It was past noon when Paige came back home. That morning, she came down for breakfast and found Mike in the kitchen with his blondie, stuck up bitch of a boss from DC. What was her name again? Jenna? Jean? There was some kind of tension in the air. Mike was talking in an hushed tone and stopped when he saw her coming down the stairs. They were hiding something.

Paige tried to be nice, but the woman was consistently staring at Mike and it got onto her nerves. Then she mentioned calling the operation off and Paige lost it. She had to get out.

And so she drove all morning, trying to clear her head.

When she came back she expected the house to be empty, but then she heard Mike's voice echoing in the kitchen. Walking over to the stairs, she caught a glimpse of him. His back was facing her - he was wearing a black sweater with the sleeves rolled up, his hair were messy, like he ran his hands through it multiple times in distress.

He was on the phone and he was moving his free hand in a proud and haughty, yet agitated manner. It was probably DC.

Paige quickly ducked down and hid behind the well when he turned around. She couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but it sounded quite important. Her eyes fell on the kitchen table, where a map of Los Angeles, stock of papers and labeled folders were scattered all over the place.

When Mike turned his back to her once again, she took that as an opportunity to rush up the stairs and into her room. By the time she was safely leaning her back against the door of her room, she remembered those few steps a very drunk DJ and a heavily inebriated Paul broke years before, carrying some stolen piece of football heirloom after the Super Bowl. There was a good chance Mike heard coming up the stairs, even if she took her shoes off.

When nobody showed up, Paige let out a long breath and slipped into her room. She let herself fall back on her back and closed her eyes. The silence of her room allowed her to recollect her thoughts. However, being away from him all morning didn't help that much.

My future kids. Kids.

Hold on.

'My future kids'. He said my, not our. My.

Paige's eyes shot open and she found herself staring at the ceiling, suddenly feeling insecure. She sat up and stared ahead of her, resting her hand on her chest. Her heart was beating fast, like she was suffering from palpitations. It was always beating fast when Mike was involved.

The first time it happened when Jangles stabbed Mike. It never happened again, until what they thought were Caza newbies tortured him and almost strangled him. When Charlie picked her up, she told her that he was fine, so she managed to play it cool by the time they arrived. And finally, when she waited for him to make a move after she dropped her towel, weeks before.

Now, it was happening again and Paige couldn't work out why. Her eyes inevitably fell on the photo on her bedside table. There she was, with her Graceland family, smiling brightly into the camera. They took that photo a few weeks afte Mike first arrived to Graceland. He still had that innocent and fresh air about him, his hair was longer and kept back by his sunglasses. Though what caught her attention was his face. The way he smiled into the camera was so carefree and she unconsciously smiled back at the picture.

She reached out and took the frame in her hands. Her fingers brushed against his face and suddenly all the memories she shared with him flooded her mind. The jokes, the games, the silly stuff they did with Johnny, their serious talks. Every memory. Even the sad feeling she experienced when they took him to the airport and said their goodbyes.

Paige remembered standing in his room that night, taking in how empty and silent the room felt without him there. It just didn't feel right.

Then she knew.

She dropped the frame on her bed and slammed the door open. Racing down the stairs, she jumped the last few steps and stopped right in the hallway.

Mike moved the map around and opened it wide, looking at it intensely and tracing his finger in various directions. He was murmuring non-sense stuff, probably talking to himself, and didn't even realize Paige was standing there until she made her presence known with the most embarrassing sentence she ever said in her entire life. It made him freeze on the spot and slowly raise his head in her direction. His jaw fell down. One of his hand was resting on his stomach and the other was still in the air, his mouth agape.

"I want your kids."

This was the first time Paige ever regretted following her guts. She didn't know what came into her when she said such stupid words. All she wanted to say was 'can we talk?', but that came out instead.

Minutes passed and it felt like an eternity, but Mike was still looking at her in shock. His mouth went dry and he couldn't bring himself to speak. He tried to, but the only sound he was able to make was something close to a gag. Realizing he was standing there, clearly making a fool of himself, he closed his mouth and cleared his throat. F

Feeling his cheeks burning, he quickly looked down. He couldn't believe what just happened. He was used to her potty mouth, she always used the most colorful language he ever heard. But that? That was something he definitely didn't expect coming out of her.

Paige felt the burning sensation of tears welling up into her eyes. Despite feeling humiliated, she took two steps closer, ready to confront him. The words she meant to say died in her mouth as she realized why he still wasn't talking. As she neared the counter, she saw two heads poking from behind the living room wall - Johnny and Bates were looking at her like she had two more heads growing out of her neck. It was hard enough to talk about that in private, she didn't need two pairs of indiscrete ears eavesdropping.

Mimicking Mike, she swallowed hard and tore her eyes from them, looking outside the French doors. An awkward silence fell upon them. As always, Johnny was the first to break the silence. The agent furrowed his eyebrows and pointed at her.

"Did you just say you want..."

Mike was turning every shade of red. He tried to mask his embarrassment by grabbing his bottle of water and taking a long, big sip.

Johnny used his thumb to point at him "...his kids?"

Paige squeezed her fists and turned her face to the other side and ignored his question. Mike started coughing, water dripping out of his mouth and onto his sweatshirt.

