He pushed open and ran through the door that led into the car park, he almost ran straight into 3 people standing on the other side of the door. Raising his head he saw it was Michelle, Alberta Green and Josh Mathews from Division.

There was no time for small talk, Green cut straight to the point. "Good timing Tony, we were on our way up to see you. Michelle will fill you in. We will see you both in the conference room in a few minute." With that they both walked back inside leaving Michelle and Tony alone together.

Michelle kept her head focused on the floor. She had seen that he was wearing the new jacket and he looked gorgeous. She didn't dare have any eye contact with him.

Tony tilted his head as he spoke trying to see her face. "Michelle...."

"Please don't...."

"But we have to talk this thing through..."

"You have made your mind up, there is nothing left to say."

"Michelle there is so much I need to say...."

Michelle decided to give it a go. "Ok then, would you please reconsider your decision?"

Tony had never wanted to say 'yes' more in his life. If he did, maybe he could fix the mess he had caused. He loved her way too much to put her in such a dangerous situation. "I am sorry...but no."

"I can do this Tony, I know I can. I've been waiting for this kind of opportunity for so long – Leon leaves for division next week so they will have to fill his position today or tomorrow. If I did this it would probably give me a real shot at being promoted to his position. You know how much I want this..."

"I can't change my mind just because of a promotion you may or may not get. You are excellent at your job Michelle - you will have lots of opportunities to move up."

"If I am so excellent at my job then why do you have so little confidence in me for this task?"

"The consequences are too high if things go wrong with this Chelle."

"So who is going to do it then?"

"I am not 100% sure but I believe they are thinking about Julia."

Michelle instinctively lifted her head and looked at him. "Are you kidding me?! Tony she has a family – a husband and a son. Her husband would never let her do it. What if something happened to her, what about them?"

"Michelle....that is the reason that applies to you."

"That doesn't apply to me at all. I don't have a child. I don't have a husband – I don't even have a boyfriend. Nothing! Julia has a hell of a lot more to lose than me."

It hurt that Michelle hadn't thought about what it would do to him if something happened to her. It really made him realise that she wouldn't consider him to be more than a best friend. He had no idea what to say.

Tony wasn't saying anything and Michelle hoped it was because she had made a good point and he was reconsidering. She decided to keep talking hoping another good point will help sway his decision. "Please Tony, let me show you that I am a good agent. I've worked really hard to get to here, I deserve a real go. Plus you know if something happened to Julia it would impact a lot more people than me – it's not fair on her husband either. I can handle it, I can take care of myself...."

Tony couldn't hear any more of this. It was devesting that he didn't fit into her own life equation. It made him sick with anger and broke his heart that she could stand there and worry about somebodies husband that she didn't even know yet not even a thought to him. Tony wasn't the only one who thought Michelle was gorgeous, every single guy at work thought she was hot, if she went all the guys in the group would want a go with her – she would just be a piece of meet to Dale Pault's gang. Once again, his emotions got the better of him and he began to raise his voice at her.

"You can say whatever the hell you want Michelle but I will not be changing my mind. You will not be taking any part of this mission. Why don't you stop worrying about Julia's husband who you don't know and put a little bit of thought into the people it would affect if something happened to you. You are being so selfish Michelle. How do you suppose you could handle it.....I mean look at you, your on the verge of tears just because I'm yelling at you. What the hell is it going to take to make you wake up and realise the consequences of this mission?"

Michelle felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Tony had never been so nasty to her. He was the person that always made her feel good, but she couldn't think of a time in her life that she had been more hurt by someone's words. She didn't understand how she was being selfish, how could Tony call her that? She never wanted anyone to think of her as selfish, she tried so hard to never be selfish. Tony was right though, how did she expect to be a field agent when she was going to cry just because they were arguing. She had been in lots of confrontations before though and never cried. It was different with Tony though because she loved him so much. She was stunned, it was hard to accept how little confidence he had in her. She didn't have the strength to keep the tears back any longer so she let them start flowing down her cheeks. She had to get to the bathroom and wash up before the meeting.

"Fine Tony, I get the point - I am not doing the mission. You made the right decision. I'm not on the verge of tears anymore, now I am crying, so you are right how could I handle the mission when I can't even keep myself together with you. I would make a horrible field agent. I guess I should be thankful that you could see how incompetent I was before I went on the mission. I am sorry for whatever it is that I am doing that is selfish." Michelle opened the door and walked inside as fast as she could, she basically ran to the bathroom.

Tony just stood there and watched Michelle disappear. He was disgusted with himself. He had completely crossed the line and said some really cruel things. He didn't mean any of it, it was like he was trying to hurt her because she was hurting him so much. He felt sick that because of him Michelle was doubting herself. She was one of CTU's best agents and yet he had made her think she wasn't good enough. Not only that but because he had been so gutless to tell her the truth behind his actions she now believed he thought she was selfish and a bad agent. It was going to be impossible to recover from the damage he had caused. He was grinding his teeth and his hands were clenched – his body was completely charged with emotion.

