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CTU was sending cars over to pick them up and take them to a safe house about 30 miles away. They were trying to find Ashley but no luck yet. His mum last saw him 6 hours ago and he hadn't been back to the hospital in the last few hours either, although Sam has received a few phone calls. Chloe was trying to pull them up. He had purchased a gun this morning at 3rd and Vine and so they knew he was armed and quite possibly off his head on drugs. Tony explained the situation to his Dad.

"Fucking hell..."

"We just need to get the girls down to the cars and to the hospital and then the safe house and then everything will be ok. There will be 24 hour security and CTU will find him soon."

"Ok, let's do this then."

25 minutes later and they were all packed and ready to leave. They were not going to carry their bags, an officer would come and collect everything for them, all they needed was their wallets, phone and Charles's medical case.

They had a couple men from the hotel help escort them downstairs to wait for the car. Charlie and Tony walked on the outside with the girls in the middle. Tony had his arm around Michelle, who insisted she was fine to walk, although he could tell by the amount he had to support her she was still really struggling. Although Natalie and Jess were a little tearful, they were both doing a great job of keeping it together and doing everything the men asked them to do. Michelle continued to amaze Tony as she suggested different systems and ideas for tracing Ashley. Twice he called Chloe and gave her instructions after an idea Michelle had. Even with everything she was going through, she still managed to keep a clear head about the best ways to utilize the resources at CTU.

A black SUV was sitting out the front of the hotel lobby. Everyone went to walk out to it but Tony pulled them back. "Hang on; I want to check it is CTU."

Just as he finished saying that, one of the hotel staff approached him, "Mr. Almeida?"

"Yes. Is that our car?"

The man looked a little caught off guard but then answered yes. Tony hesitated for a second but then the man began to usher the girls out of the door. Tony tried to step out in front of them.

They were only 2 steps outside when they heard Jess's name being yelled. They all turned to see Ashley rushing towards them. Tony screamed at them all to get back inside. Both he and Charlie tried to stand in front of the girls.

Tony looked at the car expecting agents to step out and help but no one did. He didn't have a weapon on him. He hadn't had his in the hospital and Chapelle was organising for one of the agents to bring him his kit when they came to get him. Ashley pulled out his gun and waved it in the air. "DON'T MOVE!"

Tony told them all to keep going and get back through the door but then Ashley fired a shot in the air making everyone stop. "I said, don't fucking move!"

Tony put his hands in the air. "Don't do this Ashley. You are surrounded with agents, do not make this situation any worse than it has to be."

"Worse? How could it get any fucking worse than it is? Those two bitches are going to put me and Sam in jail forever. I can't go to jail."

"Ashley, you drop the weapon and I give you my word I will do everything I can to help you. I know Sam dragged you into this mess, I can help you out of it."

"Bullshit. You don't give a shit about me. Jess and Michelle, come here."

Tony stepped in front of the girls. "They are not going anywhere Ashley. Drop the gun. You have about a minute before you will have 20 agents on you and..."

Ashley fired another shot, this time it just missed Tony. Natalie and Jess screamed. "ASHLEY, if you shoot any of us, you will never see the light of day again. Is that what you want? You want to be a murderer?"

"Michelle and Jess, come here now. If you don't, Tony will be the first to go."

Michelle yanked herself out of Tony's grip and stepped forward. Tony went to pull her back but she turned and stared at him. "No Tony, I have to."

"Don't you dare Michelle. I will not lose you. Help is going to be here any second, DON'T MOVE!"

Another bullet went flying past Tony's head. 3 inches more to the left and it would have hit him. Michelle was sure that Ashley had meant to hit Tony, he was just a bad shot, but the next one might not miss. Everyone was screaming and she could see people running off the street into cars or shops out of the corner of her eyes. Charlie was holding Jess and trying to stand directly in front of her. As Tony went again to pull Michelle back in she pushed him in the chest away from her. He had tears streaming down his cheeks and the most devastated expression on his face that she had ever seen. She knew she would never forget the look in Tony's eyes at this moment. She could hear Ashley yelling at her to keep coming to him. Everything else was happening so fast and was a blur except the way Tony was looking at her and begging her not to move. He continued to try and grab her even though he was being fired at. The look of anger that flashed across his eyes as he hissed at her to stop. "I can't Tony, he is trying to kill you."

"I don't fucking care. Don't you dare disobey me Michelle. Don't take one more fucking step!"

She was shocked but barked back. "I will not lose you Tony. I love you."

