All the familiar characters belong to J.E. However the story line and the original characters are mine. I don't own them and I'm not making any money from them, I'm just playing with them for a little bit.

Authors Note:

Thank you all for your reviews, comments, favorites and follows and your continued support. You really have no idea how much I really do appreciate it. It means the world to me.

Thank you also for hanging in there with me, I don't really have any good reasons other than RL going on. Sorry this isn't as long as my normal ones but I wanted to get it out to you and it seemed like a good place to stop the chapter, the good news is the next chapter is half done and I'm hoping to have it up by next week.

Again thanks for all your support.

At this point unless otherwise noted all conversations are in Spanish.

Still on the Jimenez Island

As they were making their way up the beach back towards the house, Osvaldo started to realize that once they got back home he wouldn't be ready to let Estefania go yet. He knew asking her to stay would be best because she didn't like being bossed around. However, if she didn't agree then he knew he wasn't above making her deals and offering her whatever she wanted to get her to stay.

He needed her close because he thought that he had failed her.

Before they got to the house he came to an abrupt stop, which in turn made her stop as well. He looked down at her and said "I know I don't have any right to ask you this but would you mind not going back to the University yet and staying at the house for a few more weeks after we get home? I don't think I'm quite ready to let you out of my site."

She paused and looked up at him and saw how serious he was. She thought about it and realized that just because she was grown that he was always there for her to protect her. She saw on his face what a toll this was taking on him and how it hurt him that he hadn't had the ability to stop it.

She said "No I don't mind" and then added "I was thinking about staying home for a little bit as well. I don't think I'm quite ready to go back there yet and I'm definitely worried about having to see Diego again. I'm not sure what will happen."

He nodded his head in understanding but then said "As much as it makes me happy that you agreed to stay. You also need to remember that this thing with Diego is something that will need to be addressed."

She looked down understanding what he was saying and then nodded her head.

Knowing that he needed to lighten things up he gave a small laughed and said "However, once we get inside and you tell Tomas and Franco everything you just told me, you might think about changing your mind." Then he gave her a lopsided smile and continued "and since you've already agreed so I won't let you back out."

They both laughed knowing that he was probably right.

When they finally walked into the house, she figured the best thing to do would to just get it over with, so she yelled for Tomas and Franco. They quickly came running worried something might have happened. She assured them that everything was OK and then told them that she needed to talk to them and if could go in the living room and sit down and talk. They quickly agreed and found their seats. She sat on the lounge chair that was across from the sofa that Franco and Tomas were sitting on. Osvaldo was standing behind Estefania giving her support.

Seeing the stance that Osvaldo was taking, Tomas and Franco got very curious as to what their little Estefania was getting ready to tell them.

Putting them out of their misery she told them about what had been going on with her and what had happened in the past couple of months.

After she was done, she could see the anger in their eyes and the way that their jaws were set. She knew that they did not like what she had said at all.

She knew they were furious but she wasn't afraid of them, but she didn't like it when they were mad at her either. That was almost as bad as her Papi being mad at her.

Franco took deep breathe and was the first to speak as he said "I think I speak for Tomas when I say that while we are upset with you, we are more disappointed that you didn't think that you could come to us and trust us with what you were going through."

She nodded her head and said "I understand."

Tomas spoke up before anyone else could say anything more and angrily said "I'm not just upset with you, I'm furious. How could you possibly think that Diego's behavior was appropriate? What's worse is you didn't really do anything to stop it, just made excuses for it. I know you are better than to just accept it and I know for a fact that you have been taught better than that."

Tears started to fall from her eyes knowing that not only was he right about everything but also how much she had disappointed him.

She opened her mouth to answer him but before she could get anything out, he had already seen her face and had quickly moved so he was in front of her and kneeling down staring her in the face.

Seeing him in front of her, she immediately put her head down. He put his finger under her chin and brought her head up so that she had no other choice but to look in his eyes.

In a softer voice he said "Hey, no crying you know I can't stand it when you cry." Then he added "I may be upset and mad but you have to see things from my side. It feels like you didn't trust us enough to help you out of this and you should have. You know that I love you and no matter what I am always here for you. You should never feel embarrassed or ashamed enough that you don't think you can talk to me. That's why I reacted the way I did."

He reached for her and brought her in for a hug and then held on tight as he said "Remember I've been here from the very beginning and you are mine to protect and I can't do that if you don't tell me things like this."

He felt her nod her head against his shoulder.

