Billy had hung up the phone, he'd done what he could for Brigitte in her meeting with the senator.  Tara was en route to the Luciano household.  Oriana's fate was in the girls' hands now, there was nothing more he could do for his daughters.

Wheeling himself down the hall, he reached for and fumbled with the doorknob before Effie got up from her desk in the living room and wandered over to help him.  "Sleep well, Don Mastrosimone." 

Billy sighed.  He could get pissed off that he needed help to open the door again, but there was no point.  This chair wasn't going anywhere despite what he initially wanted to think.  All he wanted to do now was accept his limitations and crawl into bed to hold his wife.  He would feel her warmth and take comfort from her and give it in return.  Tara and Brigitte were nearly done with their task in Italy now, soon they'd be home and everything could go back to normal.

Soon.

Rora's raven hair splayed across the pillow like the rays of the sun inverse, creeping darkness across the place where she rested so peacefully.  Billy slid out of his wheelchair and up onto the bed where he began the painfully slow process of undressing himself.  She shifted and moaned what he guessed was disapproval at having been awoken slightly.  Sliding down under the sheets beside his wife he smiled to himself.  Heat radiated from her soft form, chasing away the late autumn chill from the room.  Billy draped an arm across her pregnant belly and whispered softly 'goodnight' to the daughter whose face he would not see for another two months and within ten minutes he was fast asleep.

A loud, unsettling moan from beside him.

Shaking.  

The world came rushing back to Billy_Mastrosimone as beside him, his wife flailed violently. 

"Rora?  RORA!"  He screamed trying to take hold of her and stop her from hurting herself.  Her face was a rictus of pain, her eyes were wide open but he could not see the amber orbs that ignited all the light in his life, only empty white.   Billy pulled himself over into his chair, desperate to wheel around the bed and pick up his wife, an act that would have taken no more than two shakes of a cat's tail in days past.

"EFFIE!!!!"  Guards were busting into the room with guns drawn about the same moment he was thinking to call out to them.  Rora whimpered and Effie who came into the room last rushed to his side to help him settle into the chair correctly and throw a blanket over his lap.  Meanwhile, his body man already had his wife in his arms and was running for the door.

Effie worked to get his chair going and as he finally was leaving the room, Billy's eyes lingered on the crimson-stain mid-way down the bed.  Immediately his thoughts moved to fear for Rora, to fear for his unborn child. 

A sleepy female voice, "Dad?" 

Billy looked to the base of the stairs as Effie opened the front door.  Gavin, Isabella, Jack, and Malcolm stood at the bottom of the stairs gaping at the display they did not understand.

"Gavin!"  Billy snapped, "Bring the kids in your mom's car."  

Gavin gave a nod and began rushing the children to put on shoes and coats - not bothering to tell them to get out of their nightclothes.  Effie pushed Billy out the door to the car where Aurora was being laid into the back.  As his guy picked him up to put him into the back seat with his wife, Effie called out to him.

"I'll travel with the children!  Go!  Go!" 

The door on the car had barely shut before rubber was peeling and the car tore off into the dead of night.

"Billy?"  Aurora whispered beside him.  Billy pulled his wife into his lap as gently as he could.  The street lights flashed over them, illuminating her face from time to time the way it had the first time they had sat in a back seat together, that night they'd first made love.  Between rays of yellow lamplight he could see her - younger and stronger then.  The lines at the corners of her eyes and lips disappeared in the shadows, and every few seconds it was as if no time had passed at all.  She was perfect, beautiful, and going to live forever.

"Why are we in the car?  What's happening?"  He could hear it in her voice.  She was confused.  Scared, he realized, something she rarely ever was.  Billy pet her hair and shushed her.  

"It's okay Roar.  Everything is going to be okay."

Aurora whispered, "I hurt so bad, Billy."  Tears filled her eyes.

"I know.  I know."  Billy's eyes met the driver's in the rearview and without a word he communicated successfully his need for the man to move the car faster.  Billy could hear the engine roar, and the vehicle accelerate.  

