Aurora begins to stuff her cheeks like a chipmunk full of food, clearly eager to show off to her Aunt.  She swallows the large wad of food and picks up her stem glass full of apple juice. 

"We need to make a speech."  She says picking up her glass as if to make a toast.  "Isn't that what you do with drinks in glasses like this?  Say nice or funny things?  I can go first.  What's black and white and red all over?  Penguins with sunburns!"

She laughs.

"Your turn!"

Tara smirked.

"What's black and white and red all over? A zebra with diaper rash."

She paused, winking.

"Or a newspaper."

She smiled- legitimately for the first time in a while.

"This was fun, Aurora, but I do need to get back to work. Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

Her smile faded, but she meant what she said. If Aurora wanted to talk, she'd talk.

Aurora looks a little sad for a moment before she gets out of her seat and goes to her bedroom, emerging after a moment with a piggy bank rattling - full of coins. 

Sitting onto the floor she pulls the plug out of the base and dumps the coins everywhere and finally pulls out a piece of notebook paper with both her and Will's handwriting on it.

Aurora begins putting the, mostly nickels, into piles counting them aloud as she goes. 

Along the top of the paper in crayon, clearly, Aurora's handwriting is the words 'Sweet Treats Inc' and below it in pen, in William's handwriting is 'A SMALL Race Street Operation.'

The plan detailed out on the paper was an initial investment of $0.25 on the part of William for the purchase of candies which cost $0.03 each.  A boy name John would buy the candies and bring them to school each day.  Aurora and her team would sell them for $0.05 each - a price chose because it was the cost of milk which most children brought cash for. 

The initial $0.25 would stay with the business to keep buying candy and of the two-cent profit on each candy, one would return to Uncle Will and the other would be pocketed by John to help his family.  This was signed by both Will and Aurora.  Below the plan was the financial records of the business thus far... done in crayon and Aurora's hand.  By her math, she'd collected a solid three dollars for William so far and she wasn't to hand over his cut until it reached five dollars.

Aurora looked up from counting her money to Aunt Tara reading the paper.  She smiled.  "I have paperwork too.  Just like you... so you don't have to be alone when you do business.  We can do our business together."  She pointed to the paper.  "I can even do the math so, maybe I could help you with your work... or I could just be really quiet and not bug you."

She stared at Tara and was silent a moment before adding, "If I give you Uncle Will's cut, maybe you would stay just a little longer?  Until my mom and dad come home?  I can read to you.  Dad likes it when I read to him and I know you like books... or, if you want, we can do something else?"  Her little brow creased.  "Poker maybe?  I have some allowance left.  I promise to let you win sometimes."

Ah, right. Her project. Shit. 

Shaking her head, Tara tried to regain her focus. It was hard; she'd been pushing herself, and she was starting to wear down.

"I'm sorry I forgot about what you were going to show me, Aurora. It's been a very, very busy and difficult week for me. I really like your operation here. Very smart, very well planned."

Tara looked away from Will's handwriting. God damn it. God damn it. She took a deep breath, swallowing her emotion. She either had to leave immediately to get back to the office or shut things down for the night entirely. 

Tara was quiet for a moment as she looked at her niece.

"... I think that's a good idea, Aurora. Why don't you get ready for bed and we can have a sleepover? We'll play poker- and you don't need to let me win- and then perhaps we can take turns reading. How would that sound?

Aurora stands up leaving Tara with the paper and coins and goes off to brush her teeth and get into her pajamas, seemingly relieved and overjoyed that her Aunt will not leave her alone waiting for her parents to return.

Bella squeezed Gavin's arm gently and laid her head on his shoulder as they settled into the back seat of the car together.  Kassandra was driving and so they had nothing to focus upon other than each other.  It wasn't that a week was too long, they'd gone longer stretches when times were busy or Aurora had many needs, but the stress of recent events and the pain each had over their losses somehow made the moment alone together like dry kindling set aflame.

Bella marveled at how she wanted to melt into Gavin passionately and, at the same time, wanted to collapse into his arms weeping and sleep a year or more.  They were both exhausted and while amorous and lonely for one another - nearness, tenderness was as precious to her in this moment as lust ever had been.  Kisses drifted from lips, hands touched and gently caressed each other as if trying to soothe open wounds that no eye could see until at last, she found herself just holding her husband and being held in return.  She listened to his breath, his heartbeat and through his shirt, her fingers found the scars that had always brought her a strange sense of comfort.

"What are we going to do?"  she whispered in a tone that felt like she was putting down a great heavy weight.  "Even Jack ... Jack who everyone loved ... he couldn't die surrounded by loved ones and happy."

She shook her head.

"This is how it ends for us isn't it?"  She looked up to Gavin.  "Someday... someone gets lucky and one or both of us are gone."

