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Mariella entered her home, her mind still racing with thoughts and unasked questions. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it, dropping her head in her hands, before scraping them through her hair and heading into the direction of the kitchen, searching for paracetamol.

She had just swallowed two tablets when the front door slammed shut, causing her to sigh and roll her eyes.

'Mariella Lucia? Keira? Anyone home?' Her adoptive mother's voice floated through the house.

Mariella stayed silent, knowing her adoptive mother would no doubt have a guy with her. Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard two sets of footsteps running upstairs.

She groaned and headed from the kitchen and up to her room, looking for her phone charger. She had left it in her room when her sister had hit her the TV remote, when they had been chilling in her room.

She grabbed her charger and rolled it up, stuffing it into her over the shoulder bag and zipping it back up, before heading out of her room, hearing the front door slam again.

She leaned over the banister and saw her sister lugged down with shopping bags... A lot of shopping bags. 'what the hell have you done?' She hissed, as her sister spotted her and headed up the stairs, her face projecting a frown at the loud music coming from her mothers room.

'I bought us presents! Look... Chanel, Gucci, Dolce and Gabanna... you name it!' Keira told her, handing her the bags.

'Have you taken your meds today?'

'I don't need them!' Keira insisted, pulling out some Vivienne Westwood earrings and setting them on the table at resting against the banister.

'Yes. You do! We're taking all this stuff back, c'mon!' Mariella said, grabbing the bags and her sisters hand and heading for the stairs.

'Get off! I bought you these! To say sorry for I what did!' Keira shouted, wrenching her wrist from her sisters grip. 'Why are you so ungrateful?' She told her, stepping infront of her sister.

'Ungrateful?' Mariella stuttered, her eyes wide, 'I'm not being ungrateful! You're having a manic episode, you're not in your right mind set! Please... just take it all back before the bank is on the phone!'

'No! Look it was my inheritance from dad! That'll pay it all back!'

'You won't get that till your twenty one, that's seven years away! Now, get moving!' Mariella told her, pushing gently at her sisters shoulder.

'No, you can't make me!'

'I'll tell Mom!'

'Oh please. She isn't even your real mom. You're adopted! You're parents didn't even want you!' Keira spat her as she tried to elbow past her older sister, whose expression has turned furious with hint of hurt.

'Keira, I mean it, get moving!' Mariella said, the panic of the situation her sister had put them in starting to get the better of her.

'No!'

'Yes!' Mariella shouted, pushing her sister back with desperation to get her moving.

However, as she pushed her back, Keira lost her footing on the stairs and let out a small scream as she backwards down the stairs, her head striking the wooden cabinet as she hit the floor.

'Oh God, oh God! Keira!' Mariella shouted, rushing down the stairs and dropping next to her little sister, shaking her gently. 'Keira, wake up! Keira!' She begged, panic starting to seize at her...

'So, what are you wanting this time?' Dom asked Brian, as they reclined in chairs on the patio, drinking Corona's under the night sky.

'A baby girl. Mia's intuition is kicking in early' Brian replied, causing Dom to chuckle.

'You know with us, she won't date till she's thirty' he replied, not hearing Letty come up behind him.

'And just so you're aware, me and Mia will be teaching her every trick of the book!' Letty told them, resting her arms on the backs of their chairs.

'You wouldn't!' Brian asked, turning to look at her and raising an eyebrow.

'Of course, I would! The poor girl is going to need someone to express her anger to' Letty answered, causing Brian to scowl.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Dom's phone blasted to life and his attention was diverted, causing Letty to smirk and shake her head.

'What's up, Mia?' Dom greeted, before a frown etched upon face and his eyes drifted to Letty, who frowned in curiosity. 'Okay... I'm on my way' Dom said, getting to his feet and hanging up.

'What's going on?' Letty asked. Dom turned to her, casting a quick glance at Brian before whispering something in her ear.

'Oh my god, I'll come with you!' She exclaimed.

'No, stay here. We'll be back soon' Dom said, before he grabbed his keys and headed back inside the house, leaving behind a confused Brian and a slightly put out Letty...

Dom burst through the doors of A&E, half an hour later, looking for Mia. He found her stepping out of a patients room.

'Mi! Where she is?' Dom demanded, making his sister jump.

'Jesus, Dom!' She exclaimed, a hand going to her heart. 'She's in the waiting room. Down the corridor, first door on the left...' Mia barely fished her sentence before Dom was rushing off.

