"I knew I'd find you here."

Aurora didn't look back.  She could hear two sets of feet.  Male.  One larger than the other, both walked with confidence but approached casually and without any attempt to hide.  One was close, no more than ten feet from her, just out of reach but near enough to keep their conversation private.  The other another five.  Close enough to engage if needed... though he knew better than to think her capable of it.

Her amber eyes locked upon the stone in front of her.  It was covered in flowers and tribute at long last.  After all these years, she was here not in disguise or preparing to flee.  Today, she stood without fear - a beautiful woman at the ripeness of her life - in the place of the frightened & uncertain child that she had once been when she had first come in secret to this special place.

A gust of wind came off the ocean, Aurora lifted her chin then and closed her eyes.  Her long dark hair flying out behind the back of her father's leather jacket, loose and unkempt.  

Gavin held her up higher so she could witness Aunt Tara's ship disappearing out to sea.  Aurora didn't know if the world would ever be the same again.  The pier had burnt, Grandpa Jack was gone, Uncle William was gone and now Aunt Tara too.  Her pudgy fingers waved frantically, but inside she wasn't saying goodbye ... she was reaching out to the last thing, the last person outside of her parents and her home, which was familiar to her now fleeing from her life. 

It was a very big thought for such a little person, such a monumental pain to bear, the thought of all the losses she'd known in her short life.  A sense of dread filled her then and a gust of wind came in off the ocean smacking her in the face and stinging her eyes.  Squeezing her wide amber orbs tightly shut, tears rolled down her cheeks leaving hot sticky trails in their wake.  Defiantly she lifted her chin and for a moment, she imagined herself flying in the updraft of wind - flying away back to another place and time when everything in the world was still right, and everyone was happy again.

She turned then, thinking herself prepared for what she would find, "Senator Byrne, I ..."

But she was wrong.  The first thing that caught her was the sight of her father.  Gavin.  Alive.  For a moment she almost fell to her knees weeping but then... no... he would not be as young as he was when she last saw him, as young as he was the day she buried him here before fleeing to Canada some 15 years ago.  

"Anton."  Her half-brother's name leaked from her mouth like air escaping a from a now deflating balloon and all the momentum, the quippy statements, and vibrato she meant for William was lost as she realized that of all of them - it was the brother she'd met last who was every bit of her father and then some.  The eyes, so blue and mysterious, they held the promise of the predator she knew he was.  His muscled form, the way he held himself... how could a man who had known their father for so short a time move so much like him?

"Hello, Aurora."  Volkov's accent was less pronounced, his English was now flawless.  What a difference fifteen years had made!

Then her eyes drifted to the man she had expected to see here, William.  The sight of him wasn't much easier to take than that of Anton.  Gone was the boy she'd dragged from Hollowood, and here was a grown man.  He'd filled out.  He'd taken shape that was closer to that of his father if still slight... as their mother had been.  Will had a serious look about his eyes, that haunted expression wasn't as pronounced but it had never left him - not completely.  His smirk though, that smug, self-satisfied smirk ... oh but how she'd missed it!

"Jesus Christ,"  Will spoke purposefully and his tone was... haughty?  No.  East Coast Elite.  He'd stepped up into another world and he'd embraced it so fully he spoke that way so effortlessly now that he did it even in private ... even to her.  "I might as well be looking at a ghost.  You look so much like her, Rora."

She watched Will swallow back his own emotions and for a moment the three children of Gavin Byrne just stood silent beneath the just turning autumn leaves, watching one another dancing with the memories of days long passed, those days and people who they'd never see again.

"I've missed you so much."  Rora broke the silence.  "You have no idea..."

Will looked down and put his hands into the pockets of his long black trench coat.  "You too."  It was whispered, barely heard above the ambient sounds of the world around them.

"You've done well for yourself.  Billy brings news from time to time, I've kept tabs.  Heard you got married even."  she chuckled.  "All grown up now."

