Chapter 3

Training Day

Later that day:

Michelle changed in the locker room and walked out onto the floor of the gym with her workout bag slung across her shoulder. She was dressed in a casual ribbed tee, with a comfy pair of shorts. She threw her nicely curled hair up into a ponytail on the top of her head and removed her jewelry for precautionary measures. As she took a sip from her water bottle, she turned and saw Tony enter from the men's locker room. She couldn't help but smile to herself as she saw him walk over to the water fountain, barefoot, in a black pair of sweat pants and a casual white tee shirt.

Michelle had never seen him before without a collared shirt or a pair of loafers. Just seeing him in casual clothes made her heart beat a little faster. She felt a little embarrassed in wearing a tight wife beater and shorts, but also felt more connected to him somehow. She had always been comfortable and natural around him, but especially now, she felt like she could be…herself. There were not many people in Michelle's life who she felt like she could be herself around, not even her past boyfriends. She had always felt like she was putting on a show, giving a fake smile, pretending to listen intently. But with Tony…Michelle had never felt more like herself in front of anyone before.

Tony turned around and saw Michelle standing on the other side of the gym, and she gave him a little wave. He smiled, and saw what she was wearing. He felt his heart drop into his stomach.

She looked absolutely beautiful in her workout clothes, he only wished that he could, for once, see her with her hair down, untamed. He constantly wondered what it looked liked without being pinned back.

He began to walk over to her, and felt his knees begin to shake slightly as he tried to keep his composure. He was an emotional and physical wreck just looking at her; how the hell was he supposed to keep it together when he was possibly touching her? Tony started to panic a little, but was relaxed the second he reached where she was standing. Her presence washed a great sense of relief over him. She smiled at him.

"Well, Tony, don't you look spiffy in your sweats?" she teased. She touched the bottom of his cotton tee and rubbed it between her fingers. The material was so soft.

Tony looked down at her hand, and she swiftly pulled it back, realizing her mistake. Did that push the boss/employee boundary? Was that too much…even for someone like him?

Tony touched the same spot where her fingers were. The heat from her hand still lingered in the fabric. He looked back up and saw her hesitation. "Yeah, well, I can't sleep in a dry cleaned shirt every night" hoping to clear the awkwardness.

At this she laughed, and instantly relaxed. Tony loved to make her laugh; he thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world. He was glad that he was able to do that every once in a while; she deserved it.

They both heard the sound of a whistle and turned to see their instructor enter the room. He was a very large, stocky guy, with rippling muscles and an intense stair. His face was stone cold, and head shaved to a crew cut, probably an ex-Navy Seal.

There were about a dozen people in the class, all huddled together on the mats, sitting Indian style. Tony sat down next to Michelle, their knees barely touching. He was easily bored and zoned out of what the instructor, Robert, was saying. He was snapped back to reality by Michelle nudging him gently, whispering "Tony. Tony!" He looked up at Robert who was waving for Tony to stand. Tony stood up, walked to the front of the class, and Robert introduced him as today's demonstrator. A painful look crossed his face as he remembered that he had to be the dummy for everyone in the class, not just Michelle. Michelle noticed his twisted face and began giggling to herself. Tony looked over to see her trying to hold back laughs. Her face was turning bright red and she looked like she was in pain from laughing so hard. This made Tony grin so wide he almost started laughing himself. Robert noticed the distraction between the two of them and reprimanded them in front of the class. Michelle instantly went silent, and whispered a quiet apology. When Robert turned around to get kick-boxing supplies immediately after, Tony looked back at Michelle who began giggling like a little girl once again.

The class was in full session, and Tony was shocked at Michelle's strength. He had no idea that she had earned a full black belt in Shotokan, a very advanced form of karate.

"Mhm" she responded after telling Tony the story about how she earned her stripes. "I even got to travel to Japan with my sensei for a month while he was studying there a few years ago. I learned so much, it was one of the best experiences of my life."

Even as they practiced basic defensive moves, Michelle was sharper, swifter, stronger, and much more perceptive than any of the other students. Any time Tony lunged for her, she immediately recovered, took position and seized her advantage over him. She definitely had a knack for thinking on her feet.

When it came time for the students to pair up with a partner, Tony made sure he was paired with Michelle. They began with basic moves, from avoiding an attack to response in times of danger. During this hour, they exchanged casual conversation, and learned more about each other than in the three weeks they had been working together.

Tony told all about his time spent in the Marines. He talked about the things he saw, the people he met, and why he chose to quit.

