Chapter 5: A Long Day
While Tony was having nightmares, Michelle was lying on a hard table in the ultrasound suite in her doctor's office. She shifted slightly to find a more comfortable position; her bladder was full and all she wanted was to get this over with.
"I know you're uncomfortable, but it really helps if you can lay still." The ultrasound technician told her. "Are you doing okay?"
"I'm fine; I just really need to use the bathroom." Michelle answered. She remembered how excited she was about having an ultrasound during her first three pregnancies. Each time she watched the monitor eagerly trying to see every detail of her baby, watching the child move, trying to determine the sex. Today she stared straight at the ceiling. She told herself that she didn't want to look at the monitor, didn't want to see the baby. If she didn't see the baby, then he or she didn't exist. At the moment it was that simple. Or at least that was what she told herself.
It was getting harder and harder for Michelle to deny this pregnancy. This morning she found that she no longer had any pants that would button across her stomach. After trying on six pairs, she gave up and put on a denim jumper that fell from the shoulders. As she looked in the full length mirror and turned to the side she left out a quiet sigh. She looked pregnant, there was no way around it. She was running late when she got to the Bauer's house, so she stayed in the van while Kate took Joe and John out of the backseat. She was grateful that she didn't have to get out. Kate was going to notice immediately. As it was, she would have to get out of the van when she picked up the boys.
"I know, I won't be much longer." The technician moved the wand deftly back and forth across Michelle's abdomen and watched the monitor. She stopped periodically to take measurements and to enter new data into the computer. She glanced occasionally at Michelle curious as to why she seemed so disconnected. She had done ultrasounds on Michelle during her previous pregnancies and she had always seemed so involved and excited.
"Mrs. Almeida, everything looks great. Did you want to look? I've got a great view of the baby from this angle."
Michelle felt her eyes grow hot with tears. "I'd rather not look; I don't want to know the sex." She was lying but didn't know how else to explain her obvious lack of interest.
"You can't tell the sex from this view. In fact, because of the baby's position, I haven't been able to determine the sex."
Michelle said nothing; she was trying hard not to cry.
"I'm finished. I'm going to call Dr. Hild in so she can take a look. Go ahead and use the bathroom. Dr. Hild will be a few minutes."
Michelle took advantage of the time to get her emotions in check. She came out of the bathroom and sat on the examining table. She had a nervous habit of playing with the diamond heart-shaped pendant that Tony had given her when he came home from Argentina. Right now she was twisting the chain back and forth, trying to calm herself down. She looked toward the door as it opened and Dr. Hild entered the room. She tried to smile and look natural.
"Hi, Michelle," the middle aged doctor said. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay, I guess. I seem to be tired all of the time."
"That doesn't really surprise me." Dr. Hild answered as she looked at the monitor next to Michelle. She began checking out the images the technician had saved. She glanced at Michelle who was, as the technician had told her, looking everywhere but at the monitor.
Dr. Hild looked back at the monitor continuing to flip through images. "Michelle," her tone had become very serious. "There is something here I think you should see."
Michelle's eyes grew wide, her head jerked toward the monitor, and her hands went instinctively and protectively to her abdomen. Dr. Hild's finger pointed toward the baby's face.
"I think the baby has your nose." She said with a smile.
Michelle closed here eyes and let go of the breath she was holding. "God, you scared me. I thought something was wrong with the baby."
"Oh, so you actually do care." She was facing Michelle now, with her hands on her hips.
"Of course I care!" Michelle was incredulous.
"You certainly haven't been acting like you care. I wasn't sure you did until a minute ago.
Michelle put her hand to her face, her fingertips on her forehead and her thumb resting on her cheek. "First Tony tells me that I'm ignoring the kids, now you think I don't care about the baby. Have I really been acting that badly?"
"I wouldn't describe it as 'bad'; it's more 'disconnected'. Look, Michelle, I have lots of women who have unplanned pregnancies who are unhappy about them. Most of them get over it in a couple of months. That was what I expected from you, but you are close to five months pregnant and you still haven't gotten over it. I'm beginning to wonder if you need some counseling."
Michelle smiled and put her head down. "That's funny, that's exactly the same thing Tony said." She paused. "I think I'm so busy being angry at myself for knowing that I really didn't want to get pregnant for another year or so and not bothering to use any birth control that I lost sight of what is important here. I forgot that I have a baby growing inside of me who, despite how I feel, deserves my love. And I do love this baby as much as I love my other children. I just didn't want to admit it." She finally looked up and met Dr. Hild's eyes.
"That's the Michelle I know. Are you going to be alright?" She asked gently.
Michelle nodded and looked down sheepishly. "Is there any chance I can see the ultrasound pictures again? I'd kind of like to see the baby."
Dr. Hild laughed. "Sure, I think that's a good idea. In fact, why don't you lie back down and we'll take another look so you can get a good look."
