A/N: Yeah, they're just sitting around talking in this chapter and probably for most of the next one as well. Did I mention I go overboard with the world-building? If you hate slow-burn stories like this, might want to just give up now, because I have a feeling this is going to be a recurring thing in this particular story. I don't know why. My stories don't always go in the directions I want them to, and my muse being the stubborn brat that she is, it's hard for me to get back on track when the story goes off the rails like this.

Disclaimer: Same as always, I don't own anything in the story, I don't think there's even anything ownable, but I'm too paranoid to leave the disclaimer out.

4.

"how did this happen, again?" I ask, gathering my clothes and looking around the small room.
Paolo laughs and shrugs, not bothering to get up. "you want the short version or the long version?" he asks and he just laughs again when I glare at him.
H didn't show up even after waiting for him for two whole hours – two hours spent with Paolo, since he seemed to be obsessed with me for some reason – so when Paolo invited me to come sit with him again, this time I accepted the invitation.
I told him I was doing it only because I was feeling lonely, but quietly hoping H would come back as I was sitting at Paolo's table and would feel jealous over it.
That didn't happen.
What did happen was I spent another two hours playing weird drinking games with Paolo and eventually, when he asked me to come into one of the back rooms with him, I stupidly – drunkenly – accepted that invitation as well.
I put all my clothes on a neat pile and look over to where Paolo is lying half-asleep on the floor.
There's no bed or anything in this room.
From the looks of it it's just a boiler-room that Paolo apparently turned into his personal little love-nest.
There's a blanket and some pillows on the floor and a bag in the corner of the room.
"ugh, we didn't even use any protection," I complain and Paolo chuckles.
"if you're lucky, you now have that gorgeous third baby on the way," he says sleepily, not a care in the world.
"one can only hope," I mumble sarcastically and then I sigh.
"well, whatever, might as well make this bad choice worth my while," I say, more to myself than to him, but he still looks at me questioningly.
I smile and stretch. "up for round two?" I ask, looking down at him again, making him laugh happily.
"always," he says, pulling me down onto the blanket.
"sure you're not too sleepy? You seemed to be half-asleep just now," I say, though he seems plenty energetic now.
"I'm never too sleepy to please a beautiful lady," he says.
I open my mouth to respond, but he brings his lips down unto mine, effectively shutting me up.

"damn, I'm sleepy," I mumble, pushing Paolo off me unceremoniously after round four – or was it five? – and he laughs, but it sounds weak, as if he's as tired as I am.
"I must say, I've been with a lot of women, but you are definitely one of the most tiring one-night-stands I've ever had," he says.
"that could be taken as both a compliment and as an insult," I say.
"oh, it's a compliment, believe me.
And I just realized something," he says.
I look at him questioningly and he chuckles.
"you...are a MILF. An unusually young one, but still..." he says and I laugh.
"yes, I am. Not sure if I'm happy about that, but yes, I am," I say, making him laugh as well.
His laughter is cut off suddenly and I look at him worriedly, but he seems to have just fallen asleep.
Well, whatever. Guess it wouldn't hurt for me to take a nap myself.
I put on my underwear and my jeans – so I won't be found naked if anyone happens to stumble into this room while I'm sleeping – and lay my head down on Paolo's chest.
I'm sure he wouldn't mind.
I don't fall asleep right away, but I just rest, listening to Paolo's soft heartbeat and the grinding noises of the boilers around us.
I'm not sure what to make of this, what happened just now.
It's pretty obvious Paolo is not looking for any serious commitment, he did just call me a 'one-night-stand'.
I've never had one of those before.
And what do I do about H?
I mean, he left me alone all night, which is pretty rude, but he is the father of my child and I still care about him, even if I am a bit peeved right now. Am I supposed to have a 'serious commitment' with him?
And if so, where does this little adventure with Paolo fit into that?
Does this count as 'cheating on H'?
You know, while I don't agree with everything – or almost anything – that my mother's church preaches, I have to say I don't completely disagree with some of it either.
Take 'no sex before marriage' for example.
Things would be so much easier for me if I had just waited until I was married before I started having sex.
"you're thinking too much," Paolo mumbles, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me tighter to his body.
"just sleep." I sigh, perfectly content to just be in his arms for now and forget the world around me even exists, and let myself doze off.

