Another week went by as Ibe worriedly flipped through the channels, glancing at the news when Max walked over to him and handed Ibe the phone. "It's Ash." Ibe looked confused as he took the phone from Max, placing it to his ear. "Hello?" Ibe could hear the noise of the crowd of people. Guess Ash was out somewhere. "How have you been? I've got two plane tickets for Tokyo that leaves in ten days." Ibe was taken aback. "What?" he asked, shocked. "I'll keep Eiji inside until then. You stay low too." Ash was being cryptic. "Where's Eiji now?" Ibe asked. "Some place safe. I can't let you see him now."
Ibe sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You think he'll agree to going home?" he asked. Ash remained silent for a moment before answering. "Don't worry. He'll go back, because he'll hate me by then." He could hear the younger man's sadness emanating from the phone. "Anyways, this is goodbye." Ibe sighed. "Ash.." But he was quickly cut off by Ash. "I wish I was able to see that picture. The one that you took of Eiji. Bye." Ibe gasped, thinking of something to tell him. "Ash..I'm sorry."
Ash sighed as he looked over his sunglasses seeing Alexis walking towards him. "Why? You don't need to be. It's okay." he quickly told Ibe, then ended the call, putting his cell in his pocket. "I found him.." Alexis said quietly. "Everything okay?" she asked her brother as he pushed the sunglasses back up his nose. "You shouldn't be here Alexis. You should be at home resting in bed." Ash said, shortly. Alexis sighed and smiled slightly. "I'm pregnant Ash..not sick." Ash looked at her, shook his head and shrugged. "Let's go."
Alexis led her brother to where Dino Golzine was sitting, waiting for his flight. The two of them stood there, watching Golzine reading the paper. An announcement was sounded and he looked up from his paper listening to when his flight was being boarded. He then could feel eyes on him and he turned to look in the direction and gasped as he saw the two blonde hair siblings. Ash was smirking at him. "Hi." he heard Ash say as they both walked over and sat in the chairs facing him. "You seem to be in a hurry. I wonder when you'll be able to come back."
Golzine smirked and leaned back in his chair. He could feel Gregory reaching for his gun, but Golzine lifted his hand, ordering him to stop. "It won't be for long." he said, looking from Ash to Alexis. "You both did well." Ash shrugged, crossing his legs. "You could say it was thanks to your investments." Golzine scoffed. "And this is what I get in return?" Ash glared at him. "We have paid our interest. More than what it's worth." Alexis looked down and protectively wrapped her arms around her stomach.
Golzine looked from Alexis, he could feel the fear emanating from her, and glared at Ash. "No. It's not enough. Not enough at all. We will be one big happy family again." he said, calmly looking at Alexis again. He watched as her eyes darted away and he smirked. Ash sat back, getting comfortable, keeping his eyes on Golzine. "I used to think we'd be free if I could get rid of you, but I guess I was wrong." Ash then leaned forward, closer to Golzine. "Whatever you are up to, I'll stop it." Golzine nodded his head for a second. "So, you came to declare war. I'll bring a good taxidermist with me when I come home then."
Alexis' heart sank. Was he really being serious? He wouldn't kill Ash. He wanted Ash to fill his shoes if and when he kicked the bucket. Ash looked at Golzine confused. "A taxidermist?" he asked. Golzine smirked. "To stuff you. And I can't wait." Ash sighed and stood up, helping Alexis get up, then looked at Golzine again. "I hope your plane doesn't crash. The other passengers won't get to heaven if they're with you." he muttered. "Bon voyage." Ash waved as he pulled Alexis away and Golzine sat there shaking with rage, watching the siblings disappear into the busy crowd.
*****
A few days later, Ash and the gang were hanging out at the new apartment. They were in the living room, the tv, that was hung on the wall above the fireplace was on the news channel. Alex, who was keeping an eye on the tense Ash, as well as the news, sighed. "The Lower East side is all broken up." he stated. "They're all pissing their pants now." Kong chimed in. Ash growled feeling slightly irritated. "Turn the tv off. It's irritating me now." he muttered. The tv went off as Ash dropped a picture onto the coffee table. "These are the next targets." he said, pointing to the picture. "Make them leave Manhattan. If they won't, kill them."
At the same time as Ash said that, Eiji walked in, surprise written all over his face. Ash turned and glared at him. "What?" he snapped. Eiji bit his lip and quickly looked around noticing that they were all looking back at him. "Sorry, it can wait." he quickly said walking back into the room where Alexis was having a nightmare. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her and held her hand, rubbing it softly, soothing her slightly. He then sighed. "What is Ash up to? I'm pretty sure I heard him say to kill someone." he muttered to himself. "I just have to trust him. No matter what!"
