{Chapter Ten: Matthew's POV}

I sighed as the warm water finished filling up the bathtub. "I can't handle complicated?!" I exclaimed remembering my earlier conversation with Gilbert. "I cannot believe I was so stupid. No wonder Carlos decided to go and have sex with someone else! Not that we really had sex in the first place…oh shut up Matthew. This is not the time to indulge in self pity." I instantly got of the tub, got dressed, and drove to Gilbert's house.

I double checked the address when I pulled up. The house was cute and made out of beautiful stone, but it seemed rather large for a man living alone. Nevertheless I ventured up his walkway and knocked on the door. All doubts flew out of my mind when he opened the door and-holy mother of maple did he look amazing in that t-shirt.

"Surprise!" I muttered. Gilbert seemed shocked but more worried, which surprised me.

"Yeah it is," he replied.

I sighed when I heard noises coming from inside. "You're not alone, are you?"

"No I'm not actually."

"I'm sorry, Gil. I should've called or-"

The front door was opened wider and a little girl stepped into view. She looked around six with brown hair and had Gilbert's eyes. Suddenly another little girl stepped into view on Gilbert's other side. She looked about four and had blond hair and green eyes. She tugged on Gilbert's pant leg and he lifted her up into his arms. "Vati, who is this?" she whispered.

Vati, wait that means "Daddy?" I asked in shock.

Gilbert gulped and nodded. "I am 'Vati' or 'Daddy'. Girls, this is Matthew." He gestured to the brown hair little girl standing next to him. "Matthew this is Alisa and this," he smiled at the little blond haired girl in his arms, "is Lili."

I nodded. "Alisa and Lili." Oh. It was his daughters that called him. I smiled at the two. "Hello."

Alisa smiled back at me. "Hello, how do you do?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm doing well, thank you. And you?"

"I'm doing well too, thank you. Would you like to come in?"

I looked back up at Gilbert. "Only if it's okay with your farther."

Lili seemed to like that response and poked Gilbert's cheek. "Please Vati, I like him," she pleaded. Gilbert laughed and he and the girls let me in. "Vati, can we still have hot chocolate?"

"Yes," Gilbert replied amused.

"With baby marshmallows?" Alisa added.

"Yes with baby marshmallows," he assured them and then turned to me. "Matthew, are you by any chance into hot chocolate?"

I smiled at him and both girls and nodded. "In fact, I am totally into hot chocolate."

As we all sat at their kitchen table and drank hot chocolate with 'five marshmallows each' Gilbert assured all of us, I was able to quickly tell that Alisa and Lily both looked up to their father and he took care of them well. The house was kept well enough for a home with two little girls; I could smell a delicious aroma still in the air probably from dinner. Gilbert would even put a napkin on his face with his glasses and the girls would call him Mr. Napkin-Head! Lili was quick to adorably tell me that they were as close as the three musketeers.

"Vati, can we show Matthew our tent?" Alisa asked Gilbert when we finished our hot chocolate.

"Oh no Lili, Matthew will not crawl into your tent," he replied.

Lili looked at me with the saddest eyes I've ever seen. "You don't like tents?"

Naturally I did go see their tent. "Whoa," I whispered when I first saw it. "This is a seriously cool tent."

"Come inside," Lili said as she and Alisa quickly ran over and laid down. "Lie down please."

Alisa offered me a pillow. "Here Matthew, you can use my pillow."

I gingerly took the pillow and laid down next to Lili. "Thank you, Alisa." As Gilbert laid down next to me and Alisa next to him, I heard him tell her good job for offering me the pillow. Lili suddenly burped and we all burst into laughter.

"Very nice," Gilbert teased her.

I nudged him with my elbow. "I bet she learnt that from you, eh?" Gilbert just rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me," Lili said in amusement.

"This is an exceptionally great tent," I told Alisa and Lili.

"It's cozy," Alisa said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Who cut out all these beautiful stars?"

"We did!" Lili quickly answered. Gilbert glanced at me and subtly rubbed his thumb against my hand, so I sent him a quick smile.

"Matthew, if you wanted to sleepover that would be alright," Alisa told me. "We could push our beds together for you and Lili and I could sleep on the couch in front of the Christmas tree."

I tried not to show her how shocked I was at her offer. "Oh, well thank you Alisa but I don't think I can tonight. Would another night be okay?"

"That would be nice," she said not sounding very disappointed. "You know, we never have any grown up friends here anymore."

"I like it," Lili replied as she snuggled up to my red sweatshirt.

"Me too," Alisa agreed.

I waited patiently downstairs as Gilbert put the girls to bed.

"No one has ever been a bigger hit with my girls," Gilbert stated as he sat down next to me on the couch. He stopped smiling when he took a look at my serious face. "What's wrong?"

"You're children are wonderful, Gilbert. I'm just trying to figure out why you never told me about them or about their mother," I explained.

Gilbert sighed. "It's kind of difficult to explain to someone that I'm a widower without getting pity, and I don't normally tell people I 'date' about them." He must've noticed me say widower in shock to myself because he continued on that topic. "Her name was Elizabeta. I see a lot of her in Lili, a real ball buster. She passed away two years ago, and although the girls were young it still hit them hard. I guess I just didn't want to introduce them to someone they most likely won't ever see again. That really is my only defense because until I get to know someone really well, it's easier pretending to be a normal, single guy and too complicated to be who I really am. I'm a full time dad, I'm a mother and a father, and I'm Mr. Napkin-head! I'm a guy who reads parenting books and cook books before I go to bed. I spend my weekends buying tutus, I'm learning to sew! I'm on some type of mental overload and it helps to compartmentalize my crazy life."

I sighed and put my head in my hands. "Me coming here just put this way past complicated, I'm sorry." Gilbert reached his hand to take mind but instead I stood up. "You're right, I'm leaving in nine days and it was wrong of me to introduce myself when they probably won't see me again. I'm really sorry, Gil."

"Matthew, listen to me. I'm not sorry. I'm glad the girls met you because like they said, they don't get to see adults around here anymore. I didn't mean to blow up at you with all that information, I was just trying to explain how maybe…maybe I'm just afraid of what another person might do to who we are and how we get from one day to the next."

"Right, right, because I'm just someone you had sex with once and slept with twice."

"I thought I was just someone you had sex with once and slept with twice." Gilbert sighed. "We're just world apart. I'm a journalist from London and you're a gorgeous hockey player from L.A. I have a cow in the backyard."

I laughed. "You have a cow."

"I have a cow, and I sew. How's that for hard to relate to?"

I nodded. "Pretty far up there."

"Exactly."

And then we just stood there, nodding at each other but avoiding eye contact, digging ourselves even deeper into this complicated mess.

A/N: Okay, I have to admit that I may have done some more writing last night after I signed off. And by some I mean I couldn't sleep so now I only have two chapters left to write for this fanfiction...Heh...

Oh and is anyone surprised that I mentioned who Alisa and Lili's mother is? Did I give anyone feels? I must admit I don't ship PruHun. In fact, I ship PruAus more than PruHun and I only really go along with PruAus because of the fanfiction Lily of the Lamplight by George deVailer. So much feels. Anyway, Alisa is an OC and Lili is yes, Liechtenstein. I thought it would be cute to add her because she's adorable and could totally work as Gil's daughter. Anywho, better go edit the next chapters so I can get them posted!

Ciao, Athineath~