Hey guys, right so I'm currently on the flight home and I have 2 hours of nothing to do other than deal with a crying baby next to me and a fat middle aged man in front of me who obviously has something against my legs (they are crushed :P) but instead of being agitated and cursing to myself I'm going to use my iPod touch to start the next chapter for you because for some reason they won't let me use my iPad :L (aren't I just the best FF writer ever? :D) well... Here you go.

Claudia P.O.V.

Everything seemed to be going one hundred times slower than it should be. We had just been walked in on and as it is revealed that my mother and brother were the ones that were behind the door I felt my muscles tense and my stomach flip, and as everything went back to its normal motion my mother saw us first and gasped with shock. During that moment I was trying to go through possible ways to explain what had happened to both of them, I knew my mother would be more understanding than Ezio but each time the little voice in my head was contradicting me on how things could go wrong and make everything even worse, how on earth am I going to clean up this mess that I have made? My brother is rude and arrogant in his ways; he never seems to have his hood down indoors so his sight was impaired and because of this he still hadn't seen what me and Niccolo had been doing and although my mother isn't as young as she used to be, on this particular moment her reaction speed was very fast, the moment she saw us she stamped on Ezio's foot quicker than a minstrel would run if they saw a guard. He responded by hunching down further and let out a yelp like scream before swearing multiple times in Italian while he was doing so she gestured for Niccolo to hide and he did so without hesitation and dived behind the other side of the bed leaving me to face a now angered and over protective big brother.
My mother gave me a look which said 'did not see that coming'
When my brother managed to get a hold of the pain that she was feeling from my mother's quick thinking he looked up.

"Why did you do that?" he asked her with a look of agitation and confusion.

"I uhhhh thought I saw a bee... A big bee!" she lied to which he responded by narrowing his eyes.

"So you thought it was necessary to break my toes in order to-"

"What do you want Ezio?" I asked saving my mother from further pathetic lie attempts.

"I need to talk to you about a favour" he almost asked.

"Why should I do you any favours?" I asked rather coldly.

"Because you are an ally to the assassin order to which I haven't forced you out of so now you have a responsibility to do as your told when you are needed" he snapped.

I was silent.

"I would rather talk about this in private" he said beginning to walk toward the place where Niccolo had just dived.

"No!" I stopped him
"Ummmm I am expecting one of my girls to be wanting to use this room any time now let us go into a different room to speak about this" I practically pulled him out of the room.

Niccolo P.O.V.

I got up preparing myself for a serious scolding or a list of threats coming my way. I got up from the floor the door was shut and Maria was looking at me in shock but also confusion. I sighed trying to come up with a way to explain everything that has happened.

"I'm not sure if this explains Claudia's odd behaviour, or just add to it," she said still trying to piece everything together.

"Listen Maria, me and Claudia didn't mean for this to happen it just did. It happened in such a short space of time that telling you and Ezio didn't arise as a problem until recently and believe me we have talked about it but... We just didn't know how to tell you," I said holding her hands.

"Niccolo, she is my daughter and I would do anything for her. But she is lying to her brother's face. Ezio and Claudia are close. Very close. I am happy for the both of you but you both need to ask yourself is Ezio going to feel the same way once he finds out? or once he knows that two of the people he trusts the most have been sneaking around him and lying to his face," nothing could have wounded me more than those words. I know that Maria was being sincere and was just trying to help but it seriously reminded me that something needs to be done and soon.

"Why did you step on his foot if you want him to find out?"

"I think it would be best if you told him instead of showing him, it would be easier for him to swallow"

"You are right. I'm sorry that you had to find out his way Maria." I said. She smiled in a motherly way.

"I certainly would never have seen this coming if my life depended on it, but it was a nice surprise. You two deserve each other," she smiled.

"I am glad you think so… it would be a miracle if Ezio thought the same thing," I thought out loud. I thought that was a rather awful thing to say to his mother but she didn't give me much time to think about it.

"Well, he can be unpredictable at times. Maybe he will surprise you. His heart is in the right place if you think about it," she replied. I knew she had a point. I considered it and thought for a brief moment that I was thinking the worst of what his reaction could be.
"If you want to make me, Ezio and Claudia happy, than be the man that you would want a daughter to be with," she said.

"That is a nice and odd way to think about it," I smiled with amusement.

"But it works" she sniggered.

"True," I said and she laughed.

"Mother!" we both heard from outside, I panicked and was looking back and forth for a place to hide again but… too late. The door opened and Ezio marched in.

"Mother I-" he paused and stared at me for a few seconds…. A few very suffocating seconds.
"Niccolo… what are you doing in a bedroom with my mother?" he said, I could hear Maria scoffing.

"Ezio!" Maria said. He continued to stare at me waiting for an answer.

"We were just having a conversation," I said nervously.

"So why are you here?" he crossed his arms hunching forward slightly.

"I-" I tried to start a sentence but was interrupted by Claudia walking into the room with us.

"There you are!" Claudia walked in toward me. She got an awkward stare from Ezio.
"You are late, I asked for you to be here an hour ago," She looked at me.

"I know, I am sorry there is a lot to do today," I played along.

"There is now! Come on we need to sort everything out," she pulled me out of the room. As soon as I was out of Ezio's line of sight I could not help but smile. She pulled me to the bottom of the stairs and to her desk. She turned to face me and giggled.

"That was brilliant," I laughed.

"You are awful under pressure!" she nudged my shoulder as she said so.

"Only when my life is on the line," I smiled at her.

"My brother would never do that," she half joked to me.

Claudia P.O.V.

"He would. If it was for you," he replied.

