It wasn't long before Uncle Leo and Azza gave us the boot. They'd asked some questions, had a quick side bar, called for Giovanna, sent her on her way again, and confronted us like parents who'd caught their kids in a compromising position.

"Go," Uncle Leo pointed to the door, "Get some rest, go out for dinner, find your friends and see the sights. I don't care what you do, just go and live."

He'd declared it like it was some harsh 'for your own good' punishment meant to make us see the light.

"But, Uncle Leo, what are we going to do about-"

"Tomorrow, Amore!" He may as well have shoved us out the door.

"But-"

"Amelia," Azza spoke, he'd been quiet for a while now, "There is nothing we can do this instant. You have heard the truth, it is a lot to take in, and sitting here biting your nails and worrying will do us no good."

"Yeah..." Laura stood from the couch and held her hands out to Tommy and I, "Let's go for a walk and clear out heads. We can get gelato at Mr. Rossi's and enjoy the city. We haven't been back in ages."

"I want to, but what if something bad happens."

"It is much harder for evil to find you when you are not actively seeking it out." Azza told me.

Tommy stood up and held is hand out to me, "Come on, you need to take a breather. You've been anxious to an extreme degree this entire time. The last thing we need is for our brightest mind to have a melt down. Let's go smell the roses and see a beautiful piazza. We can leave the work and stress to the adults for a day."

"We are adults." I argued with a raise brow.

"In name only." Tommy laughed with a smile so wide his face scrunched up and his eyes became little slits.

It was so easy to forget that we were adults now. I still felt like the little girl laying in the grass beside the Camillo Cavour monument. I could almost hear my sister's little laugh beside me, could almost see the shadow my mother's raised arm cast across my face, could feel my father turning to tickle me and give Molly a break. I desperately wished I could still be that child. I wished my father was still there to whisk me away from the fear I was feeling.

With a deep breath, I steeled myself against the harsh reality my father was never going to be there to save me again. It was all on my shoulders now, but just for the night, I needed to let someone else take it.

I thought about arguing, about telling Tommy to shove it because I had taken a break. We spent a whole night off in Monaco. If the hangover was any indication, I had a great time. I knew better than to argue though, Tommy would win. Drinking to forget and blacking out was not the kind of relaxing break that he had in mind.

Unfortunately Tommy was right, I needed a real reprieve from it all.

"Okay..." I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet. His arm hung around my shoulder, loose and warm. The same kind of friendly gestures he always offered me.

"I think a race up the steps is in order. Loser buys dinner." Laura's smile was wider than I'd seen it in a long time.

My eyes scrunched up as I forced a solemn grin in return, "Okay, you're on!"

I waved goodbye to Uncle Leo as Tommy and Laura ushered me out of the room. I could have sworn Tommy gave Uncle Leo a little thumbs up as he pulled the door closed. Whatever the two of them were scheming, I just hoped I didn't get mixed up in it. I let it go with an eye roll.

As we weaved through the streets and over the Ponte Umberto I, I sent a text to Sam, Colby, Corey, and Jake asking if they wanted to meet for dinner. Sam replied a few minutes later, he said he'd call me. Not long after I saw the message, my phone buzzed with a call.

"Hey, Sam, what's up?"

"Hi Lia, we're a little lost."

I laughed, "Okay, what's around you? I don't know Rome as well as I know Vatican City, but if you're in a touristy location I probably know where you are."

"Okay, cool, we're in this huge park-garden thing. There's a pond with an island and a temple looking thing. Hold on it says something on it- god dang it never mind I can't read that, half the letters are like upside down."

"Don't worry, I know where you are. That temple thing is the Temple of Ascelpius, the God of Medicines and it's in Villa Borghese Gardens. We're heading that way right now. Let me talk to Tommy and Laura real quick and I'll text you an address for a restaurant."

"Great! See you soon, Lia!"

"Hi Lia!" I heard Colby say.

"Bye Lia!" Jake added.

"Hi and bye guys! See you soon!"

When I hung up with the boys, I pulled Laura and Tommy to the side so we could stop and talk for a few minutes. I didn't want to be a jerk and block the sidewalk for the bustling people that pushed by, rushing off to their destinations.

