About two hours later they finally seemed to be there. At least Alaude stopped the carriage right in front of a lovely cottage. It was rather isolated from the street they had taken from Paris and Giotto immediately noticed the small vineyard and the garden. It actually looked like an idyllic place.

"Is that the place?" He wondered, hoping not to misinterpret their stop.

However Alaude nodded and got off the carriage.

"Yes, this is our new place to be." He responded, pulling a key from an inner pocket of his trench coat. "Come on, I'll show you around."

Giotto blinked in surprise, again examining the cottage.

"Are you serious?" He said, also getting off the carriage.

"Yes, I am. Don't you like it?" Alaude asked, already fearing Giotto wouldn't like their new home, but in fact the small Italian was bowled over by the place. Never would he have dreamt of being allowed to live in a place like this. When Alaude had taken him from japan and finally to Paris he had been sure they would stay in Alaude's house in the city. And now he had brought them both to the countryside and offered him a cottage in the wild where everything was not only silent and stress-free, but also amazingly beautiful.

"You can't be serious." Giotto mumbled, still looking at the cottage in disbelief. "Why should we stay here when your house is located in Paris?"

"Well, it's because I bought the cottage? I thought you might prefer to stay in the countryside, but when you wish to return to Paris we will head back immediately." Alaude felt unconfident. It had always been hard for him to read Giotto's mind and now again it more seemed like the man was averse to stay in a place like that although he always had kept telling his lover how much he preferred to live in the countryside. The time they had spent in America just had made Alaude feel more sure about this since Giotto had seemed to like the place they had stayed. However he now seemed to question everything.

"No!" Giotto said immediately, making Alaude quiver in surprise. "This place is a dream. I would have never imagined we could stay in a place like that. Just the thought of you really buying a house for the both of us…" Giotto stopped talking, making a soft but overstrained voice. "I don't know what to say but thank you. And that's not enough at all."

He looked at Alaude, happy and yet worried. Even after this long time his lover still cared for him more than he deserved. He never would be able to return this debt.

"You don't have to thank me Giotto. Maybe we should first take a look inside anyway. Come on." He gave Giotto a small smile, calming himself down again since it seemed like the Italian really loved this place. So it actually was like he had hoped.

Together they took the small path towards the front door, which Alaude quickly unlocked. Giotto quickly noticed the bright painted furniture inside the house which reminded him of his old room back in Sicily. He always had loved the furniture there.

Curious he went on the hallway, noticing a living room on the right side whereas on the left there was a dining room. Probably the kitchen was right behind. The Italian decided to take a closer look at the living room which was rather big and really bright because of the large windows. One of it was obviously a French window which could be opened and let to the backside of the house where a huge garden could be seen. In the living room there was a fireplace and really comfortable looking couch.

"Alaude, this looks amazing." He said and went closer to the French window in order to take a better look outside. Compared to the house the garden looked wild. There was a lot of lavender growing and some feet away the vineyard started. Although nobody had taken care of the garden yet, Giotto still loved it. He actually really hoped he would be allowed to take care of it.

"Come, I'd like to show you the upper floor." Alaude said, taking Giotto's hand and leading him upstairs.

"But there are still two doors left." Giotto wondered, eying the doors which were still on the lower floor.

"One of them leads to the basement and will take a look at the other one afterwards." Alaude simply returned. "First I'd like to show you our room."

He led his lover through the corridor to the last door on the right side. He opened it and pulled Giotto inside who gasped in surprise. It was a large room and very bright and the large window revealed a beautiful view on the vineyard and the garden.

"This is unbelievable, Alaude. I love it so much." The Italian said while taking a look around. However at the same time a rather bad conscience started to bother him. He was sure he didn't deserve this at all. Not after he had left the Vongola and mainly Alaude and yet the man was bathing him in love and made him one gift after another.

"There's also a guest room in case Luc and Élaine would like to come for a visit. And of course there's a bathroom and a study for myself." The French explained while showing Giotto around the house. Amazed by the whole thing Giotto examined every room until they finally went downstairs again.

"Now I'll show you the last room. I hope you'll like it as much as I do." The tall blonde opened the door revealing a huge library. However the shelves weren't filled with books yet. Instead the floor was covered with boxes.

"It's a library?" Giotto wondered not quite sure why this room was so important and special.

"Indeed. There was no time to unpack the stud so far, although I actually prefer to do it myself anyway." Alaude responded, while opening one of the wooden boxes, revealing the content to Giotto.

For another time this day Giotto gasped in surprise. The content of course was books, but these books weren't just any random books. They were his grandfather's belongings. He immediately recognized them although he never had had that much interest into books.

Carefully he took one of them from the box, opening the first page. There was his grandfather's seal, marking this book as one of his.

"How did you get them here?" Giotto wondered with a silent voice. It was hard to hold back the tears. This meant much more to him than seeing his own horse or realizing Alaude had bought a complete property for the both of them.

"I took them from the mansion in Sicily once you had left. First I brought them to a friend of mine in Palermo and afterwards I shipped them to Paris. Luc brought them here for me. I thought you might be happy to at least get back your grandfather's belongings." Alaude explained with a soft voice, now taking a smaller box and offering it to Giotto. "I also brought some of your personal stuff. I just couldn't leave it all behind. Although I have to admit that I have never looked at it since then."

Giotto hesitated for a moment before he put back the book inside the box and instead taking the smaller box from Alaude. Nervously he opened it and would have almost dropped it. There really were a lot of his personal belongings inside like pictures from his grandparents, some old note books and other remembrances. But he noticed immediately was a small pendant. He quickly took it from the box and opened it. There was a picture inside, showing the man who was just standing in front of him at this very moment. At the sight of this Giotto remembered how often he had looked at it while Alaude had been gone somewhere else on a mission. Every time he had missed the man this was the only thing that could calm him down aside of the small music box which he also found inside the box. He remembered the day when he had left Sicily and how he had been thinking about taking those things with him. But in the end he had left them behind just like he had left behind the man he loved. However he had feared, being reminded of Alaude way too often when taking these remembrances with him and he knew it would have killed him to think of the French too often. It had already been hard enough like this.

"Alaude, I am so grateful you brought me back these things." Giotto said with a hoarse voice. He had to put the box away since his hands were shaking too heavily and when he looked at Alaude the French noticed the tears in the blonde's eyes. Quickly he pulled the smaller man in a gentle embrace.

"No need to thank me, Giotto. And there's also no need to cry. Everything will be fine from now on. Nothing and no one will ever harm you again."

"But how can you do that much for me when I do not deserve it all." Giotto whispered.

"Stop saying you don't deserve this Giotto. This is just a bit of what you actually deserve and even if not it's not about deserving something. You're back and that's all that counts." The French said, gently stroking Giotto's messy hair. Meanwhile Giotto was drying his tears at Alaude's purplish grey shirt.

"I promise I will return my debt one day." The Italian said with a low voice. "And as long as you wish me to I'll stay by your side."

"In that case you'll have to stay forever."

"I guess that's just fair enough." Giotto responded, cuddling closer and enjoying Alaude's well-known scent which he loved so much.

"Good. So I beg for another promise, Giotto." Alaude said, gently lifting Giotto's chin. The man was looking at him questioning, but willing to do anything he was asked for. "No more tears, please. It doesn't suit you at all."

Giotto hesitated for a second but then he nodded and as a respond he was pulled into a soft and loving kiss.