Mael walked over to the girl with the curls that cascaded down her back, her honey-blonde hair attracting him like a moth to a flame. His eyes holding such a desire that he could not know what to do with, he had a thirst to know this girl, he needed to know this girl and what made her come all the way out here, to Los Angeles of all places. 

He looked behind him, noticing that Mr. Waltz had all but abandoned him to deal with the girl all alone, he cursed the man under his breath, before finally coming up to the booth with a smile in place. He noticed that the girl had arched an eyebrow curiously towards him, wanting to know what had brought him to her booth of all places.

"Is my food ready? I've been waiting quite a while."

Mael's face if possible, shattered, looking at the girl with a little bit of sadness shining in his eyes before he noticed that her lips twitched up into a teasing smile, out of instinct, he raised his eyebrow with his eyes staring inquisitively towards the girl.

"I know you are not a waiter, I was simply joking."

Mael held a hand over his chest, recoiling in what seemed to be some disgust towards the girl, whose eyes had widened and stood up rather quickly, wanting to help him with whatever seemed to be hurting him. Only then he had started to laugh, quite genuinely in fact, clearly enjoying the little banter that he and the girl were having at the moment. 

"My name is Mael-"

Before he could get another word in, the girl reached out, placing her hand on his forearm causing him to look at her with flushed cheeks and wide eyes, wondering what she was doing.

"I'm so sorry that your parents gave you that name, you are a boy and they named you May Ell."

He tilted his head, looking at her with a dull look before noticing that she was being completely serious and thought his name was May Ell, he groaned, wondering how many people in this world would not guess his name correctly. He put that thought on the back burner, knowing that it was not that big of a problem. 

"No, my name is Ma'el. It means Chief or Prince, my parents, well, they left me with a good name and I guess that is all I can ask for, eh? A good name and one that I can proud of to make my own. What is yours?"

The girl had many more questions regarding his name, only she decided that she would ask them later and instead, walked back over to her booth, picking up her bag. 

"My name is Cleopatra, I'll be seeing you around May Ell."

He watched her leave, noticing how she seemed to be getting some attention form some unsavory types across the street, only then he watched her walk into a car that had parked on the street, followed by two other cars that sat in front and behind it, almost like a security escort and he knew in this mind that he was not wrong and he had one question on his mind. 

'Who are you, Cleopatra?"

Jack had quite enjoyed watching this exchange between the two teenagers in this restaurant. He couldn't hear much over the sound of the other patrons, but the exchange between her and Mael about his name had been loud enough for him to hear a couple of tables away, nearly causing him to roll out of his chair laughing. As he noticed Mael and this girl separate, ending their conversation, at least for the time being, he tried to straighten himself back up. Though he found it amusing, he knew there was a line that had no need to be crossed.

"Come on back over here, how did it go?" Jack asked. He had a slight smirk on his face, bringing his glass of tea to his lips to take a drink while he waited to see his lunch partner come back over to the table. "We can head out of here soon if you wish, but I have to know the details."

This time Jack could hardly contain his amusement, trying to stop himself from becoming hysterical with laughter. Jack had known his father for a short time, and as far as he could tell, Mael was in desperate need to work on his game. He was not the smooth talker that Charlie Pavanno had been, this kid was rough. 

Mael continued to stare out at the cars as they drove away to wherever they were heading next, he turned around, looking at JackWaltz who had a smirk on his face, his eyes holding such amusement that it could not be hidden and Mael had an embarrassed flush on his cheeks, knowing that he had to work on his game in the romantic realm. 

"You know, you could at least pretend like you're not laughing. Yes, I need to work on my moves, you want to give me some pointers, old man?"

He poked fun at the man he was beginning to see as an elder brother, was he going to voice these thoughts? Nope, would he ever? Maybe. He leaned forward, taking the glass of water that he had left there before he stood to take his chance and drowned in the waters that were a relationship. 

