I would like to start off by warning ya'll that this chapter switches POV's multiple times. I know some people don't like that, but I'll explain why at the end.





Uncle Stefano's POV



I know when my children are hiding something from me, alright? I'm not an idiot, I know when they're trying to cover something. And right now, they are doing just that.

I walk into my bedroom where my beautiful wife is already laying on the bed. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky in life. I mean, I have an amazing wife, five... decent children, and loads of family by my side.

Sure, Juliana's side of the family I didn't get to see much, but that was his choice. He chose to create that rivet between us, and the children paid the price. I'm just grateful that I get to see Juliana now. I'm hoping that this will be the start to opening up a relationship. But; baby steps.

Crawling into the bed, I press a kiss to Stephanie's lips and lay down next to her sitting form. I watched her as she pretended to read her book. She hadn't actually flipped the page since I had gone into the bathroom. Something else was on her mind.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She looked down at me as she asked this and I smirked at her.

"Oh mi amore, I sure hope so." I rolled to press my lips against her bare thigh, never more grateful about her habit of sleeping without pants.

"Oh get off, you pervert. That's not what I meant." I could hear the amusement in her voice as she shoved my head away from her.

What can I say? A man's gotta try.

"I was trying to ask if you noticed what was going on with Hunter and Elliot this evening. They've been acting weird ever since we got back." Oh right, the little monsters.

"Honey." I groaned as I moved to sit up next to her. "I really don't care." She shot me a dirty look and I held my hands up in surrender. "Well? I don't. I'm sure that whatever they did can't be that bad. Hell, they were only together one afternoon, it's not like they performed a jail break in that time." Stephanie sighed, closing her book.

"I know, it's just... I don't like it when they keep things from us. It makes me worry. You know how much we've been through these past couple of years."

"I know honey, but trust me, they're fine. Now back to my idea-" I was cut off by the sound of doors slamming and yells for help. I heard Elijah's name being called, and high pitched screaming that could only be coming from Justin.

Neither one of us hesitates. Guns are drawn as we rush towards the door. I keep my gun at a ready position as I swivel around the entryway to the hallway, ready for any threat that could be awaiting us.

We're not the only ones with this same reaction. My papa, mama, my oldest Massimo, and my brother Lorenzo all had the same idea. The pounding of footsteps coming from the stairway suggests that my other nieces and nephews are on their way up as well.

Then we get to the source of the commotion, Elliot's room. By then almost everyone is in there, so it's hard to identify what is the initial cause of the panic. And then we see it. Juliana is lying on the bed in nothing but her sports bra and a pair of shorts. The room smells of vomit, and Juliana is currently seizing.

Elijah has her in a recovery position, lying on her side facing away from us. He looks up when we enter, finishing directing Hunter to drag a screaming Justin out of the room.

"Crash team is on their way." Lorenzo says to no one in particular. At this point guns have been put away, and my nieces and nephews have just arrived, and Elliot's door gets re-slammed open.

'At this point I'm going to have to replace that poor thing.' I think annoyedly before signaling to Massimo to get everyone besides the obvious out of the room. It takes a bit of strong arming to get Elliot out of the way, but everyone else goes quietly, understanding the gravity of the situation. My wife goes with them to be a mediator, patting my arm on the way out.

Finally being able to focus my attention on Juliana, I walk over and sit down on the bed, opposite to Elijah, who is still calmly holding Juliana in place, monitoring her breathing and watching the time. Only about a minute has passed since we entered the room, so I assume we're still in the safe.

"She's fine, this is perfectly normal. I just got time to access her medical file about half an hour ago, and I meant to warn you that this might happen because of the antibiotics I have her on." He explained and I heard a grunt from the back of the room.

Suddenly Juliana relaxes, and we all check the time.

"2 minutes, 27 seconds." Elijah calls, and I let out a relieved sigh. Under five minutes, no need to dial 3 digits. That's the saying that I had been taught. As long as she didn't go over five minutes, we wouldn't need to call for help unless something else was noticeably wrong.

Juliana groans, squeezing her eyes shut tight she tries to roll onto her back but just rolls onto me instead.

"You're okay." I say softly, and my dad lowers the lights. The crash team arrives shortly after, which is impeccable timing if I do say so myself. They make Juliana sit up and drink some water while they take her blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen, blood sugar, and check her pupils.

They sort of tag team her, which means they're done and out of there in minutes. "Other than a bit of low blood pressure and sugar, she's fine. Just get her something to eat, maybe monitor her overnight until the antibiotics are fully out of her system." Is what Baylie, our head medic, had told me. I thanked her, and then they left.

