A/N: So, all your wonderful reviews prompted this. Again, it's just a quickie thing I threw down over a couple of hours but decided we could all use a little more fluff in our lives. :D I'm not sure how well it flows to be honest as I am severely deprived at this moment in time…hopefully it's readable!

I should be posting the next part of Disenchanted tomorrow (Friday at the latest) for those of you who are interested. Enjoy!

Part Two – Butterflies

Michelle Dessler had been in love twice in her twenty-nine years of existence.

In high school she'd been the consummate good girl. She finished her work on time, did well in all her classes and knew the answer to most every question the teachers ever asked of her. She didn't come across as a know-it-all (most of the time), but she didn't come across as the type of person you dated either. She had this nasty habit of falling for people she knew she couldn't have (something she would identify as some sort of defense mechanism after first year psychology). For example, when she was sixteen she fell hard for one of her friends…one of her friends who also happened to have a girlfriend. You couldn't get more off-limits than that. Her stomach would fill with butterflies at the start of 4th period because she knew he would pass by her locker because he had algebra down the hall. Her best friend Alicia would squeal when she saw him and make herself scarce while Michelle fluffed her hair and stared into her locker, pretending to be absorbed in the artwork of her biology textbook. Normally he'd interrupt her with some sort of smart-ass comment (which she appreciated), but on a few occasions he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder and whispered a quiet "hi" against her ear. She'd hear Alicia squeal an awwwww from her position hidden around the corner, and blushed furiously, relishing in the feeling of him against her like that. It was the first time in her life it occurred to Michelle that it might possibly be okay to stay wrapped up in someone's arms forever, even if it wasn't the type of thing smart, independent women considered. She allowed herself to entertain the idea because somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she would only be sixteen and this hopelessly naïve about love and life once and this was the only time in her life she would be able to feel so much from so little. She would only feel these kinds of butterflies once.

But she hadn't loved him, because how can you love something you aren't willing to give yourself to? A person could only take out of you as much as you were willing to put in, and Michelle protected herself. The less she put into something the less it would take out of her and she protected herself by falling for people who were off limits.

College passed without much interest in men. There was just no time. Between spending hours upon hours in the computer lab doing programming and time with friends she never seemed to meet anyone.

And then, in the second semester of her 4th year, in an algebra lab, she ended up lab partners with the guy sitting beside her. He was definitely cute with sandy hair and hazel eyes that looked different under the light of the sun than they did in class. He smiled widely with straight, white teeth and a dimple in his right cheek. He was intelligent and attractive and a little preppy without being arrogant.

She was convinced they were 'just friends' and once again she'd fallen into the trap she had so many times before. Guys never seemed to see her as more than a friend and she wondered why that was. She didn't know what kind of vibe she was sending out, but apparently it wasn't the right one. It wasn't that she desperately wanted a boyfriend (but she did feel like the oldest virgin left in the world and refused to have a random fling just so she could say she had sex). She just felt like a child by comparison to everyone else and she wanted to at least be able to say she'd actually had a relationship in her twenty-one years. The other problem was she never seemed to actually like anyone enough to pursue anything.

But Steve changed all of that. She found herself getting excited at the prospect of going to lab and spending a little more time on her hair those mornings to make sure it wasn't a complete mess before she saw him. She was shocked to find he actually seemed interested. He started sitting beside her during lecture and made her laugh constantly. They even had coffee when they had time off together between classes. Finally, he invited her to a party his roommates were throwing and they spent most of the night in each other's company, finally ending up outside on the front lawn bundled up in jackets.

"Michelle, listen I uh…." He studied her uncertainly and she felt her heart starting to pound in her chest as she realized how close they were.

"I want to kiss you."

A shiver ran through her whole body.

"Then why don't you?" she tried to sound coy. She knew she'd failed miserably.

His mouth quirked into a grin.

"I don't know."

She grinned back, practically ready to jump out of her skin now.

"That doesn't seem like a very good reason."

"You're right." He was still grinning when he leaned over and pressed his lips softly against hers. She felt this pull towards him as soon as their lips touched and slid closer, moving her hands to his shoulders when he curled an arm around her waist.

