"It's been too long. I don't think one trip a year is going to do it. What if Isa forgets about me?" Elizabeth was horrified at the thought, squishing Melissa's cheeks in adoration.

"You guys should come down for a summer. The pool is starting to fall apart from no one using it." Timotheo exaggerated, and Stefanie threw him a panned look.

"I see where I got it from now." Stef chuckled, reaching behind her to grab onto her suitcase. "Can we go now? I'm starving and sleep-deprived."

"When are you not?" Fransisco called from behind them, dragging his family's luggage. It was his choice to carry both heavy suitcases though because Erica had insisted she carry one of them, but he denied her help.

"Alright, alright. Let's go." Timotheo ushered them out of the airport, taking them to the large SUV he owned.

"You guys brought Mamá's car?" Ella paused when she caught sight of her mom's beige Lincoln.

"Well, not everything is going to fit in one vehicle anymore. With two to add onto the family, we need more space." Elizabeth opened the back of hers, allowing Damien to place his and Ella's luggage back there as well as Stefanie's.

"Feel honored. She almost never takes out her baby." Stef murmured to Damien before she got into her mom's, front, passenger seat.

Damien smiled in amusement. He was beginning to get used to Stefanie's oddly dark and savage humor. At first, he had been taken aback by her words, thinking that she was being serious, but after seeing how her family laughed at her words, he came to realize that it was just Stefanie's humor.

"When we get to the house, I want to eat a whole farm. I'm not even kidding." Stef grumbled once everyone had gotten settled. Only Stefanie, Ella, and Damien were riding with Elizabeth. The rest of the crew was with Ella's dad.

While Elizabeth entertained Stef in a random conversation, Ella scooted closer to Damien, resting her head on his shoulder.

"What do you think?" Ella murmured quietly while Damien gazed out the window at the scenery.

"I think it's beautiful." Damien turned, kissing Ella's hair before turning his attention back outside. The buildings were too elegant and eye-catching to ignore.

"I have a lot to show you in the span of two weeks." Ella warned, and Damien only vibrated lowly with a chuckle, agreeing.

Due to his hectic work schedule, Damien had decided to only go to Spain for two weeks. He would be there for Christmas, but he wouldn't for New Year's. While it bummed him out that he had been dating Ella for almost two years now without being able to celebrate New Year's together, he had a feeling that they would have plenty of opportunities in the upcoming years.

"Ella, honey," Elizabeth was pushing suitcases inside the house despite everyone denying her help and moving to take them from her. Her arm was still supposed to be in a arm strap that would hang from her shoulder.

"Don't pick anything up again." Ella tsked, pushing her bag to the side before also shoving another bag away from her dad who was on his merry way to go pick it up.

"Go ahead and place your things in your rooms, then." They ushered the kids away, both leaving to grab some water and other refreshments for the guests.

"Come. I'll show you where you'll be staying." Ella gestured for Damien to follow her, carrying up her own small bag while he effortlessly followed with their own two suitcases. "Welcome to..." Ella opened her door, allowing Damien to enter first. "My childhood bedroom."

Damien placed the suitcases down before looking around, taking in the room. Her queen sized bed didn't actually take up much room since the room was a decently large size. The walls were a very faint and soft lavender color, matching the color of some decorations that Ella had lying around.

"It's very you." Damien noted, watching as Ella went to check her small desk, seeing that it was actually clean and not at all dusty.

"What do you mean?"

"It's just..." Damien looked around, "simple, soft, elegant."

Ella blushed, not expecting to be flattered when he answered her question. "Well, thank you." She cleared her throat, not yet looking at him in the eyes, just looking around. It had been a while since she had last seen her room. She still awoke in the middle of the night sometimes and was confused as to her surroundings, expecting to awaken in her childhood room only to remember that she was a grown adult and that she lived alone in Georgia.

"Breakfast is being served." Elizabeth knocked on the bedroom door to alert them of her presence but not entering.

"Coming, Mamá." Ella responded quickly, taking ahold of her suitcase handle. "Let's go down, yeah?" Ella gestured for Damien to follow her as she walked back downstairs, leaving her suitcase by Stefanie's room as they passed.

Damien didn't get a chance to even ask why Ella was dropping her things off in a different bedroom when he was taken down to the hustling and bustling family that was crowding around. Even though the house was on the bigger side, it was still difficult to fit all seven grown adults as well as the rambunctious toddler that loved exploring around, fitting into any open space she could find.

