__________________

.

.

.

River started awake from her dreamless sleep, her hand reaching for the light switch. She heard another murmur outdoor. Turning it on, she grabbed the ceramic vase on the nightstand though she knew it was of no use if the person at the other side of the wall had a gun on him or her.

"Mommy?" She heard a distant knock and her baby's sleepy voice.

She sighed as she placed the vase back and got out of the bed, walking towards the door. She opened it to see Mateo kneeling down in front of Kiara, her back to her.

She turned at the sound of the door and held her arms open, not saying anything. Her little baby was half asleep.

"Come here my little world." She whispered as she picked her up, wrapping her arms around her small frame as she wrapped her legs around her mother and rested her head against her chest, falling back asleep within seconds.

"She wakes up in the middle of the night." River told Mateo who was staring sleepily and adoringly at their little princess.

"She gets it from me."

River rolled her eyes. Why was she not surprised?

"Good night Mateo."

"Good night River." He smiled and he watched them until she closed the door behind her.

.

.

.

"Why do I smell pancakes this early in the morning?"

River turned around to see Adam walk in a white tee and a blue striped pajama pants with light brown teddy bears on it.

And he was supposed to be in the Mafia! Though she knew she shouldn't be judging him based on his sleepwear preferences.

"Jeez sis-in-law, did you sleep at all?"

River sighed as she sipped on her expresso.

"Well, bro-in-law, your niece woke me up at three o' clock and then your nephew at five or something and woke up your niece again who played in my room and is now passed out on my bed." She yawned. And she knew that they will be cranky all day, missing her mother and grandmother because they had been staying with them for days.

"Whoa, they take after Mateo." He chuckled as he climbed on to the counter, just beside the stove.

River sighed again, feeling the exhaustion try to pull the shutters on her eyes.

Yeah yeah, they take after only their father. She got that.

"Only Kiara actually. Lucas sleeps better. I guess he woke up today because it's a new place." She yawned yet again.

She had come to accept the fact that proper and sound sleep just wasn't in her fate.

"You are up?"

The both of them turned to see Mateo walk in, dressed in a black suit and putting his silver Rolex watch on.

"Yeah, I know I need more of my beauty sleep but I decided to wake up early to make some breakfast for my little babies." Adam said, grabbing the spatula from River's hand and hoping off the counter.

River rolled her eyes as she just walked around the counter and perched upon the stool with her mug of warm coffee in her hand while he took the spot in front of the stove.

Adam looked at the spatula as if he was seeing it for the first time while Mateo poured himself a cup of black coffee and joined her and gave her a smile, "Morning, Kiara didn't let you sleep?"

"Kiara slept off till Lucas joined at around five and the two were playing till about an hour ago." She explained, turning back to Adam.

He went ahead and scooped the pancake on to the pile, breaking it into two pieces in the process.

Adam looked up at River who just gave him a flat look.

"Your pancakes need work. They are too brittle." He said gravely while Mateo chuckled and River narrowed her eyes.

"Okay next one." He said and went ahead and dunked the spatula into the batter.

River laughed out loud while Mateo banged his coffee mug on the table, getting off the stool. "Move aside." He pushed the idiot and took the spot, chucking the batter covered spatula onto the sink.

After rolling his sleeves up, he expertly poured the batter onto the pan with the ladle Adam's eyes had managed to miss.

"Cinnamon pancakes?" Mateo hummed, glancing up at the baby mama.

"The only breakfast our children never get tired of." She shrugged.

River didn't exactly know what they saw in it. Nothing beats good old cereal drowned in milk and chocolate syrup. That was just her opinion.

Mateo was good at cooking. She had to give him that. Probably not as good as her but whatever, as long as she didn't have to cook. At least that was what she inferred from his fluid movements around the kitchen and his confidence - he was cooking in a suit with no apron on.

"Capo?"

River turned in her seat to see two women who looked like chefs look at them surprised.

"We are so sorry we are late." They bowed down.

That's right. Bow down to your queen! And the mini-bitch was back.

'Jesus River, you are so freaking dramatic!'

She turned and raised a brow at the Capo, an amused smile on her face.

He rolled his eyes and said, "It's okay. My wife and I are just cooking breakfast for our children."

Umm... what?

"You only need to come in to make lunch." He said. They nodded and left after bowing again. Which century was this again?

"Please tell me wife means something else in Italian." She groaned as soon as they disappeared behind the door.

"I am afraid it doesn't."

She gave them a constipated look.

