****************

Dom stood off to the side of the table, cam corder in his hand. A wild giggling chours of Happy Birthday rang out over the back yard. Watching through the small screen, he saw Danny lean forward, hands braced on the table, and puffed against the flickering candles.

Mia stepped up to remove the dripping wax from the chocolate cake. She smiled as Danny chattered on urging her to hurry and cut into the irristable concoction. And when he couldn't bear to wait any longer, he stuck his hand in and pulled away a chunk, shoving it into his mouth.

Dom laughed as he moved over to the table and handed the camera to Brian, sparing it from the dozen or so small hands that could demolish it in record time.

"Hey, big man. I get some of that?" Dom hadn't realized his mistake until he was within striking distance of Danny.

"Daddy!"

He reached up and slapped chocolate covered hands on either side of his father's face, smearing as he pulled away in a fit of giggles.

Mia was quick to hand over a dish towel laughing along with the rest of them. Taking the towel, he caught the glint of the ring on her finger, her wedding band. Brian had placed it there more than a year earlier, he of course had given her away and Danny her little ring barer. She caught his eyes lingering and her laughter fading. He'd never made that commitment to Letty. Not that he hadn't wanted to. Mia knew for a fact that he had asked, but Letty was the one that didn't want it, didn't think it mattered. She had loved him and that was enough for the both of them, so Dom hadn't brought it up again after that.

An hour later, the table was cleared and kids had been retrieved by their parents. Dom sat near the garage, beer in hand, watching Danny play with the die cast Mazda he'd given him. By the sounds he was making, it was safe to say the kid had a healthy appreciation for speed.

He looked up as Mia came across the yard toward him. As always, Brian wasn't far behind. "Dom, we need to talk." He could tell his sister was nervous, anxious. But there was something in her eyes that he hadn't noticed earlier. Her eyes were bright and shinning more so than he could ever remember before.

"So, talk. I'm listening." His gaze went back to his son, his mood light and distracted with Danny's chotic day, Danny's special day.

"We've been trying for a couple of months now, Dom......" she began, leaning into Brian as he wound his arms around her waist. "It finally happend. I'm due in....." she was interuppted as the beer bottle in Dom's hand shattered sending beer and glass raining down to the grass below. Fractured glass was embedded deep in his hand, not that he felt any of it. Mia's words rang in his ears like the report of gun fire.

"You're pregant," he growled, turning hurt angry eyes on her. "After all this shit, you did it anyway." He stood, intending to end her revolation there. But Mia wouldn't have it. She stepped in front of him, glancing to where blood was free flowing from his hand. She knew in some odd way it was relief to him, a release.

"Damn it, Dom! I'm not her!" She turned a pleading look on Brian, her back up. "There was always a chance that Letty could.....What happened was......Shit!......" She threw up her hands.

"It's not a news flash. I was fuckin there. Forget?" He shoved his face near hers. "And you come to me now? What the hell do ya want me to say? Congratulation?"

"Yeah, that would be nice! A start, I guess!" she shouted in his face, her anger rising to match his.

"Goddamn it, stop!" Brian hissed, shoving between the two. Walking over to Danny, he swung the boy up into his arms, watching his small lips quiver in upset as he stared at his father and aunt.

"Was I bad?" He turned woeful eyes on Brian.

"No, Squirt. You're good." Brian spoke softly to him as he carried him towards the back door, feeling the wild thump of Danny's heart against him. Brain smiled, only too happy to have Danny wrapping his arms around his neck for comfort.

Dom watched the little scene feeling guilt along with the myriad of other emotions that were swirling to the surface.

"Congratulations," he sighed, finally moving around her, realizing there was nothing to fight here. It was the same with Letty ... a choice that he would learn to accept, even if it was shoved down his throat.

"Dom........" Mia called after him, wanting to reassure him, wanting to take away the worry that she saw beyond the anger.

*********

Brian knocked lightly on the door just down the hall from the room he shared with Mia. He waited, hearing only silence from the other side. For a moment he wondered if his brother in law had decided to hit the streets for awhile and not tell them.

"Yeah?" came the deep voice he knew so well, from the interior of the room. Opening the door, he stepped inside to see Dom wrapping his shredded palm.

"Mia's reading him a story but he's been askin for you." Brian watched him flex his big hand and nod.

"I guess we pretty much scared the hell outta 'em." Dom cut his eyes to Brian, an unspoken thanks lurking in their depths.

"Maybe for a minute there, but he's a tough kid," Brian smiled, leaning aginst the burea at his back. "Hey Man, I'm sorry we just kind sprung it on ya. Maybe I should have been the one to tell ya." He apologized as he ran a calming hand through his blonde hair.

That was met by Dom's deep rolling laughter. "They'd of had a hell of a time reattachin your head, O'Connell." He stood just as Mia's head appeared around the door frame.

"Your turn." She was quick to drop her eyes away from Dom. It was her turn to be hurt, to feel the absence of understanding from him. Had he thought she and Brian would never have kids? Have a family of their own? She loved Danny, would do anything for him, give him anything within her power. But he was Dom's and she had to admit to being a little jealous of that, of that kind of all consuming love.

Moving past Brian, he came around the corner into the hall, coming to face Mia. With a deep affectionate growl, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged, giving what he could of himself. "You're my sister. I worry about ya. I couldn't stand........" He released her without finishing the sentence, and he was down the hall not bothering to spare her a backwards glance as he moved to Danny's room.

