Burn Notice - The Man He Is
A/N: I am still working on my other stories, so don't lose hope! This one just came to me and I rushed to finish it before it was lost forever. Please enjoy!
The rain outside reflected Michael's mood.
Sitting alone in his loft, Michael thought about what had happened in the last few weeks. Things had escalated after the bank job. The safety deposit box had held the codebook. The codebook led him back to Simon.
Neither Sam nor Fiona had been happy about his decision to meet with Simon or his continued relationship with Vaughn. Reminding them that sacrificing Jesse's career couldn't have been for nothing, they'd reluctantly agreed that he was right.
His confrontation with Vaughn had gone about as well as he'd expected. He was quickly getting tired of Vaughn's controlling nature.
When Vaughn had left, he'd known things were going to get worse before they got better. But he hadn't expected it to get this bad.
Vaughn had paid a visit to Fiona, using Jesse as leverage to get her to work around Michael. Michael knew that Vaughn had played heavily on her desire to save him from himself, to prevent him from being the man she feared he was. The man who saw people as ideals and was too caught up in the big picture to care about the here and now.
Her faith in him had held for the time being.
His meeting with Simon had ended with him and Simon taking a tumble out of a window. However, the information he'd gotten had been worth the stitches put in by one less-than-sympathetic Fiona.
As things progressed, he found himself and those around him struggling to keep up the lies around Jesse. He knew the strain everyone was under, but there was no other choice. They were too close to risk the emotional and physical fallout that would occur if Jesse found out the truth.
Getting up from his desk, where he had been cleaning his gun, Michael walked down to his fridge, replaying his conversation with his Mom. She was going to Tampa. She hadn't planned to say goodbye. She couldn't stand by and watch as he lied to Jesse.
Michael couldn't get over the fact that everyone assumed this was easy for him. His faith in their knowledge of him was being tested over and over again. What kind of man did they think he was?
Something was also off with Fiona, some guilt over something that had happened that she hadn't told him yet. Just as he about to make the trek back up to his desk, his door opened, and Fiona burst in. She'd been crying and she was wet from the rain.
"Fi? Are you okay? What happened?" He asked as he set his yogurt down and rushed to her side.
"It's Jesse. He knows." She said, breathlessly, her voice heavy with emotion.
"How, did he hurt you?" He asked, placing his hands on her shoulders and checking her over.
"N-no. I'm fine. But he's going to kill you. Marv gave him the security footage from across the road. He knows it was you, Michael." She said, searching his face.
Taking a breath, Michael stepped away, his mind racing a mile a minute. He and Jesse had just managed to get Barrett to come to Miami. He needed Jesse in order for the operation to succeed. He needed to get through to Jesse, make him understand that he hadn't meant to burn him and that he could get Jesse's job back if they completed the operation.
Fiona must have interpreted his distance as a lack of regard for the emotional state of their friend, their highly likely to be murderous friend.
"Well, Michael?" She asked, impatience masking her other emotions, "You need to talk to him."
"I know. We need him for the meeting with Barrett."
"'We need him for the meeting with Barrett?!' Really, Michael? That's all that we need him for?" Fiona had swiftly moved from worry for his safety to indignation, assuming that all he cared about was the mission.
"Fi, you know what-"
"No. No, I don't, Michael. If all you can think about is the mission right now, not your friends, then maybe you deserve what's coming." Glaring at him, she continued, "I was afraid that Vaughn's influence would turn you into something you weren't, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon. Perhaps I should have known better."
"Known better? Who do you think I am, Fi? What do you think I'm capable of?"
"I don't know anymore. Maybe you've always been this way. Maybe I was foolish to think that anything could matter to you more than your pointless job." With that she marched back out into the rain, slamming the door behind her.
Turn him into something he wasn't? Doesn't know anymore? Michael closed his eyes in frustration, groaning as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. Rubbing a hand subconsciously over his heart, he just stood there, consumed by his thoughts.
He knew how she and Sam had felt when Larry had been in the picture. That Larry somehow appealed to this darker side of him that he couldn't control and wanted to give in to. They didn't like Simon for the same reasons. In their eyes, Larry and Simon were what he could become.
What Sam and Fiona didn't or couldn't understand was that, regardless of what happened, who he is was fundamentally different from who Larry and Simon are.
Nonetheless, Fiona's exit hurt. Her faith in him, his Mom's faith and Sam's faith in him were where he found the strength to push past the demons of his past. Now that faith was being shaken.
Finally stirring, he called Sam, he needed someone to have faith in him before he sought out Jesse.
"Hey Mikey, everything okay?" Sam answered.
"No. Jesse knows."
"Oh boy. That's not good. Do we know where he's at?"
"Not yet, but I'm going to find out."
"Do you need backup?"
"I just need you to find Fiona, Sam. She was not in a good mood when she left, and someone needs to look out for her."
"Will do, buddy."
"Thank you, Sam." Michael hung up the phone. At least Sam wasn't angry with him. Grabbing his coat, Michael made for the door.
Opening it, he came face to face with Jesse's fist.