Coming home to absolute chaos is what it's always been like for the past two and a half years.

"Matteo!" My wife yells, chasing around a half naked two year old with a pair of pyjama pants in her hands.

Matteo has always been the energetic, wild,  misbehaved twin compared to his sister, Reyna, who is ten minutes younger than him.

Anyways, we decided to name our son Matthew Alessandro Del Rosso because River wanted to name him after her father but we decided that his nickname will obviously be Matteo.

He has brunette curls, inherited from me, and blue eyes, inherited from River. Reyna has black hair, inherited from her mother, and green eyes, that are inherited from me. Some would say they look nothing a like but River thinks otherwise because she says they have my genes—something she's happy about for whatever reason.

"No Mamà! No!" He yells, shaking his head as the sound of tiny feet slapping against the tiled floor echos into the house.

"Come here, baby. You're going to catch a cold." She says softly. It is snowing outside and I'm surprised he hasn't caught one yet.

Sighing, I catch the little shit in my arms and shake my head at him when he tries wriggling out of my grip.

"Ciao Papà!" He says, grinning at me with his cute little dimples.

"Ciao ometto," I say with a smile as I kiss the top of his head, "Why are you giving Mamà are hard time, hm?"

(Little man)

"No pants." He pouts adorably and shakes his head defiantly as he crosses his tiny arms over his chest.

"Big boys wear pants. You want to be a big boy?" I say, raising an eyebrow and continue when he nods his head, "Then put your pants on, okay?"

"Sí." He says, nodding his head continuously with a grin.

I peck his cheek and set him back down on to the floor. He immediately runs back to River, who kisses his temple, and eagerly puts his pants on before running off else where.

River sighs and walks over to where I am with a smile. I extend my arms out to her, feeling my lips curve upwards at the sight of my beautiful girl. Even after all these years with her my heart still skips a foolish beat for her.

She walks right into my arms and lets out a satisfied sigh when I wrap my arms around her. She lays her head on my chest and slips her arms underneath my suit jacket to wrap them around my waist.

"Hi beautiful." I murmur into her soft hair and kiss the top of her head.

She hums in response, leaning upwards and placing a soft kiss on my jaw.

I run my hands through her hair and tilt her chin up, pecking her lips. "How's my girl?" I say against her mouth.

"Tired. Matteo has been a pain in the ass today." She sighs exaggeratedly.

"He's been hanging out with Theo too much."

"He gets it from you." She scoffs then giggles when I playfully slap her ass.

Tiny footsteps echoed into the hall followed by a small voice I recognise oh so well. "Papà! Papà!"

I tilt my head to the side and grin when I see my little girl waddling over to me with her arms extended out, making grabby hands.

I unwrap my arms from around River and crouch down, extending my arms out to my daughter. She grins and runs straight into my arms as I kiss her cheek, scoop her up and stand upright.

"Hi princess." I say softly, placing my hand on the centre of her back to stabilise her.

"Ciao Papà!" She grins with her cute dimples. "Outside? Outside?" She points to the window and tilts  her head a little.

"Mamà?" I muse as Reyna and I turn our attention towards River with grins on our faces.

"After lunch." She smiles and kisses both of our cheeks.

xXx

While River makes lunch, the twins wanted to colour. But not on paper. No. Instead they decided to colour in my tattoos. Each blank spot on my arms has now been filled with colour. All of the blackness was now gone.

We were sitting on the kitchen counter and while they colour, I watched River make the food as she swayed her hips slightly to whatever music was playing on her airpods.

This isn't the first time they've done this. And it certainly won't be the last.

If they're happy then I'm happy.

"Me?" Reyna points to her initials on my forearm then proceeds to colour it in red, her favourite colour. 

"Yes you, angel." I nod my head and kiss her forehead.

"Me too." Matteo grins and climbs on to my lap, pointing to his initials that are right next to Reyna's.

My lips pull into a light smile as I listened to them babble about fuck knows what. When I looked back up, Rivers eyes caught mine. A dimpled smile was spread across her lips and when I raised an eyebrow, silently asking her what she was smiling at she simply shook head.

"Mamà." Matteo whines, extending his arms out to her. He's always been a mamas boy.

"What's wrong my sweet boy?" She coos, picking him up and kissing the top of his head.

"I wan'." He makes grabby hands towards the food on the counter top.

"Here baby." She says, giving him the tortilla that she cut up for him and sitting him in his high chair.

Matteo normally hates the high chair but if he's occupied with his food then he's fine.

I pick Reyna up and get off the counter, sitting her down next to her brother in the high chair. I put the plate on her mini table and she immediately starts eating it, making a mess as she does so.

I wrap my arms around Rivers waist as she cleans up the counters and bury my face into her neck.

"What do you want to eat?" She asks softly, placing one of her hands on top of mine as she uses the other one to clean.

"You." I murmur, smirking against her neck. "Ouch!" I glare at her after she hit me with the fucking spatula.

"That's inappropriate." She scolds.

"Won't happen again boss." I smirk and purposely slap her ass.

"Ace!" Then she proceeds to attack me with the spatula again.

"Baby—Put the—Ow!" I jump when she hits me in the ass with it. I start running around the kitchen as River chases me.

"You think this is funny?!" I exclaim as the twins laugh at me.

"Baby, baby, baby, my love, my beautiful wife.  Please." I stop and grab the spatula, trapping her into my arms so she can't hit me again.

"Don't be like your Papà." She says, stifling a grin as she directs her attention to the twins, who were giggling.

xXx

"You sure you don't want to go in the snow, little man?" I ask a startled looking Matteo.

