In Bocca Al Lupo

"It has nothing to do with you," Gene assured her. "Luis just likes...well, he prefers tasks that he can be in charge of. Watching after you, he's not in charge, you are. I doubt that he minds what you do, it's simply the idea that sets him on edge. He's very...energetic. But he's also loyal, he defend you with his life." Gene said carefully, trying to address any concern that the young woman may have. "I would do it myself, but I doubt you want to be cooped up in the study with me half the day or being dragged around town. I'm afraid I'm not very exciting company as of late." He sighed.

Tears tried to form, the unusual sharp pain was relentless and she knew it wasn’t normal; but she would be damned if she let it get the best of her. Bullet holes, knife wounds, scars riddling her body from the last seven years, but nothing compared to this. 

"Contractions? Are you having any?" The man asked, holding onto Frankie’s hand while fluffing a pillow underneath her head. He was sure that she was having pains. He could see it her face every once in a while. To be honest, the little that he remembered from his mother, did him hardly any good now, but he was determined to have the delivery go well.

"Alright, the doctor said this could go quickly or it could take time." Gene said, going about it systematically. It was the only way for him to do this if he wasn't going to join Rhett in his dazed stupor. 

"Yes, Rhett, get towels, and bring in the hot water from the stove. Also forbici," He said before waving his hand, "Ah, scissors." He took Frankie's other hand so that she would look at him. 

The pain had subsided for the moment and the less coddling they did the better. Frankie was worried though, she didn’t want to deliver the baby here, let alone with only Rhett and Gene.

“Call someone, anyone. See if anyone from the clinic can make it here. Hell, find Brie. I don’t care; just get me someone that knows what they are doing.”

“Listen, I know that you feel like we’re being mother hens at the moment, but all Gene and I want to do is make sure that everything happens smoothly. Not sure if I told you this, but- uh I may remember a few things that my mother forced me to learn. She was a midwife.” Before Frankie could get a word in edgewise, Rhett held up a hand, so that he could finish his statement. “I’m not saying that I can deliver a damn baby, but I do pride myself on knowing a thing or two. We will try to get Portia here. If not her, then maybe Adelaide and if all else fails, we will attempt Brie, but we need to face the facts here. This baby is coming even if those women don’t. So you have to trust me. can you do that?”

A seamless string of Italian profanity flowed from his mouth as he got all the things he knew they would need, He was nothing if not efficient and the very day that Francis had told him that she was expecting he had had a long discussion with the doctor at the hospital. Home births weren't all that rare, back home or here, but there were notably less complications if done in a hospital.

As it would seem, they didn't have that option.

Coming back into the living room, Gene lifted Francesca's legs, shaking his head at the two of them.

When she made it down the stairs, after what felt like an hour, she practically collapsed into the closest chair. She stayed there for the rest of the morning and afternoon, unwilling to try and move again.

Gene showing up had been a welcome distraction from the pain she had found herself in. She stood, wanting to turn the gramophone off, and as soon as she did Frankie knew that something wasn’t quite right. She ignored Rhett and Gene’s words as she stood there and looked down.

Before she could react Gene was next to her and then Rhett. Frankie watched as her husband over reacted, as he was wont to do. She wanted to yell at the both of them for the way they were behaving but the pain was too intense.

“Mo Chuisle. I’m going to need for you to get up. We need to get you to the clinic before it’s too late.”

He was shaking, but his voice was calm as he pulled the woman from the couch as gingerly as possible. He looked at her, and although she seemed to be in wordless pain, there was a glow about her. The realization of their child coming into this world almost more than he could even stand.

“Cazzo.” He breathed, looking at the state of the world. It was like everything had been covered in white over the last few hours that he’d been there, the snow coming up to his ankle. “Cazzo. Cazzo! Cazzo!!” He grumbled in his panic. Ignoring the snow that would be impossible to drive in, he wrenched the door of his car open and shoved the key into the ignition.

The engine wouldn’t even turn over.

“Anyone need coffee besides me?” Rhett yelled from the kitchen. It was hard to hear much over the music that was coming from the parlor, but if this chap knew anything, it was that his hearing hadn’t decayed in his old age. Humming along to the tune, he grabbed a mug as he waited for a chorus of yes’ from the other room. Instead, he heard nothing, followed by the sound of the record scratching to a halt.

With a frown he moved to the room that held his wife, as well as her partner in crime. (For lack of a better description.) “My question wasn’t the meaning of life ya know… I was just looking for a yes or no respo-”

The empty mug that once dangled from Rhett’s fingertips crashed to the floor as he looked from Frankie to Gene. “What on Earth is going on in here!?” Rhett questioned, not entirely sure whether he should be irate or concerned with the scene that had unfolded before him. Never had he thought of Gene as a threat to his marriage, but by the looks of it, it seemed the man couldn’t keep his hands to himself, instead they moved about Frankie’s pregnant belly almost frantically as if he were some prepubescent who’d never touched a woman before.

Sure, Gene’s position was a precarious one, but the view he had of Frankie’s legs as she held the hem of her dress over her knees was one that set Rhett on edge. They were hasty with their movements, panicked even as Frankie kicked off her heels, a long groan escaping her lips. Rhett couldn’t decipher if it was pain or pleasure, but he was too pissed off to care.

Gene had known of Frankie’s relationship with Rhett, to some degree, for a while. He had never imagined it would come to marriage, but now that it had, he knew there was nothing to do but welcome the other man, however begrudgingly, into the family.

“Do I have to drink any more of that crap he calls coffee?” Gene asked Frankie in Italian. He looked over to the woman who hadn’t been feeling well all day only to see the strange look on her face. He sat forward at once. “Francesca?”

It all went to hell after that.

“Lay back, Francis. Lay back.” He insisted, his heart pounding in his ears as he tried to recall all of the things the doctor had told him. She needed to not panic, she needed to-

A string of frustrated Italian profanity flowed past his lips and he wrenched his arm back, elbowing Rhett.

"We’ll need to increase other sales to compensate and make sure to not to let anyone default on their monthly payments for the time being. I know we’ve been lax with some in the past, but that’s all going to have to change."

With a sigh, he nodded knowing that she was right. "I agree, but let's not allow the men to dole out punishment as they see fit. The last time we let that happen, Luis blinded the man. Allow us the opportunity to make sure the punishment fits the offense. Worse comes to worse, we'll make an example of someone to show the others that we're not toying around."

"I don't believe that we will be fighting again any time soon, at least not with the Irish, not like we were. Everything now is...more complex. I think that with what is to come, we may almost miss the simplicity of buildings burning to the ground. Now, we must plan, we must be careful, we must vigilant. Now our battle is within the public. They offer a great many deal of the services we do. If we're not careful, we'll lose business. This is a game of skill, not brawn." At the other man's words he scoffed and waved a hand, a smile finally coming to his face.

Finally taking a seat once more, she looked up at Gene. “We still need to get the hotel back up an running. It was our biggest cash crop and its still nothing more than a pile of rubble, while some new monstrosity is being built just down the street.”

Shaking his head to free himself from his revere, he met her gaze and nodded. "Yes, I've already been moving on that. Searching out workers and the like, we've got the money, no doubt, but if something happens, if someone sabotages it - and I don't just mean the Irish, we have many enemies - but if anything happens, we'll be vulnerable."