She turned to Ashley. "Stop shooting. I'll come but if you take one more shot at Tony then I won't move."

Ashley fired again, "Keep walking NOW!" He was clearly absolutely off his tree on drugs, his words were slurred and he could barely keep the gun still. "AND JESS...GET THE FUCK OVER HERE."

Charlie had basically forced Jess onto the ground and was covering her body with his. He screamed at her over and over not to move. Michelle could hear Jess wailing, she took another step back away from Tony towards Ashley. She hoped if she moved slowly than enough time would pass that CTU would get there. Tony was glaring at her and she felt like he would never ever forgive her for her actions. But how could she just stand there and let Ashley shoot him? If Tony was killed, she would never be able to live with herself. He tried to reach for her again. "Stop it Tony. Get back, just fucking stop."

"Help is going to be here in a second Celle. Don't you dare go with him, he is going to kill you. Stop fucking moving. How could you do this?"

"I can't stand here and watch you die Tony. This is not your choice."

"I mean it Michelle, don't you take one more god damn step..."

Ashley screamed again at Jess to get up and come to him. She was struggling out of her Dad's grip, trying to get up. Michelle screamed at her. "Stay down Jess, don't move."

Tony glared at Michelle as though she had just betrayed him in the biggest way possible. She was telling Jess not to move and yet she was going to just hand herself over to Ashley. She hesitated for a moment and when Ashley saw her stop walking he fired again. This time the bullet skimmed the side of Tony's leg. It only scrapped past him but the shock of it was enough to make him stumble. Michelle screamed and then turned to Ashley and begged him to stop firing. He yelled at her to keep walking if she wanted him to stop. Tony looked up at her, "Don't do this to me, please don't fucking do this to me Michelle..."

"How can I not?" She took a few more steps toward Ashley. His gun was now on her as she walked towards him. She braced herself that he was going to fire at her next. Everything was over. The anger she felt at Tony for continuing to move and put himself in the position of being fired at and of course the anger she had at Ashley was so over powering she felt like she could barely breathe. As she took another step she could hear Tony trying to move toward her still and he was screaming at her. Between the screams of Natalie and Jess, Ashley yelling at her and Tony screaming at her it was hard to hear any of them. For a few moments she blocked everything out to the point that her whole world went silent. Everything was in slow motion and she couldn't hear a thing anymore, she wondered if she had been shot. She looked Ashley in the eyes and could see how much he was panicking, he had drool coming out of his mouth and his whole body was twitching. He trained the gun directly at her, "You fucking bitch..."

There was another gun shot. Michelle was tackled to the ground, she had no idea what was going on but she couldn't move at all, someone's weight was pushing her into the pavement and she couldn't move an inch. It felt like hours but was only seconds before she recognized the sound of a swat team all around them. The shot that had been fired was from an agent shooting Ashley. One bullet in the head.

She didn't know it was Tony on top of her until she heard him yelling into her ear, "Don't move, just stay down. Stay down Michelle...tactical is here." He kept repeating his words over and over and over and she wondered how on earth he was managing to pin her to the ground so much that she couldn't move at all. It felt like his body was covering every inch of hers. Again, everything went silent for her and all she could hear was Tony's heavy breathing and yelling at her. The anger in his voice was so evident it sent shivers through her. She had never heard that tone before and she wondered if he would ever be able to look at her the same way again. In return, she was furious at him. How could he have continued to keep moving and trying to grab her when someone was shooting at him? How would she have ever lived with herself if Tony had been killed because she wouldn't give herself up?

Both Tony and Michelle were unable to see past their own anger to see the other ones point of view. They both felt like the other one was prepared to die from them and the thought of losing each other was too much to bear. They had been in the same position, faced with the same dilemma and yet neither one of them could see it that way. They both just couldn't see why the other one wouldn't do as they asked. The entire ordeal had last 7 minutes and they were both sure that entire time that one or both of them was going to die. It hadn't sunk in or registered yet that it was over and Ashley was dead.

Agent Baker stood over them, "Tony, Michelle, you are safe now. Hostile is down. Are you hurt?"

Tony didn't want to move, he didn't want to let Michelle go. As long as he had her like this, no one else could touch her or hurt her. He still couldn't believe she was alive, that he hadn't lost her. He could feel her struggling beneath him, trying to move but he held on for a few moments longer.

