Somebody was squeezing her hand.
From the distance, the sounds of screaming.
All around, there was nothing but smoke and the inconstant flickering of the growing fire, making her throat constrict and her skin burn.
The hand around hers gripped it more tightly, and there were fingernails cutting into her flesh.
"Michelle! Come on!"
But she couldn't move, could only gasp fruitlessly for air in the darkness...
"Michelle!"
She awoke with a start to find Tony leaning over her in a strange bed in a strange room, clasping her hand in his.
"Tony..." she breathed in relief, the remnants of the dream already fading in his warm and familiar presence.
"Hey." He offered a smile. "You were dreaming."
"Yeah." Michelle sat up, rubbing her eye with the backs of her fingers. "What's the time?" she asked, though she could have easily looked at the clock herself.
"Three forty-six." Tony struggled to sit up as well and reached out to tuck a curl behind her ear, still holding her hand firmly in one of his. "You want me to get you some water?"
"Yeah." She nodded gratefully, still not quite trusting herself to do more than glance at him while she spoke. "Thanks."
He kissed her hand before letting go and climbing out of bed to rummage in their bags.
Michelle watched him in the sparse light from the lamp on his nightstand, and was suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of gratitude for his being there with her. Whenever anything was wrong, no matter what it was, Tony somehow always made her feel not quite so bad.
"I don't think we have any glasses," he apologized, coming over to get back into bed with her. He held out a small bottle of mineral water. "It's reasonably cold, though."
"Thank you," she said, taking the water and sipping it gratefully. Somehow the cool liquid helped still the afterimages of fire and smoke still racing through her mind. After a few more mouthfuls she handed the bottle back to Tony, who deposited it on his nightstand next to the lamp.
"You okay?" he asked, looking back at her.
"Yeah." She smiled and made herself comfortable under the covers again.
"Alright." Tony turned out the light, then pulled her into his arms.
Michelle closed her eyes and nestled her head between the pillow and his neck. "Tony?" she murmured.
"Mm-hmm?"
"I love you."
"Love you too, baby."
They fell back to sleep.
-- --
Morning arrived with bright sunlight peeking through the curtains and birds chirping louder than Michelle had heard in a long time.
She and Tony lay in bed for quite some time after they awoke, not wanting to face reality quite yet. But finally Michelle needed the bathroom too badly to wait any longer, and when she got back Tony was up and pulling clean clothes from his bag.
"What are we gonna do today?" she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed while she worked up the willpower to get dressed herself.
"I was thinking I'd find an internet café or something and e-mail Jack, let him know what's going on."
Michelle nodded. "Good idea."
Tony shrugged. "Well, it won't hurt. Probably."
Michelle grimaced. "Honey, could we try to be... not negative? Because otherwise... I dunno, I just feel like this whole thing is gonna swallow me up."
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry." Tony pulled a shirt out of his bag and came back to sit next to her, wrapping an arm around her and letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "How 'bout when we've sent that e-mail we go and do something fun, huh? Forget about everything for a while."
Michelle smiled. "That sounds good."
-- --
JACK STOP STAYING OUTSIDE CITY AFTER HOTEL ROOM WAS INVADED STOP ANY HELP OR INFO OR CAPTURING SLASH KILLING OF PERPETRATORS MUCH APPRECIATED STOP THANKS TONY STOP
Tony was chuckling out loud as he finished typing, and Michelle was holding a hand over her mouth in a useless attempt to keep herself from giggling.
"Well?" he asked, glancing at her from his seat at the computer. "Whaddaya think?"
"No, Tony," she replied, still grinning from ear to ear. "Just no." She shook her head and burst into another fit of giggles.
"Why? What's wrong with it?" Tony asked in mock innocence, raising his eyebrows.
"You're writing an e-mail, honey, not a telegram."
"Ah. Right. I see." Tony pressed the backspace button and rephrased the last two sentences:
...ne info/hlp or capturin/killin of perps wd b v gd. Thx T.
"Not a text message either, Tony."
"Aw, fine..." Tony pouted as he typed out the message a final time, in a way Michelle would approve of. "Good?" he asked, a little more seriously.
"Good."
"Okay." He hit the 'send' button, waited for confirmation that the message had gone through and logged off the computer.
"Tony! We had five more minutes of internet paid for! I could've checked my other e-mail."
"No you couldn't, honey. I know how long it takes you to check your mail, and believe me, after five minutes you wouldn't even be halfway through and you'd probably shout at the computer when it timed out."
Michelle gave an exaggerated gasp. "That is not true!"
"Is too."
"Not."
"Too."
Michelle shook her head, smiling. "Fine, maybe a little."
"A little, huh? Riight... Ow!" he complained when she hit him lightly on the arm.
"What?" she asked, her face the picture of innocence.
Tony rolled his eyes and pulled her to her feet and into his arms. "Nothing. So, what do you wanna do now?"
"Can we go shopping? 'Cause I saw this really cute little clothes store on the way here, and there was the most gorgeous scarf in the window..."
"Sure." He took her hand and they began to walk towards the exit of what was probably the smallest internet café either of them had ever seen. "As long as we don't have to sell my grandma to pay for it. Maybe your mother, though..."
"Tony!" Michelle said, her look of false indignation not lasting long before she said, "Don't be ridiculous. Who would buy her?"
"Chappelle might. I think they'd go together great."
She made to pinch him in the arm, but he grabbed her hand and twirled her around to kiss her before she got the chance.