She was making her way toward Tony, who was busy at work making them lunch, when the sudden jolt of pain sliced through her middle.

Her husband must have heard her sharp intake of breath as his head whipped around, eyes wide. "Michelle?"

She winced and steadied herself against the table as another wave of pain overtook her.

Tony dropped what he was doing. "Is it...?"

She nodded fiercely and he was at her side immediately, rubbing her back. "He's not due for a few more weeks, Michelle, are you sure—?"

He was cut off by her hiss as her nails dug into his arm. "Yeah, I'm sure," she managed breathlessly.

That was all he needed to hear.

"A'right, don't move," he ordered, as if she had any intentions of going anywhere without him to lean on. "I'm gonna go grab my keys and your bag and then we'll go." He pecked her cheek quickly in an effort to calm her—though he was more so the one who needed to calm down—before dashing down the hall, returning to her less than a minute later. "Did this just start now?"

She shook her head. "I've had some back pain... more than usual. It was off and on for a while."

"Michelle," he chided. "You should've—"

"I thought it was nothing." She grunted and braced herself against him. "Do you have everything? Clothes? Camera? And you installed the—?"

"Yeah, the car seat's in there, I got it."

"And you'll call the hospital—"

"On the way there, sweetheart. Listen, all you need to do is breathe; I'll worry about the rest." He waited for her to relax again and, wrapping his arm securely around her shoulders, he pulled her tighter against his side, holding her up. "Come on, I got you."

As delicately as possible, he helped her outside and into their vehicle, planting a reassuring kiss on her forehead before shutting the passenger side door and hurrying over to his side.

He gripped the wheel, white-knuckled, and hastily backed out of their driveway. His breathing was probably more ragged than Michelle's, regardless of the fact that she was the one having contractions. Any anxiety he'd ever experienced on a field operation back in his CTU days paled in comparison to this.

He looked over at his wife at least every few seconds during the drive to the hospital. His Michelle was tough, but as he caught her biting down on her lower lip and pinching her eyes shut, knowing how much pain she must be in was threatening to drive him mad.

"How you holding up?"

She exhaled forcefully. "I'm okay." Moving a hand to her abdomen and fighting to hold a whimper at bay, she shot him a knowing glance. "You?"

He almost wanted to laugh. That was so Michelle, worrying about him as she went into labor. "I'm fine as long as you are."

He took his right hand off the wheel and offered it to her, letting her pull it into her lap and squeeze it as hard as she needed to.

Michelle felt like she'd been in the hospital for days, completely overwrought as she got closer and closer to finally meeting her son.

"I wish I could do this for you," her husband mumbled tiredly from the chair beside the bed, toying with a loose strand of her thick hair.

She smirked. "I know you do."

His gaze shifted to where her hands now rested protectively on her distended stomach covered by the thin hospital gown. "You scared?"

Hard as she tried to put on a brave face, she knew he saw right through it. He always saw right through it. She sighed shakily. "Yeah."

He ran his fingers over the curls he'd tied back for her earlier and kissed the tip of her nose. "Me too."

"Okay, Michelle," the doctor finally decided. "You're ready to push."

Michelle's terrified eyes found Tony's and he instinctively moved his hand to soothingly caress her cheek. "Ready?"

She took a deep breath and nodded in the affirmative. Like before, he let her squeeze his hand—even when he was certain the amount of pressure hers exerted would break it.

"I love you so much," he repeated, feeling somewhat helpless as she panted between each grueling effort. "I love you both so much."

"One more little push, Michelle!" she finally heard.

"You're doing great, sweetheart," his voice sounded softly in her ear and she swore she heard his voice crack. "One more. You can do it." He kissed her hand. "I'm right here."

His quiet motivations helped her find the little strength she had left and she focused all of it into that very last push, collapsing back against the pillow when it was over. Her eyes welled up as she heard the first distinct cries from her son fill the air.

"It's a boy!" the doctor announced. "Just like you thought. Congratulations."

A small, teary, laugh escaped Michelle's lips at this knowledge and she watched on as the baby was passed to a nurse to be cleaned up and measured.

Tony pressed his lips against his wife's sweaty forehead. "I love you," he whispered adoringly.

She smiled weakly, clearly winded. "I love you, Tony."

The nurse appeared at the side of the bed shortly with their son wrapped in a swaddling blanket, and the new dad took this as his cue to carefully situate himself on the bed with Michelle, her exhausted frame now resting against him. His love grew for her with every nervous breath she took.

Their new baby was placed gently in her arms, and as she held his tiny form for the first time, Tony held her. They peered down at the little bundle together, awe and pure happiness evident on both of their faces.

He was undeniably a little Tony. Soft, black curls, tan skin and all. As far as Michelle was concerned, he was all Tony, and she wouldn't have had it any other way.

The first thing Tony noticed, however, were the eyes—Michelle's eyes—staring back at him. His breath hitched and he grinned insuppressibly with pride and amazement. Their son was more beautiful than either of them could have imagined.

"Hi, Anthony..." Michelle cooed. "Sweet boy..." Her lip quivered and she turned slightly into Tony's chest, eyes never leaving the precious newborn in her arms.

