The Twelve Vitali Ch. 29

Cat continued to read on and off as Doctors came to do their rounds and family members came and went. When Zachary arrived, she left Lucca's side to have a blood test and book in for an ultrasound scan to determine exactly how many weeks pregnant she was. Ally, Oscar and Nathaniel had also accepted her invitation to lunch at a nearby restaurant, and she left the hospital with barely a few chapters of the book read, but found she was enjoying the story of the young boy who grew up in a cupboard under the stairs.

Matteo and Ricco both escorted her to lunch with their friends, and Cat was surprised by how happy she was to see Ally's friendly smile, and how grateful she was for her concern for Cat and her family. During the lunch, she had managed to laugh and escape the worries of everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She truly enjoyed Nathanael's deadpan wit, and found that Ally had begun to see his humour for what it was.

"This trip has been wonderful for us, thank you," Ally said conspiratorially, as Oscar and Nathanael shared a joke from their youth with the other men at the table. "I don't think I have ever felt this close to the two of them at one time." She smiled widely.

"It's unusual that we can talk about the men we love instead of one man, isn't it?" Cat whispered back, her eyes looking at the men as they all laughed at a joke the women had missed as they talked quietly.

"Not as much for me as it must be for you," Ally acknowledged. "I always knew this life was a possibility for me. I guess I hadn't fully embraced it though, and neither had they until Nathanael started talking to us honestly about how he was feeling after his trip to Malaysia and spending time with Ricco last weekend. It's been great having a real holiday together for the first time. I almost feel ready to go back and face my mother-in-law again," she pulled a face. "Mikayla Gambaro is a formidable woman."

"I think I have been lucky to have Theresa, she's like the mother I never had," Cat said, not wanting to go into her background, but not wanting to hide it either.

"I knew from the wedding that your only family was your brother. I thought you might be overwhelmed marrying into one of the biggest families of the tables," Ally acknowledged.

"Overwhelmed was a good way to describe it, at first, but I am loving being part of such a big family now that I am getting used to it," she said genuinely. "I hope I have a big family of my own as well!"

"That's not hoping, it's an expectation for us," Ally laughed. "Promise me, even if we are perpetually pregnant and unable to get together like this we will stay in constant touch. I enjoy talking to you so much. You're not like the other mothers in waiting."

"Mother's in waiting?" Cat asked.

"Those of us who are waiting to take over from our mothers-in-law. The next decade will see a full changeover of the tables. We're the first generation to know so far ahead of time. But then we're the first generation where the second son didn't automatically inherit the chair," Ally explained.

"Roberto is not the second son," Cat said, making Ally frown at her.

"Maybe it was just perceived to be the second son in every family then," she said thoughtfully. "It's certainly the first generation to have mothers that weren't born to the tables."

"At least I'm not alone in that. Peri's a hard act to follow, but she makes it easy by just being so..." she searched for the word she needed.

"Yeah, she is so...!" Ally agreed. "Not just for you, but for all of us. I keep telling myself it's because Josh and Dante make her look that good, but I'll admit it's the other way around most of the time. Our men try to make us look good, but it's up to us to make them look good, in reality." She looked across the table to where the four men still laughed and joked with each other. "We love them, so it's not so hard to do," she laughed lightly.

"Not just them, but the rest of the table too," Cat said quietly. "I hope you don't think I'm rude, but I'd like to get back to the hospital. I'd like to be there for Lucca. He got hurt because of me, not that the family wants anyone to know that, but he did, and I just want to be there for him when he wakes up."

"Of course," Ally said softly in response. "Don't give it a second thought, I'll get this." She indicated the men. "Oscar, don't we have a plane to catch?" she asked, interrupting her husband's conversation and flicking her eyes to Nathanael.

"My fault entirely," Nathanael rescued his brother. "I get so caught up in reliving a misspent youth. I'll call you next week, Matt, to thank you for buying us lunch," he grinned and got to his feet.

"I expect you and Oscar will be returning the favour soon enough," Matteo shrugged. "I believe Roberto has a trip planned to the west soon."

