Michelle emerged from Tony's room about 15 minutes later, her phone tucked at her ear as she tried to replace the bandage on her wrist. She wandered into his kitchen, murmuring something inaudible, and shot him a smile.
She was wearing his favourite green shirt with a pair of black trousers, both of which were several sizes too big for her. If she was anyone else, she would have looked ridiculous, but she just looked gorgeous. 'She would look gorgeous in a black sack' was Tony's opinion on the subject. She'd left her hair loose as putting it up required several creams, gels and a lots of time. It gave a nice contrast to the Michelle he saw at work.
Seeing how she was struggling with her bandage, Tony took her hand and did it for her. He was surprised at how swollen it was. Michelle's eyes locked with his and she mouthed "Thanks," at him, all the while continuing her conversation on the phone. Her ability to split her concentration always amazed him.
Finishing up on the phone, she followed him to the sofa. "My brother," she said as a way of explanation. She took her hand back, which surprised Tony as he didn't realise he'd kept it. "He's gone to stay with our parents, he thought it would be best after…after what happened." She stared hard into the ground, praying that the memories wouldn't overwhelm her. She felt his fingers brush her cheek, and she forced a smile onto her face. "Not that it's a bad thing. It means I can get absolutely slaughtered tonight." This brought smiles to both their faces. Tony had been planning the same thing.
She glanced awkwardly at him, biting on her lower lip. Her mind was screaming at her to ask him, the worst he could say was no. She managed to stutter, "Want to join me?" She'd meant it to sound natural, but the way she'd said combined with the look on her face made her look so very nervous. Then the self conscious aspect of herself rose to the surface, "You don't have to say yes."
Grinning at her inability to believe that, despite everything that had happened, he might actually like her, Tony cut in, "Michelle, I'd love to. Getting drunk on your own isn't really that fun." That was something he'd had lots of experience with.
Not wanting the room to go back to an awkward silence, he asked her if she wanted something to eat, aware that neither of them had eaten for a long time.
Despite the emptiness of her stomach, she declined. "I ought to go, I want to see if I can get some more sleep." It was the partly the truth, she was still fairly tired, but mostly she wanted to go home and cry. Her self control had already been proved to be poor around Tony, and she didn't think she could deal with another loss of control in front of him.
"You don't have to go, you could sleep here if you wanted." Now that sounded desperate. Normally Michelle would have picked up on it, she enjoyed torturing Tony, although generally he'd done something to deserve it. But now she just smiled and told him she wanted to go home. That, more than anything else, signalled to Tony that he needed to let her go home.
He called her a taxi., making note of her address. "You'll have to put up with me for another half an hour. It's the earliest they can get here."
"Then it's a good thing I like you." A genuine smile this time, and it managed to get rid of some of the weariness in her eyes.
"Michelle, maybe I shouldn't come round today, you look like you could use the rest." He tried to keep his voice gentle and understanding, although a note of bitterness crept in. He'd waited six months to get close to her, he didn't want to miss a second.
Misinterpreting this, she quickly replied, "Its OK, you don't have to come, I shouldn't have asked you, it wasn't fair." Looking everywhere but at him, she felt her composure slipping away. Why did she insist on doing this to herself, her arm ached, she was so tired, her head was pounding, she hadn't eaten in days. Why did she put herself in these situations where she could only get hurt, especially with him standing there, his deep brown eyes watching her every move. "Thank you for looking after me. It was really kind." She had to get away from him, he didn't want her there, she couldn't break down with him watching.
Tony watched her fall apart in front of his eyes. The strong woman who could cope with anything was gone. Hardly surprising really, considering what she'd been through. She'd watched most of her friends die, her boss, she'd watched the entire intelligence agency fall apart with internal bickering, she'd had to make a stand based on her morals, and she'd been arrested as a traitor. It was no wonder she'd lost her confidence and her faith in people.
Before he knew what he was doing, she was wrapped in his arms, preventing her from fleeing, and he was telling her everything would be OK. Tears spilled out of her eyes and onto his shirt. They stood like that for an eternity, his fingers holding her in place, hers gripping back just as tightly.
Eventually, mostly because he couldn't stand on his ankle any more, they sank to the floor, her head still buried in his chest.
"I seem to be doing this a lot," her voice was slightly muffled by his shirt.
"No objections here. Besides, you've been through hell." He pulled her head out from his chest, one hand tracing the curls about her face, the other cupped against her cheek. Her eyes met with his and she melted into his stare.
"You shouldn't be allowed to look at people like that," her voice was barely a whisper. Her kiss was gentler this time, in complete contrast to the urgency of the hallway, and his response was immediate. He drew her closer to himself and kissed her back very softly.
As always, an interruption presented itself, although this time it wasn't the phone but the taxi. It took an incredible amount of determination to pull back from her, although he kept his forehead against hers.
After finding that he couldn't actually get up, Michelle managed to pull him up. They kept their arms locked about each other, not wanting to leave the moment behind.
As she got into the taxi, Tony whispered, "If you want to call a raincheck on tonight, I won't mind," despite the fact that his eyes said the exact opposite of this.
She brought her lips to his once more, and as she pulled away she whispered, "No chance." Tony's face lit up at this, and they both smiled as the taxi pulled away.
The tears which she had feared came again, but this time they were happy tears. Despite all the horrors she'd been through, all she could think about was the feel of his arms about her, the feel of his lips on hers. She buried her head in her knees, breathing in his scent from his clothes and hiding the huge smile that had crept its way onto her face.
Tony stood outside his apartment building for ten minutes with a grin on his face before he realised that he couldn't see her taxi any more. He went back to his apartment and fell asleep in the spot which she'd slept in. His thoughts occupied in the same way hers were.