AN: Hey everyone I'm sorry for my seemingly forever Hiatus, I have made some crazy life changes since I last posted and am now living in DE with a friend and have to borrow a computer to write anything. I am going to do the best I can to keep up with this story I don't know how regular it will be but I promise to do my best.
I DO NOT OWN 24!
Michelle and Tony walked back into Jen's living room. Jen had risen from her spot on the couch and was standing near the TV.
"Tony I am sorry for making you feel bad about everything, if this is what is best for you, you have my full support."
Tony looked at her for a moment and absorbed what she had said. She still looked so sad and he wished there was a way to make her happy.
"Jen thank you for being so understanding, I realize this is hard for you and I promise to do anything and everything I can to help you."
"It's okay Tony really; Michelle has already gone through this speech. Don't worry if there is anything I need, you'll know."
Tony nodded his head and Michelle shifted her weight.
"Well if we have gotten all of that out of the way I suggest we move on to the other things that need to happen here."
Michelle and Tony exchanged a look and he turned back toward Jen.
"I need to get my things."
Jen started toward the kitchen,
"I realized that would be coming when you two came back in the house. It's okay Tony I'm not going to break you can stop looking at me like that."
Tony hadn't noticed the pitiful look of concern he'd been aiming at her since they started the new conversation but quickly rearranged his face to one of neutrality.
Jen continued talking while walking into the kitchen and reaching in to a cupboard.
"I suggest you start with this."
Jen pulled a white coffee cup from the cupboard with the Chicago Cubs insignia on it.
"I'm pretty sure you would miss it."
Michelle smiled and looked at Tony.
He walked forward and took the mug from Jens outstretched hand and gently held the mug in his hand. He turned around and walked toward Michelle. He looked up at her face and she offered him a loving smile. He seemed to brighten looking at her and offered her a lazy lopsided smile.
Tony handed her the mug,
"Hold on to this for me, will ya? It's been through too much to be forgotten about now."
Michelle laughed lightly and took the offering.
"Don't worry it won't leave my sight."
"Good."
They locked eyes for a moment and Jen cleared her throat loudly to make her presence remembered.
Tony dropped his gaze first and blushed slightly.
Jen looked away to collect herself and then looked back at the two.
"The rest of your stuff is pretty much strewn everywhere. Mostly just clothes though so it shouldn't be hard to find it all."
Tony looked at the floor again, Michelle couldn't decide if he was embarrassed or ashamed.
She looked up at Jen and caught her eye.
"Can we have a couple of minutes Jen?"
Jen nodded her head slowly and looked at Tony. She started her way out of the room and as she passed Tony she reached out and grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently.
Michelle was visibly uncomfortable with the gesture but said nothing. Jen sent her a small nod and then left the room. Michelle heard a door close and she walked over to Tony.
She claimed the hand Jen had gripped and laced their fingers.
"Tony?"
He put a little pressure into their handholding and looked up at her.
"Yeah?"
She searched his eyes looking for the answer she wanted but wasn't certain she had found it. Slowly letting out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding she closed in a little more.
"You're sure this is what you want right?"
Tony pulled her all the way to him.
"Sweetheart, there is no doubt in my mind about this. I want you that's the only thing I am certain of anymore. You are who I belong with. I just feel like shit for what I am putting Jen through. Unless you're having second thoughts?"
Michelle smirked into his shoulder and pulled back a little to see his face.
"Did you seriously just ask that? Of course I'm not having second thoughts; I want you home where you belong."
"And where exactly is home?"
"Where ever we choose as long as we are together."
He kissed Michelle's forehead.
"That's a good answer."
"I thought so too."
She smirked again.
"Let's just try to get this done with. No sense dragging it on any longer than need be."
Tony nodded and kissed her head again then slowly and somewhat reluctantly pulled away from her.
"I'll go get Jen."
Michelle nodded.
"I am going to try and just stay out of the way. I don't want to root through anything that may belong to her. No sense making a bad situation even more uncomfortable."
"Okay."
Tony disappeared and she heard him knock on a door.
Tony peered into the room quietly.
"Jen?"
She was sitting on the edge of a full sized bed in the corner of the room holding something. Her face looked tight like she was trying not to sneeze.
"Jen?"
Tony slowly made his way across the room to her. She looked up at him and he could see a few tears sliding down her cheeks.
With careful movements he sat down next to her. Her body tensed, whether from his proximity or from trying to keep steady on the bed as it moved he wasn't sure.
"You want to talk?"
"What exactly is there to talk about?"
The sentence came out broken and slightly angry.
Tony looked around the room and then down at his folded hands. His gaze stayed there for quite some time and then reached out and took her hands in his.
