Authors Note: The title of this chapter is a homage to my favourite Star Trek movie, "Star Trek VI: The undiscovered country". When dealing with the uncertainty of the future, I thought that it was a fitting title.
Part Four:
Chapter 1: "The Undiscovered Country"
Tony and Michelle both sat quietly, cuddling for a while. Michelle was reluctant to sleep; she knew that if she did the nightmares of the Chandler Plaza would come again. Right now there was not much more she wanted to say, but instead sat with her husband lovingly embracing her. It had been over three hours now, they both jumped when the phone rang, its shrill piercing tone breaking the silence. Tony picked it up.
"Almeida" Tony said robotically into the mouthpiece.
"Hello, Tony, it's Max" the voice on the other end declared.
"Max," Tony began, catching the attention of Michelle who turned to face him. "What can I do for you?" Tony asked
"I'd like for you and Michelle to come to Division right away. I have something important to discuss with the pair of you."
"What is it?" Tony inquired his tone curious.
"I can't say much right now, just please come to Division. It's fairly urgent." With that Max hung up the line.
"What did he want?" Michelle asked.
"He didn't give any specifics; he just said that he wants us to come to Division as soon as possible" Tony replied before kissing the top of her head.
"Fine, I'm not overly keen on sleeping now anyway so let's go." Michelle got up and went to her wardrobe. She pulled out a suede jacket, a white cotton t-shirt, and black jeans. She left her hair down. She helped Tony to dress, on account his wound. Tony had chosen a grey button up shirt with beige cotton pants.
"You look beautiful" Tony said softly, kissing the crook of her neck.
Despite how upset she was feeling that made Michelle smile just a little. Ever since the first time they went into work together Tony had never once failed to tell her how beautiful she was and how much he loved what she was wearing. She had in fact started wearing outfits she knew he would love seeing her in whilst at the office. The outfit she had worn while at CTU on the day of the virus was one she had bought to drive Tony wild.
"We better get going" Michele announced.
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Half an hour later the pair walked through the doors into Division. Max met them as they came inside. "Hey guys thanks for coming" he said.
"What's this about Max?" Michelle asked.
"I managed to pull in a few favours and get you out of that transfer to Little Rock, that's what this is about." Max replied with a smile.
"What?" Both Tony and Michelle said simultaneously, the complete surprise evident on their faces "How did you manage that?" Michelle finished.
"If you would come this way, I'll explain everything" Max replied, gesturing towards one of the vacant offices.
Max switched on the large plasma screen, and soon all three could see a video feed of a woman around Michelle's age. Max de-muted the audio and spoke to the woman on the screen. "Laura, this is Michelle Dessler" he announced.
"Hello Michelle," Laura began "I'm Laura Ryan, Special Agent in charge CTU-Little Rock."
"Hello" Michelle replied. "This is my husband Tony Almeida" she said indicating Tony. "Hello Ms. Ryan" Tony added
"Mr. Almeida" Laura said. "Okay, I guess you all want to know what I have to do with your situation. Basically, Max and I know each other from when we worked at Division in Las Vegas. He contacted my office to discuss your transfer and by lucky chance I got to hear about it and took his call. I only got promoted about ten months back so being undercover Max wouldn't have known that at the time. Now he told me that you don't want to go ahead with this transfer. Unfortunately, because your former superior, Brad Hammond made the transfer non-contestable, there would be difficulties in simply allowing you to pull out of it, at least not without causing Langley to start asking questions and implement their whole 'red-tape' procedural restrictions. However, Max and I believe we have an ideal solution."
"What is it?" Michelle inquired.
"Basically, I'm going to block the transfer, on account of you not being psychologically fit for the post upon assessment. It's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but when you consider the kind of effects that your ordeal in the Chandler Plaza Hotel will have had on you, it's not going to be too far from the truth. Therefore, it shouldn't raise too many eye-brows."
"Thank you so much, I really didn't want to have to take up that post. However, because of what Hammond did I didn't really think that I had much of a choice" Michelle replied, the relief evident in her voice and trying not to cry from the emotional intensity of the moment.
"You're more than welcome, and as I say it will be on record that your current psychological state means you aren't fit for the post, that will avoid any major problems with Langley asking too many questions about why you're not going to be transferred."
"Thank you again, it's wonderful of you to do this" Michelle added.
"Good luck Michelle, you're a credit to the job and I wish you and Tony the best."
With that Laura disconnected the line from her end and the video feed faded from the screen.
"Are you guys going to be okay?" Max inquired gathering together some of his things.
"Yes, thanks to you we are" Michelle said giving him a hug.
"Hey you're more than welcome. It was so wrong of Brad Hammond to do what he did and I only wanted to help you out" Max answered putting a hand on her shoulder. He then turned his attention to Tony and extended his hand; Tony took it in his and shook it firmly. "I know that Michelle has already said it, but I have my own reasons to be grateful. Thank you for everything you've done for us over the past couple of days, especially for saving Michelle's life. I dread to think what might have happened if it weren't for you, but I doubt it would have ended well."
"Again, you're both welcome. It's been a pleasure working with you over the past couple of days. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a flight to D.C. tomorrow afternoon and I really must finish up here and go get some rest." With that Max bid them farewell and headed off.
