Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters related to 24.

Sorry about the long wait this time. I started working last week and it's been kind of hectic…I'm relieved the part with Jen seemed to go over well. I honestly couldn't stand her in the show but I figured that if I was in her position I wouldn't be too thrilled with the prospect of the guy I was living with going back to his ex-wife…even if it was Tony and Michelle:P. I hope you all enjoy the next chapter. This is definitely pure fluff…if you didn't consider the last chapter such. Let me know what you think.

Chapter Five

After another half hour they'd completely packed up Tony's life for the past 6 months. Michelle grabbed a bag as Tony did a final scan of the house, not wanting to miss anything and have to put Jen through another encounter like they'd just experienced. Satisfied that he seemed to have everything, Tony grabbed the rest of the bags and followed Michelle out the front door. He paused before he closed it behind him, suddenly feeling a little strange about leaving. Sure his life had been worse than hell while he'd lived here, but it had still been his life. He let out a deep breath and then, with a reassuring glance from Michelle, closed the door behind him. Life, as he knew it at least, was over.

They drove back in silence to Michelle's apartment. Tony not really wanting to say anything, Michelle not sure what exactly to say…she wondered if Tony was regretting the decision they made, wondered if maybe he'd wished he'd taken the job at CTU. After all, that's what had brought him back to life, that's what he loved above anything else. She knew it was his idea, but it had been so…spur of the moment. She wondered if he'd really thought this all through.

They finally made it to the apartment, still without any exchange of words between them. Neither of them could believe that a few hours earlier they were still reeling from their encounter in the shower.

Michelle dropped her keys on the hall table and went to go sit on the couch. Tony tossed his bags at the front hall; he'd worry about what to do with them later. They were both still exhausted from the previous day, no amount of sleep seemed to help them feel rested; it had just been too draining.

"Tony?" Michelle squeaked quietly as he came to sit on the couch beside her.

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said almost coldly.

Michelle suddenly had a horrible case of déjà vu. "Not this again." There was a distinct edge to her voice.

Tony turned to face her and saw the hurt in her eyes; he realized what he'd just said.

"I'm sorry, but it really is nothing. It just felt weird leaving for some reason, I don't know why. I guess in a lot of ways I felt like I was in some horrible dream for the past few months and now… I can't believe it's actually over."

Michelle scouted over to the couch beside him. "Maybe it was some horrible dream, and now we're just waking up…"

Tony looked up from the couch and gave her a crooked half smile. Michelle smiled back. Tony leaned over and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

"Thanks."

She sighed, relieved. "It's what I'm here for."

"So what do you want to do tonight?"

"We have work tomorrow." Michelle reminded.

"Alright, how bout we order pizza and rent a movie."

"Perfect."

"What time is it now?" Michelle leaned over to check the clock.

"Like, 3:30."

Michelle leaned forward and grabbed the remote, flicking on the T.V. and settled back on the couch against Tony, who wrapped one arm across her stomach. She began flicking channels when she found CNN. Her stomach dropped. They were talking about the events from yesterday, of course they would be, L.A. almost got bombed after all! She wanted to turn the channel but found that she couldn't. This had always happened to her, she wanted to know what the people got to see, if they realized how close they'd come to loosing everything.

Her phone rang.

"I got it." Tony scooted out from underneath her and picked up on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Tony?" the voice on the other end seemed to be trying to conceal its surprise.

"Hey Bill, how's it going over there?"

"Not bad, just trying to get all these damage reports forwarded to district." Well that was fast. Bill thought to himself. He wondered if Tony had been with Michelle since yesterday, or had just stopped by to visit her that morning.

"Yeah, we'll be back in tomorrow to help with everything."

"Great, but that's actually not why I called… I was hoping to talk to Michelle."

"Oh, right. She's right here."

"Thanks."

Tony placed his hand over the receiver and turned to Michelle. "For you..."

Michelle slid down the couch and reached for the phone. Tony sat down beside her.

"Hey Bill, do you need me to come in now or…?" Michelle silently prayed that wasn't the case.

"No, no. I just," Bill paused. He suddenly felt very embarrassed. "I just wanted to see if you were okay." he finished quietly.

