Thalia
“THALIA!”

I let out a cry as my little twelve-year-old sister tackled me to the hotel floor.

"Help! I'm being attacked!" I screamed to no avail before wrestling Tilly to the floor and tickling her.

"I g-give! I give! St-stop your torture!" She cried between giggles.

"Alright that's enough!" A familiar voice called. I looked up to see my mother smirking at me.

She looked happy and relaxed, much different from her everyday demeanor back in Birmingham. Back home she is constantly stressed and exhausted from trying to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads. But I know she loves every minute of it.

"How are you doing mom?" I asked, kissing her cheek and pulling her into a hug.

"I'm doing well," she smiled. "And judging by that smile, so are you."

"The Italian sun has done her well," smirked Francesco appearing at my side. And that was all it took to distract my mother. As my mother talked with Francesco I snuck away to the balcony to visit my sisters.

Though they weren't really my sisters, we had grown up together and had become close enough to earn the label.

"How are you?" I asked as I hugged Mackenzie tightly.

"Exhausted. Tilly gave me a lecture on the entire Roman history on the plane ride over," she smiled brightly.

"KENZ!" Cried Maeve as she ruffled Mackenzie's long blond locks. "How my favorite munchkin?"

"Glad to see her two favorite sisters."

"Ditto," Maeve agreed. "Although I'm feeling slightly incomplete without our ginger..."

"How is Elaine?" I asked, curious on how the final member in our makeshift quadruplet.

Mackenzie rolled her eyes. "She's stressed at her new job. The kids are giving her a hard time."

"Well I mean she is a teacher..." Huffed Maeve. "I always hated my teachers...except Mr. Brunson. He was cool."

I rolled my eyes at her before turning back to Mackenzie. "They're just seeing how far they can push her..."

But Mackenzie was no longer listening. Instead she was checking her phone out of the corner of her eye. "Mack are you coming out with us tonight?"

"She's going for a romantic dinner with Ni Ni," Maeve teased.

"Will you stop calling him that!" Mackenzie hissed.

"Oh that's right...he's in town isn't he?" I recollected.

"They got in two days ago." Mackenzie's smile quickly turned into a frown. "Wait how did you know?"

"Josh found her at the Pantheon," Maeve cut in.

Mackenzie's eyes grew wide and she shot a fearful glance towards my mother before whispering quietly, “So…you saw Harry then too?"

"No he wasn’t there." Then I broke into a smile, attempting to make light of the situation. "I hardly recognized Josh! He and the band were completely lost so I showed them to the Trevi fountain, didn't get to finish my drawing though..."

"I'm sure you'll have another chance,” Mackenzie smiled. “And to answer your question - yes, Niall wanted to see me. But I’m sure he would love to see all of you as well. We can all go!”

“Just as long as you go back to his hotel room after right?” Maeve asked. Mackenzie made a move to tackle her but was interrupted by Tilly.

“Can we pretty please with cherries on top go to see the Vatican tomorrow?” she asked, bouncing on her toes.

“What do you want to go to the Vatican for?” Maeve frowned.

“I want to climb to the top of St. Peters! Thal said it’s the best view in all of Rome!” Tilly replied.
The three of us agreed we would take her and after spending another hour catching up with my family disappeared to find Niall.

“So who is this person again?” quizzed Francesco as we stepped inside the small Italian restaurant.

“Mackenzie’s boyfriend,” I replied. “He’s…been traveling…”

None of my friends in Rome know about my relations with One Direction and I intended to keep it that way. I closed the door on that part of my life and, until today, have never looked back.

“Think he’ll be able to find it?” Mackenzie asked worriedly. We took our seats in the back, each ordering a glass of wine while we waited.

"He's with Liam isn't he?" Questioned Maeve.

I froze. Liam was coming too? Why had they kept that a secret? And what else had they not told me? Would Harry be here? I suddenly grew very uncomfortable and began looking for a way to escape.

“Are they studying?” Francesco asked curiously. Maeve and I exchanged a quick glance.

“Ah…no. They're working.” I took a sip of my own glass and briefly wondered how long I would be able to pretend this wasn’t happening. This was a bad idea to come. I wasn’t ready.

“Oh…maybe we should have just picked him up from the hotel,” Mackenzie said, turning to look at the doorway once again in nervousness.

“They will be fine Kenz. The chauffeur will probably drop them off,” replied Maeve, downing her wine.

“But what if-OH! There he is!”

Mackenzie leapt up from her seat and practically jumped into Niall’s arms. I couldn’t help but smile as he easily lifted her up and spun her around.

“Looks like the leprechaun found his pot of gold,” mused Liam, walking over to take a seat next to me. Niall set Mackenzie down and gave her a quick kiss before turning his attention on us.

