The cavernous warehouse which was a local market's storage space wasn't an ideal recovery location for a man with a punctured lung barely clinging to life - but it was what they had.  Detroit was overrun with cops.  They were unable to move - things were too hot.  She couldn't go anywhere near her father's home.  So... William and Isabella had to settle for trying to sleep in an impossible situation.  

Alward had brought some creature comforts, food, drinks, blankets and even a small AM radio.  Gavin was given the only cot.  Isabella's arm was in a sling and William was stitched up.  Happily, the bullet had gone right through and hit nothing vital.  It was okay they didn't have cots, Isabella supposed, neither of them could sleep.  Will paced - waiting for the arrival of Tara and watching for signs they'd been tracked to this location.

Isabella sat on the floor beside Gavin's cot occasionally patting his head & lips with a damp cloth.  He looked dead if she was being honest, but he wasn't.  His blood clothes were ruined and he was stripped down to his cotton undergarments, but seeing the gauze protecting the scars on his chest, she never looked that far down his body.

As she stared longingly into his face, she felt herself willing him to keep going.  It was the only thing she could do.  She and William had said so little to each other in the hours that had passed.  Maybe they both felt guilt?  Maybe they didn't think it would be fair... with Gavin on death's door as he was.  Alward said he had no way of knowing when or if Gavin would wake.  Could be an hour from now... could be days... might still be never.  He expressed a sincere hope that the latter would not occur.

As an instrumental of, Dream a Litte Dream of Me came on the radio, Isabella found herself singing along to the wordless song.  Her voice, nothing to write home about normally, echoed hauntingly off the tin walls as she brushed her fingers through his hair lovingly & never felt Will's gaze come away from the window to her and Gavin.

If the silence was going to be broken, it seemed that it would fall to the arrival of Tara or William finally saying something.  Isabella dared not stop looking at Gavin lest she look away and he try to leave them again.

William had watched the world outside looking for any sign of movement. Anything to draw his mind off the man lying in a cot struggling to survive behind him. Alward and the radio both made it clear that the city was abuzz with fear at a string of FBN agents being assassinated in their own homes, but the street outside had been silent. Mercifully so. And yet tormenting at the same time. It meant that there was nothing but to dwell on what had happened.

His own wounds were easily tended to and Isabella's, though debilitating, would heal in time and provide one more mark of the strength she carried inside her. Gavin...he might not be so lucky. It was why William couldn't bring himself to look back. To see the man who'd given his blood and potentially his life to make sure the two of them were safe. To see the excruciating pain written on the face of an angel at his side. He couldn't help thinking again and again that he should have been the one to go. He shouldn't have let one of his family face three agents like that. How else could this have ended? He couldn't stand it...

He had to face it. Standing at the window and staring at emptiness wouldn't let him hide from this forever. He needed to say so much before the world closed back in on them. He'd have to turn and stop pretending that a man he was responsible for, one he hadn't treated right for selfish reasons, wasn't lying on a bed fighting for his life.

"I should have stopped him." He didn't turn from the window, not yet, but he spoke loud enough to be heard by the only other occupant of the room that could respond. "I should have gone instead, or shot straighter, or something. I'm so sorry. He's my family. I should have been able to protect him."

Isabella shook her head.  "This was my operation.  You BOTH told me that over and over again and it's true.  Neither of you would have come if not for me.  You barely know my father - fuck he beat the hell out of you - why would you risk this for him?  No.  Gavin is here because I gave the order, because of... I ..."  She bit back her words.

"No.  You can't blame yourself."  She decided on that.  It's safer.  "Gavin knew the risks.  He proposed the plan.  It just as easily could have been you rushing up the stairs.  I weighed the risks, the outcomes, and I made the best call... I stand by it.  I don't like that he's this way Will, but I won't pretend that I didn't make a very conscious choice in that stairwell.  Perhaps the first one I've made in six fucking months."

She looked at Gavin, "Him ending up like this, it was in my head.  I knew he might... he might die.  We both did."  She whispered, "I saw it in your eyes."  She said to Gavin with a sad smile as she dabbed his face again with the cloth.

