"Birthday" Tony asked inquisitively.

"May 22"

"Year?"

"1976, you?"

"February 2, 1974. Family?"

"my question" she said playfully correcting him

"no your question was my birthday"

He was right

"fine. Dad died when I was 15, car wreck, Mom lives here in LA and then there's Danny. And you?"

"Dad is a recruiting officer for the Marines, Mom was an accountant. They live in Valencia. I have a younger sister, Julie who is married to Ben and they have a 1 year old son Walker."

"she beat you to the alter and the maternity ward"

"haha" he said mocking her. "you sound like my mother"

"Is that your way of flattery."

"Hey, you don't know my mother. That is a high compliment"

"Yeah, I bet" Michelle joked

"Where'd you grow up?"

"Dad was based all over the place growing up. We spent 1-4 grade here in LA, 5-7 grade in St. Louis, and 8-12 grade in Chicago."

"So that's where the cubs mug is from"

"you noticed"

"Yes I did. College?"

"Stanford, then San Diego State"

"And then?"

"It was off to the core. I worked my way up to First Lieutenant specializing in surveillance and target acquisition as a scout sniper. After 5 years I decided to take a break. I spent 6 months at Division doing some tactical but mainly analyzing. And the last 2 ½ years has been devoted to CTU"

"well that's quite a record Mr. Almeida"

Then a man walked through the front door pinning on his nametag as if he were coming in on the late shift.

"Pete! Hurry up, you won't believe this!" He yelled to a man not far behind him. "Tony's at table 12!"

Tony looked at Michelle as if mentally reminding her of his apology earlier. Michelle smiled.

"What?" the unidentified man said as he turned the corner in the door. "But table twelve is a two seater!"

They ran to meet Tony at his table. Both speechless.

"Don't look so surprised gentlemen, you knew it was coming someday." Tony said matter-of-factly.

"She have a name?" John asked indicating Michelle.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was hoping there was some way she didn't notice you guys."

"Don't be a jerk, Almeida" Pete let out in a sarcastic demand.

Michelle was now beaming at the sight of Tony and some people not work related. She reached out her hand

"Michelle Dessler"

"Well, ma'am it's a pleasure to meet you." John took her hand.

"So, is this new or has it been some work-related type secret" Pete said pulling up a chair

"I can't believe this, aren't you guys supposed to be working?" Tony asked playfully unamused.

"Wait! Has Leo seen you two."

"As a matter of a fact he has and he did his job, hence the food we are trying to eat"

"Alright, alright. Get back to the date. But miss, just so you know, we taught him everything he knows about the ladies," Pete offered to Michelle.

"Which might explain why it is so unusual to see me with one. Now go!" Tony joked back.

They went this time bouncing off to the kitchen

"Oh my God, they are so embarrassing"

"I'd have to go with charming" Michelle said with a smile.

"Ok, well I'll take that as a good thing."

"It's a great thing."

"Back to our game of questions" Tony cleared his throat. "What's your story?"

"Grew up here. Went to UCLA, graduated with a bachelor in computer science. Then I moved to DC and worked at DARPA until a little under 2 years ago when Division called and you know the rest"

"not too bad yourself"

"I do my best."

"Well that's enough biography. Let's go with…what is your favorite movie?"

"The American President"

"Ahh" Tony let out a sigh of mild disapprovement.

"What?"

"chick flick"

"It is so not… ok so maybe it is. But c'mon Michael Douglas, President?"

"oh, so you go for the older men"

"Only when they're Michael Douglas. What about you?"

"I'd have to go with the Rush Hours"

"Action/Comedy fan?"

"only when it's Chris Rock and Jackie Chan" he said mimicking her

"Oh k, smart one."

They finished up lunch; he paid and walked her to her car.

"This was fun" he said, her car door now separating them.

"yeah, it was"

There was a bit of an awkward silence

"Ya know I still owe you dinner and a movie sometime" he said with a hint of a smile
She smiled back. She was afraid he had forgotten

"yes you do…sometime"

"Ok then I'll call you, or see you. Either one."

"good"

There was another small pause that felt like a lifetime. Tony leaned over the door and tenderly kissed Michelle.

"See ya in the morning"

"Yeah" was all Michelle could get out before sitting down and shutting the door. She offered him one last smile as he walked around to his beige Explorer.

It was the perfect end to a not so perfect day. One thing was for sure. Michelle couldn't wait for morning.