Adam cracked up while Mateo gave her an offended look.

"So that's who I am to all the people here?" She asked, wracking her brain for any other idea which could be comparatively less cringey than the present arrangement.

"Yeah, to the staff."

"Some people here are too old-fashioned so we had to do that." Adam explained as he plated a few pancakes for himself, drowning them in maple syrup.

She nodded. "Brilliant."

"We have a conference call in an hour." Mateo said, looking distastefully at Adam's appearance and then continued, "And we will be working throughout the day to make up for the work piled up with all that happened in the past days."

She nodded. Well, just because she took a vacation from work it didn't mean other poor poor helpless souls had the luxury to do so. She just hoped that Dr. Jamie Dewell got the formalities done or she would have to say good bye to her bully days.

"The housekeeper, Janet, will show you and the twins around."

She nodded again, sipping on her coffee. She guessed the whole settlement was not bad.

The two men locked themselves up in their office the whole day, not even coming out for lunch, which was served by more staff who kept showing up out of nowhere, all addressing River as Mrs. Adesso. Cue the eyeroll.

The surgeon never understood the gangs and Mafia's obsession with marriage and they almost always composed of old-fashioned weird people whose brains were replaced by preserved ones from the nineteenth century.

Aside from the inconvenience, which the kids thankfully didn't notice, the mother and children had a fun day.

Janet, a middle-aged lady who reminded River so much of her old housekeeper Mrs. Caroline Marley, showed them around and the kids were thrilled to see their personal playground with slides and swings and all of it which the workers said would be completed in two or three days.

And River's favorite part of the tour were the stables and especially Dante, Mateo's black stallion. She rode around the grounds on him but the babies were a bit anxious so they settled to feeding and petting the ponies.

.

.

.

"How was your day, little people?" Mateo asked as River scooped more pasta into Kiara's plate.

"We had so much fun, Mr. Adesso." Lucas gushed. "Mommy rode the big black horse."

Mateo raised a brow. "Dante?"

She nodded and then narrowed her eyes as Kiara brought the peas she picked out of her food to her mother's face. "Here comes the airplane!"

River raised a brow and stared at her, waiting for her to get the message that this trick of her which she used on Mrs. Marley was definitely not going to work on her because unlike her dear housekeeper, River was immune to cuteness when she needed to be.

But obviously, Kiara WAS River's daughter and her stubbornness and sassiness were amplified manifold in that midget.

"Just look at yourself in the mirror, Mommy. You are so thin. Even GG had asked me to make sure that you eat. When we were out today, I thought you were going to blow away with the wind. Eat veggies."

Mateo, Lucas and Mateo laughed while River narrowed her eyes at her daughter who was giving her the Kiara special cheeky grin.

"Alright young lady, no games. Eat your own vegetables." Mateo said in a fake serious tone, a playful sparkle in his eyes. Kiara stared at him for a few minutes, looking scared before she frantically nodded and shoveled in the veggies she had set aside into her mouth without any complaint.

River's smile dropped instantly. She looked over at Mateo; he was staring at their daughter, hurt.

It wasn't time to drop the bomb yet.

His eyes met her and she smiled at him reassuringly. Kiara was going to warm up to him soon enough.

"Mommy, can we make more lemon cookies tomorrow?" Lucas asked. "We didn't bring the ones we made for you."

Kiara looked up immediately, her eyes twinkling. She took after her mother when it came to the cookies. Both of the children did. All three of them were obsessed with the special lemon cookies that Lilith Johnson had invented.

"Yes!" She clapped.

"Yeah, I was craving them when I was in the hospital." River grinned but then pretended to be disappointed. "But then my kids ate it all without leaving me any."

"IT WAS NANNA!!!" Lucas protested.

"Nanna was just making sure you had fresh and yummy cookies to eat." Kiara narrowed her eyes at her brother.

"Was not." Lucas muttered and turned to Mateo. "Where do we buy her a new brain?"

"Mommy!" Kiara whined.

"Lukey, stop being mean."

"She's stupid." He whined and then corrected. "Not stupid, but too naïve."

River completely agreed with him on that one but Kiara was ready to burst into tears.

"And it's good." River said to pacify her daughter.

"No, it's not. Mr. Adesso, tell her!" River eyed the Papa of her children, daring him to support their son.

"Lucas, don't be mean to your sister." Mateo said.

River smiled smugly at her grumpy son.

"How old are you?" Mateo gave him a look.

She pouted and looked away to see Adam enjoying the drama with a small smile on his face.

