"This is madness."  She muttered, looking at the somewhat sketchy rope ladder.  There was only one way she'd get on that thing... if she had to.  And the only way she'd HAVE to was if she jumped down.  She looked around.  She'd done far worse than this, what was her hesitation?  Jumping in shouldn't scare her - she certainly knew how to swim and the fall wasn't so far she couldn't survive it.  

Letting her arms fall to her sides she decided to keep her body as straight as possible, hopefully, that would make the impact with the surface less painful.  "GERONIMO!"  She screamed out on the way down and then she was engulfed in fridged waters.  The feeling was like being slapped in the face only - all over her body.  It caused her to almost gasp, but instead, she violently flailed her arms and legs forcing herself up to the surface.  

Isabella coughed and sputtered, it wasn't the most graceful dive known to mankind, not by a long shot.  She turned to face Gavin, "YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME HOW COLD IT IS!"  She shivered and looked down to the part of her body that felt the cold most intensely and ached from it.  It was in that moment she could see what Gavin had suddenly made out as well.  

Isabella screamed as she crossed her arms in front of her bare breasts.  No longer using her arms to float, she slipped under the water again taking swallowing a mouth full of water as she went.  

Gavin glided over to her and wrapped her in his arms, laughing.

"Now that was great. Very therapeutic. And if I'd told you how cold it was you wouldn't have jumped."

Still, he rubbed her back as he treaded water, hoping to warm her up as she adjusted to the temperature. 

Isabella's hair matted to either side of her face and she looked more like a drowned rat than a bathing beauty now.  Gavin's warmth helped though and she gently clung to him as she caught her breath and hiccuped painfully.

"Please tell me... you know where my top is?"  She laughed as she looked around at the natural wonder of the cave for the first time.  "Wow..."  She was in awe of it.  It was a sight to behold and being here with Gavin, alone, only made it more special.

"Tell me something," She seemed to forget about her top for a moment and pulled herself tighter to him.  "Why here?  How'd you know about this place?  Why the Carribean?  You said it was a pipe dream before... what made you, a man from Canada, want to come all the way down here?  I mean... it's beautiful, but, I'm surprised it was such a treasured dream of yours."

Gavin tilted his head; it was hard to shrug when you were holding onto someone and treading water. Still, he was feeling fine. Shortly, he knew he'd get tired. But not yet; for now, he kept moving his legs as his fingers laced together at the small of Bella's back.

"I remember being a kid. I was sick, laid up in bed for a week. Tara was reading a book about pirates, and I just remember thinking about sandy beaches. Blue oceans. Jungles. I dunno."

It was the best week of my life, away from my father, and the best escape I ever had. But I'd prefer not to bring that up at the moment.

"And I mean... I also kind of liked pirates. If I'd been born a couple hundred years ago, I think this is where I would been been. On the water. Free. A woman in every port. Filthy rich. Die before I'm 35. You know. Pirate stuff."

He sighed.

"And I grew up in Newfoundland. Tropical paradises had their appeal."

Isabella chuckled at the mention of a woman in every port.  "You'd be a good pirate."  She said with no small amount of amusement.  "All I can ever remember wanting to be was what I am."  She said wistfully.

"I remember dreaming about who my father was, and what sort of life he was leading without my mother and myself.  I always imagined something close to the truth... not as dark perhaps, I mean what kid could reasonably be expected to correctly imagine all the aspects of this life we lead?"

She shook her head.  "If I had known about this place - about how beautiful it really is, I would have been daydreaming about it as a kid too... and come here a long time ago."

She looked into Gavin's eyes, "But the company surely wouldn't have been as good as this." and then she kissed him. 

When the kiss ended she spotted her top.  "A-ha!"  She said, slipped out of Gavin's arms and back down into the water to retrieve it.  A moment later she resurfaced by Gavin who was pulling himself back onto the rocks.  "Help me tie this better this time."

She put on the top and offered to let Gavin tie it up.  "You know, if you really like the idea of pirates I bet we can find someone to take us out to dive a shipwreck or something?  Or ... if you want another kind of piracy, maybe we could go back to Montego tonight and have a little sport?"  She laughed.

"Elias and I use to have a game we played sometimes... go to a big party or place where folks gathered.  See who could end up lifting the best goods over the course of the evening.  The winner would get some prize of their choice from the loser."  She chuckled and said, in her best pirate accent, "RAR!  We could be land-pirates, matie!"

