A/N: This is what hypochondriacs had to do before WebMD.

Chapter Twenty-One: Abnormal Psychology

Sunday, December 16, 1990

Angela snuck into the apartment and went to the bookshelf. Her mother was on a brunch date, leaving her at least two hours to do some reading. Human Sexuality was the first textbook to peruse. She stood and flipped to the chapter on sex addiction. It was a controversial topic. Some believed it was just an excuse for people who got caught cheating. She read through the list of indicators of compulsive sexual behavior, finding several that applied to her.

Abnormal Psychology was the next title to be pulled from the shelf. Angela carefully replaced Human Sexuality in its home. Settling into a chair, she scanned the table of contents. Alcoholism, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, and Eating Disorders all caught her attention, and she read each section in turn. Every mental defect she read about seemed to apply to her. Tears began to fall onto the shiny pages.

A key turned in the lock, and Angela froze. She heard familiar humming as the door opened. There was nowhere to go.

Tony walked through the door carrying a laundry basket full of clean, folded clothes. He set it on the kitchen counter and looked around the room, then pushed up his sleeves and began tidying up the countertop. As he ran hot water from the faucet and grabbed the dish soap, he started singing to himself. Angela spotted a dark corner and decided to hide there. She stood up, and the book crashed from her lap onto the floor. She bent down to pick it up as Tony shut off the tap and ran over, drying his hands on his jeans. "What are you doing in here?" he asked.

"I own the place. What are you doing here?" she asked defensively.

"I work here. You don't really think Mona cleans up after herself, do you?" His face grew curious and he plucked the book out of her hands. "Abnormal Psychology. Why are you reading this?"

"I was just curious about some things," she said, looking at the floor.

"About yourself?"

Angela sighed loudly. "When I talked to Dr. Sweetin on Tuesday, she recommended that I see a psychiatrist."

"OK. So you'll see a psychiatrist, and they'll tell you what's going on. You don't need to be diagnosing yourself," he said, setting a hand on her upper arm and squeezing through her bulky sweater.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" she asked, looking up at him with wide, tearful eyes.

"I think you're going through some things," he said, caressing her cheek.

"I'm putting you through some things, too."

"Yeah, you are. But it's ok. I deserve it," he admitted, setting the book on the chair.

"I don't want to hurt you, Tony."

"I know," he said, wrapping her in an embrace as she cried.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Let's sit down, sweetheart. Your mom won't be back for a while." Tony led Angela to sit on the couch. "You can tell me anything."

"I might be pregnant."

"Oh." Tony slumped back and tried to keep his world from spinning off its axis. "Was this planned?" he asked, silently praying the answer was no.

"Of course not! We were drinking a lot that night we stayed in the city, and we ended up having unprotected sex."

"OK, that was a couple of weeks ago. When will you know?"

"My period is due near the end of this week."

"Well, try not to think about it until then," he suggested unhelpfully.

"Ha!"

"What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know."

Tony put a throw pillow in his lap and guided Angela to curl up on the couch. He stroked her flaxen strands and rubbed her back until she stopped shaking and began to relax.

"What is that song you were humming?" she asked, sounding sleepy.

Tony cleared his throat and sang, "I'm gonna love you, like nobody's loved you, come rain or come shine."

"I don't know that one," she lied. "Can you sing the rest? Your voice is so soothing."

He continued singing while she drifted toward sleep. Tony's presence was calming and reassuring. She wished the lyrics were his own words to her.

Mona said goodbye to her dud of a date and climbed the stairs. When she stepped up to the door she heard a strange sound inside. She pressed her ear to the door, listening for either a malfunctioning appliance or a daytime burglar. Instead, she heard Tony, singing "Happy together, unhappy together, and won't it be fine?"

She peered through the window and saw Tony on the couch stroking a mass of blonde hair in his lap. Weird, she thought, to be singing that song while getting head. She turned around and went down the stairs and into the main house.

Tony sat with Angela's head in his lap for a while longer, then gently roused her. She sat up and smoothed down her hair, then wiped her hands across her face to diminish the tracks of her tears. "Thank you, Tony," she said, leaning in to kiss his cheek.

"Any time, boss," he said. She could tell he meant it affectionately.

Angela left Tony to clean and went into the main house. Mona and Jonathan were sitting at the kitchen table and Sam was on the phone. "Bonnie, it's not going to be that bad. Please go with me. I've been in finals all week and I have so many Christmas presents left to buy."

Mona nudged Jonathan. "Go with her. You still have shopping to do, too."

"I do not!" he yelped.

"Buy me another present, then," she demanded.

"Great. I'll pick you up in ten minutes," Sam said, hanging up the phone. "You want a ride, shrimp? Come on, just don't expect to hang out with us at the mall."

"Bye Mom. Bye Grandma."

"Bye Mona. Bye Angela."

"Bye, kids!" the older women called in unison. As soon as they were gone, Mona got up and smacked Angela on the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"When I told you to find a private place to fool around with Tony, I did not mean my apartment."

"Mother, we were not fooling around."

"Your head was in his lap."

"On a pillow! Mother, he was just comforting me."

"Why? What's going on?" Mona led Angela to sit at the table.

Angela sighed. "I don't know where to start."

"Why were you in my apartment?"

"I wanted to look at your psychology textbooks and figure out whether I'm crazy."

"Oh, baby. You are. But leave the diagnosing to the professionals."

"That's exactly what Tony said."

"Smart man." Mona took Angela's hand and asked, "Is there anything else going on?"

Angela met her mother's gaze. She never could conceal the truth under scrutiny. "A couple of weeks ago, I had unprotected sex. I'm waiting to see if I get my period."

Mona let go of Angela's hand and smacked her on the arm again. "You idiot! We talked about this."

"Mother! It was an accident."

"Broken condom?"

"I forgot the sponge," Angela mumbled. "I was drunk!" she defended under her mother's angry glare.

Mona pounded both fists on the table in lieu of further physical abuse. "You have been living on the edge for months, and I'm sick of it."

"I stopped drinking."

"Well, that's a start. Now you need to break up with Andy."

"What if I'm pregnant?"

"So what if you are? A baby won't make you fall in love with him."

"But he loves me!"

"Yeah, he does, and every day you continue to see that man, you are hurting him more. Does he deserve that?"

"No."

"You like being with Andy because it's safe. He could leave you, and it wouldn't be the end of the world, because you don't care that much about him."

Angela's face crumpled and she began to sob.

"Do you want to know what I think?" Mona asked.

"No," Angela whimpered.

"You're terrified to admit that you're in love with Tony because if he left you, you don't know how you could go on living."