Chapter 8

Two Months Later -

Allie awoke that Sunday morning to a beautiful bouquet of white roses beside her bed, with a little note attached to it. She sat up and smelled bacon cooking in the kitchen, while reaching for the note. It said: Good Morning Beautiful. I missed you so much while I was sleeping that I had to get you something that was almost as beautiful as you. I love you, Ben. After reading the note, and smiling, Allie got out of bed, put her blue silk robe on that Ben had gotten her for her birthday only days before, and walked into the kitchen to greet her boyfriend.

"Hey beautiful." Ben said.

"Morning." Allie said walking over to him and hugging him from behind.

"Sleep well?" He asked turning around for morning kiss. They smooched, and Allie cordially responded with

"Yeah." She took a piece of bacon from the plate and took a small bite from one crisp end. "So babe, you doing anything today?" Allie asked sitting on a chair.

"No, why?" Ben replied putting a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of her.

"Just wondering. I have to go to this woman's house today and make peace." Allie said taking a bite of her eggs.

"Who?"

"Just someone I used to work with, I sort of feel like it's the right thing to do, ya know?" Allie said.

"Yeah, want me to go with you?" Ben asked also sitting at the table.

"No, this is really something I have to do alone, but thanks. I shouldn't be too long." Allie said. After breakfast, she got into the shower, then took 15 minutes deciding on the perfect outfit. She chose something modest, and hoped it would compliment her cause. After everything was perfect, she grabbed her keys and began to drive in the direction of CTU. Before actually going there, she stopped at Dunkin' Doughnuts for a hot chocolate. She arrived at CTU at about 10:42 am. She walked over to Chase who always worked Sunday's, why Allie could never figure out.

"Chase." Allie said walking up to him.

"Allie? Hey, what are you doing here?" He said giving her a big friendly hug.

"Actually I need you to do me a favor. I need you to tell me Michelle Dessler's address. Think you could do that for me?" She said batting her eyelashes and making a cute face.

"Of course. But why Michelle? I thought you guys were not friends." Chase said.

"Yeah, well we're not, but it's time for me and her to make peace, put everything to rest once and for all." Allie said. Chase nodded in agreement.

"Well here you go. Good luck, and hey, don't be a stranger." Chase said giving her another big hug.

"I'll try not to be, but it's tough with everyone here, you know." Allie said. Her and Chase exchanged goodbye's and Allie went back to her car. She looked at the little piece of paper that Chase had written Michelle's address on. Forty six Winsor Ct., Allie knew where that was, actually it was rather close to her house. She got into her car and headed over to the address. On her drive she was preparing what she was going to say.

"Hi Michelle, no, Michelle, Hi. I just came because I think we need to talk, no that sounds like I did something wrong. Michelle, Hi, listen I just wanted everything to be ok with us, think we could talk it over? Oh god, I sound like a freak." Allie said turning onto Winsor Ct. She found number 46, and pulled into the driveway. Allie took a deep breath and turned off her car, got out and walked up to the door. She took another deep breath and rung the doorbell. It was a few moments before she came to the door, but to Allie's surprise,

"Tony?" Allie said, really not wanting to see him standing there in his boxers. It brought back familiar memories.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked slightly taken aback.

"Umm, well I really just came to speak with Michelle, I sort of wasn't expecting you to be here." Allie said swallowing hard.

"Yeah, well Michelle's in the shower, but uh, if you want to come in and wait, she shouldn't be too much longer." Tony said. Allie was skeptical of the thought of being alone with Tony in Michelle's house, and her not knowing about it. Finally Allie nodded.

"Alright." Tony moved out of the way so she could go in. She noticed that Michelle had a really nice place. Very tidy, and there was Tony's Chicago Cubs mug sitting on the coffee table. Allie took that as a sign that he had moved back in.

"Let me go tell her that you're here." Tony said, starting to walk up the stairs.

"No, wait." Allie started, Tony stopped walking. "Just tell her that someone is here to see her. I don't want her to jump to any conclusions." She finished.

"Yeah." Tony said going up the stairs. He came back down a minute later. He had put on pants and a shirt. Allie could see some chest hair sticking out, and remembered the first time she met him. "Can I get you anything to drink?" Tony asked. They both felt very awkward together.

"No, thanks. Tony, listen, since you're here and everything, I need to talk to you too." Allie said.

"Alright." Tony said.

"Can we just be friends. We're going through the whole weird vibe phase, and I don't like it. I mean everything that went on, we should be able to be friends." Allie said. Tony looked down at his hands, and then looked back up, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Yeah. That's what I want also. I mean you're a great person, and I loved being around you, I would hate to loose that." Tony said. As he was finishing, Michelle was walking down the stairs drying her hair with a towel. When she turned the corner and saw who was sitting in her living room she stopped in her tracks. She glanced over at Tony, then back to Allie. After a few moments she cleared her throat.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" Michelle asked still slightly in awe.

"I need to talk to you." Allie said. Michelle glanced over at Tony again.

"Sure." Michelle said. Tony took that as his cue to leave. He rounded the corner and both women could hear him walking up the stairs. "What's going on? Why are you here?" Michelle asked trying not to sound rude.

"Honestly, I wanted to come here and make everything ok between us. I would love to be friends with you." Allie said trying to fain a smile, but looking at Michelle's expressionmade it difficult for her to get if she was mad or sympathetic.

"Are you over Tony?" Michelle asked. Allie knew that question would hit eventually, but she expected to dance around it for another half hour or so. Allie began nodding.

"Yeah, I am. I have a new boyfriend, Ben, he's great." Allie realized that she was getting off track. "But I would like everything to be alright between me and Tony, so him and I could be friends also, but you're the one I really care about fixing the relationship with. I know that we've started off very badly, but I want that to change." Allie said. Michelle was talking everything in.

"So, you'd be ok with seeing me and Tony together." Michelle asked.

"Michelle, I am completely over him. I just want to be friends with both of you, my interests here are purely platonic. Do you remember that night that we made him choose. You said that I reminded you of your friends. So if we can just move past this, I would love to be friends." Allie said.

"Alright, I've wanted that too, but Tony didn't know if it was a good idea that I confront you about it." Michelle said warming up to Allie now. "Can I get you something to drink?" Michelle asked trying to be a good hostess.

"No thanks, Tony asked me earlier." Allie said. "So, when's the wedding?" Allie asked.

"8 Months. We're keeping it small, because it'll be our second. Just like 20 people or so." Michelle paused. "Do you want to come?" She asked very hesitantly. Allie smiled at her courtesy.

"I'd love to." Allie said. Michelle smiled. She took that as Allie was really ok with everything.