[Come Home]

Mike winced as he straightened and pressed a hand to his side. The knife wound that he had received only days earlier still hurt like hell, especially when he did normal things like breathing, or walking.

Mike knew that he probably wasn't ready to get back into the game quite yet, but he was tired of sitting around being completely useless. He had been discharged from the hospital the day before and had spent the day at the hotel room at the insistence of Parker. Though, he wouldn't admit it, Mike couldn't stand being in the room; it was in here that they had taken him.

Mike squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to clear his mind of that day. It didn't help much.

"Get your head together, Weston." He muttered to himself, knuckling his eyes.

There was a sudden knock at the hotel door, startling Mike. He whirled around, his hand going down to his belt where his glock was. His fingers brushed the handle of his gun, as he walked carefully to the door. He couldn't help but think that maybe one of Carroll's followers had been sent to finish him off.

"Yeah, hang on." Mike called out and reached forward to grasp the door handle with his free hand.

He took a slow breath and deliberately inched the door open, just enough for him to stick his head through. Whatever Mike had been thinking about saying, died on his lips as he saw who stood at his door.

"Dad…" Captain Daniel Lewis Weston, formally of the United States Army loomed in front of Mike.

"Hello, son." His father said his voice gravely and low. He was just as Mike remembered; clean shaven cheeks with salt and pepper dark hair, his posture as straight as a poker. Daniel had a few new wrinkles around his eyes, though they were as sharp and calculating as they had always been.

Mike swallowed, frozen; whoever he had thought would be at his door it certainly wouldn't have crossed his mind that it would be his father. Daniel's stern mouth quirked into a small smile at his gob smacked son.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Uh, yeah." Mike said, breaking out of his surprised state. He stepped away from the door, pushing it farther open for his dad to step through. "C'mon in."

His father followed Mike into the room. Mike halted in the middle of the room, and gestured toward one of the chairs.

Daniel sat down in the offered chair and waited for Mike to take the seat opposite of him. Mike sank into the chair, avoiding his father's eyes.

He knew why Daniel was here. His family had been called after he had been brought to the hospital. He hadn't been awake at the time, so he wasn't able to reassure them that he was perfectly fine. Mike should have known that Daniel wouldn't have been able to take the word of a FBI goon and would have flown all the way from California to make sure his son was alright.

"Michael." Mike looked up with a slight grimace. His dad was using his full name; whatever was coming he probably wasn't going to like.

"Your mom and I would like you to get out of this mess." Mike was quiet, though his lips tightened in response. "It's dangerous and you're obviously not well enough to be getting back to that craziness just yet." Here Daniel gestured toward Mike's bruised face. Mike knew that his father also knew about the knife wound; he had probably seen the way that Mike was favoring his side. "We've been watching the news and we don't like what we're seeing."

"Dad." Mike said firmly, holding up his hands to stop the tirade. "This is my job. You knew what I was getting into from the beginning. Besides…it's not like your job was any safer." Mike winced; he may be an adult now, but no one talked to Captain Weston like that and got away with it.

He was faintly relieved when Daniel didn't reprimand him. Instead Daniel leaned forward in his chair and said in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Mike, you don't owe anyone. I know that you may think you have something to prove, but you don't."

Mike sighed and lifted a hand to rub his face, forgetting about the bruises that riddled his features. His hand brushed against the bandage that was plastered to his forehead and he let out an involuntary hiss of pain.

Daniel jerked forward in his seat, obviously wanting to help Mike somehow. Mike held up his hand, stopping Daniel from coming to him. "I'm good. Just forgot that my face isn't in the best shape right now, but don't worry, dad, my fine features will be good as new in a few days."

"Son…" Daniel said wearily, "Please."

Mike looked away from his father's pleading eyes to his feet. He hadn't seen his father look that worried in years, but wasn't going to be talked into leaving; this was his job and it wasn't finished.

"Look, dad," Mike said glancing back up to his father's face. "I'll be careful. What happened to me…it won't happen again." Daniel frowned and his lips thinned. Mike could almost hear the words that his father wanted to say, "They won't make the mistake of letting you live twice."

"I'm fine." Mike said, feeling like he was repeating himself. "I can do this." That part he wasn't so sure about, but it wasn't going to stop him from trying.

The two Weston men stared at each other, not saying anything before Daniel finally nodded. "You're an adult and you make your own choices…I have to respect that." He got to his feet with Mike mirroring him.

Daniel started to move back to the door. "I'll be in town for a few more days if you change your mind. I'm sure your boss will let you have a few days off and you can come home."

Home. Mike swallowed and then shook his head. "This is where I belong, dad."

Daniel nodded resignedly. It was obvious that his son's mind was made up and there was nothing he could say that would change that.

Daniel took a step forward and enveloped his son in an embrace. "Just promise me you'll be careful." He said quietly, knowing very well that Mike couldn't promise any such thing.

"I will, sir." Mike said as they pulled away. "I've got some good people on my team. I'll be safe."

Both Weston men knew that wasn't quite true. In the game that Mike was playing, no one was safe.

A/N: I was a little hesitant on posting this because I'm pretty new to this fandom and I don't think I have Weston's character down yet. But I really wanted to write this because I want to get more of a insight into Weston's backstory.

I have no idea what Mike's dad's name is so I just made it up and I'm not sure what branch of the military he's supposed to be in so I also just made that up.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to write more stories for this show (because it's really interesting and I love Weston)...I've got a idea about a Weston and Roderick story...we'll see.

Thanks for reading.