Authors Note: Another great challenge from Brodie-Wan…this one was to write a piece about Tony and Michelle's decision to start their own private security company. Thanks, as always, for reading!!

Where Do We Go From Here

The pre-dawn light slowly seeped in through the curtains causing Michelle to bury her head deeper into the crook of Tony's neck, wishing the sun's rays away. For the past four days they had been hibernating in her little house, had cut themselves off from the outside world. The limited time span in which Michelle thought Tony had been gone—in which she believed he had been taken from her so soon after they had started again--made her realize just what had been missing from her life. Now that she had him back, she wasn't letting go.

She softly scratched her fingertips over the expanse of his chest as he hummed contentment in his half-dream state. She'd never classify her and Tony as a 'clingy' couple, but ever since coming back from the 'dead', she couldn't seem to keep her hands off him; not that Tony minded at all. Once everything had been wrapped up at CTU, Michelle had briefly let Tony out of her site, only to give him time to gather his things and say goodbye to Jenn. Michelle didn't ask any more about the woman who had taken Tony in, and he didn't share. As far as she was concerned, they had both made plenty of mistakes and deserved to have the slate wiped clean. He was right in what he had said…this was their chance at a fresh start. As she continued to pass her fingers over his soft skin, she thought back over the brief time they'd shared since being back together.

Once Tony had returned to her house, they'd immediately tuned out the outside world, giving themselves time to reconnect, time for nothing but the two of them. After finding places for Tony's belongings (there wasn't much beyond a few bags of clothes, some DVD's and his toothbrush), Tony promptly marched into her kitchen and immediately coined her 'Old Mother Hubbard'.

"I know we don't want to see anyone for awhile, but I insist we go to the grocery store first thing in the morning, there isn't a thing to eat!" He exclaimed as he looked disgustedly at her frozen dinners and canned veggies.

Michelle just laughed, "Could you imagine what state the kitchen would be in if I actually tried to cook something?"

"Touché," he responded laughing, quickly thinking back to that fateful morning a few weeks after they'd been married when she had tried to cook him pancakes. The fire department didn't really need to be called, but their nosy neighbor was in the wrong place at the wrong time and had overreacted. After that morning, Tony never let Michelle near the stove again.

They resigned to order pizza and after eating, spent the rest of the night entwined on the couch watching mindless TV. They didn't talk a whole lot that first day, not that they didn't have anything to say, but just being near each other seemed to be enough. Michelle had forgotten just how safe and right it felt to be wrapped in Tony's arms. There wasn't a single place in the world she'd rather be.

After going to the store the next morning, Tony cooked one of the biggest breakfasts Michelle had ever seen. Her first savory bite reminded her just how much she had missed this. Not only the food (which she definitely did miss quite a lot) but just sharing a quiet meal with the man she loved. Upon finishing Michelle declared she was overstuffed and needed to move around immediately. They decided to take a walk down to the beach; Michelle only lived a few blocks away.

The morning sun felt warm on their faces and the soft breeze coming off the water ruffled through Michelle's loose curls. Noticing, Tony brushed his hand over her hair and whispered, "I missed those curls," as he brought her close and ducked in to kiss her lightly on the forehead. Michelle just smiled and grabbed his hand as they kept walking down the sand. She vowed to herself then and there to never straighten her hair again.

Returning to the house a little while later they settled out on the patio, hiding in the shade while enjoying the beautiful day. With half an eye on the book she was reading, Michelle started thinking about their future. Their days at division and CTU were over. Granted she wasn't hard up for cash, they wouldn't be able to live comfortably forever. What were they going to do for work? Tony was reclined with his eyes closed, but Michelle knew he wasn't sleeping. She figured the time was as good as any to start figuring out their new lives.

"So what do you want to do?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Tony hummed. "Well I figure we can hang here for a little while then I'll make us some lunch.

"That sounds fantastic sweetheart, but actually I was wondering what you want to do in the future, you know, like, with our lives; I mean, where do we go from here?"

"Honeymoon's over huh?" Tony replied lazily as he opened one eyelid to look at her.

"No it's not that," she quickly countered, thinking maybe she jumped the gun and Tony needed more time to get used to things, but the cat was out of the bag so she pushed forward anyway. "You know I want nothing more than to be right here with you. But we can't do this forever, and the sooner we figure things out, the sooner we can start the next part of our lives."

Tony straightened up and looked at her intently. He was the one who had given the big spiel about starting over and starting from scratch, so he knew that Michelle was looking to him to figure out just how they were going to do that.

"Well," he started, "I have a few ideas, one I like in particular, but it would require us making an investment at first, and by 'us' I mean 'you'." He paused, "I don't know if you're willing to do that."

"What do you mean investment?" she asked.

He continued, "after so many years of working for the government, always having to answer to somebody, always having to adhere to someone else's schedule and agenda, I think I want to do something where we are in charge for once, where we make the rules and the schedules; where we can be our own boss."

"You mean like starting our own business?"

"Exactly." He smiled at her. "That way we never have to do anything we don't want to do, we can decide exactly how everything will work, how much responsibility we want to take on, and so forth. It would give us the opportunity to do something we enjoy while also giving us the time to actually have some semblance of a life outside of our jobs."

Michelle thought about it a little bit and she found that the more she mulled things over, the more she liked the idea of it. "Be my own boss…" she thought to herself. She liked the sound of it. But she wanted to hear more.

"What kind of business would we start?"

"Well," Tony paused, "I was thinking a private security company. We could reach out to…well anyone really. Businesses, firms, private practices, anyone that would be in need of security systems that can be easily monitored off site. We've worked for so long in this field, I figure this is the logical step to go toward the private sector. We'll have to invest a little in equipment, a facility and manpower at first, but once we get a few contracts, the return will far outweigh the investment."

Michelle didn't say anything at first; Tony could see she was thinking things through, going over all the pros and cons in her head. After a few minutes of debating Michelle looked at tony as a huge grin spread over her face.

"I like it." She stated simply. "Let's do it!"

"Really?" Tony questioned. "Just like that?"

"Really," she replied. "Just like that."

He quickly rose and she met him half way for a tight hug. She kissed him playfully and as he tried to advance towards her she ducked out of the way and out of reach.

"Alright Mr. Alameda. I accept your proposal, so now it's time to celebrate!"

He lunged at her and she cried out in mock surprise as she ran into the house. He quickly followed behind.

The days and nights that followed that moment were filled with nothing but planning and dreaming. They discussed everything from where they might find a base facility, to what types of people they could market their services to, to what their company name would be, and who would be president of course! They spent hours discussing marketing strategies and they dissected every inch of their approach until they had it just right.

Throughout all of it, what Michelle loved most was the light that had come back into Tony's eyes. It was what had been missing when he had gotten out of prison. She had seen glimpses of it throughout their harrowing day at CTU, but now she felt like she finally had her Tony back all the way. His passion for just being was one of the things she loved most about him, and it made her the happiest woman in the world for having it back.

Still scratching Tony lightly, Michelle thought briefly about how easy it had been to formulate their plans and how those plans excited her for what was to come. Thinking of that she knew it was almost time to get started. Opening her eyes she realized the light had gotten brighter. She glanced at the clock only to see that the alarm would be going off any minute. Their long weekend was over, their plans had been made. It was Monday morning, time to get ready for work.