Her words had stung him. Hearing her speak about his drinking problem made him cringe. He could hear the hurt in her voice and hated the fact that he had done that to her. He found it hard to concentrate on the rescue mission for Jack while having all these thoughts on Michelle in his head.

"Tony, I'm sorry."

Her words brought him out of his thoughts and back to reality. "Don't worry about it, what did you need to talk about?"

"CTU will provide you with a car and a tracking system. Once the signal stops wait ten minutes, contact me and we'll be able to get you infrared satellite coverage."

"Alright that's fine." He wanted so badly to take her in his arms and tell her he would be fine like they used to do. He searched her eyes for any sign of wanting this but all he saw was the cold look of steal. As he got ready to leave he wished for Michelle to tell him to be careful, to hear her say anything positive to him. As he opened the door he thought he heard Michelle say something. He turned his head and their eyes locked for a second and for a moment he thought he saw the wall come down and a look of love. But as soon as it was there is was gone against and he walked out the door."

"Be careful," she said to herself, but when he turned around she was afraid he had heard. As he turned to look at her she saw his deep brown eyes and looked for the love she was so used to seeing, but all she saw was a hollowness that scared her.

Seeing him walk out the door caused her heart to ache. Even after all that had happened she was still so scared that if Tony went on this mission he wouldn't come back. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and tell her it would be okay—that he would be back. Then he would put his hand on her cheek and brush her stray hair out of her face and kiss away the tears that would be streaming down her cheeks. Memories began flashing into her head. She couldn't live like this, she needed to move on, but she knew she couldn't.

As Tony was briefed by tech, he couldn't help but think about those few seconds that he and Michelle's eyes had met. As he was leaving he looked up into her office and took one last look at her before he left. There was a part of him that wished he would rescue Jack but somehow die in the process, at least that way he wouldn't have to live with the pain of not having Michelle.

While he was following Jack's signal, Tony's thoughts kept drifting back to Michelle and how much he loved her. Why did he start drinking he kept asking himself? Why did he have to be so stubborn and prideful? He could have let Michelle into his thoughts; he could have opened up. She wouldn't have judged him; she would have loved him and helped him through it. But he had been closed and shut her out. Instead of turning to someone who loved him, he turned to something that destroyed him.

In the middle of his thoughts the tracker stopped moving and Tony looked at his watch to mark off when ten minutes would be up. The minutes seemed to take forever to change but finally they were up. Tony pulled out his cell phone and dialed Michelle's number.

"Dessler"

"Michelle it's Tony."

"Is everything okay?" There was a hint of panic in her voice, which

Tony noticed.

"Yeah, the tracker's been stationary now for ten minutes so I'm going in." Feeling like he needed to say more, he added in a softer tone, "everything's gonna be alright Michelle." He paused briefly, "with Jack I mean."

"Thanks Tony." There was a pause, "be careful."

He couldn't believe she had said those words, the ones he had been longing to hear. Maybe she could tell how much he still loved her; maybe she could forgive him after all. No he thought, she just needed Jack to come back safe; it wasn't personal. As he shook off the false hope that he felt, he got out of his car and approached the building.

She couldn't believe she had let herself say those words. She had felt them since the mission had been planned but she didn't think she would tell him. It was too personal, brought back too many memories. But hearing him say her name like that she had to let him know she cared. Knowing that he was entering the building was killing her but all she could do now was wait.

Tony had traced Jack to a warehouse in downtown L.A. He was dressed in street clothes in hopes of blending in. he surveyed the building and spotted two guards. Quickly readying his gun, he screwed on the silencer and quickly took out two perimeter guards. He picked up the radio off one of the dead guards. A transmission of Jack's location was being sent through so he quickly headed off in that direction. Walking quickly and carefully to evade being seen, Tony made his way to the room where Jack was being held. There was one guard and Tony took care of him quickly. He used the key card to get into the room and began to un-strap Jack.

"Tony, what are you doing here?"

"Saving your life"

"Tony they destroyed the information, we're got nothing."

"It's okay Jack, lets worry about getting out of here."

As the two made their way out of the building, Tony had to help Jack along due to his injuries. When they were almost out the door, Tony spotted a room with a couple computers in it. Looking over his shoulder Tony used the key card and he and Jack slipped into the room.

"Jack do you think these computers may contain the backup files?"

"It's worth checking out."

As Tony scanned through the files he knew they had found what was needed. He quickly stored it on a flash drive and they hurried to the exit. Right as they were at the doors two guards come at them yelling. Tony reached for his gun but the guard was quicker. As the bullet hit him in his shoulder, all Tony could think about was Michelle. He hit the floor but by that time Jack had gotten both the guards down. Jack grabbed Tony up and led him out to the car.

"We've got to get back to CTU and give them this information," moaned Tony.

"Not before we get you to a hospital, you'll go into shock before we reach CTU. I'll call Driscoll and let her know."

The pain was almost too much for Tony, he wasn't sure how much longer he could remain conscious. "Driscoll's gone, Division sent Michelle."

Jack looked at Tony and could see the pain that was in his eyes from this. "Well then I'll let her know to send someone to the hospital to pick up this flash drive. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Michelle's number.

"This is Dessler."

"Michelle it's Jack."

"Thank goodness, do you have the information?"

"Yeah we got it and more. But listen. Tony's been shot and he won't be able to make it back to CTU so you're gonna have to send someone to the hospital to pick it up."

Tony was having a hard time concentrating on the phone conversation and all he could think about was whether Michelle even cared he had been hurt.