A/N: Sorry about the wait. It's just that I wanted to put out at least one thing before 2017 ends. That other thing might be "Yggdrasil," but we'll see about that. Anyhoo, enjoy!

Seven months after their last encounter, the Frenchman and the Italian woman were swiftly reunited and proceeded to greet each other like old friends would do.

"It's been way too long, innamorato," she said when they were together again. "Did you miss me when we were apart?"

"I most certainly did," he responded. "Did you?"

"I would be lying if I said I didn't..."

"Thank God. I haven't stopped thinking of you for a week..."

"Me neither... so what are your plans today?"

"My... plans?"

"Yes, what do you want to do today?"

"I figured now would be the perfect time to introduce you to my family."

Jacqueline's eyes widened at this. "Really? But we haven't seen each other in seven months..."

"I know... it's just that I've talked about you so much and Mother seems to have approved, at least from what she's hearing."

"But we've been apart for seven months!"

"Trust me, it'll be fine."

"If you say so..."

The young spy was so excited. He was going to show Jacqueline to his entire family. She was beautiful and had a sharp-as-a-knife wit, and don't even get him started on her makeup or her wardrobe! Damn, he was already getting aroused just thinking about it. He had to keep that to himself, however. If Adele or anyone else in the family knew how much Jackie gave him a boner, he'd never hear the end of it.

So anyway, he was leading Jacqueline by the hand across several streets and pathways, all while people blurred through them and seemed to vanish into nothing. He adored this woman so much... he'd do anything in the world to protect her, even if it costed him his own life. He had a good feeling about her, about them, about the life he could see himself having. Everybody else could burn in Hell for all they cared. He kept looking back at her along the way. He had to remind himself how beautiful she was in all her Italian glory, especially after all the sex they'd had last time. Mon Dieu, that was amazing.

"So..." Jacqueline finally spoke up. "Are we almost there yet?"

"Yes," he replied. "We are. Just be patient."

"Alright, if you say so..."

She proceeded to keep her mouth shut the rest of the way. Eventually, they managed to get to their destination: a plaster white chateau that was somewhat tiny compared to the flats surrounding it. If she had to be honest, Jacqueline wasn't quite sure what to make of it or him for that matter. Still, if he was this willing to show her to his family, she could only imagine how willing he'd be to show her everything he had.

His mother Adele was the very first of his family that she came across. She had extremely pale skin and a gaunt figure to her that made her look like she was a walking skeleton covered only with skin and clothes. Her light blonde hair was choppy and short, her face was slender and looked to have aged so much that she looked to be in her late sixties (she was actually only forty-three!), her eyes were horribly sunken in and baggy, her icy blue eyes were horribly bloodshot, and her lips were spotted with cold sores along the left corner.

Next up was his first cousin once removed, Cesar. He and Adele could've easily passed for brother and sister with their similar elongated faces, blonde hair and blue eyes respectively, and this was all thanks to their parents being two sets of identical twins (their fathers were identical twin brothers who married identical twin sisters). He had a bit of a five-o'clock shadow going on, but it didn't seem to have grown enough to be too noticeable.

Then there was Cesar's young Spaniard wife, Adoracion (Adora for short). She had a bronze tan complexion, light brown hair, and pretty brown eyes that were as dark as chocolate. The left side of her face was covered in copious amounts of scar tissue, which extended to the bridge of her nose and the left corner of her lips. There was a small but fairly noticeable scar on the right side of her forehead.

Following Adora was her oldest daughter Delphine. She was fair-skinned like her father and her hair was a bright chestnut brown shaped into an even bob. Her eyes were a gunmetal blue like her father's and her face was shorter and rounder like her mother's. Her skin was practically flawless, inside and out, and her lips were as thick as her index finger.

After Delphine was her sister Honore. She was tan like her mother with hair that veered closer to being blonde like her father's hair. Her eyes were chocolate brown like her mother's and her face was as slender as her father's but plumper like her mother's face.

Finally, there was Montague, Cesar and Adora's only son. He'd only been born a few weeks ago, and yet he was taking after his father. He had a blond tuft of hair sticking out of his head and his eyes were as gray as gunpowder.

"Cousin, cousin!" Cesar exclaimed in his heavy French accent. "Last time I saw you, you looked like a broken baguette!"

"Cesar, please," his cousin replied. "Not in front of my lady."

"No, no, it's quite alright. No need to be embarrassed. You just brought over a girl, that's all."

"Excuse me," Jacqueline cut in. "Mind if I join in? I'm Jacqueline Russo and I've been stalking Luigi Emmanuel for a while."

"Who's that?" Delphine asked out of curiosity.

"He's only the head of the Uomini Verdi, one of the biggest criminals in Italy right now. I don't exactly know what he's planning to do..." She turned to face her partner. "...but dear Henri is going to help me find out, isn't that right?"

Everyone else turned to look at him as well.

He cleared his throat. "Yes, that's right," he answered. "And nothing you say or do will change our minds, got it?"

"I... I guess so," Adele said. "Just make sure you don't get yourself killed. I've had to rely on you and our cousins all my life and I'll be damned if I have to find someone else who might use me again."

"Thank you, Signora LeCroix. Might I ask where your husband is, by the way?"

"Oh..." There was only silence after that. It took her roughly a minute before she could speak again. "I've never had a husband in my life. There was only one man who ever loved me for me and that was his father. Unfortunately, he was already married to another woman and he'd had three children with her, no less."

"So where is he now?"

"He's dead. He took a blast to the face during the Great War and... he died." She then broke down, weeping her eyes. "If only he knew he'd left me someone to remember him by..."

Jacqueline let out a soft but audible gasp. Oh mio Dio... her beloved was a bastard child, as was she. Perhaps Fate had been trying to bring them together all along, but no. That could've only been a coincidence... right? She turned to look at her partner. "Is this true?"

"Sadly, yes," he replied.

"I'm sorry… I know this must be hard for you…"

"It is."

"I wish there was something I could do for you…"

Later that day, Jacqueline climbed up to the roof and spotted her partner sitting down near the edge. She couldn't help but notice the stoic expression on his face, and she proceeded to sit down next to him. The view from up here was rather remarkable.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. "Your mother seemed rather upset about what happened to your father…"

"She's been upset for a long time," he replied. "You heard what she said back inside. He was the only man who loved her for who she was and not just because she was a prostitute. Such a shame, then, that they couldn't be together."

"So they were star-crossed lovers?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that."

"My parents never had that issue when they were first seeing each other. In fact, they're still together today. Only thing is... my father isn't really my father."

His eyes widened at this. "He's not?"

She shook her head. "No. My real father's still out there. I just need to find him."

"I see…" He put his arm around her shoulders. "Well, no matter what happens, we have each other and we always will."

"Always?"

"Yes, always."