Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Now remember, stay close and don't do anything stupid.” Paloma’s grandfather says as they step off the train. “Give me the suitcases, I can carry them.”

“No, your knee is bad, remember? I'll carry it.” Paloma insists as she grabs both suitcases. “It's why you brought me along, I'm the strongest of the grandkids.”

“And the oldest and unmarried.”

“Yes thank you for reminding me of that.”

“Well perhaps with some luck, maybe we can find you a nice American husband, a Catholic one of course. Perhaps a nice Irish boy from a good religious family, some of my cousins managed to have families in America, perhaps we can find one here and they can help us set you up with a nice boy.”

With my luck he won't be so nice. Paloma thinks as she hoists the bags a bit higher to make it easier to carry them.

She never thought someday she’d be traveling by train with her grandfather into Missouri, for whatever reason aside from the talk of finding her a nice boy from an Irish catholic family. But the ride was exhausting, and she was finally glad to be on solid ground instead of a moving train.

“We should get food, how much do we have?” Paloma heard her grandfather ask. “You didn't lose our funds did you?”

“Nope, right here in my purse.” Paloma lifts the leather satchel she had carrying the coin purse and wallet containing their money. “Never losing it.”

“Good girl, now let's find a proper place to eat and I can give you another lesson in English.”

Once they exited the train station, they made their way down the street before arriving at a small cafe.

“Alright we can eat here for now.” The older man says as they enter before yelling something in English. A woman behind the counter yells something back before gesturing to the counter where several chairs were.

“So…what can I get?” Paloma asks her grandfather as they take a seat near a man with glasses who was reading a newspaper.

“Anything, no alcohol though.” He responds.

“I don't drink.”

“Good. Here, have a menu and put your English lessons to use.”

Paloma accepts the thick piece of paper with whatever was listed as the meals of the cafe. She recognized the words eggs, coffee, pancakes, juice, milk, olives, waffles and that was it. She could ask for waffles, the ones on the train tasted weird but perhaps some fresh ones from here would taste more delicious.

“Umm…waffles…juice.” She says hesitantly to the woman. “¿Por favor?”

The woman gave her a puzzled look at looks to her grandfather, who says something before she nods and heads into the kitchen.

“Sorry, I tried.” Paloma says quietly.

“It's okay, you at least tried.” Her grandfather assured her. “Just keep practicing, I'm not always going to be here to translate.”

Paloma nods before reaching into the large bag they had their clothes and books in and draws out an old familiar one with a worn spine. She proceeds to read, getting lost in the story of her favorite vigilante hero who was busy exposing a bunch of corrupt rich lords.

“Will you put that book down for once? I swear out of all the grandkids, you always have your snout up a book!” Her grandfather scolds and Paloma looks up to see him frowning at her. “Some days instilling that love of reading in you kids was a mistake.”

“Oh but it's at the good part! He's about to reveal his secret identity to the lady he fancies!”

“Eat your waffles first, then fawn over those two fictional characters when you are done. Your food is right there on the table.”

Paloma rolls her eyes but grabs for the little cup next to her plate containing the syrup, still keeping her eyes on her book. It was getting really good now, and they were going to kiss-

“PALOMA GUADALUPE ALVAREZ!”

Paloma gives a loud yelp as she drops the cup and it falls to the floor with a loud crash. To her horror, she sees a trail of syrup leading from her overflowing waffles to some droplets on her book. She gasps and shoves the book aside, looking desperately for some napkins to clean the pages before they became too sticky, before she hears someone clear their throat.

To her right on a stool sat the man from earlier with the newspaper, who looked a bit older than her, sporting one of those fancy suits she'd seen many city dwellers dress in and holding something out to her. He says something she can't quite understand and realizes he is holding some paper napkins. The man looks a bit annoyed but he holds the napkins out to her, which she carefully took and proceeds to carefully wipe the pages and attempt to wipe the table before an older man starts cleaning up the counter with a rag.

Would be a nice time to know more proper English now. She thinks bitterly as the two men are exchanging words with her grandfather before he gently smacks the back of her head. Speaking the old Irish tongue is useless in these parts.

“Paloma, say thank you!” Her grandfather hisses before saying something in an apologetic tone.

“Uh…thank….yee?” She manages to say.

Ack this was embarrassing, now all eyes were on her and she absolutely hated it, especially since some of the cafe patrons laughed. Paloma then snatches up her book and hurries out the door of the cafe, walking a few steps away before sitting down on the sidewalk and burying her face into her knees. She hadn't even been in this city for a full day and she'd already made a fool of herself, just wonderful.

---

“Is she alright?” Mordecai hears Mitzi ask. “Your granddaughter looked quite upset.”

“She gets a bit flustered easily, though probably because she doesn't speak much English.” The elderly man says with a dismissive wave. “It's better to let her cool her head for a moment. She'll be back in a few minutes and in a better state of mind.”

“So she can't even speak English, but you can and you're her grandfather?” Mordecai asks. “That's a bit…odd.”

“Oh I originally came from Ireland when I was a lad, though I took a bit of a detour and went more south since at the time the Americans weren't too kind to us Irish folk. Met my wife during the first Mexican-American War, accidentally got her pregnant and married her to give her a proper roof over her head when her family threw her out, and we have been together ever since. I didn't think any of my kids or grandkids needed to learn English since they wouldn't be heading to America any time, so I never really bothered to teach them. They know some basics, but other than that they hardly know a word of it. We never really planned to come to America, until recently. Funny thing, they can speak Irish better than English.”

“Poor thing.” Mitzi sighs. “I'm sure with you teaching her, she'll pick up enough to be able to find work at least.”

“Well why doesn't she work here with us, we could use an extra hand.” Atlas suggests. “A young lady like her might not have too much experience working normal jobs in the city.”

“Well she could easily butcher chickens, cook, clean, tend to farm animals, basic stuff many who live in the countryside can do.” The old man says. “Oh, she's also good at first aid, though it's a bit crude, but she knows how to stitch wounds. She can shoot too, though she prefers using a rifle or a shotgun to a little pistol, that's probably my fault. Not sure how that can help your little cafe, unless you are prone to thieves.”

“Hmm, how about cars, can she drive or fix one?”

“Sir, with all due respect, what are you doing?” Mordecai interrupts. “You're not doing what I think you're doing, are you? We hardly know these two individuals.”

“Well mister…what was your name again?” Atlas asks the older man.

“Rory Alvarez, I took my wife's last name and ditched my family name when I married her.” The old man responded. “It's a good name.”

“Alright, mister Alvarez is in need of a job, or at least his granddaughter is, an honest job. They most likely don't have enough funds after traveling through several states by train, possibly only having enough to rent a single room in a decent boarding house and for groceries, I thought I could give them a hand.” Atlas continues. “I'm basically doing them the same favor I offered you and Viktor.”

And look where that landed us. Mordecai thinks as he rolls his eyes. “Fine, what do you have in mind?”

“Mmm, perhaps working in the kitchen. Sir, how quick of a learner is your granddaughter?”

“Oh she's a fast learner for many things, except learning English.” Rory responds. “I'm still working on that.”

“Then that settles it, she can help out in the cafe's kitchen.” Mitzi says with a smile. “Perhaps with her help, the sandwiches and waffles will taste better.”

“You're all too kind, I'm sure my sweet girl will be happy to know she has a job waiting for her!” The older man exclaims. “And who knows, perhaps in a month or two we can get ourselves a proper home!”

“With how expensive housing is, you're better off in a boarding house.” Mordecai says as he takes his cup to sip his tea. “Though best be careful, some landlord or landladies love taking advantage of their more foreign guests.”

“Trust me boy, I know better.” The older man scoffs. “Not about to let some saggy stomached greedy fool take advantage of me or my granddaughter, especially my granddaughter.”

The bell of the cafe rang as the door opened and in stepped the young woman from earlier, clutching the book she had been reading earlier to her chest and sat back down in her seat next to her grandfather. The older man spoke softly to her in that language from earlier as she sniffled and set her book down to wipe at her eyes frantically before grabbing her fork to start eating her meal. He wasn't exactly sure why his employer asked the elderly man if the girl knew how to work or drive cars, her hands looked a bit too delicate at a glance to repair them.

“Do you have anywhere in mind my granddaughter and I could stay at? I'm not sure if there are any cheap hotels or boarding houses around here we could afford to stay in.” Rory asks. “We don't exactly have much money-”

“My place.” Mordecai turns to see Viktor watching them from one of the booths where Ruby's daughter sat, scarfing down her breakfast whilst reading a magazine. “Have empty room.”

“Oh Viktor, that's so kind of you!” Mitzi gushes. “You hear that Rory? And don't you worry, Viktor may look menacing and scary, but deep down he's a kind soul. Just try not to annoy him.”

The older man grunts in response and goes back to sipping his coffee. Well, if this girl was going to be working here, he'd probably only have to see her in the mornings or the times he has a meal at this place. She didn't need to get tangled up in their more illegal business side, it never ends well for those who do.

Chapter Text

“Eggs!” Paloma yells as she dumps the pan of scrambled eggs onto a plate with some strips of bacon and quickly hands the plate to Mitzi. It had been a month since she began working at the Little Daisy cafe, the wages were good enough for her to pay Viktor rent, the customers and the ones who ran the place were kind, she quite liked this new life. Her English was still quite poor, but she could understand the words on the menu that Mitzi would shout or hand her scraps of paper with the order scribbled on them. She was still learning, though it seemed like she was getting better at the Slavic language she was picking up from Viktor and his tiny neighbor who seemed to be decades older than her own grandfather. Her break should be coming soon, which should happen after the breakfast rush so she could continue her English lessons with the grumpy older man, who was having coffee with his colleague, the equally grumpy one named Mordecai.

Something about that man made a lot of the patrons nervous for some reason, which she didn't understand because he seemed quite harmless. All he really did was give her an unamused stare, which seemed to be permanent. Wonder if he ever really smiled before.

She felt a tap on her shoulder to see her boss, Atlas, tapping on his wrist and pointing to the tables. That was her cue for a break. Paloma nods and quickly removed her apron to hang it and scooted under the counter to head towards the table where Viktor was sitting. Mordecai was sitting across from him, quietly sipping his coffee and reading some book whose cover she couldn't read, ignoring her as she took a seat next to him so she could face Viktor.

“Good afternoon!” She says cheerfully. Viktor nods before pushing a small notepad towards her. This was covered in several neatly written words and there were what looked like sentences, and her exercise for today would be either writing them or reading them out loud.

“Speak.” Viktor instructs as he taps the pad. “I.”

“I.” Paloma repeats.

“Can.”

“Can.”

He then points at the rest of the words. She squints at the paper.

“D…unce?”

“Dance.” Mordecai says loudly. “Short a.”

“Like…apple.” Viktor adds.

“Dance.” Paloma says and the older man smiles. “I…can…dance.”

A plate with a simple sandwich is placed in front of her and she looks up to give Mitzi a smile. The older woman smiles back before setting down a glass of water down next to the plate before she hurries back to the kitchen. Paolma takes her food and starts to eat as Mordecai and Viktor talk. All she understands is the words “guns” and “trouble”, which she ended up tuning out to focus on her meals.

“Lesson done for today.” She hears Viktor say as he gets up, pulling on his thick coat.

“Thank you.” Paloma says as she gets up, allowing Mordecai to leave the table before she sits back down again. “¡Adios!”

Viktor waves before he and his companion leave the cafe, stopping to speak with Atlas before leaving.

Wonder what they were talking about? Paloma wonders as she gathers her dishes and proceeds to grab other dirty plates from empty tables to bring them to the back. Were the two in some sort of trouble? God she hoped not, but maybe she was overthinking it and there was nothing going on. I need to avoid being so nosy,  especially when I learn more English!

---

“I'm heading to bed early, got a job that requires me to be up at the crack of dawn.” Paloma hears her grandfather say and looks up to see him dressed for bed. “You best head straight to bed on time.”

“You do realize I don't need a bedtime, I'm nineteen.” She scoffs. “You don't even make mama go to bed when everyone else does back at home.”

“Your mother is as stubborn as a mule, which she unfortunately inherited from me and so did you. Bed at nine.”

Paloma scoffs and glances at the nearby clock that read as six in the evening. She had a few hours before she could even go to sleep, so she could stay up and read, perhaps help Mrs. Bapka with whatever she needed like untangling her yarn or something along those lines.

As she is reading, she hears the clock chime a few times before hearing a door open somewhere in the house and Viktor’s heavy footsteps. Looking up from her book, she sees him enter the living room with a pile of clothes in hand, looking around.

“Viktor?” She calls out, causing him to flinch. “What wrong?”

The older man just shook his head as he approached her and held the pile of clothes out. “Need help. Change, cover hair.” He says softly as he places the clothes and a cap in her hands.

Paloma could see a shirt and a pair of pants among the clothes and looked at him with a puzzled expression, but she hurried into the bathroom to change. The shirt was much too large on her, but she could easily tuck it into the pants so it wouldn't look so weird and her chest wouldn't be noticeable. There was a pair of boots that felt a bit too big among the clothes and quickly pulled her hair back into a bun before tucking it under the cap she was given.

Once dressed, she hurries back into the living room where Viktor was waiting, busy loading a bullet belt with a shotgun reclining against the couch. Paloma clears her throat to get his attention, and he stands to grab the gun and toss it to her, along with the belt.

“Can shoot?” He asks and she nods. “Good. Sit in back, hide.”

As confused as she was, Paloma couldn't help but feel curious as well. What did Vikotr need her help with that required her to dress like a man and keep a gun on her person? They both slip out of the house and into a car parked outside, Paloma getting into the backseat and laying down on the floor before something heavy was tossed on top of her, like a blanket or a coat. It felt like hours as she laid there as the car moved, only stopping for a while before she hears someone else get in the front seat. The voices were a bit muffled, but it sounded like…Mordecai? What did Vikotr need him for? She feels the car move again and she stifles a yawn. Maybe she could just nap for a bit, if Viktor needed her, he could shake her awake.

After what felt like some time, Paloma’s eyes snap open as she hears yelling, gunshots and the sound of the car turning on again before it jolts. She could hear Viktor and Mordecai shouting and she’s too afraid to throw the thing covering her off to see what is going on. After a few moments, she feels a hand grab whatver covered her and yank it off.

“Up! Up!” She hears Viktor yell. “Shoot! Bang bang!”

Paloma sat up, earning a startled yell from Mordecai but she ignores him. She sits up a bit to look out the back window to see a car chasing after them with someone hanging out the window waving a pistol. Mordecai is yelling something at Viktor, who is yelling back at him before a bullet flies through the back window and out the front windshield, instantly shutting them up. She quickly cocked the shotgun and jammed the butt of the gun against the back window before aiming the front through the hole. The man in the car seemed to be reloading so she took the opportunity to aim her gun at the front tire. The shot rang loud in her ears, but it managed to hit the front tire she was aiming for, causing the car to swerve. She took another aim and shot at the driver, who swerved right to avoid the shot and the car went straight towards the side of the road and crashes.

Viktor then stops the car, motioning for her to get out. Mordecai is grumbling something under his breath, sending glares at her as all three of them exit the car to walk to the one that had been chasing them. The driver is passed out in the front seat of the car, and the gunman with the pistol climbed out of the wreckage while groaning in pain. Paloma looks to Viktor, unsure what they were supposed to do.

“Gun, give.” He instructs.

Paloma hands the shotgun to him and motioned for her to turn away. She does as she is told, wincing when she hears the shotgun go off twice. Glancing back, she sees the man is dead and Mordecai is now knelt over him, grumbling to himself as he is taking a knife out. She felt a hand on her shoulder and let out a small yelp, turning to see Viktor near her and he motions to the car.

As she starts to walk away, she hears another gunshot and a loud yell from Viktor. Mordecai is yelling as the man from the car is stumbling out and carrying a gun, a crazed look in his eyes. Paloma dives for the shotgun on the floor and fired a round near the man, who runs and she bolts after him. She lets out a loud scream, causing him to stop and turn as she swung the butt of the gun against his head and fired. He falls to the floor, gasping as he clutched at the gaping and bleeding wound on his chest before she fired another bullet into his skull. She kneels and puts two fingers to his neck for a pulse, and finds none.

“Viktor!” She yells as shse runs back towards the bleeding man who is clutching his hsoulder. “Hurt! You hurt!”

“I…I fine…” He manages to groan as he gets up.

“Doctor?”

“No…doctor no. You…you help.”

It had been so long since she dug a bullet out of someone, years ago to be exact. And that was one of her older cousins, who would not stop crying and screaming curses between sobs as he prayed while his mother held his hand while someone else held the teenager down. She’d need a knife for starters, and she didn’t have one on her but she did see who had one. Paloma hurries over to Mordecai, who tries batting her hands away as she frisked his coat for the knife before finding it and rushing back to Viktor. She forces him to lay down on the ground as she tore his shirt open to find the wound.

“No hurt me.” She warns and looks back at Mordecai. “¡Ayuda! Help!”

Mordecai says something she doesn’t understand, but he walks over to them. Paloma nods before sticking the small blade into the wound. Viktor lets out a strained yell as he tries to keep his arms down and Mordecai tries keeping him still. Paloma struggles for a bit before she dug what she was looking for out of his chest and shoved it into her pocket before quickly removing her own shirt and proceeds to tear it to shreds, ignoring the uncomfortable look Mordecai now wore as she starts dressing Viktor’s wounds.

“Th..thank…you…” He manages to say as he is helped to sit up. “Car…now.”

Paloma nods as she and Mordecai help him up (or it was more like she did the lifting while Mordecai was struggling) and walk Viktor to the car to dump him in the front passgenger seat. He says something to his companion as Paloma is getting into the backseat before a coat was thrown at her.

“Put on.” She hears Mordecai say. “Now.”

Paloma does as she is told, slipping his coat on and quickly buttons it up. It had been a bit chilly but she felt a bit warmer now with the coat. Maybe he was nice afterall.

----

Everything had gone wrong tonight in the worst ways imagined. For one, tonight’s job got botched and they got in a chase, Viktor got shot, and now they had a witness to this. Of all the people his companion had to involve, it had to involve the cook from the diner of all people. Atlas won’t be happy for sure. What was that idiot even thinking?

“Viktor, you have some explaining to do before you pass out from bloodloss.” Mordecai says as they are driving. “Explain to me why this woman was hiding in the backseat of the car, for starters.”

“Backup.” The older man responds. “In case.”

“In case what? I get rendered useless? You get shot in the head or the good knee? Or in case you lose your senses?”

The older man glares at him and makes a smal growling noise but says nothing. “Atlas won’t be happy, you got your neighbor involved in this.”

“I handle it.” Viktor responds gruffly. “She won’t be trouble.”

“Oh were you counting on her lack of the English language to keep her from ratting us out to the police? You forget her grandfather knows it, she tells him, he rats on us, we’re done for.”

“Rory won’t tell…not fan of police.”

“How assuring.” Mordecai mutters and glances back at Paloma, who is fiddling with something in her hand. Of all the people to get involved, why her? Why had Viktor even bothered? He should have ran this by Atlas, no doubt he was going to be upset. The girl looks up from whatever she was fiddling with to see him looking at her before she pulled his coat tighter around her chest and quickly buttons it up. He just shook his head and turns his attention back to the road.

They soon arrived at the garage near the diner and parks inside. Good, it was empty. Perhaps he could get the girl out of here before anyone noticed, as soon as he got Viktor to sit down.

“You, go home.” Mordecai says, grabbing Paloma by the arm and pointing to the stree. “Now.”

The girl looks at him with frightened eyes and quickly pulls away to hurry back to Viktor, who is struggling to get out of the car.

“Vikotr, tell her to go home! She speaks some of your language, tell her!”

The older man glares at him and gruffly says something to the girl, who helps him walk over to one of the empty crates to sit down on. “She stay.”

“Do you want her to get in trouble? Send her home!”

“She stay, no trouble.”

“This lost of blood really seems to be affecting your brain!” Mordecai snaps, storming over to shove a finger in Viktor's face. “What were you thinking, now we have to talk to Atlas! We may have to kill her!”

“She save us, he no kill.” The older man growls. “We would be dead.”

“Yes I understand that but-”

“Boys, what's going on?” The two freeze when they see Zib, one of the speakeasy musicians poking his head out of the trap door. “The missus is asking if you got the booze and - who's that?”

Paloma let out a terrified noise and flung herself to hide behind Viktor. He says something softly to her, causing her to peek around him.

“Don't tell me we have a new recruit, Atlas has enough gangsters as it is.” The musician mutters. “You guys got the stuff or not?”

“Of course we did. Unfortunately my associate decided to drag an unwanted guest along for this.”

“Don’t tell me he picked up some kid.”

“Far from it, tell her to send Atlas up here.”

Zib rolls his eyes but shuts the door behind him. After what felt like hours later, the trap door opens and Atlas emerges with Mitzi hanging onto his arm.

“Oh Viktor! What happened?” She gasps as she rushes over. “Oh honey, you’re bleeding and - what is Paloma doing here?!”

“Ask the one eyed guieness.” Mordecai responds dryly before turning to his boss. “I have no clue why he dragged her along and she refuses to leave.”

“Because Viktor is hurt.” Mitzi retorts and turns to Paloma. “Sweetie, why are you wearing such a large coat - goodness! Where’s your shirt?”

“I believe on our bleeding friend.” Atlas comments. “I already had someone call the doctor, seems like our little dove is more useful than she let on.”

“Honey, her grandfather had told us before that she knew first aid. Someone give her a shirt, she can’t be going around with…whatever that is wrapped around her chest and a coat. Actually, I’ll take her downstairs and have one of the band lend her a shirt. Come Paloma.”

Once the two women were gone, Atlas turns his attention to the two men. “So, what happened?”

“I don’t know, she was hiding in the backseat of the car. Viktor claimed hse was back up in case and refuses to say why.” Mordecai responds. “Stubborn fool.”

“Viktor, if you thought you needed back up, we could have sent someone with you. Or did you ask her to come because you don’t really like working with others aside from Mordecai?”

Viktor grunts in response.

“Fine, Mordecai, do explain why Viktor has a hole in his shoulder.”

“We obtained that shipment like you asked, but it seems like we didn’t take out all of those men so two ran after us. While driving, Paloma just popped out of th ebackseat and shot at the men giving chase, we thought the crash killed the driver after we shot his partner but he managed to shoot Viktor when his back was turned. Surprisingly, the girl gave chase after him and took the driver out in a rather brutal fashion, like something Viktor would do.”

“Hmm, well her grandfather mentioned that his family participated in a war a few years back when she was small, and that included Paloma. Rory mentioned that she did more than play nurse for injured family members and neighbors during this war, hence why she’s proficient at using a gun.”

Mordecai raised a brow. “War?”

“A few years ago in Mexico there was a revolution going on, you were probably quite young when this happened, and our Paloma participated in it along with several other family members. Rory said she used to do this thing where she’d run towards an unsuspecting group of men who were on the enemies side screaming at the top of her lungs like some sort of banshee to distract them and shoot a few. Locals started calling her by the name of a legend in those parts, and she still goes by that.”

“That’s…disturbing.”

“Indeed, but that helped her and her family fight. I’ve been thinking, perhaps we should make her an offer.”

“You cannot be serious!” Mordecai exclaims.

“Come on Mordecai, she won’t tell if that’s what worries you. Can hardly speak a word of English.” Atlas says with a shrug. “Who knows, perhaps she is on our side about what’s going on. If she isn’t, we’ll figure something out.”

“And we are back!” They hear Mitzi yell as she emerges from the trapdoor with Paloma sporting a messy looking shirt. “Is the doctor here yet?”

“No dear, say how much English does she know?”

“Hardly any.” Viktor responds. “Knows Slavic better.”

“Well better than nothing. Viktor, tell her what I am offering.”

“She’s joining?” Mitzi asks.

“This is madness.” Mordecai mutters.

“It’s business, but it’d be nice to have a medic on scene and we won’t have to be calling that horse doctor here half the time.” Mitzi sighs.

“And perhaps a replacement for Viktor just in case.” Atlas adds. “Assuming she says yes.”

“She says yes.” Viktor says loudly.

“Am I the only sane person in this room who thinks this is a terrible idea?!” Mordecai exclaims. “This is a disaster waiting to happen!”

“Well, we know how to work our way around those.” Atlas chuckles. “Take her home, will you Mordecai?”

“Why me?!”

“Because you know where Viktor lives and it is rude to make a lady walk home alone.” Mitzi responds with a frown. “Now be a gentleman and escort this poor girl home.”

“You heard her.” Atlas laughs. “Just come back when you are done.”

Mordecai rolls his eyes but walks back to the car as Paloma follows. She sat herself in the backseat as he sits back in the front, sending her an annoyed look before pulling out of the garage and driving off in the direction of Viktor’s home. The drive was quiet, which he was glad for. They soon arrived outside of the home, and Paloma quickly gets out.

“My coat, if you would please.” Mordecai calls out as she is going for the gate. Paloma stops and turns back to remove the coat to push it through the open window. Before he could leave, she motioned for him to wait and hurries to the other side of the car and reached in to grab his hand. “Hey stop-”

The girl manages to pull something out of her pocket and dropped it in his hands. It was the bullet Viktor had in his chest earlier and his knife. Mordecai yelps and flung the bloody bullet out the window, where it lands on the street with a clatter. Paloma looks at him in confusion before walking over to the fallen bullet to pick it up and pocket it. She waves and walks back to the house, acting like she hadn’t done anything so disturbing. This woman is going to give him a stroke one of these days, he just knew it.

Chapter Text

“Where we go?” Paloma asks Viktor as she enters the car, attempting to twist her braid into a bun so she could easily tuck it into the cap. Maybe she should cut her hair, not as short as the hair a lot of women were sporting now but something shorter than her waist length locks.

“Docks.” The older man responds as he starts to drive. “Got trouble.”

Trouble usually meant someone was being a problem, like they were late on payments, or stole a shipment, or as she had recently saw - someone was almost going to expose them. It had been maybe two months at this point since she joined in this, and it was worth it. The extra money was good, it paid better than the cooking job she had but that didn’t mean she was gonna quit it just yet. Thankfully her grandfather had been going to sleep early, giving her time to sneak out of the house when Viktor needed her help with something.

“Need glasses man?” She asks as she manages to twist the braid into a bun and tuck it under her cap. “Ugh, need chop hair.”

“Yes, he come with us.” Viktor responds. “And maybe hair need cutting.”

Mordecai was waiting for them outside of the diner, looking at his watch in annoyance before he got into the car. “You’re late.” He comments as he snapped the watch closed before tucking it away and seats himself in the front seat.

“Grandfather no sleep.” Paloma responds as the car peels away from the curb. “Wait too long.”

“Your English is better now.”

“Gracias.”

They drove the rest of the way in silence, until they arrived at a large dock where another car was waiting and a man stood next to it, clutching a small gun in his hands.

“Be ready.” Mordecai warns as the car comes to a stop. “No shooting yet. Paloma, stay here just in case.”

The younger woman huffs in response but does as she is told, watching as the two men got out to talk to the other man, who was looking very frightened. As they talked, the new man suddenly points his gun at an unphased Mordecai, who calmly shoves it aside and Viktor snatches it and tosses it to the ground. Paloma immediately scoots to the right side of the car as the man is grabbed and dragged to the back of the car and shoved into the backseat with her.

“Tie up please, and keep him quiet.” Mordecai says as he enters the front of the car.

The man sobs as Paloma grabbed the rope by her feet and starts to tie it around his wrists and around his arms before grabbing a large piece of cloth to tie it around his mouth in attempt to silence him. Viktor is outside, attempting to do something with the other car before it lurches right into the river.

“Where we go now?” Paloma asks Mordecai as their companion returns to the car.

“Somewhere far, and you have the honors tonight to do something useful.” The older man responds as Viktor gets back inside the car. Guess tonight was her turn to dispose of this man after the two were done interrogating him.

As they are driving, the bound and gagged man starts edging away from his side of the backseat. Paloma just shifts herself towards the door, trying not to kick the seat in front of her.

“What are you doing?” Mordecai asks.

“Move.” She responds. “Crybaby move too close.”

The older man glances behind and frowns. “I told you to sit to the left. A bit of common courtesy - is that so much to ask while we are chauffeuring you about?”

Oh boy, he was about to go into one of those rants again. One thing Paloma had learned from being around Mordecai was that he liked order, things had to be specifically perfect. For one, he would prefer if there were three people in the car, whoever sat in the backseat had to sit exactly in the middle and it was either her or him. The one time she even dared to sit a little more to the left or right, he looked ready to yell. She wasn't sure exactly was up with him to be so obsessed with things by symmetrically perfect, but it was often better to do what he asked. At least to her, a calm and quiet Mordecai was a better Mordecai to deal with than an agitated one.

“Did we not establish the line of symmetry is right there between you and Miss Alvarez? And do you not realize that your blithe disregard for this is throwing the geometrical spacial harmony in here completely out of kilter?” The older man continues. “Is this what you want ? Is that what you are trying to achieve, hmm? ASYMMETRY??”

Paloma glances over at Viktor, who just rolls his eyes and shook his head. He seemed to used to this, it wasn't so unusual. The bound and gagged man immediately scoots away from Paloma and back to his side of the car.

“Yes, that is an improvement.” Mordecai says before turning his attention to the road.

Paloma glances at the man, who had glanced out the back window and proceeds to start crying. But that was stopped when Viktor turns to glare at him, a low growl sounding in his throat that sent the man scooting away and bumping into her.

“I saw that, you did that on purpose!” Mordecai snaps at the driver accusingly.

“Alvays they are crying in my ear!” Viktor snaps back.

“Why don’t you admit? You never liked symmetry!”

“And you! Noise, noise!”

“No fighting!” Paloma tries to yell as the men start attempting to assault each other, causing the car to swerve violently as they fight, their passengers sliding left and right in the backseat.

“¡Basta! No more!” Paloma yells again as she tries to steady herself. If these two didn't stop, they were going to get them all killed and that was definitely something she didn't want.

With a yell, she flung herself across the front seat to grab ahold of the steering wheel and swerved the car right into a nearby corn field. The car came to a stop and Paloma let out a sigh of relief before sliding off the front seat and threw open her side of the car door to fall to her knees.

“You…okay?” She hears Viktor ask as he and Mordecai climb out of the car, both looking very disheveled.

Paloma couldn't help but feel a surge of anger at his question. They wouldn't be like this if he and Mordecai acted out like this. If anything, she was not okay.

“¡Malditos idiotas! ¡Podríamos haber conseguido que nos mataran si no lo hubiera hecho! ¡¿Qué carajo les pasa a ustedes dos?!” She yells angrily as she yanks her cap off to smack both men with it. “¿Me veo bien? ¡No estoy bien! ¡A menos que ambos mantengan su temperamento bajo control, nunca me subiré a ese maldito auto con ninguno de ustedes, idiotas!”

“I don't think she is.” Mordecai whispers loudly and flinches when Paloma grabbed him by his messed up tie.

“You! Give gun!”

The older man rolls his eyes but does as he is told and removed his coat and suit jacket to remove the gun holster he wore and hands it over to her, the guns still tucked into it. Paloma glares at him as she slips the leather harness on before trudging back to the car and yanks the rope bound man out into the corn as he let out muffled sobs.

“Talk, then I shoot.” She instructs as she slammed the car door behind her.

Viktor nods and grabbed their prisoner to drag him off into the corn stalks along with Mordecai. After some time, Mordecai returns and beckons her to follow. Paloma followed him into the corn until they find the man kneeling on the floor and sobbing loudly.

“What he say?” She asks.

“His gang is the one trying to hijack our shipments we're getting from the Bahamas.” Mordecai responds as he adjusts his glasses. “So, we're going to send a message to the gang as a warning and keep an eye on them for a few days to make sure they don't keep on stealing from us.”

“I shoot him?”

“Yes.”

Paloma removes a gun from one of the holsters and loads it before making sure she is a good distance from the man and shoots. She Then goes forward and prodded the body before checking for a pulse. Once she was sure he was not alive anymore, she stepped back to let the two men remove something from the body and walks back to the car to open the large trunk tied to the back and opened it to grab two shovels and a small wooden box before walking back to them.

“Here, and for you.” Paloma says as she hands Viktor a shovel and Mordecai the box.

She and Viktor set about digging a deep enough hole for the body, allowing Mordecai to roll it in before they all covered it enough to pat it down so it wouldn't look suspicious. Once that is done, they climb into the car and drive off.

----

“I think she's still mad at us.” Mordecai comments in a low voice to Viktor.

It had been maybe over a week since the cornfield incident, and since then Paloma had remained silent with the two of them whenever she was in their vicinity. Well it seemed to be worse with him, every time she even looked at him, she gave him a gaze similar to one Viktor often wore and would just shove whatever she was giving him into his hands or roughly snatch it from him. Today he and Viktor were back at the cafe having lunch, and it seemed like the younger woman's childish antics were getting worse. She refused to take his order, which had forced Mitzi to take it instead, and she had unceremoniously dropped a plate of his toast in front of him.

“Maybe you.” The older man responds. “You started it.”

“Preposterous!” Mordecai scoffs. “You kept making that man cross the line of symmetry!”

“Alright that's enough!” Mitzi scolds as Viktor stands up and she hurries over to them. “Do explain why Paloma is in such a foul mood, she seems to have scared some of the guests with her sour expressions.”

“It's nothing.” Mordecai tries to assure her. “It's-

“Girl mad at him.” Viktor interrupts. “Me too, but more him.”

“Now what did you do to upset my best cook and waitress?” Mitzi asks with a frown and turns to Mordecai. “Care to explain?”

The man lets out a huff. “It's something that happened during one of those jobs, I'd say more but there are strangers in the diner.”

“I see.” Mitzi mutters. “Have either of you bothered to apologize to her for whatever happened?”

“I try.” Viktor responds with a shrug. “She still mad, don't blame her.”

“And you mister Heller?”

“I've done nothing wrong!” Mordecai protests. “I don't get why she's keeping this up, one might have thought I took that beloved book of hers and ripped it to pieces and set it on fire in front of her!”

Mitzi frowns. “Fine, but I'm going to ask her myself. Don't forget to pay your lunch bill.”

Mordecai just rolls his eyes as his boss’ wife hurries off to the kitchen. A few minutes later, she emerges with Paloma in tow as both women sport upset faces.

“Told you, she mad.” Viktor says.

“Yes because you two nearly got her and yourselves killed!” Mitzi snaps. “Really, fighting in the car while driving in the middle of nowhere of all places!”

“He caused it!” Mordecai protests.

“You start it!” Viktor snaps. “They alvays crying in ear!”

“Well perhaps next time you have a second backseat passenger, you should have Paloma sit behind you Viktor.” Mitzi suggests. “And she told me you had started the whole thing, Mordecai. And from the sound of things, you have yet to apologize.”

“Is that why she's been so passive aggressive with me lately?! This petty behavior is ridiculous!”

“And yet it caused something bad to happen. At least say sorry.”

Mordecai lifts his head to glare at Paloma, who meets his gaze with an equally angry glare. Damn this stupid woman. “Fine, you want an apology? A proper apology?”

“Si.” The younger woman responds, finally breaking her silence and leans forward. “And be genuine.”

“Go on Mordecai.” Mitzi says. “She's waiting.

“Fine. I apologize.”

Paloma rolls her eyes. “Best you can do?”

“That's all I am giving you.”

“You do know you can do better.”

“Leave be, he won't do more.” Viktor says with a dismissive wave. “I know.”

Paloma frowns again but shrugs. “Fine, but he should not be surprised if I put something spicy in his tea if he does that again.”

Mordecai sputters. “You did what with my-”

“She didn't do anything.” Mitzi interrupts. “Now, you both are somewhat friends again, try to find a better way to deal with your….symmetry problems in the car to avoid car accidents.”

Chapter Text

“Young lady, I am waiting for a proper explanation and you will not leave this room or this house until you explain yourself!”

Paloma keeps glancing at the bedroom door and the pile of clothes her grandfather was holding, wishing Viktor was home to back her up. She had forgotten that her night activities clothes were mixed with her regular clothes and had washed them, but her grandfather had found them. Of course he didn't buy the excuse that they belonged to Viktor, they were much too small to be his and he wouldn't believe her if she claimed she wore them herself. At least for that last bit, she could hide her secret for a little while longer.

“I am going to ask you again, why do you have men's clothes mixed in your laundry?” Her grandfather asks. “And don't lie, God is watching and he hates liars!”

“God isn't going to smite me for having men's clothes in my laundry.” Paloma scoffs as she snatched the trousers and shirt from his hands. “They…are not mine.”

“Then whose are they and why do you have them?”

Dear lord, forgive me for this lie… “They…are my boyfriend's. I'm washing them for him.”

“B-boyfriend?!” Her grandfather sputters. “Who in the hell are you dating?! And why am I just hearing this right now?!”

“Because I knew you'd act like this!”

Maybe that wasn't a good idea, her grandfather looked ready to have a stroke just now. He stumbled for a nearby armchair and collapsed in it, holding his head in his hands and muttering under his breath.

“Grandfather?” She asks carefully. “Are you okay?”

“Please tell me he's at least a well behaved boy, the last thing we need is another unplanned baby.” The older man moans.

“Dear God, I'm not doing that!” Paloma groans. “I'm not repeating what you and grandma did!”

“You better not! I practically raised you all to do better than that!”

It took all her willpower to not roll her eyes, so instead she set about folding the clothes. “And I thank you every day for that. Now if you excuse me, I must head to work.”

Paloma hurriedly tucked the clothes away in a drawer, making note to find a better place to hide them tomorrow, checked her hair in the mirror and quickly grabbed her coat before hurrying out of the house. By the time she arrived at the diner, her mind was buzzing with what new trouble she had just gotten herself into. Boyfriend? Of all the excuses she could have given, she just had to choose the worse! Yes her grandfather bought the excuse, but knowing him, he was going to demand to meet this man. She only knew two men personally, and one was old enough to be an uncle while the other was so cold and indifferent he might as well been an ice sculpture in terms of affection. Maybe she could ask Mitzi for help, she must know someone among the staff who could be of use for this.

“¡Señora May! I need help!” Paloma says when she spots the older woman at the counter reading a newspaper. Lucky for her, there were no other patrons aside from Mordecai, who was busy reading his own copy of the newspaper while drinking his usual cup of tea.

“Oh, what's wrong now honey?” Mitzi asks as she looks up. “You look a bit frazzled, something happened?”

“I…it's a little lie that kind of spiraled, I need help!”

“How bad is this lie?”

“I…how to explain…I need novio!”

“A what?”

“¡Novio! Not yet husband! Uh…partner for romance!”

Mitzi furrowed her brow in confusion. “You mean a boyfriend, honey?”

“¡Si! Grandpa…he almost found out about my…night activities. Found the clothes, asked who they belonged to and I panicked!”

“Oh sweetheart, why didn’t you say they were yours?”

“He not believe! So I need a novio for now!”

Mitzi lets out a tired sigh before her face lit up. “Alright, if its a boyfriend you need, then a boyfriend you shall get, and I know the perfect one.”

“Sure you do.” They hear Mordecai say from his seat.

“Mordecai, you get to be our little dove’s beau.”

The older man let out a choking sound and spat his drink out, coughing violently. “I what?!”

“You've been selected to date Paloma, congrats!” Mitzi says as she pushes Paloma towards him. “Now, if her grandfather comes, just say you are her beau.”

“You cannot be serious! And why me of all people, get one of your band friends to do it! Except Zib, anyone but him.”

“Well Rory it seems has very…high expectations for future husbands for Paloma, and you look quite sophisticated and successful, so he will back off if he sees it is you dating her. Also you so rudely opened your mouth earlier, so he who speaks up shall be picked.”

“That makes no sense!”

“It makes plenty of sense, now be nice and stop being so stiff around the poor girl. Paloma, would he be suitable enough for your grandfather to approve?”

“I mean, his main expectation for a husband for me is that he must share the same faith as me and our family, and have a decent job.” Paloma says with a shrug and looks to Mordecai. “Are you catholic by any chance? Or family?”

“My family are religious, however we don't share your faith.” The older man responds. “What does religion have anything to do with-”

“Palomita! You forgot your purse!” The three turn to the door to see Paloma’s grandfather at the door of the cafe with a leather purse in hand. “Also we need groceries, can you obtain some after shift?”

“Of course, thank you.” Paloma says as she hurries forward to grab her purse from him.

“Oh Rory, Paloma and I were just talking about you!” Mitzi says as she hurries forward to push the elderly man into a booth. “Your sweet girl mentioned to me that she accidentally let slip that she had a beau and was worried you wouldn't approve of him. Rest assured, I can promise you that the man she's dating is a good young man and very respectable and respectful. In fact, he works for my husband with one of his other business ventures.”

“And…where is this novio?”

“That would be me.” Mordecai says as he steps forward. “I was at the cafe the first day you two arrived.”

Oh he's actually going through with this? Paloma wonders as the two chat. Is this how one dates in America? At least in my family, my cousins would bring their potential boyfriend or girlfriend to the house and the whole family practically judges or interrogated them to make sure they weren't-

“I must get going, pleasure meeting you.” Paloma snaps out of her thoughts to see the two men shaking hands and she lets out a sigh of relief and her grandfather sporting a small smile before he leaves.

“Well, he didn't seem to mind me at all.” Mordecai says once the older man is out of earshot and out the door. “Kind of expected him to get upset over the religion thing, but he didn't seem to mind.”

“I am sorry you got dragged in this.” Paloma sighs. “But we have to keep it up.”

“She has a point, if she gets caught leaving the house at night, she could use the excuse that she's going on a date with you and he won't bat an eye.” Mitzi agrees. “And during the day too, you sir now have to take her on a few dates to keep up appearances.”

“I already spend too much time around her at night, must I during the day too?” Mordecai asks with a groan.

“Well unless you want us exposed because an elderly man who might support the prohibition on alcohol exposes us and we all end up in jail, be my guess. But no dates for today, you can do one tomorrow or some other day. Paloma’s got some hungry mouths to feed and she can’t do that if she’s here and not in the kitchen!”

“¡Aye! I was supposed to start ten minutes ago!” Paloma exclaims as she scurries to get behind the counter. “We talk later!”

---

“Its been four weeks and I can’t do this anymore! Four weeks!” Mordecai yells as he is polishing his gun while Viktor is inspecting the interior of the truck they were to use tonight. “How do normal people do it?”

“Vat, date?” The older man asks, his voice muffled as he is fiddling with the truck. “Easy, you no stress.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one dating her! She seems to think we actually are dating, and I keep telling Mitzi to explain what we are doing is fake, and she has yet to!”

“You tell then.”

“Have you seen what that woman does when she’s angry? She almost shot off someone’s privates for calling you a rude name!” Mordecai shudders at the memory, still fresh in his mind and that only happened a few weeks ago. “I’d hate to think of what she’d do if someone broke up with her.”

“Paloma not like that, trust me.” Viktor says as he lifts himself out of the truck and slammed the hood down. “Maybe she be sad, cry a little, no guns.”

“Who be sad?” The two turn to see Paloma in the garage and carrying a plate of something in her hands. “I make sandwiches.”

“No thank you, I am not hungry.” Mordecai responds as Viktor wipes his hands on a rag he had attached to his belt and grabebd a sandwich. “Yeeugh…Viktor, that’s unsanitary.”

“Hands clean, is fine.” The older man scoffs between bites. “Anyway, you have date, right?”

“Not today, or this week. Atlas has him busy.” Paloma chuckles. “Sorry cariño, and Mitzi has had me pretty busy too, she now having me accompany her to places.”

“First off, my name is not…carino, or however you say that.” Mordecai says with a small frown. “And second, it sounds like she's attempting to make you have a role similar to mine since I have to shadow Atlas.”

“Is term of endearment, calling you amor doesn't feel so right.” Paloma explains with a chuckle. “Mitzi just wants me to meet more people, I can't be acquainted or friends with only neighbors, and people I work with.”

“Eww rat!” They hear someone yell as something small and brown rushes past them and dives underneath a table, earning yells from the other gangsters.

“Ugh, we need to get more traps, I keep telling Atlas that's unsanitary!” Mordecai gags. “And if they ever got into the food stock from the diner or underground that's even worse! Someone- what are you doing?”

Paloma had just walked away from them and was trying to pull aside the table the rat had bolted under. The vermin was still there, disgusting, but what was she going to do? She then walks away and comes back with a shovel in hand.

“Oye, this is how my family dealt with rats and other vermin, watch closely and do it next time you see them. First you smash it!” Paloma raised the shovel and slammed it down on the rodent's body twice with a sickening crunch. “Then you cut the head off!” She slammed the sharp end of the shovel onto the rat's neck, decapitating it’s head. Calmly, she walks back over to the two stunned men and hands Mordecai the bloody shovel. “Done. I have church to get to, I see you boys later.”

All Mordecai could do was stare at the shovel and the rat with a baffled expression before turning to his larger companion. Viktor looks back at him with an equally stunned look before it slowly morphs into a small smirk.

“Full respect now.” He comments before taking the shovel.

“What do you even mean by that, you had no respect for her at all?!” Mordecai asks as the older man walks over to a crate to sit down on and starts to eat the other sandwich Paloma had brought. “Even after the multiple times she has saved our skin?! Outrageous!”

“Nie, always had respect for her. Full respect now as a gangster, scared shit out of everyone here in the process.” Viktor responds. Mordecai glances back to see the other gang members looking uneasy as they are attempting to clean their respective cars and guns, looking anywhere but the corner where Paloma killed the rat. “Little dove put fear of her in them now.”

“Who wouldn't be startled, she did it with no hesitation!”

“Farm girl, used to that thing.”

“And she so casually announces she's off to church not a minute later.” Mordecai mutters with a shake of his head as his friend smirks. “Oh what now?”

“You grumble, you complain, but you like.” The older man states in a matter-of-fact tone. “You like her, especially when spicy.”

“That is absolutely preposterous!” Mordecai exclaims. “As if I would have any sort of feelings of affection or-or lust for that woman! Of all the women in St Lewis!”

“Snatch before someone else. You be sad later.” Viktor responds with a shrug. “I help, if you like.”

“Romantic advice from you? Please, you can't even woo an elderly woman!”

“That what you think.”

Ugh that stupid smirk Viktor is sporting is starting to annoy him. Stupid man thought he fancied that stupid woman, nonsense. Sure she was quite beautiful on comparison to the other women he had been around, and she had a sweet smile that could get one to lower their guard enough for her to stick a gun under their chin and-

“NO NO NO!” Mordecai yells as he smacked the top of his head to clear his thoughts and glares at Viktor when he hears him laugh. “Do not put weird ideas in my head!”

“Romantic ideas?” The older man asks with a grin.

“Who's giving Mordecai romantic ideas?” Mordecai groans as Mitzi is making her way over towards them. “And why are you holding a bloody shovel?”

“The rat problem has been dealt with - for now.” The gunman responds as he shoved the shovel into Viktor’s hands. “What do you want?”

“Is that…a decapitated rat?” Mitzi asks, ignoring him as she squints at the dead creature.

“Little dove killed it.” Viktor responds casually.

“Paloma did that?”

“No hesitation. Mordecai in love now.”

“Lies!” Mordecai shouts. “I do not-”

“Oh Viktor, leave him be. If he's not in love with her, that's fine.” Mitzi scolds but then smirks. “But then that'd be a shame, I think one of the band members mentioned having an interest in her after seeing her at the cafe, and I think our sweet little dove wouldn't mind dating such a classy man. Better him than…well, Mordecai.”

“Are you really comparing me to a musician who's drunk half the time?” Mordecai asks with a glare.

“It's not Zib if that's who you are implying.”

“Well whoever it is, I doubt they can handle her.”

“Of course, you barely have a grasp on her.”

Mordecai scoffs. “Well think whatever you want, I am not interested in her romantically as you have been implying. You forced me into this relationship with her, failing to mention that it’s meant to be fake!”

“She knows, doesn't she?”

“No!”

Mitzi looks at him in surprise. “Well…that's certainly going to complicate things. You best tell her soon.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?! She’s practically glued to your hip now!”

“Because I thought you were going to! How was I supposed to know that she didn’t get that this was fake in order to protect her second job?”

Mordecai lets out a frustrated groan. “Fine! I’ll tell her myself another day! Lets just hope she doesn’t try to shoot me for it.”

“Good luck with that.” Viktor mutters before giving him a glare. “But you make little dove cry, I not happy with you.”

“And will you be happy with her if she tries shooting me?”

“You deserve it.”

“Now see here-”

“Alright enough, Paloma is already upset with you two for what happened the other month, don’t give her a reason to shoot you two into behaving yourselves!” Mitzi scolds as she gets between them and nudged Mordecai back. “And you, at least be nice to her when you admit the truth. Also stop thinking that sweet girl will try to shoot you for telling her you two are faking your relationship, she’s not that crazy.”

Chapter Text

Mordecai wasn't liking the annoyed looks Viktor had been giving him lately since that day in the garage, but tonight the older man looked ready to do more than glare at him. Despite what he had said, he still couldn’t bring himself to tell Paloma the truth about their relationship. Something in him couldn’t stand the idea of upsetting her, but he knew he had to soon before her grandfather came knocking on his door to ask when they planned to get married.

Right now she had fallen asleep in the back, his coat thrown over her for warmth as she curled up on the old leather seat, softly snoring away. Apparently she hadn’t gotten much sleep at home for whatever reason, so Viktor just told her to take a nap while they drove until they reached their destination, an old lodge somewhere in the woods.

I’ll tell her tonight, after we do our job. Mordecai thinks as the trees surrounding them become a bit more dense. We’ll have to return to the speakeasy after this, so I’ll just pull her aside into one of the empty dressing rooms to tell her. And make sure she doesn’t have that gun on her too.

As of late, Paloma had not only been toting around a shotgun, but a clunky old revolver that had been strapped to her hip. Apparently, this was either the gun her grandfather used during some war in the 1800s, or one she had used in a civil war revolution that had happened in her country when she was just a child. It was a rather morbid thought, her being no older than nine or ten and being given a gun to go running off into the desert crying and screaming that unholy scream of hers before shooting someone. Apparently that earned her the nickname La Llorona, which was meant to be some sort of ghost or banshee creature from where she was from. She seemed quite proud of admitting that, even as far as showing him an old wanted poster of hers that had circulated in the towns and villages she lived near, featuring a younger version of herself with a large shotgun in her arms that looked too big for her to carry.

“We here.” Viktor says as he shuts the lights of the car off as it comes to a stop and quickly turns it off as well. “Wake little dove.”

Mordecai rolls his eyes but does as he is told, exiting his side of the car and opening the doors to the backseat to where Paloma was asleep. He reached forward and gave her a gentle shake, earning a tired groan from the younger woman as she tries to curl herself up under the coat.

“Dies mas minutos mama…” She mumbles before being shaken again. Her eyes blink open before she suddenly sits up. “We here? Did I miss it?”

“Relax, we just got here.” Mordecai says as he takes his coat off her and slips it on before grabbing his fedora from the front seat and puts it on. “Now, you remember the plan, right?”

Paloma nods. “Pretend need help, hide gun on me. Inside, start shooting.” She says and grins. “I have knife too in case.”

“Good, need every weapon we have.” Viktor says as he is inspecting a shotgun and slung it over one shoulder. “I give you dis inside. Remember magic word?”

“Mayonnaise!”

“Why that word?” Mordecai asks with a scoff. “It's disgusting and one of the forbidden condiments!”

“Why bad?” Paloma asks as she is checking her revolver before tucking it into a large pocket sewn into her jacket and hastily buttoning it up.

“It smells, the texture is disgusting, and the taste is just horrendous.” Mordecai responds and gags. “I'll give you the list of forbidden condiments another time, go do your thing.”

Paloma nods before hurrying off towards a large cabin up ahead. As the two men follow several yards behind, Viktor suddenly stopped and grabbed Mordecai by the coat.

“Oh what now?!” The younger man groans. “We have-”

“You make her upset with news, I tear you scrawny neck.” The older man growls. “Be nice.”

Oh for goodness sake, of all the times to remind him of that! “I plan on telling her tonight, but I can't promise to be gentle.”

“Try.”

“I can't-”

“ Try .”

Mordecai rolls his eyes. “I shouldn't have done this in the first place. But I can only hope that she won't be too upset when-”

“Mayonnaise! Mayonnaise!” They hear Paloma yelling, probably from the top of her lungs. “Mayonnaise!”

“That's our cue, let's move quickly.”

They could already hear gunshots going off in the cabin as they enter to find two men already bleeding out on the floor and Paloma wrestling with a man bigger than her for an iron poker that he managed to wrestle out of her grip. As he raises it to strike Mordecai quickly aims his shotgun and fires. The man yelps as a bullet strikes his hand, forcing him to drop the poker and for Paloma to snatch it up before slamming it across his face and shoving the sharp end into his eye and through his skull.

“Where are the others?” Mordecai yells before he hears a gunshot from above. “Upstairs, now!”

Viktor nods before tossing Paloma her shotgun as Mordecai hurried up the stairs of the cabin. This felt all too familiar, like that one incident a few years ago that ended with him getting stitches on his shoulder from an injury he sustained from getting shot and falling down the stairs. Hopefully this time won't end with any of them on Elsa’s surgery table.

He hears the click of a gun and leaps back as a spray of bullets hits the step he was going to step on, almost falling backwards into Paloma. Somehow, she managed to keep them both from falling over, and quickly aimed her revolver before firing at a man who stood at the top of the stairs. He yelps as one bullet hits him in the shoulder and Mordecai shoots his own gun, hitting him square in the head.

“Good shot.” He says quietly.

“You owe me proper date after this.” Paloma laughs before slipping past him to hurry up the stairs.

Again with the reminder. But…he couldn't really deny as much as he had been grumbling about this situation, he somewhat enjoyed Paloma’s company. She didn't try to make him take her on fancy dates to exotic restaurants or demand expensive gifts like he had heard many rich clients of the Lackadaisy speakeasy complain about as their dates were either drunk st the bar or wearing their feet and heels out on the dancefloor, instead she just spent her time with him quietly reading, asking him to explain a difficult word to her that she came across, and her whole face would light up when given a new book to try out. She was a simple woman of simple tastes, he found himself liking that about her. On top of that, she wasn't as annoying as some people around him tended to be, and some days he found himself-

“LOOK OUT!” Paloma screams, jolting Mordecai out of his thoughts. They had reached the top of the stairs and someone was aiming gun at him, at least until Paloma rushes forward and grabbed the long end of the gun, shoving it upwards as the trigger was pulled. The bullet hits the ceiling instead, giving Mordecai time to whip out one of his smaller guns from his holster and fires, downing the man as Paloma ripped the shotgun out of his grasp and slammed it several times over his head.

“Okay?” She asks, panting as she drops the gun and winces. “Forgot gloves.” 

“Hang on, let me check the rooms.” Mordecai says softly as he edged towards one of the opened doors and peered inside. So far, no one. He checked the next few rooms, no one else was in any of them, which was good at least. He then returns to Paloma, who is flexing her hands and wincing in pain. “Give.”

She shyly lifted her hands for him to grab and examined them to find that the pads were looking a bit blistered. This couldn't have been from grabbing a shotgun, right?

“I grab metal thing from fire earlier, accidentally grabbed hot sides.” Paloma admits quietly before Mordecai could even ask. “It hurt to hold gun.”

“Tsk, you need to wear full length gloves like I do, not those fingerless things like Viktor.” Mordecai scolds. “I'll get you a pair next time I-”

Wait what was he saying?! Mordecai quickly shakes his head and dropped the younger woman's hands before hurrying to the stairs and swiftly makes his way down where Viktor is checking the pockets of the downed men. 

“All good?” The older man asks.

“No one else is upstairs, as far as I could tell. Also Paloma sustained some burns from that poker she used on that man, which wouldn't have happened if she remembered to keep her gloves on hand.”

Viktor frowns and takes Paloma’s hands to examine them and clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Keep gloves next time.”

“Sorry…” Paloma murmured.

“We should have some sort of ointment back at the speakeasy, right?” Mordecai asks. “I recall Elsa and that weird horse doctor giving us some medicines and ointments so we wouldn't have to go to the hospital, we could just rub some onto her paw pads and hope it won't be so bad or noticeable.”

Viktor grunts in agreement. “We leave.”

Mordecai hadn't even noticed the whole floor was covered in liquid, most likely from any alcohol Viktor had gotten from the house to set it on fire. He quickly ushered Paloma outside back towards the car, now wondering if this was a good time to tell her. Viktor wasn't with them, she seemed too tired to probably pull a gun on him, it was now or never.

“Paloma, we need to talk.” He finally says as they reach the car.

“Is bad?” The younger woman asks. “When someone say that in books, is always bad.”

What books has she been reading? “Well it's a serious matter, and about our…relationship. Mitzi was the one who told me I had to be your boyfriend, and that's how you refer to me.”

“Yes, you currently are my novio.” She lets out a small laugh and smiles warmly at him. “Who would have thought? I always thought I end up with some boy from a farm I've never met before and married a week after to him. Yet I end up with you, and we not married after some time. I'm happy about that. Thank you for that.”

Mordecai felt like there was a small flutter in his chest just seeing her smile at him like that, but he tried to ignore the feeling. “Well I don't intend to marry you, or anyone for that matter.”

“Good, but what so important to talk about?”

Well, time to break her heart. “There seems to be a misconception about us, this relationship is meant to be entirely faux simply to keep your grandfather from being too suspicious of our activities and because you lied about having one and needed someone to step in for that, which I was forced into by that woman. Mitzi and I failed to tell you this, and I am only telling you this to avoid any problems in the future, and - are you even listening to me?!”

Paloma wore a blank expression on her face, he couldn't even tell if she was upset or not. Well, it looked more like she was trying to process everything he said. He was very sure he broke it down enough for her to understand.

“What's “faux”?” She finally asks.

“You- I just- damn it!” Mordecai groans. “Did you even understand a single thing I just said?! Did you even hear anything past the word faux?!”

“I sort of spaced out trying to understand the word.”

He lets out a frustrated sigh. “It means fake, not real, false. It's French!”

“I hardly know English, how am I to know French words?!”

“You done?” Viktor asks, interrupting them.

“Yes, let's go before that inferno of yours is reported and we're all seen.” Mordecai says, for once feeling relieved for his companion's presence. This more or less went better than expected, but he didnt expect Paloma to just space out in the middle of a conversation. Then again, her English wasn't as good as one would expect. He'll have to continue this talk after they make it back to the city and fix her hands up.

----

After what felt like the longest drive ever, they soon made it back to the city. They made it into the garage with no problem, and no one was inside save for several of the cars used for sweeping and obtaining their illicit goods.

“We go in, come.” Viktor says as he lifts the hatch leading to the downstairs area that led to the Speakeasy.

Paloma loomed uneasy about going down the stairs, but she eventually followed the older man while Mordecai brought up the rear and closed the hatch behind them. As they came down the stairs, they soon found themselves in the underground cave system before finding themselves at the door that led into the speakeasy.

“Oh good, you're here!” The doorman groans when he sees them. “There's a guest raging right now and everyone is too scared to deal with him!”

“Too drunk?” Viktor asks.

“Very, and upset because some girl - or several - wouldn't dance with him, I think he's even got a gun or a knife, and Atlas is out for the night and I'm too terrified to call him!”

“Well a good thing we came down here.” Mordecai sighs as he reaches into his coat to take one of his guns out. “Open up.”

The doorman nods and quickly opens the door to usher the three of them into the speakeasy. Inside, all the guests were cowering behind the gambling tables and pillars while the band stood on stage motionless while a tall pale furred man stormed about the floor screaming obscenities at everyone and waving something in the air.

“Pardon, but you shouldn't be frightening the guests.” Mordecai calls out as he hides the gun behind his back. “If you do not calm down, we will have to confiscate your pin and toss you out.”

“Who the fuck you think you are to tell me what to do?” The man snarls, stumbling over towards him. He's holding a knife, and obviously drunk, a dangerous combination.

“Someone you shouldn't be yelling at, lest you want to have a bullet in that thick skull of yours.”

“You threatening me, little man?”

Ugh, he could smell the alcohol on the man's breath and it really agitated his nose. And he reeked of something awful too, like that cologne Atlas liked to wear but this smelled more like hog piss. Before he could say anything, someone shoves him back and gets right in front of him. Paloma now stands between them, her tail twitching in an agitated manner.

“Move.” The man snarls.

“No.” She responds,  her ears flattening.

The man raised a fist. “You little-”

“Don't touch her!” Mordecai yells as he tries pulling her back.

“Wait her-”

WHAM!

Paloma's right fist swung and collided with the underside of the man’s chin, causing him to drop his weapon and stumble back, but she didn't stop there. She keeps swinging, slamming her elbow into the man's chest and gut as he tries to get back up. His hand flailing about for something to grab and it latches onto Paloma's shirt as he falls backwards. There's a loud rip and a yelp from her as her whole front shirt was ripped now, exposing the linen bandages underneath. Mordecai immediately rushes forward,removing his coat and flung it over her, hastily buttoning it up and glaring at the guests and gang members who were staring at them.

“Get this man out of here at once! Now!” He yells before lowering his voice so only Paloma could hear. “Follow me, I think the first aid kit is where the band rests.”

“Wait she’s a girl?!”

“Is that even allowed?”

“Does Atlas know?”

So many questions were being asked Mordecai snatched up the cap from the floor and shoved it onto Paloma’s head, trying to herd her towards the stage.

“This can't be good for the gang, what's a woman going to do?” He hears someone ask and sends a glare their way.

“For one, she's a much better shot than half of you and knows when to keep her mouth shut and when to act.” He snaps. “Viktor brought her in.”

“So what if she’s a girl? Female gangsters are a thing, aren’t they?” Zib asks loudly from the stage, his voice amplified by the microphone. “Isn’t there even a small gang in the city run by just women?”

“Not in Missouri, Zib!” Someone yells.

“Well, whatever the case, another member for the gang.”

Mordecai rolls his eyes as they climb onto the stage and hurry behind the curtain. The medic box sat on a small table and he quickly grabbed it before setting it on a bigger table and motioned for Paloma to sit down on a chair.

“Oh wait, that's the kid I saw the other night.” Mordecai hears Zib say and glances back to see the man and some of the other band members coming past the curtain. “You okay?”

“She's fine, just needs burn ointment for her paw pads.”

“You should wash her hands first before adding the ointment.”

“Since when are you a medical expert?”

Zib shrugs. “Mitzi burned her hands once, that's just what someone told us to do. Oh and don't break the blisters either. I'll go get some water, and find some soap upstairs. You boys head back to entertain the guests.”

Mordecai rolls his eyes as the musicians left, but proceeds to take some ointment and bandages out of the box just in case.

“Do you hate me?”

Mordecai blinks in surprise and looks at Paloma. “What do you mean?”

“You, do you hate me?” Paloma repeats quietly. “For not knowing truth?”

Oh, she was talking about their conversation from earlier. “I don't, but I wish Mitzi at least told you it was fake so you wouldn't have this delusion about what we had.”

Paloma nods quietly and looks away. Damn it, why did she have to make him feel so guilty now? She had every right to know, it didn't feel right to string her along like that and think they actually had something. But…what if they really did? Maybe he shouldn't indulge in such fantasies, not when he had a life like this and-

“Gotcha soap and cold water.” Mordecai let's out an annoyed sigh as Zim reenters the room with a bowl in one hand with a rag hanging out of it and a bar of soap in the other. “Here, let me see-”

“I'll do it, you get back to entertaining the guests.” Mordecai snaps as he takes the things.

“Geez, just trying to help.” The musician mutters and looks to Paloma. “Not bad fighting you did there, no wonder the big grump and the big boss picked you. I'm Zibowski by the way, but you can call me Zib, kid.”

“She's not a kid, she's an adult.” Mordecai snaps as he takes the  wet rag, wraps it around the bar of soap and takes Paloma’s hand to start gently cleaning it.

“She can talk, can't she? You speak English, right?”

“Some.” Paloma responds. “I'm getting better, Viktor is teaching me.”

“Pfft, he can barely speak it well himself, but it seems like you know a lot better than him.” Zib laughs. “I'm guessing this is your first time in a speakeasy?”

“Yes, I only been upstairs and do gun work.”

“Well if you ever get tired of doing gun work for Atlas, talk to Mitzi. You seem like you can carry a tune, and it's been a while since we had a singer, pretty sure everyone is tired of my melodic voice and wanna hear a girl instead.”

“Really, trying to poach her right in front of me?” Mordecai asks in annoyance.

Zib raised a brow. “What, you her boyfriend or something?”

“As a matter-of-fact I-”

“He's not.” Paloma interrupts. “I have no novio.”

Mordecai had always heard from the other gangsters how painful it felt to get stabbed in the gut or the chest, and of course he never wanted to experience it. But hearing her say that? She might as well have stabbed a wide knife into his chest. That was painful enough for him.

Zib looks between the two of them, his brow furrowed like he was trying to form a proper thought, before it relaxes and he just shrugs. “Okay, whatever floats your boats. Gotta head back, hope to see you around again miss…”

“Paloma, but Viktor, Atlas and Mitzi call me little dove.”

“Ah, well then, hope you grace our humble little speakeasy with your presence soon again, little dove.”

He gave her a dramatic bow, earning a small giggle from Paloma before exiting the room. Mordecai rolls his eyes before going back to the task of washing her blistered paw pads. Aside from the blisters, he realized he never noticed at least on her right hand that she had little flecks of black on her paw pads. Then again it's not like he often had his eyes on her hands and she often wore gloves too.

“You seem upset, why?” He hears Paloma say and looks up to see her looking at him. “It's not like we are actually dating. It's…faux, as you told me.”

She might as well have driven the proverbial knife deeper into his chest the way she said that. This shouldn't be bothering him, they were never really dating in the first place, but something in him hated the idea of what they had not being real. Zib probably wasn't even flirting with her, then again it was kind of hard to tell when he even was, but Mordecai couldn't help but feel that unsettling feeling in his gut as Paloma smiled at the man. If this was what jealousy felt like, well, he certainly hated it.

“Well as your faux beau, I don't like seeing that.” He finally says, dropping the bar of soap and rag onto the table to grab the ointment and bandages.

“You have no problem with me talking to Viktor or Atlas.”

“One of them is married and the other has absolutely no romantic interest in you.”

“Careful, jealousy does not look good on you.”

“I AM NOT JEALOUS!” Mordecai snaps, dropping the items he held onto the table. “ESPECIALLY NOT OF THAT MAN!”

