WARNING: Okay I just want to stress that this story is NC-17 and even though I wrote this and didn’t think it’s too bad, a few people who read it before hand said, OMG, so I am adding a Explicit Sex warning. Personally, I think I could do so much more explicit than this, but…

Through your eyes,
Everything is clear,
...but I’m alone for now

Staind

After dinner they sat around the table and talked. Amy and Tess were cleaning the kitchen while Maria was leaning on Michael. Amy almost asked her to help, but she was asleep against him. So beautiful. Her daughter was so beautiful, and Michael's large hand moving gently across her face, cradling her, almost made Amy want to weep. It was wonderful to see her child so loved.

Bringing coffee and tea, Amy and Tess rejoined the rest and silently listened as the men talked about their case. Max had shown up just before dinner. He was still eating, trying to get some moments alone to talk to Tess, but Kyle was guard-dogging her. He knew she had had an appointment earlier, and he decided that in the future he wanted to go with her.

“Talking to Alex earlier made me think of something, Michael.” Sean was so full, he could hardly stand himself. It was too clichéd for him to reach down and unbutton his jeans, so he just suffered. The fourth helping of polenta had been a mistake.

Michael was busy looking down at his mate. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful, so sexy all pregnant and...

“Michael?”

“What?” Michael tried to get back into the conversation.

“I said there is something about the body that’s been bothering me.” Sean was on the verge of giving up on Michael and just talking to Cap.

“Sorry, tell me.”

“It’s just that the way the body was processed reminded me of something I've heard or seen before.” Sean frowned.

“A memory?”

“No training.” Amy looked at Sean sharply. She understood that term, understood what it meant. Her own son Frankie Jr., now dead, had been 'trained' too. But unlike her son, Sean had made a choice and walked away from the Family business.

“Sean.” Amy said in warning.

“It’s okay, Aunt Amy.” Sean turned to Michael who had that look of interest in his eyes. “It’s not a member of the Family, but an outsider, a special. Michael, I know you already processed this, but this man stays hidden for so long because he gives no one cause to know of his existence. He’s not building a name.”

“I don’t understand,” said Cap. Even Kyle and Max were suddenly quiet.

“What Sean means is that the killer is too good, too efficient at what he does. He’s been doing it for a long time, longer than we suspect. But even the best and most careful of killers makes mistakes, or makes themselves known.”

Sean looked at Amy and shrugged. In for a penny, in for a pound. It would do no good not to be honest. “There is one entity or organization I know of that has made making people disappear into an art.”

Michael and Cap both looked at Sean and then Amy, who suddenly was suddenly very quiet and staring at her hands clenched in her lap. “Sean, you don’t have to say anything. I know that you're bound by...” Amy looked up at Jim with love and gratitude.

“It’s okay. This is not something connected, just an anomaly.” Sean wished he had a smoke. “When I was young, among my people or my family there was talk about the killing zone, the Dump as we called it. There were outsiders that found and used the best Dumps. I don’t really remember much since I never fully became involved in the business, but I have some memories of discussions about the special processing of the bodies.”

“Who would know specifics, Sean?” Michael knew that Sean was walking a sharp line of distinction. Going against The Family, his people, was a crime not forgiven.

“My father would know. He is now head of our Family.” Sean said quietly.

Cap looked at Sean. “Can you ask, get us details?”

Both Amy and Sean looked at each other, and then both shook their heads. Amy’s eyes filled with sympathy for Sean. They were both dead to The Family. Amy when she divorced Franco, Sr., and Sean when he helped his best friend escape and then walked from the business. Sean had compounded his sins by becoming a Cop, taking a side against his own.

“How about someone local?” Michael asked.

“No one will talk. It is a matter for the heads of the Families. There are five major Families, with some smaller ones slowly emerging. The Laegastini Family holds territory from Vegas through the southwest and to Florida. Florida, of course is in faction with the Jewish Families' holdings that have dominated for decades, the Latino Families are taking hold, and even the Japanese Yakuza are vying for it. When the Triad walked in it became a blood bath. The Laegastini took control about forty years ago, but it’s been a power struggle to hold ground. My family is affiliated with The Laegastini Family. The unrest in Florida has kept my Family in business and strong for generations.”

“Why Florida?” Kyle asked quietly. All those people fighting for one piece of land.

