"He needs it tomorrow.  No... no... not next week.  Tomorrow.  Do YOU want to tell Don Mastrosimone you couldn't come through on schedule... cause I know how he replies to that," Aurora said, holding a bottle in little Gav's mouth while she held a phone between her ear and shoulder.  "If he sends me to come to talk to you, trust me when I say Paulie, you do NOT want me to have to find a sitter and come down to renegotiate with you. I can be far more aggressive than the last man you shook hands with and regardless you WILL do what my husband asks of you so... let's just avoid the unpleasantries and find a way to get the shipment on time."

Brigitte, lipstick smeared on her lips and cheeks, laughed wildly as she tore through the kitchen past her mom who was otherwise engaged in 'work' and too busy to notice the mischief her five-year-old was getting into.  The girl's white blonde curls bounced as she bolted recklessly into the living room dressed in a white sundress, her bare chubby feet slapping the wooden floors, struggling to keep on her mother's leather jacket that was so big on her that her whole body could have hidden within it.

Up onto the couch, she lept, bouncing repeatedly before jumping off again, arms flailing wildly at an unseen foe.  It was her tiny fists popping out from time to time that gave away her game.  Gavin had seen Aurora play this way as a girl and to a far lesser degree even William, mimicking her mother.  What the girl imagined herself to be fighting was unknown, but she seemed passionate and happy.  Even when she hit the floor and rolled scuffing her knee, she simply jumped back up and kept going.  By the look of the bruises on her little limbs, this was NOT the first time she'd played these games - nor the first time she played this agressively.

Gavin walked into the room as silent as a ghost, watching Brigitte for a moment with a smirk. Utilizing decades of experience at infiltration, he dropped behind the couch. When the little girl next launched herself into the air and threw a furious punch, she found her leap arrested at the apex as two strong hands grabbed her.

"So what are you fighting?" asked Gavin.

"Grampa!" exclaimed Brigitte.

Gavin put the girl down before she could punch him or hug him too hard in his still healing lung. He sat on the couch, resting the ankle of his right leg on his left knee to create himself a protective barrier.

"Nice jacket. Get that from your mom?"

She nodded yes to where she got her jacket, the ringlet curls flouncing with every over-exaggerated bob of her head.  "Je me bats contre les méchants qui ont cassé notre maison. Gavin est le patron et je suis ..."

Her words came out in a flurry, spoken in a high-pitched childish excitement before Gavin could see the realization of her error dawn on her face.  She stopped and for a moment had to think about her words before she started again, slower and in English.

"I fight bad guys.  Gavin is Patron..."  she winced not knowing the word before finally seeming to remember it, "... boss.. and he sent me to make sure they will not break our house again.  You can play if you like.  You don't have to fight.  You can be boss this time and tell me what to do like Mama tells Charlie and Neil what to do."

A pained expression crossed Gavin's face as he heard the French; sometimes, he missed Tara like he missed an amputated limb. Even if they taken different paths, they'd always been in each other's thoughts, and they'd talked on the phone so often that-

Gavin chased the thoughts away. They weren't helping. He smiled at his granddaughter as he sank deeper into the couch.

"I have never been a boss, actually. Well, not officially. Usually it's the women in our family who wind up being the boss. My sister Tara was a boss. Your mother is the boss now. And your grandmother was a boss, too. That's her jacket you're wearing, you know. Her name also started with a "B"- well, once she met me it did. Her name was "Bella". I'm sure you've heard many stories about her from your mother?"

"I have never been a boss, actually. Well, not officially. Usually, it's the women in our family who wind up being the boss. My sister Tara was the boss. Your mother is the boss now. And your grandmother was a boss, too..."

She climbed onto the couch and sat beside Gavin.  She took his arm and wrapped herself around.  Her blue eyes looked up to him trying to measure the effectiveness of the hug.  She was proud of herself for remembering what Grampa needed.  Mama said if Grampa talked about Aunt Tara or Gramma Bella she should hug him.  He said both names, so she supposed he must need big hugs.  She fluttered her thick eyelashes at him hoping he'd smile and when he finally did she laughed.

