16th April- Los Angeles, United States
O’conner’s House
Dom’s POV
“Okay princess bath time.” I spoke taking Ava’s nappy off before placing her in the bath.
“Ball.” She cooed as reached for her favourite toy.
“Yeah ball, but ball has to stay inside the bath, okay?” I spoke firmly as I sat beside the bath and let her play for a bit.
“Bub!.”
“Mmmhmm bubbles. Can you say bubbles?” I asked as she held out her bubble covered hand to me.
“BUB!” She giggled.
“Close enough.” I laughed as I blew the bubbles out of her hand. She blinked shocked for a moment before she giggled again. The suds now in her hair and on her cheek.
“Again?” I asked happily as she held out another handful.
“Da.” She smiled and giggled happily as I blew the bubbles away yet again. I caught myself grinning as we began the game.
“Meow.” I looked down as a small body wrapped itself around me.
“Hello kiki.” I smiled at the small tabby, bringing a hand down over its back in a pat.
“Ki.” Ava spoke excitedly as she stood, gripping the edge of the bathtub to get a better look at her cat.
“Ava sit down or you’ll slip and hurt yourself. You can play with kiki after your bath.” I warned.
“Ki.” She spoke again, pointing to the cat and I raised an eyebrow at her in warning.
“Sit Ava.” I rolled my eyes as she did as she was told but fell heavily into the bath making water splash over the sides. A disgruntled ‘meow’ from kiki as water hit her fur sent her running from the room.
“Ki.” Ava called and I shook my head.
“Kiki’s gone, you wet her by splashing.” I spoke as I kneeled beside the tub and started washing Ava.
“Mine?”
“Yes princess Kiki’s still yours but she doesn’t like being wet.” I explained gently as I washed her face.
“Ah so that explains why she high tailed it out of here.” Letty spoke up from the door. I looked up and gave her a smile as I grabbed Ava’s towel and picked her up out of the bath. Wrapping her up tightly I carefully held her as I stood and walked back into our room.
“You shouldn’t lift her you know.” Letty spoke as she followed, sitting beside Ava on the bed as she watched me dry and dress her.
“And you should?” I countered.
“No but I’m not injured-”
“Just pregnant.” I finished off with a teasing smile.
“Exactly.” She smiled slightly, fighting the back a bigger grin.
“Okay, all dressed and ready for bed.” I announced as I stood Ava on the bed and kissed her damp hair.
“No. Ki.” Ava pointed to the open door and I frowned.
“Kiki’s gone to bed too. Now it’s Ava’s turn.” I spoke.
“No.” Ava spoke stubbornly.
“Oh boy.” Letty sighed as she stood from the bed.
“Ava, you don’t say no to daddy.” Letty spoke firmly.
“Ki.” She whined tiredly as she rubbed her eyes.
“For someone who slept so much today she’s still tired.” I whispered to Letty as I picked Ava up and together we went in search of the cat.
“She’s not often like this thank god.” Letty groaned as she stepped into the kitchen while Ava and I went searching for the cat.
“You seen Kiki?” I asked everyone in the lounge. Nico was fast asleep on Rosa’s lap and Mia had Alexis put to bed already.
“She took off down to the basement. I’ll help you look.” Leon offered as he stood.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t think I’ve seen that cat so angry since we put her in the box to go to Mexico.”
“Ava splashed her.” I explained with a roll of my eyes.
“Yeah I guess that’ll do it.” He joked.
“How come you’re not in bed miss?” Leon asked Ava.
“No.” Ava spoke turning her head away and into my good shoulder.
“Over tired huh?” Leon asked with a knowing smile. I just smiled tensely back. Okay so I was still a little sore with the fact he knew my own daughter better than I did.
“Mmhmm.”
“Here she is.” He announced as he scooped up the sleeping tabby from his bed.
“Ki.” Ava smiled as she held her hands out.
“Right, we have Kiki now bed princess.” I spoke as I took the cat from Leon in my free hand.
“Thanks.” I nodded to Leon.
“Anytime. Night Ava.” He cooed as he dropped a kiss to her cheek before I walked past.
“Night uncle Leon.” I spoke for Ava as she patted kiki contently.
