Title: Faithfully Yours
Author: MichelleBA
Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by Rascal Flatts)
Chapter 11
The sun was rising and as Michelle watched it she felt so great. Today was Friday and Monday she gets to go back to work. She was sitting on the beach. The orange shimmer of sunlight coming over the water reminded her a lot of Tony. She wasn't sure why, but all she knew was ever since she let Jay go she had felt ten times better. As she watched the rising sun she listened to the cascading waves coming ashore. Michelle had always found the sound of crashing waves soothing. As she sat in cool morning sand she squished her toes in the sand and thought about her life the past two weeks. One particular flashback came to mind from last week.
Flashback
"The cubs? I don't know Tony, I heard the Cubs stink!" she said giggling
Tony's jaw dropped in mock-hurt "Ok that's it! I withdraw my invitation," he said turning away from her and crossing his arms like a pouting child.
"Aww I'm sorry do you like the Cubs or something?" …She knew he did.
"No Michelle, don't even try to soothe my wounded soul. Michelle you've hurt me in ways I just cannot bear to describe" he said dramatically.
"Your soul? Geez by the way you're talking I'd say you're obsessed with them."
"Hurtful! So hurtful!" he turned around.
"Tony…"
"Ok so I like them a little..."
"Tony…"
"Alright a lot!... So wanna come?"
"I'd love to" she said with a smile.
"That is…if… I can find it my heart to forgive you for that awful thing you said." He said purposefully leaving her hanging.
"It was pretty horrible huh?" she said mock-understandingly.
"I thought so" he said "Plus I'm doing this for your own good cause if you say something like that at the game my friends might kill you."
"It's a good thing you warned me!" she said sarcastically.
"Alright so we're all meeting at my house at 5 tomorrow, I'll come pick you up after they all get there."
"Won't that make us late? I don't want to get in the way."
"We'll be fine, plus what else are we gonna do? You can't drive with your arm." She shook her head "when are you getting the sling off?"
"The doctor says I have to keep it for one more week" she said rolling her eyes.
End Flashback
She looked up to the sky; the sun had gotten a considerable amount higher. She found it amazing how fast night turned to day both in the morning and in her life.
Flashback
The doorbell rang. Michelle hurried over to answer it. "Hey," Tony said "Ready to go?"
"Yeah just a sec" she said grabbing her purse with her good arm. "This sling is so annoying" she muttered
He laughed "Relax" They locked the door and headed to his car. She got in the front seat. 3 of Tony's friends were in the back. Tony helped her into the SUV, and ran around to his side.
"Hello" Michelle greeted the men.
"Hi" they all said in unison.
Tony got in the car. "Guys this is Michelle"
"Your girlfriend right?" the guy on the left said.
"No she's just a really good friend of mine."
"Oh" the man said. This was followed by a long silence.
"Awkward silence" The guy in the middle whispered and everyone laughed.
"Ok anyway, going in order from right to left this is Jonathan, Kevin, and Pete"
"Hi I'm Michelle," she said reaching back with her good hand.
That turned out to be hands-down the best baseball game Michelle had ever been to.
End Flashback
She smiled at the memories. The sun was fully over the horizon now. Michelle was starting to feel hungry so she decided to call a cab to take her home. 'At least I get this stupid sling off today' she thought 'At least I hope'.
(Meanwhile)
As Tony was driving he noticed the beautiful sunrise. Its beauty reminded him of Michelle. It was just simply gorgeous, no photo-shop editing needed. It was pure natural beauty.
(30 minutes later)
Michelle arrived home to find a big blueberry muffin on the table with a note beside it.
Good Morning!
I missed ya this morning, now I am going to work with a frowny face that looks like this : (, and I am gonna have a terrible day. You should feel terrible, in fact the guilt should be killing you right now so much that you feel the need to call me right away….
….just kidding. I'll start over….
I missed you this morning! My guess is you went out, or are out to the beach, hope you took a cab cause the doctor says no driving : ) and it would be very naughty not to follow the doctor's orders even though they may seem stupid. I know if it were up to you you'd have been back to work and operating 'heavy machinery' the next day so it's a good thing we have doctors…don't you think?… you're probably so excited! Today you might get your sling off! I'm hoping you do! Have a great day!
