Celestia POV

"You're right. Still, I apologize." She didn't need to. Her opinion was her own, I couldn't change it she was wrong about my mother. I just couldn't tell her why.

"Sweetheart, come meet the family. Everyone is excited to see you!" My dad spoke with clear relief. Before I could fully enter the room a young man with dark brown hair and a stoic expression stood from the couch and approached. "I'm Mateo, your oldest brother. Welcome home, sister!" I didn't have time to answer him before a boy who looked a little older than me with the same dark brown hair and chocolate eyes hurried up and stood in front of me. "I'm Asher, your smartest brother! I can't wait to get to know you!" I smiled at that slightly and was interrupted again when a boy who looked my age or slightly older stood up and went next to them sporting a lazy smirk. "I'm Weston, your coolest brother and officially not the youngest anymore. I want that noted. But seriously, we will have such fun together teaming up against the olds."

They seemed sincere. I also desperately wanted them to like me because I was always a little jealous of Mom because she had so many siblings. Until I find a reason not to, I will trust my brothers and hope they feel the same way. I would never betray them though, I know how that feels first hand and I would never do it. "I'm Aurora." They all smiled at that and went back to their seats.

Next, my father pointed to the oldest couple in the room. "These are your grandparents." I was confused. They looked nothing like my dad. I tried to find any similarities, but I couldn't. The woman smiled warmly and stood up with open arms. "I am Grandma Gianna, but you can call me Gia. The quiet one is my husband Leonardo." The oldest man spoke for the first time "You can call me grandpa or Leo."

Isabella must have seen my confusion because she explained hurriedly "They are my parents, not your dad's." Oh... So we weren't related. I wasn't their blood. Isabella continued speaking after I didn't say anything. "Aurora, our family doesn't care where you came from or whose blood runs through your veins. You are family to us, you would be family to us even if you weren't James's daughter." The older woman continued with a gentle voice after her daughter "Yes, sweetheart! We don't care that you don't have Cesari blood. You are still our granddaughter. The first one! So, we will spoil you like we would any other child that comes to this family."

My eyes actually watered at their statement. What is wrong with me? They can't see me crying. I took a steadying breath and nodded. Because apparently speaking wasn't something I could do right now without my voice breaking. Human emotions were confusing. I didn't feel sad and yet I was about to cry. I looked down because I didn't want them to see me like this...fragile. When I gathered myself I looked up and went to sit somewhere just to have something to do. I still didn't know who everyone was.

A man older than James but younger than Leo was quietly watching me, while a younger version of him with the same features was studying my actions with interest. He smiled when he caught me looking. "I am Antonio. Your cousin." I wasn't familiar with that term. No one ever explained it to me. I decided to ask "What is that?" The young man, who looked about the same age as Mateo and declared himself my cousin frowned, but before he could explain my dad began "Aurora do you have any uncles and aunts?" What did that have to do with anything? I answered "Yes. Many." He continued "They don't have any children?" I answered without thinking "No, I was the only one born at home in a very long time. It's why they all loved me so much. They said I was special...until I wasn't." I had never experienced hate before I saw it in Uncle Michael's eyes reflecting back at me. It felt uneasy and it hurt, not physically, but emotionally.

My human relatives mostly looked confused, but for some reason, some looked mad. Antonio hurried to fill the silence. "Well, since I am your only cousin let me explain. It's like having a brother or sister who is closely related to you but not fully. We help our cousins and we tell each other things you aren't ready to share with your closest blood relatives. We also treat each other the same way regardless of our blood connection. We are family." If he was my cousin, then the older person, who looked like him must be..." I was once again caught staring, but this time I didn't want to be. The man didn't stand up, like most of the others, but he did smile a little, or at least tried to. I get the feeling he doesn't smile a lot. "I am Alessandro. Antonio's father and your uncle." 

My eyes widened involuntarily. I couldn't move but I wanted to. Was he going to hate me like all my uncles did? Did he want me dead too? My thoughts were interrupted by his steady voice "I too do not care where you came from. You are family now and family protects each other from all threats." I didn't dare show my disbelief. I still couldn't trust him. What if he changed his mind about me the moment he found out something wasn't to his liking? Uncle Michael did and he wasn't even human.

Isabella seemed to catch the tension in the room, so she tried to distract everyone. "You must be hungry, so I will make you something. What's your favorite dish?" I thought about it, but I didn't know what to say. The strawberry lava cake was a desert. I mostly had deserts because I didn't have to eat food in Heaven, so my Uncle Gabriel brought me many of Earth's sweets from around the world. The only other food I had was bread. She saw my hesitation to answer and hurriedly spoke "You don't have to have a favorite. I can make a couple of things and you can try and see what you like. How about that?" Gianna added "I will help you and make a few deserts too. Do you have a favorite Aurora?"

Thankfully, I knew the answer to this question, so it wasn't hard to fill her in. "Strawberry lava cake." Weston joined the conversation and effortlessly took the attention away from me. "I have never had that before, it sounds genius. Can you make one with cherry instead of strawberry Grandma?" Gianna smiled and teased him "It's been six years Wes, I thought you got over your fear of strawberries by now." Everyone laughed at that, while Weston rolled his eyes. 

"It's not a fear I just don't like them anymore. I had to clean it by myself and it still smells like strawberries in my bathroom. It got everywhere." Mateo chimed in with a humorless remark "You filled the bathtub with strawberry milkshake, so us taking advantage of the circumstances and pranking you was the only way this would go, I am surprised you didn't see it coming actually."

