— ᴀ.s.

"Are you ready?" Xavier's voice boomed from another side of the door causing me to cringe at his loudness.

Xavier was right about Emiliano and the fact that he won't sleep because he kept us awake for most of the night. We didn't sleep even four hours which caused my head to throb from a headache caused by lack of sleep.

Taking a deep breath to suppress a feeling of nausea I turned the doorknob and pulled the door open reliving worried Xavier with Emiliano in his arms.

"Do you still feel sick?" Asking he leaned a hand on my forehead. "You don't have a fever."

Grabbing his hand from my forehead I gave it a slight squeeze "I'm fine just tired. Don't worry. Let's just go so I can sleep when we return."

"Certo amore. Andiamo." He mumbled stepping back and letting me exit the bathroom. Placing his warm hand on my lower back started leading way towards the car. ("Of course love. Let's go.")

"Did you pick everything that you need?" He asked as he sat in the driver's seat and looked my way.

Friggin in my seat I fixed the dress shirt that I have on. Over the past weeks, my stomach got even bigger till that point that I can't wear any of my old clothes. 'Gosh, I feel like earth walking wale.'

"I did. Everything is in the bag." I whispered smiling lightly while looking at his mesmerizing blue eyes which today shone in a new light with some kind of emotion that I couldn't recognize or place.

. . .

"This way." Xavier helped me get out of the car and closed the doors behind us. Grabbing Emiliano's hand we made our way inside the hospital.



— x.ᴅ.ʀ.

Getting into the hospital where our doctor was already waiting for us to take us to a room where Antea was supposed to have an appointment.

During the whole ride, she was silent and seemed somehow off, I'm gonna say, and blame our sleepless night for that. However, I can't say that that wasn't worrying me.

"Mr. Del Re." Giving him a curt nod indicating him that I'm not in the mood for chit chat he proceeded "..follow me please." He said turning around and walking down the hallway making us follow behind him.

To be honest, I'm not happy about going to a hospital here, in the city. Not because of doctors but because of our situation with Russians. They could jump out from somewhere at any moment and I couldn't stop them.

That's the exact reason for me to send a few of my men last night to keep monitoring the whole hospital till we don't finish, just in case of any suspicious happening. Some of them are also stationed all around the hospital and on all entrances from streets, back, and front.

"Over here." Opening the doors we stepped inside the bright room where a short woman stood. She looked older with slightly wrinkled skin and gray strands in her bushy red hair.

"Hello. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Del Re, come in." Exclaiming she gestured towards the bed. "Thank you, George. I'm gonna take them from here."

Switching my eyes I watched how's Antea anxiously play with a slew of her dress shirt while looking around the room. Slowly making our way towards the bed she sat on it and pulled her shirt up as the doctor told her.

"This might be cold." The doctor said putting gel on Antea's stomach. "Did you have a sonogram before?"

"Yes, I have." Antea said flinching a little from the coldness of the gel. "When was the last time you had one?" "Umm, when I was eighteen weeks. Just before I came here."

"Okay." The doctor said before she pressed a couple of times on the monitor bring black and white footage on the screen. "Let's hear baby's heartbeat, shall we?" She added before clicking one again filling the room with quick beats.

My eyes widened slightly as heartbeat-like music gets louder and louder. I could feel my heartbeat pick up a speed only by hearing for the first time my ba- our baby's heart beating.

"You are around 25 weeks right?" "26 actually." Antea corrected the doctor making her hum in response while looking at the screen frowning.

"Yes, umm.. this is weird." She said causing my stomach to do a flip.

"Is everything okay?" I asked not being able to stop myself. If there are any complications or any type of danger that can cause me to lose her, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

"Just a second." Clicking a couple of times the doctor took a sharp breath looking at a screen with scrunched brows.

"Hmmm, it seems that.. tsk, tsk, tsk.." tsking she turned to examine Antea's stomach closely. "Do you have any symptoms like you get breathless really fast, constipation, or do your feet swell?"

Antea looked at her weirdly although I couldn't mistake a flash of fear that swam in her orbs. Instantly I interlocked our fingers while looking at her giving her reassurance that I'm here and I'm not leaving.



— ᴀ.s.

"Ye-yes, I would get really fast out of breath and my feet would swell a lot over the past couple of weeks." I answered tilting my head to the side while looking between doctor and screen.

She seems to be distracted by something on the screen what I can't and don't know how to recognize.

I opened my mouth to ask her what is happening but Xavier beat me with it. "Are there any problems, doctor? With any of them?"

She kept silent for a couple of moments switching her eyes from the monitor to my stomach then to papers on the table next to us.

