Through The Years- Angela's Vows

As planned, Angela retreated to her office shortly after breakfast to begin writing her vows. Sitting at her desk, a blank pad and pencil before her, she began thinking back at their life together, trying to find the perfect words to express every feeling and emotion she had felt for Tony over the course of their last eight years together.

Tapping her pencil on the desk feverishly, Angela thought back to the very moment Tony entered her life, "If you're Angela Bower, I'm here to help you," his cute smile radiating from his face, already leaving an impression on her heart- happiness rushed through her, "God he was so cute," she smiled, lost in the moment, "Mr. Goodmop sure wasn't the wrong sex, was he?" Her cheeks began to burn at the thought of how he was every bit the right sex for the job, that terribly ugly brown jacket that he looked so damn cute in, she thought. Her heart fluttered recalling the exact moment Samantha walked through the door, cementing a place in her heart instantly, eye shiner and all, "You have a very lovely home and you're so pretty." "Boy, Tony sure did set that one up perfectly," she giggled, remembering Samantha's forced flattery. "That girl sure did steal my heart the moment she walked into my life," her eyes filled with tears, "Too bad it took me so long to admit her father had too."

The pencil met the paper and Angela wrote, I can't remember when you weren't there, when I didn't care. You turned my life around, the sweetest days I found, I found with you.

With-in a few short months, their working relationship had already begun to develop into something more meaningful and deeper than your average employer/employee. Angela's face glowed at the memories of their life together the first few months despite the growing pains they endure, primarily their brief, very revealing encounter when Tony walked in on her coming out of the bathtub, "Maybe if I knew then what I know now I wouldn't have covered up so quickly and started a little something, something right there and then," a devilish grin plastered her face. Flashbacks of their time together continued to run through her head; Her first fight in Brooklyn, their quiet, unexcepted dinner for two when her date stood her up and their impromptu one-on-one basketball game with her in an evening dress, their first Christmas together and her helping Tony clean out his father's apartment, Oh the butterflies in my stomach, she thought, that first time he took me in his arms to dance The Lindy, she sighed, I didn't wanted that moment to end and I didn't even know why back then.

She continued to scribble ideas, you added music and laughter to my life, life meant nothing till you came along.

Their first year together seemed almost a lifetime ago as she tried to recall their long journey along the windy road they took to get where they were. "Oh my God," she gasped at the memory of them waking up together in Sam's bed after a night of room swapping between her, Tony and Samantha. "I almost forget that," she giggled, thinking back at the slight arousal her nightgown betrayed her with as they walked out of the room to encounter Bobby Barns and her camera crew ready to cover a day in the life of Hartford's most talked about female ad executive, "Boy, mother really came through for us on that one but damn it felt good to wake up next to Tony, even back then," she shook her head, a slight glow shining on her cheeks.

Your tender kisses take me places I've never been, her pencil met the paper once again as she remembered their second first kiss in the kitchen after their drunken night out and the surprise realization that they had been each other's first, first kiss. "Those great forces sure did seem determined to push us together," she recalled at the memory of them stuck at the Hidden Hollow Motel together, "And fate sure had a tendency to step on in, didn't it," she asked herself. "And yet here we are, almost eight years later and just now finally coming to our senses." She rolled her eyes and shook her head in disbelief.

Through the years, you never let me down, you turned my life around, through the good and the bad I never knew how much we had, the words kept flowing as the memories continued to fill her head and warm her heart. "He was there for me every time I needed him, even when I didn't think I needed him, he was there," she whispered, thinking back to almost losing Jonathan when Michael decided he wanted custody and how Tony pushed her to fight and not give up their son, our son, she thought, even back then, Tony knew how much his support meant to me and he was already so much more a father to Jonathan than Michael could ever dream of being, her lip trembled at the memory, and let's not forget how he stood by me when I got fired and pushed me to open the agency. "Come on Angela, we're going to get through this, we're a family and families stick together." His words echoed in her mind, "Family," she smiled through the tears, "I couldn't have asked for a better family," she muddled.

