Chapter Title: Party Time

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I did, I don't own Baccano! or any of its characters. All rights go to Ryohgo Narita, seeing as without him I wouldn't have been able to write this.

Dedications: I dedicate this chapter to New York City and the mafia because they play HUGE parts in Baccano! and they are just pretty awesome (haha).

Luck Gandor set down the book he had been flipping through. The author had been a passenger aboard The Flying Pussyfoot five years prior and had recounted his sights in a memoir. Though the book didn't sell very well and was plastered as a fake by the public and police departments, Luck knew that the author was correct in most everything he had written. There were a few minor details that he had messed up on. For one, the Rail Tracer wasn't a monster from Hell like the author wrote. Instead, it was actually Luck's unofficial brother, Claire Stanfield. When he read about the "monster" Luck had actually laughed slightly.

As he exited the office he had previously been occupying as he scanned The Flying Disaster by R. Herring, the youngest Gandor brother straightened out his suit. He glanced over at a nearby clock and saw that he only had maybe thirty minutes before the guests would be arriving.

The Gandor brothers hadn't seen many of their friends in close to five years and as such had decided to through a small shindig at their home. Luck entered the room set aside for the party and paused. He had expected his brothers to be there or possibly some housemaids straightening some things up, but instead he had entered the room to find a young woman strolling around the room and looking at the various art pieces lining the walls. Luck couldn't see her face, but he knew who she was without a doubt.

At the sound of Luck's entering the room, the young woman turned towards him. Her dirty blonde hair had grown longer over the past five years and now reached her mid-back, right where the curve was. The ends curled as they had before and the whole flow of the full head of hair was enchanting as the girl spun around. She was dressed in an off the shoulder, baby pink colored dress that fit her figure until flowing free around her legs.

"Mr. Luck!" she exclaimed, her mouth forming a large, happy smile. Luck shook the astonished look off of his face and he replaced it with a small smile as he made his way over to her. Upon reaching her Luck took the girl's hand and kissed her knuckles.

"It's good to see you Eve," he said, letting her hand go and enjoying the small blush that came to her lips. "You've certainly matured since our last meeting."

Another rush of pink crossed Eve's cheeks and she covered her mouth with her hand, trying to cover her embarrassment. Luck could remember when she had simply been a young girl looking for her brother. She had been so desperate for any information that she had even confronted the Gandor brothers and asked them where he was. Though Luck had had some problems with her older brother Dallas, he had respected her drive to find him and had exposed the Gandors' role in Dallas's disappearance.

"And you seem to have stayed frozen in time," she commented smiling at him and taking the seat on the nearby couch offered to her by Luck. A sudden almost sad look came across her features. "Immortality… It really is true, huh?"

Luck took a seat in the chair beside Eve's couch and leaned his cheek against his fist. He crossed his legs as well and looked at Eve carefully. She had certainly matured in the past five years, though it was obvious that her childlike views on the world were still present. But Luck couldn't complain, Eve's innocence was one of the things that had made him like her so much. That and her purity and that passion she held in her eyes.

"Yes," Luck replied, still watching the young woman before him. There was something about her that he found so enticing at that moment. They hadn't spoken for nearly three or four years and for her to show up so suddenly really was a shock, though not an unpleasant one.

Luck had drunk the immortality elixir when he was about nineteen, thus retaining his youth forever, though he did have the face of someone a few years older. Eve, being mortal, had aged through the years and by Luck's reckoning, she had to be either seventeen or eighteen. The thought that she was so close to his age made his thoughts about her falter for a moment, though Luck was quick to change the subject in his mind to something far more appropriate for an old friend.

"How have you been?" Eve questioned, folding her hands over her skirt and thanking the maid that brought her a cup of coffee. "And your brothers. How are Keith and Berga?"

"We've all been fine Eve," Luck replied, smiling at her behavior. Just from her actions one could tell that she was brought up as a woman of high class. It was amusing to see her like this and then to remember the hectic actions she had taken when she found out just who killed her father. "And how have you been? And your brother?"

"I've been splendid," Eve answered, sipping some of her coffee, "and Dallas…"

Suddenly a dark look came over her features and Luck realized the mistake he had made. Luck hadn't been thinking about his words and had a momentary lapse of memory of the fact that Dallas was once again MIA. Luck had heard rumors that he was abducted by heretics, which was Dallas's tendency of late, but he knew nothing for sure.

"My apologies," Luck said, feeling quite horrid about what he had said.

"No," Eve replied, a sad smile gracing her lips as she tightened her hold on her cup and looked down into the dark liquid within. "It's fine. I know that Dallas has caused whatever he is involved himself. He will survive through it, though."

Luck was about to say something else, most likely words of comfort, but at that moment a crowd of voices could be heard in the foyer, interrupting the conversation. Both Luck and Eve stood as the voices got closer and soon the owners of the voice entered. Before the two of them stood Keith and Berga Gandor along with a group of the guests.

"Luck! Eve!" two very familiar voices shouted, as Miria and Isaac appeared, pushing aside Firo, who simply laughed at the two cons.

"Isaac, Miria," Eve greeted, smiling happily at the two. "How wonderful to see you both."

"Why Miria look at this!" Isaac exclaimed, twirling Miria away from Eve slightly and then brandishing towards the young woman. "Eve has matured into such a beautiful young lady!"

"Such a beautiful young lady!" Miria replied, nodding happily.

