Tessa smiled to herself as she saw Daniel being attacked by the kids. Sitting on the floor with Melanie in his arms while Olivia, and the twins: Edric and Damon, were all surrounding him and attacking him with questions about his profession as an FBI agent.

"Okay, okay," Allison came to his rescue, the man getting dizzy with the rapid head movement. "Let your uncle breathe, he's not running away,"

"Thank you," He stood up and placed a kiss on her cheek as she chuckled at him and patted his back, both of them watching the kids run away.

Daniel walked over to where his brothers had been sitting and took the vacant single seater as the remaining guests mingled around them. The party was over and people had begun to leave after lunch while a few decided to remain back for a while longer and mingle with each other.

"So?" Nathan took his daughter from his brother as he sat down. "You're alright?"

"I'm good, yeah," Daniel nodded to his question.

"No, as in..." He trailed, trying to formulate his words. "I mean, we once talked about how you had run into Tessa at the coffee shop and your feelings were quite resenting towards her back then, and she's here too, so you're not mad?"

"It's Mel's birthday," The youngest leaned forward to pinch her cheeks. "She says I can't get mad about anything," He spoke through gritted teeth, resisted the urge to squeeze the toddler in his brother's arms.

"So you're fine with her being here?" Anthony confirmed.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's not like we're in each other's faces,"

"Lilly is though," Lucas muttered as he took a swig of his beer, his gaze on something behind Daniel as the youngest turned around to see her making her way towards him.

"Ah, fuck," He groaned, taking out his phone and looking down at it. "Oh, I got to take this call," Daniel held up the black screen for his brother's to see as they snorted and watched him leave just as Lilly arrived at his chair.

"Oh, where is he going?" She asked the three seated on the sofas.

"Work call," All three of them spoke in sync.

"Oh, dear, he sure is a busy man," Lilly sighed and fixed her dress before sitting in the seat he had vacated, the brothers passing looks to each other. "We'll have to change that when we're married,"

"With all due respect, Lilly," Anthony spoke with a chuckle. "Last I recall, Daniel refused the proposal,"

"Oh, I know," She waved dismissively. "I'm here to make him change his mind,"

"You..." Lucas trailed with a grimace. "Can't,"

"Why? Because he's dating her?" She scoffed and gestured to Tessa by the kitchen counter, standing with Andrew and playing with the boys, laughing at their antics. All three brothers looking at her in shock. "Please, she has nothing on me,"

"Tessa?" Nathan let out a low laugh. "Daniel's not dating Tessa,"

"He is," Lilly nodded very self-assured. "I saw them,"

All three brother looked at each other before looking back at the girl sitting before them.

"What?" They spoke in sync and shuffled closer. "What do you mean you saw them?"

"After we arrived," Lilly inspected her nails like she was bored. "Daniel said he had to take a call and walked out the back door and into the forest. So after a while, I went after him to get him to come back inside and I went to the forest and I saw him between the trees with another girl, holding her and talking to her and gave her a kiss. I didn't see her face, but I saw the skirt: white with flowers."

"Just like the one she's wearing," She pointed behind her to where Tessa stood with her back facing them.

The three looked at each other in shock before they all jumped out of their seats, making their way towards the front door where Daniel had stepped out. 

"Go to mommy, Mel," Nathan put down his daughter and followed after his brothers. 

Closing the door behind him as they found their youngest brother smoking in the middle of the lawn and playing with Oscar.

"You bastard!" Lucas exclaimed as they began making their way towards him.

"Hey, I'm as legitimate as you," Daniel shrugged as they approached him and stubbed out his cigarette, looking up with a raised eyebrow when Nathan grabbed hold of his arm.

"You and Tessa, huh?" Anthony inquired with crossed arms, Daniel looking at his brothers in amusement.

"Where did you get that idea from?"

"Little Lilly saw you two making out in the forest,"

"Lilly?" Daniel laughed at their words. "That jealous bitch will conjure up anything to direct attention to herself,"

"So you're denying that you're with Tessa?"

Daniel gave his brother a dead-panned look, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"You guys, honestly," He shook his head and pulled away from Nathan's grasp. "Got played by that half-wit," He sighed at them before making his way inside and going to help his mother clear things away.

The three brothers were unconvinced as they went inside, each one of them going to their wives in turn and telling them everything that had transpired and asked them to break Tessa somehow, make her spill the truth.

The girls, after having consulted with each other took Tessa to the side and bombarded her with questions as to what she had been up to and if he was seeing anyone and who this guy was. The rapid stream of questions had Tessa look around her helplessly until Andrew came to her rescue and saved her by asking why they were badgering the poor girl.

"Where is Lilly?" Her mother had asked after some time of chatting with Charlotte, the father shrugging in response.

"I'll be right back," Daniel told Harper as he made his way towards the stairs and into his bedroom.

Pushing open the door, he didn't expect anyone to be in there and froze up when he found Lilly lying naked on top of his covers and smiling at him.

Clenching his jaws, red hot anger boiled inside his veins as he stepped out of the room.

"Get her fucking out of here!" He bellowed down the stairs, his fingers curling and uncurling as he made his way down the stairs, everyone looking at him in concern as to what happened.

"What?" Charlotte asked in concern. "What happened?"

"Get that cheap whore out of my room!" He seethed through gritted teeth as the mother looked affronted at his words. "She thinks she can just waltz up in here and strip and lie in my room and that I'd cave to her tricks? I have never been so insulted in my life!"

"Jenna, go," Charlotte pushed the mother ahead and watched as Daniel walked a few paces, trying to reign in his anger as the others took a step away from him, far too scared to approach him.

"How the fuck did you actually think I would say yes to her?" He whirled on his mother. "After everything, they did to Emily, did you actually think that I would be alright with this?"

