Burn Notice: I don't own it, I just like to play with it.
After last night's finale, this morning a one-shot came to me. If you haven't seen 7.13 yet, don't read.
Paid In Full
By WritePassion
After Sam escaped the old Herald building as it blew up, he kept running and didn't stop until he made it to their back up rally point. Jesse and Charlie were there, and when the little boy looked at Sam with such confusion in his eyes, it broke his heart. Charlie didn't understand. He kept asking for his Grandma, but she was gone and Sam had no idea how to explain to a three year old that she wasn't coming back. Madeline Westen gave her life to save theirs, and perhaps it was all in vain.
"Where are Mike and Fi," Jesse asked, looking at Sam as if he already knew the answer, but hoped that he was wrong.
Sam shook his head, fighting to reply without breaking down in front of the kid. "I don't know, Jesse. I... I just don't know." He dropped into an old overstuffed chair while the breath rushed out of him. "When I left, the building was erupting in a big fireball. It pushed me to the ground. Then I got up and ran. I, uh, borrowed some wheels, but the car broke down. I sprinted the last six blocks."
Jesse handed Sam a glass of ice water. "Here. Just sit and get your breath back. What's in the duffel bag?" He pointed to the bundle at Sam's feet.
"The hard drives. All of James's information is in them. We turn those over to the CIA, and they'll have everything they need to bust all the bad agents in their organization." Sam took a long drink and looked up at Jesse. "At least, that's what I'm hoping. I don't want this to be for nothing, Maddie's death." His voice cracked. "Mike and Fi..."
Sam was interrupted by a knock on the side door. He and Jesse looked at each other with wide eyes. A fraction of a second later, Sam had the water glass on the rickety coffee table and jumped to his feet with a gun in his hand. It was a .22 revolver, pretty lame compared to what he was used to, and he had only one round left. Jesse held a gun that was from the stash in the safe house. He nodded, and Sam knew that it was fully loaded and ready.
The knock sounded again, two long raps spaced apart, then three close ones, followed by two long. They knew the code, and both Sam and Jesse held their breaths.
"Sam, stay here with Charlie." Jesse pried the little boy off his leg and guided him over to Sam.
Sam picked up the bag and slung the strap over his shoulder before picking up Charlie. The little arms wrapped around his neck, trembling. He spoke in a soft voice. "It's okay, buddy. Everything's going to be okay."
"I want Gramma," Charlie mumbled with pouty lips.
Sam sighed. "Gramma... she's not here, kiddo. I'm sorry."
The kitchen door closed with a solid click and Jesse reappeared in the living room. He wore a thin smile that widened as he veered away to show Michael and Fiona standing in the doorway between the kitchen and living room. They were damp and a little singed, but okay.
"Sam, you made it," Michael said with a grin conveying his relief.
A sob choked out of Sam as he closed the distance between them. "I was going to say the same thing about you, Brother." He couldn't hold onto Michael tight enough and poor Charlie was getting crushed. "I don't know how you made it out of there. It had to be a freakin' miracle."
Charlie made a sound of protest, and Sam backed away. Charlie asked, "Uncle Mike, where's Gramma?"
Everyone swallowed, unable to answer. Charlie reached for his uncle and Sam let him go to Michael's waiting arms. He watched Michael cradle his nephew, the only remnant of his family that he had left. Sam knew what that was like, not having anybody around who was your flesh and blood. Over the years he'd gotten used to it, yet he gravitated to Maddy and she became a surrogate mother to their band, and Michael had become the brother he never had. Mike paid a heavy price for what started seven years earlier, and like a line of falling dominoes, his actions affected everyone and it would take them all time to heal.
"It was a miracle we made it out." Fiona sidled up to Sam and patted his back. "And it's good to see you all, even you, Sam." She smirked.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Sam replied. He didn't have the energy to fight with her. Now was a time for them to stick together.
"You know, this is a great reunion, but we have to figure out what we're going to do now," Jesse said.
"You're right. Come on, let's sit down and figure this out." Sam turned to Michael, watching the glaze in his friend's eyes. "Mike. Mikey!"
"Huh? Yeah, we need to figure out our next move." He forced himself to move to the couch, where he sat with Fiona and Charlie snuggled in his lap. A week ago, Michael wouldn't have known what to do with Charlie and his deep need for affection. At that moment, Michael wasn't sure who needed the comfort more, him or Charlie.
