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"Wake her up." River heard a whisper.

"You wake her up Papa."

"She will kick me."

"No she won't."

"What's going on you guys?" The orthopedic surgeon mumbled as she turned her head to the other side, blowing away the curly hair that tickled her nose, not bothering to open her eyes.

She was in a very comfortable position, lying on her stomach, and her lower abdomen and back were very happy with the position so she refused to move.

"Morning Mommy." She felt her little boy, Lucas on her back as he bent down and placed a kiss on her cheek making a smile to appear on her face. She silently wished that he would sit like that on top of her aching back all day. It just felt so comfy.

"Morning my little prince." She whispered, snuggling into her pillow.

"Open your eyes Mommy." Kiara rolled over to her mother's side and she put her tiny arm around her mother's neck.

"No.." She groaned, pulling her little girl close to her.

"Come on Mommy." Lucas shook her.

River opened her eyes reluctantly, squinting at the brightness of the room. Mateo was sitting up on the bed, smiling at the three of them. He had changed out of his pajamas and had his hair cut and beard trimmed.

'Thank heavens.' River thought. 'He looked like a hobo with unruly hair and beard.'

"Morning Mrs. Adesso." He winked at her while she rolled her eyes, holding herself up on her elbows.

"Morning Mr. Adesso. And I prefer to be called Dr. Johnson." She gestured for her little Lukey to get off her back and she sat up properly as he did, pulling him onto her lap while caressing Kiara's hair as she laid next to her, looking up at her with a lazy smile.

The kids had gotten her curls. As much as River loved how adorable her babies looked with the curly hair, she felt equally bad for them if they ever plan to grow it out. It was going to be a struggle trying to tame it.

"Papa said we were going on vacation." Kiara looked up, a bit confused. "But I thought we were already on vacation."

River turned her head towards her baby daddy. "We are?"

"I told you yesterday." He raised a brow. "And you agreed."

Okay, when did that happen?

Now that she thought about it, Mateo indeed was saying something while she was falling asleep the last night. She must have agreed to him without knowing what exactly he was saying.

River sighed. "I was half asleep by then and my brain registered none of what you said."

"So we are not going?" Lucas turned to his mother.

"Hmm.. Depends." She shrugged.

"On?" The three of them asked in unison, identical looks on their faces. They really were father and children, weren't they? Of course they were, she had seen the paternity test results with her own eyes.

"Where we are going and for how long."

Honestly, she knew that she was going to agree to however long it was going to be because she wanted Mateo and the babies to spend as much as time together as possible now that they knew about their relation and before Mateo went back to his busy schedule. But she was also very skeptical about where this Capo of the Sicilian Mafia was going to take them. It was not that she didn't trust Mateo – frankly, it was too late to start not trusting him – but she was a mother and she had the innate motherly concern and paranoia.

The whole Mafia thing didn't help.

She absolutely adored Adam, Alessia and Michelia but she had not interacted with any other of 'the made men' and so she wasn't comfortable with letting her kids around them. Then again, she knew that the kids were going to meet them one day or the other. It was inevitable.

"For a couple of weeks." Mateo said. "And we are going to Amalfi in Italy."

"Why there?"

"To make the kids meet their paternal grandparents of course."

Oh.

"REALLY?" The kids squealed. Mateo had been telling the kids about his parents and they had been excited to see them, though River always wondered about the kind of parents they would be considering only his mom visited him once or twice when their son was shot. And his father never came. And Alessia too, had never made an appearance. At least to River's knowledge.

Then again, she had to guess that gunshots were like paper cuts to these people.

She wished she could see her family too. Or at least talk to them over the phone.

'Now I can't refuse to the babies meeting their paternal grandparents, can I?'

"I am down." River smiled.

The children cheered, getting off the bed and running off probably to find Janet or Adam.

"How are you feeling?" River turned to see Mateo observe her with a small smile on his face.

"You know, that's my line." She pointed out, throwing the duvet off of her.

"Well, I am not the one bleeding out through my vagina right now." He quirked a brow.

River rolled her eyes, Now how did he know that?

"You were cursing in your sleep, punching at your back. So I figured it out." He said, as if reading her thoughts.

She nodded. Well the worst was over. Now it was just the discomfort.

"How are you feeling today? Does it still hurt? " River asked as she got off the bed, putting on her cozy slippers.

"Well, I think I am getting used to the slight discomfort." He replied. "I did everything by myself in the morning."

River gave him a look. "Don't push it." She warned him. "The last thing we want is the wound reopening and getting infected."

"Okay Mommy." He mocked.

Can I throw a pillow at him? The voice in her asked.

