A/N: The final chapter! I gush at the end.

Nucky and Eli Thompson stood on the porch.

"We come with a peace offering," Nucky said with practiced ease as Richard opened the door. Ever since goddamn Leader Whitlock had interfered and got Clara out of the sanitarium where she might not have been comfortable but where he at least knew she was safe. Owen Sleater had failed to find the Butcher. No one was living up to their obligations, and Nucky did not appreciate having to come up with a new plan on the fly. Especially when it meant depending on Eli for security and support for this, the most important part of his plan to reclaim his city and his daughter.

"Arnold?" he then said, after spotting Rothstein and Lansky standing with Harrow, and Luciano in the living room with James, Clara, and the boy. The New York contingent in James's living room was not a happy surprise.

"Paying a social call," Rothstein said smoothly.

"Come on in, Nuck. No need to haunt the doorway," Jimmy instructed from the living room, his eyes glinty and hard.

Nucky nodded and stepped forward, the water collected on the brim of his hat cascading to the floor unnoticed when he removed his hat.

Eli stood silently but took in the scene in front of him. Clara looked like Mabel, sitting there with the Darmody brat in her lap. Jesus, Eli thought when she turned to smile hesitantly at him and he saw the bruises on Clara's neck. What did they do to her in that place?

"Owen has captured Manny Horwitz, I knew that Jimmy would want to know," Nucky continued.

Richard looked at Jimmy upon hearing this but was surprised to see Clara also shoot Jimmy a glance.

Luciano every so slightly nodded his head at Lansky.

Nucky was so focused on spinning his tale and achieving his objective of getting Richard and Jimmy to go with them to the Soldier's Memorial that he missed the quiet reaction to his words. Eli fell back into his role as Nucky's silent support easily, surprised at the comfortable feeling of being in his brother's shadow once more.

No one was looking at Tommy, who had climbed down from Clara's lap.

"Oww! God damn it kid, why did you do that?" Eli cried out suddenly, causing everyone to look at him. And to Tommy, who was kicking Eli with all his four-year-old might.

Clara stood and moved to grab the boy.

"You are the bad man!" Tommy yelled, kicking Eli once more in the shin.

"Uncle Eli," Clara breathed out, refusing to believe it even as the missing pieces began to fall into place.

Clara was a child of the Boardwalk, and Nucky had not been unaware of the importance of having his little daughter pictured in the papers enjoying new Boardwalk attractions the day they opened. Sheriff's daughter had morphed into Treasurer's daughter and still she had dipped and spun on every new ride, thrown endless balls to win endless games, admired countless new sideshow exhibits. She liked most of them, but she hated the Whirligig. The feeling of spinning while the world dropped out from underneath her was not a sensation she enjoyed.

Standing in the beach house living room she felt that sensation again. Making ham sandwiches. Hearing the knock at the door. Smiling when she saw his face. She was spinning through her memories and dropped harshly into the reality of who betrayed her, of who took her from her life and threw her into hell.

"Dollface," Eli said pleadingly.

The spinning feeling dissipated, and Clara crossed the space between them so quickly that neither Jimmy who was standing behind her nor Richard who stood behind Eli had any chance of getting to her. Her body twisted as she moved, and she put her entire weight into her arm. Eli saw it coming he didn't try to avoid it.

The sound of her palm striking his face echoed through the house, even as the wind and rain of the summer storm howled through the windows.

"They shoved a needle in me and someone tied my arms and you just stood there. Patted my knee ineffectively, like you trying were to comfort me as you were delivering me to that place!"

Jimmy stepped up behind Clara, so Richard grabbed Tommy and moved him to the hallway. "Go upstairs. To your room."

Tommy looked terrified as he stepped onto the staircase. "I don't want to play the game."

"No. Not the game. Just upstairs."

"Because Clara is going hit that bad man again?"

"You know, my father deciding to torture me because I dared disobey him...well, I can...it makes sense," Clara sputtered. "But you! You stood next to me back in January and told me you knew how awful this year was going to be, but that if I loved Richard I should do something about it. You made sure I knew that Richard wasn't involved in Jimmy's stupid fucking assassination attempt."

"I didn't have a choice..."

