A/n: Thank you to all of the people who have so kindly decided to review! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well! (And just an advance warning, but I'm going to have to alter some of the time lines of things to fit my story.) Oh, and to those of you wondering how long the story's going to be. I never know. And if I did, I'm not sure I would disclose that. After all, isn't it better being a surprise?

Chapter 4 – The Memories

February 2005

A year and a half later that is where they both stood. Staring at each other in disbelief. Their emotions warring with one another. Neither wanting to look away. But as soon as that moment started, it was broken. Secretary Heller felt the awkwardness between the two and asked Tony if he could brief everyone on the present situation at hand.

Tony snapped out of it and immediately noticed how cold Michelle had gotten. The light that once illuminated her beautiful eyes was no where to be found. Replaced were cold, hollow orbs. And brown. When did Michelle start wearing brown? She never used to wear brown before. And more importantly, why the hell was she back at CTU?

October 2003

Tony had remembered that three weeks after Michelle left him, there was a knock at his door. He leapt up, excited at the prospect that somehow by some miracle Michelle had come back to him. He leapt down the stairs and charged towards the door, expecting to welcome Michelle home with loving arms. And when he opened the doors, he nearly rushed into the arms of a large burly man.

The man claimed to be Michelle's lawyer. Tony was most disappointed that Michelle wasn't on the other side of the door so that he might have had the chance to even talk to her. But what happened next left him to become bitterer than ever before. The lawyer curtly handed him divorce papers saying that Michelle would contest for nothing in order to make the process go as quickly as possible.

Tony couldn't believe what he was hearing. He thought that Michelle had just gone off for a little bit to get her bearings and that she would return to him. But now, she was asking for a divorce. And she wasn't contesting anything in order to make things go quicker? So she didn't even want to see him. Tony just leaned against the wall for a moment, trying to grasp his head around this new development.

He couldn't believe it. Michelle was asking to be freed from him. He never in a million years thought that this would happen. He gave up everything for her and this is how she repaid him? By divorcing him? Why would she do something like this? Why would she leave him? What could have changed her to make her break his heart? Unless…

She fell in love with another man. Tony slowly slid to the floor and covered his face with his hands as he came to the realization that Michelle must have fallen in love with another man. When did this happen? Did it happen while I was in prison? Then why did she stay with me for so long? Pity. She pitied me. That's why.

And as he began to think about it, everything made sense. Michelle had fallen in love with some random guy off the street while Tony had been in prison. While he had been in prison because he saved her life. And this was how she repaid him. How grand.

The more he thought about this, the more angry he became. He stared hard at the divorce papers and after much reflection, he came to the conclusion, if Michelle wants to divorce me, fine. She can have her divorce. I don't care anymore. She obviously doesn't care. Why should I care for someone who doesn't feel the same way? He harshly signed the papers and the very next day, he returned them to her lawyer.

She was gone to him. He would no longer speak of her name. No longer think of her. He would now move towards erasing from her from his life. Her pictures, the things she bought for him, the memories. Everything. After all, it had only taken her a matter of weeks before she had gotten over him.

Three days after Tony signed the divorce papers, Michelle received a call from her lawyer,

"Hello, Michelle, this is Lon calling from Los Angeles. Anyways, I just wanted you to know that Mr. Tony Almeida has signed the divorce papers. He returned them quite promptly, which should appease your anxiety. They will be fed-exed to you within two days."

Michelle listened as Lon spoke and his words kept resonating in her mind, "he returned them quite promptly." So he didn't love her anymore. She sighed in disappointment and hurt. He didn't love her at all. He had already moved on. If he still cared for her, he would have called and demanded an explanation as to why she was getting a divorce from him.

But instead, he just agreed to the terms. Probably because that way he could be rid of her and move on with his younger lover. Damn him! Damn him for making me cry again! Damn him for making me believe that he was actually in love with me! How could you be so stupid, Michelle!

