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Summary: Mia leaves while they're out. She puts the letters she wrote where Dom and Brian will see them, hitches Nico higher on her hip, and leaves her car in the airport parking lot with no intention of ever coming back.
Notes: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eternalscribe as part of Yuletide Madness 2011.
1.
Giving birth hurts like nothing else in this world. It ends. It ends, and the midwife puts her son in Mia's arms and Brian smiles wide and kisses her forehead.
The midwife lets Dom into the room then, and Brian turns to him like a plant to the sun.
Dom looks down at the baby - Nico, she names him Nico - and squeezes Brian's shoulder, brushes Mia's hair back.
Brian says, "Look at him," but he's really looking at Dom when he does.
Dom grins just as Nico starts to cry. "That is one beautiful baby. Definitely a Toretto with that kind of attitude toward the world." He squeezes Brian's shoulder again, and Mia can see Brian soak it up like he's starving for it.
Mia has never loved and hated her brother more.
2.
When Dom and Brian and Letty are done shouting at each other - for now; Mia's sure they'll do some more of it later - Dom and Brian take off in two of the cars - brilliant solution, like that isn't what made their life exactly what it is - but Letty stays.
"It's been a while," Letty says, careful like she thinks Mia might yell too.
"Jesus," Mia swears. "Come here." She hugs Letty tighter than she's hugged anyone in a long time. It feels good, the hug and having Letty back.
"Did they say something about a baby?" Letty asks.
"I'm surprised you could hear anything over the roar of testosterone," Mia says. "Yeah, Nico." He's slept through the whole thing, but he'll be waking up soon. "You want to see him?"
Letty stands over the crib for a long time, until Nico waks up and Mia picks him up to nurse. Letty walks away then, out of the room, out of the house. Mia doesn't hear a car start up, so she must not go far.
3.
Dom and Brian are making plans, people and paper spread out over and around the kitchen table. Mia doesn't join them much anymore. Nico takes up more than enough of her energy.
Mia takes him out onto the porch, sits with him in the rocking chair, sings songs she half remembers her mom singing to her.
The screen door slams shut behind Letty.
"Your brother," she spits out, "is full of shit."
Mia thinks about the maps on the table, and then Elena standing around it.
"He loved you," she says, even as she rubs Nico's back to quiet his fretful sounds in the face of Letty's anger. "He held onto that for a long time."
"Just not long enough." There's hurt, so deep Mia can't see the bottom of it, under Letty's anger.
Letty drops it before Mia can say anything and reaches out her arms. "I'll take him."
Mia hands her Nico and watches Letty stroke his hair, look at his perfect, tiny face.
"I can't have any," she says.
Mia thinks about all the things she knows have happened to Letty, and all the things she doesn't.
"Does Dom know?"
"He never asked." Letty gives Nico back. "You don't have to keep doing this. They're adrenaline junkies."
"They are?"
Letty's lips quirk in acknowledgment. "We are. This isn't going to stop. You and Nico don't have to stay."
And there it is. The truth Mia's been trying not to think about.
"I have money," Letty says.
Mia shakes her head.
Letty says, "There's always more money," and closes the door quietly when she goes back into the house.
4.
Mia leaves while they're out. She puts the letters she wrote where Dom and Brian will see them, hitches Nico higher on her hip, and leaves her car in the airport parking lot with no intention of ever coming back.
She could have done it some other way, but she would have given in to Dom eventually, the way everyone always does, and stayed or gone only far enough for it to look like she was alone. Her son's father was an undercover cop; she's learned how to fake being someone else. But she'll never be able to stop being Dom's sister.
She thinks that if anyone could understand why she's doing it, it would be Dom, and she also thinks he'll probably never forgive her for it. Brian might. He knows about leaving, about having to leave.
Once the plane takes off, Mia doesn't look back once. She never needs to know if they forgive her.
5.
Mia's neighbors think she's a widow with just enough money - she's heard them speculate about parents who help out - to be able to stay home with her son. She doesn't try to correct them. It may as well be true.
Nico is racing his toy cars on the living room floor along a track that only exists in his mind when the knock Mia's been expecting for three years finally comes.
She didn't think it would be Letty.
Mia crosses her arms over her chest, leans agains the door jamb.
"There was always more money," Letty says with a shrug. It doesn't answer any of the questions Mia didn't ask.
"You loved Dom more than anyone," Mia says.
"Not more than Brian."
Mia doesn't flinch. "Adrenaline junkies."
Letty nods at Nico, a little jerk of her chin. "He's getting big. You're probably going crazy not getting to drive."
Mia grins and steps aside to let Letty into the house. Maybe it's time for the neighbors to find out a little bit more about her.
