I hope those who asked for a sequel to "Tender Loving Care" will enjoy this. If you haven't read "Tender Loving Care" yet, you should probably do so before reading this. I mean you could read it after this if you want, but it would be going backwards in Tony and Angela's relationship, and therefore probably not very...satisfying. (Keep in mind that this chapter is rated T and in itself may not be satisfying enough for some.)

A Connecticut Winter Graces Tony and Angela's Court Part 2

Quiet had settled over the house, Sam and Mona had taken their leave, Jonathan had holed himself up in his basement hideaway preparing for his return to school in the morning and the happy couple were putting away the last of the dinner dishes. Tony and Angela didn't say much as they worked, they didn't have to, they'd been together for so long they each knew what the other was thinking. Although in this case anyone with a romantic streak could have guessed their current thoughts; and they had nothing to do with dishes.

"Done," Tony said as he put away the last serving dish.

"Finally," Angela responded as she tossed a dish towel on the counter, "seemed like we'd never finish."

"Only because your thoughts are elsewhere," he said as he picked up the towel and put it in its proper home.

"My thoughts?" she asked so innocently she almost batted her eyes.

"Yes, your thoughts."

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"I'm sure you do."

"Forgive me for focusing," she gave him a very obvious, very long look up and down, "on much more interesting topics."

"I'll forgive you," he said as he put an arm around her and pulled her close, "but only because you're a wonderful distraction from the dishes too." He then kissed her to prove exactly how much more interesting she was than the dishes.

"I think it's time to turn out the lights and lock the doors," Angela said when they finally pulled apart.

"I do like the way you put together an agenda."

"Thanks."

They walked arm in arm to lock the back door, then shut the lights in the kitchen. They paused for a moment upon entering the living room to do some more mistletoe testing.

"I'm going to miss the mistletoe when it's gone this year," Angela said wistfully at the completion of the testing.

"Me too, Angela; me too."

She laughed.

"We could have a memorial plaque placed on the wall," he suggested.

"Seems a bit excessive," she answered.

He shrugged, "if you say so."

"We done here?" she gave him one more quick kiss.

"Yes; we do have other plans for the evening."

She touched his jaw line, "yes, we do; don't we?"

"Angela? I don't know what you're thinking, I was going to tuck myself into bed and get a good night's sleep."

"Ha. Ha."

He couldn't keep up the charade, nor did he particularly want to; they collapsed in laughter in each other's arms. He gave her a quick squeeze and a kiss on her head before letting go to lock the door near Angela's study. Angela turned out the lights in the living room; they met each other at the front door.

Tony put his hand on the door to lock it, but stopped and looked at his wife, "speaking of plans, don't we have a threshold to cross, Mrs. Micelli?"

"Why, I believe we do, Mr. Micelli."

Tony opened the front door; the blast of cold air almost dissuaded them from carrying through with their plans. They looked at each other, silently asking if they still wanted to go through with this.

Angela answered, "it doesn't have to be a long carry."

"Ok, short and sweet it is." That would be the only time those words would be used in any sort of romantic situation between the two of them.

They stepped outside and Tony swept Angela off her feet and back into the house faster than either would have thought possible. He shut the door behind them and leaned on it, Angela still in his arms. She snuggled in a little closer to warm up; even though they hadn't been outside for long, it was still long enough to feel the cold.

"Maybe we could do that again on our six month anniversary," Angela said.

"June; great idea, at least we won't have to worry about frostbite. Deal."

"Deal," she agreed, "Tony, are you going to put me down?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Good point," she smiled.

Tony turned so Angela could lock the door, then he carried her up to their room. One more locked door behind them and the rest of the world was shut away. In opposition to their downstairs activities, this time they turned on some lights.

"I suppose I have to put you down now?"

"Might get a little uncomfortable standing here all night."

"Uncomfortable; and a little dull."

He put her down and they cuddled in for a very warm hug. As much as she hated to do it, Angela finally let go, "I should go slip into something more comfortable."

"What you're wearing is fine. Very fine."

She blushed and turned away; but as she turned something caught her eye on the nightstand. Angela walked over and picked up a new tube of Bengay.

"Where did this come from?"

"Picked it up this afternoon when I was out."

"Ok, Tony; I give, what's with the Bengay?"

"Re-creation of the past."

She looked at him, not comprehending.

"You don't remember when you were my own personal angel of mercy?"

Of course, after the Parents' Association fight; she remembered, and she blushed, "going to re-create the dip in the tub too?"

"Oooh, Angela, I like the way you think." Yes, he definitely liked that way her mind worked, every time he came up with a good idea, she found a way to make it even better. No wonder he loved her so.

"Tony, keep the Bengay for when you have real aches and pains. It would only be in the way tonight, it's smelly and not very...kissable." She tossed the ointment back on the nightstand.

