The morning started as usual. Coffee, dry toast and fruit for breakfast, and more coffee on the ride to the airport. Aside from a meeting with Joe and the contractor who was handling the paving of the ramp and runway, Ilaria had no other plans but reading over personnel files for the newly hired doctors. It was the kind of day she needed; feet up on the couch and telephone off the hook. As of today, she was exactly halfway through her pregnancy, and lately, she was feeling it. Of course, it was nothing more than expected; tiredness, swollen feet after a long day, ridiculous numbers of trips to the bathroom, and a nagging pain deep in her back. Still, all the little things were worth it, especially when Joe finally felt the baby kick. His face had brightened up like she'd never seen.

That same face greeted her as she walked into the conference room after having dumped her things in her office. Joe was already looking over blueprints and drawings. Joining him at the table, Ilaria smiled and leaned over just enough to kiss his shoulder as he studied the various documents. 

"You were quiet this morning. I didn't even hear you leave."

​​​​​

"You must've been sleeping heavy." Joe said as he left the papers alone, turning to greet Ilaria.

"Leo was acting weird. I'm surprised you didn't hear him." He said as he leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"He looked anxious so I took him for a walk but all he wanted to do was come back. Have you noticed him acting differently?"

Their doberman was smart. Loyal, obviously. But protective most of all, Joe noticed. He'd recognized that trait early on and admired him for it. It was an instinct, yet also a non negotiable part of him. You couldn't separate the two, as often Joe would have to use various techniques to lure Leo away from potential situations. He'd get himself in between Joe and others regularly, instinctively, and would be hard to budge out of the way. He was as stubborn as he was defensive, Joe usually needing to pick him up and abandon his interaction until Leo was no longer around.

Because of this, Leo was less and less brought to the airport when Joe knew he'd be meeting different people that day. As a puppy though, this protective instinct was more so a curious, playful alertness. Now, he was at a stage Joe would need to start using him in meetings with less known and trusted faces on the other side.

Today though, Leo was at the airport too. Del Rossi was looking after him in Hangar 3, or maybe it was the other way around. He was making some changes to the car Ilaria had gifted him, some minor details to tweak the power output to get a little more grunt from the engine. Leo had all of that space to explore and then some.

"He's been more clingy than he already was this week. This morning, he jumped up on the bed and laid his head on my stomach and whimpered so pitifully."

Ilaria walked around the table and picked up the supply requisition. That nagging twinge in her back was acting up again, and she reached back to massage it.

​​​​​​"I'm telling you, if this contractor can't find a better price per pound on this cement, I'm going to do it myself. This is ridiculous. Maybe they can use what's left from the hospital foundation to knock off a few thousand."

Maime stuck her head into the conference room door. 

​​​​​​"Contractor just called. They're late getting out of their office and will be about 20 minutes behind schedule."

Ilaria smirked and dropped the papers back onto the table.

"There's a surprise. Between this and the hospital, I've had about enough of -" 

A sharp, stabbing pain from her lower back cut her off mid-sentence, and she leaned down a bit and steadied herself on the table, cringing. 

Joe didn't care for the ins and outs of the business type stuff. He left the finer details to others to squirm over, like it seemed Ilaria was currently doing. His focus was on the big picture. He was an ideas man. He saw the splash of colors of a sunset, rather than the time of day mother nature was weaving her magic. And when it came to such things, he was only really about to give confirmation and approval of the final dotting of I's and crossing of T's.

"Ilaria?"

Noticing her in pain, Joe immediately made his way over. With a hand on her upper back he shouted towards the conference room door, "Mamie! Get in here!"

"Ilaria, what's wrong?" He said in a quieter tone, trying not to sound overly concerned yet the way she was holding her back and cringing wasn't exactly reassuring.

Ilaria shook her head, holding up a hand a little. 

"No, it's ok...just.a little sore back. Maybe I lifted something I shouldn't have."

Using both hands to support herself, she eased down into a chair and took a deep breath. Being off her feet seemed to help a bit. 

Maime appeared by her side, opposite Joe. 

