Okay peeps, here it is. Chapter 2! Your reviews have been absolutely amazing, you have no idea how much I appreciate the encouragement. Keep up the feedback and let me know if I'm messing up or getting anyone too OOC. Thanks again guys!

Mike stirred, fighting the urge to open his eyes. It wouldn't do him any good anyway, he reminded himself. He could feel the warm rays of sunshine pouring through the window on his face, confirming the arrival of morning. He stretched out, kicking the hot covers off his legs. The smells of the surgical recovery floor of L.A. Memorial wafted in through the open door, making him wrinkle his nose. He had been there for only two days, and he felt like he was losing his mind already.

Oh well, at least I get the room to myself.

"Good mornin', Mr. Doyle."

The robust voice of one of the nurses broke through his thoughts. How on earth could she be so perky this early in the morning? He recognized her voice as Hannah, one of the older nurses on the floor. She was a bustling woman and she didn't take crap from any of the other young nurses that worked alongside her. But she liked him and tried to make him as comfortable as possible. She placed an undoubtedly soggy breakfast on his tray. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of it…eggs again, yum. He heard her grab his water bottle and make her way to the adjoined bathroom to fill it up again, humming an old hymn as she went.

"I'm fine, Hannah," he said groggily. It really was way too early to be that cheerful. She floated back into the room, placing his water back on the tray next to his bed. She paused for a minute to take in the condition of his sheets. He could almost see her hands going to her hips; he braced himself for his scolding. He didn't have to wait long.

"Really, Mr. Doyle, is it absolutely necessary to kick your blankets all the way off your bed every morning? It just means that I'm going to have to replace your laundry…again." Her statement was exasperated, but her tone held a note of amusement.

"Oh c'mon Hannah, who do ya think you're fooling? You're just going to get one of your underlings to replace it for you. We both know you won't even have to lift a finger."

He heard her inhale as if to retort, but she must have thought better of it. He smirked at his small victory. They had been cultivating a teasing relationship for the past two days, and although he really hated being there, Hannah did make it a little easier for him to cope.

"Well, if there's anything else you be needin', you go ahead and ask for me."

"I will, I promise."

"Okay, I'll seeya later, hun."

He couldn't help but smile at the adage. Alone again, he contemplated on what could occupy his time for the next few hours. He continued to rack his brain for something to do as he made a quick trip to his personal bathroom. I'm getting to know my way around here pretty good for it only being two days, he mused as he flushed the toilet. Feeling his way back to his bed, he grabbed the remote off his little side tray, careful not to tip over his water. He had dropped it yesterday and it had been a pain in the butt to find again. He turned on the TV, turning the channel to Fox News.

"Fair and balanced," he said to himself, as he caught today's report. He half listened to Shepherd Smith listing the new casualty reports of the nuclear fallout in L.A. as he checked his cell phone for voicemail. Memorizing the buttons had not been hard, he had them pretty much down before he lost his eyesight. He punched in his password at the prompt, and was mildly surprised to find that he did have one new message. He muted the TV, intent on the recording. It was Nadia. She apologized for not coming to the hospital earlier…Good grief, it's only been two days, what do you think I expected? She went on to tell him that she wanted to visit him that afternoon around lunchtime, if that was okay with him. Is that a rhetorical question? He thought sarcastically, a grin spreading across his face.

He punched the memorized button, congratulating himself for adding her to the speed dial list before his accident. It made things a little easier. He waited patiently for her to answer, exhaling a breath he didn't realize he was holding when she did.

"Hey," was her quiet greeting.

"Hi. I got your message. Lunch would be great."

Did he sound excited? Nadia wondered from her end of the line. That was weird. Excitement was the last thing she expected to hear from him. He had just lost his eyesight and she'd ignored him for the last two days…what did he have to be happy about?

"Good. I'll come by at noon then?"

"Yeah."

"How are you?" she asked suddenly.

"I'm fine. The hospital pretty much sucks, but other than that I'm doing well."

"How have they treated you?" she asked, her voice taking a new edge.

"Oh the care has been fine. I just hate being stuck here, that's all."

"Oh. Well, I'll there in a little over an hour."

"Okay, seeya then."

He smiled as he closed his cell and placed it on the table. She always has to rescue someone. He stretched, wondering briefly what he looked like, then thought better to worry about what he smelled like. Time for a shower, Mike. This could be interesting. He had not ventured into the shower yet, and pride would not allow him to let Hannah help him. No way. He carefully got off his bed, once again making his way to his bathroom. He felt around for the toiletry items, finding one bottle of something that he supposed was a shampoo/conditioner. He also found a bar of soap and a washrag, with a towel draped across the door. Okay, here goes nothing. He figured out the hot/cold handles, which would have been hard enough had he been able to see. After slightly scalding his forearm, he found the temperature he liked and stepped in. He managed to wash his hair and body without getting the front of his bandages too wet, hoping that Hannah would come in to change the dressing before Nadia showed up.

