A Series of Unfortunate Clichés: Chapter Two: The Fallout
Disclaimer: Characters belong to a bunch of important people who don't know me. Hopefully.
Notes: Was overwhelmed by the wonderful response to "Wake Up Call". I'm so glad that you enjoyed it. Thank you ever so much to all who took the time to review.
This is a continuation of that fic, now part of the newly named "Series of Unfortunate Clichés". I've outlined several more cliché scenarios that will all take part within the same universe. This one takes place after "Wake Up Call", but (if all goes to plan) future clichés will take place at various intervals of time afterwards.
I do not take myself seriously. I do not take this fic seriously. No offence intended. Etc. etc. etc.
Feedback/Reviews: Are gratefully received and make my day 20 times better.
She arrives at CTU four minutes after Tony, having left at approximately the same time. She continued to mentally kick herself most of the journey for her earlier error, pausing only when some inconsiderate driver decided that pulling out in front of her, nearly causing a collision, was a good idea. The pause was mostly so that she could be as inventive as possible with expletives.
Despite Tony's assurances that everything will be okay, she is not convinced and she will continue to mentally lambaste herself for any fallout.
She can only hope that Chappelle - after having been woken up in the middle of the night to come into CTU for some crisis and having to summon what appears to be a good proportion of the senior staff with the potential for having to work through the night and into the next day – is in a good mood.
Because that's likely. Internally, she groans.
Chappelle enters the conference room after the majority have already gathered.
He pauses before starting the briefing, shooting what can only be described as a look of enmity at Tony. "You received the message, then?" he questions.
Fortunately Tony, appeased momentarily by caffeine, decides to go with the non-confrontational route, nodding briefly and commenting, "Yes, thank you, Ryan."
"I will get my assistant to schedule a meeting with you. I believe that there is something we need to discuss."
Tony gives a forced smile, not wanting to be shown up in front of his staff. "Certainly, Ryan," he complies.
Chappelle appears to ignore Michelle. She's almost grateful for this and only hopes that no one notices and starts putting two and two together to get a balanced sum.
Eventually, Chappelle starts the meeting.
"Good morning. Thank you all for coming in so early. At 2am this morning I received some information regarding possible terrorist activity in the area; we believe that the threat is imminent. The information we're receiving is from a source we trust, although the veracity will need to be confirmed." A satellite image appears on the projector screen and Chappelle begins to point out pertinent information and explains details relevant to the threat.
Michelle feels a headache coming on. It's going to be a long day.
They work almost non-stop throughout the day, sifting through information, attempting to make sense of encrypted files, and monitoring key personnel before Jack makes decisions on the best action to be taken.
At about two pm, Michelle takes a break and goes to make a coffee. She waits for the water to boil when Sam, a young, attractive blonde from IT, approaches her.
"Chappelle's in a bad mood today," Sam comments as she grabs a mug from the shelf. "He's been questioning practically everything I've taken to him all day. And I'm not the only one."
Michelle doesn't reply. She knows Sam reasonably well and usually will talk to her, but her headache is of the magnitude that she would prefer to crawl into a dark corner, take copious amounts of Advil, and sleep.
"What's Tony done to piss him off? The looks he's been getting all day... He must have been done something major."
"I've no idea," Michelle comments neutrally, shrugging, when Sam looks at her for a response.
"Really? I thought you two were very close."
Mentally, she irritably tells Sam to shut the hell up, but fortunately refrains from speaking the words.
"We work together," Michelle says as evenly as she can, attempting not to sound defensive. That would be the last thing they need right now: other people becoming suspicious and starting rumours.
She must only be somewhat successful in her attempt. "Oh god no, I wasn't trying to suggest anything! Although given half a chance I'd not turn him down," Sam comments suggestively. She practically sighs. "But then, he's at the top of the list for most of IT, so I'd have some competition." She grins.
Michelle forces a smile, willing the kettle to complete its task with a speed she knows that it isn't capable of, if only to find some way out of the conversation.
"You okay?" Sam asks after a long silence.
"Nothing a few Advil and sleep won't cure," she replies. The water finally boils and she makes the coffee. She knows that it won't help her headache at all, but at least it should stop her from trying to fall asleep for five minutes.
"See you later," Sam smiles as she exits.
She gives a half-smile before returning to her work station.