​​​​​​"What's wrong, baby? You alright?" 

The woman's voice was soothing, and Ilaria gave her a little smile and nod. 

"Really. I'm ok."

"I'm going to get you some water."

Without waiting for an answer, Maime headed for the kitchenette. Joe's eyes showed his concern. Ilaria reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. 

"I've been stubborn and probably need to slow down a little. After this meeting, I'll take the rest of my work home and take it easy, ok?" 

"You got it babe." Joe said assertively as he nodded his head.

"You don't even need to be here for this meeting. These guys will just say a heap of stuff that will have me want to punch my own face. How about we reschedule. Mamie can have that sorted, no?"

And as he spoke their assistant's name, he looked in her direction as she was just coming back over with a glass of water, handing it towards Ilaria.

Taking the glass with an appreciative glance to Maime, Ilaria took a slow sip. The cool water felt good going down, as she realized it was much warmer in the conference room than she thought. She took another sip. Maybe Joe was right. If they couldn't reschedule the meeting, Art could handle things. Hell, Maime could handle things, as sharp as she was. 

She reached up and pulled her hair away from the back of her neck, noticing a thin sheen of sweat had dampened the collar of her suit jacket. Pushing the glass aside, she stood up from the seat, unaware of how her olive-toned skin had lost its color rather suddenly. 

"I think I need some air."

With that, her knees gave out. She felt only a wave of heat race through her, and saw nothing but the overhead lights as they seemed to turn in a funny direction. 

She tried to call for Joe, but all that came out was a muffled groan as she started to collapse toward the floor. 

It took all but a few seconds before she hit the floor. And that's about the same time it took for Joe's heart to sink into his stomach. Things got slow, really quick. Time seemed to stand aside as the events played out. Joe'd been in instances like this before. His own at the clinic and in a Columbus Boulevard shootout, both near death experiences. His own moments of nearly escaping this life for possibly a better one were neither here nor there.

Even in a dream where he lay wrecked beyond proper repair, it wasn't his own mangled state that trampled on his soul and strummed the heart strings. It was the affect it had on Ilaria. That was the worst. And nothing compared to the moment in Italy when a bomb was detonated on a train they were travelling on. On his knees, crawling through the wreckage, professing his undying love for her. He hoped to never experience anything like it again, like the sharp realization he may never see this women in this life beyond that instance.

And as she collapsed towards the floor, the makings of those emotions came flooding back again. The initial reaction had him on his knees, much like in Italy, next to her, holding her hand. His words weren't as life or death, as urgent to be heard. But they were still short and sharp and full of emotion. He called out her name over and over again in an attempt to drag her back into the land of the conscious.

He didn't immediately realize it, and he wouldn't until later, but maybe this was what had Leo so spooked. Right now, all Joe could do was call out to her, hoping the sound of his voice could do more than just extend his obvious shock and fear for the worst.

"Jesus, Lord!" 

Maime yelped as Ilaria went down. Without even being told, she flew to her desk, picked up the phone and dialed down to the hangar for Del Rossi. 

Inside the conference room, Ilaria tried desperately to focus, but she felt as if she were in an oven being roasted alive. She heard Joe calling her name, and rolled her head in the direction of his voice, but he eyes wouldn't focus. 

The edges of her vision were slowly going dark. "No, no...not yet. I don't know what's happening. Come on, Ilaria, what's going on. You have to help him.

"Clinic...f-fever..."

That was all she could manage. The light shining in her eyes from the conference room went out, and her hand in Joe's loosened its grip. 

Maime ran back in. 

"Mr. Del Rossi is coming with the car. He'll be right up. Oh God, Joe, she looks so pale."

Maime knelt down with Joe, bowing her head as if in frantic, silent prayer. From outside, an engine roared closer, then tires squealed loudly to a stop. 

"Shit!" Joe exclaimed.

He'd need to keep his wits about him, so he focused on what needed to happen next to help keep his mind present and not floating away on thoughts of what could be.

"Let's quickly get her to the car!"

