A/N I don't own anything here. Not the show, not its character nor the lyrics of songs I've used. I just appreciate it all! Here is chapter 2 to enjoy.
After they finish their dinner Billy comes up to Angela. "Did you like what we made?"
"It was terrific sweetheart." Angela smiles. "Did you also make dessert?"
"No we bought that." Billy smiles. "Tony said to get your favourite flavour. Something with butter, sounds yucky.. butter ice cream." Everyone starts laughing.
"Butter brickle?" Angela smiles. "That is my favourite flavour."
Tony and Billy serve the ice cream and everyone starts eating and chatting.
"Mom? Is it okay if I go to Steven's after dinner?" Jonathan asks. "We have this project we need to finish."
"In your Christmas break?" Angela asks surprised.
"Yeah.. we kinda waited too long to start. Needs to be handed in just after this vacation." Jonathan turns red.
"Jonathan!" Angela is both disappointed and surprised at her son's behaviour. "I am not used to you slacking off. Why?" Jonathan looks at his bowl.
"I'm sorry mom, you know I usually don't. I don't even know why. It just sorta happened." He slowly looks up at her. "But I think we can get most of it done tonight." He says hopeful. Angela's face softens.
"Okay, you go to Steven's and do your homework." She smiles.
"Angela?" Tony interrupts.
"Yes Tony?" She looks at him.
"Maybe Jonathan can stay the night at Steven's so they can finish the project. We have that thing tomorrow, remember?"
"What thing?" Jonathan and Mona say in unison.
"Yeah what thing?" Angela is surprised as well.
"An-ge-la! You forgot already?" He asks as he slowly nods towards Billy.
"Oh that thing!" Her face turns sad. "You're right. Jonathan, would it be okay with you?"
"It might, if I know what that thing is?" He challenges his mother.
"I will tell you later, okay honey?" Jonathan sees the hint of sadness in his mother's eyes.
"Okay mom. I will call Steven and ask if it's okay and then pack." He gets up and kisses his mom's cheek. "Is it about Billy?" He whispers in her ear. She slowly nods and he knows not to press the matter. He disappears behind the door.
"I am going "to get ready to go out." Mona gets up. "Good night dear, good night Tone and good night Bub."
"It's Billy!" Billy complains. Mona rolls her eyes and off she goes.
"It's okay buddy." Tony says while cleaning the table. "That's Mona." Angela just chuckles, knowing Tony is absolutely right as she gets up and starts helping. "You don't have to help, it's my job, remember." Tony smiles, but seeing the hurt look in her eyes he stops. "I didn't mean it like that." He apologises.
~You never do.~ She painfully thinks. ~And yet you seem to always hurt me. Unknowingly.~ She takes the bowls to the kitchen. Tony watches her leave.
~Great Tony! Putting your foot in your mouth.. AGAIN!~ he scolds himself. "Hey buddy, can you go upstairs and get ready for bed? Angela and I will be right up okay?"
"Okay Tony." Billy walks towards the door. "Tony?"
"What is it buddy?"
"What is that thing Angela and you were talking about?"
"I will tell you later, when you're ready to go to bed. So go upstairs and get ready. Okay?" Tony finally knows how to handle the little guy.
"Okay. See you soon." He dashes off.
Tony walks into the kitchen balancing the remaining bowls on his arms. He places the bowls in the sink as he watches Angela rinse and then place the bowls in the dishwasher.
Angela is talking to Jonathan and kisses his cheek. "Call me tomorrow okay?"
"Will do! Bye mom. Bye Tony!" He dashes out of the door.
"Bye.." Tony can hardly say because Jonathan is already out of the door.
Angela turns to the sink to finish rinsing the bowls.
"Angela.. I didn't mean…" Tony starts.
"I think we need to tell Billy he is going to his grandmother tomorrow. We cannot save that to tomorrow. He needs to know where he'll be at New Year's Eve."
"Ange.. please. Talk to me." Tony pleads.
"I am. I am talking about that sweet little boy, who we will have to miss on Monday." She still keeps busying herself with the bowls. Tony grabs her wrist.