“It is a gateway for the drug cartel. There are no boundary checks from the Keys, and Cuba and other Mediterranean countries are just a spit away. It's a gateway into the country for all illegal fare, such as guns, drugs, and even Cuban cigars. Money laundering will always be a huge business. The Cartels are expanding across the globe, and the reaching arm is immense.” Sean searched for a cigarette.

“It started in Sicily, the Old World, and has expanded. It is its nightmare image, cast in the precise mold of the Castellammare hills...the heartland of the Cosa Nostra, the cradle of the Dons. The nightmare has its own logic, its own bones. Sicilians call it the "sistema del potere. " The system of power.” Maria said softly. Michael hadn’t realized that she was awake.

Michael looked down at Maria. “How much do you know?”

Maria just shrugged. “Most of it I learned on my own, but in the Family wives and children are outsiders to the Business. It was keeping it among ‘the men’ that kept them strong.”

“So,” Michael looks at Sean, “how do we get this information without a Family connection?”

Sean and Amy shared a look, and then both turned to Maria. “We have a Family connection.”

~~~

Jim and Amy had left, but Tess, Kyle, Max and Sean remained. They watched as Michael and Maria ran around the loft packing and making plans. They were catching the red-eye to Miami, and Maria was busy making lists while Michael was asking her about the packing.

“No, take the serge-cut, the other needs to be tailored.” Michael rolled his eyes and went back into his closet. What the hell was the serge cut? “Kyle, are you sure you and Tess can babysit Mr. Booboo? He’s delicate.”

“Not a problem. I’ll sack out here with Tess. She can take the downstairs room, and I’ll take the sofa.” Kyle was looking under the sofa for the cat.

“Someone could sleep in our bed. I’ll have Michael change the sheets.” Maria called up the stairs to a cussing Michael. “Michael...”

His head came over the banister. “What? Is this the frickin’ serge cut?” He waved a jacket at her.

“Yes, and take the pressed white shirts, no turtlenecks or sweaters. Oh and don’t forget the ties.” Michael nodded and started to go back to packing. “Michael,” He came back. “Change the sheets on the bed, Kyle might sleep up there.” Michael narrowed his eyes at Kyle and Kyle actually gulped. Okaaay, maybe not. Obviously Michael had a thing about other men sleeping in his bed.

“How did you get packed so fast?” Michael asked exasperated.

“It’s not that hard, Detective. You just pull the clothes you want and then grab the accessories and bath items.” Maria finished her list and quickly read it.

“Bathroom items? Oh sh-it!” Michael disappeared again.

“Okay, here’s the list for Mr. Booboo, the security cut-off code, the security password in case you make a mistake and set off the alarm. All outside doors automatically activate when closed. A special key that opens the door automatically turns off the alarm when you come in, but it will re-activate once the door is closed. You can open it from the inside without setting off the alarm, but if you leave a door ajar for more than a few minutes, the security company will be alerted. So if you ever enter the house and feel someone is inside, just leave the door ajar and a call will go through.” Maria looked upstairs at the sounds of cussing and things falling. “Okay, read that over and I’ll be back. I better go pack for Michael or we’re going to miss our flight.”

Kyle looked at Maria’s list and felt sweat break out on his forehead. Tess read it over his shoulder, and she started feeling nauseated. That much for a cat? Oh god, what does it take with a baby? “Oh, I don’t know, Kyle.” Kyle just nodded.

Maria hit the top of the stairs and saw the chaos. “What are you doing, Detective?” She surveyed the damage with a clicking of her tongue.

By the time Michael and Maria finally came downstairs with their bags, Kyle had found the cat. Sean studied the large, black, fluffy cat with a frown.

“M, wasn’t Mr. Boo a striped calico? I swear he was a striped calico and kind of scrawny.”

Michael looked at the cat they had had over a year and then at Maria. He did used to be kind of striped, sort of black with some white patches, and red? Now he was a long haired black cat with white patches on his paws, belly and red highlights in his coat. “Sean is right.”

Maria took the cat from Kyle, hugging and petting him. “What are you suggesting? That this cat is an imposter? He wasn’t calico or striped. He was...” Maria voice trailed off.

“What?” Michael asked.

“He was blotchy. Mr. Booboo is very sensitive. When he's upset he sort of loses his hair, making his coat patchy and then he just looks calico.” Maria kissed the cat who was purring ridiculously loud. “But look at how happy he is!”

Kyle just looked at the huge fluffy cat. “Neurotic. You’re saying you have a neurotic cat? And you want me to babysit it?”

“He’s not neurotic! He just likes attention, that’s all. That’s why you’re babysitting him, so he’s not lonely.” Maria walked off talking to the cat, making soothing noises to him as she made him a treat.

Kyle looked at Michael. “Tell me that she’s this way because of the pregnancy.” Michael just shrugged. Mr. B was a very involving cat. He should know. The cat liked to sleep on his legs at night.

“Pregnant? Who’s pregnant?” Sean looked at the rest in confusion.

