Billy nodded and kissed his wife, held her close, but did not close his eyes. His eyes never truly left the space where his half-brother-in-law stood. Billy knew nothing of this man. No, that's not true, he knew little of this man. The one thing he did know is that he had gotten a broken nose from his man, and for the first time in his life his children had been in danger.

"Everything's going to be alright Roar. I've got a death certificate here, already signed, I've got the customs forms in my briefcase with Charlie, plane is sitting in a hanger that I bought for far too much money. Everything is ready to go, you just say the word. Still your mission hun, only over when you say it is."

He looked to Volkov then and his voice almost instinctively lowered.

"Same with him. You know him, you get to make the call. Just don't leave it in my hands, cause his man is the reason Brigitte and Gav went to bunker. I'll never forget that."

He sighed and carried Aurora over toward the man, only putting her down when close enough to shake his hand.

"I'm your brother Billy. Can't say I've very much been looking forward to this, but I'm sure you can understand why."

He looked to Aurora again.

"What room am I standing guard at?"

Aurora put a hand on Billy's chest, inserting herself between the men just a little.  "It... uh... he didn't send the man to our home.  The kids and you... it wasn't his fault.  That was someone else.  I'll explain it all later, I promise."  

She took Billy's hand.  

"Dad's room is just down that hallway."  She looked in the direction of Gavin's room.  "I'll take you.  Maybe hearing your voice will do him some good." 

She tried to lead him away from Anton, giving her brother space.  He wasn't prepared to talk about his choices with someone who understood, he sure as hell wasn't ready to explain them to the protective Don, husband and father standing in front of him now.  The two men were formidable figures... the last thing she wanted was them having serious words with each other in the hospital. 

As they began to pull away towards Gavin's room, she wondered if Anton would choose now as his time to leave.  He'd said he'd stay until Billy came, but she hoped he would at least say goodbye, or something to her... to Dad.  But, if she was being really honest, she didn't think he would.  How do you say goodbye to the man you hated so long?  A man who was your father?  A man, who after years of wanting to kill him and thinking the worst things about him, you just saved the life of?  A man who killed your step-father.  A man who killed your mother.  There was too much for any of them to expect him to just give over and call himself Byrne.  No, if she were in his shoes now, she'd take the moment to disappear and that would be the last this family would ever hear from him.

Aurora's eyes lingered on him as she led Billy away towards her father's room.  She wanted to say something profound.  She wanted to give him something to remember them in some better way than he had ... to know what she's said was true but she wasn't her mother or her brother, no matter how much she wished it at that moment.  Instead, all she could do for Anton was what she would have done with Gavin.

She just held his gaze until she couldn't see him anymore and hoped that there were some things that were beyond the need for words.

The room was silent.  Dad was sleeping, as she expected.  "His lung collapsed."  She explained quietly to Billy.  "Doctor's think he'll be okay though, they got the bullet out."

She embraced Billy again.

"How are the kids... and Will?"

Billy shook his head and whispered.

"Everyone is fine. I'm the worst off out of all of us."

He gestured to his own, still healing nose.

"You take your time in here, if he wakes up I'm right outside. He doesn't need me, he needs you."

He squeezed his wife's hand then, and made his way out into the hallway to stand next to the door. Gavin needed family then, Billy wished he had brought Will in that moment. Will deserved to be here.

Aurora watched Billy walk out and stared after him.  She sighed a sigh that deflated her whole body.  Maybe everyone needed time after all.  Aurora went and sat down by her father and took his hand again gently rubbing the back of with her thumb.  He didn't stir.  In the whole of her life she could have dropped a pin in a room where he slept and he would have jumped up like a shot out of bed.  Not today.  

It could have been the injuries she supposed, but she felt that more likely her father needed space and there was no way in fuck to get it in a hospital.  Billy was wrong.

She pat his hand reassuringly and then put it down.  Pulling her legs up to her chest in the chair and wrapping her arms about them in an embrace she watched Gavin sleep.

Her dad didn't need her right now.  He needed to know she was okay and he needed to be left alone with his thoughts.  This was how Gavin worked.  This was who he was.  She took no more offense to it than she might the sun rising.  And yet, with Billy in the hall, Anton perhaps leaving for good, and her father sleeping silently beside her - Aurora found herself missing her mother desperately.