With his hands under her legs and around her mid to lower back, Joe lifted Ilaria into his arms. Mamie followed as they made it through the conference room, out into the reception area and down the elevator, which during the time it took to go down the one level, Joe kept his eyes focused on Ilaria for any signs of a response.

He'd forgone the desire to talk her awake. Instead, he knew their only option was to get Ilaria to the clinic. Del Rossi was ready with his foot on the gas, only allowing Joe to place Ilaria inside the back door and jump in himself before shifting the gear and planting his foot firmly down. The Cadillac 60 Del Rossi was speeding them away in was for a job Artem had organized, the car being stored here until it could be put onto a ship at the Docks.

The ride to the clinic felt like it took longer than it did, but with another screech of the tires, the car skidded into park at the mouth of The Pier. Joe began to pick up Ilaria once more as his driver jumped out and opened the back door for them. With a frantic effort, they were pacing towards the not so common entrance of Ilaria's clinic.

Mamie must've called to alert them as the alleyway door flung open before they'd even gotten half way towards it, a new face in a doctors uniform greeting them hastily .

A young doctor, maybe in his late 20s or early 30s, met them at the door. He was shorter than Joe, with dark curly hair cut close to his head and a close trimmed beard. He wore glasses and a white lab coat.

"Mr. Adonis, I'm Dr. Cohen, one of the new staff here. I've known Dr. Santoro only a week, what can you tell me about her medical history?" 

His voice was urgent, but cool in its tone. He led Joe inside with Ilaria, directing them to the surgical room that was already lit with four nurses standing by.  While the nurses began getting Ilaria's clothes out of the way, Dr. Cohen stayed with Adonis as he tied a mask over his nose and mouth. 

"Uh...uh...some kind of kidney damage about four or so months ago."

Joe'd done his job. He'd gotten her to the clinic. There really wasn't much more for him to do, or focus on, other than Ilaria, who was now being prepped by nurses. Not again, Joe thought, the remembrance of the damage sustained in the blast in Italy bringing with it that near fatal accident. But now it wasn't just about her. It was also about the baby she was carrying.

Joe rubbed his hand down his face, a nervous tick, trying to keep his eyes on Ilaria.

Dr. Cohen nodded and and quickly turned to walk toward the surgical table. He carefully pulled back her eyelids, one by one to examine her pupils. 

"Dr. Santoro? Can you hear me?" 

There was no response. A nurse called some numbers to him, and he nodded. 

"I need a CBC and protien count right now. Someone get ears on that baby."

Nurses scrambled this way and that. Dr. Cohen seemed focused and careful as he listened to her heart beat and breath sounds. 

"Temp 104.4, Doctor. Start an IV?"

"No, not yet. Not till I see the protien number."

A half hour passed like lightning. Finally, Ilaria was at least stable. Dr. Cohen turned to find Joe still standing at the door. He put a hand on Joe's shoulder.

"Let's walk out here."

He pushed open the door to the hallway and held it for Joe. With a thoughtful, deep breath, he spoke matter-of-factly. 

"I'll be very honest with you, Mr. Adonis, this isn't good. Her kidney function is in failure range. My guess is that the previos trauma to her kidney weakend its function, then the pregnancy overloaded its ability to handle everything. Likely her other kidney tried to take up the slack, but blew out."

His expression was grave. 

​​​​​​"You're going to have to make a decision, Mr. Adonis. I can go in and try to get a better idea of what's going on, but the surgery could be...well...fatal to the baby. Foregoing surgery, we can put her on dialysis and try to give her kidneys a chance to recover on their own. But, you've got to make the call."

Joe could feel it all over again. That deep stabbing at his heart, that clawing, which even had him scratching at his shirt and chest as he watched the clinic slip into emergency mode. His skin felt like it had bugs under it, the energy coursing through him uneasy and unbearable.

He watched on, helplessly, as the love of his life looked like she had all but. No life. No anything. It took a half hour before things stabilized, all the while Joe was pacing small steps back and forth, side to side, almost on the spot, his hands in and gripping at his hair most of the time and rubbing his cheeks and face, anything to release some of the building and unbearable emotions shooting through his energy centers.

