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"You-" He started but then closed his mouth, clutching his head with his hands.

"I what?" Now, Alessia wanted to punch him. Patience was not exactly her strong suit. She wanted the idiot to get the sermon over with so that she could go back inside and be with her niece, nephew, the woman who was the closest to being her best friend and the idiot brother that came in the package.

"You will never understand how much I want to protect you!" He yelled.

Alessia had opened her mouth to respond to whatever came out of Adam's mouth. But she was not prepared for what she heard. Nor did she know how to respond to that.

Unknown feelings and thoughts swirled in her head, her emotions were too tangled for even her to decipher. She did not know what to do.

So she did the only thing she was used to doing.

She punched him in the gut. "What bullshit are you saying?" She asked, irritated with her brother's best friend.

"Owww...." Adam hissed in pain, rubbing where his kidney should be. This woman really was going to handicap him one day.

"Are you deaf?" He asked in exasperation. "Didn't you hear what I just said? Is this how you respond to something that took me all my courage to say?"

"Yes, this is exactly how I respond to dumb people saying dumb shit!" Alessia glared at him.

"You are just-" Before Adam could even complete his next words, Alessia crashed her lips to his, taking him completely by surprise. He did not respond. He could not respond. The poor man was in shock.

He expected some positive reaction to his brave words. But he was not prepared for this.

He was frozen in his spot. He was immobile.

Alessia pulled back due to his lack of response and brought her heel down hardly on his toes, making the made man of the Mafia yelp in pain like a puppy.

"What the hell, woman?" He yelled.

She took a deep breath and balled his collars in her fist. "Kiss me back or I will castrate you."

Adam gulped, hating how turned on he was by that simple line.

He grabbed her head with both his hands and brought his lips down on her.

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River chuckled to herself as she watched how awkward Alessia and Adam were around each other.

The duo were on either side of coffee table, coloring away on the cartoon characters with their niece and nephew.

River was back in the ICU for another day because of post operative jaundice and had been brought back to the room only a couple of hours ago.

One look at Alessia and Adam and she knew that something had definitely happened between the two of them.

"Are you really allowed to eat this?"

River narrowed her eyes and looked down at her Cheetos and then at Mateo, smiling innocently at him. "Nope."

"River!" She moved the packet before he could snatch it from her!

"Go away Mateo, I am pregnant!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Alessia and Adam looked over at her with wide eyes.

"What's preg-gant?" Kiara asked, turning to her brother. "Is Mommy sick?"

"I don't know." For once, Lucas didn't have an answer because the last time someone was pregnant around him, he was two years old and not old enough to pick it up. "Zia, is Mommy sick?"

"No baby, they are having a grown up discussion. You both color your books." Alessia ruffled his hair and turned to the couple.

"No, you are not!" Mateo rolled his eyes. "Now give me that packet!"

River huffed, passing the packet back to him. "I miss pregnancy days; Shane let me do whatever I wanted."

Mateo rolled his eyes - the packet was almost empty. "Well, then you should have married Sebastian, don't you think?"

River gave him a flat look. "That's incest. Gross."

Oh boy. Alessia looked down at her niece and nephew and was glad that they had not picked that up.

Mateo rolled his eyes again. His girlfriend could be unexpectedly cute at times. It was so endearing. For a man who was used to deadly humans, Mateo had been blessed with a bunch of utter cuteness.

It brought balance to his life. He was very lucky.

"What are you two babbling about?" Alessia joined the duo, climbing onto the bed and resting her head on River's shoulder.

"Nothing." River sang and then smirked. "Though I am wondering - is there something you want to tell me?"

Alessia's head whipped around to face River, her face flushed and eyes narrowed.

"Tell you what?" Mateo asked, clueless about the sudden tension and embarrassment in the room.

"Nothing." Alessia replied way too quickly. "I think River hit her head as well. Won't lose too much to show a neurologist."

"I guess you are right." River pouted and then smirked. "I keep hearing these ringing sounds. Like wedding bells." She snorted at the end.

Alessia took in a deep breath, convinced now that River had caught up to the tension between Adam and her. Didn't this woman have anything better to do? She was supposed to be recovering. Not be a detective and figure out the situation. And make fun of her for it.

"Shut up sister in law. Before I make you." Alessia hummed, watching her brother get up and walk over to Adam, say something to him and walk out the door.

Adam looked around like a deer caught in headlights before he too got up and left the room.

"Ki, what did Papa say to Uncle Adam?" River asked.

"'We need to talk.'" Kiara said.

"'Meet me outside.'" Lucas added.

"Okay, thanks baby." River turned to a livid looking Alessia. "In my defense, I did not think that thick skulled idiot would catch on this quickly."

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"Yeah?" Adam squared his shoulders before approaching Mateo, who was at the end of the corridors, by the window, looking down at the garden where he had spent a lot of his time recovering from his bullet wound an year ago.

"Did you hear what River said?" Mateo did not take his eyes off the downstairs view.

"Um.. no." Adam didn't want to know what River had said.

He did not know where Alessia and he stood.

Yes, they kissed.

Yes, they made out.

Yes, they ended up doing the dirty.

But then they found out that River was rushed back into the ICU, and then they had been busy taking turns taking care of the kids while Mateo was wallowing away in fear, sadness and anger.

Michelia and Leonardo had visited once, but that was when River was still in the ICU. The couple had joined hands with the Americans and Russians and they were combing through all possible enemies that could want the Mafia down.

A common enemy. They were looking for a common enemy and it was a pretty tricky situation because the whole of the underworld was divided into two groups, some taking the Italian's side and the others' Russian. Of course, there could be some rat in them who want to get to the top of the food chain but the possibility that they would fight the personal way was pretty slim.