She let her chin fall to her chest lamenting how alone she felt without someone willing to break the silence. 

Maybe, Aurora considered, she was more like Bella than she thought...

_________

Aurora woke to Billy touching her arm and the scent of food.

"You need to eat."  he said, urging her up from her seat.  "Charlie brought some things.  Had as hell to order food in this country when you don't speak a word of Russia but it smells edible."

"Something hot?  God, I was beginning to think all they had in this country was dry sandwiches."  She made a joke and stood up, stretching.  Billy had managed to quietly bring in one of the tiny tables from the lobby - the sort that held the local papers she realized.  It looked like he was attempting to make it feel something less sterile, something like he might have done for her at home.  Meals, she knew, were important to Billy.  They weren't just about the food, but the people at the table.  He was like mom in that way and it made Aurora smile.

"It looks good."  She said sitting down in the rickety old chair he'd dug up to put at the magazine table.  She picked up the dinged up fork and smiled at it realizing it was one of two.  He'd come in to eat with her.  She looked up to his eyes, "You look good."

She looked down towards the floor and put her foot alongside his for the first time since Billy had told her that he'd shared that detail with her father.  She looked up and met his eyes then.  Billy already had his fork in hand and then she did something that caught him off guard.  

Aurora crossed herself, "Bless us, O Lord,"

As she began to pray, Billy's voice joined hers.

"...and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen." 

As she finished they both crossed themselves and their eyes met.  Aurora smiled.  It had been the first time she'd ever lead them in saying grace, the first time they'd ever said it - together. 

Things had changed.  Her mom and Tara were gone.  Race Street was gone & there was no more a desire for revenge - not really.  She was never going to live at Hollowpoint again, her home was a desert den now... a rocky place, she realized, a home for lions.  She was married and had kids ... maybe one day she'd have more.  And despite all her thoughts to the contrary for her whole life... her father was mortal after all, and inconceivably, she had another brother whom she hoped to get to know better one day... God willing.

Her whole world had changed, and not in small ways... but despite all the chaos & pain, some things would always remain the same.

As Billy put down his hands and picked up his fork he looked to Aurora.

"So, do you want to talk a minute? Cause I got something I want to get off my chest."

He watched as she nodded to him, and slowly ate her food. He could tell that she wanted to let out a sigh, that she was going to break if one more thing this world decided to pile on to her was dropped at her feet.

"I think we should have another baby."

It wasn't exactly dropped at her feet. And she wouldn't be alone this time, that was important.

"I don't want to miss a thing this time, and after all of this crap, I just want to be happy. And there's nothing in the world that makes me happier than you and me and Gav and Brigitte. We can wait a little while if you want. Get things settled with all of this. But I don't think we should stop just cause Gav came along."

he took a bite of his food then and reached out with his free hand to brush a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"You know, I uh, your hair..."

"Do you like it?"  She asked him in a quiet voice. 

"It'll grow out and fade with time but I could dye it back.  It's just... I thought maybe I'd keep it this way for a while.  I know how much I liked people mistaking me for Bella's birth daughter when I was little and there's so little that Brigitte can find between us that looks similar.  I mean, she's got blue eyes like Dad and Will... but her hair is curly, mine is straight.  Her's is blonde and I'm a brunette.  I'm ... short."  She admitted reluctantly, "And I can already tell she's going to have legs that go on endlessly."

She chuckled, "She'll be a magnificent beauty one day.  You and Dad are going to have your hands full running off the boys."

Billy smiled at Aurora.

"I don't care what your hair looks like. Hell I barely noticed it till just now when I went to move it. Your hair doesn't make you who you are, it's your eyes I stare at."

He chuckled as he took a gulp of water and almost choked. It was like fire running down his throat. He had made a huge mistake, he had taken a big gulp of it thinking it was water and now he was about to cough.

"God in heaven! Is this the only thing these people drink?!"

He shook his head then and did manage a cough.

"Anyway. Lions all have blond hair anyway right? Might as well keep it for a while."

He tried a smile again, but coughed as soon as he spread his lips.

"Charlie, fuck's sake man, water!"

Aurora burst out laughing at the sight of Billy choking on vodka.  GOD!  It felt good to laugh.  Her smile didn't fade as she took his hand in her own while he was calling over his shoulder to Charlie.  When he looked back to meet her, their eyes met and she simply said, "Okay."

