A/N: Thank you to everyone who is reading and subscribing to this story. For those of you who are fans of MSCL, I think you'll agree that we were definitely robbed with the cancellation of this amazing show after just 1 season especially with such a cliffhanger of an ending. I would love to know what your thoughts are so far so please drop a review. Thank you to the lovely and talented PattyChase who's beta'ing my story and is currently writing an amazing MSCL fic "Another Time Around". If you haven't already checked it out, I strongly urge you to do so. Let's keep this little fandom alive.

"Would you stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

Angela put down her coffee cup and raised an eyebrow. "Like I'm about to pass out or something. I'm fine."

Jordan bit back a smile. "In my defense you did pass out on me. I mean, I guess it's not that uncommon these days. Girls passing out around me, that is."

"Oh ha ha, you're so funny."

"But really, are you OK? Did you eat anything?"

"Yes, Dad, toast and I are getting along great."

Jordan finished his coffee. "I think I'm gonna get another one." He lifted his empty cup towards her. "You want…?"

"Ah…I'm still going. But you should totally grab one of those tarts in the window. They are insane."

Angela sipped her latte and watched Jordan weave his way through the old couches and large pot plants. They were tucked away in the back corner of the cafe. She loved it here and had spent countless hours churning out some of her best articles at the very table they were sitting at. The high ceilings and red brick walls gave it a lofty feel, but the wooden tables and chairs made it homey and rustic. The walls were alive with colorful graffiti from local artists. Angela's favourite involved two people devouring a rainbow. The music was always surprising and Angela laughed at the two baristas losing themselves to Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' while still managing to pour shots and froth milk. They were past the lunch rush and the place had thinned out to a few people working on laptops and a couple of moms chasing their runaway toddlers while trying to hold a conversation.

One of the kids crawled under a couch and his mom pulled him back out by his foot with barely a second thought. Angela chewed her thumbnail. She'd been almost late to meet Jordan because her parents had called from Florida. Jay could hardly breathe he had so much to tell her and, turned out, was completely off his head on sugar. The lecture she'd given her parents about appropriate food choices for her kid had been long and winding. Though her dad had whined right back at her that Jay just wouldn't eat anything besides hotdogs and french fries and, well, he couldn't let the kid very well starve could he?

Well, at least she didn't have to deal with the aftermath of that sugar-high. Angela sighed and rubbed her temple. But she had bigger problems than her parents shovelling junk down her kid's throat. Ever since she'd run into Jordan she'd been going over how to tell him about Jay. She'd rehearsed it in her head and even out loud countless times.

She needed to just come right out and say, Hey, Jordan, guess what? You have a son. He's three and a half. He's obsessed with buses and is easily won over by fart jokes. Rickie and Corey like dressing him up in tutus and tiaras and then they all vogue to Madonna. He has a thing for ladybugs, and I nicknamed him J-bug. He loves it. He's the best person in my life.

Angela stole a glance at him. He leant against the wall typing a text out on his phone, wearing his gray beanie, jeans, and black leather jacket—his new uniform it seemed. He looked back at her and smiled, nodding along to the Queen song.

She couldn't tell him that. He was going to hate her.

And would he even want to be part of Jay's life? With his lifestyle could he even be there for Jay? Above everything else, and no matter what happened, she had to protect him.

Her phone buzzed in her purse. She dug it out from the bottom of her bag and smiled at the screen.

We still on for D & D tonight? 8 pm? Raynie and Bri are gonna skype in.

Definitely. She texted. Want me to bring a bottle of red or white?

Ummm hello have we met? Bring both of course!

It's not gonna be another one of those nights is it? I'm still not fully recovered!

Well get ready sweetheart because it's happening! No excuses! Annnnnd you can even wear flannel since we're just staying in. Corey says to tell you he finished painting some more miniatures. GET READY TO BATTLE! You can sleep over too if you want.

Angela giggled and rolled her eyes. You're impossible. Tell Corey Illuminore Lightbringer is ready!

"What's so funny?" Jordan sat back down and placed a plate with two Portuguese tarts on it between them. "Got you one too," he said, nudging the plate towards her.

