Chapter Five
A storm never lasted forever. As fierce as it might seem in the moment, the skies would always clear and the sun would shine through.
Abbacchio realized this again as he watched his now very pregnant wife getting comfortable in bed next to him. He couldn't help but stare. She was beautiful. Despite the morning sickness in the beginning and general discomfort, Carmen had seemed incredibly serene in her pregnancy and for that Abbacchio was happy. Happy for them both.
"What are you looking at?" Carmen asked him with a small, slightly flustered smile.
"Nothing," Abbacchio told her, leaning in to kiss the corner of her mouth softly. "I just love you. Both of you." He bent to kiss her round belly and rested his cheek against it, closing his eyes.
Carmen stroked his hair, both of them lying content for a long moment until Leone felt a soft kick against his cheek. He grinned and Carmen laughed.
"He's just saying goodnight," Carmen said.
Abbacchio pulled back and leaned up to kiss her again before reaching over to turn the lights off. He settled down, spooning Carmen with his hand resting on her belly. She reached up to twine her fingers through his.
"Not long now," she said in a soft sigh.
"Not long now," Leone whispered back against her ear.
But, of course, the skies couldn't stay clear forever. Sometimes he forgot it these days, but their lives were dangerous, and Abbacchio was still a member of Passione.
"Well, I can't let this go on any longer," Giorno said grimly one morning while they were all in the office working on various tasks.
"Is it Bottarga again?" Bruno asked, brows knitting together.
Giorno nodded. "I thought my warning was clear after he attempted to take partial shipments off the docks behind my back, but now he's actively trafficking drugs into the city. One of my informants caught him in a deal last night."
Fugo made a sound of disgust. "I had a feeling he was going to try to push it."
Abbacchio had too; he knew the type. Bottarga had been an annoyance for a while, but hadn't done anything bad enough to push Giorno's hand. Now, though, it was almost like he was taunting the young Don. Asking him to go after him. And he was going to get more than he bargained for.
"How do you want to do this?" Bruno asked.
"The only real option I can see is confronting him directly," Giorno stated. "He has a small faction and no Stand users. We'll make the plan of attack today, and go first thing tomorrow morning. The issue should all be cleared up by tomorrow night."
Bruno nodded. "Let's get the others, then."
Later that evening when Mista and Trish were taking their turn cooking dinner, Abbacchio found himself cornered while passing through the living room by two angry, yet beautiful, women.
"Leone," Maria started off, accusatory.
He held up his hands. "What the hell did I do?"
Carmen folded her arms above her large belly. "You're actually going on a mission tomorrow?"
"Don't you remember what happened when I had Paolo?" Maria asked.
"Of course I remember, I delivered him in the back of a van," Abbacchio said. "But I'll be with the others and you'll be here, Carmen."
"The doctor said it could be any time between this week and next, Leone!" Carmen cried.
"And the women in this house don't have the best timing," Maria reminded him.
"Mi amore, I wouldn't go if it wasn't necessary, but Giorno needs me there to utilize Moody Blues for information."
"So you'll be out of the main confrontation, then?" Carmen asked firmly, one eyebrow raised.
Leone hesitated, not wanting to lie. "I don't know. I should be, but we don't know—"
"Try," Carmen snapped. "I don't want my baby to be fatherless before he's born."
Leone sighed and reached out to take her hands, pressing them between his. "Carmen, I promise I will be there for the birth of my son. If anything happens while I'm on this mission, if you even think you're having a contraction, call me. I'll be there. The others will understand and they'll make it work."
"I just don't understand why you have to go to begin with," Carmen said, voice trembling slightly.
Leone pulled her into his arms and kissed her head. "Because I have a lot of people I care about and who I make it a point to protect. It's still my job, Carmen. I'll be careful. And when the baby's born, Giorno's already said he's forcing me on leave. But until then, I want to make this city a safe place for him and Rose to grow up in."
She gave a shuddering sigh, looping her arms around him. "I'll never forgive you if you don't show up."
"You'd be in the right," Abbacchio told her and kissed her again.
