one year later
July of 2006 - Miami, Florida
The sun beamed down on Lala's back as she leaned further into the engine of her new baby, a sleek black 2003 Acura NSX. She used part of her savings to purchase it as a gift for Letty but her sister insisted that she keep it as she was traveling looking for Dom. Lala felt for her sister, she'd do the same if the roles were her and Brian's to fill instead.
She tightened the nut before standing straight and wiping the sweat from her forehead. A soft tug at the rag in her pocket made the woman look down next to her.
"Momma! Look! Bug!" Her little Letty held up her chunky little hand where a blue butterfly sat on top of it. She smiled at the little girl and kneeled in front of her.
"She's beautiful, Leticia. Did you name her?" She asked her daughter with a smile while putting her hand under her own.
The child giggled, "Letty."
Lala smiled and kissed her head. Letty had been in touch a lot more recently, only over phone calls, which her daughter loved since she's finally getting to know more of her family members. Emilio, her older brother, had stayed with them for a year so he was a bigger part of her life now, too.
"Naptime, baby." She picked her up and carried her inside the house.
Soon enough she had her settled in bed and her butterfly in the little home they made that morning. Lala fixed up two plates of food and set them on the table. She checked the time with a groan. "Where is he?" She asked herself under her breath but the question was answered for her when the sound of tires on the gravel hit her ears.
Seconds later, Brian came rushing in while loosening the tie he had around his neck. "Hey, Lita." He beamed at his now wife, earning a cheeky grin back.
"Hey baby, I made parmesan chicken and potatoes." She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "How did it go?"
Brian shrugged off his blazer and walked over to the sink to wash his hands. "I got the job if I want it but there's a catch."
She watched as he dried his hands on the towel in a deep thought. Her mind immediately went back to that dreary fall morning where he left her heartbroken and alone. They had moved on from that point in their lives but certain triggers still brought it back.
"The position they want to give me is in LA." He leaned against the counter with a smug smile. The smile turned into a laugh when he heard her excited giggles.
"We're going home?" She asked with her eyes lighting up. They put it off for longer than she wanted.
Brian pulled her to him, "we're going home."
December of 2006 - Los Angeles, California
"Can I have that one?" Rome asked, pointing to the blue 1994 Integra LS sedan that was parked near the back of the garage. He was currently pestering Lala in her new garage that she bought in Los Angeles.
"You have to take that up with her." Lala motioned towards the work bench nearby where Mia was currently playing with Leticia. "That's her prized possession, she got it at a car meet in 2000."
Rome made an impressed expression then walked over to Brian's Supra that he'd given to Dom years ago. "This was your boys' whip?"
"This is the car he let Dominic get away in. We put a lot of work in this baby right here." She watched as Rome ran a hand across the hood of the car. "When he got away, he swapped for my car and also left me his Mazda. He needed something that wasn't attached to his name."
"Where is he now?" He questioned curiously. Mia looked over with her brows knitted together, wondering if Lala had any idea where he was hiding. They hadn't talked about Dom or the others in years, it was too painful to take themselves back into that history.
Lala shrugged and wiped a cloth along the work bench she was sitting at. "He was in Mexico."
Mia set Leticia in her playpen with her bunny and made her way over to Lala. Her hand planted firmly on her hips as she stared with a hard glare at her best friend. "You talked to Dom?"
"Briefly, just updates here and there but now that he knows I married Brian - and that Brian joined the FBI - he hasn't been as in touch. Last I heard, he was heading overseas but wouldn't tell me where." She frowned at the look of betrayal in Mia's eyes. "He sends his love, but he can't come home."
"Why wouldn't you tell me that you talked to him? I've been trying for years to get any sort of contact from him but it never happened. All this time you've been keeping tabs and hiding the truth from me?"
"I'm just gonna...yeah." Rome walked over to the playpen and entertained Leticia while the women talked.
