A/N: Previously in ON2B, Feli visited her mother with Ludwig and found out that she and Lovi have different fathers. After returning home, she decides to go to her Nonno and ask him to help her in finding Lovi's dad in time for the wedding. He promised that he'd do everything he could to make sure he's there.

Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Part 36: In Which Grandpa Roma Investigates

It was many years ago, when Romulus Roma was a muchyounger man, that he first told another person that he would never fall in love. He honestly couldn't even remember who she'd been. He knew was that she'd been beautiful, but that was only because they'd all been beautiful. He also remembered that she'd been hopelessly in love with him.

There was nothing else. Not her face or her name or anything …

"I think you have the wrong idea." He'd responded to her passionate declaration so callously. He hadn't even bothered to lift his head and meet her eyes as he spoke. "I have no intention of falling in love with anyone. Sorry."

Love tied people down, he'd thought. When a man fell in love, he lost his freedom. No longer would he be able to actually enjoy his life the way it was meant to be enjoyed.

Romulus had always valued his freedom more than anything. He loved to travel. He wanted to sample all the wine, women, sites, and culture of the world… He made friends, but never allowed any truly permanent bonds to grow. Each woman only spent a single night in his bed before he moved on to someone else. He skipped from city to city, rarely remaining in one area for longer than a year.

He kept telling himself that he would never fall in love. He had more important things to do.

When Romulus looked back on his life, he often wished he could return to that time just long enough to smack his younger self across the face. Only a foolish child would go through life with the expectation that he'd forever avoid the consequences of their actions.

That doctor's visit, back in '87, was what finally introduced him to reality.

It'd been terrifying, discovering that his youthful recklessness had finally caught up with him. But looking back on it, he was grateful, because it could have been much, much worse. He'd been so arrogant and stupid… It'd taken a shock like that to finally bash into his head that he couldn't run away from his responsibilities forever.

As proven thirteen years later, when he arrived home after a month-long business trip to Rome to find a simple message left by an American woman. Romulus sometimes wondered what he would have done if he hadn't received that shock to his system all those years prior… He may have ignored her, told himself that it wasn't his problem.

As it was, he'd spent a long time pondering over what he should do. He'd gone to speak with his local cronies, most of whom laughed and said, "You, a grandfather?" And he'd found it hard to disagree with the disbelief in their voices because it sounded ridiculous even to his own ears. He hadn't even known he had a child and now, suddenly, this woman was telling him that he had two little granddaughters?

Two little granddaughters who needed a guardian. As Leni laid it out for him when he called her back, their father was gone and their mother—his daughter—wasn't fit to take care of them. She'd been trying to find a living relative who would be willing to take them in… Or at least help her fight against their mother for custody herself. "She doesn't want them," she'd told him. "But if I try to get custody over the girls, she'll fight me just on principal and I don't know that I'd be able to win…"

How could he say no to that?

And, the more that he thought about it, the more he realized that he didn't want to say no. Honestly, he was growing bored with the life he'd created for himself. And he was…lonely.

Romulus Roma had spent the majority of his life telling people that he'd never fall in love.

It took about five seconds for that resolve to crumple around his feet, when he first laid eyes on the two little girls who would soon become the focal point of his entire world.

His little girls. Not that raising them had been easy by any stretch of the imagination, since he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

Poor Leni received at least a hundred calls that first week, after the girls moved in with him. He'd felt like he was losing his mind. Feli was so sweet, but she cried every time he left her alone. He couldn't even go to the bathroom without feeling like a monster as he listened to her sobbing right outside the door. And Lovi didn't want anything to do with him. She'd fuss and start wailing when he tried to touch her—and since she was in a cast, this proved incredibly problematic—and then she'd started wetting the bed and he really hadn't known what to do about that.

But things got easier and it really wasn't long at all before he'd reached the point where he couldn't imagine life without his two little girls. He'd do anything for them.

Even deal with Horace.

Not that Horace was a bad man. He was just loud, uncouth, and had never bothered to learn any of life's social graces. He talked too loudly, would try to grab at the pretty waitresses, and never learned how to chew with his mouth closed. Lovi had actually met him once, when she was eight, and had despised him so much that she'd dumped an entire plate of spaghetti on his lap. She would probably be rather displeased if she discovered that he was the man Romulus chose to help find her father.

But you couldn't argue with results. Horace may not be the type of man you wished to invite to dinner parties, but his skills at retrieving information were unmatched. His techniques were not always strictly legal, but Romulus had never been a real stickler about the rules.

The cost to fly Horace here—first class, of course—had been rather exorbitant. Add the cost of his hotel room, the return flight, and the dinner he was currently treating him to at one of his favourite restaurants… But, it was for his girls.