Of course I can.

River threw her big fluffy pillow at his head but unfortunately the guy didn't even budge from his sitting position as he guffawed out loud.

Dumbass.

River walked into the bathroom, disposing off her night pad and hopping into the shower along with her toothbrush because she felt unclean and in need of a shower.

She was midway into the shower when she realized. Clothes. She hadn't brought any clothes into the bathroom because she had decided on the bath only after she had come in.

Great.

River figured she would worry about it later and continued washing herself clean and got out after another half an hour of self-help speeches in her head.

She dried her wild brown curls and body with a towel and tied it around her dripping wet mane, getting a spare and dry towel from the cabinets to tie around her slender frame.

She opened the door by an inch and peeked through it to see Mateo lying down on the bed, his head propped up against a tower of pillows. He was on his laptop, typing away and he had glasses in.

Oooh... Sexy glasses.

'Shut up River.'

Lying there, he looked like any ordinary dad of two children with a white-collar job. If you could ignore the many scars tattooed across his arms and that one deep cut on his left cheek bone, that is.

"Mateo?" River called out.

"Yeah?" He replied, not taking his eyes off the screen. He was engrossed in his work, his jaws set and his eyes lacking the usual playful glint.

"I forgot my clothes." She said, biting her lip.

And the playful glint was back.

He looked up and met her eyes, a mischievous smirk falling to place.

"You can just come out and change in the room, you know? It's not like there's anything in there I haven't seen before." He winked.

'Why have my life turned out to be as cringy as the romance novels I read?' River thought to herself, feeling extremely embarrassed.

But she shook it off and put on her unbothered face.

"Not funny Mateo. Just get me something to wear. And underwear." She listed out, holding onto the towel on her head which was coming loose, her curls tumbling down on her face.

"Alright alright." Mateo was guffawing as he walked over to the cabinets.

"Okay, you have no taste in the underwear department." She heard him comment.

UGH! She did not need this right now.

"Yeah, let's go lingerie shopping in Italy, deal?" She asked sarcastically.

"Deal!" The dumbass chuckled as he closed the cabinet and walked towards the door.

"Don't I get to peek?" He asked playfully.

"Do you want it to hurt when you pee?" She narrowed her eyes at him as she pulled her clothes out of his grasp while he shook his head chuckling, and closed the door behind her.

Dumbass.

"It's not nice to threaten harm to the magic rod that gave you those beautiful babies, River." He laughed from the other side of the door.

River smacked her head, feeling mortified. She was glad that he was on the other side of the door because he had successfully made her blush the brightest red.

River looked at her appearance in the mirror. She looked like a cartoon in her outfit, her hair a towel-nest collaboration.

"You know, your only contribution to making those amazing babies are two haploid cells. Don't get too ahead of yourself.!" She yelled at the door as she quickly put on her clothes.

"What does that even mean?" He wondered out loud and but she was feeling too 'periodic' (??) to reply.

Though he was a dumbass, she had to give it to him; he knew to pick comfortable clothes. River quickly changed into the hoodie and shorts that he had gotten her. She also made a mental note to stock more pads in the bathroom cabinet.

Walking out, she saw that Mateo was yet again engrossed in his work but he did take a moment to look up and wink at her.

River rolled her eyes as she made her way to where her creams and lotions were, tapping on a bit of concealer under her eyes when she was done with her after-bath routine. She was sleeping much better now but the dark circles still existed.

"Did you guys have breakfast?" River turned to him.

"Yep. We made waffles today." He looked up and smiled, his eyes filling up with excitement. River smiled softly – She guessed that Papa and bambini had fun without poor old Mommy.

"I made you soup with some herbs. Ask Janet to heat it up for you."

"I am fully capable of heating up my own food Mateo." River rolled her eyes and turned on her heels.

"I love it when you say my name." He said.

River looked at him, expecting another smirk but nope, he only had a genuine smile on his face. A smile that made her smile in return before leaving the room.

'Time to pamper the tummy.' She decided as she made her way to the kitchen.

The kids and Adam were nowhere in sight.

"Hey Linda." River greeted the maid as she walked into the kitchen.

"Morning Mrs. Adesso, should I heat your soup up for you?" She turned to the surgeon, her gorgeous smile on her face.

"Yes please. Not too hot. " River chirped, climbing onto a stool as she grabbed the jar of lemon cookies that they had baked the other day.

The lid wasn't properly closed. Wonderful.

She took one of her masterpieces and bit into it. Though it still had its crunchiness, it tasted a bit different. Almost bitter.

She had specifically told the babies to make sure it's properly closed!

