Tony pulled up at his apartment, and grabbed Michelle's hand, they both headed up to his apartment together. Tony got Michelle inside sat her on the sofa, and went to put the coffee on, he also called Chloe to get her to make sure back-up went and took out all of the other men down where Michelle was held. He came back to find Michelle sleeping, he went to get a cloth and hot soapy water to clean her up a bit when he noticed lots of shimmering liquid on Michelle's trousers. He pulled her trouser leg up for closer inspection and then he saw the horrible gash in her leg, 'You idiot' he thought as he remembered seeing the blood trickle down from her body at the house.

He went and got his first aid kit then he very carefully cleaned up her leg and put a thick bandage on it and wrapped it. She looked exhausted, he went to go put the kit back and tripped over her good leg "Ahh" he said and she sat up.

"You ok?" she said rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah fine just kinda clumsy" he put the kit away and came back to see her examining the band-aid

"Who cleaned me up?" she asked

"Oh I did I hope you don't mind" he said she nodded and smiled "Wanna watch TV?"

"sure" she said they snuggled on the couch and within minutes had fallen asleep.

Tony woke up first, he just laid watching Michelle sleep for a while, and then his thoughts drifted, he began to think about how he was going to propose; he already had the ring and he knew quite a few romantic ways to do it - Michelle being a girl has made him sit through many chick flicks. But what he doesn't know is how Michelle would want him to do it. So he sat there, for a long time, thinking of a way to find out how she would like him to propose...

She opened her eyes "Hey you" she said

"Good morning." he gave her a kiss "How's? your leg"

"I don't know it's still asleep" she said

"Well lets wake it up" he tickled her and got up and ran

"Tony Almeida I'll beat you! your not allowed to tickle me!" she said chasing him

"Hey you can run pretty fast for a crippled person!" he giggled as he ran

"Crippled!? Oh your dead Almeida!!!" she yelled between laughs

He ran up into the bathroom and she followed and pinned him against the wall. "I have the same training as you, and I have a better long range aim average" she said breathlessly

"Unless you have a squirter gun that doesn't help you." he broke one arm free and tickled her she laughed again and ran off toward the bedroom and locked the door, right as the phone rang. She picked it up...

"I'm gonna get you Michelle!!!" he said from behind the door, she laughed

"Shut up Tony" then turned back to the phone "hello?"

"Michelle?" someone said shocked

"Ryan? uh Mr. Chappelle?" her smile vanished

"Michelle?" Ryan was speechless "You are both needed for a debrief...Is Tony that Tony?"

"I uh. Well we were just, he just came..." Michelle was a terrible liar

"Yes well, the debrief, did you want to come here for it, or me to send someone to you?" he asked, polite? Chappelle? since when?

"Um... here please, um yeah my leg isn't feeling so good, it got a little injured last night so I think it would be best to take it easy..."

"Okay well I'll send someone over, tell Tony to stay there because we can kill two birds with one stone and get you both debriefed, they should be there mid afternoon"

"Yes sir, thank you, bye" I said

"Tony!" I shout to him, "Chappelle is gonna know if you don't keep a low profile around me!"

"Know what?" he asks me, childishly, and very guiltily.

"About us..." I say, raising my eyebrows

"Us" he questions.

I nod, and he comes over, "Well..." He brushes past my lips so lightly I wondered if they were ever there, "What if, we told him?" he asks me, followed by a very passionate kiss. "Never mind" he mutters "Answer later" he says later. And we continue to kiss.

They moved over to the bed and tumble onto it. He continues passionately when the phone rings again.

Tony and Michelle hate phones.

Tony starts to let up to let her get up to answer it. She pulls him back and says "Screw it"

They were on the bed, still kissing passionately, and Tony began kissing her neck, she giggled and moved her neck to give him better access, she was rubbing her hands all over his back - Tony's hands started their travels up Michelle's shirt until they reached her breasts. But annoyingly the phone was still going,

"Tony..." she said between breaths, "I really don't want you to get the phone..." she said breathlessly, "But it could be real important..." "Can't they leave a message?" he said still focused on her

"I guess" she said the phone stopped ringing but then simultaneously Tony and Michelle's cell phones started ringing.