~~~

He looked down at the young Japanese man and smiled. It wouldn’t take much longer. This time he had taken extra care to search the entire body. Perfect. Not one blemish or scar. The skin was clear and supple, and there was a chance that this was a purebred. While chatting up the young man the other night, he was told that the man was a first generation immigrant, and his parents were from Old World Japan.

The clear lacquer had dried, and the beginning telltale signs of death were slowly creeping over the specimen. Soon it would be time to process the body, prepare it for display, study its purity, and then mount it. Suddenly it was a good day.

~~~

Max saw Michael and Maria off at the airport. He couldn’t enter the security area, so he dropped them off at the departure desk. Michael wasn’t too excited about meeting Maria’s family. But Maria still was treated as one of the Family, and despite the viciousness of events that led to her brother’s death, they still kept in contact. Amy and Sean were both on the outside, but Maria could still walk in the door. They were staying with Sean’s family. His father, Marco DeLuca, the new head of the family was the man with the answers.

Sean, Kyle and Max had a running pool going. They were betting on whether Michael and Maria would become members of the Mile-High Club, and whether it would be on the outgoing flight, incoming, or both. They also had bets on whether Michael would be targeted for assassination by the DeLuca family, or would cause an uproar as a Cop entering a protected household.

Before she left, Maria asked Sean if he had a message for his mother. Sean just shook his head. Maria quickly hugged him and kissed him goodbye before leaving. As soon as they left, the cat started meowing and racing around the room, knocking over things. Then he simply disappeared. It took them two hours to find him sleeping in Michael’s sock drawer, curled up in a mass of shredded cotton.

~~~

Max entered the apartment to darkness. He called for Isabel, but there was no answer. Letting himself worry for a moment, Max almost picked up the phone. A hunter on the loose and his sister was out there. A recovering alcoholic, drug addict, and nymphomaniac shouldn’t be out at night. Max tried to calm down, and convinced himself that Isabel was more than likely manning a crisis line.

Grabbing a beer and a glass, Max laid back on his sofa and stared at the phone. Taking a piece of paper out of his pocket, he looked at the number that Maria had written down. What to do? What to do?

Normally he would have tossed it, convincing himself that kissing Jonathan Stiller was an aberration caused by being in an unknown environment. But he couldn’t deny the dreams that kept waking him, the fascination that one slip of paper had, and the need to discover what was drawing him. After all these years, all that time, it was strange to think that he could be attracted to men.

No guts, no glory. Max picked up the phone and dialed. The sound of a man’s voice surprised him. He expected Jonathan to answer, but a part of him wanted the man to not be home so he could toss the number away as an ‘Oh well, I tried’ event.

“Hello?” The voice paused waiting when Max realized that he was waiting for him to speak. So he quickly rushed hating how it made him almost stuttered.

“Yes…um, hello.” Max cursed under breath accepting loser status as his curse. “I was,…um, I mean am looking for...” Max rolled his eyes at himself again and cussed under his breath. Not ‘looking for’ you idiot. What is this, ‘looking for Mr. Right?’. Max took a calming breath and began again. “Yes, this is Max Evans, I was calling to talk to...”

“Max?” The voiced sounded surprised, almost pleased. “This is Jonathan. Hi.”

“Hi.” Max wasn’t sure what else to say, so the pause lengthened. “I was...”

“Did you want...” The both spoke at the same time, and then both paused so the silence was deafening.

Max just sighed. “Look I’m sorry. Maria gave me your number. She said you asked her for my number, and so I thought that...”

“We should talk?” Jonathan asked quietly.

“Talk. Talking would be good.” Max actually rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you want to meet? Just to talk.” Max added quickly. He couldn’t, didn’t want to make it seem like a date.

