Another Monday Morning January 6, 1992

Somehow, and Mona was never really sure how; Tony and Angela were not only able to drag themselves out of bed the day after they returned from their honeymoon; they were able to part for the day without sounding like Romeo and Juliet. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but she couldn't give it too much thought, as Business Angela returned on the train to work. She lined up the agenda for the day, made a list of phone calls to make; heaven only knows what else, Mona stopped paying attention ten minutes out of Fairfield.

They walked in to the office, Angela expected to see people in the lobby, but there was no one there. She called out, but no one answered. There had to be someone there, the door was unlocked. Not too terribly worried about this minor mystery, Angela walked into her office to drop off her coat and briefcase. Mona settled in to her desk; she knew where everyone was, but she wasn't letting Angela in on the secret.

Ten minutes before the Monday Meeting was set to start, Angela left her office and hurried Mona along. Being late to her own meeting would be bad form in itself; being late to a meeting the first day back after her honeymoon would provide the staff with ample gossip to tease her with, and she did not want to give them anything to tease her with. She looked at her watch, if her staff members didn't show up soon; any thoughts of teasing they might have would be obliterated by the lecture on tardiness she would give them, this was a professional office, lateness would not be tolerated.

Angela opened the door to the meeting room, Mona tagging along behind her, grinning from ear to ear, although Angela didn't see it. Seated around the table, being very quiet, was her staff, looking as though they had been sitting there patiently for a while, which they had. The table had a beautiful breakfast spread on it; fruits, bagels and she even thought she saw a cake. Angela gasped when she the people and the food.

All sitting prim and proper in their seats, the staff chorused, "good morning, Mrs. Micelli."

She should be mad at them for tricking her into thinking they weren't there and for greeting her like she was their school marm; but she was too happy, she couldn't keep the smile off her face as she sat down at the head of the table, her eyes giddy with the happiness of a newlywed.

"Good morning, everyone," Mrs. Micelli answered, her grin now ear to ear.

"So, how was Florida, Mrs. Micelli?" Jack asked. Everyone wanted details, they knew they weren't going to get them, but it was worth a chance.

"I've been trying to get that question answered since...yesterday afternoon," Mona said.

This wasn't good, if they kept calling her, "Mrs. Micelli," Angela wasn't going to be able to concentrate on her work at all today. As much as it pained her, she had to put a stop to this and concentrate; a short, perfunctory answer would have to serve as the final word regarding the trip. "Florida was fine; no great, no, I mean it was...very nice," she blushed. Perhaps Angela's thoughts weren't as focused on work as she would have liked.

"You went from 'great' to 'very nice'? Better not let Tony hear about that," Mona jabbed as she was the only one who could get away with it.

"I only meant that Florida...was...Florida. Sunny, beachy, warm..." she was drifting away again, lost in sweet, sweet memories.

"Hot might be a better word," Mona zinged. The rest of the staff nodded in agreement.

It was time to remind everyone who was boss around here, "we have business to attend to," Angela said, hoping everyone would follow her lead. It was an ignored hope, everyone could tell Angela's mind still wasn't completely on work.

"Oh, business; you do remember what that is, I was beginning to wonder," Mona said.

Angela crossed her arms at her mother's irony, "are you done?"

"I think so."

"Good."

Jack stepped in before Angela and Mona devolved into pettiness, he picked up a champagne glass and handed it to Angela. Angela quickly noted the difference in stemware, normal Monday Meetings were not conducted with Mimosas. Depending on how today's meeting went, that could change. Jack raised his glass and said, "Angela, we are all very happy for you and Tony," the rest of the staff picked up their glasses in concurrence with his words, "we know you two have waited years to be together; congratulations." The rest of the staff added in their congratulations, but Angela was in a bit of a daze as the glasses clinked together around the table. Had her relationship with Tony been that obvious to everyone else for that long? And if so, how had she and Tony missed it?

Thoughts of Tony only reminded her that she missed him. Although Angela was delighted by this surprise celebration, there was a small sadness, "Tony should be here," she muttered, mostly to herself.

