"For the last time, you're not going in there until you sober up!" Tommy says, aggressively forcing the drunken man to sit down.
"Do you have kids, mister?!" The man snarled.
"A daughter about the same age as your own… but I don't expose her to how crazy I am when drunk." Tommy says.
"A damn grenade! How do I know they weren't aiming for that scrawny bitch instead?!" The man yells, Tommy punching him as he did not like Maria being blamed or insulted.
"You don't talk about my little sister that way, whoever the hell you are!" Tommy yells.
"Hair trigger temper with him…" Maria says, closing the door and pulling the curtain in front of the glass to prevent Inessa from witnessing the fight. "I didn't get your name earlier, ma'am. I'm Maria." She says after turning to the woman.
"Viktoriya." The woman says.
"That's a nice name." Maria says, Inessa pointing at Maria's nails and then looking at Viktoriya, curious about the bright red color.
"She's never really seen painted nails before… we've only actually been in the country a few months." Viktoriya says.
Maria grabbed a notepad and a pen, writing something down and showing it to Inessa.
'When I was a bit older than you, I started wearing this color on my nails. Looking at the brightness always made me smile, kiddo.'
Inessa clapped her hands together and leaned against Viktoriya, feeling sleepy.
"Did they give her too much Children's Tylenol?" Maria asks, remembering how it used to make her sleepy when she was as small as Inessa.
Deciding to let them rest, Maria walked into the waiting room… only to see Inessa's father being taken into a treatment room and bruises on Tommy's hands.
"Do you really have to be so damned aggressive whenever some idiot mouths off, Tommy?" Maria asks as Tommy wraps his arms around her, Maria wrapping her arms around him. "I'd tell you that I'm okay… but you wouldn't believe it. Did you get a name out of that guy?" She says.
"Ivan." Tommy says.
"Ivan sounds about as crazy as Carlotta was." Maria says, Tommy lightly rubbing his hand up and down her back but stopped when Maria flinched as he accidentally brushed his hand against the right side of her ribcage, three ribs bruised and two fractured.
The Vercetti mansion was quiet when the two walked in until Angeline ran down the stairs excitedly and jumped into her aunt's arms, Maria hugging Angeline… but when Angeline saw Maria's burns and scrapes, she turned worried.
"Daddy, did Auntie Ria fall?" Angeline asks after looking at Tommy, who gently took her into his arms.
Maria walked upstairs to her room and gently closed the door… when it was closed, she walked over to her bed and stretched out on it, finally letting herself cry. It wasn't too long before she felt a hand on her back, looked up and saw Ken.
"I didn't want to scare Inessa or Angel by crying… did they say back at the hospital if Inessa's hearing will come back?" Maria says.
"They said… unlikely. At the very best, she'll be able to hear vibrations, us talking right next to her will sound like were separated from her by a wall." Ken says.
Maria felt Ken's arms wrap around her as he stretched out next to her, Maria resting her head on his right shoulder and closing her eyes to try to soothe her tired mind. When she woke back up a half hour later, she heard water running before it was shut off and sat up, Ken walking out to her half naked and his torso, arms and abs having water and soap trickle down them.
"I… decided that you could use some time to yourself to relax." Ken says, helping Maria up to her feet and lightly pulling her dirty and bloodstained tank top off. Maria slipped her sandals and shorts off, lightly kissing Ken on his jawline before pulling her hair into a messy bun and disappearing into the bathroom after pulling her red lace bra and underwear off.
Removing the bandages off of her knees and arms, Maria gently climbed into the clawfoot tub. She immediately leaned back against it, breathing in the mixed scents of pineapple and hibiscus bath salts.
After drying his upper body off, Ken pulled a shirt on and decided to let Maria have some time to herself. He walked downstairs, hearing a knock at the door and decided to answer it.
"You were at the hospital earlier, right?" Ivan asks.
"I don't see how it's really any of your business but yes, I was checking on my friend. She did save an innocent child after all." Ken says.
"Yeah, my innocent child, right before her brother forced and stopped me from seeing her! My own daughter, and some stranger has the nerve to get between us!" Ivan says.
"Tommy didn't want your daughter to see you drunk. He has problems with parents who prefer to drink instead of watching their own kids!" Ken says, having been told the full story from Tommy and like Tommy, it set Ken off too.
"Maybe that's true but where I come from, the mother and father split the job, the mom does the caring and the dad does the working, it's just how it works… and as for the drinking, back home we used to run a bar, she's seen drunk people pretty much for as long as she's been alive." Ivan says.
"It's still a horrifying thing for a kid to see and I'm gonna ask you to keep your voice down before-" Ken says.
"Uncle Ken? What's going on?" Angeline asks, Ken running over to his 4 year old goddaughter and picking her up in his arms.
"Nothing sweetie… this man here is just confused, he's been wandering around lost." Ken says, looking at Ivan as if to say "Don't dare flip out in front of this little angel."... but Ivan wouldn't leave.
Having heard the noise from upstairs, Maria carefully climbed out and dried off, draining the bath water before pulling on a pair of underwear and pajamas. She tossed her silk robe on and slipped her revolver into her pocket before joining the others downstairs as did Tommy, Ivan's yelling having driven Angeline to tears… and Ivan angry that she started crying.
"Okay, that's enough!" Maria says, shoving Ivan outside and closing the door behind them. "You have no respect! Otherwise, you wouldn't have traumatized my little niece! Now you need to leave!" She says angrily, Ivan turning his rage towards her and backhanding her. Maria reached into her robe pocket and pulled the gun out, pressing it against Ivan's head.
"Go on then… your niece will hear the shot and forever remember what you did, plus you'll be leaving a now deaf child without her father… go on, woman, let out the monster you really are! Don't leave it a weak and empty threat, shoot me dead!" Ivan says, shouting at the end.
Maria clicked the safety back on, Ivan barely having time to smirk before being smacked across the face with the gun three times until his nose and right cheekbone were broken.
"How do you like being abused, huh?! Now run along and consider yourself lucky that you're still alive with how pathetic you are!" Maria says coldly, Ivan backing up as her rage scared him.
Ivan left, Maria putting the gun away and walking back inside.
"I heard bones breaking… is he dead?" Angeline asks.
"He's just roughed up, kiddo. He's still alive." Maria says, Angeline seeing blood trickle down Maria's mouth.
"Daddy, what is it you say when someone attacks another person after being hit?" Angeline asks.
"It's self defense, babydoll." Tommy says, kissing Angeline on her forehead before lightly hugging Maria with one arm and heading upstairs.
"Hey, easy now. Ken, is that really necessary?" Maria says as Ken gently wiped the blood away with a napkin, Ken knowing that Maria had pulled the gun out on Ivan because she had been reliving her past abuse for a few seconds.
Back at the small apartment they lived in in Little Havana, Ivan walked in after getting patched up.
"Inessa's sleeping… what happened?" Viktoriya says, seeing Ivan's injuries.
"I tried to confront that man… his sister got pissed because I scared her niece, then the pint sized monster told me off. I… I lost it and backhanded her." Ivan says, Inessa slapping him.
"You… stupid man! That woman you hit has been through too much, how dare you hit her?!" Viktoriya says angrily.
"I don't know, I just lost it!" Ivan says.
"Look… maybe this 'trying to blend into American ways' thing isn't working out so much. Maybe we should just do it as it was done to us, you work and I'll do the caring. In future, when it concerns Inessa, just… let me handle it, okay?" Viktoriya says.
"I suppose… it is what we do best." Ivan says.
At the same time, Maria wandered up to the roof of the Vercetti mansion, now dressed in a white sundress... alone time soothed her.
But it wouldn't work this time.
