Hello! I know you're all going to hate me for this one... so I apologize in advance. However, I hope you enjoy this and let me know what you think :)

- xo, Mel

P.S. Thank you all for your reviews/faves/followings/PMs!

"Mike."

"Mike, look at me."

"Mike!"

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Taking the Solano Cartel down should have been easier than this. It should have been all about the drugs and the money, a sex trafficking ring shouldn't have been their main concern and Jessica was starting to think they were never going to shut this whole thing down. Not when the guy who was supposed to be in charge had gotten his brains screwed off and lost track of everything.

Jessica's voice got a few octaves too high as Mike hit the gas pedal even more to overtake a car on a bend and speed down the left exit that was going to bring them back to Graceland. She looked at him, one hand clutching her chest and the other gripping the car door tightly: she had never seen him so out of control - not even when Lawrence had blown up the barrels. If she had feared for his mental sanity before, she was 100% sure he had gone mad now.

"Slow down." She exclaimed, reaching over to grasp his bicep. "Pull over, I'll drive."

Her voice had gone back to its normal tone and she was now using her forceful and stern attitude to get Mike to listen to her, even know she knew he wasn't going to. He was too stubborn to even believe anything right now - he had reached the breaking point, she could see that through his eyes when he turned briefly around to pierce her with his stormy blue stare.

"Jessica."

Gripping the steering wheel, Mike spatted her name out in her face, finally putting an end to her attempts at making him reason: he had used her full name, something he rarely did, unless they were in bed or at the office, discussing serious matters.

He always called her Jess in private, always.

But this wasn't a normal situation and they were both well aware of that.

Jessica sighed and slumped back into her seat, embracing herself for the harsh stop that was about to come when they'd reach the house. She knew this case was going to be damaged by his involvement with Graceland - she had predicted it from the very first moment she had witnessed the family feeling and witty interactions between all of them when she had got there. They were too close, they trusted each other way too much.

'We can't trust anyone'. She wanted that Mike back. The Mike who wouldn't let anything or anyone get in his way up to the director's chair - the one who wouldn't let feelings or stupid emotions in the way. The one who would give them away in a heartbeat if that meant reaching good results.

Where the hell had that Mike gone? What was about that damn flap house that made him so stupid and reckless?

What was with that girl that made his brains turn to mush?

He got lost and stopped focusing on the target and now he was paying for his stupidity. But as much as she wanted to assure him she'd fix this, she couldn't: she wasn't going to be his savior now.

He had thrown her aside and put himself into such a mess, it was his job now to get out of it.

As predicted, once they had reached Graceland, Mike braked harshly - he didn't even pull up in the driveway, he simply left the car on the side of the road, not caring if it attracted too much attention or could be stolen.

AD Foster bounced in her seat. Before she could even take off her seatbelt, Mike had already bolted out of the car and gone through the front door, leaving it open for her to go after him. Sighing, she followed his lead and entered just in time to witness the entire scene that she knew was going to generate a huge argument. Some sort of relief washed through her: finally, he was back to himself. Finally, he'd come to his senses and see what needed to be done and what not.

Finally, he was going to see the truth right before his eyes: that place, those people, that girl were ruining him. His only ticket to salvation, well… that was her, Jessica.

Not that blonde bimbo that got up from her spot on the sofa, next to… what was her name, Charlie? - and walked up to him as soon as he had reached the middle of the living room. The girl smiled cheerily at him.

"Hey, how did it go-"

Jessica reached behind her to close the door, meeting Briggs's eyes on her way down the entrance steps, as he descended the stairs on her left. The intense wariness of their stare left her no doubts: somehow, he knew. Of course, he would know. He was Briggs after all.

However, Mike's sudden movement and Paige's consequent shriek made every body downstairs focus on the two of them: in a fit of rage, he had ignored her question and cut it off right away by forcefully grabbing the girl by the arms. He pulled her up to his chest, took a hold of her shirt, and messily ripped it open. Buttons flew all over the place.

