Aurora's bright smile faded slightly.  Like an idiot, she'd hurt his feelings somehow?  Was it because she didn't care about the car?

GOD DAMN IT!  I REALLY CAN'T SAY ANYTHING RIGHT!

How could any person fuck up so predictably and so often every damn time she opened her mouth?  Worst of all was she didn't really know why it bothered him - hadn't he been listening when she went on and on about how much her mother loved cars, not her?

She wanted to bang her head into a wall. 

He asked for truth.  

"I'll leave you with a question, then I'm going to the powder room.  You can think about it while I'm freshening up."  She took a drink of her wine. 

"Every person I've known since I was a little girl can be put into one of three boxes.  The first box doesn't have a lot of people in it who are still alive these days.  My family.  I love them all."  As it was with her mother, Aurora said the word love like it was a foreign word coming across her lips.  Spoken with great reluctance and uncertainty.

"The second is brimming with ladder climbers and ass kissers.  People who want close to me only to impress my parents or my aunt or grandfather... they want what my favor gives them access to.  Money, power, position... most of the people who have ever liked me in life... they don't like me for me Billy, they like for what I can give them."  There was a hint of pain in her voice but she pressed on.

"The third is overflowing with people who are angry, bitter and jealous.  They hate that I am born into comforts and ease... they hate that I have what they do not... they are angry that it should be 'so damn easy' for me and so hard for them."  She shook her head.  

"At some point, I stopped caring that the two boxes were more full than the one.  People are what they are.  I didn't ask to be born Marie and Sal's daughter or raised by Gavin and Isabella.  By all rights, I should be some scab of an orphan girl, someone who even you would have looked at twice on the street ... but I'm not.  And I won't apologize for who I am.  I'm proud of it.  And it isn't easy.  It's hard as hell.  I've paid more for pretty dresses, fine dining and pretty cars in this life than most people would willingly give for ten times as much." 

Aurora reigned in her painful tirade, having shown Billy too much of herself.  A dangerous amount of who she was deep inside.

"Do you like the idea of us... or do you like me?  We make sense.  You... you're a Don.  I'm from a good family.  We work on paper."  She shook her head.  "But even when you're dying to get into my pants, my big mouth manages to fuck it all up somehow - don't deny it, I can see it on your face just a moment ago.  I hurt you.  Worse I don't even know why.  I'm sorry."

With that she walked quickly to the bathroom leaving Billy behind in a whirlwind of her words and feelings many of which didn't originate from anything he'd said or done personally.

Billy watched for maybe three seconds before he got up from the table and charged after Aurora. She had made it to the bathroom already and he thought about it for a split second.

Like you own the place.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"Aurora Byrne. Don't you dare walk away from me when you're sad. I want to be in that first goddamned box. I want to be the boy, the man, the guy, the body, and the shoulder you run to when you want to cry. I already love you, but I want you to let me love you in my own way and realize that you and I are very different people and we are still figuring that out dammit!"

He looked around the small room and couldn't quite place what was different. Then he realized for the first time in his life that a woman's bathroom had no urinals. A strange thing to think about in this moment.

"Rora, I want you. I want all of you, and only you. I'll deal with taking on your parents and your job, and your position, but all of that stuff is bullshit that I wish wasn't in the way. You said we look good on paper. I barely even like reading!"

He took a deep breath then, he was trying not to be angry. He wasn't angry at her, he was angry at the situation. At the fact that every time the two of them got the chance to talk for more than five minutes one of them said something that blew up in both of their faces. He had half a mind to tell Aurora that they should never speak again, and just be together. It struck him then, maybe that's why Gavin was always so quiet. He would have to bring that up next time they were smoking.

"This isn't some guy trying to climb some ladder or take you for everything you've got and jump ship. I'm not a guy who grew up a prince, I'm your mom. I grew up here, well, not Harlem, but Brooklyn. My dad was in this thing, and he died just like Sal and Marie did. I fought my way up my own ladder, just like your dad did. And I'm not smart like you or your mom. The only reason I got upset was cause you didn't really want the car and I thought it was gonna be a nice present. Bonus if I could leverage it into snuggling later. Felt like I lost that leverage in that moment, that's all."