“Well if it ain’t tweedle dee an' tweedle dumb,” He smirked. Niall leant down and hugged me tightly. “How da hell have you two been?”

“Good,” I smiled. “Oh Niall, Liam- this is Francesco.”

“Francesco,” Niall smiled. “Nice te meet ya.”

“And you,” Francesco smiled politely back. Francesco was way too busy with his history books to know anything about a pop boy band, I wonder if that is was drew me to him in the first place?

"So you two met here in Italy?" Liam asked. It hadn't been five minutes and already he was suspicious.

“Francesco and his girlfriend Gina took me in what…two weeks after I got here?” I asked Francesco.

“Yes. But we seen her working at the pub for a week before we finally took pity on her,” he laughed.

“Don’t let her fool you,” warned Niall. “She’s evil she is.”

I stuck my tongue out in response.

We continued to catch up with Niall and Liam while eating an amazing Italian dinner of bruschetta and pasta. Francesco gave The guys a brief history of the city before ordering us all more wine. It was turning out to be a pretty good night, that was, until Francesco left to pick up Gina and I was left to Liam's questions.

“So Thal, Josh had an interesting story for us yesterday…” Liam started. He took another sip of his wine and stared at me curiously.

“Oh! Did he tell you the story about the Trevi? I told him it was a good one...”

“Thal. How come ya didn’t tell us ya was still livin here?” Asked Niall. He looked slightly offended and Mackenzie began rubbing his arm gently for comfort.

I grabbed my glass and took a deep drink of wine so as to avoid the question.

"She was too busy thinking about her new amore," cooed Maeve.

I kicked her under the table.

All five of us, Niall and Liam included, knew they would be relaying everything they learned to Harry. Not that I blamed them, Harry was their best friend.

Niall frowned in confusion before breaking into a knowing smile. "Is this the vineyard guy?"
I shot a glare at Mackenzie.

"I was eavesdropping and heard ya tell her," Niall defended.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance as Maeve giggled mischievously, "Yes it’s vineyard guy."

"Hold on. Who is vineyard guy?" Liam questioned.

"He's a guy from my school," I replied, hoping to put this to rest. "We've gone on three dates. It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal my ass," snorted Niall.

“How would you know?” I replied more harshly then I meant to. I took a breath and rephrased. “I’m not looking for a relationship alright? We all know how badly the last one turned out.”

“Thal-"

“I don’t want to talk about this.” I groaned. “I haven’t seen you all in forever. How have you been? Any crazy adventures we should know about?”

Liam let out a laugh, “Well now that you mention it…"

-

"Come on Francesco! We're going to be late!" I cried as I practically ran through the streets of Rome.

"Thalia, Italians are always late. It would be rude not to be."

"But you can't be fashionably late to a recital! You'd miss everything!"

We arrived at the grand entrance of Villa Borghese. The villa is famously known for being the first gallery ever and therefore carried famous works from Caravaggio to Bernini. Lets just say I'd been here more than a few times.

Occasionally it opened its doors after hours for events such as “Il Concorso Pianistico Internazionale e Celebrazione". Tilly had entered a month ago as a bet and has since made it through several rounds of eliminations. Tonight was the final round between the top ten brightest and best child protégés.

As we made it to the door I turned to Francesco, completely out of breath, "There. We're seven minutes late, is that fashionable enough for you?"

"No," he replied, annoyed at my teasing.

I pulled him through the museum until we found the makeshift concert hall set up in the old dining room. A boy in a suit handed us a program before taking our tickets and leading us to the third row.

"Thalia!"

I spun around to see Marco, or should I say Vineyard guy, standing in front of me. Marco was a few inches taller than me at 5'10. His impeccable style and manners have him a level of sophistication not often seen in someone his age. But he was sweet, kind, and confident. He never questioned me on my decisions or opinions, instead he listened.

"Ciao amore," he whispered, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me into a deep kiss. "How are you always so beautiful?"

"Nice to see you too Marco," I practically laughed. "I didn't know you were going to be here?"

"Neither did I," he laughed. "Mio padre, my father, insisted I come. And now I am very happy I did so."

"Your mother and sisters are coming," Francesco muttered to me before shaking hands with Marco.

I turned to see Maeve shoot me a cheeky smile as she pulled a gaping Mackenzie behind her. I introduced them to Marco in hushed tones as the lights dimmed.

“Did you know he was coming?” Mackenzie whispered next to me as the first protégé walked onto the stage.

I shook my head in response as the recital began. After three songs it was finally Tilly’s turn to perform. She made her way to the piano, bouncing lightly on her toes as she walked. I could see her excitement and nervousness as she shot a look into the crowd. She had never played in such a formal setting and I hope it wouldn’t affect her performance. But Tilly loved showing off for others and quickly sat down confidently at the bench.