Billy held Aurora's hand as the nurses rushed in and out of the room.  He was silent aside from occasionally trying to reassure Aurora it was okay and that the doctor had to examine her.  Slowly her mind seemed to wrap around what was happening.  She said less but cried more which only made him more upset.  Still, he held fast to his wife's hand and tried to be a rock for her in the storm - the way she had been for him so many times before.

"Mr. Mastrosimone,"  The doctor came in with a nurse behind him.  She was carrying papers and a stoic face that was as unreadable as any many at a poker table ever hoped to be. "We need to speak with you outside the room a moment."

Billy gave Aurora's hand a gentle squeeze.  "Whatever you have to say, you can say it here.  I'm not leaving my wife."

The doctor sighed and nodded.  "Mr. Mastrosimone your wife's condition has declined.  I'm afraid she's suffering from acute toxemia and placental abruption."

"English, Doc."  Billy tried not to get upset.

"We need to take the baby out of her, now."  The doctor said with a level voice.

"No!"  Rora's voice was horror-filled.  "It's not time!  She'll die!"  

The doctor looked at Billy and without hesitation, he said, "If we leave the child, you will bury both your wife and child.  There is no doubt of this.  If the child is delivered now, your wife has a chance of survival."

"Billy..."  Rora sobbed, clinging to his hand, knowing they would not listen to her.  "I take it back.  What I said ...  I was wrong.  My mother and father had the right of it.  Us before the kids.  Billy we promised.  Whatever happens to me it doesn't matter.  Don't let them hurt the baby, please!"

"Mr. Mastrosimone,"  The doctor's voice was firm, "If you allow us to perform the surgery I'm relatively certain we have a fair chance of saving your wife but only if we move quickly.  The baby is pulling away from its place within your wife.  The blood you're seeing isn't the baby's ... it's hers.  We need to act now."

Again and again, the doctors had said they could save her but they had said nothing about the baby.  Aurora, pale and weak, clung to Billy's hand pleading at him with her eyes as much as her voice - certain that if they took the baby out of her the baby would die.

Billy nodded.

"Just so you are aware Doc. I've heard what you've said, or rather, what you haven't. I might be in this fucking chair, but you sound to me like you've already given up on my little girl. Do I need to get another doctor for that?"

Billy watched as the doctor furrowed his brow and then gave the slightest hint of a shrug.

"I am going to do my best mister Mastrosimone."

Billy took that as all the incentive he needed, and then he squeezed his wife's hand.

"You're going to be fine Roar. Doc's gonna take care of you. Especially cause he knows that if something happens to you, he's not leaving the hospital." Billy kissed his wife's hand as the doctor nervously cleared his throat.

"Nurse, would you escort Mister..."

"You had better fucking not try." Billy cut the man off.

"I need a sterile room sir, you and your clothes are not, they are compromised. Look at your sleeve, you have blood on you."

Billy did look down then, and noticed just how much blood had gotten on him. He'd come home looking worse before, no question about that, but this? It was a lot. That's when he felt his chair moving and he jerked his head up just in time to see Gavin wheel him from the room.

"The fuck do you think you're doing Gavin? Leave me with your mother." He grabbed both wheels then, hard as he could, trying to push himself and Gavin backward into the room.

For as strong a man as Billy Mastrosmione was, he was not strong enough to force Gavin to walk backward with only his arms. So, he did the only thing he could think to do then. He let Gavin wheel him out of the room until there was space, and then he dove sideways.

Both large men went crashing to the ground in a heap. This was Billy's territory now. He crawled faster than Gavin could, and he almost made it to the door, before he felt hands on him. They were not aggressive, just trying to hold him back. He didn't care, he flipped onto his back and pushed. Gavin looked shocked, but then pushed back.

That was enough. Billy swung. Gavin, for all of his size, took the punch and doubled over. Billy knew where to hit a man to knock the wind out of him and, as he crawled toward the door again he could hear Gavin gasping for breath, and it suddenly became much harder to crawl. As he looked back, Gavin had grabbed both of his legs. He hadn't known, hadn't felt it.

