A/N: The title of this chapter comes from the song of the same title by Lionel Ritchie.

The format of this chapter will be a little different from the previous ones. Enjoy!

Stuck on You

9:15 am.

"It's Tony," she quickly told her friend. "Yeah, honey…," her voice automatically adopted a warm tone the second she answered. " I found what I needed…uh huh, we're having breakfast right now."

Tracy turned her attention back to her daughter, and tried her best not to listen to the conversation.

"What's your secret, Michelle…" She began as soon as she hung up the phone. "I mean, you and Tony are truly perfect together…"

Michelle exhaled in one long breath. "It has not always been a bed of roses, you know. Tony and I have been through our fair share of rough patches." Yep, two weddings, one divorce. Tracy knew about all this of course.

"When did you know he was the one for you?" Tracy asked, wanting to hear it all over again.

Michelle knew why Tracy wanted her to re-tell her story; she knew her friend was trying to hang on to a sliver of hope that perhaps one day she might find love again.

FLASHBACK

There had been something hanging between them for the longest time from the first day she started working at CTU. Tony had said so that day at CTU, the day of the bombing.

She had known he was the one from the moment their eyes met for the first time.

She had known from the very first moment they had talked to each other with no one else nearby. Just the two of them.

He had come to see her at her desk about a very important work related matter. After a brief discussion, he turned as if to leave but then retraced his steps after a moment's hesitation and found her standing by her desk, gathering papers.

She leveled her gaze to meet those dark sexy eyes of his and saw the life she wanted to have with him. Normally, she would be sitting at her desk, so this was a new experience for her gaze to meet his at eye level. And she forgot what she was supposed to be doing next…

"Michelle, "He whispered so quietly that for a moment she thought she had imagined his voice. Furthermore, she chastised herself for staring at him like a love-struck teenager.

"Can you make sure we get that software from IT? " He peered at her intently, his head slightly cocked.

And thus, she had found herself leaning slightly forward in order to listen, only inches away from his personal space…

Then, on more than one occasion, she had felt the warm brush of his fingers whenever he had stopped by to see her with an important document. Their attraction was unmistakable. It was as thunderous as a freight train. Yet, they danced around each other, keenly aware of the molecules in the air overcharged with electric sparks…neither one of them stepping forward…

Until the day of the bombing...

And they had that conversation at his office.

"So um what are we saying here. If we save LA from a nuclear bomb then you and I can get together for dinner and a movie?"

Then, somehow Nina's name came up and it was clear that he would rather not talk about that.

She had known from his reaction that the he had been trying to avoid another relationship at the office was because Nina had truly done a number on him.

That day with all its chaos and uncertainty had been one of the most stressful of her entire life.

To top it all off, Danny came looking for her and his timing couldn't have been worse. She couldn't have predicted that he would show up at CTU and run into Carrie. What were the odds?

Next thing she knew she was crying about her brother and feeling that nothing was going right that day. Tony was there to offer a sympathetic ear. And they kissed for the first time.

That first kiss…

Their tongues had danced like perfectly choreographed partners, proving, discovering the other for the first time without being explicitly domineering…like when a child first visits Disneyland, eyes wide taking it all in, with the purest sense of wonder written all over uncensored and free.

She had never been kissed like this before, never had she suspected that a single kiss could have the power to make her weak in the knees as depicted by those riveting romance novels that you just can't put down.

Yet she had to make sure that he felt the same about her.

"Don't be sorry," he assures her. "I'm not…"

At the movies

Of course they got together for dinner and a movie (after L.A was safe and sound). As a matter of fact, they went to see three movies three Saturdays in a row. They shared a giant tub of popcorn and he put his arm around her shoulder.

She discovered that even though he normally didn't like to talk during a movie and yet he was happy to listen to her comments.

They watched Die Another day on their first date. It was the kind of action packed James Bond film that glued them to the edge of their seat.

On their second date, they watched Sweet Home Alabama. Like most romantic comedies, it was light- hearted, it was the kind that brings about its fair share of smiles and laughter. This time, instead of waiting to have their dinner until after the movie was over, they decided to order a couple of Subway sandwiches and sneaking them into the movie theater in a Macy's shopping bag.

They waited until the lights were out and the commercials were over to bring out their sandwiches out in the open.

"At least now we won't have to starve or fill up on pop corn," he sighed contentedly.

"Somehow, I can't help feel I'm doing something illegal…" she whispered, taking a bite of her sandwich, crouching down low in her seat.

"You shouldn't," he was quick to point out that movie theaters were already ripping millions of people off with their exorbitant ticket prices and overpriced snacks.

On the third Saturday, they watched Catch me if you can, by Steven Spielberg which sparked a very interesting discussion.

"Amazing how he can just switch identities with such ease," Michelle commented.

"Good to see…you know, in case we ever need to…" he smirked in a playful tone.

Michelle stared at him for a moment. "You know…we might, actually have to one day," She whispered this last part for the man sitting directly in front of them had turned to glare at them for the second time in the last two minutes.

They watched the rest of the movie in silence.

At a fancy restaurant

It was during their dinner dates, however, when they had the most interesting conversations.

she told the story of how her mother met her father back when he was in 12th grade. How he was an exchange student from Japan. How she had actually been in her first year of college and how her family had been his host family. She knew very little about him, except that he had gone back to Japan at the end of the school year never to be heard from again.

"My father's ancestors were originally from the Netherlands, and my Mother's from Wales." She shook her head and smiled remembering most people's reactions over this piece of information. It was usually and 'aha' moment when people seemed to be saying to themselves something like "so that's where you get your exotic looks' as though they finally got an answer to a question they had not dared to formulate out loud.