It is the twins' first time in the snow since we took them away last winter. Hence why Matteo looks terrified.

Reyna and River have already gone out in the snow. Rivers holding her hand, a smile on her face as she watches Reyna jump in the snow and pick bits of it up from the floor. River made sure to buy the twins gloves the second winter came round.

"No! No snow! No Papà!" He shouts, tightening his grip on me as he shakes his head continuously.

"Your sister and Mamà are out there. It won't kill you, man. Look." I say, picking some snow of the side and putting it near his face.

"No!" He sobs, shoving his face further into my shoulder and moving the snow away.

I sigh and wipe the snow of my hand before rubbing his back in order to calm him down. I don't want to overwhelm him with it so I guess we can try again another time.

"He still doesn't like it?" Theo asks from the doorway.

I regard him over my shoulder and shake my head. "Nah. He hates it."

"The girls seem to like it." He says, gesturing towards River and Reyna with a grin on his face.

"Mm." I smile and wave at Reyna when she waves her tiny hand at me.

"Mamá." Matteo whines, making grabby hands towards her as she walks up to us with Reyna in her arms.

"I think it's nap time." She says, giving Reyna to me and picking Matteo up.

My little girl was already dozing off as she laid her head on my shoulder and moved her face to my neck.

We walked inside and went straight up to the twins' nursery to put them down for their nap.

I take off Reyna's jacket, trying not to wake her up which didn't work at all because she let out a loud sob. Waking her up is like waking up the devil.

"Shh, go back to sleep piccolo amore." I rock her back and forth, kissing the top of her head and soothing her back to sleep until eventually her cries died down.

(Little love)

xXx

Alea came over with her and Theo's daughter. She and Nolan didn't work out.

The twins were still napping and would be waking up any minute now. Alea's daughter, Abby, is only 6 months old.

We all decided to go back to Ace's ice hockey ring since we haven't been in so long.

"Next week lets get our nails done at that salon around the corner." Alea says, adjusting Abby in her arms, who is preoccupied with a toy in her hands.

"Sure. I'll have Ace watch the twins." I say, sipping on my hot chocolate.

"Look who woke up from their naps." Ace grins, walking into the living room with a moody looking Reyna and an energetic looking Matteo.

Oh boy.

"Run Papà. Run!" Matteo says, pointing to the floor as he wriggles in his hold.

Ace pecks his cheek and puts him on the floor. Matteo immediately starts running off to God knows where as his soft giggles fill the house.

"What do you feed the kid?" Alea says, gaping at Matteo as he runs around the living room.

I chuckle and catch the sight of my husband sitting on the couch, legs spread, showing our daughter something on his phone that has them both grinning.

My eyes drift over to Theo, who is playing with his daughter, then over to Alea, who is watching them with a smile.

"Mamà! Mamà!" Matteo jumps up and down, tapping my knee to gain my attention.

"Yes my sweet boy?" I say, picking him up and sitting him on lap.

"Hockey por favor." He grins and points to the door, meaning he wants to leave to go to the ice ring.

Ace has taken him at least once a week because the first time he went he loved it. He makes it his priority to spend time with each of the twins no matter how busy he is. Reyna on the other hand wasn't really a fan so we've only taken her once.

"Put your coat on baby." I brush hair away from his forehead and peck his cheek, setting him back down onto the floor.

xXx

"Does the princess still hate it?" Ace says, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder.

"She won't even stand on it." I sigh, picking up a crying Reyna from the floor and stepping out of the ring.

"Look at our boy." He grins and points at Matteo, who is skating with the help of an ice skating aid.

"He's a natural." I say, looking over at my little boy with a wide smile on my face.

"He really is." He says before skating back to Matteo. A smile grazes my lips as I watch him hold his tiny hand before skating with him at a small pace so he can keep up.

"Cuties, am I right?" Theo playfully coos Matteo and Ace with a grin of his face.

I shove his shoulder and chuckle, shaking my head as I put mine and Reyna's shoes back on.

"How's my little principessa?" He says, tickling Reyna's side and making her giggle.

"Uppies, T." She says and makes grabby hands towards him.

"Yes your highness." He playfully bows and picks her up from the bench with a wide smile.

"Pretty princess?" She says in an adorable voice that always melts my heart.

"The prettiest." He replies, lifting her up onto his shoulders. "Say bye-bye to Mamà." He leans down slightly so I peck her forehead as she giggles and says goodbye to me.

Theo's mostly likely going to spoil her with snacks from the vending machine.

"Don't have too many sweets!" I call out after them.

"No promises!" Theo calls back before disappearing around the corner.

I look back over at the ice ring to see Matteo with a mini ice hockey stick in his hands. And he is some how managing to balance himself on the ice without any assistance. Of course Ace is there to watch him but it looks like my little boy doesn't need any help.

"Hit it into the net, little man." Ace says softly, gesturing towards the net as he places a hockey puck in front of Matteo.

With only a little difficulty, Matteo managed to hit the puck a few inches into the net.

"Papà look!" He says excitingly, pointing to the net as he looks up at Ace with a dimpled smile.

"That's my boy." Ace grins, picking him up and kissing his cheek as he giggles.

"See Mamà?" He calls out as Ace skates over to me with him in arms.

"I did," I beam, peppering Matteo's face with kisses as soon as they reach me, "Mamà's proud of you baby."

Ace takes his and Matteo's skates off and puts him down on to the floor before he  wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me to his chest. He dips his head down and tenderly latches his lips on to mine in a slow, gentle kiss.

"I can't get enough of you." He says in between kisses. I can't get enough of him either.

I smile against his lips and trail my fingers through the back of his hair.

He will forever be my escape.