"Now you listen to me, you overgrown sack of -"

Mataya got to her eldest sister just in time to cover Teresa's mouth before she could insult the custody sergeant she was gesticulating at wildly. Tess mumbled against her little sister's hand for a moment before catching up with the big mistake she had been about to make. She subsided, lowering 'Taya's hand from her lips and offering the policeman an apologetic smile. The cop, a gruff man in his mid-fifties, proved to be susceptible to the De Luca smile, standing down from his bristling to offer a shy smile in return.

Laughing nervously, 'Taya squeezed her older sister's shoulders, patting Tess as she steered them both away from the desk. "Let's let Mom do the talking, shall we?" she suggested with an overly bright smile as Rosita took her daughters' place, a good deal calmer than her eldest.

It had been ten days since the phone call to the Shanachie that had brought Mataya De Luca in a rush from Rhy'Din back to Earth and back to the house she'd grown up in, soon joined by her elder sister. With both of them there, they had been able to calm their mother down enough to take her to the downtown precinct and find out exactly what had been going on from Elena herself and her lawyers.

It appeared that Elena's lifestyle had finally caught up to her. She'd been struggling with alcoholism for years, they all knew that, but they hadn't known that she had relapsed once again over the summer months. She'd started dating a rather well-known criminal type by the name of Sam Nicoletti, and had been arrested in his company on a charge of first-degree murder. Thankfully, however, she had been allowed to sober up before giving her statement, and she'd been aware enough of her situation to tell the stark truth, however badly it portrayed her.

It was her story that Mataya and Teresa had heard, sat in an interview room with their little sister between them. El hadn't wanted their mother to know the full extent of what she had witnessed the night of the murder, or the things she had turned a blind eye to in the months before. It had been painful to hear ....how she'd had met Sam after he'd sent her flowers eight nights in a row and been instantly smitten; how he'd drawn her into his world, introducing her to strains of alcohol that made her feel drunk again, playing on her co-dependency issues until she couldn't imagine being without him; how she'd been aware of certain shady transactions taking place in her SoHo apartment and in his house on Staten Island; how he'd begun to turn on her when she suggested that maybe he shouldn't be doing his business in her home.

She'd showed them bruises made by fingers, fading now but apparently already photographed by the police when they were stark and painful, before going on to explain to her sisters what had happened that night. How she had come home to find Sam and four of his "friends" there, waiting for someone they had invited to come over. How she'd been banished to the bedroom when the man had arrived, but had left the door open a crack to see what was happening. How Sam had watched while the man was beaten by the other four, and then calmly shot him through the head with a silenced handgun.

Elena had explained how she had been dragged out of the bedroom and made to help them dispose of the body, her objections the reason for the fresh bruises that had littered her skin when they'd been picked up. Sam had then taken her on a bender, plying her with more and more expensive and potent alcohol until she could barely remember her own name. She didn't say as much, but 'Taya suspected that her little sister had probably been raped that night, too, though she was never going to broach the subject. Sam and Elena had been heading back to Staten Island in the early hours of that morning when the NYPD had picked them up and charged them both with murder, along with two of the four men who had been involved.

It had been an horrific story to hear, and one all three sisters agreed their mother should never hear in detail. When the lawyer came in, Rosita had rejoined them, and they had been relieved to hear that Elena's charges had been reduced to accomplice, that she was still only under investigation. The police had offered her a deal - to drop the charges if she testified against Sam Nicoletti and identified the other three men involved, and Elena had agreed without a moment's hesitation. The lawyer had added the stipulation that his client and her family - meaning the entirety of the De Luca family, including Tess' husband and children - should be placed under police protection until such a time as any danger of retribution should have passed.

It was at this point that Mataya had asked to speak to the Chief of Police, guessing accurately that only those highest in rank in the justice system would even believe that Rhy'Din existed. She had suggested that her family and their immediate dependants be allowed to move to Rhy'Din, where security measures could be put in place to keep them safe. When the Chief pointed out that there was no agreement between the Watch in Rhy'Din and the police on Earth for the movement of prisoners under investigation or protection of witnesses, she'd added that she wanted to take full responsibility for her little sister.

Thankfully, the Chief had agreed, and after four days of wrangling with lawyers and judges, the legal documents had been finalised. Elena was being released into Mataya's custody as of today, and despite strenuous arguments, it had been decided that 'Taya would wait to return to Rhy'Din until Tess and her family were ready to go with her. The whole family was going to move to the city, en masse.

Max had his orders already - he was in the process of finding and securing a couple of houses, one for Rosita, and one for Tess and her family. He'd been relieved to hear that nothing too drastic had happened, but 'Taya was certain she would feel a whole lot safer once she was back home, far away from the dangers of Nicoletti and his allies.

A door opened, and Elena came out, dressed simply in sweater and jeans, sneakers on her feet. She looked exhausted, dark circles under her eyes and a heart-breaking hopelessness in her expression that crumpled into tears when their mother gathered her close.

"Shh, shh, mia piccola, shh," Rosita murmured to her youngest daughter, stroking her hair gently as she drew Elena down to sit between herself and Teresa, mother and eldest daughter crowding close to protect and comfort the baby of the family.

'Taya rose to her feet, moving to the desk to sign the documents that handed over responsibility and culpability for her sister to herself, wherever in the multiverse she might be. She skimmed the contracts set out once again, already knowing the details laid out within them.

"We'll be heading to Rhy'Din in eight days," she informed the prosecutor who had made the deal with Elena, her flowing signature signing off in various places on the document. "As soon as Landon gets here with the kids."

The prosecutor, a man not much older than herself, nodded in agreement. "And you are aware of the stipulations that require your sister to present herself to the central Watch-house in Rhy'Din city proper on the first of every month?"

'Taya nodded in return, sighing softly. "She'll do it," she promised him firmly. "Even if I have to drag her by her hair, she'll do it. Do you have any idea when this will come to trial?"

He let out a chuff of breath. "Cases like this, we need as much physical evidence as we can get," he warned her. "We may not be able to bring Nicoletti to trial for some months. Ms De Luca ....if it is at all possible, it would be good for your sister to stay sober from here on in. Her testimony is vitally important to this case."

Mataya looked him dead in the eye, daring him to even suggest that she was not going to help her little sister in every way she possibly could. "I know that," was all she said, handing him the documents and taking back the copies that were for her own and the Rhy'Din Watch's records. "Thank you."

Turning back to her family, huddled together on the uncomfortable plastic seats, 'Taya felt a pang of resentful protectiveness. Why was she the one looking after everyone" She'd never been the responsible on in this family before. She sighed, shaking those thoughts out of her head, and moved to gather her mother and sisters to their feet.

"C'mon," she told them gently, steering them all toward the doors. "Let's go home."