16th April- Los Angeles, United States
O’conner’s House
Letty’s POV
I stood at the sink as I waited for the microwave to click off. Over the past couple of days I had started weaning Ava off breast feeding. So far it was working, she didn’t think it was such a big deal. In fact she loved the fact she had her own special cup through the day. Her ‘big girl’ cup is what I’d been calling it. It was a just a plain old sippy cup but she could call it whatever she wanted to as long as she was off my boobs. At night though the bottles came back out and she was doing pretty well.
“Here’s mama.” Dom announced as he walked into the kitchen and I turned to them and smiled.
“Hey baby, you found kiki huh?”
“Uncle Leon did.” Dom spoke for her as he gave me a kiss on the cheek.
The microwaved pinged and I grabbed out the bottle, twisting the top back on before I gave it a slight shake.
“What’s that?” Dom asked confused and I smiled.
“My new best friend. Cow’s milk.” I grinned.
“No breast feeding?” He asked confused.
“Nope, started weaning her off the beginning of the week and so far we’ve done alright. We have a big girl cup now daddy.” I joked.
“A big girl cup hey?” Dom asked with a smile.
“Yep.”
“So you mean I don’t get free shows anymore?” He whispered quietly to me and I laughed.
“My boobs feel like led and the slightest touch of them makes me want to scream so what do you think?” I played back as he grimaced.
“So definitely no free shows then.” He decided and I smiled.
“Come on lets get her to bed.” I spoke as we headed up stairs, throwing a quick goodnight behind us to the family.
“Night princess.” Dom spoke as he tucked her in and kissed her goodnight. Kiki was curled up beside her, already asleep while Ava drank her bottle.
“How do you feel?” I asked Dom as he came and laid next to me in bed.
“Honestly?” He winced and I nodded seriously.
“Pretty sore right now.” He groaned as he laid back on the bed and relaxed.
“You did too much.” I shook my head as I laid next to him.
“Maybe, but it was worth it.”
Silence took over the room as we lay there, the only sounds was from Ava and Kiki’s soft purring.
I rested my head on Dom’s good shoulder and let my mind wander. I knew I needed to bring up the counselling but was now really such a good time?
16th April- Los Angeles, United States
O’conner’s House
Dom’s POV
I stayed silent as I felt the weight of Letty’s thoughts. She obviously had something to say and I while I wanted her to say it she needed to tell me in her own time so I chose not to push. Instead I moved my head closer to her so my chin rested on her head as I let my fingers comb through her hair.
“Dom?”
“Yeah Let?”
“Um… I need to tell you something.” She spoke nervously.
“Okay.” I spoke simply, kissing her hair in reassurance.
“I want us to go and see a counsellor.” She rushed through before taking a breath.
“Okay.” I said simply again. I agreed wholeheartedly that we needed professional help to get through our next hurdle and I knew Letty would benefit majorly from private sessions, but for now I kept that quiet.
“Okay?” She asked confused.
“Okay.” I agreed again with a smile.
“So you’re okay with that?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Uh… I don’t know. I just expected more of a fight.” I chuckled and pulled her closer.
“No fight. We both need counselling. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”
“Oh, okay then.” She spoke slowly.
“Have you got someone in mind?” I asked quietly, mindful of Ava trying to sleep.
“Yeah Mia helped me today to pick someone out.”
“That’s great. When would you like to start?” I asked.
“I can give her a call tomorrow?” She offered.
“Okay. Whenever you’re ready to make the call just let me know, I’ll be there by your side.” Her body relaxed instantly and it was only then that I noticed how tense she’d been.
“While we’re being honest and communicating I have something to tell you too.” I offered.
“Oh?” She asked nervously.
“Yeah I realise I probably should have spoken with you about this first but I wanted to surprise you.”
“Surprise me? With what?” She asked confused.
“After Brian picked me up today we headed over to the old family lawyer, with Lotty too.” I started.
“The lawyer? What for?” She questioned.
“Well I had to update my will for starters. Everything gets left to you, Ava and baby number two obviously.”
“Okay but why Brian and Lotty? Were they just witnesses?”
“Uh no, I um… I made Brian co-owner of DT’s.” I spoke quietly, waiting silently after for her reaction.
“Dom that’s great.” She spoke genuinely.
“Really? You’re not angry I didn’t speak to you about it first?” I asked concerned.
“No of course not. DT’s is all yours, nothing to with me.” She spoke simply but I shook my head.
