Bella walked through the Italian Market in South Philly on a warm sunny autumn afternoon.  The immigrant community warmly regarded Dona Byrne as she moved through the tightly packed crowds, choosing fresh cuts of meat and vegetables for her family's dinner. 

Raven hair worn long, loose, thick, and shiny from the hormones running rampant in her now, she was dressed in a white sundress she'd picked up in Sicily a few months ago.  She carried her grocery basket on one arm and the other cradled her favorite souvenir from their journey... her baby bump.

It had been six months since returning from Sicily and every day the baby grew and Bella rounded out more and more.  Her once lithe athletic form now softer, fuller, and more feminine.  She was past her horrible morning sickness and had begun to reach that stage of pregnancy in which she wore it well.  No longer overwhelmed by illness and not yet burdened by her size; this was the time most women associated with the joy of carrying a child. 

Bella shone like the sun, joy seems to leak out of every pore as she moved among the people who owed her so much and they returned it in affection and loyalty.  Like a queen striding amidst her people, the nearly 30-year-old woman was greeted every step of the way by men tipping hats and women wishing her family well.  If someone had taken a photo of her at this moment, they would have captured the very essence of who she was.  Bella had finally achieved all she'd ever wanted in life: a family and the power to provide for and protect them.

She looked around while she waited for her pot roast to be wrapped in paper and twine.  Through the people she saw him.  A man, looking at her.  Through the throng of people it was hard to make out much about him, but the hair all over her body stood on end as she met his eyes for an instant.  

"Dad?!?"  She whispered in disbelief of what her eyes had shown her.  

"Dona Byrne!"  The butcher called after her as she dropped her basket of vegetables to the ground, they spilt everywhere, but she didn't care.  She had to get to the man!  Bella pushed her way through people, trying in vain to go against the flow of people in the street.

"NEIL!!!!"  She screamed out to her most trusted man, the only one of her two bodyguards who would remember the face of this particular dead man.  It was the man who he used to report Bella's actions to, a betrayal which had cost Neil his tongue and his co-workers their lives. 

"BRING HIM TO ME!"  Neil looked in the direction she pointed and by the expression on his face he must have thought he saw what she saw!  Bella couldn't believe this was happening!  She pushed hard through the mob, watching Linval make his way to her side.

"What's going on?"  The Jamaican asked in his thick accent.

"I need to get to the mouth of that alleyway, NOW!"

Linval barked at people and suddenly the crowd was parting easier - if only through a desire to not cross a man who was very visibly armed.  Linval hovered over Bella protectively.  Neil was nowhere to be seen by the time she reached the mouth of the alleyway.  Atop a pile of old wooden crates rest the only sign that she'd not been seeing ghosts or going mad.

"What the..."  Linval picked up the unopened bottle of whiskey.  He examined it. 

Bella noted the label and shook her head, the memory of it on the corner of her father's desk... the taste of it so sharply remembered in the back of her mind.  He'd toasted her with that whiskey when she'd become a Don.  Shared that with her when she survived being shot - both times.  There was no doubt... someone wanted her to think 'Lucky' had escaped the hand of death one more time.  

Or maybe...

"We need to get out of her.  We need to get Aurora and we need to find Gavin.  NOW!"  Bella didn't know if this was a cruel joke, a threat, or the real thing but she sure as fuck wasn't going to stay in an open air market waiting to find out.

Linval ushered her through the alleyway and across two streets before coming back down to the place they parked the car.  Surprisingly Neil was there waiting.  Before she could ask if he caught up to him, he shook his head, 'No.'

"Was it him?" Bella asked.  "Was it my father?!?"

Neil looked sad and shrugged.

"Doesn't matter... Linval get me to that school and don't spare the tires."  

Less than ten minutes later, Aurora Byrne was taken out of school two hours early surrounded by three of the city's best bodyguards watching like hawks for any sign of trouble, meanwhile Bella waited in the backseat playing with her overly tight fitting wedding ring.

"MOM!"  Aurora climbed across the seat and hugged her mom.  "Are we going for ice cream?"

"Not today, Kiddo.  We need to get home."

Outside the car Linval whispered into Kassandra's ear, "Find the Wolf.  Tell him we pulled the kid from school.  Bella's afraid.  He needs to get home now."

Kassandra nodded and leaned into the backseat to tell Bella, "We'll see you within the hour."  With that the long-legged Greecian woman was on the move, tracking down the old wolf at his favorite local haunts.

Linval and Neil took Aurora and Bella back to the Hollowood Estate where they'd only recently settled in and begun to live.  Nestled in the forest, behind an army of bodyguards who were now on high alert, Bella began to relax.  She sat down in the family room with Aurora - away from windows and waited.  She watched her daughter playing on the rug with her dolls and she stared at the bottle of whiskey as if it would speak to her.  Her hand still protectively on her belly.