"Because," Tony said when Michelle asked why he left during their water break, "I realized that I didn't want to kill people any more. I didn't want to attack villages, hurt innocent people, go undercover…or be a part of a violent end to a violent beginning. I saw the mistakes being made by our generals and commando leaders, and learned from them; I realized that I could make better choices from my experience, and decided to use it in a productive way by joining CTU. I thought that maybe I could make a difference, possibly find a way to end the constant violence while still serving my country." Michelle looked at him with curiosity and amazement. He shrugged. "I never want to hurt an innocent person again. I don't know if anything I've done has helped anybody, but I get through the day on the hope that maybe I saved someone's life or protected my country."

Michelle couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tony Almeida was the best man she had ever met in her life; he was honorable, yet humble, and always thought about someone else's well-being before his own. He was in no way selfish, and committed his life to serving his country and helping others.

"Tony…" she said to him. "That's…that's beautiful. I've never met someone as dedicated as you. Everything you've done, everything you've accomplished…it helps people every day. How can you not see that what you're doing is protecting the lives of millions of people?"

He shrugged again. "I'm glad you see it that way, but I guess… I feel like I haven't done enough, didn't try hard enough" he blurted out. "I sometimes feel guilty about the people I didn't save, or the innocents I didn't protect. I try not to beat myself up about it, and I know deep down that I can't protect everybody, but that doesn't mean I don't try." He couldn't believe he was confessing all of this to her; he had never told anyone about his feelings before, not even his own mother.

Michelle put his arm on his shoulder. "Tony…you're right. You can't save everyone…it's impossible. But you try your best, and save as many as you can. What you do everyday… most people can't handle in a lifetime. You're braver than any man I've ever met, and you have to believe that. You can't let just the few that you miss or mistakes that you make judge your entire career or determine your future…you just do the best that you can, which is pretty damn awesome, if I may say so myself."

Tony smiled, and felt instantly better. He knew all of this on the inside, but just hearing her say it lifted a huge weight off his shoulders that he had no idea he was carrying around. He felt relieved…and more relaxed than he had in years. They went back onto the mats and continued to chat while they finished her training.

Michelle also learned that Tony had lived in Argentina for several years as a child before moving to Chicago, although he was born in America. Several members of his family still lived in Buenos Aires and he visited them every couple of years. He told her all about what life was like there, from the beautiful beaches to the amazing food to walking down Calle Ocho in the middle of the summer.

"Michelle, you have no idea how amazing it is down there," he said as he jumped down to punch her in the stomach. Michelle immediately grabbed his hand, twisted it, and Tony landed flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him. He was still in shock about how fast she reacted.

"Really?" she replied. Tony got up, brushed himself off, and then placed his hands firmly on her shoulders.

"Yeah" he said. "Then there's another little artsy city called La Boca, and every single house is painted the craziest colors; hot pink, orange, purple, bright red..." Her eyes opened wide in amazement. She listened intently to his words, like a child listens to a teacher. "And in the middle of December, it's actually summer for us. We celebrate Christmas under a palm tree."

She laughed aloud and avoided his attempted kick to her chin. She grabbed his leg, pushed him onto his stomach, and climbed on top of his back with his arm twisted behind it.

"Wow. That sounds incredible. I wish I could go there sometime."

"We could! I plan on going back next year, you should totally come with me." She got up off his back and he struggled to stand on his feet. "That is, if I live through you beating me up like this. Gees, Michelle" he moaned as he tried to stretch out his sore back.

She put her hands on her hips and laughed, out of breath. "Well, I warned you that I wasn't going to go easy on you." They were finishing their partner work, and decided to take a twenty-minute lunch break by themselves in the locker room.

"What about you?" Tony asked as they walked with their fast food in hand. "You've heard everything there is to know about me, and yet all I know about you is that you have a brother with two kids and you're awesome at karate." He wiped the sweat off his brow with a towel.

Michelle's face fell and she paused. She had been avoiding his questions all day and hoped he hadn't noticed. She definitely didn't want to talk about her past, but knew he deserved it after everything he had told her. She stared at the ground for a moment before looking back up at Tony, who had a concerned look on his face. Michelle looked in his eyes and felt them penetrating right through her.

"God…" she thought. "It's like he can see right through me."

Tony felt her uneasiness and placed a hand on her knee. "Hey…if you don't want to talk about it we don't have to."

Michelle shook her head, looking away. "No…" she replied slowly. "You deserve to know, after everything you just told me." Tony was about to say she didn't owe him anything, that he didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but she interrupted him. "No…I want you to know." Tony stopped his protests and listened.

