𝑮OLD 𝑹USH ━ Carmen Berzatto

𝒊𝒗. coffee

"Oh, I have coffee beans and matcha in my bag." Marcus gives her an incredulous look. Delilah's brows furrowed, "What? You never know when you'll need them. Like right now!"

Then Delilah goes to fucking town. They watch with rapt attention as she weaves through the kitchen while humming under her breath. Grabbing ingredients that Carmen wouldn't definitely not put on coffee at all (He sees her with pineapple juice in hand, what the fuck is that going to do).

She makes her way to them and sets the large array of ingredients on the counter. She pours the coffee grounds into four cups.

"Okay, first— we'll start with Carmen's drink," He sits a little straighter and leans closer to not miss a detail. She turns the heat to the medium setting, "When you order an espresso, you usually just have it as is." Delilah reaches for the pineapple juice and pours it into the container with glass. "If you do add something unto it, it's most likely to be milk or a syrup of some kind."

She grabs the lime, cuts it and squeezes it into the mixture. Delilah pours a generous heap of maple syrup as well, "While those are the standard for a reason. It's not like the end all, be all. Adding the pineapple juice brings out a different flavor profile in the espresso; the lime juice brings out the tartness and the maple syrup adds a nice sweetness and viscosity to it."

Delilah turns to the kettle and brings the heat down to the lowest setting, pouring the hot water into the cup of ground beans. "It is also important to not pour boiling hot water into the coffee, it burns the shit out of them and makes it taste horrible," She pours the coffee into another container with ice.

Her eyes lit up, the way it does when she gets an idea. She clicks her fingers, "I'll just put this in the freezer and start with your drink, Syd!"

They watch the woman disappear into the other parts of the kitchen. "She's really good, right?" Jude says, giddy and beaming with pride. Excited to show off his older sister. It is heartwarming. Carmen imagines that he looks like that whenever Mikey is ever mentioned.

Carmen nods. In all honesty, her words escape him— admittedly, beverages wasn't his forte.

Despite her bright demeanour, Delilah is someone who seemed to thrive in routine and practicality. After all, she found order in the chaos of the back-and-forth between his changes and the old ways of the Beef.

(She arrives at exactly 8:15 A.M on the dot, forty minutes early; opening shift starts at 9:00 A.M. She is the one that started labelling the spices and rearranging the walk-in. She has set phrases that never fails to tame the fury of Richie or Tina)

Delilah moves with a purpose, every movement and every action should serve a purpose. She hates it when time is being wasted, he remembers her saying once. So, she works to the very last minute and is never late for a shift. Covers any and every shift of the staff. And immediately goes to work in her other jobs after.

She lives life like time is running out: that everything will apart if she just stops. It is a fear that is so familiar to him. The peace of the Berzatto household hangs on the fragile thread that is the martyrdom of his mother. But this is wholly foreign to him.

It's called being an immigrant mother, Tina said with a knowing look as they watched Delilah run to catch up with the bus. Doing anything and everything for your family to thrive even if it'll kill you. Perhaps that's why Tina is so fond of her. After all she bears the weight of four lives on those small shoulders, the older woman added.

Watching Delilah get lost in creating is blinding— she is already someone so bright, so golden. Right now, she's like the sun. This is Delilah; unburdened and lit ablaze.