Title: At Long Last - A Wedding Bells Alternate
Category: Who's the Boss
Summary: What happens when you mix too much wine and a secret love?
Rating:NC-17, NSFW, M
Spoilers: Wedding Bells
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
This story contains content for mature audiences only - please be warned. If people want, I can try to mark the sections so you can skip those parts if you prefer not to read them but still want the rest of the story. If enough people ask I can try!
This story is complete (I think) but it has multiple chapters. I'll upload them as fast as I can. I kept them to 1200-1500 words for the most part because I think that's manageable to read without having to binge the whole thing!
I wrote most of these a long time ago. I apologize for any mistakes, but I will try to edit as I go!
I'm moving my Who's the Boss fics from various other sites to here. Feedback welcome - good or bad - and appreciated :) Enjoy.
13.
Angela is so happy with the gift she's gotten Tony. She can't imagine him not having his own baseball card. She can't wait to see how surprised he'll be.
They all sit around in their pyjamas by the tree. The kids tear into their gifts, then Mona because she's impatient, then Tony and Angela.
"Here, Angela," Sam says, "this is for you."
"Tiffany? Mother, did you get this for me?"
"I didn't."
"I did," Tony says.
"You did?" Angela is surprised, and she pulls apart the ribbon to open the box. Inside is a beautiful, simple pair of gold earrings in Tiffany's signature X design. She loves them.
"We were watching TV, remember? And you liked them. I think those are the ones. There were two of them that looked exactly the same, but I'm pretty sure these are the ones."
"These are the ones." She can't believe it.
"Wow," Mona says behind her. "What did you do to deserve those?"
"Quiet, mother," Angela mumbles.
"Do you like them?" Tony asks, his face excited and hopeful. Angela's heart is so full.
"I love them. Thank you, Tony," she says, her feelings for him making her bold enough to hug him tightly in front of the family. He hugs her back, wrapping her in his arms.
"Here, Tony," Jonathan says, handing him a box. Tony lets go of Angela to take the gift. She can't wait for him to open this one.
"From Angela," he says, grinning. He cracks a joke but when he opens it, he's surprised. She's so glad, but then she finds out the truth - he sold his only card so she could have the earrings she wanted. She bursts out crying.
"Oh, Angela, come on. It's not a big deal," he says, handing her a box of tissues and helping her dry her tears. Mona puts her arm around her.
"Just take the gift and quit blubbering," she says.
Angela wipes her eyes, turning away for a moment to compose herself. She just can't imagine someone sacrificing so much for her. His own baseball card, the only one he had, the only one they knew was in existence, and he gave it up for her.
"Um, hey, Angela, are you okay?" Tony asks, leading her away from the others.
"I can't believe you did this, Tony. This is so special… it means so much to me."
Tony shrugs. "It was nothin'. I'm just glad you like it.
"I'll wear them tonight for dinner," she says.
"Angela," Mona interrupts, "you're standing under the mistletoe."
They look up. The infamous mistletoe. Where they drunkenly kissed, but made love later when completely sober, without the excuse of alcohol.
Tony looks at her and she looks at him and they give each other a quick peck. Her face feels hot and she clears her throat.
"Well! If that's all the gifts, we should consider cleaning up."
"Not yet!" Jonathan says, playing with his toys.
"Yeah, not yet." Sam has found batteries for her new walkman.
"Come on," Tony says, "relax. Hey, Mone! Was Santa good to you?"
"Isn't he always?" she winks, reviewing all of her gifts before putting them away. She probably got the most gifts, from many admirers.
Instead of cleaning up, they put on a Christmas movie, Tony brings out some hot chocolate and snacks, and they enjoy their time as a family. Somewhere along the line, Angela falls asleep on Tony's shoulder. She wakes up some time later.
"Hey, sleepyhead," Tony says.
"Oh, I'm sorry. How long did I sleep?"
"Not long. About half an hour. You must have needed it, you slept through this rowdy bunch."
"Yeah." Angela is a little embarrassed.
"You alright?"
"Yeah. I think I might be coming down with something. Or low on vitamin B or something. I went to the doctor last week." She doesn't want to tell him that when she becomes anxious she tends to exhibit it physically, and exhaustion is part of it. She doesn't want to believe her uncertain relationship with Tony is causing her to be sick.
"You know what? For the new year I think we should start a low fat, low sugar diet, what do you think? High protein, high fibre, and no snacking."
"No snacking?"
"I'll make oat bran muffins."
"Sounds great."
"Alright, alright, everyone! Start the cleanup. I'm going to get dinner finished."
Tony does dinner beautifully. Everything is delicious and there are so many dishes and everyone eats heartily and happily. Angela proudly wears her new earrings.
"They look good on you," Tony says to her quietly. Her heart skips a beat at his look.
xx
Tony has always loved holidays. Everyone getting together, everyone chatting and laughing, no need to rush, no where to go. He feels so good knowing Angela worked so hard to get his baseball card. He also feels so good knowing she loves her gift. He wanted so badly to get her something special this year. He wishes he could give her something special every year.
Angela brings more plates from the table. She starts to put away leftovers.
"This really was delicious," she tells him.
"You didn't eat very much."
"I did! I feel like I'm going to burst. But… I may have a little more later."
"If I know you, you'll have an entire plate for a midnight snack," Tony laughs. He dries the pot he's holding and puts it away, then goes to her.
"You look really nice," he tells her, standing very close behind her.
"Thank you," she says. "You look pretty good yourself."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. And your picture on your baseball card is so cute," she says, turning to him. "You look so young."
"I was young. Too young." He starts to help her put things away. "I just can't believe you. I'm not even going to ask how much you paid."
"I can't believe you, Tony. In my whole life, no one has ever given me such a gift."
"Come on. It's just a pair of earrings."
"It's not just a pair of earrings! Tony, you… you sold…."
"Angela! You're not gonna cry again!"
"No," she says, weepily. Tony rolls his eyes. He loves her, even when she's weepy like this, but it wasn't that big of a deal.
"Come here," he says, pulling her into his arms. "I swear, you've spent this entire Christmas break crying." She lets him hold her and he kisses her cheek and rubs her back while she sniffles and she leans against him. It feels so good when she lets her guard down like this. Angela has never been cold or emotionless, but she is usually very reserved and guarded with her feelings. He's glad that she's able to be vulnerable with him. He has such a need to take care of her.
"I don't know what's gotten into me," she says, wiping her eyes.
"It's Christmas," he shrugs.
"You're so wonderful, Tony."
He can't help it. He kisses her cheek again, then moves to kiss her mouth. It's just a soft kiss, and he means to kiss her just once, but her eyes stay closed and so he kisses her again, and again, and again.
A knock on the back door startles them. Tony sighs, then pulls the door open. It's Marcy.
"Hi! Is Sam here?"
"She's upstairs," Tony says.
"Thanks. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," Angela says to her. She goes back to her task of putting away leftovers and Tony is a little angry that their moment was interrupted.
"Who comes over on Christmas?" he grumbles.
"Oh, they probably want to talk about what they got. There's only so much family time teenagers can handle."
He still grumbles as Angela passes him more dirty dishes. Together they get through everything in no time. It's late but he's hoping she'll stick around and spend time with him.
"I'm going to go lie down," she says.
"Oh." He's very disappointed. "Okay. I'll just… I'll be down here, if you change your mind."
She smiles at him, and he watches her go upstairs.
Overall it was a great day. The kids are happy, Mona is happy. He thinks Angela is happy - she gets weepy when she's both happy and sad - and he is very happy. He sits on the couch and flicks on the television. This was a good day. The only thing that could make it better would be if Angela invited him to her bed.