Disclaimer: I do not own Ocean's 11, 12, or 13 though it would be pretty sweet if I did. Therefore, all the characters from the movies are not mine, what is mine is those characters and plot bunnies that you do not recognize. That being said, I am only sitting here and fooling around with the product of someone else's genius, just because I can.
Ocean's 14
Chapter 1:
New York City, it was her playground and she knew it, hell, even the city knew it. She was the descendant of Manhattan royalty, a royalty that the city had forgotten it ever played host to in the past few decades. Yet in the city's heyday her family's name meant something, it was a hallmark of instant respect and people would have bent over backwards just to make sure she was kept happy. Although it would have been difficult to tell if there eagerness was due to the respect they felt for her family, or fear over what would happen if they did not comply.
Unfortunately, for her, she had been born during the decline of her family's rule of Manhattan or rather more appropriately rule of Hell's Kitchen. Yet, that did not stop her from trying to reap the benefits. A child growing up in the questionable district known as Hell's Kitchen could use any edge she had. Especially if said child had a mother who was indifferent half the time and stoned the rest of the time, as for her father, well he was not in the picture. The only thing he ever did for her was give her a connection to one of the most infamous mob bosses in the Irish mob, although she didn't inherit his name the connection was still there and recognized. Anyone who was in with the Irish mob knew that she was Jimmy Coonan's favorite niece. Moreover, they knew that even though Jimmy C had been behind bars for years now and was not getting out anytime soon, it was still wiser not to cross him.
Still she would have rather not use her uncle's name to make life easy for her. Uncle Jimmy had agreed with her too when she told him the plan, back when she was only three and before he got pinched. She was not going to follow his footsteps, therefore joining the mob officially and racketeering was out. Instead, she turned herself into a decent thief, well just for as long as it took her to become reasonably well off. Therefore, now at the age of twenty-five she was attempting to make herself legit. Before she could do that, there was one more thing she had to take care of, her mother.
Adèle Renard was a Frenchwoman that had hoped to make it big as an American actress. That never really happened the way she thought it would, although the career Adèle had fallen into required all of her talent as an actress. See Adèle had arrived in New York during the late seventies, settling in Hell's Kitchen because it has the cheapest rent in Manhattan. What Adèle had not known about her new home was that the Weasties, led by Jimmy Coonan, was running a rather profitable racket in the 'Kitchen. And being new to both the city and the country Adèle had no job and therefore, no money to by protection with. The only thing she had going for her was the fact that she was young and her figure. In later years, she was known to claim that it was her lucky break the day Eddie Coonan came knocking on her door. Eddie had came looking for money and what he found was the closest thing he ever had to a sweetheart in the young Frenchwoman. As for Adèle, she got herself a protector. All Eddie ever demanded was that she give her favors to him and any other member of the mob freely in exchange for protection from the sometimes violent neighborhood. A situation that Adèle readily agreed to, as she saw it she only had too options, give it up willingly and thereby being able to name a few conditions or face the alternative; them taking it from her anyways.
In short, Eddie became something like her pimp but Adèle was never considered a whore, because Eddie would not stand for that. He proved that by whacking the first wise guy who dare refer to the lovely young Frenchwoman as a whore. She actually had it pretty good, Eddie set himself up as her sugar daddy and Adèle never had to work for anything. Whatever she wanted, Eddie got it for her. Oftentimes that included large amounts of narcotics, living closely with a mobster usually resulted in a few bad habits rubbing off. When they had met Eddie was old, but he still had a lot of life in him and eventually he proved that fact by getting Adèle pregnant. Resulting in a daughter and Eddie leaving one day without warning.
Jimmy had liked Adèle, and had disapproved of his brother's response. He made it known that even though Eddie and Adèle had never been married, in fact there relationship was only business, that he considered Adèle and her daughter officially part of the family. In fact, it was soon evident to many that the notorious Jimmy C had a soft spot when it came to his little niece, and treated her as if she was his own daughter.
Well now, little Sophie Renard was all grown up and looking to move out of Hell's Kitchen, and leave the Irish mob behind. Although she was proud of her family's connection to it, she had realized long ago that if she was going to make her own way in the world without relying on the family's influence she had to leave the neighborhood, especially if she would ever try to go legit. Therefore, with the payoff from the last job she would ever take as a thief weighing down her jacket she was preparing to take her leave of her childhood home.
With a rough shake of her head, she cleared her mind of all her woolgathering; she'd need her wits about her now. Mama will probably make a scene, that is if she's still sober, she thought with resigned annoyance. She continued down the sidewalk, easily weaving in and out of the crowd and making her way slowly to her mother's apartment building. If it was up to her she would have just ducked out of town without saying anything, but Adèle had already had enough people leave her unexpectedly that Sophie could not bear to do that to her own mother. Even though it certainly would have been easier on Sophie, well easy was not always right.
By now she had entered the building as was had soon climbed the three flights of stairs to her mother's apartment door. Sophie didn't even bother to knock, she simply took the spare key she had swiped from the landlord a few months ago and let herself in.