Tony : )
Michelle giggled. These morning notes were becoming her favorite part of her morning routine. He was right she did want to drive, so badly, the taxis were costing a lot of money...but that was her fault. Tony had offered her a CTU escort if she ever needed one, but she had never called for it.
(Meanwhile)
"Hey Tony" Carrie said casually as she walked up to Tony's station.
"Can I help you Carrie?" he said focusing back on the paperwork in front of him.
"I just wanted to see how your morning was going." She said.
"Just a normal morning Carrie" he said with his focus still on the paperwork. After a minute or so he lifted his head "But today will be a good day."
"Why what's happening today?" she said glancing over at his calendar. She walked over to read the note for that day. She read "September twentieth….Michelle gets her sling off…12:00…?"
"You should really mind your business Carrie."
"Why do you care about Michelle's sling?" she asked jealously.
"Because she is a co-worker of mine, and I am her supervisor, therefore I am responsible for keeping track of her so I can keep George updated on when she is coming back." He paused "…and last time I checked I don't answer to you."
(A couple hours later)
By 11:30 Michelle was ready to leave. She grabbed her purse with her good arm and headed out to her cab. It was cab 566 her favorite cab. As she climbed into the cab she heard a familiar voice. "Oh no not you again" the man said with a laugh.
"Hey Jeff" she said, picking up on the sarcasm and smiling.
"Good Morning Ms Dessler, how are you doing today?"
"Great thank you. Today's the big day."
"What do you mean?" He asked glancing over his shoulder. "You're finally getting married?"
"No, I'm getting this thing off" she said indicating to the sling.
"Aw man, that's gonna hurt my business" he smiled.
Michelle laughed "Yeah, but don't worry whenever I drink you'll be the first one I think of."
"Most people don't think that clearly when they're hammered, that's generally why they don't drive."
She giggled "Yeah well, how about this whenever I decide to go out drinking I'll write your number on my hand before I start to remind me."
"You can call me before you go"
"We'll see," she said. A few minutes later they pulled up to CTU. Michelle paid Jeff and gave him a bonus as she thanked him. He had been there to drive her around whenever she needed a ride while Tony was in work. He was definitely the nicest cab driver she had ever met.
Michelle walked up to the security station to meet a guard. "Michelle Dessler" she stated to him showing him her card.
"Alright, go ahead" he buzzed her through into the building. She walked through the entrance way and headed straight towards the bullpen which was on the way to the clinic. As she walked through the bullpen she caught a couple people's attention. "Michelle!" she heard Lisa who had been helping one of the analysts with a server problem called as she ran over. She hugged Michelle cautiously. "It's so great to see you! I haven't really seen you since…." She trailed off.
"Yeah" Michelle said with a small nervous smile.
"The first couple days of your recovery they only let certain people in and I got sent out on assignment follow-up on that cell so…wow…you look great…it's just so hard to believe your actually…" Michelle watched Lisa as she started to lose it, Michelle also noticed they now had an audience. "It's so amazing to see you here walking around, smiling, talking…" her eyes began to water "…Michelle you were…you were basically dead on the floor in a puddle…I never got a chance to see you so it never sunk in that you were alive but now you're here and-"
"I'm so sorry" Michelle said hugging her, to hide her tears as she cried into Michelle's shoulder.
"Somewhere in my mind I knew you were alive but, seeing you being beaten and laying on the floor… god, there was blood everywhere…and he just left you there…to die…"
"Here come with me," she said leading Lisa toward the bathroom. Michelle noticed as they walked all eyes were on her. Once they were inside the bathroom Michelle spoke again. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she said wiping her face. "I'm sorry, I'm fine. I just kinda lost it there."
"It's okay," she said with a smile hugging Lisa again. "You alright now?"
"Yeah, I'm good"
"Okay see ya later" she said with a smile as she headed toward the clinic.
"Hey Michelle" Doctor McKinnsey greeted as Michelle walked into the clinic.
"Hi"
"How have you been feeling since our last appointment?"
"Great, can I get my sling off?"
"Have you had any pains at all?"
