Disclaimer: Burn Notice or the characters still don't belong to me unfortunately.
Rating: T
Summary: In the wake of Armand things are still a little tense. When Michael helps Fiona on a heart breaking anniversary, something happens to change everything when Fiona answered Sam's phone.
A/N: Huge thanks as always to Purdy's Pal and Daisyday for reading this and for sending ideas back and forth. This came about after an email conversation with Purdy's Pal, she put the idea in my head and this is the result.
Coming apart at the seams
The loft door creaked open when Sam walked through into the loft with a file tucked under his arm. His eyes flittered around the open space, before he spotted Fiona sitting at the table that had appeared along with other new things, inside the loft.
He hardly recognised this place anymore but Michael's presence was still here, intermingled with Fiona's unmistakable décor.
"Hi Fi," he greeted cheerily when he approached her. "Where's Mikey?"
Fiona kept her gaze on the photos on the table, giving each one as much attention as the other and for a moment he thought that she hadn't heard him. With a heavy sigh she tore her eyes away and looked up to regard him quietly.
"Off to another meeting with Agent Pearce," she spoke the name with barely contained disapproval, daring him to even try and defend her errant boyfriend.
"Again?" he asked quickly, raising an eyebrow as he approached her with caution. He knew things between her and Michael were a little tense at the moment, but so far he couldn't fathom out why. Pulling out a chair, he sat down opposite her and threw the file onto the table and looked over the photos she had spread over the surface.
"I don't know when he'll be back," she told him absently, her gaze dropping once again to the scattered photographs. "There's beer in the fridge if you want to wait for him."
Sam watched her as she slumped further over the table, resting her elbows on top of it. He couldn't help but notice the dark circles under her eyes and the way fatigue seemed to cling to her features. She looked exhausted, but he knew better than to pry. Pushing the chair backwards he moved to stand up but stopped when she sighed heavily and moved her fingers to her temples, rubbing the tension that had gathered there.
"Uh…You need help, with anything?" he asked her guardedly. For someone so tiny she was a ferocious woman when she needed to be, and he knew from experience that she was a time bomb waiting to explode.
"Huh?" she murmured lifting her eyes to meet his gaze and shook her head. "No, I was just…" Her voice trailed away and she stood up quickly gathering the assorted pictures into a pile before placing them into an old battered box next to the table on the floor.
"Look, tell me to mind my own business if you want, but what's going on with you and Mike these days?"
"I don't know what you mean Sam," she told him a little too quickly before she retrieved the box from the floor to place it into one of the drawers beside the bed. "So, you want a beer?"
"You know me sister, I've never been a man to turn down a beer," he flashed her a smile and followed her to the breakfast bar, sitting down on one of the stools with a groan.
Fiona ignored his obvious attempts to get her attention, but when she turned around to hand him his beer, his cell phone chimed from inside his pocket. He reached inside his shirt and pulled out the phone, looking down at the screen in silence before placing the still ringing handset onto the table to retrieve his beer.
"Aren't you going to get that?" she asked him as she regarded the phone with annoyance.
"Nope," he shook his head and lifted his bottle to his lips, taking a long swig before swallowing down the bitter liquid.
"Seriously," she sighed. "Answer the damn thing."
Sam looked down at the phone beside him and shook his head again. The ringing suddenly stopped and fell into silence once again. Taking another long swig from the bottle in his hands, Sam was just about to come out with some snippy comeback when the phone started to ring again.
Fiona groaned and slammed her bottle down onto the table and snatched the phone up before he could move and put it to her ear. "WHAT?" she growled, listening to the silence at the other end. "Seriously, whoever you are, if you don't answer me I'm going to find you and insert this phone so far up your a—"
Sam cringed when she suddenly stopped and turned to him with surprise. "Hello, no he's busy right now. Yes far too busy to come to the phone…me? I'm…I'm his…" she looked to Sam for help but his face had turned into one of amusement which infuriated her more. "I'm his fiancée…yes, don't mention it…goodbye."
Sam almost spat out his beer and reached out to snatch the phone from her hand, "Fiancée?"
"Oh don't be like that darling," she grinned, enjoying how his face became more flushed by the second. "It got rid of her didn't it?"
"Are you nuts?" he groaned as he lifted his bottle to his head and ran the cold glass over his skin. "Of course you're nuts!"
"If you'd have answered it in the first place I wouldn't have had to frighten your lady friend away, would I?"
