A/N: Thank you to Come2MyRescue for your review! That is so nice of you! And Thanks to the rest of you who reviewed as well I'm so excited to keep writing. I'm thinking since no one objected the next chapter after this will be from Ian's POV, and then possibly alternating between him and Emily, if I don't totally suck at writing from his POV. Any hoo onto the next chapter!

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

-Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina

After Emily had eaten, she swallowed her pain so Ian could give her a private tour of their personal "Fortress of Solitude." The beach at night was breathtaking, the sand squeezing in between their toes, while the light wind blew their shirts around. He showed her the stable, which come to find out had a horse named Vixen for her, a blackish brown mare with a glossy black tail and mane. Declan too, had his own horse, which he had already seen and taking a liking too. His name was Buddha, a young roan stallion, who, Ian assured Emily, was quite calm enough for a child to ride, hence the name: Buddha.

"Where's your horse?" Emily asked as they kept walking down the stable hall.

"She's not here yet, she's being flown from Ireland as we speak." Ian said with a smile.

"Oh, well what's her name?" Emily asked, a little puzzled. She'd figured Ian to have the most manly, fastest, largest Stallion he could find, not a mare.

"Lauren." He said quietly tucking his head down, as though embarrassed. Emily was shocked. She didn't know to take it as a compliment or be insulted he'd named a horse after her alter ego. She smiled anyways, "Why'd you name her after me?" She asked teasingly. She couldn't wait to hear what he pulled out of his ass for this one…

"I named her Lauren because she is stubborn, beautiful, headstrong, tall, near unbreakable. And, she'll kick you in the teeth if she gets the chance." Ian said smiling raising an eyebrow at her. Well, she had wanted honesty right?

Emily chuckled at that one. "Sounds like a smart horse," she teased. They continued on with the tour of the massive house, there were 12 bedrooms, a rec room for Declan that connected to his bedroom, with every gaming system and game, or form of digital entertainment you could think of. There was a music room with a grand piano. There was a family den, with a giant 56 inch plasma and comfy micro suede couches. There were 3 libraries, plus Ian's study. And to top it all off there were 15 bathrooms, 8 full, 7 half bathrooms. This house was INCREDIBLE.

Soon, the Vicodin kicked in and Emily had to admit she was tired, after all it was now almost 4:45 in the morning. Ian led her back up to the master bedroom, letting her brush her teeth and comb her hair. When she emerged she found Ian stripped down to his boxers and a t-shirt. Sitting on the edge of the bed. She swallowed. She'd prepared herself for this, and it wasn't altogether unfamiliar, after all they'd lived together for almost a year at one time. Hell, she'd just banged him an hour or so ago; this just seemed so intimate, so personal. She slowly crawled under the covers on her side of the giant bed, this is going to be so awkward, she thought embarrassedly. It had been some time since she'd shared a bed with anyone but Sergio! Moment's later she felt Ian slide in on his side without a word. She peeped over her shoulder to see if he was facing her, but saw only his broad shoulder with half of his Celtic cross tattoo that covered his entire back. Sighing in relief, she turned back onto her side. "Good night, Ian," she almost whispered, wondering if he'd even heard her.

"Good night, Love." He replied after a moment of silence. 6 hours later, they awoke to a tapping on their door. Emily opened her eyes sleepily, looking around. Ian's arm was draped across her hips, carefully avoiding her ribcage. "Ian…Ian! Wake up!" She whispered tapping his arm.

"What is it Emily?" Ian growled. He was not a morning person. Before she could tell him someone was at the door, the handle slowly turned and a blonde head stuck its head in.

"Em? Em? Em, are you in here?" Declan whispered loudly looking around the massive room. Before he noticed, Emily threw Ian's arm off of her hips and sat up.

"Dec? I'm right here hon," She said wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"Can I come in?" He asked shyly.

"Yeah, come here bud." She beckoned with both hands, indicating she wanted a hug. Declan sprinted practically to her side before embracing her in a bone brushing bear hug, well has hard as a 12 year old boy could. "I'm sorry I didn't see you yesterday bud, I was just so tired from the plane and work and everything," and getting shit beat out of me, again… she thought, giving Declan a small smile. "Did you have a good time though? I heard your father showed you around yesterday." She said.

"Yeah, Em, guess what, I have my own horse! And there's a piano here too! And, And there's a game room, and Ian's got a boat and, and he knows how to make macaroni and cheese the way we like it!" Declan said after plopping down on the bed in front of her.

"Oh does he now?" Emily said in feigned amazement. Ian is the one who had first introduced her to macaroni in the microwave, and she'd made it for Declan and he adored it.

"Yeah, and he said we could go swimming in the ocean today!" Declan said looking over at Ian who had propped his head up on his hand when Declan sat down, knowing he was not going back to sleep.

"Really? That sounds awesome." Emily said high fiving Declan, giggling. Ian smiled at the two of them.

"Well I hate to burst your bubbles, but before we can do anything else, we need to go to town and get you two some clothes and swimsuits and such." He said chuckling.

"Aww man shopping?" Declan pouted.

"Declan, be polite," Emily warned. "Unless you wanna go swimming in your birthday suit and get Nemo stuck up your buttcrack you're gonna want at least a swimsuit…And some sunblock," she teased, ruffling his hair. Frankly, she did need some clothes her own size.

"Okkkk, but can we go now, so we can hurry up and go swimming before dinner?" He asked excitedly his eyes lighting up.

"Well that's up to Ian, why don't you ask him," She nodded over towards Ian, smilng.

"K, Ian can we go now? Pleaaaaaaassse, Pleaseeee," Declan said swooshing his hair out of his eyes, to flash his sparkly blue eyes…Identical to the man staring back at him.

"Yeah, I S'pose. Let Emily and I get dressed and we'll meet you at the front door in ten okay?" Ian said tiredly, sitting up against the headboard.

"Yeah! Ok. Hurry up though!" He said before hugging Emily and running out the door, slamming it behind him.

Ian was sitting there rubbing his temples, eyes closed. Emily shook her head laughing at him.

"I fail to see what's so funny here, Love," he pouted.

"Oh, nothing. You said you wanted your son back and a family, well you did no matter how unhappy we all are, so you'd better get up and get dressed or you're going to hear it all day long." She said looking around in the closet for something of Ian's she could wear. Finally she settled for a pair of rip off Adidas jogging pants, a white v-neck and the matching jacket to the pants. She looked like a soccer mom. Wonderful…

Ian finally crawled out of bed, stumbled to the bathroom, came back out and got dressed.

"Ready?" She said perkily. For once she'd remembered someone who was less of a morning person than she was and she fully intended to revel in it. Ian just glared at her, in a playful way, rolling his eyes. Well, he wanted a family…..

A/N 2: Sorry if this chapter was a tad dull, the drama will kick up again next chapter, I promise. PLEASE REVIEW!