Rebecca stepped out of the back of her black sedan and smiled as the warm spring sunshine shown down on her.  It was a perfect day.  The temperature was probably near 70 degrees and the wind coming off the lake was light and refreshing.  As unusual her bodyguards were urging her inside, but today she pushed back if not just for a moment more in the sun.  Closing her eyes she turned her face towards the sun and took in a deep breath.  Then with a resentful sigh she opened her eyes and quickly entered Billy's Headquarters.

As the godmother of Corktown, no one dared impeded her as she made her way to Billy's office.  He would know she was coming no doubt.  Word had a way of quickly spreading when her "caravan" arrived anywhere.  No doubt there was probably even some FBN hanging around outside making note of her coming.  She was well-known to the FBN these days, even the newest rookie would know who she was on sight.

Today, however, Rebecca did not mind the FBN knowing her comings and goings.  What she had to deal with was personal, not illegal.  Billy had presented her with a valuable opportunity that would save the Ligambi family a lot of money and cut the strings that Donna Isabella-Luciano had over her husband, Joe_Ligambi.  

Most people in Rebecca's position might have just entered a subordinate's office without knocking, but that was not really Rebecca's way.  She hated the fact that her position within the family and the city often times placed her on a pedestal.  In her mind she was just another cog in the wheel house of the family.  They were in this thing of these together.  Knocking on the door she waited.

Billy stood up from his desk. He had been fidgeting ever since Oscar had told him who was on the way. He had no idea what it was that he did wrong, but it had to be something. It was one thing to send people back and forth with messages. It was another to show up.

Then again, he really missed his boss. He missed being able to walk into the HQ and just look around and smile and wave and see everyone hanging around. He missed not working his ass off every damned day. He missed being able to look Rebecca in the face just cause they were there together and seeing her subtle way of smiling cause she knew he was there for her.

He knew exactly what he dad was talking about in his Journal. It could easily have lead to an infatuation, but Rebecca was married well before Billy ever came into the picture. Besides, she was clearly into older men.

"Come on in!"

He called out, testing the waters. He opened up his liquor cabinet and took out two glasses. As Rebecca walked in, he turned.

"Good occasion or bad? I gotta know what to serve up here."

He smiled a broad smile at her. As soon as he saw her come in he felt like he was right back at home again.

Rebecca smiled brightly at the greeting.  It was obvious that she was in a very good mood.

"A great occasion!"  She said as she came in and found a comfortable place to sit down.  "How did your date with Aurora go the other night?"

Rebecca leaned back, crossed her legs and placed her hands in her lap.  Her ankle-length skirt cascaded smoothly down to the ground.  As Billy poured the drinks, she observed his body language.

Billy all but bounced at Aurora's name. Did everybody know they were a couple already? Were there signs posted around town or something?

Then he thought about how the date went and he blushed hard enough that he almost spilled their drinks. He recovered well though, or as about as well as could be expected when asked that sort of very personal thing. He handed Rebecca her drink and sat down next to her.

"Um, it went real well as a matter of fact. We are finally really getting along great, no more worries between us I think. For a while there it was like a wall or something was there. We would talk to each other, or be kissing one second, and then the next one of us had said something or done something to make the other one mad. Not the other night though. The other night was perfect."

He beamed a smile he didn't know he had in him and took a sip of his whiskey.

"How are things with you? It's a great occasion so there's gotta be something good going on. And you came in asking about Aurora..."

He furrowed his brow at her for a moment and looked at the drink in her hand.

"Should I get you something not quite so strong?"

Rebecca grimaced, "Oh good lord, no.  That would be horrible news."  She sipped at the whiskey.

"Actually it is your relationship with Aurora which is the good news, and to hear that things are proceeding nicely makes it even better."  She pointed at him with her index finger from the hand that was holding the glass to add emphases to her statement.  Lifting the glass she took another sip.

"As far as the family is concerned you have found a gold mine, when you managed to attract the eye of that little one.  Nice job!"

Billy beamed and took another sip.

"I think she's pretty amazing too."

He put down his empty glass and filled it again.

"As for progressing, it's going very well. I am not one to kiss and tell, but yeah, it's gone well."

He nodded and sipped again.

"So what, no more kids for you? Joey enough of a handful?"

"Joey and Gianna, both.  I am getting way to old to be having kids."  Rebecca sat the whiskey down before continuing. 

