Dante and Matteo had wanted to ask Emilia about Luca but they decided not to press the subject further when they asked the first time, she quickly told them not to ask.

So the drive back home was quiet. Emilia was sat in the back on her phone, the boys kept glancing at her thinking the smile on her face was because she was messaging Luca but what they didn't know was she was actually talking to Antonio. Luca was messaging and she would quickly reply but she kept going back onto the chat with Antonio.

He was just a friend though.

"Do you know If Damon is still at work" she asked when they arrived back home.

"Why" Dante asked cautiously.

"Just wondering" she said knowing she couldn't ask Dante or talk to him about it.

"Are you okay" Dante asked quickly looking her over for any injuries.

"I'm fine Dante" she reassured.

"If you're not you can tell me" he continued.

Emilia smiled and hugged him. He quickly returned the hug, holding her tight. He missed her hugs.

Matteo was slightly jealous of his siblings relationship. He wanted that. He had been blind by Lexi. He should have never trusted her.

He didn't want to ruin their moment so he decided to leave but as he started to leave Emilia spoke "come back Matteo". He did as she said but he was unsure and concerned about what she had told him to come back for.

Emilia pulled away from Dante and hugged Matteo instead. Matteo was taken back by this. He didn't expect it. He slowly relaxed and hugged her back, as he grew more at ease with the hug, his walls began to fall. He held her tighter not wanting to let go.

"I'm so sorry for everything Emilia, please forgive me" he whispered.

"What are you sorry for, you haven't done anything" Emilia was confused.

"I could have stopped it. If I had just gone down the hallway, if I hadn't left the school, if I had gone further into the school. I could have stopped her from stabbing you. I should have gone the other way. I'm so so sorry. I'm sorry for not making an effort with you at the start, I connected with Lexi instead of you. I'm sorry" Matteo cried.

"It's not your fault. None of it is. I forgive you even though you don't need to be forgiven "

"Really?"

"Yes, now group hug" Emilia demanded looking at Dante who was staring at his brother. Dante knew his brother needed a hug and he would never deny Emilia a hug so he complied and soon the three younger siblings were in a tight group hug.

"My babies" Alesandro exclaimed coming out of the kitchen, he had heard them come in but he let his kids have their moment and when he saw them hug, he stood and watched but he couldn't just watch any longer.

And of course before they could let each other go he had his phone out taking as many pictures as he could from different angles, all whilst expressing his love.

Finally the youngest siblings realized what their father was doing and all three pulled away.

Alesandro paid no attention to them now he was looking at his phone with a smile.

"I need to send these to Damon and Mason" he accidentally said out loud.

He had a group chat with his two eldest mainly used to talk about the legal businesses or the younger kids.

He was quick to open the chat and send the pictures across to his eldest sons.

"No don't" Dante complained.

"Yes do, they are going to both be so jealous we had a group hug first" Emilia countered.

"In that case send away, did you get all the angles, maybe you need more from different angles" Dante said smirking at the idea of annoying his older brothers.

Matteo rolled his eyes "he's already sent them " he informed his two siblings.

"I'm making dinner at the moment but would you like a snack before" Alesandro asked.

"I could eat"

Alesandro smiled when he heard Matteo say this. "Of course,let's go find you something. Dante?Emilia? Are you coming too?"

"I'm good" Dante said.

"Yeah I'll wait till dinner" Emilia added.

Alesandro smiled he was glad his son was eating again. Matteo was still feeling like it was his fault but the guilt was fading, she didn't blame him and she forgave him. He was going to be okay.

Alesandros phone went off signalling he had a message.all three children looked at him expectently.

Alesandro put his phone away with a smile.

"Well what did they say" Matteo asked.

"Nothing much, let's go get you a snack" Alesandro said not wanting to start the arguement of who Emilia favoured. He could already tell Damon had something planned as he didn't acknowledge Masons last message.

Dante and Emilia decided to go watch TV whilst doing their homework until dinner. Dante sat on one end of the sofa with Emilia on the other end, her legs laid across Dante's lap.

Later that day.

Damon and Mason came home just as dinner was ready. They went straight into the dining room where their younger siblings and father were sat.

Damon smirked. He wasn't going to let Mason get away with claiming he was her favourite.

"How was your day Emilia" he asked taking a seat.

"It was good"

"Glad to hear? What about you boys?" He asked his brothers.

They both agreed it was a good day.

The family soon got eating in a comfortable silence until Damon decided to speak.

"So I saw that photo, it was adorable"

Dante smirked thinking he had made Damon jealous.

"Yeah adorable" Mason muttered.

"Are you both jealous we got a group hug" Dante asked.

Damon expected Dante to ask if they were jealous. Everything was going as planned. His brothers were so predictable.

"Why would I be jealous, I'm her favourite nothing to be jealous about" Damon announced putting emphasis on 'favourite'.

"Thats bullshit. I am" Mason declared.

Alesandro smiled as he knew this would only end one way. He didn't say anything, he just quietly observed.

"Emilia?" Damon said.

Emilia suddenly found her food very interesting. It wasn't a question she was prepared to anwser in front of them all.

"Now you are pressuring her to take your side" Mason said.

"I'm not pressuring her, she can choose any of us" Damon defended.

"Maybe I don't want to choose" Emilia said.

"then it's settled, Emilia will not be picking a favourite " Alesandro said not wanting her too feel uncomfortable.

"You both are probably wrong anyway, it's most likely Dante" Matteo said ignoring his father. He knew he wasn't her favourite as they had never spent much time together but that didn't mean he couldn't start trying.

Dante had been oddly quiet during this which suprised all of them. He had been eating quietly but listening to his brothers.

Everyone looked at him waiting for him to agree.

"Are you not going to add anything " Matteo asked.