"I think our best bet is to go to the CIA, give them the hard drives," Jesse said as he sat in a chair across from Michael and Fiona and kitty corner to where Sam took a seat in the old recliner.
"Then what? We're not under favored status right now, Jesse," Fiona countered. "If they catch us, they'll put us into a deep dark hole for a lifetime."
"No. We're not going to let that happen," Sam said, leaning forward in his chair and pointing at the couple. "Right now, the most important thing is keeping Charlie safe. If we all get locked up, he's got nobody." He paused, his lips working over words he didn't want to say. "You need to leave, get out of the country. I can call Virgil, and he'll pick you guys up, take you to the Bahamas or wherever."
"Sam..." Michael opened his mouth to speak, but Sam cut him off.
"No, Brother. Listen to me. That boy needs you, and he needs Fiona. After everything that's happened, he deserves a normal family, and you're the closest thing he's got." Sam let out a breath. "You get out with Virgil's help. He knows people who can provide you with new ID's, tickets to wherever you decide to go, and they'll set you up with some funds to get started."
"What about you and Jesse," Michael asked.
"Don't worry about us. We'll get these drives to Strong, and the mission will be over," Sam replied on an exhale. "We'll be done for good. You two can lay low for awhile, and depending on how the wind blows from the CIA, hey, maybe you'll be able to come home soon." He smiled, but neither Michael nor Fiona was deceived by the gesture.
Fiona was about to protest, but Jesse spoke up. "Charlie is depending upon you, Mike, Fi. Worry about him, and we'll deal with whatever comes our way."
"No, you can't. I won't allow it," Michael responded.
"How are you going to stop us, huh, Mike?" Sam stood and Jesse joined him. They stood side by side as if blocking an escape route. Sam wasn't afraid to kick a little butt if that's what would motivate Mike and Fi to leave with Charlie. "You know this is the best case scenario."
"I don't want anyone sacrificing themselves for me anymore," Michael ground out as he stood. Charlie burrowed into Fiona's side. "I don't want anyone else to die on my account."
"We're not gonna die, Mike," Jesse assured him. "We'll just turn ourselves in with the drives."
"Easy peasy," Sam added.
"Yeah, what he said." Jesse agreed.
"They'll lock you up and you might never see freedom again," Michael warned, his voice rising, thick with anxiety.
"We'll figure a way out." Sam seemed too confident in his tone.
Michael shook his head. "No, we'll come up with another plan. We'll call the agency, drop the drives off at a neutral spot, and be gone before they show up. Then we can all go into hiding until our names are cleared."
"And what if someone else gets to them before Strong and his people? What then?" Sam was almost shouting. "Then we'll be running forever. No, I'm willing to risk a little time in the slammer to make sure this ends right, with a lot of bad agents going down and your name and ours cleared because we got it done."
No amount of negotiation would sway Sam and Jesse. They were set on the plan. Michael would make himself hoarse if the volume rose any higher. Everyone stood in the middle of the room shouting, but it took the shriek of a child to bring them back down to earth. Fiona turned, saw Charlie curled into a ball on the sofa, his hands pressed over his ears and tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Oh, see what you boys have done," Fiona said in a soothing voice as she sat next to Charlie, gathered him in her arms, and rocked him. "He doesn't like to see family fighting. After all the strife he's witnessed, no more. No more, please." She sniffled and held back her own tears. "As much as I hate to say it, Sam and Jesse's plan makes sense."
Car doors slammed outside, and everyone froze to listen. It was quiet, too quiet, outside. Jesse slipped to the curtained window and looked through a slit.
"Oh man, there are guys in suits outside." He turned to Michael, Fiona, and Charlie. "You guys, get Charlie into the back bedroom and go out the window. Sam and I will try to hold 'em off, and hopefully they'll take us to see Strong."
"Jess…." Michael stopped himself and shook his head, knowing that he was wasting time. "Good luck, you two."
"Thanks, Mike. The same to you." Sam embraced him for a moment and let go. "You know how to get a hold of Virgil?"
"Yes."
"Good. I know… never mind. Get going, Mike." Sam bent and gave Fiona a quick squeeze and a kiss on the cheek, and without another word to them he turned away. He picked up the duffel bag and headed for the door, which Jesse unlocked and held the knob.