"Yum, thanks," Angela said, putting her phone away. "Um…it's just Rickie." She wondered how much she should tell him. Thursday nights were now the nerdiest night of her week thanks to one Thanksgiving when Rickie and Brian forced everyone to play their first campaign. "I'm meeting up with him later."

Jordan grabbed one of the tarts and pinched off a flake of the pastry. "Oh yeah? You goin' out again? You're pretty brave."

Angela smiled and wrinkled her nose. "No bars or anything like that. Just…staying in."

She watched as he bit into his tart smiling to herself as he let out an undignified groan. "Holy shit."

Angela laughed. "Good right?"

"Nearly as good as the ones we found in Paris. I swear I packed on the pounds thanks to that bakery." He popped the rest into his mouth and closed his eyes, a delirious smile on his face.

Despite purposefully avoiding any news of him and the band, Angela had often wondered what his time in Europe would've been like. Had he visited the Shakespeare Bookshop in Paris or The Louvre? Had he stood in the middle of the Charles Bridge at dawn and felt so small surrounded by so much history?

Angela picked up the other tart and took a bite, sighing as the vanilla custard hit her tongue.

"So, uh…what do you like do with Rickie when you stay in?"

"Oh," Angela swallowed and wiped an errant smear of custard from the corner of her mouth, "we do this game night thing every week at Rickie's place. Dungeons and Dragons. I guess it's kinda lame but also totally fun at the same time. It's pretty much tradition now." Last week her and Brian had rescued a princess from goblins while the rest of their party was still stuck on the other side of the river. She smiled remembering Rayanne yelling out possible flotation spells from Rickie's laptop but could never get one to land. Corey managed to craft some water repellent boots but by then her and Brian were already knee deep in the goblin hoard.

"Oh yeah?" Jordan laughed. "I have no idea what that is. So how is Rickie? Is he still with Corey?"

"Rickie's good. Yeah, they're still together. They have a place together now and everything."

"That's great. I always liked Rickie." Jordan fiddled with the sugar packets, stacking them on top of each other.

She placed the tart back on the plate and picked up her coffee. "He always liked you too. But yeah, they're doing great. Rickie's a stylist: he has all these famous clients he dresses up now and he's amazing at it. He's always making me wear stuff I don't want to wear and like insists on giving me all this stuff he gets for free." She probably sounded ungrateful but some of these dresses Rickie had given her were serious red-carpet numbers. Angela spent most of her week covered in smears of toddler grime. "And Corey: he's doing really well. He owns an art gallery in SoHo."

"Huh." Jordan sat back in his chair. "So was Rickie responsible for those shoes you were wearing at that bar?"

"What?" Angela said, accidentally taking a too-large gulp of her latte and burning her throat.

"That Inferno place. When I saw you." He cleared his throat and rubbed his bottom lip. "You were wearing these shoes."

Angela's face grew hot. She blamed the coffee. "You noticed that?"

A slow smile edged its way across Jordan's face as he sipped his drink. He'd maybe noticed that too much.

That smile made Angela's insides grow fuzzy. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He tapped his thumb against the cup, he still wore that same silver ring around it he'd worn in high school and eyed her for a second more. "No reason."

She swallowed and tucked her hair behind her ear. The music in the cafe had shifted to Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out."

"So, what are you up to tonight?"

"Oh," Jordan shrugged, "nothin' really, staying in."

"What? Nothing? No wild parties? What kind of a rockstar are you?" Angela couldn't help but tease him just a little.

Jordan laughed. "A tired one. Someone kinda kept me up all night yesterday so…"

"Oh really? How inconsiderate of them."

They laughed: short and a bit unsteady but Angela felt herself begin to lighten. She'd forgotten how easy it had been to be with him and how much she'd just enjoyed his company. For a split-second, Angela imagined inviting Jordan to join them tonight. Would he like it? Would he get it? But she didn't have to imagine too far before she got to the looks on her friend's faces. Not to mention Brian.

"So, what are you doing in New York?"

"Oh. We're doing an album here soon, so I'm just getting everything sorted."

"Really? Wow, that's cool."

Jordan took a sip of his coffee and eyed her over the rim of the cup. "I'm also looking to buy a place here. I'm gonna be back and forth from LA to here a lot so…it makes sense."

Angela's eyes widened. "You're moving here?"

"Yeah, sort of. I'm still keeping my place in L.A. but I mean…I've always liked it here."

