España's Princesa

Chapter 6

Later that day Lovi found himself once again alone with Rosa. Toni was still at work, his shift lasting longer due to a staff shortage. Rosa had been watching T.V. since they returned but had become distracted with drawing on paper with some crayons she found. The television abandoned she drew, pausing once in awhile to sit back and make some sort of dissatisfied expression at her current picture before returning to work on fixing whatever she found so unsatisfactory.

Lovi simply sat on the couch reading a book, occasionally looking up to make sure she was still alive and hadn't stuck a fork in an outlet or anything. He hadn't gotten her to eat since the restaurant and that somewhat concerned him. 'When was the last time she ate?' He couldn't remember. 'Did she have breakfast? I don't remember making anything.' He became even more nervous as he recalled her not eating any of her food at the restaurant.

After a few minutes Rosa got up, smiling slightly at her completed masterpiece. She held it close to her, but not too close as to crease it, the image pointed towards her so she could surprise Mama. She stood in front of him a minute to collect herself, suddenly nervous to show him her creation. Once she was somewhat calm she tapped his knee lightly. This worked because he set the book aside and gave her his full attention.

"Si piccolo?"

Taking a small breath she turned the image around to reveal a very colorfully drawn picture. It portrayed Lovi, Toni and Rosa sitting under an apple tree in a field having a picnic. Above Rosa was her own name while Lovi was Mama and Toni was Papa. Written in the sky in bright blue read 'My NEw FAMiLy'.

After giving Lovi a moment or two to look at the image she placed it on his lap, picture facing up, and whispered, "Mi dispiace. (I'm sorry)" And returned to her place on the floor to draw some more.

To say Lovi was conflicted was a complete understatement.

"Piccolo, come here a second." She once again stood and approached Lovi.

He scooped her up and sat her in his lap. "Piccolo, why did you apologize?"

She looked down at her hands in her lap and shifts slightly, as if uncomfortable with this questioning. After a long pause she finally looked up, her lip jutted out slightly, eyes watering as if she was holding back tears.

"Because I made Mama mad at me…"

Lovi was no longer conflicted. No he just felt like a major jerk. Like, how when you just assume this person you never met is going to be a terrible person then end up being one of the sweetest humans of all time and you just feel like a major jackass. That's exactly how Lovi felt. Before Lovi could find the right words to reply with his phone buzzed. Rosa took this opportunity to jump off his lap and went to hide in Toni's room.

Before he put the phone to his ear Lovi muttered a small curse at letting the child escape him. Then he sighed and put his phone to his ear.

"Si?"

"Hey fratello! Are you at home?" It was Feli. He was most likely out of work by now. His shift was shorter than Toni's so he would have gone home long before Toni would have originally, therefore he most likely didn't have to work late.

"No, I'm at the tomato bastard's place sitting his rat." He winced as soon as the words left, hoping Rosa hadn't heard him. She already assumed he hated her guts so if she heard him call her a rat it wouldn't help much.

"Is big brother Toni home?"

"No, they asked him to work late. Why?"

"I was wondering if I could come over and play with Rosa!"

"Sure but you gotta clean up whatever you break, got it!" There was a small, terrified squeak on the other end.

"Si, certo (of course)!"

"Good. See you in a minute."

Lovi got up and just tidied up a bit before Feli arrived. This only took a minute so he decided to check on Rosa.

He knocked on the door. "Piccolo? Are you okay? Zio Feli is coming over so you have to come out now."

The room was pretty quiet and that worried Lovi a bit. He tried to open the door but it was locked from the inside.

"Shit…" He muttered to himself. 'Stay calm. If you freak out she'll freak out and that will be bad.' Lovi squatted low and pressed his ear to the door. "Piccolo, I need you to open the door per favore (please)."

A piece of paper was slid under the door a moment later. 'Non posso, è chiusa (I can't it's locked).' It read in messy handwriting.

"You have to unlock it piccolo." He stated, trying to remain calm and failing when he noticed his voice waver.

Another piece of paper slid under the door. This one read, 'La maniglia della porta è troppo alto (The door knob is too high).'

"Dammit…" He stood. It was true. Lovi was about 5'8" and Rosa was just barely at his hip. The doorknob on Toni's door knob was a bit higher than that, so he understood that she couldn't reach it. 'Why is that bastard's doorknob so high up dammit?' Lovi quickly banished the idea of texting Toni asking if he had a key or something to the door. The guy was a moron but he'd catch on rather quickly. That guy was always suddenly smart when Lovi had something to keep from him. Then Lovi got an idea.

"Hold on a sec piccolo, Mama has an idea. I'm gonna get you out I promise." He ran to the office room Toni used to study before she could reply with a note and started searching for a safety pin or paper clip.

It took him a good minute or two but he finally found a paper clip. He ran back to the bedroom door so quick he almost slipped on the hardwood. He knelt and quickly got to work at picking the lock, his hands trembling slightly from the slight panic he felt. What would he do if he couldn't pick the lock? She would be so scared. So alone and afraid because she was trapped.

