Joey was pulling up to Isabella-Luciano's house on one of his bikes he kept in Philly before approaching the door, it had been a while since he saw Aurora and he was still in disbelief he was taking her on a job. "This better not be a baby sitting gig' he thought to himself as he went to ring the bell wondering how this whole thing was going to go anyway. Gavin opened the door to see Joey standing there and had a grin on his face happy Bella had at least kind of gotten through to the young man before showing him to the living room where he waited to apparently get details on a job from "Little Roe" apparently.

"Uncle Gavin I gotta ask before Aurora gets here is Auntie Bella serious? Roe on a job? I mean I thought she wanted to keep her out of this and stu-"

He was cut off as Aurora headed down the stairs to meet up with Gavin and Joey, she looked different than the last time her saw her. She was colder, more hardened, it was a sure contrast to when she would try and get them to play dolls when they were kids. Joey looked up and grinned before giving Aurora a wink and playfully speaking.

"Oh hey there Roe and how are we doing today" 

Aurora came down the stairs in a pair of slacks and a t-shirt.  Her long black hair was up in a ponytail.  She wore a shoulder holster with two nickel-plated mother-of-pearl handled guns bearing the Luciano family crest.  In her hands, she held a manilla folder.  She smiled at Giovanni_Ferrari.

"Roe?  God, I can't remember how long it's been since I heard that name."  She walked over and kissed Joey's cheeks.  "It's good to see you, Joey."

Gavin looked at the two of them and a dark expression briefly passed across his face.

"Dad?"

Gavin shook it off and smiled at Aurora.

"You good?"  She asked.

Gavin nodded.  "Yeah.  I'm good.  You know what... I think I'm going to pack a bag and surprise your mom by meeting up with her in Detroit."

Aurora smiled.  "She'll like that."

Gavin gave her a kiss on his forehead, "Stay safe okay, Squirt."

"Dad..."  She seemed annoyed at his calling her Squirt.

"Good seeing you, Joey,"  Gavin said leaving the two of them alone.

Aurora turned towards Joey, "Well... shall we talk about this shithead?"  

She walked over to the couch and sat down on it.  She opened up the manila folder that was labeled 'Ray Chavez.'  She offered the photo to Joey.  

"So, this is our target Ray Chavez.  Rumor has it that he's currently living out in LA.  They say he's turned Race Street product over into the hands of a cartel run by a guy named Garcia Guillen.  The guy is a monster.  We don't want to cross paths with him if we can help it but that shouldn't be too hard since most of the time his people stay south of the border.  Chavez's family in LA is likely to help him hide out if they know we're around looking for him but my thought is... we should probably go in and stake places out.  Wait until we're sure we know where he is and what he's up to.  Track him for a bit.  Make sure we know his go to people and bolt holes before we even try to move on him."

She passed over some papers.  "These are addresses of guys who did time with Chavez here in Philly.  People who moved back out to LA and still are out on the streets.  Godfather Zoom apparently sent them over to Mom so we know the intel is up to date and reliable."

She paused and looked at Joey, "I know you're a Don and all... and I don't mean to be insulting, but roughing guys up in bar fights isn't the same as taking on a contract like this.  I won't think less of you if you need me to take the shot when we get to that point.  I honestly don't know what your experience is in killing people.  Is that something you've done much of?"

Joey couldn't help but laugh and tease Aurora as they go to talking. "Aw is Squirt worried about me handling my own out there? That's so cute!" He said with mock concern teasing his cousin, while being thankful Gavin didn't use one of the many kid nicknames he used to call Joey.

Joey looked over the papers at ease partially cause his head wasn't all there and partially cause he still couldn't believe he was being sent on a job with Aurora. He glared at the name Garcia Guillen, he knew the name and didn't care for him much, Joey would have no problem putting a bullet through that shit stain's head if it came to it but he didn't want to put Roe in risk. 

"So you're worried about me huh? How many jobs has this little bambina done now? Cause up until a few hours ago I thought this was just Aunt Bella's way of telling me my little cousin Roe needed a baby sitter" He said with a wink and braced himself for her retaliation. 

Aurora grit her teeth through the first bit of his teasing, but she knew for 100% that she could not deal with this shit the whole fucking trip!

