Author's Notes:

So, at first, I headcanoned Ladd as being an only child because he's such an asshole (Hey, I can say it—I'm an only child, too!), but this idea popped into my head about him having sisters and killing all their ex-boyfriends despite their wishes. Because of this all of their suitors are scared shitless of him, leading all of the Russo sisters to become old maids (which was the worst possible thing a woman could be in the 1930s! Gasp!). And I know that Ladd prefers to kill people that aren't expecting death, but God, this idea of him killing the guys who break his sisters' hearts would. not. leave. me.

I decided to give Ladd only one sister for this fic for the sake of simplicity. Imagine the terror he'd wreak if he had several!

I've only read the first four light novels and am making my way through #5, so I double-checked the Baccano! Wiki to see if the names of Ladd's parents and possible siblings have been revealed, but alas there was nothing! Despite this, some things may not fall in line with canon (eg. any reference to Layla).

I chose the name Alma while researching baby names that were popular in 1909. I thought it was very pretty, but simple, plus I don't really think Ladd's parents would give any of their other kids super extravagant names.

And naturally, I don't own Baccano! and am not making a penny off of this little story.

Chapter 1

Alma Russo unlocked the front door to her childhood home, picked up the two grocery bags she'd originally placed on the front porch, and went inside. Just five more months of being the den mother of this overgrown Boy Scout troop. she thought as she made her way to the kitchen.

After her father died five years prior, her older brother moved into the master bedroom and allowed three of his good friends to move into the spare bedrooms (and in one case, the basement) of the house. The family's home was a lovely Victorian 4-bedroom set-up in an upper-middle class suburb of Chicago. Her father, being involved in the mafia, wanted to ensure that his wife and children were safe and away from the hustle and bustle of the city proper, which was notorious for being riddled with violent crime.

And though downtown Chicago was a brief ride on the "L" away, if they weren't working or wreaking havoc in the streets of the big city, Alma's brother and his friends spent quite a bit of their free time at home. It was almost like a fraternity at times with four men ranging in age from 23 to 26 hootin' and hollerin' at all hours of the evening, playing drinking games with bathtub hooch they acquired from a bootlegger, not cleaning up after themselves, and forgetting to put the toilet seat down.

On one or two occasions, one of the guys would find a nice girl and decide it was time for him to grow up and marry her, so he would move out. But, his spot would be refilled by another one of her brother's bachelor pals within a month and it was almost as though nothing had changed.

Being the only permanent female resident in the household (a girlfriend of one of the guys would sometimes stay for a few days at a time, and on more than one occasion, Alma sat and ate breakfast at the kitchen table with one of her housemate's one-night stands), she was the one that did the vast majority of the cooking and cleaning. Many times she felt less like "Ladd's kid sister" and more like their mother despite the fact that she was actually the youngest person in the house.

Soon enough, however, Alma wouldn't have to worry about performing the motherly duties of four men who were all able-bodied adults, but somehow all behaved like 12-year-old boys when they were under one roof. She looked at the bright side of it all though, this entire experience would be good practice for when she and Sal had children.

She was getting married in five months to her first love, Salvatore d'Angelo. People said they were a cute couple—"Al & Sal" they'd joke. She was absolutely smitten with him and couldn't wait for her fairy tale wedding, honeymoon in Niagara, and the hope that they'd be able to start a family shortly afterward.

The only thing that really upset her was that neither her father nor her mother, who died when she was still a child, would be able to see their little girl all grown up on her wedding day, which back then was considered the most important day of a woman's life, nor would they be there for their grandchildren.

Antonio "Tony" Russo, the youngest son of the Russo family don Placido Russo, Sr., was well known for his rebellious streak. He fell quite hard for one Miss Vivian Ladd, but his family didn't exactly welcome her with open arms. She wasn't of Italian descent, and although times were changing and people were beginning to marry those of other cultural backgrounds, the Russo family was a little more old-fashioned in that regard. Bring home a nice Italian girl or don't bring home a girl at all.

More controversy arose when the two eloped in 1906, reason being that she was pregnant. To top it all off, Tony's entire family found it very gauche that the two gave their baby boy his mother's maiden name as his first name. When Vivian gave birth to a daughter in 1909, the family breathed a sigh of relief that they at least named the baby girl something more dignified—Alma.

