Angela woke the next morning, still adrift in the afterglow. A stray thought drifted through her head, that sometimes vulnerability could be nice. It could be very, very nice, actually. She looked at Tony and smiled; a beaming smile that would have knocked his socks off had he been awake to see it. Or still wearing socks. She snuggled a little closer to him, rested her head on his shoulder, causing him to wake. He kissed the top of her head.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," she said.

"I'm not sorry to be woken," he answered, honestly.

Lifting her head, she looked him in the eye, feeling nothing but love she greeted him, "good morning."

"Good morning? This is the best morning ever."

They shared their first good morning kiss, the first of many.

Then she smiled shyly at him, they did nothing for the next few minutes except gaze into each other's eyes and marvel at the depth of the love they each saw reflected. After hiding their feelings for so long it was overwhelming to both of them to see the truth. She touched his cheek, still amazed they'd finally managed to be forthright with each other. He caressed her arm, thrilled to feel the chills this gave her.

"Can we stay here forever?" she asked.

"Might get a little inconvenient."

"Hmm, I suppose...," she conceded, then reconsidered, "do you really think it would be that inconvenient?"

"Angela..." he smiled, "how would you get any work done?"

"Work? I'm not thinking about work now."

"Who are you and what have you done with my Angela?"

My Angela? Her smiled grew broader as she let the thrill of those words sink in. She kissed him quickly and said, "maybe your Angela," she sighed as she somehow snuggled a little closer to him, but didn't lose eye contact, "doesn't want to sublimate her feelings in work anymore."

"Oh, nice Psych 101 diagnosis there, Angela," he now imitated a German accent, "so tell me, vhat do you think ze best prescription is vor that?'

She laughed and proceeded to show him that her self-prescribed medicine was kissing him.

After trying out this prescription, Tony asked, "what's the dosage on that very nice medicine, Angela?"

"All day and night, every day and night."

Angela continued administering her prescription; any thoughts of work far from her mind. If they had any luck whatsoever Jonathan would soon be leaving the house for the day and they could continue where they left off last night.

Tony decided that this was his kind of prescription; not only was it the best medicine, the side effects were nice too; no drowsiness, in fact he felt more awake than ever. His blood pressure might be a little elevated, but in this case that was a good side effect too. Pulse seemed a little faster than normal, but he chalked that up as an aerobic exercise. The dosage of this prescription was administered for a very long time, right up until there was a startling knock on the bedroom door.

No luck, of course Jonathan wouldn't leave for the day without saying goodbye.

They broke away from each other instantaneously, which was pointless; it wasn't as though Jonathan could see them no matter how close or far apart they were.

"Mom?"

Panic.

Jonathan, yes, that was his name; her son, who lived in the house. Angela was disconcerted, to say the least. Tony saw this and was amused by Angela's flustered state of being.

"Don't smirk," she whispered to Tony. Any moment now her brain would click back into place and she'd manage to figure out how to deal with this; so far she somehow remembered that she did lock the bedroom door last night so she didn't have to worry about Jonathan opening the door. However, that didn't keep him from asking the question that had prompted him to knock in the first place, "Tony's door is shut, you think he's ok?"

"I'm sure he's fine, honey," she yelled to her son, then whispered, "very fine indeed," to Tony.

"Angela," Tony said in a shocked whisper.

"It's not like him to still be in bed," Jonathan continued.

Angela put a finger to Tony's lips so quickly it shocked Tony. Although Jonathan's unintended straight line had many answers, Tony wasn't going to say a single one. He settled for kissing Angela's finger instead.

She looked at Tony, longing to be back in his arms where she belonged. As much as she loved her son, right now she wanted him to drop his concern for Tony and leave the house so that they could be alone.

In a desperate ploy she yelled, "maybe he went out for a run?"

"But he wouldn't leave his door shut."

"Well, today...he did," she shrugged.

"I'm worried, I'm going to knock."

"No!" Angela said, sounding far too alarmed, "I'll check on him."

She pulled a sheet around her to run to the closet for a bathrobe. Tony thought it was adorable that she was bothering to cover-up, he looked at her quizzically. She turned her head over her shoulder to look back at him, and dropped the sheet to bare her back, the fabric draped enchantingly, creating a curve of fabric at the very bottom of her back. Tony thought the effect likened Angela to a statue of a Greek goddess. He pretended to whistle at her. She shook her head, smiled, and threw her pink robe on. Tony watched the sheet drop and his feelings as it billowed to the floor were a combination of awed wonder and pity. Pity that such an opportunity had to be wasted.

