A/N: So two things, First I had a reader point out to me that Scotland has free subsidized health care, and she was correct. So I apologize to you guys. I try to research all aspects of a chapter before I post them and I seem to have forgotten that one. I'm from the United States and as most of you know health care is not free here so again I apologize to you guys for the misstep. Won't happen again.

Second there won't be a lot of character development on Michael, Jessica and Lauren because they aren't a focal point of this story, though if enough people are interested I wouldn't be opposed to writing an outtake for them, but as of right now I'll leave you with this.

Lauren is around fourteen and an orphan.

Michael is about thirty-four, a well-known doctor and has never been married.

Little Jessica is about four or five. Any more questions just leave a review and ask me.

Uprising

"Desperation can make a person do surprising things."

― Veronica Roth

"Girl?"

"Yes. A perfect little princess."

"You're perfect little bean."

X

"Let me sleep sweetheart, please let mama sleep."

She only continued to cry.

We'd been up for hours.

When she'd woken up for her midnight feeding, everything had been okay. But as I put her over my shoulder to be burped she'd started to cry and hadn't stopped since. I didn't understand what I was doing wrong.

I'd sang to her, rocked her, walked back and forth across the room, gave her a pacifier.

Nothing had worked.

She still cried.

I grabbed her baby blanket, a gift from Michael, swaddled her in it, brought her close to my chest and began to talk to her.

"You know I felt like this once," I said, over her crying.

"It was when I got into an argument with your daddy. He's a stubborn man. Impenetrable no matter how hard you try. He made me so frustrated so angry that I cried as hard as you are now."

I paused looking at her as her cries settled to low groans and blubbers.

"You look just like him you know. The shiny black hair. Though yours is a little short than his. The dark brown eyes. The skin," the words got stuck in my throat as I coughed over the tears.

"I'm so sorry little bean."

I grazed my finger softly over her eyelids that had closed during my story.

"It seems that talking about daddy soothes you huh? Little traitor."

X

"Bella I need two plates of eggs, bacon, toast and beans please!"

"Coming Shelly."

We were swapped today with a full house. Not an empty bedroom left so breakfast was a little crazy.

"Here Shelly orders number three and four."

"Thanks sweetheart. You okay?"

I wasn't. I'd been feeling a little dizzy since I'd stepped into the steamy kitchen this morning.

"No can I have fifteen minutes? I'm not feeling so well."

She eyed me a little taking in the sweaty forehead and gray coloring to my skin before nodding her head.

"Yeah go sit in the front. Get some air. I'll bring a plate out."

"Thanks Shelly." I said walking towards the sitting room where the guests were and sitting down at a table.

I took off my apron fanning my neck with it as I tried to take deep breaths and fight down the nausea.

The bell over the front door rang signaling another customer and I stood up knowing they would need help again in the kitchen with another meal to make.

"Hello Miss, I'm looking for Isabella Swan."

I froze.

I knew that voice.

The deep timbre.

The accent.

Why?

Why was he here?

"Isabella? Oh you mean Miss. Bella? I think she's back in the kitchen Sir."

Lauren.

The sweet little thing.

I was gonna' kill her when I got the chance.

I sidestepped to the right narrowly avoiding Shelly who came out of the kitchen with a plate in her hand.

"Here you go dearie. We'll get some food into you and hopefully you'll feel a little better."

"No Shelly it's fine. I'm just going to go lay upstairs in my bed for a bit."

And make a hasty quick exit in the process, but she didn't need to know that.

"Oh nonsense eat and you'll be alright."

"No Shelly really, all I need is some rest and I'll be okay-,"

"Bella. Sit," she said none too quietly and before I could shush her I heard him over my shoulder.

"Isabella."

I turned around to face him, Shelly forgotten behind me.

"Caius."

X

"What are you doing here Caius? How did you find me?"

He said nothing. Instead he pulled out a handful of string bound envelopes from the inside breast pocket of his jacket, that I instantly recognized as my own.

"I think it's my turn to speak now, don't you Isabella?" he asked though like Aro he had a specific tone of voice that told you, you really didn't have a choice.