“Oh no that’s where you’re wrong. Everything I own has everything to do with you. We’re partners Let and while I may not have acted that way today I want you to know that’s how things work.” I explained.
“I get that I do but you and Brian are brothers. I always just assumed you guys would strike up a partnership. It seemed…a sure thing.”
“So you’re not mad?”
“No of course not. As long as I still get to work DT’s I don’t care who else in this family owns it.”
“You know you always have a job there but… not until you give birth.” I grinned as I kissed her head.
“I can’t believe I can’t stand the smell of engine grease.” She whined and I chuckled.
“It’ll pass.”
“I have something else to say though.” I started again after a beat of silence.
“What?” She sighed happily as I ran my hand up and down her back lovingly.
“We’re changing the name of DT’s.”
“To what?” She asked curiously.
“No idea yet. Any suggestions?”
“I’ll need to sleep on that, my baby brain has kicked in.”
“Baby brain?” I asked amused.
“Bad case of forgetfulness due to growing a baby.” She said seriously and I laughed, kissing her head once more.
“Well we have a while so it’s okay.” I joked.
“Are you making fun of me Toretto?” She asked and I kissed her in response.
“Never, but seriously is that okay?”
“Promise me you won’t name it O‘Toretto or something else cheesy and it’ll be okay.”
“I think I can definitely make that promise and not break it.” I spoke truthfully.
“Good. Anything else I should know about.’
“Well I did something else today too.”
“Okay now I’m worried because you sound guilty.” Letty spoke up and looked up at me seriously.
“This is the decision I really should have made with you but I was really excited and I couldn’t resist so I just did it.”
“What?” She asked nervously.
“I gifted the house to Mia and Brian…”
“House? As in this house?” She asked quietly and I nodded.
“Yeah.”
The silence that stretched between the two of got more and more tense the longer it went on.
“Let say something?” I begged.
“I don’t know what to say…. Why? Why would you just give it away?” She asked completely baffled.
“As much as I love this house, having been born and raised in it all my life, it doesn’t hold the greatest memories for us. When we spoke about our freedom we agreed on starting fresh and to do that here, under this roof, I just don’t think we’ll be able to do it. I want to raise our family away from our past Let. There’s too much of it here and I know Mia loves the house to bits so I just gave it to her.” I explained quietly.
“I understand that, I do but we have so many good memories here as well. Your dad, my mum, our first time… all that happened here. Why would you just let go of all that?”
“I’m not letting go of that Let, not one bit. I cherish each and every one of those moments but I don’t need a house to remember all that. I have you and I have my memories.”
“Where are we supposed to go then? Where are we supposed to raise our family?” She started stressing and I bit my lip as I smoothed my hand over her back in reassurance.
“Well that’s part of the surprise I wanted to give you.” I offered and I took her responding silence as the go ahead to explain.
“I want to take you house shopping…” I trailed off as her face snapped up to face mine.
“House shopping?” She asked shocked.
“As in a house of our own. One we can finally settle down in and raise Ava and bub properly in.” I explained again.
“Anyone I want?” I nodded, watching her reaction.
“Doesn’t even matter if I pick one with a bright purple kitchen?” I frowned but nodded yet again. If she wanted a bright purple kitchen I’d find one with a bright purple kitchen. Hell I’d even build it.
Before I could even blink her lips had descended on mine and she was kissing me. Closing my eyes I wrapped my arms around her tighter, not even caring that it hurt my injured arm, and kissed her back harder.
Letty wasn’t budging though, she took the lead and ran with it and all I could do was hold on to her tighter. I groaned as her tongue swept into my mouth, entangling with mine as she held herself above me. I gripped her hips, squeezing gently as she drove me wild with just one kiss.
“Whoa.” I breathed out as she pulled away.
“I love you Dom.” She whispered.
“I love you too Let, so much.” I breathed out as I pressed my lips to hers.
“Mmm…”
“So you’re not mad about the house?”
“No. I love this house don’t get me wrong but I don’t want to stay here either. I want somewhere you and I can call home. Just the four of us.”
“With a purple kitchen?” I asked hesitantly and she laughed quietly.
“I can live without a purple kitchen but our bedroom on the hand… well that’s a different matter.”
“I can live with that.” I agreed as I pulled her back down for another heart stopping kiss.