Michael's Little Problem: Part 2
Chapter 1
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Lily Sizemore POV
Gone. Michael was gone and that was all I could think about at the moment. The last few days had been a whirlwind of commotion, ending with Nate, Grandma, and I holed up in a motel room in Ft. Lauderdale. I laid on the hotel bed trying not to think about the amount of cigarettes grandma was smoking, and thinking too much about the events of the past couple of days. Michael had been working on some sort of job with Sam and Fi, and then something went wrong. I didn't know any of the details, but I did know that something happened to Sam. At the same time Sam disappeared, Michael was dealing with mysterious phone calls from the people who burned him. Michael was worried about our safety, so we had to move to a safe house (which just happened to be an abandoned house that Nate was living in).
After staying with Nate at the safe house for a few days, Michael told us that we had to go to Ft. Lauderdale for a couple days until things 'cooled off' as he put it. Grandma and I had both objected to picking up and leaving, but Michael said it wasn't negotiable. He wouldn't jeopardize our safety just because it was more convenient for us to stay at home. I kept asking Michael for details about what was happening, and where Sam was, but he would only say that Sam was in trouble, and he was doing his best to get him back.
I knew something was seriously wrong when Michael discovered people were following us on the way to Ft. Lauderdale. After asking everyone if they had made any phone calls, it was revealed that grandma had called the house to check the messages. Michael said they knew where we were because grandma had used the cell phone to make the call. I remembered the sinking feeling in my stomach at what he had said next.
"Nate, I'm gonna pull over and get out. You keep going, and don't stop for anything. Understand?" Michael had spoken in a no nonsense voice, and Nate had agreed.
I was beside myself. "What are you going to do?" I frantically asked him.
Michael looked at me, and his expression was sad. "I have to do this to protect you guys, Lil. These are the people that burned me, and they want me to come in and meet with them. I don't know when I'll see you again, but I will try to contact you as soon as I can."
I had felt my eyes tearing up. It felt like he was saying goodbye forever. I just nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I couldn't believe the moment had finally come when Michael would have to leave again. Before I knew it, Michael had stopped the car and stepped out. Nate took the wheel, and we drove away, leaving Michael behind. The last glimpse I had of him, he was standing in the middle of a group of people; all armed, with his hands in the air. It was surreal to see because the Michael I knew never surrendered.
I was shaken out of my memories by grandma putting her hand on my shoulder. "Lily, you've barely said a word since we got here. Are you sick?" Grandma put her hand on my forehead, but I shook her off.
"I'm not sick; I just don't know when we're going to see Michael again."
Grandma seemed to mull over this for a little while before she spoke. "I don't know either, sweetie. I'm sure he'll call at some point to tell us to come home, but we have to prepare ourselves. It might be a long time before we see Michael again." She took another drag from her cigarette.
"It'll be just like before." I said sadly. I never wanted it to be like this ever again. I hated not knowing when I would see Michael again.
"We don't know what it'll be like, Lily. We just have to wait and see." I nodded and sat up in the bed. Grandma put her arms out, and I gave her a hug. Just as we broke apart, Nate came to the door, but he couldn't open it because grandma had jammed the door with a chair.
"Ma, open the door! I've told you a thousand times, they won't be coming here." Grandma pulled the chair away from the door, and Nate walked in.
"Nate, don't tell me what to do, there were men with guns coming after us a few days ago!" Nate just put his hands up in surrender and walked towards the bed. He ruffled my hair and I batted his hand away.
"Why do you and Michael always insist on screwing up my hair?" I gave Nate an angry look.
"Because we know you love it so much, Lils." He replied with a smile. I couldn't help but smile back; Nate's good mood was always infectious. We looked over at grandma after we heard the telltale sound of her lighter. "Ma, there's no smoking in here!" Nate admonished.
"Does it look like I care, Nate? It relaxes me." Grandma replied. Nate just shook her off. There was no point in arguing with grandma when she was like this.
Nate turned to me. "Wanna go for a walk? I think I could use some fresh air." After sitting in the room for hours, I wholeheartedly agreed.
…
The next day, grandma was getting antsy. Nate had gone out for the day, claiming he was going to meet some old friends, and we had been sitting in the hotel room all morning. I spent most of the morning reading my book but not really absorbing any of the content. I was thinking about calling Fiona and asking if she knew anything about Michael yet. After a couple hours of debating if I should call, I made up my mind.