He still didn't see her anywhere in the room, which meant she was hiding from him, and now it was just on purpose. She knew he was standing there pouring his heart out to her. She knew, and she was so sad, or embarrassed, or mad that she didn't want to come out. He didn't care.

"Now will you stop hiding in the damned stall and come out here so I can be all romantic? I'll lift you off the ground by your cute ass and kiss you passionately and we can forget the past ten minutes. Cause if I don't get to kiss you soon, I'm gonna go beat the shit out of that waiter. Do the right thing Rora, save the guy's life would ya?"

A toilet flushed and a second later, the door opened and out came a small figure - but not the one Billy expected.  Instead, he saw the wrinkled face of a kindly old woman.  Her full head of gray hair contrasted hard with her dark skin.  Her smile, however, was as warm as the sun itself.  She was the sort of person one might expect to find holding a tray of fresh baked cookies for local kids and giving out advice to busy-body housewives in the neighborhood.  She wore a blue dress and an oversized broach that resembled a honeybee.

She walked right up to Billy, leaning on her cane as she did so.  Stopping before the behemoth of a man towering over her, "What a sweet young man you are."  She chuckled and whispered conspiratorially, "I'd come out if I were her."  

The old woman patted Billy's arm and proceeded to walk out leaving the two of them alone.

Aurora had been holding her legs in front of her, sitting on the seat, trying to be as silent as possible while weeping.  It had become nearly impossible when he came through the door like a hurricane and sometime in the middle of his confessional, she noticed the old woman's feet.  Slowly, between Billy's words and the laughable situation, the pain of her own failure began to sting less and she put her feet on the floor.

Opening the stall door she came out.  Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears.  She whispered hoarsely, "You don't need leverage."

She crossed the space between them and she kissed him.  She knew that was one form of communication that never seemed to be lost in translation between them.  His arms around her, he picked her up just as he said he would and eventually she found herself being put own on the sink.  She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him tight to her.  In this way, they were face to face, equals.  For a long, while they kissed, uninterrupted by anyone (which Aurora felt had to be an act of God himself because surely the odds were that some woman would eventually need the powder room!)

It was Billy's stomach growling so loudly that he blushed, which caused them to stop kissing.  Otherwise, she supposed it might have gone on this way all night - despite happening in a ladies restroom.  She could only imagine what their bodyguards and everyone in the place were thinking had happened in here.  That thought made Aurora blush.

She smiled at him and brushed her hand on the side of his cheek.  "We really are still figuring this out.  I'm sorry I talked to you like that, the boxes and all that... I know how silly it sounds, but I've never told anyone else that before.  Not Sal, Mom, Dad, or even William."

She slipped off the edge of the sink. 

"Do you think maybe you could hold off on beating that poor man down until after he brings us our dinner at least?"  She chuckled trying to make a joke.  "I mean... if the manager doesn't kick us out for being indecent in the bathroom."

She shook her head.

"We'll probably never be able to eat her again.  That's a damn shame because it'll always be the place you first told me that you loved me."

"Fuck that."

Billy walked back out of the ladies' and looked around the room. He noticed the man who was ordering the waiters around and made a b-line for him.

"You! Who is the owner? I need to speak to them right now."

The gentleman looked Billy up and down and then sniffed.

"I can handle your complaint sir. Mister Kirby does not have time for complaints."

Billy shook his head.

"He's got time for me."

He peeled a hundred off of his roll and waved it in the man's face. He looked at it, and then slipped it out of Billy's hand and quietly into his pocket.

"This way sir."

He led Billy to the other end of the restaurant where there was a portly man sitting behind a red curtain eating what Billy could only assume was the remainder of his profits. Judging by the pile of plates already sitting empty at the table, the man was quite good at this adventure.

"Mister Kirby, my name is Mister Mastrosimone. You don't know me, but I have decided I like your establishment and am willing to offer you one hundred thousand dollars here and now to buy it from you."

