AN: Its been so long coming I think this needs to be addressed with a huge apology! I'm so very sorry this story fell to the way side when I knew it only needed one chapter. It just needed to be the right chapter. And how I wanted to handle it just sort of came to me today. I hope no one is disappointed with how it ends. I thought it had to be a million pages long to be what I wanted to be but in the end its just a normal chapter but I think it ties up the loose ends nicely. I hope everyone else who still remembers this story feels the same.

Chapter 40 – My Messy Family

"So you're the girl that asshole in the MR-2 ran his mouth about to Vince?"

The deep bass rumble of Dom's voice shocked me in the deep darkness of night and the comfortable silence we were curled around each other in. "Yeah, I guess so," I replied and I knew I hadn't kept the sound of smirk out of the answer. Dom rubbed my back absently in the dark and the room fell silent for what felt like forever, because I could tell that Dom was brooding, which was never good.

"I've really held you back, haven't I? Keeping you from racing, from getting into painting cars, not just fixing them up, running my shop because I can't be bothered to do it, just to take the credit for the fact that it keeps running."

"I don't run the shop Dom." I couldn't totally deny the other points he made, but I had to figure that by not breaking free sooner, by not putting my foot down sooner, small and ineffectual a foot as it would have been against Dominic's will, I had some responsibility to shoulder there as well. It was easier to go with the flow and because I did and I let him take away my choices I got bitter and angry and that contributed to the gulf between us. That meant that in some small way I was responsible for driving Dominic to needing a break from me, from us. I'd helped drive him to the edge. But I still think the time apart was for the best, if he was admitting that he knew I was behind him at the shop, keeping everything in line.

"Yes you do. Without you there, parts didn't get ordered, they didn't show up on time if they had been ordered, there was too much shit to do some days and not enough others and trust me, the guys wouldn't let me forget why things were normally smoother. I hold you back, keep you stuck by my side managing the business side of the garage and you never wanted it. It's my shop, not yours."

"It's ours Dom. You just don't give me credit where credit is due for what I do there. I can do more than you let on, and I do more than you used to realize."

"Are you still going to work with me, or are you going to look for somewhere else to work?"

I couldn't read his tone, so I didn't know if he was hinting he wanted me to look elsewhere or whether he was imploring me to come back to DT. Used to be I would have got my back up about it, choosing to think he was trying to get rid of me. It was still my initial reaction, to be honest. But I bit it back. "Do you want me to come back to DT?"

He sighed heavily and was silent another moment before he answered me. "Christ Letty, I don't know what I'll do without you. I've missed you so much over the last few months. I've looked around wondering where you were when I needed your help with something or just wanted to tell you something, some stupid little story about anything and you," his voice broke a little and I realized he was on the verge of tears, something Dominic Toretto hadn't done in front of me since his dad died, "you weren't there, and it'd all come crashing back, how stupid I was and how I made you leave. Made you leave me and the shop and the guys and Mia. I never want to look around again and not find you in your bay, working on the stupid job I gave you or sassing off at Vince. I don't think I can survive it. But I'll find a way if it's what you want. If you want some freedom and some independence, I'll get used to it."

The thing about family is that it's messy. You get in the middle of everyone's business and you can't have any secrets. Your only personal space is a small bedroom with a double bed and an old and busted TV and a few drawers in a dresser. In my case it wasn't even mine, I had to share it with Dominic as well. It's doubly so when you work with your family and spend almost every hour of every day in each other's company, up in each other's business. Maybe it was just my Latin heritage showing through, maybe it was because it was all I'd ever known, but I couldn't imagine not spending the day with my family, the night with my family. I didn't want to work in some garage where every day was just a 9-5 spent in a corner working solo with my Ipod for company.

"I want to work with my boys. I miss being with my family Dominic. We're not just staff of a garage, or a team of racers, we're a family. We work as a family, we live as a family. I took a break from the family but I don't want it to be permanent. Half the enjoyment in my job is the fact that when we do it well, we do it well as a family, not just a team."