“When?” Jonathan’s voiced sounded guarded.

“Tomorrow night?” Once Max said it, he regretted it. He should have said lunch. Lunch is just a meeting, but nighttime is more like a date.

“Area 51?” Jonathan asked.

“No!” Max was horrified. He couldn’t go back there. It was too much like he really belonged there if he wasn’t on assignment. “No. How about Senior Chows?”

Jonathan just laughed. “Sure. I’ll spot you a game of pool and we can drink beer and throw peanut shells at each other. Sounds like fun.”

Max thought about the other man. Jonathan was definitely upper society. Senior Chows was not. Damn. “Maybe you would like to meet somewhere else?”

“Senior Chows, seven-thirty, and I'll buy the first pitcher of beer, Detective.” Max stared at his phone when he heard the dial tone. Oh god, he just made a date with Jonathan Stiller.

~~~

Isabel woke to the sun shining in her eyes, and pains all over her body, especially her back and ass. Alex was sleeping wrapped around her, holding her tight into his body.

Oh god! Isabel struggled out of his arms and sat on the edge of the bed, wincing in pain. Her ass hurt and the rest of her felt almost tortured. Her thighs ached so much, she wasn’t sure she could stand. He wasn’t kidding about sex, and her body was feeling it. Her head was thick with the lack of sleep, and she was still wet.

She felt his hand moving over her skin, and quickly jumped out of the bed. “Don’t!” Isabel could still feel him inside. Dammit, no condoms! She was on the pill, but she knew better. Condoms were protection against other things besides pregnancy. “You better be clean, because if I get anything from you I’m going to find you and kill you!”

“Hey, I’m the one that should worry. I use condoms all the time. Last night was an aberration. You’re the one that never took much care over your health.”

“Shut up! That was over a year ago. It’s been a long time for me, and I’m clean.”

“Well so am I.” Alex watched her searching for her clothes. What the hell was wrong with her? “Isabel...Isabel, come back to bed and we’ll talk, okay? It was a long time for me too. I waited for you.”

“You said you wouldn’t,” she reminded him.

“I know. I never meant to, but I did.” Alex reached out an arm to her. “Come back to bed.”

“I don’t trust you. You’ve got unholy designs on my ass, don’t think I didn’t notice. And thanks to you, I can’t sit.”

Alex actually smiled at that. She was right. He definitely had a total thing for her ass. It was damn near perfect. But her anger didn’t make any sense. “What’s with getting all indignant on me? Treating me like I took something away from you?”

“You don’t understand!”

“Then make me!” Alex watched her go into the bathroom to find the rest of her clothes. She wasn’t going to find that silk scarf. It was still tied to his bed.

She was right. His intentions toward her weren’t all that honorable, and some of them bordered on the edge of dark and dirty. He could still feel her silky hair under his hands as he fed himself into her mouth, but he could also feel her fingers probing him, f-ucking him. And from her reactions last night, he suspected she had more experience with that type of sex than he did. So why was she acting like he took her without consent? He could still hear her husky voice begging him, crying his name, and not once did she ask him to stop.

His favorite part was sinking his mouth into her, licking broad swipes over her body, and sucking her down until she came all over him. He lubed up his fingers and opened her ass while he worked her with his mouth, sucking her clit to the top of his mouth. Her keening and cries increased as she pushed back on his fingers opening up her tightest channel. And finally when she was riding the wave of an orgasm, he flipped her on her stomach and slammed into her ass watching her bite the pillow, and her hands gripping the mattress hard, and as they got into it, he pulled her up on her knees and she kept begging him for more, pleading with him not to stop. So he didn’t, not once or even twice. He just kept working her under him, until finally he had to take them into the bathroom to shower as the sweat made their bodies slick.

In the shower, they had both rested under the hot pounding water. "Now." The one word was all she could manage as her eyes homed in on his beautiful c-ock. She made a move to reach for him again, suddenly desperate to have him in her mouth, to feel that hard flesh against her lips.

Alex stopped her, his hands capturing hers and pushed them back against the glass wall as his thigh slid in between her own. "I can’t wait."

Isabel could feel the wetness seeping onto the hair-roughened flesh of his thigh as he moved it up, grinding it against her. Then his hands released her and grasped her thighs, spreading them apart and lifted her up off her feet as he insinuated himself between her legs. He crowded her up against the glass of the shower.