He opened his mouth to tell her she was crazier than he thought when his phone sprang to life again, flashing a message onto the screen.
With a heavy sigh he placed his bottle on the table and flipped open his phone. His eyes grew wide as he read the words, glancing up to Fiona before looking back down at the screen.
"Uh…I think you did more than scare her, Fi…" turning the phone for her to read the message, he saw the smile drop from her face when she read the text on the screen.
"Where do you find these women, Sam?" she asked him seriously. "Honestly, she sounds like a real basket case."
"Fi, this woman has been calling me non stop for over a week and now she's threatened to kill you," Sam shook his head. "She's crazier than you are, and that is scary."
"Funny Sam, but someone texting your bitch dies isn't really that bad," she grinned. "I've been called a lot worse!"
Sam regarded the silent phone worriedly before the loft door suddenly opened, and Michael stepped inside. He looked over at the two people sitting at the breakfast bar, focussing on only one of them before making his way towards them.
Fiona glanced up at him and smiled slightly as she reached out to snatch the phone out of Sam's hand.
"Hey," he protested and snatched it back. "That's got my secret date book in it!"
"Another man with secrets?" Fiona flashed him a wide smile when she jumped down from her stool to retrieve a yogurt from the refrigerator and thrust it towards Michael. "So now you have secrets? I'm only just hearing about this now? What else are you going to keep from me now we're engaged?"
Sam spat his beer and turned to Michael who was watched the pair of them with amusement. Shaking his head he walked around Fiona to pull a spoon from the drawer, brushing against her as he moved.
Sam opened his mouth to speak but whatever he was going to say died on his lips when he saw the heated look that passed between his two friends. He suddenly felt like a third wheel in the middle of a hot intense date.
"So, is there any reason why I come home to find you've proposed to my girlfriend?" Michael asked him with a lopsided smile as he lifted a heaped spoonful of yogurt to his lips.
"Oh it was so romantic," Fiona chimed in enjoying the way Sam squirmed in his seat. "I'm sorry Michael but Sam's charms won me over!"
"My…" Sam shook his head and got up from his seat. "Your girlfriend is nuts, Mikey…I'd have her incarcerated if I were you."
"Oo big words Sam," Fiona grinned snippily. "Did you swallow a dictionary this morning?"
"Now you watch it missy—"
"Or you'll what?" she quipped. "That's it. The wedding's off…"
"Amen to that sister!"
"Guys," Michael groaned and put his yogurt on the breakfast bar to look at the pair of them. "Would someone please tell me what's going on?"
Sam and Fiona looked at one another in amusement before Sam came back to the breakfast bar to sit down. Pulling out his phone he scrolled through the contents until he brought up the message he'd received a short time ago.
"I got this," Sam turned the phone and inclined his head towards Fiona. "It's from some woman who's crazier than her."
Fiona flashed him a dirty look and lifted her beer bottle to her lips, draining the liquid before placing the empty bottle down onto the table.
"It's not my fault you keep attracting strange women, Sam," she told him with a wide smile as she reached out to grab her keys from the counter. "Well, you boys have fun…"
"What?" Michael shoved the phone back to Sam and turned to her before she could make her escape. "I thought we were going out to dinner."
"Not now," she waved her hand nonchalantly. "I cancelled."
"What? Why?" Michael shook his head in confusion. He knew they had a meal booked last week but had to cancel at the last minute because he was called away to a meeting, but he'd assured her he would be back this time. "Fi…"
"I thought it best to cancel earlier than turn up at the restaurant and sit on my own," she told him. "It's okay; we'll go some other time when you're less busy…besides if you remember, today isn't a good day. I'm really not in the mood for socialising."
Grabbing her bag from the end of the bed she stuffed her phone and keys inside and squeezed his shoulder when she moved passed him. She smiled brightly at the older man when she noticed that he was regarding them with worry.
"Try and stay out of trouble Sam," she told him as waved goodbye from the doorway before disappearing from the loft.
"Okay, Mikey," Sam started as soon as she was gone and reached for his beer. "Start talking…what did you do?"
"I…" Michael shook his head and looked towards the door. "She thinks I put the job before her."
"Okay," Sam nodded. "That's the same argument you guys have been having since you've known each other."
Michael was silent for a few moments before fixing his friend with a firm stare. "You think she's right?"