"Great, you must bring Cat with you!" Ally exclaimed. "I just love her. Thanks for picking a good one, Mattie," she laughed, coming to her feet with the rest of the table.

"I had you in mind the whole time," he chuckled, moving to stand beside Cat. "Luckily, we have the same taste in women," he winked at her as the other men chuckled.

The group left the restaurant together, and Cat returned to the hospital with Ricco and Matteo, who tried without success to get her to return home. She went straight back to Lucca's room, and, after checking on his condition with the nurses, took up the book and began reading again. The afternoon was much quieter than the morning had been, and she managed quite a few chapters of the book and began to enjoy it without all the interruptions. She finally understood what the hype was about when she was younger. She became disappointed with interruptions throughout the evening, however, and found it harder to put off Matteo and Ricco's requests to return home for the evening with so many people willing to sit with Lucca. Cat could see their frustration with her refusal beginning to show, when she finally put the book down and sighed.

"Lucca," she whispered close to his ear. "Please open your eyes and tell me everything will be okay. I'm so, so sorry. I feel just awful, please wake up."

"Cat, you need rest," Matteo said in his commanding I-don't-want-to-argue-about-this-again tone. "It's time to go, you have been here all day!" Cat turned to look at him to implore him to let her stay without another argument, when a voice croaked beside her.

"Let her stay," the whispered croak was barely audible, except to those closest to him.

"Lucca!" Cat whirled around to face him. His eyes were still closed, but his lips moved again.

"Stay, Cat," he croaked, and with a great effort opened his eyes to narrow slits to look at her.

"Oh, Lucca, all you had to do was ask," she said in a soft voice. Cat's eyes welled up with relief as she clutched his hand in hers and smiled. She was aware of the movement and noise around her as nurses and doctors were called for, but she remained beside him, just as he had asked her to. Nurses asked her to move or to wait outside, but Lucca refused to let go of her hand and just kept repeating the same words.

"Stay, Cat," he repeated, as the doctor who came to examine him asked the family to wait outside. She looked helplessly at Matteo, who grumbled and left the room with the other visitors, lifting his phone from his pocket to call his parents who had gone home not long before Lucca had woken up.

Cat listened to the doctor as he asked Lucca a series of questions, and Lucca's eyes threatened to close several times again. He seemed to have no real recollection of what happened, believing he must have tripped getting into the car, but otherwise he could answer all the questions about the prime minister and what year it was. Real relief washed over her, and she smiled down at him. Now that she knew he was safe and out of any danger she was ready to go home without argument, after she had stayed for a little bit longer to make sure he was okay.

*****

"We're going out to the house on the hill for the weekend, and possibly most of next week. You can come and convalesce out there with us, if you like," Matteo offered. They had put off going out to the house until Lucca was well and truly on the road to recovery. As the doctors had predicted, he was strong and fit and, despite his head injury and the moon boot on his lower left leg, he was itching to get out of bed and go back to his normal life.

"You're going to commute every day?" Lucca asked sceptically.

"Cat wants to meet with the architects and designers, and I won't let her out of my sight for very long since the last attack, so I will charter a helicopter to fly back and forth. Ricco will be out there mostly with the security team and you, if you want to come," Matteo explained.

"What about work?" Lucca asked.

"What about it? You can't go back to work until you have a clearance from Paolo, so it's not like you will be missing much. Unless, of course, you want to go home to Papa's house and let Mama fuss over you for a few days instead?" Matteo chuckled as Lucca grimaced.

"Cat fusses just as much, but I have to admit I don't seem to mind it in the same way," Lucca admitted. "Yeah, a trip to the country sounds great, thanks," he agreed. He had lain in this bed for two days, and he needed so badly to get out of this room. He would have gone home to Papa's if that was his only choice. Lucky for him it wasn't.

"Mr. Matteo Vitali?" A young woman's voice asked from the doorway. She knew exactly who he was, but she had been instructed to deliver her package and use a very specific script which she couldn't deviate from.

"Yes?" Matteo turned around and eyed the young girl, taking in the courier credentials that hung around her neck and the work shirt she wore.

"I have a package for you, but I need to see some identification before I get you to sign for it," she said, trying to be more businesslike than she ever had been in the past.

