Date: The last week of August, three days after the events of The Lioness, the Devil, and the Watchmaker's Son

Time: Mid Afternoon.

Billy had done as instructed via phone call. He has packed an overnight bag. He has told both Integra and Kenzi where he was going, he had brought his two best bodyguards, Charlie and Ricky, with him. He wore a nice suit, with a red tie. Charcoal was his color. He had decided that a long time ago. It was good looking on him, and matched well with red which he really liked. The pink shirt underneath the tie was something he wasn't the most fond of, but Kenzi liked it, so he promised he would wear it. The one thing he felt he lacked, but hated wearing, was a hat. Well that and a working watch, but his father's watch adorned his wrist, working or not. Either way, hats were not Billy's style.

As the car pulled up to the drive Billy waved at the men watching the gate. The last time he had been here things were less tense, and he had just killed a number of people in a city that he had no influence in. Today was going to be a long day. A day that Billy would never forget, and that he knew he was going to be at a disadvantage the whole day through. Today was a day of diplomacy.

Billy stepped out of the car and looked around the grounds. The leaves had been turning a bit in this part of town. He could see all around him the morbid vestige of color grasping to stay alive in the world before the bleak solemnity of winter took hold. He decided in that moment, bleak or no, that he wanted a place like this himself. That living in an apartment, as nice as it might be, in the middle of the city was not ideal. It was not as secure, or protected. It was not as nice. And most importantly, it was not his and his alone. If he wanted control over his life, he had to start taking control over every aspect of it. Just because he didn't pay rent, didn't make him the landowner.

He watched as the front doors then opened before him and he grinned. He let the genuine happiness rush over him because he hadn't seen any real family since he had left Kenzi and Integra back in Detroit. He specifically had his men drive out here to have the time to think. For a man who was always afraid of being alone, he was slowly coming to the realization that he very much was, and only one person in the world could change that.

The door came open and the icy blue eyes of Gavin Byrne greeted Billy.  The older man stepped back, welcoming the younger inside.  As Billy put down his bag, Gavin offered his hand to Billy.

"Good to see you again."  He said warmly.  

"Dad!"  William came running down the steps into the foyer.  The boy in his early teens hesitated upon seeing Billy but after a prompt from his father continued, "We still going out tonight?"

Gavin smirked at the boy as if the kid had said something brilliant.  He nodded, "I think so.  Hell," he glanced to Billy, "If you get tired of Bella playing Virgil to your Dante today... you'd be welcome to join me and William tonight.  There a small poker game that goes on downtown once a week.  We'd love to have you along."

"You must be Billy?"  William said offering his hand to Billy.  "I'm Will.  It's good to finally meet you.  Rora has shut up about you for two days."

Gavin flashed a quick glare at his son who gave the barest hint of a shrug.  As Will shook Billy's hand he palmed off a note discreetly so Gavin, nor the household staff would catch it.

"I'm going out.  I'll see you around, Billy."  He nodded to his dad.  "See you later, Dad."

Gavin watched the boy race out the door and slam it behind him.  

One of the staff came forward and informed him that she'd be taking Billy's bag to the guest house out back. 

Gavin patted Billy on his good shoulder. 

"Drinks?  Cigars?"  Gavin asked. 

"Pick your poison ... after what you did for my daughter, my stash is yours.  In fact, I dare say I owe you a debt so large that I can't hope to ever repay you.  If you ever need something... I'll do whatever I can to help you."  There was a significance to the way the old wolf said this as if he wasn't just exaggerating or trying to be nice.  It was as if he really meant something by it.  

He led the way into a cozy den where a massive moose head dominated the far wall above the fireplace.  The thing was weirdly appropriate in a house that so much felt like a cabin in the woods ... and yet against all the other non-wildlife decor it certainly stood out as strange.

Billy nodded.

"I'd be happy to share in your drink sir, I'll have a bit of whatever it is you're trying to get rid of."

He paced around the room a tiny bit.

"I hope you don't mind my not sitting down, I've just been in a car for some ten hours, I really need to stretch my legs."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small envelope. It was a deep crimson in color, and showed no sign so shining in the light. As if someone took ash and smeared it over a brilliant red to hide it from the rest of the world.

"I did bring some cigars though, my own special blend. I've got a little factory I run out in Detroit and thought it would be nice to bring them. If you'd like we can step outside and keep the smoke from getting into anything in here. Before we do though, I have a feeling Will meant for me to read this away from everyone's prying eyes."

He held the note aloft between his index and middle fingers on his left hand.

"I'm not here to play games or hide secrets. I'm here cause I care very deeply about this family and everyone in it."

He stopped himself then. He had almost continued to say 'so much so that I wish I were a part of it.' Billy thought that might have been a bit too on the nose for the situation. Sadly, it's not what he meant at all. Billy had seen how Bella treated her family. How happy they were together, and how Gavin himself had flown to Detroit just to make sure his daughter was going to be alright. Billy could have money and power all he wanted, but he never wanted any of that.

