"Il y avait une balançoire! Et une cabane dans les arbres. Presque personne n'a un arbre dans toute la rue."  Brigitte swung her legs in the wooden desk chair at the desk in Aurora's hotel room, prattling on happily, her soft golden curls bouncing as she went on and on about the half dozen homes they'd seen today.

None of them were Hollowood.  Aurora told herself she needed to get home out of her head or nothing in this desert wasteland would ever make her happy.  The real estate agent had her work cut out for her though.  Aurora's requirements were exacting both from the standpoint of personal happiness and for security's sake.  She wished Linval had been alive.  The man had an eye for potential holes in locational security.  He also had the warmest laugh of anyone she knew... and she missed him, terribly.

"J'ai aimé le brun aussi. La fenêtre ronde était amusante."

"Vous avez aimé toutes les maisons."  Aurora said to her as the phone rang. 

Oscar picked it up and answered almost instantly holding the phone to her.  Aurora knew of only three people who had this number and all of them spelled real trouble.

"Hello?"

"Hey Squirt. It's me. Will's fine, with Tara."

Aurora sighed.  Thank God.

"I'm in town to check on you."

Bullshit.  What the hell is up?

But Aurora said nothing, just listened.

"Come to this restaurant whenever you can."  He gave an address and Aurora wrote it down as fast as she could.  "No emergency, but don't dawdle either. See ya."

He hung up.  That abrupt.  Aurora looked to the little girl spinning marbles on her desk.  Was now the time to introduce him to Brigitte?  She'd wanted to wait for the finalized paperwork to be done, so he wouldn't think to talk her out of it.  She knew he'd have a thousand reasons why this was insane and she shouldn't do it... but she couldn't allow herself to be swayed, not even by her father.

"Brigitte?"  She said hanging up the phone and spoke in English before remembering how little the girl really knew and how hard it would be for her to understand.  "I'm can not take you to the park as I promised."

But she clearly understood the bulk of it, because the girl made a disappointed pout.

"Grand-père est en ville et je dois aller le voir. Charlie et Oscar vont vous prendre. Je te rejoins quand j'aurai fini. Peut-être que j'amènerai mon père vous rencontrer aujourd'hui - comment ça sonne?"

"Peut-on avoir de la glace?"  The little angel with the pouty lips asked.

"Oui."  Aurora said kissing her brow.  

Charlie was looming over the girl looking worried, he knew Gavin would not make an unannounced trip for social reasons.  Perhaps he'd heard about the war with Seattle though?  Maybe he worried about her safety and needed to see her alive and well?  She doubted it... a call would have sufficed for that.  No, this had to be something else... but what?

Aurora stood up.  "Neil?"

The silent man was already putting his jacket on over his guns.  She handed him the address to the restaurant.  "You're my bodyman today."

She looked back to Charlie, "With your life."  She said to him firmly.

The man gave a nod back but said nothing else.

"She'll be just fine!"  Oscar said scooping up the small girl.  "We'll swing on the swings, slide on the slide... maybe even play in the fountain!" He tickled the little girl who giggled and squealed loudly.

Aurora gave Brigitte another kiss and then she took her gun out of it's locked box and put it in place, all the while those tiny blue eyes watched her intently as she used to watch her father before he 'went to work.'  

"Je te aime maman." 

Aurora stood frozen, her hand on the handle of the hotel door, not looking back at the girl who had never called her that before.  Always in the past it was Miss Byrne.  She knew in time the child might call her that, but she never expected it so quickly.  Perhaps it was because of all she'd been through, how much she wanted a sense of a normal life, or how grateful she was to Aurora for stepping up to give her normalisy - but none of the reasons mattered so much as the FEEL of the word - not love - but Mama.  

Aurora looked back to the girl with a smile.  The child had her scars... but she was resilient. 

She's already family.

"I love you too, Brigitte Byrne.  You be good for Oscar & Charlie, no running off on them now."

With that she went out the door and Neil closed it behind her.  It was time to find the Wolf and discover what all this was really about.

---

Ten minutes later Neil opened her car door and she exited into the street, her eyes watching for danger in every direction.  The hint of gunsmoke really only had just faded from the desert air and the dead weren't yet cold in graves.  Nothing was ever done in the Cosa Nostra and Aurora didn't dare let her guard totally down even when coming to meet her father.  Maybe especially when coming to meet him.

The restaurant, a diner in the shadow of Las Vegas General Hospital was a greasy spoon that served the families of patients and doctors all through the night.  It never closed and served breakfast all day, she noted.  A part of her hated it for that.  Billy would have loved this place for that reason alone.  She ignored the smell of pancakes which she hadn't had in months and yearned for desperately now.  Instead, she met her father's blue-eyed gaze, adjusted his old jacket on her shoulders and strode past the other patrons to arrive at his table where he sat with his back to the wall and able to see all the exits.

She leaned down and kissed her father's cheek and her expression, serious upon entry, softened.  Every time she touched him now she was keenly aware was one more moment with him she should not have had and silently she thanked God for it.  With her father she'd beaten the reaper, just once, and while she had terrible guilt over that at times... she took pride in it too.  The Wolf, her father, was no easy meat and with luck, he'd be here for many long years to come.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him, her voice low.  Neil took a seat in a booth across the aisle giving Gavin a smile.

Gavin stared at the menu of the diner as the waitress refilled his cup of coffee for the third time. He was tired. Lately, there'd been more nightmares than dreams, although he'd never admit it. And sooner or later, he had to force himself to sleep in a bed again instead of a chair. But those were challenges for another day. He was so distracted that Aurora had snuck up on him, although he did his best to cover it. She was perhaps the only person- only living person- that could see past his poker face. Tara, once, had had the gift. Bella, of course. Will he could still trick. 

Still, he grinned as he accepted the kiss on the cheek. With a skeptical eyebrow, he saw that he was still wearing the jacket.

