"I'll have to go check out The Pier myself. Is that what you are Tara mostly talked about? Pier stuff?

He was ravenously devouring the food, mostly done with the meatloaf, when Stella mentioned her father. He chewed cautiously as he listened, but he stopped chewing entirely when she said she was going to meet with him. His voice was different when he spoke again, lacking all his usual mirth. 

A lamb walking into a wolf's den.

"No, Stella. Some men would rather have the blood."

He spoke from experience, but he didn't elaborate.

"I'm not telling you what to do. You're your own woman. But I think it's a bad idea, and you should at least wait a few weeks."

He paused.

"I'll go with you, if you want me there."

Otherwise, I strongly suspect the next time I see you will be at your funeral. Maybe not even then, if it's a closed casket.

Something in the way his voice changed startled her a bit.  Stella had never heard Gavin so dead serious before- not even in New York when all this mess started with Durden and his goons.  

"You know of him?  I mean, I suppose you would- being as it sounds like he's a pretty big figure in the underground."

She briefly considered waiting a few weeks and meeting with him anyway, but she wouldn't dare take Gavin.  If this man was as dangerous as he sounded, there was no way Stella would put Gavin that close to the flame- not for her.  

"Well, that's...a hitch in the plan.  I- I guess I have no idea what to do, really.  If he's that blood-thirsty, hell, I don't want to be looking over my shoulder all my life.  That's ridiculous."

Suddenly, it occured to Stella that this could put a lot of people she cared about in danger.  Uncle Joe, Gavin and Tara...no. She couldn't let that happen. The very thought made the blood run cold in her veins.  She shook her head a bit.

"Well, I've got good protection for now.  Nothing to worry about now.  How's the meatloaf?"

"The job I was on where I got hurt, Jack Mezzo and I headed down to Delaware City. We're hoping to launch that scavenger hunt thing- the proposition you helped me talk to your Uncle Joe about. We went down there pretending like we were going to ask the godfather of Delaware City, when we really blew his safe and grabbed two giant bags of cash."

"That Durden bastard sent what looked like three thousand gangsters after us. He's got a crew bigger than any I ever saw, and he tore up the city so bad trying to find us that the Army base nearby had to come in. Between Durden and the army, we had to jump off a ramp to land on a ship... which is how I fucked myself up and wound in here."

"Point is, you don't want to deal with that guy. He's got a bigger crew than anyone and brings in a shit ton of money. If you walked into a meeting alone with him, you're toast. No offense. You might be able to survive a meeting if you bring back up, but even that's risky. If you want to solve the problem permanently you'll have to take him down... but that sort of job would take a hell of a lot of planning. For now, you might just want to sit tight a bit and wait for an opportunity."

Gavin didn't remember the last time he'd said so many words uninterrupted; realizing it, he quickly tucked back into the meatloaf.

Stella listened carefully; finally getting the story of what happened, but also learning everything she could about the man that apparently had it in for her. Gavin's suggestion that he would have to be taken down was a formidable task. Surely there had to be another way.

She watched Gavin in silence for a while, not wanting to bother him anymore with it. The night was darkening with rain clouds. With every passing minute, Stella became more and more distracted with worry. 

After a few quite minutes, she sighed softly. 

"I don't want to keep you up, if you're tired. You need your rest. Do you...need anything?" 

Gavin rolled his eyes, smirking. He dismissed Durden for now; that wasn't going to get solved in the middle of the night.

"You know what I want, but I'm not in the habit of begging. Besides, anything that happens tonight you'd have to be doing all the work. But give me a couple days and I'll be chasing you down again no problem."

That comment knocked Stella out of her darker thoughts. Instead, she glanced sideways at the door, slyly. Then, she stood and kicked off her shoes. With a glint in her eye, she stepped close to the bedside. Carefully, she sat on the edge and gently walked her fingers up his chest. Her lips followed, and she left a hand to wander.

When Gavin awoke the next morning, Stella was gone, but the pain in his back had returned. Leaning back with a contented sigh, Gavin started another round of morphine. 

Fade away for a couple days, and he'd be fine. 

Just fine.