Chapter 1

This is Tony and Michelle fanfic; it takes place the day after season 2. I don't own any of the characters but it would be so cool if I did! This is the first thing I've written and I have lots more ideas to carry this story so please review and let me know if you want more!

It had been only a day since the bomb had gone off at CTU but everyone was still feeling the effects of it and they all knew they'd never be able to forget it. Tony hadn't been able to sleep last night and not because he was thinking about the bomb and the people that had died but because of Michelle. He had tried so hard just to sleep for a couple of hours but all he could think about was how they'd kissed and then the last thing he'd said to her was "see you tomorrow," God he wished he said something else, he didn't think she'd know how much he just wanted to hold her in his arms. He just wanted to be next to her, hold her and make her feel safe. If only he'd asked her if she needed a lift home or asked her out to eat as he was starving when they finished the day and knew she would be feeling exactly the same. Well he hadn't but he'd see her soon and then he would ask her out if he had the courage.

Michelle had got home from CTU and felt like sleeping for the whole day but she hadn't been allowed. After the hundreds of calls from her friends and family she had finally been left alone, which she thought would make her feel better but the truth was it had made things worse. Every time she closed her eyes she picture all her colleges lying dead and then she thought of just after the bomb blast when she thought Tony had died. She was so relieved to see him helping people and that was one of the things she liked best about him, he put everyone else before himself. As she drove to work all she could think about was Tony she couldn't get him out of her head. It didn't matter what she did all she could think about was their kiss and how good it felt having his arms around her, making her feel safe even if it was only for a minute or so before Carrie had interrupted them. Before she had time to stop herself she could feel tears rolling down her cheek and she knew why. Why should she be allowed to be happy when so many people had died yesterday, it could just as easily been her? She was sure they wouldn't just have thoughts of if Tony would ask them out; she couldn't stop herself from crying and had to pull over.

Back at CTU Tony checked his watch again nervously. He must have looked at the entrance every minute or so now, just waiting to see Michelle walk in looking as beautiful as ever. She was the reason he thought he would get through this and he wanted to be there for her as well, he wanted to be with her and he didn't think he'd cope if she wasn't serious about what she'd said yesterday. But she'd kissed him and of course he'd kissed her back not wanting for the moment to end, if only it had lasted longer he wished. He checked his watch again it was 12:30 and Michelle should have been there about half an hour ago, it wasn't like her to be late, in fact he couldn't remember a time she'd not been there before her shift started. As he stared back at the mountain of paper work in front of him all the words became blurred, he just couldn't be bothered and to be honest with himself he couldn't face going through the list of personnel to see the final death count.

As he went to check his watch again he heard someone open his door. He swung round in his new chair to see Jack walking towards him. He was glad it was Jack, if it had been Chappelle or Hammond he wouldn't have been able to handle all their demands of what they wanted to be done. He quickly glanced to see if Michelle was there yet but still no sign, maybe she didn't feel like coming in today and no one could blame her. The only reason he came in was to see her. Jack walked towards him with his outstretched hand and Tony stuck his out to shake it.

"I'm glad you're alright," Tony told Jack.

"Thanks Tony, I couldn't have done it without you or Michelle though. So how are you doing?" Jack asked showing concern for one of the only people he trusted.

"I'm fine thanks what about you and Kim?" Tony asked. Apart from Michelle he hadn't thought much about anyone else, he was sure Jack and Kim would have had some issues to sort out but he knew they'd get through it.

"I'm fine and Kim's ok to be honest I'm just glad that we're talking, we spent a lot of yesterday talking out our problems and I think we'll get on fine now," Jack said and then watched Tony again check his watch and look at the entrance, it seemed to be coming some routine, "Am I interrupting anything?" Jack asked and watched Tony's reaction as he realised it was obvious who he was looking for.

"No, no of course not," Tony told him unconvincingly.

"So how is Michelle?" Jack asked as Tony's face started turning red.

"Ok I think, but how should I know?" Tony asked wanting to see how much Jack knew.

"It was just you guys seemed kinda close yesterday," Jack explained and watched as Tony continued blushing.

As Michelle parked her car she thought about the last time she'd parked here, she'd seen Paula and several others who had died walking in for there shifts. Again tears rolled down her checks, how could she go in looking like this 'she must look like a right mess' she thought. Then she glanced at her watch it was 12:39 and she was supposed to be there at 12:00, she didn't know how she'd let it happen she was always early and now she was late but not by a few minutes it was nearer an hour. What would Tony think of her; the one day they all needed to pull together and get through she was already letting them down. She quickly grabbed her bag and jacket, climbed out the car and hurried off to CTU.

