If You Love Someone, Set Them Free (Shana, Dante)

[Mateo "Teo" Rossi]

The morning came too soon. He wished he had one of those black-market time-turners that he had recently helped smuggle across the channel to France, because then maybe he could have relived this night over and over again, preventing the end from coming. But it did come, and he was powerless to stop it.

Shana had eventually fallen asleep, but not Mateo. He couldn't possibly close his eyes and let this night slip through his fingers. He stayed awake all night, just watching her sleep and praying that the night would never end. He said a thousand different goodbyes in his head, and yet the real one was still to come.

Mateo was always the first to say that he was not romantic, but it was a lie. He was Italian, after all, and like any good Italian (and most of the bad ones), he was capable of deep passion and powerful love. He wished to Salazar that he had never laid eyes on Shana O'Malley, that he had not followed orders in taking an innocent and holding her prisoner in his home for a year. But mostly, he just wished he didn't have to let her go.

He couldn't even begin to say when he had started loving her, he only knew that now she was engraved in his soul, a part of him that he could never be free of. And the worst part was that, when this was all over, she wouldn't even remember him.

It was for the best, he knew that. But it was all very easy to tell oneself that, and much, much harder to actually live it. It was the best thing for her; she would be safe and happy with Dante, and it would certainly be better for her and for him if she didn't remember him. But he hated the thought that one day, they might pass on the street and she would look right through him, never suspecting that his soul was being crushed by the very sight of her. He hated the thought that he would dream of her at night, every night, while she would only dream of Dante. He hated Dante, the idiot who hadn't bothered to figure out that Shana might have been taken to get at him, and didn't go to his father as he was supposed to do. But as always, he mostly just hated himself. He could try and point fingers at whomever he liked, but when it came down to it, this situation was all his own fault and he deserved to suffer for it.

Dawn was breaking outside his window, and as the first pink and orange streaks appeared in the sky, Mateo, felt his heart squeeze with pain. Soon she would wake and he would have to make good on his promise.

[Shana O'Malley]

Shana was blissfully unaware of the struggle plaguing Mateo. As far as she was concerned, a major changed happened in their relationship last night. Though she wouldn't kid herself into thinking she wasn't still his captive, she no longer felt like she was.

She had felt like a friend. A lover- and not a one night stand, because there had been emotions involved, and it wasn't like he was going to send her on her way when morning came. With that weighing on her heart, she'd fallen asleep.

It was not, however, the first night she hadn't thought of Dante. Those nights were becoming more frequent. But it might have made Mateo feel more torn, were he to know that.

She must has felt a shift in his breath when the sky started to lighten. Her brows creased, though her eyes stayed closed when she murmured "Don't wake up yet," to him. It was too early, and he was too warm for her, sleep hazed as she was, to want to move yet. Her body stayed flush with his.

It was another hour, maybe a few minutes more, before she allowed herself to wake up, taking a deep breath before her eyes opened. There was only a brief moment of confusion while she tried to figure out where she was. The room and the extra body were different, but she liked it. And then she smiled, not moving another muscle.

"You're awake, aren't you?"

[Mateo "Teo" Rossi]

He smiled softly as she started to wake up, determined not to let her know just how much his heart was breaking. The feeling was strangely familiar, almost comforting in its pain and intensity. He had been here before, after all, with Kate. The situation had been quite different, but the reasons were ultimately the same. His life, the family business, for which he had been trained for his entire life, would forever stand in the way of his having a normal, healthy, happy relationship with a good woman.

Although he never discussed his work with Kate, she had always kniown exactly what he did, and eventually it had come between them. Forced to choose, he had chosen the business, simply because he didn't know anything else. And now, once again, he was here at a crossroads. He had a choice before him--choosing love or the business. It should have been a simple choice; he should have been able to choose love. But there was more to it than that.

Shana would be better off with Dante. Although they were both from similar families, Dante had turned away from the family business. He could bring her back to New York, far away from all of this. But Mateo knew nothing but this life. It wasn't even something he had ever chosen or asked for or wanted; it was his whether he wanted it or not, and it had become part of him. He didn't know anything else, and if he tried to choose Shana, he would have nowhere else to go, nothing else to do. He would be in direct defiance of his father--he would, anyway, but at least this way he'd get over it. Hopefully.

