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Kates had been dwelling on her father recently. MacLeod, known throughout the then seven cities by his last name, had been a Don in Las Vegas until he was murdered in a war. She was eighteen then, and had fled to Detroit as JimmyTheLionheart and his men had filed into her living room to trap her father. That old house had burnt to the ground soon after. But driving away from that smoke had taken her to a new life. A life working for Marietta, Godmother of Detroit, who for reasons unknown at the time had done her best to keep the newly arrived thug locked up safe in an office. An undercover job in a strip club had given Kates a taste for the exotic and her years of training, coupled with an eerie natural ability, had led her to be one of the Godmother's most effective agents in the city. Soon after, she discovered that Marietta was more than her Boss- she was always her mother. Those years had been among the best of her life. Working her way up the ranks of Detroit, eventually rising to a position as a Captain. The courting and engagement with Judge_Holden. But Judge had ripped away by a tragic gun malfunction. And her mother, after years of ruling over Detroit, had turned over the reigns to PedroRourke and headed to Florida. Her brother Harry and sister Naomi were taken from her. And even as her sharp intellect was honed into a formidable weapon, the mask threatened to crack as she felt her hope being taken away from her.
In many ways, her son saved her life. Jack, born out of a love with Judge Holden that still echoed within her heart, had always given her something to work for. Her son was exceptional in many ways, possessing many of the talents of his mother but with a gleam of joy in his eyes that had faded from Kates as she fled Las Vegas all those years ago. And for a moment, it had seemed like a golden age would begin again.
But the war came out of nowhere for those not principally involved. Kates was trying to console her chief bodyguard, Rudy, who was drunk as a skunk and lying down on the kitchen floor in her suite in the Renaissance HQ, yelling up obscenities with his hands over his face.
"I've been workin' for you for eighteen years Katie and ye've barely aged a day. Yer the spittin' image of ten years ago and I'm an old man..."
As the man deteriorated into incoherency, Kates blinked a few times and blessed the phone as it began ringing. She couldn't exactly lie to him, after all- while she certainly looked older than she did in her twenties, her aging process had seemed almost nonexistent for quite a while now. Perhaps she'd just won the genetic lottery- God knows Marietta's genes wouldn't hurt. She stopped going to her doctor years ago, ever since he'd become obsessed with trying to isolate the cause. She certainly appreciated the strange blessing. But it was a bit awkward for those around her. Especially Jack, who in his twenties looked more like her younger brother than her son.
And it was Jack's voice on the phone, out of breath and going a mile a minute.
"Slow down, Jack. What's going on?"
"It's war, mum. Godfather PedroRourke just made the call. I've told the family to wait for your instructions- we're ready."
A swift kick to Rudy's midsection to get him off the ground and some brief, barked orders to Jack began the day in earnest. The Renaissance, like the finely tuned instrument it was, churned into action admirably and ably in support of Godfather PedroRourke. But, having participated in the opening volley, Kates found herself back in Detroit, walking briskly down the sidewalk with her hands in her pockets and her eyes shifting back and forth to the people passing her by. Jack was handling something for the Godfather on the other side of town and didn't want his fiancée alone. LilyEvans, of course, was more than capable of handling herself. But Kates had been forged in the fires of combat since childhood... and would rather be safe than sorry. Lily was becoming more and more every day the daughter she never had and has become an essential part of her family, as well as the Godfather's operations in Detroit. Though their businesses kept them too busy over the last few months to really sit down and chat, they'd taken to talking on the phone almost daily. For Kates, who had lost so much of her family, Lily was becoming almost as important a relationship as she was to Jack.
Ducking into an alley and making her way towards the warehouse where The Refined had begun to do most of their business, Kates saw a leg jutting out from a dumpster and immediately her gun was in her hand. A quick check revealed the freshly bleeding corpse of a bodyguard, his mouth opened in surprise. Shrugging off her overcoat, Kates made her way in a crouch towards the opening of the warehouse. As she took her first step inside she heard a quick succession of gunshots, followed by a woman's piercing scream. Kates furtively and selfishly prayed that it was someone else. Someone else's fiancée. Someone else's daughter.
But the sight at the top of the stairs instantly left her stomach in a freefall. Two men standing over LilyEvans, her red hair for once overshadowed, was twisted on the floor. Kates didn't remember moving, but within ten seconds the two assassins were dead and she was kneeling by Lily's side, cradling her head in her lap. Lily reached out and took the hand of the older woman, clenching her eyes shut to fight the pain in her chest and side. A Detroit wise guy, hearing the commotion, made his way upstairs and was immediately sent to fetch an ambulance. They waited there for what seemed like an eternity, Kates stroking Lily's red hair as the blood stained the tense grip on her hand. When the ambulance and the wise guy returned Kates immediately sent him to fetch Jack and bring him to the hospital. It was riding in the back of the ambulances that another shock to the system was delivered.
"Kates..."
"I'm here, Lily. It's going to be alright."
The paramedic turned with a sad look to Kates but the steely determination of her voice overruled him.
