Angela felt the tears streaming down her face at Tony's declaration of love for Teresa. She had hoped that her Mother had been right and that he had honestly forgotten he had the ring because of everything that had happened since he came back. But his words had crushed any hope and doubt she had. Had she been right? Had Tony regretted leaving Iowa and Teresa? As she had pointed out to everyone the only reason he had come back to Fairfield was because of a job. If it hadn't been for that he would still be in Iowa and married to Teresa. Was this his way of telling her that he regretted coming back and getting back together with her? She felt like she couldn't breathe. She tried to take a couple of deep breaths but she felt like someone was pushing her underwater.

'This can't be happening!' she screamed inside where she felt her heart breaking into a million pieces. She closed her eyes not wanting to look at Tony. She just wanted this pain to go away.

"Grandma? Are you okay?"

'Nicky? Was Nicky calling her? What was going on?'

"Angela! Wake up!" She heard Tony's voice that time.

She opened her eyes and looked around. Tony and her weren't upstairs in their bedroom. They were in the living room with everyone else. The movie was still playing but they were all looking at her.

"What? What happened?"

"You fell asleep." Sam told her.

"I did?"

"Yeah, and then you started mumbling something and started crying." Mona said.

"Oh wow. I'm sorry everyone."

"Don't be Angela. It's okay." Claire smiled at her.

"Are you sure you're okay Grandma?" Nicky asked, his little voice filled with fear.

Angela looked down at his sweet face-ironically so much like Tony's- and gave him a kiss at the top of his head.

"Grandma's okay my sweet boy. I just had a bad dream."

"You mean about monsters?"

"No, not monsters."

"When I have a bad dream mommy rubs my back until I fall back to sleep."

"That's because you have a very nice mommy."

"Do you want me to rub your back Grandma so you won't have any more bad dreams?"

"Oh no thank you Nicky." She turned towards the others. "But, I am going to splash some cold water on my face."

"Do you want us to pause the movie Mom?"

"What? Oh no. That's okay, I've seen this movie a million times." She stood up and walked around the stairs to the bathroom that was under the stairs. She opened the door and went over to the sink and turned the faucet on. She looked at herself in the mirror and groaned when she saw how she looked. Her face was tearstained and her eyes were red and puffy. She splashed the water on her face and then dried herself off with the hand towel that was hanging next to the sink. She leaned back against the sink and told herself to take a couple of deep breaths.

"It was only a dream. It was only a dream." she kept repeating to herself.

Back in the living room everyone was quiet contemplating what had just happened. Tony knew that something was seriously wrong and was dying to ask her. But he also knew this wasn't the time or the place. He did think that Jonathan had the right idea and they should pause the movie for a little while.

"Actually Jonathan, that's a good idea. How about we pause the movie and I'll make some popcorn?" Tony asked. Everyone nodded their agreement and he picked up the remote and rewound it to the part before he woke Angela up. He hit pause and stood up.

"Okay, I'll go make the popcorn." He went into the kitchen followed by Jonathan and Hank.

Mona, Sam, and Claire all gave each other nervous looks.

"Do you think she had a bad dream about Dad and Teresa?"

Mona shrugged. "I would say something like it."

"Poor Angela. This is really eating at her." Claire sighed.

"It is. Damn it! We all know that Tony loves her but her finding that ring really shook her up."

"You know maybe we should all just go home and let Dad and Angela talk. We can watch the movie another time."

"Are you sure Sam?"

Sam nodded. "I am. Look, Angela needs to confront Dad about this. It's the only way she'll ever get any answers."

"Okay, I'll go and talk to her." Mona stood up and walked over to the bathroom. She knocked on the door.

"Angela, it's me. Open up."

Angela sighed but opened the door. Mona entered and shut the door behind her.

"Okay talk. You had a dream about Tony and Teresa didn't you?"

Angela nodded. "Somewhat."

"What do you mean somewhat?"

"I uh….I confronted Tony about why he still had the ring and he told me that he kept the ring because she still loved her." She gasped out the last part as she felt new tears running down her cheeks.

Mona grabbed some toilet paper from the toilet paper dispenser and handed it to Angela.

"Here. Blow."

Angela blew her nose and then threw it into the toilet and flushed. She washed her hands and dried them off.

"Oh Mother, What am I going to do? What if the dream is some kind of a warning and Tony does still have feelings for Teresa?"

"Angela, Tony loves you. I know that like I know I loved your Father."

"But what if…"

"No buts Angela! Look, Sam said that maybe we could do this movie thing another night."

Angela shook her head. "No. Absolutely not. No matter what is going on between Tony and me I will not let it spoil Nicky's very first time watching 101 Dalmatians."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay then. I'll let you get yourself under control and I'll see you in the living room."

"Okay. Thanks Mother."

Mona nodded and opened and closed the door. She leaned back against the door and sent a silent prayer up to Robert.

MEANWHILE IN THE KITCHEN:

"Hey Tony is there something going on with you and Mom?" Jonathan asked while he got some bowls out of the cupboards.

"Yeah, we were talking about it earlier when we were getting the living room ready for the movie." Hank chimed in. He grabbed some glasses and the pitcher of iced tea out of the refrigerator. He poured everyone a glass and put the pitcher back in the refrigerator. He found a tray in one of the cupboards and set the glasses on it.

Tony sighed. So he wasn't the only person to notice that something was amiss with Angela.

"That's the thing guys. I'm not sure what is going on."

"Well Mona did say they had a long day at work." Hank pointed out.

"Even if they did, Mom would not be giving Tony a cold shoulder. If anything it would be the opposite."

"You're right." Hank turned to Tony. "So what do you think is going on?"

