"I don't know what I'm going to want."  She said truthfully.  "I know I want to have a future with us together.  And, I suppose I wasn't closed off to the idea of children but... I thought more about adopting children rather than having them myself really."

She 

"I was adopted you know?  And, well, I suppose I've always considered helping some other kid the way my parents helped me."  she looked at the guards car as they pulled up and called out.

"Charlie!  What time is it?"

Charlie rolled down his window, "Just about 10am, Miss."

She nodded.

"They'll be arriving soon.  Let's keep walking."  She gave his hands a squeeze.  "Please know this is a discussion though.  Nothing is set in stone.  I'm not sold on the issue of having children one day, but honestly, I have my reasons and all I'm asking is for you to come with me today and meet a few of those reasons.  Alright?  Just... one day of me trying to share where I'm coming from before either of us make any lasting choices?"

Billy shook his head.

"I'll come with you, but I already made my choice. Now I'm gonna just fight tooth and nail to bring you over to the right side of things, that's all."

He smiled.

"You know, I never even thought about adopting. Not once did it come up. I knew you were adopted, that was obvious when I learned about your family history. But I never said adoption was off the table. You know, you can do both right? There's no question in my mind that your parents love you and Will together just the same, and that you and Will love each other. Hell you two fight like any brother and sister I've ever met. So obviously you can do both, and everyone can be loved equal. It doesn't have to be one or the other, but it means something to be able to say that's my blood. For as much as you are adopted, you're still Bella's blood."

He squeezed her hand and let her lead the way.

She lowered her voice, "But I'm not Gavin's." 

She kept walking, her pace picking up sightly.

"See that's it right there... those micro, tiny aggressive things people say that they don't even realize how deep they cut."  she scoffed.

"How nice it is that you're her blood even though you're adopted!"  She rolled her eyes.  "Yeah, it might be a nice thing to say to my mother but how does that make my father feel?  Or make me feel about not being blood tied to my own father?  My own name?"

She looked at Billy from the corner of her eye.

"Blood doesn't make people family or marriage wouldn't mean anything at all.  It's just a bunch of words and a legal documents... well, the same thing that binds my parents in marriage, binds me to my father.  Love, words, and legal documents.  No more.  No less.  And I hold it in as much esteem as I hold their marriage."

She turned to look at Billy, "How many babies do you suppose are made every day in this city that aren't wanted?  My parents CHOSE me.  When my father lifted me out of my crib in Marie's war-torn home here in Chicago... he made a choice and that choice changed the whole of my existence.  That choice was to love me, come what may.  He didn't accidentally become my father - he chose it.  And thank God he did."

She sighed, trying not to let her temper get the better of her.

"Besides... I might as well tell you now.  I might not even be related to Bella by blood."

Distantly, train whistles could be heard going off as they approached Union Station.

Billy nodded.

"I heard that too. I told them it was bullshit. My words I think were, 'I've seen Aurora in a way that nobody else has, she's Sal's daughter.' or something very very much like that."

He was quiet for a minute.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what I said was so hurtful. I would never have said it if I thought it was."

He left it at that. There really was nothing more to say. This woman would one day be his wife and they would have children. Those children would bear his name, and he would fight every day for each and every one of them. Billy would be a great dad. He just might never be anyone's father.

He couldn't stand being quiet anymore though, so he decided it was time to change the subject, if only slightly.

"So, these friends of yours. Tell me about them. I should at least know who I'm dealing with if I'm supposed to be putting my best foot forward right?"

She nodded, grateful for his apology.  She expected him to say more on the matter and when he didn't, when he didn't try to over-explain his reasonings, he just said he was wrong and left it at that - she found herself smiling at him again.  She couldn't blame him for being ignorant of something he didn't know about.  He had no experience with her life and that was the point of today.  She knew he'd understand, she just had to walk him through the paces a bit.  Billy was a good man.  She would marry him one day if he asked, and it was moments like this that made her sure of it.

"Well, I don't know that it is bullshit."  She admitted.  "But more importantly, I've never much cared.  My parents are Isabella and Gavin.  I'd like to tell you more about my relationship with Salvatore one day, but to be honest, I've avoided talking about him much being that he's the man who probably killed your father.  It just never seemed like a thing we needed to discuss, especially since he's dead."

She shrugged.

"As for Joe Ligambi... he's been good enough to obey my mother's wishes.  He's tried to look out for me in his own way and I understand my parents have allowed it... but even after I learned about the rumors, I never saw a reason to seek him out.  My mom is right.  If Marie had an affair that was her business and I have no desire to make the dead look bad by airing her dirty laundry for everyone to see.  Me going to Ligambi would only add fuel to the fires rumor mongers keep burning.  Clearly, my mother never intended to leave Salvatore, and it was her will I should be seen as Salvatore's daughter... so... I've honored her wishes and left well enough alone."

