A Series of Unfortunate Clichés: Chapter Three: Celebrations
Disclaimer: They still don't belong to me. And the DVD's belong to my brother-in-law, so I can't even claim ownership of them…
Notes: Again, thanks ever so much for the many lovely reviews. It's wonderful to know that some of you are enjoying reading.
This fic is not a direct continuation of the last (apologies to those who had hoped that it would be). I wanted to fully embrace the clichéd-ness of the series, and couldn't really do that by having a continuous narrative of events.
Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this part: it's one of my favourite fic clichés. Hopefully I've done it justice.
Feedback/Reviews: Are gratefully received and always appreciated.
To say that she hasn't particularly enjoyed the last couple of weeks at work may be a bit of an understatement. To describe them as frustrating and downright depressing may come slightly closer to the truth.
She's despised the moments when Chappelle is at CTU and she cannot even look at Tony for fear of being moved to an office in Pittsville, Wisconsin. Although she is sure that Pittsville is a lovely place to work, the commute might be a bit of a problem.
Frankly, it has been somewhat hellish recently; not only has she been overstretched and unable to say anything about it around Chappelle other than "more work? I've love to", but she's had to scrutinise every single movement she's made. When on the phone to Tony, she has to ensure that their comments are kept brief and that she doesn't smile up at his office for fear of impropriety. When working with him, she has to keep more than a normal amount of distance between them in case Chappelle happens upon them and decides that they are not being professional. There are too many things – comments, body language, facial expressions, timings – that she's had to keep track of. Particularly since Chappelle has found it necessary to spend a disproportionate amount of time "overseeing" the LA office.
The effect that it has on her has been obvious to all: more than one person has approached her in the last week to ask her if everything was okay with Tony, or what had he done or said to piss her off, or was she okay?
She's commented something about workload and gone on her way.
But tonight she is allowed to be herself. Tonight she is able to take Tony out in public and smugly demonstrate to everyone how wonderful her boyfriend is, and isn't she lucky. Or, at the very least, she is able to go out and not have to examine everything she does.
Tonight is special. Tonight is their night. Tonight is their six month anniversary.
Unfortunately, they've spent the day apart: Tony has been in meetings at Division all day and she's been busy working her own job plus some of the overflow from Tony's office. And, joy of joys, Chappelle has been in residence.
The main resulting factor of this is that she has worked longer than she wanted to and now is late to arrive at the restaurant. She has had to run around her apartment, getting ready, finding jewellery, unearthing appropriate shoes, and ensuring her hair isn't entirely a mess. She is stressed.
He has already arrived and is seated by the time she enters the restaurant. Their apartments are in opposite directions from the restaurant, so it is deemed acceptable that they arrive separately. She looks around, trying to locate him, when the Maitre d' asks her to give the name of the reservation. As she is walked towards their table, she completely overlooks the group of women celebrating a 30th birthday while she has the chance to see them.
The group of women celebrating a 30th birthday have not, however, overlooked the arrival of Michelle.
They have already noticed the director of CTU – where they all work in the IT department – sitting alone at a table, obviously awaiting the arrival of someone. Having each spent some amount of time lusting after the director over the past few years, they collectively wonder who he is waiting for.
This is a particularly enjoyable game since they are hidden from view by trellis fencing and dividing walls but are able to watch the table in case Angelina Jolie - or some other female deemed possible to be dating the boss - arrives.
The enjoyment factor is, admittedly, aided somewhat by alcohol. Zoe, who is celebrating her 30th birthday, is relatively sober, but is questioning the possibility of asking Tony for a birthday kiss when Michelle arrives.
Naturally, those who have the best vantage point report this to the others. Immediately they are able to surmise that Michelle is there to meet Tony. The only question is: why?
She arrives at the table unaware that she is being watched. Tony stands up and kisses her on the lips briefly, commenting appreciatively on her appearance before they sit.
"How was work?" he asks. "Get everything completed for Chappelle?"
She sighs bitterly. "I need something to drink."
He reaches for her hand, brushes his thumb across the back of it comfortingly. "Chappelle been pissing you off?"
"No more than usual," she comments with a sarcastic smile. She pauses. "So, hell, yeah. But we're not talking about Chappelle. And you know why?"
He shakes his head.
"Because outside of CTU we're allowed to do whatever the hell we want. And right now, I want to be celebrating the fact that I'm finally not at work and can forget about Chappelle."
"And you want to celebrate the fact that we've been together for six months and you love me, right?" he asks, grinning.
