Chapter 2

Tony collapsed into a heap on the floor, unable to stop crying. Every emotion that he had felt in the last 14 hours came out in a flood of tears and sobs. Nothing could be done to stop it. Nobody disturbed him, knowing all too well what had happened to the team down at the hotel.

He kept thinking over and over again how he didn't want it to end this way. He couldn't leave things unresolved. He would never get a chance to make things right before she died.

The ringing of his cell phone, brought Tony temperorarily down to earth. Thinking that it could be Michelle he leaped at the phone and answered it. "Hello?"

Hearing Tony answer the phone in a normal way instead of answering with his name, disarmed Michelle and made her realize how disoriented Tony must be. His voice was hoarse and soft from all the crying that he had done. "Tony, it's me."

"Good, how are you? What's going on?" Tony asked quickly.

"I am great. Tony, the health services people came in and tested the air where the virus was sent through the ventilations system. The results showed that it wasn't the virus. It is a decoy. A purely harmless powder." Michelle's voice was close to giddy.

Tony sat up straight and stared at the wall. For a few moments he repeated those words in his head over and over to make sure they meant what he thought they did. Then it registered to him. Michelle was going to live. He let out a happy sob. "Thank God. Can I come down and see you?"

"Well, they are keeping us contained here, but we are allowed to go outside, we just can't go outside the radius. But Tony, you have to stay at CTU and do your job." Michelle told him.

Tony brushed this off however. "I will be down there in 10 minutes."

"Tony, it's a 20 minute drive?"

"I said 10 minutes and it will be 10 minutes." Tony said firmly and then hung up to and got his coat.

Michelle closed the cell phone and smiled. She understood how he felt, because what seemed like days ago, but was actually hours, Tony was shot and she wanted more than anything to go up and see Tony.

Tony grabbed his keys from his desk and hurried out of his office, taking the stairs two at a time. Chappelle caught sight of Tony and stopped him before he left.

"Where do you think you are going?" Chappelle asked harshly.

"To go see Michelle." Tony said impatiently. This was cutting into his 10 minutes.

"She is going to be fine, so there is nothing you can do. You have a job that needs to be done here."

"Well, screw the job Ryan." Tony spoke angrily and turned to leave.

"You are a bigger problem than you are worth." Chappelle called after Tony as he reached the door.

Tony stopped with his hand on the door, frozen on the spot. Then he spoke calmly and confidently. "Well, this job has more problems than it is worth, you being one of those problems." Tony didn't skip a beat and hurried out of the building.

The car beeped as Tony turned the alarm off. He hopped in and started the car. Tony didn't care that he could be fired for what he just said, and probably will be. All that mattered was getting to Michelle. Usually he was more logical, but there is no logic when love is involved.

It was a good thing that it was such an early time in the morning and the roads were almost deserted. At some points Tony was going 40-60 m.p.h on the city streets of L.A. Finally, Tony arrived at the hotel. He parked a block away and ran towards the hotel. He was stopped by containment workers, but Jack spotted him and vouched that Tony was in fact head of CTU. Well, for now at least.

Tony's eyes searched the crowd trying to spot Michelle.

Jack laughed at seeing Tony's apprehensive face. "I can guess why you are here."

Tony smiled at Jack and resumed to look around him. "I guess that would be kind of obvious."

Jack looked at Tony. He should tell him about how this was a decoy and they had to work on finding out where the real virus was. He couldn't do that to Tony though. They didn't need Tony and after him being shot and what Michelle has been through, they could use some rest and maybe a little happiness. They were lucky to still have each other.

A painful stab went through Jack as he thought of how he hadn't been so lucky. Yes, they needed this. He could only wished that he had been as fortunate as them. They deserve this.

"Don't worry Tony. I have been watching over her for you. She is over here by the ambulances."

Tony gave Jack and appreciative glance and ran towards that general vicinity. After pushing many people aside he caught sight of her. He had to remember to breath.

She turned and saw him. Instantly she went running and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. Michelle was holding on to Tony's neck, while Tony held Michelle's head against his chest under his chest, stroking her hair with his other hand. Both, didn't move. They both were crying, just happy to be in each others arms again. Neither wanted to move from that spot. Tony moved back first and started planting kisses all over her face, tasting salt from her tears. Finally his lips landed on her lips and it was like their first kiss all over again. It was a desperate kiss in which all their anxiety and grief was put into that one kiss. It held the promise of tomorrow.

