Gavin looked down with a quizzical expression at the tiny, sleeping form in the crib. The sequential wars had ravaged the country over the weekend; dozens, if not hundreds, had died, and this child had been affected more than most. There weren't many people in the world who would have to grow up and grapple with the idea that their father had killed their mother, but the child of Salvatore Luciano and Marie Lucania was one of them.

Gavin Byrne was another.

Standing over the baby girl, he watched her sleep peacefully as he silently cursed himself for not changing his clothes before he came in here. Hopefully there wasn't blood on the carpet. He raised one foot to check it and, when it tiredly thumped back down, he froze. The girl's eyes opened, her face illuminated by the nightlight, and Gavin's internal monologue of profanity only intensified. He saw the tiny face scrutinize his own, and he inwardly steeled himself to have to go wake up Bella when the kid started screaming. 

Instead, the baby smiled sweetly up at him and turned over onto her stomach. Gavin rested his hand gently on her back for a moment, not applying any pressure except a steady, reassuring touch. 

He remained there until his still recovering leg threatened to buckle; he lifted his hand and closed the door softly on his way out.

"Oh for God's sake, how hard is this to understand?" Bella said exasperated, phone tucked under her ear against her shoulder.  "10 cases of Tennesse Whiskey by truck to Boston tomorrow by 5pm.  12 of gin off the ship from Brittian at 8am, take two from that and add it to the haul going up to Boston.  Then pick up 4 cases of wine and bring them back to race street from our guy in Boston and be sure we get paid this time."  

Bella scooped up a spoon of mashed up peas, and began 'flying' it through the air towards Aurora's scrunched up face.  Her lips were moving in disgust, peas spilling over her bottom lip rejecting them utterly.

Behind her Gavin came in the door, dragging a massive Christmas tree.  She suspected today he hated her for having a top floor loft apartment.

"So," began the man on the other end of the line, "That's ten whiskeys to Boston and four cases of gin..."

"NO!"  Bella snapped.

Gavin paused looking her way and Aurora startled at the sudden raising of her new mother's voice. Bella quickly reassured the baby by touching her leg and making silly faces at her while she continued to berate her moron of a delivery driver bobbing her head back and forth in a sing-song fashion. Ten whiskeys, two gin and pick up four wine... say it back."

"10 whiskey." 

Bella nodded picking up the spoon.  "Right"

"2 Gin."  

She scooped up some more, peas and put them into Aurora's mouth.  "Good..."

"Pick up four wine and get paid."

"GREAT!"  Bella exclaimed and Aurora, with a mouth full of mashed peas blew a raspberry spraying the mobster from hair to stomach in thick green sludge.

Bella sighed a heavy sigh.  "Call me or Tara when you're back in town."

Aurora laughed and Gavin did too.

Gavin sat at the kitchen table and stared across it with his well-used poker face. His blue eyes narrowed as he studied the person in front of him, and his voice was practically a growl.

"You have to eat something. Now."

"NO."

He glared. Brown eyes glared back.

"You haven't eaten anything all day. You need to eat."

"NO."

"Bella has shi- stuff to do. You're stuck with me."

"NO FOOD."

"Yes, food."

"NO FOOD."

"Do you want an apple or a banana?"

"NO."

"Are you fucking-?!"

Gavin swallowed the remainder of his sentence and he angrily crushed the banana in his hand. He was greeted by laughter and tiny clapping hands. With a sigh, Gavin handed over the squished banana for Aurora to eat.

Bella sat on the park bench watching Rory playing in the sandbox.  The chubby toddler finally had a thick head of dark hair which Bella adorned with bows and barrettes of all sorts, dressing her in only the finest clothing money could buy.  She was beautiful beyond measure, she'd exceed her older sisters for sure - she looked so much like Marie it hurt sometimes.  

Bella missed the woman, her kind voice and sagely advice.  Though they hadn't been very different in age, Marie had a wisdom about her that had been so much more than her years.