"Ha! About time you admitted to pining for him," obviously not enough to herself for Mona to miss it.

"I am not pining," Angela was back from her musing, "this is a celebration for him too. How did your detailed planning overlook his attendance here?"

"I didn't overlook it, Angela. I made a choice for you that you never knew about. To put it bluntly, Tony could either be here; or he could have spent more time alone with you in your room this morning.

"Mother."

"You're married Angela, remember? There's no scandal involved."

"That's not the point." The point was keeping the bedroom out of the boardroom, but the conversation was long past that.

"So, did I make the correct choice? I will also point out that we would have had to come up with some plausible reason to get him out of the house this morning; and not even a roomful of advertising people could come up with one."

Reluctantly, because she had to once again admit that her mother was correct, Angela answered, "I won't say you didn't make the wrong choice." Evasive, confirming nothing; the perfect answer for an ad exec to give. Before anyone could ask for clarification, Angela changed the subject; sort of.

She addressed her staff, "as I am sure you are aware," she looked at her mother, then back around the table, "there will be a reception on the 25th of this month." Everyone nodded in acknowledgment, "previous to the reception," Angela's grin was returning, "you are invited to a wedding at the house."

"Another wedding? Who's getting married now?" Jack wondered.

"Mona, are you hiding something from us?" Todd asked. Had Tony and Angela's wedding inspired Mona to give up her bachelorette lifestyle? The thought alone was staggering in its absurdity.

Mona feigned disgust, "the lovebirds wish to renew their vows." Secretly, she loved the idea.

"So soon?" One of Angela's youngest employees, Lisa, said.

"Don't people usually wait a little longer for something like that?" Steve questioned.

"Since when have Tony and Angela been like most people?" Mona said. Assents of agreement pealed in the room.

"Could we stop talking about me like I'm not here, please?" That shut everyone up. "Tony and I are going to have a second wedding so our friends can be there."

"That's a good idea, Angela; I'm looking forward to it," Lisa said sincerely. There were others in the room who could have said the same thing and it would have been nothing but kissing up to the boss; but Lisa was free from such cynicism.

"Thank you, Lisa; we're looking forward to it too."

"Of course you are, you can indulge in marital bliss all over again."

"Mother," Angela glared at her; but her only response was to innocently bat her eyes at her daughter.

Angela took control of the meeting, "It's Monday, we have work to do; Jack, what's the status of the McConnell account?"

The party took a back seat to work, but the new aura surrounding Angela stayed with her from that day forward. Her happiness made the office happier, which in turn made it more productive. Angela's marriage was producing benefits she could not have foreseen; and if she had, she would have made the transition from best friends to spouses much sooner, for reasons that had nothing to do with business.

The morning ticked away, Angela spent it catching up with clients and going over the work that had been done in her absence. Mona was almost being diligent, she was at least seated behind her desk. She looked up as someone entered the office; she should have been surprised to see him, but she wasn't, "Tony. Ha, I knew it. Angela tried to cover, but I knew she was still in a newlywed haze this morning. What did she forget?"

"Nothing. I'm here to take a certain someone out to lunch."

"Great, I'd love to go!"

"Funny."

Teasing her son-in-law was almost as fun as teasing her daughter; but not quite. Teasing her daughter was about to become even more fun as Angela opened her office door almost as though she could sense Tony's presence in the outer office. She was carrying some artwork to show her mother, but dropped it on the desk and lit up at the sight of him, "Tony? What are you doing here?" she asked with a huge smile.

Mona drank in every nuance of this interaction; especially the obvious fact that they both wanted nothing more than to run to each other's arms, but wouldn't because she was there. She wasn't going to let the moment pass without comment, "it's been almost five whole hours since you two have seen each other, how have you survived?"

Angela dragged her attention away from Tony long enough to give her mother a withering look; which she blithely ignored.

Tony intervened, "thought I'd drop by and take you out to lunch."