She could see his confusion and so she clarified, "When we get back.  We'll get started right away."

She watched it dawn on him that she meant that they would start trying to get pregnant again. 

"- but we hire a nanny.  I'm never leaving you... not at home, or at work.  We're a team, that's how it is, until my last breath... it's you and me."

She squeezed his hand.

"I'm just ... slowing down to focus on things that matter to me.  The children need their mother around... and my husband, the Don, needs his wife.  Besides... I've had enough adventure to last me a good long while.  There are a million things to do to get The Den situated not to mention the HQ and of the two of us, I'm best suited to it... not because I'm a woman but because I've worked with & have been ditching security details my whole life."

She smirked.

"Besides, you'll need me focused on all that if you're breaking your back trying to make sure we're entrenched and not going anywhere.  Las Vegas is our home now - we're not refugees there on Beko & Video's good graces anymore.  It's time I start really treating it that way."

She stared long into his eyes.

"You haven't heard a thing I've said since you realized I said we could start making another baby ... have you?" She was only half-joking.  He'd heard her, but he was definitely hanging on the part he liked best.

Billy shook his head.

"I've heard everything, and there's a lot of work to be done, but I plan on doing it. All of it. I'm not going anywhere. I can make Vegas a home, for the kids more than anyone else. It's never going to feel quite the same as Philly or Detroit for either of us, but they never need to know that."

He squeezed her hand and nodded as Charlie put down a pitcher of water.

"Charlie is someone else I have to talk to you about."

He watched as the man's face twitched for a second. It was the most telling act Charlie had ever made in front of Billy. The Don had finally gotten through to him.

"He saved my life. I owe him a lot more than a Christmas bonus."

He watched as his bodyguard of years breathed out a held breath and then closed the hospital room door behind him as he stepped outside.

"Something to think about. In the mean time, let's just get home. Enough talk about other crap. I am tired, you are tired. I say we smoosh these chairs together, and I lay down uncomfortably between them, and you curl up on top of me. You dad might have the best bed in the room, but you can get pretty comfy if I remember correctly."

Gavin woke up when he heard the footsteps in his room- just barely. His semi-conscious brain told him that the only person moving so quietly would be Aurora. Gavin sighed.

"I wish," he said without opening his eyes, "that your mother was here."

"I do not think you do," replied Volkov, matter-of-factly. 

Gavin's eyes snapped open and he paused his ragged breathing for a moment before saying, "Sorry. I thought you were Aurora."

"I know."

Gavin studied his son carefully. There was a resemblance there, though not an obvious one. He could see it in eyes and in the graceful movements more than anything. But... a slightly different nose, broader shoulders, and a more muscular physique. Gavin looked at his son and neither one of the blinked or said anything for a long time. Gavin broke the silence first.

"I'm sorry I didn't know about you. I would have rescued you. Something. I tried looking her up a couple times, but nothing ever came of it."

"You," said Volkov, "have many things you need to apologize for, I am sure. That, however, is not one of them. I came to tell you that I am leaving."

Gavin nodded, unsurprised, before asking "Where will you go?"

"I emptied my mother's account," said Volkov, "so I can go just about anywhere I want to. I traveled a lot, but it was always on the job. I may visit the places I went to before. To try to make amends. And to see the places."

"Do you have other questions for me? Things you want to talk about?" asked Gavin.

"Someday, perhaps," replied the Russian. "Not now. I have things I need to figure out on my own."

"I understand," nodded Gavin, "but I have a question for you, before you go." Volkov's eyes focused on Gavin as the older man continued speaking. "Stella DiVasio. Catania. Sicily. Did she die quickly? Well?"

Volkov looked at Gavin steadily as he replied "Quickly. No torture. She shot through herself, through her chair, to try to kill me. I finished her off-"

Gavin's eyes still flashed, despite the pain and the drugs.

"-as a mercy."

Gavin took a deep breath and nodded.

"When you're ready, we can talk. Find me. If I get bored... I might find you first. But it will just be to talk. Take care of yourself, Ant-... what do you prefer that I call you?"

Volkov considered the question carefully, before answering "For now... Volkov. Anton Zolotov was a tool. Volkov, at least was a more effective one. It is the name I earned my reputation under. And... perhaps it is not inappropriate."

