A/N: Give me all your questions and concerns!

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Peter Pan

"I won't see you at church on Sunday, Jess. I'm on bed rest for the next two months."

"Oh, Sheila. I'm so sorry to hear that."

"It's what the doctors warned me about from the beginning. If I can keep my blood pressure down, I have a good chance of making it to thirty-eight weeks."

"And they're planning a c-section, right?"

"Yeah. I almost needed one with Seth, but he managed to pop out just in time."

Sheila wanted to ask Jess whether she had any updates about trying for a baby, but it was too sensitive a topic. There was so much that could go wrong, even if she did manage to conceive. Best to let her speak up in her own time.

"Well, I'd love to visit you when you're up for it. I can also take Seth when you need help. Even if Bobby and I are at work, my mother is around."

"How is Cassie doing, anyway?"

"I don't know. She seems happy. Ricky joined us for dinner last night." The steakhouse was closed for a private party, so Mona didn't have work. "He even helped Bobby cook."

"Dinner with the family? That's a big step up from nooners and overnights."

"I know. They're closer than ever. I don't understand why they won't admit to being in a relationship."

"Your mom is afraid of commitment, right?"

"She is, and yet I think she wants to spend the rest of her life with him."

"Oh, Jess. I really hope it works out. They were so adorable at your reception."

"I know. I should let you go, Sheila. Please keep me updated and let me know if there's anything I can do for you." Angela knew Tony would be home from class soon, and she didn't want to be interrupted if the conversation went deeper again.

"Thank you, Jess."

x

Linda invited the Morettis to celebrate Halloween at the country club. It was a more upscale affair than they'd expected, and they ended up looking in the phone book for costume rentals, rather than purchasing cheap outfits or attempting to make something themselves.

During the family's excursion to the costume shop in Phoenix, Jonathan abandoned his eye patch and demanded a different accessory. There was an elaborate Captain Hook costume in his size. Sam had a long blue dress at home that was perfect for Wendy Darling. Tony easily found a Peter Pan costume, complete with red wig and elfin ears. It took some persuasion to get Angela to be Tinkerbell.

"It's too short, Bobby," Angela hissed from the dressing room. She wouldn't let go of the curtain covering her body, but Tony could see her backside in the mirror, and everything looked great. Especially her legs.

"Nobody's watching, Jess. Just let me see the front."

It was then that Angela realized Tony was looking at her butt in the mirror. She huffed out a breath and shut the curtain.

"You look great, baby. It's not really that short. Just let me have a peek."

A hand reached out and pulled him into the dressing stall. "You really think it's OK?" Angela asked.

Tony couldn't let her know how incredibly sexy he thought she was at that moment. The front of the costume was even better than the back, with a neckline that enhanced her bust and a jagged hem that exposed glimpses of her upper thighs. Her waist seemed narrow enough to contain between his two hands.

"It's actually quite modest, considering that it's Halloween," he said. "Could you try the wig?" he asked, bringing the fake blonde bun out from behind his back. Together, they shoved her own hair under the stretchy cap and twisted the wig until it was straight.

Angela looked at herself in the mirror, and for a second, the exaggerated bun and heavy bangs morphed into the messy, rooted, ash-blonde updo she'd worn at home in Fairfield. She gasped and found eye contact with Tony in the mirror. Did he see it, too? Did he like it?

"I love it," he told her unprompted, giving into temptation and sliding his palms across the smooth satin stretched over her abdomen. She placed her hands on top of his, then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He felt her belly expand and contract. A sense of calm washed over them both.

"Fine," she grumbled, reluctant to reveal how excited she was to go out as a blonde again. It didn't hurt that Tony's Peter Pan outfit was so fitted. The sleeves were short enough to show off his bulging arms, and the V-neck revealed his strong chest and a bit of hair that didn't suit the character. They would make quite the couple, and the kids were going to be adorable.

x

"Sign here," the delivery driver said.

Tony scrawled his assumed name on the form. The package was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Moretti. It had come sooner than he expected. He carefully cut the tape and opened it up.

The cover of their wedding album was a candid of them standing and clinking their champagne flutes. They wore matching blissful expressions. He flipped through the many beautifully composed photos and recalled how happy they had been. It was a feeling that he carried with him every day now, and when he and Angela were in bed together, everything else melted away. Being with her was unrefined joy.

"I'm off to work now," Mona called to him. "Enjoy your party. By the way, Ricky is still recovering." She winked to make sure Tony caught her drift.

"You did make sure he's still breathing, right?"

"Oh hush. Actually, he wants to stick around and hand out candy this evening."

"Sure, that's fine. We'll be coming home from the party about the same time you get off work."

