The Room, Unslept in
A/N: Time for Chapter 25! A dream of a honeymoon continued – filled with music and love and fun activities.
PS – I don't own any of the characters from Who's the Boss? I also don't own the song(s) I use in this story. I also don't own the dialogue I sometimes use in the chapters. I've tried to pick songs that remind me of Tony & Angela and their relationship. If you'd like to hear them, check out YouTube or Spotify – you can find just about everything there.
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Chapter 25: Once Upon a Honeymoon, II
Monday, July 5th, 1993
Tony was slowly awakened by Angela's light touches on his back. He turned around and asked if she was okay. Instead of answering, she started placing kisses all over Tony's face, his cheeks, forehead, and finally landing on his lips. She put her arm around his neck and gently pulled him closer to her for more kisses as he noticed the distinct taste of mint from her kisses.
When they parted, he murmured to her "I guess you're very alright. Marone a mi, Sweetheart." Across the room, he could see that it was still dark outside, and their room was slightly illuminated by the moon shining through the partially opened curtain. Angela's hair slightly glowed from the light hitting her from the back. He wasn't going to be able to resist what she wanted. That didn't stop him from worrying about how she was feeling after being so sick earlier in the evening.
"Angela, do you want something to drink?"
"Ummm, no, that's not what I want right now," she told him enticingly.
"I can see that. Who am I to argue with my new wife?" he whispered back as he moved his head forward and started kissing her. He could never resist her and still was in awe that she was his after all this time.
"Angela, hold that thought," he said as he got out of their bed and hurried to the bathroom also taking a moment to brush his teeth before returning to his impatiently waiting wife.
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Tony was awakened by a loud knock on their hotel room door. As he slowly woke, he turned around to see Angela putting on her bathrobe and then scurrying out of the bedroom to answer the door.
"You can put the cart over there," he heard from the other room along with the sound of clacking wheels on a cart rolling from one side of the room to the other. Then he heard two chairs being moved across the room.
Thank you, Mrs. Micelli," the Room Service attendant told Angela.
Tony smiled at hearing the Room Service attendant call Angela Mrs. Micelli. He didn't think he'd ever tire of hearing that name attached to Angela. He sighed happily as he lumbered out of bed, put his robe on, and walked into the other room.
"Good morning, beautiful wife. How are you feeling this morning?"
"Famished, actually," she answered while looking at all the food that had been laid out on the cart. The table had been covered in a pristine, crisp white tablecloth. Cutlery that had been placed inside a napkin and wrapped in a ribbon was laying on the table for each of them. Two empty plates with The Plaza logo were placed in front of each chair next to the wrapped cutlery.
"I noticed," he said as he picked up a piece of cantaloupe. I can only imagine after that middle of the night wake-up call," he teased her sweetly. He watched her cheeks grow slightly pink loving the effect he had on her.
He walked over to the cart to see a crowded tray full of delectable breakfast items. Fresh eggs and steaming home fries, along with a basket full of bagels and toast, were laid out. Also on the tray was a shareable plate of cut summer fruit that completed the array of items to choose from. A tall, shiny sterling silver coffee pot full of coffee and another shorter one full of hot water with a little basket of teas and honey completed the arranged food on the tray.
"I thought you wanted to spend the day in bed today," he bemused out loud.
"I do. But first, I'm hungry, and I'm going to need as much energy as I can get, so I wanted to start with a good breakfast," she winked at him and then smiled at him with anticipation.
"I'll be right back," Tony told her as he went back into the bedroom to go to the bathroom and wash up.
Then he returned to find Angela sitting in one of the chairs. He walked over to the table and caressed Angela's arm as he made his way to his chair. "Let's enjoy this wonderful looking breakfast," he told her as he sat down in the empty chair that also overlooked Central Park.
Angela's dream day was exactly the day she wanted. Nothing to do, nothing to think about except herself and Tony. A day of laying together, making love, cuddling, sharing stories of what they wanted from their future together. Neither wanted more than that.
Later in the afternoon, they were lying in bed with the pillows propped up against the headboard. Angela's head was laying on Tony's shoulder, his hand was caressing her stomach thinking that it wouldn't be long before they would be able to feel the baby start to move. She was twirling her fingers in his hair.
The radio was on, and they were listening to a nostalgic radio station playing Frank Sinatra songs.
"Tony?"
"Hmmmm?"
"You were always so wrong about us," she said wistfully.
"How do you mean, Angela?" Tony was curious about what she meant.
"You always thought you had nothing to offer me in a relationship."
