When Tony woke up, again, he couldn't remember where he was. He took a second to recognise the lounge, and tried to remember why he was asleep on the sofa. His neck was aching after being in an awkward position for several hours. Smells of bacon wafted into the lounge, and Tony, mouth watering at the smell of tasty food, stood up and made his way to the kitchen.
Michelle was cooking breakfast for Tony in the kitchen. Normally she didn't eat anything except a slice of toast in the mornings, but she knew how much Tony appreciated food. Getting up with no Tony around always seemed so difficult – all she had to look forward to most days was a hard day at Division, then cooking tea (or, more frequently, getting a take-out), sorting out washing and cleaning, shopping once a week and sleeping. Tony had always shared these chores with her, and they were so much more bearable, and even enjoyable, when there was a second person to share the load.
She smiled at Tony when he walked in. "I was just about to come and wake you up," she told him. "It's nearly done".
"Thanks, it looks great," Tony replied, smiling at the sight of Michelle's breakfast specialty: bacon sandwiches. "My parents are arriving at about half 12, so I'll eat this, take a shower then put the meat in the oven."
Michelle gave him a sideways look. "Ah, we don't have all that much food left in the house" she said guiltily. "I can nip to the shops now if you want, or we can both go in a bit."
"Yeah, I'll come with you" Tony said enthusiastically. He knew that going to the supermarket wasn't something that he should get excited about, but after sitting in a cell all day, every day, for six months, anything was interesting to him. Michelle was thrilled at his positive attitude. After the tension yesterday, she had been worried that it would take some time before Tony acted more cheerful, but he did seem to have calmed down.
They left the house half an hour later, after Tony had taken a shower, and Michelle had cleaned up the kitchen. "What are you gonna cook?" Michelle asked on the way to the supermarket.
"Roast beef, with loads of veg and chips," Tony said with a huge grin on his face at the thought of eating as much as he wanted for a change.
Michelle parked the car, and they entered the store. Tony threw things into the trolley whenever he saw something he loved. Expensive puddings, every variety of fruit imaginable, meat, biscuits… The bill at the checkout was huge, and Tony left it to Michelle to pay while he loaded up the car. Michelle was overjoyed at his good mood, and despite a slight nagging thought about the high food bill, left the store with a huge grin.
When they returned home, Tony began to cook. Michelle left him to it, and decided to get a bit of work done while he was busy. Since Tony was arrested, she had spent a lot of her evenings working. It passed the time well, and she didn't feel as lonely when doing it. Now that Tony was back, Michelle wasn't sure how she was going to be able to keep up with the workload. She suspected that Tony would quickly become bored at home all day on his own, so she wouldn't be able to work in evenings as well. Pushing the worry aside, she settled down and started typing.
Two hours later, the doorbell rang. Michelle stood up and began to walk downstairs. Tony answered the door and embraced his parents, then showed them into the lounge. Michelle joined them, and they began to chat, carefully avoiding any subjects that might make Tony uncomfortable. Tony enjoyed hearing about their lives, although suspected that they may be exaggerating their happiness in certain stories so that he didn't feel guilty about upsetting them by his being arrested. He knew that they, like Michelle, must have been badly affected by his arrest, and hated the fact that he had disgraced them. He suspected that many of their friends had become more distant after learning of his prison sentence for treachery. His stomach churned at the thought of prison, so he quickly pushed his mind back onto the conversation with his parents.
When they sat down to dinner, the atmosphere was happier and more relaxed than it had been since Tony's arrival the previous day. Michelle marveled at Tony's parents – they acted as if Tony had never been away, reminiscing about his childhood, telling jokes and laughing. When Tony brought out all the food, it appeared that he had cooked nearly everything they had bought at the supermarket! There were dishes after dishes of steaming vegetables, juicy meat, golden potatoes, and salad. It was evident that Tony had become carried away at the sight of so much food, and had enjoyed cooking it so much that there was far too much for everyone to eat, but no-one minded, as he was clearly becoming more and more relaxed as the meal went on.
The only tense moment during the meal was when Tony's dad mentioned his new job. Tony immediately looked worried; he knew that he would have to look for a job shortly, and wasn't looking forward to it. Everyone at the table noticed his tension, but Michelle promptly changed the subject, and the awkwardness passed.
After the meal Tony took his parents back into the lounge, where they continued to talk and laugh. Several times he felt himself slipping away from reality, imagining times and places from the past, as he had so often done whilst locked in his cell. He forced himself back to the conversation, concentrating hard on his parents' words so as not to appear distant and worry them.
They left several hours later, but the relaxed atmosphere that they had helped to create stayed behind. Tony shut the door behind them and closed his eyes thankfully. He felt better than he had for months.