Fast and the Furious 1. Chapter 1

**AN: I haven't been able to shake this idea, so before I turn my Family one-shot into a chapter story, I'm going to finish this little chapter story. The reason for this, assuming that anyone reading this wants to know, is because Family was originally a one-shot only and I'd like to continue it now, but I need the events of this story to take place first in order for it to work the way I'd like it to.**

Dominic Toretto probably would have given his right arm (which was essential to shifting gears) to never hear his girlfriend Letty scream the way she did that night again. Leticia Ortiz was not a girl accustomed to screaming. Yelling, she did quite often, but screaming was entirely different. Screaming was a sign of fear and Letty prided herself in never openly displaying fear. Dom knew she wasn't fearless, though. Even though with her recent memory loss she might not remember that she'd once been very afraid of a lot of things.

It started at four in the morning. They had both been asleep when she began to toss, turn, and murmur. She screamed loud enough to wake the entire house (which she did), but she was not able to shake herself from whatever nightmare was gripping her mind. She lurched too, and would have knocked herself right off of the bed had Dom not caught her and pulled her back toward himself. Then she began to cry.

Leticia Ortiz was not accustomed to crying either. At least she hadn't been as long as Dom had known her. Crying was an expression of weakness, and Letty was anything but weak. That didn't mean that she didn't cry. He knew better than anyone that she did, but it was reserved for the few moments when she let her guard down.

"Letty!" Dom yelled shaking her. "Letty, wake up," he said softer this time. "Letty, wake up. It's just a dream. You're having a nightmare, Letty. Wake up!" He continued to shake her, but she didn't wake up. She just continued to tremble and cry, so he gave up on shaking her and sat up, pulling her to him. There were footsteps down the hall, but outside the door they paused and turned back. Dom couldn't concern himself with the number of people she'd awoken, though. No doubt Brian and Mia were trying to calm a crying Jack somewhere on the other side of the house, and Roman and Tej (who had decided to stay the night) were down in the basement grumbling about the sleep they were losing, but all Dom was concerned with was calming Letty who was acting for some reason as though she'd been shot- ten times over.

"Letty, wake up!" he tried again. Her eyes flew open and he was greeted by two watery brown irises. She sat up quickly, latched onto him, and continued to shake and cry.

"You're okay now, Letty," he soothed wrapping his arms around her. "You're okay." He crying died down after about an hour. He had to hand it to her, whatever she did, she did big. And that included her little melt down. Eventually she stopped sobbing and just sat up in his lap hiccupping and rubbing at her eyes. He rubbed her back silently, and waited for her to speak.

"I- I had a nightmare," she stated. If her voice hadn't cracked, one might have thought she was stating the weather. Under normal circumstances, Dom would have responded to this obvious statement with a heavy dose of sarcasm, but Letty had never been a normal circumstance, so instead he just looked at her and said, "I know." She looked down at her hands. "It wasn't real, Letty."

"Oh," she said looking up at him. "Yes it was." He didn't insist that it wasn't, nor did he press her for details. He knew she'd explain when she was ready. He knew _her._ Despite the fact that her recent memory loss brought doubts to her mind on the matter.

"I remembered, Dom," she said, and this time there wasn't the slightest quiver to her voice. "I remember when I…died."

"You didn't die, Letty!" he said much louder than he needed to. He hated those words more than he hated anything else. Letty was alive and he was going to keep it that way.

"Fine then," Letty replied matching his tone. "I remember the night that I was _supposed _to die." Dom couldn't help but smile at the flare of her old fire that returned to her voice, but other than that he was silent. "Fenix… I guess he caught wind that there were people amongst him that were… anyway he started shooting people and…" She shook her head and scrunched her eyebrows in that adorable way that she did when she was confused. It was clear to him that the recounting of this story was more for her own benefit than for his, so he remained silent and allowed her mind to sort through the jumbled events itself, but he didn't stop rubbing her back.

"And… I got in my car… I wasn't fast enough though… and he rammed into me. I think- no- I know the car was burning when it stopped rolling… I- I tried to get out… I kept fighting, Dom. I promise that I kept fighting."

"I know you did," he murmured.

"But I couldn't get away… he shot the gas tank and everything went red and… that's all I can remember."

"You're safe now," Dom insisted. Her face hardened.

"I want him dead."

"Already took care of that," Dom said with a small smirk that he was unable to hide. She smiled.

"Of course you did." Neither one of them said anything else. She leaned back into him and within a couple of minutes she was asleep again. He stayed awake for a while, though. Absentmindedly stroking her hair and thinking that if she remembered this… what other memories would time bring back?

Hope is a dangerous weapon. Too much can kill you, but without any it's impossible to survive.

**AN: Voila. The first chapter of my new chapter fic. This story will follow the return of Letty's memory. I don't see the entire process going on for too long, but who knows? I'm going to try to update within a timely manner, but no promises. Review. Please and thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Well here is chapter 2 of Memories and I hope you like it. I'm sorry for the late update, but I've finished up AP testing so I should be updating this story about once a week from now on (though I make no promises) and I will continue to post the occasional one-shot. I wanted to thank everyone for the reviews as well as for the constructive criticism; I definitely had it in mind when I wrote this chapter.**

Dom sat on the edge of his bed and rubbed his head. He felt horrible about Letty. He knew she'd gone through a lot recently and that he owed her an apology or at least a thank you, but those weren't words that he was accustomed to saying.

He heard the shower shut off and he groaned. They were going to have to talk about this. He knew she wouldn't want to talk about it. He wasn't even sure he wanted to talk about it. He also knew that they didn't really need to talk about it. She knew he felt horrible about everything and he knew her, but something told him that they had to at least discuss what had happened.

Letty emerged from the bathroom five minutes later dressed in cargo pants and one of the old tank tops that she had dug out of one of her drawers earlier that morning. She took one look at him and frowned.

"What's wrong?" she asked wringing the water out of her hair.