Charlie put his arms under Tony's armpits and pulled him up off Michelle. He had watched Tony dive onto Michelle when the gun shot had gone off, covering her body with his and forcing her down to the ground. Had the bullet been at Michelle, there was a good chance Tony would have been hit trying to save her. Jess and Natalie had been taken by agents into the lobby of the hotel but Tony hadn't moved yet and it took him and Baker to get Tony completely off Michelle and pull them both to their feet. He told them repeatedly that it was over, that they were all safe and everything was going to be ok but he could see that neither one of them could really register that. Along with Baker and a couple of other agents they were both taken into a room just off from the lobby. There were a few couches in there and they were both placed down onto them. Neither one of them had spoken a word since they were outside. Charlie dreaded to think of Michelle's injuries and what state she might be in.

Within a couple of minutes the room was packed with the whole family and about 5 agents from CTU. Questions were flying all over the place and each family member was getting checked out. When they got to Tony he pushed them away. "I'm fine, we need to check Michelle."

"We will Sir, but you need to be treated as well."

Tony watched as Michelle looked up to see 2 medics coming at her. They asked her to remove her sweatshirt and started to smoother her. Panic flashed across her face at thought of more strange men touching her. She told them to leave her alone. "We are just trying to help Michelle. You are safe now but we can see you are bleeding and need help. Everything is going to be ok."

Michelle shook her head, "No, don't touch me. Please."

Tony scanned the room for his Dad and when they caught eye contact he waved him over. He slid across the couch so he was right next to Michelle. He put his hands out in front of her and spoke gently to the EMT's. "It's ok guys, can you give us a few minutes?"

"Michelle really needs attention Mr. Almeida..."

Michelle's voice was quiet but firm. "Where is Charlie?"

Just as she finished speaking, Charlie appeared in front of them. No one even really knew what to say. They were still absolutely pumped full of adrenaline and panic. Tony looked up at Charlie. "Chelle only trusts you Dad. Can you help?"

Charlie knelt down in front of them both. He could see that they were both still in shock. He nodded his head. "Of course." It only took Charlie a minute to do a quick scan of Michelle to know she needed to go to the hospital. He looked around at all of the people in the room, he could tell that they were making them feel completely overwhelmed. "Tony, Michelle needs to go to the hospital. We were meant to be going down anyways, I suggest we go straight there."

Tony looked at Michelle. All he wanted to do was hold her in his arms but he couldn't. He had never felt the way he did right now, he didn't even know how he felt. He was so angry at what had happened he couldn't comprehend it. Why the hell had CTU taken those extra few minutes to get to them? Why did the hotel staff member tell him that was there car? And more than anything, how the hell could Michelle have just given herself up for him so easily. After everything they had been through, all the times he had tried to tell her how much he loved her and how important she was, she was willing to just let herself be taken for him. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs he was so hysterical. She wasn't looking at him, she was still looking around the room, at everything and everyone but him. "Is that ok Michelle?"

"Yeah, I want to get out of here."

He slammed his hand on the sofa as he pushed himself up to go and find agent Baker. He was pissed beyond belief. She was alive, but had he lost her anyway? He thought about how he had spoken to her and he knew she would never forget that. He would never forget the look of shock and desperation in her eyes as she looked back at him. He had to get his family out of here as soon as possible. If they were going to deal with this, they needed to be on their own. He found Baker interviewing the hotel staff member that had told them it was their van. The guy was giving Baker a hard time, saying he was just doing his job. Tony was about to explode. He stood next to Baker in front of them man. "Why the fuck did you tell me that was our car?"

"I thought it was man."

"Why?"

"Dunno, just..."

Before he knew what he was doing, Tony punched the guy as hard as he could in the face. The guys head rolled to the side and blood poured out of his mouth. Tony grabbed his chin and made him look at him. "I'm going to ask you one more time, why the fuck did you tell me that was our car?"

The man looked at Baker for help but when he saw Baker wasn't going to step in and help his eyes started to water and his lip quivered. "Look some guy came in just before and gave me a couple hundred bucks to get you guys out on the street when you came down. I didn't even know if it really was your car or not. When you asked the question I just said yes so you would go. I had no idea what it was all about. I just..."

Tony didn't let him finish. "I nearly lost my family because of you." He was going to continue and push the man for more information but he decided that the other agents could do that, his priority right now was his family. He pulled Baker to the side.

"Look ahh, I need to get my family to the hospital. Are you ok to finish up here?"

"Yes Tony, just take care of Michelle. I'll contact you once I know a little more of what the hell happened here this morning. We will have to get debriefs done with you all as soon as you think the family is up to it."

