The Room, Unslept in

A/N: Time for Chapter 29! A dream of a honeymoon continued – filled with music and love and fun activities. This chapter delves further into The Story of Us, and the reveal of the songs that were selected as a wedding gift to each other. This chapter focuses on the first five songs that Angela selected for Tony.

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 29: Once Upon a Honeymoon, VI, The Story of Us, Part 5

Thursday, July 8th, 1993 (continued)

The next few hours were spent in bed together. When they were finally exhausted, they took a short nap curled into each other with the bed comforter pulled all the way up.

Several loud claps of thunder woke them up before their wake-up call ever made it to their room, so they reluctantly got up, showered, and dressed for Afternoon Tea. They were both so glad they didn't have to go out in the rain to get to The Palm Court.

"Ange, I love the dress you picked to wear to Afternoon Tea today," Tony glanced over as she finished zipping up the flowery dress.

"Thanks, Tony. I like the fit of this one. Angela glowed with happiness as she savored Tony's compliment. He knew what to say to keep her confidence from getting down when she was unsure about her weight gain from the baby.

Tony put on a light suit suitable for the humid, rainy summer day. He refreshed his shave and reapplied some aftershave.

Angela re-did her make up and let Tony know she was ready to leave.

They took each other's hands and waked out of their room to head to The Palm Court for what promised to be a delicious Afternoon Tea. On the way to the elevator, they ran into their room attendant and told her the room was empty so she could make up the room since they'd be out for a while.

They walked through the lobby of The Plaza and headed straight to the hostess standing at the elegant podium in front of the restaurant. After telling the hostess their names, two menus were taken from a pile sitting on top of the counter. Tony and Angela were walked over to a small table for two near the round bar. As they were sitting at their table, they looked around at their beautiful surroundings full of plants. They could still hear the rain pounding down on the glass ceiling above them. They watched as servers brought elegant teapots full of delicious smelling teas and scrumptious looking sweet and savory delicacies over to nearby tables on three-tiered serving platters. The restaurant was full of people of all ages enjoying their time at the famous historic restaurant.

They knew they were going to enjoy this treat. Soon a three-tiered platter showed up at their table and included traditional tea sandwiches, scones that came with clotted cream and jam, and finally some cute little cakes, including two swan-shaped chocolate cream éclairs.

"Yum, those look wonderful, Tony," Angela remarked as she reached for one of the famous cucumber sandwiches.

Tony started out with the egg sandwich. Slowly the two of them made their way through smoked salmon sandwiches and then made their way through the scones and pastries. Their server refreshed their tea pot with hot water several times throughout their meal. Both settled for the famous Plaza Hotel tea blend, Angela commenting several times that she hoped the tea wouldn't keep her up that night, but nevertheless wanting to try the famous tea.

After tea, they walked over to The Oak Bar and talked about how the bar was used in Hitchcock's film, North by Northwest. "Tony, this hotel was used in so many of the movies we've watched over the years together. I'm so glad we're here together sharing this moment to get a good look inside. Remember how Cary Grant was kidnapped from this bar?"

"Angela, it's one of my favorite Hitchcock films. And this hotel always reminds me of the first time we saw The Way We Weretogether after The Old Timers Game in St. Louis. I still don't know how I didn't know you loved that movie until that trip after spending so much time watching movies together."

Angela got a faraway look remembering that the first part of that trip wasn't the best time they shared together as best friends, but it got better after the game when they came back from dinner and noticed that the film was being shown on the cable channel the hotel offered on their TV. She reached up and gave her husband a kiss on his cheek. "I remember," she told him while winking at him.

"Tony, let's go back upstairs now so you can open the CD with my songs. I'm too excited to wait much longer. I don't think I want much dinner later either. All those great sandwiches and pastries we had were plenty. Maybe we can get Room Service to bring up some light salads later. I think I'm going to swim up to our room after all the tea I drank. We're going to have to stop the songs a few times so I can go to the bathroom more often than usual."

"Don't worry about it, Angela. We enjoyed our Afternoon Tea, and that's all that matters. We can stop the CD as many times as you need."

They went back to their room which had been made up while they were out. They walked over to the couch and sat down.

Angela handed Tony the wrapped CD and watched him take off the wrapping paper and plastic wrap holding the CD closed. They were sitting on the couch next to each other as Angela reached over to the coffee table and picked up the remote control. Tony opened the CD holder and pulled out the liner notes. He handed the CD to Angela who got up and slipped it into the opening of the player. She went back over to the couch and sat back down next to Tony.

Tony cleared his throat as he opened the liner notes and began to read the note Angela wrote to him introducing her selection of songs.