I nodded my head, closing in on myself, preparing to listen.

"Athenodora as perfect as she is, has always had trouble keeping secrets. Though trouble not being the right word exactly because she never keeps things from me. Voluntarily anyway," he said, leaning his elbows onto the table the envelopes resting between us.

"So I ignored it when one hundred thousand euros went missing from her emergency fund. I ignored it when she suddenly began asking to check the mail alone believing she'd tell me everything anyway. I ignored the fact that every time I'd go over to Aro's she'd conveniently find something else to do. But what I couldn't ignore was the sonogram picture hidden in her t-shirt drawer."

He stopped speaking for a moment and pulled said picture from the last envelope flipped it over and slid it across the table.

"With a due date written on the back," he finished staring at me.

"I found it two weeks ago."

I knew what he was asking.

Today was May twelfth.

He'd found the picture a week before Alieciá was born.

He was asking me whether or not the assumption he'd come to was right or wrong.

But I couldn't answer either way.

"What do expect me to say Caius?"

"I expect you to give me the truth."

He paused, expecting me to say something, anything, but when I didn't he began again.

"Did you or did you not give birth to my brother's child last week?" he asked presumably tired of pussyfooting around.

"I-," but before I could continue Shelly walked down the stairs with Alieciá in her arms.

"The little lass is hungry Bella. She woke up in a tizzy, I tried to rock her back to sleep but she started sucking on my hand."

"Here," she said handing the little bean over to me.

"It's fine Shelly, thank you," I said softly keeping my eyes on my daughter and away from Caius as I opened the top few buttons of my top and latched her onto my breast.

When Shelly walked away Caius spoke up again.

"I see that answers my question."

"I'm sorry okay. I didn't want my business with Aro to come between you and Dora. I never meant for that to happen."

He waved off my apology as his eyes stayed on Alieciá.

"Did you know you were pregnant before you left?"

I said nothing, sure that it was none of his business.

"Isabella."

His voice reminded me of Aro's. He sounded the same way when I refused to do as he asked.

"Yes."

"Yes what," he asked.

"Yes, I knew."

"And you still left? Surely you thought about the fact that you were depriving your child of a father before your selfish getaway."

My head snapped up at him.

"You will not sit there and judge me. I made the best decision for me and my daughter."

"Your daughter?" he scoffed crossing his arms over his chest.

"Conveniently leaving out the other half of the equation aren't you? What about Aro?"

"What about him?" I hissed out.

"He should know Isabella. He should know that he fathered a child."

"You don't get to decide that."

"Well you are not making the best decisions. How can you possibly take care of a child acting like this?"

"That's enough!"

I stood up from the table jostling Alieciá who was still attached to my breast.

"If you came here to ridicule my choices and condemn my parenting you've done a fine job. You can leave now."

He took a deep breath, tucking his shiny blonde hair behind his ears before standing up next to me.

"I didn't mean to offend you Isabella. I… I came to ask for your help. Please sit back down."

He held his hand out and guided me back to my chair.

I sat down and shifted Lieciá over my shoulders to burp her while Caius watched, enraptured.

"What is her name?"

"Alieciá."

"It's beautiful. Strong with obvious Italian lineage," he said nodding his head.

I nodded at him my eyes firmly on my little girl.

"I wanted her to have as many roots to Italy as I could give her without actually being there."

He didn't say anything. He just kept starting as I burped my little girl then rocked her softly in my arms.

"You said you needed my help."

He nodded preparing to explain himself when Michael walked over interrupting him.

"Hey, everything okay here Bella?"

"Yeah I'm fine Mikey everything's okay."

He walked closer putting his hand on my shoulder, a possessive move that I didn't appreciate.

"Chi é?" Caius asked me eyeing Michael's hand on my shoulder and purposefully using Italian so Michael wouldn't understand.

"Solo un amico," I replied trying to subtly shrug Michael's hand off of my shoulder.

"Si, sembra molto cordiale."

"Wait what's going on here? You speak Spanish Bella?"

