Sniping Her Mafia King

Arwen woke and found herself alone in bed. She had half-expected Addy to still be there considering he must be as exhausted as she was but then again, he had laughed when she'd capitulated after his version of round three. Round two had been a hot sticky mess and even though it had been fun and wild, with the most delicious honey she'd ever had, drizzled on her, reminiscent of the wax the week before, it had been a b***h to get off. Even in the shower it had taken a loofah and two passes of the body wash to get it off.

She listened to see if she could hear him in the bathroom or in the closet, but she was well and truly alone.

It was Saturday and for the first time in a long time, she'd had nothing planned. After the chaotic few weeks, she earned a day off. She planned to talk with the chickens, plot out the goat's pen and weed her vegetable gardens. She hadn't asked Deidre what her plans were. Hopefully, she was also taking a rest day. As for Addy she presumed he was going into the city to do whatever business he needed to tend to.

She had showered a final time before they'd fallen asleep because Addy's round three had included a lot of lube, silk ties and a brand-new toy and a swing which he'd suspended from her bathroom door. It had been three in the morning when she'd cried uncle. She knew she was going to be sore when she stood up, but she hadn't anticipated how shaky her legs would be when she moved from the bed

She gingerly made her way to the walk-in closet and lifted an eyebrow at the sight in from of her. The reason his big suitcase blocked the door was because there were three more inside, one of them torn open which was likely the one he'd carried his surprises in. She gave a shake of her head and climbed over the open case and found a pair of yoga pants and a t shirt. She felt a strong need to do yoga on the back patio this morning. She was off balance.

She exited her room and knocked on Deidre's door. "Dee, are you up?"

She waited a moment and then the door pulled open to reveal a sleepy, messy haired Deidre scowling at her. "Did I wake you?"

"Yes." Deidre rubbed her eyes. "Why are you up? It's Saturday and we need a day off."

"Agreed. I'm going to go do yoga in the garden. Thought I'd ask if you wanted to join me?"

Deidre pondered it for a moment and then nodded. "Yes. I definitely need some meditation and stretching. Give me two minutes. I'll meet you down there."

Arwen turned to start down the stairs when the yeasty smell of fresh bread assaulted her nostrils. Gingerly she made her way to the kitchen to find Addy kneading dough. "What on Gods Green Earth are you doing?"

"Good morning, amore," he stopped what he was doing to walk to her and kiss her lips quickly. "Saturday is a good day for making bread." When she blinked at him incredulously, he smiled. "Coffee is not quite ready. I didn't hear you moving around. I will get it started."

"What? Why?" She was confused. She pointed to the pile of dough on the counter.

He grinned. "My mother's father always made bread on Saturdays. He taught me. I don't always get the opportunity but after this week it feels a good time to make something fresh."

She pointed to the back porch. "Me and Dee are going to do yoga."

"Go, go, you need not supervise me. I can handle a kitchen with ease."

She grabbed the yoga mats by the door and stepped onto the patio and rolled them out.

Deidre came out a few minutes later with the same expression of confusion etching her face, "will he be making fresh bread every week and if so, you know I'm never moving out, right?"

Arwen giggled as she turned some music on to stretch to, "I don't know if it's a weekly thing but it's not something I will complain about, and you never have to leave."

They went through the routine they usually did and then Arwen turned on a five-minute meditation guide. She and Deidre sat quietly in the lotus position absorbing the morning sunshine and letting the peace of the day envelope them. When the chime rang to end the meditation, Arwen stretched her arms over her head and looked to see Deidre with tears streaming down her face.

She scooched sideways and wrapped her arm over her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. One minute I feel fine and the next I miss her so much it hurts to breathe. I wish I could make sense of it." Deidre whispered. "My memories of mom and dad are so fuzzy, but I need to find a way to keep hers alive. She died because someone used me as bait to get to you and Addy. It has to mean something, Arwen. I can't let her be lost in my clouded mind."

"How can I help?" Arwen asked quietly.

"I'm not sure yet. I know I need to do something but building a shrine is weird. Mathis suggested doing an activity in her honour, but I wouldn't even know what to do."

"We can think on it," Arwen said with a gentle touch to her shoulder.

Deidre stared at the garden. "Mom would kick our asses for the state of those beds."

"I know. It's my chore for today followed by building a goat pen."

Deidre unfolded from the floorboards and reached a hand to Arwen. "Come on. I'll help."

They made their way to the shed and grabbed gloves.

As she went to put the glove on, the sunlight glinted off the sapphire and diamonds on her finger and Deidre shrieked.

"What the f**k! Arwen!" she grabbed her hand and yanked it to her face. "Holy s**t! He proposed?"

Arwen gave a nervous giggle. "Yes. I guess he did. He loves me, Deidre."

"Really? I hadn't guessed," Deidre kicked her.

