Paige sank into the couch, and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She sipped from her steaming cup of tea and started to read her case file. She had peace and silence for about ten minutes, until the front door burst open and Johnny, Charlie, DJ, and Paul came in. They were laughing about something. Paige glared up at them.

"Come on P. Put the work down and have so delicious food." Johnny held up a bag, in big red block letters it said Hector's. Paige tossed her file and jumped off the couch. She followed them into the kitchen. They were laughing and joking around, generally being loud.

Mike opened the front door slowly, and peeked inside. So far the cost was clear. He closed the door softly and heard everyone laughing in the kitchen. Mike winced as the pounding in his head increased. He took a few steps and the room started to spin. Mike grabbed the wall and took a few deep breaths, which he immediately regretted. His ribs screamed in protest and tears sprung to his eyes. He blinked the tears away and waited for the room to stop spinning. He still leaned heavily on the wall as he walked towards the stairs. Another round of laughter erupted from the kitchen and Mike bit back a moan, as the pain in his head increased.

Charlie passed out the food and stopped when she pulled out Mike's food.

"Do any of you know where Mike is?" Everyone shook their head. "Is he on a case?"

"I don't think so." Paige looked at Charlie confused. "What are you thinking Charlie?"

"I...I haven't seen him in three days..." Everyone stopped and started to think.

"Neither have I." Johnny set his taco down on his plate. "How could we just now be noticing that we haven't seen Mike in three days?" Johnny pulled out his phone. "I'm going to call him."

Mike was breathing hard, as he was trying to climb the stairs. His legs were shaking and his blood stained shirt clung to his wounds. He nearly jumped when his phone started to ring.

As soon as Johnny dialed the number, and it began to ring, they could hears Mike's phone ringing in the other room. They all jumped up and followed the ringing.

"Mike?" Charlie stopped dead in her tracks when Mike turned around to look at them. "Mikey, what happened?" She ran up the few steps, to Mike's side. One of his eyes was almost swollen shut, his lip was busted, and he had a small gash just below his hairline, that was still bleeding sluggishly. His arms were bruised and his gray t-shirt was ripped and coated in blood. One spot, on his left side was still bleeding. His pants were dirty and one pant leg was ripped and coated in blood. His shoes were gone and he had one sock on. Mike was shaking and looked almost scared. Charlie reached a hand out to him and he flinched away. "Mike?" Paul crept forward slowly and placed Mike's arm over his shoulder and helped him up the stairs. He led him to the bathroom.

Paige pulled a stool over and Mike sank onto it. Mike seemed like he was about to pass out. Together, they all work delicately and quickly to clean Mike up. Within twenty minutes they had Mike cleaned up and into bed. As Paige closed the door, she turned to the group.

"What the hell happened to him?" Charlie looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"It looked like he was drug through hell." Johnny nodded his head. DJ kept passing and mumbling about murdering whoever did this to Mike. Paul just stood and stared at Mike's closed bedroom door. Suddenly, he turned and walked away.

"Paul, where are you going?"

"To get answers."

TO BE CONTINUED