Author's Note: Hey everyone! I'm back with another story! Don't worry, I'm going to finish my fix-it fic but I was super inspired to start on this. I've been trying to consider where they could go at the end of 8 with what all happened. So this is sort of my take on how things could go down, you know, if the women got more screen time. Dotty heavy, lots of Letty. Cipher is still around, so what is she going to do? I don't think she'd just let that all go. Now they have a new family to protect. Also please note I refer to the kid as Marcus in this because it's kind of weird writing it as Brian, so just keep that in mind.

2 Months After 8

Letty was just starting to get the hang of this mom gig. At least, most of the time she was.

She still felt entirely flustered when little Marcus would reach for her instead of Dom, most especially if he was in one of his inconsolable moods. She still thought diapers were horrendous and she was still baffled that a person so small generated such a huge amount of laundry.

But that first time he'd fixed her with that little grin and called her 'mama' she'd melted. Then she'd felt guilty because she wasn't his mother. And yet… she also was. She was the only mother he'd know. And she supposed she could at the very least honor Elena's memory by doing her best by him.

The love part wasn't hard at all, but it turned out that pretty much everything else about raising a kid was, and that had taken a lot of adjustment for both her and Dom. They'd sort of fallen into a routine now. During the day they usually took him with them to the garage. They'd hired a couple of mechanics and Ramsey had come on to help with programming, electronics and keeping the books. Between them, there was usually someone to keep an eye on the little man. On days when their schedule was tight they'd drop him at Mia's place, where most days Brian played stay-at-home-dad. Mia was currently on maternity leave from her job at the hospital though, so they hadn't wanted to bother her recently.

Today, Dom had taken one of the young mechanics, Manny, down to the auctions. Sometimes they'd find older models that they could scrap for in-demand parts. Other times there was a hidden gem to be found. Something with a killer engine they knew they could fix up. More often than not they'd put in wrench time and money and then turn around and sell it at a profit.

Letty had left Ramsey and their other mechanic, Lucy, to handle the midday lull so that she could run a deposit over to the bank.

Dom had taken the car to the auctions so she loaded the baby seat up in the garage's pick-up for the brief trip.

"You could leave him," Ramsey offered, typing away at the computer. "I don't mind."

"It's fine," Letty told her. "You have work to do. Besides, he'll like the ride."

The trip to the bank itself was uneventful, if a bit slow. Traffic in downtown LA was pretty much always bad. But at least not like it was when she tried to get down here around rush hour. Some Spanish pop song was playing on the radio. Lucy had probably been the last one to use the truck. But Letty left it on, amused as Marcus bopped around in his seat, babbling excitedly.

She found parking on the street, right in front of the bank, amazingly enough. Getting out, she went around to grab Marcus from the back and the deposit pouch from the passenger seat. Then settled him against her hip and went inside. In the lobby both ATMs were in use, but Letty moved past them, inside towards where the tellers were. An elderly man was on his way out and he tipped his hat, offering Marcus a wide grin.

"What a pretty Mommy you've got there," he said.

Before Letty could say anything the man was out the door. She shook her head, stepping up to an open window where the young woman on the other side gave them a smile.

Letty handed over the deposit slip and pouch and the teller ran the slip, typing at her computer. She counted the money and the checks before running them through the machine. Letty sat Marcus on the edge of the counter to sign, keeping ahold of him with one arm. He played with her necklace, trying to put it in his mouth, so she tickled his feet, distracting him. The kid must be teething again because everything seemed to be put in his mouth lately.

"Thanks," she said, when the teller passed her the receipt and now-empty pouch. Shifting the toddler to her other hip, she let Marcus play with the pouch (which mostly involved chewing on it) and made her way back out of the bank.

Only one of the ATMs was in use now but Letty paid the woman no mind as she went to open the door.

"You know," the woman began conversationally. "These things aren't very secure."

Letty turned her head slightly, brow furrowing in confusion. Was she talking to her? There was something about her voice that was familiar. Just tugging at the edges of her memory. It made a chill crawl up Letty's spine.