"I am glad things are going well.  I need you to cross the finish-line with that girl.  The sooner the better actually."  The smile that was once on her face was replaced with firm seriousness.  "I can't even begin to express how important this is to the family."   

Billy paused for a long minute.

"Do you mean sex? I just tried to tell you that we did that. Don't tell anyone though, that's really private!"

He put his glass down.

"I mean it, the other night everything went absolutely perfectly. I couldn't have planned anything any better."

He made his way to his filing cabinet and pulled out a set of blue prints.

"So I've been thinking lately about building a house. I'm hoping that I can get it built and give it to her as a present for the two of us. What do you think?"

He laid them out across his desk.

"I actually meant marrying her."  Rebecca stood and made her way to the desk to look at the plans.  Smiling she nodded her approval.  "A house would be a great idea.  The quicker we can get her out of Philly the better."  Moving back to pick up her glass she made her way over to the cabinet to refill it with more whiskey.  "Is there anything I can do to help you out?  Need some land?  Or maybe take care of some red tape?"

Billy froze at the word.

"Oh. Marry? I don't know if..." He shook his head.

"I don't think that's gonna be for a while Godmother. She's still gotta finish school yet. She's got a long way to go before she's ready to settle down like that. Got a pretty long way to go I think. It's gonna be pretty hard coming up with all new dates for a few years. So you've got nothing to worry about. I'll still be all yours for a while yet."

He chuckled at that and smiled.

"If you've got any ideas in the dating department though I'm all ears. Red tape on the house would be nice though. I have already bought up most of the land near the St. Claire River. It's about half an hour north of the city, but it looks real pretty. I just need to decide where exactly I want to build the thing now."

Rebecca picked up her glass and turned around to lean gently back against the cabinet.  

"I don't think you appreciate the levity of the situation you are in.  Are you aware of who Aurora is?"  

Without waiting for a response she motioned for Billy to listen to her,  "Aurora Byrne was raised by Gavin and Donna Isabella Byrne.  This in itself would make her notable in this thing of ours.  In addition to this her aunt, Gavin's twin sister, was Godmother in South Philly.  Also her biological mother was Marie-Lucania Luciano, a former Godmother Chair in Chicago and by most people's accounts her biological father was a former Godfather Chair here in Detroit.  This would make the child near royalty here state-side. 

Rebecca paused and pursed her lips a bit as she studied her captain before continuing, "What if I was to tell you that Salvatore Luciano was not her father and that her real father was Joe_Ligambi?"

Rebecca paused to see what kind of reaction this would create with the young mobster. 

Billy furrowed his brow and nodded.

"You could say that. You could just as easily say that her biological father was my own dad. You would be very wrong. I read my dad's journal too. I know what kind of time Marie was spending in Las Vegas and with who. I saw the rumors myself when I read through his journal, my dad was real mad about those. But I've also seen Aurora up close and in person, on a level that I know nobody else in the world has seen her. Trust me. She's Sal's kid."

He sat down in his chair then but did not lean back in his usual comfortable way.

"Unless there's some other information that you don't know, that's just a rumor and I won't believe it, and I don't think Godfather Ligambi should waste his time believe things like that either. I know I might be speaking out of turn, and if I am, forgive me, but your husband might have had an affair with a married woman. Kids come from love though. Children are God's plan Godmother, and God doesn't reward sinners out of wedlock with things like that. Not unless it's true love."

He finished the rest of his drink and then waited for whatever it was she wanted to say next. Perhaps she did have proof otherwise, but Billy was very sure that neither one of the men in Marie's life at the end loved her the way his own father had. After all, one had shot her, and the other? He made her sin against God and her marriage. No. Nobody loved her like Lordian did.

Rebecca chuckled a bit, "Well I am glad to hear that Joe and I have true love going for us as both of my children were born out of wedlock."

She shrugged her shoulder and took another drink of her whiskey.  "Who her father is or is not really doesn't matter much in this conversation.  What does matter is that my husband has been sending a sizable sum of money every month to Donna Byrne for 19 years now.  She has strings that are attached to Detroit in a way that no one else does.  It would be in the family's best interest to see those apron strings cut as soon as possible."

Billy sat, mouth agape. It didn't matter now who believed what. Facts were facts. Uncle Joe had been sending money to Philadelphia because he believed he owed it to them. That was that.

"Oh. Um. Well... I don't know what to do about that though. How am I supposed to convince the most amazing woman on the planet that I'm right for her and that she should marry me? I mean, she doesn't want kids. She just about said as much. So what am I supposed to do with that? How am I supposed to convince her that she does and that she should marry me?"