"Your kiss does have a way of making me feel all better."

"Yours too."

"If you only knew how much I wanted you to kiss me and make it all better then."

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to too," she said as she sauntered into the bathroom.

Tony's jaw dropped. He heard the water starting to run in the bathroom and hurried to catch up with his wife.

She looked slyly at him, "there you are, took you long enough. What made you think of that night?"

"Your hands at the airport, soft," he picked up her hands and caressed them, "told myself I'd better keep my hands worthy of you from now on, which led to thoughts of moisturizer then a great memory."

Angela smiled, "I hadn't thought about that night in a long time."

"Me either; and I have no idea why not," he smiled in remembrance, "it should have been my last thought every night for years. Now, of course, I have better thoughts on my mind." His smile turned to a grin.

Angela blushed and dropped his hands, putting her arms around him to hold him close. He put his arms around her and held her tightly. This was already better than that night long ago; even though he had some great memories of it, the overall feeling was one of defeat. He'd won the match, but not the girl; not at that time anyway. She was only his for those few precious moments; it was a very nice fantasy, but the reality of her dating Geoffrey pervaded his thoughts for the rest of the night. No wonder he hadn't used that memory as a dream to go to sleep on.

"Angela?"

"Hmm?"

"If we don't shut the water off soon, it's going to overflow."

"Right," she answered as if coming out of a trance, which, in a way, she was. Tony took care of shutting off the water as Angela was concerned with more important matters; openly watching Tony bend over for one. For two, asking what was really on her mind, "have I the privilege of taking off your sweater again?"

"Honey, you can take off anything; and everything, you want." He stood before her, he knew she was watching his every move and it made him proud to think he was under such delightful scrutiny.

Her face aglow with vixenish delight, Angela didn't bother with a faithful re-creation of the past, there was no need; tonight would be about making fantasies come true, for both of them. Instead of tugging at his sleeve, this time Angela touched either side of his waist and pulled the sweater up off his chest. Tony was surprised, but not unhappy; and very grateful that every muscle in his body did not ache tonight. He helped Angela along by slipping his arms out of the sleeves, leaving Angela to pull the sweater over his head, which she did promptly; very promptly. She carefully folded it and placed it on the counter.

She peeked back behind her to see Tony standing there shirtless and she blushed.

Seeing that Angela suddenly seemed to lose her ability to walk, Tony walked over to her and put his arms around her so that her back was snug against his chest. Angela reveled in the feeling of being captured by Tony; it was another dream come true, his arm was strong around her, she felt safe, secure and most importantly, loved. She sighed and dropped her head onto his shoulder, grateful that this time around his shoulder didn't hurt. Tony then took full advantage of their position and the cardigan his wife was wearing; he nudged her head a little to kiss the tender spots from ear lobe to neck. As his hand started at the bottom of the sweater, each button surrendered to a flick of his wrist. He worked his way up, pausing after each button gave way to caress Angela through the silk shell she wore underneath the sweater. She nuzzled in as he reached the top and slipped the sweater off her arms then placed it on top of his on the counter. The wisp of silk was carefully slipped up and off quickly after that.

They paused for a moment to luxuriate in the sensation of skin touching skin. Tony placed both arms around her and she took a few moments to caress her way up and down the hard outlines of his muscles. Contented, she somehow relaxed even further into Tony. He drifted his fingers across the satin edge of her lingerie thoroughly enjoying the curves. "Soft, love you in satin...silk...anything," he whispered in her ear. Angela was grateful he was strong enough to support both of them as her legs were weakening. He enjoyed watching her slip into sweet oblivion and continued to caress her sweet curves.

"Oh, Tony," she whimpered. Enough was enough, before Tony had much of a chance to react she moved a little away from him and haphazardly flipped her pumps off her feet, sending them to random landing places where they would be forgotten until the next morning. Then she removed the rest of her outer clothes so quickly that Tony was stunned; happy, but stunned.

"If we don't get into the tub soon the water will be cold," she said by way of rationalizing her actions.

Tony wasn't going to let that one go by without comment, "if you think you need an excuse for getting undressed in front of me; trust me, you don't." He followed that up with a very lengthy, very open, head to toe gaze at her.

She smiled, dropped her head, blushed and gripped her hands behind her back to keep them from covering herself up. She still wasn't quite used to the compliments and the blatant overtures between them.

He stood before her, hands on his hips, "so, Angela, you gonna take my pants off, or am I?" Just when Angela thought she was being brazen, Tony went and upped the ante. "And how much did you want to take my pants off after the prize fight?"

She let out a small, quick laugh, "I was desperately trying not to think about taking your pants off. Tony, the whole situation that night was," she looked him in the eye, "...seductive. You were so vulnerable, it was a side of you I didn't, and still don't, get to see very often. It was very sexy."

