diclaimer: I don't own Tony, or Michelle or any other 24 characters yadda yadda...don't sue me.
Warning I will completely ignore that season 5 ever happened.
CHAPTER ONE
A fresh start was all they needed.
Saying goodbye to Jack had been harder than Michelle had thought Tears filled her eyes as Tony drove them to the coffee shop. 'God this has been an emotional day' she thought, dreading the fact that they had to go back to CTU. After such a long day she wanted nothing more than for Tony to just take her home and hold her all night and keep her safe. She came out of her thoughts as they pulled up to the drive-thru of Dunkin Donuts. She didn't have to even say anything he ordered for her without even thinking, and it was just what she wanted. He handed her her coffee and realized his faux pas and immediately said "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to order for you I am just so tired do you want something else?" he said pleading
"No sweetie it's fine this is just what I wanted" she said with a smile. God he loved that smile, and what's more is she called him 'sweetie' he hadn't heard that in so long and just hearing it made his mood lift. He sat there smiling warmly and when she realized what she had said she reflected his smile.
The person in the drive-thru window rolled his eyes as he grew impatient "Is that all sir." He said sarcastically
"Yeah it's fine" Tony said still smiling but turning his attention to the road and pulling out of the drive-thru. As he pulled out onto the road and felt her slip her hand, that wasn't holding her coffee, into his. All of a sudden it was all coming back to him driving in the car with Michelle, in comfortable silence holding hands, it all felt so right.
But
when you touch me like this
And
you hold me like that
I
just have to admit
That
it's all coming back to me
When
I touch you like this
And
I hold you like that
It's
so hard to believe but
It's
all coming back to me -Celin Dion
Soon they pulled up to the gates of CTU and a guard approached them. "May I see you identification sir" he said.
Tony looked at Michelle who reached into her pocket and pulled out her identification from Division she recited "Michelle Dessler, Associate Special Agent in Charge, Division."
He looked at her identification ran it through a scanner he carried on his hip. After it registered he said, "OK thank you Miss. Dessler you may procede"
Once they were parked they got out of the car and Tony started walking toward the building when he felt her pull on his arm "Tony…" he turned around to see Michelle trying to speak. He took a step back so they were closer. "Before we go in there..." she continued but hesitated "I just wanna know what is gonna happen…ya know with us" she looked down at her feet unsurely.
"Whatever you are comfortable with. I know you are overwhelmed and have been through a lot today so, I would love to go home with you and be with you to comfort you all night, but only if you're ready." He looked down and then looked at her straight in the eyes "I don't want to ruin this again."
"How could you possibly blame yourself?" Michelle said fighting tears " I am the one who wasn't strong enough I left you when you needed me most. I said 'for better or for worse' and I didn't follow through." She said now starting to lose it, but then all of a sudden she stopped talking, crying and breathing she closed her eyes and she started to collapse Tony moved and was able to wrap an arm around her shoulders before she hit the ground.
"Michelle!" he said stroking her face "Wake up baby he said fighting tears" he felt her pulse it was very faint. He took his other arm and scooped her up. 'God she's so light' he thought. She had always been sorta thin but she had definitely lost weight. He rushed in through the doors when he did everyone turned around to see who it was. They all gaped when they saw him carrying Michelle. As Tony rushed down the hallway he heard footsteps behind him. He turned his head around for a sec to see Bill running after him.
"What the hell happened?!" He said concerned
"She fainted. I am taking her to medical" Tony said still hurrying
"You know you are not supposed to move someone off the ground once they faint" he said.
"She never hit the ground I caught her" Tony said annoyed that Bill thought he was that stupid. He walked into medical to see Audrey in the waiting room with a tear stained face. When she saw him she said "Oh my god what happened!!!! Not Michelle too!" Bill hurries over to Audrey.
"No, No Michelle just fainted. She's ok. I hope," he said
Tony was already taking Michelle into a room ignoring Audrey. He gently laid her in the hospital bed looking at her for any signs of consciousness.
A doctor hurried in a minute later "Bill told me what happened. I can help her but I need to know the cause of her fainting," he said feeling for a pulse.
"Well I'm not really sure. She has been through a lot today emotionally. And she was probably real tired." He said regretting not exactly knowing why she had fainted. 'I should have paid more attention. Taken better care of her' he thought sadly.
"Like what?" the doctor said. Tony looked at him confused as to what he meant "What kind of emotional hardships has she faced today?"
"Uh well…" he hesitated not sure how much to tell the doctor "She has been running CTU for about 12 hours making really tough decision….well you know all the stuff that has been going on. And she was at work before that so she has probably been up for almost 24 hours."
"Exhaustion" the doctor said "But something had to put her over the edge. What was she doing right before she fainted?"
"Well at one point today…about an hour or so ago she saw the car that I was supposed to be in blow up. I was being held hostage. People said she screamed and threw herself at the screen and after that she shut down emotionally. That is until they told her I was ok which I guess was another shock to her. Before she passed out we were talking and she started to get emotional but then she just stopped talking and shut her eyes so I stepped closer and then she collapsed so I grabbed her to break her fall" he finished.
"Ok then that's probably it emotional shock and exhaustion" he said finally "Just when she wakes up in a few minutes try to keep the conversation light and easy, whatever you were talking about when she fainted will have to wait until she's had a good night's sleep and some food. But other than that by tomorrow she should be as good as new."
"So when can she come home?" Tony said thinking back to the day Michelle had said that to his doctor after he had been shot.
"Well when she wakes up she can decide if she wants to stay overnight or not. If she decides to leave she will only be able to leave if she has a guardian to look after her and take care of her at home." He said leaving
Tony sat by the side of her bed waiting for Michelle to wake up.
He was getting kind of tired. It had been a long day and all he wanted to do was take Michelle home and go to sleep. But he couldn't take her until she woke up and gave her consent. He sighed 'Maybe she will sleep right through the night' He decided to lay down and rest for awhile so he climbed up onto the bed next to her 'I hope she doesn't mind' He thought as he pulled her into him in a warm embrace. When he did this she instinctively rolled over and snuggled into his chest with her head snuggled into his neck. Now this was what it was supposed to be like.
