The Ones Who Failed Us

Chapter 25

The house was glowing with Christmas spirit. Elijah, Matteo, Teddy, and I had just finished setting up the Christmas village and all of the indoor decorations while Alessandro Leo, and Emilio were finishing up the lights outside. Elijah was making hot chocolate for us in the kitchen as we waited for the Christmas tree to arrive.

"Bon Appetit, miei piccolo elfi," Elijah said as he placed the mugs of hot chocolate in front of Teddy and I.

"'My little elves'?" Teddy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Really, Lijah?" I agreed, trying to hide my amusement. "I just lost some respect for you."

"His nicknames only get worse as we get farther into the Christmas season," Matteo said. "He once called Emilio and I his 'sweet little candy canes' when we were around eleven or so."

I took a step away from the kitchen counter to study Matteo's figure with a hand rubbing my chin in thought. "You know, I think Lijah got that right. You definitely resemble a candy cane," I joked.

Matteo smirked at me as he got up from his seat and stalked towards me. "Matteo!"

The two of us turned towards Alessandro who was standing in the kitchen entrance with Leo and Emilio behind him. Placing his hands on his hips, he scolded. "Now, why would you attack your little sister when you just got stitches on your stomach?" He walked towards us and smirked, "You can finish what you were doing once you get them taken out."

"Sandro," I whined. "I thought you were on my side." I placed a pout on my face and crossed my arms, hoping to win my brother over.

Instead, my oldest brother shook his head and pinched my cheeks. "Aww, is the baby sad?" he cooed.

Teddy and Elijah stifled a laugh at the kitchen counter. "You think that's funny, little brother?" I taunted as I slowly walked towards Teddy.

"I- what- No?"

My older brothers quietly watched the scene unfold as I attacked Teddy with tickles.

"Ava. Stop. Please," he pleaded in between breaths.

"Only when you say sorry," I said with a smirk.

"For what?" he gasped.

"For laughing at me when Sandro made fun of me." I took my hands away from his stomach to give Teddy a chance to recover. "You can apologize now."

Teddy looked up at me with a mischievous smile and said, "Never. And you deserved it."

I glared at him and was about to continue the tickle torture when two arms encircled my body and lifted me off the floor away from Teddy. "I think that was enough playful fighting for today," Alessandro said.

"There was nothing playful about that," I shouted indignantly. "I was going to kill him, really! Death by tickling."

"Sure, Aves," Matteo laughed. "You are extremely protective of Teddy, and now you're telling me that you were going to kill him over something stupid like this. Makes perfect sense."

"I'm serious! No one gets away with laughing at me." Turning to Teddy, I narrowed my eyes at him and said, "Not even my little brother."

"Go drink your hot chocolate. It's getting cold," Alessandro said, pushing me towards the counter. "And the tree is here. Elijah, Leo, Emilio, can you three help me bring it in?

I sat down as my brothers left to bring the Christmas tree into the living room. I playfully glared at Teddy as I drank my hot chocolate while Teddy wiggled his eyebrows at me, trying to wipe the stern look off my face. After a minute of Teddy making the silliest faces, I could no longer keep myself composed and choked on my hot chocolate as I laughed at my little brother's antics.