"Sure," he fished his licence out of his wallet and handed it to her, looking at her curiously as she checked it meticulously, looking up into his face.

"Sign here, please," she indicated the space on her clipboard and watched as he signed before handing over the package. While still holding one end of it, she spoke again. "I am supposed to tell you that this has been through four delivery services before coming to us, so do not shoot the messenger who wound up at your door."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Matteo frowned at her.

"I dunno, I'm just the courier, and I say what I'm told," she shrugged. "Have a great day," she grinned and left the room, walking hurriedly to the elevators.

"You think I should stop her?" Matteo asked Lucca.

"Nah, her message was pretty clear. Whoever sent you that was telling you they covered their tracks and not to bother the girl who delivered it. You better open it though, because now the suspense is killing me, and I don't want to be stuck in here any longer than necessary," he chuckled.

Matteo pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and opened the courier sack, pulling out two files and a long letter. He began to read as Lucca took the smaller of the files and thumbed through the contents. The results of the DNA testing showed a match with a male, simply referred to as JT, and another referred to as TT, the father and grandfather of Cat. He picked up a photo from the same file and looked at it. It could have been of Cat, but it was faded and yellowed and looked to have been taken in the forties or early fifties, by the fashion. The woman, however, unmistakably looked like Cat. Lucca turned the photo over in his hands and read the single word on the back of the photo. "Katinka."

"We can't do this here," Matteo said abruptly. He looked up from the letter and gathered the two files and letter, pushing them back into the courier sack. Picking up his phone he called Zachary. "I need you to check Lucca out of the hospital and bring him to the penthouse as soon as possible." He hung up and dialled again. "Ricco, find Cat and get to the penthouse, I'll be there in fifteen," he hung up and dialled again. "Thomas, I need you and your Dad at the penthouse in twenty, if not sooner." He made one last call. "Kalum, pick up Papa and get to the penthouse asap." No one had questioned him or his commands, instead, just agreeing. It was the first time he felt the power inherent in being the new Chair.

Lucca, seeing the urgency in his brother, had already swung his legs off the bed and was walking slowly but steadily to the closet where his clothes were stored. He knew he was still next to useless with the fractured leg and skull, but he was glad Matteo was not leaving him out of whatever was happening.

"Go, Zach will get me soon enough," Lucca said, waving a hand as he hobbled, putting as little weight as possible on his fractured leg. "Go and do what needs to be done."

"Thanks, Luc, I'll catch you up when you get there," Matteo said seriously, and took off with his phone to his ear again as he called Knox. Nothing about this was threatening, quite the opposite, in fact, but the undertone, the not knowing where it came from, and the knowledge that the man who had sent it had engineered Cat's abduction once already, rattled Matteo to his core.

When he arrived home, he found Cat had been delivered a package and letter of her own. The slim file that Lucca had thumbed through had also been in Cat's package. She did not, however, receive the thicker file with the damning evidence outlining who had been targeting them with the lookalikes. Matteo was thankful for that. Cat sat quietly in one of the cosy chairs on the outside deck just staring at the letter and the photo, saying nothing.

"How long has she been like that?" Matteo asked Ricco.

"Arturo said the package arrived less than half an hour before you called," Ricco said quietly, his eyes not leaving Cat. She had asked for some space to think, and once again they were trying to give it to her.

"Get Lisa to set up for a meeting, in my office, I guess. Logan was right, we really do need an Athenaeum here," he sighed. "I'm going to let Cat know the others are coming and where we will be when she is ready." He took a breath and stepped out onto the deck to greet her with a soft tentative kiss.

"If he had have known of my exitance he would have saved me from my wretched life," Cat said quietly as Matteo approached her. "His words, not mine."

"If he truly is your grandfather, and I have some doubt that is true," Matteo said evenly, not wanting her to think that she suddenly had a family she could call her own. "We don't know if this is all true or if it is someone wanting to get close to you, to us, for nefarious reasons. You have to give us time to find out the truth. Do you understand? I won't put you in danger just because one man who had you kidnapped against your will and hurt Lucca says so."