"Details? What details? The only details that were even noticeable are that my parents named me Mael, not knowing that it sounds feminine. Dear lord in heaven, is that what you thought of my name as well? I wonder if Nikita will think that as well..."

He released a groan, realizing that he may have to change his birth name, although, he quite liked it. He could have a laugh at the fact people thought that he was named that way. 

"You're alright, you're alright." Jack said. "She will probably come around again. I didn't bother to think of how your name sounded, we had too much going on. It wasn't long ago that we had to constantly watch our back on the way out of Philly."

Jack's memory of Philly was still crystal clear. A quick flash over his eyes and it put him into a more somber mood, now realizing that at some point, this could catch up with him, though he hoped that day would never come. Dismissing it from his mind, he looked back up at Mael.

"Next time you see this girl, or whenever you're going to talk to any girl, don't bring up your name until she asks for it. Start off with a compliment, but not something terrible, you don't want to talk about her body, bring up some detail of her face, if you're desperate to think of something, maybe then you mention her dress. I promise, you'll have a lot more success with just that little bit of advice. You also should have offered to buy her something to drink, she says yes and you have her attention at least until the drink comes. I can't say what Nikita will think, but maybe you should lead with the whole prince angle. Get it out there before anyone can make a comment."

Jack shrugged. He knew that it couldn't hurt for the kid to inject some knowledge into a conversation before the chance to be ridiculed was able to present itself. 

"Dear god, I'm such an idiot! I could have ordered her drink, well maybe next time, eh?"

He groaned, allowing his head to fall into his hands as he rubbed his eyes furiously. He looked up, noticing that the food they ordered had arrived, he found himself shrugging, digging in. As he devoured his food with no manners at all, his face becoming covered in tomato sauce that he looked like a toddler who tried painting. His mouth specifically was covered in tomato sauce, almost as if he had covered it in facepaint. 

He looked around, noticing that people were watching him with disgust, before looking back to Jack with an arched eyebrow. He leaned forward, trying to whisper in secret, still not noticing the extra features that decorated his usual boyish looks. 

"What did you do to make everyone stare at me like I'm a hooligan?"

He asked, before noticing in the reflection of a tissue that his mouth was covered in tomato sauce, he looked behind him and noticed that some of the women in the restaurant were looking to jack with disappointed looks, possibly wondering how he could let a child of his age eat like that with no manners at all.

"You couldn't tell me my face was covered in tomato sauce, Mr. Waltz? That's very mean! Now, how am I going to impress the girl if I look this most of the time?"

He spoke with a squeak, before wiping his face down and looking to jack with an angry pout, turning away with a huff, crossing his arms. 

"Trust me kid, you don't want anything to do with most of these people in here. Too busy in everyone else's business to mind their own. As a rule, I never get between someone and their food." Jack replied. 

Jack calmly got started on eating what was left of his food, he had taken a break from it while Mael voiced his concerns to him. The food was exquisite and Jack was savoring each bite. The flavors complimented each other well, leaving Jack very satisfied with his order. Once he had finished his food, he organized everything that he had used into one pile and finished the last of his tea.

"Once you're finished eating, let's head out of here. There's a couple of other places I wanted to get to today."

"Where to? I need new clothes, ones that are meant for boys might I add..."

He softly stated, standing up and dusting himself off, taking Jack's advice, he did not give any of the other customers a look, instead of looking to the man that he had waited, wanting to see if he could help the guy out and get some more advice from the man. He bowed his head, looking down at his clothing and noticed a stain of tomato, shrugging, he scratched it off. 

"That is if you want me to help you out, although, I do think that me having an escort around should help protect from the goons of LA."

He chuckled, not believing that there were any goons that were not under the control of Nikita and her crew, he had a feeling that Jack would know a couple of them. He decided to mock it a bit, making the assumption that no goons would have it out for anyone without orders from their bosses. Oh how wrong he would be soon enough...

