A/N: Okay so…I took forever again, sorry :S. Between school and life and boys I didn't find much time to write…lol. Anyway, here it is. I'm aiming to get the next chapter up relatively soon, (by comparison at least), but no promises as I'm in midterms right now and they…kinda suck…:P. You all know by now how much I love the reviews you leave me; they're why I'm still doing this :).

So without further ado…

Chapter Three – Vexed

A little into their third month of marriage there was a conference at District that required both Tony and Michelle's presence. They'd never, for one reason or another, been sent to one of these things together and he was definitely happy about the change this time around. In most cases no one seemed to hold his attention for very long and it was more than obvious the majority of the big mouths there were all talk and no action. So at least, this way, he'd have Michelle with him to keep him grounded, instead of everyone who somehow knew his name lingering beside him or Jack as they tried to impress the head honchos.

He was to go first thing on Monday morning and Michelle and Jack the following day. Ryan seemed to think it was important they all at least make an appearance or, in Michelle's case, make some connections. Their office was a pretty integral part of everything going on in LA, (and the country for that matter) and on that note, their respective presences were required. Or so they were told.

"Thank god you're coming on Tuesday." He said while they watched TV the evening before.

She laughed. "They can't be that bad…"

"You try making conversation with people who'd spend the whole day kissing Hammond's ass if they could."

She shook her head and looked away.

"I'm not exaggerating, Michelle." He told her seriously.

"Of course not…" she brushed him off.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Just you wait…"

"What time are you leaving anyway?" she called from the bathroom over the running water as she washed her face.

"Early. I'm gonna go to CTU for a few hours first…"

"How early?" she turned off the water and leaned her head against the doorway.

He tossed his shirt into the laundry basket.

"Five-ish…"

She flicked off the light and patted her cheeks and forehead with a towel as she emerged into the bedroom.

"Why do you have to go to CTU, anyway?"

He shot her an irritated look. "Why else? Bureaucracy, paperwork; all the perks that come with running the damn place..."

She smiled knowingly as she tossed the decorative pillows to corner of the room. "I don't envy you…"

He nodded and scratched the side of his face. "Yeah…I wouldn't either…"

"I'll be late getting back too." He reminded her as they pulled back their respective sides of the comforters.

She frowned; a slight sense of déjà vu overcoming her. "How late?"

"Ten…eleven…whenever they get sick of hearing themselves talk…who knows if I'll even make it home at all…"

This made her giggle as she slid between the sheets.

"Alright." She yawned and fell onto her pillow, eyes already half closed. She mumbled a dreary 'night' as he brushed his lips against her temple and slid his arm around her waist.

He sighed, eager to enjoy a few hours of peaceful sleep before all hell broke loose.

"Night, honey."

When Michelle awoke Tony was puttering around the bedroom, grabbing last minute things. She was debating letting him know she was up or simply lying with her eyes closed in hopes of falling back asleep when he moved to her side of the bed and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Go back to sleep…I'll see you tonight."

She nodded and rolled over.

"Have fun."

He chuckled. "I'll try."

It felt weird to be getting dressed for work without him there, she noted as she came out of the shower and began applying her makeup. Normally, even if he had the day off, he was…there. Tossing slightly and making some noise with the comforter or snoring quietly or, more likely than not, lying wide-awake watching her dress and slipping a few sarcastic comments in now and then and reminding her that he probably wouldn't do much of anything all day. Being all alone made her feel exhausted. There was nothing to perk her up, keep her entertained, or allow her to forget about the fact that it was way too early and they had, as usual, gone to bed way too late.

It wasn't until she pulled open the fridge for milk that she noticed a post-it note resting on top of saran wrap covered plate. She smirked to herself and pulled out the entire thing.

Just in case you don't feel like pizza…

Preheat oven (that's that thing underneath the microwave with the knobs on it) to 350C (Celsius, not Fahrenheit, Kelvin…Celsius), bake for 5, flip, bake for another 5, (that's minutes, not hours…).

Try not to burn down the kitchen before I get home.

Love you,

Tony

She smiled at the prepared chicken and read the note again before placing everything back in the fridge; all the while assuring herself there had to be something he too was completely hopeless at, and swearing to herself she would figure it out one day.

"Almeida." He snatched his phone open without looking at the caller ID.