"Hey, little guy..." Tony brushed his thumb gingerly over Anthony's clenched little fist, his voice thick. He placed another kiss on Michelle's cheek. "He's perfect, sweetheart."

She nodded, overcome. "He is."

"He's seven pounds, nine ounces," the nurse informed them with a polite smile. "Eighteen inches long. Have you decided on a name?"

Tony looked to his wife for confirmation. She nodded.

"Yeah." He smiled at his little boy again. "Anthony Jack Almeida."

In the time that followed, Michelle was shown how to breastfeed their new little one and was further taken care of while Tony called everyone there was to call from the list they had written out weeks prior. (A considerable amount of his time on the phone had been spent cradling Anthony and rambling on to his parents in Chicago about his favorite little boy with a full head of hair.) He answered the typical questions—Yes, Anthony was healthy. Yes, he looked like Michelle. Yes, he supposed he looked like his dad, too. Yes, Michelle was fine. Yes, they needed to visit soon. Yes, he would send pictures.

After calling Michelle's family he asked if she needed anything.

She held her arms out. "Just baby."

He kissed Anthony's head and transferred him from his arms to Michelle's, letting the two of them have their own bonding time while he took a quick trip to the gift shop downstairs. He wandered through the store for a few minutes before deciding on an arrangement of baby blue dyed roses, white roses and baby's breath. After paying the cashier he took out a pen to sign the little card attached.

To our beautiful Michelle.
Love,
Tony & Anthony

Michelle was exhausted to say the least, but getting any sleep that night was highly unlikely for her. Anthony had been taken down to the nursery, giving the new mom her rest, but the excitement still hadn't worn off. Her son was perfect in every way, her husband had made it his life's purpose to treat her like a princess and her parents had even stopped by the hospital to meet their grandson. All in all it had been one of the happiest days of her life.

She admired the flowers on her nightstand and glanced over at Tony to find him slumped over in the chair beside her bed, eyes closed.

"Honey."

"Mmm?" His eyelids fluttered and he sat up a little, now squinting in the dimly lit room. "You need something? Want me to get a nurse?"

She shook her head. "No, no, sweetheart, I'm fine. It's just... You should go home for a while. Get some sleep." She lifted her hand to his face, resting it on his stubbly cheek. "You know we won't be getting much of that luxury once we bring him home."

His lips curled upward at the gesture and he covered her hand with his. "I'm not going anywhere."

She sighed. Of course she'd expected as much, but the idea of living with two cranky boys for the next little while didn't exactly thrill her. "Well at least get up here, then." She patted the spot next to her and squirmed over, attempting to make room for him.

He gave her a hesitant look. She looked so weak and fragile that he was almost afraid to touch her, let alone lie next to her. "Michelle..."

"Please, Tony," she insisted. Then she added, as if to read his mind, "I'm not going to break."

He gave in, as he always did when it came to her. She had always been his one weakness, and he smiled at the realization that now, that wasn't quite true.

Now he had two.

He cautiously eased his body in beside hers, every movement calculated, repeatedly asking if she was still all right. The last thing he wanted was for her to be uncomfortable, though she kept assuring him she was just fine.

When they were settled, propped up against the pillows, she leaned her head into the crook of his neck, secretly grateful he hadn't taken her up on her previous offer.

His arm came around her gently. "Is this—?"

"Tony." Amusement colored her tone as she nuzzled his neck with her nose. "You're fine. Don't worry so much."

He brought his hand to his face and scratched his cheek lightly. "How do you feel?"

"Sore..." she admitted. "Which is normal." She shifted so she could see his face and, glowing, she added, "But I'm so happy."

His gleaming eyes met hers, conveying without words that he felt the same way. "Promise me something," he whispered.

She yawned softly and scooted in closer. "Sweetheart, my cooking really isn't that bad," she mumbled teasingly into his chest.

He chuckled. "Oh, it is. But we covered that one already; don't think I've forgotten."

He couldn't see her face, but he knew his wife well, and she was definitely rolling her eyes.

His tone grew more serious again. "Just... Promise me we'll never go back. To CTU, I mean," he clarified, though she knew immediately what he was implying. "Promise me no matter how bad things get, or whether this whole business of ours works out or not... Just promise me we won't step foot in there again. I..." his voice trailed off as he thought of their child but his wife's dark eyes were willing him to continue. "We can't jeopardize what we have now. Not for anything. That place tore us apart as much as it brought us together and losing you is not a risk I'm willing to take anymore, even if national security is at stake. And there may come a day when they really need us, Michelle, and we're gonna have to say no because it's not just about us anymore. Anthony needs us more.

"But I know you, and I know that when something happens your first instinct is to help. You'll see something in the news and you'll pick up the phone and no matter what I try to tell you, no matter how many times I try to argue that they don't need us, nothing I can say will make you change your mind." He clenched his jaw. "Baby, if I ever lost you… I'd lose my mind. That's why I need you to promise me that's never gonna happen. That we've gotten out of all of that, we made it out together and we're gonna start a whole new life. Without ever looking back."

After a brief moment of silence, Michelle placed a hand on his chest and brought her lips to his, kissing him tenderly.

"We're out," she breathed. "Promise."