The duo was dressed in a fashion that was usually associated with pirates. Isaac even had an eye patch and a fake parrot, though he often lifted the eye patch up so as to get a better look at the room around him. Miria was dressed in full pirate queen fashion, with her hair pulled back by a bandana depicting the Jolly Roger. The two were often dressed in strange outfits and Luck could remember that they had, in fact, been dressed as a priest and nun when he had first met the duo.

"Luck," Firo greeted, patting his old friend on the shoulder and making said man's eyes falter from their steady watch on Eve. Firo was shorter than Luck, though not by much. Luck smiled at him and both commented on how good it was to see each other.

"Where's Ennis?" Luck questioned, looking around and not spotting the redhead that Firo was so attached to.

With a downcast look on his face, Firo explained, "When Czes heard that Claire was going to be here, he refused to go and since he is so attached to Ennis, he convinced her to stay with him." The young Camorra member let out a sigh. "That kid is always grabbing all of her attention."

Luck smirked at how smitten his friend was with the homunculus. Luck had noticed the attraction the first time he had seen the two together the night he, his brothers, Firo, and other Camorra members became immortal. It was good to see Firo with someone and Luck hoped the best for them.

"Speak of the devil!" Firo suddenly exclaimed and Luck looked in the direction he was grinning at. Entering the room was Claire Stanfield and beside him the lovely Chane. It didn't seem to Luck that Chane was completely comfortable with being there and she stuck to Claire's side like a leech, but she did almost smile at Eve, whom she had apparently met at some point.

"Now you wouldn't be talking about me, would you Firo?" Claire questioned, chuckling at the young Camorra. Claire and Firo patted each other's shoulders in hello, grinning at each other like fools. Luck could remember a day way back before Claire's running away to the circus. Claire had been the unofficial fourth Gandor brother and had also been close to Firo, like Luck. The three had all been about the same age, so the trio was often together as children.

"Who else?" Firo replied, smiling at Chane. "Hello there Chane. Ennis says hello as well. She wishes she could've come."

Chane once again almost smile and, actually, her mouth did flicker to one for a moment and she nodded in return at Firo. Upon meeting, Ennis and Chane had become friends, or as much friends as both woman could muster. During this exchange Luck was saying his hellos to Claire and suddenly the redhead's eyes widened as he looked over Luck's shoulder.

"And who would that be?" Claire questioned, motioning over Luck's shoulder. Luck turned and looked and spotted Eve. He felt a sudden urge to force Claire to look away from her, as though he didn't have the right to, but he stopped himself.

"Eve Genoard," Luck replied, his eyes one her. She was chatting with Isaac and Miria, who were obviously still in shock at the how much older she had become since they had last seen her. Luck hadn't known prior to this that Eve had even been in contact with the pair, though it was understandable since Miria and Isaac seemed to really get around. She was smiling wide and the sight of her pretty face, free for the moment of all worries, sent a shiver through his spine.

Claire was about to comment once more, but his attention was caught by something tugging on his jacket. He turned and saw Chane staring at him. Though her expression was blank to the rest of the world, Claire had become a master in reading her expressions and he could tell she was worried that he was looking at other women. It was true that Claire's eyes sometimes wandered, but he was completely loyal to the beautifully dangerous woman before him and he was never one to forget to let her know.

As Claire reassured Chane that he was madly in love with her and only her and would never two-time her or do anything to hurt her, Luck's eyes followed Eve's movements. She was graceful and she captured Luck with her every move. He truly couldn't keep his eyes off of her and it scared him slightly. Firo was the one that pulled him out of his trance-like state.

"You know Luck," the other immortal stated, smirking up at his friend, "you really shouldn't ogle like that. Eventually you'll get caught. Just go talk to her if you're interested."

Luck smiled back at his friend and nodded. Firo always seemed to surprise him with his random fits of wise advice. He had such a young face and yet he sometimes spoke as though he were three times his age. Leaving Claire, Firo, and Chane as they began talking about just when Chane and Claire's wedding would be, Luck walked over to Eve. He wasn't completely sure what he was going to say, but he figured he could wing it.

The room was filling up with guests by now. Most were members of the Martillo group, who the Gandors were in close relations with. Eve was still talking with Isaac and Miria, who were acting as strange as always. Noticing Luck's approach, the con duo seemingly got an idea into their heads at the same time and grinned at each other. Eve had already turned to greet Luck so she didn't notice the exchange. Before either Eve or Luck could say anything Isaac's voice suddenly came into contact with everyone in the room.

"Alright everyone!" Isaac shouted at the crowd, standing beside the radio in the room and turning on some fast-paced jazz music. "It's time to dance! Grab a partner and spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin them 'round!" With that Isaac demonstrated by twirling Miria around as she laughed wholeheartedly and the room full of people stared in disbelief at the two.

After all, there were only three women in the room.

Author's Corner – So I positively LOVE Baccano! It's just an amazing series and is probably my favorite (right up there with Cowboy Bebop, OHSHC, and Fairy Tail). I've always loved the idea of a Luck/Eve relationship and I finally got the idea to write this story! As you can see, I hinted at other couple, even though they are canon and as such I probably wouldn't alter them anyway (it's not my style).

The next chapter should be out soon, though I am also working on an Ouran story (Tamaki x Kyoya), which I post for often. Check it out if you're a fan of the pair =]

But I'm really excited about this pair so you can be sure another chapter will be out quickly. Leave me a review and tell me what you think so far! And don't be shy with your criticism; I'm perfectly fine with it.

See you next time!

Sincerely Yours,

Julia