Bella nodded. 

"I do have some things.  I keep them hidden away in a safe place for the day Aurora either asks for them or maybe so that she'll have them when I'm no longer here."

She shrugged.

"Probably also because I cared about her and having some of her things feels like a way to be close to her still."  

She tilted her head to the side and asked Billy, "Do you keep things that are special to you?  Momentos and the like?  I've always felt like something tangible can take a person back so completely to a moment in time that it can almost be like reliving that moment.  An object, a scent, a song or sound... all can have an impact I guess, but I like to collect things.  I have a very large collection in fact, my treasures if you will, a Dragon's hoard of memories I like to revisit... or,"  She furrowed her brow, "In some cases, I can't let go of."

"Why do you ask?"

Billy slowly shook his head.

"Unfortunately, I don't have very many things that mean much to me. I don't have anything that's been given to me, so nothing means much. I have bought almost everything I own. There's nothing for me to keep because I can just buy another one. That watch though, if you have it, also has a brother and if you have them, I would like to have a discussion about those two items. Though the other was owned by Sal."

He made his way to the counter with Isabella.

"You know the place best, what's good here?"

"I like the cherry pie.  They make their own whipped cream."  She smiled.

"I think I know the watches you mean by the way... I'll tell you a secret, they're about an hour from where we're standing.  Maybe after we get our snacks I could be convinced to drive you out to take a look at them and talk."

Bella noticed a little display of magnets just then, souvenirs that read 'Lake Saint Claire" and were shaped like the mitten state.  She swiped one when the owner's back was turned and dropped it into Billy's jacket pocket with a sly wink.

"Now you've been given something... to remember today by.  A good day, cause they can't all be bad ones."

Billy reached out and put his arm around Bella so she could not escape him. He leaned in and whispered into her ear.

"I would never have forgotten today anyway. You told me you loved me. It's the first time anyone has ever said those words to me since I lost my parents."

He let her go then and put two fingers up.

"Two cherry pies please."

He gestured toward a table and pulled a chair out for Bella before sitting down himself.

"As far as going to see them and discussing, only if that's what you want to do. You have a limited time here and I don't want you to waste it."

Bella smiled at Billy when he whispered into her ear and found herself once again thinking how much he reminded her of someone she knew so long ago...

When he released her, she tried to put her head back into the moment.

"Actually, I'm here on business."  She admitted.  "I blocked off a full three days to handle the affair and it took less than one.  Now I'm just waiting for word that what I sent people out to do is done.  So, I'm yours for a day or so - as needed, of course.  I think, actually, taking you to see this place might not be a bad thing... I used to keep it something of a state secret, but if old age has taught me anything, it's that you can't bank on tomorrow.  Maybe today is all we get... and maybe today is the day I'm meant to share this with you.  Hell, maybe it's the only chance I get."

She accepted the pie from the waitress and took a bite of it.  She grinned ear to ear as the waitress explained, "The cherries are fresh from Traverse City just this morning actually.  Bob's cousin Paulie went and picked them up."

Bella made an appreciative noise, seeming to delight in the taste of the pie.

"Just like I remember."  She said, recalling the first time she ate this pie as a young woman - just weeks before her twenty-first birthday.

Billy took a large bite of his pie. It was quite good. Sweet, but not overly so. The crust had a thickness to it that gave the cherry pie just enough savoriness that it wasn't overwhelming, but it most certainly was heavy.

"Deal. If I win, you take me to see this special place of yours. What do you get if you win?"

He took his fork and pulled off a piece of Bella's pie then and ate it. He shrugged then.

"It's good, had to make sure they both tasted as good or if mine was just a fluke."

She chuckled.

"If I win, you tell me one thing you've never told anyone else.  Just one.  It doesn't need to be super dangerous, but obviously I would like the particular detail to be of some value... for example, telling me that you're wearing blue boxer shorts is hardly comparable to me taking you to a home which I've only ever taken two people to before... a third had it's address but ... well, he's gone now."

She stole a bite of his pie.

