A/N: Nothing gets past Guiltypleasure85 and hilary122.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Job Switching

On Wednesday, Tony worked from ten in the morning to nine in the evening. His fellow supervisor, Meredith, had been bragging about her lasagna recipe ever since she learned he was Italian, and she brought him a large piece for dinner. It was a good thing, too, because Angela hadn't bothered to save him anything.

"Hey, kids!" Tony called, stepping in from the garage. Both children were lounging on the couch and no adults were present. "Chris, it's past your bedtime. Why are you still up?"

"I dunno," Jonathan shrugged.

"Jen, it's your bedtime, too" he said, turning off the TV. "Where's Mom?" he asked both.

"She had a headache," Sam answered.

"I love you two but go to bed. I'll see you in the morning," he said, kissing each in turn. They ran up the stairs as he turned off lights and locked doors. There was a sink full of dirty dishes that called for washing, but he had to prioritize Angela.

"Jess?" he called from the doorway of their bedroom. The lights were off, and he couldn't discern anything but a lump on the bed. It could have been a pile of laundry.

"I'm here," Angela croaked.

"What's going on, baby?" he asked, sitting next to her. "Are you sick?"

"I have a headache," she said. "And cramps."

"Why do you have a headache?" Tony asked. He knew he was instigating a fight, but he couldn't resist being right.

"I don't know!" she moaned.

"Is it because you've been reading without glasses all day for the past three days?" he asked.

"Maybe," she answered, sounding childish.

"I told you that you'd need them," he said. It was beyond him why she thought she could reinvent herself as someone with perfect vision.

Angela sat up in the dark. "You can be insufferable sometimes," she told him.

"Me? You're causing your own problems and expecting me to sympathize with you," he accused her.

She whimpered, trying not to cry out. He sighed and put his arms around her. Had she always been this moody? He didn't know whether she'd been more stable back home, or just better at hiding her mood swings. Or both.

"Did you take anything?" he asked her.

"I had an ibuprofen when I got home from work," she answered, clinging to him. She'd been trying to start a load of laundry when the pain overwhelmed her. After taking a pill, she realized she needed to start dinner and abandoned the chore.

"Time for another, or maybe two." Tony had a great idea. "I need to take a shower. Do you want to join me?"

"God, no. You'll just try to fuck me," she told him, throwing herself back into the fetal position.

"So your cramps will go away," he protested.

"You're such a hero," she said sarcastically. He went to the bathroom and returned with two pills and a glass of tap water.

"Let me know when you change your mind," he said. By the time he got out of the shower, she was asleep. He crawled into bed nude and spooned her in her pajamas. In the morning, she was feeling contrite enough to initiate, kissing and touching him until he hustled her into the shower and took her from behind.

"I do feel better," she admitted as they finished rinsing off.

"Told you so. Now, I think you should do something for me," he said, holding her by her hips.

"What's that?" she asked warily.

"Get an appointment with an eye doctor."

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes.

x

Sam fell into a routine of leaving the house at eight-fifteen to catch a ride to school with Linda and Natalie. On Thursday, with Tony and Angela already off to work, Mona issued her granddaughter a house key and let her lock up. The place would be vacant only briefly while Jonathan was dropped off at school.

Since she was alone in the house, Sam decided to try something new. She went into her parents' bathroom and put on some pink lipstick, pouting and puckering in the mirror. The color was obviously unflattering, something she would have known if she'd ever heard of undertones. While she studied her visage, the tube slipped out of her hand. Using her quick reflexes, she was able to catch it in her shirt, avoiding major damage to the remaining product. Unfortunately, a long streak was left on the fabric. She put the lipstick back carefully, tore the shirt off, and chose another from her room.

Looking into the laundry room, Sam realized she was in luck. There was a load of dry clothing sitting in the open washing machine. She balled up the dirty item and shoved it in, hoping to avoid detection. As she pulled her hand out of the tub, something sharp grazed her skin. It was the edge of a piece of paper. She grabbed at it and took a peek. It seemed interesting, and she knew it wouldn't survive a wash cycle, so she took it with her, running out the door and locking it behind her just in time to catch her ride.

x

"Chris, could I talk to you for a minute?" Mrs. Templeton called, as the class filed out for lunch.

Jonathan sidestepped the tide of children and approached his teacher's desk. "Yes?" he asked politely.

"How are you doing? I noticed you haven't been participating much. Is there anything I can do to help you feel more comfortable speaking up?" she asked. It was always difficult for new students to assimilate mid-year.

"I don't know all the answers," Jonathan complained. One of the reasons Tony and Angela had decided to move him up a grade is that he was academically unchallenged at his old school. They were planning to wait until he had a growth spurt, tiding him over with supplemental lessons, but the relocation seemed like the perfect opportunity to proceed.

"You don't have to come into class knowing everything, Chris. It's OK to get the wrong answer sometimes. You've seen other students guess wrong, haven't you?"

"I don't want the other kids to make fun of me," he pouted.

"Nobody wants that, Chris. I have zero tolerance for bullying in my class. I'm going to pair you up with a buddy to help you integrate, if that's alright."

Jonathan shrugged, not really understanding. "OK, Mrs. Templeton."

"Alex is popular. He helped a couple of boys who moved here last fall. You've met Dave and Fig?"

"Uh huh." Jonathan was surprised to meet a kid with such a weird name and even more shocked to find out nobody teased him for it.

"I'll talk to Alex today. Go have lunch," Mrs. Templeton told her student.