The man known as Kirby looked like he was going to choke for a brief moment before he burst into laughter.

"Mastrosimone, you gotta be pullin' my leg. You don't have that..."

Billy cut the man off by pulling out his billfold and dropping it onto the table with a single loud thud. His face was entirely serious. There was no room for error or abatement of purpose now.

"I do Mister Kirby, and you have something I want."

Billy waved his hand in a general direction of the steakhouse. Kirby adjusted himself in his seat and nodded to the host who had brought Billy back here. The host promptly left the two men to discuss.

"Mister Mastrosimone, it's a generous offer, but I'm sure you know the history of this steakhouse. You see it's been in my family for generations. I could not give it up. You are not just purchasing a building, you are purchasing a legacy, a family's pride and joy."

Billy understood, he could play this game easy enough.

"Double it if you give me until tomorrow morning."

Kirby raised a single index finger and motioned upward.

"Fine, quarter million." Billy spat through gritted teeth.

Kirby smiled and put his hand down, but he did not move otherwise. Billy had seen this before. The rule was, during a negotiation, the first person who speaks loses. That's what he had come to learn at least. Problem was, he was the one who wanted something and at this point he simply did not care about losing.

"Forget it, I'm done negotiating. The next offer I put on the table will be paid in cash tomorrow morning, the keys for this place will be put in my hands tonight, or you will find yourself losing money hand over fist and your family legacy in tatters. I do not play around Mister Kirby, my offer is one million dollars, and it is generous."

Kirby smirked.

"I know who you are Don Mastrosimone. I am friends with a few folks who run in your circles, and as you say the offer is generous, but from all that I understand, it's a pittance to you. Come on now, surely you can do a might better. I know you're good for it. I'll even hand you the deed tonight should you make the offer worth my while."

As the man smiled his jowls shook with a chuckle. He knew he had Billy. Billy knew it too. He sighed and stepped closer to the man.

"Yes, fine, so you do know me and my reputation precedes me. Ten then, and you disappear from New York altogether. I would want to run into you again when visiting my hometown knowing that you shook me down. It would make me feel unpleasant. I know for a fact that I would very much be hard pressed to hold my temper, which I am sure you've also heard of."

Kirby's eyes widened and he clapped his hands. One of the waiters came back to him and he whispered into the man's ear. The waiter looked at Billy with a strange look but shrugged and disappeared into a back office somewhere. He returned a moment later with a briefcase which he gave to Kirby. The deed for the restaurant was signed then, and the keys handed over. Kirby had given Billy an address to deliver his money to in the morning before he got up from the table with much effort and struggle. So much, in fact that Billy had to lift him from the crevasse he had created in the seat with his immense girth.

After all was said and done Billy turned to Aurora and handed her one set of keys and the deed.

"What were you saying about remembering this place of yours?"

"I don't even..."  her voice cracked with emotion, she was smiling so big it hurt.  She stared at the keys in her hand for a long while.  She'd had many things in her life, money, cars, clothing, books, but never had anyone given her the gift of a legitimate business before.  A real place.  Something that was HERS to succeed or fail with.    

The first attempt she'd ever made at starting a business was her candy operation in the first grade to help her friend John.  Uncle William had helped her to start it by investing the initial capital of two dollars.  She'd done a lot with that little racket for a year or two but it was a far cry from running a restaurant.

She never wanted to run a Steak House, she knew nothing of the business really, but that wasn't the point.  The point was, Billy hadn't given her a thing - much as Uncle William hadn't given her the cash to help her friend John.  Neither man felt it necessary to give her the products of their own hard work and instead of giving her something REAL with which she could do something tangible. 

People, good people, might work here.  People of all stripes and walks of life could dine here.  They would say hello, goodbye, and I love you under this roof.  In time this building would the stage for countless moments in the lives of an endless sea of people she would never know ... but it would be she who held the keys to it all.  This place and all that it represented and it would succeed or fail because of her and those she chose to run it.    