When Gavin came in the door, Aurora rushed to hug her father.  Gavin kept his composure and pretended his arrival was nothing out of the ordinary, but his eyes continued to drift to Bella and the whiskey set on the coffee table in front of her.  Eventually, Kassandra took Aurora to go work on her homework leaving Bella and Gavin alone with Linval and Neil.  The moment their daughter was out of earshot, Bella began to explain.

"I was being watched today in the Market."  The blood-drained, distraught look on her face was one he'd seen before, it was a look he probably thought he'd never see again.  After all, how many times in one person's life could the dead come back to life?

"I saw him."  She said shaking her head.  "Or someone who looked like him... it was hard to see through the crowd but I swear to you Gavin ... just ask Neil... he saw him too, but I... I think I saw Salvatore."

Bella turned the bottle towards Gavin.

"It's my father's favorite brand.  Unopened.  Sitting right where I saw him standing."  She frowned.  "Who would do such a thing?  And why now?  After all this time?  It's been seven years!" 

Tears rose in her eyes.

"What could they possibly want?  I mean... is this because of what we're doing?  Is about Aurora?  My God Gavin I can't let her go back to school until we know who or what this is.  I can't let her out of my sight!  We need to find this man and find out what the hell he wants from us.  And if... if..."  She couldn't even make herself speak the words that it was REALLY her father.  After all, it might be the season for tales of ghosts and men returned from the dead... but this was no game for children.  The ramifications of her father still being alive were just too much to contemplate right now.

Gavin listened with folded arms and a furrowed brow. Sighing, he started pacing.

"Doesn't anyone in this fucking thing stay dead?"

He smirked.

"When I'm out. I'm out. I promise."

Gavin rested a reassuring hand on Bella's shoulder.

"Look, I don't want you to worry about this. I'm not dismissing what you saw... but you know people can sometimes see things that aren't there. I've done it myself. And your condition... with everything we just thought through in Sicily... I'm just saying it's possible. And it's better for you and the baby to stay calm. So with the understanding that I'm going to get to the bottom of this... for now, I'd do as much as possible to convince it wasn't real."

"But we do need to find out. Stay here with Linval, Neil, and Kassandra... I'll figure out if anything is going on?"

Bella nodded, rattled. With everything going on... this was bad timing. Gavin flashed a reassuring grin.

"Look, worst case scenario we just go to Chicago and find a picnic table. I'll be back."

As soon as he was out of the door, Gavin's easygoing smile faded and his face turned hard. He didn't know if Salvatore was back from the dead, but he was damn sure he was going to find out.

Gavin had been a hunter his whole life, since his days of his father whipping him through the woods. As a young man, he'd learned to hunt for men. From his days as a street level enforcer, he'd grown to be one of the most talented hitmen in Philadelphia- and the country. At this point in his career, he could hunt anywhere... but he was particularly suited to do so in Philadelphia. Decades in the city had given him an almost limitless number of contacts. Cops on the payroll. The homeless. Bartenders. Not to mention all the members of the Race Street network. Soon, half the city would be keeping an eye out for Sal- if he was here. 

Gavin, however, was not the type to sit in the middle of the spider's web waiting for answers.

He knew that Sal had started out as an enforcer, just like Gavin had. And if Gavin was in a new city and wanting to lay low... well, there were a few places that tended to attract enforcers: bars and hotels that were quiet, out of the way, and whose ownership guaranteed security. He caught a few glimpses and glances as he moved through his first couple possibilities; it was hard to stay anonymous if he wanted information and most of the street level guys knew Gavin one way or another. The first bartender had mentioned possible leads, but nothing concrete. At the second place... well, Gavin noticed the bartender pouring a familiar looking brand of whisky into an empty glass. Guy must be in the bathroom... 

Could be someone random. Could be Sal. 

Taking a position in the corner, Gavin waited to see who would sit down and claim the drink. If nothing happened, he'd chat with the bartender and check on more leads. 

If Salvatore escaped the grave to claim his drink... well, he'd deal with that if it happened.

Gavin hung in the shadows, accepting a drink from a waitress, as he surveyed the area. The bar was filling up... which wasn't surprising. What was surprising was the dynamic. There were plenty of men around the empty drink, but they weren't acting normally; they were all watching the bar... they were all together. 

Gavin had one of the best poker faces in the seven cities, but his eyes still widened as Sal walked out of the bathroom and collected his drink. Neither man was trying to hide, and Gavin noticed Sal notice him. Approaching the bar, Gavin raised his hand in a friendly way- but he knew he could have his gun out in an instant if needed. He raised an eyebrow at the man who inserted himself between Gavin and Sal.