"What makes you think something's wrong?" he asked.

"I may not fully remember you yet, Dom, but don't forget that I still know you. At this he couldn't help but smile.

"Yea, I guess you do."

"So what is it?" she asked. "And hurry up with it because I'm hungry."

"I think we need to talk about what happened in the Dominican Republic," he mumbled.

"You mean when I woke up and you were gone?" she asked, but it wasn't really a question because they both knew the answer. She sat down on the bed next to him.

"Oh great," he said sarcastically. "_That_ you remember." Then his eyes widened. "Letty you remember that?"

"Bits and pieces," she mumbled to herself closing her eyes for a moment as though she was remembering something else. "Now tell me what's wrong."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. She opened her eyes and looked at him quizzically. "I'm sorry," he said again louder. "I'm sorry for everything." Letty thought about his words for a minute before responding.

"I'm not mad about my memory," she said slowly. "And I'm not mad about the other stupid stuff you've done because I'm sure you've done plenty of stupid things. The only thing that upsets me is that you thought we'd be better off separate. My memory's still pretty hazy, Dom, but I _know_ we're better together."

"You're right," he replied. "From here on out we stick together."

"Good," she said standing. "Now let's go have breakfast. I'm not a fan of sappy conversations and I'm still hungry." So he followed her down the stairs grinning slightly.

Breakfast was only mildly awkward. Tej and Roman spent the better part of it shoving food in their mouths as if it was all going to spontaneously combust in five minutes, but Mia went out of her way to engage everyone in conversation, especially Letty.

"So you're remembering a little then?" Mia asked Letty after she mentioned her old purple Nissan.

"A little, yea," she replied. "Like I remember it was impounded by the police."

She raised her eyebrows at Brian and Mia laughed knowing she was only teasing.

"I'm sorry if I woke anyone up last night," Letty finally said. It was tense for a couple of seconds.

"Oh that was you?" Roman asked. "I just thought Brian broke a nail." Everyone laughed and just like that the tension cleared.

After breakfast Tej and Roman announced that they had places to go, people to see, and races to win. The family said a small prayer for Han who had left the previous morning for Tokyo and then the two headed out.

"You know what I think?" Mia asked as the four of them cleared the dishes.

"What do you think?" Brian asked.

"I think you guys should go to the races tonight," she said.

"I'm assuming by 'you guys' you mean them," Brian replied gesturing to Dom and Letty with a fork.

"I meant you to," she said lifting Jack out of his cradle.

"I'd rather stay home with you to," he replied kissing Jack's head. "But you guys should go." Dom shrugged and looked at Letty.

"I'm game," Letty said and that was that.

Letty spent the rest of the day talking to Mia. After breakfast, Mia sent Dom and Brian out with a long 'we just returned home and have a ton of stuff to do' to do list, so that they wouldn't disturb their catching up. Before Dom left he'd warned Mia not to push Letty's memory so they mostly discussed her time on Shaw's team and how Mia, Brian, and Jack were doing. Dom and Brian came back several hours later and before they knew it, it was time to head off to the races.

"And remember," Mia called as they walked out the door. "You can go to a party, but don't you dare bring a party here. Jack's just a baby and I'm not dealing with it."

"Yes, Mia," Dom said.

"And don't get caught," she added.

"Yes, Mia," Letty said.

"And-"

"Yes, Mia," Dom and Letty said together.

"They'll be fine, Mia," Brian said gently pulling her back.

"Okay. Bye," she called waving one of Jack's little arms.

"Bye," they called together and then they were gone.

They pulled up half an hour late in their separate cars.

"Would you look at that?" some guy called. "King of the streets has returned. And he brought his queen."

_Dom and Letty alternatively won every race that night. Leon and Vince had disappeared somewhere and Mia and Jesse stood off to the side counting the money they'd won while Juan stalked up to Dom and Letty._

"_Well, well," he said with a grin. "I guess we have ourselves a new king of the streets."_

"_And for the first time," Hector added. "We also have a queen." Mia and Jesse cheered._

Dom grinned as he got out of his car and Letty couldn't help but do the same.

"Where's the rest of your team, Toretto?" another guy called.

"We've had a long few years," Dom replied. It was hardly an adequate response, but the guy nodded as if it explained everything.

"Letty!" someone yelled jogging up to her. "What's up girl?" Dom glanced at Letty wondering if she would recognize some of their old friends.

"_The name's Hector," the guy said. It was the team's first time at the races and Letty stood next to Dom in front of the first man who had approached them. "I generally run these races."_

"_I'm Dom," Dom replied. "And this is my girl Letty."_

"_Your girl? Or _your_ girl?" Hector had asked._

"_Both," he replied._

"_Line me up for the next one," Letty said._

"_No way," another guy said walking up. "Girls don't race in our circuit." _

"_Hey now, Juan," Hector replied. "Everyone gets a chance to prove them self."_

_And she had._

"Hector," she said as a way of greeting. "I'm cool, man. Itching for a race though."

"You heard her," Hector called back to a couple of guys, taking a wad of cash out of her hands. "Put my girl Letty in the next race." Dom grinned at the fact that Letty remembered Hector, and watched her head off to her race. As soon as Letty was out of his sight, Dom found himself surrounded by the chasers. He attempted to humor them for a little while, but he didn't quite know how to shake them. That had always come down to Letty.

"I see the number of skanks hasn't decreased," a voice called out. Dom smiled.

"_Look at them," Letty said. She and Leon were leaning against her car watching Dom who was less than ten feet away surrounded by a bunch of racer chasers. "They're just a bunch of skanks."_

"_Why don't you go tell them that," he'd suggested. It hadn't struck her as a bad idea._

"Excuse me," he said and walked forward to meet Letty. She raised her eyebrows at him and gestured toward the girls. He raised his hands. "They came up to me." She nodded and then rolled her eyes.

"Well?" she asked. "Aren't you going to ask me if I won?"