"Remind me to tell you the story of that jacket sometime. It involves a dinosaur and-"

The waitress interrupted him, asking if Aurora wanted something to drink. Soon, she had her own mug of coffee as well. Gavin stood and hugged Neil- the brief backslapping hug of men who'd been to war together. No words were necessary between them, which was fortunate for Neil. As he sat back down and faced his daughter, Gavin grimaced.

"I'm sorry about the place. The breakfast. There's not too many restaurants on this block. I..."

Gavin paused, closing his mouth. He was looking at her and thinking, toying with a thousand different paths before settling, as he almost always did, on the most direct one.

As Aurora sipped her coffee and returned it to the table, Gavin reached across and took it from her, sliding it off to the side. Then he took a deep breath.

"There's something you need to know. It's going to be a shock no matter how I say it."

He paused just a couple moments as he saw his daughter steel herself. Gavin was so proud that she'd learned that lesson from him well, and he was deeply bothered by the fact he'd had to teach it to her in the first place. Another deep breath. It had only been a couple seconds, but Aurora looked ready to get punched in the face.

"Billy's alive."

He paused until he was sure the rest of his words would be heard.

"He faked his death. Said he had to stay hidden and out of contact for your safety. Not sure whose body you saw, but it wasn't him. I don't know the details, but I saw him myself and talked to him and it's him. He found me when he was looking for you, and you'll see him today in just a couple hours. He doesn't know about the baby- that's yours to share- but I insisted on telling you myself so you'd hear it the right way. If you need it, there's a hospital right over there."

Gavin looked at his daughter and gave her a small smile. It was good news. A loved one back from the dead. But he was also ready to pick her up and carry her to the hospital. For now, all he could do was wait.

Of all the things he might have said, this was one of the few that she could never see coming. 

Her father wasn't prone to flights of fancy or lying.  He'd never joke about something like this.  That meant it was true or her father had been tricked, though the latter was as unthinkable as Billy being alive.

"I..."

I know him.  I couldn't be mistaken.  I loved him.  I knew every inch of his body.  There's no way I make that kind of mistake...

Her mind raced in a thousand directions at once and she didn't speak immediately.  There was joy and sorrow, rage and disbelief.  Part of her questioned if she was still in bed asleep, it felt like a dream the way the sunlight poured into the windows and everything was halo'd in a white glow. 

"I mean he ..."  She tried to speak again but the words trailed off in her head.

He wouldn't put me through this - he wouldn't abandon me.  He would call, get word to me somehow.  No, this can't be Billy.  Billy's dead.  I saw him!

Her heart thundered in her ears and her face grew flush, Aurora's brow furrowed between her amber eyes which closed as she rubbed her temple.  

In her mind, Gavin's words replayed over and over:  I don't know the details, but I saw him myself and talked to him and it's him.

The morning had been perfect, and now this... it definitely smacked of a dream or a nightmare and yet, she knew it wasn't.  So, she sat there, staring at her father for a long while as she struggled to find a place to start.  Some word or phrase to speak next but it was as if the world were a record and a long grove was scratched into it now forcing her to repeat the same instant over, over, over again.

She shook her head ever slow, barely noticeable, closing her eyes she rubbed her left temple as if to ease some pain or force her brain to work correctly. 

Finally, the words came, "Okay."

It was acceptance, in a word, but certainly not in emotions.  She was breathing heavier now, not a gasp but the shortness of breath, as if the air in the room were suddenly thinner as it was atop a mountainside.  

"Well,"  She tried to focus on the levity, the fucking cosmic irony of this moment where she finally had chose a path and now her past had run to catch her.  "Here I was worried ... about shocking you ... with my news." 

A single, heavy drop of blood fell from her nose and landed on the table in an explosion of crimson.  Her right hand came to her nose then and as she touched it more came out.  She stared in horror at the blood coming out of her nose and onto her hand, the sound of her heart in her ears drowning out most everything else in the diner.  Suddenly his suggestion about the hospital wasn't as ridiculous as it had first sounded anymore.

"Dad..."

Gavin watched his daughter intently, studying every blink of her eye and twitch of her mouth. He didn't say anything as she struggled to speak, processing her thoughts. As the blood dripped out of her nose, he was moving before it hit the table. Gavin's face showed no panic; although his heart was racing, his voice was calm as he was at her side in an instant, guiding her to her feet.

"Nothing to worry about dear. It's a lot to take in... and here we are right near the hospital... a happy coincidence. Neil!"

Gavin got the other man's attention.

"We're going to take Aurora to the hospital now- just as a precaution to get her checked out."

A shadow of concern fell upon Neil's face and stayed there as he moved to Aurora's side. The two men easily scooped her up and carried her across the street. Rora was quiet, lost in her thoughts, although Gavin's eyes constantly flickered back to her to check on her. When they reached the emergency room, they lowered her onto a chair in the waiting room. Gavin allowed himself only five seconds with Neil.

"Billy's alive. Long story. Obviously a shock for Aurora. We'll talk later."

And then he was gone, off to the receptionist and reaching for his wallet. Thirty seconds later, her name was called. As other patients started to complain Gavin ignored them and helped carry her into one of the rooms. He didn't want to wait for a wheelchair. The doctor came in quickly, and Gavin spoke matter-of-factly to fill the man in.

"23 years old. Two months pregnant. Hypertensive crisis. She rubbed her head like she's having a headache and she seems out of it. Bloody nose as well. I'm her father."

He nodded at Neil.

"He's her uncle. Let us know how we can help. Otherwise, we'll stay quiet and let you work."

Having informed the doctor everything he knew, Gavin crossed his arms and waited for the doctor to do his thing.

Aurora kept her eyes closed for most of the transport to the hospital.  The world was blurring and she felt a little disoriented.  At one point her father had picked her up and was carrying her.  When she looked up to his face she had expected to see Billy - but Billy was dead.  Why would Billy be carrying her?

Aurora closed her eyes again and leaned her head on her dad's shoulder, the warm blood trickling from her nose was making a terrific mess but she had no pain aside from a massive headache.

