A/N: Hey guys, I seemed to be lacking inspiration for this last chapter, so I'm not exactly sure how it turned out... Hopefully it doesn't disappoint...:)

Chapter Twenty-Seven – Countdown

The room had a theme; Tony decided when he first stepped through the door. And what a theme it was; frills and lace and flowers and bows with enough different shades of pink to make him and every man in the United States want to gag… He felt particularly out of place given that he was still dressed in office clothes that seemed unbearably dull and depressing compared to the light, airy surroundings. The woman leading them through the maze of intricate flower arrangements, cutlery samples and everything in between – Tiffany – was warm and bubbly from the tips of her fiery red roots to the ends of her manicured toenails and designer sandals.

Michelle however, seemed relaxed; as though the room was some bizarre form of a mood elevator that transformed her into someone he could hardly recognize; save for the fact that she rolled her eyes a little when Tiffany pointed out a entirely pink and extraordinarily floral china pattern that looked as though the designer had struggled to cram the maximum numbers of flowers onto the smallest surface area possible.

"These were all hand painted, of course." Tiffany declared proudly to Michelle, her facial expression giving way to her surprise that Michelle did not proceed to gush and fawn like one would expect.

Tony said a silent prayer of thanks that Tiffany was not the wedding planner Kate Warner had recommended for them, and merely a colleague taking her place while she finished an urgent phone call in the other room. It was his first visit to her office, (which, he realized looked a lot more like a display case than a business). Much to his horror, Tiffany, apparently eager to include him in on the discussion, asked his opinion on the variety of centerpieces laid out over one of the larger tables.

He shot Michelle a distressed expression; not entirely sure how to respond for fear that he might point out something that was altogether hideous, and completely inappropriate for the entire occasion.

"We're still trying to settle on the colour scheme." Michelle told Tiffany politely; getting him off the hook and biting back a laugh when he scratched the side of his face awkwardly.

Tiffany seemed disheartened by his lackadaisical attitude and kept throwing Michelle pitying looks; as though she thought now might be the time to reconsider and apt for a husband more understanding of exactly what went into planning a wedding…as if there was one.

"I'll go see if Lauren's almost ready then." She informed them, her heels clicking briskly against the tiled floor as she flounced out of the room.

"Thank god you're normal." He praised Michelle, making her laugh as she proceeded to examine the place settings.

"I still need your opinion on some stuff though…" she reminded him, suggesting his compliments would not be enough to let him high-tail it out of their first official wedding planning session together.

Lauren breezed into the room less than a minute later in a stunning white suit. The woman, it was obvious, lived a lifestyle similar to that of Kate Warner's and it was easy to see why the two were friends.

"Hi Michelle." She extended her hand briefly before turning to Tony. "Nice to meet you, Tony..."

He shook back, entirely relieved that Lauren too seemed "normal".

Minutes later they were sitting at a small table with a catalogue between them, flipping through page after page of cakes, flower arrangements, and table cloths.

"Pick one." Michelle insisted, already feeling the need to remedy his lack of input on some of the finer details. It was their wedding after all; not her wedding, as much as anyone would insist otherwise. She wanted his opinion, convinced he was a lot less likely to make a bad decision than he expected.

Tony frowned, as Lauren retreated and returned with samples of the four potential place settings she and Michelle had whittled it down to.

The wedding would take place in a garden, not that far outside the city. That had been something Tony and Michelle had decided on together one morning before work. Some absentminded comment he'd made had prompted the suggestion from her; much to his relief. He liked the idea for the same reason she did. It was very...them. It was laid back and casual and did not require a whole extravagant production that relied on every meticulous detail being carried out flawlessly. The ceremony served a purpose. And while it would certainly be memorable, the real cause for excitement would carry on long after the wedding was over.

Now Tony studied the four supposedly distinct plates; unable to observe any noticeable difference between them, but knowing Michelle would be able to point any out in an instant, and therefore leaving him desperate to make the right choice.

"Just…pick the one you like the best." She said, casually assuring him that she liked all of them equally.

He carefully indicated to the one on the far left; relieved to see Michelle nod her agreement and Lauren make note of the pattern in the little notepad she kept with her.

"Once you finalize the guest list we'll start putting together the invitations." Lauren declared.

"We'll have to do that soon…" Michelle reminded Tony who was starting to feel the entire ordeal becoming a lot more bearable than he'd originally anticipated.