"My being half-naked wasn't sexy?" he joked.

She smiled and laughed, "yes; but I had seen you shirtless before, so it wasn't a novelty. Sexy, yes; but not a novelty."

So she had noticed, he now had the answer to a question that had plagued him for years: had Angela ever noticed his not so subtle shirtless flirtations? An affirmative answer made his heart; and ego, soar.

"Taking my pants off would have been a novelty," he suggested, a few years too late.

"One I am sure I would have enjoyed, but it would have been inappropriate. You were in pain, I was dating someone else...

Tony interrupted by scoffing, "don't remind me."

Now might not have been a good time to bring that up, she soothed his ego with honesty, "you were doing a great job of making me forget him," she said as she moved closer to him.

"Oh yeah?" he beamed, highly gratified.

"Don't be so smug," she teased, cupping his cheek with her hand.

"Why not?"

She had no answer to that, she drew a little away from him. She'd been a mess that night; very attracted to Tony, but involved with another man, he should be allowed to gloat a little, so she went for a little more honesty, "Tony, I spent most of that night torn between aching to touch you, enjoying touching you; yet knowing I shouldn't be enjoying touching you and feeling like I was taking advantage of you."

"I didn't feel taken advantage of."

Her blush was back again, along with a very big smile.

"In fact, you can 'take advantage' of me like that anytime you want to."

"So it wouldn't be taking advantage of you to take your pants off right now?"

"Angela, no man argues with a woman who takes his pants off...ever."

There was no answer but to laugh in agreement with that truth, and speaking of truth, "Tony, thank you for defusing the awkwardness by sending me away last time; but how much did you want me to stay and did it hurt having to undress yourself?"

'The truth, huh? Of course I wanted you to stay; a lot. The pain would have been easier to bear with you around."

She smiled warmly, but a little sadly, "I'm sorry, I wish..."

"Angela, it was a long time ago; things worked out," he touched her cheek.

Angela leaned in to his hand, never taking her eyes away from his intense gaze. She felt a tenderness in her heart, she loved taking care of this man, and if taking care of him meant taking off his pants, well, she'd just have to do her wifely duty and take off his pants. With that she undid the button on his pants, her smile had turned to a grin; but not as much of a grin as the one on Tony's face. Angela quickly slipped the zipper down, grateful that their relationship had progressed to the point where this was no longer a fantasy but an oft-repeated reality. There was no reason to make this a long, drawn out seduction, to that end Angela gripped the waistbands of both Tony's pants and shorts and pushed down.

Damn, Tony loved a woman who knew what she wanted. There was just one problem here, two actually; well, four really; Tony's shoes and socks were still on. So there stood poor Tony his pants at his feet and not a stitch of clothing on other than those blasted shoes and socks. Angela was close by, wearing nothing but her underwear and feeling very...ready to take the plunge; but feeling a little silly over the predicament she'd just caused her husband. Tony had the situation under control, however, he moved over to the side of the tub, sat down and removed his shoes and socks; flinging all his garments into a pile nearby.

Angela sidled up next to him which made Tony's next move all that much easier. He put one arm around her, the other on her leg and kissed her, sweetly and deeply. He stroked her back for a couple of moments before releasing the hooks which confined her; satin was nice, but naked was better. The lingerie was flung on the crumpled heap of Tony's clothes.

"Tony," she whimpered as she sank into his arms, trying to catch her breath. Tony reveled in the joy of holding his wife in his arms. He indulged in removing Angela's last stitch of clothing by trailing his fingers down her back and slipping his hand in between the soft fabric of her underwear and her skin. She managed to move enough so he could slide what was left of her clothing down her legs, taking his time to fully enjoy said legs, then threw the garment on the pile of clothes that was close to becoming a mountain of clothes.

They took a couple of moments to cuddle, then she kissed him on the cheek and said, "water's getting cold, remember?"

"How could I forget? Oh yeah, distracted by my sexy wife, that's how."

Angela blushed again and dipped her hand into the tub, "guess I was wrong, temperature's just right."

"After you."

"No, you first, so you are in the same position you were in that night."

"You aren't going to stay here sitting on the edge?" He was a little panicked, historical re-creation was great, but they had been changing details all evening and this was another detail that demanded to be changed. He did not want her sitting on the edge as she had sat on the side of the bed all those years ago.

"No," she answered very coyly.

What did she have in mind now? Could she? Would she? She would. He smiled at her and swung around to lower himself into those soothing jets of the tub. He sank in and made himself comfortable leaning against the back. Angela openly gazed at him, leaned in for a kiss, then carefully placed a foot on either side of him and lowered herself into the water. Face to face they sat enjoying the water swirling around them.

"This definitely beats the past," Tony said.

"Agreed," Angela was about to kiss him again when she suddenly gasped and turned to get out of the tub, "Darn..."