Jack kept questioning Tony about Michelle until Tony had finally confessed to Jack about what had happened the day of the bomb, the kiss they'd shared and everything else.

"So you definitely had a busy day," Jack told him, "But I'm really glad you've found someone and honestly you couldn't have picked a better person,"
"Thanks Jack, you don't know how much that means," Tony told him, he felt like shouting from the roof that he and Michelle had kissed because he wanted to show her off to everyone. Jack watched Tony and could tell he wanted to say more but wasn't sure he should.

"But…" Jack started for him.

"I mean I can't believe she actually likes me, you've seen her and we both know she could have any guy she wanted and I guess it's just hard to believe that she'd rather be with me then anyone else," Tony told him and rubbed his face as he did every time he was nervous, "And not only that but well you know," Tony said. A confused look came over Jack's face as he tried to remember what Tony was talking about.

"I mean I know she found out about Nina pretty easily even though I didn't think she knew but there's no way she'd know about this," Tony continued as Jack suddenly remember what Tony was talking about and knew in away he was right there was no way Michelle would know about this. Jack knew he was the only person at work who knew and maybe Hammond and he only knew because he was Tony's boss but apart from that only Tony's oldest friends knew and of course his parents.

"Look Tony I know I don't know Michelle that well but she stuck her job on the line for me and she only met me that day so I think she'd understand if you told her," Jack said.

"Maybe, but it could just as easily scare her off. I don't know what to do Jack. I really like her, I mean I think I love her but once I tell her it's not like she'll want to stick around," Tony said.

"Look Tony I think Michelle would understand she seems like a really kind person and I don't think she'd leave you just because…" Jack suddenly stopped as Tony's phone rung.

"Almeida," He answered.

"Hey Tony it's me, look I'm so sorry I'm late, the traffic was awful and I know that's not an excuse but I'm so sorry," Michelle told him. He quickly looked round to see her sitting at her station, he'd got so deep in thought and talking to Jack that he'd missed seeing her come in.

"Tony…" She said as she looked up at his office.

"Yeah sorry, don't worry about it. How are you?" He asked very concerned for her. She could tell he really cared about her as his voice became lower and gentler when he spoke.

"I'm ok I guess what about you?" She asked.

"Fine, look could I see you in my office when you get a minute?" He asked, at the moment he had no idea what he'd say to her but he knew the longer he left it the harder it would be.

Michelle's stomach flipped as he said the words, what did he want to see her about? Did he want to ask her out? Did he regret that they'd kissed? Or did he just want to give her more work?

"Yeah sure I'll be up as soon as I get my team sorted," She told him. Tony put down the phone and looked at Jack.

"It was Michelle," He told Jack.

"I guessed," Jack said, he didn't know if Tony wanted to continue their conversation so he waited for Tony to speak.

"I guess I have to tell her but I don't know when, if I tell her straight away I might scare her off but if I don't when I do tell her she might be offended that I didn't tell her earlier," Tony explained.

"I don't think you've got much to worry about, I've seen the way she looks at you and she cares about you. If she knew how worried you are about telling her then I'm sure she'd probably laugh," Jack told him and he was probably right she had asked him out and she had kissed him at first so she'd probably understand.

Suddenly the door opened and both Jack and Tony looked to see Michelle walk in wearing an outfit very much like the one from the day before. Jack looked at both of them and knew he was just in the way. He got up and smiled at both of them, "I better go and find Chappelle, I know he wanted to talk to me about my job," Jack told them and walked out past Michelle. Michelle walked in and closed the door as Tony walked round his desk and sat on the front.

"So…" She said as she walked towards him.

"Yeah, look you know what you said yesterday," He started as he could feel his heart racing. Michelle looked at him, all she really wanted to do was kiss him right now but he wanted to talk so she'd listen.

"I said a lot of things yesterday, you'll have to remind me," She told him as she came a bit closer so their bodies were only a few inches apart. His mind went blank and he just couldn't find the words.

"I…I mean you... you… and I was thinking…" He continued blabbering on trying to find the words.

Michelle could see he was struggling to say something so that ruled out anything to do with work and the way he looked at her ruled out that he regretted the kiss so this must have been him asking her out.