When Gavin put her down and spoke, she remembered then what was going on.  It came back to her why she thought about Billy being the one carrying her.  Billy was alive.  Her father had just told her so.  

As he mentioned the pregnancy, she touched her belly.  A nurse came in and proceeded to take her blood pressure as the doctor spoke to her.

"What's your name, Miss?"

"Aurora.  Aurora Byrne."  she said sleepily, the cuff tightening on her arm as he nurse worked.

"Miss Byrne, do you know where you are."

"Hospital."  She said sleepily.

"What city?"

She paused and then offered, "Philadelphia?"

The nurse took the cuff off.  "180/110"

"Have her admitted.  20 mg hydralazine drip.  Hourly monitoring.  I want regular updates.  And let's check to see if we can hear baby's heart too."  he told the nurse who quickly made notes.  "Miss Byrne... do you remember the name of the doctor?"

"My... doctor?"  She asked through the haze of confusion.

"For your pregnancy?"

A smile grew on her face.  "Eva Hadley."

The doctor nodded.  "Is she in Philadelphia?"

The nurse helped Aurora to recline and exposed her lower abdomen.  The once well-defined muscles now covered in a small bit of protective fat and there could be seen a tiny swell.  It might have been dismissed as a touch of comfort eating in her grief were it not for how well her father knew her commitment to her physical condition.  Aurora had kept a nearly perfect body her whole life.  That and there was the matter of the nurse searching over it with a horn-shaped tool.

Aurora shook her head, "She lives in Detroit.  She works for Billy."

"Call up U of M see if they can help us track down an OB by the name of..."

"No... she's... she's not my doctor anymore."  She grabbed at the reality like someone attempting to hold tight to water.  "She's dead."

The nurse stood up and handed the tool to the Doctor.  The doctor took his turn leaning down and listening in several places. 

"Doctor?" Aurora asked with concern.

The doctor stood up and smiled at Aurora.  "We'll find your doctor and decided your best long term treatment, for now you need to rest Miss Byrne and get that blood pressure down."

The nurse was moving before the doctor had finished talking.

"Is my baby okay?"

"Growing as it should be, but I'd feel a lot better if he or she were a bit bigger.  Nothing to worry about at this stage, but it means it's hard for us to hear the heart.  A few more weeks and we'll be able to set our watches to it, but today we'll have to settle for knowing things are progressing and that its mother is safe.  In no small part to your fast thinking Father here."

The doctor looked to Gavin then.  "Mr. Byrne?" 

He stepped away from Aurora and spoke quietly, "Confusion is perfectly normal in her state.  I do want to talk to her attending Obstetrician if she remembers the name, but at the moment our primary concern is that we get that blood pressure down to avoid harm to her or the baby.  The drugs she's going to be given have a good history of working and I have little reason to think she's not going to be just fine, in part thanks to her timely arrival here... but she's going to need to keep an eye on her blood pressure going forward."

He glanced back to Aurora, "If she happens to have a moment of clarity and tell you the name of the doctor, please let my nurse know right away.  For now, we want to get her resting and the meds working.  In a few hours, she should be back to herself and assuming her blood pressure stabilizes she could be sleeping in her own bed tonight." 

The doctor looked back to Gavin, "If the father is in the picture though, it might not be a bad idea to let him know she's here.  Advise him that until she sees her normal doctor and a medical plan is in place she should get lots of liquid, eat right, exercise... nothing too strenuous of course, and cut back on stress in her life."

Once Gavin had said his peace or asked the questions he needed to, the doctor left them alone.

Aurora lay there looking at her dad for a moment as she pulled down her shirt.  "Charlie and Oscar..."  she said softly.  "They're at the park with Brigitte.  You should send Neil to tell them where I am or they'll worry we don't come.  And ... Alucard, I haven't been able to find him for days.  But if I could just remember what hotel he's staying at, maybe you could call him too?"

Gavin tried not to think about his daughter's head resting on his shoulder as the swarm of doctors and nurses converged on Rora. 

"What city?"

She paused and then offered, "Philadelphia?"

Well, good guess at least.

The nurse took the cuff off.  "180/110"

What the fuck does that mean?

"Have her admitted.  20 mg hydralazine drip."

Or that?

Contemplating how difficult it would be to get a medical degree, Gavin stared at Aurora with focused concern. He didn't regret telling her. God only knows how much worse the shock would have been if she'd heard about Billy in some other context or from some other source. Shit, if she'd seen him... no, he didn't regret anything. She'd hear about it sooner or later, and he'd made sure it was close to a hospital.

Gavin did his best to avoid listening to the updates on the baby. One Byrne at a time. Instead, he listened to the doctor about Aurora.

"Confusion is perfectly normal in her state.  I do want to talk to her attending Obstetrician if she remembers the name, but at the moment our primary concern is that we get that blood pressure down to avoid harm to her or the baby.  The drugs she's going to be given have a good history of working and I have little reason to think she's not going to be just fine, in part thanks to her timely arrival here... but she's going to need to keep an eye on her blood pressure going forward."

"Understood. I'll get you the doctor's name within the hour."

Well, Tara will.

"I want to let her rest. And I will let the father know... but doc, she's got one more very stressful reunion that needs to happen. It's with the baby's father. It's unavoidable for her, and it's the best thing for her and the baby. If that's definitely going to happen in the next 24 hours, would you recommend that it happens here while she's on the medication? Or elsewhere, away from the stress of the hospital?"

As Aurora started to speak to him, Gavin ignored the doctor and appeared at her side. He listened to Aurora attentively, then went to Neil.

"Neil, I know you don't want to leave her either, and I know you've probably got a lot of questions. But Aurora wants you to go to park and get Charlie and Oscar- bodyguards she mentioned. They're there with someone named Brigitte... and I have no idea who that is. A dog, is my best guess. Don't tell them anything about Billy yet or about any medical details you heard here. Tell them to go home and take care of the dog and sit tight, and someone will be there to explain things to them soon. After that, find Wild Card and bring him here. But find me first. I hate to send you away like this, but we're up at bat right now. I'll watch over her, and she'll be here when you're back."

