EPILOGUE: 24-7

A/N: Ok, final chapter. At last (happy dance!!). Oh, and a little more romance/fluff too, for those who requested that! Thanks for sticking with me for this long, and I really, really appreciate all your reviews!

Seven months later…

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Doyle…

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"Holy crap! How many pairs of shoes do you own?" I ask her irritably as I heave the huge plastic storage carton into the living room, struggling under its vast weight, and dump it rather ungallantly onto the carpet. A couple of pairs of stilettos come spilling out of a box, and those flat things that Nadia calls ballet pumps that she never even seems to wear because she's so damn tetchy about her height, yet STILL keeps on buying. Women. I'll never understand 'em, still, I guess if they couldn't buy shoes, the universe would probably implode on itself or something.

My eyes fall on a pair of silver Manolo Blahniks (I'm ashamed to admit I've learned a lot about shoe designers these past few months, mostly by osmosis) with skyscraper heels that don't seem to have been worn yet and I roll my eyes in exasperation. Ok, she's totally been hiding some of these from me.

She smiles innocently as she looks up from the kitchen counter where she's unpacking a stack of ceramic plates, wrapped carefully in newspaper and running some soapy water in the sink. "A girl's prerogative," she tells me, looking angelic; "you can never have too many pairs of shoes."

I look sceptically at all the numerous boxes and suitcases taking up all the available living-room floor space in our new place; "and bags... and clothes..?" I supply, trying to hide my smile because I just can't be mad at her right now. "You can only wear one pair of shoes at a time y'know- unless you grew an extra set of legs I don't know about. It's like a woman's retailers in here."

"I like to shop," she says defensively, but that twinkle's in her eyes again. "And you weren't complaining about that lacy lingerie I bought from Panty Raid last weekend were you?"

I throw a knowing look back at her over my shoulder and disappear out to the station wagon for the last of the boxes. Yeah, I'm a hypocrite, it's really best to not answer that because I enjoyed that particular shopping excursion as much as she did. Well, the fashion show afterward anyway.

Two more trips. For god's sake, these things are heavy.

'Belts' it says in Nadia's neat writing on the cardboard flap; then underneath is added: 'work belts, casual belts and shiny buckle belts.' What the hell?! An entire box of belts? Who the hell has this many belts? More to the point, who categorises their clothes like that? My shopaholic girlfriend, that's who. Maybe we should have gone in for a place with more closet space.

And... I peer at the writing on the other box in disbelief. Yes, I am reading this correctly. Bikini's. A huge cardboard box full. Well, that's pretty cool actually. I never knew she had this many. I'll be damned.

Phew. Done.

"Well, that's the last of it," I announce, gratefully as I dump the last box on the sofa impatiently, crossing to join her in the sparkling kitchen as I wrap my arms around her, "and I'm not eager to repeat that experience again in a hurry."

"Oh yeah?" she sets the plate down into the water carefully- it's so cute how she's all house-proud with our new stuff and she should be, we spent a damn fortune in Pottery Barn- that shopping trip was the longest day of my life, I'll tell you that; "what do you want to do instead?"

"I can think of a few alternatives," I ponder the question with a smile as she dries her hands then wraps them around my neck and kisses me, her body sliding against mine in the sunny, open-plan kitchen.

Instant distraction. My mind instantly loses all trail of coherent thought. Not fair. I look down at her accusingly; "Hey... didn't you say we should get all the unpacking done right away and then—"

She cuts me off with another warm kiss, "well, I already did some unpacking and I made up the bed. I mean... if you're interested that is. My clothes can wait."

I grin and scoop her up in my arms. "Say no more. I'm already there."

We decided to move in together. Things have well, evolved between us I guess. Pretty quickly.

Oh, ok I'll admit it. I'm head over heels, stupidly in love with her and my big confession in the hospital? That was only the tip of the iceberg, I tell her as much everyday and I kind of like being able to admit my feelings to her so openly, even though its a completely alien concept for me. Sometimes she jokes that I rarely shut up now but I know she likes this Mike Doyle a hell of a lot better than the old one, and she's not the only person to feel like that. Ben's forever ragging on me for being 'whipped' and constantly asks if I had a personality bypass by mistake when I was in that hospital.