She looked at Will.  "It won't do him good to hear us like this.  Sit.  Let's try to make sure he knows there's something good to come back to.  Let's talk about something he can look forward to.  How about our plans for Purgatory?  I bet you didn't know Jack Mezzo contacted me about it?"

A loud knock on the door echoed through the warehouse and left the questions hanging in the air. Immediately after knocking, the door was yanked open and Tara walked through. Her eyes appraised the scene and she quickly made her way to Gavin's side. She knelt listening to his breathing and taking one of his hands as she watched his chest rise and fall. 

Gavin's eyes were closed and he looked, if it wasn't for the more labored breathing, like he was peacefully asleep.

Tara's eyes didn't leave Gavin's face as she quietly spoke.

"Tell me how it happened."

The knocking and the opening of the door finally turned William around. It was time to let the window watch itself.

Hearing Tara's words and still feeling pangs of guilt, William quickly spoke up. "We were trying to take out an FBN agent. He was working on our side of the fence and caused a lot of trouble for all three of us as well as the Godfather of Detroit. The kind of things you don't just forgive. We caught him at his house, but he and a few of his men holed up and fortified on the second floor. Gavin thought he could get through and open a path. He did but..." Will's voice caught in his throat. He couldn't bring himself to say that he might have given his life for them. Even he didn't want to believe that was true. "He got hurt. We both got out more or less in one piece because of Gavin and the agent got what was coming to him. Your brother is a hero, Tara."

William crossed to Gavin's cot as he spoke and knelt down alongside him, his pain written clearly on his face.

A pained smirk crossed Tara's face. She hadn't spoken during the entire flight over; her voice was rougher and far more subdued than usual. 

"A hero? Highly debatable. You're talking about him the way that everyone talks about dead people. Someone can be the biggest prick in the world, but when they die everyone comes out of the woodwork and talks about how he loved dogs or some shit. No... he's not a hero."

She glanced up at Will, then at Isabella. Despite the fact that Tara's eyes were starkly different than Gavin's blue ones, there was some similarity present there behind them.

"The FBN agent. Is he dead?"

Isabella had started to open her mouth to reply to Tara, but Will was speaking before she'd drawn breath.  She closed her mouth with an audible click of her teeth.  She stared at Will, hard, while he rambled on and she silently prayed he didn't say something that would lead them to more bloodshed.

When Tara turned to speak to her, she refrained from countermanding anything Will said, milk was spilt and it was best to stand shoulder to shoulder, "I put the slugs in his face myself."  She nodded firmly. 

"The city is crawling with Feds who are out for blood, I hope by morning they'll slow their hunt after they've had time to put one of their own to the question.  The young man is so green he leaves a stain.  He's scared shitless and wants his life back... he knows enough about Agent Garrett's illegal operation that the Feds will realize to pursue us... well, it's not worth the trouble it will bring them in the papers.  Better to paint this as another random, meaningless bunch of death due to the 'evil mafia." 

She looked back to Gavin and seeing he was still breathing she continued, "With Gavin's lung as bad as it is... Doc Alward says we shouldn't risk moving him.  He definitely isn't cleared to fly, the pressure is too much up there.  But I will make sure we get him moved, as soon as possible, to somewhere more fitting for his recovery... assuming Doc says it's okay and, of course, you'll stay as the guest of Godfather Luciano... you pay for nothing.  Gavin would reject the title of Hero utterly... but any man who bleeds for a Godfather is owed a debt, and we're obligated to repay that debt.  *I* am obligated."

"I put the slugs in his face myself."

"Good."

That's what she said, but internally she was dealing with disappointment. Vengeance was easier in some ways than sitting by a bed, wracked with terror every time there was a long pause between a breath. She listened to Isabella describe the big picture with disinterest- although it did mean that the odds of getting Gavin out of this warehouse earlier would be better. So she listened to the plan.

"Okay. That sounds fine. I'm going to assume that you'll have the finest doctors available. Did the doctor tell you the odds? Or a percentage?"

She glanced at Isabella and Will, as if noticing for the first time that the two of them were hurt, her voice still subdued and businesslike.

"... and are you two alright?"