"Just so you know, your dad's brother is coming over. It's been a while since he's last seen you guys, and he's very excited to see you guys now, especially Melissa." Elizabeth cooed as Isa crawled past, Erica picking her up from the floor. Erica had always disliked it when Melissa crawled now that she could walk because the girl would always end up with her dirty hands in her mouth.

"So we should leave before they get here." Stef murmured, nodding as she picked up a pan dulce (sweet bread) from the bread basket.

"Stefanie," Elizabeth drawled out in a reprimanding manner.

"Mamá, they will never allow us to leave. Besides, we can see them for Christmas or New Years." Stefanie promised, grabbing her mug of coffee to dip some of her pastry in. "Oh, this is so good."

Ella chuckled at her sister's pleased face and Damien's confused one.

"Come, try this." Ella pulled him so that he could also prepare his own coffee before grabbing a pastry that wasn't as sweet. Damien, from quite early on, had revealed to Ella that he wasn't crazy about sweet things. It worked well for Ella since her sweet tooth seemed to work in overdrive to makeup for his side. "Mamá is making other things too, so it's okay if you don't like it." Ella handed Damien the pastry in a plate, watching his expression carefully as he tried it.

"It's good." Damien nodded, noting that it had a odd yet good taste. He wasn't one to indulge in sweet things, yet the bread wasn't all too sweet.

"I'm glad you like it. This is literally what I would have almost every Sunday night once we returned from church. As part of the funding they had, one of them was baking and selling pan dulce to pay for basic things around church."

"Did you go to church a lot?" Damien watched Ella carefully, her eyes glimmering in happiness.

Since he had known her, they had never touched the religious topic before, but Damien always knew that Ella was religious. She would sometimes let her faith slip out whenever she talked about her childhood or when she was very happy or sad.

"Oh, yeah," Ella leaned back in her seat, a dazed look in her eyes as she recalled warm and happy experiences that she had had growing up in her church community. Damien listened intently, clinging onto every word that Ella would say. It seemed to be like that more often for him, listening avidly, always wanting to know more and more about her.

He wanted to know her dislikes so that he could avoid them. He wanted to know her likes so that he could give the small joys of life. He wanted to know everything she was willing to share, and he no longer held back when sharing similar things with her. There was no use in hiding anything anyway when Ella could read him like a book, but he mostly enjoyed her comfort whenever he was going through a hard time or her happiness whenever he had something good to tell her.

Time flew by, and before they knew it, Timotheo's brother and wife had arrived, quickly entrapping Ella and Damien as well as Stefanie.

"Oh, Fransis- you're not fransisco." The brother, Alejandro, was taken aback when the Italian man turned around after feeling a thick and heavy hand pat his back.

"Oh, tio," Ella surged forward. She had been conversing with Liliana, Alejandro's wife, when she saw how Damien had been tapped. "This is Damien, my boyfriend. Damien, meet Alejandro, my uncle."

Alejandro raised his brows in surprise before tossing Timotheo a knowing look. "Well, would you look at that. Nice to meet you. I'm a police offic-"

"He's my uncle." Ella shook off his tactic to intimidate Damien. Damien was already being intimidated enough just by leaving his country to come spend the holidays over with Ella.

"Very nice to meet you, sir." Damien chuckled, watching as the man nodded, seeming to like Damien.

After Ella noticed that Damien would be okay by himself with the men in her family, she returned back to the ladies.

"He's really good-looking." Liliana praised, practically devouring Damien with her eyes.

"Tia, you look crazy." Stef snorted, watching as Liliana blushed, looking away quickly. "Get used to it. I think he's going to be around for a long time."

"How do you look at that all day and function?" Liliana genuinely asked Ella, but Ella just laughed.

She had always known that Damien was very attractive and handsome, but getting to know him made her feel comfortable with him. She had just grown to love him for his personality, and while she didn't deny that seeing him still made her erupt with butterflies sometimes, to her, he was her loving and doting boyfriend.

"You know what though?" Liliana suddenly nudged Ella, who was helping her mom cut up some vegetables for dinner. The day had flown by now with company and a little child to keep everyone busy and entertained.

"Hmm?" Ella hummed, briefly glancing at her as to not cut her fingers.

"Diego has been asking about you."

"Who's Diego?" Stef suddenly entered the conversation. Ella threw her a panned look. "Oh... that one?" Stef smirked suddenly before laughing mischievously. "What does lover boy want? I thought he had a girlfriend."

Diego had been a family friend for a long, long time. His grandparents lived right beside the Cortesa house in Spain, and throughout the years, whenever the Cortesa family would come for vacation, the kids, especially since he and Ella were the same age, would always play together. As the years passed, both teens had developed feelings for each other, and everyone knew, but the kids were too shy to say anything. Within time, Ella began to travel to Spain less and less, and so did Diego once he moved to the states for work. Ella had even begun to forget about the dear friend.

