Previously in "Pages in Between", Colin and Tanya get married and Andrea and Dante have twins.

Chapter Twenty-One

Tuscany, Italy – Next Day…

Liam watched Carrie as she slept next to him, smiling at her as he gently stroked her cheek and softly kissed her lips. "What is it about your family that makes it okay to watch someone while they're sleeping?" she murmured against his lips and Liam jumped back in fright to see that her eyes were open.

Liam calmed himself down before saying, "I'm sorry, love. I couldn't help myself. You're just so beautiful that I like to watch you sleep."

"Liam, you don't have to apologize," she replied. "I'm not mad at you. I just asked a question, that's all."

"You remind me of an angel when you sleep, so at peace with the world that it makes me wonder if I'm marrying an angel or marrying the love of my life," Liam replied honestly.

His words brought tears to Carrie's eyes and she leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips.

Liam returned her kiss and then pulled back, taking her face in his hands, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs and wiping the tears that were now flowing down. "I love you so much, Carrie."

"I love you too, Liam," she replied. "More than you'll realize."

"I want to take you somewhere today, so go get dressed, Ms. Salvatore," he said in a soft, ordering tone.

Carrie nodded. "Okay."

She kissed him one more time and got out of bed to get dressed, wondering where he was taking her.

Meanwhile…

Bridget arrived at the school where she found Ruby verbally getting angry at a man that was trying to persuade her to do something. She moved over and smiled at the man. "Let me try," she suggested before turning to Ruby, who began to calm down.

"Budge, you shouldn't be here to see me like this," Ruby told her.

"Nonsense, Red," Bridget said as she guided her older sister away.

Ruby sighed at her sister. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm here to see you," Bridget said. "I wouldn't be a good sister if I didn't."

"I'm sorry about HIM," Ruby said with a nod of her head over at the man from earlier. "He's done nothing but pester me."

Bridget glances over and gives him a wave. "I think he's good-looking."

Ruby shook her head and then, she said something that Bridget wasn't expecting to hear, "They gave up too easily."

Bridget gave her sister a curious look. "Who gave up too easily?"

"Mum and Father," Ruby said. "They gave up too easily. I know that there's a doctor somewhere that can operate on my eyes. The people here keep talking about it and that's why I feel that Mum and Father gave up too easily. It's not too late to fix this, Bridget, I just know it."

"Oh, Ruby, I do think they know, and they'd have Aunt Francesca do it, but it's really up to them," Bridget told her older sister as she reached over and clasped Ruby's hand.

"Then, that's who I want to fix my eyes," Ruby said. "I don't want to be blind forever."

In Virginia…

"It is a risky surgery," Francesca explained to her brother-and-sister-in-law. "But…I want to do this, for Ruby's sake, as well as both of your sakes."

Sage nodded. "You have no idea how much we appreciate this, Francesca. Ruby doesn't want to be blind forever, and we don't want that either."

Francesca nods then hugs the redhead. "I'll set up an opening when I can arrange my schedule to go to Italy. I don't want to bring her here," she told the couple.

Finn nodded. "Good idea. Don't want to draw attention when it isn't necessary. As Sage said, we appreciate that you're willing to do this for Ruby. I'll admit it was foolish to send her to that school, especially when it didn't look like she was happy when we left her there."

Francesca laughs. "I'm sure that she didn't," she said before hugging her brother in law as well. "I'll call you later about what days I can go to Italy, okay?"

Finn returned her hug and nodded. "Okay." He stepped back and then took Sage's hand. "We'll be expecting your call."

Later…

Sage was arranging and rearranging the books in the library to keep herself occupied and Finn noticed this when he walked by on his way out to check on Eleanor. He paused in the foyer then went into the library, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "It's okay to be scared, Irish Rose," he whispered into her hair, nuzzling her temple.

Sage nodded and turned in her husband's arms, tears welling up in her eyes and letting them fall down her face. "I just don't want to lose her, Finn."

