A/N: Hey guys, I cannot believe how many reviews I got for the last chapter so thank you so much for that! This one was just about driving me up the wall and I feel like I changed things at least a dozen times before it finally started working out (at least I hope it did…). I hope you guys enjoy it and just, word of warning, there IS a horrible cliché at one point but I'm hoping it serves its purpose in this chapter…Thanks again for reading!1

Chapter Sixteen - More Surprises

Tony felt like he was walking on air. It was the morning of the 22nd and he was relishing in the fact that in a few hours time, he and Michelle would be on a plane to Washington, almost as far away from LA and he could hope to be right now.

Michelle, every time Tony chanced a glance to her station, was grinning as widely as the Cheshire cat and it made him laugh. She had barely stopped running around the night before long enough to come to bed, where she was desperate to make love at least three times before falling asleep. Naturally, Tony had no reason to complain about that. His surprise had gone off without a hitch and if they could just get through the next eight hours, time would be theirs for three whole days.

He should've known it was too good to be true…but love, apparently, made him naively optimistic about these sorts of things.

"Tony," Chloe O'Brien, the new analyst they'd hired a few weeks back, called him.

"Yeah, what is it Chloe?" Tony sounded irritated over the phone but, in truth, he would be more than willing to put up with the antics of Chloe O'Brien for the rest of the day.

"Ryan Chappelle's on the phone for you. He said it's important."

Tony's stomach clenched and he said a silent prayer nothing had come up that would hinder his plans for the holidays. They hadn't had an active protocol in weeks, even terrorists, it seemed, were in need of a vacation.

"Hey Ryan."

"Tony we have a problem."

Damn it...Tony cursed.

"Is it the President?"

"No no... This is a personal problem."

Gulp. "What personal problem?"

"Both you and Michelle have the next three days booked off..."

Thank god for phones, as Tony's facial expression mirrored that of a raging bull.

"That's right, I explained the situation to you in October...you said you'd get someone to fill in for a few days."

"Well I'm sorry Tony but I couldn't find anyone...the person I had is no longer with us..."

"Why not?"

"We caught them leaking information to an underground communist group in Russia..."

"Oh." Only at this job would Tony's replacement get uncovered as a mole right before his vacation.

The next words Ryan spoke almost had Tony reaching through the phone to strangle him personally.

"So I'm sorry, but I can't have both of you gone for such an extended period of time..."

Yeah...Tony fumed. I'm sure you're sorry…

"Ryan there was a reason I asked you this two months in advance...I really need these days off...I've had about two since the nuke!"

"I'm aware of that Tony but one of you is gonna have to stay here...if it's that big of a deal tell Michelle she doesn't - "

"No." He interjected. "I promised her she could have the days and I tend to keep my promises..."

"Remember who you're talking to Almeida..."

Tony grunted into the receiver.

"You can take a few days when Michelle gets back then..."

"Fine."

Ryan hung up the phone without another word.

Merry fucking Christmas Ryan...Tony grumbled to himself as he slammed down the receiver.

He spent exactly forty-nine minutes trying to figure out what to do, coming to a gut-wrenching conclusion that he had been barely able to bring himself to realize. Sighing, he dialed Michelle's extension.

"Dessler."

"Hey, can I see ya up here for a sec?"

Damn it, why'd she have to go a smile like that?

"Sure, I'll be right there..."

"What's up?" Michelle asked as she flounced into the room, beaming, with a distinct spring in her step.

Tony did not smile and Michelle frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Chappelle can't find a replacement...I have to stay here."

The crestfallen look on Michelle's face just about did Tony in. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, chin resting on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry honey." he mumbled.

Her head shook underneath him. "It's not your fault..." she told him quietly, though obviously upset. She scolded herself for being so unreasonable, this was their job, and this was what happened sometimes. She should be used to it by now.

But for some reason, when Tony had handed her the tickets the day before with everything planned out, she'd been so convinced it would work out, that they would get through this last day and be heading to Washington before long. For once, she'd guaranteed herself, they would catch a break...Apparently not...

"Can you get your money back on the tickets?" she finally asked.

Tony tilted her chin. "Don't start Michelle, you're still going." He'd known that wouldn't be long in coming.

"The point of this was so we could spend Christmas together. I don't want to go without you."

"The point was so you could see your dad; I'll see you when you get back, okay?"

"Tony..."

"Michelle I want you to go. Besides if you don't Chappelle will wonder why both of us ending up staying when we didn't have to..."