"Mike!"

Paige screeched, quickly trying to hold it back close over her chest. Something she didn't succeed in doing, seeing as Mike squeezed her wrists and swung her arms back open.

His eyes focused on the long, diagonal, bloody string of gauze adorning her abdomen - from the underside of her left breast to the spot three inches down her left one.

"Fuck."

…

Paige felt the blood in her veins freeze and her whole body go numb. She was half naked in the middle of the living room, her bra clad breasts exposed for everybody to see and Mike's eyes ranking up and down her body, examining her. Scrutinizing the deep gush on her upper stomach.

Shit.

She didn't care if Charlie, Briggs and Jessica were having an eyeful of her body, nor that Mike was still cutting off her circulation - what scared her was the hasty look in his eyes. The irritated, furious stiffness of his body standing tall right in front of her - his colored cheeks burning with red anger.

She knew this would've happened sooner or later - hell, she knew it was going to happen today.

But she had decided to play it dumb and see where things would go from there.

What an idiot: there was no way Mike would've gone through without finding out.

'You're gonna have to tell him eventually.'

'He's gonna find out soon. You know he will.'

'He needs to know.'

Wayne's words from the previous night echoed in her mind. Oh, how she wished she had listened to him and told Mike straight away. Sure, it'd have been difficult nonetheless, but at least it wouldn't have been a public conversation.

She should've told him in the secrecy of his bedroom - she should have given him the chance to work it off alone and find a way to go through the meeting with Sulla with a harsher attitude.

Instead, she had played it safe: had she told him, he would've been dead by now.

No matter how mad he would've been at her, she knew he would've messed everything up and done something bad to get his revenge on Sulla for touching her. He would've found a way to make him pay without breaking his cover, but it would've screwed up their whole plans and the girls would've been in there much longer. She couldn't let that happen to them.

She had gone behind his back on purpose. She had to do what needed to be done and give him a chance to close this case once and for all, even if it meant crossing the legal boundary and stepping right into illegal territory.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Mike repeated over and over again, finally releasing her all of a sudden and turning around to rub his hands over his face.

Damn, he knew it.

He knew it from the moment Sulla had told him something had gone wrong with the last shipment and his men had to chase a blonde girl at their new corrupted bus station. They had found her trying to sneak the new package out and once she had kicked one of his men out, she had made a run outside and disappeared in the darkness. However, not before Niels - cowboy hat guy - had drawn out his flip knife and cut right through her white shirt and into her skin.

Needless to say, Sulla had put off any sort of deal and sent him back to the station empty handed.

He knew that 'crazy slut' who had tried to get the girl out and save the day had been Paige.

That story about Lawrence… it simply didn't add up. But Mike had ignored his suspicions, because it was Paige and he wanted to believe her. He trusted her.

"Tell me you slipped somewhere. That you took a bad fall playing football with Johnny, that you tripped on the stairs - anything. Anything but that Sulla's men did that." Mike turned around, one hand on his hip, and looked straight into her soul.

She lowered her eyes, avoiding his pleading stare: he wanted her to lie to him, he wanted her to deny the truth.

When she didn't, he squeezed his eyes painfully, his next words came out soft and fragile, like he was trying to hold back his pain and not to show his weakening state.

"Is that why you didn't let me touch you?"

Once again, he was met with silence. But he waited.

He waited for a lie to escape her lips, for anything to come out of her and make everything alright. But it didn't came. He waited and waited and all she did was staring at the floor, avoiding his eyes and all of those present in the room.

And he lost it.

"Answer me!"

Paige almost jumped back when Mike's voice boomed out and bounced off the walls with such force, it startled both Charlie and Jessica and dragged Briggs all the way down the stairs to hold him back.

Mike shook him off, but the anger was still radiating from his body. He wasn't going to hurt Paige, he would never lay a finger on her, but the way she was acting right now was pissing him off even more. If she had been brave enough to face Sulla's men, she had to be brave enough to face him too and all the consequences her action would bring.

