This takes place 3 months and 5 months after season 2.
The title "Unintended" is a song from Muse.
You
could be my unintended
Choice to live my life extended
You
could be the one I'll always love
You could be the one who
listens
To my deepest inquisitions
You could be the one I'll
always love
I'll be there as soon as I can
But I'm busy
mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before
First there
was the one who challenged
All my dreams and all my balance
She
could never be as good as you
You could be my unintended
Choice
to live my life extended
You should be the one I'll always
love
I'll be there as soon as I can
But I'm busy mending
broken
Pieces of the life I had before
I'll be there as
soon as I can
But I'm busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I
had before
Before you
Disclaimer: I do not owe "24", or the song "unintended" by Muse.
Events do not occur in real time ; )
Tony couldn't focus on the screen in front of him anymore.
The little white numbers were turning upside down and his head was pounding ever since he had turned his computer on, 30 minutes ago.
He took a look at his watch, he'd been at CTU for over 20 hours now, because a special tactical operation had come in last night, an operation he was ordered to survey from the headquarter.
Brad Hammond himself had called him just half an hour before he was supposed to be off, and told him about this operation.
And after they had successfully finished it, Ryan ordered him to check the protocols of another operation from a few weeks ago. Not that this thing could not wait until next week, Tony thought, frowning.
He sighed and closed the document, then switched the laptop off, and was just about grabbing his jacket when someone entered his office.
When Tony looked up, he sighed again. Was he ever going to get out of there again?
"Ryan. What can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to let you know about a meeting at District on Monday." Chapelle said.
Tony took his planer out of a shelve and opened it.
"What time?"
"Around 10."
"I can do it. What is it about?"
"A presentation. District has plans to restructure CTU after the whole bomb-thing."
"Alright.
Tony was wondering what they were doing up at District when they didn't come down with such things.
"Have you finished the protocols?" Ryan sat down in the chair across him.
"Yeah."
"Okay, then could you check the logs ..."
"Damn it Ryan." Tony cut him off loudly and harsh.
Chapelle's face turned into a mix of surprise and disgust.
"I've been here for over 20 hours now. Don't you think this can wait?"
"Well, no. The comm.logs haven't been updated in over two days."
Tony sighed and looked at him,
"You could do that." Tony offered, not willing to get angry with this guy again.
"I could." Ryan now gave him a weird smile.
"Oh come on Ryan, get over it!"
"What do you mean, Almeida?"
"For over 3 months you keep on punishing me and Michelle for nothing."
"I wouldn't call sedating your boss nothing."
"Yeah...you know what? I don't care whatever you would call it. I've been here for 20 hours and now I am gonna go home until Monday." he smiled brightly at Chapelle, grabbed his jacket and went out.
"Tony!" Chapelle yelled after him.
"See you on Monday Ryan." Tony said and then went out.
When he slid behind the wheel in his car he took a deep breath to slow down his raising pulse.
This stupid stubborn idiot.
"Calm down Tony", he told himself as something caught his glance, a small piece of paper that was attached to the dashboard.
He'd put it there a week ago to remind him of the free weekend that was beginning today.
A bright smile appeared on his face.
The following three days he would spend on a weekend trip to Ventura ... with Michelle.
They'd planed that almost two weeks ago. They would drive to this little inn at the beach and just enjoy the free time, together.
Two full days just for the two of them. What else could he wish after such a long day?
Ever since they had started to date a few months ago, his life had changed for the best with each second passing.
Michelle had definitely enriched his life like no one else before.
And no matter how bad his mood was, if he were with her for just a single second it got better right away.
He would pick her up in about 4 hours, which gave him about 3 hours to catch some sleep. But he did not care. This was the first time they would spend time together for a longer time and not even CTU could stop him from going on that trip.
Sitting on her bed with legs crossed, Michelle stared out the window. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there already.
Usually she would sleep longer then 6 hours after a shift at CTU, but she was just so excited about today.
Last night, when she saw him at CTU, he'd started to prepare an operation in the field and she couldn't get a chance to talk to him. But he would pick her up in a few hours, and then she'd have all the time to talk to him.
And she loved talking to Tony, because it always felt like they had known each other since forever.
Two weeks ago, he'd asked her out of town for a weekend-trip with him.
Just out of the blue.
It totally threw her off. But she not even for a single second did she hesitate.
Three days with Tony alone was all she'd wanted the whole time.
But at the office they still behaved like they were just co-workers.
