** REBEL SIMMONS POV **

"H-honey, nows not a good time. Go." My mother pleaded, her words barely audible.

"Ah, Rebel. My little fucking know it all. Just the girl I wanted to see." My father said, sarcasm dripping off of ever word. He jolted towards me while my mother screamed.

I ran to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. He was punching the other end of it, causing the wood to cracked and start to cave in. I reached under the sink and grabbed the bleach and ammonia. With shaky hands I brought my t-shirt over my face to cover my nose and I poured a mixture of the two chemicals on a towel, creating chloramine.

The bathroom door finally gave way, and he fell into the bathroom. I grabbed the towel and quickly wrapped it around his face, holding him down with my foot behind his head. He clawed at my ankles, scratching me and making me bleed.

Eventually, he started to gasp, and grab his throat. I ran into their bedroom to see my mother passed out in the corner. I grabbed my fathers gun and loaded the chamber before I made my way back into the bathroom. I turned my father over, and removed the towel. He was gasping for air, the deadly chloramine already effecting his lungs.

I looked into his hazel eyes as I shot him multiple times in the face.

************************************************

"REBEL!" Dante yelled as he grasped my arms to stop them from thrashing.

"Rebel, it's me." Dante said as he looked at me with a pained expression on his face.

I instantly grabbed him, and embraced him in a tight hug. He was sitting up, and I was practically straddling him as he stroked my hair and kissed my forehead repeatedly as he attempted to calm me down.

The nightmares weren't as frequent since I've come to Italy. I always felt protected here knowing that there were in a house with armed guards and lethal Mafia members. That and Dante would always check up on me in the middle of the night, he thought I was sleeping, but I never was. Silence stretched between us as my breathing began to return to normal. 

"Who hurt you." Dante whispered before he kissed my forehead again.

"No one." I lied as I nuzzled my head in his chest.

"Rebel... you were screaming in your sleep." He said as he rubbed my back, soothing me.

"Tell me. Just say their name and I will wipe them off the face of the Earth." He said seriously.

"You can't kill someone that's already dead." I whispered.

"I'll bring them back from the dead just to kill them all over again." He said as he put his fingers under my chin and forced me to look up at him.

"I'll protect you with my life, Rebel Simmons." He said as he looked me in the eyes.

"But you already know that, don't you?" He smiled and he laid back down onto the bed, my body still clinging to his chest. I reached up and kissed the stubble on his cheek, my lips lingering longer than necessary, before I nodded and nuzzled back into his chest. He kissed my hair, and sleep over came me.

*************************************************

I woke up to an warm, empty bed with a migraine that shot through out my body, overpowering the stiffness I felt in my arm. I glanced at the time, and realized it was 11AM. Disappointment flooded through my body as I flopped down onto the masculine scented sheets. He left... again.

I groaned as I stood up, and noticed something on my nightstand. I rubbed my eyes and examined it further. There was a rose, a freshly clipped one from the garden, three Advil's, a cup of hot coffee, a glass of water, and a note that was written in familiar messy penmanship.

My little vixen,
I'm sorry you had to wake up alone.
I have meetings for most of the day.
I'll be back later tonight around 9.
Until then, 
-D

I smiled at the simple letter and the sweet gesture. I got changed into black joggers, and a long T-shirt and walked towards the bookshelf.

Out of curiosity, I opened one of the books and compared the writing. It was Dante's handwriting. It was him, he annotated and wrote in every single book on this book shelf. I stood in amazement at his intelligence, realizing that the secret reader who's notes I adored, also turned out to be the man who invaded my thoughts on a daily basis.

My door swung open, and the twins practically ran into my room. Their pink hair was both tied in messy buns and relief was clearly shown on their faces as they looked at me.

"Shit Rebel. Thank god you're okay!" Natalia quickly walked over to me and hugged me. I groaned at the shooting pain in my arm as she quickly backed away.

"You idiota." Isa said as she gently smacked the back of her sister head.

"I was just worried okay! Dante threatened to shoot anyone who woke you up. He practically guarded your door while he was making calls for a few hours, his gun was out and everything!" Natalia said as she wiggled her perfectly shaped eyebrows at me.

"Yeah what's the deal with that?" Isa said curiously as she sat down in a decorative chair.

I explained everything I can remember, which was mainly my nightmare of my fathers death and how he spend the night in here.

"So you don't remember you calling him 'Dr. Dante?" Isa asked as she smirked devilishly.

"What?" I said as my jaw dropped open.

"We may or may not have been eavesdropping." Natalia shrugged as I grabbed a pillow and threw it at her.

"And by may or may not, it means we listened the entire time." Isa said as she smirked at me. 

"That's what friends are for!" Natalia said as she blocked the pillow hurling towards her face.

"You pretty much kept calling him Dr. Dante." Isa said shrugging. I was relieved that I didn't say anything too humiliating last night.

"That's it?" I asked

"Oh and you may have also rambled about why you like Dante so much, and promised Dr. Dante not to tell regular Dante before you got up and stumbled." Isa said as she stood up. "So nothing too bad." She said, holding back her laughter.

"Jesus Christ. I'm never drinking again." I said as I facepalmed myself.

"If it makes you feel any better, Dante was beaming all morning and was in a better mood than usual. Minus the fact her threatened to kill all of us." Natalia laughed. "He's got it for you bad, girl!" I rolled my eyes. I could barely get a grasp on what was happening between Dante and I, and this migraine was not making it any better.

"Get dressed, were going Christmas shopping!" Isa said standing up. I groaned as I closed my eyes.

"Didn't we already do that weeks ago?" I whined.

"Yeah, But we ended up liking everything we bought so we're keeping it for ourselves. Now we don't have shit for anyone else." Isa said as she shrugged. I couldn't help but laugh at her honest explanation.

I quickly got dressed, and smiled as I eyed the note Dante left for me before walking out the door.