Hi and thanks again for all of the reviews. I have gotten more reviews for this story to this point than I would have imagined getting for the whole story! You guys are great. If you're lurking out there and haven't reviewed, please let me know you're there. I accept anonymous reviews.

I think it's interesting that everyone seems to hate Bill as much as they do. Clearly what he did was wrong, but Michelle was using him, so she's not blameless. Here's chapter 7. Hope you enjoy and keep the reviews coming!

Chapter 7: Moving On

Four months later Michelle was once again in her weekly briefing with Erin Driscoll at CTU. And, once again, Erin was droning on while Michelle was trying hard to focus. She looked down at the statistics that Erin was reviewing and as she did the light glinting off of her wedding band caught her eye. She didn't know why but she was self-conscious about it and she shifted her hand so that the ring was covered by the papers she was holding. She and Bill had been married at the Orange County Courthouse about two weeks after she discovered that she was pregnant. They left work together at about 3 o'clock that day without saying anything to their coworkers. Both sets of parents were waiting for them at the courthouse and the six of them went out to dinner after the ceremony that lasted less than ten minutes. They went back to work the next day as if nothing had happened. It wasn't until some of their colleagues noticed their rings that they admitted that they had gotten married.

The totally lackluster wedding had been appropriately followed by a lackluster marriage. Both of them focused on the baby since it was the only real reason that they got married in the first place. The caring relationship they had before Michelle's pregnancy seemed to be gone. Michelle now found that she had difficulty trusting Bill knowing how he had set her up to become pregnant. Bill, on the other hand, found his love for Michelle waning since she so freely admitted that she still loved Tony. In his heart, he knew that all along but the fact that Michelle was so willing to admit it was more painful than he could bear. They both hoped that the birth of their child would give them some common ground to rekindle the relationship that had been at least caring and satisfying to them in the past.

Michelle shifted in her chair again. She simply couldn't get comfortable today. She thought that she was over her morning sickness but had gotten up this morning just vaguely nauseous. As the morning progressed, in addition to being nauseous, she was also starting to develop some abdominal cramps. She started thinking about what she had eaten in the last 24 hours that had so obviously disagreed with her system. Michelle was grateful that the meeting was wrapping up. The cramps were becoming worse and she decided that after the meeting she would call over to Division and tell them that she was not feeling well and was going home for the day. As the meeting ended, Michelle began to stand up from the table when her abdominal cramps became so intense that she let out an involuntary cry of pain, doubled over and dropped back into her chair.

"Michelle! What's wrong?" Erin cried as she ran to her side. Michelle was in too much pain to answer. "Curtis, help me get her to medical."

The pain seemed to dissipate and Michelle sat up straight. "No, I think I'll be alright. I'm going to go home and lie down." She started to stand up and again was overtaken by pain and fell back into the chair.

"You're going straight to medical," Erin told her. She and Curtis helped her stand up, but Michelle doubled over again, her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach.

"I can't make it," she said through clenched teeth.

"I've got you," Curtis said as he picked her up in his arms and started toward the medical unit with Erin following close behind.

They reached the medical unit in seconds and Curtis set Michelle carefully on a gurney. He and one of the nurses pushed the gurney into an examining room. Dr. Claire Anderson, who Michelle knew from her years at CTU, was less than a minute behind them.

"Michelle, what happened?" Claire asked her.

"I don't know," Michelle said trying to get her breath. "I wasn't feeling well and when I tried to stand up I started having terrible pain in my stomach."

"Have you ever had your appendix out?"

"No," Michelle answered.

"This sounds like appendicitis. I need you to lie flat so I can examine your belly."

Dr. Anderson pressed on Michelle's abdomen over and over but couldn't find the source of the ongoing pain which seemed to ebb and flow in waves. "Michelle, I'm not sure what's causing the pain." She frowned and looked at the nurse next to her. "Amy, I need you to take her down to radiology. Have them do a flat-plate x-ray of her abdomen. Before you do that, draw blood for routine labs and a pregnancy test."