"I could empty everyone's accounts just from this ATM. All that money just gone in a blink."

Shoulders tensing, Letty turned to face the woman. Her back was still to her. Blonde hair cut in a sharp a-line bob.

Then she turned too and Letty's breath caught in her throat. She'd only met the woman face to face that time she'd filled Nowhere with disorienting grenades, but she wasn't sure she'd ever forget her. Even after that brief moment. Cipher.

"What do you want?" she asked, angling herself protectively in front of Marcus. The woman didn't appear to be armed, but she wasn't taking any chances.

"What do you think?" Cipher asked. "Make this easy on us all and come with me now."

"You're crazy if you think I'll do that," Letty spat.

Cipher laughed. "Somehow, I thought you'd say that."

She took something small from her pocket. Letty heard the flip of a switch and ducked instinctively, curling herself around her child. Something outside exploded, the fireball washing heat over her as the glass windows of the lobby shattered inwards. Bits of it rained down around them, stinging against her bare skin. Letty stumbled, got her feet under her and darted through the remains of the door.

"You can't run!" Cipher shouted after her.

A quick look told her it was the truck from the garage that had exploded, and, cursing under her breath, Letty skirted around the charred remnants, eyes scanning for another option.

She spotted a Toyota Corolla idling, double-parked across the street. A middle-aged Chinese man was standing beside it with the back door open, staring at the exploded vehicle. She placed the Toyota as 2005. Before those auto-park chips that she knew Cipher could take advantage of.

The explosion had halted or slowed most traffic, so Letty wove past the few remaining cars, Marcus clinging to her shirt with tiny fists, to get to the vehicle.

"Sorry about this, but get in the car," she ordered, passing the baby to the confused man. Wide-eyed, he took the kid, sitting in the back seat. Letty had closed the door on him and slid in the front before he demanded to know what was going on.

"Buckle up," she told him. "I'm borrowing your car."

"What?" He looked startled as she pulled into traffic. "It's not my car. My Uber driver is in the coffee shop!"

"Well, I hope he has insurance," Letty replied, swerving around an SUV that had stopped short.

The man clutched Marcus close with one hand as he hastily snapped his seat belt in place. On the road behind them cars were coming to life. Pulling out of parking spaces or making u-turns. Most of them driverless, they sped after Letty. She caught sight of them in the rearview mirror and muttered a curse.

"Hold on," she warned, yanking the wheel hard to pull down a narrow alleyway.

"This isn't a road!" he shouted. "Are you crazy?" But when he turned his head he saw half a dozen cars dive into the corner of a building trying to make the sharp turn behind them. "Drive! Drive!"

Marcus laughed, clapping his little hands together in delight.

"I'm driving," Letty snapped as the Toyota burst back out onto a road. She swerved around a bus, weaving through traffic as people honked.

"There's construction ahead," the man told her, turning his head to watch as more cars pulled out of lots or drivers lost control. Some of them rammed into the bus, trying to force their way through to get to them. "You need to take another route!"

"Okay, hold on," she said, before turning the wrong way down a one-way street. She swerved around an oncoming van.

In the back the man screamed and Marcus laughed.

A parked car pulled out in front of them, turning sideways to block the road. Letty braked, turning the wheel to go around it, the right two wheels bumping up on the sidewalk. Pedestrians were already scattering, running in the opposite direction.

Letty yanked the wheel back the other way to avoid a hydrant, and dared a glance over her shoulder. A row of vehicles had formed a sort of blockade across the road, speeding in their direction.

Traffic was turning around now, with some people abandoning their cars in the middle of the road. Letty wished for a manual car, for some damn nitrous, for anything other than this shitty automatic Toyota, then grit her teeth, angling the car to slide between a minivan and delivery truck. The man was screaming again. Something about the truck going to hit them and running into a wall. She tugged the wheel hard to avoid the latter and slammed on the gas again.

Ahead they shot out onto one of the larger roads, where traffic was already mayhem due to the cars that Cipher was controlling. Letty drove nearly straight across onto another side street. Up ahead she could spot a three way stop and a gas station across the way. A tanker truck was unloading its fuel. She pulled out onto the street.

