I can See Tomorrow In Your Eyes (2?)

Author: Michelle

Rating: Average

Warnings: Lots of Tony/Michelle!Angst..

Fandom: 24 Spoilers: Through Day 3. AU after that.

Characters: Michelle, Tony, Jack

Disclaimer: Genius to Cochran and Surnow. Credit to Carlos Bernard and Reiko Aylesworth for playing Tony and Michelle so beautifully. Kiefer Sutherland is Jack Bauer.

Summary: Life goes on.

Notes: Completely independant of the other fics I've been posting.

Word Count: 1245

Feedback: PLEASE!

"Ready?" Jack asked. I nodded. Definitely ready to leave the hospital. Not so sure about taking the babies home. I named the boy Antonio Jack, shortened to AJ, after the two most important men in his life.

I struggled with the girl's name a bit more. I thought about naming her Isabel after Tony's mother, or Danielle for my brother Daniel. I finally settled on Alexis because I'd always liked that name, and I used Danielle for the middle name.

Jack placed them both in my arms once I was sitting in the wheel chair. A nurse pushed us out while Jack went to get the car. Jack is such the gentleman. He took Alexis first, secured her in her little car seat before repeating the process with her brother on the other side. Taking AJ from my arms, he told me not to move.

He opened the door for me and put his arm out to help me up. I allowed him to dote on me because it felt good. And Tony…Tony would do the same, I knew. I wondered if Tony got my message about he babies. They wouldn't let me talk to him when I called the prison, because he'd been involved in a fight the night before and was on restriction. Which also meant I couldn't see him for at least a week.

"How're you feeling?" Jack asked once we were on the road and leaving the hospital in the distance.

I glanced back at the babies. Their seats were rear-facing, so I couldn't really see them. Maybe that was just as well. Everytime I looked at either of them, I tried to analyze their features. They were still too small to tell, but I could swear AJ looked just like his daddy.

"Tired. I just want to lay down in my own bed and sleep."

Jack laughed. "Don't count on that. When Kim was a baby, I don't think I slept at all that first year. Six months at least. And there was only one of her."

"One of her, and two of you." I hadn't meant to say that out loud. But there it was. Hanging in the air between us. No one ever mentioned Teri anymore, and Tony was practically taboo too.

Jack didn't say anything for a moment. It looked to me that his hands gripped the steering wheel just a little tighter. After a moment, he flexed his fingers. "Do you want me to stay with you? For a few days, at least until you get used to the routine?"

I closed my eyes. I'd wanted to ask him to stay with me, but I didn't know how to go about it. "Yes. Jack, that would be…Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. But you're welcome." He patted my knee. My skin burned under my slacks and all the way up to my cheeks. I looked out the window, glad he was focused on driving.

"I don't even know if Tony knows I had the babies." Something else I hadn't meant to say out loud. Hadn't meant to mention Tony so bluntly. Behind me, AJ gurgled.

"You didn't talk to him?"

"The warden wouldn't let me. Said he was involved in a fight."

Jack didn't respond, but he didn't have to. I could see the wheels turning in his head. Jack and I both knew if Tony was involved in a fight, someone else attacked him. He took a lot of shit in that prison, and the guards did little or nothing to protect him because he was a convicted traitor. No one cared why he did what he did, or that the bad guy was caught anyway.

I sighed. I needed to change the subject before I started crying. If I did cry, I could easily blame it on the hormones. "Jack, listen. I don't want you to sleep on the couch. You can…you can have the master bedroom."

"No way." He glanced over at me, his face blank.

"Just because I can't sleep in that bed doesn't mean no one can. It's crazy to let it sit there with you on the couch. I know that's not comfortable."

"I don't care about my comfort, Michelle." Something about the way he said my name sent a shiver up my spine. The hormones again. It had to be the hormones.

We drove the last few minutes in silence. Not even the babies made a sound. At the house, I was tempted to let Jack get both babies to bring them inside, but that was hardly fair. AJ was in the seat behind him, I took Alexis out of her seat.

The babies slept through the early afternoon. I'd fed them at the hospital, so I knew they wouldn't be hungry for a while.

"I don't want you sleeping on the couch, Jack. It wouldn't be good for your back."

"I just don't think…"

Impulsively, I put a hand over his lips. "Then don't think. Jack, that bed has been sitting there for nine months. No one's going to care if you sleep in it. I just can't. We'll put fresh sheets on it and I don't want any arguments."

Jack threw his arms up in the air in mock defeat. "I'm gonna head over to my place and get a few things. Will you be all right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine." My eyes drifted to the living room where the babies were sleeping. What would I do if they woke up? i I'm not ready to be alone with them. I'm not sure I'll ever be ready. Don't leave me, Jack. Don't leave me… /i

As soon as Jack was gone, I went upstairs to the master bedroom. I'd moved most of my stuff to the guest room, leaving an empty shell of a place where Tony used to live. The same sheets were on the bed, even the magazine he'd been reading that last night we were together lay on the table beside the bed.

I stood for a long time staring at the bed. I needed to pull the sheets off, I knew I had to do it, but it was like I just couldn't force myself to move. There was only one thing to do. I counted to ten, and at ten I would just do it. I'd just reach forward and pull the top sheet off, let it bunch up on the floor. One…Two…Three…And the next thing I knew, I was laying face down on the bed, holding Tony's pillows, crying uncontrollably.

The babies were crying. They sounded so far away. And I didn't care. No. That's not right. I wasn't that I didn't care. I just couldn't move. They were so far away and I couldn't move.

"Michelle?" I blinked. i Tony? /i I turned toward the door. Tony was there, holding the babies. Only…it wasn't Tony. It was Jack. He disappeared from the doorway, returned a moment later without the babies. They were crying again. He'd put them in their cribs.

Jack knelt beside me, and I felt his fingers in my hair. "Shhhh. Shhhh." He cooed. "You don't have to do this, Michelle."

I felt myself pull toward him. He was on his knees beside the bed. I scooted close to him, wrapped my arms around him. He put his arms around me. I buried my face in his neck, he stroked my back in a slow, circular pattern.