[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."