"Mama!"  Rory shouted holding up a small shovel which she'd taken from another little girl digging in the sand.  The other girl was reaching for the swiped toy and Bella quickly approached to tell the little girl she shouldn't steal, that it wasn't right to do so, the thought of which made her stifle a chortle.

Another woman, a blonde dressed far more simply than Bella, also came to the sandbox.  It was a sound guess to think the small blonde with her nose was clearly her child or at least a relation.  

"I'm so sorry..." Bella said to the blonde.  "We're still working on sharing and not stealing from other children.  Rory, honey, give the shovel back."

"It's alright, Margie isn't so good at it either."  She chuckled.  

Bella offered her hand to the woman, "I'm Bella Byrne and this is Aurora... sometimes affectionately Rory."

The woman shook Bella's hand, "I'm Eloise Keller, this is Margaret, affectionately Margie."  

Bella laughed with Eloise and then added, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you... she's adorable."

"Nice to meet you as well, and yours is every bit as beautiful as her mother."  

For a moment Bella thought to correct the woman, but instead simply nodded and said, "Thank you.  We went through a lot to bring her into our lives."  Bella motioned to the bench, "Why don't you join me?  We can see if the girls can work this out on their own."

"Sounds fantastic, you know, there is a small group of us moms here in South Philly who meet in the park every Tuesday... you and Rory would be most welcome.  It's good for the children and to be perfectly honest it's very nice to talk to someone who isn't wearing diapers."  

Bella chuckled at the thought.  Aside from Tara and occasionally Doc Santoro, the only other female Bella spent any time with was Rory.  She had just as few female friends as she ever did and it had been forever since she even tried to find a new girl pal to spend time with.  Perhaps the baby would open doors for her to another sort of social life,  "I think I'd like that a lot actually."

"Okay. Say Ace."

"Ace."

"King."

"King."

"Queen."

"Queen."

"Jack."

"I win!"

"We haven't even started the game yet. Do not put those cards in your mouth. Those are very expensive and I... shit."

"I win!"

"Uh huh."

With a sigh, Gavin picked up the two year old and sat her on his knee, facing him. He thoughtfully looked down at her while she ignored him and stuck four of her fingers in her mouth, but Gavin eventually got her attention.

"You know, I've been meaning to tell you something. If you wanted to, you could just call me 'Gavin'. It's my name."

"Dada!"

"Can you say Gavin?"

"Gav-in."

"If you want to call me that, you can."

"Dada!"

Gavin sighed, but he didn't seem upset as he allowed himself to collapse back on the couch, still holding the child.

"Yea... you win again."

Bella started to chuckle as she rolled over onto her side and then her back.

Gavin came down onto the bed, still catching his breath and joked, "Hey now... I got feelings too!"

Bella snickering curled into a space beneath Gavin's arm.  The heat radiating off their bodies was pleasant on this cool spring night, fresh air flowed freely through the windows off the bay.  And for a moment, laying in silence, Bella listened for the distant sounds of little feet. 

"I was worried I woke her."  She whispered, much quieter than she'd been a moment ago even with a pillow clenched tightly in her teeth. Now that Aurora was able to get up and around in the middle of the night, there was never any knowing when a little form would just appear bedside.  Blessedly this romantic moment wasn't interrupted.  Their love life had suffered a little, though the times they were together either seemed frantic and lust-filled or tender in ways she never imagined that lovemaking could be - and strangely that was exciting in it's own way.  

Tonight had been more of the prior than the later.  Likely they'd fall asleep soon, they'd both had a long day and tomorrow promised to be equally full.  Gavin kissed the top of her head and held her tight and as one moment turned into another; he eventually began to trace the lines of her body with his fore-finger and her mind began to wander from thoughts of lust to marital bliss, and back (as it often happened in quiet moments) to Aurora. 

Unexpectedly the hitman and barren woman had found themselves building a home around a little blessing which Bella had assumed they would never know in this lifetime.  Rory's laughter and joy wrapped all about and through their lives like roots sinking deeper into the fertile earth of their hearts more with each passing day.