In comparison to their cousins on their father's side of the family, Ladd and Alma stuck out like sore thumbs. Whereas the vast majority of Russos had your standard medium-to-dark hair, brown or hazel eyes, and olive complexions typical of those of Sicilian descent, the two siblings inherited the Anglo-Saxon traits of their mother: sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

It really didn't help later on in life when Ladd "went insane" as many in the family put it following the murder of his beloved Layla, nor when Alma matured into the spitting image of her mother. Ladd at least got a good mix of Tony and Viv's genes—he had his father's facial features and hair texture, and tanned well, but was built more like the men on his mother's side of the family and had the same coloring as many of them, too.

But, very little was "Russo" about Alma appearance-wise. She instead resembled the English-Scottish-Irish mutt of a woman who was perceived to have tainted the family bloodline. They were the black sheep of the family through practically no trying of their own.

Another strike against her was the legacy that any older sibling leaves when their younger sibling comes into the fold: people assume that the younger will be just like the elder. This wasn't necessarily the case with Alma. "Polar opposites" is too drastic of a term to describe them, but if people were expecting Alma to be just like her older brother, they were in for a rude (or, perhaps in this case, it would be pleasant?) awakening.

Whereas Ladd had always been gregarious, talkative, and somewhat cocky, Alma was a little more reserved and not nearly as willing to strike up random conversations with strangers. Certainly not a shrinking violet, but still a bit of a wallflower.

Did Alma love her brother? That was difficult to say. They got along just fine as children, though there were some occasional rough patches. As a boy, Ladd's interests were quite typical; he loved to roughhouse and go to the Friday night fights with his father.

When he was seven, his parents signed him up for boxing lessons shortly after he decided he wanted practice the prizefighting moves he saw at those matches on his little sister. Better he take his aggression out on a punching bag as opposed to her. He thought he was being affectionate, thinking she'd put her dukes up and fight back, but it hadn't quite registered in his young mind that this was not how little girls usually socialize.

Was she afraid of him? Not necessarily. It was more the things he did and said rather than his very being that scared her. He always told her not to worry, that he wouldn't let anyone harm her, that she ranked very low on his hit list ("When I kill everyone in the world, you'll probably be something like the next-to-last person. Definitely one of the last three, for sure." Alma took comfort in trying to convince herself that he was completely joking when he went on his 'I'm gonna kill everyone!' tirade).

If Alma had to guess, she'd say that her brother cared deeply for her in his own strange way, but as the two became older, she found very little common ground with him. His recent behavior didn't help out either, which was part of the reason why Alma had developed an interest in psychology, checking out all different sorts of books about it from the library.

From what she'd read, she inferred that it was very possible that Ladd could be suffering from some sort of psychosis, but she decided that it wasn't her place to try and diagnose him with something. Suggesting he seek help would only make him defensive and possibly belligerent towards her; mental health was such a taboo subject at the time.

Because of all this, she found herself spending less and less time at the house whenever possible. Whether it was a Tuesday game of bridge with some of her old girlfriends from her school days or a date with Sal to see the newest Greta Garbo flick at the picture house, she made it a point to keep all the madness at bay.

But getting out of the house in the evenings was becoming a little more difficult for Alma in the past few months or so. Sal claimed last month that things were really hectic at work, and then earlier this month he told her that he wasn't feeling well (and made it a point that she not come over and try to nurse him back to health, lest she come down with what he had).

He'd always tell her that he'd make it up to her very soon, but when "very soon" came, Alma could see that clearly something was wrong, but he would just brush it off and say, "Oh, it's nothing." His behavior was quite odd, but she decided not to jump to conclusions. Regardless of all of this, she decided that she'd call up Sal and invite him over for dinner after she'd checked the mail.

Once Alma had put away all the groceries, she went back to the front door to do just that. Their mailbox was just to the left of the door, right on the house itself. When she opened the lid, one single envelope was inside. Upon further inspection, she noticed that the envelope didn't have a stamp or any addresses on it. It only had one word, written in a very neat hand: 'Alma'.

