"What the hell was that?" Fiona yelped, jumping up from Nate's front step as Jesse and Michael climbed out of the car. "You said a few minutes. That was an hour ago Michael! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Whoa." Jesse raised his palms and moved past them and back inside.

"We'll talk about it tonight." Michael told her, shaking his head slowly.

"I'm sure we will. We're also going to talk about it right n-."

"They want me to be his handler." Michael blurted, putting his hands softly on her shoulders. She opened her mouth but shut it quickly. He smiled at her. "Exactly."

"Just Jesse?" She asked softly.

"For now." He nodded. "Then they'd possibly add more over time."

"Is that something you want?" She shook her head.

"I don't know." He said honestly.

"What if it just makes you stir crazy?"

"I don't know." He repeated, she just stared. "Are they ready to go back to the hotel?"

"I think so." She whispered. Michael smiled, pressing a kiss to her temple before moving past her and holding open the front door.

…...

"Michael-." Madelyn looked at him sharply.

"I'm sorry." He held up his hands. "It's not a good idea to blow off the boss when he shows up in your state and tells you to get in the car."

"I thought you retired." She snapped.

"Yeah well Jesse hasn't." He mumbled.

"Whatever. Next time call or something. Fiona was getting cagey. I think maybe your wife has some aversion to you being driven off in strange vehicles. " They both looked at Fi. Michael grimaced. "Rightly so."

"She's okay." He told her softly.

"She's lost weight Michael. Weight she didn't have enough of in the first place." His mother grumbled, Westen let his eyes slide up and down Fiona's slight form.

"She hasn't been sleeping." He told her remorsefully.

"Or eating?" Madelyn asked almost violently.

"She eats." He said softly. "She's been under a lot of stress Mom. It'll be better now."

"It better be." She pointed her finger at her son. "You better be."

He nodded, as she gave his arm a swat before crossing the floor to the kitchen.

"What'd you do?" Nate asked softly, when Michael joined him where he was leaning against the wall.

"I'm a bad husband." He admitted, he quirked up an eyebrow. "You?"

"Took Mackenzie outside without a hat." He confessed. "Apparently babies loose 90% of their heat throught their heads or something."

"It's August." The older Westen brother groaned.

"Yeah.. I mentioned that." He took a deep breath. "Apparently that was not the point." Michael grimaced. "So when exactly are you taking mom back to Miami?" Nate turned to look at his brother, who just kept staring straight ahead.

…...

Michael Westen's eyes snapped open at the sound of his wife's frantic yell. His right hand shot under his pillow and his left hand reached towards her.

Fiona scrambled off the bed her hair wiping around as she took in the room before backing into the dresser.

"Fi?" Her wild eyes flashed at him as he dropped the gun and climbed across the bed to her.

"Michael." She breaths out a soft whisper, her eyes bouncing from wall to wall. "Where are we?"

"Vegas." He stood in front of her for a moment, his forehead wrinkling at the disheveled mess. "Fiona?"

"Vegas." She breathed.

He reached out carefully, swiping at the sweat on her temple with his thumb. She leaned into his touch and he brought both hands to her face. She shook under his fingers, her hand were cold and clammy resting against his bare abs.

"Fiona." He tried to sound calm, but just came out sounding as stunned as he felt. She looked at him for a second before swallowing hard. He watched the expression on her face start to fade, but her body still gave away her barely contained terror. She straightened, shaking her head and trying to break away from him.

"I'm sorry I woke you." She bit her lip, pushing him back a little starting towards the bathroom. He didn't let go, his hand was still wrapped around her forearm when she turned on the sink.

"I don't care that you woke me." He grunted incredulously, moving her back from the sink and grabbing a washcloth and running it under the water before carefully wiping her face in slow strokes. "I care about whatever is going on with you."

"I'm alr-." She started her weak protest.

"Stop it." He shushed her. "You had a nightmare?" Her eyes clicked up to his before clouding over. "Fiona what-?"