Neil nodded determinedly and headed off.

Gavin, after speaking to the desk on this floor with strict instructions that no one gets in without his say so, began his vigil in the chair in the corner. He'd wait until she woke up. Then they'd talk.

The nurse coming in regularly woke Rora again and again without meaning to, but checking her blood pressure wasn't something Aurora could sleep through.  She was trained to sleep light and with her body all keyed up, she was reaching for her gun that wasn't there every single time.  When the nurse would leave, she'd be out again, falling hard and fast without a word to her father.

After the third time the nurse came in she said to Gavin, "We're making progress, the meds seem to be working.  The doctor told me to thank you for having her doctor call us.  The information he gave us has been quite helpful and he's scheduled an appointment for your daughter to follow up with him in two days."

She handed Gavin a note on date and time of her appointment.

"He also said to tell you he thinks if she has any more bad shocks to come today, there's no sense for them to happen elsewhere when they can happen here under our watch.  You might make those arrangements.  If her blood pressure spikes again, we'll just keep her overnight and asks that the offending visitor be excused while we tend to her needs.  However, since you said it was unavoidable, the doctor would like to make sure it happens somewhere she's safe."

The nurse smiled at Gavin and as she left Neil came in and handed a note to Gavin.

Hotel staff says Alucard hasn't been back since the war with Seattle.  I got into his room.  All his stuff, but his gun, is still there. 

Charlie & Oscar took Brigitte back to the orphan's home.  They told her that Aurora is busy with you.  They bought her ice cream like Aurora asked.

Guys are in the lobby in case you need them.

Gavin blinked as he read the note from Neil, then looked as his daughter and studied her curiously.

"An orphan? Does Rora spend time with her?"

Neil nodded enthusiastically.

"Like, a lot of time?"

Neil nodded.

"How close are they?"

Neil held has hands very close together, then reached for a pad and pen.

Today Brigitte called Aurora Mama.

Gavin stared at Neil, shaking his head and angrily whispering so as not to wake Aurora.

"Neil! Why the hell wouldn't you tell me that the thing I thought was the dog was a KID? Fuck! Neil! Wait... is Aurora going to adopt this girl?"

Neil nodded slowly. Gavin's rage was building, perhaps for the first time since Bella died. He grabbed Neil's tie and pulled his face closer.

"Neil. You're family. But you need to not just follow orders and fucking clarify sometimes. Do you understand that I just sent my own granddaughter to a fucking orphanage as the first act I made to impact her life? Go. Get her. Now. Bring her here. Don't bring her in the room. Let the desk know when you're here."

He was fuming, but he forced himself to take a few deep breaths.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just under a lot of str- actually, you know what. Fuck that. I am mad. At the fucking universe."

He grabbed Neil's tie again and pulled him closer to his face again.

"My wife's dead, my daughter's in the fucking hospital, my dead son in law is alive, I've got one walnut sized grandkid barely holding on in there, and I've got another one that I just found out about twelve seconds ago that isn't a dog that we just sent to the fucking orphanage! Go get that fucking kid, Neil. Now!"

Aurora blinked, looking up at Gavin, who dropped the tie and pushed Neil out of the room and returned to his daughter's side, taking her hand.

"Hey Squirt. You're okay. Everything's okay. How do you feel?"

She sighed.

"You were yelling at Neil?"  She arched an eyebrow. 

"You've never yell at Neil."  

She squeezed her father's hand. 

"I'm okay.  The baby is okay.  We're all ... okay." 

She brought her father's hand to her lips and kissed it.

"Sorry I gave you a scare.  Guess the doc is right and I need to cut back on the coffee."  she chuckled, trying to make a joke.  "Oh and... maybe Billy could cut back on the faking his death and not looping me in."

She exhaled and closed her eyes.

"When is he coming?  I have so much to tell him... so much... oh God what fucking mess."  she shook her head and then something seemed to spark in her amber eyes, that look that only young people newly in love ever seemed to really have for more than a moment and in that instant i overpowered her fear and annoyance. 

"How is he?  Does he look well?  Did he miss me?"

Gavin smiled, much more genuinely than he had at any other point in the day.

"We're all fine. I'm sorry if I could have handled that better. I just wanted to tell you as quickly and directly as possible to minimize the shock... didn't want you to hear it anywhere else. Made sure we were next to the hospital, at least. Still, better than him just walking through the door, I think."

He sighed.

"Billy seemed good. And Aurora... if he faked his death for two months and didn't miss you... he wouldn't have to fake anything. You never would have heard about him again."

He smiled reassuringly as he took her hand.

"I'm assuming you're ready to see him, now that you're awake and more yourself? The doctors think it'd be good for it to happen here in case you get screwy again. That's a medical term."

Gavin couldn't imagine a world where Aurora said "Nah, I'll wait and see him in the morning."

Aurora pushed herself up and put her arms around her father and hugged him.  "Yes!"  She said overcome with happiness.  "And really I'm fine now.  The doctors are worrying over nothing, I could go to him, wherever he is.  I feel like I could do our morning run without breaking a sweat."

She laughed but it was foolish to dismiss what happened and her father's fear like she was doing and so she back peddled.

"But I get it... I do.  Baby first, right?  I won't fight them.  I'll stay right here with my feet up."  she reassured her father as she pulled back to look at him. 

"But look, I'm a mess. I don't want his first sight of me in months to be this."  She indicated to herself.

"If he's here, I won't make him wait, but if he's not here yet then maybe I could get a mirror and a washcloth to clean up with?  If the hospital sells a brush in the gift shop, maybe you could have it brought up to me so that I can at least put that through my hair before he comes in?"  She kissed her father's cheek on one side and kept her hand on the other looking him in the eyes.

"I'm glad you didn't kill him."  She said half-joking. 

