Here is the next chapter. Sorry for the delayed post. My graduation party was yesterday and I was busy all night! I should have the next one up either tomorrow, or within the next few days for sure. Thanks for the patience!
Hmm...I wonder what the guest reviewer will complain about this time?
Disclaimer: I do not own Fast and Furious.
The restaurant wasn't the nicest thing Nora had ever seen, but it was way better than the ones she'd grown up near. As she stared at her menu, she tried not to make it obvious that she had no clue what she was doing.
"So what looks good to everyone?" Dom asked.
"I'm getting a burger." Letty said. "Can't go wrong with a burger."
"Mac and cheese!" Jack exclaimed and they laughed.
"What about you, Nora?"
She paused and didn't look up from her menu. "I don't really know…"
"What do you usually get?" Letty asked her and took a sip of her water.
Nora closed her menu and but didn't speak.
Letty's face fell and she leaned across the table towards her. "You've never been out to eat before, have you?"
Nora blushed instantly, becoming embarrassed, and shook her head. "My parents weren't much for going out….and when you're in a foster home you are an added expense so you don't eat out; you're not invited to." (A/N: I realize this is not always true. But she is speaking from her experiences.)
Letty felt her heart break and looked at Dom, who pushed her menu back towards her. "Get whatever you think you'll like. Don't look at the prices, they don't matter."
The waitress came over then, and wrote down their order before walking away again. They sat there with small talk for a few minutes before Letty looked at her again. "So how is the musical coming along?"
"It's going pretty well. We're having a few set….mishaps." She said and grimaced. "Let's just say dodging from falling lights is not fun."
"Let me know if you guys need help with those." Dom said, an eyebrow raised. "I can fix those pretty quickly."
"Thanks. I'll let my director know." She smiled and picked up her water glass. "Otherwise it's moving along. The musical is in January and we have a lot of time but so much to do. And we lose some days because of holiday breaks."
"I'm sure it will be fine. You already have your lyrics memorized, so you shouldn't have too many problems." Letty agreed with her. "I can't wait to see the full show."
Nora coughed and choked on her water, nearly spitting it out. "What?"
"Are you okay?" Letty asked her. "Of course we're coming. We're family. Plus I'm interested to see what the musical is about. I love the 'Addams Family'."
Nora was in awe. "Wow, I just…I've never had anyone other than Paige come see my performances before. I didn't expect it."
"Well we'll be there." Dom joked. "With tomatoes."
Nora rolled her eyes as Jack tugged on her sleeve. "Will you color with me?"
She smiled and nodded. "Of course I will."
Dom and Letty watched with smiles as they colored together, talking the whole time.
While they were out to dinner, Mia and Brian sat at the kitchen table, Nora's file in between them. They'd already been sitting there for a few minutes, but neither wanted to open it.
Finally, Brian sighed. "Well I guess we should do this while we have the house free."
Mia nodded and opened the folder. She handed half of the papers to Brian and looked down at her own.
A few moments went by with neither of them speaking before Mia spoke. "Well she's a straight A student, but we already knew that. She hasn't ever ditched school or gotten in trouble."
"Thank God for that." Brian said and waited for her to continue.
"She's been in the hospital a dozen times."
Brian nodded. "That doesn't surprise me. I figured something was up when she had that bruise that first night."
"Bruises, cuts, a broken wrist…she's had pneumonia three times." Mia shook her head. "This poor girl."
"Well everything she said about her foster homes were true. There's been twelve of them over the past few years. Noelle notes that all of them had multiple foster children in them and she never lasted there long." He paused. "And her mother sounds like a piece of work. There are dozens of complaints against her, but nothing they could ever prove, which is why she keeps getting sent back there."
"It's hard to believe such a great girl came from such a horrible life." Mia said sadly. "I just feel so bad for her."
"Well she has us now. Hopefully everything will start to go better for her and she can have the life she deserves." He said hopefully. "I just hope we can keep her long enough to give it to her."
"Her parents sound like a real piece of work." Mia said to him and he nodded.
"It says here that her mom was married a few years back, but the man isn't her father." Brian read the sheets again. "Actually, there is no father listed on the birth certificate at all."
"What else does it say?" Mia asked, having to take a break from looking on her own.
Brian let out a breath. "Uh, let's see. Eleanor Lynn Ross, born August 21st at St. Joseph's Hospital. She was six pounds, thirteen ounces, nineteen inches. Doctor's name, Joellen Chambers. Mother's name, Veronica Ross."
Mia's head shot up instantly. "What did you say?"
He looked at her. "Veronica Ross. That's her mother's name."
She grabbed the sheet out of his hand and stared at it. "Holy shit."
"What? Mia what's going on?" Brian asked quickly, confused at his wife's reaction.