She was his world. His everything. Without her he no longer existed. Adontoro, didn't exist. He was a proud man. A strong willed man. But he'd lost control of his heart the moment he realized he was smitten with her in the clinic. Since then, he didn't have a say in it. He loved her daily. All he thought about was how to love her more. How to spoil her, how to be faithful to her, how to trust her, and how to truly and unrelentingly fuck her into bliss. How to be the best man in her life that he could be. Without her, he was nothing, and that realization had him in a state of fear he'd never experienced before. Not from any criminal, or any reaper that waved its taunting scythe his way.

Finally, things looked to be taking a turn. His mind was mostly absent as he was lost on a sea of emotional currents, until Dr. Cohen placed his hand on Joe's shoulder.

"Let's walk out here."

What came next was a blur. The words were there. Fuzzy, a background to a whitewashed memory. If you were to ask him to remember it afterwards, Joe wouldn't be able to give you a sniff of what was said exactly. All he gathered was he'd need to make a choice that could also kill the baby.

Joe's head hung low, his hands slapping at his crown as he leaned up against the corridor wall. It wasn't even born yet, and it could already be gone. He'd had so many thoughts about how amazing it would be finally being a father that this ultimatum shot through him like a bullet to the chest. 'Really? Kill my own kid?' Joe didn't remember doing it, but as soon as his mind translated what was being asked of him into a situation where he had an option to terminate the life growing inside Ilaria, Adonis' hands were around the doctors neck.

Rage. Fury. A moment of insanity. Criminals supposedly killed constantly for this reason and denied the choice was theirs. Joe was both a criminal and a killer, and at the very mention of him having a choice in killing his own unborn son, he was out of his mind. Joe's grasp around the doctor's throat tightened as he pushed him through the corridor, knocking into a nurse before smashing him hard against the opposite side of the wall. Dr. Cohen's hands  gripped Joe's wrists, trying to pry them apart.

And as Joe absentmindedly watched the doctor's life slowly slip away, he felt a sharp pain in his head before he was out, unconscious.

Dr. Cohen gasped for breath as another man took Joe Adonis by the collar, roughly dragging him away from the stunned staff. Without a word, the silent man who had followed Joe in with Ilaria nodded to the doctor and headed for the waiting room.

One of the nurses helped Dr. Cohen up, a worried look in her eyes.

"Should I call the police?"

Cohen shook his head. 

"No, not at all. Mr. Adonis simply answers questions in a different way. Go and get the dialysis machine from the storage room."

This wasn't the first time a patient had lost his cool, and it wouldn't be the last. Cohen had come to Philly from New York City. He'd seen worse. Straightening his coat, he returned to the operating room.

----------

In the waiting room, Del Rossi sighed and flopped into a chair across from the couch where he'd dragged Joe to cool down. He flexed his hand a few times, working out the sore knuckles he'd laid across his employers skull. It wasn't hard enough to hurt him, just stun him, which was needed. Not that he could blame Joe one bit. He'd walked up behind Joe as soon as the doctor gave him the options. Louis Del Rossi had seen Adonis drop his basket a few times, but never that hard of that fast. He knew the doctor wouldn't make it three more heartbeats, so he had done the only thing he could think of. Now, he sat forward with his elbows resting on his knees, waiting for Joe to come back; this time with his head on straight. 

He wasn't out too long. Between the blow to the head and the smell of coffee now slapping his nostrils about, like a wet fish to the face, he'd not remembered a thing. With his eyes slowly blinking open, Joe sniffled. A sharp pain then joined the awakening which had Adonis raise his hand to his head, rubbing instinctively where he felt it coming from.

Del Rossi hadn't yet noticed Joe coming to, still too heavy with his head in his hands. His emotions, and the hangover from clobbering his boss having him a little more weighted than he was use too. Louis was a cold, calculated criminal. Quite the contrast to his employer who was just waking up from another showing, another one Louis had front row seats to.

