She was startled when she felt his tears drip across her face, mingling with hers before they nosily splattered on the floor. Pulling herself back from him and attempting to pull herself back together, she noticed that he looked just as bad as she imagined that she did. His eyes were the worse, swollen and red and filled with a pain that she knew she was responsible for. Without thinking, she reached out, her fingers gently caressing his cheek as she brushed his tears away with a faint smile.

He froze the moment she touched him, her fingers playing out across his face in a way he had spent the last six weeks praying that they would. Her eyes, still shiny with tears, but no less mesmerising, sparkled at him, drawing him in and stopping his breath. And that beautiful smile, the one that he'd fallen in love with the moment he met her, ran across her face and for a moment was all his.

Then she caught herself. Her mind screamed at her, what was she doing, she knew that she couldn't do this, it would just hurt too much. But wasn't she already hurting? She knew that she was, she was doing it again, working herself into an exhaustion so deep that she was too tired to do anything, too tired to think, too tired to feel. And worse, she was hurting him, she could see it in his eyes and it broke her heart.
And then she made a decision, the decision she should have made long ago, but that she was too afraid to commit to. He was Tony, her best friend, she could trust him, she knew that she could, she'd been through hell and back with him and he was still here with her, his arms wrapped firmly about her waist, his eyes fixed on hers.
Something inside of her warned her that he might not be, she still remembered his fingers pressing painfully into her wrist as he warned her not to lie to him over Jack. But she ignored that, she knew him, he wouldn't hurt her, and even if he did, it couldn't be much worse than the way she was feeling now. She was sat on the floor in an interrogation room crying for god's sake, how could it be any worse. All she knew was that she couldn't keep doing this, pretending, lying, pushing him away.

And so, fuelled by her desperation, and yet strangely following a rational stream of thought, she leant in and kissed him.

A moment ago, he had been in heaven, lost in her gaze, not thinking anything, just being with her. After having to dedicate the memorial, seeing all those people again, not seeing so many others, he hadn't thought that would be possible. But then she had hesitated, her fingers had lingered on his face and yet it was not the same. She was lost to him, he just had to accept that. She'd been caught up in a memory, had reached out to him because they were friends, there was nothing more there. He'd just got caught up in the moment, the same as last time.

The moment her lips touched his, he flinched, it was like a knife being driven through his heart, a particularly sharp knife with several stakes attached to it and covered in acid. Why did she keep doing this to him? She knew how he felt, he was so in love with her he could barely see straight. He couldn't take this anymore. So he pulled back from her forcing her to sit up properly.

She'd done it, she'd ruined it. She'd been too afraid to let him get close to her, and now he wasn't going to let her, she was too late, she'd done too much damage. She felt her eyes start to tear again, but held his eyes for a moment longer, willing him to understand. All she could see was his pain, the pain that she had caused. She should leave, she was just making things worse. Things were fine the way they were, she'd just made things worse.

So she ripped her eyes from his and forced herself onto exhausted feet, praying that she could make it to her car before her emotions overcame her, again.

"Michelle…" It had been there, all of it, written in her eyes, pleading with him. How had he missed it? She turned to him, exhaustion stealing colour from her and making her seem so very fragile. "See you tomorrow." It was the only reply he could give her.
She nodded at him as the significance of his words sunk in. He was giving them a second chance, well a first chance really. The symmetry of them wasn't lost on her either, but this time there was no blushing, no awkward smile that eventually spread to encompass her entire face. There was just acceptance and hope, she had a second chance, maybe he could actually take her out on a date this time. So shooting him a sad smile that conveyed this, she turned and left.

He watched her go, wishing he could go with her, but knowing that it would be too much. They both needed to deal with what had happened today, and he knew full well that that was never going to happen when he was anywhere near her. Besides, there was always tomorrow.