She met Will's eyes as he spoke, "Angie.  You'd like her.  Stubborn to her bones, tougher than me,"

"Well, that's not hard is it?"  Aurora poked at her younger brother as she used to, but the tone was pure love.

"I guess not."  He admitted, but even Rora could hear the old ache in his voice.

"Will, I didn't mean anything by it, I..."

"How long before you go back?"  Will asked.

Aurora's face split into a smile and she shook her head, "No, you don't understand, we're not going back."

"But the assassins, the kids..."  Will stood up straighter.

"We don't know that it wasn't someone from Philly's families that killed Dad.  Not for sure.  I mean, we have evidence and we're looking at Italy, but Will... I've waited for over fifteen years.  All I've dreamed of is coming home, of coming back and raising my children here in the place we grew up."  Aurora didn't know why she was growing emotional, perhaps on some level she suspected what would come next.

"No." Will said flatly.

Aurora's mouth worked but no words came out and so Will went on.  "My life, my whole life Rora, you've stood center stage.  The best at everything they,"  he indicated to the graves, "were.  And while you were gone, I've built something, something of my own and if you come back now ... all of it goes away."

"They're dead now.  Will, there's no reason for you to live this life.  You can stop fighting.  We won.  Don't you see?  We won."

"YOU won."  He stepped towards her.

"We."  Aurora offered again.  "I did it for us.  Can't you see that?  All I ever wanted was to keep my promise to her - to keep you and the children safe?"

Will nodded, "And now I need to go away so I can keep my promises to her too."

"You're rich, successful, why do you need ..."

"What will you do?  Put down your guns Rora?  Join some socialite society and pretend that your husband doesn't have a seat on the Godfather's council?  Will Billy step away from the life and tell himself he's not in it anymore?  Do you expect me to believe that's possible after everything we've seen in our lives?"  Will shook his head and answered for his sister.  "No.  Of course not.  Billy will become a godfather and you're going to keep on doing stupid shit that will end with you and he in a grave, God willing before you bury any of the kids."

"Will!"  Aurora pushed down her sadness at his words and clung to the fire in her gut.  

"Tell me I'm wrong Rora.  Tell me you can come back and not be a part of it."  He held her gaze, but Aurora said nothing.  "You can't because he didn't raise a liar."

"I just want to come home."  she whispers voice choked with emotion.

"Well then maybe I'm wrong... maybe you do lie, just not to others."  Will shook his head.  "Rora, if you want out of the life - go back to where you were hiding.  Raise your children, love them, and die old surrounded by grandchildren the way mom wished she could have.  Your war is done.  I'll finish what you started and end them."

It hit her then and the blood drained from her face.  Will wasn't at war with the gangsters of Philly who had profited from their mother's death, he was at war with the entire mob.  

"And what if I don't go?"

Will shook his head, "Then I'll have to come for you and Billy first."

Aurora's brow furrowed.

"If only to make sure my nieces and nephews don't grow up without parents.  Jail is better than dead."

"You send us to prison and you might as well shoot us yourself, you know that ... maybe night right away but someone will get to us.  Especially after this war!"

"Then go back to hiding."  Will pleaded.  "You don't need to come back.  You'd only be doing it for vanity and pride, Rora.  That's not who you  are."

"You don't KNOW me!"  she snapped.  "You don't know the FIRST thing about what I've given up to see this day!  You think their deaths hurt?  I got a LIST, Will.  A fucking LIST.  I've let people die.  I've hidden while people I loved went into coffins because it's what I had to do ... you think me prideful?!?  You say you're doing this for some promise to her but that's not what you're doing it for.  It's YOU who are prideful.  You've always just expected the world to bend to your will and the worst part is that it usually fucking does and this one time..."  She motioned to their mother's headstone.  "It didn't.  And... and I'm sorry Will.  I'm so damn sorry."

Tears welled in her eyes, but her lips were pulled in a snarl, "But people die."

Will shook his head.  "Dad got out.  She could have.  And you can too..."

"It's a train, on the tracks going so fast that it can't be stopped but it can be turned if someone wants to hold the wheel."