"You always win," he replied and then she kissed him. "How's the memory, Lett?" he asked her.

"It's good," she replied.

"Then let's go home."

**AN: Please tell me what you thought. Thank you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I hope I'm doing Dom and Letty justice. Here's chapter 3.**

"Yes," Mia said into the phone Saturday morning. "Yes, yes." Letty walked down the stairs and found Mia and Brian occupying the kitchen. Mia stood next to the wall phone- yes they still had a wall phone- and Brian sat at the kitchen table watching her switch the phone from hand to hand as she talked.

"Yes!" she cried. "No- yes, yes." _What is she doing? _Letty mouthed to Brian. He only shrugged in response. _Should we be worried? _She mouthed.

"Absolutely," Mia shouted into the phone. Brian smiled at the irony. "Okay, thank you-yes- thank you so much, goodbye." She hung up the phone and then casually sat next to Brian at the table. Letty sat on her other side.

"Interesting phone call, Mi?" she asked. Mia shrugged.

"You could say that," she replied. "So, who wants pancakes?" She was trying to sound casual, but the twinkle in her eyes gave her away.

"Mind telling me where Dom's run off to this morning?" Letty asked.

"I sent him off on an errand," she replied with a dismissive wave. "Now, pancakes?" Letty and Brian exchanged a look.

_She killed him, _Brian mouthed.

_Na-ah, _Letty mouthed back.

"Pancakes!" Mia snapped looking back and forth between the two of them impatiently.

"No thanks," they said together getting up from the table quickly and walking out of the kitchen.

"Okay," Mia called after them. "But make sure you don't answer the phone today." They walked faster.

Dom returned home two hours later. Sometime before then Letty had caved and gone back to the kitchen to get some pancakes. Brian gave in not long after

"Is it done?" Mia asked the second Dom walked through the door. He chuckled.

"Exactly the way you wanted it."

"Good," she said with a nod. "We can go-"

"Do I smell pancakes?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.

"Yea. Go eat we leave in half an hour which means you need to leave in twenty minutes."

"Leave for where?" Letty asked appearing in the door way.

"No where," the two of them said together quickly. _Geez what was their problem. _"Dom?" Letty asked.

"Don't worry about it," he said. He kissed her quickly as he brushed past her into the kitchen.

"Fine," Letty snapped and marched away.

She found Brian playing with Jack in his and Mia's room.

"Where are we going?" she asked him.

"Huh?" he said looking up.

"Mia and Dom are planning something, and you have to know something."

"Don't look at us," Brian said, lifting Jack. "Mommy doesn't tell us anything. Does she buddy?"

"Uh," Letty groaned throwing herself down on the ground. Brian went back to discussing cars with Jack and Letty sat quietly on the floor until Mia came in and announced that she was going to take Letty out for a while. With minimal grumbling, Letty got into the car with her.

"Mia," Letty said wide-eyed a few minutes later when they pulled up.

"Come on," Mia said. So Letty followed her into a garage. Her memory of the place was fuzzy, but she was getting a familiar buzz and she was sure this must have been one of her safe havens at one point. Inside there were a couple of cars around that needed repairing, a surplus of tools, and an open office in the back. And then Letty noticed the pictures. There were a couple hanging on the wall and one on the table in the office.

"Oh, Mia," she breathed tracing her finger along one of the pictures. It was of her and Dom and three other guys.

"Vince, Leon, Jesse," she murmured to herself surprised with how easily the names came back to her. In the picture the five of them were leaning against a car. Letty was glaring at Vince who had his hands up in an 'I surrender way.' Dom was looking at her in an amused way, Jesse was looking at both of them with a worried expression, Leon was the only one actually smiling at the camera, and Mia…

"You took the picture, didn't you," Letty asked though she already knew the answer.

"I just wanted you guys to hold still and smile for a second," Mia complained, but she was smiling.

"How did I get mixed up with these crazy boys anyway?" Letty asked, but again she was surprised to find that she already knew the answer.

_Dom met Letty when they were only seven. For the rest of his life he would take pride in the fact that he met Letty first. He'd been biking down the street when he first saw her. She had been sitting on the steps in front of her house, playing with some grass in her hands. Seven year old Dom didn't like girls- at all. But even at that young age he knew this one was different and something drew him toward her._

_Years later Dom would have a lot of words at his disposal with which he could describe Leticia Ortiz, but in that moment he didn't even have one._

"_Hey," he had called to her._

"_Hey," she'd responded. They'd ended up sitting together in front of her house talking. He had learned that she loved cars as much as she did and she had learned that his dad was a racer. By sunset the two were friends. His dad had come looking for him after it had gotten dark, Mia in tow. He had a whole speech prepared about promises and responsibility etc., but when he'd seen Dom talking to Letty he just invited her and her mother to dinner instead. There she had bonded with Mia even though she was two years younger. Dom had introduced Letty to Vince at school the next day. She was in the other first grade class, which is why they'd never met. Their relationship had started with a fight._

"_Girls can't like cars," Vince had said. Letty had punched him so hard she'd sent him flying. Dom had made no move to stop her or to step in until Vince had stood and growled at her. Dom new for a fact that no matter how tuff Letty was, Vince was bigger and he could seriously hurt her if he wanted to. _

"_Whoa," he said pulling Letty back by her waist. He shot Vince a look from behind her that clearly said 'calm down.' Vince breathed in and out a couple of times before putting his fist out to Letty._

"_Nice punch." They had bumped first and it had been the beginning of a long friendship._

_It was Letty who had introduced Leon and Jesse to Dom and Vince. She had found them at another car shop when she was 16. The way that Jesse had rattled off car parts had intrigued her. His designs even more so, so she invited them both to a barbeque and they had fit in perfectly. Before long they were a team- a family._

"Are you remembering something, Letty," Mia asked quietly.

"Yea," she murmured. "Where are they?" Mia only looked at her feet.

