Dedication: In the memory of my Abuela, who would lovingly spend the week cooking to provide a feast which couldn't be finished even if us grandkids had fasted for the entire week.


Setting: Two weeks later.


Where there's smoke, there's fire.

Sunday 11:43 am

Following Tony into his kitchen, Michelle wondered how she had been talked into this; actually the how was easy, why was a much better question. Tony had decided that he was going to teach her how to make his speciality: tortillas. Not only did Michelle have no interest in cooking— why slave over a hot stove when you can buy food prepared— but she also considered it akin to witchcraft. Her logic-based brain couldn't grasp the concept of a pinch of this or a dash of that. This, in combination with the fact that patience was not necessarily one of Tony's virtues, was going to make the cooking lesson an interesting experience.

"A tortilla is incredibly easy to make," Tony stated putting the necessary ingredients on the bench.

"You know that declaring something foolproof only guarantees that you find a bigger fool," Michelle countered.

"Have a little faith."

"You have faith in my cooking abilities?" questioned Michelle.

"No, I have faith in my ability to teach you to cook," joked Tony. "Now, first thing we need to do is prepare the potatoes: peel, quarter and zap for three minutes on high. Microwaving is your speciality, right?"

"You realise that I could have microwaved a ready-made breakfast in this time," Michelle retaliated.

Shaking his head and sighing, Tony clarified "It's only considered food if it's edible."

"We'll discuss this again once I've finished cooking."

Laughing, Tony sat back and watched Michelle begin preparations. After chopping the potatoes, Tony had Michelle move onto the onions and then fry both in olive oil and fresh garlic while Tony launched into a detailed explanation of the art of making the perfect omelette.

"Tilt the bowl more; a forty-five degree angle gives the greatest air interface," Tony instructed.

"I wasn't aware that eggs breathed," Michelle retorted.

With an impatient sigh, Tony clarified, "the aeration is important to make the omelette light and fluffy."

Adjusting the bowl as indicated, Michelle replied, "You know if you want a job done right, you should do it yourself."

"Look Michelle, if you really don't want to do this, let me know, 'cause I could certainly do it quicker myself. I just thought you might like to learn have to cook something," Tony replied sharply.

Looking across at Tony, Michelle immediately noted that his expression showed hurt, rather than the anger suggested by his words. Closing her eyes for a second, she sighed and tried to reconcile her own thoughts and emotions. If she was honest with herself, a large part of why she was being so difficult about this cooking lesson was that she was embarrassed at her lack of skill in the kitchen. "I'm sorry, I'm just not a nineteen-fifties domestic goddess," she explained.

"Well, I wouldn't complain about handing over the cleaning and ironing but otherwise I much prefer having a partner who's strong, confident and passionate, even if it means that I have to concede the occasional argument," Tony replied.

Smiling Michelle walked over and kissed him, "I love you, Tony."

"I love you too, Michelle."

Several minutes later, Michelle reluctantly pulled out of Tony's embrace as the aroma of cooking pervaded her nostrils. "Wow, that's starting to smell good," she stated.

Stepping towards the stove, Tony looked down at the perfectly browned potatoes, "Looks like you have a nose for cooking; time to add the omelette mix."

Picking up the bowl, Michelle quickly tilted it on the appropriate forty-five degree angle and gave it one last whisk prior to pouring over the potatoes. "OK, all done. And I'm done. The flipping is all yours; I always make a real mess."

Turning on the grill, Tony smiled, "Leave it on the stove for three to four minutes to brown on the bottom, then add cheese and cook the top in the grill. That way you avoid the whole flipping challenge and it comes out lighter. It also gives us some time… now where were we?"

...

Monday 9:17 am

"CTU, Almeida."

"Tony, Ryan Chappelle here. I'm just reviewing the CTU personal paperwork and noticed that both you and Michelle are listed as being interstate this coming weekend."

"That's correct Ryan," Tony replied careful to keep his tone level. He couldn't afford to irritate Chappelle at this point as his mother would kill him if he and Michelle missed the celebrations this weekend.

"You should have informed me directly," Ryan chastised.

"Protocol is to file notification with Division," Tony replied, fighting hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

"In future, I expect to be informed directly if more than one of CTU's senior management will be out of LA. I can't have both of you unreachable on the same weekend; one of you is going to have to change their plans," Ryan stated.