“And now you are upset, your tail is all poofed up, it wiggling like a headless snake and your ears flat on head.” Paloma says calmly. “You not even dating me and still get mad if another man talks. Make up mind.”

Okay maybe she did have a point, but it wasn't like he was going to ever admit it. Maybe he did want this to be real, maybe he did actually want her because she was the only woman who ever made him feel all these awful emotions he was feeling and detesting so much. But did she still want it, even after what he said?

“Fine, you know what? You keep making me feel all these weird motions and I am not a fan of them!” Mordecai says, putting his hands on the armrests of the chair. “Every time you smile at me, I get this weird fluttering and fuzzy feeling in my chest. Every time you even smile like that at another man, I get this sick twisting feeling in my gut. The way you nonchalantly said you had no boyfriend, I felt like you might as well have stabbed and twisted a knife into my chest. Perhaps I do like you, or perhaps I am feeling unwell and I'm experiencing symptoms of some sort of illness, I don't even know!”

Paloma blinks in surprise. “Is this…a confession?”

“Well you didn't space out in the middle of my rambling, so interpret that how you want.”

Paloma raised a brow. “So…you say you do want me. But earlier you said you did not.”

“No, earlier I told you that what we had was supposed to be fake.”

“So…feelings real, relationship fake.”

“If that's how you interpret it.”

“The fuck you two doing?” The two turn to see Viktor staring at them with the most confused expression he's ever sported. “I…should go if you need privacy.”

Mordecai didn't know why the older man was looking at them like that, at least until he realized how they were positioned. He quickly shuffled away from the chair and cleared his throat. “No, we don't need privacy, we were just…talking.”

“Right.”

“He said he like me.” Paloma blurts out.

“SHHHH!” Mordecai hisses as the older man's confused expression turned to a smirk. “Don't you start-”

“Well you do like her when spicy.” Viktor laughs. “So, real date?”

“What?”

“Real date, no fake date.”

“How about we do this?” Paloma says as she gets up from the chair, removing the coat and plopping it in his arms. “You take me on real date, see how you actually feel of me. Then see if you really wish to date me.”

Real date, what did she mean by that? They've gone on dates before, she quite liked going to the library and spending hours reading there, right? He was just about to ask, but she was grabbing the ointment and bandages and hurrying out of the room with them, leaving Mordecai alone with Viktor.

“What did she mean by real dates? I've taken her on dates!” He exclaims. “We've spent so much time reading at the library,  I'm surprised her English is still so poor!”

“Library no place for dates.” Viktor scoffs. “Take her nice places, give flowers, go dancing. Do things Atlas do for wife!”

“I'm not gifting her an expensive necklace, I may be earning a lot more than the average gangster, but I can't afford expensive trinkets like that!”

“Expensive no, but you can give nice things you can afford. She'd like them.”

“I give her books.”

“Yes but not just books, give nice things she would like.”

“I don't know what she likes, aside from books!”

Viktor smirks. “Guess the real date can help with that.”

Why did he have to be right?

----

“Hold still honey, you need to look nice for this!”

Paloma squirms uncomfortably in her seat as Mitzi tries running the makeup brush over her eye to apply the dark grey powder. She could hardly believe that Mordecai had agreed to this date, just to see if he actually liked her or not. Somehow Mitzi found out (probably from Zib, who probably overheard their conversation), and now she found herself in the older woman's room being prepared for this date. She was forced to bathe and be sprayed with a flowery smelling spray, her hair and fur scrubbed vigorously and roughly dried off with a towel. On the bed was a simple green dress with a pair of simple heels laid on top of them, apparently an outfit meant for her Mitzi had bought earlier in the day.

“Alright, that is done. Now hold still, I have to apply this.” Paloma opened her eyes to hear a click and see Mitzi holding a silver tube and twisting the bottom of it to reveal something dark red and placing it on her lips. It felt weird and sticky, what was this? “And…there! You look gorgeous!”

“I feel like a clown.” Paloma mutters as she is handed a mirror to look at her reflection. This was the first time she ever was given makeup to put on, and she didn't really like it.

“Well you look far from one.” The older woman chuckles. “Now what to do with your hair…can't cut it, probably should have done that yesterday. Well we are just putting a hat on you, so no need to fuss. Let me brush and braid it first.”

All this fuss for a date that probably won't go well, or assuming Mordecai woud show up if his often busy schedule allowed it. This was her first actual date with him, not something like the trips to the library or bookstore where they’d be reading for a few hours and then go home. Those were fun, it allowed her to expand her limited english more, but she wished he would take her to do more date-like things, like go dancing, take walks in the park, things like that. Or, like in those cheesy romance novels she and her female cousins would giggle over, a romantic picnic or dinner somewhere private. The thought used to make her blush (and maybe it still did), but Mordecai probably wouldn’t think of doing something like that, she’d be surprised if they did something that wasn’t a reading date.

“What if he not show?” Paloma asks as her braid is now being twisted into a low bun.

“Oh he will, I had Atlas make sure of that.” Mitzi assures her. “He was given he day off to prepare himself and plan something out, so he better show. Otherwise, I’ll have Viktor track him down. Actually, he agreed to do that if Mordecai doesn’t show up. There, pretty as a rose! Now get dressed.”

“Is this too much?” Paloma asks as she grabbed the dress from the bed and hurries to the changing screen by the wall to change. “I feel like too much.”

“Honey, it’s your first real date, you should look nice for it. If it goes well, you don’t have to dress up so fancy.” Mitzi says as Paloma slips into the dress and grabbed the heels that are being handed to her over the screen. “That boy better show up at least.”

Paloma soon steps out from behind the screen, still attempting to wiggle her feet into the heels. “There, done?”

“Just one more thing.” Mitzi now held a dark green hat in hand, cloche if her memory served her right, several bright yellow and orange sunflowers sat on the brim that stood out. She then sets the hat over Paloma’s head and adjusts it. “There, now don't you look so darling? Let’s head downstairs to the diner, he should be coming any minute.”

They headed downstairs from the apartment located atop of the Little Daisy, and much to Paloma’s surprise, Mordecai was waiting in one of the booths. He was dressed in one of his usual suits, though this time he had what looked like a small colorful flower tucked into it, his hat seated neatly on the table next to him while he fiddled with his tea cup. The second he spotted them, he hastily gets up, bumping the table in the process and almost knocking the cup over.

“Well, what a surprise! You actually came!” Mitzi chuckles. “And here I thought I was going to have to call Viktor to fetch and carry you here by the scruff like some misbehaving kit.”

“He’s been waiting here for the past twenty minutes!” They hear Atlas yell from the kitchen. “Had to give him some tea to calm him down, he wouldn’t stop fidgeting so much!”

“Sounds to me like someone’s actually nervous about his first real date! Well now, here’s your girl, doesn’t she look pretty?”

Paloma is pushed forward and Mordecai quickly clears his throat before reaching back into the booth to produce a bouquet of red chrysanthemums and red carnations and holds them out to her. “Miss Alvarez, shall we?” He asks as he extends his free hand to her.

Paloma smiles as she accepts the bouquet, inhaling their scent before she plucks a dark red carnation from the bunch and hands the flowers to Mitzi. She then proceeds to remove the flower he had attached to his suit and replaces it with the carnation. “Perfecto.” She says before taking his hand.

Once the two had exited the diner, they made their way to a nearby park. There were a few other people there, an elderly man tossing seeds at some birds and ducks that had flocked near him, a group of children playing with a ball in the open field, and a few other men and women taking a stroll.

“We don't talk much during those dates, do we?” Mordecai asks as they are walking.

“No, but this is perfect time to talk and know you better.” Paloma says with a smile. “Perhaps…where did you live? You not have accent like Mitzi or Atlas or Viktor.”

“Up north, New York to be precise. I've been living here for the past…four or five years, and that's also how long I've been working for Atlas. Birth date?”

“April 23rd, you?”

“March 28th. Favorite color?”

“Mmm…red. But i like pink too.”

“I suppose I picked the perfect colors for the flowers. I suppose…red is a color I am somewhat fond of. Favorite book?”

“Oh that is the worst question you could ask!” Paloma laughs. “I've grown up reading so many, it's not funny! But if I had to choose one, I'd say the Zorro books.”

Mordecai raises a brow. “And that's…”

“Oh its a collection of books that take place in the early nineteen century and focuses on a vigilante man who strike fear into the heart of corrupt nobles, but he is a noble himself! He dresses in black and carries a long blade and rides an all black horse who always comes when he whistles!”

“Sounds…quite interesting.”

“It is! I even brought the collection book with me to America, but it's only in Spanish so I can't lend it to you. Unless, you like for me to teach Spanish to you?”

“Perhaps another time, when your English improves.”

Before Paloma could respond, Mordecai suddenly grabbed her and yanked her to the side as if to shield from something and hears something hit the sidewalk near them. She twists her head to see it was just a brown colored ball near them, a baseball if she remembered correctly and spotted some of the kids from earlier approaching.

“Watch where you throw that, you almost hit her!” Mordecai yells as he released her.

“Sorry mister!” One of the kids yells. “Can we get the ball back?”

As Mordecai bends to pick up the ball, Paloma immediately picks it up and wound her arm back to fling it right back at the children, sending the ball flying over their heads. They yell excitedly as they run after it, continuing their game.

“Good arm.” Mordecai comments as they continue to walk.

“I've had practice, baseball isn't really so big in my home country, but my cousins and siblings liked throwing a ball one of them managed to get ahold of when we weren't busy with chores as kids.” Paloma says with a chuckle. “Oh the hell my aunt gave us when my twin brother broke the kitchen window, he had to scrape up pocket money we got from selling eggs to pay for the repair.”

“Twin? You never mentioned having a twin.”

“I forget I hardly talk about my family. Yes, I have a twin, but I'm the oldest. His name is Gabriel, we look quite similar except for our fur colors. Where mine is orange, his is white.”

“Do you miss them, your family?”

“Yes, but I'm happy to live here. I have two well paying jobs, good friends, and I have you.” She gives him a warm smile. “I wouldn't change anything about that at all.”

“Was there anyone where you lived who you had your eye on?” Mordecai asks as they stop to sit down at a nearby bench.

“No, I never really had feelings for anyone in the village and town my family would visit to sell out eggs and crops.” Paloma admits as she sits down. “A lot of the boys in the town made fun of me for the most stupid of reasons. I got teased for hair.”

He bristles at the statement. “That's the most stupid reason to poke fun of someone. I suppose after you all grew up and matured they had a change of tune around you?”

“Only the one who made fun of me most, I never liked him anyway. Grandfather said he shoot him if he come to our home asking for my hand.”

“Well he can't get you here. I frankly find your hair a bit odd, but not in a bad way. It's unique.

Paloma let out a chuckle. “My twin also has hair like that, but with white. Do you have siblings?”

“I…yes. Three sisters, but I don't know what became of them.” Mordecai admits. “I…did Mitzi ever tell you how I got all tangled up in this?”

“She only mentioned in passing that Atlas hire you at a young age, and that you used to be so scrawny that his clothes didn't fit you properly. Oh and that until you got fitting clothes you looked like your arms were short.”

“My arms are regular length! Look!” Mordecai protests as he jumped to his feet and raised his arms in several directions. “They are not short- why are you laughing?”

“It's so easy to tease you!” Paloma laughs. “Your arms are scrawny though.”

“Not all of us can have a broad fit like Viktor.” Mordecai scoffs.

“True, but can you lift me?”

“Why would I lift- AHH!”

Without warning, Paloma had gotten off the bench to wrap her arms around Mordecai's legs and throw him over her shoulder the way she used to carry the less heavy goats back home.

“I can do so easily!” She laughs as she bend to grab her date's hat, that had fallen to the floor. “So if you get hurt, I carry you to safety!”

“I get the point but don't do this in public!” Mordecai yells. “This is embarrassing!”

The younger woman laughs as she puts him back down on the bench, now looking a bit disheveled. “So, change your mind about feelings about me?”

“Was that supposed to get me to not like you?!” Mordecai asks as he took his hat back from her and stands up to adjust his clothes. “You…you'll have to try harder than that.”

Paloma grins. “I’ll take that as an admission to still liking me.”

Chapter Text

“That service felt too long.” Paloma mutters as she and her grandfather are exiting the church, along with several others and lts out a yawn. “And I almost fell asleep - again.”

“Well you wouldn't be if you didn't stay out late with that boy of yours.” Her grandfather scoffs. “Oh there's Mrs. McMurray and her boy, why don't we go say hello to them?”

“But I have to head to the diner soon! And I need to get something from the house!”

“Five minutes won't kill you, come on.”

Paloma grimaces as she dutifully follows to approach the two other church-goers she and her grandfather had become acquainted with. While it wasn't hard to find an Irish immigrant here in the city, her grandfather seemed to have gotten along a lot better with the woman who looked around the same age as her mother or one of her younger aunts that some others they had gotten to know. She was nice, and often fond of asking her when she was going to bring her boyfriend around to the church. Little Calvin on the other hand, timid and nervous as a mouse who often just hid behind his mother to avoid looking anyone in the eye. Today though, he immediately took off running to her waving a crumpled envelope he was holding.

“You seem happy.” Paloma comments as the teen reaches her. “What's this?”

“A letter from my cousin!” Calvin responds excitedly, his amber eyes glittering with excitement. “The postman dropped it off this morning before we left for church!”

“Let's see…oh it seems he's in…New Jersey! That's quite far, isn't it?”

“Yeah, but he sounds like he's having fun. Wish he stayed.”

“Well maybe one of these days he'll come visit.” Paloma assures him. “Abuelo! I'm taking a cab home to head to the diner!”

“What's her rush?” Calvin's mother asked. “And I thought she had no work on Sundays.”

“I asked to work today, my boyfriend agreed to meet me at the diner so we could see each other. It's his birthday!”

“Oh how nice, how old is he turning? Any plans?”

“He's turning twenty-five today, we really don't have plans since he just wants to treat today like a normal day, bit I have something special planned!” Paloma says with a grin. “I made him something tasty since he doesn't seem to like cake.”

“Well from what I heard, he sounds like a nice fellow, why don't you ever bring him to church?”

“He's Jewish.” Paloma’s grandfather responds before she could.

“¡Abuelo!”

“And you are okay with that?” The older woman asks.

“Better that than a protestant.” The older man says with a shrug. “He's an upstanding lad, and has better manners than most men his age. My granddaughter has been dating him for nearly a year and has not gotten preg-”

“There is a child present!” Paloma hisses, rushing to cover his mouth. “I have to go, and stop gossiping about my love life!”

----

“She's late.” Mordecai murmured before taking a sip of his tea and glanced again at the diner door.

“Well it's Sunday, some priests tend to run mass a bit longer than usual.” Atlas responds as he exits the kitchen, wiping his hands with a rag. “I do hope she arrives soon, before said church-goers arrive for breakfast. “You two going on a date later?”

“No, Paloma is working today and in the evening, but tomorrow we have plans to do something.”

He reaches into his waistcoat pocket to take out his watch, checking the time. Still late. Mordecai glances to the left of the watch, softly smiling to himself as he gazes at the photo tucked into it. Some time back Mitzi had taken a photo of Paloma, around Christmas if he was not mistaken, and gave it to him to keep in his watch. She was smiling at the camera, her thick hair loose and falling down her back as she was leaning against the bar counter and wearing one of those flapper dresses that was given to her. She's wearing the necklace he gifted her, a choker necklace made of dark red satin with a simple red gem hanging from it, displaying it proudly to the camera. Ever since he gave it to her, she had never taken it off afterwards, which made him happy.

Funny how months ago he said he’d never buy her something expensive like that, but Atlas had given him a big bonus at the time, so he had gone out to get her something special while she got him a pair of nice cufflinks he at one point lost after a fight in a warehouse. It had been nearly a year since they started dating, their first anniversary would be coming in the summer, yet he had no clue what to do to celebrate it. What did one do to celebrate that sort of thing? Dancing? Vacation? Probably not a wedding ring, he and Paloma had no plans to marry so soon, unlike some people.

As he was thinking, he hears the door to the diner ring and turns to see Paloam rushing in, hastily trying to remove her coat while setting a covered plate down on a table.

“Hello hello!” She yells as she manages to remove her coat, grab the plate and rush into the kitchen without greeting him.

“You forgot something, miss!” Atlas calls out. Paloma then rushes out, tying an apron around her waist.

“Umm, que fue…shit…” She mutters. Mordecai then clears his throat to get her attention. “Oh! ¡Cariñio! I am so sorry!”

“I was wondering how long it would take for you to notice I was here.” Mordecai says before taking another sip of his drink. “And I arrived here before our meet up time, did you have any problems getting here?”

“Father Thomas wouldn't stop talking about the evils of alcohol, which had nothing to do with today's sermon.” Paloma says with a shake of her head. “Oh! I almost forgot, I have something for you.”

“Oh?”

“Wait one moment, I need to reheat them.”

“Do you ever plan on marrying her?” Atlas asks as Paloma disappeared into the kitchen.

“No, we haven't been dating for even a year.” Mordecai responds bluntly.

“So if you two make it to a year, you'd consider it?”

Mordecai blinks in surprise. “Why are you suddenly asking me this?”

The older man simply shrugs. “You both are young, times are changing and you're living dangerous lives. I've known a few associates who had sweethearts but never married, stringing them along until they get tired of their date and move onto someone else. Others, unable to marry the ones they love for whatever reason. One of these days, either or both of you may die while in this line of work, and there'd be regrets. She makes you somewhat happy, wouldn't you want to be with her for longer?”

“As much as I'd like to, I know over time our affection for each other may wear off, so no marriage. I'll probably give it thought in a few years, assuming we're still together by then.”

“Well, hope that comes soon, because one day-”

“Happy birthday cariñio!” Mordecai hears Paloma say as a plate of something is placed in front of him.

“Umm…what's this?” Mordecai asks, adjusting his glasses to examine the food on the plate properly. “A…lump of cooked dough? A group of misshapen croissants?”

“They're empanadas, try one!”

“What's in it?”

Paloma grins. “You'll see.”

Atlas lets out a chuckle as Mordecai grimaces but picks one off the plate and takes a hesitant bite out of it. It tasted fine, not uncooked or oily. He took another bite and this time his mouth filled with something sweet.

“Is this…frosting?” He asks, peering into the food to see something creamy inside.

“Oh that's cream, the others have other kinds of filling.” Paloma responds. “I put one with strawberry jelly, another has lemon jelly, oh I even put a special sort of meat in one, I think I even have one with guava, that's my favorite kind. ¿Esta bien?”

“It's…something I didn't expect to find in a pastry.” Mordecai admits, but takes another bite, chews and swallows. “But it's actually not bad, though I think the bread could be cooked a bit more.”

Paloma beams in pride. “I'll take that into account next time I bake for you. Try the others, see which you like so I can bake more with that filling.”

Mordecai nods, turning his attention back again to his morning newspaper as she starts to clean the counter. It had been almost a year since he and Paloma decided to actually date, their first anniversary would come some time in June, and it had been a quite eventual year for the both of them. He had gotten used to her random forms of affection, such as giving him plates or a basket of baked goods she made at home or in the diner's kitchen, her gentle hugs, and the random times she'd just scoop him up and toss him over her shoulder to carry him off somewhere. At least that was helpful when they needed to run and he was a bit disoriented from fighting.

“You know, I've been thinking.” Mordecai says before taking another bite of the pastry, stopping to take a sip of his tea to wash it down. “We're not that affectionate are we?”

“I would be if you allowed me.” Paloma says as she stops cleaning to walk into the kitchen and emerges a moment later with a kettle to refill his cup. “All you've allowed me to do is hold your hand, and maybe hug you for five full seconds before you make me let you go.”

“Well, seeing how it's my birthday and we've been dating for almost a whole year, I'll allow you to do one thing.”

Her ears are now perked forward in interest. “Oh?”

“Just for today, I'll allow you to perform one form of affection we have never done.”

Okay maybe he was setting himself up for something weird to happen, but he knew Paloma and she wouldn't do anything untoward to him. He could see her trying to think about his offer, before a small smirk came to her lips.

“Oh I have something in mind, give me a few minutes.” She says as she slipped back into the kitchen with the kettle.

“Welll this shall be interesting.” Atlas chuckles. “I should head downstairs, there’s something I need to check on.”

I'm probably going to regret suggesting this. Mordecai thinks as his boss leaves and he finishes his pastry before he picks up another that feels a bit heavy. This may have been the meat filled one Paloma mentioned, and it still felt warm and smelled a bit funny.

“Alright I am back!” He hears the younger woman call out as she steps out of the kitchen. Something was different about her, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what. Paloma stood herself next to his stool with a small smirk on her face.

“I'm starting to think I should be having second thoughts.” Mordecai mutters as he set the pastry back down on the plate.

“Relax amor, I won't do anything weird.” Paloma says in a teasing manner. “So, you said anything, right?”

“Yes…what are you-”

She suddenly grabbed him by the front of his vest and pulled him close. Out of habit his hand goes for his holster, only to find it missing and squeezed his eyes shut. He then feels something warm touch his snout before Paloma releases him. When he opened his eyes, she’s sitting back in the stool looking quite pleased with herself.

“Goodness, you looked ready to shoot me!” She laughs.

“What…did you do?” Mordecai asks.

“I just gave you a kiss on the nose. What, expected something else?”

“I thought you were going to headbutt me.”

Paloma lets out a laugh. “Cariñio, I would never! That's more of Viktor’s thing, or something I’d do in a fight.”

“Y-yes well, you know how I am.”

“All too well.” She then smirks a bit. “So, would you like another kiss that’s not on the mouth?”

“I said one form of affection.”

“Kissing is a form of affection, but I am asking if you’d like me to kiss you again since you didn’t like me giving you a peck on the snout.”

Okay the kiss on the nose felt a bit weird, but she was asking for his permission to give him another kiss. She always asked before doing anything, that’s what he liked about Paloma. She learned his boundaries over their time of dating and always avoided crossing them, only asking for permission to do so.

“Fine, but not the mouth, I…I don’t really think that’s sanitary.” Mordecai says and Paloma gets off her stool. “Wait what-”

“Come here you grumpy old sour puss.” Paloma laughs as she gently grabs his face. “And hold still.”

----

“You seem a bit off today, anything happen?” Atlas asks Mordecai as he was busy cleaning his gun.

“Nothing unusual, if that’s what you are wondering.” Mordecai responds.

“Really, nothing happened?”

“No sir. Also your wife is coming this way.”

“I heard it was a certain someone’s birthday, any plans?” Mitzi asks as she approaches the two.

“Nothing, just treating today like a regular old day.” Mordecai responds as he finishes the cleaning to tuck the gun away.

“Really? I thought you’d take the night off and spend it with Paloma having some fun. Though it seems like you probably did that earlier.”

Mordecai frowns. “What makes you think that?

“You…have a little something on your face honey.” Mitzi says, trying not to laugh. “Did Paloma do that?”

“Do what?”

“This.” Mitzi reaches into her purse to pull out a small compact mirror to open and show Mordecai his face. No one would have noticed, or some did and chose not to say anything.

“PALOMA!” He shouts, snapping the mirror shut. She should be upstairs, someone had brought in a new delivery of alcohol tonight and she would have been helping unload it, or somewhere in the speakeasy setting the things down. “PALOMA!”

“I'm coming! ¡Ya voy!” She yells, her voice faint. A few minutes later she arrives, a bit breathless and is removing her cap to fan her face. “Oof, it's warm down here today.”

“A good sign that spring is here.” Mitzi agrees.

“Come here, hold still.” Mordecai says as he grabs the younger woman's face and squints. He then spots it, a faint red color that he had spotted in his reflection, no wonder she was acting so weird earlier! “You put on lipstick to kiss me!”

“You consented!” Paloma laughs. “You never said I couldn't put on lipstick!”

“This was a mistake…”

“Aw amor, you didn't mind in the slightest earlier!” Paloma says as she puts her arms around his neck. “You couldn't even feel it!”

“Red does look good on him.” Mitzi snickers and Mordecai turns to glare at her.

“Don't enable that sort of behavior!” He hisses.

“What, worried she's gonna get a bit too bold and give you a good old big smooch on the lips? Maybe if you weren't so stiff and tried getting out of your comfort zone once in a while, you'd allow it.”

“Come now Mitzi, don’t tease him.” Atlas scolds but Mordecai could see the older man trying not to laugh.

“Hey little dove! Bartender is waiting for you!” Someone yells.

“Bartender?” Mordecai asks as Paloma removes her arms from around his neck. “What are you needed for?”

“I’m gonna learn to pour and make drinks!” She responds cheerfully. “Mitzi thinks I should take up learning it in case our bartender gets killed!”

“You do realize this won’t be like making tea and juice for the diner, right?”

“I know, you can give whatever I learn to make a try if you want.”

“I don't drink.”

Paloma blinks in surprise. “Really? I assumed you drank a bit, not as much as Viktor, but a bit.”

“The only things I'll ever consume are nonalcoholic, and I don't intend to start.” Mordecai responds with a shrug. “I'll drink whatever tea you make me, but not booze.”

“Aw, well when you have the chance you can come watch me learn. I gotta go now, ¡adios birthday boy!” She then pulls him close to give him a quick peck on the cheek, giving him a cheeky grin before rushing off towards the bar.

“Aww, I'm so glad I got you two to get together in the first place.” Mitzi cooed and Mordecai flinched. He forgot the two were there. “You got lucky to end up with such a sweet girl, and you've lasted a lot longer than expected!”

“You had expectations of our relationship not being longlasting?” He asks with a scoff.

“Well I thought you'd last maybe…a month at least. But here you two are, nearly a year together! Next thing you know, you'll be proposing to her, getting married, celebrating your anniversaries, maybe even having a little one or two - or maybe not.”

“I don't intend to marry her, we haven't been together that long for me to ever consider it.”

“Well if you do, better start saving up for a nice ring. Now, you best be getting to your standing spot, Asa and his wife should be showing up soon to have dinner with us.”

Ah, the leader of the Marigolds. Mordecai had only met the man a small handful of times, first time was after that night he got a bad injury after taking out a rival gang who had become a problem for Atlas and Asa's businesses. As for this wife of his, he wasn't even aware there was a Mrs. Sweet in the picture, so he wasn't sure what to expect. For all he knew, she could have been as old as or older than his mother or as young as Paloma.

“Here, clean up your face.” He hears Atlas whisper before a handkerchief is handed to him. “Can't have the Sweets see you with that on, as funny as it would be.”

Oh he almost forgot the lipstick. Mordecai made a mental note to check Paloma’s lips next time for lipstick if she tried to kiss him. He quickly wipes off his face, checking the mirror he forgot to hand back to Mitzi to see if he missed anything. Why was it so much easier to get blood off the face in comparison to lipstick?

Deciding that was a question to be answered for another day, Mordecai tucks the compact mirror and hankerchief into his suit pocket to walk over to the table his boss and his wife were sitting at. Across from them sat a man around the same age as Atlas, though a bit more broader, and a woman who looked slightly older than Mitzi with thick dark brown hair and light brown colored fur. She surprisingly wore a suit instead of the usual fancy flapper style dresses a lot of women liked to wear to parties, which seemed a bit odd.

No, why is that odd? You're dating someone who also wears men's clothes to a speakeasy. Mordecai scolds himself as he stands near the Mays, glancing about to make sure there was no suspicious activity going about.

“Been hearing some interesting things from my boys lately Atlas, they've been chattering about a new gangster who joined your crew a few months ago.” Asa says as the couples are brought drinks. “And they're spooked quite well by them.” 

“Oh? What have they been saying?” Mitzi asks, a hint of amusement in her tone.

“That the guy took out a rival speakeasy on his own with nothing but a revolver, a shotgun and a crowbar and lwt out such horrifying screams they thought it was the ghost of some random gangster they killed years ago.” Asa responds before taking a sip of his drink. “Sounds like you've obtained yourselves a terror who could put your two best men to shame.”

“Oh Paloma did that? That was…what months ago?” Atlas laughs. “I remember hearing that from Mordecai, he and Viktor just waited outside the doors and came in to find her covered with blood. Poor thing had to get a whole new set of clothes because the blood wouldn't come off of the ones she wore.”

“That doesn't sound like a boy's name, you got yourself a foreigner or something?”

“Asa!” The woman next to him hisses. “That's rude!”

“Forgive me dear, I've just never heard of that name before.”

“I believe you must have ignored the fact that Mr. May referred to this gang member as a she.” Mordecai spoke up.

“Oh so this Paloma is a woman?” Mrs. Sweet asks. “She sounds like quite the gangster, I wonder why no one ever mentioned she was a woman.”

“Possibly because they're embarrassed to admit it's a single woman who has been putting fear into them.”

“So…you have a woman in your gang?” Asa asks slowly with a frown. “Is that even a good idea? Some women are just…a bit too delicate for this line of work. Why don’t you have her be one of your dancers or singers?”

“Darling, you're forgetting that some women are raised to do men's work, like farmers.” His wife scolds. “I think it's quite interesting our friends have obtained a good gangster, better the Mays than some rival of ours.”

“One of my best men brought her in, and she’s proven to be a valuable member of the gang.” Atlas responds and Mordecai could hear a hint of pride in his tone. “Gets the job done as efficiently as Viktor and Mordecai, and they work quite well with her too. In fact, she actually can reign them in if the occasion calls for it.”

“Hmm, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Trust me, you don't want to be there when either of them blow up at each other, especially when Paloma goes at it. Quite a spitfire we got on our hands, and one everyone in the gang has grown to respect.”

“Out of fear, if I may add.” Mordecai adds. “And a healthy dose of it too.”

“Yes that too.” Atlas laughs. “Say Mordecai, why don't you take a bit of a break? One shouldn't have to work on their birthday.”

“Sir, I-”

“I insist. Dance, have a drink at the bar, flirt with a certain someone!”

Mordecai let out a frustrated but defeated sigh as he nodded. There were other gangsters around to protect the Mays and Sweets, so they should be fine without him for the time being. He glances towards the bar where Paloma and Viktor were at. The older man was having a drink while the bartender in training was attempting to do that pouring trick where multiple glasses could be filled at once. Only, she was failing at it and making a bit of a mess.

“Hah, it’s fine we’re just using water.” The bartender tries to assure Paloma as Mordecai approached while she was trying to frantically clean up the mess. “I’ll clean don’t worry!”Mordecai approaches. “Oh! Haven't seen you come by here before, Mordecai, right?”

“I thought you didn't drink?” Paloma asks in surprise.

“Atlas ordered me to have some time off, so here I am. Apparently I must drink, dance and flirt.”

“Which you don't do, at all.”

“He can try.” Viktor chuckles into his drink.

“Okay, so first time drinker, what do you think your alcohol tolerance is?” The bartender asks.

“I doubt it's as high as anyone here.” Mordecai responds. “What can you recommend?”

“Hmm, maybe the bunny hug cocktail, it's apparently very new. Wanna give it a try?”

“I suppose, it's my birthday and…well, I'm already being pushed to try new things, so I'll give it a try.”

“Alright! Fun drink for the birthday lad, coming up!”

“Amor, are you sure?” Paloma asks softly when the bartender is out of earshot. “You don't have to.”

“You all will bug me about it eventually. Besides, I'm somewhat curious to know what's so good about alcohol that we are risking our lives to sell and drink it.” 

“Sounds like famous last words.”

----

Well, this was a mistake. Paloma was keeping an eye on Mordecai as he was rambling on about nonsense after maybe three glasses of bunny hugs, and thankfully he hadn't really done anything stupid but sit and talk and slur his words when talking about Viktor before laying his head on the counter.

“I told you to only give him just one or something weaker.” She mutters to Finn, the bartender who was training her.

“Sorry, I thought he could handle it.” The man apologized. “Uh, is he okay?”

“He will. You go deal with your work, I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“He fine.” Viktor assures her when the three were left alone. “Just need sleep.”

“And whatever counts as hangover cure.” Paloma adds with a scoff.

“Oooooh but did…did I ever tell you offff….my favorite perssssn in the whoooole woooooooorld?” Mordecai slurs as his head suddenly snaps up. “She’s uhh….she….oh I gotta wife her…make her wifeeeeee. Hehe…wife…her she…she wife…”

“Okay I think that's enough for you.” Paloma says, grabbing a broom to sweep up the broken glass he had flung earlier by accident.

“Hehe…you…you look like wife…no…she not…not yet wifeyyyy.” Mordecai says as he almost falls out of seat. “Shhheee….she pretty…you…you almossssst as pretty.”

“No more drink for him.” Viktor mutters as the younger man almost falls out of his chair again.

“I got him.” Paloma says as she finishes sweeping and walks back to the bar to toss Mordecai over her shoulder. “Do you know where he lives?”

“Ya.”

“Good, collect his things please and meet me in the garage.”

“Noooo….wait for wifffffffffeeeeeee…” Mordecai groans.

“We’ll get her, just got to tell the Mays we are leaving.” Paloma then makes her way to the table where Atlas, Mitzi and their guests were eating, drinking and talking. “Sorry, we need to get him home.”

“Oh my! What happened to him?” Mitzi gasps.

“Too many bunny hugs.” Paloma responds. “I'm getting him home.”

“Wheeeeressss wifeeeee?” Mordecai whines.

“Wait when did he get a wife?” A man Paloma had never seen before asks.

“There's no wife, he's just being silly.” Paloma responds before turning to Atlas. “No more suggesting drinks to him, please.”

“Huh, I wasn't expecting that. Well, get him home safe. Also tell him he has tomorrow off to get rid of the hangover.” Atlas says with a nod. “And you have a good night, Paloma.”

“Oh she's the Paloma we've been hearing about?” The woman beside the man asks as she stands and holds a hand out to her. “Selina Sweet, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Uh…who is this?” Paloma asks Mitzi in a low voice.

“A friend of ours and her husband honey, just shake her hand it's rude to leave her hanging.” The older woman whispers back.

“Sorry, Paloma Alvarez, I don't usually get to meet distinguished guests so often.”

“Oh its fine, Mitzi was just telling me about how she has often has you accompany her during some social visits acting as an undercover bodyguard of sorts.” Selina says as she sits down. “I've been a bit busy lately so I haven't had the chance to be on the social scene for quite some time. But it'd be nice to see you some time outside of things like this.”

“It's fine, it's rare for me to be with la señora during her social outings, I often have church and days off when that happens. Today was just an exception, and a good thing too. Better get this cranky old man to bed before he throws up.”

“Yeah she's definitely not American with the accent, I'm thinking…Brazilian?” The man beside Selina asks.

“Too far south señior.” Paloma responds with a frown. “Try a bit farther up. Good bye.”

Out of the corner of her eye as she walked off, she could see the woman she had spoken to scolding the man, but chose to ignore it. She soon managed to get upstairs where Viktor was waiting, looking slightly more annoyed than usual.

“I know, I am late. I had to tell Atlas we were leaving and got caught up in conversation.” Paloma says as she opens the backdoor of one of the cars to dump Mordecai on the seat before climbing in from the other side, raising his head to lay it on her lap. “I'm so sorry cariñio, we get you home soon.”

Mordecai let's out a small groan as he curls up in response. Viktor just grunts as he enters the car and turns it on.

“Is late, we take him home.” He says as he starts to back out of the garage. “Put him on couch.”

“Are you sure?”

“Is fine, he recover with us.”

“If you say so.”

----

“Uuuugh, why does my head hurt…” Paloma hears Mordecai groan from the living room as she is busy making breakfast.

“Oh good morning to you cariñio, sleep well?” She says as she heads into the living room to find him on the floor, his hair looking even more messy and disheveled than last night and blinking as he tried looking for his glasses. Paloma grabbed them off the coffee table and knelt to put them on his face. “There, good morning again.”

“Where…”

“Viktor thought it'd be better to bring you here to recover, also Atlas said you have day off today to recover.”

“Uggh, from what?”

“You don't know?”

“I don't recall much of what happened yesterday. Did I do something stupid?”

Hmm, it seemed like he didn't recall drinking at all. Perhaps it'd be best to spare him the details of that.

“No, you just got a bit overwhelmed and tired yesterday, you'll be fine.” She assures him before standing up. “My grandfather isn't home so you can stay here for the day until you feel better. How do you like your eggs?”

“I don't-” Mordecai's face grimaced as he suddenly bolts for the bathroom upstairs and Paloma hears the sound of him retching.

“Nothing that isn't eggs it is then!” She yells.

Some time later, Mordecai returns looking more disheveled than before and plops into a chair with a groan.

“Am I ill?” He asks weakly.

“Probably, here.” Paloma slid a bowl in front of him. “Try it.”

She watches as he lifts his head to squint at the contents in the bowl. “What's this?”

“Rice with milk and cinnamon.”

He grimaces. “Smells weird.”

“It's fine, give it a try, just a taste. If you don't like it, you can have my eggs.”

Mordecai grimaces again but raised his head from the table to pick up the spoon from the bowl and stick it in his mouth. He makes a face but continues to eat until all of the food was gone from the bowl.

“Wow, you actually liked it?” Paloma asks as she is finishing her breakfast.

“No, but it was fine.” Mordecai admits. “What was in this anyways?”

“Rice, carnation milk and some cinnamon powder. We didn’t have raisins.”

“Smell good.” They hear Viktor say and turn to see him at the doorway of the kitchen. “Rice milk?”

“Yeah, want some?”

“Yeh.”

“So why was I not taken home again?” Mordecai asks as the older man sits down at the table.

“You unwell.” Viktor responds as he is given a bowl. “Very drunk.”

“Viktor!” Paloma hisses.

“I don’t drink.” Mordecai scoffs.

“You drunk, too many.” Viktor continues, ignoring Paloma’s silencing motions. “Last night.”

“There is now way I would have, Paloma, tell him.” Mordecai insists. “Why are you looking embarrassed?”

“Dios mio, how do I put this.” Paloma groans. “You…well you decided last night to try a new drink, and you…after a few cups you were super…weird.”

“Said nice things of me.” Viktor adds and smirks. “Call Paloma wifey.”

Mordecai blinks in surprise. “What-”

“Yes you kept calling me your wifey or wife.” Paloma admits, covering her face. “And in front of the Sweets and Mays too.”

For once, no snarky retort or come back from Mordecai, who sat there dumbfounded. Paloma was now starting to wonder if he had a silent stroke before he suddenly dropped his head down onto the table with a loud thud.

“Damn it Asa and Mitzi…why'd they have to put that into my head!” Mordecai groans. “Ugh, I will never talk about personal things at work again!”

“What does that have anything to do with calling me your wife?” Paloma asks.

“Boss and wife want you two married.” Viktor snorts before spooning some of the rice milk into his mouth.

“B-but we have only dated for a year!”

“Some marry short time, some long time. It happens.”

“Do not look into this as me wanting to marry you, I don't think we have that sort of stability in our relationship for it.” Mordecai groans. “I've had enough misunderstandings because no one told you it was a joke or faux.”

“Good, because I don't want marriage, or at least not right now.” Paloma admits. “We should have this discussion in a few years if we're still together. Sound good.”

“If we are still together.”

Chapter Text

Point of No Return

[February 1926]

“Your golden girl seems to be quite absent as of late.” Mordecai overhears Selina comment to Mitzi as the two women were drinking. “Is she alright?”

“I'm not sure, I probably shouldn't divulge her private life, but it's probably family matters.” The other woman says and looks to Mordecai, who was standing a few feet from them and their husbands. “Mordecai, honey, you and Paloma are somewhat close, right?”

“Somewhat.” Mordecai responds. “Why?”

“Well, are you aware of anything going on with her and why she hasn't been showing up lately?”

Somewhat close? Far from it. As of the fall of last year, Paloma had moved out of Viktor’s home and moved in with him to a two bedroom apartment that he had recently gotten. It was an odd experience for him, to be sharing an apartment with someone who wasn't a family member, but one Paloma had made tolerable. Every morning they'd be up around the same time to make each other breakfast and dinner in the evening if the time allowed it, they shared chores so neither was left being stuck doing all the housework, and if they both happened to have the night off, they'd spend most of their evenings reading together.

As for her personal problems, he knew all too well why she was absent. For the past few weeks her grandfather hadn't been doing too well, his health took a nosedive at the start of the month and showed no signs of recovery. As of the other night, he sadly passed away and Paloma was too shaken by his death to come in to even do her criminal job. Mitzi didn't need to know, if Paloma wanted to let her employers know, she'd tell them herself.

“I'm afraid it's up to the young lady herself to tell you that.” He finally says. “It's not my place to divulge her personal life like that.”

“I best give her a call later tonight then.” Mitzi sighs.

“Oh, she did say she was going to be gone for the next…few days I believe. And I will be absent as well.”

“Oh? Why?”

“That's for personal reasons.”

----

It was quite late when Mordecai returned home, all the lights were off and everything was very quiet. He wasn't even sure if Paloma was in the house at the moment, but he did find evidence of her being home earlier. On the small table they would eat their meals was a simple plate of rice, chicken and beans that looked a bit cold with a small note laying next to it in her handwriting.

Getting sleep for train ride tomorrow, reheat if you come home late

~ Paloma

Mordecai lets out a tired sigh as he picks up the plate, poking the food and grimacing when he feels it cold, but takes it to the stove. While he didn’t like reheating leftovers, he knew Paloma prepped this for him ahead of time in hopes that he’d maybe return home early and spend time together. So tonight he’ll bear with reheated food for now. Once his food was reheated and he ate it, he headed upstairs to take a quick bath and brush his teeth before heading to bed.

She must be asleep, I don’t even see a light on under the door. He thinks as he is passing the door to his girlfriend’s room. I should at least try to wake up early to see her off, oh but I need to make sure everything is packed too. That girl is so scatterbrained sometimes.

Once he had cleaned up and changed into his nightclothes, Mordecai hurries back to his room, making sure to not make so much noise before slipping into bed. As tired as he was, tonight he just didn’t feel tired enough to fall asleep as fast as he was used to after staying up so late. Maybe reading a little would help with that, there was a book Paloma had been begging him to read and he hardly had a few pages looked at. He sits up to grab the book by his bedside table, the flashlight and his glasses, switching it on and started to read until he hears a soft knock before the door of his room opens.

“Amor?” Mordecai looks up from his book to see Paloma standing in the doorway of his room, her hair pulled in a loose braid and an embroidered shawl thrown over her nightdress. “Can…can I come in?”

“Of course, what's the matter?” He asks, setting the book and flashlight aside and letting out a yawn. “It's…late.”

“You should be asleep.” Paloma says as she enters the bedroom, taking a seat on the bed.

“So should you.” Mordecai points out as he moves to sit next to her. “You went to sleep a bit too early didn't you?”

“No, I just…I just can't believe this is happening.” She lets out a shaky sigh. “I never thought I'd have to handle funeral arrangements, especially those of my grandfather. Bobby said the embalming fluid he used should be good enough to keep the body preserved even after I got to Mexico. I sent a telegram to my family to let them know where to meet us so they could pick up the coffin.”

“I already informed the Mays of how long you plan to be away, if you come back early you can use that time to relax.”

“Gracias por eso, amor.” Paloma sighs as she drops her head on his shoulder. “No wonder my grandfather kept telling me you'd make a decent husband. You always think ahead while I just run about like a chicken with no head trying to get everything together.”

“Assuming we last that long, we've only been together for almost three years.”

“Do you think…in a few more years we will actually be like that?”

“How?”

“No longer sleeping in separate rooms, sharing the same last name, maybe having a family in the future when we've settled down properly?”

Mordecai was quiet, trying to think of a proper answer. “I'm not sure, but maybe. Ask me again in a few years when we have yet to break up.”

Paloma let out a laugh. “Of course, I'll mark that down to ask you that in…ten years. I should get to sleep, and so should you. Viktor said he'd pick me up early, you can come to see me off.”

Mordecai nods before she sat up and have him a small peck on the cheek and got up from the bed with a yawn. “Oh and no staying up late to read, you can continue that submarine journey story on your train trip.”

“Oh you are no fun, it’s getting so good! They discovered Atlantis! Something tells me I have to pack a few more books for the trip, I’m raiding the livingroom library for that.”

Mordecai just shakes his head as she leaves the room, removing his glasses as the lights are shut off and the door is shut, leaving him in darkness. He was going to need sleep too, at least for what he had to do tomorrow.

----

“You have everything packed, right?” Mordecai asks Paloma as she is hauling her second suitcase out of the car. “Please tell me you didn’t discard a week’s worth of clothes to fill that with books.”

“Of course not, I have only…six in here!” She grunts as she places it on the ground and dusts her hands off. “Well, I need to get going, you boys take care. And no fighting, understand?”

Viktor just grunts in response while Mordecai nods. She smiles and hugs the older man before giving hers a quick peck on the cheek and grabs her suitcases before entering the station.

“You no go?” Mordecai hears Viktor ask once they were alone. “Not good leaving her alone.”

“And what makes you think I even planned to?” Mordecai asks as he turns to the car, reaches in and pulls another suitcase out from under the back seat. “Already told the Mays I would be gone for a while too, I don't think it'd be right to have her travel alone.”

“Good, keep safe. Have gun?”

Mordecai opens His coat to reveal his holster. “Never leave home without it. I'll telegram you to let you know when we reached the place. Try to take care of yourself, old friend.”

He hurries inside, looking around for Paloma until he spots her with an employee aiding her with her suitcases by the ticket station. Once she leaves, he hurries forward to knock on the window.

“Yes?” A tired looking man behind the window asks.

“One ticket to Zacatecas, Mexico.” Mordecai says, earning a yawn from the man. “Right now would be nice.”

“Sure, sure, give me a moment.” He grabs a slip of paper and uses a hole puncher to mark it a few times before handing the ticket to him. “Trip to Mexico will require a few stops in different cities. This one will take you to Arkansas, you should inquire with someone there on how get to your destination. Head to platform 3 and board the train there.”

“Thank you.” Mordecai murmured as he grabbed his suitcase and hurried off.

Platform 3 should be where she is…there! He spots Paloma at the platform, talking with an all too familiar trio of cats he had known since he joined the gang. The Arbogasts were speaking to her while standing near a large crate that must have contained the body of Rory, speaking in hushed tones as Bobby is trying to comfort the crying woman. Not wanting to be spotted, he immediately hurried to a nearby newsstand and tossed the man at the counter a few coins before he grabbed a newspaper, and unfolds it, pretending to be interested in the news. He could hear the train coming already, so he took the chance to edge a bit closer to the four.

“Your grandfather was a god faithful man, he’s saved from the hellfire, don’t worry.” He hears Abelard say. What was with that man and his need to mention hellfire in every conversation? “You just worry about not getting lost or separated from his casket.

“And try not to cause trouble.” Bobby adds. “Lord knows how much of that already follows you when those two are with you.”

“Gracias, I…I still can’t believe this happened. He was fine when I left to live with Mordecai! Do you think his health got bad because I left?”

“Well, an unmarried man and woman shouldn’t live under the same roof-” Abelard starts to say before Elsa elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow! It’s true!”

“Don’t listen to him. This had nothing to do with you moving out. He was already quite old, it was no surprise his health took a turn for the worse.” The older woman assures her before they hear the loud whistle of the train. “Alright, just try to be safe, don't talk to strangers. And try to stay out of trouble. Call us if you can or send a word by mail.”

Mordecai could barely hear anything else as the train pulls up and comes to a stop, letting out steam and smoke. Paloma gave Elsa and Bobby a hug before shaking hands with Abelard and grabbed one of her suitcases to hand to a porter, opening the other to remove her books and handing that off too before she boards the train. Using the smoke clouds from the train, he quickly walks past the Arbogasts and boards the same compartment train Paloma had gotten on.

Let's see…there she is. Third row from the front, alone as well. He thinks when he spots her. Perhaps I should sit closely in case, or…

There were several other passengers as well, but only one seemed to have their attention on Paloma. Scrawny looking man, maybe between his age and Paloma’s with dirty blonde colored fur, dressed in what looked like middle class clothes and seated a few rows behind her. Mordecai gripped his newspaper tightly before quietly removing his gun from inside his coat. But instead of firing at the man, he proceeds to wrap his newspaper around it to conceal it and tucked it under his arm in the same manner he recalled Atlas doing. At one point he'd be forced to remove his coat and suit jacket, and the last thing he needed was for someone to see his holster and cause a ruckus, and if anything happened the gun would be at the ready.

He strides forward, keeping his eyes towards the front before stopping at the empty row behind the man who was staring at Paloma. He wore one of those creepy smirks he'd seen one man make at her before and start to get up from his seat before Mordecai moves forward and puts a hand on his shoulder that instantly turned into a grip.

“Pardon, but I don't like that look you were giving my fiancee.” He growls in a low tone as the man turns to look at him in annoyance. “I don't know what you planned to do just now, but you better sit back down before you make me do something I'll have no trouble doing. Unless you'd like me to relieve you of a few important body parts.”

The man's annoyed expression melts into a fearful one as he sunk back down in his seat. The train lets out a whistle as porters and the conductors yelling for last minute send offs.

“Now if you excuse me, my lady is waiting for me.” Mordecai mutters as he moves.

He keeps walking forward until he reaches Paloma’s seat and carefully removes the newspaper wrapped gun from under his arm and places it next to her on the bench.

“I believe you left this behind, love.” He says loudly, earning a gasp from Paloma.

“¿¡Cariñio?! What are you- I thought you-”

“Scooch over, some hoodlum a few seats back kept looking at you inappropriately.”

Paloma scoots to the side to give him room to seat himself next to her. “Care to explain why you're on this train at the last minute? It can't be because you needed to hand me a hidden gun.”

“I have a ticket as well, so I won't get thrown off when they're being checked.”

“That's not answering my question.”

Mordecai grimaced. “Fine, I didn't like the idea of you traveling all the way to a completely different country all by yourself. Even if you have a gun on your person, you're still at risk.”

Paloma blinks in surprise before letting out a small laugh. “Aww, you were really worried about me that much? Señior “I only have two emotions” Heller?”

“Remind me how many emotions I've started to show since we started dating almost three years ago.” Mordecai scoffs.

Paloma smiles softly and leans against him with a tired sigh. “Gracias, I…I didn't know if I could have made this trip alone. This is my second time taking a train, but the first time without him.”

“Well you won't be alone, I can promise you that.” Mordecai assures her as they link their hands together. “Just rest, I'll wake you when we have to board another train.”

Paloma nods, letting out a small yawn before making herself comfortable against him and letting herself fall asleep.

----

The trip took maybe over a week to make it into Mexico before they arrived in Zacatecas. Paloma was practically bouncing in her seat, clutching his arm in excitement as the train passed into the station and came to a stop, conductors shouting in a language Mordecai still had yet to familiarize himself with. Once they were allowed to unboard, they managed to find their suitcases and make their way out of the station and into the town.

The air felt hot and stiff, making Mordecai almost wish for the cold and rainy Missouri weather. He was aware that the climate down south was meant to be warmer, he just didn’t think it'd feel like midsummer heatwave in the middle of February.

“So who is picking us up again?” He asks as he removes his coat and suit jacket, even removing the holster to tuck them into his suitcase.

“My uncle and cousin, they said they'd be waiting for us outside of the station.” Paloma responds as she is removing her jacket and fanned herself with her newsboy cap. “Phew, I forgot how warm it was here. I missed this.”

“I'm not going to when we leave after the funeral.” Mordecai mutters as they walk. “So, what should I expect when I get to your home?”

“Tons of children.”

“Ugh.”

“And tons of nosy relatives. They don't speak English, or that much of it. Grandfather was forced to learn some of it during his brief stay in America before he got sent to Mexico for the war in the late 1840s, so he didn't think he'd have to teach it to any of us. We did learn Irish, he wanted to be able to take a trip there someday to meet his relatives there.”

“I wouldn't want to force my kids to learn a different language either for a country I had no plans to visit.”

The outside of the station was even hotter and brighter, the moment they stepped out Mordecai felt like he almost got blinded by the harsh sun. Once his vision adjusted, he grabbed his suitcase and one of Paloma’s grunting whe he realized he had grabbed the one with all her books. Note to self, ask Viktor how to improve his strength. Ugh and the smell out there was…not so pleasant. There were horses and livestock everywhere . Random chickens wandering the place, a man carrying two goats on his back, and even a cart carrying a ton of pigs that looked bigger and less pleasant than the ones back home. Something told him that he wasn’t going to like the smell of the farm if he didn’t like the smells here.

“¡Tio Carlos! ¡Primo Benito!” Paloma suddenly yells, waving her arms frantically at the two men with a cart and a single horse following it. Much to Mordecai’s surprise, they actually rode over, stopping in front of them. One of the men, a man with white fur and large orange patches who wore a pair of very dirty overalls and a worn out straw hat that looked well chewed, immediately hops off the wagon and excitedly said something to Paloma in Spanish before they embrace. The other man still in the cart watch in disinterest before he is called by the two and he climbs off to hug Paloma awkwardly before she smacks his arm and proceeds to scold him for whatever reason.

“So…how are we getting to your home?” Mordecai asks loudly, interrupting Paloma.

“Oh! We’re taking the cart and horses!” Paloma responds and gasps. “Tornado! Oh my sweet girl, come here!”

A large black horse bearing no saddle hovering near the cart walks over to Paloma and nuzzles her in a loving manner before sniffing her hat and attempts to eat it before its snout is shoved away.

“You're joking, right?” Mordecai asks, glancing nervously at the horses. “Don't you have a car, like a farm truck or something?”

“Grandfather didn't like cars, they were too loud for his liking and spooked the horses and livestock. We go everywhere on horseback, or with the cart.” Paloma says as she hands one of the men her suitcase and walks back to the black horse. It suddenly kneels, allowing her to climb onto its back before it stands back up. “A good thing I changed into my men's clothes. Come on, you can ride with me!”

“No thank you.” Mordecai says, stepping away from the horse as it tries to sniff him. “I…are you sure there's no other way to get to your home?”

“You can sit in the cart with the luggage.”

Mordecai looks at the very wobbly looking cart, grimacing when he hears Paloma’s relatives chuckling, most likely at his discomfort. What were the chances of that breaking while they were driving? Too high, but how much higher were the chances of him falling off a horse that didn't even have a proper saddle? Probably higher.

“Okay fine! I'll sit in the cart!” He finally groaned as he grabbed his suitcase. “Just tell them not to do anything stupid while driving.”

Paloma nods and her cheerful expression turns dark as she yelled something at the two men, who shrug before climbing into the front of the cart. With her help, they manage to load all three suitcases in before Mordecai climbs in and held on as it starts to move. The ride was very bumpy, and more than five times he thought he was going to fly off the cart when they went over something large that made it jump. Hiding under his coat from the sun did him no good, just made him more sweaty but it kept the hot rays from touching him.

After a while, they soon arrived at a large house with an equally large barn located several yards from it and several areas covered in what may have been crops. There were several children running about playing with a ball, screaming, giggling and laughing as they did so, at least until they spotted them.

“¡Paloma! ¡Paloma esta aqui!” The kids were screaming excitedly as they ran up to the horse. “¡Tia Paloma!”

Mordecai watched as she dismounts her horse to greet the children, speaking softly to them in Spanish as she ruffled their heads affectionately before walking tot he cart.

“Amor, hand me my suitcase with the books?” She asks before he manages to push it towards her. She opens it, rumages around in it before producing a bag of candies she had gotten from a market before their final stop and handing it to the kittens. The little ones scream in excitement as they bolt off with the sweets, no doubt either planning to eat it themselves or sharing it with the other family members on the farm.

“Those were my cousin's kids, bunch of little rascals.” Paloma chuckles as she dusts her hands off. “Seems like the Alvarez boys got busy while I was gone, there's a lot more than usual.”

“How many of you are there?” Mordecai asks. “Ten?”

“Let's see, in my family there's my mother and father, my three older brothers, me, my twin brother, and my two sisters and another baby brother so that's ten of us. Then my uncle Diego and his wife with their three kids, uh tia Julia and her two daughters, then my uncle Benjamin and his four kids…” Paloma proceeds to start muttering and ticking more names off her fingers before she stops. “Wow, I think there's about…over fifty of us?”

“Fifty?!”

“Well my grandparents were quite young when they married and had my oldest uncle, and after him followed about maybe…ten more kids? Then those kids have about three or four kids, except for mama, she had eight of us. Uh…no wait I think there's about over sixty of us, including family members who married into the family and kids my cousins had, dios mio we practically have an army!”

“And you all live here? Looks a bit cramped for over sixty people.”

“Oh no, only two families and my grandfather live here. My family is one of them. Come on, I’ll properly introduce you to them and show you where you could sleep.”

Mordecai gets off the cart, relieved to be off the damned thing before he followed Paloma into the house. Inside there were many older and younger  women sporting black lace veils weeping as men who he assumed were their husbands or sons or brothers comforted them. One of the women spots them and jumps to her feet, rushing over and speaking frantically in spanish to Paloma before breaking down in tears and flinging her arms around her.

“My mother.” She whispers to him before softly speaking to the woman in Spanish as she removes her veil. She looked quite similar to Paloma, though her hair was a lighter shade of orange and she had mostly white fur with large patches of black and orange and pale blue eyes.

The woman studies him carefully before asking Paloma something, to which the younger woman frowns and says something back.

“What did she say?” Mordecai asks softly. “My Spanish is very limited.”

“She just asked who you were, that’s all.” Paloma responds curtly before yelling something at one of the other people in the room. One of the veiled women got up from her seat and beckoned for them to follow. “My aunt will show you where you get to sleep.”

Mordecai follows the woman through a few hallways before showing him into a bedroom where there were two large bunk beds and several blankets and pillows strewn all over the floor. A small child was sitting on the bottom bunk of one of the beds, watching him with bright copper eyes similar to Paloma. Probably a cousin or the child of a cousin of hers. He sets his suitcase down and shifts two of the blankets on the floor to act like a sleeping mat and sets his things on top. As he was dusting his hands off and trying to loosen his tie, he heard the woman clear her throat.

“You…you husband?” The woman asks in halting English. “Paloma husband?”

“Uh…no. Soy…” Shoot what was that word she used again that wasn't husband? “Soy…soy novio de Paloma.”

The woman lifted her veil, revealing her face. She also sported pale blue eyes like Paloma’s mother and calico fur colors, but there was more orange than white on her. “¿Novio? ¿Quando agaro mi nieta un novio?”

“Uh…no se much español.” Mordecai responds hastily. Why couldn't Paloma have given him more lessons while on the train?

The woman murmurs something before nodding and walks out the room. Mordecai let out a tired sigh before sitting down to remove his hat and stick it in his suitcase when he hears the floorboards creak a bit and looks up to see the little boy now standing on the floor and still staring at him. He had pale white fur with scattered orange patches in spots like Paloma and dressed in a pair of overalls and a shirt that looked too big for his tiny frame. He opens his mouth to say something before the bedroom door opens and Paloma steps in, arguing with a man who looked about her age.

“¡Loma!” The little boy yells, rushing to her and tackled her leg. Paloma yelps and almost falls over if the man hadn't caught her in time. “¡Loma! ¡Loma!”

“Are you alright?” Mordecai asks as he jumps to his feet to help her steady herself as the child practically wrapped himself around her leg.

“Yes I'm fine amor, Leo is just a little too excited to see me. Oh and this idiot here is my brother, Gabriel.” Paloma says as she steadies herself and bends to try and pry the giggling toddler off her leg. “For a kid who hasn't seen me since he was almost one, he is really attached.”

The man who bent down to try and help her did look quite similar to Paloma, mostly with black fur and white patches where the orange should have been and his eyes were also the same shade of copper too. So this was the twin who had broken a window with a baseball she mentioned a few years back and who kept sending her letters full of dried flowers that she kept in a box under her bed.

“So when was the funeral again?” Mordecai asks. “I'd like to take a bath first, I feel sticky.”

“Tomorrow, and we'll be leaving that day too.” Paloma responds as she manages to pry the now crying child off her leg before her brother scoops him up. “But we can get you a bath, we'll have to boil some water first and wash out the tub…”

“I'd prefer a proper shower, but a bath is a bath.” Mordecai says as he removes his watch from his pocket to check the time. “It's quite late.”

“Well let's go downstairs to help make dinner, I'll make sure it's kosher for you.”

The two make their way out of the room with Gabriel at their heels, before they arrive at what was probably the kitchen. Some of the veiled women from earlier were there, their black veils gone and busy at a stove and the counters cutting things up and talking loudly amongst themselves.

“¡Hola familia!” Paloma yells, getting their attention. One of the women, a younger looking calico with dark hair lets out an excited yell and rushes over to hug her before frantically saying something and rushing back to the counter. Paloma follows the girl as she excitedly shows her some uncooked dough she had made into a very messy ball with pieces of green peeking out of it.

“What's this?” Mordecai asks, squinting at the food.

“Pupusas, they were my grandfather's favorite.” Paloma responds as she takes the ball of dough and rolls it in her hands until it comes out looking less messy. “They're basically made of the same material as tortillas, you can put various fillings and then fry it with a bit of oil. I'll make you some that aren't oily, how do you like squash?”

“As long as it won't have me feel like I need to empty my insides out.”

“Good! Go wash your hands, I'll show you how we make these.”

Once his hands were washed until he was satisfied, Mordecai stands with Paloma at the counter with a bowl of oil, a bowl of the dough and some cheese and squash looking vegetable. She then hands him a small ball of dough, instructing him to roll it into a ball and make a dent in it before adding his desired filling and pinching the sides up to enclose it. As he is repeating this, Paloma’s mother walks in and proceeds to speak with her. Judging from their tones, neither women sounded too happy, and a few times he could have sworn that the older women kept glancing at him with an upset look.

“¡Basta mamá! ¡No escucharé ni una palabra más sobre esto!” Paloma suddenly yells, flinging down the dough she had been rolling in her hands hard on the counter.

“Paloma, ¡aún no hemos terminado de hablar!” Her mother yells back. What on earth were they even arguing about?

“¡Bueno, yo soy!” Paloma yells. “

¡Déjame en paz!

As she tried to walk away, the older woman, who suddenly shouted something and struck her across the face. Mordecai dropped his dough and hurries forward, putting himself between Paloma and her mother, only to find the older woman looking at her own hand in horror. Paloma is clutching her cheek before she wordlessly storms out of the kitchen.

“Paloma!” Mordecai yells as he runs after her, startling some family members as they run past them before they burst out the front door. He manages to catch up, flinging his arms around her waist as she tries to free herself. “Stop it! What happened?”

“Nothing! Let go!” The younger woman yells as they wrestle.

“That was not a nothing!” He manages to wrestle her to the ground, pinning her down before she just goes limp in defeat. “Now explain yourself, because I can't understand that much of your language, but you both sounded mad.”

“My mother, she wants me to stay.” Paloma admits in a quiet voice. “She thinks that now that my grandfather is dead, I have no reason to stay in America. I…I don't want to come back, I can't! I have a life there, a job, friends, you! How can she expect me to give all that up and go back to this mundane life?”

“You don't sound too happy about that.” Mordecai comments as he rolls off her so she could sit up and brush the dirt off her clothes and hair.

“I'm expected to live here doing the same thing everyone else is doing, and I don't want to.” Paloma sighs as she drew her knees to her chest. “I like my life in America, I like that I get to do things that aren't not work, I can meet new interesting people, and that I can be in a relationship where I'm not expected to be married. I get to be free. I can't just give that up yet, not ever.”

“Well, you are a grown woman, you make your own choices. I'm not forcing you to come back if you don't want to, that's entirely up to you. I assume she thinks you don't want to stay because I'm making you?”

Paloma lets out a tired laugh. “She's jumping to conclusions, as usual. I love my mamá, I really do, but I wish she would stop and realize that this won't be my life anymore, that I'm not going to do what she did.”

“Then best hope this doesn’t ruin things between you two.”

----

The funeral had been quite grim, as they usually are. Paloma had spent the whole service trying not to cry as Mordecai held her hand in comfort until they were allowed to approach her grandfather to say their final goodbyes before they buried his casket. Her mother barely looked at her, as did the rest of their family, most likely all had heard her argument and were upset at her decision. It didn't help that many of them kept casting glares at Mordecai, who simply returned them with a cold glare of his own. After saying a few goodbyes to her siblings and some cousins, who didn't seem as upset as the other family members, they left.

The train ride just consisted of her curled up on the seat and pressed against Mordecai as they read one of her books together until they soon arrived back at their city's train station. After the return, everything felt like it was normal again - or so she thought.

[May 1926]

Paloma had awaken to the sound of thunder, which caused her to sit up and clutch the blankets to her chest and turn to look at Mordecai, only to find his side of the bed empty. Where was he?

Before she could decide if she should get out of bed and look around the house for him or go back to sleep, the phone downstairs rang. Curious, she slipped out of the bed, slipping her feet into a pair of slippers and hurrying downstairs to where the phone was.

“Hello?” She says when she puts the listening end to her ear. She could hear someone sniffling on the other line, but wasn't sure who until they spoke.

“Paloma?”

“Mitzi? It's late, what are you doing up?”

“Atlas is dead.”

Paloma’s eyes widened in horror. “¿Qué? Mitzi, what-”

“Please, come to the cafe tomorrow, I…dear god…what am I going to do?”

The phone clicks, signaling that Mitzi has hung up. Paloma then hears the front door open and slam shut before she peeked into the living room to find Mordecai attempting to remove his wet coat and muttering to himself.

“¡Amor! Where were you?!” She exclaims, earning a surprised gasp from him.

“Paloma, you should be asleep!” Mordecai scolds.

“So should you! You're soaked to the bone! What were you doing out so late?”

“I…it's complicated, get to bed.”

“How could I after getting such news?! Atlas is dead!”

Of all the expressions she expected him to make, all he did was look at her sadly. It's as if he had already known. Mordecai simply took her into his arms, both seemingly forgetting that he was soaked from the rain, holding Paloma as she cried. What was to happen to Mitzi, to the gang, to the Lackadaisy speakeasy? So many questions and she was very sure not even Mitzi could answer those for them.

----

“I can't believe this is happening, what are we going to do?” Paloma sighs as she looks around the partially empty garage. The numerous cars they kept in here were now gone, save for maybe two of them since the others had to be sold off.

It maybe had been a few days since the funeral and everything felt like it had fallen to pieces. Literally all but three members of the gang had left, business for the speakeasy had slowed and Mitzi ended up moving to live above the diner. She had warned Paloma that she won't be able to pay her salary that she made as a gangster anymore, so now she was set looking for another job elsewhere. Joining another gang was not an option she wanted to take, lest she wanted to end up on the opposite end of Mordecai's gun with a bullet ripping through her brain. She'd had to find work elsewhere and hope she made enough to help Mitzi keep the speakeasy going.

