A/N: New chapter that wasn't a nightmare to write, hooray!

Speaking of writing*blows party horn* with the inclusion of this chapter, this story is over 50000 words without author's notes which is INSANE, ohmygod I've never written anything this long in my life and its still not done. Shoutout to every single person who has interacted with any part of this story, its kept me motivated to work towards finishing it. :D

This chapter is a continuation of two character's positions in chapter 45. We'll come back to Mike and Ella in due time, but not for a little while.

Special thanks once again to Kitkatkatester for reviewing the last chapter. :)

With that very long authors note done, enjoy!

Vito kicked the stony ground with each step he took towards the edge of the town limits. This made him much slower than he could have been, but he was fine with that; he wasn't in any rush.

As he meandered past the houses that neighbored his own he saw the occasional person in their front yard, maybe doing some gardening or just enjoying the early afternoon. He wasn't enjoying it but that wasn't relevant.

One of the last houses had a pretty nice front yard that he felt the need to look at longer than the others. He'd been stewing the whole way there, having these stupid emotions spinning around in his head with no way to let it out. It was really frustrating, but seeing all the pretty flowers was enough to calm him down a little...not that he liked flowers. Pfft. No way...a man like him? Naaaah…

"Aren't they amazing?" An unfamiliar voice asked him suddenly. "My wife planted them, this time of year it's just a load of colors all the time. It's great."

Vito broke out of his daze and looked towards the front door of the house. A guy he didn't recognize watched him from afar, holding a cup of something in his hand. "Ey, don't go thinkin' I'm some kinda pansy or whateva looking at flowers," he warned. "I ain't in the mood."

"Um, I wasn't, but alright," the guy said with a shrug. "Nothing wrong with looking at plants." He took a sip of his drink, then Vito heard another faint voice from inside but couldn't place it. "It's on the top shelf, you're more than tall enough to reach it!" the guy called back.

"That yo girl you talkin' to?" Vito guessed.

The guy looked back. "Oh, no, we have a, um, a guest staying with us, for the time being… he can be a bit clueless sometimes," he explained.

"I heard that."

The guy seemed to freeze up when he got a reply from behind. He then sighed.

Vito definitely heard it better that time and was shocked that he was able to recognize the voice.

"I didn't mean that, you know I wouldn't-" the guy started to assure him.

"Oh I'm aware, but I'm on edge today so watch what you spout out of that mouth, Duncan," the guest advised, pointing an accusing finger at his lips.

"Okay, okay…" Duncan gave in. He glanced off in Vito's direction again; he was still there, watching the exchange from afar.

The guest poked an eye out in the doorway and narrowed it when he saw Vito. He whispered something to Duncan and went back further into the house, leaving just the two of them again. After being whispered to Duncan's eyes widened, seeming to realize something important, he suddenly narrowed his eyes at Vito as his mouth slipped into a frown.

Vito raised an eyebrow. "What's with that face, yo?" he asked, frowning back.

"...don't worry about it," Duncan said, quickly waving it off and thinking of a plan. "...if you're really interested in the plants, I could ask my wife to come out here so you can chat. Since you don't seem to be too busy." His tone shifted very quickly between the first and second sentence. This was picked up on but Vito was not naturally suspicious of him.

He actually thought about it briefly. The flowers were really nice, even if he wouldn't admit to thinking that. He didn't know much about them, despite the garden at his own house being rather nice too, but Mike always took care of it and he'd never approached him about it. Why would he? "Ey, I mean, uh, sure, but, I ain't gonna like it…" he said unconvincingly.

Duncan nodded, heading inside. After a couple minutes Zoey walked out and waved. "Hello! Duncan told me you liked the garden."

Vito then came to realize he hadn't spoken to a woman without flirting with them in ages. This was going to go terribly, she was married and he couldn't just fall back to his usual routine of attempted wooing. He couldn't talk to a woman platonically, like, what?!

Maybe he could just walk away and go back to letting his anger continue to fester-

"I promise I don't bite," Zoey said with a small laugh, appearing to read into his sudden anxiety as she stood in front of him.