"So, do you mind if we just read this thing together?"

He stepped forward then under the head of the moose near the fireplace just in case the note contained something that should be left unsaid. The two men had the option then of tossing it and never speaking of it again.

"Well, I appreciate your honestly.  And, speaking honestly, things have been a bit ... tense ... around here since we last spoke." 

Gavin went to the bar and poured short glasses of an Irish Whiskey he'd brought back with him from their family trip and walked over to the fireplace to offer Billy one.

"Something tells me,"  He took a sip.  "That you're going to regret mentioning that to me and Will is likely to get his clocked cleaned for not making it clear that it was meant to be private."

He chuckled a didn't crowd in close to Billy as he opened the note.

I'll sneak down to the guest house tonight after 1am.  Everyone should be home and asleep by then.  Please know that I don't agree with her at all.  We'll talk soon.  xoxo -Rora

Gavin looked curious but he didn't ask, nor did he try to peak at the note.  He just waited to see if Billy had something to say or share.  

"Been a while since I had a good cigar ... since you're offering.  Bella is the one with a real soft spot for them, but I've been known to enjoy one from time to time."  He began moving towards the french doors leading out onto the patio.

Billy thanked Gavin for the glass and read the note in silence before putting it into his pocket. This was not a good sign. He did follow Gavin out to the patio though and handed over the cigar, offering the man the cutter and lighter he kept in their case.

"Mr. Byrne. Do you have any idea why I'm here? I'm afraid I don't understand the reference you made in the hallway there, and to be honest the note I just read makes me have a feeling that I'm not going to see Aurora in so much as a passing glance."

Billy cut and lit his own cigar then and put the tools away before continuing.

"Not that I'm trying to be ungrateful for you being a fine host, but it's just." 

Billy made to scratch his head, and then realized he had a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other. So he stopped himself.

"I don't want anybody to be in trouble on account of me sir. I can go get my guys and leave right now. Anything I have to say can be said anywhere else. I don't want to be the reason Rora is in trouble and doesn't get to go out."

He put the cigar to his lips then. These really were his favorite blend. He hoped Gavin liked them, but even the cigar and the, well to be honest, really good whiskey, were not doing the job of cheering him up right now.

Right now, he felt like he was making Aurora take a bullet for his mistakes.

"Gavin."  He corrected as he settled into a chair.

"You're here because Bella says she has some business to do with you and because she & I both wanted to thank you for taking a bullet for Aurora.  We just have differing opinions on how best to do that." 

He smirked as if he found that very amusing. 

"As for Aurora, you don't have anything to worry about in that department.  I'm guessing that letter promises she's going to find time to visit you away from her mother's eyes."  He waved a hand dismissively.  "She's a grown woman.  I won't get involved with telling her who she is and isn't allowed to spend her time with.  So, if that's what you're worried about, put it out of your mind.  My job wasn't to dictate my daughter's choices in life... just to make sure she was wise enough to make good ones.  Ideally, I haven't fucked up too much... and if I have, I'm not sure it isn't too late to repair the damage now."

He shook his head.

"But no... you didn't get Aurora into trouble.  Her mother and she had a fight the day she got back from Detroit. I make it a point to try to stay out of the middle of those.  It's why I'll be going out to play poker after dinner tonight.  It's also why I invited you along.  I figure by then it's entirely possible you'll want to get out and clear your head for a while."

He puffed on the cigar, "This isn't half bad at all... thanks."  He blew the smoke outward in the direction of the small brook that ran down near the guest house. 

"Aurora isn't locked up her room or anything, she could come down... she's just choosing to avoid her mother and choosing not to speak any of us for going on two days now." 

He shrugged.

"Bella, on the other hand, should be getting back from the graveyard anytime now.  I suspect she'll want to meet with you right away - which is why I made a point of being here to meet you before she got back.  Figured it was the very least I could do."

He tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, "So... my question back to you is this: Is that what you came here for?  You want our approval for you and Aurora to see one another?"

Billy shook his head.

"No. I wanted to have an adult conversation. A good deal of things happened in one night. I took a couple of bullet sure, but I wouldn't have if people weren't after her. Someone should do something about that, and I want to help if I can. It took me a couple days to get my own affairs in order, but that's just one thing."

He took a puff of his own cigar then and finally settled into the chair he was in last time he was here. He figured Gavin and Bella had their seats, he didn't want to take one.

"Beyond that, would I like your approval to see your daughter? Sure, who wouldn't. Do I think it's going to stop your daughter from going out of her way to see me if you tell her no? Not in the slightest, she will see it as a challenge, and like you just said. I'm not going to tell her what to do, that would be a mistake. No, what I came here for was to talk to Bella about whatever it is she wanted to talk about, and also sit down and tell you both to your face that I have feelings for your daughter, and that if she hadn't told you she has feelings for me too. I wanted to tell you that neither of us fully know or understand those feelings because we haven't had the time to figure them out. I wanted to ask the two of you what to do. The life we lead is already incredibly dangerous, but the both of you have lived a very long time, and you're done it together for the most part, so clearly you're doing something right."