Carmen pulled away and turned despairingly toward Maria. "They're so hard to hate, aren't they?" he said with a wet laugh.
Maria gave them both a fond look. "Unfortunately. But I second that, Leone. Be there."
He held up his hands in defeat. He wasn't about to argue. He was determined that come rain or shine he would be at the hospital when Carmen was giving birth.
It didn't keep Leone from overthinking everything that night, though. Wondering if maybe he should ask if he could somehow be excluded from the mission. It just felt like an extra precaution that was just feeding into paranoia though. After all, despite the timeline, he highly doubted Carmen would go into labor during the few hours they would be out, and even if she did, he was sure Giorno and Bruno was do everything but insist he leave to join her. And they were just going after a small-time drug trafficker after all. Bottarga was a nuisance, little more. They'd dealt with way worse and came out unscathed. (Mostly, anyway.)
Still, he barely got any sleep that night and felt like he was dragging the next morning as he got dressed and ate a quick breakfast.
Carmen seemed nervous, concentrating on Rose as she made sure their daughter ate her breakfast.
Abbacchio bent to kiss her when they got ready to leave. "I'll be back later," he promised.
Carmen nodded silently, still looking nervous.
"Papa, you leave?" Rose asked him.
"Just going to work, honey," Abbacchio said and picked her up briefly to plant a kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you later too."
Rosie giggled as he snuck in a tickle and kissed him back before he set her down.
They all gathered their supplies and headed out to the car to be on their way.
Bruno gripped his shoulder briefly before getting into the car. "Don't worry. It shouldn't take too long. I promise I'll get you back home in one piece."
Abbacchio raised an eyebrow. "You promise, or you promised someone?"
Bruno smiled. "We all have the same priorities, Leone."
Then he got into the car as Mista got behind the wheel.
Abbacchio tried to let Bruno's words relax him. He'd been a rookie the last time he was this nervous going on a job. But realistically he knew it would most likely all go fine if not without a couple scrapes. He had no reason to worry.
Abbacchio found a small reason to worry as he was running across a catwalk in the not-so-abandoned warehouse the confrontation was happening in, currently in fast pursuit of the gang leader they were after, Bottarga himself.
Shouting from below could be heard as the others fought to subdue the drug ring while their boss tried to make a quick escape.
Abbacchio barely avoided a box thrown his way, jerking back and causing the rusty old catwalk to sway sickeningly. This probably wasn't the safest place for a chase, but the other guy seemed to know where he was going since he seemed to be able to get around at a fast clip.
The man glanced over his shoulder again and then dashed forward, heading for the door at the end of the walkway.
Abbacchio simply stopped and leveled his gun at the man, getting a good aim.
He fired and the man cried out, collapsing in a spray of blood from his thigh.
"Not so fast now, are you?" Abbacchio grunted as he strode forward.
The man was panting but he looked up at Abbacchio with a snarl and kicked toward the catwalk railing.
Everything happened within a split second. Abbacchio could hear the horrible shriek of tortured metal, before the whole catwalk lurched.
Abbacchio reached out to grab onto the railing, but it gave way, offering no support.
The whole catwalk gave way a second later. There was a terrible weightless moment before the whole thing collapsed under him in a cacophony of sound.
He must have blacked out for a minute because it took him a while to realize he wasn't dead, but when he finally opened his eyes, it was to Narancia standing over him, eyes wide with horror.
"Holy shit, holy shit," the kid babbled, clutching his hair. "Giorno!"
"S-shut up for a second," Abbacchio growled, trying to get his elbows under him to get out of the pile of rubble.
"Leone, don't!" Bruno snapped as he raced over, pressing him back. "Stay still. You need to stay still, my god…"
Giorno raced over, Mista and Fugo hanging back slightly.
"What can you do with this?" Bruno asked quietly.
"I don't know, let me look a little closer," Giorno said, carefully kneeling beside Abbacchio in the rubble.
"Let me get up," Abbacchio grunted, then blinked, realizing finally that the bar he'd had in his vision was in fact stuck through him. Huh, so that was why it was so hard to breathe.