She cried out at the first touch of his c-ock against her, the slick head barely nudging the clit before sliding between the swollen lips in a teasing motion. She moaned at the tenderness since he already f-ucked her once that way. Finally, Isabel felt it at her opening, the heat of his c-ock branding her as he began to inch inside. She grasped his shoulders, bracing herself as he slid home until the entire throbbing length of him was inside her. He rested there for a moment, his breath ragged as he struggled to maintain control.

Unable to resist, she rocked against him, moaning as the motion forced him even deeper inside. His hands grew rough at her wild movements, pulling her legs up to wrap around his waist until only his body was holding her up, pushed hard against the glass. Then he began to plunge in hard, at first his long deep strokes were almost leisurely but grew faster as the sensations made them both cry out.

His head was nestled on her shoulder, his arms pulling at her hips and his hands holding her ass as he thrust up into her body, burying himself inside her as far as he could go. Isabel was barely aware of the cool glass wall against her back as he bucked into her, filling her with his c-ock until it was all she could feel. His hot mouth fastened on the skin of her neck, latching onto the sensitive skin there and biting down as he slammed his body into his mate.

Isabel’s fingernails dug deep into his shoulders as she began to spasm around his c-ock, each tremor causing her flesh to tighten around him as another climax tore through her. This was it, the culmination of every sexual thought she’d ever had for this man was bound up in the deep strokes of his c-ock inside her. Her own cry of completion mingled with his as she felt the hot stream of his come shoot up inside her. His hips continued to piston against her, his c-ock ramming itself into her as his orgasm shook them.

Finally, he collapsed against her and the glass, his hands loosening their bruising grip on her ass. But he continued to use the weight of his body to keep her nailed in place. Isabel didn't know how long they stayed like that, with her legs wrapped around his waist as he leaned against her, both of them panting as they tried to catch their breath, both of them still reeling from the after-effects of what had been the most intense sex of their life.

Alex allowed himself the pleasure of remembering every dirty searing moment of it, of her. She was everything he imagined and more, and no matter what he tossed at her, she took it and gave it back ten-fold. Seeing her frantic movements, he let the irritation take over again.

“Isabel Evans, get your ass back in bed.” Alex said as he watched her struggling with her clothes again. He smiled at the bruises and marks he saw on her back, feeling his body heating up again.

“No! NO! I’ve got to think. You’re confusing me, making me...” Isabel swore. There was no way she could get her nylons back on. “I wanted more. I need more. Not just f-ucking, not just physical. I want more.”

Alex rushed to bottom of the bed, and pulled her back onto the bed. “You think that what we did was physical? Just f-ucking?”

“No. I don’t know. How do I know? Is it just Isabel being Isabel again? F-ucking for the addiction of feeling good?”

Alex tossed her off his bed in disgust, and returned back to the head lying back against the pillows, not bothering to cover himself. “That’s all you felt? Physical? Nothing else?” His eyes narrowed in anger. If she lied to him, he was going to put her across his knees and spank her. Dammit, his body was still humming, still feeling the effects, and she was calling it physical?

“No. No. I don’t know what it was. I feel you. I feel you inside like a tingling, and I still taste you in my mouth, and smell you on my body. Dammit, Alex I never experienced this before...and what we did, it wasn’t anything new to me. But the feelings were, the end results.” Isabel stopped with standing in her skirt and bra with her blouse in hand. “I need it again, and again, and again. And if that isn’t addiction I don’t know what is. I’m not some outraged virgin wanting promises and 'I Do's'. But I promised myself not to fall into the addiction again, that this time I wanted more.”

“I can give you that.” Alex said quietly. He didn’t know what that meant, but he knew he meant it. Whatever it took, no matter how long, Isabel Evans was his, and damn his worthless soul, he feared he was hers.

“I know. I know you can, but its not enough. I need to be able to give you back the same, meet you there.” Isabel grabbed her shoes and bag, and not even bothering to button up her shirt, she fled. “Don’t call...oh god!” She just left.

“Isabel!” Alex sat up calling after her. Cussing and tossing a few pillows from his bed, Alex laid back and listened to the slamming of his front door. She’d be back.