She looked up at Billy, down at the keys, and up to Billy again.  Tears welled up in her eyes.  "Thank you."  She whispered trying to hide her emotion by dabbing her eyes with the balled-up fist of her free arm.  She sniffled as he escorted her back to the table where their dinner was waiting.  

Seated together they ate, almost in silence, as if eating was now the bar to what they both knew they'd much rather be doing.  It was a long drive back to campus, Aurora wasn't going to stay away from Billy that long and so as they exited the place, she pulled him towards the rear of the car. 

"Let one of the guys drive."  She said softly, and she slipped into the darkness of the backseat.  

When he joined her, Aurora tucked herself tightly up against him, resting an arm across is midsection & her head on his chest, listening to his heart beating fast, draping her exposed leg over his.  She was as wrapped around him as she could be here in the darkness of the backseat.  Resisting the urge to kiss him over and over for fear of creating more of a scene than she already was in the presence of hired help. 

Back at her apartment, she told Tim, "See that his guys have a place to sleep and food."  

With a quick, "Yes, Miss" and "Goodnight Don Mastersimone."  

Aurora took Billy by the hand again, wordlessly walking up the stairs with her key in hand.  Aurora's bodyguards took Billy's to a room across the hall from hers.  Near enough shouts (or shots) might be heard but little else.  Once inside behind closed doors, she turned on him like a wild cat pouncing.  She lept up, putting her arms about his neck and wrapping her legs tight around his waist.  She kissed him passionately, her hands going up into his hair, breathing erratically against his lips as she tried to talk between kisses.

"My bed."  She gently nodded indicating the direction of the bed, which in a studio apartment, was quite obviously visible in the pale light of the moon coming in through the thin curtains.  

The space was open from the kitchen to the living room to the bedroom.  The only room that had walls at all was the bathroom.  Even in the darkness of the apartment, Billy could see wall to wall books, a spotless living space, it looked more like a hotel than a space where a young college student lived.  Unlike Bella's home it wasn't littered with mementos, but instead just a small smattering of photos.  William.  Gavin.  Bella.  A few others he didn't know but the photos looked older, as if from her youth.

As he put her down on the bed, Aurora reached up and pulled off his jacket.  "This isn't what it looks like."  She said through a pant that strongly suggested otherwise, her fingers fumbling to undo his shirt.

"Just a sleepover."  She insisted taking off his shirt and rising up to her knees so she could kiss his neck and shoulders while he still stood on the floor.  She could feel his arms snaking around her to the zipper on her dress.

"We stick to the plan..."  She meant it... logically speaking, though her body and heart screamed at her to do otherwise.  "Right?"

She felt him nodding as he nuzzled into the place where her neck and shoulder met, her zipper starting to be pulled ever so slowly downward.  She wrapped her arms around him and held herself tight to his front so that when the dress was open in the back and he could feel her bra and bare skin there, the front of her dress did not all away.  She listened to his thunder heart, the sound of his quickened breath and what was distinctly the sound of him inhaling the scent of her.  

Aurora shivered as she felt the cool of the night air touching her in a previously warm space.  She giggled as she felt his hands running all across her skin.  She didn't dare pull away from him yet, for fear of what both of them might do if the dress fell revealing the lace bra and panties she'd worn just in case the did happen to get this far.  She did not know if she'd have the self-control to stop him once he saw that, certainly not as she was feeling in this moment.

"I should put something on to sleep in."  She whispered against his chest, her pulse racing.  "Wait for me here?"

Aurora got out of the bed, holding up her dress as she went to her dresser and pulled out a silky powder pink nightgown.  It was modest enough, but the thinnest bit of fabric would separate them.  It wasn't horribly late yet, which meant they would have many long hours of lying awake in each other's arms like this.  It would be the ultimate exercise resisting temptation - or an epic failure which resulted in something she didn't think she'd regret in the morning.

Billy rolled over in the bed and waited as he was told. He knew everything he wanted to do and then some. The fact that there was an 'and then some' in there though made it very clear to Billy exactly how much he was ready for in that moment. In the grand scheme of things, it probably wasn't much. That bothered him a bit. He could he say he loved her an hour or two ago, and now not want to do that very thing he claimed he felt for her?

