Two Days

She was even more beautiful than he remembered, Tony thought as he sat down on the other side of the glass screen from Michelle.

They smiled at each other hesitantly, unsure of what to say after months spent apart.

Michelle had not been allowed to visit him before the trial, while his fate was still undetermined. Now that he had been sentenced to twenty years in prison they could finally see each other again, if only for an hour a month.

Tony picked up the phone and Michelle did the same.

"Hi," she said quietly.

Tony noticed that there were dark bags under her eyes, and her eyelashes were damp as if she had just wiped tears from them. His heart leapt into his throat as he tried to remain calm.

"Hey, Michelle... how are you?"

"I'm okay." She nodded. "What about you?"

She was trying not to cry, he could tell.

"I'm alright. The food's not bad and I get to use the gym every day... the dress code could use some work, though."

She smiled at his lame attempt at humor and they contemplated each other in silence for a moment.

"Listen, Michelle--" he began.

"Tony, I--" she started simultaneously.

"You first," Tony said quickly. He didn't really want to have to say what he had forced himself to decide that he must; that they should get divorced, that twenty years was a long time and that he shouldn't expect her to wait for him that long. That she deserved someone who could be there for her and who she didn't have to make appointments to see.

Michelle nodded again and looked down. "Tony..." she said, slowly bringing her eyes back up to meet his. "I'm pregnant."

Oh my God. Oh my God, oh my God...

"What?" he said, finding himself unable to process this information quickly enough to form a more elaborate response.

"I'm pregnant," Michelle repeated, still holding his gaze. "You're going to be a father."

Tony felt his breath catch in his throat. "Oh my God, Michelle, that's--"

He stopped talking suddenly. He had been going to say "great", but was it really? Michelle was going to have to raise a child on her own, be a single mom to all intents and purposes, he wouldn't even be there for the birth...

"...Great," he finished anyway, more subdued.

"The doctor says I'm four months along and that everything's fine. I'll send you an ultrasound picture with my next letter. I would've told you sooner but I wanted to do it in person..." Michelle babbled.

"Uh-huh... four months?" Four months didn't make sense... he had been in custody for four months.

"Just over. It think it must've been the morning before y--" She shook her head suddenly, cutting herself off. "The morning before the virus."

The morning before you were arrested, he knew she had been going to say.

Tony nodded, and swallowed when he remembered that morning. How they had almost been late for work because they had decided to spend a little more time in bed that morning, and how they had had to eat breakfast in the car. How he had wiped the crumbs from the corner of Michelle's mouth before they entered the building.

"And I quit my job at CTU yesterday."

"What?! Why?"

"Tony, I can't work there anymore. Not after what they did to you."

"I did this to me, Michelle. I'm the one who broke the law. They were just doing their jobs."

Michelle shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I can't do it, not without you."

"You can't be unemployed with a baby on the way!"

"I'll find something else, and we've got enough savings to last until I do. I'll use the money we were saving for the house."

"You cannot seriously be thinking about raising a child in our apartment."

"Well, why not? The Jamesons across the hall have kids."

"The Jamesons probably don't have the option of buying a house!"

Michelle sighed. "Look, Tony, I've quit, it's done. I'm not changing my mind."

Tony took a deep breath to calm himself. He was not going to win this argument. He nodded slowly. "Okay. Just... give it some more thought, all right?"

"Okay." She returned his nod and shifted in her seat. She opened her mouth and closed it again, casting around for something to say. Then a small smile appeared on her mouth. "Do you wanna see my bump?"

Tony couldn't help but grin. "Yeah, of course I do."

Michelle stood up and turned so that he could see her slightly swollen stomach. She looked at him, giggling at the expression on his face.

"So..." she said, running her hand over her belly. "What do you think of the name Clarissa?"