Angela opened her mouth then closed it again. She knew Jordan liked New York. They'd talked about either moving to L.A. or New York when they'd been together. She had been leaning more towards New York because it was closer to her parents and friends. But him buying a place here…being here. If she didn't tell him about Jay now, then even in a city of millions of people, he was definitely going to find out.

But she still wasn't ready.

A few moments of silence went by. Jordan finished his tower of sugar packets then knocked it over with a pepper shaker. "So Ange…" He kept his eyes on the table, knee bouncing beneath it. "I wanted to ask you—"

"Oh…how was your world tour?"

"Huh?" Jordan blinked, caught off guard. "It was ok…but, Ange, I really —"

"Jordan…look." Angela sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I know that there's stuff we have to talk about but can we just…not right now. I mean we haven't seen each other in so long and I would really like for us to just be in this moment and catch up." Jordan hesitated. Angela picked up one of the sugar packets and stacked it on one near him. She touched his hand. "Please."

Jordan looked down at where her hand was touching his and swallowed hard. Her fingers were so soft and warm on his skin. Fuck. He wanted so badly to just ask her why. He wanted so badly to know.

But he also couldn't deny that once it was all out, that it could very well be the end of it. And he had to admit that he wasn't really ready for that. It would be like losing her all over again. He had wondered so many times what she had been up to all these years. Now he had a chance to find out.

She withdrew her hand from his palm and Jordan's fingers curled around the echo of her touch.

"You know…I've thought a lot about you over the years," he said softly, cautioning a look at her. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. But fuck it. It was true.

"You have?" Angela bit the inside of her cheek, her throat tightening.

"There were so many things that happened that I wanted to like, tell you. Some of it was stupid though…"

"Oh yeah?" She sat back in her chair, picking at a loose thread on the faux-velvet fabric. "Like what?"

Jordan huffed out a laugh. "Like fucken Shane! When we were going through Amsterdam, he headed off on his own and got completely lost. We nearly had to pull out of the show cuz we didn't have a drummer. But then he rolled in at the last minute and was all, like, what? And Joey nearly threw him into his own drum kit."

"Seriously?" She smiled; she'd always loved listening to him speak. Sometimes she barely remembered the boy in high school she literally had to pry words from for him to tell her anything.

"Yeah, he says he was just walkin' around but I bet he was high as shit and got lost in the red-light district."

She laughed and shook her head. "Jesus, Shane!"

Jordan sipped his coffee. "And there was this other time that Shane and I rented a car, to you know, get around this small town in Italy. And the streets there were just so fucken weird." He was getting into it now, his brain all lost in the memory and fingers drumming out the beat of the story. "Like, you don't know if it's a road or a sidewalk. So, we ended up goin' down all these back lanes and they just got narrower and narrower and then our car just got stuck."

"What?" She laughed, picturing the two of them lost in the cobble-stone streets of Italy. Shane probably yelling at Jordan that he should've taken the other turn. "What did you do?"

"We climbed out the windows and hiked it back to the hotel. Had to send someone back to get the car."

There was more he could tell her: karaoke in Tokyo and eating this mysterious stew in Portugal that had him hugging the toilet the rest of the week. Or Shane stealing his iPod so he'd stop torturing himself by playing that one You Am I song over and over again.

Instead, he said, "So what about you, Ange? What have you been up to?"

She shifted and tucked her legs up under her, sitting cross-legged in the old comfy chair. She wore her favourite thread-bare pair of jeans that had worn through at the knees. She felt lulled out and soft from Jordan's stories. A rhythm existed between them that she was surprised to be able to pick up again after all these years.

"Well, I work free-lance for a bunch of magazines…" She'd come so far from that internship she'd started with, almost had her own column at one point but the hours were crazy and she needed more flexibility to be home with Jay. She was proud of her life: it wasn't much but she'd built it all herself. "I mean I like it, it's pretty flexible…and it pays the bills." She tried to shrug it off, but her smile gave her away.

"That's awesome, Ange. That's what you always wanted to do. I'm happy for you." Angela found herself beaming at the pride she found in his face.

Jordan held her gaze. Something flickered in his eyes and she watched as he slowly ran his bottom lip through his teeth. Her skin pricked up in response: a thousand goosebumps shivering up her neck and down her back. She sucked a breath in and averted her eyes.

