Life without You...

Part 4 - First Visit to Lompoc

Letty's POV
At the end of March we went to see Dom for the first time. Mia saw him first for an hour leaving me to ponder over what I'd talk to him about for my  hour.

When Mia came out she looked exhausted and her eyes looked red and raw. I patted her on the arm as I made my way to sit opposite Dom. We were sat in a room filled with tables and packed with people.

I laid eyes on Dom. His eyes looked dulled and I felt terrible for him. He looked like a shell of his former self. Gritting my teeth internally I forced myself to smile at him. One look at him told me I hadn't convinced him of the sincerity of my smile.

"Nice try Let," he joked weakly.

"I always try," I murmured.

"How you been?" He asked me gently.

"Same as always Dom, drifting along. You?"

"Fine."

We sat for a moment in an easy silence and I realised I had very little to actually tell him. I'd only wanted to see his face and now I knew he was healthy and still alive I didn't know what to say.

"How's the garage?"

"Busy, keeps me out of trouble," I lied.

"Really, you out of trouble?" Dom asked cocking an eyebrow at me in shock.

I blushed as I thought about my most recent escapade. "Not exactly true," I admitted.

"Thought not."

I ran my fingers through my hair as I thought of how to explain what had happened. "Dom, it wasn't good. I ended up in Tran's end of town that night, with Mia," I trailed off at the end of that sentence. To my surprise Dom said nothing and let me finish the story. "We'd been messing around a little, I'd sort of been rallying round the streets and lost track of where I actually was so I ran into the wrong end of town. Anyways Tran's guys recognised the Cobra and I smashed it through a retainer wall to get away. Windscreen smashed in around us and a bit of wood sliced my collarbone."

Dom shook his head in disbelief.

"The car is a bit of a wreck now. I'm fixing it in my spare time."

"But you'll get her fixed, I'm sure." When we spoke of cars his eyes lit up but I didn't like seeing him like this. He seemed so empty. So sad. I preferred seeing him standing in the garage, his hands covered in grease but a smile spread across his face as he carried out his work.

I nodded in agreement and talked him through the work I'd already done. This wasn't even enough to cheer him up entirely. He seemed resigned to this life and I hated it. He was the kind of person who needed to be free, racing a car and tuning up cars.

As I got up to leave at the end of the hour, he squeezed my hand. "I'll miss you Let."

"I'll miss you too Dom."

"Make me a promise," Dom requested to which I nodded. "Leave Tran's end of town alone and rebuild that Cobra."

"I promise."

"One more thing, if it ain't too much?" Dom began carefully. I was wrapped up in the sexy drawl that was his voice so I nodded. "Can you make sure Mia's okay..." He trailed off. His voice had always softened when he spoke about Mia and now his voice was little more than a whisper.

"I'll do everything I can to make sure Mia is safe, happy and looked after. I give you my word Dom and Letty Ortiz doesn't break her word easily." I squeezed his hand tightly and he raised my hand to his lips kissing it gently. He could hear the sincerity of my promises in my voice and the look in his dark brown eyes told me he believed every word I had spoken to him.

I left the prison with my heart aching. I wasn't sure how many more times I could see him with tired eyes and a drained face.

For the next few days I let myself get dragged beneath the strain of daily life or as I preferred to call it now, survival. I spent my days in the garage, grease staining every top I wore and my jeans were just as bad. I quickly learnt that investing in steel toe capped boots was essential, while they  were unattractive to look at they were incredibly practical. Jeans and a tank top paired with these boots soon became the only look I had. Rarely did my hair fall loose around my face, it was constantly up out of the way and I didn't fuss too much over it. Not that I'd ever been appearance obsessed before.

Every night I stumbled through the door about quarter to seven and settled at the table with Mia and ate a dinner. Normally my second and last meal of the day. Then I'd go out into Mr Toretto's garage behind the house and fix up the Cobra.