Tony pulled back, his eyes still closed with a smile on his lips. He opened his eyes slowly, relishing the feeling of Michelle in his arms. "Come on, lets get out of here."

Michelle grinned right back at Tony. "But, what about our jobs? We do have those you know."

"Forget the job, come on." He pulled her by her arm towards his car. "Jack, we're leaving."

Jack nodded and smiled. "I will tell Chappelle that you two were in no condition to keep working. Which is true." Nodding to them, huddling closely together as if they were attached at the hip.

Michelle giggled. "Thanks Jack."

"Yes, thank you." Tony replied. "See you later." At that, the couple walked the blocks distance to the car.

Tony started up the car and both were silent for a few minutes. Michelle spoke first. "So, how did Chappelle take you coming down to seem me."

Tony nervously laughed. "About that, well, not so well."

Michelle looked over worriedly. "What does that mean?"

"That means I may have said some things that were not so appropriate." Tony tried side stepping the topic.

"What did you say Tony?" Michelle asked condescendingly.

"Umm..well" Cough. "Screw" cough "the job." cough.

Michelle laughed. "I have a feeling that wasn't all of it."

"I am just going to plead the meds I am on from the gunshot influenced me into saying such things."

"He won't get rid of you." Michelle reassured.

"I know. I just don't know if I want to stay at CTU anymore. What happened today has just made me rethink about my career. Look at how much I almost lost today. Yours and my own life. That is a large price to pay to keep this job."

"But, your job is your life."

"And it almost took that away from me." Tony commented quickly.

"Well, it's not something to make rash decisions about. We will think about it."

Tony nodded. "Are we going to talk about what happened today?'

"I don't know what there is to say." Michelle answered.

"I am not taking this second chance for granted. We can not pretend today didn't happen."

"But, I don't even know where to start."

"Well, I do. That is I am sorry. I am not sorry that I didn't tell you about the mission because, that was for safety reasons and Jack, Guielle, and I decided it was for the best if we didn't tell you. However, I am sorry for getting angry at you for doing your job by turning me in and for being an ass to you. I shouldn't have been so cold to you. I regret it now, and see how childish I was being."

Michelle felt a tear roll down her cheek as she stared at the road ahead. "I am sorry that I was not more understanding of what you had to do as your job. I should have been supportive. I am sorry for being so stubborn as well. You have to understand that it irks me that you hid something from me for more than a month and I had no idea."

"Michelle.." Tony spoke softly.

"No, you were right in keeping that from me. But, I should have known that you were keeping something from me. As your wife I should have been able to tell you were hiding something from me. Yet, I couldn't." Michelle admitted.

"

Tony drove silently for a few minutes before speaking. "Michelle, it says nothing about you. If anything, it shows how good of a liar I can be, and that is not something I am proud of. You know my history with Nina, which you were reminded of today." Michelle nodded, a face of hatred on her face at the thought of Nina. "I never will lie to you without a reason. I am sorry that you feel the way you do right now. I wish I could change it. All I can do is say I am sorry, and hope you still trust me." He said this as they pulled up in front of their apartment building.

"Tony, of course I trust you and nothing will change that." Michelle reassured him.

Tony smiled, got of the car, and opened the door for Michelle. They walked hand in hand up to their apartment and entered their home. Tony walked over to the couch and laid down onto it with a groan. He pulled Michelle down with him so she was laying in his arms on top of him. This was how it was supposed to be.

"Tony will you go see the doctor tomorrow about your neck?" Michelle asked as her head laid on his chest and her fingers grazed over the bandage on his neck.

"Yeah, I will. Don't worry." Tony spoke softly, happy to have Michelle in his arms again. This was the way things belonged. Them laying peacefully together, dozing off into sleep.

"Tony?" Michelle questioned hesitantly

"Yeah?" Tony spoke sleepily.

"I'm pregnant."

Tony's heart skipped a beat, but then he realized that his world was now complete. He pulled Michelle even closer in his arms. He kissed her on the forehead and they both fell asleep in each others arms, dreaming of the promise of tomorrow.

A/N I hope you like this ending. I will be starting on the sad one soon. Hopefully it will be out in a couple days but it could be a week or two. It's finals weeks and I have band competition on Tuesday. So, I hope you enjoyed that. I know cheesy and kind of out of character, but that's what came out. Thank you guys that reviewed. They meant a lot to me. Please keep reviewing. Don't forget that I have two other t/m fics to read. Thanks again and I hope you enjoyed. The second and final ending will be next.