"Well Juliana, how are you feeling? Up to going and getting some food, or would you like us to bring you some?" Elijah asks a shivering Juliana, who had leaned back in my arms, allowing me to hold her for the time being.

"..." She again refused to answer, just continued to shake while I held her. I reached over with the intent of pulling the covers over her, but noticed that the sheets had vomit on them.

'Well, now we know where that smell is coming from.' I told Elijah to go steal one of Elliot's hoodies for me real quick and he responded by looking at me like I was a fool.

"Have you met Elliot? Non voglio che mi battono il culo, cazzo." He finished in Italian, trying to hide his cursing from Juliana. (Translation: I don't want my fucking ass beat.)

Then Juliana did something that surprised us all. She smiled real wide, letting out a series of giggles.

"Elijah ha detto una parolaccia" She murmured, turning around to face me with a shit eating grin on her face. (T- Elijah said a bad word)

All of us looked at her in shock. Whether for speaking in fluent italian, something we assumed she had lost the ability to do. Or for the childish manor she said it in.

"Conosci ancora l'italiano, Juliana?" Massimo asked, shocked, from where he had just recently entered the room.

"SÌ?" Juliana said, confused. Suddenly something occurred to me, and I turned Juliana sideways so that she could see me without being at such an awkward angle.

"Juliana, do you know where you are? Whose room you're in, what just happened?" I asked and she stared at me blankly.

"Juliana, sai dove ti trovi? In che stanza sei, cosa è appena successo?" I repeated, this time in italian.

"Si." She answered happily, looking around the room with wide, doe-like eyes. Once she had done a full scan of the room, she turned back to the small crowd that had formed in the doorway, frowned and said, "Ho freddo." Translation: I'm cold

'What the hell?' I think to myself while Massimo goes and starts digging around Elliot's closet, not at all worried that Elliot would try anything against him. 'Did the seizure mess with something in her brain? Or the fever that she most definitely has?'

In the time it took me to run over a few worst case scenarios, Massimo returns with one of Elliot's long sleeved shirts. He helps her slip it on, and she gives him a quiet, 'grazie' holding her arms out to him.

He doesn't hesitate to wrap her in a hug, while picking her up off the bed. I'm a little surprised when Julianna doesn't complain, just snuggles deeper into his hold, dozing back off into dreamland.

"Don't let her go to sleep, Massimo, she still needs to eat." My father, who I had forgotten was still in the room, grunted.

Massimo turned to look at him, then looked at the snoozing Juliana in his arms.

"Surely she'll be fine until morning? She's so tired." Massimo half-whispered, almost afraid that if he spoke much louder he would wake her.

"No, her stats were too low for my liking. She needs to eat something, now. Even if it's just some pretzels and a powerade." Elijah chimed and Massimo grunted, shaking Julianna to wake her.

Julianna was not happy about this, she looked at Massimo, pouted at him, and then put her head back down. I laugh silently, suddenly reminded of when Julianna was younger. Once she was tired, she hated being woken up.

Massimo tried shaking her awake again, and this time she didn't even bother looking at him, just huffed, rolled her head to face the other direction, and tried to carry on sleeping.

"Have you lost your touch my boy?" I ask, smirking at how agitated he was starting to become. The one thing that Elliot and Massimo both had in common was that their anger management was almost non-existent.

"Fine, you want to be a brat, then I don't want you." Massimo huffed, setting Julianna down on her feet. She tried to lean on him in hopes that he would let her go back to sleep, but once she realized he was in fact not going to pick her back up, she whined at him, gave him a small glare that was honestly extremely cute, and then stomped over to me.

She climbed up onto the bed, and without a word wrapped herself around me, putting her head on my shoulder just as she had done to Massimo, and promptly passed the fuck out.

Elijah groaned, playfully banging the clipboard given to him by the crash team against his forehead.

"Alright, alright. No need for that. I think Julianna has head trauma covered. No need to add yourself to that list, thank you." I joke at him, and he glares at me, pointing towards the door.

"Papà ti voglio bene ma giuro su Dio se non la mandi fuori a mangiare qualcosa le rompo qualcosa." He all but yelled, and I chuckled, making sure my grip on Julianna was secure before standing up and heading out the door. (Translation: Papa, I love you but I swear to god if you don't send her out for something to eat I will break something.)

Another thing to note about Elijah, the minute your physical health comes into play, nothing else really matters to him. Sometimes to a fault.

'Oh thank god I don't have to deal with whatever the hell this is.' I think ruefully as I become aware of the fighting that is currently taking place downstairs.

It seems as though everyone has bunked out in the living room for the time being, and they all seem to be in disagreement about what is currently taking place. Not that it's any of their business to be making suggestions or assumptions about what happened, most of them are very wrong.