Finally finishing, he dried himself and dressed quickly. Once back in bed, he turned the TV back on so he could catch the time. He guessed it was about 11:30. The reporter confirmed that it was in fact 11:32.

"Yep, I still got it," he said with a self-satisfied smirk.

"I hope it ain't contagious," Hannah's familiar voice came from the door.

Good, she did make it in before Nadia.

"Hey, just the woman I wanted to…hear," he said, the cocky smirk never leaving his face.

"Yeah, yeah, I get that all the time," she replied good-naturedly. "Well, Mr. Doyle…you didn't even eat your breakfast."

"Hannah, don't get me wrong. I love the service here and all, but I'm here to recover from being blown up, not get poisoned to death by whatever it is you feed me in this place."

"Well, it'll be a slow recovery indeed if ya don't start eatin' your meals."

"Okay, point taken. Are you going to change my dressing or what?"

"Yeah, yeah, keep your shirt on, I'm comin'." He could hear her opening her kit and tearing open packages of sterile gauze. She leaned over him on the bed, starting to undo the dressing.

"Did you take a shower, hun?" she asked; the surprise evident in her voice.

"Yeah. Aren't you proud of me? I did it all by myself."

"Well, good for you. Just be thankful you didn't slip and break your neck."

"Yes mom…" he replied, smiling at her concern. He really did like this woman, even for all her fretting.

She finished undoing the wrapping, and gently peeled the gauze off his eyes. It didn't hurt this time, which must mean that the oozing business had stopped. That was good, because frankly, he getting tired of that tugging sensation every time they changed his dressing.

"Hmm, you're looking real good today. We can do away with the bandages altogether in a few more days, looks like."

"Yay," he said dryly.

She finger combed his still wet hair, brushing it off his forehead.

"Hey, I like it brushed down," he protested.

"You look like an eighties reject with it like that, now stop fussin'."

He grudgingly let her arrange his hair the way she liked; then held still as she started wrapping again. She finished redressing his eyes, and stepped back to admire her work.

"Hannah?" he began carefully.

"Yeah honey?"

He smirked, "How does the room look?"

"Why, you expected some cute little thing to visit ya today?"

Ouch. She was good. His hesitation was all she needed.

"Uh huh. You are, aren't ya?"

"Maybe," was all he would admit.

She chuckled softly, putting a reassuring hand on his arm. "Don't you worry none. The room looks fine. I'm sure whoever-she-is will not be disappointed in your impeccable neatness. Ya need anything else, sweetie?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Okay, well your lunch is on the tray."

"Thanks, I can smell it from here," he said, distaste evident in his voice.

"You be a good boy and eat up now. I'll check in on ya later."

"Bye Hannah."

Yay, alone with my…lunch. What do we have here? He sniffed tentatively. Is that supposed to be egg salad? Ugh, nasty. Okay, skipping lunch as well. His stomach growled a negative.

"Oh shut up," he scolded it.

"Talk to yourself much, Mike?"

Now that was the voice he wanted to hear. He couldn't help the grin that spread across his features.

"What can I say? I have a penchant for intelligent conversation," he quipped.

Her soft laugh filled the air as she walked into his room. A familiar scent followed her as she approached his bed. No, couldn't be. She didn't. Oh my God, she did.

"Nadia? Is that what I think it is?"

"Is what 'what you think it is'?" She asked coyly, sitting on the bed next to him.

He could almost see the seductive smile on her lips as she said it. He sniffed again to confirm his suspicions. There was no doubt about it now. This woman was amazing.

"Nadia, will you marry me?" he asked with a totally straight face, well, the part that was visible anyway.

She laughed again. "If bringing you a Whopper is all it takes to get a proposal, I'd love to see what I'd get for bringing you something really good."

A myriad of images and ideas popped into Mike's head. He beat them back with a mental baseball bat and focused on her again…and his Whopper.

"Yeah well, have you seen the food around here?" he asked, inclining his head toward the tray beside them.

"Holy crap. Is that egg salad?"

"I think it's supposed to be. Now do you know why I was telling my stomach to shut up? I haven't eaten a decent meal in two days."

"Hmm, well now you have one."

He heard her pull the precious commodity out of the bag and unwrap it from its paper prison, releasing its enticing scent even more. His mouth watered profusely, and he licked his lips in anticipation. This was going to be a nice visit. He was already feeling immensely better than he had this morning. He could hear her arranging his meal on his tray, pulling it closer so that the arm swung over the bed between them.