"ah, fuck. It's light out," I say, looking at the little window and seeing the sun high up in the sky.
"sun came up while we slept. That is what usually happens when you go to sleep at night, you know?" Paolo says sleepily, sitting up and gathering his clothes.
"yeah, but is this place even open at daytime? We might be locked in. And I left my kids with the nanny all night. Alex is going to be so pissed," I say worriedly, putting on my T-shirt, silently thanking the gods that no-one seems to have walked in on us when I was sleeping.
Even if I wasn't naked, Paolo was, and I was half-naked, which is almost as bad.
Anyone who'd have seen us would have known exactly what happened here.
"Alex is your husband?" Paolo asks and I laugh, making him frown in confusion, too sleepy to understand what's so funny.
"I find it hilarious that you took me here apparently thinking I was married. No, Alex is not my husband, he's my son. He's seven. My daughter, Elizabeth, is almost five months old," I explain proudly.
"seven? You don't seem old enough to have a seven year old son," he says and I shrug.
"he was adopted, somewhat. Doesn't matter. What does matter is that I left him in an unfamiliar environment, with a stranger, all night. What kind of mother does that?" I ask no-one in particular.
"hopefully a satisfied one," Paolo says, making me laugh again.
"there is that," I just say, getting up and stretching my aching muscles.
Sleeping on the floor is great, but it doesn't make for a lovely morning-after.
"well, you don't have to worry about this place being closed, I co-own it – Dio, the other owner, is my brother – so I have the keys to all the doors," he says, rummaging through his bag and pulling out a set of keys.
"well, that explains why you have your own 'room' here," I say.
"and as for your kids, you're how old? Twenty, twenty-five? You deserve to have some fun. You're too young to let your entire live turn into some boring game of 'keep the little ones happy'," he says, getting up and leading me out of the room, into an empty club.
"man, this place looks like a haunted house during the day," I say, making Paolo laugh.
"a lot of places look haunted at night, but the best places are the ones that look scary in the sunlight," he says wisely.

"so, where to, my lady?" Paolo asks, fastening his seatbelt.
It takes me a while to answer – I'm too busy admiring his car, it's awesome.
I'd steal it from him if I thought I'd get away with it – but when I do he just stares at me in shock for some reason.
He repeats the address disbelievingly and I nod, a bit confused.
"that's Hermes' place," he says.
"yeah, so? You know him?" I ask.
"you're H's girl?" he asks, not bothering to answer my half-rhetorical question.
I shrug. "I wouldn't say I'm 'his girl' persé," I say.
"he's Liz' father, so I'm staying with him while I'm in town, but we haven't really been 'together' since she was conceived, which was over a year ago. I guess if you want to put a name to it, I'm his ex-girl."
"I just spend the night with H's girl," Paolo says to no-one in particular, completely ignoring everything I just said.
"the mother of his child even. I am so screwed." I laugh.
"so wait, you couldn't care less if I was married, but the fact that I spend a little over one week with H over a year ago gets you in a tizzy? Seriously, whatever you've got going on with him, I doubt he's going to kill you for sleeping with his ex-girlfriend, especially since you didn't know I was his ex," I say.
"he's my brother," Paolo just says as he starts the car. "and he recently picked up a tendency to hold grudges over stuff like this."
I sink back into the soft cushions of the passenger's seat and shrug.
Then I laugh when I suddenly realize something.
"wouldn't it be kinda awesome if I really was pregnant right now? Can't have a truly screwed up family until you have a three-way cluster-fuck like that," I say.
He looks at me questioningly and I just laugh. "Alex is actually my little brother, but since I pretty much adopted him he's also my son. Which makes him and Liz siblings as well as 'uncle and niece'," I explain. "so if I'd have your kid, that would make our little screwed up family really complete. Liz and your kid would be siblings as well as cousins, since their fathers are brothers. And Alex would be their uncle, but also their brother."
Paolo smiles at that.

