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 16
"I'm glad you came", Letty said to her father.
She had offered to take him back to the airport for his flight home, and Luis suggested she let him buy them lunch before he left. So, they had found a café on the strip that had outdoor seating.
"It's been a while since I've seen my grandson", Luis smiled, then chuckled at the dirty look she gave him. "I've missed you too, mija. Your son's birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity-"
"To drop a bomb?" she calmly raised an eyebrow. "Marriage, Papi? Really?"
"It took you long enough. I was wondering if you were going to stew in silence", he mused.
"What is she? A twenty something?" Letty sighed.
Luis shook his head. "Leticia, I know how old I am. And I'm much too old for such nonsense. You should know better. Her name is Julia, and I assure you, everything is age appropriate."
She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I just had to make sure this wasn't some crazy mid-life crisis, or something."
"A mid-life crisis happens when people decide their life is half over, and that they didn't act reckless enough when they were younger. I, however, sewed plenty of wild oats in my youth, and have no desire to do it again."
She grimaced, and shifted the direction of the conversation slightly. "Do I get to meet her?"
Luis smiled. "We'll have to make arrangements. I told you, you should come visit in the spring."
"Is mom really okay with you getting married again?" she wondered seriously.
"She said she was happy for me. I believe she meant it", he said honestly. "We have done a lot of mending to our friendship over the years – not just for you, but for us too. Because we both had a deep love for each other at one time. I see a lot of your mother and myself in the relationship you have with Dominic."
"Oh, that's promising", Letty muttered.
He chuckled. "That shows what you know about me and your mother. Love is complicated. It can lead us down an unexpected path. People say that sometimes you can't help who you fall in love with, and that may be true. But treating someone with love, consideration, and respect – all the things that it takes to make a relationship work – that will always be a choice. Your mother and I let our marriage fall apart because we allowed small things to become problems – so big that we couldn't fix them anymore. I don't want that for you."
"Are you all conspiring against me?" she said tiredly.
"I can't just be concerned for the well-being of my daughter?" he smiled, letting her know that he had indeed been let into the loop that was her mother and Mia – and occasionally Vince, when he felt like dicking around in her love life. She groaned. "You're not as happy as you used to be. We just want you to have a fulfilled life with as few regrets as possible."
"And you think that my regrets so far will be demolished if Dominic and I get back together."
"You have your mother's flair for the dramatic when you're upset", Luis said mildly. "I made no such statement."
"You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just at a loss. Mia thinks I'm making everything harder than it needs to be. But she doesn't understand that when I look at him, all I see most of the time is that he's still angry that I broke us up. And I don't know if he'll ever forgive me for that. Not even getting into how we've hurt each other- it makes my heart ache."
"Time can heal many wounds – if you let it, and stop poking at the sore spots. As the days, weeks, and months go by, we get more insight into the past, and our perspective changes. But sometimes, all it takes is an honest apology. And we usually don't know that it was the one thing we needed to obliterate our anger and pain. Now, whether you need to hear an apology or give one, that's on you. People don't always know that they've hurt us, Letty. Sometimes you need to tell them."
"Is this my life lesson for the week?" she asked, mildly amused.
"It's just some fatherly advice. What you choose to do with it is up to you."
Letty nodded and glanced down at her watch. "We need to get you to the airport."
0
Luis hugged her before pulling his bag from the trunk. "I love you, mija. Listen to your heart. It knows what it wants."
"I'll miss you."
He kissed her forehead. "We'll speak soon. Be happy, Leticia. You deserve it."
Letty watched as he had his ticket scanned and then waved goodbye as he walked through the glass doors before getting back into her car to drive home so she could have a few hours alone before she went back to pick up her son.
00
Thanksgiving came quickly. Mia began the season making pies and pumpkin rolls. Their apartment smelled like a bakery. She had somehow managed to strong-arm Letty into making cookies, which turned out fantastically, but nearly destroyed the kitchen.
On the day of, Mia left early to take over the Toretto's kitchen, taking nearly all the cooked food in the house with her. Letty cleaned up the mess from breakfast and went to take a shower, leaving her son to his own devices. Aiden was seven, and usually her taking twenty minutes to shower and blow dry her hair resulted in nothing more than him taking over her television to watch cartoons while she finished getting ready.
