Two weeks.

It had been two weeks since Carmen and Alessia had started at Mikey's restaurant. Though to her it was beginning to feel like a lifetime.

"Chefs, we gotta sharpen our knives when we get a sec," Carmen insisted.

"You gotta sharpen your brain when you get a second," Richie countered.

Tina laughed and Alessia rolled her eyes. She loved Richie, she did. He was family, but that didn't change the fact that he had been acting like a total asshole since they started at the Beef.

"You been here two weeks," Richie began, "We've been having money problems for two weeks. One plus one equals you're an asshole, Bobby Flay."

"Don't call me, Bobby Flay. Sydney, stir that pot for me, chef."

Sydney nodded, "Yes, Chef. You want a cartouche?"

"What's a cartouche?" Richie questioned.

"Yes, please. Thanks, Chef." Carmen replied, he continued to chop the vegetables in front of him, "What's our best day here?"

"Five."

"Okay, Ebraheim, get me a pot for the giardiniera," Carmen instructed, "So if we do six, that will get us through the week, right? So, Ballbreaker."

"Just make it easy," Richie started, "And make the fucking spaghetti."

"Don't say spaghetti," Carmen warned before the man finished his sentence.

"Oh my god," Alessia groaned in annoyance, surveying the burnt bottom of yet another pot. It hit the counter in front of her with a clang as she set it down.

"All these knives are dull!" Carmen exclaimed in frustration.

"Spaghetti's the biggest seller, Carm. That shit was straight up fire." Marcus informed.

"Straight up done now, Chef." Carmen replied, whisking a knife off of the wall, "Behind."

"Yeah, but why?"

"Because fucking 11 Madison Park dickhead over here, he couldn't figure it out!" Richie responded.

"Housekeeping, Chefs!"

"Again," Richie spoke, entirely exasperated, "What the fuck are you saying? Anyone understand what he's saying?"

"Housekeeping means you have to clean your stations because this place is fucking gross." Carmen explained, "I refer to everybody as chef because it's a sign of respect, and I never said I couldn't figure out the spaghetti. I said it doesn't make sense on this menu, so it is done. The end."

Carmen's eyes moved to the clock, "Three hours til open, Chefs!"

"Who are you yelling at Carmy? There's like four of us in here." Richie shook his head, "Now let me ask you something."

Alessia sighed, here we go again.

Quite frankly she was sick about hearing about this damn spaghetti.

"Cousin," she turned to face him, "For once in your life can you please, please shut the hell up."

"Oh yeah?" Richie looked her way, "because you have room to fucking talk? You came around when Mikey was running this place and you loved that fucking spaghetti."

Alessia scoffed, wiping her hands on a rag, "Oh yeah sure, when I was in high school and thought the world of him and this fucking place."

"You mean before you moved on to bigger and fancier shit?" Richie questioned, and Alessia simply shook her head.

"You know what, Richie—" Alessia started but then Carmen caught her eye, silently telling her to shut up. She exhaled sharply, and turned back to her station.

"Tina, did you take my knife, Chef?"

The woman arched an eyebrow at him, "Did you take my pot, Jeff?"

Carmen sighed exasperated, and walked over to the stove top grabbing onto a pan, before yanking his hand back as it had burned him.

"Fuck!" He cried out, shaking his hand.

The smell of beef filled the air, as steam rose off of it. Alessia glanced over at Carmen, not daring to ask him if he was alright.

"Why is the beef so hot?" Richie inquired.

"Cause we just took it out." Marcus replied.

Richie spun around, "Two hours late?"

"Two hours longer!" Carmen replied, "Wrigley didn't deliver enough meet this week."

The man marched forward toward Carmen, "Well why didn't Wrigley deliver enough meet?"

"Because we're out of money!" Carmen snapped, "The only beef I could get was bone-in which you have to braise, alright? It take two hours longer, the good news is we can stretch it by cutting the bread shorter...."

Richie lifted up his phone, "Call Wrigley."