Summary: Mia leaves while they're out. She puts the letters she wrote where Dom and Brian will see them, hitches Nico higher on her hip, and leaves her car in the airport parking lot with no intention of ever coming back.
Notes: Written for
eternalscribe as part of Yuletide Madness 2011.1.
Giving birth hurts like nothing else in this world. It ends. It ends, and the midwife puts her son in Mia's arms and Brian smiles wide and kisses her forehead.
The midwife lets Dom into the room then, and Brian turns to him like a plant to the sun.
Dom looks down at the baby - Nico, she names him Nico - and squeezes Brian's shoulder, brushes Mia's hair back.
Brian says, "Look at him," but he's really looking at Dom when he does.
Dom grins just as Nico starts to cry. "That is one beautiful baby. Definitely a Toretto with that kind of attitude toward the world." He squeezes Brian's shoulder again, and Mia can see Brian soak it up like he's starving for it.
Mia has never loved and hated her brother more.
2.
When Dom and Brian and Letty are done shouting at each other - for now; Mia's sure they'll do some more of it later - Dom and Brian take off in two of the cars - brilliant solution, like that isn't what made their life exactly what it is - but Letty stays.
"It's been a while," Letty says, careful like she thinks Mia might yell too.
"Jesus," Mia swears. "Come here." She hugs Letty tighter than she's hugged anyone in a long time. It feels good, the hug and having Letty back.
"Did they say something about a baby?" Letty asks.
"I'm surprised you could hear anything over the roar of testosterone," Mia says. "Yeah, Nico." He's slept through the whole thing, but he'll be waking up soon. "You want to see him?"
Letty stands over the crib for a long time, until Nico waks up and Mia picks him up to nurse. Letty walks away then, out of the room, out of the house. Mia doesn't hear a car start up, so she must not go far.
3.
Dom and Brian are making plans, people and paper spread out over and around the kitchen table. Mia doesn't join them much anymore. Nico takes up more than enough of her energy.
Mia takes him out onto the porch, sits with him in the rocking chair, sings songs she half remembers her mom singing to her.
The screen door slams shut behind Letty.
"Your brother," she spits out, "is full of shit."
Mia thinks about the maps on the table, and then Elena standing around it.
"He loved you," she says, even as she rubs Nico's back to quiet his fretful sounds in the face of Letty's anger. "He held onto that for a long time."
"Just not long enough." There's hurt, so deep Mia can't see the bottom of it, under Letty's anger.
Letty drops it before Mia can say anything and reaches out her arms. "I'll take him."
Mia hands her Nico and watches Letty stroke his hair, look at his perfect, tiny face.
"I can't have any," she says.
Mia thinks about all the things she knows have happened to Letty, and all the things she doesn't.
"Does Dom know?"
"He never asked." Letty gives Nico back. "You don't have to keep doing this. They're adrenaline junkies."
"They are?"
Letty's lips quirk in acknowledgment. "We are. This isn't going to stop. You and Nico don't have to stay."
And there it is. The truth Mia's been trying not to think about.
"I have money," Letty says.
Mia shakes her head.
Letty says, "There's always more money," and closes the door quietly when she goes back into the house.
4.
Mia leaves while they're out. She puts the letters she wrote where Dom and Brian will see them, hitches Nico higher on her hip, and leaves her car in the airport parking lot with no intention of ever coming back.
She could have done it some other way, but she would have given in to Dom eventually, the way everyone always does, and stayed or gone only far enough for it to look like she was alone. Her son's father was an undercover cop; she's learned how to fake being someone else. But she'll never be able to stop being Dom's sister.
She thinks that if anyone could understand why she's doing it, it would be Dom, and she also thinks he'll probably never forgive her for it. Brian might. He knows about leaving, about having to leave.
Once the plane takes off, Mia doesn't look back once. She never needs to know if they forgive her.
5.
Mia's neighbors think she's a widow with just enough money - she's heard them speculate about parents who help out - to be able to stay home with her son. She doesn't try to correct them. It may as well be true.
Nico is racing his toy cars on the living room floor along a track that only exists in his mind when the knock Mia's been expecting for three years finally comes.
She didn't think it would be Letty.
Mia crosses her arms over her chest, leans agains the door jamb.
"There was always more money," Letty says with a shrug. It doesn't answer any of the questions Mia didn't ask.
"You loved Dom more than anyone," Mia says.
"Not more than Brian."
Mia doesn't flinch. "Adrenaline junkies."
Letty nods at Nico, a little jerk of her chin. "He's getting big. You're probably going crazy not getting to drive."
Mia grins and steps aside to let Letty into the house. Maybe it's time for the neighbors to find out a little bit more about her.