A/N: I'm so sorry about the delay! School started and I was kind of busy and had a little writer's block...but I'm almost done with the next chapter too, so that will be coming soon! Right now I think this will only be 11 or 12 chapters long because I'll reach a logical stopping point by then...we'll see though. Anyway if you're still reading thank you! And please review!

Disclaimer: I still don't own 24 or the characters. I wish I did - I'm watching season 6 right now and it's not even close to the same without everyone's favorite couple, so if I had any say in it they'd still be around.

Almost an hour later, Tony and Michelle finally dressed and headed downstairs. They were greeted immediately by Racquel, who said, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Remmel. You have a visitor, he is waiting in the living room."

"A visitor?" Tony enquired, surprised.

"Yes, he says his name is Jack Warner and he is a friend from Texas." Tony and Michelle's story was that they had both grown up in the town of Waco, Texas, so this would make sense. They both smiled at their friend's choice of alias as they walked into the living room to greet him.

"Jack!" Tony said, playing along with his story. "It's great to see you! How have you been?"

"I've been fine," he answered, a twinkle in his eye. "How are the newlyweds?"

"We're doing great," Michelle said with a smile. "Want to take a walk outside so we can catch up?"

Jack agreed, and the three headed out to where they could talk freely. Once they were a distance from the house and barn, Jack said, "Last night, Chloe found that our phone line wasn't as secure as we thought. They couldn't have tapped it already, so the mission isn't compromised, but we won't be able to use your cells anymore. That's the bad news, though. The good news is our TAC team was able to identify two men on the Salazar ranch last night. These men have known connections to a small Cuban terrorist cell we've had our eye on for a while."

"So..." Tony said, not sure what this meant for them.

"This is good," Jack assured him. "It means we'll only have to keep this up for a couple more days, while people back at CTU look for a way to prove the Salazars will be a national security threat. Our TAC team might have to make one more run to gather some more information, and then we'll have you two out of here."

"And so ends our paid vacation," Michelle sighed jokingly.

"I know you two are having fun," Jack smirked.

Michelle blushed as she remembered the incident in the barn. "Oh shut up, Jack Warner," she teased.

"Hey, I had to think of something quick," he defended himself. "I didn't count on you two still being in bed at noon - never pictured either of you as the sleeping-in types!"

"Oh, we were in bed, but who said we were sleeping?" Tony said smugly. Michelle turned red again and swatted his arm, and Jack laughed when Tony stage-whispered in her ear, "He's just jealous."

Trying to change the subject, she said, "Remember about milking the cows? We better get some breakfast - make that lunch - and get started."

"In the barn?" Jack asked with a wink, enjoying his chance to torture Michelle, all in good fun of course.

She rolled her eyes and pretended to be mad, storming off towards the house. "You're both hopeless," she called over her shoulder.

Tony watched her go, slightly dazed by her laugh and her smile. He was starting to scare himself with all this mushy, lovey-dovey stuff, but he just couldn't help it. With her, it felt so right. Nothing he could do or say would be enough to show her how much she meant to him, how much he needed her..."Tony!" He was pulled out of his thoughts by Jack's fingers snapping in front of his face. "Come on, man," he said, smirking. "When are you gonna ask her?"

"Soon, Jack...It's not that simple." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "At CTU...if one of us gets transferred, it'll be her, because I'm the director. What if she gets moved to another city when they find out about us?"

"Then you two will figure it out. Tell Chappelle the deal, and if he gives you shit about it, threaten to quit. He won't let you," Jack said firmly.

"I'll do it as soon as the mission is over," he promised.

"Tony! Brunch!" Michelle called from the porch. "Jack, are you staying?"

"No, I better head out," he said, back in character. Quietly, to Tony, he said, "I'll try to keep you posted on what's going on. I might not be able to talk to you for a couple days."

Tony said goodbye and headed into the ranch house, barely able to contain his smile as his thoughts remained on his and Jack's conversation. The meal was delicious, and afterwards, he and Michelle went to find the brothers, who were in the equipment shed.

"Hi, sorry we're so late!" Michelle greeted them. "Can we still milk the cows?"

All three of the men smiled at her obvious excitement. "Don't worry, senora, we saved the job for you," Juan assured her. "Here are the buckets...come with me to the barn and I'll give you a few pointers."

Ten minutes later, Tony and Michelles were left alone with the cows. Juan made the job look easy, so neither of them were concerned. They set up their stools side-by-side and each turned to an animal nearby. After a few tentative tugs and squeezes, Michelle got the hang of it and was laughing at Tony's growls of frustration as he struggled. He eventually started to catch on, though, and was concentrating so hard he didn't really notice when she looked up at him with a sparkle in her eye. Before he knew it, he was assaulted by a white stream to the side of the face, and she sprang up giggling. Wiping the milk off, he had to smile as he attempted to squirt back at her. Failing miserably, he abandoned the cows altogether and chased her through the barn, catching up to her as she tried to climb a ladder to the loft.

"You know, you'll just be cornered up there," he pointed out as he pulled her off the ladder. They tumbled into a haystack laughing, and her squeals quickly grew louder as he began to tickle her.

"Tony!" she protested, but it was futile. After a few minutes of torture, she gave in and cried, "Mercy! Have a little mercy!"

"Never," he growled, but stopped long enough to kiss her.

"Remember..." she gasped, "the cameras..."

"They can't see us over here," he muttered, but put a respectable distance between them. Casting a disdainful look at the camera, he pulled her behind a half-wall separating unused stalls so he could at least lay with her in his arms. Twirling one of her curls around his finger, he asked, "Chelle, what's the first of your birthdays that you remember?" She turned and looked up at him, confused at the random trivial question. "Just answer the question," he said. "I want to know everything about you, baby, and we have to start somewhere." Add to that, he just liked listening to her talk.