Had it really been two years?  What if all the years of Aurora's life went by this fast?  There would be no second child down the line... though, at times, she did miss it being just the two of them.  Still, she liked her life a lot, and wouldn't have traded it for all the money in the world.

"It's so messed up... and yet, there's this weird balance to it all."  She said softly.

Gavin didn't reply but she felt him shift beneath her, he was looking down at her, waiting.

"My father gave his blessing for me to walk away from The Tower, Detroit, and my family there to join our family here."  Her voice was so quiet that Gavin had to strain to hear her.   "And by what he did ... he not only saved me from dying in his war, but he gave us this beautiful little girl to love.  All my joy in this life ties back to so much pain..." 

"I never would have asked for this, Gavin.  A child."  She whispered.  "I knew how you felt and I told myself that I was just thankful to have you - so I let that part of my hopes go.  But then she was here and I would find myself thanking God for this incredible gift, only to remember how much my happiness has cost and then feel guilty for it.  And that just made it harder and harder to consider the question that's been looking us in the eyes this whole time."  She starred out the window looking at the distant city lights.  

"What are we going to tell her?"  she said sadly. 

"I want her to know about Marie, and even my father - she deserves to know where she comes from; but how can we tell her about them without knowing that she will ask why they aren't here or how they died?  I've been trying not to think about it... but she's getting older and smarter every single day.  She's not lacking brains... so we can't hope to lie to her, but you can't tell a little girl something like that."

She rolled onto her side so that she and Gavin were facing one another now.

"My father told me to protect our family... but how can I when one of the worst wrongs ever done to us, was done by him?"

Gavin was quiet for a long time- long enough that he might have seemed asleep. Finally, he spoke.

"We'll tell her everything we think she needs to know. And if she asks the question, then we'll tell her the truth. Sal made a mistake, and Marie died. You can say he made a mistake when he pulled the trigger, when she left to run a different city, or sometime before that... but a mistake was made at some point."

He furrowed his brow.

"It would be harder if she was older. If she was ten or fifteen when it had happened, this would be... more difficult. But she's not going to remember Sal or Marie outside of the stories we tell or the pictures we show... and if we're open about the fact that she has two sets of parents, only one of which is alive, we'll answer the other questions when they come up."

"You can't protect your family if they're spread across the country. No matter what happens, you and I stay in the same crew- or at least the same city. Agreed?"

It almost shocked her that he would think he needed to say such a thing, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.  Wars constantly were opening power vacuums and with each passing year her expertise, leadership skills, and her age, made her more likely to be offered power again.  She might have walked away from it once, but the people who she'd walked away from had fallen from favor and before long none of those who were in power would be around to discourage it.

Stories would be made up about why she left... they would, in time, be saying she left because she'd had the foresight to see Marie and Salvatore's fortunes change.  Or that they had been cruel to her in not offering her a seat as Godfather or charging such oppressive taxes and tributes that they drove her away.  People would say anything to justify what they wanted and needed in life.  

Gavin was right to worry, it was only a matter of time before someone came knocking with offers to rise up once more.  And, perhaps it was praise from her husband that he thought she might be tempted to go.  Praise that he felt she was good enough for men to call upon her one more time to lead them in this thing of theirs.

Bella pulled herself up on her arm, backlit by the light of the city through the massive windows in their room.  She looked down into his blue eyes, holding his steely gaze for a moment before confessing,  "No amount of power or glory would ever replace this family in my life.  There's nothing anyone could ever offer me that would make me leave your side.  Nothing."

She bent down and kissed his chest just above his heart.  "Like one."  She whispered against his skin.  "We are never going to be apart again, we're together today, tomorrow, forever.  In life and death.  I'm not leaving you, Gavin.  Not ever."

Bella slipped back down between the sheets, and snuggled into a comfortable position to sleep.  She yawned and said, "Two sets of parents.  A mistake.  A terrible mistake... we never lie and when she's old enough, if she asks... we tell her.  And we're there for her, no matter the fallout." 

