Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters related to 24.

A/N: I'm glad everyone seemed to like the last chapter better than the previous one. Hopefully this one goes over just as well.

I'm moving out on Thursday because I'm starting school next week so I wont have much time to write for a few days so my apologies in advance for ending the chapter this way. (It's my first shot at a cliffhanger ending so I hope you understand the idea I was trying to get across at the very end). I'll do my best to get something up in the next week, I promise. I won't have access to the internet again until September 10th, but I WILL write some chapters so I can start posting ASAP. Thanks for all the reviews, I'm totally obsessed with getting them now:P…Enjoy!

Chapter Five - Trust

"Almeida." Tony flipped open his cell phone. He'd practically fallen off the bed, in a punch-drunk attempt to grab it off the nightstand before it rang again.

"Tony, it's Ryan Chappelle." The all-too familiar voice clarified.

Tony grumbled and slipped quietly out of bed. Two conversations with Ryan Chappelle in one day was not exactly his idea of fun.

"Hey Ryan, what's up?" It was 4:12am, and Michelle was sleeping curled in a tiny little ball on her side of the bed…Yes, it was her side of the bed. It had only been three days and Tony couldn't, for the life of him, imagine anyone else ever sleeping there now. Her chest was rising and falling almost bewitchingly with each breath.

"LAPD just apprehended someone on a DUI charge. We have reason to believe he has information on the assassination attempt. A couple of officer's are processing him and they're bringing him over to CTU in an hour. I want you and Jack interrogating him…"

"Both of us?' Tony raised his voice, too late in remembering Michelle was still only a few feet away. She stirred, but did not wake. He exited the bedroom as Ryan continued to talk.

"Both of you." Ryan affirmed. "I want you there by the time the prisoner arrives. Jack's already on his way…"

"Yeah, fine. I'll be there."

"Good. Make sure you keep me posted on anything you get out of him…"

Tony scratched his neck and closed his eyes. "Uh huh." He said with a yawn. "Who's running Com?"

"I'm going to call Michelle now…remember what I said…"

The phone clicked.

"See ya Ryan…" Tony muttered sarcastically to the dial tone. He returned to the bedroom on the second ring of Michelle's phone. She rolled over quickly and answered it. Tony started pulling out some clothes, while Michelle listened to Ryan. He turned around from the dresser and watched her sit up, cross-legged. She used the hand not holding her phone to pointlessly try to tame her bed-head.

"Yes Ryan I understand…I'll be there…" she looked up at Tony and rolled her eyes a little.

How Michelle managed to look so breathtakingly gorgeous while sitting like a 4-year-old in his bed, in nothing but a ratty old t-shirt, brushing tangled hair out of her eyes, was beyond Tony. And yet she managed it with such ease, that Tony found himself believing it must be one of those things that boiled down to genetics. Like some people were born with a sixth sense, Michelle was born with the ability to faultlessly encapsulate a sense of beauty, grace, innocence and vulnerability into every breath she took. It was, in Tony's mind, the best type of oxymoron: perfect imperfection.

He smirked at Michelle, before artfully crawling onto the bed and kissing her lips, careful not to make a sound, while Ryan continued to preach on. Michelle threw him a warning look when she broke the kiss but still managed a grin.

They'd spent three nights together and Michelle already couldn't believe a life existed pre-Tony. With each passing day she was finding it more and more difficult to remember how she'd got by before everything had happened with him. It all seemed so incredibly pointless now that they were together. The idea that it had only been a few days kept falling further and further from Michelle's mind. With Tony lying beside her on the bed, kissing her chest through her t-shirt…and Ryan Chappelle talking her ear off on the phone, Michelle couldn't help but think: I could get used to this…

Finally the phone call ended. Michelle hopped out of bed and pulled clothes out of the bag she'd brought with her. Tony was buttoning his shirt in the mirror now.

"I could've used the extra sleep…" she complained to the inside of her bag, as she dug through to find her makeup.

Michelle was in the process of zipping up the skirt she'd just pulled over her hips, when a horrible reality hit her.

"Damnit!" she froze in mid zip.

Tony walked out of the bathroom, toothbrush resting in his mouth, with a puzzled look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"I don't have a car!" she reminded him. "And we don't have time to stop and get it…"

Tony realized she was right. He'd picked her up, and they'd arranged to wake up a little earlier and switch cars that morning before work.

