Gavin shook his head.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Tara when she asked me a few months ago. I've met a lot of Russians. Killed a bunch, too. Shit, I was even in the country for a week or so when you were a kid. I was helping a few rich families flee the country. Met an old friend there named Alexander Knight. But I don't remember any Volkovs. And Alena Petrov..."

He paused, thinking, then shrugged.

"Nope. Nothing. I'm sorry, 'Rora, I wish I could help you make sense of things. Maybe we can connect the dots in Moscow, but I've got nothing."

After a few more quiet steps, he spoke again.

"Tara told me she handed this whole business over to you. She thinks that I'm still not thinking right, from what happened to your mother. Did you think about how you wanted to approach this?"

Aurora looked at her dad and asked him, "Before we go there... the plan I mean, I gotta ask if you think she has a point.  I mean... Aunt Tara's been gone a while and there's no doubt you've changed over the years, but she's always known you about as well as anyone ever could.  You could argue that no one living knows more about who you are than her."

She shrugged, she supposed she might be in the running for that but there was a lot of her father's life she wasn't around for.  So, in many regards, Aunt Tara was better able to speak to who he was as a complete person.  Hell on some biological level, they were almost the same person really.

"Do you think mourning mom is affecting you in some way that we all should be worried about?  Is this bastard going to have some edge on you because of this?"  She arched an eyebrow.  "No one but you really knows that... and it's a fair question to consider even if it hurts to think about."

Gavin sidestepped a rock, kicking it away with one of his bare feet.

"You have nothing to worry about. She's... not herself right now. There's something wrong with her, and I can't put my finger on it. I've seen her lose, but it's always been a temporary setback. I'd ask her about things, now that she hopefully got some sleep."

They continued walking in silence for a while.

"I'll always be affected by the loss of your mother. I still haven't slept in a bed since she died. I'm drinking more, but not enough to dull my abilities. There are times when I feel... bad... but I have a lot to motivate me: you, Will, your kids. I don't know if Tara truly understands that. I think she sees me and assumes I'm feeling the same way that she did when she lost Will. She was adrift, after he died. I think it was too painful for her to stay."

Aurora found anything to look at but her Dad's face as she said, "I wish I had been older when it happened, that I could have really understood and been able to do something to keep her as close to us as she used to be.  Maybe things would be different."

"And don't feel bad about the drinking or the not sleeping in the bed thing... I get it.  If I had been able to drink when I thought Billy was dead I don't know that I would have sobered up.  I'm pretty sure I would have gone on a somewhat epic hedonistic bender that would have been a thing of legend... in many ways, I suppose I have little Gav to thank for me not totally driving my life into a damn wall at top speed.  Comparatively, your chosen ways to grieve don't seem half so bad as the dumb shit I was at least wishing I could do - and if I'm being 100% honest, maybe I wish I had done."

She smirked and dared to glance at her dad before the smirk faded and she looked away again.

"I'm not worried mom dying is a weakness for you because... well, I saw you that day.  The worst day.  The worst moment.  I never was more proud of you or loathsome of myself."  She admitted to him in a near whisper.  "I knew then the absolute love you bore for her... and for us... and I... saw how powerful a man you really are."

She shook her head.

"Volkov doesn't know what he's hunting.  He's likely pegged you as older, grieving, and at your weakest... but every part of me says that he's wrong.  Like Aunt Tara he can't account for some parts of who you are because he doesn't share them with you."  She drew a breath, "But now... I do... and I get what happened that day in the woods."

She knew it was dangerous to admit this... to give him ammunition but she wouldn't lie or omit to him this -- not after she'd said so much already. 

"I've made Billy swear to me, we'd always make the same decision you did that day, if we found ourselves in that position.  Thoughts of the kids are a factor here... it's not lost on me why you want me to stay out of this, I know it's not because you don't think I can do it and I don't think it's arrogance or suicidal notions on your part either.  It's born of the same place you've been since that day... you stepped on a new path.  It's how you think now and I know she'd love you even more for it."

There was both a sadness and joy in her voice, but mostly honesty.  They hadn't talked this much about that day, not really since it happened.  Here and there, small comments.  Looks.  Even a hug or two at a moment when the unspoken was so loud it hurt.  But generally speaking, she didn't have to SAY what she thought.  Her dad always just knew, the same way she felt she mostly KNEW his thoughts too.

It had been the reason for putting on her workout clothing this morning.  It had been the reason for her distraction... the nagging voice of her mother echoing in her ears distantly.  A knot growing ever tighter in her stomach.  They were not likely to agree on the path ahead and how to traverse it.  And this conversation was about to dive right into the thick of it.  Once it did, Aurora was certain there would only be one way forward and it terrified her.

