As Tony lay on his bed, his thoughts drifted to Michelle. He couldn't believe what had happened in the hallway of CTU just days earlier. Tony had wanted to do that since they first met. Michelle was the greatest person he'd ever been acquainted with. She was beautiful, strong-willed, and just had this presence to her that turned him on. She drove him absolutely crazy, and he couldn't wait to see her again. He tried to go to sleep, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't. Usually when Tony couldn't sleep, he'd go back to CTU and try to get some work done. No one is at CTU, Tony thought. Maybe I can get some work done. With that, Tony put on jeans and a shirt, and walked out to his car. It was only a ten minute drive to the CTU building, and when he got there, he saw a car in the parking lot. He was surprised at this sight, but continued into the building. Who would be working right now? Tony thought but then remembered that he was actually going to work as well.

Tony swiped his card to open the door and began to climb the stairs to the main area of CTU. The lights were dim, and there wasn't anyone in sight. Tony shrugged his shoulders and made his way to his office upstairs. He opened the door and turned on the light. CTU always felt lonely at night, but part of Tony enjoyed the quietness of it. He turned on his computer, and began to work on the tons of files that he had to look over.

Two hours had passed, and Tony's stomach was rumbling with hunger. He decided to go to the CTU kitchen to get a snack in the refrigerator. He left his work right where it was and left his office. After he grabbed a snack from the refrigerator, Tony went into the rest area to eat it, and lay down for a bit. He slowly opened the door and reached for the light. Tony was shocked to see Michelle sleeping on the couch. She was bunched up on the couch, and she looked so peaceful. Her curls were draped over her eyes, and Tony's heart skipped a beat at the sight of her. She started to rustle as she began to shift on the couch. Not wanting to wake her, Tony began to walk out. He went to turn off the light, when Michelle spoke to him.

"Tony? Tony, is that you?" Tony immediately turned around and walked over to where she was laying down.

"Yeah, Michelle. It's me. I didn't realize you were going to be here. I just came to get some work done."

"Me too. I started to do work, but I had to take a break for a minute, so I came down here." Michelle sat up and fixed her hair. "I should probably go."

"No wait, Michelle. I'm glad that you're here. I wanted to talk to you about something." Michelle's heart began to beat a little faster. What does he want to talk to me about? He probably wants to say that what happened between them was a mistake and that he was caught up in the chaos of the day. She hoped that she was wrong. He looked so amazing, and it took all of her might not to grab his face and kiss him again like in the hallway. She had fallen for him since the first day Mason introduced them. He had smiled at her ever so slightly and made her heart melt.

"What's up?" Michelle asked trying to mask her anxiety. Tony paused as he tried to gather his plethora of thoughts into one coherent idea.

"Look, about the other day-"

"I know," Michelle interrupted. "I realize that it was inappropriate for me to have kissed you, and I know that you didn't mean anything by it. You don't have to say anything."

"No, Michelle. No. That wasn't what I was going to say at all," Tony said as he gently sat down on the couch next to her and placed his hand softly on hers. "I wanted to say that I came down here because I couldn't sleep. I couldn't sleep because I was too busy thinking about you. I can't help but wonder every second what you're doing or what you're thinking. Whenever I'm not with you, I'm wondering if you're alright, if you're happy. I hate not being able to be with you every second of the day. As horrible as that day was, I was grateful that it brought us together. I should have talked to you about it sooner, but I wasn't sure exactly how to say it. Now I realize that I just have to tell you what I feel. I can't keep it inside anymore. Michelle, I love you. I've loved you ever since the first day we met. Whenever I see you hurting, I hurt too. The moment we kissed in the hallway was the greatest moment of my life, and I want to have more of those moments with you." Tony paused for a moment, looking straight into Michelle's eyes trying to read what she was thinking. Michelle's eyes were tearing up, and he could see a smile begin to curl around her mouth.

"Oh, Tony," she said trying to fight back the tears. Tony took his hand off of hers and wiped the tears from her face. The warmth of his hand on her face was more than Michelle could take at this point. Without even thinking, Michelle took her hand and placed it behind Tony's head, pulling his face to hers. As their lips met, Michelle felt her whole body shudder. They opened their mouths, and Tony's tongue softly touched her lips begging entrance into her mouth. Michelle welcomed it with hers, and they began to touch lovingly. Just the mere touch of him put Michelle in ecstasy, as Tony raised his other hand and placed it on Michelle's waist. Michelle turned and began to lean back on the couch. Tony leaned over her, never breaking their kiss. After a few minutes, Michelle pulled away, and they sat there just staring at each other. They both smiled at each other. Tony leaned in to finish their kiss properly, when Michelle's cell phone began to ring.

Tony pulled back and whispered, "You'd better get that." The last thing that he wanted her to do was answer the phone, but since the day CTU was bombed, they had been instructed to be ready for a call at any time.

"Dessler," she answered as she shifted her body up a little on the couch. "….I'm actually here right now…I understand, Ryan…..I know….Okay, I'll start looking…See you soon….Bye." She hung up the phone and looked up at Tony. "That was Chappelle. He's coming down here to check out a threat. They need me to pull up satellite images and begin looking for anything suspicious. We'll have to finish this later," Michelle said giving him a devious smile. Tony smiled back and began to get up off of the couch. He began walking to the door, but Michelle interrupted him. "Tony, wait." Michelle walked over to him, and put her hand on his chest. "Everything that you said to me before, I feel the same way. At first I didn't think you wanted to start a relationship with me, so I didn't say anything to you. I was hurt that you hadn't said anything, but I kept my hopes up that you would. Tony, I love you so much. I feel safe when I'm with you, and you fill me with so much happiness, that I find myself wanting to come to work just to be around you. I came here today hoping that you might be here too. I find myself looking up at your desk whenever possible to see if you're there and if you're alright."

