CHAPTER ONE

A glass was thrust into her hand, forcing her attention back to the present. "Huh?" she asked, looking at the drink.

"Michelle, what are you thinking about? You've been far away all night."

Michelle watched as her best friend Lily dropped into the chair beside her. Not wanting to admit why she was so distracted, Michelle took a huge swallow of the drink, and then coughed until she couldn't breathe anymore.

Lily laughed so hard tears flew down her cheeks. "Ease up, 'Chelle. Not so fast!"

Michelle finally stopped coughing and shook her head at her friend. She didn't like hard liquors with the exception of vodka, and that had to be smothered in some kind of juice. This particular concoction was about 95 vodka and 5 juice.

"So come'on," Lily said, leaning in next to her but keeping her eyes of a man at the bar who she thought was cute. "What's been eating you all night?"

"Nothing," she lied. "I'm just tired."

Lily gave her a look that said she knew she was lying, but didn't argue. "I think I'm going to go say hi to that cutie. You be okay for a little while?"

"Of course. Good luck," Michelle grinned and then took a small sip of her drink. She and Lily always looked out for one another, ever since they became best friends their freshman year of high school. They had seen each other through all the wonderful and horrifying years of high school, and then went off to college together. They had taken care of each other through so many things, including drinking. One of them always played designed driver, with Michelle being it more often than not lately. She wouldn't have minded drinking more sometimes and party like she did in college, but she didn't have that luxury anymore due to her demanding job. She was constantly on call and couldn't take the chance that she could be in an impaired shape if she ever was called in. However, that didn't stop her from going out and nursing a drink or two sometimes when that job drove her stress level up.

I wonder what Tony would think of me if I was ever called in after I'd been drinking, she thought to herself as she continued to nurse her drink. Or what he would think of her if he ever saw her in this environment. Would he be shocked that quiet, professional Michelle from the office could be the life of the bar when she was drinking? Would he like that about her, or hate it? He didn't know her any other way than who she was in the office… serious, hard-working, dedicated to getting the job done.

I wonder what he's like outside of work? she wondered for the hundredth time. She knew he was a huge sports fan, but didn't know much more than that. She had peaked into his personal file one day and knew some information… like where he lived, when his birthday was, that his father was dead and his mother lived in Chicago with his younger sister, that he used to be in the Marines… but nothing more personal than that. She knew all about his ill-fated relationship with Nina Myers last year, thanks to office gossip.

He was as much a mystery today as he was a year ago when she'd met him. Sure, they had shared many meals together, at C.T.U., thanks to long hours, which had provided her some insight to his character, but he was still very closed in.

Michelle watched as Lily and the mystery man walked over to the jukebox. Lily was on the rebound from a good relationship gone bad, and she wanted to keep an extra close eye on her tonight. She didn't want Lily doing something stupid in her emotional, drunken state that she would later regret.

"Hey Michelle, how you doing girl? They finally let you outta that office?"

She looked up to see two men walking towards her. "Hey Charlie, hey Mike. How you been?"

She and Lily had been coming to this karaoke bar for the past year and a half, ever since they had moved to Los Angelos from Southern California where they had attended college. They were considered regulars here and were friends with all the other regulars. They both felt comfortable and at home, even though Michelle's time had been limited ever since she started working at C.T.U. one year ago. No one knew she worked for the federal government; they all thought she was a computer tech downtown. She easily fit into this role since she did the work of a computer tech and more for C.T.U. Lily knew what her real job was, but she was sworn to secrecy at the bar. She didn't want any potential problems.

She chatted with the two guys for a while, watching as Lily started dancing with her new friend. Everything seemed alright over there and so Michelle allowed Charlie to get her another drink, with specific instructions that it be much more fruity than alcohol. She trusted he would follow her wishes; Charlie was in his early fifties and made himself out to be the "father figure" to her and Lily.

"You going get up and sing for us tonight, Michelle?" Mike asked. "You know how much we love to hear you."

"And watch her!" a young man shouted as he walked past their table.

Charlie came back in time to hear his statement. "You'd better respect this little lady here, Brian. She's not just another pretty face ya know."

"It's okay, Charlie," Michelle grinned. "He didn't mean any harm."

Charlie sat down with the drinks and picked up where Mike left off. "So are you gonna perform for us tonight?"

Michelle took her drink and smiled. She actually was quite good at singing and loved to get up and "perform" for the bar, karaoke style, but not tonight. She had too much on her mind. She shook her head at their questioning expressions and begged exhaustion as her excuse.

She knew that no one would ever guess that she'd love doing karaoke and singing in front of people. It was something that started on a dare in college, and to her surprise she found herself enjoying it. It was her way of being someone totally different than who she really was.