Inside his son's room Danny lifted his small arms to Dom. Capturing a big hand, he tugged his father down to the bed beside him. "My vom!" he sqeaked, wanting the one thing that had remained a constant, near appendage, in his favor. Dom reached to the night stand and lifted the worn plush toy and tucked it in beside Danny. It was the same toy he'd bought as a first offering between father and son, meant to be given as a reminder of life not death, but to Dom it was one and the same.

"Daddy, why are you mad at Monie?" he asked, using his adapted name for his aunt, not mother but not just aunt. Mia lingered somewhere in between for Danny.

"I'm not mad. Just had a few grown up things to say to each other. It's all okay now," Dom soothed, running his hand across the blue black thatch of the boy's hair, squeezing off that little voice inside that was shouting it wouldn't be okay. He had to believe it would be, so he kept his attention squarely on Danny. "A story.....A story......A story!" He giggled, chanting his request as he snuggled in close to his father.

"About what?" Dom asked, preparing to tell another race story, which was always a hit.

"'Bout mommy." Innocent eyes stared back at him, curious, full of wonder. A hard kick in the gut is what it felt like. For a fraction of a second he didn't dare to breathe, it was shock. This night out of all the rest Danny had decided he wanted to piece together the picture of Letty, his mother. Slowly Dom gained his equilibrium and began to breathe again. It wasn't as hard as he had thought. He could do it without feeling like he was losing her again. It was just a little easier to let the memories settle around him now.

He smiled at his son, Letty forging an even deeper bond between them. "She liked cars. She liked 'em a lot............"

**********

"You did good, Dominic," he heard a voice whisper near his ear, familiar, gone. He came awake with with a sudden snap into reality. Alone, he sat up in bed wiping the beaded sweat from his chest, sheet pooling around his waist. His eyes took in the dark corners of the room with a quick alertness, with a hollow longing gnawing at him. She was always so close when the dreams invaded his sleep but always just out of reach. He was done with sleep for the night. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed he stood reaching for the pair of discarded jeans on the floor near the bed.

Down the hall he pushed open the door to Danny's room, leaning heavy on the door jam, he watched his son sleep. The small round face took him back to the nights before he'd learned to sleep. When dinner meant every two hours. Dom had been there for each and every one, even if it meant just watching Mia feed him. Then he would take Danny back to bed with him. Tiny body curled against his chest, he watched him sleep then, too.

"You never get tired of this do ya?" Mia's soft voice came from behind him. "Just watchin him."

There was a slow, almost imperceivable shake of his head. "No."

"You're great at this, Dom." Her smaller hand reached out for his entwining their fingers. "I just hope Brian and I will be half as good."

"Don't think you have to be worried about that. You and Brian have put in almost as much time with him as me." He leaned into her and kissed the top of her head. "He thinks your a damn good mother." Dom nodded his head in Danny's direction.

She clamped down on the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. "Yeah, but he's not mine."

"That matters so much?" He pinned her with a hard look.

"Yeah, it does." She shook her head, glancing back to him. "I mean, it doesn't change my love for him, but Danny is you and Letty. Brian and I want that. We want the best parts of our love in a child, Dom." A shuttering breath purged from her throat. "If you could, would you change the way things turned out? Would you still have wanted her to get rid of him to save her? Knowing what you know now?"

Dom shook off her hand, clenching his into tight fists. How could she ask him that? How could she bring up the questions he had so carefully avoided all of Danny's short life? Turning away from the dimly lit room, he leaned towards Mia again.

"Enough with the questions. That's sure as hell something I don't intend to answer. And this is about you not me. " Disgust was evident in his hard edge of his voice. He stalked down the hall and then stopped turning back to her. "What the fuck do you wanna hear from me, Mia? That this doesn't scare the hell outta me? That you'll come through this and not end up like........." he snarled, his fustration mounting. "You're asking for something I don't have goddamn it."

"What's that, Dom?" she asked, feeling the swell of emotions radiating off him.

"Faith."

***********

Dom reached in and buckled Danny into the seatbelt and then proceeded around to the driver's side. The sound of the roaring engine warred with Danny's shouts of excitment.

"GO! GO! FAST!"

Dom laughed. It was the same ritual that accompanied each time they took the rebuilt charger out, each time they took a special trip and today was certainly that.

"You sure, kid?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"YES! YES! YES!" came more screams of excitment.

"I don't know, don't think ya can handle it. Might make ya sick or somethin." He hit the acclerator just as Danny's features fell in disappointment. The car screamed down the street to mid block and then Dom slowed it to a more reasonable speed. Danny's eyes big as saucers and mouth the perfect little round O turned his face towards Dom.

"Again, Daddy!"

"Don't think so, Danny. Once is enough." He turned his attention to the road, reaching over to ruffle the boy's hair, the last time he'd do that.

Lunch at McDonalds, Danny's favorite, and then the real purpose for the trip loomed before them. Looking at his son perched in his arms he had a moment of indecision. Should he have given in? Agreed to this? It was a small thing but was it something Danny would pout and cry over later?

"I want to sit there!" Danny pointed to the middle barber chair and Dom walked over plopping him down into the red leather seat. All the inconsequential questions fled his mind as he stood back to over see the process. Tuft after silky tuft of Danny's hair floated to the floor around the chair as the sheers passed along his scalp. Dom couldn't help but smile as his boy squirmed in the chair, inactivity taking its toll on his short attention span. Then it was done, finished, and after he'd been brushed clean Dom picked him up. Walking out of the barber shop he ran his hand over the velvety shorn head of his son.

"Like you, Daddy," Danny giggled, mimicking Dom's hands across his father's head.

"Yeah, just like me."

Fini