"Nothing to worry about, pal. This is a family reunion..."

Sal had come to Philly to check on his daughter from a distance. Coming back even years later he was unsure how safe things and did not want to bring heat upon anyone but he had to see his daughter maybe both of them. The problem was he had trained his daughter well and she had spotted him and he was forced to leave hoping she didn't recognize him. 

He had left a bottle of his favorite whiskey behind, the one he planned to be drinking now, in hopes that she would see it and not worry about who was watching her. 

Sal met up with his bodyguards at a local bar where he decided to have a drink to figure out what to do next. When he came out of the bathroom and returned to his seat he saw Gavin waiting for him. Sal looked at the man and knew he was a dangerous individual but Sal was no slouch either and even then he could feel the comforting weight of his 1911's. 

"Its ok let him through. If he wanted to shoot me I would be dead because you guys can't spot shit, your guy's job is to protect me not kill my killer for fuck's sake, " he said to his bodyguards as he stood. 

"Hello Gavin." he said extending his hand. 

Gavin hesitated for a moment, studying the man. 

First... was it him? He'd hoped that even if Bella hadn't been imagining things, that someone would be fucking with her by finding a lookalike or something. But this did seem to be Salvatore Luciano. The face was older, but Gavin still remembered it from seven years prior. One tended not to forget sitting across the desk of a godfather- particularly when you were having a conversation about dating his daughter. 

Having decided that it was Salvatore, Gavin still hesitated before shaking his hand. The man had killed his own wife- killed Marie, who Gavin had both respected and cared for. But this was Bella's father... and Aurora's biological father. Gavin reached out and shook his hand.

"Hello, Sal."

Gavin slid onto the stool next to the man who'd, in another life, been the Godfather of Detroit. His voice wasn't friendly or unfriendly; Gavin studied Sal as he spoke, more curious than 

"Seven years is a long time. What happened? And why are you in Philly? Give me the long version, Sal."

Sal shook the man's hand and then they turned and sat down. Sal took a drink of his whiskey and turned to Gavin. The man had aged some but still looked like the steely-eyed man who came to him all those years ago to asked to date his daughter. 

"The long version... well let's start with the easy question. I wanted to see Bella, but not for her to see me... at least not yet," he said pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. 

"I was hoping to see Aurora as well but I knew she would probably be in school," he said taking a drag. 

"as for the last seven years, Let us go back to the beginning." 

"After the war with Chicago, Las Vegas came for my head on a suicide mission and they nearly got me. I was hit by Ligambi and left for dead. My guys dragged me out of the HQ before the torched it to the ground to hide the fact I wasn't in it. They got me to Cuba where I had holdings and friends." Sal paused taking a long drag of his cigarette. 

"I spent the next few months healing and then the next few years drinking trying to forget what I had done but there is not enough booze in the world to get rid of the pain of having to kill your wife," he said before taking a drink and trying to compose himself. 

"Tiny was with me he was a loyal man and my bodyguard for years and he convinced me to stop drinking and to come back to the states... He had heard of all the wars and such here. He kept tabs on you guys through the years for me and I wanted to lay eyes on my daughter again. I know she may never forgive my actions but I had to see her with my own eyes." he said before finishing his cigarette and putting it out. 

"There's not enough booze in the world to get rid of the pain of having to kill your wife."

"Have to? Or choose to?"

Gavin had heard the rumors, of course. He'd paid attention the streets, and he'd known that Sal had acted along with Gavin's own Godfather, Spaceman. But Gavin couldn't easily shake the memories of Marie or Bella's horror at the act- and his own. 

"And why not reach out to Bella before now? Seven years is a long time. If you were... concerned... about her reaction... well, you might be right to be concerned."

He studied the older man carefully.

"What are you intentions with Bella? With Aurora? Just see them and see if they're okay?"

"I did not have a choice in it. It was decided that we had to move on Chicago and there was no way in HELL I was going to let anyone else kill her. I chose this life just like you did. The Family comes before anything else even your own. I am not proud of it, I hated every second of it, I hate myself still for doing it. But I could not let anyone else take that shot. I had to make sure it was quick, clean and for her painless. She deserved more far more than that, But I didn't have time..." Sal downs his drink as he trailed off. 

"I didn't reach out at first for her protection, then because I was too far into a bottle." 

"I want to tell you here and now I have no intentions when it comes to them. That is up to Bella if she wants to see me and up to the two of you as far as Aurora is concerned you are her parents now, but you can not blame me for wanting to see them even from a distance," he says. 