~~~

Tess was toasting bagels in the kitchen when Kyle came out of the downstairs bedroom. He had searched upstairs, downstairs, and everywhere for the Demon Cat. After Michael and Maria left, the cat went insane searching the house for them. Every time they tried to approach him he would scurry away. Finally he went out his cat door, and didn’t bother to return until about three in the morning when he jumped on Kyle, who was sleeping on the sofa. The noise and commotion woke Tess and she found Kyle nursing a bleeding scratch across his arm while looking under the sofa.

“Did you find him?” Tess asked.

“No. I found this though.” Kyle showed her some clumps of black hair.

“Oh no! Maria isn’t going to be happy if she comes home to a bald Mr. Booboo. We can’t have Mr. Booboo as a calico again.” Tess came to join him in the living room. “I need to get to the museum to cover Maria’s shift. Are you okay alone?”

Kyle looked at Tess in terror. She was going to leave him alone with that monster? “Tess, I’m begging you! I know, maybe if I just come with...”

“We can’t leave him alone. You heard Maria. He gets lonely.” Tess gathered her stuff. “Look, I made you breakfast, so don’t worry. Just watch some television or something, and sooner or later he’ll come out. He’s got to be hungry. And when I come home, we’ll make some dinner, and see if the cat will come join us.”

“But...”

Tess kissed Kyle gently on his lips and patted his face. “It’ll be fine. Good practice for the baby.” Kyle watched her leave. This was what babies acted like? Oh lord. And they looked so innocent.

~~~

Sean went to answer his door dripping all over his floor. With soap still in his hair, he was desperately wiping away the stuff before it hit his eyes. Isabel Evans, on his door step. Yeah, that had to be right. Hell on Earth.

She entered past him, checking out his exposed body. “God, your body looks worse than your face.”

“It’s not my fault. Master did the best he could with all the miscellaneous parts. But I’m just a patchwork of makeshift engineering.”

Isabel just snorted and head for the kitchen. “Frankenstein did better on his first monster.”

“You should know, being the Bride and all.” Sean ignored her, refused to demand what the hell she was doing in his apartment on a Saturday morning looking like, well like she was rode hard and put away wet. He returned to finish his shower. He was scheduled to work today, but most of it was to cover Club Hell at night.

When he returned, Isabel had made coffee, and was digging through his refrigerator. “Oh god, nothing should ever be put in here. Don’t you even buy food?”

“I order out a lot, not that it’s any of your business.”

“I thought Italians could cook, or liked to eat. Maria seems to keep lots of food in her house.”

Sean poured himself a cup of coffee. “She does, and we do. But it’s hard living alone and cooking enough food for an army. Maria feeds an army so it’s okay for her. And why should I buy food when my Aunt Amy and Maria both feed me?”

“So you’re just lazy.”

“Stop with the small talk, Grisella, and tell me why you’re here. Shouldn’t you be wandering the streets of Roswell turning people into stone and converting men to the joys of homosexuality?”

“Didn’t get laid last night, huh?” Isabel said pouring herself some coffee.

“No, I was at Michael and Maria’s watching them pack for a trip to Florida.”

“Florida? Why’d they go to Florida?” Sean smiled nastily and decided that goading her was more fun than picking at a scab.

“To see the DeLuca Family, seeing as how Maria is in a family way.” Sean was prepared for shock, but not screeching. Wiggling a finger in his ear he tried to regain the use of his hearing. “Tone it down! Geez, so what if the two lovebirds have a chipper in the making?”

Isabel collected herself. Michael, too? “They didn’t...Michael didn’t tell me?” Isabel was devastated. She really was outside the family loop. It seemed the entire world knew about Max expecting, and now even Dot-to-Dot Boy knew about Michael before she did.

“Don’t get in a snit. They only confirmed it two or three days ago, and they ain’t talking until Amy is promptly married off. So if you rat them out it will make them very unhappy. And before you turn on that siren voice again, I should point out that they were going to tell us first the other night, but they got distracted. So your not knowing is just by default.”

Isabel went into the living room and threw herself down on the sofa. “Is the entire world going on without me? I mean is everyone getting a life and I’m just standing still?”

“Nice self-pity. I like. Is this getting you in the mood to run out and do something strange and self destructive?” Sean asked taking a seat across from her. “You still didn’t tell me why you’re here.”

“Well, as strange as it may seem, I needed someone to talk to. Somehow you seemed like the one.”

“I don’t rescue maidens anymore.” Sean said seriously.

“I’m not a maiden.”

“Okay, I don’t reform wicked witches either.” Isabel just smiled.

“Fair enough. Looking at you, I’m not surprised.”

Sean just nodded. As long as she was aware that he wasn’t nice, they could work together. As strange as it was, he felt the same as she did. Isabel was a stranger to him, someone with just as many hang-ups, and because he felt no attraction to her, he could be honest and biting. No need to be nice.

“I slept with a man last night.”

Sean just shrugged. “Thought you used to do that a lot.”

“I did. That’s the problem. As part of my therapy, I've been staying away from men, and last night...”

“Backslide?” Isabel just nodded. Sean looked at her critically. “How major was this backslide?”

“Major. I can’t believe it. Just away from the group home for a week, and already I’m spending hours engaged in mind-numbing dirty sex.”

Sean’s interest piqued. “How dirty are we talking?” Isabel just put her head in her hands and moaned. “Okay, don’t melt down, on me. Let me get us some more coffee, and then you can unload on Dr. Sean. Um...you better tell me all the details.” Sean smiled. “The more details the better.”

“Pig.”