I hear assumptions of drug use and overdose, which has a lot of voices rebutting, one of which, I am shocked to hear, is Elliot, saying that there is no way that's what it was, and threatening them to keep their mouths shut.

This of course opens up a whole can of worms, people fighting about not threatening their siblings and what-not. I hear Stephanie trying to get everyone to shut up, but I honestly don't think anyone heard her.

I make the executive decision to let Massimo deal with them, while I take Julianna and Elijah to the kitchen for food.

Yeah, good plan. This really seems like a Massimo type job. Not a Stefano job.

When we got into the kitchen I set Julianna down on one of the counters and turned around to see both of my two eldest sons standing in the kitchen with me, accompanied by my younger brother. I turn to look at Massimo and it takes about half a second for realisation to hit him.

His eyes widen slightly and he shakes his head at me.

"No. No, what have I done to deserve that? I don't want to deal with those demons. They're awful." He says and my brother hits him upside the head.

"Those are my demons, you idiot." Massimo narrows his eyes at him, and I hold in a laugh. Massimo has never gotten along with any of Lorenzo's kids. Honestly, none of the family did. They were all practically raised as siblings, minus the fact that they didn't always live together. And by that I mean they fought every chance they fucking got.

Let's just say nobody got away with nothin' when Lorenzo's kids were in town.

"Yeah, they're your kids, so why don't you go deal with them?" Massimo accused him, and he shrugged.

"I'm worried about my niece. Plus, I really think you should listen to your father, and go deal with that." Lorenzo smiled at him and Massimo gave him one of the sassiest looks I think I've just about ever seen on his face.

Lorenzo had this talent for bringing out a side in Massimo that you'll never see otherwise. The two of them had always had an oddly close bond. He was the fun Uncle in Massimo's eyes, and while Massimo respected him night and day, he treated him like he was his brother instead of mine.

Lorenzo didn't mind one bit, instead I would say he actually quite enjoyed it. He had always been the most immature out of all three of us. It was just something he had never grown out of.

"Ok Julianna, cosa ti piacerebbe mangiare?" I ask, forgoing English and skipping straight to italian. I'm not sure why she's only responding to italian, but hell if tonight will be the night I find out why. It's currently 3:40 in the morning and I'm just trying to take my sleepy ass back to bed. Translation: What would you like to eat?

She thinks for a moment before replying, "Fettuccine e formaggio alla griglia." Damn it.

"Well that's a strange combination." Elijah laughs as he starts helping me rummage around the kitchen to make her what she asked. Lorenzo sits with Julianna, keeping her company. Now, I'm not saying that fettuccine and grilled cheese was a combination that I would personally like, however Julianna is willingly asking for food right now. The entire time she's been here she's barely picked at her food, much less asked for some.

We get everything cooked up pretty quickly, and the second the food gets set down in front of Julianna she mutters a quick "grazie" before she starts to devour it.

'I think she likes it.' I can't help but smile, and shake my head. I'm about to take a seat next to Elijah when the door swings open and I see Massimo accompanied by a guilty looking Elliot.

'Has hell finally froze over?' Because the Elliot that I raised doesn't know how to feel guilt.

"Tell him what you did." Massimo grunts, crossing his arms and leaning against the inner wall of the kitchen. He looks pissed, which doesn't bode well for the words that are about to come out of Elliot's mouth.

"I broke Julianna." He suddenly blurts out.

Fucking Hell.









Massimo's POV



To say I was pissed would be an understatement. I mean, the nerve of Elliot.

I'm standing at the wall, trying to keep my hands to myself while Elliot admits that he snuck Julianna out of her room, then sent her tumbling off the bed, only to let her land straight on her head. Not to mention that he's straight up lying to us by trying to convince us that only he was involved.

As if his performance wasn't bad enough, anyone who glanced in Hunter's direction could tell that he was up to some shit this evening.

Some days I wonder how that kid expects to make it in the Mafia. Both of them really. They're such big fucking-

'Calm down Massimo, remember what Maria taught you.' I think, and take a breath in, a breath out, and invision punching the shit out of Elliot's nose.

That helps me a little bit, and I sort of zone out, thinking about what this means. I mean, while Julianna is regressed, it's possibly due to a head injury. So while it's cute, it's scary.

"Okay, Elliot, you did not break her. She fell. That wasn't your fault. Hiding it from us; however, was. And we'll be having a conversation about that later." Dad said, and Elliot nodded quietly.

Honestly, if anything was scaring me about this situation, it was Elliot's reaction to the entire thing. He genuinely seemed scared and sorry about the entire ordeal, something I was unaware he was capable of.

"We're going to need to have her head checked." Uncle Lorenzo commented from where he was sitting next to Julies. He got up, and started looking around her head, probably looking for a goose egg.

