A/N: Sorry this is so late in coming. I had exams last week, and then I was celebrating the fact that we're out of school for the summer with my friends. And I had drill team stuff. And FYI, I probably won't be updating again until late next week because I have drill team officer camp. It should definately be an...experience to say the least. Now just some review response: Thanks so much for all the reviews. You have no idea how awesome you guys are. Thanks for feeding the Muse. :-) And in reference to the sex scene - I know some of you wanted me to write more, and some of you were glad I didn't. I'm sorry if you were one of the people who wanted me to really write the sex scene, but I tend to struggle with writing them, so there won't be a lot. I mean, there will be plenty of sex, (wow, that made me sound bad), just not...descriptive sex. Eh. Anyway, I hope you keep reading!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own 24. Maybe I will one day, ya know, once I've taken over the world, and kidnapped Carlos Bernard for my person sex slave of sorts. But I don't see that happening anytime soon. So, for now, these characters are borrowed.


Chapter Three – The Morning After

Michelle lied in her bed, staring at the silhouette of Tony's body next to hers in the glowing light of daybreak. It was sunrise, and the light was casting an attractive orange tint onto Tony's bare skin. He was still sound asleep, but she's never been much of a sleeper herself. Caffeine was what got her through the day now, like so many others at CTU. It was early, and Michelle desperately wanted a cup of coffee, but she didn't want to get up, for fear of disturbing Tony and disrupting the image before her. She glanced at the clock. 5:23 AM. She sighed. She didn't have to be up for a while, and she really needed the sleep…Michelle glanced back over at Tony, who was still sleeping peacefully, breathing in loud, even patterns, which she'd grown fond of over the past few hours. She reached out and rubbed his hand idly, and he shifted, squeezing it subconsciously. Michelle smiled inwardly and fell back to sleep.


To spite the both of them, Michelle's alarm went off in what felt like just moments after she'd fallen back to sleep. Tony woke to Michelle rustling out of bed and grabbing her robe, wrapping it around herself. He yawned loudly, glanced in her direction, and smiled lazily. "Morning."

"Morning," Michelle replied somewhat embarrassedly, a mischievous grin on her face.

"What time is it?" Tony asked.

Michelle sighed. "6:15. We've got work."

Tony groaned. "Can't we just stay here?"

Michelle noted with a smile that he seemed to be very cranky in the mornings. "Sadly, no. I'm going to take a quick shower, I'll meet you in the kitchen."

"Can't I meet you in the shower?"

"Well then it wouldn't be a very quick shower, now would it? Plus, we need to stop by your place – wherever the hell it is that you live. You need to change your clothes before our briefing with Division at 8:30." Michelle choked back a laugh at the image of what Chapelle's face would be like to see Tony walking into CTU with Michelle, wearing the same clothes from the day before.

"You're the morning type, aren't you?" Tony asked groggily.

"I guess you could say that." Michelle flashed him a playful grin and headed off to the bathroom.


Tony sat in Michelle's kitchen, sipping a cup of freshly made coffee in a simplistic white mug that made him long for his Cubs one, which he had taken the liberty of dragging out of one of her many messy cabinets. While he dug through her pantry, searching for something for breakfast, quite nearly all he saw were an assortment of cereal boxes, cans of food, and microwavable meals. Apparently she wasn't the cooking type.

He sat back down with a bowl of Wheaties and his cup of coffee, and began to think about the night before. It had been incredibly; indescribably, really. The night had made him fall for Michelle all over again and in a whole new way, if it was possible. He just hoped it had meant as much to her. But when Michelle walked into the room, all doubts and uncertainties vanished.

She was still in her bathrobe, wet, curly strands of hair sprawled across her face and neck, her make-up already applied. "Hi," Michelle smiled gently, simply glowing.

"Hey." There was a moment of tension, neither knowing exactly what to say. Tony flashed her a goofy grin. "So what exactly do you eat around here? Because I'm not finding much."

Michelle chortled uncomfortably. "I can't really cook."

"Well then it's lucky for you that I can!" Tony replied.

"You can cook?" she asked skeptically.

"I cook well. I enjoy cooking, actually. I'd make you breakfast if you had something in this apartment to make it with. I don't even see a frying pan for crying out loud…"

"You were snooping, then?" Michelle accused, the corners of his lips tugging upwards.

"Ah…" Tony knew she'd got him. "I was only looking for food!"

"Sure, Almeida. Sure." Michelle sat down across from him, a smug look on her face.

Tony reached across the table and handed her a cup of coffee, with a bit of cream in it. "Made you some coffee."

Michelle's face lit up. "You remembered how I like it."

"Well I spend enough time in that break room with you to know everything about your coffee preferences."

"That's definitely true. You do spend a lot of time in that break room…shouldn't you be working more often than not?" Michelle tried to act serious and she fiddles with the coffee cup in her hands and took a sip to hide her smile.

"Hey! I'm still you're boss you know! I don't like being insulted. I could fire you, y'know. Insubordination is big deal!"

Michelle stood up, heading to the pantry, laughing, but spoke in a very serious voice, a hint of sarcasm detectable. "I'm sure it is. And Tony, you trying to fire me would probably be a sign of the Apocalypse, because I really don't think you have the heart." She shook her head sadly.

Tony scowled. "C'mere you…" He stood up and grabbed Michelle around the waist and pulled her into his lap in his chair. She wrestled with him for some time, trying to escape his grasp, but failed miserably when she couldn't contain her laughter.

"You're very cute when you laugh," Tony commented.

Michelle smiled and glanced at the clock. "We've got to get going. We still have to stop at your apartment before work."

"What about breakfast?"

"We can stop for muffins or something on the way…"

They headed out the door.


Tony and Michelle headed to Division in separate cars, by Michelle's suggestion, and arrived within five minutes of each other. Michelle arrived first and headed inside for the meeting. She met Chapelle on the way, and the two headed into the room together. Michelle glanced at her watch as she sat in her chair. They were still waiting for a few members to arrive. Tony was one of them.

He stumbled into the room about five minutes later, much to Chapelle's annoyance. "Almeida! You're late! It's 8:31. We've been here for ages waiting. You're Director of CTU, Tony, I expect better of you! Michelle here was very prompt, arriving early. If you like you're position at CTU, you better damn well start arriving on time!"

Michelle struggled to stifle her laughter.


A/N: Next time, expect some CTU action.