"That's her jacket you're wearing, you know. Her name also started with a "B"- well, once she met me it did. Her name was "Bella". I'm sure you've heard many stories about her from your mother?"

Brigitte nodded.  She looked up to Gavin, and wiping the back of her hand across her lipstick stained face getting most of it on her tiny arm she spoke, "Gramma Bella is with my other Mama and Papa."

Then, in a quieter voice obviously meant for Grampa's ears alone, she said,  "I miss my other Mama."  Her blue eyes flickered out to the kitchen after her admission, as if she feared that Aurora had heard her.

She fidgeted with a seam on the jacket.  "Bella means pretty.  Mama says that Gramma was like a queen and she had soldiers and castle in the forest by the ocean.  Mama says one day I will go there.  Can I wear Gramma's coat when we go?"

She looked up to Gavin, "Will you tell me more stories about Gramma Bella?  I will tell you stories about my other Mama, if you want?"  A little smile cracked on her face as she offered, "We can go out to your house and have ice cream since mama is working!"

Gavin smiled at Brigitte when she hugged him. How could he not? 

"Tell me about your other Mama, Brigitte, and I will tell you a story about your Gramma Bella. When your story is done, we'll take you for ice cream in that coat. You know, you might be only the fourth person to wear it. Your gramma wore it. I wore it for a little while. Now your mother wears it. And you."

Brigitte sat very still next to Gavin and for a moment her blue eyes seemed darker, like the sea as clouds pass before the sun.  Her eyes narrow and her head rolls slightly to the left as the corner of her mouth tugs upward.  Her fears of Aurora hearing her story seem to be forgotten as she speaks in a normal voice.

"Mama had all our things in gramma's blanket."  The little girl looked as if she struggled to hold onto details which, for one so small, might normally have flittered off to the place all childhood memories eventually go to make room for more important and recent memories.  And yet, Brigitte seemed to know some things she must guard against losing forever.

"We slept together very close, on the bed by the ceiling and the other mamas slept on beds below us.  I was scared of being up so high so she would let me touch the lily flower on her arm while she sang to me." 

She wet her little lips and sang with an impossibly melodious voice for one so young, "Dodo, l'enfant do, L'enfant dormira bien vite Dodo, l'enfant do L'enfant dormira bientôt. Tout le monde est sage Dans le voisinage Il est l'heure d'aller dormir Le sommeil va bientôt venir."

When she finished her song she smiled brightly.  "You can clap now.  My story is done."  

Fleur de lis on her arm... a prisoner. Gavin clapped enthusiastically for Brigitte's story- both in the telling and what she'd had to deal with to make it to this point of her life.

"That is a very nice song, and you are a very nice singer. Why do you go tell your mama our plans? She'll be less likely to throw something at you if you interrupt her on the phone, I think."

Brigitte ran out to the kitchen.

"No, I'm glad you see it my way.  Honestly, it's for the best and look, if you get into a bind again, just call.  You can't go to ground at a time like this - the Don WILL find you and it'll be worse if you're not honest with him.  Billy doesn't want to burn bridges..."

"Mama!  Mama!  Mama!"  

"... he's trying to... you know what... um... I have an urgent... thing."

"Mama!"

"I'll call you back."  She hung up.  "Sweetie... where... are you wearing my lipstick?"

"I'm going to work!  Grampa is gonna take me for ice cream and he says I can wear Gramma Bella's coat and he'll tell me a story!"

Aurora paused and looked down at the coat, her eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the stains at the cuffs.  She pushed the thoughts away of Russia, of poor Tara, and Anton... wherever he was.

"Alright." She said softly, bending down to kiss her daughter's head.  "No more lipstick though and you bring my coat back when you're done, okay?"