"And whatever you were yelling about a minute ago... I'm sure Neil will forgive so don't go beating yourself up about it too much.  We both know Neil is more resilent than all of us put together.  He's one tough and big-hearted son-of-a-bitch.  He knows you're going through a lot right now.  I'm just sorry I didn't handle it better... you did everything as well as anyone could have and honestly it's a damn wonder the way the doc has been talking that this didn't happen to me sooner with how hard I pushed myself a few times."

She let his cheek go and put it on her belly, looking down to her womb.  "This baby is made of really tough stuff."  She smiled at it and then met Gavin's eyes.  "Like it's grandpa."

Gavin picked up the phone and made two brief, quite calls before returning to his daughter's side. 

"You always sweated before during our morning runs, so I can't imagine that would change now."

He smirked.

"We'll have you take it easy the next few months. Maybe set yourself up with a handful of businesses here in Vegas? Tara can always help out with that, I'm sure."

One of the orderlies in the hospital entered the room with a mirror, a washcloth, a hairbrush, and some basic makeup; Gavin hadn't asked for that specifically, but obviously they were trying to go the extra mile. How much, exactly, had Gavin bribed them?

"Not worried at all about your or the baby. We're tough enough. We've had to be. And with everyone we've lost... getting Billy back is..."

It went beyond words. Gavin grinned, then his expression clouded.

"Who the fuck is Brigitte?"

It was another long day, and another long flight. This was the first time Billy had flown to Las Vegas that he could recall. He knew he had a business or two out here under the control of a young woman, but that was all. She probably thought he was dead too, he was going to have to pay them a visit for the first time. He had a feeling Aurora was not going to like that given the nature of the businesses. Billy needed to make money though, so there was nothing to be done.

He stepped down off the plane then and looked around. There was a car waiting on the tarmac for him, and even a driver. Gavin must have arranged for him to be met so he could be taken directly to Aurora.

"Hey bud, what's your name?"

He asked as he looked to the driver. The guy looked up at him and gave him a smile.

"Hey boss."

Now it was Billy's turn to stop in his tracks with surprise. He had been the one surprising everyone else lately. In this moment though, he realized he never expected to see the man in front of him again. He expected them all to be gone. So when he dropped his bags and ran to embrace his driver, the two nearly fell to the ground.

"Oscar."

It was the only word he spoke, and it had the weight of two months of solitude in it.

The two stood silent for a moment, Oscar just quietly patting Billy on the back and Billy, for all of his size and strength, refused to let go of the man. Until it was too much of course, and so, slowly he backed away.

"If you... how did..." Billy stopped and shook his head to collect his thoughts.

"Oscar, what about Charlie, Rebecca, Brigitte, and Aurora? Tell me everything you know on the way. I sent word to my cousin and Integra that I was going to Vegas, and that they should meet me here. I don't know when they are showing up, but I gotta know everything."

Along the way, Oscar spoke while he drove. Billy, simply stared. Sometimes it was at his friend. Other times it was out the window at the desert. Oscar took his time to explain, in his own way, how Bella's men had picked up him and Charlie and dropped them off outside of Detroit a day or so later. She had saved his men, and he disappeared when she needed support. He hadn't heard a word from or about Rebecca though, and for that Billy was sad. The woman was nice, but she wasn't exactly a fighter. Brigitte was fine.

"Aurora is in the middle of adopting her actually, just like you wanted to boss. Well, not RIGHT now, cause she went back to the orphanage for a bit when Gavin showed up, but still, she's doing it."

His smile, as Billy saw it, was one that was pushed through his eyes. Every bit of the man driving the car was ecstatic about Billy being back, and about being able to tell him everything. Right up until he had to start talking about Aurora. Billy heard it in his voice first. Charlie had a way of putting things across straight. Oscar let it slip in his tone.

"She's uh, she's in the hospital right now. That's where we're going right away. Don't worry boss, Gavin is there with her. The shock must have really done a number on her is all. She'll be fine, the Byrnes always bounce back."

He nodded emphatically at that, and all billy could think about was Hollowood. Bouncing back was not what he would have described in that moment.

They pulled up to the hospital then and Billy got out so that Oscar could go park the car. He made his way inside and straight to the nurses desk.

"Hi, I'm here to see a patient. Miss Aurora Byrne. She was admitted today."

The nurse looked up at him, then looked him over. She gulped once. She seemed nice, but she was very young. Billy wasn't really sure if she was a nurse just then, or if she was still learning and so she got put on desk duty.

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't let you see her. She has too many visitors right now, you may have a seat and we might allow you in when someone else leaves."

Billy looked down, and then down the hallway.

"I don't think you understand. My name is Billy Mastrosimone, and Aurora Byrne is the love of my life. I defied death to get here. I stood in a hail of bullets to protect her from ever being in a hospital. I have crossed oceans, and countries to get here and I swear to God miss..."

He looked down at the nametag the woman wore and let his passion come through his voice. He was not one to scare people to get what he wanted normally. This though, was not normal, this was Aurora.

"...Edith, that if you do not tell me what room she is in, I will find it myself. I know, I know, you'll call security and then the police and I will be arrested. I am not afraid of any of that, I will quite literally break anyone who gets in my way. So now, what room is she in?"

The woman gulped and then picked up the phone.

"Let me just dial her room and see if someone can come out so you can go in huh?"

Billy nodded, satisfied at that answer for the moment as the woman made her phone call.

"Yes, this is Edith from the front desk. I have a Mister Masterphone here. He would like... yes... alright."

She hung up and then gestured down the hall to her left.

"She is in room 145, just down that hallway on the right."

As Billy nodded and made his way down the hallway, he could have sworn he heard the nurse let out a breath she had been holding for a while.

"Masterphone?"

He shook his head and knocked at the door to room 145.

Aurora clicked her tongue.  She couldn't recall saying it but maybe?  She didn't remember the journey from the diner to the hospital but it had obviously happened too, which meant it was possible she said Brigitte's name.  