He knocked on the door and opened it, watching as his daughters head turned to see who it was.

'What are you doing here?' She asked, confused.

Dom frowned and pointed behind him. 'Your Aunt called me. Said you brought someone in?'

'Aunt?' She questioned, a frown on her face.

'Yeah. Mia... the woman who you met outside the family house. She works here' Dom explained, sitting down on one of the chairs.

'Oh. I didn't see her... never mind' Mariella said, running a hand through her locks.

'What happened? Mariella, what happened?' Dom repeated when his daughter ignored him the first time.

'She had another episode, and I accidently pushed her down the stairs' Mariella admitted, causing Dom to sigh.

'Okay. What else happened? What caused you to push her?' He asked, leaning forward in his chair.

Mariella sighed. 'She went out a basically bankrupted us. Her Dad left us all some money when he passed away, but it's locked up till we're twenty one. She thought because she has all that money, everything would be fine... We got into an argument, I kept tell her to take it all back, but she wouldn't listen and now we're going to have probably going to have the house repossessed and we'll be homeless and living on the streets...' Mariella started to ramble and tears made their way down her cheeks.

'Okay, okay, calm down' Dom said, getting to his feet and sitting down on the sofa next to her. 'How much did she spend?' He asked, wiping away his daughters tears with his thumb.

Mariella shook her head. 'I don't know. I'm too scared to look' She replied, taking a deep breath to get herself under control.

'Okay. I'll take you back to your house when you find how your sister is and then we can see. We might be able to return it all'

'Not if Darcy has her paws on them, she'll be hanging everything up probably' Mariella spat, looking at Dom out of the corner of her eye.

Dom could see how shaken she was. 'How long have you been here?'

'About two hours'

'Have you got a drink? Or eaten anything?'

Mariella shook her head and opened her mouth to answer when a knock at the door sounded and a doctor entered the room.

'How's my sister? Please tell me she's okay!' Mariella shot at her, before she could speak.

'She's got a concussion, and some stitches but she's going to be fine. I've read on her notes that she has bipolar disorder... is that why you've got the bruise?' The doctor asked gently, her eyes drifting to Dom and then back to Mariella.

'Yeah. She hit me, not the first time, but she stopped taking her meds again' Mariella admitted, causing the doctor to nod and write something her file.

'Okay. Well, we'll see how she is when she wakes up and see how she feels about a course of new antibiotics... for now, I would recommend you go home and get some sleep' the doctor told her softly.

'But what about-'

'We'll call you with any news about your sister. We've got your contact details on the system' the doctor said, before leaving the room, closing the door behind her gently.

'Come on, I'll take you back to your house' Dom said, getting to his feet, waiting for Mariella to do same.

They headed for the door, only for the door to fly open and Darcy to enter the room, the man who she had entered the house with earlier was standing behind her, looking slighty uncomfortable.

'What have you done to my daughter?' She demanded at her adoptive daughter.

'She had another episode! Have you seen all the bags? They have to be taken back!' Mariella retaliated.

'I don't care about the bags, I care about my daughter. What did you do?'

'We had an argument and she started pushing me and I pushed her back and she fell... but I swear it was accident, I swear!'

Everything went silent for a spilt second before Darcy raised a hand. Mariella flinched before Dom shielded his daughter with his body. The sound of skin hitting skin reached their ears and Mariella opened her eyes to find her Mom gripping Darcy's wrist tightly in the air.

'You lay a hand on my daughter and I'll go straight to the adoption agency and have her removed from your care, so fast, the room will spin' came Letty's threatening voice from behind Darcy.

Mariella didn't know what overcame her, but the second she heard her mother's voice, she relaxed, allowing her to finish her sentence before rushing into her arms.

She could tell Letty was slightly taken aback, considering her behaviour earlier in the day, but she hugged her back tightly and protectively.

Darcy turned to face her adoptive daughter and her mother; her face became ashen as she remembered the day Dom came and told her that Mariella's mother had died. 'Your daughter? But you're supposed-'

'To be dead? Yeah, I know. Long, long story' Letty told her sharply, her hand absentmindly stroking her daughters hair.

'Babe, take her to your car, take her back to ours' Dom told Letty, who nodded and guided their daughter down the hallway and out of sight.

'You even raise a hand to my daughter again and I'll make sure Letty goes through with her threat' Dom told Darcy with a glare, before he stepped from the room and heading in the direction of the hospital exit...

R&R X