But given Ilaria's state, Louis was also concerned. The two had recently bonded over cars and a dead Russian. Was there really a better way? It was who he was. A driver and a guy that got shit done. She entered his world as he helped her clean up some of hers. With his new found friend in a hospital bed, and his other one was now seated upright and tugging at his shirt, the Del Rossi of old was nowhere to be seen. 

"Louis, what the fuck happened." Joe asserted with a curious look on his face.

Del Rossi had never uttered a word to Joe before. There was no need to. Until now.

"You told doctor to wait." Louis replied in a thick Italian accent.

"Ilaria? ILARIA!"

Joe seemed to be snapping out of his state quite quickly now and just as he went to stand Louis tugged him back down, seating him on the chair again.

"No. Now, we too wait."

There wasn't much they could personally do other than let the professionals do their thing as they waited out further information. If only Joe had a deck of cards.

Dr. Cohen looked up at the clock in the operating room and scribbled something onto a chart. It was 2:30 in the afternoon. Dr. Santoro had arrived some time around eleven that morning and, thankfully, Cohen had managed to keep his new boss and her unborn child alive. For now.

The artificial kidney was surprisingly quiet for its size, emitting only a gentle whirring sound that was almost soothing. Arranged beside the bed, the machine was almost as long. Tubes ran from everywhere, seemingly, but it did the job. 

Cohen had lost the tie after the altercation with Joe. Not that he thought it would happen again; just that he was exhausted and needed the restriction gone. Slowly, he made his way to the waiting room. Joe and his man were seated nearby, waiting in a heavy silence. Cohen approached and sat across from Joe. 

"Dr. Santoro is on the dialysis machine and stable. She's got a long way to go, but at least now we can keep an eye on her outputs and blood work. The baby is fine, hasn't shown any signs of fetal distress at all, so we're all relieved there. I performed an amniocentesis to rule out toxemia in the amniotic fluid, and everything is clear. I can take you back to see her now, if you want."

​​​​​​

Joe nodded his head before following Cohen through the doors. The event now well behind them, both of them, and only one thing on their minds, to make sure Ilaria was going to pull through.

Seeing her as he walked into the dimly lit operating room that was converted into a regular room was a sight. She was inclined slightly on the bed, an IV running fluids into her. A heart monitor flashed and beeped her love notes in rhythm with Joe's softening experience. She was known to be able to melt the anger off of him, and this was no exception. He slowly walked to her side and gripped her hand, all the while tears ran down his cheeks, the outpouring of more than just grief, but relief, joy and a deep appreciation were now what took their place within.

Joe let out a deep sigh as he looked down at Ilaria, raising her hand and kissing it.

A few minutes passed with no sound by the equipment. A soft knock broke the silence as a young nurse- no more than 19 years old- came into the room.

"I'll be out of your way shortly, sir. Just checking on the baby. We'll do so every hour."

The dark haired young nurse gently moved back the covers. She did her duties quickly and with great care, hardly seeming to disturb Ilaria's rest at all. She took a stethoscope and put it into her ears, then pressed the pad against Ilaria's stomach in a few places. Finally, the young girl smiled, then took the device out of her ears. 

"Would you like to hear your baby's heartbeat, Mr. Adonis?" 

Keeping the pad in place, she held the ear plugs toward him. 

Joe was stuck between thoughts of 'what if' and 'what was' in his mental prison until the nurse's words broke down those walls like a wrecking ball. A feint smile began to appear, his lips curling up at the corners as the plugs were placed into his ears and the sound of a feint thud could be heard.

The smile became more prominent. It was amazing how one small thing, such an insignificant moment in the greater scheme of things could turn reality on its head. Fear had surrounded him. Now, what had also changed him in that serendipitous encounter all those moons ago in this exact same building, spoke to him again.

She was a beauty unmatched and the exact remedy an uneasy life, or certain moments, needed. Love called to him with a tiny glimmer of 'what could be' as his heart broke open once more, the shackles of doubt kicked aside as he entered the door of hope and into the miracle that was creation itself. Joe found himself riding the waves of tenderness as the nurse held and guided the pad of the stethoscope. He was home again.