A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter; I really appreciate it. This chapter…I'm not sure how much I like it…It feels like there's too much gushing in it or something…you can let me know…lol. Also, there's one part where I talk about computer science-type stuff and I've only taken one course on that so my knowledge is limited at best…Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty Eight – Remembrance

The last few months before their wedding passed quickly. Too quickly, in a lot of respects... The list of things to do seemed endless and despite the combined efforts of Lauren, Kate and herself, Michelle desperately wished Alicia lived a hell of a lot closer. Alicia was someone she actually trusted enough to speak on her behalf; who's input she probably valued above all others. She missed her...a lot. The majority of people Michelle worked with were men and some days she would kill for some girl time with her best friend; something that was becoming a lot more apparent with the up and coming event.

Preoccupation with the wedding and the amount of work Hammond seemed to feel like piling on both Tony and Michelle as a form of punishment for committing such an audacious act left Michelle ignorant to the speed at which time flew by. However, much to her dismay, an occasion that had managed to stay completely off her radar until the day of was soon upon them...

The air when they stepped inside CTU that morning was different; as though it was charged in a way it hadn't been the day before. It took a few seconds for her to clue in, and it was only when being given a tender look by Tony, one that he rarely expressed at work, that she realized why that was. Most of the staff went about their business as though nothing about the day was any different...but a few, the few who hadn't transferred out of CTU yet (whether by choice or not) all knew...

It had been exactly one year.

Exactly one year since a bomb had ripped through the very same walls that they were standing between now. Exactly one year since George Mason had been exposed to plutonium and they'd, knowingly or not, watched him deteriorate as the hours ticked by. One year since a doctor had worked relentlessly to revive Paula long enough to spit out...what? Five words? Before she smiled while Mason gently congratulated her and then flat lined while being taken out the door...

Tony was watching her carefully as they walked through the bullpen; her mind obviously preoccupied with the same thing his was. In so many ways it felt like the horrific events had happened barely a day ago. He remembered them so vividly; he still remembered dragging Paula away from the computer and lifting piece after piece of rubble off her mangled form; he remembered Mason handing him the CTU Access Codes, looking defeated for the first time any of them could ever remember as he walked out of the office. Mostly, he remembered hugging Michelle, and the way her hair slid between his fingers as he tried to comfort her; the kiss that probably would've gone on forever if Carrie hadn't interrupted them... He still remembered life without her and how unbearably miserable it had been, whether he showed that or not. He questioned whether she would ever really understand how she'd rescued him from the miserable state it had felt like he was destined to.

At the time, he hadn't realized how upset he really was. At the time it hadn't occurred to him that there was so much more to life than letting Nina Myers ruin it. He hoped Michelle knew that. He hoped she knew that she'd saved him...

As the morning wore on it became apparent that Michelle was out of it. Her work wasn't suffering, but it wasn't done with the same...energy or vibrancy. Everything she did was monotonous and unmotivated.

"Dessler." even her voice sounded disheartened.

"Hey..." he made a point to speak particularly gently this time around.

"Hey...what do you need?"

"Nothing..." he quickly assured her. "I just...wanted to talk to you..."

"'Bout what?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Chappelle expects that paperwork done within the hour..."

"Michelle..."

"You should get going on that."

"You're probably right." he conceded. "We'll talk later."

Tony had just finished forwarding the documents to Division when he decided to see if Michelle needed a break. He frowned when she was not at her station and did a quick scan of the bullpen as he headed towards the washrooms.

"Michelle in there?" he asked Eileen as she emerged. Eileen shook her head.

"No, but she said she was heading to IT..."

For some reason, those words struck a cord with him.

"She say what for?"

Again, Eileen shook her head, looking puzzled now. "She said you'd know..."

He almost laughed aloud when realization washed over him, and thanked a very confused Eileen before heading in the opposite direction of IT.

"Hey," he grabbed her attention. She stood rooted to the ground, carefully studying the indentations of a particular corner; arms folded across her chest.

"You okay?" he asked, when she inclined her head slightly in his direction in acknowledgment. He did a quick scan of their surroundings before inching in and wrapping his arms across her.

"Tony..." she warned, glancing around quickly. "Someone might see..."

He kissed her cheek and squeezed tighter, swaying gently back and forth.

"Didn't stop you last time." He teased, nuzzling her shoulder.

This got a smile; however small.

"Today's been weird..." she sighed, leaning back against him. "I mean...everything's so different..."

He sighed too. "I know, sweetheart."

