"Have you seen my phone? Did I leave it behind?" I asked frantically searching the floor of Sergio's truck and even rooting through his glove compartment.

"I can't believe you hit me with the pressure cuff." Sergio chuckled, he sounded relatively amused for someone who had had to wrestle an IV rack from me.

I turned back to face him, he had a one hand grip on the steering wheel, the other resting on the gear shift, it was at this moment I realized I still had his bandana. "I can't believe you blind folded me."

He glanced my way and then back to the road. "It worked didn't it? And I'll bet you'll never forget the recipe, not that you'll be able to make it of course but you'll at least remember. Get out of there."

No seriously. He'd blindfolded me. I had failed to abide by his quit watching him instructions which proceeded the if you don't stop staring at him I'm going to blind fold you threat which followed with that's it, I'm blindfolding you.

Being blindfolded had initially been much worse than when I was watching the doctor. He touched my hand and I jerked away, probably over dramatically, and then Sergio had started drilling me on dinner. He demanded the ingredient list and when I said I didn't give two shits about the ingredients he said "Did I ask how many shits you gave? No, I asked how many fucking cheeses go into it!"

I remembered all but two of the ingredients, the cumin and bread crumbs. He was right, I wouldn't forget them after today. Nor would I forget she agonizing burning feeling the numbing shot gives you when injected. Horrible!

His bandana had been left pushed up past my forehead and holding back my hair after the stitches were done, pushed back down when he explained I really needed a tetanus shot, and pushed back up when we finally left. Remembering about it now I shut the center console and took the bandana off completely.

"I need to call someone, we're going to be late for the dinner I'm supposedly making."

"It's been taken care of. You didn't bring your phone."

"What if Alessio called me while I was gone?"

"Well, I would bet he would have gotten your voicemail. Crazy how that works, isn't it? For future references Kate, use the cheese grater, not the knife. Shredded cheese would melt faster than cubed anyway."

"Did you see how huge that kitchen was? I looked for the cheese shredder for like ten minutes."

"Third cupboard from the stove, the low one not the high one."

"Well see had I known that I probably wouldn't have cut my hand open."

"Tell me Kate, were you actually going to cry when he said you needed a tetanus shot?"

"I hate shots, he'd already stabbed me in the hand fifty thousand times, I just wanted to go home."

"The needle is like pin sized and you got what four, five stitches? That is hardly fifty thousand."

"But did you hear him say my arm would be sore for days? Not to lift anything heavy? This tetanus shot was like, a legit shot. Serious shot business."

"What the hell is wrong with you not being up to date in the first place?"

"What?"

"With your tetanus shot. You haven't had one since you were a teenager."

"They didn't have enough nurses to hold me down."

The corner of his lip twitched but he didn't quite smile. "Regardless, you have sort of a dangerous life style, that's a bit of a priority. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but these guys don't always mess around and the most hygienic of places. Let's say you're in some old abandoned warehouse-"

"Cliché."

"And someone pushes you and you fall backwards and cut yourself off of, I don't know, some old custard machine or something."

"Also cliché, but I've been there before too."

"It's just a little cut so you don't think it's a big deal and bam three days later you're dead all because you didn't get your booster for your tetanus shot."

"Okay dad, go ahead and give me another lecture."

He rolled his eyes. "Just a thought, not like I'm going to miss you when you're gone but you might want to keep track of these things. I'm surprised Alessio hasn't given you the shot himself while you were asleep one of these nights."

Now that he mentioned it, I was a little surprised about that too. We made it back to the estate and I looked to the clock. "We're late."

He shrugged. "I wasn't the one who stabbed myself."

"How am I supposed to say I made dinner when we aren't even in there and they're probably already serving the table? And how am I supposed to explain this?" I held up my hand, it had been bandaged so much that it appeared to be twice its normal size.

"Somehow, I feel like this won't surprise anyone in the least."

I got out of the truck, ever so slightly appreciating the fact that it was probably ten years old and I doubted he had twelve of them exactly the same. I stood by my opinion that Sergio was indeed an asshole, but it was nice to be around someone almost human every now and then. "So, thank you." I said as we walked to the door.

"Don't mention it. No seriously don't, I have a reputation to uphold."

I sighed heavily. "I'm nervous."

"Don't be." He breezed past the men posted at the door without a glance and opened it for me. "There's not a single person in here worth trying to impress. Trust me."

Alessio rose when we entered his gaze quickly scanning my hand, how was it that he was so quick to pick these things up? Don't most people notice someone's face first?

Gia and Aria were serving the table, almost everyone Aria served rose to their feet to hug her as though she was some long lost friend. Even Pietro, Stacey even let her feel her stomach.