Lovi knew what that was like. he knew exactly how she would feel. Especially now that he had promised salvation. What would she feel once she realized that was a lie? Lovi couldn't help but wince as he imagined just the face she would make. He knew that face so well because he had made it so many times that it was as familiar to him as the sky.

Lovi's thoughts were interrupted by a resounding 'click' that seemed to echo in his brain. He heard the door creak open and felt a pair of long slender arms wrap around him before his mind caught up with him. He had done it. he had kept his promise. Once his mind fully caught up with him he wrapped his own arms around the girl, completely enveloping her small frame.

She buried her face in his his shirt. Her body wracking with sob after sob. Lovi sat back, his back leaning against the wall behind him. His body exhausted as the adrenaline wore off and he suddenly felt tired. He held her close to him as she sobbed, her body still trembling with fear. They lay there, slumped against each other, Lovi rubbing soothing circles in Rosa's back to calm her and whispering comforting things while she muttered inaudible sentences between sobs.

After a while the sobbing stops and Rosa just lays there, both physically and emotionally exhausted, taking in shaky breath after shaky breath.

"N-Non mi p-piace st-stare da s-solo. È-È sp-spaventoso (I d-don't l-like b-being a-alone. I-It's sc-scary)." She confessed between shaky breaths.

Lovi stared at her with an expression mixed with surprise and sympathy. He knew exactly how the girl felt. It was never fun to be alone but he didn't even want to entertain the idea of how she got this fear. Just as he was about to ask, however, Feli showed up.

"Fratello~! I'm here~!" Lovi got up with a sigh, still holding the scared girl.

"Come on in, idiota. It's unlocked." At his words his brother opened the door.

"I'm so glad your home fratello! I saw something and I really needed to tell you! It seemed really important!"

"Well? You gonna stand there like an idiota or are you gonna tell me?" Lovi asked, feeling a bit annoyed with his brother's antics already.

There was a short pause. "I, uh, forgot."

Lovino never wanted to hit his brother so bad in his life.

"Then why are you here?"

"I still wanted to come see you fratello! It's been so long since we hung out and I miss you!" The large puppy dog eyes that Feliciano gave him were enough to make him change his mind.

Lovi may be cold to his brother but he did love his little brother. No matter how big of a moron he was.

"And I really wanna play with la piccolo! Do you want to play with me~?" He asked Rosa with a big happy grin.

She nodded and smiled back, the only evidence of her ever being upset were slightly red eyes.

"Is she getting sick? Her eyes are all red and puffy."

"Oh she, uh, just woke up from a nap."

Feli paused as if he didn't really believe Lovi, but he slowly broke into a grin and snatched the girl from Lovi. Lovi felt panicked at first, his arms feeling unnaturally empty, but managed to reign in his emotions before Feli caught on. Rosa wasn't enjoying the sudden feeling of being airborne either. She liked it better in Mama's arms. They were warm and comforting and without them she just felt cold and sad. She squirmed and Lovi thought she'd start crying again but she mostly looked frustrated. Her cheeks puffed out, brows furrowed to the point they may touch, and her nose crinkled.

"Fratello, she looks like you when she makes this face!" Feli chuckled. "Don't make such a face, piccolo. Zio won't hurt you~!"

Rosa stared at Feli for a long time before calming down and allowing him to hold her. He seemed a bit ditzy but he was telling the truth when he said he wouldn't hurt her. The more Rosa relaxed the more strung-up Lovi felt. He didn't like the emptiness in his arms and how the lack of pressure on his shoulder made his chest ache. He didn't like it and had no clue why something so simple that wouldn't usually bother him was getting him so worked up.

Feli stayed awhile and after the first half hour Rosa had warmed up to him. Lovi, however, didn't get over his storm of emotions until Toni came home. And, somewhere along the visit, Feli started acting a bit weird. He was still smiling and chatting a mile a minute but whenever Rosa came up he'd go quiet and just smile and nod at her. Rosa noticed this too. She didn't know if she'd done something wrong but she hoped the picture she was drawing for Zio would make up for whatever she did. While she worked on her picture there was a noise at the door.

"Papà!" She 'shouted' as Toni walked in, before standing and bolting towards him. "Papà!" She shouted once more, holding out her arms in a silent demand to be held.

Toni happily obliged, easily hefting the girl up and into his arms. "Hola niñita, did you have fun with Mamá?" Rosa nodded.

"Zitto, deficiente." Lovi growled as we approached his lover.

Toni leant down a bit to kiss Lovi on the cheek. "Hola, mi querido." Lovi blushed.

"Ciao big brother Toni!" Feli cheered happily as he popped out from behind Lovi, surprising Toni a bit.

"Hola Feli. What are you doing here?" It wasn't very often that Feli showed up without telling Toni first.

"Actually, I had something I wanted to talk to you two about."

No one liked the suddenly serious tone in Feli's voice, especially Rosa. It felt like her stomach had dropped to her feet. Her face felt warm but her hands were cold.

What was going to happen now?

Sorry all for the long update. I recently moved and it's been…. Tough, to say the least. I've moved halfway across the country and my friends have never felt so far away. So I do apologize for the late update, I was also suffering from writer's block so that was also fun. Not. So, here it is and I hope to start updating sooner once more!

Please like and comment for quicker updates!