He leaned in and kissed her softly. "I'm afraid so, yes. I... don't sleep well. But you can keep sleeping if you want to."

[Shana O'Malley]

Shana sighed deeply, rolling away from Mateo just enough to roll onto her back, then inch back into the space between his side and his arm. "No, I'm awake now."

This was mumbled behind closed eyes, though, and if she thought he'd fall asleep again, she might have as well. That didn't mean she was opposed to being lazy and staying in bed for a little bit. Or staying in bed and being decidedly not lazy. That wasn't a terribly idea either, and it made her open her eyes and turn her head to look at him.

"How long have you been up?" She asked, just before pressing her lips to his side.

[Mateo "Teo" Rossi]

Perhaps it was the nature of his job and the business, or perhaps the way he had been raised to always be cautious and to never let his guard down. But whatever the reason, Mateo had always been a light sleeper, if he slept at all. Most nights he lay awake, his mind ever active and his thoughts plagued with some trouble he dared not speak of to his family. After all, he was supposed to be the strong one, he wasn't supposed to have fears or insecurities or emotions. So he kept them locked up inside, only to have them surface at night when he was supposed to be sleeping.

More often than he cared to admit, Shana had been the source of those troubles, the subject of confusing dreams that he could never tell anyone about. The trouble with being the "strong" one was that he never had anyone to go to when he was hurting. He wasn't supposed to admit that the hurt existed at all.

Sometimes he wondered if he could tell those things to Shana. He wanted to. He wanted to share those parts of him with someone, and it felt like maybe Shana could be the one. She knew him differently than anyone else. She didn't expect things from him, didn't expect him to behave in a certain way. Maybe that was why he was so drawn to her. She saw him through innocent eyes; she didn't know what he had done or who he was supposed to be. She was here in his home, his sanctuary, the place where he could drop the facade he put on for the rest of the family. It was only natural, therefore, that she would see sides of him that no one else got to see.

But even if that were true, what good would it do to tell her now? He was not going to change his mind--he was taking her back to Dante today. He hated the thought of it, but it was the right thing to do. He had been wrong to keep her here, wrong to touch her, to kiss her, to make love to her. He was wrong to let himself love her. She wasn't his; she belonged with Dante. She belonged back in New York, far away from all of this. He had taken her against her will, held her here, and for what? Orders? He was barely even fit to speak her name, let alone love her.

His smile was sad, so he was glad she didn't see it. He couldn't very well tell her that he had been awake all night, just watching her sleep. so he simply replied, "I don't know, really. Hours, I guess. Like I said, I don't usually sleep well. It's fine. The important thing is, did you sleep well?"

[Shana O'Malley]

Shana took a quick, shallow breath, then held it for a moment, a smile gracing her lips as she tilted her head to look at him finally. With that smile in place, she sighed, content, and offered him a single, breathy chuckle. "Yes... I slept wonderfully, thanks to you."

She was waking up quickly now, and she pushed herself onto her side, trying to be careful not to crush his ribs in the process. She was loud and unapologetic in many ways, and that translated to not quite being as graceful as many girls would be.

Looking up at him, she realized that she might have fallen for him ages ago- that she had no regrets about their night together, except, maybe, that it should have happened sooner. She didn't even feel like she was betraying Dante. Truth be told, she hadn't yet thought of Dante. If only by force, Mateo had been there for every one of her good, bad, depressed, angry, and happy moods for near a year, and he knew exactly how to talk to her. It was something she and Dante had still been learning about each other. Now, she had that with Mateo, and while he was... intimidating, he was gentle with her.

He could have opened all the doors and she wouldn't even want to walk out.

"Would you mind if I made you breakfast?"

[Mateo "Teo" Rossi]

Mateo didn't think himself a sentimental man. Even all those years ago, when he and Kate broke things off, he would have laughed at the idea of having a broken heart. He had stuffed his pain deep down inside, forced it away until he almost convinced himself that it didn't exist. He let the sorrow turn him colder, more brutal, and more ruthless. But now, he wasn't sure he could contain the anguish he felt inside for much longer. He could feel his heart pounding, the blood rushing in his ears as if to brace himself for what he knew was coming.

His heart was breaking. It wasn't even a clean, easy break, or even an explosive shattering. It was a slow, agonizing break, as small chips seemed to crumble and break, one at a time.