Aurora's knife was in her hand before she thought better of how her cousin might react.  She flipped it around and put the business end towards Joey and glared at him.  

"Enough to know how to dismember an asshole who can't cut it with the kid comments, and feed his favorite parts to gators down in the bayou."  She gave him a wink and folded her switchblade back up and put it away.

"It was cute the first time."  she said flatly.  "Let it go, okay?  I don't want to cut you... but for real, I absolutely will."

She sighed.

"I am a professional and have been for about two years now.  If you want," her voice became a little sarcastic, "I can provide you with a full list of references but honestly... maybe you should just consider whether or not my mother would let me go off with ONLY YOU to face down a Mexican drug runner if I didn't know what the hell I was doing?"

She shook her head.

"We both know how many people mom has lost over the years and how overprotective she is... honestly it blew my mind when she called to give me this job because ever since I joined her operation she's been sending me on these kiddie jobs... delivering packages and what have you.  Getting a job like this... well, I'm just relieved she's starting to have faith in me and I hope you can too."

Joey didn’t flinch at the knife partially cause he didn’t think she’d cut family and partially cause even if she did he honestly wouldn’t care and he’d be reunited with Kenzi and the pain would stop. 

“I don’t care about the references, and I didn’t want or need a partner the only way Aunt Bella would give me the damn job was if I agreed to let you come along. You’re family and I love you to death Roe but I am not playing around with these fucking wannabes anymore, this isn’t just a job I’m going to be sending a message to some people. You were supposed to be sent as my back up and to make sure I don’t do anything “stupid” cause my heads apparently not in the right place currently.”

Joey rolled his eyes as he got up and paced frustrated at himself for being so snappy with Aurora, this was his cousin and arguably best friend he grew up with and he still couldn’t control his god damn emotions.

”I’m assuming you drive? Or do you want a ride on my bike we’ll figure out the rest on the plane........and Roe.....I’m sorry I know you’re more than competent after all I taught you how to fight as a kid” he finished with a wink.

"I seem to remember teaching YOU how to fight after Uncle Will taught me."  She said with a smirk.  "Well, I'm glad to hear that we're both on a page about how to handle this.  Two professionals, just doing a job.  Simple as that.  No matter what mom's motives in sending me, we're going to go out there and do the damn job right.  We'll make sure she knows that you're okay and I'm capable of handling things like this on my own.  Two birds, one stone."

She patted his arm, "Come on... you said you have your bike here?  I want to see this thing.  I've never ridden on a motorcycle before, you know that?"

Joey smiled at Aurora and took her outside and showed her the motorcycle. "You are to never tell Bella you rode this, I don't care about your dad because one your mom is scarier and two if he knows I think he'd be too afraid to tell her" Joey said with a grin before tossing her a helmet and heading towards the airport. 

On the plane Joey decided to read the files a little more carefully so as not to prove to Aunt Bella she was right and he wasn't ready to go alone and also to put to Aurora at a little more ease. He still wanted to somehow tangle with that spineless cunt Garcia but didn't want to risk Aurora getting hurt so he'd either have to do it when she wasn't around or maybe stay after the job in the city of angles for "business".

"So knives huh?" He said looking to his cousin. "Why that choice over a gun or any thing else? I mean I've literally killed someone by burning out on their with a motorcycle so I'm not talking about practicality just curious. Also I really wanna put a bullet in Garcia's head."

"Knives are more personal and some people deserve it.  Also, knives can let you kill a man without much pain if you know what you're doing with them."  She shrugged.  "Also, this knife is dear to me.  Got it for Christmas when I was seven." 

She smiled.  

"It was a good year.  One of the last good Christmases if I'm being honest."  She tried not to think about all the terrible things that happened that year.

"Anyway... it's not like I don't have guns.  I do.  I carry m1911s.  Sal's old guns.  He left them to mom and she gave them to me.  I like them and since I know they aren't the ones that took down Marie, I feel like I can use them without feeling too much guilt.  Maybe, in a way, I can redeem the Luciano name if I do good things with them.  Even if I don't go by the name, you know?" 

She arched an eyebrow.

"Any particular reason you're wanting to hit up Garcia?  Is there more to the story I don't know?  There are, after all, a shit ton of Mexican drug lords who probably deserve a bullet but... you're itching to put slugs into this one.  Why?"