"Dearest Tony,

Here I am writing this note to my husband. How long I waited to have the gift of calling you my husband. We came so close to not having this, but like so much of our lives together, we were - are meant to be together forever no matter how long it took us to get here. This is a wonderful opportunity to share the music that I've heard over the years with you because you remind me so much of the music we've listened to together, danced together to, and that you decorated my life with. I love you so much.

Love, Angela"

"Angela, that's beautiful. I love you so much, too. I want to hear what you picked out for me." Tony stopped for a moment and gave Angela a soft kiss on her cheek.

Tony turned the page of the notes and started with the first song Angela selected for him. He grinned as he saw the title thinking about that September day he walked into the Bower residence changing his life forever.

"Love Walks In by Van Halen

Tony, sometimes I don't quite get the lyrics to this song, you know aliens and such, but I get what I want it to express to you. Tony, you walked into my house, my life, and brought a love to me I had never felt before from any man. Never in my imagination could I have dreamed that we would wind up falling in love and getting married. Everything changed that morning I opened my front door and saw you standing there. You were love walking into my life and nothing was the same from that moment on. I gained the greatest love of my life and a bonus daughter that morning."

"Angela, not for nothin' but this is not a song I would've thought you'd have ever heard before," Tony said very impressed with her first selection.

"Hey, Tony, I can be with it as much as the next person! Remember I drove Jonathan around to some of his activities, and he wanted to listen to this music. Remember the dress I wore for the Armando Ghia account presentation?" Angela inquired with a low voice reserved only for Tony. "I was with it."

"How could I forget that dress!" Tony smirked as he remembered Angela's never-ending legs that morning at Armando's fashion design office.

Welllll, this song particularly stood out to me." Angela nudged Tony with her shoulder.

"Angela, the song is perfect, and I love the choice. I hesitated before ringing your doorbell not knowing what to expect. I didn't know that Mona hadn't told you about me. You looked perfect that morning in your pink bathrobe, but it sure didn't seem like love walking in during that first night together. I thought I was going to get fired for sure for coming into the kitchen with that bat."

Angela giggled as she got the remote control ready.

Angela hit Play and they listened to Love Walks In remembering that day in 1984 when Angela took a chance on an ex-ball player and let him and his daughter move in with her and Jonathan. They put their heads together as the song played on. Then Angela hit Pause as Tony turned the liner notes to reveal the second song Angela selected.

"The Best by Tina Turner

Tony, I wasn't honest with you when we got home from the PTA meeting the night you were elected President. You asked me if I meant what I said about you being the best thing that ever happened to me. I was caught off guard and didn't think you were going to ask me that. I nervously pivoted and told you that it was all part of the campaign to get you elected. That wasn't an honest answer, and I should've told you the truth. You were the best thing that ever happened to me, and you ARE the best thing that ever happened to me … to us (this is where you look at my expanding tummy area and stare at our baby)… and I mean to all of us – to me, to Jonathan, to Mother, and to our baby. And you're also the best dad to Samantha already."

"That definitely calls for a kiss, Angela, and a tummy rub," he told her as he turned their heads together to plant a big kiss on her lips. Then he rubbed her baby bump and spoke to the baby, "See that Baby Micelli, your Mommy thinks I'm the best thing that ever happened to her. I can say the same back to her. Your Mommy is the best thing that ever happened to me, too, and I love her – I love the both of you more than words – or a song can ever say."That made Angela shed a few tears that Tony quickly rubbed dry with a tissue he plucked out of the tissue box.

Angela hit Play and they both listened together as Tina went over all the ways that described how Tony was better than all the rest. When the song ended, Angela hit Pause and got up to run to the bathroom.

When she got back, Tony turned the liner notes to reveal the third song Angela chose for him.

"You've Got a Friend by Carole King

You were my friend first, my best friend. I grew so comfortable with you so quickly. You made me feel warm and cozy. You supported my son, and you supported me through so many life events. You were there when my relationships didn't work out. You were there for me when I got fired. Because of you, you inspired me to open my own advertising agency. You made me feel like I could accomplish anything. I relied on you for advice and for guidance helping to raise Jonathan – and Mother. You made me want to come home after work because I'd have someone to talk to. Tony, I loved our evenings together watching movies or drinking tea together. You also asked me for my advice and for my help raising Samantha. I want you to know how wonderful it was to fall in love with my best friend."

"Angela, you became my best friend, too, so quickly. I never had a friend like you before. Yeah, it was wonderful to fall in love with my best friend, too," Tony kissed her again and took hold of her hand squeezing it softly.