Michelle lay back on the table. The doctor put more of the cold ultrasound gel on her belly and ran the wand across it. Michelle watched the monitor as the baby came into view. Tears traced her cheeks as she looked at the baby. She watched as the baby moved a tiny hand. That's my baby, our baby, she thought. She wished Tony was here. He would be so excited. She could just see the huge grin on his face. He would hold her hand and they would smile at each other. She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. "Are you sure everything looks okay?"
"Everything we can see at the moment looks fine."
"Thank you, Doctor. Thank you so much." Michelle said quietly, unable to take her eyes off the monitor.
Michelle drove back to Kate's house oblivious to the fact that she was being followed by a federal agent. Her mind was full of the images of the baby and thoughts of how she had behaved over the last few months. She couldn't wait to pick up the boys and get home. Sophie would be home from school in an hour and she was going to spend a special evening with them. She felt as if she had wasted the last four months with them, especially Sophie and Joe and she wanted to make it up to them. She desperately wanted to call Tony and apologize, but she knew it was after midnight in Korea and he was probably sound asleep.
At the same time, Tony was lying awake contemplating calling Michelle again. He knew it was irrational but he wanted to know that she and the kids were okay. He reached for his phone and then put it down again. Michelle knew the time difference between LA and Seoul and knew he should be asleep: if he called, she would instantly know something was wrong. No, he couldn't call her. He had to hope that Baker's unit would protect them.
His family was everything to Tony. With Michelle and the kids he had everything he had ever wanted. He loved them all with every fiber of his being. He, as most parents, loved his children unconditionally; it was instinctive. His love for Michelle, however, was different. His love for her was limitless and defied all reasoning or understanding. He couldn't explain it. He often tried to figure out why he loved her, but he couldn't pick out any one reason or even a group of reasons. He just loved her; it was as simple as that. Just the sound of her voice made him happy; her smile made his world come alive. When they were apart, he felt as if part of him were dead and only she could bring him completely back to life. They had been together almost ten years and he still tingled when she touched him.
She came into his life at such a vulnerable time. He had just been publicly humiliated and nearly professionally destroyed by Nina Myers. It was common knowledge around CTU that they were lovers. Unlike Jack and Nina, who had gone out of their way to keep their relationship secret, he and Nina had done little to hide the fact. Even with all of their sneaking around, everyone found out about Jack and Nina, so Tony rationalized that there was no point in keeping his relationship with Nina a secret. She didn't seem to mind that people knew, so they never tried to hide it.
After Nina was arrested and taken from the parking garage, Tony stood there for a long time. He was too embarrassed to walk back into CTU. If his car keys had been in his pocket, he would have just left, but his keys were in his desk. He was going to have to go inside and face all of the stares, all of the knowing looks.
He walked inside and as he stepped off the elevator, he saw medics working on two guards, neither of whom looked as it he was going to survive. He was so ashamed. Nina was a murderer and a traitor and just 48 hours ago he was in bed making love with her. He was caressing her warm, soft skin, kissing her and nibbling on her. It had seemed so tender at the time, now it turned his stomach.
The medics had the situation under control so Tony decided to walk the other way and go back to his desk. As he passed the transformer room, he heard what sounded like someone crying. He put his head in the partially opened door and that was when he found Jack holding Teri's body. He called for help from the medics but knew before he called them that it was too late; Jack would have already called for help if she could have been saved.
George Mason asked Tony to spend the next few days helping Jack and his family. Tony was grateful to be away from CTU. The day after Teri's funeral Tony returned to CTU. Mason and Chappelle were waiting at his desk for him. They asked him to go to the conference room. He sat down not knowing what to expect and was told that he was being suspended indefinitely with pay pending the outcome of an investigation into his relationship with Nina Myers. You understand, Chappelle had said to him in that sanctimonious sort of way he had, that we have to be sure that you two were not working together. Tony was dumbfounded. It never occurred to him that they would think he was working with Nina. Mason escorted him from the building assuring him that they really didn't suspect him of illegal activities, but couldn't take the chance. He was followed home by agents who had a warrant to search his apartment and he had to surrender his passport. It was four weeks before Mason called him and told him he was being reinstated.
He had spent the four weeks largely drowning himself in guilt and self pity and alcohol. He felt so alone. Although his family, his parents and siblings, was there for him, it was different than having that one special someone who he could confide in and love. One thing he had decided during those four weeks of hell was that he would never again date a woman at CTU. His personal life would be completely separate from his professional life. Since his work took up so much of his time, it left little time for a personal life and at that moment, that was alright by him.
When he returned to CTU he was told that George Mason would be Director at least on an interim basis. Tony had been promoted to second in command and ranking officer behind Mason. Just hold out for a year or so, Mason told him, maybe you will be appointed Director when I get the job in Washington that soon-to-be-President Palmer promised me.
