I'm Home
Summary: Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.
Disclaimer: I own nothing; Graceland belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.
A/n: So I'm trying my best to update here a bit more regularly, although I'm not writing nearly as much as I used to – between work, and my latest project (crocheting hats for OCC) I really don't have a ton of time to write. But hopefully there will at least be something up more often than not.
It was cold, but Paige didn't even really notice the temperature as she stared out at the waves crashing in the darkness. All she really cared about was trying to make sure that she didn't end up puking up Johnny's pancakes; Charlie had somehow missed the bottle of nausea medication at her apartment, and she was struggling to keep the food in her stomach. She'd excused herself shortly after eating, hoping that the cool night air would do something to calm her stomach.
"You okay?" Paige closed her eyes as Briggs put a hand on her back.
"The nausea's back in full force…"
"I'll go back to the apartment and get your medicine in the morning." Paige nodded slowly. "Is there anything I can do right now?"
"Hold my hair when I start puking…"
"You aren't going to puke," Briggs replied.
"I haven't been able to keep anything down without the nausea medicine since this started… so yeah, I'm probably going to puke." Paige paused for a moment, swallowing back the bile that was threatening to come up at that moment. "I'm not going to make it to the bathroom…"
Paige had barely gotten the words out of her mouth before she was bent over the balcony railing, throwing up onto the sand below while Paul held back her hair, rubbing her back and generally just doing whatever he could to comfort her as her stomach violently rejected everything she'd eaten for dinner. She coughed a couple of times once she was finished, trying to spit out the taste of it from her mouth.
"Do me a favor… don't tell Johnny."
"I won't." Paige could feel her hands shaking as she straightened up, suddenly freezing between the cold of the night and the sweat that had started to drip down her back. She had to grip the railing tightly to keep herself on her feet as Briggs put his arm around her shoulders and tried to move her away from the railing. "Let's get you inside…"
"Give me a minute…" Paige could feel her knees starting to buckle as she spoke, and she knew that Briggs could tell that she was going to collapse if she didn't sit down soon.
"No way… you just threw up, and now you're shaking… I'm not letting you black out on me out here." Paige closed her eyes as Briggs put his arm all the way around her waist, hooking her arm around his neck and picking her up as if she weighed nothing at all.
"Paul…"
"I'm just taking you inside. I'll put you down on the couch, and then I'm going to get some crackers and ginger ale for you."
"I should go to bed…" Paige began.
"Not on an empty stomach." Paige closed her eyes, knowing that she wasn't going to win this battle. "Just relax. You need something in your stomach tonight, or it's only going to get worse. Isn't it?"
"The only thing that will stop it from getting worse is the nausea medication," Paige replied. The man sat her down at the table just inside the door, only leaving her there long enough to grab a bottle of water and a can of ginger ale, followed by a pack of crackers. "I'm not going to be able to eat them…"
"At least try, Paige. I really don't want to take you to the hospital for a third time…" Paige sighed, opening the can of ginger ale and taking a small sip. "Good girl…" Paige closed her eyes as she opened the pack of crackers and started to eat them slowly. "Are you okay? Really?"
"I'm not okay… but I'm handling it," Paige replied.
"You don't have to handle it…"
"I have to keep it together, Paul. There are too many people depending on me here…" Paige closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I'm the only one who can take care of both Mike and this baby…"
"And you need to let someone else take care of you for a while," Briggs interrupted. "You need to rest, and you need to get the nausea under control so that you can take care of yourself properly." Paige looked at the man as he put a hand on her knee, squeezing it gently. "You're going to be okay. We're going to take care of you, and we're going to keep you as far away from Caza as possible. There's a reason we fought to get them to let you stay here instead of moving you up the coast…"
Paige raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"The FBI's original plan was to move you up to San Francisco, set you up in another branch office under a pseudonym… I don't know exactly what Charlie said, but it took her all of about ten minutes to convince them to let you stay here instead. On the condition that you aren't left in the house alone, since you're no longer an undercover agent."
"I don't see how they could justify moving me that far away from everyone I know and from my doctor…"
"Because you can still change doctors; your safety trumps everything else."
