Thanks once again for all of the reviews! I especially like ones that tell me what you liked or didn't like. I always have a good idea how my stories are going to end before I start writing, but I have occasionally changed or added things based on requests by reviewers. So you do influence me with your reviews. (Yes, I have figured out that ALL of you want Tony and Michelle to end up together. You'll just have to keep reading to see how the story plays out!)
The 2 hour season finale of 24 will air in the US in just a couple of days and I fear for the future of our favorite star crossed lovers. I truly hope that I'm wrong and they can walk off into the sunset (or the sunrise, since the show will end at 7am) and live happily ever after, but I'm not so sure that will happen.
I can't help what the 24 writers do, but I can control my own fan fiction! So keep reading and let me know what you think.
Chapter 4: New Relationships
Tony spent his first week in Washington DC interviewing for jobs and the second week waiting to hear from his potential employers. The day after he arrived, he interviewed with Ken Powell at NSA. Later in the week he interviewed with Homeland Security and Secret Service. He wanted the NSA job the most, but at this point would work for anyone who was willing to employ him. Ken Powell called Tony two weeks to the day after he arrived in Washington and offered him the job. Tony didn't wait to hear from the other agencies; he happily accepted a position after barely taking the time to negotiate salary. It was exactly what he wanted and he liked the people he would be working with. Tony dove into his new job headfirst. He put in a tremendous number of hours and Ken Powell was well pleased with his work.
Tony stayed with Jack about four months before moving into his own apartment. Jack suggested that he stay a little longer and get himself better established before moving, but Tony felt that it was time to go. He had been living on the hospitality of others for the last year. First it was with Jen and now with Jack. He needed to be an adult and take care of himself. He also disliked the hour-long commute from Jack's Washington home to his new job in Maryland. He knew he could find something closer to work. His other reason for moving out was that Jack and Audrey clearly needed some privacy. Their relationship had cooled significantly after the terrorist attacks as Jack had feared. It was about two months before Audrey started to come out from under the mantle of depression that had blanketed her since Paul's death. Once she did, she and Jack began seeing each other again. It was tentative at first. They went out to dinner or to a movie and ended the evening with a quick good night kiss, but they were beginning to spend more time together. When Tony got home from work late one evening the two were curled on the sofa watching a movie. Although Jack and Audrey didn't seem to mind, Tony found it uncomfortable. He started making sure that he made plenty of noise before coming into the house. He didn't want to walk in on them in a more compromising position. He had been thinking about it for a couple of weeks but finally decided that it was time to find his own place.
As he promised himself before he left LA, Tony got himself back into an exercise routine. He was running five days a week and going to the gym for weight training. He felt good and by the time he had been in Washington six months he felt as if his life was back in order. He was working in a job he liked and living on his own again. Emotionally he was doing much better, which he knew was a result of working again. His thoughts no longer strayed to Michelle at every free moment. He chuckled to himself as he realized that her beautiful face only crossed his mind about fifty times a day now and that was better than when he left LA.
If he was lacking anything, it was a social life. True, he played tennis with Jack or golfed occasionally with some guys at work and he played soccer in a men's soccer league. But other than that he didn't do much socializing and he hadn't dated at all. He had noticed a pretty girl from another department at work. They seemed to run into each other pretty regularly in the hallway and sometimes at lunch especially on nice days when they could eat outside. Outdoor seating was limited and twice now Tony saw that she had room at her table and asked if he could sit down. Both times she had said 'yes' and they had chatted through lunch. Her name was Lisa DeMarco and she was a language specialist. She was small, probably just a little over five feet tall, and petite. Her auburn hair was cut in a short precision style that Tony found very sexy. He smiled when he thought about her. Maybe it was time to start dating again. He certainly hadn't forgotten about Michelle, nor had he stopped loving her but there was no point in carrying a torch for her. It was unlikely that he would ever stop loving her, but since he couldn't have her, he needed to find someone else to form a new caring relationship with and over time he may even come to love her.