"Oh thank god," Dom laughed and hugged me to him. "I never want to be apart again. I thought I was gonna murder Vince without you around to break us up. And I don't know how to deal with Jesse on a 24/7 basis, he needs someone with a softer touch than I'm capable of, and I didn't know what to say to Leon when he was hurting, or how to deal with Mia on her bad days. You're part of what keeps us as a family Letty. You're the one who knows how to be strong when you need to be and soft when you don't. We're not a proper family without our queen, Reina. And I'm going to try to remember that we're equals from now on."

It was my turn to laugh. "Good, that sounds good." I felt Dom lean toward the side of the bed, and I heard him shuffling through his drawer. A second later the light on his bedside table flashed on. I blinked and groaned. He looked at me so seriously. "What's the matter," I asked, paranoid about what other shoe was about to drop.

"I want to ask you something and I need the light on to do it," he started. "I was going to beat Vince into telling me where you were, tomorrow. I couldn't wait anymore for you to come home. I didn't want to miss your birthday because I was an idiot, so I had to bring you home so I could give you your present."

I realized that tomorrow was indeed my birthday. "But my birthday's not until tomorrow. So you haven't missed it. You can't give me my present today, it's a day early."

"Yeah, well, I can't wait anymore." He reached in under the sheet and pulled out a small box, and my breath caught in my throat. "I wanna make it official. Since half of everything I own is already yours, make it official and marry me Leticia Rodriguez?" He opened the box on the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. The diamond sparkled against the black velvet inside of the box. "It was my mom's but I wanted you to have it, and Mia agreed that it was perfect for you, but if you'd rather pick one yourself, I understand."

Dom looked so unsure. I dunno if he thought I wouldn't want his mother's ring or that I just wouldn't want to marry him but he was wrong on both counts. I had never really thought of us getting married. I figured we'd just live together forever and call it close enough. I couldn't see me in a white dress or fussing with my hair or flowers, and I couldn't see Mia letting me get away without the whole production but suddenly I wanted all of it more than I could ever say. I wanted the ring and the dress and I wanted to put up a fight while Mia did my hair and makeup and shaped my eyebrows. Rather than answer him I let a grin spread over my face and held out my left hand. He slid the ring in place with a relieved sigh and pulled me under him, as he reached out to turn out the light. I hope no one expected to see us before mid afternoon, I thought with a smile before giving into what Dom was doing to me with his hands and lips. Giving into our future. It was right here in this over crowded house with this big, silent man who loved me more than I knew and our loud obnoxious family who I wouldn't change for love nor money.

When we finally did wake up for the day, I couldn't remember the last time I felt so well rested and happy. I looked at my finger and couldn't keep the grin off my face. "I can't believe I'm gonna be someone's wife for fucks sake." I looked at Dom with an evil grin. "I can't wait to see Mia put you in a tux."

Dom groaned. "That's just cruel."

"Yep, it is. But you know she's not letting us get away without doing the whole deal. You're the only family she's got left Dominic."

"That's not true Lett. She's got you."

"Well, I guess we're gonna make it official. She can finally tell people I'm her sister and mean it legally. I guess we should get up and tell them all. That and make sure that Vince hasn't killed Brian."

"Do you think Mia will forgive him?" Dom asked and I could hear the uncertainty in his tone.

"Do you want her to?"

Dom rubbed his head like he does when he's really thinking about something. "I think so, yeah. I mean, he did alright by us Letty. And she's never stopped looking around corners for him to show back up. And obviously he's never gotten over her either. I think they could be happy again. But even if everything we do now beyond the racing is above the law, I don't know if I can stand living with a cop."

"He's not a cop anymore Dom. He really is just a street racing punk this time around. I think they could be happy again."

"I hope so." With that said, Dom pushed himself out of bed with a groan and headed to his dresser, pulling on some clean boxers before stepping into his jeans from the day before and pulling on a clean undershirt. "You gonna get out of bed or just lay there all day?"