Chappelle schedules the meeting with Tony for 8pm, an ideal time to disrupt any evening plans that he might have had. Fortunately for him, any evening plans also involve Michelle, who is still working, not wanting to wait for the outcome of the meeting.
The main events of the day have passed and Tony fills in the time by completing essential paperwork. He'd like to go home and sleep, or construct the arguments needed to persuade Chappelle that no changes to staff are necessary, but he can't give Chappelle the satisfaction of seeing a decline in his work.
He has had little contact with Michelle all day, both going out of their way to avoid any appearance of impropriety given the situation. He has missed the contact that they usually have, even if it is only in a work capacity. But when she calls him to discuss work-related matters, she ends the conversation by briefly discussing his meeting with Chappelle and wishing him luck.
He walks over to Chappelle's temporary office ten minutes before his allotted time but it is over half an hour before he is permitted entry. He suspects that this is more a political manoeuvre than the inconvenient phone call his assistant suggests. He tries not to let it rile him up as is probably intended, but he allows himself a few choice words to mentally throw at Chappelle before attempting to think calm thoughts. It doesn't help as much as he might hope.
Eventually, he enters, and is offered a seat.
"You know why you're here. I'd like to discuss your relationship with Agent Dessler. I believe that you're aware that she answered your cell phone this morning. I also imagine that you're not likely to be ignorant of the implications that can be drawn from this. Nor will you be willing to refute them."
Tony briefly considers a: making a sarcastic comment about having accidentally swapped cell phones at work, or b: telling Chappelle where he can shove it because it's none of his business.
Instead he does neither, and remains silent, waiting to see where Chappelle is taking the conversation before he makes things worse for himself.
"Unfortunately, it is not against protocol, but it is certainly ill-advised for superiors to be dating those in their employment and for good reason. And frankly, given the last time, I would have thought that you would have understood that."
Tony meets Chappelle's eyes, gazing impassively, unwilling to let Chappelle know what he is feeling, unwilling to give him any advantage. He tries not to let on how much he would enjoy inflicting pain on Chappelle right at this moment. Perhaps he could acceptably make some disparaging comments, he wonders briefly.
"Have you got anything to say before any decisions are made about your and Agent Dessler's respective positions within CTU?"
Tony considers his comments before speaking: he needs to remain calm and objective if he is to gain the upper hand. And not get fired for impertinence, disrespect, threatening behaviour, assault, etc.
"I have been in a relationship with Agent Dessler for approximately six months. I believe that our conduct in the office throughout that time speaks for itself. We are both committed to our work and it continues to take precedence over personal arrangements. We have not allowed our personal relationship to adversely affect our work, nor to have any place within the office. I believe that you will not find any evidence to the contrary. It would be a mistake to move either one of us at this point; we work well together and it would take time to find as effective and efficient a replacement for Michelle. Additionally, when you factor in the time necessary to get people up to speed both with the way in which this office works and the information that Agent Dessler and myself are aware of, it would unnecessarily negatively affect the work of this office for an indeterminate amount of time."
Chappelle looks almost disappointed at this information, he thinks. Or perhaps it is because he didn't inflict any violence, or threats, and hence Chappelle cannot legitimately fire him quite yet.
Chappelle has apparently concluded the lecturing part of the evening, seemingly bored that he is unable to toy with Tony and get a rise out of him. Or perhaps that is merely Tony's purposefully misconstrued reading of the situation.
"I will be discussing this with Division. For the time being I think it would be acceptable for you to continue to work with Agent Dessler on the understanding that if anything untoward or inappropriate is reported then the situation will be immediately reviewed."
Reported, my ass, Tony thinks, you're going to keep continuous surveillance on us. Two can play that game. He smiles beatifically, agreeing that it is reasonable.
Chappelle sits down behind his computer and Tony recognises this as a dismissal and leaves.
Returning to his office, he dials Michelle's extension.
"Dessler," she answers.
"Chappelle's watching us," he starts the conversation.
Seeing Chappelle's gaze on her, she does not turn to look up at his office.
"So?" she asks.
"We play like good little boys and girls and everything works out just fine."
She tries not to smile too widely. Her headache has dissipated somewhat and lessens more at this news.
"Meet you back at my place at 9pm? We can celebrate," he comments suggestively.
"You're on."
They hang up.
END.
I intend for future instalments to be more fluffy/light/clichéd than this one, but people asked nicely for a continuation and I wanted to answer the questions for myself. Except that Chappelle wasn't willing to be very nice about it all.