"Yeah," he promised. "We'll figure that out this weekend."

Lauren flipped a few pages and gave Michelle a slightly concerned look.

"And your dress, Michelle…"

Michelle grimaced. "I guess I'll uh…have to get going on that too…"

Lauren scribbled something down and handed the paper to her.

"These are the best stores I can suggest, but you're really going to just have to go try on everything and see what you like."

"Thanks."

Tony wanted to ask why Michelle looked so despondent about selecting a dress... but considered that it might not be something she wanted to discuss in front of Lauren. It occurred to him that when Rachel had gotten married, he remembered dress shopping to be quite the production; whereby his mom and an army of her friends had spent a full day and then some on the task.


"Are you gonna go shopping by yourself?" hequestioned on the way back to the apartment.

Michelle looked up from her seat with a puzzled look on her face.

"For your dress…"

She shrugged. "I guess so…It's not that big of a deal anyway…" she fibbed. True, Michelle was certainly not into something puffy or flashy, but she still wanted it to be…well…perfect.

Tony frowned, wondering if she was ever going to clue into the fact that she would never, in the rest of her life, be able to lie to him successfully. She couldn't very well do it before they were in a relationship, and there was definitely no way she'd ever be able to again. In his mind it only further proved the point that they were meant to be; his unavoidable psychic abilities applied to Michelle and only Michelle…Eventually she would appreciate it.

"I could come with ya…if you, y'know…wanted me to…" he suggested; fully aware he would be shot down immediately and doubting whether he would even be any assistance otherwise. It wasn't the kind of thing you wanted a guy who would never understand the difference between white and off-white helping you pick out. He just felt the need to try to do something for her...like there was some sort of built-in mechanism in the back of his brain that would eat away at him until he did.

Michelle spun around to stare at him; surprised and a little taken aback by the offer.

Her lips curved upward slightly and she shook her head.

"No you can't…" she told him gently. "You're not allowed to see my dress…" she squeezed his hand. "But thanks…"

Nothing more of the matter was discussed for the rest of the day.


At CTU the next afternoon, Tony was in Jack's office preparing the progress report they had to give at a meeting with Chappelle and Hammond taking place at District in a few days time.

Jack leaned back in his chair, massaging his brow.

"I need a break."

Tony nodded and fell back in his own chair, yawning briefly.

He wasn't sure what prompted him to say what he said next. Perhaps it was the fact that in the past few months he and Jack had been on the same page in almost everything that was brought up in work related matters; perhaps it was that being personal seemed a lot easier behind the office walls than it was elsewhere; or, quite possibly, is was that Michelle had been particularly quiet since they'd returned home the previous evening and he was burning to get that off his chest in hopes someone else might have a better grip on what to do with the situation; especially Jack who'd already been in the situation.

"Dresses are a big thing, right?" he asked, glad he'd closed his eyes so he wouldn't see Jack's utterly bewildered expression when he did. "I mean y'know…wedding dresses…"

Jack chuckled softly, much to Tony's relief.

"Uh…yeah I'd say so…"

Jack waited for him to continue.

"Just 'cause uh…Michelle doesn't have anyone to go with…"

Jack said nothing.

"To pick one…" he added quickly and rose to his feet to stretch.

"Anyway never mind…" Tony suddenly felt embarrassed...Jack, on the contrary, seemed to be considering this carefully.

"She said she doesn't care though…it's not a big deal…" Tony ventured when he noticed his face.

Jack frowned, making it obvious that he believed the assurance no more than Tony did.

Tony sat back down and began leafing through the statistics they'd had Chloe dig up for the presentation. He was anxious to get home, and his current slip of the tongue seemed to give him even more reason to get through the rest of the work quickly.


"Hey..." he stepped inside the apartment later that night to find Michelle reading a book on the couch.

"Hey...did you finish?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah...just barely..."

He dropped his belongings on the coffee table and sat down beside her, leaning over for a kiss.

"Kate called me." she spat out abruptly once he'd turned on the TV. Tony's eyes widened only slightly in hopes of hiding the fact that he had a sinking suspicion he knew exactly the reason for the call.

"Huh..." he commented nonchalantly. "What for?"

Michelle raised an eyebrow. "You should know..."

He sighed; convinced he was biting a hole on the inside of his cheek. "I didn't mean to tell him...it just...came out."