"Don't let my baby eat too much candy."

"Chris knows better."

"I meant Jess."

x

Sam, Jonathan, and Tony were already dressed in their costumes when Angela got home. "Give me half an hour," she told them. When she descended the stairs, Tony had her wings and wand ready.

Sam's hair was held back in a big blue bow, but she didn't wear ringlets. The dress was elegant, originally purchased for a friend's sister's quinceañera, where she felt utterly out of place, like Angela must have felt in Brooklyn. Her attire was a transition out of little kid costumes and toward something more mature. Whether that meant skipping Halloween altogether or something else in the years to follow, she wasn't sure.

Jonathan wore a frilly white blouse, black pants, and a gold-trimmed red velvet overcoat with a wide sash. He twirled his false mustache incessantly with his right hand and tossed his long black curly wig over his shoulder. His hat was outlandishly large, even without the plume. Everyone feared his hook enough that he was not allowed to carry a sword.

Tony's mismatched greens and red wig were unflattering to his olive skin, but his cheeky grin made the costume come alive. He had covered his own eyebrows with Sam's concealer and drawn on high arches.

Ricky took pictures of each family member individually and one of the entire crew together, Tony and Angela standing on the ground level with Sam one step up and Jonathan two steps up. They loaded the wings and pirate hat into the rear hatch and carefully maneuvered into the station wagon. Angela's bun and Tony's hair/hat combination would have hit the headliner of the car if they hadn't slouched down.

At the club, they checked in and found Linda, Natalie, and Patrick. His girlfriend was preparing to retake the SAT exam the next morning. He wore a t-shirt with a ribcage printed on it. Natalie was dressed as Pippi Longstocking. Linda was a classic witch in a long black dress and pointed hat. "No Tom?" Tony asked Angela.

"Didn't work out. They stopped seeing each other a couple of weeks ago," she whispered. The information had been passed from Linda to Natalie to Sam to her. Tony was just relieved that their wedding hadn't precipitated another breakup.

The party included a dinner buffet of spaghetti with eyeballs, hot dog mummies, little pumpkin cheeseballs, and witches' brew, as well as a plethora of themed cookies and cakes. Novelty songs played over the speakers. They snapped their fingers to "The Addams Family," shouted "Ghostbusters," and all the kids got up to dance to "Thriller."

After dinner, there was a mini carnival with a ring toss, "fishing" for penny prizes, and a man guessing weight. The kids went first, while Tony and Angela hung back to talk with Linda about their daughters and various neighborhood concerns. The three went together to check out the carnival. Somehow, Tony ended up chatting with the man guessing weights. "One hundred sixty-seven pounds," he said. Nobody seemed to be interested, so he started pointing out various people in costumes that didn't obscure their figures too much. "Two hundred thirty-nine. Seventy-four. One hundred thirty-one."

"No, buddy, that's my wife."

"Tinkerbell? She's very cute. And one hundred thirty-one pounds."

"Don't tell her that. Please." Tony knew Angela would lose her mind if she hit one-thirty. It was important to her that she be light enough for him to carry, for some reason. He took the concern to heart and made sure to keep his strength training up.

"Some women are so sensitive. It's just a fact." Tony rolled his eyes at the tormenter and walked away.

"Hey, Jess, let's check out the haunted house. It's supposed to be extra gory this year," Linda said. The rest of the family followed along.

Meanwhile, Ricky was handing out full-sized Snickers bars and eating leftover baked ziti. Around nine, just as he was about to run out of candy, the doorbell stopped ringing. He still had over an hour before anyone else would be home.

"May as well look at the vow renewal pictures," he said to himself. It was one of the best and worst days in his recent memory. All through the ceremony and reception, he felt like a member of the family, or at least a legitimate partner to Cassie.

She had warned him up front not to expect anything serious to develop between them. He took her at her word but fell in love right away. What choice was there? She was exceptionally beautiful, whip smart, and as funny as any woman he had ever met. She knew how to have a good time, in bed and in life.

At first, Cassie shared only the most basic information about her family. After a month or so, she started opening up more. She worried about everyone so much and seemed to resent her role in the family. Things got better when she found a job. She was gregarious and energetic and needed to be out in the world, not home waiting for school pickup time.

That Spring, just after making it official, they had their trip to Santa Fe. They talked at length about how their long-distance relationship was going to work. For the most part, they followed through on their plans. They shared everything over the phone, and he bought her a polaroid camera and a boatload of film. They even wrote letters to each other. He was disappointed that she wouldn't visit, but he enjoyed the two separate weeks with her in June and August. It was enough.

Those week-long visits were a chance for him to get closer to the family, too. Every single one of them was so damned endearing. They all loved each other so much. He wanted to be included in that.

