Bella Notte

Marriage doesn't guarantee you will be together forever, it's only paper it takes love, respect, trust, understanding, friendship, and faith to make it last

"This is going to be the best night" Artie jumped on Noah's back in jest "I can feel it"

"You always feel it" Noah shook him off and carried on walking "We're not here for us, we're here for Sam remember?"

"I remember, but we can still have some fun, can't we?"

"It depends" Mike stopped waking "See what mood he's in, if he actually turns up that is"

"It's been a year" Artie huffed "He hasn't so much as looked at another woman, he needs to sow some…"

"Shh" Noah butted him flicking Artie off his back "Dude" he smiled at Sam walking towards them "You made it"

Sam's Story

Sam had gone through a rather messy separation a year ago, it rocked him to the core, it wasn't something he'd expected as far as he was concerned his relationship was a happy one. He'd met Mercedes on a blind date when she was 21 and he was 22, meeting her had left him speechless, he was in awe of her and knew it was love at first sight. Back then he was kind of rugged looking with hair that had taken its own road, thought nothing of wearing a shirt for three days or more if he could get away with it, and smoked like a chimney. She was the exact opposite of him, which might have been the attraction, she was beauty in its rawest form, quirky and elegant, but their shared humour drew them together for sure.

After a happy, affectionate, passionate, and loyal three years, while lying in bed one night they finally broached the subject of marriage, it wasn't until nearly six months after that he brought the ring and popped the question. Everything seemed to fast forward after that, things just swam by and suddenly they were straight into their lives together, but nevertheless it all felt natural because the connection between them was so strong.

Looking back Sam could see the things that had tested them, during their five years of marriage there'd been many challenges, Mercedes had started her own business, struggling to break even for well over a year, but once she'd got through that they'd brought a house which he'd started living in and renovating the day they got the keys, the project had run past the estimated two years they'd given themselves. Then he'd been promoted which meant more time at his day job and less time getting the renovations done, so they were living out of boxes in the only room that was fit for habitation while eating out, or from boxes for nearly four years.

The pressure of it all was telling on both of them, it was enough to try any relationship, let alone a marriage, there was no one to turn to for help they'd married against her family's wishes, and they hadn't turned up for the wedding, sent a card or nothing. The relationship between Mercedes and her family had ended on a sour note, with all parties understanding that there would never be any help or support for them from that end. His parents weren't much better, they'd made it to the reception, late, it was a surprise for everyone, of course their evening wouldn't have been right without their usual behaviour, because of course the day was all about them. So, they downed their usual gallon of alcohol before the argument started, ending with the usual slap up, after which they'd share the pre-built giant reefer, talk about the great time they'd had, and at some point fall into bed, for what they called make up sex.

To top all the chaos the announcement of the pending arrival of their first child didn't help the situation at all, and in hindsight his reaction wasn't one he was proud of, throwing all the reasons they both knew weren't ideal to bring a child into didn't go down well. By the time Mercedes was four months gone she'd had enough, she packed her belongings, grabbed her baby things, announced she was going back home and left, returning back to her parents in California, a place he knew he couldn't enter.

They'd spoken on the phone those first few weeks, he was determined to get her back, but when she ended up in hospital, with a threat to the pregnancy due to the stress of it all, he quickly backed off that had been a year ago. So today he'd got a child that was seven months old, of whom he'd only ever seen pictures, Mercedes family were keeping them apart, blaming him for all the pain she'd been through to bring their son into the world, it didn't help that Mercedes was emotional every time they spoke and there was nothing he could do to help her, they both knew she'd made a mistake going back, but it was done, and there was no way out right now, because of that hatred her family threw at him.

His friends were there for him when she left, her leaving had broken him, that was clear to see, he went through some kind of meltdown when she ended up in hospital and the family were still against him. That sent him to a dark place, that got even darker when Jayden came into the world, Mercedes had to wait until late in the night when everyone had left the hospital before calling him to let him know their son had been born, the only input he'd had was helping her choose the name for their son and the pictures she sent when her phone wasn't being held prisoner.

For some reason tonight his friends felt that being separated from the one you love, and will always love, for a year was something to celebrate. He'd stopped telling them how he really felt as it seemed their remedy for everything was to get laid and forget about the girl, that was easy for them to say, they hadn't felt what he felt, made the commitment that he'd made, loved like they'd loved.