Gavin rested a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"Thank you for that, Rora. But I couldn't help but notice your phrasing there, as you said 'you want me to stay out of this'. Does that mean you have decided you want to go to Moscow?"

"Someone is coming for my family.  The best information we have says that waiting for him to come isn't wise.  We have some leads that can be followed and I'm one of the best and most capable people in this family to go after those leads.  If I hadn't been training for THIS day all my life Dad, then what was it for?"

She stopped and looked him in his blue eyes. 

"This is it... the dark day when the odds are against us and we're in a corner with only our wits, our guns, and each other.  Luckily we got a heads up this time, unlike at Hollowpoint.  This time we stand a fighting chance, if we're smart, if we work together, if we trust in each other and our strengths."

Gavin cracked his neck and began stretching.

"If I were you, I'd want to do the same thing. And... I don't disagree with you. But."

He smirked. There was a small amount of sadness, there, but more good humor at the moment for the short term.

"Who's to say you haven't lost your touch during the last year? If you're so intent on going on this thing, you're going to have to show me you've still got it. Nothing that reduces how efficient we are, though. Just... enthusiastic sparring. Like the old days. And when I knock you on your ass, you'll feel more comfortable about me going off to Russia without you. I win, I go without you. You win, you go. Agreed?"

"Caveat."  she said somberly.  "Regardless of where we end up on this... no matter how we fair in our missions, no matter the losses, we never let a rift form between us.  We never let doubt and fears or pain or a desire to protect each other make us any further apart than we are now.  And if one of us doesn't come back ... the other one takes care of this family even at the cost of vengence." 

"Dad, I need you to say that to me right now.  Cause, either you're gonna be here with my kids while I run off with your twin sister... or I'm going to be here while you do the same.  People we love may be left behind or worse... we may lose someone."  A hole in her heart grew larger as she spoke, but it had to be said.  He had to promise.

"And if we do... it might be easy to, blame each other or ourselves."  she shakes her head.  "We're not going to lose them.  We can't.  But if we do.  I need you to know that YOU matter to me every bit as much as any other member of this family.  And if we should lose someone we love, I sure as fuck don't want to lose you too.  And if its one of us... I want you to know, and I need to know, that everyone else will be okay cause you're there - or I am."

She arched an eyebrow, "Agreed?  If so..."  she began to take off her shoes.

Gavin walked up to Aurora and rested his hand on her cheek.

"'Rora. Nothing could cause a rift between us. And you should know that I'll always choose the family over vengeance. I did already."

Maybe if she manages to win... I talk her into both of us going.

But then, who would be here to protect everyone else? 

Maybe they just stay on the plane?

He shook his head.

"Aurora, let's not make any promises yet. I'll be honest with you. I don't know what to do here. The Tara situation seems weird to me. This Who Goes, Who Stays thing... I just don't know. But maybe it'll help for us to figure out who's got the edge right now."

He leaned over and gently pushed her on her ass, landing on the grass, as she was taking off a shoe. When she looked up, he was grinning.

"But you're going to have a much easier time convincing me to stay on the bench if you can beat me."

Gavin grinned, but his focus was growing.

"Nothing involving a long term recovery. If we're going to land a punch, we'll try to take a little off at the last minute; we'll both assume that we could hit harder. If one of us ends this unable to fight, then we just fucked ourselves."

Then, the smirk. The same one from countless sparring sessions.

"Ladies first."

Aurora's pride was bruised but she could only smile.  Some of the very best moments of her life were spent this way.  Generally speaking, the fights they had were seldom serious - but once or twice, they'd gotten heated.  Her heart quickened and her eyes sparkled mischievously as she began to move and watched her father trying to anticipate her. 

Throwing one hip over the other, her right leg came outward as she spun around, preparing to stand back up again.  Ideally, her leg would connect with his but he was already moving, jumping up and towards her.  Rora, however, was a fraction of a second faster than her father.  

Her leg connected with his, brutally, and her force combined with his upward movement created a brilliant reaction she couldn't have predicted.  He came up, and then, with considerable force, he came crashing down onto the cold earth still wet with morning dew.

They were even now.  The Lioness scrambled hoping to find higher ground and advantage.  If she was to beat Gavin, she'd need it.

Aurora's leg kick had surprised him. She was faster than he expected... but was it because she was that fast? Or had he really lost that much of a step? Just surprise, probably. Pushing the thoughts away, Gavin focused and popped up to his feet, winking at his daughter. 

