A/N: This chapter starts exactly where the last chapter left off.
The Proposal
Her hand slowly but steadily went for his zipper, her back moving away from the threshold of the door. Their kiss deepened as his tongue sought hers with heightened passion. Breaking the kiss for a second or two, her hand slid into his jeans.
"We gotta stop," he breathed suddenly.
She moaned in protest seeking his lips again.
"Wait," he said, breathing heavily, clearly struggling to regain control. "I want our first time to be special." He declared in no uncertain terms.
Michelle blinked a few times, cocked her head, a huge interrogation sign looming over her head.
"Alright, this is how it is," he began, scratching the side of his face. "This may sound a little off…but I do really believe that sex is better reserved for when there is a strong emotional bond between two people already well established ...this takes time. This is only our fourth date. And even though I do love you, I still think we should wait."
Aw…No sex before marriage, she thought. "Is this about your catholic upbringing…" her lips curved into a sort of shy/knowing smile, tucking behind her ear a bouncy curl that had gone astray. Now he had mentioned that he'd been raised with hardcore traditional values.
"I'm not a virgin, if that's what you're worried about," she smirked a little playfully and lowered her eyes just so. A moment later, she peered up at him.
Sexy, he thought.
This was going to be harder than he'd thought.
There was a value in waiting until the emotional bond was strong enough between two people was strong enough in itself before becoming physically intimate. This was something that he had heard all his life but he hadn't fully believed until his relationship with Nina. Then, it had become painfully apparent that all that had bonded them together them was nothing but physical lust.
Now at this point in his life, he was back embracing the traditional values that he had rejected most of his adult life.
Tony Almeida was born in Chicago, lived there until the age of eight and grew up supporting the Chicago Cubs. Soon after his eighth birthday his family moved to Chula Vista, an outskirt town in San Diego County. His mother used to say (with certain pride) that Chula Vista, which was literally only twenty minutes away from the international border, was nothing but Mexico's front yard.
As a child, he'd frequently traveled by car to Ensenada, Mexico, riding lonesome in the back seat of his daddy's station wagon.
What he recalled the most from those trips was staring at freeway exit sign announcing the 'last USA exit'. Although he understood the Mexico was an entirely different country, it wasn't until later on (as he grew older) that the sign came to mean something more as he understood the concept of patriotism to a whole different level.
Moving to California had been primarily motivated by his mother's wish to visit her relatives more often.
The back-story: Dolores Almeida had discreetly sought her independence from her birth family as soon as she came of age. Indeed, she had effectively put thousands of miles between herself and her family of origin when she had convinced her strict parents to send her away to college in the US.
Four years later, Dolores' unsuspecting parents were shocked to discover that their beloved daughter had not only failed to return home but had also decided to stay in Chicago and Marry Jose Antonio Almeida; the very man they had forbidden her to entertain as a proper suitor and whom they had unceremoniously rebuffed when he dared petitioned for her hand in marriage.
As fate would have it, Tony's father, Jose Antonio Almeida had followed her all the way to Chicago.
Of course, some would say that fate had nothing to do with Dolores marrying Jose Antonio Almeida.
Tony had been named after his father but went by Tony from a very young age. He grew up in a stable, loving home.
Shortly after their move to the San Diego area, Tony attended his parents' US citizenship ceremony.
Having witnessed how hard they had prepared for such an important event, Tony stood proudly in the audience clapping louder than anyone else around him.
For months, his parents had studied book after book of US history they could get their hands on in preparation for the citizenship interview. As a result, Tony developed a fierce love for his country seeing his immigrant parents work so hard to earn their citizenship working hard to overcome all types of obstacles.
As English was not their native language, he had watched both of his parents studying idiomatic expressions, writing them down in neatly kept notebooks and practicing them over and over. Many times, Tony found himself rushing home from school, with a new idiom in tow he was sure his parents had not heard before.
He would never forget the delighted look on his parents' faces.
One day, his parents took him with them to citizenship class where you learn and discuss all the things a new citizen is expected to know before taking the written test and face to face interview at the INS building.
The citizenship class instructor had commented to Tony how he'd never seen more dedicated students. Ten year old Tony beamed; he was proud of his parents and his love for his country grew ten fold.
Many years later, after Tony got hired by CTU Los Angeles, his fiercely patriot parents decided to move once again; this time they moved all the way down to Mexico City. By then, Dolores' parents had passed away, leaving her with their 'hacienda' and other property.
Tony and Michelle had been dating for almost four months now.
It was starting to feel like an eternity to him. In truth, he wanted to share her bed, wake up next to her pretty face and have breakfast with her every morning of their lives.
He was absolutely certain now that she was the one. She was the only woman he would ever want to be with; the one who understood him, the one he could trust. Even though they had been together a short time (in the big scheme of things) love had just been just a word until the day he met her.
Today was the day.
Every crisis at CTU had taught him how fleeting life could be and how it could all end in the blink of an eye.
Without telling her of the specific destination he had in mind, they drove down to San Diego.
