Author note: Thank you for your reviews. I'd love to know what you think about the whole story, so new ones are always appreciated.
The final weekend before Michelle's last week at work arrived quickly. It started with a rainy Saturday.
Michelle woke up on top of Tony; she felt the cool air going over her bare back. Even though it was mid summer, the weather had been unusual as of late. The night before was warm so they left the window opened before going to bed. However, the temperature had dropped because clouds gathered during the night; the rain was pouring again and wind was blowing. Thanks to all of that it was fairly cool in their home.
Michelle got up and closed the window. Shivering, she returned to their bed and lay down in the same position, on top of her husband. She was just about to cover herself when Tony did it for her. He didn't wake up, but tugged the sheet higher, covering her back before wrapping his arms tightly around her.
Michelle smiled and looked at her husband's sleeping face. She gently traced it with her fingers, kissing his lips gently. "I love you so much," she whispered.
"I love you too baby," Tony replied without fully waking up.
Michelle remained looking at him for a while, gently caressing his face every now and then; planting kisses on it. After some time, she dosed off again.
When she woke, Michelle felt his strong arms still around her; one was going up and down her back and the other was playing with her curls. Michelle was still groggy, so she didn't open her eyes right away; letting her husband caress her for a bit longer as she rested with her head on his chest. A few minutes later Michelle was fully awake. When she heard him whisper, "I love you," she looked up and smiled, surprising him, "I love you too, so very much."
"Hey, I didn't know you were awake."
"I fully woke up a few seconds ago."
"I hope I didn't wake you."
"No, baby, you didn't. I was awake before, but I obviously dosed off again."
"Why did you wake up? Did you have a nightmare?"
"No, I was cold."
"Cold?"
"Yeah," Michelle nodded and told him what happened couple of hours ago.
"I had no idea. I don't remember any of it."
"I know you don't. You were asleep but you still took care of me," she smiled, kissing his lips gently.
"I'll always take care of you," he replied, gently tucking couple of loose curls behind her ear. "So, what do you want to do today?"
"I don't want to set foot outside our house. I want to spend the entire day in your wonderful strong embrace. I want to feel your skin covering mine all day."
"I think that can be arranged," he grinned. "We do have to get up and eat."
"Yeah, but we're coming right back in here when we finish eating, where we'll stay until we get hungry again. Then we'll go eat and come back in here," she smiled. "I don't want to do anything else all day; all I want is to spend the entire day in your arms."
"Sounds perfect."
They remained laying in bed for a while, cuddling. After getting up and dressed they went into the kitchen where Tony made them breakfast.
When they finished their breakfast, Michelle got up and sat into Tony's lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he hugged her tightly.
"I love weekends. I finally don't have to hurry to work and neither do you. I get to spend the entire day with you, for a change, just like I want to do every day for the rest of my life."
"I don't want anything else either. I'm glad Gianni and Gina don't need me to go to the diner during the weekend. I was sure they'd need me more then, but they don't. For some reason the weekend traffic at the diner is much slower than it is during the week."
"You have no idea how glad I am too. If you did, we wouldn't even have these two free days."
"Yeah, but only one week left and then we'll go up to the cabin for a while, swim in the lake and walk around the forest. Robert and Tess are away and since no one else has access to our cabin, it will be just you and me alone, without anyone for miles."
"Mmm, sounds wonderful," Michelle kissed him. "I'm so glad you and Robert built that cabin when you were younger. I love going up there."
"I love it too, I proposed to you up there on our first visit and each time we found time to go was wonderful."
"It sure was. That place is amazing, no matter what season it is."
"Yeah, it's great. One day the four of us will bring our kids up there. I'm sure they'll love it as much."
"I'm sure they will, sweetheart."
They kissed for a while, holding each other tightly.
"When we come back you'll be coming to the diner with me during the week, so we'll be together all the time again. We'll also start handling everything that we'll need to open our business," Tony said slowly swinging her side to side.
"I can't wait," she smiled.
"I can't wait either. I've been waiting to tell you something that will make you happy. I found a perfect spot for our store. It's really close to the diner, which is great since that way it's not far from our home either, and I can help the two of them if they need something."
"That's great sweetheart, when and where did you find it?"
"You know the spot; we pass by it almost every day on our way to the diner. It's that yellow two story building with two stores on the first floor. It's been closed for a while now and I heard it will be on sale soon."
"Really? That place would be a perfect location for our store. I always liked that building; it has lot of room on the lower floor for the store and for offices and such on the upper floor. I was thinking just the other day when we passed by it how great it would be to have something similar for our store. Remember, we even talked about it."