"What are we gonna do?" she cried.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. Chappelle said Jack's already on his way and no one else will know what time he called us. We can just say you had car trouble so I picked you up on my way…" he was holding her by the shoulders now. "Good?"

Michelle smiled weakly. "Okay."

"Okay." Tony repeated and leaned in for another kiss. "Let's get going then."

Driving into the CTU parking lot in the passenger seat of Tony's car felt like a death sentence to Michelle. Tony remained completely unfazed by the whole ordeal, and it was mind-boggling. Even when he rolled down his window to talk to the security guard, Michelle had gotten the nasty feeling that she was being scrutinized very carefully.

"Mr. Almeida," said the guard politely. "Busy night?" he glanced at Michelle, who was now certain this guard was the master of double entendres, and could sense exactly what had transpired since they'd left CTU the last time.

Tony didn't seem to pick up on the guard's psychic ability. "Looks like it's about to turn into one…" he commented dully.

The guard laughed appreciatively and then took notice of Michelle, for what she believed was the second time. "Evening, Ms. Dessler," was all he said.

Michelle smiled sweetly and began sending unspoken messages to Tony, urging him to pull away. Finally, after what felt like forever, but was not really more than a few seconds, Tony drove through the gateway and pulled into a parking spot.

"He knew." Michelle stated the instant he put the car in park.

"What?"

"He knew" she emphasized.

"The guard?"

"Yes." She told him emphatically. "Trust me, he knows about us."

Tony shook his head, chuckling.

"It's not funny!" She whined, but started laughing anyway. "Chappelle's going to find out!"

"You're paranoid darling." Tony told her, pecking her cheek. "He doesn't know anything. Just relax okay…" he ran his fingers through her hair soothingly. "It's not a big deal, so don't make it one."

Michelle sighed.

"C'mon. We'd better get in there."

The second they entered CTU one of the people from IT, Jason, came rushing up to Tony.

"Tony, Jack Bauer's already waiting in Holding 1, and the prisoner is arriving any minute."

"Alright thanks, let's go Michelle." He started walking towards the holding rooms but stopped when he noticed Michelle was still standing in the middle of the floor, unmoving, and watching Jason very carefully as he walked away.

"Michelle!" he called. She looked up. "Let's go." Tony tried his very best to look irritated, and not amused by her reaction.

"Did he know too?" He whispered when she finally caught up.

Michelle said nothing. Instead she walked past him briskly, making an effort not to look incredibly annoyed by him.

They entered the communications part of the holding room a few seconds later. Jack was going over the procedure with Chris, one of the guys from Tech. He stood up when they both entered the room.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Jack." They replied in unison.

"Michelle, we're just making sure everything's set up for the interrogation. Tony we need to go over the prisoner's file before he gets here. Chappelle just sent it to me." He indicated to the manila folder on the table.

"Alright, why don't we go to the Conference Room?"

Jack nodded and the men exited.

Michelle was in the middle of testing the earpieces Jack and Tony would each be given, when the door flung open.

"Ryan!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to make sure the interrogation went smoothly."

Michelle couldn't hide the incredulity in her voice. "You brought both Tony and Jack in here and you still don't trust them to do it right?"

"Excuse me? I don't think you're here to question my decisions Michelle." He said angrily. "And not that it's any of your business but I'm not here checking up on Tony and Jack, I'm here checking up on you. Division isn't too sure about you replacing Tony and they want me to evaluate you before its made official…so I'd watch your mouth if you'd like to keep this job…"

Michelle thought she might faint. Good job. Now you're on Chappelle's bad side. The phone on the desk rang and Michelle answered it.

"Fine, thank you."

She hung up.

"The prisoner is here. They're moving him in now."

"Get Jack and Tony down here."

Michelle picked up the phone again and dialed the Conference Room. It was Tony who picked up.

"Almeida."

"The prisoner's arrived." She told him formally. "Ryan wants you and Jack down here now."

"Ryan's here?" Michelle could hear the disgust in Tony's voice.

"Yes."

"Alright uh…Jack just went to take a call. He'll be back in a minute."

"I'll tell Ryan." She said looking at Chappelle who was watching her.

"You okay?" Tony asked from his end of the phone.

"Yes." She lied.

"Alright, we'll be down shortly." Tony responded, not believing her for a second. Whatever the problem was, it would have to wait.

