THE ROAD IS LONG

Well, here's chapter 5. I took a little bit longer to write this one than I did the others 'coz I was stuck in work and hardly any customers came in during my entire six hour shift (guess nobody fancied cooking themselves to a crisp on the sun-beds that day!). Finally we meet the Toretto cousins (after a little bit more Dom/Letty-ness). I know there are lots of fics out there that have Dom and Mia's cousins so I'm trying to make them different. If anybody has any ideas or comments about them then I would be very grateful!

Gem

Xxx

Chapter 5: Meet the Family.

After their short rest stop, Letty had taken over the task of driving from Dom. He now sat in the passenger seat beside her that she had previously occupied, feet resting on the dashboard, crossed at the ankles. His right arm pillowed his shaven head while the other was a constant, comforting weight on the back of Letty's neck. At first he had traced lazy circles there, on the nape where her spine met her neck bone, but the procedure, while meant to be therapeutic for her, had lulled Dom into the first truly peaceful sleep he'd had since before the last heist.

Letty flashed a glance at him, his head and right arm pressed up against the window frame, mouth slightly parted as he breathed in deep, slow and steady. A rhythm that had been Letty's sleeping companion almost every night since she had turned 16, save for the three weeks she'd ignored him following the incident with Johnny Tran's sister and Dom's two year stint in prison.

Pushing those less than favourable memories from her mind, Letty turned instead to the recollection of the first night that they had slept together. Simply slept, no sex or fooling around. She allowed a grin to flit across her features. Neither of them had been used to sharing their sleeping space or covers since Dom had been Letty's longest 'intimate' relationship. While she'd had sex before, Dom was the first that she had ever slept with in the same bed. Similarly, Letty was the first girl Dom had ever allowed to stay in his bed beyond their amorous ministrations. That night, however, had almost been the last! They had kicked and tossed and turned and fought for the space and covers, so used to their own company. After much trial and error and hours of fraying tempers and heated words they had found that the only way either of them would get any rest was if they wrapped their arms about each other giving them something to occupy themselves with.

Letty's grin widened. Even then the peace had been short lived. Whereas Dom was a silent sleeper except for the slight breaths that escaped his lips, Letty snored like a 'dieing' Volkswagon Beetle, in Dom's estimation. That thought made her snort to herself as she brought the car to a temporary halt at the T-junction in the road.

"Dom?" she whispered, nudging him with her elbow and trying not to disturb Mia and Jesse unnecessarily.

Dom grunted, coming out of his slumber and finally removing his hand from her neck to knuckle one eye.

"I need you to give me directions."

-00000-

The house was a lot more rundown than Dom remembered. It was a huge, detached property made entirely from wood that looked shabby and weather worn.

"This is it?" Jesse asked, his voice revealing exactly what he thought of the place.

Dom glanced at him in the rear-view mirror and gave a scowl.

"Yeah, this is it. You got a problem, Kid?"

Jesse shook his head frantically and glanced back up to the semi-derelict house. "Home sweet home, I guess…" he muttered to himself.

The middle of nowhere. Acres and acres of dry, dusty land lay between the house and the nearest town ensuring that privacy would not be a problem. It was the perfect place to lie low for a while. Until they decided what their next move was going to be and whether that move would be made together or the Team would split and go their separate ways.

Dom hadn't told anyone, not even Letty, of his fears that the Team would disintegrate before his very eyes. He wouldn't blame them if they did want to get out while the getting was good. He had caused them so many problems. With the heists, with the Trans, with the cop and now he had uprooted them from their home, their livelihood, their lives. And surprisingly they had come. No questions asked. They had come with him. For him.

Dom was brought out of his thoughts by Letty's warm hand on his shoulder.

"Dom!" she demanded, giving him a little shake as if she had been calling him for a few minutes unable to get his attention. "Snap out of it!"

Mia and Jesse had vacated the car and were stretching out stiff limbs and muscles, carefully taking in their surroundings. They looked tired, worn out. Older than the two teenagers should have looked. They should have been laughing and joking with friends, going out and having a good time, not expecting a child, not recovering from a gunshot wound and definitely not on the run!

"There you go again! Off into your own little world of worrying!" Letty exclaimed as Dom relapsed into silent contemplation. "Dom, we're here because we want to be here. We want to be with you!"

His head snapped up at the words that she spoke and he locked onto her eyes. They stared at each other for long moments, Dom attempting to determine whether she was speaking truthfully or saying things to ease his restless mind and Letty trying to convey how much she really did want to be there with him, even if the were on the run.

Finally Dom broke the silence with a snort and he threw Letty and lopsided smirk.

"You know me so well, Let. Too well!" he announced and Letty returned his smirk, fisting her hands in the front of his grubby, travel-stained T-shirt, pulling him towards her.

"You love it really." She growled claiming his lips in a crushing kiss as if to let him taste the truth on her tongue. Dom responded immediately, returning the kiss with the same ferocity, allowing himself to get swept away in Letty.

They were interrupted, too soon it seemed to both, moments later by a loud rapping on the windscreen and they jolted apart like a pair of guilty teenagers who had been caught fooling around behind the school bike sheds.

Mia's amused face looked in at them.