Horace had set into his meal like a man who hadn't had a decent meal in months, shovelling food into his mouth like he thought it might vanish if he didn't hurry. Romulus just waited, eating his own meal at a much more sedate pace. It was quite possible that Andy had outdone himself this time. He'd have to let him know that the scallops were superb.

Horace finished in an impressively-short amount of time. He belched and leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his stomach as he sighed in contentment. "That was probably the best meal I've had in years right there. You sure know how to pick them."

Romulus smiled. "I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I know the owner and the chef quite well." He always made it a point to befriend the local restaurant owners whenever he travelled to a new town. After living here for so many years, he not only knew the owners themselves, but also their employees, families, their employees' families. He took a sip of his espresso, which was also exquisite.

"Betcha get a good discount then." Horace laughed loudly at his own joke, gaining the attention of a few of the other patrons. Romulus just nodded contentedly, continuing to drink his coffee.

Now that the meal was finished, it was time to get to work. Horace closed his eyes for a moment and patted his stomach again and then moved into business mode. His eyes narrowed and he leaned forward, lowering his voice to a more conspiratorial level. "Gotta say, Rommy-buddy. Definitely wasn't expecting you to call me up like that. I thought you lost interest in trying to find that deadbeat. Isn't that what you said? Told me to drop it right when things were actually getting interesting?"

Romulus shrugged. Horace's tone was a bit annoyed; he was like a bloodhound when he got on the trail of someone and he hated having someone telling him to leave it. But, "Sometimes things happen. You know how it goes."

It'd been a difficult decision to make. He still wasn't sure if it had even been the right decision. He'd debated the question with himself for weeks; if using his resources to find Bonifacio would be the right thing for him to do. Part of him thought 'of course it was'. Lovina and Feliciana missed their father. That was obvious. They didn't deserve to be abandoned like that. But another part of him knew that he hadn't wanted to abandon them.

From what Leni told him, he'd seemed terrified when he left. He'd appeared on her doorstep and begged her to take care of the girls for him. He'd said that he couldn't stay. He couldn't stay with Bella. She said that he'd apologized over and over. She'd tried to convince him to come inside, but he'd refused and disappeared before she could stop him…

Did Romulus really have the right to track down a terrified, escaping man without truly understanding why he'd run away in the first place?

He'd compromised a bit. Horace had laid down enough groundwork during the initial investigation that Romulus had no doubt he'd be able to follow the trail to Bonifacio's location if it ever became necessary. If something happened to the girls and his presence was required.

Horace was watching him with a thoughtful expression. He took a sip from his coffee and then said, "So things changed again?"

He nodded. "Lovina's going to be married at the end of the month."

Horace nodded. "Not a lot of time."

"I trust that if anyone could do it, it would be you."

He seemed pleased by the vote of confidence. He leaned back in his chair and then made a motion toward their waitress, wordlessly gesturing to his nearly-empty cup of coffee. She apologized and promised that she'd return with a fresh pot. Then he returned his attention to the conversation. "You're lucky I like you, Rommy."

He probably mainly liked the perks that came from knowing him.

"You're also lucky that I didn't listen when you told me to stop searching for Mr. Nasca." Then he bent down and reached into the travel bag that he'd stashed under the table, resurfacing with a manila folder that he tossed toward him. "There you go. Consider it a gift."

That…had not been what Romulus expected. For a moment, he just stared at the offering. It was relatively thick, labelled with 'Bonifacio Nasca'. He slowly opened the cover and was immediately greeted by a photograph of a house; a pretty normal, middle class two-story home. The most notable details were the palm trees in front of the home and the toys strewn across the yard. He could see a tricycle, various balls, and a swing set in the sideyard.

He turned to the second page to find another photograph of the same house, but the camera was zoomed in on a woman and child standing on the front porch. The picture was grainy, but the child looked about three or four, perhaps.

The third page was a sheet of notes, scribbled out in barely-legible handwriting.

"Apparently he's living down in Florida now under the name 'Daniel Acardi'," Horace explained as he reached across the table and turned back to the second photograph. "That's his new woman. Trust me, picture doesn't even begin to do her justice. Her name's Caroline. She works as a graphic designer. He's working some researching job or something? Sounded boring."

"And the child?"

"Kid's name is Sebastian. As far as I know he's both of theirs. The picture's actually from a few years ago, so he'd be closer to eight or nine by now. It looks like your guy's doing all right for himself. Got himself a girl, kid, decent-enough job, nice house…"

Romulus nodded. "It seems cruel to bring the past back up when he's moved on." But, ultimately this felt like it needed to be done. Lovi and Feli deserved closure at the very least, and Bonifacio himself should have the chance to see his daughter on one of the most important days of her life.

This child, too. He added a whole other level. This little boy was their half-brother.

