Slow Dancing in the Darkness

“Do you want me to stay?” Lionel posed as he looked at Gabriela, his dark eyes studying the slightly ambiguous expression which marked her features. She looked upset, her blue eyes were a little glassy and Lionel didn’t quite know if she was going to cry or yell, not that he would have blamed her either way. Gabriela, who was stood in the doorway, shook her head.

“I want him to go” she murmured, her eyes briefly flicking towards Luca.

“Lala…”

“It’s 3 in the morning, papa” Gabriela interrupted, her voice a little shaky.

“I know” Luca sighed “And I hate that I came so late, I should have come after you left that day, but I don’t want to leave things as they, princesa. I made that mistake when Noah was born and I don’t want to do it now that little Amelia is here” he protested gently.

Gabriela sighed. “Leo told you we called her Amelia?” she posed.

Luca smiled. “I am touched, Ela, and I know that you abuela would be too if she was around to see her” he noted.

Lionel made a small noise. He had no idea that Gabriela’s grandmother was dead, though, until 5 minutes before, he hadn’t known a thing about her grandmother at all.

Gabriela noted the sound with a curious look, but didn’t say anything.

“I just want to talk, Ela” Luca noted “I want to apologize for what I said to you” he added.

Gabriela rolled her eyes. “You’ve had that shot lined up since mama left” she muttered, pushing a frustrated hand back through her hair “You never said anything to Davi or Evan, and Evan has been divorced too, but no. You saved that shot for me. What is it, Papa?” she murmured.

Luca looked at his daughter and sighed. “You remind me of her” he murmured.

Gabriela scoffed.

“No, not that part” Luca noted, reaching out for her hand “Before she ran off with what’s his name. Your madre was a sweet and kind woman, the kind of girl that parents want their son to bring home, and you’ve always reminded me of her, especially with those big blue eyes. I don’t like that you got hurt, Ela, I hate that Elliot took advantage of you, and when I heard that you’d not only married a stranger, but you’d gotten pregnant…this whole thing is reckless” he explained.

“But I am happy” Gabriela refuted, crossing her arms over her chest.

Luca sighed. “I can see that” he murmured.

“Luca” Lionel noted “I am not going to force you to like me, but you have to at least respect what me and your daughter have here” he added.

Luca nodded. “I know, and I do” he noted.

Gabriela shook her head. “I just don’t want this marriage to put a barrier between me and you, papa. You missed out on so much when I had Noah and I don’t want it to be the same with Amelia” she noted gently.

“It won’t be” Luca noted, stepping towards her “Ela, I want to be around for you, Amelia and Noah and I want to make an effort to get to know the man who you clearly love” he noted.

Gabriela eyed him warily.

“Ela, I want to know my grandchildren” Luca insisted “And if I have to get to know Leo to do it, then I will” he added.

Gabriela offered her father a look before she turned to Lionel, wordlessly asking him for his opinion.

“It can’t hurt to try, Gabby” the argentine noted “And I know that you’re not the type to push people away. I mean, look at all you’ve done to make sure that Noah has his padre around, I am sure that we can put this to one side” he added.

Gabriela stared at him for a second before she nodded. “Alright” she murmured “We can try, but papa, you need to leave now. It’s late and Amelia and Noah are going to be up soon” she noted, not missing the yawn that had fallen out of Lionel’s mouth.

Luca nodded. “Of course” he murmured “I have to leave tomorrow, but I will be back soon. I can’t wait to meet little Amelia” he noted as he pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Gabriela nodded her head gently, allowing him to step out of the room, closing the front door with a small thump. “I can’t believe he showed up” she murmured, stepping towards Lionel.

“You and me both” Lionel mused, placing his arms around her waist, pulling her into a small hug.

“I am kind of glad though” she murmured “As horrid as he can be, I’ve missed him” she added, resting her head on her husband’s shoulder.

Lionel nodded along, not particularly listening to her, before he pulled away slightly. “Can I ask you something?” he posed.

Gabriela tilted her head, but nodded. “Of course you can, Leo” she noted.

“How come you didn’t mention that Amelia was the name of your abuela?” he posed, his dark eyes peeking down at her. He knew that it wasn’t a huge detail, he’d liked the name Amelia from the moment that Gabriela had mentioned it, but he was a little curious. Her grandmother was clearly an important figure in her life and he was a little concerned that it hadn’t come up in conversation before.

“I didn’t?” Gabriela posed.

“No” Lionel noted “I’ve never heard you talk about your grandmother, or your two brothers for that matter. I know that they aren’t huge details, but they’re clearly important to you and I am little concerned that in nearly 12 months of us being together, they’ve never come up in conversation” he added.

Gabriela frowned. “I don’t know everything about you either” she countered gently.

“I am not saying that you do. But doesn’t it bother you a little?” he noted. He didn’t want to start a fight, Gabriela’s first reaction when she was confronted was to go mildly defensive, and he didn’t want that. He merely wanted to let her know that he was a little concerned that he wasn’t aware of some things about her past and her family.

Gabriela offered him a little shrug. “It used to” she admitted.

“And now?” he posed.

Gabriela smiled and stepped towards him, her hands settling at the back of his neck. “And now I am aware that every day, I am going to learn something new about you. It was always going to be a consequence of the way things happened for us, we cut out almost all of the dating phase and went straight to the marriage phase and since we got married, we’ve not had much time to just sit back and get to know one another. Between parents and my ex and then falling pregnant with Amelia, I don’t think you and I ever really sat down to talk about our families and so on” she noted, pecking his lips softly “I used to mind, but now? I am not so bothered by not knowing everything” she mused.

Lionel nodded his head, allowing her to kiss him again before she took his hand, mumbling something about getting back to bed. Following her, he shook his head a little. He doubted he would be content just finding things out piece by piece.