As soon as the files were ready, Michelle ordered them and filed copies before bringing them to the C.T.U. director, her boyfriend.
There, that was it. She admitted it. He was her boyfriend. She had never really had one before, and it scared the shit out of her. Tony respected her – she knew that. She also knew that she wasn't the only one who was afraid. Office gossip was popular, especially around here, and word had reached her ears of Tony's affair with Nina. She knew that Nina was only with him for his IP and hacking abilities, plus she had just been dumped by Jack. Michelle made herself a silent promise. She vowed to herself 'I won't keep anything from him. I won't hurt him.' She closed her eyes. 'I won't be Nina.'
"Almedia," Tony answered. It was a wireless protocol call – he was praying that Chappelle wasn't on his way over.
"Tony, it's Hammond."
'Shit,' he thought, 'Worse than Chappelle.'
"What can I do for you, sir?" Tony asked.
"Who is monitoring your systems and communications?" Hammond sternly demanded, not even bothering to make it sound like a question. "No one ran a parody check this morning."
"I was told District would be sending someone over sir, but we just got in. I'll check it out if you'd like." Michelle came to the door, and Tony waved her in.
"You do that," Hammond suggested. "In the meantime, I'm sending someone over from Division to replace Paula, indefinitely."
Tony sighed. "Thank you, sir." Tony said. Michelle could detect a hint of sarcasm in his voice, and she raised her eyebrows as he hung up.
"What was that about?" she asked, files in hand.
"Oh, Hammond's just blowing smoke up his own ass." Tony explained. Michelle chuckled. "What've we got?" he asked, turning his attention to the files.
"Well, civil unrest has settled since the press conference, but there's still a number of riots on the East coast." She informed him.
"What's being done to control this?" he asked, flipping through the reports.
"The National Guard has been dispensed, but they're having a hard time controlling the situation. The President has put the Marines on alert, they're waiting for his orders." She explained thoroughly.
"Okay, umm… call N.S.A. and ask for an update as soon as possible – we don't want more terrorist threats because of racially motivated riots." He requested.
"Okay," she said. "Anything else?"
"Yeah," Tony began, quickly being cut off by the phone. "Excuse me a second. Almedia," He listened intently for a moment. "Why?" he asked, sighing. "Fine, I'll be down as soon as they get here." He hung up. Her eyes were inquiring as to the reason for this call, but he avoided the topic. "Michelle, I just wanted to say, about earlier, thank you. I don't think I would have been able to go back to work if you hadn't come to talk."
"It's okay Tony," Michelle consoled, once again disturbed by the phone. Tony sighed deeply.
"Almedia," he answered, slightly annoyed. There was never a moment of privacy around here.
"Hi Tony, I'm about to run a parody check. Will you let Hammond know?" the voice from the other end explained to him.
"Who's this?" he asked.
"Carrie Turner. Division sent me to replace Paula permanently." She replied, her voice dripping with distain.
"Yeah, I'll let him know." He hung up carelessly, and refocused on Michelle. He didn't tell her who was on the other end of the phone, and she didn't ask.
"It's alright Tony." Michelle continued. "You did the same for me. We need each other right now. It's fine." She smiled at him sweetly.
"I love you." He said, smiling back.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
"Come in," Tony called.
"Sir," the woman began. "Sorry to interrupt. I couldn't reach you on the phone. It must have been off the hook." Tony walked to his desk to find that his phone was in fact off the hook. He hung it up properly and asked the woman what she needed. "Sir, she's here." She replied.
"I'll be right down." He directed his attention at Michelle. "I have to go down for interrogation; can we finish this up later?" He asked his girlfriend, truly sorry that something had once again interrupted the conversation.
"Sure." She agreed. He headed for the door, but turned around when she spoke again. "Tony, who are you interrogating?" She couldn't help but be curious.
"Nina Myers." He replied sternly.
Down on the floor, Carrie put down the phone and tapped her nails lightly on the desk.
"I love you?"
Well, that's it. Lemmie know.