"Yes," She said as she took his hand in hers. With that he suddenly gained the confidence he needed and squeezed her hand. "Well I was just thinking that if you weren't busy tonight I could cook you dinner or something but if you're …" He started but Michelle interrupted, "I'd love to," She told him and squeezed his hand; he then went and closed the blinds. He walked over to her and put his hands on her waist. She took a deep breath and realised that this was actually happening and it wasn't just some dream so she put her hands on his chest. They both looked up and locked eyes. For a minute they just looked at each other and breathed in the moment. Then they both leaned in and started kissing. It was just like before but better, there was so much passion between them. Tony moved his hands up and down her back while Michelle kept one on his chest and the other on the back of his head. Suddenly the phone went and they both jumped back. Tony quickly went to answer it while Michelle made sure she looked ok.
"Almeida," Tony said.

"Tony it's Jack, sorry to interrupt but Chappelle's looking for you and we both know how he feels about relationships in the work place," Jack told him.

"Thanks Jack," Tony said and hung up. Michelle looked at him to ask why Jack was calling.

"Chappelle's looking for me no doubt to give me extra work or put me in my place about something," Tony told her and she chuckled. They both knew that Chappelle preferred to be in charge and they were both sure he wasn't happy about letting them get away with drugging him, so he'd take any chance to show his power.

"I better get back to work I think people might notice if I spend too much time up here with you," She told him with a smile on her face. Tony was so happy to see her smile, you couldn't really do that a lot with this job but he was glad that it was him that made her smile. The door swung open and in marched Chappelle.

"Tony," He said and then saw Michelle, "Good you're here to Michelle, I need to talk to both of you,"

They both exchanged glances, there was no way he could know about them so what would he want. He gestured for both of them to sit down and Tony was so tempted to pull Michelle onto his lap but then that wouldn't be such a good idea. They both walked over to the couch and sat down while Chappelle stood in front of them.

"As you know we're short staffed and that of course means that there will be a lot more work for everyone to do while we move people and get CTU back up and running properly. I know that we've filled George's position and that means that now we need someone to fill in for Tony," He told them. Tony knew that he wanted Michelle to take his old job because there was definitely no one better for the job. Chappelle looked to Michelle, "I'm afraid at the moment we can't make it official but Michelle we definitely want you to take the job. The thing is as we have no one with your experience to cover Tony's job and we have no one to permanently take your job," Chappelle continued.

"So you want her to do two jobs?" Tony butted in; there was no way he was going to let Chappelle take advantage of her. "You know if I had someone to take over from Michelle I'd bring them in but the thing is we lost a lot of good people because of the bomb and filling their positions is more of a priority then Michelle's old job especially as she can do both." Chappelle told them.

"But that means she'll have twice the amount of work and be working longer then anyone else, you can't do this," Tony almost yelled at him. Michelle really appreciated Tony standing up for her but she knew Chappelle wasn't going to do anything because people's feelings didn't really matter to him.

"Tony this isn't your decision," Chappelle said and looked at Michelle, "It would only be till the end of the week and then we'd give you the leave you deserve, both of you will get time off to recover from this but I can't let you have it yet because we need you," Tony looked at Michelle and he knew that she'd say yes because she would do anything for this job.

"Ok," Michelle said.

"Thank you Michelle," Chappelle said, "There are just a few more things," He told them and they both sighed but he didn't take any notice, "Hammond would like a status report on everything by this evening…" Before he could continue Tony jumped in.

"You can't seriously expect a full status report with in a few hours," Even when they were fully functional it took about half a day to get it done and that was when he would get information from everyone but now that they had about half the staff he was sure Hammond was expecting some sort of miracle

"I know it's not ideal…" Chappelle continued but Tony could not handle the way he continued, not caring about anything, "Ideal, of course it's not bloody ideal," Tony yelled at him.

"I know that Tony but I'm sure you'll find away to make it happen and also I need you both to be debriefed before you go…" He continued on not taking in anything Tony said.

"You want a full account of everything that happened in two days by the end of the day along with a full status report?" he asked angrily.

"Not my decision but yes,"

"Fine!" He said but was basically sulking.

"And the other thing?" Michelle asked after looking at Tony.

"Well I know you won't be the happiest to hear this and I need to talk to you about the incident and it's only on a temporary basis but we have someone to fill Paula's position," he told them.

"Who?" Tony inquired.

"Carrie Turner," He told them.