Michelle was already in the room along with everyone else when Tony got there. He walked into the middle of Matthews speaking to Michelle.

"It was disappointing to hear you were not part of the team on the Pault case. With that experience under your belt, Leon's job would have been yours. Unfortunately I cannot offer it to you now because without the mission you don't fit the compulsory criteria for that position. You are a real asset to CTU Michelle, don't let this set back discourage you."

Tony figured Michelle would be hating him right now – she was right the mission spelt promotion for her. He could not have felt worse.

Alberta Green got straight to the point. "Tony and Michelle, there is a conference in Arizona tomorrow morning that we would like you both to attend. I apologise for giving you such late notice but this conference is by invitation only and we just received ours about 1 hour ago. You will be representing the Los Angeles section of CTU. We feel you always work very well as team and it is important that you are both there tomorrow. There is a seminar the next day that you may be interested in attending as well."

Michelle and Tony both just nodded their heads. Michelle couldn't think of anything worse to have to do but she knew better than to argue with Alberta Green. Tony was wrapped this had come up, just the 2 of them in another state for a couple days. That gave him a huge opportunity to fix everything.

Matthews took over. "Janet will take care of all of your travel and accommodation details for you. Obviously you will need to leave today, it's fortunate it is only a 1 hour flight from here. Michelle, if you work out how much time you need to go and pack and then you can take a flight that suits. I was hoping if you could get there before 4 then you could register you and Tony – might be too hard in the morning. Tony I understand you have a meeting with district at 4:15 so you will need to take a flight after that – work it out with Janet." He handed them both a folder. "Everything you need to know is in the folders. Any questions?"

Michelle was the first to respond. "I don't have any questions, I head home now and start getting ready."

"I'll do the same as Michelle, I'll go pack so it is done before my meeting – that way I can go straight to the airport."

Green and Matthews thanked Tony and Michelle and apologised again for late notice. Michelle walked out of the room and didn't even steal a glance at Tony, she went to her station, gathered her things and headed for the car park again. Tony raced to get his keys, he wanted to catch up with Michelle before she got in her car. He managed to catch up with her when she was only about 10 meters away from it. He called her name but she ignored it, he called again and she still didn't turn around so he walked up beside her and grabbed her left arm making her stop walking.

"Please Chelle, you gotta hear me out. I know you are hating me right now but I want to explain myself and apologise."

As soon as Tony took her arm and started talking Michelle was reduced to tears. If only she could get home and cry and deal with this in private. Her bottom lip quivered as she responded to Tony. "I just can't right now Tony....I can't handle you yelling at me again, or opening my eyes to what a loser I am, I just want to be on my own."

"I won't yell, I need...." Tony stopped himself. He could tell Michelle had really had enough right now. She had her head turned a little, like she had trouble looking at him and she was crying hard. He had never seen her cry before today and it absolutely broke his heart. He wasn't going to make her stand there and deal with him right now, it wasn't fair. Before he had realised he had done it, he took one of her long beautiful curls that was sticking to her cheek because of the tears and tucked it behind her ear. He started again, "I'll leave it for now Chelle, but maybe tonight you would be willing to hear me out? I know I don't deserve it, but I beg you to give me some time." Michelle nodded her head. "Thanks Chelle."

She pulled her arm down out of his grip and started to walk to her care again. Tony called her name and this time she stopped and turned around to him.

"My birthday present....Wow Chelle, it's hard to even find words to express how much I love it. Thank you Michelle."

"I'm glad you liked it."

Tony walked right up to Michelle and put a hand on each shoulder and then slid them up and down the top part of her arm. "I can't believe how much time, effort and money you would have put into the present. It is without a doubt the best present I have ever got."

"Thanks..."

"The card....it was beautiful. I'm sure you are regretting giving that to me now. I cried Chelle when I read it, because it was so unbelievably sweet and kind. Your words touched me in a way I didn't think possible. You are my best friend, and you are the most important person. Obviously before today, is that really how you felt about me, like am I truly your best friend? Why? You have hundreds of friends."

Michelle lifted her head to look at Tony. It was how she felt, although really what she felt was a deep love for him. Looking at him, even after everything today, she saw the person she valued the most. She just got sucked in by his eyes and then she would find herself completely lost in him. She doubted there was anything that could be done that would make her feel more upset then how she had learnt Tony felt about her today.

Each word was so broken with her sobbing it was very difficult to understand her. There were so many tears her eyes were blurry and they stung. "Yeah you are my best friend." He used his thumbs to wipe the tears away from her eyes and then tucked her hair again. "It's just....it's....you....I....it's just you Tony. You're the best person I know. I aahhh gotta go. I really need to go. Please."

Her words meant so much to him. Tony said 'ok' and then took his hands off her. "I guess I'll see you at the hotel around dinner time. Let me have dinner with you."

Michelle nodded her head, both of them stood staring at each other for a few moments before turning to walk the opposite ways.