"Not bad."

The two Byrnes faced off as the morning sun crept over the hill between them; then they both moved toward each other. They each planted their left foot and jumped with their fists raised, mirror images prepared to pass by each other in midair.

Just before he delivered his punch, Gavin looked into her eyes and an image of Aurora as a six year old girl flashed into his mind. It was just enough to throw him off. He almost entirely blocked Rora's punch... but it did land on his cheek.

She'd landed the first two hits and, as Gavin turned to face her again, the smirk wasn't there anymore.

The idea of Aurora and Tara off in Russia while he sat back and played house with Brigitte, waiting for news... that was unsettling to him.

He had to win this. Not for his pride, but to keep Aurora here with her family. 

They think a small girl like you can't fight.  They're wrong.  Your size is an advantage in the ring.  In fact, make yourself smaller.  Give 'em less to hit.  That's it.  Keep moving.  Fast.  Make the big guy come to you.  Make him work for it.  Every step he's got a little less to give, every wiff of air he gets instead of your skin, he's one step closer to the mat.  Come on, Kid, get those hands up!

Aurora could hear her 'Uncle' Will Bowden in her head.  Encouraging her.  Instructing her and she listened.  If anyone had the knowledge of how to beat Gavin Byrne it was one of the only men who ever had.

Aurora stayed out of reach, moved a lot, forced him to follow.  Weave, bob, and dance her way away from danger.  She was young, she had stamina on her side, and her size made her father have to work to get anywhere near her.  Then, after a long moment of dodging and making him give chase, she saw an opening.

It was an overextended arm.  Darting in close she rose up to her full height beneath it using the upward force of her standing motion to put added power into her fist.  She connected with the side of his rib cage and she felt him folding away from the blow.

She'd never hit him as hard as he could hit her, but she'd make him feel every inch of this battle.  This was her day.  TODAY was going to be the first time she ever really beat her father!  For a moment the thrill of that made her almost forget why they were fighting at all.

God damn it she was fast. Was this how Bowden felt, when fighting him? No wonder the big lug always looked so pissed off. Gavin blinked as he wiped the sweat from his brow. She was wearing him out, and she could keep this up longer than he could. It was time to end this.

The thought of Will drove his actions and, faking a punch, he unleashed the Will Bowden special: a sprint straight at her with a lowered shoulder.

Gavin was usually more about speed and precision, and perhaps that's what had made this fight so one sided before. He'd taught Aurora everything he did, the way he thought, the way he faked his movements. If he was going to win this fight, he couldn't fight like himself.

So he charged her.

Aurora needed a second to react, but Gavin didn't give it to her. Like a football player, he wrapped her up and lowered his shoulder into her. 

He landed on her, though not with his full weight; no use in having her break a rib. 

Gavin rolled forward from Aurora, and they both stood up slowly to face each other again.

The Wolf was down.  Now was the moment.  She kicked up.  A gymnast's move but one she'd learned as a dancer very young.  She fell, a lot, and indignant desire to stay up caused her to perfect the movement.  She was up before the older man, she closed on him and threw her leg out to knock him back into the dirt.  

Instead, her foot stopped mid-air and she realized - he'd seen the move coming a mile away.  There was no smirk, not quippy banter, he was returning her determined gaze.  He wanted this win as much as her.  He wasn't leaving anything on the table and that was why Aurora wasn't shocked she flew through the air, twisting and coming down hard. 

Face down in the dirt, images flashed through her mind, of a life spent taking care of children, cleaning house, and watching her husband from afar as he ran off to handle problems for the family.  Not her.  It wouldn't ever be said outright.  Billy loved her too much to point out what a joke her thinking herself a professional really had been... this five-foot-nothing waif.  This pretty little mafia princess who held on to being a tomboy just a little too long.  But she'd always see the punchline... every time she looked in the mirror.  Maybe the reason she never beat her father wasn't because he was so good... but because she wasn't what she thought she could be.  And if she wasn't by now, maybe she never would be.

Will had chosen a future.  As a male in this world, he'd had that right.  She on the other hand... she was well on her way to one of the only real professions a woman could ever expect to have and keep:  Broodmare.  Maid.  Courtesan of her Husband's Bedroom.  

A desperate fire built up in her belly the likes of which Aurora had never felt before. 

NO!  I'm more than this.  This isn't all that I am!

