I don't want them to know the secrets
I don't want them to know the way I loved you...
I loved and I loved and I lost you
And it hurts like hell

Isabella made her way down the stairs into the bowels of the Ivory Tower with Elias behind her.  The chalice and dagger in hand, Elias knew what this about so there was no point in small talk.  He just silently followed her.  She could feel his eyes on her as the came to the door and she pulled out her key to the chamber in which she raised all made men.  

She held it open and Elias entered stoically.  This time, her eyes lingered on him, taking in the changes to him.  He was almost back to his old self if a bit thinner.  His beard was thick, full as ever, hiding secrets he wouldn't give over easily to her anymore.  Some part of her thought she should send him away for the distance that had grown between them.  Could she trust Elias was the same loyal man who he'd been before when he thought so low of her now?  Did he really think those terrible things, or had he spoke in a moment of agony?  She supposed the later.

Closing the door she plunged the room into near darkness, only the smallest lamp illuminating a far corner of the room allowed for a bit of sight.  Her eyes adjusted quickly and she put the cup and knife on the small table which she used for this purpose.  Elias was already unbuttoning his right cuff.

"I wondered if this would be necessary,"  Elias said as she came to him, less than a foot of wood separated them.  It was as intimate as they'd been since that day he sent her running away from his room in tears.  "All things considered."

She hesitated.  "Have I offended you?"

Elias shook his head no and smirked, "What crew was ever so blessed as to welcome Elias twice?"

She smiled in reply. "There you are."  She whispered, finally seeing some hint of the man she told Billings that Garrett had killed.

"Here I am."  He said holding out his hand.

She picked up the ceremonial dagger and offered it to him.  Elias shook his head, no.

"You."  He said quietly.

"Me?"

"I want you to take me back."  There was a weight to that phrase, one that suggested more than taking him back into the crew.  She tried to read his facial expressions as shadows from his hair and beard kept his secrets hidden from even her.  "Will you?"

She drew a breath and looked at his hand.  "This isn't usual."

"What ever has been, Izzy?"

Another long silence as she considered his words.  Nothing had ever, not once, been usual for them... and in that lay the tragedy of their love.  It was lightning in the sky, once so beautiful and powerful, but there and gone just as quickly the world forever changed because of it.  

"You can't hurt me now."  He reassured her gently as if he knew the depth of her pain and uncertainty.  As if he knew how much taking him back into her life and her crew really meant to her and what it opened her to.  "It's just a little cut."

"You still want this - regardless of my choices, this is still your family, right?"  She had to know.  She had to ask - here and now more than ever.

He took his left hand and brought it up to touch her jawline ever so lightly, "Always."  He breathed.

Isabella set her jaw and took him by the back of his right wrist, in her own left hand.  "Say the words."  She commanded as she adjusted her grip on the dagger, "I won't... not until you say the words."

She rests the tip of the blade on his palm and looked up into his eyes.  Elias' eyes were deep wells into which she'd been lost many times but there was something about how he looked at her now - so different as if they'd gone through whole lifetimes apart and were only being reunited in this instant.  He began to whisper a sacred vow - different vows than he meant to be giving her as they held hands in a solemn space together - but he spoke them in a similar tone and with just as much conviction. "As my blood joins those who went before me, inside the pulp of this sacred cup,"

She pulled the dagger across his palm, she could feel his skin give way along the same old scar as the first time he'd done this for her.  He didn't wince, as if the pain wasn't something he felt anymore after having been through so much - still enduring so much really.  What was one more hurt?  

"I too join this family."  She turned his hand over and squeezed it, drawing blood from him, allowing it to drip down into the old wooden cup.

"In my days to come, I will serve with integrity & honor - upholding its ideals and mission. And, when my time comes, I will proudly die alongside them."

Isabella found herself wanting to look away, but she couldn't, her gaze met his like two titans prepared to clash or two lovers on the verge of a passionate kiss.  Through her grip, he could feel her tremble ever so slightly.  

"In this life and the next, so long as I draw breath."  He paused there, it again the word weighed so much they threatened to crush her, "The Tower Still Stands."  He finished and instantly she let go of his hand, as though it were a snake.

Elias pulled a kerchief out of his pocket and held it to his open wound as Isabella drew back into the shadows of the room.  

"Jamaican Prison?"  he said in a warm and friendly tone.

"I wouldn't recommend it."  She tried to joke.

He nodded. "Still getting into adventures, even a Don."

"You expected different?"  She said walking over to the map of Detroit, pretending something was there worth looking at so she didn't have to keep looking at him, at least until the feeling passed.

"Not really.  Just figured I'd be there for all of them."

She turned back, "Elias, we can't..."

"I'm sorry."  he said abruptly cutting her off before she finished her thought. 

"You don't need to do this."  She started but he nodded, yes.

"I was hurt.  It was wrong.  It won't happen again.  You're my Don that's what this..."  He held up his hand. "... was all about, so we knew where we stood.  You're the Don.  I'm the Soldato.  That's it."

Isabella didn't insult him with asking if he was certain that he didn't need more, because that wasn't what she felt a moment ago, instead she took Elias at his word.  "Alright then, Family."

"Family."  He agreed.  

She came forward and picked up the cup looking at the bit of blood inside that still hadn't soaked into the pulpy depths of the wood.  "I wanted them to suffer for what they did to you.  It was quicker than I meant for it to be."

"You avenged me.  That's what matters."

She sighed.  "I should have rescued you.  That... not the men or my relationships born in heartache... the part that gets me is that I was fooled, that I thought it was you I buried and you suffered because my ignorance."  she looked up to his eyes.  "That's the part I can't forgive myself over.  I'll never be passed that part because there is nothing to alieve me of it.  You wouldn't have been fooled.  You would have saved me."

Elias didn't tell her she was wrong.  He listened, letting her vent her frustration and confess her sins.

"Put something on your cut to clean it.  I don't want you getting an infection now that we don't have an in-house doctor anymore."  She drew a breath and steadied her nerves.  

"It'll be alright."  He said.  

"Don't start fighting with me now, not over something so little."  She said walking towards the door.

"Isn't that what you said you liked best about me?"  

She looked back at him.

"That I didn't ever tell you what you wanted to hear - that I was always honest, that I was never scared to fight with you."

She smiled.  "Still is, but don't be a dick, okay?"

Elias chuckled.  "Yes, Don Isabella."  he said formally.

"Good.  See you upstairs in two hours."  With that Isabella left Elias alone, and went to go clean up for her meeting with the crew.