I had no idea what they were talking about, but it seemed they liked pranking each other. Aunt Lumiel also enjoyed pranking her siblings and she included me in them a few times. We had a lot of fun. They continued bantering like siblings, which I have witnessed many times. It was an endearing quality and I liked seeing it.

Asher came and sat next to me on the couch. I looked up at him and smiled. "Hi, if you need anything you can always ask. I don't have anything to do right now, while Mateo is working and Weston has soccer practice and his SAT prep course this summer." The other two boys gave him dirty looks for that statement. I asked, "Are you not in school like Weston, you look roughly the same age?" "I am older by one year, although we have our birthdays in the same month. I finished high school and have been traveling. It's why I wasn't here when you arrived."

"I didn't know anyone was here when I arrived. Your mother said everyone was out." I could tell he didn't like me calling Isabella his mother instead of our mother, but what did he expect me to do? I didn't know her, she seemed eager to prove herself to me for some reason, but I don't know if I will ever be comfortable calling her MY mother when she clearly wasn't.

"Don't listen to him Aurora, I can make time if you want to spend more time with your coolest sibling! We have to team up and prank them now that we have even teams. Mateo has a teammate, that learned from the prank master all these years, but I still think we can beat them. Ash don't disappoint me, I will be expecting a high-quality prank next time, my pupil!" Weston winked at Asher, while the people that were left in the room laughed.

Asher didn't seem mad when he said "She could want to team up with me, dumbass." Weston just snickered at that "Why would she? I am the prank champion out of all of us, Aurora knows to side with the winner, right Rory? Everyone was staring at me and waiting for my answer, but I was in shock. He gave me a nickname! I felt excitement and happiness. I always loved it when Uncle Gabriel called me "Cel." I guess that's part of why I felt closer to some of my uncles and aunts compared to others. Not everyone preferred to call me by my nickname, and I felt they didn't like it...or me that much.

I guess I must have spent too much time in my head because my dad cleared his throat and said "There is still some time before dinner is ready, we will go to my office to talk about work, you kids can stay here, or you can show Aurora your rooms, if you like." Dad, Alessandro, Leonardo, and Mateo all stood up and headed to another room.

I thought my oldest brother enjoyed pranks when he mentioned pranking Weston earlier, but I guess that was a while ago. Maybe he just didn't want to do it because of me. I will have to see what his deal is later because I don't like not knowing how people feel about me. Being on Earth was getting emotionally exhausting and I haven't even been here that long. I see why so many people praise Heaven and want to end up there.

The boys showed me their rooms and bickered some more before Isabella called us downstairs because the food was ready. I hadn't eaten since the breakfast at the diner with Sydney Dallas. I didn't need to eat as much food before, but I guess now on Earth things are different. My stomach grumbled when I took a whiff of the air in the kitchen. It smelled delicious even though I had no idea what it was.

"Here you go, this is one of the first things I learned to cook in college. It doesn't have a fancy name, but it's still good. During my exams I remember I ate this every day. One-pot chicken with tomato sauce and garlic." Isabella served me a plate of the dish and moved on to get plates for my brothers.

I tasted it and my senses were overloaded. Not only did it smell good, but it tasted heavenly. I even heard myself moan a little. It was that good. We mostly ate in silence with the occasional comment from the guys. Isabella looked at me apologetically and said "We didn't have all the ingredients for strawberry kava cake, so we just made chocolate muffins. I hope you like them." She handed me a plate full of these small ball-like deserts in tiny plates. I tried one and liked it too. "They taste delicious! The chicken was also really good, thank you." She smiled at that and ate a muffin in two bites.

Leonardo entered the kitchen and he was arguing with Gianna. "Woman, the storm is getting too strong, you aren't driving in that weather." She sounded stubborn when she answered "A little rain won't hurt me we need strawberries Leo!" He was resolute though "No, you can go shopping tomorrow with a driver. Just have ice cream for tonight." Gianna pouted and looked at me apologetically. "Sweetheart, it seems we won't be able to go to the store tonight because of the storm, but tomorrow we will make strawberry lava cake together, how about that?"

I didn't care about the cake right now because I heard the word storm. "It's okay. Can I go to my room now?" I needed to find a window or a door and go outside. Storms were always fascinating to me, but I have always watched them from above. Now, I have the chance to witness one from Earth. I couldn't wait to see it. By now, the rest of my family was back from wherever they went earlier. Dad said "Of course, sweetheart! Are you tired?" I was quick to answer because I didn't want to miss it. "No." He frowned but nodded. I was so excited I almost ran. I left the kitchen and instead of turning toward the stairs, I made a right for the sliding door that went to the back yard.

I opened it and stepped outside on the porch. It wasn't a big storm and I didn't see any lightning, but the thunder was echoing all around me. The wind was whipping my hair around furiously, while the rain was quickly soaking my bare feet. I loved the feeling. It felt freeing and pure. It was like nature was lashing out. Exhilarating! Before I could step on the grass I heard the faint sound of the sliding door opening and closing.

"Aurora! You shouldn't be out here in the rain, you can get sick!" His voice wasn't harsh or caring. It was emotionless. Alessandro put his hand on my shoulder to stop me from going forward. I couldn't help my reaction and I flinched. He immediately removed his hand "Come sit with me on the porch." I obeyed him and quickly sat on the wooden bench. He didn't say anything after that. We only watched the storm. I had to fill in the silence because it was distracting and nerve-wracking, but I also wanted to explain myself. "I like storms. I wanted to see it." Feel it. The longer he stayed quiet the harder it became to control my emotions, which resulted in my next outburst "I didn't anything wrong!"

Why is Mateo the only one not fighting for Aurora's attention?

What does her newest uncle want to talk about?

Question of the day: Have you ever tried strawberry lava cake?