"It might be a little about that," she comments almost coyly, before allowing a smile to adorn her features. "I've missed working with you," she pouts.
"You still are working with me," he replies, confused.
"You know what I mean. I can't even stand within 10 metres of you without worrying about what it looks like or whether Chappelle is watching us. And if I even dare to look at you when you're talking during a meeting…" she gets herself more and more worked up.
"Michelle, breathe." He moves his hand up to her cheek, stroking it gently. "Remember, no work."
The 30th birthday celebrators are caught a little off-guard by observing the intimacy between the couple.
"Oh my god!" Erin exclaims, eyes wide.
"I feel as though I should be surprised," Sam comments neutrally after a long pause.
"You're not surprised?" asks Erin.
"Surprised might be the wrong word. Just that, well, if someone had told me, I probably wouldn't have believed them; but seeing it, it's different," she stumbles to explain.
"But then, Michelle has always liked Tony," Zoe notes, downing the last of her wine. She refills the glass. A little drips down onto the table cloth.
"She has?" Erin inquires.
"You've not noticed?" Zoe asks, incredulous. "It's obvious… Well, as obvious as she's ever going to get."
"I don't think he liked her, though," Em explains as she looks through her empty glass, obviously the other side of tipsy.
"I think that's been irrefutably disproved," Sam observes with a wry smile. "I think it's sweet."
"It's weird," Erin comments.
"How long do you think they've been doing it?" Em asks, holding her wine glass up to her eye as she twists it precariously between her fingers. The others look over at her and roll their eyes at each other.
Their anniversary celebration is going well. She has finally relaxed and they talk less about work and more about outside interests. They discuss the idea of moving in together, an idea which they have been flirting with recently.
It is after desert that she decides that she needs to visit the bathroom.
She excuses herself.
Afterwards, she washes her hands and looks at her appearance in the mirror. She dries her hands and then returns to the mirror to reapply her make up. She barely notices the woman who stands beside her until she speaks.
"Having a nice evening?"
Michelle looks at her, trying not to allow her eyes to grow wide in shock. She tries not to get ahead of herself and assume that she knows more than she might.
"Zoe! What are you doing here?" she asks as innocently and calmly as she can.
"It's my birthday. I'm 30. Unfortunately."
"Happy birthday," Michelle offers.
"Thank you. So, what about you?" Zoe asks almost innocuously. "Hot date?" she questions. There is a brief pause, a glint in her eye as she queries suggestively:"Work meeting?"
Zoe particularly enjoys hearing the quiet but definite intake of breath the comment induces. She decides to continue, teasingly, since Michelle seems unwilling to engage in conversation.
"Of course, people might start talking if you were that nice to the boss in the office," she grins.
Michelle has no idea what her reaction should be. Instead, she forces a smile. "Have a lovely evening. I'll see you later."
"They know," she comments under her breath as she returns.
"Who's they?" he inquires, hoping that this will also answer the question of what "they" know about.
"People," she insists. "People at work."
He surmises that people at work know about them. This is confirmed by her next action.
"They're over there." She angles her head to one side to indicate the general direction of the "people". He sees them immediately and nearly groans at the concept that they have been there all evening and he didn't see them.
He says nothing for a moment, instead ponders the potential meaning of "people at work" knowing.
"Well," he sighs, before a slight grin appears on his features. "There goes the plan of life long anonymity, a secret wedding, and pretending that you don't know who the baby's father is… Completely interferes with my plan of serial dating to ensure people weren't suspicious."
She laughs but tries not to. She lightly hits him. "Tony, this is serious."
"Yes, we can go to work together and not spend all evening apart at the Christmas party wishing we were back at home, watching a DVD together. It really is terrible."
"Tony," she warns, half seriously.
He looks at her, his head tilts to one side. He takes her left hand. "Michelle, I love you. We shouldn't have to hide it. We're not doing anything wrong. Eventually even Chappelle's going to accept it."
"People will talk," she insists.
"Let them," he replies. He stands up, takes her by the hand, drawing her closer to him. "I have an anniversary present for you," he whispers into her ear, trying to distract her from her worrying. "But it's at my apartment."
She briefly looks over at the direction of the 30th birthday party and decides to ignore them.
"Well, I guess I'll have to come back with you then," she comments wryly.
After paying they go outside and walk a few meters, until out of sight of the people in the restaurant.
He stops, turns towards her, places one hand behind her head, and kisses her deeply. "Happy anniversary," he whispers.
END
Hope you enjoyed. Also hope that it's not too fluffy. If so, will have to immediately remedy through angst and action and plot. Gah!