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"You didn't tell them?" Ella paused her movements while curling her hair, being so in shocked that she momentarily forgot that she could burn her hair off.

"Your hair is steaming, and not until after." Damien was sitting on Ella's bed back in Georgia while Ella sat on the stool by her vanity, getting ready.

"After what?" Ella didn't remove her eyes from Damien's as she released the curled lock of hair.

"After I bought the ring." Damien answered, trying to fight the amused smile from watching his fiancé widen her eyes and ponder deeply. "Why is this concerning? Amore, we're grown adults. They were going to approve anyway. Madre is happy." Damien went up from behind to massage her shoulders.

" I mean... what if..." Ella couldn't help but to think the opposite sometimes. What if they actually still didn't like her? What if they were just pretending to get along? What if they were also just thinking that their relationship was just a phase?

"What if what, love?" Damien was seeing her through her mirror, noticing how she was slowly sinking into her mind.

Ella blinked. "You're right. We're adults. We should decide for our lives." Ella agreed. She knew that a little guidance and advice from wise people never hurt, but at the end of the day, Damien and her were taking things slowly and thinking about things carefully, too.

"That's right." Damien leaned down to kiss her head, squeezing her shoulder once more before he returned to his seat.

Ella returned to the task at hand, which was doing her hair. She finished and dressed quickly, alerting Damien so that they could leave soon. They were a little early, but she wanted to make sure they weren't late.

Once they arrived, Damien sighed, his jaw hardening.

"What is it?" Ella asked, unbuckling her seatbelt but making no other move.

"Selena is here." Damien looked at Ella, who, honestly, didn't even seem bothered.

"Do you want to go back? Or I can leave, and you tell your paren-"

Damien cut her off with a kiss, holding the back of her neck gently as he nipped at her lips, going as far as to pull her bottom one in, softly nipping at it.

"I want us, together, to give the news. She's going to need to get over it." Damien assured her, turning off his vehicle and rounding it to help Ella down.

Recently, Damien had wanted to get a bigger vehicle due to the fact that it was easier to carry heavier and bigger things. Since being with Ella, they had often gone on hikes together as well as rare and short road trips. Damien also helped Ella do some renovations around her house, which led to random deliveries being made to her house since she wasn't able to take them in her small vehicle. Now, I'm his larger truck, things were made much easier.

"Watch your feet." Damien stressed when Ella's slipped due to the icy floor, but since Damien was right there, he managed to catch her right in time. "Amore," Damien chuckled, helping her lean against the seat while she laughed, clinging to the soft material of his cream sweater.

"You watch your step, too. It looks like ice." Ella let go to only hold his hand, clutching it tightly while he shut the door and locked the truck.

"Hold on, Ella."

"I'm holding on." Ella responded, reaching to grab onto both of his hands with one of hers. That was what the Petrotti parents opened up the door to.

"They're so in love." Celeste swooned, watching how Damien was carefully placing Ella's safety before his own, yet Ella was aware of his as well.

"You think they'll always be like this?" Romano wondered out loud. It was one thing to be in love for a moment, but it was another to genuinely love for a lifetime.

"Maybe not like this. They'll dislike each other at other points, perhaps have arguments, but that's part of being a couple. I think they're intelligent and mature enough to know what they're doing." Celeste explained, seeing how the happy and recently engaged couple was approaching.

Soon, Damien and Ella steppes inside, Ella having her gift hanging from her elbow as she greeted her soon-to-be in-laws.

"Why did you bother? You don't even drink wine, Ella." Celeste accepted the bottle, bringing the couple further into their house.

"It's no bother at all." Ella waved off, following Celeste into the kitchen while her mother-in-law kept going on about a cake she made from scratch.

"Your mother is going to run her off." Romano joked, taking his son over to the bar where they sat down.

"Where's Selena?" Damien frowned, looking around for that blonde he had grown up with.

"Selena?" Romano furrowed his brows, looking at his son, perplexed. "Oh! Because of her car?"

Damien nodded, simultaneously denying his father's offer to drink.

"She... well... she showed up drunk." Romano's expression turned somber, visibly upset.

Damien's turned darker. "Here? Driving?"

Romano nodded, rubbing his jaw. "She went to your place, but after seeing that you weren't there, she came here." Romano saw his son shaking his head. "Don't... she's just hurt, Damien. Right now, she feels like you're leaving. Since your time is being spent with Ella right now, she thinks you're forgetting her."

"Padre, Ella is going to be my wife. If Selena thinks putting herself and other people in danger is going to make me spend time with her, she's seeking attention in a negative way that is only going to create more distance. She's behaving like a child." Damien grounded out, highly disappointed.