Speaking of, Mordecai was with her in the garage, looking uncharacteristically anxious. He kept glancing at his watch, looking at the smaller door that led into the garage and fiddling with his cufflinks.

“So, you wanted to talk?” Paloma asks him, causing him to jump a bit. “Amor, what's wrong? You look scared.”

“I…I have news.” Mordecai says as she approaches and took his hand. “I managed to…to find work elsewhere.”

Paloma perks up. “Really? That's wonderful! I'm still looking for a job, but I have an interview for a maid job at a hotel tomorrow. So if all goes well, hopefully I make enough so we could keep the speakeasy running.”

Mordecai makes a small frown. “Are you really giving all your earnings to Mitzi? This speakeasy won't last long, she doesn't know how to run this sort of business.”

“Oh come on, give her some credit for trying! We just need the alcohol. And it's not all my earnings, it's just what I am going to get from the maid job if I get it. If I don't get it, I'll look for work elsewhere, like maybe helping run a bookstore or something.”

“Well…I'm not staying. That's what I wanted to speak to you about. I have been given an offer and took the chance, I start work tonight.”

Paloma’s face fell. “Wait, you…you're leaving the gang? But what about-”

“There's no use for me to stay here when it's like this.” Mordecai said and gave her a small smile. “I could talk to my employer, we can get you a job with his establishment. We could still work together like we-”

“Amor I cannot believe it! Why would you abandon Mitzi like this?! She needs us!” Paloma exclaims. “She needs us more than ever now!”

“It’s her fault he’s gone!”

“What are you even talking about?! She wasn't even anywhere near her husband when he died, the police even confirmed it!”

“Nevermind that!” Mordecai says with a dismissive wave. “Look, all I am asking is for you to leave this and join me. You have a terrifying reputation, any high profile gang would be lucky and happy to have you - especially the one I was hired to work in.”

“I cannot believe you are telling me this! I can't do that to her, Mitzy still needs us - all of us.” Paloma says, turning away. “Why, why do you think we'll all be better off abandoning her when she needs us?”

“Is it not time we move on? Atlas is gone, the Lackadaisy speakeasy is going out of business and she won't be able to keep it open. Might as well cut our losses while we still have the chance, you and Viktor especially.” Mordecai points out.

“No, I'm not abandoning Mitzi like this, she and Atlas have done so much for us, you especially! And this is how you thank them?” Paloma asks with a frown. “Abandoning your friend in her time of need and breaking the good knee of the other friend? Don't think I didn't hear about that, he's very upset by it!”

“Viktor refused to listen, he suffered the consequences.” Mordecai retorts. “A kick to the knee was the kindest form of violence I could inflict on him.”

“And what are you going to do to me for not listening to you, shoot me?” Paloma asks and narrows her eyes. “Go ahead, you don't have the guts to do it.”

“If you think I'm going to waste my bullets on you, you are quite mistaken. One last time Paloma, abandon this and come with me. Asa pays better and you don't even have to work at a bar or cafe like you did under Atlas!”

Her eyes widen before they narrow. “Of all the people to work with, it had to be that man. I'd rather go down with my friends than leave them to work for him!”

“Damn it woman, what is it going to take to talk some sense into you? Getting on my hands and knees and begging like some poor sap?”

“No me tocas!” Paloma screams as she slaps his hand away that had reached out to touch her. “I can't believe you are like this!”

“And I can't believe you are acting like this as well!” Mordecai yells back. “You know well that this business is going to fail and take you down with it!”

“Then I’d rather go down with it than abandon the people who’ve done so much for me! You’re ungrateful, you’re selfish! You have no love for anyone in this place!”

She saw a flash of anger in his eyes and the next thing she knows, he’s grabbing the scarf she wore around her neck to pull her close. Out of instinct, Paloma grabbed both his hands, prepared to fight, but she could now see something else in his expression. Sorrow? Regret? She couldn’t tell. She then feels his hand release the scarf before it touches her face and he gently pressed his forehead with hers.

“Paloma, please, don’t make me leave you.” He says softly, his voice quivering slightly. “If you come, I promise you’ll have a better life and-”

Click. She sees his eyes widen in surprise as she presses her pistol under his chin, ready to fire it.

“I’m not leaving this place. If you want to go, then go.” Paloma says, clenching her teeth, trying not to let him hear her voice quiver.

“Pal-”

BANG!

She had moved the gun from under his chin and shot the wall behind them before stepping back and aimed the gun at Mordecai's chest. He could probably see her trying so hard not to cry, her hand shaking as she kept the gun aimed at him.

“Paloma, please-”

“LEAVE!” She screams loudly, turning her head away and squeezed her eyes shut. “¡Ahora! ¡Vete antes de que te dispare!”

She’s crying, but she doesn’t want to look at him now. She hears Mordecai sigh before hearing a rustling sound and his footsteps walking away from her before they stop.

“I suppose this is goodbye…for now.” She hears him say. “But be warned, if I am asked to deal with Mitzi and her people, I’ll have to do it. And that includes you.”

“Then the next time I see you step foot in this place or come anywhere near me, be prepared to get a bullet in that damn skull of yours.” Paloma retorts. “And you know that unlike you, I don’t miss.”

Silence. The next thing she hears is the door of the garage opening and shutting. She opens her eyes and turns her head to find herself alone. Paloma then drops the gun and lets out a small sob as she drops to her knees. She can't stop the tears, she can't stop her sobbing, Mordecai might as well have shot her in the chest now that she felt this awful ache in her heart. How could he do this? How could he leave them when things were bad? Her throat hurts and feels hoarse from her crying and her eyes feel puffy, that ache still there in her chest.

I have to get my things out of the apartment, I can't stay there. She thinks as she gets up, frantically wiping at her eyes to dry them before she hurries out of the garage.

Once she caught a cab and was driven to her home, she instructed the driver to wait before running inside the apartment. The whole place felt cold and empty now, and she hated it, but she wasn't going to stay here forever.

With a newfound determination, Paloma set about collecting her things, only grabbing her clothes, shoes and a few of her books and shoving them into her suitcases before lugging them to the cab and giving the driver a new address. After some time she arrived at Viktor’s home, and was greeted by the older man who looked at her in surprise.

“Who make you sad?” He asks as she is ushered inside and notices her suitcases. “Trip?”

“No...I…I can't stay there with him anymore Viktor, I just can't!” Paloma says, trying to hold back a sob. “He…he asked me to come with him and…I just…I can't do that to her! After all she's done for me! Can I stay for a bit until I find somewhere new?”

“You stay, long as you need.” Viktor says as he limps out the door to grab one of the suitcases. “So…he…”

“I think as of this afternoon, I'm no longer in a relationship with him.” Paloma says as she wipes at her eyes. “Which is fine, it was…bound to happen, right? I won't look for someone else so soon, I'm not ready for that.”

Viktor nods quietly before pulling her into a hug, which she accepts. This was going to be her life now, and she was going to try and pull through. All she could hope for was that Mordecai never came anywhere near her or her friends, and if he did, she'd be ready to defend at all costs from him - even if it meant giving herself up.

Chapter Text

[May 1927]

“Paloma! Could you clear up room sixteen? A guest just checked out and said they left quite a mess in there!” Paloma hears one of the receptionists yell. “Please!”

“My shift ends in ten minutes, how bad is it?” She asks with a tired sigh as she readjusted her headband to make sure her hair stayed out of her face.

“Not sure, but you'll get overtime if you do it.”

“Fine, I need it anyways.”

With a tired sigh, she quickly grabs her cart with the cleaning supplies and tools before heading to the elevator and pushing one of the buttons. To think she was once a feared gangster, now reduced to cleaning up after rich guests at some swanky hotel she managed to get hired at. But it was better than nothing, and a good chunk of her money was going to aid Mitzi in obtaining more whiskey that apparently tasted like it was collected from the muddy rivers of the Mississippi.

At least we are hanging in there and haven't gone under completely. Paloma assures herself as she pushes a button to take her to the upper floor. This beats having to dig bullets out of my leg and nursing a stab wound at least. Wonder if Rocky was successful in getting what we needed, should have gone with him to make sure he stayed out of trouble - as usual.

Since they were low on gang members, Mitzi had to resort to using the already available staff to get their needed alcohol, and the only person aside from herself willing to do it was Rocky. She still could not believe that this man was related to Calvin and Nina, for one, he was just wild and erratic. There wasn't a single week or month since he became the new errand boy that he didn't come back all banged and bruised, and it was an absolute miracle that he wasn't dead yet.

Once the elevator stopped at her floor, she wheeled her things to the room and knocked loudly. No answer. Paloma then opens the door to find the room in disarray; bed sheets torn to shreds and stained with something on the floor, a broken bottle of wine by the window and what look like stab marks from a knife in the mattress. The whole room smelled awful, and she wasn't going to be surprised if she found a dead body somewhere in here. With an annoyed sigh, she proceeds to collect the ruined sheets, taking note to alert the head maid about them and proceeds to start cleaning up the broken glass and looking for the source of the smell. After some time, the room was now tidy, the bad odor gone and the mattress sewn up. She'd have to alert management about it, but unless the next guest removed the new sheets she placed, no one would know.

“Hey Cara, let management know the guest who slept in here recently should be banned from staying here. The whole room looked like a crime scene!” Paloma says as she exits the room just as another maid is walking down the hall with a pile of folded towels in hand. “And I found a rotting fruit basket in there.”

“Gross.” The maid gags. “You're leaving already?”

“Yes my shift ended earlier but I had to stay to clean this room out. I'm going home now.” Paloma says and lets out a yawn. “I am just going to hibernate until June at this point.”

“Management really loves to overwork you, but you clean up the worst messes best.”

Because I had to clean up the crime scenes I caused. Paloma thinks with a shake of her head. “Well, see you another day, I'm tired and need to get home.”

“Good night then, and be safe.”

Once she changed back into her regular clothes and her uniform was tucked away, Paloma headed out of the hotel. The diner was a few blocks away, she could maybe walk there to check in on everyone. Maybe if she was lucky, Rocky hadn't left yet and she could give him a hand in getting the alcohol.

Deciding she should do it, Paloma took off in the direction of the diner. After some time she soon arrived just in time to see several well dressed men exiting the diner, among them she spotted Wick.

“¡Señior Sable! Wasn't expecting to see you tonight!” She calls out as she walks past.

“Paloma? Oh! I thought you weren't working here tonight?” He says when she gets close.

“I'm not, just coming in to see if a certain violinist needs a hand with the somewhat good stuff. Normally you're here until almost dawn, leaving so soon?”

“Ah, well it seems like he was able to do it earlier without help. But yes, we are leaving due to…a raid apparently? I don't see any police out here, wonder why Zib yelled that.”

“Another damsel friend of yours, Wick?” An older unfamiliar man asks with a frown.

“Oh no, just a…um…she…she works with the lady of the establishment. I'm just a frequent patron and she-”

BANG

“Was that gunfire?” The older man asks with another frown as Paloma’s fur bristles at the sound. She knew that sound all too well, of course from getting shot at by one of those.

Wick seemed to know as well, but he just shrugged. “Sounded more like a car backfiring - wait miss Paloma! Where are you going?!”

Paloma ignores him as she runs for the garage. She could hear someone struggling inside and quickly drew out her gun out of her purse, walking slowly towards the door. Ivy suddenly bursts out, the feathers on her decorative headpiece singed and her tail poofed up in fright.

“Paloma! Oh thank goodness!” The teen cries out as she rushes over to her. “Viktor! He- he- a gun- the others need help!”

“I heard, you get to the diner and stay there! Call a doctor!” Paloma says as she rushes into the garage to find the older man sitting near the cellar door. “Viktor?”

He flinches and lets out a wet gurgling cough. “You…go home…”

“No! Where are the others?”

“Down…stairs…”

Paloma glances down at the door and bites back a gasp when she sees the bleeding wound on his chest. With a grimace, she removes the sweater she had on and presses it to the hole on his chest, making him groan before she helps him get away from the door.

“Ivy should be calling a doctor. I’ll go down and make sure no one is dead.” She instructs. “Don't move at all.”

Viktor just grunts in response before she takes off rushing down the stairs. Inside the whole room was a huge mess of glass, spilled alcohol and one of the tables and walls covered in bullets. It probably wouldn't be safe to yell out for anyone, she didn't know how many people were down here or how many were armed, so she stayed quiet and slunk towards the stage. The backstage was empty, but she could hear the faint sound of shooting and…laughter? That sounded almost like Rocky’s deranged laugh.

Why is that idiot laughing at a time like this? She wondered as she quietly stepped towards the caves, following the sound of gunfire. Did he snap? Seems possible, but he's harmless - sort of. Ugh when I find him, I'm going to-

Paloma yelps as she trips and lands painfully on the ground. With a groan, she sits up and looks back to see what she tripped on, biting back a gasp when she sees it's a body. Some man she never had seen before, a straw hat laid trampled on the floor near him. Judging by his clothes, he must have been a farmer of some sort, but what would a farmer be doing down here?

As she is getting up and stepping away from the body, she hears someone screaming and cursing that was getting louder by the second. Around the corner came Rocky and right behind him was a man also similarly dressed like the dead body and carrying one of those Tommy guns. Paloma immediately jumps out of the way as the violinist trips on the body before he jumps to his feet, grabbing the older man by the back of his overalls before they start to twist and spin about.

“Arvil, Arvil! From one reasoned individual to another…uh if speech is truly what separates us from the beasts like the greeks suggested, I remain optimistic we’re not yet beyond a resolution!” The violinist yells as he and the man spin around. “Uh, through civil discourse?”

The man gave a gurled animalistic scream in response before throwing himself backwards, slamming Rocky into the rock wall.

“ROCKY!” Paloma screams, fumbling with her gun to take aim. The man looks up and aims his gun, pulling the trigger and forcing her to run out of the way of the gunfire. She fires randomly in his direction as she ducks to avoid getting hit before she hears another gun firing and Rocky screaming at someone to stop. The gunfire stops and she looks up to find Calvin holding a gun, panting as if he had been running. “Dios mio, Calvin?!”

“Uh put the gun down.” Rocky says as his cousin meekly does as he is told. “Oh, hi Pal, whatcha doing here?”

“M-miss Paloma?!” Calvin gasps when he notices her. “W-what-”

“I keep forgetting you two technically know each other, small world ain't it!” Rocky says with a nervous laugh. “Yeah so-”

“Roark Rickaby what in the good name of the saints were you thinking?!” Paloma yells, turning her attention to the other man. “He shouldn't be here!”

“Okay that is not my fault, but-”

“Oh my…unholy mess…” They hear Mitzi say and turn to see her coming around the corner with a disheveled Zib.

“S-sorry,I’m so sorry about the…” Calvin stutters as he glances at the bodies. “Mess…”

“Oh don’t worry about that sweetie.” The older woman assures him. “There’s nothing a little…quicklime can’t fix.”

The younger man’s face paled before he mutters something about needing to leave and takes off running down the cave tunnels.

“Does…he do this often?” Mitzi asks.

“What? The crazy dance? Oh, maybe once or twice.” Rocky admits. “Though the…umm…unmigated carnage is a recent development.”

“Hm. He’s good at it”

“Okay can someone please explain why there's two farmers with gangster guns, a mess in the speakeasy, and Viktor’s chest hole?!” Paloma groans. “I step away from all this for several weeks to focus on my maid job for more income and it has…I don't know, gone to shit!”

“Well for one, there was more than two farmers with guns, one is back there, and pretty sure the fourth is upstairs dead.” Zib responds, ticking off his fingers. “Oh and you may wanna ask the errand boy why there were pig farmers shooting up the place. Try not to kill him though.”

“Rocky can explain himself later, he needs to go make sure this cousin of his doesn’t turn himself into the police and we need to check up on Viktor.”

“FRECKLE!” Rocky gasps before he takes off running in the same direction his cousin scurried off to.

“I had Ivy call that horse doctor, I would have removed the bullet myself but I was more preoccupied with checking on you all.” Paloma says as they start to make their way back tot he stage. “I should have come sooner, i am so sorry.”

“No need honey, you have a life outside of this and we can’t keep you here all the time if we can’t pay you.” Mitzi assures her and pats her shoulder in comfort. “I really thought we were going to finally have a bit of a money flow tonight.”

“Say, if Wick likes to come here to often, why doesn’t he just regularly fund us?” Paloma asks.

“It’d be nice if he did, then we wouldn’t be fighting with a bunch of hicks for booze.” Zib responds and shrugs. “Beats me why he doesn’t, but whatever.”

“Maybe you should get a second job too, what I’m making isn’t good enough to get us the better tasting stuff.”

“Nah, doubt I’d be hired for anything.”

“Well perhaps if you fixed up your clothes, stopped slouching, you’d get hired for something even if it has nothing to do with music.”

“Touché, but let's not argue on that. You got any cash on hand to pay the doctor?”

Paloma lifts her purse. “Do I look like I carry an excessive amount of cash on hand?”

“I’ll pay him later, you two stop arguing.” Mitzi scolds as they reach the stairs and hurry up to the trap door to find several people surrounding a shirtless Viktor.

Aside from the doctor and Ivy, Paloma noticed there was a child among the four strangers who had his back turned to the whole thing. Wait a minute…that couldn’t be…

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” She suddenly yells, drawing the attention of the six kneeling on the floor. Just as she thought. Staring back at her were her two younger sisters Imelda and Maria, Leo and Gabriel.

“Loma!” Leo and one of her sisters cry as they jump to their feet and tackle hug her, nearly toppling her over if Zib and Mitzi hadn’t caught her in time.

“Umm, honey who are these kids?” Mizti asks as the younger woman is pushed back onto her feet.

“My…siblings!” paloma says as she tries prying the teen and toddler off her. “¡Basta!”

Gabriel gives her an excited grin. “Sister! So good to see you!” He greets happily in Spanish. “I was wondering where-”

WHAM

Everyone in the garage gasps as her brother falls to the floor clutching his nose. He then sits up, removing his hand to find blood on it and looks at her in surprise.

“Why the hell are you here?! You should be at home with the family, there's a war going on!” Paloma yells angrily and waving her clenched fist, not caring if her friends understood her or not. “Mama and papa are out there dying for our faith and you are here acting like nothing is going-”

“Mama sent me to stay with you!” Gabriel interrupts with a groan as he tries to stand, wiping at his snout. “And…to make sure the kids got here safely. I even have a letter from her too!”

Her twin reached into his worn and tattered jacket to take out a crumpled envelope that Paloma snatches and tears open to find several sheets of paper. The letter was definitely in her mother's handwriting, begging her to not come back to Mexico and prattling on about the war and what had happened since she left. Her father and one of her uncles had been taken as prisoners and executed earlier in the winter, at least two of her male cousins were dead from a gunfight, but the rest of the family were still alive. She didn't even realize she had started to cry until she saw a wet spot on the paper and hastily wiped her eyes.

“So…she's not mad at me for leaving?” Paloma finally asks. “And Papa is dead?”

“No, everyone is glad you went back. Sadly, we all couldn't leave Mexico. I got lucky to have found a train to sneak on that was coming to this state, but I had no idea where you were! Spent about a month looking for the right city!”

“Don’t leave us again!” Leo wept as he flung his little arms around her legs again.

“I won’t leave, I promise.” Paloma assures him. “But you are all safe here, I promise.”

“Ah, Paloma?” Mitzi calls out, interrupting them. “We have some bodies to get rid of. I think one of them is still alive, but we can't keep him here as prisoner. Do you think…”

“I’ll deal with the still living guy.” Paloma responds. “Can you get my siblings something to eat and drink? Like a few sandwiches and some milk or juice or water?”

“Of course honey. I’m sorry to be troubling you like this, but why are they here anyways?”

“Well…there’s a war going on in my home country, it’s why I haven’t been able to get any letters from my brother for the past few months. I only heard about it from a priest at the church I go to, and by some miracle these four managed to cross over to find me.”

“Shit, are they okay?” Zib asks, kneeling to look at Leo. “Yeah this one looks way too scrawny for his age. How old is he, three?”

“He’s five Zib, he’s just small for his age.”

“Loma, he has smelly thing in mouth.” Leo whispers loudly to her in spanish.

“Shh! Don’t be rude!” She hisses and turns to the doctor. “While you are still here, perform a check up on them if you can. Last thing I need is to take them to the hospital for…I don’t know, something not too serious.”

The doctor grimaces. “I was only here to fix up the big fella, I-”

“Oh for goodness sake, just do it!” Paloma groans as she reaches into her purse and pulls out a few bills to shove into his hands. “Please! While I go take care of something downstairs!”

“Fine, fine! But just this once!”

Once she headed downstairs with Zib, Paloma set about getting rid of the bodies, digging out several pits and tossing them in before throwing the quicklime on top and covering them again. The one farmer that was still alive, the one Rocky called Arvil, he was loaded into the truck and driven off to be dumped in the woods. By the time she had come back to the diner, her siblings were asleep in the booths and empty plates and cups littered about on the table.

“Poor things, just a bit malnourished from their journey.” Mitzi says to Paloma when she enters the diner. “It’s a miracle they managed to make it here.”

“And thank God for that. I’m going to have to make a few trips back and forth from here to the house and figure out where they’ll sleep. Oh and figure out what to do with them during the day, I can’t keep them at home with Viktor and Mrs Bapka!” The younger woman sighs as she moves to shake one of her sisters awake. “We’ll have to clean all that mess up in the, and I will have to check on Calvin to make sure he didn’t do the stupid thing. I may have to ask his mother if I could leave the kids with her.”

“I thought they couldn’t speak english?”

“She’s from Ireland, and the kids know enough irish thanks to our grandfather, so they should be good. If I can’t get her to do it, I’ll have to leave them in the house with Viktor. Oh god…Elizia, how am I going to explain this to her?!”

“Sweetie, she knows what that old man gets up to, and she has been telling him to take it easy and step down but you know how stubborn he is.” Mitzi sighs. “But you should get home, we’ll figure out what to do in the morning.”

“After a good night’s sleep of course.” Paloma agrees. “Otherwise, I don’t know what to do.”

----

BANG

“Leo! What did I say about messing around in the kitchen?!” Paloma yells as her younger brother starts to cry. “I told you this was not a place to play! Maria! Please keep an eye on him!”

“But I'm cutting-”

“Maria!”

The teen sighs in annoyance as she hurries to scoop their wailing brother off the floor. “What happened?”

“He ran into the stove. Get him out of the kitchen. Imelda! Are you done cutting ham and the veggies?”

“Been done!” The younger girl yells from the dining table. “Can we eat already?”

“Let me finish this for Mrs Bapka, she's somewhat picky and can't really eat so much grease.” Paloma says as she slid some eggs onto a plate to hand to Gabriel. “Don't eat that.”

“I wouldn't dare.” Her twin scoffs.

“Lies. Imelda!”

“So bossy.” The teen mutters as she carries the cutting board over to the stove and dumps its contents into the pan before Paloma dumps a bowl of eggs into it. “Hey, whatever happened to that boyfriend of yours? The one who kept hiding behind you at dinner when the kids tried to approach him.”

“I don't have a boyfriend anymore, for private reasons all I can say is that we broke up and will never be seeing each other again.”

“See, told you he looked like trouble.” Gabriel scoffs.

“He did not, you're still sore about him beating you at checkers.” Maria scoffs from the table.

“He was using them to play chess! I can't play chess!”

“See, still sore.”

Paloma rolls her eyes at their bickering, tuning them out as she and Imelda worked on their breakfast. After some time, the eggs were ready and they piled the food onto several plates, setting them down on the table before Paloma hurries into the living room where Viktor was asleep on a chair with a blanket thrown over him.

“Viktor, hey, breakfast is ready.” She whispers, putting a hand on his shoulder to gently shake him awake. The older man grunts in response as one eye opens. “The doctor said you needed to eat before you take your medicine, come sit with us. I promise they won’t bite, especially Leo.”

With a pained groan, Viktor manages to get out of his seat with her help, allowing her to lead him to the table and seat him in a chair between her seat and Maria.

“Alright, remember to say grace.” Paloma instructs as the children murmrured their meal prayer before digging into their meals. “Today you all won’t be staying in the house, Viktor needs peace and quiet so he could - Leo put those veggies back on your plate!”

“Yucky!” The toddler gags as his older sister shoves the vegetables he tried putting in Viktor’s plate back to his.

“You need them, look at Viktor, he eats his veggies!” Paloma scolds. “Don’t you wanna get big and strong like - VIKTOR!”

The older man stops trying to remove the vegetable from his eggs. “Vhat?” He asks in a hoarse voice.

“You know what! Eat those before Leo gets the wrong idea and - LEONARDO JOSE ALVAREZ! I SAW THAT!”

The toddler yells as he practically jumps out of Maria’s grasp and bolts out of the kitchen, Paloma leaping out of her chair to chase after him. She almost slips on the rug as he tried making a run for the stairs, only for his sister to grab him and tuck him under her arm.

“NO VEGGIES!” Leo yells as he tries to escape.

“You are malnourished! Doctor said you need to eat everything on your plate and that includes carrots!” Paloma yells back as she ties to keep him from escaping her grip. “I will force feed you those if it means keeping you alive!”

Just then, the doorbell rang. Paloma moves to the door, trying to keep a firm grip on her brother as she manages to force the door open.

“What do you - Elizia! I-”

Standing on the steps was an older woman with grey fur in a blue dress, her dark hair braided over her shoulder as she adjusted a basket she held in her arms. Behind her stood a child a little older than Leo, her bright green eyes on them as she peeked out from behind her mother.

“You seem…occupied.” The older woman comments, looking at the toddler Paloma had under one arm who was squirming to escape. “Is it a bad time for me and Ilioise to come in?”

“No no, I’m just trying to make breakfast for my siblings, they just came in yesterday. Come in! Oh and just to warn you, we had a bit of a problem yesterday and…well…Viktor is out of commission for a bit.”

Elizia’s eyes widen. “What happened?”

“Shot to the chest, now sick due to infection.” Paloma explains as she led the two in and points to the kitchen. “He’s…eating.”

“Papa!” The girl yells as she runs into the kitchen. “Mama! He’s still breathing!”

“Sweetie, don’t yell.” Elizia scolds softly as the two women follow and she walks over to where Viktor sat, softly talking to him in Slavic. His hand reaches out to touch her face and she smiles warmly at him.

“Lomaaaaaa! I feel dizzy!” Leo yells.

“Oops...” Paloma quickly drops her brother. “Okay, will you behave?”

“I'm hungry.”

“Then go eat your breakfast before it gets cold, and no removing the veggies!”

Leo stuck his tongue out at her but does as he is told, returning to Maria and started to eat from his plate.

“How long until he recovers?” Elizia asks as she returns to Paloma.

“Ah…I’m not sure. The doctor said maybe a month? Or longer?”

“Hmm, then perhaps we can take him home with us to care for him?”

“I asked the doctor and he said keeping him in one place would be best. I should have called last night, it was just all so hectic.” Paloma groans. “I meant to call this morning but I had to do laundry, give all my siblings a good scrubbing to get whatever fleas and stuff they picked up on their travels, make breakfast, aye and I have to go to the diner to help Mitzi out with some things.”

“Oh no, it’s fine. You had many things worried about.” The older woman says,waving her hand in a dismissive manner. “Say, why don’t I help look after the little ones while you head out with Mitzi? Ilioise and I could keep them entertained for a bit while Viktor rests.”

“Are you sure? Leo is a handful, and none of them speak English - or your language.”

“I can manage, it’ll only be until you return. I do have a bakery to return to, and Ilioise has to get to school too.”

Paloma bit her lip in thought. It shouldn’t take long with Mitzi, all she had in mind was to clean up as much as the speakeasy as possible before returning home, seeing if Nina could look after the kids during her shift at the hotel and getting them back home.

“Alright, I have to head out soon anyways.” She says with a nod. “Just need to freshen up a bit. Just make sure they don’t burn the house down while I am gone.”

Once she got changed into her men’s clothes, Paloma headed out to the diner. Once she arrived, she made her way upstairs to Mitzi’s office to find her at the desk with the phone in her hand and looking very irritated.

“Asa, that’s not what I called to -” The older woman says before whoever is on the other line cuts her off mid conversation. After a few moments, she let out a frustrated sigh and gently set the phone back.

“Mitzi?” Paloma calls out as the door behind her opens.

“Miss M! Look what I brough! Some MAH-SCLE!” She hears Rocky shout as he almost knocks her over. “Oh Pal! Good to see ya! Look ho is tagging along with us for the day!”

“You have to be joking!” Paloma exclaims when she sees Calvin peeking into the office. “Calvin-”

“Freckle is gonna be of soem good use! Besides, he needs a job, better to have him tag along instead of moping at home because the boys in blue didn’t want him!” Rocky interrupts and walks over to Mitzi’s desk. “Viktor said I was lacking in muscle, so I thought that with our unique talents, just imagine how competent we could be! Granted for muscle he’s a bit on the scrawny side, but that means he’s low upkeep, we could keep him for about a peanut a day!”

“Does his mother know about this?” Paloma asks with a frown. “I don’t think she’d like the idea of her son running about shooting thugs.”

“What my dear aunt doesn’t know won’t kill her, i promise! Besides, she doesn’t know about his…uh…thing.”

“What thing?”

“The…nevermind you have to see it for yourself. Miss M?”

 The entire time Mitzi had not said anything, she had just sat there seemingly stewing in her thoughts with an upset look in her eyes before she smiles. “How would you three like some lunch?” She finally asks. “Paloma, I’m gonna need you to dress a bit more…refined for today.”

“Oh but I am already dressed?” Paloma says, looking down at her clothes. “Actually i am not, whats the occasion?”

“Asa invited me to lunch to talk and I don't intend to have you show up looking disheveled and tired.”

The younger woman frowns before turning to Rocky and Freckle. “Boys? Go downstairs and wait for us in the car.”

“Yes ma’am!” Rocky says with a dramatic bow before he exits the office with his cousin in tow and shut the doors behind them.

“Alright, what’s going on?” Paloma says once she is sure the two are out of earshot. “It’s not like Asa to invite you to lunch out of the blue, why all of a sudden is he doing this?”

“To discuss what happened last night. The gun those farmers had were from our storage, which we found cleared out and cleaned up.” Mitzi responds. “And do you know who happened to equip them?”

Paloma’s eyes widen before they narrow. “Ese maldito…”

“Indeed. We almost got wiped out if Rocky’s cousin hadn’t been with us and took them out, which I am grateful for. As much as it pains me, I can’t afford to be picky with who wishes to join, so I will allow him to come. If you plan on remaining with us, I’d like for you to keep an eye on him and Rocky.”

“Of course I plan on staying, but are you sure about this? He’s such a…milksop of a boy.”

“As I said, I can’t afford to be picky. Now, get dressed honey, we have a lunch date to get to and a former associate to scare with your mere presence.”

Chapter Text

“You look more sour than usual, what's the matter?” Asa asks Mordecai as he's digging ice cubes out of his drink to loudly crunch on them. “What's the matter, the napkins aren't folded right?”

“I have mixed feelings about prolonging my involvement with this situation.” The triggerman responds with a frown. “It seems an unnecessary distraction from the work I've been tasked with.”

“Mixed feelings huh? Mixed between what, vaguely annoyed or moderately annoyed? You're sort of a one-trick pony in the feelings department. Well, now you're definitely annoyed, hope that clears things up for you.”

Well, irritated was certainly the emotion he was feeling right now, due to the loud crunching of the ice his employer was making with his mouth. If his wife was here, he wouldn't have been doing that, Selina certainly hated it when he did that so loudly. Asa had invited him to join for a lunch meeting with Mitzi, who had somehow managed to survive the ordeal with the pig farmers from last night, apparently to “put her at ease” with a friendly face. Of course he knew he was only being dragged along to put his ex-employer's wife on edge, and to be a reminder of sorts.

“Anyway, I'm not thrilled to be here either, but you'd understand why it's necessary if you were in my shoes.” Asa continues as he grabs another ice cubes to pop into his mouth. “Do yourself a favor and avoid positions in management. And perhaps women in general, especially the more…I don't know, pushy ones.”

Quite hard when I have to work alongside one and trail two others as your request. Mordecai thinks as he flicks his tail in annoyance before he spots someone approaching them out of the corner of his eye.

Mitzi was being accompanied by three other people, one he didn't recognize, another he briefly remembered and…her. It had been nearly a year since he last saw Paloma in person, and he hated that he was getting that same feeling in his chest he used to feel before they started dating for real. She was dressed similarly to her employer, though she sported a brown hat with small white flowers, an annoyed frown and…no necklace.

Well, I don't blame her for not wanting to wear it. I wonder what she did with it?

“Mitzi, how are ya dollface?” Asa calls out as they stand up to greet the group.

“Confounded, Asa. And I see you brought a helping of salt to rub in my wounds.” The woman responds curtly.

“Heh, you are right and you brought…her along. And some others.”

“A couple of my associates, as you can see, my circumstances isn't quite as hopeless as you-”

“So this is why you made me leave my purse in the car.” Paloma snaps.

“There will be no shooting anyone in the face, as tempting it may be.” Mitzi says quickly as one of the men with her starts swatting at a lone butterfly. “Let's just skip introductions and pull up some extra chairs, shall we?”

“Hey I remember you, ol’ serious face!” One of the men says as he thrusts a hand towards him to shake. “Boy have I heard stories about you and Pal!”

Ah now he remembered where he’d seen this one. He was in the band, a violinist if he remembered correctly. According to Paloma, he had flirted with her first time they talked until she politely turned him down. Judging by the familiarity he used when talking about her, they seemed to have grown close over time, unless he was mistaken.

“The band is doing your hands-on work now?” Mordecai asks, not even bothering to return the handshake.

“I’m just trying to be resourceful Mordecai.” Mitzi responds with a frown.

“Sure, just like when you decided to let your waitress be your bodyguard.”

Paloma’s eyes narrowed. “You little-”

“Pal, Pal! No need to try getting in a fight!” The violinist hisses as Paloma steps toward him and gets between them. “Please? Let's be civil for now!”

“Ridiculous might be a better description, is that what the R stands for?” Mordecai scoffss, glancing at the man’s obnoxiously bright orange tie as he is trying to force Paloma to sit between Mitzi and the unfamiliar man.

“Well I haven’t got many cards left to play with, thanks in part to you.” Mitzi retorts as her bodyguard is shoved into her seat and handed a menu. “You know, what you did almost got Viktor killed last night.”

“Extra breathing holes can’t be all that bad.” The violinist murmured as he sat down and removed his hat.

“Repeat that again when you get shot in the chest or stomach.” Paloma scoffed as she flipped open her menu. “Gunshot wounds are no fun to deal with, trust me.”

“Would you like a pitcher of bevo for the table?” The waitress who was handing them menus asks.

“That’s cute, but we’ll pass on the bevo thanks.” Asa says before she nods and walks off.

“After all these years of working with him, Mordecai, have you got nothing to say?” Mitzi asks with a frown as she flipped her own menu open.

“He shouldn’t have been involved, I reasoned with him to retire before I left.” Mordecai says dismissively as he picks up his own menu.

“Reasoned? Are you sure it wasn’t spite? The way I remembered it, you kneecapped him on your way out the door.”

“That’s how one reasons with Viktor.”

“Sure, sure, whatever helps you sleep at night, estúpido.” Paloma scoffs. “Should have shot you when I had the chance, then we wouldn’t be here right now.”

“I think you’re looking in the wrong place for heartstrings to tug on my dear.” Asa whispers.

“Well you only know someone until you don’t, Asa.” Mitzi says as she laid down her menu.

For once she has a point. Mordecai thinks as the waitress from earlier comes back to give them all water glasses, barely paying any attention to the conversation. I did think she’d see reason to leave with me, I thought I knew her well, yet she refused. Then again, could she have persuaded me to stay if I wasn’t so stubborn?

As much as he hated to admit it, he did miss Paloma. He missed hearing her loudly singing songs played in the speakeasy in her language in the morning as she cooked breakfast for the two of them, he missed when she’d discreetly brush hands with him when they stood together among the other gangsters who weren’t aware of their relationship, he missed how she’d discreetly intertwined their tails together when they sat close, he missed that smile she’d give him that would make him feel warm inside, and he especially missed the way her face would light up when she would see him again after being apart for so many hours. He hadn’t realized how lonely he truly was until she wasn’t around him anymore.

“...you’ll be in far over your head drawing attention to yourself in this climate. I warned Atlas of much the same thing not so long ago.” He catches Asa saying.

“Warned him? He knew the danger, what exactly did you have to warn him about?” Mitzi asks with a frown.

Wait, warned Atlas? What was he talking about? In all the time he had spent around his old employer when Asa was present, never once did he overhear something that sounded like a warning of some kind. Or maybe Asa had said something and he just worded it differently to not sound like a warning and he didn’t catch on. Whatever the case, he had to speak with Mitzi about it, but in private.

“Sir, can I take your order?” The waitress asks as she circled the table to stand by him and Asa as he is getting out of his seat.

“No.” Mordecai responds bluntly. “Excuse me, I have paperwork to prepare for.”

The second he stepped foot on the sidewalk, he set about looking for whatever car Mitzi and her company had used to get here. It certainly couldn’t have been any of the fancy looking ones, Selina mentioned once to him that Mitzi told her she couldn’t go anywhere because she had to sell the cars to keep the speakeasy floating for business. There was one car on the street that had what looked like bullet holes on the windows on one side, something one with no money wouldn’t have time to fix. If he was right, he’d wait for them, if he wasn’t he’d still have to wait where they couldn’t find him.

After what felt like forever, he heard some familiar voices coming his way and glances to see Mitzi and her three employees walking towards the car he had been standing near. Earlier he had picked the lock, so slipping inside was no problem. They seemed to be discussing something about old territory, so it seemed like they were planning to get back into the business even after this talk.

“Mitzi.” Mordecai says once the older woman had slipped into the car. “I’d like a-”

Mitzi gave a loud scream and swung her purse at him, smacking him hard enough to almost send his glasses falling off his snout. “Oh! What are you doing in here?!” She gasps when she sees it’s him in the car.

“I’d like a word with you, if you can refrain from assaulting me with-”

The car's back door was flung open and he felt a pair of hands grab him by the vest and necktie, nearly dragging him out. Out of the corner of his vision he could see it was Paloma, her eyes blazing with fury as the two men accompanying Mitzi were trying to yank her back.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn't snap your scrawny little neck with my bare hands or knock your teeth out right here and now!” She screams angrily, raising one fist.

“Paloma!” Mitzi yells, stopping the younger woman from almost assaulting him. “We are in public, let him go!”

“Not until he gives me good reason to not kick his ass!”

“I need to talk to your employer, in private!” Mordecai says as he tries to pry her hands off him. “It’s important!”

“Honey, let him go. If I don’t like what he says, you can drag him out.” Mitzi says with a frown.

Paloma huffs and lets Mordecai go, allowing him to get back into the car before she slams the door shut after him. “Fine, but if he does anything funny, I will-”

“Paloma!”

The younger woman huffs in annoyance again but stormed away from the car to lean against the building located near them.

“Even forcing her to leave her gun in the car won’t stop her from staying true to her promise.” Mitzi sighs as she removes her hat. “What was it you wanted to talk about, Mordecai?”

“Atlas was warned?” He asks.

“So your employer claims, but you’ve worked with him long enough to know he tends to run his mouth a lot more than necessary.”

Mordecai raises his brow in confusion. Surely that wasn’t all she had to say about that, right? If there were things Atlas wouldn’t talk to him about, surely Mitzi was his confidant about those sort of things?

“Oh, you want my insight? Whatever for? He probably said it for the same reason why he brought you along to lunch - to intimidate me into agreeing with him, and look how that turned out.”

“Plausable, though some of the work I’ve been engaged in recently leads me to wonder if there wasn’t some truth in his gibbering.” Mordecai admits, thinking back to the other night where he had to hack someone to pieces while his newest set of partners, a brother and sister duo who went by Serafine and Nico Savoy, watched and laughed. “Marigold behaves like it has a sizeable thorn in it’s side, but there’s paltry competition in town and there’s certainly enough revenue to compensate the right parties. So it seems unusual I can’t discern the source of agitation, only that aggressive measures are being taken to deal with. Perhaps Asa did have something to warn Atlas about.”

“Maybe…and maybe he honestly thinks he knows something about what happened to Atlas.” Mitzi says. “But how does it figure in? What’s left to question between you and I? Asa couldn’t even know how it happened, unless you’ve told him something.”

Mordecai shakes his head. “Of course not, that remains between us.”

“Does…does she know?” Mitzi asks, glancing out the window to where Paloma still stood a few feet from.

“No, she blissfully remains ignorant to it.” He admits. “All for the better, I don’t know how she’d react if she knew.”

“Then I don’t see any reason to be dredging up bad memories now, it sounds like you’re just over-analyzing because Atlas was mentioned. Anyway, all things considered, shouldn’t you be asking Asa to explain things to you?”

“He doesn’t explain anything except that he’s not at liberty to explain.”

“Well, you don’t get to treat me like your enemy and your confidante. Find out for yourself what he meant.” Mitzi scoffs.

“Perhaps I will.” Mordecai says as he grabbed his suit jacket. “Not to discount your culpability, of course. That much is established-”

“Please don’t start.” The older woman begs, her voice cracking with emotion. “What is it that you even want from me? Reassurance that it’s still my fault so you can continue feeling justified in destroying what I have left? You’re obsessive.”

“Losses are endemic to this business, you’ve brought them on yourself in your persistence.” Mordecai says witha frown. “As though you could bring the remains of Atlas’ estate to anything but further disgrace.”

He glances out the front of the car to see two police officers walking towards them. That was his cue to leave.

“I need to leave, you should have the windows fixed. The holes are hardly inconspicuous.”

“I’ll give your regards to Viktor.” Mitzi says as he starts to edge himself towards the door to his left to exit.

“If you’re going to ignore Asa’s advice, please at least leave your charade out of the way. I’ll surely do a more thourough job of “destroying what you have left” if I’m asked to divert my professional attentions to you again.”

“Will you include Paloma in this “destroying what I have left” threat? Or do you plan to leave her be while you hurt the rest of us? All because she still has a hold on that cold heart of yours? Don’t think I didn’t see the faces you made at her when she wasn’t looking at the table earlier.”

Could he bring himself to hurt the woman he still had lingering feelings for? He wasn’t even so sure, he had already hurt her enough with that talk they had that night. Gone was the sweet and gentle girl he met in the Little Daisy diner who gave him enough love and affection to open his heart to her, only for him to make a mess of things and lose what they had in the process. Now he was looking at a woman whose heart had hardened and developed a strong hatred towards him.

Mordecai just quietly gets out of the car, casting an annoyed glare at the two boys who were hiding towards the rear of the vehicle, and walks away. He stops to look back at the car to see Paloma entering it, her attention focused on Mitzi. She looks up, their eyes meet briefly and he could have sworn he felt a faint flutter in his heart before she frowns and looks away.

I just hope you have the sense to keep your head down so I won't have to hurt you. He thinks as he puts his coat on, waving down a cab to stop. I don't want to do that.

----

“Remind me how you convinced me to agree to pack a whole litter of kids into my car after we get Miss Pepper?” Rocky asks as they are driving. “And for what?”

“I told you, I'm going to ask your aunt to help look after them while I'm at work.” Paloma says, keeping her attention to the view outside the window.

They had recently dropped Mitzi off at Wick's home, and right now they were on their way to pick Ivy up from her college, pick up her siblings and take them to Nina’s to drop them and Calvin off. Hopefully she wouldn't mind. Viktor needed rest and the last thing she wanted was for her rowdy siblings to disturb him.

“Say, you and old serious face back there, you okay?” Rocky asks, giving her a concerned look.

“Of course, why wouldn't I be?” Paloma responds.

“Well you looked ready to turn the whole table and the area surrounding it into a crime scene. And it took all the strength in my spaghetti arms to hold you back, that was scary.”

“Very scary.” Calvin says from the backseat.

“I’m fine, really.” Paloma tries to assure them.

“Liar.” Rocky mutters. “Welp, anyways! I have no clue where to get some new hooch, and while you have worked in this business for years, your thing was more stabbing and shooting than retrieving the goods. So we need Viktor for that, but I need Ivy and you to be my meat shields.”

“To avoid the pounding you absolutely deserve? Really Roark, if you were having trouble with competition, I was available during the day! You didn’t have to drag your cousin into this!”

“Miss M says we should never bother you when you are off the job. It was for your sake and sleep schedule, since you have another job to do and couldn’t risk getting you fired from it.”

“If you asked me to deal with the farmers, I would have. I’ve killed off worse and more dangerous competition, they would have been easy.”

“Oh yeah, like that small gang of Russians. Zib told me about it, you came back covered in so much blood everyone thought you were the one bleeding!” Rocky laughs. “And you just said “iz not mine, iz da dead one over der!”, classic!”

They soon arrived at the college and began walking about the campus in search of Ivy, ignoring the odd stares they were getting from the other students.

“Hey Pal, if you didn’t get rounded up into the gangster life, would you have gone to college?” Rocky asks as they are walking.

“I don’t think so, my education level is pretty low. Even if I was interested, I wouldn’t have been able to because my family needed help during the war and on the farm when things calmed down.” Paloma responds. “Even if I had been able to attend, it would have been expensive, and Ivy told me some of the things a woman could learn were restricted to stuff like nursing, teaching and home economics.”

“Well street smarts are often best in this line of work. Lo! There she is! My good - luck charm!”

“She does not look happy.” Paloma comments when she sees Ivy starting to charge towards them. Screaming Rocky’s name at the top of her lungs.

“Oh I bet she can’t wait to see you again Freckle! Gonna drive off in the struggle-buggy with your snuggle-buggy?” Rocky teases. “You cad! Just listen to that high pitched screechy noise she’s making, it must be love!”

“That’s love?” Calvin asks as Ivy gets closer.

“I never made noises like that at my boyfriend when we dated.” Paloma says as she grabbed the younger man to pull him aside as Ivy chases after Rocky and begins to assault him with the magazines she’s carrying. “Calvin, if you ever get into dating, do be careful, women are scary.”

“Yes ma’am…” Calvin murmrurs as Ivy stops her smacking.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. I went to go visit him this morning before practice, he’s pretty listless.” The younger woman says and holds up her ruined magazines. “So I put something cheerful on the radio and got him some reading material!”

“I don’t think he’d like reading fashion and gossip magazines.” Paloma says as she looks at the covers. “Also I feel like the radio is going to be broken by the time we get back to the house.”

“It better not be, I haven’t got any money on me to replace it.”

“Yes, because you keep spending it on clothes and accessories when you are supposed to be using it for your school books.”

“Anyways! Let’s go!”

The ride back was quiet, save for Ivy chatting everyone’s ears off until they arrived at the house. They all hurried up the stairs and practically barged into the apartment, Ivy and Rocky trying to talk over each other as Paloma squeezed past them to get inside. She hears the door slam shut and turns to see Viktor with a broom in hand and sporting a grumpy expression. The door swings open, Ivy now sporting an upset look on her face.

“You will read these magazines and you will like them!” The younger woman snaps as she storms in, smacking the pile of ruined magazines into the older man’s chest. “And so help me, you’ll learn to like the banjo hour! There’s gonna be no more moping around Viktor, there just isn’t!”

“You do realize he needs peace and quiet and to relax, right?” Paloma mutters as she walks over to pick the radio up, twist the dials around to turn it off and set it back on the table it had been sitting on earlier. “I’ll go get my siblinsg right now, assuming they haven’t tried to run away yet. ¡Niños! ¡Baja aquí en este instante!”

No response.

“¡Está bien! ¡Si no bajas a la cuenta de cinco, haré lo que mamá hace con los gatitos desobedientes! ¡Uno! ¡Dos!” Paloma yells before pausing. “¡Cuatro! ¡Cin-!”

There was practically a stampede of footsteps trying to hurry down the stairs before Gabriel came tumbling down, yelping and letting out a string of curses before he face plants on the carpet.

“Oh wow, I forgot there was four of them.” Ivy comments before she turns to grab Calvin by the arm and turns to Viktor with a cheery expression. “Anyways, meet Freckle! Or Calvin or something. I’ve decided we’re dating!”

“I think I left my hat in the car. I should go be with my hat…in the car…” Calvin mutters as he tries to move away.

“You mean in the struggle-buggy?” Rocky teases, doing a horrible job of winking.

Viktor was now giving the poor boy a glare that he shrinks under and tries to edge away.

“Viktor, be nice!” Paloma scolds as she gets between him and Calvin. “He’s a sweet boy, nothing like those snarky and weird ones from her college!”

“Ahoj.” They hear someone say and they turn to find Mrs Bapka standing behind them with a wrench in hand.

“Oh my we have an intruder, an armed one.” Rocky jokes. “Who might you be, an enforcer?”

“That’s Mrs Bapka, the neighbor upstairs.” Ivy explains, not releasing her grip on Calvin. “Is there something you need?”

“Leo ven aquí.” Paloma calls to her little brother, who wiggles past them to get to her and gabbed her skirt. She quickly picks him up and dropped him onto Viktor’s lap. “Here, be distracted with a baby.”

“What does she need help with?” Rocky asks.

“Oh her sink, it’s clogged.” Paloma explains.

“Ya…okay…I vill go look at it…” Viktor says as he tries getting up and Leo lets out a yelp as he tries to hold on before the older man is forced to sit down again when he starts to have a coughing fit and grips his chest.

“Oh no no, you cannot do that! You will stay seated!”

“Hey, Handyman McMurray, you wanna run upstairs and help the young lady out?” Rocky asks, earning an enthusiastic nod from his cousin before he and Ivy follow Mrs Bapka out.

“I’ll go get the kids brushed up, you best not piss him off.” Paloma says as she pats her brother on the head. “Behave for Leo, will you old friend?”

She walks over to Gabriel, who is still on the floor and glances up the stairs where her sisters were watching them before they rush up.

“Hey, up,” Paloma says as she grabbed her twin’s arm to try and yank him up. “I have to head to work soon, you need to brush out those messy curls of yours.”

“The floor feels comfy…” Gabriel mutters as he tries to get up. “Ugh, I miss my bed.”

“You mean the very thin cot you had to share with me until I was allowed to sleep in my own bed? You’re lucky the carpet is softer than the rug at home. Now get your skinny bones up, I have to take you somewhere to spend the rest of the day.”

“Why?”

“Because I am not leaving you four here to bother Viktor, he needs his rest.”

Gabriel just rolls his eyes, but does as he is told, following his sisters up the stairs to where they were brushing their hair and teeth. Once done, the four came downstairs to find Rocky on the floor muttering to himself while Leo was attempting to climb up Viktor’s chest and poke his face.

“Sorry, I hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long.” Paloma says as she scooped up her brother, who lets out a whine. “We’ll be leaving as soon as I get this munchkin’s teeth cleaned and hair brushed. Start the car, will you Roark?”

“You betcha!” Rocky says as he gets to his feet. “Also our sour friend here gave me a solid lead to where to get booze! We’ll be making cash in no time with some stuff that doesn’t taste like horse piss mixed with river sludge!”

“Watch your language.”

Once she got Leo upstairs and fixed up, she brought him back down and beckoned her siblings to follow her and Rocky to the care, where Calvin was waiting.

“So…how are we gonna fit you all?” Rocky mutters. “Let's see…Freckle can be up here with me, you can too if you wanna squeeze in. Then your siblings can be in the back and the little guy can sit on someone's lap for safety.”

“Perfect, that should work.” Paloma says as she opens the door and pushes Imelda to enter.

Once everyone was piled into the car, they started to drive away before they heard yelling and turned to see Ivy storming out of the house. As she's walking away, something flew out of the window and fell right at her feet and she started yelling again.

“Oof, what's got her mad?” Paloma mutters.

“Probably something Viktor said.” Rocky says with a shrug. “Say Pal? Could I ask ya something?”

“Sure?”

“How can you stand living with that guy? He's just so…angry. Also how come he's never throttled you?”

“Because if he so much as puts a finger on me, he's losing that along with his di-”

The car door swung open and Ivy stuck her head in to kiss Calvin right on the lips before slamming it shut and getting in the backseat.

“I was gonna ask if you needed a lift.” Rocky mutters before he grins. “Not a ride in the struggle-bug-”

“Just drive!” Ivy snaps and smacks his head.

----

They soon arrived at Calvin's home, allowing him to get out first before Paloma followed and helped her siblings out and allowed Ivy to climb into the front seat.

“I'll give you a ring if we are or aren't successful in obtaining new goods!” Rocky called out to Paloma once everyone was out. “Farewell madam, until tomorrow! Do not miss me too much!”

“Dramatic.” Paloma mutters as the car drives off. “Alright, let's hope your mother doesn't mind these kids.”

“I don't think she'd mind if you asked.” Calvin said as they walked up to the door.

“Oh your home for dinner.” They hear Nina say as the door opens. “Oh! Paloma, what a surprise! Staying for dinner?”

“Not today Nina, I have to head to work. I am so sorry for dropping by unannounced like this.” Paloma says and gestures to her younger siblings, who stood behind her. “These are my younger siblings, they just came from Mexico unexpectedly.”

“Oh my, that’s where a war is going on isn’t it?” The older woman gasps as she sets down the pants she was sewing and gets up from her chair to walk over to them.

“Yes, I was wondering, since I am busy tonight and my neighbor needs rest, if you could-”

“Say no more dear, they can stay with me for the day and whenever you need someone to look after them. Oh the poor dears, look how scrawny they are! Actually, if you're going to have the night shift, they can stay for the night too, you can take them up home in the morning after you had breakfast with us.”

“Oh thank you so much, you don't have to!”

“Dear I insist, you have your hands full already.”

Paloma smiles warmly before she turns to her siblings with a stern look and switches to Spanish. “I know your English is limited, but be nice to her and do not cause trouble. She’s a friend of grandpa’s, so behave yourselves. As much as I wouldn’t mind leaving you three at my home alone, I think it’d be better to leave you with an adult who can be helpful. Now promise me you will be on your best behavior.”

“Fine.” Imelda mutters as Maria nods.

“Where are you going?” Leo asks.

“To work, I have to be at the hotel.” Paloma responds as she pick him up and kisses his forehead. “Behave for Nina, please? Also you all will be spending the night here.”

“Noooooooo!” Leo wails. “Don't leave!”

“Leo, she's coming back later.” Maria says as she tries to pry the toddler off her sister. “Right?”

“In the morning, I promise.” Paloma assures them as the wailing child is removed.

“Pinky swear!” Leo sobs, holding his tiny finger out to her.

“Fine, I pinky swear. And if I break that, may the archangels strike me down. Now go play with Calvin out in the backyard for the time being.”

“I hate to be nosy and rude, but why are the boys dressed that way?” Nina asks as Calvin leads the kids away. “Did they not bring any clothes with them?”

“Oh! Umm, well all their stuff was dirty and smelly, so I washed it early this morning.” Paloma explains. “I lent my sisters my clothes and my brothers are wearing grandpa and my neighbor's clothes. I may have to go shopping for things that properly fit them.”

“Oh no need to worry dear, I can lend them some clothes, I still have Calvin and Roark's things from when they were wee lads. I'm sure Calvin wouldn't mind lending your older brother some of his clothes for now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course! What sort of Catholic would I be if I didn't? You go worry about work, I'll worry about your siblings in the meantime. If you're working overnight, they can stay for the night and you can come get them in the morning and have breakfast with us.”

“Easy, you just sat in the same pew as I did. Now get going, you have work to get to and money to earn.”

----

The house sounded way too quiet when Paloma got home, which for some reason reminded her of when she would come home before Mordecai did when they used to date. It was those nights where he'd stay behind to help Atlas with something last minute, promising he'd be home before the sun rose and she'd find him the next morning asleep on the couch or in his bed and wearing half of his suit while snoring loudly enough to almost rival Viktor. And speaking if, the said man was no longer on the couch he had been asleep on, probably moved himself upstairs to his room to sleep.

As she was walking to the stairs, Paloma then heard the phone start to ring. Who was calling at this hour? She heads to where the phone was kept and removed the earpiece off the hook.

“Hello?” Paloma calls out.

“Oh good, I thought you wouldn’t be home at this hour, or asleep.” She hears Mitzi say.

“Oh you caught me just as I got home.” Paloma says with a soft laugh. “What’s the matter? Did everything go well with your business venture? Or was it a flop?”

“Oh no honey, it's all good. I was just calling to let you know that…we got money now.”

“Really? That's great but…you sound upset, did Wick-”

“What? No no, he didn't do anything. I just got into an argument with Zib earlier, and I think I'm still a bit drunk.”

“Oh, I was just about to rough that man up. You need me to rough Zib up? Could put an end to his stupid rants about his artistic suffering - or add to it.”

She hears Mitzi let out a tired laugh. “That's sweet, but no. Rocky called earlier, he said he was able to find someone willing to do business with us, so in the evening he and the others are gonna retrieve it. Do you think you can…you know?”

“Well, lucky for you I do have the night off, so I'll be good to go and help.” Paloma says and gives a yawn. “I should get to bed, but now that we are hopefully gonna be back in business, I'm gonna have to be a jack of all trades until we hire more people. I can bartend if Viktor is still out of commission, I can be a sweeper and get rid of any enemies when you need to obtain some alcohol.”

“Oh honey, you don't have to-”

“No I will, you do need the help. A good chunk of the lads have already left us, and all that's left are three kids, the band, our doorman and us. I can juggle as many jobs, you need the help.”

Mitzi let out a sigh. “Alright if you insist, Rocky and his cousin are gonna be our muscle for now so you can help them and Ivy with getting the hooch. As for the bartender job, perhaps on nights when you aren't getting the needed spirits you can do that. Quite sure any male guests would be happy to waste more money on booze just to keep talking to the pretty barmaid so you'll have to wear a nicer dress for sure. But most importantly, we will have to remind the other gangs about what made us threatening, at least so they won’t think we’re being pushovers.”

“So back to the triggerman job? Terrorizing gangs will be easy at least, apparently I may still have a bit of a reputation in this community.”

“Well you did decapitate a rat that one time, nearly castrated a guest in front of everyone, and shot up a speakeasy with just two guns and a crowbar, but you're easier to approach than my husband's golden boy so that's a plus.”

“True, I'm more charming, and approachable.”

“Indeed you are honey. Now, get to bed and get a good night's sleep. Your old shotgun is going to need some polishing.”

Just as she hung the ear piece up, the phone started to ring again. Okay, really who was calling so late?

“Yes can I help you?” Paloma says with an annoyed sigh. Nothing but silence. “Hello? Hello? If you are not going to talk I will hang-”

“Don’t do anything foolish.” Wait, she knew that voice.

“Why should I listen to you?” She snaps, anger lacing her voice. “After all what has happened, you have no right-”

“Just don’t do anything foolish! I can’t explain why over the phone, but just do as I say! Otherwise, your gang is going to have worse problems to deal with than pig farmers.” The voice on the other line snaps back. “Please.”

“Well you know what? You can take that warning and shove it up your - did I just get cut off?!” Palma mutters as the phone made a buzzing sound, indicating that whoever called her had hung up. Why was she even being warned in the first place?

Another thing to deal with in the morning, I need sleep for that pick up. She thinks with an annoyed sigh as she hung the phone’s earpiece back on the hook. Well, I’m going to ignore that warning.

Chapter Text

“So, when did we obtain a car for transporting livestock?” Paloma asks as Mitzi hands her the keys to the vehicle. “Unless you bought it recently with the newly obtained cash.”

“You can thank Viktor for that, this apparently belonged to those pig farmers from the other night.” The older woman explains. “Might as well put it to use. Ivy wanted to drive, but I insisted you do it instead, since you have the knack for…those manuvers.”

“Ah that reminds me of the good old days.” Paloma chuckles. “Like that one time Atlas asked me to get a case of rare whiskey, some sweepers tried to take me out and I almost flipped the car while getting away. Poor Mordecai, he refused to…oh…”

“I know honey, it’s hard to have a single pleasant thought of those days without him in it. How are your siblings doing, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“They seem to be adjusting well, Calvin’s mother has been looking after them since yesterday and today. She actually gave my brothers some of her son’s old clothes and is going out tomorrow to buy cloth to make my sisters new dresses, bless her soul. I think she enjoys having more kids to look after in the house, says it reminded her of when she was caring for Roark and Calvin, minus the…multiple problems her nephew caused and near strokes he gave her.”

“Someone give that woman a metal for being able to put up with him for so many years. Anyways, Rocky and Ivy are in the kitchen, go give them a talk before you head out to pick up Calvin. I'm counting on you - all four of you.”

Why do I feel nervous? Paloma wonders as she exits the garage and walks back to the diner. You've done this a few times before, but…

Ugh, of all the times to wish that man was here with her. It felt weird being the only one in this gang qualified to teach a bunch of baby gangsters the ropes of what they're supposed to do. Well Rocky knew some, but he wasn't running with the big time gangsters since he was nineteen and taking on such dangerous work so early on. Apparently her ex had been doing this even before he met her and was much younger than her when he started out, but then again those three weren't Mordecai or her.

And of all the times to put this on again. She thinks as her hand goes to the red satin choker clasped around her neck and touches the gem hanging from it. She had hid this in the old box she kept Gabriel’s letters in, almost forgetting about it until yesterday when she finally saw him again after almost a year. Tonight for some reason she felt compelled to put it on, and much to her annoyance, touching it and knowing it was on her gave her some odd sort of comfort. With an annoyed sigh, she buttons up the jacket and adjusts the collar to hide it from view before she enters the diner where Rocky and Ivy are seated at the counter.

“Evening, you two ready to go?” She says as she approaches them.

“Ready! Really excited!” Ivy gushed as she spun around in her seat. “I've never done this before!”

“Now hold on, this is a one time thing, and you're only coming because Mitzi said so. Now before we leave and pick up Calvin, I need to-”

“Ah lectures lectures, why must we be lectured like a bunch of naughty school children?” Rocky asks as he turns his chair to look at them. “What is there to learn from this humble life of crime?”

“YOUR FACE?!” Paloma exclaims when she sees the split open wound on his forehead that was barely being held together with stitches. “WHAT-”

“Oh this? I'm all dandy!”

“¡Como diablos eres! What in the lord's name did you do this time?!”

“Well it all started with a really short corn field and a hearse-”

“Dios mio I'm too terrified to know.”

“Aw come on Pal, I'm all good!” Rocky laughs. “Better than good, I'd dare say!”

“Maybe if you stopped moving your face so much, your stitches wouldn't look like they were coming off.”

“Elsa said that if it opens again we need to drop him off at a hospital.” Ivy comments. “Which I agree would be best, unless you wanna play nurse again and fix that?”

“Another time. Now listen to me and listen to me good señiorita.” Paloma says as she narrows her eyes and glares at the teen. “This will be the only time you will do anything that has to do with alcohol shipments. Next time I get wind of you trying to get involved with it, I'll call your father.”

“But if we have a steady and better supplier, who's gonna obtain us more booze next time if you are busy?”

“Leave that to me, sometimes your godfather had me do negotiations when a new supplier came around. Of course Viktor would accompany me at times if he had time and patience to not get pissy with them.

Anyways, Mitzi told me who our new supplier is and lucky for you, I know Bobby and his weird brother-in-law, so it’d be good to see some old faces again.”

“You know, the Arbogasts said some pretty interesting stuff when I mentioned you still worked with us. The tall lanky one who reminds me of a creepy spider said he assumed you would have followed Mordecai with no hesitation when Atlas passed away because of how attached you were to him.” Ivy comments and snorts. “Which is weird, ‘cause you and him, never seen you two act in love and whatnot.”

Rocky let's out a laugh. “Oh my gosh, you spend so much time around them and never noticed? I knew when I joined!”

Paloma rolls her eyes and let out a tired sigh. “For once I will agree with this idiot, for someone who hangs around us so much, it's surprising you never knew or caught on. Then again it was a bit of a secret, only a few people knew.”

“Knew what?” Ivy asks.

“Her and old grumpy Heller, the secret lovebirds of the gang!” Rocky laughs.

“Wait, you and stiff Mordecai had a fling?!” Ivy exclaims. “This is as weird as when I found out Viktor had a daughter and a wife! And I only found this out yesterday!”

“Not a fling, it was somewhat of a stable relationship.” Paloma corrects her. “No one expected him of all people to fall for me, even Mordecai was taken by surprise by it. Your godfather, his wife, Viktor, uh also Zib, Roark and the Arbogasts knew. My grandfather knew as well, as did Calvin and his mother but they both never met him in person. Well Calvin didn't until yesterday but I'd rather not tell him.

“I'm pretty sure he doesn't know any other emotions aside from annoyance and anger.” Ivy mutters. “You're just so lively, extroverted, friendly! Meanwhile he runs from kids and looks like he's emotionally constipated!”

“Well when I was with him, I saw plenty of other emotions. Jealousy, hurt, confusion, though my favorite had to have been when he would look at me with such love and affection you'd think he was ill or drunk. Only with me have I ever seen him express that emotion when we were together, at least before it all went to shit.”

“Wait, but if you two were so in love, how come you didn't leave with him or he didn't stay?”

“Opposing interests, he wanted to find better opportunities while I stayed because I didn't want to leave Mitzi to deal with all this on her own. He was so upset with me for that, yet the night he left us for good he practically begged me to come with him to work for the new gang he joined, until I threatened to shoot him.”

“Oh…I did hear about the threat of shooting him because you were raving about it pretty loudly to the missus, but not the other stuff.” Ivy admits. “Pretty tragic.”

“Sadly some things are just not meant to last.” Paloma says with a shrug as she turns to the door. “That's how first loves are.”

“Well you can find someone totally better, just not…Rocky.” Ivy says as she and Rocky hop off their seats to follow her out the door, switch off the lights and lock the diner up. “Oh maybe I can hook you up with one of our younger professors! All the girls won't stop raving about him and he-”

“I'm not looking for another boyfriend, at least not right now.” Paloma interrupts as they make their way to the garage. “Now hush and get in the pig truck, we have work to do.”

----

“Well I can hardly believe it, you're still here!” Bobby exclaims as Paloma hopped out of her side of the truck. “I know the girl mentioned you were still around, I just didn't think you'd still be involved in all this!”

“Good to see you too Bobby.” She responds and nods at Abelard. “Abelard, good to see you. Still spouting about hellfire despite the topic of conversation?”

