Nick parked his car by the Four Roses, and stepped out into the sun. He was nervous as hell! He knew Billy didn't really want fuck all to do with him anymore, but he needed to know about his sons. Were they okay? What did they look like? did they do okay in school?

He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. he'd been letting it grow for a while, back to the style it was before...back in the old days.

Entering the Four Roses, he felt the heavy aroma of liquor and cigarette smoke hit him like a wave. He felt really out of place. apparently he looked out of place as well, because everyone was staring at him. It was obvious that everyone knew who he was, because he wasn't wearing the suit he usually wore to work. It was just a normal back sweater and dark jeans today. Wearing an expensive suit was just like screaming 'come rob me and kick the shit out of me!'.

A black man with tattoo's in his face was staring intensely at him. Nick recognised him from the night when the entire gang had come to his house, almost killing them all. The black man knocked shoulders with a Hispanic guy jerking his head towards Nick. The Hispanic guy stared at him, saying something to the rest of the table and then waving him over.

Nick walked over, feeling like he was doing the green mile.

~*~

"Look, it's Hume." Bodie said, knocking shoulders with Heco.

Heco snorted, "I'll be damned - guy's, look!"

The gang turned to look in the direction Heco was looking. "So what we gonna do about it. Billy don't want the guy dead for some reason." Colin said.

"Hume and Billy were friends back when Billy still lived in Detroit." Bodie said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Billy was pretty tight lipped on how well they knew each other, but it must have been pretty well. I mean, Bill don't crack like that for nothin' now don't he." Bodie said.

"Fine, let's talk to the guy." Heco said and waved him over.

~*~

Bodie kicked out a chair for Nick to sit down in. Nick grabbed the back of the chair and sat down, not taking his eyes off of any of the gang members.

"So why you here?"

"Talk to Billy - why else?"

Bodie shrugged, "Dont' know. Don't have any knives with you, do you. Wanna keep my weak spots safe."

Nick cracked a smirk, "You do that. So where is he?"

"Not here - so how do you and Billy know each other. We got the basic outline, but you probably know - Billy's not all that chatty ."

"Actually, I don't know. Back when I knew Billy he couldn't shut up." He said with a slight smirk but not letting his guard down.

Bodie snorted, "right, next you'll tell me he had a loving mother and is a retired rock star."

Nick just raised how brows at he Bodie. Exactly how much did Billy's friends really know about Billy? "Well, what can i say, Billy's mom is a saint and as for the rock star thing, he has a musical ear unlike anything I've ever seen. He's a wizard at guitars - even back then, but his instrument of choice is the piano. He'd play for hours every day - when he wasn't playing hockey or doing homework."

"Billy did homework?" Tommy asked, "Yeah right," he snorted in disbelief.

Nick shrugged, "Of course he did. He was a straight A student, skipped three grades and still graduated with honours, - he was valedictorian for fucks sake."

Heco laughed, "If Billy was so great, what the fuck is he doing in the dumps of Boston?"

"Maybe he just wanted a break." Nick said.

"From what? Success?"

Nick narrowed his eyes at the men sitting by the table, still not letting his guard down. He felt they were pretty much on even feet. He knew they were killers, they knew he was a killer. They 'knew' that Nick ghosted Billy's brother, even though they apprently were close friends. what they didn't know was that Nick didn't know that Joe Darley was Billy Darley's younger brother. Hell, Darley was a pretty common name. "Have you ever wondered why this bar is called 'The Four Roses'?" he asked,

"The logo is four roses." Colin shrugged.

"Hm," Nick hummed, "Why don't you google, 'Darley' or 'The Four Roses'. maybe you'll find out stuff about Billy that you couldn't ever imagine." he suggested, "Now where is he? We need to talk." Nick stood up and brushed invisible dust off his jeans.

Alex sipped his drink, a cigarette glowing in his hand, "He's in Detroit, Took his kid with him. His mother funeral."

Nick stiffered, "He took Jack with him?"

"No....his kid's name is Murtagh..." Bodie said, thinking it was the most obvious thing.

"He has two - twins. Jack and Murtagh."

"And how the fuck do you know that? we only found out a few days ago!"

Nick shifted, "Cause they're mine too." he said and left.

A/N; i am so sorry for the long wait, but here it is. i just got a new laptop, cause the old one died on me. It was hell trying to get the data out of it.