Author's Notes: Thank you all so much for the reviews! I appreciate hearing from you. I know the last couple chapters have been a little intense. It's a pretty dark story compared to my others, but I always try to include some levity as well.
Oh and super big thanks to lovesloveandangst who scoured the interwebs the other day for me to find me a gif I needed to see. haha
Safe
Johnny and Mike walk across the parking lot, silently, to Johnny's car.
"Dude…" Johnny begins to speak, but Mike cuts him off.
"I don't want to talk about it, Johnny."
"Yeah, but man seriously…"
"Johnny! I said I don't want to talk about it." Mike barks.
"Ok, ok." Johnny says, a smirk on his face as he unlocks the door and holds it open for Mike.
"Seriously man?" Mike looks at him incredulously.
"What?" Johnny asks him innocently.
"You're not going to take these off of me?" Mike nods his head over his shoulder, gesturing to the handcuffs holding his wrists behind his back.
"No man! You're on a tear today, and if you're beating up agents now, I feel safer with them on. See this face? It's the money maker." Johnny grins at him, clearly loving the temporary disadvantage Mike finds himself in.
"Johnny, I'm not in the mood. Can you just get these off me?" Mike turns around and holds his wrists out towards Johnny. When Johnny doesn't move, Mike rolls his eyes and growls, "Please?"
"Ok, ok. Easy killer." Johnny says, teasingly, dropping the key in Mike's hand and walking around to the other side of the car, leaving Mike to unlock himself. Once he has one wrist free he gets in the passenger seat of Johnny's car, and unlocks the other, eager to get on the road.
Johnny gets in and turns on the car beginning the drive to the hospital. The silence in the car is unsettling, especially since Johnny is never silent. Mike takes a deep breath, now that he's finally heading to see Paige he feels better, but only a little. Looking over at Johnny, who's sulking, Mike sighs. It's not Johnny's fault, and he was the one who came to pick him up from headquarters.
"Sorry, Johnny. Say what you have to say." Mike finally relents.
"What were you thinking Mikey? You attacked a federal agent?" Johnny wastes no time in letting Mike know exactly what he is thinking.
"The guy was being a dick!" Mike justifies.
"Dude, you're lucky they didn't file assault charges against you, or at the very least resisting arrest."
"It's an internal disagreement. It's not a real arrest. Their damn paperwork could have waited. They want to do a psych evaluation on me!"
"Well can you blame them? I mean if you really wanted to go with her, you should have just played up your injuries and said you needed to go to the hospital for medical treatment. I mean you were freaking shot dude! There's not much to fake."
"I promised her, Johnny. I said I wouldn't leave her and I did." Mike runs a hand down his face.
Ever since he was put in the police car, he had been thinking of the thousands of ways he had failed her. Johnny was right, saying he was injured probably would have been a better way to go.
"Dude, you got hauled away in handcuffs by three agents. I don't think it counts as 'leaving'. She'll understand." Johnny comforts Mike.
"Is she ok? Have you seen her?" Mike asks, staring out the window.
"No man, I had to come collect your punk ass. Charlie and Jakes are there at the hospital, but I don't think they know anything yet. Charlie said she'd text me with any updates. Briggs is down at the bureau still trying to smooth over the little mess you made."
"I just lost it Johnny. I mean I was so scared I was too late, and when I saw those guys… I have never felt hate like that. It just took over." Even remembering it, Mike feels like he was watching himself. He doesn't feel like they're his memories. "I just shot them. What if I was wrong? I didn't even give them a chance to explain."
"Dude, as far as I'm concerned, those guys were threatening your and Paige's life. Totally justified use of deadly force." Johnny insists loyally.
"You were right. I was too emotional. I wanted to kill them. All of them. I don't know what happened to me man. Even in the parking lot when that officer cuffed me, I just lost it." Mike has never felt as out of control as he felt at the moment. He had never even known that side of him existed.
"Yeah, I heard they tased you like a dozen times, dude." Johnny laughs, sounding impressed.
"Johnny, it was only three times." Mike corrects him.
"Yeah, well when I tell it, it's going to be a dozen."
"I broke my promise to her. They were loading her into the ambulance, and she didn't want to go, she was scared and god-" Mike blinks back tears at the memory. "I just wanted to hold her, and tell her everything would be alright, and I couldn't and it's just-"
"Dude, you sure you two aren't together?"
"Johnny, for the hundredth time, NO. She's just a friend. Why am I not allowed to care?"
"Whatever man. I'm just saying, you didn't shoot five guys in cold blood when you thought Bello killed me. Hell when I was dead, you just cried."
"Well maybe if you weren't such a pain in the ass, I would go on a killing spree on your behalf." Mike grumbled, wishing Johnny would drive faster. "And you know what? That's not even true. I punched Briggs in the face. Also, I did not cry."
"Yeah, but let's face it, that's something we've all wanted to do at some point. You were just using my death as an excuse to hit him."
"Johnny you weren't dead." Mike rolls his eyes at Johnny's tendency to exaggerate.
"Yeah, well thanks to you, neither is Paige. Thanks man. No matter what the FBI says, you did good work. Yeah you went a little crazy, but she's alive."
"Well we're here. Let's go see our girl." Johnny parks the car, and Mike stares up at the hospital. Now that he's finally here, he's scared to go inside. "Oh and Mike? Try not to attack anyone. Ok, Killer?"
