Tony laid on the cot in his cell, staring up at the ceiling in the same way he had for the last 2 years. The consistent grey of the concrete made it easy for him to get lost in his own thoughts.
He had been sentenced a year earlier and, to Hammond's dismay, he had been given 5 years in maximum security and 5 more under house arrest before 10 years of probation. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would have been, considering the things he had done, but the character witnesses had been convincing. Michelle hadn't testified, except for on the actions of Stephen Saunders, because Tony was her husband. Jack had spoken in Tony's defense, as had Chloe.
However, no matter what his sentence, he was a convicted traitor. Michelle had refused to leave him - she said that 5 years wasn't that long. She told him she would wait, and he still filed for divorce. She still refused to sign. Maybe she had hoped it would take 5 years for a contested divorce to go through, but she did all he could to avoid it. She was good at stalling and, his lawyer reported, had destroyed the divorce papers more than once in various ways.
Tony chuckled at the thought. He could picture Michelle shredding each one several times in the office at the end of the hall, or throwing them on the stove and turning up the heat. 'That's probably the only time she'd turn the stove on,' he thought. 'She was a terrible cook.' Was. He hated the past tense of the word. The one reason he was here was so that he would never have to refer to her as if she was gone, and yet he still did. 'No,' he revoked, 'I'm the one that's gone.'
As far as he was concerned, it was true, although he knew Michelle didn't see it that way. She would tell him he was wrong - he hadn't gone anywhere. Four more years. Just Four. She would console him and tell him not to give up hope yet, that everything would be fine. 'Just hang in there.' she'd say. 'I'll be back next week.'
But she hadn't been back. It had been almost two months since he'd seen his wife. It had been two months since he'd been able to get a hold of her over the phone. He had called Jack, asking if she was okay, and he said he'd look into it.
So far Tony hadn't heard anything. He hadn't seen or heard from anyone, and he became worried that something had happened. That is, until Jack called that morning. Now Tony was waiting. Jack was coming to see him, and he didn't quite know what was going to happen. So he laid there on his bed, going over everything that had happened, and everything that had happened.
A loud buzz from the door signaled to Tony that someone was here. He sat up promptly and looked towards the steel door.
Tony's heart skipped a beat as Jack Bauer walked in.