Michelle took a deep breath and tried to figure out where to begin. "Well, uh…my mother was killed by a drunk driver when I was twelve. I was sitting in the backseat with my little brother when it happened. Danny was only eight. He doesn't remember much about her." Tony looked deep into Michelle's eyes as she tried to keep her composure. "I still remember that night vividly…the truck's headlights heading right into the side of my mom's car as he ran a red light. I was sitting in the passenger seat and Danny was in a car seat in the back. My mom and I had just had a fight about something stupid, I don't even remember what it was about…I was just being an obnoxious little preteen and totally disrespecting her. She was yelling at me, and I was just sitting there trying to block out the sound of her voice." Michelle's eyes began to fill with tears, and she closed them to try to hold them back. "What's funny is that I tried so hard to not listen to what she was saying, and now…I'd give anything just to hear her voice one last time." She sat squeezing her eyes shut as if trying to go back to that night, to try to remember what her mother was saying. "God" she said exasperated as she opened them and came back to reality. Tears finally began to fell, and she wiped one away insignificantly, trying to pretend like they weren't there. She regained her composure, sniffed for a second, and then continued.

"Anyway, so um the truck hit us as my mother was looking at me trying to get my attention. I was getting pissed so I kept ignoring her and looked out the window." She took a deep breath. "When I saw the headlights from the corner of my eye, and turned and screamed, and she looked out the window right as it hit us going sixty-five miles an hour. I just remember seeing the bring lights blinding me, then a loud bang and suddenly everything went dark. I guess I was knocked out or something because the next thing I remember was the sound of the jaws of life cutting the roof of the car off. It scared me, and I looked up to see a fireman pulling me out of the seat. The first thing I did was turn around to see Danny screaming in his seat, but perfectly okay as another fireman pulled him out. Then I looked at my mom…and..." her voice began to shake but she kept going just trying to get through the story. "And I saw her, her head on the steering wheel, blood coming out of her ears, and she was…just staring at me. She was still alive, her eyes were open, and she looked right at me. Then her head just slumped down and…and…" Michelle was convulsing now. Her body shook so hard it looked like she had no control over it. Tears were streaming down her face, and her eyes were red and swollen. Tony couldn't take it anymore, he couldn't watch her do this to herself. He reached over, grabbed her, and held her close in his arms. She began to fight him off. "No, no I'm not done" she insisted, but Tony continued to hold her until finally her protests stopped and she submitted to his embrace. She buried her head in the crook of his neck and breathed in deeply, the scent of him calming her down. She was crying hysterically, and Tony could feel the warm wetness of her tears dripping down his neck. He closed his eyes and just held her, feeling terrible for making her do this. All he could think about the pain she was in, and how he desperately wanted to take it away. He wished that she never had to have lived through such a terrible ordeal.

"Just breathe, Michelle. It's gonna be okay. Just breathe. I'm here, it's okay, it's okay…" He attempted to soothe by rubbing her back, and coached her through taking deep breathes.

After a few minutes Michelle began to calm down. Her breathing slowed, and she concentrated on the sound of his voice and the small circles he made on her back. His hand was so firm, yet gentle, and every spot he touched seemed to leave a healing mark on her skin. It was warm, inviting, and she wished he would never stop.

Finally she snapped back into reality of where she was and what was going on. She jumped back out of his arms. "Oh my God" she whispered. Her eyes were puffy and swollen, her face was flushed, and her voice was still raspy from all of the crying. She looked away, and attempted to stand up. "I'm so sorry, oh my God, I can't believe what I just did. I'm so sorry, that was so unprofessional…" Tony stopped her midsentence. "Hey, hey, it's fine" he said grabbing her arm as she tried to stand. She looked down at his hand and slowly sat back down on the bench between the lockers. Her face turned bright red out of embarrassment. "I can't believe I just did that" she said trying to wipe the dried tears off her face. Tony looked into her eyes and said "don't worry about it. I'm sorry that I made you talk about that."

"You didn't make me do anything, Tony. I wanted to tell you. I don't know why, since I've never really said that to anyone before…" she paused and contemplated this. "But it was my choice, and I know you must think I'm some baby who craves attention or can't handle this kind of job…" She began to ramble about how embarrassed she was, and Tony attempted to stop her, but she kept going; "or I'm trying to get everyone to feel sorry for me, but I'm really not like that at all. I'm usually really good at keeping my emotions in check, and I promise you that this won't happen again." All of a sudden she turned from a funny, sensitive woman, into agent Michelle Elizabeth Dessler, Internet Protocol Manager of CTU Los Angeles.

Tony stopped her mid-sentence. "Hey, wait, hold on a sec. I wasn't thinking that at all. In fact, I was admiring at how brave you are for being able to live through something like that. To be honest, I don't think I could ever have survived something like that. I don't know how you did it."

Michelle looked up at him and tried to regain her composure. She had no idea what to say."Thank you" she whispered. "For…everything."