She recognized that handwriting as being Sal's, which then made her a little bit nervous. Once she started thinking about it, everything started making sense. The working overtime. The illness. The strange behavior. Was there a dark secret he was keeping from her? Alma hoped for the best but expected the absolute worst as she opened the envelope. After stepping back inside, she began reading.

My Dearest Alma,

It is with a heavy heart that I write you this letter. What I am about to tell you will be sure to cause you much grief, but I will not be able to rest easily until I have come clean to you about it.

I have done some unforgiveable things over the past few months that lead me to believe that you would no longer find me a suitable husband, father to your children, and most importantly, a life partner.

Just over three months ago, I met another woman and began a dalliance with her. Being the immature, selfish, and impatient fool that I am, I went into it because she fulfilled my desires in a way that you currently are unable to. Doing this was very disrespectful to you, and words cannot accurately express how sorry I am to hurt you like this.

Then, as luck would have it, she is now with child. My child. This is when I knew that I had made a terrible mistake. And while a child is most certainly something to celebrate, I saw it more as a punishment for not being faithful to you.

Lastly, and this is the most difficult part for me to admit: considering my new circumstances, I have decided that the best decision for me would be to elope with her. It only seems right with a baby on the way. It should know its father. There's no easy way for me to say this, but the engagement between you and I has to be called off.

Trust me, this was the most difficult decision I've ever faced in my entire life. By the time you've received this letter, we've already skipped town. I didn't want to have to tell you all of this in person because I knew how upset it would make you. Plus, I'm worried that your brother would try to interfere and possibly go after me.

Once again, I am so terribly sorry for all of the pain I may have—no—definitely have caused you. You really are one amazing doll, and I think any man would be incredibly lucky to have you for a wife.

Everything I've written above is the truth and you deserve to know it. You also deserve so much better than me.

Regards,

Sal

The entire world stopped for Alma. She realized that she was leaning against the door to steady herself—when had she done that? She heard a sound, the paper being shook back and forth by her hands. Her arms and legs couldn't stop shaking. And she felt numb—so extremely numb. Any other woman in this circumstance would have begun sobbing, but Alma didn't. Alma couldn't.

She tried to read through the letter again to ensure that this was all really happening, but couldn't focus on it. Instead, certain words stood out to her, 'unforgiveable things', 'suitable husband… life partner', 'another woman', 'she fulfilled my desires… you currently are unable to', 'with child', 'punishment for not being faithful', 'the engagement … called off'.

A strangling feeling presented itself in her throat. She tried to focus on something—anything—that wasn't the letter, but it was of no use. Her vision went blurred and found herself extremely lightheaded with the overwhelming need to lie down. She closed her eyes briefly, but when she opened them, she couldn't see anything - had she even opened them at all? Little pockets of vision returned to her, but they never stayed in the same place for long. The last thing she remembered was taking two steps forward before complete darkness had consumed her memory.

Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading the first chapter!

I could literally fill up an entire chapter of just author's notes about my characterization decisions (I've really cut down on my Author's Notes from my previous drafts). For instance, I'm very much aware that those of pure Italian descent can, in fact, have blonde hair and blue eyes. I just thought that both Ladd and Alma looking starkly different from their other relatives would be—I dunno. Symbolic?

In addition to this, I put Ladd's birth year as being 1906, reason being that in (I think it's) the third light novel, he says that he turned 25 "this year" as in 1931.

I feel like how I described Alma cooking and cleaning and thinking about marriage and kids makes her sound a bit like a Mary Sue, but I think she's more a product of her time than anything. Women still very much had their place in the home back then, so it's a bit difficult to make her a "strong independent female character" when she lives during a time period where women were expected to be perfect and pleasant at all times. At least she's not a pink-and-purple-haired telekinetic wunderkind that everyone has a crush on, right (lol, someone triple-dog dare me to write that version of this story :D)?

I also took some historic liberties with Alma's thought about living with a bunch of overgrown Boy Scouts. Den mothers weren't officially integrated into the Boy Scouts of America until 1932. I originally had wanted to put "Just five more months of living with this overgrown Boy Scout jamboree." but come to find that the first jamboree didn't occur until 1937! Super duper anal, I know, but I had to be sure. And this is also the extent of my knowledge of all things pertaining to the Boy Scouts.