"It occurred to me then that the man might not be mad; I found this far more disquieting than the alternative."

― Neil Gaiman

Alison pushed the side of her palm along the tablecloth, smoothing the white cotton down and then tucking it down at the sides. Olivia Bernarducci worked alongside her, humming to the soft Italian music playing in the background of Bernarducci's, her uncles Italian restaurant in Downtown Gotham.
The place was nice, a little tacky. But not tacky enough that they couldn't still have hefty price tags on the menus. It had a great kitchen though, and three (kinda) spectacular young chefs.

She knew the menu off by heart, she could run the specials by you for each day of the week in a heartbeat. She knew what flavor ice-creams came with each dessert, she knew which dishes contained nuts. And she hated it.

"Hey-" Olivia snapped, abandoning the tune for a moment to point at the cutlery on Alison's table, "-the knives don't go like that, they go like this...-" She reached over, adjusting the knife to a position that looked nearly the same as beforehand, "You'd think you'd know that after two years working here."
Alison looked down at the knife with surprise, then back up at Olivia's smug face, "It looks the exact s-"

"I'm the head server, remember?" Olivia spoke sharply once again, raising an eyebrow, "You do what I tell you," She nodded sarcastically as if talking to a child, "or my Uncle will hear all about it." She smirked slowly with satisfaction as she got back to work, leaving Alison staring blankly and her table expressing a low sigh.

Olivia seemed to make the most out of her position of power by irritating Alison on a daily basis, using her uncles position as owner to threaten her job. She glanced up at the clock, 30 minutes until opening hour. 30 minutes until a grueling 9 hour shift, followed by staying late for clean up. And then she was in early the next day to do it all over again.

"Alison!" Ferny called from the kitchen, "Can you restock the herb shelf? They've been sitting on the floor for days I cant keep scooping rosemary from a cardboard boxes!"

"Yeah!" Alison shouted back, arranging the flowers quickly, "I'll be there in a sec!"

"You should have done that days ago." Olivia placed a hand on her hip as Alison fine tuned the flower arrangement, her patience growing weaker. She stood up straight, turning to Olivia, tempted to remind her that it was supposed to be her task to rearrange the herb shelves. Oh how she love to punch her little tanned face...-

Olivia's face scrunched up, turning her nose up at Alison, "What are you looking at-"

The front door opened, ringing a bell and making the red curtains on the window rattle. Both girls looked towards the sound, Alison looking over her shoulder and Olivia peeping her head to the side.
Celio Bernarducci stumbled in, his face more red than usual. He slammed the door behind him, making the glass panel shake violently. The stubby Itlalian stormed forward, knocking a chair over in the process and wiping his forehead of sweat. He blasted past the dumbfounded waitresses and through the kitchen doors.

"STOP COOKING!"

"What the-" Alison frowned, tilting her head again to try and get a look through the kitchen door.

"I said STOP Stronzo!" Celio's voice bellowed once again at the three chefs.

"What do you mean stop cooking! We open in half-" Ferny responded with a shout.

"Shut up and stop cooking, we need to get this place not smelling of fucking garlic-!"

"Wh-"

"Turn off the fucking oven-" Olivia's uncle snarled from the kitchen, "-get out. I said get out, everyone out! Cazzo Madre Di Dio!"

Ferny shouldered his way through the door and out of the kitchen, flinging a washcloth over his shoulder. He was followed by the two other chefs and a fuming Aldo.

Celio stood with his hands on his hips, taking in deep, wheezing inhales. He beckoned them all to listen as he caught his breath, waving his hand and hunching over. "We... we close up shop for a day..."

"A day off!" Ferny raised his eyebrows and Celio shot him a filthy look between his breaths, "No. We have people... people coming to use... the kitchen. People are coming to use the kitchen."

The staff stared at him in silence for a moment until Ferny spoke again, "To cook?"

"No! Idiota!"

"Then for what!?" Ferny threw his hands in the air, "Why do we have to stop cooking? And close up for a day?"

"For none of your fucking business, hah?" Celio slapped the table beside him making Olivia flinch slightly, "All you do is what I say, hm? Maybe stop with the fucking questions, what am I your Mama?"

Ferny's hands landing back by his sides, his eyes rolling back as he muttered under his breath.

Celio jabbed a stout finger at Olivia, "Call and cancel any reservations, tell em there's a... one o' those-" He clicked his fingers, "-ahhh gas leaks or somethin' next door, that'll shut 'em up-"
Olivia pursed her lips, reluctantly dragging herself away from the group and to the phone.

He then thumbed towards the kitchen for Alison, "Clean that place, all the worktops, and try get rid of the fucking garlic...-"
Alison stepped past him and through into the kitchen to hear him ask the men to get tables together and open up the back door. She turned on the fan and picked up a cloth and spray.