"Are you going to make it through this?"
She laughed a little bitterly. She turned to look at him.
"Tony, you are not the end of the world. I knew when I let you stay here that it wasn't going to be permanent, how could it be. I did my job. I picked you up when you were broken and put you together enough for you to get back to the only person who can keep you together. It's her turn now. She promised me she wouldn't mess this time up."
He smiled a little and then it faltered.
"Jen she didn't mess it up, I did. She did what she thought was right."
"Well then, don't put her in that position again. You're like a whole new person. You definitely aren't the person that walked out of that door yesterday, that guy that you brought back with you, I don't know what he did or how he even got you out of the house but I'm glad he did. You deserve to be happy Tony, I'm just a little sad that I couldn't make you happy. Michelle she's amazing, I can see that already. I want this to work out for both of you. I can see how much she loves you, and I know it's more than I can give you."
Tony looked like he could cry. He squeezed her hand reassuringly and smiled at her.
"Thank you Jen. This is for the best and I won't mess it up. Not this time. I owe you so much. I wouldn't have gotten here without you. I need you to remember that. It just took what happened yesterday to make me realize that I just wasn't that guy anymore. When Michelle walked through that door, I wanted to hate her and believe me she made it clear she wanted to hate me but the closer I worked with her the more I changed, the more I recognized my old self trying to break through. I wanted that to happen, I wanted to be me again. All I had to do was tell her, and when I did and she told me she loved me…that was it. I knew what I had to do and I know where I belong. That's with her. She's the only one who can make me feel like this. I won't give it up; I won't give her up, not again. I made a lot of mistakes and now I have a chance to make them right. You held me together for a long time Jen; I can never repay you for that. I will certainly never forget you for it."
Jen pulled her hands away from his, and reached up to his face. She put her hands gently on the sides of his face.
"You better not forget me,"
Very gently she leaned forward and kissed him, pulling away quickly.
"I will always be here for you, just remember that before you go back to the beer."
Tony laughed openly,
"Don't worry I don't think I'll be going back to that…ever."
She nodded her head in understanding, and then released his face. Slowly she stood up.
"We should get started getting your things, I'm sure Michelle must feel uncomfortable."
Tony stood up,
"Don't worry I'm sure Michelle is doing just fine. She's pretty self sufficient and understanding."
They headed out the door and found Michelle sitting on the couch in front of the t.v.
"Everyone alright?"
She looked between the two. Jen answered first.
"We're okay, are you?"
Michelle looked almost amused a small smile tugging on the corner of her lips.
"I'm just fine Jen, thanks for asking. I'm sorry if this sounds kind of harsh but could we start packing things up?"
Jen laughed loudly.
"See Tony I told you she was probably getting uncomfortable."
Tony gave Michelle a skeptical, he raised his eyebrow at her and she shrugged slightly and tilted her head to the side.
"I'm sorry Jen, yesterday was very trying and we still haven't slept so my nerves are a little on edge. I don't mean to be hurtful."
Jen walked over and sat down next to her on the couch.
"It's okay I understand. I had already mentioned to Tony that we should probably get a move on. I wouldn't want to be in your position either."
She turned to Tony.
"I trust you know where to find most of your stuff. I am going to be lazy and sit with Michelle and be completely unhelpful."
Michelle raised her eyebrows and nodded her head slowly. Tony looked between the two women gave Michelle a quick glance and then pouted slightly. He turned and went back to the room he had come from.
Jen looked at Michelle with a more serious expression.
"He's so different. He is nothing like the man that walked out of this house yesterday. I don't understand how one day could have changed a man so much."
"He wanted to change, wanted to be himself again, it's not hard to change when you're not being yourself to begin with."
"I guess that's true, but he has wanted to change for awhile now and he hasn't, all it took was you."
"That's not true. Tony had started to change before I even came into the picture. It was him getting back to the job. People depending on him, trusting him with their lives. Things that used to happen daily. It's not a lie when we say that the work we did, or do isn't easy, it's hard and painful not just physically but emotionally as well. But it keeps a lot of us sane. That was taken from him, when he needed it most he had nothing to throw himself into, no crisis to solve, no one to protect. He wouldn't let me help because he wanted to help himself. Yesterday he saved thousands of lives, Jack gave him that opportunity and that is what changed him. All I did was give him confidence and a reason to try harder. He took the leap and now we have the chance to put our lives back together."
"Will you continue this job?"
"No, it drives people apart. Puts barriers between us. Too many lies, secrets that can't be told for the safety of others. It almost destroyed us once; we won't let that happen again. I love him too much to lose him to that place. Even if it's all I know."