"I couldn't give you anything that you were used to or that I thought you wanted," he proffered her.
"But you never asked me what I wanted," emphasizing the "me" part. "You gave me so much more that I valued – our family, support, friendship, a partner to raise my son with. And even though you never said it when you were awake, love. I didn't need – or want more than that."
He lowered his head to look directly down at her. "I didn't know that at the time."
"We both kept secrets from each other, didn't we?"
He took her hand in his and told her how glad he was they finally talked everything out at the beach.
"Tony, I love you so much that it makes me cry some times," Angela confessed quietly.
"I don't wanna make you cry, Angela."
"No, it's a good cry – a happy cry - a fulfilled and content cry," she stressed to him trying to convince him that he wasn't causing her discontent.
"I've loved spending the day in bed with you and hope we can do this again soon. Now I'm as famished as you were this morning. I wonder if you might want to go out for a walk or some dinner and dessert," Tony suggested.
"I'd say I've been indulging in dessert all day," she teased him.
"An – ge – la!"
"Okay, okay," she said teasingly but getting serious.
"Yeah, it's probably a good idea if we get out of this bed and walk around and stretch," she reasoned.
One place that Angela wanted to go was Serendipity. She didn't know how she had never gone there knowing they specialized in desserts and chocolate.
"Serendipity!" she exclaimed.
"Ooooh, good one, Ange. I've never been there."
"I haven't either," she said surprising him.
"You've never been to Serendipity?! How is that even possible?" he posed to her shocked that someone who worshipped chocolate like she did had never been to Serendipity before.
"No, you're as surprised as I am," she agreed with Tony.
"I can't believe you've never been there. That place oozes chocolate and desserts."
Angela started to laugh. "I've had you making chocolate desserts for me. I never found a reason to go when I had what I wanted at home."
Tony caught the double entendre and grinned at her. Then he reached over for the phone. "Let me call the concierge and see if they can get us in there tonight before we never make it out of this bed today," Tony told her while raising his eyebrows at her.
After a quick call downstairs, Tony told Angela they had a reservation for 8 that night.
They got out of their bed and showered and dressed casually for a summer night in July.
They finally left their room and had the doorman get them a cab. As the cab pulled away, Tony told the driver the name of the location they were going to and added, "225 E 60th Street, please."
It was still crowded on the roads, so even though it was only about a mile from the hotel, the ride still took about 20 minutes.
Tony ushered Angela down the short flight of stairs and then into the restaurant. The smell was incredible.
"Mmmmm. It smells wonderful in here," Angela noted sniffing all around her.
They checked in telling the hostess that the concierge at The Plaza had made a reservation for two for 8:00 p.m. for Micelli.
As they were seated, Angela took notice at what customers at the other tables had ordered. She could taste all that chocolate just by looking at it. She looked like she was in heaven, Tony noticed.
The hostess left them with two menus and returned to her station at the front of the restaurant.
"Let's share an appetizer and meal and then get our own desserts, and we can share them, too," Tony suggested.
Looking over the menu and wanting to try more than a few items, Angela nodded her head agreeing it was a great idea. They wound up settling on the Classic Footlong Hot Dog, the Mac 'n Cheese, a Classic Wedge Salad and then picked Serendipity's famous Frozen Hot Chocolate and a large banana split for desserts to share.
"All this chocolate is probably going to keep me up most of the night. I hope the baby doesn't reject all of it," Angela contemplated while shrugging her shoulders as she dug into the Mac 'n Cheese and drank part of their Frozen Hot Chocolate.
They agreed that they needed to come back again some time soon, maybe bringing the rest of the family to enjoy all the wonderful food Serendipity offered. They also agreed that the restaurant lived up to its reputation.
After indulging in their delicious food, they got a cab and headed back to their hotel. They spent time looking out the window and enjoying the lights of the City. The filled out their Room Service order for breakfast and placed it outside on the door handle. Then they both decided they were exhausted and needed to go to sleep to get ready for their next day of activities.
Tuesday, July 6th
On the third evening of their week in the city, Tony and Angela were sitting on the couch in their room feeding each other chocolate covered strawberries. They had some classical music playing in the background.
They had enjoyed a wonderful day in Manhattan. Tony treated Angela to a facial at the hotel spa. They walked through Central Park. They stopped at the hot dog cart and Mr. Softee truck letting that be their lunch for the day.