Lala leaned forward on the table, sadness evident on her face. "Mia, he never wanted you involved in all of this. That's why he hasn't reached out to you - he doesn't want you to throw away your life here to go be with him."
"What if it was Letty?" Mia pleaded with her.
"It is Letty." She countered her thought. "She won't come home without him, Mia. He won't come home unless his name is miraculously cleared which won't happen anytime soon. It's how our lives are now, okay? I promised Dominic that I would look out for you and keep you safe. So that's what I'm doing."
Mia had no response for Lala in that moment, she knew that she was doing her best to adapt to their new lives. It was recently sprung on Mia that her family history was a different story than what she was told after all this time which was a hard pill to swallow. Mia always held her father and her family on a pedestal and thought she knew everything there was to know but she was wrong.
She decided the best choice was to walk away before she hurt her or Lala's feelings in anger.
"That was...something." Rome piped up after a few minutes of Lala staring at the door in silence. "You good?"
Lala nodded and shrugged, "I was expecting it to be a lot worse than that. At least I got to tell her before Brian spilled about it."
"Where's his ass at anyways?" He questioned, picking up Leticia and carrying her over with him.
"You already know the answer to that." She rolled her eyes and grabbed her keys. "Let's go to Toretto's, ready?"
April of 2007 - Los Angeles, California
Lala set the cake on the table in front of her. She was currently decorating for a graduation party for Mia. The younger woman had finally gone back to school and got her degree in nursing. Lala couldn't be prouder of her best friend, she was so unbelievably happy for her and her accomplishments.
She turned around to be met with Brian carrying boxes of soda, the veins in his arms popping out at the weight he was holding. Her eyes raked over the man she got blessed to be in love with.
"Hey, Lita. Mia is going to be here in 5 minutes." He set the boxes down on the table with a grin. "I also got this."
"Did you pick up the necklace?" She asked while looking inside the tiny box that Brian held in his hand.
He nodded while watching her admire the silver chain that held a cross similar to the one her older brothers always wore. It was daintier with the word familia engraved in the back. Lala had picked the necklace for her since she didn't get a chance to get one as a child.
"It's the perfect gift. She's going to love it." She smiled widely and handed it back to him.
"You're going to love yours." Brian cheesed at her, his eyes shifting from her face to over her shoulder. It caused Lala to turn around in confusion only to be met with the last person she expected.
Letty Ortiz stood in the doorway, her arm propped up against it with her signature smirk. "What's up, bird?"
Lala couldn't help it, she ran as fast as she could to the doorway and practically leaped into her older sister's arms. She could feel the tears pricking the corners of her eyes, it's been almost 3 years since everything fell apart on their family. 3 years since she saw her older sister and been held in her arms like this.
"What are you doing here, Letty?" She pulled back from the embrace.
Letty's hands cupped Lala's cheeks, love shining in her eyes. "Brian told me how much you and Mia needed me. So here I am."
Before she could say anything else, Mia walked in from the back door. "Letty?"
Lala stepped away and let Mia run to the girl she always saw as an older sister. She made her way over to her husband and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. Brian always knew what she needed and when she needed it. He was forever her rock.
"What was that for?" He asked with a ghost of a smile on his lips.
"For loving me." She pressed another to his cheek then made her way outside to the rest of the party.
January of 2009 - Los Angeles, California
"You're going down, boy!" Suki yelled while shooting a water gun at Tej. The crew was gathered at Lala's home for a cookout and to celebrate her promotion at work.
Lala leaned against the frame of the backdoor and watched her friends in amusement. She missed their family dinners and game nights that they had in Miami all of the time. They meant everything to her back then and they still do to this day.
"Get her, not me!" He held Leticia up in the air, using her as a tiny human shield to take the water shot instead of him. Emilio shot his water gun at Suki from beside Tej.
"Uncle Tej! Put me down!" She screamed through her giggles while kicking her legs. Suki lowered the water gun in surrender and Tej let Leticia run off to her.