"Please talk to me." He pulls her closer to him.
"You said what you said. This is your job, that's all it is to you." She tries to pull her wrist away. He holds on to her.
"You know that's not what I meant. You know that this is more than just a job to me. I love it here. I love our family. I love.." He stops talking. Angela looks at him, awaiting his answer. "it here. More than I can ever express in words." Angela looks at him and then looks at his hand on her wrist. He loosens his grip on her wrist.
"Maybe we should go up to Billy and tell him the news of his grandmother." She gives him a sad smile.
Tony closes the small distance between them, his nose nearly touching hers. "I am so sorry for hurting you Angela." He looks her directly in her eyes. It takes all his strength not to lean in and kiss her. Angela looks into his beautiful brown eyes, squeezing the dishcloth in her hands to prevent her hands from cupping his face. She breaks the eye contact.
"Thanks Tony." She makes eye contact again, her eyes warm. "Let's just tell Billy about his grandmother, okay?"
"Okay." Tony says before leaning in and hugs her. Angela keeps her arms to her sides. "I am really sorry."
"I know you are." She steps back and walks towards the swinging door, stopping just before going through it. "Are you coming? We need to tell our.. Billy now. We can't wait." Her mishap doesn't go unnoticed by either of them.
"Let's do this." He walks up to the door and holds it for her to walk past. He can't help but look at his backside when she passes him. ~I wonder how she would feel underneath my hand.~ He smirks at his own thoughts.
Angela waits at the foot of the stairs for Tony to join her. He feels heavy in his heart.
"Are ready for this Tony?" She softly asks.
"Yeah.. yeah.." he gives her a sad look. "I am just afraid this will be the beginning of the end."
Angela automatically holds her hand out to him. He looks at her hand and then takes it. "We will be fine." She says with such confidence.
~What does she mean by that? This situation with Billy will be fine? Or she and I will be fine? I wish we could just talk about it all.~ he sighs as he feels Angela squeeze his hand, he looks up at her. Her brown eyes filled with kindness and warmth. ~Shit I really screwed this up. She is probably think I am worrying about Billy.. which I am.. but also.. her.. me.. US. I want us back. But I'm the one who let us fall apart.~ His mind is racing as he lets her pull him up the stairs. When the reach the top of the stairs she squeezes his hand again and smiles. ~I love you Angela. I am so sorry I've hurt you, so sorry.~ Is all he can think.
"We will miss Billy on New Year's Eve, Tony. But at least Jonathan and Samantha will be with us, right?" She squeezes his hand one last time before releasing it.
"Right." He smiles at her.
"Can we come in sweetheart?" Angela softly knocks on the ajar door. "Are you ready for bed?"
"Yes!" Billy is sitting on his bed, his pyjamas on and a book in his hands. "Will you both read to me?"
Angela sits beside Billy on the bed and caresses his head. "I think Tony and I would love to!" Tickling his side. "But before that.. Tony and I have something to tell you. Okay?" Tony plumps down at the foot of his bed.
"Yeah buddy. We've got some exciting news!" Tony sounds excited.
"Yeah? What is it?" Billy looks from Tony to Angela with a wide grin. Angela's heart melts at his big brown eyes and his enchanting grin. She pulls him on her lap.
"Well sweetheart your grandmother called toady." Angela starts, looking at Tony to take over the conversation. He looks at her, his eyes pleading with her, but she wasn't having it. "Tony spoke with her. She is doing really well."
"Really?" His smile widened as he gives Tony a hopeful look. Angela cocked her head and then nods to him to start talking. Tony moves closer to them.
"Yeah buddy!" Tony pats Billy's knee. "Listen.. Mrs. .. I mean your grandmother called to ask if you could spend New Year's Eve with her in the big City. She is feeling much better and she has been missing you a lot." Billy's smile is so genuinely pure that he smiles back. "So Angela and I are taking you to New York tomorrow."
"Really? I get to see Nonna again?" Billy asks.
"She wants both of us to bring him?" Angela asks in surprise. "I still have so much work to do before the new year starts. But now it does make more sense to me you wanted Jonathan to stay over at Steven's." Angela laughs.