"Yes, Dr. Anderson," the woman replied.

"Claire, you don't need to do the pregnancy test," Michelle said. "I'm about four months pregnant." Clair was the first person outside of Michelle's family that she had told about the pregnancy. She wasn't really showing yet, so it was easy enough to keep it a secret.

"You are?" the doctor said in a surprised voice. "Have you had any problems so far?"

"Not really. I saw the doctor last week. He seemed a little concerned that I hadn't gained enough weight. He gave me an appointment to be checked again in two weeks instead of four."

"That changes everything. Amy, make arrangements to have her transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital."

"Why are you sending me to the hospital?" Michelle asked unable to hide the alarm in her voice.

"Maybe the reason that I can't find the source of the pain is that I'm not looking in the right spot. I don't have the experience or the equipment to evaluate a potential problem with your pregnancy. You need a gynecologist to do that. Good Samaritan is the closest hospital and they have a good obstetrics and gynecology department. Even if this turns out be your appendix, they're better able to handle surgery during pregnancy than I am."

"Claire, do you think there's something wrong with the baby?"

"I don't know, Michelle, but I think that it's possible and you need to be evaluated by someone who knows a lot more about the subject than I do. Once you're on your way, I'll call Bill at Division and he can meet you at the hospital."

"He's not at Division. He's in Phoenix for a Regional Director's conference."

"Then I'll get through to him there. This is an emergency, they can disturb him," Claire said. "Now try not to worry, it only makes matters worse."

A medical transport team took Michelle to Good Samaritan Hospital where they quickly did a battery of tests on her. It seemed like either a nurse or a doctor was poking and prodding her everywhere. They drew blood and examined her abdomen again. The pain had become excruciating and Michelle just wanted them to figure out what was causing it so that they could make it stop. The doctor left the room to check some test results and it seemed like an eternity before he came back.

"Ms. Dessler, do you have any family with you?" he asked her gently.

"No, my husband is out of town. CTU is trying to contact him."

"I wish you had someone here with you right now. I'm sorry. I have some bad news for you. I've examined you and I've reviewed your ultrasound results and I can't detect any movement or heartbeat from the baby. It appears that you've suffered a miscarriage."

"You're telling me that my baby is dead?"

"Unfortunately, Ms. Dessler, yes that is what I'm telling you." He paused a moment. "I spoke with your doctor, he told me that he was concerned that when he saw you last week that you hadn't gained any weight yet and he wondered if there was a reason that the baby didn't seem to be growing."

Michelle bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. Slowly she let her head fall forward as she considered what the doctor had just told her. She remembered the conversation with her doctor but had to admit that at that time she hadn't given it much thought. She regained her composure quickly. "So what happens next? Do I have to stay in the hospital?"

"We need to do a procedure called a 'D&C'. It's minor surgery. We can do it this afternoon and you should be home by this evening. I can answer any questions that you might have and then you'll have to sign a consent form."

Michelle knew that she ought to have questions and if Bill were here, he would have a thousand questions. But at the moment she didn't have any. She shook her head. "No, I don't have any questions. I'd just like to get this over with so I can get home as soon as possible."

"I understand," said the doctor.

He explained the consent form to Michelle, but she really wasn't listening. Her mind was swirling with the news she had just been given. Four months ago she was willing to abort this baby and now it was dead. She felt more than a little bit guilty about that. But on top of it all, planning for the baby was all that was holding her marriage together at the moment. She and Bill had very little relationship left and she suspected that what was left would crumble with the loss of the baby.

Bill arrived from Phoenix on the first flight he could get. Claire Anderson was able to reach him during a break at his conference. She couldn't provide him with much in the way of details. Michelle had just left for the hospital and Claire could only speculate about the cause of her pain. Bill drove directly from the airport to the hospital. He quickly found his way to the information desk.

"My wife, Michelle Dessler, was brought in here late this morning," he told the receptionist. "Can you tell me what room she's in?"