Even as he walked down the street trying to get to his friends, he had hoped for a miracle, this wasn't the life he'd imagined when he'd found his wife, had his child and finally, after six years, built their dream home. Not only had he lost his wife, and the mother of his child, he'd lost his best friend, the loneliness was killing him slowly from the inside. "God I miss my wife" he frowned looking up to see his friends walking towards him

The Bar

"Only because I didn't want you guys coming round again" Sam frowned

"Dude" Artie jumped up and grabbed him playfully around the neck "Tonight is your night; I'm going to see to it"

"Dude" Sam flicked him off rolling his eyes

"Just let him be, at least he's out, that's all we asked" Mike told Artie

"Let the night begin" Noah walked into the club, and the others followed

"What you drinking?" Noah asked as they got to the bar

"Usual" Mike replied

"Four beers" Noah ordered, watching everyone climb on a stool "Dead" he looked around the scanty room

"I don't need life" Sam mumbled "This is cool"

"What's wrong now?" Artie asked with frustration in his voice

"What do you think?" Sam snapped back at him

"Okay" Mike stepped in "Can we leave the bullshit behind for tonight and just enjoy the night" he held his hands up between the two guys "Art take my spot" he pointed to his empty seat next to Artie and sat on Artie's set "Be cool" he told Sam passing him the cold beer

"Dude" Noah tapped his shoulder "I know Artie's coming at this in the wrong way, but there's something in what he's saying" he smiled "We just need to figure out what the hell it is" he laughed, they all laughed

"Fuck off Dude" Artie waved his hand at Noah dismissing his conversation

"Life has changed though" Mike smiled "I mean Tina's gone"

"Lauren turned out not to be the one, after everything I said" Noah reminded him

"You'd known Tina for what six months?" he asked Mike, smiling at him nodding "And wasn't Lauren a one night thing?" he asked Noah

"Technically she stayed a week" Noah corrected him

"If you can't see how different this is, we need to change the conversation" Sam told them

"Agreed" Artie held his hand up "Let's make this a Bella Notte"

"A what?" Noah asked taking the last sip of his beer

"A beautiful night" Sam told him rolling his eyes at the impossible task

"Another round please bartender" Noah ordered

"How about we just drink and be boys?" Mike suggested seeing the night going down like a led balloon

"Three o'clock" Noah nudged Sam to look "Easy pickings" he nodded his head at the two women that had just walked in

The bar was nothing special, the chequered floors, wooden bar stools, leather clad seating on the one side with tables in from of them and standing room only on the opposite side of the centre of room bar made it a comfortable place to relax, chat or even find a quiet corner on a slow day. The girls were walking in as if they were on a catwalk, for Sam that kind of told him what they were all about, so before they got to the bar he'd lost interest

"Hey" Artie greeted them as they walked past

"Hey" the blond smiled as they carried on walking flashing looks at Noah as they past

"Looks like I'm in" Noah rubbed his hands together, frowning when they looked back and smiled at Sam and Mike ignoring him "I guess that's you guys" he looked at Sam

"Whichever one it is, you can have her" Sam told him picking his drink up to move over to the benches

"Snooker?" Mike asked seeing Sam start his withdrawal process "Sam and me against you two?"

"Yeah" Artie got of the stool and brushed his trousers down "Let's do it" he fist bumped Noah

"Sam?" Mike asked

"Yeah, why not" he got up to make his way to the snooker table, he hadn't had much time for much of this stuff his focus had been very different over the past year, he'd been intent on getting the house ready for his wife and baby, building their financial wallet, planning their lives, all in the hope that one day she'd come back

They hadn't been playing for long when the three women that had walked in earlier decided that table side was where they wanted to be "Hey" Noah was more than eager to get to know at least one of them "Noah" he smiled while the guys stood around waiting for him to take his shot

"Santana" the dark haired girl fired back "Quinn" she pointed at the shorter blond "And Brittny" she looked up at the blond woman on her right

"Mike, Sam and Artie"

"So, who's winning?" Santana asked

"Them" Noah pointed at Sam

"Bags being on the winning side" Quinn smiled rushing over to where Sam stood, all watching Noah take his shot

A few drinks in and it was clear how these girls expected their night to end, he was playing the avoidance game, no eye contact, not picking up dropped hints, making sure his words couldn't be misconstrued, avoiding even the slightest physical contact, and answering questions with questions. He wasn't interested in knowing anything about any of them and didn't want them to know anything about him, especially if he was ever going to get Mercedes back, he stood watching the game trying to block this reality out

"So, Sammy" Quinn who seemed to have latched onto him purred "What are you doing after this?"

"I'm going home" he moved the cue across the table showing the others the ball he was about to pot

"Is that an invite?" she asked

Sam's Story

They'd got stuff on their bucket lists when they'd met, fresh out of college, the world needed to know about them, and they were up for spending the last of their college funds. Sam had dreamed of going to Europe and as soon as he could he'd booked himself a two week stay in a few budget hotels dotted around Spain, France, London, and Ireland to please his need to know and experience what all the hype was about. Mercedes wanted things too she was all about using her degree to get the hell out of California, she loved the place but there was something about a few of the people, namely her brothers, all older than her and domineering, she had no life, and the thought of going back to that gave her anxiety.

