Rocco was moving happily around the kitchen; he loved cooking. It was a hobby that always helped him relax. He was touched that Dani took the time out of her day off to bake for them. He enjoyed her company the more time he spent with her. He had gotten along fine with Mary but never established a personal bond.

Dani was so different from her sister, and he was innately curious about that. He supposed not growing up with Katherine raising her was likely a big part of that. But he didn't get the sense she had an easy life by any means; there were times when she looked haunted, and he wondered by what.

Gavin helped him cook but got bored with the long waiting and stirring. Rocco was making chicken pasta with a white wine sauce, which took him quite a bit to simmer and was perfect.

Rocco found some animal coloring books Dani bought, and Gavin was thrilled with them. He got him settled down with a book and some crayons and went back to working on the meal.

"I made a picture for you, Daddy," Gavin announced after a little while.

"You did?" Rocco stirred and adjusted the temperature of the sauce before walking over to look at it.

"It's the giraffe!" Gavin exclaimed as Rocco took it with a smile. "He's cool, like you daddy."

Gavin had scribbled many different colored lines all over the picture, but Rocco did notice he had picked orange, yellow, and brown, very close to the Giraffe's actual colors.

"This is so awesome, champ," Rocco enthused. "Thank you!"

"Welcome, Daddy," Gavin smiled.

"I make one for Auntie Dani and Mary and Uncle Dante." Gavin declared, dumping more crayons from his box. "Lexi too!"

"That's a lot of pictures," Rocco noted. "That's gonna be some hard work."

"Yeah," Gavin agreed.

"What about Mommy? Are you going to make a picture for her too?"

"Oh yeah, I make mommy one," he nodded. "And Kiki too."

"Right can't forget about Kiki." Rocco shook his head and headed back over to check the food. He wondered if it would bother Alyssa that she wasn't on his list of adults he colored for. Knowing her, she'd likely think it was nothing, but it wasn't. Creating things was a child's way of showing their love to you; it was huge.

A loud banging on the door interrupted his thoughts and startled him and Gavin.

"Who is here?" Gavin jumped down from his chair and raced toward the door.

"Hold on, Gavi," Rocco quickly got ahead of him.

They banged again; he looked out the window and narrowed his eyes at Katherine.

"Katherine, what are you doing here?" He flung the door open. "And why are you trying to break my door down?"

"My daughter," She gasped. "Danielle, I think she's missing...I can't reach her... you have to help me."

"What?" He raised his eyebrows.

"She called a few days ago needing help, and things got sticky; she got upset, and I haven't been able to reach her since. I called the local police, who told me she had left town. I don't know where she could have gone. I know she has no money." Katherine walked in and began pacing back and forth.

"Gavi, will you go in the kitchen and wait for Daddy?" He turned to look at Gavin, who was staring at Katherine with wide, curious eyes.

"Hi, Gamma," Gavin said.

"Hi, Gavin. Grandma will come to see you in a second; run along now," she dismissed him.

"Okay, I go get Auntie Dani," Gavin said with a little grin and a bounce.

"He'll what?" She turned to glance at Rocco, her dark eyes widening. "Who? Did he say, Auntie Dani?"

"Did I forget to mention Dani 's living here?" Rocco smirked. "We hired her as the new nanny."

"I was freaking out, Rocco; you couldn't have told me sooner?"

"No, Katherine. I want an answer first."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, crossing her arms defensively.

"I want to know right now why you didn't come to me for help," he demanded in a low voice.

"It's not my place to ask you anything," Katherine said with a careless indifference in her voice. It was the same tone Alyssa always used. It ground on his last nerve every time. "If Alyssa didn't want to help, it was for whatever reasons she had at the time."

"You know how important family is to me. You've come to me before for help." He said slowly.

"For myself, not for Dani. Besides, this was before you and Alyssa made any type of commitment to each other. You understand sisters and their jealousy towards each other. Lys was just being careful like she does." Katherine said as she folded her arms defensively in front of her.

"I love how you just throw Alyssa under the bus." Dani's voice interrupted them.

She walked into the living area with a hard, angry look fixed on Katherine.

"Where's..." Rocco started to ask.

"Fine, he's downstairs doing a puzzle." Dani gave him a nod, a flash of worry in her eyes. He tried to give her his best reassuring look so she knew he was on her side.

"It was her call to help, not mine. It wasn't my place..." Katherine said slowly.

"We talked about my brother losing everything; he almost ended up in prison. You couldn't have ignored her and gone to Rocco anyway?" Dani fired back.

"Of course not she's the chosen one. She'll always come first, right?" Dani demanded before she could say anything.

"No, of course not," Katherine sighed. "I don't expect you to understand."

"Good, then you can just leave," Dani said her cheeks flushed red with anger.

"This is the past, Dani. It doesn't matter now. What does is that you're here." Katherine gave her a fake cheerful grin. "I am so glad Alyssa has decided to help you now. I wish someone would have told me though."