"Italiano friend Michael, she speaks Italiano. Now if you will excuse us Isabella and I are still catching up."

Michael stood there a little longer his grip firm on my shoulder before he looked down at me.

"You okay with that Bella."

I shrugged him off, annoyed with his overprotective showdown.

"I'm fine Michael go back to the kitchen."

He gave a final squeeze to my shoulder before he walked slowly back to the kitchen perching the window between the two open so he could still see us.

"He is very protective of you," Caius noted, the obvious question in his voice.

"He was my doctor during the pregnancy."

His eyes lingered on Michael a little longer before once again launching the table into silence.

He took a deep breath before he spoke again.

"I came here because of Aro Isabella he's… he's not well."

"What do you mean he's not well?" I asked him my heart dropping to my stomach.

"I mean that he hasn't left his house since you disappeared. He won't come to work and he barely eats. The only thing I have seen him consume this past year is vodka, and in astounding quantities. I don't remember the last time he was sober."

I didn't know what to say.

I hadn't expected my leaving would have affected him this much.

"I… I don't understand...he made me leave… why would…?" I couldn't finish.

"He thought he'd be able to find you Isabella. But you disappeared faster than expected. He had no way of knowing where'd you'd gone. He had no control over when you were coming back. If you came back… and he broke. Quite literally."

I listened to Caius taking in what he had to say, but I was still confused on one aspect.

"I get that Caius; he's hurt but what do you expect me to do? Ride in like a white knight and save him? He hurt me, damn near destroyed me, you can't expect-,"

He cut me off.

"He almost killed himself Isabella."

An involuntary gasp left my mouth with that statement.

Surely I had misheard him.

"Kill…killed himself?" I asked stumbling over the words.

He nodded wearily the pain easy to see in his eyes.

"I'd been at the office non-stop talking to our shareholders. I hadn't checked on him in weeks. Though I should've suspected. His tremors came back.

"His tremors?" I asked him confused.

Caius nodded, the distress in his face causing the pain in my chest to pulsate.

"The ones from before."

Before?

The ones from before?

Oh.

The ones he'd told me came from his compulsive anger.

"He told me they came from an anger problem," I told Caius.

He looked at me funny his eyebrows scrunched up on his forehead.

"They're not from an anger problem Isabella. They're from a drinking problem," Caius said bitterly, spitting the words out of his mouth.

"I walked into his bedroom that day and he was passed out across the floor. There were bottles everywhere. The doctors said he'd chocked on his own vomit, had he been unconscious much longer he would've died."

I couldn't hold it.

I gasped out as Caius' admission caught me off guard.

I loved Aro.

With every part of me, and though he broke me, broke us, something in me clenched at the idea of him not being alive.

Of him laying on a floor passed out drunk choking with no one around to help him.

Someone should have been there.

"Where was Genevera?" I asked, ready to blame someone, anyone.

"She left weeks before this happened. She couldn't take seeing him like that. He's broken Isabella. He needs someone. He needs you."

"I don't know how I could help." I whimpered out holding my little girl closer to my chest.

Caius' eyes strayed meaningfully to the little girl in my arms before coming back to look at me.

"I think having you and that little one in his life will be all of the help he needs."

I didn't know what to say.

I couldn't bring my daughter back into that relationship.

Though I loved Aro, if Caius was right, he was a mess now.

I couldn't bring my daughter into that.

"It was not my intention to come here and burden you with my problems but I fear what will happen if he continues on this path."

"It's just… we did not end well. I'm not sure how he'd react to me."

Caius leaned across the table grasping my right hand and holding it in between his, my left still clutching Alieciá to my chest.

"I do not know what transpired between you and my brother that night but I do know that despite what he may have said he loves you and would be nothing but extraordinarily happy if you walked back into his life."

I tugged my hand away from him roughly, tired of hearing this form everyone but Aro.

"Look Caius-."

He raised his hand in the hair silencing me.

"No I understand, I do, but I know what I've seen these past months. That man needs you."

Caius stood up and gathered the envelopes together, tucking them back into his breast pocket.