"I just stopped by the tailor this morning before meeting up with you, but we can head back over there. He might actually have some stuff in your size. My stuff had to get altered." Jack answered. He stood up from the table and put his hat back onto his head. 

Putting down a tip on the table, Jack headed towards the front door and from there they could see the sun shining bright onto the street. It was busy, everyone around must be out for their short lunch breaks. Jack looked over at his car, but then realized how close the tailor shop was and decided to walk. 

"You have an idea of what you're looking to buy? It's a good thing to have a look in mind when you see a tailor, helps them to get you out of the store faster, you know, not waste their time going over things that don't interest you."

"Right, I'm sure he has a suit like yours that fits a fifteen-year-old. How lovely."

Mael spoke with a sarcastic bite before following Jack out, eyes sweeping the area, he noticed that the unsavory types that lingered around the girl of his desire had moved away from their temporary hangout, he paid it no attention, although he noticed the escort of cars had stopped outside a boutique, causing a smile to twitch at his lips before he sighed and walked faster behind Jack.

"You know what? I'll see what they have, it couldn't hurt to have a look."

His voice trailed as he noticed Cleopatra from before, still following behind Jack, his eyes though, remained on the girl. His eyes holding some form of admiration that would only be noticeable to those involved with another or in the same situation that had befallen the young Mael. 

"Anything really Mr. Waltz, I'm not that big on suits though-"

Mael was cut off as he was barged into by a rather burly looking man in a leather jacket, he looked up and noticed the man was sneering down at him, almost as if he recognized him from somewhere, yet he knew that shouldn't be possible, he stood up quickly, dusting himself and looking at the man with a tsunami awaking in his sea-foam eyes...

Jack noticed that Mael wasn't following behind him, after hearing a slight thud. Turning around, he saw a gentleman in a leather jacket gazing upon the teenager. Walking up to the two of them, Jack stepped in between them, making an effort to separate them.

"You have a problem with this kid?" Jack asked. He was more than Jack's size, but Jack had never been one to shy away from a confrontation. He thrived in the tenacity of the situation. "Because if you do, that means that you have a problem with me. Let me tell you, you don't want a problem with me, the problem will completely stop when it gets to me. Now, if you don't mind, I'm taking the kid to get outfitted, you can step on out of here, or you and I can take this into the alley."

"Heh, Jackie Waltz, I've heard of you, aren't you the little bitch that followed his dad around?"

The punk smirked at JackWaltz, clearly enjoying the prospect of fighting the former protege of Mael's old man, it was clear that a crowd was gathering when people started to surround them, wanting to know what was going to happen and if they needed to step in if need be.

"Mr. Waltz, he's not worth it, let's just go."

Mael spoke in a calm tone, hoping to stop a fight from breaking out and get on with buying the clothes necessary for impressing Cleo, it was only then that he noticed the girl of his thoughts, she had moved with the crowd and eyed the confrontation with some kind of fascination, almost like she wanted the fight to happen. 

"Eh! Shut it, runt, this is between the grown-ups, maybe you should head back to Pops, oh wait, you can't."

Mael looked at the man with such disgust that he wanted to fight the man himself, only he knew that he would be floored and end up in the hospital, instead, he moved back, allowing Jack to go at the man if he wanted. 

"You know what? It's your choice, Mr. Waltz. Go ahead, if you want."

Jack removed the hat from his head, took off his suit jacket and placed them on a nearby bench. Rolling up his sleeves, he sized up his competition. It wouldn't be the first time he was the underdog in a fight, likely not the last either. 

"It's not too late for you to give up, I'm warning you, I'll put your ass in the hospital," Jack told him. "Mael, get the ambulance on the phone in two minutes."

Jack cracked his knuckles, ready to lay an old-fashioned can of whoop ass on the man before him. A smile came across his face and his eyes locked on, carefully watching every move from the larger man. Jack didn't want to be caught unaware, with the crowd gathering around now, it wouldn't be long before he either took a shot at him, or walked away knowing how many people would see him in the chance that he lost. 