What would their lives have been like if she had just told him about Jay? If she'd been able to forgive him for what he did? Would they have been a family right now? She finished her coffee and studied the remains of foam in the bottom of her cup. They'd both had to live with what they'd done. There was no changing the past. She would tell him about Jay. She had to. But right now, they were having such a good time and she didn't want it to end. There were still things she wanted to do with him. Then maybe after that… she'd be ready.

Angela checked her watch. If they left right now, they could still make it.

Jordan rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a half-hearted smile. "You gotta go?"

"C'mon," she told him. "There's something I want to show you. I think you'll like it."

Angela took Jordan through the subway and out the other side to Central Park.

The late afternoon sun lit up the orange and red leaves of the trees making them look like they were on fire. The place hummed with people from all walks of life strolling by or sitting on the benches scattered around the tree-lined walkway. An elderly couple sat on one of the benches eating hot dogs. A group of high school girls in uniforms gathered in front of them. They sipped from their Starbucks cups giggling and talking animatedly.

Jordan and Angela stood among the small crowd that had gathered to watch the street singer perform. He was singing and playing an acoustic guitar. Angela watched Jordan's reaction from the corner of her eye. He stood with his arms crossed, his expression unreadable. Beside them a couple swayed to the music, their arms around each other.

She'd discovered the performer, who went by the name Sloane In Summer a while back while strolling through the park with Jay. His music made her feel like she was standing in liminal space caught somewhere between awake and asleep. It was dream music. It was just a guitar but the way he layered the sounds, the way they threaded through one another and his voice…Jesus Christ, she loved his voice. She'd bought one of his CDs and there was a fraction of a moment in there that she'd wished she'd known where Jordan was so she could send him one too.

When the performer finished, he was met with cheering and applause. The crowd thinned out and Angela watched Jordan approach the performer. He leaned in to say something and the guy nodded and smiled then they were both laughing. Jordan pointed to his guitar and Sloane picked it back up and demonstrated one of the sliding chord changes. They chatted a bit longer before Jordan bumped his fist and made his way back to Angela.

"Ok so?" Angela tugged on his jacket sleeve.

Jordan smiled. "Yeah, he's pretty good. He's got a real uh…Sigur Ros thing going on"

Angela clapped her hands and laughed "He is really good right?! I knew you'd like him!"

Her green eyes sparkled with the warm light of the afternoon and her long blond hair framed her face like spun gold. God, she was fucken beautiful. Jordan's whole body itched with needing to hold her, pull her against him, kiss her. He craved the easy days between them when he could just simply reach out and take her hand. But that wasn't what this was.

He thought back to that morning when he'd woken up in his hotel room and she was gone. He'd called her and she'd told him that it was over. That he wasn't who she thought he was. That had been it and Jordan could never figure out why. After a year or so of them circling each other in the wake of what had happened before Jordan thought they were about to get back together. But, after that phone call, she vanished. Changed her number. Left the city. Again, he felt the words build in his throat, the question: Why did you leave me?

He cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets and they fell into step as they meandered back through the park.

Angela bumped his hip with hers. "You should totally put him on your album!"

"Ok. Whoa. Calm down, Ange."

Angela swatted him on the chest. "What?! You should!" She smiled at him and it was all calculation and mischief. Jordan could almost see all her thoughts tumbling together in her beautiful head. "Are you hungry?"

Jordan grinned. "Actually, yeah I am."

"Oh my god, it's just as good as I remembered. They don't have anything like this in L.A." Jordan groaned as he devoured the pizza slice, folding it in half with one hand and trying to stop all the cheese from sliding off with the other.

She'd brought him to an old pizza place they'd used to go to back when she'd been going to school at NYU. It was a small hole-in-the-wall place made mostly for takeout, owned by an old Italian couple who always bickered loudly in front of their customers. Though the place was kinda dodgy, people loved it here because the pizza was crazy good. The walls were made of brown brick and lined with framed autographed photos of celebs that had frequented the place. Angela loved the one of Leonardo DiCaprio. She'd had a major crush on him in high school which had annoyed Jordan to no end. Jordan would even tease her about the photo, asking her what she would do if she ever ran into him there. Sadly, she never had.

