Forever family

Chapter 13

Emmalin P.O.V.

Enzo, Luca, help me get him into the car, we need to get him to the hospital. Now. My legs decide to give up at that exact moment, but I don't hit the ground, because Matteo is holding me against his chest.

"I'll take the girls in my car. They need to get checked out." Gio nods, and carries a crying Sofie. I guess that Mateo realised that I wasn't able to move, so he picks me up as well.

Numb.

That's all I feel, sitting in the hospital with Gio, Matteo, and Sofia. Dante is in surgery, and I haven't seen him yet. I'm sitting with a mask on my face giving me oxygen, because apparently, I inhaled smoke. So did Sofie. Thank goodness, she's asleep. I watch as the nurse rubs some liquid on my cuts to clean them up. It really stings, but I can barely feel it.

"Emma, sweetheart, are you going to speak to us?" Matteo's voice is worried.

"How is Dante doing?" Matteo sighs, and looks at Sofie, who is asleep in his arms.

"He's out of surgery, and he's stable." I nod my head. I don't know what I would do if he wasn't alright.

"You need to tell us what happened eventually." I shrug, and smile softly. I didn't want to speak about tonight. Not now, anyway.

"Can we do that tomorrow?" I ask, and he nods.

"Come on, let's get you home. I'm staying at your place for a bit." I take his hand, and walk to his car. "We can visit tomorrow."

I didn't get any sleep last night. I couldn't. Not when Dante is in hospital because of me.

"Morning, princess." Matteo greets, walking into the kitchen.

"Why do you have circles under your eyes?" Luca walks into the kitchen, and inspects my face.

"He was there yesterday." I whisper, avoiding their question. If they knew I didn't sleep, they would send me back to bed, then I wouldn't be able to visit Dante sooner.

"Who, baby?"

"The man who-who..." Recognition dawns on Luca and Matteo's faces. "I think he's dead now."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because he dragged Sofie back into the fire. By the time we got out, I think he was still inside the building. He wouldn't have had enough time to escape." There was silence in the room.

"Emmy saved me. Bad man was crying when she finished." Sofie's voice came from the kitchen entrance.

"What do you mean 'when she finished'?"

"Emmy saved me, and the bad man wanted to take me back. Emmy gave him ouchies, so he wouldn't hurt me again. Then she saved Dante, because he also had ouchies, and he was going to fall asleep. Emmy is my hero, and Emmy is Dante's hero." She climbs into my lap, and hands me a piece of paper with a drawing of me saving her and Dante, and a bad guy on the floor. She gives me a kiss on my cheek, and hugs my neck. "Thank you for being my hero, Emmy." She says. I start crying again, while Sofie hugs me tighter. We tell my brothers everything from our point of view, and they tell me how proud they are. Are they crazy?!

"Are you crazy?!" I ask, and they seem confused.

"How can you possibly be proud of me?! It's my fault that those guys blew the whole place up. It's my fault that guy nearly got Sofie. It's my fault you guys were held at gunpoint, because I didn't wait for you, and ran inside. If it weren't for me hitting that guy at the mall, these people would not have been there. And it's my fault, that we should be here eating breakfast as a family, but we're not. Dante is... he's..." I can't even finish that statement. "This is all my fault. If you had never found me, this would never had happened!" I sob. Matteo grabs Sofie, and takes her out of the kitchen. Luca pulls me into his lap.

"You know what else is your fault?" He asks. Well, at least he sees how much of a burden I am now. "It's your fault, that everyone got out of that building before it blew up. It's your fault that you kept Sofia safe all these years, when we couldn't do it. it's your fault that Sofie is right here with us now, and not with that man who tried to drag her away. It's also your fault, that you defended yourself too someone, and saved us the heartache of losing you a second time. Lastly, it's your fault, that Dante is alive in hospital. If it weren't for you, our bother would be dead, and burned. You need to understand, Emmalin, that we searched for you all these years, and the day we found you and Sofie was the single best day of our lives. If you think for even a second that you are a burden to us, bambina, then I don't know why you have such good grades at school." (baby)

"I-I l-love you, L-Luca." I said, before Finally, sleep took over.

"I love you, too, Tesoro."

"Wait, what is Dante's favourite colour?" I ask Gio, looking at different balloons.

"I don't know that kind of stuff." He says, giving me a why-would-I-know look.

"I got chocolate." Sofie says, walking up to me. "Dante's favourite colour is black." I give Gio a look that says, see-she-knows. He rolls his eyes, and pays for all the stuff.

"Yay! People that I actually want to be around!" Dante says, as we open the door to his hospital room, holding flowers, balloons, chocolate, and a stuffed panda that I found adorable. My smile vanishes when I look at my brother. He has a cast on his leg, and arm. There is also a nurse changing the bag connected to his IV.

"Remember, he's here because of you." Luca whispers into my ear. I look at him and nod.

"Hi Dante, are you feeling okay?" I ask, giving him a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"Oh this? This is nothing. I can take worse. I don't even know why they bother with this IV." He says, puffing his chest out.

"This IV is so that you don't feel the pain, and start crying like a baby." The nurse smacks his arm lightly. That's when she turns to us.

"Aunty Ivy!" Sofie squeals, before I can.

"My baby! You remember me?" I'm just as shocked.

"Yes, I do." She nods her head vigorously. "You are married to uncle Jeremy, and you have a son. His name is Charlie." I gape at my little sister, and turn to see all my brothers' jaws dropped.

"That could just be a coincidence." Enzo says. I turn to my sister.

"Sofie, do you remember a lot of things?" She nods again. "Um, okay, do you remember what we ate for dinner the first night we got here?" She shouldn't be able to remember something like that.

"We ate lasagne, and a icky thing called garlic bread." My eyes widened. My sister also has a photographic memory!

"This is so rare; I don't think it's happened before." Antonio says. I agree with him.

"This is so unfair! How come I don't have a photographic memory." Dante pouts, and we all laugh. I told my brother that I love him for the first time today, and I'm going to tell the rest of them, because it's true.

I love my brothers.