His smile widened when she smiled back at him.

"So far so good" He mouthed. And she nodded. There were going to be a few bumps on the road, especially with Kiara but that was to be expected.

"So who's ready for bed?" She clapped.

"Nooooo!" The kids whined.

"Who's No?" River asked though she knew very well that was lame.

"Mommy!!" They whined again.

"That's right. Mommy is ready for bed. Who's tucking me in?" She asked, laughing.

"Me!!!" The both of them raised their hands.

"And who's telling me a bedtime story?"

"Me!" They threw their hands up yet again.

"And lullaby??"

"Me!!!" A third time.

"Okay, so let's go."

The same antic, works every time. River had mastered the art of parenting. At least her little cheesecakes. Compulsion rarely worked for the; she always had to come up with new innovative ways to get them to do stuff and she was forever evolving along with them. The journey of being a mother was special and like no other and she wished Mateo would get to experience the journey of being a father soon, as well.

They fell asleep reading a story out to her in her bed and she decided to let them sleep there because she didn't want them wandering the corridors in the middle of the night. Which at least Kiara was going to because she did the same back at the apartment.

Janet had told River that the room opposite the kids' was Mateo's younger sister's. And these four were the rooms in that side of the mansion, so she didn't want to negotiate with Mateo on her taking his sister's room, because she knew that Mateo would readily agree but she didn't know how the sister would take it. So she would have to keep the twins with her until they were familiar with the place.

River tucked them in, kissing their foreheads before making her way back downstairs. She still had to talk to Mateo about why she didn't want to tell the kids yet.

She knew that he must be excited and impatient to be finally and officially introduced to their babies as their father but she didn't want that to happen until both of their children were comfortable around him or at least not afraid of him.

She just hoped he would understand where she was coming from.

She descended the stairs and looked around for him.

"Umm, did you see Mateo?" She asked one of the men near the front door.

"He and Adam are in the office."

River nodded and decided to wait and not disturb them in the middle of work.

She turned on her heels, her back to the front door when the sound of bullet rung through her ears. She ducked, feeling the bullet whizz past her. She quickly rolled and hid behind the couch.

More bullets were fired, breaking vases and glasses around, some hitting the couch.

'Now how do I get to the kids before they come here?'

Mateo and Adam ran out, their eyes darting between her and the front door. The men there were missing. Probably out looking for the shooter or who knows? They could be the shooters. If that's the case, Mateo and River were going to have a long discussion.

"Gimme a gun!" River yelled. Mateo and Adam took cover behind couches and tossed her a gun.

"I will get to the kids."

"No I will." Adam said and ran up the stairs before she could protest.

River took a deep breath and peeked at the front door, straining her eyes to figure out where the shooter could be and then she saw a sudden moment. She scanned the room to see if the laser on the gun was on and soon she found the red dot.

'Alright, let's see.' She pulled out her phone and turned on the camera, holding it against where she saw the moment and she saw a dull white light.

"Nobody is shooting." Mateo breathed.

"Let's change that." River said and gestured to the phone.

"You got one shot." She whispered, nodding at his 1911 TRP. It was a long range handgun and she wasn't confident about her aim anymore.

He nodded, taking a deep breath before jumping to his feet and shooting his shot.

There was the sound of metal hitting the ground, a rustle and then someone swearing.

"Damn it Mateo, where did you learn to do that?"

"Alessia?" Mateo lowered his gun and hurried over to her as River emerged from behind the couch.

"Yeah big bro, your one and only sister."

Oh damn.

"Are you hurt?" River asked as she fast walked towards her.

She shook her head. "Though my baby is dead." She pointed at her now broken gun and then smiled at her, reaching her hand out. "Hey, I am Alessia."

"River Johnson." River smiled, taking her hand.

"Oh why you little.." Adam glared at the girl as he joined the,. Before he continued, he turned to me and said, "They slept through the shootout. The room is soundproof.

Then he continued with his rant, " I knew it would be you-"

"Yeah right."

"Alessia, it's not funny." Mateo glared at her. "I could have shot you."

"I am bulletproof brother." She tapped on her skin tight shirt and it sure looked like it had a bulletproof vest underneath.

"And what if the kids were around?"

"I made sure they were in their soundproof room."

"And what if the bullet had hit one of us?"

"I don't think I am that bad of a shooter. Enough with the pleasantries." She laughed and turned to River. "Let's catch up, sister-in-law!"

River scrunched up her face and groaned, to which she burst out laughing.

.

.

.

________________