Actually, when he thought of it, Lisa wasn't the only girl to catch his eye. Johanna Morrison, or "Jo" as she preferred to be called, was a personal trainer at the health club where Tony worked out. They had talked at the spa bar over some kind of mango juice health shake one day. She was tall and athletic with green eyes and light brown hair that she pulled into a long pony tail. Yes, Jo had certainly caught his eye. And if he really wanted to play the field, there was a girl he had met at the pool at his apartment complex. He was sitting on a lounge chair reading a book one day when she sat in the chair next to him. She was blond and blue eyed and she could definitely fill out a bathing suit. They ended up talking for a long time. She had a Master's Degree in Forensic Psychology and worked for the FBI as a profiler. Now if he could just remember her name. What was it? Ah, yes, Abby, Abby Clark. Tony laughed to himself when he thought about it. Three girls. He hadn't tried to date three girls at once since he was in college and it was a fiasco. Oh well, hopefully he was older and wiser now and could juggle it. At least it was worth a try.
He decided that he would ask out the first one of them that he saw. He suspected that it would be Lisa since he saw her almost every day. After much thought he decided that he would ask her out the next Sunday. There was a concert by the Navy band at a park in Washington. He would pack a picnic lunch and they could spread out a blanket and listen to the music. It seemed like a nice first date.
As expected he ran into Lisa the next day. He asked her what time she planned to eat lunch and asked if he could join her. That seemed like a good way to start. She appeared to be pleased that he was expressing an interest in her and told him that she would be going to lunch around 12:15 and would love to have him join her. Tony found himself getting nervous as the morning wore on. He kept one eye on the time. He didn't want to appear anxious and get to lunch too early, but then again, he didn't want to keep her waiting. Lunch went well and as they were getting up to leave, Tony brought up the idea of a picnic in the park on Sunday. Lisa accepted and they decided on a time and exchanged phone numbers. As Tony returned to his office he smiled to himself, proud that he was taking yet another step toward putting his old life behind him.
By the time Tony started dating again, Michelle's relationship with Bill was well established. The first few days after the terrorist attacks were hectic. Michelle continued to run CTU while Bill was at Division. Intelligence agencies had an enormous amount of work to do and neither of them had a day off for almost three weeks. Despite that, Bill made sure that he and Michelle saw each other nearly every day, even if it was just to meet for a quick lunch. When they finally both got a weekend off, they decided to spend Saturday at Venice Beach. They walked along the boardwalk enjoying time away from work and time spent together.
The sun was setting as they drove back to LA. They had taken Michelle's convertible and it was the perfect evening to drive with the top down. She pulled into Bill's driveway and let the engine idle.
"It was a fun day, Bill. Thank you. I really needed to relax and today was great." She leaned forward to kiss him.
"It's early, Michelle. You don't have to go home yet. Why don't you come in for a glass of wine?"
Michelle hesitated. She knew what Bill was asking. He couched it in the form of suggesting that she come in for a nightcap, but she knew that he desperately wanted to move their relationship from friendly to intimate. In the last couple of days when they kissed goodbye, Bill made sure the kisses were long and intense. When Michelle couldn't leave CTU long enough to go to dinner on Thursday night, Bill brought Chinese food and they ate in her office. Behind the closed door of the office, his kisses became so passionate that she had to pull away and remind him where they were. He was pressed hard against her and she could feel that he was becoming aroused. Today on the beach as they stood in a secluded place, Bill took her into his arms and began kissing her. His hands traveled down her back and back up her sides. As he did that, his thumbs gently stroked the sides of her breasts.
She wasn't sure why she was so hesitant. She knew that sex was the next logical step in their relationship. In point of fact, she was a healthy, 35 year old woman who hadn't had a physical relationship with a man since before she left her husband. She enjoyed sex and she missed it. Bill was kind and gentle and Michelle was sure that sex with him would be warm and loving. The idea of having a man touch her and caress her and actually be inside of her definitely turned her on.
She thought that her hesitation had much more to do with Tony than it did with Bill. Making love with Bill was a final admission on her part that her relationship with Tony was truly over and part of her brain had never been able to admit that. She was well aware that they had been divorced for some time now and that Tony had moved 3000 miles away.