"Mine's better."  She winked.  "What do you say?  Is it a deal?"

Billy smiled.

"Yes. So how do we get on this boat or whatever?"

Bella gobbled up the last of her pie and then lead Billy outside.  She walked him past the boat mooring where she nearly made love to Elias in the grass, the hedges where Elias had hidden after returning from Garrett, and the bench where they sat feeding the ducks who were out en masse with their yearling ducklings now.

It was then Billy could see the dock at which the ferry was put in and a man there selling tickets for rides.  Tourists were boarding for the hourly run that the boat made all day, every day.  Before Billy could insist on paying she had her wallet out and paid for their passage.

"You have the entire run of the ship and one hour... we'll compare our take in the car.  If you get caught, however... you obviously loose and I promise to bail you out."  She snickered.

With that, she went on board and began eyeing the other guests for a potential first target.

Billy followed Bella onto the boat and made his way around for a few minutes before spotting his mark. It was simple. It wasn't going to be about how much stuff to grab, but rather what he got.

There was a guy he could see, he had on nice shoes and he was wearing a scarf. The girl he was with was wearing a fur coat. It was easy pickin's and Billy knew exactly what to take. The two things he noticed were that the guy kept touching his jacket pocket, and the girl wasn't wearing any gloves. It wasn't the gloves that tipped Billy off though, it was the fact that he could see her bare hands. Both of them. Completely bare.

First Billy needed a decoy, so he kissed a couple of hands and managed to slip a small ring off of another woman's finger at some point. He didn't care which one really, so long as it looked nice. And also, as long as he made it seem like he was giving every woman on the boat a passing glance at least.

Billy made his way over to the fur-clad woman then and gave her a wink as he accidentally brushed past her. He was not a bad looking man. At least, he thought so, and apparently so did she. Her, soon-to-be fiancé noticed as much too. He wasn't the biggest guy, but when you're about to propose, you can't just let some meathead move in on your girl can you?

"Hey buddy, watch where you're goin. You owe my girl an apology!"

Billy whipped around and gave the guy a little bit of a look. He stepped up to the guy and then turned to the girl.

"Sorry miss, didn't know ya was spoken for."

He bumped the guy, seemingly on accident and quickly swiped the ring box from his jacket. In a couple of quick motions the ring was out of the box replace with the one he swiped earlier. He slipped the good ring into his pocket and then lurched with a wave and fell, dragging the guy down with him and dropping the ring box back onto the deck. As they were both getting up Billy pointed.

"I think you dropped somethin' buddy."

The man looked flustered and grabbed for the box accidentally shoving it off the deck and into the water. He looked daggers at Billy then. Billy in response made a 'Sorry' face and spread his hands. He made his way back to the other side of the ferry then, he might grab another wallet or two as they pulled in, but he had made himself a face at this point so that would be tough. He hoped the ring was worth something.

Bella walked about the ferry, looking for a target to relieve of their valuables or cash.  It was something, as a Don, she hadn't done in years.  What need did a Don have of such behavior or the minimal scraps she'd find?  But it wasn't so long ago that this was how she survived.  As the wind blew across Lake St. Claire, Isabella found her mind wandering back to those earliest days of her criminal life.  Her mother's illness and death, coming to find her father and joining his crew here in Detroit.  And of course... Elias.

She could almost see him, that impressive cut of a figure he once had before Garrett had gotten his hands on him, standing alone on the front of the ship.  He was young.  They both were.  She could see him walking towards her, stopping just at her ear to whisper.  She could almost hear his voice on the wind.

'Who wants to walk with Elias?'

She closed her eyes and shivered as the echoing laughter of two young people, people who were dead and buried at least in her mind, faded away into the din of the tourist aboard the ship.  When she opened her eyes again, the apparition was gone and she found herself (for the first time in a very long while) aching at the loss of him.

Long ago, Gavin and she had agreed that Chicago was a tomb.  A place she could never imagine herself doing more than passing through... but if Chicago was a tomb, then Detroit was a haunted house.  She could never come here and not see, here, taste and smell things of her youth.  And while most of the memories were sweet and happy, as a woman now approaching the back-half of her life, she could not help but feel emotions creeping up on her.  

