Mike pulls into his garage after the night's game. The guys tried to get him to go out to celebrate, but it had been a long game which his knees definitely did not appreciate. After a longer than usual stint in the ice bath he accepted that his knees weren't going to get much better and headed home for the night. He runs a hand over his face in exhaustion as his mind slips to wonder if the game would have been different with Ginny there. Maybe it would have been shorter? Maybe games just go by faster when she's there… Lately, his mind always seems to wander to the rookie in her absence. Since her injury, Ginny hadn't been as big of a presence in Mike's life as he had gotten used to. Seeing her in the gym every morning before the rest of the team bothered to stroll in, working on her new pitches and studying hitters for their next game…. She was absent from all these places. Mike tried to keep his focus on the game and his ever-shortening career, but he couldn't deny that he missed her.
Strolling into the house, he realizes a few more lights were on had been that morning. "Baker?" he calls out, wondering if she'd finally taken him up on an escape from the circus that is living at the Omni. He tried to convince her to stay with him for a few days so she didn't have to deal with the press or any pestering agents, but she said she was fine. Mike's eye caught a figure out on the pool as he was heading to the kitchen to grab a beer.
Sliding the door open, "Baker, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he becons with the trademark Mike Lawson charm. He looks up and realizes that Ginny Baker is standing in his pool fully clothed staring out into the night. "Baker" he repeats, but his teammate doesn't even flinch.
He takes a few steps closer noticing her socks, shoes and brace disregarded at the edge of the pool. "Ginny" he calls out, softer and voice full of concern. Slowly, she turns her head over her shoulder and Mike is faced with the sight of silent tears rolling down Ginny's face. The look of pure pain and sadness on her face breaks his heart. "Oh Ginny" he responds, not sure how he can help. Ginny just lets out half of a sob and turns back around facing into nothingness again.
The last thing Mike expected for the night was to come home to his rookie crying and fully clothed in the middle of the pool. This can't be good. The past few weeks all she's said is that she's fine. Fine. Nothing more, nothing less and it's part of the reason Mike has been having trouble sleeping at night. She is anything but fine.
Making a quick decision, Mike takes off his socks and shoes and gracelessly lumbers into the pool. Each step more painful than the next, but Mike doesn't care. His suffering doesn't matter in comparison to hers. Slowly, he wades through the water and makes his way over to Ginny. When he reaches her he carefully moves his arms two wrap around her while avoiding her injured arm, his left arm high on her chest resting on her shoulders and his right low on her stomach. He draws her in gently coaxing her to relax into his body, letting her know that she's not alone. She resists for a couple of moments, her body remaining rigid in his arms. But, another soft tightening of his arms and Ginny relaxes into him. Laying her head back against his shoulder, Ginny begins to openly sob. Mike doesn't move an inch and holds her as her body wracks in the pool causing small waves around them. He's not sure how long they stay there. A few minutes? An hour? Longer? Mike only moves when he notices the water around them has stopped moving and she has calmed a bit. Mike can't see her face from this angle, but he can hear her slightly sniffling and feels goosebumps all over her body. He wonders how long she was out there before he found her, hoping it hadn't been too long. Minutes later when her body begins to shiver, Mike adjusts his hold so he can see her face. She still has a far off look on her face, but he notices the tears have stopped.
"Ginny," he starts carefully, not wanting to startle her out of her thoughts, "I think we need to go in". She doesn't speak, but she turns to him and locks eyes with him momentarily. Mike takes this as acknowledgement and moves to guide her out of the pool.
Once outside of the pool, Mike grabs a towel and wraps it snugly around Ginny. Rubbing the sides of her arms carefully in an effort to warm her. He takes another close look at her, hoping to catch her eyes… She just stares at him as if he isn't even present. This was worse than Mike thought, she'd been suffering for so long alone that it had taken a real toll on the otherwise superhuman Ginny.