He took a sip of his whiskey then, he throat was getting dry from talking so much, but he wasn't finished, not by a long shot.

"I don't know what's gonna happen next. Hell, Aurora could be so mad at me later today for something I've already said that she swears me off for the rest of my life. But I do know that if whatever we feel for each other has any shot of getting figured out, we have to be a lot smarter than either of us were the other night. And to be very honest Gavin. I got nobody else to turn to for advice. You're it for me. If I can't get any from you, then I gotta figure it out on my own and that's not done me a fat lotta good so far. Asking you what I should do, doesn't seem like it can hurt much, and if it helps well, even better."

He raised his glass and took one more sip before finally sitting back and sighing. That was it, that was everything he had though of on the way over. There was nothing else to be said. He liked a girl, the girl liked him. He didn't have a dad, so he decided to ask hers what to do instead cause this was a dangerous life. He closed his eyes just then too fir a split second so  the afternoon sun wasn't blinding him.

"Graveyard huh? I should have given you my condolences the second I walked in the door. See what I mean by figuring it out on my own don't work?"

To a younger Gavin, the idea of anyone wanting his advice would have been laughable.  Older Gavin wasn't much more comfortable with it, but he could remember being a young gangster and having no family other than Tara to look to and she was rarely in any position to give him good advice.  The closest thing he had that sort of thing had been Jack. 

He missed Jack.  Immensely.  

Gavin sat quietly for a moment, puffing on his cigar, watching the trees above them swaying side to side dressed in their autumn finery.  A warm wind kissed his time marked face and blew through the shimmering strands of his silver hair.  He considered Billy's words and let his mind linger within memories for a long quiet moment.    

"I can't judge your life." 

When the Wolf finally spoke there was a confidence to his tone, a certainty that his thoughts were the best that he could provide. 

"I have to take your word on whether or not you're better off getting help from friends or not; but I'll tell you this, from where I'm sitting you haven't done so terrible.  You got the respect and friendship of powerful people, you're a Don at a young age, and you've managed to win the heart of my daughter who - until now I saw her with you in the back of that ambulance, I wondered if she might not follow her Aunt's path in life.  Always dedicated more to her work and the needs of others than to her own."

He glanced at Billy, "I wouldn't call what happened three nights ago a failure.  You walked away.  Your enemies didn't.  Trust me, the longer you live the more you come to understand that's the only real measure of success.  Besides,"  Gavin smirked, "Though my wife might not want to admit it, back when we were younger, that little adventure would have been the opening salvo in a weekend-long excursion."

He looked back to his trees, remembering Chicago, Montreal, Jamaica ... the wild adventures of the Wolf and Dragon vs. the world.  While the adventures had changed, the people had not, and for that he was grateful.  He was grateful not just for himself & his wife, but for Billy and Aurora's sakes as well.

"If I'd been in your shoes, I suppose the only part I would have been pissed off about was her father showing up before I could be properly thanked for taking a damn bullet for her."  He chuckled against his glass before taking another drink and deciding to try to give something more.  His sister would have.  Bella most certainly would have and this young man was shaken up.  He needed words right now, whereas at that age he would have needed a stiff drink and some time alone.  

"My wife, she spends a lot of her time worrying about what might happen.  She's wired that way.  Her and my sister both.  I'm not saying it's wrong to acknowledge what could have gone wrong, but I prefer to acknowledge what might have happened and use it to know the value of what I have."

"If you find yourself thinking about how Aurora could have died that night, or you, or what might have happened to your family if you'd been killed... let that drive you forward in life.  That's my advice.  Live for joy.  Not fears.  Forgive those things and people that matter most when they fuck up, laugh with them easier and hold them tighter.  If someone matters enough to fear losing them... then you have to fight for them, even if it means fighting your own urge to throw in the towel or to lose your shit."

Hearing Bella's car pull up out front Gavin stood up, "Just be honest.  Don't lose your cool.  Forgive and most of all use what you know about the person through every interaction with them... not just what is happening in the moment.  My wife fights for the things she loves because she's afraid.  You might call it the difference between Dragons and Wolves, I suppose."

He paused before adding, "Knowing what the person across from you wants and needs most in this world, that's the best way to win at a negotiation table... Bella taught me that, and I've never found a situation where it wasn't true."

He glanced at the door.  "She'll be coming in a minute or two... any last minute questions before your meeting with the Dragon?"

Billy shook his head.

"You wouldn't happen to know how St. George did it would you?"

He finished his drink and set the glass down on the ground.

"I've already taken my steps to learn. I came here with bodyguards after all. A week ago? Never would have occurred to me to do that. And now, after everything else that happened?"

He couldn't help but think of his sister. The poor fragile thing, taken so swiftly from him. He shook his head hard then to keep the tears from coming again.

