The following week, Michelle left CTU and walked to her car, somehow under the eerie impression that someone was following her. She would think that she had heard footsteps and stop to listen, but the mysterious second set of footsteps would stop immediately. Michelle walked faster.

Just as she reached her car and unlocked in, a pair of hands grabbed her, covered her mouth, and flipped her around, pinning her against the car, and then covering her lips with his own.

"Tony!" Michelle gasped. "You scared me so bad!"

"Wouldn't that be 'so badly'?" Tony said, pulling Michelle tighter to himself.

"Never do that again! Do you hear me?"

"Okay. I promise." Tony gave Michelle what he considered to be his cute, little boy face, and she rolled her eyes.

Tony continued. "Are we still going to your sister's meet tonight?"

"Yeah," Michelle responded, pausing for a moment. "As long as you still want to..."

"Of course I want to. Think I could ride with you? I'd just need to stop by my place and, uh, ditch the slacks..." Michelle grinned.

An hour or so later, Michelle and Tony sat on Michelle's couch. They had both changed into more comfortable clothes- Tony was in jeans and a blue, button-up shirt; Michelle was wearing the same half-dressy, grey pants she had worn to work, but had replaced her white collared shirt with a light blue, long-sleeved t-shirt, modest enough to cover up everything, but just tight enough to give Tony some idea what he was missing out on.

"Let me see your hair down." Tony said after a silent moment.

"What?" Michelle responded, a little surprised by the randomness of the question.

"I've never seen your hair down before. Take it out for me." Tony continued, fingering a loose curl hanging down to the side of her face. "Please?"

"I don't usually- okay." Michelle reached behind her, grinned at Tony, and pulled out her elastic, allowing her curls to fall around her shoulders.

"You're gorgeous." Tony pulled Michelle to him and slowly, yet passionately, kissed her lips.

Michelle attempted to thank him for the compliment, but her words came out mushed from Tony's kisses. Eagerly, she returned them.

Michelle allowed him to slip his tongue into her mouth, and she hardly noticed when he flipped her over so that he was laying on top of her.

Before she knew it, Tony had pulled away from her, gasping. "We've got to stop."

"No..." Michelle put her hands on her shoulders and pulled him back to her. "Please, Tony."

"Chelle..."

She looked up at Tony with concern as he sat up, pulling her with him to sit in his lap. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Honey, nothing's wrong..." Tony struggled for words. "But if we don't stop now, we won't be able to."

"I... don't want to..."

"I know sweetheart... neither do I, but... we have to go."

"Ugh... the meet? I almost forgot." Michelle put her hand to her forehead. "Maybe we can just pretend we were there..."

Tony's face was serious. "Chelle, it's important that we're there."

"I know."

Tony drove Michelle's car over to the high school. As they passed a sign that advertised Hal's Doughnuts, Tony held Michelle's hand across the center console.

"Tony, I'm sorry about... this," Michelle said, exhaling.

Tony looked quizzically at her. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry... that this is so hard. Our relationship. That we can't be home making out; that we have to be going to my sister's track meet."

Tony pulled off to the side of the road and turned to look directly at Michelle. "Sweetheart, I know that this situation may not be ideal. It's certainly not normal. But it's not bad, it's not something you picked for yourself. It just happened, and this is the way it worked out, because you're a caring sister and you're responsible enough to take on the job." Tony paused; Michelle smiled slightly. "And I know that it might take work, but I'm willing to do it. I know that loving you means taking care of Ellie too, and I'll do it. At least I'm willing to give it my best shot."

Michelle full-on smiled and turned to Tony. "I love you."

"I love you too Chelle. I think I've loved you since the day I met you. I just didn't know it until a month or two ago." Michelle laughed. Tony loved her laugh.

Tony put the car in drive and headed up the road. The rest of the drive was almost silent, but they continued to exchange meaningful glances and subtle hand-squeezes the rest of the way.

As Tony pulled into the school, Michelle noted that they were at least fifteen minutes early.

"So," Tony began, turning the car off. "When was the last time you fooled around in the backseat in a high school parking lot?"