author's note: alright, sorry for taking this much time to update, I guess I just wasn't in the tochelle mood with all the stress my personal life has put on me. however, I've managed to finish this up now, and here you are, enjoy the (probably) last chapter of this fiction :-). thanks for reading and reviewing, I could really use a few nice ones ;-)
Echo Park
The park was green, the trees just having begun to put on their usual green coat that they would wear for the summer. Birds had occupied their new nesting sites and their songs were filling the park with dozens of melodies - some short, some longer, but all of them cheerful. The beautiful Sunday weather hadn't only drawn birds out, people were there too. If the park weren't this large, it'd feel crowded., Tony thought. But his heart-of-the-town apartment didn't exactly support a cozy garden, so, what could he do... One day, though. One day, he really wanted that cliché suburban house with a garden and a dog and maybe even a Volvo. Hell, yeah, he wanted kids. And he knew he wanted Michelle to be their mom.
But first things first. They had to find a secluded place now.
As if she had read his mind, Michelle gestured towards a large bush that looked as if it had been purposely constructed to be the way it was. Broadly based, and the leaves had already emerged, giving it just enough structure to hide its interiors from view. Most importantly, it's top towered like a roof over a hollow interior.
Tony chuckled in amusement: "In there?"
Michelle nodded. "It's perfect. Shade, nature...", she stopped and gave him a small kiss on the lips. "...and privacy.", she finished.
"You're nuts, you know that.", he grinned, but started marching towards the most natural kind of shed he'd ever planned to hide in. "I haven't hid in bushes since I was 5.", he asserted.
"I thought you were with the Marines.", she teased him.
"Yeah, well, I might have hid in bushes, but not for fun.", he answered.
"Well, it's high time you started, then.", she laughed, crouching to enter through the hole in the 'wall' of their hideout, pulling Tony behind her. Tony was still shaking his head, crouching, almost crawling to enter, but once inside, he found - to his surprise - that the "shed" the park had offered them was in fact quite cozy - for a bush - and he could almost stand in there, provided he kept his head very low. He could in all sincerity imagine spending the rest of the afternoon there, sure they wouldn't be bothered. "Ya got a great eye for housing.", he uttered. "I'm definitely lettin' ya choose my next flat.", he said.
While he had been inspecting the bush, Michelle had already found a good place to 'set the table', finding to her surprise that Pedro had added a nice picnic blanket to the groceries. As it was done, she called to Tony cheerfully "Ta-da." and he looked over, smiling and approached her. "You're amazing, you know that?", he said, putting his arms round her waist softly.
"You're not that bad yourself.", she whispered. "Thanks for saving us all at Pedro's."
Tony kissed the tip of her nose. "I ain't lettin' no-one get close to my gal", he said, imintating a kid's voice, in accordance with the 5-year old kid analogy he had brought up earlier, and it made her chuckle lightly, as his head came to rest uporn her shoulder. His slow, warm breath met her neck and she closed her eyes for a second - or three seconds - enjoying the sensation it gave her. Not changing position, Tony walked her towards their picnic corner, then gently started lowering himself down, making her body follow his lead until they both knelt on the blanket and kissed.
She could feel him reach out for something and then he brought his hand up, suddenly breaking the kiss, and pushing an olive into his mouth. Amused at her bewildered expression, he laughed. "Let's eat. I'm hungry. Ya hungry?"
She laughed but sat down and they ate. Pedro had thought of everything; appetizers, drinks, even a delicious dessert he had brought from home that morning; he had said his daughter had made it and he'd insisted on Tony taking it as a special present: his daughter could make many more of those, Pedro had argued.
Michelle enjoyed the afternoon just as much as Tony did. They had both relaxed again, the feeling of hiding inside a bush bringing back childhood memories in both of them, and of course, they shared them with each other. Michelle insisted Tony tell her about the last time he hid in a bush, to which he of course replied he couldn't remember; but after a while, he gave in and told her about his sister, his two older brothers and how they tried to play a prank on their mom. "We'd all hidden in this giant bush and we sent Roy, this neighbor boy, to run to mom and tell her that he just witnessed us being pushed inside some van and then that van drove off.", he said, putting on an innocent face.
Michelle chuckled. "You wanted your mom to believe you'd been kidnapped!"
"Yeah, basically, that was the idea. Although, it was planned as a pleasant side-effect to have old Roy get into trouble for lying.", Tony replied and scratched his ear. "Now, ya gotta know, this Roy boy, he was a damn good actor, he'd played leads in highschool plays and all, ya see, and... Well, let's say, our mom believed him."