Angela hurried to get out of the bedroom, running her fingers through her hair on the way, trying to tame it. Just before she unlocked the bedroom door she took a deep breath to calm herself; she had to be cool, Jonathan figuring out that she and Tony had spent the night together by her unkempt appearance was not the way she wanted to break this news to him.

She opened the door as narrowly as she could to slip out then almost slammed it behind her. She smiled at her son, "good morning, Jonathan," she said overly brightly, "did you sleep well?"

"Sure," he answered, still confused by her not being concerned about Tony's well being this morning, "did you sleep well?"

"Yes," she answered; that one small word instantly claiming The Understatement of the Year Award.

Tony didn't dare move from the bed just in case it might make a noise, but he heard every word in the hallway and had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"Mom...Tony?"

"What?" Angela was momentarily startled thinking Jonathan had figured out the truth, but then remembered, "Tony's room...the door...yes...checking..." Angela walked over to the door, Jonathan watched her, wondering why his mother was so out of it this morning.

She knocked, "Tony?" Amazingly, there was no answer. She knocked again, "Tony?" Once again, no answer; what a surprise. Angela slowly turned the door knob and peeked into Tony's room, "Tony," she gave him one more chance to answer before fully opening the door; but try as she might, Tony did not answer. Shocking, just shocking. Angela opened the door to Tony's empty room, feigning a sense of revelation at his absence, "see, he's out for a run."

"It's not like him to go out and not tell anyone."

"Perhaps he thought he would be back before anyone else was up. Maybe he stopped by the bakery to pick up some croissants for breakfast. I'm sure he's fine." Yes, she was definitely sure of that. She hugged her son and made her way back to her own room. Or was it now their room? Her eyes unfocused for a moment as she considered that thought, 'their room'. Jonathan was now starting to worry about his mother as well as Tony.

"Mom?" Jonathan ventured very hesitantly.

Angela's focus was brought back to her son, she turned to see Jonathan still standing there, and inwardly wondered why he hadn't left yet, "Jonathan, stop being such a worry wart; don't you have things to do today?"

"Yeah, sure, mom."

"Good, then go have fun. I love you."

"Love you too, mom."

Angela smiled, kissed her son, then went back into her or their room, making sure to lock the door behind her.

Jonathan still felt that something was off; it wasn't like his mother to be so unconcerned about Tony's well being. It would have been more like her to frantically throw on some clothes, then comb the streets looking for him. The whole situation was weird; but she'd obviously dismissed him so there was no point in trying to talk to her anymore. He wasn't sure where to turn, then an idea hit him...grandmother. On his way to his grandmother's house he noticed something else odd; the back door was locked. If Tony had been out for a run, the door would have been unlocked. This situation was becoming more weird by the second.

Finally alone with Tony again, Angela sat down on the bed next to him. He put his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "So, I wasn't there?"

"No, you weren't; it was quite a surprise."

"I'll bet."

"Whatever shall I do? Send out a search party for you?"

"I think I'd rather stay lost for a little while longer." A hand dropped to nudge aside the skirt of Angela's robe, that same hand then idly moved itself back and forth along her inner thigh.

Angela smiled and blushed.

"It's nice to see you smile like that."

"I'm only smiling because I am ecstatically happy," then she kissed him quickly for emphasis.

"You want to try for blissfully happy?"

Somehow she managed an even bigger smile and deeper blush.

They kissed again, taking their time to luxuriate in the very pleasant sensation. Angela could feel the joy running through her body all the way down to her toes. Tony paused for a moment, his hand moved up to the knot in the tie of her bathrobe, "it will be nice to have you out of that bathrobe and back into a sheet."

"You liked the sheet, then?"

"You, entwined in a sheet, brings back a lot of good memories, so yes, you could say that I liked it."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"As it is, you're overdressed again."

"You'll have to do something about that, won't you?" she sighed.

Yes, he would have to do something about that; as soon as he finished thoroughly kissing Angela good morning, and that in itself took a while.