He wanted to kick so badly, he tried to will himself to. His son was staring at him, unblinking, ready to fight if he had to. Billy was trying to will himself to kick him as he leaned forward to get another good swing. Then he froze, for just half a second he froze. He could have sworn... No. Doctors said it wouldn't.

Gavin used the opportunity to pounce. He pinned his father then backward to the ground. The two grown men wrestled then, Billy was still half thinking about what had just happened, but it didn't matter then. What mattered was getting to Roar. What matter was making sure Gavin backed down. So he pushed himself on top of Gavin's back and wrapped his massive arms around his neck, holding one arm in place with the other.

"Gavin, fucking stop it. Let me go be with your mother goddammit!"

By now, the commotion had brought over other nurses and doctors, as well as the other children.

Gavin gagged, trying to talk, trying to throw his father if only so he could breathe.  The bodyguards weren't moving to take Billy off Gavin and Effie only stood watching in horror, a hand over her gaping mouth as Billy was strangling Gavin to near unconsciousness.  Isabella heard the sound of feet running down the hallway and turned to see Malcolm running away, one of the guards following close behind him.  Beside her, Jack was frozen.  He said nothing he did nothing, the expression on his face was a mask of horror that matched Effie's.

No one was going to do anything!

Isabella stepped forward to her father and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.  "Dad?"  She said with tears in her eyes.  "Dad you're hurting Gavin.  He loves you.  You don't want to hurt Gavin.  You love Gavin.  Mom... mom loves Gavin."

Billy finally seemed to hear his youngest girl and turned his head towards her.  Isabella had her mother's amber eyes and they looked down into her father's.  She saw something change in him as he saw those eyes meet his own.  Instantly Gavin drew a desperate breath as his father's grip loosened.

Isabella came down to the floor beside her father and wrapped her arms around him, holding him there in a wholly different way than Gavin had.  For a long while, they sat like that, on the floor, holding each other as her mother had once held him at the bottom of the stairs at Hollowood.  

Gavin had crawled away and Jack had come to settle beside him.  Malcolm and the guard who had chased him returned and Isabella heard the guards whispering that the boy had gone to the nurse's station and tried to call Aunt Addie, though she didn't make out if they had been successful in reaching her.

It seemed like forever, though in truth it wasn't minutes before the door to surgery opened.  Gavin was on his feet, his neck already bruising slightly.  Still, it didn't stop him from being the first to his father, helping him back into his chair.  The nurse looked at the gathered family, and at first, Isabella wasn't sure what it was she was carrying... a small pile of bloody rags, perhaps?  And yet, the way she looked at all the children and then to Billy himself, it told the tale of what she'd emerged from the Operating Room with.  Silent and unmoving, face hidden from all of them, Isabella stifled a sob.  The baby, it would seem, had not made it.

The nurse began to walk past them, taking the child towards who alone knew what... what did they do with babies too tiny to live?  All of them stared at the nurse as she moved past them like the grim reaper himself, walking off with a soul they all knew and loved.  Malcolm hugged Isabella then.  She wrapped her arms around him in return and as if Malcolm's movement had snapped him out of whatever unthinking state he'd fallen into - Billy grabbed the wheels of his chair and began to follow the nurse.

Gavin, to Isabella's surprise, began to follow too.  Billy gave him a look and with far less aggression than he'd shown his son only minutes ago, he instructed, "Stay with your mother.  Don't leave her."

Gavin gave his father a solemn nod and the kids silently watched their father and the nurse and the bundle of bloody blankets disappear into a room together.

It wasn't until the door closed behind Billy, his guards standing outside that the nurse turned and spoke, this time sadness in her tone and eyes.  She wasn't such a good poker player after all, at least not in moments like these.  "You might not want to see her."  She said as gently as she could, heartbroken for the man in front of her.  "Sometimes it easier to let them go ... if you never know their faces."