Tony doesn't love me anymore. He doesn't care. And as these thoughts replayed in her mind, a wave of anguish swept her. Soon, she was bawling her eyes out, unable to control her grief of losing Tony.

After two days of uncontrollable crying, Michelle finally came to a conclusion. Tony had obviously moved on, so now it was her turn. After all, she was the one who asked for the divorce. And he had obviously thought it was the best thing for them to do. To be rid of each other forever. She would stand strong before the prying eyes of the world. After all, she wasn't just doing this for herself anymore. She needed to get her life back together in Detroit. Her new life without Tony.

February 2005

As the day progressed, Tony kept stealing looks at Michelle. He noticed that she didn't seem to be at all affected by the fact that they weren't together anymore. He learned later from Chloe that Michelle had been promoted to Director of CTU in another city. A city that Michelle had refused to name, but because of the large nuclear threat to LA, Secretary Heller had flown her in especially for this case. He had heard great things about her and he wanted her to be in charge of CTU during a time of crisis.

Tony however remembered how unfazed Michelle appeared to be and how cold she was towards him. So instead of letting his mind settle on Michelle, he dove into his work. Refusing to let her distract him.

As Michelle settled into her temporary office, she couldn't help but think of how it used to be Tony's old office. Every so often, she would look at him. And what she saw saddened her. He was a different man. He no longer carried himself with the same confidence. But in her heart, little heartstrings tugged at her heart as she tried to convince herself that he was still the same Tony. The Tony she had given her life to, the Tony that showed her what love was like, but also the Tony that had broken her heart.

Even hearing his voice again brought chills through her body. But she couldn't help but wonder if he was with that skank she had caught him kissing at the bar. God, why am I thinking about this? I shouldn't be thinking of Tony during a time of crisis. Actually, I shouldn't be thinking of Tony period. After all, I've moved on…

As the day wore on, everyone was starting to get stressed out about Marwan's major plan of attack. The clues were coming in and they were closing in on Marwan, but they had no assurance that this wasn't just a ploy by Marwan to divert them away from the real attack. Jack had been out on the field all day and he was exhausted, but being Jack, he refused to give in to exhaustion. He kept soldering on.

Unfortunately for Jack, he had a falling out with Kate recently and they were both taking some much needed time off from each other. Instead, Jack had been tentatively seeing Audrey Heller. But everyone at CTU knew the toll Jack and Audrey's relationship had taken on them both.

Neither were ready for a new relationship. Especially when they were both so clearly in love with their previous partners. Jack knew that Audrey still felt deeply for Paul and likewise, Audrey understood that Jack still loved Kate very much. It would only be a matter of time before the two parted, but for the time being, they were both just enjoying each other's companies without any strings attached.

At 12:00am, Jack called Tony, requesting for him to make an intensive search on the name "Mitch Anderson." Tony immediately set about doing so, only to find that his security entrance had been denied. He asked Chloe and Edgar if they knew what the security log-on code as, but both were swamped with other duties and didn't have the time to look up the security code.

Edgar, clearly unaware of Tony's past with Michelle told him,

"Go up and see Michelle. She has clearance for all of the codes. She'll be able to tell you quicker than Chloe or myself. And plus, we're up to our necks with work anyways."

Tony then proceeded to walk around all of CTU practically begging people if they knew the entrance codes. Unfortunately, not one single person seemed to know. After all, it was highly classified information and it wasn't like all of the passwords were just written on some massive board for everyone to see.

Defeated, Tony had no choice but to go up to Michelle's office, his old office, to ask Michelle for the codes. He had dreaded this part. He had managed to avoid communicating with Michelle for the majority of the day and he had liked it that way. That way, he could still maintain his professionalism without having his heart ripped into a million pieces.

It still hurt to look at her. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, he knew. He knew that every time he even so much as glanced up at her, his heart would break. All of that healing he had forced himself to go through was rendered useless by the simple appearance of Michelle. All of the progress he had made by "getting over her" was gone out the window. He was back to square one.

