Tara leaned back in her hot tub and looked out the window toward League Island Park and the Philadelphia Naval Yard. Things were settling and a new normal was forming. Running a district, assisting Louis and Vincent... she sighed. Business was good, but she had good days and bad days. The good days were when she managed to keep her mind so occupied and exhausted that it didn't have time to wander; the bad days were when she stopped and thought about anything other than work for more than a handful of seconds.

Moments like these.

In some parallel universe, she wasn't a Godmother. She was Jack Mezzo's Right Hand. Or Will's Right Hand. She'd help run the district, go home to Will... start a family of their own: a baby to crawl around on the rug that Aurora would enjoy playing with. 

She shifted, rising her knee above the waterline and resting her left hand on it. An empty left hand. 

And, despite her friends, her brother, Bella, and Aurora... an increasingly empty life. Except for work.

Tara stood quickly, rising from the tub and slipping on a long, silk robe. The bankers she had to call wouldn't be able to see how formally she looked, thankfully, because there was business that needed to be done. 

Anything to keep herself from thinking.

She sighed as her index finger imperiously spun the numbers on her phone as she sat down at the table near her kitchen; her real desk was downstairs, but this had become a sort of secondary desk for her in moments like this. Tomorrow, Gavin and Bella were departing for Sicily, and she'd be watching Aurora for weeks. 

She was thrilled; she loved her niece dearly and she was excited to spend so much time with her. But Tara was also more than a little nervous.

As one of the bankers in Italy picked up the phone, ready to start their morning work, Tara jotted down a note for herself for later: "Check with Aurora: stay in her house? (probably easier) Or stay with me?"

Aurora did not yet know that Aunt Tara had arrived - she was very much consumed with her imaginary world of 'business.'  Linval pointed out that Aurora was playing in her mother's office with Neil allowing the woman to go in to see her niece unannounced and discuss the arrangements for the next few weeks.  Her parents had said their goodbyes and left hours ago for New York and so the little girl had been in the care of her bodyguards since.

Aurora climbed into her mother's desk chair and put down her 'paperwork' and pulled the adding machine closer.  Neil stood in front of her holding a bear.

"Mr. Wigglesworth.  I see here that you'd like to borrow twenty-bazillion-dollars, is that true?"

Neil made he bear nod its head.

"Our previous deal was that I'd give you one-bazillion and you'd give me back five but I only got four-bazillion and Mr. Sheep joined my staff."  Aurora narrowed her eyes at the bear.  "How do I know I'll get what you're promising this time?"

Neil made the bear shrug.

"I like you Mr. Wigglesworth, so here's what I'm going to do.  You can have the twenty-bazillion-dollars but I want to own half of your magic hat factory.  And if you ever up and disappear leaving me with nothing then Mr. Bo will be forced to track you down and no one wants that - right?"

Neil made the bear shake his head no.

Aurora wrote a fake check and offered it to Neil. 

Neil took the check and made the bear kiss Aurora's hand.

Aurora giggled.

"Okay, on your way out please send in my next business associate.  I have a lot of important paperwork to do today."  She punched keys on the adding machine and busily went about her work.

Tara strolled into the room and sat down in the chair across from Aurora, stone-faced as she would be facing down an assassin.

"I understand there's another business operating in my territory... I'm assuming that there'll be a cut for me, no?"

She grinned as her niece looked up.

Aurora resisted the urge to scream and jump into her Aunt's arms seeing, instead, an opportunity.  

She steepled her hands as she'd seen her mother do on more than a few occasions and stared hard at her Aunt, trying not to smile and mostly failing miserably.

"I'm willing to cut you in on my ice cream delivery service and dues from the circus union, but not the clowns.  People like them best and that is mine.  I might let them make you balloon animals though, since you're family.  Also, you can take Mr. Sheep into your operation to work for you."  She reaches down under the desk producing a stuffed sheep toy.

"He is a very good bodyguard, he stays just where you tell him and if you get scared at night - or feel very alone and sad, you can hug him.  And he never will tell anyone about it.  He's not a rat or a stool pigeon... he's a sheep. "

She smirks.  "So can our businesses be friends now?"

Tara scoffed.

"Clowns? Clowns are a dying breed. No, if I'm going to make a deal, I'm going to need three things. First, I need Mr. Sheep. Second, I need a cut of this magic hat factory. Third, I need to know whether you want to stay here while your parents are gone, if you'd like to live with me, or if you want to bounce back and forth between both places. Then our businesses can be friends."

