This came from a prompt from Shavonn - thank you!

I was hoping to flesh it out a bit more, but I'm going to keep it short and sweet for now. I'm going to mull over ways to possibly continue.

"Why do we have to take the train home?"

Tony refrained from remarking that this was the fourth time Billy had asked him this question since they'd arrived at the train station. Now that they were en route home, his tone grew whinier.

"Because," he said, "after you threw up on the swings I'm not eager for you to be airborne again any time soon."

"I didn't throw up on the plane to Italy," he said.

"Actually, you did."

"Oh yeah."

"Come on, there's plenty of things to do on the train. At least we're not stuck this time."

"I'll take him, Tony," Jonathan said, coming over to their seats. "But I agree. We should have flown."

"See!" Billy said as Jonathan took his hand.

Tony leaned back against the seat as the boys walked away. Everything that happened during the trip hadn't caught up to him yet.

His baseball days had been the first time he'd had a brush with fifteen minutes of fame, but at least then he had some cards and memorabilia to show for it. He'd accomplished nothing he'd set out to do. He'd been given a second chance after his humiliation at the stand and somehow managed to feel like even more of a sap.

As bad as he felt, he was more perplexed by things with Angela. The past year had been a strange rap dance with her. With Billy around, there was a shift in their relationship, too. If anyone were to look at them, they'd easily assume they were his parents. Lately, he'd started to feel like they were. Angela was as much a mother to him as she was to Jonathan and Samantha. He probably shouldn't have been surprised when she kissed him, but he was. He often assumed he had missed his chances with her.

Though, he thought, he hadn't really. He knew it but had trouble facing it. Having to share a compartment with Angela had thrown him out of whack. Having a distraction had been good even if it did lead them back to where they started. It was his own fault for getting carried away.

"Hey."

He didn't respond right away, his thoughts so focused on Angela that hearing her voice didn't surprise him. It was only when she sat down across from him that he moved and came back to the present.

"Oh, hey."

"So far so good," she said.

"What?"

"The train ride," she said, an eyebrow slightly raised. "No delays. No rooming crisis."

"Yeah, I learned not to book another room with Chappy. Sam is stuck with me this time."

"I'm sure she's thrilled."

"Oh, yeah."

Silence passed through them for a moment, causing Angela to sigh. "Are we all right, Tony?"

"Sure. Why?"

"You seem preoccupied. You have since the TV station."

"The rug was pulled out from under me," he said, shrugging her off. "What d'you expect?"

"By Christine?"

"Mostly her," he answered carefully.

With a sullen nod, she replied, "Have we really drifted apart so much that what I said comes as a surprise?"

"What? Of course not."

"Would you say we're as close now as we were a year ago?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, a year ago things were…" His shoulders tensed. "Very different."

She nodded again. "Before Kathleen."

"Let's not bring that up."

"We need to sometime," Angela said. "After this week, I can't think of a better time."

"This week had nothing to do with Kathleen."

"No, but you acted the same way. A pretty young blonde crossed your path you lost all sense of yourself and the people you care about."

"There's no comparing the two. It wasn't Christine I was after. I got sucked into the celebrity. I had no control over how she may or may not have felt about me. I barely paid attention."

"And Kathleen?"

"Come on, Ange. That's all over."

"I'm only bringing it up because I'm sensing a pattern. Whenever you and I start getting closer something… someone… puts a wedge between us."

He looked down at his lap, trying to think of a response.

"It's become something that we tiptoe around."

"You were with Andy longer than I was with Kathleen."

"Because I didn't know where I stood with you anymore. It hurt. We talk about everything else without a problem. Why can't we ever be open about how we feel for one another? Miscommunication and wrong assumptions are always our downfall. I'm speaking for myself as well. It wasn't easy going to find you today."

Tony shifted, barely meeting her eye. "There's so much on the line with us. If something happens between us, it affects the whole family. Our kids might be nearly grown, but now we have Billy to think about."

"That means our lives are on hold until he hits double digits?"

"I'm not saying that. Just… right now. He's been through so much."

"There's always going to be a reason to avoid these conversations. Then we end up in a situation as we did on the train ride down and flusters us both."

"You were hardly the 'flustered' one," he said. "I got us both covered."

She smiled slightly. "My fluster came out in jealousy."

"You were jealous? Of Christine?"

"Of course!"

He nearly laughed.

"Why is that so amusing?"

"Because like I said, my mind was barely there. I mean yeah, she was great lookin', but it was—"

"Diane Sawyer you were after?" she smirked.

"Exactly."

"Mother even convinced me to confront her. I was proud of myself for going through with it."

"You did? When?"

"Right before I talked to you."

"You know, maybe I shouldn't say anything but she'd dumped me by that point."

"Yeah… I figured that out. So I dropped her cell phone in the fish tank."

His eyes widened in both surprise and awe. "I never would'a thought you had it in you."

"Neither did I, but boy, it felt great."

Tony laughed. "I'm glad I mean that much to you."

"More."

He finally met her eye full-on but didn't say anything right away. When he did, he said, "I'll try and do better about the whole… you know, closeness thing."

"I'm not asking to figure out everything between us by the time we get back to Connecticut. Maybe, for now, we can make it a point to tell each other how we feel more often?"

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah. I think I can do that. Because I do. Like you, I mean."

"I like you, too."

"I'm the one who has to kiss you now, right?"

Angela smirked. "Uh-huh."

Tony chuckled, leaning forward but looking over his shoulder to make sure none of the family was around. His lips brushed Angela's in a similar fashion she'd initiated earlier, albeit he lingered a few seconds longer. Pulling back, he smiled at her. If this was what she meant by closeness, he was happy to oblige.