Ferny pushed past her a few moments later, "Sorry there-" He lifted the table beside her up and the the middle of the kitchen floor, "That man...-" He looked at her, shaking his head, "..he's a fucking psycho. He's losing it already." He shoved another table to the middle as Alison wiped them down, "He's gonna have a heart attack one of these days."

"He seems-" Alison reached out to help the chef straighten the table, "- a bit stressed out."

"A bit stressed out?" Ferny scoffed, "Its more than that, he's insane-"

"You bad mouthing my blood?" Olivia frowned as she twirled the wet cloth in her hand, winking at Ferny when he turned to look at her, "You said it yourself Liv, he's in too deep-"

"He's still my blood."

"So's half of the mob, I cant bad mouth them either now?"

"Well I wouldn't open you cheeky little mouth today," Olivia raised an eyebrow as Ferny shoved another table into the middle, "Cause you knows that's whose coming over to use this stupid kitchen-"

"Wait..." Alison stopped wiping the table, straightening her elbow and turning towards Olivia, "... who?" Olivia gave her a lasting sideways glance before looking once again at Ferny, "Isn't it obvious."

Ferny didn't respond and continued to pick up another table. Olivia watched him for a moment before absentmindedly picking at her nails, "This place was built on a loan from Salvatore Maroni, I mean how else could an oaf like Celio afford this kitchen-"

"Maroni?" Alison momentarily forgot about cleaning the table.

"I'm like his, I dunno, fourth cousin twice removed or something." She shrugged it off, acting as if it were no big deal, "But you know Italians, they never forget family ties. And the only reason Celio would be so worked up is over something to do with the him."

"Celio's always worked up." Ferny replied skeptically.

"Not like this and you know it." Olivia lowered her voice and Alison leaned in, frowning to hear every word, "He got in trouble once with Maroni and his guys and it fucked him up badly." She tapped her head, "Like mentally. That's why he's so paranoid all the time."

Alison opened her mouth, slightly taken aback "What happened?"
Olivia gave her a dirty look, "I don't know, why don't you go ask him."
Alison raised her hands in defense and Ferny snorted.

"Anyway... that's why..." She looked around, ".. he'd close up in a heartbeat for him. Hell, he'd do anything for Maroni! When you get in debt with a mob boss you never forget about it."

Alison stared at her, realizing she was totally transfixed by Olivia's unnerving information, "So, you think they're coming here?"

"Mob bosses? Today?" Ferny shook his head, dismissing Olivia's theory, "To do fuckin' what exactly?"

Olivia rolled her eyes, "Do I look like I know what Mob Bosses do in kitchens in broad daylight? All I know is that I will be steering clear of them, I don't want them to even get a whiff of my scent!"
"That'll be a challenge-" Ferny laughed.

Alison looked away from them, wiping the table once again. They continued to bicker as she thought about the prospect of having Mob bosses sit around these tables, now lined up in one long one. It was far fetched, right?
But it was better than any theory Alison could think up, and why the hell wouldn't Celio tell his own staff what was going on?
If Olivia was telling the truth... She looked over at Olivia, swishing her dark auburn hair back as she snatched Ferny's chef hat, putting it on playfully.

"Well you know what!?" Ferny exclaimed, sliding across the floor, "If there are mob dealers comin' here today..." He slipped behind Olivia, teasingly undoing her apron from behind. "They better watch out!" He gave her a light peck on the cheek before running away with the tiny black apron thrown over his shoulder like a mini cape. The chef cascaded around the kitchen for a moment before flinging a loose garlic bulb at Olivia like a batarang, hitting her in the head, "Ow! Fuck you Ferny!"

"Cause I'm the real Batman!" He opened his arms up wide as Olivia shot the garlic angrily back at him. Ferny dodged it, sending it to the floor, splintering into little pieces of garlic.

"Guys!" Alison exclaimed, moving to try pick up the pieces, "Seriously!"

"No point worrying about garlic-" Ferny flapped the apron around to one side like Dracula, "-when you've got me to worry about. The caped crusader-" He threw the apron into the air as the two girls giggled despite themselves, "-Gotham's hero! The masked-"

"What the are you three idioti supposed to be doing?!"

Ferny snatched the apron from the air, hiding it behind his back as the waitresses turned, their smiles fading. Celio stood at the doorway, his face positively livid, "I don't pay you to fuck around, hah?"

Alison pretended to readjust the table as Ferny shoved the apron back into Olivia's hands behind her back.

"An' I told you to get rid of the fucking garlic!"

-Obviously I own nothing to do with DC or Batman
-Reviews are most welcome, especially for some advice and whatnot.
-I know nothing about the Italian language and am relying solely on Google Translate, so please correct me of any horrible rookie mistakes!
-Enjoy!