"Hey! Don't yell at her like that!"

"Wayne - don't."

Paige's voice came out in a warning tone, as Zelanski made himself known and moved forward from the kitchen. She shook her head at him.

Mike watched the way the former newbie stood beside her, his chest puffed out, and suddenly realization hit him. His eyes widened for a brief instant and looked back and forth between the two DEA agents.

"Oh, of course Wayne's involved too. I can't believe it took two brains to achieve such an extreme level of idiocy." He let out a dry, sarcastic laugh and threw his hands up.

Eventually, when he had caught sight of Wayne's hand on Paige's shoulder, trying to soothe her nerves down, he felt the dimmed flame of anger in his body start to burn again.

"Why did you lie to me, uh? Why didn't you tell me?" He started off in a low voice, clearly addressing her.

His tone slowly turned to a menacing and louder one. "Why in God's name would you do that?!"

Paige didn't dare to look up at him and kept her own set of eyes on the floor - Wayne's grip on her shoulder tightened and she could feel the annoyance nestling into his body. She subtly shook her head: she didn't need him to act like a savior and start off a fist fight with Mike. Both for her own sanity and for his sake. The way things had turned out, he wasn't exactly Mike's most favorite person in the world now, at all.

He hadn't been on his good side before he found out about this, she could only imagine what he'd do to him right now. Plus, Jessica was in the room and, considering the affection she felt towards Mike, she was going to pull her strings and have him kicked out of the DEA forever.

"I needed to save my girls." She whispered, moving away from her partner in crime.

As she did so, she made the one mistake she shouldn't have made: she met Mike's eyes and the thick tension in the room reversed fully on her.

He was looking at her with venom, hatred and most of all, disappointment. What killed her, however, was the fact that even beyond all that, she could still see that sprinkle of tenderness he reserved to her. It was small, almost unnoticeable, but it was there.

She could only imagine how hard this was on him. But what choice did she have?

"Well, your girls are screwed now and it's all your fault."

As Mike took a step back, looking at them with contempt, Jessica reached down to him and laid her hand on his back.

"Okay, Mike. Breathe." She rubbed circles on his shoulders and he cast a look at her.

He clenched his jaw tight but stared back at Paige when she opened her mouth to speak again - Jessica did the same, her hand still trying to ease his tense muscles, although it seemed like an impossible mission, he was so pissed off.

Paige rolled her eyes at the scene.

"Look - I didn't mean for that to happen. You needed eyes in there and now you do: I got the girl wired. That's all that matters, isn't it? You-"

"This isn't a game, Arkin." AD Foster interjected. Mike closed his eyes in annoyance. This was such a freaking mess. "They know we're after them!"

"They already knew that! - I know it was dangerous and stupid. I admit it. But it got us the opportunity of having an income from the inside. I'm sorry. I'll take whatever they'll throw at me."

"It's not that easy!" Mike exploded.

He pushed Jessica's hand off of him and exasperatedly acted out his annoyance with a frantic motion of his hands, coming closer to Paige. His eyes boring into hers with violent emphasis.

"I've got the administration command, how am I supposed to explain something I didn't know anything about?! This is gonna fall on me! But of course, who cares, right? Because your call's always the right call!" He threw his hand up and brushed her off when she tried to come up with what was - he was sure - another lame excuse.

He walked back away from her, Wayne silently gnarling at her side.

Before she could even make a comment or let one syllable escape her lips, Jessica took the lead and laid a hand on Mike's shoulder again - his back was now facing the DEA agents. He was pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself down and when he felt the pressure of her fingers digging into his muscle, he moved his eyes sideways to look at her. The brown, warm eyes that stared back up at him sympathetically tore his heart apart: they were tender and reassuring, not at all feisty and cheerful like the green orbs he was used to now.

All the while, Briggs moved to the other side of the room and pushed Wayne back by pressing his hand on his chest: he could see his mind working and his thoughts taking form into scenarios of how easily it could be for him to tackle Mike's much thinner body down and beat him to a pulp.

