Author's Note:

This is my first fanfic, so please read and review. I'm German and not a native English speaker, so I'm sure there are some language and grammar mistakes. I wanted to publish an English story because who would read a German one on this platform? So please be gentle with your reviews here. I also had to look up some words in the dictionary, I hope I used them correctly. I'm also not a doctor, so maybe some of my medical narrations aren't very scientific - but it's fiction, isn't it?

All characters belong to ABC, I owe nothing...

Chapter One - Why Am I Thinking About You?

It was another working day which has come to an end, when Tony entered his apartment at Wells College - the apartment he once had decorated together with Angela. That had been almost five years ago and ever since he has worked hard and has become one of the most successful baseball coaches the college ever had. In his first year, his team had ended the season in 3rd place, in the following season they had won the championship and they've defended the title ever since. It has been a very satisfying work for him, both as a professor and as a baseball coach. For the first time in his life his work gave him a feeling of doing something that really mattered. As a young man he had poured all his energy into his own baseball career, a career which had turned out to be built on sand. Then, when his time as a pro player was over before it had really begun, he had worked for Mrs. Rossini's fish store driving the fish truck. Next step in his climbing the 'professional ladder' had been working as a housekeeper. It still sometimes made him smile that for others this must seem like the worst job of all for a proud Italian man, but for him it had been the best time of his life: He was done with his daily chores in less than three hours, he could do things he really loved like cooking and baking, he was well-paid, he could attend college and most of all, he could spend time with his daughter who had lost her mother too soon.

Tony wasn't a solitary person, until this very last phase of his life he always had lived together with someone: His parents, his grandfather after his mother had passed away, as a family of three with Marie and Samantha, then the two of them without Marie, and then ... then together with Mona, Jonathan and Angela. Soon after Sam and Tony had moved into the Bower household the five of them had created a surrogate family they all valued highly. They hadn't cared about the neighbours gossiping about their 'inappropriate' relationship. They had cherished what they had and had felt very lucky to have found each other. Then, after seven long years, Tony's and Angela's relationship finally had changed from best friends to lovers and eventually to an engaged couple - they hadn't known then that this transformation should've been the beginning of the end.

Tony sighed throwing the folder with history tests on the small kitchen table. Another sweet memory came to his mind and he smiled again: Angela sitting at the table with a terrible hangover after flying in from New York. She had decided to move in with him to end their weekend-only relationship. How come he's been thinking about the past all day? Would it be another night of tossing and turning in bed, thinking about 'what if'? What if he hadn't taken this job? What if he hadn't let her go? What if he had followed her home? What if ...? Too late! Five years had gone by since that decisive day when Angela had packed her suitcases and had left Iowa and him after they had desperately tried to make it work. But it hadn't. She couldn't live without her work at the Bower Agency in New York and didn't want him to leave his once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity in Iowa. So she had decided it was the best for the two of them to break up before they began to make each other's lives miserable. What If ...?

Again he asked himself why he has been thinking so much about Angela on this particular day? It wasn't any special day, no anniversary of any kind. It was a normal day as a professor at Wells College: A history class in the morning, followed by a literature class. During lunch break he had tried to talk some sense into one of his weaker students to work harder in class if he didn't want to quit the baseball team. After lunch with one of his colleagues he had supervised two practising sessions of his team which has been so successful since he had taken over. Now, it was almost 5:30 p.m. and his working day was over. As every day, he would go for a short run and a longer workout at the local gym, make himself a little something for dinner - the times of linguine à la vongole, lasagna or a meat loaf for dinner have long been over. After dinner, he would watch a little TV and go to bed early. He wasn't surprised that his mind took him down memory lane again: He pictured how he had used to snuggle up with Angela on the couch watching one of the old black-and-white movies they both loved so much until Angela would fall asleep in his arms and he carried her up the stairs into her bedroom. And then, there had been a time when they had shared a bedroom and she would fall asleep in his arms there. With another deep sigh Tony shook is head as if like this he could make these happy yet painful memories disappear.

He decided that a long run would clear his head and was already on his way to the bedroom to change into his workout gear when the telephone rang. That was surprising! Who would call him at that time of the day? Candy, his assistant, would only call him during working hours. Sam only called on weekends, when Hank was home to look after the kids so that they could talk without being interrupted by a toddler's need for something. Angela only called on his birthday for a brief and awkward conversation which left them both hurting for days.

"Hello?" Tony answered the phone.

"Tony? Oh Tony, I'm so glad I've reached you!"

Mona? Mona is calling? That really is a surprise! flashed through his mind. Mona had never called him in Iowa before. They had spoken once or twice when he had called Angela on her birthday (another one of these awkward conversations between them) but had never called him. She was still angry with both of them, angry that they hadn't tried harder to work something out. The fact that she called him and especially the tone of her voice made him worry. She sounded tense, anxious and - helpless? Mona Robinson helpless? That wasn't a state of mind he connected with the strong, self-assured and always hands-on red-head.

"Mona? What's wrong?" Tony asked, a little afraid of the answer. Was this why he has been thinking so much of them during the day? Was his sixth sense having a premonition? Was destiny playing a joke on him?

"It's an emergency, Tony! I need you here!"

"What's the matter, Mona?" Tony asked. Sam! Something's wrong with Sam! was his first fearful thought. But then he said to himself that Angela would have called him in that case - despite all their awkward phone conversations. Same with Jonathan. Which left only one logical conclusion to him: Something was wrong with Angela.

"Mona! What happened?"

No answer.

"Mona! Come on, talk to me!" Tony insisted, almost shouting at her.

"Uhm, there was an accident. A terrible accident! She was on her way home in her car ... and there was this drunken driver ... and he didn't stop at the stop sign. Tony, he hit her car at full speed at the driver's side!" Mona was shaken and her report of the events interrupted by frequent sobbing. "The impact was really hard and she was injured very, very badly!"

"Who?" Tony asked in horror, his voice not more than a whisper.

"My baby."

"Angela?" Tony wanted to be sure but knew it was her. So that's why I've been thinking about her all day. Angela had been in a car accident and if he interpreted Mona's emotional state correctly, things were very dramatic.

"Mona, calm down! Where is Angela now? What can I do?" Tony tried to get some more information out of her.

"She's at the hospital. They had to resuscitate her right there on the street!" Her voice cracked. It took Mona some time to gather the strength to go on. "She had already undergone an emergency surgery. And now she's in the Intensive Care Unit, tied to a respirator with lots of tubes sticking out of her. Oh Tony, it's terrible! I'm so scared! She's unconscious since the accident and the doctors told me today, that there is a chance she will never wake up again. She's suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, one of her broken ribs punctured her lung and she lost a lot of blood."

Tony had to grab the backrest of the nearest chair, his mouth was dry, his heart was beating so hard against his rib cage that he was afraid he might also break some ribs. "Oh my God!" was all he could mutter into the phone.

"The doctors told me the next 48 hours will be critical. If she comes through them, she might recover. But Tony, I can't do this on my own. Waiting, I mean. I'm trying to be strong for Jonathan and Sam, but I'm too scared myself. I need you here! I don't know what to do ..." Mona sounded desperate and forlorn.

"I take the next flight to New York. I'll be there as soon as possible. Don't worry, Mona. You know Angela. She's a fighter and a very strong woman. She won't give up so easily. She'll fight her way back to us, I'm sure." She has to, what will we do without her? he thought to himself but didn't speak out loudly.