A/n: It's odd really for me to be reading some of your reviews, of course they're all very helpful, but one question I feel I should address is regarding Michelle and how she has handled things regarding her children with Tony. So the million dollar question...is Michelle a bitch? Should she have told him about his kids? Probably. But would her not telling him ever be justified? Maybe.

First off, I'd like to say that regardless of what I write in the story, it is fiction. So onward we go. I would like to remind everyone that all Michelle saw was Tony kissing another woman. There must have been millions of questions she could have also been wondering. Did he love this other woman? Was he seriously involved with her? How long had this been going on? Michelle most definitely would also have questioned whether or not Tony even loved her. All of these questions were left unanswered in her mind. Without a doubt in my mind, and hopefully yours, Michelle does love Tony and I'm sure you've all heard the quote, "If you love someone enough, let them go."

That is what I've been basing Michelle's character on. The fact that she loved Tony enough to let him have his own life. How is she to know whether or not Tony had been sleeping around with the skank from the earlier chapters? She hasn't a clue. But, (I know this might sound unrealistic, but that's just how my reasoning goes…blame it on the overdoses of Starbucks) all Michelle ever wanted was for Tony to be happy. Even if that meant it wasn't with her. Telling him about a child would almost force him into playing a role Michelle wasn't sure he wanted to play.

Children are meant to be a blessing, and if Michelle wasn't even sure whether or not Tony 1)wanted children 2)wanted to be with her- she'd have to question whether or not it was fair to almost trap him into a relationship he possibly didn't want to be in. Tony from what I can take from his character is above all, a responsible person. He would clearly want to take responsibility for his children but at the same time when Michelle saw him with another woman, it made her question him not only as her husband, but also a potential father. Am I making her out to be a martyr? No, her character definitely has flaws, but that is reality. No one is as perfect as they are made out to be in many movies or stories.

Also, I think it's very important to realize that you as readers know exactly what happened and how it was all a large misunderstanding and merely a moment's error. Michelle has no idea about all this. She only knows what she saw that day. From what she assumes, Tony could have fallen madly in love with this woman and Michelle could have been only a passing interest.

In addition to that, Michelle only wants what every mother wants for their children, the best. To take a leap of faith forward she'd not only be risking her own heart, but also the hearts of her children. What happens if Tony didn't want them? Children though young are very perceptive and Michelle's simply protecting her children. She can take the heartbreak, she can move on, but her kids. That's something different. It's that mentality that you'll jump in front of a car for your children. You'll do whatever it takes to protect them from being hurt.

I am not trying to make you all fall madly in love with Michelle's character, and neither am I trying to make you all fall madly in love with Tony's character. I am merely trying to show you all that both of these characters have their flaws. They both suffer from mistakes whether they be intentional or accidental.

However, one thing I have managed to get from all of you is that you would all love to see a happily ever after Tony/Michelle reunion complete with all the trimmings. Although I will try my best to grant to your wishes, I still haven't decided how to end this. I'm right now at a crossroads between two paths and I've written both chapters for both routes. I'm merely deciding which one to post.

Wow, that was a lot of me blabbing. Sorry if I bored you to death, I truly am. I really do appreciate all of the reviews you have given me, thank you all. So without further delay, here's Chapter 13. And again, if you would review, it'd be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Chapter 13 – The Wedding

In Virginia…September 2009

When he opened up the contents of the letter, he could hardly believe his eyes. He had the read over the words a few times making sure that his eyes wasn't playing tricks with him.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of

Katherine Warner and Jack Bauer,

which will be celebrated on

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

in Los Angeles, California.

Please R.S.V.P. as soon as possible.

Thank you in advance for joining us on our special day.

He chuckled to himself and said to no one in particular,

"So, Jack's not quite as tough as he makes himself seem to be."

And from an outsider's view point, Tony would have been completely right, as the invitations sent out were complete with frilly pink bows at the corners and if Tony was right, he also detected a small smell of some sort of perfume that had obviously been sprayed onto the invitations.

Tony and Jack had kept in touch over the years and Tony was glad that his friend had finally found someone special to spend the rest of his life with. He knew that it had been hard for Jack to just settle down with anyone. Most women weren't exactly keen to be marrying a man whose life was at risk almost every day.