But Paul knew it wouldn't have been in fact that easy: Mike had been FBI trained and, even though their physiques were poles apart, he could throw his fairly good share of punches and stand his own.

Plus, this was about Paige and whatever involved her would make him go into a blind range.

He knew Bates had developed a huge crush on her too and due to his rather soft spot for her, he was sure an altercation between the two would have lasted longer than the guy was thinking and would have turned into a real bloody mess.

Little did he know, Paige had thought the exact same a few minutes before and was now mentally thanking him over and over again for distancing the DEA agent from the scowling FBI agent who was now under Jessica's care.

"There's no fixing this, Mike. You've got to start pulling ranks here and keep your personal life out of this. Sleeping with you doesn't give her any-"

But those words. Oh, those words just pissed her the hell off. How dared she?! It was one thing for Mike to scold her like a child or to scream at her in front of everybody else in the house - although, had it been a different situation, she would have kicked his ass so bad that he wouldn't have been able to sit down for a month. But for Jessica to judge her operate like that?

To speculate on whether Mike was or wasn't actually involved with her? On the nature of their relationship?

Paige couldn't allow her to do that - she couldn't allow that blonde hyena to put strange ideas in Mike's head. Not now that things had blown up at nth degree and they had to pick up the broken pieces. "Okay, now you just shut the fuck up!"

Everybody downstairs went dead silent and the air filled with thick tension.

Charlie shared a knowing look with Briggs and got up: this wasn't going to end good. Paige couldn't be thinking of…

"Excuse me?"

"This is between me and him."

... or maybe that was exactly what she wanted to do: stand up to AD Foster and possibly risk her place in her agency.

"I'm running a federal investigation and you interfered with it." Jessica crossed her arms, squeezing her eyes to look skeptically at the young DEA agents.

'Oh, stupid, stupid little girl. You don't know who you're messing with.'

There had to be something in that place that sucked anyone's right mind out of their brain.

"Paige." Mike turned his head only to look dangerously at her.

His eyes were hard and intimidating, but Paige didn't even budge. If anything, she took a few steps forward until she was face to face with her rival. The blood in his veins quickly rushed to his heart - it pumped fast and furiously, as his hands turned into fists and he struggled to keep his calm.

Whatever was going through her head right now was going to cause nothing but trouble and, thanks to her and Bates's pretty little stunt from the night before, he had reached his maximum weight for trouble carriage.

"There wouldn't even be a federal investigation, had it not been for me." Paige continued, spatting her words out with venom and an evil grin splattered on her face. "You're not here because of that - you're here because you can't stand the fact that he's mine."

"Arkin-"

"You can't lecture him for choosing me, you don't get to be such a basic two faced bitch - acting like you're protecting him but really, you're just taking your revenge on me because your pussy's not getting any of his cock anym-"

"ENOUGH!" Mike finally exploded.

The whole room went silent, including Paige, who bit down her lip so hard she almost caused it to start bleeding.

Mike's eyes were lit up with fire, as he wrapped his fingers around her arm and dragged her out of the living room. Away from the scene, away from their shocked roommates, away from Jessica.

He pulled her flush against his side and shoved her into the kitchen. His words hard and nasty to her ears, as he growled under his breath. Why couldn't she just admit her mistakes and shut the hell up.

Boy, how he hated when she acted like her pride self and fought everything and everyone that got into her way - into her face - like she just had with Jessica.

He loved how stubborn she was. So independent, self preservative, strong, confident. But as much as he loved all about her, she had to stop acting like her judgements and choices were the only possible solutions to mankind's biggest problems.

"Shut the hell up, Paige, or I swear to God-"

Most of all, she had to stop go over anybody, because even though she claimed she could do it all on her own, she couldn't.

No matter how much she cared and no matter how hard she worked, she had to respect her superiors. Or she'd get nothing but a…

"I want them off the case, Mike. Both of 'em. Get me their resignations by tomorrow morning."