"I mean I know I shouldn't complain." she stuttered after a minute. "I know that worse things have happened and..." she hung her head in defeat. "I don't even know what I'm saying anymore...I don't know why I keep doing this..."

Underneath it all Michelle still felt like an amateur for being so affected by everything; namely since she was working with people like Tony and Jack and Ryan who seemed to handle extreme situations so easily.

"I get scared...sometimes." she whispered quietly, as if he didn't already know that.

"Everyone does Michelle; believe me."

She ignored the comment and continued "Sometimes I don't think I can do this... I get too emotional and-"

He tilted his head to get a better look at her face; feeling his heart melt a little at her glassy eyed expression.

"Michelle..." he linked their hands together. "We work with a lot of people everyday and there is no one...no one...I could ever have more faith in than you. And that's why I love working with you everyday...'cause I know no matter what happens I can trust you to do the right thing."

She sniffled a little and he kissed her hair.

After a minute of nothing she laughed softly and craned her head to whisper into his neck:

"I miss Mason."

Tony chuckled and hesitated before speaking. "Me too...but don't tell anyone that."

She smiled again, a little wider this time and kissed the side of his collar; reveling in the comforting warmth.

"I say..." he began as she twisted around to face him. "That tonight we rent a movie on the way home..."

She grinned as he drew her in more tightly.

"And order takeout?" she asked hopefully, kissing the tip of his nose.

"Uh huh..." he returned the gesture. "And we just do nothing all night, okay? Just relax... and don't think about anything..."

She beamed and nodded; deciding that getting through the rest of the day would be worth it if for no other reason than that.


Later that night she felt a lot more like herself again.

"I have an idea." she told him in a hushed voice as he removed remaining cartons of Chinese food from the coffee table.

He raised a comical eyebrow, noticing the glint had returned to her eyes.

"I think we should go get some hot chocolate at that place you like...with the whipped cream."

Tony decided against pointing out that it was firstly July, and secondly, they could just as easily make hot chocolate with whipped cream at home. Michelle was excited and that was more than enough reason to go. He agreed, pausing the movie as she flounced out the room and returned a minute later with her sweater.

As they walked Tony instinctively scanned the area, looking for any suspicious creatures out of convention. He had never necessarily been fond of nighttime ventures through the city. Too many things went unseen when it was dark outside; too many people could get away with things... It made him uneasy, though he had never mentioned that to Michelle before. He knew how much she loved her spontaneous walks at all hours...How much more alive they made her feel and how they cleared her head. At least now he could take care of them both if need be...anything was certainly better than having her slip out of bed without him even being conscious to the fact that she was out there...alone. He hated that more than anything.

The fact that she even let him intrude on this personal regime made him deliriously happy. She included him in something that had until recently been entirely her own. It made him feel connected to her in yet another way he hadn't been before and he hadn't really thought possible. Their relationship seemed to only become more and more intimate with each passing day and Tony wondered where they'd be a year or even ten from that minute, and how much more he could possibly grow to love her in that time.

So now, as they walked the streets with a depleting number of cars on the road and an increasing number of obscure characters on the sidewalks, he made a point to not let her take too many steps ahead of him as she glided contentedly down the street. At one point he could've sworn he saw a couple of punks, drunk on something no doubt, throw a few unwarranted glances in her direction. Never once did it occur to him that this was Michelle Dessler, the Michelle Dessler who worked at the same government agency he did and was probably almost as aware of their surroundings as he was and knew perfectly well how to take of herself. All he saw was his Michelle being thrown looks that would make anyone uncomfortable by a couple of yahoos who had nothing better to do than loiter a street corner in the middle of the night leering at his fiancé.

"Michelle..." he pulled her back, reaffirming the grip he had on her as they passed the group. He leaned in to mutter something softly in her hair, his eyes never leaving his cause for concern until they had safely passed.

"Tony..." she looked at him skeptically, noticing his gaze.

"Don't frown..." he kissed the crease in her brow, determined to cut her off before she could insist there was nothing to worry about. "You'll give yourself wrinkles..."

It seemed to work as she simply slipped an arm around him and leaned her head against his shoulder as they continued.

Unintentionally, Tony's thoughts drifted back to Nina and it took him a moment to realize why. They'd walked down the same street on a very similar evening a few years prior. It had been even later at night though; she'd come over straight from CTU looking exhausted and in dire need of a caffeine pick-me-up. He had stupidly forgotten he was out of coffee and to go to the store for more on his own way home. She'd been irked at the prospect of having to go out but in the end, had agreed and they'd headed to the same coffee shop he and Michelle were on their way to now.