As Union Station appeared in front of them, Aurora explained, "My friends aren't here.  The people I'm taking you to see right now, I don't know them.  Many of them don't know themselves.  Their names, their heritage, their birthdates, their siblings, their religions and identities are taken from them once they get on board this train and nothing that makes them unique in this world is left to them... all in the hopes that someone else will give them new what was stolen from them."

Aurora went up to a ticket agent booth, "Excuse me, I understand the orphan train comes through around 10am?  Where can I find it?"

"Platform 4, Miss."  The man instructed pointing towards where she might find her train of choice.

"So... a while ago, someone in New York got this idea that there were too many orphans in the big cities and a lot of need for extra hands out west and in the countryside.  So, he decided instead of storing them in orphanages, hoping someone would come for them, that the children should be put in cattle cars and taken city to city across the country hoping to find people who will take them in."

Aurora walked around the corner to platform four where emaciated children, some wearing nothing more than potato and flour sacks with holes cut into them where being paraded out onto the platform for the general public to see.  Men and women were coming up to the children and while some seemed the family sort, most looked like farmers in search of a capable farmhand and they examined the children with all the affection of men sizing up horses or cattle for purchase.  They checked the kids' muscles by pinching them, opened their mouths to look at teeth, ruffling hair to look for lice and some even asked questions about how long the trial period was to return children if they 'didn't work out.'

Aurora stood back, watching Billy as he took in the sight of the Orphan Train.

"Hundreds, maybe thousands of kids and if they aren't picked here, they'll keep going west.  I think this one goes out to Kansas City before it comes back around this way again.  New York to Kansas City.  It isn't the only one of it's kind though..."

Shock.

It was the only fitting word for how Billy reacted.

He just stood there, saying nothing, making no movement except for his natural breathing. He could tell that Aurora was talking to him, but the words were garbled in his ears. All that matter was what he saw.

Children.

Hundreds of bare little feet. A stench of their own excrement floating out of the cabins of the train like some unwanted creature come to invade the space that was just fresh a moment ago. The dirt caked onto skin so hard, and for so long that he could not tell if the child was dirty or had a birthmark.

One very particular little girl. A sweet little blonde girl with a raggedy doll. Her blue eyes looked up at him and he could see no tears. She had been here before. She knew what was coming. People would look and she would wait and then get back on the train and go somewhere else and it would happen again.

All Billy could think of was a lock of blonde hair peeking out from under a bloody white sheet.

He whipped his head around and made eye contact with Charlie.

"Charlie, I need the case."

Charlie's eye went wide, and he nodded. Billy looked to Aurora.

"Roar, I'm sorry, but I have to do something."

He looked around and spotted Rebecca.

"Becks, get to a phone and call my sister. Tell her to take whatever she has to out of the safe and to buy a warehouse, a huge one. I'll handle the details later, but tell her to buy food for a thousand people and beds for just as many. If she asks, just tell her it's for Kenzi."

He made his way over to the conductor then.

"Excuse me sir, I have a business proposition for you."

He pulled the man by one arm very close to the train so that nobody else would overhear.

"I've got a thousand dollars in my pocket right now that says you're going to take this train to Detroit next."

The mans eyes went narrow.

"Yeah, ok buddy. You might be dressed like you've got..."

He stopped talking mid sentence as Billy produced a wad of cash.

"Detroit."

The conductor looked Billy up and down.

"Buddy, I don't know if I can let you take all these kids. I know some crazy sick people out there, and this is a lot of cash. I can't. I'm sorr..."

Billy pulled out another wad of cash.

"I don't know your name, but I promise you, if anyone hurts a single one of these kids, my face is gonna be the last thing they see."

Aurora's mouth fell open slightly.  THIS was not what she had planned on happening.  In her mind she figured she'd take Billy here.  It was the shock portion of her visit to Chicago.  The next part, now that was one the one that was supposed to stick with him.  He wasn't meant to act on anything, just take it in and then come to a better understanding of her and her motivations.

Instead, he was BUYING a trainload of orphans.  

WHAT THE FUCK IS HE GOING TO DO WITH A TRAIN LOAD OF ORPHAN KIDS?!?

She blinked watching the whole exchange go down.

She finally found herself putting one foot in front of the other until she was in front of him and she put a hand on either side of his face and kissed him.  The kiss was passionate and meant to convey the depth of her adoration for his compassion and the use of his power on something so important to her.