…a downfall.

"You're lucky enough I'm not reporting you to your boss."

Jessica could clearly see his back tense up under the force of her statement - order, if you wanted to use a proper word for what she had just said - as she addressed the two DEA agents.

The moment he had stood between them and yanked his precious bimbo away from her, she had wanted to grab his ear and knock some sense into him. It had been obvious to everyone, but especially to her, that he was trying to save her from what he knew was about to come her way.

Mike knew her better than anybody else in that stupid flap house and by the looks of it, pretty damn well: he had seen the signs and he had tried to put a bandaid on a bullet wound, but she wasn't going to let him do that. She wouldn't let that little airhead he was fooling around with to ruin her reputation, nor to hurt her pride. No matter how hard Mike would try to stop it, she was going to win this.

She was the boss. She owned her life and, at least on the job, she owned him.

No booze in transit piece of ass was going to change that, nor the fact that she could end this OP with a snap of her fingers and have all of them on the street in the blink of an eye.

Paige watched with incredulity as Jessica sent daggers their way, before turning on her heels and leaving without further words. Anger started filling her body and wobbling up in her blood.

She turned to look at Mike.

"That bitch-"

At that point, the FBI agent couldn't hold it back anymore. Paige was probably one of the smartest women he had ever met, but it infuriated him how she could turn so blind to every rule or moral when it came to something that was close and dear to her heart - something that touched her both on a professional and personal level. However, the latter was what would always take over.

But one thing was to knock some light-fingered pig out, one thing was to make such a bold move and put the entire operation on the verge of blowing up.

"Jesus Christ, just shut your goddamn mouth!" He roared. "You insulted her! She's our freaking boss!"

"No - she's your boss, who's just taken me off the case because you're not fucking her anymore!"

"She's taken you off because you're a reckless, arrogant child who just does things and then leaves me to face the damn consequences! Because of your stupid immaturity!"

Charlie shot up, worry written all over her features: if she didn't intervene, this could end very, very badly.

Notwithstanding, she didn't have to do much and before she could even open her mouth, Paul was already halfway into the kitchen and laying a hand on Mike's shoulder for support.

The gesture didn't seem to have affected his fellow FBI agent.

His words, full of apparent disgust and grimace, struck the DEA agent, who stood still and eyed him as if he had grown three heads.

Outrage kicked in and she took a step closer to fire right back. "Are you saying that I can't do my job?!"

Shaking his head, Mike ignored her question and shook Briggs off of him.

He had to get away. He had to get out of the house and clear his mind, before he said something he'd regret.

'Jesus', he thought: he couldn't even bare to look at her right now. This thing had turned into such a huge mess, it was getting so much bigger and bigger - and worse.

"I'm gonna try to talk to Jess and change her mind."

"Don't walk away from me, asshole!" Paige screamed and fisted the back of his jacket in her hand to yank him back to her.

Paul promptly held her back from ripping his former trainee's suit. But of course, Paige being Paige, she wasn't going to hear any of it. She elbowed him in the side to shut him up and went back to taunt Mike.

"Guys, why don't you-"

"Stay out of this, Paul!"

Before her fist could collide with his back, however, Mike turned around and stood tall in her face - she bumped into his chest and lost her balance from the impact. But she quickly regained it and straightened her back to look him in the eye - challenge written all over face.

Had it been a different situation - had it been any other of their fights over jealousy or wrong things said at wrong times, he would've reached over and smashed his lips on hers.

This time, this wasn't the case: Paige had gone too far. Way too far.

"I don't care about how y'all do your jobs, but when you're working for me, you stand by my rules. We're gonna end this OP and get the girls out when I say so and how I say so. Other than that, you're gonna stay out of my way."

Their noses almost touched, both agents scowling at each other as the rest of the house watched closely.

Mike's eyes flicked briefly to Zelanski, shifting close to Paige to prove her - and him, Mike was sure of that - that he was there to have her back. To step in and fight for her, if required.