The difference was he remembered being equally as anxious as Nina had been to get in and out and back to the apartment; not really taking the time to enjoy the outing. And he certainly remembered that she had not been entirely understanding when he'd grabbed her hand to pull her closer...just in case (because really you never knew what could happen...their job had taught them that). If anything she'd been irritated; as though his precautionary measures were hindering the freedom she so desired. In fact, he'd had to hold back snapping something about being entirely certain Jack would've done the same thing in the same scenario and she would've been a hell of a lot less likely to complain about it if he had.

Before, it would've riled him up; made him resent her even more for what she'd done to him in the months they were together. Now though, he couldn't care less. Michelle had just whispered something against him and he had absolutely no idea what she'd said. He was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to have said anything...it was a game she teased him with; for she knew he just liked when her breath tickled his skin in all the right places with a few barely audible, incomprehensible nothings. It sent chills down his spine, the good kind of chills she could feel when he shuddered and made her giggle.

No...He really couldn't care less what the hell Nina had done, or was doing now, or was (if he knew anything about her at all) probably conspiring to do in the near future. That part of his life was so irrelevant that he found himself actually not caring when he thought back to everything that had transpired. It was the past...

Tony wasn't concerned with the past.

He was looking towards the future. For instance, he was currently formulating the best possible way to make Michelle laugh out loud in the completely uninhibited kind of way before they got back to the apartment; he was contemplating how things were going to change in the next few weeks and what it would be like to introduce her as his wife to everyone they would converse with when they attended the meeting at Division in a few months time... It was their first meeting together outside of CTU and the prospect was overwhelmingly satisfying. God, he really didn't need to tell her what she'd done for him over the course of the last year; by the way she was snuggled between his arm and his body now it was more than obvious that she already knew.

Michelle was more than delighted when he suggested they sit outside at one of the small, dimly lit tables while they had their drinks. Incidentally, she ended up making him burst out laughing first, when she took a sip from her Styrofoam cup and ended up with a glob of whipped cream on the end of her nose and upper lip.

"What are you laughing at?" she inquired smartly, being cut off in mid sentence of a story she'd been telling him and oblivious to what had brought on this case of snickers.

Tony grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and pushed it against her nose, allowing the stickiness of the cream to hold it in place against her face.

This made her laugh and blush simultaneously as she realized her blunder and wiped away the residue while Tony continued to laugh at her. In a few minutes the fit of hilarity had died down and Michelle dabbed her eyes with the corner of her sleeve.

"Tony..." she began, her voice lowered as she traced the juncture between his thumb and forefinger.

He lifted his eyes to meet hers, concerned to see that she looked serious again.

"Just...thanks...for today. I needed this."

The corners of his lips turned upward slightly and he squeezed her hand back; glad the things that had been upsetting her at work were long since forgotten.


By the time two-thirty rolled around Michelle still hadn't fallen asleep. She couldn't sleep anyway and besides...she was waiting for it. It had occurred to her when he'd dozed of while watching the rest of the movie and it seemed entirely inappropriate to ignore such an occasion. In fact, Michelle promised herself at that moment she'd be damned if she ever did miss it. Eventually it would become predictable, she knew as much. In fact, by the following year he'd probably be waiting awake in anticipation, having obviously caught on by then. But for now...this would be fun.

She rolled on top of him, grinning mischievously at his sleeping form.

"Tony..." she whispered; coaxing him awake.

"Mhm..." he grunted and shifted a little under her weight.

She laughed softly and called his name again, this time a little louder.

His eyes opened and took a moment to focus on her face in the darkness.

"Hey..."

She tilted her head to one side, studying him carefully for a moment before cupping his face in both hands and pulling her lips against his. After a few seconds she pulled back long enough to give him a second to think as she watched expectantly.

Michelle wasn't entirely sure if he'd picked up on her desire to reminisce or not but shortly afterwards she found herself being rolled back to her side of the bed as their lips fused together once again.

Tony cuddled back up against her when the events that transpired between the sheets after her early morning kiss were over, and Michelle found herself beaming happily as she took the time to appreciate how many good things the year had brought... After all, any day that had resulted in her no longer lying in bed alone every night, but with Tony nonetheless, couldn't be all bad...

