"Billy."

It should be silent.

It should be still.

A soft whimper.  Motion beside him.  Billy's mind extracted itself painfully slow from the depth of his sleep as he heard it again, clearer now, with some understanding of intention - that pained sound, that strangled pleading that came only from the back of the throat or from someone speaking in the black abyss of nightmares, "Billy."

He could see her beside him, tangled in the blanket, her motion limited.  She'd rolled back and forth and somehow got the sheet about her in an impossible fashion.  If the circumstances were different, it might be an appealing look, but her inability to move freely combined with the desperation made for a dark scene indeed.

Outside the sun would be dawning soon, but here in the hotel bedroom, it was still pitch black.  No light to call her back from the place her mind had led her... nothing but him.  Her fists and teeth clenched, she was panting, and he realized now her heart was racing.  She wasn't just sleeping fitfully.  No, she was terrified.

Billy gently grips Aurora's shoulder and shakes until her eyes begin to flutter. Rora's eyes don't seem to register reality immediately and instead, she growled at him, frantically thrashing to escape that which felt as though it held her fast and Billy too. After a moment of his superior strength keeping her from hurting him or herself, she seemed to recognize him and where she was and at last, she grew still attempting to catch her breath.

"Roar, sweetheart, it's alright. Your Billy is right here."

Rora's eyes don't seem to register reality immediately and instead, she growled at him, frantically thrashing to escape that which felt as though it held her fast and Billy too. After a moment of his superior strength keeping her from hurting him or herself, she seemed to recognize him and where she was and at last, she grew still attempting to catch her breath.

He could barely make her face out in the darkness, and yet he knew where she was for the touch of her skin and the heat of her breath.

"Roar? You awake?"

He watched as her eyes met his in the dark. Both of them had seemed to adjust their vision to the bleak prospect that was the only light available to them. Billy had a feeling that Aurora was always quicker to do that, after all she was a lioness right? Cats could see in the dark.

"Are you alright? You were calling for me in your sleep and, well, you know it didn't sound good. I'm sorry I woke you up, I just didn't like it, it scared me."

He reached over to his nightstand and fumbled around for a quick second before his hand touched the side of the glass of water he kept there. He gripped it and brought it over as he slowly sat Aurora up in the bed.

"Here, have some water. You were having a bad dream I think."

Aurora pulled herself out of the sheets and then took the water from Billy to sip.  She looked to the window as she lowered the glass and swallowed.  She nodded. 

"Nightmare."  She whispered.  "Already fading..."  She leaned against him and allowed him to pull her into his arms.

She sighed.

"Almost five by the look of it."  She yawned.

"Might as well get up now.  If I go for my run now, at least the heat won't be unbearable now."  She looked up to him.  "You wanna come with me?  Wouldn't hurt my feelings to have a friendly face out in the desert with me instead of Charlie's ugly mug behind the wheel driving along side me."

Billy nodded.

"Yeah, I'll come with you, but you gotta tell me what that was about on the way. And then tell me what you want for breakfast, cause I can't decide this early."

He smiled then and slipped out of the bed to get himself ready. A run would be different. He could run, but he never understood the people that did it for fun. Not even Aurora.

"So, where are we gonna go? Also, do we take Charlie anyway, or just the two of us?"

Aurora chuckled, "If you think you can make him stay behind... go ahead, but he hates that.  He whines like a mule if you make him stay home and you go out without a body man."

She got out of bed, naked as the day she was born, walked to her dresser and pulled out some old clothes to run in.  "There's not much to tell really.  Same sort of stuff every night.  Mom dying.  Will hating me.  You dying... me alone.  Just sometimes all mixed up.  Sometimes me ... losing the baby.  Or Brigitte to some monster I can't see."

She shakes her head and begins to braid her hair.

"It's not every night, but... often.  Less now that you're here again.  Maybe in time, it stops altogether."  She put on her shoes and laced them.  "As for breakfast... I'm thinking French Toast when we get back... how you feel about that?"

Billy nodded at the first bit. He didn't have nightmares so much as he did have a constant fear and worry that Brigitte's real parents would magically show up one day to claim her. He knew there was nothing he could do if they did. He also knew they were both very much dead. Neither of those things mattered.

"You're not going to lose the baby."

He said as he slipped on a pair of running shoes.

"As far as breakfast goes."

He shrugged.

"French toast is fine, but I think we should both shower first."

The nature of Aurora's state of undress had certainly woken Billy up, and now, breakfast was quite far from his mind. Yet, he did not want to mention anything like that to her right now. After all, she just had a nightmare. That would be the last thing on her mind. He did step over to her and kiss the top of her head though.

"We can let Charlie follow though, even if it's just for our own sanity later on in the day."

She looked up at him when he kissed her head and grabbed hold of his t-shirt to pull him down towards herself.  She kissed his lips.  "Your lips are wasted," She said as she pulled away from the kiss, "... on my scalp."

She smiled at him.  

"And of course we'll shower before breakfast.  Trust me, you're not going want much to do with me until we do, all covered in sweat like I'm going to be."  she began some basic stretches beginning with one which stretched out her quads, lifting one leg onto the small desk in the bedroom and leaning down towards it.

