a/n – so I was watching an old episode of CM and they mentioned soldiers with PTSD strangling their wives in their sleep (I assumed the soldiers were sleeping) and after reading Maleshka's incredible Paying the Ferryman and another great Mick fic, called Rough Night. I got to thinking about my AU pairing of Mick and Lee. And then the light bulb came on, how would Mick react if he accidentally hurt her during a nightmare? I couldn't see him handling it well, plus I loved the thought of his interaction with Sam. I really fell in love with this little story, I know there's some stuff I haven't covered here that I could have, but I wanted to keep it simple and straightforward. Plus it means I have potential material to use in future.

A blow to her arm woke Lee abruptly. Groggy from sleep it took her a moment to figure out what was going on. Next to her Mick tossed and turned, mumbles turning to a shout as he called to someone to get out of there, calling out in Arabic suddenly, his arms thrashing. Clearly in the midst of a terrible nightmare, his face twisted in fear. Desperate to help him Lee called his name, reaching out her hand to shake his shoulder, and pulling back again as an un-aimed arm came her way.

"Mick, wake up, please Mick, you need to wake up."

Moving in a little closer this time, trying to avoid his flailing limbs, but wanting to snap him out of the horrors that were overwhelming him Lee reached in with both hands, shaking his shoulders, calling his name. But the move had left her exposed and this time she didn't move quickly enough as a fist connected with the side of her face. Crying out in pain and shock, she withdrew. Hand held to her now painful eye she considered her other options, throwing water on him seemed a little cruel, but as she debated this the panic seemed to subside in him. Perhaps connecting with something real had somehow broken the cycle of the dream, the sensation of hitting actual flesh translating itself as a victory in whatever struggle Mick had been having.

Whatever, the nightmare now seemed to be over and Mick settled back down into normal sleep, apparently unaware of the real event that had occurred. Straightening the covers over him and hoping that the fist hadn't done too much damage, Lee lay back down and tried to return to sleep herself.

Lee had a far better awakening the next morning, the smell of cooking bacon wafted through the apartment and sniffing appreciatively she opened her eyes.

Or at least tried to, one didn't co-operate. Grimacing she remembered the events of the night, hoping that Mick would stay in the kitchen area she quickly scooted into the bathroom and checked out the damage in the mirror. It wasn't a pretty sight, her left eye was swollen shut, bruising just beginning to appear.

"How on earth am I going to hide this from Mick?" she muttered, aware that he would be inconsolable at having hurt her.

Hoping to put the moment off somehow she hopped into the shower, maybe if she dragged it out enough he'd leave for work without seeing her? She knew it was a forlorn hope, even if she avoided him this morning the bruise would be spectacular by tomorrow.

"Hope you're hungry, I made breakfast"

Mick's cheery voice sounded through the door, she couldn't stay in there forever. Wrapping a towel around her wet hair, she arranged it so it flopped half over her face and headed back into the bedroom where she pulled on a t-shirt and sweat pants, trying not to dislodge the towel.

"Morning sunshine" He greeted her, moving in for a kiss. "Starting a new fashion are we?" He joked looking at the towel headgear, drooping over one side of her face.

He reached up to grab the towel, before she could pull away he'd grabbed it playfully and lifted it up.

"Peek- a-b…. what the hell!" he exclaimed as he saw the shiner hidden beneath. "How did that happen?"

Lee panicked and said the first thing that came to mind,

"Walked into a door" she said shrugging and trying to brush it off, mentally kicking herself, there was no way he was going to fall for that stupid line. Pulling away from him, she headed for the food on the counter. "Come on, foods getting cold."

But Mick wasn't having it, gently grabbing her arm, he stopped her and examined her eye closely.

"That's from a fist, but how…" Mick trailed off.

He knew from way too much experience how long it would take for an eye to reach that stage, and he also know Lee had been with him the whole time. A look of horror spread across his face and he released her arm stepping back, remembering the nightmare.

"It was me, wasn't it, I did that."

"Please Mick, it's nothing, I just didn't duck fast enough" she pleaded with him as he threw his hands up in the air and began to pace the apartment "it's ok Mick, you didn't know what you were doing!"

"And that makes it ok, does it?" Mick replied harshly, sarcastically.

"Please Mick, I'm fine."

"How can you be fine, I can see what I did to you! I don't get how can you be so calm about this, why you would try to hide it from me?"

"Because I knew you'd react like this and I didn't want you to. Why can't you see that this wasn't your fault…"

He cut her off, "Not my fault, then who's fault is it?!" he almost shouted.

Lee opened her mouth to speak, to try to get through to him somehow, but he held a hand to stop her.

"I need to get out of here."

Turning his back to her, so as not to be reminded of what he'd done, Mick gathered up his keys, coat and bag.

"I'm going to work." He said, back still to her.

Without looking back he opened the door and was gone.

For a while she just stood, staring blindly at the now cold food, a reminder of the train wreck the morning had just turned into. Blinking back tears Lee wondering how on earth she could fix this.

Then she pulled herself together and moved with purpose, she might not be able to fix this, but there was someone else that could. At the very least he should know what was about to walk through his door.

Feeling glad that she'd stored Agent Cooper's number on her phone when he'd given it to her in the aftermath of the Jenkins case, she made a beeline for her handbag.

"Sam, it's Lee..."