"I don't either, to be honest," he confessed softly, tears flowing down his own face.

Sage buried her face in his chest, sobbing against his shirt, getting it wet.

After they both got a few rounds of tears out, the couple finally stepped away from each other, their eyes locking before Sage was leaping at Finn and he crushed his mouth to hers, whirling her toward the couch and pinning her onto it with his body.

Sage moaned eagerly as she returned Finn's kisses, running her hands all over his body before slipping off his jacket and practically ripping his shirt open, running her fingers all over his chest.

Finn's hands removed her blouse then he picks her up and carries her upstairs, where he backs her against the wall next to the door, mouth crushing hers once more as he rubs his hardened member against her to create friction.

Sage moaned against his mouth as she felt his hard erection against her core and pulled away from his lips to let out a scream of pleasure. Finn turned her around then began walking her backward toward the mattress, following her onto it once the backs of her legs made contact.

Finn removed her bra and threw it on the floor, kissing and caressing her breasts.

Sage's hands found their way into his hair and tightened their grip as he moved downward, pressing open-mouthed kisses along the skin of her stomach until he reached the waistband of her jeans. "Oh, Finn, please don't stop," she pleaded with him.

Finn smiled at her. "I have no intention of stopping, Irish Rose. I intend on giving you everything I've got."

Meanwhile…

Their eldest daughter was on her way back to her room when she heard footsteps behind her. "I told you to go away!" she demanded to the man that she'd been spending time with earlier.

The man behind her smiled. "I just want to get to know you, signora. There's no harm in that."

"Yes, well, I don't care what you want," Ruby said. "I want you to leave me alone!"

"You're so beautiful when you get angry, Ruby," the man said with a smirk.

"How do you know my name?" she demanded.

"Are you kidding? Your family is practically royalty here," he replied. "That and I heard your name when your sister was talking to you before."

Ruby sighed before still going towards her room, where she sank down onto the bed after feeling her way around the room to get there.

Ruby sighed heavily as she lay on her bed. She couldn't wait until she got the surgery for her eyes, because to be honest, she couldn't stand it in here, especially not with that annoying man who kept insisting on getting to know her.

The Next Morning…

Sage woke up to find Finn smiling at her as his tanned fingers stroked over her bare thigh as well as her bare shoulder. "Good morning, my Irish Rose," he said softly.

"Good morning, my British Prince," she replies softly back, scooting over to kiss him on the lips.

Finn returned her kiss and pulled back, smiling at her. "How are you doing today, my love?"

"Much better now that we're communicating more," she replied.

Finn nodded. "That's good." He kissed her softly again. "I love you so much, Sage."

"Not as much as I love you," she replied before rolling onto her back when her cell phone began to ring.

"Ugh, don't answer that," Finn grumbled.

"I have to, it might be important," Sage said, kissing him before pressing SEND and bringing the phone up to her ear. As soon as she put the phone to her ear, she said, "This is Sage Mikaelson."

"Sage, it's Francesca."

Sage sat up when she heard her sister-in-law's voice before turning a little to Finn and mouthing, "Its Francesca." He nodded and moved close while Sage said, "Francesca, hi. We were expecting your call. So, when are you free to go to Italy?"

"Well, I have good news," Francesca said. "I was checking my schedule last night and it turns out that I have off the next two weeks, so I can fly to Italy and do the surgery then."

Finn left the bedroom and went to get the calendar from downstairs, bringing it back and allowing Sage to drool a little at how sexy he was without a stitch of clothing on.

Sage licked her lips before saying to Francesca, "Well, Finn and I will definitely make sure that we come at the same time that you're there."

"That's good," Francesca said. "Ruby will need you and her father for support."