It was then Billy could see the tiny foot protruding from the blanket.  It was so thin, almost skeletal and its color was wrong as if the skin was nearly see-through and bruised, but it was perfect in all the other ways.  Five sweet little toes, just like his other baby girls.  This one, however, was impossibly tiny... the whole of her little body stretched out could be no bigger than his forearm and curled up as she was under all those blankets she might fit inside his hand.

The nurse must have seen Billy looking at the foot, realizing then that some of the child had not been covered she pulled the blanket over the small foot that, at that moment moved. 

Billy took a deep breath, more to stifle everything that he was feeling than anything else. The waves of emotion roiled over him. They did not wash one at a time, but instead tossed him like a sailor to an unknown destination. His mast, his guide, was snapped, and now he could do nothing but let the sea take him.

"She kicked. I saw it. That's my Victoria, and she kicked."

He watched as the nurse simply nodded. He also saw in that moment she took on a weight that she did not want to carry. She was going to have to tell him that his little girl was not going to make it. Not that she had been born dead, but simply, that she would not last long for this world.

Billy looked down at this little girl's foot, and then at his own and simply smiled through tears.

"Alright nurse, you can clean her up and then leave her with her papa. Don't worry about us, we've already got a place to sit." He reached out then, and stroked Victoria's little foot. Cold as she was, she was here. She was early. She couldn't wait to see them all.

The nurse nodded, tears rolled down her cheeks as she eeked out, "Alright.  I'll clean her for you and ... you can sit with her, until it's over."  It, of course, being what she could not say.  Death.  

Carefully the nurse pulled back the blanket a bit at a time revealing the long spindly legs and arms of a child who had none of her father's great strength.  The discoloration didn't cover her entire body, but splotches here and there mostly on her limbs.  Her eyes were closed tight so he could not see their color, but as the nurse turned on the faucet and adjusted the temperature, Victoria's blanket fell away from her head and brilliant strawberry blonde hair caught her father's attention.

With a sponge, the nurse delicately began to wash Aurora's blood from the tiny girl's skin causing her to make a squeaking noise that wasn't quite a cry but as close to one as the teeny thing could likely manage.  She didn't like being wet and cold, Billy could tell.  He'd washed all his children like that after their births.  All but Brigitte and Gavin he'd lifted from between their mother's thighs.  He'd kissed them first.  He'd washed them and while he was no woman and no doctor, he liked to think he understood the babies on a very instinctual level.  What they wanted, and what they needed and when.

Once she was washed the nurse left behind the bloody blankets and fished out of a nearby drawer a pink blanket clearly meant for a full-term baby girl.  The woman sighed realizing it was too much.  On the counter, she saw a large roll of a pale pink gauze.  Billy couldn't be sure what it was for but the nurse instantly repurposed it and began to fashion a small swaddle for Victoria out of it.  The woman was nearly overcome with emotion as she worked diligently and then turned with the small baby, at long last, to Billy.

"I've done all that can be done.  It's in God's hands now.  Make her comfortable.  Let her know she is loved for however long she has with us... when she passes, call for me.  I'll be close by.  You're not alone."  The nurse touched Billy's shoulder after he took Victoria from her hands.  It was an act of compassion as much a hug as anything, without actually being one.  "God Bless you, Don Mastrosimone.  I will pray for your wife and all of your beautiful children."

It was only then he realized the nurse's nametag.  She was Italian and, her first name was one that felt as though it could not have been merely a coincidence but again an act of God's love, 'Kenzi DeLaurentis'    

Billy watched as the nurse left. He fought back tears as the golden wheat images flooded his mind and focused instead on the strawberry autumn that was his charge. She was so small, so alone in the world right now. Of course she didn't like the cold, all those tiny splotches where her skin was wrong, that was her cold spots. Billy knew exactly how to fix that. He leaned forward and took off his jacket, then he unbuttoned the upper half of his shirt, and picked up his daughter. His youngest, his little fire. He tucked her feet into his shirt first, then he pulled his jacket back on over her, and he leaned backward in his chair.

