6th April- Los Angeles, United States
LA Hospital
Letty’s POV
“So how long exactly are you in here for?” I asked as I settled into the chair next to Dom’s bed. Everyone had not long left, Leon taking Ava so that Dom and I could have some alone time.
“At least a week.” Dom spoke making a face.
“You’ll deal.” I joked quietly. He shot me an amused smile before turning serious again.
“I was really scared Let.” He whispered, squeezing my hand tightly.
“When you were shot?”
“Yeah. I seriously thought that was it, I was going to die. My last thoughts were of you and the girls.”
“Girls? As in plural?” I asked with a smile. He chuckled nervously and blushed.
“Well I can hope right?”
“You want another girl?” I asked curiously.
“Honestly? As long as he or she is healthy I don’t mind either way. But when I think about the baby I always picture a girl.” He admitted with a shy smile.
“I want a boy.” I admitted. Dom patted the small space beside him and I moved from my spot in the chair onto the bed. Easing gently in beside him I made sure to mind his IV line.
“Why a boy?” He asked as he wrapped his good arm around me, holding me to his side.
“I guess so that we can have one of each. We’d be able to teach him all about cars.” I spoke thoughtfully.
“I don’t know, Ava kinda has the whole car thing figured out.” I laughed quietly, nodding my head as I agreed with him.
“Oh yeah. We were always destined to raise grease monkeys.” I joked.
“They wouldn’t be our kids if they weren’t.” He agreed.
“I still think it’s a girl though.” He whispered as his hand came to rest on my stomach.
“Nah uh it’s a boy. Mother’s intuition.” I argued.
“Mother’s intuition? No such thing. Now father’s intuition on the other hand…” He trailed off as I glared at him.
“Its gunna be a boy.” I stated firmly.
“Hmm nope she told me she was a girl.” Dom said smirking.
“No. He’s a boy.” I growled and I watched as he bit back a smile and stared down at me.
“What?” I asked self-conscious of his staring.
“Nothing, you just reminded me of this girl I knew years ago.” He whispered and I frowned as I turned my head to look up at him.
“Who?” I demanded, jealously flooding through me in an instant.
“Careful you’re turning green.” He joked as he ran his good hand through my hair.
“I am not.” I muttered annoyed.
“Okay.” He surrendered as we lapsed into silence.
Eventually temptation and curiosity grew too great.
“Well? Who was she?” I demanded as I looked back up at Dom. He laughed lightly, his face showing his discomfort before he settled to speak.
“We grew up together. She had this fiery temper and a bad ass attitude that made me hot under the collar.” He spoke trying not to grin as he stared down at me. I blushed as I realised he was talking about me. Embarrassed by my bout of jealousy I shrugged it off by playing along.
“Oh… what happened to her?” I asked trying not to smile. I frowned though as I noted his smile slip, his face settling into a serious expression instead.
“I hurt her one to many times and she changed. She’s beautiful and she still makes me hot under the collar but she’s just quieter now.” He whispered and I stayed silent.
“I know it’s been a while since our last talk.” Dom hinted and I slowly nodded, agreeing with him as I thought back to our first proper talk on the Islands.
“Yeah, it has.”
“And that’s my fault. I let our problems take a back seat again because of everything that got thrown our way.”
“That’s not your fault. You were busy helping Hobbs.” He sighed tiredly as he stroked my knuckles.
“That’s no excuse Let. I should have made time. Now where back home though you, Ava and this baby are my number one priority now. Nothing else. I can’t promise you I’m going to be a perfect dad or a perfect partner but I can promise you I’m going to try. You deserve so much more than what I’ve given you in the past and Ava does too.” He spoke softly as he wiped away a stray tear of mine.
“You’re a great dad.” I whispered.
“Am I? Because I’ve missed out on so much Letty and it was by choice. I walked out not you. I chose to give you both up because I thought I was protecting you but look where that got us. It was a selfish choice on my part.” He asked as he kissed my head.
“I understand why you left, I don't like it but I understand. I don't think you were being selfish Dom, you were trying to protect your family. That's what you've always done.”
“I know you understand, and I love you so much more for it but I still hurt you. I haven't done a very good job at protecting my family Let. We've lost a lot of people we love along the way because of me. Letty I made you a promise I knew I was going to break, there's no excusing that. I don’t deserve to be forgiven for that but just know leaving you that morning was the hardest thing I had ever done.”
“You’re right you did make a promise you shouldn’t have; and it wasn’t the first time. I was angry when I found you gone and I was hurt because I’d just told you about Ava. I was having such a hard time dealing with it myself and to see you gone…” I choked.
“Shh it’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to make you upset. You should be resting, I shouldn’t have brought this up.” He whispered as he kissed my cheek.
“Just blame it on the pregnancy hormones.” I whispered as I wiped away my tears. Dom chuckled lightly as he pulled me closer.
“Pregnancy hormones huh? They got me into a lot of trouble with Mia while she was pregnant, is this gunna be a repeat?” He asked smiling.
“Probably.” I laughed.
“Seeing you gone made me feel alone. I didn’t know where to go or who to turn to. I didn’t want to raise a baby on my own. As for our family... Dom you weren't solely to blame. We could have said no, each and every one of us but we didn't. Yes there were times we told you not to go through with a heist or whatever but in the end Dom it was us that made the choice to follow you. You didn't hold a gun to our heads. Jesse... he wasn't your fault. He made a bad choice to get in with Tran. We looked everywhere for him that night before the heist, it's not like we didn't try, he just didn't want to be found.” I whispered as I finished off my earlier explanation.
“You won’t be alone this time, I’m not going anywhere. If you want me gone you’re going to have to kill me because baby I’m not leaving your side for anything. No more stupid decisions, no more jobs, no more crimes. As of now everything we do we do the legal way. I want Ava, Lexi, this baby and any others that decide to come into our lives to grow up the way we did. With a supportive family and unconditional love.” He spoke quietly but honestly, and for the first time since he’d left me I felt at ease with that part of our past.
I didn’t feel like it was hanging over our heads anymore. It had hurt and angered me at the time but now after talking through it the pain had dulled and the hole that it had caused had healed slightly. Not fully, but enough for me to know we had finally laid that particular ghost to rest.