“We will call this place our home, the dirt in which our roots may grow.  Though the storms will push and pull, we will call this place our home.”  Lucy swayed back and forth with Katy on her shoulder, the girl so warm and heavy with weariness from a long day of play. 

“We’ll tell our stories on these walls.   Every year, measure how tall. And just like a work of art, We’ll tell our stories on these walls.”  Lucy smiled as she watched the lights coming up the long drive.  She wondered if Katy’s eyes were still open.

“Let the years we’re here be kind, be kind. Let our hearts, like doors, open wide, open wide. Settle our bones like wood over time, over time. Give us bread, give us salt, give us wine.”  She walked Katy towards the bed and put the fragile, cherub cheeked angel down into the covers.  Lucy looked upon the wonder that was her daughter and in her face found bits of herself, her mother, and her father – and, she imagined, even Frank-Dicaprio .  Silently she remained grateful that very little of Billy seemed to be present in the child’s appearance.

“A little broken, a little new.  We are the impact and the glue. Capable of more than we know, we call this fixer upper home.”  Lucy smiled as Katy stretched and yawned.  Her eyes slinking ever so slowly in the way that children’s do when they mean not to fall asleep – but can fight it no more than a man can fight the welcoming embrace of St. Peter when his appointed hour is upon him.

“With each year, our color fades.  Slowly, our paint chips away. But we will find the strength and the nerve it takes, to repaint and repaint and repaint every day.”  Lucy brushed her fingers through Katy’s hair and wondered if she would remember this song the way she now remembered her own mother’s songs.

“Let the years we’re here be kind, be kind.” Lucy’s singing voice can be heard coming down the stairs to the door when Frank enters late, having just flown back from hunting the Durden gang.  “Let our hearts, like doors, open wide, open wide. Settle our bones like wood over time, over time.”

Vito is just inside, and gives Frank a welcome imparting quickly, “All’s been quiet.  She’s been home all day with Katy – took a few calls.  Christina said one of them was from Vegas, thought it was going to be for you.  Turns out it was for her.  She kicked everyone out of the office and was on the phone for almost an hour.  Didn’t seem serious though – she sure was laughing a lot.”

“Give us bread, give us salt, give us wine. Let the years we’re here be kind, be kind. Let our hearts, like doors, open wide, open wide. Settle our bones like wood over time, over time…”  Lucy continued to sing as Vito spoke.

“If you hurry,” he added, “you might catch the tyke before she is passed out.  Lucy just gave her a bath and has been singing to her for about half-an-hour now.”

Frank skipped stairs as he ran up with as light of foot as he could bring himself to have.  Peeking into Katy’s room he could see a few new toys strewn about and a few new items in her closet.  Lucy and she were freshly washed, clearly, they’d bathed together.  Katy was snug as bug in her bed, blanket pulled tightly to her chin.  Lucy was in a big fluffy bathrobe, synched tight at the waist; no make-up, hair wet and hanging careless around her face.

“Smaller than dust on this map,” Katy’s eyes drooped as Lucy sang softly and smiled at Frank coming into the room.  “Lies the greatest thing we have: The dirt in which our roots may grow. And the right to call it home.”

Frank leaned in and kissed Katy’s brow, her eyes fluttered open only a moment to smile at Frank.  He shushed her gently and told her, “Daddy’s home now.”  Reassuring her that she was safe and with her family – that nothing real or imagined could ever get to her here, safe within the walls of Alderly Estate.

Lucy kept humming a while, Frank sitting down behind her on the edge of Katy’s bed, his arms around her until at last, Katy’s breathing became slow and regular.  Certain she was asleep, Lucy rose and walked to the door.  One last peak in upon the center of their world, and Lucky Lucy (who finally felt as though she deserved the name) turned off the light and pulled the door almost closed.

In the hallway, wordlessly, she kissed her husband – allowing her hands to roam over him checking for wounds and finding none she melted into his embrace.  The chill of the night still coming off his clothes, caused her to shiver ever so slightly, but it was such a happy thing to be with him again – to know that Durden’s men hadn’t gotten the best of him today – that she simply ignored it.

“Hungry?”  She asked him.  “If you’d like, I’ll put on something nice and we can go out… dinner… dancing if you want.  I know how much you love dancing with me.  Are you up for it?  I know you’ve been traveling all day.”