He was flustered and confused and felt a little like this was going to be an order rather than a request. Billy was well aware that if Rebecca_Ferrari ordered him to pull out his gun right now and shoot himself he would do it, and he would know he deserved it. But this? This was a strange play. Didn't Billy make enough money for the family to not have to worry about money going out of the city? How much was Uncle Joe actually spending here?

"I just don't know how to be msiter charming, sweep you off your feet, marry me now guy."

So the boy finally got it.  Rebecca could see by his reaction that he did.  Donna Byrne had a lever over Detroit and Rebecca; with all the respect she had for the woman; had never known a mobster that was not willing to leverage every resource that was available to them when necessary.   

Rebecca pursed her lips and pondered the matter.   
 

Isabella did give her consent for the boy to date the girl.  Rebecca did not think she would have allowed that if she planned to use her daughter against the Windy city.  Did she have a choice?  Girls that age could be extremely rebellious.  Perhaps she had only consented to keep the peace between mother and daughter.  Or maybe she hoped that this match up would strengthen ties between the two cities.  It was not an unheard of tradition back in the old country according to the stories her mother had often told her.  Perhaps she had been thinking about this in the wrong way.    

"Women often think they don't want children when they are young, but it is hard to resist the urge that was placed in our lives to procreate.  I would not worry about that right now.  She will most likely want children when she matures a little.  If she loves you and she knows that having children is important to you... well women tend to do things for the men they love."

She pushed herself away from the cabinet and began to pace.  After a few paces she hides a smirk by taking a drink.  Composed once more she looks over to Billy.  "So what happens if this is true love and she becomes pregnant before the wedding bells?  How do you think that will play out with her mother and father?"

Billy shook his head.

"Not great with her mother, her father though?"

He shrugged.

"Gavin is more practical than that. As long as my intentions are good, he would understand. My godmother on the other hand, well, she's a good Catholic and would expect me to be the same. I just don't think either one of them are going to be on board with wedding bells so soon. They said as much last time Bella was out here."

He started to roll up his blueprints and put them away.

"So, we're both still too young to get married in their eyes. probably not me so much, but certainly their little girl is. Though I might be able to convince Bella. After all, she's of that age. In the old country her mother and father would be embarrassed that she didn't have a proper suitor up till now."

That's when the light bulb lit up.

"Does she still have Sicilian family? You find out if Bella has family in Sicily and I'll get them to pressure her into wedding bells faster than you can imagine."

He smiled then. He could get what he wanted and nobody had to get hurt.

Rebecca shook her head.  "If there were Sicilian family in the picture they would already have their noses involved.  The fact they are not suggests that road is probably not fertile."    Turning she began to pace in the other direction slowly.  The movement helped her to think.

"Your best bet is to get Aurora to feel like she is ready.  She will take care of her parents when she is ready.  Now you will have to be very careful with the girl.  Give her your full attention.  Use Lady-Integra and Eva_Hadley to cover things here for you if need be so that you can do that.  Also don't push to hard.  It is always best if she thinks it is her idea... especially if she is as rebellious as I have heard."

Rebecca stopped pacing and smiled brightly as she looked at Billy.  "Honestly just be yourself and don't be a stubborn fool.  Your a good man and you will treat her right.  Listen to her.  Think of her above yourself.  Really, women are quite simple to please."

Billy nodded.

"Ok, if you say so. But, what about Marie's family? Should they at least be told when stuff starts to speed up? I mean, if she still has family. I want to do this right. I don't mind jumping into the deep end with both feet, but I still want to do this right."

Billy shuffled his feet then and looked at Rebecca. He didn't like admitting to people when he had no idea what he was doing. This woman though? She knew him better than he knew himself. She already knew why he felt the way he did. She already knew the next questions he was going to ask before he thought of them. He learned everything he could from her and she was still way smarter and faster to come to the answer than he would ever be.

"I mean, it's not for everybody, but this should be a big deal. Like you said, she's basically royalty."

"To be honest I don't know if the girl has grandparents in the old country or not.  Maybe that is something you can find out from Aurora."  Rebecca smiled, "So when are you suppose to see her next?"

Billy shook his head.

"I don't rightly know actually, she had to go back and do some work for her mom, I need to get some work done myself, so I figured probably in a week or so. We will talk I'm sure, but there's just not a lot of free time in either one of our schedules."

He looked up to his Godmother.

"Why do you ask?"