When Michelle was ready to leave, she walked up to Tony's office.
"Hey, we're leaving" she said softly. Tony met her eyes,
"I'll be with you before you go in okay?" She nodded.
"Are you okay?" he added.
"Yeah, I'm fine; I promise" she replied, she could see in his eyes
"okay, see yah." He smiled at her.
Michelle was alone in the van where she was being prepared when Tony walked in.
"Hey sweetie" he said, sitting down on the coach, inviting her to join him, she sat down beside him.
"Are you nervous? He asked her softly.
"a little, but not as bad as I thought I would be actually"
"your tough, you can do this" he said, stroking hair away from her face. He moved his hand around her, and pulled her closer, so that her head was resting on his chest,
"You let us know the second you get into trouble okay? I don't want you taking unnecessary risks in there." He loosened his grip and pulled back so that their eyes met.
"I love you, remember that" he said.
"I love you to" she replied, she gave him a weak smile before getting up from the coach.
Michelle was only equipped with a small devise enabling her to notify if there was trouble. Anything else would be detected. Basically she was on her own. Things went to wrong too early.
Michelle kept her appearance and was able to continue what she was there fore, even if things didn't go as planned.
"What makes you think you can help me" Ashrim asked her
"I have what you need, I can fit in, I can get it done, smoothly" she sais.
"I like they way you think, he said, leaning forward and touching her face.
"hey, I'm here to do the job, that's IT" she said, firmly pushing him off.
"We could make another deal, don't you think" he said, trying again.
"I want to get this done" she said, feeling sick.
"hush" he said, moving closer, and holding her tight.
"we have other business to attend to first" Hi pushed her up against the wall. She tried to fight him off, but he fastened his grip on her, and was just too strong. He continue moving his hands, from her breasts, down between her legs. Then he forcefully kissed her.
At the same moment, a young girl walked inn." There's a problem, Jim wants to talk to you" she said. Ashrim left the room without another word. The girl stepped inside, and turned her back to Michelle, as if she was doing something, Michelle couldn't see what, and suspected she was there to keep an eye on her.
That's when it happened, four armed men entered the room, screaming in a foreign language. The girl quicky turned around, now standing with a gun in her hand. She answered in the same language. Michelle felt paralysed, and had no idea what was going on. Then, the man fired his gun, and missed Michelle by an inch. The girl fired her gun, and hit him. Michelle saw him fall to the ground. The other men started screaming, as two of them left the room. The remaining man walked foreward, dragging Michelle towards him, barely missing a bullet that emerged from the girl's gun.
He, hit her, kicked her, slammed her against the wall. Michelle heard shots, and he loosened his grip on her, falling to the ground. The girl kneeled down on next to her, seeing that she was still conscious and picking up her phone.
"Pu Almeida on" Michelle heard her say in a sharp, harsh tone.
"Get in here, now" She got up and left Michelles side, and left the room with her gun in front of her.
Tony, followed by the rest of the team came to the room, he saw Michelle and ran forward, kneeling beside her.
"get medics in here!" he screamed.
"don't move", he ordered when she tried moving her head so she could see him properly.
"It's okay, I'm here now, you're safe, and we're gonna get you fixed up alright?" He moved away from her as two men came in.
"I'm right here okay, I'm not leaving you" he assured her, before moving away, allowing them to work.
She could se the girl coming back into the room, and Tony met her eyes.
"What the hell's going on" his voice was angry.
"To many chefs make a hell of a mess Tony, everyone knows that" She walked past him, and he grabbed her by the arm.
"What the hell are you talking about"
"don't play stupid, Ted's here, he put the pieces together after I stopped Ashrim."
"what? What did he do to her, Nadine, don't just walk away", Tony's voice almost weakened.
"I'll talk to you later", she said, and walked out of the room.
Michelle was taken back to CTU medical. Her body was filled with bruises, she had a couple of broken ribs and a shot wound in the arm.
Nadine catched up with Tony before he went to medical to se Michelle.
"I think there is something you should know before going in there" She said as he walked towards her room.
"what are you talking about, Nadine, whats going on?" he added as he saw her face.
"Ashrim kind of, tried to rape her, before the shooting happened. I managed to get him off her, but she's probably pretty upset, so take it slow with her." Tony turned leaned against the wall and buried his face. When he looke up again.