She waited two months before having sex with him. He was perfectly sweet throughout the whole thing and did his best to make it special and memorable – and it was. It was exactly the kind of 'first time' anyone could possibly want. They planned out the whole thing for when he knew he was going to have the house to himself; Michelle put on underwear that matched and didn't eat for five days out of sheer nervousness. They sat on the bed together, talking quietly for a few minutes, and eventually ended up lying on their sides facing each other. Her whole body fluttered with the best kind of nerves and they spent an eternity kissing and caressing before the main event.

It was as good as could be expected for a first time, and the more they did it the better it got. Steve treated her like a queen and was sweet and loving and obviously wanted to make her happy. She fell for him hard when she finally did, (something she denied for months until Alicia finally called her out on it), and as the years passed they only got closer. Her mother was thrilled and by the time her twenty-fourth birthday rolled around kept insisting that "she had a feeling" he would propose soon.

He did. But not the way Michelle wanted him to. He got a job offer in Florida and asked her to come with him…and marry him. When she asked what about my job he told her she could find something else.

The problem was, Michelle was still responsible and grounded and wanted to be a strong, independent woman and that answer didn't work for her. What if she didn't find something she liked as much as her job now? What if she didn't find anything at all? How could she go somewhere consciously knowing there was nothing waiting for her on the other end? Mature, responsible, independent women didn't do that. She wasn't letting Steve take care of her.

Telling him she couldn't go ended the relationship. There was no talk of trying to keep things going long-distance, because having a rejected marriage proposal hanging overhead changes everything. It occurred to Michelle that she'd never really seen herself ending up with Steve permanently. She'd loved him, but he wasn't it. He wasn't what she wanted for herself.

Her mother raked her over the coals for her decision, telling her there would be other jobs and other career opportunities but there might not be another Steve. Steve was a good guy and Michelle knew her mom just wanted what was best for her. She couldn't understand that what was best for Michelle didn't necessarily involve a guy. She still resented her mom for the arguments she started over it.

And then her mom died. Six months after Steve moved away her mom got cancer and five months after that she died. Her condition had deteriorated at a ridiculously fast pace, and then she seemed to linger on the brink of life and death for way too long. When it happened Michelle's dad fell to pieces and her brother fell off the face of the Earth for the better part of a week, but Michelle had almost been relieved. It had been so painful to watch and wait and know what was inevitably coming and when it finally happened Michelle took comfort in the fact that her mom wasn't in pain anymore. So…she sucked up anything she might've felt and managed the funeral arrangements, never once allowing herself to succumb to her emotions. There would be time for that later.

At the reception she was shocked to see Steve had shown up. Alicia had warily left them alone and he'd hugged her tightly, his own voice cracking as he muttered "I'm so sorry, Michelle". Despite Alicia's warnings, she went to his hotel after everyone else had left to talk. It took less than fifteen minutes for Michelle to decide what she wanted... She pulled him against her, pushed her tongue into his mouth and swung a leg around his hips as her fingers hurriedly undid the buttons on his shirt. She came twice hard in his arms and collapsed sweaty and shaking on top of him before the tears finally came. She cried against him for the better part of the night, and left in the morning before he could wakeup, scrawling a hasty Thanks on the notepad beside the bed. He called incessantly for a week and she finally told him it was just something that happened. It didn't mean anything and no she wasn't considering giving them another shot. It probably hadn't been a fair thing to do on her part, but he knew what he was getting into when he had sex with her in that state. He knew what she was like.

For the next few years Michelle dated a handful of people, slept with a few of them and ended things before it got to the point of getting serious. She had Steve to thank for being able to tell if they were right for her or not. It had nothing to do with her potential to love them (she'd loved him like crazy, after all), but whether or not she could see herself with them forever. The two didn't necessarily go hand-in-hand which was something she'd learned from him.

And then she met Tony Almeida.

He wasn't Steve…he definitely was not Steve. He was dark and mysterious and only spoke when it was necessary. He was anything but preppy and was more than willing to talk back to George Mason or Ryan Chappelle just to give them a little hell.

And he was hot.

