Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters or anything in this fan fic. If I did, I wouldn’t be sitting at my computer right now listening to old Ronan Keating songs and drowning my ‘no Gilmore Girls’ sorrows in 24 fan fic.

Michelle stood on the balcony of her and Tony’s apartment, staring out and the city before her. She loved standing out here at night and looking out at the city all lit up. She leant against the railing and pushed back a strand of hair that the soft breeze was blowing across her face.

Tony opened the sliding door to go out to Michelle. She looked over her shoulder when she heard him approach, and smiled. ‘She’s so beautiful’, he thought to himself. She had her hair half in, half out. It had now grown so long that it was halfway down her back. It lay softly on the back of her blue t-shirt, moving slightly with the breeze. Tony loved Michelle at work when she was all serious, feisty and kick-ass, but he loved her more at home. He loved it when she wore her casual clothes, and had her hair out and had less make up on. She was natural, and he loved that about her.
“What are you doing out here?” Tony asked her, leaning up against the railing on her left.
“Saying goodbye to the view,” she replied with a smile, closing her eyes momentarily and taking a deep breath. Tony tilted his head slightly in thought.
“You really love this place, don’t you,” he said. She nodded, and he looked at her with a kooky smile on his face. Michelle noticed this and turned to look at him.
“What?” she said with a laugh, crossing her arms and studying his face.
“Nothing,” he replied, turning back to look out at the view, “you’re just cute, that’s all.” Michelle laughed and laced her fingers through his. Tony moved closer to her and moved his hand from hers to around her waist. He held her tight, and she snuggled into him, resting her head on his chest, both of them staring out at the lit up city of Los Angeles in front of them. They just stood there in silence for a moment, taking in the view.
“I’m so gonna miss being here,” Michelle said, wrapping her arm around Tony’s front.
“Our new place isn’t so bad,” Tony replied.
“Oh, I know, it’s beautiful, that’s not what I meant,” Michelle said. “I’m gonna miss being out here on this balcony and just being able to look out on the city. It really is wonderful.”
“A lot of good memories out here, hey?” Tony said.
“Yeah,” Michelle chuckled, snuggling closer into Tony.
“Well we’ll make a thousand more at our new house. I promise.”
“I love you Tony,” Michelle said, closing her eyes. Tony smiled and kissed the top of her head.
“I love you too sweetheart,” he replied.

“A little to the left Tony,” Michelle directed, “no, further left... no right a bit... no wait, left.”
“Can you get it right Michelle, this thing is bloody heavy!” Tony said, his face turning slightly red as he, Jack and Chase tried to get the piano through the doorway of the new house.
“Sorry,” Michelle replied, biting her lip and putting her hands on her hips, “it’s left.” She was obviously wrong because Jack got squashed between the piano and the doorframe. He squeaked.
“Sorry Jack! Right, go right!” she said, waving her hand in the right direction. They did what she said, but went a bit too far to the right and this time Chase ended up getting his knee jammed in the doorway. He yelped.
“I need to put it down for a sec,” Jack said, his voice rising in pitch slightly as the weight of the piano started to become too much for him.
“Hang on Jack we’re almost there,” Tony said, trying to move forward without much success.
“I need a break too Tony,” Chase chimed in from the back, sort of hobbling on one leg. Tony sighed, and they carefully put the piano down, still halfway through the doorway.
“Why the hell do you need the piano anyway, Tony?” Jack asked, wiping sweat from his brow.
“It’s important,” Michelle said, moving towards the men. “Tony always says a piano is a good asset in a house.”
“That’s right,” Tony nodded in agreement.
“And besides,” Michelle added, “this sorta has lots of special memories with it. And before you ask, Chase, I’m not telling you.” She smiled cheekily and saw Tony smile back. He stepped towards her, leaning in for a kiss, but she stepped back quickly.
“Not until you’ve moved the piano, and... maybe had a shower,” she laughed. Tony pouted and went back to the piano.

