Thanks again for the reviews and for sticking with me. I'm having fun with this story. There is something liberating about writing in first person. It really allows you to get into the skin of the person whose point of view you are writing. So writing for two different POVs is really fun.

For those of you waiting for the love scene, here it is. If you are put off by graphic love scenes, you probably want to skip this chapter (and the next one, too, since that will be the same scene from Michelle's POV). The love scene is graphic but, as with the love scenes in all of my stories, I think it is in good taste. If not, let me know about it.

PART III: THE STORM

Chapter 1: Tony

I awoke around 2 o'clock in the morning to a bright flash of lightening followed quickly by a clap of thunder. I looked over at Michelle. She was still sleeping. Michelle's usually a light sleeper, so she must have been completely wiped out to sleep through this storm. The next flash of lightening was brighter than the last. Even with the blinds closed it lit up the room. The thunder was right on its heels telling me that the storm was very close. The thunder was so loud that it shook the house. For a second I wondered if we were having an earthquake, but it stopped too quickly. The second clap of thunder woke Michelle with a start.

She didn't say a word but moved toward me. I instinctively took her in my arms as if she needed protection and I could protect her from the awesome force of lightening. We were lying on our sides facing each other. The problem with that is it effectively traps one arm under your body thus rendering it useless. I slid my free arm up along Michelle's back and down again. She let out a soft breathy sound, almost a contented mew that a cat might make and in return she ran her hand up and down along the bare skin of my back. That hardly seemed fair. She got to touch bare skin while the skin I was touching was covered by her silky camisole. I slid my hand down her back again and this time as I ran it up her back, I slipped it under her camisole so I, too, could feel her skin against mine. The contented mew returned but this time a little louder. I felt her hand slide up my back again and as it moved back down, her fingers curled and she lightly raked her nails down my back. The sensation was almost more than I could bear. My body virtually crackled with electricity. I wondered if it was possible that I had been struck by lightening because I wouldn't imagine a bigger jolt going through me even if I had been.

Michelle put her leg up on top of mine and slowly slid it up my thigh. When she reached my hip she wrapped her leg around me and pulled my lower body to hers. I was getting hard and was now pressed against her stomach. I hoped she was even half as excited as I was. I exhaled loudly and ran my hand down her back again. On the way, I let my fingers trace her ribs around to the front. My hand stroked her soft, flat stomach and slowly moved up. I cupped her breast in my hand and both of us groaned quietly. She turned her face up to mine and we kissed. It was a hard, intense kiss that I was afraid would leave her lips bruised and sore, but at the same time, I couldn't help myself. I couldn't get enough of her. I could feel Michelle's breath quicken and I knew that she was excited. She slipped her hand down between us and without warning she lifted the waistband of my boxer shorts and put her hand inside. She took me in her hand and stroked me roughly. I was completely incapacitated. I rolled onto my back with my mouth gaping open unable to think or even to breathe. I wanted to moan loudly or shout her name or something but I couldn't and even if I could, I'm not sure that I would have. Neither of us had spoken a word and our silence as the storm raged outside of the window was incredibly erotic.

Michelle continued to stroke me. Her touch was unbelievable. She still knew exactly what I liked and how to push my most sensitive buttons. I was amazed at how different it felt to "make love" with Michelle than it did to "have sex" with Jen. The physical act was the same. Jen had held me in her hand and stroked me the same way Michelle was and I never felt the way I did right now. It was something about Michelle, something about the bond between us that made the entire act so perfect.

I didn't think I could hold out much longer, I was tensing up, about to come when she must have sensed it and pulled away. I was so stunned that I'm surprised I didn't lose my erection. I watched her as the lightening flashed around us. She got up into a kneeling position on the bed and sat still, staring at me for a moment. Then she reached up and pulled her hair from the ponytail holder that was cinching it away from her face. She shook her head and her hair fell about her shoulders. Next she crossed her arms in front of her body and took hold of the hem of the camisole. In one smooth, fluid motion, as she was silhouetted by flashes of lightening, she pulled the camisole over her head and tossed it off the side of the bed. The lightening had created a weird strobe effect as if we were at some 70s style discotheque and the lights were no longer flashing in time with the music.

I grabbed her and tried to pull her down on top of me but she resisted. Instead, she pulled me into a sitting position. She sat on my lap and wrapped her legs around me. We started kissing hungrily again. We were both naked from the waist up and our hands moved wildly about each other's body.

I finally was able to get hold of Michelle's shoulders and I pushed her insistently to the bed without breaking the kiss. I reached for the boxer shorts she was wearing while she reached for mine. We struggled to get them off. Once freed of clothing, I moved my mouth down her body. I had tasted her lips and her skin but there was more of her that I wanted to taste. She knew what I wanted and she must have wanted it, too, because she raised her pelvis and rotated it against me.