It was a TERRIBLE attempt at sounding like a pirate but Isabella was in a playful mood now that she was out of the sight of the rest of the world.  It seemed here was the PERFECT place to try to be herself a little more.

Gavin may have technically tied the top behind her back, but it looked as if a stiff breeze would destroy the knot. They faced each other again just in time for "RAR!" and "land-pirates". Gavin stared at Bella without the hint of a smile. Then he dunked her head under the water. Grinning, he dove, swam away, and surfaced near the edge of the pool. He found a formation of rocks that was nearly like an arm chair. It would have been terribly uncomfortable to actually sit in, but when mostly floating it didn't feel too bad at all. 

Gavin cracked an eye open, chuckling.

"You know. We technically are land-pirates. You should rename your crew."

Isabella popped up out of the water again and gave chase, this time more gracefully.  When she came to Gavin's pirate throne she speculated,  "I'd be Captian Isabella and I'd have a merry band called the Land Pirates.  I'll tell folks they have to call me Captain instead of Don and all the ranks in my crew will be broken down into pirate titles from First Mate to Cabin Boys."  She laughed.  "Can you imagine the looks I'd get?  My father would shoot me!"

She floated on her back then, looking up at the hole that allowed her to see the sky above them.  The sky seemed less blue now that she was down here in the bluest water she'd ever seen.  It was almost madness how beautiful it was.  "It's like a dream."  She said loud enough that Gavin could hear while she floated.

"The colors aren't real... it all feels... so good."  She sighed.  "Like it did in Canada."

A long silence before, "I should never have made that call.  Imagine the time I would have saved us, if I'd just climbed back into bed with you."  She sat up.  "You were right - I just thought I should say that cause I don't think people say it to you often enough."

She smirked.  "But you didn't answer me about Montego.  We can stay at the cabin again tonight if you prefer.  I don't mind it's just... well, maybe some room service would be just the thing to help you rest soundly tonight?"

"At the moment, I just feel lucky that your father hasn't shot me."

He cracked an eye open again, watching her float on her back.

"Staying in bed with me is usually the right decision, but you had to make that call, in Canada. If you didn't, you wouldn't be you."

Gavin slid back under water for a moment popping up again and sighing contentedly. Maybe he wouldn't move ever again. He stretched out his arms, and he could feel the water sliding down his shoulders, arms, and his chest, forming rivulets around his scars- especially the newer one, still pinkish red where the gunshot had hit him- and where the surgeon had opened him up.

"Let's stay in Negrill one more night. Build a bonfire on the beach. Tomorrow, we'll head out for adventure. But for now... I think I'd like to stay here for awhile. Just in case there's a phone call waiting for us."

He opened an eye, again watching her swim. 

"Perfect.  Besides, wouldn't be right not to eat my fish tonight.  We did go to a lot of trouble to catch him."  She chuckled and floated in silence for a long while again, watching the world above her spin.

"Will told me he loved me."  She said in a quieter voice than her other banter.  She didn't look at Gavin, but she could feel his eyes on her.  Floating here, seeing only the sky, she felt like she was flying.  Weightless, as if the burden of the pain she'd caused wasn't so harsh.

"I had to stop it before things went further."  She closed her eyes, listening to the water in her ears.  "I broke his heart, but even in doing that he was better to me than he should have been by half.  I mean, I never would have expected him to hate me like Elias does... but, he was... kind and I felt like garbage because he didn't even have the good sense to be angry at me or you."

She wasn't crying or really overtaken with emotion as she had been days ago, but the feelings were big ones and she wanted to talk.  She needed to hear her voice speak the words - to make them real, and sort through them... to find a path forward.  Gavin, it seemed, had this effect on her.  As if he were able to suck the poison out of any wound in her heart and leave her better for it.

"He just told me told me to go to you and that he wanted me to be happy."  She was silent, but not yet done speaking.  "How does someone that good become one of us?  How can he hope to survive in such a world?"

"Of course Will loves you. I don't blame him for that. And him wanting you to be happy? Most other people I'd call bullshit. Will, I'd believe it."

"How does someone that good become one of us?  How can he hope to survive in such a world?"

"I was asking myself the same questions about you in Montreal. You're a good person, too. But you make it work, obviously. Will's a good man. I think he's shown you a part of himself that most other people don't get to see. Most other people might just see the muscle. Or his fist, if they're on the wrong side. He'll do more than survive. He'll thrive. No doubt in my mind."

Gavin paused, eyes still closed.

