Chapter Thirteen

Paths Crossed

"I don't like her," Gia commented on the new soprano of GeneCo.

"You don't know her, Gianna," Desiree retorted, putting her hair up into a neat bun. Gia sat on Desiree's large bed. She traced the intricate golden frame of Desiree's bed. She and Desiree were discussing sprucing up Gia's room. She was sick of the gloominess of her room and Desiree promised her that they would paint it and spruce it up.

"She just isn't like my mother," Gia sighed. Desiree looked down at the girl she had been a maternal figure too. She knew Gia was doing much better than when she first came her, but she also knew that it was natural for her to miss her mother. She talked about her often to Desiree. Her beauty, her voice, her kindness. Seeing someone who was now taking that place was difficult to accept.

"Gia, no one can ever replace your mother, and no one is trying to. Alexis is the new singer, but she will never replace Mag. For one, she isn't talented enough. Secondly, she certainly isn't smart enough to," Desiree smirked. Gia took it that Desiree didn't like her much either. It'd only been a day since she was hired and Pavi was paying an awful lot of attention to the young girl who was only nineteen years old.

"She's just a new, shiny toy," Desiree commented dryly. Gia seemed puzzled at this, and didn't really know how to respond, so she rolled over and looked into Desiree's closet, admiring all her beautiful clothes, shoes and jewelry.

"You have so many pretty clothes Desiree," Gia marveled. Desiree was always fashionable. She always had the clothes that showed off her curves, although for the past few days she had been wearing looser clothes. Gia didn't think much of it. She still dressed beautifully.

"Desiree, can I ask you a question?" Gia requested, rolling back onto Desiree's red bedspread and dropping her head off of the edge of the bed, looking up at Desiree. Desiree smiled down at her,

"Of course, Gia,"

"Are you my dad's girlfriend?" she said, smiling.

Desiree gave her a sly smile. "I suppose, in a way. I've known him and his siblings for a very long time," she said, observing herself in the mirror, fixing her make-up, paying extra attention to her clothes.

"How long?"

"Oh, since I was about five. Amber was four, Luigi was thirteen and Pavi was eight. My father was a big investor in GeneCo, he was friends with their father, I kind of got sorted in with them," she smiled, remembering the days where she and Carmela would play. The boys didn't play with them. She only hung around with the boys when her and Carmela were older. Her and Carmela, now Amber Sweet, were very good friends growing up. Desiree still loved Amber like a sister, but to a lesser extent. She wasn't the same girl anymore.

"Desiree?"

Desiree shook her head and snapped out of the memories to see Gia looking at her with a puzzled look on her face.

"I'm sorry Gia, I zoned out," she apologized. Desiree joined Gia on the bed and hung her head off of the edge as Gia had done. Gia looked around the room at the light pink walls, and the bright furnishings of Desiree's room, and was still deciding on what to do with her own room.

"Gia, how about I surprise you with how your room will look?" Desiree proposed. Gia pondered on this idea. Desiree had a lot of style to her and her room, and Gia herself had no idea what to do. "That way, when you're back from hanging out with your friend, it'll be done,"

"You can get it done in a few hours?" Gia asked skeptically. Desiree put on a sly smile. This was really no trouble at all, she could get it done before Gia returned.

"Alright, I trust you," Gia said. She looked around awkwardly for a moment before returning upward to a regular position. "I have another question," she said quietly. Desiree sat up with Gia, "Go ahead,"

"Do you think... I mean... I haven't really addressed it," Gia stuttered.

"Gia, what is it?"

"Do you think he would mind if I started to call him dad? I don't want to make it awkward or anything," Gia finished, looking down.

"Oh, Gia, I know he wouldn't mind," Desiree smiled. She knew the amount of affection that was growing for Gia from Pavi. It's made Desiree's heart soar to hear him talk about her, praising how smart she is, or how sweet, or how beautiful she is. She had mentioned it to him before and he had said "It would-a be wonderful If-a she felt comfortable enough for that-a,". Him adapting to becoming a father was a huge joy and relief to Desiree. Gia smiled at this and said goodbye to Desiree and ran off to meet with Lucas.