Julianna didn't mind, just took a peek up at him before continuing to stuff her face.

"Well, whatever we do, it won't be happening tonight. It's nearing two in the morning." Nonno said as he walked into the room. "She will need to be monitored tonight."

"I'll take her." I speak up, and immediately Elliot's back to fighting me.

"Absolutely not. That's not fair. You got her last time. She's going with me." He demanded and I let out a laugh.

"You're kidding me right?'' This boy is seriously out of his mind. "You're the one who encouraged her to break the rules. You really think you should be the one she stays with?" I snap, and Hunter glares at me.

Before he can say anything, Uncle Lorenzo butts in. \

"How about, neither of you stay with her? Leave it to the adults." Excuse me? Did he just call me a child? I know he didn't.

"Oh please, at least she knows who we are. You're a complete stranger to her." I scuff, and he looks down at Julianna, tapping her on the head.

She looks up from her food, tilting her head up and smiling at him.

"Si?"

"Sai chi sono, tesoro?" He asks and Julianna nods emphatically.

"Zio Lorry." She giggles at the nonsense question while he bends down, smooches her on the cheek, and gives me a raised eyebrow in response.

I roll my eyes at him and Dad chuckles.

Jules ends up being the one to end the argument when she stiffens, mutters that she doesn't feel good, and promptly throws up all over Uncle Lorenzo.

Uncle Stefano's POV

I have to say, seeing my brother's disgusted face when a child throws up on him will never get old. If Lorenzo is anything, he's a sympathy puker. So when Julianna puked, he gagged all the way back to his bedroom.

I, on the other hand, took Julianna back to our room and got her cleaned up, again.

This time I noticed something. Other than the bruising around her ribs, which still looked pretty nasty, she had a very large scar going from her shoulder joint to the top of her ribs. She also had a few thinner ones in various places, but there was another one along her knee that also caught my attention.

"Julianna, che ti ha dato tutte queste cicatrici?" I ask gently, and she stiffens from her position on the bathroom counter. My wife gives me a look out of the corner of her eye from where she is brushing Julianna's hair. (T- Who gave you all these scars?)

"Bad man." She whispers in choppy english.

"Bad man?" I ask and she nods. Stephanie stops brushing Julianna's hair, pulling it back as she starts to braid it in what I had learned was called a "dutch braid".

"Does this 'bad man' have a name?" I ask, and I watch her body language. Her eyes get heavier, her shoulders slump, and she eventually moves to wrap her arms around herself. But she doesn't answer me. I don't get much more luck when I repeat it in Italian either.

"What does this bad man do?" My wife asks her slowly, and Julianna looks up to meet my gaze in the mirror. I can't say how, but I swear she looks slightly older, her eyes holding hidden maturity.

"He deals with you when you're bad." She says. Her voice is less carefree, she barely speaks above a whisper now.

I think for a moment that she may be coming out of the regression, but there's still something about her that doesn't quite seem the same. Like she's stuck in an in-between of her usual self and where she just was.

"How does he deal with you?" I ask, voice strained. I have a feeling I know exactly how he 'deals' with her, but part of me doesn't want to hear her say it.

And she doesn't. She stays silent, instead reaching out and smearing her finger along the mirror, drawing a star. She smiles at it, giggles, and looks at me expectantly.

Her eyes no longer hold that haunted look I saw a few moments ago, her face is relaxed, and she has fully switched back.

It doesn't matter how many times I've witnessed the exact same thing happen to Justin, it's still an intriguing thing to see.

"Molto carina, Julianna." I compliment her drawing with a strained smile, sending a look to my wife who has just finished braiding Julianna's hair.

We continue to share a look at Julianna claps happily, repeating the compliment back to herself. I see the look in Stephanie's eyes and I know we're wondering the same thing.

'What the hell is going on in Julianna's home?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, for any of you still wondering why I switched POV's so much, or if you found this chapter sort of overwhelming, I promise it was purposeful. I was trying to allow you to get the prospective of people you normally don't, but I also wanted to show what it might seen like through the eyes of someone who had no idea what was going on, and was just having all of this thrown at them. Hence, why it was in Stefano's POV for most of the chapter.

ALSO, I got the MRI done yesterday, and it wasn't that bad. I didn't get to watch a movie like last time, but they let me listen to pandora. I also fell asleep, so that was nice.

Do any of ya'll have plans for Halloween? I'm going to a haunted house with my friend today.

I hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter, and that you have a good day! Let me know if you have any suggestions or comments. (No srsly, I would LOVE if y'all PM'd me with ideas)

(I never noticed how much I say "ya'll", before 😂)