Beggin' DeVito's Story

The table heaved with food, each person had taken part in the preparation and cooking of the first meal they had shared since Tommy had left. Tommy sat proudly at the head of the table his wife next to him, pleasantries were exchanged as were compliments on each individual dish, they swapped stories and made jokes, the atmosphere was incredible, Renee felt accepted and for the first time in as long as he could remember Tommy felt like he was at home, baby Frankie cooed loudly across the table towards Bob, who was still besotted with him,

"Ay! Bambino!" Tommy called to his son "Let uncle Bobby eat!"

The room fell silent for a moment as Bob attempted to register what had just happened,

"Uncle Bobby?" He whispered, Tommy nodded without looking at him his cheeks glowing "What happened in Vegas Tommy?"

Bob laughed, Nick joined in,

"You can't ask that genius! what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!"

The room erupted in to laughter again,

"In all seriousness" Frankie raised his wine glass "To Tommy, it's nice to have you back big brother"

Tommy's eyes pricked, Renee squeezed his thigh under the table reassuringly and winked at him,

"And to my beautiful wife, who stuck by my dumb ass!, salute!"

He looked around, taking in everything around him, his Son Frankie a true blessing helping him realize he needed to settle down, now he had a tiny life relying on him, he couldn't gamble drink as much or sleep around anymore and surprisingly he didn't miss any of those things, he felt as though he had gotten it all out of his system, and there was no were else he'd rather be than sitting on the sofa with his first and only child asleep in his arms, he watched as he clapped his hands and mushed his food between his chubby little fingers, he smiled as he flapped his arms splattering his friends with pasta sauce, his laughter filled the air making everyone laugh.

He looked at his wife, the woman who opened her home and her heart to him when he was at his lowest, most people would step over the beaten homeless man in a alley but not his Renee, she took him home cleaned him up and made him feel wanted, she sat up with him when he had night terrors she calmed him during his panic attacks, she showed him what it felt like to be wanted and loved, she stuck by him through everything and he never thought he would feel this way about just one woman, he was a self confessed commitment-phobe, but her warmth and generosity had changed him and had nearly paid with her life something that Tommy could never make up for, he watched as she brushed her curls back off of her face and sipped her wine, her nose screwing up as she laughed at one of Nicks many anecdotes.

His eyes wandered to Frankie his dark haired little brother, at the time he thought Frankie was just being an ass it turns out he had Tommy's best interests at heart and if it wasn't for him dragging Tommys ass in front of Gyp Tommy never would have met Renee, if it wasn't for Frankies ballsy determination he never would have became a musician, Tommy had tried so hard to stay loyal to Frankie but done nothing but get him in trouble and irritate him to the point of breaking, which eventually he did and Tommy became dangerously close to losing him, the thought made a chill run down his spine, his best friend was sitting quietly focusing on the conversation, elbows leaning on the table his hands weaved together and covering his mouth, his brown eyes fixed on whoever was talking at the time as he listened intently, Frankie always was a brilliant listener.

Nick slouched in his chair one hand on his slightly bloated stomach, a grin fixed on his face as he focused on Renee telling a story, his deep voice interrupted every once in a while, cracking some sort of joke or throwing the occasional insult in, once again Tommy found himself feeling humbled as he looked at his childhood friend absorbing al of his small traits, age had been kind to him although they had ticked the years by together Nick was still fresh faced and youthful, it was Nick who had taught Tommy to play the guitar, it was Nick who encouraged Tommy and it was Nick who helped Frankie fine tune his voice, whether they were in the street in a bar or in a jail cell Nick always had Tommy's back and a lot of their younger years were spent with Nick fighting off the bigger kids to protect a scrappy little street kid who he would later call his best friend.

He looked to Bob the light haired genius who was sitting holding the baby's tiny hand across the table and holding his wine with the other Tommy had noticed his eyes squint a little after each sip, Bob didn't like wine never had done, but still drunk it as not to cause offense or give anyone reason to ridicule him, Bob was far too innocent for Tommys liking, or so he thought, he had only ever seen Bob lose his temper once and that was enough to turn Tommy away from irritating him anymore, when he first arrived in Vegas he had blamed Bob, it only seemed to be when he came along that things began to go wrong, Tommy didn't harbour any bitterness towards the sweet song writer, he was the calm in the storm and kept all of them on the right track, and if it weren't for Bob's lyrics they'd probably all be dead by now, he was thankful for Bob his little quirks his giant heart and never ending patience and had spent a lot of time beating himself up over how cruel he had been to him in the past.

He was snapped back to reality by a voice and a small touch on his hand,

"Tommy?" he looked to his left and saw Renee looking at him brows slightly furrowed "Are you okay?"

He smiled at her the warmth rising in his stomach again as he glanced around the room taking her hand in his,

"I'm fine sweetheart" he sighed "never better"

Unable to contain his smile Tommy realized he had his family he had his friends, he was home.