"That's…." he tried, but something bubbled up in his throat and he choked on it. The act of coughing sent agony through him and Bruno and Narancia both grabbed hold of his shoulders.
"Yeah, Abba that's rebar freaking impaling you," Narancia informed him, voice shaking.
Before Abbacchio could register that, Giorno had his Stand out and seemed to be examining the injury.
"Well?" Bruno asked quietly.
Giorno shook his head, pale. "I don't know. There's so many layers of muscle and tissue it went through. It's very close to his spine in the back. The area was already weakened with the wound from Diavolo, and there's so much scar tissue that I don't know if I can repair the damage properly without causing more."
"So, hospital?" Bruno asked.
"Yes," Giorno said.
Bruno quickly turned to Mista. "Call an ambulance."
Giorno turned to Bucciarati. "We can move him to a flat surface at least. Can you use Sticky Fingers?"
Bruno nodded and his Stand appeared, slipping incorporeal hands underneath Abbacchio to zip the rebar free, shortening the length on the top as well.
"Jus' take it out," Abbacchio slurred, trying to keep the panic from rising in his chest.
"No, you'll risk bleeding to death," Giorno told him. "I—I'll try to repair what I can, but I'd rather a surgeon do this."
Fugo and Mista stepped forward to help move him. They were gentle but even the process of moving Abbacchio a couple feet was agony. He cried out, then couldn't stop coughing. He could taste blood in the back of his throat, feel the wheezing in his chest. Gold Experience's hand rested right under the rebar, but he wasn't sure what the Stand was even doing at this point. He felt dizzy and sick. Especially since he had fucking promised to come back in one piece, and now…?
"I fucked up," he muttered.
"You'll be okay," Bruno assured him. "You've lived through worse."
Abbacchio scoffed and shut his eyes briefly. He had technically lived through worse, but that didn't mean this wasn't going to be the thing that killed him.
Maria was doing her best trying to keep Carmen from worrying too much about Leone. They were both sitting in the nursery, doing some paper crafts with the kids.
"Mama, can you cut this?" Rose asked, handing Carmen a piece of paper with a flower on it.
Carmen absently took it to cut the flower out before handing it back and moving to stand up.
"Are you okay?" Maria asked her quietly.
"I'm just feeling a little out of it right now," Carmen said, rubbing her belly. "I think I'm going to go lay down for a little bit, if that's okay?"
"Of course," Maria said, trying to hide her concern as she handed over some pom-poms to Mariolina. She knew that Carmen was worrying, and really hoped that she wouldn't have reason to, but she also couldn't deny that she had felt some strange trepidation that day about the whole situation. She really hoped her worry would be unfounded.
She was just cleaning up the crafting stuff with the intent to make lunch for the kids, when Carmen made her way back into the room, pale, and holding her stomach.
"Um, Maria, I think my water just broke."
Maria went into action instantly, calmly standing up and taking Carmen by the elbow. "I'll get your bag and tell Trish." She turned around. "Rosie, Paolo, be good and look after Mari for a second?"
She called for Trish and the girl hurried downstairs, seeming to instantly recognize the situation for what it was. "Is it time?"
"Yes, I'm going to drive Carmen to the hospital."
Trish nodded. "Don't worry about anything, I've got the kids. We'll have a good time here."
"Thank you," Maria said and took Carmen out to the car, grabbing the bag they had left by the door, packed and ready to go for the last two weeks just in case.
"He's not here," Carmen said dully as Maria helped her into the passenger seat.
"Don't worry, I'm calling Bruno right now," Maria assured her and let out a soft laugh. "Did you really expect any differently?"
Carmen let out a strangled sound. "Not really. Like you said, we don't exactly have the best timing."
Maria smiled fondly and squeezed her hand. "It will all be all right. He might even be able to still make it for the birth."
Carmen nodded and started taking deep breaths.
Maria hurriedly pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial for Bruno.
Bruno's phone rang and he almost ignored it, but when he glanced at the front and saw that it was Maria's number, he realized that he was going to have to take this one.
"Oh god," he mumbled under his breath as he answered it. "Maria?"