They moved to make themselves more comfortable, Angela sighed as she leaned back.

"That was a very contented sigh," Tony noted.

"And your ego is loving that," she replied.

"Me?" he asked innocently. Angela laughed. Tony was tugging at the last vestiges of the bathrobe knot when an insistent knock intruded on their reverie.

"Angela!" Mona yelled.

"Dammit!" Angela whispered.

"Angela, since when are you so unconcerned about Tony?"

Angela was hardly unconcerned, in fact at the moment she was more panicked than when Jonathan had knocked on the door. She had to pull herself together again, pretend this morning was no different from any other; and more than anything else: not open the bedroom door. Jonathan may not have caught the change in her eyes; but there was no hope of the obvious escaping her mother's scrutiny.

Angela sat up and yelled, "what are you talking about?" trying to sound exasperated at the whole situation.

"He's missing. Will you please come out here so we can form a plan."

Angela ignored her mother as best she could, she had to answer her somehow, but leaving the room was out of the question, "missing? I think you and Jonathan are over-reacting. He's out for a run."

Jonathan gave his grandmother a 'you see what I mean?' look.

Mona acknowledged her grandson. Angela's refusal to open the door told her more than Angela's words, she took the opportunity to prod her daughter, "are you sure about that?"

"Where else would he be?"

Mona had to bite her lip, it would be so easy, so very easy to say, "in bed with you," but she didn't want to let them know her suspicions. She was very close to demanding Angela open the door, for the sole reason of enjoying dismayed Angela's reaction; but decided against it, she'd taunted her daughter long enough this morning. It was time to leave her alone; not alone alone, but alone together with Tony alone.

Angela had had enough, it was time to get rid of them, she had other plans for the day, plans that did not include her mother or son, "will both of you relax. Tony grew up in Brooklyn, I am sure he can handle the mean streets of suburban Connecticut."

"Fine Angela, Jonathan and I are going to spend the day in the City."

Success. Hallelujah!

"Fine, try not to spend all of my money in one place, will you?" she yelled back.

"Don't worry, dear; I'm sure we'll find many places to spend it." Mona motioned to her grandson to follow, she tiptoed across the hallway to look into Tony's room. Satisfied at its pristine solitude, she pulled Jonathan downstairs, making as much noise as possible on the way down just to make sure Angela knew they were leaving.

"Of course," Angela answered, unsure if her Mother and Jonathan heard her reply or not; and not really caring. She turned her attention back to where it belonged; on Tony.

Tony sat up and put his arms around her, "that was a close one, Angela. Almost caught by your mother," he said in pretend fear.

"My mother? You mean the one who is probably jumping for joy right about now?"

He laughed as he drew her closer, "yeah, that one."

Mona slammed the front door loudly enough to make sure it could be heard upstairs. She and Jonathan made their way to the car, "are we really going to the City?" he asked.

"Maybe, but first, Sam's."

"Sam's? Why? Oh, I get it, another person to spend mom's money."

"Hmm, partly; but more for the celebration."

"Celebration of what?"

They arrived at the car, Jonathan opened a door for his grandmother, as she sat down she told him, "get in kid, I've got news for you." He obeyed quickly, apprehensive about whatever his grandmother was going to tell him.

They sat, locked in the car, the windows rolled up tight; thereby cutting off any neighbors from nosing in on their conversation.

"First, a question; you actually saw your mother this morning, how did she look?"

Jonathan didn't know what his grandmother was alluding to, "she looked like mom, same as always," he answered.

"She didn't appear to bewitched, bothered or bewildered?"

"Grandma, what are you talking about?"

"Her eyes, Jonathan, how did they look?"

He thought back and shrugged, "I don't remember, I didn't know there would be a quiz."

His worried expression caused his grandmother to relent, "don't worry, Jonathan, your mother spent the night with Tony, that's all."

Jonathan sat there silent and shocked for several moments, then he suddenly said, "that's all? A major shift in their relationship and you brush it off with, 'that's all'?"

"That's all, meaning there is no need to worry, Jonathan," she put a hand on his shoulder, "we have waited for this day for a long time, there's no need to make a fuss about it; although I think I may issue a commemorative mug."

"Grandma!" Jonathan smirked, exasperated.

"There, that's better; now lets go pick up Sam, then we'll spend some of Angela's money on champagne."