The second my mouth touched her, her back arched and she tossed her head from side to side. Her mouth was open and she was gasping for breath. I was amazed at how natural it felt to have oral sex with Michelle. We had first done it the very first time we ever made love. It was just an extension of kissing. I kissed her lips and her face and down her neck to her beasts and stomach and just naturally ended up between her legs. In some ways, I think the sensation was as exciting for me as it was for her. That same act was not natural with Jen. In fact, I had only done it once and had never felt the need or desire to do it again. It wasn't natural with her. She obviously didn't care, because she didn't encourage me to do it again. By the same token, she never used her mouth on me. And the truth is, I didn't really care. It wasn't something I really wanted her to do, but when Michelle did it, it was intensely intimate and the climax was frantic, almost draining.

Michelle was writhing beneath me and I could feel her tense up as I had done earlier. She was about to climax. I started to increase the rhythm but I felt her hands on my face. She was pulling me away. I slid up her body kissing whatever skin I touched as I climbed up her. I reached her lips and found her waiting for my kiss. Arms wrapped tightly around each other, I rolled onto my back and pulled Michelle on top of me. She always had a better orgasm if she was on top and I wanted her to enjoy this as much as possible. I certainly was going to enjoy it regardless of our position.

Michelle was as ready as I was. She straddled me and pushed me inside of her so quickly and with so much force that we both gasped. For a second I was afraid that she might be in pain but after a couple of seconds of being totally still, she picked up a fast, grinding rhythm. Just a few seconds later neither of us could take any more. We both climaxed with loud pants and gasps. It seemed like a long time before either of us lay still. Michelle collapsed panting against my chest. I put my arms around her. Her body was damp with sweat as was mine. We lay like that for a long time. We both remained silent while we listened to the storm. It finally passed from above us and moved on to wake some other unsuspecting souls. The rumble of the thunder became more and more distant and the lightening flashes became dimmer and dimmer until I could no longer see or hear either. All I could hear now was Michelle's slow, quiet breathing. I turned carefully onto my side and eased Michelle off of me. She relaxed on the bed, her head on the pillow with mine and we both fell off to sleep.

The next time I woke the sun was doing its best to peek around the blinds and into the room. I turned to look at the alarm clock and saw that there was no digital read out. The storm must have knocked out the electricity. At the same moment I realized that it was stiflingly hot and humid. With the electricity out we had no air conditioning. The hot, sticky air outside was now inside as well.

I looked over at Michelle who was still asleep. We had managed to kick every stitch of bedclothes onto the floor, so we were both completely naked and uncovered. Michelle was stretched out on her back. How could she sleep that way? If I tried to sleep flat on my back I would snore so loud that I'd wake people on the next block. But there she lay, peaceful as could be. Her hair was going in every possible direction. Her face, which was flushed pink from the heat, was turned toward me. She had one arm was resting on her stomach, while the other was extended on the bed and rested against my chest.

I propped myself up on one elbow so I could watch her sleep. She was so beautiful. I had an overwhelming urge to touch her, to brush her hair out of her face, but I decided not to. I didn't want to disturb her. I wanted her to rest and to forget all that had happened at CTU and dream happily of the incredible love we'd made just a few hours ago.

She must have sensed that I was staring at her because she rolled over onto her side as if she were self conscious and wanted to cover herself. As she did, her hand came in contact with my body. She yawned and stretched a bit and then let that hand settle on my waist like it was no surprise to find my body next to hers in bed. I smiled and could no longer resist the urge to touch her. I pushed some thick locks behind her ear and then planted a soft kiss on her cheek. She reached up, without opening her eyes, and brushed her hand along the spot I had kissed like she was flicking away an irritating insect. I kissed her again and got the same response. I tried it one more time and she began to stir.

"Mmmm," she moaned quietly as she exhaled. She moved closer to me and I encased her in my arms. "Good morning." She was smiling.

"Good morning," I whispered back.

"Last night was incredible," she said. She nuzzled against my neck. "Ooh, you're hot."

"Thank you," I said with a smile. "So are you."

Michelle started to laugh. "Not that kind of hot!" she said with a giggle. "Although come to think about it, you're that kind of hot, too. I mean your body is warm."

"So much for my ego!" I said feigning anger. "Of course I'm warm, you are too. The storm knocked out the electricity and we don't have any air conditioning."

"No wonder it's so hot in here. I just thought I was too warm because I'm not used to having someone in bed with me." Michelle rolled over and leaned off the edge of the bed scanning the floor for the clothes she so hastily discarded during the night. She found the camisole, picked it up and pulled it over her head.

"If I'm making you too warm, I could just get out of bed, you know," I told her. I spotted her boxer shorts on my side of the bed and snatched them off of the floor. "Looking for these?" I asked as I held them up.

"Thank you," she said as she reached for them.

I held them just out of her reach. "It's going to cost you," I teased her.

Without missing a beat, Michelle climbed on my lap. "Oh, Baby," she cooed, "it's too hot to play games." She kissed me and I stupidly let my guard down. I lowered the arm holding her shorts and as I did she grabbed them like a lizard catching a fly on it's tongue. "You're slowing down, Honey! I can't believe you fell for that. It was like taking candy from a baby," she said triumphantly.