Cars were coming from all directions and the man in the back seat was starting to panic. "What are we going to do? What are you going to do?"

Letty came to a stop, revving the car's engine, her eyes narrowed. There was only one way out.

"Go! Go! Mama!" Marcus cheered from the back seat.

The tires peeled, burning rubber on the asphalt as she pressed on the gas. The Toyota shot forward, bumping up over the sidewalk. It flew through the air, coming down hard in the middle of the gas station, skid and bumped into one of the pumps. She heard the crunch of metal behind her.

"Are they still following us?" she asked.

"Of course!" The man shouted. "Of course they are! Drive faster!"

"Good," Letty was driving straight for the tanker truck. But just before they would hit it she threw the car into reverse and backed up, veering around the zombie cars that were still heading for the truck.

The first two hit and the resulting explosion set off a fireball into the air. Letty shifted the car back into drive and plowed forward, the Toyota bumping over bits of wreckage towards the flaming hulk of the fuel tanker. It was collapsing, burning, as more cars plowed into it, but it was the only opening. She turned the wheel, sliding under it at just the exact moment as it fell, crushing the cars behind her.

"Oh shit! Holy shiiiit!" The man in the back seat was holding onto the side of the car with one hand as if it might keep him safe. Marcus was laughing again. "Boom!" he exclaimed, clapping his little hands.

Another explosion ripped through the gas station, the force of it knocking the Toyota forward and cracking the glass of the rear window. She slammed her foot on the gas, straightening out the car.

The gas station was a mess of flames and thick black smoke behind them, a pile of wrecked cars barricaded by the remains of the tanker. Letty released a long breath as the road stretched out clear ahead of them and made for the highway.

She grabbed the Uber driver's phone from the dash, GPS still on and chucked it out the window, hoping there was no other way that Cipher could track her. Dragged a hand through her hair, slowly coming down from the adrenaline rush.

Blowing out a breath she glanced into the back seat. "You okay back there?"

"Uh… yeah," the man answered. "And this little guy… he seems… happy."

"Marcus," she said. "That's his name. And I'm Letty. Can you do me a favor?"

"Well I guess we're probably friends for life now, Letty," he said, trying to settle Marcus on his lap. "I'm Ray. What… exactly can I do? Aside from holding your kid."

She laughed, and felt some of the tension drain out. Fishing her cellphone out of her back pocket she passed it over the seat. Ray took it. At once, Marcus was reaching for it, babbling.

"Call the first number on the speed dial for me," she said. "Put it on speaker."

Ray lifted the phone away from Marcus and he started to fuss, whining. "Mama!" He reached for her.

"I can't take you buddy, I'm driving." Her eyes kept drifting back to the road behind them, worried that more cars would suddenly appear, that they'd somehow been followed. She tapped her thumbs against the steering wheel as she listened to the phone ring. Three times before Dom picked up.

"Yeah?" He sounded normal, which settled her. She must have been the first one Cipher had gone for. But why? How had she known where she'd be?

"Dom," she had to raise her voice over Marcus, who was now starting to cry. "Look. I don't care where you are right now but you need to get the others and head to the place."

He was silent for a moment. "What happened?" he demanded. "Where are you?"

"Cipher's back."

"Who is Cipher?" Ray asked in a half-whisper.

"What happened?" Dom was sounding more than a little panicked now.

"Dom, I'm fine. We're fine," she assured him. Marcus cried louder and she groaned. "I can't really do this right now."

She blew out a breath, listening to his silence. She could almost hear him pacing, see the way his shoulders would tense up and he'd rub his hand over his head.

"She tried to grab us at the bank," she said. "We're fine. I got away. But I need to ditch the phone right now so please grab everyone and meet me there, okay?"

Dom was quiet again, but she couldn't see him, couldn't read all the nuances in the things he wasn't saying. "Fuck," he hissed out the word. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Dom," she said, then softened her tone. "I promise."

"Okay. I'll get the others. See you there." He paused. "I love you Letty." Then he hung up.

