"I'm gonna go and…Yeah." Michelle muttered, running out of his hallway to try and make herself look presentable. She slid herself into Tony's room. Well there was no chance of being able to hide this from Jack. Not only had she answered the door to Tony's apartment, but her hair was all over the place and her lipstick was smudged. As well as that, when she'd done up the buttons on her shirt, she'd missed one.

Cleaning the lipstick off her face and rebuttoning her shirt, she saw Tony wander in, pulling his shirt over his head. "Jack got a promotion, he's the new head of field ops." He saw Michelle's eyes widen at this, a week ago Jack hadn't even been active. "He invited himself round to celebrate, you don't mind do you?"

She shook her head, a slight lie. She did mind, but only a little bit. And if Jack was going to help her distract Tony, then she didn't mind at all.

As she tried to get her hair to lay down properly, Tony whispered in her ear, "Jack's not the only one who got a promotion today." This caught her attention.

Trying to keep her voice level, although failing miserably, she asked, "Who…what do you mean."

"Well, Ryan needs me to stay and oversee the rebuilding of CTU, and he needs someone to take my old job and help." That was why she hadn't been on any of the transfer lists. Throwing her arms about his neck, she drew his head to hers and kissed him, not caring that Jack was sat in the next room.

After a moment, he pulled back. "I didn't say it was you," he whispered. She pouted, making him laugh as he kissed her again. Despite the horrors he had been through, despite the pain he was in, despite everything, being able to lean in and kiss her made everything seemed ok.

Suddenly she froze. He stopped immediately, keeping her in his arms but pulling back from her slightly. "What's wrong?"

As he loosened his grip on her, she backed away from him, not quite able to meet his eyes. "Tony…You're not doing this because…Well because of…Tony, I got this job because of my qualifications, didn't I?" She asked, finally able to meet his eyes.

Seeing her standing there, arms hugging her body, biting on her lower lip, trying not to look nervous, made his heart melt. "Sweetheart…" He crossed the room, pulling her against him. "You are the only person who would ever ask me that."

Letting him wrap his arms about her, but still not relaxing, she said, "You didn't answer the question."

"Michelle…You're the only person who could do this, you know that. Ryan would never have let me appoint if he didn't think you could do it." Feeling her relax against him, he whispered in her ear, "Plus, you know, its just gonna be me and you alone in an office for 6 weeks."

At this, she pushed him back, intending to make a comment about how he hadn't even taken her on a date yet, and for all she knew, she might not even like him. However, he was still unsteady on his feet, his ankle making it difficult for him to keep his balance, and he found himself falling onto his bed.

"Oh God Tony, I am so sorry…" she actually looked worried. Laughing at this, he pulled her down next to him, leaning over her so that he could kiss her.

That of course was when Jack decided to walk in. Michelle was sprawled out of Tony's bed, and Tony was on top of her. That ended any hopes they ever had of hiding it from Jack.

"Pizzas here," Jack smiled as he watched Tony struggle to get off Michelle, his foot caught up in a pile of clothes on the floor.

Michelle had gone scarlet, she didn't really know Jack and was acutely embarrassed that he had seen her complete lack of self control, particularly if she was going to have to work with him.

Glancing at Jack's laughing face, and then seeing Michelle cringing with embarrassment, Tony leant over Michelle once more and kissed her deeply. As he pulled her up, still kissing her, he saw Jack turning red at the door, the laughing smile now gone.

Jack didn't stay long, he made his excuses, saying he had to get home to Kim. Actually, he was just incredibly uncomfortable. Neither Michelle or Tony had either the ability or will to control themselves, and spent most of the evening groping at each other whilst Jack tried desperately not to notice.

At the door, Tony apologised, sensing his friends embarrassment. Jack just nodded, telling Tony they'd catch up later. Seeing Tony with Michelle had made him want to call Kate Warner.

As he left, Jack turned around and said, "At least you don't have to worry about her being a traitor. The look on her face when she answered the door, no one could be that good a liar." Tony smiled at this, it was Jack's way of telling him he liked her.

He walked back into the living room, pulling Michelle into his arms as he sat down. Between bites of a leftover piece of pizza, Michelle said, "I ought to go."

"Yeah," answered Tony, grabbing himself a piece of pizza. Both of them were perfectly aware that there was no way that Michelle was actually going to pull herself out of his arms or that Tony would let her go.

"Michelle, it doesn't matter." He'd said this a number of times but he wasn't sure if she'd actually heard him.

She glared at him. Of course it mattered, it was going to be her first day as assistant director, she had to get it right. "Go and have something to eat, I won't be much longer," she lied as she pulled the twentieth top over her head.

Tony wandered into her kitchen, rummaging through her cupboards. She'd driven him here this morning, insisting that she had to find the right outfit before they could go to work. His advice that she looked hot in all of them hadn't been appreciated. At least he felt better this morning, they'd both fallen asleep not long after Jack left, and sleep had seemed to finally banish his headache.

The contents of her cupboards made him laugh, she'd told him she hated cooking, but he hadn't believed it would be to this extent. The only food in her house was the pre-packaged microwave meals in her freezer. "Michelle," he yelled.

"Fine, but if I screw up, its your fault." She emerged wearing an outfit that he was sure that he'd tried on half an hour ago, but that he assured her looked gorgeous.
"You ready?" He asked. She looked at him, she was very nervous. It was a big promotion considering that she had been new to her old position. Eventually she nodded and started towards the door.

He stopped her, drawing her close to him and breathing in the smell of her hair. "You will be fine," he whispered. As he leaned in to kiss her, she whispered, "You'll smudge my lipstick again." This made him smile, she'd already reapplied it four times this morning. Instead he leaned down and kissed her neck.