The floors were made of concrete and were so sticky your shoes made squelching sounds when you walked. Jordan and Angela stood across from each other at one of the few tall tables jammed into the small space.

The place buzzed with activity. People crammed together around the small tables eating and laughing. Beside them a group of teenagers talked and laughed loudly. Across from them, a couple was yelling at their kids to hurry up so they could get to the movies on time. More people stood around the entryway, engaged in conversation with one another while waiting for their takeout orders.

Frank Sinatra blasted on the speakers. Angela watched as the two workers behind the counter sang along to "Ive got you under my skin" as they alternated between serving their customers, slinging pizza dough into the air and shoving it into the large stone oven behind them.

"Large pepperoni with extra cheese for Tony!" One of them yelled out.

A stocky dark-haired man approached the counter to retrieve his order. Angela overheard him telling the worker that his kids couldn't get enough of their pizza. She smiled as she saw them high-five each other. Her smile faded when she thought about Jay. He absolutely loved the pizza here. They'd walked by the shop once and Jay'd had a meltdown because she wouldn't let him have any. She wished she could tell Jordan that. She picked at her slice of vegetarian with extra olives. Her stomach churned. She should have given him a chance to know his son. To be a father to Jay. But she hadn't.

Jordan ran his finger over the empty plate and popped a stray piece of pepperoni in his mouth. He remembered the first time she'd brought him here. He'd been away on tour heading through the mid-west where it was all BBQ and something they claimed was pizza but lacked any soul. She skipped class to bring him here all excited for him to try it. She was right. He had loved it. She was always doing things like that. Showing him in so many little ways how much she thought about him. How much she loved him. He'd thought that he had done that too.

In all their years together, he'd never crossed any lines, had barely even looked at another woman. Except once. He'd been out of his mind wasted, saddled with grief and guilt. And he'd made a stupid mistake. He'd been sick to his stomach when he'd realized what he'd done. But she had never found out. He'd made sure of it. He wished that he could turn back time. Erase all the shit that had gone wrong between them. But he couldn't. The world didn't work like that.

"You want it?" she asked, breaking him out of his thoughts. "My slice…" She pushed the paper tray towards him.

"Seriously?"

"I'm full. And my stomach's still a little sensitive from those oysters I think."

Jordan eyed her. "You feeling ok?"

"Yeah, I'm totally fine."

"You sure? You don't feel faint or dizzy or anything like that do you? It's ok, you know," he smiled, "I'll catch you if you fall."

Angela swatted him on the arm and rolled her eyes. "Shut up. I'm totally fine."

Jordan laughed. "Just checking."

Her phone buzzed on the table.

Don't forget the wine! Wait till you see what I have planned! See you soon!

She typed out a response. See you soon!

"Gotta go?" Jordan asked.

Angela nodded. "Yeah. I gotta go home and grab something first though."

She couldn't believe the afternoon had flown by so fast. Time was slipping through her fingers and she still hadn't told him. Her heart hammered in her chest. Just say it. Jordan, you have a son. He's smart and funny and can be pain in the ass stubborn. But he's amazing. What was the worst that could happen? It's not like the world would end. She opened her mouth to speak. Not only would he hate her. But what if he rejected Jay? She closed her mouth and pretended to check her text messages.

Jordan wiped his hands on a napkin and watched Angela's sudden interest in her phone. He rubbed his forehead. Sinatra was still crooning on the speakers and it suddenly seemed way too loud. The pizza churned in his stomach. Four years and now here she was on this seemingly perfect day. But who knew when he'd see her again? Another four years and the next time she might be introducing him to her husband and kids. The visual of it made his chest tighten. Just fucken ask her, Catalano: Why did you leave me? What was the worst that could happen? She tells you and, whatever it is, just deal with it. But what if he couldn't? Then what?

Jordan sighed and shoved his wallet and cell phone back in his pockets. "C'mon, I'll walk you back."

They weaved their way through the throng of sightseeing tourists and New Yorkers heading to their own various destinations. The fall air was cool and crisp and the setting sun cast a golden glow over the city.