"I think," Sam shook his head and moved off of the stool. "She needs someone to look out for her…"
"And you think I don't?" Michael shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe how things had shifted once more and he was being bombarded from all sides. "What is this? First my mom and now you? I don't know what Fi's told you, but—"
"Fiona hasn't spoken a word," Sam told him quickly, cutting him off mid-sentence. "She doesn't tell me anything and I'm pretty sure she doesn't confide in your mom either. I'm just saying that I know with your job, you can become a little…preoccupied."
"It's work—"
"Yeah, and if that's all you want to wake up to every day in the not too distant future then I'm with ya buddy…" Picking up his phone and placing it back inside his pocket, Sam pointed to the table and the file he'd brought with him. "Speaking of work, a buddy of mine pulled the phone records you asked for…see ya later Mikey, I've got a date with Elsa."
Michael watched him leave and sighed heavily when he was once again alone inside the loft. He looked around the vast space and tried to remember what it was like in here before Fiona moved in. She had taken over and imprinted herself inside what was now their home, and if he was honest with himself, he liked having this life to come home to. Shaking his head, he bent to pick up the file but stopped when he saw an old grainy black and white photo sticking out from under it. His breath caught in his throat when he picked it up to look at it more closely and then suddenly it hit him, what today was and why Fiona had been so upset.
Putting the photo into his pocket he grabbed his phone and dialled her number, hoping she wouldn't ignore his call. When it went straight to voice mail he groaned inwardly and struggled to think of where she would be.
"Fi, I'm sorry…I…where are you? Look, meet me at Carlito's, I'm leaving now." Closing off the phone he made his way towards the door, hoping she would get his message and wait for him. He couldn't believe he'd actually forgotten, and he hoped she would be able to forgive him.
000
Heavy rain fell over Miami, turning the sky to grey as it battered the hordes of people running from the beaches. On the sandy beach a lone woman stood stock still and unmoving, staring out to the ocean in some kind of trance. She held her sandals in one hand and a small bunch of pink roses in the other.
Every year on this day it had always been the same ritual, and for the last few years Michael had been here to stand beside her. But this time she stood alone, too tired to argue with him over things neither of them could control. She missed her sister, she missed her family and she missed him. She hadn't felt this alone since she'd left home.
She couldn't believe it had been fourteen years since that awful night that had changed her life forever. She could still remember it, every tiny detail, even now. Her mother's face had turned ashen as she'd tried to say the words that had destroyed the Glannane family, and awakened unspeakable violence in others. Tears sprang to Fiona's eyes but she blinked them away. Tears didn't solve anything and they wouldn't bring Claire back.
Taking a breath, she lifted her face into the breeze and felt the cool wind whip around her body. She remembered the verse her father had read at the funeral, barely holding it together when he'd tried to speak. She remembered her mother rocking back and forth, clutching Claire's photo to her chest as she made a guttural wailing noise that Fiona would never forget as long as she lived. Her brother's had been strong, holding onto each other to keep themselves grounded, each one of them taking it in turns to hold onto her trembling fingers.
Since her unwanted reunion with Armand she'd felt like she was in some bad surreal dream, one that wouldn't let her wake. Seeing him again had brought back memories that she wanted to forget. Her sister's untimely death intermingled with the present, tormenting her over and over with the words of hatred that had been a foreshadowing prediction for her future. Words she'd hissed at her sister the night she died. Words she could never take back.
I hate you…I wish you were dead…you spoilt bitch…
Closing her eyes, Fiona took a step towards the water and the waves crashing upon the shore. Claire had loved the ocean. When they were younger she always spoke of marrying a naval man just so she could travel the world and live beside the sea, but she never got to see her seventeenth birthday.
"It should have been me, Claire," she whispered into the wind. "You should still be here and living the life you always wanted."
She took another few steps, feeling the sand between her toes and for a split second she felt the pull of the waves, drawing her close to the incoming tide. Her sister would have loved it here. She would have spent every waking hour on the beach.
As she got closer, the sprays from the sea whipped her face bringing a stinging slap to her skin. For a brief moment Fiona wondered if it was her sister berating her for wasting her life pining for a man who would never change.
Taking a deep breath she choked on the air that purged her lungs, causing her to wheeze and cough before turning away from the biting breeze. She closed her eyes to stop the stinging, blinking away the wetness that the sea breeze had caused before turning back defiantly, taking her anger out on the crashing waves that reminded her of the sister she'd lost.