"I'm not a boy anymore, I'm not some goomba. I'm only Billy to a few people anymore. I'm Don Mastrosimone now, and that means I gotta make some harder decisions and send other people into danger that I would rather go into myself. That means that I have to protect myself first or else I can't keep protecting Aurora. That means I have to smile and nod and go to fancy parties so people see my face, and know who I am. So people know, the man who was shot lives on as if nothing happened. It didn't scare him, he just got up and killed the guy who did it and then walked away."

He took a long pull of his cigar and ashed it into the empty glass so as not to get them anywhere on the property.

"It means, simply put. It's time to build a legend."

He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair as he put the cigar back into his mouth. It was really just time to be quiet for a little while. Billy was done talking until Bella showed up, and even then, he didn't care if she wanted to do most of the talking. Today, that would suit him just fine.

The men were silent.  If Gavin had more thoughts on Billy's words, he'd chosen to keep them to himself.  Through the trees the sound of the babbling brook was constant, whippoorwills called and the sound of squirrels rushing about burying their nuts for the long winter ahead was all that anyone could hear.  Hollowood was peaceful, or perhaps it was just holding its collective breath in anticipation of what might occur next.

The french doors opened and Bella's man Linval stepped out onto the veranda.  Gavin gave a nod to Billy, "I'll see you at dinner."  

Linval looked to Billy, "Don Byrne would see you now."  The Jamaican motioned into the house and lead Billy up the stairs to Bella's office which was across the hall from a room that was obviously Aurora's.  The door was decorated with a variety of photos, and a sign which strictly insisted no boys were allowed - though it appeared old and clearly in a young girl's handwriting.  Most likely Aurora didn't feel the need for such decor on in her adult life far from this place.

Linval opened the door to reveal Bella inside.  She was wearing black and seated behind her desk.  She had a somber mood that lightened a bit as she saw Billy's face.  Her lips pulled into a smile, a small one, but her eyes looked tired and sad in spite of it.  The woman's office here, unlike the one at the employment agency, was a wonderland of strange artifacts.  Coffee mugs with messages on them, photos of her children lined the walls showing different points in their lives from them as babies to them as they were now.  One photo of her sat on her desk, it was a much younger looking Gavin - perhaps no older than Billy was now.  

Piles of papers were everywhere.  Maps with borders on them for all the great cities - the one of Detroit showed outlines around Corktown let him know that these were maps showing which families held what territories.  Likely in case of the need for wartime planning, a grim prospect.

Bella stood and walked around her desk and gave Billy, not her traditional mafia greeting, but an embrace.  Behind him he could hear Linval withdraw and close the heavy oaken door.  Bella held Billy in her arms and kept holding him.  Then she did something even more odd, she began rubbing his back... it wasn't something she'd ever done before, and certainly wasn't the action of one Don greeting another.

"I'm so sorry."  She whispered after a moment that seemed to stretch on endlessly.  When she allowed him to slip out of her arms, her hands came down his long arms and took up his hands.  She looked into his eyes.

"Kenzi was a bright spot of light in this dark thing of ours.  She was too good for the things we do and while I blame myself for showing her the door into the life... I am grateful to have known her and know that she would not want you to suffer.  If there is anything at all that I can do to help you, you know you just have to ask it."

Billy hung his head. Then he squeezed Bella's hands in his, not hard. Just enough that she knew he was listening.

"No. What is done is done, and there's nothing that anyone can do for me now. I'm not here to talk about the past, as much as I may cling to it, it does not help me now. Now we are here to talk about you, and whatever it might be that you asked me here to talk about."

He pulled her in and hugged her then, tightly.

"Bella, Mrs Byrne, Donna Byrne. Whatever people call you, you were a Luciano first. I knew your father by reputation alone, but that doesn't mean everything. He was still your father and you have my sympathies. I too lost a father to this life, I know how it is, and I want you to know that I am here for you should you need me. I'm still just Billy Bella, and you're still the woman I learned to love and respect. The fact that we both wear black today and yet stand before each other means something I'm sure. What? I have no idea. But something."

He let her go and stepped back so that she had her space then, squeezing her hands one more time before letting go entirely. The could not spend the entire visit hugging and crying together. Dons didn't do that. After a moment of just breathing, he then took off his own watch and held it aloft in front of her.

"Do you know anyone who can fix watches? I think it's time I let my dad speak to me again."

Bella nodded.  

"I do... and maybe helping you fix that watch is a better reason than the one I asked you here for."

Bella picked up a box from the floor that was about 20 inches by 12 inches.  It could be no more than 4 inches deep.  It was made of black walnut and had a gold latch and lock on its front.  She placed it upon her desk between them.

"If you mean what you say about the past... I'll take this and have its contents melted down.  That will be the end of it.  However, if you aren't ready to close the door on the past, if questions about your father's fate still haunt you as Aurora seemed to think... then I offer you this box as the end of your quest."