Isabella and Tara's words were a smack in the face. He had spoken like Gavin was someone different. Tara herself had agreed to his frustrations before and it was doing none of them favors to act like this. Gavin would have laughed in his face. No, Will told himself, he will laugh in his face as soon as he wakes up and hears about it.

"Don't worry about me. I just got a little ding. Isabella's arm will be out of service for a little while, but it could be far worse. Gavin," Will hesitated only the briefest moment, "Well, we aren't really sure how long it'll take him to wake up. It might still be a while yet."

William took a deep breath and looked between the two women. For once, he felt like the weak one in the room. He wanted so badly to do something to help, but it seemed he couldn't even find the right words.

Not for the first time since the fight, William wished his place was switched with Gavin. He had a feeling the cocky bastard would have known exactly what to do right now.

She looked at Will while he spoke about their injuries and then turned her gaze to Tara.

"We had our talk."  She said softly.  "Can I tell you about it to pass the time ... to give him something that might make him annoyed enough to open those eyes of his."  She chuckled, it was a dark chuckle but she had to do something to change the tone of things... for Gavin and for herself.

"I bet Will opens up one of those boxes over there marked Tuna, he'll find it's full of Canada's finest bathtub whiskey."  She smiles, nodding Will over to the boxes.  "You know damn well we're not going anywhere tonight.  We might as well settle in at the table over there and keep vigil.  Post your men if it makes you feel a bit more secure, but we're probably as safe as houses here."

Tara kept her right hand holding Gavin's, rubbing her thumb along his rough hands. Gods, she hadn't been this close to Gavin in a long time. Not like this. It was yet another reminder of how horribly unique the situation was. She glanced back at Isabella and Will.

"I'll take a bottle."

Will nodded and went to the boxes of 'Tuna' which were, sure enough, filled to the gills with illegal liquor. He fished out three full bottles and started to turn away, but something stopped him. He tucked two of the bottles under his left arm, pressed to the side that hadn't been wounded, and reached back for a fourth. He returned to the others and gave a bottle to each of the women, then sat with the other two.

"One for everybody after a day like today. Especially him when he wakes up."

"Elias Landucci is alive."  She said it as flatly as if she'd said - tomorrow the sun will rise.  And, Isabella began to explain to Tara the WHOLE story that they had all just lived through as she nursed her bottle of alcohol with both Tara and Will.

The story, of course, was long which was what they needed, a way to pass time.  Time alone would heal Gavin now.  So... Isabella laid herself bare again.  It was a form of therapy to talk about the insanity of the situation.  

Pride.  Avarice.  Greed.  Lust & Love.  The story had it all really.  If she had read it in a book, or it had happened to someone else, she might have even liked the tale - but as it was her and people she cared for... her opinion was still out.

Her's was the story of a naive street thug who wanted nothing more than to find a place in the world.  A woman who, in a very short time, had become a Don and struggled with all that entailed as she also navigated all life gives to someone her age.  It was also the tale of the corrupt Agent - Garrett - who wanted to make his bones by flipping her against her newly found blood family: Salvatore Luciano.  A sorid fairytale of star-crossed love... and his 'death' at the hand or brutal officers.  A wretched retelling of the five months she spent in utter Hell: sleepless, guilt-ridden, and lastly... suicidal.

But then she met Will and the icy hand of death was denied his prize.  She told of Durden's Fight Club, the place they would one day mimic as business partners, and how they survived it.  Of Will's courage, his goodness, and the desire for living which he'd helped her to find again.

How she'd come to Philly hoping to stumble across Will and met Gavin by chance.  How one stupid impulse decision to try to put the past in her past... in the hopes of burying the past to begin looking towards a future with someone like William... lead to an adventure across Montreal involving a bar fight & hand to hand combat with a moose. How she'd never expected to find a good man in the rogue who would randomly pick up a woman for a weekend out of the country; but ... she had.

About coming back, feeling as though she was alive again & seeking out William to start a new business venture and perhaps something more in Atlantic City... only to find that everything she'd begun to hope for was instead a betrayal of her still living Fiancee... a man who, at this moment, was laying in a bed only slightly better off than Gavin... wishing he'd never returned to her.