She was cold to the touch, but he would be warm for her. He was going to be her pillow and her blanket. Same as he was for Aurora, and Brigitte, and Gavin when they first got into the woods of Newfoundland. Same as he was for Tara when she first was born until she didn't want him anymore, and only wanted her mother. Same as he and Aurora both had been for the twins. Every one of his babies, and even his wife, they had all used Billy as a pillow, or a blanket, or both.

"Don't worry kiddo, you don't have to say a damned thing. I've got you. Your sisters will be home soon, and your mama? She's going to be fine in just a couple hours, you'll see. She bounces back every time. Before you start crying for some food, she'll be in here making me hand you over. She'll know before you do. She will."

He leaned his head forward and kissed her on the top of her tiny head. He could still feel how soft it was. All of them were soft when they were first born. Billy had read that it was because the babies head was so big it had to be soft enough to mush together to fit. They all got stronger pretty quick though. Victoria might just take a little longer, that's all.

Billy gently stroked the cold spots on Victoria's body and urging her to keep breathing when her breath grew too shallow.  He imagined that she listened to his heart through his chest and maybe the sound reminded her little heart to keep beating as well.  The ticking of the clock on the wall made him painfully aware of the passing minutes and when more than an hour had gone by, only then did the doctor finally join him.

The man had looked better, but he didn't have the grim face which suggested things had gone the worst.  So Billy found he was able to relax.  "The surgery has gone as well as it could be expected.  Your wife is closed up and resting.  It will be a while before she wakes, perhaps not until tomorrow.  The recovery time will be extensive.  She won't be up and around for a while and even after she is, lifting things would be unwise until the healing is complete.  She could do herself some serious injury if she ignores me so I need you to hold her to my rules at home  I know she's a spirited woman, strong, but this isn't something you can choose to ignore Mr. Mastrosimone.  Your wife needs to heal, her body ... it's been through intense trauma.  Luckily your wife is one of the healthiest women I've had the pleasure of working on... it bodes well for her recovery."

He looked at the floor, "She's not out of the woods entirely though, we still worry about infection and possible bleeds, her body has been through a great deal and..."  he shook his head.  "If all goes well and she does recover, you might consider that it's best you don't have any more children.  I know the timing of this conversation isn't ideal... but you and your wife are blessed with a full household.  Your wife has given you to a tremendous legacy.  No man could ever look at your home and find it wanting."

The doctor glanced at the baby on Billy's chest.  "It's likely her lungs aren't as strong as they should be.  When they pass at this age, that's usually what the actual cause is."  The man spoke cautiously.  "If she lives, there's no promises she won't require extra care.  A great deal of it perhaps.  Her life could be very hard.  A burden.  Mothers tend to blame themselves for their children failing to thrive.  I know it seems cruel to say things like this Mr. Mastrosimone but if I were in your positon I would hope a man could speak to me honestly of these things so I could make an informed decision and not one based only on emotion."

"If you wish... I can take her.  Nurses will stay with her until it's over.  I typically don't allow anyone to come near a recovering surgical patient but we could put you in a gown and mask... I could allow you to be with your wife.  She'll need you in the days ahead.  Grief is... as much a killer as disease."

Billy listened politely and nodded. He didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until the doctor told him Aurora would be alright, and only then did he start breathing again and rubbing Victoria's back. When the doctor made mention of taking his daughter and letting him see Aurora he simply shook his head.

"You know doc, there have been some times in our lives where I thought my wife needed me, and she didn't. There have been times where I thought she didn't need me, and she did. But there are very few times where I knew someone needed me and I did something stupid. Victoria needs me more than anybody in the world. You said it yourself, Roar will be alright. It will take time, but it will be alright."

He looked down again for a second and then up at the doctor.

"This one needs me, Aurora will be ok. But if you're willing to let someone in, make sure it's our son. Gavin won't leave her side. And as soon as anyone else is allowed in, me and Victoria here will be right on his heels."

He then put his hand over his daughter, engulfing most of her in a single hand of his. She would not be the small one day. One day she would be getting sent off to Italy, or be getting taught how to run a business. Maybe she would be a dancer, or a musician. Maybe she would be a teacher, or a lawyer. No matter what, one day she would fight her own battles, but today she had Billy.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood doc, and that I've got all the right things going on. I have half a mind to beat you down because you lied to me."