"Well I appreciate it. Thank you."

"I realize how hard yesterday must've been for you, I know you knew Jack well, and I can't imagine what it must've been like to see him that way."

Michelle's eyes watered slightly. "I just…can't believe it." She didn't know what else to say to sound convincing.

"I know. It's good that Tony's with you."

"It's helped." She finished simply.

"I just wanted to thank you again for what a great job you did yesterday."

"Thanks."

"And I just wanted to say that…I'm really glad you're happy again Michelle. I never really knew you when you were happy..." he finished lamely cursing himself silently for not being able to come up with something more meaningful.

"Thanks Bill." He could hear the smile in her voice.

"You enjoy the rest of your night. I'll see you both tomorrow."

"We will, bye."

The phone clicked. Michelle sighed. She didn't really know what she expected from Bill, but the fact that he was so understanding made it even harder. Tony reached over and squeezed the inside of her leg. Michelle slid across the couch and curled up into a tiny ball against his side, burying her face into his chest. She knew it was supposed to be like this.

Tony and Michelle stayed like this for a while. Sometimes they would be talking, sometimes they would just be sitting there, absorbed in the other person but for some reason the time just seemed to fly by, and soon enough they were ready for dinner. Tony's stomach grumbled and Michelle giggled.

"Maybe we should order that pizza now, we can go rent a movie and pick it up on the way back."

"Hand me the phone." Michelle passed it to Tony and dug out the phonebook from the side table. He dialed the number and while he was waiting for someone to pick up he turned to Michelle and asked, "The usual?"

Michelle nodded, and then slipped off the couch to go freshen up slightly. She walked into the bedroom and laughed at her hair. It was an absolute disaster. She grabbed a comb and worked endlessly to brush out all the tangles. Finally, she gave up and threw it back in a lose ponytail at the base of her neck. She stared thoughtfully for a second, then tugged at a few ringlets causing them to fall around her face. Satisfied with her hair, and not in the mood for putting on any makeup she went back to the living room, where Tony was just getting off the phone and grabbing the keys.

They decided to walk. It was a nice breezy California night. They were in and out of video store in record time. Normally they would debate for hours over what kind of movie to get but Tony insisted it didn't matter, he told Michelle to pick one that would help her relax. She eyed him curiously then, surprising herself more than anyone else, pulled "The Notebook" off the shelf.

She shrugged. "I feel like sap."

Tony laughed.

They exited the store and started to walk down the street to grab their pizza when, out of nowhere, it started to pour. Michelle squealed with a mixture of annoyance and delight. The rain felt nice, it was warm and prickled her skin gently. She attempted to walk as closely as she could to the side of a building, hoping to avoid as much rain as possible. Then, realizing any attempt was futile continued walking in the middle of the sidewalk, throwing her head back and letting the fat drops plaster her face.

The novelty eventually wore off and Michelle started to shiver. Tony eyed her warily.

"I'm fine." She insisted reading his look. "It's not far now."

They made it to the pizza place and Michelle began to shake even more as the cold air hit her. Everything in L.A. is air conditioned. She groaned.

She waited at the back while Tony went to get their pizza. They were at least a 15 minute walk from home now, and had no idea how she was going to make it back there without dying from pneumonia first. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, vigorously rubbing her arms, hoping it might warm her up. She felt more than heard Tony approach.

"What if we eat in here?"

"It's cold though."

"It's gonna be even worse if we go out in the rain again, plus the food will get soaked."

"Fine." She surrendered.

It didn't take them long to devour the whole pizza. Tony's appetite was nothing out of the ordinary but Michelle found that after a day at work like they'd had yesterday, she was always starving for the next little while. She never knew why, but it was part of her routine. After about half-an-hour they tossed the remnants of their dinner into the garbage. Michelle now knew for sure she was going to die of pneumonia. What's with all the rain these days?

They stepped outside and it was still pouring. Tony debated getting a cab but knew they'd be out of luck. L.A. was like New York in that sense; you could never get a cab when it was raining. Plus, he thought with a chuckle. It's probably safer to walk...this is L.A. after all.

"Michelle you're shivering."

"It's just a little cold out. I'll be fine." Her teeth chattered.

