This afternoon was turning out to be the most interesting one that this house had seen in a long while. Rio sat at the dining room table, leaned back with his hands on the back of his head. He looked around the table where a few other guys dressed in all black just like himself sat. Sitting on the table in front of them was a few hundred grand, sitting neatly in stacks.

"We back in business, fellas." Rio said, half smile plastered on his face.

Before he could say anything else, he heard the front door open and heard Beth's voice.

"We're kid free. Well, four out of five gone is as close as kid-free as we're…" she stopped in her tracks, legs and voice both, when she walking into the dining room. "Oh."

"We done here." he said and his boys knew that was their cue to leave.

Rio grabbed Lia's carseat from Beth's hand and sat it on the table while the men walked to the kitchen and out the backdoor. He took Lia out of her seat and smiled like the cash sitting next to it was as normal as a 24 hour day.

"So you're doing this, huh?" Beth asked, sitting the babybag and her purse in a now empty chair. She didn't wait for an answer because the answer was obvious. "How much is this?"

"Almost 500 grand." he answered, lightly bouncing Lia in his arms.

It was weird to her. Of course, she knew the Rio before becoming a dad. Gritty, slightly disrespectful, always dressed in dark clothes and making sure people knew he was a threat. Then she knew the Rio after becoming a dad. Smiley, bouncing, just as excited for his own first skin to skin contact with their newborn as Beth was. Now those two Rios were colliding or at least that's what it felt like to her. She knew he was the same man he had always been, but it really felt like a happy medium of two different Rios that she was witnessing.

"Half a million dollars? Fake?"

He looked at her before answering.

"Real as hell." It was always in the back of his mind how much honesty meant to Beth. "I wanted to get it all washed so you wouldn't be worried about anything."

"Oh, I'm still worried. Just...seeing it is a little easing."

She looked up from the money to look at him and they made eye contact.

"You mad?" he asked.

"I'm not. You had this whole life before me, Rio, I understand that. I fell in love with you while you were still doing this. You've changed so much for Lia. And for me and the kids."

She walked closer to him and put her hand on the side of his face.

"Please, just be careful. A hundred times more than you were before. And don't bring trouble into this house."

Rio nodded and brought his lips down to hers, kissing her longer than he expected to. Lia's fussing broke them apart.

"She only does that because she wants all your attention, I'm sure of it." Beth said, laughing.

"Cause you love your papi, right, Lia?"

"Is that so, Lia? Well, he can keep you tonight while Mama is at Auntie Ruby's for girls' night."

"Wait, what?" Rio said, making Beth laugh and walk away. "Let's rethink this."

That night, during a commercial break and after more than a fair share of wine, Beth figured now was as good of a time as any to let her girls know what's been going on.

"So, guys." she started, then cleared her throat. "Rio did something."

"Beth, you know how much sentences like that scare me." Ruby replied.

Beth laughed. "No, it's nothing bad. But it is interesting."

"Well, what is it?" the ever impatient Annie asked.

"He made a comeback." Beth answered. "Started small with washing a few hundred thousand and it worked. I didn't ask questions so I don't know how yet. What I do know is that my dining room table was covered in cash when I got home from dropping the kids off at Dean's."

"So does that mean we're back in the game?" Annie inquired, smirking at Ruby and Beth.

"Really?" Ruby asked. "Was all the crap we went through last time not enough for you? We're all doing okay, let's keep it that way."

Beth agreed. "Ruby's right."

"That's easy for you to say, Beth. You're getting a cut now whether you do anything or not. Doesn't hurt to be banging the top gangbanger."

If she hadn't been a little wine tipsy, she would have defended her relationship with Rio to Annie because everyone knew it was more than just banging. That was clear.

"I can't argue with you there." she countered instead. "Really though, I'm not even sure what his plan is yet or how he washed this first load."

"He's not scared of getting back into this?" Ruby asked.

"I don't think so. He was doing perfectly fine before we came along and started making a mess of his world."

Ruby could tell Beth had more to say by the pensive look on her face, but since she didn't say anything else, she let it slide. Beth sobered up before driving home and she thought about how much she didn't know about Rio's world before she, Ruby, and Annie upended it. She was surprised to see Rio asleep when she got home because he usually stayed up later than her. She carefully scooped sleeping Lia up from her side of the bed and took her to her crib. She lazily undressed and crawled into bed, reaching her arm out and letting her hand rub up and down Rio's naked chest and stomach. She felt him move around a little before he let out a sigh.

"You two won't let me sleep." he said, not even bothering to open his eyes.

Beth smiled.

"Rio, you said before that you started with drugs. When did you start that?"

"We're talking about this right now?"

She didn't answer so he obliged.

"When I was 17. Back then, I wasn't a boss like I am now."

"Now you have men who will kill for you. Did you ever have to kill anyone?"

"No, Beth. Shot a few motherfuckers though." he smirked in the dark and they both swore she could sense that. "What's with the 21 questions?"

"I just wanted to know more."

"This can't wait until tomorrow? I just want sleep."

Beth happily gave in because the wine and late night was doing her in anyway. It wasn't more than a few minutes before her head joined her hand on Rio's chest and her eyes drifted closed. She woke up the next morning with her head on Rio's pillow instead and a freshly awake Lia cooing in her cosleeper.

"Hi, baby." Beth croaked, sleep evident in her voice. "Good morning."

Beth assumed Rio had started his day before sunrise this morning and it wasn't a welcomed change to their routine. But looking in the face of her adorable six month old baby girl didn't allow her to sulk for more than a minute. She got up out of bed and got herself and Lia ready for whatever they'd get into today, which ended up starting with a call from the kids talking about how much they missed their baby sister. The rest of the day was pretty quiet for them and the best thing about it was the awesome nap they had in between doing nothing and nothing.

By the time they had their nighttime baths and got into bed, Rio finally returned home.

"I was hoping she was still up." Rio said before leaning across the bed to kiss Beth.

"I don't like that you were gone all day." Beth admitted, not needing any prompt to express her feelings.

"It's just like I'm still working at the shop." he replied before he walked over to Lia's cosleeper and softly pressed a kiss into her smooth hair.

"You were never gone literally all day. And this is so much different and way more dangerous. I was worried all day."

"Look. I'm sorry, okay? You having second thoughts about being okay with this?"

"I still feel the same about it. I prefer you don't do it, but I understand and I'm okay with it. But being here with this mini girl version of you," she laughed "You were just on my mind all day and I hoped nothing went wrong."

"Everything is good, Beth."

"I have more rules." she said, sitting up.

Rio chuckled. "Such a mama. What are they?"

"You have to keep in contact with me when you're gone or else I'll worry my head off about whether me and the kids will ever see you again."

"You got it." Rio said, taking his shirt off.

"Stop undressing because you're distracting me. Another thing, you have keep me in the know as much as possible."

He dropped his pants and stepped out of them before replying. "You got it. That it?"

She looked him up and down before answering.

"It is for now. Get over here."


AN: Don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think!