She put a hand on the box.

"What lies within will hurt.  It may change you.  You having these answers may even hurt people that you love.  I can't promise you even closure.  Just facts and symbols.  Not reasons.  Not explanations.  The ones I have, you won't find any more fulfilling than I did.  I can only apologize that I did not give you answers sooner.  The truth is, I didn't realize you did not know what happened that night."

She removed her hand from the box.

"The decision is yours.  Open the box and I'll explain the contents & what I can of what occurred that night.  Don't open the box and walk away from the hurts of your past forever, and never think about them again, if you can.  I'm here for you, regardless of the decision you make."

Billy narrowed his dark eyes at the woman in front of him. She knew. She knew what had happened to his father. For how long had she known? The first time the met he handed over his father's journal to her. His father who had loved her! His father who would have done anything for her, and who taught Billy to do anything for her. Billy was very glad in that moment that he was a strong man. A weaker man would not have been able to fight down the urge to scream at her.

"Not dwelling, and not knowing are two different things."

He smiled and reached for the box.

"That being said, when we are done talking about this box, I have a feeling there's still going to be a lot of unfinished business we need to talk about still. I hope that you don't plan on driving me off by throwing the book at me first. it won't work."

He walked around the desk so that they were both on the same side of the box.

"If I'm gonna see this shit though, it sounds like I need to look at it with a friend."

He nodded then and crossed his arms so she could unlock and open his destiny.

"Don't underestimate how much you might not want to be around me the moment I unlock this latch..."  She said softly and then, she did it.  She opened the box.

Inside, resting in black velvet, were two black guns.  The metal was dull and seemed to absorb all light - as if they were the concept of darkness itself made real.  Upon the grips was a family crest of some sort, done in silver, three fish were central to the heraldry.

“I thought about having them melted down.  Buried with him.  Every thought I had came back to me passing judgement.  I’m not the right person for that.  I used to think I was, but recent events have proven that wrong.  Still, I can’t keep the guns.  I can’t give them to Aurora.  But, perhaps it's you who should decide the fate of these vile things.”

She drew a breath.

“When my father began planning the war, he had those guns commissioned in black metal to match the ones he normally carried which were nickel plated and have pearl handles.  Those guns symbolized hope and the noble purpose they were crafted for… protecting our family.  Both sets of guns bear our family’s crest in silver… three fish.  It’s a long and old family story, I’m sure it wouldn’t interest you much at this point.”

She wet her lips.  She knew this would not be an easy thing to say and an even harder thing for Billy to hear, “He carried those guns until the day he died.  A constant reminder of what he’d done and who he really was.”

She exhaled and stood silent for a long moment before confessing,  "Salvatore Luciano - Aurora's birth father... MY father... he used those guns to kill his wife, Marie Lucania, during the war he led against Chicago and very likely… he used those guns killed your father too.”

Billy stood silent for longer than he cared to think about. Was that what pulled him to this family? Was it the fate of his father? Was that the only reason he felt some kind of magnetism toward Aurora? He looked at Bella then. Looked her in the eyes. He understood why she didn't tell him. He truly did. Before today, before now, this would have broken Billy. This would have taken his life. he would have snapped in an instant and gone off on everyone around. He would have tried to hunt down Salvatore Luciano for Christs's sake.

Now? He reached out and hugged his mother.

"Thank you for telling me."

He looked back at the guns again. Slowly, he reached out to touch them. He traced his hands over the family crest. He didn't have one of those. He could feel the steel underneath his fingers. It felt warm, not cold as it should have. He knew it was because Bella had kept them inside the box, but there was more. He felt almost as if they vibrated. They called out to him. They needed to know that they were going to be used for the right reasons.

That's what he told himself.

"We are going to have a discussion now, and after this discussion is over I'm going to take these with me. I have no right to them, but you don't want them and they have a purpose to serve."

He reached out and slowly closed the lid before making his way back around to the other side of the desk.

"You had things to discuss with me. Do you want to speak about them, or about what I cam to talk about first? Also, shall we do this here, or after dinner? I don't want to ruin whatever other plans you might have."

He gestured at the maps. It was a smart move she had pulled, if she was more sinister. If The Dragon were waging war on Detroit right now, she would have Billy's entire crew swept off the board. he was her hostage, and his family could do nothing about it. It meant they could either fight, and lose their man, or stay out of it, and maybe, just maybe the benevolent city of Philadelphia would spare them for doing the smart thing and holstering their guns. Billy took notes.

Bella watched Billy's reactions carefully and found herself caught off guard as he pulled her into his embrace.  It took her a moment before she realized the action wasn't aggressive, but an expression of his emotion.  Of course, then she returned the embrace.

She nodded in agreement with him when he said he'd take them.  She had suspected he might, though she quirked an eyebrow as he noted that the guns still had some purpose.  