Today, however, those twenty minutes meant mischief.
She thought nothing of it when she got out of the shower and heard silence, figuring he was in his room dumping out his crate of Legos. When she finally went to check, she was so stunned, she didn't know whether to get angry or laugh.
Then there was a knock on the door.
She opened the door without bothering to look out the peephole, already flustered, only to be further surprised to see Dominic.
"Tell me I didn't drunk text everyone and say we were having dinner at my place today", she said dryly as she let him into the apartment and shut the door.
He laughed. "No, Mia sent me to the store. She didn't have enough- whatever it was. I got a list."
"Yes, but did you get what was on the list?"
Dom nodded exasperatedly. "I finished shopping. I thought I'd swing by and see if you wanted a ride." He raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be leaving about now?"
She groaned, raking a hand through her hair. "I don't care why you're here, but I'll owe you one if can clean up the mess so I can finish getting ready."
He looked at her suspiciously. "What mess?"
She pointed a finger in his direction. "Today, he's your son", Letty muttered.
"Aiden? What did he do?"
She shook her head a bit incredulously at the situation. "You know those hand turkeys they made at school?"
He nodded warily.
"Yeah, well, he decided to make another one while I was in the shower. There's a hand print of orange paint on his bedroom wall."
"He got the craft paint out of the cupboard? And put it on the wall?"
"After pouring it onto one of the dinner plates", she rolled her eyes, nearly laughing.
"He knows better than that", Dom said with a frown.
"That's what I said", Letty sighed. "But I can't decide whether to be angry about it, or tell him it's a cute hand turkey."
Dom shook his head at her in amusement. "Is he still orange?"
"I put him in the empty bath tub and told him not to touch anything when you knocked."
"What do you want me to do?"
"If you can make his hands not orange, that'd be fantastic. And he's probably got it on his shirt by now. I only need fifteen minutes and I'll be ready to go. I shoved a towel against the wall in case the paint runs. If you get done before I do, can you check the paint bottle and make sure it's washable? It's on the kitchen counter. I know it's non-toxic. I'm going to have to find a way to get it off the wall or paint over it."
"Okay, and are we punishing or cuddling?" he teased.
"Will you tell him I said no video games for two days? And remind him that he is not to write or paint on the walls ever again, period? This is a lease, for Christ's sake."
"You're getting soft in your old age", he joked, bumping her playfully as he passed her and walked down the hallway.
She made an irritated noise, "Am not!"
Dominic leaned in the doorway to the bathroom, finding his son standing in the tub with his clothes on, hands dangling lazily in mid-air. "Got caught orange-handed, huh?" he asked.
"He has no idea what that means", Letty muttered behind him.
"You called Daddy?" Aiden nearly whined. He was a good kid, and was usually content being the center of attention. But when he got in trouble he was embarrassed as hell.
She eyed her son. "No, I didn't. He just has incredibly good timing. But don't think for one minute that I wouldn't have told him anyway. If you wanted to play with the paint, you should have asked me, and I would have given you paper for it or something. You know you're not allowed to draw on the walls, kiddo." She arched an eyebrow for affect.
"And you're grounded from video games until Saturday", Dom added seriously. "That's two days from now."
"I'm sorry, Mom."
Letty grinned briefly. "I know you are. But you're still grounded. Daddy's gonna get you cleaned up while I finish getting ready." She squeezed Dom's shoulder before heading back to her room. "Thanks. Things always manage to go to hell if Mia has to leave before breakfast."
0
Mia grumbled at both of them for being late even though they showed up together and she wanted to coo at them and enforce group hugging. They ought to be grateful for her restraint, really – even if she couldn't keep herself from laughing when they told her why they were late.
So she handed them a huge mixing bowl and ordered them to go make the stuffing. Mia smiled innocently at the identical looks of shock they gave her.
Dom grumbled half-heartedly about Letty being a safety hazard in the kitchen and Letty had picked up a handful of croutons and tossed them at him. Most just bounced off his chest and landed in the bowl.