"you think that's bad? My mother is also my aunt and my father's my uncle, how's that for fucked up?" he asks. I think about that for a second.
"well, at least there's no real incest involved in my fucked up family," I say eventually.
"yet," he just says ominously, making me laugh.
"my only remaining living relatives – not counting the young'uns, because ew – are my father, who is MIA, and my mother and I seriously doubt anything is going to happen there," I say. "mostly because she's ugly, annoying and, well, my mother, and also because we're both women, so no chance of any babies there."
"ah man, I am so screwed," Paolo says as he pulls up into the driveway of H's mansion.
"I'm sure you're fine, but if you're so worried about it, you can just leave now. I'll tell them I spent the night with 'some guy I met' and no-one would be the wiser," I suggest, but he shakes his head.
"nah, you've made me curious about your 'siblings and cousins' family," he says, smiling widely, but he still looks worried.
He parks the car and we get out right when the front door of the mansion opens and an impatient-looking H steps outside.
He looks from me to Paolo and I almost laugh at the emotions I can see in his eyes.
First impatience, then worry, then confusion, then understanding and then anger.
"ah, guess you were right about him getting pissed at you for spending the night with his ex," I mumble when H storms up to us, glaring at Paolo the entire time, not even sparing me a glance now that he knows I'm at least safe.
Well, that or he's still in the same mood he was in last night which made him think it was acceptable to just leave me alone without warning or explanation like he did.
Paolo just sighs and shakes his head, having seemingly accepted his fate.
"I'm gonna go check on the little ones. Feel free to lie about what happened or to just get in the car and bail if you want," I say when H reaches us and just keeps glaring at Paolo, standing toe to toe with him.
I look back as I'm about to walk into the house and smile when I notice that Paolo is just slightly taller than H.
I do love me some big boys.

"hey mom," Alex says as I walk into the guest-room H had prepared for the kids.
He's sitting on the carpet, playing with his favorite toys, the dinosaurs.
"hey Alex, how've you been?" I ask, hugging him, and he laughs.
"I'm fine, mom. I won't die from being left alone for one night," he says. "and Sisa is fine too. The lady nanny was really nice, she even read us a bedtime story. How come you never read us any bedtime stories?"
I laugh and sit down next to him.
I sigh deeply and pretend to be troubled by something.
"well, son...I didn't want you to find out like this, but...mommy is illiterate," I say.
"liar," he says deadpan and I laugh.
"no, but seriously, I used to read you bedtime stories all the time, but when you were four you suddenly decided you had 'outgrown them' and you'd throw a hissy-fit whenever I suggested reading to you, so I just quit," I say, this time completely honest.
"yeah, that sounds like something I'd do," he says and I laugh again.
"Did you have fun? Were you with a guy?" he asks after a long silence and I sigh again.
"yeah. But...wanna hear something interesting?" I ask.
He puts down his toys and looks up at me, which I interpret as a 'yes'.
"I met this guy at the disco H took me to. H disappeared after just a few minutes, so I was left alone and this guy came up to me and started talking to me and coming on to me. After a couple hours I was drunk enough to just go with the flow, so I spent the night with him. Then, on the way back here just now...I found out that the guy I was with...? H's brother!" I say.
Alex stares at me in disbelief and I laugh.
"it's true. It turns out that out of all the people in the world I could've spent the night with, I ended up getting freaky with H's brother. What are the odds, huh?" Alex chuckles and looks at my stomach.
"if you're pregnant and you have a boy, I'll have a nephew and a brother and a niece and a sister and Sisa will have a cousin and a brother and an uncle and a brother," he says, making me laugh again.
"yeah, I also figured that. Let's hope that doesn't happen, huh? This family is screwed up enough as it is," I say.

