Their car pulled up just as Tony and Michelle were exiting the hospital.

"Ah," said Lieutenant Martin, opening the door and getting out of the driver's seat. "I'm glad I caught you; I came to return your car. I'm afraid we haven't been able to find Nina Myers, Tom Rees or any of his men apart from the two you left unconscious in the basement," she said apologetically, "But we did find your firearms. I left them in the trunk."

Tony nodded. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. My officers are already stationed around your house in case they decide to attack again, but frankly there's no reason to believe that they don't still think you're dead. There wasn't any evidence that they tried to return to the apartment block or make contact with the two men left behind after they'd gone. They're likely hiding out somewhere in South America by now. Usually that wouldn't be a good thing, but I think with luck we'll never hear from them again."

"Let's hope we're lucky, then," Michelle said, though she had to admit it was still difficult to be so jovial.

The lieutenant returned the smile and stepped away from the car. "She's all yours."

They exchanged goodbyes, and Tony and Michelle got in and drove away.

"So, said Tony. "You looking forward to going home?"

Michelle leaned back in her seat and smiled. "You have to ask?"

"Our own kitchen..."

"Own bath."

"Own bed."

Closing her eyes, Michelle sighed contentedly. "Yeah, I'll be glad to be home."

-- --

They pulled up in their driveway.

"Well," said Tony, "here we are."

Michelle could hear in his voice the same illogical trepidation she herself was now feeling. Her recent memories of their home consisted mainly of fear, panic and gunshots, and somehow she wasn't quite ready to just expect everything to be normal again.

Tony got out of the car somewhat more warily than he usually would, and she followed in much the same fashion.

They got halfway to the house before the shooting started.

Tony dove for the relative safety of the porch while Michelle ran back to crouch behind the car, all the while hoping that she was just hallucinating because of the stress of the past few days, but the sound of bullets hitting the car pretty much confirmed that what was happening was all too real.

"You can't hide, Michelle!" came Rees' voice from somewhere far to close by for Michelle's liking. She didn't reply, instead holding her breath and hoping he hadn't seen where she'd gone.

"Did you honestly think you could get away?" He laughed, a sound even more unpleasant than the gunfire. "There's no escape from justice, Michelle!"

"Nina seemed to think otherwise!" she heard Tony call. She hoped he knew what he was doing, that he had found some kind of weapon or escape route...

"Nina's a coward!" Rees barked. "Imagine running just because something didn't go quite according to plan!"

"I'd call having us not die without your even noticing a pretty major something!"

Michelle heard something click by her head, and it took her a moment to realize that Tony had unlocked the trunk remotely. He had a plan.

She risked a glance over the top of the car, and saw Rees slowly creeping up on Tony's hiding place on the porch. She didn't have much time if she didn't want him to succeed in his mission to kill them this time.

As quietly and discreetly as possible, Michelle opened the trunk and felt around for her gun. This was more difficult than she had anticipated as the trunk was still littered with bags of food and clothes. She slowly inched along the side of the car until she was convinced that Rees was going to turn, see her and shoot her... and then at last her hand brushed against something metal.

The gun was unloaded, but she found the clip a lot more easily. Clicking it into place and the safety off, she stood up, forcing herself not to shake.

"Rees!" she cried, only to see that he had gotten closer to Tony than she had anticipated. At the sound of her voice, he grabbed Tony and held the gun to his head.

"Now you drop that weapon," Rees snarled, "or I--"

Michelle shot him square in the head. He was dead instantly.

Tony blinked. "Woah..." he said slowly.

Michelle rushed over. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." he looked over his shoulder. "They're not, though..."

Michelle followed his gaze to see three police officers lying dead at the far end of the porch. "Oh, no..."

"Hey," Tony said. He seemed slowly to be regaining coherent thought. "C'mere."

He tugged gently on her wrist, and she sat down next to him.

"Thank you," he said. "I guess this means I owe you one again."

Michelle managed a smile.

Tony smiled too, then took on a more serious expression. "I think it might really be over now. He's dead," he nodded at Rees, "And it sounds like Nina's disappeared again."

"I really, really hope you're right."

"Aw, honey..." he put an arm around her shoulder. "You know I'm always right."

"I think you're confusing yourself with Jack."

"That may be." Tony used his free hand to scratch his neck. "We should probably give him a call."

"And Lieutenant Martin."

"Yeah."

"...Yeah."

They sat there a moment longer before going to work.

-- --

Many hours later, they finally lay down, in their own house, in their own bed, and more unafraid than they'd been in what seemed like forever.

Michelle snuggled up to Tony, and they lay there in a warm silence for a long while.

Eventually, Michelle shifted her position to see him better. "I wish Nina hadn't gotten away."

"Me too." Tony nodded. "But maybe it's just as well... I think I might strangle her with my bare hands if I ever see her again."

"That's less than she deserves."

"I know."

Tony began to trace his fingers absentmindedly up and down her arm. "Honey..."

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering... You haven't slept with anybody else I know, right?"

Michelle furrowed her brow. "Well, there was that time when Chappelle..."

Tony stared.

Michelle laughed. "I'm kidding."

Tony sighed with relief. "Don't ever put that image in my brain again."

She smiled. "Yeah, I didn't really think that one through... I'm getting very disturbing naked pictures flashing through my mind now... But seriously." Michelle moved again so she could look into his eyes. "No, I haven't slept with anybody else you know. Well, that I know of."

"Good. That's really... kinda a relief to hear."

"Tony, I'm really sorry I never told you about Nina."

"I know." Tony nodded.

The silence returned, but it was a comfortable silence, not like the ones which had hung so oppressively between them over the past couple of days.

Eventually, Michelle stretched to lean over Tony and plant a kiss on his lips. "I love you," she told him.

A grin spread slowly over Tony's face. "Good," he said, and flipped her onto her back.

THE END