"She must have been scared to death!", Michelle uttered.
"Yeah, she was.", Tony nodded and paused. "Needless to say, it damn near gave her a heart attack when she ran into the yard yelling for help and police and Jesus and then all of a sudden, all four of us emerge out of the bush and shout "SURPRISE!"
"That was so mean of you kids!"
"Yeah, I know that now. But back then, I was just five! But guess who they pinned the blame on...", he said, doing his best to sound like a hurt child.
"You?"
Tony nodded. "Sure. I was the youngest and had been known as a prankster. My dad had no trouble believing the idea was all mine. I don't wanna really go into details about what happened then, but I can tell ya, I never hid in a bush again since. Well, until I had to in the Marine Corps."
Michelle suddenly started giggling. "I'm sorry Tony.", she managed to utter, before the giggle got louder and harder. "I just can't believe you did that." The giggle turned into laughter and soon she realized she had to stop before it turned into another one of her infamous laughing fits. She knew he didn't mind them, but she really hadn't planned on spending the next hour giggling like crazy, so she pulled herself towards him, wrapped her arms around his neck, her lips inches away from his, and whispered: "Stop me." And he did. His gentle kisses won the battle.
It had started getting darker when they left the park. Knowing they both had to get to work in the morning, they had decided on going home relatively early in the evening. On Sunday evenings, they'd usually stay at Michelle's place, since her apartment was closer to CTU than Tony's. Or at least that was the excuse they gave to anyone who asked.
They walked back to Tony's place, took his car and were on their way within minutes. Record time, Tony thought. He didn't need to take much with him, since the two of them were practically living in both apartments, clothes and other stuff divided between the two locations.
Michelle was tired and leaned on the headrest, keeping her eyes closed most of the time as Tony drove them out of his neighborhood and through the evening traffic. It seemed to him like she had already dozed off and he was considering the option of taking her up the five flights of stairs; for all he knew, the elevator was broken, and while he was certain that he could carry her up Mount Everest if need be, he was not so sure if she would allow him to do so.
Michelle, in the passenger seat, was awake, but she had allowed herself to daydream. It had been such a lovely afternoon, and when each wonderful weekend they spent together ended, she found herself wanting it to be Friday evening again. It's not that she disliked CTU. She liked the job that she had, she enjoyed working alongside Tony, but they had both felt it was best if they didn't carry their romance out in the open so as to prevent office chatter and jealousy. That meant no holding hands, no quick kiss, trying not to actively avoid looking at each other during meetings, but making sure they didn't stare into each other's eyes all the time either. It had become difficult. Of course, since Carrie walked in on them the day it all started, the entire CTU pretty soon knew what was going on; but still, there was no need to be feeding rumors.
Michelle was sure she hadn't fallen asleep, but it nonetheless startled her when she felt a hand move softly under her back and she opened her eyes. "Are we there?", she asked, and only then did she notice the engine wasn't running. Tony had left the car and was now standing by the open passenger door.
"We're home, sweetheart.", Tony whispered and added, "I would have carried you up there."
"No, no, it's ok.", she uttered, slightly ashamed she had fallen asleep on him. After all, it was just a 15 minute drive. "I just didn't think I was tired at all.", she explained.
"You sure look tired, honey. Let's go tuck you in.", he smiled and she exited the car. He locked it and they entered the building. To their surprise, the elevator appeared to be working, since it arrived at the ground floor the moment they walked through the entrance and Ralph, a neighbor of Michelle's, walked out. He held the door open for them, while they quickly said their hellos and then Ralph was off. Michelle didn't care where he was going; all she wanted was to fall between her sheets and sleep.
The fifth floor was reached reasonably quickly, and Tony started digging in his pockets. "I can't find the key, I must have left it at home.", he said. "You got yours?"
"Sure, I got it somewhere.", she opened her purse and out it came. Contrary to the usual mess in women's purses and the long searching normally following from that, Michelle knew exactly where things were. She felt for the pink, furry key fob quickly, then Tony took the key from her, turned it and pushed the door open.
"Wait here a second.", he told her as he stepped in but kept his foot by the door so that it would stay closed. Turning on the lights, he grabbed the remote control that stood on a commode by the door and switched on the stereo, then turned the lights out again. He then pulled the door open and took Michelle's hand, allowing her to enter.