"My life is none of your business," Dani snapped. "I'm not here for you."

"I'm your mother." Katherine pointed out.

"Not in any way that counts."

"Danielle, please," Katherine sighed.

"She asked you to leave. Just go. We're about to have dinner," Rocco said.

"I didn't intend for things to get so out of hand. Dani, I wish you'd talk to me."

"Katherine, you upset my new nanny and come over here exposing some big lie you and Alyssa told. I'm done too. Just leave," Rocco demanded.

"Not a lie. She didn't tell you about it..." Katherine's face went white.

"Rocco listen, please don't bring this up to Alyssa. It's going to cause more fighting over events that don't matter anymore," Katherine pleaded looking nervous suddenly.

"Events that don't matter?" Dani looked at her with horror etched in her face.

"I didn't mean it like that exactly," Katherine stammered.

"My brother was being charged with arson and murder, for god's sake, and it's an event that doesn't matter?" Dani continued, tears streaming down her face.

"I just meant it's in the past," Katherine said tiredly. "Dani let's just go for a walk."

"Go to hell," Dani spat out before turning on her heel and leaving the room.

"I I..." Katherine was backing slowly out the door.

"She was in that kind of trouble, and you didn't tell me, the attorney?" Rocco narrowed his eyes at Katherine, and a guilty look crossed her face.

She backed up, stepping closer and closer to the door. He felt enraged and infuriated that no one came to him, that Dani had to suffer when he could have helped, and so did her brother.

All because of Alyssa? Because Katherine refused to back down from the elder daughter.

"Well, it was her brother, not her, and –"

"Just leave before I say something I'll regret." He slammed the door in her face.

Rocco stood at the door, still partially shocked but mostly fumed. He wasn't sure what the details or the whole story were, and yes, Lys probably did have her reasons. The problem was he was sure her reasons were self-serving. He snapped out of his stupor when he heard Katherine's car drive off. He quickly turned and hurried into the kitchen to find Dani. She was standing by the stove stirring the sauce he had left on simmer.

"Hey," he said softly; he slowly walked over to her and took the spoon from her hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She turned to face him, and her eyes spilled over with tears. "No," she whispered in a small and broken voice.

He pulled her into his arms without thinking, but she didn't pull away. She stood limply in his embrace, her arms at her sides, for a moment, before finally letting out a small sob. "It's okay," he whispered. She let out another cry then and buried her head in his shirt. He tightened his hold on her as she cried into his shirt.

"This is so embarrassing," she mumbled as she pulled away as abruptly as he had hurt her.

"I can't believe she just showed up here like that. I shouldn't have let her get to me. I shouldn't have snapped like that before you," she trailed off, turning away from him altogether.

"Dani, this isn't your fault. " He stepped up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Your moth...Katherine sucks. She deserved more than that," he said in an assuring tone.

She turned around and sighed while wiping her cheeks dry. He kept his hands on her shoulders, and she didn't back away. She met his gaze; her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her cheeks were streaked with tears. He had a strong urge to pull her back into his arms again. She averted her eyes from his as if she had read his mind. Her gaze landed on his wet shirt.

"I'm sorry I leaked all over your shirt," she mumbled.

"Don't worry about it," he said, giving her a little smirk.

She looked back up at him, the tears gone from her eyes. She gave him a weak smile, stepping back from him. He gently removed his hands from her shoulders, awkwardly placing his arms by his sides. He realized just how close they were standing when she took a small step back from him.

"I heard you tell her to leave. Thank you for that and this," she said softly.

"You don't have to thank me, Dani. I feel terrible that I couldn't help you when you needed it."

"You didn't know."

"Because she purposely didn't tell me." He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I could have helped you."

"I know, but it can't be changed now; you shouldn't feel bad; you have no reason to," she assured him.

"Do you want to tell me what happened now?" he asked, meeting her gaze, and her eyes became painful at the question, but she was slowly nodding.

"Uh, I think I need a few minutes, maybe some wine too."

"Why don't we have dinner?" he suggested. "We can talk later?"

"Okay." She agreed with a shaky sigh. "I'm going to get Gavin. I didn't want to leave him down there, but when he said she was here..."

"It's fine," he assured her. "You did the right thing keeping him out of the room. He's okay in his playroom alone for a while. It's going up and down the stairs by himself that I don't like much."

"I don't think he will stop now, so you might need to pad and carpet them."

"I'm going to try and get that taken care of tomorrow. I need to get out and get a new cell phone too. You don't mind staying with Gavin tomorrow afternoon, do you?"

"Of course not. That's my job, Rocco."

"I know, but I told you I'd be off until Thursday." He shrugged sheepishly.

"I never mind staying with Gavin," she said. "His little face is exactly the cheer-up I need right now."

He watched her head down to the basement with a soft smile on his face. He stood there momentarily before pulling himself out of his daze and checking on the food.