"Probably in body bags," Michelle answered dully.
They were sitting on the edge of her desk, packed into her office with all the rest of the remaining CTU staff, and looking down at the terrorists who had overrun their place of work. They both knew that they were unlikely to make it out of there alive if they didn't do something; their access codes for anything remotely interesting to the terrorists had automatically been rendered invalid when the alarm had been raised, and their usefulness as hostages was limited at best considering what was at stake. The only people who might be remotely valuable were the computer techs; the ones the terrorists thought might be able to help them hack through the lock-down of the computer system.
Like they were trying to get Chloe to do right now.
They watched her apprehensively through the wall. Usually the fact that it was made of glass made the office seem less separate from the floor, more a part of whatever was going on. Today it had the opposite effect. All that was between them was a thin sheet of glass, and yet there was absolutely nothing that they could do to influence what was happening. Nothing they could do to help.
Michelle shook herself out of her reverie. She couldn't just give up. Not here.
"There is one thing we could try," she said to Tony quietly.
"Mmm-hmm?" His eyes were still fixed on Chloe, on the floor, arguing with the man who was holding a gun on her.
Oh, Chloe...
"We're at a strategic disadvantage right now, with all our people boxed up in here with only one entrance. If we had someone on the floor who was armed, we might stand a chance."
"Maybe, but how would we do that?"
"I'm going to volunteer to help them get to the information they want. Then, when the opportunity presents itself, I'll grab a weapon."
Tony turned to look at her, wide-eyed. "No, Michelle, it's too dangerous."
"I know, but it's more dangerous to just sit around waiting for them to kill us!"
"We don't know that that's gonna happen."
Michelle's expression softened. "We do, Tony, you know we do. The government isn't going to give in to their demands. They're probably planning to drop a bomb on us or something."
"I know." Tony sighed. "But look... let me do it instead."
She shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, Tony, but they know you don't officially work here. They may not believe you if you say you can help them." She lowered her voice further. "And I'm not sure how much I can trust anybody else. It has to be me."
He nodded reluctantly. "Alright." He scratched his neck. "What do you want me to do?"
"As soon as I have the gun, create a distraction up here. And make sure to take out the guard."
"What kind of distraction?"
Michelle's eyes once again focussed on Chloe. "Break the glass."
Tony nodded silently. They both gazed down at the floor.
Finally Tony cleared his throat. Glancing at the office full of people, sitting, standing, pacing nervously, but none of whom seemed to be paying that much attention to the two of them, he leaned in closer. "Look, Michelle, I can't let you do this without, uh..." He trailed off, scratching his neck again.
She looked up at him. "Without what?" she asked softly.
A small, half-shrug. "Without apologizing for what I've put you through. I'm sorry I let things get so bad."
"No, Tony..." She shook her head. "That wasn't just you. I don't need for you to apologize. I just need you to know that... that I still love you, and if we survive this... it would be nice to get some coffee together or something."
Tony smiled. "C'mere," he said, reaching out to pull her closer. He grinned at her smile when she snaked an arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. "We sure do pick our moments, huh?"
He felt her smile. He couldn't remember the last time that had happened.
"It does seem like if there's going to be a defining moment in our relationship there has to be chaos reigning around us," Michelle agreed. "I used to think that if we ever had a baby it would probably find some way of being born on your desk up here."
They shared a quiet chuckle and fell silent. Eventually Michelle pulled away and looked at him. She opened her mouth to say something, but then seemed to change her mind.
Then she shrugged. "Oh, what the hell..."
And she kissed him.
He responded eagerly, trying to forget that this was only happening because they were probably about to die, purposely disregarding the fact that everybody was sure to be looking at them now.
Then Michelle broke the kiss and stood up.
She glanced back at him only briefly before starting for the door, and the guard the terrorists had positioned there.
Tony grabbed her wrist. "Michelle..."
She looked back.
He met her eyes and suddenly felt tears stinging the backs of his. "I love you too."
He let go.
He saw Michelle being lead to the center of the floor, where Chloe was still doing something to one of the computers.
He got to his feet, stood behind the desk. Motioned for people to stand beside him, for others to begin closing in on the guard.
Michelle snatched a gun from the nearest man, pushed Chloe to the floor, began shooting.
Then they pushed the desk through the wall.
Tony jumped out after it, rolled on it to break his fall, ignoring the glass which would surely be embedded in his back, and dropped down behind it.
Just in time to see Michelle get shot.
He couldn't tell where she was hit because one of the terrorists was standing between them, but he was sure he saw blood.
And then he had to look away because there was a guy coming at him with a gun.
He slid under the desk just as the man opened fire and looked around hurriedly for something to use as a weapon. There was broken glass everywhere; a large shard was right by his hand so he picked it up, stole a peek at his attacker and threw it like a frisbee.
It hit him in the neck and he dropped the gun instantly, pawing at his wound and coughing up blood.
Tony rushed him, grabbed the gun, stood up and shot the two terrorists in his field of vision, then crouched down and surveyed the rest of the office-turned-battleground.
It actually seemed like they were winning.
But he couldn't see Michelle. Looking over to where she had been standing, he could only see something which would usually have caused him to stop and stare: Chloe O'Brien, wielding a gun like she belonged in field ops.
As it was, he just allowed himself a mental "Huh..." before turning around and taking out another hostile.
A few more shots from himself, Chloe, and the few other agents who had managed to procure weapons, and the terrorists were all down.
Tony ran over to the desk where he had last seen Michelle.
He found her huddled underneath it, tying a tie she had to have taken off one of the terrorists into a makeshift pressure bandage around her leg.
She'd been shot just below the knee. Tony couldn't help but laugh with relief.
"Sumfig fungy?" Michelle asked, pulling one end of the tie with her teeth.
He grinned. "No, not really, it's just... terrorists have lousy aim."
She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Pull this?" she asked, handing him the other end.
"Sure." He helped her tie the knot securely and helped her up. "You okay?" he asked softly.
"Apart from having a hole in my leg... yeah, pretty good."
Tony smiled. "C'mon, let's get you to a hospital."