He pulled away from her so he could look her in the eyes again and continued to say "but the biggest thing you need to understand above all else is that right now my true anger is towards Diego. For him to even think that he could get away with treating you that way. He had to of known that if we ever found out that this isn't something that we would tolerate. He had to know that he wouldn't get away with hurting you. He's been around this family long enough to understand that there are some things that will not be allowed and this is definitely one of them."

She tried to talk to them saying that she could still deal with him after she went back to the University, but they wouldn't listen. They told her that she had been able to do things her way and that didn't work so now it was time to do things their way.

She finally gave up trying to convince them otherwise and answered any other questions that they had. After about an hour of going over everything she had finally had enough, so she stopped talking and stood up.

She walked up to each of the three men gave them a hug and kiss told them she was tired and was going to bed.

Then she walked away towards the stairs.

Once she was upstairs and completely out of listening range, Osvaldo told them that Estefania has agreed to stay home for a few weeks before returning to the University and they must come up with a plan on how to handle things during that time, so she won't know.

The other two men agreed and they started planning on how things would go once they got home.

They figured out when the best time to go up there would be, but they had to be careful making sure Estefania didn't suspect anything. They each wanted to have several different conversations with a certain young man, but they also wanted to do at least meeting with him together.

They knew by the time they were done with him that there would be no question as to what they considered the proper way to treat a young lady, especially their young lady.

Preparing to Go Home

A couple of days after the big talk, Osvaldo was finally able to get in touch with his people and was assured that everything was ready for their return and everything that needed to be done was complete and that it was absolutely safe for them to return as well. He thanked them for their attention to the matter and informed them that they would be flying out the next morning and to make sure that everyone was ready for them to return.

Osvaldo had decided that he had wanted a runway built at the end of his compound so without Estefania, Franco, and Tomas knowing, he had it built while they were away.

It had been something that he's wanted to do for years and had been unable to get it done due to restrictions, but he had finally greased enough palms to get permission to get it. Now he could come and go as he pleases and not have to worry about other planes or anything else getting in his way.

Once he had finally hung up he went in search of the other 3 to give them the news about being able to go home and when they would be traveling.

He found them in the kitchen leaning against the breakfast bar eating a snack. They were laughing and joking with each other, he was glad that the other day's tension was gone.

He leaned up against the inside of the doorway and said "I have some news."

They lifted their heads up to look over at him and he continued "I just got off the phone and found out that everything is good and we are able to go back home, so tomorrow morning we will be heading out."

They all smiled showing how happy they were to hear that.

Estefania not sure if he would answer her question or not quietly asked "Papi, do you think that it would be okay if I called Izzy right now and let her know that I'm coming home, but that I won't be returning to school for a while?"

Osvaldo looked at his daughter and could see how much she really missed her best friend said "Yes, you can call her but with one condition. She can't tell anyone, especially Diego that we are coming home. If she agrees to that then you can let her know."

She jumped out of her seat, ran up to him and kissed him on the cheek and turned and quickly went up the stairs yelling "Thank you!" behind her.

The 3 men looked at each other and started laughing. They were all thinking the same thing, that no matter how many times they've yelled at her for running in the house that when she gets excited even as an adult she was still doing it.

Walking into her room she looked around and started thinking about this room and her one at home.

She had always felt that this was a nice room and had liked it, but she definitely preferred her room at home and home for her was always her Papi's house. That was the only home she's ever known or at least the only one that she could remember.

Sometimes like now she would let her thoughts carry her away to the past every once in a great while. She would try to remember what her old family was like. Even after all the years that have passed, it seemed weird to her that she couldn't recall what they looked like or what life was like with them.

She sometimes wondered if it was because so much time had passed that she truly couldn't remember them or if it was because she was feeling like it was some type of betrayal to her Papi.

She knew how much he loved her and wanted the best for her no matter what, which brought her thoughts back to the room she was staring at now.

She knew it was designed to be more or less pretty simple and had stayed the same throughout the years. It was a room more for convenience unlike her room at home. She had always been encouraged to make any changes to her room that she wanted and to not worry about what the cost was. Which meant it changed on her whim not someone else's.

No matter what though she also knew that it didn't matter how old she got, her room would always be waiting for her. It was one of the few places that she felt safe and knew that nothing bad could ever touch her there.

Thinking about her room and all the staff members that would be there when she got home started to get her excited and happy because she couldn't wait to see them.

Which brought her back to the reason she came up here in the first place, to call Izzy and let her know she was coming home, she walked over to her nightstand and opened the top drawer.