"Grandma, I'm going to the gas station to get something to drink. Do you want anything?" I hoped grandma wouldn't say she wanted to come with because I didn't think she would approve of calling home.
"No, honey. Come back soon though or you'll miss Jeopardy!" Grandma had gotten obsessed with the show in the ample time we had spent watching TV over the past couple days. I grabbed a room key, and then I was out the door and on my way to the gas station before you could say 'daily double'.
I got nervous as I waited in line for the pay phone. What if they knew we were here and listened to my conversation with Fi? I shook my head; Grandma's paranoia was rubbing off on me. When the man in front of me was done making his call, I stepped up, put my quarter in and dialed Fi's number. I was thankful I was able to remember her phone number off the top of my head because I had left my cell phone at home. Not that I would have been able to use my phone anyways. Fiona answered on the third ring.
"Hello?"
"Fi, it's Lily." I answered back.
"Where are you calling from?" Fiona asked. She seemed curious.
"A gas station in Ft. Lauderdale. Listen, have you heard anything from Michael?" I waited with bated breath for her answer.
"As a matter of fact, yes I have! Michael called me a few minutes ago. He said he had a job and he needed my help. I'm on my way back to the loft right now." Fiona said Michael's name like it was a deadly poison, and I could tell she was mad at him. For that matter, so was I.
"What! That doesn't make any sense, he said he didn't know the next time he would see us! Is it safe for us to come back?" I hoped she would say yes because I had missed two days of school already.
"Well, I'm going to be giving Michael a well deserved punch in the face when I see him, do you want me to give him one from you also? Ask Michael before you leave, but I'm pretty sure it's safe now." Fiona replied.
"That's a relief. Go easy on him, Fi. I want to be able to talk with him when we get back. I'll tell grandma to call Michael when I get back to the room. See you soon?"
"Of course, Lily. Maybe we could go to the beach or something on Saturday. Until then, take care of yourself." I agreed to a beach day on Saturday and then we said goodbye. I ran back to the hotel trying to hide my excitement. I burst into the room and grandma dropped her cigarette onto the bed.
"Damn it, Lily! You know better than that!" Grandma said as she picked the cigarette off the bed.
"Sorry, Grandma. I just called Fiona and she said Michael is back! She said to call him to make sure we can come home. Isn't that exciting?" I was practically jumping up and down. I couldn't believe I was going to see Michael again in just a few short hours.
"Oh, that's wonderful, sweetie! I'll call Michael right now." Grandma promptly got up from the bed and dialed Michael's phone.
"Michael?" Grandma always said the same thing when she called Michael.
"Are you okay?" I could almost hear Michael's annoyed voice answer through the phone. Grandma continued, "The last time we saw you there were men with guns! Is it safe to come home yet?" Grandma listened while Michael responded, and then she hung up. She turned to me. "He said we can come home!" I was so excited I threw myself into her arms.
"What about Nate? He's gone for the day and he doesn't have a cell phone." There was no way to let Nate know we were safe to go home.
"We'll leave a note at the front desk. Pack your things and we'll leave, sweetie." I nodded and started packing.
…
Twenty minutes later, we were in the Charger on our way back to Miami. I looked over at grandma, thinking how odd it was to see her in the driver's seat of the Charger. I was so used to seeing Michael behind the wheel. Grandma laughed.
"I remember when Frank used to drive this car. He and Michael used to spend hours out in the garage working on it." She smiled at the memory. I remembered when Michael came to get the Charger at the house, and the memories he had shared with Grandma about working on the car weren't quite as fond as she remembered.
"How come Michael and Mr. Westen never got along?" I asked.
"Frank was a difficult person to get along with. He was a drinker, as you remember, and Michael was left to pick up the pieces every time he walked out on us." Grandma didn't seem to want to talk about their relationship, so I dropped it. After listening to oldies on the radio for an hour, I eventually got sleepy and took a nap.
When I woke up, Grandma was just about to pull the Charger into the garage. "Welcome back, sleepy head." She said with a smile.
"Sorry, I just got so tired. How was the drive?" I got out of the car and stretched my legs. I always felt bad when I fell asleep on long drives because it was probably so boring for grandma to not have anyone to talk to.
"It was fine, it didn't take long." Grandma replied. We opened the back door to the house, and were met with a nasty smell. "What is that?" Grandma said while covering her nose. I looked around, trying to gauge where the smell was coming from.
"I think it's coming from the refrigerator." I opened it up and was met with the horrible smell that permeated the room. All the food in the refrigerator was spoiled. I shut the refrigerator door, trying to keep the smell contained. "How did this happen?" I asked. Grandma was standing by the coffee pot.