So finally, after years of dedicated field work, Jack had called up Tony and said that he would be resigning as Head of Field Ops at CTU, instead he would now be Director of CTU which would hopefully allow him to provide a somewhat stable life. He had originally planned to quit the job altogether, but upon Hammond's request that he stay and help run CTU from a Director's position, he couldn't help but accept.

Jack had told Tony the main reason he had wanted to resign as Head of Field Ops was so that he would be able to marry Kate. He knew it was unfair of him to ask her to marry him when he couldn't even ensure her his survival next week. So after changing fields, he finally mustered up the courage to ask Kate to marry him. And thankfully, she had said yes.

Tony was thrilled for his friend. He knew that Jack was happiest around Kate and that Kate made him a better person. She made him laugh, she calmed him down, but most importantly, she loved him. Kate and Jack had come down to Virginia a year ago to visit him and he couldn't help but be slightly jealous of how in love they were. Kate smiled whenever she was around Jack and Jack had never looked happier.

They both complimented Tony on how nicely he had fixed up his house. Indeed, in the past two years Tony instead of committing himself to a serious relationship had committed himself almost full time to renovating the house. He had taken out pretty much all of the carpet from the main floor and recarpeted the upper level. In addition to that, he had also renovated the outside of the house, giving it a completely new paint job and rehinging the shingles that had almost fallen off.

It was the type of house you expected to see in like a magazine with an almost eerily happy family posing in front of it with a golden retriever and their two perfect children. After his renovations were complete, Tony had many offers from people to buy the house. The value had skyrocketed since he had made the changes and tidied up the formerly weed-infested backyard.

However, despite the fact that many people made very generous offers on the house, Tony declined. He liked the house. Sure it was big and probably way too big for a man and his dog and cat, but this was a house he had renovated with his own two hands. He felt some sort of connection to this house and frankly, he liked it so he kept it.

Upon seeing Tony's newly renovated house both Nicole and Lisa had prodded their own husbands nonchalantly hinting as to say "Why isn't our house like this? You should do this for our house." The men had been pretty impressed with what Tony had managed to do with the house, but what they were most impressed with was the 62" inch Plasma TV screen in Tony's game room.

Tony's house in reality was one massive bachelor pad. He had the whole works downstairs in his game room, a pool table, a bar, a huge TV, even an old Juke box he had managed to find. The main floor was simple but at the same time, elegant. Nothing too flashy or too bright or too girly as the guys would say.

His new life was going pretty well if he might say so himself. Work was good, home was good. Everything but love. He had never brought another girl to his house. He didn't know why but it just didn't feel right. Tony wasn't a man to just simply have a one night stand with a woman. He wanted to be fully committed to a woman before the relationship turned physical. It wasn't fair to him or to the other woman if he didn't feel anything serious for her. So instead, he lived the life of a secluded bachelor.

He and Nicole had become close over the years. She reminded him very much of his younger sister and despite the fact that she was constantly trying to set him up with her endless barrage of single female friends, she had been a good friend.

However, one of the things he did enjoy was babysitting for the kids. Whenever Colin and Nicole wanted a romantic night out they would drop off Emma and Michael at Tony's place. The kids loved Tony's place. Tony's place had a game room and a huge TV and he let them stay up as late as they wanted! Sometimes Lisa and Scott would drop their boys off at Tony's house and the first thing they all did was run to the backyard and make a make-shift diamond and play ball.

The boys always fought over who got to have Tony on their team because he was bigger and stronger and could outrun all of them, but recently it had been all three boys versus Tony which they thought was the most fair. Another thing the kids loved about Tony was how he didn't treat them like they were kids. He talked to them as if they were adults and didn't talk down to them like a lot of other adults would.

All of a sudden a loud bark brought Tony out of his thoughts and he looked over to Big who was sitting there with a guilty look on his face. He then looked behind the dog and saw that he had managed to knock over a lamp. He laughed as he looked at how Big seemed to have known he did something wrong. And as he turned back to the invitation, he looked at the date and wondered if he had anything on that day. That day sounded familiar. It almost seemed as if he already had something to do that day.

And upon looking at it closer he realized that that was the day he was going to be interviewed for a possible promotion. Shit, he thought to himself. The one day out of all days to have an interview, it had to be on Jack's wedding day. He knew that Jack would be disappointed that he wouldn't be able to attend, but he hoped that they would understand that he had his hands tied. He couldn't miss out on this interview, it could be completely career changing.

