As he arrived at this restaurant Chappelle booked nearly every year for Christmas the only person he really looked for was Michelle. He didn't have to look very hard because she stood directly in front of the bar laughing with Jack.

"Hey." , he said from behind.

"Hey." , she replied, blushing. He looks so hot, she thought. I should be forbidden to look as cute as he did right now.

"How…how are you?" , he managed to get out.

"Okay, and you?" , Not okay, because all I want to do is to kiss you right here, he thought.

"Okay." , he said and went to grab a drink.

Again, this awkward sort of communication. That was the way they talked to each other every time they were together, even if it was just on the phone. There was some sort of tension between them neither of them had felt in their lives before. It seemed as they forgot how to speak exactly in that moment when the other one approached them.

After they all had dinner together and had a few drinks it was time for Tony's speech.

"Could you all just shut up for a second?", he shouted, grinning.

"As every year, the director has to give his speech, which is what I'm gonna do now."

Everyone was quiet.

"Thank you. So… all I'm able to do now…" Everyone saw how drunk he was.

"I thank you for the past year, for your hard working, and for being nice to me. And there are two persons I want to say a special thank-you to. Jack Bauer, who continued working at CTU very hard, although his wife died here. We all know it was a hard time for you. I'm sorry, Jack…"

Jack nodded.

"And the other person I want to thank is…"

Mason gave him a sarcastic look "Come on, Tony, you're not presenting the Emmy nominees right now, so hurry up." He shouted through the whole room. As usual, everybody laughed at Mason's sarcasm.

Tony blurted it all out: "And I want to thank Michelle Dessler", Michelle smiled. Was he really about to…

He continued his sentence, "the best Internet Protocol Manager I've ever worked with."

That had been a punch in the stomach. That f…. how could he do this to her? She swore to herself to spend the rest of the evening with Jack, on his usual table near the dance floor, not thinking about Tony.

But this resolution didn't hold out for longer than half an hour. It was nearly the end of the evening and it was a tradition, better yet, a rule that the boss had to dance with his employees. The whole restaurant was laughing as Tony had to dance with Jack and Mason. And as Tony thought he was through with the dancing, another person caught his eye. A person he hadn't danced with yet, but wanted to more than anything in the world. Michelle, clearly hurt by the words he had said earlier, still sitting at a table with Jack, Kim and Ryan Chappelle. He sat next to her.

"Sorry about what I said before." He spoke slow and with a very low voice.

"You don't need to be sorry, what did I expect?" She wanted to convince him that she was okay with that. But he knew that she wasn't. They had worked too close together in the past six months for not noticing how the other one felt.

"I just want you to know…" He was lowering his voice again, barely audible for Kim who was sitting next to Michelle.

"That I really care about you, Michelle." She almost choked on her glass of red wine as he said this.

"You do what?", she asked.

"This may be shocking for you and you may not return my love but now you know and I can't do anything other than telling you how I feel." He said, hoping she wouldn't start laughing at this.

"It's not shocking but…I…I just, I don't know how…" She couldn't tell him straight into his face. She blushed and searched for words.

He slightly lifted her chin up so that she had to look him in the face. Nobody on the table noticed their little private conversation, so Michelle just continued:

"I love you Tony." , she confessed, still shaking a little from the good news.

Tony was grinning from ear to ear. Then, as he heard what the band was plaing, he reached out for her hand and mumbled something like "Shall we dance?"

Michelle nodded and as they stood on the nearly empty dance floor, nothing else seemed to be important. Not the fact that they were in public. Not the fact that all their colleagues were here. They just stood there, taking in each others movements to a song that couldn't have matched better.

Van Morrison – Someone like you

I've been searching a long time
For someone exactly like you
I've been travelling all around the world
Waiting for you to come through.
Someone like you makes it
All worth while
Someone like you keeps
Me satisfied. someone exactly
Like you.

I've been travellin' a hard road
Lookin' for someone exactly like you
I've been carryin' my heavy load
Waiting for the light to come
Shining through.
Someone like you makes it
All worth while
Someone like you keeps
Me satisfied. someone exactly
Like you.

I've been doin' some soul searching
To find out where you're at
I've been up and down the highway
In all kinds of foreign lands
Someone like you... etc.

I've been all around the world
Marching to the beat of a different
Drum.
But just lately i have
Realised
The best is yet to come.
Someone like you.

Alright, folks, that was this chapter, lemme know how you liked it.