Tony entered through the back kitchen door and put his keys in the drawer. He grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator, pulled the tab and took a long swallow. There was no sound except the hum of the refrigerator. Angela should be here gushing about their new granddaughter. She should be giggling and quite frankly driving him crazy. But, she wasn't. Instead the silence was driving him crazy. He couldn't stand it.
Silence. He hated the damn silence!
He pushed the swinging door open and went into the living room. The damn silence continued. He collapsed on the couch and felt the tears running down his face. He couldn't stand this! He was so angry. At himself. At God. How could he have taken Angela away from him? He had already taken Marie. Was this some kind of cruel joke? That the women he fell in love with just had to be taken away from him? Was this God's way of telling him he didn't deserve to be in love?
He thought he would never get over Marie dying and the truth was he never had. But, he knew he had to go on for Samantha's sake. She had just been a little girl who had lost her Mother. He knew how that had felt. After all he had only been seven when his Mom had died. His Dad had to be both Father and Mother to him and he had to be both Father and Mother to Sam and he had embraced it. Oh sure he had gone overboard a couple of times. Okay more than a couple but he took his parental role and love for his daughter seriously. He knew it wasn't going to be easy raising Sam by himself. Oh sure he had his Father to help him- well until he passed away of course and his friends. Mrs Rossini was a godsend to him during that painful time. But, no matter how many people helped him he knew in his heart no one would ever take on the role of Sam's mom.
That was of course until they met Angela. Slowly but surely she became Sam's mom. Her second mom. Her bonus mom. Not that she ever tried to take Marie's place in Sam's heart or memories. She always respected the bond between Marie and Sam. But, Sam's heart was big enough to let Angela in. He recalled moments over the years when their mutual respect and love for each other shone through: Angela finding the prom dress that Sam had fallen in love with, Sam tearfully and angrily telling them that Bonnie was the one Angela liked and Angela telling her that she does like Bonnie but she loves her and that she sometimes felt like Sam thought she was a drag. And of course Sam telling her that a lot of friends feel that way about their Mothers. Angela's face had lit up and with tears in her eyes and turned to him and asked him: "Did you hear that? She called me Mother." He of course had gotten all sentimental watching them and before they knew it they were all holding each other in a warm embrace.
He wiped his tears away. Now, his little girl had lost another mom. WHY?! He couldn't understand WHY! And Jonathan, the boy he had helped raise since he was seven had lost her too. How could God take away their Mom? How could God take away Mona's daughter? How could God take away their Grandchildren's Grandma? But, most of all, how could God take away his wife? His soul mate? His true love? He never thought there would be a pain that hurt anymore than when Marie died. But, Angela dying cut him to the core. With Marie he- they had known it was only a matter of time. Not that it didn't hurt of course. It did but it wasn't anything he wasn't expecting to happen. But, Angela dying…well that wasn't. And even a year later he still had trouble grasping everything that had happened.
He took another long swallow and placed the can on the table in front of the couch. He sat back and looked up at the ceiling. The house was too quiet. Too silent. He knew he could always put on some music or turn on the television but every time he did he was bombarded with memories of Angela and him. He saw them dancing cheek to cheek while Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and various others serenaded them. He saw them cuddled on the couch watching a variety of movies: The Way We Were, Singing In The Rain, 101 Dalmatians. His favorite though had always been Poltergeist. He knew that the clown scene scared her and every time he rented it she would give him the stink eye. He would just laugh and tell her that he would protect her. She would of course roll her eyes but would plop down and watch it. And of course as soon as the clown scene came on she would hide her head into his shoulder. With a start he remembered the last time they had watched it.
FLASHBACK:
"Okay sweetheart. I've got the movies for us to watch tonight." he called while walking in the front door.
Angela came out of the kitchen carrying a tray with two bowls of popcorn and glasses of iced tea. She set them down on the table. She walked over and grabbed the bag out of his hand.
"OOH let's see! It Happened One Night, Grease, and.." She saw the last one and looked at him. He smiled devilishly.
"Poltergeist?" She took it out of the bag and gave him her famous stink eye. He just laughed.
"Oh come on. You know I always protect you during the clown scene."
She scoffed and walked over to the couch and sat down. He followed and sat down beside her.
"Tony, the only reason you rent this movie is because you know I'll end up cuddled in your arms."
Tony grinned. "Yeah, I know. And it works every time."
Angela shook her head. "You are incorrigible"
"That I am. But you love me anyway."
Angela smiled. "That I do. And you are very lucky I do mister!"
"I know. I am most certainly lucky." he said softly and moved in and kissed her.
END OF FLASHBACK.
He picked up his beer and finished it and went into the kitchen and threw it away. He walked back into the living room and resumed his seat. He felt like he was being pulled into two different directions. On the one hand the silence mocked him. He missed hearing her voice. Hearing her laughter. Hell, he even missed her yelling at him. Although they had loved each other fiercely they had still fought and yelled at each other. What he wouldn't give to hear her voice once more. On the other hand he sometimes welcomed the silence. Because he could sit quietly and remember all their times together.
Silence was both a good and bad thing. It was a blessing and a curse.
Silence.
He would never get away from the silence no matter what he did. Even if he turned on the television and radio at the same time and screamed at the top of his lungs the silence would always be there.
Without her there would always be silence.
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A/N: As always the lines from the show the credit goes to the writers