He almost wanted to get it over with, to just tell her that no, they couldn't have breakfast, that they needed to go now. Just pull off the bandage and let her go.

But he couldn't. As torturous as it was, it was sweet torture, and he wanted to savor every last moment he would spend with her. So although his heart was crumbling, he never let it show on his face. He was well schooled in hiding his emotions, and even still it was taking every last bit of strength he had not to let her know that anything was wrong.

"Breakfast sounds wonderful," he said with a sleepy smile. "Pancakes?"

[Shana O'Malley]

Shana smiled at his answer, unaware of the turmoil he was going through. For the longest time, she wanted to go back to Dante. To escape and go back to a life she knew. But now, if he asked her, she would vehemently choose to stay here. Maybe it wasn't healthy- there was a name for things like this, after all. But she didn't care. She was happy here.

The other thought that crossed her mind, though, was to wonder how realistic it was to think they could have any kind of a real relationship. She suspected his family wouldn't allow it, considering that she was supposed to be some bargaining chip that Dante didn't even care about anymore.

"I can do pancakes," she told him, nodding, kissing that spot on his side again before pushing herself away to find his shirt, rather than hers, and make her way to the kitchen.

[Mateo "Teo" Rossi]

He should have let her go a long time ago. This thought kept running through his mind, reminding him that ultimately he had done this to himself. He hadn't wanted to be involved in kidnapping to begin with, and he had gone along with it instead of listening to his own instincts. And when he had realized that Dante was too dense to connect his girlfriend's disappearance to his father's business, he should have wiped her memory and released her back in New York. Or at the very least, he should have just kept her in her room and never let her out. It had been a mistake to talk to her, to spend time with her, to pretend that she was anything other than a hostage.

It was too late for all of that now. It was too late to think about what he should have done. And even with the pain flooding through him at that moment, he couldn't even entirely regret getting to know Shana, just as he had never regretted his relationship with Kate.

But this was torture. Sweet, beautiful torture. Shana's hair was like copper in the early morning light, and her eyes were so bright and full of life. Every smile, every kiss, every touch, cut deeper into Teo's soul than she would ever realize, all the more so because each one might be the last.

He smiled sleepily and leaned up on one elbow, watching as she put on his shirt. It would smell like her now, he realized, and he silently vowed never to wash it again. It looked better on her than it ever had on him, anyway.

He leaned over and picked up his jeans from the floor, tugging them on before he slipped out of the covers and followed her to the kitchen.

"I can help," he said, stepping up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. "I'm pretty good with scrambled eggs."

[Shana O'Malley]

"Mmm." Shana made a thoughtful little noise as he came up behind her in the kitchen. How drastically things had changed overnight. Except that none of this was overnight, really. This had been a long time coming, a long time in the making. It had just come to a head last night, and instead of fighting it, they both seemed to have embraced it. This was them now, and Shana... Shana was grateful for it.

There was a lot she wanted to ask for now. She wanted him to trust her to leave the doors unlocked now. Surely he had to know she wouldn't run? But it, with the other thoughts in her head, seemed like too much all at once, even for her, and so she kept quiet, forcing her thoughts down a different path entirely.

"You're not used to people doing things for you, are you?" It was an innocent enough question, but she also wasn't going to fight him on it, either. "You can make eggs if you like."

Again, domestic. If someone told her, even yesterday, that today would look like this, she would have laughed in their face. But here they were, and Godric help her, she was smiling.

[Mateo "Teo" Rossi]

"Not really, no." he said with a sad smile.

An innocent enough question, indeed. The sad thing about it was that her question was right on the mark. He was not at all used to people doing anything for him. He was the one who did everything for everyone else. Sometimes Sedona would try to do something for him, because she recognized the burden he carried on his shoulders, but for the most part, everyone just expected Teo to do everything and to stand on his own.

He hadn't chosen this. He had made a conscious decision to stand on his own, and to carry the weight of the family and his father's expectations on his shoulders. The expectations were placed on him before he could even speak. He was always going to be the heir, the future of the family and the organization, and no one ever really asked him if it was what he really wanted. He might have liked to do something else. Maybe he could have been a reporter for the Daily Prophet, or an Auror, or maybe even a Healer. He'd never know now. This was all he knew, and any doubts he might once have had that this was the future he wanted had been blasted out of the water when Sedona had been kidnapped. He'd made his inevitable choice then, but even if he hadn't, it still likely would have turned out the same. This was the life he was meant to live.

