A Brand-New Life

The stresses of the wedding and his pending graduation along with the demands of the house and nursing a new relationship had Tony in a frenzy of uncharacteristic behavior. After faking a headache to get out of going to the ballet with Angela, trying to prove his manhood to Earnie, Tiny and the guys by not being controlled by his new fiancé, Angela's insecurities about their personality differences came to a boil.

Arriving home early, having taken Mona to the ballet after insisting that Tony stay home due to the blow he took to his head during a basketball game, Angela walked into a scene that resurrected every doubt and insecurity, she harbored over the years, of whether they could make their relationship work given their difference. The sight of Tony sitting at the poker table with two young blonds on his lap crushed her, the feeling of him deceiving her; inviting his buddies over for a game, beer, and cigars, infuriated her. Pulling rank, Angela insisted that Tony clear the house out of his friends causing Tony to buck up and tell her that if she kicked his friends out, she kicked him out as well. Not one for ultimatums, Tony found himself knocking on Sam's dorm door for a place to stay while Angela broke down to her mother:

"I just don't understand mother, what's gotten into him?" She cried. "He used to enjoy doing things with me and now it's like he can't get away from me fast enough."

"Now dear, you know that's not true, Tony loves you. You haven't been together long enough for him to want to run away from you, yet." She chuckled.

"MOTHER!" She exclaimed, "I'm being serious." She frowned. "It's always something with him, he's either running off to solve someone else's problems, finding excuses to not spend time together or losing his temper over the smallest, stupidest thing. I just don't know what to do anymore. Maybe we're just too different and we'll never make this work." She blew her nose, tears covering her face.

"Angela, stop that. You've waited a long time for a relationship like this and I'm not going to listen to this nonsense. I've never seen you so happy."

"Well, I thought I was, and I thought I did but mother, he thrives on being there for everyone but me, he hangs out with all his friends but doesn't make time for us and his temper, my God, I've never seen him like this before, this competitive, obsessive and demanding behavior not to mention storming off like a child throwing a tantrum every time we get into a disagreement, I just don't know what's gotten into him mother." Her frustration evident. "And then those girls, what the hell was that mother? I've always known Tony's a flirt but after everything that happened with," she shook her head at the thought of Kathleen and Christine, "THEM," an exasperated and sarcastic intonation in her voice, "What the hell was he thinking?"

"Obviously he wasn't thinking!" Mona returned. "Remember dear, men are stupid." She tried to lighten the mood.

With a slight chuckle, Angela looked down, her voice low and pained, "I miss my best friend mother."

Wrapping her arm around Angela's shoulders, Mona brought her in for a maternal hug, "Oh honey, you haven't lost your best friend, you gained a lover and sometimes those transitions are hard. Finding the balance between friends and lovers is not easy. And face it dear, you have been demanding more of Tony's attention with scheduling his every move."

"I have not," she returned defensively. "I just want to enjoy our relationship, share each other's passions and spend time together."

"I know that dear, but have you stopped to think that maybe Tony could feel controlled by having his free time scheduled to the minute. Have you thought that maybe you're trying to curtail his wondering eye by keeping your eye on him twenty-four seven? Has it crossed your mind that maybe he's not ignoring you but overwhelmed with being pulled in every direction from school to the kids, to wedding planning, to running the house and trying to find his way through this relationship also?" She stated, frankly. "Maybe the two of you have spent too much time together lately?"

"How?" She questioned, "There's always an excuse for him not to do something I want to do."

"And when was the last time you did something, he wanted to do? When was the last time you let Tony make plans for you versus you planning everything?"

"Well, I don't know, he brought me dinner at the office a couple weeks ago," she blushed at the memory of their dinner meeting.

"So, he took you dinner at the office, but he doesn't make time for you or want to spend time with you?" She curled her lip. "Come on Angela, face it, the closer it gets to the wedding the more you two keep bickering and having these petty arguments and the tighter you try to keep him on a leash."

"I do not!" She spat. "What, so I'm supposed to just forget about tonight and those girls and him using my sympathy to hang with the guys?" She frowned.

"No dear, but talk to him, tell him what's bothering you, be honest with him but give him room to breathe. Don't put so much pressure on him and on you to make everything perfect."