Gavin nodded at his son. Volkov returned the nod and left the room.

Volkov exited Gavin's room to find Billy and Aurora eating and talking. He approached Aurora and stood with his arms crossed in front of him. 

"Aurora, it is time for me to leave. Thank you... for not making things more difficult in the car. For sharing as much as you did. If you hadn't, this might have ended very differently. I am glad that I spent the last week as I did."

Not apologizing, but acknowledging the he was interrupting, Volkov gave Billy a small nod.

It was as much as a touching farewell as she could hope for, he didn't strike her as the hugging sort, but he wanted to thank her, and he chose to focus on the best parts of their time together, which she appreciated.

"I am too."  She agreed with his statement that their time together was well spent and she found herself speaking before she'd thought better of it. 

"You know, Tara told me that Volk means Wolf in Russian.  When you get done... remember what I said about the door.  Wolves don't do so well on their own.  Okay?  Even if you don't stay, the door is always there.  As for us - I had wanted to fly home, but the doctors tell me with a punctured lung there is no way Dad is getting on a plane for months.  If we're gonna get home before my daughter's birthday, it looks like we'll be taking a train to Spain and a boat back to the States.  From there I suppose we can drive but it's gonna be a long ass trip.  So... just don't come by for drinks too quickly, okay?  I'd hate for you to show up and we're still in transit."

Aurora chuckled, she was NOT looking forward to a long trip home.  She wanted to be there now, but if her father couldn't safely travel by air, then neither would she.

Volkov frowned. He studied her for a few moments before his gaze flicked to Billy.

"Go be with your children. Take the plane. I will take the old wolf home. I was planning on heading west- to wander, to visit where I was before and see what can be salvaged or improved. I will take him with me and put him on a boat when he reaches the Mediterranean."

Aurora paused, considering.

"It is the correct thing," said Volkov. "I plan on traveling for a long time. Why not travel with a purpose? This way, you have one long flight between you and the children you showed me. Return to them in two days, rather than three weeks. I will make sure that he rests, that he reports in to you."

Billy's eyes flicked to Aurora and she didn't make a move. Instead she stood, quietly. She was thinking. He was done thinking.

"Not a fuckin snowball's chance in hell bub. Aurora's gonna fly home tomorrow, all the paperwork is with Charlie to get things through customs and settled in the States. Soon as that's done, she'll touch base and decide whether she's gonna come back and meet me along the way, or go home to the kids who miss their mama."

He didn't look to Aurora then, but instead looked directly into the eyes of the man who was responsible for everything. It was one of few times in Billy's life that he bit his tongue. He wanted to tell the man to get out. To remind him of who was responsible for it all. To remind him that, brother-in-law or not, he tried to kill his family. Tara was dead because of him. Aurora couldn't feed her own kid because of him. Gavin was clinging to life because of him. Instead, Billy managed to be diplomatic, to be a Don in another country where he had no power.

"Besides, from what Aurora tells me, you've got plenty on your plate right now to deal with. My whole world just got freed up, so I've got time to kill."

He shrugged and then put his arm around Aurora.

"It'll be alright, but hey if you want to come along for the ride for a bit, I won't say no. Lord knows Gavin is a handful."

"You are not in hell, American..."

Not at the moment, at least.

"... you are in Russia. Snowballs do quite well here."

As the man looked directly at him, Volkov studied Billy carefully, particularly the bruised face. 

"If you have your own arrangements to return Aurora to her children, this is fine. I have much to do, but no deadline by which I must do it. I also have a great deal of time to kill."

Perhaps not the best phrasing.

Volkov watched as Mastrosimone put an arm around his wife. The man was a protector of his family, and Volkov suspected that if they spent more than half an hour together it wouldn't end well. Understandable friction.

"I suspect that you and I would be less than excellent company for Byrne- at least together. 

He look at Aurora and bowed his head slightly.

"Goodbye, Aurora."

"Wait."  she snapped both at Billy for his attitude and Volkov for wanting to leave before she'd said a word for herself.

Extracting herself from Billy she turned to face him and took his hand in her own.