"Thanks, I'll talk to Ryan and organize something as soon as I know which way is up. Can you have a car pull up to the front? I'd like Sims to drive us."

"Sure thing Tony. Make your way out now, I'll make sure Sims is ready to go."

Baker then took Tony over to their make-shift station and gave him his gun and kit. Tony thanked him for his help and then went to get Natalie and Jess.

Charlie had been standing next to Michelle trying to figure out where to even start with her when he heard Tony yelling, he turned just in time to see Tony punch the guys lights out. He felt like going over and giving the guy a second round. He looked back at Michelle. "Hang in there Chelle, we will be out of here in a couple minutes, ok?"

"Ok. Is Natalie and Jess ok? Where are they?"

"They are next door with a couple EMT's getting checked out but they are both fine. I think Jess is going to need to get some stitches on her knee from me pushing her down on the concrete but nothing to serious." He stopped and moved his head so he was right in front of Michelle and she would be forced to actually look at him. "It's going to be ok you know."

She surprised him when she sadly shook her head and said quietly, "I'm not so sure."

"Don't say that Chelle..."

She finally stopped and looked at him dead in the eyes, "How could he do that Charlie? Why did Tony do that? Ashley was shooting at him!"

Charlie didn't really know what to say. His first reaction was to ask her how the hell she could do what she had done but he knew that wasn't fair to attack back when once again, all Michelle had done was try and save a member of his family's life. And of course he knew why Tony had done exactly what he had done, of course he would have. "He loves you more than you could imagine Chelle."

"Not anymore I am sure."

Charlie actually stumbled when she said that. Her voice was so quiet and weak and she had tears running down her cheeks. She was an absolute mess and he could tell every minute that passed she was just withdrawing. He was floored by her comment. He went to open his mouth, although he didn't know what he was going to say when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Tony.

"Let's go. A car is out the front to take us to your hospital."

Natalie and Jess were with Tony and they were both quiet, they all were. No one knew where to start or what to do so they simply just followed the motions and did what they were told. Michelle went to try and get up but Tony told her not to move. He bent down and picked her up in his arms. She looked surprised but he was so relieved when she grabbed hold of him tightly. He used one hand to gently push her head into his chest.

Tony led the family out to the car and they all piled in. It was a large van and he was able to sit with Michelle in the back couple seats on their own. He sat with her on his lap and she kept her head resting against his chest. They didn't talk but he was just so happy to be so close to her. He had no idea what she was thinking, it scared the hell out of him to know. As they drove to the hospital he watched as his whole family just stared at each other in disbelief over what had happened. Charlie had an arm around Jess and Natalie and every couple minutes he would kiss them on the head. Jess kept looking back over at Tony and Michelle and Tony gave her a wink and told her he loved her and that it would be ok. She told him she loved him too.

At the hospital everything happened so quickly. Tony had carried Michelle in and they were all escorted to a couple rooms next to each other. Charlie disappeared for a few minutes to organize his staff and to contact Joanne on her cell. She was at the hospital waiting for them and so he directed her to the room Michelle had been taken to. Whilst he was gone another doctor walked into the room and started to ask Michelle and Tony questions.

Michelle was lying on the bed but had curled her body up under the blankets. "Where is Charlie?"

"Dr. Almeida?"

She nodded her head.

Tony stepped forward. "I'm Tony, Charlie's son. He should be back in a minute, he was just going to organize a few things."

"Nice to meet you. Whilst we wait, I'll get started. I'll get you something for the pain Michelle and then we can go from there."

She shook her head. "I need to see Charlie."

Tony turned to the doctor and asked if he could have a minute alone with Michelle. He stepped out of the room. Tony walked over and sat on the end of the bed. This whole thing felt so strange. He should have been holding her, comforting her, instead he felt like she didn't want him near her. "Sweetheart, can you just let this guy get you something for the pain and..."

"I don't want another man touching me Tony."

He understood but he was desperate for her to get some relief as soon as possible. "I know baby but..."

"Tony, I don't mean to be a brat and if your Dad doesn't want to treat me then fine but I don't trust anyone else. I don't want one more person I don't know touching me. I don't care if that means I have to wait."

"Ok, want me to go and look for Dad?"

Michelle didn't want to be left alone. She was in so much pain she was beside herself but the thought of being there on her own was worse than the pain. He started to get up and she panicked. "No..."

"No?"

"Don't go."