She shook her head.  "We give her a foundation of trust, of love, something she can lean on... and no matter how bad it feels - or angry she is, she knows she'll always have us.  We may not have given her life... but we're giving her a life, a good one, and that's every bit as important."

She sighed.  Gavin always did have a way of making her feel better in the face of the worst life threw at her.  Tonight wasn't any different.

"Hey!"

The surly looking man turned around with a sneer as Gavin's voice spun the stranger's shoulder around.

"You bumped into my kid, asshole! Almost knocked her down!"

The man shrugged. Gavin bared his teeth and clenched his right fist, but before he could pull it back he felt a small pair of arms wrap around his leg. The guy looked slightly panicked at first, but chuckled and kept walking when it became obvious Gavin wasn't going to do anything. Gavin glared after him before a small hand grabbed onto his index finger and led him back down the sidewalk. 

Gavin glanced down and sighed. She was getting tall. Too tall. 

Gavin burst through the doors onto the floor of the hospital in such a flurry that almost every one of her bodyguards pulled guns on him before realizing there wasn't a need for panic. Following him, somewhat more calmly and carrying their gear, was Kassandra.  No doubt the poor woman had been running and carrying their things ever since Gavin got the call from Tara that Aurora was being taken to the hospital.  

Bella got up from the seat where Tara was comforting her.  Will stood stoically at the door looking exceedingly pale as peels of Rory's agonizing screams echoed down the hallway.  The man could put a gun to someone's head and execute him without flinching but the sound of a terrified little girl in pain had unnerved him utterly.

"How is she?"  Gavin asked in a hurried voice.

Bella sobbed.  "Doc Santoro says her fever is too high, she's... Oh Gavin!"  

Gavin wrapped his arms around her, "Why's she's screaming like that?"

Tara spoke up, "They put her into a tub of ice."

Gavin made for the door, a look in his eyes that seemed to say he was going to put an end to this torture of their little girl.

"Her body's on fire, Gavin."  William stepped forward and held up a hand as if he meant to try to stop the Wolf.  "If they don't get it down fast..."

Tara came up and put a hand on her brother's arm, joining William in stopping Gavin from intervening.  The absolute confidence in her tone had been helping Bella to cope, and it seemed to get through to Gavin as well.  "Doctor Santoro knows what she's doing.  She's pulled us through a lot.  She'll get us through this too."   

"So... what's the plan?"  Gavin asked looking as lost as Bella had ever seen him.

"We wait.  The fever has to come down as fast as possible, hence the ice.  Once that happens then they can begin to treat the Pneumonia."  Tara explained.

"Pneumonia?" Gavin asked grimly.  The word was doom to many children.  The papers were full of children who didn't come back from their battles with it.  Bella assumed, of course, this was another reason for William's pallor.  

"She started coughing after you left last week."  She shook her head clearly blaming herself.  "It settled in her lungs, I should have taken her sooner, but she was happy and seemed fine.  I can't believe I..."

"I told you to stop that."  Tara scolded her for what wasn't the first time since arriving here.  Her face turned towards Gavin,  "It's not her fault.  Doctor Santoro said there was no way anyone could know how serious it was - hell I visited three days ago and didn't think a thing of it.  This floor is full of children who've gotten a cold and had it get worse unexpectedly."

The screaming stopped suddenly.  William stepped away, knowing better than to try and get into Gavin and Bella's way this time but the Doctor appeared before their hands could reach the knob.

"How is she?"  They both asked almost in unison.

"The fever's broke.  We're putting her down into a bed now and nurses will bring her an agressive round of antibiotics.  The fever was our major concern though.  So long as she's here in the hospital where we can monitor her lungs, I have no reason to believe that she'll get worse.  My hope is we'll see improvement as soon as sometime tomorrow, but it'll be a few days before we send her home just in case."

Bella threw her arms around Doc Santoro, "Thank you... thank you so much."

