Chapter 1
A/N: I had an AU idea and ran with it for fun! Set between 4x03 and 4x04 (which I haven't seen)..Enjoy!
Mike ran mindlessly lost, he wasn't normally so disorientated but all the streets looked alike and the blood loss and heat was getting to him. He needed to get off the street, he needed water and something to stem the bleeding. A door to his left creaked open, he wished he had a weapon.
He turned to the open door, to see a woman with pale skin and long dark brunette hair, for a split second he thought it was Sasha but as his vision focussed it was not her as the woman before him had pale olive skin and brown eyes. Her hair was longer, she had dark circles under her eyes and somewhat gaunt appearance. Her clothes were very worn as her chambray shirt was faded and leggings had holes and fabric fatigue.
"Come on." The woman whispered him, she spoke with no discernible accent.
"Who-" he started, she pulled out an ID badge, his vision blurred with sparks and speckles as he grew lightheaded but he managed to make out that whoever she was, she was Interpol. He wondered what the hell she was doing out here.
"Get in here." She told him, ushering him into house. He looked around and knew he couldn't run; so he took her offer rushing into the home. She quickly closed the door behind him. "Where are you hit?" she asked as she could see the blood on his clothes.
"Stabbed-" He grimaced as he lifted his t-shirt with one arm and clutched to the seed cylinder under his other for life. She looked about to say more when a knock sounded at the door. She pushed him into large ornamental closet that held a couple jackets, but even so for his stature it was a tight fit.
"For the love of god; stay quiet." She told him in a low voice, she shut the door enclosing him in. He watched through the grated windows of the doors as the woman messed her hair and slumped her shoulders and moved to the door. She opened it, and Mike saw some goons who had been protecting Giorgio's interest. He cradled the cylinder close to his chest, his heart pounding as he was in no condition to fight.
The woman spoke in sluggish Italian, it was like she was drunk. The men at the door tried to push in but she shoved at them shouting and carrying on. He blinked and the next thing he saw was her vomiting on one of the goons shoes. The two men wore expressions of disgust as they stepped away. They obviously believed Mike was not here as they moved on.
The woman closed the door and locked it, she moved to the window and looked out for a few minutes. She waited a second more before she came back to him and opened the door. Mike couldn't help it as exhaustion hit him, he slid out of the wardrobe. She caught him and groaned from his weight as she dragged him across the floor.
"Who are you?" he asked as she placed a pillow under her head.
"Nasrin Khan, you can call me 'Naz'. I'll leave my creds by your head so you can keep referring to it when you feel you can't trust who I am. At least you can trust who I was." she said as she placed her Interpol ID with an additional ID that was for Australian Federal Police on the floor. She disappeared into another room and came back with a med kit.
Mike weakly picked them up and saw the IDs were real, out of date but legitimate as the small details of her photos. Same women but the photos were different styles of hair, suits, and then there wear and tear on the protectors. They were things that forgers tended to overlook. There was no way she could cook these up in some ploy to capture him for Omar or Giorgio. If she was a trap, she wasn't doing a good job of handing him over to the bad guys.
"You vomited." Mike stated as she knelt down by his side. He wanted to ask why she was so far from home and if she had a gun but his brain wouldn't comply.
"It's a party trick, listen you're in bad shape. So why don't you-" she reached for the back but he refused to let it go. "Fine, keep it but just for the record I don't care about your bag. Just let me help you." Naz told him.
"What's in it for you?" he asked wary of her as he watched her pull her long hair back into a low messy bun. He didn't miss the myriad of scars on her right inner side of her forearm. He would have thought suicide attempt but the scars intersected what looked to be a tattoo. Whatever had been there was indiscernible now.
"You're American Navy, I want Asylum to America, can you give it to me?" she asked him, opening her kit and pulling on surgical gloves.
"Why can't you leave?" he asked, he groan in pain as she gingerly prodded his wound and not answering her question. He wasn't sure he could give her what she asked but he wasn't in a position to negotiate.