How could he be scared or nervous about this sort of thing? Especially with Aurora! They fit well together, it could be like a dance, they would just go with the motions like they already knew what they were doing. They were really good dance partners despite the size difference, why should this be any different?

Because this was everything different from a dance. Billy knew it in his head, but by the time he came to that conclusion Aurora was climbing back into her bed. He had no idea how long she had been gone, but he knew she had returned, and suddenly he felt very stupid for not having anything but an undershirt and his boxers to sleep in.

"Bed time already then?"

He slipped his shoes off and climbed into the bed himself, but did not remove anything else. He would probably take off his socks later when he went to sleep, but there was no way he was sleeping in his boxers. That would be way too much temptation for anyone to be happy with.

He reached his arm up as he lay down and let Aurora snuggle her head into the crook of his shoulder. His chest still bare in the darkness. The room was punctuated by the moonlight just enough for Billy to be able to see her reach up and run her fingers along his skin. His hand rested on her hip and he squeezed gently as he kissed the top of her head.

"You're not tired at all are you?"

"Well, we did skip you teaching me about dice just to be here."  She smiled up at him and her hand came up to touch his arm near to the fresh scars left behind by his having been shot for her.  

"To be honest, I figured this is where we both wanted to be anyway and I don't like beating around the bush."

She didn't remark on the wounds, but it was clear they fascinated her.

"I spend a lot of my time, with you at least, trying to be careful.  Most people don't like it when I'm honest.  I suspect you'd ask me to always say what's on my mind, cause you're a good person and you care about me, but my track record with people demonstrates that when folks say they want you to be open and honest with them... it's not what they really mean.  The idea of honesty is so much prettier than the reality and most people just aren't ready for true honesty."

She rested her head on his chest and snaked her arm around his waist.  

"Usually when I tell people what I'm really thinking, I piss them off or chase them away.  I normally don't give a flying fuck if they go... but, I don't want you to go, Billy.  I don't want to say things that hurt you.  I don't want you to think bad things about me.  I want you to really believe that I am your angel." 

She kisses his chest just above his heart.

"When I was little people thought it was cute and at some point, everything changed.  There were so many more cases where my mom or my Aunt wanted me to bite my tongue." 

She shook her head. 

"Will... my Dad, men in general, they appear tough and smart when they stand in their truth... women." 

She sighed, frustrated with the reality of the world as she saw it. 

"Apparently a woman who knows what she wants and what she thinks isn't very attractive or desirable to have around.  If it were, I'd be as well-liked as William.  He never lacks for friends or oceans of girls wanting to spend time with him.  Me?  Well, let's just say that you don't need to worry about competition much.  Nor about arriving to find that I'm too busy to spend time with you.  I don't get out much."

She listened to Billy's heartbeat.

"Thanks for letting me talk about it. Since Sal died, well, I don't talk much to anyone about these sorts of things.  Mom worries when I do.  Dad doesn't get it.  He likes me how I am and he thinks I shouldn't care that the rest of the world doesn't get me.  Of course, most the world doesn't get him... but he likes being alone and he's got Mom and Will."

She shrugged.

"Will listens.  He tries to give me advice. In truth, just about everything that I've tried with you has been either been me trying to be like mom and Aunt Tara or was me listening to Will's advice.  He means well but it's pretty clear what works for him isn't working for me, well, most of the time.  He might have been right once or twice." 

She chuckled softly. 

"So, if you don't mind it too much, I'd like it if you would be the person I can talk to about this stuff?  At least a little?  Maybe it will help us have fewer misunderstandings?"

She looked up to Billy, "If you're not tired, or if you'd rather, I have dice here.  You could teach me right here.  I'll go grab a robe, we'll turn on the lights and break out a bottle of wine that I swiped from my mom's wine cellar.  Or... if you want to stay in bed, I could grab a book.  I know you don't like to read but everyone loves a good story.  I could read to you.  About pirates, or time machines, or men on epic quests for revenge... or sword fights if you enjoy that sort of thing.  Maybe about prophecies and kings or little girls in fantasy worlds."