"That's ridiculous Ryan. I'll be gone less than forty-eight hours and I'll have my cell phone with me and on the entire time. If a high-level active protocol emerges, Jack is perfectly capable of running the office during the four hours it would take me to fly back from Chicago."

"This isn't a debate Tony. I see no reason why you and Michelle can't arrange to take your time away separately."

Rubbing his check, Tony took a second to register Ryan's orders and decide upon the best course of action. He could, of course, simply argue that both he and Michelle had fixed date events to attend. But that would involve a direct effect to conceal their relationship, an action that would most likely come back to haunt him when Ryan eventual found out the truth. No, he was going to fight this one head on.

"That won't work for us Ryan. The reason both Michelle and I will be away is that we're travelling together," Tony stated firmly.

"Please don't tell me that after the Nina Myers debacle you are actually stupid enough to screw another colleague."

"Careful with your language Ryan," Tony warned tersely.

"You're the one who needs to be careful, Almeida. You'll end this relationship immediately and I expect either yourself or Michelle to be in LA this weekend."

"You have no authority to dictate what we do in our personal time," Tony retaliated.

"I do when your actions affect your work and your decisions; should I ask what performance evaluation Michelle underwent to gain her promotion?" Ryan replied crudely.

"You tell me Ryan; you promoted her," Tony retorted. "I believe it was something to do with how happy your superiors were with our work towards stopping an unnecessary war."

"An effort that involved an act of treason, just like your last office fling," Ryan insinuated.

"Nina was a traitor; her decision to sell classified information to terrorists was in no way linked to her relationship with me. As for the actions of Michelle and myself, all we did was fight to save this country from terrorists which, if I recall correctly, is exactly what we were hired to do. And what we are still doing, and doing well according to Hammond's latest review; something which you were only to happy to take credit for," Tony outlined, making sure to pitch his comments towards Ryan desire for advancement.

"Here's how this is going to work Almeida. I will closely evaluate both you and Michelle during the next month; if I detect even the smallest sign of your relationship affecting your work I'll be informing Brad directly. I also expect both of you to be reachable this weekend, understood?" Ryan dictated.

"Understood," Tony agreed curtly. Certainly the intrusive evaluation would be a pain in the ass but considering Chappelle's initial resistance, this was an acceptable compromise and, in reality, a better outcome than he had expected.

…

5:12 am

The sound of someone knocking at his door roused Tony from the latest intel report he was reviewing. Looking up to see Michelle, he waved her in.

"Hey, how are the daily reports going?" Tony enquired.

"The departmental reports are completed and have been forwarded to Division; a copy is in your directory. I have karate training this evening, so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about," Tony commented, rubbing his check as he looked across at Michelle and tried to figure out the best way to tell her about his conversation with Ryan. He had been trying to work up the nerve to tell her all day and was running out of excuses.

"That sounds ominous," Michelle stated.

"Ryan called earlier asking one of us to change our travel plans for this weekend," Tony informed her.

Michelle groaned, "What did you tell him?"

"The truth."

"You told him about us? Without even consulting me?" Michelle questioned sharply.

"I was in the middle of a phone call, Michelle, what did you want me to do? Put Chappelle on hold in the midst of an argument to discuss the best course of action with you?" Tony enquired incredulously.

"Given that Ryan's demand involved me, you could have conferenced me in on the call," Michelle insisted.

"Honestly, that didn't even occur to me. Look, Ryan wanted to know why one of us couldn't change our plans and I wasn't about to lie. He would have found out eventually, this way we told him on our terms."

"You mean you told him on your terms," Michelle clarified before adding, "How did he react?"

"As expected: he disapproved, made unreasonable demands and then placed us on a one month evaluation."

"We're being evaluated?" Michelle replied in surprise. She always knew that Ryan wouldn't be happy about them dating but had never really thought about exactly how he would react. The idea of her personal life being subject to evaluation made her feel violated, and the fact that Tony hadn't involved her in such an important decision made her incensed.

"What exactly did Chappelle say?" Michelle demanded. Tony recounted the conversion wearily, aware that it was only going to make her more irate.