Tony, on the other hand, just nodded and listened intently.

She had tried to keep her story as an interesting anecdote and only mentioning her brother Danny in passing, doing her best to keep embarrassing emotions (and the whole enchilada involving Carrie) at bay.

"Sorry to hear you had to grow up without a father," Tony had said quietly during a moment when Michelle had paused to catch her breath.

"Actually, I didn't …my mom married Danny's dad when I was 4 years old." She paused briefly. "Danny is actually my step brother…but he feels like a real brother to me…" she trailed off.

Right then, the waiter brought the check.

When Tony reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet, a marble fell out of his pocket and rolled under his feet. He quickly retrieved it.

Absentmindedly, he rubbed the marble between his thumb and forefinger.

Then, he told her about his father. He had owned that same marble as a boy; he used to hang on to it for good luck during exams and job interviews.

"He had this teacher who walked around tapping a ruler on his wrist…and would not hesitate to smack his students for getting the wrong answers on a test…"

Michelle tried her best to relate. The best she could come up with was her 5th grade teacher Mr. Dunn who sat grumpy at his desk, shaking his head with an expression that shouted: 'I've had it up to here with you kids…"

Once upon a time, when Tony's father was a young boy, he was caught holding that same marble tightly in his fist during a test. His rather suspicious teacher had thought it was a cheat sheet, and even after proven wrong, he still confiscated the item.

Somehow after much drama, Tony's father got the marble back, and the teacher was transferred to another school, cementing his belief that somehow the marble had brought him some luck.

"It was his lucky charm…he passed it on to me, and ...it couldn't possibly hurt, would it?

Michelle nodded in agreement.

This was fine with her.

This was sort of interesting. This superstition thing was sort of a bit peculiar (hmm...maybe that wasn't the right word to describe it), different from the way she's grown up. In fact she was sure that the word luck was so far removed from her family's everyday vocabulary that it seemed as though it was in a foreign language.

Her parents had not ever gambled or so much bought a lottery ticket (to her knowledge).

One day, when Michelle was small she bought tickets for a raffle with her allowance money.
"Who knows, I might get lucky," Michelle had chimed with loads of hope in her voice.

Her mother had stared at her long and and then smiled a smug tight-lipped smile as if she knew better. "We make our own luck, my dear."

She wondered what her mother would have said about Tony, whether she would have believed him to be a keeper.

Michelle met Tony's eyes across the table. "Tell me about your mom…does she also believe in lucky charms? Her tone was light and playful.

A shadow crossed his face.

Was it sadness? Apprehension? It Came and went so fast that Michelle thought she might have imagined it.

"She's quite a lady alright," he smiled, letting some of the fondness for his mother shine through. "she's hopelessly old fashioned , believes in luck in every sense of the word… and she loves to cook."

Michelle nodded her head slightly and smiled. She had yet to mention her thing about cooking.

But that didn't really matter, did it?

The bottom line was that they felt comfortable with each other in spite of the fact that they were outside their usual environment. And their conversation had been far from stilted as it usually happened when she first started dating someone new.

There have been no awkward pauses, no uncomfortable moments. Even their body language was in sync.

At her place

He was stuck on her. She was there in his mind first thing when he woke up in the morning, and he thought he heard the wind singing her name whenever he went jogging around the park.

Every time he looked at her he wondered how was it possible that he had lived his whole life without her. With the thrill of discovering an author you just LOVE and whose books you simply can't put down. Now she was here…and he wanted to make her his more than anything else in the world.

When he kissed the soft spot below her ear, her sweet shy smile told him she was as chaste as could be.

At the end of their first three dates, he had gone no further than a gentle cupping of her breasts and from the quiet trembling of her body, he had known it was enough.

He came inside her apartment for the first time after their fourth date. Because she invited him in. Because it was raining.

And it was the right thing to do, she couldn't send him back without offering him an umbrella or something….

Yet, she ended up offering him more than that.

She offered him a cup of hot cocoa which he graciously accepted.

He stared at her, cup in hand while she excused herself to retrieve something from her bedroom. But then, she couldn't remember what it was and hesitated.

"Michelle…" he whispered in that low voice of his. Yet, for what seemed like an eternity, he said nothing else.

She waited for him to continue with her back against the threshold of her bedroom.

He bridged the distance between them in a couple of steps (hers was a rather small place) and looked at her in a way she had never been looked at before.

The look on her face was absolutely angelic and he thought she never looked lovelier with her hair somewhat damp from the rain and sexily tousled to the side.

The words "I love you" had been hovering over Tony's head for quite some time now like the lyrics of a song he just couldn't get out of his head.

He cleared his throat. "I want to go grocery shopping with you."

She stared at him dumfounded. Had she heard him right? She could have sworn he was about to kiss her.

"On our next date…" he clarified. "I mean…I want us to be together, I want us to be a couple." He went on to explain that he was tired of grocery shopping alone and he thought it would be a neat experience for both of them.

Michelle smiled and lowered her eyes in that sexy way of hers that always made his heart pound faster. Never in her wildest dreams would she have considered shopping for groceries as remotely romantic…until today.

"Michelle…" he paused, tracing the line of her chin with his finger in an almost hypnotizing way. " I love you. "

"I love you too," she answered without hesitation.

And then, for the longest time they grinned idiotically at one another before they shared one long sweet kiss.

It was at that moment that she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would be the one she wanted to share the rest of her life with. What's more, she believed that indeed there was such thing as luck…yet we were not helpless vessels in a storm, but rather we were the captains of our own destiny.

A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews, Please keep them coming!