"Well, he did, but... you know." Liliana looked at Ella.

"Know what?" Stef pestered, looking at Ella, then back at Liliana. "What? Why are you looking at her? Why is she looking at you?"

"Stef!" Ella widened her eyes, incredulous of how fascinating this convo was for her little sister.

"What? I'm curious." Stef shrugged, smiling smugly while tossing an unaware Damien a glance. "I've never seen him jealous or worked up. I just want to see how hot he is like that, and if he doesn't get worked up, then he doesn't deserve you."

"Stefanie," Ella sighed, shaking her head while smiling. "Go wash that fruit for Mamá." Ella motioned with her head over towards the strawberries that they were going to use for a cheesecake. Stef groaned, sliding off the seat and trudging over towards the bowl of the bright, red fruit.

Ella returned to her own task, not paying any more attention to what Liliana had just said until she started up again.

"I didn't say what I said about Diego just to be funny. Ella, he's been looking for you since he arrived last week. To be honest, also," Liliana looked a bit flustered, which slightly alarmed Ella just a tiny bit.

"What?"

"We didn't know you had a boyfriend, in our defense!" Liliana quickly warned, "but we told him you would be here today and until New Year's. He said he's coming over later."

Ella chuckled. "Why do you look so scared?" Liliana genuinely looked embarrassed. almost as if she had gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "If he comes, he comes. There's nothing else to it."

Liliana looked at her niece carefully, wondering why she was so calm about it. Had she been in Ella's shoes, she'd be doing anything to get Alejandro away from the situation to avoid any fights.

"What about Damien?" Liliana wondered, now doubting how serious their relationship was.

"What about him?" Ella still seemed as calm as ever. She wasn't acting like her past crush/wannabe boyfriend and her actual boyfriend were going to meet. "Liliana, Damien is my present, and as of now, future. He doesn't have anything to worry about, and quite frankly, neither do I. Diego is just a friend; it's not like he going to confess his undying love for me." Ella laughed softly, the idea sounding absurd to her.

Lilian just breathed in, pursing her lips in uncertainty. The way she knew it, once a guy fell for Ella, there was almost no going back. She also knew Diego, and Diego seemed pretty certain that he was going to make Ella his.

As the night progressed, everyone forgot about Diego and his supposed appearance. Once it became late and he didn't show up, Liliana agreed with Ella. Maybe she had misinterpreted the situation. Luckily for her, it didn't seem like she had done any damages to Ella's relationship or Ella's calm state of mind, so that was always good.

"Where's Ella?" Damien frowned, looking at his watch to check the time. It was well past eleven, and everyone was pretty much dying to go sleep, but he couldn't seem to locate his girlfriend.

"I think she said she was going to blow-dry her hair. Check her room." Stefanie yawned, some dark circles prominent under her eyes.

Out of everyone, Stefanie and Ella were always uncomfortable in flights. They could never find a comfortable enough position to fall asleep, and then that on top of that, the jet lag due to the drastically different time zones between Spain and Georgia. Even Damien himself was barely holding onto his consciousness if it weren't for the fact that he felt out of place. In all of his life, he had never slept over at anyone's house with the exception of Ella's when she was sick, but other than that, he wasn't accustomed to the change. He almost felt ridiculous for feeling so homesick after just one day.

"Hey, you're here." Damien almost sighed in relief when he saw Ella combing her hair in the bathroom attached to her room.

"Hey," Ella yawned, running her slim fingers through the soft and dry locks of her black hair. "Tired?" She smiled warmly when Damien came up from behind, kissing her hair before moving to grab his toothbrush. Ella had already unpacked most of her things out, doing him the favor of also setting out a couple of items he didn't get to since her family was really eager to see him.

"Where are you going?" Damien lowly murmured out, his eyes droopy, barely aware of his surroundings but managing to see that Ella was quietly moving things around, almost as if she was preparing to leave.

"You're still up?" Ella was surprised to see him up, suddenly seeing his red eyes open as if he wasn't just knocking out from how exhausted he was. Ella knew exactly how he felt.

"Can't you stay?" Damien yawned, tired beyond belief, but she felt like home. She was his normal, his comfort.

"You want me to stay?" Ella laughed softly, nearing the bed where Damien pulled her down, nuzzling her neck and wrapping his arms around her as if she were his favorite teddy bear.

"I love you." He hushed out, only allowing Ella to move enough to turn off the lamps before he pulled her right back to him to sleep.