Tony shook his head. "I wish I knew. This morning everything was great. We got up and got ready for work and wished each other a good day. It was a typical morning." he shrugged.

"Well obviously something has happened that has Mom all upset."

"You know maybe we could watch the movie another time and let you and Angela talk." Hank suggested.

Tony shook his head. "No. I appreciate the offer but I know no matter what is going on with Angela she would never want to ruin Nicky's first time watching it."

"Okay. If you're sure?"

Tony nodded. 'I am. Okay guys let's grab everything and finish the movie." Jonathan and Hank grabbed their items and went into the living room.

Tony sighed and dumped the pan of popcorn into a big bowl. He had made sure though to make Angela her own pan of popcorn since she didn't like a lot of butter. He poured her popcorn into the bowl she always ate it out of. He turned the burner off and followed Jonathan and Hank into the living room.

"Okay here's the popcorn everyone" He set it on the coffee table. Everyone grabbed a bowl and helped themselves.

"Here you go Angela." Tony handed her the bowl.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Okay so she wasn't looking at him but she was talking to him- a little-so at least it was something.

"Okay so is everyone ready to continue?"

"I am!" Nicky yelled.

"Okay. Here we go!" He pressed play and the movie continued….

"YAY!" Nicky clapped and yelled when the movie was over. "Can we watch it again?"

"We can but not tonight buddy." Hank told him.

"AWW why not?"

"Because it is late young man and everyone is tired." Sam said and stood up and stretched.

"Yeah. I am beat." Jonathan yawned and stood up.

'Yep it's time to blow this pop stand." Mona agreed.

"Okay but first everyone grab your dishes and bring them into the kitchen." Tony ordered. They all rolled their eyes-except Angela- but did what he asked. After the dishes were put in the dishwasher they went back into the living room where they all said their goodbyes and left.

Now they were all alone.

Tony was nervous and curious.

Angela was anxious and frightened.

But they both knew they needed to talk.

"Tony I.."

"Angela .."

They both laughed nervously. He motioned for her to go ahead.

"We need to talk.' she bit her lip.

"Yeah, I figured that. So okay. Let's talk." He started walking over to the couch.

"Not here. Upstairs."

"Okay." She started climbing the steps and he followed her. They entered their bedroom and went inside.

"Okay Angela. What is going on? I feel like I said or did something to upset you but I am honestly at a loss on what that is. "

Angela sighed. "When Mother and I came home from work Claire was coming up from the basement with a basket of laundry. She was about to go upstairs with it but the oven timer rang so I said that I would take it."

"Okay? So then why are you so upset?"

"When I was putting your clothes away I found something."

"What?"

Angela walked over to his bureau and opened the drawer where the ring laid inside, She picked it up and walked back over.

"I found this." she held it up.

Tony looked at what she was holding. He couldn't believe it. It was Teresa's engagement ring.

How in the world had it ended up in his drawer?

"This is Teresa's ring, Tony. Why do you still have it?" she asked, her voice choking up.

Tony sat down on the bed in complete shock. When Teresa had given him the ring back he had put it in his pocket and forgot about it. All he could remember was that he had wanted to talk to Dr. Graham right away about resigning. And then he had come back to Fairfield and a whole bunch of stuff had happened and he simply forgot he had it. And then somehow it must have gotten moved around and ended up in his drawer. It was all a silly and simple misunderstanding but Angela was obviously all torn up about it.

"Angela, you have to know this is a complete shock to me. I honestly don't have any idea how it ended up in my drawer."

Angela sat down beside him. "How can you not? She gave it back to you."

"You're right she did, And when she did I put it in my pocket."

"And then you just forgot all about it?"

"Actually at the time all I cared about was talking with Dr. Graham and turning in my resignation so I could come home."

"Well about after you came home?"

"I don't know Angela. When I came home everything was up in the air between us and then you had your car accident and almost died." he choked up on the last words.

"That's what Mother told me."

"Mona knows about this?"

Angela nodded. "She returned some jewelry she had borrowed and found me with it. So she asked me what was going on and I told her."

"Angela, did you honestly think I was holding on to the ring because I still have feelings for Teresa?"

Angela nodded. "I didn't want to think so but when I saw the ring I just…"

"Angela, I don't have any feelings for Teresa. Well not like you think."

She looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"I mean I do care about her and I hope that one day she will meet a man who will truly love her like Kathleen has. But Angela, you have to know that I have only been in love with two women. You and Marie. You are the only ones that have captured my heart. You are the only one I want to spend the rest of my life with. Do you believe me?"

Angela nodded and wiped away the tears that fell down her cheeks.

"Give me the ring" Tony held out his hand. She placed it in his palm and he stood up.

"Come with me." He held out his hand and she placed her hand in his. They walked into the bathroom and he let go of her hand and went over to the toilet and dropped the ring in.

"Tony! Wait! You're not going to flush the ring down the toilet are you? It must have cost…"

"I don't give a damn what it cost Angela. The only thing that matters to me is that we're okay and that you trust in my love for you."

"I do. I'm so sorry Tony."

Tony shook his head. "It's okay. I know finding the ring must have been a shock. And now so there aren't any more doubts…" He flushed the ring down the toilet.

Angela started crying again but it was joined with laughter.

"I can't believe you just did that."

"Believe it my love. You drive me crazy at times but I love you with every fiber of my being."

"I love you too."

"Come here." he beckoned to her and she walked over to him and his warm embrace.

"What am I going to do with you?" he chuckled.

She shrugged. 'I don't know."

"Oh I think we can figure out a few things." he laughed and picked her up and carried her back into the bedroom.

And then he showed her what he could do with her.

And she slept peacefully the rest of the night.

.