"I remember; that's why I was so excited when I heard it would be going on sale soon. How great would it be if we manage to get it, huh?"
"Yeah, baby; it would be. Just don't get overly excited in case something goes wrong with it. Who knows, maybe they gave up on the sale; maybe they have already decided who will buy it, maybe… There are ton of maybes, so don't get disappointed if it fails," she looked into his eyes, caressing his face.
Tony kissed her, "I won't sweetheart. I was thinking the same thing, since it's separated in two stores and we need only one, maybe they'll try selling the whole thing to someone who needs two. It would still be great none the less, but in case it fails, we'll find something else. I'm sure there are ton of other different locations that would suit us."
"Yeah, I'm sure there are," Michelle smiled.
A few seconds later thunder ripped through their house and rain started pouring twice as hard.
"Good thing we bought all our groceries last night. It wouldn't be too exciting to go out in this weather."
"No, it sure wouldn't be. You should call Gianni and Gina and tell them that we won't be coming there today. Tell them we'll come tomorrow for a change."
"You're right; I don't feel like going out in weather like this and besides," Tony got up with her still in his arms, "we have other plans," he said, kissing her neck.
He carried her to their favorite armchair which they brought from his old apartment. They first sat in it together on her first visit to his place after a difficult mission which had gone terribly wrong. Michelle didn't feel like being alone and Tony didn't feel like leaving her, so he brought her to his place and took care of her. They spent hours cuddling in that armchair, needing to feel each other close.
Tony sat them down in the armchair, keeping Michelle in his lap. She hugged him tightly, getting as close to him as she possibly could. He wrapped his arms around her.
"I know you didn't want us to leave the bed, but I know how much you like sitting here and watching the storms over the ocean and so do I. We can't get out on the porch since it is pouring, but this is the second best place to look at the ocean."
"Yeah, it sure is. I loved this armchair from the first time we sat in it together. It's just perfect, as if it was made for the two of us. It's not too big so we have to get totally close if we want to sit together, and not so small that it makes us uncomfortable."
"I love it too although I'm so glad I don't have to worry about you more than usual today. Since nothing bad happened to you and you didn't come close to dying like on the day we sat here together for the first time. I was so scared for you on that day. Good thing you had that vest on or I would've lost you," he said hugging her even tighter.
"Oh baby, that day still scares you. Even though it was a horrible mission and I got shot at multiple times, it all went well. I was wearing a vest and the bullets hit it. I was bruised, but I got out safely and you took care of me. It happened ages ago honey; you didn't lose me and you won't lose me so easily. I'm right here where I'll always be."
"You have no idea how glad I am because of that," Tony kissed her hair. "I know it happened a long time ago and it's silly to think about it now. I guess I remembered all the fear again thanks to the horrible time behind us and because you still work there. I'll always remember it though; that was the first time I got scared for you, the first time I realized how much I don't want to lose you, and we were going out for only a month."
Michelle smiled, kissing him.
"You meant the world to me even back then. I was sick with worry while you were on that mission and afterward while I took care of you. I spent the entire night looking at you while you slept, making sure you were okay. Even back then I thought about leaving CTU one day to keep you safe. However, everything was going so well for us after that event, we both just put it behind us," Tony continued.
"Yeah, and we had great 3 years. If that stupid day hadn't happen the way it did, we wouldn't want to leave it all so much, we'd still be there. Well, there or in Langley, but we would still be in the same field."
"That's true, but somehow I'm grateful that it all happened. Too many bad things happen to people in that world and I want to be free of it and as far away from it as possible. This way we will be and we'll start our own business. It will be safe for us both, so neither of us will have to worry for the other. We'll be our own bosses; we'll have more free time to be together. No one will be able to put us in any kind of difficult situation. We'll be able to raise a family and build our business in peace."
"I'm glad it will all happen, but I wouldn't complain if it happened in a different way," Michelle sighed. "I never want to go through anything similar to the hell we went through during that time," she said leaning her head on his shoulder, hugging him tighter, "never."
"I don't want to go through anything similar again either and we won't, not this time. This last week has to go by smoothly and then we'll be free from that life and that sort of fear. I never want to worry about losing you again."
"I never want to worry about losing you either. Only this week and we'll finally be free," Michelle looked up and they shared a kiss.
"Now, call Gina and Gianni so we can let them know we'll come tomorrow. I want to spend the entire day concentrated on just you and me without anyone around us."
"You got it baby," Tony smiled.