_Leon was driving to fast toward the Mexican border._

"_Slow down!" Letty snapped. "We're trying not to be noticed._

"_Dom's going to find Jesse," Leon murmured. "And then he, Jesse, and Mia are going to come meet us."_

"_And what about Vince, huh?" Letty shouted. "He could be dying right now!"_

"_He'll be fine!" Leo shouted back. Leon wasn't a yeller- that was Vince, Dom, Letty- not Leon. "Are you okay Letty," he asked switching to a softer tone. "That was nasty crash."_

"_I'm fine," Letty replied. But she wasn't. She really wasn't._

_Dom arrived alone the next day. He found them at the beach. Letty and Leon had been sitting their silently side by side each praying for the safety of their friends. _

"_Letty," Dom called when he got out of his car and saw her. She was in his arms in seconds._

"_I'm sorry, Letty," he whispered kissing the little cuts on her hands and face. "I'm so sorry." It wasn't something he said often. It wasn't something he said ever, and that made Letty's heart break all the more. She was trying not to cry as Leon jogged up to meet them._

"_Where are…" he trailed off seeing the look in Dom's eye._

"_Vince is still in the hospital. Mia- Mia wants to stay in LA and Jesse… Jesse's dead. Tran drove by and shot him." Leon turned and stormed off. Letty's ears buzzed. Dom caught her as her eyes rolled back and her knees buckled. It was the first and last time she would ever faint._

"Jesse died," Letty murmured. Her eyes had been locked on that picture since she saw it, but she tore them away now and looked at Mia. "What happened to Vince?"

"Vince went his own way after being released from the hospital. We-me, Brian, and Dom-reconnected with him, but… he died too. He has wife and a son."

"Oh," Letty said casting her eyes downward. "What about Leon?"

"About Leon," Mia said, a grin suddenly breaking out on her face.

"Someone looking for me?" a voice called. Letty turned and saw Leon strolling into the garage followed by Dom.

"Leon," she said.

"In the flesh," he said pulling her into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Letty."

"That's all people say to me these days," she replied pulling away. "Don't worry about that now. How are you, man."

"I'm good, Letty," he said. "And you?"

"I'm okay. Are you staying?"

"Nah," he said. "I've got a different life now." He had taken of from Mexico on his own, leaving Letty with Dom. They hadn't heard from him again- until now. "I just came back to see you Letty. I mean, it would be a real shame if you forgot about me." Letty smiled.

"Thank you," she said.

"Thank Mia and Dom," he replied. "It was there idea."

"Thank you, Mia," she said. "And thank you, Dom," she said turning to him.

"Any time, Let," he said kissing her. "Any time."

**AN: So there it is. I hope I did the team's story justice. Tell me what you think, please.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So I didn't update last week due to finals, but it is now summer and all of that is over so I should be keeping to my weekly update promise I have two more one-shot ideas that I will hopefully have up by the end of the month. This story should also be finished by the end of the month. After that I have the pending second chapter to my story **_**Family**_**. Also, if anyone likes to read about Brian and Mia please check out my one-shots **_**Baby's First Joyride **_**and **_**Car Shopping**_** and by the end of the month I should have another Brian and Mia one-shot entitled _The Tuna_ so look out for that. Now that I'm done babbling, **_**Memories**_** chapter 4.**

Leon decided that he would stay for a week and then head back home- which evidently was in Cuba. On the second day of his stay he called a family meeting.

"Listen," he said one Mia, Brian, Jack, Dom, and Letty were all assembled in the living room. "We all want Letty's memories back, don't we?"

"Leon," Dom said. It was a warning. A warning not to push.

"I know," he said waving Dom's warning away. "I was just wondering if I could take her somewhere today."

"I think you'd have to take that up with her," Brian said. "It isn't really up to us."

"Wait," Mia interjected before Letty could speak. "Just Letty? The rest of us can't come?" Leon paled slightly.

"Well-uh- you won't want to go Mi," Leon said. "You either Dom… that's kind of why I called the family meeting in the first place actually," he added. "I wanted to okay this place with you two."

"Where do you want to take her," Dom asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"I-uh- you know what? Never mind. How 'bout I just take her and don't tell you guys."

"Leon," Mia said shifting jack in her arms. "Just tell us." Leon let out a breath.

"I want to take her to the track."

"What?" Dom all but shouted. His arms fell to his sides and he clenched his fists. Letty had been standing off to the side silently looking back and forth between them, but she stepped forward and spoke now.

"What's the big deal about the track?" she asked looking from Leon to Mia to Dom. Leon opened his mouth the answer her but Dom cut him off.

"Don't."

"Come on," Leon said. "You guys don't even have to come- in fact, I don't _want _you to come- but she's had a lot of memories there for better of worse and I think Letty should go." No one said anything for a long time. Eventually Jack began to cry and Brian lifted him from Mia's lap.

"I got it," he said and he left the room. Then it was just the original team- or what was left of it.

"It's her choice, Dom," Mia said softly. "You know it is."

"Fine," he snapped and he left the room.

"What do you say, Lett?" Leon asked turning to her.

"Let's go," she replied.

They pulled up at the track thirty minutes later. Letty stood on the top bleachers and felt… nothing.

"I don't remember," she said turning to Leon who was standing beside her. He shot her a _no kidding _look.

"I mean… my memories have sorta been coming back as I visited the places they occurred," she added. "But here… I just don't remember."

"It's fine, Lett," Leon said returning his gaze to the empty track.

"Will you tell me what happened here?" she asked. He hesitated. Dom had made it very clear that memories weren't supposed to be pushed onto Letty, but that didn't mean he couldn't help jog her memory. Did it?

"Dom and Mia's dad was a racer in this circuit," he offered. She didn't say anything for a minute.

"I guess we used to come here." She said it in the manner of someone who had put facts together and reasoned out a conclusion, not in the manner of someone who actually remembered this occurring.

"I think you were eight or nine the first time you came here," Leon replied. "You came with Dom, Mia, and Vince but you didn't know me and Jesse yet."