"Your serious?, she didn't notify us that anything was wrong, he tried to rape her, and she stayed there, she didn't ask to get out. "
"well, if I may, I do no a thing or two about those things, and, I kind of understand why she didn't" He looked at her, he'd forgotten about her past.
"are you okay in all of this"
"yeah I'm fine, all that is in the past" she assured him.
When he walked in she was sitting up in the bed, he sat down beside her.
"How are you feeling" he asked softly, touching her hand gently, but being careful not to upset her.
"They say I have some broken ribs, but the wound will heal alright, and they've given me some painkillers, so…" Her voice was distant.
"You know that's not what I ment…" he said, but she didn't answer.
She was allowed to go home, as the doctor thought she would feel calmer there considering. Tony drove her home, and stayed there with her for a while.
Tony had walked out to the kitchen to talk to Nadine on the phone. When he came back, he found Michelle on the porch.
"You really like it out here, don't you" he said softly.
"yeah, it's peaceful" she said. Her voice vas still as distant and he had no idea what to do. He knew she was hurting, but had no idea how to help her. He gently put an arm over her shoulder,
"you want to talk about it?" she moved closer, and he hugged her, careful not to hurt her.
"I just feel so scared, so ashamed, weak. "her word scared him, and he could feel her shaking.
"You're not weak, and you have nothing to be ashamed of. And when it comes to being scared, I will do whatever I can to protect you, I promise"
"I don't know if I'm ever going to get through this, I don't know what to do" she cried.
"you can get through this, you're to strong for something like this to ruin you!" She pulled back a little.
"how can you even still look at me after what they did to me" she whispered.
"We were so happy, and everything was perfect. I should have never taken the mission." She continued.
"Listen to me, and listen carefully okay? I hate to see you suffer the way you do now. I hate to see you shaking, to se the way your confidence is down and under right now, and to see the life disappear from you. But I love you, I love you with all of my heart, and that won't change. I want to find the guy who did this to you, and to bring him down, to watch him suffer they way he made you suffer, but I wont, because you are more important right now, and you'll always be more important! I am going to help you through this, and you will get through this, we will be happy again!" For the first time, she saw a small, almost non existing smile on her face.
"I'm so glad I have you. I love you so much!" She slowly leaned forward and kissed him softly.
"Why don't you get some sleep, right now you're really tired, upon everything else, and at least that is something we should be able to do something about."
"will you stay?" she asked.
"I really need you beside me tonight" he eyed her
"then you can count on me to be there" he smiled.
A little while later Michelle crawled up in bed. Not long after, Tony came after her. He laid on his side, gently stroking her face.
"You're supposed to sleep to, y'know" she said.
"I don't think I can sleep without knowing you're asleep" he said.
"You're always like that. You have this thing, you have to fix everything, and it scares you to death when you can't" she said silently.
"I guess" he answere, thinking about what she'd said
"you don't have to fix it. Sometimes you can't, and this is one of those things. You can be there for me, but you can't fix it" he smiled
"that does scare me" he said.
"well, go to sleep, I'll stay like this" he said
"mm, I like the thought of that"
Slowly she fell asleep. He could feel her tossing and turning a lot through the night. When the morning came, she had settled a bit, so he didn't wake her.
He got out of bed, and left the room, leaving the door open so that he could hear her if something happened. After a while he hear her moving around a lot, and walked back into the room. She was shaking, and turning and seamed to be dreaming, he decided to wake her up. "Michelle", he whispered, gently touching her shoulder,
"Michelle, wake up". He touched her again, and she pulled away from him. The movement caused her to wake up. He sat down beside her, and stroke the hair out of her face.
"morning sweetie. Bad dream?" he said.
"yeah, a lot, and probably more that I can't remember" She moved close to him, and he held her.
"It's gonna get better, just give it time" She was still shaking, but it slowly she calmed down.
"Breakfast? You haven't eaten much…" he said as she slowly moved away from him.
"I don't think I'll be able to eat much, but…"
She was right, she barely touched her breakfast, but at leas she got a little Tony thought. He was worried about her. She was still a little shaky, and he could see the pain in her eyes. Tony thought about what she'd say, about him always wanting to fix things. He felt that way now, and is scared him, he admitted it, it scared the hell out of him.