And yet, there was a difference . A small one, only they could notice. Every once in a while their hands slightly touched, which seemed to happen unintentionally, but not to Michelle.
Then they looked at each other in silence with a knowing smile.
These moments made her day.
But the best was that it did not end with that. Instead, they spent more and more time outside work together.
Either she spent the night at his place or he came over to her apartment, they had something to eat or went to the theatre.
But this whole hiding thing at work was still nagging her.
On the other hand, why should she worry about this today?
It was going to be a beautiful weekend with an amazing guy and nothing would destroy this.
Michelle yawned and stretched as her glance wandered across her bedroom.
Tony's dark-blue shirt was laying on her chair, his favorite shirt to sleep in. The one he had given her to sleep a few nights ago.
She had to smile. This was all she'd ever dreamed of.
Pulling back her blanket, she spotted the thin tiny scar under her left knee. The only visible thing
left that reminded her of that horrible day 3 months ago.
She had lost a lot of good friends that day and … even though it sounded inappropriate, it was
also the best day of her life by far.
And then a smile appeared on her face.
George Mason.
She owed him so much.
She touched the slight line on her bare skin, that would always remind her of that day and George Mason.
And she was okay with that.
Tony got into his car and floored the gas pedal.
He'd told Michelle he would pick her up at 5 and now it was 4.55. He would have to break some laws to get to Michelle in time.
He wiped his eyes that were burning strongly. Well, Tony , 3 hours sleep even come close to the minimum sleep amount your body needs.
Quickly he opened the window and took in the fresh cold air of this december afternoon.
A red traffic light was making him even more nervous.
When he finally stopped his car in front of the apartment complex Michelle was living in, it was 4.59. He breathed relieved and got out of the car.
Then he saw Michelle sitting on the stairs.
She had turned her face up to the sun. Her eyes were closed, she seemed like she wanted to absorb the light rays that were shining down on her.
He watched her for a few moments.
How come she always looked so perfect, so gorgeous?
Even if she was just wearing jeans and a plain blue pullover like today she looked stunning and breathtaking, especially when she wore her hair open with the curls falling down on her shoulders.
Like an angel.
"Hey."
Michelle opened her eyes and looked at him smiling.
"Can we go?" he took her bag.
She eyed him with a suspicious look.
"What?"
"You look tired." she said softly with a worried look.
Tony shrugged it off and went to the car.
Michelle followed and stopped behind him taking his hand; she looked at him, still worried.
"Tony?"
"I'm okay."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's been a long shift, but now I just want to go, okay?"
Michelle nodded shortly, still looking worried.
Tony closed the trunk, as suddenly Michelle pulled out the keys off his pocket.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I am gonna drive. No argument Mr.Almeida." she smiled at him.
There it was again, this wonderful smile she had given him so many times by now, and yet every time his heart stopped for a second.
He nodded agreeing and got into the car on the passenger seat.
Michelle turned on the engine,
"Ready?"
But Tony just leaned over and kissed her softly.
When they got to the inn it was already dark.
Michelle killed the engine on the parking lot in front of the inn and turned in her seat.
Tony had fallen asleep within two minutes after left Los Angeles. She watched him for a minute, then leaned over and slightly touched his cheek then kissed him on the lips.
He slowly opened the eyes looking confused.
"Hey... we are there." she whispered smiling.
At that, Tony smiled shy and they got out of the car.
At the reception inside, Tony placed the bags on the floor.
"Hey." He said to the young boy who was reading a magazine behind the counter. And the magazine was obviously more important than anything else.
Tony gave Michelle a sorry look and turned back to the boy.
"Uhm…" Tony tried again.
"How can I help you?" he still didn't look up.
"We would like to have a room." Michelle said.
Suddenly his face appeared from behind the comic, and with a big smile he put it away starring at Michelle.
Tony watched him for a few seconds.
"My name is Tony Almeida. I called last week and reserved a double bed room. Two nights."
"Uh…yeah." The boy stood up and grabbed some keys not stopping to stare at Michelle and handed them to her.
"It is room 7. Right over there." He pointed down a hallway on the left side smiling brightly.
"Oh…if you need anything, my name is Billy. I am here all weekend."
"Thank you." Tony said and then followed Michelle down the hallway.
When they arrived at their door Tony couldn't manage to hide his grin anymore.
"What?" Michelle put in the key and looked at him.
"Nothing." He tried to stop grinning.
"Tony!"
She was getting a bit angry so Tony raised his hands and said,
"Just…I think you got a new friend."