“I’ll follow wherever you lead, Lucia.”  He stole another kiss gently.  It would be easy to lose herself in his embrace and not leave – but she had so much to tell him.  So much good news. 

“Dinner and Dancing – even if you just watch me dance with some poor sap who won’t get to take me home with him at the end of the night.”

Frank laughed.  “Oh no… I’m afraid your dance card is full tonight Mrs. Dicaprio.”

“Is that so?”  She teased.  “Maybe I want another boy to swing me around the dance floor?”

“Only if you want this date to end with us dumping another body in Lake Michigan.”

Lucy didn’t ask for clarification on ‘another’ as they’d never dumped a body in Lake Michigan together – that meant his hunt for Durdens didn’t stray as far from home as she thought.  He was hunting for Billy.

Frank walked to their room wordlessly and Lucy followed.  She could feel his frustration in the silence that lingered between them as they walked.  He didn’t find him, or he’d be in a much better mood.  Well, she was going to help him find his smile tonight – even if it killed her.

Lucy got into the passenger seat of the car.  “Call us if she wakes up.”  Lucy called out the window to Angela.

“Don’t call us.  You got this.”  Frank contradicted with a smile.

“But seriously, if she’s scared, it’s not a big deal.”  Lucy insisted

“It’s a big deal.”  He told Vito slipping him a note with special instructions on it. 

Vito laughed, “You two have a good time.”

“We’ll take good care of her Mr. & Mrs. Dicaprio.  Enjoy your date.”

Everyone waved goodbye to the two of them, Frank driving and Lucy with a large box on her lap.  The box was beautifully wrapped with a bright red bow.  She held it close and, as of yet, had not explained it to Frank.

“So where are we going?”  She asked.

“The Huron-Orleans Restaurant.” Frank said with a smile.

“That sounds lovely.  I don’t think I’ve been there before.”

“Oh?  Well, my people tell me that it’s a pretty regular joint for mafioso to visit.  The last wooden building in all of Chicago…”

“I didn’t think there were any allowed after the Great Fire.” Lucy looked a little surprised.

“This one was grandfathered in after it survived the blaze.  I hear its food is great, almost as good as the drinks they serve downstairs.”

“We’re going to a speak-easy?”  Lucy lit up.

“You said dancing… they’ve got some of the best swing jazz in all Chicago.  I figured we hadn’t danced a good lindy hop since-”

Lucy bounced, “Since the trip to Sicily – OH FRANK!”  She clapped her hands excitedly.

Frank laughed.  “So, do I get to know what’s with the gift yet?”

Lucy smirked.  “When we stop at the restaurant.  If let you open it now, we’ll miss dinner.”  She smirked mischievously.  “But let’s just say, taking me out to a Lindy Hop – you’ve earned this Mister.”

Lucy leaned back in her seat and watched the world whiz by as Frank drove.  It was nice for it to be just the two of them for once.

Driving down the road without a care in the world wasn't Franks idea of pleasure he normally had a driver but this night was different.  This was a solo night for him and his wife.  He was happy to be with her but his mind was miles away.  From moment to moment Frank was in and out.  His heart was heavy conflicted.  He looked at her smile as she looked out the window as the fast departing scenery.  Frank wanted to tell her as he always did that she looked magnificent.  Lucy gazed at Frank and he melted as her eyes excited him.  Her smile thrilled him.  Her touch warmed him.  She owned his heart and she knew it as well as he did.

They pulled up to  it was a hole in the wall joint that had the best music, people and live entertainment.  Inside was high class the wine and Champagne and crystal glass wear.  This place was a gangster's paradise obode The Huron-Orleans Restaurant.  A speak easy filled with some of the top figures in organized crime.  Frank was greeted by many of them but it was Lucy that they rushed to greet.  Frank was aware of her rise in power as his informant briefed him on the train ride back to Chicago from Detroit.  Frank didn't mind that she he knew she worked hard and had a hard life growing up in this world of theirs. 

They were escorted upstairs by the maitre d'  as they followed Lucy looked at the dance floor and smiled back at Frank.  He nodded as he knew that she was expecting to dance the night away.  Frank wasn't scared to dance for a grease ball he had rhythm.  He had clout as his name was always on the reservation list an their table was always waiting on them.  This was a restaurant and dance hall - all legit with music etc.  The only thing that wasn't legal was the booze and they were supplied by Frank. 