For the next two hours Michelle laughed and chatted with her friends, still nursing just the one drink. She was scheduled to be off tomorrow and should be drinking it up, but she just didn't feel like it. Maybe it was a sixth sense or something, but she had the odd feeling she'd be needed before then. Besides, she was in a real low mood and didn't even feel like trying to get out of it.

At two o'clock in the morning Maury, the bartender, was ready to close up. Michelle dragged Lily away from her new man, despite his insistence that he would take her home. Lily wanted to go with him at first, but Michelle was able to convince her not to. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was able to help a very drunken friend into her apartment, safe and sound. She left her there, passed out on the sofa, in order to go home.

She was about twenty minutes away from home when the call came in.

"Dessler," she said habitually. She didn't even try to stop answering the phone that way when she wasn't at work; it was just too difficult to program her mind to make the changes. Her family and friends had teased her about it for the longest time, but had finally realized that she wasn't going to change and accepted it.

"Michelle, it's Mason."

Great… her boss. It could only mean one thing. "Hi Mr. Mason. What's up?"

"We have an active protocol and I need you in here ASAP. I know I promised you off tomorrow, but I really need your help with this one."

"No problem." She inwardly sighed. She knew she should had just gone home and to bed when she had gotten off work at six o'clock. No, instead she let Lily talk her into going out and now she'd have to work on an active protocol in a compromised state. She cursed herself silently. "I'll just run home and change real quick because I'm not exactly…."

Mason interrupted her, "Michelle, I need you now. I don't care what you're wearing; just get in here. There is no time to waste."

She did a u-turn and began the familiar drive to her home away from home. "Be there in ten minutes."

"Great. We're going to be starting the briefing in about ten, so go right to the conference room as soon as you get in."

"Got it."

Michelle threw her cell phone in the passenger seat and ran a frustrated hand through her hair. She glanced at herself in the rear view mirror when she stopped at a traffic light. She always wore her hair up at work, but tonight it was down, curly and wild. It would get in her way for sure in a matter of minutes. She was wearing skin-tight blue jeans, black boots, and a low-cut black shirt. She had a reputation at work for being conservative and professional; she guessed tonight would break that.

"Oh to hell with them," she said aloud to the empty car. "They called me on my time off. What do they expect?"

What would Tony think? Would he be attracted to her like this? She hoped it would knock him off his feet since he never saw her in anything but professional outfits. She would never wear something like this on the job, but George wasn't giving her a chance to fix it.

I'll pack a change of clothes for next time, she promised herself, knowing there would be a next time. There were locker rooms for both male and female employees; she might as well take advantage of it.

She pulled into the secure parking lot of C.T.U. and caught the double-glance the guard gave her, but didn't acknowledge it. She didn't flirt with any of the guys at work, except for Tony and that was very subtle to say the least. Probably too subtle considering it wasn't working. She knew Tony would be hesitant in dating a co-worker, especially since he was her supervisor, due to the fiasco with Nina last year, but she hoped that Tony knew she was nothing like Nina and wasn't going to play him. She seriously liked him and hadn't even dated anyone, casually or otherwise, since the day she stepped foot in C.T.U. and was introduced to him.

She knew he was a little attracted to her. There was this tension between them and every conversation not directly work related always had a lot of "umms" in it, like they couldn't maintain a complete sentence to one another. He spent a lot of time sitting on the side of her desk talking to her, and she had caught him watching her occasionally from his desk. He just needed to make one tiny move and she would be at his beck and call. Michelle knew that if Tony ever got serious with her, she'd be a goner.

Like I'm not already, she admitted to herself as she passed through security and walked towards the conference room.

"Michelle," a surprised voice stopped her. "Wow, you look great!"

She smiled, but kept walking, throwing a "thank you" over her shoulder at the tech. At least some male employees at C.T.U. weren't immune to her. If only it would hit the one man she wanted it to.

The briefing looked like it was about to start. She quickly opened the door and stepped inside. All talking stopped and heads turned toward her. She nervously adjusted her top and smiled, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Especially the dark brown ones at the head of the table.

"Geez, Michelle, did we interrupt your night?" Gary, one of the field agents, teased.

"Actually I was on my way home, so the timing was fine," she teased back, sitting down in an empty seat. "I'm sorry, but you didn't give me time to change."

"It doesn't matter. Come'on people, we have a lot of work to do. Let's get started," Mason said in a loud voice.

Michelle sneaked a glance at the chair across from her and met Tony's eyes. He wasn't smiling, but then again he rarely did anyway. However, there was a warm, sensual look in them. She bit her lip and turned back to her boss. No time to ponder what was in his eyes… she had work to do.