"You're right. I know you're right, but it just feels true. It's so easy to believe with all of this evidence," Cat said, flailing the letter and the paternity results in her hand, and he could see the hope in her eyes that she did belong to a family who cared about her now that they knew who she was.

"You are a Vitali, you have more family than you could ever want now," he said, and he could see her open her mouth to argue. "Blood alone does not make people family, there must be love and connections, and you are so loved by us, Cat, loved by me and all of our family."

"I know. I do know that, Matt," she looked up at him and sighed. "What do we do now?"

"Now we find the truth of it for ourselves. The TT person sent me a courier as well, with a lot more information. Thomas and Cosimo will be here soon, along with Papa and Kalum. We are going to go through it all piece by piece. Do you want to come, or would you like some more time to think?" Matteo offered to include her in the conversation rather than leave her to over think the small file she had been sent with the test results and the photo. He would also like to read the letter sent to her, if she would let him.

"Just a few more minutes, please," she said quietly. "I will come when they arrive and share my courier sack with you." She knew by the way his eyes followed the letter that he was eager to read it, but she wasn't ready to share its contents just yet.

"Alright," he leaned over to kiss her. "Don't over think this just yet, okay?" Cat nodded and cupped his cheek, smiling softly at him.

"I'm okay, honestly," she said softly. "It's just a lot on top of everything I have had to deal with lately."

*****

"Lucca, you can barely keep your eyes open," Cat said softly. "Please, let me show you where the guest room is. Nothing is going to be decided tonight, they've been through all of the information so many times you all know it by heart."

"Come on, my son. I, too, am going to go home and think about what we have learned tonight," Roberto said, looking as pale and exhausted as his son.

"Where he goes I follow," Stefano agreed, standing from the table.

"Thomas and I won't be far behind you, and Zach fell asleep on us an hour ago, so we should let him go home too," Cosimo added his weight to the sentiment of the others as everyone stopped to look at Lucca.

"Okay," he finally gave in, "but only because Cat asked to take me to bed," he grinned at his brothers as Cat gasped and shook her head.

"I'm pretty sure she offered to show you the guest room," Matteo gave him a deadpan look.

"You say tomato, and I say tomayto," Lucca chuckled and came to his feet unsteadily, forcing Ricco, who had stood with his fathers, to move forward to prop him up.

"Come on, Romeo, let's get you to bed," Ricco chuckled. Cat followed them, turning down the bed and watching as Ricco helped Lucca strip down to his boxers.

"Enjoying the show?" Lucca asked Cat with a lascivious grin, making her blush.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, Lucca," she said quietly. "I know you don't blame me, but if they hadn't come for me, you wouldn't be hurt right now."

"Everything you said is true," Lucca agreed. "This is their fault, not yours though. You do get that on some level, don't you? They came for you, but you didn't force them to abduct you, did you?"

"No, but if I had been..." she started to explain her feelings.

"If you weren't with me, it could have been Ricco or Matt that got hurt, and they are far more important to the family at this time than I am. If I miss a week or two of work, it's no big deal. If Matt missed work, the world might just come down around our ears," he exaggerated with a grin. "We all know what a big sook Ricco is when he's injured, and nobody wants to go through that, so it's better this way. You have to see that."

"I'm standing right here!" Ricco warned his younger brother good-naturedly.

"All I'm saying is that, of the people who circle around Cat, I'm possibly the best one to have been in this situation. I'm younger, fitter and healthier, and I will recover quickly. It's no big deal. You were all lucky I took one for the team," he chuckled.

"Just don't do it again," Ricco grumbled at him. "Now sleep; or you'll end up back in the hospital instead of here with us where Cat can fuss over you properly." Ricco rolled his eyes. "One chapter tonight and that's it!" he warned Cat.

"I don't know that he'll keep his eyes open for more than one page," Cat countered, but went to get the book.

"We'll probably be up most of the night," Ricco said quietly under his breath as he walked from the room with her, leaving the weary Zachary to check over Lucca before he left. "This has messed with Matteo's head; Theo is a good friend of his and Mario's cousin. If they were behind what happened over the wedding weekend, like the evidence he was sent points to, he'd be shattered."