Michelle pulled out her mobile and called home. "Come on Tony, pick up" she muttered to herself. She let it ring, but no one answered, so she hung up, wondering where Tony could be. At his parents' house? She was ecstatic that the work in Seattle had finished two days early, and was looking forward to seeing Tony. She desperately missed him, and hated the thought of him being alone in the house almost as much as the thought of him locked away in prison.

She sighed and dropped the phone on the car seat, before starting up the car. The plane left in just under two hours, and she knew she needed to hurry if she was going to catch this one.

Tony burrowed his head further under the pillow until the ringing stopped. He hadn't dared answer it, worried that the caller might be one of Michelle's male 'friends' again, and not trusting himself to remain calm if it was. Then he groaned, realising that it could have been Michelle. God, he missed her. The two days she had left in Seattle seemed like a lifetime.

Tony checked his watch, startled to see that it was almost noon. He contemplated lying in bed all day, but decided he should probably get up, eat some lunch, and then try to find something useful to do. He hated not having anything to do each day; it made his life feel so meaningless. The only thing that he really cared about now was Michelle, which was partly why her absence made Tony so bored and depressed.

He knew he should try to get a job, but was worried about what questions they might ask about why he left CTU, and his whereabouts for the last six months. On top of that, he didn't know what he wanted to do. The only jobs he'd ever done were with the military and CTU, neither of which held any appeal to him after what had happened.

Tony sighed at the thought of CTU, and climbed out of bed, headed for the shower. His bruises were still painful, and he showered quickly, not enjoying the water pounding onto his sore back. He wished they would hurry up and disappear - if they were still obvious when Michelle got back he would have to admit about the bar brawl, and he knew she wouldn't be impressed.

After lunch, Tony sat down at the computer in the upstairs study. He spent the afternoon surfing the net looking for jobs in the local area, resisting the urge to grab a cool beer from the fridge. Just as Tony was ready to throw he computer out of the window, having not found anything that sounded remotely interesting, he heard a noise downstairs.

Tony stood up slowly, grabbing his gun from the desk drawer. He stealthily crept along the landing, positioning himself at the top of the stairs. How dare someone break into his house? His life was bad enough already, without someone stealing from him! He heard a clang from the kitchen, and leapt down the stairs, storming into the kitchen.

"Don't move!" he thundered, throwing back the door and aiming his gun at the intruder's chest.

"Oh my God, Tony!" Michelle screamed at him, dropping the kettle in shock and raising her hands.

Tony breathed out loudly and lowered the gun. "Michelle!" he started.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she demanded, glaring at him.

Tony grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I… thought you were…"

Michelle looked at him, then at the kettle lying in a pool of water on the kitchen tiles. She grinned back, the shock subsiding. "It's ok. You just… scared me. I didn't know you were here."

Tony felt a slight twinge of annoyance; where else was he gong to be? He pushed it aside, and stepped towards Michelle, wrapping his arms firmly around her. She was still shaking slightly, and he held her close, loving the way she felt so warm and cuddly.

When they eventually broke apart, Michelle gave Tony a quizzical look. "What happened to your face?" she asked, examining the black eye and split lip.

Tony's face reddened, and he turned away to pick up the kettle. "I uh…" he mumbled, pouring fresh water into the kettle and turning it on. "Had a bit of a disagreement with some guys. It's no big deal". He turned back to Michelle and studied her reaction, hoping desperately that she would let it go.

Michelle frowned, then forced an impassive mask onto her face as Tony turned to look at her. Where had it happened? With who? Why? She longed to ask Tony for more details, but didn't dare - he was obviously embarrassed about the whole affair, and she didn't want to push. There was just one thing she had to know.

"Were the other guys all ok?" she asked, hoping desperately that Tony hadn't seriously hurt anyone. She knew what his temper was like at the moment; prison had made him so much easier to agitate.

Tony couldn't believe it. Here he was, with a black eye and a cut lip, and Michelle was asking about the other guys? What about him? Didn't she care?

"They're all fine. And so am I, thanks for asking!"

Michelle felt her stomach squirm uncomfortably, she hadn't meant to appear uncaring, but Tony was obviously not seriously hurt, and she had just wanted to make sure that no one else was.

"Tony, I just meant…" she began to stammer. "I mean, you're qualified in hand-to-hand combat, and I can see you're not hurt too bad…" She tailed off, not knowing what to say.

Tony considered arguing with her over it, then decided against it; the sooner the subject was dropped the better. He didn't want Michelle to find out about the rest of the bruises - she obviously thought he had won the fight, and he wasn't going to argue with that!

Tony sighed, wondering when life with Michelle had gotten so difficult. He had always found being around her so easy; it always just seemed to… fit. They had rarely argued, and life had seemed like such fun. He looked up at Michelle, noting how unhappy she looked. He made himself smile at her, and apologised.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I guess I'm just a little grouchy right now."

Michelle frowned, not knowing what to say.

"I really missed you" Tony added, sensing that Michelle needed a little more encouragement to cheer up.

At this, Michelle smiled, and reached out for another hug. "I missed you too".