Since Alex and Liz seem to be doing okay – Liz is sleeping and it's still early, so I decided not to wake her up – I walk out of the room and go looking for the brothers.
"seriously?" I hear H yelling, so I just follow his voice to where they are, ending up a few doors over, at the door to H's study.
"out of all the women you could've taken to bed, it just had to be her," he says annoyedly.
"look, I didn't know she was your girl. It would've helped if you had actually been there, where you were supposed to be, considering you're the one who took her out in the first place, but alas, you were not. She was lonely and you know I can't resist comforting a beautiful, lonely woman," Paolo says, sounding completely unrepentant, the 'beautiful'-comment making me smile.
"besides, as far as she's concerned, you're her ex, not her current boyfriend, so I don't see what the big deal is."
"if you didn't know she was mine then how would you know she considers me her ex, huh?" H asks and Paolo sighs.
"because she told me in the car, right after she told me to drop her off at your house, which is the first time I heard anything about any connection she has to you," he says.
H sighs, it sounds strained, like he's trying to reign in his anger.
I feel a bit bad at eavesdropping like this, but it doesn't seem like either of the brothers would appreciate me interrupting right now.
"you know what? Fine. You had your fun, now get out," he says.
"get out of my house and get the hell out of Leila's life. Heaven knows you rarely stay with the same woman for longer than a single night, so that should be the end of this mess."
Paolo sighs and I can almost see him shaking his head, even though the door is closed and I can't actually see either one of them.
"not exactly," he says and I sigh.
He just got the perfect out, why didn't he take it?
"well, I want to meet her kids, since I'm curious to see if they're really as gorgeous as she says they are or if a part of – and if so, how much of – that praise is just her bias as their mother, which is why I came here and faced you like this instead of just skipping out or pretending last night never happened like she offered to let me," he says.
"Poll, you do not get to see her kids and you do not get to see her again. Your time with her is over and done with. You've slept with countless women who had children, but you never cared to see any of them, so why start now?" H asks.
Poll? What a weird nickname is that? If you have to shorten 'Paolo', at least make it something like 'Paul'.
Maybe I just misheard, but it definitely sounded like P-O-L-L, Poll.

"Aside from the fact that none of those other women were the mother of my niece, you mean? I like her, she's interesting. Not to mention quite attractive. And if she were anyone else, I'd just take her comments about her daughter being 'the most beautiful little angel in the world' with a whole bucket of salt, but since that kid has her genes combined with yours, I can't help but wonder," Paolo says.
Even through the closed door I can hear the sound of H gritting his teeth.
"yes, Leila is very attractive. She is also mine, as is the child," H says.
I sigh deeply and decide I've heard enough.
"correction," I say, opening the door and walking inside.
"I am very much my own woman, not yours and not his," I say, pointing at Paolo, but looking at H.
"just because I slept with you over a year ago and that accidentally resulted in a daughter, that doesn't mean you own me. I can decide what to do with my own life, thank you very much. So if I said I'd let him see the little ones, my little ones, then you have no say over that either."
I can see H opening his mouth to say something, but I interrupt him before he can say more than one word.
"don't you dare start giving me crap about how Elizabeth is your daughter, because if there's one thing I can't stand it's when people who never spent a single full day with their child think they can 'out-parent' me. Elizabeth is mine and I decide who she does or does not meet," I say, taking Paolo's hand and dragging him out of the room and into the guest-room where Alex is now sitting on one of the beds, seemingly listening intently, probably eavesdropping like I was before.
The brothers weren't exactly quiet and the study is only three doors away from this room.
"Paolo, Alex and Elizabeth. Alex and Elizabeth – who is sleeping and can't even hear me right now, even if she could understand anything I was saying anyway, which she can't – Paolo," I introduce them.
"call me Pollo," Paulo says, shaking Alex' hand.
Huh, guess I'd misheard what H called him after all.