"...and using less gravy."

"Which is not how we've ever done a beef here in 25 years, Carm!" He cut him off.

"System!" Tina exclaimed, "System, baby!"

Carmen sighed, "You can barely afford to pay people, but yeah, sick system."

"Don't fucking talk to me about labor, Noma." Richie scoffed.

"I thought this was your house?"

For a grand total of thirty seconds the kitchen lacked its usual shouting. There was a beat where you could only hear the sizzling of oils and what not.

"Fuck this. Announcement! Listen up!" Richie broke the quiet, "Bread stays the same! Gravy stays the same!"

"Behind," Alessia noted, brushing past Sydney. The Berzatto woman's chest was beginning to feel constrained. She sighed tugging the collar of the shirt away from her skin.

She pushed the door open to the side entrance and stepped outside. Alessia sucked in a large breath and let it out slowly.

The woman leaned against the buildings wall, still feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"Less?"

Alessia's eyes snapped open, genuinely surprised to see her sister standing only a few feet away.

"What are you doing out here? Are you ok, you look a little pale?" The questions came spewing out of Natalie's mouth, one after the other.

"What am I— wait what are you doing here?" Alessia's eyebrows tugged together.

Natalie lifted her arm which held a jacket, "Carmy asked me to bring this by."

"Oh," Alessia nodded, "Okay."

"Now let's circle back to my question," Natalie folded her arms.

"I'm just getting some air, I got a little overwhelmed." Alessia explained, non-chalantly.

Natalie shot her a look, that Alessia could only read as being her own form of 'I told you so.'

"I'm fine, I promise," she sighed, "It's just a lot in there."

A small comforting smile formed on Natalie's face, "Just let me know if it gets to be too much. I'll help you get out of there."

Alessia nodded, appreciating her sister's support. The door behind them swung open, as Carmen joined them.

"Hi," Natalie smiled softly.

"Yo, you didn't put it in a bag or anything?" Carmen asked.

"That's how you say hello to me?" Natalie arched an eyebrow at the man.

"Carm, seriously," Alessia pipped up, crossing her arms.

"Mae? What are you doing out here, you alright?" Carmen turned to face his little sister. Alessia shrugged in response.

"I just needed a second, you know?"

Carmen nodded, he did know. He then stepped forward wrapping his arms around Natalie, "Hi."

After a few seconds Natalie pulled back, "You guys smell like this place."

Alessia shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah I'd assume so. We've been here for hours."

"Sorry," Natalie apologized, "I just hate seeing you here."

"Yeah well..." Carmen trailed off to silence.

After a few beats Alessia spoke up, "Um Nat, favor to ask..."

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind going with me to Julia's to get my shit?" Alessia asked, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck.

Natalie gently reached forward squeezing Alessia's hand, "Sure, Less."

"Thanks," she nodded with an appreciative smile.

"What happened between you two anyway?" Carmen asked, carefully.

"Uh, after Mikey...I said some things I can't quite come back from, I think." Alessia vaguely explained.

Carmen nodded in understanding, the two siblings were very similar in many ways.

"So uh, have you talked to Mom?" Natalie asked, cautiously.

Alessia resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Nat you know I have zero desire to speak to that woman."

A heavy sigh could be heard from the other woman, as she shook her head, "Trust me Less, I know your stance. I was asking Carmy."

Carmen shook his head, implying that he to hadn't had any contact with the woman.

"I know she'd love to see you—"

"I just—yeah..." he trailed off.

"Uncle Jimmy, he uh—he wants to buy this place," Natalie brought up, a glimmer of hope twinkling in her eyes.

"Well, it's not for sale." Carmen replied.

"I know. That's what I wanted to tell you—"

"That it's not for sale?"

"No, that I think we should sell it to him." Natalie stated.

Alessia sighed, "I'm not getting in the middle of this. I'll see you later, Nat. Love you."

"Yeah, love you too Less."