Gavin nodded along to show his comprehension, though clearly not his agreement.

"I'm not going to argue this with you because, frankly, there's no point to it. Talk doesn't bring people back from the dead. Usually. I get your reasons. But you did have a choice. You always have a choice when you pull the trigger. If you've spent years drinking and trying to persuade yourself you didn't have a choice, maybe there's a reason why that hasn't worked. If you really didn't have a choice, you'd have made your peace by now. Own the fact that you made the decision to kill your wife for your Family, and you might have more luck finding peace at the bottle of a bottle. You also might have better luck with Bella."

He paused.

"But there's no point in that discussion anymore. I respect your lack of intentions. Be here tomorrow night; I'll pass on your message to Bella. Maybe she'll come along or maybe I'll be with her. Maybe she won't come at all. If she doesn't, I'll make sure you get some sort of answer from her."

Gavin sighed as he stood, facing his father-in-law.

"If I was ten years younger, I might have tried to kill you before saying a word to you."

He saw the bodyguards tense; Gavin kept talking.

"My father murdered my mother. He was my first kill. Since then, I've put down dozens of men who've abused their wives, if not hundreds. And it always feels just that little bit... better. So any man who killed his wife wouldn't have gotten the chance to explain himself ten years ago. But now?"

He paused.

"You're Bella's father. Aurora's biological father. I can't change that. You're still family. I'll go talk to Bella. One way or another, I'll see you back here tomorrow. There's nothing left to say tonight; we'll talk tomorrow."

Gavin slowly removed the gun from his shoulder holster; he handled it carefully so as not to disturb the bodyguards. It was an M1911 with an ivory handle decorated with the image of the Luciano crest: three fish.

"I don't hate you, Sal. Regardless of what you did, you're family. But this can't be mine anymore. Keep it. Throw it out. Give it away."

He placed the gun down on the bar. He had a snub-nosed revolver in his pocket, so he wasn't worried about his gesture opening him up to an attack.

"I'll be back tomorrow night."

Turning, he walked out of the bar with his hands in his pockets.

He'd walk home the long way, battling to get his thoughts in order.

***

Two hours later, he walked through the door. Bella, unsurprisingly, was waiting up for him. She was sitting on the couch, a mug of something warm on the table in front of her. Gavin sat in the chair opposite her and looked at her steadily, resting his forearms on his knees.

He took a deep breath.

"Sal's alive. After he got shot, his men faked his death and got him to Cuba. He boozed a lot trying to get over shooting Marie, which is why he never reached out to you. He just wanted to see you. Maybe Aurora. I gave him his gun back. Told him that if you wanted to talk to him, to be in the same place tomorrow night. If you don't want to talk to him, I can go back alone. I don't want to bring Aurora."

Bella stood up from where Gavin and she sat. 

For the first time since finding out she was pregnant, she found herself wishing that she wasn't.  The part of her that wanted to deal with this wasn't anyone's mother.  She was a Dragon.  She was Cosa Nostra.  Any chances she took now weren't her own.  They were hers and the little one's.  The thought of that made her wonder if her father's timing wasn't mere chance but the calculated actions of a seasoned veteran of this thing of theirs. 

Of all the people in the world, maybe even more than her husband, her father knew what she was truly capable of.  He'd brought her up, ankle deep in the blood of his enemies.  She'd cut her teeth alongside his right-hand and learned everything she knew about how to kill a man from her... how she missed Draven!  She'd never wanted Gavin to see how terrible she could be... she feared he'd never look at her the same way again.  But, sometimes... just sometimes... she missed it. 

Bella brushed a hand across her baby bump as Gavin finished talking, seeming to acknowledge visibly she couldn't do what she was thinking about.

A decade ago this would have gone down so differently...

And then she did the most terrifying thing Mrs. Byrne in the history of her relationship with Gavin had ever done... she went to bed without a single word.
 

+++

Bella still hadn't spoken as she came out of the shower in the morning.  It was the single longest period of silence Bella had ever forced Gavin to endure.  She wasn't mad.  He would know if she was mad at him.  She'd slept close to him at night.  Outside the rain was pouring, icy cold, a staple of autumn in the northeastern United States - fitting to the mood Bella was in.

Dressed in 'business attire' Bella looked less than comfortable.  She wore dresses anymore because of how poorly her old clothes fit her... but today she made the exception.  This caused her belly to appear more pronounced.  She seemed almost impossibly pregnant, a mother trying to look the part of a mobster.  As she ate breakfast, sparing some small chatter for Aurora, but always she was distracted but her husband could see the thoughts weighing on her. 

