" You found me, Rose. " her voice had the same little western accent that I remembered Dad having. Her eyes were crinkling with happiness as she opened her arms wide for me.

Tears pricked at the edges of my eyes as I looked at her open arms. Moving forward with deliberate steps, I reached out and took both her hands in mine. " You know me?" I asked in a slow whisper. She smiled lovingly, " I knew you'd find your way to me, Rose. I knew you were strong. How could I not recognise my little Rosie? " a small whimper broke through my lips at her words.

Leaning forward I threw my arms around her and brought her into a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tighter. " I'm so sorry, Aunt Stella. " I whispered slowly. She pulled back and held me at an arm's length. " What are you sorry for, Rose? I should be the one apologizing. I left you with that monster of a woman. But trust me, Rosie. I didn't have any other option. " Her voice broke at the end and I shook my head. " It wasn't your fault, Aunt Stella. It was her fault. She ruined everything. And very soon she's gonna pay for it. "

Stella smiled at me proudly, " You've grown so much. You look so much like your Dad. I can see Irena in that smile of yours. You're so beautiful, Rose. " She whispered. Her eyes filled up with tears as she caressed my face lightly. " Rose? " I asked in fascination. Nobody had ever called me by middle name before. I was curious.

Stella laughed lightly, " I had always wanted to name you Rose, but Irena thought it was a rather small name. But because she loved me so much, she chose Rose as your middle name. I always called you Rose. " I laughed at her explanation. Her gaze shifted to Evan and her eyes filled up with more tears. " Oh Evan. I missed you so much, my baby bear. " I smiled as Evan broke into tears and ran into her embrace.

Two arms encircled my waist and Ryan rested his chin on my shoulder. I cranned my neck to look at his face and saw that he was smiling at Evan and Stella. " I love family reunions. " He whispered slowly. I smiled and nodded my head, " Me too. " Smiling at me he placed a small sweet kiss on my cheek.

" And who is this other handsome man, Rose?" I don't know why but my cheeks heated up when Stella asked that gesturing towards Ryan. Clearing my throat a little, I replied, " Aunt Stella, this is Ryan... my boyfriend. " My cheeks flamed up and I quickly pulled my hair in front of my face to hide it. Ryan laughed a little at my sudden shyness and put his hand around my shoulder.

Evan chuckled and Stella laughed lightly. " Well, I must say, you've got a keeper here, Rose. " I smiled shyly at her, looked up to see that Ryan was smiling too. She laughed again in good spirit, " What are you guys waiting for. Come on in. Who wants coffee? " I chuckled, " I'm dying for a mug."

We walked into the living room and I gasped at the sight before my eyes. The Eastern wall of the room was beautifully and completely decorated with picture frames. There were shelves filled with trophies and meddles. A beautiful guitar was hung on the wall and I moved forward to touch it. My fingers glided over its smooth wooden surface.

I looked at the pictures to see that they were old photographs of my Mom and Dad. There were baby pictures of Stella and Dad and I couldn't help but smile at their tiny figures. I saw one baby picture of Mom too and it was astonishing to see the amount of resemblance I shared with her.

I moved my finger over their faces and a small silent tear fell down my eyes. " She was so beautiful. " Evan said in a whisper looking at an old picture of our Mom. He was right. She was the most beautiful woman I had seen in my life. But then again, maybe that is because I was seeing through a daughter's eyes.

" She was, indeed. " Stella said from behind us. I turned around to see that she was smiling sadly at the pictures hung on the wall. "Was that Mom's guitar?" I asked. She nodded with a smile on her face. I smiled back and after asking Stella, I took the guitar off the wall and adjusted a few of it's strings. Once it was slightly tuned, I strummed out an old Revamps song that was my favourite. I looked up to see that Ryan was smiling at me knowingly. He knew the song. I beamed back at him.

After a few minutes, Stella sighed softly and looked at me with tear-filled eyes, " When I saw your face in the newspapers that day you topped the Billboard charts for the first time at the age of just 16, I was so proud of you, Rose. Your dad had always believed that you would be a great singer one day. I have a collection of all your achievements, you know. "

My eyes widened at that. " Really? " I asked putting the guitar down. She smiled and grabbed my hand in hers. I followed her as she lead me to another room. This room had a pink coloured door and a small nameplate hung on it which said, ' Rose's room'. My eyebrows shot up in surprise and I looked back at Stella. She simply smiled and opened the door for me.

I gasped as the door opened and the inside of the room came into view. I was shocked and impressed beyond my mind. The walls of the room were painted in a beautiful shade of crimson. One wall was completely made of glass and the view through it was breathtaking. The front wall was again covered in photo frames but this time, these pictures belonged to me. There were pictures of baby me and then there were pictures of me as a toddler. A little Evan was also in the frames with my little figure. Other frames contained newspaper cuttings of me.

From my first record, to my first album, to my first world tour and then to my first grammy, Stella had documented everything. There was an entire shelf in one corner of the room which had all my records and albums in it. I was stunned into silence at seeing all this.

" Jesus. What do I even say to all this? " I whispered in disbelief. Stella laughed lightly. " If your Dad would have been here, this room would have been much bigger than this. " Tears pooled up in my eyes and I smiled sadly. The picture my mind was showing me of my dad proudly placing my grammy on one of his shelves was extremely satisfying. I hope you're proud of me, Dad.