She let out a sigh. Ray didn't say anything for a moment, perhaps feeling a little awkward to have listened in on that all. Finally he spoke up. "So uh… what do you want me to do with this now?"

"Turn it off and chuck it out the window," she said. "We need to lose it before we get on the highway."

"The highway," he repeated, rolling down the window. "So uh… I actually needed to get to the airport…"

She laughed a little. "Sorry Ray," she said. "We're not making any stops, but I promise I'll recoup you for the ticket and get you where you're headed somehow. Eventually."

000000000

Letty was the first one at the safe house, unsurprisingly. Not long after they'd ditched the phone she'd gotten on the highway heading south away from Los Angeles. The 'borrowed' Toyota was now parked in the attached garage of the little house in Mission Viejo. On their return from New York they'd invested in getting a place that was off the grid. Bought through an agent with cash and listed under an assumed name on the deed. It was furnished, and a cleaning service came every couple of weeks to make sure the dust didn't pile up. They hadn't really had occasion to use it before, but with Cipher on the loose they'd all known that it was a possibility they would have to soon.

And it had come too soon, as far as Letty was concerned. She would have been happy if they'd never heard the name Cipher again.

Ray was in the other room distracting Marcus from the fact that she didn't have any of his baby stuff with her. No fresh diapers was currently the most pressing issue. But the kid was going to get hungry soon enough.

Not to mention the fact that she was starting to get stressed. They should be here by now, unless something had happened. And if something had happened, she had no way of knowing. Her phone was gone and Dom and the others had probably dumped theirs' as well.

She was just starting to worry when she heard the sound of wheels on the long gravel drive. She went for the door as it swung open and Dom rushed in.

His eyes latched onto her and she could see him processing everything. She wasn't hurt, superficial cuts from the explosion aside. She was there, and fine, just as she'd said. And then he had her in his arms, holding on tight, one hand drifting into her hair. He buried his head against her shoulder and she wrapped her own arms around him, not saying anything for long moments.

The door opened again and the others drifted in. Tej and Roman, the former giving her a nod as he walked past her, Rome turning to offer to carry Ramsey's bag as she trailed behind them. She brushed him off politely, offering Letty a grin.

"I brought this," the other woman said, holding up Marcus' baby bag. "You'd left it at the garage."

"Yeah," Letty laughed. "He definitely needs it." She pulled back from her husband, arching a brow at him. "Why don't you go take care of that?"

He smirked, grabbing the bag from Ramsey. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "So bossy."

"Who the hell is this dude?" Roman was asking from the other room.

Letty could hear Ray introducing himself and Marcus babbling. She followed Dom and Ramsey towards the source of their voices.

"Okay," Roman said. "Now I know your name. But I'm still confused. Who are you?"

"He was… sort of in the car I took," Letty said, shrugging at the eyes that swung her direction. "Well Cipher sort of blew up the truck and I didn't have a spare car seat in my back pocket. I couldn't just strap him down. Ray kept him safe while I drove."

Dom went to take Marcus from the man. "Thanks," he said, offering him a hand as he shifted the baby to one arm. "For helping my family."

Ray shook it. "I didn't do much. Mostly it was your wife. She drives like a demon."

Dom laughed. "That's for damn sure." He wrinkled his nose at his son. "Okay… I'll be back." He disappeared upstairs with the baby.

"So what exactly did happen?" Ramsey asked her when Roman and Tej went back out to the car to get some more bags and the food they'd picked up on the way.

"I'll tell you guys the whole story when everyone's settled," Letty promised, sitting on the couch. Now that the adrenaline and stress had finally drained away she felt weary. She sighed, tilting her head back. "What happened on your end? Everything okay at the garage?"

"It was fine when I left," Ramsey said. "Lucy and Manny were going to close up at 5 like regular. They can keep things running for a bit. We all ditched our phones and locked up our respective places." She shrugged her shoulders and dropped down next to Letty. "We can only hope Cipher isn't vindictive enough to hit them when we're not there, I suppose."

"Yeah we just finished rebuilding our damn house," Letty muttered.

