— ᴀ.s.

"Come on, what do you want? Pizza? Lasagna? Pasta?" Marino asked leaning against the fridge holding a phone in his hands.

"Umm, I don't know." I mumbled looking at the paper in my hand. We were watching a movie just a moment ago until my stomach didn't start to make noises. I mean I can't really blame it in the movie they were eating some kind of pizza that looked like it came straight from heaven.

"I would like pizza.. or umm pasta sounds good too." Mumbling I scratched my head "..oh, or manicotti, they look amazing here, or maybe something with gnocchi.. ugh I'm not sure."

Marino's soft laugh made my head snap his way. "What do you say that I order everything from the menu and then you can eat what you feel like eating." He suggested smiling softly my way.

"Isn't that too much food? And all that food costs a lot, I don't want-" I wanted to argue but he stopped me.

"Don't worry. Firstly here are a lot of us, so the food won't go to waste and secondly about payment. You don't need to worry your pretty head about that, Xavier said himself to feed you with whatever you want no matter the price. So if you or baby want something I need to get that to you or I might end up dead." He finished with a chuckle which I couldn't return.

'Would he really kill Marino? I don't remember everything in fullest but as far as I know, he wouldn't, would he?'

Chuckling awkwardly looking back at the menu in my hand "Can I get cannoli also?" I asked glancing at nodding Marino ".. umm, and what about tiramisu and look at this zeppole." Turning paper his way I showed him the picture of heavenly-looking desserts.

"Fiorellino, we are gonna order everything so you don't need to be in a big dilemma. Okay?" He asked causing me to nod.

"Okay." I said with an ear-to-ear grin. My emotions and moods became like the weather these days. I could switch my mood from happy to sad faster than the speed of light.

"Let's go back to the living room." He said after he ended the phone call and came to stand next to me helping me get off the chair.

. . .

"Where did they all go anyway?" I asked while stuffing a piece of pizza with chocolate syrup in my mouth.

Marino leaned a little away from me and his face scrunch into one of disgust as he eyed the food in my hands. "They needed to deal with something, they should come back soon."

My head bobbed in both conform at his words and satisfaction on an explosion of flavors in my mouth. A soft moan escaped my lips causing Marino to let out an uncomfortable chuckle.

"Is it that good?" He asked still not taking his eyes off of delicious peace in my hands.

"Yeah, do you want to try?" I asked extending my arm for him to take but he only widens his eyes while shaking his head quickly.

"No, no I'm fine. I would rather not try to poison myself." He exclaimed smiling bitterly while taking a short glance at my extended hand before turning towards the TV at the same time my phone ringed.

Xavier's mother's name flashed on my phone causing my eyebrows to pull together in confusion. Why is she calling it's late in Italy? Did something happen?

Taking a quick glance at sleeping Emiliano next to me I grabbed a phone from the table.

Quickly answering the call which switched on video call immediately. "Ciao, cara. How are you?" Isabella's warm voice came out of the speaker.

"Hi, I'm fine. How are you? Did something happen? It's late over there." My voice shook and I couldn't suppress the worry that crawled its way up my spine.

"Oh, sweetie don't worry yourself. We are fine nothing happened. I was just calling you to ask you how are you and are you excited for tomorrow's appointment?" Tilting my head to the side I looked at Isabella in confusion.

'Appointment? What kind of appo-' I cut my own thoughts when a conversation with Xavier came into my mind. 'Ohhh, tomorrow is the day we found out baby's gender.'

"Oh, yeah, I remember now. I'm fin-" a loud talking from the hallway cut me off. Lifting my head from the phone I watched as guys made their way into the living room.

As soon as Xavier stepped in his blue eyes locked with mine causing my breath to hitch a bit and a small smile tug on the corner of my lips.

"Hey, amore." He lowered his voice taking a look at the sleeping boy next to me.

"Hi." My voice came out sheepishly while looking at him.

"Ciao, figlio." Isabella's voice came through the speaker making me flinch a little forgetting that I have her on call. I watched as Xavier's brows pulled together and he lowered his gaze at the phone in my hand.

Dantes eyes from behind Xavier widened and he turned towards the kitchen mouthing "I'm out. I'm not here." Before he secured his way out along with Moreno and Marino at his side.