Listening to Tony's subdued retelling, it suddenly occurred to Michelle that he had obviously had some time to process the situation. "When exactly did this conversation take place?" she enquired.

"This morning just after nine."

"What?" yelled Michelle, staring across at Tony lividly.

Unsure how to best explain his decision, which he still believed was appropriate, or how to deal with Michelle's obvious ire, Tony remained silent. Several agonising seconds later, he was rescued by his phone ringing. Quickly snatching up the receiver, he grateful answered, "CTU, Almeida".

"Tony, it's Jack. Put me on speaker."

Happy for any distraction at this point, Tony immediately complied, "OK, Jack you're on speaker."

"Hi, Michelle."

"Hi, Jack," Michelle responded curtly.

"I just got off the phone with Chappelle who sounded about as irate as you," Jack stated.

Glancing across at Jack's office, Michelle realised that he must have heard her last outburst, "Sorry about that Jack. I'm just a little annoyed about being the last one to find out about this."

"Ryan's going to be asking anyone he can about how they view your working relationship so I'd advise you to resolve any domestics at home rather than in the office. Or at least keep your voices down."

Slightly mollified, Michelle replied, "We'll do that."

Nodding slightly in agreement, Tony added, "How did you answer Ryan's question?"

"I told him that you two are highly efficient professionals who don't bring their personal problems into the office; so do me a favour and try not to make me look like a complete liar. And Tony, take it from someone who was married seventeen years: if Michelle is angry enough to be yelling at you, you really need to apologise."

"Thanks, Jack," Tony replied looking across at Michelle who now had a slightly bemused look on her face as she also thanked Jack.

Hanging up, Tony decided that he was going to take Jack's advice, "Michelle, I'm sorry. I know I should have told you about this earlier but I knew it would make you unhappy and I just wanted to protect you from that."

Sighing, Michelle replied, "I don't need you to protect me Tony; I need you to treat me as an equal partner. Remember you only get to be on top in the office," Michelle added with impish grin.

Smirking, Tony looked across his desk at Michelle and then at the glass walls of his office. "What time are you home from karate tonight?"

"Just after nine."

"How about starting on the whole equal partnership deal tonight? I'll whip up some home-made brownies so you can make your world-famous ice-cream sundaes."

"See you tonight," Michelle confirmed.

…

Friday 11:47 pm

"You do realise that the quicker we exit the plane, the longer we'll have to stand around the baggage carousel waiting for our luggage," Michelle pointed out to Tony who had risen from his seat the minute the pilot had turned off the fasten seat belt sign.

"I hate planes," Tony grumbled. "I can't believe that you slept the whole way," he added looking across at Michelle, who had closed her eyes, rested her head on his shoulder and napped for the duration of the flight.

"It's been a busy week; anyway, it was a great opportunity to catch up on my beauty sleep."

"Sweetheart, you're the last person who needs beauty sleep— c'mon, let's get out of here."

Jostling into the aisle, Tony collected their hand luggage and ushered Michelle out of the plane.

Surveying the crowd as they deplaned, Tony spotted his parents, grabbed Michelle's hand and led her over. "Hey, Mom… Dad," he said while hugging each of them in turn.

By the time he had turned to introduce Michelle, his mother already had her in an embrace and was making her own introduction. "It's a pleasure to meet you Michelle, I'm Denise and this is my husband Alex."

"Hello, Michelle," Alex said greeting her with a kiss on each check. "Ella es muy bonita,"he added to his son.

"Si, and Michelle speaks Spanish," Tony responded.

"Beautiful and intelligent," Alex clarified smiling at Michelle who couldn't help but be charmed.

Shaking her head slightly at her husband, Denise suggested to Michelle, "If you aren't too tired, we can drive home through the city and point out the sights. Downtown Chicago is lovely all lit up."

Glancing down at her watch, Michelle replied, "I'm fine but it's almost midnight; I don't want to keep you up late."

"We never go to bed this early on a Friday night," Denise explained with a smile. "It's settled then, we'll collect your bags, take the scenic route home and stop in at our friend Pedro's restaurant for some churros con chocolate, which will give us plenty of time to get acquainted."

"OK," Michelle agreed knowing that Tony would be in full agreement with the midnight snack plan— a habit that obviously ran in the family.