"No"
"Honestly?"
"No pains, really"
(20 minutes later)
"Alright, I'm gonna let you stop using the sling, but on one condition" he stated "You take it easy on that arm, no heavy lifting, okay?"
"You got it"
"Okay," he said as he removed the sling. He laughed, "You have a sling tan line"
They both laughed at the tan line right above her wrist "So I can drive now?"
"Yes"
"Thank you doctor"
"Call me if you have any problems" he said as she walked out.
As she walked down the hallway she spotted Tony sitting on a chair in the hallway he got up the second he saw her. "Hey!" she greeted him giving him a full hug for the first time in almost two months.
"Hey, I see you got it off!" he said with a huge smile on his face.
"Yeah, finally which is great."
"That's awesome."
"Thanks for the muffin by the way"
"Was I right?"
"I was at the beach"
"Score!" he laughed "I knew it"
"So wanna get lunch? I'll drive!"
"Sounds good to me," he said following her out toward the bullpen.
Right as they were exiting the bullpen Tony heard a voice behind them. "Tony?"
"What Carrie?" he said obviously annoyed as he slowly turned around.
"I was wondering if you wanted pizza for lunch, I ordered it for the whole group, but-"
"Lemme guess no one else is hungry for any cause you bought 10 minutes after people left for lunch, so it will just be you and me probably"
"Well George said he wanted some and-"
"Sorry I have plans" he said turning around and heading for the door with Michelle following after.
Once they were out in the parking garage Michelle stopped "Wait Tony"
He turned around "Yeah?"
"Is that the overly-friendly temp IPM?" she said with a disgusted look on her face.
"Yeah why?"
She shook her head "Nothing" she began walking again.
"What?"
"Nothing, just curious" she lied as they walked up to the car.
Tony handed her the keys "Your driving right?"
"I can drive your car?" she asked.
"Sure" he said getting into the passenger "Plus it's nothing special"
Michelle started the car with ease. "Still it's your car."
"I trust you, wow you started it with no problem" he said with a chuckle "It never starts that easy for me."
"I feel special," she said with a smile.
"You are," he said with a smile. "Wanna listen to some music?"
"Yeah!"
"What station?"
"104.9, it's my favorite"
"Ok" he said as he tuned the radio and sat back listening to the music…
She left that loser in a dust cloud
Heart in his hands sitting on the ground
Cried the last tear for that clown
She can see a little clearer now
She said "Oh I gotta go and find me"
Oh she found the strength to break free
Like a painted wild mustang
Flying out across the open range
Finally gets to live her life that way
No fear, no fences, nobody, No reins
No reins
All she's ever felt is held back
She says, "It's kinda nice to hear myself laugh"
She's gonna do a lot more of that
She's making plans and making tracks
She said "Oh I gotta go and find me"
Oh she found the strength to break free
Like a painted wild mustang
Flying out across the open range
Finally gets to live her life that way
No fear, no fences, nobody, No reins
Oh, Oh she's learning how to let go
Oh, Oh whichever way the wind blows
Oh, Oh she's learning how to let go
Like a painted wild mustang
Flying out across the open range
Finally gets to live her life that way
Like a painted wild mustang
Flying out across the open range
Finally gets to live her life that way
No fear, no fences, no body
NO REINS
No Reins
As the song ended her phone rang. She picked it up "Dessler?"
"Michelle?" she heard her brother sob.
"Danny? Is everything ok?" She asked worriedly.
"I need to talk to you"
"What? Why?"
"Cause I can't get into your apartment and I'm freaking out and I really need you right now." He said pacing back and forth in front of her apartment door.
"Is it serious?"
"Michelle I need you"
"But…" she looked at Tony who looked just as worried. "I'll be there"
She hung up the phone "I'm so sorry that was my brother and-"
"Hey" he stopped her "Don't even think twice about it, your brother needs you, and that's important. Go ahead"
'Could this man be any more perfect?' Michelle thought to herself. "Thank you so much" she said giving him a hug since they were at a red light.
"What are friends for?" he said with a smile.
Sometimes Michelle wished Tony was more than a friend, actually a lot of the times…okay pretty much always.