"You, hold the wheel until you die... then someone else and someone after them and in the meantime your train keeps raging down the tracks running down innocent people!"

"They're not innocent.  Mom wasn't innocent, Will."

"I WAS!"  Will raised his voice and Aurora's words died in her throat.  Of course... he was right. 

"I was."  He repeated quieter.  "And your kids are too, Rora.  And I know you love them like our mom loved us - the question is, do you love them more than you love the life?  Do you have the strength to let go and let the train crash where the fuck ever it crashes?  Can you trust me to handle the clean up and the end of this fight?"

Aurora looked back to the headstones and silence fell over them again.

"Do you suppose they're in heaven?"  she whispered.  "Or was there too many dead bodies ... too much hate?  Is even God capable of forgiving that much?"

Will came up beside his sister.  "I've never really embraced the whole religion thing."  He gripped his hands in front of his waist, behind them she could hear Volkov moving.  "I'm too busy worrying about the living people I love to spend time worried about an imaginary man in the sky."

"How did we get like this?  You, all serious and me the one in tears?"

Will looked at her and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a kerchief to give to her.

"You were always more emotional.  You just didn't like crying. I always suspected it was easier for you to be angry than let folks know Aurora Byrne wasn't as hard as stone.  But you yelled as much as mom ever did and I know how big her heart was ... you've always been more like her than Dad.  You just didn't want to see it."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Saying I'm like her."

Will laughed.  "Well, if she wasn't dead before now, hearing that would have sent her to her maker for sure."

Aurora smirked through her tears.

"Go back Rora.  You know I love you too much to put you up here on the hill with them, right?  Send me a postcard from time to time to let me know you're okay ... but don't come back.  Race Street is gone.  It's over.  Say your goodbyes and let dead rest in peace."

"I'm never coming home."  Aurora realized.

Will put a hand on her shoulder and in a voice that sounded like the old Will she used to know he said softly, "No, Rora, you're not."

She bowed her head, gripping the kerchief tight against her brow, her left fist clenched white knuckle tight at her side.  

"I'm sorry."  Will's hand fell away from her shoulder.  "I love you Rora, please believe it's true when I say that I hope we don't see each other ever again.  Get old.  Have grandbabies.  Honor them that way and for God's sake, just once, trust me to handle the heavy lifting."

Aurora sobbed as she heard her brother's footsteps walking away, leaving her with the dead and a very difficult decision ahead of her.

Volkov smirked. He grown to resemble Gavin more and more as he grew older, although he was still broader and taller than her father had even been. 

"It's good to see you, Rora. For Will, too. He'll come around."

He paused, looking down at the gravestones.

"But I'd stay out of Philly, Pennsylvania even, to make sure there's no direct conflict between you. Give him some time to cool off. Let's grab a drink together in a month. I'll get him there, even if I have to throw 'Senator Byrne' in the trunk."

He nodded.

"How are the kids? Sorry it's been so long since my last visit. Your brother attracts a lot of attention, and it's a full time job to keep him safe."

Aurora looked up and gave a weak smile to Volkov, "Our brother..."  She corrected him, her words as airy as the wind blustering off the water.  "Still having trouble with that, eh?"

She shook her head and changed the subject, "We're over in New York at the moment.  I came here thinking maybe I'd scope out the situation, pay respects to the parents and then ... visit home and start making plans for moving in."

She sighed.  No point in visiting Hollowpoint now. 

"I'll just head back to the Big Apple.  The kids are flying in tonight.  We already enrolled Tara at Vassar.  Brigitte is hoping to audition for something on Broadway, we were going to let the girls stay in an apartment together, but I think... maybe... maybe New York is where we'll stay as a family now.  Billy doesn't want to leave the girls anyway and Gavin doesn't know what he's doing with himself yet." 

She shrugged.

"The twins are just excited to be going to a real school.  Can you believe they're 13 already?"  She smiled.  "My babies aren't babies anymore."