Her jealous had shown itself pretty early in their relationship, although he was an attention magnet, once he'd met her he knew who and what he wanted, and all that attention meant nothing. To Mercedes it was all new and every remark had tones she didn't like, every look tried to make her feel like she wasn't worthy, they'd even laugh at them when they lost themselves in their moments in public.

She'd reached a point where she was questioning their relationship and he couldn't have that, so he sat her down and they talked through her anxiety, how it might affect their relationship, there was no blame to lay it was more about them finding a happy medium in all of this. They'd agreed that maybe jealousy was at play behind most of the behaviours they were experiencing from others and decided that at vulnerable times they'd provide more physical contact instead of pulling away, through which they'd always know they were in it together

Later in the relationship, he didn't know why, but with her choosing to go into the fashion industry he sort of expected her to be dealing with women, so when her first perspective contract turned out to be none other than the fresh new designer Joe Hart, even though he knew she'd be made for life if she got him to sign her up, he was jealous as hell of the time they spent together. That manifested in him popping up when she'd booked meetings in the evenings, he'd just walk into the restaurant, café or bar introduce himself and add himself to the conversation, Mercedes would just smiled and let him grab her hand or sit close whatever he need to do to not feel threatened.

The Bar

Right now, he needed her hand to hold, to look into her eyes, see her smile, or maybe just to sit beside her "Definitely not" he looked at Quinn for the first time, before turning to take his shot

"Antisocial or what?" she huffed

"Know when you're not wanted or what?" he snarled at her

"I think someone needs another drink" Artie tapped Sam's shoulder, hearing the gone south conversation

"Is he gay?" Santana asked in defence of her friend

"No" Mike smiled at her stood in Noah's space as if she'd been there forever "He's married"

"Loyal" Quinn smiled "I like loyalty"

"Then you'll back off" Sam stood up to look at her again "I've asked nice, twice" throwing his cue on the table "I'm out of here" he grabbed his jacket and walked out

"Dude" Mike called after him, grabbing his coat as he passed the snooker table "I'll make sure he gets home" he told the others

"He'll grab a cab" Artie told him

"I need to check out too" Mike confessed "Fill your boots"

"Boots filled" he heard Santana snap back, Mike rolled his eyes at Santana being so obvious about her shit and Noah taking it in

It had only been three weeks since Tina and he had called it a day, it wasn't as if the feelings weren't there, he'd felt a fool telling his friend how deep he'd fallen in that short space of time, but it was hard and fast, and no amount of lads nights was going to wash those feelings away any time soon. Of all of them he was maybe the only one that really understood Sam right now, not that 6 months could ever be compared to eight committed years of anyone's relationship, but he knew for sure the feelings were real "Sam" he called after him

"What?" Sam turned to look at his friend

"I understand" he smiled at him "And if Mercedes is who you want you need to dip those toes of yours into that fire"

"What, and get me killed"

"They'll talk about it, but I bet they wouldn't want to be responsible for killing the father of their nephew"

"You think?" he laughed "You weren't there for that conversation" he held his hand up for a cab to stop "I guess you understanding means you're still into Tina?"

"Like you wouldn't believe" Mike smiled at him

"Then I can only throw your words back at you" he frowned at him "Jump into that fire" he laughed "Speak tomorrow" he opened the waiting cab door and got in, glad the night was over as he told the driver his destination

His therapist had focused on him doing a lot of self-reflection, apparently he was meant to be preparing himself for a deeper, better placed relationship, having always believed that when Mercedes was ready, and able to get away, they'd be together again, he couldn't sway his mind from that possibility. He'd done everything including prepared himself to face her with a clean slate, no questions, no blame, just acceptance of the fact that she was back because she, like him, was determined to make their marriage work. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the headrest, life had thrown him some curved balls along the way, and he'd always adapted, shaken himself down, jumped high enough to break the curve and carried on, but this curve ball he just kept on missing.

He hated moments like this when he allowed his mind to imagine what she was going through, he was an only child, so he could only pretend he understood the relationships between brothers and their sisters, she'd been doomed from the start a well wanted girl child, doted on by the entire family. Her three protective brothers, according to her, had never given her an inch, she'd had to really work on her father for well over a year to get the chance to leave California and move to New York for college, and that was how they'd met.

When they announced their decision to get married, they'd expected some push back but the whole family raged war against them, threatening to disown her, find them and deal with the situation, and of course he was marked as the negative vibe in all of this, like Mercedes was anyone that could be handled. They'd heard her brothers had been to New York a couple of times looking for her, but they'd moved far away from the University and everyone who knew them knew the situation, so of course they'd never been found.