If he made this job, he wouldn't have to do field work anymore. He'd be promoted to Director of FBI Investigations. This would be a huge jump up the working ladder and Tony knew that he couldn't pass up on this opportunity. Disappointedly, he called up Jack and apologized profusely for not being able to attend their wedding but wishing them the best of luck.

Jack, although disappointed, understood Tony's situation. Jack knew that this could be the chance of a lifetime and unfortunately it just so happened to coincide with his wedding date. He thanked Tony for his well wishes and told him that he had better get that job or else he'd have Jack to answer to.

In Los Angeles…October 2009

Michelle always knew she had perfect timing. She, Lucas, and Lauren had arrived in Los Angeles from Seattle the day before the wedding and what had happened? She had caught the end of Lauren's nasty cold. And it probably didn't help that their flight had been delayed so she ended up spending an ungodly number of hours in the stuffy airport with two restless children. Lauren on the other hand, was fine now. As excited as a little girl could be, she was simply excited at the possibility of seeing a wedding for the first time. She had seen Cinderella's wedding a while ago and for the past three months, that had been her new fixation. So to be invited to a real life wedding was absolutely thrilling for her.

Unfortunately for Michelle, her parents had gone back to Chicago a few days after Jack's visit and there was no one around to help her handle two very excited and active six year olds. She tried her best to keep them entertained but they were just endless bundles of energy. The only thing that had kept them still was while they were both watching "Finding Nemo" on the plane.

After going through customs and picking up her bags, Michelle went outside to go and hail a cab to take them to the Warner Estate. Kate had graciously offered to house Michelle and her kids during their stay for the wedding. Both Lauren and Lucas were absolutely in awe of Los Angeles. They had never seen so many cars on the road! Every which direction they looked, there were cars everywhere!

Michelle giggled as she saw her children's adorable reactions to their new surroundings. But as she looked through the window of the cab, she couldn't help as the memories came rushing back to her. She hadn't visited Los Angeles since she last left it. The last couple of memories she had of Los Angeles weren't exactly stellar. And as they were driving along, she suddenly realized the road they were now traveling on.

And sure enough, she passed by the sign…Firefly.

She gasped and had to push down a small sob as her eyes passed over the place where a previously invincible love had been reduced to nothing but memories.

She remembered the very day her life was destroyed. The eleventh of August. She had just finished her checkup at CTU and had been informed by doctors that she was a little more than two months pregnant. And after leaving him, her life changed forever.

Michelle stayed in Detroit until Lauren and Lucas were born. Megan had been by her bedside when she had given birth to the twins and Michelle could never thank Megan enough because she knew better than anyone that Megan was terrified of any sort of blood, injury or pain, but Megan stuck with Michelle throughout the whole 24 hour ordeal. She remembered that day like it was yesterday. And what a special day it was. February 29th, 2004. Both of her twins had a leap year birthday. Sure it caused Lauren and Lucas some confusion at first as to why their real birthdays would only happen every four years, but pretty soon they began to think it was cool as none of their other friends had leap year birthdays. After the twins were born, her parents had later flown in from Chicago, apologetic that they had missed the birth of their grandchildren, and at the same time ogling and awing at how beautiful these little bundles of joy were.

Michelle smiled as she looked lovingly at her children and remembered back to the day that she held their tiny bodies in her arms for the very first time. It had most certainly been a moment of joy, but at the same time, a moment of sadness as she thought back on how Tony wasn't there to see the birth of his children. She had always wondered what would happen if he had found out that he had two children with her.

Would he care? Would he try and be their father? Or would he simply ignore them acting as if they had all been one big mistake of his life? In addition to those questions, one question had plagued her for many years, had he remarried? Did he have children of his own? Was he a good father to them? She sighed as she realized that it was very likely Tony had moved on with someone else. She knew that he was a very attractive, loving, wonderful man and well, those kind of men weren't on the market very long.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Lucas and Lauren both excitedly yelling, "We're here! We're here!"

Sure enough they had arrived at the Warner Estates and upon helping her children scramble out of the cab, she was greeted by none other than Kate.