When he tried to move things forward to other topics she nodded and pulled out the chair behind her desk and motioned, not to the seat across the desk from her but, to the one at the side of the desk.  It was something she'd picked up from Salvatore.  He'd always had two seats in his office aside from his own.  One was meant to make people feel small - coming before the Godfather as supplicants and plebs.  The other was a place reserved for his inner-circle.  Her most trusted.  Family.  This chair always sat at the side of his desk, at his right hand.  It was a seat she often occupied and one that her own children frequently sat in.

"I asked you to come here both for this and so that I could make sure you understood the depth of my gratitude and debt to you."  She held up a hand to forestall any false modesty.  "You're a Don and you spilled your blood.  It's no small thing what you did.  Honor demands I acknowledge this and if you try to pass this off as nothing, then you belittle Aurora and you insult me.  I know you would do neither."

Bella opened her desk drawer and hesitated before pulling out a manila folder.  She then passed it into Billy's hands.  Inside there was vital information - taxes, insurance, employment records, and property deed for The Blackhawk Restaurant in Detroit which was now in the name of Billy Mastrosimone.

"The location makes me a mint as you can easily see in the numbers, but I always felt that The Blackhawk was more to me than just a business.  It was the sort of place every Don should have - if a Don is like a King, then the Blackhawk was my court back in my day."

She smiled.

"Its a place where you can be seen.  A place where you can rub elbows with the most influential people in your city.  A place where you can play host to the most important VIPs and show off your power.  The restaurant, as I'm sure you know, has a national radio broadcast from there each week.  It's one of the most desirable venues to the biggest names in music.  The bragging rights of owning something known from coast to coast is, well, something most Dons would give a great deal for."

"Its value, however, is far beneath what my daughter means to me.  I know that this can only ever be a very tiny token.  A miniature expression of my gratitude.  My children, they are so valuable to me that if you asked for my life as repayment, I would tell you that you have asked too little." 

She shook her head hoping he could understand what she was leaving unsaid, lamenting the necessity for things to go the way they had to.  Gavin was, as always, right.  But in this case, she was too.  Her only hope was that Billy would see the difficult position she was in, through some miracle, and walk away without a fuss.  Aurora would be heartbroken... but it was for the best, for both of them.

"I know when I was starting out in Detroit I found it to be a great help having such a location available to me.  I think you will too and I hope that whenever you are there you remember how very dear you are to me."

She meant it.  He did mean a great deal to her, but not so much as her daughter.  And while she suspected he would press the issue of seeing Aurora, and she would no doubt lose a good deal of cash to Gavin on the bet they'd made, she prayed to God that he would have mercy just this once and make matters simple.  It had been a very long week... she'd said goodbye to her father for the second time in her life and now to Kenzi as well.  She feared that if Aurora and he had become serious, as Gavin seemed to think things were, that she might lose Billy too and that would cut incredibly deep all things considered.

"In fact," she continued.  "That's the final reason I've asked you to come here... the reason for asking you to pack an overnight bag.  I was hoping that perhaps tonight you might allow me to share something very personal with you - something I don't let just anyone see."

She pulled open another drawer on her desk.  Seated where he was, Billy could see the contents appeared to be a can full of pencils and erasers, and several pads of drawing paper. 

"I'm not sure if you're aware but I'm something of an artist."

She pulled one out and flipped through until she came to an image she thought he'd recognize.  She turned the pad to him and revealed the image of a thinner, waif-like version of Kenzi.  The girl was as she'd appeared to Bella that day at the train station when they'd first met.  Her eyes bright and her smile joyful as she ate her sandwich on the bench.  Uncertain and innocent.

"I did that one from memory after I heard about the accident,"  she said softly.  "But I prefer to draw people I care about when I'm seated in the same room with them and ... after losing Kenzi I realized how little time I might have left in this life and didn't want to put off drawing people who I love anymore."  

She drew a breath, something had gone across her face at the moment she said love that could be heard in her tone.  There was a significance to it.  As if she wasn't used to saying the word despite her generally caring nature.

"I'd like very much to have a chance to draw you tonight, Billy, if you'll let me?"

Billy looked at the envelope and pushed it aside with one finger.

"Nope."

He looked at the pad in her hands. He tried hard not to think about Kenzi or her smile in that moment.

"If you really want to draw me, I won't say no. But you;re not buying me off with shiny toys and fancy things. You give me that restaurant now and when Rora or Will grow up, where will they go when they come to visit me? It's not mine to take, and it's not yours to give. It's theirs and we both know that."

He sat upright in the chair then.

"I came here to talk to you. Not as a Don, just as a man. As a man you have known for a while now. I want to talk to you like two adults, not as a mother would to a child. If you really respect me that much, stop playing games with me. I'm not here to swindle you out of anything."

He sighed and pulled out an envelope, sliding it across the desk to Bella. It had one word on the front. Mom.

"There is one piece of paper in there, and it's what I think is about to happen. I hope none of it comes to pass, but I'm adult enough to know how things go when you cross a Dragon. You lose. If you're lucky, you live. I kinda have to do it anyway cause I'm not sure anyone else is gonna. Maybe Gavin, but he has a poker thing with Will."