Gavin went into the room and right to Aurora's bedside while Bella chatted briefly with the Doctor.  A moment later, however, she and Gavin were on either side of her bed, each holding a tiny hand while she slept, still damp from her ice bath but no longer as hot as the sun.  For two days they remained there, never leaving for more than a short period of time.  

In two days time, the room had been filled with stuffed toys, balloons, flowers and cards from every corner of the known world... it was this moment that Bella truly realized, no one had forgotten who Aurora was the daughter of and whether she liked it or not, her daughter was associated with the Cosa Nostra - not just by the parents who raised her, but the ones she'd been born to as well. 

And for all the joy each item brought the little girl, every note signed by a man who had blood-stained hands, secretly sent a cold chill of dread down Isabella's spine.  Like a ghost she could not exercise, her father's words haunted her,  '...protect your family.'

A few days after the trip to the hospital, Bella came home to find Gavin holding a bottle of whiskey and sitting on the couch. Aurora had finally come home earlier that day. 

As Bella walked in, Gavin flashed a stupid smile that took him far too much thought to actually express. 

"She's fine. She'll be fine."

He nodded to himself and Bella had cause to realize that she'd almost never seen Gavin truly impaired. Drunk... yes. Often. But never so drunk where he couldn't fight. Or walk. Or get into any sort of trouble. He nodded to himself again. 

"She'll be fine."

"Oh my darling,"  She said softly, putting her things down and crossing the room to him.  She had been glad to be back out of the hospital, back to life as normal, but finding Gavin like this... it stole some of the joy from the moment.  She sincerely doubted he'd drunk himself into this state in celebration.

"Of course she will be... we'll just wrap her up in tissue paper and hide her in the attic."  she chuckled, trying to make him smile.  But then she got serious,  "She's got the best hitman in the United States for a father, an Aunt with armies and governments at her command, an Uncle who has a left hook that could stop a truck, and ... I sure as hell am not going to stand by and let you guys get all the credit for watching out for her, now am I?"

She sat down on the couch beside him.  She put her arm around him and leaned her head on him.  "Talk to me, Wolf.  What's going on in that head of yours?"

Gavin nodded thoughtfully before answering.

"Whiskey."

"My mother once told me about my Grandfather's love of drink."  She said reaching over and taking the whiskey from him so she could have a swig.  

She shuddered at the burn before saying, "One night he was particularly bad, stumbled to the front door to find it was locked.  My grandmother made him sleep all night in a snowbank.  He could have died there... but my Gran was a stubborn woman, she told him if he ever came back that sloppy drunk again he'd find the door locked then too.  There was drinking... and then there was drinking.  Those were my grandmother's words... I use to not understand them.  Now,"  She said looking at Gavin top to bottom.  "I'm pretty sure I do."

She pushed him lightly with her finger and watched him sway unconsciously.  Her eyes went wide with surprise, he REALLY was gone.  Standing up, still holding the Whiskey she put it on the counter before coming back with a pillow and blanket.  She put the pillow down at the head of the sofa and then eased Gavin down onto the pillow.  

"You're in no state to fight me, Mr. Byrne... so, I suggest you just do as you're told."  She threw the blanket over his prone body.  It wouldn't take long by the look of him.  She squats down near his head and began to brush her fingers through his hair.  

"You'll have one terrible hangover to show for this exercise in excess and whatever you're bothered by is still going to be waiting for you.  Maybe next time, instead of consulting Jim Beam about how we deal with the shit that bothers us, we should try talking about it.  Here.  I'll go first..." 

She drew a breath.  "I'm scared I can't protect her from our choices and the fuck ups of her birth parents and even if I can do that... who's to say some random disease won't take her from us anyway?"

She held Gavin's glassy gaze and Lucky Lucy's words from her journal came back to her, "We're all going to die Gavin... we can't protect her or each other from what will be... all we can do is make sure that every moment is as good as it can be.  I need you to remind me of that from time to time though... okay?  Cause shit like the other day scares the fuck out of me and I get... morose thinking about what I'd do without you,"  she hesitated and then added, "And her.  It used to be just you... but she's a part of us now isn't she?" 