"What's up?"

"Do you guys know if the Novo place near Mozart Cafe is still there?" I asked.

"Not sure, I haven't been to Rome in a while." Laura said.

"Me neither," Tommy said, "But my classmate told me about a place near Piazza Popolo a while back. Want to try there?"

"Let's do it!" I told him, "If we can't find the place, I'm sure there are others in the area."

I was telling Sam and the boys to meet us at Piazza Popolo when we arrived to the bottom of the stairs.

The famous Spanish Steps. The obelisk still stood waiting at the top, its point nearly perfectly centered between the two towers of the church behind it. Boutiques and street vendors still stood down the street to my left and the column of the Immaculate Conception and armed guards still stood in front of the Spanish Embassy were on my right.

The steps themselves were still the same creamy beige color and the fountain at the bottom still spat crystal clear water. The carved head of something, Tommy said it was a lion but I always argued it was the sun, still had higher water pressure than the spout opposite it. For old times sake I thought about pushing Tommy in before I decided it was probably best not to, the restaurants might turn us away if he's soaked.

"On three?" Laura asked with a raised brow and a smug smile as she readied herself as the bottom of the stairs.

"Sure." Tommy and I agreed.

"Three!" she said and sprinted up the stairs.

"Cheater!" I yelled and took off up the stairs after her. The breeze was chilly, I could feel goosebumps prickling at my arms and my hair brushing my arms as they pumped.

Tommy was hot on my heels, but he's never been much good with running so I didn't expect him to catch up.

I took the stairs two at a time as Laura broke left as we hit the second portion of the stairs and I followed.

"Can't catch me!" she called behind her as she nearly trampled a tourist.

"Watch out! I'm going to beat you!" I passed her, leaping over someone's handbag and rounded the last bend. I just had to touch the obelisk and I won.

As my hand met the stone I laughed in glee.

"I still got it!" I teased as I looked back at Laura, huffing and puffing at the top of the stairs.

"Not quite, Li." Tommy peaked out from the other side of the obelisk with a smirk plastered across his face.

"No! No way in hell! How-"

"I got faster." he shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. He wasn't even breathing heavily. I wanted to hit him.

"Unbelievable, fricking unbelievable!" I pouted and kicked a little stone column at the side of the road. I instantly regretted it.

I jumped up and down on one foot and Tommy grimaced at the sight.

"Ouch." He said.

"No shit!" It hurt bad, like the time I dropped a barn door on my foot and... "Oh, shit!"

I sat down on the ground and started pulling my shoe off. No blood on my sock, that's a good sign.

"Li, what are you doing?" Tommy knelt beside me as I inspected my aching foot.

"I'm okay, I just.. Whew, last time I had a pain like that, I broke my toe." It hurt so badly, but relief at the thought of an unbroken appendage was all it took for me to burst into laughter.

"Alright, crazy girl, let's go." Tommy rolled his eyes and grabbed me under the arm.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he helped me to my feet.

"Mr. Rossi's it's time for gelato!" The smirk he'd lost fell back into place on his face.

"But we have to meet the boys." I argued.

"But I won my gelato fair and square!" he pouted like a petulant child and I rolled my eyes.

"I'll buy everyone gelato after dinner, how does that sound?"

"Great! Now let's go!" Tommy turned his back to me and hunched over.

"What are you doing?'

"Giving you a ride! We'll never make it to Piazza Popolo with you slowing us down, Gimpy!"

"I'm letting the nickname go because you're offering to carry me." I grumbled as I climbed up on his back.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say!" he did a funky accent as he spoke, some kind of cross between Boston and New York Italian.

"Very Godfather." I teased.

Following Viale della Trinità dei Monti, we finally arrived at Piazza Popolo. Another obelisk stood tall and full of hieroglyphics, an exotic center piece in the ancient plaza. Four small fountains sat at the foot of the obelisk, lions on tiered pedestals spewing water into their basins. The Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo was to our right, the DaVinci Museum beneath it still open. Statues and more fountains laid at each end of the plaza and a few tourists milled about.

