A/N: Back…finally! I was working during the summer and by the time I would get home I just didn't have the energy to write! So sorry for the long wait! I promise the next chapter will be better than this one. My lack of time and inspiration didn't leave me much to work with and well…you'll see how that turned out.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter one. It's always a nice treat. Oh…and in answer to one reviewer's question, the story is rated T for some of the content in the up and coming chapters.

Enjoy!

Chapter Two – Back to Reality

Sometimes she wanted to pinch herself…just to be sure.

The honeymoon had been one thing; they'd been in their own little world with no CTU and no active protocols and no stumbling into bed after the sun had risen. Being away from all of that right after the wedding made everything seem surreal, but now things were back to the way they'd always been and they were both starting to realize that this was their life now.

Work, in a similar respect, seemed to have hit a stagnant period. When she first started at CTU Michelle had found the slow days long and incredibly boring; now, on the other hand, she appreciated them. It meant she could afford herself the luxury of taking a few minutes of personal time and either paying a visit to Tony's office to see how his day was going or simply just letting her mind wander in soothing silence. Being constantly surrounded by action taught her to block out noise relatively easily; she had to if she ever wanted a moment to breathe during the day.

"Dessler." She snatched up her ringing phone.

"Hey, what's up?"

Her eyes flickered upwards and she grinned surreptitiously.

"Nothing really, I'm just going over the matrix Adam sent me."

"Alright um…Chappelle just called, he's gonna be stopping by to go over a few things…"

"I'll let everyone know."

"Thanks."

He said nothing for a few seconds.

"Was there something else?"

He tipped the phone slightly downward and glanced towards her desk.

"Yeah, what do you feel like for dinner tonight?"

She smiled.

"Whatever you want, honey," she stated unequivocally; realizing in that moment how much more enjoyable work had become in the past year. The desire for the day to move quickly was not the same as it had been. Now, the thing she wanted to go home to was with her through every ungodly hour.

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"Alright everyone," Ryan came into the conference room, obviously anxious to spend as little of his valuable time with CTU as possible. "Let's make this quick, I don't have all day."

Tony shot Michelle a look that said well then why the hell did you request the meeting and she quickly focused her attention on the latest situation reports to avoid laughing.

"First of all, Homeland Security is concerned with…"

As if on cue, Adam rushed into the conference room.

"Tony we just received Intel from Langley." He spat out breathlessly. "There's a high probability attack planned for the West Coast sometime this afternoon. Chatter on all the networks increased substantially in the past two hours."

"What's the target?" Michelle interjected quickly as Tony rose to his feet.

Tony had a feeling he knew the answer before Adam even said it and his stomach tightened.

"We don't know."

He turned to Michelle who already had the phone in her hand.

"Call Jack."

She nodded and began dialing.

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A school.

That had to be it.

They were targeting a school.

Tony felt himself becoming infuriated at the very notion of it. A school. With kids. Little kids who had no idea what was about to happen or why it was about to happen. Jack was out following up on a lead at that very moment; they had to find these guys in time….they just had to.

"They're American." Michelle had informed him when she made her way into his office a few minutes earlier. He heard the bitterness in her voice when she said it. "But we still have no idea why they're doing it."

"To make a point." He spat harshly. "As usual…"

She sighed weakly and he continued.

"Listen um…Jack's gonna be heading over to the location the group was last seen at. The coordinates are on your system; make sure Chloe repositions the satellite in time."

"We'll need approval from Division…"

"I know..." he looked more than a little irritated at the prospect. "Tell you what…have her start on it while you try and get a hold of Ryan."

She gave a slight nod of her head.

"No problem."

"Thanks."

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"Michelle, I need you on the floor." Tony ran into the Conference Room where she was going over the audio files Chloe had decrypted.

"Jack and the field unit are preparing to make the final takedown."

The headache she'd been nursing all afternoon suddenly gone, Michelle sprang to her feet and was at Tony's side a second later reviewing tactical feeds of the area.

"They'll have to move fast if they want to avoid detection." She explained over the computer screen.

"It won't take them long to realize CTU's arrived."

Tony nodded and scratched his forehead pensively. They were running low on time as it was. The predicted deadline for the attack was fast approaching and this was their last play.

"Team A moves on my signal." Jack's voice echoed. "Tony, we are a go…"

"We've got a runner!" All of CTU heard a minute later. "All units converge now!"

After a long, drawn out pause Jack finally came over the intercom again.

"Tony we lost him."

Tony scowled and took Jack off speaker.

"What happened?"

"He had a car waiting for him just outside our perimeter and by the time we secured the building he was long gone….Damnit!"