"If she were here, you wouldn't have to ask."  she sighed.  "You weren't supposed to find out like this, but it seems to be running theme with my children so why stop now."

She chortled as she pulled the brush through her hair.

"So.. I'm gonna say a lot here.  I need you to listen.  Cause I could just answer, but I want to be honest and I want you to understand my journey."

She drew a breath and exhaled slowly, steadying herself.

"I won't need Aunt Tara's help setting up here in Vegas.  Not because I don't want it... but because I've already begun what you're suggesting."  She looked out the door to make sure she couldn't see Billy standing there waiting and listening.  Then she began, "After I came back from the last visit I went on a second date with my Italian friend, Silvio."

She paused a moment and smiled.

"He's a good man, but he's not my Billy.  And... while I could see myself having a riot with him for a while, I think it's fair to say that he's not my type.  Truthfully, I turned him down before things progressed to a serious place and we resolved to be friends.  There's more to the story, probably involving another trip to Italy somewhere down the line after the baby is born and maybe the small matter of a contract... but suffice to say in the course of this ... fling?  I came to some important conclusions about my life and put down a lot of my pain about Billy."

She stopped brushing her hair and picked up the mirror to look at herself.  She sighed in disappointment, sure she'd never looked worse!

"Anyway, I concluded that the only way forward wasn't to figure out how to replace Billy.  It wasn't to rush into a marriage so I could trick the world into thinking my kid wasn't a bastard, or that I wasn't a woman of compromised morals... fuck, when the hell have I EVER given much thought to what people think about me?  Why was I starting now?  Because of the baby?  I guess I wanted to protect it.  Save it from pain, give it a 'real' family.  But... it has one.  It has me.  And it has Billy, even if he's not here, the same way you and mom made sure I had Marie, Eleonora, Grandma Maria, Grandma Sarah, and Sal."

She shook her head.

"And sitting in this jazz club in LA I realized that changing because of what the world did... well, that just isn't me.  I was acting out of fear and my whole life I've never done that.  Through this whole fucking mess, losing Billy, losing Tegs, losing race street and Mom... I had let the world push and pull me all these directions and I was just running around trying to stem the flow of blood from the open wound that was my fucking life.  It was impossible."  She met her father's eyes, putting the mirror down into her lap.

"I'm meant to bleed for the dead.  It's what we do."  She looked at her belly, and said, "It's what all Byrnes do.  We bleed, we heal, and the scar isn't there to remind us of the pain, but the joy."

She met her Dad's eyes and smiled, clearly proud of herself.

"Anyway, I came back to Vegas that morning and I pulled out all the stuff I took from mom's office and I started going through it.  I knew what I had to do.  I had to keep going forward, just as I'd planned.  I was WRONG in Iceland, when I told you this was Billy's dream.  I was actually lying... to you, but mostly to myself.  I wanted this baby.  I wanted the life he showed me but it was hard to say that when I thought I'd never be that happy again.  I guess I thought that if it was Billy's dream and not my own, maybe I could go forward and let it all go.  Let it be buried with him.  Which ... is silly considering in a few months I'll have very real evidence that nothing died with him, but..."

She furrowed her brow.

"Death can do strange things to how you think if you let it.  I didn't get that before... but I do now.  I needed to realize there was a difference between clinging to the dead and clinging to my life and my own identity and choices.  And when I finally got that I doubled down.  I ... got all these deeds of mom's out and started thinking.  The businesses I know I can make money on, that's the easy part.  But I really don't understand why she was buying up property in Las Vegas, she must have had her reasons.  Her and the man who is likely to become Godfather had business dealings and what little I've learned from him makes me reluctant to just give him back a bunch of empty sandlots just yet."

"Anyway, once I got that in line, I spoke with Oscar about one of the last things Billy wanted me to do in his Will.  Remember I told you that he reroute that group of orphans from Chicago to Detroit?  Well, he set up an orphange and it was sort of a pet project of ours.  He went there daily.  He loves those kids.  After I showed him the life I might have had if it weren't for you and Mom he took it to heart and really wanted to spare the lot of them from what was a real rough road."

She shook her head.  "At first I thought he was being silly, I mean, what did it matter if he saved one trainload of kids from a bad fate when thousands were out there still suffering?  Well... again, I was wrong.  It mattered to each and every one of those kids and I couldn't leave that operation to die up in the Motor City so I decided to muscle in on Billy's turf.  With no one in Detroit right now I figured it was my best chance.  I hired a lawyer, I took what he willed to you and mom and me and locked down what I could legally... not for me, mind you, but for Billy's legal child."

She smiled and picked up the washcloth and began cleaning her face.

"It meant I wasn't going to hide that I was a single mom, but it's who and what I was so I figured, fuck it.  I decided to own it.  And I went to the lawyer to discuss whether or not I could put Billy's name on our child's birth records to ensure he had some legal claim to Billy's holdings.  Meanwhile, we saw to relocating the orphans.  Turns out the State of Michigan was super excited to keep them so they barely made an inconvience to get them out.  Nevada wants residents so badly they cut the red tape for us.  A little cash in the right places and boom, one of mom's buildings is now The Mastrosimone Home for Children.  It's got a long way to go yet... remodeling needs done, plumbing and roof needs some repairs, but we're getting there.  Oscar's wife is even planning a fundraiser with some of the wives of City Council members."

She smiles.  "Know what you don't know.  That's what mom used to say.  So... between the lawyer, Betty - Oscar's wife, and the guards I've pulled in from both your and Billy's operations... I was slowly setting up a working team.  I gotta say all this was much more work than it looked like when I started.  And I can see why Mom was gone so much."

She sighed remembering how hard she was on the woman at times.

"But... I get now that it was how she loved us.  She wasn't off having fun all the time, she was doing real work and she did it so I and my baby would have what we have now... a path forward after everything went so terribly wrong.  Which really only left two things to handle.  One was personal and that's going to make a headache for me if Alucard shows back up... cause, I went back to him and told him that I was sorry for what happened with us in Detroit.  I told him I really hated that I'd hurt him and I do care about him but I wasn't ready to move on."'