"You know most people leave their wives love notes…not insults." She teased gently and heard him laugh on the other end.

"I'll never do it again..."

"I wasn't complaining…"

She twirled her hair lazily between her fingers, trying not to focus on how lonely she would be that night with nothing but work to keep her company. If only she could remember how she'd managed before…

"How's it going over there?"

He grunted softly. "Could be worse…"

"That's good…"

"It'll be better when you're here."

She smiled and sunk back in her chair, glancing at Jack as he crossed the bullpen leisurely. The day was busy, but lacking the sense of urgency that was all too common. Everyone had a lot to do but it was mundane and monotonous and no one was really into it.

"Ugh…" Tony snapped her back to reality. "Honey, Ryan's here I gotta go. I'll see you tonight, okay?"

"Bye."

Incidentally she never did burn down the kitchen. In fact, she'd already fallen into bed with every intention of remaining awake by leafing through a magazine until he returned home. She was already asleep when Tony walked in the door at 11:18 that evening.

"Michelle…" he called as he pushed inside. She sat up abruptly, the open magazine sliding off her chest, and immediately felt guilty for having dosed. She was wiping what could only be described as an unattractive puddle of drool from the side of her mouth when he walked into the bedroom.

"Hi." She tried to force the sleepiness from her voice and he eyed her suspiciously.

"Did I wake you?"

"No." she lied badly and scooped the magazine up off the floor. "I was reading."

He reached over and kissed her cheek. "Sorry."

"I don't know why I'm so tired." She yawned apologetically.

Tony grinned at her through the mirror as he unbuttoned his shirt.

"We haven't exactly been getting much sleep these last couple of nights." He reminded her mischievously. "Well…months really…"

She blushed, knowing it was silly to do so, but unable to help it. Anytime he gave her with that knowing look she blushed.

"Yeah well…I'm not a machine." She yawned a second time and flopped back against the pillow.

"You sure had me fooled."

Michelle groaned in exasperation.

"Hurry up and change so we can go to sleep…"

He tugged his pants off in one swift move.

"If you insist."

She groaned even louder and he chuckled as he slid in beside her and nipped gently at her earlobe.

"You asked for it"

She nodded, defeated, before twisting around in his arms.

"I am going to sleep right now, Almeida." She declared firmly before settling her weight against his chest and nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. His arm came to sit loosely around her shoulders and she sighed against his skin, warming him from the inside out.

"You owe me tomorrow…" he reminded her as his fingers nestled into her hair that hung loosely over her shoulders.

"Mhm…"

As they stepped into the elevator at District the following morning Michelle glanced around casually at the various individuals; searching for a familiar face. Everyone seemed to know everyone else…except her, and at least three-quarters of the people had waved greetings to Tony as they walked down the hallway.

She found herself biting her lip in amusement when Tony would lean over and make a remark or two about the people she'd been studying.

"That guy…" he indicated to someone laughing loudly at something Brad Hammond had just said on his way to one of the conference rooms.

"Won't have a job pretty soon…there was a systems failure at Division headquarters in San Francisco and he didn't back up his work. All the info they had on militia groups in Eastern Europe got lost. That's why he's being so nice to Hammond."

Michelle's mouth opened slightly in awe and Tony smirked at her.

"And Tom Patterson…" he inclined his head towards a tall, somewhat lanky, but good looking guy in the far corner talking to with a plain brunette woman. "Is sleeping with his subordinate…"

"So are you…" she reminded him slyly.

"Yeah but I'm not doing it with every woman in the office…" she grinned and he leaned in a little closer. "Only the pretty ones."

Her lips curved into a small smile and his hand grazed hers softly and unnoticeably.

"Just relax…" he told her soothingly.

"I am relaxed." She brushed him off.

"Michelle…" he raised an eyebrow and she pursed her lips together.

"I am." She insisted indignantly.

Michelle was a little surprised at how relieved she felt when she saw Jack approach them from across the room. At least he was one person she knew.

"Ryan wants us all in Conference Room B in five minutes."

They both nodded.

"And I called CTU; Gael says everything's under control but if anything changes he'll let us know."

They all made their way into the Conference room and slipped into seats near the back. Michelle picked a pen up off the table and began fishing through her bag for the briefing package they'd been sent the previous week with a series of statistics and more or less the game plan for the next two days.