When the kiss was done she found herself shaking her head at his foolishness, "Billy... what can you possibly think to do with this children?  I mean... I want to adopt, but don't you think this is a few more than even you can handle being a father to?"  She chuckled trying to make light of her exasperation and shock.

The kiss from Aurora had pulled him back from his full tilt of emotions. He was angry and sad, and then suddenly he was being kissed. The three emotions did not play well and so he wound up staring at Aurora for a moment, just happy.

"I can't be, you're right." He shook his head. "But look at them Roar. I don't want any of them to look like this ever again. Not once in their whole lives ever again. No children are supposed to look like this. Dirty and sad, and hungry. Kids are supposed to be happy and playing. Kids are supposed to want toys, not food. I can't be a dad to even one of these kids cause that's not fair. But what the hell do I have all this money for if I'm not even using it to make a bunch of kids smile?"

He nodded to the conductor.

"Stay for however long you were supposed to, and then to Detroit. If any of them get adopted by a family in the mean time, great. No exceptions though. I mean it, or I'll be back."

He turned back to Aurora.

"I sent Rebecca to call Integra to get things ready for them, but I gotta get back tomorrow to really get this done right. I trust Integra, but kids are probably not her strong suit. I shoulda probably called Eva..."

He rubbed his chin.

"Oh well, they will be better off either way than on a train. So what do you want to do now? Meet some of them? Or go somewhere else? Or what?"

Billy shuffled his feet as Charlie walked up with the briefcase he had asked for. Billy waved his hand.

"Oh, sorry Charlie. It uh, didn't take as much convincing as I thought. You can bring that back to the car."

Aurora looked at the kids and said quietly, for Billy's ears alone, "They're going to be scared.  One guy drops the cash you did... and they all end up in the same place together.  It's not what they were told would happen.  They're expecting families and homes.  Maybe hard labor on someone's farm in exchange for clothes and a full belly." 

She shook her head. 

"They're not going to know what to expect."  Aurora looked at the children, her amber eyes softening as she marched forward towards them, leaving Billy behind.  She made her way to the oldest child.  Younger ones were already coming up to her as if they wanted to make sure she saw them.  She knew what they were thinking, they were hoping she was here to take them home and compared to some of the men who had been poking and prodding them on their journey, she looked far preferable.

She gave the little ones a quick smile and then met the eyes of a boy just a few years younger than herself.  Her brother's age she supposed.  If the right series of events occurred, the kid could have been Will and it hurt her mind to think about it.  "What's your name?"

The boy pulled off his ratty old cap and held it in front of him, "Jacob, Ma'am."

Aurora nodded.  "Jacob, I'd like your help with something."

"Yes, Ma'am."  He clearly had been told if he had good manners he was more likely to get taken in and at his age, his options were likely growing more scarce by the day - though, with his build, he'd likely have been picked up to work a farm by someone eventually.  It would be a hard and terrible life, one which would likely end with him dying poor and broken.  Maybe not even making it to old age... it pissed her off, as so much of this whole nasty business did.

"This train isn't going west.  In a short while it's gonna go back east and to the north, to Detroit.  There the lot of you will be taken in to see a nurse and given a once over, cleaned up, and set up real comfortable."  

The boy narrowed his eyes.  He was suspicious.  

"Good."  She said nodding.  "You should be suspicious of gift that come too easy.  That instinct will serve you well and keep you safe, but in this case, it is unnecessary."

She looked back to Billy.

"That man over there is hoping one day I'll see fit to marry him.  He's making a grand gesture to impress me.  He's paid for the lot of you to be taken somewhere and cared for until you can find proper families.  Problem is,"  she looked back to the boy, "... that my well-meaning paramour hasn't really given thought to how much work is ahead of him and how frightening this will be for the kids, especially the little ones."

Jacob looked at Billy and nodded as if he believed Billy might be the sort of man who would be rich and powerful enough to make grand gestures to win a lady's hand.

"You can be a big help to calming the young ones.  Help out the adults who are taking you in Detroit.  Make sure no one runs off or gets lost.  You and ... how about all four of you big kids.  You make sure everything runs real smooth like and no one slips through the cracks and when all this is done and the kids are set up properly in a real home, I'll come back and make sure you're compensated for it."

"Forgive me for asking, Miss, but how do I ..." 

Aurora leaned over and whispered something into the boy's ear.  He looked to Billy and then back to the woman whispering in his ear, a flash of fear and then acceptance washed over him.  He swallowed and nodded.