Both hands rested on her hips, both annoyed and amused. "You know", Letty started calmly, "I am not completely hopeless in the kitchen. Cooking lessons with Mia have gone fairly well. This leads me to believe that the problem in the kitchen isn't me."
"She's right", Mia offered absently. "Letty does alright as long as she's got a recipe."
"Are you trying to say that nearly burning down the kitchen three times was a fluke?" Dom asked.
"Nope", Letty shook her head. "See, I finally figured out that it was your fault."
"You love saying that, don't you?" he said dryly.
She grinned. "I do. But I'm serious. Half the time you were trying to show me how to cook something, I was thinking about getting into your pants. And the other half… well, it usually ended with your tongue down my throat. I've never had that problem with Mia", Letty laughed.
"Ouch!" Mia joked playfully.
"So, what?" Dominic chuckled. "I keep my tongue to myself, you don't eyeball my crotch, and the kitchen stays in one piece?"
"It's a theory."
"Let's find out then", he said finally.
0
"I was right; you were wrong", Letty sing-songed playfully, stretching her legs out to nudge his leg before dropping her feet into his lap.
Dom rolled his eyes at her. "Yes, congratulations, you didn't burn down the house."
"And my peach cobbler is delicious.
Dinner was eaten early like always. It had been noisy and fun. They cleaned up the mess together, making it a quick job. Now, an hour or so later, they had brought out the dessert and made another pot of coffee.
Letty was still quite pleased with herself for proving Dominic wrong, and he was indulging her childish behavior with a bit of amusement.
She had been in a bit of a funk for the last week or so, but neither had had time to talk. The garage had been busy with people coming in to get their cars checked before driving to see their families over the holiday weekend.
The rest of the dishes were loaded into the dishwasher and their family and friends trickled back into the living room, either to watch the football game or put a movie in.
He caught her before she followed. "Let's take a walk."
She glanced down at her dark grey, long sleeve shirt, deciding she wouldn't need a jacket, and followed him out the back door. They walked about half a mile, through a few of their old shortcuts to get to the place where there was a stretch of train tracks that was isolated by trees on both sides.
Letty headed for a boulder that sat back about thirty feet from the tracks.
It amazed him that when she was upset, she nearly always managed to find a rock to sit on if she was outside.
"You wanna clue me in?" he asked finally.
"I went to see Victor last week", she said.
He looked at her sharply. "Excuse me?"
"Marcus is dead."
"His kid brother?" Dominic wondered. "What happened?"
"Gang fight", she said flatly. "He got shot – about three months ago."
"Ah, shit", he sighed. They didn't see a lot of people that they had hung around with when they were younger. But they knew from hearsay that quite a few of them had gotten into some trouble over the years. "What the hell were you doing going out there by yourself?"
"He called. I went", Letty shrugged.
"I get that", he growled. "I'm asking why you went alone. You and I both know how dangerous that neighborhood is. You're lucky no one jacked your car – and that could have been the least of your problems."
Her eyes rolled. "I know it's been a while, but I can still handle myself, Dominic. It's pretty quiet over there these days anyhow."
"Can you do us both a favor and not go looking for trouble? We left the car scene and all that could have come with it behind for a reason. I mean, I know we were about as neutral as Switzerland, but that couldn't have lasted like that forever."
Her hands scrubbed over her face. "I know", she muttered. "Just before things got really bad, too. I miss it sometimes though. That rush of adrenaline, every once and a while I want it so bad my teeth hurt."
"Aiden saved us, Let. You know that. We were so reckless; it was only a matter of time before something went really badly", Dominic said quietly.
"You're right. It doesn't mean I don't wish I could just get behind the wheel of a fast car and drive though."
He snorted. "Who do you think you're talking to? I get it, Letty. I really do."
She sighed. "I know."
"We should go back. Before they drag out the home movies", Dom shook his head.
"I thought we hid the really embarrassing ones", she complained.
"Aiden found them in my closet last week", he admitted wryly.
She groaned. "Awesome. You think we can melt them in the oven?"
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A/N: Another chapter for you all. Enjoy! Let me know what you think. =)