They listened to Carole King sing this beautiful song. When it ended, it was Tony's turn to get up and run to the bathroom. Apparently, the tea got to him, too, and Angela took advantage of the tables turning and made sure to point that out to him when he got back to take his place beside her again. "Okay, okay, Angela, I won't make fun of your tiny bladder any more," Tony surrendered. "All that tea leveled the playing field," he joked with her.

"Time for the next song," Tony announced excitedly wondering what was next on Angela's list. He knew they were at the point in their relationship where their friendship was starting to change.

Tony turned the page to reveal Angela's next song.

"Till I Loved You by Barbra Streisand and Don Johnson

Tony, there I was in Dr. Bellows' office. She wasn't easy on me plucking and tugging at me to admit my feelings for you. …and then there it was. 'I love, Tony.' Tony, I realized at that very moment that my feelings towards you had turned from friendship to love. I didn't know what to do with that revelation sitting in her office. She did make me realize that if I didn't tell you soon, I could lose you to someone else, the someone else that made me go to Dr. Bellows in the first place. Then I went home and tried to tell you, but Samantha walked in just as I was about say the words. Then we talked about how important love was, even quoting Shakespeare when you told me I wasn't going to lose you to someone else. When I found out I wasn't going to lose you, you left with the laundry basket, and I was positively giddy!"

"Angela, I couldn't marry her. I DIDN'T love her. I don't even know why I considered it. I was so dumbfounded. I didn't want to lose you either. We were getting closer and closer."

Angela played the Barbra Streisand and Don Johnson duet and was transported back to that moment of revelation in Dr. Bellows' office causing her to smile dreamily. Tony listened while wondering what it must've been like in Angela's psychiatrist's office when she revealed that secret. He got a taste of that moment months later when she yelled out her love for him on her birthday the following May. He giggled much to Angela's chagrin because she had a notion of what he was thinking about.

"Tony, I know what you're thinking," Angela told Tony accusingly with a hint of a smile on her lips.

"I'm sure you do, Angela. I was an idiot that night giving you that weird talk at Joe's Tiki Bar. This is just a beautiful song. I love that it represents the moment you realized you loved me." Tony gave his wife a big hug. He took the remote and hit Pause. Angela got up to run to the bathroom again while Tony needed a tissue at this moment to wipe a few tears that had welled up in his own eyes.

Angela soon returned, and Tony went back to the liner notes revealing the next song. His eyes grew large when he read the next song, which he was definitely not expecting.

"Hot, Hot, Hot by Arrow

Jamaica! That magical night I first found out you had thought about us getting married! I meant it when I said that five years before that night I never could've gotten up and did that dance for an audience. But the truth is the audience for that dance was YOU! I wasn't thinking about all the people watching me, only YOU! I had been in love with you for over a year and wanted so much more. We wound up fighting on that trip instead, but it was all that built up tension between us. Tony, I was hot, hot, hot for YOU!

As they listened to the song, Tony turned to look Angela in the eye as she turned to face him. "Angela, Angela….Jamaica…Yeah, we came so, so close that night. I knew exactly what you wanted that night. I wanted it too, so very much. I couldn't, I just couldn't, Angela," Tony told her with so much regret in his voice. "I was so confused with my life then. You'd just given me a car for my birthday, I had to select a major for college. I was so close to Samantha moving out of the house for college. There were so many things changing, but in the back of my mind, I saw you in my future. I didn't know how I could face my future without you. I didn't' want to ruin our friendship in that moment. Oh, Ange, I'm thankful you put this song on my CD. It'll always be my reminder that you told me you loved me for who I am and that you didn't care I wasn't some big shot. I also enjoyed watching that dance. It reminded me of how sexy you are, and I did get another peek at those long, beautiful legs. That trip and the song will always have a special place in my heart for you."

"Tony, let's take a short break before we get to the next songs? Angela asked Tony. She put the remote control on the coffee table.

"Sure, Angela. Do you want anything from Room Service?"

"No, I'll take a walk around the room a bit. I need to stretch."

Tony realized Angela wanted to take a break because the next songs were going to open up the same pain that his songs to her earlier in the day did. He put the CD holder and liner notes booklet on the coffee table next to the remote and watched Angela walk over to the window to see the rain still falling.

The End – Chapter 29 of The Room, Unslept In – Once Upon a Honeymoon, VI, The Story of Us, Part 5

Chapter 30 coming soon … the honeymooners continue their music reveal. It's time for Tony to find out what last five songs Angela picked for him. Originally, I was going to do each of the 10 songs in one story, but I wrote more than I expected, and I didn't want this to be a marathon chapter, so ….