Downstairs (behind a signature green door) is a bar where mobsters play cards, smoke cigars, and drink with their Molls.  It's the real deal old Chicago kinda place which still exists and  Frank has plans to renamed the place to the "green door lounge" in honor of the green door that use to mark speak-easy clubs in the city during this prohibition era.  Frank stood behind Lucy as she sat he scooted her chair toward the table.  The he sat as menus where placed before them.  Frank sat across from her as people continued to greet her.  He had no worries here he knew most and all knew him and know they know her not as Lucy Dicaprio but as Lucky Lucy.  Her star was shooting across the sky and Frank had to play clueless and he was happy to give her, her moment.

If you want to dance before we eat we can or after we eat its your choice as long as we're hear together I'm good to go sweetheart.

Frank pulled out a cigar and lit it.  He took two long slow puffs exhaling after each and blowing the smoke away from the table.  He then smiled at her as he was finally focused on where he was and how he was with.  He had a pocket full of cash as he was gazing on the most beautiful woman that he ever laid eyes on.  He was proud to call her his wife and she knew that as well.  Lucy continued to look at the people on the dance floor and Frank stood up and took her by the hand and back down the stairs to the dance floor they went.  He smiling face was excited to cut a rug.  This woman love to do a jitter bug and shake her beaded shirt like the show girls.  Frank loved to see that and Frank knew each time that the old men of the families envied Frank and the younger one's wanted to kill him.  No one likes a man that has it all. 

They danced to several songs before she said her favorite song is on and Frank grinned at her as she was mentally getting prepared for her final dance before they order dinner. 

Lucy was winded, but she felt like her whole body was alight.  Every mobster in the joint had to come up to her and talk - word had gotten around town that she'd bounced back from the loss of Godfather Tobias quickly and was picked up as Right Hand Man by Don Varys - everyone wanted the favor and attention of the woman who had the Master of Whisper's ear.  Slowly the winds were changing... ever so slowly.

Just one-third of a year ago she was running from Vegas into Philly with death on her heels - a no one, unclaimed and without a family real or otherwise.  Godfather Disorder had told her that he saw in her potential for greatness, that one day she'd come home to the Windy City and that all would be different than when she'd left it. 

She hadn't believed him then - or Don Pollution - or Don Arya Stark... and yet, these legends (some dark and terrible - but legends none the less) had sent her forward towards the future they'd had the foresight to see - one she could not.  Hand in hand with Frank, the man who connected her to her past, she now stood on the precipice of her future.  Durden and his crew were on the run for tonight and she was on the rise... a mother, a wife, and now the right hand of one of the most loved new Don's in the whole city. 

The music slowed and Frank and she danced, bodies close, and she could feel the eyes of those older and wiser than she upon her.  Some smiled as her coming into this thing of ours had by destiny or chance, made her feel a herald for a changing of how things were done.  A dark past stripped away and burning while they danced and laughed the night away.

Some of the eyes looked at her as a symbol for the new and promising future that lay ahead... others, because of her ties to those who ruled with ruthless efficiency, saw her as a possible way for the old ways to return again.  Still others saw nothing more than an arrogant and annoying bitch to be cleared out of their way for real or imagined wrongs she'd done them. 

Whether the people watching her saw her as a villain or hero was irrelevant tonight.  Tonight all that mattered was that the world watched and in that way, maybe it was the only way in fact, she had won.  For one brief and wonderful moment the world was watching her and in that there was the REAL power.  In this moment, all those who had paid the ultimate price for her - from her parents, to more recently, poor Aiden - had not died in vain.

Round and round the floor, Frank and she glide.  She smiles as she looks into his gently eyes, her hand reaching up and brushing his cheek the way she did on the ship to Sicily that first moment she knew something might actually exist between them.  It was as powerful now as it had been then and as powerful as it would be in long years to come.  As the musical piece came to a close, she held onto her husband just a moment longer than was proper, burning the moment into her memories forever.  

Back to the table they walked together hand in hand.  He helped her to sit and then they ordered dinner.  They made small talk about the people they'd seen around the room and about how their days were - his far more exciting than her own, but none the less important.  She was okay with that.  Balancing her life as a mobster, mother, and wife was a new challenge; but it was one she took on with great pride.