They head inside and up the stairs to one of Mike's guest rooms. He leads her into the bathroom and turns on the shower for her, making sure the temperature is just right.
"Hey," he says turning to look at Ginny "take a shower and warm up, I'll leave some clothes on the bed for you to change into. I think it's best if you just stay here tonight and get some sleep."
Ginny nods again in response.
"I'm going to need a verbal answer, Ginny. You're really scaring me here."
"Okay…" she whispers while looking up and into his eyes for a moment.
Mike takes this as a victory. She spoke. A one word answer, but hey at this point anything counts, right?
After a quick shower and a change of clothes, Mike walks back down the hall to check on Ginny. He peeks his head inside the door to find her asleep. This was a relief to him. She was ok for now, sleeping comfortably in his guest bedroom. With not much he could do until the morning, Mike headed to bed himself… only briefly wondering what Blip would say about Ginny sleeping in his guest bedroom…
In the middle of the night, Mike startles awake to the sound of screams coming from down the hall. His mind breaking from the haze of sleep, he immediately realizes it's Ginny. He rushes to her room to find her thrashing and screaming in her sleep.
"Baker... hey " he starts as he attempts to lightly shake her awake. "Ginny, hey, wakeup. It's just a dream, it's just a dream."
Ginny opens her eye wide with a look of panic on her face. Quickly her eyes dart across the room trying to figure out what is happening and where she is. When Mike's arms wrap tightly around her, she realizes she's in Mike's guest room and begins to settle.
After a minute or two of Ginny evening out her breathing, Mike speaks. "Does this happen often?"
It takes her a second to decide what response to give, but eventually she fesses up, " Lately, yeah… it's been hard to sleep… hard to escape the dream."
"What do you dream about?" Mike asks tentatively hoping she'll keep opening up to him.
Ginny takes a deep breath, deciding whether or not she's ready to talk about her father's accident with Mike.
"Um…." She starts "It's always the same dream… I'm in the car with my dad talking about the game and all the sudden there are headlights coming through the window."
At this admission, all Mike can do is continue to comfort Ginny not knowing what to say… " I don't know what to say… I'm sorry… I didn't know you were in the car that night."
"Yeah…" she says, "pretty hard to forget."
Mike just responds by holding her closer not knowing what to say to such a vulnerable statement.
At some point they had settled back against the bed, Ginny wrapped tightly in Mike's arms. Mike slowly running his fingers comfortingly up and down Ginny's arm.
When he thinks she's finally asleep, Mike begins to pull away and Ginny stirs.
"Stay" she mutters, eyes still closed. "Please don't leave me alone".
So, Mike resumes the position he was in, holding Ginny and closes his eyes. Not exactly the position he thought he would be in this evening, but one he can't help to feel lucky to be in. He tries to convince himself that it doesn't mean anything and that he's just comforting her in a time of need, but when he wakes up in the morning he realizes he was only kidding himself.
As he stirs, he looks over to find a peacefully sleeping Ginny carefully tucked into his side. He hasn't slept that well in a long time and thinks the same is probably true for the stunning woman in his arms. Careful not to wake her, Mike's eyes flutter close in contentment and he falls back to sleep.
A couple hours later, he feels Ginny being to wake this time. She jolts a bit realizing she's snuggled into Mike's side, leg thrown over his and head nestled into the crook of his neck.
She begins to slowly extricate herself trying desperately not to wake Mike. But, when she lifts her leg to roll over, she's stopped by his low voice gravely voice.
"Stay," Mike says, his voice thick with sleep and not bothering to open his eyes. "Please don't leave me alone" he says as he echoes the very words she said to him last night. As much Ginny needed him last night, Mike realizes he needs Ginny too.
With that admission Ginny decides to hell with her code and the fact they are teammates and settles back into Mike's side even if just for a few moments. This time a bit closer than before if that's possible. They deserve to be happy for a bit, even if it's not sustainable past those bedroom doors.