As she watched Billy moving through the crowd some distance away, she could not help but notice he was as old as Elias had been when she'd met him.  And she not much older than Aurora was now.  It was often easy to compare the young Don to William, they were alike in so many ways, but in this moment she found herself wondering if what the kids felt for each other was as passionate, innocent and doomed as what she and Elias shared.  It made her want to cry.  Not for her own loss, she'd cried all her tears for those years ago, but for both the kids and the pain that might yet be theirs.  Billy was a good boy.  In any other circumstance, she'd be supportive... and yet...

She looked westward and wondered where Aurora and Joey were now.  Had she made a mistake by meddling?  Was she wrong?  Perhaps Aurora's life should be her own and she couldn't shield her child from pain any more than her own father had saved her from it?  She turned away from Billy and put her arms on the railing and looked out across the water, the sun glimmering on its surface as the boat cut a path through the waves.

She found herself humming an old song, from another time, another place.  As she realizes the tune she smiles ever so softly, her gaze glassy and distant.  Then, she began to breathe words she'd not said since that night on the roof of the Sun Life building in Montreal when Gavin had burnt away her pain and reminded her that life was worth living still, not just surviving.

"How rare and beautiful it truly is, that we exist..."

Glancing back towards Billy, she could not find him.  

A man stood next to her with wide pockets and half-heartedly she lifted his wallet out of it.  She didn't care how much was inside.  She'd already decided that Billy would win, barring he fucked up majorly and got picked up by security.  No... as she'd told Aurora many times before, a Don didn't gamble.  She only ever played the game if she knew how it would end.

Shoving the wallet into her purse she looked back out on the water to enjoy the rest of the ride.  Closing her eyes she could see the sun through the skin of her eyelids, feel it's fading warmth on her face, and the cool wind blowing through her hair.  Silent, she let her mind drift back to the days of the Luciano Crime Empire... and the Great Peace.  To the family she once had, and the friends she once knew.  It would be dark before she knew it, and the city that only existed only in her dreams now - one so filled with ghosts - would disappear again into the abyss of her aging memories once more until she found the courage to come back and visit them again.  Assuming someone's bullet didn't strike true before then.

Billy made his way back across the boat over the course of the next twenty or so minutes. He barely bothered to pick anything else off anyone, though he did get a couple of things. That's when he spotted Bella leaning against the rail. Either she was over confident, or she was letting him win.

He made his way over to her.

"You're letting me win, and I gotta say Bella, that's a load of horseshit."

He watched as the boat pulled into the dock again and looked at her.

"I was gonna give you the stuff I found today. You're always talking about mementos, and memories of good times. I thought it would be nice to give you this stuff, you could remember a fun day we had together. Instead you're standing here not even trying. What's going on?"

He started to walk off the boat then as he went through his feelings on the matter. He was having a grand time, he couldn't place why she wasn't. It didn't make sense. He had done what she challenged. This was all her idea! Why would she be upset at her own ideas?

It was frustrating to say the least.

Bella watched Billy express his frustration with her and did not jump instantly to defend herself.  In truth, she watched him and tried to remember what it felt like to be his age.  What would she have thought back then about someone like herself?  How would she have spoken to them?  How would she have treated them?

Bella walked over to Billy and put her arm into his.  

"If you must know,"  She said calmly.  "I was remembering a pretty young girl who used to cause hell on this boat and a dashing young man... and all their wild misadventures."

She sighed.

"I sometimes forget what it was like to be your age.  It sometimes seems like another person's life and whenever I come to Detroit... I sometimes lose track of time.  I wander in my memories and find it hard to pull myself back to the place I'm in.  It's like you said, it's not easy, and yet... it's not as terrible as you say.  I hate that I've lost so many folks I care about, but I was really blessed.  I had these amazing experiences, these incredible memories... and..."

She drew a breath and exhaled slowly, the anguish she felt in her breast was made audible.