"What do you mean?"
"Come on…this boy was flirting with you."
"No…Tony. I mean, he was like 16 years old." She said uneasy while unlocking the door.
"He was flirting. But who can blame him? You are beautiful." With that, he opened the door and they entered.
Michelle wanted to respond, but the room was making her forget what she wanted to say.
It was more like a big suite. There was a big bed on one side and a chimney on the other side.
There was a couch next to the bed and huge windows with a separate door that led to the beach behind it.
"Wow." was all she could say while walking over to the window.
"It's great." Tony agreed and placed the bags onto the bed and sat down.
Michelle turned around and went over stopping right in front of him, laying her arms around his neck.
"It was a great idea. Thank you."
He smiled and stood up, kissing her.
He just loved to kiss her. He could kiss her all the time – even at work.
Two weeks ago when they were working on something at CTU, he stood right next to her and she gave him one of her gorgeous smiles.
He lost his composure then and leaned over to kiss her.
Fortunately there was no other agent around.
It wasn't forbidden to date co-workers, but no one was eager to work with dating agents either. It was like a secret rule. So Tony and Michelle had decided to not tell anyone at work yet.
But this weekend he could kiss her whenever he wanted to.
He pulled her tighter and they felt backwards on the bed.
Laughing, they separated and laid down on their backs next to each other.
He interlocked his fingers with hers.
"We should take a look at a map. To decide what we can do tomorrow." He said.
"You haven't made plans yet?"
"No…I mean, we still can stay in here all weekend." He grinned sheepish.
"Yeah…" she smiled and kissed him again.
"Hey…what about this? I try to get this fire on and you go out to your friend Billy and ask if he can give you a map." He blinked at her and grinned.
Michelle rolled her eyes sighing and went out.
When she got back a few minutes later, glad that Billy wasn't there anymore, she found Tony still laying where she'd left him.
"Hey, I thought you wanted to …" she stopped when she noticed that he'd fallen asleep.
She sneaked over to him quietly and carefully put out his shoes then took the blanket and covered him.
He must have been really tired she thought while stroking his head slightly.
And even though he had not told her how long he had been at work before she could tell it must have been at least 15 hours straight.
She smiled. She could not believe he had done this not to have to postpone this trip.
He was so wonderful.
And there he was, sleeping next to her, looking so relaxed and happy.
She still couldn't believe her luck.
It had only been 3 months since they started to go out, but she already knew she had finally found someone she trusted, she wanted to spend her life with and … someone she loved.
Michelle switched off the light and laid down on her side a few minutes later.
She watched the moon for a long time unable to fall asleep. The thought on her mind just didn't want to go away.
Wondering if she would spend the rest of her life with Tony.
She knew it sounded ridiculous, but yet something inside her told her that she was right.
That he was the one.
The smell of fresh coffee and eggs woke her up after what seemed like a five-day sleep to her. She was feeling great when she went out on the porch.
"That smells great!" she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and laid her face in his right shoulder.
"Good morning." He leaned back and kissed her cheek.
"Why didn't you tell me you were this tired?"
"I did not want you to convince me not to take this trip."
Michelle sighed, but then smiled and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder and they remained like this for a while then he turned around and both sat down on the bench.
They talked about their plans for the day and decided that they were going to the local zoo and aquarium and that they would have lunch at an Italian restaurant.
The day went perfect. They walked through the park hand in hand watched the animals and had lunch. It was a wonderful time for both of them where they would just think about the present, not about work or terrorists.
It was just them.
"I am starving here Mr. Almeida." Michelle closed the door of the car and followed Tony who was walking quickly towards the inn.
"That is why we are here." he said entering the major hall.
"But they don't serve dinner for another two hours!" she increased her speed to reach him.
"I know." He turned around smiling.
Michelle hesitated a moment not knowing what he was up to.
When she finally reached him at the door of their room he was leaning against the doorframe fiddling with something that looked like a scarf.
Michelle stopped two meters away and looked at him unsure of what do say.
"Come here." he pulled her over.
"What are you doing?"
"That is a surprise." he said and tied the black scarf around her head so she wouldn't see anything.
Before Michelle could add anything else, he carefully leaded her through their room until she could feel the sand under her shoes.
"Okay. You can look now." he said and helped her untie it.
When she opened her eyes, she started smiling.
There was a small table with two chairs. The table was standing in the middle of the beach, just a few meters away from the ocean. On it, she saw things like salad, fruits, pasta and a lot more.