How fucking dare she, Nucky thought, show this kind of disrespect in front of his business associates. "Clara, that will be enough! We will not air our family's dirty laundry in front of Mr. Rothstein and his associates. I just came to collect Jimmy and Harrow because there's business..."

Clara turned, and the dazed expression was gone, replaced by white-hot fury. "Ah, yes! You have Manny Horwitz. Tell me, Father, how did you manage such a miracle?"

Luciano let his hand drop down to his waist, near his gun. All these Atlantic City fuckers made Benny look like a damn paragon of sanity. What a stupid fucking plan Thompson concocted, thinking he could tempt Darmody and Harrow by saying he had the Butcher?

"You need to control yourself!"

"Or what? You'll have me committed? Again?"

Although it was delightful to watch this game spin into new and unexpected vistas, Rothstein knew the secret to winning was to control the game. And right now, the game had too many variables. Time to apply his rulebook. "Nucky, it's good that you are here. Mr. Harrow and I have reached an understanding, and I believe Charlie and Mr. Darmody have done the same?"

Clara turned to look at Richard and couldn't stop herself from gasping out loud. She wanted them to be free, for their lives not to be directed by the damn Volstead Act. Rothstein, Charlie, Meyer-that was going further in. Much, much further in. Rothstein was quicksand.

"No!" she cried out, feeling that somehow a battle in a war she didn't know was underway happened while she looked the other way.

"Clara..." he began, and she saw from the way his mouth twitched he didn't see another way.

She dipped and dropped and spun again and had to put her fist over her mouth to push back the wave of nausea.

"There will be no understanding, Arnold. They are not going to New York. There are things to be settled here."

"What needs to be settled that allowing them to remove themselves to New York would accomplish? They'll be under my umbrella. They understand that in New York protocols must be followed. We've secured employment terms for Mr. Darmody and Mr. Harrow, and of course, there is much for Mrs. Harrow to do as well."

Richard's head jerked up. "Clara is. Not a part. Of our arrangement."

"Oh, Mr. Harrow, don't you realize what an asset you've married? You've done what none of the rest of us have managed and married a proper society girl. Carolyn is a darling, but she's never been a bridesmaid at the wedding of the season the way your bride was last May. Mrs. Harrow's social credentials and access are a unique benefit. I'm sure when your marriage announcement runs in The Times her friends will flock to your new apartment."

"No. Clara doesn't need..."

"Unfortunately, our deal doesn't hold unless Mrs. Harrow is willing to take part in a few social engagements," Rothstein said with one eyebrow raised. "Neither does Mr. Darmody's arrangement with Charlie."

Clara made her way to to her husband and squeezed his hand. Her father was out for blood. Every part of her wanted to scream, wanted to run but she could see that Rothstein was offering them safety from her father's vengeance, even if she knew what it was going to cost them. Even as she silently told Richard it was okay, she felt the teeth of the trap ensnare them both.

"Yeah, Nuck, you don't want us here, so why are you opposed to New York?" Jimmy asked, his voice quiet and steady.

"Is it because you need their help with Horwitz?" Clara asked, her voice bright, like she was asking him what refreshments he'd like for a party as Richard's hand tightened around hers.

Nucky looked back and forth between them. Somehow, he wasn't sure how, they had outflanked him. They knew he didn't have Horwitz. Damn it, this is why he'd needed Doyle, who usually popped up like a damn jack in the box whenever he wasn't needed but today was in the god damn wind.

Rothstein stared at him with that cold, amused expression. Nucky's mind spun. He'd wanted to punish Jimmy, dispose of Harrow, and save Clara from her own poor fucking decisions. Now somehow that was all slipping through his fingers. Eli was going to prison. Everyone had to pay. Even these two spoiled fucking golden children and their deformed henchman.

"What's in it for me?" Nucky asked.

Clara laughed out loud. "I must give you this-you don't really hide exactly how craven you are, do you? How about this, Father? My trust fund that you helped yourself to? Consider it ransom to free Richard, Jimmy, and me from your clutches. It's payment for our freedom, for any misdeeds you judge us guilty of committing. I just want one thing in return."

"What an intriguing offer, Nucky." Rothstein offered, amused at the audacity of this little bit of skirt with her pretty manners and cultivated speaking voice offering to ransom her men from her own father.