She could not go to her father, who was hunting Tyler Durden, and Elias had written not to trust her crew, she certainly couldn't think of a way to explain this to William who she'd already begun seriously courting... but she was desperate not to face this alone.  So, she admitted, she had called Gavin who, in the dead of night, came to meet her in Chicago and talk about what she would do next.  She explained loosely that what had begun as the sort of encounter you might expect in such a case... ended as something more; something that neither he nor she could define easily considering the insanity of the situation.  

What she knew for sure was that Gavin had helped her see through the emotions and get to the heart of what needed doing.  She went back to Detroit and talked with Elias; once he knew she was seeing William, she gave him his grandmother's engagement ring back - at least until she'd figured out what the hell it was she truly wanted.  She admitted sadly, that she shattered the man she once knew with that action; but she'd told herself she wouldn't lie to him.  She couldn't - the truth was the only real thing she felt like she had left to give anyone. Up felt down, forward felt backways... nothing in the world seemed right.  She loved Elias, of course, but to say she felt nothing for Will and now Gavin who she hadn't intended to care for at all... it was a horrible feeling on top of all the other horrible feelings.

Her story culminated in her trip to Philly, and how she'd decided to make things right for everyone by fulfilling her obligations to her father - and to her fidelity to Elias, thinking it best for all involved.  To send both men from Philly away before things got any more complicated than they were.  She explained how she'd come to conclude that Will was too good of a man to chase after her, not once he knew Elias was alive.  She assumed he'd step back and give her time to figure things out.  And how, after talking to Tara, she was sure she could make Gavin run from her by telling him that she thought she was falling in love with him & needed a commitment from him to continue.  

It wasn't that she didn't feel for him or Will - she explained - but position and responsibility and just her general ability to look at herself in the mirror all rode on both men walking away.  She was sure she could make it happen.  So... she flipped a coin to see who she'd meet with first. Gavin won.  

Here the story changed its tone.  HERE the liquor and her worry for Gavin began to betray her.  She explained how the stupid noble asshole of a brother that Tara had... He didn't want to run at her confession of her feelings even after she explained that she KNEW it was wrong for them both. 

She couldn't run off on his reckless adventures like she had no responsibilities, and if he settled down for her... she feared he'd grow to hate her in time.  To her it seemed open and shut, but not to Gavin.  Gavin wanted her to promise to let him have a chance to try out living in her world for a bit... and, a real relationship.  She softened as she talked about Gavin's desire to learn what it was like to be the things that she spoke about - the things she needed.  To see if there was a place in this crazy mixed up world where a couple like them could ever really work.

And of how she couldn't tell him no.  His warmth and honesty, and his genuine desire for her to show him a life he'd never thought about for himself before.  She knew how much it took for him to speak about such things and it broke her resolve to send him away.  It was then she also realized... William wouldn't walk away so easily either & now, this trip she'd taken to uncomplicate things... had made them worse.  

Then, in the middle of this touching and vulnerable moment... Gavin made her remember the Agent at the start of it all.  The man who swore he'd get to her father by any means necessary.  The man who knew Elias loved her.  The man who knew she loved Elias.  Agent Garrett.  So plans were made to race back to Detroit and connect with my father ... but as we figured things out more and more we knew there were moles in my dad's people.  Namely, the ones who were assigned to watch Garrett.  After the first encounter with Garrett, The Godfather had men tailing him... and obviously, they were on the take cause... they'd said nothing.

So... Elias was right.  No one could be trusted.  She needed help... and she couldn't get it from Chicago or Detroit where the people under the Luciano Families might be compromised... so she called William to join them in their hunt.  After all, she reasoned, William had reason to hate Garrett too.  

Which brought her to the current reality - aside from a very brief play by play of the hunt, planning, and execution of Garrett and his men.  The reader's digest version of things - as best she could leave out all the gory details and sexual situations... both for Will's modesty (in the case of those involving him) and his heart (in the case of those involving Gavin.)  She also admitted the detail of the Godfather's daughter, baby Aurora, being in deadly hands, a detail which needed to be handled as soon as possible and by blood.