He watched as the doctor shifted, but before he could ask Billy answered the question he knew was coming.

"I moved my toe today doc. I know I did. I can feel it. I can move it again if I wanted to. And when I start walking again, you had better hope that I don't march my way into your office on a bad day. Don't lie to people, and don't fuck this up."

He nodded toward the door and waited for the doctor to leave.

Hours passed and eventually, Nurse Kenzi returned to Billy and Victoria, this time with a small bottle.  "She might need some coaxing but she needs to stay hydrated."  

The nurse pulled the gauze a little to look at the tiny redhead.  "I heard your wife is awake.  Your oldest son is with her now.  She was very worried about this little one.  The doctor threatened to tie her down if she risked that stitching of hers again."

The nurse looked at Billy, "She's very strong to have such energy after the sort of operation she's had, but I think you're right.  Your wife is going to be just fine."  She smiled.

"How are you holding up, Dad?  Do you need some breakfast too?  The sun is nearly up now.  You must be at least in need of a cup of coffee.  I can bring it to you if you like.  It's no trouble at all Don Mastrosimone.  I'm off the clock now."  

Billy nodded as he took the bottle, but shook his head the second the nurse mentioned she was off the clock.

"If you're not supposed to be here, you need to go home to your own family nurse. I'm no Don here. I'm just Billy, Victoria's dad."

He smiled as he took the bottle in his hand and held it for a moment, it was not as warm as he thought is should be, so he gripped it tight to try and warm it some before drawing up his baby girl and teasing her mouth with the nipple.

"And don't you worry about us. She'll take to it just fine. I've got five others, I promise I know what I'm doing. Sort of." In truth, he'd only once fed a baby with a bottle, and that was Gavin, way back when uncle Volkov was a problem and not family. It came right back though, no problem. Victoria took to it, just as he said she would and suckled.

"Well, if nothing else, she's got a love for breakfast, just like the rest of the family. If that's not confirmation that she's a Mastrosimone, I don't know what is."

The nurse breathed a sigh of relief and put a hand on Billy's shoulder.  "If she hadn't I might have told you that there wasn't hope."  She smiled down at the Don and his baby. 

"But seeing her nursing like that, it means she has the will to live.  She's strong, like her mother and father.  She'll need to take a bottle every two hours.  You'll be lucky if she eats an ounce but keep offering it to her.  Her biggest danger outside of her organs not being as strong as they should be, is dehydration.  And, if she stops breathing for a moment, and she may don't panic... just give her foot a little flick.  I know it sounds mean but the shock of the feeling will cause her to gasp.  It's what we do for the littlest ones that Dr. Martin Couney eventually takes with him."

Kenzi paused having just considered something she hadn't before, "You know, I could reach out to him if you like?  The hospital would never call him for a baby as small as yours, and certainly not for a man with your means, but it might not be a bad idea.  Dr. Couney, well, he's not really a doctor... though he calls himself one.  He's invented this heated baby bed that simulates the warmth of a mother's womb.  He has a side showdown on Coney Island where weaklings can be viewed by the public for a quarter.  He pays parents for the right to show their children and in exchange, they not only get money but about 95% of the time they eventually get a living child back for their troubles."

Kenzi tentatively touched the small bit of red fuzz atop of the girl's head as her father feed her.  "He's refused anyone who has ever asked before but... well, maybe he'd let you buy one of his amazing baby beds."

Billy glared at the nurse as if she had told him to kill his daughter himself.

"Nurse, you should go." He watched as she stiffened. The tone of his voice was very clear in what he meant and she did not smile as she left. He knew it was very unlikely he would see that nurse again, but that was alright too. Anyone who tried to take his daughter away from him. Anyone in the world who tried to put her in a side show carnival. They were going to have a few things to answer too. Namely the Mastrosimone family.

After a moment though, he hit the button to call a nurse. The second one walked in, he spoke.