He felt his heartbeat rise as Michelle stepped into the flat and her tired eyes were suddenly reflecting the warm glow of candles that shone from the room; all at once, she stopped looking tired, stopped feeling tired. She glanced around. Her entire apartment was filled with flowers; roses, lillies, tulips, and more roses. There were candles everywhere. The stereo played "Michelle" by the Beatles.
Tony led her inside, humming the song to her ear. "Michelle, ma belle, sont les mots qui vont très bien ensemble, très bien ensemble. Michelle, my belle, are the words that go together well, my Michelle. I love you I love you I love you, that's all I want to say..." By this time, he had led her through the apartment to the center of the lounge and she sat down on the couch. Now it was her turn to be nervous. There wasn't any doubt in her mind about what was coming and she had wanted it so much that she was afraid of it; if that made any sense, she added in her mind. She wasn't tired at all anymore. She was excited it was finally happening.
As expected, Tony went down on bended knee in front of her. His heart was now beating so hard he was certain she could hear it. But it didn't matter. He knew she wanted him, and God be his witness, he knew he wanted her. He didn't want to go back and forth between apartments, he didn't want to hide their romance any longer, he didn't want anything but to make her Mrs. Almeida for the rest of their lives. Thanks for arranging this, Pedro, he thought. Tony could feel that the effort Pedro and his sons (who owed a flower shop) had put in would lead to success in his mission; Tony was moments away from being over the moon and he knew his mom would be jubilant about her youngest son finally getting married. He could only imagine, well, hope, in that innocent way a kid hopes for the highly desired Christmas present, that Michelle would be just as happy to say yes as he was to ask her the question of all questions. If he was honest, though, there was not the slightest doubt in his mind that she would.
He smiled, somewhat insecurely, then took a deep breath and began his proposal. He was sure it wouldn't turn out to be as eloquent as he wanted it to be, but he knew exactly how he would end it. His face then became serious and he spoke:
"Michelle... I love you.", he said simply, looking into her eyes. "I never thought I could love anyone again, but I do. I love you. After what happened with Nina... my world shattered. Nina's betrayal... I never thought I would be able to trust anyone again. I was afraid to even think about starting a relationship with anyone. I had tried to work 24/7 until I realized that this was nagging on me way too hard to allow me to concentrate on doing my job well. I had become angry, disillusioned and just simply sad. Pathetic, really." He paused, taking another breath before continuing.
"The night before you started working at CTU, I had written my resignation and I was going to give it to George first thing in the morning. When I got there, he was at Division for some meeting and I had to hold off on this until he came back. An hour later, I saw an angel walk through the door - it was you. You walked over to Milo's desk and looked at me in passing and for a moment there, I just couldn't breathe. I was so thankful that George had told Milo to introduce you to everyone because I wouldn't have been able to utter a single syllable.", he grinned and paused for a second. "Anyway, I took my resignation letter and shredded it. From that moment on, I knew that my place was wherever you were. I was to be wherever you were going, I was meant to be by your side at that time, anytime, at all times."
He looked at her, she could see she was on the verge of tears, but they were happy tears; she was smiling at him, visibly touched by his words.
"Michelle. You're the one who gave my life meaning again and you continue to do so every single day. I love you with every beat of my heart, with every fiber of my body, my very soul. You are my one and all, my everything. I don't want to be away from you, I want to be there with you every day when you wake up, I want to tuck you in every single night. I'll be your wine when you get drunk and your water when you're thirsty. I want to be there for you all my life for as long as we both live. I want to make you the happiest woman on this planet and beyond, no matter what it takes." He slipped a hand into his pocket and took out a small box. Opening it, he held the ring in front of her. He paused for the last time, before asking the all-important question: "Michelle, my love, will you make me the happiest man ever and marry me?"
Michelle was speechless for a moment, a moment in which Tony suddenly started dreading her reply; tears were now running down her cheeks freely, but she was smiling through them. Her momentary silence was broken by a simple three-letter-word: "Yes!", she exclaimed and knelt down on the floor by him. "Yes! Yes, I want nothing more than that.", she said, while she hugged him and they began to kiss. Tony was still holding the ring box in his hand, she hadn't even waited for him to give the ring to her. It was only too obvious that all that mattered to her was what he had said, their love, the certainty they both felt - that their feelings for the other would never fade; the material stuff was not important. What mattered was that she would soon become Mrs. Almeida and she couldn't wait.