A full half of the bottle was gone by the time she was done and she was very nearly as drunk a she'd been on their lunch date in Philly (though not slurring yet) when she said to Tara, "So now you have the whole story of how we got here.  Will and Gavin, fighting in my vendetta, trying to help free my Father's empire from one corrupt Agent's influence which had grown unchecked for too long.  The story ends with the death of Garrett and if this were a book... that would be it - but this isn't a story.  All the players are tangled up in knots still and Gavin..."  She looked to Gavin and took a hit of the Whiskey.

"Well... I promised him a trip somewhere warm and sunny."  She said a bit louder.  "He wants to see the ocean, the Carribean.  I told him we'd go after this was done and try to get to know one another like normal people do.  You know, without all the bullets and knife fights and fiancees returning from the dead.  Who knows, maybe when the world isn't on fire he won't be so sexy ... or I'll bore him to tears and then it will seem more simple." 

She glanced to William, her eyelids heavy from exhaustion and alcohol, "I should sleep... will you keep Tara company?  I'm adding 'terrible host' to my lists of fuck-ups."  She stumbled to Gavin's side and flopped onto the hard floor.  She rested her head on the side of the cot near Gavin's hand and yawned.

"Tomorrow... if you feel like strangling me,"  She chuckled at some unexplained joke. "I'll be here... but let me sleep for a bit first, okay?"  She didn't reveal who she was talking to - maybe Tara, maybe Will, maybe Gavin... hell maybe all of them really.  There was enough blame to be levied at her for any number of things and she was done tracking all her sins and wrongs against the people she loved.

"I just... need to rest my eyes a bit."  Isabella's eyes fluttered gently as she struggled against the urge to sleep.

Tara listened, glad to have something to pass the time. She sipped from her bottle occasionally, not allowing the powerful liquor to get a reaction out of her. Interesting... she didn't know she came to Philadelphia to meet Will. What would have happened, if she'd never met Gavin that day? Where would Isabella be? Where would Will be? And most striking to Tara- where would Gavin be?

Tara occasionally glanced at Will as Isabella told her story; did he know all this as well? Was some of this news to him? She listened as Isabella's story began to get soaked from liquor, as her emotions began to bare themselves even more. 

At some point, the three of them became lost in a state of half-sleep, half-drunkenness. Tara had fallen asleep with her cheek against Gavin's hand when she awoke with a start, her back sore and her eyes blearily adjusting to the dawning sun sneaking through the windows near the top of the warehouse. She watched Gavin like a hawk to make sure he was still breathing before walking over and shaking Will's shoulder.

"Will. It's morning. You need to head back to Philly now; Jack needs to talk you about something important. Your flight leaves mid-morning. Let Jack know about what happened here, and let him know I'll return as soon as I'm able."

Isabella heard Tara talking to William and woke up holding Gavin's other hand, her face having lines from his wrinkled blanket pressed into it.  She came up to his face and kissed his cheek ever so gently,  "Good morning Handsome."  She whispered, "You're missing our favorite breakfast in bed... whiskey."  She took a little sip of the whiskey to numb her pounding head.

"Just you rest & heal up... I'll... make sure everything is taken care of."  She stood slowly, making sure she didn't do so too quickly and pass out.  To Tara and Will she said, "Please tell me one of you got the number of the truck that ran me over last night?"

Gavin lay in his bed. He'd been awake for a long time, but he kept his eyes closed because he didn't want to get up. He was sick. He had an extra pillow and a blanket. Being sick was supposed to be scary, but he liked it. When you were sick, you couldn't go outside and hunt. Father left by himself to go hunt and he was gone all day sometimes two, and Gavin stayed home.

It was the best week of his life. He wished it would always be like this. Even if he could be sick once a year, that would be enough.

In the corner, his mother was cooking at the stove. Tara sat at the kitchen table, reading her book out loud. 

The boy inhaled deeply, smelling the stew cooking and the bread baking. He listened as Mama's spoon stirred the edge of the pot. He listened as Tara read the story. Her voice was quiet to not wake him up, but she still talked fancy.

"Everybody ran to see the island. I waited for a minute, then I climbed out of the barrel and ran, too. The ship was now quite near an island. ‘Does anybody know this island?’ Captain Smollett asked. ‘I do,’ said Silver. ‘There were a lot of pirates here in the old days. That hill in the centre of the island is called the Spy Glass.’ Then Captain Smollett showed Silver a map of the island. Silver looked at the map very carefully, but it was not Billy Bones’s map. It did not show the treasure. I went to-

Then Tara's brown eyes shot up and looked at Gavin.

