Over the years, Michael and Sam learned that Madeline was quite good at taking care of herself, so they stopped worrying as much about her when they couldn't watch her. Granted, they still worried but not as much as when Michael was first burned. But there were still times when both of them felt like it was best that Sam stayed at her house until everything was safe again. Madeline hated it when they felt like she couldn't protect herself, but in the back of her mind, it gave her a sense of relief knowing her child still cared for her. So on the rare occasion that Sam did have to stay wit her, she din't put up too much of a fight. She actually quite liked when Sam stayed over because he did things with her that Michael would never do, like watch her soap operas. Sam got quite into them when they watched it, so by the end of his stay, they were watching it together every night, which is exactly what they were doing that night.
Madeline walked into the living room with a freshly popped bowl of popcorn and sat down next to Sam on the couch. The TV was already on and turned to the right channel. She passed the bowl of popcorn to Sam, who immediately took a handful and put it in his mouth. He noisily started chewing when the program started. Both adults immediately became transfixed. A comfortable silence, with the occasional sound of crunching, was present. Neither of them took their eyes off the TV as things started to get intense on the show. Madeline, still not taking her eyes off the TV, pulled her legs up on the couch so she was sitting Indian style. Minutes passed as they both watched intently when Madeline moved again so her legs were off to the side and she was leaning against Sam, who had his arm resting behind her on the back of the couch. She hadn't even realized she had done it until Sam moved his arm so it was draped around her shoulders and his wrist was resting against her hip comfortably. This wasn't an unusual position for Sam and his lady friends, so he hadn't realized he had moved his arm so it was wrapped around the woman he considered his second mother's shoulders. Madeline, not wanting to bring attention to it, just smiled and rested her head against Sam's chest and continued to watch the soap opera. When a commercial break started, neither one of them moved from the position they were in, both of them quite content and comfortable. Sam hadn't had a steady in a while and Madeline couldn't remember the last time she had had someone to lean against as a human pillow, so neither one of them moved.
"Do you want anything else, honey?" Madeline asked as the commercial break continued. Sam looked down at her, who was looking up at him with her head still resting on his chest.
"I'm fine," Sam said as he smiled down at the maternal figure lying next to him. "Thank you, though, Maddie," he added. Madeline smiled back at Sam as she softly rubbed the arm that was draped across her shoulders comfortingly.
"Okay," she said as she turned back to the television set. Just then, the soap opera came back on and both adults became transfixed again. As the show continued, Madeline started to yawn and it became frequently worse as the show came to an end. With only a half hour left of the show, she fell asleep. When the show ended and Sam noticed that Madeline had fallen asleep, he figured he wouldn't move her and continue watching TV. He didn't get to watch TV very often, so it was nice to just relax and mindlessly watch something. About an hour passed as he watched some obscene reality television show, Madeline still sleeping, when he also fell asleep. The heat radiating from Madeline and everything from that day had finally caught up wit him. Unconsciously, he tightened his grip around Madeline, who in turn moved closer to his body. Neither one of them had a blanket on, so the heat from one another is what was keeping them warm. The two of them continued to sleep when at about 5 in the morning, Michael made an appearance. He had finally finished up his mission, so he was able to relieve Sam and Madeline from each other. But, like he expected, they were sleeping. What he wasn't expecting was for them to be sleeping on the couch, Madeline using Sam as a pillow. He softly woke Sam up, knowing full well that if he were to wake his mother up, she wouldn't be happy.
"Mikey, what are you doing here?" Sam asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it, anyways?" he asked. Michael looked at his watch.
"It's a little after five," he said as he looked back at his best friend. "I could be asking you the same thing." Sam just shrugged as he looked down at the sleeping Madeline.
"I don't know, brother," he replied. "We were watching a soap opera and she just kind of fell asleep." He wasn't about to admit this to the son of the woman who was sleeping next to him, but he found it oddly comforting to be in such close proximity to Madeline Westen. She was a tough cookie, but occasionally she let her maternal side show and that night was one of those nights.
"Why didn't you move her to her bed?" Michael asked. "Or get up and lie her down on the couch?" Sam shrugged again.
"I was watching TV and then just… fell asleep," Sam said. "Now help me with her, I have to take a leak," he added. Sam knew not to wake up Madeline and so did Michael, so Michael just looked at his mother, who was still fast asleep. He knew how she was when she was woken up and it wasn't pretty. "Come on, Mickey. We both know if you're the one that wakes her up, she'll take it better then if I were to wake her up." Michael thought this over and silently agreed. He bent over and laced one arm under Madeline's knees and the other in between Sam and her back, hooking his hand against her rib cage. He picked her up swiftly, which allowed Sam to stand up and rush to the bathroom. Madeline unconsciously rested her head against Michael's chest as he made his way to the master bedroom. He had managed to keep her asleep the entire way until he started to rest her down on the bed. She stirred and her eyes fluttered open.
"Michael -," is all she got out before Michael stopped her.
"Go back to sleep, Ma," he said softly. He could sense that Madeline wasn't happy that she was awake, so he tried to keep their conversation quick. Madeline was already starting to fall asleep when he finished the sentence. Michael smiled when her eyes were closed again and leaned down to place a soft kiss on the temple of her head. "I love you," he said softly.
"Good," Madeline said, just as softly. "Because I love you too," she added. Michael didn't think she was awake to hear him say that he loved her, but he smiled to himself again. He rested a hand against her rib cage as he stood up and comfortingly squeezed her body before walking out of the room and allowing her to sleep for the rest of the morning.