"Mama," she called into the dimly lightened apartment. It was still early afternoon but every shade in the living room was down, and there were only one or two lamps on. Adèle liked the dim lighting; she claimed that it made her appear younger.
"Sophie, is that you?" An aged woman's alto called back.
"No Mama, it's the cops." Sophie replied rolling her eyes and heading down the hall towards the kitchen.
"Be nice child," her mother scolded her, greeting Sophie at the kitchen doorway and giving her a hug. Sophie stared into her mother's still vibrant green eyes and noticed with a touch of dismay that Adèle was indeed still sober. It was strange really, when she was a child Sophie would have given anything to see her mother's eyes alert, but now she was so used to having a stoned mother she didn't know how to handle a sober one.
"What brings you around?" Adèle asked motioning for her daughter to sit down at the kitchen table. Obediently Sophie sat and then immediately emptied her left hand pocket.
"Here Mama, for you," Sophie said placing five-thousand dollars in cash on the table. It was only half of what she had earned on her last job, but it was enough to help her mother out for a while at least. Sophie planed on sending her mother some money after she had gotten herself a real job, but in the meantime, that should hold Adèle over, bad habits and all. After all, there were still family members that took care of her drug needs.
"Sophie," Adèle exclaimed looking at the pile of money, "where did you get that?"
"Never mind where Mama, just take it. I insist." Sophie continued when her mother looked like she wanted to protest.
"So you're finally doing it my little dove, aren't you?"
"Doing what Mama?"
"Don't play innocent with me Sophie, that act ceased to work when you were five. You're going to leave me, the neighborhood, and your father's roughish family." Adèle began, sounding determined and her voice raising half an octave. Sophie braced herself waiting for the storm of her mother's somewhat legendary hysterics to break.
"Well it's about damn time child, and here I thought you would wait until I was on my last leg." Sophie stared at her mother completely flabbergasted, causing Adèle to smile at her daughter. "Now don't look to stunned Sophie, I knew you were just itching to get out of here. Let's face it child New York has become to familiar for you to want to stay. Curious as a cat you are Sophie, you always have been. Whenever you learn as much as you can about something, you go on to the next new mystery and tackle that. No wonder locked doors proved to be such a temptation for you!"
"Mama I…." It was unbelievable, truly it was. Sophie had spent her entire life believing her mother to be indifferent about her child, only to now after twenty-five years discover that her mother did in fact know her. Actually, Adèle knew her rather well, a fact that she proved with her next statement.
"I hope you're not in too much of a hurry my dove. I've made your favorite dinner, hoping that you'll take the time to spend one last meal with me."
"Of course Mama." Sophie replied, marveling at just how wrong she had been about her own mother. The rest of the evening only served to provide further evidence that Adèle had in fact paid attention to her daughter. For once in a very long time, Sophie actually enjoyed her mother's company.
When she got up to leave the waterworks she had expected all along finally began, although they were not the full-on hysterics she would have predicted. Adèle walked with Sophie to the door of the apartment, and stopped.
"Sophie, my dove, you should find yourself a man, someone who will make you happy."
"Mama, I don't need a man to be happy." Sophie replied trying not to let her aggravation show. This was not the first time Adèle had pestered her daughter about finding someone, and it probably would not be the last.
"I said the same thing when I was your age, my dove, but then I met your father. He was like a well aged wine when I met him, and a drink that I never wanted to set aside."
"Where is your well aged wine now Mama." Sophie snapped and immediately regretted it, biting her lip, and cursing herself for an idiot. Adèle simply took it in stride.
"Not every vintage lasts forever my dove." She kissed Sophie on the cheek then. "Go on now Sophie, go and find what it is you're meant to do. Promise me this though, that whatever you do, you will do it with all of your heart and in style."
"Mama," was all Sophie could say, giving her mother one last hug and a kiss on the cheek. She turned then opening the door and already her mind was on trying to catch the next train out of Manhattan.
"Oh and Sophie, my dove," Adèle called from the doorway.
"Mama, I do not need a man!" Sophie yelled over her shoulder. The sound of her mother's delighted laughter followed her down the stairwell. With a surprised smile, Sophie Renard realized that despite her unconventional childhood and unconventional relationship with her mother, she actually loved the woman.
Author's Note: The Irish mob known as the Weasties actually does exist, and was lead by Jimmy Coonan from 1973 until 1986 when he was finally arrested. I got all my information about Coonan and the Weasties from various sources one being Wikipedia and the other being Therefore, since they really exist I thought it was only fair to share where my information was coming from. I guess you could consider this chapter of this particular fanfic to be something like historical fiction.
As of right now, I do not know if I'm going to do anything more involving Coonan and the Weasties, but just in case if you're interested you can check my sources. Moreover, if they change I'll be sure to let you know. I realize that this is rather tedious but I felt it best to get it out of the way, so thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoyed what I've written so far!!