The waitress put her dinner down in front of her and she devoured it with the same zeal she'd cut a rug with.  Everything tonight was perfect, like a damn dream.  And now, nearing the close of their meal, she was finally ready to tell Frank some news.  She wiped her mouth and put her napkin to the side.  "I had a conversation today with someone you might not have anticipated me to be speaking with."

Frank arched an eyebrow as he ate the last bite of his steak - God but it was delicious!

"Godfather Diogenis ."  She watched her husband's reaction.  He must have been getting use to her having her hand in cookie jars far above her current height, to his credit, Frank's face betrayed nothing. 

He wiped his mouth and calmly asked, "What did the Godfather need?"

Need. 

Godfather's didn't make social calls, that was his implication.  He was, of course, right.  Godfather's didn't - even when Tobias tapped her it was for a specific task.  He had a plan two years long.  When he'd spelled it out for her she was left stunned and eager to be mentored by him.  She'd never seen the long game laid out with such brilliant and ruthless precision ... with the fall of Kharon and Lincoln Osiris, she wondered if she ever would again.

"A visit.  He wants us to come to Las Vegas together... bring Katy even.  He's offered to have his people pay for the flight, a hotel room - I think he suspects your accommodations on Vegas are more those of a bachelor's pad and more focused upon your work than on family."  She chuckles.  Frank was a hitman, it was no secret that prior to his marriage to Nikki Swango he was utterly engrossed in his work - and Nikki had no children so there was no need for Frank to change how he'd lived prior to their union.  His accommodations in Vegas were probably NOT the sort of place for Katy to be sure; but the Godfather (like so many others) might be underestimating Frank's value.  Her husband was a man moving through this thing of theirs like a shark; quietly, unexpected, and in darker waters than most. 

"Did he ask to see Katy by name?"

Frank was right to suspect that it was a risk.  After Breen's change of heart and siding with Whitehill, it wouldn't be impossible that Diogenis might decide that his goals might be more in line with Tyler Durden's than with any of the remaining families here or anywhere else in the world.  Diogenis was the power now.  He made the rules.  Lucy was KEENLY aware of the game being played here and the dangerous position on the chess board she had the unenviable task of playing.  That being said, not taking Katy would be a grave insult to the Godfather - one that implied distrust.  Distrust and fear meant possible betrayal and Godfather's had a particular way of dealing with that sort of thing and Lucy liked her tongue right where it was.

"Yes.  Once he and I got to some personal conversation - I revealed we had a daughter.  The implication was he wanted to meet our family.  I gather it's as much about knowing who works for him... as it is meeting Don Varys' right hand.  Our marriage represents a vulnerability... or the axis upon which a great alliance could be built.  We can't insult him by leaving Katy at home.  She has to come - and we may need to discuss ways we can ensure that the Godfather does not question where your loyalty rests, without him seeing you as a man who would abandon a wife and child." 

Frank stared forward.  Silent.  His eyes transfixed on some distant point she could not see.  He was mulling over the unspoken thing that had been hovering all around them.  He was loyal to his Family in Vegas - as she was loyal to hers ... but half a country and mountains of power, guns, and men separated them and (God Forbid) a single shot fired could put them both into the worst position any married couple could ever find themselves in.

She takes Frank's hand.  "Don't think I haven't seen it weighing on you.  I know damn well how you feel about us... and the level of loyalty you to Consigliere Bella_Swan - but this was coming, Frank.  We both knew it, even if we didn't talk about it.  I was in Tobias' house ... a sitting Godfather with a vast empire - so we didn't have to say it then.  No one was going to touch us.  The old regime ties ran deep and the fire power involved was too big for anyone to fire that first shot, but things have changed."

"Chicago has no Godfather... I'm Right Hand Man to a newly minted Don, and you're suddenly part of he most powerful family in the country.  Godfather Diogenis' reach is very wide now... but wide reach means unconsolidated power... don't think he doesn't have needs.  It's going to take unions of the powerful unions of not just loyalty but blood to cement security for everyone.  We're in a position to do what could make this thing of ours free of war for month - maybe years to come.  We could be part of making a dynasty that will last longer than any other before it."

