair. "Whatever you say", Dom teased.
"I don't wanna talk about it", Letty warned seriously.
"The argument you had with your mom, or this?"
"Any of it", she shook her head. "I'm just so damn sick of people telling me how my life should be."
They sat in silence for a while, his hand playing through her hair, and he felt her relax marginally against him. She sighed as he went to work rubbing the tension from her neck. Her head lulled forward lazily.
"I miss this", he said quietly.
"You giving me massages?" she tilted her head up with a smirk, "Because I definitely miss that too."
He tugged gently on a lock of her hair. "Things used to be so easy. I miss when we could just be us."
"Do you?" she wondered curiously.
"You can't tell?"
They'd known each other for so many years, practically being each others' best friend. It was why they had worked so well together. And it was why things had gone downhill so fast when she started shutting him out. In all fairness, she had shut everyone out. But he was the only one she had never let back in.
Letty sighed. "I guess we've both gotten good at hiding our emotions", she admitted finally.
"You want me to drive you home?"
"In a little while", she answered softly, turning to him with an expression that was more serious than it had been for a while. "Thank you."
"For what?" he wondered curiously.
"This… and you taking care of me when I was sick. You're always here when I need you. Even if I don't know how to- I just want you to know that I notice. I'm not completely oblivious, and I appreciate it."
"Let-"
She nudged him with her elbow. "I'm being nice. Don't ruin it", she murmured with a bit of amusement.
He chuckled. "Okay."
00
Flashback:
They had been dating for nearly a year, and had declared Friday night as date night – whether they went out or had the house to themselves for the night.
Tonight was a night in, and neither of them was complaining. Between Tony, Susana, and their idiot friends, they were hard-pressed to find real time to be alone together sometimes.
Letty had finished closing up the garage for him and sent him on a pizza run, agreeing to meet back at his house. It had taken Dom a good half hour longer than it should have to get back home. Letty wasn't waiting downstairs when he got there, but as soon as he got to the stairs, he couldn't help but grin.
She had left him a trail of clothing to follow. He found her shirt half way up the stairs, and her jeans at the top. He collected her 'lost' items on the way. Her bra was in the middle of the hallway, and he chuckled at the sight of her panties hanging from his doorknob.
His hand stopped on the knob, hearing a familiar pattern of sighs and gasps coming from the other side of the door. Dom shook his head in amusement and opened the door quietly to enter the room. He saw her lying on his bed, not naked like he had assumed. But she was wearing one of his t-shirts which he found even hotter, with one of her hands busy between her legs.
"You started without me", he chided mildly, closing the door and leaning against it, after locking it for good measure, pausing to watch her for a moment, taking in her flushed skin.
"You're late", she managed around a gasp, turning her head in his direction. "I see you found my clothes."
He smirked and tossed the pile towards the dirty laundry basket, not caring where the clothing landed for the time being. Dom set the hot pizza box on his dresser and approached the bed, pulling his shirt over his head before nudging her knees apart to settle between her legs. He removed her hands, nipping playfully at her inner thigh before his mouth attached itself to her, growling at the taste of wetness on her skin as he worked quickly to bring her to the release she had been so close to moments ago.
It only took a few minutes before Letty was coming apart underneath him, back arching violently and letting out a throaty cry.
He waited for her to fall limp on the bed before sliding up her body, pausing only to suck playfully at her navel. Dom grinned as all her muscles spasmed again. He kissed her collarbone. "You're beautiful", he murmured.
She chuckled, voice rough. "Lookin' to get laid tonight?"
"Yes", he admitted with a laugh. "But it's still true."
Letty tugged him upwards to catch his mouth, kissing him forcefully. "Suck up", she teased.
"You know I love you, right?"
She arched an eyebrow. He was laying it on awfully thick. "You might have mentioned it a few times." The look he fixed her with made her laugh, and she gave in. "I love you too."
00
A/N: Oh, would you look at that! A sexy little flashback for you, and a long chapter... Can you see the progress happening here?