And square one included him being furious with Michelle for leaving him without even so much a phone call. He looked around CTU and vowed that after today, he would get away. He couldn't work at CTU anymore. How could he when there were so many memories of him and Michelle together? He needed to move. He was going to move away from LA. Get a job that had absolutely nothing to do with CTU. He was planning all of this in his mind as he walked up those stairs, and he didn't even notice who just so happened to be coming down…

Michelle needed coffee. But more importantly, she needed to just have Tony out of her life. She thought that she had gotten rid of him for good when she divorced him and now he was back here at CTU. She rapidly typed on her computer, trying to pick up on any miscellaneous leads that might lead them to clues about Marwan's activities.

But as she felt her eyes droop and looked up at the words she had managed to type, she knew she needed coffee. So she began to make her way down to the dining area. She had a few papers with her so that she could catch up on the new leads that CTU had picked up on. So distracted was she by these new leads that she didn't notice who was coming up the stairs…

Before they both knew it, they had almost run into each other. She looked up momentarily from her papers, while he looked up momentarily from his thoughts. And their eyes met. Unwittingly.

There was a momentary lapse of time as the two stared at each other. Their eyes locked in a trance.

For a moment, he didn't see the woman who had shattered his heart and for a moment, she didn't see the man who had left her heart to die.

Instead, he saw her beauty, her intelligence, her strength.

And she saw his strength, his knowledge and his intensity.

Their eyes warred with one another, almost as if daring the other to look away.

For a moment, they each saw the person they had fallen deeply, madly and truly in love with.

It was as if there was no one else at CTU.

They were lost in their own worlds.

For the first time in many months, their hearts and their souls both felt complete.

Their emotions warred with each other. Their passion, their anger, their anguish evident in both their eyes and on their faces.

Michelle was the first to recover. She whipped her eyes away. Angry at herself that she had let herself lose control in front of him. She concealed all of her emotions with a fake smile and asked,

"Tony. What are you doing here?"

Tony looked at her as she spoke his name. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in months. To hear his name uttered through those lips. Her voice brought back painful memories of their times together and he refused to look into her eyes. They had always captivated him and he knew that he would not be able to control himself much longer if he looked into her soft, beautiful, passionate eyes.

He looked away, and instead of answering he just sighed. By now, much of CTU had noticed the encounter between Tony and Michelle and were starting to stare. Michelle noticed this and politely said,

"Would you like to discuss these matters inside of my office with me instead?"

Tony looked up in disbelief and then he looked around and noticed how many of his co-workers were eagerly looking up at the two of them expecting them to either passionately kiss or to start shouting obscenities at one another. Most bets had been on the screaming obscenities bit. Tony acknowledged that her office might be a better place to have his confrontation with Michelle. Best to avoid the prying eyes of his co-workers anyways.

As Michelle walked back up towards her office, Tony followed. And as he followed, he couldn't help but notice that no matter how different she might have appeared, her butt was still as cute as ever. He couldn't help but grin a little but then he quickly chided himself for having these thoughts.

When Tony arrived in his old office, Michelle immediately sat down, offering him a seat. Instead, Tony opted to stand, saying that his request would be brief. He simply needed to brief her about what was going on with Jack and he just needed to get a password for clearance from her.

Michelle took note of how Tony refused to meet her eyes. All throughout his briefing, he would stare at the wall, the chair, the lights. Anything but her. Unless he had suddenly come up with a sudden fascination with the…walls. After a while, he started to move towards the large glass windows and she couldn't help but follow him. He began to talk in a more hushed tone about the happenings of that day.

Michelle stared at his back and wondered, 'What's he doing now? Does he have someone else? Has he moved on?'

