Chapter 2

Thanks for all the reviews everybody!

Well, here's chapter 2. I hope you all like it. Forgive me if I don't get the medical and technical jargon right…I've never really been good at that stuff. Plus, this chapter is a bit shorter than the first one, but I promise the next chapter will be much longer. :P

Disclaimer: 24 and all its characters do not belong to me; although I really wish they did lol.

"No…" he stammered.

Tony instinctively took out his gun, aiming it at Derick from across the room; he froze when he saw Derick holding Michelle against him, a knife at her throat. Thoughts rushed through his head as every muscle in his body tensed. What was he going to do? If he attacked him, there was a great risk that Michelle would get hurt. It was a risk he wasn't willing to take.

"You take one stop closer and I'll kill her," Derick rasped from across the room.

"If you touch her; I swear I'll kill you," Tony seethed through clenched teeth. He lowered the gun, able to do nothing but result to threats he knew he couldn't fulfill.

Derick sneered, "You're not exactly in a position right now to be making empty threats. Now put the safety on the gun and throw it away from you slowly."

Tony narrowed his eyes and did as he said, while looking for windows of opportunity to make his move on Derick without hurting Michelle. He averted his gaze to her to see how she was holding up. Fear was the way she composed herself.

As seconds slowly passed by, he realized entirely the gravity of the situation…and the mission. According to CTU, their mission was to bring down Derick at all costs, even if it meant losing an agent. He had always been loyal to CTU, and above all, his country; but right now, protecting Michelle was the only thing that mattered.

He desperately looked around the room for something that would help him, but there was nothing. Calling for help on the two-way was out of the question since he didn't know how Derick would react. He was alone. His only options were to attack Laney when his guard was down…or he could negotiate with him. Negotiating wasn't something he wanted to do, but he didn't have a choice.

Michelle's mind was also racing as Derick held her tightly. She could see in his eyes that an internal battle was raging within him… a battle whether to stay focused on the mission at hand, which was to acquire Derick Laney at all costs, or to protect her. The human, insecure side of her wanted to be saved; wanted to be protected by her personal "knight in shining armor", but the professional side of her screamed for him to charge Derick and arrest him, even if she got injured in the process.

But as she gazed back at him, she knew that he wouldn't do it...couldn't do it. As she saw his shoulders slump in temporary defeat, she knew what decision he had made; and although she wished that he had made the other choice, she didn't doubt that if she were in his position, she would do the same thing.

"What do you want?" Tony relinquished curtly.

Derick smiled; "Now we're getting somewhere. I want to leave this place without being arrested; as well as unharmed."

Tony sneered, "That's not going to happen, Derick. Now let her go!"

"My patience is running low!" shouted Derick, his grip on the knife tightening. Michelle cringed as the knife dug into her neck and she vaguely felt some blood drip down her neck. Derick continued, "Now either you help me or you watch her die."

Tony grimaced as he saw her wince…saw the blood trickle down her neck slowly. He looked down momentarily, trying to see if there was another way out of this…but there wasn't. He looked up and nodded slightly.

Michelle whimpered, "No Tony! Don't help hi-"

Derick jerked her backwards, "Shuttup!" He started moving towards the back door, the hand holding the knife briefly faltering away from Michelle's neck.

It was the exact opportunity that Tony needed. He lunged at Derick, stepping in between him and Michelle, reflexively pushing her out of the way. The knife slipped out of Derick's grasp as Tony wrestled him to the ground. They struggled for control over the other; while Tony was trying to keep him pinned down, Derick was clawing desperately for the knife, neither winning over the other. Derick eventually managed to land a blow to Tony's stomach and he fell to the side, clutching his stomach, as Derick dove for the knife that was across the room on the floor.

Tony forced himself to crawl after him, still reeling from the dizzying effects of the punch. He was about to tackle Derick again when he whirled around, the knife in his hand, and attacked him. The knife sliced through thin air, barely missing Tony's chest as he fell backwards.

Derick continued his assault as Tony scrambled to get out of the way, trying to gain the upper hand again whenever he could. He found himself backed up against the wall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Michelle trying to help him as much as she could.

He yelled at her, wanting her to get out of the way in case Derick decided to go for her. "Michelle! Go get backup! Now!" They were in desperate need of help. Such a simple mission had turned into a nightmare.

She hesitated briefly, but then nodded and ran out of the house, looking back over her shoulder one last time. Tony averted his full attention back to Derick who was still coming at him, rage and hate apparent in his eyes and body.

Tony looked around wildly, trying to find something to defend himself with; but there was nothing. He managed to land a kick across Derick's face and he recoiled in pain for a moment, spitting blood out of his mouth, but then was back on his feet. Tony kicked again, his back still up against the wall, hoping to be lucky enough to land another kick. He felt his foot connect with something, along with hearing an audible crack. A searing pain spread throughout his leg, but there wasn't enough time to check what it was.

Derick was down on the ground and Tony pounced on him, finally pinning him to the ground. Derick writhed in pain.

Tony leaned in and scoffed, "Who's the vulnerable one now, Laney?"