She nodded emphatically, hugging Aurora before darting back to Gavin's side.  Aurora looked out of the kitchen into the Den and gave a smile to her father.  "If you want, take Neil with you.  I'm not going anywhere.  Gav needs a nap and I've got three more guys to call before Billy's home for dinner... ideally I don't need to go out at all today." 

Just then the phone rang and Aurora sighed.

"Duty calls... have fun guys and eat some ice cream for me!"  She went back to the phone and picked it up.  "Hello?  Pita, glad you called.  Look I need you to do some digging into something for me..."

Brigitte took Gavin's hand and tugged it gently, "Can we go now?"

Gavin smiled at his daughter, but the smile was bittersweet. 

Aurora loved her daughter, but it was hard not to see the patterns of Bella doing the same thing to Aurora: taking a phone call or seventeen while Gavin handled the kids. He sighed as he moved through the door. It wasn't so bad: Bella had managed to balance her family and her work... some of the time.

Perhaps Aurora did need to hear that comparison- but then again, perhaps it was just the chaos of establishing oneself that took up so much of his daughter's time.

Saving the question for another day and chasing it from his mind, as he so often did, Gavin took his granddaughter's hand. He saw Neil waiting near the front door.

"Busy day, Neil?"

Neil shook his head.

"Want to come with us?"

Neil looked through the wall toward Aurora with questioning eyebrows. After decades with the man, Gavin understood him better than almost anyone.

"No, she's not coming with us. Too much work to do."

Neil sighed and shook his head ruefully. Gavin understood. After everything that had happened with Bella, Neil avoided leaving Aurora as little as possible. With a wave and a short burst of French, Gavin and Brigitte headed outside. A few minutes later, they were sitting in a public park, both working on large cones of vanilla ice cream- although Gavin had brought a dish in case his granddaughter couldn't handle the pressure of a cone.

As he looked at a splatter of ice cream fall towards the leather jacket, Gavin quickly caught it with his napkin. Brigitte hadn't noticed. As he prepared to tell the story, he found the memory so vivid that he almost relived it.

24 Years Earlier

Gavin's voice emerged from the bathroom as his sister lounged on his bed- spreading out her jacket to lay on top of. Her brother's standards of cleanliness did not precisely line up with her own. Tara rested her head back on her jacket, pondering new additions to recently opened Pier with one half of her mind while speaking to her brother with the other. She listened to his exasperated 

"I mean, I just don't know if I've ever been on a date before."

"You take women out all the time. Dinner. Dancing."

"Those aren't dates. Those are just... pre-sex rituals."

"Well, you have only yourself to blame. If you start courting a woman by whisking her out of the country, crashing sports cars, sleeping with her on top of a building, and punching one of the largest land mammals on the continent... well, a 'real date' is going to feel like a letdown."

"I'm not courting her. We're just having fun."

"Well, you'd better be careful with your fun. When Jack launched the Pier, Isabella was his first invite to tour the place. Jack wants to be in bed with her, in the business sense. You literally hopping into bed with her isn't making things easy here. Isabella can be an intermediary with both Detroit and Chicago; Jack wants to pitch them this new boxing idea with Will Bowden..."

Tara got distracted saying the name, but continued.

 "...and if you fuck this up..."

The sigh from the bathroom was audible, and Tara glared at it before changing her thoughts midstream.

"... there are thousands of women in this city. Why did you have to go after her?"

Gavin emerged. Even though they were twins, he seemed years younger than Tara. Perhaps it was the lack of responsibility. 

"I don't know, okay. She's just fun. Leave me alone, huh? I can handle this myself."

Tara grinned as she spun the clock around on Gavin's nightstand.

"Can you, brother? Looks like you're running a little late..."

Gavin scowled at her... but within 30 seconds he had his shoes on and was running out the door.