Kate took one look at Michelle's children and couldn't help but immediately notice the resemblance between Lauren and Michelle and Tony and Lucas. They were most certainly their parent's children. Kate greeted Michelle with a big hug saying,

"Oh, Michelle! It's so good to see you again! How was your trip?"

Michelle returned Kate's hug and replied,

"It's so good to see a familiar face again! I'm so happy for you and Jack! Our trip was alright, tiring though."

Kate nodded her head in understanding and then looked down at Lucas and Lauren who were by now hiding behind Michelle, each peeking out from either side behind her legs. Kate bent down until she was eye to eye with the two of them and asked gently,

"And you must be Lucas and Lauren. I'm Kate."

Lauren was the first to say something and she asked timidly,

"Are you the bride?"

Kate smiled at Lauren and said,

"That would be me."

Lauren's eyes instantly glowed as she ventured forth asking,

"Is your dress pretty?"

Kate giggled at Lauren's eagerness and answered,

"It's very pretty. How about tomorrow morning when I'm trying it on I'll show it to you?"

Lauren's eyes widened in excitement as she eagerly nodded her head in agreement. Michelle looked down at Lucas who at the moment looked far less interested than Lauren at the prospect of seeing Kate's wedding gown. Indeed, it had been a valiant struggle to even get him to buy a suit. Michelle had dragged him to store after store trying to find a proper suit while Lucas had sulked the whole way. He even asked her at one point,

"Can't I just go in my bathing suit? That's a suit!"

At that very moment, Jack came out of the house and upon seeing Michelle and her kids, he quickly made his way towards them. Upon reaching them, he gave Michelle a quick hug and thanked her for coming while reaching down to ruffle Lucas' hair. Lucas looked up at him with big eyes of admiration and immediately asked,

"Do you have to wear a suit tomorrow? My mommy's making me wear a suit tomorrow and she won't let me wear my bathing suit. Does your mommy make you wear a suit?"

All three adults laughed at Lucas' question and Jack answered,

"I have to wear a suit tomorrow. Otherwise Kate here won't marry me and we can't have that now, can we Luke?"

Lucas scrunched up his face and said,

"Sick! Girls! They have cooties! Well mommy doesn't have cooties, but she's not a girl anymore. She's a mommy."

Kate looked at Lucas and said to him jokingly,

"You just wait, Lucas. One day you'll have so many girls coming after you! You'll be a popular boy with the girls."

Lucas again made a 'gross!' face and proclaimed for all to hear,

"I'm never going to get married! Girls are sick! They eat finger paints and they always try to kiss you!"

All of them laughed again as they heard Lucas' answer. Kate couldn't help but think to herself,

"If you grow up looking anything like your daddy, you're going to be one heck of a heartbreaker one day."

Afterwards, Jack and Kate led them inside to the rooms that they would be staying in. Upon closer inspection, Jack noticed that Michelle looked paler than usual. When Kate had taken Lucas and Lauren out of ear shot he asked her,

"Michelle? You look a little pale. Are you feeling alright?"

Michelle glanced at Jack and said tiredly,

"I'm fine, Jack. I'm just a little bit tired. That's all. I'm sure with a good night's sleep I'll be alright."

Jack glanced at Michelle trying to see if she was telling the truth, but nonetheless accepted her answer for the time being. But the truth was Michelle was not well. She was feeling very sick indeed. She didn't want to tell Jack or anyone else for that matter because she didn't want to do anything to make the wedding any less of the joyous occasion it should have been.

After dinner, Jack and Kate brought out toys for the kids to entertain themselves with. Jack had gotten Lucas a small baseball glove which he instantly fell in love with while Kate had picked out a Princess-Doll for Lauren. After playing for a few hours, both of them were spent and as they proceeded to make their way upstairs, Michelle picked up Lucas and carried him up while Jack picked up Lauren.

After putting the kids to sleep Jack said quietly to Michelle,

"They're great kids, Michelle. You've raised them really well."

Michelle thanked Jack and said,

"I'm sure you and Kate will make wonderful parents. After all, I've seen how well you raised Kim. Is she here yet?"

Jack beamed at the comment and answered,

"Kim and Chase live about half an hour away so they'll probably get here early tomorrow morning. Did I tell you I have a new grandson? Jonathon. He's three now. Angela's nine now. Jon's the ring bearer and Angela's our flower girl."