Alexis cried out for Shorter and Eiji looked down at the poor girl. He held her hand soothing it again and brushed the wet, matted hair off her forehead. Ash had told him that she hadn't been sleeping very well the last few nights. Well, who could really sleep after the things they had all been through and Eiji thought sadly, that Alexis would never get over the death of Shorter. He sighed and laid down next to Alexis. He too would miss Shorter.
*****
Half an hour later, Ash was still going through pictures of the other gangs. "How's Black Sabbath?" he asked. Kong, who was sitting next to Bones, shook his head. "No action over there at all." Bones scratched his head thinking for a second. "That's Cain Blood's gang, right?" he asked. Alex nodded. "Yup, the black king of Harlem." Ash leaned back in his armchair and looked at his boys. "I'll go see him personally." he told them. They were shocked. "That's too dangerous!" Alex exclaimed. "Yeah, he's not too fond of white people.." Kong said carefully. Alex looked over at Ash and leaned closer to him, keeping his voice low. "And what if he's already tagged up with Arthur?" he asked. Ash looked at Alex, thinking for a second, then "It's the only way to find out what's on his mind."
Once the meeting was over and most of the guys had left, Ash wandered into the room where Eiji and Alexis were. He walked in, saw Alexis still sleeping and walked over to where Eiji was sitting, at the desk, typing away on the computer. "She was having nightmares again, Ash." Eiji told him quietly, not wanting her to wake up. "She was dreaming about Shorter." Ash sighed and ran his fingers through his hair and looked over at her. "Once this is over, I'll get her the help she needs," he told him. "You got the pictures?" Eiji smiled at Ash. "Oh, yeah." he said, clicking on the folder and bringing up the pictures.
Ash leaned down, looking over Eiji's shoulder. "Let's see." he said, looking through them and smiling. "They're good," he said, looking at Eiji. "I'm lucky to have a photographer's assistant with me." Ash told him, grinning. Eiji blushed slightly, then pouted and looked away. "Hey. Don't make fun of me." he pouted. Ash smiled and ended up ruffling the older boy's black hair. Eiji giggled then tried to shove Ash's hand away. "Quit it! We have to let Alexis sleep." he said, quietly seeing her stir.
The two of them remained silent as they watched her groan and roll onto her side, her hand absentmindedly rubbing her noticeable larger stomach. These days, she had been known to wear super baggy clothing so she could hide her stomach because people had been giving her dirty looks. When her breathing was deep again, the two boys exhaled the breath they didn't know they were holding. Ash walked over to his sister and covered her again with the blanket. "How were you able to rent a place like this? And it's right by Golzine's office too.."
Ash shrugged. "I was lucky." Eiji sighed and rested his chin in his hand. "You never tell me anything when it comes to something important. Am I so untrustworthy?" he asked. Ash sighed and shook his head. "It's not like that." Eiji sighed again. "I..I'm sorry. I know you don't tell me things to keep me safe. I just feel so helpless that I can't do anything for you." Ash looked over at Eiji. "You do enough for me. You take pictures of the people who are visiting the office, and you're a big help with Alexis too." Eiji looked down. "Yeah..but.." Ash stood up and walked over to where Eiji was still seated and leaned over his shoulder again, his lips inches away from Eiji's ear. "Thank you Eiji." he whispered, causing Eiji to shiver and blush, as he looked at one of the pictures. It had Kippard and Smiles and they were both standing outside Golzine's office.
****
Alexis woke up feeling disoriented. She pushed herself up and looked around the semi darkened room. On the desk by the large window, the lamp had been left on. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, threw her legs over the bed and stood up, groaning as she could feel the pressure of her bladder. Once she finished using the bathroom, she walked into the living room finding it empty. Where was Ash and Eiji? Bad thoughts started to surface in her mind about Eiji and Ash. Were they found? Did Papa Dino know where they were? She took deep breaths trying to slow down the panic that was bubbling inside her and started checking the rooms.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the two of them sleeping soundly, smiled, then closed the door softly. Alexis walked back into the kitchen and opened the fridge seeing that there was a plate of food that had her name stuck to a post-it note with a warning that if anyone touched it other than Alexis, they'd get their hands blown off. She giggled at that, removed the wrapping that covered it and warmed it up in the microwave.
Once it beeped, she pulled it out carefully, grabbed some cutlery and walked back into the living room, curling up on the sofa, with the plate of food resting on the side of her stomach as she reached for the remote. She turned the tv on and flipped through the channels, absentmindedly as she ate, coming across old reruns of the Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. Once she was finished eating, she wrapped herself up in a blanket she had found and continued watching the cartoon until she fell asleep again.