"What?" she finally said.
"Sit down. I thought you were hungry." he smiled brightly.
They sat down across each other.
"When did you do all this?" she smiled at him.
"I had some help. " he grinned mysteriously.
"It looks great."
"Yeah…and in about 30 minutes we can watch the sunset over there." He pointed behind her and then took the bottle of wine and opened it.
"You are too good for this world." she leaned over and gave him a short but soft kiss.
"I know." he teased.
They ate some pasta and salad, had a glass of wine.
About twenty minutes later, he stood up and took the blanket that he had laid next to him.
He grabbed her hand and they walked about 50 meters away to a small bay.
He spread the blanket and they sat down.
"It is so beautiful here." she said leaning against his chest.
Tony wrapped his arms around her shoulder and kissed her ear slightly.
Michelle leaned back some more and turned her face, starting to kiss him.
When they broke he sat up and looked into her eyes,
"Michelle?" he whispered.
"Yes?" she looked back at him wondering about his serious expression.
"I love you." He whispered.
Michelle looked at him with big eyes.
"You don't have to say anything. I just…"
"Tony…I love you, too." She cut him off smiling shyly.
Then a big smile appeared on his face.
"Oh god…I was so afraid you wouldn't feel the same." He admitted smiling shyly.
"How couldn't I? I mean, you are an amazing man and I love to be with you." They started to kiss again.
Tony closed the door, still kissing Michelle, he almost tripped over the bag that was standing next to the bed.
In their try to catch the fall they felt down on the bed giggling.
"I'll never let you have a glass of wine again." he said teasing.
"Why?" she did not stop to unbutton his shirt.
"Because we could have had a broken neck cause of you now."
"As if it were me who wouldn't stop the kissing."
On that, he pulled her over and started to kiss her even more.
Michelle totally gave in into the kiss and started to get rid of her shoes as well as his shirt.
When Tony stopped the car, she got out, and together they went over to her apartment.
He carried her bag with one hand and held her hand with the other.
"It was an awesome weekend. Thank you, Tony!" she gave him a hug.
"We should definitely do that again soon." he kissed her.
"So…Am I going to see you tomorrow?" she asked.
"Yes. At around noon."
"Alright." She smiled and opened her door.
He smiled back and then started to kiss her.
When they separated he turned to go as Michelle took his hand and pulled him back,
"I love you."
He smiled, gave her another soft kiss and whispered,
"And I love you."
About two months later
Michelle was running up the stairs, taking two at a time, her keys in her hand, ready to open the door. It was raining like hell.
When she arrived at the last step, she tripped and reached out for the balustrade and grabbed it at the last moment, pulling herself forward.
She stopped in front of the door, breathing hard. She had tried to hurry but it was in vain, she was dripping wet.
Her feet were hurting and all she wanted was to kick those shoes off and take a hot shower and stay up until Tony would be back.
She took some deep breaths until her heartbeat reached its normal rate and then opened the door.
It was dark around her and she put off her shoes closing her door.
She went to her couch to switch on the light as suddenly someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
Shrieking Michelle turned around as the light went on.
"You scared the hell out of me." she pinched Tony's arm slightly.
"I know." he was grinning all over his face.
"I though you were still at Division." she wrapped her wet arms around his neck.
"We could wrap up the meeting earlier."
"Does that mean…we've got a whole evening for us?" her eyes started to shine.
"Yup." he kissed her.
"Why don't you take a shower and change and I'll order something to eat?" he asked when they splitted.
"Perfect." she smiled exhausted.
"What do you want?"
"I am fine with anything."
He nodded shortly and then she went to the bedroom.
Standing in front of the closet, Michelle could hear Tony ordering her favourite food at the Chinese restaurant a few blocks away.
And she smiled. He knew what she needed to become herself again after such a long day.
But honestly, Tony was all she needed for that.
Grabbing his stanford pullover she loved so much, she sighed at the mess inside the closet. Her clothes were mixed with his in this huge closet in Tony's bedroom.
Maybe she could try to organize it some day.
But somehow she liked it this way, at least her clothes were now smelling like Tony and she would not forget him when she wasn't with him. But that was impossible anyway, she thought grinning.
Michelle also took her pyjamas pants and went to the bathroom.
She really got used to this slowly.
During the last months she'd spent almost all of her free time at Tony's. She couldn't believe they had been together for almost 5 months now. Actually it felt more like 5 years.