She drew herself up and tucked away Will's kerchief into her pocket.  She glanced towards the cars and lowered her voice.

"We got into the war cause some kids who were working for us were done dirty.  Ugly deaths.  One of the young ladies was on the same orphan train as our Brigitte years ago. Billy saw red when he found what they'd done to that poor girl."  Aurora shook her head.  "Some anniversary this has turned out to be."

She paused.

"Anyway, you should know that our leads all point back to Italy.  Whoever got Dad, they're probably not dead.  Keep a close eye on him this week especially.  Now that we're out in the open maybe there's less to worry about ... but I can't be sure.  Those kids died because they worked for us, and no better reason than that.  It might be that they'd hurt Will or his family... or you."

She smirked remembering her father at Anton's age, "Though I'd almost pay to see them try."

She looked him top to bottom again, "You're looking well.  I expect to see you for those drinks.  My treat.  And come hungry.  We'll get dinner too."

"Our brother." Volkov smirked. Good. He had just meant to defer to Aurora, but he wasn't going to fight being more included. If anything, he felt closer to William than ever. He'd spent most of his time in the shadows, but he'd still seen William far more often than Rora. 

"Glad things are going well with the kids. I know you're probably training whoever wants to learn. But sometimes people will shy away from getting their ass kicked by their mom."

The briefest shadow crossed his face as he plowed through it, continuing to speak.

"If any of the kids want training from me, just say the word."

"And Italy... I don't have many sources overseas anymore. Nothing formal. But I've got a few friends in the business who mentioned your name has been floating around lately as a big money target. You'll have lots of mooks with their first gun trying for you, and I know you can handle them without much trouble. But I've heard of at least three real pro's considering the job. A Swede. An Italian. Wasn't sure about the third one, but maybe Eastern Europe or a Slav. Don't know the details, but the person who passed along these rumors said that I should be careful dealing with them, if we crossed paths. Now I'm not as good as I used to be, but someone who could cause me trouble... well, just be prepared. I'll keep an eye on Will."

Aurora nodded. 

"Jack and Isabella have a bit of a dangerous fascination with the life right now.  I'm hoping that with all the other new things for them to see and experience they will move on to other interests, but if they don't, maybe a visit from you could help.  I know it's going to be hard for me to see them as anything other than my youngest ... my babies ... but that's not going to keep them safe.  Billy and I need to have a firm grasp on how serious they really are about things as time progresses and whether we really need to be worried.  I know they're young but I was only a year older than they are now when I killed someone for the first time."

She looked off to the west, realizing how near to that place she was standing right now.  She furrowed her brow.  "Shit happens fast sometimes and you can't plan for the worst, no matter how hard you try."

She thought then about what happened after she shed blood for the first time... who it was who first tried to comfort her - her younger brother, Will.  And, she thought also about who it was that helped her learn how to sleep at night despite what she had chosen to do with her life.  It was a man she hadn't thought of in many long years now.

"After I did it,"  She said in a more serious tone, "I needed to talk to someone ... not my parents and not Will.  Someone I thought of as a true professional, someone who wasn't going to treat me like a dumb kid who needed to be coddled."

She drew a breath, "Not that Dad would have done that, but I was scared that if he saw me as I was ... if he knew how much it had fucked with my head, that he'd blame himself for having taught me how to do it.  That he'd ... I don't know, regret ever putting a gun or knife in my hand."

She shrugged, "I was lucky I had someone like that to go to or I think I'd be pretty fucked up right now."

She looked to Volkov again, "My kids would be damn lucky if you were to pop by and just... let them know if they ever got into trouble they didn't think they could talk with us about, that you'd be there for them."

"I was only a year older than they are now when I killed someone for the first time."

And I was two years younger, little sister, but now is not the time to compare scars. 

"Gavin wouldn't have coddled you, no. But you're right; he might have blamed himself. Happy to help your kids anytime."

He paused for a while, glancing back toward Will.

"Keep an eye out, Rora. See you in a few weeks."