Three days after Michael interrogated Anson, Fiona was removed from the ventilator. The doctors all felt that she was responding to their pain tests appropriately, so it was now just a matter of time before her body let her wake up. Once she was off the ventilator she was moved into a step-down unit. Michael was by her side, only leaving when Sam forced him to go home to shower and nap for two or three hours.

Finally after being in the step-down unit for three days, Sam was getting agitated. Michael was exhausted both mentally and physically. He knew he had to step in and try to rouse Fiona.

"Mike, did Sleeping Beauty ever tell you about the Libyan arms deal that I messed up for her?"

"No. I asked her about it a few times, but she always got mad when I did, so just dropped the subject. All I know is you busted in and ruined the deal and she lost a lot of money." Mike said.

"Well, let me tell you my side. I got orders that I was to stop an arms deal between this Libyan guy and another party but we couldn't figure out who the other side was. I managed to get a jump on one of their negotiation meetings and saw this short little girl dealing with these big guys. She got mad and put a knife into the hand of the bad guy's henchmen. He was going for a gun and she got mad and just stuck his hand right to the table. She did it with a smile, which I found pretty disturbing. So I split my team up-half follows her, half follows the bad guy. Turns out the girl was trying to sell the Libyan millions in weapons. I didn't even know how someone so little could carry so much weaponry!"

Michael laughed. "How did you know it was Fi? I never showed you a picture of her."

Sam sighed. "All those nights I sat with you at the bar, you would always talk about Fiona. Every night I got the same description of her. Kinda stuck in my head. Then when I realized that Fi was the other party, I knew I had to break up the arms deal. If this crazy Irish girl was the one that you were in love with, I couldn't send her to jail. So I ended up getting a large sum of money from Uncle Sam and I managed to broker a back door deal, squeezing Fiona out. Government didn't care about Fiona as long as we got the Libyan guy. I don't think Tinkerbell realizes how much trouble she would have been in if I let the deal go through and then busted them. She should be thanking me that I busted the deal up when I did."

"Never will Sam..."

Both men became silent and looked at Fiona. Her eyes were half open and she was reaching for Michael who was leapt from his chair when he heard her speak.

"I'll go get the nurse." Sam said as he ran out the door.

"Michael...where am I?" she asked slowly, tears coming to her eyes.

Michael kissed her cheek and said with a soft shaky voice. "You got hurt really bad in a prison fight and they had to bring you to the hospital for surgery. You've had a few surgeries since you've been here."

The nurse and doctor came in and made Michael move aside. Sam stood next to Michael, who watched her like a hawk. The doctor did a quick exam of her reflexes and reactions to stimuli and found her to be in good condition. Next he asked her simple questions, like her birthday and people in the room. When the doctor was done, he advised she was in satisfactory condition and responding well. He wanted to do some memory testing and physical tests to make sure she was ok. For now though, she just needed to rest.

"Mike, I'm going to call Maddie and tell her our girl is back. You want coffee?" Michael nodded and watched Sam walk out the door.

"Michael, what happened? I have a cast on my arm, my leg and I hurt everywhere. I feel like I got hit by a truck." She asked. Michael sat on the edge of her bed and cupped her left cheek in his hand. She kissed his hand, which made him smile.

Michael took a deep breath and started slowly, hoping to maintain his composure. "You were in a fight in prison. They broke your left arm and right leg, your face was so bruised and cut. You were stabbed five times in the stomach and back. You flatlined twice during surgery and lost a lot of blood. There's more. Do you want me to stop?"

Seeing Michael's composure starting to crumble, Fiona thought about having him stop there. After a moment she decided that she wanted to know the rest of what Michael had to say. She took hold of his hand and rubbed her thumb against his hand. "Tell me. Its over and done. I'm here but I think I should know what happened."

Michael nodded and continued. "Anson managed to get a guy dressed as a doctor to come in here and try to kill you. He stabbed you a few times and then rolled up a blanket, tucking it against the wounds so you'd bleed out slowly." He stopped, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You would have bleed to death if the monitors didn't go off. You had another surgery to repair the stab wounds."

Fiona let a single 'Oh' escape from her lips. Seeing Michael was struggling with his story, she pulled him into a hug with her right arm.

He began to cry "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I love you so much and I should have kept you safer. I didn't try hard enough for you. Its all my fault."

She kissed his face, telling him over and over "Its ok." Soon his cries turned into sobs, feeling part relief that Fi was ok, and part guilt that this had even happened to the woman he loved.

Sam walked in a few minutes later, seeing Michael curled up on the bed next to her, fast asleep. "You want me to wake him?"

Fiona smiled and said "No. I'm fine. He's exhausted and needs the rest. I'm sure the nurses will wake him up."

Sam smiled. "I'll leave you kids alone." He walked to the door, but turned around and said "Oh, in case I didn't say it before, welcome back sis!"

"Thank you brother." She replied. Fiona smiled and gave Michael another kiss as she played with his hair, eventually falling asleep herself.