"What?" Tony interrupted, alarmed.

"I forget to bring up champagne."

A relieved Tony gently put his hand on her arm to nudge her back to her previous place, "Angela, some other night; 'k?" He really didn't want anything to break this spell; not even champagne.

She grinned, pleased at the thought of another night like this, "all right. So, where does it hurt?" she asked, her eyes twinkling.

"Absolutely nowhere," and it was the truth.

Angela laughed; a low, throaty laugh that made Tony want to forget this whole tub ritual and take her to bed immediately. Or better yet, forget the bed completely; right here, right now would work just fine. But one look in his wife's eyes and he persuaded himself to prolong the evening's activities. Angela's eyes sparkled with love tonight, she was anticipating the opportunity to caress him and he wouldn't take that away from her for anything, so he settled back and rested his arms on the sides of the tub.

"If I remember properly, your shoulder was the first...area to be healed." Like she had forgotten any second of this.

"Good memory." Both Angela's ability to recall and the instance itself.

There was no need for any first aid cream this time around, they were free from pretense. Angela was able to explore the warmth of his skin to her heart's desire, and her heart did desire. She placed her hand on the edge of his shoulder, not needing to limit herself to only her fingertips this time, and slowly drew her hand across the expanse of his collarbone to his neck. She lingered there a few moments, even giving him a little kiss, before tracing her path back to the edge. Then she licked her lips and covered uncharted territory from that night; she felt her way down the full length of his arm, delighting in every outline of every muscle along the way.

"Yup, most definitely better than that night," Tony noted.

"Agreed," she leaned in to kiss him; another improvement on the past, one which they indulged in until they needed to catch their breath.

"Oh, this poor neglected shoulder," Angela pouted, then proceeded to make sure it was no longer neglected, she ran her fingers through Tony's hair, down the back of his neck and over the distance of his shoulder. Joyfully she explored every hard lined definition of his biceps, triceps and whatever other muscles he had hiding in there, she didn't care what they were called, just that they were hers to enjoy. She took her time, stroking and kissing, lavishing him with all the love she ached to give to him for years.

Not being injured tonight, Tony wasn't go to sit passively by while Angela had all the fun. After all, he did have one free hand, which he promptly moved to her waist and slowly stroked her. This drew her attention away from his arm. She looked at him and smiled, "this is so much better than the past." She drew closer for another kiss and Tony dropped his arm off the side of the tub and held her close.

They touched forehead to forehead after the kiss, taking a moment to pause. Angela slid down to cuddle up, keeping one hand fondling his shoulder as rested her head on the other.

After a minute or two of luxuriating in the bubbles, Tony let out a rueful laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Another memory about that night."

"You'd like to see me in my candy striper outfit?"

"No; well, yes; but that's not what I was going to say."

"Oh?" This was a surprise, she'd have bet anything he was having fantasies about her in something short.

"Just before she left for the night Mona told me to make up more aches and pains."

Now it was Angela's turn to laugh ruefully, she pulled away from her comfy spot to say, "sounds like her. Damn her ability to see right through us. In the kitchen she asked me how much we enjoyed playing doctor."

Tony laughed long and hard at that one, "she always did have our number."

"I'll get her for that."

"How?"

"No idea."

"How about we get back to playing doctor?"

She smiled in agreement, placing both her hands on his chest and gently caressing up and down a few times, "does it hurt here?"

"If it did, it sure doesn't anymore."

Angela stopped long enough to change her pattern to a circular one, "does it hurt here?" Something in her eyes told him he'd better answer 'yes' or else.

"Yes," he complied.

"Then I'll have to kiss it and make it all better, won't I?"

"Well, if you feel that's the best medicine."

"Oh, I do," then she proceeded to administer her medicine; making her way down his sternum and all across his chest, slowly, deliberately, anointing every inch of his not so bruised body with her kiss.

If every hospital visit could be like this, Tony would check in permanently.

Her prescription completed, Angela looked up at her husband to ask, "feel better?"

"Uh huh," was all he could manage.

"Oh, you poor thing, you look flushed, let me take you temperature." She sat up a little to kiss his forehead; a soft kiss at each temple, then one in the middle, "oh dear, you do feel a little feverish."

"A lot feverish would be a better description," he said as he moved forward to set about kissing her to make her feel better. Angela was only vaguely aware that it was even possible for her to feel any better than she did at the moment; but with Tony taking care of her, it was. She continued to comfort him with her own personal style of tender loving care, although this comforting did more to incite Tony than soothe him. All medicines have side effects and this was one neither minded in the least.

They made the most of their re-creation, taking the chance to give themselves a better story with a far less frustrating ending. It has been said that laughter is the best medicine; but not for Tony and Angela. They would forever be adherents to the philosophy of 'kiss it and make it better," and were willing participants in testing this philosophy whenever they could.