Thirty minutes later, they were all seated in the restaurant with a huge plate of Spanish donuts in front on them. The conversation followed the predicted course of standard questions about Michelle's hometown and hobbies. Michelle instantly warmed to Tony's parents who were an open, warm couple and could see various personality traits that Tony had inherited in each of them.

On arrival at Tony's parents' house, Michelle was given a quick tour of the house before finding herself in Tony's old bedroom. Upon inspection, Michelle noted a large number of model cars in addition to an overwhelming array of Cubs memorabilia.

Noticing Michelle's examination, Tony commented, "I really should box all that stuff up."

"Obviously your parents are at loathe to give up their little boy," Michelle teased.

"Actually I think they are holding onto all this stuff for their future grandson," Tony replied, glancing across at Michelle cautiously.

Walking across the room to join Tony, Michelle wrapped her arms around him and met his gaze as she addressed his implied question. "Sometime in the distant future, we'll have to see what we can do about that."

"No rush, I'm definitely not going anywhere," Tony replied softly leaning in to kiss her. Seconds later he added, "But you know, we could always get in a bit of practice."

Gently slapping away his wandering hand, Michelle extracted herself from his embrace stating, "Not with your parents down the hall."

"I guess I'll have to settle for a rain check," Tony replied with a smirk as he stripped down and settled into bed for some much needed sleep for the busy weekend ahead.

…

Saturday 3: 20 pm

After a relaxed family breakfast, Tony and Michelle had been shooed out of the house earlier that morning to explore Chicago. Their sight-seeing had taken in both the standard tourist sites, along with those associated with Tony's childhood. Michelle had found the latter, especially the tales Tony recounted, extremely interesting. Moreover, this trip down memory lane provided a nice distraction from fretting over meeting Tony's extended family. In addition to Tony's sister, her husband and kids, an assortment of aunts, uncles, cousins and Tony's grandmother would be present for the party. And if a quarter of the stories Tony had told Michelle were true, Michelle was about to meet some real characters.

Upon returning to the house, preparations were in full swing. Entering the kitchen, Michelle saw that a transformation had occurred since breakfast. A trestle table was now set up abutting the kitchen table and was set for eighteen people. The kitchen bench was replete with trays and platters containing a vast array of food. In fact, the diversity of dishes was only surpassed by the quantity and Michelle was now thankful that they had, on Tony's advice, eaten a light lunch.

"Michelle, come and meet Tina," Denise beckoned. Mother and daughter were standing side by side chopping fruit.

Tina stepped forward and gave Michelle a quick hug, "Pleased to meet you Michelle, and thanks for persuading Tony to make the trip. I obviously don't have the charm to entice the bugger home."

"I love you too, Tina," Tony replied stepping forward and giving his sister a hug in turn. "Happy Birthday."

"Thanks. Rick and the girls are in the living room," Tina said.

"Go introduce your family to Michelle. I have everything under control here," Denise interrupted, waving her daughter out of the kitchen.

Moving into the living room, Michelle found herself introduced to Tina's husband Rick and her two daughters. Ana, the 4 year old was happily arranging a tea party for her dolls while old 6 month, Stacey, was looking around alertly from her crib where she was allegedly sleeping. Watching on as Tony picked up his newest niece, Michelle sat down on the couch to chat with Rick and Alex, who had retreated from the kitchen to let his wife arrange the party to her liking.

The conversation had barely covered the basics when the doorbell sounded announcing the first guests.

The next thing she knew, Michelle was being hugged, kissed and greeted by a seemly endless stream of Tony's relatives. And despite Tony's earlier briefing on his family, Michelle quickly lost track of whom she was being introduced to. However, one woman immediately stood out from the crowd.

"Antonio, come here and give your Tia a kiss."

Turning slightly Michelle watched as Tony grudgingly walked across the room to greet his aunt, "Hey Tia, ¿como etais?"

"Muy bien, now where is this girlfriend I've heard so much about?"

"Michelle," Tony called, beckoning her over. "Michelle, this is my aunt Lilliana. Tia, this is Michelle."