She glanced up in time to see two women; both impeccably dressed and well groomed enter the room. One, the more petite of the two, had her bright red hair resting in delicate waves over her shoulders and a light, flawless tan that only seemed to emphasize how perfectly white and straight her teeth were.

She beamed widely in Michelle's direction, or so Michelle had thought, until she realized it certainly wasn't her that the megawatt smile was being flashed at.

"Tony!" the woman grinned happily.

Michelle felt her eyes widened and shot a confused glance in Tony's direction. He apparently missed it, because he smiled politely back at the redhead.

"Hey Hannah."

She glided gracefully to his side. "I thought I might see you here."

His brow creased and he twisted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I can't exactly say the same thing." He bit his lip. "When did you start working for-?"

At that moment Ryan Chappelle took his place at the front of the room the incessant chatter stopped. Hannah reached over and squeezed Tony's forearm that was resting against the table.

"We'll talk later." She whispered sweetly and flashed one final smile before taking her seat a few places down from him.

Michelle eyed him uncertainly as he watched Hannah slide into her chair, cross her legs, and turn to the front of the room. Before Michelle had time to ask Tony what that had been about Ryan began talking. Pushing the thought out of her mind, Michelle began leafing through the briefing package again.

She could ask him about it later.

"So stranger…" Michelle spun around just in time to see Hannah nudge Tony affectionately on her way out of the room.

"Hey…" he smiled and stopped in his tracks. "Are you gonna tell me what the hell you're doing working for DOD now?"

Hannah shrugged offhandedly.

"I just…decided it was time for a change…" she glanced upwards at him and for the first time looked serious. Michelle felt awkward lingering beside them, obviously unnoticed, until Tony finally realized she was standing there.

"Oh uh…Hannah this is Michelle Dessler…" he took a step back so they were facing each other. "CTU's IPM."

Hannah smiled politely and extended a hand.

"Nice to meet you, Michelle."

Michelle forced her own polite smile and tried determinedly not to wonder why "my wife" never made its way into the introduction. After all, they never referred to each other in that context at work. Why should now be any different? It did bother her that for some reason this woman, whose relationship with Tony she still wasn't entirely certain of, had never been mentioned before.

Maybe they were just friends. She rationalized calmly.

Yeah…her conscience nagged. Because that's how you look at your former friends…

"I mean after we…y'know…" Hannah's voice echoed in Michelle's ear. "I just knew I had to do something drastic…"

Tony sighed and raised his eyes to meet hers.

"And I can't pretend I didn't hope I might run into you one day." She laughed half-heartedly.

Maybe it was just a fling…Michelle's brain tried again; not sure if that would make the whole thing better or worse.

Right…because he's the type to have a fling with someone like that…

As she mentally listed Hannah's good points Michelle felt her breakfast inadvertently creeping back up her throat.

Hannah's voice dropped a few decibels. "Getting over you definitely wasn't easy…"

Oh god…she swallowed hard. Michelle's head was spinning now. Who was she? Why had she never heard of Hannah before? Surely it would've come up by n –

"Are you feeling okay, Michelle?" the sound of her incessant chatter had stopped and Michelle turned to see a very concerned looking Hannah and a very guilty looking Tony staring at her.

"Yeah…" she gasped. "Fine. I think I just need a pick-me-up. I'm gonna go grab some coffee." She spun on her heel and started to move away.

"Michelle…" Tony called but she ignored him and continued to walk away.

Hannah turned to Tony again and raised an eyebrow.

"Is she okay?"

He bit his lip. "Yeah."

She nodded and immediately pushed Michelle from her mind.

"So how about you?" she tilted her head to the side. "How have you been Mr. Director of CTU?"

He shrugged innocuously, but his eyes moved towards Michelle who was standing with a Styrofoam cup trying to nonchalantly glance in their direction as she spoke to Jack about something. He smiled subtly to himself.

"I've been great."

"You look good."

"Thanks uh…so do you."

Hannah laughed. "Probably a lot better than the last time you saw me."

Tony grinned sympathetically. "It wasn't that bad."

"I was a wreck." She admitted, smirking slightly. "I guess that's just the affect you have on people."