"Easy there, champ!" Johnny chuckled, patting him hard on the back, clearly amused by the situation.

Wayne looked back and forth between him and Paige. He pursued his lips and slowly drew out the question he'd been meaning to ask since Mike came back to Graceland and he sensed a deep tension between the two.

"Are you two... like, fucking or something?"

Mike flinched, throwing his water bottle on the counter with a thud.

Paige opened her mouth in disbelief and glared at Zelanski.

Johnny snickered, draping his forearm over his mouth to hide his laugh.

"What?" The brawny DEA agent asked, looking back at his friend. "Why you laughin'? It's a legit question!"

"Sure is, Bates," Johnny commented, unable to hide a grin.

Wayne rolled his eyes. "Don't call me that!"

"Or what?"

Paige rolled her eyes, laying a hand on her forehead and turning her back to them.

"You don't wanna know, bro."

"Oh really? I think I do," Johnny mimicked a jerking motion with a grin. "I do wanna know, Bates!"

"Oh God." Mike groaned, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. He could feel his headache coming back. "ENOUGH!"

This was insane. Carlito Solano was out there, killing people and making girls disappear, the Bureau was starting to doubt his skills and wanted to shut down his whole operation, he only had a week left to prove them wrong and avoid the risk of losing his job. To top it all off, Jessica's presence was putting more pressure on him, both professionally and personally. If she was there, things were definitely not looking good for him back at DC, and she could jeopardize his relationship with Paige there at Graceland.

Paige. How he hated her right now.

Things were going good, he had both Johnny and Bat-, Zelanski under control. But then she came up with that and he lost their attention. He didn't need this right now.

"Stop! Both of you! We need to get to work." He slammed his hand down on the counter. "WORK. Do you need me to spell that for you?"

Wayne let go of Johnny's collar and held his head down. They regained their composure and got closer to the map, shaking their heads no.

"Sorry," they mumbled at the same time.

"Good."

This was serious. There were many lives at risk. If something went wrong, they could lose their careers, burn Graceland, and die all at once. The Solano's were merciless, manipulative, they could and would do anything to keep their business and their money safe. No mistakes were allowed. It could be their last fight before they could finally shut down Caza, too. It was all or nothing.

Leaning on his elbows, Mike began listening to Johnny's explanation. The plan was perfect. Tonight they would finally put Solano down. As Zelanski interjected, grabbing a marker and circling on the map the different spots where they would put blocks, Mike felt a light touch on his lower back.

"Mike?"

Both Johnny and Zelanski watched as he barely glanced back at the blonde agent now standing next to him.

"What?"

Paige cringed at the coldness in his voice. When she decided to come down and talk to him, she wasn't expecting him to be this mad. Yes, she practically ran away and avoided him all morning, but he was Mike. He was never mad, nor rude to her.

"We need to talk," she glanced at Johnny and Wayne, burning them with her stare.

She sighed when Mike didn't even attempt to look at her.

"I'm busy. Later, okay?"

Paige stared at the back of his neck, disappointed, and let her hand fall from his back.

"So, you and Carlito will be here?"

Johnny saw a slight grimance of disappointment flashing on Paige's face, as she prepared to leave the kitchen. He turned his attention to the map, when he realized Mike was talking to him.

"Right. We'll take route 34, and Zelanski..."

"...I'll be stationed with the team at the bus station, in the back, ready to move in at the signal..."

"...that Jess and I will give you as soon as Charlie and Briggs reach th-"

Suddenly, Paige wrapped her fingers around Mike's arm and yanked him back, forcing him to look at her. She got in his face, defiantly. He glanced down at her hand and then reciprocated her stare, just as harshly.

"I said we need to talk," she angrily hissed at him.

"And I said later," Mike challenged her, his eyes stormy.

"No." She insisted and tightened her grip on his arm, pushing herself onto him. "We need to talk now, Mike."

"Let me go." He stated, calmly.

"My room. Right now!"

Abruptly, Mike took a hold of her wrist and forcefully pried her hand from his arm. He held her wrist in the air, as Johnny and Wayne awkwardly watched the scene unfold before their eyes. Mike got so close to her face that she could feel his warm breath tickling her lips. Despite his unexpected outburst, Paige couldn't deny he was still controlling his force not to hurt her. It was a firm grip, but she could feel the tenderness he always reserved to her. His blue eyes were so dark, she couldn't quite say if that was a consequence of the embarrassment she caused him before or the insistence she just showed to him.

"Later." He growled in her face, gritting his teeth - his jaw clenched tight.

When Paige didn't move, he used his grip to push her out of the way. Gently, but eagerly. She stared at him hardly, and took two steps backwards.

"It's an order, Agent Arkin." Mike held her stare, solemnly, as he watched her nearing the stairs.

Paige turned her back to him and stomped away angrily, punching the wall on the way out. A few pictures stuck to the kitchen board fell down on the floor. She glanced back at him and showed him a fake smile. "You're not my boss." She bitterly spat out, before storming off.

Mike followed her silhouette until she was out of sight. He was left with a sour feeling in the pit of his stomach. He hated fighting in general, but with Paige? He couldn't stand it. It made him furious and sad at the same time. He would talk to her later and make it up to her, somehow. Besides she ran off that morning, and made a scene in the kitchen earlier before. She owed him.