She laughed and complied. "Well, I remember snippets of my fourth, but the first one I remember clearly is when I turned 6. I had a real party with friends and everything – my mom invited my whole first grade class." She smiled dreamily, and Tony knew she was thinking of her mother. Somehow she managed to remember the happy times, and while accepting the car crash that had taken her mother from her in her teen years, she didn't dwell on it. "She didn't want anybody to be left out. I picked out a dress that makes me laugh now…it was pink and white striped and had a green half-circle collar thing with black polka dots– watermelon print! My mom and grandma oo'ed and ahh'ed over it, though, and picked out black Mary Jane shoes and a headband to go with it. First grade was my soccer phase, so that was the party's theme. I had a soccer-ball cake, mini-balls as party favors, my dad even wore a referee's shirt and whistle!"

"The reason I remember it so clearly was what happened with my best friend Lexi." Tony wondered if this was going to be a good memory, but the amusement in her eyes told him it was. "She and a boy in our class named Carter had been "dating" for two weeks – practically married, by our first-grade standards. I was happy for her, but insanely jealous; I was absolutely dying to have a "boyfriend." Anyway, at my party, we went to a park to play – what else? – soccer. Partway through the game, I noticed Lexi was nowhere to be found. Some of the kids less interested in the soccer game were over on the playground, but since she loved soccer like me, I thought it was strange. Seeing a gathering around one of the slides, I ran over and asked what was happening. One little girl whispered to me that Lexi and Carter were in that slide, and they were going to kiss! Of course, in my first-grade mind, I thought my best friend was pretty much sleeping with a guy she had been with for two weeks, so I got upset and ran to tell my grandma what was going on." Tony laughed. He had heard other stories about Michelle's grandmother, and he could see where this was going. Michelle continued, "She marched right over and stuck her head in the slide, catching them in the act! Lexi was just mortified, and Grammy told her they would discuss this after the party was over. The rest of it went pretty smoothly, but sure enough, as soon as the other guests were out the door, Grammy sat down with Lexi and I for a little "chat" we wouldn't soon forget. She told us we were both far too young to be kissing boys, or even thinking about them. By the time she was done, I wasn't jealous of Lexi anymore!"

Tony laughed picturing the scene. "Your grandmother sounds like a wonderful woman," he commented. He knew she was in a nursing home in Santa Barbara, so he asked, "When do I get to meet her?"

"If you want to visit her with me, we can go when we get home." She looked pleased at the idea. "I haven't gotten up to see her in a while. She needs the help of the assisted living home physically, but mentally, she's as sharp as ever."

"Good," Tony said. "I think I'll enjoy meeting her."

"While we're on the subject of our childhoods…tell me what it was like growing up with such a big family," Michelle requested. Along with Tony's 2 brothers and 3 sisters, his home had consisted of uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, and numerous pets.

"Hell," Tony groaned, but Michelle knew he was kidding. "No, it had its pros and cons. There was always something going on and people around. As a kid, I liked that most of the time, but of course teenagers tend to like their space – not something I got a lot of, sharing a room with Rick and Kyle. Rick went through that stage when I was younger, and I quickly learned that it was sometimes better to just stay out of his way. By the time he moved out, though, I was the moody one, and he seemed to understand that better than anybody. Since Kyle was so much younger than me, he got the brunt of it. I still feel pretty bad about that. He and Livy were left out sometimes, which is why they still enjoy teaming up on the four of us today." Michelle smiled as she remembered the Almeida family Thanksgiving she was a part of the previous year – she quickly learned to watch her back; practical jokes between the siblings flew hard and fast in the few days they had together. The twins, whom Tony was referring to, certainly seemed to be allied.

"How did your parents ever manage to keep the brood under control?" she asked.

"That is still a mystery," Tony answered. "Control was kind of an illusion in the Almeida household. I remember once, when I was about seven and Ari was sixteen, my parents caught her sneaking around with a college boy. My mom started crying, and I knew Ari was in for it. Rule number one with my dad – never make Mom cry. During this particular episode, the rule applied double because she was incredibly pregnant with Nat. Anyway, Dad sent Ari to her room to wait. I was watching all this quietly, and always the peace-lover, I didn't want a big confrontation. So I went to the only person capable of calming Dad – my grandmother. I told her Ari was in her room crying, and my dad was going to yell at her as soon as he made sure Mom was totally OK. Of course Abuela couldn't resist comforting her, and by the time my dad made it upstairs, the two of them had completely joined forces. Abuela managed to convince Dad that Ari was behaving like every teen does at least once, and the only way to remedy the problem was to be firm but not harsh with her, and show her that her parents still loved her – by not grounding her till she was 35. Now, my dad might have been overreacting a little at first, but Ari sure got off light when Abuela was done with him. She still owes me one for that," he said, smiling.

Michelle looked almost wistful. "It sounds like fun," she said. "Having a family like that."

"Not all the time, but I have to admit it's nice to know I can always fall back on them. You know you have that too, right?" He looked her in the eyes. "My family considers you part of the clan. They'll be there for you anytime you need them or just want to be a part of what's going on. They love you, Chelle."

"That means so much, Tony. You know my family isn't exactly a support system for me, and being included in yours is more than I'd ever hoped for. They're amazing people."

"I know, baby, and we're both so lucky to have them." Seeing the conversation was starting to take her thoughts back to Danny's issues, he said, "Let's go finish with those cows before somebody has to come looking for us."