"He also said he wants a farm load of babies."

Deidre made a face, "is it a guy thing they need to prove their masculinity? Mathis told me last night he wants five just like his mother did. Apparently, his oldest brother already has three and he's not thirty yet." "You talked babies?"

"We talked a lot of things," Deidre blushed and looked away sheepishly. "For instance, he told me he's never had s*x." She whispered the last part to Arwen as if revealing a huge secret. "He said he was always so worried some puck bunny would trap him with a baby he just never went all the way."

"How do you feel about that?" Arwen walked her towards the gardens, pausing to throw some feed at the chickens. As they didn't run right to the feed she grimaced at the house. He'd already fed her birds.

Deidre continued their conversation. "At least I won't have to worry about an STI but if we're both new how are we going to tell if we are bad at it?"

Arwen roared with laughter at Deidre's question. "You will know if it's bad. If you're wishing it were over while it's happening, it's bad." "Good to know."

They each sat at the end of a row and began the arduous task of cleaning up the beds. They worked in silence both using the task to extend the feelings of their meditation. They looked up when Addy's voice interrupted their work. "Need another set of hands?"

"We won't say no," Deidre smiled at him.

He looked to her smiled. "piccola, I'm sorry I wasn't here much for you this week. Is there anything I can help with today? Anywhere you need to go?"

"No. I just want to be home today." Deidre sighed. "Usually, Miley and I went to the library on Saturdays and then went for coffee. It all seems weird now without her you know?"

"I do know." He gave a low sigh, "I wasn't always an only child. I had a younger brother who died when he was three. I was five. I still remember how much losing my best friend hurt."

"What happened to him?" Deidre asked

"He got sick. I'm not sure what the illness was as my mother was not permitted to speak of him again after his death. My father was a hard man. To him death was a way of life and you just moved on. I think it must have been hard for her. I know it was hard for me." He looked to Arwen, "amore, you are crying again. I am starting to think you should turn in your hitman card."

Arwen wiped her cheeks with her loved hands and flipped him off, "f**k you. I'm a woman first. Hitman second." Interrupting their conversation Arwen's watch made a buzzing noise.

She pulled her phone from her side pocket of her yoga pants and made a face. "Weird."

"What is it?" Deidre asked

"Clara Draxton sent me a notification but," she looked to Addy. "You had a debriefing. Why would Clara be coming here on business?" A second message popped through, and Arwen clenched her belly and rose swiftly to her feet. "No. No. No." she pointed at Deidre. "No!"

Addy stared at her. "Arwen. What is going on?"

"They're expounding her debriefing."

"My debriefing?" Deidre frowned in confusion. "You mean the weird chat thing we had in the hospital? I don't get it."

The sound of cars coming up the driveway made Arwen groan. "Addy tell your men to stand down."

He pulled his phone and immediately did as she instructed but then looked to her. "I don't like this. She is an innocent."

"She's a grown a*s woman and can make her own decisions but I hate it more than you do."

"Can you explain to me what is going on?" Deidre pulled off her gardening gloves with a frustrated curse.

"No, because nothing is going on. I can't let them," she stopped talking when Naomi, Clara and Jesse appeared at the garden gate. She wanted to scream at them.

"Artemis is on deck." Clara grinned at her and then blew a kiss to Deidre. "Welcome to Bellona"

"What's Bellona?" Deidre hissed in Arwen's direction.

"Arwen, you showed her your armory but didn't tell her who you really are?" Artemis mocked her. The woman's expensive pant suit, white and pristine, oddly out of place in the yard. "Hello Deidre. My name is Artemis. You've met my colleague Psych-One already and you know Jesse, though she goes by the name Juno, in our organization." She looked around the yard, "Seriously Arwen, I always thought you were nuts for having chickens, but I admit they're kind of cute."

"Artemis," Arwen stepped forward. "Can we talk privately?"

"No." Artemis spoke bluntly. "You can stay but be quiet or Clara has orders to put you out until I'm done."

"And what exactly are you here to do?" Addy glared at her.

Artemis looked him up and down, "I think I like you better in jeans than a suit and I don't think that of many men."

Arwen had to agree but she said nothing, fearing the glint in Clara's eye. She was spoiling for a fight.

"Deidre," Artemis walked up to her and lifted her hair off her face and looked at her scarred skin. "You don't know me, but I have watched you grow up into the most incredibly resilient woman. Much of that is your cousin's coaxing but all of it is your strength. Many in the situations you've faced would have floundered and fallen to pieces. But not you. Why do you think that is?"

Deidre spoke clearly, "that's easy. I'm surrounded by strong independent women who never let me quit or give up on myself. Four of them are in this yard right now. I can list at least eight or nine more."

"What we discuss today, and if I'm being frank, any day for the rest of your life, will require you to be bound to secrecy." Artemis held her gaze ignoring Arwen's exasperated hiss.

