Adrianno lay in bed that night, wondering a lot of things. He couldn't sleep again, which was nothing new. He wanted to go into Angela and apologize. Actually, he thought, he didn't want to apologize, he wanted to do it again. He remembered her lips on his, her hands in his hair, the feel of her in his lap. He remembered how she had responded quickly; she had kissed him back hadn't she? It felt like she wanted to kiss him too, but the look on her face afterwards had shown otherwise. He didn't want her to feel awkward around him, so an apology was definitely was necessary, even if it was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

And so, that night, the two lay awake wondering what they were to do about what happened in the living room. Both wondered why they couldn't get the other off of their mind. Both confused as to why the kiss even happened and why they liked it.

The next morning when Angela got up from a restless sleep, she found the apartment empty and was glad too. It continued to be like that for the couple of days or so, Angela felt like she hadn't seen Adrianno in weeks but kept reminding herself that it was only days. She felt that feeling of being cut in half again, one part wanting to see him and the other hoping not to.

He would come home late, she would hear him from her room but never go out to see him. It was strange how they were sharing the same space but they never bumped into each other, when they decided they didn't want to do so. He had eaten her food, didn't bring anyone else home and hadn't gotten drunk so really, Angela had nothing to complain about except the fact that she just want so badly to talk to him. It was all very confusing for her.

But one morning, she woke up to the sound of people yelling and the cries of a baby. She immediately got up to figure out what the noise was. Putting her dressing gown on quickly and quietly opening the door to find that the voices were getting louder and not muffled anymore. It was Adrianno, most definitely and someone else too: A woman.

"I told you already, I amn't a babysitter." The woman said angrily, talking over each other and the baby's loud crying.

"I thought it might be good practise for you Luisa. You know, since you'll have to raise all of our children once we're married?" He spat back at her. Three words stood out to Angela among his shouting: Luisa, children and married. What the hell was going on? She thought. They continued to have a screaming match in the kitchen, with their backs to Angela a she stepped out into the living room and over to the baby in the push chair that was near them.

"Aw, come here. Shh." Angela said quietly to the little boy who must have only been a few months old. The child calmed a little at the new presence and by the time Angela had taken him in her arms, he fell completely silent besides the gentle o's and a's he made. He looked up at Angela as she rocked him, trying to sooth his cries.

Both Adrianno and Luisa's heads shot around at the new silence from the child.

"Angela?" Adrianno said, his voice like music to her ears. She hadn't spoken to him in a while now.

"What is she doing?" Luisa hissed quietly at him, but still loud enough for Angela to hear. She turned the child who was on her shoulder around a little so he could see her face again and she smiled at him. Adrianno's breath hitched in his throat at the sight of Angela holding the baby, she looked between the two of them and continued to rock Michael. She looked like a natural.

"I'm holding him?" she squeaked out in surprise at Luisa's bitter tone, she had reacted like Angela was doing something wrong.

"I can take him." Luisa snapped, tugging the child from Angela's arms roughly, causing him to let out small cries again that were building up into full force screaming. Yes, Angela was quiet, she was weak and she did tend to let people walk all over her at times but when there was a crying baby involved, she was different. She furrowed her brows in annoyance and took the baby gently again.

"Can't you see there's something wrong with him? You two arguing and yelling isn't helping?" Angela snapped back and then spoke soothingly to the child. She then gave the two a seething look. Luisa looked quite shocked. She turned to Adrianno and gave him a look.

"Are you going to let her speak to me like that Adrianno?" Luisa narrowed her eyes at him but he kept his stone like expression on his face, he only nodded at her. She let out a frustrated breath but soon enough. She had stormed out of the apartment without saying a word to either Angela or Adrianno, leaving the pair in silence with the small baby looking up at Angela with round, smiling eyes. She smiled at him and made a face. Adrianno watched her intently but had not said a word yet.

"What's his name?" Angela asked, letting the baby play with one of her hands. She hadn't looked up at him yet, she kept remembering a few nights ago when she was in his lap, kissing him and she would think about it again if she did.