Tony stopped and looked up at her "This must be important."

Reluctantly they both got up and answered their phones. Chloe was calling Michelle, and Adam on the line for Tony. They both told them the same thing:

"We got to the place where they were holding Michelle, and no one is there now, we had satellite on them and was tracking them, and didn't understand where they were heading, until now"

"So...?" Tony and Michelle asked

"Well Tony their heading to your place, don't ask how they got that info, but they'll be there in about 2 minutes" Tony sighed, and Michelle's face looked that of utter panic. "Look back-up wont be able to get there for another 20 minutes, so hold tight, or get out now..."

"I have a gun" Michelle said

as she hung up on Chloe as she said..."Who are you talking to?! is someone there?"

Tony ended the phone conversation with Adam and hung up Michelle handed him the gun. Michelle looked at him and said "No matter what happens I just want you to know that I..."

"No don't we are gonna make it through this, I promise you I will protect you." he said but before she had time to retort they heard someone bust down the front door. Michelle shook, she was terrified.

"Chelle, baby, go hide in the bathroom, and lock yourself in..." Michelle shook her head, "No, I'm not leaving you" she said and she walked with Tony, they both crept into the living room, and noticed one guy walking around, "Hang on" Tony whispered as he ran back to his room, and came back with something small in his hand, "A silencer" he said, placing it on his gun. He spotted the same guy walking behind the sofa, so he shot him straight in the head, and because the guy was behind the sofa he was already hidden from view. One, two then another four guys walked in, six guys altogether - Michelle and Tony quickly backed up into Tony's room, and hid under the bed.

"Check in there Larry" they heard a hoarse voice say. Larry walked in to the bedroom and headed toward her bathroom. Tony peaked up and shot him, he landed with a thump in the tub Michelle shut her eyes when he fell. Tony pulled back under the bed as another man ran in and looked around the room. Tony once again crawled out and shot him. Tony went up against the wall.

"Stay here Chelle" he whispered but as he was saying it before she could warn him a man tazered him from the back. Michelle covered her mouth.

"Ha I thought I heard him talking to himself!" a man said in triumph as they dragged Tony out. Michelle wished she had kept two guns.

Michelle looked at her watch, 17 minutes had passed since the phone call, she only had to hold them off Tony for another three minutes and everything should be okay. Why hadn't they just hid for 20 minutes!? Its would have been so much safer.

Michelle crawled out from under the bed and hid against the wall to the living room - where the last two guys had Tony. They had a gun against his head, and kept repeating, "Where's the girl?" Michelle just got a really lame idea - but that was all she had, so she decided to go with it. She went back into the bedroom, and grabbed a heavy ornament off Tony's dressing table; she went back to her position and threw it at the guy's head - the one with the gun. At that point Tony rapidly grabbed the gun out of his hands.

There was a big commotion and two other guys ran in with guns and had them up against the wall with their hands up. "You!" they said pointing at Michelle. They kicked her in the stomach and the other took Tony out of the room.

Tony was furious.

They repeatedly kicked her telling her what they thought of her when all of a sudden they heard doors and CTU came busting in.

Michelle was in so much pain, but a sigh of relief came over her when she realized what was happening. The guys that had Michelle had time to quickly grab her and put a gun to her head, yelling "Come near us and we'll shoot her" But in the other room, the guys who had Tony were startled enough by the sound of CTU agents barging in which delayed their reactions for a few seconds giving Tony the upper hand - he won shooting both guys straight in the head. He ran out to find a man with a gun to Michelle's head, and the CTU agents trying to bargain with him, but with Michelle's life on the hand, Tony had to think fast - but Michelle didn't give him time.

She lowered her eyes to the floor, showing Tony she was going to duck and Tony shot the guy in the head.

She dropped her head. He shot the man and ran over to her, as the CTU squad stood around awkwardly eventually leaving to go count and identify the bodies of the hostiles. As Tony ran to Michelle he stopped cold when he saw the look of pure terror in her eyes, she was looking into the bathroom when all of a sudden a hostile that had been hiding in the bathroom shot him. He was hit in the back.