Her chest heaved before she knocked his hands away with her elbows and hunched over the toilet.

"Shit." He muttered, dropping the towel back in the sink and grabbing her hair back from her face as she threw up. Michael winced at her airy cry before she started again. He pressed his palm against her back. She leaned against him as she stood back up. Michael wrapped his arms around her waist and moved her to the wall. He pulled the washcloth out again. "Tell me what's going on."

It was no long a soft concerned request. It was now a worried order that she knew better than to ignore.

"Nightmare." She shook her head dismissively.

"How long have you been having-?"

"Since Vaughn." She interrupted sharply before looking away. His mouth slipped open and he let out a breath like she'd punched him in the gut.

"Fiona that was six months ago." He gripped her shoulders.

"I-." She stopped herself, rubbing her palm across her eye and down to her chin before forcing herself to look at her husband's crestfallen expression. "It's not like it's every night."

"That's why you won't sleep.." He looked at the wall, swallowing hard, she brought her hands up to his wrists. "How did I not notice this?" He asked the wall, still unable to look back down at her.

"You were a little busy." She told him defensively.

"We sleep in the same bed Fiona." He dropped his eyes to her, wincing at her blotchy pale complexion. Michael slid his palm against her face.

"I'd get up." She whispered. "I didn't want to wake you. I was just going to deal with it on my own. I-." Her voice broke and she started to cry. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, wrapping his arms around her. "I never wanted you to have to know about this."

"Fiona you'd never let me go through something like this on my own." He whispered into her hair.

"You'd never go through something like this." She sniffed angrily

"I've had nightmares before Fi. You know that."

"Not like this. Not-." Her body sagged against him and he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the bed. "Michael I can't go back to sleep now." She pleaded.

"You're right you can't. We're going to talk about this." He laid her down before crawling over her and pulling the blankets back around them.

"There is nothing to say." Her shaky voice made him wrap her tighter, stroking the long strands of hair off of her shoulders and down her back. "I thought they'd stop. Once you came home. Once we went to Thailand. Once we left Bangkok. Once we went back to Bangkok. Once you said you were finished with it all. I thought for sure tonight.."

Fiona weaved her fingers with his, grasping to get them as tight as possible. Michael was still trying to understand how she could be waking up at night while he slept through it. He rubbed her back

"When we were at the loft when I first got back did this-?" He stopped, pulling back to look at her face, she thought for a second before shaking her head."Then when?"

"They kept your mom overnight at the hospital so I went back to my hotel and that was the first time.." Her voice trailed off and Michael swallowed back the guilt at the fact she'd spent that night alone. He should have been there with her. "Then Sam and I stayed at your mom's until Jesse was released. When Sam went to go get him, I just.. I started thinking about..I just had to get out of there. So I went to loft to be by myself until you got home."

"Then we moved into the Victor and it started all over again?" He guessed, she nodded. He looked at the clock next to the bed. "I'm gonna see if Nate's up."

"What?" She shook her head as he groped for his cell phone and text his brother. "Michael what-?"

He set the phone down and took her shoulders again.

"It's hotels."

"What?"

"What are the dream about?" She flinched away and he moved his hand to her cheek. "Fiona?"

"Michael don't make me-."

"After the thing with O'Neil I couldn't close my eyes for ten minutes without seeing you face down in the damn water." He told her softly. "I went over it again and again and again." She put her hand over his. "What do you think about?"

"What if I didn't go after you?" She whispered. "What if Sam showed up a minute later? Or if I didn't go back and you.. then Sam..." Her lips trembled and he ran his thumb over them.

His phone chirped and he picked it back up smiling before typing a reply.

"Get dressed." He sighed.

"Wha-?"

"We are going to get you the hell out of this hotel." He kissed her brow before sliding out of the bed and pulling on a pair of pants. "Any hotel." He gave her a long look. "Then tomorrow we're going home."