Gavin was pacing outside the restaurant in Downtown Chicago, uncharacteristically aggravated. Normally, even in the middle of a firefight, he was calm, if not irreverent. But "anxious" was rare. His shoes clicked against the pavement in a regular rhythm as he made his way back and forth over the same twenty feet. When the black car finally pulled, he rolled his eyes as he recognized the pair of legs emerging from it. His voice was low, but audible to the blonde making her way toward him.

"I told you to be here thirty fucking minutes ago."

Evelyn practically purred.

"Am I late?"

"No. Because I told you to be here an hour earlier than you needed to be..."

She winked.

"I figured."

"If this business is going to work, you're going to need to be reliable."

"HA! Gavin Byrne lecturing someone about reliability. You have changed."

Gavin shot her an angry glare for a moment, then a deep laugh emerged from him and smile broke out across his face.

"Yea, yea... you're right. But seriously, Evs, this is the Godmother we're talking about. She's not someone you can control as easily as... well, 99% of the men you've met."

Evelyn laughed, but she seemed to get the point. They walked into the restaurant, Gavin holding the door open. He grinned at the hostess.

"Gavin Byrne. Evelyn Durand. We have a meeting with Marie Lucania in half an hour."

They waited for a few minutes as they got the table ready, then were asked if they wanted to sit down and wait. Evelyn started to say yes, but Gavin shook his head and replied.

"No, we'll wait here in the foyer for the Godmother- thank you."

The pair did not have long to wait for within a few minutes several identical black sedans pulled up to the curb in front of the restaurant.  Several men began to pour out of the cars with most of them moving off in all directions, actively surveying their surroundings as they did so.  Out of the middle sedan, stepped a chauffeur and a rather tall man.  After a quick look around the taller man nodded to the driver who then opened the passenger back door. 

Mat gave Marie a hand out of the car.  She was wearing a sequenced black cocktail dress that hugged her hips and ran down to just above her knees and she carried a black clutch purse.  Unusual for her, tonight she wore no hat.  She smiled and thanked Mat before she began to walk to the restaurant.  He quickly closed the car's door and went to get back into the car as Rand, the tall security man, stepped up next to Marie and escorted her in.

When Marie saw Gavin a truly warm smile spread across her face and even reached her eyes.  "Gavin, tesoro!"  She took her future son-in-law by the shoulders and reached to kiss him on each check.  "It is so good to see you again."  She turned her attention to the young woman standing next to him.  Her smile did not lessen, but there was an intensiveness to her eyes that was not there before.  It was, as if, Marie was sizing her up and weighing her to the ounce as she waited for Gavin to make the introduction.   

Gavin had no idea what a tesoro was- Tara was always better with languages- but it seemed like a good thing to be. Gavin greeted the Godmother warmly, freezing like a statue as she kissed his cheeks. He grinned as he thought how close he was to death. If he turned his head a fraction, there'd be a rush to see who could kill him first. But he was, rarely for him, the image of respect as he moved from his greeting to making an introduction.

"Godmother Lucania, thank you for agreeing to this meeting. This is my business associate, Evelyn Durand."

Evelyn didn't seem quite sure what to do- a curtsy seemed ridiculous- but after freezing for a moment, she bowed her head toward Marie. As she did so, Evelyn couldn't help but notice what Marie was wearing.

"I like your dress... thank you for meeting with me. With us."

As for her own dress, Evelyn was wearing silver for the evening. It was short, but more subdued than her usual taste. 

Marie offered Evelyn her hand to shake.  She had discovered over the years that you could tell a lot about a person by the way they shook your hand.  Hers was a firm and confidant grip.

"Thank you," she told her as they shook hands, "You look absolutely lovely."  She smiled and regarded Gavin jovially as she leaned in conspiratorially and lowered her voice as if to whisper to Evelyn, "When he told me he had an old business associate here in Chicago he failed to give your beauty justice."  She looked back at Evelyn a moment and chuckled lightly before standing back up straight.

Looking once more at Gavin she asked, "I assume our table is ready?"

Gavin nodded.

"It is."

He deferred to Marie- she was one of the few people that he ever showed that respect to- and allowed her to walk in first, pulling out her chair for her before he sat next to Evelyn and looked at the Godmother.

"Miss Durand here is convinced she can open up the best bar in the seven cities; she's considering locations in both Chicago and Philadelphia, but I think Chicago may be the wiser choice for her. You could certainly expect to see more of me here in the windy city, but I wanted to ensure she had the support of... friends... in case there was any trouble."

After everyone had been seated, Marie turned intense eyes on the young blond, "There is no denying that a city's business district is its life blood.  While Chicago has a long history of successful businesses, that life blood is not as strong as it once was.  That is something that I am actively trying to change.  I can assure you that should any trouble arise you would have friends here that would have interest in assisting you.   We tend to be a very protective group around here when it comes to defending our city, our families, and those things we claim as ours."

Gone was any hint of the earlier jovial-ness in the Godmother.  Now there was a cold fierceness about her as she spoke of protecting her city that left no doubt how far this woman would go in that endeavor.  No doubt what price she was willing to pay.  Seemingly becoming aware of the temperature she had created in the room she smiled a bit to warm it.  Picking up her menu to look at it she asked, "Why don't you tell me about this bar you are envisioning?"

Evelyn grinned as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and her hands under her chin.

"I know how much trouble a girl can get into, opening up her own place without any sort of... arrangement. I'd really appreciate any support you could give me."

She flashed a smile, and Gavin couldn't help but mirror it; still, he decided to stay silent. After all, it was Evelyn who'd be running the bar and working with Marie, for the most part. Evelyn continued to talk as she picked up her own menu.

"Well I'll be honest with you Miss- Godmother, the bar itself isn't going to be anything fancy. I mean, it'll be fancy. Polished, gleaming wooden bartop, brass rail, all kinds of art and stuff... definitely a place for some live music, but no dance floor... I like dancing, but that's just too much space... I'd rather have people sitting and drinking, ya know? But there's not going to be anything particularly wild about the bar, other than me."

Evelyn grinned conspiratorially.

"In my experience, people don't become regular customers because they like the bar. They get attached to the bartender. And I'm very good at getting people attached."