"You really do love him…"
"More than anything."
Tony had been standing in the hall listening to the conversation. He took a deep shuddery breath and walked into the bedroom. He reached the dresser and started shifting through the drawers.
He stopped what he was doing and looked down at his hands. Slowly he lifted them to his face. He turned around and sat on the floor, the events of the past two days finally overwhelming him. Tony rubbed his face vigorously trying to rub the worry away with the tiredness. In two days he had gone from nothing, just the ex-traitor drunk who had thrown away his life, to a silent hero reunited with the love of his life. The only problem was the casualty caught in the middle. Jen. She didn't seem too hurt and that in its self was a god send but he still felt it. The pang of hurt in his stomach, it was worse sitting in the dim lit room he had called home for the last six months. What hurt more was that it didn't matter, even if she had looked him in the eye and told him she would never forgive him he wouldn't have changed his mind. He BELONGED with Michelle and he wasn't losing her again…ever.
He tucked his knees into his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He thought 'how childish I probably look right now' but he felt safer. Things felt so new to him. He had been with Michelle before, had been married to her for 3 amazing years, had he lost himself so much in the last six months that he didn't know how to be with her? And where did they go now? She was going to leave CTU for him, what would they do instead? They both had amazing resumes and great skills but what would they do with them? He couldn't be hired by the government and he didn't want to be. Tony didn't want to take a position that would put any space between him and Michelle. So what then?
That didn't matter. At least not right then. He put his hands back to his face and rubbed his eyes rubbing his thoughts clear. She loved him and wanted to be with him. That's what mattered. He got up off the floor and began pulling his clothes out of the dresser. At the bottom of the top drawer he pulled out a picture that had been hidden. It was of him and Michelle on their honeymoon. They looked so happy; he wanted to look that way again. They were walking down a beach hand in hand; Michelle was in a white tank top and a knee length blue skirt. It was flowy with a wavy bottom. It waved in the wind and her hair was down and full of curls. Tony looked at her with such adoration, he couldn't believe they had spent so much time away from each other; He quickly put the picture in his wallet and looked around for one of his duffel bags.
He found one stuffed in the corner of the room and began loading it. Once the dresser was empty of his things he looked around the room for any stray things. He found a few more articles of clothing and decided there was nothing else in the room. Tony exited and made his way down the hall.
Michelle and Jen were still sitting on the couch.
"I uh don't know what else I really have here, other than clothes I mean."
Tony looked at the floor sheepishly.
Jen stood up.
"Not much else I guess. I mean walk around see if anything jumps out at you, if not anything I find I'll get it to you."
He nodded and made his way around the house. After finding a few more sets of clothes and a couple trinkets here and there he decided there wasn't much else he noticed. Tony made his way back to the living room.
"I think I have everything."
"Here these are yours."
Jen reached out and dropped a set of keys in his hand.
"You wouldn't want to forget your Jeep."
Tony laughed loudly and Michelle sniggered slightly over on the couch.
"Did I miss something?"
Tony stopped laughing,
"No you didn't miss anything sorry. Michelle has a slight issue with the Jeep."
Jen nodded her head in recognition.
"What not expensive enough for yah?"
Michelle stood up.
"I like my cars; I just don't want a bucket of rust."
Jen shook her head.
"The poor, poor Jeep."
"Something tells me that they'll get over it."
"They?"
"Both the Jeep and its owner."
Tony pretended to be crying, and they all laughed. The laughter died down and an awkward silence took over.
Michelle made the first move.
"I'm going to head to the car. Give you guys a few minutes to do whatever. You want me to take the bag?"
"Its okay I got it."
She nodded and walked over to Jen.
"Thank you…for everything."
They shook hands and Michelle walked out the front door.
Tony looked up at Jen.
"I uh don't really know what to say."
Jen had a few tears in her eyes and Tony could tell she was fighting to keep them back.
"Don't worry about it Tony, if I could go back and do it again I would. Just take care of yourself. Don't forget about me."
"I won't, I swear. I can't thank you enough."
"Please just go. I don't think I can handle it anymore."
He nodded his head and with one last look made his way out the door.
Tony walked to Michelle's car looking at the ground. When he reached it she got out and walked over to him.
"You okay?"
He looked at her and then dropped his bag on the ground and pulled her into a tight hug.
"No, no I'm not okay but I will be."
They pulled away from each other and he took her car keys out of his pocket.
"I'm gunna drive the Jeep back to the house. You gunna follow behind me?"
"Yeah sure."
She took the keys out of his out stretched hand.
"Tony?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
Tony looked up at her and smiled.
"Nowhere near as much as I love you."
They both turned and got in their vehicles and drove away.