"The families of Chicago are strong and united - amazingly so really, but we are leaderless... but that seat of power MUST be filled. Nature abhors a vacuum and since Godfather's aren't, as a rule, fools; you can bet your shoes that Diogenis will have a say in who comes to that power.  He'll want to see someone in that role he can trust to execute what's best for Vegas.  The families of Chicago will, if not helped to see the right of it by someone they trust implicitly, reject anyone Vegas picks out of hand.  As they should... what's good for Vegas, in the past, hasn't been good for business in Chicago.  BUT, if the person who rises to the seat is someone Chicago wants - someone who is already trusted and tied by blood to Vegas..."  Lucy picks up her drink.  "... suddenly we have a chance for peace that the families haven't seen in far longer than have ever seen.  And wouldn't that be an amazing thing?"

For a moment his face softened, as though he was trying to imagine this dream world of hers.  Perhaps he thought she was on one of her flights of fancy again - daydreaming about what couldn't be - a 'fair' world... but he didn't say it.  He really didn't need to.  She knew that no such world existed and death was all that was promised to anyone in this life.  And yet, she truly believed that trying to make a thing better - it made YOU better. 

When St. Peter asked her why she deserved heaven and not hell for all she'd done in life - this was what she would tell him.  She knew that all the wrong she'd done had damned her soul; but it never stopped her from TRYING to make the world better than she'd found it.  Maybe that made her a sap or a rube; but no one would ever say of her that her heart wasn't in the right place.  At least they'd have nice things to say of her at her funeral.

Lucy, for a brief moment, imagined a world the likes of which so many had told her about in the streets and the headquarters of various crews over these past years... so many good people who, regrettably, had not lived to see this day.  A real chance at something new - something good. 

"Personally," she said, bringing things back to what Frank did put stock in.  As a hitman, if he could touch it with is hands, it was real and could be saved or killed if needed.  Her dreams and visions of what might be weren't his stock and trade.  So this, this was what she would win him over with.  "... a meeting that goes very well with Godfather Diogenis could advance you with the families of Vegas, Frank & secure for me a very long and fruitful partnership with Don Varys if that meeting should end in a working arrangement between the cities."

"The more I think about this trip and what it could be the start of... the more excited I become.  There are so many good people in our lives right now... people I don't want to lose.  I want this for them.  And I want that security for us too.  Not a legit life as my mother wanted for me, but as secure a life as any mobster could ever hope for here in the States."

Frank leaned back in his seat, his eyes were studying various points around the room, but Lucy was so focused on conveying her thoughts that she paid it no mind.  What bothered her was Frank's silence.  She wondered if all her thoughts on these things had somehow insulted him?  She hadn't made any plans without him... she hadn't even set a date for this meeting so surly that wasn't it.  So why was he tapping his fingers like that - he was agitated all the sudden and looking around... away from her.  God she didn't want to fight with him again!  He hadn't even opened her apology gift that was still in the car!

"Respect - transparency - and answers for the questions that can't be avoided... if the Godfather is the sort to cut through the chase & ask the tough questions." 

"And you have an answer to that particular problem?"  Her voice was low in speaking all that she'd said so far - low enough that Frank alone could hear it - but his was lower and now he was moving up to the edge of his seat.  Had he been so afraid of this problem that it had caused all the tension between them?    

"I have a few thoughts.  Nothing set in stone yet, but..."  He took her hand, held it tight - almost painfully so.  He pulled her up out of her seat.  Was he angry?  "Frank... please listen -"  It was then she realized the look on his face.  That eagle eye which took in everything, the way he almost was shielding her from the rest of the room as he pushed her through the tables abruptly - it was exactly how he'd been during the cyclone.

Lucy started looking around the room.  Was it another hitman?  Durden's people?   "Frank... what is it?  What's happe-???" 

***BOOM!***

"HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"

"CHICAGO METRO POLICE!"

They weren't quite to the back door yet when the doors had come open so hard that they were nearly torn off their hinges and police poured into the club.  It was a raid!  The police were raiding one of the city's most untouchable speakeasy establishments?!?  How was that possible?  Why?

"EVERYONE STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"

Lucy closed her eyes for a moment, realizing, with no Godfather to keep the police in check - raids against mafia holdings was bound to occur.  They should have seen this coming!  Tobias had hands in all the pockets at city hall and while the regime of the past was dead and gone... so too was it's protection.

"YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE... "

Once again, Lucy & Frank were on their own in a room full of mad men and women bent on finding their own way to safety even at the expense of everyone else's.  The insanity that ensued was nothing short of madness.

"Here we go again."  Lucy muttered as Frank's iron grip on her hand now made all the sense in the world.  He'd seen the signs and now, God willing, he was going to get the them the hell out of here.  

Lifting her skirt, Lucy & Frank ran.

Frank knew that the stairwell was blocked by cops but Frank also knew that the managers office on the second floor had an old dumbwaiter that they could used to get to the basement.  He took her there and placed her inside he told her to wait for him he would follow right behind her.  If he wasn't there in two minutes she was to follow the white arrows on the wall and up the stairs and out on 5th street.  Catch a cab home and post his bail.  She nodded and climb in he lowered her down slowly as the police were having people identify themselves as they were starting to haul away known gangsters. 

He finally had her down to the basement and as she got out it took a bit longer as she tore her dress.  Frank pulled the dumbwaiter up quickly and then he climb in and lowered himself quickly just as the police kicked opened the door to the office.  He went down a little to quickly and crushed the last ten feet.  He fell out of the dumbwaiter dazed from the fall.  He looked at Lucy but couldn't say a word as he tried to get up on his two feet. 

Lucy helped him up he pulled out his knife and started cutting the rope on the dumbwaiter.  Standing on his own he was still lightheaded but conscious enough to point the way out. He took her hand after she took off her heels and they ran down the hall.  Turn corners following the white arrows until they reached the stairs.  They were several blocks away in the escape tunnel.  They went up the stairs and opened the door which lead to an five and dime drug store storage room.  It was owned by the brother-inlaw of the restaurant.  Frank knew the family well and they both owed him money to get their business up and running. 

Frank looked at Lucy and told her to hit the women's room as he hit the men's room to clean their faces and dust off the dirt and spider webs off.  Frank came out first then two minutes later she did.  Frank smiled as they walked out the front door Lucy had a soda pop with a straw as they held hands as they walked down the streets of Chicago.  Frank was going to catch a cab but didn't want a witness to where he was picked up or where they went.  Frank kept walking as they reached a parking lot.  Then he saw a roadster and smiled as he knew that was a car he could steal and drive them home.  He waited to the owner went into the building and jumped in trying to start the engine.  Lucy got in on the passenger side and started looking around.

She called Frank names a few times but he was to busy trying to start the engine.  She found the key and yet Frank was unaware.  Shaking her head she stuck the key in the ignition switch and started the car.  Frank laugh as he thought he did until he saw the key and then Lucy's face.  Then he shook his head and put the car in drive then she didn't stop laughing at Frank every time she looked at him as thought about his silly proud face as he thought he started the car.  Frank laughed also and decided to take his with to a movie theater about two miles from there estate. 

The theater was five star it had red velvet and it was They watched they watched a double feature the first was Little Caesar and the second was Public Enemy.  They shared popcorn and jujubes candy as they wondered if anyone would make a movie about them.   As they sat their they heard police sirens blaring down the road.  They didn't panic as Frank held her hand she knew she had clout to get them out and Frank knew he had pull to get them out.  They looked at each other without fear or concern as they were not arrested.  The first movie ended and Frank made a call to a friend of the family.  He was an attorney Frank gave him instruction to post bail for everyone that was arrested at the restaurant. 

Then he returned to his wife an watched the second movie.  Then they walked home slowly talking about the up coming holidays and the parties that they wanted to give to Katy.  How they wanted her to go to college and how she would stay out of this life Frank wanted her to take control of all of their legitimate businesses.  Katy would be a powerful woman and with her mothers brains she would take the company to new heights.  Frank looked at Lucy as they stood at the gate of their estate.  The guards were in shock that they walked to the gates.  They quickly opened them and called the main house for a car to be sent down.  Minutes later the car arrived and then they drove up to the house. 

Lucy quickly ran up the stairs to see Katy as Frank was briefed on the days activities.  Then he went to check on his daughter and wife.  Frank smiled as Lucy was tickling Katy.  Hearing that small child's laughter gave him joy and reassurance that he had a family.  Lucy laughter was something that surprised him unlike before they was a laughter of peace that Lucy laughed.  Frank never heard that laugh before he was pleased as he left them alone and went into the bed room.  He took off his ring and watch then his cuff links as he undressed preparing for bed.