Nearing noon Gavin found her in their bedroom, staring at the gun which matched the one he'd given over to Salvatore.  Before Gavin could find the right words she lifted it, emptied it and reloaded it with a single bullet.

She closed her eyes tight and sighed.

"I'm going to see him tonight.  You're coming, bring a big pile of cash with us.  Make the arrangments for Stella to stay with Aurora while we're out, please?"  She put the gun into her holster.  She stood up and crossed the room to him. 

"Then, if you'd take me, I'd like to visit Will's grave?"

Gavin didn't understand why she wanted to see Will's gravestone, but he nodded and went to work making the arrangements.

+++

It was nearly time to see Sal.  Bella didn't plan to stay at Will's grave long. 

The rain came down in sheets on them making it hard to even see let alone hear even a person next to you.  Gavin held a black umbrella over her head and the bodyguards waited for them at the car.   Steam rose off of their warm bodies, marking them as still living in this field of the dead. 

She walked up and put down a paper bag of peanuts she'd bought at a small shop.  She knelt down.

"So what the fuck am I to do with this shit?!?  You can see it now, can't you?!?"  She spoke in accusing tone over the thunderous rain.  "You're wrong!"

She shouted above the rain, "GOD DAMN IT WILL!  All these damn men crawling out of graves and WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!?"

She folded her arms around herself, trying to stay on her feet with her belly threatening to unbalance her. 

"I need you to ..."  She said shouted in angry sobs.  "... to argue with me today, God Damn you!  Tell me I'm wrong!"

Silence and the rain were her only replies.

She put the warm peanuts against the tombstone.

Her voice dropped in defeat.  "How dare you let me win today..."   

Her chin fell against her chest and she began to weep, caressing the swell in her belly. 

"You're cheating."  Her words were a dry chuckle which slowly grew and she struggled up to her feet turning to Gavin.  She took Gavin's hand and put in onto her belly so that he could feel the fluttering through her flesh.  Her tear streaked face looking up his blue eyes, she fell into her husband's arms and slowly her sorrow seemed to abate. 

After a long while of standing in the cold, she finally said, "I'm ready."

+++

Isabella Beatrice Luciano-Byrne walked into a dive bar in South Philly, shadowed by a looming force of nature.  Her hair pulled back in a practical braid done up on the drive over.  Her clothing not particularly spectacular despite her position of power and authority in the Cosa Nostra in the past. 

She could have been any number of dozen nameless enforcers save for the giant diamond on her left ring finger that marked her as married to a man of means.  She wore her gun bearing the Luciano crest visibly, barely hidden under her jacket.  No, the only thing that set her apart for any of the lowlifes in the room really was the belly that led in front of her as she entered.

Upon seeing her father, she looked to Gavin and nodded.  Her husband pulled the bartender aside and after paying him a large sum of money, the owner announced that the bar would be closing early tonight.  Bella stood in the middle of the room.  She didn't take a step closer to the man who'd given her life until the regular patrons had finally cleared out.

This, of course, was when she realized how much protection her father was traveling with.  As she heard the door locking behind the owner as he left, she shook her head and in a smooth motion pulled the gun which he'd given to her.  Around the room, a dozen weapons pulled from holsters including Gavin's.  The pearl handled 1911 bearing the crest of the Luciano Family was trained on its patriarch and knowing the gun as he did, Salvatore could have no doubt that if Bella so much as sneezed while holding it like that - safety off - let alone go down in a hail of gunfire, that he'd go to hell with her too.

"This gun's purpose is to protect the Luciano Family... and if not protect... avenge."  She said full of righteous indignation.  "One reason.  Give me one GOOD reason I shouldn't avenge the woman I called mother - A LUCIANO WOMAN?  Tell me why I should betray the call of my blood, my FAMILY and ignore the cries for vendetta!" 

Her voice was full of wrath.

"YOU BETRAYED US!  YOU HAD EVERYTHING!  YOU RULED THIS WHOLE COUNTRY AND STILL, IT WASN'T ENOUGH FOR YOU!?!  HOW COULD YOU!!!  HOW COULD YOU LEAVE US ALONE IN THE WAKE OF THAT!  HOW COULD YOU KILL AURORA'S MOTHER?  YOUR WIFE!?!"

She brought herself under control a moment.

"We had peace such as this world hadn't seen in all the days of my ancestors and you threw it away.  You spat on all you built together.  Was it worth it?"

Her chin twitched, her lips could scarcely hold in her absolute fury, "WAS IT?!?  ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!?  IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED!?!"

She snarled.  "Did I ever know you?"  She hissed.  "Make them holster their guns.  This is our business.  They have their guns on your daughter.  Your grandchild.  MAKE THEM STAND DOWN and explain it to me."