Michelle smiled as she saw how proud Jack was of his little grandchildren and said jokingly,

"Well, I can't wait to meet the little Jonathon. If he's anything like his grandfather I'll bet he's a real stubborn one."

Jack chuckled at her comment and finally noticing that she was getting tired said to her,

"You should probably get to bed. It's late and you look like you could use a good night's sleep…If you need anything don't hesitate to ask either Kate or myself."

Michelle thanked Jack for his hospitality and told him to tell Kate the same and as Jack left the room, she showered quietly and then fell into a deep slumber hoping that by tomorrow she'd feel better.

The next morning…

Michelle woke up not feeling any better than she had the previous night. Instead, if anything she felt worse. Her headache had increased tenfold and she was pretty sure she was running a fever by now. However, determined to not let that stop her from enjoying herself, she put on some makeup to add some color to her skin and continued on like nothing was wrong.

It was the morning of the wedding and Michelle had put much effort into dressing both Lauren and Lucas into their outfits, careful to remind them not to get their dress clothes dirty. They both rolled their eyes at her incessant pleas that they stay out of trouble and keep their clothes clean.

After Lauren finished putting on her dress, she eagerly went towards Kate to see her wedding gown. Lauren's little eyes widened in bewilderment as she saw how beautiful Kate's dress was. It was a strapless dress, simple, but nonetheless elegant. Her train was beautifully detailed with small details that no one would ever see, but at the same time would make her feel like a princess.

Michelle stared in awe at Kate's dress. She had no idea a dress could ever be that beautiful and as Kate saw both of their reactions, she couldn't help but smile. She then tentatively asked Michelle,

"Do you think Jack will like it?"

Michelle replied with all a sly grin said,

"Honey, when he sees you in that dress, he's going to just fall over in shock. And I promise you, he'll love it, but trust me, he'd rather get you out of it."

Kate giggled at Michelle's response and she hoped that Michelle was right. It had taken her ages to choose the perfect dress and when she had finally found this one she had just fallen in love with it.

At that moment Angela rushed in with her hair all done up properly with little Jonathon waddling behind her. They both rushed to Kate and gave their soon to be "step-grandmother" a big hug. Kate adored both Jonathon and Angela, they had always been so warm to her and never ceased to bring her a smile to her face even after their grandfather had managed to royally piss her off.

Michelle smiled at the interaction between Kate and Kim and Chase's children and then proceeded to go downstairs to go and greet them both. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Kim looked up and greeted Michelle with a warm hug. She exclaimed,

"Oh my God, Michelle! How have you been? How are your kids?"

"It's great to see you again, Kim! I've been good and the kids are great. They're just upstairs with Angela and Kim. How have the two of you been?"

Chase smiled brightly and with a loving glance at Kim he replied for the two of them,

"We've been great, things couldn't be going better."

Kim smiled up at her husband and gave him a quick kiss before nonchalantly saying,

"Don't you think it's time you go upstairs and check on our little rugrats to make sure they aren't causing too much trouble?"

Chase looked at the two women and said knowingly,

"And that ladies, is my cue to leave. I'll leave the two of you to your little girl-chat session."

Michelle laughed at Chase's response and when he had left them alone she said pointedly to Kim,

"You've caught yourself a smart one."

"Smart? Hardly. I had to train him, but it's worth it."

Both women giggled as they proceeded to catch each other up with the goings of their life.

Back at Jack's place…

Jack had spent the better part of the morning getting himself ready for his upcoming wedding. From the moment he woke up he couldn't help himself as a huge smile spread across his face. He looked at his watch as it read 12:40pm. The wedding wasn't for another 4 hours and seeing as how he didn't have to do much in term of hair and makeup he plopped himself down in front of his TV and caught the end part of the Clippers game.

At approximately one thirty in the afternoon, Chase came over saying that the women had shooed him out of the Warner estate as it was time for "girl time." Jack welcomed his best man in warmly, although Jack was at first wary of Chase's intentions with his daughter, he had grown to love Chase like his own son. He was a good kid. Reminded Jack a lot of himself when he was younger.