'Here's your lunch," she said simply, her sweeping gesture going unnoticed.

Mike sat up, drawing himself into a cross-legged position. Nadia shifted across from him and he suspected she was mirroring his pose. He felt a small hand grasp his fingers and place the half-wrapped burger in his hand. He paused before taking a bite.

"Nadia? In all seriousness, thank you. This was really…thoughtful of you," he said earnestly.

She sent an unseen smile his way. "Mike, it's the least I could do. I really am sorry for not coming sooner. I meant to, but the day after I left CTU, I pretty much slept all day. Then I spent most of yesterday trying to get my apartment back together. I know I should have visited you earlier…"

"Nadia," he interrupted. "It's okay. Actually, the last couple of days haven't been too bad. I've been getting to know the room pretty well, so I can get around fine. And some of the staff here are really nice."

"That's good. It takes the edge off some of the guilt," she said bluntly.

"You have got to stop that. Enough with the self-inflicted guilt trips, seriously. Just relax a bit, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Good, now shut up so I can enjoy this burger," he said, grinning at her before taking a big bite.

Nadia obediently remained quiet while he wolfed down his meal. She had never seen anyone down a cheeseburger that fast. He was just starting on his fries when she ventured to speak again.

"Milo's brother called me today," she began carefully.

He stopped munching and raised his head to her, indicating he was listening.

"He said that his wake would be on Saturday, and the funeral Monday morning. He asked me to say something at the funeral." She stopped, feeling her throat constricting again.

"Are you going to?" Mike asked intently.

She paused and took a deep breath before answering. "I don't know. I want to, but I'm not sure that I knew him well enough to do him credit. I mean, we had a good relationship, and he was really good at his job. But I know nothing about his personal life. That's why I was so hesitant to…" her voice trailed off.

"Nadia, I'm sorry about what I said back at CTU about you and Milo," he said suddenly.

She looked up at him, trying to remember what he had said, it all seemed so long ago.

"I don't even remember; what was it?"

He sighed. She was not going to make this easy. "You know, what I said about you deciding whether or not to sleep with him."

"Oh that." She paused, going over some of their conversations that day. "You were right. I was letting my indecision about him cloud my judgment over what to do. You were just doing your job, and you had reason to believe that both of us were moles. You were wrong, but so was I, more than once that day. If you can forgive me for not listening to you and Jack, I can forgive you for the Milo comment and the interrogation thing."

He winced, thinking back on how rough he had been with her. "Okay, we'll call ourselves even, how's that sound?"

"Sounds good. You dropped a fry."

He stopped, patting the blankets for his missing munchie. He frowned when he couldn't find it. He heard Nadia shift her position just before a hand slipped underneath his thigh, making him jump a little at the contact.

"Got it," she said triumphantly.

He held out his hand palm up, and instead heard a soft crunch across from him, followed by a "yum" sound.

"Hey. That was my lunch," he complained, chuckling at her. He had never seen her so playful before. At work she was all business, they all were. Sure, his sarcastic nature shone through in their dialog, but he was always deadly serious. She always tended to worry about everything, and although she never panicked, she was easily upset. Even her attitude since she had arrived in his room had fluctuated drastically in the few minutes she had been there. She had gone from teasing, to guilty, to accepting, to sad, and back to teasing. But seeing this new side of her was…refreshing. He could hear her smile in her voice, and tried to imagine what it looked like. He had never seen her smile. He probably never would now. He pushed those dark thoughts out of his mind and decided to enjoy them moment. He could hear her sucking up the last of her soda, and sensed she was looking at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Hmm? How'd you know I was looking at you?"

"Lucky guess," he said dryly, but with a smirk.

"I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Your hair looks good like that."

He could hear the underlying taunt in her voice, and knew she was gently mocking him. She knew all too well that he didn't fix his hair that morning and she was letting him know it was an improvement. It was all he could do not to finger comb it back down across his forehead.

"Yeah, Hannah thinks so too," he said finally.

"Hannah?"

Nadia's mind conjured up a picture of some young ditsy blonde girl, fresh out of nursing school and all to happy to fuss over an injured federal agent. Like the little slut even knew what being an agent entailed. She probably didn't even know what a Counterterrorist Unit was.

"Yeah, she the senior nurse on this floor. Her son is the reverend at Calvary Baptist on the West side," he offered.

All of Nadia's mental images crashed down around her and she blushed red at her unwarranted jealousy.

"Oh," was all she could manage.

For once, she was grateful he couldn't see her. She surprised herself that she had acted that way. She usually was not the jealous type. Besides, she had no reason to be envious. I mean, this was Mike we're talking about. It wasn't like she was in love with him or anything. He was just a friend that had shared some tough times with her. Besides, they had just met less than four days ago. What was she thinking?

