Michelle
emerged from Tony's room about 15 minutes later, her phone tucked
at her ear as she tried to replace the bandage on her wrist. She
wandered into his kitchen, murmuring something inaudible, and shot
him a smile.
She was wearing his favourite green shirt with a
pair of black trousers, both of which were several sizes too big for
her. If she was anyone else, she would have looked ridiculous, but
she just looked gorgeous. 'She would look gorgeous in a black sack'
was Tony's opinion on the subject. She'd left her hair loose as
putting it up required several creams, gels and a lots of time. It
gave a nice contrast to the Michelle he saw at work.
Seeing how
she was struggling with her bandage, Tony took her hand and did it
for her. He was surprised at how swollen it was. Michelle's eyes
locked with his and she mouthed "Thanks," at him, all the while
continuing her conversation on the phone. Her ability to split her
concentration always amazed him.
Finishing up on the phone, she
followed him to the sofa. "My brother," she said as a way of
explanation. She took her hand back, which surprised Tony as he
didn't realise he'd kept it. "He's gone to stay with our
parents, he thought it would be best after…after what happened."
She stared hard into the ground, praying that the memories wouldn't
overwhelm her. She felt his fingers brush her cheek, and she forced a
smile onto her face. "Not that it's a bad thing. It means I can
get absolutely slaughtered tonight." This brought smiles to both
their faces. Tony had been planning the same thing.
She glanced
awkwardly at him, biting on her lower lip. Her mind was screaming at
her to ask him, the worst he could say was no. She managed to
stutter, "Want to join me?" She'd meant it to sound natural,
but the way she'd said combined with the look on her face made her
look so very nervous. Then the self conscious aspect of herself rose
to the surface, "You don't have to say yes."
Grinning at her
inability to believe that, despite everything that had happened, he
might actually like her, Tony cut in, "Michelle, I'd love to.
Getting drunk on your own isn't really that fun." That was
something he'd had lots of experience with.
Not wanting the
room to go back to an awkward silence, he asked her if she wanted
something to eat, aware that neither of them had eaten for a long
time.
Despite the emptiness of her stomach, she declined. "I
ought to go, I want to see if I can get some more sleep." It was
the partly the truth, she was still fairly tired, but mostly she
wanted to go home and cry. Her self control had already been proved
to be poor around Tony, and she didn't think she could deal with
another loss of control in front of him.
"You don't have to
go, you could sleep here if you wanted." Now that sounded
desperate. Normally Michelle would have picked up on it, she enjoyed
torturing Tony, although generally he'd done something to deserve
it. But now she just smiled and told him she wanted to go home. That,
more than anything else, signalled to Tony that he needed to let her
go home.
He called her a taxi., making note of her address.
"You'll have to put up with me for another half an hour. It's
the earliest they can get here."
"Then it's a good thing I
like you." A genuine smile this time, and it managed to get rid of
some of the weariness in her eyes.
"Michelle, maybe I shouldn't
come round today, you look like you could use the rest." He tried
to keep his voice gentle and understanding, although a note of
bitterness crept in. He'd waited six months to get close to her, he
didn't want to miss a second.
Misinterpreting this, she quickly
replied, "Its OK, you don't have to come, I shouldn't have
asked you, it wasn't fair." Looking everywhere but at him, she
felt her composure slipping away. Why did she insist on doing this to
herself, her arm ached, she was so tired, her head was pounding, she
hadn't eaten in days. Why did she put herself in these situations
where she could only get hurt, especially with him standing there,
his deep brown eyes watching her every move. "Thank you for looking
after me. It was really kind." She had to get away from him, he
didn't want her there, she couldn't break down with him
watching.
Tony watched her fall apart in front of his eyes. The
strong woman who could cope with anything was gone. Hardly surprising
really, considering what she'd been through. She'd watched most
of her friends die, her boss, she'd watched the entire intelligence
agency fall apart with internal bickering, she'd had to make a
stand based on her morals, and she'd been arrested as a traitor. It
was no wonder she'd lost her confidence and her faith in people.
Before he knew what he was doing, she was wrapped in his arms,
preventing her from fleeing, and he was telling her everything would
be OK. Tears spilled out of her eyes and onto his shirt. They stood
like that for an eternity, his fingers holding her in place, hers
gripping back just as tightly.
Eventually, mostly because he
couldn't stand on his ankle any more, they sank to the floor, her
head still buried in his chest.
"I seem to be doing this a
lot," her voice was slightly muffled by his shirt.
"No
objections here. Besides, you've been through hell." He pulled
her head out from his chest, one hand tracing the curls about her
face, the other cupped against her cheek. Her eyes met with his and
she melted into his stare.
"You shouldn't be allowed to look
at people like that," her voice was barely a whisper. Her kiss was
gentler this time, in complete contrast to the urgency of the
hallway, and his response was immediate. He drew her closer to
himself and kissed her back very softly.
As always, an
interruption presented itself, although this time it wasn't the
phone but the taxi. It took an incredible amount of determination to
pull back from her, although he kept his forehead against hers.
After finding that he couldn't actually get up, Michelle
managed to pull him up. They kept their arms locked about each other,
not wanting to leave the moment behind.
As she got into the taxi,
Tony whispered, "If you want to call a raincheck on tonight, I
won't mind," despite the fact that his eyes said the exact
opposite of this.
She brought her lips to his once more, and as
she pulled away she whispered, "No chance." Tony's face lit up
at this, and they both smiled as the taxi pulled away.
The tears
which she had feared came again, but this time they were happy tears.
Despite all the horrors she'd been through, all she could think
about was the feel of his arms about her, the feel of his lips on
hers. She buried her head in her knees, breathing in his scent from
his clothes and hiding the huge smile that had crept its way onto her
face.
Tony stood outside his apartment building for ten minutes
with a grin on his face before he realised that he couldn't see her
taxi any more. He went back to his apartment and fell asleep in the
spot which she'd slept in. His thoughts occupied in the same way
hers were.