She wasn't weeping about it.  In truth, she was simply saying it.  Acknowledging the monster, calling it by its name as if she was choosing not to fear it or pretend it didn't exist.  

"We need a plan."  She whispered for Gavin's ears alone.  "For Aurora, to keep her safe and give her a future in case it happens before she's grown.  And we need a way to make sure she's not caught in a crossfire - a victim of the lives we've chosen."

Kassandra was lost in her own thoughts as she drove; after half a decade as a bodyguard for the Byrnes, she was used to tuning out to whatever happened in the backseat. She was worried about them, even if she'd never say anything. Mostly, she was worried about the little one. She turned up the heat on the car to cover their words as Isabella began speaking.

Gavin listened with his head leaning back against the seat.

"Well, you're wrong about Jack. I was wish him. He died at the age of 80 having killed one of his attackers, sharing a bottle of family whiskey with his grandson. Sounds like winning to me."

He sighed.

"And yea, we're going to die. Everybody dies. We just need to hope we get lucky. Based on her reflexes and her commitment, Aurora is going to be a force of nature. But someone will catch up to her eventually, too. It's just the way of the world; all we can do is make death work for it."

He narrowed his eyes, slightly suspicious.

"What sort of plan were you thinking?"

"Funds hidden, away for her care and upbringing.  A home, someplace no one who knows us can find.  I don't want some hitman coming after her to end a bloodline on vendetta, cause that shit does happen."  She shook her head.  "She needs a place to fall back to, someplace no one would ever think to look.  A place that can be a home for her away from the Cosa Nostra.  A place that the bodyguards could get her to if we can't get her there ourselves."

She sighed not wanting to think of a life without Gavin and Aurora. 

"And legalities to ensure she's in the guardianship of someone we trust, someone she trusts.  Bare minimum." 

Her brow furrowed as she added. 

"And maybe somewhere she can go now?  Somewhere she's not going to end up like Kasey Adams' wife... killed by a stray bullet not even meant for her.  Maybe a school?" 

She could almost see the fight coming. 

"I know I hated it, and I never would have thought to do this before now, but I was well educated because of my school and I made friends like Ellie.  It wasn't all bad.  I was far out of gun sights of my father's enemies and unlike me at her age, she knows the life we'd be sending her away from and why.  She's smart.  She'd understand.  Maybe it's not the worst thing for us to consider after recent events?"

"She's got plenty of money- you know that. Tara and I have stashed enough away where Aurora will be able to buy an island for herself if she needs to down the line. We can audition back up parents, if it makes you feel better; if we die, I'm assuming our friends'll be dead  too, unless we start looking at people in other cities."

His face hardened as Bella mentioned a school.

"We're not sending our daughter away from us to get raised by strangers. We can take care of her better than anyone else. And she wouldn't understand. She's six."

Bella sat up out of Gavin's embrace.

"You can't shut down a discussion like that and act like my suggestions are... silly!  Audition parents... Christ, Gavin." 

She bit her tongue before she said something more hateful.

"I didn't bring this up because I want strangers raising our child or because I don't want her here or ... GAH!  You know what?  I brought it up because she's scared, Gavin!  She's having nightmares about you and me dying and I don't know what to tell her cause I can't tell her those fears aren't rational."

She shook her head.

"I'm talking about this with you because I'm scared too!  I'm scared for her if something happens to us. Hell, I'm scared for what both of us would be like if something, God forbid, happened to her.  I'm scared of what I'd become how the fuck do you get out of bed the day after something so damn horrible?  Tell me you haven't thought about it since Will..."

She wet her lips as her words choked off.  It wasn't the first time she and Gavin had discussed death, but it was the first time they'd spoke about how someone's death would affect them both.  This was nothing like Elias, nothing at all, and yet it had the same desperate feel to her heart.

"Can you honestly tell me you don't think about what you'd do if something happened to her... or me... or what we'd do without you?"  Tears welled up in her eyes.  Bella put her face into her hands and ran them up into her hair realizing she was letting fears and frustrations overcome her and fall onto Gavin who didn't deserve it.  She instantly regretted having said anything at all.  She wished she'd not said a word and just kept kissing him and tried not to think about it until she could do something on her own without him knowing.

"I just... I want to do whatever we can so that ..."  She blinked back her tears and the words stopped coming for a moment.

"You know what,"  She finally settled on.  "I've always known what I would do if you went first and it was just me left behind."

She shook her head realizing whatever planning for the worst case scenario would happen, would likely have to be done by her... and alone.

"But she changes things. I guess that I just spent all this time not thinking about that until now and instead of going off half-cocked and afraid and doing something on my own I thought maybe I'd talk with you about it and now I wish I hadn't said anything at all."

Bella looked out her window and held herself tighter.  There wouldn't be any sending Aurora away to somewhere safe, which a part of her was relieved Gavin wouldn't allow, but planning for her future could be done and it would be in whatever way Bella could manage.

