Be careful, Michelle had told him.

She should've known she was tempting fate.

And now she was standing here, waiting, her entire body sick with worry, and she had to act like she was calm and not worried and in complete control of the situation, because she was the boss and people were counting on her and she couldn't let them know that right now the only thing she cared about was Tony.

Just thinking his name made her want to cry.

She had had a bad feeling about this from the moment she had found out that Tony was going to be back out in the field. That was why she'd told him to be careful, that was why she had poured her heart out to him, hoping for some reassurance that things were going to be okay. She hadn't been able to help remembering the last time she had been at CTU with him out in the field -- the panic which had gripped her when she'd heard he had been shot, the effort it had taken to hide it, the fact that she had been stuck here while he was fighting for his life without her. That had been what had led her to understand that he was absolutely right, that they should leave rather than be in the state of constant, niggling worry which she had been accustomed to while they were married simply because things had always been that way, but which she now realized had been slowly tearing her apart. And now, after spending so long not having to be concerned for Tony's life, even if she had been concerned about a great many other things, her emotions were threatening to overwhelm her.

She couldn't let that happen. She was the boss. She was calm, collected, in control.

The sound of a gunshot from her earpiece made her jump.

She found herself wringing her hands, the agony of waiting intensified a hundredfold by that single sound.

She listened to Jack telling his men to find the source of the noise and tried to breathe deeply, to keep her quivering hands still, to make her heart beat normally.

And then, finally, Jack's voice:

"The hostile has been incapacitated, I repeat, the hostile has been incapacitated. We are taking her into custody. Almeida is unharmed."

She let go of the breath she had been holding, but couldn't stop the tears of relief from escaping her eyes.

She decided she didn't care.

Tony was safe.

The twenty minutes that it took them to get back to CTU were some of the longest of Michelle's life. The moment she saw them walk in she dropped what she was doing and went over to meet them. When Tony's eyes met hers her feet automatically quickened their pace, and she found herself running into his arms and hugging him tighter than she ever had before, right in the middle of the room for all to see.
 

* * *
 

A couple of hours later Michelle was sitting on the couch in her apartment, cradling a cup of peppermint tea in her lap and trying not to fall asleep.

She and Tony had agreed that he would come by for breakfast after taking care of a few things -- things that Michelle dearly hoped included telling his 'roommate' that he was going back to his wife. Then he was supposed to be stopping at a local bakery to get breakfast-appropriate food before coming back to Michelle's place.

She had been home almost an hour now and there was no sign of him.

She had showered, changed into the T-shirt and pajama bottoms she normally slept in and taken up residence here on the couch, ignoring the temptation of making coffee because what she really, really wanted right now was to go to sleep for a very long time, preferably with Tony's arms wrapped firmly around her.

However, she could feel the hunger gnawing at her stomach and had to concede that food really should come before sleep.

If only Tony would get here.

Then again, maybe he wasn't coming.

Maybe Jen had reeled him back in with whatever wiles she had used to get him to be with her in the first place.

Maybe he had succumbed to the temptation of alcohol and was drinking himself stupid in some bar somewhere.

Maybe he had been in a car accident.

Maybe somehow some of the terrorists had captured him again, maybe he was being tortur--

The doorbell rang.

Michelle closed her eyes and sighed in relief.

Yes. As soon as they got away from this life, the better.

She put her tea on the coffee table and went to answer the door. Tony was standing in front of it, carrying an incredibly long French baguette and a small bag with a Bernardo's Bakery logo printed on the side.

"Hey," he said, a little hesitantly.

"Hey." Michelle smiled and opened the door wider. "Come on in."
 

* * *
 

They ended up having breakfast in bed because the free space on Michelle's small kitchen table was hardly big enough to hold her nightly frozen dinners, let alone a proper breakfast. The couch would have been the next logical option, she supposed, but the bed and its promise of impending sleep was just that tiny bit more appealing.

Michelle finished her last piece of baguette-with-way-too-much-butter-and-jelly-but-hey-what-the-heck and looked up at Tony, suddenly unsure as to what she should say next. They had spent most of their meal in comfortable silence, but now that silence really had to be broken.

"That was good," she settled on finally. "Thank you."

Tony nodded. "No problem." He stood up and picked the remaining food off the bed. "I'll just go put these away."

Michelle nodded and watched him go. Then she climbed under the covers and lay on her stomach, letting her face hit the pillow with a small sigh of contentedness.

She had almost dozed off already when Tony came back.

"Uh..." she heard him say, "I guess I should--"

"Please stay," she said, turning to look at him.

He returned her gaze, obviously searching her eyes for confirmation of what she had just said; confirmation which she gave.

"Alright," he said softly. He went around to sit on the other side of the bed, slowly stripped to his underwear, and slipped under the covers.

Michelle immediately moved over to rest her head on his chest. She put an arm around him. "I'm never letting go of you again," she whispered.

Tony held her tighter. "I love you."

She moved up to kiss him lightly on the lips.

"I love you too."