He picked up the phone and called Gianni and Gina. Tony placed them on the speakerphone because they wanted to talk to Michelle too. After explaining that they didn't feel like going out due to the bad weather and just wanted to spend a day alone, Tony and Michelle promised they'd come to see them tomorrow.
When they finished the conversation, Tony wrapped his arms tightly around his wife again.
They remained in their armchair for a long time, kissing and cuddling, looking at the ocean raging under the wind and lightning ripping through the sky followed by strong claps of thunder.
"Are you hungry?" Tony asked after some time.
Michelle just nodded and got up; she looked at him and took his hands, lifting him to his feet, pulling him close to her. She gently caressed his back, kissing his neck, sending waves of goose bumps down his back with each loving kiss and touch.
"I'm hungry for you," she whispered seductively, nuzzling his ear, "I want to feel you and taste you." His only reply was a long moan of pleasure, as she continued to kiss his neck and caress him gently, in a way only she knew how.
She led him to their bed, gently pushing him down onto his back. Getting him completely naked, she climbed on top of him; kissing and caressing his entire body for a long time. Michelle knew she was driving him insane; it was obvious how much he was enjoying it all, and she loved every minute of it. Making her husband feel good was as pleasurable for her as it was for him.
When Tony couldn't handle it anymore, he gently flipped her onto her back. He looked at her with eyes filled with passion. "My turn," Tony said, kissing her hungrily.
He slowly took the rest of her clothes off, kissing all the naked parts. Once he got her completely naked, Tony hovered over his wife and started planting gentle kisses all over her body, stroking her gently in the process. He drove her as insane with his long, passionate kisses and caresses. Placing her hands onto his head, Michelle gently tugged his hair, "come up," she barely managed to whisper.
Tony took his time to reach her lips; when he finally did, they kissed hungrily for a long time, caressing each other all over. Their lips didn't separate until they ran out of air.
They looked deeply into each other's eyes which were reflecting the other's love and desire.
"I want to feel you inside me," Michelle whispered seductively in his ear.
Tony wanted her as much; he kissed her lustfully as he eased himself gently into her.
Their lovemaking was slow and passionate. Tony and Michelle continued whispering loving words to one other; never breaking the eye contact, their skin constantly covered the other.
Afterward they lay breathless for a long time; wrapped tightly in each other's arms, enjoying the afterglow of their lovemaking.
Some time later when they finally caught their breath, Tony was lying with his head on Michelle's stomach as she gently stroked his hair. He looked into her eyes and smiled, "Are you hungry now?"
"Oh yeah," she replied, "I could eat an elephant."
"I don't think we have elephants in the fridge," Tony chuckled, "but I'm sure I can make us something that will kill our hunger."
"For food anyway," Michelle giggled.
Tony lifted himself to her face, "the other hunger will never be killed. Hunger for food will always be more easily taken care of. I'll never stop being hungry of you."
"Neither will I," Michelle replied.
"It might not feel as strong at the moment, but soon it will," he said, burying his face into her neck, kissing it fiery, sending goose bumps down her back, making her sigh of pleasure.
"Keep that up and we won't come out of here till the end of the millennium," she smiled, gently stroking his back. "Not that you'll hear me complaining, but we have to get some fuel first."
"Well, let's get tanked up," Tony replied.
They kissed for a few more minutes and then got up; after they finished getting dressed they went into the kitchen.
"What do you want to eat?" Tony asked.
"I don't care, I'm so hungry that I could cook and then eat what I cooked."
"You must be starving in that case," Tony laughed, wrapping his arms around her.
"You're so funny," Michelle replied, frowning jokingly. Surprising him, she tickled his ribs, making him jump.
"I'll get you for this later." Tony replied laughing. "But first I have to feed us both, so we have enough energy."
"You better," Michelle smiled. "Then you can get me anyway you want," she whispered in his ear.
Tony's only reply was a hungry kiss on her lips. They looked lovingly into each other's eyes for a few moments before they went to prepare their meal.
Twenty minutes later their lunch was done and they ate happily flirting.
When they finished their lunch, Tony and Michelle cleaned everything up and decided to watch TV for a while.
They curled up next to each other on the couch and picked up the TV guide from the coffee table, trying to decide what to watch. A few minutes later Tony turned the TV on and just as he started skipping to the channel they picked, the phone rang.
"Hello?" Michelle answered.
"Hey, Michelle; it's Jack."
"Jack! It's good to hear you. How are you?"
"I'm great Michelle, and it's enough to hear your voice to know that you're great too."