"Mama! Gavin's awake!"

The two girls ran to him immediately. Tara held one of his hands with both her own. Mama rested one of her hands on his forehead and looked nervous, but then she smiled.

"Well, the fever's almost gone, praise God."

Gavin blinked, then turned his head and closed his eyes.

"Does that mean I have to hunt tomorrow?"

Mama turned his head and wiped the tear off his cheek. 

"Oh, my Gavin. Let it all out now, you know you mustn't let your father see you cry. He'll return tonight or tomorrow, and he'll know you're well enough to go. But you can spend today in bed and rest. We'll have stew and bread ready for you in a little while."

Gavin hugged Mama, then lay back in the bed. He didn't cry any more and just listened to Tara read. He had his stew and bread.

"Mama, when will I learn how to read?"

Mama just rubbed his hair and smiled at him.

Later, Gavin fell asleep imagining crystal clear waters, sandy beaches, old wooden ships creaking in the waves, pirates, treasure, and adventure. 

William had listened quietly to Isabella's recounting of all that had led them to this point. He hadn't known that Gavin had happened in an attempt to meet with him. He hadn't known about Gavin's hopes and fears about being in an actual relationship. Tara had hinted at some of what went on behind the bravado, but this was the first time he'd actually had it laid out. That combined with the sacrifice the man had almost made left William quiet for the evening in contemplation and in worry that what he was seeing was a shift in his competition with the man. One not in his favor. His bottle had disappeared in record time and he let the dark haze of the drink carry him into restless sleep.

The morning had come as quite a surprise, as it often does on the heels of such a night, and Tara's voice cut into him like a knife. Important talks in Philly? Now? He wasn't about to contradict any of Jack's requests for the world, but it hurt to walk away not knowing how this would turn out. Still, Gavin had two people at his side who cared about him as much as anyone in the world. There was nothing he could do here that they wouldn't already accomplish.

"Alright Tara. I'll do what I need to do, but you promise me that you two will let me know the moment anything changes." Will's eyes turned to Isabella as he spoke quietly to Tara. "I owe him for what he did to protect...us." In spite of the stinging he felt slowly coming back in his side, Will put on a smile that didn't quite extend to his eyes and moved to Isabella, steadying her with the hand of a man used to waking up after far too much whiskey. "I gotta go Angel. I'm so sorry I can't be here for Gavin and for you. I'll reach out to you the first chance I get, and know that I'll be thinking about the both of you while I'm gone." He couldn't bring himself to say any more to the woman he'd fought and bled so much for, not with what he was leaving behind. He couldn't bring himself to kiss her while Gavin lay in God knows what shape and his sister stood vigil. William made do with taking her hands and bringing them to his lips before he turned to leave, trying to make his way out before he betrayed the conflict inside him any further.

It would be a long flight home.

"Have a safe flight.  Don't worry, I promise to call if anything changes - good or bad." 

Isabella wondered if Will was going to try to give her a proper goodbye... but was relieved that he didn't.  He simply showed his devotion and regrets, and then went on his way.  Isabella smiled at him, trying to suppress her worry and thoughts about Gavin for a moment to give Will what he was due - but it was hard.

She kept her eyes on Will until the door was shut and it was really clear that William was gone.  She sat back down, feeling the weight of the world on her pressing a little harder again. 

Sitting down by Gavin's side and taking his hand in her own she said to Tara, "I have some unfinished business in this filthy mess, a loose end that needs tying."  She finally admitted.  "Something that can't wait for me much longer I fear."

Tara looked up and smiled at Isabella.

"I understand. Go- I'll call with any updates."

Then she returned to Gavin's side.

She leaned down and put her lips against Gavin's gently and said softly near his face, "I have to go be a Dragon for a bit.  Rest easy, mia cara alce."  She smiled at her joke, and kissed his lips again.

Standing up she said to Tara, "I'll be a few hours, it should be very in and out - God willing.  Then right back here, I promise.  I'll bring some more creature comforts too."