"Pensavo che papà fosse morto. Stava sanguinando e Anton lo aveva salvato mentre stavo ... piangendo. Se avesse voluto papà morto, l'avrebbe lasciato morire tra le mie braccia."  She explained, pain in her tone.  "Non ti piacerebbe incontrare tuo padre se hai imparato tutte le cose che pensavi di sapere essere una bugia? E se tua madre, nel suo dolore, ha manipolato la verità e ti ha usato? Mio padre merita la possibilità di mostrare a suo figlio che è un uomo, non un mostro, se è questo che vuole fare. Chi siamo noi per decidere questo per lui?"

She sighed and turned back to Volkov.

"Thank you."  she said politely, trying to push all the emotions out of her voice, trying to make her voice quieter so her father could rest in the next room and not worry for her. 

"My fa- ... Salvatore Luciano once told me that men can't afford to be reckless in the protection of those they love and many in la cosa nostra see it this way.  Billy is a good husband and father... I know you understand how hard it is to see past what you are told about a person to the truth.  He wasn't there with us... he didn't see what you did & so he can't hear your words as I do."

She took a half-step towards her brother, "Your offer is kind.  We should make it to our father and let him decide what's best.  Please... just stay and wait for him to make his choice?"

Volkov waited patiently as Aurora spoke to her husband, studying the ceiling with his hands behind his back and pretending that he didn't understand Italian. When they were finished, he said "Sono felice che tu e tuo padre abbiate un protettore."

He bowed his head to Don Mastrosimone as well. A silence reigned over the three of them for a few moments- after which Volkov locked eyes with Aurora.

"I do not wish to make things more difficult for you- either of you or your family- than I already have. I will go. You will hear from me. It is best."

Aurora's breath caught audibly as Volkov spoke in Italian.

She watched her brother yield to Billy and she glanced then to her husband only to find him visibly angered, silently watching.  What had she done?  She struggled to rethink her words, to find the offending phrase that she'd walk back & apologize for later, after all he better than anyone knew her tongue was her own worst enemy. 

Aurora looked back to Volkov and met his eyes.  

"I do not wish to make things more difficult for you- either of you or your family- than I already have. I will go. You will hear from me. It is best."

Emotions boiled up inside her.  The frustration that Billy had snapped as he did when he told her this was still her mission.  Sadness at knowing she'd have to stay away from her kids and/or Billy longer now, sorrow over losing Tara, rage at all that had been done to Anton, fear for her father, worry that he'd lose his only chance to get to know Anton and settle whatever was between them before the reaper finally caught up to the old man or Volkov's enemies got lucky.  Shit happened in the life, all she could know for sure was that tomorrow wasn't promised.  This foolishness... with Tara barely cold... gutted her.  

She stiffened her lip then.  Anton had seen more of her emotions in this past week than most people had seen in her whole life outside of her father & Alucard during her mourning for Billy.  She swallowed and found her voice calmer than she expected, "I think you're making a mistake in order to try to make another better, but I can understand why and I appreciate your intentions.  If you really need to go... then I'll pray for you and I hope to see you again someday soon."

She kept staring at the icy blue eyes that so resembled her fathers, waiting to see what he'd do, trying not to think about Billy looming angrily behind her waiting to to be dealt with when this was done.

Volkov paused.

"If you want to communicate, write me a letter. Central post office. Szczecin, Poland. It may take me a long time to reply. But if you choose to write, I will respond."

He bowed his head to Aurora and Billy.

"Goodbye."

Aurora stared after him, and after he could not hear it she softly say, "Goodbye."

For a long while, she stood watching the empty doorway, feeling Billy looming.  She thought about yelling at him, giving him a piece of her mind.  But he didn't know what he'd done.  She hadn't told him anything yet.  Nothing about Daria or her accusations of rape, nothing of how Volkov literally saw his father as a monster who needed to be destroyed.  All Billy knew was that this man's actions and choices had threatened his children's safety and taken from the world one of it's greatest minds and caring hearts... Tara Byrne.

She tried to keep all of that that in perspective as she turned around to look at her husband.  She told herself that she was ready to hear whatever he was so angry at her about, after all, what could matter so much as what they'd been through?  She thought she'd lost him twice now.  She'd buried so many people... too many people she loved.  There was nothing Billy could possibly be mad over in what she said that could ever matter so much as to overlook her relief that despite their losses - they still had each other.  

Her weary, heart-sore gaze met his hardened stare.  

"Alright," She said, preparing for the worst.