Chapter 4, the forever kind
Tony sat at his desk and let his mind wander; he couldn't believe how his attitude had change in the past hour. He glanced up at Michelle, sitting in her desk—which used to be his—but that was OK. She was good at this, keeping everyone organized, knowing what to say or not to say—that was his problem. He had never known when to keep his mouth shut.
And that comment about how they never knew what the next couple of hours would bring…what was that about? It was like she was keeping something from him. Something good. And he couldn't decide whether he liked it or not.
But kissing her, Tony knew that that he liked. And when she had opened up to him, admitting with her words as well as her actions how much she wanted him…Tony closed his eyes and let himself relive the moment. He ground.
He must've groaned a little too loudly because Jack was at his side asking if everything was O.K. Tony tried not to blush. "It's fine."
Jack didn't buy it and told him so. "I'm fine Jack—I just got lost in the moment for a minute…"
Michelle took that minute to come over to Tony's desk. Tony sensed Jack's change in attitude completely. Michelle and Jack had never really talked about the decision to leave Michelle out of the loop with the Sanchez thing and Tony knew it still bugged both of them. Particularly since Michelle had always trusted Jack. Jack wanted that trust back but he didn't know how to go about it. Michelle wasn't sure either. Therefor, neither one of them ever talked about it. Tony made a promise to himself that once he was sure that everything was O.K. between him and Michelle he would make them talk. But that would happen sometime down the road.
"What's up Michelle?" He noticed her eyes were sparkling when he actually looked at her. She smiled—that beautiful smile and Tony wanted to haul her onto his lap and kiss the living daylight out of her.
"I've been working on something for awhile now. I still don't have all the information yet and with what's going on today, I can't follow through with what I just found out through a source. But there's no mistaking what happened, just the why." She tossed a folder on Tony's desk and her grin got even bigger.
Tony didn't hesitate in opening the folder—anything that could get Michellle this excited…his mouth hung open as he read and looked at all the data Michelle had collected.
Jack stood over Tony and as he read, a new and even deeper appreciation, respect and admiration grew for her.
"I don't-" Tony chocked. "After all the hell I put you threw, you still-" "I don't understand," Tony tried again.
Michelle knelt down in front of Tony, put her hands on his face, massaging him and then pulled him in for a kiss. Everyone at CTU knew their history by now so protocol was thrown out the window.
The kiss was nice and sweet and Tony had never felt more loved as Michelle said gently, "I love you Tony. I've always loved you. And once I had time to step back and look at the picture—the big picture—it became clear to me what had happened."
"Damn," Jack muttered. "We all should have seen this sooner."
Michelle nodded. "Yes, we should have. But we weren't thinking like agents at that point." She softly kissed Tony one more time then stood. "We have to get back to work—find those viruses."
"Yes ma'am," they both said in unison and Michelle walked away, smiling as she heard Jack's comment to Tony, "Man, Almeida, you have got to make sure when this day is over that you don't ever lose that woman again."
"I know," Tony agreed. "Jack, she can't have children anymore because of me…" he proceeded to tell Jack what he knew. "What kind of woman does this-," he held up the folder, "after something like that?"
"The forever kind Tony. The forever kind." Both men shared a smile before getting back to work.