Soon Michelle was seated extremely uncomfortably between Ryan Chappelle and a series of computer monitors and hard drives. She was enjoying the company of the computers more…

The interrogation began with Tony and Jack standing on either side of the prisoner, a Matthew Everett, who was looking equally as distressed as Michelle. Tony and Jack seemed to have worked out a "good cop-bad cop" routine, but neither was playing the part of the good-cop very effectively.

Tony left the room after a little while and entered into where Michelle and Ryan were hidden from view.

"You're not getting me anything here Almeida…" Chappelle told him, as if Tony needed reminding. Tony took a drink of water.

"We will, just give it a little time."

"We don't have time Tony. Palmer's lying incapacitated in a hospital bed and – "

"Which means he's fine…" Tony stated smoothly. "The President isn't in any immediate danger right now."

"You need to push him harder." Chappelle stated matter-of-factly.

Tony sighed and looked at the nervous face of Everett, while Jack continued to work on him. "He's just a kid Ryan…and we've been pushing him hard as is…"

"If you can't get anything out of him we're gonna have to bring in Richards…"

"No, not yet. Just wait and see."

Tony waited ten minutes before returning back to the holding room. Jack took his own break and spent the better part of it convincing Ryan they were close to breaking Everett. Jack walked back into the room just as it seemed they were finally getting somewhere.

"You know what's gonna happen if you don't tell us?" Tony asked Everett calmly.

Everett's eyes flashed quickly between Tony and Jack. "What?" he tried, intending to sound a lot less interested than he did.

"They'll call in Richards." Jack informed him, bending down so he could speak right into the prisoner's ear. "And he will cause you more pain than you could ever imagine…" he hissed.

Everett swallowed audibly; a few beads of sweat fell down his face.

"You don't want that do you Matthew? You're only 22…good looking kid. Think it through. Wouldn't you rather just go home tonight…go back to school in the morning…and put this all behind you?"

"Alright!" Everett shouted feeling Jack dangerously close to him again. "I was in contact with someone and I overheard them talking about the assassination but I wasn't supposed to! They didn't think I knew! If I tell you they'll know what I found out and kill me…" his voice shook and he was close to tears.

"If you tell us what you heard and who you were talking to I promise you that we'll protect you. We'll even get them to drop the DUI charge…" Jack told him, a lot more relaxed now.

Everett took a deep breath. "You can guarantee me that?"

Everett looked to Tony who nodded, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Fine." His hands were shaking now. "I'll talk."

And so Tony and Jack spent the next few minutes listening to Matthew Everett explain the circumstances under which he'd come across such pertinent information. Michelle was busily scribbling down some names, and handed them off to Ryan when Everett had finally finished. Ryan hurried out of the room to place a few phone calls and ordered Michelle to find out everything she could on the individuals.

Jack left holding and Tony began making arrangements for Everett regarding his DUI charge and the promise of "protection". They agreed to move him and his girlfriend to a safe house for the time being, until the people he'd named were in custody.

Jack approached Michelle who was typing frantically at the computer, pulling up files left, right and center. He was still bothered by what had happened that afternoon during the meeting. Something wasn't right, and he wasn't chalking up the uncertainties to his medical condition anymore. Intuition couldn't be denied. He had to figure out what was going on between Tony and Michelle.

Jack didn't particularly want to admit that the whole issue with the pair had been eating away at him for the better part of the afternoon. He would've rather been able to trust that Tony wouldn't do anything of that sort again. Jack did like Michelle…Her instincts had proven dead-on and she'd stuck her neck out for him more than once the day of the bomb. But then…Nina had done the same thing a few years before. Nina had probably helped him out more than anyone he'd ever known...he'd trusted her implicitly, thought he'd known everything about her, and still, she'd turned on everyone…on him. And as much as Jack sensed that Michelle was trustworthy; he had no guarantees. Neither did Tony…which meant as far as Jack was concerned, you couldn't be too careful when it came to office relationships. In their line of work, there was just too much at stake. Jack wanted to be indifferent if there was something between Tony and Michelle, but he couldn't. Not after everything that had happened… He would get to the bottom of whatever it was that was going on…

"Hey Michelle." He leaned against the desk she was working at.

"Hey Jack," He noticed her gaze shift behind him ever so slightly before meeting his eye. "What do you need?"

"What'd you find on the guys Everett named?" He questioned, knowing that it was extremely unlikely the search was through running. Jack Bauer was nothing if he wasn't direct but this was a sensitive topic…he had to be careful so it didn't result in any unfounded accusations.