"I mean to give us both a good working out."  She stretched one leg and then the other.  "Well, don't just stare, you will want to limber up or you'll pull a muscle once I start putting you through the real paces."

She paused when she considered that not everyone kept her sort of routine.

"You do know how to properly stretch, right?"  She knew he didn't have a runner's form but with how he devoured food surely he MUST do something to keep his figure in such incredible shape.  "I mean... if you don't, I can show you how."

Billy nodded.

"I know how to stretch. I just don't run often, so my stretches are normally in my arms and my back, not my legs. You don't need your legs stretched out when you're beating men, or lifting crates."

He stood beside her then, and lifted his leg to the desk to imitate what she was doing. He made sure to lean in closer than he probably should have.

"Am I doing alright? Or do you need to adjust my technique?"

He smiled a mischievous smile at her and then cracked his neck.

"So what if you're sweaty by the way? Sometimes that can be a good thing. It means you're sweating out all your frustration, you're staying in shape, and best of all, it makes you glisten and glow a little bit. I like it, sometimes, not all the time mind you, but sometimes."

He nodded definitively and switched to his other leg.

"So that's where your head is this morning, Mr. Mastrosimone."  She said changing her stretch again.  "I'll tell you what... I'll cut my usual three miles back to just one BUT we make it a race and,"  She sauntered up to him, kissed his lips, "... we put some interesting stakes on it, just to inspire your very best ... performance.  What what do you think?  Do you got the stones to race me if we got something you really want riding on the outcome?  If so... name your prize."

She chuckled.  Maybe training with Billy instead of her Dad would result in less physically demanding workouts, but the recoveries would be a WHOLE lot more fun.

Billy nodded.

"Alright, one mile, and if I win you have to clean the house today. Laundry last. What about if you win though?"

He leaned forward with his arms outstretched to touch his toes while he listened to her. Aurora always managed to come up with really good prizes for herself, his stuff was always dumb and simple and pretty much revolved around the two of them spending as much time together as possible. Hers were much more interesting.

"Oh, and before you say anything. No matter who wins, I say we take Brigitte out for Ice Cream later."

"Fair enough.  Ice cream is on the agenda.  For my win..."  A smirk pulled on the corner of her lip and color rose in her cheeks. "I want you to kiss me until your mouth is sore or beg you to stop... whichever comes first... and I don't mean on my lips."  

Her chuckle was scandalous.

"AND... you don't get to do laundry until the end of the day.  Which means I have all day to delight in your sweet suffering."  She gave him a wink.  She knew where the idea came from, but she felt no shame in it.  In truth, the idea of Billy wanting her that much was intoxicating and made her considering skipping the run altogether.

But no... they needed to run.  They had to stay healthy and strong.  For each other.  For their family.  Rewards would come, but she'd make them earn them because that was the right way to run her household.  No shortcuts.

"What do you say?"

Billy lifted his head and held out his hand.

"Deal."

He shook hers and then he made his way to the door.

"I DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE OF YOU IS AWAKE NEXT DOOR BUT WE ARE GOING FOR A RUN!"

He turned and looked to Aurora.

"Figured I should let them know right?"

He chuckled then and pointed in the direction opposite where they knew the bodyguards to be staying.

"I think we should consider renting out that room too, just so I don't start to piss off the neighbors. Also, when are we going to sit down and talk about a proper house?"

He was pulling the front door open at this point.

"It's not like we are short on cash."

"Well,"  She pushed aside thoughts of what might happen this afternoon.  "To be blunt, I've been looking at houses.  I just... haven't found one that meets our needs yet.  I  suppose I'm being a bit too picky.  Maybe everything seems to fall short because it's not Hollowpoint."

She looked sad for a moment.

"Maybe ... it's this desert.  I miss the ocean.  I miss the trees. I want ... I want our dream home."  She drew a breath and sighed sadly.  "Dad told me about the house you were planning to build.  I should like to have seen a big house on the water with a ballroom and a forest for our kids to play in like Will and I did as kids."

She shrugged.

"I'm sorry... I know I should moan about what we can't control now.  I should focus on what is... but, I also wanted you to know why it's hard for me.  Maybe... maybe when you're helping me look we'll find something that feels more like home?"

Billy reached out and pulled Aurora in to him.

"Hey, you know you were gonna have to move out of Hollowood eventually right? Especially if we got married? And that meant we were going to have to make our own home. Where we build it shouldn't matter. It's the people inside it that make the difference. I'll bet you we can find a real nice spot here and build one if we want. But I've been thinking too, maybe we don't buy a house here. Maybe we build that house in Michigan, and we re-build Hollowood, and I buy a place out in Brooklyn, and we buy a place in Florida, and a penthouse suite in one of the newer casino's here. We don't have just one home, we have a bunch. We can come and go wherever we want, when we want. What do you think?"

He let go of her and looked down.

"And in the mean time, we just find a nice little place here that I can sell later for a profit."

He winked and then gently nudged her in the direction of the door.

