"Thank you," I murmured to my brother as he handed me a can of soda, and his wife a glass of ice water. Mary adjusted her glasses, her small delicate hand resting on her large protruding belly. Mary echoed my thank you, and rested some against her husband as he stood behind her.

"I can take you home. We don't have to be here," Gray muttered again, and Mary shook her head, her long wavy ebony hair shaking behind her.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired. I'll be ok until we return home," she reassured him, giving a somewhat exasperated sigh. "I swear Gray, after three of them I would think you would be used to it."

"You've never had false pains before either," he muttered back, his large hand rubbing his temple.

"How long are they lasting?" I asked curiously, watching my brother's wife pat her belly.

"Oh, they last a few days, then quit, and then when they start up again I think it's the real thing. The OBGYN said to just come in if and when my water breaks," she explained, smiling at me and turning to look at my older brother when he snorted.

"If you ask me the prick ought to just put you in the hospital till the baby comes."

"But my due date isn't for another three weeks," Mary protested, scowling up at her husband. I shook my head, feeling free wisps of my hair brush my ears.

"Ladies and Gentlemen the happy couple has arrived!" the announcer informed us, and I turned to the door of the party room, smiling at my cousin. I gasped, but not because of the stunning couple that was beginning to great Chelsea's immediate family, but rather because of the slightly taller man standing behind them.

"Ah, Buon giorno, la bella signor."I flushed at the cook's words, fingers brushing my bangs out of my face as I stared up into his sparkling brown eyes.

"Kai," I began, but stopped when he placed a plate of food in front of me.

"I went ahead and made your usual, mio bella signor."

"Flatteries will do you little good with me, Senior Viento," I murmured, though I couldn't help but to grin at him.

"So you keep telling me mio signor, and yet the blush on your face says something entirely different."

"I want to thank everyone for coming. My fiancé and I are happy to see you all." Denny announced, and his accent brought me out of my flashback, and I couldn't help but to smile. I looked over the man, noting how he had changed. His face looked bored, and I could tell that there were bags under his eyes.

He didn't much resemble the carefree man I had known years ago. He instead seemed stressed, tired…

Unhappy. I frowned at the thought, though I was quick to snap my head in my brother's direction as he spoke.

"Check out that guy behind them. Damn he looks familiar," Gray said thoughtfully, and I felt my face blushing at my brothers words.

"He ought to," I muttered quietly, turning my head to the side and seeing Mary looking at me curiously. "He's Kal's father."

"What?" Gray snapped, his eyes on mine for a moment before he went to step towards the door way.

"Gray," Mary said sternly, stepping in front of him and gripping his arms tightly. "No. This isn't the place."

"But that's him- the guy that knocked up my sister and sent her home without anything."

"Technically I left him," I reminded my brother, and I watched as he calmed some, that ever present fact being a constant aspect of my life that I had to inform him of. "He doesn't know anything Gray."

"And Claire should be the one to tell him," Mary added hastily, frowning as she glanced down at her swollen belly. "Oh dear…Gray. The pains are back."

"I'll take you home," he muttered darkly, his hands resting on her shoulders tightly. "I think its best for you, and that guy," he muttered, jerking his head over towards Kai, whom was standing behind the couple who had the majority of the party's attention on them. "Come on Mares, I'll take you to the car," he said more gently, his left hand moving down to rub soothingly over her large belly. "I'll come back in for the kids- all the kids," he added, his narrowed eyes landing on me. "That way you two can have a grown up talk about it."

"That would most likely be best," I said quietly, trying my best to keep from smiling at my brother's erratic behavior. He was too over protective of the women in his life. But I suppose it was normal for him to want to keep us save.

I watched as the couple walked slowly towards the exit hallway, Gray's whispered words about picking his wife up blown off by a rather angry hiss that 'I'm entirely too heavy for that. You'll throw out your back.' I stiffened a giggle and glanced back towards the Italian man that had haunted my dreams for the last five years.

Only he was just a few feet in front of me.

And the fact that he was so close had me taking in a sharp breath. Whether he heard it or not, I wasn't sure, but he did turn his head in my direction. And his brown eyes widened, flickering over my form as he tried to take me in. I could see by the look on his face that he wasn't sure if he knew me or if I just looked very familiar.

"And this is my cousin Claire. She'll be my maid of honor," Chelsea said, her small hand patting my shoulder. "Claire this is Denny's brother…"

"Kai," I said quietly, a light flush crossing my cheeks as I glanced to my cousin. Her face was a little surprised, and she looked between the two of us.

"Y-yes. Kai…" she trailed off, her eyes widening some as she nodded her head. "Right..." she trailed off, her eyes immediately darting around. They landed on our great Aunt Muffy, and she took off in her direction, calling out to the deaf woman.

"Mio signor," he murmured thoughtfully, his lips pulling into a small smile. "So fate has thrown us together again," he said quietly, his hands pushing into his coat pockets.

"Something like that," I whispered, nervously smoothing my khaki skirt. I suddenly wished I had gone home earlier and changed into something more flattering. But..

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" he asked, looking around the room and gesturing his head towards the wall. It was less crowded over there, and I walked silently to the area.

"It's been over five years," I said gently, my left hand coming up to hold the upper part of my right arm. I smiled up at the man, my eyes shutting tightly. "How have you been?"