Michelle finally found her voice "Tony!!!!" she tried to catch him but didn't make it, his head hit the floor, he was out like a light.

Michelle sat frozen for a few minutes, she was completely lost, she didnt even think she just zoned out. She completely forgot about the guy with the gun too. Luckily a CTU agent heard her shout Tony, and the gun shot itself, so he came charging out taking the hostile straight out. He shouted for a medic, and 10 minutes later they were on their way to CTU medical.

Michelle sat in the ambulance staring at Tony holding his hand as silent tears fell. "Miss Dessler we really need to take a look at you"

"No focus on him" she said

"But ma'am your wounds look serious" he said politely

"He's more important!" she said as calmly as she could.

The medic totally ignored her, and came to give her a once over, but she looked him in the eye and said, "Concentrate on Tony" putting emphasis on every word and saying it as firmly as possible. But Michelle understood really, he was just trying to do his job right - that Michelle could relate too. So she added a little softer "I'll get myself checked out as soon as were at CTU, okay?" She put all her focus back on Tony again, she was rubbing his hand, and saying his name softly, "Baby, come on, you have to get through this..." She whispered to him trying to stay strong, "I can't live without you" she cried as her voice broke.

The ambulance pulled up to CTU and they rolled Tony down the hallway faster than Michelle could keep up. The went into the operating room and a doctor standing by stopped her "Sorry, no guests in the theater."

"But.." she tried to argue

the other medic from the ambulance came up to her "You need to let me check you out now"

"Fine" she turned back to the doctor "tell me if ANYHTING comes up"

"You'll be the first to know"

Whilst Michelle was getting checked out, time was going so slow. They didn't find anything serious wrong with her, just minor cuts and bruises; one big bruise on her stomach and that was practically it. Just as Michelle thought time couldn't go any slower - it did. It seemed like Michelle was waiting hours for Tony to come out of surgery but in reality it was only 45 minutes. Michelle didn't know whether to take that as a good sign or a bad sign when the doctor walked out to her.

"Well miss Dessler, the bullet didn't go right through, so it was hardly a clean exit, but we did manage to remove it alright." He paused and looked at her, and was about to start again when Michelle interrupted

"Just tell me if he's going to be fine, back to normal Tony" Michelle pleaded.

"He's going to be fine, he'll need a little bit of TLC" he smiled. "Your welcome to go in now" He said ushering her into the room.

He grabbed her arm "And by the way his clothes are being washed, so all his personal belongings are right over on the counter in that blue bin. He should be awake soon"

"Thank you doctor" she said as she entered the room. She went straight over to him. He had been punched in the face more than once, her eyes teared up, and he looked so peaceful when he slept. His phone began to ring. She went over to the bin with his belongings and pulled out his phone, but dropped it when she saw the tiny black box.

Michelle's face crumpled in thought, she didn't know whether to open the box, or just leave it, 'Would it be wrong of me to go through his personal items' She thought, obviously not caring about her thoughts, she opened it. And that's when she saw it, a beautiful ring, it was a silver band with the tiniest diamond in the middle. She smiled when she saw it. She hoped she was right in thinking why he had this on him.

A tear came to her eye, she looked over at him. She ignored the phone; she had had enough of them for the day. She put the box back and walked over to him. She sat on the edge of his bed holding his hand. He opened his eyes.

"Hey" he said in a raspy groggy voice. She went to talk but his phone started ringing again. He said, "Why you look so sad?"

"I saw the ring" she said wiping away a tear.

His face dropped, "You did?" From his reaction, Michelle began to panic, wasn't it meant for her? Who did he buy it for then?

"Oh" Was all Michelle managed.

Tony took her hand, "No, sweetheart, its nothing like that, it's just, I wanted to do it all romantic, and stuff"

"And stuff...?" She giggled. That's her Tony, always so specific.

"So what do you think?" he asked seriously.

Michelle became serious. Tony became worried, but then she smiled and kissed him and all his worries disappeared and he was the happiest man in the world.