"I'm not worried about Will in the slightest. Give him some time. Maybe some space...  although I still need to talk to him. There wasn't time... with everything else. Maybe it's better that I didn't, that he has time."

There it was again, Gavin finding words that made things make more sense than they had in her own head.  Always finding a way to make things that seemed so complex... simple.  Good, but simple.  It was a quality that had attracted her to him, that and his forthright nature... and lack of shame over being who he was... and... 

Isabella's heart swelled.  She rolled over and bobbed in the water, treading.

"Will wanted to see you.  I think he was happy and shocked to hear you were so worried about him."  She smiled.  "He likes you, even if I did choose you over him, I'm pretty sure when you meet up he'll just threaten you within an inch of your life..." 

She laughed.  "Or warn you if you fuck up that he's going to be waiting in the wings."

She tilted her head to the side slightly, "What did you have to talk with Will about?  If you don't mind me asking?"

Gavin's eyes hadn't opened in a while. His breathing slowed as he rested in his "armchair". His voice, when he spoke, sounded further away. 

"Just... you know. Thank him. For carrying me out. Assuming that wasn't you. I like him too. We'll be friends. As long as I don't make you scream... and he hears you through the walls. Will wouldn't... threaten me. I'm too..."

When Bella glanced over, she saw Gavin's head leaned back, resting on one of his hands. The deep rhythmic breathing suggested that the previous few restless nights had finally claimed their prize. 

It was a very long and pruney day under the ground.  She thought about climbing up and out but the truth was, she worried Gavin might roll off his rock and into the water, drowning.  So… she sat beside him, sometimes swimming, other times sunning herself on rocks. It was peaceful, sitting under the ground and just absorbing the world around her - no expectations, no one needing her to be somewhere or do something, and no pressures of being a Crew Leader.  The last of which she felt ashamed to admit, she’d been less focused upon than she should have been.

The Ivory Tower had come last, again and again, they were a resource to be used at best - and at worst an afterthought that had to be ‘handled’ while she was busy with other ‘more important’ things.  It wasn’t how being a Don was supposed to go, and here in the quiet, she began to contemplate how she would change that when she came home. Renew her focus, her dedication and her drive to the people who depended upon her the most.

When Gavin finally woke, it was already getting dark and the drive back to the cabin was illuminated by a brilliant sunset that she absolutely wished she could bottle and take home with her.  

True to his word, Gavin built up a bonfire upon arriving and Neil had the most lovely filets of striped sea bass for them to fry up in butter with salt & pepper in a cast iron pan.  When it was done it was a white flakey meat that was quite possibly the very best thing she’d ever tasted.

The shadows grew longer, like God was drawing the earth up into a heavy blanket of stars ever so slowly.  And as the heat from the day was leached from the rocks and sand, she drew nearer to Gavin until at last they were wrapped in a shared blanket picking out constellations in the Heavens above them.

It reminded her of the night by the river in Canada, except warmer, less bugs, & all her worries literally forgotten.  Gavin stoked the coals of the fire with a long pointed stick, sending sparks flying upward like fireworks. Isabella snuggled in close to him, squirrel in her hands eating from it’s bottle - it’s box off to the side and forgotten about as well.

“Do you suppose she remembers her past?”  She said, indicating the squirrel in her hands.  “How she got a broken leg, or the family she once had?”  She tilted her head to the side watching the little critter nurse.  

“Or is it’s mind so tiny maybe… it doesn’t have all the room to hang onto the past like we do?”  She was thinking about Gavin’s past and wondering how much of it was his reasons for not sleeping.  While the gun shot had been bad, and certainly he nearly died and that might be all the reasons a man needed to not sleep - the truth was he’d had a much more dramatic change than all that.  

Gavin had decided to try on a new life really, a whole new way of being, and putting down one’s past and the pain they’re familiar with wasn’t easily done by even the best of men.  She wondered, to herself, if his ghosts were haunting his mind more than normal and that his battle wasn’t just a physical recovery, but a mental one too.

Gavin shook his head.

“I don’t think animals remember anything… unless it’s connected to food, maybe. I eat too many animals to give them human characteristics like remembering an injury or having a family. I think your second point is probably the right one. Animals just exist in the present- not the past or future. I think people could benefit from doing that a little more… but I do think people can try to find a good balance between past, present, and future. Animals don’t have a choice.”

Gavin smirked at the squirrel. He liked it. It was just… strange.

“Thank for letting me sleep earlier in the hole. That’s weird to say. Anyways, I appreciate it. Hopefully the therapeutic mineral springs will work their magic. Hope you enjoyed it as well?”