After winning the latest exchange, Gavin felt the adrenaline kicking in. He also didn't have time to waste. Even as Aurora hit the ground, Gavin launched himself after her like a leopard falling down on its prey from a tree limb. Aurora rolled away from him- barely- and he moved in to kick her if she stopped rolling. If she tried to stand, he had a punch waiting to knock her down again.

When the dirt flew up at Gavin's face and blinded him, he had three thoughts in rapid succession.

First, he remembered doing the same to Will Bowden to knock out the larger man in their first fight, and he appreciated the universe's sense of humor.

Second, he was proud of Aurora. Volkov would fight dirty. She had to as well.

Third, he hoped that in the chaos of the dirt, whatever punch she was following up with would miss. Then he saw the fist.

It didn't miss. 

Aurora and Gavin had largely been holding back when they knew they were going to hit- but you couldn't hold back if you couldn't see. Aurora's punch traveled upward as she launched herself from the ground, and her rocket-like fist rose through the dust to connect squarely with Gavin's chin. 

The punch twisted his head so hard that, as his brain bounced off the inside of his skull, every neurotransmitter fired at once, overloading his system into a state of temporary paralysis. In layman's terms, Gavin Byrne got knocked the fuck out.

As the human being that had been Gavin Byrne was temporarily converted to an unresponsive bag of meat, he obeyed Newton's laws and awkwardly fell to the ground with the dirt. Unresponsive, he couldn't break his fall, but he was fortunate that they were on a soft area of grass and dirt. 

The dust, literally for once, settled and Aurora, breathing heavily, looked down at Gavin Byrne. He looked dead, crumpled in the dirt. But he'd been knocked out with the barest hint of a smirk on his face.

Aurora stood over her father's body, fist still clenched.  Knuckles bloodied.  She couldn't believe what she was seeing.  In the many years that a great champion fighter like Will Bowden fought her father, again and again, he'd never managed to win by knock out.  Nor had any other person living or dead - so far as she knew.

Her fists were tiny.  She was small.  A woman.  It should have been impossible and yet it was absolutely a fucking fact.  She'd done it.  She'd BEATEN the Wolf of Race Street!

She wanted to cheer and scream and ... tell her dad.  But he wasn't moving.  Still.  

"Dad?"  She asked him quietly, the last of the dust settling around and upon him.  

No response.

She knelt down to check that he was breathing.  He was.  Thank God!  "Dad?!?"  

Her whole body was shaking from the adrenaline.  She took a breath and was about to scream for help when she saw Neil and Charlie running towards her.  Charlie dressed as he was clearly still up from last night - on duty.  Neil in a bathrobe, slippers, white t-shirt and shorts.

"HELP!"  She begged them, fear & sadness in her voice.

"I'll get Billy."  Charlie went back towards the house.

Neil instantly came down beside Gavin and motioned for her to grab his feet.  Aurora obeyed and took up her father's feet.  Aunt Tara, she realized now, was standing in the doorway of the guest house, calmly watching. 

How long had she been there?

Neil and Rora brought Gavin into the house, terribly slow, and put him down on the couch as gently as they could.  He was heavier than she expected, even with Neil helping he felt like he weighed a ton.

"Daddy... please wake up."  she hadn't called him that since she was a girl.  A very, very little girl.  

Neil backed away and she came down to sit beside his face, watching, waiting and silently praying to a God she only barely believed in.

Where the fuck am I?

Gavin blinked, trying to locate himself in time and space. Then everything came crashing back to him as he heard Aurora's voice. As he responded, his voice was dazed and subdued, but audible.

"I'm fine. I'm fine."

He pulled her to him and hugged her. His head was killing him, but he grinned. He could hear other voices, but he ignored them for now.

"That was a hell of a punch. So... I have to admit I feel a little better about you taking care of yourself. My plan was to put you down so you'd realize I was the better choice to go."

Gavin sighed as he felt his daughter rest against his chest.

"That... backfired. And I have no excuses; you earned the win. So it's your call now. If you're choosing to go with Tara... is it just the two of you? Do you take me along too, and we try to keep Tara's plane in the air with the whole family just flying around like crazy so they can't be hunted? Or would you only feel safe with me staying back? It's your call now. You earned it."

"It's your call now. You earned it."

At those words, Aurora realized what this had been all along.  In some fashion, this was the way of the world, not just the Cosa Nostra but even animals in the wild.  Still, it was also a distinctly Cosa Nostra thing too.  No one took leadership of a family, or a city, without taking someone else down first.  Tara had yielded the seat on the plane... but Gavin had always been the gatekeeper.  She had to take it from him and that would not have been done without a bit of violence the only language her father ever spoke fluently thanks to a wicked monster of a man she would never - not even in thoughts such as this one - consider her grandfather.