"Alright, bring everyone else back to CTU and we'll see what we can get out of them."

Jack sounded dejected when he finally replied.

"Copy that. We'll see you in a few minutes."

---------------------------------------------------

"Did you get anything?" Michelle picked up her pace to catch up with Tony on his way back from the Holding room.

He shook his head, averting her eyes.

"We're gonna send them to Division for further interrogation."

At this she stopped walking abruptly.

"What does Division expect to get out of them that we couldn't?" she asked incredulously.

"Nothing." He finally looked at her. "That's the problem. No one seems to know anything…"

"So we're just gonna let him go?"

Tony sighed heavily. "Those were the orders."

He stopped her before she could argue some more.

"Look, I don't like it any better than you do…But chances are if Jack and Darren can't get anything out of these guys after being locked in a room with each of them for hours they can't know much…"

She still looked uncertain.

"We'll find this guy before he tries anything else." He assured her simply. "Trust me…I wouldn't have given up so easily if I thought there was a point…"

Michelle nodded; knowing he was right, and followed him into the Conference Room.

As Ryan droned on and on about how pleased he was with the results produced by the office Michelle noticed the time on her watch. 1:14am.Where in the world had the night gone?

She was thinking grudgingly about the amount of paperwork she still had to complete before they could even think about heading home. Tony announced that the next shift would be arriving so that they could have the rest of the day off.

It was then that she noticed a small, folded up piece of paper being slipped in front of her.

Tony inclined his head towards the paper and watched from his peripheral as she opened it.

Breakfast and a movie?

She bit her lip to keep from smiling and nodded subtly. His knee bumped hers under the table in acknowledgement and she pressed her lips together firmly before turning back to the video monitor.

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"Hey," Tony entered the break room just as Michelle was pouring herself a cup of coffee. The sun was just about to start rising and she was dying for their day to go to bed.

She turned around and smiled, pulling down his mug from the shelf and filling it in turn.

"Hey," she handed him the coffee. "Tired?"

Tony nodded and hung his head while Michelle added milk and sugar to her own mug. He leaned back against the counter before taking a long, drawn out sip, willing the warmth of the liquid to help him relax. Michelle took up her own position, sideways against the counter, before reaching out a hand and rubbing the back of his neck. His eyes opened slowly, red and blotchy from sheer exhaustion.

"What do you have left?" Michelle asked, smirking as Tony's eyes rolled back in his head while she kneaded her knuckles a little more firmly into the nape of his neck

"Status report..." he yawned. "You sure you don't wanna head home? I'm gonna be another hour here...maybe two."

Michelle grinned and leaned her own exceptionally tired head to one side.

"Go home to our big, lonely house by myself? Not a chance..."

As her hand moved from his neck to his hair Tony's eyes closed again, showing Michelle exactly how close he was to nodding off at that very moment.

"Honey, I can finish the report..." she told him quietly as she took a step closer. "Go home, get some sleep..."

"Nah..." he put down his drink and pulled her into a hug, resting his head in the crook of her neck and breathing deeply. "This is the only way to sleep..."

Michelle sighed as a momentary lapse of judgment overtook her and she sunk into the sensation of hot breaths warming her to the very core.

"We should do this more often..." Tony mumbled into her shoulder. "It works better than coffee..."

She laughed and fell further into the embrace; wondering how they'd ever managed to last so long without seeking each other out at work in this way again.

Tony lifted out of the hug long enough to tilt Michelle's mouth towards his, before pressing his own against it gently.

"Ahem!" came a cough from the doorway. Michelle blushed furiously and pulled away, embarrassed at having been so irresponsible. Tony looked more irritated than anything else, especially when he saw who it was that had interrupted them.

"What do you want, Chloe?"

Chloe stomped across the floor. "Nothing, I wanted coffee. The whole office shares this break room, remember?" She rolled her eyes.

Michelle shot a glance at Tony before bringing her mug to her lips to hide her grin.

"Let me know if you want some help with the report..." she reminded him before flouncing out the door.

"I could report you for that..." Chloe informed him.

"Report me for what?" he asked, disinterested.

Chloe stared at him, obviously exasperated. "For what you and Michelle were just doing… Behavior like that really is inappropr-"

"Go home Chloe. Your shift is over, there are no active protocols, and I really don't know why you're still here..."

"I was just trying to - "

"Go home." Tony finished before grabbing his mug and following Michelle out of the room.

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It was a beautiful, sunny morning with a light breeze and very little humidity. When they finally stepped outside through the doors of CTU Michelle inhaled deeply, glad for a little fresh air after being cooped up inside for almost twenty-four hours. Her eyes were tired from staring at computer screens and fine print and her skin felt dry and cracked from the air conditioning.

