Author's Note

Let me be the first to admit it - I'm obsessed with Vin Diesel. I went to see The Fast and the Furious the first night it opened, and I walked out of the theater wanting more. I was fascinated by the story - especially by the characters of Dom and Letty. I wanted to see more of their relationship, to see how they got to be the way they are in the movie.

So I started searching for fanfic based on the movie. And I didn't find any. So I waited. I thought about writing my own fic, but I knew if I got started, I would end up with an epic. Finally, fanfic started being posted. But it wasn't what I was looking for. Too much of it had Letty pushed to the side in one way or another. Either Dom was cheating on her, or she'd dumped him, or she'd died, or she was just conveniently not there.

Finally, my friend Dixie convinced me to write a fic. It was going to be short, just a tag to one scene. The Dom/Letty makeout scene. For inspiration, I started watching the trailer on my computer, over and over. And I noticed that the dialogue from the trailer isn't in the movie. It's covered by music.

"You gonna stick by me?" Dom asks, looking at Letty, his hands at her waist.

"Maybe..." she answers, her head tilted to the side, a teasing note in her voice.

I was inspired, and just like that, this fic was born. And, even though it was supposed to be a short fic, it turned into an epic, just like I thought it would. Somewhere along the way, my friend Amber started writing a companion fic, Mad Season. And that turned into an epic as well. Really, I don't think you can completely understand either of our fics without reading both of them. You can find it at Amber's site or you can join her yahoo group (link at the bottom of this page). I highly recommend reading her fic! Actually, I demand it. You must read Mad Season.

Now, for the legal stuff. How We Are has an R rating, for general adult themes including language, sex, and violence. I don't own The Fast and the Furious. Although, I'm beginning to feel like someone should be offering me a book deal by now. I don't own much of anything, actually. So please don't sue, 'cause all you'll get is an old computer and an even older car that doesn't even run right now.

I need to thank Dixie and Amber, because without them, I doubt this story would exist at all. Thanks also goes to Kate for the smut inspiration. And also to the Fehrian girls (Susan especially) and anyone else I harassed into telling me this didn't suck. And to Mely and Chynna Princess for making graphics for the site.

I'm sure you've had enough of my babbling by now, so meet the characters and then start reading.

Caty

Update - 7/1/2004

I am still trying to work on this fic, I just don't seem to have very much time or inspiration lately! Hopefully more chapters will be added soon.