"No. I'm choosing to stay out of this petty arguement, it's clearly not a conversation Emilia wants" he said.

And just like that he had won, or at least thought he had.

Instead of argueing with his brothers which he wanted to do, he decided to stay out of it to show Emilia he wasn't going to stoop to their level and to show her that he understands how she feels.

It was a good plan but Damon saw straight through it, "well played" Damon acknowledged.

Dante rolled his eyes. He wished he could tell them how she spoke to him first and use that to claim he was the favourite but he knew that was wrong of him.

Damon was the same, it was one thing to tell his brothers he was the favourite but when she had first spoken to him, it was a special moment and he wasn't going to ruin that by using the fact she told him that she can loved him against their brothers.

"I just wanted a quiet dinner, I like all four of you, I don't do favourites" she said.

Everyone gave her a knowing look, they knew it wasn't true.

Everyone knew it was Damon too, even mason knew it was Damon. Dante would never admit it but he knew that no matter what he did to try be her favourite, damon would always be her favourite.

"Fine it's demon"

Damon's smug grin dropped when he heard what she had called him. The three brothers laughed at hearing this, even Alesandro chuckled slightly.

"Such a fucking brat" Damon said.

Emilia's smile dropped, his tone wasnt serious but the curse word before calling her a brat had her a little unsure.

Damon quickly saw this "I'm going to stalk you for the remainder of your days" he added to let her know he wasn't serious.

"Really? Because so far you have done a terrible job at stalking me. It's a good job you're not an actual stalker because you would need to look into a different career" Emilia said.

One of the reasons she favoured Damon was because of how comfortable she felt,she had gotten used to him first and after a while she realised he would let her insult him without doing anything. It was actually quite fun and she enjoyed their playful insults to each other. It was easy to be around him despite knowing about his anger issues. Of course when he was in a foul mood that was an entirely different story.

"Hey I'd be a very good stalker" Damon defended.

"That's not something you should be proud of" Emilia countered.

"Well if you are going to mock my abilities, I have a right to defend myself Emilia" Damons tone was more serious this time.

"But by that logic if I told you that you would make a terrible criminal, would you defend yourself then"

Alesandro, Mason, Dante and Matteo hadn't interrupted them as the four of them always found Damon and Emilia's argueing amusing so they were listening carefully to them both but now the amusement had changed, they were curious and interested as to what Damon would respond.

After all she has pretty much told the Mafia boss he was a terrible criminal.

"And what crime have a commited that makes me a criminal" Damon asked, he was being careful with his anwsers now.

"Why does it matter, a crime is a crime"

"That is very true Emilia however do you think a woman stealing food for her young children because she can't afford to buy it can be labelled the same as a cold hearted murderer"

The others were in shock at how Damon had changed the question. Emilia had meant a criminal who is terrible at committing crime but Damon had easily changed it to ask her about if the person commiting crime was a terrible person.

"Well obviously not because the woman had to do it but that's not what I asked you" Emilia said.

"to ask me if I'd defend myself if you called me a terrible criminal, I would need the type of crime so I can decide how I defend myself" Damon said.

"Besides stalking is a crime and like I said if I truly wanted to I'd be amazing at it " Damon added jokingly, not wanting to go any further into the conversation.

Emilia rolled her eyes "yeah amazing "

The conversation dropped and taking this as an opportunity to change the topic completely Alesandro began asking about their days again.

Dinner ended soon after and Emilia remembered the date she needed to ask Damon about. She couldn't help but think about whether it would be so bad if he said no.

But then she wanted to at least know what a date was like.

So after leaving the dining room, she quickly caught up to Damon who was heading upstairs.

"Can we talk"

"What about?" Damon asked continuing up the stairs with Emilia following next to him.

"Um it's kind of about school I guess"

Damon stopped and turned to her "did something happen, did someone hurt you"

"No it's not like that. Can we maybe go somewhere so Dante doesn't hear"

Damon nodded, he was worried now. He quickly led her into his office and once the door was closed he spoke"ok what happened "

"It's nothing bad " Emilia was nervous. She had this conversation before but now it wasn't a joke, it was real.

"What is it Emilia " Damon asked looking at her trying to spot any injuries.

"I got asked on a date" Emilia quickly said.

Damon stopped "a date? Is this another trick or are you serious " he asked.

"I'm serious " she confirmed.

Damon didn't know how to proceed now that it was real. His words from last time still stood, nothing had changed.

"Can I go" she dared ask.

Damon would never stop her but he didn't like it, considering she was telling him without her brothers it must be important to her. But he couldn't ignore her safety.

"There is alot going on at the minute" he said.

"I understand" Emilia found herself not wanting to try and convince him to change her mind. She spoke with sadness to hide the fact she wasn't bothered.

Not wanting to upset her Damon continued "I suppose if you have it in a public place and don't go anywhere isolated then it will be fine"

"Thank you" Emilia said with happiness. She had perfected her fake happiness years ago.

"You're very welcome. But Emilia maybe you should talk to dad"

"But I asked you, can't you talk to him for me" Emilia said.

"No Emilia, it's just you and dad might need to have a talk"

"But we are talking"

Damon sighed, she obviously didn't understand and that was good only now he would have to give a little explaination. "What I'm trying to say Emilia is that now you are interested in dating, it might be time for you to have a grown up talk with dad"

"Why can't it be with you" Emilia was still confused.

"Because I do not want to have that talk with you, it's a talk best done by parents so dad will have to have it with you not me since we have no mother"

Emilia felt stupid, she suddenly realised what he was referring too.

"No absolutely not. I'm not having that conversation besides it's just a date. Tommorow night, I'll tell you where when he tells me" Emilia quickly said and left Damons office not wanting to continue the conversation.

Damon wasn't going to just let her go on a date without taking precautions though. He would make sure she was safe.