"You want to expand an apartment?" I asked Angelo just as soon if not slightly before he stopped talking. "Why?"

We moved back to the apartment in New York right after Alessio was born.

"Well, since you weren't listening the first time, I'll give you the whole spiel again," he paused just as he saw me take a gander into the living room. It was too quiet. Sophia and Alessio were just sitting there on the couch watching some cartoon as if they could actually get along nicely. "Are you going to pay attention now?"

I turned all of my attention back on Angelo, "Sorry."

"Can I continue? Is there even a point?"

"Just keep it short and sweet. I have a worse attention span than Alessio when there's food around."

He laughed a little, only because it was one hundred percent true, "I wanted to knock down a few walls so that Sio could actually have his own room-"

"How are you going to do that? What walls?"

He made some face that I would have laughed at had it been any other occasion, but now he looked slightly mad so I refrained myself, "I wish you would let me finish talking before you asked questions I'm about to get to."

"I'm sorry."

Angelo stood up completely straight, "Family field trip!"

It wasn't belong before feet hit the floor and you could hear the cutest little running noises. They were obedient little monkeys, trained animals in the D'Amico family circus. "Where are we going?" Soph asked excitedly. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be very fun.

"Going to visit the neighbors to show your mother something," he was out the front door with the two of them quickly in tow. I got up slowly and followed.

Angelo was already pounding on poor Smith and Eleanor's door by the time I got to them. Did he want to knock their walls down? I feel like buying a house would be simpler than this.

The door opened a slight crack, just enough so that we could barely see Smith. "Can I help you?" He asked, fear emanating off him. He didn't like Angelo at all, and I really couldn't blame him sometimes. Angelo thought he was entitled and he was slowly teaching our kids that that was an ok thought to have.

"May we come in?"

"I don't think that's a good idea. We just put Porter down for his nap."

Porter was their two year old. They had a five year old too named Will or something like that.

"We won't be loud," Angelo said, giving Smith no choice but to let us all inside. He opened up the door the rest of the way, and Angelo quickly walked inside, once again Sophia and Alessio mimicking his steps. As I walked past Smith I gave him an apologetic smile.

I followed my family into the messy living room. You could tell a small, young family of four lived here. My living room looked the same exact way on most days.

Eleanor was sitting on the small sofa, reading a Dr. Seuss book to their oldest child.

Alessio loved those books.

She looked up in horror at us. I really didn't like having that effect on people, but there was nothing I could do about it. It just came with being married to Angelo. "Go to your room for a minute, honey," Eleanor whispered. The little boy got off the couch and quietly snuck his way into a room.

I took in Smith and Eleanor's appearance, it's been awhile since I've seen them. They both seemed to keep the baby weight from both of their kids. I didn't exactly snap right back either, but I was pretty good at keeping most of it off.

"Will you be moving anytime soon?" Angelo asked.

"Well now that we know you're definitely back and it isn't just a suspicion, yes we might actually move," Smith said.

I smiled at the face my little Alessio made. He looked like his dad, but he was definitely me, whereas Sophia looked like me but she was her dad one hundred percent. He seemed confused and also slightly offended. Did he even know that feeling?

"Do they not like us mama?" He asked me very quietly.

I shook my head and suppressed a laugh. He wasn't very old, but he definitely already couldn't give a shit if you didn't like him.

"Great. When will you be leaving? I need to expand my home," Angelo said whilst looking at the far wall, the one that our bedroom was on the other side of. "All expenses will be paid the sooner you leave."

Really?

He was going to pay for them to move, but he couldn't even spend the small amount of money to get the dog a new freaking leash, or a new cage for the hamster. Yes, a hamster. Criceto. Pinkerton.

Alessio wanted one.

Angelo just wasn't a pet guy.

Sophia wanted a cat and that's where he drew the line. There was something about cats he hated even more than dogs.

"Can we get back to you on that one? This is kind of a big deal," Eleanor asked, "We can't just be ready to move in a day."

"Why not? I've done it a thousand times."

Because he never took anything. Smith and Eleanor were the types of people to take everything that they had with them. It would take at least a week to pack this apartment up, "Angelo," I said and he looked over his shoulder at me for a short moment. "Angelo, just leave them alone."

"Oi," Alessio swayed forward a tad bit, I grabbed ahold of his sweater before he could fall too far forward, "I'm...hungry."

I didn't think hungry was the right word, but I didn't correct him. He looked tired, his dark eyes were starting to droop and it wasn't even that late.

I picked him up and headed for the front door, shocked to see that Angelo and Sophia were following me. "Let's get dinner," Angelo said as we exited the apartment.

I gave him a look he could easily decipher, "Why can't we just throw something in the oven? Sio's getting tired."

"No, I'm not," he said lazily and pressed his cheek against my own for support. "Can I have a cannoli?"

"For dinner? No." I said.

"Yes," Angelo answered with a smile. "After pizza though."

"Yay!" Soph and Alessio both cheered.

________________________

It was one of those nights where sleep was just hard to find. Angelo had already long since been asleep and I didn't want to wake him by turning the tv on, so I tossed and turned and prayed to god I'd fall asleep soon.

I saw the bedroom door slowly swing open and then I heard the sound every mother loves; little baby feet running on the hardwood floor.

My little monkey boy hopped onto the bed as if he had just taken a double shot of coffee and was wide awake, and nestled his way into my arms. "I can't sleep," he whispered.

I ran my fingers through his hair and kissed the top of his head, "Me neither," I whispered back.

"Can we watch tv?"

"Daddy's sleeping."

And as if the gods were listening and wanted to ruin Angelo's night, his cell phone started vibrating on the nightstand. It buzzed a couple times before his hand lazily found it and he pressed it to his ear.

Alessio climbed over me and onto Angelo's back, not even trying to hide the fact that he was listening in on his phone call. He looked way too interested for a kid his age. Sadly, he was more interested in the doings of the mafia than anything else at the moment.

I couldn't see Angelo's face because he was turned away from me, but I could read his body language and he suddenly went stiff, a scary stiff. Alessio's smile faded and he went limp as well.

"What?" I mouthed, knowing that Alessio could see me. He obviously knew what was going on.

As soon as I sat up, Alessio crawled into my lap, "It's gramma. The Rossi's have her."