"Grandma, I can't drink."

"I won't tell, and this occasion definitely warrants a little bubbly."

"Pity we don't have a 'Do Not Disturb' sign for the door," Jonathan said, not even sure where that idea came from.

Mona smiled, a slightly devious smile that went all the way up to her wickedly sparkling eyes, "I might be willing to part with one from my collection for the day. For the cause."

"Oh no, grandma, you do that and you might as well take out an ad in the Fairfield Courier and announce it."

Mona's eyes unfocused for half a second as she considered the possibility of doing just that, a small announcement in the society column, "Ms. Angela Bower and Mr. Tony Micelli recently consummated their long standing attraction. Congratulatory gifts may be sent to the care of Mona Robinson." She grinned.

"Grandma?"

"What? Oh sorry, Jonathan."

"Don't even think it."

"Too late, but don't worry, I won't actually do it."

"The announcement or the "Do Not Disturb" sign?" he asked, wary of her possible answer.

"I won't do either one, I promise," she even crossed her heart. Jonathan looked relieved. She conceded, "after all they might happen to come downstairs, see the sign and remove it. Then they'll know we know. We've started a new game Jonathan; we pretend we don't know, they pretend they don't know we know."

"Huh? You mean we have to go around from now on pretending nothing's changed?"

"Yes, if they want to play this little game with us; we'll play it better," Mona said, a little distracted thinking about all the ways this could play out.

"Are you really sure about this, Grandma?" still not quite comprehending this upheaval in the household, and maybe still in denial, "how do you know Tony isn't out running?"

"Oh, I have no doubt Angela is taking care of Tony's exercise needs. She was trying to get rid of us too badly and her voice was much more...relaxed. There was no bathrobe on his bed, the room was devoid of life."

"Grandma! This is my mother you are talking about!" He was this close to putting his hands over his ears and shutting his eyes tightly and saying, "la la la la la," to ward off anything else his grandmother might say.

Mona rolled her eyes, "C'mon kiddo, let's go," and leave they did.

The exultant knock on Sam's door was greeted with a perky, "come in!" Mona opened the door so quickly it made Jonathan's head spin.

"Hi Sam!" she beamed. Sam looked at her, wondering why Mona was in such a good mood this morning.

Jonathan saw the look on Sam's face and helped her out, "sit down, Sam; grandma has news she's dying to tell you. I may need to sit down too," and he did. Sam looked at Jonathan, he was shell-shocked. She sat down next to him and looked at Mona, she was still beaming.

"What?" Sam asked, wanting to be in on whatever was causing such strong reactions in both Mona and Jonathan.

"Your father's bed was not slept in last night," Mona dropped, then stopped for a moment, "I should call it his former bed, I doubt he'll be spending much time there from now on."

Sam slowly stood up from the couch and asked very warily; "it wasn't?" Mona couldn't be implying what she hoped she was implying, was she?

"It wasn't," Mona answered with a triumphant finality.

Sam was stunned speechless. This was so unexpected. She looked at Mona, "this better not be a joke, because if it is, it's not funny."

"No joke, Sam," Mona soothed.

"Really, really?" Sam asked, hope creeping into her words, "I mean you saw them and they confirmed it?"

"No, we didn't see them and that confirmed it. Well, Jonathan saw his mother; but that was part of the confirmation."

"Tell me everything!" Sam demanded.

Eager for the new audience, Mona sat Sam down; then she sat in between her two grandchildren and told Sam the events of the morning. Sam's attention was riveted to every word. Jonathan slumped against the back of the couch, still trying to come to terms with the new world they were living in.

Mona finished her recitation and Sam jumped up from the couch and clasped her hands together. It was too unbelievable. Finally, after all this time, just when she was about to give up on them. "This is the best news ever," was all she could say. She found herself unexpectedly overcome with emotion. Crying, she sat back down on the couch, Mona put an arm around her, "it is the best news ever," she agreed.

Sam dried her tears, "I'm just relieved. I didn't want him to be alone."

"You never had to worry about that, Sam. If Angela hadn't come to her senses your father would have found someone else eventually; he loves too well and too fiercely to be alone forever."

"Maybe, but I wanted him with Angela, that's the way it should be.

"And it is."

