"Hello Mona." Kathleen smiled. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Thank you." Mona replied back.

"Mrs Montgomery! How nice it is to see you! And how are those beautiful children of yours?" Mr Simpson asked.

Kathleen grinned. "They're wonderful. Thank you for asking."

"Please tell Henry that.."

"Excuse me! What the hell is this some kind of social gathering?! May I remind you all that I am drenched in coffee?!" Joanne whined.

"At least it's not iced tea." Claire smirked.

"Oh come on Joanne the color brings out your eyes." Mona said, smiling sweetly.

Joanne glared at them and turned her attention to Mr. Simpson.

"Oh Mrs. Parker, please allow us to provide you with a change of clothes." He noticed another waitress walking by.

"Barbara?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Would you please take Mrs. Parker here and get her a change of clothes?"

"Of course." She turned towards Joanne. "If you would please follow me."

Joanne huffed and rolled her eyes but followed behind her.

After a few minutes Joanne came back wearing a top that the waitresses wore. She was carrying a plastic bag which held her soiled blouse. Mona and Claire burst out laughing when they saw her.

"Joanne, that is a lovely look for you."

"Shut up!" She turned to Mr. Simpson. "So?! Aren't you going to do anything about this?!"

"Yes. I will pay for the cleaning bill and your meals are on the house."

"That sounds good to me!" Diane said and began eating.

"Me too!" Pam did the same.

"That's all?"

"What else would you like me to do?"

"You can fire this incompetent waitress!"

"There is no reason for her to get fired." Kathleen said.

"I agree." Mona said. Claire echoed Mona's agreement.

"Excuse me! But what the hell do you have to do with this?!" Joanne screeched.

"Well Mrs. Montgomery.."

"Kathleen please." Kathleen smiled.

"Very well. Kathleen claims that the three of you were harassing Renata."

"We were not harassing her. We were just curious about something and all we did was simply ask her." Pam said.

"You did not simply ask her. You berated the poor girl over something completely ridiculous!" Kathleen shot back.

"Oh I get what the problem is. You're jealous!" Diane grinned like the cat who ate the canary.

"I'm what?!"

"You are jealous! You want to be with Tony and he's getting his jollies with this little hussy!" Diane scoffed.

"I am not having an affair with Tony!" Renata cried. "I wouldn't do that to Angela."

"Okay everyone needs to take a step back." Mr. Simpson held up his hand. "First of all I would appreciate it if you didn't call my employee names."

"Fine." Diane grumbled.

"And I happen to be happily married. What Tony and I had is in the past. I'm happy with my husband and he is happy with Angela."

"So you're saying you have never been tempted considering you're working with him at Ridgemont?" Pam inquired, raising one eyebrow.

Mona had to admit it was a good question. When she had found out that Kathleen was Tony's colleague she had nearly fallen over. She had felt a little better when she found out that she was happily married but it still made her uneasy

"Of course not. We are colleagues. No more. No less."

"Well you were also just classmates when you...well you know what you did!" Joanne said.

Kathleen bristled. She was right. But she meant what she said. She was happy with Henry and she was happy that Tony and Angela were together considering how she had almost destroyed things between them. Of course it had never been her intention but that unfortunately what she had almost ended up doing. She still felt a little jolt of shame every once in a while when she thought of the person she had been back then. She had been petty and jealous of Tony and Angela's relationship that it made her do something she never in a million years thought she would do.

It was a few weeks after he had taken her to Le Fleur to spy on Angela and her date. She had been so angry and humiliated she had stalked out of the restaurant without a second glance. She had hailed a taxi and after arriving home had opened a bottle of wine she had been saving for a special occasion. She had already drunk two glasses when her phone rang. She figured it was Tony and let the machine pick up. Sure enough it was him begging her to talk to him. She ignored him for a while and then called him back. After a long talk-mostly her yelling at him- they had patched things up. Of course she should have ended things then and there. It was obvious Tony had feelings for Angela even though he denied it.

She had gone over to Angela's house to spend time with Tony. Angela had been out with-well she couldn't remember his name- Mona and Jonathan were out too and Sam was in New Mexico at her summer job. Her plan had been to seduce Tony in Angela's house with the hope of Angela catching them in the act. It had started out beautifully. They had been sitting on Angela's couch and Tony had been trying to pick out classes to take for the next semester. After a little nudging and flirting she had gotten him to let down his guard. They started making out and she was about to suggest they take things upstairs but at that moment Angela came home and ruined everything. Of course looking back now she knew Tony would have never in a million years taken her up to his bedroom. She still couldn't believe how she had acted and felt back then. Which was why when she overheard Joanne, Pam, and Diane accusing Renata of having an affair with Tony she knew it had to be false. So she had marched right over to say her piece.

"Okay you are right. Tony and I were once together. But we are not anymore. What we had is over and done with. "

"And I think this whole conservation should be over and done with. " Mona said.

"Wait just a damn minute…." Joanne protested but Mona cut her off.

"Joanne for the last time there is nothing going on between Tony and Renata. You are seeing things that aren't there."

"I… UGH! That's it I am leaving!" She turned towards Pam and Diane. "Well? Are you coming or not?!"