Michael scooped Charlie from the couch and planted him on his hip as he grabbed Fiona's hand and led her down a short hall to a bedroom at the rear of the house. In the back yard, one man already breached the short chain link fence and was moving toward the side door. Michael waited for him to pass before he tried the latch on the window. A loud crash and thump and the chorus of shouts up front told him it was time to hurry and escape.
While the trio slipped out of the house and into the thick vegetation at the edge of the small yard, the agents responded to Jesse's opening the door a crack by storming inside, pushing him away from the exit, and training a dozen weapons on him and Sam. The breath rushed out of Jesse's lungs when two men threw him to the wood floor. Sam crashed to the hard surface on his knees.
Sam shouted, "Hey, guys, easy! I've got fragile evidence here for Strong."
The agents froze and stared at him. A slim graying man who wore his hair slicked back moved closer, eyeing Sam as if he were trying to pull a stunt. "Oh yeah? Let me have it. I'll make sure he gets it."
"Oh, no, no, no," Sam said and shook his head while a thin smile appeared on his face. "I know how this works. We see Strong, now, and we turn this over to him ourselves. Nobody else touches it."
"And if we don't agree," Slicked Back asked. "I see a lot of firepower that can take you out right now. Dead or alive, we don't care how you get taken in. It'll just save taxpayer money to kill you now and take what we came for."
"Nobody's killing anyone," Strong said as he entered the doorway, his eyes sliding to the door that had been torn off its hinges in the raid. "Sam, Jesse. Where are Michael and Fiona?"
Sam swallowed and looked at Jesse before answering, pleased to see Jesse's eyes tearing up on cue. His own blurred and he blinked. "They're dead, Strong. James wired the Herald building to blow, and… and they didn't make it out. I barely got out myself."
"Let them get up," Strong ordered, and hands grabbed and pulled the two to their feet.
"Thanks," Sam replied in an equally soft voice. Then he brightened and said, "At least we got the hard drives. This is all James's information on his group, right here." He patted the bag. "Chuckles here wanted to take them from me, but I told him I wouldn't let them out of my sight until they got into your hands." The older agent sneered at him.
Strong stared at the bag as if it held a fortune in gold and he licked his lips. Sam read his stance and decided that maybe he wasn't quite ready to trust this man. All through the team's dealings with him he'd proven to be suspicious and shady.
"If you don't mind, I'll hang onto these until we get somewhere safe," Sam said.
Strong sighed and looked around the room with a critical eye, looking for clues that he'd been lied to. But other than the two inadequately armed men, and the drives, there was nothing out of the ordinary. "Okay, cuff 'em and get 'em out of here. They're coming to DC with me. Now."
Sam and Jesse spent a long time in the detention center deep in the CIA headquarters at Langley. Strong took the hard drives, ushered them into their cells, isolating Sam from Jesse and any other human beings except for the guards that kept watch over them twenty-four seven. With no communications allowed to anyone on the outside, Sam's main worry was how long Elsa would wait for him. He never asked her to. In fact, he told her awhile back that it was best if she forgot she ever knew him. Yet she believed in him and his friends and what they were doing, so that when he did see her, she conveyed her support in no uncertain terms. But now was the true test. If he ever got out and went back to Miami, would she still want him?
As the days dragged, Sam occupied himself with exercises he could do in his small cell, and he cramped his hand writing letters to Elsa and working on obituaries. One was for Fiona, and the other for Michael. If Sam and Jesse hoped to sell the story that the couple died in the explosion, what better way to reinforce it? He cried real tears over them even though he knew his friends were still alive. He didn't know where they were, and he wouldn't until the day that Michael was ready to reunite.
Sam didn't count on Strong calling his bluff. A couple of weeks after they wound up in the secret prison, the CIA agent summoned them and had Jesse and Sam brought to his office. He sat behind the desk looking smug, as if he had a bit of news to share that would rock their world.
"Very nice work on those obituaries, Axe. Too bad they won't be needed." Strong rose from his chair and closed his office door. "There, we can talk in private now." As he returned to his place behind the desk, he said, "I know that Michael and Fiona are alive."
Sam and Jesse glanced at each other and put on their best poker faces. "You know, that's harsh, man. Real harsh," Jesse said. "Playin' us like that..."
"No, it's true. There were several bodies in the Herald building. Our lab techs ran tests, including DNA, and none of them matched Westen or Glenanne." Strong leaned his knuckles on the desk and leaned over it with a menacing glare for the two men. "So where are they? Are they still in the country?"
