A/N: I just wanted to say thank you to you for taking the time to read this fic and/or review. I am very grateful.
And a special thank you to Karina who has been my biggest supporter pushing me to keep going with this fic. I wouldn't have done it without you. :)
This chapter is set two years on from the last. Enjoy.
In one swift movement, Tony grabbed the small child running towards him and tipped him upside down causing a eruption of giggles to disrupt the silence.
"Where is James?"
"Has anybody seen James?" he asked no one as he walked towards the kitchen.
"Daddy!" his son laughed out breathlessly.
"I'muhm here!"
Michelle approached, eyebrows raised when she saw the commotion.
"Mommy, have you seen James?" Tony asked her. "I cannot find him anywhere."
Michelle twisted her mouth to the side trying to stop the smile creeping up upon her lips and kept her eyes on Tony's so she wouldn't give the game away.
"No daddy I haven't..."
"Maaaaaaammaaaaa" James hollered to make her aware of his presence.
Taking a deep breath to control her laughter, she continued;
"If you see him, tell him mommy wants her morning kiss."
Tony nodded, grinning and watched her as she walked on towards the bedrooms.
"Hey!"
She turned around looking sheepish.
"Are you carrying a box?"
"I'm fine Tony."
Tony returned his son to the upright position and set him down on the floor.
"Go to the kitchen James, breakfast is ready."
When he turned his attention back to Michelle, she had disappeared.
He followed her path and found her in James' room.
"The box isn't quite full, I just wanted to add a few more things," she explained softly when she noticed Tony standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips.
He scratched his cheek.
"Michelle, you heard what the doctor said."
"My back doesn't hurt so much today, I feel good."
"Even so."
He wasn't happy and she could tell. Walking over to him, she looped her arms around his lower back and pulled him in for deep kiss.
"C'mon, let's go give our boy his breakfast."
Although not completely forgiven, the kiss won him over for the time being.
James was not waiting outside the kitchen door for them. He had snuck into the front room and opened his box of toys, though he was playing quietly, the toys were strewn everywhere.
Tony sighed and went in to retrieve him, getting an annoyed scream right into his earhole for his troubles. James squirmed as much as he possibly could as his daddy took him into the kitchen and passed him over to mommy.
"Can I have my morning kiss baby?" she asked him wiping away his tears.
Puckering his lips at her, she kissed him before setting him down in his high chair - where his favourite breakfast of porridge with mashed banana was waiting, and buckling him in.
Tony was over by the counter making a fresh pot of coffee for them both.
Michelle inhaled the rich aroma floating around the kitchen.
"God, that's smells so good," she breathed happily.
Slower at moving about in the morning, coffee was the only real thing that woke her up. Even James' occasional morning tantrums just pass over her head until she gets that first delicious sip.
After handing her a plate of toast and her coffee, Tony settled down across from the table from her and tucked into his own breakfast of leftovers.
He observed both her and their son as they ate. James shovelling in the porridge as if he had been starved, and Michelle slowly nibbling on her toast as she read that day's paper.
His eyes were drawn the platinum band sitting on her left ring finger and it gave him butterflies.
Today was their 6 month anniversary since they remarried and he couldn't wait to surprise her that evening at their new house.
After breakfast, she was taking James out to spend the day with Tony's mother, while Tony and a few of their friends would finalise everything before the removal men came for the final boxes at eleven.
It had been a long road to get to where they were today.
After breaking down in the shower over the car bomb, Michelle began to fall apart. She would have nightmares over it and even starting dreaming that she was in the car instead of Tony.
She would wake up screaming or crying - sometimes both and covered in sweat. Barely speaking or barely eating, she just drifted through life. She was smart enough to not let it affect James but it was beginning to affect Tony. He was used to them both being strong. Now he was the strong one while she was at rock bottom. Once or twice he came close to leaving but those were just moments of sheer desperation.
He made some calls and got her an appointment to see a counsellor. Though reluctant, Michelle began to open up to the counsellor who abled Michelle to see that she never truly dealt with Tony getting shot, going to prison and then seeing him blown up in front of her eyes, as well as the breakdown of her marriage.
Seeing her progression following several sessions, a bout of sleeping pills and a healthy diet to follow, Tony made an appointment to see the counsellor himself.
He had a lot of guilt.
After six months of separate counselling, they made a decision to go to couple's therapy to work together on their broken marriage.
His Michelle came back.
And he proposed. It was beautifully understated - Tony on one knee after watching her favourite film and Michelle said yes without a moment's hesitation. They went down to the city hall with their parents as witnesses and James as a pageboy.
As a surprise, he got their wedding rings engraved on the underside reading Ever Thine, Ever Mine, Ever Ours.
They then set about starting up a security business for him and an interiors design business for her. Michelle knew without the "correct" qualifications she would struggle at first, so she would be Tony's partner until worked picked up.
The house they chose was in Seattle. And big enough for them both to have their own offices. It has a garden for James to run around in and an indoor swimming pool for Michelle to unwind in.
Hannah, Michelle's babysitter and good friend cornered Tony one evening not long after they got back together. She told him that Michelle would kill her for telling him this, but he didn't just break her heart. He shattered it into hundreds of pieces. Right now it was just patched up. And warned him that he needed to be in it for the long run.
Tony promised he was and that he would take care of her.
Two nights ago, Michelle turned to him in bed, apologised for the rough time she had given him but most importantly told him her heart was whole again. It was music to his ears.
Breakfast eaten, Tony rounded up his wife and child to get them out of the door. Not that he wanted them to go, but when he next saw them both again, it would be at the start of the chapter of their lives. To say he was excited was an understatement.
"You got your passports, flight tickets and enough money?" He flustered as he tried to get an uncooperative James into his coat.
"Yes Tony, I got everything organised last night."
She pulled on her own coat.
"I've even said goodbye to every room," she chuckled.
Boxing up James' room was the hardest for her and it took a lot of coaxing from Tony for it to get finished.
With James finally buttoned up and strapped into his pushchair, they were ready to go.
Tony and Michelle stood and looked at each other, both slightly anxious but looking forward to their new adventure.
"You nervous?"
"A little bit. You?"
"Yeah. No going back now huh?"
"Nope. A new beginning."
"A new beginning... Say hi to my mom for me."
"Tony, she's coming with us on the plane, you'll see her at the airport."
"Oh yeah. I forgot."
Michelle rolled her eyes. "Clearly."
"Hey!" he protested, before meeting her lips with his own.
"I love you."
"I love you Tony."
Tony then bent down to speak to James who was drifting off to sleep.
"Be good buddy, I'll see you soon okay?"
He planted a kiss on James' chubby cheek and stroked his hair.
Michelle then opened the door and started to move.
"Oh, before I forget, what do you think about naming her after your mother?" she asked running her hand over her 6 month bump.
Tony frowned.
"You want to call her Mercedes?"
"No, I was thinking of Sadie."
Tony smiled and bit his lip as Michelle closed the door.
Some hearts hear each other, even in silence.