Chapter 41: Brian, Brian Thomas

"Yeah, Angela, what was with you getting back with your exes when they unexpectedly showed up? First Michael and then Brian," Sam said, a wicked grin on her face.

Angela sighed because Sam wasn't pointing out anything she and Tony hadn't already discussed. Tony asked her pretty much the same thing not too long after they first got together. With Michael, it had been about giving Jonathan both his parents and because she still had so many unresolved feelings for him. But, with Brian, it was about nostalgia and trying to recapture some of her youth. Still, from the outside looking in, it did appear that because she was flattered by the attention, she let them back in her life a little too easily.

"Samantha," Tony said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "It wasn't like that. You know those two situations were very different."

"Tony, it's ok. We both know she's not entirely wrong," Angela said gently placing her hand on Tony's arm. "Why don't we continue this back in the living room now that everything from brunch has been cleaned up?"

As the family got settled, again sprawled around the fireplace but without the fire, Angela couldn't help but think back to everything that had happened between her and Tony's "first date" and when Brian had re-entered her life. Not that there was much change to her and Tony's relationship during that period. Their date night allowed them to ease back into their best friend status, and they were able to keep their other feelings in check for the most part even though it wasn't easy. There also was a lot going on to keep them otherwise occupied.

Whether it was their unforgettable run in with Frank Sinatra, which Tony was on a high from for months afterwards (and hadn't he looked unbelievably hot in his black tux?), their united parenting front when Sam came home drunk from a party, her complete overreaction when she caught Jonathan kissing the new neighbor girl Heather (seriously, what did her parents feed that child for her to look like that at 12?), her relationship with Sam becoming stronger and deeper when Sam admitted that she thought of Angela as her mother, or her gift of the country club membership to her best friend, so Tony could play golf on his own terms which had inadvertently led to her landing a major new client (of course not without her again misinterpreting things between the client and Tony albeit in a very different way than with Geneviève); the last few months had been a whirlwind.

"Mom, Mom, earth to Mom," Katie said. "You were far away there for a minute."

With a slight smile, Angela looked over at her younger daughter and said, "Sorry honey. I was. Now, where were we?"

"Brian, Brian Thomas," Tony said mimicking the way Angela had first said his name all those years ago.

"Right," Angela said and then began to fill Katie in on how Brian had become her first husband. While she was talking, she couldn't keep her mind from racing ahead to after Brian had finally left with his fiancée Rhoda. She didn't think she'd ever forget that adorably awful poem that Tony, the self-proclaimed poet laureate of Pitkin Avenue, wrote for her. In fact, it had sat for years, in a frame, on the desk in her study at the house and now had a prominent place on a bookshelf in their condo.

She remembered telling Tony how much she loved the poem and kissing him on the cheek after he'd finished reading it. She wanted more, and she could sense Tony felt the same way, but she pushed those feelings down. Instead, she turned and walked up the stairs leaving Tony looking adorably proud of himself.

After going back downstairs for a glass of water, which resulted in their flirtatious little game of footsie (Tony admitted years later that yes, footsie did indeed affect him, and told her how he'd had to splash cold water on his face to calm down), she definitely couldn't get his words out of her head.

Something still felt unfinished between them after all the shenanigans with Brian. She knew that Tony knew that she was never seriously interested in Brian, but he had still let his jealous side show; no more so than when the three of them were in the restaurant at the airport. Looking back now, it wasn't terribly surprising considering where hers and Tony's relationship stood at that point especially with their unspoken agreement to not date anyone. She had come pretty close to testing that with her interest in Brian even though it was short-lived and not genuine.

After she was ready for bed, and before she could think about it too thoroughly, she crossed the hall and softly knocked on Tony's bedroom door. The last thing she wanted was for the kids to see her and wonder even more, than she knew they already did, about was going on between the two of them.

"Angela, what's wrong?" Tony whispered when he opened his door.

"Can I come in?" Angela whispered back.

Nodding, but with a confused look on his face, he opened the door wider and let her pass through.

Closing it behind him, he walked past her into the room and turned around with a questioning look on his face.

"Tony, I just want to make sure we're ok," Angela began biting her lip. "The last few days have been a lot, and I know I made things between us even more confusing with what happened with Brian. But, it wasn't real. I know that. It did feel good to relive the past, back when I could be a little, ok a lot, more spontaneous than I am now."

"Angela, I get it. You got caught up in the emotion and all the attention. I'm sorry I acted like a jerk. And thanks for humoring me with my poem. I still don't get whatever type of poetry that is that Brian writes, but I'm glad mine could make you smile too," Tony said as the tips of his ears turned red.

"Oh Tony," Angela said taking a step towards him to squeeze his arm. "Your poem means so much more to me. It's perfect just the way it is."

Angela leaned towards him to place a light kiss on his lips which almost immediately turned into Tony gently pushing her up against his bedroom door as his lips captured hers and his tongue invaded her mouth. She let out a slight moan before remembering where they were and who else was around. She slowly pushed Tony back a few feet.

Quietly opening the door, Angela turned back around and whispered with a wink, "Brian can't hold a candle to you in a lot of different ways." She then sashayed her way across the hall and back into her bedroom.

"Mom, did you ever see or hear from Brian again?" Katie asked bringing Angela out of her daydream.

"Actually, no," Angela said. "I think those few days were enough for both of us. I do hope he's doing well and that he and Rhoda are still together. She was a lovely woman."

"Dad, I can't believe I never knew you wrote the poem that sat on Angela's desk," Sam said shaking her head in amazement.

"Ay-oh-oh-ay, I knew whatever I wrote would be just as good as whatever that stuff was that Brian called poetry. I still don't get it," Tony said shaking his head.

"It wasn't too long after that we went to Jamaica, right?" Sam asked, a devilish grin on her face. "You all have to tell us what really happened that weekend beyond your make out session on the bench. Oh, and of course, who can forget Angela almost drowning topless?"

Angela was sitting in one of the wingback chairs, with Tony at her feet, and she could almost feel him tense up as soon as Sam mentioned Jamaica. Where to even begin with everything that happened on that trip? It had, unbeknown to them at the time, set in motion a series of events that would culminate in a betrayal that rocked their relationship to its core…