Hello everyone, thanks once again to all of you who reviewed, followed or favorited. You are all awesome. I hope I haven't lost any of you, kind of afraid that I might have, but I hope not. This chapter was tough for me to write in the word forming sense, so I hope I don't confuse any of you. I really tried with the grammar and the spelling, and apologize in advance for any mistakes. I hope you enjoy :)

Also I fixed my summary so it was more descriptive, hopefully more people with give it a chance.

Saturday December 4th 1982 (continued)

Maura exited the dance room and ran over to Gia with excitement. "Did you see my pirouette? It's the first time I did it without falling over, you must be my good luck charm."

"Pirouette' is a French word for the ballet reference 'to whirl about' or 'turn," Gia responded.

Maura already knew what the word meant but smiled that Gia announced a fact like she often did. "Did you take ballet too?"

"No but my sister did." Gia responded.

"Allie?"

Gia laughed. "Allie? No, she tried but was kicked out for trying to rough house with the girls in her class. It was Jess the one closest in age to me, she was very gifted in pointe work, got a scholarship to a performing arts high school."

"Wow, what was she like?" Maura's fascination with Gia's life never ceased. She wanted to know everything about her.

"My complete opposite but not in a bad way, although I am pretty great." Gia said playfully elbowing Maura in the ribs. "She was serious and driven, definitely the scholar of the family. You kinda remind me of her actually, she even played violin too." Gia said brushing the hair away from Maura's face with her fingers.

In the past Gia would often get upset when her siblings were bought up but talking about them with Maura felt cathartic, bringing up more happy memories than painful ones.

"Shall we like make our way to the mall and stuff," Gia said flipping her hair and doing her best Valley Girl voice."

Maura tilted her head in confusion, the reference was definitely lost on her.

Gia laughed. " Come on let's go"

The two got in Gia's car and Gia drove to the mall. After what seemed like an eternity, Gia finally found a parking spot. The mall was clearly packed with holiday shoppers.

"Hold my hand." Gia said as she offered hers palm up to Maura. "People tend to drive like maniacs this time of year." Maura grabbed her ballet bag from the car before grasping Gia's hand.

Gia looked at the bag and raised an eyebrow. "You plan on giving a recital in there or something?"

Maura smiled nervously. "I just want to carry it."

Gia shrugged. "If that floats your boat, Peanut."

"I'm not old enough to operate a boat by myself." Maura responded.

"I guess I have to cross it off of your Christmas list then," Gia responded jokingly.

Maura laughed as the two made their way into the mall.

The first store they went to was a shoe store. The store was small so Gia was able to keep an eye on Maura as she moved quickly to locate the items on Constance's list and purchase them. Maura kept her promise of keeping her eyes closed as she stood at he front of the store. Gia's plan to ensure that the presents remained a surprise proved to be successful. The next two stores were a purse store and a jewelry store which were also small. The exchanges in these two stores went as smoothly as the first one.

As they went into the next store, Maura looked at the store directly across from it, a hunting store. Maura was sure that it carried the gift she intended to buy for Gia.

"Okay Peanut, this is our last stop then we can go to the store where you want to get your mom's gift."

This store was bigger and more crowded than the other ones which made Gia kind of nervous.

"Alright Peanut stay at the front, if anything goes wrong just call out my name. I'll drop everything and come get you. But remember no peeking." Gia instructed.

Maura gave Gia a thumbs up. She then waited until Gia was in line and was thankful that the line was long. This would give her time to get Gia's gift without Gia knowing, so that it would be a surprise. Maura left the store and ran across the mall to the hunting store.

While waiting in line, Gia looked to the front or the store to make sure that Maura was still there. What she saw, or rather, what she didn't see terrified her. Maura was missing. Gia immediately dropped the items in her hands and ran out of the line. People made comments conveying annoyance but Gia blocked them out. Her heart was racing, and her stomach was in knots. She immediately ran over to the security guard who was at the front of the store. "Did you see a little girl leave the store, she has long blonde hair and hazel eyes, she was wearing black leggings and a pink dress, she's about this tall?" Gia said frantically, gesturing at a height about as tall as her hip. The security guard looked up from his crossword puzzle and shrugged.

Gia ran out of the store and carefully surveyed those walking by, looking for signs of Maura. She put her hand up to her head and her breathing was short and rapid.

"Maura... MAURA!" She screamed the little girls name over and over. The mall goers looked at Gia. Finally another security guard approached her.

"Is there something wrong ma'am?" He said with genuine concern in his voice.

"The little girl I look after has gone missing," Gia responded with tears streaming down her face.

"What does she look like?" He responded in a calm voice.

Gia gave the same description that she gave the first guard.

The security guard put his hand on Gia's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find her," he said trying to calm her down. "Our best bet is to stay put since it is the last place you saw her."

Meanwhile Maura was in the hunting store. She looked at the items behind the glass case.

"May I help you?" The clerk said.

"Yes please," she pointed to the item she wanted. "Can I have the green one please?"

"Aren't you a little young for one of those?" He asked.

"Oh it's not for me, it's for... My favorite person." Maura said with a huge smile.

The clerk assisted Maura with her purchase. "Well I hope this special person likes the gift, it's a great choice for anyone." He said smiling at Maura.

Maura thanked the clerk as she put the gift in her ballet bag and then left the store. She then ran quickly across to the store where Gia was. It was then that Gia spotted her.

When Gia saw Maura a wave of relief washed over her and her fears were extinguished. Maura was okay, she wasn't hurt and she wasn't kidnapped. She ran over to the little girl and wrapped her in a hug that surprised Maura. Maura could feel Gia's still quite rapid heartbeat as they hugged. She wondered why Gia was so startled and why she was crying. Gia's next emotion erupted inside of her and she was powerless to control it. Maura had disobeyed her in a very serious manner, and this made her angry. Gia broke the hug and firmly grabbed Maura by the forearms, she didn't hurt Maura but this gesture did catch the little girl's undivided attention.

"Where were you? Why did you leave the store? What were you thinking? Do you realize what could have happened to you? Someone could have grabbed you, hurt you, or even worse." Gia said in a raised voice.

Maura started crying. She wasn't sure how to respond, no one had ever yelled at her before, not even her parents. She was afraid that Gia wouldn't forgive her.

Watching Maura break down in front of her hurt Gia. She never wanted to make the little girl cry, it was just that what happened was very serious. She attempted to hug Maura again, but Maura froze up and backed away. She was too upset to let Gia hug her.

"I'm sorry that I got mad, Peanut, but I was so worried. If something bad would've happened to you, I don't know how I'd live with myself. Gia responded while looking at Maura but respecting her physical space. Maura looked back at her still very upset but she was starting to calm down.

Gia gestured to a bench near by so Maura could sit and calm down. Gia sat next to Maura. Gia remained silent and waited patiently for Maura calm down and address her. After a few minutes Maura grabbed Gia's hand and squeezed it. "I'm sorry that I scared you, Gia, I hope you don't hate me now."

"I could never hate you, you're my lil Peanut." Gia said as she awkwardly put her arm around Maura, still unsure if she would back away. Her suspicions were unfounded however as Maura moved closer to Gia welcoming the embrace. The two remained on the bench for a few moments before getting up to finish shopping for the day.

Thank you for reading. Reviews or PMs are always welcome as well as new follows or favorites. Hope none of you Gia fans are upset with her. Be well and have a splendid day.