"Call nurse Kenzi back. I need her. I need specifically her, and only her, and if you don't get her, then I'm taking my baby and we're going to find her. Do I make myself clear?"

His tone hadn't changed. The nurse nodded to the Don then. That's who was sitting in his chair, at least for this moment.

Then he wheeled his way to the door with one hand and flung it open.

"Izzy, Jack, Malcolm. If you want to say hi to your baby sister, you can come in in five minutes. You go ask a nurse to help you wash up first, and when you are done, you can come see her."

He knew full well, they could see her tucked into his clothes on his chest, so they knew she was ok. But he wasn't taking chances either. Not with this one. That's why he was going to buy one of those damned beds.

The kids were taken to wash and prepare to be near the baby and while they were away, Nurse Kenzi returned.  She had red, puffy, tired eyes that had clearly been crying.  Her supervisor stood behind her, either waiting to see what Billy might do to further upset the nurse or to ensure that the nurse didn't piss off Billy.  Which of these was true seemed unclear.

"You wanted to see me, Don Mastrosimone?"  she said softly, not looking at Billy's eyes but the floor instead.  She was the image of contrition and meekness, her hands folded in front of her she waited to hear what the big man had to say.

Billy nodded and then reached out a large, gentle hand to touch hers. The doctor stiffened, and Billy made a note that not all of them were horrible.

"Kenzi. Will you look at me please?"

He waited till she did, and he could see how much he had frightened and hurt her.

"First I need to apologize. You see men come in here every day. Men, just like me, who are afraid. We don't know what to do, we don't know who to turn to except to pray, and all we know and can think about are two things. The first thing is the same for everyone, no matter who you are, if you love someone. That is simple. How do I make it better? For me, right now? Keep her warm, and breathing, and fed."

He took a deep sigh and then continued.

"The second thing is harder. It's what happens if we can't make it better? How much of a failure are we? As a father, it's my job to protect my family. No matter how young, or how old. No matter how big or little, it's my job. And when I can't? That's the worst feeling. It's worse than losing my legs. Worse than anything else I've ever done in my life. I've lost a sister, and I'm afraid that if I ever lose my wife or a child that I won't be able to come back from that."

He let go of her hand and put it over Victoria, slowly, gently rubbing her back as she slept to the sound of his voice, low, but not booming.

"I got upset earlier because I don't want anything to happen to my baby girl. I delivered my three middle children myself. All of them made it, and I was scared to give this little one to someone else. But you, you don't want that. I know that. You just want to help. So please, do call doctor Couney. What's the worst that happens? He tells me no?"

He kissed his little firey redhead again and looked to the nurse.

"I'm sorry I made you cry nurse, I just can't leave her to someone else. It's my job to take care of her."

He smiled again, though he was not sure if it was for himself, the nurse, or the baby.

"Only a fool would ever try to come between you and that baby girl, Don Mastrosimone."  She gave a smile though it didn't touch her eyes.  "I'm sure if anyone can convince the good doctor to work with them, it's you.  I'll see that he knows you want to see him straight away."

With that Nurse Kenzi backed out of the room, and the doctor followed.  A moment later Jack, Izzy, and Malcolm entered the room looking in awe at the tiny baby which he held against his chest.  Billy could see the wonder in their eyes, not just the love that all people felt for babies but an basic awe at the marvel of life. 

"She's beautiful,"  Malcolm said upon seeing her.

"A bit wrinkly, but that red hair is cool."  Jack allowed.

"That goes away eventually stupid,"  Izzy said to her brother.  "Like when you been in the bathtub too long.  There is water in a mom's tummy that she lived in before being born."

"No way,"  Jack said.  "How does she breath then?"

Isabella shrugged.  "I just know it's true cause Janet said her mom's waters broke before the baby came and all the water came out of her onto the floor."

"Gross," Malcolm said softly.

Jack nodded his agreement.

The children wanted to touch her, if only her fragile little hand, and seeing that it was so much smaller than their own - which was infinitely smaller than Billy's, caused them to gasp and laugh.