"I was on loaner to Interpol for a special task force, ironically we were investigating Giorgio. When the pandemic hit, governments disintegrated and international travel was impossible; my husband and I thought we'd be safe from the virus here. He died in this house not long after the borders were closed." She paused as if lost in the memory before she shook it off and continued.
"Everything went to hell after that. I haven't got enough money to get home let alone off this island. Australian government has no active consulates on this continent. I figure, I hitch a ride with to America, I can reach home from there." she said with a shrug, Mike flinched as she kept probing his wound. She then rose up to her feet and moved into the kitchen pouring out a drink. She came back to him and knelt down beside him.
"Here, drink." She said as she lifted his head and pressed the cup to his lips. The contents smelt of stale tea. "It will help with the pain." she told him.
"No, I don't need anything." he said, she gave him a look that said she was arguing practicality here.
"I'm about dig into your guts to make sure you're not bleeding internally. I may have medic training but I'm no doctor nor am I delicate. So trust me when I say you should drink. The Nostos will help you escape. I will protect you." She said it so sincerely that he believed her. He didn't know her from Eve but he drank down the liquid.
It didn't take long for the tea to effect him, she was right. He did feel himself slipping from reality as she lowered his head back down onto the pillow. He felt all the aches and pains evaporate from his body, it felt so good that he closed his eyes to enjoy it.
When he opened his eyes, he found was standing in his kitchen at the house in Norfolk. But he felt like it was where he'd been the entire time. Home. There was a lovely yellow glow of warmth as the house was bathed in afternoon sun. He vaguely remembered where he'd been a moment ago as all that matter was being home. He felt a sense of contentment wash over him as he recognised the sights and smells of home. He walked into the living room and smiled as Lucas was on the floor playing with his dinosaur toys. He looked so happy engrossed in the Cretaceous period.
The front door opened and the girls ran in. Hannah his eldest was laughing at something Courtney said but their words were muffled. Not that he cared as he just loved being home with them. Christine followed in last carrying groceries. She looked stunningly beautiful in the afternoon sun. He moved towards her and pulled the groceries out of her arms and they shared a kiss 'hello'. He pulled back and she smiled up at him. She mouthed the words 'I love you'.
His heart filled with joy and happiness of seeing her. Seeing them all again that he barely noticed everything growing dark. But it all faded black and when he opened them, he realised with a deep ache in heart that it was a dream. Reality set in as he was on the floor, the scent of dirt, blood and ocean filling his senses. He groaned as the pain in side came back with a vengeance.
He looked to find the woman, leaning over his wound applying gauze. She looked to him, "Welcome to Hell." she told him, she was right about it being hell as grief welled up in so immensely it was like his family had died all over again. He had to fight himself to not cry out the anguish.
"Do not move, I've managed to stem the bleeding and have packed the wound but you need to be med-evac to a medical facility. I assume you have an emergency channel to contact your people?" she asked him.
"I do." he said wincing in pain as he trusted her not to move. He watched as she disconnected her arm from an IV line and disappeared out of view and came back with a radio. She reconnected the IV to her arm, giving him her blood. She turned on the radio and looked to him.
"Use frequency-" he told her the numbers. She tuned the radio and held it out to him. He reached for it with his good arm. The seed cylinder in the bag falling to his side. "Mother, this is Charlie Oscar come in." he said into the radio.
"We read you loud and clear, can you make it to rally point bravo?" Meylan's voice asked him, clearly not wasting time as the situation was fraught.
"No, I'm incapacitated. I need immediate medical evac with a plus 1. Can you locate my signal?" he asked, as he knew he couldn't move on his own but Naz shook her head confirming that he was being held together rather precariously.
"Vulture team is on their way. Hang tight." Meylan told him. Mike gave an exhale of relief and closed his eyes. He had the seeds and his people would get them out of this mess to safety. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and he opened eyes to look to Naz.
"You should drink more Nostos." she told him in a soft voice. He shook his head as he'd prefer the agony of having his stab wound of the fresh pain from old wounds being reopened. Feeling his grief triple fold because he felt the injustice of losing everything he loved. He just couldn't take it.
"No, I'm good." he told her, she gave a nod as she completely understood. They lapsed into silence waiting for their rescue.