"Kates... you need to save... the baby"
Kates' mind was constantly exploring possibilities and planning for every eventuality, so she was rarely completely blindsided. But for a minute, she just sat and stared at her son's fiancée as her mind ground to a halt, and then raced. The lack of physical meetings. The bulky jackets. My God. When would this have happened? Memories of Lily mentioning a vacation in a few weeks surfaced. The baby must almost be due. Could...? But she silenced all thoughts and focused on action alone as the ambulance pulled into the hospital.
Jack was waiting in the ER when they arrived. He was able to cover Lily's bloodied forehead in kisses for just a moment before the doctor's took her into the operating room. Jack began to follow after them but was stopped by an iron grip on his arm.
"It's sterile, Jack. Don't be a fool.... Why didn't you tell me about the baby?"
Two pairs of focused green eyes met for a moment before Jack wheeled away, rubbing his forehead with his hand
"It was going to be a surprise. We didn't want anyone to know... Lily wanted to be able to get her crew up and running before she left to have the baby, and she knew your loyalty to the Godfather could put you in an awkward position."
She took a single step towards her son and held him close, just as she used to when he was a boy. Emotion threatened to overwhelm her again, but it was soon sublimated. The doctor was back, with news.
"The... we did the best could, but the damage on Miss Evans is far too extensive. We think... we think that the child is going to make it. We performed an emergency C section and the baby is currently being looked after in the ICU- she wasn't struck by any of the bullets but there were complications, and she is a couple weeks premature so we want to be safe. We've made Miss Evans as comfortable as we can... it wont be long."
The MacLeods processed this news silently. Jack quietly thanked the doctor and they both made their way down the hall towards Lily's room. Kates stood respectfully off a few feet away between the door and the bed, looking over her son's shoulder at Lily. Jack was sitting next to the bed, holding her hands in his and softly speaking to her repeating "I love you" periodically, even as her breathing became more labored.
"Jack... did they save the baby?"
"Yes, Lily. They did. They think she'll be just fine.
Kates saw her mouthing the "she" to herself. Then Lily focused all her remaining strength and looked up at Jack.
"Rebecca."
Jack nodded, the tears welling into his eyes for the first time. It was the last thing she said. Kates felt someone try to push her aside to get to the bed where Jack was. Without looking away from her son, she pulled the gun from her holster on the small of her back and placed it against the doctor's temple. Jack was the one to close Lily's eyes and, after he gave her a final kiss, rose and exited the room with his mother. They wandered, as if in a daze, following the doctor they'd spoken to before. When they reached the waiting room Jack collapsed onto a stool, his head in his hands. Kates paced the room like a cat, knowing she needed to return to the war but physically unable to leave her son. Nevermind the constant feeling that the floor had dropped out from under her.
They were still in that position when the nurse brought in Rebecca. The explanation that she was a completely healthy little girl barely registered with Jack. His world, reeling out of control from him, was suddenly distilled and anchored in this tiny person in his arms. Kates spent only a moment looking at them. Then she kissed her son and her granddaughter on their foreheads and strode out the door. As she pushed through one of the emergency exits into the now darkening evening, she habitually checked her ammunition. She stopped, then, as if physically struck, and leaned with her palm against the brick wall of the building next to her, fighting the urge to be sick as tears of rage and grief rolled down her face in the darkness. Then she turned and made her way back to the streets. Back to the war, leaving her family behind her.
She wouldn't see them again for weeks. The war had raged on as she devoted herself fully to it, coordinating the Renaissance as the cities became a blur. Eventually she stared down the Godfather of Los Angeles and, wounded, cleansed his villa of life. She became Godmother of Los Angeles then, although it was only a nominal title with PoisonousJelly controlling all the business in the city. She met Jack for a drink in Detroit as soon as the war ended. Ushered to her private booth, Kates grabbed a bottle of wine from behind the bar and poured two glasses. Even though she was exhausted, her enthusiasm shone through behind the emerald eyes that stared out at her son, now a father.
"Jack, I know this has been a crazy time for you. But we need to talk... I'm going to be leaving Detroit, and you and The Renaissance are going to come with me. I've been informed that I'll take over as the Godmother of New Orleans. But it won't be for quite a while. The leadership there had such lockdown control of the police, judges, and streets that, in their absence, things have gone completely haywire. I'll be making trips periodically to start shifting our business in slowly, but we can't move too fast or we'll set off sparks of our own. It could be years before we officially shift our base of operations, even if I take over the title of Godmother much earlier."
"And Jack, once we're there... I want you to set up as my Underboss. You've worked hard your whole life to get where you are and I know that you'll make an excellent leader. We'll be starting with a blank slate in New Orleans and I truly believe we can accomplish something special, over time. So stay in Detroit with your daughter. Raise her here. But down the road, I'll be standing in New Orleans. And I want you there with me."
Smiling at her son, but with a hint of sadness, Kates slid a silver pocketwatch across the table to him. It shone even in the dim bar lights and inside was an inscription: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
"It was going to be your wedding present. I debated for a long time whether to give that to you... but I decided you would want it."
Standing, she drains her drink and winks at her son.
"But I... we... have a lot of work to do. With New Orleans and with Rebecca. So lets hit the road." |