"Michelle," Bill said bringing her back to reality. "Would you like to come in for a drink?"
It was going to happen eventually and Michelle couldn't think of a reason why some other time would be better than now. "Sure, I'd love a glass of wine," she told him. She turned off the engine and got out of the car. Bill took her hand and the two of them strolled across the walk and through the front door.
Once inside, Michelle settled down on the sofa while Bill went to the kitchen to get the wine. He came back into the room with a bottle of Michelle's favorite chardonnay and two glasses. He sat down next to her and poured. They were clearly both nervous and neither knew what to say. Their nervousness caused them both to sip the wine faster than necessary and Bill was soon refilling their glasses. Two glasses of wine relaxed them both and soon they were kissing passionately on the sofa.
At first they were sitting up, kissing and caressing each others' faces. It wasn't long before Michelle, inhibitions lowered from the alcohol, climbed on Bill's lap. He began kissing her neck and then the top of her chest. Soon he was massaging her breasts through her clothes and she was embarrassed to hear herself moan out loud. He laid her down on the sofa and slid his hands under her blouse as he climbed on top of her. She could feel how hard he was and it excited her to know that she could arouse him this much. She was lost in the moment, in the desire to be loved, physically loved, again and for the time being Tony was forgotten. It felt so good to have a man touching her again.
"We'd be more comfortable in bed," Bill said in a low, seductive voice.
"Do you have any protection?" she panted. "I didn't know this was going to happen. I don't have anything with me."
"It's okay. I'll take care of it," he told her between kisses. He helped her up from the sofa and they made their way to Bill's bedroom. Soon they were on the bed, slowly removing article after article of clothing. After their intense kisses on the sofa, Bill slowed the pace once they got into bed. Michelle was right. Bill was a tender and caring lover. He spent a lot of time on foreplay just caressing and getting to know her body. He was kissing her tenderly and almost seemed to be worshipping her. Michelle lay back on a pillow enjoying the feeling of his hands and mouth on her body. At some point she realized that Bill was doing all of the work. Although her hands were resting on his body, she wasn't caressing him the way she would have Tony. If that bothered him, he didn't say anything. At the moment he seemed too intent on pleasing her. He eventually climbed on top of her and very carefully penetrated her. She watched his face and could see that he was in ecstasy.
Afterward they kissed gently and lay in each other's arms. Slowly, Bill drifted off to sleep. Michelle lay wide awake listening to his steady, quiet breathing. She knew that it was wrong to compare them, but Bill had been very different from Tony. Tony was a playful lover while Bill was intense and serious. Tony was vocal, moaning out loud and talking seductively to her or whispering her name. Bill was quiet. Even when he climaxed he had barely made a sound. She realized too that she had been uncharacteristically quiet. When making love with Tony, she would moan and gasp loudly and call out his name. Tonight, besides the moan she let out while they were on the sofa, she had been virtually silent. Her orgasm had been subdued as well. It was a good orgasm, but Bill hadn't sent her into another universe the way that Tony could. Despite it all, she had to admit that she had enjoyed herself tonight.
They awoke together the next morning with the awkwardness of first time lovers; both spending an inordinate amount of time trying to make sure they were covered. They talked about their plans for the day almost as though they forgot what happened last night. For Michelle, this was very different than her first night with Tony. First of all, they had decided early in the relationship that they wanted to wait for the right time to have sex. They wanted to make sure that they knew each other and were ready for that next step. After several months of dating, they made plans to go to a romantic inn in Big Sur for a long weekend. There they had consummated their love. The next morning hadn't been awkward. They lay in bed kissing and touching. They ordered breakfast in bed and afterward, made love again. It was one of Michelle's favorite memories.
Bill and Michelle didn't lie in bed long. They got up and dressed. Michelle desperately wanted to take a shower but was uncomfortable doing so at Bill's house. As she dressed, she decided that despite the fact that neither of them was mentioning what had just happened between them, that it was certainly going to happen again. She needed to bring up the subject of birth control with Bill.
As she finished dressing she broached the subject. "Bill, I'll call my doctor on Monday and have her give me a prescription for birth control pills."