Sage watched as Finn tossed the calendar to the side at the sight of his wife licking her lips before kneeling down in front of the bed, reaching out for her ankle and pulling it toward him. She bit down on her bottom lip to suppress the moan that threatened to erupt before ending the call with Francesca and letting the moan loose as Finn pressed open-mouthed kisses along the skin of her ankle and foot.

Sage let out a moan as she felt his kisses on her skin. "Oh, Finn, you're so good."

Finn smirked against the skin of her leg as his kisses moved upward toward her inner thighs.

Rome, Italy – Later…

Liam held Carrie's hand as they walked through the streets of Rome, taking in the scenery. Liam stopped every once in a while to take her picture with his camera and then asked for one of the people to take a picture of both of them. During their journey, they came upon the church that Klaus and Caroline had gotten married in twenty years ago. In fact, they just recently had their vow renewal ceremony there. Carrie looked at him. "Is there any particular reason why we're here, Liam? I mean, we were just here not too long ago for your parents' vow renewal."

Liam smiled at her. "I know. I brought us here because this is where I want us to be married. My parents were married here and I thought this would be the perfect place for us to be married as well."

"I agree 100%," Carrie said with a smile back at him, kissing him softly as she leaned into him, placing her hand on her growing belly.

Liam placed his hand on top of hers, returning her kiss. "Come on, let's go inside."

Carrie nodded and took his hand as they walked inside, marveling at the beauty within the church. "Oh, it's so beautiful!" Carrie said excitedly.

Liam smiled at her excitement. "My mother thought so too when she walked in here for the first time. She was pregnant with me at the time, and as she walked through the church, she would rub her belly and say to me, 'This is the place you'll marry the love of your life in someday'."

Carrie looked at him. "It would seem that she was right."

Two Days Later – Rome…

Sage walked, more like ran, ahead of Finn, laughing the entire time as they playfully chased each other through the back streets behind the buildings. She squealed when he finally caught her around the waist and she pouted at him. "No fair, you caught me," she told him.

"It wouldn't have been fun if I hadn't," he said with a playful pout back at her before leaning down to kiss her softly.

Sage returned his kiss. "You make me feel like such a teenager, you know that?"

"Of course I do," he replied. "I feel the same way."

Her arms wrapped around his neck as his nose nuzzled her cheek affectionately. They pulled apart briefly so Finn could answer the call from Francesca. "We'll be right there," he said briefly before ending the call and putting his phone away. He kissed Sage softly again before running his hand down her arm in a soft caress then took her hand in his, linking their fingers together.

Francesca was anxiously awaiting their arrival when Finn and Sage got to where she said to meet her. She saw the two of them holding hands and smiled. "You two remind me of me and Henrik when we were on our honeymoon, happy and savoring the romance all around us."

"We realized that we needed that trip to the bed-and-breakfast more than anything," Sage told her sister in law with a smile aimed at her husband.

Francesca smiled. "It definitely worked. I'm glad we arranged it."

Sage and Finn both turned to look at her in shock. "You were in on this?" they asked in unison.

Francesca smiled innocently. "It worked, didn't it?"

"It certainly did," Finn said with a smile as Sage nestled into him and he kissed the top of her head.

Sage smiled at her husband and kissed him before looking at Francesca. "Now, let's help Ruby get her eyesight back."

A Few Hours Later…

Ruby's eyes blinked as Sage and Finn watched with patience, her hand gripping his just as tightly as his was gripping hers. Ruby then turned to look at her parents, and when they came into view, they were clear and not blurry. "M…Mum…Father? I...I can see you now." Tears stung her eyes as she repeated, "I can see you."

Francesca came into the room just as Sage and Finn were embracing each other tightly, with Sage sniffling into her husband's neck. "Surgery was a success, I am glad to see," she says with a smile to her niece.

Finn smiled at Francesca. "Yes, it was a big success."

Author's Note: And what a success we're having so far! Thanks to all the amazing reviews, and reviewers! You've made this franchise between Erin and I quite the success and we're so proud to give you endless collaborations!