Chapter 9

8 Months Later

The Wedding

Michelle was frantic. Her wedding was in a half an hour and her shoes were missing. She was tearing apart her bedroom looking for them. They were even more perfect than the ones she wore for their first marriage. Tony and Michelle were to be married, again, in their backyard, with only close family and friends. Tony only had a best man, and Michelle only had a maid of honor. Michelle's mother was also helping her look, but they were having no luck. Michelle called down the stairs to her maid of honor to see if she had found them anywhere down there.

"Allie. Did you find them?" She called from the top of the stairs. Michelle was forbidden to go down, because Tony and his best man, Jack Bauer were down there waiting for the ceremony to begin. Allie took off her heals,( she would be able to find Michelle's a lot faster if she wasn't limited in her movement) and walked to the bottom of the stairs.

"Hang on still looking." She yelled. She went into the dining room where the husband to be and the best man were waiting. Allie entered the room in the lavender dress that her and Michelle had agreed on.

"Allie, wow." Jack commented as she walked into the room. Allie smiled acknowledging his statement.

"Thanks, but we have a crisis here. Michelle lost her shoes." Allie said checking all the boxes piled up next to the windows. The men let a small chuckle escape them. Allie shot them a dirty look. "I don't think you realize how important a woman's shoes are gentlemen, especially on her wedding day." Allie said semi snottily, but the men knew she was kidding. A minute later, Allie pulled a beautiful pair of white high heels with sparkling sequins in a floral pattern out of a box in the dining room.

"Crisis solved." Tony said glaring at her with a smile. Allie looked at Tony, then back at the shoes, and then back at Tony one more time. She immediately held the shoes behind her back.

"Mr. Almeida, you're not supposed to see these." Allie said playfully. She ran out of the room and Jack and Tony could hear her yelling and running up the stairs at the same time.

"I found them." She yelled, and it was accompanied by several girlish screams from the group of ladies upstairs. Tony just laughed and shook his head in dismissal, while Jack just looked at Tony. Eventually, Tony realized that Jack was trying to communicate with him through his gaze.

"Jack, what is it?" Tony asked slightly scared as to what Jack was about to tell him. Jack held his stare the whole time he spoke.

"You sure you're doing the right thing?" Jack asked.

"Whattaya mean?" Tony asked confused. Jack inhaled.

"I see the way you still look at her." Jack said. "Is her being part of the wedding an issue for you?" Jack asked.

"No. I mean a part of me still loves her, but not like I love Michelle. It's completely different, I love them both in different ways." Tony said convincing himself. Jack nodded in acceptance, but interjected once more.

"Yeah, but a part of me wonders, if Michelle didn't confront you and her, would someone else be the bride today?" Jack asked rhetorically getting up from his seat and leaving Tony to think about what he had just said. Upstairs there was a knock on the door. Michelle's mom went to go answer it while Allie made sure that Michelle looked perfect.

"Jack, please come in. Where's Tony?" Michelle's mom asked.

"He's still in the dining room. I just came to make sure everything was on schedule." Jack said. Michelle turned around to greet Jack, and his jaw dropped. "Michelle, you look absolutely stunning." Jack said waking up to her and kissing her on the cheek. Allie nodded in agreement.

"Jack's right Michelle, when Tony see's you in this, he's going to realize how lucky he is, more so than he already does." Allie said. Michelle smiled, and glanced at everyone in the room. She took a deep breath in and let it out slow nodding.

"I think I'm ready." Michelle said. Ten minutes later Jack and Tony were standing at the alter. Allie emerged from the double glass doors of the house, ready to walk down the aisle. Don't look at Tony she told herself, keep your focus on Jack. She was halfway down the aisle when her eyes wandered to Tony. They made eye contact slightly, but Tony's face changed. His smile was still there, but there looked to be discomfort in his eyes. Allie immediately look back at Jack who knew why she was looking at him the majority of the time. Allie reached the end of the aisle, and the limited number of guests stood up. Michelle was visible in the doorway, and she was walking down the aisle herself. Allie looked at her glowing as she was gliding down the aisle. Her focus changed to Tony, and his expression was entirely different now. He was extatic. Allie had never seen him look at anyone like this before. Michelle reached Tony, and turned to face him, and the priest began speaking.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today..." The preacher went on. Everything was going smoothly, and then the vows came along. Their first marriage, they said the church vows, love honor obey, etc, so this time around they decided to write their own. The preacher turned to Tony, and told him to begin reciting his vows.

"Michelle, I love you, and I know that we have endured some tough times, but through all that, I never once stopped loving you. You're the only one I ever want and wanted." Tony stated. These words stabbed Allie in the heart. She had thought what they shared was special, but apparently it wasn't too special to him. She hung her head in reserve, but picked it up quickly before anyone noticed. Tony finished saying the rest of his vows, Allie had tuned the rest out, and then the preacher turned to Michelle and asked her to recite hers.

"Tony, sweetheart. You are the love of my life. There is no one else I could imagine spending the rest of my life with but you. There's no one I want to take your place. You're in my heart, and I will never let you go until the day I die, and long after that as well." Michelle finished, wiping a single tear away from her face. Allie smiled, knowing that the love between them was permanent, and she was truly happy for her friends. After the ceremony ended, there was a small reception in their home. There was dancing, and they had only cut the cake moments before. Jack and Allie were sharing a slow dance. Jack held her close, and gripped her hand tenderly.

"How are you holding up?" He asked. Allie sighed.

"I'm fine, really. I'm happy that they're happy." Allie said softly. Jack could hear the doubt in her voice, but let it go.

"Do you have your speech ready?" He asked.

"Nah, I think I'll just wing it." Allie said smiling. Jack pulled back slightly with an exasperated look on his face. Allie giggled. "I'm kidding, of course." She finished. Jack and Allie returned to the position they were in before, dancing close.

"Hey, I heard you're coming back to CTU." Jack said. "When's that happening?" He asked.

"Well, next week I should be back. Believe it or not, I'm one under Tony, another promotion." She said sounding happy and proud of herself.

"That's wonderful, I'm glad I'll get to work with you again." He said. The song ended, and the two took their seats with everyone else. It was time for Allie's big speech. She hit her fork against her champagne glass and everyone followed suit. Allie stood up and cleared her throat.

"Well, here we are watching you two get married, again for some, but for me, it's the first time. I just have to say that I have never met two people more in love than you two. As I'm sure everyone knows, Michelle and I didn't start off as friends." Allie paused, and Michelle smiled at her. "But look at us now. I am so grateful that we have become so close, and I want you to know that when you asked me to be your maid of honor, I was speechless. This is truly a friendship to last a lifetime. As for Tony, I've never met a man with as much passion as he holds. This man sitting here will fight to the death for something he cares about. These two clearly belong together. There is no one else that would fulfill their lives like they have done for each other. So I just have one request for the perfect couple. Stop making everyone else so jealous." Allie said jokingly. The guests laughed and clapped at the end of her speech.

When the night was over, Allie slipped off her shoes, and collapsed on their living room chair, still in her elegant lavender dress. Michelle came up to Allie.

"I just want you to know, what you said tonight was perfect. It was very beautiful. Thank you." Michelle said. Allie smiled with exhaustion.

"I meant it Michelle. I meant every word." Allie said and they embraced.