_The first time Letty had seen the track she hadn't been able to breathe. The entire place was crawling with racers and their fans but what really took Letty's breath away were the cars. There were six of them on the track surrounded by the pit crews who were busy preparing the cars for the race. She was so busy staring at everything that she didn't pay attention to where she was going and ended up tripping over some old man's feet. She landed- quite ungracefully- on the ground._

"_Letty!" Dom had hauled her to her feet and glared at her. "Pay attention! Or you're gonna get lost!" His face had softened considerably when he'd noticed her bloody knee. "Let me see that."_

"_No," Letty had responded. She was mad about being scolded and mad about being clumsy. Vince and Mia were standing somewhat behind Dom looking on. Vince had Mia's hand clamped tightly in his own- probably per Dom's request. The four of them were alone up here. Dom's dad was down on the track and his mom had been dead for a couple of years. Letty and Vince's respective parents were god knows where doing god knows what. The four of them had been dropped off ten minutes earlier with strict instructions to 'stay together' which Letty knew was code for 'Dom watch your sister and everyone else stay by Dom' which Letty thought was unfair because he was only a few months older than Letty and Vince. He acted like he was in charge though. _

"_Fine," he'd said. "But from now on you stay with me." And then he snatched her hand up in his own, turned and grabbed Mia's free hand, and dragged them all to their seats. _

"Dom drove me crazy that day," Letty said. "Even now I don't know if he was trying to assert his authority… or to protect me."

"So you remember?" Leon asked grinning.

"Well yea," she mumbled. "I mean I remember the first time I ever came here but I don't remember why Dom nearly had an aneurism at the thought of coming back."

"You'll remember," Leon said softly. "But, you know, it's possible he didn't want us to come here so that you _wouldn't _remember." Letty closed her eyes.

_Bam! The sound of the two cars crashing made the most sickening noise that Letty had ever heard but maybe that was because Dom's father was in one of them._

"_No!" Dom screamed beside her. He started forward and she reached out to hold him back without even thinking- she _couldn't_ think her mind was numb. He was stronger than her though, and she wasn't able to hold him down. She gripped his wrist and followed him to the gate that separated the track from the audience. A quick glance behind her showed Mia sobbing, but safely wrapped in Vince's arms. Leon and Jesse appeared to be frozen in some sort of state of shock, but none of them were in any immediate danger so Letty turned her attention back to Dom who was staring at the flaming inferno that was once his father's car screaming._

"_Dom," Letty said tugging on his wrist. "Dom!" He turned then and collapsed. He fell to his knees on the ground and she went down with him and held him. He'd sobbed for the first time since she'd met him all those years ago._

"His dad died here," Letty said staring at the part of the fence where the two of them had fallen.

Leon nodded and then realizing she was staring ahead said, "Yea it was Linder- the one who- uh- the one who lost control and hit him." Linder.

"_Linder!" Dom shouted banging his fist on the table. "That's who killed my father?" The lawyer had just delivered the news to the two Torettos along with Vince and Letty and was now sitting across from the four of them at their kitchen table looking very uncomfortable. Mia stared down at the table cloth crying silently. Vince had an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Letty squeezed Dom's hand and then turned to address the lawyer._

"_Well?" she demanded. "Is he going to jail?"_

"_It appears not," the man said. He tugged at his tie as though it was cutting off his supply of oxygen._

"_What?" Dom yelled banging his free hand on the table again. Mia only cried harder. Letty tightened her grip on Dom's hand. _

"_Well the court has taken into consideration that racing is generally a dangerous… activity," the lawyer explained. "And as a result they are sympathetic towards… Linder." No one even bothered to correct him on his reference to racing as an _activity_._

"_I think you should go," Letty said quietly before Dom could reach across the table and throttle the lawyer._

"_Of course," he said standing and exiting quickly._

_Dom couldn't sleep that night. He stared at the ceiling his chest rising and falling far too quickly._

"_Dom," Letty murmured drowsily turning to him. "Just... just don't do anything you'll regret later." She stroked his cheek gently once and then fell asleep. He was gone when she woke up only an hour later._

"_No, no, no, no," she whispered as she fumbled for her keys in the dark. She shoved her feet into a pair of shoes, grabbed one of Dom's jackets, and then bolted down the stairs and out of the house. she didn't bother checking the house for Dom- she knew exactly where he was. She pulled up at Linder's garage ten minutes later and ran up to the dark silhouette standing in the front._

"_Dom," she breathed barreling into him. His arms wrapped around her protectively but she pulled back just enough to kiss him quickly. "Dom."_

"_I killed him, Letty," he said kissing her again. "I didn't mean to but I did." The sound of sirens grew louder. _

"_It's okay," Letty said kissing him again even though she knew it wasn't. It was four in the morning and Dom had no reason to be here other than for revenge- she knew exactly what this would look like to a court- premeditated murder._

"_You have to go, Letty," Dom said pushing her away. "You have to get out of here."_

"_No," Letty said stubbornly. _

"_You have to, Letty." His voice was uncharacteristically soft. "They'll think you were a part of it."_

"_Then come with me," she begged. _

"_I can't do that," he murmured. "They'll come and they'll take all of us." She knew which 'all' he meant. Mia wouldn't do well in jail and besides if a judge thought they were all in on it then it would certainly qualify as premeditated murder. If Letty left now Dom might be able to convince them that he acted on impulse. He _had _acted on impulse, but at four in the morning with no reason to have encountered Linder… it already didn't look good, but two, four, or six people cant all act on impulse. She knew she had to leave him there._

"_Okay," she whispered kissing him again. "We'll figure this out." She turned and headed for her car. _

"_I love you," he called._

"_I love you too."_

"He went to jail didn't he?" Letty asked, but when she turned to Leon she saw Dom standing there instead. Leon had moved off somewhere and was busy pretending that he wasn't watching them.