He raised both eyebrows sardonically. "Yeah…sure…"

"How long have you been married anyway?"

Tony brought his left hand to his brow, biting his lip slightly.

"It's kind of hard not to notice these things." She smiled and he did too.

"About three months…" Three months…two days…twenty-one hours…eighteen minutes…and loving every second of it.

"Congratulations." Hannah squeezed his arm congenially.

"Thanks."

"Anyway listen, I should try and mingle a bit…Will you be here tomorrow?"

He nodded.

"Alright, I'll see you then."

And with that Hannah was gone.

When he looked back towards Michelle she was by herself again, still flipping through the file she'd been carrying.

"Hey," he stood beside her and she jumped.

"Hey," she glanced up briefly and then shifted back to her papers.

"Have you memorized that thing yet?" he joked lightly.

She didn't seem to appreciate it very much.

"Where's Hannah?"

He looked at her carefully for a few seconds, noting how she was trying to avoid his gaze and not look too concerned with anything at the same time, before responding.

"She went to talk to some people."

"Oh…" Michelle swallowed hard. "She seemed sweet."

"Michelle…" he reached out to touch her arm and she snapped her head back forcefully.

"What?"

Tony hesitated. "Wanna tell me what that was about back there?"

"I could ask the same thing." She retorted a little testily; regretting it almost immediately.

"Michelle…" his hand locked around her elbow firmly and she opened her mouth as though about to say something, but shut it quickly and conceded when she noticed Hammond was approaching them.

Tony followed her eyes and muttered "damnit" under his breath before releasing her.

"We'll talk later?" he confirmed, his lips a few inches from her ear.

She nodded and he searched her carefully for assurance before stepping out to meet Brad before he could ask them what was going on. That was all they needed now.

The rest of the day passed pleasantly; although it was a little obvious to both of them that they were treading carefully trying to avoid the topic. Both found it particularly difficult when, at the end of the day, Hannah waved a cheery goodnight to Tony just as they were stepping outside and into the parking garage. Michelle attempted pointlessly to read Tony's face and was convinced it had never been as expressionless as it was at that very moment. Instead, she just tried to not look as though she was paying attention, (more in case Hannah was observing her than anything else), and when Tony did nothing but wave politely she gave up, aware she wouldn't have much longer to wait until she got the full details.

"We dated." Were the first words out of his mouth when the front door to their house swung shut.

Michelle slipped her jacket off her shoulders and moved to the cupboard without really looking at him.

"Yeah. I figured that much out." She stated unequivocally.

Tony sighed and leaned against the wall, arms folded in front of him and his head cocked exasperatedly to one side.

"Do you wanna know what happened?" he asked as she hung up her jacket.

She turned around to face him finally.

"Do you want to tell me?"

He sighed impatiently and met her eyes.

"It ended six months before…" he hesitated, a little unsure as to whether or not adding this to the mix would do more harm than good. "Six months before Nina." He finished quickly

Michelle tensed, but didn't say anything.

"I broke up with her."

"How come?" she pressed, coming across more eager than she'd wanted to.

He shrugged. "It just stopped working. It was fine in the beginning but we were too…different."

Again, Michelle said nothing, but twisted her shoulders away from him when he took a step towards her.

"C'mon Michelle…Don't be like this…"

"I'm not being like anything." She sputtered defensively and began moving towards the kitchen.

"There's nothing to be jealous-"

"I'm not jealous."

"Michelle…" he looked at her skeptically.

"I'm not."

She stopped moving long enough to bring her hand to her forehead.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm sorry." She grimaced apologetically.

"You don't like it when people know about us…" he began slowly.

"Neither do you..."

"Only because I know it bothers you."

She winced, knowing immediately that was true and wondering if Tony had the faintest idea why. The thing was, he was the boss; the head of CTU and had been from the moment they started dating. She was the subordinate. She was the one trying to establish herself whether for promotion or simply recognition from her superiors. In this case, however, her husband was her superior, and there was always this inkling in the back of her mind that telling people that might destroy any credibility she'd attained over the last couple of years. Tony was, really, the one who evaluated her performance and not everyone seemed so convinced that their personal and professional lives were nice and separate. The idea that people might think she wasn't as capable, or worse, didn't need to be as capable because she was married to the Director of CTU rubbed her the wrong way.