She bent down and kissed Gavin's brow.

"I love you... so much."  She whispered the words she so rarely said to him.  Even after so many years together, Bella always made a point to save that one word for when it mattered and now, looking at him like this she thought maybe he needed to hear it.  

***

Gavin trudged into the elevator and leaned against the wall for support. Not for the first time, he was thankful that he and Bella lived in a building that they owned with... discreet employees. Hopefully the janitors were just as discreet as the doorman, he thought, as he noticed a few drops of blood on the floor. It was so late at night, he didn't need to worry about anyone else.

He moved quickly to get into the loft he shared with Bella and Aurora, closing and locking the door behind him. 

Gavin rinsed off his hands, then took out the industrial sized trash bag. His jacket went in first, followed by his shoes. He had just started to remove the bloody dress shirt when he heard a soft, shocked, inhalation of breath behind him.

"Daddy? Are you okay?"

Gavin rarely froze, but he felt like he must have stood there for an hour before he finally flashed a soft smile and nodded. The small voice continued. 

"But you're bleeding!" 

Well, shit. Gavin removed the bloody dress shirt and tossed it in the bag.

"Uh... come sit with me and I'll tell you the story. But first could you tell me if there's any blood on my pants?"

Gavin spun around slowly. Aurora shook her head, and Gavin quickly scooped her up and moved to the couch where he sat her on his knee. Not a baby anymore. Not even close. Gods, it was happening fast. 

"You don't need to worry about me, Rora. It wasn't really my blood. Mostly."

Smooth. Very smooth. Idiot. And...

"Whose blood was it?"

"Well. That is a very good question. This blood..."

Gavin leaned back on the couch, still balancing her on his knee. After she continued to stare at him, he sighed.

"Well, this blood belongs to a bad man."

"Why is he a bad man?"

"Another very good question..."

You can stop asking them any time now. Gavin pondered, considering the ways he could handle this. Send her to bed? Tell her he'd tell her later? No.

"He was a bad man because he hurt people... he hurt good people."

"Why was he bleeding?"

"WELL... he... because of me. I hurt him."

"You hurt him?"

"I did."

"But you said hurting people made him a bad man."

"I did. Well. Hmm.  Look at it this way. Sometimes in our business, I have to hurt people. I don't like hurting people. I used to, but I don't now. But the people that I hurt now are bad people. They do bad things to good people, so I do bad things to them."

Aurora stared at him for a long time, and Gavin looked back. 

"Rora, I want you to know that I'm being very honest with you right now. I want you to know the truth, because I don't want to lie to you. Ever. There are things that you might understand, but that's okay. I just... sometime have to do bad things to protect you and your mother. Aunt Tara. Uncle Will. Grandpa Jack. All of our friends... sometimes I hurt people because they'd hurt us first. Not you. But Mommy, me, and our friends. To protect our family. Do you understand that?"

She nodded.

"Do you have any questions, Rora? It's okay if you think of them later."

The girl looked at Gavin for a long time, and he tucked a strand of straight brown hair behind her ear for her- a gesture he'd seen Tara do countless times. When she finally spoke again, it was the first time in years he'd ducked a question- for that one, he needed to talk to Bella.

"Will you show me how to?"

Bella handed a small sack lunch to Kassandra and then bent down to kiss Aurora on the forehead - then watched as she dashed over to give Gavin a hug where he was sitting at the kitchen table pushing his breakfast around on the plate more than eating it. 

The routine for their daughter's trip to and from private school changed daily, as did the drivers.  Bella and Gavin had been absolutely meticulous in every aspect of her care, transport, and the rotation of who, what, when, where and why.  Even her school itself had been a small exercise in the mafia flexing it's muscle in that Bella had taken over the local school board as she'd done long ago in Chicago, Tara moved mountains to have the preschool teachers changed up to suit their desires, every man employed in the school for a non-teaching position was on their payroll and well trained in the event that someone might try to come for Rory.

