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The kids were squealing with joy as soon as they saw their father make his way towards him.

"Hey my bambini, what are you both up to?" Mateo asked as he squatted down in front of the pool while George and Davis pushed their floaties towards him.

"We are learning to swim, Papa." Kiara giggled. The giggle which once made his whole day brighter now caused his heart to throb. His little girl was hurt.

"Alright, I think we will take it from here." River appeared with a grin on her face. "Thank you, boys."

Mateo looked up to see that she was in a swimming suit, with his baby blue shirt as cover-ups. He gulped.

And then he quickly turned to the bodyguards. "Leave."

The three men scurried off the pool as fast as they could, making sure that they didn't even look at the Capo's girlfriend even by accident.

"Are you going to get in the water in those?" She asked as she slipped out of his shirt, revealing a black two piece.

He let out a deep breath. This woman really was going to be the death of him.

"Yeah Papa, let's play in the pool!" Lucas was splashing water around and as usual, if one twin did something, the other one followed, and so now they had both the twins splashing water at them and at each other.

"Alright alright. Calm down, won't you?" River was immediately in the water, holding on to the floaties, fearing that they will fall off the structures amidst all the motion.

"I will be back in a moment." He said and got back on his feet, jogging towards their bedroom because he didn't want to miss even a moment he had with his family.

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"Mateo, what are you doing?" River punched him on his back as he lifted her up.

"Nothing..." He grinned as he placed a kiss on her navel before throwing her over his shoulder.

"EEEEEEEHHHHH!!!" River scream-squealed as she broke the surface of the water, the twins pausing for a moment with their eyes wide before breaking out in fits of laughter along with their father.

River came up to the surface with a murderous glare on her face.

"You, mister, are going down!" River seethed before jumping onto his back, pushing him under.

"Go Mommy!!" Kiara squealed, laughing.

Mateo gave his treacherous daughter a shocked look before effortlessly removing River from his back and holding her up like she was a kid.

"Mateo, don't you dare!" She narrowed her eyes.

Mateo raised a brow, challenging her.

River puckered her lips and gave him a smirk. "You know what I will be do if you throw me in the water again." Mateo's eyes narrowed at her. "Or more specifically, what I will not be doing."

Mateo huffed as he lowered her slowly, throwing an arm around her as he did, pulling her to him, their chests colliding.

"Mateo, what are you doing?" River whisper-yelled, her eyes wide and her cheeks flushed.

He loved that it happened these days – she turning red. There was a time when none of this affected her.

"What?" He shrugged, acting innocent while looking over at the twins who were now flapping around with their arm floats on. "Careful." He called out to them though they were just two arm-length away.

"Okay Papa." They chorused, splashing water at each other.

"You know what!" River smacked him on his bare chest as she tried to get out of his grip. Mateo laughed and threw his other arm around her as well, dipping his head down and running his teeth along her cleavage.

"MATEO!" She screeched making him look back and act innocent while the kids too look over.

"Papa, are you troubling Mommy?" Lucas asked.

River smiled when she heard that and raised a brow at her baby daddy with a victorious smile on her face.

"No, son." Mateo shrugged. "Papa was talking to Mommy about getting you two a baby sister or brother."

"Really?" Kiara's eyes brightened up immediately while River turned as red as a beet.

"But what about the puppy?" Lucas asked. "Weren't you going to get us a puppy first?"

Mateo looked at River, chuckling when he saw the expression on her face and then at his son, "I guess we will have to go get a puppy today evening then."

"YAY."

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"What are you doing?" River squealed as Mateo had her caged in again.

"What?" He repeated his response, looking innocent yet again as he untied the knot of the top piece.

"Mateo.."

"Hmm?"

"I need to tuck the babies in for their nap." She said weakly.

"I asked George and Davis to take care of them." Mateo shrugged, throwing the flimsy piece of clothing aside and squishing her front to his, his hands making down to remove the bottom part.

"Mateo..."

"I miss you." He said, bringing his lips very close to hers.

"But I am right here." River forgot her annoyance for a moment. She knew that he was going through a very tough time and though he was playful at times, it was just his attempt to somehow forget what the reality of their situation was for a few moments.