"6,8,12" by Brian McKnight

Ooh, ooh
Do you ever think about me?
Do you ever cry yourself to sleep?
In the middle of the night when you're awake,
Are you calling out for me?
Do you ever reminisce?
I can't believe I'm acting like this
I know it's crazy
How I still can feel your kiss

Though she claimed that she no longer had feelings for him, she still cared deeply about him. Everyone who knew Michelle well knew of this. Her parents had been devastated when she had told them that she was getting a divorce from Tony. And her father had been furious that she would leave him at a time like that. Her father knew that she needed Tony and he just couldn't understand why they couldn't just talk and work it out.

Tony, although he had his back to her, he could feel Michelle approach. He began to get uncomfortable and when he looked back he saw that she was playing with what appeared to be a ring on her left hand.

1 - It's been six months, eight days, twelve hours
Since you went away
I miss you so much and I don't know what to say
I should be over you
I should know better but it's just not the case
It's been six months, eight days, twelve hours
Since you went away

For a moment, his heart soared. Was it his ring? Maybe she still loves me. Maybe there's hope for the two of us. But then upon looking at the ring, he noticed that it wasn't his ring. This ring was gold, with a massive glittering rock. Much bigger than the one he offered her.

Michelle noticed how his eyes dropped to her left hand and immediately tried to cover it up. She put her right hand over her left and walked away, scolding herself for not being more careful.

Tony stared desperately at the wall, trying urgently to calm himself and ease the immense pain he felt in his heart. She had moved on. She's engaged. To someone else. Probably the man she left me for. He looked at her, trying to see if she would give him an answer. But instead, she looked away, finding the ground far more captivating.

His heart sank even further. She won't even look at me. She won't even give me that. Cautiously, he ventured,

"So, who is he?"

Michelle knew that now there would be hiding from it. She politely demurred, "Brett Connors."

As soon as she said that name, Tony felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. He felt the wind completely knocked out of him. Brett Connors? Brett Connors as in his boss from Firefly? His son-of-a-bitch boss who had no respect for women? How could a girl like Michelle end up with a guy like Brett?

Michelle was having an affair with that bastard behind my back? And now she's engaged to him? She's too good for a jerk like him! He doesn't deserve her! What the hell is she doing with him?

Michelle carefully watched Tony as she saw the many emotions go through his face. She knew that Brett had been Tony's boss at Firefly. In fact, she wouldn't have recognized him had she not remembered that night when she came home and Brett was there with Tony watching the game.

She had met him in Detroit. Apparently, he was good friends with Megan's boyfriend and well, frankly, when he was cleaned up he wasn't too shabby-looking. And although he had initially freaked her out by staring her up and down, she had gotten to know him, and thus far he had seemed like a good guy. Actually, he had seemed like a really good guy.

He was nice to her, he was charming and he was great with people. Her friends seemed to like him a lot too. He actually tried to make conversation with his friends, unlike Tony, who had just stood there most of the time being his usual brooding self.

Another reason why Michelle had been drawn to Brett was that he was the opposite of Tony. For starters, he as blonde and had green eyes. Megan had warned him that Brett was a perennial playboy, but she had disregarded her warnings, and instead went for it with Brett. She just wanted a reason to forget Tony and Brett was the perfect excuse.

He was everything Tony wasn't. Brett was more open to the world, he brought such an energy with him, a lightness. Brett was like the day, while Tony much more resembled the night. Tony was more closed, refusing to let anyone read into him, Tony was mysterious. She couldn't help but contrast the two and Megan knew of this.

Megan knew that Michelle just wanted to forget Tony, and well, conveniently, along came Brett. Although Brett was Megan's boyfriend's best friend, Megan just didn't trust the guy. There was just something about him that made her want to keep Michelle away. But she couldn't help Michelle, especially not when she said yes to his marriage proposal.