Sal watched as his daughter walked in followed by Gavin and he could tell by the look in her eyes this was going to be a situation. He saw Gavin walk over to the bartender and then heard the announcement, But he never took his eyes off Bella. When the door was locked he watched her pull her gun and he could hear the sound of everyone one of his men drawing their guns as well. Every man here would drop her where she stood if she pulled the trigger he knew that and so did she. But she did not care because like him she was a Luciano for better or for worse. 

Sal stood as she finished and with nothing more than a gesture of his hand his men started to holster their weapons all but one who kept his weapon trained on Bella. 

Within a split second Lucky drew his weapon and shot the man where he stood with his Black colt 1911 before holstering it again. 

"When I say to do something you do it. Now all of you leave us and take that piece of shit out of here. You don't ever point your weapons at this women. EVER."

Sal waited, staring into Bella's eyes seeing the pain and fury raging in them. Knowing that feeling all too well himself. 

When his men he walked up to Bella and stood with the barrel of her gun touching his chest right in front of his heart. 

"If you are going to shoot me then get it over with. If you want answers then put that thing away and sit your ass down," he says calmly never taking his eyes off her. 

Her heart raced.  A thousand thoughts.  So much to say... too much. 

She shook her head.

"If I were half the mobster you were, if you were in my shoes right now, you would have shot me dead where I stand.  I could do it, you know?  Not man or woman in this city would curse my name for it.  That's how few people are left in this world who love you..."

She lowered her gun.

"But I'm not you.  I'm nothing like you."

Only then did she hear the fabric of Gavin's jacket give way and his gun arm lower, though she could not see his face, she suspected it was a mix of relief and fury the likes of which she'd never seen there before.  A problem to be dealt with later.

"And I wanted to be looking you in the eyes when I proved it." 

She shook her head. 

"I'm done wanting to be you.  The man who killed his only family and burnt down his own kingdom for what?  The whispers of fools?  The fear that your wife might have been with another man?" 

She slipped sideways and down into a chair, her voice becoming having a hint of softness to it.  

"Have you learned anything from this?  Are you here because you now realize, only after losing everything, that all your money and power could never replace any of the things that matter?  Or is this one last sad attempt to rebuild your empire or get revenge?  Did you come here hoping for my support, so that the rest of this thing of ours might look kinder upon you & give you a foot in the door again?"

Sal sat in the chair and lit a cigarette. He sat and listened to her.

Sal sits and looks her in the eyes before speaking

"You are a Luciano and unfortunately you are just like me. If you where not you would of never of drawn a gun on me, You didn't flinch when I killed a man right in front of you. You are apart of this life the life you, me, Gavin and Marie all chose. A life we love." Sal takes a drag off his cigarette. 

"You say I burned it all down. I did what I had to to keep you and me and my family alive. There was nothing about it that I enjoyed or wanted to do. I will never know what would have happened if Chicago was not taken out that the thing with this life you never know the other side of the coin."

"I had to make a choice that sickened me but I signed up for the life that says the family comes before everything else in life. And I had to protect my family right or wrong. I don't expect you to forgive me for it, hell I don't forgive myself for doing it. But I would never of let anyone else pull that trigger it had to be me. I just wish I would have had more time..."

Bella listened.  She sat very still as he told her that she was just like him and illustrated his points and told her that she loved this life that she and Gavin had been backing away from slowly.  She thought about telling him he was wrong, that he knew nothing about who she and Gavin were and how even now they were trying to extract themselves from this horrible shit show that she'd allowed herself to go into wishing for a family she found no thanks to him.

But she said none of those things... 

She HAD met Gavin because of the Cosa Nostra.
She'd been allowed to come to Philly BECAUSE OF her Father.
She had a daughter... also BECAUSE of his actions, terrible though they were.

Every bit of happiness in her life was dipped in blood and Sal's bloody handprints were everywhere.  Could she really tell him he was wrong?  Bella looked down, visibly conceding her father's point, or at least submitting to his right to make the accusation.

He went on, talking about his choice.  Owning his decision and some part of her respected that, but it still sat wrong with her.  "Did you really believe Marie was going to turn on you?  Did you HONESTLY?"  

She narrowed her eyes and then sighed.  His answer didn't matter she supposed.  Like he said, he would go to his grave questioning the choice he made and generations of their family would live with the stain of kin-slayer upon them.

"Marie loved you."  She whispered.  "And even if I put all that aside, tell myself we always knew how this would end... two Godfathers married?  It was doomed before you began for Christ's sake... it's why I was desperate to not marry outside my own city.  But even if I accept that... seven years?  Dad..."