"I'm getting up but I need a shower before I'm getting dressed." I got out of bed and pulled on the black undershirt of Dom's off the floor for the walk to the shower. I caught him looking at me, eyes gone black. I cocked an eyebrow.

"You look good in my shirt, but you'd look better without it."

He started my way. "Dominic, its mid afternoon! We also went at it all night."

"You were gone for months," he answered, grabbing my ass with both hands and biting the side of my neck just hard enough, like only he knew how to do.

"And now I'm back for good, so we have forever to catch up," I assured on a moan. "I want to tell the team."

"Fine, go have your shower. I'll wait for you here so we can do it together." He answered me, clearly disappointed.

I grinned. "Ok, I won't be long." I ran out of the room before Dom could change his mind, showered as quickly as was possible and headed back into our room to get dressed. When I had clothes on, I stopped to look at myself in the small mirror above the dresser I kept my stuff in. I looked different to myself. If I'd set out to grow up, I'd say I managed. I felt like I looked older. Like I was ready to be someone's wife. Someone's partner, for life. I looked in that mirror and I knew myself, for the first time in a long time, I knew myself as Letty, not as some accessory to Dominic Toretto, and it was good. "Ready?" I turned away from the mirror and toward Dom.

"Yeah, let's go make Mia's day," Dom grinned, and he was so happy. It was horrible that things had to go so far to hell before they could turn around, but if we could do this, if we could keep this up, it was going to be worth it.

We headed down the stairs to find everyone else piled in the living room. Mia was sat beside Brian and neither of them looked like they'd been crying lately so that could only be a good thing. Vince was occasionally giving Brian dirty looks but otherwise seemed whole and healthy so I guess he and Brian hadn't gone at each other lately. Leon and Jesse were on the floor in their normal places. Fiona was sat on the end of the sofa where Mia wasn't, but if I wasn't mistaken she kept covertly looking at Vince. I hmmmed to myself in my head and spent a moment thinking about that. I got a feeling like she was over her need for revenge. I didn't think she'd use Vince to get back at us or indeed at him anymore. I'd keep my eye on it, but I was ok with it, if there was an it there to be ok with.

Dom and I walked into the living room, stood in front of the TV. I didn't know how to tell them so I just held my hand out in front of me and said "We're getting married." Dom grinned and before I knew it everyone was hugging us in a big, messy, smothering group hug and it was so good I was crying and I didn't care if they all saw me. I was home, in the middle of my big, messy, happy family and I finally knew it was definitely where I belonged. I looked up at Dominic, smiling down at me, looking truly happy and I vowed to myself, never again will we let it get so bad as we need to be apart.

Epilogue – 1 year later

One year after the summer I went away, it was almost like it had never happened. Other than Rome now lived in Los Angeles, true to his word he had only been in Miami because he was happy with Brian. Dom and got married straight away. We gave Mia a month to get together what she wanted to get together. We insisted we weren't waiting any longer than that. She pulled it off like you wouldn't believe. Well, if I've done a good job describing Mia, maybe you would.

She and Brian have been married for about two months themselves. As I sit in the backyard at the picnic table with Leon and Jesse she comes waddling out the door. She's about 8 months pregnant with twins, so she's as big as a house. We don't tell her that, because it makes her cry and Brian has to take her out for new shoes to make her stop. Shoes she can't even wear until after the babies come I might add.

My big, messy family has moved on a bit. Brian bought a house just down the road as soon as he found out Mia was expecting, figuring it wouldn't be fair to everyone else to have two screaming infants in a house as small and already overcrowded as Casa Toretto was. When Dom and I told them that I was also knocked up, a choice of words that Dominic was not all that impressed I made, everyone agreed that there was no way we could have three newborns in one place.