"Bruno, Carmen just went into labor, you need to get Leone over here now."
Bruno stood for a second, pressing a hand to his face. It was better to just rip the bandage off in one go. "Maria…there was an accident and Leone was badly injured."
"Oh god, Bruno!" he heard murmuring in the background, likely Maria explaining what had happened.
Bruno glanced over as Leone gave another rattling gasp, back arching slightly as Giorno did something and Narancia and Fugo tried to settle him again.
"We're getting him taken care of right now. Tell Carmen Giorno's doing what he can and then we'll head to the hospital."
"No," Abbacchio coughed out. "Lemme talk to her." He cringed. "Bruno."
Bruno pressed his lips together, but went to crouch by Abbacchio's head again, putting the phone on speaker.
"Carmen," Leone croaked, swallowing convulsively as Narancia gripped his shoulder.
"Leone?" the teary voice came over the line. "Are you okay?"
Abbacchio cringed. "Got some rebar through me."
"Leone, god…" Carmen sobbed.
"Hey," Leone gasped out. "I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm gonna meet my son. Might be a little pre-occupied to get to the delivery room, but…"
"Just be okay," Carmen pleaded. "I love you, Leone."
"I love you, mi cara," Leone said before he choked again, and Giorno stepped in as Bruno quickly pulled the phone away. He could hear sirens approaching.
"The ambulance is here. I'll make sure he's taken care of, I promise," he said. "You look after yourself, Carmen."
"I'll be here with her," Maria added before the call ended.
Mista ran out of the warehouse to flag down the ambulance and soon the paramedics hurried in with a stretcher and loaded Abbacchio up on it.
Bruno caught Giorno's arm. "Go with him in the ambulance just in case. The others and I will be right behind you."
Giorno nodded and jumped into the back of the ambulance as Bruno waved to the others. They drove behind the ambulance all the way to the hospital and watched the paramedics wheel Abbacchio into the emergency room entrance as Giorno stood to one side.
They all entered the waiting room. Bruno answered a few questions and then they just milled around, not knowing what to do.
"Hey, if it's all right, I'm gonna go back to the house to help Trish with the babies," Mista said finally. "That way I can catch her up on what's happening too."
Bruno nodded and handed over the keys. "Thank you."
Giorno was standing with his arms folded tightly over his chest. "If anything happens I can step in," he said. "I was just worried about working so close to his spine…"
"It's all right, Giorno," Bruno told him tiredly. "He knows. You kept him from bleeding out so there's that. All we can do now is wait."
Footsteps hurried over from down the hall. "Bruno!"
Bruno turned to see Maria rushing into the room.
"How is he?" she asked.
"They just got him into surgery," Bruno told her.
Maria pressed her lips together. "I'm not going to say it, but…"
"I know," Bruno sighed. "I shouldn't have had him on the mission. You were right. We all have the worst timing." He laughed wryly. "But he's been through worse, and he has the best reason in the world to survive this."
Maria exhaled slowly. "We're in delivery room 3. Come if there's any news." She turned to Fugo. "Carmen wanted you there to help coach her, Panna."
Fugo nodded and left with Maria as Bruno, Giorno and Narancia all took a seat. Waiting for any news, good or bad.
Abbacchio swam back to consciousness slowly but with a strange urgency for a reason he couldn't remember. There was a dull throbbing through his center and he had a brief, horrible flashback to waking up after Sardinia.
He pried his eyes open and looked around at a blank hospital room, and a blurry figure sitting by his bed.
"Leone, thank god. I was so worried."
"Carmen?" he croaked, blinking again in an attempt to clear his vision. "Told you I'd make it..."
"What?" Carmen asked.
"Told you I'd be at the hospital for the delivery."
"Leone, my god," Carmen said with a sound that was half-laugh, half sob. She stood up and Leone finally saw the bundle of blankets she held in her arms. She sat on the side of the bed and started to peel the blankets back. "Meet your son."
Leone watched in awe as a pink face with wispy white hair was revealed. He numbly lifted his arms, heavy though they were, as Carmen placed the infant on his chest. He held the tiny human who was so small he fit under both Abbacchio's hands.