Neither Jesse nor Sam said a word. Strong studied them. Considering the men's backgrounds, he could work on them for weeks and not get anywhere. Axe and Porter would rather die than give up their friends. But would their loyalty supersede honor to their country? The corner of his mouth tipped up.
"You know, you're risking treason by not telling me where they are." Strong came out with the heavy artillery. He didn't have time to waste on pleasantries or polite interrogations. "Come on, you guys, I want to help Michael. I thought he completely screwed me and my career, but these drives you brought here, well, they're like a goldmine."
Jesse glanced toward the window and looked at the view. From where he sat he could see the Washington Monument. Sam didn't respond. He just stared back at Strong, his normally warm brown eyes full of a hard challenge. It caused Strong to look away. He relaxed his stance and sank into his chair. "Please," Strong continued in a more somber tone. "You work with me, I can work with you. We could go after them, but there's no point in it. Michael is done with the Agency, whether or not he likes it. Granted, he's committed a lot of crimes, but let's face it, he completed the mission. And you two capped it off by delivering the drives." Strong leaned back in his chair, falling short of showing a satisfied smile. "That information pinpointed a lot of bad agents, hundreds of them all over the globe. They're being rounded up at this very moment."
"Glad to hear our incarceration is worth something," Jesse grumbled.
"Yes. There are some who would like to keep you here forever, but I'm not one of those guys." He looked them straight in the eye as he leaned forward and laid his folded hands on the desk surface. "You saved the mission, and you've redeemed yourselves. I've made arrangements, and you'll be out within the hour."
"You're serious," Sam breathed.
"Very. Just go back to Miami and have that memorial service for Michael and Fiona." Strong's eyes dropped to study his blotter before he looked at them again. "To the world, they'll be dead, and the Agency won't hunt them down."
"You're going to just let them go, out of the goodness of your heart," Sam said. His eyes narrowed, showing Strong that he wasn't buying it.
Strong nodded. "It's time that Michael was left alone. As long as he does nothing to dishonor his country or this Agency, there's no sense in going after him." He sighed, a weary sound, and his eyelids dropped closed as if Michael's struggle over the last year had taken its toll on him as well. He opened his eyes again, and they sparked with conviction as he said, "I owe Michael. He saved my career in the end. So go, give him a great sendoff."
After getting out of his seat, Strong crossed the room and opened the door. An agent waited to return them to the holding cells. "Frost, take these guys back to their cells and let them get into their street clothes. They're being released." Strong nodded at Jesse and Sam as they stood and prepared to leave his office. "Give my regards to the late Michael Westen. And if you need any help arranging things..."
"We'll take care of it," Jesse answered with a soft, controlled rumbling tone. "We don't need the Agency's help with anything."
"Alright." Strong nodded. "Good luck. And thank you for the sacrifices you two made for this country."
"Yeah. You're welcome," Sam replied and followed Jesse out of the office.
Sam hated the idea of using other corpses to stand in for Mike and Fi. It was a dishonor to their identities. Not even James deserved such a fate. In the end, he and Jesse had the coffins weighed down and locked, no open caskets, just a short but solemn graveside ceremony. There weren't many people who would attend anyway. Barry came with his girlfriend, and a few military officials who knew Mike and respected him. Sam fired off a one-gun salute and fought to keep himself together the entire time. It was too easy to believe it was real.
Jesse stepped up holding the flag folded into a precise triangle. He looked around, shifting his feet, uncomfortable being the one chosen to accept it. Maddie's grave reminded him that she wasn't there to receive the flag, so it was up to him.
"So, what are you going to do now," Jesse asked.
Go home to Elsa and never let her go. That's how he wanted to answer. Instead, Sam replied, "I'm not sure. A friend of a friend called, said he had some trouble and needed help." He paused. He shouldn't be taking on assignments, not without Mike. But he remembered a time when he and Fiona thought he was gone forever and they worked on a case because that's what Mike would have wanted them to do. "I'm meeting him at Carlito's later. Wanna come along?"
Jesse spent a few moments thinking. He nodded and said, "Sure, why not?"
The two friends walked away from the ornate wood caskets sitting side by side with no one in them. Sam hoped that they would stay that way, and that by now Mike and Fi were some place safe with Charlie. A place with C4 and yogurt. He got into the Charger and Jesse slipped into the passenger seat. It seemed strange to be using Mike's car, but until he returned someone had to take care of his baby. It might as well have been Sam. Like their friendship, he would guard it with his life.