Lunch, she definitely had time for lunch; after all, she did have to eat, "sounds delicious, where are we going?"

He took a step closer to her and put his arm around her, "I was thinking room service at the agency suite." Blushing Angela returned. Obviously the man had more on his mind than lunch, and the thought thrilled Angela to her toes, but she was hesitant. Today was her first day back at her agency, and there was so much work to do.

"I'd call that misappropriation of agency assets, but in would be in contradiction to everything I hold dear; and it's the best use for the suite; ever. Stay where you are, Angela," like she had any intention of moving, "I'll get your purse and coat." Angela's objections to leaving went unexpressed. Little did Angela know that her mother would use the private time in her office to buzz Jack and tell him that Tony and Angela were in the lobby acting as newlyweds were wont to act. Jack gathered the troops and found that Mona was indeed correct, Tony and Angela were kissing, oblivious to the rest of the world. Until the rest of the world starting clapping, that is.

Mona stood near the door to Angela's office, holding the coat and purse; beaming at the staff's reaction, and throwing in her own two cents, "Angela, for future reference, remember you do have a private office; use it."

"I should have known mother had an ulterior motive," Angela whispered ruefully to her husband. She tried to make the transition back from wife to Agency President, but as she couldn't make herself leave her husband's arms, she didn't quite succeed. It didn't matter, the staff respected her and they were now able to share in her joy as well. Angela turned her head toward the peanut gallery, trying to be stern, but she couldn't keep the joy off her face. She did address her mother, "someday, when you least expect it, there will be payback for that little stunt."

Mona put her hand over her heart and wide eyed mouthed, "moi?" Angela shook her head in response.

Jack broke the tension, "Tony, we expressed our congratulations to Angela earlier and now we'd like to extend them to you too." The rest of the staff peppered in their congratulations as well.

"Thanks everyone, I'm the luckiest guy on the planet," he hugged his wife a little more tightly.

"You'll be even luckier once you get out of here," Mona walked over to them and tried to put Angela's coat on her, which certainly didn't work as Tony's arms were still around her. Angela turned to raise her eyebrows at her mother while Tony took hold of the coat. Reluctantly, Angela stepped away from her husband and he placed the coat on her. She flipped her hair out and took her purse from her mother's outstretched hand.

"Bye," Mona said succinctly.

"I can't go, I have so much work to do," a paper tiger argument as she was halfway to the door physically and already in the hotel room mentally.

"Angela, I will bring your briefcase home stuffed to the brim. Tony and I both promise we will let you hole up in your office and work for as long as your little heart desires tonight," her mother bargained.

Angela looked at her husband, he nodded in response.

"Bye Tony, bye Angela; we'll see you tomorrow," Jack tried to verbally push them out the door.

"You sure you'll be ok?"

"We can hold down the fort for another afternoon; plus we have all the work to do that we agreed on in this morning's meeting. Go," Jack reiterated.

"Angela, trust the people you hired to work for you. You're very good at picking the right person for the job," Tony pointed out.

Angela managed to contain her laughter at that remark to her eyes; she put her arm around her husband and her head on his shoulder. She waved goodbye to her staff, who were relieved to see them go as now they could let go of the laughter they had to bite their cheeks to hold in.

"She sure filled that husband position well," it had to be said, and Lisa didn't let the remark go unsaid.

"Thank you," Mona wasn't going to let her own contribution in that hire be ignored.

"I feel like we should be throwing rice," Lisa said.

"If I had known Tony was going to stop by today, I'd have stocked up on it," Mona answered.

"You think we'll ever get her back full-time?" Jack asked.

"Part of me wishes no; but Angela wouldn't be Angela if she didn't have work to throw herself into. She'll be back, sometime. Not too soon, I hope." Mona said, "for now, it's up to the rest of us to pick up the slack," she shuddered at the very thought.

The staff agreed and everyone went back to work; but even though it was Monday, somehow the day seemed like a Friday due to the bliss the newlyweds left behind.