"damn, this is not going at all the way I'd planned it," I say, sighing as I sit down on the bed next to Alex.
Paolo walks over to the other bed and kneels down beside it, staring at Elizabeth as if he can't believe she's really real.
"no happy ending, huh?" Alex asks and I laugh.
"well, considering H is, for whatever reason, suddenly a complete ass, even though he was so amazing a year ago, no, no happy ending for us," I say.
Paolo sighs.
"yeah, that's something that happened somewhere in the last three months," he says.
I look at him questioningly and he shrugs, getting up to close the door and coming to sit down next to me.
"Hermes used to be the best little brother in existence," Paolo says. "and the best boyfriend in existence, too."
"ugh, incest," Alex and I say at the same time and we laugh.
"it runs in the family," Paolo just says, perfectly serious, but Alex and I double over in laughter.
Paolo looks confused until he thinks about what he just says and then he laughs too.
"that's not what I meant and you know it," he says, poking me in the ribs.
"right, right. The aunt/mother, uncle/father thing," I say, shaking my head and wiping the tears off my cheeks.
"so anyway," Paolo says when Alex has finally calmed down a bit. "we were together all the time. Sometimes I'd have someone else or he'd have someone else or we'd have someone else, but in the end it always came back to it just being me and him. When he was with you, that was in December, right? I was in Scotland at the time for work. That's why you didn't meet me back then. By the time I was back from my trip, you were also back from your trip and our paths just never crossed. H and I would've probably shared you if they had," he explains.
"ew, ew, ew," Alex says, covering his ears and jumping off the bed, but I just laugh.
"huh, I am not entirely repulsed by that idea. How interesting," I say and Paolo smiles widely.
"maybe, when Hermes is back to his normal self, we can still try that," he suggests cheerfully, but his mood sobers quickly.
"but he's not his normal self right now. Sometimes he is. Every now and then his old self shines through and I can see that mischievous twinkle in his eyes or that half-smile that tells me he's thinking naughty things and everything is great again. But most of the time he's like this. Mean and self-centered and kinda infuriating. I've known him all my life, but he's never been like this before. This is something that just started out of nowhere a few months ago and it's been happening more and more frequently. It's come to a point where this is his 'normal' mood now and his old self doesn't come out to play very often anymore. Once or twice in the last month, as far as I know," he says.

"well, he was himself yesterday, pretty much all day up until he left me at the club. That twinkle in his eyes and that half-smile you were talking about, I know them well. I saw them a hundred times last year and again yesterday-morning. And after I'd told him about Liz he was so sweet and patient and he seemed so happy. It gave me a little hope that he would come up with a way for the four of us – me, him, Liz and Alex – to be able to see each other more often than 'almost never' and we could actually have some variation on that happy ending I thought was impossible before. But then, at the goddess central, he seemed fine one second, but then he and Dio 'popped out of existence', like I'd said. One second they were there, I get distracted for maybe a minute and then 'poof! bye bye H and Dio, hello Paolo and angry bartender dude'. That's the last I saw of 'the old Hermes'. It's so weird. It's like he's not even the same person, but instead he's just someone who happens to look the same. I mean, we've been here for almost twenty minutes now and he hasn't said a single word to me, which I guess could be because he's angry – although his current anger doesn't seem normal for him either – but he also hasn't come to check on Liz. I barely know him and even I know that that's not like him. Yesterday he wouldn't leave her alone for even a second, he seemed determined to make up for his absence the last 4 months by being with her non-stop from now on, and today he doesn't even check up on her, even though he's only a few doors away," I say, looking over to the other bed, where Liz is still peacefully sleeping.
Alex has already given up on this weird, to his ears probably disgusting conversation and has gone back to playing with his toys.
"I miss the old Hermes," Paolo says, sighing. I sigh as well.
"yeah, you and me both. I liked him just fine yesterday and I was hopelessly in love with him a year ago – okay, I'll admit it, I was still hopelessly in love with him yesterday – but today...? I look at him and I feel nothing but anger. I mean, there should still be some love there, right? Even if it's just the shadow of the actual feeling. Even if he does piss me off with the whole 'I own you'-thing. But no. I look at him and I feel nothing but contempt and frustration. But the weird thing is, when I think about him, the feeling is there," I say, tapping my head and my heart, then I sigh again.
"I guess I can't really explain it," I say.