"I wouldn't think blowing the place up without us in it was her style," Dom put in, coming down the stairs with a now clean baby who had a teething biscuit in his hand. "She seems to really like to get more personal."

"I guess you'd know better than anyone," Ramsey agreed.

The conversation was put on hold when Tej and Roman came in with bags of what smelled like heaven, labeled from In and Out. "Let's get some grub in us while we get a sit-rep then," Tej suggested and they crowded around the kitchen table, passing out food and eating burgers using the wax wrappers as plates.

Someone must have gotten extra, because a burger was even spared for poor Ray, who seemed increasingly wary of what sort of trouble they were in.

Letty was halfway through her burger before Dom pressed her again for the whole story. She sighed, reaching over to take a fry from the communal pile they'd made in the center of the table. "I was leaving the bank and Cipher was there."

"Like waiting for you?" Roman asked.

"I guess so," Letty shrugged. "I almost walked right by her at the ATM but she started talking to me. Something about how easy it was to steal people's money. Then I saw her face and I knew who she was."

"Did she say anything else?" Dom asked, shoulders tensing again.

Letty chewed on her lower lip, then lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. "She said I should make things easy and just go with her. I told her she was crazy and I wouldn't. Then she blew up the truck."

"Hoping to cut off your escape route, maybe," Ramsey suggested.

"Why not just wait till you're in the truck and then explode it?" Roman asked, then looked defensive when the others turned to glare at him. "What?" He scowled. "I mean seriously wouldn't that have been easier?"

"She probably wants to get to Dom," Tej put in. "So it's better to use Letty as bait."

Letty snorted. "She's a fucking idiot if she thinks she can just grab me like it's that easy."

"She clearly underestimated you, baby." Dom reached over to cup a hand against her shoulder, rubbing gently. He was trying to soothe himself more than her. Letty could tell that the whole thing had made him anxious. He knew she could watch after herself, but knowing that didn't mean he wouldn't worry.

She gave him a small smile, reached up to rest her hand over his. "She won't next time though. Not after that."

"Yeah I heard on the news that you wrecked half of downtown," Roman said, smirking at her. "Like, damn girl!"

"It wasn't me that wrecked it," she protested, then considered. "Well, maybe I wrecked a little bit of it."

"Most definitely that gas station," Ray put in from his place across the table.

"And all in a 2005 Corolla," Ramsey teased, grinning at her.

The mood around the table lightened and they finished their dinner. Dom disappeared upstairs again to put Marcus to sleep, and they reconvened in the living room to formulate a plan.

"So," Ramsey began, setting up a laptop on the coffee table. "It's pretty clear that Cipher has been watching us for a while. Long enough that she knew what day and around what time Letty normally went to the bank to make the deposit."

"And we're not exactly hiding," Tej added. "Anyone could find our places, the garage. All that stuff is on the internet now."

"Plus," Ramsey said, glancing up at them. "Roman said that Letty made the news earlier. It won't be that hard to track down that Corolla if we were to take it out on the road again. And…" she glanced at Ray apologetically. "You may now also be in danger."

"Me?" He looked shocked. "But I didn't do anything."

"But say we just dropped you off somewhere close by," Tej said. "She could trace you back here and find us."

"But we can't stay here indefinitely anyway," Letty said. "That's not a plan."

Everyone murmured agreements, but no one seemed to know what the plan was, exactly.

"The immediate plan is that we're staying here for at least the night," Dom said. "But I think we need to be on the move tomorrow."

"We're going to Mr. Nobody, right?" Roman asked, putting his feet up as he stretched out in one of the chairs they'd pulled from the kitchen. "Seems to me he'd be uniquely qualified to help out in this situation."

"It makes the most sense," Dom agreed, letting out a sigh. "I don't think that Cipher is likely to just give up after pulling a stunt like that."

"So the only way to stop her is to really stop her," Tej said. "Lock her away, take her out."