"No problem" he said as he took his hand off her arm. "Come on, let's go back out on the mats. I'm sure Robert can't wait to see us" he said winking. Michelle smirked. Tony could tell she was still upset, but hoped the training would distract her. They walked out of the locker room and began their afternoon training session…together.

As training continued, Robert called for one of the students to grab their partner from behind their backs. Tony went and took Michelle by her arms, and their hands were interlocked. Tony's heart began to pound. Then Robert told the aggressors to restrain their victims while the victim attempted to escape. Tony tightened his hold on Michelle's arms, and she yelped. He immediately let go and felt his stomach drop. "Oh my God…I'm so sorry, are you okay? Let me see." The whole point of Tony taking this class was to watch over Michelle, protect her…now he was the one hurting her. He couldn't take it, he didn't want to ever touch her again. Michelle turned around to face him. "Tony, it's fine, really…no big deal. I just wasn't expecting it, but that's the kind of training I need. You of all people should know that…when you're out in the field, there is no set schedule or instructions, and you need to learn how to deal with situation is thrown your way." He stared at her, shocked out how level headed she was about…everything.

Michelle turned around again and put her arms behind her back, gesturing for him to restrain her. When he didn't, she turned her head and repeated "I'm fine." Tony hesitated but gently restrained her. He was so close he could smell her; the light perfume, the clean smell of her hair. It was intoxicating.

Michelle tried to listen intently to Robert's instructions as he explained how to escape this kind of restraint, but the feeling of his large hands grasping her body made her heart dance. She closed her eyes and felt his strong, muscular body up against her back, and it sent shivers down her spine. She felt the heat of his chest radiating through her thin tank, and goose bumps formed all over her arms.

After training was finally over, Robert handed each of them their evaluations and thanked Tony personally for volunteering his time. When he turned around to check on Michelle, she had a huge smile on her face. She ran over to him.

"Look!" she squealed. She thrust her evaluations paper in front of his face, and Tony's face fell as he read it.

Best in class…9.6 out of 10…quick thinker…highly recommended for field ops…oh shit. He had secretly been hoping that she sucked; then George wouldn't even think about putting her in play.

Michelle noticed his disappointment. "what?" she said. "Isn't that good?"

Tony looked up at her, and immediately put on a happy face. "Oh no, that's fantastic! Congratulations, Michelle, you did great today. Ryan and George are going to be extremely impressed."

"Then…what's the matter…?"

Tony pretended to laugh. "Oh, nothing…it's just that…you did better than me on my first training session. It's official; you actually did beat-up your boss…literally."

Michelle smiled. "Awe, don't feel bad" she teased. "Theirs always next year. Oh wait…" she smirked and Tony chased her all the way into an empty locker room…the same room where they had lunch. Michelle laughed as she dodged Tony's lunges for her. Finally he grabbed hold of her and picked her up in his arms. She squealed like a little kid as he threw her over his back.

"Oh really? You thought you were so good that you could get away from agent Almeida?" he said with her dangling off the side.

"Tony!" she panted as she started punching his back. "TONY!" she laughed even harder and he placed her on the ground. She lost her balance when he let go of her and immediately caught her in his arms. She began laughing again at her clumsy-ness and Tony looked her in the eyes as she leaned into his chest, trying to regain balance. His strong arms were wrapped around her body, fully supporting her weight. Michelle stopped, and looked deep into his penetrating eyes. All the noise between them stopped, and Tony's thumb caressed the crook of her waist where his hand was settled. Michelle's arms were laying on his chest, and she could feel it expand with every breath he took. She looked down at his mouth, and as she did so his heart began to pound under her hand. Butterflies fluttered all throughout her, and she felt weak at the knees, glad that Tony was supporting her. Time seemed to swirl all around them, both of them completely unaware as to what was happening around them. It was just the two of them, in this embrace.

Suddenly they both flinched at the sound of a locker room door slamming shut. The rest of the class was beginning to enter to get changed. Michelle jumped out of Tony's arms, and her cheeks turned bright red. She couldn't believe what just happened…what almost happened. She was totally embarrassed, and Tony seemed to be feeling the same way as he refused to look at her.

"So, er…" he mumbled, the same way he had on the first day they met. "You should probably go and get changed. Since this is the guy's room and all."

Aware of her surroundings, Michelle jumped at the sight of a bunch of guys waiting for her to leave so they could change. They all shook their heads obviously knowing they had just interrupted something.

Michelle's cheeks turned even redder. "Oh, yeah, umm sorry. So I'll see you later then." She swiftly left the room, crossing her arms over her chest. Suddenly she was very aware of how skimpy an outfit she had been wearing. She left the men's locker room wanting nothing more than to crawl under a rock and never come out.