"Hello little one," he murmured, nothing really translating at the moment but a feeling of pure joy and wonder.
Carmen finally smiled, eyes wet. "The others all held off holding him until you did. But I'm afraid I already picked a name without you."
"Oh?" Leone asked, still staring at his son, feeling warmth and pure devotion welling in his heart.
Carmen nodded. "He was born minutes after they came to tell me you got out of surgery and would be all right. And with all the other circumstances, I thought it was fitting so…I thought we would call him Luciano," Carmen said. "Our little light."
Leone brushed a finger across the delicate cheek as the infant nuzzled against his chest. "It's perfect," Leone said with a relieved sigh he hadn't realized he had been holding in. "He's perfect."
He turned to Carmen and she leaned over to kiss him, before settling down beside him, pressed close.
"You can't do this again, Leone," she finally said, completely sober.
"I know," he said. "I shouldn't have gone and I—"
"No," Carmen said, then sighed, reaching down to take one of his hands firmly in hers. "I can't stand to sit on the sidelines any longer and watch you go on dangerous missions. Your back…the doctor said that it was significantly weakened by all the scar tissue and if you take another injury like that, it could cripple you, Leone. I love this family, and I understand how important this job, Passione, is to you, but I can't—" She took a shuddering sigh. "Please, Leone, I can't fear for your life every time you leave the house. I can't stand the thought of our children becoming fatherless."
Leone exhaled slowly, staring at his sleeping son for a long moment before he replied, "I understand," he finally said, feeling a pit form in his stomach even as he said it. "But can we talk about this more later, when I'm not on pain medication?"
Carmen nodded and bent to kiss his forehead. "Of course."
Later, everyone came to Leone's room to congratulate him and take turns holding little Luciano. Even Rose got to hold her little brother for the first time with Carmen's gentle instructions.
"Big sis!" she said excitedly, grinning.
"You bet!" Narancia told her, ruffling her hair. "Best big sis ever."
"I love you, Luci," Rose said, bending to kiss her little brother on the head.
Leone felt an odd sense of bittersweetness seeing everyone packed into the room, especially since he knew what they were going to have to do.
With Giorno's help to quicken the healing process, Abbacchio was back on his feet within a week, though he would be wearing a back-brace for a while. He could tell that it was going to take a lot of physical therapy to get himself back into shape this time. His back muscles were pretty much shot at this point. Trish was already working on a new wardrobe for him with built-in support, and he hated how necessary that would probably be.
Still, he was alive, and he technically hadn't broken his promise to Carmen about being at the hospital while Luciano was born.
But he had another promise that he had to keep and this one was a little harder for all of them.
He called a private meeting with Bruno and Giorno soon after they got back home.
"I need to ask something of you," he said, hesitant. "I think that I…god, I don't even know how to say it."
"It's okay, Leone," Bruno cut in. "We know. Carmen and Maria have already talked about it. And I agree. I think, considering the circumstances, it's probably the best course of action."
Abbacchio stared at him with a pained expression before he turned to Giorno. "So that's it? I don't even have to beg to get out? If you wanted to get rid of me that badly…"
Giorno smiled, though it wavered slightly. "Of course not. But I also know that you always wished to live a normal life, and I want to give you that opportunity. There's a house out in the countryside that's part of Passione's assets. It's safe and quiet, and I think you'll all be happy there."
Leone stared at him for a long moment, stunned. "So, I guess this is it, then?"
"No, Leone, you're not in witness protection or anything," Bruno said with a light, slightly choked laugh. "You don't have to go into hiding. We even have a secretarial job for you if you want it. Regardless, for your service to Passione, you'll get monthly pay."
"I'll take the job," Leone said. "Hell, I'll be bored out of my mind if I don't do something."
Giorno smiled wanly. "I don't know, I think you'll enjoy being a dad. You're a good one, you know. I never—I never knew what it was like to have one until I met you." The wetness in his eyes finally spilled over and he scrubbed at them before he finally stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Abbacchio. "Just…thank you. For everything."