Nucky gritted his teeth. "What do you want, Clara?"

She lifted her chin and looked her father straight in the eye. "Tell me what whore the money from my grandfather's house went to support."

Rothstein watched the interplay with amusement and satisfaction. Thompson was indeed a bigger fool than even he had first guessed. No matter his anger, one thing was clear. Thompson loved his daughter, and he loved James Darmody. And in his anger, which would fade away, he was about to let them fall straight into Arnold's waiting grasp.

And then the people Nucky loved best would be solidly in Arnold Rothstein's control.

Her father glared at her without answering her question. "None of you can ever return. You are permanently banished from Atlantic City. Beginning tonight."

"This house, my father's estate..." Jimmy began.

"Leander Whitlock falls all over himself helping you two. I'm sure he's more than capable of disposing of this house and seeing to the Commodore's estate."

"I'm sure everyone can agree to that provision, yes?" Rothstein asked. "Wonderful, Meyer, if you will accompany me back to New York, Charlie can stay and assist James and the Harrows prepare for their journey north."

Charlie followed Rothstein and Meyer to the door and then returned to the edge of the living room.

"Shouldn't you all be packing?" Nucky said.

Clara smoothed her skirt and allowed herself to really look at her father. Ever the wealthy benevolent monarch of his seaside kingdom, she thought, but still. A little older, a little greyer. He had everything he'd ever wanted and it wasn't enough. It would never be enough. Her mother could have filled every room with baby Thompsons, she and Jimmy could have stayed home from the war...it didn't matter. Whatever was broken in her father predated all of them, even her mother.

It was just that he kept picking up the jagged pieces and using them to inflict pain on anyone in his life who tried to love him.

"Charlie," Clara said with an attempt at a smile. "Would you do me a favor?"

Charlie absolutely smirked at her, causing her to bite back a laugh and shake her head no. "Would you go check on Tommy?"

"You want me to go check on the kid?" Jesus fuck these people annoyed the hell out of him. He'd already spent the day watching Mickey goddamned Doyle, whom he'd finally left hogtied on the floor of his own warehouse. Someone would find the man tomorrow. Or not. Charlie climbed the stairs with all the energy of a condemned man. Watch a fucking kid. What the hell, the kid had to be better than Doyle.

Jimmy and Richard both stared at her, and she half-shrugged as she turned back to her father. "I owe you my thanks," she said in a level voice. "For the asylum. Because it made me understand things I would have never realized. otherwise."

"My whole life I thought it was my fault. That if I'd been a boy, or if I had been different, then I would have been enough. That it was because of my shortcomings that Mother kept trying for more, that she couldn't be satisfied, that it was lost baby after lost baby until she..."

"Clara, there is no need to dredge up the past..."

"THERE IS EVERY NEED! Because as I lay there shackled to that bed with your words in my ear that my husband was in a ditch with Jimmy beside him, my mind started to drift into all the forbidden areas. First, of course, let's start with Gillian. Because in the end, it all goes back to that decision, doesn't it, Father? When I heard Jimmy accuse you of handing over a twelve-year-old girl to that horrid old man I can't even describe how sickening I found that. I try to not be a hypocrite. I've known since I was seven years old and Jenny O'Roarke told me that you were the reason she couldn't have a nice winter coat like mine, because you made her parents pay so much 'business tax' it left them with no money for anything else that my pretty life was built on the misery of others."

Nucky's lower lip curled over his teeth at Clara's betrayal of everything he'd fought to give her. "It's so easy to have such high morals when your whole life people were there to hand you anything you wanted, anything you needed..."

"You absolutely correct. I never went without one material need or want. Neither did Mother. You were such a good provider, weren't you, Father? That's why although you were both still young she thought you two were more than capable of adopting Gillian the summer of 1897. She loved Gillian, right from the start, didn't she?"

"I refuse-"

"Do you think it was because she saw this poor kid who none of the advantages she'd been handed, but that was smart as a whip and charming? Do you think that's why she thought you'd be a good father to Gillian, even if you were only twelve years older than Gillian?"

Nucky started towards Clara, just wanting her to stop talking, but James and Harrow standing behind her changed his mind. "None of this has anything to do with you!"