"I can't believe you talked to Jack about it..." she said incredulously. "Since when do you talk about me with Jack?"

He shrugged. "I dunno...I didn't plan on it but..."

Much to his relief, Michelle laughed and shook her head; the visual of the conversation overpowering her with hilarity...she really couldn't be upset with him for this one...Instead she slid off the couch.

"C'mon Almeida." she grabbed his hand, dragging him to his feet. "You're cooking me dinner."

She giggled this time at the annoyed look on his face; a light fluffy giggle that couldn't help but make him smile and more than willing to cook however many dinners she wanted for the rest of her life if it would make her so happy when he did.

As he pulled some pots and pans out of the cupboards, Michelle grabbed two beers from the fridge and settled herself at the counter.

"You're lucky you can cook." she teased smartly; deciding a little good humored taunting was enough punishment for having discussed their joint personal life without her consent behind the walls of CTU.

"You wouldn't really be good for anything otherwise..."

Tony spun around; trying to fake a bruised ego; if she wanted to play he was more than willing...

"I'm good at lots of things." he declared easily, turning back to the stove.

He chuckled when she groaned; feigning exasperation and making him glad his back was to her.

"Whatever you say..." she dryly commented in a voice that quite obviously suggested she didn't believe a word he said.

Tony turned around more slowly this time; eyebrow raised and scratching the side of his face.

"Do you really wanna go there?" he warned her as she surreptitiously crossed her legs and took another swig from her bottle.

When she did not reply he sighed heavily, as though about to teach a child some life lesson he was convinced would be lost on them anyway despite his very best attempts.

"C'mere..." he reached for her elbow as she tried to move away.

"Michelle c'mere..." he dove and missed again. "C'mon...Michelle!" he roared impatiently and finally managed a good hold on her when she collapsed against the counter in fits of laughter.

He swept her feet out from underneath her and lifted her atop the island.

"I'm good..." he hinted suggestively, creating some space between her legs to fill. "At a lot of things..."

He pinned both her wrists to her sides and leaned in to her neck, sucking gently. Michelle bit her lip hard to keep her contented sigh at bay as his mouth trailed across her shoulder. When his arm snaked around her hips and lifted her body against him, she moaned softly and his lips covered hers.

A sizzling noise interrupted them and Tony groaned in actual annoyance this time. Michelle grinned as he returned to the stove with orders for her not to move. She threw her head back with an exasperated eye roll, legs swinging indolently from where she perched atop the counter.

"Oh by the way..." he began nonchalantly, his back still to her. "I talked to a realtor."

He waited for her reaction; wanting desperately to turn around and see the surprised, followed by elated, look on her face.

"You what?" her voice hit an octave higher than she thought herself to be capable of.

"Yeah well..." he faced her casually, shrugging off the significance. "I just figured that's another thing we'd better get going on...and I still had this guy's card from a couple of years back so..." he shrugged again, waiting for her face to turn from shocked to ecstatic.

"So he said he'd call us if he comes up with anything we might be interested in." He played it off sheepishly; waiting for her to say something.

"Wow." She chewed on the end of her lip. "I can't believe all of this is actually starting to happen and in a couple months..."

"You nervous?" it was a question he'd been waiting to ask whenever the opportune moment presented itself.

Michelle had to think about her answer. She'd been anxious early on in the engagement but those feelings had dissipated quickly. She wasn't really sure what there was to be nervous about...excited, yes, of course, she was unbelievably excited...but nervous?

"No." she stated clearly, catching his eye when she did. "I mean maybe that everything won't fall into place in time but..."

Slowly, her eyes shrunk back to normal size and her mouth broke into an overly large, almost painful grin. Tony grinned back when she did, placing a kiss inside her palm and working his way up her arm.

"Love you..." he mumbled into her skin; smoothing down the hair at the back of her head.

She pressed their lips together gently; certain nothing could ever make her forget that. It would seem Tony wasn't the only one with psychic abilities…


"Is this gonna be weird?" Michelle ventured as they pulled onto the highway, unable to help but notice how irritable Tony had seemed ever since she informed him of the plan Kate had concocted for their evening of dress shopping.

"You said just a couple of hours, right?" he grudgingly pressed, needing to hear her assurances one more time.

"Yeah, the stores aren't open that late anyway...we might not find something tonight..."