He blinked, finally looking down at her, being the taller of the two. "I wasn't thinking that, yo," Vito insisted.

Zoey nodded, then introduced herself. "So, which ones did you like?" she asked, gesturing to the various flowers.

Vito looked around at them once again and pointed silently to a cluster of short, pale blue blooms adjacent to a more regimented section of taller pink flowers. "I guess those're good, yo," he said with an uncharacteristic lack of confidence. "Color's, uh...nice."

"I've always liked those, too. They keep their petals longer than some of the others," Zoey informed him with a smile. "Stand up to the weather quite well, too."

"...strong little plants, yo," Vito remarked quietly, silently impressed. As they talked more and more he felt less anxious about being there, which would prove to be a mistake.

Inside the house, there was talk of interrogation. They knew who Vito was, but they didn't know his stance on Mike's condition. They didn't know how guilty he felt about what had gone on or how angry he'd been at his brother for not even listening to him. In their minds he was in the same boat as Scott, maybe a bit less aggressive.

They wanted to have a chat with him. See what he knew.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of town, Noah had entered the law office with a purposeful and impatient air about him. He'd made his presence very known when he opened the door quite more forcefully than he really needed to, stepping into the familiar little reception area when a familiar face poked her head out from the hallway. "Mr. Burromuerto will be with you shortly," Courtney said matter-of-factly before turning and leaving as quickly as she appeared.

Noah glanced between the nearby clock and the various objects in the room restlessly as he waited.

The man himself finally made an appearance three minutes after noon. "My sincerest apologies for keeping you waiting, señor," Alejandro said as he beckoned him towards his office. He looked a bit sleep deprived but was the type to push past the aching fatigue in his limbs; it wasn't Noah's concern to care how much his lawyer slept anyway...unless it contributed to any failure on Al's side of things.

"Did you find what I asked?" Noah inquired after the door closed the two of them in Al's office, the lawyer having sat back at his desk.

"It was a bit tricky, but I stumbled upon some things you might like…" Alejandro said with a rustling of the documents on his desk and a small smirk on his face, the kind that sort of made one want to punch him. His particular set specific to Noah was centered in front of him.

Starting with his findings from his sleepy reading that morning, he began a small lecture on the statutes in question, and how they could easily get around them. "The time issue can be dealt with easily...therefore, his whereabouts have been unknown long enough to declare him dead! That's what you wanted, sí?" Al asked to double check.

Something close to a smile appeared on Noah's face, but it wasn't a nice one if it could qualify as such an expression. "How soon can you make it happen?" he wondered calmly, The sooner the better after all...it had already taken too long to get this far.

"As soon as I can fill the papers required and have them delivered to the right people…shouldn't be more than an hour, if Courtney is quick on her feet," Al assured him.

"Excellent…"

Al's smile straightened out after a moment of silence. "I trust that once the death is made public it won't be too long before-"

"I told you that this time I'd get it to you," Noah interrupted him, putting a hand up in a matching gesture. "As long as everything goes smoothly- which it will- it'll all be yours." And I'll finally get to leave this godforsaken town he added in his head.

"Of course. I have complete confidence that you won't disappoint again," Alejandro said in that voice of his that made it hard to tell if he was being truthful or not. "I advise you spend some time in town while I take care of this; come back at, say, one thirty?"

"If that's what it'll take, I can wait a little longer…" It was one more hour and change that he couldn't take the next step. Compared to the past year it was nothing, barely any time at all.

"Perfecto," Alejandro replied with another smirk. "I'll see you then, señor." He gestured to the door, Noah taking that as his moment to leave.

Leaving the law office Noah was briefly blinded by the sun, as it was quite high in the sky by now and the day was indeed a nice one...a good day to declare a death.

Though on the clock it was half over, the day had really only just begun.

Lemme know if the timeline stops making sense at some point. I'm trying to keep it consistent and idk if its working lol.

Please review if you want with opinions on anything in this chapter, its got a lot of stuff. First real time in Noah's perspective, that was new.

Stay safe out there y'all, and I'll see ya next time :)