See the other chapters if you need a disclaimer okay? I don't have much else to say here, other than enough of this A/N, on with the fic!
The sun peeked in as Alfred stretched up and looked around. Lovina was still asleep. She's been sleeping a lot. Must be the baby. He thought. He never had any siblings other than his twin brother, so he never knew what pregnancy was like for his mother on the farm, just that she had something that kept his father from being vile. But when she had died when Alfred and Matthew were about 13, he changed. Wanting Lovina to get the rest she needed, he slipped out of bed and walked out of the bedroom, though the cavernous mansion. He sighed, wondering why Julius didn't just move to Miami, the weather was so much better and according to Lovina, closer to what it was like back in Italy. Other than being a tropical town near the ocean, Alfred wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He knew they were going to be there awhile, as they would be summoned back when the house that Julius was building for them was done. And that's when he'd be in an essence his slave. "My grandpa fought the Civil War to end slavery and yet here I am….." He mused. "Well that might be a bit of an exaggeration…." He thought as he moved along. As he headed to the kitchen to see what was there to make for breakfast, Lovina grabbed him from behind. "Ooof"
"Well well well….." She teased. "Not going to wait for me?"
"Well I had read this story in an English Magazine after the war where the man wants to woo his love by making her breakfast in bed. I thought I might do that for you. Make a good and hearty farmer's breakfast. If that boy takes after me, he will be hungry and you need all the nutrients you can get to make sure he's healthy….." Alfred blushed. Lovina smirked and then kissed him on the cheek
"I'll wait for you in bed then. Helena gave me a parenting book I need to really brush up on." Lovina smiled.
Julius smiled as he looked upon the crew that Giovanni had brought in. Working with the strike leaders, he had made himself connections within the organized labor movements and winning over more of the unions as Giovanni had said to him it would build more goodwill with the working class and taking a cut of the union dues would help to increase their revenue and diversify their portfolio. Sure, the booze and speakeasy money was very, very good but there was a movement to repeal the 18th amendment and some people were trying hard to get it repealed. Including some big names in the society pages that were originally for it to begin with. "That Rockefeller brat is spreading his ideas." Julius said as Giovanni handed him today's paper that had had an opinion piece about his ideas about prohibition. "Can you believe this tea totaler?"
"My sources tell us that many people are hearing of violence all over the nation." Julius looked at him incredulous. "Oh our gang is not causing trouble. At least if that gang that Li boy at the dry cleaner does not cause it."
"Well, maybe we should send them a visit." Julius said.
"Don't we have Lovina's husband sneaking into their speakeasy? If I recall Alfred did make good friends with the one that owns the ice cream shop." Giovanni said.
"We need to find this Wulver." Julius said.
"Maybe the shop owner knows this Wulver." Giovanni suggested as he pulled a stiletto knife out of his vest and stabbed the picture of John D. Rockefeller Jr that was beside his opinion piece in the paper. "Like that piece of shit can talk about morality."
"Remember Ludlow!" One of the workers cheered.
"Yes! Remember Ludlow and we will make sure that you as hard working men get the fair day's pay for a fair day's labor! We believe in you! That is why the ones I was told was in most need has been given a job helping me to build my granddaughter and her husband's new home. I could not have this done without good honest American labor like yours!" Julius said as Giovanni rolled his eyes. "Come, I have a craving for an ice cream soda." He said as he got in the car and Giovanni drove him to Gilbert's shop.
Giovanni pulled up to the shop and parked, letting Julius out of the car and they headed into the shop. Gilbert looked up and jumped at bell, once he saw who was through the door. Keep you cool Beilschmidt…...this is just some Italian, you know how easy they surrendered and turned their backs on Deutchland…..He thought as he braved a smile and looked at Julius. "So what can I get you fine gentlemen today? I know Lent's over so you can take up any bad vices you had given up." He smiled. "I cannot tell you how much business I lose because people give sweets and sodas for Lent."
"Yes, yes, Lent is supposed to bring you closer to God." Julius nodded as Giovanni stepped by the door and locked it. Gilbert looked around nervously and moved back towards the freezer when Julius had grabbed him by the wrist. "You know, you might want to get closer to him. Did you have a brother?" He asked looking at the picture of Ludwig on the wall. "One of my lovely granddaughters was to marry a man who looked a lot like that lovely young man on the wall."
"Yeah. That's my brother Ludwig." Gilbert said And he died in the war a long time ago so you can't do anything to him.
"Ludwig, that was my granddaughter's sweetheart." Julius smiled. "But he died in the war. Looks like him too. I bet you miss him a lot. I know Felicia misses him a lot." Gilbert looked at Julius as he smirked. "I knew the name Beilschmidt sounded familiar." He smirked at Gilbert's creeping looks of fear. "Ludwig was your brother. You were almost my granddaughter's brother in law."
"Looks like…" Gilbert said. "Man, it really is a small world huh?"
"So, why would you do it?" Julius said.
"Do what?" Gilbert asked.
"Go against the family of your brother's beloved. Your own family." Julius said.
"Dude, we are NOT family. Maybe if that war never happened, your granddaughter and Luddy would have married and then, yeah. But that's not how it happened. I didn't even know you were here, nor did I know you were Luddy's sweetheart's grandpa." Gilbert said. "I only knew Ludwig had gotten a sweetheart while on the Italian border by the letters he sent home. They didn't want me in the army, I was too sickly looking and I had an elderly mother to take care of at home." Gilbert said. "She died soon after learning of what happened to Ludwig. He was always the favorite…."
