The door to Marie's home office opened swiftly and Marie's angry voice could be heard yelling at Rand to get out.  Rand ducked out, barely missing getting clobbered in the head by a paper weight that hit the door instead.  The impact took out a chunk of the door and the head of Marie's security barely managed to get the door closed before the next object could be thrown in his direction.

Rand held the door closed as if she might decide to storm out of the office and continue the attack upon him.  The man shook his head and looked over at the men who were serving at Marie's personal security that night.  "Well she took that well," he said with sarcasm thick in his voice.  Davran asked, "When is Lucky suppose to arrive?"

Rand straightened himself and dusted off his suit.  "Not soon enough if you as me."  He signed and added, "He should be arriving very soon according to our informant at the airport."  As Rand started to walk off he added, "I hope to hell he can snap her out of this mood she has been in since everything went south in LA."

Sal was in his car on his way to see Marie. They had not seen each other since before the war and had talked very little since they both had a lot on their plates. But it was time to go see her. She was starting her third trimester and according to what he was hearing she was... not doing well. 

Sal was excited to see his wife. With everything going down he had not even got to see that she was ok with his own eyes, Yes he had heard she was fine but it was high time he got to see her and hold her for himself. 

He lit a cigarette as Tiny drove his mind racing through the recent events.

Marie sat working on the pile of missives she had to still get through today.  If anything there was more to do now than ever before.  She desperately need to appoint herself a hand to assist her in getting all of it done.  Fuck she missed Ravel so damn much.  Marie blinked back the hot angry tears as she continued to write.  This letter was to an angry governor that was demanding that she help pay for damages that was done during the most recent fightings.  She was reminding the governor about his recent affair with a Hollywood starlet and the photos she had that she suspected her would prefer not to get back to his wife.  Finishing the letter she sat it in the out going box and took a moment to pour herself a glass of whisky.  There was never more than a glass full in her decanter at anyone time.  Rand made sure of it and each time she asked for it to be refilled the entire place seemed to go as dry as a Billy Sunday revival meeting.  She growled at the thought of her men being so damn over protective of her.

Taking a large drink from the glass she sat it down.  She had wanted to down the whole thing, but then who knew when she would be allowed to have any more.  She would probably have to go to Sal's bar to get some more... assuming her husband was not in on this damn conspiracy too.  

Sal gets out the car and heads up to Marie's office. Heading through the HQ he can see everyone is tired and rebuilding the damage the had been done. 

He heads up and walks into Marie's office letting the guard outside not to disturb them. He closes the door behind him and walks over and gives Marie a kiss and a long hug. 

"How are you, sweetheart?" he asks 

Marie did smile when Sal came in and gave her a kiss and a hug.  She tried to curb her emotions for her husband's sake.  If anything the last few days had been harder on him.  They had both lost a hand and friends, but he had to deal with his daughter being shot for a second time in such a short span of time.  Her husband deserved more than her blunt in to a long day. 

"I am doing alright.  Are you hungry?  Do you want me to have them make us something to eat?" she chuckles. "I would offer you a drink, but apparently we are all out of whiskey according to Rand."  Marie snorts and shakes her head annoyingly.

"We can have them make something. And yes I know you are out of liquor they have told me that they are not allowing any in the HQ," he says pulling a bottle from his jacket. 

"But I figured we could use something to drink today," he said grabbing a glass and pouring himself a drink. 

She smiled and grabbed her glass feeling at least that her husband was in her court for the moment.  As he refreshed her glass, Marie moved to the door and told her men outside to have the staff prepare a light supper.  Then she went back into her office and walked over to the couch to join Lucky who handed her the glass of whiskey.  She sat down and asked, "How is Isabella doing?"  Marie's face clouds over a bit as she thought about the young woman and her smile fades despite her effort of trying remain above the dark and gloom she had settled into since LA. 

Sal took a drink from his glass and took a seat on the couch. 

"She is recovering and so is Elias," he says to her. 

"How are YOU doing?" he asked her. 

Sal took out and lit a cigarette taking a long drag before another sip of his drink. 

Marie exhaled a long sigh and looked down at her drink.  "I am not going to lie.  It has been rough.  I knew when we made the decision that a lot of people, our family and friends, were going to get hurt and many would die."   She looked back up into his eyes, "I don't regret the decision.  Right or wrong it was what we felt was needed to protect our family and our cities based on the evidence we had.  I will never regret protecting those I love and care about."  Marie reached out to take hold of her husband's hand.  "How are you doing?"

Sal had taken many losses and also had many more hurt within his family as well as his city. Things had been tough but it was part of the life. 

"I am doing ok. People are healing and starting rebuilding," he says to his wife. 

"I am glad you are ok. Things will get better," he told her. 

"Those decisions are the hard ones to make. We had friends on both sides but what else was going to do?" he asks. 

Marie shook her head.  "There was nothing else that cou...."  Marie gasped and her hand quickly moved to cover her stomach.  "The baby just kicked!"  A large smile broke out on her face and she looked at Lucky.  "Would you like to feel it?  It may happen again."

Lucky smiled and Marie took his hand and put it on her stomach. After a few seconds, he feels the baby kick and he smiles. 

"Well that made my day better," he said to her. 

"I am glad you two made it through all that ok. So I hear you have... been a little..." he pauses as he tries to figure out how to say what he is trying to say without pissing her off. 

"A little moody?"  Marie reached to rub the back of her neck a bit as they talked.  "I just feel so emotional all the time and with my guilt over the cost of the war that I  declared..."  She shook her head slowly.  "I know logically it was what had to be done, but the emotional side... it weighs on me."   

She sipped on her drink.  "I just hope that we are able to get this commission off the ground.  I believe it is our best chance at long term peace.  There will always be feuding between families, but war should be the exception to the rule not the driving force.  War should always be the option of last resort when there is no other means of solving a situation.  To do otherwise is a waste of resources and the lives of some really good people."