She chuckled. 

"I have all the best stories.  I'd love to share them with you, if only late at night in bed while we snuggle.  Maybe you'd understand more about me if you knew what stories inspired me most."

Billy stroked Aurora's arm with his hand and lay there while she spoke to him. It was the longest he though she had even spoken to him earnestly without being interrupted. He liked that.

"I just want to lay here and listen to you. I don't care what you want to talk about, I just want to talk and listen."

He kissed the top of her head softly taking in her scent as he did.

"I want you to be honest with me though. If I don't like what you have to say, I'll tell you. But if you aren't honest with me, and blunt with me, well where the hell does all of this go? Just two people tiptoeing around each other not saying how they really feel, or what they really think? That's gotta be a shit relationship and I don't want that. I want to be your lover, sure, you know that, but I'd rather be your best friend too. I can be deeper than big a dumb you know. The money shows up in my accounts because I make it. Because I know who to shake down for more, and I know how to manipulate the system to make more than my fair share. It's not because I'm lucky. I'm not. The only bit of luck I've had so far, is you. And the bullet missing my heart. That was lucky. Though I'm not sure it would have hit anything, cause by then I had already given my heart to you, even if I didn't know it yet."

He squeezed her gently in the darkness.

"Whatever you decide to do, don't turn on the light. I can feel just enough of your skin to pretend we don't have any clothes on. A light would really kill that illusion."

He grinned in the darkness at his thoughts. They were certainly not appropriate. But he was doing a very good job of keeping them thoughts and not deeds. At least, he thought so.

She chuckled.

"Alright.  No light."

She kissed him again and nuzzled at his chest.  

"You know, I don't think of you as dumb, right?  I've met dumb people before and you're certainly not like any of them.  Some people take a lack of book learning to be the same thing as a lack of wisdom.  They aren't the same.  My father couldn't even read when he met my mom.  He taught himself while reading to me as a little girl."

She sighed.

"Sorry.  Not the right time to mention him... I just... I wanted you to know that someone who I respect more than anyone else in the world wasn't even able to read when we first met - and I'd never accused him of being dumb.  In fact, he's one of the wisest and most kind souls I've ever met.  Even if he is a brutal killer."

She took her arm out from around his waist and touched his face gently.  "You, well, you are big - but you're not dumb.  I don't date dumb guys so if you can't refrain from insulting yourself... just think of it as avoiding an insult to me. Okay?"

She paused.

"You know... I was kinda wondering if maybe, in the coming weeks, if you'd like to take a trip to Chicago with me?  I've got some things I've inherited there that I haven't looked in on in a while.  We could go visit our parents' old stomping grounds.  Have a few laughs.  Maybe see some of the sights together... maybe get a hotel room somewhere on the mile with an incredible view of Lake Michigan.  How's that sound for a fourth date?  We could make a weekend of it if you can tear yourself away from Detroit that long?"

"Am I supposed to go back to Detroit for something?"

Billy asked mockingly.

"I would love that Roar. I would love doing anything, and being anywhere with you. I've told you once, you're gonna be the ideas in this relationship. Long as you keep coming up with good ones like that I won't complain."

He found himself thinking in his head about Chicago, and what was out there and why else he might want to go. Thinking about his father's journal and all the places he could visit.

"So there's one place I would like to visit if we do decide to go. It's an old shop that my dad had. He was a watchmaker, and if any of his stuff is still there I'd like to take it."

Changing tack Billy decided to talk about her family.

"Hey, did I ever tell you what your mom tried to do to get me to leave that night before the grocery store and all of that? She tried to give me some restaurant. Weird right? That she tried to give me one and tonight I just bought one for you? Didn't think about that till now."

Aurora gave Billy a little squeeze when he called her Roar.  No one had ever called her that before and she definitely liked it.  She hoped he'd stick with that, it was far better than 'kid' or any other crap he sometimes said.  And while being called Angel was something she really liked, she felt like that was something which might be saved for special moments.