"What?" Both Andrew and Charlotte looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he meant. "What are you talking about?"

"Your best friend," Daniel pointed at his mother. "Bullied her,"

"Not just snide comments and criticism, she bullied her to the extent where Emily couldn't take it anymore and had a mental breakdown. We brothers took care of her and sent her out the house every time your precious Jenna would come over because she targeted Em,"

"Daniel, that can't be right," Charlotte shook her head in disbelief. "She would never hurt a fly,"

"Yeah? She hurt-" He began to say before he was turned around to be facing Tessa, his girlfriend looking at him with soft eyes and cupped his face into her hands.

"You're angry, sweetheart, and hurt and insulted by Lilly's actions," She spoke soothingly to him, rubbing her thumb over his cheekbone. "And that is alright, but a lot of times, when we're angry, we tend to say things that can hurt other people, right? So why don't we try and calm down, hmm? How does that sound? We don't want to hurt Emily's memory, right?"

"I can't!" Daniel groaned in irritation, wanting to pull away but halting when she took hold of his hands and placed one palm against her cheek, allowing him to feel the warmth.

"You can," She assured him. "Take a deep breath in," She instructed and Daniel did his best to get a deep breath before exhaling.

"Try it again," Tessa suggested as he did and could feel himself regaining his composure. "Good, now tell me about a happy memory,"

Daniel looked at her in confusion at the words.

"Close your eyes and think of one happy memory,"

"The trial date," He spoke after a moment of silent thought, a small smile making its way across his lips as he had his eyes closed. "When we were watching those Disney movies and fell asleep during the Lady and Tramp, and we had breakfast,"

"Very delicious breakfast, by the way," Tessa grinned as he chuckled under his breath. "What did you like the most about that memory?"

"Waking up to you beside me," His eyes fluttered open as he looked at her, the redness of his face subsiding as his heartbeat calmed down and he regained his composure.

"Lilly!" Her father spoke in indignation as she made her way down the stairs, everyone's attention redirected to her as Tessa made Daniel focus on her, and not on the girl who insulted him.

"Come," She took hold of his hand in her own before making their way out the back door and away from it all.

Charlotte had told Jenna and family that they weren't welcome here anymore and had them leave the house in her rage at the blatant disrespect towards her family after everything they had done for her and sent them on their way. Meanwhile, Daniel sat on the back stairs with Tessa one step below him and leaned back to have her head against his chest, both of them looking out at the view as he smoked a cigarette.

"Who told you about Emily?" Daniel asked her after a moment of silence between them.

"You mean, who told me you guys have a sister?" She looked up at him as he didn't say anything. "Delilah did,"

"Nathan told her sometime after the wedding and she had been so shocked by the revelation that she rushed to me and just burst with everything he had told her." Tessa sighed. "Probably not the wisest thing to do, but I know that you guys had a sister named Emily Robertson who passed away in a car crash 8 years ago,"

"Her son could have been 8 years old," Daniel spoke quietly. "She was pregnant when she died. I don't remember where everyone was, but Em went into premature labor and Cyrus freaked out and called an ambulance, but it was raining so damn hard that they couldn't get to them, and he drove them to the hospital."

"The storm had been so bad, that he never saw the car coming and they collided head-on. Both of them died on impact. All three of them died on impact," Daniel swallowed thickly as Tessa listened to him in silence. "She was the peacemaker of our family. The only daughter and second eldest, she was always everyone's secret keeper, our best friend."

"You know..." Daniel let out a choked chuckle. "Cyrus married her after she got pregnant,"

"They had been dating for almost 7 years, and she got pregnant and got so scared that he would leave her, so she broke up with him," Daniel sniffled, the memory of his sister both sweet and painful. "And she just got up one morning and told us that she was going away,"

"We couldn't talk her out of it and she was so adamant on leaving that none of us could talk her out of it and none of us knew she was pregnant," He swiped at his nose from the back of his hand. "And we went to drop her to the bus stop and there was Cyrus, and he got down on one knee right there, in the middle of everyone and took out this beautiful diamond ring and I can still remember what he said to her that day,"

"He said: 'Emily Faith Robertson. You're special to me. You're the only one I wouldn't mind losing sleep for, the only one who I can never get tired of talking to, and the only one who crosses my mind constantly throughout the day. You're the only one who can make me smile without trying, bringing down my mood without intending to and affect my emotions with every action of yours. I can't explain with just words how much you mean to me, but you're the only one I'm afraid of losing and the only one I want to keep in my life.' And he got up from his kneeling place, walked over to her and put a hand on her stomach and said 'let's raise our baby together'." Daniel chuckled at the memory. "He put the pieces together before anyone of us could understand and she said 'yes'. That was one of the happiest days of my life, and there have been two days in my life which I never recovered from, and the first one is the day Emily died when I was 18,"

"What's the second?" Tessa tilted her head back to look up at him, noticing him give her a gentle smile before lowering his head to place a kiss on her lips.

"Finally!" Someone exclaiming from behind them had the two jump in surprise before turning around to find the Robertson's standing at the top of the stairs, looking at the two with wide grins. "You two are finally together!"

"We have been together for," Daniel turned back to Tessa, confirming the duration. "5 months?"

"5 months," She nodded in confirmation.

"We've been together for 5 months," He looked back at his family as they all couldn't believe their ears.

All of them made their way down the stairs and bombarding the two with questions or admonitions as to how they could have kept something like this hidden from them for so long. The couple chuckling at their reaction and answering their questions.

"Tessa," Charlotte spoke up once everyone had settled down, the girl looking up at the mother. "Emily would have liked you,"

"I have no doubt that I would have loved her myself," Tessa grinned at her and hugged her close, the mother swallowing thickly at the memory of her deceased daughter. "She's still with us, Charlotte, I'm certain of it,"