Tony's position as third in command had been posted. Several qualified candidates had applied. This was an attractive position since the top several positions at CTU were often considered 'stepping stones' to higher positions at District and Division. Tony was not invited to sit in on the interviews, which was fine with him. He was keeping as low a profile as possible these days. They were slow in making a decision, but eventually Mason introduced him to the newly hired third in command, Michelle Dessler. He was polite as he welcomed her and shook her hand. He immediately noticed her firm handshake, but at the same time felt the softness of her skin. He then noticed her exotic eyes and high cheek bones, her beautiful curly hair and a smile that lit up the room. She was beautiful but he pushed it all to the back of his mind; he would not get involved with this woman, besides, every single man at CTU was quickly vying for her attention. Even George, who considered CTU beneath him and usually acted as if he didn't notice anyone there, commented on how attractive and sexy she was.
Tony did his best to keep his mind off of Agent Dessler but often found his thoughts and his eyes drifting toward her. Sometimes at night as he fell asleep alone and lonely, he would make up his mind to ask her out, but by morning, in the light of day, his rational side took over and he reconsidered. It wasn't until the day they found themselves chasing down a nuclear bomb that he admitted to her that he cared for her, but he only did so after she revealed her own feelings. Just a few hours later he regretted every word he said to her. At that point she was defying him and working with Jack to prove the Cypress audio a forgery. She may not be a traitor, he thought, but she would work against him and hurt him in the end as he had feared all along. He remembered grabbing her arm as she exited the ladies' room. He was angry with her and squeezed her upper arm tightly. He felt the solid muscle beneath his grip. As angry as he was with her, touching her, feeling her muscles tense, was exciting.
Not long after that, they were working together again. Tony decided that Jack's and Michelle's concerns about the Cypress audio might have some validity and they deserved a chance to prove their point. By morning, the two of them had been arrested and were sitting in a holding room. They held hands under the table out of the prying eyes of the surveillance camera. Tony was amazed by how intimate that moment was. It was strangely more intimate than the kiss they had shared a couple of hours earlier. The kiss had been impulsive, enjoyable, but impulsive. Holding hands was deliberate and a sign of solidarity; a physical demonstration that they were a team.
By that night they were in bed together, making the most beautiful love that either of them could ever imagine. Becoming intimate so quickly had been against both of their better judgments, but it happened none the less. Neither of them wanted to spend the night alone thinking about all that had happened the day before. When they closed their eyes both of them were haunted by the images of that day; the dead and the dying after CTU was bombed, their last memories of George, the chaos and confusion after the nuke was detonated. They couldn't face it alone. Instead they found solace in each other's arms. After making love and sleeping late, they spent the entire next day in bed talking and kissing and making love again and again. They were married less than a year later and Tony never regretted a minute of it. Michelle was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Tony got out of bed around 5:30 both looking and feeling like he hadn't slept. Since he had another day in Korea, he was going to make the most of it. He had appointments scheduled with two of his regular clients and two more with shipping companies that he was hoping to do business with. He did his best to stay focused, but the meetings seemed unimportant compared to his family's safety. The entire day seemed to move in slow motion. He ended the day with a dinner meeting with two vice presidents from ATL. Hammond wanted them to be seen with Tony and he was sure the flunkie that Yuen had following him saw them together. The meeting went well, the representatives from ATL never suspected that the dinner meeting had any purpose but to further their business dealings. By the end of the evening, they had extended their contract with Tony's company. Tony should have enjoyed dinner, but throughout the evening he just wanted it to be over.
It was 9 o'clock that night when he finally found himself on his way back to the hotel. He wanted to call Michelle immediately, but he knew she would be on her way to her appointment. He tried to keep himself busy for the next couple of hours until Michelle would be back home and he could talk to her.
Utterly exhausted from not sleeping the night before, Tony started to doze off around 10 o'clock. He awoke with a start when his phone rang. "Hello," he answered rubbing his eyes trying to wake up.
"Did I wake you up, Honey?" Michelle asked.
Tony could feel himself relax when he heard her voice. "Hey, Sweetheart, I guess I fell asleep." he said as he exhaled and closed his eyes in relief. "How are you and the kids?"
"We're fine, Honey. We can't wait for you to get home." She sounded so much better than she had just a day ago. "Oh, Tony, I'm so sorry for the way I've been acting." The floodgates opened and she told Tony everything. She talked about her doctor's appointment and the ultrasound and most of all how ashamed she was of how she had treated him. "Sweetheart, please tell me that you can forgive me."
"Baby, there's nothing to forgive. I love you, Michelle. I'm just happy you've come to terms with this and we can go on being a family."
They discussed what time his flight would arrive and what time she should expect him home. "I have a limo picking me up at the airport and I should be home by 1 o'clock." He told her.
