The Room, Unslept In

by Ilenerobyn

A/N :: Did you ever wonder what it was like for Angela to return to CT – that first night of coming home? What was she thinking? How would she face the fact that she was going to be alone again? I've provided ruminations from Angela that first night being home. I've added some direct quotes from the show. I do not own these characters, the dialogue, or the original WTB? Series.

4. Chapter 4

The Room, Unslept in

A/N: I want to thank everyone for their comments. I apologize if I haven't written directly to you. Thank you again for all the support you've conveyed to me for this story.

PS – I don't own any of the characters from Who's the Boss? I also don't own the songs I use in this story either. There's so much music that reminds me of these two. I hope you enjoy the song selections. If you've never heard them before, check out YouTube. You can find just about anything on there.

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Chapter 4: The Room, Unslept In - Pillow Talk - II

Sleep came after all as exhaustion settled in after being so nauseous and sick.

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Her dreams took her back to a month after their long Columbus Day weekend. And what a weekend that had been she smiled in her sleep.

At some point, she realized that Tony had decided he had to marry her. He had been going through a tough time accepting the death of a close friend he'd grown up with. A mid-life crisis? Maybe, but somewhere in all of that contemplation of his life, he had decided he wanted to marry her. She dreamed how he almost killed her in Vermont trying to propose to her. Angela wound up with a sprained neck and the realization that her mother had talked him into proposing.

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Angela restlessly tossed and turned laying on Sam's and Hank's couch. Those memories of the Vermont trip made her cringe in her sleep. She'd been glad they left the ski lodge a day early. She still couldn't believe they had left Jonathan at a gas station stop on the way home.

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Her mind took her to the tough time she and Tony went through getting their lives settled to the point where she was finally ready to accept that she wanted to try marriage again. Her mother and Samantha pinning her down to find out what was really causing her not to consider Tony's proposal(s) put things into focus for her. She admitted to them both that she was scared to try marriage again because her first marriage failed.

Her dreams then raced to a later time that evening. The house was empty after everyone had left both of them alone to iron out their issues. The tension was driving everyone crazy so they had all fanned out to other activities for the night.

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Lying on the couch, Angela smiled in her sleep as she dreamed about what came next.

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Engaged! Angela couldn't believe she was engaged to Tony. It was the weirdest proposal she could've imagined for them, but the end result was the same. She and Tony were going to get married. After seven years of denying their feelings for each other, and barely two months after admitting they loved each other, they were engaged!

They were upstairs in Tony's room celebrating their engagement, taking advantage of the empty house. They really did seem to like being squished together on small beds. In reality, even during their "best friends" years, they always seemed to be close together. They were both laying on pillows on their backs, the blanket wrinkled but covering both of them. Angela kept holding up her hand staring at the engagement ring on her finger. Tony had been carrying it around since they'd come back from Vermont just waiting for the moment when he could finally give it to her, he'd told her. It was a beautiful heart-shaped diamond with emeralds surrounding it on both sides of the heart. Tony pulled her hand down and kissed her engagement ring finger.

Angela had been thinking about a certain wedding they had attended several years prior and something she'd wanted to tell Tony for so long if they'd ever reached this point in their relationship. She came to the decision she was finally ready to let him know. That led to more pillow talk and Angela's confession to Tony.

"Tony?

"Hmmm, Sweetheart?" Tony mumbled as he kept kissing her hand.

…There's something I need to tell you…." Angela stopped talking and moved even closer and turned and lifted her head so she could kiss him on his lips, implying that what she was about to tell him was a really big reveal. She noticed that his curiosity was peaked.

"Tony? She asked again …. Then she just started pouring out her heart. "Remember when we were at the Ferguson's wedding?"

"Yeah." Tony nodded.

Angela noticed Tony processing the event. She could see it in his eyes that he was remembering the mistake he had made throwing her at Geoffrey with a "G" that night. It didn't hold good memories for him she knew, and she saw him wince thinking about it. He almost lost her for good back then when Geoffrey proposed. She still wondered if she'd have gone through with a marriage to Geoffrey if Tony hadn't intervened.

Angela continued talking hurriedly. "Instead of Isabel and Paul, I saw us at the alter getting married … and then you lifted my veil, and then we kissed." Her voice slowed down then. "You were looking at me with a look of absolute joy. I felt a warmth so overwhelming, intense feelings I had never felt before with anyone … not even with Michael. It felt like being in a warm fire-lit, cozy cabin. Even in only a few years, we'd been through so much together by then. Finding out we were each other's first kiss, your appendix bursting, the almost custody battle with Michael for Jonathan, my getting fired from Wallace & MacQuade, you telling me we were a family, you encouraging me to open my own agency … It all suddenly came together. I felt so warm and content. I was marrying my best friend." She could see the surprise in his eyes as she admitted this secret, a secret she had held onto for five years, to Tony.

"Awww – come 'ere sweetheart." Tony scooted over to lay on his side facing her. He kissed her and then pulled her even closer as she saw in his expressive eyes something he wanted to tell her. Something now he couldn't wait to say to her.