Sam went back to smiling; but she was also a little jealous, wishing for a very brief moment that she still lived in the house so she could have been part of the fun, "did you see the love in her eyes this morning, Jonathan?"

"You can always see the love for Tony in mom's eyes."

This was true enough.

"How was I supposed to know I should have looked for something different this morning? I mean, yeah, she seemed a little out of it this morning, but I thought it was just because it was...morning," he shook his head, still in shock. A sudden, terrible realization hit him, "I was in the house last night, just a few feet away!"

"Jonathan, I know that these two have been a poor example, but this is normal adult behavior," his grandmother tried to be the voice of reason.

Jonathan was unconvinced, an idea formed, he looked at his grandmother, but then decided that that would just be out of the frying pan and into the fire. He looked at Sam, "can I come live with you?"

Sam smiled, "wonderful idea, Jonathan, but how are we going to keep up the charade if you are here with me? Plus, I don't think Angela wants you moving out of the house yet."

"I need headphones."

"Jonathan, they won't be doing anything they didn't do last night," Sam tried to reason.

"Yeah, but I didn't know last night. It makes a difference."

"Jonathan, this is a 'be careful what you wish for moment'," his grandmother cautioned; too late.

"You can't hold me to that, I was a kid, I didn't know what I was saying. Maybe I can convince Mom to move her office upstairs and I'll move my stuff downstairs."

"Great idea, but how are you going to suggest that and not let on that you know?" Sam pointed out.

"I'm a teenager, I'll just tell her I want to be closer to the fridge. Wait, maybe I'll move into the basement, that's even farther away, and less complicated."

That could work. And it did. Jonathan simply pointed out to his mother that a young man his age needed a little more space. To no one's surprise, Angela didn't argue with the idea. Jonathan was comfortable; a fully finished basement was good practice for being on his own, and it was very quiet.

"C'mon, kids; let's go pick up Mrs. Rossini and do some celebrating." The kids agreed with this plan. First Mona stopped to purchase a bottle of champagne (on the agency's credit card), then they drove to Mrs. Rossini's apartment and drink the champagne. Over lunch (also paid for by Angela) the Club vowed to let the lovebirds play their game, but they weren't going to discontinue their meetings for there was still much to plan. After lunch, four very happy people shopped (again paid for by Angela); but they weren't anywhere near as happy as the two left back in Connecticut.

Back at the house, Tony brought up an important topic, "Angela, your mother is not going to be fooled," he touched her cheek, "she's got to know; it's obvious to her if not Jonathan."

"I know, I'm sure she figured it out the second Jonathan knocked on her door telling her you were nowhere to be found. She'll let us be, and she'll let the kids know to let us be."

"I hope you're right. Seems to me that now is her opportunity to inflict more barbs."

"She would have done that already this morning if she was going to take that route. She's been waiting too long for this to meddle now, she'll keep up the pretense; at least for as long as it suits her purposes. When it doesn't suit her purposes any more, watch out."

Tony could do nothing but nod in agreement and caress Angela.

Angela paused, his touch was making it even more difficult to find the words to express what her heart was feeling, "I want to savor this...just you and me for a little while. We've waited so long, I want to take the time now to revel in this love. Oh, it's so nice to say that word...love."

"Yes, it is, Love," he agreed.

Angela smiled, Tony had just called her 'Love' and it enraptured her to the core of her soul. Her eyes were soft and vulnerable, in them Tony saw nothing but love and joy. He was actually a little humbled by the depth of the feeling he saw there and hoped Angela saw the same emotions reflected in his own eyes. She did. He wanted to kiss her again, desperately; but he didn't want to break eye contact. It was a dilemma, one he solved by kissing his fingertips and gently letting them trail up and down her neck. She liked the answer to his dilemma, but couldn't tell him that as she was beyond words, she was beyond any thought other than wanting out of her bathrobe immediately.

Tony eventually gave in to his desire to kiss her, and he also read Angela's mind by pushing her bathrobe off her shoulders and letting it drop to the bed. Angela felt the fabric slip down her back and pulled him back down on to the bed. Having no other demands on their time they spent as much of it as they could expressing and exalting in this too long suppressed love.

And at some point; much later in the day; they even managed to call and have some croissants delivered for their cover story. After all, they were hungry. Very hungry.