She had to bite back a laugh when a particularly funny incident crossed her mind. She'd been at CTU for just over a month when her unknowing husband-to-be had innocently questioned her love life. She'd almost choked on the saltine she was munching at the time and was only too grateful she didn't send bits of masticated cracker flying in his direction.

"Well I've just been...seeing this guy for a couple of weeks now..." she lied through her teeth. It had been two, insufferably long dates; hardly what one would consider a relationship.

Tony eyed her curiously, in the uninterested sort of way that drove her absolutely crazy every single time. If just him breathing and hovering over her a little too closely was enough to torture her the very least he could do would be to ignore her completely or act like a jerk or - .

His mellow tones interrupted her thoughts. "You don't sound too thrilled."

That's because all I've thought about every day since working here is getting you alone in one of the Holding rooms and reconfiguring the lock... She almost told him, but managed to control herself.

"It hasn't really been that long…" she brushed off the comment

He nodded casually, suggesting their discussion revolving around personal lives had ended.

She studied him carefully as they continued to work after that; wondering what in the world had left him looking so tormented after their seemingly laid-back and entirely incidental conversation that he had initiated.

It would take her two more uneventful dates to realize this "guy" she'd been seeing at the time was entirely wrong for her, and about five weeks after that for her to clue into the fact that maybe…just maybe…there was a teeny, tiny, minuscule possibility that Tony might feel a immeasurably small ounce of what she was feeling too...All of which would come to fruition on one notorious day.


"Mr. Almeida?" the man lingering in the doorway to the Situation room inquired.

Tony looked up from the computer monitor he'd been analyzing for what felt like the better part of an hour. They'd received Intel earlier that morning with regards to some sort of attack planned somewhere in the mid-west in the next few days. Normally, the information reported what not be detailed enough to merit much of an investigation but something about the report was bugging him and he couldn't quite put his finger on it; though he was determined to uncover whatever it was that needed uncovering in time to stop any hit to be made.

He studied the man carefully for a moment, doing a mental scan of the file he remembered reading prior to the phone interview they'd had a few weeks before.

The man offered a hand.

"Gael Ortega." He paused as Tony shook. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner. The move from Virginia took longer than I'd expected."

Gael would've explained how it was the stress of the relocation on his family that had caused the brunt of the problems when it came to getting to LA, but that was something you simply did not tell your boss; particularly not on your first day.

"Don't worry about it." Tony brushed him off and indicated to the chair in front of him.

"Take a seat; we'll get you up to speed."

Twenty minutes had passed and Tony was itching to see if any progress had been made in decoding the Intel. Gael was already well versed on the internal network anyway and would be well on his way once his station had been set up and his clearance been assigned.

"Dessler."

"Hey, can I see you in the Situation room for a sec?"

"I'll be right there."

Gael watched as seconds later the woman he'd heard on the phone flounced into the room. She was particularly attractive he noted at first glance as she approached the table Tony had risen from to stand beside him.

"What's up?" she looked quickly between the two of them.

"Gael this is Michelle Dessler. She'll make sure you get set up with everything." Gael nodded and rose from his chair as Tony turned back to Michelle.

"Let me know if you have any problems getting clearance from Division." He said, handing her a slip of paper with the latest codes on it.

Michelle nodded before moving towards the door and indicating for Gael to follow her.

"Tony briefed you on the active protocols?" Michelle questioned after Gael was logged into the system.

"Yup, I can get started right away."

"Good. Any information you find comes to me."

He nodded.

"So if you have no other questions..." Michelle collected her things and made to leave.

"Oh uh...Michelle?" Gael called her back.

She turned around expectantly.

"Tony said you were both gone in September..."

"Yeah that's right. Four days during the first week..."

Gael frowned. "Four days? He said a week."

Michelle's face gave away her surprise. "I uh...must've gotten the dates wrong." she covered up carefully. She wasn't sure if Gael had been informed of the circumstances regarding their personal relationship yet and decided it was best not to say anything incriminating until she was clear. Besides, it wasn't exactly necessary for him to know right off the bat and she'd much prefer he saw how things were run in the office before adding that to the mix.

The problem with this, she suddenly realized, was that the reason there were supposed to be absent for four days (certainly not seven), was that they would be on what little bit of a honeymoon they were given courtesy of Division. They had also been instructed to remain in the state, in the event that an emergency presented itself and one or more of their presences were required. The luxury they'd been afforded at Christmas would certainly not repeat itself for their honeymoon; not that Michelle really cared. Alone time away from the office with Tony for a few days was all she could possibly want.