Oh wait, it was probably the other big baby in the name of Adam Smith who forgot to do so!

"Linda, get rid of these after you are done – it got spoilt." River said sullenly, pointing at the cookies.

Linda turned around for a moment to nod and then resumed her work.

River didn't talk as she watched Linda heat up the soup, pour it to a bowl and place it before her, getting her some bread from the freshly stocked basket.

"It's bread made with Indian spices. It will taste good with the soup." She smiled.

She mumbled a "Thank you." as she put the first spoon of the broth in her mouth.

"Yum.." River moaned, closing her eyes as she savored the taste.

"You are so lucky to have a husband who cooks for you." Linda commented.

River looked up, so did the feminist in her.

"I don't hear anyone saying that to Mateo."

The smile on her face dropped and her eyes widened.

Yeah, River tended to look possessed when she was pissed. And River tended to get easily pissed when she was bleeding through her vagina.

"I am sorry Mrs. Adess-"

"It's fine. And I am sorry. I am just a bit edgy. and I told you, call me River." River shrugged as she dropped the spoon and dunked a small piece of bread, after removing the wrapper, in the broth before tossing it to her mouth. "Have you seen my children?"

"They are with Mr. Smith and Alfredo."

She nodded, picking up the soup bowl and finishing it within a few gulps.

She grabbed the rest of the bread to go and made her way to the stable.

The place was a good walk away from the mansion and she felt like she was about to drop to the floor when she was halfway across.

Oh the struggle.

River could hear the laughter of her babies and see them running around the ponies while Adam watched with Alfredo from a corner.

He sighted her and waved like a maniac.

River raised her hand to wave but was suddenly hit with a horrible pain in her chest.

Her throat felt constricted and it became so damn hard to breathe. Her legs gave away and she collapsed to her knees and through the many black spots in her vision, she saw the red liquid dripping on to the grass.

"Doc!!!"

"Mrs. Adesso!"

"MOMMY!"

River touched her face and looked at her fingers, covered in blood.

She tumbled to the ground, curling into a ball as she tried to breathe.

And then as people approached and moved her around, she felt the silence and darkness embrace her.

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Lucas and Kiara cried into their father's chest as they waited outside the room.

Mateo's knuckles were white from clenching his fists too hard but it was the only thing he could do to keep his anger in and not scream at everyone else with his kids around.

They were not supposed to see it.

Hell, it was not supposed to happen.

The four of them didn't need this right now. Especially the kids.

Their Papa just got home from getting shot and now their Mommy was in the hospital.

The doctor said that River had overdosed on some medicine's name that Mateo couldn't remember.

Janet and Alfredo stood against the wall, their eyes on their Capo.

They were expecting him to lose his cool any minute but they were wrong; Mateo was going to lose his cool as long as his kids were with him. He was responsible for them as well and frankly, none of his emotions mattered to him more than his kids'.

The doctor walked out again and he was quickly on his feet, picking his children up with him.

"How is she?" He asked, walking forward.

"She's awake."

"Papa, I wanna see Mommy..." Kiara cried into her chest.

"I am sorry but I think it's better to not let the children in." He said.

As much as Mateo wanted to argue with him, he knew that the doctor was right. He did not want to scare their children even further by making them see their Mommy sick.

He turned to Alfredo and Janet who quickly took the kids from him.

"Papa is gonna go make sure Mommy is all fine, okay?" He leaned forward, caressing both their hair.

"But we wanna see her, Papa." Lucas whispered, tears trickling down his eyes.

"I know babies." He whispered, kissing them on their foreheads before walking inside the room.

River sat there, upright and cross-legged, reading through her chart. Typical her.

"So, have you figured out what is wrong with you yet?" Mateo asked as he walked over to her, trying to lighten up the mood.

She looked up from the clipboard, her sweet smile gracing her face. "Well, I think it's the existence of too many enemies. You know, perks of being a Capo's Baby Mama." She shrugged.

Mateo's smile dropped. And she was right yet again.

"Oh come on Capo, you are supposed to be the big bad wolf, not some stupid hyena." She said. "No offense to hyenas and Bruce. So man up, stop blaming yourself and solve this."

"Who's Bruce?"

She rolled her eyes. "Out of all that I said, that's the only thing you caught on to? But if you must know, Birds Of Prey."

"Who?"

"Never mind." She rubbed her nose, giving him a annoyed look. "Anyway, do we have a suspect?"

"Linda." Mateo sat down next to her, keeping his palm on her cheek. She leaned in, a frown on her face.

"Why?"

"Don't know. She keeps denying it." He drew circles on her soft skin. "But she served you the soup so.."

"The soup?"

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