Moving closer she gasped in a breath when the surf lapped at her feet and she suddenly found herself looking down at her embedded toes, almost swallowed by the wet sand around them.
Rain battered her body causing her teeth to chatter with the cold, but she didn't care. Her fingers tightened around the flower stems, squeezing them so hard that the thorns dug into her skin, puncturing a wound that caused blood to seep through her fingers and onto the wet sand.
"FIONA…"
The voice beside her ear brought her out of her hypnotic trance and she took a step backwards, away from the water and its beckoning tide.
Strong arms wrapped around her trembling body, lifting her from the edge of the tide and pulling her backwards until she was forcefully turned to face an angry tirade before being crushed against a warm body.
Michael tried to take the roses from her fingers but she wouldn't relinquish her hold on them. The heat from his body seeped into her skin and she found herself burrowing into him, seeking the warmth his embrace offered.
"Michael," she whispered, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears. "I need to…" She focused on the roses in her hand and noticing for the first time how the pink of the petals were peppered with dots of her blood. Lifting her hand, she unclenched her fist and let him take the flowers from her frozen, bloodied fingers. His eyes scanned her face as he slipped his arm around her and led her back to the lapping tide, pulling her into his chest when he threw the roses out into the surf. They both watched mesmerised when the roses bobbed on the waves, their bright pink petals disappearing further into the sea until they vanished into the water.
"Let's go home," he kissed her head and turned her around, tugging gently on her body even when she kept stealing glances behind her of the waves that had taken her roses into the welcoming sea.
000
The car ride back to the loft had been made in virtual silence, both of them stealing glances at each other every few minutes. Unable to keep herself from touching him, Fiona reached out to lay her hand on his thigh as he drove, needing to feel any part of him that she could.
She knew he was watching her and maybe he was right to be a little worried. She had been feeling disconnected lately and she was pretty sure it had everything to do with seeing Armand again, mixed with her sister's anniversary.
Her hand stung from where the rose stems had pierced her flesh, and she found herself mesmerised by the patterns the thorns had made in her skin. She blinked suddenly when his hand covered hers, erasing the pain from her fingers when she turned her eyes to watch him as he concentrated on the road ahead.
Leaning her head back against the seat she kept her eyes on him and memorised his features, even as her eyelids grew heavier by the second. She must have dozed off at some point because the next thing she knew he was rousing her with the cool touch of his fingers over her cheek. Opening her eyes she turned to face him, offering him a tired smile.
"I'm sorry," she told him softly as she reached up her hand to cover his. "I only meant to close my eyes for a minute."
"It's okay," he told her in a voice that was more tender than she'd ever heard from him before. "We should get out of this rain."
Fiona gazed into his cobalt eyes and brought his fingers to her lips, placing a soft kiss into his palm. She saw the flash of passion flare in his eyes, but he pulled back before she could reach for him again. Climbing out of the car, she lifted her face up into the pouring rain and took his offered hand as he led her up the metal stairs towards the loft.
Once he got the door open they both piled inside in a frenzied fit of laughter, both of them dripping wet with clothes that stuck to them like a second skin. Fiona's grin was contagious and Michael could feel his pulse rate climbing as he leaned into her soaking form, trapping her with her back against the door. Their eyes locked and in that one moment so much understanding passed between them. Pressing into her body, Michael leaned in closer pinning her body against his as he sought out her lips with his own.
He groaned into her mouth when his hands began to roam deliciously over her body; freeing her of the shirt she wore until he could touch her bare skin. Fiona's hands fumbled blindly while their lips still locked in an earth-shattering kiss. With nimble fingers she pushed the shirt off of his shoulders before moving between their bodies to pop open the button of his pants
Michael's mouth left hers with a gasp as he felt her hand move lower, his muttered words of passion only encouraging her further. Closing his eyes in total submission, he helped to guide her hands, pushing his clothes away from his body only to return to his task of removing hers, his lips caressing wherever his fingers had.
She groaned as his lips descended deliciously on her neck, placing sensual kisses deep into the base of her throat, scattering any words from her lips as she surrendered to him completely.
Michael was lost in her, his whole body submitting to hers as he pressed closer. Fiona groaned on a sigh, the hum in her throat vibrating against his lips, fuelling his desire and his need to love her. Lifting her off of the floor, he felt her wrap her legs around him as he turned them around and headed towards the bed, both of them oblivious to the sounds coming from Fiona's phone.
tbc