"I think I'd like to see your dad's place.  I imagine that would be pretty amazing... a watchmaker.  The precision required, the delicate tiny gears... safe to assume he's not the one you get your size from."

She took Billy's hand in hers, lacing her fingers between his, contemplating what his hands were capable of.  She smiled at his hand holding hers and she pulled it tight to her chest before it hit her what he was saying about the restaurant.

"Wait... are you telling me that my mom tried to give you the Blackhawk?  She literally was willing to give it to you if you just... what?  Refused to see me?  Okay... you have to tell me this whole story now.  What happened!"

Billy just shook his head a bit.

"I don't remember all the details. I just remember her offering it and thanking me for taking a bullet for you. I also remember reminding her that it was actually two bullets, and then telling her I couldn't be bought."

He shrugged.

"I almost walked out of her office that night. I even wrote her a note in a sealed envelope. It said I was sorry that I wasn't good enough for her family, but that I would always love her like a mom no matter what."

Billy could feel the lump in his throat. He knew all too well that it could still go that way. This whole thing could still topple over and he would never see any of them again and he would be all alone. One day Integra was going to be with Alucard, and he would have nobody left to take care of, or to take care of him. It scared him more than any bullet could.

Aurora sat up and looked down on him laying next to her.

"My mom tried to thank you and you rejected her gift?"  She arched eyebrow.  "Do you know why she bought the Blackhawk in the first place?  It was a celebration of her becoming a Don... and her becoming engaged to Elias Landucci - the man she loved before my father.  The Blackhawk is a very, VERY special place to her.  It's like this symbol of everything she wanted her life to be at one point and of a time in her life when she was younger and - I think in many ways - less twisted up by the Cosa Nostra."

She shook her head.

"Billy, if mom offered you that, it wasn't a bribe or a payoff.  It couldn't have been about that, my mom is manipulative - I'll admit, but she's sentimental to her very core.  She's got this place up in Port Huron I stay in when I visit Detroit.  The house is FULL of junk.  And I mean that - JUNK.  Like she has candy wrappers and matchbooks from bars.  She has tickets from motion picture shows.  She has old shoes no one would wear and clothing she's kept that are eaten up by moths.  The walls are COVERED in photos and artwork she's done."

Aurora wrinkled her nose, "Some of it I can't unsee no matter how hard I wish I could.  But... she's... she's just..."  

Aurora sighed, her shoulders sinking, feeling bad for her mom.  "No one loves more than my mom, Billy.  And if she was giving you that place it was her way of saying that she loves you because... well, in my family, we don't say that we love people.  Not really.  I mean... we do, sometimes - but it's usually our way of saying goodbye."

She was silent then, her eyes drawn to the moon outside the window.  "When you said that you loved me in the bathroom, I know you must have been hoping I'd say it back.  But people say they love each other so easily, too easily sometimes and when I say it I never want you to think it's just a thing that I felt I had to say.  I want you to feel what I feel when my mom tells me she loves me or my dad tells me he loves me.  Like your whole chest is going to burst open and all the emotion you have inside for me is just going to pour out for everyone to see."

She shook her head.  "If you say I love you in the same way as saying 'god bless you' when someone sneezes - well, it feels less somehow.  All my life if I heard those words from my mom or dad I thought two things... 1) how much they loved me in that moment was beyond any measure and 2) that if I never see them again, I will never have to doubt.  I KNOW what it was we felt for each other and that it was as real as the sun is warm and the snow is cold.  Love is a choice and I want you to know that I choose..."

The soft snoring made Aurora look back to the man beside her.  She had no idea at what point he'd actually drifted off.  How much he'd heard or would even remember.  She smiled.  She'd explain it to him another day.  There would be many more chances to tell him that she loved him too.  It didn't have to happen today.  As for the restaurant, well, she'd get him to understand that in time as well.  For now, however, she was just going to enjoy this moment.  Laying in his arms, here in the dark, the problems of the Cosa Nostra and the rest of the world were miles and miles away ... at least for tonight.