Chicago, Ill. - Nov. 10th

The men at the gate were dead.  The house that once was a home, was now a tomb.  Bella walked through the dark hallways quickly, her gun at the ready.

A photo of her step-mother and father from her wedding loomed above her on the wall and she tried not to think about whether they were alive or dead.  A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face, she was unaware of it.  She had come here to meet with Evelyn, to offer her friendship and a partnership in business, but now she was focused on a whole other kind of business.  The business of ensuring her family's safety.  

The sound of distant gunfire still unnerved her.  War had left a mark on her once before, literally.  The memories of it shook her to her core and at times it was hard not to be back in that same situation where she'd nearly died once before.  She could not control the slight tremor in her hands as she rounded a corner to find more of Marie's men lying in pools of their own black blood.  Sweeping the room she couldn't believe this was real, that this wasn't some sort of horrible nightmare.  Marie was one of the most powerful Godmother's ever to live on these shores... and now... where was she?

Out of the office, she moved back into the foyer and into a long hallway of doors.  This place had to have been hell for a short time, less than an hour ago by the look of things... 

Bella kicked open a door to reveal a gruesome sight.  She winced and looked away from the faces of men she knew well, men who had saved her life in LA.  She kept going down the hall, one door after another revealing either ghosts of the past or dead bodies of people she knew too well not to be affected by the sight of.

Approaching the corner which turned to the stairway she tensed.  This would give anyone on the second floor a clean shot at her with little to protect her if Marie hadn't moved the furniture.  She'd be a fish in a barrel.  Tensing as she approached, hyper-focused on the challenge ahead she never heard him approaching.

Her gun came free of her hand before she saw his blue eyes and, for an instant, he stared at her intently before silently pulling her tightly to him.  Emotions threatened to burst through the walls she'd erected to protect herself, but before they heard her.  Gavin's head whipped towards the stairwell as fast and hard as Bella's - towards the sound of Aurora's cries.  

Gavin was moving even before Bella eeked out, "Rory!"

Once again the Wolf was up to the top of the stairs in a blink, making sure the path was clear for her to follow at a near run.  The sounds were coming from the nursery and Gavin approached the door with much more care than he'd ascended the flight of stairs.  Bella followed hot on his heels - ready for anything.

Or so she thought.

"Tiny?"  She said, pushing herself around Gavin.  Gavin, behind her, kept his gun trained on the large men who were in the room with Marie's nanny and the small child.

It made sense on some level that her father's men would be here protecting the baby... but why would they stay in this place when their enemies were still all over the city? 

"Miss Luc... Mrs. Byrne."  The answer came as Tiny lowered his gun.  It was only then that Bella began to realize, that they didn't need to be afraid because they, her father's men, were the victors in the war.

"Oh God..."  she gasped.  

"I'm glad you're okay."  Tiny continued.

"Tell me... why.  Tell me why this is happening!"  She demanded, her voice cracking.  Behind her, despite Tiny lowering his weapon, Gavin still had his gun trained on the men.  Tim stood like a wall between them and Aurora.

"Above my pay grade, I'm afraid," Tiny replied.  "You know how it goes..."

She looked him up and down noticing the blood on his shoes, his pants and even splatter on his jacket.  They'd had to kill men to take possession of Aurora.  She shook her head at the sight and the words of Lucky Lucy's journal ran through her head broken only by the sound of Aurora quietly babbling, "Da, da, da, da..."

"You should probably go to your father." Tiny gently advised, clearly empathizing with her confusion and pain - but Bella could only barely care about the man who had shielded her from death on so many occasions.  In fact, it was only then she realized that she hadn't lowered her own gun either.  

She holstered her weapon and walked towards her sister.  Kneeling she looked at the little girl, blissfully unaware of the complex world she was a part of.  Her chubby hands reached for Bella who was a face she knew so well.  The shell-shocked nanny allowed her to pick up the little girl.  Holding the child tight, pressing her lips to the girl's head, she stood and met Gavin's eyes.  A moment passed between them and though nothing was said, Bella knew damn well that he understood.

"Get the baby's things."  She ordered the nanny backing towards Gavin who held the men in his gun sight still.   The woman took only a moment to comply, eager to be away from the murderers who had taken her hostage and killed her co-workers.

"I'll let him know you have her..."  Tim offered.

"Fine.  But we're leaving..."  Bella said firmly.  "Now.  Don't follow us."

Mr. and Mrs. Byrne said nothing as they went out the nursery door, he simply covered her and the baby's descent down the stairs.  The nanny followed with a bolt bag that had probably been prepared ages ago.  Just before going out the front door, Bella snagged the photo of Sal, Marie and Aurora at her wedding and handed it to the nanny. 

There would be no way to know if any photos of Marie would exist after tonight, and Bella wasn't allowing Aurora to grow up without knowing the face of the woman who gave her life.

Then got into Gavin's car and the four of them departed for the airport.

Present Day - 5:30am

Bella woke blinking back the remnants of the dream which had been little more than her brain replaying the events of the last few days.  Gavin moaned softly and stirred beside her, trying to force himself awake until Bella put a hand on his bare back.   

She looked around the room.  Outside the windows, the first snow of the year was falling in big heavy flakes slow to the ground, an image of peace which stood in stark contrast to the baby's wails which were once again splitting the night.

"I got this one."  She whispered to Gavin as she slid out of the bed leaving him to try and fall back to sleep.

Wordlessly she walked towards the dreadfully unadorned crib where Aurora should have been fast asleep.  Each night the baby had cried incessantly, babbling for her mother and father, neither of whom were coming back for her.  It broke Bella's heart to hear the anguish and desperation in the baby's cries, they mirrored her own pain so much, but she could no more fix the world for the child than she could for herself.