That's when Angela got Tony's confession telling her that he also had imagined them together at the alter getting married. It amazed Angela that he had experienced the exact same vision she had. She shook her head in amazement …She looked at him still in disbelief. She remembered him telling her that she looked like she was in a dreamworld of bliss as he lifted her veil to kiss her.

Angela smiled at him, relieved that their secrets from the Ferguson's wedding were no longer secrets. Angela recalled thinking back then that there was still so much more they needed to talk about after keeping so much to themselves over the past seven years. She wanted to know everything – everything that he'd thought about all these years. She thought that they had so much time for these revelations – this was the beginning of their forever.

Tony turned to his night stand and turned on the radio. And then he moved to his back and pulled Angela onto his chest with his arms around her. They laid together and held each other as John Denver's voice started singing Annie's Song:

They stopped talking to listen to the simple, sweet, yet powerful words.

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

Come, let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come, let me love you
Come love me again

Let me give my life to you
Come, let me love you
Come love me again

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

"You know I'd like to change that song name to Angie's Song." Tony told her. "Oh, Tony, that's so romantic." They snuggled into each other, and Angela remembered them drifting off to sleep wrapped in each other's arms as other songs played on.

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Tears fell from Angela's eyes as she dreamed about that happy night.

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Sunday morning arrived with the alarm going off just like the day before. Angela had to get up to face the day – and Samantha's return home. She kept the radio off though not wanting another song to hit her heart again. She also had to face the realization that she'd have to sleep in her own house that night. She didn't even want to think about it. She just couldn't sleep in "their" room alone. She wasn't ready to face that yet.

Angela brought her bedding back across the driveway and brought it upstairs for the time being. She got ready for the long day ahead – only the second day apart from Tony. Was it really only two days, she thought as she shook her head. It felt more like years. The pain caused a pit in her stomach she couldn't shake.

Several hours later, Samantha walked in the kitchen door. She and Angela looked at each other neither of them saying anything at first. You could cut the air with a knife, both of them so tense in this new normal.

"Where's Hank?" Angela finally asked breaking the silence.

"He took our luggage to the apartment."

"Hiya, Sam," Mona said walking into the kitchen through the swinging door. 'Who's going to make dinner tonight?"

"Mother, is that all you can think about"? We'll get Chinese take-out." Angela abruptly said getting a little queasy thinking about that food showing up.

"Mother did you have a chance to contact the agency yet to get some help here?"

"I left a message yesterday asking them to call as soon as they could. It's the weekend, Angela, it might take a few days," Mona answered.

Mona walked back out to the living room.

Alone again, Sam started tentatively, "Angela? Hank and I've been talking things over, and we think we should move out and give Mona back her apartment now that you …. Now that you and Dad …"

Before Samantha could even get all the words out, Angela moved closer to Samantha to pull her into a hug, "No, honey… no, don't even think about that… I never for one moment thought you'd want to move out. I never even thought about you and Hank leaving here," she told a little fib. "This is your home!" Angela pleaded, afraid that she'd be losing Sam now, too.

"Okay," Sam finally agreed that she and Hank would remain in Mona's apartment, at least for the time being.

Once Sam left to join Hank and let him know about their changed plans, Angela stopped and breathed a sigh of relief. Rehashing in her mind the conversation with her mother after Tony had his appendix out about losing Samantha if things didn't work out with Tony, she knew she'd dodged a bullet this time. Oh, she just couldn't lose Samantha, too. She'd be lost without her "daughter." Angela was despondent thinking about this possible scenario.

Dinner was a quiet affair. Jonathan had gone out to get the food. They all quietly ate in the dining room. Angela picked at her food, really only eating some egg drop soup. No one thought anything about it. Jonathan and Samantha took the leftovers and put them in the refrigerator. They also took the dishes and put them into the dishwasher. Then everyone retreated to their own spaces.

After sitting in her office for a few hours getting ready to go back to work the next day, Angela knew she had to go to sleep. She was absolutely exhausted. She decided she couldn't sleep in her room. So, she made the decision to sleep on the couch in her office. She'd give in to the memories she had with Tony on that couch and sleep there. At least it wasn't "their" bedroom. She didn't know how much longer not sleeping in her own bed could go on, but she knew she couldn't sleep in that bed yet.

Besides, she thought, if anyone questioned her sleeping in her office, she could always use the excuse that she was looking at work files and nodded off. No one would question her for that.

She went upstairs to her room to shower and put on her pajamas. She looked into the mirror as she passed by on her way to the bed. She noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She'd have to cover that up with makeup tomorrow morning if they were still there, she acknowledged.

Then she gathered up her blanket from the bed and quietly went downstairs hoping the stairs wouldn't creak. She walked back to her office and shut the door. Angela laid down on the sofa and pulled the blanket all the way up to her nose and snuggled into it. Tomorrow was Monday, and she'd have to go back to her office. She wasn't looking forward to facing her employees yet. She was relieved she wasn't feeling nauseous as she fell asleep. She hoped she'd make it through the night not being sick. Day 2 alone was done Angela thought as she fell asleep.

The End – Chapter 4 of The Room, Unslept In – Pillow Talk II

Chapter 5 coming soon….