Still... Bella and Gavin worried.  

They could have replaced every person in her world with someone they thought they could trust and they'd still worry... this was a family where two fathers had killed two mothers, how could either of them trust anyone really?  Especially with someone as important as the only daughter, they'd ever have?

And then... there was the discussion they'd had in bed last night.  Or rather it was Gavin talking and her listening, for once she had nothing to say.  She'd been silent on the matter, opting to think rather than blow up.  It was a rare thing for her, perhaps Gavin was rubbing off on her after so many years?

As soon as Kassandra and Neil disappeared into the elevator with Rory, Bella walked over to the table with her bagel and coffee.  Gavin was still moving eggs around but she thought he hadn't eaten a bite of them.

She sighed.

"So... what is it you think we should do?"

Gavin watched the elevator doors close, Rora lifted into the air laughing as she held onto one of Kassandra's biceps. He grinned as he laced his hands.

"It's hard to think about, but I'd prefer she's in a position where she can protect herself. I would never force her to do anything against her will... but if she's interested?"

He shrugged.

"You know what I went through as a kid. It was horrible, but it kept me alive. If we could give her training and preparation without the..."

He waved his hand, dismissing the words.

"... anything else... then why shouldn't we? It's not like we're going to hand her a Thompson for her sixth birthday. We'd start out simple. Footwork. Hand to hand. Cardio. No guns until she's..."

Ten?

"... older. Maybe a knife. Later. I'd have to think about it. Look at it this way. We both want her to never have to fight anyone, ever. But if a fight comes to her? If we're not there? I'd prefer that she can protect herself."

He took his first bite of breakfast.

"Besides... if we started training her now? Reflexes? Climbing? Basic training? She'd be good. I'm not suggesting we start employing a 6 year old as an enforcer... but if we start now... you know how fast a learner she is. And she's quick. By the time she'll be sixteen, she'll be able to walk through the shittiest parts of the city without worrying about a thing. I think I'd like that."

He paused again.

"And if I wind up bleeding out somewhere in a gutter, I want to know she can take care of herself. Sorry to be morbid, but there it is."

Bella stared into her coffee listening to Gavin go on about what he wanted to do and then, very softly, she said a name.   

"Peter Mayhew."  

She nodded.  

"I was eight.  My first term at school in LA.  Homesick out of my mind and being bullied by this wicked little chit named Andrea Hol... Holstien?  I think that was it.  Looking back I suppose she was tough on others because she was Jewish and was picked on in earlier primary school.  Probably thought I was an easy mark to beat on and scare others off."

Bella nodded.  "She was right of course, but Peter... one day he sees Andrea knocking the shit out of me in an alley and he comes up and chases her and her friends off and offers to teach me how to stand up for myself.  That little scrub of a newsy changed everything for me."

A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips, "I still remember how it felt when I nailed her in the nose and all that blood came out... and kept coming."  Bella looked down at her fist as if remembering how it must have looked.  "I peeled potatoes and washed dishes for a month."

She looked up to Gavin, "No regrets."  

She got a distant look in her eyes again, memories taking her away from the kitchen table back to the streets.  "First it was fists... then a knife.  I used a knife the day I met Elie, stuck this punk who was giving her shit right in his arm.  Not fatal, but every day after that Elie was at my side.  At least every day I was in LA."

"Not long after that it was shoplifting and stealing cars, petty cons, and running for men I now know were goombas." She swallowed hard imaging Rory living such a life.  "I could have died ... so many times."  

She closed her eyes and steadied herself for finally looking into Gavin's blue eyes.

"And there's just one thing I took away from all that ... one fact that even back then I knew all too well."  She wet her lips.  "I would have been better off learning from my father, if he'd actually been a part of my life.  He could have taught me how to see danger before it was at my throat and spared me so much.  The things he knew, even at that age, would have made my life experience a thousand times safer and better.  I was alone, I knew who Salvatore Luciano was... what he was... and I wanted to be closer to him.  So I ran headlong into the life he was living without any safety nets."