"So," she began, anxious to change the subject. "How long do you have to stay here?"

"They said I'm free to leave in a few days. They have to do some follow-up testing on my eyes to make sure they're healing properly. The surgery went really well though, and the doc says that there is a slight chance that my left eye will improve."

"That's good," she said hopefully. If he got the sight back in one of his eyes, he might be able to come back to work and coordinate ops from the floor.

"Yeah, it's a long shot, but ya never know."

"Where will you go after you leave the hospital?"

"That's where it gets tricky. Division does not know quite what to do with me until we can figure out what's going on with that other eye. They're giving me quite a lot of grace on this, since it was a field injury, so I have some time to figure out where I'm headed next. In the meantime, I'm supposed to get into some sort of assisted living program."

Nadia could hear the distaste in his voice as he spat out the last sentence. She felt a fresh wave of pity for him. His career and his pride had been stripped away from him all at once. She couldn't even imagine how that must feel.

He continued, "They want me to get an apartment and live with a full time assistant. She's supposed to cook for me and change my dressings or whatever else I need. I don't understand why I can't just get an apartment and live alone. I don't need a babysitter."

"Yeah, but Mike," she began carefully. "It would be hard to be all alone. I mean, what are you gonna do, order take-out every night?"

"I'll figure out something," he said firmly.

Nadia thought long and hard. She couldn't believe she was even entertaining the ideas that were going through her head. She made a "hmm" sound before speaking again.

"Does it have to be a professional assistant?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, like you said, you don't need someone to baby-sit you twenty-four seven, you just need food and someone to take care of immediate needs. Is there anything medical involved?"

"No," he said hesitantly. What is she driving at? She got that I-have-an-idea tone of voice. "I don't think so. If I still have my wrappings on by the time I get an apartment, then there's that. But that's not hard too do, and those should be coming off within the week. Why?" he finally asked.

"Well," she began. She couldn't believe she was even about to suggest this. Maybe she still felt guilty over her hand in what happened to him. "I was just thinking that, you know, maybe they'd let you move in with me for the time being. I've got an extra guest room that is just going to waste. Just until you get your feet under you," she hastily added. There, she said it.

Mike was silent for a long time. Nadia studied his features carefully for his reaction. She was beginning to think that he hated the idea and was searching for a polite way to tell her she was nuts. He turned toward her suddenly, a small grin gracing his face.

"You know…it could work. I don't see how there could be a problem with it. I mean, I really don't need much, just food and a place to stay really." His face suddenly became serious. "You're sure about this, Nadia? I mean, I don't want you to do this because you feel guilty."

How did he do that…know exactly what she was thinking? Still, a part of her protested that she wasn't doing this out of guilt or pity, that she really did want him to be there with her. She told him as much. He listened intently, as if trying to determine whether or not she was lying. Finally seeming satisfied, he nodded, crumpling his cheeseburger wrapping paper and putting it in the French fry box. Nadia helped him clean up the tray; then pushed it off to the side again. She sat there, cross-legged, facing him, not sure what to do next. She suddenly had the urge to hug him again, the way that she had two days ago. She shrugged off the feeling, and cleared her throat awkwardly. Mike shook his head as if to shake himself out of his reverie.

"I'll talk to the hospital doctors and see if there's anything that I need to fill out before you can come stay with me," she offered.

Mike fought the urge to grin as she said that. He couldn't believe that she had actually offered to let him live with her, even if it was temporary. That meant a lot to him.

"That sounds good."

"Well, I should probably get going. I have some errands to run today, and I should get to them before it gets too much later."

"Yeah," he said, fighting a twinge of regret as she got up to leave. Mike, you're going to move in with her, for crying out loud. You'll probably be grateful for those errands before too long. Still, he didn't want her to leave just yet. Oh well, you can't always get what you want.

He heard her make her way to the door.

"Nadia..."

"Yeah Mike?"

Yeah stupid, probably should have thought of something to say before you called her. Maybe if she stays there long enough she'll feel guilty and come back to hug me. Yeah, this is getting awkward. "Thanks," he finished. Lame, but it works in a jam.

"No problem. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow, say about the same time?" she asked.

"Uh, what do ya think?" he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"How to you feel about Arby's?" she asked, the grin evident in her voice.

"Beef N' Cheddar with curly fries?" he asked hopefully.

"You got it. Seeya tomorrow."

"Yeah. Seeya."

He listened until her footsteps disappeared down the hall, smiling to himself. Feeling a wave of fatigue, joyfulness, and content at the same time, he snuggled down into his covers for a long nap…with really nice dreams.