"Mia, are you in here?" her father called into the library. "Oh, hello Daniel. Have you seen," he trailed off upon seeing his daughter's head raise into sight, her hair rumpled and eyes bleary with what he hoped was sleep. "Mia."

"Don Corleone, I," a sharp look from her father silenced him.

"Hi daddy," Mia yawned, rubbing at her eyes.

"Mia."

"Hmm?" she responded distractedly, as she ran a hand through her hair. Finding it still up in a ponytail, she reached back and shook it loose.

Michael watched as Danny became distracted by Mia's actions. Danny's eyes were riveted as she combed her hand through her hair. "What're you doing?" Michael asked, noting as Danny's focus immediately snapped back to him.

"Oh! I was telling Danny all about my day," she beamed.

"Really."

"Mmhmm. And then we just kept talking and I guess we fell asleep."

"Huh. Mia, why don't you go up and get ready for dinner."

"Is it seven already?" she said in surprise, peeking down at her watch.

"Yes."

"Okay," she agreed with a shrug. "It was great seeing you again Danny," she said, reaching up to give him a hug. "Thanks for listening. We'll have to talk more often."

"It was good to see you too. I'll give you a call later about Friday," he said, standing up as she did.

"Excellent. Bye!" she waved as she bounced out of the room.

"Bye."

The silence stretched out between the two men left in the room, each standing and staring at each other. Danny broke the quiet first, "Don Corleone, I have nothing but the best intentions towards your daughter and I'm very sorry that we fell asleep."

"You didn't look very asleep to me," Michael remarked idly.

"I.." he stammered uncomfortably.

"I don't want you to have any intentions towards my daughter. And I don't want to see today's events repeated. Is that clear?"

"I'm sorry, Don Corleone, about today, but I can't agree to that," Danny said firmly.

Michael raised an eyebrow at this, "You don't have a say in the matter."

Danny stared straight at him, but said nothing in response.

"Your father has already returned home, perhaps you should do the same."

"Yes, sir." Danny nodded, and Michael rubbed his face tiredly once he was gone.

This was going to be a long night.

**

"Hi daddy," Mia greeted, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before flouncing into her customary seat to the right of him. "How was your meeting?"

"It was good."

"Well, that's good," she replied vaguely as she placed her napkin on her lap, "Why wasn't Danny in the meeting?"

Her father's eyes narrowed a bit, "Because I didn't wish him to be."

"Was Mike in the meeting?"

"Yes, he was."

"Oh. Why wasn't I-"

"Mia," her father said warningly, setting down his silverware.

She looked away from him and she dimly noticed her brothers had fallen silent. Mechanically, she brought a forkful of food to her mouth and chewed.

Her father sighed. "Mia."

"It's fine. Whatever."

He nodded, not really believing her, but refusing to begin the argument anew, "So how was your first day?"

"Okay."

"Just okay?"

Mia sighed; she knew she couldn't stay mad at her father. "It was really good, actually. My boss is bit of a jerk, but everyone else was really nice to me. It was so much fun and so exciting being right there in a newsroom."

"Like, oh my gosh, like it was so fun," Sonny mocked, and her brothers laughed, lightening the mood.

She frowned at him, "It's bad enough you spend a lot of time around bimbos, but, really, do you have to start talking like them too?" Mike snorted, and Sonny glared at her.

Smiling innocently, she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Real mature," Sonny replied.

"I thought so," she tossed back genially.

Michael rolled his eyes at their antics, "What did they have you do?"

"Oh! I got a spot in the Tempo section, which was my first choice. Sadly, I didn't get to do much, just running errands and getting coffee but I got to meet a bunch of the writers that were there including," she paused dramatically, "Jordan Santin!"

Seeing no dawning looks of comprehension, she pouted. "Come on, the writer I'm always talking about? All the articles I made you read?" Huffing, she said sarcastically, "Nice to know you guys have been paying attention to me. At least Danny knew who I was talking about."

"Danny was here?" Tony asked interestedly.

"Yeah, and he actually wanted to listen to my story, unlike my so-called family."

"Probably more like you cornered him," Vince mumbled.

"I did not!"

"Okay."

"I didn't!"

Michael interrupted them, "Enough. Mia, why don't you continue with your story?"

"Right. So I met Jordan and he's really nice. He even offered to look at some of my work and said if it's any good he'd be willing to co-write a piece with me!" she squealed happily.

"That's very nice of him," Michael remarked, silently making a note to check up on this Jordan character.

"I know! He offered to show me the ropes and everything next week," she grinned smugly.

"I'm glad your first day went so well," Michael smiled.

"Thanks. Me too!"

Vince waved dismissively, "Great. So how's Danny? Do you think he has time to teach me some of his basketball tricks?"

Mia pouted. "Oh, thanks, don't I feel special?"

"What?" Vince asked obliviously, "It's not like you can play basketball."

She rolled her eyes. "Danny's fine. And I don't know, I'll ask him on Friday. Happy?"

"Why Friday?" Sonny asked.

"Because that's the next time I'll see him," she said slowly, as if she were speaking to a not-so-bright child.

Sonny glowered at her, "Why are you seeing him anyway?"

"He's taking me to a Maroon 5 concert as a sort of belated birthday gift. Backstage and everything," she smirked. "Which is more than I can say for your gift."

"Hey. It was a good card," Sonny retorted defensively.

"It had a cat on it. And you wrote 'Happy B-Day.' No name, not even the full word!" she threw back.

"I-"

"I don't recall you mentioning this to me," Michael interrupted with a frown.

"Well, he just asked me today Daddy," she protested. "And I was going to, I swear, 'sides you know now."

"I don't think I want you going to a concert, alone with him, especially not after what I saw this afternoon," he said grimly.

"What happened?" Mike inquired.

Mia blinked, and shook off his question. "It was nothing. We just fell asleep. And daddy," she whined, "why can't I go?"

"You fell asleep with him?" her brothers exclaimed as one.

Jumping back a bit, she stared at the four of them, "That was weird."

"Did he try anything?" Sonny demanded menacingly, her other brothers staring intently at her.

"What? No, of course not."

"You're sure?" Vince insisted.

"Yes, I'm sure," she said forcefully.

"I think we should have a talk with him," Tony said turning to the rest of them and the other three nodded in agreement.

"What? Stop it you guys!" she said panicked by their plotting. "Guys? Come on, stop it! It's Danny, for Christ's sake."

"Exactly," Mike said severely.

"What the hell does that mean?" she challenged.

The four of them looked at each other, but said nothing.

She rolled her eyes and turned toward her father and said pleadingly, "Daddy, tell them to stop. It's not like anything happened. And it's Danny, he's a nice guy!"

"I don't like the idea of you going out with him," her father responded.

"Daddy!"

"Mia, we just don't want to see you get hurt," Mike said gently, placing a calming hand on her arm.

"I'm not going to get hurt!" she protested. "And it's just a concert."

"Well, he's got a bit of a reputation," Sonny admitted reluctantly.

Mia scoffed. "So do you."

"Yeah, which is precisely why I don't want you going out with him!" he exclaimed.

"Daddy, this isn't fair," she wailed. "He hasn't done anything but be a perfect gentleman."

"I'll think about it," Michael responded.

"Daddy, you've never forbidden any of them from going anywhere," she said indignantly.

He raised an eyebrow, "I said I'd think about it, or would you like a decision now?"

She pouted and reluctantly conceded, "Fine."

A/N: Thanks all for the review!! PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING! :D :D