"Billy,"  She stopped just outside the car, turning to look at him.  Her shoulder cropped raven hair streaked with gray, backlit by the setting sun.  "I ... I can't stop being afraid of what's going to happen to you and Aurora.  I want to protect her from the pain I've been through and I've thought of every way I could try to do that.  I've... done things to try to prevent it too."  

She looked at the ground and shook her head as if regretting that deeply.  

"But I know my daughter and I think I know something about you too and... for as much as I want to spare her the pain that I've felt, I would NEVER deny her the joy that has filled my life."

She looked up to Billy's eyes.

"Forgive an old woman for trying to rewrite the pains of my past in the life of my beautiful daughter who is my most beloved treasure and greatest success.  Please... assuming things haven't changed between she and you... accept my blessing to court Aurora openly." 

She took hold of Billy's hands and squeezed them. 

"I was wrong.  And I'm sorry.  I hope this works out, but no matter how long or short a time you have, please - treasure it.  Your life will blur past so much faster than you think is possible right now.  Before you know it, God willing, you'll be old and gray staring off at water and sunsets weeping for no reason any young person can understand either."

Her crow's feet became more pronounced as the brown eyes that were once called 'doe-like' clouded with tears.  "Don't waste a moment with her.  Don't waste a second of your lives.  Live like the time you have is as hot as the goods in your pocket... leave nothing on the table.  Always go all in.  Regret nothing.  Swear it to me?"

Billy went slack jawed for a moment, and then shook his head by way of recovery.

"I promise, and I haven't wasted time, I don't want to waste time. I want her to be happy, and I want to be happy too, but there's no way we get to know that if we don't try. I have a feeling that there are gonna be good days and bad days. The bad days are probably gonna be worse for me than her, she knows how to hurt people after all. I'm just big and dumb."

He chuckled a bit to himself for a second before continuing.

I am really confused though Bella. What does any of this..."

He gestured to the boat, and the lake and the cafe around them.

"...have to do with Aurora? I mean, I'm grateful, don't get me wrong, but I'm real confused. I thought we were just having a nice day. I thought that we were as close to family as I've ever had. Forgive me, but I just wanted a nice visit from my godmother, and I was having a really good time. Can we maybe talk about this stuff later? Cause I'm pretty sure I won this thing and you're gonna have to take me to see this place you were talking about."

He gave her a meek smile before squeezing her hands back and then looking around.

"So, I'll show you mine if you show me yours?"

Bella rolled her eyes and pulled the wallet out of her pocket.  

"You'll understand better if you win and see the place I'm taking you.  Suffice to say... my past has EVERYTHING to do with this place, Aurora's future and you.  It's all tied up.  It's a circle, this life of ours.  You live long enough and you see everything come back around again, but like I said... maybe you'll understand better if you're fortunate enough to have beat me & get to travel to my home this evening.  We'll pick up food for you to cook on the way."

She opened the man's wallet and pulled out an impressive sum of cash for this day.  Most men didn't have that much to their name let alone on their person.  It was a good take.  Bella feared it might be TOO good.  Perhaps Billy would lose after all, which, would be a damn shame at this point.

"Alright... how about you?"

Billy groaned.

"I didn't think it was supposed to be a cash thing. Damn."

He slowly began to empty his pockets.

"Lady's wristwatch, should look nice on you actually, unless you don't want it."

He continued.

"Couple of rings. One pair of earrings, and..."

He held up the little finger of his left hand. The engagement ring he had swiped was barely clinging to him. It was too small for his finger, but the diamond that was set into it could easily have been a piece in jewelry that belonged to him. It was of a good size for just about anyone really.

"This little beauty. But If it was supposed to be cash, and engagement ring don't count for much, so I'll hold up my end of the bargain and tell ya a secret. Let's get back in the car first though if you don't mind."

Bella whistled loudly.

"Well, now I feel obligated to tell you that I've only given blessing for you to DATE my daughter.   You think of using that ring before asking my husband for his blessing and I'm sure he'll put a bullet in both your knee caps and you can propose from the bleeding stumps."