Romano stayed quiet... too quiet. Damien looked up, seeing that his father had his gaze set on something behind him, and Damien turned, seeing Selena standing there with tears streaming down her face.

"Let me talk to him alone, please." Selena sniffed, and Romano looked at his son.

"I don't think that's a good-"

"Romano, please." Selena stated in a stronger voice, stepping closer to Damien.

Romano looked at his son wearily.

"Go." Damien nodded towards the hall, turning to stand as his father left.

"Damien, I love you," Selena began weeping more now, but Damien couldn't bring himself to see her pain.

"You act the opposite."

Selena paled a bit, shocked to see how cold he was being. That only fueled her anger.

"I do! I love you! You just don't see if because of that girl. She's got you enchanted with her good looks and kind personality, but Damien, do you really think that she's the one for you? You've been dating for a little while, but do you thinks she loves you like I do?!" Selena was raising her voice, desperate to get him to understand.

"She doesn't, and that's the reason I love her." Damien was still watching her with precise aloofness. "Time doesn't dictate how well you know a person. I clearly didn't know you were this foolish. Drunk driving, Selena? Are you stupid?" Damien hissed, shaking his head.

"What? You're going to act like my father now? Now you care?" Selena scoffed, not even bothering to wipe away the fat tears that kept rolling down her porcelain-like skin.

"I've always cared, Selena. I don't understand what exactly it is that you want from me? To leave Ella?! To go with you? Pretend to be okay with you manipulating all of this?" Damien shook his head, his eyes beginning to tear up.

"What am I supposed to then?! Vincent is gone! He left us, and now..." Selena choked on her words, her chest constricting. "You're leaving me, too..." she whispered out, watching as Damien released a jagged breath.

Everything was coming out, and it hurt. The scars were reopening and bleeding.

"Selena, I'm not leaving you." Damien rubbed his eyes red. "I... I love you as my friend. We've been through so much, but that's that. I want you in my life, but if you continuously show me or Ella that you don't care by disrespecting our relationship, then..."

"Then, that's it. I'm out; just like that." Selena wanted to scream, pull her hair out, cry, laugh... everything.

"I loved him too, Selena. He was my brother; you know that. Don't be selfish and say you're the only one afraid of being left because I feel the same way. I don't want you to leave my life. I don't want to lose another dear friend." Damien spat out, finally bursting out with honesty.

If Ella had taught him anything, it was that expressing himself was hard, but if he did so, then the reward was great. He wouldn't feel regretful about not saying anything, and he would also know where he stood with the other person.

Selena stared at him, surprised. She would've never expected him to speak his feelings, but this was new.

Damien, also a bit surprised at how candid he was being, leaned back against the counter. He accidentally knocked on the bottle of liquor his father had left behind, sending the glass onto the floor.

The loud shatter and eerie silence had worried Ella, who had been listening to everything. It was inevitable though; both Damien and Selena were raising their voices.

Ella rounded the corner, taking a quick peek to ensure the safety of both parties before blending back into the shadows, hiding. It was too late, though. Selena had already seen her.

"I'll leave first." Selena wiped some tears roughly, retrieving some of her things before rushing out, her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. She hadn't meant for things to get out of hand and for her to end up almost yelling at Damien at his parents' house.

Ella didn't move much, staying pressed against the wall. She didn't really know if she should leave Damien alone to sort his feelings out or go and comfort him. Before she decided, his mom entered the room, reaching to round his shoulders and bring him down to soothe him.

The grown man, like a little boy, broke apart for all the times he had held himself together too hard, the cracks in his armor from the shattering pressure.

Ella walked out, feeling super hyper aware that even though she was Damien's fiancé, this was a personal issue. He needed time to let it all out in order to feel liberated.

"You should go and talk to him. I know he admires you a lot, and I think he'll be really happy to receive your comfort." Ella murmured to Romano when she found him by the breakfast bar, bewildered.

"You think so?" Romano was horrible when it came to reading people, a trait he knew he had passed into his son, unfortunately.

Ella nodded, and Romano took off. Instead, Ella focused ordering an Uber and texting Damien that she would be at her house.

Once home, Ella had taken off her makeup and changed into some comfortable clothes, but before she could get too comfortable, Rufus began whining at her feet with his leash in his mouth.

"How on Earth did you find this, Rufus?" Ella chuckled in disbelief, admiring the little pup's glimmering eyes. "I guess I should treat you out, huh?" Ella checked the time. It was just a little past eight, and the sun had already set quite some time ago. "Okay, fine. We'll go." She scratched Rufus's head one last time before going to some comfortable running shoes.