"I'll be along just as soon as I finish my dinner." Pam told her.

"Same here." Diane said.

Joanne growled and stalked out.

"Well I'm glad we all drove separately." Pam said.

"Okay, well that's taken care of." Mr. Simpson stated. "Renata, why don't you take the rest of the night off?"

Renata wiped her eyes with her hands. "Okay."

He nodded at them and left. Mona motioned Claire, Renata, and Kathleen to follow her. They sat down at a table well away from Pam and Diane.

"Okay first of all I want to thank you Kathleen for saying what you did."

"You're welcome. Believe me when I overheard what they were accusing Renata of.." she shook her head.

"Yeah, I know. And Renata I don't think you should be alone tonight. So why don't I bring you home with me?"

"Oh Mrs. Robinson I can't let you do that."

Mona reached over and took her hand. "It's Mona and I insist."

Renata nodded. "Okay. Thank you Mona."

"Oh Henry is here. Will you please excuse me?" Kathleen asked getting up.

"Of course. Have a good night Kathleen." Mona told her.

Kathleen left and walked over to where Henry was waiting for her.

"Wow, now that was a surprise!" Mona leaned back in her chair.

"I'll say." Claire said, shaking her head.

"Renata, why don't you get your things and then I'll drive you over to your place so you can pick up a few things?"

"It's okay. I can drive myself. "

"Okay. But we're going to follow you and then you can follow me back to my place."

"Okay. I'll be right back…."

PRESENT TIME IN THE KITCHEN

"Hold on! You mean it was Kathleen who defended her?" Angela asked in surprise.

"That she did."

"But why? I mean it was nice of her and everything but she doesn't even know her."

Mona shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she just felt bad that Renata was being harassed by them."

Angela nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just when I hear her name I just…" she trailed off and rubbed her eyes."

A wash of shame overcame Tony. Even though his relationship with Kathleen had ended years ago there was still some lingering tension from it.

"I'm going to go check on Renata." Angela got up and left the kitchen.

Tony collapsed in her chair and rubbed his hands over his face.

"I can not believe this!"

"Tony, everything is okay now." Claire assured him.

He looked at her. "How can we be sure of that?"

"Tony, look I know things were a little hectic there but Claire is right. I think Joanne finally got the message that there isn't anything going on between you and Renata."

"I hope so." Tony stood up.

"Okay, now that is settled. I'm going to go home." Claire said.

"Okay. Good night Claire."

"Yeah, good night." Tony told her and opened the door for her.

After she left they went back into the living room where Angela and Renata were talking.

"Oh honey, I am so sorry you had to go through that." Angela said, wrapping her arms around her.

Renata sniffed. "Thank you."

Angela stood up. "Okay. let me show you to your room."

"Actually dear I was thinking she could stay with me."

"Mother, you only have one bedroom. Renata can stay in Sam's old room."

"Okay, if that's what you want. Well then I'm off to bed. Good night everyone!"

"Night Mona."

"Good night Mother."

Mona walked out the back patio door.

"Okay then Renata lets get you into bed so you can have a good night's sleep and forget this day." Angela smiled at her.

Renata smiled back, grabbed her suitcase and followed her up the stairs.

A/N; I decided to end the Tony and Renata are having an affair plot for now. I may pick it up at a later date. But there is something else I wanted to tackle.

########################################################

It was a week before Tony's surprise proposal and video for Angela. The morning after she had spent the night Renata had told him that she had finished it. Mona had picked up the tape and was keeping it safe in her apartment. Now all they had to do was wait a few more days.

Angela and Mona arrived home from work arguing over a slogan for their new client.

"Angela please, that slogan will never work!"

"Mother I think…"

"Hi Angela. Hi Mona." Claire greeted them coming up from the basement holding a basket of freshly folded laundry.

"Hi Claire. So how was your day?" Angela smiled.

"Oh you know. Same old same old."

DING DING DING

"Oh shoot, that's the oven timer!"

Angela laughed. She put her briefcase down on the desk.

"I'll take this and you go on and take care of dinner."

"Thank you Angela." She handed the basket to her and rushed into the kitchen.

"Okay, I'm going to go change. Are Jonathan, Sam, Hank, and Nicky still coming over for dinner and a movie?" Mona asked.'

Angela smiled. "Yes. We're going to watch 101 Dalmatians. Nicky has never seen it."

"Okay, I'll be back in about twenty minutes." With those words Mona walked out the back patio door.

Angela walked upstairs and entered the bedroom. She placed the laundry basket on the bed and proceeded to take off her clothes. She put them in the hamper and went over to her dresser where she selected a pair of jeans and a red blouse from her closet. She put them on and then went into the bathroom where she washed off her makeup. She put on fresh coats of mascara and lipstick and brushed her hair out. She slipped on a pair of tennis shoes and went back into the bedroom. She began putting the laundry away starting with her clothes first. She then started putting Tony's clothes away in his dresser drawers when she felt something small and hard.

"What in the world is that?" She pulled it out and gasped when she saw it.

It was a diamond ring.

She collapsed on the bed, her hand covering her mouth.

'Oh my God! Tony is planning on proposing!'