She looked at her coffee, "I was very lucky.  It could have gone differently for me.  I could have found a grave long before I found you."

She stood up from the table, a look of resignation on her face.  Bella walked back to the bedroom, opened a small keepsake box and pulled out an old folded up newspaper clipping and handed it to Gavin. 

Unfolding it he could see the bold headline:

LA ANGEL WINS IT ALL!

"Maybe it's time we introduce her to something another member of our family was really good at?"  She tried to give Gavin a smile that said she trusted him, but her eyes were still a bit sad. 

"Why not take her down to the gym?  We can have someone make gloves for her, and you can start teaching her how to protect herself.  If she sees this as a sport, it won't matter that she talks about it at school.  No awkward moments for me at all those parents and teachers events.  She can see others fighting, come to accept it's a tool like any other.  You can make sure she doesn't romanticize it if you realize that she's going to want to do it because it's her special time, alone with you.  That's how kids are, they want to spend time with their parents ... especially if their parents really pay attention to them in those places and times.  But at least this way and in that environment, we can control it some."

She sat back down in front of her coffee.  A voice from her past, a much younger Izzy mused out loud to her father about what sort of person she really was... the sort of person who was getting good at not seeing people beyond the end of her gun, the sort who found joy in suffering.

Bella wet her lips again and dismissed the memory.

"Maybe you could introduce her to some people - folks with different life experiences?  Let her meet some folks who've made fighting their life and how that's gone for them... let her talk to people who fighting has saved them or brought them pain.  If you want her to learn this... it's like everything else, she gets the whole story.  People's lives are made better... and destroyed by fighting.  The tool isn't good or bad, people are.  God willing she always sees us as good people using tools."

Bella wasn't hungry anymore, she now understood why Gavin's eggs were untouched.

She pushed her plate away.

"This isn't everything we are.  She'll know that better than anyone.  You're right, we can't not teach her.  She was born to this, and if we pretend that's not true..." 

The thoughts were horrible.  Thoughts of her rebelling to be like her dead family or like her and Gavin... thoughts of her going it alone or being attacked without the ability to protect herself.  None of these were ideal.  There really wasn't another choice to be made.

"It has to start here... with us."

Gavin nodded. He'd never really used gloves, but it was a start. 

"Okay. But we'll take at easy on her."

He forced himself to take another bite of his eggs and smiled.

"At first."

Godfather Jack Mezzo sat in a darkened room, the shades were drawn and only a tiny bit of light from the bright outside filtered in.  There in the shadows, he listened to Don Bella Byrne as she presented her request.  Peeling an orange, he listened to how it things would unfold - the minute by minute details of who, what, when, and where.  The why was obvious.

"I am, as you know, a very busy man."  

Softly orchestra music playing on the record player filled the silence between them.  

"Of course, Godfather"  she inclined her head respectfully.

"This thing you ask of me, it will require arrangements to be made?"

"Only a few additional ones, which we are prepared to do."  She nodded.  "I assure you we've taken every step possible to ensure the location is agreeable to all involved."

"Good.  Good."  He nodded.  "A man can not afford to be careless in times such as these."  The orange came free of its peel and he tossed it into a nearby bin.  He made her stand there, waiting for his reply.  

"I shall attend this event of yours."  He said solemnly.

"YAY!" Aurora squealed. "See I told you he would come, Mama!"

Bella smiled a tight-lipped grin.  The child had no idea that 'Grandpa Jack' could plunge the world into a blood-bath with a single phone call.  To her, he was simply the nice old man who listened to wordless music, 'played' at the gym and always shared his oranges with her.

Jack offered half the orange to Rory and she politely peeped, "Thanks, Grandpa Jack!"

"Thank you, Godfather."  Bella intoned and received a smile and a nod in response as Aurora began prattling on again about 'Grandparents Day Lunch' at school.  Jack didn't have to do this, Bella knew it, but some part of her wondered if Jack didn't secretly like spending time with the little girl as much as she liked seeing him.