Paige sighed, leaning back against the padded seat. "We don't even know that I am in any danger…"
"But if Caza knows about your relationship with Mike, they could use you to get to him. And if they were to somehow get to you and Mike found out about it, you know as well as I do that he would do whatever it took to protect you and that baby. And that would be a death sentence for him."
Paul's words really weren't what Paige wanted to hear at that moment; she'd been managing to hold herself together since she'd woken up, but the thought of Mike potentially dying to protect her was too much. Tears were beginning to slide down her face before she could make any kind of noise. "Please stop…"
"Shit… baby… I'm sorry." Paige couldn't help the sobbing that started as she sat there, trying to avoid looking at the man as he took her hand and started rubbing her back again. "I didn't mean to upset you…"
"I'm sorry… I just can't…" The words wouldn't come, despite Paige's attempts at calming down enough to speak to him.
"Shhh… it's okay. You're allowed to be upset." Paige closed her eyes as the man pressed a soft kiss against her forehead. "Let it out, okay? It's okay to cry…"
"I… I can't do this, Paul… I can't lose him…" Paige shook her head as she spoke, still trying to avoid getting sick. "I can't raise this baby on my own…"
"Paige… you are never going to be on your own raising this baby. You have a house full of undercover agents that are more than willing to help you with this… despite what Jakes might say to you about not wanting to be Uncle DJ." Paige was almost surprised when Briggs moved her over a little, putting his arm around her as he sat down next to her and moved her so that he could hold her close to his chest. "It's all going to be okay. You're okay."
Paige wasn't sure how long she sat there, pressed close to Paul's chest as tears streamed down her face and he occasionally whispered something he thought might help her calm down. She had almost fallen asleep leaning against him when Charlie came back downstairs. "Shit… what happened?"
"We were talking… I wasn't thinking about what I was saying, and I upset her…"
"Jesus, Paul…"
"She's okay…" Briggs began.
"She got sick?" Paige shifted a little in the man's arms at Charlie's question, opening her eyes.
"Right after everyone else went upstairs… leaned over the balcony railing and lost everything she ate at dinner."
"Let me take her upstairs to bed… you need to go downstairs and clean that up, before it gets too disgusting," Charlie replied. Paige sat up slightly, moving away from Briggs a little and letting the man move away. "C'mon, Paige… let's get you upstairs to bed."
Paige stood up slowly; she was still a little wobbly on her feet, and it was obvious that Charlie could tell by the way the other woman put an arm around her waist and put Paige's arm over her shoulders. "I'm not that weak…" Paige began.
"And I don't want to end up taking you to the emergency room because you fell going up the stairs," Charlie replied. Paige sighed, giving in and letting the woman help her towards the stairs and up to her bedroom. "Do you want the ginger ale? I could go back down and get it…"
"I think Paul is going to be upset if I don't try to get more down than I already have," Paige replied. "I thought that Johnny was bad with the overprotective big brother play, but Briggs… Briggs is worse. And I can't exactly threaten to kick his ass for it, since he's kind of the boss around here…"
"I know you think we're going overboard here, but it's because we care…"
Paige nodded as Charlie finally let go of her, a few feet away from her bed. "I know. And I appreciate it. I just don't think I need you guys watching over me like this all the time…"
"And when you aren't getting sick, we'll back off."
Paige sat down on the side of her bed, turning to look at Charlie. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm doing this to myself… why I let myself get so attached to Mike, when I knew he was sick and this wasn't a good idea. Why I decided to keep this baby, when kids were never really part of my plan to begin with…"
"Because you love Mike… I don't think there was any way you were going to avoid getting attached." Paige sighed, closing her eyes and burying her face in her hands. Her stomach was still churning, but she didn't really have much of anything left to bring up. "You should get some rest… I'll bring the crackers and ginger ale up here while you get ready for bed."
"Charlie…" Paige looked up, sighing and shaking her head as she looked up at the woman. "Thank you. I know I haven't said that enough through all of this…"
"We all know you mean it… you've been under a lot of stress the past couple of months. You just worry about taking care of yourself, okay? You've got a hell of a lot to worry about right now."