“And here I thought you dropped out of the gang for good.” The older man grumbles as they shook hands and he looks behind him. “Michael! Quit moping and come help these youngins and this woman load the alcohol into the truck.”

Paloma peeks around him to find a lone figure seated on a bale of hay, glaring at them before they get up and walk closer to be in the lamp light. It was a young man, maybe around Mordecai's age with black fur save for a single patch of white over one eye, long dark hair with a single pale streak, pale blue eyes and dressed with a dark coat thrown over his clothes. He bore a striking resemblance to Abelard, which was a bit weird.

“Why do I need to be here in the leaking barn of all places?” The young man snaps.

“Because I said so.” The priest retorts and pokes his side. “Now get to lifting all of you.”

She could still feel his cold stare on her as she walks away to the nearby hay pile Bobby was trying to toss into the back of the pig truck.

“Need help?” She asks. “I could do it faster.”

“I forgot you did farmwork too.” The older man says as he hands her the pitchfork and she begins to toss hay.

“So who's the Erik looking guy trying to drag a crate of booze?”

“The who now?”

“Nevermind, you never read Phantom of the Opera.”

“Oh you're talking about Michael! He's Elsa and Abelard's brother-”

“Half brother.” The long haired man corrects Bobby.

“Still my brother.” Abelard snaps. “Add enough straw to at least cushion these boxes!”

“So let me get this straight Paloma, Squeaky-Shrieks is your co-smuggler, Tiny-Tot is the muscle and…that’s this evening’s mastermind?” Bobby asks, gesturing to the other two cats who were moving stuff about and Rocky, who was shouting something at the sky. “Didn’t anyone teach him to come out of the rain?”

“Compulsive rhyming, you have to let it run it’s course.” Ivy says as she is putting a crate into the truck. “At least that’s what I think that’s what it is. Possibly just yelling at the sky.”

“Eh, it’s normal. You’ll get used to it after beinga round him enough.” Paloma says as she tosses another fork of hay into the truck.

Bobby just frowns but nods and beacons them to come over. “Okay jellybeans, come here, it seems like a good time to tell you a story about what happens when-”

“Tell them what awaits them when they get caught.” Abelard interrupts.

“That’s what I’m trying to-”

“Oh for god’s sake.” Michael mutters. “Look this favor we are doing you can only go so far. Somewhere down the road there’s two Marigold thugs patrolling about, really shady looking guys and you do not want to get stopped by them. Fish and some weasel looking man.”

“Thank you for that Michael. Anyways, your story is that you robbed us-” Bobby tries to continue.

“For a lack of more credible alibi.” Abelard interrupts again.

“Marigold is keeping a tight leash on their suppliers since Atlas passed, why am I not surprised.” Paloma sighs. “Should I be going with the boys? I can just hide in the trailer of the pie truck, if they frisk us I could-”

“No no, it’d be best if you stayed with the girl, for safety reasons. Now if Viktor was here or Mord-”

“Uh, maybe don’t say his name around her, she looks ready to explode.” Bobby whispers as Paloma grimaces. “Anyways, the funds?”

“Ah, of course.” Rocky says as he produces a soaked envelope out of his coat and hands it to the older man. “From Miss May.”

“She sent you despite of…” Abelard asks, gesturing to his forehead.

“He didn’t tell her of the head injury, I have half a mind to make him stay with Ivy.” Paloma says before any of the men could ask.

“A broad brim hides a multitude of sins.” Rocky says as he covers his head with his hand. “No need to rattle anyone’s resolve when it’s all right as rain. You know, stiff upper lip and whatnot.”

“Maybe if you didn’t keep moving your face so much it wouldn’t be looking like that.” Michael mutters. “My sister’s stitching can only do so much.”

“Oh speaking of, we’ll give her a call once the clean-sweep is…uh…once the coast is clear. And if you’d be so kind to keep Miss Pepper and Miss Alvarez company.”

“They already said they would Roark.” Paloma says with a roll of her eyes. “You and your cousin better get going soon, before those thugs come here and spot us. Need a gun? I've got my trusty shotgun in the pig truck.”

“Nah, I'll leave the fire power to the little guy.” Rocky says with a dismissive wave. “Zib says I shouldn't be holding a gun anyways because of how much I wave my noodle arms.”

“Well he is right about that, but speaking of, I haven't seen him since the night we found my siblings. Apparently he and Mitzi had an argument yesterday, not sure of what, but she sounded upset by it.”

“Well whatever it was, we'll deal with it later. Now where did that cousin of mine go…”

After a few minutes, the pie truck was leaving the farm, leaving the two girls in the leaking barn with the other three men.

“Will it fall on us?” Ivy asks, looking up at the roof nervously.

“Eventually.” Abelard says, looking up from his game of cards that he and Bobby were playing.

“I keep telling you two it needs repairs.” Michael scoffs. “Or at least tear the whole thing down and rebuild a new one with better materials.”

“Then how about when it stops raining, you can do it?” Abelard retorts.

“No no, he'd be blown off the roof the second it starts getting windy.” Bobby says with a shake of his head and looks to Paloma. “Unless you'd like to help do repairs, Paloma?”

“I know how to fix the roof of a chicken coop and a goat birth shack, but perhaps…oh!” Paloma’s face lights up. “Do you need any extra hands to help around here?”

“Normally I'd say no, but this one's pretty useless when it comes to farm work.” Abelard says, ignoring the angry look his brother was making at him. “You know someone who can at least do heavy labor?”

“Of course! My brother Gabriel, we've been doing that sort of thing since we could walk. Back home he used to help our uncles and cousins go to other farms or homes with roofs that were caved in or on the verge of collapsing and fix them. He's been meaning to look for a job, and doesn't want to be sitting around my grandfather's church friend's home all day reading the Bible.”

“Hmm, it'd be nice to have an extra hand around the farm, but then we have the booze shed where we make the good liquor…how well can your brother keep a secret?”

“Now hold on a minute, when did your family even get here?” Bobby interrupts. “We have a clergy friend come by once in a while and he mentioned there was some trouble in Mexico, a war to be exact and it happened some months after you returned from the funeral. It's apparently not safe to even cross over.”

“He and some of my siblings managed to sneak onto a train heading into Texas, it took them weeks to get to St Louis and we found them the other night.” Paloma explains. “So right now they're home with Viktor, asleep in their beds like good little kittens of course. So…would you consider taking him in?”

“Does he know how to keep his mouth shut, your brother?” Abelard asks.

“Well he doesn't know much English, so I suppose.” Paloma responds.

“What are his views on religion?”

“He's pretty religious, he only really reads the Bible because every other book I currently own is in English, but he listens to the sermons diligently.”

“Alright, and his stance on this prohibition nonsense?”

“He finds the whole thing stupid.”

“Well I suppose that settles it.” Bobby says with a nod. “Bring him around tomorrow, he can be roommates with Michael and board with him in the attic.”

“Hold on, why are you both agreeing to this?!” Michael exclaims.

“Because you're shoddy at farm work and we need the extra hands around here for other things.” Abelard retorts. “At least having someone your age around might help you be more pleasant.”

“Bobby say something!”

“Oh no, I'm staying out of this.” Bobby says, holding his hands up. “But you aren't exactly…well…you need some muscle to aid you around here. Besides, you could use a friend, I'm sure Gabriel will make a wonderful roommate and you'll stop being all doom and gloom and looking like your brother when he's in a foul mood.”

“When is he not ever in a foul mood.” Paloma snorts before heading towards the truck. “I'm gonna take a quick nap, wake me up when Elsa gives the signal. Or if some thugs show up so I can have an excuse to shoot a Marigold.”

“You still miss him, don't you?” Paloma stops and turns to look back at Bobby, who was walking over to her. “I've noticed the…necklace.”

“I don't, I just…I just felt compelled to put it on.” She says with a frown. “It has nothing to do with him.”

“You were rubbing the gem, something you do when stressed or nerv-”

“IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM!”

Bobby blinks in surprise before nodding. “Alright, if you say so. If you’re going to nap, keep the gun on hand in case Elsa flashes the bad news signal.”

Paloma just nods and shuffles back to the truck and climbs into the front seat, laying herself down and reaching under the seat to make sure both her guns were still there. She hadn’t realized that she was touching the gem on her necklace, a habit she did when nervous or stressed. Last time she ever felt that way was when Viktor and Mordecai had to be gone for a whole week with no contact for something Atlas needed them to do, leaving her alone in the apartment. That whole week she could hardly sleep, staying by the phone and door for any sign that the two were okay, pacing about the entire apartment and rubbing at the necklace while murmuring prayers under her breath until Mordecai came back sporting a twisted ankle, his nose bleeding and his glasses broken. That night he finally allowed her to fall asleep in his bed to help her sleep better, and even after she was fine he never forced her to leave.

Right now she was feeling worried for the two boys, just as she worried for the older men. She knew Mordecai was not with those two thugs, but Mitzi had mentioned to her that he told her that Asa had been making him take extreme measures to get rid of people, and since then she had been worrying. What if he was there with those men, Calvin would stand no chance! If he couldn’t stand against him, would she be able to? As much as she and Mitzi liked to brag that she was almost as skilled as him, Paloma was now worried she wouldn’t be able to take her ex boyfriend on in a gunfight. He knew her all too well to know how she’d act in a fight, her little tricks to gain the upperhand, she’d easily lose a fight against him.

¡Dios mío, por favor mantén a esos dos a salvo, te lo ruego! She prays as she squeezed her eyes shut. Mantenlos a salvo, no podré vivir conmigo mismo si algo les pasara.

After what felt like forever, she had dozed off before hearing the door of the truck open and someone tap on her head. Paloma groggily lifts her head to see the boy Michael at the door, still sporting a frown.

“My sister’s given the signal, the coast is clear.” He says and she lets out a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank god…” She whispers as she sits up and stretches with a groan. “Ugh…these seats are not meant to sleep on.”

“Can I drive?” Ivy asks as she opens the passenger door to hop in.

“No, you can’t even drive, your dad told me.” Paloma says as she removes her cap to fix her hair and puts it back on. “You can hold onto my firearms until we see trouble.”

“Awww…”

“Cheer up, if we don’t get arrested tonight, I’ll try to teach you to drive. I was taught by Viktor in case he or my stupid ex got shot or rendered useless and couldn’t drive. Then again the majority of the time I drove, they were both stupidly drunk and I had to leave one with Elizia while the other got to go home and wake up with a bad hangover.”

“I know you girls already have a gun on hand, but in case of a pinch.” They hear Bobby say and turn to see him sticking a gun into the car that Ivy took. “Also in case that old revolver of hers jams.”

“It has yet to jam on me again.” Paloma scoffs. “But if it does, it makes a handy projectile. Or a bludgion.”

“Morbid as ever. Now you girls take care, and we’ll see one of you tomorrow.”

“Thanks Bobby, it was good to see you all again. Say hi to Elsa for me, and give her my regards. Oh and do tell her of my brother before you forget.”

“Will do!” The older man says cheerfully as the truck roared to life. “Good luck!”

“You think we’ll be back here again to do business?” Ivy asks as they are driving down the road, leaving the farm behind.

“With Marigold keeping a tight leash on them, it’d be safe not to for now. If Rocky and Calvin took out those thugs and Asa took notice, he’ll certainly send out more. Or worse, that one.” Paloma says as she keeps her eyes on the road. “We’ll have to look for more suppliers, but for now, let’s focus on getting the bar cleaned up and looking for customers - specifically rich ones - to help us get the place up and running again and shouldering ourselves properly into the business again.”

----

As I feared, his need to get rid of so many people is starting to look suspicious. Mordecai thinks as he scribbles something down in a notebook.

Ever since he started working for Asa, any time there was a job that required him to take out someone who didn't seem so important, he never really started to question it until the lunch date with Mitzi. Everything now was starting to seem suspicious, that much he could understand. Could all these random people his new boss had him kill really be connected to Atlas’ death? Maybe he was looking into this too hard and it was nothing, but something about the fact that Asa seemed to hint about what he knew was starting to look suspicious. And now there was that very minor threat of Lackadaisy coming back into the speakeasy business, the older man seemed very bothered by it enough to allow literal pig farmers to get rid of whoever was left in that place, and it was a miracle that the only casualty was just Viktor.

Knowing her, she's not going to back down like I warned her to. He thought bitterly as he set down his pencil before closing the notebook and shoved it into a drawer in his desk under some folders before shutting it. And this is going to agitate Asa enough to make me take them out - all of them not just Mitzi.

This was the sort of thing he was fearing. He had already swore to Mitzi that if he was directed to get rid of her and her associates, he'd do it, but even now he realized he didn't think he'd be able to. He already failed to kill one man tonight all for the sake of having questions answered, and no doubt he was bound to do it again for her if Asa instructed it. The older man still had yet to figure out what used to go on between him and Paloma, and that was something he'd rather keep buried with only very few people knowing about it. He had heard enough horror stories about gangsters having someone they cared about hurt just to get back at them for whatever reason and despite their current relationship, he'd rather not have anything like that happen to Paloma.

Even after all this time, you still have me caring for you despite everything. He thinks with an annoyed sigh as he sits back in his chair, removing his glasses to massage the spot between his eyes. If it came to it, I could always fake having bad aim, but then those three may catch on and report what I did.

Serafine did admit she and Nico would possibly turn on him, but they could have been joking for all he knew, it was impossible to tell with them. Then there was the latest addition to their small group, a woman by the name of Kuura. He didn't know anything about her, aside from the fact that she was an immigrant, she liked to play with knives, always stared at the back of one's head long enough to make them feel uncomfortable, and that she seemed to have some sort of relationship with Nico. Well that last one was a bit too obvious when he entered the Savoy’s suite to see the smaller woman cling to the boxer and the weird smirks they'd give to each other. Oh and of course the two of them just decided to kiss before they even entered the building where the jewel thief he was supposed to kill was located. Was she also liable to turn on him for whatever reason?

As he was trying to think, Mordecai then hears what sounded like something falling. He stiffens, quickly putting his glasses back on and grabbing for his gun that was on top of his desk. He slips out of the study, looking around the hallway for the source of the noise. Nothing as far as he could see, but he just knew someone had broken into the house.

Foolish, a burglar breaking into the house of a gangster. He thinks as he steps into the hallway. He could see someone crouching in the darkness, definitely the intruder. Without missing a beat, Mordecai then grabs for the nearby lamp and quickly switches it on and aims his gun. Wait, blonde hair and fur, those all too familiar green blue eyes, that weird little fang-

“Damn it, how'd you even get in here?!” Mordecai exclaims as he lowers his gun. “Scratch that, how did you even find my apartment?!”

“Oh…hi.” The intruder says as she stands up and dusts her clothes off. It was Kuura, the new hire in their gang, and the least likely he expected to find breaking into his home.

“Shouldn't you be up at the Savoy’s suite doing who knows what with Nico?” Mordecai asks, now feeling irritated. “Having a…fling or whatever?”

“Eh…not tonight, place smells a bit too funny…also not feel like being with him.” The shorter woman says, reaching up to scratch at her head. “Uh…so…I have no home…”

“Isn't Asa paying you enough to get an apartment or somewhere to live?”

“Not safe getting house. Could….I stay?”

Mordecai blinks in surprise. “You're homeless?”

“From time to time.” Kuura admits with a shrug. “Is okay, sometimes.”

Okay now he was starting to feel a bit bad, but he was still very irritated about someone he worked with practically trespassing into the one place he could somewhat relax at. He could throw her out, but what were the chances of her breaking in again at a later date? If Paloma were here, she would have had no problem and not hesitate to take Kuura in, probably would have cooked her a warm meal and given her a hot bath too.

You would give me hell for not doing this. He thinks as he shakes his head.

“I have a spare room you can stay in, it's already furnished.” Mordecai says loudly as he walks past Kuura to walk down the hall and arrives outside of what used to be Paloma’s room. He hesitantly put his hand on the doorknob before turning it and opening the door for her to enter. “Just don't take anything and sell it off.”

“It's very…empty.” Kuura comments as she looks about the room.

“Hardly, the roommate I had prior to living here left all the furniture.” Mordecai scoffs as he follows and walks over to a lamp to switch it on. “Now I have a few rules I expect you to follow. Number one, do not enter my study under any circumstances, or my bedroom.”

“Why, what you hiding?” Kuura asks, giving him a playful smirk. “Inappropriate things?”

“That's for me to know and for you to keep your sticky paws away from. Number two, you are also to do chores while you stay here. I don't expect you to do them all like a housekeeper, but I don't want to be picking up after you. Like keep your room clean, pick up your hairs from the drain of the tub, wash the dishes you used to make your meals, do your own laundry. Can you do that?”

“Of course! Ooh, what's this?”

Mordecai turns and feels his heart leap into his throat when he sees her removing a black shawl with colorfully embroidered flowers off a chair.

“DON'T TOUCH THAT!” He snaps, snatching the shawl out of her hands. “I- this was my roommate's. Please don't touch it.”

“Okay?” Kuura says before walking over to the bed and flopping down on the blankets and mattress. “Better than floor.”

“Good. Now you best get some sleep, we have work in the morning. Good night.”

Kuura just raises her hand to give him a thumbs up as Mordecai hurries out of the room, clutching the shawl tightly in his hands. Of all the things she left behind, it had to be this. He recalled how it either belonged to her grandmother and she inherited it after her passing, or it was made by her grandmother and given to her before or after her passing, he couldn't remember. She often wore it around the house over her night dress as opposed to a normal robe, sometimes she'd even wrap him in it to trap him while giving him a good morning kiss on the cheek, or drape it around the both of them when they'd do their evening reading together in the living room for warmth.

It really takes just a simple thing like this to remind me of what we had before. Mordecai thinks as he clutches the cloth to his chest. It still smelled faintly of that jasmine and rose scented perfume Mitzi had given her one year, and the smell never bothered him at all surprisingly.

He hurries to his room and throws open his closet to grab a hanger, carefully placing the shawl on it and pushing it to the back where he wouldn't see it. One of these days he'll have to figure out a way to give it back to Paloma without her trying to shoot his head off, but for now, it'll be kept here for safekeeping.

----

“Remind me why we are here again?” Paloma whispers to Mitzi as she is trying to readjust her hair before tucking it under hat. “I have no ill feelings towards Selena, but she's still Asa's wife and we don't know if this is a set up. You think he knows we dealt with the Arbogasts?”

“I don't know honey, but let's hope he doesn't. We had to leave your brother there and I'd hate for anything to happen for him because of us.” Mitzi whispers back. “He knows how to fight, right?”

Earlier today they had thankfully managed to drop Gabriel off with the Arbogasts that morning with no problem, with Leo crying the whole time and begging his older brother not to leave. The small family save for Michael seemed thrilled to have him, and Gabriel looked quite happy to be doing farm work again.

“Yes he does, my uncles showed him how to shoot and my father taught all of us how to defend ourselves with some boxing. He should be fine. It's been so long since we've been here, it's weird.” Paloma says as she grips the strap of her purse.

The two had been invited by Selena of all people to come to her home for lunch, wanting to talk. Both Mitzi and Paloma were very unsure about it, but figured it would be rude of them to turn her down. Selena was the farthest they knew from a hostile person, yet it felt weird for her to try and reach out to them after over a year like Asa did. And he only did that to threaten them.

“What does she want us here for?” Paloma asks as the servant is leading them deep into the garden.

“Keep your wits about.” Mitzi warns as the servant is leading them deep into the garden. “She may have been my friend, but after what Asa had the gall to do, it's best to be careful around her for now.”

“Girls, there you are!” They hear Selena say as they spot her seated at a large table covered in all sorts of sweets and sandwiches. “I was so worried you wouldn't come, come, sit!”

“Selena, it's been ages, how are you?” Mitzi says as they get close.

“Oh I've been fine dear, what about you? Aside from…you know.”

“Well, we're still hanging strong, and about to be doing better too.”

“Is Asa aware that we are visiting?” Paloma asks as they take a seat.

“He doesn't need to know what I do, he's not the nosy type.” Selena assures her. “Though I am disappointed in what he's been doing lately. Allowing a bunch of pig farmers to get at you, the nerve!”

“Yes that was…very troubling.” Mitzi admits. “I don't know why he even allowed them in the hotel or how he got associated with them, but they were out for blood because…well…”

“Rocky did something stupid.” Paloma finishes bluntly. “Set their farm on fire.”

“Oh my.” Selena murmured. “I don't know how he got acquainted with that lot, but…oh I probably shouldn't talk about it. This is meant to be a more pleasant time for us.”

“Last time I was called to even have a meal involved your husband bringing a certain someone along to upset me.” Mitzi says as a servant pours them an orange colored liquid into their cups. “Unpleasant.”

“I've been telling him to be kinder to you, yet he insists he's only doing this to have you back down and that your speakeasy is a lost cause.” Selena sighs. “I have an easier time getting Mason and Amaryllis to listen to me.”

Paloma looks at her confused. “Who-”

“MA! MA!” They hear an unfamiliar child yell before a young boy rushes over to them with his clothes and fur soaked. “She did it again!”

“Mason, sweetie, what did you do to your sister this time?” Selena asks with a frown.

“Why do you think I did anything?!”

“Mason Sweet, don't you lie to me, I raised you to be truthful and I know you and your sister's habits when it comes to pranking.”

The boy gives a frustrated sigh. “Fine, I hid her stupid dolls.”

“And stuffed them in the attic where it was dusty!” They hear a girl shriek before a young girl comes rushing over to them, waving a toy doll covered in cobwebs. “That was not funny!”

“Since when did Asa have kids?” Paloma whispers to Mitzi as the children bicker.

“I keep forgetting you don't really hang around downstairs long enough to know.” The older woman sighs. “Not really setting a great example for them, is he?”

“Well with a mother like Selena, I'm sure they'll be just fine.”

“Children, you are fighting in front of the guests! What have I told you about behaving when we have company over?” Selena scolds as she stands up. “Apologize to each other and to Miss May and Miss Alvarez for your behavior!”

“Why, we didn't do nothing!” The boy protests as his mother gently pushes his head down.

“It's “we didn't do anything”, dummy.” His sister scoffs. “Fix your grammar.”

“Amaryllis, be nice.” Selena scolds as she also forces her daughter to bow her head. “Apologize.”

“Sorry…” Both children grumble before their mother frees their heads.

“Wonderful! Girls, these are my children Mason and Amaryllis. Children, this is Miss Mitzi May and Miss Paloma Alvarez, they are our guests for the day.”

“Why's your hair a funny color?” Amaryllis asks as Paloma is removing her hat. “Are you going grey?”

“Amaryllis!” Selena scolds.

“Oh don't worry, I get asked that a lot.” Paloma says as she runs a hand through her hair to smooth it down. “Some people thought these were dyed in, I can assure you it's natural.”

Satisfied with the response she got, Amaryllis sat herself down on her mother's left while her brother sat to her right.

“So, aside from the pig farmer thing, how are you two ladies doing?” Selena asks as she sits down.

“Should we even be talking about that in front of them?” Mitzi asks.

“Oh don't worry, my kids don't snitch.” Selena assures them. “So, anything new?”

“I broke up with Mordecai.” Paloma responds bluntly.

“The weird stiff guy with glasses who follows daddy around?” Amaryllis asks, perking up. “He doesn't like Mason!”

“Amaryllis!”

“What it's true!”

“Meh, don't like him either.” Mason says with a shrug as he grabs a sandwich to eat. “He's weird, doesn't like it when we eat stuff with mayonnaise around him.”

“Yes he is weird.” Paloma admits and looks to Mitzi. “Remind me why I dated him for this long?”

“Because you two were quite smitten with each other. You do have a weird taste in men.” Mitzi responds with a roll of her eyes.

“Need I remind you that you set us up?”

“Some days I wonder if it was a mistake by the way you were after the break up for some time.”

“You and Mordecai…were dating?” Selena asks, looking confused. “Oh…oh that explains the uncomfortable look on his face when I went to my husband's office the other day and he was complaining about you being there at the lunch.”

“Why am I not surprised, your husband doesn't like me one bit.” Paloma scoffs. “Mitzi brought me along for the same reason he brought Mordecai. I ask that you do not tell him of this.”

“Of course, children?”

“I'm not snitching.” Mason scoffs. “Amaryllis though…”

“I don't tattle!” The younger girl snaps.

“Children!” Selena snaps, getting the two to quiet down. “You have my word Paloma. I just didn't realize that…well…you know. He doesn't seem the type.”

“Well now you know.”

“Actually, there is another reason why I called you both here.” Selena says as she reaches across the table to touch both the other women’s hands. “I…I want to say I'm sorry for not reaching out sooner to see how you were doing, it hurts knowing your business has been struggling and you all have been struggling too. And…I want to warn you both.”

Both women look at each other with uneasy expressions.

“Asa wants your speakeasy out of this business, and I am warning you to let you know you should keep your guard up. Don’t trust anyone who bears that marigold pin, be wary of everyone you know and who you meet. You never know who could try to sabotage your line of work.” Selena says in a firm tone. “His network is vast, you never know who you can trust.”

“Sounds to me like you are worried for us.” Mitzi comments.

“I am, I know if I were in your position, you would never do that to me,so why would I do that to you?”

“Fair point, my husband wouldn’t be doing what your husband is doing.”

“So, does this mean we can’t trust you or these two?” Paloma asks, gesturing to the Sweet children, who are busy eating one of the desserts from the table.

“I suppose, but I can assure you that I won’t do anything to harm you both or your employees, allies, friends and family. I’ll do my best to disuade him from doing anything drastic, but that’s all I can do.”

“Excuse me for a moment.” Mitzi says, pulling her hand away and quickly grabbed Paloma’s arm to drag her away from the table until they were several feet away. “Okay I have known her for years, but do you think we can trust her?”

Paloma blinks in surprise. “Wait, why are you asking me?”

“Just answer the question!”

“Okay, okay! I think we can trust her, but she told us to be wary of everyone and that should include her.”

“Alright, let's trust her for now. But if anything feels off or wrong, you let me know right away.”

Paloma nods. “I'll try to. But why are we putting our trust in the wife of the man who basically is our enemy now?”

Mitzi gives her a small smile. “Well, let's just say perhaps Selena will be more helpful than we think.”

Chapter Text

[June 1927]

“So how'd you figure out I was in jail again?” Zib asks as Paloma is dragging him down the steps of the prison. “I didn't even give anyone a call, was supposed to be in there for like…what, two months?”

It had maybe been less than half a month since Zib went missing, and it turned out that he was in jail this whole time for reasons no one knew. Rocky was too busy to go get him, so Paloma was sent to look for him, and the police refused to tell her anything during her multiple trips to the station until someone she wasn't even sure was an officer told her. Some man named Dominic if her memory served her right.

“Your weird homeless friend, the one night I happened to be out tossing glass out and he almost stabbed me with a can opener.” The younger woman responds as they arrive at Rocky's car, which she was borrowing for the day. “Dumbass was attempting to mug me. Oh and some guy at the station as well, he gave me the money the police had taken off you and kept it safe. It’s back at the bar, I’ll give it back when we get there.”

“Don't mind him, he's a harmless bum, I promise. So…how’s it going with Mitzi?”

“She's worried sick over your sorry rear, you're lucky we had the money to bail you out.”

Zib just lets out a tired sigh in response as he climbs into the front seat. As they are driving in silence, he finally decides to talk.

“So…what's become of the speakeasy now?” He finally asks, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt.

“Well, we found a buyer to get more booze from, so no more of that crap Roark would get from Khoe or whatever his name is, the guy with the river boat.” Paloma responds. “And all we need is just a few customers to put the word out that we are back in business with better alcohol.”

“Better than radiator fluid.” The musician snorts. “And those kids who showed up?”

“My siblings are doing just fine, they've been spending a lot of time with the family friend, meanwhile my twin brother is off working at a farm. I think he's made a new friend.”

“That's nice. Did the band end up leaving?”

“Nope, they're still here. They didn't like that they've been put on clean up duty.”

“Well, they can't damage their hands.”

“Yeah, well it's not exactly my job or Horatio's job to play janitor either, yet we did with the band and Mitzi's help. Viktor is recovering pretty well, and he's accepted standing behind the bar for now.”

Zib lets out a snort. “He's stuck there unless something gets done about those knees. How are you doing? Finally found a better man to date who is the opposite of your ex?”

“Why so curious about my love life? Let me guess, your half a month sobered brain decided I am just your type.” Paloma responds, earning a laugh from the older man.

“God I could really use a drink right now, and a cigarette, you got one on you?”

“No, here, have this.”

“What…”

“Gum, chew it.”

Zib grimaces but tucks the packet into his pocket. “I'm getting a whiskey or whatever it is we got in stock now the minute we get back, assuming we still have glasses.”

It was already starting to get dark once they arrived at the diner, parking themselves in the garage before they make their way downstairs where Horatio is by the door, a few crackers in hand and a few rats by his feet.

“Horatio! What did I tell you about feeding those things?” Paloma scolds, causing the rodents to scatter with their crackers in their mouths.

“Oh! Welcome back!” The doorman greets as he tries wiping his hands clean of crumbs.

“Leave him be, it's kinda sweet.” Zib says as the door is opened to let them into the speakeasy.

“Say that again when you find rat turds in your pickle sandwiches.”

Jokes on you, that adds flavor to it.”

Paloma gags and shoves Zib away as he laughs and tries not to fall over before they reach the bar where Viktor is polishing the glasses and Mitzi and Wick are drinking.

“Here you go, one half month sober sax player.” Paloma says as she pushes the musician forward to her boss. “And intact.”

“You know, you could have called us, I've been worried sick!” Mitzi exclaims. “And we only found out because your weird friend almost shanked our only seasoned gangster with a can opener!”

“She almost broke his arm in the process.” Wick adds in a hushed tone.

“I hope you apologized to Virgil.” Zib says as Viktor pours him a glass. “Is this the new good stuff or the same watered down crap Rocky's been getting these past few months?”

“Good stuff.” The older man assures him. “From Arbogasts.”

“It is the good stuff.” Mitzi assures him. “Alright, Calvin is out for the day and Rocky is with him, Ivy is at her dad's, so since you are all here, we need to make plans.”

“For what again?” Zib asks before taking a sip of his drink. “Holy shit, this is good! Why didn't we get this sooner?”

“We were broke honey. Anyways, now that we have good booze in stock and should last us for…who knows when, we need to get a good crowd in.”

“I could start poaching customers from other speakeasys.” Paloma suggests. “Loke go undercover, wreck a place and-”

“No, too risky.” Viktor interrupts.

“Not if I have those two with me, Calvin took out two Marigold thugs on his own.”

Zib lets out a choking noise, coughs a few times before turning to look at her in bewilderment. “Wait that kid? The one who saved us from the pig farmers?!”

“Same boy.” Paloma responds with a nod.

“Geez…Mitzi, you sure you want someone like that in this?”

“Would you rather have him on someone else's payroll?” Mitzi asks with a frown. “Look, the boy is good at it, might as well give him some sort of outlet to get rid of that pent up…whatever that was, and direct it at our enemies.”

“Im training him to be a bit better with it.” Paloma adds. “Anways, so if we are able to get customers…”

“Right, we need customers but we need to figure out how to get them to come in. We’re hardly making even a dime right now.” Mitzi points out.

“I could try talking to some folks.” Wick suggests. “Or look for someone not so stuffy who’s taste in alcohol is not so cheap.”

“Well assuming we even get customers, we could be making some good sales from the liquor if we didn’t have that one behind the counter.” Zib says, jabbing his thumb in Viktor’s direction. “No offense, big guy. Why not stick Paloma or Horatio behind there? They’re more friendly looking.”

“If we stick Viktor at the door then we’d have no customers, and Elizia made us swear not to put him in the more dangerous stuff.” Paloma points out.

“Who?”

“Viktor’s wife.”

“When the hell did he get a wife?” The musician mutters, earning a toothy grin from the usually stoic man. “Okay then, and putting a gun in the hands of someone with not a single mean bone in his body is a bad idea too.”

“Then why don’t you stand behind the bar?” Paloma suggests. “Instead of moping around the stage or on the chair.”

“I’d be more likely to drink half the stock than sell it sweetheart.”

“And get alcohol poisoning in the process.”

“Worth it.”

“Guess we’re stuck with him behind the bar for now.” Wick says with a shrug and takes his watch out. “Huh, it’s not that late.”

“How about we do this, on nights I am not going out with the three kids to collect booze or find better sellers, I can stay behind the bar and bartend?” Paloma suggests. “Give Viktor a break once in a while, I don’t think any of my old flapper dresses fit me anymore, but I can just borrow one of Rocky’s suit jackets or vests or get one second hand and fix it up and wear it while I work?”

“Hmm, that actually might work.” Mitzi says with a nod. “Though you should be getting yourself some new shirts too. And maybe you should go out and buy yourself a nice evening dress, at least one appropriate for tending a bar.”

“I'll ask Ivy to help me out with that when she gets back from her dad's.”

“Good. Would you be a dear and come upstairs with me to help me?”

Paloma nods as she hops off her stool to follow Mitzi upstairs to the apartment and to her office.

“Okay going over some of the bills yesterday, I think we've paid off almost everything.” Paloma says as she grabs some envelopes on the desk. “So now we just need more customers and then we'll be more or less back in business in no time.”

“Yes we still have a few bills to pay off, been meaning to look for someone to help us restock the artillery.” Mitzi says as she takes a seat at her desk. “Know anyone we could get some from?”

“I could ask Viktor, but this sort of thing seemed more like Mordecai's specialty.” Paloma says as some money is pulled out of a drawer. “I could check-”

The phone on the desk suddenly started ringing, startling the two women. They look at each other in confusion before Mitzi grabs it to answer the call.

“Hello? Asa, what- oh. Okay, I'll pass it to her. It's for you.” Mitzi says with a frown and hands the phone to her. “Keep it short honey.”

Ugh, what did that man want now, especially with her of all people?

“Should I be rude or polite?” Paloma asks as she takes the phone and covers the mouthpiece.

“Whatever works for you.”

“Fine. What the fuck do you want, you old eejit ?”

“Now that’s not an appropriate way for a young lady like yourself to speak to an elder. I thought Atlas taught you better.” She hears Asa say.

“And yet poaching your friend’s best employee days after his death is considered appropriate?”

Silence. Good, she was betting he was trying not to sound so pissed when he spoke again.

“Listen, I heard your little place is still not doing too well and it's doing worse than before, with the pig farmers and all, no customers to speak of.” Asa continues.

“We wouldn't have that problem if your employee hadn't provided them the firepower, and stole from us.”

“Oh I didn't give them anything, you can thank Hatchet Man for that.” He lets out a loud laugh that forced her to jerk the phone from her ear. Ugh, that laugh was annoying too. How could his wife stand it? “Come down to the Maribel Hotel, there’s some long overdue business for us to discuss.”

“Are you not telling Mitzi this because you don’t want to deal with her?”

“I have no business with Mitzi, it’s you I wish to speak to. Hotel, seven in the evening, just tell the bellhops you’re looking for me.”

“Escucha, viejo patán, ¡no quiero tener nada que ver contigo ni con tu asqueroso establecimiento!” Paloma growls. “Cualquier cosa que estés planeando ofrecer, puedes meterlo en tu tra- he hung up on me!”

“Well you did start yelling at him in spanish, as expected of him. What did he want?” Mitzi says as she takes the phone back to place it down.

“He wants to meet with me.” Paloma growls, clenching her fists.

“No doubt to ask you to you work with him.”

“I’ll refuse, but something tells me I’ll be forced to go, no matter what.”

Mitzi nods. “Go, and take your gun with you in case. Actually take a knife too, in case they frisk you at the door and take your revolver.”

----

Paloma ended up having to take a cab to the hotel, since Rocky's car was now refusing to cooperate. Mitzi had forced her to dress nicely for this meeting, so now she was sporting a soft red dress with white gloves instead of the dusty trousers and baggy shirt she usually wore with her bandana tied at the neck. The bellhop had escorted her towards some large doors where several men in dark suits and bright orange and yellow flowers pinned to their chests waited.

“I’m here to see your night manager.” Paloma says in a firm voice. “I have a meeting with him.”

“Your purse,if you will.” One man says, extending a hand towards her.

“Why?”

“Our boss warned us you may be armed, better safe than sorry.”

Oh that explains the numerous thugs at the door, and judging by some of the nervous faces, they know exactly who I am. She thinks as she hands her purse off to the man before he goes through it and withdraws the revolver.

“This clunky old thing won't do much damage.” The thug scoffs as he examines it.

“You'd be surprised how many rival gangsters it's killed.” Paloma responds in a smug tone. “And how many heads I've busted with it.”

“Whatever, let her in.”

“Hold on miss, we still have to check you, since you're new here.” Another gangster says, stopping her before she could move forward.

“Touch me and you lose a finger.” Paloma growls as he reaches to put his hands on her.

“I heard she bit someone's finger off, don't risk it Jerry!” Another thug hisses loudly. “And it's usually the trigger finger!”

Paloma smirks to herself as she is handed back her purse and the doors are opened to allow her to enter the speakeasy. As she suspected, she still had a reputation that hadn't died despite being out of action for a year.

She had never been in this hotel's speakeasy before, and it was very large and quite grand looking, like something out of that illustration of a ballroom she had seen in a book once. She soon spots Asa surrounded by several other rich looking men and laughing before he spots her. For a moment, Paloma could have sworn she spotted a flash of worry on his face before he motions for the men to leave.

“Paloma, good to see you again, it’s been ages!” He greets cheerfully. “Come, sit, eat! It’s been quite a while since you’ve done this in a place like this hasn’t it?”

“You invited me for a meeting, not for dinner.” Paloma responds coldly as she takes a seat, keeping at least a good distance from him.

“Aw don't be so cruel, what sort of host would I be if I didn't even offer you anything?” Asa scoffs. “Bet you'd even like the taste of our good hooch, you'll like it a lot better than whatever you have stocked at your place.”

“How about we stop beating around the tree and get straight to the heart of the matter.” Paloma says as she waves a server away who tried offering her some alcoholic beverages. “What do you want?”

“Straight to the point these days aren't you? Well for starters, the term is beating around the bush, and second, I want to make you an offer.” Asa says as he allows his glass to be refilled. “When Atlas and I were still friends, I had become aware of the latest member of his gang who was allowed in, a young immigrant girl from way down south who knew her way around a shotgun almost as well as his golden boy knew his way around a pistol and almost as brutal as his hulking mass of muscle everyone feared. Some members of gangs who come around here to eat and drink were terrified of this girl who could put the fear of God in them, which of course was you. You managed to gain yourself quite a reputation in such a short time almost as quickly as Atlas’ two best men did in seven and ten years. And I would very much like to have you on our team, with better pay of course.”

“Yes I am very aware of my reputation in this cutthroat industry you Americans had conjured up because you thought making booze illegal would make you all better. But I'm afraid my loyalties still lie with Atlas and Atlas only, and that loyalty extends to his wife, who I refuse to leave. So I will have to decline your so-called generous offer.”

“You do realize that the Lackadaisy won't last long, at least in Mitzi's hands it won't.”

Paloma’s eyes narrowed. “She is more resourceful than you give her credit for, perhaps you're too blind and arrogant to see it. Again, my answer is no.”

“Not even to work with an old friend?” Asa asks as the doors near them open.

“This better be important sir, we have some work to do.” An all too familiar voice says and Paloma felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest.

Mordecai was walking to them, dressed in his usual suit with the jacket draped over one arm while he was busy adjusting the black leather gloves on his hands. Behind him trailed three very unfamiliar cats she had never seen before, only one of them sporting the same red and gold flower pin Mordecai had pinned to his jacket that he was slipping on.

“Ah, we were just talking about you Mordecai! You remember miss Alvarez from your Lackadaisy days, right?” Asa says with a laugh. “I thought that like the Savoys and miss Havu, she'd do better working under us, but she's being a bit…stubborn. Like another certain Lackadaisy gang member.”

Paloma felt her hand reach into her bag, only to find her gun wasn't in there. She forgot they had frisked her at the door and confiscated her, so it looked like tonight she wouldn't be making due on her promise to this damn man. Well they hadn't take something else away, but she wasn't going to draw that out in a room full of men armed to the teeth with guns.

“Arguing with her is useless, you'll have much better luck with a brick wall than her.” Mordecai states with a scoff. “Trust me, I tried when I was leaving the gang we were both affiliated with.”

“And I intend to not abandon Mitzi in her time of need, not like a certain man who I told I'd shoot point blank with no hesitation next time I saw him.” Paloma snaps as she stands up. “You're lucky my gun was confiscated before I was allowed in here.”

“Do you even have the gumption to do it?” Mordecai asks with a frown.

“I gave you that warning shot didn't I? And you know I never miss.”

“Wow, this tension between them is very thick.” Paloma hears one of the cats accompanying Mordecai comment loudly, a muscular man lacking shoes and sporting what looked like bandaged hands.

“Asa, as I said, it's useless arguing with her.” Mordecai says with a frown, ignoring his companion’s comment. “She'd sooner swallow a bullet than accept any offers to leave Lackadaisy.”

“Better that than abandon the people who cared for you when things got rough.” Paloma snaps, getting up from her seat and slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Next time you ever see me, expect me to really put a bullet in that skull of yours. Adios, amor.”

She hoped that last bit sounded as bitter as she felt, and for a moment she thought she saw a flash of hurt in his eyes. But perhaps she was just seeing things. She storms past the guards at the door, snatching her gun out of their hands and stuffing it back into her bag before marching out of the hotel. She hadn't been prepared to see Mordecai at all, and she had hoped she never had to see him again. But something told her she'd be seeing him again soon, and that was something she was not looking forward to.

----

“So, what's your deal with the tortie?” Serafine asks once they're all in the car and Nico starts to drive away from the hotel. “She looked ready to murder you on the spot when we walked in.”

“She's just an old acquaintance I knew back in my Lackadaisy days, that's all.” Mordecai responds coldly. “She worked multiple jobs for us, like running the bar when our regular bartender was absent, cleaning up messes, give her a task and she'll do it.”

“Nothing was going on between you two?” Nico asks. “The way she was glaring at you was murderous, like an angry and jilted lover.”

“Of course you'd know a thing or two about that look, but no we were never lovers. She's just a disgruntled ex acquaintance.”

Nico turns his head a bit to smirk at Mordecai. Great, what odd hare brained thought did this man have running through his thick skull now? “Well, that's such a shame. A lovely lady like her hanging around a grumpy old man like you probably didn't do well for her dating life.”

Well that bit is true, and that's also thanks to Viktor who practically scared off every man from approaching her when she joined Atlas. Didn't scare me off, he practically encouraged me while discouraging others.

“But with you no longer hovering around her, she's probably gonna have a flock of suitors interested in courting her. She's good looking too, perhaps one of these days I can approach and see if she's interested in a handsome lad like myself? She seems like my ty-”

Mordecai had no clue what come over him, but the next second he found himself pressed against the back of the driver's seat, his hands wrapped tightly around the bandana Nico wore around his neck and practically strangling him with it as the car swerved and he is fighting to keep them from crashing into another car.

“YOU KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF PALOMA YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” He screams as the boxer attempts to free his grasp with one hand while keeping the other on the steering wheel. Serafine is screaming something at them before she manages to grab the wheel and yank it to the side, forcing them to park. Mordecai hears a shaky sigh of relief and turns to see Kuura pressed against the right door of the car, her claws gripping into the front seats's cushion that she just managed to pull free.

“Damn it Heller, the fuck is the matter with you?!” Serafine snarls as she and Kuura practically force Mordecai to let go of Nico as he coughs and wheezes violently. “Are you trying to kill us?!”

“You tell your damn brother to keep it in his pants, otherwise I'll shoot him down there!” Mordecai snaps. “And if he even dares to approach her, I'll shoot him there again and stab it for good measure!”

They hear a raspy laugh and turn to see Nico rubbing his neck while laughing before wiping at his eyes.

“Brother, has the lack of air to your brain made you snap?” Serafine asks with a frown.

“I was right, oh damn I was right, I fucking knew it!” The older Savoy laughs. Kuura gently pokes his arm and says something in that odd language of hers before shrugging. “Heller you sly dog!”

“You're making less sense than usual.” Mordecai mutters. “Alright out with it, what are you talking about?”

“You and that murderous woman, you did have a thing with her going on!” Nico wheezed before laying his head on the steering wheel and pounds the dashboard of the car while laughing. “I knew there was some sort of romantic tension between you two the way she was staring you down!”

“Yeah, I think you made him go weird in the head.” Serafine mutters. “Move over, I'm driving.”

Nico exits the car still laughing and coughing as he swaps seats with his sister before she restarts the car and they're on their way again. He keeps looking back at Mordecai during the ride, breaking into fits of laughter again and again before his sister smacks his head to shut him up.

Damn it, what's wrong with me? Mordecai wonders as he leans his head against his door and looks out the window at the passing cars. I'm not supposed to lose my cool over these sorts of things, especially her.

But the thought of Paloma with someone like Nico made his stomach churn like he had eaten something unpleasant. Yes he knew she was smart and probably wouldn't fall for someone like that, she'd probably shoot any man in a rather painful spot if they approached her like that, but it still didn't ease him. It was disappointing that he was acting like this over her, he should have been over her months ago.

“You good Peekon?” He hears Nico ask.

“Just tired, haven't been sleeping well.” Mordecai mutters as he removes his glasses to rub at his eyes properly. “One of these days I need a proper week off, but work will never get done if that happens.”

“Stab knee?” Kuura suggests, pulling out a knife and tapping Mordecai's knee with the flat end. “Yes?”

“No, no stabbing.”

“No?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“No, put that away! Ugh you sound just like Paloma when she started working with-”

“Referring to her by name, and twice. You two were obviously close.” Serafine chuckles. “My brother was right, there was definitely tension between you two. Last time I saw that angry look in a woman's eyes was one of Nicodeme's past lovers, mad for whatever reason, I can't even remember why.”

“She had a gun too.” Nico laughs. “Would have shot me if my sister didn't put a stop to it.”

“No wonder you thought she was your type.” Mordecai mutters. “Even if you were serious, Miss Alvarez has higher standards when it comes to men. Despite coming from a rural and poor background, she-”

“Hey ain't that her?” Serafine interrupts, pointing ahead. “Not too many women have streaks in their hair, often prefer to dye the whole thing.”

Indeed it was Paloma, walking briskly down the sidewalk with her heels in hand and gripping the strap of her bag while wearing an angry look on her face. Without warning, Serafine suddenly swerved the car to stop near the sidewalk and Mordecai nearly fell right into Kuura.

“Aye! Need a ride?” She calls out and Mordecai felt his heart leap in his throat before he immediately ducks down.

“No gracias, don't want anything to do with Marigold…or a certain symmetry obsessed man doing a poor job of hiding in the back seat.” Paloma responds coldly. “Buenas noches.”

“Are you crazy?! She has a gun!” Mordecai hisses as he sits up when he is sure she is gone.

“So do you.” Nico points out.

“I'm still here.” Mordecai yelps as he jumps, bumping his head against the ceiling of the vehicle. Paloma was still standing there on the sidewalk, now sporting an unamused look.

“Hei!” Kuura yells, sticking her hand out of Nico's open window to wave at her.

“Hello, and adios.” She says as she turns to start walking again.

“Hey it's dark, and a jeune mademoiselle like you shouldn't be wandering around the streets like this, especially with no shoes.” Nico says as he stuck his head out the window. “We can toss him out if you want.”

“Oh how mature.” Mordecai snaps.

“Or Kuura can just sit between you both, or Nico can while she sits up front with me.” Serafine suggests. “Nico, switch seats with our tiny friend.”

“I don't need a ride!” Paloma insists. “You-”

“We insist.”

“Come on, you don't even have to look at him.” Nico says as he gets out of the car. “Or you can sit up front and I squeeze in the back with your old amoureux and our tiny friend. Consider it a bit of a truce between our gangs for the night.”

“Oh leave her be!” Mordecai snaps. “Good grief you both are just attempting to make me miserable tonight!”

“Ha, perhaps you deserve it.” Paloma says with a scoff. “Fine, but only this once.”

Kuura practically climbed onto Mordecai as Nico slipped into the back seat, which now felt like a tight fit while Paloma got into the front seat. Tonight really was going to be miserable.

“So…Alvarez, certainly not an American name.” Nico says breaking the silence as they are driving. “And so is…Paloma, was it?”

“Spaniard, derived from the name Alvaro, meaning guardian. Paloma, derived from the Latin word palumbus and means dove.” Paloma responds. “I'm named after my grandmother.”

“Well it's a…nice name.”

The car once again was silent and Mordecai was finding himself glancing at the back of her head too many times. Never once did she even look back, which he was grateful for, but also disappointed.

“You know, we are somewhat new in town and haven't really heard a great deal of things about you, but you must be quite the gangster if our employer is trying to obtain you, especially since you worked with Peekon.” Serafine says, breaking the silence. “Heard Lackadaisy was quite good, but it's pretty much just fallen to pieces.”

“We're holding on, and we would be doing much better if a certain cabrón hadn't been part of the cause of why his only friend in the whole world has a hole in his chest and why we lost a chance at gaining some revenue.” Paloma responds in a sour tone. “I now have to do that idiot's job and several others because we are short staffed.”

“Yeesh, I wouldn't want to be in that man's shoes.” Nico snickers, glancing at Mordecai.

“Whatever you do, don't trust him, he has no problem turning his back on his friends.”

“Now hold on!” Mordecai protests. “I-”

Now the cold feel of the pistol is pressed against his snout.

“Hey, hey! How about we don't blow his head up in the car?” Serafine suggests. “Last thing we need is the cops on our tails.”

“Yeah and it's gonna be a pain to clean up his brain from the seat cushions.” Nico agrees as he reaches forward to grab the gun. “Just hand it over and-”

“Touch me and it's your brain your associates will have to scrape off the car's interior.” Paloma snaps as she points the gun at him.

“Come on, we agreed to a truce, didn't we?” Nico says as he gently pushed the gun away.

“Don’t test her Nico, she’s serious.” Mordecai warns his hand going for the holster under his coat. “Paloma, put the gun away.”

“Oh it’s been over a year and you still think you can tell me what to do?” Paloma asks, pointing the gun back at him. “Don’t even think about pulling that pistol out.

“No shooting.” Kuura says, pushing the gun away from Mordecai and Nico. “Please?”

“Put the gun away, now.” Serafine warns in a firm tone before the revolver is pointed in her face. “You really want to test how fast I can try and shoot you?”

“Go ahead, I'd like to see you try.” Paloma retorts. “This wouldn't be the first time I shot someone point blank in a car.”

Great, now what were they going to do? If even one of them tried to draw a weapon, Paloma would fire the gun. Mordecai was aware that the old revolver had a tendency to jam once in a while, but he wasn’t about to risk it. Before he could even figure out what they could do, Kuura suddenly reaches forward and grabs the gun.

“No shoot, we have truce.” The smaller woman warns For a moment, it almost looks like Paloma just might shoot her, but her angered gaze softens and she lowers the gun before shifting back in her seat.

“You can drop me off here, I can walk the rest of the way.” She says as the car rolls to a stop and she climbs out, as does Nico. “Don’t bother to follow me, and stay away. That includes you, Mordecai. Good night.”

“And goodnight to you cher.~” The boxer says before she walks off and he climbs back into the front seat. “Well, that was fun.”

“Fun?! She almost blew your sister’s head off and yours!” Mordecai exclaims as Serafine starts to drive again. “We’re lucky Kuura stopped her!”

“Hmm, true, but still fun. I‘m starting to think she really might be just my type, I do like my women with a little bit of fire in them.”

“More like she’s got a raging inferno in her.” Mordecai mutters, glancing at the rearview mirrors where he could see Paloma walking. “Just stay away from her.”

“Cher you sounding like a jealous ex boyfriend, that’s not a good look for you. Nico’s a grown ass man, he can handle himself.” Serafine scoffs and prods her brother's arm. “And you mister, keep it in your pants, she’s part of a rival gang.”

“During work hours she is.” Her brother scoffs and Mordecai feels himself bristle.

There was that awful feeling in his chest again, he hadn’t felt that way since the night he told Paloma they were fake dating. Sure that night she was smiling at Zib of all people, and tonight she was giving Nico a murderous glare that would make Viktor proud, that emotion was now just starting to emerge. Jealousy, and he hated it. He hadn’t felt that in years, due to the fact that he was dating Paloma at the time, and probably because of a sense of pride he felt. Of all the men in St Louis she could have been with, ones a lot more outgoing and not even in gangs, anyone who was the opposite of him, yet she chose him of all people to give her heart to. That was something he had felt proud about, at least until they broke up, and until tonight.

She has every right to move on from me and be happy with someone else, so why can’t I?

----

“Ugh, why do they insist on putting these so high up?” Paloma mutters as she tries reaching for the jar of pickles that was out of reach. Even in heels she couldn't reach the damn things. She could try jumping, but that'd cause a mess if she accidentally lost her footing. There was also lifting Leo up so he could grab the jar, but he had the tendency to drop heavy things so that was also a no go.

Today she had no work, so she decided to take her youngest brother along with her on some errands, like grocery shopping to restock on food and pay Nina back with some, despite her protests.

“Here cher, allow me.” A somewhat familiar voice says before she got a whiff of cigarettes and a pale white furred arm reaches for the jar that was out of reach.

“¡Pepinillos!” Leo yells excitedly. “¿Paloma, puedo tener uno despues?”

“Cuando pagamos por todo.” Paloma responds as she glances behind her to see it was that man from the other night, the one from the Marigold gang who was with Mordecai. God help her, why was he looking at her like that? She felt a bit uneasy.

The man, Nico if she remembered correctly, turns his attention to Leo and hands him the jar with a soft smile, earning an excited giggle from the child. “He's pretty cute, is he yours?” He asks as he turns his attention back to her.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing, just trying to make conversation with my associate’s ex beau.”

Paloma stiffens but quickly tries to act like nothing happened. “He's not my beau, and he never was. We were just work acquaintances.”

“Sure, work acquaintances act like they have strained romantic tension when they're in forced proximity.” Nico scoffs and lets out a chuckle. “You know, a shame you refused the fat man's offer, would have made for some…interesting and even entertaining moments in our little group.”

“What, shooting that stick in the mud with a yard stick up his rear?” Paloma scoffs as she starts to walk and Leo follows. “I'd rather not waste my bullets on him.”

“Really? You looked so ready to do that to the three of us if our little friend hadn't stopped you.” Nico says as he follows, removing an item from the shelf to examine it before putting it back. “You have guts, I'll give you that. Normally when one points a gun at me, I'd have them bleeding from their snout and mouth and suffering more than a few broken bones.”

“If that's a threat, I've heard worse directed at me.”

“Nah, I don't do that, my fists prefer to do the talking.”

“So you're more of a muscle man lacking in brains.” Paloma asks with a frown as she grabs a few cans of beans off the shelf and into her basket.

Nico lets out a laugh. “You've got a sharp tongue! No wonder Peekon still likes you! Got wit as sharp as his!”

“Sharp enough to shut him up. Now stop following me, you're scaring the boy.”

“Is he yours and Peekon? I can see the resemblance.”

“Hermana, ¿por qué nos sigue el hombre alto?” Leo asks loudly.

“No le hagas caso Leo.” Paloma responds before sending a glare at Nico.

“Just curious, the man acts so aloof and mysterious half the time.” The older man says, holding his hands up in defense. “So, you aren't seeing anyone? Like no one at all? No boyfriends or betrothals?”

“Like I have time for that!” Paloma scoffs as she moves to grab some oranges from a display and dropped them into her basket. “I have two jobs to work, people to look after, I don’t have time for a boyfriend!”

“Oh you wound me cher, I'm hurt!” Nico gasps as they walk up to the register where the clerk starts ringing the items up.

“That'll be a dollar and twenty-six cents ma'am.” The clerk says. “Bag?”

“One please, give me a moment.” Paloma says as she reaches into her bag for her coin purse.

“I'll pay.” She hears Nico say before a five dollar bill is slapped on the counter.

“No I have the money, I don't need your so-called kindness.” Paloma says as she pulls out several coins and puts them on the counter.”

“I insist.”

“And I insist you do not.”

“Well I double insist.”

“Oh you-”

“Here's your change sir, and your groceries ma'am!” The clerk interrupts, pushing the paper bag of groceries to Paloma and hands Nico back some money. “Have a good day!”

“Guess I won this time cher.” The older man says with a cheeky grin. “Need some help with those?”

“No thank you, I can manage.” Paloma says as she snatches the paper bag into one arm and grabbed Leo's hand with her unoccupied hand to drag him out of the store. Much to her annoyance, Nico followed. “Don't you have anything better to do than this?”

“I do have errands to run for my sister, but I can do those later.” Nico says with a shrug. “Plus you look like you got your hands full and could use some help.”

“¡Arriba!” Leo suddenly says, letting go of his sister's hand and holding his arms up to Nico. “¿Por favor? me duelen los pies.”

Paloma groans. “Leo-”

“Up we go!” Nico says as he lifts the toddler up and sets him right on his shoulders. “How's the view up there little man?”

“Put him down!” Paloma yells, reaching for her brother.

“No! No no no no!” Leo yells as he swatted his sister's hands away and hugged Nico's head.

“Guess I'm stuck with you on your errands.” The older man says with a smirk.

Paloma grimaces before turning to keep walking. The whole walk to Elizia's bakery, she could hear her brother giggling and laughing and often turned to see him trying to reach for the small twigs and leaves of the implanted trees on the sidewalk, sticking them in Nico's hair when he was successful in plucking one. The sight reminded her of when she was young and her father used to let her ride on his shoulders so she could pluck the low hanging fruit. It hadn't occurred to her until now that he used to do that with Leo before the war, and he'd never be able to do it again now that he passed.

“Hey, why you crying cher?” Paloma blinks in surprise when she sees Nico standing a little too close and his hand reaching for her face. Out of instinct, her hand flies up and grabs his wrist to stop him from touching her. “Whoa calm down, you started crying out of nowhere, you good?”

“¿Loma?” Leo calls out and reaches for her. Paloma then reaches up to grab her brother, allowing Nico to grab her groceries. Leo frowns and reaches up to wipe her face and hugs her neck tightly.

“I believe we're here at that bakery you mentioned.” Nico comments and Paloma turns to see that they were there. She could see Elizia inside, putting something away.

“Elizia, hello!” She says loudly as they enter the shop.

“Ah, Paloma, I wasn't expecting you with a…guest.” Elizia says turning to greet her with a smile before it falters when she sees Nico.

“¡Pan por favor!” Leo yells, pointing at a loaf of bread on display.

“Ignore him, the weird man holding my groceries.” Paloma whispers. “I'll just need a few loaves, I'm taking some to Calvin’s mother.”

“Paloma!” She hears Ilioise yell as she comes out of the kitchen, sporting an apron with the front and most of her hair covered in flour. “I'm baking!”

“I can see that, you look very messy.” Paloma laughs as she uses one hand to ruffle the girl's hair to shake out the flour. “Heh, you look like Gabriel if he had grey fur.”

Ilioise giggles before her face falls when she sees Nico examining some sweet bread on display. “Who's that?” She asks softly. “He looks scary.”

“Weird man I met at the grocery store, Leo likes him for whatever reason.” Paloma says in a low voice

“Want me to whack him? Mama has a big broom in the kitchen.”

“Ilioise!” Elizia hisses. “You will do no such thing, what would your father say?”

“I'd say Viktor would approve.” Paloma snorts as she is handed a paper bag full of bread. “How much-”

“Just a quarter.”

“That much for all this bread?”

Elizia smiles. “With some sweet bread to take to my husband and your siblings, and to your friends as well.”

“Elizia, you shouldn't.” Paloma scolds as she hastily grabs for her coin purse and pushes a quarter into the older woman's hand before Nico could notice.

“And I still do it.” Elizia chuckles and ruffles Leo's hair. “Behave yourself.”

Leo giggles and batted her hands away as his sister grabs the bag of bread and heads out the door.

“Alright, I think that's everything for today.” Paloma says as she waves for a taxi. “We just need to get home to cook us some dinner, maybe-”

“You do realize I have your groceries, right?” Paloma yelps as she spun to see Nico behind her, almost dropping her bag of bread.

“Don't do that!” She yells. “Almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Aww, my handsome mug did that?” The older man teases and laughs when she swats his arm. “Well this was quite fun.”

“Hardly.” Paloma scoffs as a cab stops near them. “Hand on I need to-”

“Allow me.” Nico says as he opened the back door of the car and hands the driver some money. “Take the young lady and her kid to where they need to go, and keep the change.”

“I have money to pay for my own fare.” Paloma protests as she puts her brother in the backseat and hands him the bag of bread.

“I know, just doing something nice for the nice lady.”

Paloma just rolls her eyes as she accepts the bag of groceries to sit them next to Leo and sits herself in the cab before shutting the door behind her.

“Be seeing around anytime soon cher?” Nico asks, leaning against the open window.

“Doubt it, it's a big city.” Paloma responds. “I'd rather not cross paths again, and you shouldn't hope for that either.”

“You never know, it's a small world.” He says with a shrug. “Though something tells me we might be seeing each other very soon.”

“Wait what-”

“Ma'am? The address?” The cab driver calls out, diverting Paloma’s attention. When she glances back at the window, Nico is gone.

“Sorry, downtown please.” She says with a shake of her head.

“Loma, who was that?” Leo asks as the taxi starts to move before his face lights up. “Is he a boyfriend?”

“What? What makes you think that?” Paloma asks with a frown.

“He keeps looking at you the way papi looked at mami sometimes. I like him, he smells like papi too.”

“Since when did papi start to smoke?”

“I dunno, but I miss him.”

Paloma gives him a sad smile before pulling him into a hug. “I miss him too, but just don't go asking every stranger who reminds you of him for piggyback rides. Except Viktor, if his knees aren't killing him.”

Chapter Text

“You know, staring at that isn't gonna have her running back to you.” Mordecai snapped his watch shut in haste and turned to see Nico standing in the doorway of the hotel, cigarette in hand. “You miss her, don't you? The Paloma girl? I thought she was just an “acquaintance”, but that doesn't seem to be the case if you have her photo on your person.”

“Shouldn't you be upstairs in your room doing whatever it is you do for your god or patron?” Mordecai asks in annoyance as he opens the watch again, gazing at the photo and letting out a tired sigh. “I keep meaning to remove it, but I can never bring myself to. It…unfortunately reminds me of the more simple times.”

“How'd you two even meet anyways?”

“None of your business.”

“So should I ask her myself next time we meet?”

Mordecai's face darkens. “Take a step near her and-”

“I kid cher, I kid!” Nico laughs. “But sooner or later, our paths will have to cross at some point. Or one of these days we just end up seeing each other in broad daylight in public, like getting groceries, picking up bread or something. But anyways, if you want to keep the photo, go ahead. Nothing wrong with keeping it for sentimental reasons, hoping she'd want to get back with you. Maybe you could ask our patron for a little help with your love life, give you both a nudge in the right direction in getting back together.”

“First off, I am not into that sort of thing. And second, I highly doubt she even wants me anymore.” Mordecai retorts. “You saw how she was in the car that night, or did you miss the sour and angry expressions and the gun she pointed at us because you were too infatuated with her?”

“If anyone failed to notice the gun and her intent to kill you, that's on them. But lucky for us, Kuura subdued her.” Nico says with a shrug. “Well, if you don't want to ask our patron for help, fine. But you should do something about those lingering feelings, Peekon. The more you let them fester, the worse they will get. Either extinguish them and move on, or wallow in your pity and have your judgment clouded by the love you still hold for her. Or, even better, take a chance to win her heart again. Third option, I could perhaps help with that.”

“I wouldn't trust you or your sister with my laundry or failing love life.”

“Fair, but…ah. Ah! You admitted! You had a love life!” Nico laughs and smacks Mordecai on the back hard enough to almost make him fall over. “Okay tell you what, I give you a hand in winning her back and -”

“I am not continuing this conversation, we have an important meeting with Mr Sweet right now.” Mordecai says as he snatched his hat off the floor and elbowed his way past the boxer to enter the hotel.

“Alright, your loss Peekon!” Nico laughs as he follows. “Don't blame me if she falls for me when you could have won her back.”

Mordecai felt himself bristling at that comment, but said nothing. That awful emotion of jealousy was stirring in him again, and he was not liking it. If he even had the time to try and pursue Paloma again, he would, but right now there were more important things to deal with at this moment than his love life. For instance, several weeks ago two of their own Marigold members were ambushed and sent to the hospital, a pair of men named Wes Clyde and one who everyone just referred to as Fish. Only one had somewhat recovered from his injuries and came running straight to them to tell Asa what happened, hence this meeting.

The two men soon entered Asa's office where he was seated behind his desk with a lit cigar in his mouth, Kuura seated on the desk sharpening a scythe with a rock, and Serafine seated in a chair twirling one of her knives between her fingers. Next to her sat one of the men, his head bandaged, a large gaudy thing wrapped around his neck for support and his arm in a sling.

“The hell happened to you Savoy?” Asa asks when he spots them coming in. “Boxing fight go wrong?”

“Oh this thing?” Nico asks, pointing to his eye injury. “Nah, it'd be worse if it was. This was from….couple of days ago. Little kid at her ma's bakery was sweeping the floors and accidentally poked me a bit too hard with the wooden end of the broom. The whole side of my face would have been busted up if I had been in a match recently, or I'd still be in my room recovering.”

“Kids, never liked them.” The man next to Serafine mutters. “Annoying snot nosed little brats.”

“No one asked for your opinion, Wes.” Serafine retorts as she stops playing with her knife. “Or should I say, weasel face.”

The man next to her glares, but says nothing, earning a chuckle from Asa and a snort from Kuura.

“Alright enough chitchat, to the heart of the matter. Wes was it?” Asa says as he sits up in his chair. “Now, back in May you were busy keeping tabs on the Arbogasts and their farm to make sure no other gangs or buyers tried getting the good stuff from them. But recently something happened, would you care to tell us in more detail?”

“Fish and I got ambushed by a pair of thugs, I don't even know what gang they were from, they never said or wore anything that would affiliate them to any of the known gangs.” The man man, Wes, said and grimaced. “Just my luck to get ambushed by a pair of maniacs.”

“You sure they were even gangsters?” Nico asks. “Could have been a bunch of hoodlums and moonshiners from a farm looking to get themselves better booze. There was a pig farm me and my sister would use to get rid of bodies and the guy who lived there ran his own moonshine business and speakeasy, nasty tasting shit. He used to sell his own stuff and bottles he was buying off someone else.”

