The Things They Carried

Summary: The agents of Graceland are masters of keeping secrets. But sometimes, secrets have a way of coming back to haunt you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing; Graceland belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

A/n: O.O… and the drama's about to start up again… hmm…


"Your lungs sound a lot better already. How's your head?" the doctor asked, making notes on a clipboard.

"Still hurts… the coughing makes it worse," Mike replied, being more honest with the doctor than he had been with Johnny that morning. The doctor put down the clipboard, pulling out a small flashlight.

"Can you follow the pen with your eyes for me?" Mike did as the man asked, watching as the man moved it around in front of his eyes for a moment, looking concerned. "It may take a while for that concussion to heal… you need to rest and take it easy until your symptoms go away."

"It's been a week… I have work…"

"It'll have to wait, Mike. You need to rest if you want to heal, and that isn't going to happen if you're trying to do too much by going back to work too soon. This is a pretty serious injury, not to mention that you've been really sick. I want you to take it easy for a while longer."

"I can handle it…" Mike began.

"I don't want you to go back to work yet. Even if you think you can handle this, you need more rest to heal properly," the doctor replied. Mike sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "I'm not kidding… being impatient isn't going to help you. Just go home and rest. If your symptoms haven't improved in a week, come back in and see me again. How are you doing on the pain pills?"

"I still have plenty…"

"Good. I'll have the nurse come take out those stitches, and then I want you to go home and get some rest, Mike." Mike watched as the doctor left the room, before leaning back on the exam table and closing his eyes. It wasn't the news he'd been hoping for.

"Mr. Warren? Are you alright?" Mike opened his eyes, forcing a smile for the nurse standing in the doorway.

"I'm fine… just kind of tired." Mike sat up slowly, watching as the nurse moved about the room.

"I'm just going to clean the wound first, and then we'll take these out," she commented. "You might want to close your eyes… people tend to freak out when they see these tools coming towards their face."

"I think I'll be okay," Mike replied. He winced slightly as the antiseptic swab moved across the wound, stinging. "Is it going to hurt?"

"It usually doesn't. You'll probably feel some pulling as the stitches come out… it might be a little uncomfortable, since you've got a pretty nasty bruise as well." Mike closed his eyes automatically as he saw the scissors coming towards his face. "Just hold still for me… this won't take long."

It only took a couple of minutes for her to get all of the stitches out, cleaning the wound again and putting a couple of bandages over the wound. "You'll need to leave these on for four or five days. If the wound opens up again or starts to show any signs of infection, you need to call us immediately… if it's bleeding excessively, just go straight to the ER."

"Of course." Mike watched for a moment as the woman started to clean up.

"You should be good to go. Try not to get that too wet."

When he got back to the waiting room, Mike wasn't really surprised to find Johnny flirting with the receptionist. "Yeah… it's the key to the jet I fly…"

"It looks like a bike lock key…" the woman commented. Mike couldn't help but smirk at the fact that Johnny was getting called out on his bullshit.

"C'mon, Maverick… I need a ride home…" Mike said, putting a hand on Johnny's shoulder.

"Dude, I nearly had her…" Johnny commented as they walked out to the parking lot.

"She knew it wasn't a Learjet key, Johnny. You didn't have a chance." Mike climbed into the passenger's side of the old orange Jeep, slipping on a pair of sunglasses with a sigh. "Let's just go, alright? I'm tired…"

"What did the doctor say, anyway? When are you gonna be back in action?"

"He said I'm supposed to wait until the concussion symptoms go away," Mike replied, closing his eyes. "I don't know when that's going to be, though."

"And the pneumonia?"

"The antibiotics are working." Mike opened his eyes as he felt Johnny pulling the car over. "What are we doing?"

"Hector's Tacos for lunch. I'm starving." Mike sighed, letting his head fall back against the seat. "C'mon… you need to eat. What do you want?"

"I'm not really that hungry, Johnny… just get me whatever…"

"Dude, you need to eat something."

"I will, Johnny… I just don't really give a shit right now. Just get me a taco or something, okay?" Mike started to get out his wallet, until Johnny put a hand on his shoulder.

"I've got this one, okay?" Mike nodded, closing his eyes. He really didn't feel all that great to begin with, and the heat of the California sun certainly wasn't helping anything. And the longer Johnny was gone, the worse it seemed to get. "Alright… I've got two shrimp tacos, two chicken tacos, and some bottled waters…" Mike did his best to ignore the way Johnny's voice trailed off in concern. "Dude, are you okay?"

"My head is killing me, it's hot as balls, and you made me sit here in the sun for five minutes so you could get a fucking taco…" Mike sighed. "I'm sorry… that was uncalled for."

"Dude… Mikey…"

"Can we just go home now, please?"


"Okay seriously, what the hell is up with him?" Johnny asked, dropping onto the couch next to Paige as Mike went upstairs with his tacos. "He's been acting weird ever since he got home from the hospital, and he snapped at me when we stopped for Hector's on the way home from his doctor's appointment this morning…"

"Did you at least get him to eat something?" Paige asked.

"I got him some tacos… he said his head was killing him in the car, but he took them upstairs just now so I guess he's going to eat them…" Johnny shook his head. "What's the deal with him and food anyway? Why are you all suddenly so concerned about him eating?"

"He didn't really eat anything yesterday."

"Right…" Johnny watched Paige, sensing that there was something more to what was going on. "Seriously, why are you so worried? It's just one day…"

"It's not just one day, Johnny." Johnny raised an eyebrow as Paige glanced towards the stairwell. "I'm only telling you this because I'm concerned about Mike, okay? He admitted to me that he's had an eating disorder in the past… I'm just concerned that he might be relapsing again…"

"Does Briggs know?"

"Yes. But he doesn't seem all that concerned about it yet…"

"Did you ever think that he might not be concerned because there isn't a reason to be concerned yet? Briggs spends more time with Mike than anyone else… he would know if something was seriously wrong, don't you think?"

"Johnny…" Paige began. Johnny stood up, shaking his head.

"No… this isn't something we should be discussing. If you're that worried, you should talk to Mike about it," Johnny replied.

"He's denying everything…"

"Maybe because there's nothing to admit to, Paige… he knows what's going on better than anyone else, and you need to trust him to ask for help if he needs it," Johnny replied, shaking his head. "Man, I didn't need to know that…"

"Need to know what?" Johnny looked up as he heard Mike's voice. Johnny looked over at Paige, shaking his head.

"You tell him… you're the one he's gonna get pissed off with." Johnny stepped back, giving Mike a direct line to Paige.

"You told him…" Mike began, shaking his head. "Damn it, Paige… I didn't want the whole world to know!" Johnny wasn't all that surprised when Mike turned to him next. "Johnny…"

"Tell me honestly – are you having issues with food right now?"

"I always have issues with food. But I'm not starving myself or making myself sick. I haven't done any of that in years…" Mike began.

"And you would talk to one of us if you needed help, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then your secret's safe with me."

"You believe him that easily?" Paige asked.

"I trust him, Paige. Mike hasn't done anything to make me doubt him…" Johnny replied. He turned towards Mike, shaking his head. "Do you need anything, man?"

"I was just looking for something else to drink… I've got it covered." Johnny watched as Mike got a glass out of the cabinet, filling it with some of the soda Jakes kept in the fridge.

"Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Johnny…" Paige began.

"You're the one who blabbed…"

"Because you asked what was going on!" Johnny shook his head, sighing.

"If I'd known it was something like that, I wouldn't have asked!"