"You don't usually use a limo, Honey. When did you start doing that? Someone from your office usually picks you up." Tony's office was just a few miles from the airport. When he came back from a business trip, Rita or someone else from the office picked him up and he returned to the office for the rest of the day. He always had a pile of mail on his desk and other work that he had to catch up on when he was out of town. It was unlike him to come directly home from the airport even after a long trip.
"That wouldn't work out this time. Everybody had a full schedule tomorrow afternoon." He was lying to her again and he hated doing it. CTU was providing the limousine. One of their agents would be driving and Hammond and DuBose would be in the backseat behind tinted windows. That way, they could discuss their plans on the way back to the city in a secure environment. No one would see Tony with known federal agents and they would be sure that Yuen's people could not listen in on the conversation.
"I could have picked you up." She told him. "Don't you need to go back to the office?"
"Don't worry about it, this works out fine. You didn't need a trip to the airport in the middle of the day. I decided to come straight home; anything at the office can wait until the next day."
The rest of the conversation was pleasant and covered the usual subjects: what the kids were doing, what plans Michelle had for the day, last night's Cubs' score. But as Michelle said goodbye, she couldn't shake the feeling that Tony wasn't acting like himself. He must have told her three times to be careful and that he loved her and to give the kids each his kisses and his love. She asked him again if everything was alright and he assured her that it was. She just wished she could believe him.
He was keeping something from her and she knew it. What could it be? His business was doing well. Juan had been in LA just a few months ago and was thrilled with the amount of business Tony was bringing in. So she was sure it wasn't that. Of course, Pedro had been a problem over the years. She wondered if that was what was bothering Tony. He and Pedro were close friends, but after having to save him twice in the last five years by making interest free loans to him through the company, Tony and Juan had both had it. They told him that if he needed financial assistance again, they would buy out his share of the business and cut him loose. They hoped that Pedro could keep himself afloat long enough for his son Julio to take over his third of the business. Julio had trained for almost a year with Tony in LA and had returned to Argentina just a few months ago. Within the next year or two, he could easily replace his father. Unfortunately, Juan told Tony just a couple of weeks ago that Pedro was gambling again and that he had a new girlfriend. If Tony and Juan had to buy out Pedro's third of the business, it would require that Tony take out a large loan. He certainly didn't have enough liquid assets to buy that portion of the business. Tony hated being in debt and Michelle started to wonder if that was the problem. She wished he would tell her, but understood that at the moment, he probably didn't want to burden her.
As she worked around the house and played with the kids, she kept thinking about Tony. She tried to convince herself that Tony's strange behavior had something to do with Pedro. At the same time, another thought kept nagging her. She had treated Tony so badly for the last few months. Could he have turned to another woman? He wouldn't do that to me, she thought, Tony would never cheat. Of course, she wasn't giving him any reason to be faithful either. She had been bitchy and mean and had barely talked to him. They hadn't made love since she found out that she was pregnant. Not that he hadn't tried, but each time she had pushed him away until he no longer even broached the subject.
She pushed the thought out of her mind. It wasn't possible. Tony wouldn't do it. Would he?
At 7 o'clock the next morning, Yuen sat in his office reading the reports provided by Jae Song. "Not much here, Jae." Yuen snapped.
"There wasn't much to report, sir. When Almeida was in his room, it was quiet except for phone calls to his wife or calls to room service. When he was out of his room, he was always with known clients or meeting with officials from companies that, I suppose, he was trying to get some business from. The list of those clients is in the report. He either ate with people from those companies or he ate alone. He slept alone every night. No one came in or out of the room once he was inside."
"How about his house in LA and his office?"
"We've got his office wired. Our people can hear everything going on in there. Again, nothing unusual. He has about six people working for him as far as we can tell, most of them in support roles. All of them appear to be clean, no connections to the government. As far as his house goes, we have people watching it. They tried to put in listening devices, but he has a state of the art security system. We couldn't get in without setting it off."
"Then why didn't they do that. It takes the police a long time to answer burglar alarm calls at private residences. They would have had time to get in, bug the place and get out again before the police got there."
"If Almeida got word that his alarm system went off, he would be suspicious that something was up. From what we can tell, he's a family man. If he gets spooked or thinks his family is in danger or is being targeted, he is going to go to the authorities. We couldn't take that chance, Mr. Yuen."
Yuen drummed his fingers on the desk. "I suppose you are right. Keep watching the house. I doubt if he would involve his family in this, so nothing is going to happen at the house anyway." He paused. "When is he flying back to LA."
"His flight leaves soon. I have people who will follow him as soon as he gets to the airport in LA. We have this under control, Mr. Yuen."
Yuen sighed. He wished he could believe Jae. "Almeida is smart and I don't trust him. He could double cross us at any time. I can't take that risk. Let the people in LA know that if they suspect he has any ties to the government or if they think he is going to cut and run, they need to kill him."