"Shhh..."  She tried to make a comforting noise as she bent down to lift up the baby who reached for her, the only familiar face she had left now that the Nanny had disappeared shortly after landing in Philly.  

"Come on Rory, I'm pretty tired kiddo..."  She whispered, turning on the radio softly and walking towards the living room.  Her eyes locked on the sight of the snow. 

"You've never seen snow have you?"  How strange it felt, thinking about how many things this innocent baby had never seen or yet done.  How many things she and Gavin would have to teach her.  Would she do as well as her own mother or would Rory one day look back on these years and wish her parents hadn't...

Bella sighed.

"Well... check this out."  She said turning so the baby could see the flakes fluttering in the light of the pre-dawn and street lamps.  Aurora took a full minute before she noticed the window and the strange things falling from the sky and while she didn't stop crying, she did stop screaming... at least that was something.

Sewing Factory Lofts, Philly - Nov. 11th

"We're okay... just be safe out there and get back to us soon."  Bella said into the phone, looking at Aurora playing on the rug with Neil.  "Do you think it'll be much longer?"

"Not much, there's just -"  He cut off his words.  Bella could hear what she thought was gunfire. 

"Just what?"

Silently she said a prayer.

"I gotta go. I'll call again soon."  Gavin said abruptly, hanging up half a breath later.  

The pounding on her door came only a moment later. 

Quickly she went for the baby, checking that her gun was at the ready as her men went to the stairwell door.  Opening it revealed a lad who was used as a runner by Godfather Mezzo.  Neil took the note from the boy and brought it straight to Bella.  A baby on her hip she struggled with opening the letter and read...

Philadelphia,

Las Vegas has attacked Detroit and also taken one from New York...

Bella put a hand to her mouth, the rest of the letter fluttered to the floor unread. 

They hadn't made it through a terrible storm last night, only to the eye of it.  Aurora's mother was gone, dead at the hands of their father, and now their father's safety was in question too. 

Present Day

Bella swayed back and forth singing with the woman on the radio, soothing the little girl who was now staring entranced by the sight of the snow slowly covering the world in a blanket of white - hiding the blood in the streets beneath its frigid illusion of perfection.

Her own eyes danced across the finer details of a highly polished redwood box with a simple latch that was on the coffee table, and beside it, a letter that she'd begun to pen to a dead man.  She was sure he might be in hiding in the Italian countryside.  She had no way of knowing that he would get it when she was done... but she had to try, just in case.  For Marie's memory, for her family's dignity, and for Aurora's legacy... there was only one way this could go.

This brought her gaze to the kitchen table where a huge pile of paperwork lay, only half filled out.  Paperwork which scared her to her very core.  The header on the first page read clearly, even here in the dark, 'The State of Philidelphia Department of Family Services.'

The woman who had brought it by had said the paperwork was a formality really, as her only living family and as a married couple of means, there was no judge who would refuse to approve the adoption.  But that would mean that Aurora would officially be her's and Gavin's... forever.  There would be no turning back.  The burden of her upbringing and the baggage that might one day come with all that would be theirs to bear.  How many sleepless nights would there be?  And what would they do when she was walking and talking and ... 

The pressure to succeed here would be far greater than what she felt as a crew leader.  This was someone's life!  She and Gavin, two people who had really no good examples of parenting to draw from, were going to try to raise a person against all good sense.  Hadn't this been why she sent Santino off on his own?  The fear of how Gavin would react - the sinking sense that he would NEVER want to be a parent? 

Looking out the window at the snow she wondered where Sonny was tonight.  Was he okay?  Was he safe and warm?  Had he become a victim in the bloody conflict that took place in Detroit? 

She held Rory tight. 

What kind of mother can I be if I was willing to send a little boy off in the world all on his own with little more than a handful of money and some fucking platitudes?

Sewing Factory Lofts, Philly - Nov. 12th

A tall man in a black suit at tie entered the apartment. He looks familiar to Bella, but she is unsure as to where she knew the man from. He carries a wooden box with him holding it like whatever is in it are fragile or worth more than his life. 

"Ms. Luciano,"

"Byrne.  Mrs. Byrne."

"Of course."  He said approaching the place she sat at the kitchen table, Gavin standing behind her, watching silently.  "My condolences on your loss. My name is Timothy. I worked for you Father in a manner. I handled things for him."

Bella nodded, dabbing her bloodshot eyes with a black kerchief that matched her outfit.  "He told me if he ever fell to bring this to you. There is a note inside."

He sets the box down on a table and politely takes his leave. 

Gavin placed his hand on her shoulder for support, she'd leaned on him a lot in the last few days and she knew she'd continue to do so in the long days ahead.  Turning her attention to the box she noted that it was made of redwood and had been finished to a shine. There is a simple latch on the front which Bella carefully opened.  There, nestled in black satin were two Nickle Plated Colt 1911's with the Luciano crest on the handles.

Bella felt Gavin kiss the top of her head and his arms snake around her as he recognized the weapons.  Guns that both Salvatore and he used in their 'work' on the streets... one of the many things they'd shared in common.

"Dumb ass..."  She whispered.  "Only my father would think a woman would be comforted at a time like this by his guns."  She chortled through tears pooling in her eyes. 

She picked up the small note that lay inside and opened it. 

It was in her father's unmistakable handwriting.  The message wasn't long or flowery, it didn't convey his pride in his children or love for them.  There were no admissions of guilty or confessions to be made, just only one simple message.  Maybe it was the only message that mattered with a gift like this.

Shutting the lid of the box, she picked it up and offered the gift to her husband, "He says to use these protecting our family."  She nodded thoughtfully.  "All things considered... there's only me and Aurora left of his family now.  And... protection was a task he put in your hands when he gave his blessing so... I think he'd want you to have these."