Carlos and Rose's home.

"Ah you're finally here" Rose hugged her son then each of her grandchildren.

"Adrian and Leo are here with their families, they are out back" Rose added after the hugs.

Although Emilia and Mason had been holding hands, after the hug from rose, Emilia found herself gripping Damon's hand tightly.

"Your father insisted on doing the grill but we compromised and Im doing other bits, it's all gonna be ready in an hour or so" Rose said.

Carlos and Alesandro spoke quietly with each other as rose led them to the back garden.

Everyone went out the back doors into the garden but Emilia couldn't. She was too nervous.

"It's going to be okay, they will love you" Damon said, he had also stopped.

"Are you sure" Emilia whispered so quietly that even Damon had trouble hearing.

"Yes I'm sure, if they don't like you Ill just force them to like you"

"You can't do that" Emilia whispered slightly amused though.

"Just you watch me" Damon said

Emilia didn't dare say it so she quickly wrote a response.

Do what? I don't think you're capable of doing much more than stalking? Are you going to stalk your family?

Damon read it and smirked.

You have no idea what I'm capable of darling.

He kept his thoughts to himself though.

"Perhaps" he said not wanting to make her fear or nerves worse by saying he could do alot more than that.

"Would you like to meet your family" Damon asked changing the subject.

"I've never had a family " Emilia didn't mean to voice her thoughts but when she realised what she had done, her eyes widened at her mistake.

"Now you do, and we all love you very much so let's go meet them okay" Damon said, his jaw was clenched but he managed a smile to show her he wasn't pissed.

"If you would like, we can hold hands the entire time" he asked.

She nodded, not wanting to face her family alone.

"Great. Just a heads up, don't ask Xavier about his mum, he doesn't like that question" Damon said.

"Do I need to know anything else" she whispered.

"I don't think so. There is your aunt and uncle, Ellie and Leonardo, he prefers Leo though. They have two sons, Enzo who is 20, Marco who is 18. Then there is your other uncle, who has two sons Xavier who is 22 and Zach who is 17. Marco and Zach are like Dante so don't worry if they are a little moody they will warm up to you" Damon explained.

"Ok I think I can do this"

"Yes you can and I won't leave your side until you're okay with it. We are all so proud of you for this okay" Damon reassured.

Emilia nodded and took Damon's hand.

They walked through the patio doors. Everyone was talking to each other, mostly taking it in turns to introduce themselves to Lexi who was enjoying the attention. "Puttana" Damon muttered, he was suprised when he saw Emilia biting her lip to stop herself from laughing "did you understand that" he asked.

She nodded in response. Antonio and Evan had started corrupting her by telling her curses and their meaning.

"Very well I don't want to hear it from you, it's a bad word" Damon said knowing now that she was starting to pick things up he would need to be careful.

"I hope we didn't miss too much" he announced loudly as he led Emilia to the group.

Everyone's attention shifted to Emilia this time.

"Oh my, you have grown up so much since I last saw you" Ellie rushed over and gave her niece a hug.

"Why has she got a sling on" she then asked.

"She fell" Damon said not wanting their business told to the whole family.

"It's good to meet you" Leo said coming up behind his wife.

"Emilia is mute so she won't anwser you but she still has a notebook to communicate with" Alesandro said seeing his daughter get nervous.

"Oh that's quite alright" Leo said smiling down at his niece. "Boys introduce yourselves" he turned and snapped at his boys.

"Ugh why the fuck is there two of them" Marco muttered. He wasn't at all happy there was another one, Lexi had introduced herself in such a childish way, batting her eyelashes and over all dressed like she was going to a nightclub or even a strip club.

"That tends to be how twins work Marco, I suggest you drop the attitude" Damon replied in a somewhat dark tone but authoritive at the same time.

Marco looked away not happy that he was caught.

"I'm Enzo" Enzo greater politely. He didn't think much of Lexi so he was quite blunt with her twin.

"Marco" Marco said, introducing himself.

"Okay great you have all introduced yourselves, it's my turn now" Adrian came forward making sure he was in front of his niece "im Adrian, your favourite uncle, and the fun one" Adrian greeted and gave her a quick hug. " I suppose I should let my son's introduce themselves too. Boys come here" Adrian added.

Two boys approached. One looked just as cold as Damon when he was in a mood and the other looked like he rather not be here.

"I'm Xavier, the oldest of your cousin's" Xavier introduced.

"Non è come l'altra è lei" he quietly asked Damon Xavier thought Lexi was dressed like a hooker and was not impressed.

"No" Damon replied.

"Introduce yourself too" Adrian told his youngest son.

"Why should I? She's not family" Zach said with hatred.

Adrian sighed "I'm sorry Emilia this is Zach, MY SON" he said putting emphasis on 'my son' just for Zach's sake.

"Ignore him, you're family" Damon whispered.

Everyone soon found themselves sat in different areas of the garden.

Alessandro, Leo and Ellie sat on the garden sofas with a beer or in Ellie's case a glass of wine, catching up.

Adrian had left his brothers to talk to Zach privately.