"I cannot make you do anything you do not wish to Isabella, and though I sincerely hope you will return with me to Italy it is ultimately your choice. I leave the day after tomorrow. I'm staying at the Balmoral in Edinburgh. You can meet me there tomorrow night if you wish to come back with me."

He grabbed my right hand and squeezed it softly once more.

"I wish you and my niece nothing but the best Isabella," and he walked from the room heading outside to his park car.

What was I supposed to do?

What could I do?

I looked down at my little girl who'd fallen asleep against my chest.

"What should I do little bean?"

I didn't expect her to answer but I need something.

A sign. A clue. Divine intervention.

Anything that would help me come to a decision, but I knew the only person who could help me was me.

X

It was late when the kitchen had finally calmed down. The guests had turned in for the night and it was just me and Michael left, cleaning up the kitchen.

"Hey Bella?"

"Hmm?"

"You okay?"

I'd been lost in my head ever since Caius' surprise visit, trying to come to a decision. Trying to make up my mind.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"That guy earlier… is he…is he…?" he cleared his throat awkwardly not finishing his sentence, but I knew what he was asking.

"Is he Alieciá's father?"

He nodded concentrating on scrubbing the counter, his eyes steadily avoiding mine.

"No. No he's not," I said softly.

"Who is he?"

"He's Aro's brother," I told him, leaning against the counter.

"His wife was a very good friend of mine."

"This Aro guy. You know I looked him up. Bella he's… he's one of the richest men in Europe. I mean… he owns half of Tuscany and damn near all of Venice. We wouldn't be able to stop him if he came here and tried to take Alieciá away from us."

"He wouldn't do that Mickey," I told him though the way he'd said 'we' left a bad taste in my mouth.

There was no we.

"Of course he would! Men like that are vicious. You put his name on the birth certificate. He has legal rights."

"What's your point Michael?"

He stepped closer to me grabbing my left hand in between his, clasping our fingers together.

"I mean… I've been here for the both of you. Supported you, and Jessica adores you and I'm sure she'd love being a big sister."

My mouth dropped open a little.

I was confused.

I'd never given him an indication that I'd viewed him as more than just a friend.

"Michael… I think you've misunderstood."

"No Bella let me finish. We could be a family. You me and the kids. I'll buy you any house you want. I know I don't have as much as him but I could make you happy. You could give Alieciá a father."

I ripped my hand from his, having had enough of his little speech.

"She has a father Michael."

"Who hasn't been here for either of you!"

"Which is no fault of his. He doesn't even know she exists!"

I took a deep breath putting some distance between the two of us.

"Look Michael I appreciate what you're trying to do but my daughter already has a father. She's already apart of a family. Or at least she will be come tomorrow."

He tried to step closer to me but I put my hands out, stopping him.

"What do you mean?" he asked me.

"I'm… I'm leaving tomorrow."

"You're leaving? Why? Where are you going?"

"I had a life, and friends and someone very special to me before I came here, and its time that I go back."

"Let's be clear. You're going back to a man who let you go even with his child in your stomach. He didn't want you Bella. He didn't love you. I do."

I reached out and slapped him, my right hand leaving a red imprint on his cheek.

"You don't know Aro or the situation we were in so don't you dare judge him," I seethed at him outraged at his audacity.

"You know what I'm done with this. I don't owe anyone an explanation for the choices I make in my life. Least of all you."

And I turned to walk away.

"Bella wait! I'm sorry okay its just…," he huffed, running his hands through is hair in frustration.

"What about Lauren and Jess and Mom? How can you just leave?"

I turned back around, pausing in the doorway to look at him.

"I'll say goodbye to them in my own time but look at the bright side Mikey Alieciá will finally be getting a father. Isn't that what you wanted?"

And I left him with that walking up the stairs to my room.

It looked like my choice had already been made, and as I tucked the blankets tighter around my little bean in her crib I couldn't help the twinge of excitement I felt at finally going back home.

Because that's what Aro had always been.

Home.

Translations:

Chi é?: Who is he?

Solo un amico: Just a friend

Si, sembra molto cordiale: Yes, he looks very friendly