She nodded and leaned into the embrace. "Alright."

Tony waited a bit before continuing the speech he'd been rehearsing, banking on the fact that he could predict her reactions by now.

"And I was thinking..." Tony grabbed her hand and sat back against the desk as Michelle looked up.

"There's still an extra ticket and since I'm not gonna be needing it maybe..." his jaw shifted to one side and his brow creased.

"I was thinking maybe you should take Danny...I mean you said he doesn't have the kids so - "

"No. " Michelle told him firmly. "Tony you're not giving him that ticket..."

"C'mon Michelle I bet he hasn't seen your dad in forever either...and I know I'm not gonna use it..."

"Tony he hates you..."

He managed a smirk. "Then it's a good thing I won't be there." he told her wryly.

Michelle did not seem too amused by this. "Tony I can't let you do that..."

"Someone might as well use it..." Michelle's eyes started to water. "Besides," he continued. "You know you hate flying alone..."

This got a small, sad, laugh and Michelle nodded before pulling him in for as intensely a hug as her muscles would allow, convinced that Tony had succeeded in outdoing himself yet again.


It was seven thirty that night. Michelle's suitcase was packed and sitting by the door to her apartment. She was frenetically running around looking for last minute items to throw into her carry-on bag. Stopping when her wallet, passport, and cell phone were safely inside Michelle turned towards Tony, who had taken to doing their leftover dishes from dinner while she finished.

The buzzer to the apartment rang and Michelle answered it.

"Danny's downstairs with a cab." she told him, hating herself more and more when she saw the forced smile he gave her as he picked up her suitcase and pulled open the door.

Michelle hung her head, feeling incredibly guilty and wishing she hadn't let him insist she go.

"Cheer up." Tony teased her as they stepped into the elevator. "Planes aren't that bad..."

Michelle shot him a sad, sardonic look, indicating that his little jokes weren't helping better the situation. She said nothing more as they left the building and headed to the waiting cab.

Danny emerged from the car and shook Tony's hand, thanking him redundantly as he placed Michelle's bag in the backseat. Tony smiled politely. That was one thing, at least, that made it all a little easier, he was no longer despised by Michelle's brother.

Michelle turned back to Tony as Danny quietly informed her they should be going if they wanted to make their flight.

"I wish you were..."

Tony shook his head and stroked the side of her face.

"You'll have a great time and you won't even be thinking about me."

Michelle hugged and kissed him.

"I see you in a few days." she promised as he rubbed her back and seemed reluctant to let go.

"Tony, thank you." she mumbled into his shoulder. Tony sighed and finally broke away, as Michelle followed Danny into the car.

When Michelle had gotten in the cab Tony returned back up to her apartment to retrieve his things and lock up. He entered the bedroom to turn off the lights when he saw an extravagantly decorated package sitting directly in the center of the bed.

Tony made his way across the room and read the small card attached to it, shaking his head dejectedly as he did, convinced he would never hate anyone more than he did Ryan Chappelle now...

'Merry Christmas, Wish you were here. Love, Michelle'

Tony'd be damned if he wasn't sure he saw some tear-induced smudging of the message. He scooped up the package and headed out the door; unable to bring himself to open it at that very moment...at least he'd have something to look forward to Christmas morning.


"Michelle?" Danny roused her gently from her sleep. "We're almost here."

It was almost six-o-clock the next day and the plane was finally pulling up to the terminal.

The knot in her stomach tightened as she heard the pilot instruct them to fasten their seat belts as they were approaching final decent. Michelle lifted her head off of the uncomfortably hard window and sat her chair upright; clutching the blanket she was holding tightly in her fists as the plane glided onto the runway.

Danny had not said much since they'd gone to the airport and she was unsure as to why. Honestly, she was glad Danny was going to get to spend Christmas with her dad, after all, it did mean her family together for the first time in years…but somehow she'd just become too familiar with having Tony around all the time and she'd have, (as inconsiderate and selfish as it sounded in her head,) rather had him as the pillow she was leaning on during the trip instead of the unfamiliar plate glass, especially when planes had the tendency to make her a little uneasy.

When they finally stopped moving nerves and duress gave way to butterflies. They would be at the house in a few short minutes and she couldn't help but get excited about that. Thoughts of Tony flew from her head for the time being.


As Michelle climbed out of the airport taxi into the crisp, snow-filled, Washington air she let out a sigh of invigoration. Her uncle Jim came out from inside the house with a large grin on his face and embraced both of them.

