AN: woahh its been a hot minute. this has literally sat unfinished since 2023 which is insane bc it took me all of 5 minutes to wrap up lol inspired by all the homecoming videos that make me cry <3
Summary: Tony has been overseas and his two girls get a surprise.
WC: 1,321
It’s been 406 days, 32 hours, 28 minutes, and 49 seconds since she had last seen him. Hating the fact that she knew the exact time it had been didn’t stop her from keeping track.
50 seconds.
It kept her sane. It kept her grounded.
51 seconds.
Letting out a groan, she glanced at the alarm on their bedside table. It was only a few minutes past midnight. He was supposed to call tonight. All the different scenarios played out in her head, but she needed to be strong, especially for Avery. It wasn’t often he missed a phone call, but he always let her know and she still hadn’t heard from him yet.
All the six year old had been talking about for weeks was being able to talk to her daddy. So that’s why she was curled up in her mother’s lap, tears staining her cheeks. Michelle gently ran her fingers through her hair, nothing she could say would comfort her. She had tried for the last four hours.
They had to be up early for a doctor's appointment and to get her to school on time. She thought about canceling the appointment, keeping her home from school. Life was so much easier when he was home. Every day, every hour, every minute, every second only served as a reminder that he wasn’t here. Hell, she didn’t even know where he was most of the time.
“Mommy?” Avery spoke softly.
She felt her own tears spring to her eyes at how small her voice sounded. “Yeah baby?”
“I miss daddy,” she said before she broke into tears again.
Michelle pulled her little body closer, Avery’s head lying against her chest.
“I miss him too, sweetheart.”
“Do you think he’ll be able to see me get my award tomorrow?”
Shit. She totally forgot about the awards ceremony her school was having tomorrow. There was almost no way she’d be able to take the day off. “Yeah, I’ll take a video for him, honey,” she smiled softly.
After pulling some strings at Division and getting her shift covered, she was on the way to the school after picking up a bouquet of flowers. She thought about how much she hated how much Tony had to miss with Avery, how much he hated it. She knew it was hard on him.
“The next student we’re celebrating is Ms. Avery Almeida. Avery has earned A’s in all of her classes and is one of our best students. We wanted to give her a little surprise for how well she’s been doing and have a special guest with us today.” The principal announced. Michelle’s ears perked up, this was news to her.
“Avery’s father is currently deployed overseas. He serves in the United States Marine Corps and he reached out to us wanting to give Avery a message so if you could, please turn your attention to the screen.”
The screen came to life and there he was. He was dressed in uniform with a huge smile on his face. Her breath hitched.
“Hey sweetheart, I just wanted to tell you that I am so so so proud of you. I wish I could be here with you and your mom but I know she’s taking great care of you. I hope you’re not starving,” he chuckled. “I love you so much and I can’t wait to see you.” The video ended.
Michelle was already crying and she turned to look at Avery who had her own tears streaming down.
“We’d like to thank your dad for your service personally,” the principal continued, gesturing to someone to come out on stage.
No, no, no. No. This couldn’t be happening.
Not even thirty seconds later, he walked out onto the stage. He was really there. If this was a dream, she didn’t want to wake up. Her hands covered her mouth. This had to be some sort of cruel, sick joke the universe was playing on her.
A squeal escaped Avery’s mouth before she was sprinting into his open arms. He picked her up easily, her legs wrapping around his waist. Scanning the crowd for Michelle, he caught the back of her head slipping out the exit.
After a couple minutes, he managed to set Avery down. “I have to check on mommy real quick, honey.”
“Are you coming back?” she asked, looking down at the floor.
“I’m always gonna come back, I promise,” he smiled, lifting her face up.
He ran out the same way she did, searching for her everywhere. When he spotted her curls, he slowed down to not startle her further. She had her back pressed up against the building, knees pushed up against her chest.
“Hey,” he said softly, kneeling down to her level.
She turned to him, locking eyes with him. “This can’t be real.”
“It’s very much real, I promise,” he reached out slowly, laying his hand on top of hers.
It hadn’t even been a second until her arms were wrapped around him, the force almost knocking both of them to the ground. “I missed you so much,” she cried.
“I missed you more than anything,” he whispered against her ear.
They stayed like that for several minutes, wrapped up in each other. It wasn’t until they felt a little hand tugging on their legs when they broke apart to find Avery.
“Sorry,” her teacher apologized, “she wanted to see you guys.”
“Thank you, Nicole,” Michelle said.
“Let’s go home,” Tony said. Michelle smiled in return.
After a quick dinner at McDonald’s, they were heading home. Together. Avery caught him up on everything that happened while he and Michelle held hands the entire time. Tony listened intently, especially when she was talking about all the first grade drama.
She still felt like she was in a dream, any moment she would wake up and he wouldn’t be there.
It took an extra hour for Avery to settle down for bedtime, not wanting to have her daddy out of sight. “I promise I’ll be here in the morning, honey,” he told her after reading an extra book to her and with one last kiss to her forehead, he walked out to find Michelle lying down on the couch, a faraway look in her eyes.
“Whatcha thinking about?” he asked, sitting down beside her as she wordlessly crawled over to him, her head on his lap.
“I just missed you is all.” It wasn’t a complete lie, he didn’t need to know how sick to her stomach she felt whenever he was gone, how she’d drive herself crazy thinking about how he was doing or if he was still alive. He worried about it too, never wanting to leave his little family behind.
Taking a deep breath, he ran his hands through her hair. “I missed you so much, baby. You know I’ll always come back to you.”
She offered him a small smile in return.
They laid there, enjoying each other's presence, the occasional kiss here and there “I was offered a job at CTU.” he said, after a few moments of silence.
Her mouth fell open slightly. “Are you taking it?” She hated the selfish part of her that wanted him to take the job.
“I wanted to talk to you about it first,” he paused. “They have a job for you too.”
“Doing what?”
“Internet protocol manager.”
“We get to work together?” She giggled, running her fingers over his cheek.
“Mhm, lots of new places to christen and we’ll be the bosses,” he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Dirty, dirty man,” she laughed.
“Lots of time to make up for,” he kissed her again. “So what do you think?”
“Hmm, I think I’ll go anywhere with you… as long as I don’t have to cook.”
“That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say, we’re gonna have to keep that coffee pot far, far, far away from you.”
Do not write fanfiction. One second you're normal and the next you're downloading a calendar from 2004 and tearing your hair out over what specific date every event in your fic happens