Paolo looks at me strangely and then smiles kindly.
"no, I know exactly what you mean, because I feel the same way. I think of the Hermes in my memories and I love him, but I look at the Hermes now and I hate him. But no matter how annoying or mean he gets, I still love him in my mind. Just not in real life anymore," he says.
"except when he's back to his old self for a bit," I say and he nods.
"except then. I guess you're right. It's like he's a completely different person who just so happens to look the same as him. And my heart knows it's not him, even if my mind does not," he says, looking intrigued with the idea.
"yeah, except you'd probably know if he had a twin of something like that, right? And while doppelgängers are a great bedtime story, I've never heard of any pair actually encountering one another, so I'm gonna have to believe they're not really real. And even if they were, why would the real H just allow his doppelgänger to pretend to be him like this, especially around Liz? Also, if that guy is not H, then where is the real one?" I ask, shrugging.
"that just doesn't make any sense, no matter how you look at it. The only logical conclusion, aside from the obvious – that you and I are just too hung-up on who he was to accept that he just changed as people sometimes do – is that it is really him, but there's just something screwing with his personality."
"maybe..." Paolo just says, but his mind seems to be stuck on the doppelgänger-idea.

"what's going on?" I ask when I walk into the living room the next day and see several people there I've never met before.
I look around and sigh.
People like these guys give girls like me an inferiority-complex.
There's a teenager who looks like she walked straight out of a magazine, a man – Dio – who would look good in just about any outfit – and that includes my clothes, a tall, dark and handsome stranger – how cliché – who looks equal parts gorgeous and dangerous, a woman who manages to make the 'strict librarian style' look sexier than it has any right to be and an elderly couple, both people who obviously aged like fine wine.
And then there's little old me, a girl who can't exactly be called 'ugly', but who only weird people like Paolo and H would describe as 'gorgeous'.
Damn.
"partial family meeting," Paolo says, snapping me out of my self-deprecating thoughts."come, I'll introduce you to my cluster-fuck of a family."
I laugh and shake my head, but I still walk over to where he's sitting and sit down next to him as the third person on the two-seater, but neither Paolo nor the teenage girl next to him seem to mind the lack of space.
"this is my twin sister Diana," he says, nodding to the girl who seems to be no older than 17, even though Paolo seems about 25.
"what? Seriously? She doesn't seem old enough to be your twin at all," I say, making her laugh.
"I aged much faster mentally than I did physically, he went the other way around," she says and I put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing when Paolo glares at her and then looks at me as if he's daring me to laugh.

"this is my mother and aunt Juno," he says, rudely pointing at the elderly lady sitting on one of the kitchen chairs they'd apparently brought into the room so that everyone could have a seat.
"and her husband, my father and uncle Jove," pointing at the elderly – but ridiculously intimidating-looking – man sitting on the chair next to Juno.
"this is my brother Alex – like your Alex, only far, far more annoying than that little demon of yours – and this here is Mina, another sibling of mine – you can never have too many of those, right? – and of course you know Dio, my baby-brother. He's the runt of the litter, but it doesn't bother him too much, so obviously you're more than allowed to bully him over it," Paolo says, smiling widely as he avoids something Dio throws at him.
Dio really is 'the runt of the litter', as Paolo put it.
All the other men are tall and intimidating, but Dio is kinda short and almost feminine.
Still gorgeous, they all are – damn their perfect genetics – but more in a 'beautiful' way than in a 'handsome' way like the other men.
I think about everything Paolo just said and then jab him in the ribs with my elbow.
"ow, what was that for?" he asks, insulted and surprised.
"don't call my baby a demon," I say.
"might I remind you that it was you yourself who told me he was a little demon," he says, now sounding confused, and I shrug.
"he is, and as his mother I am allowed to acknowledge that. You, on the other hand...are not."

