It was the footsteps of Mary and Anthony running around in the hallway of the Trapani compound in New York that woke Noelle Trapani up late on a Saturday night. The 15 year old stretched her arms over her head before rubbing her bluish grey eyes and brushing her raven hair out of her face, hearing Michael say "Mary, Anthony, let's keep the noise down a bit, okay?"

"Is Ellie asleep?" Mary asked.

"Yes sweetheart... remember what happens when you don't get enough sleep?" Michael responded.

"You get overtired and irritable. Mommy used to say the same thing before she left." Mary answers, the mention of Kay leaving leaving Noelle feeling like there was a knife in her heart. Mary and Anthony didn't even know why their mother had left.

Noelle pretended to be asleep when she heard the little footsteps run down the hallway… but it didn't fool Michael when he walked in.

"Ellie... was it the noise? A nightmare?" Michael asked as he helped her sit up... and noticed her flinch.

"I saw what you did..." Noelle said quietly, Michael realising it and carefully hugging her.

"I wish you hadn't... I remember the nightmares you had after seeing Carlo hit Connie. I wish I hadn't hit Kay, I swore to never hurt a woman. I forget that you're older now, you understand more..." Michael said before he cradle Noelle's face in his hands. "I will never hurt you, Noelle Adriana... I promise." He said, once again hugging her and lightly stroking her hair.

It wasn't long before Noelle was out like a light and Michael tucked her into the bed after lying her back on her side before he went to go check on his children, Michael quietly closing the door.

As Noelle was sleeping, her mind wandered aimlessly with many voices she didn't recognise flooding it.

"Don't trust him, kid!" Moe Greene said.

"Non sei sicuro, piccola!" Victor Stracci responded.

"Ti ucciderà come lui ha ucciso Fredo!" Carmine Cuneo exclaimed.

"There will be nowhere for you to run!" Philip Tattaglia said coldly.

"Your grandfather had me as his enemy… do you really want to make an enemy out of Michael Corleone, little girl?!" Emilio Barzini taunted.

"Michael would be only one enemy for you… do you really think you're safe in any way?" Joey Zasa questioned...

Noelle's eyes snapped open after that… catching her breath, she rubbed her face and pushed herself up slowly, looking around.

They weren't around… she wasn't even at Michael's home, hadn't been in a few days. Quietly, she stretched back out and muffled a cough that had first became noticeable nearly two days ago.

It had started out as a cough… the young teen reached her right hand up to her right ear and tugged on it in hopes of making the dull ache go away.

A part of her once assumed that only small children had gotten earaches, she hadn't dealt with one since she was 5 years old.

Noelle stopped tugging on her ear when she felt a damp washcloth being placed onto her forehead, looked up and saw Aldo… it was then that she realised that she hadn't been paying attention, judging from the open door.

"Shh… just rest now, kiddo." Aldo whispered as he brushed Noelle's shoulder length raven curls back.

She could hear it again, someone else talking.

"Send Fredo off to do this, send Fredo off to do that! I'm your older brother, Mike, and I was stepped over, Twice!"

"Fredo… you're no longer a brother, you're no longer a friend. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance so I won't be there."

"Ellie?" Aldo said, Noelle looking at him through feverish eyes. "Were you having bad dreams, kiddo?"

Noelle nodded before she sat up, Aldo carefully pulling her into his arms and the two hugging. She stretched back out after they let go, the washcloth back on her head and hoping it would take the fever away.

The echoing slap and "Bitch!" being shouted, then Kay's painful scream followed too… but Noelle forced it out of her mind.

It didn't take long for her to close her tired eyes after reassurance from her father that the monsters wouldn't get her.

But as she traced the scar over her left thumb, she began to think back to how she got it.

Three weeks ago…

Noelle immediately turned the kitchen sink on and ran her bleeding thumb under the cold water, Al Neri running into the kitchen when he had walked in from the back and saw the blood.

"Ellie, what…" Al started to ask before seeing the blood on the knife and that Noelle had been starting to cook dinner, judging from the uncooked meat she used for meatballs.

"It was an accident, I wasn't…" Noelle explained, Al knowing that she wasn't fully recovered from the fall down the stairs at her school that rendered the nerves in her right hand damaged.

But here she was, trying to take care of dinner like she normally did… she was trying to regain her independence.

"It's okay, sweetheart… it's gonna take time before you fully recover." Al said reassuringly as he tossed the last of the meat out along with the bloodstained knife. Thankfully, Noelle's wound wasn't so deep and Al bandaged it after using lidocaine before putting the first aid kit away and helping Noelle sit down in the living room.

"Hey…" Al said after a few seconds, Noelle looking at him. "I know things aren't how they were and it's gonna take time to get back to that but you're being too hard on yourself, Noelle. You need to let yourself be a kid again." He said before they hugged.

But she felt like her childhood was long gone.