Michelle smiled and greeted Tony's aunt, who immediately embraced her and starting chatting away at a hundred miles an hour. "Hello, Michelle. It's a real pleasure to meet you. It's about time Tony found himself a nice girl and settled down. And such an attractive woman like you will make such cute nieces and nephews for me."

"If you've finished organising our life, Tia. I'm going to steal Michelle away to introduce her to Abuela."

"Bueno, Michelle and I will have plenty of time to chat latter."

"Remember, avoid Tia at all costs. She means well but doesn't understand that unsolicited complete honesty is not always welcome," Tony whispered in Michelle's ear as he escorted her across the room.

"Hola, Abuela," Tony greeted his grandmother. Michelle couldn't help but simile at the image of Tony— who was barley taller than her— bent over almost double to hug this tiny woman. "Abuela, this is my girlfriend Michelle. Michelle, this is Violetta."

"Hi, Violetta."

"You can call me Abuela, Michelle," Violetta instructed as she embraced Michelle with surprising strength for a tiny, old woman. "Now, come and sit with me and tell me all about yourself."

Following Violetta into the kitchen, Michelle soon found herself in the midst of a introductory conversation with a number of Tony's relatives. Four hours later, everyone was still sitting around the table, eating and chatting. The conversation was in a mix of English and porteños— the dialect of Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires from where Tony's family originated— which was a bit of a struggle for Michelle. However, everyone made an effort to include her and the vast amount of vigorous hand gesturing and passion helped Michelle to follow the gist of the discussions in which the family debated a range of topics from politics to gay rights to the latest movies.

While washing her hands in the bathroom, and enjoying a moment of tranquillity, Michelle soon found her peace disrupted by the entrance of Lilliana.

"Ah, Michelle. It looks like we have our chance of a little girl-to-girl gossip," Lilliana commented as she entered the adjoining toilet leaving the door slightly ajar to allow the conversation to continue.

If the situation wasn't awkward and embarrassing enough, Lilliana's series of increasing personal questions were worse. Focusing on remaining calm and in control, Michelle managed to answer the questions with as much grace as possible, until Lilliana forced her into a silent shock by asking point blank about their sex life. Fortunately, Michelle was saved from answering when another voice intervened.

"Mom, you can't ask a total stranger that… hell, you can't ask most people that question. It is completely inappropriate and really none of your business."

Turning around Michelle recognised Tony's cousin Belinda, a musician whose spiky pink and blue hair made her immediately identifiable.

"Hey, Michelle. We were wondering where you disappeared to. Ed, Rick, Tony and I have decided that we've had enough of our loco family and are heading out for a drink… unless you'd rather stay here," she added sarcastically.

"I'd be happy to join you," Michelle replied thankfully. "It's been great talking to you, Lilliana."

"Liar," Belinda whispered into Michelle's ear as the two of them heading towards the kitchen to rejoin the rest of the family. "Sorry about my mom; she really doesn't know when to keep her opinion and questions to herself. Just remember, they say one in three people are crazy… so every time you talk with her you can feel so much better about your own sanity."

Laughing, Michelle decided that Tony was definitely right… his family was a bit crazy but they were also genuinely warm and friendly people who Michelle could learn to love in appropriate doses.

It was almost midnight when Tony and Michelle returned from drinks with his cousins; the evening had been lots of fun and had included, much to Tony's chagrin, a lot of embarrassing stories about his childhood. Entering the kitchen, they found Denise and Alex having coffee and left-overs in what was now a spotlessly clean room.

"Hi Tony, Michelle. Can I get you something to eat or drink?" Denise asked as they entered.

"No thanks. After today, I'm not eating for the rest of the weekend," Michelle declared.

"I'm sure you'll change your mind tomorrow, especially as Alex is preparing a real Argentine asado," Denise replied.

"I love barbeque; I might have to start that diet on Monday instead," Michelle answered.

"A barbeque is how Americans ruin good meat, an asado is how the Argentines improve it," Tony informed her.

Shaking his head, Alex explained, "An asado involves cooking the meat slowly over charcoal to give it a juicy, smoked flavour. It's a popular Argentine way to spend a quiet Sunday relaxing with your family. And don't worry, it will just be Tina and her family joining us."

"That sounds great," Michelle replied with a smile, genuinely looking forward to spending a quiet Sunday with Tony and his family.

'Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.' (George Burns)