Finally taking a deep breath she turned towards Xavier "Okay, I'm not gonna beat around the bush so I'm gonna say it directly. The reason for your tiredness dear" she turned looking at me "and for pain and swelling of your feet and legs is the fact that you have Polyhydramnios."

Her words even though they were said gently caused fear to shoot through my body causing my heart to start beat wildly and my hands started to sweat.

"Is it dangerous for her or the baby?" Xavier asked fixing Emiliano's little body on his hip and taking a long step closer to me. Not letting go of my hand.

"Well, the Polyhydramnios is a state where there is too much amniotic fluid around the baby during pregnancy. For most women, this state won't cause any big significant problems however there is a risk of water breaking earlier than expected or premature childbirth or baby having health conditions."

The more she spoke the more fear and worry grew in me. My hand unconsciously tightened its hold on Xavier's which brought him from the trance he was in.

"Is there anything we could do?" I whispered looking at the doctor feeling my emotions all over the place. My eyes started to sting with a familiar feeling of salty tears in them.

"Dear, you don't need to worry this isn't anything serious." The doctor said sitting next to me and grabbing a hold of my other hand "All you can do is rest, not work much and try to not worry, don't stress yourself. Okay? Can you do that?" She asked looking at me seriously yet a gentle smile rested on her face.

Xavier put an arm around my shoulders pulling me slightly towards him while planning a loving kiss on my temple. The gesture caused my eyes to close, enjoying the feeling of his closeness and the feeling of his lips and touch on me.

"Okay, I can do that." I whispered back at the same time as Xavier "She can do that." His voice didn't waver and he seemed so confident and sure in his words that it brought a smile not only on my face but a doctor also.

"Great, then I'm gonna need you to make a couple more tests to see what caused the condition and you are done." Finishing she got up from her seat and left the room.

"Are you okay?" Xavier's voice made me turn my head to the side looking at his concerned face. "I'm okay. Just tired."

"If you want I can take you home and then bring you here later when you rest a bit-"

"I'm fine." Telling him I smiled reassuring hir worries. "I can do that." I added putting his words from a couple of seconds in.

"If you say so amore." Chuckling he planted a kiss on the back of my hand that he had a hold on.

. . .

"Okay, I will call you when the blood results arrive would you like to know the baby's gender?" Doctor asked sitting on a chair next to me again.

Looking at Xavier whose eyes were already on me. His lips twitched upwards while his eyes hold gentleness. Quickly I swiped my eyes over his face and turned to the doctor not being able to hold his stare, especially after what he told me yesterday about babygirl.

"Ye-yeah, we would like to know." The feeling of my cheeks burns made me lower my eyes on my hands.

"Alright, let's see then." She mumbled pouring gel back on my stomach and turning towards the monitor. "Hmm.." humming she swiped the device all over my stomach with a deep frown attaches to her face.

"It seems that baby doesn't want to show us is it she or he." Chuckling she turned her attention to us "The baby's legs are crossed and I can't see the gender. If you want I can schedule you to someday later to relieved gender."

"It's okay. We don't care if it's a boy or girl. As far as it's healthy we don't care about gender." Xavier's words made a smile stretch across my face even though tiredness is slowly starting to take a troll on me.



— x.ᴅ.ʀ.

My eyes were glued to peacefully sleeping angels on the bed. They both fell asleep on our way home and I didn't have the heart to wake them. So instead with a help of Dante, I brought them here.

An ever so soft knock on the door made me snap my attention on it seeing Dante poke his head in looking around till he didn't spot me.

Coming closer to me he bent lower to whisper in my ear "The auction starts in two hours."

Rubbing my temple I turned to face him "What do you do? Do you have anything to do for the rest of the day?"

"No as far I know. I thought to jump over to the club but that didn't go as planned. So... I'm free. Why?"

"Can you go instead of me?" I asked averting my eyes on sleeping beauty still processing everything the doctor said to us. "A lot happened and I can't leave them alone. Not now."

I could feel his gaze on my face for some time and then a light pat on my shoulder "She will be fine. Both of them. Don't worry yourself. I'm gonna go then and bring Marino with me. Is there any price that I can't overstep?"

"No, no," shaking my head quickly I looked at him "there is no limit. Pay however much is needed but bring me the ring."

"You sure?" He asked while studying my face "Even if it's a thousand?" He added making me nod in response "Ten thousand?" Nod. "Hundred thousand?" Nod. "A million?"

I gave him pointed look while turning back on looking at two.. three most important persons in my life sleeping quietly. "There is no limit. However, the price is.. just bring it here. I don't care about money when it's spent on them. They deserve everything and I will try to secure that for them. There is no money I wouldn't pay for their happiness."