The word was odd on her tongue after so long.  Saying it to him even more so.  She paused for a long moment.

"You left her an orphan.  You left me... Marie, Elie, and you... I buried you all.  You abandoned me to face that alone with a little baby to care for.  Fuck... not even a postcard?  Just... just a pair of guns and a note?  Protect our family?  YOU were supposed to protect us.  She was supposed to be my little sister and she calls me mom.  Do you know she has a photo of you and Marie by her bed?"

She shakes her head.

"That little girl loves you and she doesn't even know you... and god help me, I still dread the day she asks me how you both died.  Now, what will I tell her?  This is... alot for me and I'm an adult who has been through a shock like this before.  She's just a little girl."

Bella reached into her back pocket and pulled out the one item she didn't know if she'd end up touching tonight.  She passed the photo to Salvatore and waited to see his reaction.

Sal put his cigarette out and took the picture putting it face down on the table. 

"That is exactly why I let you go, let you give up your family and go to Philly so that you would not be put in a situation where you would have to choose. That is where you and I differ. You love life, I am the life. I tried for a long time to push things away from having to move on Chicago but I knew that if it came to that I would have a job to do. I wish I could have arranged to get her out but I didn't have time." Sal reaches and takes a drink from his whiskey. 

"At first I stayed quiet to protect you, people, where still around who may have come after you to get to me. After that, I lived my days at the bottom of a bottle because of what I had done." 

"When she asked who killed her mother you tell her the life killed her. and if you decide you tell her the truth. she may hate me for it but she deserves to know. 

Sal finally flips the picture and for a long moment just stares at it. For the first time since everything happened, he was seeing the face of his daughter and of Marie. 

"she is beautiful."

Bella watched him put the photo face down and she could not help but wonder why he would not look at her.  Was it too painful?  Could he not bring himself to see the woman she was becoming despite what he'd said to Gavin yesterday?  Did he now realize it was too much?

You love the life, I am the life.

Her shoulders sank and the muscles that had been ridged this whole time softened.  She swallowed as it occurred to her then what had happened, as the picture finally came into focus in a way that it hadn't been able to do before.

And then he told her what to tell Aurora.  She didn't speak.  She thought to tell him that she'd always be honest with Aurora but then it occurred to her... that was no longer his concern or his business.  He made the mess - but she and Gavin had made the choice long ago to clean it up.  Not for him... but for the little girl who was the only true innocent in all of this mess that was their lives.

And then he picked up the photo.

Bella's eyes filled with tears as Sal looked at Aurora's face.  There were so many reasons, she couldn't have chosen one as the reason why, but a small voice inside whispered that it was out of sympathy for her father.  He was a man with nothing and no one.  He had missed the joy of Aurora's entire life and as such couldn't even begin to fathom what the value of that was. 

But she did... and it was now she finally looked to Gavin feeling the weight of her own guilt.  She hadn't only endangered her unborn child tonight, she'd put Aurora at risk of becoming an orphan yet again.  And for what?  So she could look her daddy in the eye and pitch a petulant fit?  For fuck's sake a man died just so they could do what reasonable people did when they had issues with each other.  

Her eyes fell from his steely blue gaze and she turned back to her dad.

She is beautiful.

Whatever his reasons, no matter how logical or reasonable he might have felt they were, she would never be able to understand or accept them.  And it was because of the fundamental difference between them that he so clearly stated.  Even if he showed her proof of Marie's eventual betrayal... she'd never be able to accept it because there were lines Bella could never cross.  Lines her own mother had instilled in her and Gavin & Aurora had strengthened. 

"This is why my mother didn't marry you."  She said softly.  "And why you didn't chase her."

She sighed and as Sal looked up from the photo she asked, "What now?  What does... this look like for you?  Are you rolling in a new crew now?  Some other Don's enforcer?  Old Dog, Old Tricks?  You can't think that's going to end well.  You'll live an ugly life making cash for some bastard who sees you as just another Soldato - another earner to milk for cash.  You could... go back to Cuba.  Live on a beach somewhere and die with a drink in your hand surrounded by pretty women, sunshine, and happy music.  Why come back when this place and this thing are so full of hate and pain?"

She reached out and took his hand in her own and gave it a squeeze.

"This isn't who you are.  You are NOT the life, Dad.  You crawling into that bottle.  You coming back here to see me and how you look at her in that photo... it's means there's more, if you want there to be?  It's not too late to choose another path - the world thinks Salvatore Luciano is dead, maybe... maybe he is?  Maybe the man in front of me isn't anything like him... and he can live out his days differently?"

Sal handed the photo back to Isabella and took a drink from his glass taking a min to compose himself. He knew who he was and there was no retiring from this life. If he stopped...