"The coffee pot burned out, and blew a fuse! I must have left it on when we left. I'll go downstairs and reset the fuse box." Grandma huffed and walked away muttering something along the lines of, "This is all Michael's fault…" I got some garbage bags out of the cupboard and set to cleaning out the fridge. I had just thrown the milk out when grandma came back up the stairs carrying a shotgun.
"Where did you get that?" I asked, shocked. Grandma was taking her paranoia to a new level.
"It was Franks. If the people with guns come back, we'll be prepared." Grandma said in a hard voice. I didn't comment, knowing not to test her patience. She set the gun on the kitchen table and we got back to cleaning the fridge out.
It took us almost an hour to get everything cleaned up, and when we were finished, grandma sat at the kitchen table to smoke a cigarette while I went upstairs to unpack my bag. Just as I finished putting my dirty clothes in the hamper and my clean ones back into my drawers, I heard the front door open.
"Ma, what are you doing? Put the shotgun down." Michael said in an annoyed voice. My heart leapt and I bolted down the hallway and to the stairs. Just by hearing Michael's voice, I forgot about being upset with him. Michael looked up as I pounded down the stairs and smiled. He held his arms out and I leaped into them, forgetting about the last step. I could tell I almost knocked him over by jumping in his arms, but he held me tight.
"Whoa there, kiddo. We've only been apart for two days." Michael patted my back and I hugged him tighter.
"I didn't think I would see you again for a while! I never expected to see you so soon…" Michael laughed and put me down.
"Well, here I am! I'm sorry I can't stay very long, I have a job that I need to do some work on." Michael said.
"Who are you doing the job for?" I asked. Michael paused.
"It's complicated, Lily. I don't want to get you involved in all this." Grandma cut in after Michael said this.
She held up the coffee pot. "Look, Michael! It burned out because you made me leave in such a rush! Can you fix it?" I didn't understand why grandma was so torn up about the coffee pot. I looked at Michael's expression and laughed.
"I can try, Ma. I'll come back another day. I need to get back to work. Bye, Lily." Michael headed for the door. I wanted to give him another hug but I didn't want to seem clingy.
"Bye, Michael. See you soon?" He nodded and closed the door. I felt happy that Michael was back so soon, but I didn't like the new side to him. It seemed like he was preoccupied about something, and I wondered what it was. I had a feeling I wouldn't be finding out the reason why.
…
On Saturday, Fiona and Sam came over to the house together. Fiona and I were going to spend the day at the beach, and Sam said he wanted to have a beer with grandma. His face looked terrible when he walked in the door. It looked like he was covered in cuts and bruises.
"What happened to you?" I asked him after I had given him a hug.
"Oh, nothing. Just a little misunderstanding. I'll be fine." Sam said evasively. Apparently Michael and Sam were both set on keeping things from me. He made his way to the kitchen, and Fiona and I said goodbye and left for the beach.
We spent the day laying out on the beach, and while we were walking back to the car, I turned to Fiona. "What's going on with Michael's burn notice?" Fiona seemed to debate with herself before she answered.
"The people who burned Michael hired him for a job, and that's all I know." She replied.
"Well, is he leaving again after the job?" I hoped she had an answer I wanted to hear.
"I think he's going to be around here for the time being. He has a lot to figure out." I laughed.
"Like why he even wants his old job back? What's his obsession with getting back in?" Getting his job back seemed to occupy Michael's every waking moment.
"I wish I knew the answer to that question, Lily. Michael doesn't seem to realize that he's doing what he loves here in Miami. He was put on this earth to help people, and he thinks the only way to do that is to get his job back. He helps people here in Miami every day, yet he thinks that's not enough. I'll never understand him." I agreed with Fiona.
"Are you guys still together?"
"For now, but I don't see that lasting that much longer. We'll always be friends, but I just can't be together with him when he's like this." Fiona seemed torn up about the whole situation, so I didn't press the subject further. I hoped Michael realized what he was giving up by being so obsessed with his burn notice.
When we got to the car, Fiona opened her trunk and we discovered a little surprise in the form of five guns. I jumped back, but Fiona just smiled. She dialed Michael's cell.
"Your friends left me a little surprise in the trunk of my car, Michael… Oh, I'll take good care of them." She hung up, and covered the guns with a towel. She smiled at me like nothing happened and we got in the car.
"What was that all about?" I was bursting with questions and I knew Fiona couldn't answer them.