Or… Lovina's at least.

He set the papers down and let out a breath before turning his full attention to Horace. "Were you able to look into that other matter?"

Horace sighed, but waited to answer as the waitress returned to refill their coffees. After she left, he shook his head and said, "I told you. I'm good, but I'm not that good. If I had a name or description or location or anything, then maybe. But you don't have anything useful for me to go off of."

It wasn't surprising, but he'd hoped for a miracle.

"Can't you get anything out of her? Anything at all would at least give me somewhere to start."

"No." Bella wouldn't tell him anything. She was a sadist; she would drag everything she knew to the grave, solely because she knew that he wanted that information more than anything. Now that Feliciana knew the truth, Romulus had to find him. His younger granddaughter had always been so sensitive; something like this would eat her alive.

But getting information from Bella was impossible, because she was a monster. And it was his fault. He'd looked into her background after that horrific first meeting. Her mother was a woman he couldn't even remember. She had apparently been mentally unstable—or at least that's what the records stated. A few months after her daughter was born, she was institutionalized, and then she died a few years later. Suicide.

If he hadn't been so stupid. It was all too convenient. Bella had ended up being raised by her grandparents. 'Monsters' seemed to be the general consensus regarding their characters. They'd poisoned her, turned her into a hateful, bitter woman. She became pregnant, was forced into a marriage with Bonifacio by her parents, the two moved to Pleasantville where she soon became pregnant with another man's child.

It was a horrible story and he'd been the unsuspecting author.

Horace remained quiet while Romulus's thoughts whirled through his mind. But after a few minutes, he set his drink down and sighed loudly enough to break his friend's concentration. He stretched his arms over his head and said, "I'll keep searching for him, Rommy. 'Cause we're friends. I can't make any promises, but I know that this is important to you."

More important than anything. He forced a chuckle. "I wouldn't expect you to promise me any results. I know that you're searching for a needle in a haystack."

"Worse than a needle in a haystack. At least in that case I'd know what I was looking for." He shrugged, though, and scooted back in his chair. "Thanks for the meal. I'm going to head up to my room for the night. Hopefully that information'll help you out."

Romulus nodded, setting his hand on the folder. Even if he didn't have any information for Feli, this was enough for now. "This is much more than I was daring to hope for."

Horace rose to his feet and shrugged his travel bag onto his shoulder. "Can't say nothing bad about my work. You think I'd give up on a trail like that just 'cause you got some cold feet?" He shook his head and then sent Romulus a rather pompous smirk. "That girl of yours still got that temper?"

Romulus had to laugh at that. "Of course!"

"Then I pity the poor boy who's marrying her. Hopefully he knows what he's getting into."

Romulus chuckled again. "Oh, he does." Nobody knew Lovina better than Antonio. "I hope you get out all right tomorrow. Thank you again for this." He patted the folder. "I owe you."

Horace shook his head. "Like I said, consider it a gift. A wedding present for your little girl." He didn't allow Romulus to continue to argue, as he immediately turned and headed to the door. Romulus saw him reach toward one of the waitresses, but she noticed and dodged. Smart girl.

He now had to decide what to do with this information. He flipped through the pages, barely noticing when he finished his espresso and had it refilled again. Horace had written out the address of Bonifacio's home—presumably the one in the pictures—and had included both his home and work phone numbers. It was probably best that Romulus didn't think too hard about how he'd managed to get this information, especially the photographs.

He would just accept them as a blessing.

All in all, it looked like he had some phone calls to make and another plane ticket to buy.

A/N: Grandpa Roma is the besssssst. Poor tiny Lovi and Feli though. That's gotta be such a traumatic thing for little babies to deal with, getting uprooted and having to move in with a stranger and all that. Not really surprising that the transition was a little rough. Poor Grandpa Roma was like "WHAT DO I DO? HOW DO I HANDLE THIS?" D: It's okay, you did your best and you were a very good Nonno.

Okay, so I have finished one of my essays (more than a week early) and am almost done with the rest of my projects. The only major thing left to do is my 25 page essay on queer collections in museums. Which is daunting, but I have 2 weeks. I can do it! Today was a nice break day because my professor changed the location of class without telling us until we'd all already left… So I ended up visiting the used bookstore and finding some awesome books (including a signed copy of a Tamora Pierce book, which was AWESOME because she was my absolute favourite authoress as a kid). Also got tea and then went and had Burmese food for dinner.

I AM NOW ALL PREPARED TO PUT THE PEDAL TO THE METAL AND WRITE THIS PAPER! GO GO MEEEE!

Reviews are always loved, especially during times of paper-writing stress buckets.

Also, now I kinda want to write something about when baby Lovi and Feli first moved in with Romulus… Maybe a Compiling chapter or something. Dunno.