Later, Jonathan saw his teacher pull Alex aside, and by afternoon recess, he was being brought into the fold. He couldn't wait to tell his grandma about the new friends he was making.

x

Angela studied the green three-column paper, comparing it to the report she had printed out. She idly tore the perforated edge from the accordion-folded sheets, tossing it in the waste basket under her desk. She needed to understand the structure of the accounts and the categories of expenses before she could begin contributing in her role. Her head was hurting again, and she decided to take a coffee break.

"Jessica," Nate called, as she entered the breakroom. He was stirring sugar into the coffee in his University of Arizona mug. "How's it coming along?"

"Good morning, Nate," she answered, taking a paper cup. "I'm learning, slowly, but surely."

"You're a smart woman. I bet you're further along than you think." He leaned back against the counter next to the coffee urn. "Anything you're struggling with? I'd like to help, if I can."

Angela filled her cup and reached past her boss for the powdered creamer. "I need new glasses," she admitted. "And Kimber isn't very available when I have questions. Melissa and Jeannie have been quite helpful, though."

"Kimber's not the easiest person to get along with, and she plays favorites. Unfortunately, the higher-ups love her. Next time you have a question that Melissa and Jeannie can't answer, come to me. My office door is usually open," he offered with a smile.

"Alright. Thank you," she answered.

"You're doing great, Jessica," he said, briefly reaching out and touching her upper arm before leaving the room.

x

"You have dogs, right?" Tony asked Meredith. Things were pretty quiet in the warehouse, and their teams were steadily plugging along.

"Yep," she answered.

"What kind?" he asked. "My wife floated the idea, and I want us to do some research. Pick the right breed, you know?"

"They're all mutts from the shelter. One is German Shepard cross. He likes to jump over fences. Even climbed a tree and got onto the roof once. There's a black lab-kinda girl. Real sweet, but she'll whack you with her tail. And a pug-beagle mix who snores like a freight train."

"Maybe we should buy a purebred," Tony mused.

"Oh, they're not any better. More health problems, most of the time, and you'll pay a bundle if they're registered. Unregistered, and they're likely to be inbred or have mistreated mamas."

"You seem to know a lot," he told her.

"Had dogs my whole life, Bobby."

"We had one back in Ohio, but he ran away." It was the backstory the family had agreed upon, in case anything about Grover came up in conversation.

"Sorry to hear that," Meredith said, slapping Tony on the back. "I gotta check on Dustin over there," she said, referring to a member of her team.

x

Mona returned home from dropping off Jonathan and went into the kitchen. The kids had eaten generic high protein flakes for breakfast, and there was a pile of dirty bowls, in addition to the dinner dishes from the previous night. She decided it was time to roll up her sleeves and check off some of the items on her list.

But first, she needed a cup of coffee. She sat down to watch TV, telling herself she'd start the kitchen at 9am. Then I Love Lucy came on. It was the Job Switching episode, and that was a classic. She laughed out loud watching Lucy and Ethel stuff chocolates in their mouths and hats, and when Ricky slipped in cooked rice. It struck her that Tony and Angela had done a half-reverse job switch themselves, and she'd been caught up in the chaos.

After the half-hour episode, Mona pulled out her boombox for some motivational music. She danced back into the kitchen listening to Wham sing "I'm Your Man" and finally made some progress. It was an upbeat set, and a few songs later another of her favorites turned up. She sang along with Eddie Murphy as he described her old life in "Party All The Time." Before she knew it, the dishwasher was running. She decided to keep going, wiping down the counters and sweeping the floors before taking out the trash. Once that was done, she vacuumed the downstairs.

Looking in the pantry and refrigerator for something to eat for lunch, Mona realized there was more on the grocery list stuck to the fridge than inside. She made herself a ham and cheese sandwich with the last two pieces of bread and the one slice of ham left in the package, compensating with a generous slab of cheese and some yellow mustard. Then she took the list, sixty dollars in cash, and the keys to the Volvo.

Grocery shopping took longer than she expected. The store was unfamiliar, and she had to try to find the cheapest version of everything. After spending fifty-four dollars and sixteen cents, she pushed three full paper bags back to the station wagon. A man stopped to offer to bring her cart back to the front of the store, and she told him he could have it in exchange for his number. He handed her a business card and winked as he walked away with the cart.

On her way home, Mona noticed that the gas tank was below an eighth of a tank. She stopped at the self-service lane and pumped five dollars and eighty-seven cents worth of unleaded, taking three pennies from the cashier's little plastic tray and pushing the cash across the counter.

At home, only the cold items were put away immediately. The other bags sat on the counter waiting for someone else to deal with them. Mona put her boombox back in her suite and relaxed for a short while, making a call to Ricky to plan their next date. She put the new prospect's number in the drawer of her nightstand. It needed to simmer for at least three days.

School pickup time came before long, and Mona got back into the station wagon to get Jonathan and then Sam. Both kids were cheery, to her surprise, and she decided to take advantage of their positive attitudes. Jonathan put most of the pantry items in their designated homes, while Sam put away clean dishes and utensils. When he ran upstairs to start on his homework, she continued with the groceries that belonged on higher shelves. Something was on her mind, and now was her chance. "Hey Grandma Cassie?" she began.

"Yeah, kiddo?" Mona responded.

"Did Mom want to have more children? Before we moved?"

"Jess?" she clarified.

"Yeah."

"I think she always wanted two," Mona answered.

"Hmmm." Sam thought hard. If Angela wanted two kids, did that mean she felt their family was complete, or that she still wanted to get pregnant again and have another baby?

"Why are you asking?"

"No reason."