Tony sighed in relief to himself. At least she wasn't pushing him away. She made him feel needed and that's exactly what he wanted right now. He went to take her hand and sit beside her when she said, "Unless you want to ..."

He shook his head. "What do you mean?"

"If you want to go or if you want to go see you mom and sister..."

Why did she have to do that? Make him feel like she really needed him and then a second later take the feeling away. It frustrated him. He wasn't himself at the moment, none of them were. "Don't do this to me Chelle. Just tell me that you want me here..."

Before she had a chance to answer, Charlie came rushing through the door. "Sorry, sorry. I just had to get some things cleared up and call Joanne." He stopped and looked at them both. They looked miserable and like he had caught them in the middle of an argument. He knew the best thing he could do for either of them at the moment was force them to talk and be honest with how they were feeling. If they didn't face this thing head on it was going to be even worse than it already was. He had bought pain injections with him and he immediately made his way over to Michelle. "What is going on here with you two?"

Tony was a little surprised at his Dad for being so abrupt. "Michelle only trusts you Dad. She doesn't want another doctor treating her and I was just trying to ask Michelle if she wanted me to stay..."

Charlie looked at them both and then at Michelle as he spoke. "Of course she wants you to stay. I've asked my assistant John to come up and he will treat your leg Tony. He will be here in a few minutes." Charlie pulled the covers out of Michelle's hands and pushed them back. They had been through this routine now a pile of times and usually it was something that they did slowly and together at a pace Michelle was comfortable with. However, right now he didn't have that luxury. She needed attention pretty quick in a few different ways and he also had Joanne on her way up. He reached for the top of her track suit pants. "Just giving you an injection like usual, ok?"

She nodded her head but looked at him with confusion. She let him pull the trackies down enough to the top of her thigh and administer the injection without saying a word. Michelle was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It felt like there was so much anger and frustration in the room from all 3 of them that it didn't feel the same anymore and she quickly started to feel alone and uncomfortable. She wanted to reach out to them but she didn't know how. She could understand the attitude from Tony but was Charlie upset with her as well now?

She could hear Tony breathing so heavily, almost like he was getting more and more worked up with each breath. She tried to look anywhere but at either of them. She knew within seconds Charlie was going to make her get into a gown and it was all going to begin. She wished he could just knock her out so she didn't have to deal with any of it. She considered asking him when out of nowhere Tony's voice boomed at her. "HE WAS GOING TO KILL YOU!"

He had barely even finished before she was able to retaliate. "AND HE WAS TRYING TO KILL YOU!"

They glared at each other for a moment. Then Michelle went again. "He was actually shooting at you Tony. Don't you get that if any of those bullets had actually..."

"I DON'T CARE! How could you hand yourself over? You knew he was going to kill you."

"What the hell was I supposed to do? Just stand there and watch him kill you and then everyone else?"

"CTU was on their way, we could have beaten him Chelle but you just..."

"Tony, he was shooting at you. I didn't have time to sit and wonder if CTU was going to turn up in the next couple minutes...if I didn't start walking then you would be dead and that would be because of me."

Charlie knew this was good, they needed to have this out but at the same time, he needed to be attending to her. He went to close the door and grabbed a gown. "I need to get you into this Michelle. Tony I need your help."

They didn't respond to Charlie but Tony did walk over to the bed. He really felt sorry for Michelle that with the way things were between them she had to be in such a vulnerable position and rely on them to help her like this. He wondered how to do it. The way she was looking at him, he wondered if she would even let her come near him. He tried to soften his voice as he stood in front of her. "Are you going to let me help you change?"

"Are you going to hate me for what I did Tony?"

"HATE? You think I hate you? What the fuck?" He gripped onto the rails of the end of the bed. His whole body was consumed with Michelle. "I am so in love with you, I can barely breathe. Every part of me, you have taken Michelle. You are my absolute everything. How dare you use that word with me. How dare you think that."

Michelle burst into tears. She didn't think she had ever been more relieved in her entire life. As soon as the first tear came, the rest followed quicker than the last and within seconds she felt hysterical. "Then what was I meant to do? I'm begging you to tell me, what would you have done if you were me?"

He couldn't handle the distance between them any longer. He went to her and pulled her up into his arms and held her tightly. She gripped onto his body so hard and pushed her head into his shoulder. "You've never looked at me the way you did before, I felt like with each step I took I lost you but if I didn't take the step then I really would have lost you anyway." He went to talk but she just kept going. It was hard to understand her because she was sobbing so hard. Tony was in tears now as well. "And Charlie is angry, I feel like I have betrayed you all or something..."