“Do farmers dress in suits and go driving pie trucks?” Wes snaps, turning around in his seat to glare at the boxer. “Or are armed with a Tommy?”

“A bunch of farmers I met with did.” Asa comments. “Of course that didn't end well for them. Anyways, someone ambushed you and your companion, did you catch a name or anything?”

“No. Ugh if I ever see that maniac laughing freak I'm gonna-”

“Describe their appearance.” Mordecai interrupts.

“It was dark, I can't describe how they looked!” Wes protests.

“Well then how were you able to tell what sort of gun one of them had? Or if they were even men at all?”

“Look at me! Does this look like something a woman would do?” Wes asks angrily, getting up from his seat to show them his injuries.

“Probably not someone like Serafine or Kuura.” Nico snorts. “What was her name again? The gal we met the other night who our boss was trying to get? Maybe she'd do that, heard she could do a lot of physical damage to someone with the right tools.”

“It wasn't a woman! They didn't even sound like women! At least the one I talked to was clearly a guy!” Wes snaps. “The details of his face are fuzzy, but he clearly set up some sort of ambush! We need to find out who this was and get rid of them if we want to keep those funeral home running farmers under our control!”

“Alright calm down, no need to get worked up.” Asa scolds. “I suppose this is rather serious, and we were unaware of this for so long so those folks now have no one to keep an eye on them. Should send at least more than two men to keep the place guarded.

“Allow me to at least investigate this.” Mordecai says, stepping forward. “See who we are up against, I'll report back to see how we should handle these people.”

“Fine, I'll allow it.” Asa says before letting out a puff of smoke. “You know the drill, take your team with you.”

“Sir-”

“Oh getting rid of us already cher?” Nico teases. “And here I thought we were becoming friends.”

“Gonna need someone to supervise you anyways.” Serafine laughs. “So, when do we even start?”

“The sooner the better. Dismissed, except for Miss Havu.” Asa says as the smaller woman is about to hop off the desk.

“Hmm?” Kuura says, turning and pointing at herself.

“Yes. Now the rest of you, go.”

“Wonder what he wants with her.” Serafine says as the four of them exit the office.

“Beats me, but she's his best attack dog so it probably has something to do with the wife and kids.” Nico says with a shrug. “Speaking of, did- why the fuck are you still here?”

The man, Wes, just glares at him. “It's a public hallway.”

“Yeah but this is a private conversation.”

“How about we head up to our room, it's more private.” Serafine suggests as she grabs Mordecai by the arm and drags him and her brother away. “Come on, Kuura will know where to find us.”

Once they were in the suite and the door was locked, the three took a seat. At least it was quiet in here, a lot better than when that whole congregation of theirs wasn't here.

“So, what's the plan hatchet man?” Nico asks once they are settled.

“For what?” Mordecai asks in annoyance.

“Dealing with those folks who took out two thugs?”

“You mean Wes and Fish.” His sister corrects. “Those two aren't exactly…strong. But we should still be cautious.”

“Perhaps for starters, we should be observing the farm, checking for anyone suspicious coming and going.”

“The gang I used to be affiliated with used to deal with this family, I wouldn't be surprised if they went back to working with them again.” Mordecai comments with a frown. “They…sometimes if things were getting bad, they'd send out these false newspaper clips written in code to tell where they're stashing some of their alcohol.”

“Clever, so how we gonna get them?” Serafine asks, leaning forward.

“Check various graveyards at night, if we spot a car near the graves that'll be our sign to go check them out. No one has any business being in a graveyard at night, especially with shovels.”

“Any ideas who it could be?” Nico asks.

“I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with my former gang.”

Nico lets out a chuckle. “Ah, the one your former girlfriend is still associated with? Good, been wanting to see her again for some time.”

Mordecai felt a small growl rise in his throat as his tail thrashed. “Focus Nico, we have a job to do. I'm surprised her pointing a gun at your ugly mug didn't deter you from still wanting to pursue her.” 

“And I'm surprised she even found yours attractive enough to kiss!”

“Which you will never do!”

“Alright enough!” Serafine yells as both men jump out of their seats. “Both of you, sit your asses down!”

“I am back!” They hear Kuura yell as she enters the suite. “So, what plan?”

“Staking out a graveyard, starting who knows when.” Serafine replies and turns to the two men. “Alright if you two are gonna fight, do it outside. Otherwise, drop the matter.”

Mordecai simply glares at Nico, who just smirks before they both take their seats and Kuura walks over to plop herself on the armrest of the older Savoy’s chair and lean against him. What did she even see in him?

“So, we're gonna be heading to every graveyard in Missouri or something?” Serafine asks. “Sounds like a waste of time unless you can narrow it down for us.”

“I have a few in mind we could check out tonight and tomorrow.” Mordecai responds. “One way or another, we'll catch these thieves.”

----

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Rocky screams as he thrashes about on the ground in pain.

“Oh don’t be such a big baby, you’ll be fine!” Paloma scoffs. “I just put your arms back in their sockets, saved you a trip to the hospital.”

“Is Roark being dramatic again?” They hear Nina yell from inside.

“She shoved my arms back in place!” Rocky cries out. “It hurts!”

“Good! That'll teach you to not play stupid in front of a bunch of children. Now behave yourself, and set a good example for Leo!”

The two gangsters were in the backyard of Nina’s home with Paloma’s younger siblings, at least trying to enjoy the summer while Calvin was inside attempting to fix up the fridge with Imelda. Rocky had set about attempting to entertain the remaining teen and the toddler by tying a rope between a tree and the fence in an attempt to recreate a tightrope, only to fall and somehow dislocated both arms from their sockets.

“Dead?” Leo asks, poking Rocky in the face.

“No, just being dumb.” Paloma responds as she fans at her face. “Dios mio, it's boiling today! Makes me wish we could go swimming.”

“Sadly everyone in St Louis is probably clogging up all the swimming holes, rivers and lakes to take a dip.” Rocky says as he sits up and fiddles with one of the buttons of his shirt to pop it open. “Do you even know how to swim?”

“We used to swim at a nearby river in my town, but I thought I was going to drown the first time I got thrown in a lake. It was…oh the first summer I was here in the city.” Paloma says and chuckles. “Mitzi insisted on the band and the other gangsters come to a lake to cool off, Zib got buried in the sand because he was…well…not in a swimsuit.”

“Yeah maybe don't say that in front of the k-i-d.”

“Kid!” Leo yells.

“Oh great he can spell, wonderful.”

“Too hoooot!” Maria groans from the grass, removing the book she was trying to use to shield her face from the sun.

“Lemonade anyone?” They hear Nina call out as she exits the house with a pitcher and several cups on a tray.

“Thirty!” Leo yells excitedly as he rushes up to her. “Pea?”

“Th-err-st-y, thirsty. It's thirsty. And you say please. Pl-ea-se.” Nina corrects him as she set the tray down on a table and pours a cup to hand to him. “At least he's getting better at English, it's only been a month.”

“It helps that you're teaching it.” Paloma says as she gets up to walk over and accept a glass. “And the fridge?”

“I think they're done with it, but we'll have to see. At least it's warm out for the laundry to dry.”

“Leemoon!” Leo says as he walks back to Rocky with his half finished glass of Lemonade and offers it to him. “Drink!”

“You know, down near the diner there's a new ice cream shop that just opened up, the prices look adorable.” The violinist says as he accepts the cup to finish off the drink. “You kids want some ice cream?”

“¿Que es?” Maria asks as she sat up.

“It's like…sweet frozen milk, but flavored.” Paloma explains. “There's vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. And this new one that's supposed to be all three flavors in one scoop.”

“Chocolate?” Leo asks, his little copper eyes lighting up in excitement.

“Aww, he looks like Freckle when he was a baby getting all excited over chocolate milk.” Rocky chuckles and looks at his aunt. “You don't mind if I kidnap these kids for a little treat, do ya? And Calvin?”

“If their sister agrees.” Nina responds with a shrug. “And as long as you don't do any reckless driving.”

“Will do!” Rocky says as he gets up and dusts his pants off. “Hey Freckle! Tell Pal's sister that we are taking you guys out for ice cream!”

“Treat!” Leo yells as his sister picks him up.

“Yes we're going for a treat.” Paloma chuckles.

Once the kids were packed into the car, the group drove off into the city before arriving at the ice cream shop. By no surprise it was a little crowded, but they managed to find a table for the kids to sit at while Paloma and Rocky got ice cream.

“Alrighty, here's chocolate for Freckle and baby Freckle, strawberry for Maria and Imelda, vanilla for Paloma, and a whole new flavor of all three for me!” Rocky says as he hands out the small cups. “Eat up before it melts!”

Leo squinted at his ice cream suspiciously and gave it a small poke. “Look funny.”

“It's just ice cream. Taste it, it's good!” Paloma says as she scooped some into a spoon and holds the spoon out to Leo. He cautiously takes it and shoves it into his mouth, before he lets out an excited squeal and gets another spoonful of the treat to shove into his mouth. “¿Ves? It's so good!”

“So sweet!” Imelda gasps. “How is made?”

“I really don't know, but it's very tasty.” Rocky says as he eats his. “It tastes better while suffering from the heat doesn't it? Miss M should add this to the menu, maybe we'll get more customers this way and extra revenue for the Little Daisy.”

“I'll suggest it to her when I see her.” Paloma says as she eats another spoon of her ice cream. “Oh speaking of which, I did have to meet up with Viktor there this afternoon, we can head over there after we're done and go wait for him.”

“Good plan. Also I think he's warming up to me after so many years. He hasn't tried to choke or strangle me once since we went to visit him when he was still unwell.”

“No, it's because now when you talk to him during the day you have Leo in your grasp. Also he's not around you as much now.”

“Party pooper.”

“Novio!” Leo suddenly gasps, pointing excitedly behind Paloma and climbs off his chair to run. Paloma turns, wondering who he could have seen to get so excited, only for her to feel her stomach drop when she sees who is coming inside the parlor.

Much to her horror, it was that man Nico, only he wasn't alone. That woman from the other night, Kuura if her memory served her right, was also with him as Leo runs over to them and holding his arms up to the larger man.

“Hi!” He giggles excitedly.

“Oh so you can speak english!” Nico laughs as he bends to scoop him up. “Very good! Now if you are here, that means…ah! La jolie colombe is here as well!”

“Dios mio no…” Paloma mutters as the two approach.

“Uh…Pal, who is this?” Rocky asks, pointing at the duo with his spoon. “And why is Leo calling the big guy “novio"? Also what did that mean again, my spanish is a wee bit rusty.”

“Boyfriend.” Imelda responds before shoveling another spoon of strawberry ice cream into her mouth.

“Since when did she get a new beau?”

“I never did.” Paloma mutters as she gets up, walks over to Nico and Kuura and holds her arms out. “Leo, come here.”

“No!” Ths toddler protests, wrapping his little paw tightly around the older man's bandana.

“Leo!”

“Aww, he's very attached to you.” Kuura chuckles. “How cute!”

“Would you believe it if I told you this was Peekon’s kid?” Nico laughs. “The man dislikes me, yet this little one doesn't. Guess I'm now the boyfriend if he says so.”

“First off, he's not my ex's kid, that's my baby brother.” Paloma says with a frown. “Second, ignore what he says, you are not my boyfriend just because Leo says so.”

“Aww, I'm hurt cher, I really thought we had a connection last time we met.” Nico says with a dramatic pout. “You wound me!”

“Oh don't start-”

“Aw Nico, you get a girlfriend and won't share?” Kuura gasps. “How rude of you! I would have liked to know her better!”

“Alright we are leaving, finish your ice cream niños!” Paloma says as she takes Leo out of Nico's arms and grabs Rocky's hand to drag him out the door. “Now!”

“Wait Pal- hold on!” Rocky yells as he is dragged to the car. “Who was that? What's going on?”

“Someone you do not want to be around. Stay here.” Paloma says as she pulls her revolver out and shoves it between the folds of the front seat. “Keep that on hand.”

“She mad.” Imelda comments as Paloma hands her Leo.

“Yes I am. Now all of you stay here.” Paloma says before shutting the door behind Calvin and storms back into the parlor where the two Marigold thugs are now eating their own cones.

“Blegh, too weird tasting.” She hears Kuura comment as she and Nico swap their ice cream. “Chocolate tastes funny like this. Oh your girlfriend is back.”

“Listen here, I don't know what Asa is trying to pull, but I don't appreciate one of his thugs tailing me in public as a form of intimidation!” Paloma hisses as she grabs Nico by the bandana and yanks him down to be level with her. “Stay away from my family, next time I see you I'll do what I threatened Mordecai with next time I see him.”

“No need to get aggressive cher, the fat man doesn't even know I've seen you in public a few times. No harm will come to those kids.” Nico laughs as he puts a hand on the one that was gripping his bandana. “Though I should warn you, pull this any harder and you'll have me literally falling for you.”

“Must everything out of your mouth sound like you're trying to seduce me?” Paloma asks with a disgusted face as she lets go of the bandana.

“So does this mean I should try a little harder?” Nico asks with a smirk. “Because I can.”

“Please do.” Kuura mutters.

“No please don't.” Paloma mutters as she turns to walk away. “Just stay away, and I mean it.”

“See you soon again cher, because I feel like we'll be seeing each other real soon!” She hears Nico yell before the doors of the parlor close behind her.

Calm down, get a grip, be calm. Paloma thinks as she takes in and exhales a few deep breaths. Now that we are calm, let's take a trip to the Little Daisy.

Inside the cafe was quiet, save for the sound of someone cooking in the kitchen and the turning of magazine pages that Ivy was reading when they walked in. Her eyes light up when she sees them and waves excitedly.

“Hiya! You guys hungry?” She asks the group as they take a seat at the counter.

“Pancakes please!” Rocky says happily.

“We're not selling breakfast right now, I'll make you a sandwich. Freckle? Paloma? Kids?”

“Samich!” Leo says with a grin. “Peas!

“Just give him a hand and cheese sandwich and some juice.” Paloma says quickly. “And some pickles on the side. Actually make that three more, with juice for the kids and I'll take a glass of water.”

“Say, where's our big scary one eyed friend?” Rocky asks, glancing around the place. “It's around the time he should-”

“Ivy, pan broke!” They hear Viktor say as he emerges from the kitchen holding the metal handle of something in hand.

“How'd you break an iron pan?!” The teen gasps.

“Ah, just the man I was looking for, come sit with me.” Paloma says as she gets off her seat and walks to the farthest booth to sit down. Viktor follows, dropping the iron handle between them with a sheepish look. “We'll replace that, don't worry. Now, any news?”

“Pick up tonight.” Viktor says to her softly as he leans close. “But not at farm.”

“Why not?” Paloma asks, lowering her voice to a whisper.

“Marigold suspicious, Elsa say Bobby left something in grave.” Viktor then pulls something out of the pocket of his coat and quickly shoves it across the table for her to take. “Go tomorrow night to place, take guns.”

Paloma nods and slips the scrap of paper into the pocket of her dress. “Alright, I'll be here tonight when I put the kids to bed. A good thing I quit the maid job so I can do this again.”

“Make sure he not mess up.” Viktor mutters, pointing at Rocky. “Also she say you must take Ivy.”

“Seriously?”

“Not too dangerous, need shovels. Oh and brother says hi.”

Paloma smiles. Gabriel must have been missing her and the kids. Maybe one of these days she should call and have him come visit so he could see their siblings again, and maybe even invite him to come to the speakeasy. He must have known by now that she wasn't exactly doing things any normal civilian should be doing, especially if he was probably helping Bobby and Abelard pack whiskey into bottles. Hopefully tonight won't be too eventful.

----

“Kid you done dressing in there?” Paloma hears Zib call as she hears him knocking on the makeshift changing room while she was getting changed.

“Yeah I'm just about done.” She says as she exits, buttoning up her shirt and starting to tie the bandana she normally wore in her hair around her neck.

“It's been a while since I've seen you dress like that.” The musician comments. “Almost reminds me of when you first came in here, all frightened and scared while Mitzi was trying to convince someone in the band to lend you a shirt because you used yours to bandage Viktor. It ended up being my shirt I gave you.”

“Yeah and it stank of booze and cigarettes, I had to shower twice to get the smell off me.”

“You kept it for a whole month.”

“Because I was trying to scrub the smell out! And the weird stain on it!”

Zib gave a shrug before he pulls box of cigarettes out to open and stuck one in his mouth. “We gained a small crowd this month at least. Maybe with this new booze we got, we'll get more customers, and there will be more people to entertain.”

“Maybe, I'm just hoping we don't get the wrong kind of attention. I've already been getting it ever since stupid Asa invited me to his speakeasy to talk.”

Zib blinks in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“One of his thugs who I accepted a ride from has been crossing paths with me in public, though he has been acting very weird with me.”

“Weird how? Should I be worried?”

“I don't know, but he was being super flirty with me. Also Leo is convinced he's my boyfriend.”

Zib lets out a small laugh. “Wait, your baby brother is convinced some stranger is your boyfriend? Man, kids brains work funny.”

“Oh don't you start, it's weird enough that a Marigold thug finds me remotely attractive despite the fact that we are enemies right now.” Paloma scoffs as she starts braiding her hair. “I have no time for that sort of romantic nonsense.”

“I mean, can you blame him? Some men just like their women pretty and dangerous, I know your old beau did.” Zib snorts. “Anyways, you be careful tonight. This'll be the second time you play babysitter to a bunch of fledgling gangsters, but there should be no problems.”

“Ugh I hope not, I'm already feeling a bit stressed right now and don't need to add more of it.” Paloma says as she finishes braiding her hair and quickly starts to loop it in a braid. “Also is it just me or do you sound more sober than usual?”

“I haven't drank at all today, Mitzi confiscated my flask, won't stop me from asking Viktor to serve me.”

“I'm never going to get used to you not slurring over your words, but it's nice that you'll be somewhat sober to perform.”

“You know, while the lady of the house is having you take on all sorts of roles and tasks like bartending, why don't you also take on singing? Heard you sing once and it sounded pretty nice, plus I'm sure the audience would love to hear someone else other than me sing.”

“I'd love to, but I'm a bit busy.” Paloma says as she finishes with her hair. “Now where is my-”

She felt something slap down on her head and reached up to touch it to find Zib’s hat on her head and looks over at him to see her cap resting on his head. He gave her a cheeky grin before taking his hat back and slapped hers down on her head. “You be careful, okay?”

“You getting sentimental on me Zibowski?” The younger woman teases as she adjusted her hat. “I'm touched.”

“Just go before Rocky turns the whole place over looking for you. See ya in a few hours sweetheart.”

Paloma rolls her eyes but smiles as she takes off for the stage, slipping between the curtains and waving at the other band members who were lounging around before making her way to the bar where Viktor was cleaning glasses.

“Hey, remember to smile!” Paloma says as she passes, using her fingers to make herself smile. “And no scaring customers!”

The older man just grunts in reply as she slipped through the door that lead into the speakeasy. Horatio stood outside, adjusting his suit coat and perks up when he sees her.

“Oh miss Alvarez! Leaving already?” He asks.

“Yep, gotta go get some more alcohol. You take care, okay?” Paloma says as she walks past to head to the stairs.

“Will do miss! Good luck tonight with that pick up!”

Once she reached the top of the stairs, Paloma made her way through the pantry and into the diner where the others were once again waiting for her. Rocky was just spinning mindlessly in his chair and humming to himself while Calvin was fiddling with a half finished glass of chocolate milk, and Ivy was bouncing in her seat.

“Alright baby gangsters, who's ready to hunt for more hooch?” Paloma calls, getting their attention.

“Yeah!” Ivy and Rocky cheer while Calvin lets out a half-hearted cheer.

“Right then, Roark, you interpreted the note for the location?”

“Indeed I did! And I even scouted it earlier today to make sure I wouldn't get us lost!” Rocky says, taking the slip of paper out of his coat pocket. “It's a graveyard by a bridge, we should be quick about this. I'll be lookout for tonight.”

“Fine, but you are driving.” Paloma says as she fished the keys out of her pocket and tossed them to him. “Calvin, Ivy? You two get to help me dig since you don't have spaghetti arms. Let's get going.”

Once the four were loaded into the car with the tools and Paloma’s guns, they soon headed off towards their destination. After a while, they soon arrived at the graveyard located near a river, which thankfully was empty and quiet save for the frogs and crickets.

“Kill the lights, we can't have anyone seeing us.” Paloma instructs as the car rolls to a stop and Rocky hands her the paper. “Alright, who are we digging up tonight? Herman…I can't pronounce this.”

“Well I know where the grave is.” Rocky says as he takes the paper back. “Follow me good lad and lasses!”

Once they grabbed their necessary tools, they proceeded to follow the violinist to a large tombstone that he tapped with his violin bow.

“Alright, you kids start digging, I'll just scooch up the hill over there and be on the train tracks to make sure we have no surprise visitors.” Rocky says as he dramatically bows before scampering off.

“Should I have given him my gun?” Paloma asks as she removes her shotgun that she had slung over her shoulder to lean it against another grave.

“Nah, he'll be fine.” Ivy says as she hands her a shovel. “Let's get digging, we're losing precious moonlight!”

“Spoken like a true gangster. Oh this really takes me back, digging up graves where we almost buried someone alive.” Paloma sighs as she rams the shovel into the ground, earning disturbed looks from the teens. “They were still alive, I promise. I didn't really bury them, that was Viktor. All I did was shut them in the box and dig them out afterwards if we were given orders to let them live for the time being.”

“That's still disturbing.” Calvin says with a shudder. “How do you live with that?”

“I've done worse things as a child. Now, less talking, more digging!”

As they dug, they could hear Rocky playing and singing several yards away, seemingly forgetting he was supposed to be looking out for trouble and keeping quiet.

“Someone shut him up already before someone sees us.” Ivy mutters as she tosses another shovel of dirt over her shoulder. “Paloma, a warning shot?”

“I'm not wasting bullets to shut him up.” Paloma says as she grabs the flashlight and tosses it to the younger girl. “Just flash him with this, it'll get him to stop.”

“Ahem!” Ivy yells as she switched on the light, pointing it in Rocky's direction. “It's abundantly clear, you forgot about us down here!”

“Uh encore?” Rocky asks, earning himself a few uncomfortable looks. “Uh no encore? Perhaps another song, another dance?”

“No no we're fine!” Ivy says quickly.

“Please don't ruin musical theater for everyone.” Calvin adds quietly.

“Roark, lookouts don't make any sort of noise unless it's to alert the gang that someone is coming.” Paloma says with a shake of her head. “If you're going to be making noise, you might as well come down here and help us out.”

“Oh I would but I was sadly cursed with these spaghetti arms!” Rocky sighs dramatically as he weakly lifts his arms up. “So I do with what I can, I provide the am-”

Rocky fell forward as he tried to grab for his hat, only for him to start tumbling and rolling down the grassy hill until he slid right up to them, his hat falling down right on top of his cousin's head.

“You…you okay?” Paloma asks before he suddenly jumps to his feet.

“I provide the ambiance!” He says as he walks over to where Calvin stood and removes his hat. “Baby face provides the muscle. Look at him go, digging his way to martyrdom, the little go-getter! Pal provides the knowledge to these matters and tasks and additional muscle. Shall I provide us with a little rhapsody, in G minor for company?”

“Fine, if you're not gonna help us, you can double as the dirt rag.” Ivy says as Paloma turns her back to look to Calvin.

“Oh! I think we found it!” She says as Rocky pushes Ivy, Calvin and her aside to start digging with his hands.

“Is that it?” Ivy asks.

“Well if it isn't, we'd have to apologize to the family of…” Rocky pulls the paper out of his pocket. “Hamish Hapfamscheel?”

“That is the most fake sounding last name I’ve heard.” Paloma mutters.

“I mean it could be real, soinds Polish…or something european. Anyways, help me get this out!”

“You boys do it, I need a break.” Paloma sighs as she drops down to sit on the side of the grave. “I’m so tired right now.”

“You good?” Ivy asks, switching off the flashlight.

“I don’t know, I just feel exhaused mentally and physically as of late. Maybe I’m getting sick or something, who knows. I’ll catch up I promise.”

As the three carry the coffin off, Paloma shifts so she’s leaning against the headstone of the grave they dug up. She really was feeling exhausted for some reason, maybe she needed to take a few nights off to get proper sleep or take a nap backstage when nights at the speakeasy was slow. Had this job always felt so draining before? Maybe it had and she never noticed.

As she is fighting the urge to fall asleep, Paloma is suddenly snapped awake by the sound of gunfire and a car driving around. She quickly jumps to her feet, grabbing her shotgun and cocking it while looking for the source of the noise until she sees a car driving past her backwards.

“What the…” She mutters before she spots her friends. “Oh no-”

“MADWOMAN WITH A GUN MADWOMAN WITH A GUN!” Rocky screams as the car drives past. “PAL SAVE UUUUUUS! DO SOMETHING!!”

Still confused, Paloma bolted after the car as it sped backwards, only to stop when it drove into the river. 

“We're gonna die!” Calvin sobs when she gets into the car. “What do we do?!”

“Whoa slow down, what's going on?” Paloma asks. “What's this about a madwoman with a gun?”

“Someone started shooting at us!” Ivy exclaims. “They were right near the car this whole time!”

“And she drove us to safety!” Rocky adds.

“I don't know how to drive!”

“Well your driving was so bad it confused the enemy! Great job!”

They hear a loud honk before a car comes speeding down the hill barreling right at them. The four scream in terror before Ivy hits the gas, sending the car speeding away.

“Oh no no no no not them again!” Paloma groans when she sees who is in the front seat of the vehicle still hot on their heels. If those two Marigolds were here, then that meant Mordecai and that woman Kuura were also in the car. Was this what Nico meant the other day when he said they’d be running into each other sooner than expected? Was that a warning? Or a threat? God she was hating this man more by the second, but right now she had more important things to focus on. “Alright this ride is about to get bumpy, hold on chicos!”

She quickly grabbed the wheel and jerked it to the left, forcing the car to swerve and spin until it faced the right direction. 

“Now we just need a performance from you, torpedo boy!” Rocky exclaims excitedly.

“No we don't! We need to ditch these Marigolds and get back to the city!” Paloma yells, yanking her revolver out of its holster strapped to her hip and shaking the cylinder open to slide some bullets in before shoving it in place. Before she could even move, she heard more gunfire and the sound of the back window shattering followed by more gunfire and laughter. “Okay I see where the madwoman comment came from. Keep driving Ivy, you're doing just fine!”

She then leans out her window, taking aim and fires two shots with her revolver at the car. The car swerved, somehow managing to dodge her shots. She still had four shots left, better make them count so she wouldn't have to reload, reloading too too much time and the last thing she needed was to waste that. As she was taking aim again, this time aiming for the woman with the shotgun, the Marigold's car suddenly rammed into the back of theirs, almost making her drop her revolver.

“PAL HELP!” She hears Rocky cry out and turns to see him clinging to the trunk they had strapped to the car where their alcohol was supposed to be stored.

“Rocky!” Paloma yells as she climbs back into the car and frantically launches herself across the front seat to reach the back and grab for the violinist through the shattered window to keep him from falling off the trunk. “Hold on!”

“The trunk is leaking Pal!” Rocky yells.

“Who cares! Get in here!”

“No I gotta secure it shut! And keep us from losing precious hooch! Miss M will have my hide if we lose it all!”

“I don't care, your life is more important than a bunch of overpriced booze, get in!” She yells as Marigold's car swerved a little too close. Before she could even try to pull him up, the sound of a Tommy assaults her ears along with a maniacal laugh before the enemy car swerved to avoid getting hit.

“Good thing I gave him the gun!” Rocky sighs as he is yanked into the car. “Thanks for that! Also did you just call me Rocky?”

“Oh shut up!” Paloma snaps as she jumps back to the front seat. “We need to escape, if those two are there then so is Mordecai and you do NOT want to deal with him - trust me. Hit the breaks!”

Ivy does as she is told as Rocky yanks a cackling Freckle to redirect him to the other window. Once the Marigold car swerved to the left to avoid crashing into them, both Paloma and Freckle leaned out the window to fire at the car. The tires of the vehicle popped, forcing it to swerve right into a ditch.

“Um, Pal?! He's here!” Rocky yells, pointing at the rearview mirror.

Paloma glances at it to see an all too familiar figure in the reflection and she felt her stomach twist in fear. Just as she feared, he was here. Her revolver was out of bullets, so that meant her shotgun was gonna have to do the trick for now. She quickly grabs it and leaps across the backseat again to aim out the window, prepared to shoot, the only problem was that her hands were shaking. Where was all that bravado she had when she’d stuck that gun in his face all those times when they saw each other again after a year of no contact? Was it only there because he had no weapon in hand at the time?

Focus Paloma, focus! Just pull the trigger and shoot! You’ve shot at him before, this should be no different! She tells herself. He’s your enemy now, not your lover who used to be by your side, loved you, cared for you and did everything for you-

The car suddenly swerved, forcing her to fire the gun as she heard the rearview mirror get shot at. Seeing how he was still standing in the distance, she missed, but why was she feeling…relieved? Well she hardly had time to reflect on that as the car started swerving and bouncing until it crashes.

“Uugh…everyone okay?” Paloma asks as she hears Rocky suddenly start laughing before a door slams shut. “Okay, he's not okay. Ivy? Calvin?”

“I'm good…I think.” Ivy groans from the front seat and turns to look at them. “You think we're safe?”

Calvin suddenly growls, his claws dug deep into the leather seats, causing both girls to flinch. He blinks in surprise before quickly yanking his claws out. “S-sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to! It's just that there's a fire, a burning hot fire - in the engine compartment!”

“Okay, you are definitely not okay either.” Paloma comments as Ivy jumps out of the car. “It's like your were a whole other person, Calvin.”

“I…I…it's…” The teen's ears flatten as he looks at the floor. “I don't know what's wrong with me…”

“Hey, I don't judge. My first few times doing this job, I went a little crazy too before I learned to keep my composure.” Paloma says as she puts a hand on his shoulder. “Look at it this way: we wouldn't have survived this car chase if you hadn't acted. And no one in the speakeasy would be alive and walking today if you hadn't acted like that either, I assume you also got like that when you were there that night.”

“And the night of my first sweep run.”

“There, see? Personally, I'm glad all that crazy is on our side, we could maybe use a bit of it for nights like this.”

“Guys, I think the engine or radiator is busted! Or burned out I'm not sure!” They hear Ivy yell. “It's super hot and I'm running out of sleeves!”

“Come on, let's go help her deal with that.” Paloma says as she opens the car door so they could step out and hurry to the front of the vehicle to help. From their surroundings, they seemed to be in some sort of shed or tiny warehouse, and outside she could see piles of dirt or rock in the distance but that was it. As they made their way, the outside suddenly lit up, giving them some light.

“Paloma, you've worked with Viktor, can you see what can be fixed?” Ivy asks.

“I don't know how to fix cars, that was his specialty.” Paloma says as she looks at the smoking radiator. “If we get back, we can ask him to look at it. But-”

“Shhh!” Calvin hisses. “I think they found us!”

The two girls go quiet, all was silent save for some distant giggling that was certainly not Rocky’s.

“Shit, guess we have no choice but to confront them.” Paloma mutters as she moves to the front seat where she left her revolver. “Calvin, do you know how to-”

“He's gone.” Ivy states. “Umm, he took a peashooter we had wedged back in the car.”

“Fine, here.” She removes a few bullets from the small pouch strapped to her belt to insert them in the gun’s chamber before handing it to Ivy. “You take shooting classes at college, right? Keep this on hand and do not hesitate to shoot any of them if they get close.”

“W-wait! Where are you going?” Ivy asks frantically as Paloma moves to grab her shotgun out of the backseat and the shovel she was using earlier.

“To do something I should have done a few weeks ago. Remember - do not hesitate. Keep that in mind if you want to live to see the end of the night.”

Paloma then slips out where they were hiding, looking around frantically before diving for the piles of rock and hurries up one to peek over the top. So far she didn't see anyone, but that didn't mean she should let her guard down. So far it seemed like Mordecai, Nico and that other woman who looked like him were in pursuit of them, but where was that Kuura girl? Out of the corner of her eye she spots Calvin on one of the piles of dirt before he turns and flings himself down and she hears gunshots.

Now where are you amor? She thinks as she scans the area before spotting a dark figure peeking out at the base of one of the piles. There!

She quickly shoots, but Mordecai dodges her attack before reappearing and she quickly flung herself down towards the ground to avoid getting shot. She could see Calvin running towards a nearby tall metal structure and hastily follows, dropping her shovel to quickly climb up the metal beams. Once she was sure she was up high and out of sight, she quickly reloads her shotgun, trying to quietly cock it again. She years a click and spots Mordecai look up and shoot. She quickly bolts and fires towards his feet, forcing him to move and her to move as well.

“NO NO NO NO!” She hears Calvin scream as he starts to fire. Paloma hastily turns to see a fluffy white and grey tipped tail disappear into where Ivy was hiding.

“IVY!” She screams as she bolts after Calvin. She hears the sound of a gun fire before he took a tumble, falling to the ground. “CALVIN!”

Mordecai was now approaching the downed teen, his gun drawn as Paloma raced to reach the ground. Just as she was about to leap down, she heard the sound of something rumbling before the ground near the two exploded, sending dirt flying and giving Calvin time to hopefully scramble away.

“About time, you idiot!” She mutters when she hears Rocky's familiar laugh pierce the air and leaps to the ground. She couldn't find the shovel anywhere, but it seemed like Mordecai was more preoccupied with the violinist who was now charging through the area with a bulldozer of all things and tossing what looked like sticks of dynamite around.

She quickly follows the triggerman, taking care to stay several feet behind him as he races to duck behind a shed before another explosion of dynamite strikes to give her more dust cover. It was now or never, if she was able to take him out, they'd have one less dangerous gangster to deal with from Marigold. Instead of firing her shotgun, she proceeds to swing it right for his head like a bat. He must have heard her above the explosions, or caught sight of her, and quickly jumps out of the way as the butt of the gun collides with the shed wall.

“You hurt my friend, you pay!” She yells as she swings the gun again as Mordecai keeps jumping back to avoid getting struck. “Hold still you no good side switcher!”

“Lost your nerve about shooting me point blank?” The triggerman yells back as he dodges again.

“You don't even deserve to get shot point blank! I'm not making the same mistake and missing a shot because-”

Another explosion sounds, followed by the sudden roar of water. Paloma then turns to see a nearby water tower falling, sending a large wave of water flying in all directions, the bulldozer now abandoned and Rocky nowhere in sight.

“Look out!” She hears Mordecai yell before she’s yanked out of the way of the rushing water that almost hits her and slammed against the side of the shed in an attempt to shield her.

“Don't touch me!” She yells, shoving him away from her. “¿Que en demonios te pasa?”

Mordecai blinks in surprise. “I-”

She didn't even give him a chance to answer as she took off running towards the broken tower. Rocky was laying face down in the mud, not moving. Was he even breathing?

“Hey! Hey Roark! Roark! Rocky!” She hisses as she shakes his motionless body before he lifts his head, his bright blue eyes looking at her in fright. “Oh thank God, get up! Hurry!”

As she is helping Rocky to his feet, she hears the sound of a car coming and turns to see Ivy and Calvin coming towards them with the backdoor open. Taking the chance, she quickly shoves her friend into the back and hops in after him, hastily closing the door behind her before jumping into the front seat.

“You kids okay?” Paloma asks as she glances back and gasps. “Calvin! Your head!”

“I'm fine, just a scratch!” The teen tries to assure her. “Or…yeah just a scratch.”

“Are my eyebrows still on?” Rocky asks.

“Unfortunately.”

“Aces! Here Freckle, I got you a souvenir!” He then pulls out an unlit dynamite stick from inside his coat and shoves it into his cousin's hand, causing the teen to yelp in alarm and fling it out the window. “You're supposed to light it first.”

“Ugh, I think I'm gonna pass out when we get to the speakeasy.” Paloma groans as she turns back to lay against her seat. “I can't remember when was the last time I did something this…”

“Dangerous?” Calvin suggests.

“Exhilarating?” Rocky offers.

“Crazy?” Ivy says with a roll of her eyes. “Because that's exactly how I'd describe what Rocky did.”

“All three of those.” Paloma mutters. “And exhausting. Why don't I drive?”

“Nah, I think I'm getting the hang of it.” Ivy says with a shake of her head. “You're tired from running around, get rest.”

Paloma mutters something unintelligible but turns so she's looking out the window at the passing countryside. Once again she couldn’t even stick to her promise to him, what what even wrong with her?

----

“Seems like your ex really had it out for you.” Mordecai hears Nico laugh as he exits the phone booth. “Feisty little thing, I’m liking her more by the minute.”

“I already warned you to keep your hands off and stay away from her.” The older man snaps, his tail flicking in annoyance. “Now that you’ve seen her in action, you know better not to let your guard down around that woman. As pretty and harmless as she looks, she'd sooner stab or shoot you the minute you get too close.”

“Seems like we’re up against someone close to your skill level.” Serafine chuckles. “Though I wasn’t expecting her to be dragging around a bunch of little ones like that.”

Only two of the tag-alongs with Paloma tonight he was quite familiar with. Ivy, he knew all too well since she was a child. The one with the awful orange tie, he had seen him before in the speakeasy as the violinist and at the lunch date with Asa and Mitzi. As for the third one, he’d only seen him once at that said lunch date, and that was it. As far as he was aware until today, none of them were even in the gang or seemed like threats. Maybe the smaller one who took great delight in relieving them of their windshield and tired earlier could be deemed a bit dangerous, but the others seemed harmless. Well, not Paloma, he knew she was anything but harmless.

“Seems like La Llorona has back up now.” Mordecai mutters as he tries to dust off more mud from his coat and runs a hand through his hair to fix it.

“The La what now?” Serafine asks.

“Ask around, any gangster in this city worth their salt will give you more than enough stories about her and her terrorizing tactics. Takes delight in screaming her head off like some unholy spirit to terrorize her prey and smash their head in or shoot them point blank”

“Ooh, now that I’d love to see in action, just not as the one having that be inflicted on. I didn’t even see her in that shed with the little cat, where was she anyways? Probably chasing after you no doubt, like a vengeful spirit.”

Mordecai grimaced, but said nothing. Just as he feared, he wasn't able to bring himself to kill her. He had more than enough time and a chance to fire his gun before the water tank fell, and when the car was driving off. He couldn't bringing himself to hurt either Paloma or Ivy, and something told him the next time they crossed paths again it would happen again.

This all could have been avoided if I just ignored all those weird emotions in me after you decided to drop the faux dating thing we had going on for a short time. He thinks bitterly as he looks out at the road.

After what felt like forever, he soon spotted a pair of headlamps coming in their direction before a Cadillac came rolling by, stopping right in front of them.

“Anyone need a ride?” Kuura asks as she leans out the window with a grin, looking them up and down and grimaces. “Wow, you all look like shit, who did this?”

“His ex and her gang.” Nico snickers as he moves around the car to sit in the front passenger seat. “You should have been there, someone was throwing dynamite and driving one of them digging machines, and I'm pretty sure that girl almost beat the shit out of him when they were out of sight. Oh and a crazy car chase.”

“This was not something you wanted to be a part of, Kuurs.” Mordecai scoffs as he and Serafine get into the backseat.

“No it was.” Serafine snorts. “You're just pouty because Nico still wants to get with your ex despite her firing at his head. Probably would have flirted with her too if she wasn't so busy chasing after you to kick your sorry ass.”

“Wow, now I do regret taking that assignment from Asa, I missed out on some good fun!” Kuurs says with a small pout before she grins. “But this means there's more opportunities! Big man didn't sound happy on phone about these people, so we may see them again!”

I hope we don't. Mordecai thinks as he turns to look out of his window, his hand going into his coat pocket to touch his watch. Even with that threat I made to Mitzi, I really don't think I'll be able to do it. If I wasn't able to tonight, I won't be able to in the future.

----

“Uh…your look like you could use a drink.” Paloma hears Wick comment as everyone but the two of them and Viktor move away from the bar.

“I'm drained, I forgot how stressful this line of work was.” The younger woman groans as she turns her head so she's not laying face down on the bar's counter. “How did I have the energy to deal with this years ago? I feel like Zib.”

“I'm sure he'll take that as a compliment.” Wick says and she feels him pat her shoulder. “It has been a year since you did something this wild, and you are older.”

“Don't make it sound like I'm forty with a bad knee - no offense Viktor.”

“None taken.” The older man says with a shrug. “Drink?”

“After watching you all try that stuff we just got, I'd rather not ruin my intestines.”

“Your loss.” Wick mutters into his glass. “So…what troubles you, young damsel?”

“Nothing you’d understand.”

“Try me.”

“Ex boyfriend.” Viktor says, annoyance lacing his voice.

“Oh…yeah i have no experience with those.” Wick admits.

“I didn’t shoot him.” Paloma adds. “Should have.”

“Umm…well…oh I’ve got nothing to say about that.

“That’s fine. Oh, I should patch up the kid, he has an injury I was supposed to fix.”

Paloma then hops off the stool to hurry to the dancefloor where Calvin and Ivy are dancing - or more like Ivy was dancing and Calvinw as just clumsily following along while avoiding stepping on her feet.

“Sorry, I must steal your dance partner away for a few minutes, he needs to be tended to.” Paloma says as she grabs Calvin by the arm and yanks him away. “I’ll return him, don’t worry. Come, I’ll patch you up at the bar.”

Calvin nods meekly as he follows her back to the bar, cowing a bit when he sees Viktor glaring at him. Paloma just glares at the older man before making the younger one take a seat on the stool and goes behind the bar to grab a metal box with a crudely painted red cross on the top and place it on the counter

“So…did you always do this?” Calvin asks as she opens th ebox and rumages around for what she needed.

“Clean up my teammates injuries? Yeah, it was better than calling for a doctor.” Paloma says as she pulls out some thin wire, a needle, tweezers, cotton balls and an unlabled bottle along with a worn strap of leather and grabs a stool to sit in front of him. “I've had to patch up so many gangsters, the original owner of this speakeasy considered keeping me on payroll as the gang's nurse. That big guy with the eyepatch glaring at you? He’d refuse treatment from any doctors and would probably bleed out if I wasn't here to patch him up and smack him on the head every time he growled at me when he was in pain. Come to think of it, I was probably the only one here aside from Ivy who could smack him and not get my teeth knocked out of my skull for it.”

“That leather strap does not look sanitary.” Wick comments and grimaces. “Germy.”

“I’m throwing that out, don’t worry. He can bite down on this inseat in the meantime.” Paloma then removes her scarf and hands it to Calvin. “Put that in your mouth when I start the sewing, okay? This may take a while so let’s…hmm would the band care if I used their backstage table as an operating table?”

“Probably.”

“Meh, it’s used weird anyways. It doesn’t really look so bad, I’ll sew it up if it reopens, in the meantime lets get this cleaned up.”

After one too many cottonballs were bloodied, a whole roll of linen bandages were used, Calvin was fixed up enough to go back to dancing with Ivy again. Paloma watched them, recalling the first and maybe last time she ever tried to get Mordecai to dance with her once. It wasn’t to one of those fast paced songs the band liked to play, but her at the time boyfriend still left her with sore feet that he stepped on one too many times during the slow dances. Even after that, he refused to dance again, claiming it was not really his thing. She found herself missing that for some reason, and she hated it.

Why did I hesitate then, why did I feel so terrified to pull the trigger? She wonders as she watched her three friends dance and have fun with the other patrons who had gathered on the dancefloor. And why did I feel so relieved when I missed? That’s not good, especially if our lives were on the line.

Even weirder now that she thought about it, not once did Mordecai ever dare to attack her, even going as far as to protect her from getting hit from the water. Did he still care for her in some way? No she didn’t want to think about it, not right now anyways. For now, all she wanted to focus on was feeling relieved that they all managed to survive another night and got the job done.

Chapter Text

“Now don't you go falling off anything, mama will have my head if you so much as break a bone on one of these structures.” Paloma says as she guides Leo through the park towards the playground where several children were playing on all sorts of dangerous looking structures. “If you need me, I will be right there on that bench. And if you can't find me, what do you do?”

“Look for lady with red dress!” Her brother exclaims as they reach the end of the playground and lets go of her hand. “Bye!”

“Be careful!” Paloma yells after him as she takes a seat on the bench, setting her purse down, removing the book she had tucked under her arm and cracking it open to where she had a paper bookmark.

Thankfully it wasn't too hot today, so Paloma took the chance to take her siblings and Calvin to the city's library, but Leo was feeling way too jumpy to sit still and read any of the books she picked out to read to him so she brought him to a nearby park with a book she checked out. This one was really good, about a man who was raised by gorillas and had just discovered what humans were, something she figured she could read to her siblings tonight before going to bed.

“Well hello there cher, nice to see you again.” Paloma hears someone say as felt a hand brush against her shoulder. She let out a scream and snapped her book shut to swing it at the face of whoever stood behind her, earning herself a loud yelp from the stranger and a groan. She turns and gasps when she sees it's none other than Nico kneeling on the ground and holding his nose.

“¡Dios mio! Don't do that!” She gasps as she stands up and hurries around the bench to help him up. “Ugh, you are far too heavy!”

“Damn, good fight instinct.” The boxer laughed as he removed his hand from his nose to see a small drop of blood. “Wow you even made me bleed.”

“Well you shouldn't have snuck up on me like that!” Paloma retorts as she reaches into her purse to pull a handkerchief out and put it against his snout. “Let me guess, this is also a complete coincidence that we met.”

“I swear it is.” Nico laughs, holding his hands up in defense. “Seeing that you are at the playground, I'm guessing little Leo is somewhere around?”

“None of your business and- LEO SIT DOWN!” Her brother, who was trying to walk down the slide, immediately sits down to slide down until he hits the ground and bolts off into the crowd of kids. “¡Dios mio, este niño! How did my mother handle him?”

“Well he's quite free spirited, I was the same when I was a kid.” Nico chuckles as they take a seat on the bench. “Though I was a little more rambunctious and had the tendency to go poking gators and try wrangling water snakes I found. You seem the type to have been a bit wild at that age.”

“Apparently I used to try to snag rattlesnakes bare handed. That's as wild as I will admit I could be.”

“Nah, something tells me you could be a lot more, you're just holding back. Like the other night.”

Paloma felt herself tense. While it was true that she once used to go all out on enemy gangsters, that night she was more focused on getting those three out of danger than anything. If she had Viktor with her, he would have also done the same, or have tried taking on the Marigolds himself if both his knees weren't messed up.

“Well sorry to disappoint you señior, but if I had, you and your fellow gangsters would be rotting corpses on the side of the road by now.” She says with a frown. “What do you want now?”

“Well I did come over to say hi, but now that you've said that, I figured I'd extend you an invitation to something important tonight.” The older man says with a grin. “Today just happens to be my birthday, so my sister decided to throw me a party.”

“Congratulations, another step closer to death's warm embrace.” Paloma says flatly.

“That sounds like something Peekon would say! Actually, he told me that this morning when we told him.

“Wonderful, I just love being compared to my ex boyfriend who tried to kill my friends the other night!”

“Sorry cher, didn't mean to offend. Anyways, you should come tonight. We're holding it in our suite at the Maribel Hotel.”

Paloma raises a brow. “That's expensive, how'd you two even manage to get that?”

“Well since we are on the big man's payroll and being paid more than the average gangster, we can afford it. That and he's paying for us to stay and live there. So, interested in coming?”

“I'd rather-”

“¡Hermana!” Leo yells as he rushes up to them and collides with his sister's legs. “I'm tired!”

“You don't sound tired, but maybe now you'll stay still enough to not make noise at the library.” Paloma says as she gets up and scoops her baby brother up into her arms.

“¡Novio!” Leo yells, pointing at Nico when he sees him.

“Hey there little lion, behaving for your big sister lately?” Nico asks as he stands up as well, ruffling the little boy's hair. “Or have you been giving her trouble as usual?”

“No trouble!” Leo giggles and sticks his pinky finger out. “Promise!”

“Good! As for you cher, will I be seeing you tonight? If you come, I suggest dressing nicely.”

“Don't count on it.” Paloma says curtly as she grabs her purse and book from the bench, handing her brother the book to hold onto. “Goodbye.”

“No kiss for novio?” Leo asks as she is trying to put as much space between them and the playground.

“He's not my novio, where did you even get that idea?” His sister asks with a frown. “You're just as bad as Zib when it comes to conclusion jumping. Or almost as bad.”

“You seem happier with a novio, you sad now.” Leo points out as they exit the park.

“Yes well, last novio made me sad, I don’t need another one to be happy and later make me sad again.”

“Is that why you read books with kissing?”

“Leo!”

----

Why did she agree to come? She wasn't so sure, but something compelled her to accept Nico's invitation to this birthday party. She felt very underdressed, despite the fact that she was wearing one of those nice dresses she would wear when she would go to have tea with Mitzi and Selena, but at least the hotel staff weren't looking at her oddly. Paloma found herself entering that damned hotel once more, only this time for a different purpose and with a gift under her arm.

“Pardon, I'm looking for someone who is residing here, could you tell me where his room is?” She asks as she approaches the front desk where a tired looking man was standing behind.

“Huh? Oh sorry, could you give me a name?” The man asks as he pulls out and flips open a registry book to set it on the desk.

“Savoy? S-a-v-o-y?”

“Uh…nope can't find anyone by that name.” The man says as he flips through the pages.

“Perhaps he's registered under a different name. He's a very tall man, like this tall.” Paloma explains as she lifts her hand high to where she assumed Nico's height would be. “White and grey fur, dressed rather sloppily, no shoes?”

“Uh…”

“Accompanied by a woman with similar features but shorter and dressed in a suit and has curly dark hair?”

“Doesn't ring a bell.”

“Hmm…actually, they may be in a room that has been reported by the maids to be very messy and a nuisance to clean up, does that ring a bell? I have a friend who knows someone who works here who told us about it.”

The man's eyes widened. “Oh you know Emma?”

“I worked with her cousin at a different hotel, these may be the same people she complained of. Which room is it that she often cleans and has complains of?” Paloma responds.

“Oh that'd be one of the suites on the…top floor. It's the room at the end of the hall. If you hear chicken noises, drums and all sorts of loud noises, that's the room.”

Paloma makes a confused face before nodding and heads for the elevator, pushing the button for the top floor. After a few minutes, she soon arrived at her destination and briskly hurried towards the door at the end of the hallway. From outside, she could hear the faint noise of what sounded like chanting, laughter, what sounded like drums and loud music, just as the man at the front desk said. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, she quickly removed her hat and knocked as loudly as she could on the door. The noise on the other side died down a bit before footsteps were heard and the door swung open.

“Well look who decided to show up after all, the petite colombe herself!” Nico says when he spots her, dressed neatly in a simple looking suit. “And all dressed up too!”

“You were the one who told me to dress nice.” Paloma retorts as she steps in, biting back the urge to gag at the smell of cigarette smoke that just assaulted her nose.

“And here I thought you dolled yourself up just to impress little old me.” The older man teases and chuckles when she glares at him. “I kid cher ! Though I thought you'd dress a little differently for something like this.”

“Like the rest of these women?” Paloma asks, glancing at the other women in the room who sported colorful flapper dresses, including Kuura and Serafine, who were seated on a couch watching them. “Sorry to disappoint señior Savoy, but the last time I wore a dress like that was a few years ago and I've outgrown it since then.”

“So you finally showed up, good.” Serafine says as the younger woman walks over to her. “Just so you know, we're off the job, so for now, no need to worry about anything gang related.”

“It’s a party, so have fun!” Kuura adds, raising a glass she held before taking a sip from it. “And relax!”

“Hard to when your associates tried to kill me the other night.” Paloma mutters as Nico brings a chair over for her to sit and hands him the parcel she held.

“Oh? You actually have something for me?” He asks as he removes the paper wrapping. “A…book?”

“Copy of the one I hit you with this afternoon.”

“Tarzan of the Apes?”

“I don't think anyone has given him a book before.” Serafine laughs before taking a sip of her drink. “Do you drink cher?”

“Never a drop, and I don't ever plan to.” Paloma says as she shakes her head.

“Shame, you're missing out on some good stuff.” Nico laughs. “Might actually read it if I’m not too drunk by the end of the evening.”

“If you do, my little brother just might like you more.” Paloma says, a small smile coming to her lips. “I read most of it to him before bed and almost cried when I had to stop for the night to get ready.”

“How rude of you cher, normally I would have suggested you could have brought him along but this sort of party isn’t for young ones, especially with what we will do later.” Nico chuckles as he leans against the back of her chair.

“Uh…and that would be…”

“Thanking our patron properly of course, because of him, we got to live a lot longer than expected.” Serafine explains. “You see, years ago Nico and I were put in an orphanage but they separated us. I threw so many fits about it, pleading with the nuns running the place to just cut my hair so I could stay by my brother and they refused to listen. In the end, we ran away into the swamp and would have gotten lost and died if it weren’t for our patron sending us a guardian to protect and guide us.”

“So…like some sort of guardian angel?” Paloma asks.

“In a sense, but we aren’t of that faith cher.”

“Oh, are you…uh…not catholic?”

“Nah, but let's not bore you with any of that yet.” Nico says as he moves from the chair and extends a hand to her. “There's food if you're hungry, and I'm sure we've got something that's not booze for you to drink.”

Paloma looks at his hand awkwardly before accepting it, allowing Nico to gently tug her out of her seat. Was it just her or did she just see a flash of hurt on Kuura's face just now? As she is being led to a table with food, she glances back at the couch to find the blonde examining her drinking glass with disinterest. The table she was led to was covered in various foods, though the one thing that didn't look like anyone touched it was a large metal pot that was covered.

“Oh you must try this, it's one of my favorite dishes growing up.” Nico says as he removes the lid from the pot to reveal something that looked like soup but with shrimp, rice and various other ingredients she didn't quite recognize.

Paloma glances back at the other guests who were looking very uncomfortable as Nico poured the contents into a plate to hand to her. “Uh…what's this?”

“Just try it, here.” Nico retrieves a spoon from the table and scoops some of the contents into it before positioning it to her mouth. “I promise it's not poisoned cher.”

Paloma grimaces but opens her mouth to allow him to spoon the food in. Immediately her mouth was filled with all sorts of flavors, the strongest being spicy. Though much to her disappointment, it wasn't as strong as she expected. “So…what is this?” She asks once she swallow her food and accepts the plate to spoon another into her mouth.

“Gumbo, though I'm surprised you're not spitting it out.” Nico laughs.

“Why? It's quite good.”

“It's overloaded with spice. I quite like adding a healthy dose of spices in it.”

“You overspice it!” Someone in the room yells. “It's enough to burn a hole in your stomach!”

“Really? I hardly tasted any spice.” Paloma says with a frown.

“High voice tolerance cher?” Nico asks with a laugh.

“Well yes, a lot of dishes my family makes have tons of spices and peppers, so I have some sort of immunity to it.”

“Well same here! The amount I like in my food is enough to cause internal damage to most people's intestines.”

“Did you seriously serve her that overseasoned gumbo you insisted on making?” She hears Serafine ask and turn to see her and Kuura approach. “Cher, that is gonna give you serious intestine problems.”

“I hardly taste any spice.” Paloma points out as Kuura walks over to Nico with a determined look and immediately wraps her arms around his arm.

“Really? He dumped a whole cotntainer of cooking spices he just bought into that, any normal person would have choked on the first spoonful. Like Kuura almost did when he asked her to taste test it.”

“Worth it.” Kuura mutters with a pout.

“Anyways, let's head back to sit down and eat.” Serafine says as she grabbed a plate.

Once they had all gotten their food and eaten it, Paloma proceeded to pull a book out of her purse to read. Yes she had brought a book to a party, but none of the guests or even the hosts said anything as she got lost in this latest adventure. At least until a hand waved itself in front of her face.

“Come on cher, don't you want to dance?” She hears Nico say and looks up to see him standing in front of her seat.

“Oh no no no, I am not…I can't…I'm just…no I can't do it.” Paloma says, quickly opening her book again to cover her face with it. “No thank you!”

“What, too shy? Or do you have two left feet?”

“Neither! I just don't feel like dancing tonight.”

“It's not so bad, if you're too embarrassed to admit you can't dance, I could teach you. I promise no one will laugh at you.”

Before she could even answer, there was a loud knock at the door. Someone immediately turns off the phonograph as Serafine opens the door and steps back to let whoever was outside in.

“There you are Savoy, I had to get this one to come along because who in their right mind misses a party?”

Paloma felt herself stiffen and peek out from behind her book to see Asa standing in the doorway of the suite with Mordecai at his side, looking very uncomfortable. She almost forgot he wasn't a big fan of such loud and rowdy parties, Asa probably didn't know that.

“Sir, what a surprise.” Serafine says as she shuts the door behind the two men.

“You sure you don't want to dance?” Nico asks Paloma, jerking her attention back to him. His hand is extended to her again, waiting patiently with a soft smile.

Before she could even decide to accept this or not, she glances over to see Mordecai look at them, a brief look of surprise crossed his face before it contorts to one of rage, and the next thing she knows he's storming over and shoving Nico into a wall.

“I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM HER!” Her ex snarls. “SHE HAS NO BUSINESS GETTING TANGLED UP WITH THE LIKES OF YOU!”

“Whoa, hold it Peekon, there's nothing going on!” Nico says as he tries to remove the hands grabbing at his shirt. “We only invited her to-”

“I DON'T CARE, AND YOU BETTER KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF HER!” Mordecai screams, freeing one hand to slug it against his associate's snout.

Paloma wasn't sure what came over her, but she soon found herself leaping out of her seat, rushing over to the two men and slammed her fist straight into Mordecai's face. He instantly toppled over, releasing Nico and falling to the floor, his glasses falling off as well. He sits up slowly with a groan, his hand clutching his nose and pulls it away to find blood on it.

“You hit me…” He says slowly. “And…bleeding…”

“Damn cher, didn't know you had that in you!” Nico laughs as he adjusts his shirt. “Though you should fix up your fo-”

SLAP

Everyone in the room gasps as Paloma slaps him across the face. Nico blinks in surprise and looks at her with a dumbfounded expression. She immediately grabs Mordecai by the hand and drags him further into the suite, past all the staring guests before arriving at a closed door and shoves him inside before she follows.

“¡¿Que demonios fue eso?! ¿Qué te pasa?” She hisses when she shuts the door behind her and fumbles around for a switch before she finds one. She must have dragged him into one of the Savoy's bedrooms, judging by the unmade bed and the nearby closet full of clothes, but she didn't care about that.

“Did you have to hit me?!” Mordecai groans as he looks at his blood covered hand in disgust. “You punch almost as hard as Viktor!”

“Good! Maybe that should teach you not to go punching people for no reason!”

“What are you even doing here anyways? We're basically enemies at this point!”

Paloma frowns and folds her arms over her chest. “If you must know, I was invited by the host himself. He and his sister assured me that since we were not working, we aren't enemies. And why do you care? You're not my boyfriend anymore to be worried about me, you lost that privilege the day you decided your new alliance with that snake was more important!”

“Well I was under the impression we were still a thing until I found almost your whole room cleared out of your clothes! You left no note, didn't even bother to call to tell me where you were or where you went, nothing!” Mordecai retorts. “I would have razed the whole city looking for you if Viktor hadn't called to scream at me for breaking your heart! You shouldn't have anything to do with Nico, there are better men out there!”

“Oh like you? At this point I think any man I end up with would be a massive upgrade! Even someone like Zib would make a much better boyfriend!”

The hurt look on his face with that statement almost made her want to take it back, but decided against it, choosing to turn away so he wouldn't have to see her eyes starting to water a bit.

Don't cry in front of him, don't cry in front of him, don't cry in front of him.

“You have no right to tell me who I can or can't be with Mordecai, it's my choice.” Paloma says, hiding her clenched fists in her skirt, digging her nails into her palms to keep herself from crying. “And you especially have no right trying to save me when you were trying to kill my friends moments earlier.”

“You hesitated too Paloma, don't think I didn't notice.” Mordecai says as she felt his hand touch her shoulder. God help her, she wanted to melt at his touch, but instead she tears herself from his grasp. “Every time we see each other, you never kept that promise even when you had the revolver in your grasp.”

“I'm done, this conversation is over.” Paloma says as she starts walking back to the door before she felt Mordecai grab her wrist. “Let go!”

“Paloma wait-”

Paloma wasn't even sure what happened, maybe he tripped over something on the floor she didn't notice, but the next thing she knew she was being pinned to the door by Mordecai and his mouth bumps against hers. Normally her first instinct should have been to push him away, slap him and scream at him before storming away, but she doesn't. Instead, to her surprise, she finds herself leaning into the kiss. She did expect him to pull away, he always voiced how much he found kisses like this unsanitary and never wanted one, more or less content with a simple kiss on the cheek or forehead. Yet he didn't. Mordecai Heller, the same man who it took several months of dating her to feel comfortable with even getting a single hug from her, was now clutching her close and kissing her.

This whole thing felt like a scene straight out of those romance novels he used to scoff about, the way they clung to each other and kissed like they hadn't seen each other in decades when it was really only several days ago.

No this is wrong, this is absolutely wrong! Paloma thinks as she breaks the kiss and let Mordecai go.

“I need to go!” She says, quickly throwing open the door, ignoring whatever he was trying to yell.

She rushes through the crowded suite before finding her way back to the main room and rushes over to where her purse, hat and book were stacked on the table.

“Whoa hold on cher, what happened?” Nico says as he grabbed her arm to keep her from fleeing. “You looked like you saw a ghost or something!”

“It was a mistake, I need to leave!” Paloma responds as she tears herself out of his grasp and rushes for the door. “I'm sorry!”

“Wait! Paloma!”

She ignores him as she rushes for the door, flinging it open and slamming it shut behind her before she practically sprinted down the hallway to the elevator. What in God's name was she thinking?! It really was a mistake to come tonight!

----

Mordecai felt like he had consumed a whole bottle of liquor, though all these giddy and warm feelings he felt were starting to fade now that he realized what had just happened. Never in all the years they had dated had they ever kissed like that before, and yet it happened over a year since they broke up. He had to find her, they had to talk.

Mordecai quickly exits the bedroom and hurries past the congregation members until he reaches the main room, only to find Paloma’s belongings missing and she was nowhere in sight. Of course she'd leave, why wouldn't she?

“Whoa what happened to you?” He hears Asa say and he internally groans. He forgot his boss was here. “What, she bite your mouth or something? You look like you got into a fight and lost!”

“Huh?” Mordecai asks, his hand flying to his face. Was he still bleeding?

“Cher, you look like you tried eating a tube of lipstick.” Serafine says as she gets up from the couch she and Kuura were sitting on and walks over to start adjusting his jacket and shirt collar. “And like you got in a tussle. What happened?”

“I'd rather not say, but have you seen Paloma?”

“She ran out like a devil was on her tail.” Kuura says from the couch before tossing back the drink she had in hand. “And then…stupid Nico ran after her.”

Mordecai felt his tail twitch anxiously at that comment, but said nothing. Paloma was right earlier, he had no right in saying who she could and couldn't date, but that didn't mean she could date that man of all people! He hated the smug expressions the boxer had started giving him after he first met Paloma, like he had some sort of secret involving her that he was only privy to. Well, he hadn't even managed to even get a date with Paloma, or so anything with her, so that was a relief at least. He could at least feel smug about the fact that she kissed him instead of that smug man.

“Oh and look who's back.” Serafine says as she finishes adjusting his clothes and he turns to see Nico entering the room again. “So what happened?”

“Well she left the hotel before I could even catch up. I don't think we'll be seeing her again so soon.” Nico says with a shrug before taking a seat on the couch next to Kuura. “Also why is Peekon wearing lipstick?”

“I am not!” Mordecai protests a little too loudly.

“She probably smeared it on him to make him uncomfortable.” Asa chuckles. “And that's also why his clothes were disheveled, you don't like wrinkles on anything.”

Okay he hadn't even noticed that he looked like a mess until it was pointed out to him, probably from when he and Paloma were practically clinging and gripping each other like a pair of desperate loversgrip. At least his boss didn’t think he was kissing her, but from the looks his associates were giving him, they seemed to know. And something told him they were going to interrogate him about it later.

----

“Ugh I am gonna regret this, this is the worst idea ever!” Paloma mutters as she makes her way to the bar where Zib was asleep at the counter and Wick was playing around with his glass. There was a stool between them, so she took the chance to plop herself down between the two men. “I need help.”

“No you can’t use my quarry to hide a body!” Wick exclaims, startling Zib awake. “Oh…sorry.”

“Why would I ask you that, I know perfectly better places to hide a body!” Paloma says, giving him an offended look. “Like your backyard.”

“Someone’s been hanging around Rocky too much.” Wick mutters as she laughs.

“So what if I have? My little brother likes hanging around him, at least he tries behaving himself around him. Not like he tried getting him to glue pancakes to his head to experiment with bees.”

“He tried to what now?”

“You said you needed help doll?” Zib interrupts with a yawn. “With what?”

“Oh you were conscious to hear that!” Paloma says with a frown.

“Stayed conscious long enough for the bartender to come around since Viktor is taking the night off to be with his lady. I still can’t believe he’s got a wife, Viktor of all people!”

“Hey, he can be charming, when he wants to. Anyways, I need both of you to help me with something.”

“Is it…money related or something?” Wick asks. “Or…rock or stone related?”

“You sound very homeful about the rock thing.” Zib mutters. “Hey if you get me a drink, I can be of help.”

“No I need you both sober for this.” Paloma says with a shake of her head. “It involves…my ex boyfriend.”

She hears a chair screeching against the wooden floor before she’s spun around in her seat to be facing Zib, who is giving her the most horrified look she had ever seen on him. “Gun closet. Now.”

He quickly yanks Paloma out of her seat and drags her away from the bar before going back to grab Wick as well and dragged them both towards the stage, ignoring the band members who were busy tuning their instruments and warming up their vocal cords. Once backstage, he quickly dragged them towards the caves until they arrive at the artillery room, opening it and shoving the two inside before shutting the door behind them.

“Okay first off, rude.” Paloma says as she feels around for the light switch and pushes the button to light up the room. “Second, what’s with the panicked look?”

“Every time that guy is involved, you look ready to break something!” Zib hisses.

“And…bringing her to a room full of guns was a wise choice.” Wick asks, glancing around. “You sure you are sober?”