Isabella shrugged.  “It wasn’t a big deal.  You needed it and honestly, the quiet was helpful.  I think sometimes I am just so much in my own head that I don’t get through all the things that need to be thought about in a day.”

“There’s a lot that I’ve been putting on the back burner since Elias returned.  Mostly concerning my crew and I need to fix that when I get home. So, I spent a little quiet time thinking about that today.  What I’d do when I’m back and how I can try to keep a better balance in my life. Especially now that I’m going to be flying to Philly a lot more often.”

She looked up at him and smiled.  “I think my father will be happy that I came to a decision on all of this, I do know he wasn’t comfortable at all with my indecisions - not that I was, honestly.”  

She rolled her eyes.  “I swear that man sometimes seems less than human.  He just… doesn’t think about how complex a matter can be - always wants things this way or that with little concern about how hard it is… it’s so rare I see the real him.”

The fire crackled and popped, it was pretty to watch and rather relaxing, but it caused her to notice the squirrel was done with its formula.  She kissed it’s forehead and returned it to it’s house. She wondered if the calming fire light, smells and sounds would help Gavin sleep later or if his nap in the cave would remove all chance for a nocturnal rest tonight.

“How are the wounds feeling?  I mean, I don’t expect miracles of that little cave and it’s pretty blue waters, but aside from climbing up that ladder today was a pretty relaxing day.”

“What are you going to do different? About your crew, I mean? And Philly to Detroit isn’t that long of a flight. You come out to the Pier regularly. I’ll pop over to DT. We’ll make it work.”

He smiled.

“You’ll have to let me know what your father says, once you tell him.”

Somehow, he expected he’d be back in the Godfather’s office again in the near future.

He banished the thought, focusing on the bonfire as he stretched out, lying on his stomach. The sun had burned him slightly, initially, but, after being outside as much as he had, he’d gained a light sun-kissed tan that often sharply contrasted with the scars crisscrossing his back, arms, and chest. He seemed cold blooded, absorbing the heat from the fire that he couldn’t generate himself. As he looked at the fire, Bella saw it reflected in his eyes.

“They’ll be fine. I’m feeling much better today, I think. Not saying I’m raid to raid another FBN fortified location, but I think I can stop worrying about re-cracking a rib every time I have to sneeze.”

“And you’re right. It was a relaxing day. Where’d you say we were headed tomorrow again?”

She thought about the crew and what was too much to say.  Gavin, after all, was a lover and not blood of the Tower so she had to consider that in what she was willing to share.  And yet, how much did a man have to bleed before she considered him hers wholly? So what if he’d not done it into the sacred chalice passed down from the first, and before her the Don’s of the Fazzone family in Sicily.  He’d certainly proven himself more than most in her crew, at least as much as every Boss - certainly more than many of her Made Men if she was, to be honest.

“War.”  She said softly.  It wasn’t an easy topic, certainly not now that she had a lover in another city working for another Godfather, but there it was.  There was no point in beating around the bush about it.

“The Tower under me has been a cash cow for my father - black market shipping of goods to and from Canada mostly; though we handle a fair amount of the ladies in the red light district and no small amount of drugs.  Mostly weed, but really, it’s black market night and day.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

“I’ve never thought about myself as a war leader, per say, to be honest none of the previous Tower Dons have been.  Frankie Messina wanted to be… but her ambitions left her vulnerable to smears by her contemporaries… I sometimes think she forgot this thing of ours is still largely run by men, no matter what she wanted.  Reading her journal leaves one to wonder if she thought to change the way the world turned on its axis sometimes.”

“Lucky Lucy died with a baby in her belly, nine months out … days from its birth.  They buried her in Chicago. Frankie died in her bed in Seattle, burnt to the point they couldn’t identify her.  Katy DiCaprio never got the title of Don… even though many considered her the true heir apparent to her mother Lucy’s legacy.  Which, of course, brings us to me and I keep thinking the major thing they all had in common is that not a damn one of them had the courage of their convictions… all of them were sharp, certainly powerful in their way, but not a one was ready for war.  It was like they lived with their heads in the sand to the facts of what it is we do.”

“I don’t want to die in my bed while men gun down my people like sitting ducks when our time comes… I want to go out fighting.  I want future leaders of the Tower to read my journals and think… now THERE was the one who got it. She was the one that actually gave two shits about what it was she claimed she was… a real leader of a family.”