"Where were you?" Alessio asked taking my bandaged hand in his. "What happened?"

"Cooking accident."

He frowned. "You should have let me take care of things. You should have called me."

"I wasn't thinking. It's fine, it's just a little knick."

"You cut yourself?" His mother asked rather matter of factly, I glanced past her to see her serve Ugo. He stood and kissed each cheek before giving her a hug. Alessio followed my gaze. He didn't seem to be fazed by this. In my head, I was definitely running with the mistress opinion, but Gia appeared to be as fond of her as the rest of them.

"I, uh, yeah-" I started and raised my hand. "It was stupid really."

"And completely my fault." Sergio interrupted and pulled my chair out for me. Everyone turned their attention to Sergio abruptly. "I was bored and it looked like Katherine was extremely busy in the kitchen, I offered to help do something easy to pass the time and she rattled off a list of things that needed cut, I suggested I could chop the jalapenos, and she insisted they be minced. She was of course right, but I disagreed. She was trying to show me how to mince and I insisted I knew how to chop and grabbed the knife from her. It was stupid of me really."

I sat down with a red face and Sergio moved my chair in for me.

"You'll have to be more careful next time." Mrs. Genovese said watching Sergio with suspicious eyes.

"Naturally." He said back almost pleasantly. Alessio took the seat at the head of the table with me at his side and Sergio went to the other side of the table a few chairs down.

"If I was hurt, you would want me to call you." Alessio muttered taking my bandaged hand and placing a kiss to the palm.

He was right. "I'll be more careful, I'm sorry."

The table was served and when Aria and Gia took their seats, Aria beside Sergio and Gia by Ugo who was naturally at the head of the table. Aria seemed at perfect ease, she talked vibrantly, laughed often, communicated with people all around the table.

Alessio rubbed the tip of his shoe along my shin and I looked to him. "Relax Rose." I gave him a pitiful smile. "Does it hurt?"

"I'm fine. Just the stress creeping back up with all this wedding planning." Another lie. I was just lucky I hadn't injured my primary hand, I could try to feed myself with my left hand but there's no telling how messy the job would have been.

He pretended as though he believed me and I appreciated that. "She's family." He said casually motioning towards Aria. "Aria's family owns the land next door. They were once our rivals, but have since come to be our allies. She spent much of her childhood with us, she is family."

The chatter around the table seemed to dwindle down as people began eating and I could hear her talking more clearly. "You can imagine my shock when I hear that Alessio is getting married." She chuckled but her smile remained warm, she seemed genuinely happy. "So tell us Alessio, will Sergio be your best man?"

What little chatter remained around the table quieted instantly. I let out a little snort. Sergio? His best man? He didn't even like the guy.

"No." Alessio replied flatly.

She seemed to be honestly surprised by this. "Oh?"

"Ari." Sergio cut in sharply and in a tone I couldn't hear he began muttering to her.

"Pietro will be my best man." Alessio said so firmly, sounding proud even to have had a cousin with him for so long that he was willing to stand next to him under the eyes of God and the laws of marriage. Glancing at Pietro though, he didn't look thrilled in this moment. He looked worn down. Running the Genovese Mafia back in New York may have been hard, maybe Stacey was waking him up every night as she had to get up to use the bathroom often, maybe he just really didn't want to be dragged into this, whatever this was.

"Will Sergio be one of your groomsmen?" Aria continued and I shot Alessio a look. Supposedly Aria had known them since childhood and she felt Sergio should somehow be involved? Alessio had made it very well known that he couldn't stand Sergio. Was there more to Sergio that I was unaware?

"No." This time it came out sharply, almost like he was telling her to stand down.

"Well shall we have him ordained to perform the service himself?" She continued and Alessio let his fork drop noisily onto his plate. Startled, I slowly lowered mine.

"Calm yourself." I whispered.

"An usher?" She continued.

"Enough Ari." Sergio muttered.

"No, it's not enough. He's being ridiculous. You're family, you should be a part of this."

"I'm not family." He said and straightened his back as though this was a title he wore proudly. Not family, as though it was a badge of honor.

"You're damn right you're not." Alessio snapped and the palms of his hands touched the edge of the table. Had we been at home alone he may have pushed dramatically away from the table and stormed off but his attention went to his mother and his mind seemed to have changed. He settled back in his chair, I put my hand to his and in a much more calm tone Alessio stoke slowly and firmly to Aria. "Let. It. Go."

Aria struck me as the kind of person who was almost just like Alessio in the sense that it took a lot to ruffle her. In the sense that she kept her emotions at bay, like Alessio getting eerily calm in the case of danger I felt like she plastered on a smile and worked her way through any kind of struggles. But right now she made no attempts to smile. She shook her head slowly at Alessio.