"Well if you don't..." Tony warned her. "We're not doing this again."

She sighed. "Honey, I'm sorry but Kate suggested it. What did you want me to do?"

He shook his head, his fingers raking the side of his cheek. "I'm only doing this for you..."

"And you haven't stopped reminding me of that all day...Will you just relax?" if anything she too was irritated now. "Maybe it won't be so bad."

"What am I gonna do with Jack all night?" he pouted.

"I don't know... You spend 50 hours a week together...You can think of something..."

"Yeah, work...which I'll tell you right now, I do not want to talk about..."

"Don't be difficult..." she gently chastised; her patience starting to wane.

"Yeah..." he reached for her hand, all of a sudden feeling guilty about ruining what should have been an entirely enjoyable experience for her. "Look I'm sorry...don't you worry about it, alright? Take your time...we'll figure somethin' out."

She leaned across the armrest separating them, brushing her nose across his cheek once before kissing the spot.

"Thanks."


"Hey Michelle, Tony!" Kate beamed excitedly as she pulled back the front door of her house.

"Let me just grab my purse." she spun gracefully on her heel and exited the hallway just as Jack entered.

"Hey guys." he smiled casually and they exchanged greetings. If he was uncomfortable with the situation he certainly didn't show it. The only previous reason Tony had ever had to spend time with Jack outside CTU was at Terri Bauer's funeral, and neither wanted to relive that day.

Their relationship was...indefinable. Tony wasn't sure he would consider him a friend; Jack certainly wasn't someone he'd volunteer to "hang out" with of his own free will on any given day. However, the events they'd witnessed and worked through together seemed to form a unique bond that, in retrospect, couldn't be ignored. They had experienced things few other people could ever say they'd experienced, and they'd butted heads on more than one occasion; both ultimately trying to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Perhaps, that was why it was so hard to be...normal in the presence of the other. Over the course of those grueling days spent together they'd seen sides of each other's personality most would never get to see; they'd witnessed behaviour that few people would ever be able to understand and would, more likely than not, never have the guts or gall to execute themselves. It was a league of its own; work that was. And Tony and Jack, (Tony in particular) had been forced to come to grips with the fact that any judgment about what went on there and the actions that were undertaken was put aside by convention. It wasn't black or white or right or wrong; it just was. Jack and Tony's tactics and approaches to work and life in general seemed on the surface to be very different...but, when tinkered with appropriately, managed to compliment each other. Maybe, in another life they could've been friends...buddies...or something of that nature...Maybe if they could put aside all the baggage that came with their lives at CTU and accept each other for being something other than what they were in the office, they still could be.

Kate returned, bag over her shoulder and scooped her keys off the small hook hanging beside the door.

"Have fun guys." she told them cheerily, before kissing Jack firmly on the lips in goodbye.

Jack, if Tony wasn't mistaken, blushed when she did. He threw Michelle a slightly amused glance to see if she noticed this as well. She smirked when she caught his eye before following Kate out the door.

"Drink?" Jack offered as soon after they observed Kate's car pull out of the driveway. Tony nodded gratefully and followed him into the immaculately kept kitchen where he pulled two beer bottles from the fridge.

"Thanks." he took one, following Jack to the couch.

Tony almost laughed out loud with relief when Jack flipped through the channels, stopping when he reached a baseball game. Perhaps they would come up with something to talk about in a few innings, but for the moment…silence was golden.


Kate had to laugh at crinkled nose and skeptical look Michelle was wearing when she emerged from the dressing room.

"You look so pretty!" the assistant who had been helping them select dresses insisted.

"I don't think it's really my uh...style." Michelle chose her words slowly, taking care not to offend anyone indirectly.

Kate nodded her agreement, seeing how uncomfortable Michelle was engulfed by all the fabric and intricate beadwork.

The assistant sighed heavily, scooting out of the dressing room to go and fetch them each some water.

"Thanks again for coming with me, Kate." Michelle smiled appreciatively as she scrutinized herself carefully in the mirror; starting to question if white maybe wasn't her colour.

"I'm glad to, really..." Kate warmly assured her, soft frown lines creasing her otherwise smooth brow.

"The last thing I did with my sister was plan her wedding..." she began slowly. "I guess in some weird was this is like...therapy...or something..."

Michelle smiled sadly as Kate came to stand beside her, fussing with one of the straps of the stress.