"Ah, busy," he responded, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know you didn't know…but…my family owns a very popular chain of restaurants in Europe."

"That explains a lot, doesn't it?" I laughed, my nerves growing with each passing second. I knew what was coming. Especially with the growing pause between us.

"Why…did you leave?" he finally asked, and I bit my bottom lip. I often asked myself that myself.

"I…it was time to go. And I was young…and somewhat impulsive," I offered, twirling a stray strand of hair around my finger. "I some what panicked I suppose."

"So you left in the dawn, without so much as a word?" he muttered a little bitterly, and I frowned, my eyes narrowing.

"I did try to contact you several weeks later," I dead panned, and though I could tell by his face he was genuinely shocked, I kept my angry look. "I called the number I had, and it was no longer good. I called the restaurant. And before that…" I felt my heart ache at the confession I was about to make. Before I knew I was pregnant… "I wrote you too. To explain to you that I was an idiot…"

It had been after I had called because of my pregnancy before I was returned those letters.

"I had a family emergency back then," Kai stated, his dark eyes darting over to his brother. "Denny had needed me, but I know I had left contact information with Katie."

I glared up at the man, shaking my head at the stupidity he held at such situations.

"And you thought the woman that hated me, would give me the information to contact you if I asked?" I muttered angrily, wondering exactly why I hadn't gotten off my high horse and returned to Italy to find the father of my child.

But I knew- I had thought he had left on purpose.

And I couldn't blame him for doing the same thing I had.

"Katie didn't hate you," he said, his expression confused.

"She wanted to be with you. I was an obstacle," I explained, shaking my head. "I'm sorry Kai. This…this makes things so much more difficult to explain…"

Kai stepped closer to me, stooping down to look me in the eyes. I felt my face burn at his intense searching gaze.

"How many times did you try?" he prodded, and I looked down, mumbling under my breath. "How many Claire?"

"I tried several times about two weeks after I left. I wrote the letters my third week, figuring they would get to you and you would call. Then…I tried contacting you at the restaurant three more weeks later, after my letter came back unopened."

"You could have come back," he said quietly, his fingertips brushing my cheek affectionately.

"What could I have said to you, to make it any better?" I said quietly, my eyes meeting his. "I still don't know what I can say to you to make it any better. What I did, was horrible. And…then… it's just unforgivable, what I've done," I whispered, stepping closer to Kai as I bit my bottom lip rougher. "There is no apology great enough for what I've done."

"Mama!"

I jerked away from the man at the sound of my son's voice, hysterical sounding. I heard him running, as well as several others, into the room, wondering how they had escaped the room for them to stay in. I bent down instinctively, my arms wrapping tightly around him as he clung to me.

"Sabrina pushed me down and I hurt my chin," he whined, and I found myself hugging him tighter, burying my face in his shoulder as my own eyes swelled with tears. I stood up, hand crushing over the soft curls on my sons head, and I could see the wide eyes disbelieving state of the man standing next to me.

"It's alright," I murmured, tilting his face back and kissing his slightly hurt chin. It was nothing more than a bruise and rug burn. I kissed the owie, before hugging him tighter to me, doing my best to not look at the man whose intense gaze I could feel on me. "It's alright."

"Mama," Kal whispered, his small hands pushing back from me. I looked at his calm face, noting how he had the same intense stare as his father, something I hadn't realized before. His small hands cupped my cheeks, tiny fingers brushing under my eyes. "Mama are you okay? You're crying," he asked, his usually smiling face frowning at me. He turned his head to the side, one of his ringlets falling into his face. He blew it back before leaning forward and kissing me. "Don't cry mama, it's alright. I'm not hurt that bad."

I let out a broken laugh as the child hugged me, gripping him so tightly that I thought he might think I was hurting him. But the child remained silent, as did his father, who simply seemed to be in a state of shock.

"Kai, this is my son, Kalvin," I said quietly, looking back to my son as he stared at the man in front of him. "Kal, this is Mr. Kai," I said hesitantly, not sure if telling him that this was his father was the best choice. Kal wiggled some, and I placed him down. He held out his small hand, a serious look on his face.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kai," he said sternly, and had it been any other person standing in front of my son I might have rolled my eyes at the way Gray had been teaching him to introduce himself. Kai hesitated before he bent down, his large hand touching that of the much smaller one and encasing it. His eyes flickered to me before focusing more on the boy. I brought my hand up to my face, fisting it over my mouth in an attempt to remain calm and keep any unnecessary sounds from escaping.

Nice to meet you, mio figlio," Kai's eyes flickered up to mine and I found myself nodding at his words. After all- Kal was very much his son. Kai nodded, his attention turning back to the child. "What is your name again," he asked, and I bit my lip at what he was doing.

Though I understood, it was really not necessary in this place.

"Kalvin Dante Viento-Rivers," he said proudly, jabbing his thumb in my chest. "I like Kal though. I'm four years old, and will be five on my birthday."

"That is a nice name," Kai commented weakly, his gaze flickering to mine once more. Though he kept that smile on his face, his burning eyes alerted me that he was feeling far from happy on the inside.

And that anger was directed at me.

So this chapter was hard to do. I wasn't sure what the appropraite reaction would be, but I am semi happy with this. Kai's POV will be next- I hope it doesn't take me as long to write as it did this bit. Thanks to all who reviewed alerted or faved this.