"I'm sorry I made our first quiet moment in days be about this... it's just all I've been able to think about of late.  I just want to ... do something for us.  For her.  I don't like feeling... helpless."

Gavin wasn’t angry at Bella; if anything, he seemed angry at the universe for putting him in a position where this discussion had to happen.

”You’re talking about sending Aurora away; of course I’m going to shut down the conversation. If she’s scared, sending her away from us won’t make things better for her. I’m scared about something happening to her, but we can’t just send her away. Her place is with us, and we’ll just have to hope that we stay lucky.”

He grew quiet as Bella mentioned hypotheticals. If she needed plans... well okay.

“If someone hits South Philly and comes after Tara and us... if there’s only one of us left and Race Street is gone, then that person walks away with Aurora. Raises her somewhere else, somewhere safer.”

”If one of us and Aurora dies, the other one gets revenge and then either offs themselves or tries to live as best they can.”

“If just Aurora dies... then we both get our revenge, and then we decide if we want to live.”

“And we can sit down with more lawyers if you want. Set a plan in motion where if something happens to us she’s automatically enrolled in a school- maybe overseas. Set up a trust- people who have a vested interest in caring for her.”

”But until then, we stick together and we do the best we can as a family. Train her to defend herself as well as anyone ever has. Agreed?

Bella turned as soon as he began to speak.  She stared at Gavin as he laid out plan after plan and his sometimes grim if logical, courses of action.  It wasn't a bad plan, in many ways, it was the plan all along she supposed but hearing him say it made it more real.  Why did Gavin saying it make it feel better?  Was him being upset about the same shit really all she wanted to know?  Why was that so hard to realize?

She began to chuckle away the nervous energy pent up inside herself.

"Suicide pacts do not become us, my Love." 

She rolled her eyes. 

"But thank you for taking me seriously for a moment."  She reached over and took his hand in her own.

"Seriously."  She squeezed his hand.

"We stay together.  Come what may.  And yes... I'd like a trust.  Official stuff.  It makes me feel better to be able to look her in the eyes and promise her that no matter what happens to us, we're going to make sure she's safe and well-cared for.  That she will never have to worry about us not being there for her in some way.  I just need that peace of mind to not think about it.  To just... function and focus on the stuff that matters and once we have that in place we'll tell your sister so she can stop worrying too.  She's got enough on her plate at the moment."

She looked at her watch, seeming to calm down a great deal.

"Speaking of which... I bet your sister is wanting to head home by now.  Should we head back and give her a reprieve or... take advantage a little while longer?"

Gavin sighed as he pulled Bella closer to him.

"We'll set up all the official stuff you want. Build a trust fund so detailed and comprehensive that there's no way anyone can mess with it."

He flashed a subdued grin.

"And why don't we drive around a while longer? This is... a nice change of pace."

Bella closed her eyes and kissed her husband, melting into the security of his embrace, putting her worries aside for another day.  Focusing on her promise to Will's ghost, to herself, and now to Gavin to whom she swore she'd never lie: 'come what may.' 

She moaned softly as his grip upon her intensified and she mirrored back his possessive enthusiasm.  In the front seat, the radio came on and for a short time, it was just them again.  The dragon and the wolf dancing in the flames of a world on fire.

***

Across town, a lonely man paced outside a door which he fretted about knocking on. 

He looked at the bottle of wine in his grip and considered again what a bad idea this was.  He knew better.  She'd made her desires clear and yet, he couldn't help wanting to come to her.  It had been a week, it had taken as many days to track down a place she was staying because she kept moving all the damn time. 

He needed to know she was okay, that's what he told himself and yet, the wine said otherwise.  The wine bottle said he hoped she'd invite him in for a drink... and then two.  He knew he should have more shame, she was a woman who had just lost friends and people she considered family and what did he know about any of it?  Just because he knew what he'd been like when he lost someone?  It didn't mean Tara was that way.  She wouldn't necessarily bury herself in her work and forget to have a life for years on end simply because he had.  They were different.  Hadn't that been her point in ending it?  

He turned to walk away, catching sight of his own face in the reflection of a window.  The giant black eye he'd gotten in the locker room two days ago was still noticeable even in the darkness.  He smirked at it. 

'If you EVER speak of her that way again...'

'I'm sorry, Kacey, I ...'  The younger cop, bleeding, trembled in his grip.  The smart-ass rookie didn't think himself so funny anymore.  He was wondering if his jokes had been right and if he'd just picked a fight with a man capable of all the things people like that did.  'I'm wrong man.  You're a good egg and I'm sure she's straight as an arrow.'

Kacey looked down at his scuffed up knuckles and smiled.  He didn't want to be a gangster, but he had helped them.

Maybe...