"Mamma.." greeting he sat next to me "..umm, ciao. E' successo qualcosa?" He questioned but I couldn't miss the edge in his voice. ("..umm,hi. Did something happen?")

"Non preoccuparti. Va tutto bene." Isabella responded laughing a little "Why are you all concerned if I call you? It's like something bad needs to happen so I could give you a call and hear your voice." ("Don't worry. Nothing happened.")

"It's not like that, mamma. It's just.. it's late back home, that's why I'm concerned."

"Don't worry figlio. We are completely fine here. I was just calling Antea to ask how she feels about tomorrow's appointment."

I felt Xavier tense next to me causing me to turn my head to look at him finding him looking at the wall in front of us in deep thoughts. 'Maybe he doesn't remember either.'

Angling my head closer to his ear and covering the camera I whispered lowly so Isabella can't hear me. "Tomorrow is a baby appointment. For the gender and to see is baby alright."

His head snapped in my way so fast that I thought that he snapped his neck. "That's tomorrow?" His eyes widened "I'm so sorry amore. It completely slipped my mind I thought it's on Friday."

"It's okay. I forgot too." I whispered back feeling embarrassed with myself for forgetting such a thing. 'I'm such a bad mom.'

My thoughts must escape my lips as Xavier grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "You are not a bad mom. Okay? I don't want to hear it. Everyone can make mistake and forget. It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. Look at Emiliano, you raised him. And he is a great kid now isn't he?" His words made me nod and he lowered his head placing a feather-like kiss on my forehead.

"What is wrong with pho.. did I pressed something? Why is my screen black? Bellissa! Can you come here? I did something on the phone and now the screen is all black. I swear it was all better with old phones, not these ones. This you click something and it's dead."

We both looked at each other before bursting out laughing. "Oh, wait I can hear them. But there is no picture. Why I can't see them? Bellissa! Mio Dio, dov'e ' quella ragazza." ("My God, where is that girl.")

Not wanting to confuse and scare Isabella even more I removed a finger from my camera and returned it to us. "Oh good, you are here. Wait a second. Bellissa you don't need to come I fixed it myself." She screamed causing me to lower my head to hide my uncontrollable laugh.

"What is so funny?" She asked with confusion dripping from her words but I couldn't stop my laughter to answer her.

"N-not.. nothin' mamma. Absolutely nothing."

"You kids are so confusing these days. Anyway, I just wanted to know how you feel about tomorrow?"

Taking deep breaths to calm myself I looked back at her. "I'm fine."

"Do you know or having any predictions about is it a boy or a girl?"

"Umm, I don't know to be honest. Although, maybe.. I was reading online that cravings can tell the baby's gender."

"Oh, yeah I know about that if you are craving sweet and spicy food you will have the girl and if you crave salty and savory you are having a boy. So sweetie what are you crave?"

"Well I'm craving a lot of things, but I think it's a boy." I could feel Xavier's hot gaze burning my skin. Taking a side glance at him I saw his lips tug upward in his million-dollar smile.

"A boy?" He whispered breathlessly wrapping his arms around me pulling me into his chest. Isabella squealed from other side of the phone while looking at us.

"Another boy? Dio mio.." her smile was so contagious that my lips curled into a big grin by just looking at her. "Congratulations dear."

"Well, we don't really know that it's correct, we need to go to a doctor first. However, you will be the first one to know about that tomorrow afternoon appointment."

"Of course dear, I'm not gonna worry you and keep you from resting so I'm gonna go now. But don't forget to call me tomorrow." She bided her goodbye ending the call.

. . .

"Another boy?" Xavier asked while pulling Emiliano in his lap letting him play with Xavier's hair.

"Yeah.. well maybe. I don't know how much it is trustworthy, that thing about cravings." I mumbled looking at my stomach feeling the baby move.

"Hmm, I thought it will be a girl. Actually, I was hoping it will be a girl." "Really?" I asked in surprise "Maybe it is. We still don't know."

"Maybe, maybe not. If not then more luck next time." His words caused my eyes to bulge out and my jaw dropped to the floor while hot red blush rose my neck covering my cheeks and the tip of my ears.