The townhome in the heart of Philadelphia created a very unique space for a restaurant.  Verti Cucina, or cooking glass as it translated, felt more like an intimate dining room in some Italian countryside than a high-dollar restaurant in the city of Brotherly Love.  The whole place could hold thirty people, Izzy Luciano knew, she'd counted ... it's the sort of thing one did when their date was late.  You counted and you noticed things hoping that your roguish lover hadn't found something more shiny to hold his attention and to lavish his affections upon.

She glanced at her watch, nearly thirty minutes late... she decided she'd give him the benefit of the doubt but the fear in her gut was that Gavin was flighty.  He was also a hopeless womanizer of the worst sort and she shouldn't have been shocked that he'd seduced her so utterly on their whirlwind tour of Montreal only to drop the ball completely when he had to return to reality.  Men like Gavin weren't made to be dependable. They were things of fantasy, not flesh, good for a weekend but not forever.

She sighed and picked up her wine.  

Ten more minutes.  

Ten minutes and she'd go back to her hotel... or to a speakeasy to get well and truly drunk.  Or maybe she'd do what she meant to the last time she came here and track down William Bowden.  If she was going to secure that one for her future, there was really no time like the present.  Who knew, maybe she'd tell him about the scoundrel Gavin and enjoy letting her new boyfriend give her lover a what-for before settling down with the Golden Boy for good. The thought of the two men fighting for her affection did tickle her fancy ever so... the bad boy and the hero, what girl didn't want to think the man of her dreams and her daydream would both want her so utterly they'd actually fight for her?  

She looked at the door.  Still no Gavin.  Maybe he really was a man of her daydreams... not real.  Illusion.  A love affair she'd had with herself in her head and nothing more -  a way to try and let go of the memory of Elias once and for all so that she could move on with her life.  Right now there was probably a buxom blonde sitting on his lap kissing him or a 'too-fast' red-head having her way with the blue-eyed incubus who had made her so utterly forget her sorrow in Montreal.

"More wine, Miss?"  The waiter asked.

Izzy nodded grimly, "Why the hell not?" 

Nine more minutes, Gavin Byrne ... and not a moment more!

I need to learn how to drive a fucking car, thought Gavin for the 37th time as he fought his way across the city. Not that it would help much with all the traffic.

Stupid fucking civilization.

By the time he reached the neighborhood of Verti Cucina, he was sweating. Checking the position of the sun in the sky and cursing, he glanced at the buildings around him.

He was in the suitmaker's shop for about a minute and a half, walking out with a new suit still on the rack and briskly moving across the street to a bed and breakfast, where he slammed on the bell several times to get someone's attention. He threw a $20 bill at the proprietor, took the key, and was half undressed by the time he got out of the lobby. Four minutes later he walked out onto the sidewalk, showered and in a new suit. 

A man tried to pick Gavin's pocket as he crossed the street, and Gavin didn't even stop walking as he spun and punched the man, laying him out on the hood of a taxi that had pulled up behind them. Smirking for the first time in a while, Gavin made his way inside the restaurant. 

Bella was there, with barely any wine left in her glass. He approached the table and slid onto the chair opposite her.

"Sorry I'm late."

She arched an eyebrow at Gavin and a smile threatened at the corners of her mouth.  "I very nearly went to go find a good time somewhere else.  Figured you must have gotten held up by something dreadfully dull and decided you just couldn't keep up with me."

She held up her wine glass in a silent request for a refill.  The vintage wasn't great, maybe in ten years it would be a solid drink for a Don to be enjoying, but she honestly hadn't wanted to invest in an expensive bottle if Gavin was going to be a no-show anyway.  Better she drops her dime on good drinks elsewhere if she needed to lick the wounds on her bruised ego after getting stood up.

"I'm glad you decided to take the risk.  I promise this time I won't go so fast with you." 

'Hot Rod' opened her purse as Gavin poured the wine.  She produced an envelope.  It was thin, white, and had the name 'Gavin' on the outside in her handwriting.