Honestly? I figure that maybe that bullet might have had some kind of impact on my personality actually- whacked some kind of little switch in my brain that makes me spill my guts about every inconsequential little thing, or maybe its just the effect she has on me. Either way, it feels kind of strange to feel happy, but I'm not complaining. Not at all.

Since I got out of hospital and we came back to LA, we've barely been apart, we haven't even spent a night away from each other yet, which is exactly the way I like it, and we were near as damn it living together anyway, even with our own separate places. To tell you the truth, I'd actually forgotten what my own apartment looked like. She was all cute and protective over me as I healed from the shooting and went through rehabilitation, and damn, even only after a couple of weeks of dating, I realised how much I wanted her to be around me all the time. It's not just her patience, it's her unnerving honesty and how straight to the point she is. It's refreshing to be with someone who's actually crazy enough to care about me despite everything I've said and done, although it's a little scary too.

A fresh start- for me, for both of us.

In more ways than one.

I never thought I could let anyone in, let anyone love me. I thought it would compromise my work, my life. That it would mean relinquishing my carefully preserved self-control. Nadia managed to get right under my barriers. I love her more and more as I get to know her, which I know is a kind of sappy thing to admit, but I don't mind saying it, I mean I don't broadcast it or anything and I don't shoot my mouth off to Ben about our relationship as we prefer to keep it private (particularly on the down-low at work), but you get the picture.

Our first date, a couple of weeks after I was discharged from hospital was pretty memorable- I had a fancy restaurant all planned in the valley, candles, wine- I brought her some flowers, did the whole gentlemanly thing and she seemed pretty impressed and I thought my luck was pretty much in there, I mean, I am a guy after all and we'd not had sex since that first time but hell, I'd been thinking about it. A lot. Only on the way there, my car broke down right on the freeway and both of us wound up covered in engine oil (it ruined her dress- boy was she mad) and we had a big fight about how to change the tire- more so because I was embarassed it had happened than anything else. She was adamant her way was quicker when I knew it wasn't and I told her as much. Needless to say after a silent bus ride with both of us shooting pissed off looks at each other the whole time, we then made up pretty quickly when we got back to her place: hence the memorable part. My luck was in after all.

Second date didn't fare much better, though we actually made it to the restaurant this time- some idiot waiter had shoved some kind of crab preservative in the salad dressing and my face swelled up like a balloon. To say Nadia was pretty freaked was an understatement. Cue a trip to the emergency room to be administered antihistamines, but at least she stayed with me though I was beginning to think maybe we were cursed. We didn't get to have sex that night, though with the way I looked, I can't say I blamed her.

Third time seemed to be the charm though I was expecting the worst- we actually made it through dinner unscathed, no bomb threats, (hey, I really was expecting the worst) no car malfunctions, no freaky allergic reactions to food. A nice cozy meal in a tapas restaurant followed by a movie. I finally believed that maybe there was a chance for us after all. Two months or so later, and I don't even remember who suggested it (oh, ok it was me) we decided that maybe we should look for a place together. Driving back and forth was getting a little arduous, not to mention wasting time that we should have been spending together doing more fun stuff.

It's been pretty tough though, aside from all the fun stuff- I mean, I never lived with anyone before- let alone working together as well. It was totally backtracking on everything I'd ever believed in, but believe me, she's worth it.

Getting used to someone else's habits has been a bit of a culture shock too, even just the little habits I've picked on by staying over at her place or her crashing at mine, so god knows what its going to be like in future. For example: Nadia likes to sleep in late every single morning and takes up the whole damn bed, sprawled out everywhere and hogging the sheets so I freeze my butt off. I turn over during the night and it's seriously icicle city down there.