Ignoring him, Mia tore through the file until she saw what she was looking for. Pulling out the stapled sheet of paper, she stared at the picture on top.
"Wow, she looks like a real catch." Brian said sarcastically. "What's so important about her, anyway?"
Mia looked at him and her eyes were wide. "Brian…we need to call Dom."
Nora glanced at the door to her bedroom and tapped her pen repeatedly against her notebook. Dom had gotten a call as they finished up their dinner and had been on edge ever since. They had rushed home, though neither Dom nor Letty made it obvious, and it had been suggested that she start her homework almost as soon as they walked in the door.
Hearing a shout from downstairs, her heart beat faster. She stood, and as quietly a she could she crept to the hallway. She looked in on Jack, who was sound asleep, and then sat on the stairs and listened. She knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help it.
In the kitchen, Dom stood with his hands on the back of a chair, his knuckles bulging. "She told me-"
"I know what she told you Dom." Mia said quietly and laid her hand on his shoulder. "She lied."
There was silence for another moment before he sighed. "So…are we sure?"
Brian nodded. "The timeline works out, Dom."
Nora sat on the stairs, wondering what was happening. She didn't know much about this family but she knew something big had to have happened for them to be this rattled. She was about to stand, her guilt for listening in becoming worse, when she heard him speak again.
"Goddammit, Ronnie." Dom muttered. "What have you done?"
Nora stopped in her tracks and was frozen. Now she knew they were talking about her and if they were calling her mother 'Ronnie' it meant they knew her personally. She felt utterly betrayed.
"What is the story with her, anyway?" Brian asked suddenly.
Letty nodded. "Yeah, babe, you never actually told us what went down that day."
Dom paused for a minute before sighing. "You and I were on a break at the time. I hooked up with Ronnie a few times to try and forget about you." He smirked. "It didn't work."
Letty chuckled. "Of course it didn't. Continue."
"We went at it pretty consistently for a few months before I broke it off. I wanted you back; there was no substitute." He told her. "Anyway, about three years later I saw her again. Mia came home from the store and mentioned that someone asked her about my daughter."
Mia nodded. "Apparently she'd been walking around telling everyone that Dominic Toretto had gotten her pregnant. She really wanted the attention back after he'd left her."
From her perch on the stairs, Nora couldn't move. She couldn't believe anything she was hearing, but couldn't tear herself away from it.
Dom took a sip of his beer and continued. "I asked around and people said they'd seen her with a child. I went and bought a stuffed animal and went to confront her. I wanted to see my daughter." He paused. "She told me the baby had died, and the child she was seen with was her niece. She said it wasn't any of my problem. Then that big brute she was with told me to get lost and never come back."
"That's terrible." Mia said quietly, holding Brian's hand in her own.
"That must be what she sleeps with." Brian muttered to Mia.
Dom nodded. "I still remember dropping the toy and walking away. It was one of the worst days of my life. I can remember it all perfectly. The wind was blowing, a storm was coming in, the stuffed animal was blue with a-"
"White ribbon and white paws."
Everyone turned to look at her. Dom stared at the teenager in front of him in awe. In the span of an hour she'd gone from a lost-looking foster kid to his own child. The child he thought he'd lost a long time ago.
"I was there." She said quickly, breaking up the awkward moment. "They hid me away when they saw you coming. When you dropped the puppy, it landed about a foot from me. I grabbed it before they could and no matter what they did they couldn't get it away from me." (A/N: True story from someone I know. So sad.)
"That's incredible." Letty whispered.
"I knew it was from my father. I understood that much, at least. But I never remembered the details about him." She looked at him. "Now I know."
Dom cleared his throat. "So you've been alive this whole time…and I never knew?"
She made no move to respond, but watched him carefully. The other three adults watched them quietly, touched by the emotional moment.
"You're my daughter?" Dom's voice broke as he spoke.
"I'm sorry." Then she ran out of the room.
A few minutes later, Letty opened her bedroom door and saw her sitting against the wall in tears. Sliding down next to her, she stayed quiet and waited for Nora to speak.
"He's mad, isn't he?" She asked quietly.
Letty nodded. "Yes, he is. But not at you, honey. He's mad that your mom lied to him about something to big and so terrible."
Nora nodded and paused for a minute, before chuckling through her tears. "So I guess you're my stepmom, huh?"
The older woman smiled. "Yeah…sorry."
Nora let out a strangled laugh at her comment before breaking down into tears. Letty pulled her close and hugged her for a moment, letting her get it all out. Then she looked up at the doorway and saw Dom watching them with his arms crossed.
When Nora calmed down, Letty pulled away. "I think there's someone who wants to talk to you."
Nora looked up and saw Dom. She hesitated, before standing and wiping her eyes. Then she glanced at Letty and smiled at them. "Hi…I'm your daughter."