You mended my broken heart, when I was too afraid to fly, you helped me fall in love again, she continued to note. "Only with the right person," they had agreed, when discussing if they would ever consider marrying again while dancing at the Ferguson wedding, "Boy were there some not so right ones!" She sighed, "Thank God we both came to our senses before marrying people we clearly didn't love." She tapped her lips with her index finger, pensively reflecting on their close encounters with various marriage proposals. "You don't think these things, you feel them," Tony's wise words to her while deliberating Geoffrey's proposal. "I guess he must have put his own wisdom to use when overthinking Frankie's proposal," she exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Why didn't I tell him then?" She hit her palm to her forehead, "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

You are everything I'd been looking for, when I look into your eyes, I can't ask for more, happiness danced through her thoughts at the memory of them dancing cheek to cheek, body to body, arm in arm the night Tony had recreated her prom, "Another missed opportunity to tell him just how in love with him I already was," she scolded herself, "Well I guess I kind of did on my birthday," she pondered out loud, But of course, both of us kept deflecting and then ignoring what we knew was right in front of us, her thoughts continued. Flashes of their time in St. Louis together for Tony's baseball reunion, their disastrous first date, and their trip to Jamaica all took center stage in her mind as she continued to shuffle through the years and collect all her thoughts for the perfect words to express her love for Tony and pay tribute to their journey together. "It may have been a long, windy, seamlessly never-ending road but it was worth every mile," a warm feeling of content washed over her.

It may not have been the path I would have liked to have taken, but it's the path that took us along an incredible journey and the path that brought us to where we are today. Our journey has been like an interstate and old song, like time, they go on and on and no matter how far we go or how much time passes, there will only be one place I'll ever want to be and that's by your side because I can't unthink about you, I can't unfeel your touch and no matter what, I can't unlove you.

Through The Years- Tony's Vows

While Angela was locked in her office, Tony sat at the kitchen table contemplating what he could possibly say to Angela on their wedding day that would scrape the surface of what their life together had meant to him. He had spent so many years fighting his feelings for her and pushing them down to the depths of his heart, that now he found himself wanting to buy a blimp, shout it from the rooftops of Manhattan and rent a billboard so everyone in the world would know how much he loved her and how he planned to spend everyday of the rest of his live showing her.

Since their declaration of love for one another and all the commotion that occurred after their engagement, Tony had stopped doing all the little things he had always, previously enjoyed doing for Angela to show his affection for her without ever admitting it out loud; Fresh flowers for the living room, a special plate of brownies just for her, an extra dry martini with two olives on a Friday afternoon- all the little things that made her fall in love with him and all the little things he now found himself taking for granted but had vowed to continue through their marriage. "You've been a real bonehead the last few months, Micelli," he chastised himself, "That woman in there deserves to be treated like a queen and that's exactly how you're going to treat her, the rest of your life."

Unable to concentrate, due to his constant berating of himself and his uncontrollable desire to knock on Angela's door and interrupt her so they could spend the afternoon together, Tony finally decided to collect his thoughts and his notebook and take a drive to the campus library.

Bidding Angela a quick goodbye through the door, Tony set out to gather his thoughts and find his words. As he rounded the house from the driveway, he stopped and starred at the door he knocked on nearly eight years prior, that started it all- "May I help you?" A beautiful blond in a bathrobe and head towel opened the door- "Damn she was gorgeous," he smiled brightly. You're lucky she didn't fire you that first night Micelli, he thought to himself remembering his intrusion on her date then giving her unsolicited relationship advise, "You'd never catch me doing something dumb like sleeping with my employer." "Ha, so much for that advise," he laughed out loud.

Traveling down Oak Hill Drive towards town, the vision of Angela coming out of the bathtub, naked, when he accidently walked in on her, caused him to blush, "Man, that quick glance was nothing compared to the real thing!" He shook his head, trying to get the vision out of his mind. Continuing on his way, memories of their first year together flooded his mind, I can't remember when you weren't there, when I didn't care, for anyone but you, "Uh, I gotta write that down!" He pulled over hastily remembering the feelings he had for her so soon after starting to work for her and how immediate he felt a need to protect her and be someone she could depend on, especially after learning more about her past relationships and her disastrous marriage.

Sitting with his notebook on the steering wheel, he thought back at how Angela had stepped so perfectly into being the mother that Samantha needed and how she had helped him, help Sam be able to grow up into the beautiful and confident woman she was today, I can't imagine needing someone so but through the years I need you more and more, he wrote, thinking back to all the times Angela helped guide him through the growing pains of raising a daughter like buying her first brassier, encouraging him to let Sam go off on ski trips with her friends and even pretending to be his wife so that Sam wouldn't be embarrassed by him being a housekeeper. "Oh, my wife, I should have known then that we fit together so perfectly, especially after that amazing kiss in the kitchen," a devilish grin crossed his lips.