He struggled to hold back a snort and his stare returned to Paige's blazing green eyes.

He didn't lose it and she didn't lose it: none of them was going to back down and maybe, just maybe, that was the problem.

No, scratch that: to Mike, she was the problem. No, her pride was the problem.

Things were so messed up, he couldn't even point out the exact reason why he was mad at for the most. All he knew was he had to do something and act soon - now, if he wanted to keep his job and the OP going. It was just a matter of time before the deputy director caught a scent of this. For now, they were the only ones knowing about what had happened, but soon enough it would've reached his ears and he'd indite him: he was about to enter the storm center and, if he didn't make it right with Jessica, he would be left alone to face everyone.

Her choice had been stupid and thoughtless, but of course in her eyes it had been the only option. Grabbing his arm, Paige jerked him around and got into his face, hastily hissing at him.

Mike glanced down at where her hand gripped tightly his bicep and then back at her, skeptically.

If she knew him as good as he thought she did, she wouldn't go any further than that - their previous fights had been more than just a proof of how hard-edged he could get when mad. Yet, he had never been this mad at her up until now.

"I don't know what kind of bullshit plan you have now, but I'll screw any goddamn DEA agent to get the team in there and save my girls-"

In a rush of blood to his head, he squeezed her forearms so hard it almost cut off her breath - she yelped at the dash of pain that shocked through her skin, right where his fingers dug roughly into her flesh. Happy, bored, annoyed, clingy, jealous, mad: she could make him feel so many emotions, but even though he was furious with her, the thought of another man taking advantage of her was unbearable. It drove him insane.

And it hurt, too. It hurt him that she would lose her dignity like that, instead of doing what she had swore she did already: trust him.

"Out. Of. My. Way."

It had been barely half an hour since she had come back and Jessica had yet to even take her shoes off.

As soon as she had reached her hotel room, she had gotten herself busy with all the paperwork she had left behind to accompany Mike on his meeting with Sulla. If she had known it would have ended into such a disastrous mess, she wouldn't have approved the plan at all.

The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to strangle that blonde thing and slap his pretty face hard until it knocked some sense back into him.

She still had yet to wrap her head around it all: how could he be so stupid here and so smart back in DC? Los Angeles definitely wasn't what Mike needed at this point in his career.

The sooner he understood that, the better. If he stopped using his male apparat to think, maybe he would finally get that.

And if she stopped having his back all the time, maybe she wouldn't be so stressed and her feet wouldn't hurt so much.

She closed her laptop; it was too late to send today's report on the meeting, the offices in DC were probably empty by now, except for those few who always stayed behind due to their empty social lives and failing marriages - Jessica certainly not being one of those.

That was exactly why, up until Mike had showed up and his rockstar attitude and smart brains had won her over, she had never dated, nor fooled around with somebody from work.

She was a strong, independent and self-confident woman - she didn't need a man to complete her life, just someone to hook up with once in a while and the new FBI agent certainly could carry out the job very well.

Kicking her shoes to the side and under the bed, she basked in the feeling of the soft carpet between her toes and started making herself a drink.

However, she had just tasted the sour taste of her whiskey on the tip of her tongue when an insistent knock echoed in her room - her eyes shifted to the door and she almost swore under her breath: she was annoyed - beyond pissed off by what had just happened at Graceland, she didn't need an umpteenth dumb room welcoming service or hotel treats.

'Damn, I should've put the do not disturb sign on', she thought, opening her door with a roll of her eyes.

What she was met with, however, shocked her: there, tall, distressed and certainly unexpected, stood Mike.

"Mike-"

Her glass fell to the floor, as he grabbed her by the hair and smashed his lips on hers.

Jessica tried to pull back - get some distance between their bodies, look him in the eye and put an end to this game they were doing. But the harder she pressed against his chest, the tighter his grip around her would get. He tangled his fingers around her blonde mop of hair and tugged harshly - teeth nibbled, tongues wrestled and soon enough, she gave in.