Derick struggled more, trying to break free, wincing with every jerk. Tony guessed he had a few broken ribs. Two CTU agents rushed in the door and one of them quickly handed him a pair of handcuffs. Tony put the handcuffs on and stood up, dragging Derick up with him in one swift motion.

The other agent approached him, grabbing Derick by the arm, "Agent Almeida, I'm Agent Kent Jenson and this is Andrew Lawson. We'll take over from here."

Tony nodded in appreciation and thanked them, eager to leave the house and find out where Michelle was. He took a step toward the door and nearly passed out from the pain that burned through his right leg. He yelped and fell down.

Agent Jenson came over to him and looked at his leg, a look of concern passing over his face. He turned to Agent Lawson, who was holding Derick and asked, "Can we get a medic in here right away? His leg is cut up pretty bad; he might need some stitches."

He nodded and left with Derick, who was muttering obscenities under his breath as Agent Lawson dragged him out the door.

'Great," Tony chided himself, 'Just what I need.' The pain in his leg wasn't getting any better and he hoped the medic would come soon. He looked around at the spacious house, his thoughts wandering over to Michelle. She had obviously succeeded in getting the help he had asked for, which he was grateful for. He could only hope that she was okay.

Michelle waited anxiously outside of Derick's house for Tony to come out. The more time that passed, the more nervous she became. What if he had been injured? What if she hadn't been fast enough to get help? She would never be able to forgive herself if something terrible happened to him.

She saw an agent walk out of the house with Derick in tow. She ran up to him. "Excuse me; I was wondering if you could tell me if everything is okay with Agent Tony Almeida."

Agent Lawson glanced at her and replied, "He's with another one of our agents. I'm going to go get a medic for him now."

'A medic!' she thought frantically. "Is he all right! What happened!"

He was about to reply when Derick interrupted and remarked snidely, "Nothing too bad. I just managed to give him a little nick in the leg, that's all." He smirked.

Agent Lawson jerked him, "Be quiet!" He looked back over at her and replied, "Don't worry ma'am; he's fine. The most he'll need is a few stitches."

"Ok, thank you," Michelle said softly.

He nodded grimly and walked away, taking Derick with him.

Michelle sighed fearfully and hurried inside. She walked back into the living room and saw Tony sitting on the floor, his back against a sofa, a pained look was apparent on his face as he looked up at her. His right pant leg was ripped open and on his leg was a gash that covered the length of his calf. He was applying pressure to the wound. She gasped and ran over to him, leaning down next to him and throwing her arms around him.

He held her and whispered, "Hey, it's alright, Michelle; nothing a few stitches can't fix."

She said nothing and looked up at him, forcing the tears that threatened to spill over to go away. It wasn't the time for her to have an emotional breakdown. She wanted to say so much, but only managed to say a soft, "I'm sorry."

His face became serious, "There's nothing for you to be sorry about, Michelle. What happened happened and there was no way it could have gone differently; so don't worry about it. You're okay and that's all that matters. Plus, Derick is in custody now."

She wanted to say more, but the medic was walking through the door, so she stopped herself. The medic came over and introduced himself as Grant Davis. He and Michelle helped Tony up slowly. He winced in pain as they brought him to the makeshift medical area where his leg was stitched and wrapped.

Grant turned to her and insisted that he check out her neck where the knife had dug in. She resisted at first, but with Tony's encouragement she let him look her over. As she already knew, it was nothing more than a scratch.

Michelle desperately wanted be alone with Tony so they could talk, but she was once again interrupted by Agent Baker, who had come over to debrief them. After both of them had given their accounts of what had happened, they were finally cleared to leave.

She looked over at the armored car and watched them put Derick, who was flanked by two agents, in the back. He looked up and their eyes connected, his dark, hateful gaze piercing into hers. She felt as if her soul was bared to him and she looked away uneasily. His malicious grin was the last image she saw of him as they closed and locked the doors.

Tony placed a hand on her shoulder, turning her towards their car. They walked towards it slowly, Michelle helping Tony as he limped along, favoring his injured leg. Neither of them spoke, even though they both wanted to say something to break the awkward silence that had settled in between them

"I think you're going to have to drive," Tony pointed out with a lopsided grin as he walked over to the passenger's side and slid in.

She opened the driver's door and nodded in agreement, "Okay, I will."

Michelle started the car and headed towards their apartment, away from Derick's house….away from the small nightmare that had unexpectedly crept into their lives. Hopefully, everything would soon be over by the end of the day.

They had managed to escape unscathed from the hurdle that had been thrown their way at Derick's house and now it seemed that they only had one more issue to work out; the argument. Out of all the events that had occurred in the day, it seemed strange that this was the one that weighed the heaviest on his heart. After all, their lives had been in danger only an hour before.

He sighed. It was definitely going to be a long night.

Feedback, whether it is good or bad, is always appreciated! There's going to be one more chapter after this.

Oh and I also reposted Chpater 1 because I just realized it didn't post the seperation marks I had originally put in. Sorry if there was any confusion.