"Mrs. Napoli insisted. But if you're too busy, I will tell her." The fear in his eyes doesn't go unnoticed.
"It's okay, I will go with you." Angela sees the relief in his eyes. "And maybe we can drive by Jack's too. I foolishly forgot one file, I asked Jack to give it a once over. I thought he gave it back. But I checked before dinner and saw I didn't have it. I phoned Jack and he took it home. I asked if I could pick it up on Monday. But tomorrow will be better."
"But what do you think about it Billy?" Tony smiles at him.
"Yeah! I really want to see Nonna again. I have been missing her." He looks sad but quickly smiles. "I can't wait to hug her again. I hope she makes her cannoli for New Year's Eve!"
"Oh yeah!" Tony gins. "She is known for her cannoli! You'd love it Angela." Tony has a big smile on his face.
"Can we read now?" Billy holds up his book.
"Cat in the Hat." Angela smiles and takes the book. "I will start." As she pulls Billy closer. "The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house. All that cold, cold, wet day."
Billy pats the other side of the bed for Tony to take. "Tony's turn!" He says as Angela hands him the book. Tony takes the book and starts reading.
"I sat there with Sally. We sat there, we two. And I said, "How I wish we had something to do!" Too wet to go out and too cold to play ball. So we sat in the house, we did nothing at all." Then he holds the book for them to read together. "So all we could do was to Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! And we did not like it. Not one little bit." They said in unison. They alternated reading page for page, sometimes reading together." Before they reach the end Billy is fast asleep between them.
Angela looks at him and caresses his hair. "Our handsome, little boy." She absentmindedly says. Tony looks at her in awe. She realises what she has just said and slowly looks up at Tony. The look in his eyes freezes her in her spot, she feels the little light deep inside her soul spark. It was the spark of light she thought was put out months ago. All she can do is give a small smile and nod at the bedroom door. Tony nods in confirmation and softly gets off the bed. Angela follows his lead. After leaving the bedroom, Tony softly closes the door. Angela makes her way to the stairs.
"I'll be in my office, I will call Jack if we can drive by tomorrow." Angela whispers before going down the stairs.
Tony stares at where she left, sighs and smiles. ~I will win you back Angela. I heard what you said and I saw that spark in your eyes.~ He picks up the empty basket and walks to her bedroom to get the clothes from her hamper, then takes the clothes from his hamper, also grabbing Billy's discarded clothes and lastly a quick look in Jonathan's hamper.
Angela hangs up her phone and stretches her back, content with Jack's answer and willingness. She squeezes the bridge of her nose. She looks at the clock in her office. ~Only 8:30pm on a Friday night. I would love for us to have another movie night. But we haven't had one since..~ Angela shivers. ~Kathleen. Somehow those evening went on the backburner.~ Angela shakes her head, trying to get Kathleen out of her head. ~I miss my best friend. How do I get over this.. I want my best friend back.~ she plays with the pen in her hands. ~Maybe we can just get our friendship back to what it used to be. I will be content with at least his friendship.~ She smiles at her own thoughts, determined to make their friendship work. She gets up from behind her desk and walks back to the living room. Tony is on the couch folding laundry from the dryer. She plops down next to him.
"Care for a movie?" She nudges his shoulder with hers while grabbing the TV guide.
"You want to watch a movie?" He says in surprise. "With me?" Angela nods.
"I'll get the drinks.. maybe you can make your popcorn?" Her eyes pleading with his. She sees the hesitation in his eyes. "Of course you don't have to, if you don't want to." She backpaddles.
"What makes you think I don't want to?" He smiles. "I'd love to watch a movie with you. I was just surprised by your question, we haven't watched a movie together in a while." He folds the last sheet. "I will make the popcorn, you get the cookies and drinks." He quickly puts the laundry basket on the chair near the front door and goes into the kitchen. Angela follows his lead.
"I saw Casablanca is on." Automatically her voice drops an octave. Tony freezes in his spot.
"Yeah?" Is all he can reply.