"We know you have been helping The Wulver. The Wulver is who we are fighting against. Only thing is we cannot do it without knowing who is in charge. Who stole our trucks." Giovanni said. He then pulled his knife from his vest and held it to Gilbert's neck. "We will take you back to meet your baby brother if you want."
"I don't know nothing about no Wulver you freaking Italians." Gilbert said. "I just run an ice cream shop, nothing more nothing less." Gilbert said, praying he delivered a convincing show. "I don't know who told you what but they're full of shit."
"Giovanni, put him down. I believe him" Julius said as Giovanni looked at him incredulously.
"You can't be serious sir?" Giovanni asked.
"Oh I believe him, but I do also need to send him a warning." Julius pulled a tire thumper from his jacket. Julius then had taken the bat to the freezers, breaking the glass, shards falling into the ice cream. Gilbert had tried to run over and stop him when Giovanni had grabbed him in a full body hold, holding him steady despite him flailing around, trying to stop Julius. He then took the thumper to the shake machines. "Now that was just your business. Things can be replaced." He then walked over to Gilbert and pulled back, like he was going to use the thumper on his shin. Gilbert winced in fear as Julius swung, only to have his shin bump up against the thumper "Bones can heal if I wanted to break it. But you may see your brother again real soon if you don't stop keeping the wrong company." Julius then handed Gilbert 100 dollars. "This should fix everything. And more where that came from if you can tell us where the Wulver is."
"And tell that Leon kid to stop pick pocketing." Giovanni said. "I have a feeling you know him and bad things will happen to him and his grandfather if he doesn't stop keeping the bad company you do."
"Let's go." Julius said motioning to Giovanni. "I just remembered, I need to watch what I eat so Enzo won't yell at me for getting too fat for his suits."
"Understood." Giovanni said as he unlocked the door and helped Julius into the car and drove off.
Sighing, Gilbert flipped the sign to closed and locked the door again. He picked up a broom and began to sweep the glass shards that didn't fall into his ice cream. He placed the 100 dollar bill on the counter and stared at it. Sure, it would be more than enough to fix or replace most of the equipment that Julius had broken, but it was just so weird. That was the family his little brother was going to marry into. Isn't that the guy's family that Alfie married into as well? He pondered as he heard a knock on the door and found Arthur knocking. "Hello?" Arthur asked.
Gilbert unlocked the door and let Arthur in and locked it again. "Hello Artie, caught me at a bad time."
"What the bloody hell happened here?" Arthur looked around.
"Julius." Gilbert said. "Apparently if Ludwig hadn't died it was his granddaughter that he'd have married. And now Alfred married into it."
"I know." Arthur said. "Julius is very proud. Publicly known as a successful shipping agent and great philanthropist. I have been doing a lot of work after hours with the city's records. Julius does have a lot of legit connections to take the suspicion off of him. And it will do to keep him favorable in the eyes of the public."
"Whatever that bastard is, or does, he broke my shop up and then paid me to fix it all." Gilbert said showing the 100 dollar bill that he was given.
"We need to step up our game." Arthur said. "Maybe Patrick and Seamus could hijack some trucks."
"Whatever it is, we need to show them we are not to be trifled with ourselves." Gilbert says. "If Julius thinks he's the reincarnation of the Roman Empire, this city will be their Teutenberg Forest." Gilbert went behind the counter and racked a shotgun. "This is one that Ludwig sent back from the war. He actually managed to get hold of one of the American Trench Brooms. Although it was what did him in eventually."
"Trench warfare is something Satan himself would consider the worst of the worst." Arthur said.
"And that Giovanni body guard of his knows that Leon's a pickpocket." Gilbert warned.
"I have spoken with Leon about that. While I applaud his efforts, he needs to work his craft on the lower henchmen. While they won't have the intel that big whigs like Giovanni do, they will still have intel that is valuable that Julius will not think hurt him but actually will. In war, information is the best resource one can have. We must stand our ground. If we cannot overtake him, we will make this conflict Julius wants so draining he will not be able to keep fighting." Arthur said. "I know so far Julius has every legality covered for his fronts, but there has to be something amiss. If only I could get into his books…." Gilbert looked at Arthur cross. "Sorry, here give me a broom, I will help you sweep up."
Lovina smiled as she and Alfred finished their breakfast and took the dishes to the sink. "The maid will be here later to take care of the cleaning." She explained. "So, what do you want to do?"
"Let's get a boat, cruise on the ocean, go fishing." Alfred said.
"Sounds fun." Lovina said.
"Be careful though." Alfred said. "There's marlin out there, but I don't want you getting junior hurt. I'm sure you could take them though." He kissed Lovina's forehead.
"I'll be fine…" Lovina rolled her eyes with a smile. "I just want to get out of here."
Alfred knew what she meant. She had wanted to get away from the control she was under by her grandfather. While the manor they were staying at was beautiful, the ocean was not in his realm of control. "Well let's get a boat then." Alfred smiled.
So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I don't have much else to say here, so remember to read, well you just did, and review. Ciao for now,
otherrealmwriter
aka
realm.