"I did," Dom said crossing his arms. "Lompoc. Are you mad?"

"No," Letty said knowing it was true. "I wasn't mad then and I'm not mad now. You did what you had to do, and you know I'll always stand by you." Dom said nothing. He just pulled her to his chest and kissed her forehead.

"Aww," Leon cooed. They turned and met him with matching glares because some things never change.

**AN: Voila (I've been taking French) there it is. This story is going to have either three or four more chapters depending on the flow of my ideas and I hope you'll like the ending.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I really appreciate all the feedback. This story is only going to be two regular chapters longer (this one included) and then an epilogue- unless you guys tell me after the next chapter that I'm still missing things. I apologize for the late update- I've been busy with some summer classes that I decided to take, but that's no excuse. I've actually had this chapter hand- written for a while now, but I really hate typing- which again is no excuse. So now that I've rambled for a while, here is chapter 5 of _Memories._**

_She knew something was wrong the moment she woke up. She was lying in a bed with plain white sheets, in a small house, by herself. Something felt odd, but also fuzzy so she couldn't quite put her finger on it._

When Letty walked down the stairs that morning she was greeted by Mia and Jack. Leon had left the previous day, and Dom and Brian were no where in sight.

"Hey, Lett," Mia said smiling. "Do you want some breakfast?"

"No thanks, Mi," she replied. "Where are the guys?"

"Out back," Mia said pointing at the back door. "The garage." Letty kissed Jack quickly and headed out back, that little sliver of memory she'd been thinking about when she woke up still bothering her. What was wrong with that picture?

Dom and Brian were indeed out back looking at the engine of what she perceived was a Charger. She felt the same tug seeing the garage that she'd felt when she first saw the house. It wasn't familiar, but it was right- and that was enough. Of course by now she'd pretty much gotten the house down. She remembered watching movies with the boys in the living room, mock-fighting with Vice in the kitchen while Mia cooked (and scolded them), sliding down the stair banister straight into Dom's open arms, and so much more. This garage on the other hand felt like all new territory. She'd seen it at the barbeque, of course, and all the other times she'd been outside, but she hadn't yet been inside it. The Charger was a totally different story. The Charger was familiar. As she drew closer, she was sure. Dom and Brian looked up when she walked in.

"You wouldn't let them junk it," Dom said noting her staring at the car. "Even though Mia wanted to." That was true. The memory was there when Letty looked for it, which was a pleasant surprise after everything. She wouldn't let them take the car. She worked on it day and night- every spare minute she had. And something else… she opened the driver's side door and peered in. She'd hung something on the mirror… the cross. The cross that Dom had given her back in London. The cross that she'd let Shaw have as a sign of her loyalty.

_She rolled over, still in that fluffy white bed, to see a cross hanging beside her. A sick feeling filled her stomach._

Letty shook her head and staggered back slightly as another piece of the memory hit her.

"Did you remember something?" Brian asked. Letty hesitated, and then nodded.

"I remember not letting them junk it," she said carefully. "I thought Dom would want it when he came back." That was only partially true. She'd kept it for Dom of course, but she'd also kept it for herself. So that she'd have something to do while she waited for Dom to come home. She'd put a lot of work into that car. Spent hours upon hours a day working on it. Poured her blood, sweat, and _tears_ into it. It really was one of the few times she had cried. Whether it was out of anger, sadness, frustration, or fear she didn't know. Maybe she'd forgotten. Maybe she'd never been quite sure. Or maybe there wasn't even a real difference anyway.

"Do you remember coming to me?" Brian asked. "You know, to clear Dom's name?" Brian gave Letty a look that she couldn't quite decipher. Dom was giving her a look too. The difference was that she could read his look clear as day. It was hope. Hope laced with some fear. He wanted her to remember, but some part of him- small as it may be- didn't.

Letty didn't answer Brian right away. Instead she knelt next to the car. She'd spent so much time under this car and so much time peering into the engine. So much time working on it, for her sake and for Dom. Dom who hadn't been there.

_She got out of bed and stood up too fast. She became so dizzy that she had to sit back down again. She put her head in her hands and counted to ten slowly before standing back up and making her way outside. She already knew what she was going to find though._

Letty blinked her eyes quickly. She was on the verge of uncovering another memory she knew it. But it was just slightly out of her reach. Standing back up she caught Dom and Brian staring at her quizzically. And then she remembered she'd been asked a question. She tried to make it seem as though she'd been deep in thought- which she had but for a different reason- and then nodded slowly.

"Yea," she said. "Yea, I remember." And she did. She'd come to him with a proposition: she would help him with a case, provide a service- she knew under covers were in high demand- and in exchange Dom would receive a pardon. Brian had been reluctant at first. When she told him that if he wouldn't help her she'd find someone who would, he had invited her to do so. But when she tried the guilt approach, told him that Mia cried a lot and just wanted Dom back- he caved. He told her about Braga, warned her about the risks, and sent her in. Obviously that hadn't gone all that well.

"That's good," Dom said. "Your memory's really coming back." It hit her like a wave.

_She looked around outside, but she knew he wouldn't be out there. She really thought that after last night she'd convinced him to stay, but she'd been wrong. Dom was gone. It hurt to know._

She'd sort of known what had happened. That Dom had left her in the DR, that she'd gone to Brian, joined Braga's team, and had eventually ended up working for Shaw. But until now she hadn't really _remembered. _Until now she hadn't remembered how much it had _hurt._

"Yea," Letty replied, a bitter taste filling her mouth. "It's all coming back to me."