Tears began to swell in her eyes again, "Getting married is a big step and I want to start off on the right foot." Mona stared at her sensing there was more to her statement than she was letting on. Trying to make sense if her insecurities, Angela's voice broke, "I already failed at this once okay, what if I fail at it again?" Her eyes dropped, her lip quivering.

"Ohhhh, I see," Mona took her hand, "You think that my consuming him in this relationship and spending all your time together that it's somehow going to guarantee a perfect outcome? It's not honey. There are no guarantees except that Tony loves you and you love him, and I know that together, you'll find your way through this. You have to trust in each other more now than ever before, honey. Look how far the two of you have come." She smiled. "Yes, it took you eight years down a never ending, winding road, full of potholes, in a car driven by a blind nun with a flat tire but look where it brought you." She thrusted her jaw up, proud of her slight.

Mother and daughter sat in silence, processing the barge of emotions that swirled about.

"I do love him mother, and I know he loves me and that should be enough. I don't want to control him, doubt him, or feel any insecurities about this marriage."

"Then don't honey, stop overthinking everything and just tell him how you feel and then after you tell him how you feel, show him how you feel." She nudged Angela, a suggestive smirk on her face.

"Oh mother," Angela's cheeks crimsoned.

"Come on now Angela, admit it, making up is the best part of this relationship when the two of you argue. He'll be back soon, and then you can get busy making up, if you catch my drift." She gave her a knowing wink, getting up to go home.

"Thank you, mother," Angela rose to give her a hug.

"For what," Mona's maternal reservations shining through.

"For being you, always knowing what to say. I love you," She wrapped her arms around her mother.

"Ya ya, enough of the sappy stuff, save it for Tony." She brushed off her daughter's affection making her exit.

Returning home early the following morning, in an attempt to prove that nobody was going to push him around and hoping to make Angela crazy with worry, her irritation with his antics ignited yet another argument as she thought he was being childish, and he felt she was trying to control him. Intervening once more, Mona reminded each that although they loved each other and wanted to enjoy their relationship together, they still had to maintain their individuality, getting past the impasse they found themselves at given that neither was a great catch for anyone else. Satisfied with her relationship advise, Mona left the lovebirds to work out the rest of their discords together.

Overcoming the challenges that their relationship presented as they moved closer to their wedding, nothing could have prepared them for the bombshell announcement that Sam dropped on them three weeks before their big day.

As Tony confirmed final preparations for their big lavish wedding, Angela continued to push for a small, intimate, family affair, presenting him with a brochure of a little country cottage chapel in the woods hoping they could forgo all the stress and craziness that a big affair entailed. Assuring her that he had everything under control and that their wedding would be perfect, he discarded the brochure, along with her suggestion on a pile of wedding paperwork on the table.

The significance of the discarded brochure would come to light after Sam announced to Tony that she and her boyfriend Hank had decided to get married. As arguments erupted between Tony, Sam, Hank and Hank's parents about their engagement and Hank's decision to drop out of medical school and become a puppeteer, the Bower, Micelli, Thomopolous clan were suddenly faced with a run-away bride and groom. Taking the flyer from the table, Sam and Hank took off to the Little Chapel of Love in Unionville to elope.

Arriving just in time to try and stop the impending wedding, Tony, Angela, Joe, Fran teamed up to knock some sense into the kids while Mona, Jonathan and Mrs. Rossini stood as witnesses for another young couple. After attempting to manipulate them into waiting by offering to bring them home so they could have a proper wedding, a heart attack scare from Joe, and Sam's comparison of her feeling for Hank to Tony's inability to be without Angela, Tony conceded, giving his blessing, warning Hank that he best take care of his little girl.

Emotionally drained, Tony and Angela watched as their little girl became Mrs. Henry Thomopolous. The first to congratulate Sam with a big hug and lots of tears, Angela, the mother of the bride, kidded that she always knew she wind up getting married before her. Standing hand in hand, Tony and Angela had flashbacks of their little girl who had grown into a beautiful woman, now married, and starting a brand-new life all of her own.

A/N- Some scenes and dialogue reference were taken directly from various WTB episodes. I do not claim and creative rights to those story parallels.