"You ready to get out of here?" Tony asked Michelle.
"Yeah" was her simple response.
When they got out to the car Michelle put the keys into the ignition. However, she soon became aware that something was amiss with Tony. She turned to face him and soon realised what it was. He was sobbing, his hand was covering his mouth and tears were streaming down his face, his shoulders shook as he cried. Michelle shuffled over and put her arm around him.
"Hey" she softly whispered, "are you okay, sweetheart?"
Tony sniffled and turned to face her "Yeah, Curly-Head, I'm okay. It's just that I was so scared about you going to field ops in Little Rock. My god, Michelle I can't even describe how terrified I was at the thought of what might happen to you there. I also hated the fact that we would be so far apart. Now, all of that isn't going to be a problem, and we can leave CTU and be together. It's just so much to take in." He took a deep breath, and took her hand in his, squeezing it. "I'm okay 'Chelle. Let's go home and get some sleep."
Michelle nodded, started the engine, pulled out of the Division parking lot, and headed for home.
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It was two weeks later; Tony and Michelle were both at CTU again, as the office had mostly been repaired. During those two weeks however, tragedy had struck. Kim Bauer had died on the operating table, not long after reaching Cedars. Chase had called them to tell them the news the following day. Jack was too distraught over it all and no one had heard from him since. It was a truly dark and disturbing event, but it only served to reinforce the motivation the Almeidas felt to leave this job forever.
They had spoken with the Director of the CIA and told him of their intention to resign as agents; luckily he had given his blessing, mostly as a show of gratitude to Michelle for her exemplary leadership in the Chandler Plaza. Today would be their last day on the job.
Michelle already had an appointment with the CTU counsellor and would continue seeing her for as long as was necessary to get through all the problems with the aftermath of the events at the hotel.
Standing outside the door waiting for them was the CTU counsellor. "Hello Michelle, my name is Kate" she said shaking Michelle's hand.
"Hello Kate, it's nice to meet you. This is my husband, Tony" Michelle replied.
"Hi Tony" Kate said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise" Tony replied.
"Look, I don't mind Tony joining you for sessions, in fact I'd encourage it as he's clearly someone who gives you strength and support so having him around would really help the therapeutic process. However, for the first two or three sessions I'd prefer if you were on your own, just whilst I get to know you and we get the ball rolling" Kate informed them.
"That's perfectly fine" Michelle said. She then turned her attention towards Tony. "Sweetie, you go finish up running the new Director through all he needs to know. By the time I'm done you should have everything completed and we can head on home." She took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Okay." Tony replied. "I love you 'Chelle."
"I love you too." With that Michelle turned and headed into the office with Kate and Tony headed over to his office.
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A couple of hours later, Tony came and found Michelle sitting in the break room. "Are you ready to head out of here forever, Mrs Almeida?" he said to her with a big smile.
"Sure, I've got all my stuff together and said my good-byes. Let's just go home and get some rest" Michelle announced. She stood up and wrapped her arms around her husband. "I just want you to know how much I appreciate you doing all this, making such a big change in your career, just for me. I also want you to know that the best thing that ever happened to me at CTU was meeting and falling in love with you. I may hate this place and this job now, and I despise the misery it has brought us and so many others, but it did lead me to the love of my life. For that reason and that reason only, it will always hold a special place in my heart, even after the past couple of weeks." Michelle kissed her husband and rested her forehead against his, gazing into his eyes.
Tony kissed her back, before replying. "That means so much to me Michelle. And just so you know, I have no worries about leaving this place so that we can start a new life together. You're everything to me Curly-Head. You're more important than this job, the country, my duty; there is absolutely nothing in this world that means more to me than you do. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, and I will always be grateful to this job for leading me to you."
They kissed again, and Tony took Michelle's hand in his and led them out of the break room. They crossed the bullpen, fully aware that all eyes were on them. Finally, making it to the elevator, the Almeidas breathed a sigh of relief, the awkwardness of their exit finally over. Getting into their SUV, they buckled up and headed out of the parking lot.
Passing through security for the final time, Michelle suddenly needed to do something. "Tony wait" she said. Tony stopped the vehicle and followed Michelle as she climbed out.
Tony walked up behind Michelle and wrapping her in his arms they stood and looked at the building where they had worked together for the past four years. It was where they had met, begun their relationship, and more often than was probably healthy, had come close to losing each other.
In that building selfishness was forbidden and the safety of millions of strangers both at home and abroad came before its employees and their families. It was a place where sacrifices were made, sometimes willingly and sometimes, more often than not, reluctantly. That was precisely why Tony and Michelle had decided to leave and never come back, they had had enough of that life. As much as they had believed in protecting the innocent, the things they had to endure in order to do so had become too much and they no longer wanted to be part of that world.
Neither of them really needed to speak in order to communicate what they were feeling at that moment. They had never needed to do so in order for the other to know what they were feeling. "Okay" Michelle finally whispered taking her husband's hand in hers and gently squeezing it, "let's go." She climbed into her side of the vehicle and Tony followed. They drove away, both unsure of what the future or the "undiscovered country" as it was sometimes termed might bring. However, the one thing they did know was whatever was in store for them, they would face it together. That was the one thing neither of them doubted as they drove home, leaving the Counter Terrorist Unit behind them, forever.