Her playing was even more beautiful than I remembered. I was amazed at how fast her hands seemed to dance across the keys, her eyes closed as she felt the music around her. And until that performance, I don’t think I had ever really known how good she was.

As the song came to an end she seemed to break from her trance-like state and look out onto the audience. She gave us a smile before curtsying and bouncing off stage once more to our cheers and whistles. And once the concert had finished we practically ran backstage to find Tilly and congratulate her.

“You’re amazing!” I cried, pulling her into a hung and spinning her around. “You played so well Tills I’m so proud of you!”

“Killed it,” Maeve said, holding up her hand as Tilly jumped up and high five her.

“So what’d you think?” Mackenzie asked after giving her a hug as well. “Worth it?”

“Definitely. They flew me to Rome, Italy to play a song. I definitely got the better end of the deal.”

We all laughed as Francesco added, “Italy is lucky to have you. Maybe next time they will ask you to play in front of the Pope.”

“Now that would be a dream come true,” giggled Tilly.

“Perhaps they will even let you do a duet with Papa Francesco,” my mother mused. Tilly laughed aloud at this.

“Um…Thal.” I turned to see Mackenzie staring at Marco, who was now making his way towards us. I don’t know why she was so baffled by him.

“I’ve come to offer my congratulations to the little master,” Marco smiled. He leant down and held out a rose for Tilly.

“Oh…why thank you,” she smiled shyly.

“Tilly…everyone, this is my good friend Marco,” I introduced. “Marco these are my three sisters Mackenzie, Maeve and Tilly. And this is my mother.”

“Aren’t you going to introduce him to Francesco?” Tilly asked with a frown. Francesco had taken Tilly’s rose and was in the process of putting it in her hair.

“They know each other,” I laughed. “I’m not that rude Tilly!”

“It’s wonderful to meet you all finally,” Marco smiled, his arm finding its way around my waist once more. “Thalia always talks of her family.”

“That makes me nervous,” mused Maeve. The others broke into smiles at her words.

"Oh don't worry. I only tell him the most embarrassing stories."

"Does that mean I get to tell him all of yours?" Maeve countered. I stuck out my tongue at her as an older man appeared beside Marco.

"Looks like you have found some friends," he boomed in his thick Italian accent.

"I have," Marco smiled. "Everyone this is mi padre Santino Conti. Papà, this is Thalia's family."

"Ah mi Bella!" Mr. Conti smiled. "Come stai? How are you?"

"Sto bene! E come stai signore?" I asked in rough Italian. Both Signore Conti and Marco applauded my effort.

"Bene! Bene!" Cried Signore Conti. "You are better everyday! Now is this little Mozart your sister?"

I took Tilly's hand as she stared up at Signore Conti. "Yes. My name is Tilly."

"It is a pleasure to meet you! I have never seen someone so little play so well! You must come and play at the villa sometime!"

Tilly's face lit up and I squeezed Marco gently in my delight. Did he know how much that would mean to her? I felt Marco's hand begin to lightly trace the small of my back. Being Italian, these king of touches were normal - although it still drove me mad.

"You can come with Thalia!" Suggested Marco. "My father has invited her up for the month to paint the grounds. I am sure Thalia would not mind the company."

I looked to see Mackenzie gaping at this. Maeve simply had a smug look on her face, my mother looked beyond delighted, and Tilly was once again bouncing in excitement.

"Do you really mean it?" Tilly cried.

"Si si!" Beamed Marco. "You are all invited!"

I turned to Marco and asked in a hushed tone, "are you sure? I'm intruding enough as it is I-"

He cut me off with a kiss before saying, "they're your family Thalia, of course they are welcome."

He pulled me closer to him and turned back to the conversation with my family. I hardly paid attention as they began planning. I saw Mackenzie furiously texting on her phone no doubt telling Niall of how their plan to get Harry and I back together was failing miserably.

To anyone who didn't know me Marco and I appeared to be madly in love. But I was hesitant. Last time I had opened myself up to love had ended disastrously. The only lasting love I knew was the love I had for my siblings and my mother. I had love for my father, though it was much more stained and could be easily broken with one wrong move.

I guess this was the way I felt about Marco. I've never rejected Marco's love, though I've never encouraged it either. I was waiting for him to make a mistake, to wise up and leave. However he had surprised me by being quite consistent in my life. He never judged. He never asked more of me then what I was willing to give.

Perhaps I could love him. And maybe I will one day soon. For the only way a heart can mend is if it learns to love again.

Notes

Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy the filler. These first few chapters are setting up the plot so bare with me!!!