"Since our first date was so unconventional... I thought I'd keep going with the trend.  Bring you a gift instead of expecting you to bring me one."  she put the envelope down in front of him.  She picked up her wine to take a drink while he opened it to find a receipt inside.

Big Moe's Taxidermy

1 Bull Moose Head ........ $1,300

Thank you for your patronage.

"Now, don't laugh too hard, but I expect to see that displayed somewhere important if I'm ever visiting your home.  It will take them three months to finish it ... something about the repairs they need to do ... but when it's finished it should be one hell of a reminder of our trip, don't you think?"  

Gavin leaned back in his chair comfortably, having caught his breath and settled himself after the chaos of getting him here.

"I very nearly went to go find a good time somewhere else.  Figured you must have gotten held up by something dreadfully dull and decided you just couldn't keep up with me."

"Well, you could try to find a good time somewhere else. You might've been spoiled by me, though. Every other man's going to seem a little too tame."

He stopped the waiter from filling his wine glass with a hand and a grin. Gavin had been doing work and letting Tara manage his money for years, taking a few bucks from her whenever he needed it, but now he was aware just how much he had in the bank.

"Whiskey, please. And how could you go faster with me, Hot Rod, unless you were planning on stealing a train?"

He spoke it sarcastically, then seemed to consider the possibly and tilted his head to the same. 

Gavin's poker face served him well as he opened the envelope and stared down at the paper, replaying Bella's words in his head before responding.

"Don't laugh too hard" = It was amusing, but not a complete joke.

He grinned at her as his mind tried to process what the words might have said.

"I expect to see that displayed somewhere important... three months to finish... repairs" = The car? Something to do with the trip... but a car can't fit in a home... maybe just the steering wheel? Fixing the leather? Not sure, don't commit.'

"It's perfect, but I might have to upgrade my home just to fit this gift."

He chuckled, prepared to deflect the conversation forward.

"As if I need any more reminders of that trip. I think you carved your name on my back with your fingernails..."

Gavin grinned wolfishly, accepting his whiskey from the waiter.

Izzy blushed and picked up her wine glass speaking quietly into it before drinking. 

"I didn't hear you complaining at the time."  It was bold, far bolder than she'd dared to be with any man before Elias, but Gavin made her feel bold and so trying to match his naughty wit felt as if it were the most wonderful game.  Still, she hoped no one else heard.  What would they think of her?  She swallowed the wine, the red in her cheeks almost as bright as a firebrand.  This nice restaurant was the sort of place she might be recognized.  A place where people she did business with often came, acting the part of a brazen floosey here was... in a word, dangerous ... but fun. and before Montreal it had been six months since she'd really smiled as much she was smiling now!

Izzy leaned back in her seat.  

"And I don't need to steal a train... I have a controlling vote on the board of directors with a railroad.  The train runs from New York to Detroit and on to Chicago.  If you really want to, we could fly up to New York and we can see just how fast a train can go when I open up the throttle and really let loose.  Granted... we'd never know if linguini here is as good as I'm told." 

Under the table, Izzy brought her foot cautiously alongside Gavin's as she had done at the bar while they played poker.  She watched his face closely, wondering if he'd think it accidental or if he'd realized she'd done it now as she'd done it then... because she wanted to touch him but circumstances being what they were, she knew that wasn't going to go as it had in the dive bar they'd visited.  

The waiter came up just then and asked, "Good evening, can I start you folks off with an appetizer?" 

"I hear the stuffed mushrooms are pretty good here."  She picked up the menu, opened it and asked Gavin, "What do you want?"

Gavin winked, letting the discussion of fingernails go for now.

"Controlling vote on the board of the directors..."

He yawned dramatically, but he grinned again as her foot reach out to caress his. Gavin studied the menu intently before closing it.

"Yea, that sounds good to me. Lady's choice tonight- with everything."

Gavin smiled as he sampled more of his whiskey.