"Lia!" I heard Colby's voice and took a quick look around the plaza. Jake's hair was a dead giveaway. They stood by the statue and fountain on the same side of the plaza we had come from.

I climbed down and started to secure my sneaker tight around my injured foot once again.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Sam looked between the three of us.

Upon close examination, I realized Tommy and Laura were both still pale. Laura had bags and red rimmed eyes. Tommy looked a mess. I figured I was probably in much the same state.

"Fine!" I plastered on a smile, "We're just fine. A little tired. We raced up the Spanish Steps to figure out who was paying for gelato later."

"Oh we saw those!" Colby said, "The ones with the church and the pillar at the top?"

"Obelisk, but yes. Same stairs." Laura corrected with a laugh.

"Same difference."

"Actually, the terms pillar, column, and obelisk hold completely different connotations when it comes to ancient stone work." Laura went all in on her little lecture, teaching about the ancient stone work of Rome to four mostly attentive students.

"Do you think we should go for dinner now?" Tommy asked.

"Do I think we should go for dinner now?" I mimicked Tommy with faux incredulity, "I mean it's only 5:20, that's scandalous! Down right indecent! Uncle Leo will refuse to associate with us! Oh my gosh, what if he bars us from accessing Vatican City!"

Tommy laughed as he shook his head, "Alright, wise ass, what should we do instead?"

"DaVinci Museum?" I shrugged, "See some landmarks?"

"Hey, guys," Tommy interrupted Laura, "How do you feel about ducking into the DaVinci Museum for a bit?"

The consensus was mainly positive and with that we headed inside the lower floors of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo.

At seven o'clock on the dot, the museum closed and we had to leave.

"That was amazing!" Corey said, "I thought that dude was just a painter!"

"Same, I didn't know he actually built stuff." Jake added.

"Well there's a reason they call him a polymath!" Laura giggled, "People think of the Renaissance and they think of art, but it was so much more! It was a total overhaul of the world as it had been known before. I mean, when you compare Da Vinci's artist mark on history, it pales in comparison to his work in the fields of engineering, natural science, and mathematics."

"You wouldn't believe the kind of things he dreamed up!" I said, "I mean, it took a handful of centuries before they were made reality, but he came up with things like anemometers, odometers, robots, scissors, parachutes! The man was probably considered a nut job in his own time and we have the great fortune to laud him as a hero. "

"Like really, the Wright brothers made the first functional airplane, but Da Vinci dreamed up a flying machine that put Icarus to shame!" Tommy said.

The conversation continued for nearly three hours. It was incredible though. In all the times I'd visited Rome, I'd never seen he Da Vinci Museum before.

It was just after ten when we arrived at Mr. Rossi's for gelato.

Tommy led the group in and spoke the same beautiful and elegant Italian as he had over the phone with Giovanna. Monaco felt like an eternity ago now.

Mr. Rossi seemed to recognize Tommy, Laura, and I after a few minutes of conversation.

"The children with Leo!" he called us.

"It's great to see you again after so many years, Mr. Rossi." I told him.

"And Amelia, how are your parents?"

"Oh, Mom is good. She's doing better now. We lost dad a while back."

"Many sympathies with you, my dear, " Mr. Rossi took my hand in his shaky, eighty year old grasp and gave a comforting squeeze, "You see him again one day. Up there."

Mr. Rossi kissed his necklace as he looked put to the sky. An ornately carved golden crucifix. The same one he'd had well over a decade ago and it still looked brand new.

We stayed at Mr. Rossi's until closing. We talked and ate gelato until our stomachs felt like they would burst. Mr. Rossi told embarrassing stories about us as children, when Uncle Leo would make us buy each other ice cream when we fought.

The story I never expected him to tell was about the day Molly realized what our dads job was. She was still young, barely seven. She cried and cried because she was scared that the monsters our dad fought were going to come for us one day.

"And Amelia, she drag the girl in, buy her gelato, and force the spoon in her mouth until she stop crying."

The whole group laughed.

Despite the reminder of Molly, of our father, of the reason for my visit, I kept smiling, I was on a break for the day. I was free for a few more hours, the sky's burden could fall back to my shoulders when that time was up.