"The search is still running. It'll be another 5 minutes."

Just like clockwork…Jack commented to himself.

"Great, thanks."

There was a slight pause, and when Michelle turned back around she was surprised to find Jack still standing there.

"Was there something else?"

"I just wanted to say thank you for helping me out that day Michelle. I know it must've been hard to go against Tony like that." He paused, trying to gauge her reaction.

Michelle merely shrugged. "I just did what I could. I owed you anyway for taking me seriously."

Jack gave a short, small laugh. "Well I'm glad it worked out between you guys."

"I'm sorry?" Jack noted that Michelle sounded a little panicky.

"Tony realized you were right…and now you've got this job because of him."

"Oh, right."

His cell phone rang. Jack picked it up and checked the caller ID. "It's my daughter." He told Michelle. "Excuse me."

Jack walked away.

Michelle started breathing normally again as soon as he did. Maybe Tony was right, maybe she really was just being paranoid.

The phone on Michelle's desk rang a few minutes later.

"Dessler."

"Hey, it's me." Tony was grinning ear-to-ear, despite the strenuous night they were having. If he could've controlled it he would've, but he couldn't. Michelle sat at her desk, hunched over slightly, starring at the computer monitor and somehow, even in that state, she managed to look unbelievable. A few stray curls tumbled over the sides of the collar of her shirt and Michelle toyed with the necklace she was wearing, twirling it in her fingers. Tony wondered if Michelle knew he was watching her, and she was doing this to drive him insane. It was working.

Michelle smiled a little despite herself. "Hey."

"Did you find anything with the names Everett gave us?"

"Yeah. Chappelle's calling Division with it now."

"So you have a minute?"

"I guess…" Michelle fought to keep her face neutral.

"Can I see you up here then?"

"Sure." She hung up the phone and rose from her seat. Tony sat patiently at his desk, and asked her to close the door when she stepped inside. He pointed to the couch and indicated for Michelle to sit, he moved beside her.

"So what happened?" he inched a little closer.

"What do you mean?"

"What happened when you called me in the Conference Room?"

"Nothing." She told him plainly.

"Michelle just talk to me, please."

"Not here…not now…"

"There's nothing else we can do until Chappelle finishes with Division anyway, and that'll take a while. Tell me what happened…"

Tony rubbed her neck, trying to kneed out some of the knots that had formed. Michelle sighed, and placed her head in her hands, visibly upset now.

"When Chappelle came in I kinda snapped at him for showing up again. He got really upset and told me he was there making sure I could do the job and that he was evaluating me. I totally screwed up. I don't know what came over me…" she told him, defeated.

Tony's hand had slid down to her back now and was gently trying to reassure her it wasn't as bad as she thought.

Downstairs Ryan Chappelle was just getting off the phone with Division. He made his way into the bullpen in search of Michelle. She was no where to be seen. He pulled one of the IT people aside as she hurried past him.

"Where's Michelle Dessler?" he questioned her.

"I don't know Mr. Chappelle. I'm sorry."

The woman left. Chappelle pulled out his phone and dialed Michelle's extension. No answer. He made his way over to her station and dialed her cell phone this time. It lay ringing on the desk in front of him. He hung up his phone. She must've gone to the washroom or something. He'd just have to wait.

Jack was sitting in one of the newly constructed offices, and was getting off the phone with Kim. She'd found his note explaining where he was and had wanted to check up on him. It was then that something had occurred to Jack about one of the names Everett had given, he knew that name, but he couldn't remember where from. He had to talk to Tony. Without another thought he headed towards his office at full-speed.

Michelle had still not returned to her desk. Chris, the guy who had been helping her set up communications, hurried over to Ryan.

"Mr. Chappelle, Claire told me you were looking for Michelle. She just went up to see Tony a few minutes ago."

"Thank you," Chappelle said exasperated and hurried over to the stairs leading to Tony's office.

Michelle was no longer upset. Somehow Tony had managed to reassure her of everything, enough to calm her down for the time being. He really should receive a medal for his consoling abilities, Michelle decided.

"Thank you." she said quietly, running her hand along his cheek. Tony smiled.

"C'mere honey." He stood and pulled her into a bear hug. He pressed his lips against Michelle's forehead, which was now buried into his chest. They stood like this for God knows how long, until something interrupted them.

"What the hell's going on here?"