"Yes, Ma'am."  He said.  

Aurora patted him on the cheek then she knelt down and began talking to the littlest ones.  Asking names and offering candy from her purse.  She eventually found herself sitting down flat on the ground, with a child on each thigh listening to the children tell her their stories.  Where they came from, where they hoped to be going, and all the wonders they'd seen on their long train trip. 

The two children on her thighs didn't speak a word of English and when Aurora spoke to them in their native tongues the little girls had instantly attached themselves to her.  One in girl spoke only French, the other - a little blonde girl, only spoke Italian.  They were immigrants and their parents had been forced to abandon them when the could not find work and they were starving, or so the kids had explained.  

These two Aurora felt the worst for.  Not speaking a word of English they'd been lost in this system and scared out of their minds.  Aurora was the first person who could, in their own language, tell them what was happening and that it would be okay.  As the girls wept, Aurora held them and kissed the tops of their heads.  

This was not how she wanted to spend the morning... but now that they were here, now that Billy had made this happen, how could she just walk away?  She found herself looking up to him, as she held the girls, listening to the small mob of children all trying to talk to her at once... maybe now, she hoped, he'd understand why all this meant so much to her and why she couldn't just dive into being a mother recklessly.

Aurora managed to conjure up stories and candy? Candy out of nowhere? Billy knew she was magic in some way, but he would have to find out where he could get some candy later.

Meanwhile he had taken to sword fighting three of the biggest boys in the group. They had killed him twice already, and so this time he decided he needed a companion. He picked up a smaller boy and put him on his back as he dropped to all fours. Now there were three swordsmen fighting a Knight. A gallant knight with a strong warhorse. Billy was the horse.

The boys decided to all try and gang up together then and pile upon Billy. They were light, Billy found himself smiling from ear to ear as he carried six children around on his arms, another two dragging along by clinging to his ankles. Billy actually found himself getting a little tired, and so he started to put the kids down and fin Aurora again.

"Hey Roar, I think we might need to get these kids something to drink, maybe something little to eat soon. If they are half as tired as I am, they need it. You got any ideas?"

Aurora shook her head.  Billy was a giant child.  He was playing as hard as any of the other kids and he wasn't just entertaining the children, he WAS one of the children. 

Everything he'd said earlier about why he'd wanted children had suddenly come into a whole new light.  He didn't want children so he could give them experiences... he wanted children so he had an excuse to have experiences he never got to have.  He was, in effect, no different than the orphans here.  Lacking a mother who cared about him, lacking a father who had been there at all to provide and still yearning for the things he'd been denied because of a lack of both.  Billy was, in many ways, more an orphan than she'd ever been and he had grown up with the mother who birthed him.

She stood up, putting the children down and ruffling heads of hair.  "Oscar?"  She called over Billy's bodyguard.  

"Get a headcount of the kids.  We'll need a ticket for each child on a proper train.  They should each get a nice seat."  She shakes her head and looked to Billy, "Keeping these kids from not committing mutiny on the train isn't going to be easy.  I KNOW how you feel about being without your guys... but maybe sending Oscar and Charlie on the train ride to make sure they are okay isn't a bad idea?"

She shook her head, "They serve meals on the train.  We can pay for them to get meals.  The guys take the train to Detroit and have them fly back and meet us at our hotel after the kids are safely in the care of your crew maybe?  I mean..." 

She stepped nearer to Billy. 

"If you'll let me, I'm qualified to guard your body..."  she smirked at her own double entendre.  "So you won't technically be without a bodyguard."

Billy nodded. In fact, Billy had an idea.

"Oscar, come here."

Billy whispered to Oscar on his ear. Oscar's eyes went wide, and then he shook his head hard.

"Boss, I don't think that's a great idea. I mean, I've been real good at this for a long time."

Billy shook his head.

"I know Oscar, and you got a wife and a kid, Charlie don't. It's time you got a way out of this thing. Don't worry, I'll keep paying you, but this it your ticket out. Take it pal, not many of us get one."

He shook Oscar's hand without another word but held the man there.

"Charlie, go back and get the case again. When you get back to Detroit with Oscar, whatever is left give to Oscar. Go into the HQ and get one of the other cases and bring it back when you fly back. You two make sure the kids get back, and Oscar."

He paused a long pause and then hugged his once long-time bodyguard.

"Thank you for everything."

He nudged the man to go with Charlie and then turned to see Rebecca talking with one of the girls braiding her hair.

"He Becks, guess what just happened. You just got promoted to full time bodyguard. You and Charlie figure out the details when he comes back, but I'm guessing you're gonna be the body man since Charlie likes to drive."