"It's the heat," I said as I watched her step into the shorts and then return to bed, "it's effecting my brain." I got up and put on my own boxer shorts. "Do you have any kind of juice?"

"Yeah, there's grapefruit juice in the fridge," she said. "Can you get some for me, too?"

"Got it," I said as I walked toward the kitchen.

"Tony, put ice in mine, please," she called after me.

"Yes, dear," I answered sarcastically.

I couldn't help but smile. The playful woman who was stretched out across the bed was my Michelle. I don't know who that dour-faced, humorless woman that walked into CTU in a brown suit was, but she was gone now. She was gone and she had been replaced by the Michelle I had fallen in love with. I really hadn't seen that Michelle since I was arrested. After that, she became quiet and sullen. When she visited me she tried to smile and have cheery conversations with me, but it was forced and uncomfortable. Not that it mattered; I wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs while I was in prison. My attitude after I was pardoned and came home didn't give her much reason to be playful. She was happy that I was home, but the playfulness and humorous banter between us was gone. I was happy that it had resurfaced again after all of this time.

I filled two tall glasses with ice and poured the juice. The ice crackled as the juice flowed over it.

"Are you hungry?" I called up the stairs.

"Only it you're making something cold," she answered.

"How does cereal and milk sound?"

"That's fine." I was glad she agreed to that because knowing Michelle she didn't have much else to eat in the house.

I found a tray and put two bowls of cereal, spoons, two glasses of milk and some strawberries on it along with the grapefruit juice. As I made my way back upstairs, I couldn't help but notice that Michelle hadn't changed much in the house since I left. Framed pictures of the two of us were scattered about on tables and bookshelves. A vase that we bought on our honeymoon was filled with fresh flowers and sat on a table near the entrance. It was almost as if I had never left.

I entered the bedroom and set the tray of food down on the end of the bed. We sat propped up on pillows eating our breakfast and trying to stay cool.

"I know I said this once already," Michelle began, "but last night was incredible. It was like the first time all over again."

I leaned over between spoonfuls of cereal and kissed her forehead. "In a way it was the first time. We're starting over, not picking up where we left off. I want to do it right this time, Michelle. I promise you I won't screw up the way I did last time."

"Tony, what happened wasn't your fault. Prison changed you and I wasn't willing to accept that. I blamed you for a long time, and then I blamed me. Eventually I realized that there was plenty of blame for both of us." She paused for a moment. "Yesterday, when you asked me to leave CTU and start over with you, at first I was scared. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew it was the right thing to do. Being apart was so painful for both of us. We both had lost so much. I knew that if we tried it again that we could make it work. I know we're going to make it work this time, Tony."

"You're right," I nodded in agreement. "It means more to us than it did before. I never want to lose you again, Michelle. I love you so much."

"I love you, too," she said smiling. "Now all we have to do is figure out where we're going and what we're going to do for a living now that we're both unemployed."

"Well, if you want to live on the east coast, Secretary Heller offered me Jack's position," I told her.

"He did? When was that? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Yeah, he offered me the position right before we left CTU yesterday and that didn't seem like a good time to tell you."

"Did you accept his offer?" she asked.

"No, not without discussing it with you, Sweetheart. I would never make a decision that big without discussing it with you. I told him I would discuss it with you and get back to him. He gave me a month. I thought that was fair."

"Do you want the job?" she asked.

"I don't know," I told her honestly. "He took me by surprise. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I really have to see what other jobs are out there right now. It also depends on how you feel about it and where you can get a job."

"Tony, I told you two years ago that I would go anywhere with you. I still feel that way. I can pretty much get a job with any company that has openings in its IT department. And by the way, Kate Warner offered us both jobs, too."

"She did? What did you tell her?" I asked.

"I told her we'd talk about it."

"If you could choose any place, where would you want to live?" I asked her.

"Any place that's not LA," she said without hesitation. Then she thought for a moment. "I guess I'd like to live some place where the seasons change. I'd like some snow in the winter and changing leaves in the fall. The truth is, Tony, that I don't care where I am as long as I'm with you."

"So I guess we just start looking for jobs and go where they take us."

"That sounds good to me," she said smiling. "Do we have to start looking today?"

"I guess we can wait until tomorrow to start. Why? Do you have something special planned?"

"Yeah, I want to go get a marriage license," she said with an almost shy smile. "I let you go once; I'm not giving you another chance to get away."

I pulled Michelle into my arms and kissed her. When we first started dating five years ago, I didn't think I could possibly be any happier. Time and experiences have colored my view and now I realize that I was wrong. I'm much happier today, right now at this time, than I was then. I lost everything important to me and fell into a depression so deep that it could have swallowed the Grand Canyon. Now, having climbed from the depths of despair to the top of the mountain, I could see a happiness far greater than I had ever known before. It was rooted in love and, with a little cultivation on each of our parts, it would bloom and grow and take us from this world and into the next.

Next chapter: Part III: The Storm, Chapter 2: Michelle