She paused, she could see in her Father's eyes something of understanding even before she spoke.

"But I was... almost there.  I told him when he comes back from his trip to England we'd... see where things might go."  she gave a sad smile.  "That will be odd, but as things go, I shouldn't think that it'll be a problem.  At least, I hope not.  Alucard was there for me through the worst moment of my life - I didn't just lose people, I was losing myself and between you, him, and Silvio I somehow found my way back.  Not to Billy ... but myself."

She sighed.

"Which brings me to the last part.  Brigitte was one of the orphans on the train.  Her mother died of tuberculosis after coming over from France.  Brigitte was just a little thing.  When we met her in Chicago she didn't speak hardly a word of English and she was scared out of her mind.  Billy melted the moment he saw her.  She owed his life the second she smiled at him."

Aurora lit up.

"I talked to her.  Tried to help her understand as best I could about where she was and the fate she'd fallen into  Billy was shattered by the idea that this girl so isolated from everyone was adrift in an uncaring system - with no family or real identity.  So, she was his reason really for taking the train to Detroit.  It wasn't all the kids, per say, but Brigitte.  And the more time we spent with her... the more we were mutually coming to the conclusion that we'd adopt a child."

She shrugged, "Of course I had no idea I was already pregnant.  I just, thought about how you and mom took me in.  I thought... this girl she needed me and maybe in some ways I needed her too.  I could teach her things like you taught me... and love her like mom loved me.  I'd made up my mind that I would say yes when Billy got around to asking... both about marriage and Brigitte.  I figured it was going to happen in Sicily and we'd come home and start our life together, but ..."

She sighed.

"So when the orphans arrived and I saw Brigitte again, I realized in my heart I hadn't made just a commitment to Billy but to Brigitte.  She was more alone now than ever without Billy and I was the closest thing to family she's got in the whole damn world.  She's got open wounds too, but if someone helps her, they could scar well.  She could be strong.  She could be caring.  She could be amazing."

She smiled.

"Last week I started the process to adopt her.  I wanted to tell you, right away, but I know when it comes to you I'm pretty weak-willed."  She smirked.  "You have a way of being able to sell me any idea, Dad, or talk me out of them and this one I didn't want to give you the chance on.  If there was any chance at all you were more worried for me and my baby than concerned about a kid you never met... I just... I couldn't take the chance.  I figured when it was done, in a few weeks, we'd invite you and Will and Aunt Tara out to whatever house I buy and you could all see that I'm putting a life together.  One that doesn't involve me running around as a hired gun... but instead running businesses and raising kids, like my parents."

She smiled.

"And I'm young.  If I want that life it'll still be there, in time.  The profession of killing people isn't going anywhere."  she chuckled.  "But I thought, while I'm not out like I want Will to be... at least I wasn't doing the sort of work I know that might keep you up at night.  I'd be home most days, taking care of your grandkids.  Hiring good people to oversee my businesses.  I might not end up as rich or powerful as mom and you but shit... it wasn't the life I was looking for anyway.  I always just wanted a good adventure and if I remember correctly, we had some good adventures in my childhood."

She took Gavin's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"When Will gets settled into school... I thought maybe I might talk you into coming to live with us.  I know it's a little different now with Billy coming back, but we can find a place with a guest house so you have some space of your own.  I know it's a damn desert and you'd probably prefer a forest, shit... so would I.  But, who knows?  With Billy back, who can say what our lives will look like in a few years?  He's like Mom.  He's got ambition and skills... he was a Don once.  He'll drive himself hard, I think.  He'll want the life back, the respect... I'll have my hands full with kids while he goes after it.  I sure as fuck wouldn't mind having a Grandpa around to help me herd my kittens.  If... of course, it's what you want."

She drew another long breath.  "I love you, Dad.  And at some point when Will is situated I know how easy it would be for you to disappear and I don't think I could bear the yearly visitor or quarterly phone calls.  I'd worry every day... god help me but that's the Isabella in me.  I just ... can't help it and I don't want to."

She smiled through happy tears.

"Please give it thought.  You don't ... need to say anything now.  And of course, I want you to meet Brigitte." 

She looked to the dark windows, the sun was setting.

"By now they had to take her back to the home.  She's ... not living with me yet.  We need to do 100 hours of visitations first.  Courts mandate it before legal adoptions, but it won't be long now."

Then there was a hard knock at the door and Aurora startled.  Quickly she passed the items off to Gavin.  "Is that him?"  She asked hurriedly.

"My children."

Gavin blinked.

"I'm gonna say a lot here.  I need you to listen."

Well, it couldn't be worse than going to the hospital.

Second date. Maybe it was worse? How could she get pregnant twice?

Gavin cleared his mind, as he'd done so many times, and focused. As Aurora seemed to wind up for a long speech, he thought of Bella and smiled.

He listened. 

Oh... shit. I need to find Neil. Immediately.

When she was done, he stood up and kissed the top of her head before smiling reassuringly.

"I am very proud of you, and I love you. I would never have told you not to adopt. Adopting you was one of the three best things that ever happened to me, and I-"

There was a knock on the door, and Gavin took a deep breath. If only Billy had brought Bella back with him... he nodded at Bella- no, at Aurora- as he left the room and saw Billy standing in the hallway. He clapped him on the shoulder, nodding at him.

"If she starts looking wonky or gets a nosebleed, call the doc right away. I'll let you kids talk, but I'll be right down the hall if you need me."

Billy listened, and then shook his head.

"Gavin, there's nothing to talk about. I have to apologize to her more than I did to you, but that's about it. There's really nothing else to say. I was made to love her and she knows that, what else is there? You don't have to go, but if you want to I can't make you stay either."

He reached out and gripped the other man's shoulder for the briefest of moments. It was not an embrace, and yet, it was in every way.

He stepped into the room properly then and looked around. There was a whole bunch of stuff in here that Billy knew nothing about, a machine or two, lots of white, and then he felt a pit in his stomach. Two pits actually.