“Very sober! Partially, but still sober to have this discussion!” Zib snaps. “Look, Paloma, whatever you are thinking, do NOT get back with him.”

“What the- what makes you think I am going to do that?!” Paloma exclaims. “I haven’t even had a proper conversation with you both for you to jump with that conclusion!”

“Well in case the conversation does turn to it, that’s my bit of advice. He is the worst option you could have picked for a boyfriend, fake or real!”

“I’m sorry, did you want nineteen year old me to pick you for a boyfriend so my very strict Irish catholic grandfather could get off my back about why I had men’s clothes in my laundry? No! And Mitzi picked him, I simply had the unfortunate luck to fall for him, and it was not because he was handsome!”

“Oh was this the ex boyfriend you mentioned the other day that you didn’t shoot?” Wick asks.

“You WHAT?!” Zib exclaims. “Pal, you know how dangerous he is! Was he the rival gang Rocky mentioned?”

“Well yes, Marigold is now officially more or less our enemy.” Paloma says rolling her eyes. “Look, that night…something happened and I couldn’t help but notice something and I’ve been thinking about it, but I don’t trust myself with what I’ve been drawing conclusions to!”

“Hey maybe we should hear her out first, this sounds serious.” Wick says softly. “Though these seem to be matters of the heart, why not talk to…Mitzi about it?”

“She’s the last person I want to talk to about him with.”

“So you picked someone who doesn’t really like him and someone who doesn’t even know him like we do.” Zib asks with a frown.

“Well I need an unbiased opinion here.” Paloma says and sighs. “Okay so a few night ago when I went with Rock, Calvin and Ivy to get that booze Viktor is calling Sunset Rose Cocktail, we crossed paths with my ex and his associates. I…I hesitated in attacking him. But weirdly enough, he didn't even do anything to hurt me when I tried to attack. At some point he even tried to…protect me.”

“Whoa whoa, this guy tried to protect you?” Zib interrupts. “Mordecai, stiff and cold shouldered Mordecai? The same guy who broke your heart with no hesitation and who cleared our armory stock months before we even found out and possibly armed those farmers who wanted to kill Rocky?”

“Wait, that’s what happened that night and why Viktor has a second breathing hole?!” Wick exclaims. “Goodness, how'd you end up with someone so…like that?”

“I asked Mitzi the same thing years ago when she revealed she was dating Atlas.”

“Anyways!” Paloma says, elbowing Zib to shut him up. “I've been thinking back on what has happened, and my feelings about it. I am finding it odd that I was feeling relieved that I didn't kill him when I should have felt frustrated or annoyed, and have come to a conclusion about why Mordecai didn't try to kill me.”

“Well, let's hear it.” Wick says with a nod.

“I think he still has feelings for me and I may have some lingering feelings for him - like deep deep down.”

“ABSOLUTELY NO!” Zib exclaims. “This is the worst conclusion you could have come to!”

“Umm, is everything alright in there?” They hear Horatio call from the other side of the door before it opens and he pokes his head in. “The band sent me to go find Mr. Zibowski. Also why are you shouting?”

“Well this dumb little spitfire might be planning to get back with her boyfriend!” Zib says, grabbing Paloma’s cheek to give it a firm yank. “And in my expert opinion, it's a bad idea!”

“Miss Alvarez!” Horatio gasps and covers his mouth in horror. “That is a very bad idea!”

I wonder how they’d react if I told them the other night I kissed him. Paloma wonders. Best keep that to myself for now.

“Now hold on, she never said she was going to, all she said was that she might still have some feelings for him.” Wick interrupts.

“Might as well admit she wants to get back with him!” Zib argues, releasing the younger woman’s cheek to put his hands on her shoulders. “Pal listen to me, and listen to me good! You are a sweet and kind girl, and you absolutely deserve someone as nice as you. Please for the love of god pick someone else, like someone like Horatio or even Rocky would make a better boyfriend!”

“Zib, I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but I am a grown woman now and can make my own choices.” Paloma says gently as she removes his hands. “I am not planning to get back with Mordecai, clearly I need more time to get over him and seeing him these past few times wasn’t a good idea even if they were unintentional. But right now I still don’t think it’s a good time for me to jump back into dating anyone just yet. I…I don't want to go through that again. So! In the meantime I shall just shove these lingering feelings deep down, and ignore them.”

“There, no need to jump to conclusions, she was never thinking about getting back with this man.” Wick scoffs. “Now let's get out of here before Mitzi finds us and starts asking way too many questions.”

Chapter Text

It had been maybe over a week, maybe more but Paloma had lost track of time, stewing over what had happened at the party, and wondering if what she did was even right. For months, even over a year she had been telling people she'd shoot Mordecai the moment she was even close with him, and yet the times she was around him with her gun in hand, she never did. Yet at that party, she shouldn't have even let him kiss her even if it was by accident. Just thinking about it made her heart flutter and it almost made her want to scream. Well she did a few times, and that resulted in startling Ilioise while she was babysitting her and poor Horatio as she was coming into the speakeasy.

Pull yourself together Paloma, the women of the Alvarez family do not let themselves fall apart over trivial things like this! She tells herself as she is vigorously mopping the floor of the speakeasy one evening. Grandma had to pull herself up by the bootstraps and keep her head held high when her family kicked her out with only the clothes on her back and a baby in her belly, mama had to stay strong for the sake of her children when papa passed. I shouldn't be letting this get to me! Stupid Mordecai, stupid Mordecai! How dare he!

She lets out another frustrated scream, startling some of the band who were up on the stage practicing. Ugh! Why did he have to do that! Why did he have to hold her while they kissed, making her feel all these confusing emotions and -

“Hey Pal-” Paloma whips around, swinging her mop and smacking whoever approached her from behind in the face and knocked them to the floor. “EUUGH MY FACE!”

“Roark!” She exclaims when she sees her friend on the other end of her mop, trying to get it out of his face. “What have I told you and your cousin about sneaking up behind me!”

“You always said to never do that when you have a gun or knife in hand, never anything about a smelly old mop!” Rocky retorts, finally batting the mop away and wrinkles his nose in disgust. “Eww, now I need to wash my mouth out with syrup.”

“You're like the fourth person I've attacked who thought approaching me from behind was a great idea.” Paloma grumbles as she sticks her mop back into the bucket.

“Oh? Who were the other three unlucky gents or ladies?”

“Viktor and that was when I was on edge after a big fight, made the mistake of touching me while I held a crowbar and probably would have taken out his good eye if he didn't stop me in time. My brother, he got thrown onto his back and I almost smashed his head in with a poop shovel if our mama wasn't there to stop it. And then that big guy from Marigold, I hit him hard enough with Tarzan to make his nose bleed.”

“Big guy from Marigold…doesn't ring a bell.”

“The guy driving the car from the other night?”

Rocky furrows his brows in thought before his face lights up and he snaps his fingers. “Oh that guy! And the same one from the ice cream parlor who had you dragging us out of there before we could finish our treat! Why did Leo call him your boyfriend anyways, you're not dating anyone. Unless-”

“Oh please don't remind me, I don't know why he says that.” Paloma groans. “He likes him because he reminds him of…our dad.”

Rocky's face drops. “Oh…yeah I forgot about that…I guess your dad looked similar to the guy?”

“Well he was pretty big, like maybe around the same height as Viktor, pretty beefy too and he used to be a professional boxer. Of course after a bad injury he got from a match forced him to retire when I was young, so he was more of a former professional.” She explains, her hand going to the gem on her necklace to fiddle with it. “He had dark fur with just a single white marking and eyes like mine, a lot of us took after him in appearance. Well except for Imelda, she took after mama and came out with green eyes. He was a good man, and he was the one who did most of the child raising while mama was doing farm work because his old boxing injury wouldn't let him do any heavy work.”

“He sounds like a pretty solid guy.” Rocky comments.

“Yeah…he was.” Paloma says with a nod. “Anyways, what did you want to tell me?”

“Oh! Weeeeell, it turns out old captain Khoe is more useful than we thought!” Rocky says giving her a toothy grin. “Decided to pass by his usual route to say hi and see how he was holding up without us or the pig farmers.”

“The same guy who sold us what may as well have been sludge from the bottom of the Mississippi?” Paloma asks, raising a brow.

“Well yeah, but he gave me some very helpful information on another buyer we could get and I could use your expertise in looking into buying from them.”

“How so?”

“Well…for one, the guy miiiight be from where you are from.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“Mark Alonzo? Sounds…well, not American, like your name?”

Paloma looks at him funny. “Okay, but is there another reason you want me to come along?”

“Well aside from a potential language barrier we may have with this new buyer, some extra muscle?” Rocky admits with a sheepish smile. “Freckle isn't gonna be available for this, and I promised Miss M I'd find us a new buyer before the end of the month so we wouldn't always have to do deals with the Arbogasts after…what's happened recently.

I wouldn't be surprised if Asa at this point is plotting our downfall right now. Paloma thinks before nodding. “Fine, I'll go with you.”

“Aces!” Rocky cheers.

“But let me do the talking, if I need you to do something batshit crazy, I'll tell you.”

Rocky grins and playfully salutes her. “Yes ma'am! I'll go grab the car keys, this'll be a fun venture tonight!”

-----

Driving out to the middle of nowhere in search of this Alonzo guy wasn't what Paloma expected to be doing tonight, but it was better than stewing in her thoughts about that other night and scared everyone again with another scream. Rocky kept her occupied, chattering away (most of the time to himself), so she didn't have to fall back on those thoughts.

“So, where did the guy say this guy was anyways?” Paloma asks as the car suddenly pulls over to stop near a tree. “Wait what are you-”

“Right there! See the boat?” Rocky asks as he jumps out of the car and points down to the river below. Paloma climbs out to stand next to him and peer down the small hill to see a boat floating down there. “There shall be, and hopefully with no problems, our ticket to more customers! I heard liquor from Mexico is pretty good, have you tried it?”

“Roark, I don't drink.”

“Oh, forgot that. Well neither do I, what an irony, right? Now let's head down and ask the captain for a sale.”

Once her guns were retrieved from the car and were checked to make sure there were bullets in them, the unlikely duo climbed down to the riverbank as quietly as they could. Nearby were two men dressed in very shabby clothes talking to a man who was just looking at them in annoyance.

“Señores, I'm sorry, but I cannot do that. I've told you before that I must have more clients and not be exclusive to just one.” The unamused man says. “I don't care what your boss says, I won't be doing business exclusively with him and drop the rest of my clients!”

“Why is it always low class rubes we gotta deal with for cheaper liquor?” Rocky mutters.

“Would you prefer a fancy high class gangster like my ex?” Paloma hisses as they get close. “Let me handle this, last time you dealt with country bumpkins we almost lost the speakeasy and half the staff.”

“Okay fair, but those were pig farmers who had it out for me and I've had to deal with them far too many times before I set their establishment on fire. Did I ever mention that they had their own brewery and still insisted on getting stuff from Kehoe?”

“I believe you have, but you best shut your mouth for now. Gentlemen? What seems to be the problem here?”

The three men turned to look at them, one was a lot older than them with very patchy brown and white fur that looked like it needed a good scrubbing, the other was a more younger looking man with all white fur, he couldn't be much older than Calvin and Ivy or even Maria. The two thugs were glaring at them until the younger one's face fell and he tenses.

“Great, cops.” The older man mutters as his hand goes to the gun attached to his belt, but stops now that Paloma’s revolver is pointed at his snout.

“Sorry, but I'm much worse than a policeman. Now, step aside and allow us to talk to señior Alonzo, Kehoe recommended him to us and we'd like to make a business deal with him.”

“The fuck does a woman have any business here?” The older man growls and eyes Rocky. “What, the rest of your gang too chicken and needed to resort to broads for your dirty work?”

“I'm not even allowed to talk right now on the account that my smart mouth has gotten me in too much trouble.” Rocky says, holding his hands up in defense and points at Paloma. “But my dear pal here would be thrilled to divulge why she's even here in the first place! The stage is yours now Paloma!”

“W-wait, did you say Paloma, like…Alvarez?” The younger man asks nervously.

“Unless you know any other Hispanic women by the same name running around St Louis with an old revolver, then yes.” Paloma responds, cocking her head a bit with a frown and looks at the older man. “Got a problem with that?”

“Obviously I do.” The older man sneers before his companion grabs his arm.

“No! You don't wanna mess with her!” The younger man hisses. “Haven't you heard of Atlas May's Devil Dove?!”

“You mean the Slavic man?”

“No! He had three top gangsters, one of them a woman with eyes that blazed like hellfire and a terrifying scream that made you feel like the devil himself screamed! That's the Devil Dove!”

“Dios mio, when did people start associating me with the devil?” Paloma mutters as she lowers her gun slightly. “Listen, we don't want any trouble, we're just here to see if we could get some imported fluids from the buyer and we have the money for it.”

“You got a lot of nerve coming here then, this here is Hobb’s territory and the only one that Alonzo guy is gonna sell to is our gang.” The older man sneers. “So go home and do something useful.”

“Chip! Don't piss her off!” The younger man hisses. “You don't wanna mess with her!”

“What's a dame like her gonna do, shoot me?” 

“Rude.” Rocky mutters. “So…whatcha gonna do? If they won't let us get our spirits, we have a few options. But you're the more…experienced one here.”

Paloma let out an annoyed sigh. “Fine. Chip was it? I have two options and you get to pick one that suits you best. First option, you cut it out with the macho act and step aside to let me and my friend talk to the supplier. Second option, I shoot you in the head and we do our business. Sound good?”

“Pick the first option, it ain't worth fighting with her!”

“Shut the fuck up Timothy! Should have brought Dan along instead of you!”

Paloma frowns and quickly shoots at the ground near their feet, the three men jumping back in alarm.

“Crazy bitch!” The older man screams. “You trying to kill me?!”

“No, just trying to get you to quit running that mouth of yours, have you ever considered brushing your teeth after chewing tobacco?” The triggerwoman retorts.

“I ought to beat that pretty face of yours into a pulp!”

Paloma smirks as she removes her guns, dumping them into Rocky's arms, removes her coat and rolled the sleeve of her right arm up before she removes her bandana to cover her knuckles. Once that was done, she starts to wind her arm back, walking towards the older man. “Fine, I need to get something out of my system anyways. Let me fix that ugly mug of yours.”

---

“Well, we got a buyer, that's good, right?” Rocky says as the two are now cruising down the road, at least two crates of good Mexican whiskey in the trunk for samples. “And for a discount too!”

Turned out getting into a fist fight with the member of some gang they never heard of actually reaped benefits. For one, the Alonzo guy was more than happy to do business with them, and thanked them for getting rid of a bunch of booze hoggers.

“Guess there's no point in going to Defiance once in a while.” Paloma says as she looks out the window. “Wonder how my brother is doing, it's been almost two months.”

“I'm sure he's doing fine, but do you wanna visit him? It's not that late, we'd most likely find him still awake.” 

Tempting…oh fine, a visit wouldn't hurt, right? While she wouldn't admit it, Paloma missed her twin, despite him being almost as annoying as Rocky on some occasions. She hadn't seen him in almost four years, hardly spent much time with him when he came to St Louis and spent a good chunk of the summer at the Arbogast farm. They couldn't risk calling in case their phone calls were being monitored, nor could they send mail for the same reason. To her, it felt like a good portion of something was missing in her when he wasn't around, a feeling she had to get used to when she left home.

After some time, an old familiar farm came into view, two figures out on the porch. One of course was Gabriel, who was munching away at something with a book in hand, the other was that lad Michael, who was also reading.

“¡Hermanita! ¡Qué alegría a verte!” Paloma’s brother greets as she exits the car and he gets up from his seat after bookmarking his book. “¿Cómo estás? ¿Cómo están los peques?”

“English, Gabriel, Abelard told you to practice!” Michael calls from his seat, not even bothering to get up.

“Aw leave him very, he might forget how to talk that way if I'm not around.” Paloma laughs as she ruffles her twin's black and white curls. “How's your English?”

“Better.” Gabriel responds with a grin. “I fix barn roofs!”

“Good! Have you been staying out of trouble?”

“More like he's been finding it.” Michael snorted as he snapped his book shut and walks to the steps of the porch. “What brings you here?”

“Just stopping by for a visit, hey the old barn seems to be looking better!” Rocky says and points at the barn several yards away. “Did the car sized hole get fixed?”

“¡Sí! And painted!” Gabriel says proudly. “I did it all on my own, no problems!”

“You almost fell off it when a strong rainstorm hit!” Michael exclaims. “You're lucky we had a bunch of bushes near it, otherwise you would have cracked your head worse than the grinning idiot!”

“Aw come on, my head wound isn't so bad!” Rocky says, lifting some of his hair covering the healing scar. “Looking better than ever! And I’m still right as rain!”

“Sure, sure you are.”

Gabriel laughs before his smile falters. “Hey, something wrong Paloma? You don’t look so well.”

“Oh yeah, Pal has been looking stressed for the…past month.” Rocky admits. “It’s probably because of the run in we had with Marigold a few weeks ago.”

Had she been looking stressed? She hadn’t been feeling that way since that run in, but she certainly started feeling that since she kissed Mordecai and-

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” Paloma screams, startling the three men.

“Oh yeah and she started doing that a few days ago.” Rocky mutters as he rubs his ears. “Like a banshee, she nearly scares the souls out of everyone around her!”

“Hey, you okay?” Gabriel whispers to Paloma in spanish. “Did something happen?”

“Nothing happened, I'm just feeling a bit of pent up frustration.” She whispers back.

“Hmm…oh!” Gabriel snaps his fingers and raises his voice. “Well I got something fun for you! I know a place where you could get rid of frustration!”

“Oh?”

“Aw no, don't tell her about that!” Michael groans. “You got your butt kicked last time we went and I'm still having a hard time convincing Abelard that black eye you got was from getting hit with a rake handle!”

“Ooh this sounds fun!” Rocky says with a grin. “Do tell us!”

“It's a sorta secret fight club.” Gabriel whispers. “Sometimes you get money for fighting.”

“Sounds interesting.” Paloma comments. “So…how do we get in?”

“I drive you. Come on!”

The four of them piled into the car, Gabriel behind the wheel as he drove them off the property and down several winding roads until they came to an abandoned looking house with several people hanging around it. Many surrounded the car, glaring at the passengers inside.

“Fucking hell, the reverend's brother and that weirdo are back.” One of the people outside the car growls, a tall looking man with black fur and dressed in a somewhat fancy suit.

“We don't want any problems Hobb, we're just here for a good time like everyone else.” Michael says, edging away from his window.

“Hobb…hey Pal, ain't that the guy those bozos from earlier said they worked for?” Rocky asks in a low voice. “Chip and…uh…what's his name…”

“Sounds like it.” Paloma whispers back as the back door opens and someone reaches in to yank her out by the front of her shirt. “Hey! Keep your hands off me!”

“Hands off my sister!” Gabriel snarls, kicking his door open to strike the man holding his sister in the face.

“Gabriel! We talked about this!” Michael yells as he and Rocky are yanked out of the car.

Now freed, Paloma yanks her revolver out of its holster and quickly aims it at the man Michael called Hobbs. “Call your thugs off or I'll shoot every one of you!” She snarls. “Now!”

“Who the fuck you think you are threatening me missy?” Hobbs sneers. “Can you even shoo-”

BANG

“You want to test me again?” Paloma challenges. “Go ahead, see how well that went for the last few thugs I killed over the years. Otherwise, let my brother and our friends go. Now!”

Before the man could even respond, Paloma catches sight of something silver before he tenses, a curved blade pressed to his throat.

“You might want to do as the lady asks, otherwise your pitiful speakeasy will suffer the wrath of the Devil Dove.” A somewhat familiar voice purrs before Paloma catches sight of a familiar face.

“Oh! You're the…Marigold from the car.” She says when she sees who it is.

“Indeed, Kuura Havu at your service.” The blonde says with a giggle and pressed her blade closer to Hobb’s neck. “So Hobbs, are you gonna give her any trouble? Or do you and your men want to have their blood spilled by us women?”

“Stand down, now!” Hobbs growls as the three men are released. “Now let me go!”

“It's up to her, you disrespected someone quite important.” Kuura says with a smirk and looks to Paloma. “Your call.”

“Let him go, I think he's soiled himself enough after I shot a bit too close to his ear.” Paloma says as Rocky, Michael and Gabriel rush over to huddle behind her. Kuura gives her a disappointed look before shrugging and letting the older man go, allowing him to scramble away back towards the house.

“You're just as fun as Mordecai.” The shorter woman sighs. “And he sucks the fun out of everything.”

“I'd appreciate it if you don't compare me to my ex.” Paloma says with a small frown. “So…what brings you to Defiance?”

“You're also a long way from the city.” Kuura points out. “I'm just here to support my brother and watch the fights going on in that shack of a house. You?”

“My brother asked me to come out here, said I could blow some steam off here.”

A small smirk came to the blonde's lips. “Well, he's not wrong, I could think of a few ways we both could.”

“What, you want me to beat the snot out of you?” Paloma asks with a small frown. “Minus your knives being involved.”

Kuura lets out a snort. “Man, no wonder Nico likes you, funky humor!”

“Heathen.” Michael mutters and ducks behind Gabriel when Paloma turns to glare at him.

“Uh…perhaps we should go since we caused some problems?” Rocky asks. “And it totally wasn't my fault this time!”

“Well I don't think anyone is gonna deny you entry, they don't do that here.” Kuura says with a shrug. “They'll let anyone in as long as they aren't cops. Plus I think they should be honored that the Devil Dove herself showed up and didn't burn the place down.”

“Why the fuck do people keep calling me that!” Paloma groans. “I'm catholic!”

“Maybe if you didn't do that unholy scream of yours when attacking, you wouldn't be called that.” Michael says, shaking his head. “Even my own brother thinks that nickname is too appropriate, and it probably came about because you terrified everyone and Atlas tended to refer to you as his “deadly dove”. At least that's what Bobby told me.”

“Wait, is that where that nickname came from?! And he never told me?!”

“Seems so.”

“Hey so….are we going in or not?” Rocky asks.

“Might as well.” Paloma mutters as she follows Kuura to the house, ignoring the glares and frightened stares of the people outside.

The inside of the house was at least better looking than the outside, barren save for a few couches, crumbling brick walls and several men and women mingling around with bottles of booze in hand.

“This doesn't look like a fight club.” Paloma comments, kicking at a piece of plaster on the floor away from her. “Looks more like a raggedy speakeasy.”

“Well it's both.” Kuura says with a wave of her hand. “Right now no one wants to fight because the only fighter has everyone spooked, unless you wanna challenge him. I'd advise against it but-”

“Well one of these days I'm gonna have to fight that weirdo I keep running into in public, might as well brush up on my boxing.” Paloma says with a shrug and looks around. “Aye, anyone know where the referee is? Or whoever is in charge of these fights?”

The whole room goes silent as the patrons stare at her in horror and some start to whisper a bit too loudly to each other.

“Is she crazy?” “Perhaps so, but who isn't if they want to take on the Finnish Goliath.” “Poor girl…”

“Maybe he'll back down when he sees its a woman fighting him.” “Hope not, he's more fun when he’s in a rage.”

“Uh, Kuura?” Paloma says, turning to the shorter woman, who was busy using her blades to play with the underside of her nails. “Are you sure there's no other fighters?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, there isn't.” Kuura responds nonchalantly. “So, still up for that fight? Or are you more interested in what I have in mind?”

“Heathen!” Michael mutters loudly again from behind Gabriel.

“Shut up before I shut you up.” Paloma snaps before turning back to Kuura. “I'll take the fight. I hardly know you so your idea of fun to blow off steam may not be the same as mine.”

“Disappointing. Well, best of luck, from what I managed to get Mordecai to tell me,

whoever is against you should be worried.” The shorter woman chuckles. “I'll be watching.”

“What a weird woman.” Rocky comments as Kuura walks off. “You sure she's a Marigold?”

“Very sure.” Paloma responds, looking around the room.

“Huh, guess Asa likes collecting oddballs for the gang. So! Where do we sign you up for a fight?”

“You looking to fight the Giant?” A old man asks and Paloma nods. “Great, he’s right over there.”

Over in a corner with a cigarette in his mouth was a very tall man, one that looked a lot taller than Viktor and more muscled with dark orange fur and hair that was pulled back in a bun, glaring at everyone in the room.

“Oh…big guy.” Gabriel mutters. “So that's why he's called the Finnish Goliath.”

“Shit…” Paloma mutters. “I think this was a mistake.”

“You're the one who can take on guys bigger than her, right?”

“Those men were drunk and had no fighting experience, this one looks like he eats and shits bricks and could probably kill me!”

“Yeah he does.” Michael whispers. “Well, I'll pray for you, may God have mercy on your poor soul.”

“Oh shut up, I'm doing this fight before I lose my nerve.” Paloma scoffs as she cracks her knuckles. “May papi's lessons serve me well.”

“Go….uh…Devil Dove!” Gabriel and Rocky yell as she strides forward to meet her opponent in the middle of the ring.

Up close her opponent certainly looked a lot taller now that they were face to face, like maybe an inch or three taller than Viktor and maybe a bit more beefier than Nico, scowling at everyone before it vanished when he spotted her in front of him.

“Alright lady and gent, you know the rules, how we fight, are you ready?” The old man from earlier asks.

“I no fight woman.” The tall man growls as he removes his cigarette and drops it to the floor to grind under the heel of his boot. Huh, he had an accent quite similar to Kuura's.

“What, scared?” Paloma asks in a taunting tone.

“No. You, too small and…weak.”

Oh, that made her feel pissed. Sure she had been called weak and frail before by other gangsters, at least until she knocked some teeth loose from their heads, but something about the way this man said it really irked her. Paloma’s ears flattened against her head and her tail flicked in annoyance as the man turned to walk away, ignoring the boos and laughter he was getting from the audience.

“Oh so you are scared! So full of chicken shit are you?” She yells after him. “And here I thought I was gonna get a real opponent tonight! ¡Pero no, todo lo que obtuve fue un cobarde!”

The man's ears flattened and he turned to glare at her. “The fuck you call me?”

“You heard me.”

Well now she's done it. The man is storming back towards her, his eyes blazing with fury. He's now standing in front of her, his face inches from hers. “You got death wish or somethin’?”

“Nah, I just need to blow off some steam.” Paloma responds as she removes her bandana from around her neck and quickly wraps it around her right hand, covering her knuckles. And without warning, she struck first.

The man reels back from the punch she swung at his face, blinking at her in surprise as the spectators around them cheered and screamed. His eyes narrowed before he shifted into a fighting stance and took a swing at her, getting Paloma right in the shoulder. Okay that definitely hurt, but she grits her teeth and takes another swing that misses her opponent and swings again only to miss once more.

“¡Hermana! Get him with the old fake out trick!” Paloma hears Gabriel yell over the noise. “Like papa taught us!”

“Fake out trick, alright let's do it! ¡Aye cabrón! ¡Mírame!”

Her opponent lets out a low growl as she flung a quick punch, but never struck him. He then steps closer and Paloma grins. Bait taken. Now that she was closer, she was able to strike him right in the nose, causing him to stumble back from the force.

“Aw falling for such a simple trick, how stupid are you?” Paloma taunts. “Even my little brother knows not to fall for that! And he's five!”

The man let's out a loud snarl as he lunges forward, grabbing her by the shirt and struck her hard in the snout. Paloma falls over with a loud grunt, clutching at her injured nose. When she pulls her hand away, she's hardly surprised to find some blood.

“Been a good while since someone made me bleed like that.” She says as she gets to her feet, swiping at whatever was dripping down her nose. “Seems like I found someone who hits as hard as Viktor.”

Before she could even get back in a fighting stance, her opponent lunges, forcing her to dodge and his fist collides with the wall behind her. Paloma hears a loud crack and twists her head to see if he had broken his fist, only to see the man yank his hand out of the wall and shake it, muttering under his breath.

“Well I'm certainly fucked.” Paloma mutters as some of the spectators laugh.

“Come on! Finish her! Finish him!” The crowd yells.

Shit, do I want to keep fighting? Paloma wonders as they get back in position. That guy may have made me bleed from my nose and make my shoulder feel sore, but he punched a wall just now! Was he holding back earlier? Maybe-

“This stupid, fight over.” The man announced before turning away, rubbing at his injured hand.

“Aw come on! I bet money on this!” Someone yells as the rest of the crowd starts yelling and booing.

“Hey! You can't just walk out of a fight like this!” Paloma yells as she runs after him. “Why are you suddenly quitting?”

She almost bumps right into the man's back as he turns to shoot her a glare. “I fight, you die. No fight.” He responds, rubbing at his injured hand. Paloma frowns before unwrapping the bandana around her hand to wrap it around his. “What…”

“That looks painful, you better disinfect it and see a doctor about it.” She says as she drops his hand. “You owe me a rematch, bring that back when you accept it.”

“You good?” Rocky asks as he and the other three rush over to her. “Oh your nose…”

“I’m good.” Paloma responds, wiping at her snout. “Does it look broken?”

“I don’t think so.” Gabriel says, grabbing her face to examine her nose. “Yeah not broke. You don’t have a snout like papi…so you good.”

“Ahem.” The four turn to see the old man from earlier with a fistful of dollar bills in hand and held them out to Paloma. “Here, for your troubles. Sorry he walked out on that fight, he doesn’t always do that. Come back any time, Hobbs may be running this place as a speakeasy, the fight club is my thing.”

“Oh….thanks I guess?” Paloma says as she accepts the cash, her eyes widening when she sees how much she’s now holding. “Wait that’s-”

“And he’s gone.” Michael comments. “So…what are you gonna do with that?”

“Uh…I guess put it in my savings? Been saving everything I got from Atlas so I could move out of Viktor’s home, and that was before my grandfather died. Still looking to get one, I just haven’t found the right house yet and Viktor is practically living with Elizia so he might end up moving out and move his half of the place to my name. Or I can give some of this to Mitzi for booze…”

“Or donate it to the church.”

“I don’t think reverend Harold would be happy to see over one hundred dollars in the baskets and someone snitches it was me who put it in.”

“Meh, your cash, you do what you want.” Rocky says with a shrug. “But giving some to Miss M would be nice, or you could use it to get you a nice dress to wear for bartending!”

“I’m not wearing a skimpy flapper dress to serve drinks, Rocky.” Paloma says with a frown before she folds the bills to shove them into her pant’s pocket. “Let’s go before I feel the urge to punch someone.”

----

“No…no this isn’t right, it makes no sense!” Mordecai mutters as he yanks a scrap of paper off the wall and throws it in the small garbage can next to his desk that was already overflowing with crumbled papers.

So far every idea he had felt like a dead end for this investigation, which was already irritating him. Well it irritated him almost as much as something else that had been on his mind for the past few days that had been eating at him.

His mind often kept drifting back to that night with Paloma, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't forget those few moments with her in that room. How soft her lips felt against his when she returned the kiss, how the smell of her perfume tickled his nose, the way she desperately clung to him, and that look in her eyes before she realized what they had done. At the time, he never really paid attention to what she was wearing, but looking back on it he definitely saw that she was once again wearing that necklace he gifted her all those years ago. This took him by surprise, especially since weeks ago when they first saw each other again after a year she wasn't wearing it at the lunch date. When did she start wearing it again? Before the party? Some time long after their first meeting? Did this mean she still loved him? Part of him doubted that, but there was another part of him that desperately wanted it to be true, that deep down she still loved him just like he still loved her.

You’re trying to figure out what all these people you’ve been tasked with killing having anything to do with Atlas, yet here you are getting worked over an accidental kiss. He thinks in annoyance as he dropped back into his chair.

As he is removing his glasses to rub at the spot between his eyes, he hears a window slam shut, followed by the sound of the front door opening and shutting. Great, they were back, and too early for his liking. With an annoyed sigh, Mordecai gets up from his desk and exits his office. Downstairs he could hear Kuura talking with someone, sounding like she was in an argument with them.

“...and that was very rude of you Kalle! You never drop out of fights like this!” The blonde snaps as Mordecai is descending the stairs to find his second latest roommate glaring at the shorter woman. “And what’s all the bullshit about not fighting girls, you fight and smack me around all the time, even when we were kids! Such a rude brother!”

“You sister, she not sister.” Kuura’s brother retorts as he prods her forehead. “And you deserve smack sometimes.”

“Enough fighting, it’s late.” Mordecai interrupts before his eyes fall on something pink wrapped around the larger man’s knuckles. “First aid kit is in the bathroom, clean up after yourself Kalle. And Kuura, wash your dishes, remember our agreement?”

“Sure mom.” Kuura says, rolling her eyes before her brother smacked the back of her head. “HEY!”

“Be nice.” Kalle hisses. “Not rude.”

Instead of retorting back in English, Kuura proceeds to say something to him in Finnish, resulting in the two starting arguing in their language as they walk towards the stairs leading up to the bedrooms and bathroom. 

“Hold on, what is that wrapped around your hand?” Modecai says loudly to interrupt them.

“Bandana.” Kalle responds. “From…”

“A cute girl we met at a fight club!” Kuura interrupts with a grin. “She got him twice in the face and challenged him to a rematch!”

“Yes.” Kalle confirms. “Really weird woman.”

The bandana looked awfully familiar to Mordecai, but he wasn’t sure why. He only knew one person who’d wear such a color, but she’d never go to any of those weird fighting clubs where people would try to beat the stuffing out of each other all for a handful of cash. Unless…no, he shouldn’t say anything.

“Go wash up, it’s late.” The triggerman says with a tired sigh. “And that means up staying up reading.”

“Is that directed at us or at you?” Kuura teases.

“To bed miss Havu. Actually, go wash your dishes, then bed.”

Kuura rolls her eyes but does as she is told, Kalle meanwhile hurrying up the stairs to go treat his wounds. Mordecai just shakes his head, walking towards the bookcase he had in his living room and ran his fingers along the spines of some of the books before settling on one. Of all the books he expected Paloma to leave behind, he didn’t expect one of those romance novels he often found her reading. So often he used to scoff at her reading such boring sounding works of fiction, telling her she should be reading something a bit more challenging. Yet here he was pulling one of those out of the bookshelf that still held many of the books she had bought or that he had gifted her over time. Pride and Prejudice was the name of it, he couldn’t remember if she ever tried reading it to him or talked about it’s contents, all he could remember was that it was a romance novel with two characters getting over some sort of bias to be together, at least that’s what he could remember. It was one of the many in the bookcase that had a worn spine, those he knew were her favorites to reread over and over even when she had a bunch of new ones to finish.

I wonder if you are fretting over that incident as much as I have. Mordecai thinks as he touched the worn spine of the book before putting it back. Or not. Perhaps next time we meet under more peaceful circumstances not involving our jobs I could ask.

Chapter Text

“Good afternoon, I got you some sweet bread from Elizia, I can’t remember the name but it’s got chocolate!” Paloma says cheerfully as she enters the office, pulling out a paper wrapped bundle from the paper bag she held. “It’s really good, I had one on my way over and - hey why are you looking so upset?”

Mitzi sat at her desk sporting a dark expression, her hands clasped together in front of her while glaring at an opened pale white envelope on the desk. Her usually neat hair was looking like a disheveled mess right now, most likely from her running her hands through it anxiously and there were dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept in weeks.

“Uh, señiora?” Paloma calls out cautiously. “Maybe I should just…leave and-”

“Asa's inviting us to his club.” Mitzi finally says, her shoulders drooping as she points to a crumpled letter that sat next to it.

Paloma walks up to the desk to set her grocery bag down on it and grabs the opened envelope to turn it, and dumps out several marigold flowers onto the desk. She recalled Atlas having one or two of these on hand, specifically for visiting the Marigold Room. She used to like marigold flowers, as a child she and her cousins would collect them from a nearby field or buy a bunch in the market for the day of the dead festival to scatter around the farmhouse and wear in their hair, but now the sight of them made her stomach twist in disgust.

“This feels like a threat or trap.” She comments with a frown as she picks one up. “So…what do we do?”

“I don't know honey, I agree this does not look like a friendly invitation.” Mitzi says with a tired sigh as she slumps her head down on the desk. “I just…it's…”

“Shh, it's okay, you've been stressed lately haven't you?” Paloma asks as she walks around the desk as her boss lets out a choked sob and puts her arms around her in comfort. “You're worried this means Mordecai will make good on his promise?”

“I'm afraid he would, what if we went and it was all a set up to kill us?” Mitzi sobs as she clings to the younger woman. “What if we don't go and he tries to kill us and destroy this place?”

“He won't if Selena knows, maybe we should call her?”

“I could try, but I don't know how much she could do. I suppose we really don't have a choice, do we?”

Paloma nods grimmly. “If we go, Asa could send someone to destroy this place, maybe we should have someone stay behind to keep watch?”

“Sounds like a good idea, but who do you have in mind?” Mitzi asks as she is released and hastily wipes at her eyes.

“My brother, he's a great shot, and maybe Calvin too just in case. Should we close the speakeasy for the night just in case?”

“It'd be best if we did. You and I are obviously going, but there's a lot of these flowers, why's he sending so many?”

“Feels like a mockery sending this many. So two of us…perhaps we should have Rocky come along? And Zib? No…can he hold a gun or does he know how to fight?”

“Does that man look like he's ever gotten into a fight and won?”

If anything, Zib often looked like he'd lost one too many fights, or that he was too tired to even fight anyone at all.

“Okay fair point.” Paloma says with an annoyed sigh and pushes two flowers aside. “Maybe Viktor can come as well as Rocky? They can look like extra muscle for us.”

“Hmm…true, but perhaps we should wait until everyone shows up to discuss this.” Mitzi says as she gathers the flowers and letter into the envelope. “I may be the boss around here, but I'd like to get everyone on board with decisions like this.”

----

Once evening had rolled around and the other employees had arrived, Paloma gathered everyone at the stage. Even Wick was there, having been called by Mitzi to show up early.

“Alright we should be opening soon, but I wanted to talk to you all about something that had just come up.” Mitzi announced as she stood at the edge of the stage.

“We're not closing forever, are we?” Sy asks. “Last time you gathered us like this was to tell us we hardly had any money to keep this place afloat.”

“Oh no honey, this is a much different matter I promise. Many of you here know of the Marigold gang, right? And their boss, Asa Sweet?”

“You mean the guy we used to work for until Atlas?” Mozzi asks.

“Yes that man. Earlier today, he sent a letter inviting us to…come to his establishment.”

The other employees looked at each other in worry, whispering to each other until Calvin raises a hand.

“Uh, may I ask why this is serious?”

“Marigold is our rival, those thugs you and Rocky dealt with the other week were from that gang.” Paloma says as she climbs onto the stage and Mitzi steps back to let her speak. “And then those other thugs from the graveyard? Also Marigold. Now the reason why this is serious, is because we have no idea why Asa is doing this, and we have suspicions that it's not for a friendly chat. And, we don't know if he'll do something to destroy this place whether or not we go, so we've decided it'd be best to leave some people here to guard both entrances.

“So when is this?” Wick asks.

“Tomorrow night.” Mitzi responds. “Paloma’s brother will be coming to guard the garage entrance. Freckle, while we decided you would also stay to guard the entrance of the pantry, we wanted to ask if you were willing to do it. Are you okay with that honey?”

“Umm, sure? I suppose a stake out wouldn't be so bad.” Calvin says with a nod before Ivy grabs his arm.

“I'll stay with him too! I'll have his back!”

“Sweetie, are you sure?” Mitzi asks with a concerned look. “You told Paloma and I what happened when-”

“I can handle it! Please! I'll be useful this time!”

“Okay okay, you two can stay and guard. Anyone willing to come with me and Paloma?”

“Me, I go.” Viktor says, raising a hand.

“Honey I don't think-”

“I go.” He insists.

“I'll come too.” Wick offers. “It wouldn't seem right to let you two ladies wander into the dragon's den alone.”

“Fine, I'm coming too.” Zib sighs, raising a hand. “And to keep an eye on that one.”

“Oh my god, I'm not going to do anything with Mordecai! Put your hand down!” Paloma groans. “If anything, you'll have to restrain me from slugging him in the face!”

“That I'll certainly do.”

“Miss M, I'd like to come along too!” Rocky says, raising a hand. “I could act as extra muscle!”

“No offense, but…are you sure you can survive a fist fight?” Paloma asks. “You're quite… scrawny.”

“Like spaghetti.” Viktor adds.

“Well I can still help! How many times have I gotten punched or whacked by Viktor and still came out fine?” Rocky argues. “I got run over by a car and survived!”

“You did not! And that forehead injury is exactly why I think you should stay behind!” Paloma retorts. “Yes you are quite sturdy, but I'm very sure your aunt will have my hide if you got badly injured under my watch! She may be cross with you over half the time but she still cares!”

“Yes yes, but I'm still going!”

“Group of six it is then.” Mitzi says and looks at the others. “Anyone else? No? Then that's it. Paloma, tomorrow you are to come straight to the apartment so I can help you get ready.”

“Oh but, I've got a nice dress in mind for the occasion.” Paloma says but Mitzi waves her hand dismissively.

“Honey, where we're going, I don't think the cute garden party dresses I've bought you over the years are suitable for this. Think more… the dress you wore for your first Christmas party in this speakeasy.”

Oh…that sort of dress. Well, she couldn't squeeze into the only flapper dress she owned, that one was meant for a much more scrawny girl like Ivy. Actually that dress was probably in Ivy's closet.

“You sure I can't just show up in my bartender uniform? I'd look a little more serious and business-like if I showed up like that minus the bandana.” Paloma asks once everyone was leaving the stage to go get ready to open the speakeasy.

“No, we're putting you in a dress. Now, let's get ready to open for the night.”

----

“I think that gun's been polished enough.” Zib says as Paloma runs the cloth along the pipe of the gun for what felt like the millionth time today. “You only excessively clean and polish that when you're really anxious.”

“Really? I couldn't tell!” The younger woman mutters sarcastically. “Thanks for telling me!”

“Alright don't get your pants in a twist, you're nervous aren't you?”

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was. This invitation was not friendly at all, and for all they knew, Asa had plans to get them while their guard was lowered and destroy what little of the Lackadaisy and it's crew was left. Sure she and Viktor could take out a few thugs on their own, but with his bad knees and any weapons on them confiscated before they could even enter the speakeasy, their chances of getting Mitzi, Zib and Rocky out were very slim.

“Judging by your silence, I am right.” Zib says as he plops himself down to sit next to her. “That's fine, if you weren't I'd be calling you crazy. Not looking forward to seeing him again?”

“No, especially after last time.” Paloma admits. Zib still didn't know that her actual last encounter with Mordecai involved a kiss, but she wasn't eager for a lecture from him if she ever told him about it. She was already feeling stressed for tonight, and she didn't need to be feeling even more stressed now.

“I'm gonna head upstairs to get changed, and see if my brother is already here.” She finally says, tucking the cleaning rag into her back pocket. “You should get ready too, can't have you showing up like you let your odd friend dressed you.”

Zib simply shrugs as Paloma hops off the stage and hurries up the stairs leading to the trapdoor, only for it to not open like something heavy was sitting on it. Annoyed, she rammed her shoulder against the door, earning a muffled yelp from above followed by muffled swearing before the door opened.

“Dumbass, I was down there!” She yells at her brother, who is rubbing his sore rear.

“Didn't have to ram so hard!” Gabriel retorts before his twin thrusts her shotgun into his arms. “I have a gun.”

“Yeah the peashooter is gonna do you no good, keep that good one in hand.”

“How long are you all gonna be gone?” She hears Michael say from inside the car he was seated in.

“A few hours, we'll have to see.” Paloma responds. “If we're not back by sunrise, Mitzi says you can all storm the hotel and open fire.”

“Oh wonderful, I can add shooting heathens to my long list of sins I've committed this week alone.”

“Sarcastic little shit are you? You do know you didn't even need to be here, right?”

“Well who else was gonna keep your brother company and make sure he won't fall asleep on the job?”

“He thought I was gonna be lonely here, that's why he came.” Gabriel laughs. “I don't mind the company, it'd be weird not to have him around, he's been by my side since we became roommates. One would think we were cemented at the hip!”

“It's glued at the hip.” Paloma corrects him. “Anyways, I gotta go get ready. Don't touch anything in here unless you want Viktor to stab you through the hand.”

She then makes her way out of the garage and turns down the street to get to the cafe, digging out the spare house key from her pocket that Mitzi had given her this morning to unlock the door leading up to the small apartment the older woman lived in. Upstairs she found her employer in her bedroom clipping on a pair of earrings, already dressed while Ivy laid on the bed reading one of her fashion magazines, dressed in the same clothes she wore last time they encountered the Marigolds.

“Ah, just the lady we were waiting for.” Mitzi says as she gets up from her vanity to walk over to Paloma to take her hands. “Oh this reminds me so much of when I helped you get ready for a proper first date.”

“Well this is going to be far from it.” Paloma says, glancing at the boxes next to the bed. “I assume that's for me? 

“Just a few of my old dresses that I outgrew, I figured you wouldn’t want to go spending money on a whole new dress you were going to wear once.” The older woman says as she pulls a few dresses out of a box. “Hmm, no this shade of blue does not look good on you. Gold, no. Green? Oh this would look perfect!”

She holds up a smoky olive green dress, motioning for Paloma to come over to hold it up against her.

“Ooh that actually looks pretty!” Ivy gasps.

“Put it on, I think I have some accessories that were supposed to go with that.” Mitzi says as she stuffed the other dresses back into the box. “Those earrings you have will do for now, I just need a good necklace for you and-”

“Oh, I thought I'd keep this on.” Paloma says, touching the ribbon around her neck. “I wouldn't want to lose your nice jewelry if we got in a fight with the Marigolds.”

“Oh honey, isn't that the necklace Mordecai gave you as a gift?” Mitzi asks, putting away a necklace she had in hand and closing her jewelry box. “I haven't seen that around your neck since he left. You started wearing it again a few weeks ago.”

“I just got a bit nostalgic, that's all. Plus he shouldn't keep me from putting on one of the nicest pieces of jewelry I've owned.”

“Well, if you want to keep it on, you can and I won't stop you. I still need to do something about your hair, you can't go in there with a messy bun and bandana.”

“Well I'll just brush it, it's fine.”

Paloma then proceeds to undo her hair, using her fingers to comb out some of the tangles before taking a comb Mitzi hands her to get everything else out. It had been so long since she ever got dressed up like this, when was the last time she did it? Well, probably for Nico's birthday, but aside from that time.

“Alright I think we'll just go with a simple bun for this, and I have a hair clip you can use so don't lose it.” She heard Mitzi say before the older woman took the comb to start brushing back some of the hair and twisting it behind her head. “I can never get over how pretty your hair is, you certainly don't need that short hairstyle everyone is trying to go for these days.”

“I quite like it.” Paloma says with a shrug. “Maybe in the future locks like mine will be in high fashion.”

“It's a pain to maintain.” Ivy points out as she hands something to Mitzi. “I don't know how you do it.”

“Easy, patience. Something you should learn, it'd be quite helpful as a gangster.”

“Okay fair, but not everyone can be like you or Mordecai.”

“Well you can try to be, patience is a good virtue one must cultivate, as my grandmother used to say. Are we done?”

“Yes, now you certainly are gonna make Mordecai jealous when he sees all sorts of boys falling at your feet.” Mitzi chuckles. “He's certainly going to regret leaving you.”

“I'm not going just for the sole purpose to make him jealous and regret leaving me, if anything, it's to make Asa uncomfortable. Make him squirm and get anxious because my mere presence puts him off.”

“And you did a good job of those last times you've seen him. Oh look at you, you look just as gorgeous as I did back in my youth when I wore this.”

“I assume make up will follow.”

“Well you can’t just show up with just lipstick, let me at least do something about those lashes of yours, make you look a little more fancy.”

Paloma rolls her eyes but allows her boss to apply mascara to her lashes, trying hard not to flinch as the brush tickles her face slightly. Once that was done, she slips some shoes on and stands up to examine her reflection in the mirror. She really did look like those girls who used to frequent the speakeasy with their glittery dresses, though she didn't really like how short the skirt of hers was.

“Oh you look so darling!” Mitzi gushes.

“I feel like a floozy.” Paloma mutters as she tries tugging at the skirt to adjust the length. “And exposed, do you have a shawl or something I could put on?”

“Sure, I have one that matches, now lets get going before the boys leave without us.”

Once downstairs, the three women made their way into the garage where Michael and Gabriel were, now being accompanied by Calvin, Zib, Rocky, Wick and Viktor. The second they heard them, Michel turns to grin at them, before his face fell.

“Sister why is the skirt so short?” He asks as Paloma hugs the thin silk shawl around her chest.

“Don’t ask.” Paloma mutters.

“Heathen.” Michael mutters before ducking behind Gabriel when his sister drops her purse to try and remove a heel. “Gabriel do something!”

“Well you both certainly will be turning heads.” Zib comments as Mitzi walks over to remove his hat and starts trying to fix his hair and tie.

“And you look like you rolled from your apartment all the way here.” The older woman scoffs. “You could have put on a tux, at least Viktor did.”

“Don’t have one.”

“Wick could have lent you one!”

“Do I look like I’d fit in one of his suits?”

“He looks so grumpy all well dressed.” Rocky snickers quietly to Paloma and Ivy. “Apparently his wife made him clean up super good.”

“Well a good thing too, we’re going to a fancy place.” Paloma scoffs as she reaches to adjust his tie. “Now behave yourself, we are not going to risk a gang war if you opened your mouth and say soemthing stupid.”

“Would it kill you to have some faith in me?”

“Perhaps.”

“Alright let's get going, you kids get to your designated spaces and stay vigilant.” Mitzi says as she heads to the door of the garage with Wick and Zib. “Viktor, you get to ride with Paloma and Rocky. Do behave yourself.”

“Be careful hermanita, don't do anything dumb!” Gabriel says, giving Paloma a hug.

“Don't hermanita me, I'm a good half an hour older than you!” She scoffs and smacks His arm. “You stay focused and ready to fight, and don't die. Last thing I need is another dead family member. Take care, all of you.”

“Bye!” Ivy yells after them as they get into Rocky's car.

Paloma couldn't ignore the uneasy and queasy feeling in her stomach as they arrived at the hotel, and now she was really wishing they didn't agree to this. After what happened at that party, the last thing she wanted was to see Mordecai again. It's not like the kiss was bad, she was still feeling confused about how she should be feeling. And the fact that she kissed him back…did she actually still like him deep down despite everything? And did he even still like her.

“Hey Pal, you gotta exit the car.” She hears Rocky say, thankfully interrupting her train of thought. Paloma nods as the car door opens and allows Rocky to help her out before they walk with Viktor to the entrance where Mitzi, Wick and Zib were waiting for them.

“Hey you're still looking neat!” Paloma laughs as she elbowed Zib. “Not a hair out of place!”

“Yeah well let's see how that lasts.” The older man mutters as they walk into the hotel.

At the front desk was a short well dressed man with very fluffy brown fur and sporting a large marigold flower on the front of his suit.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I assume you're here to see Mr Sweet?” The man asks politely.

“Yes, we have the letter to prove it.” Mitzi says as she removes the letter from her purse.

“Good! Now, I know we are all gangsters here, but by any chance did any of you bring any weapons? Mr Sweet asked us to confiscate them, for safety reasons.”

“Please tell me you do have your revolver in your purse.” Rocky whispers to Paloma.

“No, if anything I'm stealing a gun from one of these thugs if trouble arises.” Paloma whispers back.

“Now, do follow me, it's impolite to keep the night manager waiting.” The fluffy man says as they follow him down a few hallways until they arrive at the one place Paloma had been dreading.

“Wow, nothing changed.” Zib comments and gives a small whistle. “Now…where is that old man?”

“Hush now, and there he is with his wife.” Mitzi says, pointing to a table where the Sweets were seated. “I'll head over to them, you all find somewhere to sit, or go mingle and dance with folks, try not to cause any problems.”

The men nod before they broke away, leaving Paloma to stand awkwardly alone. She scans the room trying to look for someone, anyone she at least knew. The only somewhat friendly faces she could see here were the Savoys, who were over at a gambling table. Serafine looks up and quickly smacks her brother before pointing in Paloma’s direction. Nico's annoyed glare turns to a confused one before it lights up when he spots her, quickly abandoning his game to hurry over.

“Hey, where have you been cher? You disappeared before I could even reach the front doors of the hotel!” He says when he reaches her.

“Oh I…wasn’t feeling too well, so I had to leave.” Paloma says, tightening the shawl around her shoulders a little more tightly. Well, that wasn’t exactly a lie.

“What a shame, I would have sent you off with a slice or two of cake to share with your siblings. So…what brings you here again? Fat man wants to recruit you again?”

“Not sure, he asked for my boss, me and anyone of our choosing to come along for whatever reason.”

Nico looks around before his eyes land on Rocky and Wick at the bar. “Ah, I spot the little crazy fella from before.”

“He better not have any dynamite on him.” They hear Serafine say as she walks up to them and squints at Paloma before looking down at her dress. “Oh you actually got dressed up this time, surprised Nico isn't saying anything about it.”

“What? I can't quietly admire her?” Her brother laughs. “She would have slapped me if I said anything.”

“And you would have deserved it.” Paloma scoffs.

“You seem well acquainted with her, Savoy.” She hears Asa say and turns to see him approaching with Mordecai in tow. The moment their eyes locked, Paloma felt her whole face grow warm and bit back the urge to scream.

“What, am I not allowed to be friendly with someone who could become our ally in the future?” Nico asks, putting an arm around Paloma’s waist. She could see Mordecai, who was looking flustered as well a few moments ago, looking quite enraged now. Wait, was he…jealous? “She was one of my…flings.”

Dear god if Mordecai wasn’t looking angry earlier, now he certainly was. Before he could even do anything, Paloma feels Nico quickly turn her away and move her towards the tables with Serafine in tow.

“One of your flings, are you serious?” Paloma asks once they were out of earshot.

“Well it’s more believable, isn’t it?” The boxer says with a shrug. “The fat man seemed to fall for it, though something tells me Peekon didn’t.”

“Because it sounds far-fetched and he knows.” Serafine says with a scoff as she removes his hands from the younger woman's waist. “Now you best keep your hands to yourself unless you want him to shoot you like he threatened.”

“He can try.” Her brother laughs as they arrive at a table where the other Lackadaisy  members were now seated. “So, are you going to introduce us cher?”

“Pal, please explain why the guy who tried to kill us with a car and the madwoman with the gun are with you?” Rocky groans when he spots them. 

“Wait aren't you the crazy one who was throwing dynamite at everyone while commandeering a bulldozer?” Serafine asks, squinting at him.

“Oh that was fun.” Nico laughs.

“Wait, you wrecked my quarry?” Wick gasps.

“Okay enough!” Paloma exclaims, smacking her hands over the Savoys mouths before they could talk. “For tonight these two are not going to do anything to us, you have my word. Right, Nico? Serafine?”

“Fine, peace for now.” Serafine scoffs when the hand is removed.

“I promise if I get a kiss out of it.” Nico says with a smirk before his sister smacks the side of his head. “Okay okay! Won't be starting shit with them for whatever reason!”

“Wonderful! Now let's sit and enjoy ourselves before your boss decides to make things awkward or frustrating.” Paloma says as she drags them over to another table to sit at before removing her shawl.

“Peekon looked quite pissed seeing us together.” Nico comments as a waiter walks by and hands him and his sister drinks. “Who would have thought?”

“It's been a while since I saw him look that angry before.” Paloma admits. “Though I don't think he still has feelings for me.”

“Wanna test that out now that he's close by?”

“Nico!” Serafine hisses. “Behave!”

They hear someone clear their throat behind them and turn to find Kuura looking at them nervously, sporting that red dress from before at that party.

“Hi…” She says softly as she takes a seat between Serafine and Paloma.

“Oh hi! It's been a while, how are you doing?” Paloma asks. “Oh…you don't look too well.”

“I'm fine, really.” Kuura assures her with a tired smile. “So, why are you here?”

“The boss invited her and her crew for whatever reason.” Serafine responds. “You sure you okay?”

“Yes, very fine.”

“If you say so.”

“I know what he did to you.” Nico whispers to Paloma.

She stiffens. “I don't know what-”

“I had to clean lipstick off him.” Serafine interrupts and grins. Paloma then felt her whole face grow warm when she realized what she meant.

“Shoot me, someone shoot me please!” She groans and covers her face.

“Why?” Kuura asks, looking confused.

“She went and necked Hatchet Man.” Nico snickers. “The minute I saw the red lipstick I knew that was why they spent a little too long in my room.”

“Oh my god, just kill me!” Paloma groans. “That was your room?!”

“So how far did you two even get?”

“I'm not telling you that!”

“Alright enough partying!” They hear Asa yell and turn to see him looking over at them and the other Lackadaisy members. “Since our lovely friends from Lackadaisy are here, why don't you give us a little…performance. Most of you I am aware are from the band, or could at least sing.”

Paloma looks over at Mitzi and Zib to see them looking annoyed and quite upset. Rocky was looking quite uncomfortable, fiddling with his hands as Viktor glared at Asa with disdain. None of them were liking this sudden attention as some of the surrounding guests watched and whispered to one another.

“Fine, I'll do it.” Paloma finally says, standing up. “I can carry a tune quite well, but I'd like to have a partner on stage with me.”

“Fine by me.” Asa says with a shrug. “Which of your friends you want on stage?”

“How about one of your gangsters gets on stage with me? I'm sure one of them can carry a simple tune. Or are they too scared to be in the same vicinity as La Llorona, or the Devil Dove as some of you have been calling me behind my back?”

This earns her some nervous laughs from some of the other guests and a snort from some others.

“No one? Really? Are you all really that scared of me?” Paloma asks with a small smirk. “Guess even without a gun I can still scare you all.”

“Fine, at least make sure it's a good performance.” Asa says with a shrug. “And let's see...oh Mordecai, you can carry a tune, right?”

“I'm not doing this.” The mentioned man mutters loudly.

“Aww, too scared to join me on stage?” Paloma teases. “How about one of your friends?”

“They're not my friends, we're merely-”

“Fine, I'll do it.” She turns to see Nico arise from his seat after downing the last of his drink from a glass. “Since my friend doesn't seem so interested in singing. This should be fun.”

“Very well, let's see if you can carry a tune.” Paloma says with a shrug, allowing him to take her hand to lead her towards the stage.

----

It was hard for Mordecai to ignore the twisted feeling in his stomach as he watched Paloma and Nico climb on stage, still holding hands. They were now in deep conversation with the band That had been playing earlier before Paloma hurried off the stage to grab the violinist who came in her group and drag him to the stage where he's handed a violin.

“I didn't know the Savoy boy could sing.” He hears Selena say. “Or your golden girl, Mitzi.”

“Well Paloma has been known to be so full of surprises.” Mitzi says with a strained smile. “A girl of many talents when she puts her mind to it.”

“Maybe when your little bar goes under we can hire her as a singer.” Asa says and his wife smacks his arm. “Oof! What?”

“Don't say that, why can't you be civil?” Selena says with a frown.

“Shh, they're starting.” Mitzi whispers as they hear a violin start to play.

Paloma now stands at a microphone, holding onto it as she sings, swaying slightly. He almost forgot how beautiful her singing voice was, at least until Nico started to sing too. Now both their attention was on each other as they continued to sing, at one point they even started to dance together.

Mordecai felt that surge of anger and jealousy swell in him again as he watched them, especially since now Nico was holding Paloma quite close. Just as he decided he would just look away and hope these emotions would just fade off, Paloma suddenly stops singing to pull Nico down by the front of his shirt and kisses him right on the lips.

“Oh my!” Selena gasps as the two break away to continue singing. “Well, I knew she was quite bold, didn't think she'd do…that.”

Mordecai felt like he had just been stabbed in the chest, he could see Mitzi looking at him in worry as he clenched his fists, attempting to calm himself down with deep breaths.

Don't get mad, she was right, I have no right being angry for wanting to be with anyone. He tries to tell himself. Maybe she had a sudden lapse in judgment, that's probably it and nothing will come of it. Maybe now Nico will leave her be and-

As the two were climbing off the stage after finishing their performance, Nico suddenly turns Paloma to face him, pulls her close and kisses her. For a moment, Mordecai felt like everything was silent, the only thing he could hear was his pounding heart. He quickly turns and bolts for the door, trying his hardest to remain looking composed. Instead of going towards the lobby, he starts to stumble towards the side exit of the hotel, through the area where the staff would come in and out of and store their things.

Mordecai stumbles out of the hotel, trying to steady his breathing as he leans against a wall for support. The still fresh memory of the two kissing was still seared into his brain, and right now he was feeling a mix of uncomfortable emotions. Grief, anger, rage. Anger at himself for being so foolish to believe that Paloma still loved him because of that kiss, anger towards Nico for knowing of his feelings and still having the gall to kiss Paloma, rage towards Nico for the same reason, it made him want to kill the man. Damn how Serafine and over half her congregation would react, the urge to physically assault and harm the man was too damn strong to ignore right now. As for grief, well, he didn't know why he was feeling that. It's not like he and Paloma still had something, perhaps it was because whatever they could have had was possibly now gone.

God and there was Kuura, he knew if he even did anything she was going to stab him. Despite her short stature, he'd seen what she was capable of with knives and other various sharp weapons, as well as her own teeth. He'd seen her stab and cut up a man before, and heard that awful story she would laugh about where she once ate someone out of desperation to not starve. Actually, he saw her with Paloma and the Savoys, she must have seen what happened, was she still there?

“Oi…you're that Heller man aren't you?” Mordecai hears someone say and glances behind him to see a raggedy looking man with black fur and a very pissed off expression.

“What do you want?” Mordecai asks, his ears flattening in annoyance.

“You killed my brother!” The man snarls.

“I've killed far too many people, you'll have to be specific.”

“Herman! Tall guy with a glass eye and a New Yorker accent! You killed him for no reason! Now I'm gonna get rid of you too!”

He wasn't in the mood tonight to deal with anyone, but right now he needed an outlet for this surge of anger. Without hesitation, Mordecai whipped out his gun and fired multiple sounds right into the man, shooting at his shoulder, his leg, his chest and finally his head. At this point he didn't care if anyone heard, and it wasn't until his gun ran out of bullets did he stop. The man was now lying dead on the floor, bleeding from multiple wounds while a gun laid on the floor a foot from the body. The anger still hadn't gone away, he still felt it in his heart.

Damn it…what have I done? Mordecai thinks as he grabs the body by the arms to drag it away from the view of the street. So much for being the most level headed gangster in Marigold.

Once the body was out of sight, he decided he wasn't going back into the hotel. The last thing he needed was to see that damned man kissing her again. Mordecai then proceeds to walk away from the hotel, briskly moving and ignoring everything around him until he reached his apartment, which he quickly unlocks to enter and relocked behind him.

Once he made sure the door was locked, he then walked to the living room couch and sat down, letting out a tired sigh while removing his coat.

So much had happened in the span of an hour, his emotions were leaving him feel like a wreck, and all he could do was just bury his face into his hands and let himself cry.

Chapter Text

“I cannot believe you did that, in front of everyone!” Mitzi exclaims as she is pacing in front of the bar. Rocky, Calvin and Ivy sat on the stools with Wick and Zib, watching anxiously while Viktor stood next to Paloma with an unamused expression. “And Asa even said you were that man's fling?!”

“First off, that was a lie. Second, I…I had a good reason at the time to kiss him but right now I think it was a rather dumb idea.” Paloma says and looks away sheepishly. “We've…kind of been running into each other in public during off work hours. When Asa saw us talking to each other in a familiar way, that was the lie used.”

“YOU'VE WHAT?!”

“Wait, the guy we ran into at the ice cream parlor?” Rocky asks. “You flipped your lid when you saw him, why would you kiss him?”

“Yeah, why?” Ivy adds with a small frown. “Also he and that crazy lady with the gun were gonna hurt me that night in the quarry!”

“Alright, simmer down! Let's all not start jumping down her throat.” Wick says loudly, motioning for them to calm down. “I'm sure it was just a heat of the moment thing on the stage, and nothing happened during the public run-ins.”

“Thank you Wick!” Paloma groans. “Look, the times that has happened it was only by pure coincidence, it's not like he was stalking me. I only met the guy first time when Asa invited me to the hotel to try and convince me to join, then he and his associates gave me a ride when they spotted me walking after I couldn't find a cab, but I left after I put a gun in their faces. For some reason, he seems to have an interest in me.”

“I mean, some men like their women a little feisty, like a certain man did a year ago.” Zib says with a shrug and Viktor lets out a snort.

“Yeah well, I don't think me slapping him twice and hitting him with a book is gonna do anything.” Paloma mutters.

“If you don't like him, why'd you kiss him then?” Calvin asks quietly.

“Must I answer that question?”

“No you don't have to.” Wick says quickly. “Look, we all just got a bit worried for you, that's all. Mitzi especially since Asa has been telling her some things about you, like how he saw you at some birthday party and Mordecai was there.”

Oh, she almost forgot that Asa was at Nico's birthday party that night, dragging Mordecai along. And speaking of, he disappeared after the performance when she went to go look for him after slapping Nico. Looking back on it, kissing him was not a smart idea to get Mordecai jealous, and she was now regretting it. She really thought Kuura and Serafine were going to lay it on her for slapping Nico, but the smaller woman was nowhere to be found and the Savoy sister was yelling at him in French and smacking his head before apologizing to her.

“I was invited to that party by Nico, the man I sang with. When Mordecai showed up, he went ballistic seeing us together, assaulted his coworker and started screaming at him. I interfered and dragged him off to yell at him before leaving.” Paloma explains.

“Jealousy much?” Rocky snorts.

“Well please refrain from interacting with the Marigolds in public from now on, Selena made us come to a truce, but something tells me Asa is plotting and we can't let our guard down.” Mitzi says with a tired sigh. “And that goes for all of you. Are we clear?”

“Yes ma'am.” The gang responds, along with Wick.

“Good. Dismissed for the day, see you all tonight.”

Once out of the speakeasy and on the street, Paloma lets out a tired sigh and starts to walk in the direction of her home when she hears footsteps behind her. Tensing, she slipped her hand into her purse to grip the revolver hidden inside, ready to defend herself.

“You, lady from fight club.” Paloma blinks in surprise and turns to see the large man from the fight club standing behind her and clutching something in hand.

“Oh! You're….umm…” Shoot, did she ever hear his name? She only remembered his fighting name.

“Kalle.” The man responds and extends his hand to open it and reveal something small and pink. “Here.”

