Alright, this ought to be the end of the depressing chpaters. And there will be just ONE MORE chapter in the entire story. And I'll probably have it up in about 5 minutes. See, these injuries do have an up side!

Kerry flew in for Ellie's graduation, but Tony didn't come. Michelle hadn't really expected him to, but she had been hopeful and gotten three tickets anyway.

Michelle had been right and wrong all in one. Somewhere, deep down inside, she had always known that Tony wasn't going to change, that he had changed too much in prison. But she had wanted the old Tony back so bad. She had been putting it off until graduation, and as it got closer, she saw more and more clearly what she had to do.

She watched Ellie give her speech as valedictorian, and she couldn't have been more proud. For just a second there, she almost forgot everything that was happening. But when she saw Ellie, grinning madly, throw her cap in the air, she saw much more flying away. She saw the glue of her life, who she was, going up, and, unlike the cap, not coming down. Evaporating into thin air.

Only a few days after graduation, Ellie moved to New York City, where she would be attending Columbia University on a full ride academic scholarship. Michelle had held out the tiniest bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, having the house to themselves would help things, but she wasn't the tiniest bit surprised to be wrong again. With her sister gone, it was just her, and Tony, and whatever was happening in between, and the hole where it seemed like everything good in her life was being lost forever.

Leaving was the absolute hardest thing she had ever done in her entire life. She didn't need to think twice about where to leave to- she needed her sisters more than anything. But once the initial shock and sorrow had worn off, she needed to go back to her own life. So she went to the only home she had left- work.

For the next year, she absolutely drowned herself in work. She ate, slept, breathed work, because the minute she started thinking about anything else, it hurt too much. In order to make it through, she needed life to be as simple as remembering access codes or the clicking sounds of a keyboard or giving orders and solving the problem.

More than once, she dialed his number and hung up when he answered. A few times, she put on her wedding ring just to try to remember how happily ever after felt. And every day, she wished things were different. She wished she hadn't left, she wished he hadn't changed, she wished he'd take her back, that they'd be happy again.

She had all but given up hope when she saw him again. Saw him was an understatement. Talked to him, worked with him, kissed him, almost lost him, remembered how much she cared about him.

Just when she was sure that she'd never be happy again, she saw hope. And this time, it wasn't false hope either.

Two weeks after Jack had "died," two weeks after Tony had come back into her life and she was contemplating putting her wedding ring back on her finger, she called her sister.

"Hey," Ellie said, already knowing who was calling when she answered the phone.

"How's everything?" Michelle asked, all of a sudden nervous, and not sure why.

"Umm... good," Ellie said. "Exams are almost over, but I still have a couple of hard ones left, so I'm studying my tail off. How are you?"

Michelle didn't know how to say it, other than to just blurt it out. "Tony and me, we're... Tony and I... we're trying again. Starting over."

Ellie didn't say a word, so Michelle continued, desperately trying to fill the silence. "And I left CTU. Yesterday was my last day of work. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do yet, but we decided that if we want this to work this time, we can't keep almost losing each other." Michelle became away that she was blabbering, and stopped.

Ellie finally responded. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Hey, let me call you back, okay?"

Michelle nodded, even though she knew that Ellie couldn't see her. "Okay. Love you. Bye."

"Bye."

It was an entire week and a half before Michelle got a call from Ellie again.

"Dessler," she said, groggily picking up the phone and looking at her bedside clock. 3 a.m.

Ellie immediately started in talking. "Look, Michelle... I want you to be happy, so if this is going to make you happy... then I'll be happy for you... but... I don't want to see you get hurt again."

Michelle picked up where Ellie left off. "Ellie, I am happy. Happier than I've been in a long time. Since before... all this started. "And we're making this work and we both want it and I love him. And he loves me. And no one's pushing anyone away, and... Ellie, we're happy."

They sat in silence for a moment before Ellie responded. "I'm glad, Chelle."

"Are you still coming to visit next month?"

"Yeah."