Charlie gave a nod and a smile to Rebecca.

"Alright Roar. Charlie and Oscar will take care of the kids, but what the hell are we gonna eat?"

Aurora walked over to the two children who didn't speak English and told them to stay close to Jacob and the girls agreed.  She said her goodbyes to them both and rejoined Billy, promising Jacob to come to see him very soon.

"Well, this definitely took up more time than I was thinking.  I'm starving.  We definitely should eat lunch.  And I think I should rethink the second part of our day.  I had plans to take you to see the orphanage that I help fund here in Chicago so you could meet some of the kids who I am quite fond of.  I thought maybe it would be a good way for you to see the place I very well could have grown up if not for Bella and Gavin.  But... after what just happened here, I'm scared you'll decide to buy the whole place - tear it down and rebuild."

She chuckled, joking... just a little.

"What type of food should we get?  You hungry for something in particular?"

Billy couldn't help but to let out a wolfish grin.

"I am, but that will have to wait until much later."

Rebecca rolled her eyes. She decidedly did not want to be the bodyman and it was about to be a long couple days.

"For now, what do you think about hot dogs, or pizza. Both are supposed to be pretty good in this city, and I'm not in the mood for fancy crap after having so much fun. I don't want to go back to being a stuffy Don right now."

He looked to Phil and Marcus.

"Oh and by the way boys, Rebecca is in charge of you in the hierarchy now, you know that right?"

Billy was in a hell of a mood. He was having way too much fun ruffling any feathers he could get his hands on. He looked to Aurora again and decided that she looked really pretty today. He would have given almost anything in that moment to skip right to the hotel. After watching how she was with those kids? He leaned in to her and lowered his voice then.

"Hey Rora, while we are on our way I just gotta tell you. No matter what way it comes to you, you're gonna make a great mom one day."

His smile beamed bright enough then to rival the new lights they were putting up over ball fields nowadays.

Aurora narrowed her eyes, "Billy Mastrosimone, I fear you're leaving me with no choice..." Her words were spoken in a playful bedroom tone.

"Am I going to have to show you how much fun we can have without kids to make you see my point?  Cause... clearly showing you my reasons for being afraid to become a mother has completely backfired on me."

She was smiling a devilish grin.

"I can, you know, show you how we can have birthdays and Christmases and ball games without kids and be amazingly happy too..."  She arched an eyebrow but noticing he wasn't sharing in the joke quite the way she was, she dropped her playful charade.

She looked to the bodyguards.  "Guys... give us a second please."  The boys nodded and then gave only a cursory glance to Billy before walking a few feet away to give them some privacy.

She sighed.

"We'll leave it in the hands of God."  she said definitely.  "I'll stop drinking my tea.  If we end up pregnant,"  she couldn't hold back the smile.  "Then you'll just have to push up your plans to propose marriage but I still expect a proper wedding.  Pregnant or not.  Something nice.  Not big necessarily, my parents were way over the top.  I'd be happy in someone's backyard with a priest and a few friends.  A nice cake, some pretty flowers and a dress of course.  But no skipping out just cause you got my ass knocked up.  Do you hear me?"

She was obviously teasing and giving him shit with her playful way of talking about it all, but she meant every bit of it. 

"If I'm meant to be someone's mom, I guess that's what I'll be.  I just hope you're right.  And I hope you know that I'm going to do everything I can to make sure any kid we have NEVER ends up on a train like that or in one of those orphanages.  I won't fail my kids the way Marie and Salvatore would have failed me were it not for Isabella and Gavin."

Billy stood there. There was a train on the tracks, and in this moment it felt like he had been hit by it. There were children all around them and it felt like they had jumped on him and knocked the wind out of him.

None of that was true of course. The truth of the matter was, Aurora Byrne was the most amazing woman to ever set foot on the face of the earth, and she just told Billy that she would have his children.

The fact that there were a pair of watches Billy had procured for just such an occasion? Irrelevant.

The fact that he had purchased several large plots of land on which to build a house to rival Hollowood? Minutia.

Everything else failed to compare to anything that had come before and, for this moment at least Billy fetl, anything after.

This moment was everything.

Billy reached his hands around Aurora's waist and picked her up off the ground gently so he could kiss her. He did so to a mixture of mocking and sincere "oooooos" from the children, with a smattering of disgust thrown in there from the elders who were not as fond at their age of affection in this light.

Billy did not fully part his lips from hers, he wanted her to feel the words on her lips, not just hear them in her ears. To know that he meant every single syllable with every fiber of his being.

"Aurora Byrne, I love you."