"Well, maybe not everything."

He raised an eyebrow as he studied Bella's face.

"So... Montreal. Glad you went? Wish you never came back? Did you get in trouble for vanishing?"

Gavin smirked, continuing to drink, the previous stress of his day bleeding away.

"You're lucky my father hasn't put you into a hospital yet."  she looked to the waiter.  "Stuffed mushrooms for the appetizer and go ahead and put in an order for the linguini for both of us since my date is being so accommodating."

The waiter smiled, "Yes, Miss."  He then walked away.

"I think my guys won't spill the beans on you though so, you can rest easy.  One of them wasn't too keen on me spending time with you but he likes his tongue a whole lot and the younger one likes you real well."  She chuckled.  "Of course, it might be worth noting he's considered a little slow by most people's standards."

She sipped her wine again.

"As for Montreal..." She sighed.  "I bought some land just outside the city just this week.  Turns out a small parcel of land near a certain creek was for sale after I found the right dollar amount to offer the previous owner.  I'm going to put a cabin there.  When it's finished I was sort of hoping you might join me for a weekend of fishing."

She leaned towards him, unintentionally causing her foot to slide across his under the table.  "And, for what it's worth, I am glad we went and I do regret leaving so soon.  I've found myself replaying the whole trip over and over in my mind, regretting that there was so much of that city I have yet to see.  So... once that cabin is done, you... me... and my schedule completely cleared in advance."

She smirked, "You're an addictive personality Gavin Byrne, an easy way for a girl to get out of her own head for a day or two and it's JUST what the doctor ordered.  How about you though?  Tara Byrne's mischievous brother... oh I've heard more than a few tales since returning home.  Your reputation proceeds you.  I bet she and Jack Mezzo are giving birth to kittens collectively when they found out you ran off with me to another country."

She laughed.

"How much trouble are you in and... better question, was it worth it still?"

Gavin grinned when he heard about the cabin.

"Sounds like you're fishing for me as well, huh? I could spare a weekend, although I'd have to check my busy schedule. Are we going to use poles this time? Or do I have to wade in and do it by hand again?"

He shrugged, drinking some more and enjoying the buzz of the liquor and Isabella's company. And the sexual tension.

"And let's get one thing straight. I'm not Tara Byrne's mischievous brother; she's Gavin Byrne's responsible sister."

He grinned, remembering Tara's earlier admonishments.

"Tara and Jack are fine. Jack never worries about anything; the man shapes the world to his will without worrying about who's biting my neck. Tara's the worrier. She probably has at least 4 or 5 contingency plans for you, depending on how things go for us. To answer your question, though, I'm in no trouble at all. I do what I want, when I want to. Jack and Tara give me assignments, and I've made the choice to do every single one of them because they're important to me. But I'm not some dog they whistle for; I'm a contractor."

"As to whether it was worth it... well, I'll guess we'll see how tonight goes."

He grinned, teasing her.

"... see if you drag me along to a board meeting or whatever, right?"

Gavin leaned back in his seat as the appetizer arrived. 

"How very professional of you... contract labor.  Hmm.  Perhaps sometime in the future I'll contract you for work, or are you closed off to the idea of freelance work outside your family?"

The mushrooms came to the table quickly and were put down near to Bella.  She smelled them and smiled brightly. 

"Oh ... this is going to be the best.  These little buggers are amazing!  I remember the first time I had them.  I was just a ki..."  she paused and looked at Gavin.

"You know what,"  she shook her head.  "You probably wouldn't care much for that story - it's certainly not one of my better ones.  So, let's just dig in."  

She popped one into her mouth and as she began to chew a sort of ecstasy seemed to wash over her.  The earthy flavor of the mushroom, the cheeses, the herbs, and spices all mixing into one was pure bliss.  She made an approving noise before wiping her fingers on her napkin, swallowing and taking up another to offer Gavin.

"Your turn."