"so, why are you having a...wait, did you say 'partial family meeting'? Like, there's more?" I ask.
Juno laughs and looks decidedly proud.
"oh, there's more. I couldn't very well stop at just five kids, could I? No, I have two more, Hermes and Caleb, and then there's my daughter-in-law Dahlia, Caleb's wive, and their twin boys, Ai and Kyle. And besides Jove I have three more siblings. And those are just the ones that keep in touch. Our entire family has too many members to count," she says.
"huh, that must be nice," I say, a bit envious.
"my entire family consists of me, my two kids, a retarded old woman who has the nerve to call herself my mother and a father whom I haven't seen in months." I shrug. "when I was younger, I always wanted to have a big family," I say.
"well, just keep on having children and you can just make your own big family," Diana suggests and I laugh.
"hmm, I would, but I'm a bit worried about screwing up the dynamics of our little family even more," I say honestly.
"I already have the whole uncle/brother thing going on with Alex, so is it really a good idea to add half-brothers and -sisters to that mix?"
Everyone looks at me in confusion, so I sigh and explain the whole situation to them.
Or, at least, the part about Alex' family-relation to Liz.
They didn't come here to listen to me complaining about my MIA father and my crazy religious mother.
"Elizabeth is Hermes' daughter?" Juno, Dio and Mina all ask at the same time, all sounding utterly shocked by the news.
The others seem less shocked, but I can see this news came as a surprise to all of them.
"huh? You didn't know? Since you didn't seem surprised with Pollo dragging me, a complete stranger to you, into your family meeting, I figured you at least knew who I was 'in theory'. Otherwise him including me into this, whatever 'this' is, would make little sense. Then again, if he's anything like how I remember H being, I guess I should have known better than to expect him to not just do whatever the hell he wants whether it makes sense to anyone but himself or not," I say without thinking, making a few of them laugh, but the others simply nod their agreement, either not noticing or not caring about how insulting what I just said was to Paolo.
Paolo himself, who I'm slowly starting to realize really is every bit as carefree – that's not to say 'arrogant' – as H was, just shrugs, clearly not the least bit bothered by my insulting assessment of his personality or his own family's agreement to it.

"Anyway, if this is about what – or rather who – I expect this to be about, then him dragging me into this might actually make some sense after all, considering the fact that H being Liz' father is one of the few things I'm not currently extremely confused about. I was with H a little over a year ago. That's why I'm in the country again now, to look him up so he could get to know his daughter. Not that he seems to have any interest in that today, but he was glad for it the day before yesterday," I say, confusing myself again.
Paolo gives me a look which tells me that while he does feel bad that his actions made me feel even more confused over this situation than I already was, that doesn't mean he has any intention of apologizing for it, which makes me laugh.
"don't misunderstand, I'm not upset or anything, I'm simply acknowledging the fact that most of my current confusion could've been avoided by my not expecting any consideration or even sanity from you," I say and then I sigh when I realize that if the amused laughter all around me is anything to go by I just insulted him again.
"I can't tell if you're doing this on purpose or not," he says, sounding annoyed and a bit offended and I start to apologize, but then I see the look in his eyes and I just sigh.
"I promise I'm not. My brain-to-mouth filter just needs longer to wake up than the rest of me does," I admit, smiling innocently, trying to hide my annoyance at what I already know is coming.
"but you're not going to apologize?" he asks, glaring at me.
The others have stopped laughing and most of them now seem unsure of what their reaction to this should be, which makes me laugh.
"yeah sure, whatever. I'm sorry," I say, hoping but not expecting that to be enough.
He opens his mouth to respond with what I'm sure would be the most appropriate response he can think of, but then he surprises me by suddenly laughing.
"you're the one who insulted me, so why do I get the feeling like I'm the one on thin, black ice right now?" he asks, surprising me so much that I just stare at him in complete shock for a few moments, which makes him laugh again.

"just my imagination?" he asks, smiling in a way that makes me suspect he's only pretending to be unsure to give me the 'easy out' that he's hoping I won't take.
"no, it's just...that look," I say, confusing him.
"H does it too, sometimes. He'll react to things in whatever way he thinks is most appropriate or how he thinks I expect him to react, but the look in his eyes gives it away. Why not just react normally? Why put on an act like that? I don't get it and it annoys me," I admit.
He smiles sweetly and shrugs.
"force of habit, I guess. I'm sorry. We don't always respond to things as people expect us to and it tends to make them uncomfortable, so it's usually easier to just go with the obvious response," he explains and I sigh.
"Well, don't do it around me, it's seriously annoying. Especially since it doesn't even work, I can always tell anyway," I say and he laughs.
"you're one of the few, believe me. Most people are perfectly happy being humored by us," he says, making me laugh as well, before turning back to his family.