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: And I have another update for you! Granted, it's been written for a while and I'm just remembering to put another update out here, but still… at least I'm getting something out there!


Being stuck in the house for long periods of time wasn't all it was cracked up to be; there was only one television in Graceland, and most of the time there wasn't anything worth watching. Paige had never been much of an Internet fan, not that she had a computer to use. And she was getting tired of constantly having the others in the house question whether or not she should really be using any of the cleaning products they owned. Needless to say, Paige had been relieved to wake up and realize she had a doctor's appointment that afternoon to look forward to, even if she did know that she was probably going to get lectured about the fact that she hadn't gained any weight since her last appointment.

"What time am I supposed to have you at the doctor's office this afternoon?"

Paige looked up at Johnny's question, raising an eyebrow. She'd been working on getting down a bowl of cereal that didn't seem to agree with her stomach despite the fact that she'd already taken the nausea medicine. "I'm perfectly capable of driving myself to a doctor's appointment, Johnny…"

"True. But you aren't really supposed to be leaving the house because we still haven't been able to track down Caza's little search party, so you aren't going anywhere without a bodyguard. And since it's my day to hang out here with you, I get bodyguard duty."

"You've got to be kidding me…" Paige put her spoon down, turning to look at the man. She hadn't really expected to be having this kind of discussion when she'd imagined how nice it would be to finally be able to get out of the house.

"Not at all."

Paige sighed, picking up her spoon again; she'd already figured out that she wasn't going to win any of these arguments, and it was pointless to try. "My appointment is at two. And you are not coming into the back with me this time."

"I'm waiting outside the room…" Johnny began.

"You can stay in the waiting room."

"Paige… we are not going to argue about this. I'm not letting you get that far out of my sight…"

"Johnny… I need my privacy," Paige replied. "I get that you care and that you're trying to make sure I'm okay, but I need you to respect that I'm not okay with having you right there all the time…"

"And you need to understand that your safety is my number one priority here… it's my job to make sure you're safe today, and I don't want to risk anything bad happening…" Paige closed her eyes, sighing and shaking her head. "I won't eavesdrop or anything like that, okay? But I'm not letting you get too far out of my sight."

"The waiting room isn't that far away…"

"You two debating how far away Johnny has to stay at the doctor's office today?" Paige looked up at Charlie's comment.

"He's insisting on staying outside the door," Paige replied.

"Johnny… the woman needs her privacy."

"I'm not supposed to leave her alone…" Johnny began.

"Okay, you're officially fired as Paige's chauffer for the day… you get to run surveillance for Briggs today while I drive her," Charlie replied.

"Or you could just let me drive myself, like a normal human being…" Paige knew it was a long shot, but she had to at least try it.

"That's not happening." Paige shook her head, going back to trying to eat her breakfast while the two FBI agents each made their own. "How are you doing, anyway? I feel like I've barely seen you all week…"

"I've been here. Bored out of my skull most of the time…" Paige replied.

"How are you feeling?" Johnny asked. Paige couldn't help shooting the man a death glare. "I take that as not good…"

"I've been fighting nausea for most of the past sixteen weeks, Johnny… and no amount of the nausea medicine they can give me seems to actually work well enough to keep me from getting sick on a regular basis," Paige replied.

"You're still getting sick?" Paige sighed, realizing that she hadn't really planned on mentioning that in front of Charlie. "Paige… how often is it happening?"

"I don't know… a few times a week. It isn't as bad as it used to be…"

"But you aren't supposed to still be getting sick like that…" Charlie began.

Paige shook her head, putting her spoon down. "I know that, Charlie. But what the hell am I supposed to do about it? My doctor knows it's going on, and I'm doing what I can to keep gaining weight like I'm supposed to and take care of myself. I don't know what else you expect me to do here."

"It would be nice if you would let us try to help…"

"How the hell can you help, Charlie?" Paige asked, sighing. "Unless you have some kind of magical formula that cures nausea without hurting the baby, I don't see that there's anything you can do."

Paige watched as Charlie stopped what she was doing to prepare her breakfast, putting down her bowl and turning towards where Paige was sitting. "I get that you are upset right now, and that you don't want to have us up your ass all the time about everything. But damn it, Paige – don't you think that we wish you weren't in this situation, too? We're your friends and we care about you, and we want you and Mike to be happy and healthy and for everything to be okay!"

