[Food Therapy]
"What are you making?" Mike asked coming into the kitchen.
Charlie looked up, giving Mike's tired appearance a critical once over. "Just a little dinner for myself." She replied, looking back down to the stir fry. "What's up with you?"
Mike shrugged, leaning his elbows on the edge of the counter, eyeing the mess of vegetables browning in the pan.
Charlie waited a beat, before sliding a cutting board and knife towards Mike. "Put an apron on and start chopping up some peppers for me."
Mike, bless him, looked like a startled deer, surprised that Charlie was asking for help with making food. She was more than capable of doing it all on her own.
Charlie felt a pang, thinking how that deer in the headlights look had been common back when Mike had first moved to Graceland.
Mike crossed the kitchen, grabbing a white apron from the closet. He pulled it over his head and secured it behind his back. He then set to work on the peppers.
They worked in silence; Mike concentrating on his job of chopping the peppers and Charlie adding various ingredients to the food, while keeping an eye on Mike.
"There." Mike said, putting the knife down and giving Charlie a supremely satisfied look. She glanced down at the peppers, noting how carefully they were sliced, almost all the same width and height.
Charlie shook her head, laughing a little.
"What?" Mike asked anxiously. "Is that not how you wanted them chopped? I can redo it if—,"
Charlie raised her hand, stopping him. "They're fine. Perfect, in fact."
She picked them up and added them to her mix, catching sight of a proud look on Mike's face. She grinned again; that kid was a perfectionist in everything he did.
A matter of minutes later, two plates of steaming stir fry sat in front of both Mike and Charlie. Silence reigned over them again as they ate, until Charlie set her fork down and leaned forward.
Mike stopped, mid-chew. "What?" He looked worried.
"Just wanted to know what's going on with you." Charlie said carefully.
Mike swallowed the rest of his food, a tired and worn out look flashing across his face. "A lot's going on, Charlie."
"I gathered." She waited for him to continue.
Mike stared Charlie down, not saying anything. When she didn't break eye contact, he averted his gaze, ducking his head.
"We're getting close on this case, but every time we almost finish it something happens and our plan goes to shit." Mike started, the words tumbling out of him. "The Bureau is letting me down with the stuff with Sid and…everybody in the house hates me, especially Paige. They all think I'm here to keep climbing my way to the top, but that's not true. I just want to do my job well and help people." He stopped abruptly, his cheeks flushing as he realized who he was talking to.
"Sorry." He muttered, pushing his chair back, preparing to leave.
"Mike," Charlie said, stopping him.
He glanced back at her.
Charlie's heart hurt at the look of utter pain and despair in the kid's blue eyes. Yes, Mike could be a real pain in the ass sometimes, but that didn't mean he wasn't human. Everything had been weighing down on the poor kid and it didn't help that he wasn't really getting support from the rest of the house, not that he had really done much to deserve their help. But again, he was still human and, in many ways, still a kid.
All sorts of words raced through Charlie's mind of what she could tell Mike, but instead she reached a hand out, laying it over Mike's. "Not everyone hates you." She gave him a smile, which was hesitantly returned.
Charlie released his hand and picked her fork up. "Now eat your dinner before it gets cold or Johnny tries to steal it."
A/N: So these last few episodes have been brutal and I feel like Mike needs to vent a little. Also I've really liked seeing Mike and Charlie's relationship in the last couple of episodes and wanted to write something about that.
For everyone who gave me prompts to work on, they're coming just not very quickly. I've just started school in a new state (I drove nine hours by myself to get to this place. It's a pretty new experience and I'm still trying to get used to it all) and I've been having really bad writer's block lately.
Anyway, thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed!