**AN: Well there you have it: Chapter 5. I expected to be done by now- it being summer break and all- but I've been busy and I'm sorry. Review please.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: First off, a big thanks to anyone who has reviewed, favorited, followed, or just read and enjoyed this story. I'd also like to apologize for the really late update. If you follow me, you know I have been posting things- just not for this story. This is mostly because this is a connected chapter story that has parts that I was trying to fit together rather than a short little one-shot like that I can write quickly in the morning before school. My late update also has to do in part with you're request for the Dotty confrontation that trying to figure out how to give to you without compromising my original plan for the story. I personally do not see Dom and Letty as two people that have a big emotional conversation, but I do see them as having a discussion of sorts and hopefully I'll work it out in a way you guys will like. Also, for any Vince fans, I have a Bria/Dotty story that is also sort of a tribute to him in the works. It's going to be called _Promises._ I'd like to tell you when to look out for it but I honestly don't know, due to how busy I am and how all my ideas for it aren't yet organized (maybe a month or two?). Sorry for the super long author's note, here's _Memories_ chapter 6.**

Letty knew it was going to a long day the moment she woke up. The first thing she felt was the slight confusion she'd become accustomed to waking up to. The second was bitterness, but that didn't really hit until she saw Dom snoring beside her.

Irritably, she got up and dressed, brushed her teeth, and then went down the stairs. She saw Brian and Jack in the kitchen, but no Mia. Letty felt a pang of annoyance at that. She'd been expecting to come down and be asked what was wrong. She wouldn't have actually told her of course, but she still kind of wanted her to ask. Being back the last few weeks reminded her how life used to be- how life _should_ be. Besides, if she didn't busy herself talking to Mia about something, Dom would com down the stairs, take one look at her, and demand to know was wrong, and she really didn't want to get into it with him.

"Hey, Letty," Brian greeted looking up at her from his seat at the table.

"Hey."

"Mia left around 4:00 a.m. to take care of something out of town.

"Right," Letty replied dropping heavily into the chair across from him. She didn't bother asking what. "Do you have any idea when she'll be back?" Brian took his time adjusting Jack before answering.

"Tomorrow, most probably," he said finally.

"Oh," Letty mumbled. Maybe she did want to tell Mia what was wrong. The idea of not being able to suddenly seemed so unfair which, Letty thought, was rather weird. After all, Mia would be back tomorrow, and besides, she hadn't wanted to discuss her feelings in the first place. And yet, she felt oddly disappointed.

"But," Brian added. "She told me she wants me and Dom to take you somewhere today."

"Let's go," Letty said standing. She'd hardly thought the words before they were out of her mouth. Brian stared at her blankly.

"What about Dom?" he asked, eyebrows knitted together.

"He's got a headache," Letty lied. "He'll probably be up there sleeping all day anyway."

"Okay…" Brian replied dubiously. "Why don't we sit for a minute? You can eat some breakfast and we can…"  
but Letty was already up and tossing Brian his keys. She wanted out of that house, before Dom came down and they were forced to talk about their feelings. She knew she was probably only delaying the inevitable, but still.

"Good timing, Mi," he mumbled as he lifted Jack and headed out the door. Letty scrawled a quick note that read nothing more than 'went out', grabbed and apple, and went after Brian.

They pulled up ten minutes later at an old open-fronted diner. The sign on top read 'Toretto's.'

"Don't tell me we own this place too," Letty muttered.

"Hey," Brian said. "I love this diner. I met Mia at this diner."

"Weren't you an undercover cop?" she asked. "Just here to bust Dom?" Brian gave her a look.

"Originally," he said, parking the car. "But then there was all that stuff where I fell in love with Mia, and, you know, _let Dom go."_

"Right," said Letty, standing by the car waiting for Brian to get Jack out. "But Mia hated you for a while and eventfully, you went back to being a cop."

"I joined the FBI," Brian corrected, stopping himself before he slammed the car door, once he'd extracted Jack. "And you're missing a lot of details in the middle there."

"I know all about your adventures with Roman," Letty replied. "And Monica." This time her eyes flashed and Brian finally got it. None of this had anything to do with the past, out of concern for Mia, disapproval, misunderstanding. No, Letty was upset, so she was trying to get a rise out of Brian too. Brian turned to look sideways at her.

"What did Dom do?" he asked.

"Nothing." Letty replied, but the look in her eyes told a completely different story.

"Obviously something," Brian grumbled. "We left him at the house; you're in a pissy mood. And you're intent on putting me in one too.

"I said it was nothing!" Letty snapped.

"Fine," Brian relented. "I don't suppose you remember anything about this place?" Letty looked around taking note of the dingy and abandoned looking interior. There were stools by a dusty counter, an empty sunglass holder… An office was partially viewable in the back.

_Fourteen year old Letty marched into to Toretto's one afternoon and straight up to the counter where thirteen year old Mia was doing her math homework._

"_Where's Dom?!" She demanded. Mia looked up and gave her a small smile._

"_You know he came in here fifteen minutes ago shouting 'where's Letty?'_

"_Seriously?" Letty asked._

"_No," Mia replied. "He told me not to tell you that he went into the office."_

"_You just did," Letty pointed out._

"_Opps!" Mia replied going back to her math homework. "My bad." Letty spared her a small smile before resuming her scowl and marching towards the office._

Letty cast a sideways glance at Brian who was staring at her expectantly- probably waiting for her to share her memories of Toretto's. Letty walked into the office which, like the rest of the place, looked deserted. In fact, the only thing in the room was an old desk. Somehow she knew it once held much more. Not only chairs and papers but tears, laughter, arguments.

"_Dom!" Letty shouted storming into the office. "We need to talk." Dom sat at his father's desk pretending to look occupied._

"_Not now, Lett," he replied dismissively, though his shoulders were tense. "I'm busy."_

"_Now, Dom!" Letty snapped. "We're going to talk right now!"_

"_Fine." he turned to face her, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back in his chair._

"_You want to start?" he asked. "Or shall I?"_

_Letty walked out of the office after thirty minutes of yelling and approximately 47 seconds of regular talking- regular as it ever is for them anyway._

"_So," she said, leaning against the counter next to Mia once again. "How you living girl?"_

"_And there's the Letty I know," Mia replied._

"_Sorry I was so cranky before," Letty mumbled. "You're brother's an idiot."_

"_No surprise there and h__ey," Mia said. "At least you guys confront you problems, instead of just dancing around each other. That's much healthier. Even if you do do it rather loudly."_

"Damn it!" Letty muttered.