"What's it gonna be?"

The Punk's eyes had widened, not believing what was going to be happening, before he looked back and noticed the gathering crowd, he knew that he was in over his head and decided to do the only thing that would get him out of this, he backed up, raising his hands in a joking manner, knowing that fighting a guy like Jack Waltz would bring a lot of unwanted attention onto him. 

"Apologies, it seems that I've had too much to drink this fine morning, I'll be on my way now."

The punk walked away, not before he glared down at Mael, making sure they had eye contact before he smirked and winked, making Mael uneasy, knowing that this guy was not done yet. It was too easy for him to back away like this when he clearly wanted a fight for some reason. Mael simply nodded back to the man with his blank face intact, making sure that he also kept eye contact until the man left from his eyesight. 

"May Ell! Are you okay?"

Mael groaned, placing his hands in his head, turning around, he came close with the mischievous smirking face of Cleo, the one that had simply driven up the street for some supplies it seems as she held a couple of bags in her hand. 

"You're doing that on purpose aren't you? It's not me you should be asking, Mr. Waltz is the one that almost had a fight here."

Cleo simply winked and smirked at him, knowing that she was simply teasing her newest friend before she turned around and looked to Mr. Waltz. 

"Are you okay sir?"

Jack picked up his hat and suit jacket from the bench. He slid his jacket onto his shoulders before placing his hat back on his head. Looking over at Mael's new friend, he nodded his head.

"I'm fine. Some people just need to learn that not everyone is an easy target," Jack said. "I'll let you two talk for a moment, when you're ready, we can head into the tailor shop. 

Jack walked away from them, lighting up a cigarette outside of the shop. He made and effort not to eavesdrop on their conversation, trying to take a moment to himself. The longer the day went on, the more he had a feeling he would be late getting home. There was relief that he would still be sleeping in his own bed tonight, no longer staying in a hotel. 

Cleo watched Jack Waltz, he was the type of man that her father warned her to stay clear of, she looked to Mael, wondering if he was the same type of man, or if he would turn that way, she would not want that, only then, she felt a shiver of excitement run through her. It had oddly excited her, all her life she had been told by her father to stay away from this type of people, yet what if this was one of the good ones. 

"Well okay sir, glad to know you're okay, now, how are you, May Ell?"

He grumbled at being called that, before shrugging, walking forward, closer towards his guide during this matter. He was glad that no actual fight had taken place, he had already seen Mr. Waltz murder someone and he did not need to witness the man's prowess during a battle, already he knew that the man would be someone fierce during a psychical confrontation. 

"Heh, calm down now Patty. As I said before, I hardly got hit, I'm fine. He is just a man that had it out for my father and is taking it out on me, that's all."

Mael answered with an easygoing smile before he noticed that Cleo had arched her eyebrow towards him, he looked back at Jack, noticing that he was smoking outside the shop, he had time for a smoke now? It had barely been five minutes since he had the confrontation. He shook his head with a smile before he heard the question that shook him to his core. 

"And who is your Father, May Ell?"

Mael adopted a look of kindness before he smiled shakily, not wanting to say the name, knowing that he had too, in order to be honest with the person of his desire. 

"His name was Charlie, Charlie Pavanno."

Cleo gasped but quickly covered it up with a cough before she took a nervous step back, looking to Jack and Mael with darting eyes of fear, only though, she did not completely run, she just looked at them with a small amount of suspicion before she noticed her security detail calling her over and waved to Mael, not even giving a goodbye before practically running away, leaving Mael cautious and suspicious.

​​​​​​​"What the heck was that about Mr. Waltz?"

Jack had been perplexed by the scene that had developed before him as well, though he was unsure what to make of it. His first thought was that this girl knew something about Mael's father that possibly was a secret to both of these men, or even worse, her family aligned with the men who organized the hit on Charlie Pavanno. 

