fh_alumni | Pittsburgh, Pa., Saturday, May 17, 1997 (Reply)

It was her first day back from Fandom, and Angela had thrown herself into her job as a hostess at her father's restaurant with uncharacteristic effort. If her parents knew she was trying to keep herself from thinking about what she had left, they didn't say anything,

Rolling napkins and handing out menus managed to keep her hands busy well into the evening. Too bad they didn't take up her entire brain.

	It's not that he's not immediately recognizable. It's just that he's not wearing a suit any more when he entered the busy restaurant and start looking for a certain someone. When he saw the trademark red hair on the girl working at the front of the restaurant he felt his heart leap just a little before carefully stepping up behind her. "Excuse me, miss? How long is the wait for a table?"
	"About ten minutes," Angela said automatically, not really looking up from her podium. Then she did. Time stopped for a moment. "Marty?"
	Marty couldn't stop grinning like an idiot. "Hey," he said, partially because he couldn't think of anything to say but also because he was enjoying the reaction he was getting. "Um. Miss me?"
	Angela was still a little stuck on him being there. She launched a hug at him. "So, so much. How'd you ... never mind. You have to tell me later."
	"I've got time," Marty said glomping on to Angela. "Actually? A lot more than I thought."
	Angela spun him around, nuzzling into his chest. "You're confusing me..."
	"Well... let's just say that I decided not to go to the University of Michigan," Marty holding on to her pretty tightly.
	"Bad orientation?" Angela sniffled.
	"More like... I don't know," Marty said shaking his head. "I got a letter from myself. From 1997. It said- Well basically it said I should stop being a dumb ass and not let the one good thing in my life go just because school was ending."
	"Sounds like whoever wrote the letter was pretty smart," Angela said. "I should have tried harder to stay, too."
	Marty shook his head. "You've got family here. You had to come back. I-" Marty faltered for a second and then just grinned. "I guess I just realized that I didn't want to gamble on a couple of Bridge Carson Cell Phones being the only connection I had to you."
	"They wouldn't have been," Angela promised, hugging him again because words really weren't working. "What about your mom?"
	Marty hugged her back something fierce. "Well there's Marcella and apparently me. Ten years older or something like that. I'm trying not to think of it because it just makes my brain hurt."
	"Keep your brain in one piece," Angela said. "I'm just so, so glad to have you back." She leaned away for a moment. "So you're here for good?"
	"Yep," Marty said continuing to grin. "I've spent the last week and a half in New York doing admission tests for Columbia. So you and I... same city at least. If you want me around." He's joking with that last statement.
	"Same city, same year," Angela grinned. "And you are amazing."
	"So I'm not a complete dork for dumping everything and moving across time and space to be with you?" Marty asked.
	"Only if I'm dork for loving you for doing it," Angela said. "... how'd you do the time travel part, anyhow?"
	"There was a special on Portalocity," Marty joked. "Seriously, I'm not sure. The letter told me to go to a certain place at a certain time and... yeah my brain hurts just thinking about it." Then he gave Angela a dorky grin. "Totally worth it though."
	"Totally," Angela agreed. She couldn't take her eyes off Marty. "Um ... you can stay with my family for the summer, and then -- New York!"
	"If it's okay with your parents," Marty agreed. "And then: You. Me. New York."
	That sounded excellent to Angela. "Perfect," she said, eyes shining. "And Marty? Thank you."
	Marty couldn't stop grinning. "My pleasure," he said. "I love you."
	Angela didn't need to say she loved him too; it was all over her face as she drew him into a kiss. The future, the past, whatever -- it was theirs.