He turned back to the door and knocked and then the door came open.  A man he'd never seen before answered.  By the size and build of him he wasn't a boyfriend... likely an employee.  He cleared his throat and stood a bit taller, "I'm Kacey Ad--"

"I know who you are."  The bodyguard stated flatly.

Kacey nodded.  Of course he did.  Tara was the man's business.  He'd know anyone she spent this much time with, right?  

"I was hoping she was home and might have time for a short visit?"  He asked politely.

Tara's bodyguard shook his head.  "She's out.  Won't be back until late."

Was she with someone?  Kacey wasn't going to ask but he wondered.  Maybe some mobster was comforting her now ... the sort of guy she said she wanted in her life, someone she could share things with that he couldn't ever understand.  Kacey drew a breath and nodded.  "Let her know I stopped by, okay?  And um... that I hope she's doing alright."

The bodyguard nodded and then retreated into the room, shutting the motel door.  

Kacey stared at the door only a moment before leaving the bottle of wine of Tara's favorite wine on the stoop.  Turning away he started the long, cold walk back to his empty home.

***

Aurora curled up in her bed and slept beside her Aunt.  Her room was littered with toys and gifts from her parents and people who wanted her parents to favor them.  As Tara looked around she found a bevy of crayon drawing depicting a life that only the daughter of Gavin and Bella could dream of.  The people in photos labeled with names floating above their heads gave a clear image of the loved and blessed life the little girl really had - if unconventional.  

Tiny boxing gloves and ballet shoes hung on a hook put into the side of a bookshelf full of fairytales of every stripe.  Princess style dresses hung in a closet beside tore up slacks and her dresser featured play makeup and a box holding a small knife.  Her desk was full of old homework and crayon art - as well as her business plans and money hustled from other children in her school.  Every surface in the room was adorned with items that screamed happy little girl and whispered mobster in training.

In this room, the dead of last week still lived in the mind of a child.  Pictures of Jack and Will haven't been hidden from her any more than Ellie, Marie, or Salvatore had ever been.  While the faces of the dead were a horrible reminder of what fate likely awaited all of them, Gavin and Bella had not sent them out of their daughter's life.  Instead, they wrapped her up in the memories of the people who made her - the good ones at least - and each had informed the woman Aurora was ever so slowly growing into.

She realized that she was staring at Will's face smiling back from a photo across the way on the wall when the doors to the elevator opened and she heard Gavin and Bella coming in.  Walking back out into the living room, she saw the two smiling a little easier than they had been when she saw them last.  

"She sleeping?"  Bella asked as she came up and hugged her sister in greeting.

Kassandra rolled her eyes as Gavin gripped his wife by the hips and Bella climbed on top of him in the back seat. Well, looked like she'd be getting another 'hazardous duty' bonus. She watched the road 99% of the time, although her eyes did flick back occasionally when a streetlight shined on a conspicuous tattoo of a wolf.

***

Tara felt herself relaxing for the first time in a long time as she listened to the slow breathing of her niece in bed sleeping. With part of her wishing that she could have just drifted off to sleep until morning, she detached herself from Aurora's grasp as she followed Bella and Gavin out to the living room.

"She is. I also promised I'd have breakfast with her, if you don't mind me crashing her. I might need to borrow a phone, as well. Need to make some calls."

"Don't be silly.  Of course, you're always welcome to stay."  Bella said pulling off her pumps one by one as she crossed the room.  She smirked at Gavin picking at the last bits of meatloaf left in the pan.  She almost wished she had something to snack on at this hour.  Ice cream sounded so good right now.

"Shit."  Bella scowled as she stepped in a puddle left behind by the puppy.  "Gavin..."

"On it."  Gavin said stifling a chuckle, picking the pup up by it's scruff, and muttering something about it being nothing but a little piss factory.

She sighed and went to fetch a rag to clean up after the little thing while Gavin took the dog out to one of the bodyguards so they could help the puppy to do it's business one final time before bed.

"You can either use the phone in the kitchen or the one over my by desk... it's a bit more private if you like."  She said to Tara while she quickly cleaned up the mess.  A few moments later, once she was done and Gavin had rejoined her, the two parents went in to give a quiet 'goodnight' to their sleeping angel - leaving Tara to make her arrangments for the night.

Tara sighed as she settled in behind Isabella's desk. She expected everyone else in the house to be asleep shortly; Aurora was already asleep and Bella and Gavin seemed to have already had their fun. 

Tara was quiet for a while as she scribbled down some numbers from the book from her pursue and some rudimentary figures. Most other people wouldn't be awake this late into the evening, but she did have some sources to check in with in Europe. And Asia. Calculating the time differences, she picked up the phone.

*** 

Around 3:45, Tara finally hung up the phone. Blinking wearily, she slipped her papers away and ignoring both the guestroom and the pajamas Bella had laid out for her, crawled back into bed with Aurora, hoping that her exhausted brain would let her sleep without any ghosts.