It was a perfect Sunday afternoon.
Even though it was only a two hour drive from Los Angeles, the times that Michelle had been to San Diego could be counted with one hand, thus she enjoyed the scenic drive in spite of the traffic heading south.
They arrived at the Torrey Pines Gliderport in the late afternoon. Tony had chosen this place because the view simply had no equal that he knew of, and in a way, it was like a little hidden treasure that few people knew about.
Michelle felt a cool breeze once they had crossed the parking lot and headed towards the café located atop the sea cliffs that overlooked the pacific ocean, making her double back to retrieve her lightweight sweater which she had left behind in the back seat of the vehicle.
Tony was already wearing a light leather jacket; Michelle thought it was a little odd for him to choose to wear his jacket while driving.
They ordered a couple of gourmet sandwiches at the café and ate while enjoying the breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean as it spanned 320 feet below them.
Michelle's eyes brightened with excitement at the sight of paragliders and other planes take off right from the outdoor dining area which was certainly an unique experience
An hour or so later, they left the café, just as the flying conditions had changed and the paragliders were no longer flying. They walked hand in hand to a secluded cliff overlooking the vast ocean.
The sky displayed soft pastels of pink, blue and orange in preparation for twilight.
Michelle peered out into the vast ocean, mesmerized by the sight of whales and dolphins that could be viewed from where they stood. "Oh, Tony, look…a family of dolphins!" she exclaimed turning to face Tony.
But Tony wasn't looking at the dolphins.
He was digging into his light feather jacket, and then in one fluid motion crouched down as if he was looking for something on the ground.
"What are you doing? Oh, Can I help you look?"
"No, no…sit down!" Tony looked a little flustered. "I dropped something," he said with a sheepish look on his face.
Right then, the sky started drizzling which took them by surprise.
He had been checking the weather all day the chance of rain was only supposed to be 10% .
Whatever the case, he hoped it didn't go past a light drizzle.
He didn't have much time now, he realized. It was now or never.
He had one knee on he ground and the other propped up in front of him. He held up a little black velvet case in the palm of his hand.
OH, MY! Instinctively she brought her hands to her mouth as if to stifle a cry. He was doing one of those proper, bended knee proposals that they do in the movies.
"Michelle," he began in a melodious tone. He cleared his throat. "Will you marry me?" he asked and then quickly added before she had a chance to respond: "Ok, well…this is definitely looks lot easier in the movies…but, just look at the beautiful sunset in the background, and ignore this damn rain," he said looking up at the raindrops falling on his head.
Then they gazed at each other, holding their breaths for a second or two.
Her lips broke into a sunny smile. Tony breathed a sigh of relief. She's happy!
For days, he had thought of different ways he could propose. He had hoped to come up with something original, yet romantic. On the very top of his list of romantic proposals, was the elegant dinner at a fancy restaurant scenario and having the waiter bring the ring on a silver platter along with a long stemmed rose.
One of this friends suggested he get a kitten (Michelle was a cat lover) and hook the ring around its collar. After giving it some serious thought, Tony went ahead and purchased a tiger stripped kitten at his local Petsmart.
Unfortunately, the kitten had taken to hiding under the bed in the spare room as soon as he brought him home. He had been planning to take the kitten over to Michelle's place the next day. But, the little scaredy-cat had refused to come out of its hiding place. In fact, it was still there, hiding under the bed. Nothing he had tried to coax the kitten seemed to work, so he had just figured he would come out when he was good and ready.
In the end, he resorted to just asking her and not putting it off any longer.
She took the velvet box in her slightly trembling fingers, a rosier color all over her cheeks.
"Go ahead, open it," he prompted seeing that she seemed like frozen in time.
She opened the box very slowly, as though she was wanted to relish every second of this moment.
He sprung up to his feet and crossed the distance between them so that their faces were only a few inches apart, just in time to take in the most genuine look of delight he'd ever seen.
The ring was absolutely gorgeous!
Now Michelle had never been particularly interested in Jewelry. She was definitely not one of those women who could speak with authority about carats or diamond cuts. Heck, she could barely recognize real gold from fashion jewelry. Furthermore, all diamond rings she had ever seen had looked identical to her, unless there was something easy for the naked eye to see; like for instance if one diamond was significantly larger than the other, then yeah, she could definitely tell the difference.
"Oh, Tony! it's so beautiful… so sparkly!" she gasped, not bothering to blink back the tears that were now intermingling with raindrops. It was the gesture and its significance that really touched her heart to soaring heights.
Suddenly, he realized that something was missing. "Does this mean yes? Yes, you will marry me?" he asked once again sporting a sheepish look.
"Oh, Tony," she whispered, tears of joy intermingling with the soft sounds of her laughter. " YES… YES… YES !" she replied enthusiastically, lacing her arms around his neck and placing a kiss on his lips.
Then, he lifted her off the ground, and swung her around in a circle while she laughed and cried and buried her face on his shoulder.
A/N: Reviews are a gift :)