Paige got up slowly from her seat, shaking her head and starting to leave. "Paige…" Johnny began.

"Just leave me alone, Johnny," Paige replied, walking past everyone and back up the stairs, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to come. She'd never really been someone who got upset easily, but something about all of the stress she was under and having her hormones all out of whack made it almost impossible for Paige to keep herself from breaking down at any given moment. She couldn't help slamming her bedroom door, sinking down onto her bed with a sigh and trying her best to avoid either breaking down completely or screaming and throwing things out of frustration.

There was a soft knock at Paige's door a few minutes later, but she didn't turn around to look and see who it was. "Go away."

"Are you saying that because you want to be alone, or are you saying that because you don't want me to be Johnny or Charlie?" Paige sighed, turning and letting Paul see that there were tears sliding down her face. "They really upset you, huh?"

Paige shrugged, turning away again. "I'm just being ridiculous…"

"No, you're not… you're sick and frustrated, and you aren't used to dealing with all of this…" Paige closed her eyes as Paul sat down on the bed next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders and pressing a soft kiss against her temple. "I know you don't want to have us all up in your business like this, but… Charlie is just worried about you, you know? We all are…"

"I know," Paige replied. She sighed, letting her head rest against the man's shoulder. "But this isn't working, Paul… me being here, basically under house arrest when we still don't even know for sure that there's any danger…"

"Paige, if the Bureau didn't think there was some kind of danger, they wouldn't be keeping you here. Trust me, babe, they don't want a pregnant DEA agent in the house any more than you want to be here right now. But your safety is a serious concern here…"

"Can I at least get everyone to back the fuck off about me getting sick? I know it's a problem, and I'm keeping in touch with my doctor about this, but there really isn't anything they can do right now…"

"But you're okay?" Paul asked. Paige bit down on her bottom lip, not looking at the man. "Paige? Please tell me that you're okay…"

"I'm not gaining weight… I didn't want to say anything because everyone was already really freaking out about my weight and whether or not the baby is going to be okay. I was already a little behind with the weight gain, but my doctor said he wasn't really worried because I had been so sick… but I don't know what's going to happen when I haven't been gaining at all even though I'm trying…" Paige could feel the tears that were starting to slip down her cheeks again as she tried to pull herself back together.

"Do you think something is wrong?"

"I know something is wrong, Paul – I'm just worried that whatever it is, it's somehow my fault and I'm going to end up losing Mike and the baby…" Paige reached up as she spoke, trying to wipe away the tears that she somehow couldn't get to stop. There was a moment of silence as Paul rubbed her back slowly.

"Why do you think you did something wrong?"

Paige shook her head, sighing. "Because all of this… this shit – it can't be random. I must have done something really fucked up to have all of this bad karma hit all at once…"

"You didn't do anything wrong to deserve all of this… it's just bad luck and bad timing," Paul replied. "But it isn't going to last forever, baby. You're going to get over this and everything is going to work out okay in the long run." Paige sat up a little, sighing as Paul moved his hands to rub her shoulders. "Just try to relax, okay? You aren't going to do yourself any favors by stressing out like this when you don't know what's going to happen."

"Paul…"

"No, no arguments. You need to put your feet up and relax. And I mean really relax, baby… you've been so stressed and on edge the whole time you've been here, you've been making me tense. And that can't be good for either of you…" Paige glanced down, putting a hand over the bump that was just barely visible under her clothing. "I know that you're worried – about Mike, about this whole Caza thing – but you have got to relax and take care of yourself. That little baby is depending on you to take care of yourself and make good decisions here."

Paige sighed, closing her eyes again. "I know. You're right. I just…"

"I know. You know that there isn't anything you can do to change things, but you can't help wanting to fix it." Paige nodded slowly. "I feel the same way about all of this… but you can't let that mess with your head, Paige. You can't forget that you're responsible for another human life right now."

"I know."

"You've got some time before you have to go to the doctor. You should lay down and try to relax." Paige nodded, kicking off her shoes and putting her feet up as the man got up and started to leave the room.

"Hey, Briggs?"

"Yeah baby?"

"Thank you."