“Oh! My bandana, thank you!” Paloma says when she takes the item to unfold it, smiling when she sees it's nice and clean.

“I clean it, no blood.”

“I can see that, thank you, but how did you even find me?”

The man, Kalle, looks away sheepishly. “I…I ask around.”

“I guess it's not too hard to go looking for me around here.” Paloma laughs as she refolds the bandana to tie it on her head. “Thank you again, but I must get going-”

“Vait, I…” She feels Kalle grab her shoulder as she is turning away before letting go. When Paloma turns to look at him again, he's looking worried. “Sister, she gone.”

Sister? Who was he talking about, and why did he assume she'd know this sister of his?

Kalle must have seen her confused expression before he reaches into his coat pocket to pull out a crumpled photograph to hand to her. The photo showed several adults and children, along with a slightly younger Kalle and he points to one of the people in the photo. “Sister, she here in America too.”

Paloma squints at the girl he pointed to, examining her features. Very curly looking hair, a small tooth poking out of her mouth, wait-

“Kuura?” She asks and Kalle nods. “I didn't even know she was your sister, she mentioned she had a brother at the fight club but never…well, she failed to tell me it was you.”

“Typical Kuura.” Kalle mutters as he takes the photo back. “Can not find her.”

“Well I saw her last night in the Marigold Room, she didn't look too well and disappeared when I was occupied, if that helps. Is something wrong with her?”

“She…I no say.”

“Why not?”

“I promise.”

“Well I can't find her if you can't tell me anything.”

Kalle looks away uncomfortably. “I no tell, promise sister. Find her, please.”

Huh, so Kuura is missing, God I hope she's okay. Paloma thinks as she watches Kalle walk away. Her poor brother must be worried sick about her, I wonder what happened.

As she turns to keep walking, Paloma hears a car honking loudly and turns to see one driving up to her. Seated in the front was none other than-

“Gabriel!” Paloma gasps as her brother climbs out of the driver's side to hurry over and hug her. “What are you doing here in the city?”

“Church related errands with Michael, and getting some things we cannot get from general store.” Her twin laughs as he gestures to Michael, who scowls at her from the front passenger seat.

“Oh no wonder you're dressed like Michael.” Paloma laughs, looking down at her brother's suit and cravat. “Actually you look like you're on your way to have a theater date.”

“It's not a date, it's an errand!” Michael yells from the car.

“She's kidding!” Gabriel laughs. “Do you need a ride? Like to church or the house you're staying in?”

“Well I was going home, I already went to church earlier today.”

“Home it is! Michael, detour?”

“Fine, as long as it won't be too long.” Michael says from the back. “Oh I almost forgot, one errand involved giving you this.”

He reaches into his coat pocket to produce a folded note and hands it to Paloma. She takes the paper and unfolds it to find Bobby's neat but still a bit messy scrawl with the words:

 2 nights from now, new shipment

bring big car

“Oh good, we started giving people not watered down liquor and now we need more.” She says as she tucks the note away into her purse. “I'll let Mitzi know when I get to work tonight. Come on, the kids should be home, I'm sure they'll love to see you again Gabriel.”

Gabriel smiles but then it falters, he seems to be looking at Paloma intently.

“What, do I have lipstick on my teeth?” She asks and he quickly shakes his head.

“Nah, it's all good. Let's go.”

-----

“So, what did she tell you?” Mordecai asks as Kalle enters the driver's side and sits down.

“She not know where Kuura is.” The older man responds with a tired sigh and leans forward to rest his head on the steering wheel of the Cadillac. “What now?”

“We keep looking for her, obviously. She came home last night, all her things are gone now.” Mordecai says with a small frown. Just like when she left that night.

He looks over across the street where Paloma still stood, now hugging someone who exited a car. He felt a pang of jealousy, now wondering who that was. He couldn't really see from this distance, aside from the fact that this person was dressed in dark clothes and had black and white fur.

“Not look like friend.” Kalle says loudly, interrupting Mordecai's thoughts as he squints. “From her bar.”

Mordecai wasn't so sure either, but now Paloma was chatting with someone in the car and laughing. For some reason, he finds himself exiting the car, briskly hurrying across the street while covering his face with the side of his coat to make it to the other side and staying out of view. From this distance, he couldn't see who was in the car, but he could see who she had been talking to, a tall lanky man with dark fur and hair with white spots and stripes that was tied back in a ponytail and dressed in a suit. Why did he look familiar? Paloma’s attention is now on the car and she's accepting something to examine it, like a strip of paper.

“Oh good, we started giving people not watered down liquor and now we need more.” He hears her say. “I'll let Mitzi know when I get to work tonight. Come on, the kids should be home, I'm sure they'll love to see you again Gabriel.”

Gabriel? Like the twin brother he met briefly at the funeral who was upset that he was playing chess with checker pieces? What was he doing in St Louis?

As he's smiling at Paloma, Gabriel's expression suddenly changes. Damn it, he's been spotted. Mordecai quickly scoots out of view, praying neither Alvarez sibling would come this way. Instead he hears the sound of a car starting up and driving off, and he peeks around the building to see that Paloma, her brother and the car are now gone. Good.

Sounds to me like they're picking up a shipment with the Arbogasts, perhaps…oh this sounds exactly like something she'd do. Mordecai thinks as he hurries back to the car. I warned her, and now look at what's happened.

He didn't want to have to report to Asa about this, but was it necessary now that they've sort of made peace with Mitzi and her people at Selena's insistence? Probably not, but even his boss insisted on keeping tabs on those he called “friends”.

“We'll have to pause the search for your sister today, we need to head to work.” Mordecai says to Kalle as he enters the car's front passenger seat. “Just drop me off at the hotel, I have a meeting with Asa in half an hour and I'd prefer to be there beforehand.”

“Sure.” Kalle says softly, his voice sounding a bit hoarse and raw from probably crying. “I see you after, work today.”

Kalle had mentioned before that he was going to start work as a gardener or groundskeeper for some rich individual, a side job no one would expect someone like him to take. Well, it was always good to have a “legal” job on the side as Atlas would put it, something to fall back on just in case. Sort of like how he used to do bookkeeping for Atlas’ cafe, Viktor would do mechanical work, and Paloma would work as a cook and server. Did Kuura ever have a side job? He could never remember what she'd do when she wasn't acting as an attack dog for Asa, aside from hanging around that damned man he still wanted to shoot and his sister.

“Of course. And after work you can keep looking for her.” Mordecai says as the car starts up. “We'll find her Kalle, people don't just disappear like that for no reason and without leaving a trail.”

-----

“...and so he went tumbling off the roof and fell into a patch of bushes! You should have heard the poor woman scream when that happened!” Bobby laughs as he hands Paloma a cup of hot tea. “One would have thought he had broken his neck from the fall, but then moments later he comes crawling out with leaves stuck in his hair and asking where the hammer went! I thought Michael was going to faint when he saw that!”

“That's my twin for you, mama thinks he's part honey badger from how hardy he is.” Paloma laughs. “I'm surprised many of my elderly relatives didn't die from heart attacks witnessing him doing stupid things like that and surviving them.”

It was the night for that pick up of booze, Rocky and Calvin had gone out ahead to make sure everything was safe ahead, meanwhile Paloma and Ivy were in the barn with Bobby, Abelard, Gabriel and Michael waiting out the rain in the now fixed barn.

“What can I say? God is watching me.” Gabriel laughs from his spot on a haybale. “Someone at church almost fainted when Abelard told them what happened. Some of the congregation think I'm indestructible.”

“You're not, remember when you fell off a horse and broke your ankle?” Paloma scoffs.

“It was a tall horse and I was five.”

“You were eight and it was a pony!”

“No it wasn't!”

“Dear god - stop arguing!” Michael snaps.

“How about you stop being sulky for a day.” Paloma retorts.

“Déjalo en paz Paloma, he's just a little cranky.” Her twin scolds.

“Cranky my ass, he's always like this when we see him. Would it kill him to smile or at least stop looking so sullen?”

“A smiling Michael is very off putting.” Abelard mutters, glaring at the pile of cards in his hand as Ivy slapped another down on the hay they were using as a table.

“It's not so bad, we're just not used to seeing him smile.” Bobby argues. “And the old man is convinced half the time the boy smiles, he's up to something. Oh I see the blinking lights now, that's your cue girls.”

“And I was so close to winning!” Ivy groans as she slapped down her cards to stand up and stretch.

“We gotta get going before the rain gets worse.” Paloma says before taking one more sip of her tea and handing the cup to her brother. “Thanks for doing business with us again, we seem to be doing better now especially since Marigold is kind of at peace with us.”

“Never let your guard down, it's downright suspicious Asa gave in so easily.” Abelard says as he stands up to stretch.

“It's because of his wife, she is making sure he won't do that.”

“Even a woman as fierce as Selena can't reign in a man like that. Don't always count on her protection.”

Shaking her head, Paloma gave her brother a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before hurrying back to the truck to climb into the driver side seat behind the wheel and turned the vehicle on. Ivy then follows, waving at the farmers before closing the door behind her.

“So when can I start driving the truck?” She asks as the car backs out of the barn.

“When you get a little better at driving, and when it isn't raining.” Paloma responds as they start to drive past the farmhouse, waving at Elsa as she disappears into the safety and warmth of the house. “For now, I'm driving until you improve.”

“Okay fair.” The teen mutters.

They drive in silence, keeping their attention on the road, driving past the general store where Rocky and Calvin most likely made the phone call at. Suddenly, Paloma slammed on the breaks.

“Whoa!” Ivy yells as she almost flies into the dashboard of the truck. “What-”

“Look.” Paloma is pointing ahead at the large familiar pie truck ahead, now toppled on its side. “Wait here, hold the gun.”

Ivy nods wordlessly as Paloma grabs her shotgun and revolver from under the seat, along with the one Bobby gave them several months back before handing the teen the one that wouldn't jam. She then climbs out of the truck into the rain, wrapping her jacket tightly around her as she walks to the truck. The left side tires were deflated and she could have sworn she saw a puncture hole the size of a bullet in one, but her focus was more on the footprints surrounding the car that were starting to wash away with the rain.

Many of them were from shoes, but there was one set that looked like someone barefoot had been walking around in the rain. Of course it could have been anyone, like moonshine making farmers attempting to hijack a truck they thought was carrying booze, but a trampled and soggy yellow and red colored flower in the mud told her otherwise.

“Alright amor, where are you?” Paloma mutters as she looks around. The rain was making it hard to hear anything, and she could barely see much even with the headlights of the pig truck.

As she was squinting in the dark, Paloma somehow managed to catch the sound of a gun being cocked before she dove into the mud as the sound of rapid gunfire and a cackling laugh pierced the air. She hears Ivy scream and snapped her head up in time to see the younger girl running from the truck, tripping and falling into the mud.

“Ivy!” Paloma yells as she tries to get to her feet before another explosion of gunfire sounds and she is forced to move away. “Run!”

As she's trying to get to her feet, she hears someone approaching from behind her and she's now yanked onto her feet, an arm wrapped tightly around her chest while another is wrapped around her neck, keeping her in a headlock.

“Sorry cher, but this is necessary.” She hears Nico say as her shotgun is yanked from her grasp by a grinning Serafine.

“¡Suéltate, maldito culo!” Paloma screams, trying to wriggle out of his embrace. “Now!”

“Sorry cher, but the fat man gave us orders and since we are on the clock, we have to follow them.” The older woman says as she picks up the fallen shotgun with a free hand and examines it. “Hmm, a little outdated. Your employer really needs to upgrade your artillery gallery. Oh, he managed to catch the little vermin.”

Paloma looks up to see a towering figure carrying a struggling Ivy under one arm and dragging an unconscious Rocky in the other before handing Serafine a revolver. It was hard to see who it was thanks to the truck's light casting a shadow over their features, but Paloma could still see the pale green eyes glaring daggers at her.

“Let go! Let go!” Ivy screams as she flails uselessly. “Freckle!”

“No noise.” The tall figure holding her captive growls. Oh god…

“Kalle?” Paloma says and the glare softens. “Why-”

“Oh so you know Kuura's brother?” Nico chuckles before Kalle's eyes narrow again.

“No say her name.” The taller man growls before saying something in a language Paloma didn't understand.

“Can't find the other one, but this rain and mud and the dense woods should be rid of him soon enough.” A familiar voice says and Paloma feels her body tense. Mordecai steps around Kalle, pulling his gloves on before he reaches under his coat to draw out his pistol. “And be rid of these three too.”

She could see his jaw clench tightly when he notices her and Nico, but says nothing as he cocks the gun.

“Wait if it's booze you want, take what we have in the truck!” Ivy yells desperately. “We won't deal with the Bobby and Abelard again! Promise!”

“I'm afraid it's not up to me, and frankly we aren't here for the liquor.” Mordecai responds coldly.

“But we'll take it anyway.” Nico says with a grin.

“After we kill you three.” Serafine adds.

“Let the kid go, she's hardly involved!” Paloma snarls. “And the other guy isn't even a gangster!”

“Sorry, but we can't.” Mordecai says as he steps close and pressed the end of his pistol to her forehead. “I'd say I'm sorry about what I'm going to do, but that'd be a lie. Goodbye, Paloma.”

“At least look me in the eyes when you pull the trigger, amor.” Paloma growls, and for a moment she sees a flash of hurt in his eyes. “But know this, killing me isn't going to solve anything for Asa.”

Mordecai grimaces, but the hurt expression he was wearing before is now replaced by his usual expression. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Paloma hears the snap of a branch nearby before rapid gunfire starts to spray everywhere. Mordecai and Serafine are jumping back to avoid getting hit, Kalle drops Ivy and Rocky to do the same, but Nico keeps his grip on her as he yanks them both out of the line of fire. She could hear an all too familiar laugh in the woods, meaning Calvin was still alive and nearby.

“Freckle!” Ivy screams as she is trying to drag Rocky away. “Paloma help me! Ugh for a noodle body man you are heavy!”

“I'd like to but I'm a bit occupied!” Paloma yells as she tries to wrestle herself out of Nico's grip.

“Sorry this is a grip you can't escape from!” The boxer says, tightening his grip. “I don't want to snap your neck, stop wiggling!”

Well, she did as she was told - sort of. Paloma stopped squirming and felt Nico loosen his grip a bit, before she opened her mouth and sunk her teeth into the linen bandages and into his arm. Her mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood as Nico let out a string of curses both in English, what probably was French and some other language she didn't know, giving her the chance to tear free from his grip and rush towards the other two.

“I got him!” Paloma yells as she grabs the violinist. “You get out of here, get to the general store if you can and phone the Arbogasts! Rocky wake up!”

“Uuuuuuhhhhhh….ma…” Rocky moans.

“Come on!” Paloma screams, slapping him across the face. “Wake up! Please - SHIT!”

She immediately drops her friend as she jumps back to avoid Nico swinging his fists at her, his eyes blazing with anger. Paloma dodges another swing and quickly balled up her own fists too, getting into a fighting position before she took a swing at him.

“Hold still!” The older Savoy yells as he dodges and took another swing at her head. Paloma manages to duck in time and rushes close to jam her elbow into his side, earning a grunt of pain.

“Ha!” She hears Kalle yell from somewhere.

There's a loud gunshot, but she's not sure where it's from or who shot it, but she took the opportunity to grab Rocky, remove the pistol from her hip that Serafine neglected to take and aimed it towards Nico to shoot. The boxer ducks, giving her time to drag Rocky as quickly as she could towards the pig truck where the door luckily was left open. As she was trying to shove him in, she heard someone approaching and quickly gave the violinist one last shove into the truck before she slammed the door shut and fired a bullet at an approaching Kalle, clipping him in the shoulder. The bigger man grunts in pain as Paloma tries to open the door of the truck, only to hear the sound of another gunshot and a searing pain in the front of her right leg.

“FUCK!” She yells as she falls onto her left knee, clutching her injured leg. She looks up to see Mordecai approaching, her shotgun in his grasp. “Ha…so this is how it ends for us…how appropriate.”

“It wouldn't have gone this way if you had kept your head down, and stayed out of this or even retired.” Mordecai says as he stands close, now pointing the barrel of the gun at her head.

For some reason, Paloma didn't even feel afraid, she felt nothing. Here she was, kneeling in the mud with the rain pouring down and soaking her to the bone, and her own gun being pointed at her head by the man she once loved. Where most people would have been weeping and begging for their lives, she felt no need to do that. Was this how her father felt before his death, forced to be on his knees as some military man pointed a gun at his head to execute him all because of his faith? What was going through his head before the gun went off? Did he resent her for not wanting to stay with the family? Was he thinking of her mother and siblings in his final moments? Her siblings, what would happen to them if Mordecai pulled the trigger and ended her life? Would Viktor and Elizia look after them? Would Nina look after them? They didn't know anything about this, they didn't know the loving older sister who took them in had her hands drenched in blood from the amount of criminals she killed all to provide alcohol to people who wanted something to drink, and they will never know. Gabriel, he'll be fine, right?

Paloma suddenly lets out a small laugh, and another, until she's now hunched over and full on cackling like Rocky. She didn't even have to look up to know Mordecai was looking at her with a mix of confusion and annoyance, clearly confused by her sudden change of emotion.

“Stop that, you sound like a lunatic.” She hears her ex say as the gun prods her head. “You should at least die with some dignity.”

Dear sweet Maria, Imelda, Leo, I'm sorry for what is about to happen. Considering what I've done, I'm not going to be seeing papa and abuelo soon. Paloma thinks before raising her head up, still laughing, she can't tell if she's actually crying or if it's the rain running down her cheeks. “Oh I think you and I know very well that I don't have any attention at this point.”

“You wanted me to at least look you in the eyes when I shoot you, I'm at least going to do that.” Mordecai says bitterly and she lets out another laugh.

“How kind of you, I wonder how many people you did that for before now.”

“Well consider yourself the first.”

Paloma lets out another laugh. “Wonderful, once again I'm your first for something you've never done before. Go ahead, take a shot. I'll tell Atlas you said hi if you'd like, I'm sure he'll be thrilled to know how you abandoned his wife in her time of need and let his empire sink so bad we were forced to sell watered down river sludge to people.” 

She closes her eyes, bracing for the shot as she hears Mordecai cock the gun, but she never heard it go off or feel any sort of pain. Instead, she hears the sound of metal hitting someone and Mordecai yelping in pain before she hears two thuds and the truck moving. Paloma opens her eyes in time to see Mordecai lying on the floor and trying to get up, the truck door hanging open as Rocky stares down at the triggerman, a wild look in his bright blue eyes.

“That's for mocking my fashion sense! Oh and for messing with Pal's head!” The violinist shouts before looking back at her with a serious expression that made the tortie almost shudder in fear. “Run.”

It's like something in his words triggered something in her, compelling her to do as he said. Paloma finds herself yanking her revolver out of Mordecai's grasp and rushing towards the woods, ignoring Kalle as he yells something after her, the pain in her leg from where she got shot no longer there. She's diving and leaping among the bushes, her heart is racing, the adrenaline is pumping through her, and for a moment she felt like she was seven years old again. She could almost feel the harsh sun beating down on her tiny frame as she runs, trying so hard to not trip on the rocks and sand under her feet, shoving aside the brittle tree branches that tried to hold her in place as the shouts of the soldiers could be heard getting closer and closer, the shotgun too big for her to carry still in hand but weighing her down. Discarding it was not an option, she needed it just in case. Her foot catches on something, probably an old tree root or a rock and she comes crashing down, her hands and knees scraping against the rough ground. She bites back a scream as she tries to scramble to her feet and grab the gun that had fallen from her grasp, and then-

BANG

Paloma lets out a scream almost like the ones she lets out before slamming her gun into someone, only she's the one now hurt, her left shoulder felt like it was on fire as she falls into the mud. She lets out a whimper and bites back another scream as she tries to get up, attempting to pull herself forward. There's a light up ahead, some sort of house or building just a few yards or so away. She tries to pull herself up, her body now starting to ache as she drags herself through the mud towards the building. Somehow she finds herself on her feet and dragging herself forward again, until her boots hit the edge of the bottom step.

Someone's inside, an old man wiping the counter and paying her no attention until he raises his head. Paloma raises an arm to wave at him, before she feels her legs give out from under her and she collapses on the stairs. The sounds around her are starting to fade, she could barely hear the sound of the door slamming open and the old man yelling something.

“Gaberi…” She manages to say before everything went dark and silent. I'm sorry…

----

“...please tell me she's not dead! I should have gone back to help!”

Paloma blinks awake and squints in discomfort when she sees a bright light being shoved in her face as a pair of fingers pried her eyes open.

“Stop…” She groaned, weakly lifting her hand to bat away at the hands touching her before Abelard, Michael and Calvin came into view.

“Paloma!” The younger man exclaims. “Ivy! Rocky! She's awake!”

Paloma grimaces as whatever she's lying on is jostled as Rocky, Ivy and Gabriel came into view, crowding her as they all chatted loudly.

“Alright that's enough! Give her space!” She hears Elsa yells before they're all pushed away and she and Bobby come into view. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I feel like I got trampled by a horse.” Paloma responds weakly. “What…”

“You passed out in front of the general store, gave the owner quite a fright when he found you collapsed on the porch and bleeding out. Lucky for him, he was able to get the operator to connect to us and Gabriel and Michael were already on their way.”

“You took a hit to the thigh and shoulder, lucky for you it didn't go so deep.” Bobby adds, lifting up a bloodied handkerchief with something small and shiny in his palm. “Do you still collect those bullets you would dig out of your wounds, Viktor’s wounds and Mordecai's wounds?”

“Bobby! Put that away!”

“What? Viktor told us about a box of these things she'd kept under her bed, many of them she dug out of her family members who got shot during that war! I knew a guy overseas who did it, I think he was from Belgium? It was a bit morbid but - dear God don't do that!”

Paloma was trying to sit up, grimacing in pain as she tried to ignore the awful sensation in her muscles, especially in her leg and shoulder. She had been laying on some sort of gurney or metal table, the pants leg of her injured leg was cut off quite high so she could see it heavily bandaged, and her shirt and sweater were now missing.

“Hey lay back down, you're gonna make yourself dizzy.” Gabriel scolds as he tries to get her to lay back down again.

“You…all in danger…we need to leave - all of us.” Paloma says as she tries to swing her legs down to get off the table, grimacing from the pain. “I think they know.”

“Who?”

“Mordecai.”

All the Arbogasts save for Michael's faces practically paled at the name, Bobby grabbing his wife to look at her in horror while Abelard started muttering under his breath and running a hand nervously through his hair.

“Who was that again?” Michael asks.

“Her ex boyfriend.” Ivy responds with a frown. “And the guy who tried to kill us with his other Marigold friends.”

“How long do we have?” Gabriel asks.

“I'm not sure, someone shot me while I was running towards the store so they might have seen you two and figured where the rest of you were at.” Paloma admits. “Can I at least have a shirt? It feels weird to have just those linen wrappings covering me.”

Calvin yelps as he slapped a hand over his eyes and over his cousin's while Michael quickly turns his head away in embarrassment. Gabriel just rolls his eyes before unbuttoning his own sweater to slip it on her and buttons it up.

“Come on, we have to leave before they show up.” Abelard says as he helps Paloma off the table, steadying her when she almost falls over. “We can exit the backdoor so-”

There's a loud banging at the front door and everyone freezes. There's a muffled grunt before the door is shoved open by Kalle, followed by Serafine, Mordecai and Nico, all four were soaked from the rain, covered in mud and blood. Serafine and Mordecai are practically leaning onto the other to keep themselves from falling forward, Nico is rubbing at his arm while his bandana was wrapped around his head that seemed to be bleeding from one side, and Kalle is also bleeding from somewhere on his head. None of them had any guns or weapons in hand, but that didn't stop Gabriel and Paloma from rushing towards the couch to snatch up the shotgun and a revolver off of it and point it at the four injured gangsters.

“Whoa settle down!” Nico exclaims, holding a hand up in defense. “You wouldn't shoot a-”

“Yes I would.” Paloma snaps, grimacing in pain. “Get out and never step foot here unless you want to be the next body on that table!”

“Do any of us look ready to take you in a fight?” Serafine snaps. “Look at all of us! Shot at in two places, almost choked out, bitten, shot in the shoulder, hit in the face with a car door, more bullets lodged in us that had to be carved out and head injuries!”

“I fine.” Kalle says and Serafine glares at him.

“Look, we can help, but you all must stand down and stop fighting for now.” Elsa says, putting herself between them and looks to the twins. “Set those down.”

“Don’t trust them Elsa, let them just bleed out. It’ll save us the trouble.” Paloma growls, trying to ignore the pain in her shoulder.

“No. Go sit down, now. You are injured and the last thing I need is for all of you to bleed out on the carpet, so go sit down and behave yourselves. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes ma'am.” The twins mutter, lowering their weapons as the former nurse turns to the Marigolds with a stern expression. “Now I've had to treat my fair share of enemy soldiers once in a while, so I expect you four to be civil with the Lackadaisys as they have and behave yourselves whilst I patch you up and make sure you don't die in my house. Understood?”

There was a grumbling mix of “sure” and “yes” from the four gangsters before they walked to the couches to sit down, still glaring at the Lackadaisy gang, who glared right back.

“I'll just move these.” Michael mutters as he grabs the guns left on the couch to take them towards the dining room so Serafine and Mordecai could sit down.

“I forget how scary my own wife could be.” Bobby mutters to Paloma. “She once made a soldier break down crying after severely scolding him when she overheard him talking badly to a man weeping over getting his leg amputated.”

“She sounds like my mom when she gets like that.” Paloma mutters as she took a seat on the couch across from Nico and Kalle and rubs at the bandaged area on her shoulder, unbuttoning the sweater to take a look at it. It seemed like it hadn't bled through from moving it too much, thankfully. She looks up and sees Mordecai looking at her in a modified manner. “I don't know which of you four did this, but when I find out who, I'm gonna-”

“Do no such thing.” Elsa interrupts as Michael returns carrying more tea cups in along with another pot. “Thank you Michael.”

“It better be good tea.” Mordecai mutters as a cup is filled and handed to Kalle. “Also Serafine, tell your brother to stop oogling at that woman.”

“He's squinting at her and…I assume her brother.” Serafine says as Nico narrows his eyes at the Alvarez siblings.

“Not identical twins?” He finally asks.

“No duh.” Paloma scoffs as she is given some tea while Elsa is removing the bandana around the older man's head and twisting it so she could see the injury.

“I'm the oldest, Loma here is my dear little sister's twin sister.” Gabriel says, slinging an arm around Paloma’s shoulders and grabbing her face to squeeze it affectionately.

“I'm the older twin, pendejo!” She says and smacks the back of his head before pushing him away.

“Ah yes, you were the twin brother I attempted to play chess with when we went down to Mexico.” Mordecai says as he accepts his cup and grimaces at the contents. “You were a bit of a poor sport when you lost.”

“We had checkers! I was trying to play checkers, not chess!” Gabriel exclaims, his momentary cheerful demeanor vanishing.

“Gabriel, don't raise your voice.” Elsa scolds as she is pressing a cloth to Nico's head and he makes an uncomfortable face. “Relax, I'm just disinfecting it so I can see if it needs stitching.”

“Does this look infected?” Nico asks, lifting his arm. “A certain someone bit me.”

“No it's not but I'll still tend to it. Who did that anyways?”

“Take a guess.”

“Either the lunatic who raves at storms or the equally lunatic who collects bullets she digs out of herself.” Michael mutters as he pours more tea before setting the pot down. “I'm going to move the weapons upstairs, just in case.”

“The hell is this place anyways?” Serafine asks as she is removing her suit jacket and grimaces in pain.

“A funeral home, a farm, and many other things.” Bobby responds. “We mostly make alcohol to sell, unfortunately after the death of these four's employer, your employer requested we mostly sell to him.”

“Until one of them blackmailed us into being business partners with their gang again.” Abelard adds before taking a sip of his drink. “If i recall right, she said Viktor and Paloma would not be happy we hurt the lunatic even if it was by accident.”

“I'm surprised he's still even alive.”

“It's terrifying.”

“That's Roark for you.” Paloma says with a shrug as Michael returns, this time carrying a flannel shirt and tossed it to her. “This looks too big to be yours.”

“It's your brother's.” He responds.

“I was wondering where that was.” Gabriel laughs.

“And done.” They hear Elsa say as she is wrapping a bandage around Nico's head. “So who is next?”

“I'd like to get my shoulder looked into, I think I got shot in the same spot I was shot in a few years back.” Mordecai says as he removes his own suit jacket, vest and shirt. Elsa grimaces at the sight of the makeshift bandage hastily applied to the shoulder that was already quite bloody and starts to carefully remove it. “Bullet has been removed, I’d just like to have it cleaned and patched up properly.”

“Should have gone for the head.” Paloma mutters.

“Oh so that wasn’t a warning shot? Seems like you need to work on your aim.”

“Oh just like you should work on figuring out how to smile and not act like you have a stick up your ass?”

Mordecai’s eyes narrowed. “Well at least I don’t go around kissing strangers who don’t have your best interests!”

“And I don’t go dropping employers like they meant nothing to me!” Paloma snaps back.

The tension between them is thick, and the others are looking at them with a mix of awkward and worried looks. They're now on their feet, Elsa trying to pull Mordecai down as she's redressing his wound and their eyes practically glaring daggers at each other.

“Of course you love bringing that up, how petty of you.” Mordecai sneers as Paloma slowly walks over.

“I never took you for an overly jealous man either, are you really so bothered by the fact I kissed someone who wasn't you?” She retorts.

“Please leave me out of this.” They hear Nico mutter loudly.

“Peekon, don't.” Serafine warns as she grabs his arm. “Sit down and-”

“Out.” Mordecai suddenly growls.

“What-”

“EVERYONE OUT! NOW!” Paloma repeats.

Elsa looks between them and nods before finishing tying off the bandage and ushering her brothers and husband out the door, Serafine grabbing her brother and Rocky by their jacket and vest to drag them out the door. Gabriel doesn't move, despite Ivy and Freckle tugging at his coat sleeves to follow them, his copper eyes looking at her in worry.

“Hermana, ¿estás segura de que no quieres que me quede? ¿Por si acaso?” He calls out to her.

“Estaré bien hermanito, no te preocupes por mí.” Paloma assures him with a small smile. “Go.”

Gabriel still looks at her unsurely, but nods and allows the teens to lead him outside and shut the door behind them.

Now that they are alone, Paloma lets her smile drop as she turns to look at Mordecai with a cold glare. The older man is glaring at her too, rubbing at his injured shoulder where she shot him earlier. The room feels too quiet, save for the loud ticking of the clock on the wall and the sound of the rain hitting the roof of the house.

“Alright Heller, you want to talk?” Paloma asks, folding her arms over her chest. “Let's talk.”

----

The last few times he ever had to “talk” to Paloma alone never seemed to end well, at least to Mordecai. This one most definitely wasn't going to end with him accidentally pinning her to the door and kissing her, it was the last thing he wanted. Yet seeing her again made his heart involuntarily flutter, at least until the stupid memory of what happened in the Marigold Room came to mind. Her flustered expression after kissing Nico, and the stupid smirk on his face when he pulled her in for a second kiss moments after their performance ended, just the mere thought of it made him feel angry.

“Oh, finally nothing to say? How odd.” Paloma says, breaking the silence. “If you don't want to talk, I'm leaving, I have better things to do than deal with you.”

“We told you to stand down and you refused to, why can't you ever just do as you're told?” Mordecai asks, stopping her in her tracks. “You've always been like this, it's annoying and frustrating all at once.”

“Oh is that why you called me weeks ago in the middle of the night?” Paloma asks with a frown. “Funny, it sounded like you still cared.”

“I cared enough to warn both you and Mitzi, yet you two refused to and now look at what's happened!”

“You clearly don't know me as well as you thought. I'm not that same girl you knew years ago anymore, one who'd blindly obey to everything you would say.”

“Right, that same girl wouldn't have gone out of her way to kiss someone who's a known womanizer, have multiple flings and cares so little about their feelings! Were you so desperate for affection that you had to seek him out of all people? Did you kissing me back that night even mean anything to you?”

“How dense do you have to be to ask that?! Ever since that night it's been causing me nothing but stress and making me question everything!” Paloma exclaims. “Did I still have feelings for you, was this right, was this a good time to start feeling this? I was driven so mad by this I thought I was going to go insane! Yes I could have talked to you about it, but you are so difficult to talk to!”

“Oh I'm difficult to talk to? I'm difficult to talk to? Who refused to hear me out when I mentioned I had a new job?” Mordecai snaps. “Who is so damn stubborn you'd rather break things off and stick with a sinking ship of a gang that's practically picking random people off the streets for employees? Who have I spent months worried sick about, who often leaves me with no sleep over the worry that I was going to be forced to kill you on orders by my own boss? You! Every damed day since that lunch date I've been left worried sick for you, for Ivy, for even Mitzi! And then you had the nerve to act like I hardly care! If I didn't care, I wouldn't have saved you from getting swept off by that water in the quarry. If I didn't care, you'd be buried in some unmarked grave on Asa's orders! If I didn't care, I wouldn't have kept my mouth shut to him about how I still feel around you! If I didn't care, I wouldn't have convinced my associates to leave our weapons in the car before coming in here! So don't you dare tell me it wouldn't care because as sure as I am alive, I still care about you despite how selfish and stupid you've been for the past several months!”

There it was all out. Everything from over a year was out in the open, all these pent up feelings were out and the stunned look on Paloma’s face was very much worth it. He could see she had more than a dozen thoughts and questions going through her head at this moment before her eyes started to water up and she hastily wipes them away.

“I'm going to fight you now.” She finally says, gritting her teeth.

Mordecai lets out a scoff. “Oh are you-”

BAM

He nearly drops to the floor as he stumbles back from the blow to the snout, bumping into the couch. He touches his nose and removes his hand to find blood on it, and the sight of it for some reason fills him with rage. That hand curls into a fist, and much to his surprise, he manages to get Paloma right in the nose too.

Well, that wasn't enough for her, or for him. The two lunged at each other, trading blows and shoves, their claws out and swiping at each other as they fought like a pair of feral animals. The last time he felt this way was several years ago when Atlas had sent him and Viktor to deal with some of Marigold's competition, when she was falling down the stairs and attempting not to die at the hands of the man who shot him in the shoulder as they tumbled down the stairs before he put an end to him by means of a sharp end of a stick. But this was different, he was not fighting some larger and grown man who wanted him dead, he was fighting someone he once loved more than he should have allowed himself to, her bright eyes dancing with a rage he'd only seen reserved for her enemies as she practically body slammed him into the floor, making his injured shoulder flares up in pain.

That pretty much knocked the wind out of him, leaving him gasping for air as Paloma stood over him, the bandages on her leg and her shoulder now sporting several large spots of blood, and her hair now had fallen loose from that braided bun she had been sporting earlier. He almost expects her to finish him off, but instead, she sinks to her knees and collapses right on top of him, making Mordecai hiss in pain. He had no energy to push her off, all he could do was just lay there as they both tried to catch their breath.

“I can't…I can't…” He hears her whisper, her voice cracking with emotion before a small sob escapes her. “I'm sorry…”

“For what?” Mordecai manages to say, his voice barely a whisper.

Paloma didn't answer, she just let out another choked sob.

He had no strength to move, so all he could do was just lay there on the floor and try to ignore the pain in his shoulder as Paloma still laid on top of him, occasionally letting out a small sob or two. After a while, she manages to pick herself off the floor, wiping at her eyes and practically lifts him off the floor. When did she get so strong and how did she have the strength to do that despite her injuries? She then carries him back to one of the couches and unceremoniously drops him right down onto it, before she sits down next to him with a tired sigh.

“You good?” She asks after a few moments of silence.

“My shoulder still hurts, even worse than before.” Mordecai admits quietly.

“I'm not sorry about shooting you in the shoulder.”

“I don't expect you to be.”

Paloma let out a tired sigh as she slumped against him, much to his surprise. And even more to his surprise, Mordecai finds himself leaning against her as well, resting his cheek against her head. Despite being soaked from the rain and rolling in the mud earlier, he could still get a whiff out of that perfume she always wore, involuntarily making his heart flutter. They sat there like that, listening to the sounds of the rain hitting the roof and the low rumble of thunder in the distance. For some reason right now, he thought back to that one time Paloma convinced him to stay in bed a half an hour longer than necessary just so they could lay there and listen to the sound of the rain, almost being pulled to sleep by the noise.

“You know, I wouldn't have had to have done that if you hadn't left us. If you loved me then as much as you claimed, why didn't you stay?” Paloma says, breaking the silence again.

“It was time to move on, but I didn't want to leave you behind.” Mordecai admits quietly, as he feels his tail brush against hers. As if by instinct or habit, he feels the two intertwine the way they used to when they would take their walks together at the park in the evening or stand together while standing guard of Mitzi and Atlas. “I loved you enough to never want to leave you, but you just had to be stubborn.”

“So were you.” Paloma points out and he feels her hand brush against his before she places it on top and laces their fingers together. “Also that night, I only kissed Nico to make you jealous. I did it because I was unsure if you really did still love me after that kiss we had at the party, it was stupid of me. I…I am sorry about that. I did slap him after he kissed me, if that makes you feel any better.”

“Well…I'm glad you're coming clean about it.” Mordecai says quietly.

This was wrong, they shouldn't be here like this. One or both of them should have been dead, or injured worse than what they came in with, not sitting on the couches of a funeral home aching from beating the stuffing out of each other and being affectionate as they used to be when they were still together. But deep down, he didn't want to stop this. Just a small part of him wanted to stay and hold Paloma close, maybe be a bit more affectionate with her than when he'd feel up to it. That part of him wanted to just fall back into what they had, and oh how badly did he want to give in.

“I still want you, Paloma.” Mordecai finds himself saying. “I still do.”

She could reject him, she had every right to. He'd gone through too much trouble to cause her grief and give her a reason to not want him anymore, and he wouldn't blame her for it. Yet…he finds himself now looking into her eyes, their faces now quite close enough to bump noses. He had almost forgotten how pretty her eyes looked in the warm light, like the soft glow of a candle or a sunset.

“I still want you too.” Paloma finally says softly. “Even after all this time.”

It all seemed to happen a bit too quickly, but for once Mordecai didn't care. All he could focus on right now was how his heart pounded loudly in his chest as they pulled each other close and kissed. It had been a few weeks since they kissed like this, even if it was by accident, but it still felt just as good.

“We shouldn't be doing this.” He mumbles, breaking the kiss for a moment.

“Do you even want to stop?” Paloma asks, her arms still wrapped around his neck.

His only response is to pull her close again and keep on kissing her. He didn't want to let her go, he didn't want this to stop, all he wanted right now was to enjoy the fluttering feeling in his chest and the feel of Paloma’s lips on his as they clutch each other-

“Alright enough! If you keep that up, it'll lead to the worst sin you could commit!”

Mordecai stiffened and pulled away from Paloma to look at the door where Michael stood, looking a bit flustered but quite annoyed. He didn't even know what this man was talking about, at least until he realized Paloma was leaning against the armrest of the couch and he was…well…now he was somewhat on top of her.

“Michael!” Paloma gasps as she sits up in haste. “We weren't-”

“Yes you were!” The man yells as Gabriel appears at the door and tries pulling him back outside.

“Leave them be!” Paloma’s twin groans. “I'm so sorry, he's a bit…uh…well-”

“Mood ruined, I can't do this.” Paloma mutters as she gently nudges Mordecai to move back, allowing her to get off the couch.

“Well this is embarrassing.” Mordecai says as he gets off as well, attempting to adjust his clothes and wincing when the pain in his shoulder flares up. He was probably going to need a sling again, at least this time he won't be having any children bothering him about - no wait the Sweet children would, ugh.

Glancing back, he catches Paloma putting on the flannel shirt she was given earlier, also wincing in pain from moving her shoulder so much. With an annoyed sigh, he gently turns her to face him and proceeds to help her button the shirt up before adjusting the collar that was sticking up funny. Thanks to the lack of a bandana around her neck, Mordecai caught sight of something red on her neck and moved the collar to see the choker - that same chocker he thought he saw her wearing the night of Nico's party that he bought her all those years ago. Even after everything, she still held onto it? Paloma hastily pulls away from him, quickly grabbing her cap from the couch and rushes to the stairs run up, returning a few moments later with several guns in her arms before she hurries outside.

Mordecai follows, finding Kalle being tended to by Elsa while Nico and Serafine sat on some chairs nearby. Bobby and Abelard were quietly talking to Gabriel, while Michael stares off into the distance, a little cigarette hanging from his mouth. Ivy and the other two cats were nearby, taking their guns back from Paloma. When she glances back at him and their eyes meet, she quickly looks away with a flustered expression.

“We should get going, before the missus worries.” Paloma says hastily as she fits her cap back on. “We'll come back for the pie truck tomorrow.”

“So, same time tomorrow?” Nico jokes, earning a glare from her and Ivy. “It’s a joke cher, I promise.”

“Joke or not, you all need to go home and rest.” Elsa scolds. “And that means you too Paloma. Come back in a week for the truck, we’ll have it fixed by then.”

“And you’ll have an excuse to visit your favorite brother in the world!” Gabriel jokes as he flings his arms around his sister, earning a hiss of pain from her before she starts smacking him before she’s released.

“More like a pain in my ass!” Paloma snaps before glaring at the other three Marigolds. “Follow and I'll blow your heads off with no hesitation.”

“Well, that was interesting.” Serafine comments once the four were off the porch and piling into the pig truck. “What even happened in there?”

“He was kissing her.” Michael says before Mordecai could respond. “And I stopped it before they went further.”

Serafine blinks in surprise. “You’re joking, right? This guy having a heated kissing session with one of our rivals? Especially after the fight from earlier?”

Mordecai felt his face flush with embarrassment, those feelings from earlier now gone. “You tell Asa and-”

“Tell that old man what?” Nico laughs. “He may pay us, but we don't snitch. And you know what they say about snitches in this line of work.”

“If you're all done making a mess of our house, you can leave.” Elsa says loudly. “Now.”

“Please.” Bobby adds hastily.

“With haste.” Abelard mutters. “Before this one goes for a gun.”

Mordecai turns to see Gabriel now glaring at them, his cheerful and friendly demeanor now gone and replaced with a more angry one. It was rather very unnerving how he looked so much like his sister, especially when angry.

“Right, pardon our intrusion.” The triggerman says as he hurries back inside and grabbed his bloodied shirt, vest and coat. As he was about to walk out the door, the older woman grabbed his arm. “What now?”

“Don't do that to her.” The ex nurse says softly. “Playing with her feelings, you're better than that.”

Mordecai grimaces. “I wouldn’t do that to her. She doesn't deserve to have her heart broken again, especially by me of all men. Good bye, Elsa.”

He follows his companions back to the car, redressing himself in the process. It had stopped raining, that was good at least, but what was he going to say to Asa about this? Surely he'd find out even if the Savoys and Kalle kept their word, but he wasn't worried about what would happen to him. He’d hate to think of what that man would do, he knew what he was capable of and not even his wife could protect those four.

“So…about what happened there.” Nico says as they enter the car.

Mordecai stiffens. “Say anything to Asa and -”

“Why would we tell our employer of your private activities?” Serafine asks as the car roars to life. “What you do off the clock is your business. If you want to go necking the tortie you claim you have no love for, go ahead. We don't judge, besides, that'd be quite…interesting for you. And you look like you could use a bit of thrill.”

“He almost did.” Her brother snickers. “Bet if they hadn't been interrupted we would have walked in on-”

“We will speak no more of this!” Mordecai snaps, now feeling flustered. “We will speak or think no more of this! What happened here, stays here!”

“Fine by me.”

----

It had been less than a week since…that incident, and Paloma was hating that she was forced to stay home. It was hard having to explain her injury to her siblings and Nina, forcing her to lie and claim she had to deal with a rough customer at the cafe. Thankfully, her three proteges were up for keeping quiet, with some small threats sprinkled in involving swapping the good syrup for something healthier, no driving lessons, and the mere mention of one's mother.

Viktor was taking her place for now, along with another new bartender they managed to hire recently, Nina had the three kids over at her home for a sleepover, leaving Paloma alone at the house with just her books and the radio for company. Mrs Bapka was also out, claiming she was going to spend time with friends, so there were no slimy fish sandwiches being shoved into her hands to be eaten. At the moment, she was curled up on the armchair with a book in her lap, trying to focus on the pages, but her thoughts kept falling back to Mordecai.

She never knew how he felt, and of course she felt terrible for what she did that night in the Marigold Room with Nico. Of course she wasn't expecting them to break into a fight, and for them to end up kissing. Well, at least thinking about it didn't make her want to bust out screaming - sometimes. She almost expected him to call or show up at the house, but Mordecai never showed or called.

He's recovering too, I shouldn't be expecting him to overexert himself just to give me attention. Paloma thinks as she flips a page. And who knows if he's even home at this hour. I feel like we need to talk, about this of course.

As she is turning another page, a knock at the door interrupts her. Paloma blinks in surprise, looking at the clock on the wall. It was around nine in the evening, no one in their right mind would be out and about making house calls, right? Unless…

Her revolver was on the table, ever since that day she kept it close just in case Asa decided to send some of his other gangsters to finish off the job. No one she knew would come at this hour, especially Mordecai if she knew him as well as she claimed. After checking to make sure she had six bullets in the chamber, Paloma slowly walks to the door as the pounding on the wood got more louder to the point it sounded like someone was trying to kick it down, hiding it behind her back.

“It's late, what do you - oh…why are you here?”

Standing on the doorstep, looking a lot worse for wear, was none other than Kuura. Her curling hair was practically falling out of the messy bun, her fur was looking unbrushed,  she's wearing a very large sweater that certainly didn't belong to her, and there were dark circles under her eyes like she had gotten no sleep for the past few weeks. What was she doing here?

“I need to talk with you, inside.” The shorter woman says in a hoarse voice. “Please.”

Still feeling wary, Paloma nods and steps aside to let her in, keeping the gun hidden out of sight to let Kuura into the foyer. “Your brother has been looking for you, he stopped by my job to ask if I had seen you.”

Kuura lets out a tired laugh. “Oh, at least someone cares. Nice to know that.”

“Why wouldn't he care? He's your brother.”

“It doesn't matter, I'm surprised anyone aside from Selena cared about me.”

What an odd thing to say, but then again aside from Kalle, neither of the other three Marigolds spoke of her disappearance.

“You said you wanted to talk.” Paloma says as she shuts the door behind them. “What's the matter?”

Kuura looks unsure, glancing around nervously before taking in a shaky deep breath and releases it slowly. “I need you to come with me.”

“Uh…why?”

“No questions, just come. Now.”

Paloma looks down at the nightdress and robe she is wearing. “You do realize I can't go out dressed like this.”

“Doesn't matter, you come now.” Kuura responds, her nervous tone now starting to turn irritated.

“Now hold on, I just can't-”

Paloma barely had time to react as Kuura suddenly whips a sharp knife out from under the sweater and jabs it at her stomach. She quickly dodges, quickly whipping out the gun from behind her back to point it at the shorter woman.

“Take one step and I'll shoot.” Paloma warns. “I'm not going anywhere with you until you explain what the hell is going on. On second thought, you're here because of Asa aren't you? I'm guessing he's mad that Mordecai, Nico, Serafine and your brother didn't kill me?”

“I don't know what you're talking about, I've been away since the night you showed up at the hotel and proved me right about something!” Kuura snaps, her voice quivering slightly. “I don't know if I should be thanking you or feel enraged about that.”

“You are not making any sense, put the knife down and we can talk like a pair of civilized women. And the last thing I need is to put a few holes in the walls, so don't do anything funny and I won't shoot you, got it?”

Kuura looks like she's about to burst into tears, but she drops the knife like she is told and kicks it towards Paloma, who picks it up.

“Now, talk.” Paloma orders. “Actually, explain to me what you meant by your earlier statement. Does it have anything to do with why you need me to come with you?”

Kuura's face contorts in rage for a few moments before it fell, now looking sad. “You kissed Nico that night, right?”

Paloma looks at her in confusion. “Umm…yes? But I-”

“And he kissed you back afterwards.”

“Yes but-”

“Well, he proved me right, he doesn't give two shits about me. I could never understand why he was so infatuated with you, aside from the fact that you are pretty and have a feisty personality. You never once gave him any sort of attention, you looked downright hateful towards him that day at the ice cream place, yet he still went out of his way to talk and flirt with you!” Kuura rambles. “And that day at the birthday party he was practically glued to you and looking at you with this look I've never seen him give me and his other flings and-”

“Kuura, are you…jealous?” Paloma interrupts. “And in love with Nico?”

Kuura lets out a sudden burst of nervous laughter. “W-what makes you think that? Why would I be in love with such a floozy of a man when-”

“You sound too much like those jilted lovers from the romance novels I've read, you looked upset momentarily that night at the birthday party when he kept his attention on me, and you're crying as you are rambling about him.” Paloma explains. “Look, just because I kissed him that night in the Marigold Room doesn't mean I was in love with him.”

“Don't you kiss people you like or are in love with?” Kuura asks, her voice now quiet.

“Well yes, but I'm not in love with him. I…” Her hand trails up to her neck, touching the stain red choker. “I think I'm still in love with Mordecai. There was no love put into that kiss that night, I only kissed Nico for the most stupid of reasons but none of them were for love. Yes he can be charming when he's not being annoying and flirty at the wrong moments, but never once have I ever felt any sort of love or affection towards him. That probably wasn't my smartest idea so he probably now thinks I do have a thing for him and - Dios mio are you crying?!”

“I'M NOT, IT'S JUST DUSTY IN HERE!” Kuura sobs as she's hastily trying to wipe off the snot coming from her nose with one hand and the tears from her eyes with the other. “Very dusty! You need to clean better!”

“I'd give you a handkerchief but mine’s upstairs in my room.” Paloma sighs, shaking her head.

“Go get it, and bring clothes too, you're still coming with me.” Kuura says with another sob. “No questions!”

Well, she had a lot of questions now, but Paloma figured it'd be best to do as she was told. She hurries up the stairs to her room, hastily changing out of her night clothes and into a clean pair of pants, a shirt and throws a sweater over it before hastily shoving her feet into some boots. Once dressed, she rummages around her closet for her old suitcase and proceeds to start tossing as many clothes as she could into it as well as some shoes before tossing some books into it as well for good measure and closes it. Once she was sure she packed enough, she grabs a handkerchief from her drawer and proceeds to drag the suitcases down the stairs to the foyer where Kuura is waiting, now no longer crying.

“Here, your face is really dirty right now.” Paloma says, holding the soft pink square out to Kuura, who hastily takes it and proceeds to loudly blow her nose. “So can you tell me where we are going and why you are threatening me with a knife to go with you no questions asked?”

“I'll explain when we get there.” Kuura says with a sniffle as she carefully stuffs the handkerchief into her pocket. “We need to leave now.”

“Can you at least tell me why you need me of all people to help you? I'm sure someone in the Marigold gang like Serafine would be more helpful for -”

“Selena said to come to you, you know better about what I have going on with me and you could help. I can't ask Serafine or any other Marigolds or even my brother for help with this.”

What did she mean by that? Paloma really wasn't liking how cryptic and evasive Kuura was being with her answers, but she promised to tell her when they arrived wherever they were going.

“Fine, but no more secrets when we get to wherever we are going, okay?” She finally says as she follows Kuura to the door.

Chapter Text

Hello all! Not an official chapter update, but I figured out how to post images onto AO3 thanks to some tutorials on YT that were super helpful! Heres some artwork I've commissioned of Paloma over time since I came up with the character, along with some drawings of Horns ocs that have popped up in the story! I wasn't sure if anyone was sure what she looked like, or if I ever specified what breed of cat she was, so here's a chance to see that!

Paloma pieces by Horna

(this won't happen until far into the future but have a doodle Horns did of these lovebirds with two of their future kids Sintra (right) and Maricela (left)

Paloma and Nico commission by cero.crown on Instagram

Paloma and Kuura commission by supayell on Instagram

Paloma commission by (cannot remember artists name)

Kuura and Paloma commission by agentrose on Instagram

Paloma and Mordecai commission by ukariarti

Paloma drawing by Tracy Butler

Also here are references of Horna's ocs who have gotten to make an appearance in the story so far!

Kuura Havu

Elizia and Ilioise Vasko

Selena Sweet (ft Asa)

Kalle Havu

Michael Arbogast

And that's it for the art so far! If you want to see more Lackadaisy art from Horns, go check their Instagram (horns.n.jams) and Tumblr (horns-n-jams)! Might do another art chapter in the future if I end up commissioning more art of Paloma and her friends, family and love interest in the future, so see you in the next chapter when I have the chance to post it!

Chapter Text

This was a stupid idea, yet here Mordecai finds himself outside of Viktor’s house late at night, armed with only a bouquet of Paloma’s favorite flowers and a huge knot of anxiety  in his stomach that seemed to be growing by the minute. For the past few weeks since that disastrous fight, he had been wrestling with his thoughts and feelings about what had occurred between him and Paloma and recovering from his injuries while trying to deal with Asa. She said she still wanted him, that had to mean something, right? Well, tonight he had a plan and a sliver of hope that if it went well, he'd be walking back home probably covered in lipstick kisses and hopefully not single anymore. And perhaps if this went well, he could ask Paloma to help him look into why Asa was so paranoid about tying up loose ends and if it really was connected to Atlas and his sudden death. He still didn't trust the Savoys about this ordeal, but he could trust her more than them.

Alright Mordecai, you can do this. You've faced worse things than this. The triggerman tells himself as he rings the doorbell. But never feeling this anxious.

Okay, to be fair he hadn't felt this nervous since he began working for Atlas, where he was always trying to prove himself to the man and that often went poorly.

No response from the door. Frowning, he pushes the doorbell again, and a few more times out of impatience. Was she not home? Perhaps she was at her gang's speakeasy, he didn't even think of looking into her work schedule so he could figure out a night to come and surprise her. As he's contemplating whether or not he should go to the speakeasy, the door suddenly swings open.

Paloma didn't answer the door, instead, a girl who looked a lot younger than her was poking her head out. She had dark brown colored hair that started turning orange towards the end of the strands that was pulled back in two braids, a calico fur pattern and bright green eyes that studied him. Her eyes then widened and she let out a terrified scream before trying to shut the door.

“WAIT WAIT!” Mordecai yells as he manages to shove his foot and shoulder in to keep it opwn. “Hold on! I'm looking for Paloma!”

“¡Maria! ¡El bate!” The girl screams as she runs from the door. “¡Viktor!”

“No don't call him!” Mordecai yells as he manages to get inside and rushes after her. He yelps as a wooden bat almost hits him in the face, being swung by a slightly older girl with dark colored fur and short hair and a blazing fury in her copper colored eyes. She swings again, screaming something in Spanish before the bat collides close to him, hitting the wall. “Uh…shoot which sister are you-”

He then feels a strong hand grab him by the back of his coat before he is slammed into the wall, now facing Viktor, who definitely did not look happy. Mordecai hears crying and spots a little boy with white and orange fur tugging at the older man's pants and babbling in Spanish.

“Vhat you want?” The older man snarls, his free hand now pressed against Mordecai's throat as the other is raised in a fist.

“I…Paloma…” The triggerman manages to say. “Looking…”

“¡No esta!” The girl with the bat snaps. “You do something to her didn't you!”

“Flowers?” They hear the little boy say as he holds up the bouquet of dahlias that had been dropped. “For Loma?”

Mordecai nods wordlessly, praying Viktor would let him go soon. The two teens look at the little boy before they look at each other and Viktor, before the one with braids touches his arm.

“Let go, please.” She says softly. “Let's hear him out at least, maybe he can help.”

Viktor lets out another annoyed grumbling sound before he moves his hands away, allowing Mordecai to drop to the floor, coughing and rubbing his throat. “Vhat you want? Speak truth.”

“I…I came to speak with Paloma, I just wanted to work things out between us.” The triggerman says as he gets up, taking the flowers back from the little boy. “But…it seems like she's not here.”

“She's been missing for over two months.” The girl with the braids says before her sister elbows her. “He has to know!”

“He could have done something to her Imelda, Viktor said he's trouble!” The girl with the bat snaps and glares at him. “I swear if you did something to her, I will-”

“Mari noooo!” The little boy protests. “No mean words! And Nina say no swearing!”

“So she's been missing?” Mordecai asks, trying to steer the conversation back to the earlier subject. “And for two months?”

“Yeah, we were over with the McMurray's for a sleepover, Viktor was with Elizia and Iliose, and Mrs Bapka was out with friends.” Imelda says with a nod. “Loma was home by herself, and when we all came back the next morning almost all her clothes were gone, a few of the books she owns, some shoes, and left no note. Oh and one of her suitcases was gone too.”

Clothes, shoes and books packed, suitcase was taken, no note left behind, that sounded quite odd.

“Did the door or the doorframe look broken, like someone forced their way in?”

“No, it looked fine and it was locked too. And there was no mess either, save for the book she was reading.”

So whoever it was had been invited in, and Paloma seemed to have left willingly?

“Did you report this?” Mordecai asks.

“Yeah but the police have yet to find something.” Imelda says and looks at her sister. “We've been praying that she's okay, this is so unlike her!”

“I agree, it's so strange she'd leave like that.” Mordecai mutters before straightening his clothes. “I suppose I should look elsewhere, perhaps with her employer.”

“She not happy.” Viktor says with a frown. “Very vorried.”

“Then I shall put her at ease by finding our missing devil dove. I'll never understand why people called her that, it's so crude.”

“Devil dove?” The sister with the bat asks.

“Just a weird nickname people called her.” Mordecai says as he heads for the door and opens. “I'll be back another day with any progress. Good evening to you all.”

“Bye!” The little boy calls out before the door is shut.

So her family is here, not just Gabriel. Where is her mother, her father, her older brothers? Mordecai wonders as he starts walking down the street in a hurried manner, tucking the flowers under his arm carefully. Assuming I find her, we have a lot to discuss.

Breaking into the garage was easy, and so was getting into the caves. Lucky for him, there was no one at the doors. Inside was quiet, save for someone playing away at the piano and a few guests mingling about. Mitzi was over at the bar with Ivy and those other two men Paloma was working with, as well as Zib and some other gentleman he'd never seen before and all were looking dejected.

“You really should hire someone to guard the doors better.” Mordecai says loudly, earning startled gasps from the group as they turn to see him.

“Oh you've got a lot of nerve showing your stupid mug around here.” Zib sneers as he gets off his seat, walks over to the triggerman and prods him in the chest. “Especially after what you've done, don't think we don't know you were the one who left us with no weapons!”

“I'm not here to pick a fight with you all about that, I'm here about Paloma.” Mordecai retorts as he takes a step away from the sax player.

Zib then notices the flowers and his eyes narrowed. “You think a cheap bouquet is going to win her back, after all the shit you've put her through? She deserves better than a scumbag like you who-”

“Hey let's not fight! I'm sure he's here for another reason involving our bartender and triggerwoman!” The violinist, Roark if he remembers right, says quickly and gets between both men. “Come on, let's be peaceful, for Pal's sake?”

“You know something about her disappearance, don't you?” Mitzi asks as she gets off her seat to walk over to them.

“All I know is what Viktor and her sisters told me, I came to ask if any of you knew anything.”

Zib scoffs. “Why would we tell you anything after what you and your little Marigold buddies did-”

“Zib!” Mitzi shouts, cutting the man off. “Not helping! You sit down!”

Zib casts another glare at Mordecai before he walks back to the bar, still glaring at him.

“We haven't seen her if that's what you were going to ask.” Mitzi says and looks away. “Last time I saw her, she came here all bruised and bloody, struggling to even carry a crate to the storage. I told her to go home and rest up, and a few days later Viktor is calling me in panic about her.”

“We can't find her, the police can't find her, it's like…she disappeared.” Roark adds quietly. “You…you can find her, right? You and Viktor were great at tracking down thugs who needed a beating.”

“That's the plan, I just need to check where else she could be.” Mordecai says with a frown. “Have you checked with the Arbogasts?”

“Why would we -” Mitzi's eyes widened in surprise. “Gabriel! Why didn't we think of that?”

“Perhaps Paloma has contacted him, I'll head out right now to speak with him.”

“Oh I could take you, I've got a car.” Roark offers. “Plus I'm sure her brother would be happy and more willing to talk if there's a friendly face.”

“I wanna go!” Ivy says as she and her companion hop off their stools. “And Freckle comes along too!”

“Y-yeah!” The younger man agrees.

“Fine, lets go.” Mordecai says before Mitzi grabs his arm. “What now?”

“Why are you looking for her?” The older woman asks softly.

“I…I just wanted to work things out with her. And perhaps ask her to help me look into this thing with Asa and Atlas.”

“How much have you uncovered?”

“Not enough that would give me a satisfying answer. We'll give you a call if we do or do not find her.”

“Come on Mordecai, let's go!” Ivy yells as she grabs his arm to pull him to the doors. “We're losing precious time!”

Once in the car, Mordecai turns to look at the three with a stern expression. “Now, I want you three to leave the questioning to me, got it?”

“I'm still confused to why the two of you necked in the house that night.” Ivy says with a frown. “Was that a ploy to get her to lower her guard so you could-”

“Good grief, there was no ploy or plan of any kind!” Mordecai snaps. “It just happened! And then Michael had to go make it weird!”

“Yeah he's weird.” Ivy's companion mumbles. “Mom's been super worried about her, she hasn't been able to sleep because the police are supposed to call her if any news about her comes up. Nothing yet.”

“The police are useless, if we want something done, we have to do it ourselves.” Mordecai says as he turns the car on. “Let's hope Gabriel will provide us with a better lead.”

The drive to Defiance was long and unfortunately not quiet thanks to Ivy and one of her companions. The orange one, who the two kept calling Freckle, was the only one who remained quiet but kept his eyes focused on Mordecai. After a while, the farm came into view and they made their way towards the house. As they were exiting the car, they heard someone running towards them and turned to see a very flustered Michael followed by Gabriel, both sporting grass stuck in their hair and clinging to their clothes.

“Why are you covered in grass?” Mordecai asks as the tall and lanky man runs past him.

“None of your business!” Michael snaps as he hurries into the house, slamming the doors behind him.

“He kissed me.” Gabriel whispers to Mordecai when he approaches and grins. “We almost went past that when we heard a car and saw you in it.”

“No need to tell me everything about your private life. I'm only here to ask about your sister.”

Gabriel's face falls before he straightens himself. “Okay, but why? I assume things were okay after that night?”

“That's the thing, I haven't heard from her since that night.” Mordecai says, shaking his head. “I was at the house she lives in with Viktor and your siblings, only to find out she's been missing for nearly two months.”

Gabriel's eyes widened in shock. “Wait, is that why she hadn't called? She used to call me once a week or every two weeks so I could talk with the kids, I just assumed her silence was because she thought Marigold would listen in on the phone!”

“I am starting to wonder if Marigold is behind her disappearance, she has no short list of enemies she made over the years and my gang may be one of them. Judging by your reaction, you haven't seen her since that day and she hasn't been here at all.”

“No, that night was the last time.” Gabriel admits. “You think she's okay?”

“This is Paloma we are talking about, I'd be more worried about whoever took her.” Mordecai scoffs before he looks away. “But, I cannot deny I am worried for her.”

“Be was gonna try to get back with her!” Ivy yells from the car.

“With flowers!” Rocky yells. 

“Nice flowers!” Freckle adds.

“I just wanted to talk to her and see if we could work things out!” Mordecai yells back. “Is that so bad?”

“YES!”

“I don't know!”

“Well she is an adult, she gets to make her choices and deal with the consequences, so if she wants to get back with an ex, that's on her.” Gabriel responds before his eyes narrow. “But I am warning you, hurt her in any way and I'll give you good reason to fear me too. Paloma’s not the only Alvarez to come out of that revolutionary war with gunman skills.”

“What's going on?” They hear Elsa ask and turn to see her poking her head out the door before it swings open to reveal Abelard and Michael behind her. “Oh, Mordecai.”

“We were just leaving.” The triggerman says as he gives Gabriel a nod before walking back to the car. “Give Viktor a call if you hear anything about her.”

“Will do, good luck!” Gabriel yells as the four enter the car again.

“Alright this was a dead end lead. And for once, I am out of options and ideas.” Mordecai says as he turns the car on and starts to drive. “I can't ask any of my colleagues without arousing suspicion. I'll drop you three and the car off, let Mitzi know I'll give her a call or that she could call me if either of us find anything.”

----

Two days, it had been two days since the search and nothing had turned up yet. At this point, Mordecai was now wondering if he will have to start checking the rivers, fields or forests for any unmarked graves. And on top of that, Kuura was also missing and Kalle basically disappeared too a few weeks ago. It was quite odd, but there was no way it was connected in any way.

Today he had been called to the Sweet home by Selena, who claimed she had a task for him. While he normally only took orders from Asa and only Asa, it was rare for the missus to ask him to do something for her when they had plenty of house help to do it. Last time it was to keep an eye on the kids for a few hours so the two could have some sort of privacy, Mordecai hoped he wouldn't have to do it again, those children were an absolute nightmare to deal with - Mason especially.

“So, what do you need me to do this time?” Mordecai asks Selena as she is leading him through the house. “Something that has to do with my job, I hope. I'm not qualified to look after children.”

“Oh no need to worry, that was a one time thing.” Selena assures him. “I actually have an errand for you, you can drive, right?”

“Yes I can. Do you need to be driven somewhere?”

“Oh it's not that, I just need you to deliver some things for me. It's imperative you get it there.”

They soon arrive at the kitchen where a large paper bag sits on the counter. Selena grabs it and hands it to Mordecai, who peers inside. There was what looked like cans of food, medicine, even a blanket as well and he looked to his employer's wife in confusion.

“Am I allowed to ask who this is for?” He asks

“Someone who needs it. I understand your have other work to do, but this is important and I can't do it myself. Just do this for me, please?” Selena pleads.

“Fine, but where is this going to?” Mordecai asks. Selena reaches into her pocket to pull out a slip of paper before tucking it into his coat pocket.

“I'll lend you the keys to one of the cars.” She says softly. “Return it as soon as you are done with the errand.”

“Of course. I'll try to get this done as soon as possible.”

What have I agreed to? And when did I become the grocery errand boy? Mordecai wonders as he finds himself driving out of the city towards the forest. The address he was given was somewhere quite far, at least according to the Sweet's chauffeur, and it was this log cabin the family would stay in sometimes for the winter. Perhaps he was being sent to clear the place out of any vagrants? But then why was he given the groceries? Maybe a friend of the Sweets was there, or a caretaker of the cabin and they needed some things.

