~Leo

Words can't explain the joy I felt seeing Aria again. After weeks of grieving, it was like whoever was up there gave me another chance.

I am apprehensive about Nikolai but my baby seems to trust him and he has said he would help us to take down his own father so I'm deciding to give him a chance. He's never being left alone though. I've told Astrid and Gio to babysit him.

It took a lot of kisses and kind words to persuade Aria to go to the hospital. She knows that she needs to go, she was just being stubborn, saying that 'she didn't want to be a bother'. She really doesn't understand how important she is to me or anyone else for that matter.

"Can I go home yet?" she asked for the hundredth time.

"No, amore mio, they've already said you're going to have to stay here tonight."

I'm currently in Aria's room in my private hospital. It's always easier than going to a public one, prevents questions being asked and us all getting into even more trouble.

However, I underestimated how easy it would be to get Ria to stay in bed.

"Leo?" She turned to me.

"Yes, amore?"

"I'm thirsty." She pouted, showing me her puppy eyes.

"Okay, what drink would you like?"

"Limonata." She replied.

I nodded and left to the vending machines to get her the damn drink. The corridors were quiet. It was around 4 in the afternoon and there didn't seem to be that many patients on Aria's floor.

Grabbing the cans from the vending machine, I headed back to the room.

"Aria! What the hell are you doing?"

My girl was sitting on her bed and was currently trying to put leggings on, over her pyjama shorts.

"I wanna go home." She pouted.

"Baby, I know you do, but we need to make sure you're okay. You're injured and I don't want you getting even more sick." I explained gently, picking her up and putting her back onto the bed.

Once she was comfortable in the covers I passed her the drink and she took it gratefully.

A few minutes later we heard a knock on the door and I answered, asking them to come in.

A doctor walked in and slightly bowed her head. "Don, Donna, my name is Doctor Cambrian." She introduced herself.

"Call me Aria, please." My baby smiled and the doctor smiled in response.

"Okay, well, we've got the x-rays and scans back. You have a broken ankle which explains why you can't really walk. Your ribs are bruised and 3 are broken, so you're going to need to take it easy for a while to allow them to heal. Your cuts on your stomach and legs are healing nicely now, surprisingly they aren't infected."

"Yes, my friend Nikolai helped me treat them when they hurt me." Aria whispered back.

"Oh, well, he helped you a lot. Without that help you would have been at risk to get more serious infections or even sepsis."

Wow. Maybe Nikolai isn't that bad.

"Anyway, I'll send someone in now to treat your ankle and we would like to keep you in tonight, just to monitor everything and make sure you're okay, but I'm confident that you'll be able to leave tomorrow morning and make a full recovery." The doctor smiled.

We both thanked her and she left swiftly.

Another knock at the door broke the silence. Bria and Astrid walked in.

"Ria! I haven't seen you for ages!" Bria squealed, gently giving Aria a hug.

"Gio's watching Nikolai." Astrid whispered to me. I nodded, turning back to look at my love.

"I missed you, Bria." she smiled.

"amore?" I interrupted their catch up. I needed to go and meet with the others to sort out what we were going to do about the Russians.

She looked towards me, flashing me a gorgeous smile.

God, I missed her.

"I need to go and meet the others for a few hours. Bria and Astrid will stay here though, to keep you company."

"okay." she smiled. "you are coming back tonight though right? I don't really want to be alone." she whispered the last bit whilst playing with her fingers.

As if I'm ever spending another night without her.

"Of course, amore mio. I'll be here around 6:30." I said, kissing her forehead.

"okay, I'll see you soon." She kissed my cheek.

I smiled and left the room. The urge to go back and hold her forever was so strong but I knew that I needed to sort out the fucking Russians.