"Where's dad?" Michelle asked as soon as he pulled back.

"Inside...I told him I'd help you with your things..."

Michelle grabbed her purse and hurried into the house. Her dad, Andrew Dessler, was sitting with her aunt Grace in the living room, fire already nice and big in preparation for their arrival.

Michelle's quick breaths stopped coming when they both turned to look at her and she couldn't help but smile widely.

"Hey dad..." He rose from his chair and crossed the room quickly as Michelle pulled him into a bear hug.

"Michelle!" he kissed her cheek. "How was your flight?"

"Fine, fine." she assured him. "Danny's out front..."

Michelle blinked away the mistiness that had formed behind her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're here!" Andrew exclaimed and led her to the couch. "Come...sit...you want some coffee?"

She shook her head. "No thanks, not right now."

On her way across the room Michelle pecked her aunt on her cheek.

"Hey sweetie, how are you?" Aunt Grace queried as she settled against the couch.

"I'm great. How are you guys?"

"Enjoying retirement..." her aunt laughed. They'd convinced her uncle to retire a few years after her dad went to live with them; her aunt had not been far behind.

Just as Michelle was about to sit herself down a new set of squeals erupted from the entrance way…

"Michelle!"

She spun around. It was Alicia.

"Oh my god! What are you doing here?"

Alicia bolted across the room and they hugged.

"Did you seriously think I wasn't gonna make an appearance the one time you're out east! I can't believe you're finally here! We've been waiting around forever!"

Michelle laughed. "We took the late flight...I didn't get off work until seven"

"What else is new?" Alicia grumbled. "But you're here! I can't believe this actually worked!"

Michelle smiled and made a mental note for herself to call Tony just to emphasize how much she loved him a couple of thousand times. Really, Christmas could not have come in a more perfect way for her.

She beamed at the site of the decorated tree in the corner of the room. Even when there were no kids around to entertain they still put up the tree. Michelle had always loved the tree...it really felt like Christmas now.

Even the weather proceeded to lighten her already optimal mood. It was so nice outside, so "Christmassy"... the wet snow fell lightly adding to the layer already on the ground.

Zealous, Michelle followed Alicia into the kitchen where they decided to put on a pot of coffee for everyone and enjoy a few hours of conversation before heading back up to bed.

"So I didn't really get the full story..." Alicia began as she set the coffee percolating. "Why is Danny here exactly?"

Michelle sighed in distaste. "Because Ryan Chappelle's replacement fell through and both of us couldn't take the same days off..."

"That's awful."

Michelle agreed. "I felt so bad leaving..."

Alicia sighed, "Your job sucks, y'know..."

Michelle laughed.


Tony crawled into bed that night hating the idea that he knew what he was missing and there was nothing he could do about. He had a burning desire to call up Chappelle at that very moment, tell him about Michelle and their relationship and the ring sitting in the back corner of a drawer in his night table...All that would be left after that would be to wait for himself to be fired. At least that way he'd be able to make it to DC in time for Christmas, even if it did cost him his job.

For once, he really couldn't care less about his job.

Tony was waking up to head to work at the same time Michelle was crawling into bed for a few hours of glorious, uninterrupted sleep. After a long chat with her family, Michelle had admitted to being exhausted from the flight and decided on some rest before lunch.

The room she was sleeping in, one of the guest rooms, looked pleasant enough at first glance, but as she changed and slid between the sheets she suddenly felt wide awake. The bed was lumpy, she decided, and not nearly as warm as it should be.

Happy as she was that she was there, that she had the opportunity to spend hours reminiscing with the family she hadn't seen in ages…Michelle was now wondering, once again, if she'd done the right thing in coming.

She regretted leaving Tony, especially when he was the only reason she even got to be go in the first place…Regretted that he would be all alone, at CTU, for Christmas and she would be here, wanting him with her... Alicia was right; work really did have a knack for ruining everything. This was supposed to be their vacation, not just hers. It really wasn't fair at all.

Michelle couldn't resist, considering what time it was in LA she decided she could chance an early morning phone call to Tony, hoping he would have already hit the snooze button a sufficient amount of times and was up and about.

"Almeida."

The way he answered the phone, irritated but not groggy, told Michelle her sleep pattern calculations had been spot on.

"Hey honey, it's me."

His voice softened. "Hey, how was your flight?"