Michelle had always prided herself as being someone who could only appreciate looks on some small level. People got more attractive or less attractive to her based on their personality… That was, until George asked wryly if she needed something to mop up the drool when Tony stumbled into a meeting late one morning with messy hair, an unshaven face, and one more button than usual undone on his shirt. He mumbled sorries that he didn't really mean and said something about his alarm not going off. His voice made him sexy. The sound of his voice was what she took home with her every night and the first thing she wanted to hear every morning. She wasn't stupid enough to think it was love or anything like that, but she'd certainly never lusted after anyone the way she did him. Every nerve ending on her body seemed to fire simultaneously when his fingertips pressed into her back to get her attention. Over the phone one night she told Alicia in no uncertain terms that she basically wanted to screw his brains out, and that she'd never felt so sexually deprived in her entire life.

From the first time they'd made love it had felt different. It hadn't been something they'd planned out for weeks that involved candles and fresh sheets and pretty lingerie (though she had thrown on her best matching set of red lace before their date 'just in case'). It didn't involve soft music or packing a bag for the night or flowery declarations of love. Instead it had been about going from a simple kiss on his couch, to pulling hastily at clothing while some movie played in the background; it involved him mumbling the occasional phrase against skin heated by his mouth like 'you okay?' and 'god, you're gorgeous' that made her weak in his arms; it involved her shivering under the warmth of his gaze as he laid her down on the bed and arching against him as his lips moved down her body. The only sounds that could be heard was the sifting of sheets, and in the morning he nuzzled his stubbly jaw against her cheek and tugged her body into his warmth to coax her awake.

She'd never loved like this before. Truth be told, she didn't know human beings were capable of loving like this – or at least, some were, but not her. To give herself over so completely to her emotions was scary and exhilarating at the same time. Michelle didn't know she had it in her to do it. She'd never felt so completely out of control. From their very first kiss there had been nothing rational or practical about them and somehow she couldn't find herself caring less. She was still the same sensible Michelle she had always been, but she found herself making a little more room in her life for impulsiveness. Sensible wasn't spending an entire Saturday on the couch together when her apartment had been needing to be cleaned for over a week; it wasn't sitting on the phone with him while they tried to get their work squared away for the day; and sensible certainly wasn't having sex pressed up against the counter of her kitchen, food and sleep always an afterthought and forgetting to worry if she'd remembered to draw the blinds.

She hadn't necessarily been surprised when he told her he loved her, though maybe a little surprised it hadn't taken him longer to work up the gall to spit it out. (He was still a little wounded from Nina, but she did her best to show him he didn't have to be suspicious of her and it seemed to work.) The truth was, in her entire life no one had ever looked at her like he did and though it seemed a silly and superfluous thing to say, she knew from his looks that he loved her. (If that wasn't enough there was the way his hands teased down her back in bed at night, or the way he was constantly making moves to touch her in little ways when they were alone, or even the way he kissed her in the morning and pressed close when he awoke before the alarm).

Still, she couldn't help but be thrilled to hear him verbalize it; hearing him say it in his way, in the same voice she'd loved for as long as she could remember. She thought of this while they lay in bed the night the words were exchanged. He curled an arm around her shoulders and snuggled close, his eyes heavy with sleep.

"Tony…"

"Mhm…" his eyes didn't open but his hand caressed her shoulder.

She positioned her body so she was slightly leaning over his and pressed her open mouth against his neck. He groaned and his grip tightened.

"Say it again…" she ordered softly, a glint in her eye as her fingers toyed with the hair at his temples.

"What?" he opened his eyes one at a time and then arched a single eyebrow.

"Say it again." She repeated clearly, a grin spreading onto her face.

"Say what again?" he played dumb and she made a face. He tickled her in response, ending with her body mostly on top of his as his hand came to rest in the small of her back.

"You know what."

He sighed, feigning exasperation before his face turned serious and he used his free hand to cup her cheek.

"I love you."

She smiled brightly and kissed his lips.

"I love you too, Tony."

He grinned back. "Good…now that that's settled, can we get some sleep?"

She shook her head slowly.

"Michelle…" he whined until her mouth met his and her tongue poked between his lips. He groaned again, a little deeper this time, and flipped her onto her back as his hot mouth moved to her neck. Goosebumps rose on her skin and she raked her nails gently across his back as he moved between her breasts.

She may not be sixteen anymore but Michelle could, without a doubt, still feel the butterflies.