Once the kitchen was cleaned up, Nelly's face and hands were no longer sticky from eating her dinner, and the food had been put in the fridge, Vinnie turned the lights off in the kitchen, carrying Nelly in his arms to the living room.
That's where he discovered that the kids had been put to bed, his parents had gone to bed in the guest room, Reggie was asleep on the couch, and Aaliyah was sitting on the couch across from the one Reggie was sleeping on, staring at the papers and chewing on her lip while she twirled a pen in between her fingers.
"Baby, come on." Vinnie said, making Aaliyah's head snap up in his direction.
"What do you mean?" Aaliyah asked softly.
"Let's go to bed." Vinnie answered, watching her face contort into sadness.
"I don't deserve to sleep in the same bed as you." Aaliyah answered.
"Well, seeing as you haven't signed the papers that still makes you my wife and I'm not going to bed without my wife." Vinnie said, pushing Nelly further up into his arms so she wouldn't fall.
Aaliyah sighed and stood from the couch, she gathered her things and took Nelly from Vinnie's arms, asking if he could carry Catherine's bassinet up the stairs since it was heavy.
Before the baby was born, Vinnie had purchased a new bassinet. The good thing about this one is that the legs folded up and a handle came out so it could be carried like a car seat even though it wasn't one.
Vinnie nodded, carefully making it so the legs pushed down and the handle came up. He didn't want to do it harshly because Catherine was laying in it and sleeping.
His attempts were failed when her little eyes popped open from the movement and made eye contact with Vinnie. It was in that moment that his love for this little girl, who probably wasn't his, grew 100 times stronger than it had in the hospital. The same way he felt when all of his other kids were born and he truly felt as if she was his child. The feeling made him freeze, just staring down at the beautiful baby laying so calmly. They didn't break eye contact until Aaliyah gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you okay?" She asked quietly since everyone else was sleeping.
"I- uh- yeah, I'm good." Vinnie answered, picking up the bassinet by its handle and carrying it up the stairs.
The whole way up he would glance down at the baby, an overwhelming sense of emotion filling him every time he discovered that she was already looking up at him.
Once they reached the room Vinnie fixed the bassinet so it was standing up next to Aaliyah's side of the bed. When he walked away Catherine made a little noise as if she was telling him she was upset with him for leaving her.
"What baby?" Vinnie turned around and leaned down closer to her.
A small smile, that if anyone else saw would say it was just a twitch, formed on her face when he pressed his lips to her forehead.
"She seems to really love you." Aaliyah said softly.
"Well I really love her." Vinnie answered, standing up straight and turning to Aaliyah.
He took her by surprise when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. His head rested atop her head and his hand rubbed small circles on her back.
"And I really love you." Vinnie said.
"I don't deserve your love." Aaliyah sniffled.
"I didn't deserve yours after what I did with Kally a couple years ago and you still showered me in it. I know that the difference is that you slept with my brother, more than once you did and as much as that hurts me my dad taught me to love a woman despite her mistakes. I love you more than I love myself. I love my family, even if the kids aren't mine. If they truly aren't mine then I want to help you raise them. I want to continue being there father even if it isn't biologically." Vinnie said, wiping tears from his eyes.
"I love you so much Vinnie." Aaliyah said, kissing his chin softly before placing her head against his chest again.
"I know you do, all that I ask of you is that we DNA test the kids tomorrow morning. I hope you aren't upset, but I scheduled an appointment with a clinic for noon to do that." Vinnie said.
"I'm not upset. That's fine." Aaliyah nodded.
"Let's go to sleep okay? I'm beat." Vinnie tilted her head up and pressed a loving kiss to her lips.
"What do I do with the divorce papers?" Aaliyah asked.
"I'll tell them we reconciled and have them dismiss the case. I'll pay the dismissal fee tomorrow. I should have thought about what I was doing first before I filed and made a huge mess of our lives." Vinnie said, crawling into bed next to after stripping to his boxers.
"I made the mess Vinnie, none of this is on you." Aaliyah said, leaning over Nelly, who was in between them, to kiss him goodnight.