"It has everything to do with me. What is it you say-everyone must decide for themselves how much sin they can live with? Unfortunately, you forgot to take Mother into your calculus. When you brought Gillian back, because the Commodore threw her out because a pregnant, vomiting twelve-year-old isn't very much fun and because you had nowhere else to put her, what did she think? When you climbed in bed next to her, did you wonder about how she felt about the sin that you brought with you? How she could reconcile the man she'd loved since she was just a girl with the person who whored out the child she planned on raising?"

The only sound in the room was the lash of rain beating against the house.

"See, I thought it was me. I thought it was all those poor doomed babies. But-"

"Clara, your brother..."

"You want to talk about that? Let's. Here's another thing I didn't quite grasp as a child. You already knew Mother was unstable. That baby was so, so, so small. And you just...left us. As she rocked a decaying corpse she thought was her baby and I lived off bread, how many hours did you spend at home? Watching Angela with Tommy those first days I understood for the first time how fragile women are right after childbirth. And my mother was more fragile than most. It was her first baby that, that..." Clara's voice broke and for one horrible moment she thought she was going to burst into tears.

"Was born alive since me," she managed to continue. "And still, you left us. What sort of man doesn't hold his baby for a week? Pays so little attention to his wife that he doesn't realize she's caring for a corpse! Even after, when you managed to bury that poor baby what was your response?"

"I hired a housekeeper!"

"Ah, you threw some money at it. What a solution. Tell me-was it a relief? No longer needing to worry about Mother, her moods, no more worrying she'd embarrass you?"

"How dare you, Clara?"

Jimmy silently watched Clara take on Nucky. She deserved it. But Nuck was going to have him killed, and he was tired of apologizing for what happened in June.

"It's true, though, ain't it Nuck? You love a fresh start. Eli's going to the slammer, you've sent Clara and I away. You got a pretty new wife, adorable little kids, nice new house. The Irishman to replace Eli and me, and you pay him so you don't have to worry about his feelings. It's a whole new Nucky Thompson. Like Mabel, and Clara, and me? Like we never happened. Except those little tykes of Mrs. Schroeder's are gonna grow up one day and wonder about their father. Someone will offer Irish more money. What will you do then?"

"Another new bodyguard, new associates, new wife, new family," Clara replied bitterly. Jimmy turned and nodded at her.

"Anyway, you don't need us. You don't need Eli. You're Nucky Thompson. All you gotta worry about is when you run out of money and you run out of booze and you run out of company and the only person left to judge you is you."

"I don't have to take this."

"No, god forbid someone else set the terms of engagement," Clara snapped.

"Doll-," Eli began as he walked out behind Nucky. Clara's face made him reconsider. "Clara, I had to. He was going to do it regardless, I thought I was a better-"

"What did he offer you?" Clara asked, not wanting to hear her uncle's justifications.

"To take care of June and the kids while I'm...gone."

Clara nodded, understanding but unable to forgive. I begged them all to stop well before we got here, she thought, and to a man they all ignored me.

"Wait," Jimmy said suddenly. "I hired Kaity. She needs to come tonight."

"Who?" Nucky asked.

"Father's maid?" Clara questioned at the same time, equally puzzled.

"That all right? She said you got along well," Jimmy said to Clara.

Clara was still entirely perplexed but nodded. "I quite like Kaity." Something was going on, Clara realized, and it was for Kaity's benefit they got her away from Father's house as quickly as possible. "If you want us out of Atlantic City tonight, I'm going to need assistance. I certainly can't be expected to all this without a maid," Clara said in her most princessy voice to Nucky.

"I'll send her. You leave tonight." Whatever domestic disturbance it caused Margaret was more than worth it to bring this debacle to an end.

A smart person would say nothing, Clara thought and resolved to let her father leave. Her resolve faltered."Enjoy your victory, pyrrhic though it may be."

"I'm glad the money I spent on your education wasn't entirely wasted," Nucky said and for a moment wanted to say more. To ask them how. Why. To pull the snub-nosed revolver hidden behind his back out and put a bullet straight through Jimmy's and Harrow's faces. To tell them not to go, that they could work things out between them.