So, he knew that when Mercedes finally took the decision to go back to that, she must have been in a really bad place, because they both knew what it meant. He'd kept up the payments on her business premises, even though everything in it lay dormant, he was that convinced that this wasn't the end for them, but even now he couldn't see a way out for her

Home

"Sir" the driver smiled at him

"Oh" Sam looked out the window to see his house "Thanks" he passed him a tip, scanned his card, and got out, looking up at the empty, cold house that he dreamed would be their home. "Shit" he moaned at the thing he felt had been the biggest contention in their short marriage, wondering if it really was all worth it. He opened the door and looked in smiling, her perfume hit his nose reminding him of how things should be he closed the door and leaned on it "Come home babe" he squeezed his eyes closed tighter and wished for it to happen, wondering how long he'd have to live like this.

Discarding of his jacket he walked across the hall and into the large living room, it should have been bursting with laughter and children, but as usual the remote was where he'd left it and the blanket scrumped up at the end of the couch where he'd thrown it that morning. He'd taken to sleeping on the couch to get some sleep, the bed had too many memories, and it was theirs, not his, that wasn't a place he wanted to get used to being without her. He sat on the couch grabbed the bottle off the table and poured it in the glass he'd been using before he went out, falling into the couch to take a breath, while flicking the action movie channel on to get rid of the white noise, and settled in to fall asleep to the sound of gun shots and explosions

"Sam" he heard making him sit up on the couch in shock "Can you turn that down some please, you'll wake Jayden"

"Babe" he gasped getting up "You came back" he clicked the TV off and walked fast towards her, his heart beating like it was ready to burst

"I.."

"Don't talk" he covered her mouth with his lips "I missed you so damn much" he peppered kisses down her neck taking in everything he'd maybe taken for granted before, stopping when he realised she was crying "Did they hurt you?" he held her face asking

"No" she mumbled "I'm sorry I shouldn't have gone"

"History" he smiled "Is Jayden alright?"

"We're both fine now"

"Me too" he hugged her "Can I finally meet our little man?" he looked towards the stairs

"He's asleep but you can wake him up, he'll be fine" she looked up at him and smiled wrapping her arm around his waist to make the short journey

He could feel himself trembling his heart beating as if he was in some sort of mystery movie and didn't know what to expect. He pushed the door wider and smiled "Oh my gosh" he gasped walking into the room to see his son awake and staring at him "Hi little man" he cooed taking no time to pick him up "He looks like you" he leaned over to kiss her forehead

"And you" she smiled at him "The perfect mix" she stroked their son's brown curly hair "He has your eyes"

"I bet that pissed them off" he kissed his son "Hey Jayden" he giggled at his son's smile

"I owe a friend, she brought me a ticket"

"I'll sort it" he stood smiling at the universe working for him right now, getting emotional at Jayden resting his head on his chest, already comfortable "Daddy's got you" he whispered rocking him

"He'll be asleep again in a minute" Mercedes smiled at the picture she'd longed to see in front of her "I'll be out there" she pointed to the small balcony outside the nursery, leaving them to get acquainted

"Hey" Sam appeared on the balcony fifteen minutes later "I could watch him sleep all night" he looked back at Jayden in his crib "But I got my other baby needing some attention" he sat beside her

"Mom died" she looked at him tearing up "I knew once she'd gone I had little or no chance at all of living any sort of life, so after the funeral yesterday I ran, jumped in a cab and got on the next flight home"

"I'm sorry about your mom babe" he reached over and hugged her

"What you been up to?" she pulled away asking "Anything or anyone I need to know about?"

"The house is done, you're back, and our beds empty" he smiled

"You waited for me?" she asked surprised

"You're my wife, I meant those words we said to each other"

"I really am sorry about what I did, I just couldn't see a way out for us, and I panicked"

"Truth be told I was panicking too" he sighed "I made some bad decisions"

"We both made those decisions babe" she smiled "We just didn't factor Jayden in" they both looked at their son "I never stopped loving you babe, it was never a lack of that" she moved closer to him

"I've never felt like you didn't love me"

"Would you think it weird if I asked you to take me to bed?" she grabbed his hand "Only it's been just a few days over a year since I've felt my husband inside me"

"I'd think it was weird if you didn't" he laughed getting up and holding his hand out for her to grab

"The amount of fantasies I've got in my head, that I need to play out, this is going to be a beautiful night" she warned

"Bella Notte" he smiled looking at their son as he locked up to take his wife to their bedroom

"That's what I said" she rested her head on his chest