She had put in nightstand because she was told when she was younger that she couldn't use it while she was here on the island. Something to do with people being able to track it and not wanting them to find us, which was why she was surprised that her Papi let her use it this time.

She had picked it up and turned it on. Waiting for it to boot up and cycle through the startup, it started dinging indicating that she had many different types of messages.

After it was finally done she looked at the screen and saw that she had 25 text messages and 10 voice mails.

Seeing that they were from Diego she decided to start flipping through the text messages real quick. She noticed that at first they were nice. Asking her when she was coming back and letting her know that he missed her and loved her but then they started to get mean. Demanding to know when she was coming home or telling her that she needed come home immediately and how she couldn't hide from him and she needed to know her place.

She stopped looking at them and decided that she didn't even want to listen to the voice mails. She figured with how insistent her Papi, Tomas and Franco had been about wanting to know everything when it comes to her and Diego, it would be better to let them listen to them first.

If she was being totally honest with herself, she really didn't want to hear them anyway, especially if they were anything like some of the text messages.

She shook her head to clear it real quick and then looked at the time on her phone. Since she hadn't really looked at the time in a while she wanted to make sure that it wasn't too late to call her, since there was a small time difference from where she was to where Izzy was.

Seeing that it should be good she quickly sent a text to Izzy that said: R u alone? If not let me know when u r so I can call u real quick.

She started to worry when she didn't get an answer right away but then after a few minutes her phone finally dinged and she got a response. When she looked at the message it said: I am now, so u can call me.

So Estefania pressed the send button and called Izzy's number.

Izzy picked up and excitedly whispered said "Essie is that really you? Are you home?"

Essie laughed feeling happy to hear her best friend's voice and said "Yes, it's really me and before I can answer your second question, I need for you to promise me that no matter what you can't say anything to anyone about what we talk about. You have to swear that you won't say anything not even to Diego."

Izzy replied "I swear, I promise I won't tell anyone, especially not Diego. He's being a real asshole right now and I don't talk to him. You know you can trust me."

Estefania replied "I know I can, but that was the one condition that I was given when I asked if I could call you. So you know I had to double check."

Izzy hesitantly said "OK…"

Estefania said "I know that I'm not usually allowed to call, so when I was given permission that was the condition. Papi doesn't want a lot of people to know but we're coming back tomorrow."

Again Izzy said "OK?"

Hearing the question in her friend's voice Estefania said "Look I know that you are confused right now but please don't tell anyone about us coming home, especially Diego."

Izzy said "Essie what's going on? You're scaring me."

Estefania replied "There's somethings that have happened and I think the only reason that Papi allowed me to call you is so that I could let you know that I'm OK and that I'm coming home but also that I won't be going back to school for a while. Like I said something has happened and Papi is pretty much making me stay home. He says that it would make him feel better and more comfortable if I was with him so that he could keep an eye on me."

Izzy responded "What happened? Are you OK? Are you hurt? Did this happen while you were away?"

Estefania replied "Breathe Izzy, I'm fine. It was something that happened before we left but please don't ask me to tell you. I'm OK really and I honestly used to think that it wasn't a big deal" then added "but some disagreed with me and I'm starting to think they are right."

Shocked by what Estefania had just said and knowing that whatever this was happened before she disappeared and knowing that the two of them pretty much told each other everything, Izzy came to the conclusion that it must have something to do with Diego and possibly explain why he's been the way he has been lately. She knew that Essie wouldn't want to put her in position to have to choose between her and her brother.

Following that logic Izzy simply said "OK I won't ask you what happened just as long as you promise me that you are really OK and that nobody hurt you."

Estefania said "I promise that I'm OK and I'm sorry to put you in this spot about being the only one that knows that we're coming home for right now. I promise that I'll make it up to you once everyone knows that I'm home. I'll also try to let you know once we land. If I'm able to I'll word it so if someone is being nosy they won't know what I'm talking about."

Izzy sighed knowing that Estefania was ending the conversation and she wasn't going to get any more information out of her than she just got said so she replied "OK… Be safe."

Estefania replied "Will do." And then she hung up the phone.

She sat on the bed and looked around the room again, still trying to determine if there was anything special here that she didn't think she could live without and wanted to take home with her.

Coming to the same realization that she had first most of the stuff here was pretty much ordinary and didn't really think that she'd use any of this at home.

All the clothes were usually shipped here for those "just in case we have to stay here" instances. so she decided she wouldn't take anything and leave it all here for the next time.

Sighing she knew with that decision made that it was time to go and show her Papi her phone and let them know about messages.