"Yeah, we're both doing great, we're really happy," Michelle smiled to Tony. "Tony is right here with me, would you like to talk to him?"
"I'd like to talk to you both."
"Okay, I'll put you on the speaker," Michelle said.
"Hey, Jack." Tony said when Michelle placed the phone on the speaker. "We didn't hear a peep out of you for a while now. How is everything with you?"
"It's really good actually. I'm working for Secretary Heller; he's a great man and I'm enjoying the quieter way of working for a change."
"I'm glad you're doing so well. I was sure you'd go nuts doing office work."
"I was sure too, but I'm doing so well. I had no idea it would do me so much good."
"You sound happy."
"I am happy. Life is great for a change."
"I'm glad to hear it. Life couldn't be any better on our side either." Tony smiled, kissing Michelle's cheek. "We have made so many decisions it will take a month to tell you about it all."
"I'd love to hear about it, but you'll tell me everything face to face."
"Face to face?" Michelle asked. "Are you coming to LA?"
"Yeah, I'm coming next week. I'm accompanying Heller and his daughter. It's a business trip but we're staying for a few days and I'll have some free time. I'd love to see you guys."
"That would be great; we'd love to see you too. It's been a while since we last saw each other and so many things changed for the better. It will be my last week at Division; we'll go out and celebrate it together."
"You're leaving Division? You guys really decided to make a lot of changes. I can't wait to hear about it all."
"We can't wait to tell you. There's so much more."
"Well, we'll talk about it all next week. I have ton of news of my own."
"Great, we'll have some catching up to do."
"Yeah; I'll call you when I arrive and we can confirm our dinner then."
"Okay, talk to you soon Jack."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Michelle hung up the phone and snuggled next to Tony again, leaning her head on his chest; he wrapped his arms around her.
"It's so good to hear he's doing well. We were so occupied with our life that we didn't call him in a while and he was obviously as busy since he didn't call us either."
"Yeah, and it's strange not to hear him for such a long time. We used to talk to him daily when you came out of that place. I'm glad to hear him sounding so happy. I don't remember when I heard him sounding this way. He was happy during those three years when I got to know him better, he and Kim became like a family to us. But he never sounded this happy; he sounds like a totally different person."
"I haven't heard him this happy since before Terri died. He used to sound like this all the time. He was a totally different guy back then, at work and outside it. I'm glad he sounds more like that again."
"I'm glad too, he deserves to be happy just like you and I are," Michelle smiled.
"No one is as happy as I am right now. I'm the happiest person alive," Tony said.
"That makes two of us," she replied gently kissing him on the lips. "I love you so much."
"I love you too baby, more than anything."
They kissed for a while, Michelle then nestled her head bellow his collarbone slipping her one arm behind him wrapping it around his back; wrapping the other around his neck, gently stroking its nape. Tony kissed the top of her head leaning his chin on it. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, gently stroking her hair and back. They sat that way for a long time, completely forgetting about TV again, simply enjoying being together.
After dinner Tony and Michelle snuggled next to each other on the couch and watched a movie. Some time later Michelle fell asleep in Tony's arms; he was just about to take her to bed when the phone rang. Tony cursed because he knew it would wake her up.
"Hello. Who is it?"
Michelle opened her eyes and smiled to Tony who gently caressed her face.
"Hellooo?"
"Tony," he heard from a distance. "It's me Robert."
"Robert? Where are you calling me from? Are you okay? You sound like you're in some tunnel."
"I'm fine Tony; I'm on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea with Tess and her parents. I sound like that because we're out in the open sea and the signal isn't too good. Tess and I just wanted to see how you guys were doing since we didn't talk in a while; we miss you both. We're sorry about not calling you enough or even e-mailing you, so this time we decided to call you and talk to you in person, despite the bad phone reception."
"Yeah, we sure haven't talked like this in a while. I'm glad you guys are okay," Tony said as he placed the phone on the speaker so Michelle could here it all as well. "So much happened to us over the last several months and I'm sure as much happened to the two of you too."
"Yeah, it sure has, but we'll talk soon, in person."
"Really? You're coming home?" Tony asked.
"We are; we'll be in LA in a month or so."
"That's great news," Michelle said.
"We had it with the traveling; we want to come home and open our business there. We miss the two of you and Gianni and Gina too."
"They ask about you guys a lot and miss you too. You should call them; they want to know how you are."
"I don't know when we'll be able to call; we're going out in the open sea and we'll be traveling for a while longer. When you see Gianni and Gina, send them our love and we'll do our best to call soon."