They returned to their hotel room to shower and dress for their evening out. They had dinner at Sardi's and saw Guys and Dolls at the Martin Beck Theatre. Angela loved sitting in the orchestra of the theatre with her new husband. In the back of her mind, she still couldn't believe this was her new life. Every so often, she'd take her eyes off what was going on further up on the stage, glance at Tony and smile. They sat close together in their seats but were mindful of the patrons behind them. So, they mostly sat with their hands intertwined. When Tony noticed Angela shiver, he helped her on with the black shawl she had brought in with her.
Now it was a stormy night, typical of a New York City summer night, and every so often they got a glimpse of bolts of lightning illuminating the skyscrapers out through their windows followed by big booms of thunder. They still loved nights like this and ooh'd and aah'd when they saw the lightning and heard the thunder. Adult as they were, they still exuded child-like charm in their actions with each other.
Angela broke the silence and started to chat. "Tony, I know we agreed not to speak about kids this week, even the baby, but I wanted to speak to you about my maternity leave that I've been considering.
"Sure, Sweetheart, tell me what you're thinking."
"Tony, I want to take a longer leave than I originally thought I wanted to take. I'm thinking of taking a year off instead of just the three months."
For a moment, Tony's mind went back to the day when Angela had volunteered to take care of Billy for the week he had to student teach. He remembered how she mentioned possibly taking more time off at some point. Then they had to bring Billy back to Mrs. Napoli, so this scenario never happened.
"Wow, Angela, I wasn't expecting that," Tony said in complete shock. "I want you to do whatever you think is going to be best for you – the baby - for us. I'm really surprised that you want to do that. I know how much your work means to you."
"It does. I'll never forgot the part you played in helping me open The Bower Agency. I came back home for it. But I never expected to have another baby. It was a secret wish I had for so long, but I never thought that would happen for us. It took such a long time for us to become an official 'us'."
Tony reached over to clasp her hand in his. He joined their fingers together and brought her hand up to his lips to kiss, landing on her engagement and wedding rings.
"Then it's a year off after the baby is born," Tony told Angela in his most supportive voice. To himself he wished to have a job by the time the baby was born. But he also knew that if he didn't have a full-time job yet, they were financially stable enough for Angela to take the time off.
"How'd you like to do some clothes shopping tomorrow?" Tony asked her when he moved their hands to his lap.
Angela pondered for a moment and then reached over to give Tony a hug, "I'd love to do that with you, Sweetheart. The clothes I have are starting to get a little tight. You don't mind coming clothes shopping with me? I still remember your reaction a few years ago when I wanted to take you shopping with me."
"Yeah, Angela, I'm not proud of my behavior. It's time I made it up to you," he told her solemnly and with remorse for how he treated her back then.
"But I don't want to buy any maternity clothes yet – at least not until after the amniocentesis results are back and we know the baby is okay," Angela added decisively.
"Sure, Ange, whatever you want."
"Come with me to visit Macy's afterwards. I've been wanting to go to The Cellar for some cooking supplies, too?"
"Ooh, a shopping day. I can always go for that," Angela looked at Tony with a kid's excitement. "That's definitely one of the benefits of being a drive away from home. We can go shopping and not worry about having to lug packages home with us on a plane. We can even get the stores to send the purchases to the hotel," she planned out.
Slowly, the chocolate strawberries disappeared. Tony poured two cups of tea that had been brought up by Room Service along with the strawberries.
Tony and Angela sank back into the cushions on the sofa and exhaled a content breath while listening to music.
The radio was playing, Friends and Lovers, a song lovingly sang by Gloria Loring and Carl Anderson.
"What would you say if I told you
I've always wanted to hold you
I don't know what we're afraid of
Nothing would change if we made love
So I'll be your friend and I'll be your lover
'Cause I know in our hearts we agree
We don't have to be one or the other
Oh no, we could be both to each other
And yes, it's a chance that we're taking
Somebody's heart may be breaking
But we can't stop what's inside us
Our love for each other will guide us
So I'll be your friend and I'll be your lover
'Cause I know in our hearts we agree
We don't have to be one or the other
I've been through you and you've been through me
And sometimes a friend is the hardest to see
But we always know when it's laid on the line
Nobody else is as easy to find
So I'll be your friend and I'll be your lover
'Cause I'll be your friend and I'll be your lover
'Cause I know in our hearts we agree
We don't have to be one or the other
Oh no, we could be both to each other"
Tony chuckled seriously as Angela gave him a "told you so" look he understood without asking. "Okay, I get it Angela. We didn't have to be one or the other – friend or lover."
The End – Chapter 25 of The Room, Unslept In – Once Upon a Honeymoon, II
Chapter 26 coming soon … the honeymooners receive their musical gift