"Just part of the job we're working on. I wish I could tell you more, but Michael would never forgive me for getting you involved."
"Nobody is telling me anything! I just want to know what's going on, Fiona." My frustrations with being left in the dark were coming through.
"Ask Michael. Just wait a couple days until the job blows over, and maybe he'll give you some answers." Fiona answered calmly, seeming to understand my frustrations.
"Maybe." I replied. I didn't want to pester Michael, but I wanted to know. I had a couple days to think it over, so I would do just that.
…
As I ran down my usual running path, I was deep in thought. I still hadn't decided if I wanted to confront Michael about what was going on with his burn notice. It was none of my business, but I just wanted to know how long he would be staying. I kept having a feeling that he could leave at the drop of a hat, and I needed to know if that was the case or wasn't. Would it be wrong for me to ask him for answers? After all, I knew more about his spy life than grandma did. Couldn't I take whatever he told me?
I was about halfway to my beach when I made my decision. I wasn't going to put it off anymore. I was going to talk to Michael, and I was going to do it right now. I changed directions, and headed towards the main road to Michael's loft. I sped up, feeling anxious and excited to finally confront Michael. He was keeping secrets from me, and I didn't think I deserved it.
I was totally drained when I got to Michael's loft. I had run about five miles, which was more than I usually ran without stopping to take a break. I walked straight up the stairs to Michael's door, and walked right in. Michael was standing by the kitchen counter eating a yogurt. As he walked towards me, I put my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath.
"Lily, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Michael said in a concerned voice. He put his hand on my shoulder.
"I came here because I need to talk to you. Do you think I don't deserve to know what's going on with your burn notice?" I asked breathlessly, putting it all on the table. Michael took a step back.
"Did you run all the way here? That's gotta be at least five miles!" He was trying to change the subject, but I wouldn't have it.
"Stop trying to change the subject! I don't understand why you're keeping secrets from me. Just tell me what's going on! I think I've proven to you that I can handle the truth." I stared at Michael, waiting for an answer. His face was expressionless as he went to the kitchen. He grabbed a glass and filled it with water, and brought it back to me.
He paused for a moment before he started talking; probably just to see if I was going to keel over from exhaustion. "Lily, you've been through so much in the past year. I don't want you to be a part of this." I cut him off.
"If I can handle Larry coming into town, I think I can handle this." I spat at him. He gave me a hard look and seemed to consider his options.
"If I tell you what's going on, you can't tell anyone else, okay? Especially grandma." I nodded and he continued. "A couple weeks ago I was contacted by the people who burned me. They said they wanted me to come in, but that was right around the time Sam was taken. They were very persistent about getting me to come in, and it was getting in the way of getting Sam back. That was when I had to get out of the car and leave you guys. I told them I had a job to do, and I needed 24 hours to get it done. I made a deal with them, and said I would come in if they left me alone for that time. They agreed, and after we saved Sam, I had to meet them. I wasn't gone long before they had a job for me." He paused. "Lily, these people are very dangerous. If I don't do these things for them, they will hurt the people I love. I need to figure out who did this to me, and that's where I'm at right now. That's everything." Michael looked at me to respond.
I thought about what he said for a couple seconds before I responded, "It sounds like quite the predicament. Have you found out anything about the people who burned you?"
Michael shrugged. "The only person I've talked to is a woman named Carla, and that's not even her real name. She's sort of like the enforcer. She tells me the job I have to do, and the time limit I have to get it done."
"Thanks for telling me, Michael." Michael put his arm around my shoulder.
"I only told you because you're right, you deserve to know what's going on in my life."
"Thanks. So are you here to stay for a while, then?" I almost hated to ask.
"I think so, Lily. They need me for jobs around here, so I'll be here for the time being." I smiled.
"I'm glad you'll be here, I just wish it was on different terms." I admitted.
"I do too. With any luck, I'll eventually be able to figure all this out." I wanted to ask Michael what happened after that, but I felt I had asked enough of him for today. "So…just for the record, you ran all the way here?" Michael looked at me with a surprised face.
"I did. I just needed to know, and I didn't want to put it off any longer." I said sheepishly.
Michael laughed. "Well can I give you a ride home, or would you like to run back? You're like the running version of Lance Armstrong."
I smiled. "I think I'll take you up on that ride home."
…
As I sat down to do my homework that night, I felt happy to be in the loop again, but sad to know that Michael was just at the tip of the iceberg with his burn notice.