"Yeah, we'll tell them. I see them daily since I work in the diner now, at least for the time being. I'll pass along your greetings."
"Thank you so much Tony. I'm so glad you guys are okay; I know this was a difficult time for you both. You sound so well and I'm so glad to hear that. Our trip happened at a bad time, but there was no way we could have known what was going to occur only a couple of days after we left. We couldn't come back even though we wanted to. You have no idea how worried about you we were. I wish I could've been there more for you. The phone calls and e-mails we exchanged seem like nothing… I'm sorry for not being there for you more. It's not because we don't care about you, I hope you know that."
"I know, it's okay. Of course I know you care about me and how worried you both were even though you tried to hide it, I could hear it in your voices and read it in your mail. You guys don't have to worry about me though. I'm just fine, because all I need is my wife and she was with me every step of the way like she'll always be," Tony caressed Michelle's face and she smiled, kissing his cheek gently.
"You left before it all happened; you couldn't have known it would and I didn't expect you to come back just for me. I wouldn't want you to anyway. There's nothing either of you could've done for me in that situation or later when I got out. I know how much you both looked forward to this and I'm glad you did it. There's no need for you guys to feel bad, I'm great. Everything turned out so well. No matter how hard it was for a while, we got out of it and we're better than ever. When you come back, you'll see. We have so many things planned and we've changed our life so much."
"I'm glad you're doing so well and I can't wait to see you both and hear all about it. Tess and I had such a great time over the past two years. We've been around the world, but we're both tired and we want to finally settle down."
"I'm glad to hear it. I miss you, my brother. I can't wait to see you and Tess. Both of us can't."
"We miss you too, my brother, a lot. We can't wait to see you guys either. There are so many things we want to tell you, but we don't want to do it over the phone."
"Yeah, this reception is getting even worse; we'll talk when you guys come here."
"We will. Did you go by our house? Is it still in one peace?"
"We checked on it just a few weeks ago. Everything is fine and it's all waiting for you."
"It won't wait for much longer anymore. Hang on; Tess wants to say hi to you guys."
"Hey guys."
"Tess! Hey, how are you? You sound so happy."
"I am happy, it's been a great trip, but we can't wait to be home. We have so much to tell you and as I heard you have as much to tell us."
"We sure do, we're so happy that you're coming back and that you're okay."
"We're really sorry for not calling you in such a long time to tell you we're fine. It's been so hectic and something kept getting in way. We were thinking about mailing you and then changed our minds because we wanted to hear you, but it all turned out differently."
"It's okay. We're glad you're okay, we can't wait to see you."
"We can't wait either. This line is breaking up; it's time for us to go. Love you guys, see you soon."
"Love you. See you soon."
Tony hung up the phone and wrapped his arms around Michelle. It was obvious on his face how happy he was to hear from Robert, he's been like a brother to him most of his life and he missed him.
"I'm sorry the phone woke you up, you we're sleeping so peacefully," he said caressing her face.
"It's okay, I got plenty of rest and I'm as good as new again," Michelle smiled.
"Me too, but it's time for us to go to bed anyway."
"I want to stay in your arms like this for a while longer. I'm not tired anymore."
"Okay," Tony kissed her.
"I'm so glad they finally called us."
"I am too, baby."
"They sound well and happy. I'm glad we'll see them soon."
"Me too."
"I wonder what news they've got. We'll be hearing ton of new things in the next few months. First Jack, then them…"
"Yeah, we sure will."
"Things are coming back to the way they used to be. You'll have both Jack and Robert back. One will be here for only couple of days, but you'll still get to see him and sounds like the other will stay for a long time. You'll finally get to talk to them both and I know how much you missed your guy talk."
"I did, but I'm perfectly well the way I am right now."
"So am I."
"I know you missed Tess; you missed chatting with her about your girly things," Tony teased.
"Haha, you're so funny," Michelle tickled him, "but you're right, I did miss her. She became like a sister to me over the years and it will be good to have her back."
"Yeah, even though we're perfectly well on our own, it will be good to see them all."
"It will be," Michelle replied, "and soon you will see them." She started caressing him with her feathery touch, going up and down from his neck to his chest, planting gentle kisses on his neck; sending goose bumps down his spine.
"I will, but the only thing I want to see right now is my wife in our bed, naked" Tony said huskily.
Michelle wrapped her arms around his neck, "and I want to see my husband naked in our bed as well."
They got up from the couch and walked to the bed, slowly taking each other's clothes off on the way.