"Hmm..." He dipped his nose into the crook of her neck to inhale her intoxicating scent. "I love our children so much."

"I know." River smiled, hugging him and drawing soothing circles on his back. "You don't have to tell me that."

"And I have heard somewhere that the greatest thing that a father can do for their children is to love their mother." He said, unexpectedly lifted her off the ground, making her let out a yelp.

"Mateo!" She squealed. "I am pretty sure it was not said in this sense."

"Well, language barrier you see." He shrugged, the playfulness back in his face as he carried her to their bed.

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"No." Mateo shook his head at their children. The both of them wanted a Dobermann. But the breed was not children-friendly and Mateo Adesso was an extremely over-protective father.

"But Papa.."

"Moving on." No amount of puppy eyes or sad pouts were going to change his mind.

River chuckled as she walked beside them as they went through the kennels.

"What are you laughing at?" Mateo scowled. "It's all because they take after you."

River raised a brow. "What do you mean by 'it's all because they take after you'? What do I have to do with this?"

"They are fearless to a fault. And impulsive. Like their mother." He threw an arm around her shoulder.

River looked up at him, giving a flat look. "Fearless yes, I agree that they take it after me, but impulsiveness? Bro, you only have yourself to blame for that certain trait?"

Victor snorted, Davis elbowing him in the side because he didn't want the three of them to have to face Mateo's deadly scowl. He believed that his life span shortened every time he saw it.

Meanwhile, this certain argument that River had thrown at him did not register in Mateo's brain, because like the typical man that he was, his brain stopped at the point when the love of his life called him 'bro'.

"What did you just call me?" He was thoroughly annoyed, and the change in shades of his face seemed pretty entertaining to River, who had to bite her inner lip to stop herself from laughing at his immaturity. The bodyguards at the back was also controlling themselves.

"Impulsive." She feigned innocence as she pulled away from him, taking two steps forward so that now she was in front of the kennel where the kids were watching chihuahua pups play around.

Both of them looked up at her.

River took in a breath – Chihuahuas were spawns of Satan if the internet was to be believed. She did not want them getting one of those.

"Mommy, they are so small." Kiara pouted. "I want something I can hug." She hugged the air to emphasize her point.

"You have your Mommy, Papa and Lukey to hug." Mateo was at River's side, this time securing his hand on her waist.

"I think we should get a golden retriever." River had not made any suggestion on the breed of dog yet but she had come to realize that it would be a disaster if she left it to her boyfriend and children.

"They are child-friendly." She gestured to Mateo who was paranoid about the safety of the children "AND they are huge, compared to you two at least."

"Great!" Mateo was happy with what River came up with. He waved one of the saleslady over. "Do you have any golden retriever puppies?"

"Yes sir, this way." She said, leading the way.

"What would you three do without me?" River sighed dramatically, placing her hand over Mateo's hand on her waist.

"Starve, stink,-" Mateo started dramatically.

"Shut up." River chuckled, elbowing him on his side.

"Ouch woman!"

"Don't tell me the Capo can't take a small blow to the side." She raised a brow. This time, it was George who couldn't control his chuckle. Mateo gave him a look, "Go stay with the kids." He shooed them away.

He turned back to her, letting out a deep sigh and pursed his lips, eyeing hers. "I like it when you call me Capo. And I hated it when you call me that."

The kids squealed with excitement when they saw the three puppies huddled up in a corner and fast asleep. "Go see who you wanna take home." Mateo said.

"What? Impulsive?" River mocked him.

Mateo let out an exasperated breath while she laughed. "You know what!" He said.

"Papa, Mommy!" Kiara's voice was so loud that the couple was immediately alerted, all the romance fleeing out through the window while their hands went to the guns hidden under their clothes.

But the kids were completely safe, and seated on the floor with the three puppies playing about, while George and Davis sat crouched next to them and Victor facing the other way, keeping guard.

"Ki, don't scare us like that." River was rubbing her chest because bile had rose up her throat in that brief moment of fear that something had happened to their babies.

"Sorry.." She pouted but then said, "Can we bring all of them home?"

"Here we go again!" Mateo sighed while River looked over at him helplessly. "What? They take after you!"