And she was still falling more in love with him each day.
But lately their time together was rare.
With Tony being the director of CTU, her being his second-in-command and all the changes at the office, it was hard for them to find time they could spend together.
The CTU was being restructured into two charges, the Headquarter led by Tony and the Field-ops-unit, led by Jack Bauer.
After the bomb went off 5 months ago, they had rebuilt the main hall to prevent another bomb from destroying CTU again. They tore down some walls and built them up again with another, stronger material.
Also they had gotten a new computer system and if that wasn't enough, they also had to hire a lot of new people, so everything was going upside down.
Tony had appointments at District and Division almost everyday and, then, Michelle was the ranking agent in charge.
But that would be over soon, she told herself everyday. And hopefully this would be true.
When Michelle got back to the living room, Tony was already sitting on the couch watching the news.
She sat down next to him, putting her feet onto the couch; she leaned against his shoulder.
"We should get you your own pullover." he wrapped his arm around her kissing her temple.
"No…I am good with yours." she yawned grinning.
"Long day?" he muted the TV.
"Not really. Just exhausting. This whole interrogation is bugging me."
"What about it?" Tony remembered that she had started this interrogation about a month ago.
"We are kinda stuck. Our intelligence is obviously not that good. But let's not talk about that. I just want to think about nothing." She took her sweet and sour rice and ate.
"When do you have to leave tomorrow?" Tony took a sip of his water.
"At 9.30. You?"
"I've got another important meeting at Division at 8." he shrugged.
"This whole restructuring …who came up with this?"
"Some guys at Division. But once we are done, it will get easier for all of us."
"And when will that be?" she sighed.
He stroked over her hair and twirled a curl of her hair around his finger.
Michelle crutched nearer and put away her rice. Then she laid down in his lap and closed her eyes for a while.
Tony softly touched her cheek and said,
"I am sorry, but I promise you, once this is over, we will take a week off!"
"Yeah, that would be great. We could drive to..."
The ring of his cell phone cut her off.
Tony hesitated a moment. He took the phone and saw the caller I.D. – it was Chapelle.
He knew exactly what was coming next.
Instead of cuddling with Michelle and enjoying to be near her he would have to go back to work.
He hated himself for treating her like he had done during the last couple of weeks.
But what could he do? Ryan had warned him not to even think about not answering the phone.
The right thing to do was to tell him that he was in the middle of something more important. That he had not seen Michelle very often lately, even though she practically already lived with him.
And that he did not even remember the last time he had woken up next to Michelle in the morning.
But he couldn't say that.
A while ago they had agreed to wait for the right moment to tell their co- workers at CTU about them.
But would that moment ever come?
Michelle watched him talking on the phone, knowing exactly that she would spend the rest of that evening alone, just like the day before.
Two minutes later, he hung up. She smiled at him, but he was clearly disappointed.
"I really hate this." He came back to her and shook his head slightly wrapping his arms around her chest.
"Me, too. But in a few weeks it will be over, right?" she kissed his cheek softly.
Tony nodded shortly and sighed,
"How long will it take?" Michelle looked up on him.
"An hour."
"Okay, uhm...I gotta get some stuff from my apartment anyway so why don't you go to CTU and later we can meet here again?" she smiled at him, the wonderful smile of hers.
His heart started to beat faster immediately.
"okay." was all he could answer.
She smiled at him for another moment, kissed him, then grabbed her jacket and went to the door.
"Michelle?" Tony turned and looked at her.
Michelle turned around and saw Tony's worried look.
She went back to him,
"You okay?"
She looked at him asking.
"Why don't you move here?" he bursted out.
"What?"
"I mean…completely. You wouldn't have to go home to get your clothes and so … we could spend more time together."
"Uh…you want me to move here?"
"Yeah…my apartment is bigger and … I mean half of your stuff is already here." he smiled and pointed to the red blanket she had brought over the last week.
Suddenly she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him laughing.
"That's a great idea."
They kissed again.
"But..." she started.
"But what?" he asked when she hesitated.
"Uh...if I move here everybody at work will know."
"Yeah...but don't you think it is about time?"
"Yes, but what are they gonna say?" she looked at him uneasy and worried.
"Hey." He softly took her hands and smiled,
"I don't care about that. And you shouldn't either. I mean we have each other and even if they start to mug me I won't care because I got you and that is all that matters to me."
Michelle took a deep breath, then laid her head on his shoulder,
"I love you Tony."
"Is that a yes?"