"Do you think she'll always be smaller than the rest of us because she was born too soon?"  Isabella asked her father.

"If she is, Malcolm and I will look out for her, right Malcolm?"  Jack asked his younger cousin.

Malcolm nodded and finally touched the hand that his cousins had already touched.  While the twins had looked on the baby with love and wonder, there was something more in how Malcolm looked at Victoria.  Billy could see a special connection already forming as the boy smiled and nodded, "Yeah.  I'll keep her safe, Uncle Billy.  Promise."

Billy smiled and nodded to Malcolm first.

"I know you will. You're a Byrne after all. Byrnes don't let little girls get hurt. And you, we, have the scars to prove it."

He then turned before his eyes started to water too much to his twins.

"Well, if she does stay little, I think you know that everyone is going to have to protect her. Not just Jack and Malcom Izzy. You're going to have to teach her things too you know."

His youngest daughter, no, his second youngest daughter smiled at that. "I know Dad, and I'll make sure she learns right, not like Jack."

"Hey!"

Billy shook his head and chuckled. Then he leaned down and whispered to Victoria. "Get used to this kid. Welcome to the family." At that she gave a small noise, somewhere between a sigh and a cry. Nothing all that loud, but enough to be heard. All the children, and even Billy went silent then. Waiting to see what the youngest Mastrosimone had to say.

The children were taken by Effie to go find lunch.  Billy had been brought food by Nurse Kenzi who had returned to him in her street clothes after a shower explaining she was unmarried and had no one at home waiting for her but a grumpy cat who was now fed and would be fine.  She wanted to stay with the Mastrosimone clan to help in anything they needed - even if it was just to help them have an advocate with the other nurses and doctors and she hoped that the Don would allow her to stay.

As she helped Billy with Victoria so he could eat, she explained some of her own background.  Her mother came through Ellis Island and passed just last winter due to pneumonia but she had lived to see her daughter become a nurse and midwife.  Her dream, of course, was to be a surgeon and despite having audited the classes she lamented that she could not hope to make a career of it because - well - who would ever hire a female surgeon?

But like her mother before her, she adhered to much of the old ways and so had a deep respect for the Cosa Nostra.  They were men who were to be feared but also men she knew she could turn to if the police ever failed her.  Fortunately despite knowing Billy's name and reputation she'd never had a reason to call on him.  She was glad, however, that fate had allowed her to be here this morning so she could be of help to him.

After Billy had finished eating and Victoria was safely sleeping on his chest again, another visitor arrived.  This one was a middle-aged man with a bald head, black circle frame glasses and a bushy black handlebar mustache that almost hid his mouth entirely.  Like the other doctors, he wore a lab coat over a suit, a nice one, and carried with him a briefcase.  He looked a mix of carnival barker and doctor, with a dash of gangster thrown in around the eyes for good measure.

Kenzi lit up as she saw him, "Doctor Martin Couney, this is Billy Mastrosimone."  She left out the Don part this time seeming to understand that it wasn't right to use it in mixed company.  This man was clearly not Italian, German perhaps?

Couney offered his hand to Billy, making sure to offer the correct one to shake Billy's free hand.  He smiled at the baby.  "Smart man to hold her to your chest like that, most babies die of hypothermia even in rooms as warm as this one.  That single act alone has probably saved her life."  He nodded.

"The good nurse here tells me that you hoped to speak with me?"  He pulled over a stool on wheels and settled onto it. 

Billy nodded.

"Doc, I'm going to get right to the point. Kenzi here tells me that you save lives, babies like mine specifically. She said you have special beds. I want to buy one."

He looked at Kenzi and nodded that she could stay if she wanted to, and then turned back to the doctor.

"I don't know if you know who I am doc." He kept his voice low and steady for Victoria. "I am a man of means. I can help you significantly here if you'll let me. And as far as keeping my little one to my chest like this? Well, force of habit I guess. I kept all my babies close to me like that. It's cold in the woods of Newfoundland after all."

He smiled then and patted Victoria.