The men sat together and enjoyed a very nutritious lunch of beer and chips while watching the ever hapless Clippers lose yet another game. Absolutely nothing could ruin Jack's day. They both reminisced about their many days at CTU and when Jack mentioned that Chloe was now married, Chase spat out some of his beer and said shocked,

"No kidding?"

"Nope. She finally found some guy whose about as crazy as she is. I mean I love her like a sister, but man she's a stickler for rules. Last time I went on over to her apartment she told me that in order to make sure it was actually me, I had to declare my name and profession loudly on the other side of the door. You have no idea the weird looks I got from her neighbors when I screamed out,

"JACK BAUER. FEDERAL AGENT."

Both men laughed heartily and as Chase went into the kitchen to grab some more pretzels, the doorbell rang.

Jack got up from the couch, saying,

"Looks like Curtis and them are here. I'll get it."

Jack made his way towards the door and without looking through the eye hole, he opened his door and it was then that Jack thought his heart almost stopped again.

The man on the other side of the door gave his classic grin and said jokingly,

"Well, you just look about thrilled to see me don't you, Jack?"

Jack's mouth remained open as he stared at the man in front of him. Chase called out to Jack,

"Hey Jack! Where do you keep your bowls? All I see here are forks and plates!"

Upon hearing no response, Chase began to move his way towards the door and upon seeing the man Jack was staring at he silently said to himself,

"Holy shit…"

The man spoke up once more and said to Jack,

"Come on now, man. You didn't really think I'd miss your wedding did you?"

Chase approached him and said,

"Tony. Holy crap it's been a long time. How have you been?"

"I've been good, Chase. How are you and Kim? Doing well I hope?"

"Yeah, me and Kim are doing great."

All of a sudden out of nowhere Jack spoke up and said,

"Son of a bitch. You said you couldn't come to my wedding! How the hell did you get out of that interview? And don't you dare tell me you gave up that interview just to be here."

Tony laughed at his old friend and said,

"No, no, nothing like that. Hell, I know better than to do that. If I had done that and come to your wedding you would have kicked my ass and trust me, I wouldn't have come almost 3000 miles to get my ass kicked by you even if you are Jack Bauer…Turns out the person they were supposed to interview yesterday dropped out so they did my interview yesterday instead. You are looking at the new District Director of FBI."

Jack beamed at his friend and said wholeheartedly,

"Congratulations, man. You deserve it."

"Hey, it's your day to be congratulated today. It's not everyday Jack Bauer decides to go and get himself hitched now is it?"

All three men laughed and within a few minutes, Curtis and the rest of the men had arrived at Jack's house.

They played poker for a while trying to get the time to pass and then it was time for them to get ready for the wedding. Jack needed to be there at least an hour and a half before the ceremony and everyone else needed to be there half an hour in advance.

Right before Jack left, he told Curtis,

"Curtis. Make sure Tony stays far away from Michelle and her kids and vice versa, okay? Today is not the day I need to have them both fighting with each other and the only way to ensure that doesn't happen is to keep them apart."

Curtis nodded his understanding as Chase and Jack went on their way.

Edgar had recently got married and was raving about how great married life was to a less than enthused Tony. Tony was trying his best to act interested but truth to be told he just wanted to tell Edgar to just keep quiet…even if it was just for a moment. Anything. Any silence at all.

Luckily for him, Curtis came to his rescue and said,

"Well, Jack and Chase just left. We'll have to be leaving in a bit so Edgar get ready."

Edgar looked down at himself and said,

"I am ready."

Curtis looked him up and down once more and said to him,

"Your shirt's inside out."

Edgar looked down at his shirt and sure enough he had managed to put it on inside out. He embarrassedly went off to fix his shirt as Tony chuckled to himself.

Finally, after making sure Edgar's shirt was right side out, the three men left Jack's house and made their way towards the Warner residence. Upon arriving, Curtis immediately said to Tony,

"Let's get to our seats. Jack said they were good ones…which, knowing Jack, probably means we won't be able to see any of the wedding at all."

Tony laughed but sure enough their seats sucked. Like royally sucked. They were placed behind two massive CTU guards that Tony didn't recognize. They saw all of three seconds of Kate walking down the aisle in her dress. The rest of the wedding was nice…well at least Tony was sure it was nice. He couldn't really tell seeing as how he couldn't see much. Little did he know that not 100 meters away from him sat Michelle and their children.