A/N: I found this in a notebook while I was searching for something else. I think it was supposed to be part of my; What Am I Going To Do Without You? story in the chapter where Tony and Kathleen come back to her place after they had gone furniture shopping. Or maybe it was a rough/first draft of the chapter but I'm not sure. Anyway I decided to post it so enjoy! :) Well as much as you can since it deals with Tony and Kathleen. ;)
Tony had never felt so miserable in his entire life. He had gone over to Kathleen's to spend some time with her and her Father. He had ended up staying for lunch and afterwards Kathleen had invited him to go furniture shopping. He couldn't think of any excuse to get out of going so he was now standing in the middle of Fairfield Furniture ready to tear his hair out. She was relentless. She kept asking him if he thought this couch would look good in her apartment or if that that lamp would look good on her nightstand. If he liked this color scheme or that color scheme? He wanted to scream that he didn't care! That he couldn't do this anymore! But instead he gave her half-hearted opinions all the while feeling like he was suffocating. He couldn't believe that they were here. Furniture shopping. Mona's teasing about furniture shopping and everything else came back to haunt him. Was this the beginning? Was she hoping that by the two of them picking out furniture together the next step would be him proposing to her? The thought caused a cold shiver to go down his body. Unlike the warm feeling he had felt when he had proposed to Marie. Heck even when he had proposed to Angela at Sam's slumber party and at his baseball convention he had had a warm feeling. And both those times they weren't real proposals. She was just helping him out. But he had felt more warm and happy than he definitely did now.
So what was he doing then with Kathleen picking out furniture for her apartment?! Added to the fact that she told him the reason she wanted his input so badly was because she was hoping that he would be spending a lot more time at her place.
"I want you to feel comfortable. Like it's your home honey." she had said practically cuddling up to him in the middle of the store while they were trying couches out. The cold feeling had overcome him again. If he felt like this with just the thought of proposing to her how would he feel if they actually were to get married?
Who knew that a simple outing like furniture shopping could invoke so much turmoil?
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They arrived back at her apartment and sat down on her couch. She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Tony?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you like any of the furniture?"
'Yeah, they were nice."
"Nice? I'm not looking for "nice." I really want your honest reaction.'
"Kathleen," he sighed. "I'm sorry but I just don't know. They were all okay but nothing stood out to me."
She lifted her head and smiled at him. "Well at least I'm finally getting some kind of reaction out of you."
"I'm sorry. I wish I could be better help to you."
"It's okay. I mean if you didn't like any of the furniture we saw today we can always go to more stores until we do."
'Yeah, we could do that."
"Good because as I said before I want you to feel comfortable like this is your home honey."
"I am." he said out loud although inside he was screaming that he wasn't!
"That's good because there is something else I want to talk to you about."
"What's that?"
"I was just wondering if you ever think about the future?"
"Oh yeah sure I do. I think about where I'll be teaching after I graduate and of course I think about Sam's as well."
"What about ours?"
"Ours?"
"Yeah, don't you ever think about you and me living together? We have been dating for a while now."
"I already have a home."
"Tony, that's Angela's house! Do you really expect to live there forever?!"
"Ummm well. I guess not." he said sadly feeling that cold shiver slide down his body once again.
"So what is stopping you from moving in here with me?"
"Well my job for one thing."
'I'm not saying that you should quit your job. But come on Tony do they really need you there 24/7?"
"Yeah, I guess you have a point." he reluctantly admitted.
"So then move in here with me and still be Angela's housekeeper."
"I really don't think that's a good idea."
Kathleen stood up exasperated. She couldn't understand what the problem was. The evening before he was talking about children and children's children. She had thought that it had meant he was ready to get married and have kids.
"Tony what is the problem here? I mean you said yourself that you don't expect to live at Angela's forever and it's not like I live on the other side of the world."
"I know."
"So okay then. Move in here with me and things will be how they are supposed to be."
He sighed. "I'll think about it."
She sighed too. At least he wasn't saying no. She would take what she could get.
"Okay. That's fair." she sat down on the couch again.
"So how about tomorrow we do some more furniture shopping?"