"Fine...great. We got here around six..."

Tony chuckled. "Are you just going to bed now?"

Michelle laughed. "Yes...I had so much energy once we got here! You didn't tell me Alicia was coming!"

It was Tony's turn to laugh. "She wanted part of the surprise too."

Michelle yawned and rested her head against her pillow.

"Are you going to work?"

"Soon..."

She grimaced and buried her face into the covers. Tony could hear her voice becoming muffled.

"Did you get your present?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, but I'm saving it for Christmas..."

A few seconds of silence bridged the way for Michelle's next comment.

"Honey," she explained softly, lifting her head up.

"Yeah?"

"I miss you."


Tony's lighthearted mood from the previous day was long gone when he arrived at CTU. Jack, knowing the reason for his irritated nature, gave him a wide berth of space for most of the morning. He practically had a conniption when Chloe and Adam started arguing...again. And yelled at one of the IT people for updating their logs three minutes after they were supposed to.

Jack raised and eyebrow when he saw Tony returning up the stairs to his office and frowned. Tony took the hint, and decided to avoid taking out his anger unnecessarily on any more of his staff for the rest of the day.


Michelle made her way into the kitchen that afternoon, fully dressed in jeans and a fuzzy, knitted sweater that she always had to wear something underneath because it itched.

Everyone else was already sitting at the table nursing a beverage of some kind, and she settled herself between Alicia and her dad while her aunt placed a platter of food in front of all of them. Helping herself to a piece of chicken, Michelle listened as her aunt explained about the recipe she'd found on the Internet and how everyone she fed it too raved about the meal for days afterwards.

Cutting herself a large bite, Michelle smiled as she chewed, remembering her own cooking catastrophe and stifling a laugh. Her dad shot her a curious look but said nothing.

"How about you Michelle?" her uncle spoke from across the table. "How's work going?"

Danny had just spent the last ten minutes informing everyone of his newly acquired job and how pleased his boss was with his progress.

"Busy, as usual." Michelle told them. "I took a refresher course on fieldwork a few weeks ago."

"What?" her dad turned to her incredulously. "You never mentioned that before...I thought you were done with fieldwork? I thought that's why you took the job in LA?"

"It's just incase they're running short on manpower." she informed him easily, patting his arm. "It only makes sense to have me trained."

"Do you like your new job?" Her aunt probed, trying to relieve some of the tension.

Michelle nodded. "It's been great. It's a huge promotion for me. I've even had a few days as acting director when Tony's not around."

Andrew Dessler's neck craned upwards again as if he was about to say something else. If he was though, he seemed to change his mind.

They discussion of work quickly ended after that.


A few hours later Michelle placed all of her Christmas presents under the tree. As she was setting them each in their respective piles, admiring the neatly wrapped packages, her dad coughed slightly announcing his presence in the doorway.

She turned around and smiled gently. "Hey."

He sat down on the couch as she moved to join him.

"Talked to Tony?"

"Not since this morning before he went to work." she sighed. "It still hasn't really sunk in that I'm here...it all happened so fast."

Her dad laughed. "I think that was part of the fun of the surprise..."

Michelle smirked and nodded her agreement.

"Did you make plans for tonight?" he asked suddenly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, hanging out with everyone here!"

"Well I was hoping that maybe you and I could go out to dinner...like we used to."

Michelle grinned at the memory.

At the age of six, Danny and her mother had left one Friday night for the weekend, to go and visit her ailing grandmother in Denver. Michelle, who had been deemed too young for such an endeavor at the time, had remained at home with her father who had to work. She'd mopped around for the better part of Saturday morning, complaining that she was too young to do anything worthwhile until her father had whisked her away to the mall and told her that she could pick out a whole new outfit for herself, something she'd never been allowed to do before.

"Mommy always picks my clothes..." she'd stated, chewing on her lip nervously.

Her father had motioned for her to lean in closely as if about to tell a fantastic secret.

"Good thing mommy's not here then."

Michelle had giggled hysterically and climbed inside the car, taking advantage of being able to sit up front for once, as the hierarchy of the order had been disrupted for the weekend.

Once at the mall Michelle had selected and canary yellow sundress and a matching white cardigan with the help of the saleslady at a prestigious children's clothing store. Michelle adored those few hours where she could feel grown up, insisting on what she liked and refusing anything she did not.

Her favorite new acquisition though, was her deliciously shiny pair of Mary Jane buckle shoes. She'd begged her father to let her get them, promising she would take everything else back if he would just buy her those shoes.