She quickly returned to the Situation room were Tony still remained, still staring intently at the laptop screen as he had been when she left.

"Tony..." she grabbed his attention.

"Did you get Gael set up?"

"He asked about the time we took off in September..."

Tony froze. He glanced up at her slowly with a guilty expression. He scratched the side of his cheek and bit his lip.

"A week?" she asked; her voice giving way to her surprise.

Tony nodded. "I didn't want to say anything until I sorted everything out with Chappelle... He called me this morning and agreed to hang around for the week. Four days just didn't seem long enough..."

Her eyes sparkled at this and she gave him a half-smile...on the off chance anyone was watching them.

"Consider it part of your wedding present." he bit his lip again just so he would look irritated and busy in the event anyone unwelcome might show up at that very moment.

Michelle mumbled something of thanks before returning to her station and had to seriously restrain herself from squealing with giddiness at the prospect.


"Tony..." Michelle's feet softly echoed down the hall in pursuit of his name as she called it out.

Tony did not respond immediately but continued to key away at the laptop now resting on his knees as he scanned through a series of files he'd uploaded from the main server at the last minute.

"What are you doing?" she probed; already knowing the answer. He didn't respond.

"Honey we already decided that was nothing..." she crossed the room to stand behind the couch. "Chloe couldn't pull anything off it and Jack couldn't find anything worth exploring either..."

"But he agreed that we're missing something." Tony snapped at her, finding himself irritated that she interrupted his focus for such a reason. "There's something to this and I'm gonna figure it out."

Michelle sighed heavily before retreating to the bedroom and convincing Tony she had gone back to get some sleep. His brow contracted slightly when she returned a few minutes later, pulling a sweatshirt over her head and stumbling beside him onto the couch.

He looked at her suspiciously.

"You're not gonna fall asleep until this gets sorted out." she reminded him in an exasperated voice. "And I'm not going to fall asleep until you come back to bed...so I might as well help."

He stared at her carefully for a few seconds before moving the laptop between them and returning his attention to the computer.

"Adam didn't find anything that those numbers and letters could be related to?" Michelle asked suddenly, bringing Tony out of his daydream. There was a fragment at the bottom of the message that simply looked like gibberish and they hadn't been able to find its relationship to anything.

"Nah...Not even as a serial number or something..."

"Tony..." Michelle's voice was more anxious now and there was definitely an urgency present that hadn't been there before.

"What if it that's...the encryption key?"

He flecked his tongue over the front of his teeth while he studied it again.

"But the message is completely coherent."

"That could be the point... The message makes sense so you wouldn't suspect it to be encrypted..."

Tony still analyzed it carefully.

"If it was encrypted why would they give us exactly what we needed to solve it? It's too easy..."

"I don't know." she paused heavily, considering this. "Have us waste time maybe? Or even ignore it completely? It's not too easy if no one's thought of it yet..."

She definitely had a point.

"It's worth a shot..." she pressed further

Tony agreed and placed the computer in her lap; watching as she went to work and leaning over her shoulder intently to see any progress made.

"There..." she announced, leaning back to study the results.

"Damn it." his stomach plummeted as he realized the message revealed everything... Date, time and location of the hit... He sprinted to his feet in search of the phone.

"The attack's scheduled for somewhere on the east coast..."

"Do you think it's credible?" she asked, handing him the handset that had buried itself under a pillow earlier in the day.

He sighed. "I dunno, but it's not I chance I'd be willing to take."

"Whose number do you want?" she pulled up the list of contact information and looked up expectantly.

"Washington..."

She listened semi-tiredly while he placed the call, her knees tucked underneath her as she fell back on the couch.

The call ended a few minutes later; after the decrypted message had been transferred along with the assurances of the Washington office that they'd find anyone involved.

When Tony returned Michelle had almost, but not quite, passed out. He settled down again beside her.

"Good work." he patted her thigh gently in thanks.

"You were right." she muttered in a sleepy voice, the adrenaline produced by the thrill of the find slowly decreasing.

He was getting tired now and after a few minutes no longer had the strength to walk himself back to bed, let alone Michelle. She did not seem to mind, as she had already fallen asleep curled up in a ball on her half of the couch. Instead he covered her with a blanket and leaned back, closing his eyes. In the midst of his exhaustive state, Tony vaguely wondered how in the world he'd ever managed to be lucky enough to become engaged to an intelligent, computer-savvy, gorgeous, sweet, and understanding (even when he was in one of his moods) woman like Michelle Dessler...