The woman tapped in the keyboard for a moment. "Your wife is currently in the operating room, sir."

"The operating room! What are they doing?"

"I don't have any information, sir. There's a waiting room to the left of the elevator on the third floor. Let the receptionist know that you're there and someone will talk to you as soon as possible."

Bill took the elevator to the third floor and spoke with the receptionist in the waiting room. She was very nice, but didn't have any more information than the receptionist downstairs. She told Bill to have a seat and the doctor would be with him as soon as possible.

It was less than 15 minutes when a doctor came out and called Bill's name. They stepped into a private consultation room. "First and foremost, your wife is fine, Mr. Buchanan. Unfortunately, the abdominal pain she was having was the result of a miscarriage."

Bill looked down and felt his eyes fill with tears. He had so wanted that baby. He had pinned all of his hopes for the future on the child. Without the baby he wasn't sure that he and Michelle had a future. The doctor continued talking but Bill was barely listening.

"The good news," he said, "is that there doesn't appear to be any reason why you and your wife can't start trying to have another baby in the next few months."

Bill nodded and thanked him. "When can I see her?" he asked.

"She's still pretty sleepy from the anesthesia, but you can go back to the recovery room right now and wait for her to wake up. Once she's fully awake, you can take her home. She'll be sleepy this evening and she'll probably continue to have some mild cramping. The cramping should go away in a day or two."

Bill thanked him again and followed him into the recovery room. Michelle slept peacefully. Her auburn hair splayed across the white pillow. She was so pretty. Her hands lay atop the blanket that was covering her. Bill reached out and squeezed her hand.

Without opening her eyes or waking up, Michelle turned her head in his direction. "Tony," she whispered.

Bill smiled a ruefully and let go of her hand. He sat down next to her. In that one word, Michelle had told him all that he needed to know. She had just lost his baby, but in her anesthetic induced haze, it was Tony that she was thinking of. He sat back feeling old and defeated.

An hour and a half later, Michelle was awake and dressed and ready to go home. They rode home in silence. Michelle dozed much of the time still feeling the effects of the anesthesia. Bill helped her into the house and upstairs to bed. She fell back to sleep almost instantly.

Later that night Bill climbed the stairs to join her in bed. He looked at her sleeping and wondered if he should get in bed with her or go across the hall to the guest room. He hadn't made a decision yet when he walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Michelle was awake.

"Hi," she said. "Time for bed?"

"Yeah, it's getting late and I have to work tomorrow. Of course, I can stay home with you tomorrow if you need me."

"No, that's okay. I'll be fine."

"Okay," he said, "whatever you prefer."

They were silent again as Bill pulled on a pair of lounge pants and a light tee shirt. Michelle broke the silence. "Bill, I'm sorry. I know how much you wanted the baby. I feel like this is my fault. I was so angry about being pregnant at first. I never should have reacted that way. Maybe if I hadn't…"

"Don't be silly," Bill said interrupting her. "Whether you wanted the baby or not had nothing to do with the miscarriage, Michelle. You were never angry with the baby. You were angry with me and you had every right to be angry."

They were both quiet. Michelle watched as Bill put his watch and wedding ring on the dresser. She finally spoke just to break the tension. "The doctor said we need to wait a few months but then we can try to have another baby."

"Is that what you want, Michelle?" he asked without turning to face her.

"I don't know," she told him honestly. "Right now, it seems like that's all we have in common."

"I know," he told her as he sat down on the edge of the bed, "and that's not a good reason to stay together, is it?"

"Probably not," she admitted. She was quiet for a moment deciding what to say next. "Give me a few days to get myself together. I need to find a place to live."

"Take your time. I can stay in the guest room until you're ready to move. There's no rush." His voice wasn't exactly cold. Emotionless was really a better way to describe it.

"No, after tonight, I'll stay in the guest room. It's your house. I'll move my things over there tomorrow. And when I get back to work in a couple of days, I'll look at the job postings and see if I can transfer out of Division."

