A/N: Forget the final scene of Savor the Veal III and go from there. Enjoy! Oh & gotta add that I've been loving all the WTB? fics posted lately. Keep 'em coiming guys!

Disclaimer: You mean WTB? doesn't belong to me? Must go sulk in a corner now... Yeah, whatever...

The Unexpected

Angela stared in shock at the object in her hand. The one thought that kept racing through her mind was, 'This can't be happening.' She was 41, a mother of a son who would soon be graduating from high school, and she was an executive of her own advertising agency. These types of things did not happen to a woman like her. And yet, she reflected, glancing down at the small object she held in her hand, it was still happening.

A knock on her door sent her scrambling to hide any evidence of what was going on. "Angela, are you..." Mona's voice trailed off as she witnessed her daughter desperately wiping away tears. She crossed the floor and sat down beside Angela. "You've been crying again." It was a statement, not a question.

Angela tried to collect herself and with a nervous smile explained, "I'm fine Mother, really I..." She caught Mona's unbelieving gaze and stopped. Cautiously, she attempted to check the safety of the hiding place in the bedspread behind her without raising Mona's suspicions. She failed.

Mona was studying her daughter carefully, trying to figure out some way she could fix things for her, some way to repair the damage she felt partially responsible for. It had been almost two months since Angela had returned from Iowa, two long months of seeing her moping around, grieving the loss of the most important relationship in her life. She had seemed so unhappy in Iowa, but Mona couldn't help but feel that this was much worse. As she noticed Angela's furtive glance behind her, she began to wonder if there wasn't more to this recent crying spree than met the eye. Aloud she sighed, "Oh Angela," and moved to hug her. The moment Angela was sufficiently distracted, she let her hand drift toward the mystery object hidden in the folds of the bedspread. Her hand grasped around something long and thin and she pulled back quickly to get a look at it. "What are you..." Mona froze as she realized what she was holding.

Angela made a desperate grab. "Mother! Give that back!"

Mona just held it higher and further away while trying to process the implications of her discovery. She tore her eyes away from the object to look at her daughter. Angela had given up trying to reclaim it and was staring at the ring on her hand, the one she still refused to take off. She couldn't look at her mother, couldn't process all the emotions flying around in her head. There was fear, there was embarrassment, anger at her mother for discovering her secret so quickly, there was confusion, and there was...joy?

Mona's voice interrupted her thoughts. "You're... Angela, you're pregnant?" The disbelief and astonishment in her mother's voice almost matched her own.

Angela's head slowly rose and turned to look into her mother's eyes. Her own were brimmed with tears as she bit her lip and said in a tiny voice, "I am."

"How did this happen?" Mona gasped.

A small smile crept over Angela's face before she could help it. "The usual way Mother. You of all people should know 'how it happened'."

Still trying to pull the pieces together, Mona asked, "You and Tony? You really? You and Tony had sex?" She'd never thought it would happen

Her mother's incredulity was pulling her out of her own shock. "Well Mother, we lived together, alone, for three months, and I wasn't his boss anymore, and it just seemed natural to..." She blushed a little as the memories came back to her. The feel of his body moving on hers, the heat of his skin, the way his hands traveled so slowly over her hips, and the amazing sensations she felt as he placed butterfly kisses across her stomach. Her eyes flew open as she stopped her mind from going any further. He was there, she was here, and they were going to have a baby? This was not the way things were supposed to happen. With a cry, she collapsed in Mona's arms. "Oh Mother! What am I going to do?"

The tears and uncontrolled emotions disturbed Mona, but she patiently allowed her daughter to seek comfort in her arms. When the downpour had reduced itself to hiccups and small sniffles, she pulled away, grasping Angela's shoulders and looking straight into her tear-stained face. "You are going to pick up the phone and book a flight to Iowa. Then you are going to have a long, long talk with Tony."

"I can't. I can't!" She shook her head. "He'd want to move here or he'd want me to move there and it just wouldn't work. We'd end up hating each other."

"Angela," Mona began sternly, "This is his baby too. You can't not tell him. And you two, you've got to stop being so selfish, this is not just about you anymore."

Angela hesitated, "I don't think..."

"That just it! Don't think!" Mona jumped in with advice. "Do you still love him?"

Angela nodded.

Mona paused before asking the next question, unsure of how to phrase it. "Do you want this baby?"

"I," Angela breathed heavily before answering with certainty, "Yes."

"Then do it. Go to Iowa, tell Tony you're having his baby, tell him you love him, and then let the chips fall where they may. You'll find a way to make it work."

Angela closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Okay," she said finally. "I'll talk to him."

Mona squeezed her daughter tightly. "That's my girl."