And there was no room for Shana in that life.

That stark realization nearly broke him. He wanted to hold onto her, to just stay in her arms and let the rest of the world crumble around them. Maybe they could run away, just go anywhere but here. There was something romantic about the idea of living together on the open road, living by their wits, with danger lurking around every corner. His family would never let him go, of course, and they'd be right on their tail the whole way.

It sounded romantic, for sure. It was also completely impractical. And Teo was nothing if not practical. No, it was better this way. Better to let her go to be back with Dante, the worthless sod who didn't deserve her. Better if she forgot all about Teo. If only someone could make Teo forget about her....

While these tormented thoughts raged inside of him, the only outward evidence of his inner misery was in the way he cracked the eggs against the side of the bowl, as if he wanted to destroy the shells entirely.

But there was something in her smile that somehow lightened his heavy heart. She didn't know what was coming. She probably wasn't even thinking about what was going to happen after this. All that mattered to her was this moment, that they were finally together. And maybe that was all he needed to think about, too. Teo was not very good at living in the moment; he spent every moment thinking about the future and keeping his eyes peeled for danger. And maybe, just this once, he needed to stop thinking about the future and enjoy what he had at this very moment.

"Guess I don't know my own strength," he joked, as he picked shards of eggshells out of the eggs with the edge of a spoon. He smiled back at her, the first genuine smile he'd given her since they awoke. "Have I mentioned that you look beautiful this morning?"

[Shana O'Malley]

Shana nearly laughed, but held it in as best she could. "You need to be gentle," she chided him, watching as he worked the eggshells out of the bowl. "I know you've got that in you, I've seen it," she added slyly, alluding to the night before.

Whether he was distracting her from the eggs, or was distracted himself, his words pulled her eyes from his hands to his face, and she rolled her eyes. "Apparently, you're romantic, too," she offered, not waving off the compliment, but not blushing at it, either. It was a strange thing to come from Mateo, though she knew he was capable of it. It was just so starkly different from all of their other interactions that she couldn't fall into the pattern so easily.

She went back on her decision just seconds before to ask him for more. "Do you think we can open the back door? It looks beautiful outside." A pause, a meaningful look, and then, "I'm not going anywhere."

[Mateo "Teo" Rossi]

Her comment about him being gentle almost made Teo blush. He’d never been the blushing type, but when Shana talked to him like that, he felt almost like a kid at Christmas.

“Don’t tell Sedona about he ‘romantic’ part,” he said with a sly grin. “She’ll never let me live it down.”

Actually, if Sedona knew what had happened here last night, she’d never stop reminding him how she had told him this would happen. Not very long ago, she’d been suggesting that Shana was practically his girlfriend. Now, in a way, she kind of was. Well, for now, anyway. Until he set her free. No, Sedona couldn’t know about any of this…

The reality hit him once again when Shana asked if they could open the back door. He wanted to tell her no, to shut her up inside the house and keep the outside world from separating them. He knew she wouldn’t try to run, but ironically, if she did, he would have let her. It might even have been easier than what he was planning to do later.

Dante Santino did not deserve Shana. The fool had never even made the connection between her disappearance and his father’s business interests. But whether he deserved her or not, the time had come for Mateo to send her back to Dante. She needed to forget this night had ever happened, and he… well, he could never forget. But he would have to move on.

Somehow.

“Yeah… yes, you can open it,” he said. “I trust you.”

[Shana O'Malley]

She almost expected Mateo to say no, to forbid her from opening the door. She’s never asked before, but she knew the rules. The fact that he was breaking them for her was new and strange, and even when he said yes, she didn’t move right away. It was like she expected him to open the door, unlock it in whatever way he did.

None of that happened, though. and for a moment, she was struck with how much had changed even just overnight. Was this how they would get along from now on? What were the odds that things were going to revert back to what had been normal for them? She didn’t want to trust that things had changed into something this great, and would stay this way.

But she wanted it to. She liked what was happening and could have easily spent every morning like this.

Finally, she stepped behind him and opened the door, tentatively stepping a foot out, and then the other. It was colder than she would have liked, but she didn’t want to give up the moment, standing in the morning air in Mateo’s shirt.