"Yeah. Would you like to watch that? Or do you want to watch a movie on one of the video tapes we have?" She grabs the container of chocolate chip cookies Tony had baked and moves towards the fridge for their drinks.
"No, no Casablanca is fine. I mean who can resist Ingrid, right?" The flirty tone of voice didn't go unnoticed to either of them. Angela side-eyes him before opening the fridge.
~This could become dangerous territory.~ She thinks. ~What the hell!~ "Well, to be honest, Ingrid is a very attractive woman, don't you agree?" Again her voice drops an octave at the last part.
~What are you doing Angela?~ He still doesn't look around, keeping his eyes on the popcorn. "Well I've known a few attractive Ingrid's in my life." He says without thinking. Angela feels her cheeks turn red and quickly makes her way to the swinging door.
"I will turn on the TV." She says before exiting.
~Shit! I went to far with that last remark! But just for a moment we were back to our old selves, our old banter. We will get there. I know it. We will get our friendship back. I know she will not give her heart to me again, but I will settle for friendship, being her best friend.~ He finishes making the popcorn and goes into the living room.
Angela has snuggled into the corner of the couch with a blanket over her pulled-up legs, smiling to greet him as he walks in. She sits up and opens the blanket to offer him the other half. He sits down as she drops the blanket on his lap. He balances the popcorn on his knees, she leans in and grabs a hand.
"I'm sorry I think we missed the first.. I think.. 20 minutes of the movie. Hope you don't mind." She says while looking at the screen. Tony just watches her for a second, the light from the TV casting lights and shadows on her face. ~God she is gorgeous. Her face is so relaxed. I haven't seen her this relaxed since.. well...~ he shakes his head and turns his attention to the TV.
After 30 minutes Angela stretches her legs, Tony automatically makes room for her legs on his lap. Without thinking she puts them there, this time she watches him. His crooked nose and roughed features. ~He is so handsome.~ Unknowingly she bites her lip. ~But he has shown me he has absolutely no interest in starting a relationship with me. He is my best friend and I don't want to lose my best friend.~ Tony put the popcorn in her lap, for a second they look at each other and smile awkwardly before they both turn their attention back to the TV.
Angela has seen this movie countless times and knows it will be another 20 minutes before it ends. She takes the empty bowl and places it on the coffee table, Tony holds on to her legs. He slowly moves his hands to her feet and starts massaging them. She can't help but slowly throw her head back as a small moan escapes her mouth. "You give the best massages." She slowly moves her head and looks at him. She notices the small smirk on his face. She softly kicks his thigh.
"Don't get cocky Micelli!"
"Ay oh.. oh ay.. who's getting cocky here?" The smirk grows.
"Ha!" she throws her head back. "Keep telling yourself that."
"You don't like the massage?" He side-eyes her a moment.
"You know I love the foot rubs, you always find the right spots on my feet." She gave him a shocked look but then smiled. "You know what I mean." She leans over to grab her drink.
Tony smiles as he watches her lean over. He can't help but admire her lean body. ~Why did I ever sleep with Kathleen?~ When he had her at home. He knew she wanted him. She had shown him in Jamaica. He thinks back to that bench in Jamaica. He remembers what she said after he told her 'I think we both know where this is leading to.', her pure and honest answer 'Yeah, what's your point?' She couldn't be more clear then that. And after his speech, she gave him the perfect response, she understood. ~I want to be honourable with her, no I need to be honourable with her. She needs to be treated like the lady she is. Not some cheap one-night-stand. And now I've made her wait too long. Foolishly messing around with Kathleen..~
"Tony?" Angela snaps her fingers in front of his face. "You still with me?" She had withdrawn her feet from his legs.
"Yeah, still here." He smiles.
"Really? You were about to miss the ending." She nods to the TV. They both watch the ending in a comfortable silence. A comfortable silence they hadn't experienced in a while.
They turn off the TV and clean the living room before making their way upstairs. Tony walks her to her bedroom door.
"Good night, Angela."
"Good night, Tony. Thank you for making the popcorn for our family night."
"Thank you for offering to watch a movie, it's been a while and I really enjoyed us doing this again." He looks her straight in her eye.
