Author's Note: This is the last real chapter of this story. I'm really glad you all enjoyed this one and I'll be sure to put Lock into high gear after I'm finished with this story. This fic has a grim milestone for me: my first major character death and I'm looking forward to writing it, not just because it's Morelli but it's also a chance to expand my writing frontiers. Anyway, thank you all for reading, reviewing, following, and just enjoying The Butterfly Effect and I hope I'll get bitten by the Babe bug again soon. Maybe a DeChooch Incident AU…
Disclaimer: "Honestly, it's not mine!"
Morelli's POV
I'm on a fucking double date.
Not only am I on a fucking double date, I'm on a fucking double date with Cupcake and Manoso, Cupcake who is positively going girly apeshit over the sonograms. Manoso's been watching her intently throughout dinner and I saw his eyes go down to her stomach (a stomach that had finally gotten rid of that extra 5 or 15 pounds…) and soften. Soften. What the fuck? Am I gonna have to watch his baby grow in my woman? Most likely, yes. Hell, even I know Cupcake will be all too eager to throw out the Pill for Manoso. After all, she loves him more than fucking anything, according to the leaked hospital video. On YouTube, it's called "True Love in Jersey" and it's got about 100,000 hits. 100,000 hits of my most humiliating moment…
"…are you due?"
"Not soon enough. I mean, I love my baby already but my bladder's supposed to be a bladder, not a pillow."
I took another pull of my beer and looked out of the private booth in Rossini's. I knew there was an upstairs to the place but I never expected it to look like something out of a movie. Dark woods, cushy seats, expensive wines and shit...all this glamor in the middle of the Burg and I didn't even know about it. Maybe if I had with Cupcake, things would've a lot different than they are now. I knew as soon as we got up here that Manoso would be footing the bill so I made sure to pick the most expensive shit, even the stuff I couldn't even pronounce in the back, the authentic Italian stuff. Manoso didn't bat an eye at it but Cupcake had given me a mild scolding version of her usual 'eat shit and die' look from our countless arguments. She had met Terri halfway in a hug when we got here, looking like a million and six bucks in a dark blue and black sparkly dress. Prada or Chanel or some other shit like that. The bottom of her 2 inch black heels were red, showing Louboutin and rat's next curly mane had been tamed into some braided wavy thing like the movie stars.
I guess that's what happens when a girl gives it up to the rich "legitimate" businessman. Manoso has to make sure his whore, his Babe looks good. Just rub it in, why don't you? Both of them. They have to go around looking happy and like the perfect couple while I'm stuck in a mob marriage. Cupcake's finally gotten halfway decent at her job and the streets know she's Manoso's so all the garbage rolling explosions have all but stopped. She makes sure to be with one of Manoso's minions at all times, even at the precinct so I can't get a microsecond alone with her, much less the sheer hours of poaching time Manoso had gotten with her. Even her mom's useless, now, all depressed and locked away in her house. People get divorced all the damned time now, lady. It's not nearly as big of tragedy as she acts. Any excuse to drink, though and the old bat's all over it…
Anyway, Cupcake doesn't come see her, call her, or answer any of her calls, now. Frank Plum, the fucking bastard, has moved into Cupcake's old place and her batshit granny or her sister won't talk about her in public. Even that Lula slut and that Connie bitch at the Bonds Office keep mum about her now. Probably bribed or threatened by "Batman" to keep quiet…
"I need some air. Let me out, Terri."
"Air, huh? Okay. Go get your air." she replied with icy acid while sliding out and up, her white and pink dress clinging to her belly like saran wrap…
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You know fucking well what it means. I'm just done fighting against it. You're a typical Morelli asshole and you're never gonna change. Fine. I have my baby and my family and now, I got real friends. I don't need you anymore. Fuck off."
I looked at Terri and she looked at me and then I walked out, heading for the car. Fine. She can hitch a ride home with her "real friends" and she'll come home. Terri can say whatever 'independent woman' shit she wants but I know the truth. Terri's always been after me, wanting me for herself and herself only. Even when I was with Cupcake, even when I went to see Barndhart (a man has needs…), even when I went to see those now frigid bitches on Stark Street, she was always ready for it, eager for it. Old Man Vito can say what he wants and his thugs can shadow all they fucking please but nothing's gonna happen to me. Nothing at…
When I opened the driver's side door, all I saw was silver hair and a syringe sank deep into my neck. My body immediately began to shut down and my blurring vision took in blistering mad green eyes…Old Man Vito…
"You, I'll deal with personally. Grab him."
/
3 weeks later…
"Officials have identified the torso in the Delaware Car case as belonging to Det. Joseph Morelli of the Trenton, NJ Police Department. Divers are searching for the rest of the body but a gunshot wound to the heart is said to be the cause of death. Speculation about the murder is still rampant, ranging from an assignment gone wrong to a mob hit. Det. Morelli is survived by his mother, grandmother, and fiancée, one Teresa Gillman who is carrying his child. A girl. More details will be given as they are discovered and any tips on who could've committed this crime can be anonymously called into our Crime Watch desk. This is Anise Dixon, live from the Trenton Bridge, Local 4."