She drew a breath and looked up to the stars.  “I need to think about the days I don’t want to come - I need to make sure we’re profitable for today, but prepared for tomorrow - come what may.  Because, if I’m being honest, this can’t last forever. My father is a violent man and he has many enemies. The day will come when I’ll be called to fight again and this time, I’ll be leading my people.  If they aren’t ready for it - or if I’m not - then that blood is on my hands as well as our enemies.”

She looked to Gavin, “Before her husband came to join her in Chicago… Lucky Lucy was married to Frank DiCaprio of Las Vegas.”  She gave a wry smirk. “It wasn’t a long flight for them either… but it certainly was one of the worst, the day her Godfather ordered her to go to Vegas and locate every member of her husband’s crew and report back to him.”

She looked at the fire, “Cold bastard who can order a wife to do that to her husband’s people… happily for Frank and Lucy, she was a tricky one.”  She chuckled. “I hope I never have to be tricky... I love my father.” She wasn’t sure what she meant by that last part. She didn’t think she’d ever betrayed him… but lie to him?  Could she do that? Would she do it for Gavin? Or William?

“As for tomorrow… I booked us a room at this hotel/casino resort in Montego Bay.  I knew we might stay here the whole time but I wanted options in case we wanted to do shopping or gambling or whatever.  We don’t have to go there or stay there. It was really just a suggestion.” She looked to Gavin, “Honestly I’m really enjoying it out here and if there’s anything I’ve learned from you it’s to not run away from a good thing.”

Gavin listened to the history of her predecessors with interest- and not a small amount of jealousy. He had no real “bloodline” to speak of besides his sister, and he never really intended to start one, either. The history of the Tower, though- that legacy- was appealing to him. Perhaps a rare way the past could positively affect the present or future.

“I don’t know if you’ll get what you want, Bella. I’ve heard stories about some of the greats catching bullets in their sleep. But I don’t think that’s anything we can control. What I do know is, if that did happen, it wouldn’t change a thing. The difference is being prepared to go down fighting.”

He flipped over on his back, looking up at the stars.

“Who knows what the future holds? I think you’ll be ready. No matter what happens. Hopefully this peace can keep going. I don’t think I’ve ever seen our society this productive. Rogues, Durden, other random troublemakers like the McMasters may be out there- but I hope I don’t sound naive when I say that I’m optimistic about peace.”

He rested his hands behind his hand, staring up at the stars and watching the embers alight toward the sky.

“Is there anything else you wanted to do out here, before we’d head elsewhere?”

“I can think of a few things.”  She said with a tone that suggested she wasn’t talking about snorkeling.  

She came down beside him and kissed his mouth and let her fingers gently touch upon his scars as she often did in intimate moments.  She stayed far from the one that was the most recent addition for fear of hurting him or causing him odd discomfort.

Lifting her lips from his she whispered, “Such a strange thing to give me comfort.”  she, of course, meant his scars. “These little reminders, places where flesh is harder… stronger from the hurt.  I’ve hated mine, at least until you showed me yours. Then, it didn’t feel so strange to me anymore. I started to see myself again - not in spite of them - but because of them.  They’re part of me, the real me and I don’t think without your help I could have really seen that; not without a lot of time.”

Isabella lay beside him, propping her head up on her hand, arm bent at the elbow in the sand, “I want to know all there is to know about you.”  She said touching his face, looking into his eyes as if trying to pierce into the depths of the man he really was.

“I feel like we’ve lived in a hurricane.  Our whole relationship has been based on the crisis that my life has been, and finally here in this perfect place, I get you all to myself.  I should have a million questions for you, and instead I just… feel like I’ve known you my whole life. It’s foolish how in love I am with you, Gavin.  It’s beyond sense.”

She kissed him.  “Tell me something I don’t know about you.”  She kissed him again. “Tell me the easy things if you can’t tell something obscure or hard… foods and colors you like, games you played as a child, the first woman you were with, a secret talent no one knows about.”  She laughs.

“Let’s talk about the mundane stupid things lovers talk about and when you’re tired of talking… you can kiss me until my lips are too tired to make conversation anymore.”

Gavin looked up at the stars as she lay beside him, running her fingers over his scars.

“You’ve showed me more than a few things about myself too, Bella. I’m… glad you came in for ice cream, that time.”

He grinned.

“As for me… well, we’ve got all the time in the world for stories, now. Which topic would you prefer? The easy things? The hard things? Food? Colors? Games? The first woman? Or my secret talent? I have a story for each. Which do you want first? Or would you like them in order?”