She kissed her father's brow gently.  

"I told you, no more lone wolf bullshit."  Her voice was barely above a whisper, but where she'd known clearly what she was going to do only a few minutes ago - she now saw something she'd not considered before.  In the last seconds of the fight, in her bleakest moment, she knew how much losing your sense of who you thought you were could hurt.  And with what her father just said, she didn't know that she could sentence him to a rocking chair just yet either.   

"I wasn't just talking about you.  This is an all hands on deck situation.  We're bunkering the kids with Will... Neil and Charlie.  Oscar and his wife too.  They're family so they all go.  To take care of the kids and each other."

She put a hand on his chest, just above his heart.  "Billy and Addie are going to Italy to work an angle.  You, me and Tara are going to Russia.  Together because that's how this family works, always has and always will - as a team."  

She smiled down at him.

"A very wise man once told me that the most important thing to note about both Lions and Wolves was that they both value family... and they never hunt alone."

Gavin nodded once. It wasn't his call. He couldn't tell if he felt relieved to be going or, now that the decision was made, nervous about leaving his grandchildren. Then, he gave up his worrying. This was Aurora's show now. And it was time to pack up.

The next hour was chaotic as things were packed up. Tara called her people and readied the plane. In another hour, they'd be in the air. Now, they just needed to say goodbye.

Volkov always slept alone. He did most things alone, but even Andrei couldn't enter the room when the boss was sleeping. Not that Andrei had any particular desire to do so, which is part of why they worked so well together. As Volkov snapped awake in the hotel room, he quickly stood up and walked to the window, where he studied the landscape in front of him with a sneer. 

America. 

Greedy. Cocky. An inflated sense of self-importance.

Just like the Byrnes, really.

As his eyes ran over the Charles River, sparkling in the afternoon sun, Volkov thought about the next few weeks. He was in the endgame now; the board was cleared of pawns, and now only the essential pieces were left. Their names were inscribed onto his heart with a deep, searing hatred.

William.

Tara.

Aurora.

Gavin.

A year and a half ago, he'd sat around a small table with two other people and planned the destruction of the Byrne Empire. The list of names had seemed so insurmountable then, but now there were only four left. As Volkov looked out on the Custom House Tower and the rest of the Boston skyline, he took a deep, contented breath. He'd move quickly today, before they could hide the son anywhere. How would the boy die? Crying? Silent? It was always curious, to see how people reacted as their life poured out of them, staining the ground red. 

How would Gavin Byrne react to the death of his son? Shock? Rage? Resignation? 

The death of William Byrne would send shockwaves through the rest of the family. In the chaos of the boy's funeral, when she was at her lowest and the two most dangerous members of the family were distracted, he would finally claim Tara's life. Gavin, despite his age, was dangerous. Aurora, trained by him, could be even more dangerous- although the fact that she'd just had a child had no doubt negatively impacted her skill. He'd save them for last.

After Tara, then the daughter- perhaps her husband and children, perhaps not. He considered the question the way that some debate what to order for dinner.

No... Gavin Byrne needed to lose everything- to lose all hope before his life was mercifully ended. The girl's family would die, especially the namesake. And then, when Gavin had lived to everything he loved destroyed... then Volkov would see how long it would take for Gavin Byrne to die under his knife. 

But there was no use in getting ahead of himself. First, the boy. It would be more rushed than his usual kills, but time was of the essence. 

Volkov showered quickly, taking no pleasure in the warm water but simply testing each muscle, as he always did. He prided himself on his peak physical form; every inch of him was a perfectly chiseled weapon. He exited the shower and quickly dressed, holstering his gun, and prepared to walk out of the room. The next time Volkov would walk inside here, William Byrne would be dead, regardless of his dorm full of guards.

He was stopped by the phone. He picked it up and listened quietly before speaking in focused, precise Russian.

"When are they leaving? Who is accompanying Tara? Both of them? Where will the others be? What do you mean you don't know- can you find out? It doesn't matter; the weak ones will still be weak later. If the Byrnes are visiting Moscow, it is be there- but when would I have to leave in order to prepare a proper greeting?"

Volkov paused for a moment, narrowing his eyes.

"That would change my plans here. It can wait six hours while I eliminate... yes. Fine. You're right. I will leave immediately, and I will make sure I'm there to meet them. If they split up, it will make things even easier. Yes. Of course. Goodnight."

Hanging up the phone, Volkov moved quickly to pack. William Byrne would have to wait.