River gave him a flat look. They were forever at this, weren't they? Putting the responsibility of every single one of their kids' characters on one another. At least no one could ever say that the kids weren't theirs. It took one look at the darling twins and their Mommy and Papa to realize that 'yep, they are one crazy family, alright!'.

"Baby, don't you think that is a bit too much?" River bent down in front of her kids. "I mean, how will you two take care of all three of them?"

"But they are brothers and sister." Lucas pouted. "They will be separated."

Mateo looked over at River, knowing very well that that was all it took for the hardcore surgeon to melt.

River joined the kids and crouched down next to the puppies, patting their tiny heads.

"I mean, it isn't thaat hard take care of them because George and Davis will be there to help you guys out." As expected, she shrugged and turned to Mateo, biting the bottom of her lips in anticipation. "Right boys?"

"Of course Mrs. Adesso."

Mateo let out a chuckle. How the hell was he supposed to say no to the three most important people of his life? And he just loved how right 'Mrs. Adesso' felt, and that she had stopped correcting people. Though he doubted she would ever officially change her name. She was too independent and self-sufficient. And she wasn't old school to go by tradition. In fact, the children were still Lucas and Kiara Johnson. They hadn't changed the names even when the birth certificates were remade with his name added to it and Mateo thought that if River wasn't changing hers after the wedding, then theirs would remain the same as well.

"Fine." He rolled his eyes. "But I am not going to help out with anything." He added.

The kids squealed with happiness chorusing an "OKAY!". While the orthopedic surgeon looked calm and unbothered from outside, the twinkle in her eyes gave away her excitement about having the three puppers at home.

River got up and walked back to Mateo's side.

"What do I do with you three?" Mateo chuckled to himself as he wrapped his arm around River's waist again.

"You have no choice but to bear with it, now do you?" River winked at him, being sassy as always and making Mateo chuckle as he thought how similar his girlfriend and daughter were when it came to their sassiness.

"We are so happy that the pups would not be separated." The saleslady approached the couple. "I guess the children understand since they are twins and always together?" It was a question since she didn't know if they were really twins or siblings.

"Yeah, they have been together since in the womb and cannot live without one another." River smiled, looking over at the twins. "Alright kiddos, go select the essentials we would need for the pups."

"OKAY!" They squealed again.

"I will guide them." The saleslady said and walked away in the direction they had ran, George and Davis following them.

"You too, Victor." River laughed while Mateo shooed him.

"Did you know your laughter is like music to my ears?" He asked.

"Did you know that is one of the cringiest lines in the history of cringe." Mateo let out a laugh while River gave him her usual smirk.

"I need to talk to you about something serious." Mateo's voice and demeanor changed instantly and River was alerted at once.

"What?" The playfulness in River's eyes were gone and she was all ready for business.

"I think that Sia must have disappeared on purpose." He said. "That's the only reason I could come up with after thinking for so long about it. It's not easy to get hold of her and even if someone had managed to, she must have escaped or send us some sort of message by now."

"But-" Mateo had all her attention. "What if that someone is waiting for something to happen?" Mateo had thought about it too, but there was something missing.

"Did you get any info on that detective?" River asked, suddenly feeling restless. She felt kind of guilty that she had been care-free and happy while one of her closest friends had been missing for a while now.

"His slate is clean." Mateo said.

"Too clean?" River asked, somehow knowing the answer before hand and knowing very well what it meant.

"Too clean."

"Who's keeping tabs on him?" She asked.

"Ricardo." Mateo said, placing his hand on the small of her back and pushing her forward, deciding to rejoin the children.

River trusted Ricardo to an extent, though not completely. He was a good man and he had been nothing but nice to her, and from the story that Adam had told her about the Italian man, he owed his life to Mateo and The Adesso Family and hence would never betray them. Anyone else might completely trust someone like that but the cynic in her had engraved in her mind that it was the people who one least expect who puts a dagger through their heart.

"I just hope everything turns out fine." She said.

"It will."

The two of them smiled, forgetting all their tension at once, when they saw their two babies waving at them, holding a number of dog toys in their hands.

Though the life they had was pretty messy, the four of them had each other and that was all that mattered, right?

Family is all that mattered.

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