He chose to ignore her.

"It's not a big deal Ari." Sergio muttered.

"Obviously it is. Why drag you down here if it wasn't a big deal? You can't say that you want to be here, can you? It's condescending and unnecessary."

"Ah yes but just imagine how many laughs we can get out of this, did you see the cake they picked out?" Sergio offered with a chuckle.

What was wrong with our cake designs?

Aria stared at him for a moment and then turned to Ugo with the same warm smile as before, he had already been watching her. "I appreciate the invitation to dinner tonight tremendously, I really do, Kate your recipe looks to be delicious, but I've just realized how rude it is of me to attend your dinner rather than prepare one for my brother. He has been so gracious in offering him home to me, it's really the least I could do." She stood and set her napkin back on the table.

"Let me walk you." Sergio said standing beside her.

"Sergio." Ugo said in a low tone, this being the first he had spoken since Aria had served him. The room fell to absolute silence quickly. No other conversation, no whispers, low muttering around the room, absolute silence. I hated when Ugo opened his mouth. This always happened. "The polite thing to do would be to ask to be excused."

"Pity I never had anyone to teach me manners then, eh? Come on Ari."

She gave Ugo an apologetic smile and he kept his eyes trained to the pair as the left the room after Aria thanked them again for their generosity. On their way out, right before the door shut completely I could see Aria nudge Sergio in the ribs on their way out and his laughter echoed back through the dining hall.

"Exquisite meal." Ugo said calmly and everyone resumed eating.

*****

"Why would she think Sergio would be in the wedding party at all let alone your best man?" I continued probing Alessio long after dinner had ended I could tell he was getting frustrated.

"I don't know Katherine, because she is as insane as everyone else around here." He sounded bored but I knew this was his tone when he was annoyed. He disrobed slowly as I lathered my legs up with lotion still nagging.

"But she was so insistent on it!"

"She is obnoxious. Let it go." I was nowhere near ready to let it go. I had hardly even gotten started.

"But she said he was family." I continued and at this he slammed the watch he had just taken off on the dresser.

"He is not family."

"But she is." I snapped back and stopped applying my lotion to focus all of my attention on him. "She has apparently been around long enough that everyone knows her, if she thinks Sergio is family, as long as she has been involved he must be something-"

"I said let it go!" He yelled and I faltered. Alessio didn't yell, when he was angry he got so obscenely calm and relaxed it was frightening. For him to actually yell at me was a rarity.

"Are you angry because of him, or because of her?" I bit out and before waiting for a response flopped into bed and rolled over to face the wall.

"Damn it Katherine." He groaned and after a few seconds the bed sagged as he sat down on the edge. He laid down and moments later he brought his chest to my back, his hands took and squeezed my shoulders. "Him." He finally answered. "You know how much I dislike Sergio. Our family has had issues with him for some time and now he's here for the wedding and has proceeded to be disrespectful to my wife? For Ari to suggest I make that man a part of our day..."

I rolled over to face him curiously. "Why would she think he would be if you've had nothing but problems? If he's been cruel to the family or disrespectful why hasn't he been killed already?"

"It's complicated."

"It probably isn't."

He raised a brow and I shrugged.

"It's probably not all that complicated you just don't want to tell me."

"Do you trust me?"

"Well of course I do but what does that have to do with-"

"If you trust me then all you need to know is he is not family, he is not a friend, he's not someone I even want at the wedding let alone in it...stop chewing your cheek."

"Sorry." I muttered a released it from my gnaws.

He traced my jaw gently with his fingers, his expression softening. "Let's just let this go, and go to sleep. Yes?"

No. "Okay." Damn it.

Alessio got up once more. "Here, I've had Doc ready some pain medicine for you." He handed me a bottle of pills, I stared at it for a few moments wondering how I would get the child proofed lid off with only one hand and reading my mind he opened it for me.

"Thank you."

"Does it hurt?"

"Yes." I admitted.

"And Sergio? He had nothing to do with it, did he?"

"No it was totally my own fault." I admitted and he nodded before turning the lights out. "I'm exhausted." Today was a long day, hard to believe when I woke up this morning I was in a better mood than I had been since we moved back in here.

"I love you Mrs. Genovese."

"I love you too."

We got comfortable and I closed my eyes. Alessio's hand swayed back and forth along my stomach After some time I was just teetering on the edge of sleep, half away, half asleep when I felt Alessio stir.

I didn't move for whatever reason. Maybe pretending to sleep was a lie? In any case I kept my back against the mattress as he snuck out of the room.

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Hurray for a quick update, totally unedited and revised, but long chapter. Hurray indeed!

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