"You drive a hard bargain Aunt Tara.  I can see why you're the one in charge in your business and not my Dad.  He would have given me his friendship for a lot less."  She nodded sagely.

"You get Mr. Sheep and the magic hat factory but can I make a counter offer on where we stay?"

She hopped out of her mom's chair and went over to the box where her mom had all the brochures of places they could travel on the family trip.  She laid out a few to show Tara.

'Muffler Man Statue - Illinois'

'World's Second Largest Rocking Chair - Missouri'

'Whale of Catoosa - Oklahoma'

'Midpoint Cafe - Texas'

'Blue Swallow Motel - New Mexico'

'Angel & Velma's Gift Shop - Arizona'

'Wild Burros - Arizona'

'The Wigwam Motel - California'

'End of the Trail - Califonia'

"What if ... what if we didn't stay here at all?  All you said is that you would take care of me - right?  So, what if we drove a car to all the places on this road Route 66 and then flew back on your airplane when we were done?  There's even a giant ball of string we can see!  We can buy presents for our friends and eat all sorts of fun foods and stay in hotels."

"We can call it our bestest adventure ever in the history of Aunt Tara and Aurora.  And then when Dad and Mom talk about all their business trips and stuff we can have our business trip too!  And we can take pictures of us in all the places and put the in a book to look at when we're done.  Linval and Neil can come to keep us safe.  They don't got nothing else to do while mom and dad are gone."

She smiled a big toothy grin.

"I even have a loose tooth.  Imagine if I lost my tooth on the trip then we'd never forget it!?!"

Tara shrugged. 

"Maybe I'm driving a hard bargain because the more of your businesses I own, the more I get to see you?"

Tara flipped through the brochures of places with a sinking feeling in her gut, but she kept the smile on her face.

"A very interesting idea... where did you learn about all these places, Aurora? Who did you talk about them with?"

"Mom.  We were looking at driving to the Grand Canyon for our family vacation and we were going to go on route number 66.  But then we decided we'd go see the giant red trees in California and to a volcano island.  Dad don't know yet.  It's a surprise.  Surprises aren't lies.  I can have surprises for people and not telling a surprise isn't an omission.  It's a surprise, even Dad says so."

She smiled.

"I like us doing business together.  Can we go to a fancy restaurant for dinner and wear dresses and make-up?"

Tara smiled at her niece.

"Well, if you talked about it with your mom, I think she probably wants to go with you. I wouldn't want to take that away from her. The other thing is that it's hard for me to be away from the city for such a long stretch right now. Especially with your parents gone. After everything that happened with Grandpa Jack... well, I have even more responsibilities now than I did before. But... I think we could perhaps do a smaller trip. Something close enough to Philadelphia where I could return if there was an emergency."

"But fancy restaurant, dresses, and make up? That's a definite yes."

Aurora pouted slightly, but ultimately nodded. 

"I guess.  But, if you can't go on a trip when you want, then what's the point of being Boss?" 

She walked over to Neil and took the bear out of his hands.

"Come on Mr. Wigglesworth.  We need to pick out a dress."

"I guess.  But, if you can't go on a trip when you want, then what's the point of being Boss?" 

Tara sighed.

"Yea... that's actually a good question."

Standing, she helped Aurora pick out a dress the girl would be excited about.

Aurora packed a bag which included Mr. Sheep so that he could join Tara's staff.  Neil had to help her repack as she forgot most of the important items and packed mostly toys. 

At some point near the end of packing, she brought over the small pocket knife and asked Tara, "Can I bring this?  I know it's not a toy.  I know we do not use it without permission.  I know that we only ever stab people to protect ourselves... but can I bring it in case we need to use it?"

Tara winked at Neil as he surreptitiously packed Aurora's bag, although her mouth dropped open slightly when the knife came into play.

"Uh... yea."

Turning away, she muttered under her breath "What the fuck, Gavin?"

Aurora put on a green dress with a large flair skirt.  As it turned out she had 'make-up' which was little more than a bit of powder and a blush brush that looked like one of Bella's old ones and a sweet smelling perfume in a far fancier bottle than it probably came in which she explained her dad picked out special for her.

Tara had to help her with her hair but once she was done Aurora proclaimed that she looked like a princess.  Throwing on a small fur coat made of actual fox (again Aurora announced that her Daddy got in on his trip to Canada) Aurora and her bags were ready to go to Tara's for the night at long last.

Once in the car, she asked Tara, "What do you think Mom and Dad are doing on the big boat?  Do they go fishing or swimming?"