Whatever be it, the fact remained that the bad guy in this story needed to be caught. And they were going to find them as fast as possible.

"She said something about wedding bells."

Fuck. Adam cursed inside. The couple had caught up to it already? Were they that bad at acting? The duo had not decided that they would keep it a secret and act like nothing happened but it seemed like an unspoken pact as soon as they reached the waiting area outside the ICU. But to think that they would be caught this fast...

"Do you think she is hinting that I should propose?"

Adam raised a brow. This was not the conversation that he thought the two of them would be having.

Of course he was glad that they had not be caught yet. To be honest, he didn't even know where this relationship between him and Alessia were going. So he didn't know what he was supposed to tell Mateo if he asked.

Also, he did not think Leonardo and Mateo would be too happy with him dating Alessia if it got there.

"I don't know Mateo." Adam was kinda sure that River was probably making fun of Alessia but Mateo didn't need to know that. Right? But will River keep it a secret from him? Probably not. "I don't think River will have marriage in mind right now with all that's been going on."

"You think?" Mateo scratched his head. The Sicilian Capo was confused. He was used to River calling him her husband so when she introduced him to one of her nurse friends as her husband, he didn't think much into it. But then she was talking about being pregnant and how much she missed being pregnant. And then she was talking about wedding bells.

He couldn't have been just hearing things, now could he?

"Ahhh brother..." Adam grinned, back to his usual immature mode. "You both are endgame. It's obvious. The hero and heroine of the story has to end up together. That's the law. Don't overthink it. Do it in your own pace and you will know when the right time will be."

"She did turn me down once." Mateo pointed out.

Adam rolled his eyes. "Obviously she is going to turn you down if you propose to marry her just to make her a family member so that they don't target her."

"I was just trying to protect her."

"When you yourself know that the girl does not need any protecting."

Mateo let out a sigh.

It was true.

But it was also true that he was irrevocably in love with her, and obviously he would want her safe and sound when he was so much in love with her.

He did not think that it was a sin.

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Jacqueline narrowed her eyes when she turned around after getting her coffee only to see her best friend's bodyguard, Victor the incompetent as she liked to call him, sitting on one of the stools that River loved sitting and watching the street below from.

She was there. And she knew that this time, it was not in Victor's power to protect her. He was not superman. But Jacqueline was human, and she needed someone to blame and Victor just happened to be the one.

What could she do?

River was a mother. Her children were only five years old and their father lived a risky life. Jacqueline could not envision anything bad happening to River because it would affect the children even more. Jacqueline was not the legal guardian of the children anymore, but she was still their aunt and she was also like a sister to River. She was scared for them.

She took a deep breath and was ready to present him with another sermon. But before she could take a step forward, she was interrupted by someone.

"Meyers!"

Jacqueline furrowed her brows as she turned to watch Sebastian make his way towards her.

Victor, too, turned around and looked between Sebastian and Jacqueline.

"Shane, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"Um... My best friend is admitted here, so duh, I am here." Sebastian gave her a flat look. Did she really think that he was going to stay away for long? He had listened to Adam and kept clear of the place for a day or two, but that was it. He needed to be with the friend who was like a sibling to him. He had been around for about thirty years of her life and he planned to be around for the rest.

"You coming up with me Vic?" Sebastian asked Victor who nodded, discarding his coffee cup.

Jacqueline narrowed her eyes. She was not able to give him a piece of her mind because of her best friend's very bad timing.

But it was okay, she will have plenty of opportunities to do it, right?

"I am having my break as well." She said. "I will come up with you guys."

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"What's taking them so long?" Alessia was pacing around the room.

"Did they go for ice cream without us?" Kiara looked up from her iPad. She was starting to be interested in mild shooting games. River didn't need to guess which Aunt she got it from.

"Nah, they know they can't choose flavors to save their lives. They need us." River commented.

She had grown so bored that she had asked Lucas to lend her his coloring book so that she could have some fun with it for some time.

"Mom, you are coloring out of the line." Lucas sighed for the hundredth time. Of course, River knew to color within the lines. She had hands that she could hold at one position for hours. Perks of being a surgeon - she had hands so steady that they could be confused for figurines.

But her son was so freaking adorable when he was annoyed or mad so the bored woman couldn't help but mess with him. It was the most endearing thing in the world to be scolded by him. She knew that Kiara and Lucas were too young, and she was not that old yet either, but she could just imagine how it would be when she grew old and they grew up. She hoped Kiara stayed the same - sweet and blunt while Lucas her angry little man.

Her smile grew wider when she found Mateo in her imagination - as her husband. This was the same career oriented surgeon who swore off any relationship in her life. She didn't want kids either.

Now look at her, she wouldn't give up her life for the world and it was funny how like some cliché story, she had ended up in a relationship with her baby daddy, the same cocky ass who had made her heart skip a beat when they met last year and have made her heart skip multiple beats after their reunion. God, he was not good for her heart. But why the hell was he so perfect for her then?

She had a feeling that everything was going to be okay now. Everything was finally going to be okay.

"Missed me!" Sebastian exclaimed and jumped back immediately with his hands up in the air when Alessia pointed her gun at him.

Lucas and Kiara burst out laughing, Kiara chucking her iPad on the couch before standing up and jumping up and down, clapping.

"Zia got you, Uncle Seb!" Lucas giggled.

River smiled, looking between her son and daughter. This certainly was an upgrade from two months ago when they were crying their eyes out after Mateo trained a gun at her head. Maybe they thought it was a toy guy. Maybe they didn't. At this point, it didn't really matter to River as long as her kids weren't traumatized.

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