"Michael." He said quietly, she looked up at him now. He had his arms folded, showing how his muscles in his arms bulged in his tight black t-shirt. She gulped at the sight.

"Is this Maria and Franco's son?" she lit up a bit at the thought. "He's much cuter in person. Aren't you Michael?" she voiced her thoughts, causing Adrianno to fight off a smile.

"Yes. Franco shipped him off on me for the day, unfortunately." He grumbled.

"You don't like him?" she wondered, looking up at him with questioning eyes.

"It's not that." He shook his head, not looking at her now, "It's just that well- I'm not great with kids. I didn't have kids for a reason." He said the last bit more to himself than to Angela but she still heard it. Michael began crying again and Angela realised he may need his diaper changed.

"Why don't you have kids?" she asked now, rocking the baby again. She found it weird because for her, kids were always something she would eventually have. She loved them. Just then Angela spotted the changing bag at the end of the sofa. "Pass me the bag please." She said to Adrianno as she gently placed Michael down on the sofa.

"I don't like them." He said bluntly. "It's just god damn unfair on them, Franco knows that." There he was again, voicing his thoughts to her without even noticing. She wondered what the hell he was talking about but just took the bag from him and sat down to change Michael's dirty diaper.

She didn't know that Adrianno didn't want kids for a reason. He thought bringing a child into this world, the world that he knew and allowing them to become a part of his family and what they done was the cruellest thing anyone could do. He didn't agree with it in any way and he'd never met anyone who had talked him around to doing it, he would just never have kids. That was it, it was final. No child should have to be unwillingly brought into the mob, which was what would eventually happen with time if it was boy. And if it was girl, they would still need protection from whoever was after their family too.

"Thank you." She muttered quietly. She was just about done now and dressed Michael again, lifting him up and holding him in front of her. "Hello you." She talked to him in a goofy voice, earning a laugh from Michael. "When was he last fed?" Angela's voice had changed back to normal now. She looked up at Adrianno, who seemed to be stressed out but by what? She checked the bag and found a bottle and baby food for Michael.

"I don't know." He shrugged at her.

"You don't know? Didn't Franco mention anything about it?" she asked, slight bewilderment in her voice.

"He might have said something about twelve, but I'm not sure."

"Well, it's nearly twelve now. We need to feed him soon." She got up and took the bag with her. "Here, you hold him while I heat up the bottle." She saw the panic shoot across Adrianno's face at her words.

"What? No? Why can't you just hold him?" he questioned.

"Because I'm pretty sure you have no clue how to make or heat up a baby's bottle, would I be right?" she laughed him. His silenced answered her question. "So... you take him for a minute, while I heat up his bottle."

"B-But I don't know how to?" he sounded flustered and Angela just laughed at him.

"You just hold him. Please, unless you want him to start crying again, you better take him soon." She practically forced the child into his arms, leaving him with no other choice but to hold Michael.

Once she was done, she came back out to find Adrianno holding Michael at arm's length, letting his small and chubby legs dangle in the air. He was looking at him with that flustered face he had on earlier, like holding a baby was alien to him and she guessed it must be.

"What are you doing?" she chuckled at him, he looked kind of afraid and it was funny to Angela: a big, muscly man afraid of a chubby, giggling baby like Michael.

"Just take him back quickly. I don't think he likes me." She looked at Michael's smiling face.

"Oh alright then." She rolled her eyes and took him back from Adrianno.

Once Michael was fed and sleeping soundly in his pus chair in the living room, Angela began to feel uncomfortable in the silence that was in the apartment. She tapped her knees, sitting on the sofa and looking over at the piano, memories were flooding back to her pretty fast and she just needed to talk about it.

"So are you going to talk to me again?" she blurted out. Adrianno looked at her intensely for a moment, trying to figure out what to say.

"I think so."

"I'm sorry about what happened. I really shouldn't have well- you know. I think if we just forget about it, everything won't be awkward anymore and we can start talking to each other again." Adrianno knew that what she was saying was the rational thing to do but it wasn't what he wanted. He had figured that out every time he went to see Luisa and every time he came home from work and found Angela somewhere else in the apartment.