"Alright Almeida, I can live with that one." Michelle conceded when Tony approached her later on in the video store with yet another choice. He wrapped his arms around her tightly from behind and his breath intentionally tickled her neck.

"Good." He pressed a quick kiss against her shoulder and made his way up to the counter.

A few packets of jam and cream cheese later they squished onto the couch munching their breakfasts contently and taking the occasional sip of water in between. Tony knew that within a few minutes of finishing her meal Michelle would be out like a light and he would be using his last bit of energy to drag her into bed.

Michelle had barely swallowed the last bite of her bagel when she tugged a blanket over her shoulders, entangled her legs with Tony's, and passed out on his shoulder. Soon afterwards Tony followed, stopping the movie less than halfway into it. Michelle barely woke up long enough to be half-led, half-carried to bed and resumed her original position as soon as they flopped against the mattress together.

----------------------------------------------------

She rolled over groggily hours later to Tony's lips against her cheek, and then her neck, and then her own lips. She sighed and brushed him away.

"Morning."

He chuckled softly.

"It's three in the afternoon, Michelle."

"Shut up." She pushed him away half-heartedly and felt another kiss on her lips; this one a little more passionate.

Her eyes remained closed as she burrowed into his chest and pulled the blankets back over them.

"Definitely not time to get up yet…" she decided with a yawn.

He settled back against the pillows as she came to rest entirely on top of him. His palms began slowly circling her back before coming to rest around her body.

"What are you gonna do today?" he asked when he was certain she hadn't dozed off again.

"Cleaning." She told him definitely. "This place has needed cleaning since we got back and you seem to get in my way every night."

He snickered as she asked:

"What are you gonna do today?"

"Get in your way."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Ah…but I'm used to you by now, Almeida. You can't distract me as easily as you used to…"

"Liar." he muttered and she laughed as his hands slid up the back of her shirt.

Headphones firmly in place, Michelle slopped the mop into a bucket of soapy water and sloshed it fluidly all over the kitchen tiles. Tony had declared he was going to work out, (which had made her laugh and ask him when the last time he could remember doing that was), and she was all by her lonesome quite enjoying the fact that she had a little peace and quiet to get some work done.

"Y'know, it's supposed to be fifty-fifty…" he'd reminded her as she filled the bucket in the sink.

"What is?"

"All this cooking…cleaning…housework stuff…"

"It is honey; you cook and I clean."

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Later that night Tony was sitting at the computer and Michelle was getting restless and ready to be distracted again.

"Whatcha doin'?" she leaned over the bag of his chair slung her arm across the front of her chest.

She lowered her lips to his neck and let her fingers slip below his collar without waiting for a response.

"E-mail." He stated, without looking away from the screen.

Her hands undid the first few buttons of his shirt and she moved her lips a little further down to his chest.

"Tony…" she urged and went to work on his belt.

He was still ignoring her and she was getting a little frustrated. She turned the chair away from the computer and kissed him firmly, slipping her tongue in between his lips as her hands worked their way down his boxers.

"Did you need something?" he joked slyly, grabbing her wrists and pulling them to the side.

She kissed him again and her squirmed out of his grasp. Her thumb gently stroked the little patch of hair below his belly button.

He pulled her hands away again and cocked his head to one side.

"Can I help you with something?"

She grinned mischievously, moved his fingers to her lips and slid one into her mouth; sucking gently.

"Michelle…" he warned through gritted teeth.

"I thought you were cleaning…"

She giggled and finally managed to drag him onto his feet and maneuver them into the hallway. She wasn't sure how they ended up on the living room couch instead of on the bed, (possibly she had taken a wrong turn somewhere in the heat of the moment), but the last coherent words she remembered uttering before giving up entirely was something about making sure the blinds were closed.

Once they were both spent Tony's forehead came to rest against her shoulder and he fought to regain his breath.

She ran her fingers gently through his hair and kissed the side of his face lightly.

"Bed…" she motioned towards the doorway and pulled him towards the off the couch.

Michelle was convinced Tony had fallen asleep by the time his head hit the pillow, but continued to stroke his hair while propped up on one elbow for a few seconds, a wry smile forming on her lips. When she pulled away he stirred.

"Don't stop…" he murmured drowsily.

She snickered.

"I thought you were sleeping…"

His hand slid behind her head and pulled her in for a barely-there kiss.

"So that was a productive day off..."

He grunted his agreement; clearly not in the mood for conversation.

"Kitchen's clean, bathrooms are clean…You did your workout-thing for the first time in about six months…Living room's probably a mess now, but I guess it was worth-"

A throw pillow came flying in her direction.

"Go to sleep..."