Tony interrupted her speech by placing his lips to hers in a similar fashion as before. This time, however, it was more passionate and rough. She could feel his emotions through his kiss and knew that he didn't want to let her go. She moaned in his mouth and felt herself blush at the noise. Tony moaned right back to show that the noise was turning him on. He placed his hand on her hip and began to run it up under her shirt along the side of her body. His touch felt so good to her, that she couldn't help but moan more. Tony pulled her body closer to his so that they were touching. She could feel how excited he was, and it became more obvious as he continued to rub her body. It took every control within her to peel herself off of him long enough to whisper, "Chapelle will be here soon. We'd better get to our stations so that he doesn't suspect anything."

"Ughh," Tony grunted. "You're right." Tony pulled her towards him one more time and kiss her on the forehead. "It's going to kill me having to go up into my office without you."

"Not as much as it's going to kill me watching you go up there without me," she giggled. God, he loved her. Everything about her was perfect. Just looking into her eyes made him the happiest he'd ever been. And holding her? Oh, God, holding her made him feel like he'd never be able to let go.

"Okay, we seriously have to go now," Tony said thinking of Chappelle's eminent arrival as he took her hand and led her out of the room. As they got to the stairs leading to Tony's office, Michelle squeezed his hand once, and then let it go. Tony mouthed, I love you.

I love you too, she mouthed back. By the time Tony got up to his office, Chappelle had just entered CTU and was walking over to Michelle's desk.

"Michelle, I need you to check the satellite feeds closely for anything that looks suspicious. I think that it'll be similar to what happened with the Mink case. Make sure you read up on it again to refresh your memory."

"Okay, Ryan. I'll get right on that."

"When did Tony get here? I don't remember calling him and asking him here," Chapelle said confused.

"He came by an hour or so ago to get some work done. He should be up in his office if you need him."

"I'm just gonna go up and see what's happening," Chapelle said as he started walking up the stairs to see Tony. Michelle looked up to Tony's office. He was looking at her smiling, and she pointed over to Chapelle who was just about to walk into his office. He immediately looked over to Chapelle walking through the door.

"Chapelle, what's going on?" Tony asked.

"Tony, I briefed Michelle about a situation we got a tip about. I'm gonna need you to conference with Michelle and get up to speed with everything. I would do it myself, but I have to call everyone else and tell them to get down here."

"Okay, I'll finish up with this and then I'll call Michelle up here to tell me everything."

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to get off of whatever you're doing right now and work on this. We consider this threat very credible, and we need you on this. Call up Michelle right now, and talk it over. If you need me, I'll be in the situation room for about an hour calling everyone." Chapelle walked out of the office and down the stairs. As soon as Chapelle left, Tony picked up the phone and dialed Michelle's extension. Tony loved watching Michelle as she picked up her phone, not knowing it was him on the other line.

"Dessler." Hearing her voice was a relief from everything that was stressful in his life.

"Tony Almeida is requesting your immediate assistance in his office," Tony said talking in the third person.

"Oh, really? Is this for business or pleasure?" she said teasing him.

"Mainly business, but I'm sure we could mix some pleasure in," he said seductively.

"In that case, I'll be right up." With that, Michelle hung up the phone and headed up to his office. As she was walking up the stairs, she noticed that Tony closed the blinds to his office. This was standard during a conference brief, but with no one in the office but Chapelle, it wasn't really necessary.

When Michelle got into his office, he was standing there waiting for her. She walked in and shut the door behind her. He immediately began kissing her. Their lips seemed to mesh together like they were meant to be there. She roughly parted his lips with her tongue, and he pushed his body up against her, gently propping her up against the door. They were kissing passionately, frequently having to pause to gasp for breath. Tony began to kiss her neck, and Michelle moaned aloud when he unbuttoned her shirt and began kissing down her chest. Tony was making her feel so good. In between gasps of breath, Michelle managed to get out, "We need to get this done. They'll be time later on for this."

"But I'm ready now," Tony said back as he made his way back up to her mouth and pressed himself against her body.

"I see that, but Chapelle needs this done. Believe me, I don't want to stop anymore than you do," she said kissing him once more. She re-buttoned her shirt and walked over to the chair across from his desk. Tony reluctantly followed her and sat at the edge of his desk. Michelle briefed him on everything Chapelle told her. Although Tony was listening to what Michelle was saying, he was more fixated on her mouth as she said it. He couldn't believe that she was with him. She was so incredible, and his love consumed him. "Tony, did you hear anything I just said?" Michelle asked with a smile.

"Yeah, I heard everything. Don't worry. I'll get right on it."

"Okay. I should get back down to my station," Michelle said before approaching Tony. She put her back against his chest and leaned her head back against his cheek. She took his hands in hers and put them around her waist. Tony began kissing her neck and rubbing her body. Michelle was teasing him by rubbing against him, and Tony knew it. He loved when she took control of him. His heart rate was getting steadily higher as Michelle continued to tease him. She could hear him softly moaning in her ear, and it was making her more excited also. Just as Tony began to breathe heavily against her neck, Michelle stepped away from him and started to walk towards the door. "Good luck with work," she said slyly as she walked out of the office. Tony just stood there with his mouth open. He couldn't believe that she did that to him. She knew perfectly well that she was teasing him, and that he was turned on, but she just walked out of the room leaving him by himself. Michelle walked over to her station, and picked up her ringing phone.

"Michelle Dessler, CTU," she answered.

"You're the devil," came a familiar voice, and then he hung up. Michelle looked up to his office where he was smiling down at her.