She looked only half-serious and only for a moment before chuckling and walking around to the driver's door and getting in.  

"It would,"  She said as she shut the door behind her.  "Be cheating for me to say you didn't win.  Clearly, you did.  Your take is MUCH better than mine.  The rules were cash or items.  Your items would easily be fenced for more cash than I picked up so... don't feel obligated to tell me anything.  Still, if you'd like to share... I'd never refuse to know more about you."

She pulled out onto the street and began heading towards the nearest market.

"So, before you tell me your guarded secrets... what ARE you making us for dinner tonight?"

Billy shrugged.

"I have no idea. It depends on what I can fin at the market really. I do have a nice little idea for garlic chicken and pasta. I won't need much either, and it should be a nice little mean for just us without going overboard. I could never live up to the kind of cooking you do, but I can at least feed you something decent and cozy."

He then turned toward Bella.

"I like to make things even between us, just because I won doesn't make it right that you show me something precious and I don't give anything back. So..."

He took a deep breath.

"Gavin knows more about me than any man alive. When you go home, you can tell him that I give permission for you to take possession of my things that he has in his custody. That will be more secrets than I could possibly tell you myself."

She narrowed her eyes. 

"Gavin?  My Gavin?"  She sighed.  "I should just retire now.  It's over." 

She laughed.

"The day Gavin has more intelligence on another Don than me is the day I probably should hang up my hat and declare my career over."

She very clearly found great humor in this.

"I'll tell him.  Don't worry, but it's not likely Gavin would betray anything sensitive.  So, you may find he gives it back to you to give to me.  He's... well, Gavin has a very particular way of living his life.  A sort of code.  He never breaks some very basic truisms and he values honest and trust above most anything else in this world."

She shook her head, pulling into a grocery store.

"As someone who has dealt in secrets, lies and manipulation as a part of the work we do... it took me a while to adjust to that, but I do love it about him.  Aurora holds to much the same ideals as her father.  You might find them a bit... trying at times.  Just remember... don't make assumptions don't overreact and for god sakes talk to her.  She's stubborn as hell but bright as fuck.  If you need her to understand something, just talk to her... even if she can't agree with you, she does have a great capacity of empathy under all that rough exterior her father has helped to groom."

She shrugged.

"Aurora was the kindest, most loving child.  She ... changed at about seven, back when her Jack Mezzo and Will Bowden died.  It was hard on all of us but it was something she never really was quite the same after.  She started focusing a lot more on the things that make her who she is now and a lot of who she was... well, it's still there but it's buried deep.  Hidden.  Rather like her dancing which she loves so much... or how good a singer she is.  God don't tell her I told you that one.  Generally speaking, she only sings in the shower, but she's incredible.  Of all her talents that one she doesn't show off.  Never has.  Can't even begin to understand why... but, she loves music.  I suppose it goes hand in hand with her dancing."

She got out of the car and walked into the store and began helping Billy looking for the ingredients needed for his meal.

At the mention of dancing Billy went a little red.

As they made their way up and down the aisles of the market gathering things he turned to her.

"Did she ever tell you that I can dance too? Or did she tell you how I learned?"

Bella shook her head.

"When I was a kid, teenager really, not a kid, my mom used to drink. She would get angry and throw her fists around the house, among other things. I was big then, like I am now, but I don't hit girls, specially not my mom. Instead I would leave. Oh, grab that one."

He pointed at a tomato that looked perfect for adding to the meal.

"Anyway. I used to walk into Manhattan and be a bouncer for this guy. Guy was a real good dancer himself and lots of people always wanted to see him. So I just made sure to keep people away from him. So this one night, he sees me outside his dressing room trying to tap like he does right? Well he said right then, 'You're a big guy for that sort of thing, but I'll bet we could teach each other a thing or two.' And so he decided to teach me to dance, and I kept him safe till he went to meet with some moving pictures people."

He reached out and grabbed a bulb of garlic.

"Well, I'm all set here, you need anything?"