1Chapter 1: He awakes
He wakes up in a hospital bed. At first, he cannot for the life of him figure out how he got there. He looks at his hands, they are bandaged. He can feel that he has a tube down his throat, and that more bandages cover his face. He moves a bit, trying to look around, and feels that he has more bandages covering his back. His back HURTS!
And then he remembers. Watching the news that morning, drinking his coffee. Yelling for Michelle to come in when the weather report was interrupted with breaking news. News that affected them more than the average LA couple. Former President David Palmer had been assassinated. It wasn't the first time someone had tried either. But he and Michelle had helped to prevent his assassination before. Michelle. She had wanted to go in to CTU, to help out. He had told her not too. He didn't want to go back there. She had walked out the front door to the car. He had been canceling their morning meeting. The explosion. He was knocked to the ground.
He ran. He had only one thought in his head. Michelle. He couldn't find a pulse. She wouldn't - or couldn't (but he could not think like that) - open her eyes.
He forces his own eyes open. Making himself look around more carefully, trying to find some clue to tell him where he is. He realizes where he is - the place he did not want to come. The place that makes it certain that this was really happening. He is at CTU.
A medic hurries over, noticing that he is awake. He explains, rather unnecessarily in Tony's opinion, that there is a tube down his throat, helping him breathe. Tony knows the routine, and follows the doctor's orders to get the tube out of his throat. The medic informs him that he was taken to CTU for safekeeping, but Tony already knows that. There is only one thing he wants to know, he needs to know. Interrupting the medic, he tries to speak, forgetting how dry a tube can make your throat. He swallows and tries again. "Michelle?"
But the medic has already turned away. The look in Tony's eyes scared him. They burned with a fear. A horrible knowing fear, the kind a caged animal has. The medic knows what Tony wants to know, and he KNOWS that he does not want to be the one to tell him. He has heard about this man's temper. About how he was willing to do anything to save his wife's life. What would he do when he hears she is dead?
The medic knows that he does not have to tell this to this man. He was given orders to call the D.O.D. liason the second the patient awakes. He know that they want to tell Tony the news personally. He sighs in relief, and places the call.