With you eternally mine, in love there is no measure of time. You gave me wings and helped me fly. You are the calm in my storm, the light in my dark sea, the wind in my sail.

Placing his notebook back on the passenger seat, Tony continued along his path. Making his way through Fairfield, he passed the Fairfield Inn immediately sending his mind back to the Hidden Hollow Motel. I must have been out of my mind that night. Not only did I have Ingrid there, but I had Angela and Angela was Ingrid and Ingrid was Angela and I was insane trying to keep the status quo as it was. Yes, there were reason and yes, I was scared to death to lose everything we had by crossing those lines but God man, you've got to be an idiot to not make it work with a woman like Angela. Tony's thoughts raced with all the mixed feelings his heart and mind were sending through those early years. "Who wouldn't love you?" The memory of their poker game with his friends crossed his mind, "No, who wouldn't love her," he repeated out loud, "Certainly not me because I already knew she was my Merle Streep, and no Brooklyn girl or French woman was going to change that," a quiet contentment spread through him.

As he drove past the County Club, he smiled knowing that in less than a week, he would be dancing with his bride and this time there wouldn't be a Geoffrey with a G that he could pass her off on. "Another bonehead moment Micelli," his inner frustration evident. "Thank God Mona talked some sense into me to stop Angela from marrying that dweeb."

Arriving on campus, Tony put the car in park and sat pondering all the moments and events that had led him to finally realize that he had to stop thinking about his and Angela's relationship and allowing himself to feel everything he knew in his heart to be true about it. The look of pride in her eyes as she encouraged him to follow his dreams, the feeling of her at his side when he received his acceptance to college, the way she supported and believed in him when he didn't quite believe in himself was all the proof, he needed, to know that no matter what happened in their lives, he couldn't see his future without her in it.

When I lost my faith, you gave it back to me, you gave me faith because you believed in me.

Getting out of the car after making another quick note for his vows, Tony headed to the library in hopes of some peace and quite where he could fully concentrate and hopefully stop being distracted by all his offtrack memories. Walking through campus, seeing kids enjoy the beautiful spring afternoon breeze on the lawn, in the pavilion and along the cozy, metal benches, Tony's thoughts suddenly jumped to Sam's winter break trip to Ft. Lauderdale two years prior- "Whispering breezes, waves crashing on the shore at dawn, cracking logs in the fireplace." "One out of two checked, I better work on the others," Tony muttered to himself recalling what Angela told him she found romantic as he skipped his way delightedly to the library.

Finding a quiet, corner, hideaway. Tony opened his notebook, jotting down his inner most feelings, trying to capture the most special moments he wanted to express of their lives together.

You've decorated my life, creating a world where dreams were once again a part of it, painting your love all over my heart. Life had no meaning, except being a father to Samantha until you came along and brought out the colors, what a gentle surprise because now I'm able to see all the things life can be, shining in your eyes.

Looking back, Tony couldn't help but be reminded of all the mistakes he had made along the way. Their journey hadn't been without it's bumps and potholes but somehow, no matter what obstacles they encountered, they always managed to find their way back to each other. His eyes moistened as he remembered back a short year ago when he almost lost it all, "I don't know," the three words that nearly cost him the love of his life. "If there's anything I ever do for the rest of my life, it'll be making sure that she knows the only journey in life I ever want to take is with her." A tear escaped his eye. Rubbing his nose, trying to contain his overwhelming emotions, Tony took to his notebook again.

You're the one that pulled me through, all my insecurities and doubts. You're the best thing in my life and I'd be a fool to ever let you go. You've seen me through it all, just about the time I think I couldn't love you anymore, you take my breath away. Your tender kisses, take me places I've never been. You know it's been hard for me to tell you how I feel but I want you to know today and for always that you're everything I've ever wanted, everything I'll ever need because no matter what live brings, I know my heart will never unfeel your touch or unhear your sweet voice because I can't unlove you.

A/N- A lot of content and dialogue in this chapter was taken directly from WTB episodes and various songs that I found spoke deeply to their relationship. I do not own or claim any rights to any lyrics, dialogue or storyline that isn't mine.