Jack looked about himself nervously. He really hated coming here. Every time he came he recognised her less and less. The Michelle he knew was gone, long gone. The girl in this apartment was just a shell, her eyes hard and her heart frozen solid. But sometimes, only the best would do. Michelle was the best, she was competent, discrete, ruthless, one of the best shots he'd seen, and most importantly, she was immune to the virus.

Knowing what he did about the threat they were facing, he swallowed hard, and took out the key she had once given him. He let himself in, knowing that she'd already know he was there. He walked into the darkened apartment feeling faintly sick. The place was unchanged from how it had been six years ago when Tony still lived there.

He didn't notice the dark figure creeping up behind him until her knee collided painfully with his back, bringing him to his knees. The cold metal of her gun bit into the back of his neck, making him freeze, he knew perfectly well that she was capable of pulling the trigger. "Michelle, its Jack," he said quickly, just in case she thought he was someone else.

"I know its you Jack, no one else has a key." Even her voice sounded cold. She still didn't remove her gun from his neck, but pressed it in deeper. He'd been here a handful of times since the day they'd taken Tony away. Each time he had a mission for her, one that only she could complete. A few times it had involved hacking into the CTU operating system, a system that she had designed from scratch, but mostly it involved dealing with the Cordilla virus. Although Steven Saunders had been caught and the vials he controlled apprehended, several other terrorist organisations were able to get hold of the virus before the scientists selling it were dealt with. Being the only trained government employee with an immunity to the virus meant that she was invaluable, even if she was an ex-agent.

Each time she snapped up the opportunity, telling herself that maybe if she did this, they'd remember her husband, sat alone in a cell, and they'd give him back to her. Each time she'd walk into that situation, knowing full well that there was a large probability she would die, and she'd complete her mission. Twice she had had to watch whilst innocent people died because she had failed, and there was no Tony back at CTU to bring them a way out. But that was when she still believed it was possible to save Tony. Today she was not going to say yes, she was not going to go through that again, she no longer believed she could save him.

Jack knelt perfectly still, feeling the hand that held the gun into his neck shake slightly. She wants to kill me, he realised. Something had to have happened, Michelle wouldn't want to kill him unless something was seriously wrong. She was the strongest person he knew, he'd sat beside her at the Tony's trial, not a flicker of emotion passed her face, not even when the verdict came back. Yet here she was, pressing a gun to his neck, desperately wanting to pull the trigger.

Completely disregarding the reason he had come here, he whispered softly into the darkness, "What happened?"

He felt the gun slide back from his neck and heard her breathing become more settled. "You don't know do you?" Before he had a chance to reply, she continued, "Of course you don't, you wouldn't have come here if you'd known." A faint laugh as she removed her knee from his back where she'd been holding him down.

He turned and saw her for the first time in over a year. It was not what he expected. Far from being cold and distant, she was a wreck. She was dressed solely in one of Tony's shirts, although it reached down to her knees. Her hair had been pulled back at one point, but the majority of it had escaped to hang loosely about her face. Her face was tear stained, her eyes swollen. Shaky hands pointed a gun in his direction.

She used the gun to point towards the door, indicating that he needed to leave before she did something she might regret, although she very much doubted that pumping him full of bullets was something she would regret.

He started towards the door, very much afraid of the woman who had once been his closest friend. Then he remembered the reason he had come here. "Michelle..."

She cut in before he could finish his sentence, "I don't care Jack, whatever it is, you'll have to find someone else. You need to leave. Now." If Jack had come here, she knew that there was no one else who could do the job, but there was no way she was going to help him.

Jack heard the steel in her voice, and knew that there was no way that she would come with him. As he left he called back, "What happened Michelle? You know people are going to die if you don't help us."

Her voice was heavy with tears and was barely audible across the room. "I don't care Jack." That was the truth, she had long since ceased to care about other people.

Jack had one last card to play, and it was one he really didn't want to have to play. He knew she didn't care about other people, he knew the only reason she helped him was that she wanted to get Tony back. The air of despair that surrounded her when she found out that he wasn't coming back, the look of betrayal in her eyes, completely broke his heart. As he walked back out through the door, he murmured, "What about Tony?"

This completely shattered Michelle. The tears that had stopped when she'd gone to deal with Jack started to flow freely again. She met Jack's eyes, she hated the pity she saw there. She closed her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see his reaction as she answered, "They set the date, they're going to kill him." Tears forced her eyes open and blinded her to his reaction. As she felt his arms pulling her towards him, she whispered, "Next Thursday."

Pressed tightly to his chest, she could almost pretend that it was Tony who had her wrapped in his arms. Almost. Although Jack and Tony were of similar heights, and Jack's arms felt just as strong as they gripped her waist, she knew he wasn't Tony. He didn't smell right, and Tony's head would be buried in her hair. She pulled back, this was just making it worse, she'd started to ache for Tony in a way that she rarely did any more.

Jack kept his arms around her waist, he didn't want to let her go. The last time he'd held someone this close was 5 years ago. Her skin was so soft against his. Her body was shaking, her eyes were bloodshot, he just wanted to take some of her pain away. As she started to protest, he placed his lips on hers, pushing his tongue into her mouth. He kissed her fiercely, ignoring the warning in his head. After an initial protest, she wrapped her hands around him, kissing him back just as fiercely. Normally Michelle wasn't a heavy drinker, she got really bad hangovers. But now her mouth was thick with the taste of it. The same as it had been last time.

It wasn't until his hands started to slide up the inside of her shirt that she realised what it was that she was doing. She ripped herself out of his grip, pushing back the tears from her eyes. This was not a game she wanted to play, they both knew where this road ended up. Why wouldn't he just leave?