"I enjoyed it too." She keeps the eye contact and smiles.
He leans in and quickly pecks her cheek. "Sweet dreams." Before she can respond, he dashes to his own bedroom.
She touches her cheek where he has just kissed her, softly shakes her head, smiles and turns to her bedroom. When she closes the door, she leans into it. ~What was that?~ She touches her cheek again, it feels like her cheek is burning. ~I am reading way too much into this.~ She makes her way to her bathroom to get ready for bed.
Saturday, December 29th, 1990
Angela makes her way down, she hears Tony and Billy singing in the kitchen. "C' 'na luna mezz'u mare
Mamma mia m'a maritare.." Their happy singing puts a smile on her face.
"Good morning men!" She happily says.
"Mornin' Angela!" They say in unison.
"You want some pancakes? Billy and I worked really hard!" Tony smiles trying to convince her.
"No thank you. Just.."
"Juice and Coffee?" He finishes as she sits down near a glass of juice and he puts a cup of coffee next to it. "There is milk on the table."
Angela nods. "Thank you."
Billy sits down next to her. "Are you sure Angela? I really tried hard."
Angela smiles and then caresses his head. "I'm sure sweetheart, my stomach doesn't want solid food in the morning. But I might eat one later today, okay?"
"Okay, but you don't know what you're missing." Billy chows down on his pancakes.
Tony sits opposite of Angela and starts eating his pancakes. Angela looks from Billy to Tony and back to Billy. ~He really does look so much like Tony.~ She downs her cup of coffee and then sips her juice.
The phone rings, Tony is about to get up, Angela holds up her hand. "That'll be Jonathan, I asked him to call me." She gets up and answers the phone. She has a little chat, then hangs up the phone.
"Jonathan will be home just before dinner." She states and Tony nods.
"Samantha will also be here for dinner tonight. Shall we get Chinese?"
"Yes that will be better after coming back from the city. I told Jack we'd be at his place around 2. I hope that's okay?"
"Of course we can make that work." Tony nods.
An hour later Billy snuggles up in the back of Tony's Jeep. Angela takes her place on the passenger's seat. Tony locks up the back door, gets in the car and starts it.
Billy starts ranting, asking to play 'I spy' Angela and Tony give in to him. After 20 minutes everyone is done with the game.
"Let's just turn the radio on for a bit, okay buddy?" Tony turns on the radio as he watches Billy shrug in the rear view mirror.
The sweet tunes of Whitney Houston fill the car.
Angela start listening to some of the lyrics.
% I know it's been some time
But there's something on my mind
You see, I haven't been the same
Since that cold November day
We said we needed space
But all we found was an empty place
And the only things I learned
Is that I need you desperately
So here I am
And can you please tell me, oh
Where do broken hearts go?
Can they find their way home
Back to the open arms
Of a love that's waiting there?
And if somebody loves you
Won't they always love you?
I look in your eyes
And I know that you still care, for me (ooh, baby)%
She looks outside, trying to supress the tears she feels well.
% I've been around enough to know
That dreams don't turn to gold
And that there is no easy way
No, you just can't run away
And what we had was so much more
Than we ever had before
And no matter how I try
You're always on my mind
So here I am
And can you please tell me, oh
Where do broken hearts go?
Can they find their way home
Back to the open arms
Of a love that's waiting there?
And if somebody loves you
Won't they always love you?
I look in your eyes
And I know that you still care for me %
A tear escapes her eyes. It feels like Whitney has written this song just for her. For how she feels.
Tony side-eyes her, he sees her wipe her tears. His heart aching, knowing he is the reason for her tears. Angela is still facing away from him. He wonders if he should place his hand over hers, but decides against it with Billy being in the back.
"Isn't there any happier music on the radio?" Billy complains from the back. "Didn't Sam leave her Bon Jovi tape in the Jeep?"
Tony notices the tape and pushes it in. 'Livin' on a Prayer' starts and Billly starts rocking away with the tunes that are now coming through the speakers. Angela feels a sense of relief that both the music and the boy are distracting her from her thoughts.