"Are we going in or are you two just gonna get 'jiggy' in there?" she enquired, attempting to stifle her laughter. Dom scowled and muttered a profane retort before opening his door and stepping out. Letty simply smirked at Mia and followed Dom from the reliable old mustang. She fell into step beside him, curling her arm about his waist and giving his backside a sharp, teasing smack, before sliding her hand down into his right back jean pocket, caressing where she had just slapped.

Dom grinned and draped his arm across Letty's shoulders, though he kept his gaze decidedly focused upon the massive house in front of them. If he glanced down at her at that moment then they wouldn't make it up the veranda steps, he would simply drag her back to the car and get extremely 'jiggy' with her, as Mia had so eloquently and politely put it.

Quite unexpectedly the front door to the house swung open, slamming back against the wooden walls making a sharp cracking sound and a dark haired teenage girl flew out, beaming and squealing with delight. She lunged at Dom, jumping into his arms and wrapping her skinny limbs about him tightly.

Dom laughed deep and loud and crushed the 16 year old to him harder.

"This can't be my little Frankie!" he growled, peeling her off and setting her back onto the ground. "Naw! My little Frankie was knee-high to a grasshopper last time I saw her! You! You're a proper little lady! You really sprouted, Kiddo!"

The girl narrowed her olive green eyes into a mock-scowl and folded her arms across her chest.

"Very funny, Uncle Dom!" she replied, sarcastically (A/N: He's not really her uncle, she just calls him that.) and Dom laughed, ruffling her dark brown hair. "I was ten last time you came to see us. I wasn't that small!"

"You were, bambina. You were very small." came a deep voice not unlike Dom's and the group glanced back up to the veranda. "Long time no see, cuz!" the tall, older man called down with a wide grin. His black and slightly silver flecked hair was long and pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of his neck. His eyes were as deep and dark as Dom's and Mia's and a faint, stubbly goatee grew on his jaw and chin. The woman beside him sported the same long, dark hair that was left loose to hang down to her waist but her eyes shone bright amber. She grinned down at her two younger cousins and their companions.

"Been shit-busy, Tino." Dom called back finally to the man. "How ya been Donni?" his gaze flickered to the woman and her smile widened.

"Same old, same old, Dom." she shrugged.

"You gonna introduce us, or have you still not learned any manners?" Tino asked and he and Donni moved down the wooden steps towards the gathering.

Dom replied with a snort and pulled first Tino and then Donni into a warm embrace. "Sure, sure, Ti. You know Mia." He indicated his sister who moved forwards to hug her cousins also.

"You've grown, Mia." Donni acknowledged brushing the dark, unusually messy hair from the younger girl's face. "It's been too long."

Dom nodded his agreement and then moved to introduce Jesse.

"This skinny-assed punk is Jesse. He's part of the Team. Complete whiz-kid with a computer. Not too hot on the whole paying attention kick." Dom flashed Jesse a reassuring look but Jesse simply chewed on his already bitten down fingernails and gave a nervous wave with his free hand.

"And this is Letty. She's my girl." Dom finished wrapping his arm back about Letty's shoulders, subconsciously claiming his territory.

Tino gave an amused chuckle at Dom's actions before shaking Jesse's hand and kissing the back of Letty's.

"You sure know how to pick the ladies, cuz!" Tino said teasingly, still clasping Letty's hand causing her to laugh.

"Careful, Dom. I might just ditch you for your cousin. He really knows how to treat a woman!" she tormented but seeing his scowl, threw him a comforting wink.

"Yeah, yeah…" Dom growled tightening his arm about Letty's shoulders and pulling her more firmly to his chest. He knew that Tino was merely winding him up. "Just hurry up the intro, 'cuz'!"

Tino straightened and released Letty's hand with a final alluring grin.

"I'm Tino and this is my sister, Donnatella-"

"Donni!" she interrupted irately. "I hate being called Donnatella!"

Tino rolled his eyes and continued. "And this is my daughter, Francesca. She prefers Frankie though."

"Hi." Frankie said with a brave smile. She had been quite for a long time, simply watching the exchange between the adults. Her olive green eyes flicked between Mia, Letty and finally landing on Jesse. She glanced at him with a slit-eyed scrutiny that she hadn't used on the others, taking in his chipped painted black nails, his scruffy jeans, his black T-shirt that sported a white skull and cross bones motif. He was only a few inches taller than her and they were both similarly scrawny and gangly due to their teenage growth spurts.

Jesse noted her examination and turned a wildly nervous, wide-eyed gaze to Dom for support who merely smirked in amusement. Tino, however, was a little less impressed by his daughter's attention to the scruffy young man. He coughed loudly and deliberately drawing her awareness to him.

"So." he said scanning the faces of those around him. "Guess ya'll better come in then."

-00000-

Well, hope that was okay! Trying to embellish the characters of Tino, Donni and Frankie a bit. Oh yeah, the ages of the Toretto cousins are Tino34, Donni27, Frankie16. Hope that helps a bit. And Frankie calls Dom Uncle Dom coz he and Tino were close as kids and he is kinda like an uncle.

Not too sure where the next chapter is headed. It could be a Frankie and Jesse chapter that I started to map out or a Vince and Leon chapter. Not sure yet so I'll see what pops outta my head!

Reviews and comments are always welcome. Thankies for reading!

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