"You don't have to do that."

"Yeah, I do. It'll be too awkward for us if we're both there. There might be something over at District that I'm qualified for or maybe it's time for me to leave Los Angeles. I might transfer to another city. I've always like San Francisco, maybe they have an opening up there."

Bill looked at her tenderly. He reached out and stroked her face. Tears had started to make their way silently down her face. "You do whatever is best for you. I only want you to be happy, Michelle. That's all I ever wanted and clearly, I screwed up when I decided that we needed to have a child without consulting you."

"Don't do that to yourself, Bill. We both made plenty of mistakes. We've already discussed this and there's no need to rehash it. You are a wonderful man and you deserve to have a wife who loves you in a way that I simply can't. She's out there Bill, now just go and find her."

Bill nodded and smiled at her. He then turned and walked to the guest room. Michelle lay back on the bed numb from the day's events. She suddenly felt more alone than she ever had before. She rubbed her stomach knowing that her baby was gone. The pillow next to her was empty, too, signaling that her husband was gone as well.

Michelle was back at work the next Monday. The few days off had given her time to consider her future. She decided to temporarily move back in with her parents. It wasn't ideal, but it would work for a little while and would give her time to look for a job. She was thinking more and more about moving away from LA and until that decision was made, she didn't want to tie herself down with a long term lease on an apartment.

She also used the time off to contact her lawyer. He was the same one who handled her divorce from Tony. She and Bill agreed that neither would ask for anything from the other. They simply wanted to have the marriage officially dissolved in order for them both to move on.

On her first day back to work, Michelle reviewed the government on line job postings over her lunch break. She nibbled on yogurt and a granola bar while she read over the available jobs in her pay grade and those that she could be eligible to be promoted into. She had been Deputy Director at Division for almost two years now and could be promoted to Regional Director in one of the smaller regions. Several positions caught her eye. They were looking for a Deputy Director in Boston. Miami needed a CTU director. The Regional Director's position was open in Pittsburgh and another one in St. Louis. She continued to scroll down to the final listing: CIA Special Liaison to the NSA, CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia.

Michelle stared at the listing. It was essentially the CIA counterpart to the position that Tony held at NSA. Were the fates trying to tell her something? Or were they merely mocking her? What if she got the job? She would be working with Tony on a regular basis. Maybe they would get back together. Or maybe Tony had no interest in resuming their relationship. Tony may have moved on by now. She could be stuck working closely with him but unable to have him.

Michelle tried not to think about the possibilities. She applied for all of the positions and decided to wait and see what happened. Within two weeks she had interviews in Boston, Pittsburgh and Virginia. St. Louis and Miami had declined to interview her. After the interviews she had offers for the positions in Boston and at CIA Headquarters. It didn't take her long to make her decision. She turned down the position in Boston and accepted the move to Langley, Virginia.

After accepting the position, she gave Bill her resignation from Division. He read it quickly having expected that it was coming. He knew where she had interviewed but had otherwise tried to keep himself out of Michelle's business. "We'll miss you here, Michelle. Can I ask where you're going?"

"I'm going to Langley."

"You're going back to Tony."

"If he'll have me."

"And if not?" Bill asked. He remembered the night just a few months earlier when he called Tony and the phone was answered by a woman. The rustling of the sheets when she gave Tony the phone told Bill that the two of them weren't sitting on the sofa watching a movie when he called. He hated the thought of Michelle being hurt again.

"Then I have a new job that I think I'll enjoy and I'll start over."

"I hope it all works out for you," Bill said sincerely. "I'm sorry that it didn't work out between us, but you'll always have a place in my heart."

"Thank you," she said with a half smile. "I feel the same way about you. I hope everything works out for you, too.

Michelle left Bill's office. In four weeks she would be on the opposite coast, in Virginia at CIA Headquarters. She had tried to start a new life with Bill and it had ended badly. It was time to start over once again and this time, regardless of what happened with Tony, she was determined to make it work.