Billy smiled and then leaned back slightly.

"I always thought of you like that. Exactly as the envelope says. I think I love Aurora more than that though, but I won't know until we have more time together. And mark my words, she is both a Luciano and a Byrne so if she wants to have more time together, it's just going to happen. Ain't nobody going to stop that shit."

He tried to look Bella in the eye then, there was one point he needed her to understand more than anything else.

"But how I feel, and how she feels, and how you feel, none of it matters. What matters is keeping all of us alive and safe. So I'm here to talk about that. About how we can all be as happy as possible, and alive, and safe. Because if she's going to defy you, like she did before, then she's not going to be safe. And I could't even protect Kenzi, so I clearly can't do a good enough job alone. I'm working on it mind you, but for now, I think the only reasonable expectation is that she and I only see each other when I am in Philadelphia. I want to make it a weekly trip, but I'm open to discussion on that front."

He sat back again and looked about the room for a second before asking a mundane question.

"Do you keep glasses for water in here anywhere. If we are gonna talk for a while, we should get some water."

From the moment he spoke, Bella leaned back in her chair.  He was rejecting her tokens of appreciation, gifts she'd taken a good amount of time to consider and choose because of their value to her - and his value to her.  It seemed that he was determined to go forward with this and so she would have to make him see reason even if she had to hurt him to do it.   

She glared at him, not because she wanted to be rude, but because of his stubborn need to walk the hardest road possible.  Absently she let her thumb run circles across the tips of her fingers as she watched him.  

The envelope with the word 'mom' on it was a nice touch.  Trying to appeal to her emotional connection to him.  He would not be bought up with money and she would not be bought with sentiment.  Her daughter's life, her future, and happiness, they were everything to her and while she cared very much about Billy, it would never hold a candle to what she had invested into her bond with her daughter.  Still, she could not fault him.  It was a good move.

Bella struggled not to let out a scoff when the boy said he thought that he loved Aurora.  Of course, he would think that!  Every young man she knew before Gavin use the word love conveniently.  Love was the key to a lock that all women had upon the most precious gift she could give anyone.  No, not her virginity, though most men saw it like that - that key opened a lock to a far greater gift than a bit of flesh and a spot of blood.  It was the greatest gift any woman could give: herself.  The city was full of women who had given up their lives, their identities, their independence and their happiness for that pretty word.  It was spoken too easily by men and for no better reason than scratching an itch, they had one night.  Billy was a good man... but Billy didn't know Aurora and so could not possibly LOVE her.  

When Billy tried to tell her who Aurora was, Bella's glare became more intense.  He knew NOTHING of what it meant to be a Byrne or a Luciano and yet he PRESUMED to tell HER what Aurora would or would not do?!?  The arrogance! 

He met her eyes and for a moment she felt challenged.  She tilted her head to the side slightly, listening carefully to his words.  It was mention of Kenzi that gave Bella pause.  She reexamined what he said then... he felt... guilt for her dying?  Hadn't the girl been hit by a truck while on her motorcycle?  How could THAT be his fault?

And then he suggested they have water.  For a moment she considered this was a play for dominance.  Would she get up to get him water as if he were her better somehow?  Would she make him get it and remind him he was beneath her still?  Would she call a guard to get it for them and allow him to feel a respected equal?  Damn it.  A brilliant stroke... perhaps the boy knew more about the game than she'd given him credit for.

She sighed.  She was thirsty, she supposed.

Bella picked up her phone and spoke immediately into it, clearly the phone was on some sort of internal circuit.  "Bring up water for Don Mastrosimone and I."  She hung up the phone and she stared at him.  Waiting.

Less than three minutes later there was a muffled knock on the door.  For Billy this was proof that the room had some sound dampening done on it.  When the door came open, a man brought in a tray with a pitcher of water and two cups.  He poured a glass for both Dons and then he exited without saying a word.

Only after Bella had taken a sip did she speak up.

"The gift wasn't a bribe."  She said flatly.  "It was a gift.  I meant every word of what I said to you but if you wish to talk about your courtship of my daughter first... we can do that."

She sat forward in her chair.

"Why didn't you come to me or my husband the first moment that you might want to see my daughter in any capacity?  If only for out of respect, if only to prevent the very sort of misperceptions that have lead whole cities into wars?  Why would you take such a risk with your family, my family and my daughter's life?"

She shook her head, not yet done.

"Don't answer that, not yet."  

She was breathing harder, the Dragon's eyes seemed to brim with barely contained anger.

"I won't dignify what you said about Kenzi and your alleged failure of her."  She shook her head.  "In fact, I'll pretend you didn't say a damn thing about it because it undermines her agency as a person, it implies that you didn't think she knew the price of joining the Cosa Nostra, and that she needed your protection.  Yet, in fact, we both know that she was a strong woman, a god-damned killer, and while her heart was kind and good you would have to be an idiot to mistake that for weakness so never again pretend that her death is somehow on your hands.  God knows if you're unlucky enough to live to be my age, you will be responsible for enough deaths without adding more to the pile."