Andrew had, of course, led his daughter into the shoe store and told her that it was her weekend to have fun and she could have whatever she wanted. He took comfort in spoiling his only daughter, for there were many days when he enjoyed her company more than anyone else in the world. The innocence and simplicity she associated with everything, and the dedication and care she invested into all she did, even at such a young age, made his heart swell with pride.

There were few people he knew he could always count on for anything, few people he trusted wholeheartedly, and he already knew his little Michelle would grow to be one of those people...

That night, Michelle had ran upstairs, insisting she could dress herself, and pulled on every new item she'd bought. Smiling at how pretty and grown up her new outfit made her feel, she had bounded down to the foyer where her dad was waiting to take her out for a nice dinner "date", (as he'd called it), like a grown-up.

It had been, and was still considered, one of the best days of Michelle's life. She had found herself fighting back yawns when they finally returned home, never wanting the day to end. With promises that if she got ready for bed she could stay up late, Michelle had quickly changed into her pajamas, hanging her clothes up to emphasize what an appreciative, good daughter she was…and had fallen asleep on the couch, sipping hot chocolate, watching the horrendously overplayed video of the Little Mermaid that she could never seem to get enough of; singing along to all the songs and laughing uncontrollably every time Sebastian crawled on screen.

From then on, Michelle and her father had shared their special "daddy-daughter" days every once in a while. As she entered high school Michelle had outgrown them, feeling embarrassed that she had no 'real dates' to go on and was reduced to spending the evening with her dad. Once she'd left for college though, Michelle had missed those days, sad that she rarely got to experience them anymore.

"Sounds great." Michelle returned back to the present and responded, smiling.


While Michelle was enjoying her outing with her father that night, Tony was sulking in his office.

It was five-thirty and the new shift had arrived for the evening. Jack had just informed Tony he was going home for the night and would see him the next morning. Biting his lip in frustration, Tony retrieved the ring he'd brought with him that day from his desk drawer, finding he needed some notion of nights with Michelle still to come to get himself through this one without her.

You would've done it over Christmas...The voice inside his head told him. You would've asked her before you came back to work because face it Almeida, you can't wait much longer...

It was then that Ryan Chappelle walked across the bullpen.

Tony's eyes practically jumped out of his head. What the hell was Ryan doing here? Did the man have a death wish?

Ryan was soon climbing the stairs to the office where Tony sat, still twirling the velvet box in between his fingers, completely oblivious to the implications that would soon be drawn from it. He was more concerned with what Chappelle was doing at CTU.

"Tony?" Ryan marched into his office without knocking.

Tony was livid and all he could manage was a grunted, "Yeah." in fear that anything else would put his employment in jeopardy.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question Ryan..."

"Nothing's going on at Division so I thought I'd see if there was anything worth following up on..."

"Yeah well there's not. It's like a graveyard..." The response was relatively calm, considering that Chappelle had just admitted there was no need for either of them to be there.

"Seriously Tony...Bauer left, the night shift is here...why don't you head - "

"Since when are you the one telling me to leave early?" he spat more harshly than he'd intended.

"I'm here…I'll probably hang around for a while anyway...there's nothing going on. Go home…"

"No point. I have nowhere to be…"

Ryan eyed him carefully before, much to Tony's dismay, moving further into the room and planting himself in front of his desk.

"What's the box for?"

Tony's mouth went dry. The jewelry box. The one containing the ring was sitting right smack in the middle of his desk where he'd been playing with it.

Tony thought about how best to answer the question. Ryan, for once, seemed genuinely interested. Maybe Christmas softened him up a little bit and made him nosy about Tony's personal life.

"It was a present for someone…" Tony retorted hastily. "I was gonna see them over Christmas but well…"

He looked at Ryan, finishing the sentence without words.

"You should've had Michelle stay then, if it was that important."

Tony shook his head. "Yeah, well…I couldn't do that…she needs a break too…"

There was a long, drawn out silence.

"Look Tony, I am sorry your plans got screwed up...but that's the job…"

For some reason Tony believed him this time. "It's fine, someone had to stay here…"

Ryan eyed the box on the desk again. He indicated to it, "Can I…?"

Tony held it up for him.

Ryan snapped back the lid and stared at it intently. The diamond reflected some beams of light up onto the ceiling and Tony watched them, not wanting Ryan to see his heartbroken expression at how badly he wished he was somewhere else.