The unwelcome feeling of being treated like a child was coming back to me. There was me thinking that I was missing it, clearly I was mistaken. Missing that feeling is like missing a pimple on your rear end.

"I can handle myself, and I can make my own mistakes," I said with a cold emotionless tone.

"I am sure that you can," I looked at him; I suspected he had something on his mind.
"Maybe we owe him something," he continued.

"Like what?"

"Like... telling him," he said nervously.

"Do you have a death wish?" I said not taking him seriously.

"Claudia we have to tell him eventually. We almost *showed* him upstairs. That would have been certain death for me, whatever the consequences are I am sure that it would be ten times better then the stabbing guilty feeling of sneaking around family and friends," I could see that my mother clearly lectured him to a point where she did some brainwashing.

I didn't think I was ready to tell him, but maybe I just liked the feeling of having a secret that Ezio didn't know about. Something that I didn't have to hear him nag about for once. Niccolo was right... keeping secrets as big as this from family isn't right I just couldn't help but wanting to see how far I could push my luck.

"I do not think that the time is right," I said to him, it was a half-lie. Yes the time was not right but the time will never be right.

"And why is that?" he asked with his arms folded.

"I don't know! It just doesn't feel right!" I shouted but didn't mean too.

I have always been prideful in my ways, enough to make my family see me as a stubborn and spoilt child when I cannot get my own way but that was not the case at all. It was more that I don't like being told what is what. What I should do or what I must do. I like the feeling of having some sort of independence and being able to make my own mistake and not somebody else's. If I get judged for that then I don't really care, at least this way I know that they are my flaws.

"You do not need to shout at me Claudia," he looked at me seriously.
"I think that if we keep pushing this further then the time will never be right. It will always just be our secret, or burden," he said. Those words infuriated me.

"Burden?" I asked. He was silent.
"So suddenly this is not something that was a nice and unexpected surprise. This is a burden?" I raised my voice again.

"That is not what I meant" he raised his voice as well.

"So tell me what you meant! What exactly did you mean by that and how could I have possibly not taken it the wrong way?" I shouted at him.

He just stood there and pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows. I didn't know what was wrong with me, I just wanted to scream at everyone and everything that did or said the slightest thing that wasn't very well thought out.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead in frustration, I wonder if Ezio likes to have the bandage ripped off or slowly peeled off... I was debating asking him that random question in my head where only I and a few others know the true meaning of the answer.

I closed my eyes ready to blurt out an attempt for an apology out to Niccolo.

"I am so sick of everyone telling me what to do," is what came out instead. Not exactly the romantic make up break up scene you would read in a cheesy and poorly written novel but it think it's a start.
"I get enough of that from my brother and now my mother and I don't need it from you okay?" I asked with wide dark eyes and a facial expression like stone.

He was still standing there with no oblivious reaction to the attempted apology that just leaked from my mouth

"Have you ever taken into consideration that I am only telling you what to do in fear that you will make the mistakes that are so easy to make?" he asked me voice getting louder the further into the question he became. He was infuriating himself. Nothing I said was making him angry it was the way he was mixing it around in his head.

"I have to make mistakes Niccolo, I am human it's what I do and it's how I learn, but I can't learn if you make my decisions for me," I said. He came closer to me and placed his hands just below my shoulders in a sort of protecting way. He didn't look into my eyes straight away either from repressed anger that he was trying to stop shooting out or thinking of way to pull me out of my stubbornness.

"You don't have to make mistakes to learn Claudia," he said shortly after giving me eye contact
"and if mistakes are to be made about this... then we make them together," he smiled at me amusingly.

"Fine, then we tell him together," I murmured. He released my arms and stepped back burrowing his brows.

"Niccolo," I hear Ezio upstairs.

God damn it Ezio! It's always before he can answer. My inner self yells and pouts.

Ezio canters down the stairs obviously still abrupt with confusion being the clueless hopeless romantic that he is, approaches Niccolo without even batting an eyelid at me for some reason that I will never know.

"I'm leaving now, but remember this Niccolo I don't want you anywhere near my sister or mother other than work purposes, understand?" he pointed his finger in Niccolo's emotionless face. And his response to this was to put his hands behind his band as he always does in his pompousness.

"I don't know what you mean Ezio; this is nothing more than work purposes. It never has been," Niccolo said nonchalantly. I twitched with discomfort. Another lie to add to the list my inner self scolded me. I frowned in response.

Ezio stood there not moving a muscle; the tension was so bad you could actually feel the awkward in the air.

"Ezio," my mother said concerned as she was walking down the stairs. They gave a brief glance at each other before my brothers expression softened and he walked out of the brothel without saying another word.

Niccolo P.O.V.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"I just spent the last few minutes trying to convince him-" she stopped as if she crossed a line.
"Trying to convince him that Niccolo isn't up to no good," she said staring at the floor. I knew what she meant and an unwelcome feeling was stirring in my stomach.

"Oh no," Claudia said. With her hand on her face.
"How many more lies do we have to tell before this is over?" she asked rhetorically.

"I know sweetheart, I'm hoping not much more, he's getting to be quite suspicious," Maria said to her. That word. Suspicious. I was growing a dislike for it.

"Ezio is not one to let a suspicion slip by him" I said, repeating la Volpe's words, as if I only just understand them. This is going to be a long week. I thought and sighed.

Yo! Done! Ha! I did it! :D stupid writer's block -.- only one month late. Man I suck at this :') but you guys love it ;) Merry Christmas! Have a good one guy's love you!
Not sure when I will post the next chapter but I want to focus on my other story next month. 'Just Another Day' if you don't mind. If you're a fan of crossovers and action/adventure go check it out. Ciao. :)