FLASHBACK

Michelle took off her shoes and put her bag and the mail on the table as she came home to her apartment after work. She was going to spend the night with Tony, but again, he said he had to go and see his parents, and she was left by herself. It seemed he was always seeing his parents these days, and sometimes she wondered if he was trying to avoid her. Things had been going great, and she was even starting to think that she could spend the rest of her life with him. He couldn’t be feeling the opposite, could he? She sighed, and moved to the kitchen, taking a frozen pasta meal from the freezer and putting it in the microwave. She hardly ever had a chance to make a real meal for herself, and whenever she did attempt to cook it always turned out a disaster. She preferred it when Tony made dinner for her. She sat down on a stool at the kitchen counter, pressed play on the answering machine and flicked through the mail.
“Hi Ms Dessler, this is John Morley from Reese’s Air-conditioning, I’m just returning your call about your broken air-conditioner. I can make it out to fix it at 4 tomorrow afternoon, please give me a call back when you get this message.” The answering machine clicked through the next message as Michelle opened her gas bill.
“Hey Michelle! It’s Soph here, just calling to see if you want to catch up over coffee tomorrow or something. We have a lot to chat about! Oh, Tony was over at mom and dad’s again a couple of nights ago, you really ought to keep an eye on that boyfriend of yours Chelle! Anyway, I’ve gotta go. Call me!” The machine clicked through to the third and final message as Michelle groaned having opened another bill.
“Hi sweetheart. Sorry I couldn’t spend tonight with you; mom called and said she really needed me to help her with something. I promise I’ll make this up to you. I love you so much, can’t wait to see you tomorrow. Bye.” Michelle cocked her head to the side and smiled stupidly over Tony’s message. She then deleted the first two messages and listened to Tony’s again as the microwave beeped and she went to get her dinner out of it.
“Hi sweetheart. Sorry I couldn’t spend tonight with you; mom called and said she really needed me to help her with something. I promise I’ll make this up to you. I love you so much, can’t wait to see you tomorrow. Bye.” Michelle put a forkful of ravioli into her mouth and tilted her head from side to side happily as she chewed. She picked up the phone and dialled Tony’s parent’s number as his sister Sophia was staying with them at the moment. Michelle and Sophia had become great friends ever since Tony had introduced them a few months ago. Sophia was three years younger than Tony, and her and Michelle had a lot in common, and would often trade embarrassing Tony stories.
“Hello?”
“Hi Soph, I got your message,” Michelle said, putting more pasta in her mouth.
“Hey Chelle! What you been up to?” Sophia asked.
“Not much,” Michelle said with her mouthful, “just work and stuff. You?”
“Well, Megan and I are still staying at mom and dad’s while Richard is in Florida – did I tell you she’s talking now?”
“Oh really!? How adorable!” Michelle replied, swallowing her mouthful and putting more ravioli on her fork.
“I know! She’s growing up so quickly. She’s learnt how to say Tony now,” Sophia commented.
“Aww, I bet he loves that,” Michelle smiled.
“Oh, he does! He’s so clucky with her; I almost burst out laughing everytime. And it seems like I must be seeing a lot more of him than you are at the moment, he’s always over here!”
“I know, it’s driving me crazy, the only time I’m seeing him is at work, and that doesn’t really count for anything,” Michelle complained, putting more pasta in her mouth.
“Yeah, he’s over here right now,” Sophia replied.
“Can I talk to him?” Michelle asked.
“Oh... ah... um... I think he’s a bit busy at the moment Chelle,” Sophia said awkwardly.
“Oh,” Michelle replied, pouting.
“Yeah, sorry.”
“That’s alright, I’ll call him later. Now, about that coffee tomorrow,” Michelle started.
“Oh yeah.”
“I’ve got the air-conditioning guy coming over at 4, so can we catch up at say... 2?” Michelle asked, loading up her fork again.
“Sure, I’ll get mom to look after Megan, she won’t mind.”
“Great. I’ll come by your place and pick you up tomorrow,” Michelle replied.
“Cool. See you then Chelle,” Sophia said.
“Bye.”

END FLASHBACK

A/N: Well, that was chapter one! I hope you liked it! Not much action there, but there was a flashback as promised. Please R&R and tell me what you think, you know I love it when you do!