"I think we pay you too much..."

Tony's jaw hit the floor. Was that a joke? Did Ryan Chappelle just crack a joke? And a sarcastic joke at that… one that might have even been funny had Tony not been sitting where he was...The holidays must really get to Chappelle…he concluded.

Ryan closed the box and placed it back on Tony's desk. "I guess you had a pretty big Christmas in mind then…"

"You might say that…" Tony scowled to hide the emotion threatening to spread across his face.

"Y'know Tony I was married...my wife died a few years ago…"

The way Ryan told him this would eat away at Tony for the rest of his life. The way he let the words roll across his tongue so casually, the way he masked every ounce of grief it must've caused him…was almost admirable. It was, Tony decided, why Ryan was so good at his job. He really didn't let emotions get in the way of anything.

"It was hard," he continued, not sure why he was telling Tony this. He felt the sudden urge to pass on some perils of wisdom. "She never understood why I had to work all the time…I mean she pretended to at first, but after a while it just got to be too much…"

Tony shook his head. "Trust me, I don't have that problem."

"You might think that now – "

"No, really Ryan, if anyone gets it, she does…"

And then, before Tony could counteract it, realization washed over Ryan Chappelle's face. He'd seen Tony glance, ever so briefly at Michelle's empty desk when he said 'she'. Tony's subtle, but emphatic reluctance to have Michelle trained for fieldwork…Carrie's accusations, the things she'd insisted she'd witnessed the day of the bomb…And now, the reason Tony had so adamantly refused to force Michelle to work when he clearly had important plans of his own, all became blatantly obvious.

"It's Michelle…"

Tony was sweating now. He felt as though his collar was choking him. He tugged at it pointlessly, as the top two buttons were left undone, as usual.

"What?" he tried a characteristic, blunt response, knowing it was pointless.

"You're going to ask Michelle to – "

"Don't be ridiculous."

"My god, Tony…I'm not an idiot…"

They stared each other down.

"Fine, Ryan. You're right. It is Michelle."

Ryan stood there, dumbfounded. Tony watched him carefully as he processed the information.

"I'm not ending anything… he interrupted as Ryan started to speak again.

Ryan paused, and sighed. "Division won't like this."

"You're Division Ryan; it's your choice…if you think this is a problem…if you think it's been affecting our work…"

"Who else knows?"

"Just Jack …"

Ryan was still trying to formulate his opinion on the spot. It hadn't been affecting their work, not if it had been going on since the bomb and he was only realizing it five months later. No, he couldn't justify telling them to stop seeing each other, he had no reason to. And, truthfully, the non-professional side of him didn't really want to. Maybe it was the holidays that made him all sentimental, but he found himself not really caring. The office had been as effective as ever, no harm had come from any of it…Besides, if it became a problem down the road he could always deal with it then...

And, he liked Michelle. He had always liked Michelle, knowing her by reputation when she worked over at District. He liked how, unlike most people, she could never seem to be intimidated by him. And she did a good job, always going with her gut.

Even if he disagreed with Tony on a lot of things, he couldn't disagree with him about this. They worked well together, remarkably well, and he would never have pegged there being anything but mutual respect between them, had Tony not let his guard down at that very moment.

Really, if it they were in a relationship, but continued to be professional about it, where was the problem?

"If you try to relocate one of us I'm resigning." Tony stated, interrupting his thoughts. "Don't penalize Michelle though…"

"I'm not relocating you Tony…"

Tony bit his lip. "Well then what are you gonna do?" The worst that could result was that he lose his job, and Tony didn't even care about that any more…

What happened next surprised both of them. "Nothing, except tell you to get out of here…"

Fine so he was fired. There were lots of jobs out there, he'd find one...

"Here," Tony handed Ryan his access codes.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't work here anymore, right?" Tony was still relieved Ryan hadn't started yelling.

"I'm not firing you either Tony. Go…leave…go wherever you were gonna go…I want both you and Michelle back here on Boxing Day…"

Tony sat unmoving, trying to decide whether or not he was dreaming.

"Are you serious?"

Ryan smirked. "Yeah, go…there's nothing for me to do at Division anyway. Just be reachable…I want you back here in a few hours if I call…"

"Al-alright." Tony was already out of his seat grabbing his things. Ryan moved towards the door.

"Merry Christmas." He muttered as he pulled it open.

"Yeah, uh, thanks Ryan. You too…"