Scooping her up, he roughly held her down onto her bed and hitched her skirt up - her legs wrapped firmly around his hips, as her hands wandered down his front to fumble with his belt.

Mike pulled away to undo his shirt, his face close to hers.

Then, it happened: the eyes he was staring into weren't brown and cold anymore, they were fizzy and passionate emerald orbs.

Not a common green - the exciting green of upcoming spring. That churning, passionate green that the ocean turns during a storm. That deep, shining green that hypnotized him every time it sparkled back at him.

Shaking his head, he looked down and focused on Jessica's lips instead, while his hands moved fast and eager on their own to get the buttons of his shirt undone.

Again, the cut of her lips turned from straight and severe to beautiful and fleshy, smooth and sensual.

Paige.

How she felt tangled around him, how she tasted - her scent. How he could never tear his eyes away from her, how he could stare at her for ages and never get tired of basking into her beauty.

He gritted his teeth in frustration and laid flush to flush on the woman underneath him - he hid his face in her neck and once again, images of Paige writhing and moaning out his name flashed through his name.

Her parted, bruised lips. Her mussed hair. Her silky skin, so tanned and tasty and so unlike Jessica's, porcelain white and soft to the touch and incomparable to hers.

Mike gripped the blanket in tight fists and bit harshly on Jessica's neck to try and erase every memory of Paige from his mind. But even though that was exactly what he didn't need in that moment, he couldn't stop it. He couldn't stop the image of her smiling and soft washed out green eyes - like a favorite hoodie that's been washed too many times, his favorite hoodie - from popping up in his mind.

The more he tried, the more they shone behind his closed eyelids.

The more he tried, the more her name threatened to roll off his tongue.

So he did the only thing he could think of: he engulfed Jessica's lips into a bruising, angry kiss, full of that passion that would drag him every day after that impossible woman he had learnt to love and hate at the same time. Little by little, each day more.

He bit hard and, when she bit back, he pressed his mouth even harder on hers.

But those eyes - they never stopped haunting him.

They were there, alive into his mind.

The sun was barely midway up from the horizon when Graceland's front door opened and closed with a faint clack. A disheveled, spent Mike making his way slowly into the kitchen.

The only one who'd wake up at dawn to go out for a run was him, so he hadn't except for his roommates minus Johnny to be sitting at the kitchen table, having breakfast.

He stood at the counter, looking at them dumbfounded - they were all looking back at him, but his eyes were naturally drawn to the blonde agent balancing herself at the very end of the bench, legs crossed, tired, low eyes and tousled hair: Paige was picking at her toast and didn't seem to have noticed him there. At least not until Briggs acknowledged his presence with a murmured 'Mikey' and sipped from his coffee.

When she finally turned her head in his direction and their eyes met, his stomach churned with guilty and disgust: from the looks of it, she probably hadn't gotten any sleep. However, he couldn't let that affect the OP. Not anymore.

Turning onto his heels, he dragged toward the stairs - his words barely above a whisper. But they echoed nonetheless in the now silent kitchen.

"Jess is taking care of everything - you're on night duty for the rest of the OP."

"Thanks, man."

Mike turned around, shooting Zelanski a deadly stare as the words reached his ears.

"Don't you even." He threatened, staring at him for a few seconds to make sure he had made his point and then proceeded to make his way back up to his room and get some sleep.

However, he hadn't even reached the fifth step that a small hand wrapped around his wrist into a tight hold.

He glanced down at the manicured hand, knowing full well whom it belonged to.

"Where the hell have you been all night, uh?"

Somehow, Paige had managed to hide the disappointed and jealous tone in her voice beyond the heavy accusation that pended above them.

The air filled with tension and defeat, as Mike stood silent with his back to her for a few moments before daring to look back at her stony face - his eyes sad and empty.

Her hand fell back into her lap.

She knew the answer.

"Fixing the mess you two made."