"Bella this is my life. I am already with a crew out of Seattle. Helping build a city from the ground up. I like you love life and I could not live my life on some beach. "

"Non è chi sono o cosa sono. Sono un uomo d'onore, non posso essere qualcosa che non sono." he says to her in Italian. 

Sal lights a cigarette before continuing. 

"Your mother was not meant for this life and I knew that and so did she. I loved her but I could not drag her into this life." 

"I love you and Aurora, that is why I wanted to see you and her."

"Honor..." Bella said thoughtfully but gave no more input than that before going on to say, "Gavin and I are stepping back." 

She wet her lips. 

"Not out... I'm not foolish enough to think that's possible outside of death," She smiled repeating her father's words to her from the night she was made so long ago.

"But we want to give our children other options.  They'll have all the money they could ever hope to spend thanks to the oceans of blood that we've spilled." 

She drew a breath. 

"I have to believe there was a point to it all.  A reason for all the bodies and all the people I've had to say goodbye to before their time.  If our children live a good life; then isn't that all we can hope for?"

She withdrew her hand.

"I bambini adorano l'aspetto del fuoco, ma non permettiamo loro di toccarlo." 

She swallowed.

"I'll send you photos and updates about her... if you wish.  If you want to contribute to her future well-being in some monetary fashion, open a trust for her.  If you wish to write her letters, do so.  We'll save them and give them to her after we decide she's ready to deal with all of that, but not yet.  Definitely not today.  When she's ready, I'll let her know where and how to find you.  I'll ensure the details are part of my will... so she'll have the option should something happen to me unexpectedly."

She stood up slowly, a hand on the table to balance her.

"And I'm going to save this..."  She touched her gun.  "For her too.  Should she choose this life, perhaps it will mean something to her.  Good.  Bad.  Maybe a cautionary tale about love and the life - who can say what our children will make of the stories of our lives?" 

She forced a small smile and shrugged.

"As for me... you know how to get word to me if you want to see me again.  I want to tell you to call anytime but... I'll be honest with you, I loved Marie and the wound of her loss still aches.  Every war and rogue we've seen on these streets since her fall, I've put on your shoulders of you and the men who decided to end her.  I don't think I'm ready to set that aside just yet."

She drew a deep breath.

"But... maybe in time I'll see things differently?  I mean, look how much has changed since that day I showed up to meet you in that restaurant?  A scant decade ago... and now? "  She shook her head.  "Can we take this one day at a time?  Will you accept my terms regarding Aurora?  Remaining distant until I and her father decide she's ready to hear the whole story?  Can you be content that we're not hiding her from her and that you have been in her life in some way - and will always be?" 

Sal stood and reached in his lower back and pulled out the matching gun to the one that Isabella was carrying and set it on the table. 

"I have no issue respecting your wishes. I gave up all rights to her when I shot her Mother."

"Gavin left this yesterday and it belongs with you. These were NOT. the ones used to take out Marie or Chicago Those ones I will have to carry with me" he says while showing the Black 1911 in his shoulder holster. 

"for the rest of my life. These were only used to protect," he said taking his hand off the gun on the table. 

"Buona notte figlia mia, spero che tu possa sfuggire a questa vita." he says to Bella

"Prenditi cura di loro e proteggili ed essere l'uomo che non potrei mai essere per loro." he says to Gavin

Sal finishes his drink and heads out the back of the bar. 

After Sal speaks in Italian to her, she looks down at the gun and her eyes remain on it while her father says his words to Gavin and departs.  After the door closes she mutters, "C'è solo una via d'uscita, papà.  Solo uno."

In the silence the Byrnes stood, it was Bella who broke first.

"He told you to take care of us and protect us and be the man he could never be for us."  Bella's hand closed around the gun, her chin falling to her chest.  Exhausted emotionally and fearful that instead of being able to lean on Gavin in the aftermath of all of this... she suspected it would be a silent ride home and another long silent night.

She lowered herself into the chair and staring at her father's empty glass. 

"I knew what he'd say... when I told him to go back to Cuba..." 

She could still smell her father's whiskey and she wanted nothing more than to run after him and throw her arm around him and yet she couldn't make herself do it. 

"But I had to try."

The silence in the room after her words ended was deafening.  Putting her face into the palm of one hand, she knocked aside the glass with the other, sending it flying away from her and shattering against the bar.  Bella sat there, struggling to get control of her emotions, to find the right word or action to take next - for herself and for her family.  Impotent with overwhelming emotions, Bella sat frozen in place trying to find her feet and voice again, haunted by the past as she struggled to remain hopeful about the future they were striving to build.