She leaves her millions of shoes lying in the hallway right where I can trip over them, and her usual movie of choice is always some sappy romantic comedy. Goddamnit, I hate Hugh Grant. I hate his floppy hair and his pretentious accent and his inane ramblings. He's such a one-dimensional actor, but last time I tried telling Nadia that she near enough bit my damn head off. Not that I'm jealous of his dapper good looks or anything.

She sometimes complains that I play my CD player too loud- she hates my taste in music, and she's forever goading me over my inherent love of the Bronco's, who aren't doing too well this season. Infact, she can be downright insulting about them at times. I'm a little messier than she is too (ok a LOT messier), which I don't think went down all that well at first, but we're getting by.

Silly, inconsequential things can spark little arguments between us on occasion, but when you get down to it they actually make me love her even more. Making up is always the fun part. She's not perfect, but neither am I, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

We eventually wound up putting down a deposit for some cute little condo in Anaheim, which Nadia adored right away. If you ask me, it's the close proximity to Disneyland that does it for her as her face kind of lights up whenever we go there and she screams like a little kid on the Matterhorn, but whatever. It's a great place, right in the hills off Dewcrest. It's all granite countertops, tiled floors and plush carpets and a monster fireplace which I can't wait to snuggle in front of with Nadia when the nights start getting a little cooler. Yeah, I gotta admit- I'm pretty attached to this condo myself, though the mortgage payments are through the roof.

We both went back to work after the court hearing- we had to, to pay for this place.

Harper's was a concrete case as we all suspected and with the evidence Nadia had against all those guys and Myers Death Army in her little dossiers that I bitched about so much, they all went down. More than thirty eight suspects were discovered in all, spread across the US and in Frankfurt. The DA had a field day with all the paperwork.

They're locked up for a long time. Infact, they'll probably die in prison if the Supreme Court has anything to do with it. The Pelican Bay State Prison for Harper and Fletcher, just like Jack requested. He even got the say-so on which cellie's they should be placed with- seems like Jack has a lot of clout in matters like that.

I was so proud of the way Nadia held up in court and she got another commendation citing her review of the case from Division which she totally deserves. Along with the commendation she got in Detroit, I'm starting to think she's collecting them. I got some kind of bravery award too, which isn't really that big a deal. I might hang it in the bathroom or something, I mean, if I get any say so over the decor in this place. I think Nadia has a whole extreme-home-makeover thing going on in that head of hers.

At CTU things are pretty different now. I'm heading up tactical now (finally-as intended. I get my own office and everything), Morris is heading up Comms and we have to work pretty closely together so I'm trying to bite my tongue when he pisses me off, which he has the tendency to do a lot, but we're getting on a lot better, though on occasion I'm still tempted to wring his neck.

Chloe's on maternity leave after having a baby girl and Jack Bauer's surprisingly back heading up Field Ops which I think was something he missed pretty badly, but he still goes to visit Audrey on weekends sometimes. He's a pretty decent guy, though he constantly ribs me over my relationship with Nadia, making reference to the time he walked in on "the first time you guys hooked up- boy was your face red!" and a particular favourite catchphrase of his for a while was; "hey Doyle, I thought you didn't mix work with your personal life?" but that's kind of died down a bit now. I didn't know Nadia's 'death glare' was so effective to people besides me, but I guess you learn something new everyday.

Buchanan's been making noises about retiring but Karen managed to talk him out of it, at least for a little while longer. The two of them recently renewed their wedding vows, which we went to and had a blast. Bill's pretty adamant that when he does go, (he intends to head to DC sometime next year) Nadia should get his job, but she seems to be pretty happy back being his second-in-command at the moment.

You'd kind of expect us to get sick of each other as we're literally together 24-7, but we never do.

It's all good.

"I love you.." Nadia kisses my neck, pulling off my shirt as we tumble onto our new king-size bed, as she runs her hands down my chest and flashes me that smile.

Hell yeah. It's definitely all good.

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A/N: (experimentally cracks fingers and ponders what she should write about next...)

I have a couple of fluffy/humour one-shots coming up set somewhere after this story, in this universe- Nadia/Doyle, Chloe/Morris and a little Jack. Look out for them soon and thanks again for reading!