"Did you want me to tell Hannah?" Tony took advantage of the fact that she'd stopped moving and stepped towards her. She shook her head.

"Well then, what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know." She turned red and looked away. "I'm just being stupid. I don't want you to do anything…"

"Well you must want me to do something…"

"No, honestly." She managed a smile. "It's not a big deal."

It had never been more obvious that he didn't believe her, but she carried on as though he did anyway.

"I think I'm gonna take a bath. My head hurts."

He reluctantly backed off; quite aware that whatever had been eating away at her was something she'd much rather be left alone about. She knew that she could tell him absolutely anything if she ever felt like it anyway.

Michelle tossed the book she'd grabbed on her way out of the bedroom to the side of the tub and folded a pillow for her head as the water level rose. The room filled with a nice, dense, steam and she inhaled deeply as a mixed floral-citrus scent floated into her nostrils. Swiftly, she tossed her robe to one side, slid into the soapy water and closed her eyes.

It was ironic that this time yesterday she'd been waiting impatiently for Tony to arrive home, and now she was glad for the quiet time to herself. She just wanted a few moments not to think; a few moments where all she had to listen to was her own deep breaths inhaling and exhaling in the serenely quiet bathroom and the occasional swish of water as her toes came to rest on the far edge of the tub.

Breathe in…breathe out…she sighed.

This was nice.

In the entire time they'd been living in the house she hadn't taken a nice, long bath. The thought had simply never occurred to her, or a shower seemed so much more efficient, or she was just too tired to spend half-an-hour soaking in a tub when she could be asleep in bed, or resting on the couch, or with Tony…

But now, this was nice.

It was her time. Time to allow herself to be completely irrational and overly sensitive and emotional; time to luxuriate is the smell of fancy bubbles and hog the bathroom, and even swoon hopelessly over one of those sappy romance novels she kept stashed in the back of her half of the closet for when she was just in a "mood".

Forty-five minutes later Michelle emerged from the bedroom, dressed in her terrycloth bathrobe, to find Tony sprawled out on the couch flipping channels. He glanced up as she walked past him.

"There's pasta on the stove."

"Thanks."

Tony stopped paying attention to the TV as he listened to Michelle putter around the kitchen. The passive-aggressiveness wasn't really working for him at that moment. He would've much rather she just told him what was wrong and how she wanted him to fix it. He was good at fixing things.

She ate dinner alone in the kitchen; definitely not a good sign… And he wasn't ready to give up getting whatever it was out of her yet…

"Hot enough?" he asked as he made his way to the counter.

She glanced up blankly. "What?"

"Is the food hot enough?"

"Oh…" she turned back to her bowl. "Yeah, it's great."

"I was thinking that maybe we could go out tomorrow night after we're done at District."

"It'll be so late when we get out..."

"Michelle…" he pulled her hand towards him and furrowed his brow in exasperation; his irritation obvious now. "This is stupid. You can't ignore me all night because my ex-girlfriend showed up. If I had done that with Steve…"

"You did."

"Huh?"

"You barely spoke to me for three days."

Tony flinched. Steve, the guy she'd dated in the last few years of college, and the one who had proposed when he got transferred to Florida, had showed up a few months into their engagement asking Michelle out to dinner. It had pretty much driven him insane.

"I'm not mad." She told him a little too harshly; snapping him out of his reverie. "I just would rather not talk about it right now."

"Alright…"

She pulled away from him and wordlessly loaded her dish into the dishwasher.

"I'm gonna head to bed. I'm beat."

"Hey…" he grasped her arm and steered her between his legs as he leaned back against the counter.

"This isn't gonna be like us going to bed angry or anything like that, right?" he tilted her chin upwards for conformation and she smiled a little in amusement.

"No…"

"And if I wake up at three in the morning you'll still be here, right? You're not gonna decide to go for a walk or a run or anything like that?"

She opened her mouth to argue.

"Michelle…" he stated firmly as he cupped a hand over her mouth. "I hate it when you do that."

She sighed and nodded reluctantly.

"Alright." He conceded and released her; his eyes never leaving her until the bedroom door closed.

"Excuse me, Michelle?"

Michelle looked up to see a smiling Hannah holding out a stack of papers.

"You dropped these."

Michelle accepted them curtly.