"I have no idea, but just in case, you may want to keep your distance from this girl until we can figure it out," Jack said. "Of course, there's plenty of reasons I'm sure that might get that reaction, I can't think of a single one that would be good for you."

Jack walked over to Mael and began to lead him into the tailor shop. The girls bodyguards knew who they were now, and if trouble was to be coming, it would be better not to be out on the street. Jack kept his eyes on the window to the street, while he over heard the tailor coming up to the teenage boy. If Jack could keep Mael's mind off of the girl until she was well out of the area, it might be beneficial for them. 

"Oh joy, nothing speaks better than a girl who wants to use you for the name of a man that you never knew."

Mael sighed, walking after Mr. Waltz, although, he could not help but feel that he was being watched, looking behind him as he entered the tailor shop, he noticed that Cleo was watching with a blank face, almost like she was fighting to show her true emotions, something that made him arch an eyebrow curiously, wondering what the girl had to hide. 

He could tell that she knew something about his father, it was clear as day when she had practically run back to her security detail. It was like she was afraid that he was going to hurt her for some reason, he did not know what she knew, only he wanted to find out and see what could be done about it. What did she have to do with his Father?

"Are you sure you don't know anything about her odd behavior Mr. Waltz?"

Mael asked in a shaky tone, not wanting to insult the man, he was still curious, considering this was something that had been bothering him. The look that Jack had given him when he thought he was not looking was something that also sparked some suspicion within him, he could not just stand there and act as if it did not happen. 

"I can't get a read on it, but she's probably going to try sneaking around to get to you again. Could be good, could be bad. I would ask around about who her family is."

Jack finally relaxed as they sat in the tailor shop, the excitement from the street had ceased and it looked as it did every other day around this time, just men and women walking down the street on their way to different shops and offices. Knowing nothing but this young girls name, he was unable to draw a link between her and anyone else. Her bodyguards didn't give any indication of where she had come from either. It was unsettling to know that she had that reaction, but they had no clue who she really was.

"Are you going to see this girl again, Mael?"

Mael had started to become fitted by the tailor as he heard Jack speak, his face was blank, clearly, he was thinking on the situation. He was not paying to Waltz all that much, trying to think of an excuse for the girl and why she had run like the wind. Only he could not, obviously, she knew something about them, the family? It was possible or was it possible that she knew the man that had killed his father? Was it not a mere drop of luck that he had met her? Or was it planned?

All these questions roamed around in his mind, laying waste to the organized boy that was Mael, he had always been calm and ready for anything, yet this? Well, it was a curveball that he could not catch and was racing to get it, he suddenly heard Mr. Waltz asked him the question of if he would see her again. something that made a bell ring in his head, did he want to see her again? Yes. He needed to know what she knew and if she was truly right for him and so he answered Jack.

"Yes Mr. Waltz, I am planning to see her again, she's nice, she obviously knows something and I find myself with the need to know what it is, otherwise, it could consume me and make me unstable."

Mael and Jack had never noticed the punk from before watching them from the shadows, he was outside the tailor shop, waiting for the chance to strike and send a message to the little runt.

Jack had picked up a newspaper while Mael was going through his fitting. Reading it over, he was noticing that crime had been picking up in other parts of LA, though Pasadena seemed to still be relatively quiet. He flipped through the paper once more and then turned to Mael. His eyes peered at the suit that they were looking at. 

"Good idea, just make sure that someone know where you're at when you see her again. We can't trust everyone in this town, as much as we would like to."

He folded up the paper, setting it back down on the coffee table and stood up. Walking over to the tailor, he slid a few bucks over to him for his trouble and finding the time to fit the kid into his schedule. Jack then put his wallet back into his pocket and attempted to fix his hair. It had been ruffled as he prepared to fight the man who ran into Mael and Jack was making every attempt to look more respectable as he settled in and learned the city.