~~~

Maria found him outside in the gardens. Last night they had arrived real late, and one of her uncle’s men picked them up at the airport. Because it was late, Maria and Michael went straight to bed in the rooms Maria had used in her uncle’s house since she was a child. The family was already up, and Maria stopped in the kitchen to see her Aunt Teresa.

Sean’s mother was half Italian and half Irish. She had the fair coloring and fawn hair of her Irish mother, but the dark eyes of her father. She named Sean, her first born, after her own maternal grandfather and he looked surprisingly like his namesake. Sean's name was a long line of Italian and Irish names strung together, but he used his middle name, Sean.

“Hey, I was looking for you.” Maria said as Michael turned to look at her. She looked well rested. ”Aunt Teresa says that breakfast is in half an hour, so you better be hungry.”

“Maria...” Michael looked out over the grounds, and noticed the men around the place, and the amount of protection. Small children were playing in the open park, and women in black watched over them. “This is where you come from.”

“Actually, bigger. This is Marco’s home. My father’s home was the main family house for the DeLuca family.” Maria pointed to a larger house further up the hill nestled in trees. Maria pulled him down to sit with her on a low stone wall. “What’s wrong?”

Michael just looked at the house, the gardens, and everything. It was too much. “This is money, Maria. Serious money.”

“I know. I thought you understood that. I’ve never hidden my money from you.”

“I knew about the Foundation, I knew you owned the loft and money was never a concern, but this...” Michael waved his arms around the area. “I didn’t imagine this.”

“It’s just family stuff. My family, they have a business, a special business. For generations in Sicily and then later here in America. They were special protectors, men who where soldiers for the Families. They made a good life off it.”

“Killing?”

“Yes. It is their business. My brother, our father, and his father’s father. Contracts Michael, they aren’t a few bucks here and there. They're in six figures or more, and with them comes reputation and power.”

“She is right, you know.” Michael looked up at the older man, Maria’s Uncle Marco. He had met them last night before they went to bed. Maria was named for him. “This is our business and we do not talk about it with outsiders. Maria has asked that I talk to you, and so I will. But you tell me, why should I talk to you? To a man that lives with my beloved niece in sin?”

“Uncle...”

“I do not live with her in sin. I live with her until she names the day. She is my business.” Michael said with a touch of hardness in his voice. He refused to be intimidated.

The man looked at Maria. “Is this true? Does this man ask you, and you do not name a date?”

“Technically yes, but only recently after we found out about the baby.” Maria’s uncle stood up with his hands flapping, and called to some other man.

“Get the priest...”

“Zio! No!” Maria grabbed her uncle’s arm. “Stop it. I said yes. I already said yes. Don’t mess up all the fine work Michael has done convincing me to marry him.”

“He had to convince you? How?”

“Like the pig he is. He announced to the world I was his fiancée and ignored me when I refused.”

“Eh?” He sized Michael up. “Maria, go help the women in the kitchen.”

“What are you...”

“Go!” He kissed her, and pushed her towards the house. “So, Michael, do you smoke? No? You should. I have these special cigars, hand-rolled, and when you smoke them and drink a good whiskey even women almost make sense.” Marco put his arm around Michael’s shoulder and took him for a stroll around the house.