She got up out of her seat and began to walk over to her window.

"I'm willing to ignore your insult of rejecting my gifts.  I'm willing even to ignore the fact that you were seeing my daughter without my knowledge... God knows she's done a lot without my blessing and while you don't yet know Aurora well enough to speak to what she might do or not do without my blessing... I will concede that you're right.  There is a very good chance she will ignore my sound advice which is why it's imperative that before you leave this room today you come to see my point of view ... not just for her safety, Billy, but for her future happiness."

Bella asked him, not looking back at him, "Do you believe that, as her mother, I want her to be miserable, Billy?  Do you really believe that I - a woman who has been married nearly two decades now and happily so - want her to go her whole life without what I and Gavin have?  Because if you do not think that... if you believe my motives are for her safety and happiness, then it must also stand to reason that I must have some reason for standing in your way.  Yes?"

She paused only a moment before going on, "You're rich.  You're powerful.  You're even Italian.  You're a man I care for so deeply I've come to view you as a Godson.  So... ask yourself this... why would I NOT support this.  Can YOU think of a reason?"

Billy hung his head for a minute. He took the glass of water that was meant for him and he drank it, slowly, deliberately, and in full. Then he stood up.

"Yeah I can. Thanks for having me over for a bit. If you're ever in Detroit you should stop by Nick's. It's the best restaurant in town, just ask Rora. Whatever you have there it's on me."

With that he looked at the box still sitting on the desk and nodded toward it.

"It would be rude of me, not to mention it would be unsafe for you, for me to walk out of here with those. I'll trust you to send them along to me."

He stepped forward to put a hand on her shoulder then and squeezed ever so slightly.

"I won't be staying somewhere I'm not wanted. I'm gonna head to a hotel downtown, somewhere more akin to where I belong. But you really should know that Kenzi was my fault. Everything that happened in those couple days was my fault, and I'll have to atone for it with my life one day. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa mamma."

And with that final sentiment he made for the door.

Bella shot up out of her chair. 

"She will come after you!"  

There was a desperation in her voice - fear, even.  When he paused and looked at her, she then gave over to the fact that perhaps this boy was more like her husband than she thought.  Perhaps there was truth to the idea that women pick men like their fathers.  She'd chosen Gavin who was in some ways like Salvatore.  Aurora had, perhaps, chosen Billy because he was in some ways like Gavin.

It was a long shot, but if Billy left her office, it would be all over.  He was right.  She couldn't force Aurora to do anything and so she HAD to make Billy come to her point of view.  It was the only way!

"You will love her.  She will love you.  It will be beautiful.  Then you will want more than a weekend here and there.  Soon it's weekend get-aways and week-long trips to each other's homes and the thought of you ever not being together becomes impossible for you to conceive and that's when it happens."

She could feel tears threatening to fall.  Dons weren't supposed to cry... but Bella had stopped speaking as a Don.  Now, at this moment, she was just one thing: a mother.  Bella opened the box and turned the black guns towards Billy so he could see the instruments of his father's destruction.

"I don't want her end to be a wicked parody of her start, but it could be, God Billy it could be, can't you see that?!?"

Bella's lip quivered, the honest expression of her worst fears felt like pouring poison out of her veins for all the world to see.

"She joins Race Street... you're in Corktown?  Don't you understand?  War is inevitable as the sun rising each day.  In time we will be on opposite sides - and what then?  Are you prepared to shoot her if your Godfather orders it?  Do you think she could shoot you if hers gave that order?  And even if we send her to Detroit... what effect will it have on her and you both when you have to come for us?  Even if you hold your own guns, if you defy your Godfather -- you'll still be loyal to a man or woman who killed us!  How long do you suppose she would survive that? How long do you suppose it would be before she went rogue?"

She came around the desk and walked towards Billy.

"You're a fool if you don't think I want her to fall in love with someone like you.  I want you both to be happy, of course, but I've shot at friends before.  I've been a good Soldato and killed people I cared deeply about and it's marked me..."

Bella lifted her blouse exposing her midsection to Billy - her entire core was a mass of scars and old bullet wounds.  What should have been a lovely, if aged form, was disfigured and nothing short of hideous by anyone's standards.  For a powerful, beautiful, woman to show such a thing to someone was the height of vulnerability and trust.

"Blessedly,"  She said lowering her shirt.  "I've never had to shoot at my family but if you and Aurora do this... you're putting her in the situation where that WILL happen.  Either she and you will be shooting at each other just as her parent did... or if she goes to live with you in Detroit and eventually her having to come back here to wage war on us because that is how our world works, Billy."

She shook her head sadly, her voice softer now, less angry or fearful.  In truth, she sounded tired, so very tired.  "Please tell me you understand..."