Chapter Three – Active Protocol

Tony and Michelle walked down the stairs together, enjoying there last few peaceful moments. As they were reaching the bottom few steps Tony touched Michelle's hand lightly with his own,

"Tonight can't come soon enough," he murmured.

She sent him a private smile before the pair of them split, Michelle heading for IT where her help would be most appreciated and Tony going straight to Jack's side.

"What's going on?"

"I'm about to bring the whole team up to speed, but this is serious Tony, we're in for another very long day."

Tony sighed inwardly, were they really ready to deal with this? Half of the team had barely been working at CTU for a fortnight. Could they cope with everything this job put you through? But his mind didn't dwell on their new workers for long, most of his sympathy went out to Michelle, would she get though another day like before so soon?

Michelle's mind reeled, this had to be something big, Jack wouldn't be acting like this if it was just routine stuff… Images of the bomb flooded her mind: bodies buried under rubble, chaos in every direction, and Tony - missing for those few seconds until she saw him once more, long enough to stop her heart from beating and her lugs from breathing. She still wasn't sleeping well; she wasn't ready to go through all that again. And worse still what if this time she really lost Tony? It didn't bare thinking about.

"Can I have your attention, we have an imminent terrorist attack on our hands, and we need everyone to be working on preventing it, no distractions. This is an active protocol." The whole room became still at Jack's words. "Division have confirmed that the terrorist cell 'moonlit ghosts', who we thought had been destroyed, has become active once more. The cell was last operational in 1998, when the leader was Corin Calorman - he was killed by LAPD officers while resisting arrest. We believe their new leader is Ash Calorman, his cousin." Photos of the two men appeared on the screen behind Jack as he spoke, "from Intel already gathered, Division wants us to assume that they plan to use suicide bombers in strategic places at some point in the next 24 hours, their aim is to cause maximum civilian casualties." A new set of photos appeared on the screen each with a name displayed underneath, "all known members of the cell have disappeared and Ash Calorman, who was being followed until early this morning, has vanished as well. This is going to be a long day, people, so lets get on with it"

The group dispersed, each employee heading back to their workstation, Tony's eyes followed Michelle as she walked away from the crowd and down the corridor to tech 1. Acting on instinct he followed.

"Hey, Michelle," she turned in time to see Tony jogging towards her, "look, I'm sorry about tonight…"

"I know Tony, you don't need to apologise, that's the job, it's what we signed up for"

"That doesn't make it fair."

"No, but there will be another evening"

He smiled, "then I want to book your next free evening, whenever that is."

"Sounds like you just asked me out again," she said and felt her face grow warmer.

"Yeah, I guess I did" he said, his smile widening, Tony checked the corridor was clear before raising his hand and brushing a stay curl away from her face. Michelle smiled shyly as Tony closed the distance between them.

"How serious is the threat, Tony?"

He searched her eyes and saw the fear she was hiding, but he couldn't lie to her,

"It's bad Chelle, these people won't stop until they're satisfied"

She gave him a weak smile before looking away and saying, "I don't think I can cope with all that again Tony"

"Hey," he put his hand under her chin and raised her head so their eyes met once more, "everything will be ok; you know that right? You're going to get through this."

"But what about you? What if I lose you?" the words fell right out of her mouth as she fought against her emotions, trying, and failing, not to get hysterical.

Tony was blown away by her words and how strong her feeling must be for him already, "we're both going to be ok, I promise."

Michelle leaned into him, seeking the warm, safe feeling that only came from being in his arms.

Tony sighed and pulled her closer, "I wish I could take you away from here right now" he whispered next to her ear, Michelle could feel his lips on her skin as he spoke.

"Where would we go?"

"To the nicest restaurant I could find, where we would order the best food, and Champaign. And we would sit outside and watch the sun go down." He paused, "And I would kiss you without anyone interrupting us." They both knew he was talking about before, on the day of the bomb, and just the thought of their kiss sent warm feelings all the way down to Michelle's toes.

"We should get back to work."

Tony pulled away but kept a hand at her waist, "I'm here if you need me, remember that Michelle. Anytime."

She nodded, "thanks, Tony."

After a last lingering look at each other, the pair went their separate ways once again.

Barely ten seconds later the emergence alarm screamed through CTU for all to hear.