Gia ran as quickly as her boots had allowed her. When she got outside she adjusted her skirt and waited for Lucas to arrive. He told her it was very important and that she wouldn't regret coming out. Gia already regretted it, it was freezing. She pulled her boots up as far they could go, just below her knee and buttoned up her large dark purple jacket.

"There you are! It took you long enough to get here!" Gia scolded. Her friend seemed to always be late. He also seemed dressed a little better than usual, still in ratty jeans though. She knew very little of his home life, only that his mother was a junkie, and he saw her very little. She didn't even know where he lived. Gia definitely didn't know how he got a big and comfortable new jacket. She was of course happy that he's be warm though.

"Come on," he said grabbing her by the hand and running off, dragging Gia along with him. "I'll explain when we get there!" he said, a mischievous look in his gray eyes. He led her quickly through the streets and they found their way to an old eerie house. She pulled her wrist out of Lucas' surprisingly strong grip.

"Why are we here? What's so important that you had to practically yank my arm out of it's socket?" Gia barked, agitated by the lack of information and treatment Lucas gave her. The boy looked over at her, catching his breath, "This is important. There's someone you need to meet! You can thank me later," he smiled. Gia rolled his eyes, she didn't realize he was serious."Graves!"

Out of the house walked Graverobber in his usual attire and had on his usual smug smirk. Behind him there was a young girl. She was skinny and short. She had dark hair and dark eyes and wore a black sweater and a black skirt. Not a very colorful girl...Gia thought to herself. But then it struck Gia. The girl... It was the girl from the Opera!

"Gianna, this is Shilo Wallace, Marni's daughter. Shilo, this is Gianna Defoe Largo. Mag's daughter," Graverobber introduced.

"But, I thought Marni's baby died with her? That's what my mother said," Gia asked. This was all very confusing to her. Mag had always been under the impression that her goddaughter had died at birth with Marni, why would she not know she didn't?

"My father," Shilo began, taking a shaky breath, "Lied to your mother and told her I died with my mother. He kept me hidden from the world. I only just met your mother on the day of the opera," Shilo explained. She smiled at Gia, seeing the similarities to Mag.

"We'll leave you two alone for awhile," Graves said, taking Lucas by the shoulder and they ran off towards the graveyard.

"I knew I recognized you. I saw you on the magazine," Gia explained. "You look just like Marni. My mom always talked about her," Gia said. Shilo smiled at the young girl.

"You look just like your mother too," Shilo said. In the month it had been since the Opera, Shilo had become used to the outside world now. Not as much as a normal person who had grown up freely would, but she was adjusting well.

"What was growing up like for you?" Shilo asked. Gia began to explain how she was raised. How she was taken care of by her mother with the help of Lucia, how she wasn't allowed in public all that much, and she never knew who her father was. She went into the explanation of what happened to her after the Opera when both her mother and Lucia were dead. Shilo also told her story.

"So your father was the Repo Man?" Gia asked, picturing the tall uniformed man hovering over Lucia removing organs from her body.

"Yes," Shilo said quietly. She still loved her father very much and missed him, but he had caused her so much pain. Yet Gia could sympathize with her. Gia explained the feeling of abandonment she had towards her mother since she willingly took death and didn't fight.

"Sometimes I just feel so helpless and scared, and I can't feel any hope," Gia said. These feelings had been nagging at her heart even though she was seemingly happy.

"Did your mother ever show you my mother singing, Gia?" Shilo asked. Gia nodded her head remembering the music her mother encouraged her to take to heart, "Chase the Morning, Yield for Nothing,"

"She also told me to live my life to it's fullest, and be the best person I could be. I think she'd want to tell you the same thing and be happy you're doing it,"

Gia smiled up at her mother's goddaughter. It seemed incredible that she could've known her for years and grown up with her but was only just meeting her.

"I think our mothers would be happy that we've finally met each other. Now we can be friends," Gia smiled. Shilo returned the smile, and nodded her head. It this would be something Gia would thank Lucas for.

Author's Note

Okay, so with the sacrifice of sleep, I got this chapter done! Tomorrow should be fun! Mondays on five hours of sleep always are... Anyways, I really want to thank you all for the response to the doubts of mine. It's really reassuring that you all want me to continue! I will continue this story and may already have a sequel idea. Anyways thank you all! I hope to wake up to some reviews! :D