Hey – thanks for the reviews!! Please read and review this chapter!! Give me some more ideas...o and um this chapter has a lot on Tony and his family...u might think yeah ok, I don't care...but I might make references to the names of his family so sort of pay attention!! Hehe thanks!!

Disclaimer – I don't own much so how the could I own a show like 24.....so yeah I don't own 24 or any of the characters!

Ring Ring

"Hello"

"Tony Almeida?"

"Yeah"

"This is George Mason speaking, I'm taking over the LA division of CTU"

"So I guess you demoted huh?" ha-ha serves you right...Tony laughed to himself

"mumble mumble...Yeah...Anyways we need to hire some new people, someone to replace the agents that lost there lives that day, also we need to replace Jamey and Nina's jobs."

Tony winced when Mason said the name Nina. He still was ashamed of himself, disappointed even – every single person that worked at CTU knew about it, and anybody new that would come in would most likely find out.

"Alright, so I'll see you Monday"

"The first interview is at 10 so be there around 9. See you than."

"Bye Mason"

Tony hung up the phone with a sigh. He never wanted to go back to CTU, well for a few weeks at least – he just wasn't ready yet...

He would have to face all the people, and see her empty desk, see all the places they talked, sometimes late at night they would go into an empty dark room and hold each other and kiss, he would have to face all those rooms as well. He dreaded Monday, he just wanted the next 3 days to last forever.

So for the next 3 days he tried to do something every hour of the day to keep his mind off of CTU and everything that had happened and everything that might happen on Monday.

On Friday he went out with his buddies, they ended up going to a basketball game, going to a bar and drinking and than going to a party – where they stayed until 3am.

Tony went home and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was drunk and tired.
Beep BEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEEEP

Tony groaned and rolled over, his alarm clock was getting louder the longer it took him to turn it off.

"I'm up already, go away..."

He hit the off button and fell back asleep, his head was pounding and he was still so tired.

"Antonio....ANTONIO.....ANTOOOONNNNIIIO"

"What, what, I'm up..."

He glanced over at his clock – 3pm. Not a bad sleep-in, he thought to himself as he looked up to see who had been calling him.

"Mom.... What are you doing here?"

"Well I called and there was no answer so I figured you were still sleeping, I found the key you gave me ages ago and now I'm here..."

"Oh right, ok, well what did you come over here to talk to me about?" He said this as polite as he could. He knew that he had to, it was his mother after all – and well if he didn't...she would not tolerate his behavior...and well – it would not be good for him.

He already knew he was at rock bottom – no girlfriend, only a few guy friends, a job he didn't really like so much any more, people at that job he didn't want to face (which was all of them) and disappointment in himself for being so stupid with Nina, letting himself be that USED – but if he talked back to his mother he'd be below rock bottom....way below...

"Do you have plans tonight?"

"Nah not really...why?"

"Good, than you can come over for dinner tonight."

Tony paused. If he went over there for dinner it would give him something to do for a while.

"Are you coming tonight Antonio?"

"Yes, mother"

"I'll see you at 6:30, you better not be tardy Antonio"

"No, mother"

Ding Dong

The door opened quickly "TONY"

All of a sudden a rush of all his siblings came at him. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY"

"I didn't know you guys were coming!"

"Tricked you huh?"

"Sure did Eddie." He always had a special bond with his older brother Eddie; Eddie was only a year older so they had spent a lot of time together when they were growing up.

"Dinner Time" came a voice from the dining room

"Tonight Toto you sit at the head of the table, it's your special day" Tony winced at the name Toto – His sisters Emily and Rose always called him that. He thought it was too girly, but when he was growing up it was more of a joke...he called Emily Lyly because he couldn't pronounce m's when he first started talking and than he called Rose Roro...but he hadn't called them Lyly and Roro for a long time.

"Oh be quiet RORO and LYLY" They winced at those names as well – they still didn't like those names either.

They ate dinner than headed into the living room. He opened the presents they had brought him. His favorite was a photo frame that he could put on a desk. It held 2 pictures. A picture on the left and the right. There was a picture on the left but none on the right. The picture on the left was of his family when he was about 5.

"Ok Tony – we're taking a new family photo to put on the other side"

His oldest brother Charlie had brought his wife so he took the photo for him. Charlie and his wife took more pictures with the camera and promised to bring them over as soon as possible.

Tony opened the last present "What's this one for?"

"Put a picture of someone really special in this one..."

Tony looked down – a few weeks ago he would have known right away who to put in the frame. He would have put in a picture of Nina...but now he wasn't so sure...

Tony studied the frame – he had room for 2 pictures. Well he knew he would put another one of his family. But he didn't have anybody to put on the other side yet.

Tony sighed "Mason how many more interviews do we have left?"

"2" Tony let out a sigh of relief...

"2 more today that is...and a ton more tomorrow"

Tony sighed again – it was now Thursday, he had been interviewing for 4 days and frankly he was sick of it and had been since 10:00 Monday morning. They only needed to fill 2 more positions – Jamey's position and Nina's...

"Paula Schaeffer"

"Nice to meet you Ms. Schaeffer – I'm Tony Almeida and this is George Mason"

"Well that went pretty well...she seems pretty qualified...so I'm thinking that about wraps it up for Jamey's job, just one for interview for her job until tomorrow when we concentrate on finding someone to take Nina's old position."

"Tony do you have any questions to ask Ms. Watson?"

"No you asked them all..."

"Thank you Ms. Watson" Mason waited until she had left the room...

"Tony I only asked her 1 question...normally you ask a ton..."

"What can I say...time to go home, that Paula Schaeffer works for me, see you tomorrow boss"

With that Tony grabbed his folder and walked out.

They had already been through 5 interviews that day and they hadn't seen anybody that would be able to fill Nina's shoes...

"Who's next?"

Tony looked down at his folder "Michelle Dessler – she seems pretty qualified, more so than most, but I guess we'll see when she gets here"

"I guess we will..." Mason commented

Knock Knock

The door opened slowly...

Sorry I'm leaving you there...I promise next chapter will come faster and it will b a lot more Tony/Michelle....I SWEAR

Chapter 3: Michelle