So that we could have some space to ourselves, Leon, Jesse and Vince moved out too. Leon and Jesse have an apartment together but Vince got his own place, with Fiona. They're very happy together but I think they're content just to be happy with each other. I don't think they plan to do more than live together for a long, long time.

Turns out Fiona was going to go into business, so the great thing is she's doing that part time and putting what she's learning into practice already, running the garage. Mia can't do the garage and the shop with her waistline expanding and she won't have time to do much more than the books for the Cafe once the twins come along. Not when she's going to get right back into school afterward as well. Fiona's done a good job of domesticating the Coyote and keeping all the males of the clan in check at the shop as well.

We expanded the shop. Brian took over my bay and Rome is capably filling the extra one Dominic added at the same time as he built my paint booth. At first we thought I would just do some painting in my spare time. Now, its all I do because the second I finish one job someone else is there looking. Though I can't do too much right now, not with this huge whale belly stuck out in front of me. And the worry of what the paint fumes would do to the kid. I don't want to fuck he or she up in the womb. I figure this family will do enough of that over its life without me doing anything to mess them up before they even have a chance.

Dom and I agree that we've learned from the mistakes we made, and that we're going to do ok as parents. I think we're both really scared shitless about it, but it's too late to change our minds now so we're both putting on a brave front. I'm gonna have little Toretto Jr right around the same time as Mia is going to pop out the two little O'Connors. If she doesn't blow up first. Girl is huge, but don't tell her I said so. So the cousins can grow up together and have the same school. Mia is really excited about it. God help Brian because she's already got two of everything that she thinks she needs.

We still all get together for meals and whatever as often as we can, thus the family bbq in the Toretto house back yard. I watch Dom come walking across the yard with a big platter of burgers. He sets them down before going back into the house. He comes out with a cooler full of Corona and hands them out. Until he gets to me, then he hands me a Snapple with a smirk. "No Corona for you little Mami. Not until you pop anyway." Dom gets digs in about my size all the time. Because I don't start to blubber like a watering pot when he does. I just hurt him to remind him being pregnant doesn't make me easy going or weak.

I punched him in the gut. "I'm pregnant, not ill."

He grunted. "Point taken." Dom sat at the head of the table. I watched him survey the whole messy lot of us before his eyes settled on me and he smiled softly, knowingly at me. And I knew that smile said that all was right with his world. I knew because all was right with mine. Then the baby kicked me in the gut and I realized I was starving. I took a cheeseburger off the platter of them and went to flip the lid off to add ketchup.

"Because you were the first to get the food Letty, you say grace." Dom's gravely deep voice cut across the table. I snapped my head up to glare at him and everyone else laughed at my expense. "Those are the rules," he reminded me and everyone else chimed in with 'you know he's right' and variations on that theme.

I lowered my head to think about what to say as Mia blessed herself and Vince smirked at me. "Dear Father," I took a deep breath to gather my thoughts and then continued, "thank you for friends, who become your big, messy, happy family. Thank you for teaching us to value what we have, to remember who we are, and for giving us the chance to be better together then good enough apart. Thank you for showing us that family is the most important thing in the world, and for helping us to be such a great one. Thank you for looking out for us so that we're all still alive to be a family, and most of all, thank you for direct port nitrous injection, four core intercoolers, ball bearing turbos and titanium valve springs."

"Amen!" Leon finished before he and Jesse both cracked up laughing. Vince ruffled my hair from his seat beside me and gave me this content smile, unable to be too affectionate because he was Vince, but knowing that my thankfulness for us all being alive was because whatever you believed was up there had seen fit not to take Vince and Jesse from us.

Dom stood up, leaned over and kissed me hard before sitting back down like a king on his throne and declaring "let's eat!"

It was ok he was the king, because I was finally the proper queen at his side, and we were finally a proper family. I shared a look with Mia and I know we were both thinking her dad was smiling down on us, happy with what we'd made of ourselves, and happy that we were still a family, who had stuck beside each other through it all and glad we were happy. And it was good, because we truly were.

Fin.