"It's strange not being able to talk to people about this... It's like the elephant in the room; everywhere I go everyone tries to act normal, but you can tell it's all they're thinking about..."

She gave up rearranging the strap and instead settled for flattening it against Michelle's shoulder and giving her one more up and down in the mirror.

"You're right." she decided. "This definitely doesn't suit you..."


Tony muttered profanities under his breath as the umpire's latest call sent the Mets ahead of LA by two runs.

"Idiot." he scowled, as Jack took a long sip of his second beer and nodded his agreement.

The top of the 7th inning was drawing to a close when Jack brought up something Tony hadn't necessarily been expecting, and wasn't entirely sure he wanted to think about. Nonetheless, it was something Jack wanted to discuss; which meant it would be coming out one way or another.

"The briefing package Division sent over on Ramon Salazar..." he started as Tony turned to face him, eyebrows raised slightly.

"What about him?" Tony frowned. He was well aware of the fact that when it came to work nobody would ever come close to having the kind of dedication Jack did. He didn't particularly want to think about work tonight though; not after a relatively enjoyable evening had amounted out of something that could've otherwise been disastrous.

"We need to put somebody on him...undercover...He's got ties to every major terrorist cell we've been working Intel on for the past five years.

Tony sighed; he was right after all.

"So what were you thinking...?"

Jack paused a moment; listening to see if he heard any signs of Michelle and Kate returning, and then continued.

"Get as much info as we can on him for now and put someone in play...It'll take a couple of months to get to his inner circle and the sooner we get going the better..."

"And we're still gonna have to convince Chappelle it's worth the time and resources."

"Which is where Michelle comes in..."

Tony scratched the side of his face, not sure he was too fond of where this conversation was going.

"What do you mean?"

"Michelle puts together a background profile with everything there is to know about this guy and presents it to Chappelle in the fall."

Tony considered this carefully. It made sense; Ryan liked Michelle; probably because she was not only smart and always on top of her game, but came off as a lot less threatening than either of them did. She, with their support, would have a much less difficult time convincing him to sign off on the mission.

"I'll ask her tomorrow." he agreed before turning back to the TV. Any conversation he had with Jack would inevitably, manage to turn into work...he concluded.


"Now this I like." Kate brightly declared when Michelle emerged in what seemed like the millionth gown.

Michelle smoothed the silky fabric with her fingertips, smiling when she caught a glimpse in the mirror. She liked it too. It was simple, not overpowering and certainly not over the top. She liked the way the stitching managed to cut her off in just the right places and the soft swirling of tiny diamonds across the fabric produced a subtle effect.

"Yeah, me too."

Kate stood behind her, cinching the dress at the waist.

"You'll just have to get it taken in a little here..." she demonstrated in the mirror. "And you wouldn't even need a necklace really...just some earrings..."

Michelle was starting to feel a flurry of butterflies at the sight of herself. It was definitely something she could picture herself wearing on her wedding day...and the notion sent a warm, tingly sensation to her deepest insides.


"Guys..." Kate wandered in from the entrance hall to find Tony and Jack returned to their seats in front of the TV; engrossed in yet another game.

"Hey..." her arms snaked around Jack from behind and she kissed his cheek. He gently rubbed one arm and mumbled his own greeting; something he obviously was keen to keep from his two colleagues.

"Well?" Tony turned his attention to Michelle who was lingering beside the armrest.

"It's getting altered." she told him breezily; fighting hard to conceal her delight as she settled on the couch beside him.

A few minutes later, after discussion of their respective nights was over, Tony nudged Michelle's leg, indicating it was probably time for them to leave. Michelle thanked Kate a final time and they both said their goodnights to Jack before heading out the door.

As they moved down the walkway to their car, Michelle felt herself being pulled in at the waist. Like being hit with a ton of bricks, Tony suddenly realized how incredibly close they were... He grinned, pressing a kiss against the top of her head and stopping momentarily before they climbed in the car.

"C'mere..." he locked her body snugly against his and eased her arms around his neck. He used the tip of his nose to bump her mouth upwards to his.

She smiled when they broke the kiss; understanding his need for a quick reality check. It was so easy to become overwhelmed by everything and forget that it was all just... a means to an end. The wedding would be fun; no doubt about that, but being married was what they were both looking forward to most of all.