Ok, final chapter! Dante and Zhalia are finally alone in Dante's house and their lives together are about to start. Hope you like it. Kisses*

Dante's house, Venice, Italy

3rd person's POV

The party lasted until very late. Dante danced with Zhalia and kept shutting down Scarlett until she finally gave up. When everyone finally went back to their homes, the house was a mess. Dante and Zhalia agreed to clean everything the day after, since they were so tired. Dante walked her to her room and she blushed immediately when she looked around.

"Uh, I'm sorry, Dante, my room is a mess too. I should start to look for an apartment nearby…"

"What?" Dante asked, astonished. "I've told you, you don't have to live alone."

"But, Dante, it's ok. There's no need to bother you. I can rent a furnished house, I'm guessing the payment for this last mission will be large and… I don't want to impose on you."

"Zhalia…" he started. "You know you don't bother me at all. Don't worry about the room. I know you didn't have much time to set it up. And it's pretty clean compared to the rest of the house!" he winked. "Listen, I know you're strong and independent as you'll always be. But I'm not saying this to help you, really. You're not imposing on me. I just… I can't imagine living in this house anymore without the light of your presence." he said smiling.

"You want me to… To live with you?" she asked hesitantly, like she didn't actually believe in what she was hearing. She had been living there lately, but she always thought it would be temporary. Although, deep in her heart, her biggest wish was to stay.

"As my girlfriend, yes." Dante replied. "I don't wanna be away from you if there's no need. I promised I would never leave your side and I intend to keep it. I love you… "

Zhalia didn't really know what to say. She just smiled slightly and hugged him tightly.

"Dante… I love you too… Forever…" she whispered.

"Do you want to move your stuff then?" he asked in her ear, kissing it then.

"What?" she asked, stepping back.

"This bed won't be enough for two…" he explained winking.

"Uh, yes of course! I'm sorry, I just… I wasn't expecting this…"

"It's ok, you can stay here if you prefer… I'm moving too fast again, right?" Dante realized, fearing to have messed up.

"No!" she exclaimed, making him smile with relief. "It's perfect, I'm sorry. I'm just… not used being loved."

With that he slowly lifted her chin and kissed her lips gently.

"You'll get used to it soon, darling, I promise." he said as they parted.

"Thank you, Dante…" she whispered. "But… won't the kids get suspicious?" she asked worriedly.

"They rarely come to this part of house. But, yeah, maybe it'll be better if you keep your things here. And there's much more space."

"Yeah, because I have a lot of stuff!" she exclaimed ironically.

"Right!" he laughed. "Let's get some rest now. We'll straighten the house tomorrow."

"Ok, I'll get ready!"

After a while, Zhalia was entering Dante's room. He was already in the bed waiting for her and smiled immediately when he saw her in the usual nightgown. She entered the bed, smiling too. They shared another tender kiss and then the lights went off.

"Good night." they said in union. That made them laugh a bit.

After what seemed like five minutes, Dante opened his eyes. The room was full of an intense light and he looked at the clock. 'Almost midday already?!' he thought. He then looked at his side and saw Zhalia, who was still asleep. He caressed her hair pulling it back and kissed her cheek gently. That made Zhalia open her eyes and smile lightly.

"Good morning, my sleeping beauty!" Dante said returning the smile.

"Good morning!" she exclaimed. Then she moved to the top of him and kissed his lips passionately. His hands started to run her back inside her nightgown until it fell on the floor…

A loud ringing from the home phone made them broke apart. Dante snorted and got up to answer it. After a while he was back in the room.

"Who the hell was it so early?" Zhalia asked, also upset with that interruption.

"It's midday already, you know?" Dante informed smiling.

"No way!" she exclaimed sitting immediately on the bed and turning to see the clock. That made Dante chuckle.

"I guess we were more tired than we looked like. But to answer your question, the call was from Sophie's house and Lok was the one who made it. They will come by to help us with the cleaning."

"Great. Lok strikes again…" Zhalia muttered. Dante laughed remembering that last time they were interrupted. An interruption that had been much more annoying from his point of view. Zhalia smiled at him, thinking the same.

"Let's get ready." Dante said. "It won't take long until they get here."

"What? You should have told them to wait a while!" Zhalia exclaimed with concern and got up immediately.

"Don't worry. I'll get ready in five minutes for receiving them. You can take whatever time you need. You just have to come out of the other room as usual and they won't suspect anything."

"Ok, thank you." Zhalia said quickly. Then she started to make the bed and removed all the evidence that she'd been in Dante's room. Dante rushed to the bathroom and got ready in the moment the kids knocked on the door.

They sat in the living room with LeBlanche and Santiago chatting happily. After a while, Zhalia passed them and sat down too.

"Did you have lunch already?" she asked.

"No, we woke up a while ago." Sophie said blushing.

"So did we! I'll set up the kitchen then and get you something to eat." Zhalia offered.

"I can help you with that!" Sophie exclaimed and headed for the kitchen.

"See?" Dante said to Zhalia. "No suspicion. There's no need to worry."

She gave him a light smile before she went to the kitchen to help Sophie. Dante and Lok looked at the girls entering the kitchen and then at each other. Given their frequent disagreements they wondered if that adventure would end up well.

They started straightening the living room with LeBlanche and Santiago. Apparently there was also no need for the boys to worry, since the girls got along very well and put up a wonderful banquet.

The cleaning took the whole day and, when everyone left, Dante and Zhalia headed to their room.

"So what do we do now?" Zhalia asked, entering the room.

"Right now? We crawl into bed." Dante answered winking.

"Right! No more interruptions. But I didn't mean that..."

"I know." he smiled. "Well, the kids start school tomorrow, so I think we could enjoy some time for ourselves. We can utilize the money from the mission for you to buy some stuff you need, like clothing or other things you lost in the explosion…"

"Yeah, I'd like that." Zhalia answered nodding.

"Besides, I think this house could use a feminine touch." Zhalia gave him a questioning look. "Well, now this house is also yours. And if we want this to be our home, I want your trace here too. Unless you prefer to move to someplace else. I'll go wherever you'll go."

"No, Dante, your house is… perfect. I actually think it's great as it is now, but I'll see what I can do." she smiled.

"Oh, I also have to get the report of the mission done by the end of the week!" Dante suddenly remembered. Zhalia laughed softly.

"This one will be huge... But don't worry. I can help you. And feed you!" she said winking.

"Wow, that sounds great!" he exclaimed with a wide smile.

"How about missions? Do you know if there will be any of them soon?"

"I think we deserve some rest. But, yeah, it's probable that something will come up if we get bored." he answered winking.

"Maybe we could go on a mission alone… I mean, just the two of us. You know, to see how we work…"

"You mean a paid vacation?" Dante laughed.

"Yeah, something like that." Zhalia said, laughing too.

"That's a brilliant idea!" he exclaimed smiling widely. "I think we have everything we need to start our lives together."

"We just need each other." she said wrapping her arms around him.

Their lips met in another passionate kiss and they fell on the bed. Things heated up to a moment of magic that lasted until their tiredness got the better. Both fell asleep like angels, knowing that the first thing they would see when waking up would be each other, forever.

* THE END *

( of this story :p )