Bill, who had always been a bit of a health nut, quickly objected. "I don't want you taking hormones that you don't need. It's not healthy. They don't know what those things do over the long term. Besides that," he said as he stood and put his arms around her and nuzzled her neck, "if at some point we decide to make a baby, I don't want to have to wait. I don't mind using a condom. Don't worry about it."
Michelle found Bill's comments strange, but not necessarily out of character knowing his stand on natural medicines and health. She had never met a man who "didn't mind" using a condom. They did it when they had to, but none that she had ever met liked it. His comment about a baby surprised her, too. They had been dating for three weeks. There were no long term plans at all let alone any that included a baby. Where had that come from? She tried to push it to the back of her mind but it nagged at her anyway.
Over the next few months Bill's love for Michelle deepened. She wished that she felt the same way but the truth was that she didn't and she was sure that she never would. That fact didn't seem to disturb her, though. They continued to date and, since Erin Driscoll came back to CTU and Michelle was back at Division, to see each other almost every day. They spent most weekends either at Bill's house or away from LA at some romantic getaway. They had gone to Newport Beach and Santa Barbara, San Francisco and a ranch in Nevada. Michelle had to admit that she had fun with Bill. And for his part, Bill loved to dote on Michelle and he spent all kinds of time trying to make sure that their time together was special. After dating for over six months, Bill asked Michelle to move in with him. She resisted at first but as the lease on her apartment came up, she relented and moved into his house. She knew that Bill was soon going to want her to get married. That thought scared her at first but she assumed that eventually she would have no choice. Although she didn't love him, she liked having Bill in her life and she couldn't continue to string him along without making a long term commitment to him. She also knew that marrying Bill wasn't a bad thing and most women would be more than content with the relationship that they had. She just couldn't get past the fact that her first marriage had been much better than most and that this marriage, when it happened, would be little more than average.
In Washington, Tony found that dating was really more fun that he had thought it might be. His first few dates were all successful. Lisa liked romantic dates, so the concert in the park was perfect for her. She also liked sappy movies and long walks on nature trails. Jo, on the other hand, was very athletic. Dates with Jo always had to involve hiking in the nearby Catoctin Mountains or biking long distances. Abby liked watching sports and action movies. She enjoyed cooking and loved to go antiquing in some of the old towns nearby.
It didn't take long for Tony to decide that Jo was not really his type. He was so exhausted after a date with Jo that he almost had to take the next day off of work to recover. He wondered with amusement what sex with her would be like but decided that he would never find out. Two dates with her was enough. He decided to spend his energies on Lisa and Abby, both of whom he found more to his liking.
It took him a couple more months to sort out his feeling for the two of them, but eventually decided that, although Lisa was a lovely woman, he was happier when he was with Abby. He allowed the relationship with Lisa to die a natural death and they remained friends. Tony began pursuing Abby in earnest. They started meeting every morning to go running before work. The two of them had fun even if all they did was cook dinner together and watch a movie. Abby got along well with Jack and Audrey so the four of them often double dated. Time passed and Tony and Abby became closer and closer.
None of that stopped Tony from thinking about Michelle. He loved her and there was no way around it. He cared for Abby and she made him happy. He could even imagine spending his life with her but he didn't love her. He enjoyed their physical relationship as well, but when they made love, he had to concentrate on the fact that he was with Abby and not Michelle. It wasn't that Abby didn't excite him; she did. She knew exactly how to turn him on. He did his best to push Michelle to the back of his mind but it didn't always work.
Tony wondered how she was and if she was happy. Kim and Chase had been in Washington visiting Jack and Tony asked Kim if she ever saw Michelle. Kim shook her head and said that she didn't but she talked to Chloe occasionally. Chloe told her that Michelle was seeing Bill Buchanan and it appeared to be serious. In fact, she thought that they were living together. Tony acted happy for her and told Kim that if she ever saw Michelle to give her his best.
Since Michelle had clearly moved on, Tony resigned himself to the fact that she would never be his again. Part of him was sad, but the other part of him knew that he had a wonderful woman in his life now and he needed to set his sights on a future with her.