As they turned the corner the sun disappeared behind a row of buildings bringing with it its light and warmth. The shadows spread and lengthened. A gust of coldness threaded through the air. Angela shivered and drew her coat tighter around her. Jordan pulled away from her and lit a cigarette. He didn't look at her as he took a long breath and exhaled a stream of smoke. The pit in her stomach grew.

He was all tense shoulders and knitted brows. To anyone else, he'd come across as angry, but Angela knew that wasn't it. His hands gave it away. One flicking ash on the sidewalk the other fiddling with his sleeve one moment then being shoved in his pocket. He was on edge. So was she. Their time together was almost up.

At the bottom of her building, Angela gripped the strap of her purse and bit down on her lip. Her pulse raced and she regretted the small amount of pizza she had eaten. All her nerves twisted up in fear. She had to tell him. She knew he'd be furious. He'd probably hate her. But she had to do it. She had to tell him…now.

"So Jordan—" she started as he said, "Ange I—"

They smiled at each other.

Jordan twisted the ring on his thumb and cleared his throat. "So Ange, thanks for, uh, today. I had a really good time."

Angela smiled. "Yeah, it was actually…well, it was fun." She'd dreaded seeing him for so long and now she was finding she wished they had more time.

Jordan rocked back on his heels and dug his hands into his jacket pockets. "Angela, I…sort of….I, uh, wanted to ask you…"

Angela swallowed. He was finally gonna ask why she'd left that night. What would he say when she told him? Would he deny it? Or would he finally come clean? It had happened years ago. Would it really make a difference now? But the scab that had healed was slowly opening up again. She had once loved him with all her heart. It shouldn't matter anymore. Except it did.

Jordan huffed a breath out. "There's this thing I'm goin' to on Saturday. This, like, charity event. It's to help abused kids get out of those environments and, um, help them stay in school and stuff…" His heart hammered in his chest and his stomach clenched. He wished badly for another cigarette.

Angela let out a shaky breath. "Oh wow, that's wonderful, Jordan."

She touched his arm, his leather jacket cool under her hand. She knew how personal that was to him given his upbringing with his father. She was proud of him for being involved in something like that. Proud that he was helping to give other kids a chance that he hadn't really had. She wanted to tell him this. But she didn't. It wasn't her place to do that anymore.

"Uh, yeah…thanks." Jordan swallowed and his eyes met hers. "Well, I was sorta wondering if you'd maybe…go with me."

"Oh." Angela let go of his arm and touched her fingertips to her mouth. She hadn't been expecting that.

"I mean," Jordan continued, "we wouldn't have to like make a big deal of it or anything. I just…I'd like you there with me. It'd be nice to be at one of these things with someone that I know and, uh, that knows me. And I gotta go back to LA on Monday…" His head spun. What was he even saying? God, he used to be able to ask someone out with his eyes closed. Hell, half the time his eyes were closed. He chewed his thumb and studied his boots. Though, despite what the media would tell you, he hadn't asked anyone out in a really long time. Especially not to anything public. But this was Angela. To him, it was a big deal.

"It's just that it's so public, Jordan. I don't want to be followed around everywhere I go."

If only it were that simple. If she went with him, she'd have to not only deal with the paparazzi but once it got out, she'd have to deal with everything else… Brian…Rickie…Sharon…even her parents. She could just imagine all that they'd have to say. Not to mention…Jordan. Going out with him for coffee was one thing but to a gala? That seemed way more like an actual date. The lines were starting to blur and she didn't need that complication. Yet…she couldn't deny that part of her did want to go with him.

One of Angela's neighbours bustled between them with their arms full of grocery bags. Jordan ducked up the steps and held the door open for them.

"You don't have to worry about that," he said, walking back to her. "I can make arrangements so that no one takes our pictures."

Angela frowned and pressed her face into her palm. He could read the hesitation all over her. He'd be okay if she said no, he'd be okay. Jesus Christ, don't say no. Jordan felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest.

He took a steadying breath and reached out for her hand. "It would really mean a lot to me to have you there, Ange."

His voice was soft, his blue eyes tender and sincere. His hand felt so familiar but also really strange holding onto hers. At one point in her life, it had felt as natural as breathing.

Angela sighed softly. "Ok, Jordan. I'll go with you." She couldn't say no. Not when he asked her like that. Not when he looked at her like that.

She'd make sure that by the end of the evening he'd know about Jay.