Baptized by Fire

(The story of Lizzy Moltisanti)

A/N: I don't own any of the characters from the Sopranos, I own Lizzy and her little friends and that's it. Lizzy starts writing this at the start of her Senior year so that would be right before season 6 part 2 starts. Enjoy.

Chapter One: Why

This whole thing started as a class project.

Here's the assignment:

Write a story about your family, introduce us to the different characters shape the person you are today.

It was a simple enough assignment for most of my other classmates, with their normal families. I don't have a normal family. If I told the class a story about my life they would think I was lying. The things that happen in my family are supposed to kept with in the family. They are not for high school students amusements. Well, what was I supposed to do because is my dad found my assignment he would freak and tell me that "You're not even supposed to know have the things you know about our would Lizzy, you write the truth and you put our lives in jeopardy." I can just hear him now.

So what did I do, like so many times in my life I lied. I wrote a nice little story about my dad and his fiancé Adriana taking me to New York to go shopping. A simple enough story and would this ever happen… I don't know but did it no. It was my first great work of fiction and when this happened I was a freshman.

But you may ask why am I writing this now, three years later in my spare time between dealing with my new stepmom and baby sister and trying to finish AP Chem homework. Well I think it's a necessary thing, I'm tired of lying. I'm tired of pretending to be a normal person… because I'm not.

So let me tell you about me now, the real me.

My name is Elizabeth Jane Moltisanti, I was born in New Jersey and have lived here all my life. I'm going to turn 18 in June and I like rock music. Jim Morrison is my god, his posters are all over my walls and I know most every Doors song by heart. My hobbies include music, shopping, writing, and generally getting into trouble. I'm 5'2" and a little on the chubby side oh… my dad is in the mob. I almost over looked that little point.

Now that the cat's out of the bag I can tell you about my daddy. His name is Christopher, obviously we share the same last name, as of this moment he is a Capo in my Uncle Tony's family. I love my dad, though thick and thin I think like an good kid should do you know. I figured out my dad's involvement with the mob at a pretty young age.

My mom is another story, her name was Nichole and she died when I was 10. Heroin overdose… that's when I went to live with my dad and it wasn't long after that I figured out his involvement with the mob.

We were eating dinner at McDonalds because Ade went to work and my dad was in a bad mood so he asked me where I wanted to go… so I picked McDonalds… like any normal 10 year old would I guess. The confrontation went something along these lines.

So my dad and I were sitting at a corner table, I was swinging my feet back and forth and I accidently kicked my dad in the shin. "Lizzy stop that…" he said harshly. I just shrugged my shoulders and went back to eating my chicken nuggets. I was looking forward to this little time together as my dad had been gone a lot lately and I hadn't really had much time with him alone since I moved in with him and Ade after mom died.

"Daddy…" I said softly leaning on the table. "Can I ask you a question?"

He sighed and looked over at me, "If you get your elbows off the table, didn't your mother teach you anything?" I looked down at my food for a second and then began to cry. At that point I felt stupid because my mom really didn't teach me how to behave in a family like the one I was in now, manners, table etiquette and what not. I felt stupid all the time, I didn't know what was right and wrong. "Lizzy come on…" he got up from his chair and came to sit next to me. He put his arm around me and gave me a kiss on the top of the head.

By this point the other people in the restaurant were staring because I was making a little bit of a seen. My dad at that point really wasn't very good at getting me to calm down. I've always had a "flare for the dramatic" is how my Auntie Carm always said, I was diagnosed Bi-Polar several years later after I…never mind that comes up later back to me and dad in McDonalds. So I was there cry my little heart out because I felt stupid and like this big embracement to my dad who I idolized. He was try to get me to calm down while all these other people were staring at us.

"Come on, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings sweetie, you just got to learn some stuff before we go to dinner with Uncle Tony, Auntie Carmela and the kids next week ok. You wanted to ask me something. I'm an open book princess." I glanced over at my dad through my tear filled eyes and swallowed.

"Are you like the guys in Goodfellas?" I said in my sweet little ten year old voice. My dad looked at me funny, like that was the last question he thought I would ever ask.

"How do you even know what Goodfellas is, that's not really a movie ten year olds should be watching…" I shrugged and took another bite of my food then looked back over at him. "Where did you see it Lizzy."

"HBO," I said weakly. "But you didn't answer my question daddy! You said you would!" I was very demanding at this age too. Thinking back now I wouldn't have expected him to answer truthfully, but he did.

"Kinda ok… just leave it at that ok finish your food it's getting late and you have school tomorrow. And no more HBO unless it's age appropriate. No Sex in the City or R rated movies…" I nodded and finished my food and we left and kept my dad's little secret (and many that fallowed) to this day.