I nodded at the 4 guards stationed outside Aria's door as I left and headed towards the warehouse.

~~~

"Right. Let's get this sorted within 2 hours because I will lose my mind if it takes any longer." I said as I entered the meeting room in the warehouse.

Gio, Theo, Enzo, Killian and the caporegimes were waiting for me.

Oh, and Nikolai.

I walked to my seat and sat down and everyone followed. Enzo was to my right and Theo was to my left.

"How's Ria doing?" Enzo whispered to me.

"fucking stubborn as always. She's broken her ankle and her ribs. The doctors have decided to keep her in tonight just to make sure there's no more issues. The doctor did say that all of her cuts and other injuries are healing well."

"Shit, still, it's amazing that she can come home tomorrow." He smiled in response.

I nodded in return and turned to Niko who was sat between Theo and Gio. "The doctor also told me that if her other injuries weren't treated then she could have gotten some dangerous infections, so for that Nikolai, I thank you. I'm starting to think that you aren't that bad."

At that, a wide grin grew on his face and he smiled, bowing his head.

"Now! What is the fucking plan?"

Giovanni cleared his throat. "Well, Niko and I have been going through some shit and with his help I have managed to get a detailed idea of the Russian base and knowledge of where certain rooms are." He stated, passing me a roll of blue paper with a floor plan on it.

"this is my father's office. there are usually 4 guards stationed outside." Nikolai started, pointing to a room on the 1st floor. I nodded at him to continue.

"Guards change over every 75 minutes, the first change every day is at 8am so that should give us a good idea of timings. His office is fingerprint access, but luckily my fingerprint is on the database so you should have no trouble getting in, if you allow me to come with you."

"Our idea is that we strike tomorrow, we are pretty sure that Dmitri already knows Aria's gone, Nikolai too. He'll soon catch on and either attack us or move. Attacking tomorrow is the only way we can eliminate this threat for sure." Giovanni cut in.

I nodded. "I agree. Tomorrow. Matteo, Silas, Damien. Get the men ready, Sebastian can help you. Gen, Oskar, Athena, work with Giovanni and Niko to plan this out to the second. Enzo, Theo, Killian, we'll ensure all of the weapons are in order."

After another hour or so of discussing entrances and exits, valuable data etc, everyone went their separate ways to get ready for tomorrow. I went to the hospital to see Aria, the guys and Niko following me.

Walking down the hallway towards her room, I could already hear her angelic laughter. I knocked on the door and entered, seeing Aria, Astrid and Bria sitting playing a card game. I noticed that Aria's ankle has been wrapped in plaster cast and that there were already a few doodles on it.

"Leo! Hi everyone!" she beamed, the other girls greeting us as well.

We all replied at once, all of us moving closer to the bed.

"Leo Look! I got a plaster cast and it's pastel purple! Can you believe that? They even had my favourite colour!" She grinned.

She's so fucking adorable.

"-and Bria and Astrid have already signed it! I asked the guards if they wanted to, but they said they should wait until you say if they can." She pouted. "So can you please tell them they can sign my cast? Pretty please?"

I sighed. "Of course, amore mio, but can I at least sign it first?"

"Of course! All of you can!" she giggled, reaching for the sharpies that were on her bedside table.

"She's in a surprisingly good mood, I thought she'd be in pain." I whispered to Bria.

"It's the painkillers." She smiled. "They've made her go loopy."

I nodded in understanding, bending down to write on my girl's cast. I signed the side and then wrote a message on the bottom of her foot so she couldn't read it.

I love you, Aria. x

"Hey! I can't see that!" She yelled at me.

"That's the point, bambina." I smiled, pecking her pout.

"can we all sign, Muffin?" Theo asked, a huge grin on his face.

"Yep!"

One by one, everyone wrote messages and doodles all over her cast. I even got the damn bodyguards to sign it, all because Aria didn't want them 'to feel left out'.

We ordered chinese to be delivered to her hospital room and we all ate in there, catching up and spending time together.

Once it reached 8pm, everyone had to leave as only I was able to stay overnight with Aria. We bid them goodbye and we were left alone.

"Do you need anything, amore?"

"Umm, some water please." She mumbled while trying to change her t-shirt.

I shook my head and got her water and saw her trying to pull her sock off of her good foot. She had changed into one of my t-shirts that I brought and her hair was in a messy bun.

"Let me, baby." I reached towards her and pulled the damn sock off.

"Thank you." She smiled.

She slowly shuffled across the bed and tapped the empty space beside her, getting me to sit there. Because of this being my hospital and her being my girl, I had asked that the bed was bigger so that we would both fit. It was around the size of a small double bed.

She turned towards me and stroked my jaw, a look of pure adoration on her little face.

Everything was silent for a while until I spoke.

"It's happening tomorrow."

"What is- oh."

"It's our only chance."

"I understand, just, be careful." She whispered, her voice cracking.

"I'm always careful sweetheart and besides, thanks to Nikolai, it should all go without a hitch." I smiled, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

"Okay, I know I can't come, but I hope you all do well, I'll be at home making pasta when you all get back." She smiled.

"Okay amore." I smiled too tired to argue with her. I wasn't going to allow her to be on her feet for that long.

She laid her head on my chest and randomly started drawing shapes with her fingers over my stomach. I stroked her hair, relishing the feeling.

"Leo?" She whispered sleepily.

"Yes, my love?"

"I think I love you."

"I think I love you too Aria."

~~~

Author's Note:

This is a very long chapter tbh but I actually like it :)

Vote pretty pleasee

Thank you for reading! <3