The first was because he forgot flowers. There was no real color in the room, and Aurora deserved flowers. He shuffled his feet for a second before forcing himself to look back into Aurora's eyes. She was the second pit. It was butterflies, and guilt all wrapped up into one ball of emotion that he could not have properly described to someone if he tried. It was like looking at his own home again after being away on business, but someone had burst open the front door. Every moment of happiness and good will that was going into seeing her again was thrown aside and replaced with guilt and worry the second he saw the state she was in.

"Roar? Are you ok? What happened?"

He dragged the chair over to the side of the bed to listen, but shook his head to stop her as she opened her mouth.

"No, I don't deserve to know that yet. I gotta say I'm sorry first. I'm sorry for everything."

He had said it first, and began the tirade, and before he knew it, it was all coming out like a dam had broke.

"I'm sorry for taking you to Sicily without knowing what we were going into. I'm sorry for not being there when you got kidnapped. I'm sorry for not knowing that Integra had a body double for me. I'm sorry for not reaching out sooner. I'm sorry for showing up late. I'm sorry for doing this to you."

He gestured to the hospital bed she was in, and then reached his hand out to grab hold of hers, stopping himself just before he did.

"I don't deserve you Aurora Byrne, I never have, and I'm not sure I ever will, but I'm so sorry that I ever hurt you. I just need you to understand that I will never do anything like that again."

He took a deep breath to calm himself. He knew he needed it, he knew he was going to start to cry if he didn't and there was no way he was going to do that. That would have been selfish. No matter how happy he was to see her, if he cried, he took away her ability to feel what she wanted to. He wasn't ever going to take anything away from her again.

He looked back toward the door, as if the doctor was standing there watching everything they were doing. Satisfied that nobody was in fact there, he turned back again.

"Can I hold you hand? Or do you not want me to? Or are we even allowed?"

Amber eyes stared at him, locked on his gaze as his fears erupted in preemptive apology.  She heard the sounds, and bits of it stood out, but mostly the words didn't matter.  His presence did.  

She tilted her head to the side, her long dark hair falling alongside her face.  

She reached out with her right hand to touch his cheek and she bent slowly from the waist, bringing her lips closer to his own.  For a heartbeat her lips hovered over his, she could his breath on her face and any fear she had that her father was wrong melted away.

Every part of her ached to connect with him, she anticipated it, her flesh burned as they held there with the barest glimmer of light between them.  

She closed her eyes and relaxed her muscles, allowing her lips to fit against his.  Silken flesh gliding over hungry lips to the sound of a song only she could hear as smoothly as he once led her across the dance floor.  Every nerve in her body lit up as his right hand came up onto her lap and his left about the small of her back - lifting himself to meet her in the nearest approximation of an embrace as they could manage.

Feeling his hand there, her left took his right and guided it to her womb.  Wordless she held it there as she kept kissing him just as she had a thousand times in dreams.  Tears welled in her eyes, but she felt nothing but the impossible bliss that only someone witnessing a miracle first hand could ever possibly know.  

God had done as she asked.

Leaning her forehead against his, pulling her lips from his reluctantly, she managed one single breathy word - his hand still held over the small roundness in her lower midsection.

"Hello."

As aurora pulled back Billy found himself looking into her eyes, then down at where she had placed his hand, and back to her eyes again. He knew her body. He knew every inch of her. She had been seared into his memory, no it was more than that, but Billy had no idea how to express it. She was a part of him, just like his size, or his heart. There were things about him that he could not change, and how well he knew Aurora Byrne was one of those things. He could never forget things about her he knew now, he could only ever unlock more secrets. And so, he gently stroked the low part of her stomach, the part where there was something different.

"I love you."

It was the only thing he could say, the only thing that mattered. For as much as he told Gavin a moment ago he did not need to leave, Billy was immensely grateful that it was only the two of them in the room. No, he was wrong there.

"It's only the three of us now."

He uttered the words under his breath to correct himself more than anything else, but when Aurora nodded to him, he knew that she had heard him, and he knew what that meant.

He all but leapt out of his chair and pulled her into a hug. He did not squeeze, still unsure of what might or might not hurt her, but there was no way he could not hold her now. He would hold her every day until he couldn't hold only her any longer. Then, he would hold both of them.

She felt a wash of relief as he pulled her into his arms.  

"I should have told you as soon as I knew..."  she whispered against his neck, nuzzling into him.  "I wanted to so many times.  I just... I wanted to wait until you proposed so it didn't feel like you were asking because of the baby.  I know now how silly that was... and I love you too."

She kissed him on the side of his neck, speaking between kisses.

"I should have told you every day.  Every chance I got.  I love you."

She kissed his neck.

"I love you."

She kissed his neck again.

"I love you."  

She kissed his ear lobe and spoke in a hot breathe, "I love you... my Billy, and I'll never miss a chance to tell you again, not so long as I live."

Billy pulled back from her finally, and sat back down and sighed. It was as if the weight of the world had left him. He made it home, Aurora was alive, everything else would fall into place.

Except. He needed to tell her everything. He needed to get her on the same page as he was so she could figure out what to do. She was the smart one. She would know what to do.

But Oscar had said it was stress. And Gavin said that if she even looked off that he should get the doctor. Firs the first time in any encounter with Aurora, Billy sat and swallowed his tongue.

"Roar. I'm going to tell you all of the good news and all of the bad news, I promise. But I'm not allowed to right now cause there is something wrong with you. That's why your in the hospital. Oscar said it was stress, so we can't talk about stuff right now. I don't know what that means, that you're stressed. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, or how to help. I just know I don't want to sit here all quiet. So let's talk about your guns."

It was the only thing he could think of that was an every day thing for her. Something that she took seriously, but that she would never get upset about. He opened his jacket slightly so she could see a glimpse of the pearl handle underneath.

"When's the last time you cleaned em? Cause it looks like you dropped one."