"But for right this minute. I have a race to win. Come on you."

Aurora didn't tell him there was no way in hell she'd let them sell their first home.  Some small part of her understood and empathized with her mother's sentimental ways.  Home wasn't something she felt she could ever leave behind... just as she would never give away the deed to Hollowpoint.  It would be her mother's tomb, haunted by the ghosts of the Byrne family from now until the end of time... or until some Byrne could finally find their way back home.  Maybe Brigitte... or the baby in her belly now... or their children or their children's children.  Someone would throw open the doors on Hollowpoint again and patch up the walls to rebuild what once was... not the building but the family that had been there.

"Good luck with that, you're the size of a bear!  There's no way you beat me.  No way in hell."  She chuckled and then she started to run.  She knew the route already.  It would be a bit shorter than normal but it would take them past the park and some of the nicer parts of the tourist district.

The start was furious and she put distance between her and Billy out the gate.  Like the hare in the story, she felt sure of her right to win.  She trained every day.  Billy was untrained.  Billy was large.  Billy wasn't as fast or dexterous as her -- at least, not normally.  Aurora hadn't counted on one detail that came into play during the last quarter mile of the run... her heart.

Winded she could feel halos of light forming, she knew her blood pressure had gotten too high.  She'd run recklessly fast to win and now, if she didn't slow up she'd be back in the hospital.  

Billy closed the gap and, nearing the end of the run, passed her by.  Aurora watched his back as he reached the front steps to the hotel's lobby first and she found herself angry and bitter.  

If I'd paced myself instead of going all out...

If I'd saved something to sprint the end...

Her lips were almost pouting when she finally came to him, weak in the knees.  She forced herself to hold out her hand to him.  "Good race..." She said gasping for breath.  

"I should sit... races... not a good idea for me and baby right now."  She lowered herself down to the steps and focused on her breathing to calm her heart.

Billy's smile faded as Aurora sat down, and he instinctively scooped her into his arms.

"Do we need to go to the hospital, or are you alright?"

He looked down the street. He was tired, but the hospital wasn't far, he could make the run...

"Hey boss, everything ok?"

Charlie called from the parking lot as he was pulling the car in. Billy felt his face get hot as he realized how dumb it would have been to run to the hospital when Charlie was there with a running car. He could have crawled into a hole just then, but he looked to Aurora who shook her head at him and just breathed.

"It's fine Charlie, park the car, we're headed back up."

With that command Billy started up the stairs with his precious cargo.

"You know, you don't actually have to clean the house if you don't want to. I won't make you. I just wanted to see the angry look on your face when I made you pick up your dirty clothes from the floor."

He smiled then and pushed the door open.

"Couch or bed?"

"Now you tell me..."  She panted.  "Wanted the kisses too, will have to save that one for another day.  Couch.  Want to watch you cooking."  She smiled at him.

When put down on the couch she said, "I'll pick up the clothes... just need to catch my breath."

Billy nodded.

"If you catch your breath I promise I will spend the rest of the morning kissing you. Soon as I'm done making you breakfast."

He pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and tucked Aurora in. He knew she was going to throw the blanket off the second he walked away, but he wanted her to feel snuggled for just a minute longer without him.

After that he made his way into the kitchen, he was already sweaty, so no reason to go shower right now, cooking always made him sweaty too, but he never minded it. He closed the kitchen door slightly, and took the apron off the hook on the back. He smiled at it. It was one of the things he had sent back to Detroit for. It had stains from grease and wanton tomato spurts all over it. Yet, he had no desire to get a new one. Just as he had no desire to get a new fiancé or a new nonna. The ones he had were scarred in their own ways, but that's what made them special.

He smiled to Aurora then from the kitchen as he cracked a couple of eggs and began to make her French Toast.

Aurora laughed when he promised to spend the morning kissing her.  Very apparently she did not understand what she'd lost in their bet.  She decided it was best to let the matter go.  She didn't really feel up to that sort of excitement now.  Instead, she'd rest, watching him cook and then enjoy breakfast.

The french toast was sweet but the company was sweeter.  They talked about Brigitte and their plans for later that day. Aurora had a few errands to run for Beko, and a meeting with Don Video too though she was sure it was more personal than business.  He'd kept in touch with her after everything and she felt the man felt a connection to her through her late mother... and she definitely felt the reverse as well.  There were too few people who would speak her name now, too few in power anyway.

Cleaning up their dishes, Rora realized that she'd forgotten a small step in the plan and smirked as she asked, "Well since I lost the bet I guess there's no shower together part, eh?  You want to go first or should I?"

Billy cocked his head to the side in a bit of a confused look.

"You know we live in a desert right? I mean, from what I understand water is pretty scarce in the desert. I think we need to not be wasteful don't you?"

He gave her the most serious face he could muster. He would not break in this moment, he would follow this through as far as he could. He had a feeling it was his only real chance.

"Unless of course you think it's fine, and then I will just do the dishes while you shower and use up all the hot water."

He began to clean up the dishes, slowly putting them in the sink one piece at a time, waiting for Aurora to make the next move.