Soon he arrived at the large and imposing looking cabin that was surrounded by overgrown bushes, an unswept yard and tall trees. Mordecai exits the car with the paper bag in his arms and walks up to the entrance, setting the bag down and knocking. Nothing. Was anyone there? He knocks again, no response. Again, and no response.

“How odd.” He mutters before turning to walk away before he hears the door open and something grabs him by the back of his coat and yanks him backwards before something cold is pressed against the back of his neck.

“¿Quien eres y que quieres?” An all too familiar voice asks. “Speak before I blow your head off!”

“It's me!” Mordecai manages to say, attempting to twist his head around before his coat was released. Standing behind him was Paloma, dressed in a shirt that looked a little too big on her with a long brown skirt and a dirty apron wrapped around her waist. The orange spots of her fur and strands of her hair were covered with some sort of ink or powder, he could barely see any of it save for a few flecks and strands that weren't properly covered.

“Oh, it's just you.” Paloma says as she lowers the shotgun she was holding. “What are you doing here?”

“Me?! What are you doing here?!” Mordecai exclaims. “This residence belongs to Asa and his family, if he finds you here, he'll-”

“Selena knows we are here, she sent us here.”

“US? We? Who else is here?!”

Without saying anything, Paloma grabs his hand and yanks him inside the cabin, also grabbing the bag of groceries before shutting the door behind her and locking it. The inside of the cabin smelled musty and awful, causing the triggerman to yank out his hankerchief to cover his snout to block the smell.

“Sorry, we're still trying to clean this place up. Hard to with only two able bodied people.” Paloma apologizes as she hands Mordecai her gun and picks up the paper bag to look inside. “Oh wonderful, I could make some proper soup for dinner. Kuura needs something warm and -”

“Wait Kuura?! What is she doing here?!” Mordecai exclaims. “And why are you here? Everyone has been looking for you for the past two months!”

“Well…how do I explain this? I suppose it's Nico's fault.”

“I'd agree, but how?”

“Paloma? Who's here?” They turn to see Kuura emerging from somewhere, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She was sporting an oversized shirt and for some reason, her stomach looked a bit inflated. “Is Kalle back?”

“No, it's Mordecai.” Paloma says as they shorter woman walks over to them and slumped against her with a tired sigh. “Selena sent groceries, we can make proper soup today.”

“Oh yay…can I have three bowls?”

“Of course, you are eating for two.”

“Eating for two?” Mordecai asks and Kuura gave him an annoyed look.

“She's pregnant, you can thank Nico for that.” Paloma explains. “She told Selena, got sent here, then Selena told her to get me to help look after her, and that's why I am here.”

“That doesn't explain why you dyed your hair and fur, and why you haven't bothered to contact anyone!”

“So that man no see her.” They hear Kalle says as he is walking towards them, his boots and clothes covered in mud while he is holding a dead bird in hand. “Got bird for soup.”

“Kalle! I just cleaned the floors!” Paloma exclaims. “Go take that to the shed, and clean up before you come in!”

“Ha! You got yelled at!” Kuura laughs before yawning. “I'm off to bed.”

“Well that explains where those two went, but this doesn't explain why you tried changing your looks and didn't leave a note.” Mordecai says once both Havu siblings are out of the room and he follows Paloma into the kitchen.

“So Nico wouldn't recognize me in public if I was out grabbing things.” The younger woman responds as she sets the bag on a counter. “I was going to cut my hair but decided against it, I quite like my long hair.”

“And the note?”

“Oh, I forgot to, was in a bit of a rush. As for not calling, there's no phone here.”

“Well that's a problem.” Mordecai says as he removes his coat to set it on a nearby chair before he helps remove the food from the bag and sits it down on the counter. “So…what now?”

“With what?” Paloma asks as she opens the refrigerator to start putting items inside.

Well, was this a good time to ask? Probably not. Paloma stops her task and turns to look at him with a frown. “Amor, if you have something to tell me, tell me. I know that look.”

The last time she called him that, her voice was so full of hate and anger. Now she said it the way she always said it, with love and concern, no malice or anger. And she was giving him that look, so there was no point in staying quiet.

“With us. I know right now isn't really a great time to talk about it, but I want to know now what will go on between us now.” Mordecai finally says. “The night I went looking for you, I had intentions to speak with you about that, but I was nearly clobbered by one of your sisters and almost choked by Viktor. If you don't want anything to do with me anymore, I will respect that and we can just have a professional relationship. If you choose that and plan to pursue another man, I'll respect that and not interfere either. It's all up to you and-”

“After kissing you so many times after beating the shit out of each other, you really think I want a professional relationship with you?” Paloma asks, putting a hand on her chest and looking at him in an offended manner. “Do I need to kiss you again and again and again, each time with more passion to get it through your head?”

“I m-mean- you- uh- that's not- you could-”

“Because I will if you are feeling too dense to realize me saying “I still want you” before kissing you means I want to only be work colleagues.”

Oh she was serious. With no warning, Paloma grabs him by the tie and yanks him down to press her lips against his, twisting them around so Mordecai's back is now pressed to the counter. He wasn't sure how much time passed, but Paloma then pulls away and releases before going back to her task of putting things away.

“Wait you - I - now hold on! You can't just do that!” Mordecai exclaims, removing himself from the counter as Paloma is restocking one of the cabinets with the canned food.

“Yes I can, unless you are still not convinced.” She responds, giving him a smirk. “Should I try again?”

“Okay you've made your point! No need to kiss me again!” The triggerman grumbles.

“Really? Because you look like you could use a few more kisses.”

“Eww, so gross!” They hear Kuura say before turning to see her poking her head into the kitchen. “Get out!”

“I need to go.” Mordecai mutters as he grabs his coat and hastily hurries out back towards the front entrance.

Paloma is following him, nearly bumping into him when he stops at the door. She quickly turns him around to face her before standing on her toes to kiss him one more time on the lips before breaking away, opening the door and quickly shoving him outside and shutting it behind him. Well, he had the answers he needed now.

----

“Oh good, the ink is coming off!” Paloma says happily, showing Kalle her hand to reveal the orange fur. “Now to apply this to the rest of my body and hair!”

“You in cheerful mood.” The older man comments as she is grabbing a sponge to clean the dirtied sink. “Mordecai?”

“I suppose thanks to him I have been feeling a bit better now,  especially since he convinced Selena to have someone set up a proper telephone in the cabin. He said he'll come by this week when he has the chance.” Paloma admits with a small smile. “It's good to see him again after all this time.”

It had been over a week since Mordecai unexpectedly showed up at the cabin, and Kalle was right, since then she'd been more cheerful than before. She hadn't noticed it until he pointed it out, but she had been humming a lot more, smiled a little more than usual, and she had caught herself getting excited whenever she heard someone knocking at the door assuming it was him. He had shown up a few times to make sure the man installing the phone did a good job of it, leaving only after he shared a quick kiss with her and quiet conversation with Kalle about something. The only one who didn't seem too happy about this all was Kuura, but she kept to herself most of the time Mordecai was here.

“Happy for him or happy for kissing?” Kalle asks with a teasing smile, to which Paloma smacks his arm.

“I haven't seen him in two months, give me a break.” She scolds, rolling her eyes. “Plus we've sort of made up after the incident in Defiance. I didn't realize how much I've missed him until that happened.”

There was a loud knock on the door, causing her to drop the sponge and quickly wipe her hands on the apron she had on before rushing towards the front door, her heart racing in excitement. Paloma quickly adjusts her clothes and hair a bit before opening it, relieved to see it was Mordecai this time, holding what looked like a bouquet of roses under one arm and a bag of groceries under the other. Before he could say anything, Paloma grabs him by the front of his coat to yank him inside and almost causes him to drop what he was holding.

“H-hi.” She says softly before being handed the flowers. “Oh?”

“I…I meant to give these to you the night I went to Viktor’s to talk, the others wilted and I didn't think it'd be good to give you dead flowers.” Mordecai says, looking away in embarrassment. “If there is a vase to put them in.”

“Oh there's one in the kitchen, I'll go clean it. Stay for lunch, I'm actually making something tasty today that Kuura hopefully could stomach. She's been a bit grumpy lately.”

“I suppose her growing belly has something to do with it. How far along is she anyways?” Mordecai asks as he follows her.

“I'm not sure, but she's quite far along in the pregnancy, she feels some movement from the baby already. You should have seen her when it happened, she looked so startled by the movement.”

“Kalle mentioned you were trying not to be seen by someone when I asked why you had covered the orange in your hair and fur, is someone bothering you when you are able to leave the cabin?”

Paloma shakes her head. “I just don't want Nico finding us. Kuura didn't tell him about the baby, and considering how he treated her, doesn't want to see him or have to deal with him anymore. We agreed it's for the best that he's not involved.”

“I suppose that's fair, but what is she going to do after the birth? She can't expect you or her brother, or Selena to keep providing, and knowing her she's not going to like being stuck at home with a child to look after all the time.”

“We're not there yet, so for now we don't think about it. Ah, there's the vase!”

They were now in the kitchen and she grabs the glass vase that sat on a counter to turn the sink on and fill it with sink with water before placing the flowers inside. “Oh my favorites too, dahlias! You still remember!”

“How could I forget? I've been giving you those for four years.” Mordecai points out as the vase was once again placed on the counter. “You know, I was worried for you. Everyone is always saying to not worry about you, you're strong enough to handle any danger thrown at you, but this time I was genuinely worried. Everyone said the same about Atlas, and look what happened to him: six feet under in a polished pine box with bullet holes in him. I don't know what I would have done if I found you dead.”

“Well lucky for you, I'm not.” Paloma assures him, taking his hand and placing a kiss on it before looping her arms around his neck. “But I'm glad that you were worried for me too, just as i was because you never called or wrote after that incident. I've missed you too amor, and I'm so glad to have you back in my life now.”

Mordecai lets out a tired sigh before he pulled her close against him, earning a surprised noise from her before he pressed his forehead against hers. They stood there for a few moments just embracing each other, and nothing more. When was the last time he held her like this? The night they got the news Atlas was found dead? Probably, it was the only time she could ever recall them embracing each other for comfort. Glancing up, she could see Mordecai looking down at her with an unsure expression before looking away embarrassed.

“Cariñio, you don't have to be so embarrassed, what's wrong?” Paloma asks with a small laugh. “Something you want to say? Or specifically…do?”

“I…had the sudden urge to kiss you just now.” Mordecai mumbles, still looking away. “I'm not used to this.”

“Well if all you wanted was a kiss, all you had to do was ask. Do you still want one?”

Mordecai nods, still looking very embarrassed. Paloma just smiles and chuckles before putting a hand on the back of his head and turning his head to face her before pulling him close to kissing him. She could feel him practically melt against her as they kissed, and all she could do was pray that neither of the Havu siblings would-

“EUGH! GET A ROOM!”

The two quickly stop kissing and look over to see Kalle trying to drag a very disgusted Kuura away from the entrance of the kitchen as she keeps turning back to glare at them - or more like she kept glaring at Mordecai.

“Sorry, go back to…what you do.” The older man says hastily before he lifts his sister and starts scolding her in a different language.

“Rude.” Mordecai mutters, pulling Paloma closer to him. “Why's she so angry anyways? I hardly complained that much when I'd catch her and Nico doing much worse.”

“Much worse?” Paloma asks. “What could be worse than kissing?”

“One of them was missing their trousers.”

Paloma blinks in confusion before her eyes widen in realization. “Oh god, is that why Michael was screaming at us that night?!”

“Well considering the position he found us in-”

“I would never!”

She could hear Mordecai  chuckle as she buried her face into his shoulder in embarrassment to hide her face.

“And I thought I got flustered easily.” The older  man says softly.

“Don't tease me!” Paloma scolds, her voice muffled. “Ugh!”

“Well we won't be doing that anytime soon, and perhaps we should avoid any displays of affection where they could see us.” Mordecai suggests. “But knowing you, you aren't going to stop.”

“Don't say that!” Paloma gasps, smacking his arm. “No more affection for you! Kalle!”

“What?” They hear him yell. “Am busy - ow Kuura!”

“Hold on, I need to swap with him.” Paloma mutters as she peels herself away from Mordecai to hurry towards Kuura's room. Inside she finds a large lump under the blankets of the very large bed while Kalle sits on the floor rubbing at his chin.

“She kick me.” He mutters as he gets up. “He leave?”

“No he hasn't, go start on lunch will you?”

“Sure. Soup today.”

Paloma nods before he leaves before going over to kneel next to the bed where she could see Kuura's tail poking out and gently prods the blankets. “Kuura, why are you so grumpy today?”

“Go away.” The smaller woman says, her voice muffled.

“I will not, you've been acting grumpy and cranky for the past few days, what's wrong?”

There was silence for a few moments before she saw a hand poke out from under the blankets that pats around the mattress before it finds her hand and grasps it.

“I don't like he's here.” Kuura finally says.

“Mordecai? Why is that?” Paloma asks.

“He…he’s gonna take you away, isn’t he?”

“No he won’t, I can promise you that. And just because he’s here, I’m not going to drop everything I am doing for him while you need me. Selena picked me for a reason, and I promised her I’d stay and make sure you and your kit will be alright no matter what. I’m gonna go check on your brother to make sure he’s doing well with the soup.”

“Can it have spice today?”

Paloma lets out a chuckle. “Kuura, I told you, not too much. Plus you put too much in the rice the other day, we are almost out.”

“It was too bland, Kalle cooked it bland!” Kuura says, her head now emerging from the blankets. “That was gross!”

“Well Mordecai is in the kitchen with him, so let's go and make sure they don't fight over how to cook soup.”

Once Kuura was out from under the blankets and off the bed, Paloma led her to the kitchen where she could hear someone chopping away at something. Peeking in, she could see Kalle at one counter hacking away at some slices of meat while Mordecai stands at a different area chopping at what must have been onions, a pot on the stove already making bubbling noises.

“I see you two are busy, need help?” Paloma asks.

“We're good, you should rest.” Mordecai responds, not looking up from his task and hastily wipes at his eyes. “Wish there was a more effective way to cut onions without one's vision going blurry.”

Kuura frowns before yelling something at her brother in Finnish and he responds back in kind before tossing the meat into the pot and opens a cabinet to start sifting through it for something.

“Seasoning is in the other cabinet.” Paloma corrects him.

“Hmm?” Kalle asks, pointing to an unopened cabinet.

“The other…no the other….no the other one, yes!”

“I want spice.” Kuura mutters. “Like spice powder. Cajun seasoning.”

“That's too spicy for you.” Paloma scolds as she starts to roll her sleeves up. “Let me help at least.”

“No, you go rest. Kalle tells me you've done nothing but cook, clean, and deal with his sister since you got here.” Mordecai says, hurrying to push her out of the kitchen before she could enter. “Kuura, make sure she rests. You may be the pregnant one here, but even your caretaker needs a break every so often.”

“Something I can agree on.” Kuura says, grabbing her friend by the arm. “Let's read, you can read me and the baby something.”

Paloma follows her to a room filled with a few shelves filled with various books, a large couch and a few comfortable chairs, apparently it was supposed to be a library but she was unsure if any of the Sweets ever stepped foot in here due to how dusty many of them were when they first got to the cabin.

“What do you isn't to read today?” Paloma asks as she starts sifting through the shelves. “Charles Dickens, Brahman Stoker, Mark Twain, Jane Austen?”

“How about that book with the guy on the horse?” Kuura asks as she takes a seat on the couch. “The one you're often obsessed with reading?”

“The Legends and Tales of Zorro? I don't have an English copy.”

“Translate then.”

Paloma chuckles as she grabs the said book off a nearby table and walks back over to the couch to sit down. Kuurs stands to allow her to swing her feet up onto it before the smaller woman climbs on, laying on her side and resting her head on Paloma’s chest to be more comfortable. Once they were both settled, Paloma cracked open the book to the start and began to read, allowing herself and her friend to be immersed in her favorite tales from childhood. All was good, she was back with the man she loved so much, her new friend was doing well and reunited with her brother, what could go wrong?

Chapter Text

“You were not kidding that you had a conspiracy wall.” Paloma comments as Mordecai tries not to fall backwards from a chair he was standing on while attempting to tack something to the wall.

“I wouldn't say exactly it's a conspiracy wall, it's more of a…an evidence wall.” The older man responds before he climbs down. “With…red string.”

“No it's a conspiracy wall, I should know, Gabriel and I made one as kids when we were trying to explain to our family how this one cow in the barn was really some sort of shapeshifting vampire.”  

Mordecai blinks in surprise. “Wait, a cow? How-”

“Don't ask, but the point of that was…that old thing always hovered around the area where we slaughtered the chickens and for some reason always licked the chopping block after we used it.” Anyways, what did you come up with?”

“Alright a lot of this for some reason ties back to Asa, but do keep an open mind about what I have.” Mordecai says as he points to the wall full of notes scribbled from his notebooks and crude drawings or ripped photographs. “So ever since I started working for Asa, I've had to kill off various different people, many of them small fry and who don't seem to matter. But then I start wondering: why? What does Asa want with a jewelry thief? A gambler? A kettle salesman? What does he want with any of these low level thugs? And then, with this Gracie fellow, I discovered something odd.”

“What was it?” Paloma asks, now sounding intrigued.

“He's a low level thug, a thief to be exact, yet he was given a high leveled attorney and asked to be an informant for some detective or high rank officer. Some man named Drago.”

“Drago…that name sounds familiar but I can't recall how.” Paloma mutters, tapping her forehead in thought. “Ugh, I swear I know that name somewhere!”

“It's fine, we'll go back to that.” Mordecai says, grabbing his notebook on the desk to scribble something down before ripping it out and tacking it to the wall. “I still have yet to get information out of him about this Drago, perhaps since you agreed to aid me, you could be of better use.”

“Amor, I am very offended that you think of me that way!” Paloma gasps, dramatically placing a hand on her chest before grinning. “But Atlas did tell me I was good at sweet talking people, so perhaps I can butter this man up to get more information.”

“Good, it's what we need.” Mordecai says with a nod and looks to the wall. “I've refused to tell Kuura and Kalle about this, Asa does not know anything about what I'm doing and I don't want him knowing. Mitzi knows, and you too.”

“You don't think he will like you poking around about Atlas?”

“Doubt he'd take kindly to it. Now, let's close up the study, we have an errand to run don't we?”

“I have an errand, you are just driving me.” Paloma snorts as they exit the study before she removes a key from her apron pocket and locks the door behind them. “I should redye my fur and hair, I don't like how high my chances of crossing paths with that man are.”

“If you don't mind me asking, what's the point of keeping him away?”

“I don't know, Kuura just doesn't want him anywhere near her or the baby, and Kalle would kill him if he was anywhere near us.”

“Fair, lest we want the wrath of his sister on us. If you are so worried about him, how about I do the errand? It's just some groceries and pharmacy supplies, I'll drop them off and be on my way back to the apartment.”

“Aw, not staying the night?”

“Afraid not, but tomorrow we can see the thief I mentioned to you and get some information out of him. He claims I'll barely get anything out of him, but that's where he's wrong when I have you.”

“Aww how sweet!” Paloma cooed, gently taking his face into her hands to squeeze it before giving him a kiss on the snout. “Let's go get your things, they should be dry by now.”

She leads him to the living room where his hat, suit jacket, trench coat, the rest of his clothes and shoes are drying by the fire, which thankfully managed to dry well enough. Earlier it had suddenly started raining, which had resulted in poor Mordecai arriving soaked to the bone. Right now he was wearing one of Kalle's buttoned shirts and a pair of Paloma’s pants with a pair of house slippers after being towel dried roughly by Kalle.

Paloma left the living room to go grab an umbrella from the closet, checking to make sure it had no holes and opened the front door to see if it was still raining outside. There was a light drizzle, but there was no telling if it will go away or get stronger, so she will have to insist he take the umbrella. She hurried back to the living room to find Mordecai with his back to her almost fully dressed, still working on buttoning his shirt up.

“How is it outside?” He calls out, glancing back at her. “Still pouring?”

“Drizzling, but you should take this in case.” Paloma says, holding the umbrella out to him. “Can't have you soaked again, unless you wish to spend the night waiting for your clothes to dry out again.”

“They already feel stiff, I'd hate to think how that'd feel soaked again.” Mordecai mutters. “I'll bring by a few sets of clothes and pajamas tomorrow, that way I'll have spares here in case I spend the night here again. As kind as Kalle is for lending me his things, I don't like drowning in them.”

“You do have the option of wearing my things.” Paloma points out with a chuckle. “I'll even lend you one of my dresses too if necessary.”

“Absolutely not.”

Paloma snorts before grabbing his tie and turning her lover around to loop it around his neck and pull him close to start tying it properly. “There, now you're ready. I'll walk you to the door.” She says once she's done. “Take your time, no need to rush and do be careful driving back will you?”

“Don't you worry, I've yet had someone suspicious follow me back.” Mordecai assures her before they walk to the front door as he is putting his coat and hat on. “You take care, alright ahuvati?”

Paloma felt her chest flutter slightly and nods before standing on her toes to give him a quick kiss and opens the door to let him leave. Funny how during the first four years of their dating life he had never called her any terms of endearment like she had, yet over a year of them being apart, beating the stuffing out of each other and kissing now had him calling her sweet names like ahuvati, metukà, yekiratì or even  schatz, terms of endearment in two of the languages he spoke with such affection in his eyes. She never understood why, but she really couldn't complain when he'd use one and it'd make her heart flutter like that.

“Ugh, please stop acting like that, it's so gross.” She hears Kuura gag from the hallway before she emerges from the kitchen with a glass of water.

“He's been here for a few weeks and you still gag at that?” Paloma asks. “You gotta get used to it.”

“Never.” Kuura mutters as the front door is closed. “Anything needs to be cleaned? I feel like cleaning.”

“No, but you must get your rest. Let's go read, you can nap with me in the library while we wait for Kalle to come back from work.”

The two made their way towards the library and laid down on the couch together as Paloma proceeds to read Treasure Island to Kuura, until she felt tired. She then sets the book down and grabs the blankets they had on the floor to cover them both up and proceeds to let herself drift off to sleep.

While it felt like just a few minutes had passed, Paloma was suddenly woken up with the sound of the doorbell being rung frantically along with knocking. She sits up, trying to rub the sleep from her eyes and trying not to push a very annoyed looking Kuura off before they heard the doorbell stop ringing. A few moments of silent passed before they heard a loud thud and men shouting.

“Get off me you oaf!” They hear Mordecai yell.

“I will if you tell me where she is Peekon!” Both women froze and looked at each other in horror. Nico?!

“He found us.” Kuura whispers as Paloma gets up and rushes over to a desk to dig around inside before yanking a sharpened letter opener out. “What are you doing?!”

“I left my gun in my room, you stay here!” Paloma says as she tucks the blade into her apron and hurries off towards the fighting.

She finds Mordecai and Nico wrestling with each other on the floor, groceries strewn on the carpet, the umbrella broken, the door hanging off the hinges and Mordecai's gun laying far from him as he and Nico fought. Paloma quickly grabs the gun and aims it at the boxer, shooting it at the floor near them to get their attention.

“Get your hands off him!” Paloma yells as she reloads the gun. “Now!”

“Tell me where Kuura is!” Nico yells back. “NOW!”

“Don't tell him anything!” Mordecai yells.

“Oh trust me, I won't. In fact, I'm going to kill him if it means keeping Kuura safe!”

“Well get me out of his grasp first!” Mordecai yells as Nico stands, now hoisting him in the air.

Paloma nods before tucking the gun away and runs at Nico, ramming her elbow into his stomach. Mordecai is released, falling to the floor and gasping for breath as Nico clutched his stomach in pain. Taking the opportunity, Paloma immediately rams her elbow into him again, this time into his nose and drops to quickly kick his legs out from under him, causing him to fall onto the floor.

“¡Amor! Are you okay?” She yells back at Mordecai as she plants a foot on Nico's chest before aiming the gun at his head.

“I'm fine…I think…” The triggerman says in a hoarse voice. “Don't let him up!”

“Don't plan to. Now you, give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you for trespassing?”

Nico says nothing, just glares at her from the floor.

“Oh, finally nothing to say?” Paloma asks. “No flirty or smart remark? Nothing? I'm quite surprised, but I shouldn't be.”

“Go ahead, try it.” The boxer growls. “But at least tell me where she is.”

“I don't get why you are so obsessed with her now, you hardly paid her any attention, you spent too much time chasing after me when she was right there waiting for you. A man like you does not deserve someone like Kuura, especially after what you've done. Brushed off her feelings and acted like she didn't exist until it was convenient for you!”

Nico lets out a laugh. “How high and mighty of you to judge me when you barely know me.”

“I know you well enough that I should never have thought kissing you was a great idea.”

“Oh now you want to-”

“STOP!” Paloma looks towards the hallway to see Kuura waddling towards them, leaning against the wall for support, her face twisted in pain as her arm cradled her swollen stomach as she let out labored breaths. “Please, just stop! No fighting!”

“Kuura, I told you to stay hidden!” Paloma gasps as she steps off of Nico, rushing over to the smaller woman. “Are you okay? You're not going into labor are you?”

“N-no, it just hurts to walk. Baby heavy, very upset.” Kuura admits as she leans against Paloma. “I'm okay.”

“You…you are pregnant?” Paloma hears Nico asks and turns to see him on his feet, walking close.

“Not another step closer!” Mordecai snaps as he hurries over to the two women, taking his gun back from Paloma.

“Kuura, why didn't you tell me?” The boxer asks, now only a few feet from them, his eyes glued to Kuura's swollen stomach.

“As if you deserved to know!” Paloma snaps, hugging Kuura protectively to her chest. “Would you have even cared? You have so many lovers, it's a surprise you can even remember half of their names!”

“I cared about her!” Nico snaps. “Do you know how many months I spent looking for her? If I didn't, I wouldn't even be here!”

“Well you don't seem to be the type.” Mordecai retorts. “You owe the Sweets a new door. Now that you've seen her, you can leave.”

“I'm not leaving her!” Nico snaps, his bright eyes narrowing.

“Yes you are!”

“I will not!”

“If you don't get out of here, I will stab you!” Paloma warns, grabbing the letter opener from her apron “Get out!”

“Wait, don't!” Kuura interrupts. “Can…can you and Mordecai be outside? Please?”

Mordecai blinks in surprise. “Kuura, are you sure? I don't think it's a great idea to leave you alone with this man.”

“I'm sure. Please?”

The two gangsters look at each other, unsure what to agree to before they both nod in agreement. Paloma pushes the life into her friend's hand and turns her head so they are looking at each other.

“Just in case. Scream if he does anything to you.”

Kuura nods before Paloma and Mordecai get to their feet, making their way to the front door. Outside wasn't rainy anymore, but it was chilly. The ground was soaked, littered with puddles and soaked leaves, the air heavy with that smell you could only get after a heavy rain storm, and Paloma was now wishing she remembered to bring a jacket. She forgot how old Missouri got at this time of year, especially so close to winter. Probably in a few days it should start snowing, and that would mean she and Kalle had to chop more wood and -

“Here, before you get sick on me.” Paloma feels something heavy drop on her shoulders and looks at Mordecai to see him lacking his coat. “You need it.”

“Amor, I'm fine!” She tries to insist. “Really!”

“Say that again tonight when I have to feed you cold medicine while you lay in bed with your nose plugged with mucus and your throat aching.” Mordecai scoffs.

“Aw, you actually plan on staying tonight?” Paloma teases.

“I managed to get some spare clothes earlier that I wanted to drop off before I forgot, perhaps that's how he found and followed me back.”

Paloma grimaces. “You weren't careful this time?”

“Unfortunately not, I wonder how he suspected I knew where Kuura was.”

“We shouldn't have left them alone, I need to go back.” Paloma says as she turns to start walking back towards the cabin. “I don't trust him to be alone with her. I've already read too many stories in the newspapers about-”

“I'm worried too,  but I'm sure he won't do anything to her.” Mordecai says, grabbing her arm. “Nico won't harm a hair on her head, I can assure you that. The man may be oafish and brutal, but he's not like those men you may be thinking of who harm their partner when they leave them.”

“Well the fact that he tried to strangle you earlier is not helping with my worry! I'm going back!”

“Wait, Paloma!”

She ignores him, storming back towards the cabin, not caring if her feet went through puddles before she rushed up the steps and through the ruined door. Kuura and Nico were nowhere to be seen, at least until she looked into the living room to find them on the couch. Kuura was leaning against Nico and asleep, her legs draped over his lap while one arm held her close and his free hand was laying on her swollen belly. His attention was on her, a soft expression on his face before he noticed Paloma in the doorway.

“You've had your talk, now get out!” She snaps, briskly walking over to them. “Go home!”

“And what will you do if I don't?” Nico asks. His tone and the look he was giving her was not flirty, he holds Kuura protectively as she stirs slightly. “I'm not leaving her.”

“You've hurt her enough, get out. I'll drag you out myself if I have to, I've done it before to drunkards heavier than you. Now go before Kalle comes home and kicks your ass!”

“Paloma?” Kuura calls out sleepily. “You back?”

“Shh, go back to sleep mon amour, you need rest.” Nico says softly as she yawns and curls up against him again.

“Paloma is back…”

“Yes I am because I don't want to leave you alone with this floozy.” Paloma snaps, grabbing Nico's arm to fling it off her friend and quickly scoops her up as gently as possible before he could react. “To your bed, you'll be more comfortable there.”

Kuura murmured something before snuggling against her, her tail immediately wrapping around Paloma’s arm. She glares at Nico again before hurrying off towards the bedrooms, nudging the door of Kuura's open and shutting it behind her with her foot. The bed is still unmade, with the pillows strewn around it, and she carefully laid Kuura down before tucking some of the pillows under her head, feet and belly before covering her with the blankets.

“I'll get started on dinner, you can sleep for now.” Paloma says softly and brushes some strands of her curls out of her face.

Kuura nods sleepily before pulling her blankets up a bit to cover her nose. The moment Paloma opens the door to step out, Nico is right there in the doorway sporting an unhappy face.

“Move.” Paloma snaps, trying to keep her voice low and shoves him aside to give her room to step out and shut the door behind her. “Now go home.”

“I'm not leaving her.” The boxer insists. “What if something happens to her while I'm gone?”

“Nothing is going to happen to her!” Paloma scoffs. “Who else has been cleaning up this dusty old place, feeding Kuura, helping her bathe, making sure she doesn't do anything that will harm herself and the baby? Me and her brother! And Mordecai, but still! We don't need anymore help, you've done enough already by impregnating her with what may be a very large child, so go home.”

“She wants me here!” Nico argues as he follows her towards the kitchen. “We had a talk while you and Peekon were gone, and she wants me to stay. I didn't even have to ask if I could stay with her until the baby comes, she asked.”

“Well when she gives birth we'll call you! But get out! Selena insisted we keep the number of people in the cabin to a minimum!”

“Oh so you have no problem allowing your ex in here, but once I'm here you want me out!”

“On the contrary, we are back together.” They hear Mordecai say loudly and they turn to find him at the stove with a newspaper under his arm while pouring some water from the kettle into a mug. “And Selena said I could stay, come and go as I please as long as I do not interfere with Paloma’s tasks of looking after Kuura. You on the other hand, are very distracting.”

“Distracting?” Nico scoffs. “To who?”

“Everyone. Now go home before your sister gets worried.”

“She knows I'm out, and I'm a grown adult, no need for her to worry about me.”

“So is Kuura but that didn't stop Kalle!”

“Not stop me what?” The three turn to see Kalle in the doorway of the kitchen, looking very tired but glaring at Nico. “The fuck…”

“He broke the door!” Paloma yells.

“Guessed it.”

“And he wants to stay.” Mordecai adds. “Kuura said so apparently. She's sleeping so don't bother her.”

“I ain't leaving.” Nico adds with a frown.

Kalle frowned and scratched the side of his neck. “Fine, but you fix door. And no bother my sister. Help around house, or you go.”

“Fine, seems fair.” Nico agrees and smirks at Paloma.

“She boss of you, not me.” Kalle adds as he walks past them to grab a cup from the cupboard and turns on the sink to get himself some water. “Loma boss here.”

Paloma returns the smirk. “Yes I am. Now you two best help me with dinner while the Havu siblings rest.”

----

“So…this is where he is being kept?” Paloma asks Mordecai as they approach a rundown apartment. “You sure?”

“He refuses to be housed anywhere else.” He assures her. “As I said, refuses to tell me anything, so you are my best bet at getting him to talk, maybe jog his memory with some things.”

“Like what?”

“The officer he has to give information to.”

He didn’t like the idea of using Paloma like some sort of torture tool, but Mordecai was getting desperate. Gracie had been refusing to say anything, leaving him hours of just silence until he left the apartment in frustration. If there was a chance to get him to talk, Paloma was his best bet and she was willing to help.

They entered the apartment, which smelled something awful and he could hear a radio playing inside from the living room. In there, the jewel thief was just sitting in an old worn wooden chair staring out the window.

“Finally decide to pay me a visit Marigold?” The man asks. “I ain’t telling you shit today.”

“I figured you’d say that, but perhaps you’ll change your mind today.” Mordecai says as they move to stand in front of him. Gracie turns to look and stiffened a bit before looking away.

“What makes you think I’ll talk if there’s a woman present? No broad is gonna get me to squeal.”

“Well, I can assure you I’m not just any broad.” Paloma says as she grabs a old dusty armchair from nearby to drag it over and set it in front of the thief before dusting it off and sitting down.

“I’m sure even you know who she is.” Mordecai says as he removes his hat, walking to the window to pull the drapes but left them slightly open to allow a sliver of light into the room. “She goes by so many names save for the one she prefers to be called, feared by many in the criminal underworld. She even scares me sometimes.”

“And with good reason.” Paloma says with a small smirk. “When you want to talk, I’ll be ready.”

Mordecai stands himself next to the armchair, watching Gracie’s face. He could see the man looking very nervous, just as he hoped. Even if you weren’t a part of some gang, anyone in St Louis’ criminal underworld knew of Paloma and what she was capable of. Very few would look at her and think she was nothing, assuming they could take her in a fight. Others knew very well to stay away from her. Lest they wanted to be on the receiving end of her shotgun or revolver, or whatever item she picked up to use as a makeship weapon. Just her mere prescence could make a man as cocky as Asa as hardened and jaded as him and Viktor nervous, and it ofen made him wonder how afraid Atlas was of the girl he decided would make a perfect addition to his gang.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he could see the thief looking more nervous by the minute as Paloma calmly sat in her seat, occasionally shifting to make herself comfortable or leaning forward to keep her gaze fixed on him. Whatever the case, Gracie finally let out a defeated and tired sigh.

“Fine, I’ll talk, but no more staring at me like that.” The thief grumbles.

“Wonderful! He’s all yours amor.” Paloma says cheerfully as she gets up from the armchair, allowing Mordecai to sit down and she moves so she’s leaning back against the armchair. “There, now start talking.”

“This Drago guy, he’s a detective or some high ranking officer of some kind. Works down at the station, often has me meet with him at the park once in a while or by one of the bridges by the river.”

“That’s what you’ve been holding out on me?” Mordecai asks with a frown. “You could have told me when I stuck you in the caves and found you a cheap apartment to hide in.”

“Well the more I keep to myself, the better chances I have of not getting killed, right?”

“Well what you tell me will decide what I am going to do with you. Tell me more, unless you want her to interrogate you.”

Paloma peeks over the armchair and smiles, wiggling her fingers at the man. He shudders before nodding. “F-fine. As you know, I have to report things to him, anything that could be useful. It’s what i’ve been doing when you don’t come by to check on me. In fact, he knows about this.”

Mordecai stiffens. “Knows about what?”

“A Marigold who was ordered to kill me is keeping me alive.”

Mordecai mutters a curse under his breath. The house could be watched by agents right now and he could be grabbed by the police the moment they step out, Paloma too as an accomplice. They needed to get out - now.

“Yekiratì, we’re leaving.” He says as he stands up, dusting himself off. “Come.”

“W-wait don’t we need to ask him more things?!” Paloma asks as he grabbed her hand to yank her out of the living room and towards the upstairs area of the apartment.

“No time! We have to go! Bedroom!” He quickly yanks them into an empty bedroom save for an old cracked mirror. Mordecai hurries to the window and manages to open it wide enough for someone to slip through. “I’ll go first, wait until I’m at the bottom and I’ll signal for you to come.”

Paloma nods as he slips through the window and starts to carefully make his way down the fire escape before he hits the ground. Once down there, Mordecai waves his arms, hoping she could see him from inside. Paloma soon stuck her head out before climbing out on her own, carefully hurrying down until she reached the ladder and started to climb down when -

“Pardon, you wouldn’t happen to be visiting someone living here, would you?” Mordecai whips around to find a man, maybe a few years older than him with grey stripped fur, bright green eyes and sporting a light brown coat over his suit with a matching hat approaching them slowly. “Oh, is the door not working? Or…are you trying to…run?”

“Dios mio, I remember you!” Paloma gasps. “You’re that - AAAH!”

Mordecai barely had time to react as she dropped right down on top of him, sending them both falling to the ground. He hears a chuckle and lifts his head to see the man extending a hand out to them, which Paloma takes to stand up before it’s offered to him as well.

“I see your lady friend here remembers me, and I recall quite well she made such a ruckus at the station because no one told her where a man named Zib was being kept.” The man says once the two are on their feet and dusting themselves off. “I suspected he may have had ties to a dying empire thanks to a pin he wore, but he denied it. You two wouldn't happen to be tied to that either, would you? One that lately had been slowly rising from its grave?”

“I believe you have the wrong people, Zib is just an acquaintance and I hardly know who or what he's associated with.” Paloma says as she pushes Mordecai to walk past the man. “Good day sir.”

“Paloma Alvarez, age twenty-three, immigrated from Zacatecas and became an American citizen the summer after coming to St Louis. Also known to many as the Devil Dove, the Red Dahlia, Atlas May’s little hell dog.” The two stop walking and look back at the stranger, who is now approaching them. “Elijah Metzger, or should I say Mordecai Heller? Somewhere in your late twenties, no one knows where you're from and all they know is that you worked for Atlas May until he passed.”

Mordecai's hand twitches, desperately wanting to reach for his gun. Who was this man And how did he know so much about them? Paloma is looking at the man in fear, her arms gripping his arm so tightly he could feel her nails digging into his flesh through the coat and suit.

“Relax, I'm not going to arrest you - for now.” The man says once he gets close. “The thug who is my informant had something quite interesting to tell me when he let slip about a Marigold gangster. Did some digging, you two have quite a reputation in the criminal world, at least in this city. If he hasn't told you yet and you haven't put two and two together, my name is Dominic Drago. I've heard what you been up to, and I am quite interested in seeing what you have on Atlas May’s death.”

“Why does that have your interest, it's been ruled an accident.” Paloma says with a frown.

“True, but I've picked up some clues that tell me it's not. Sounds a lot like the plot of a crime novel my wife is trying to write up, but it's real. How much do you two know about Susan May?”

Chapter Text

[Christmas Eve 1923, St Louis]

Mordecai was not a fan of these holiday parties Atlas and Mitzi threw, too loud and just a bit more out of control than the regular nights at the speakeasy in his opinion, and if he could avoid attending then he would. But he was getting paid, so he had no choice. This year though, it was different.

Tonight he kept checking his pocket for the gift he had spent a good amount of money on and looking at the doors of the speakeasy frequently. Paloma still had yet to show up, but he wasn't even sure if she was even coming. If she wasn't, he could always give her the gift next time he saw her. He already gave Viktor the red tie to at least make sure he had a better wardrobe since he was insisting on wearing that hideous green sweater along with an awful colored scarf and hat, making him look like a rather awful looking Christmas tree. The doors of the speakeasy open and he immediately perks up, only to see it was some new guests coming in.

I suppose she isn't coming. He thinks with a shake of his head. Well I don't blame her, she'd want to spend this time with her grandfather and not leave him alone at this time of-

THUNK

Mordecai turned to the doors again to see someone had fallen and was trying to pick themselves up from the floor, dusting their clothes off and…oh. Paloma was busy trying to dust off the red and black flapper dress Mitzi most likely had given to her and wobbling around on the heels she was wearing. With an annoyed sigh, he hurries out of the VIP area to hurry over to the door as she is removing the shoes and her face lights up when she sees him.

“¡Cariñio!” Paloma exclaims when he reaches her. “I made it!”

“I can see that, what happened?” Mordecai asks.

“Oh the shoes, a little taller than I was used to, and the heel was a bit more narrow too so I was a bit unbalanced. Fell over a few times on my way into the cafe, Atlas ended up having to carry me inside and down the stairs.”

“Who gave you such ridiculous heels?”

“That would be me, the one often supplying your beau with proper and nicer dresses.” They hear Mitzi say as she and Atlas enter the speakeasy, arm in arm. “I'm sorry dear, perhaps you shouldn't wear those heels tonight.”

“Barefoot it is!” Paloma says cheerfully as she hands the older woman her shoes. “I'll take them back when I go home.”

“Well, I am glad you made it. I have something for you.” Mordecai says as they walk over to the bar.

“Oh me too!” Paloma says with a wide grin as they sit on the chairs. “I left it in my coat, Atlas has it. Do you want it now or later?”

“Perhaps later, but I do wish to give this to you, I think it goes quite well with your dress. A good coincidence.” Mordecai says as he removes the box from his pocket. He places it on the counter of the bar and slides it towards her, allowing the younger woman to pick it up and open it.

“Oh my- Mordecai! You didn't- how-” Paloma gasps as she pulls out a satin red cloth with gold clasps at the end, and dangling from the middle of it was a red gem encased in gold. “This…Dios mio, I don't know what to say!”

“Well judging by your reaction, you must like it.” Mordecai says with a shrug. “Couldn't find anything pink, so I went with your second favorite color, red.”

“You remembered!”

“Who'd forget that? Now turn, I'll put it on you.”

Paloma smiles as she turns, lifting her loose hair to expose the back of her neck to Mordecai. He carefully unclasped the necklace and looped it around her neck to unclasp the ends. Paloma then drops her hair and turns to face him, touching the pendant.

“So….how do I look?” She asks.

“It…it suits you.” Mordecai says softly as the band suddenly starts playing loudly on the stage.

“What?” Paloma yells, trying to be heard over the blaring trumpets and saxophones.

“I said it suits- oh nevermind!” Mordecai yells back. “Too loud!”

“Proud?”

“Loud!”

Shaking her head, Paloma grabs his hands and points to the dancefloor where several people had gathered and were either dancing by themselves or with a dance partner. Mordecai hastily shook his head, but Paloma’s grip tightened, a determined glint in her eyes as she managed to drag him away from the bar and onto the dancefloor.

“Dance! It's fun!” She yells over the music. “Try!”

“I can't dance!” Mordecai yells back.

“Can't or won't?” Paloma challenges as she takes his hand to put one on her waist and holds the other in her free hand. “Just try! Back, forth, back, forth, left, right, left, right!”

Mordecai struggles to follow along as several patrons bumped into him, forcing him to shift forward and accidentally step on Paloma’s bare feet one too many times. He could see her wincing in pain, but her grip on his hand and shoulder tightened, obviously determined to at least get through one song. The moment the band finished, Mordecai was dragging her back to the bar, out of breath and feeling very flustered and a bit bruised from all sides.

“Never…doing that…again.” He manages to say, trying to readjust his glasses that were skewered on his nose.

“Oh…sorry.” Paloma says, sounding a bit dejected and looks away. “I…nevermind. Hold on.”

Mordecai rubs his aching arms as Paloma hurries off, wondering what she needed to do. He felt bad, they've never danced together like this before and it was an absolute disaster. He did warn her he wasn't great at dancing and the last time he danced all he did was stand awkwardly while the young woman who tried to get him to dance with her just flailed her limbs about like a tree in a strong storm. But what was he to do? Hurt her feelings further as -”

“Here! For you!” He hears Paloma say as she suddenly shoves a velvet box in his face. Mordecai carefully takes it and opens it to find what looked like two silver cufflinks with dark green gems set in the middle. “Mitzi help me buy.”

“They look a little too fancy for someone of my position.” Mordecai comments as he takes one out of the box to examine it. “But I could wear them for special occasions, to avoid losing them. It'd be rude of me to lose them when they're my first gift from you.”

Paloma beams with pride and touches her necklace. “Then I'll do my best to not lose this.”

🌟🌟🌟

“Mordecai! Here, I have something for you!” The triggerman hears Mitzi call out as she enters the cafe with an envelope in hand.

“More paperwork?” He asks, grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth.

“Nope, consider this a late holiday gift from me.”

Mordecai takes the envelope and carefully opens it to find what looked like photographs in various sizes. Several featured him and Paloma, awkwardly dancing, some of the two of them with Viktor at the bar, and some were of just Paloma interacting with various people like Ruben, Ruben's daughter and Mitzi. 

“What are these for?” He asks with a frown.

“Oh just some photos I had developed, I thought you'd like one or two to keep at home in a frame.” Mitzi responds with a smile. “Specifically one of Paloma to keep on your person.”

“Why would I need a picture of her?” Mordecai asks. “I see her every day.”

“Well just in case, you know? Just cut her face out and slip it into a watch or even a locket.”

Mordecai feels his hand slip into his pocket and touches the watch, but quickly shakes his head. Mitzi shrugs and walks around the counter to enter the kitchen, leaving him alone with the photos. As he's gathering them to be put away, one photo slips out of the pile and falls to the floor. Mordecai quickly gets down to scoop it up, but pauses to examine it. This photo was smaller than the others and featured Paloma alone at the bar, smiling at whoever was taking her photo and holding her necklace up to show it off with a proud smile on her face. Perhaps…no…maybe…fine. He finds himself slipping the photo into the pocket of his vest, wondering if he was making the right choice.

Mordecai later finds himself at his apartment that night (or was it in the early hours of the morning?) at his desk with a small craft knife, his watch out and carefully cutting out that singular photo. He did end up taking the envelope of photos, but he gave them to Paloma and Viktor to keep, only taking that single photo he was now painstakingly attempting to cut. Once he was sure it was cut small enough to fit in his watch, he then carefully slides the photo into the watch and shuts it, brushing away the leftover paper. It seemed a bit foolish to do this sort of thing, but suppose it was better than keeping it in a wallet, losing it and having someone find it. Paloma would never know of this, and if she did, she'd probably tease him for it (lovingly of course).

Chapter Text

“Susan…no, not familiar.”

Paloma wanted to cry out in frustration, but bit her lip to avoid doing so. She had placed a call to Viktor to see if he knew anything about a woman named Susan, someone Dominic claimed was related to Atlas in some way aside from sharing the same last name, but it seemed like even he was not going to be any help this time.

“Alright, thanks for letting me know.” Paloma sighs in defeat. “Sorry.”

“Is okay, how is friend? The one with giant baby?”

“Oh, somewhat well, she looks ready to pop but we still have a few weeks left. Elizia said to call her in case we need help with the birth, it'd be good to have an extra set of hands.”

“Yes she deliver babies before war, very good at it. And after war too, I think.”

“I'm very sure she is. Good day Viktor.” Paloma hung the phone up and lets out a frustrated sigh. Of all the people she called up in hopes of figuring out who this Susan was, she really hoped Viktor would know since he worked with Atlas the longest since even Mordecai didn't know. Mitzi was just as baffled, but promised Paloma she'd ask around and look into it.

“Judging by your expression, your friend was no help?” She hears Nico ask and looks up to see him approaching with a plate covered with some sandwiches and holds it out to her. “Spam? Peekon didn't want any, something about it not being kosher, Kuura can't have too much salt, and Kalle isn't home. Can't eat it myself.”

“He has no idea who this Susan is. Mordecai can't even find anything, so we don't know if this is a family member, a friend who coincidentally has the same last name, or just a stranger with the same last name as my dead boss.” Paloma admits as she took a sandwich and bit into it, chewing a few times before swallowing it. “This Dominic guy doesn't know either, or maybe he does but he wants us to work for the information. Kinda shady in my opinion.”

“And that's why I don't like most law enforcement folks.” Nico says as he is finishing his sandwich before grabbing another. “Can you trust him?”

“I don't know, should I?”

“Not entirely, he's willing to help you two solve this case, but he can't be trusted. Perhaps we could ask my sister for help, consult with our patron to figure something out and get us on the right path.”

“Uh, maybe you do that. Dealing with spooky stuff like that makes me reeeeally uncomfortable, especially spirits.”

Nico raised a brow. “Really? Peekon mentioned where you're from is pretty rural, pretty sure you have some folks who practice stuff like that and believe in spirits. Like celebrating that thing for dead people.”

“We don't consult with the dead, we honor them and that's only for Day of the Dead.” Paloma says with a shake of her head. “Only pagan holiday my family does, everything else is related to Jesus, God and the saints. Perhaps your friends in your…group could be of help if they're from this city? Perhaps they know something?”

“I could ask Serafine to look into that, can't leave you all here while the other two are away. Otherwise they'd kill me. Or hang me by my knees and shoot me. Or something as awful. You sure Kuura isn't nine months yet? She looks ready to have that baby any day now.”

Paloma grimaces. “Yeah she's only around…seven months? I think? She wasn't showing when we first met and when we both came here she barely had a lump. I've told her we should go see a doctor to see if perhaps we should get the baby out of her sooner than waiting another two months.”

“What, carved it out of her or something?” Nico scoffs before he saw the annoyed face she was making. “Oh shit you're serious.”

“Only as an emergency, but she doesn't want to see a doctor for whatever reason and I am going to try and respect that decision. Hence why we are doing the birth here with a midwife I know instead of a hospital.”

“Is she any good, the midwife?”

“She was a war nurse in Europe before coming here, is that good enough for you?”

Nico shrugs. “I suppose, I'm just nervous about this, I've never had to deal with this before.”

“What, fatherhood?” Paloma asks as she starts to walk back towards the kitchen while Nico follows.

“Well yes, how does one…you know…”

“Know how to parent? Don't ask me, I'm not one. Closest I've come to raising kids was looking after my younger siblings and cousins before I moved here. I suppose it's different for everyone, not everyone is fit to be a parent.”

“You think I'll be a good parent?”

“That's not for me to say, but I'm sure you'll do fine.”

“Yeah but what if I mess up?” Nico asks once they reach the kitchen. “I didn't have a dad, I can hardly think someone like me is capable of being a proper father!”

“¡Dios mio Nico! I'm telling you, you're going to do just fine!” Paloma sighs as she takes the plate of sandwiches from him. “Look, as I've said before, not everyone is fit to be a parent, but that doesn't mean you can't try. My own grandparents went through the same thing, they were young when they had my uncle before they got married, and he turned out just fine! And it's not just you doing the parenting, Kuura is doing it too! You don't think she's nervous as well?”

“Well, yes?”

“You're both nervous, it's your first baby, it's okay to be scared! But all that fear is going to go away once that little fluffy bundle of joy is in your arms wailing their lungs out, stressing about it now is not good for either of you.”

“Well easy for you to say that, you and Peekon aren't having a kid. We can't help but stress!” Nico argues.

“Oh trust me, we are both stressed about this, Kalle too. Now, enough talk, I have lunch to work on. Go check on Kuura, she should be napping or reading in her room.”

Nico nods before he grabs another sandwich and exits the kitchen, leaving Paloma alone. She lets out a tired sigh as she slumped against the kitchen counter, feeling more frustrated than before. This new added stress about this Susan lady on top of the stress about Kuura was not doing her any good, and half the time she just wanted to scream, cry and rip her hair out in frustration from it. She could really use a nap, or do something that wasn't cleaning, something to take her mind off everything.

“Did Nico do or say something to upset you?” She looks up to see Mordecai approaching, newspaper tucked under his arm and holding an empty mug. “He did, didn't he? Would you like me to swiftly deal with him?”

“No, he just offered me a sandwich and I thought he was going to start crying while he was rambling about being a terrible father.” Paloma says with a tired laugh as she turns to hop onto the counter and leaned her head against the cabinets. “Viktor says he doesn't know any Susan, and Mitzi never heard of anyone in Atlas’ family by that name. So, back to square one, frustratingly.”

“The name is also unfamiliar to me, unfortunately. I've been working under Atlas since I was seventeen and I would have remembered a Susan May.” Mordecai admits as he sets his mug down on the counter and leans against it. “You think that man knows but wants us to uncover everything about it for ourselves?”

“Seems possible, maybe to see how serious we are about figuring out what happened to Atlas. You know…you never told me about what happened that night, when you came back all soaked from the rain after I got off the phone with Mitzi. You seemed to know what happened already before I told you.”

Mordecai grimaces and glances up at her. “I…I found him. I can't tell you what I was doing that night, but I was the one who found him. He…he was already dead by the time I found him, several stab wounds and bullet wounds to the chest and one to his forehead, it was too late to try and revive him. Mitzi also saw him. I'll never forget how awful and loud her cries were when I tried to shield her from the gruesome sight.”

“So…that's why you didn't look surprised when I told you?”

“Yes. To this day I don't know why he was out there so late, and what was weird was that he had asked me earlier in the day to meet with him so late. Perhaps if I was there earlier I…I could have saved him. Or I would have suffered the same fate in his place.”

“Mi amor, don't say that, you shouldn't blame yourself.” Paloma says as she takes his hand to pull him over to where she sat so he stood in front of her. She then gently cups his face before leaning forward to gently kiss his forehead. “I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you if you went earlier. Especially since I was still grieving for my grandfather at the time.”

“Still-”

“No. I mean it. Don't ever say something like that again.”

Mordecai nods before Paloma slides off the counter and pulls him into a tight hug.

“We really need a break from this, it's tiring.” She mumbles against him.

“I know, perhaps we should go to the living room to rest for a bit.” 

“Good idea, are you finally going to rest against me the way I've been letting Kalle and Kuura rest?”

“I am not about to lay my head on your bosom, it is highly inappropriate!” Mordecai says, now looking a bit flustered.

Paloma lets out a laugh. “I'm kidding amor, come on, we can rest and read together. Or you can read to me.”

They make their way into the living room, the radio was one and softly playing some quiet jazz music. Once they seat themselves on the couch with their own books in hand, Paloma finds herself glancing at Mordecai as he gets wrapped up in his book, barely able to pay any attention to hers.

“I can't do it!” She suddenly yells, tossing her book over the couch and jumps to her feet.

“Sounds like you've snapped.” Mordecai comments, not looking up from his book.

“I have not! I can't even focus, not even reading is helping!”

“Perhaps we should turn off the radio to help you?”

“No! Ugh, I don't know! I can't even relax and it's making me want to rip my hair out! I just want- I don't know! AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

There's the sound of multiple footsteps heard making their way to the living room before Nico bursts in with a fire poker in hand and Kalle bursts in a moment later with an axe in hand, both men looking around with angry looks before they realize no one else was in the room save for Paloma and Mordecai.

“The fuck was that?!” Nico exclaims and looks at Mordecai. “Did you make her scream?”

“No, she just did that out of the blue after freaking out!” Mordecai protests.

“You hurt?” Kalle asks Paloma, lowering his weapon.

“I'm…yes I'm fine, I was just feeling frustrated and needed to scream.” Paloma admits. “Sorry.”

“Use a pillow next time, I thought you got stabbed.” Nico groans as he lowers his weapon. “Ugh, I need a drink.”

“Okay you really have to stop using that awful scream, it's unnerving and there's a reason why everyone calls you Devil Dove.” Mordecai sighs once both men have left the room.

“Sorry.” Paloma mutters as she sits back down on the couch next to him. “I can't focus on reading, I feel too restless.”

“Then pace.”

“Dance with me.”

Mordecai looks up at her in surprise. “What?”

“You, me, dance.” Paloma extends a hand out to him. “Come on, I promise no one will bump into you hard enough to make you step on my feet this time.”

She could see he was trying to decide what to do, either reject her hand and go back to reading or take it and dance with her. After maybe a minute or so, Mordecai finally takes her hands, sets his book aside and gets up.

“Its been years.” He mutters as Paloma takes his hands to put them in position on her waist and her other hand.

“Its okay, it's just us and we are gonna take it slow.” She assures him. “No fancy dancing, no flapping limbs, just sort of shuffling in place. Back, forth, back forth, left, right, left right, back, forth, back, forth, left, right, left, right.”

Thankfully the song playing on the radio was calm and gentle, allowing them to dance at a slow pace. Paloma could see Mordecai was looking very focused as they danced, muttering the steps under his breath as they moved. She remembered how at their first holiday party together he did the same thing, only people kept bumping into them and he kept stepping on her bare feet, mumbling apologies before dragging her away back to the bar to avoid getting trampled again.

“You know, I think if they played a slower song like this, we would have had a more pleasant experience with dancing.” Paloma comments with a small chuckle.

“I'll have to agree with you on that.” Mordecai says quietly.

As the song plays and they gently sway, Paloma leans against Mordecai, resting her head on his shoulder as the female singer softly sings and she too sings along in a more softer tone.

“I found a dream, that I could speak to. A dream that I can call my own. I found a thrill to rest my cheek to.” She sings softly, smiling up at her beloved. “A thrill that I have never known! Ohh yeah yeah! You smile, you smile. Oh and then the spell was cast! And here we are in heaven, for you are mine…at last…”

God she practically melted into Mordecai when he smiles and leans forward, kissing her softly as they stop dancing, and enjoying the feeling of his arms around her. It was like something out of those silly romance novels she would pour over when she was barely dating him, only this was real and she was actually kissing an infamous triggerman in some dusty old cabin’s living room instead of a dashing young lord in his garden.

As they were barely breaking the kiss and leaning forward to do it again, a loud cry suddenly sounded from somewhere in the house.

“Paloma?” Kuura calls, her voice sounding a bit strained and faint. “I…I think it's time!”

Absolute dead silence. It only lasts for a few moments before Paloma is practically rushing back to where the phone was and rolling her sleeves up. No this was too early! Way too early!

“Wait now?! Now?!” Mordecai yells as he rushes after her.

“Yes now! I need to get Elizia!” She exclaims as she grabs the phone off the hook. “Hello? Can you connect me with Elizia Müller? Thank you! Elizia!”

“Paloma? It's late…” She hears the older woman yawn. “What-”

“Kuura is experiencing labor pains!”

“What?! But it's so early!”

“I know! Please help, this is not the same as helping cows, goats and horses give birth!”

“I'll come, I can't leave Iliose at home, could she come?”

“Sure, just get here as fast as possible.”

Once the call was cut, Paloma puts the phone back before grabbing it again, requesting for a different person to call. The second the person she called picked up, she could hear what sounded like loud drums, chanting, tambourines and other loud noises on the other end.

“Serafine! It's Paloma!” Paloma yells, hoping she would be heard over the noise of whatever ceremony the younger Savoy was holding.

“Ah devil dove girl, the one who bit my brother!” She hears Serafine yell back. “Can this wait? We're in the middle of a -”

“Kuura is having the baby and I need someone else to help with the birth!”

“Birth? Cher, it's too early!”

“Tell that to your niece or nephew! Look, Nico told me to call you when it happens, and it's happening! So get your tail here now before he freaks out over you not being here!”

“Alright I'll come! Make sure he ain't doing anything stupid!”

“Stupid how?” Paloma mutters once the call was cut and hurries to Kuura's room where the mother to be is laying on the bed groaning in pain. Nico is at her side, murmuring comforting words to her while trying to keep her hair out of her face and perks up when he sees Paloma.

“Did you call my sister?” He asks and sighs in relief when she nods. “Oh good, when is she coming?”

“Well it sounded like she was in the middle of a…something, not sure what. Tons of loud noises, but she promised to come.”

“Good, good. And the midwife?”

“On her way as well. We just have to be patient, and you sir need to be out of here.”

“What? Why?”

“Because men are not supposed to be in the room when a birth happens!”

“No…please…stay…” Kuura groans, trying to grab for his hand. “Please…”

“I'm sorry Kuura, but he can't be here. Men typically aren't allowed in the room when the birth happens, I think it's for health reasons. You boys go get Kalle and start gathering towels and water - warm water, not sure when help will get here but I'll do my best without their assistance for now.”

Mordecai, who was standing in the doorway nods and hurries in to grab Nico, ushering him out the door and leaving the two women alone.

“Paloma…I-I'm…I-” Kuura says and lets out a groan. “Oh why now!”

“Shhh, its okay, you're gonna be okay.” Paloma assures her, bending to carefully gather as much of her curly blonde hair as possible into a bun to keep it out of her face before doing the same to her own hair. “Alright, how do you want to do this? Standing up? Laying down? Whichever makes you comfortable is fine.”

“I think I'll stay on the bed…I can hardly move.” Kuura whimpers as the bedroom door opens and Kalle enters, still in his snow jacket and axe in hand. “Put that down!”

“Baby time?” He asks Paloma, ignoring his sister.

“Yes, I think. The midwife is coming, I need you and the boys to get as many towels as possible and lots of warm water.”

“Warm water it is, hopefully she be okay for now.” Kalle says, turning to look at his sister with a tired smile. “You be okay.”

Kuura mutters something in Finnish as he hurries out, grabbing Paloma’s hand to squeeze it tightly. After what felt like forever, she hears the doorbell ringing just as Nico and Mordecai are bringing in pots and buckets of water they probably heated from the stove to keep warm. Nico immediately bolts, returning a few moments later with Elizia hastily removing her coat and Serafine trying to warm her hands while removing her coat and gloves.

“Aw cher, you don't look too good!” The younger Savoy says as she approaches the bed and pats Kuura's cheek. “Don't worry, I've helped deliver a baby or two back in New Orleans, how far along are you?”

“I can see the head already.” Paloma comments as Elizia shooed the men out of the room. “She's having trouble pushing it out.”

“Let me check.” Serafine says as she lifts the blankets up. “Oh! I can see a pair of shoulders, we can pull this little one out sooner than expected. You're doing great Kuura.”

“Get it out now!” Kuura groans. “This hurts so much!”

“I know liebling, I know. I just need you to give me a good push or two while we work on pulling the baby out.” Elizia says as she rolls her sleeves up, dipping her hands in one of the buckets of warm water and Serafine does the same. “Paloma, hold her hand, remind her to breathe properly.”

Paloma nods as the older two women set about working, Kuura whimpering as gripping her hands tightly. With one good scream, Paloma hears the sound of snipping before she hears the faint cries of a baby that start to get louder.

“Its done, you did it Kuura!” She whispers to her friend as she flopped back on the bed with a tired sigh.

“It's a boy!” Serafine says, holding up the small wailing kit before wrapping it up in a blanket. “But he’s so small, how odd.”

“One?” Kuura asks, trying to sit up. “But…so heavy…”

“Maybe it's all the fluid still in you.” Elizia says with a shrug. “Here, you want to hold him?”

Kuura nods as she is handed the still wailing baby. He's small with blondish colored fur, though it was hard to tell with all the blood still left on him. Kuura smiles sleepily as she holds the newborn, stroking his still dirty face with one finger before looking at the door. “Nico, come say hi to your son.”

Nico pokes his head into the room, looking very nervous before Mordecai and Kalle shove him in. He glares at the two but proceeds to walk over to the bed where Kuura lays.

“Was that really in you?” He asks softly. “Thought he'd be bigger. Like…much bigger.”

“Well she never carried him to full term, so he's kinda runty.” Paloma explains. “Same thing happened with one of my brothers: born too early and was very small and weak growing up. Still short too.”

“Hey…why is she still leaking?” Serafine asks loudly, lifting the blanket as Kuura grimaces. “Holy shit! Nico, take the kid! Kuura, get back in the birthing position!”

“What are you talking about - oh god!” Paloma gasps when she looks under the blankets. “Kuura there's another!”

“Twins?!” Nico exclaims as the baby is pressed into his arms by Elizia before she starts to shove him and the other men out the door. “Wait! Can't I just-”

“No men! Stay out!” The older woman yells as she manages to shove them out. “And wait for now!”

“Twins?” Kuura asks in panic as she is moved back into the position she was in earlier.

“That probably explains why your stomach looked big, bet this next one is gonna be a bit bigger.” Paloma says, taking her hand. “Okay, take deep breaths and push!”

-----

“Should have known.” Kalle says as the door is slammed in their faces before they hear Kuura let out a scream.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Nico asks, hugging his son to his chest.

“I'm sure she will.” Mordecai tries to assure him. “Perhaps we should clean this little one up, we shouldn't leave him so dirty.”

Kalle managed to fill the kitchen sink with warm water where he and Nico carefully washed the baby to reveal his blonde colored fur, the small bits of grey on his hands and feet, and the start of some curls on his little head.

“There, all clean.” Nico sighs as he bundles his son up in a clean blanket. “You look just like your ma, but you might be as handsome as your pa when you get older.”

The baby says nothing, now asleep as he's snuggled against his father's chest. The three take him to the living room where Iliose is reading and they sit down and stoke the fire to keep the room warm.

“Baby here?” She asks.

“Yes, but there's another on the way.” Mordecai responds.

“That's gonna take a while.”

“No stupid names for baby.” Kalle warns as the men sit down.

“We…we haven't had any names picked out yet.” Nico admits. “Waiting to see if the baby is okay before naming them. I guess for now this one can be called Nico Jr until further notice.”

“Terrible name choice.” Mordecai comments as he picks up the book he had discarded earlier to continue reading.

“Well I'm sure you'd disagree if Paloma ever wants to name a baby after you.” The boxer scoffs.

“As if we'd have a child together, we still don't want to get married.”

“You'll change your mind in a few years Peekon, I've seen the look in your eyes when you look at her. You are so down bad for-”

“Child present.” Kalle interrupts, pointing at Iliose and the newborn kit who was now asleep. “Behave.”

Mordecai just rolls his eyes, trying to focus on his book. Did he want children? Before Paloma, he never did, even after dating her the thought of having even one never crossed his mind before. He had heard of people saying they developed “baby fever” after holding or seeing a child, which made no sense at all. Holding the kit while trying to clean him stirred no such thoughts in his brain, all he could think about was how smelly the poor thing was as he cried his little head off.

Right now he and Paloma were still fresh into their rekindled relationship, he was attempting to avoid how he used to act in the past and be more affectionate and open with her. They both had agreed marriage would never be in the table for them, but that was before the breakup, would…no, he shouldn't think of that.

As he's reading, he hears footsteps approaching and the crying of a baby before Paloma emerges with a wailing newborn in her arms swaddled in a towel.