Megan was beyond shocked that Michelle had actually said yes. She knew her friend was still in love with Tony, but for her to say yes to another man's proposal. That was just beyond her. And all the while, there was just something about Brett that made Megan uneasy…

The two of them stared at opposite walls in silence. Michelle then carefully looked to see Tony. To see his reaction. Although he was broken, Tony masked it well. Offering no signs of hurt or disappointment that Michelle was engaged. Instead, he offered up a fake smile, politely saying, "Congratulations. I wish you both well."

Upon hearing this, what little hope Michelle had of her and Tony reuniting was shattered. He didn't care. Tony didn't care that she was engaged. He didn't care that she was with someone else. He didn't care about her.

Trying her very best to remain professional about their whole encounter, Michelle offered a small smile and a thank you to Tony. As Tony made a move to leave, Michelle felt her heart race. No, she couldn't let him leave again. She still wanted to talk to him. She wanted to see if there was any hope at all that the two of them might be reunited.

Do you ever ask about me?
Do your friends still tell you what to do?
Every time the phone rings,
Do you wish it was me calling you?
Do you still feel the same?
Or has time put out the flame?
I miss you
Is everything okay?

Repeat 1

Tony knew that his time was up. He had gotten all of the necessary codes and he was in no mood to update Michelle on new developments. After all, that would mean spending more time with her and well, she was engaged. Her fiancé probably wouldn't appreciate her spending that much time with her ex-husband. As Tony turned to leave, he heard her say, "Wait!"

His head whipped around and he saw her only a foot away from his face. She stared up into his eyes, pushing away the anguish that had engulfed her. She gazed at him imploringly, hoping with all of her heart that he would just take her into his strong embrace again. That he would wrap his strong arms around her, that he would kiss her and that he would tell her that he still loved her. That he had always loved her and that she would always be the only one for him.

He refused to let himself get caught up in his emotions, so he asked, "Michelle? Is there something I can do for you?"

Michelle's eyes darkened a few shades. The little glimpse of light he had seen earlier disappeared, as once more the harshness returned. Instead of answering him directly, she simply said, "Not really. I was just wondering how long you were going to be here at CTU? I know you work here and everything, but do you plan to stay?"

Tony stared at disbelief in Michelle. How could she be so rude? Immediately after asking himself this question, he mentally kicked himself for being so dense. Of course, because she didn't love me anymore. Well, that didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. She did get herself engaged to someone else. Was she really that eager to see him leave? He swore to himself that after today was over, he would immediately leave LA. He needed a change of pace. But most importantly, he needed to get away from Michelle.

How could he stay and watch her get married? How could he see some other man kiss his ex-wife? His ex-wife that he was still very much in love with, much less. He needed to move on. She had obviously moved on quite quickly. And who knew how long Michelle was going to be working at CTU. She couldn't even stand the sight of him. Tony had come to the conclusion that he would leave LA immediately. Maybe go back to Chicago. After all, he missed his Cubs. Watching them on TV just wasn't the same as going to Wrigley Field.

He then looked at Michelle and mustered, "Don't worry, I won't be here too much longer. I have other things to attend to. Anyways, I best be getting back to work or else Division will be up my ass again. I wish you and Brett the best."

Tony's heart screamed at the lie that his lips had just uttered. But disregarding his heart's desire to simply wrap his arms around her tiny waist and just hold her close to him, he instead went back downstairs to work.

Michelle stared at his back as he left. She refused to run after him again. She would never run after him again. He obviously didn't care. After all, after she left him, he made no motion to contact her. To find her. To demand an answer as to why she left. Instead, he just simply gave up on her. He didn't care about her anymore. He probably only cared about his platinum blonde skank of a girlfriend.

Her heart heavy with sorrow, she resigned herself to work once more. Forgetting that she was supposed to go downstairs and grab a coffee, she instead sat at down at her desk. And behind the veils of darkness, the tears flew once more.

It's hard enough just passing the time
When I can't seem to get you off my mind
And where is the good in goodbye?
Tell me why, tell me why

Repeat 1

Sing it for me
Ooh, ooh

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