Tony fought to hide his amusement.

"C'mon," he said pulling her in tightly, silently reprimanding himself for not having enough common sense to bring a coat.

The instant his warm skin touched her arms Michelle felt a hundred times better. He was so warm she was surprised she didn't see steam rising off him. They continued to walk, entwined in each other the whole way back to the apartment. As soon as they stepped inside Tony went to the bathroom and found the biggest, fluffiest towel he could. He came back to the hall where Michelle had been idling, and snuck up on her from behind, wrapping it around her tightly. He drew her in and then slowly, methodically, rubbed her arms, hoping to warm them up. Michelle leaned back against him; she didn't want to go change into dry clothes. She wanted to stay like this all day.

After a little while Tony wordlessly grabbed her hand and led her into the bedroom. He dug through the box of his he'd seen her pawing in earlier and pulled out a big oversized sweatshirt. Michelle grabbed her flannel pajama pants and turned to face Tony. As he approached she raised her arms over her head letting him pull her t-shirt up. Then he pushed her back gently onto the bed and peeled off her wet jeans. Michelle lay there in a haze, watching him do all the work. Once she was dressed Tony stripped himself down and threw on something he could sleep in.

"Movie time!' Michelle exclaimed jumping up from the bed.

"Not yet, you still haven't made your tea."

Michelle beamed.

"I'll make it for you honey." He told her and gently pressed his lips against her temple.

She didn't think it was possible for her to smile any wider…but somehow she managed it.

Soon they were sitting curled up on the couch, Michelle with her special tea in her special cup, getting ready to play the movie. Michelle couldn't believe how emotional she got. She was not the type of person who bawled her eyes out at movies, but for some reason she couldn't help herself. The tears fell silently down her face and Tony reached over and handed her a box of Kleenex. She thanked him by snuggling into him even more. By the time the movie had ended both were ready for bed. Michelle stared at herself in the mirror, she was puffy eyed and blotchy.

"I'm a mess." She complained. It was one of the reasons she avoided crying at something so trivial. She looked like hell afterwards and just didn't seem justified to her to let a movie do that to you.

She saw Tony in the mirror watching her from behind. He walked up and kissed her on the cheek.

"You're perfect."

She gave him a skeptical look that still didn't manage to contain her delight at this comment. "Alright then, time for bed."

They settled down under the covers and, alarms set, wasted no time falling asleep.

A few hours later Tony awoke suddenly. Again he had forgotten what he was waking up to, but he had less time to absorb his surroundings now. Michelle was shaking violently, tears streaming down her face. She was mumbling something totally incoherent. She was having a nightmare. He held her down against the mattress by her arms and called her name.
"Michelle. Michelle wake up. Michelle!" Suddenly, she stopped shaking, stopped mumbling, her eyes whipped open but she still had tears streaming down her face. She stared blankly at him for a few seconds. He bent down and kissed her forehead.

"It's okay sweetheart it was just a dream."

Something seemed to snap inside of her and she bolted upright and threw her arms around his neck, crying once again.

"I thought you were…"

Tony pulled her in as tightly as he could muster and gently stroked her hair and face, kissing the side of her head every so often.

"I'm here honey its okay."

"I'm sorry." She said pulling back.

"It's gonna be alright, I promise."

He wiped her eyes and tucked a loose curl behind her ear. Her breathing slowed and she had stopped feeling like she was going to be violently ill.

"I love you." she whimpered, pulling him in tightly towards her.

He responded by nuzzling her forehead. "I love you too. Go back to sleep."

He squeezed her tightly and fell back into the pillows, taking her with him. He pulled the covers over them and felt her conform to his body, trying to make contact in as many places as possible at once. He slowly ran his fingers from her shoulder blades all down the back of her thighs. He remembered to wrap her legs in between his and eventually felt her kiss him once more, almost unnoticeably on his neck, before dozing off to sleep. He lay awake the rest of the night, in case Michelle had another horrible dream. He wanted to be able to wake her the second he felt her begin to stir. He always did this, especially after a day like the one they'd had yesterday. He wanted nothing more than for her to feel safe. Before he knew it, the rain had dispersed and the first rays of sun were starting to peak over the horizon. It was morning.