Looking at the photo of Bobby kneeling before Jess, asking her to stay married, Ricky remembered what had led to the breakup. The vow renewal had been quite elaborate. He didn't really care whether Bobby and Jess had been married forever or if they were living in sin. What worried him was the idea that Chris had a real father looking for him, along with Jen's real mother. Then again, maybe not. Both of the children seemed exceptionally well adjusted and affectionate with both parents and each other.

These people didn't seem like criminals. They even took jury duty seriously. The worst he'd seen was Bobby and Jess going to second base in their own hot tub. He'd done the same thing, and he didn't even live there. He couldn't square any of it in his mind.

Ricky was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't hear the garage door.

x

"Jess? Jess, wake up," a woman's voice said.

Angela fluttered open her eyes. Peter Pan was holding her in his arms while a witch with a silver wand stared down at her. She shook her head quickly and refocused. It was Tony and Linda. She squirmed, and Tony put her down on her feet, maintaining a firm hold around her waist.

"The severed head. It was too gory," Tony said. He had seen her start to faint and rushed to slide his arm under her large wings. Once he had her aloft, he felt every one of her one hundred thirty-one pounds.

"Not for me!" Jonathan chirped.

"You're the goriest, that's why," Sam taunted.

"You're lucky Bobby caught you, Jess. You could have hit your head," Linda said. She was relieved that her neighbor was alright, but she also didn't feel like filing an incident report.

"We should go home," Tony said.

"Yeah, I'm tired anyway," Sam said.

"Me too," Jonathan joined in. They all knew Angela would stay as long as everyone else wanted.

When they got home, Ricky was flipping through the wedding album. "Sorry!" he said, as if he'd been caught snooping. The kids said good night and went upstairs.

"It's fine," Angela said. "There are some nice ones of you and Mom in there."

"A good one of you and me, dancing, too." Ricky was surprised to be included at all, considering the photo selection was probably done while he and Cassie were estranged.

"I'm going to change and make sure the Chris doesn't lose any pieces of his costume," Tony said. "I'll be back down in a while." He kissed Angela's cheek and climbed the stairs.

"My mom really wants to make it work with you, Ricky," Angela said. "It's not her fault that there are things she can't be honest with you about. It's my fault. Mine and Bobby's."

"Do Chris and Jen have good parents who are out there with broken hearts, Jess?"

"No." She really didn't think Michael had enough attachment to his son to be broken hearted over his absence.

"Are you breaking the law?"

"No. We've all been law-abiding citizens, aside from a few youthful infractions on Bobby's part."

"Are you in witness protection?"

"I can't tell you that," Angela said. "Don't ask again." She was uncharacteristically stern.

"There are Snickers bars in the freezer," Ricky said. It was a peace offering, and she nodded to accept the detente. He turned and went to Cassie's suite. She opened the freezer door and pulled out a package. It was chilled, but not frozen solid. She took a bite and closed her eyes as she chewed.

Tony came downstairs in his pajamas. He still had the high arched eyebrows and elfin ears from his costume. "You're going to make yourself sick," he warned.

Angela took one look and burst into laughter. "You look ridiculous," she said, taking another bite.

"And you look sexy as all get out. I've been dying to tell you that."

She propped her feet up on the counter, stretching her nude fishnet-clad legs straight. "I know."

"Can I have a bite?" he asked. She offered him the bar, and he ate the last third.

"You're going to make yourself sick," she mocked, before accepting his chocolatey kiss.

x

Shirley had called every department store in Phoenix looking for wedding registries from September twentieth. She asked directory assistance for the number of a Christopher or Jessica Milano in Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, and a number of other Phoenix suburbs. "Why would they use his father-in-law's last name?" Jack asked for the hundredth time, but it was all she had.

She was obsessed, he decided a couple of weeks into their relationship, and it wasn't fun anymore. He wondered how long it would take her to give up, if he started to lead her down dead end paths. Or should he simply refuse to help? He decided to appeal to her intelligence, risky as that was.

"If Nick Milano was killed by an organized crime family, Tony Micelli probably had to go on the run to keep his daughter safe. And since it appears that he and Angela Bower were in love, she decided to go along and bring her son and mother. Maybe they did establish a new life somewhere in Arizona. Whatever we find out is only going to put them and us in danger."

"Wait, why do you say they were in love? Carmella at the fish market only said that he was sweet on her."

"She dressed up and went to Thanksgiving in Brooklyn, even though she was clearly uncomfortable being there. She played basketball. She let his daughter lean on her jag. The feeling was mutual."

"So, you want me to quit looking?"

"Maybe we can find something else to do," he said, raising his eyebrows.