Dante, Matteo, Marco and Lexi all sat near the pool. Lexi didn't say much since Dante would glare at her. She was trying to get Marco on her side. It was cringey to watch. At some point even Matteo got annoyed since it was that cringey.

Damon kept his word and wouldn't leave Emilia's side, so they were together with Xavier, Enzo and Mason.

They mostly caught up with each other with Damon and mason asking how Emilia was almost every few minutes.

Carlos was at the BBQ cooking a range of different foods and Rose was making other types of food.

Adrian had taken his son inside to talk.

"You can't just say she's not your family Zach" he said, he knew exactly why he had said it.

"You can't tell me what to do" Zach muttered with slight hatred.

"Yes well I am your father whether you accept that or not and you are not yet an adult so until then you will listen to me" Adrian said firmly.

"My mother says I don't have to listen to you" Zach said crossing his arms.

Adrian was very understanding but he hated that woman.

"Did she say anything else" he asked.

"That you're not my dad, that I shouldn't listen to you, that you're turning me into something I'm not, that you're a bad influence"

"And how does this make you feel" Adrian asked.

"She's right, it doesn't matter how I feel"

Adrian sighed. He felt for his son, he really did. He adopted Zach when he was 6. In the past year, Zach's mother had come back claiming she wants to see him, of course Adrian said no considering Zach's past. He had been neglected and it made him angry how she just wanted back in his life. The court had the audacity to say, she could see him one every two weeks but Adrian remained his legal guardian.

Every other week Zach saw his mum and it would be hell the next day or two, she made up bullshit lies and always brainwashed Zach into thinking they weren't his family, that she was his only family. It annoyed him greatly but all he could do was reassure his son.

"Well first it does matter how you feel, and you are my son Zach, sure biologically you are someone else's but that doesn't mean you aren't mine. Youre always going to be my son and I don't ever want to hear different"

"Do I have to see her again" Zach asked, he started to feel guilty. He always needed Adrian to reassure him after his visit from his mum, he didn't like what she said but he would believe it.

He felt like the odd one out, especially now that it wasn't just the three of them. It was Adrian's entire family and then there was him.

"She is your mother regardless, are you sure you want that" Adrian asked. Over the past year, Zach had never said he didn't want to see his mum.

"Maybe we could cut it down to once a month" Zach said feeling guilty.

"Of course, I'll see what I can do. Let's go back out and socialize with family, oh and you still need to apologize to Emilia, I didn't raise you to be rude"

"Fine but if shes like her sister I'm not speaking to her"

Adrian laughed "you have to make an effort with them both. Now let's go"

Adrian joined his brothers and apologized to Alesandro, giving them a quick explanation of why his son was like that.

Alesandro couldn't help but think maybe Lexi acted out because she had been neglected.

Zach reluctantly went towards his brothers and cousins down by the lake.

"Would you guys look at that, little Zachy is back" Xavier taunted his brother. He understood Zach's reasons and he knew he was fine now that he spoke to dad. He also knew not to make a big deal about it so he stuck to taking the piss out of his younger brother.

"Fuck you Xavier" Zach muttered not liking the name calling.

"Can you two fight elsewhere, those words are inappropriate around Lia" Mason said rolling his eyes.

"You hear that, go be with the little kids, this is an adult conversation" Xavier teased.

"Then why are you still hear" Zach replied.

Both brothers looked at each other and smiled . Xavier shook his head and rolled his eyes "so why are you here" he asked seriously.

"Well I realized my comment was rude and I shouldn't have said it. I want to apologize Emilia, it wasn't you I had a problem with, I took out my own issues and snapped at you, I honestly meant nothing by it, please forgive me"

Emilia saw that he was genuine and so she stood up and slowly hugged him with the one arm

Zach was a little shocked but hugged her back using both his arms.

"I really am sorry" he told her.

She nodded, not feeling comfortable talking.

"That means she forgives you " Mason said.

"Really? Okay I'm going to be your favourite cousin" Zach said excitedly.

"I'd let her go before Damon gets all protective of her" Mason snickered.

Damon glared at him, mason made it seem like he was protective in a bad way.

Sure he was more protective now but that was because of the inncident but he really didn't mind his cousins hugging her. That would be stupid to get upset over. He would only get protective If someone said or did anything.

"Come on let's leave these too their boring business talks" Zach said.

Emilia looked at Damon who nodded "I'll be right here, and dad is up there too" he motioned to were his dad was sitting.

Emilia didn't seem convinced.

Damon understood why and saw he motioned her to follow him, they went further down the lake, so no one could see or hear of Emilia decided to talk.

"If you want to stay with me you can. I said you didn't have to leave my side if you didn't want but Emilia, Zach won't do anything, he's just moody at times but he's okay now. You will be just as safe with him as with Matteo. It will do you good to get to know others. It's up to you what you want to do though"

"I'll go " she whispered slightly.

"Okay, remember I'm so proud of you for this. You're doing so well. Especially going off on your own. You can come straight back to me if you want to but I'm sure you will have fun with Zach" Damon said.