"I am fine with it." Deidre touched Arwen's arm reassuringly.

"We have a job opening."

Addy steeped forward to protest and Naomi lifted a gun in his direction. He held up his hands and stepped back and glared at Artemis.

"Deidre, over the last three years I've had an admin assistant that I've shared with Juno and Psych-One. She has decided she wants to do field work and I'm confident she will make a great asset. This means however, I lose my assistant." Arwen started to breathe easier.

"Okay. I'm not a secretary."

Artemis chuckled. "No, you are not. You can continue to work on your degree, and you can continue your plans of becoming an author, if you still wish. You will have lots of downtime in the office but the times we do need you can be demanding. I know you've done PA work for Arwen in the past and I'm confident you'll get the hang of dealing with the three of us just fine. It means though you'll have a level of clearance higher than Arwen's so you will need to be able to say nothing to her unless cleared." "You want me to be a PA?" Deidre made a face

Artemis snapped her fingers, "did I forget to mention you'll be working for the most secretive organization in the world dedicated to eradicating perverts and molesters and abusive bastards from the planet?" She looked Addy up and down and winked, "I'm not usually forgetful. Must be the company."

"Artemis!" Jesse snapped before Arwen could. "Seriously it's like you're trying to make me vomit."

"Hey!" Addy protested.

Deidre giggled, "this is insane."

"Deidre, you will be a key part of helping us identify, locate, and exterminate threats of a s****l nature, though sometimes it's only of a violent nature. The salary is quite good," she named a figure that made Deidre's eyes bug and Arwen speak up.

"Ask for more Deidre. She wants you because she knows with your leg you'll never go in the field. You'll be a long-haul asset and if you get clearance higher than me, you should be paid higher than me. I made that much last month."

"You made seventy-five thousand dollars last month?"

"More." Arwen didn't back away from Artemis' stare. "One twenty-five."

Deidre coughed and blinked.

Artemis looked to Deidre. "Fine one-twenty-five. Are you in?"

Deidre nodded.

"Good. We will leave. Arwen, I suggest you let her know how you killed her mother's rapists one by one, so she doesn't read it in her training next week. We still use what you did as part of the initiation interview." Artemis turned on her heel and started to walk away, "also nice ring, Delta-Three. I want an invite to the wedding. We can go under the guise of Addy inviting his old college professor."

Clara gave Deidre a thumbs up and Naomi was grinning broadly.

Jesse rushed over and looked at the ring and squealed, kissed both Arwen's cheeks and whispered, "welcome to the family." She kissed Addy's cheeks and whispered to him in Italian and then raced after Artemis who called for her to get her a*s in gear. "Holy s**t!" Deidre exclaimed. "That was intense. Did I just get offered a six-figure job with no experience?"

"Yes, you did." Addy grinned at her. "Give them hell. Also, I am not convinced she didn't look at me when I was naked."

"She wouldn't because then she'd have to assassinate herself," Arwen quipped. "She was trying to get under my skin, not yours."

"Why?"

Arwen held up her ring finger, "She spotted it as soon as she stepped into the yard. Crazy old b***h. You're going to earn your salary, Deidre."

Deidre was staring at the now closed garden gate. "What did she mean you killed mom's rapists?"

"She meant your cousin single-handedly, at nineteen, decided the cops weren't going to give your mother the justice she deserved so she executed all eight men." Addy was beaming with pride. "As part of me debrief they let me watch a clip of the last two and the woodchipper. It was better than Tarantino."

"You killed them? All of them?"

Arwen cut Deidre off, "they showed you that?"

"Yes. Your cousin," Addy spoke to Deidre, "was recruited while you were in the burn unit. She killed the attackers and made them all disappear."

"All of them? Even the two Croft said were at large?"

"Had to frame someone." Arwen explained hoping he'd cousin wasn't mad at letting her live in fear of those two men. Her legs almost buckled as Deidre lunged at her and wrapped her arms around her neck and hugged her tight.

Addy wrapped his arms around both of them. "Ah I love my girls."

Deidre sniffled, "we love you too."

"We should get goats," Arwen said suddenly.

"Where did that come from?" Deidre asked stepping back and wiping her face

"I was thinking if I can raise goat kids from babies then maybe I can do real ones later.""

Addy clapped his hands excitedly. "Great idea. Let's get two goats. Can we get a dog too? I've always wanted a dog. Since we're living in a farmhouse, we should get a dog."

"Medium sized," Arwen agreed. "Not big Danes like Clara has and as cute as Casper is I'm afraid I'd step on him."

"Yes!" Addy exclaimed. "Come. I will make breakfast and we will talk about how we will expand our family. Also, Deidre I want to talk to you about Mathis."

As he took the steps two at a time into the house both women groaned and then giggled. It was how it should be.