"Shit kid," Leone got past his tight throat. "You're gonna make me cry now and I'm not wearing waterproof eyeliner today."
Giorno laughed and squeezed him tighter as Abbacchio squeezed him back.
"I know you'll still be around, but it won't be as often and I…I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too, kid," Abbacchio murmured before he finally pulled back.
Giorno tried to compose himself as Bruno stepped forward, a fond, bittersweet look on his face. "Fratello mio," he said and pulled him into a tight embrace, holding on. "It made me so happy to become a father alongside you. Go live the life you always wanted, Leone."
Leone pulled back to hold his friend, this man who had long been a brother to him, by the shoulders, meeting his eyes firmly. "Thank you, Bruno. For everything. Everything. I wouldn't even be here if it weren't…" And his voice finally broke and he lost it. Damn his cheap makeup, he could fix it later.
Bruno pulled him in tighter and Giorno joined the embrace, all of them sniffling uncontrollably.
And because apparently everyone was eavesdropping outside the door, it was opened a second later as the rest of the gang came in, Narancia leading the pack.
"You're really leaving, Abba?" he asked, eyes wet.
Leone turned to pull him and the rest of the kids in, holding them tightly.
"We'll come back for the holidays. Maybe vacations," he promised.
"You better," Trish insisted.
Maria and Carmen came in next with the kids.
Maria pulled Leone in, teary-eyed as she handed him a handkerchief. "You're doing the right thing," she assured him. "I'm so happy to have had you and Carmen in my life these past few years and I'll miss having a beloved sister and brother around all the time, but we'll make do with lots of visits. The new house is only a few hours away."
Leone squeezed her fondly, kissing her cheek. "We will."
Rosie tugged on his pant leg and he bent to pick her up.
"Papa sad?" Rose asked with a worried expression.
"No, sweetie, Papa's happy," Leone told her, kissing her forehead. "I love you and your little brother so much."
Rosie hugged him back and Narancia slung his arm around Abbacchio's shoulders.
"Now that we've all had a good cry, can we have a pizza party to celebrate Luciano's birth?"
"Pizza party!" Rose and Paolo cried excitedly.
"I think that sounds like a great idea," Bruno said.
Two weeks later, Leone and Carmen drove up the long drive to their new house. It was indeed out in the country, on a beautiful property where he could easily see the kids playing as they grew up. They just stood there for a long moment, staring.
"It's beautiful," Carmen said in awe. "I never thought…"
"Me either," Leone said, bending to kiss her. "But it's ours."
"Rosie pick a room!" Rose cried.
Leone glanced over his shoulder at the moving van and the convoy of the others who had come to help them unload all the boxes.
"Let's go pick a room then so we'll know where your boxes go," Carmen said and took Rose's hand as they hurried excitedly into the house.
It was a mess for the next two days before they had finally gotten all the boxes inside, and the necessities unpacked. Afterward, the others bid goodbye for a while to the Abbacchio family and headed back to Napoli.
That night when Rose and Luciano were finally in bed and asleep, Leone and Carmen stood out on the back patio looking up at the stars that were insanely bright due to the lack of light pollution.
"I've lived in the city all my life," Leone said. "Never knew they could be so beautiful."
"This place is perfect, isn't it?" Carmen asked.
He bent to kiss her deeply, taking his time since there was no one to interrupt them here. "It is," he finally answered as they pulled away for breath.
Carmen kissed him again and settled her hands on his chest, sliding them down to rest on his hips as she pulled away just a fraction. She stood on her toes to kiss his jawline. "What do you say we—" another kiss to his collarbone and Abbacchio hummed contentedly. "Break in the new bed?"
Abbacchio chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist, bending to capture her mouth with his once again. "You'll have to be a little gentle with me."
Carmen smiled against his lips. "I think I can manage that."
They giggled like teenagers as they hurried inside and up to their room, throwing open the curtains to let in the starlight. This new chapter of their lives was starting now and Leone and Carmen were planning to make the most of it.
Thanks for reading! I'll be continuing this series with the "finale" soon as well as a La Squadra centric spin-off so keep an eye out for that if you are interested!