"You play dirty my guy." Emilio spoke through his laughter at the girls' loss. The two men high five only to be squirted by Leticia.
Taking a sip from her drink, she glanced over her shoulder at the sound of the front door opening. It was Brian just getting in from another overnight shift at work. She was beyond tired of him missing everything now, so tired that it was causing a strain on their marriage. He paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked over at Lala. She gave him a look, silently begging him to come join the fun but instead he trudged upstairs.
She sighed and leaned her head against the doorframe. She didn't know how to save her marriage or if she even wanted it anymore. There was no denying her love for Brian but most days she didn't know if he held any for her.
May 1, 2009 - Los Angeles, California
Lala paced back and forth in her living room. She had just found out that Letty was taking part in Arturo Braga's new team. Everybody knew that Braga had some high scale team members and some would even say he was running drugs. All Lala knew is that it was dangerous and she didn't want her sister tied up in all of that bullshit.
"Is this because of Dominic?" She questioned, coming to a stop to look at her older sister.
Around a week prior, Letty had shown up to her home a sobbing mess. She finally caught up with Dom in the Dominican Republic but he left in the middle of the night. All that she woke up to was a stack of cash and his treasured cross.
Letty looked up from her position on the couch. Her hands were placed in her lap playing with her bracelet. "This isn't about Dom, Lo. This is about me doing what I have to do to take care of our family."
"'Take care of our family'? Letty, I am the one who's been supporting this family. I'm the one who's been paying off the bills at the Market, making sure the lights stay on for Mia while she focuses on school. I'm the one taking care of my child, and everyone else, on top of working a full-time job!" She screamed at her out of frustration and pent up emotions. "I have been drowning, Brian is barely keeping me afloat."
"That's why I'm doing this, Lolita." Letty stood up and crossed her arms, Dom's cross necklace tucking behind them. "You have your own family to focus on. Leticia and Brian and the little one on the way. It's time for you to focus on them, I got this now."
Lala shook her head and subconsciously set a hand on her flat stomach. It wasn't far into her pregnancy, maybe six weeks. Either way, she knew that Letty was right, she had to take care of her family and prepare for their new addition. It wasn't her responsibility to make sure things were okay here but she felt the need to. Maybe it was the remaining guilt from her husband's actions in 2004.
"You're not doing this." Lala bit her lip and made a mental promise to herself. "Not without me."
"No shot, Bird. Not happening." She shut her down with a quick shake of her head. "Brian would kill me then you then bring me back just to kill me again!"
She rushed over with begging eyes, "Letty, you know better than anyone that I can outrace any of his boujee wannabes. Whatever it is you're getting into I can help you, I have the connections."
"Lo-"
"No, Letty. I can do this, let me help you. I'll keep my distance and find another way in. Just don't do this alone. I don't have a good feeling about it." Lala ranted to her, eyes wide and desperate.
"There's a lot you don't know, Lala. So much you don't know. So much that I can't protect you from if you get in on this..." She trailed off and Lala could tell there was something that she wasn't sharing with her.
Finally, Letty broke. "Fine but you need to keep your eyes open and be aware of your surroundings at all times. Whatever connection it is that you have, you need to keep your distance."
Brian coming in the front door halted their conversation completely. He walked into the room with bags of Chinese take out in hand. "Sorry, I ran late. Had to wrap up some things at the office." He made eye contact with Letty, a mental exchange happening between the two which didn't go unnoticed by Lala.
"All good, B. You're just in time for the movie." Lala gave her sister a questioning look and sat on the couch.
Brian and Letty had been very secretive lately and it was irking Lala. She didn't care if they got close, in fact she loved how close the two of them were. What she cared about were the secretive looks, the hushed conversations when she wasn't in the room, the late hours that Brian would be 'working'.
He was hiding something, they both were.
part one of two!
double upload!!!!