"What?" Brian asked, entering the office behind her bouncing Jack in his arms.

"Let's go home," Letty replied. "There's something I have to do."

"We need to talk," Letty said fifteen minutes later. Dom sat on the bed in front of seemed to sense something in her tone and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You want to start or shall I?" And- in spite of it all- Letty smiled.

**AN: I know that wasn't what some of you wanted, but I hope you liked it anyway. I'm toying around with ideas for my next-and final- chapter. Things like whether I should pick up from this exact moment or have a time lapse. And things like which characters will be featured (Maybe Roman, Tej, and/or Leon will come back?) Review please.**


	7. Epilogue

**AN: So, to answer a few questions and state a few facts prior to the chapter **

**1) I will not be writing out Dom and Letty's "talk." I have personally analyzed their characters and their relationship differently then it appears some of you have and I prefer to leave the details and dynamic of their discussion open ended. (Feel free to PM if you want to discuss the characters farther.)**

** 2) This chapter is an epilogue sans a giant time skip and. It will be the last one and I hope it satisfies everyone though I realize that isn't really possible, but if you want more of the Torettos and/or O'Connors check out A) my one-shots or B) my chapter story **_**Family. **_**The first chapter (originally meant to be a one-shot) is up and the rest is pending (due to continuation requests.) Two sub-points on that I) I'd like it to be a one-shot collection or have a time skip but I'm not married to either idea so leave me a review there regarding that if you have a preference and II) I may be taking a short hiatus before I post any more chapters for that which I apologize for. And now that I've rambled for a year and a half- here's Memories: the epilogue.**

"Dom," Letty hissed. "Dom." She shook him.

"Hmmm?" He mumbled something inaudible into him pillow and rolled over.

"Dom," she tried louder. This seemed to register.

"What?" He sat up quickly and turned to her. "What is it, Letty? Are you okay?" Letty grinned.

"When I was 18 my dad died."

"Okay," Dom said slowly. "I know that but Letty- why are you smiling like that? Are you happy your dad died?"

"No," Letty replied. "Of course not, but Dom, you didn't tell me my dad died." She was still smiling.

"Alright, Letty. Okay," he got up from the bed. "Get up and get dressed. You're gonna be fine."

"What are you talking about?" Letty asked sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Well you've obviously lost your mind so…" He made a vague gesture with his hand that could've been a poor interpretation of the kookoo sign.

"No, Dom!" she snapped her annoyance level rising. "You didn't _tell _me my dad died. I remembered on my own."

"You remembered a lot of stuff on your own, Let," he replied warily.

"This is different," she insisted. "When I was 12, I got a dog and named him Torque as in torque wrench."

"Yes," Dom replied. "And when you were 13-"

"He ran away!" The grin was back albeit somewhat dimmer.

"I'm glad you're so happy about every sad thing that's ever happened in your life, really I am, but Letty…"

"You still don't get it, do you?" Letty asked.

"Um…no. Not really."

"I remember _everything_."

"Everything?"

"Everything." She launched herself off the bed and into his open arms. He spun her around and kissed her.

Footsteps pounded outside the door and, after a pause, Mia and Brian burst through the door.

"What happened?" Brian asked.

"We heard yelling," Mia added.

"Letty remembers everything," Dom cried, kissing her again before setting her down on her feet.

"Everything?" Brian asked.

"Everything," Letty affirmed.

"Oh my god, Letty," Mia shouted and then they were all embracing in one giant group hug.

"Welcome back, Letty," Dom mumbled into her hair. "I've missed you."

XX

Turns out that Mia had called the entire family and invited them to a barbeque "dedicated to the complete restoration of the memory of one Ms. Leticia Ortiz." So, first thing in the morning Roman and Tej were sitting in the living room full of smiles, congratulations, and, of course, digs at each other.

And while it was nice to see them, Letty hadn't know them _before_ she'd lost her memory. Seeing them didn't feel the same as looking at Dom, Mia, even Brian. So her joy didn't hit max until Leon and Hector arrived.

"Letty!" Leon called as he stepped through the front door. Letty came out of the kitchen to meet him. "A little birdy called to tell me you remember me now. Took you long enough."

"I remembered you before," Letty replied frowning.

"Nah," Leon said with a shake of his head. "Wasn't the same." And though Letty did little else but smile in return, she couldn't have agreed more.

"Letty!" Hector howled stepping in next. "Girl, tell me you're coming back to the races permanently now. Some of our fresh meat needs to be road kill- fast." Letty laughed.

"I don't know man," she replied shaking her head.

"Aw, c'mon," he whined. "Listen, Lett, you come back and I swear-"

"Lunch is ready!" Mia called from the back door. She wore a sundress and a grin.

"This isn't over," Hector said as he made his way to the yard. Letty laughed again and followed.

Outside, Letty waited until everyone was settled around the table and then quickly snatched a chip out of the bowl in the middle and ate it.

"Letty!" Mia exclaimed sounding relatively horrified.

"I know, I know," Letty said holding her hands up. "I just really, really wanted to say grace today." Dom smiled. Brian took Jack from Mia so she could hold Letty's right hand. Leon reached over and took her left hand. She was sitting on Dom's lap in between them. She loved both Brian and Jack and would love Roman and Tej too, but she felt she was speaking especially to those in direct contact with her when she took a deep breath, smiled and said,

"Dear heavenly spirit, thank you for bringing me home, to my family."

**AN: I wasn't totally in love with this last chapter but I liked the very end. Please tell me what you thought. If you liked Memories, pop by my other Fast and Furious stories. Thank you all for reading, reviewing, following, or favorting this story. I hope you enjoyed the ride like I did.**

**-tatalol**


End file.

Fast and the Furious, Family, Hurt-Comfort