They swung by Tara's place as well for the Godmother to get changed to match the level of formality seemingly desired by her niece. Tara picked out an older green dress of a slightly lighter shade before climbing into the car. The list of people she needed to mail was growing in her mind, but she chased it away for the moment.

"Well... I'm sure your Mom and Dad are having fun... fishing... swimming... playing cards... exercising... there's lots of things for them to do."

Tara smirked.

"What sort of restaurant would you like?"

"Um place with chicken and dessert.  A fancy place with a man who wears a suit and has to have our name in a book.  Dad takes me to places like that sometimes.  He usually gives the man with the book money and he gives us the best seats from his house."  She smiles.

"Do you know that place?"

Tara grinned.

"I think I can probably get us into one. Come on, let's make a night of it."

***

Twenty minutes later, Tara and Aurora walked through the large oak doors of one of the most popular restaurants in town. Unlike Tara's local restaurant, where she seemingly ate most of her meals, this one was a bit fancier. Still, she wasn't worried about bringing a six year old, since they'd created a private table for her in the corner. Tara smoothed down her light green dress as she sat, and she and Aurora flashed matching smiles at the waiter.

"Two chicken parmigiana, please."

When the waiter left and Tara and Aurora were buttering their bread, Tara glanced at her niece.

"So tell me about school. How's it going? Reading anything interesting?"

Aurora climbed into her seat and tried to mimic Tara's appearance, sitting up straight and appearing to take on a 'dignified' air... at least until her ear itched and she absently picked at it.

"School is pretty good.  I've been keeping my head down like dad said to. It's hard sometimes, but important stuff isn't supposed to be easy I guess."  

She shrugs.

"Besides, way I figure, if I'm good a long time then when I do get in trouble maybe the Principal won't get so mad."

She took her water glass in both hands and drank from it, getting smiles from different customers around the room who obviously appreciated the adorable precocious little girl.

"Teacher is reading Doctor Doolittle to us. I didn't like it much at first cause it was just a silly kids story about a man who can talk to animals, but now we're at this part where he's going to go to a place called Africa to cure a monkey and it sounds like maybe there might be some adventure now.  At least I hope so.  If he has to sail on the ocean then maybe there will be pirates.  Do you suppose mom and dad might meet with some pirates on the ocean?  Dad loves pirates.  I think he wants to be one when he grows up."

Tara smiled down as she listened to Aurora.

"You're much smarter at your age than your father or I was. Not sure about your mother. But yes, you're right. Important stuff isn't supposed to be easy."

Tara lifted her own water to her lips as Aurora drank.

"Would you like to go to Africa someday, Aurora? I hear that there are many types of animals there that don't live anywhere else. And I seem to recall reading your father a book about pirates once... but I actually think that, while he certainly appreciates them, you changed his mind about what he wants to be when he grows up. Pirates are out on the ocean, and it can be lonely. I think he has too much to miss at home for him to go sailing away anymore."

Tara smiled as their food arrived. She tended to get fast service. 

"And I wouldn't worry about your parents meeting pirates. Pirates today are... different. More likely to wear a suit than a peg leg or an eyepatch."

She nodded as Tara mentioned pirates wearing suits rather than eyepatches.  

"Paulie says all the best criminals wear suits - politicians and onion leaders and such.  Gus told Paulie he was full of it."

She picked up her fork and began cut aggressively at the chicken in front of her.  

"Only Paulie thinks that Gus just says that cause his dad is a onion leader on the docks.  Gus is normally pretty mean to me, so, I tried to do what dad said and be more like you.  I thought if I told Paulie to back off Gus, maybe Gus would be nicer to me."

She shook her head.  "Well, that went toes up fast cause Paulie told Gus that he was such a ..." 

She stopped herself short of saying a 'not nice' word in a 'nice joint' and instead went with, "Well, Paulie laughed at Gus for having a girl stick up for him.  So then Gus turns to me and he says... well... he says..."

Aurora lowered her voice seeming to know it wasn't something she wanted others to hear, "He says that his dad told him that my dad and mom are nothin' but no good monsters.  I wanted to punch him in the teeth so bad you don't even know!  But I told him my parents aren't monsters and Gus laughed at me and said mobsters, not monsters.  I told him that was a lie and he said that's why Kassandra, Linval, and Neil sometimes come to school with me.  Well... we had to go back into class, so I didn't say nothin' after that, and I didn't say nothing after school cause... well... I don't know what a mobster is.  So... Aunt Tara, what's a mobster?"