While she nervous to go out by herself, especially when it was dark, she was determined to not let Mr. Vanders, her persistent attacker, bring her down.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sam startled a yelp and jump out of Ella. Ella, slipping on her footing ended up on the floor, her hands shooting out in front of her in order to lessen the impact of her fall. Sam stared at the fallen Ella from above, a brow raised. "This a what happens when you try to sneak out."

"I have my pepper spray and taser, though." Ella reaches into her pocket to reveal the pink trinkets that Sam had previously purchased for her.

"Atta, girl." Sam smiled, ruffling Ella's hair since she was still on the floor.

Ella only playfully glared, using her hands to push herself off the floor. The action stung a bit, and when she looked down at her palms, she realized that she had scraped her skin. There were small streaks of red displayed on her skin.

"Why are you out here?" Sam wondered, "besides the obvious, of course." He took Rufus's leash, offering to walk him just like old times, and just like old times too, Ella wrapped her hand through the crook of his elbow.

"Just wanted to walk him." Ella shrugged, not feeling all too comfortable with telling him such private matters. It was Damien's personal business anyway. Ella knew that Damien wouldn't be upset with her if she did share, but he wouldn't necessary like it if she went out divulging his personal issues out to others.

"Sure." Sam followed along. He understood Ella. He knew that now that Ella was in a relationship, her time with him was going to be limited that she wouldn't have the same closeness as before, but he was okay with that. Ella was growing, maturing, developing into her new life, and he couldn't get upset with her for that. He still visited occasionally or when on walks with her, so it wasn't like they were no longer friends.

Instead, Sam decided to give Ella some much-needed distraction by messing around her. They went to a playground where he pushed her swing for her and climbed some money bars.

"Those were some high monkey-bars." Ella dusted her hands on her way back with Sam. Even though Ella was 5'6", those bars were still a challenge.

"Seriously." Sam could feel the blisters on his hands as he flexed them. "Oh," Sam looked up, seeing a large figure leaning on a vehicle the was parked right outside Ella's gates.

"Damien?" Ella looked up after hearing Sam's surprised remark. Stepping forward at a faster pace, she had almost completely forgotten about poor Sam seeing as her main concern was why Damien looked even more distraught and tired than how she had left him. "Are you okay? What happened?" She placed a hand on his bicep, looking at his sullen expression.

Damien glanced back at Sam, giving him a nod as a greeting.

"I'll get going." Sam offered, handing Ella back her dog's leash before waving goodbye to the couple.

"Thanks for walking with her." Damien murmured right before Sam left.

"No problem. Uh... good luck with life... I guess," Sam looked around, confused as to what to say. That response got a chuckle out of Ella and Damien though, who both waved goodbye to the silly blonde.

"Come on. Let's go inside." Ella pulled on Damien's arm gently, unlocking her gates to enter the property.

Once inside, Damien went into Ella's bathroom to shower while Ella prepared a warm mug of tea for his headache.

"I brought you some medicine, I'm not sure if you want it," Ella trailed while Damien crawled closer to her on the bed, kissing her head while she extended the pills.

"Not really." Damien accepted the cup while Ella moved the medication onto the nightstand. "Why'd you leave?"

Ella felt a bit of tension accumulate in her shoulders. "I just thought that I wasn't needed. It seemed like those were some old cuts that needed to be mended by your family; you know, the ones that can understand your situation better than I can." Ella explained, watching Damien's expression carefully.

Ella wasn't afraid of him. She never had been and he had never given her a reason to fear him, but Ella also didn't want to hurt him. She was unsure if her decision to leave him in that moment was the right one or not.

"You're not in trouble, amore." Damien smiled softly, placed his mug on the nightstand beside him on top of a coaster. "I just wanted to know why you left. I was worried."

"I just don't know if I made the right decision." Ella revealed, watching as Damien got under her covers, settling down.

Now that they had spent almost an entire month in Spain sleeping together, Damien would often spend his nights in Ella's bed back at home too.

"I would've appreciated you there, but that's okay. I didn't die." Damien patted the spot next to him, and Ella laid down, using his arm as a headrest. "You're my family now, Ella." Damien referred back to what she had said earlier. "You're my home."

Ella blushed, laughing softly.

"What?" Damien turned, smiling at her laugh.

"I feel the same way, it was just cheesy." Ella explained, feeling how Damien suddenly pulled her closer, tucking her into his chest.

"One of us had to say it," Damien laughed, agreeing that it had been cheesy. He already felt better. Being her that house where she lived, listening to her soothing laugh, her own fragrance and presence enveloped in a sense of home like never before.

He never wanted to leave.