There was silence around the room. Everyone agreed, but they all realized that it wouldn't be that easy. They had no idea what sort of resources Cipher had gained access to in the last couple of months. Sure, they'd taken her plane and eliminated most of her team, but the woman had clearly bounced back. If she was as good a hacker as Mr. Nobody had said, it would hardly be difficult to recoup some of her losses.

"Get in touch with Nobody," Dom told Ramsey and the woman gave him a nod. Without their phones they'd be reliant on her computer to get the message through. Not to mention her skills at keeping their location a secret would be a lot more efficient than even the temporary anonymity of a burner phone.

Decision made, most of the group retired to different parts of the house for the evening. Roman and Tej talking Ray into a game of cards and some beers in the kitchen. Letty waved off the invite to turn in early.

In the bag Dom had brought from home she found a pair of her pajama pants and a black cami and went into the attached bathroom.

On the counter was a smaller bag of their combined toiletries and she washed her face and brushed her teeth before changing. By the time she'd come back into the bedroom Dom was there, sitting on the bed. He'd taken off his boots and glanced up at her as she came into the room, tossing her dirty clothes onto an empty chair.

She sat beside him and he smoothed one hand down her back gently.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I told you I'm fine," she quirked a smile in his direction. "You okay? You sounded a little freaked out on the phone earlier."

"I can't handle the thought of Cipher trying to get her hands on you," he muttered. "I've seen what she's willing to do. I don't want her to lay a finger on you."

She let out a little sigh. "You know I can take care of myself."

"I do know," he agreed. "I'm not asking you to hide away and let me handle this, tempted as I might be." She laughed a little at that. "But I know you'd never agree, and you'd be pissed as hell at me for even asking."

"Plus," she said. "This Cipher bitch isn't going to back off. I figure going on the offensive is probably safer than burying my head in the sand."

He murmured some sort of agreement, tugging his fingers through her hair before leaning over to press a kiss against the top of her head. He got up and went into the bathroom. She heard him brushing his teeth and stood to open the window, letting in a bit of a breeze. The house, tucked among others that looked much the same, was done in the typical Southern California stucco with a red tile roof. She could see the hills in the distance, dark shapes against the night sky. On the other side of the house you might catch a glimpse of the lake in the distance.

She supposed that's why it wasn't so odd the house sat empty most of the time. The area seemed like the sort of place for the upper middle class to spend their vacation time. Exactly the sort of place Letty would never imagine herself.

She felt Dom come up behind her and eased away from the window, watching the view through the gauzy curtains. "I feel too keyed up to sleep," she said. "But I'm exhausted."

"You've gotta sleep, baby," he said and she turned in the circle of his arms.

"Yeah, okay." His hands drifted to her backside and she slapped at them with a laugh. "No funny business with your son sleeping in here, buddy."

He ducked his head for a kiss anyway, and Letty returned it, slipping her arms around his shoulders. She caught his lower lip between her teeth when he pulled away just enough to heft her up into his arms.

"Just putting you to bed," he murmured, carrying her across the room, but she tugged him down to join her, eyes dark as she smirked up at him.

"Not going to tuck me in?"

"You're being a tease for a woman who just told me no sex," he laughed, scooting her up the bed until her dark hair was splayed across one of the pillows.

She made a face at him, fingers curling around one of his arms. "It's not that. It's just that I sleep better when you're with me."

Sobering, Dom stretched out beside her, drawing her closer. "Me too, baby," he admitted, when she shifted, tucking herself into his arms, her back pressed against his bare chest. He dropped his head to press his lips against the back of her neck, draping one arm around her waist.

Letty twined her fingers through his, brushing her thumb against the polished metal of his wedding ring, lacing her left hand over his so that the matching bands clicked together. They'd finally gotten around to picking out a set not long after returning from New York. Mia had suggested that maybe the cross wasn't going to cut it, especially if Dom kept taking it off all the time and losing it in other countries.

Dom's thumb found the slice of skin between her pajama pants and top, stroking over it idly and she let her eyes flutter shut, feeling the beat of his heart where he was spooned against her. She drifted off feeling safer than she probably ought to, considering the day. But they could use all the rest they could get for the road ahead.