THE GREAT WAR
-my hand was the one you reached for, all throughout the great war-
I hate crutches with a passion, a passion that is rooted deep within me. We get out of the taxi, Ciro almost trips me up by shoving my crutches out of the car, "Are you fucking serious?" I snatch them off him.
"Sorry." He coughs, throwing some money in the backseat for the taxi driver, thanking him and then holding me up. "Will she be okay to see me?"
"She probably will be, if not, you wait outside." I look at this small, farm house with two agents outside of.
Arabella gave birth two weeks ago, her midwife called me and told me she's been struggling and because i've been struggling with everything too, i thought seeing cute babies and my best friend would help me, and also give her a rest.
I hop to the agents, literally. "Hello." I smile.
But they both looked at Ciro strangely, they have probably seen him when doing research.
"Okay, well is Arabella inside?" I click.
One of them steps out of the way and lets me walk in, but the other starts patting down Ciro.
The possible crown tattoo visible on Ciro's arm might be that reason.
I hop in the house, hearing babies cry already. I follow the sound, seeing her cradling three babies, two clutching to each breast and one weeping in the middle.
"Hello, mama." I lean my crutches against the wall, limping over to her. "Which one is this one?" I wash my hands in the sink quickly.
"Matteo." She clears her throat, "What happened?"
"Story for a different day." I sit on the other arm chair, leaning over to pick Matteo up. "Bottle?"
"Just put a finger between his lips, he's already been fed, he just wants attention." She looks at me, her eyes heavy.
I do that, and his small hand raises as he sucks on my finger. He's so cute, "Matteo is Asher's?"
"Yeah, Ilaria too and then the blonde one belongs to blondie." She just seems so distant.
She doesn't look happy.
"Blondie, oh how i love blondie." I say sarcastically.
I know this could all be over, i could find out who did this all to me, Roman knows. I could do it all if i tell him where Arabella is.
But i could never do that to her. I'm okay waiting a little longer if it means she finally finds the means to be happy again.
"What did he do now?"
"Typical Roman stuff." I smile at her, "You look beautiful, you know that."
"Don't lie-"
"Stop being so hard on yourself, you gave birth to three amazing little babies all by yourself, and you still look like you could pick up every guy on the street."
She chuckles softly at that, a real smile. "I miss talking to people who aren't doctors."
I let my gaze settle on her for a little bit, "I'm sorry i can't come over often."
"You have your own life, i don't expect you to." She clears her throat again, "Where's Coin?"
"Being searched by the agents outside, don't think they like that he has a tattoo for your husband."
"Oh yeah, they'll give him a hard time." She pulls over the blanket whenever Romeo stops nursing. "So what happened to you?"
"Oh... uh... bomb went off, got kidnapped from a hospital, near got killed... you know, the usual." I smile, rubbing Matteo's tummy a little.
"Was my husband involved?"
"No." I look at Ciro walking in. "Hello."
"Your husband can prevent it though-"
"Ciro!" I warn him.
"What?" Arabella glances at me.
"He knows who her stalker is but won't say anything unless she tells him where you are." He says, "And trust me, i feel sorry for you and all but i won't let Keilani get hurt again."
"I am going to kill you." I look at him with my eyes narrowed. I wasn't going to tell her.
"I uh..." Arabella gulps.
"I'll find him on my own, i have a whole new team helping now and even Hamada is helping so we have more-"
"I'm so sorry. You don't have to keep me a secret." She wipes her cheeks.
"I won't tell Roman shit and neither will Ciro." I look right at her, "I promise, not until you're ready."
She wipes her eyes, "He has a basement, it's hidden with a wall, he has a shelf in there that opens up to be a safe room, he keeps a lot of important information in there, it might be in there."
"I'll break in and give it a look."
"Coin, do you wanna hold one?" She asks quickly.
He washes his hands like i did and then picks up Ilaria, "The girl?" He asks.
"Yeah, her names Ilaria." Arabella stands up with Romeo, "It's nap time."
She puts them each in a different bassinet and then turns the baby monitor on, leading us into the living room. "How is Roman?"
"Fine, he's annoying me." Ciro sits down.
"Are you not in trouble with him?" She asks Ciro, turning a kettle on.
"Yeah but he won't kill me. I have too much on him and i'm the only one with enough experience to control Chicago. Plus, i have links in Italy that will cut him off if he hurts me." He shrugs.
"What about you, Keilani?" She asks.
"He won't touch me because he knows i'm more help alive than i am dead, plus i think he kind of likes me." I smile, "Anyways, sit down, no one asked for tea."
We spend the entire day catching up, leaving Ciro and the midwife with the kids while i take her shopping and pay for her stuff, i take her to get a manicure and pedicure, her hair done, a facial and massage.
She looked more relaxed as we walked back into the house. It was an even more relaxed smile whenever she seen Ciro laying across the couch with the three kids on his stomach, all of them asleep.
She smiles, "Sometimes i feel like they need a father figure in their life, last thing i want is for Ilaria to turn out like me."
I take a lot of pictures of Ciro like this, "Oh, he would happily volunteer to babysit anytime you ask." I smile.
"Will you two have kids?" She sits on the armchair, crossing her legs.
"Don't know if i can, if i can then yeah but not until i've rid Chicago of evil." I leave my crutches against the wall again.
"Would you ever adopt?"
"Can't, Ciro and I both have criminal records."
She laughs a little, "Surely there's a way you can get around that."
"Oh, one hundred percent but it's a really tricky process and usually involves trafficked children so i'd rather not." I already looked into it, "Hopefully though, i can."
We spend the night at hers, Ciro gets the biggest baby fever with Ilaria. He wants a girl.
When we leave and arrive back at his penthouse in Chicago, he cuddled up with me.
I run my fingers through his hair, "Look at how cute these are." I flick through the pictures of him, mainly with Ilaria, the smile on his face.
"She's so cute." He kisses my head.
"Isn't she." I rest my head in his neck, "Will you actually tell Roman about Arabella if we can't find whoever is doing this?"
"You mean more to me than she, or any of them babies do." He strokes my cheek with the back of his fingers, "Roman isn't pure evil, he would never hurt a child. Let alone, children that are his own. Asher and Luca would have too much to say if he tried anything. I won't let you get hurt again if i can prevent it."
"But Arabella-"
"Arabella will be fine, you won't be if this carries on." He kisses my head again, "You think i don't hear you when you're crying in the shower? Or getting all jumpy when i touch you."
"It's normal-"
"You're anxious, Keilani. You're scared to go shopping alone, you barely leave and blame it on your leg. You're scared baby, i wanna get rid of that fear."
I turn onto my side, "We should trap him, with the FBI and your men and everything. Let's do it."
"How?"
"Plan it. The FBI will help, but i don't wanna live in fear and i don't want you to keep hurting random shit or picking your nails because you're angry." I pinch his nose.
"We'll go to Hamada tomorrow." He smiles softly.
"No, we have to wait until i'm better." I practically sit on top of him, "And we have to fight Roman Reign after that because he's a dick."
"Oh, that's something i can get behind." He kisses my neck, "Hm, i love you." He kisses down my shoulder, kissing the scar on his teeth.
"No sex but can we make out?" I straddle him.
"Of course." He grabs my hips, and then we spend the entire night kissing.
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keilani so hot
word count: 1514