"Thanks."

"No problem…" Hannah waited a few seconds before sinking into the chair beside her.

"Listen um…" she glanced around obviously. "You haven't seen Tony today, have you?"

"He's…" Michelle cleared her throat and avoided raising her eyes from the table. "He's in a meeting with Vaughn."

"Oh…" Hannah looked dejected. "Right…"

Just when Michelle thought she'd avoided conversation with the other woman for the duration of the meeting Hannah piped up again.

"Is something bothering you?"

Michelle winced inwardly, noting that subtlety obviously wasn't something the other woman practiced.

"No…" she forced a mildly irritated smile hoping Hannah would get the hint.

"Have you been at CTU long?"

"About three years." Michelle continued to look bored and disinterested and wished that the conversation would just end.

"Wow…that's great. The Director in San Francisco is totally useless. We can't wait to get rid of him. It must be nice working with Tony everyday…"

"Mhm…"

"Like you probably heard yesterday, Tony and I used to date. That's part of the reason I took this job… He would get home after midnight some days and it was just…frustrating…"

"You lived together?" Michelle asked, momentarily forgetting her indifference.

Hannah laughed loudly and said: "God no…" which made Michelle relax a bit more.

"I was working with this security company and after we broke up I just…wanted to understand what this compulsion he had was…you know? I thought maybe if I was involved in it myself I could…" she shrugged.

Michelle smiled for the first time and glanced up at Hannah; realizing what it was that had made them break up. Hannah didn't get it, at all, and years later nothing had changed. It occurred to Michelle in that moment how eerily dissimilar they were and what had been gnawing at her all night finally reached the surface.

He had dated Nina right afterwards. Hannah wasn't right so he moved on to Nina. Michelle knew she wasn't like Hannah; she knew that with one-hundred percent certainty. But did that…she flinched…oh god…

At the end of the day Michelle caught up with Tony again.

"Hey,"

He eyed her curiously. "Hi. How was it?"

She shrugged. "Not bad. I talked to Hannah."

Tony's eyes widened slightly. "You did…"

"Yeah."

It took her a second to work up the nerve to ask what she was about to ask.

"Am I…am I like Nina?" she lowered her voice to a whisper and leaned in close as she spoke.

Tony stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes widened in bewilderment.

"What the hell kind of a question is that?"

"I mean…" she grimaced. "I mean when you were…with her…is that like I am now? Am I what she would've been if she hadn't…?"

"Where the hell did you get that idea?" he asked incredulously.

"I don't know Tony. I have to be, don't I? At least to some degree…"

He sighed and nudged her towards the car. They'd never really had a full blown, no holds barred discussion on Nina Myers before and he had been keen to avoid that. He was over Nina, he barely even thought about Nina anymore, but it had never really occurred to him that Michelle might want to…compare herself to Nina…Nina wasn't an ex-girlfriend she was a traitor. Or at least, that's how he'd always thought of it.

But the more he thought about it the more it made sense. They were doing the same job. Michelle had the job Nina had had when they were together. It was actually pretty logical that she would compare them, he realized. On a superficial level the similarities were almost undeniable.

"She was a little bit like you." He stated softly, choosing his words carefully. "At work mainly…she was smart… she had to be to be good at her job otherwise she never would've made it where she was." He tilted his head slightly towards Michelle's and smiled a little. "You don't remind me of her though…at all. When Nina was arrested I was angry, mostly because I saw what she did to Jack and Kim; but I never missed her. I never wished she wasn't who she was, I just wished I'd realized it sooner…then maybe a lot of bad things wouldn't have happened to a lot of people…" his feet scuffed the pavement and he thought carefully about what he was trying to say.

His expression softened and he tugged her a little closer to him.

"You're not like her. Nothing I love about you did I see in her…ever. I don't know what I'd do without you. Alright?" he shifted a little uncomfortably but remained determined to see that she got the point. "I don't know how to explain it, Michelle. Just trust me when I tell you that regardless of what Nina did and who she was, good or bad, she's not you."

Michelle pursed her lips together to keep her eyes from tearing and nudged her mouth against his own.

"So we're okay?" he checked after they broke the kiss.

She nodded and he smiled in relief.

"Good." He kissed her hair. "That's two nights you owe me now…"