He liked her company more than he had thought and he barely even knew her for god sake? But he knew that right now, he had to draw the line and make sure that she didn't begin to warm on him anymore than she already had. So he just nodded and pretended that was what he wanted.

"We're having Christmas dinner in two week at my parents' house." He decided to change the subject now. "And we're both going to my birthday on New Year's Eve a few days after."

"Any more events I should know about?" she laughed, joking but then thought about when she listening in on Luisa and Adrianno's conversation earlier. "Are you getting married?" she asked.

"What? Of course not." He narrowed his eyes at her. He knew then, that she had been listening.

"Well, if you two are a couple, I'm really sorry about what happened. I just want you to know it won't happen again."

"There's a lot you don't know about me and Luisa, things I can't tell you Angela. But if I were you, I wouldn't worry about what happened." He spoke with finality but it wasn't reassuring her, she still felt guilty.

"Okay." She said quietly, her mind racing again. "So we're friends again?" she asked, smiling slightly. Friends? He thought. He didn't know what they were but if she thought they were friends, they would be friends.

Adrianno nodded, causing her smile to burst into a big grin. Her childlike happiness made him laugh a little when she came over to hug him again.

"Good." She said close to his ear. Her voice made him want to shiver, and hold her tighter but she then pulled away.

Franco and Maria had stopped by in the early evening with their daughter Amelia. They stayed for a while. Angela was delighted to see Maria again who hadn't shut up since she came through the door. She noticed how Angela had come out of her shell a bit more and was visibly more comfortable with Adrianno.

"She's quite the catch Adrianno." The two men were in the kitchen, Adrianno leaning against the countertop behind the island, both looking at Maria, Angela and the two children. They were taking and playing loudly and Franco knew they wouldn't they wouldn't hear any of this conversation.

"Hmm." Adrianno nodded slightly, trying not to show any emotion or give anything away.

"Oh don't give me that, you know you like her, more than you let on. Or else you wouldn't have kept her here so long. You know she wouldn't care rat on us, she'd be scared shitless in case you came and found her."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Adrianno lied because he didn't want to tell Franco that that had been something he was thinking about a lot lately.

"Why is she still here then?" Franco asked the dreaded question that Adrianno just couldn't answer.

"Because I don't know whether I can trust her or not. Even the nicest of people can turn on you, we both know from experience don't we?" that had shut his cousin up, which was what he was going for. It was true though wasn't it? Although he was almost sure that Angela wouldn't tell on him, she probably had forgotten all about that day at the diner by now, both Franco and Adrianno knew first-hand how quickly someone could turn on you. A great example was Adamo: someone Adrianno had trusted, his best friend, and in the future, would've been his on brother-in-law but that quickly changed when Adamo had. Causing a feud between the two families, and the death of Tommas, his older brother. Jealousy had gotten the better of Adamo.

"I can't send her home." He added. "She hasn't got anyone else." Was all he said to Franco, not adding details because it was something that Angela had only shared with him.

But Franco's words had visited Adrianno's thoughts that night again. Why was Angela still here? Why did he care about whether she could go home to a happy family or not? He didn't want to think about it but it was three a.m and he had nothing better to do than over think because he certainly couldn't sleep.

But he had stopped thinking about it completely once he got up and went to her room, knocking gently on her door. He needed the sleep badly and this was his only option.

"Angela." He called quietly as he opened the door.

"Hmm?" she asked, her voice was low and sleepy. He knew she had been asleep before he came in.

"Can I sleep in here tonight?" she peeked up over her covers a little, with one eye closed and the other just about half open. She thought she had been dreaming so took her time to reply.

"Yes."

"Oh, okay then." He tried to be quiet as he got into bed beside her, pulling the covers over the two of them and inched closer to her. She had her back to him so he put his arms around her gently, feeling the warmth from her body. "Goodnight." He whispered, but she had probably gone back to sleep her thought.

"Night." She muttered, half asleep and too tired to wonder why this dream felt so real to her. She didn't question it, just snuggled closer to Adrianno and drifted soundly off to sleep again.