"Yes, it is. I am gonna move here." now she lifted her head and smiled at him.
"You'll see it is not gonna be so bad."
"Wait until Chapelle knows." She said smiling slightly.
Tony leaned down and kissed her.
When Michelle entered her apartment 20 minutes later she suddenly realized that everything would turn out to be okay. She really did not care about how the colleagues or even Chapelle
would react, all that mattered was to be with Tony. She was so deeply in love with him, and even though she had never felt such a strong feeling before, she knew what it was and what it meant.
She was a little scared of letting someone near her again, but why?
Tony was just perfect and he was her everything. Even after 5 months only, she knew she had found the one true love.
About a week later, Michelle was walking up to her new official home, with Tony.
She was carrying the last box full of stuff from her apartment.
When she opened the door she saw Tony sitting on the couch smiling at her.
"Hey."
"The last one?" he asked smiling.
Michelle nodded satisfied and put the box on the floor and went over to Tony.
"So, then Welcome home Michelle." he kissed her and they sat down on the couch.
"So, how'd it go with Chapelle?" Tony handed her a glass of water.
"Well half an hour after I send the document regarding personal changes to Division, I got a call from him."
"And?" Tony asked.
"He asked me if that address would be correct and I said yes."
"That is all?"
"Actually, no. He also asked me to come see him first thing in the morning tomorrow." she smiled slightly and leaned back.
"I am gonna come with you." Tony leaned back too and took her hand in his.
"Please tell me everything is gonna be fine." Michelle turned her face to Tony.
"It will, sweetheart. Don't worry."
"Okay." she sighed and kissed him.
She knew everything was okay as long as Tony was with her.
Michelle would never give up on him ever again. (?)
The next morning, Michelle was sitting at her desk, nervously tipping her fingers on her thigh. Tony was up in his office talking to someone on the phone.
Chapelle was expected to be here every minute and her heart was racing.
Suddenly her phone rang.
"Dessler?" she answered it.
"It's me." It was Tony.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Chapelle just arrived, you better come up to me now."
"Alright." she hung up and went to the stairs as fast as she could.
Tony leaned back in his seat and saw Chapelle walking in heading to an agent when Michelle entered the office.
"Hey." he said smiling.
"I am nervous." she admitted with a quite voice.
"Don't." he said smiling and indicated her to sit down on the chair across him.
While she sat down, Tony turned and saw Chapelle headind to the stairs that were leading to his office.
"He's coming. Michelle? I love you, okay? It is gonna be okay!"
She smiled brightly and nodded but her smile vanished the second Ryan entered the office.
When Chapelle saw Michelle and Tony already sitting there he turned and closed the door. Then he stepped over to the desk and first looked to Tony, then to Michelle.
"Well, I guess I was right about my assumption." he said.
"We..." Tony started but he was interrupted by Chapelle,
"Listen, let me get this straight first. You too have just moved together, and I assume you did not do that so you can spare half of the rent, right?"
"I really..."
"No Almeida, just tell me if I am right." he looked at him with darting eyes.
"You are right Ryan." Tony sighed.
"Okay, uh .. I am gonna talk to Brad Hammond about this." Chapelle reached out for the phone as Tony put his hand on his to hold him back.
On that, Chapelle gave him an odd-Ryan-look and opened his mouth to protest as Tony stood up and said,
"Could I talk to you outside?"
Chapelle nodded shortly, but yet confused, and both men went out leaving an even more confused Michelle.
Michelle stood up and watched the men. Tony was talking most of the time and he seemed to be relaxed.
Two minutes later they came back and Ryan turned to Michelle,
"Okay, just the slightest mistake because of this and you are out of here, understood?"
Michelle nodded confused.
"Okay, and now get back to work." Ryan said and went out.
Michelle was staring at the floor unsure of what had just happened.
"You okay?" Tony stepped over and touched her arm.
She looked at him, smiling surprised,
"What did you say to him?"
"That he should be sorry for you because you can't cook." he grinned.
"Tony!"
"I just told him that it won't interfere with my work or yours and if it ever does, I will take full responsibility for it. Completely.
And that he can fire me immediately if he ever sees us doing anything else but work." he smiled friendly.
"You did?"
Tony nodded.
On that, Michelle smiled at him.
"Okay, and now let us go back to work. I guess Chapelle will be breathing down our necks from now on." he grinned and went back behind his desk.
Michelle went to the door and turned before she went down,
"I love you."
She smiled brightly at him.