" I love you, Aunt Stella. " I whispered smiling at my beautiful aunt. " I'm sorry I took so long. " She smiled back and placed a hand on my head as if to bless me, " I love you too, Rosie. " I couldn't help but wrap my arms around her in a tight hug.

" Oh my. This is too emotional! Let's go eat something. Come on, kids. " All three of us laughed as Stella ushered us back to the kitchen. We sat at the bar stools of the kitchen island as Stella prepared coffee for us. Evan laid his head on the island and sighed. " Boy, I'm tired. " I scoffed, " You literally slept through the whole flight, Evan. " He yawned, " It's the jet lag. " I cocked my head to one side, " It's only a three hour gap, bro. " An amused smile stretched across my lips at seeing him scowl. " Yeah, whatever. " I laughed and Ryan snickered in the background.

" I see this one hasn't changed at all. Still sleeps through everything, eh? " Stella laughed amusedly. I shook my head and grinned at her, " You'd be surprised. " She laughed again, " Believe me, I wouldn't. " Evan scowled at the two of us and we laughed harder.

"Here, you go kids. " Stella placed steaming mugs of coffee and a creamer in front of us and my mouth watered at the delicious smell. Lifting the mug to my lips, I blowed on it's surface lightly before taking a small sip. I almost moaned at the taste of that coffee. It was by far the best I had ever had. " This tastes like heaven. " Ryan hummed in approval too and Evan was so engrossed in his that he didn't even stop to say anything.

" Do you realize we've been switching seasons all this while. " Ryan mused. I looked at him with raised brows, " And how's that? " He put down his mug and looked at me with his thinking face on. " We went from moderate cold in Seattle, to hot in California and now chilling in New York. " I passed him an amused look, " You haven't seen how cold it gets here around Christmas. Just hang around here for one more month and you'll know. " He clicked his tongue, " You haven't seen the rains in Seattle too, babe. Wet winters are the worst. " I nodded my head, " Fair point. "

Evan chuckled in the background, " This is by far the first couple I'm seeing who discusses weather like this. " I narrowed my eyes at him, " Well then I don't even wanna know what you discuss with Jenny, brother. " I pretended to gag and Evan punched me playfully. I giggled at his blushed cheeks.

" Who's Jenny? " Stella asked in an amused voice. I chuckled, " Oh she's your future niece-in-law, Aunt Stella. " Evan groaned and Ryan laughed along with me. Stella's eyebrows shot up, " Really! Evan, you found your girl, I'm so happy. You better put a ring on it, boy. " I laughed at her words. " Don't laugh little Rosie. You should settle down too. " I snickered and looked at Ryan. He had a comical look on his face too. " Naah Auntie, we're still young and in love. Gotta enjoy a lot of things before we tie ourselves down, what say Ry? " He grinned and winked at me in approval. Stella shook her head in amusement.

" Just like your mother, I see. She made your father run miles before she finally agreed to marry him. She was a free spirit and believed that marriage was for the old. " I laughed and raised my mug in a toast, " To mom's brilliant words of wisdom. " Ryan chuckled and linked his mug with mine, " Cheers to that. " Evan snickered and shook his head but raised his glass anyway. Stella stood back and clicked her tongue, shaking her head in amusement.

The next two-three hours flew by us in a blink. We laughed at old tales of Stella's childhood that she narrated to us in vivid detail which made it even more intriguing. In the middle of one such story, I was leaning against Ryan and clutching my stomach hard trying to control my laughter, when suddenly my phone started ringing.

Wiping a tear from my eye, I took in a deep breath to stop my laughs and answered the phone without even looking at the caller ID.

" Hello? " I huffed into the phone. Everyone else was still laughing and I was holding in my own giggles. However the worried voice at the other end of the line made me freeze.

" Evelyn, I got bad news. Stella's gone rogue. I have no fucking clue where she is. " My eyes widened at Rick's words. The sudden change in my demeanor made the laughter die down and all three sets of eyes snapped to me.

" What do you mean by rogue? " I asked in a worried voice. He sighed, " She attacked my men, Eve. She had weapons, lots of them and she also has about 10 other men with her. "

I frowned, " Where did she find more people to help her, Ricky? " He huffed, " That's not important, Evie. She attacked this house and she was looking for you. She knows you're here. Get the fuck out of there before she gets to you. "

I gulped, " Okay, but where do we go?" I asked hurriedly. However, before he could say anything, we heard a sharp sound followed by a loud crash. One of the windows of the kitchen blew open and I quickly ducked before the glass could pierce me. A small shriek left my lips as I heard more gunshots.

My eyes snapped over to the others and I scanned their appearance for any visible injuries. I was relieved to find none. We all ducked under the kitchen counter as another window shattered by a gunshot. My instincts kicked in and I quickly pulled out the gun I had hidden under my shirt and held it close to my body, my finger on the trigger, ready to shoot anyone who tried to harm my family.

" Rick, we're under attack. Call for the backup. "

**********

• Author's note •

Holy shit, here we go! This is gonna be exciting. I hope you're liking the story so far which is slowly coming to an end. Drop a vote and a comment if you liked this chapter. Stay safe.

Much love

M :)