Charlie felt like the way she had said that, was although he wasn't in the room. He felt terrible he had made her feel that way. It wasn't out of anger, it was out of sheer fear and not knowing what the hell to do. He figured he would never feel in more debt to anyone in his life than he did to Michelle for what she was prepared to go through for his family. No one would ever be able to have the type of place in his heart that she did. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he stood there watching Tony hold her and try and comfort her.

Tony didn't know how to answer Michelle because for the first time since this had all happened he really understood that she had been in exactly the same position as he had been in. That she must have felt exactly the same way he had. It had been so one sided in his mind from the second it happened but now when he had had a chance to think, It hit him like a ton of bricks and it seemed so simple and obvious it was hard to believe he could have looked at it any other way. He kissed the side of her head. "Baby, you didn't betray anyone, I am so sorry. I get it now. I get it. I was only thinking about it from my side, from the fact that I was about to lose you. I wasn't thinking about the fact that you must have felt the same way I did..."

"I am so angry with you Tony. All I can think about is how you could keep chasing me whilst he was shooting at you..."

"Because I love you and I am never going to give you up without a fight to the last second. No matter what baby."

"I love you more than anything in this world Tony. I can't live without you. I would give myself over for you without a seconds thought...and your family."

"I know baby, but no more. It is over. We have to get through this together." He pulled back a little so he could look into her eyes. She was nodding her head and he felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. He knew they had so much to face and get through still but as long as they were doing it together he could handle that. As long as he could hold her and be close to her, he could manage anything. He gave her a small smile. "Let's get you sorted out ok?"

She started to lie back down. "Ok."

Tony caught her before she could rest back down. "I need to get you out of this top baby."

Charlie and Tony both helped Michelle out of her clothes and into the gown. Charlie was still crying and it took him a few minutes before he was able to speak. "I'm sorry for how I made you feel. I don't know how to deal with any of this. I love you both so much and I feel like my heart is broken. I can only handle this if we..."

Michelle reached out and hugged him. She pulled him in and he wrapped his arms around her. He let his body collapse into the hug and stay like that for a few moments. He needed this so much. "You didn't do anything wrong Charlie. You know you are the only one I trust, I wouldn't even let the other doctor come near me."

He smiled. "I don't want to let you down Michelle."

"You can't. You won't. I need you Charlie."

"I'll look after you, I promise."

Like Jess, Michelle had cuts and scrapes all down her legs from being pushed into the concrete pavement at such force. Some of her stitches had come out and she had terrible bruises all over her body. In the end, he half sedated her as he got her cleaned up. Whilst he was doing that and she was unaware of what was going on, John came in and they set Tony up on a stretch bed next to her and stitched his wound up as well. His ankle was very swollen and he also had a pile of bruises from tackling Michelle to the ground. Joanne waited patiently outside for them to get Michelle good enough to see her. Charlie was working up a sweat from running back and forth between the 2 rooms checking on Jess and Natalie as well.

Once Tony was taken care of, he got up on the bed next to Michelle and held her as she slept. His mom and sister came into the room and they all sat together as they waited for her to wake up. Nothing more could be done until Michelle was alert enough to talk to Joanne. Natalie sat holding Tony's hand, she didn't want to let go. Every couple minutes she would kiss the back of his hand and tell him that she loved him. He did everything he could to assure her that it was all going to be ok. After a little while, Joanne came into the room and sat with the family and talked to them about what had happened. Jess seemed happy to have her there and it helped them all to try and talk about how they were feeling. Mostly they were in shock and trying to understand how they were supposed to be feeling. Joanne tried to assure them that how they were feeling was completely normal. That this was going to take time and that they had to keep sticking together and talking this out. Even Charlie ended up opening up and talking to Joanne more as a patient than as a colleague.

Michelle occasionally stirred and opened her eyes and Tony would kiss her forehead and tell her he loved her and to keep resting. After a moment or two she would fall back asleep. At one point she moved positions and pushed her head into his chest and asked, "What's going on?"

"I want you to get as much sleep as possible baby. We are all here and we are not going anywhere."

"I love you and I love being your wife."

That made Tony and everyone else actually smile and laugh a little. Tony thought that that was quite possibly the best thing he had ever heard. He wasn't going to correct that one. He kissed her on the cheek, "And I love being your husband, now go back to sleep."

Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it. Please review if you want me to continue to write this story and post here. I really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks!