Author's Note: This scene still takes place in the flashback to the finale episode. This is one of my favorite chapters I think. I've been wanting to write a version of this since I saw the finale and this chapter is really the first thought I had that became this story. Hope you enjoy it!

****CONTINUED FLASHBACK****

Mike lies on the cold floor of the warehouse, hating Sid and hating himself even more. Paige is gone, but he's still struggling to focus. At this point, staying conscious itself is a struggle. He shouldn't have sent her away. Especially like that. If he has to go on the run, who knows if he would ever see her again. Not that he thinks he'll get far in this state. Dying right here on the floor is seeming like a better and better option.

He grits his jaw as he hears footsteps approaching him across the concrete floor. He doesn't need to turn around to know she came back. What he doesn't know is why.

"You're right."

She could have shot him and he would have been less surprised.

"What are you still doing here? Right about what?" Mike asks, wondering if he's hallucinating. This doesn't quite feel real.

Somehow Mike gets a new burst of adrenaline and he finds the energy to push himself up to a seated position leaning against the wall. He looks at her warily. These were words he never expected to hear from Paige. She's just about as stubborn as he is. He examines her face for any betrayal of what she might be thinking. She looks like she's been crying, but has pulled herself together now with a stoic resolve.

"Why do you think I wanted Lina out so badly Mike?" Paige asks, in a quiet voice.

"She was just a scared girl-" Mike closes his eyes, feeling guilty. Somehow it was easier with her hating him.

"They were all scared girls, Mike." Paige says practically. "I think the reason I can't forgive you for Lina's death, is I can't forgive myself for it."

Mike looks at her with a new understanding. He always knew she felt guilty, responsible for Lina somehow, but once she'd started blaming Mike for keeping the place open, for keeping Lina in there, that guilt had seemed to disappear. Now he saw that it hadn't, it had just been redirected in his direction. He wishes he could have been there for her these past few months. He wishes she would have let him be the shoulder to cry on rather then the punching bag. He knows he's hurt her, but he didn't know how much she was hurting herself.

He scoots over to make room for her as she sits down next to him leaning against the wall. It's like the past hour of emotional highs and lows have completely zapped her energy. The two sit in silence for a moment, both replaying everything that's happened, using the wall for physical support when the support they really need can only come from the other.

"So where does that leave us?" Mike finally asks. His voice doesn't hold much hope.

"I don't know." She answers honestly.

"Paige, I care about you so much-" Mike turns towards her, despite the pain, trying to convince her.

"I know." She says, and she knows it's true. Everything he'd done, had been for her. She just has been mad at him for so long, feeling anything else seems foreign.

Mike stares at her sadly. She feels so close, and yet so far away. She shivers a bit, and he adds her discomfort to the list of things he feels responsible for.

"You're soaked." Mike leans in to touch her damp hair. "You need to go home. You'll get sick if you sit around like this."

She laughs through her tears, and somehow the pain in Mike's side seems to lessen. "What?"

"You're bleeding out on the floor, and you're still worried about me catching a cold." She smiles sadly as she turns to lean against the wall facing him. "Come on. Get up. The storm's passed. Let me take you to the hospital."

"I can't go with you Paige. I need to think." Mike groans, turning away from her again, breaking the tender moment.

"What are you talking about?" Paige asks, looking over at him suspiciously. He's hiding something.

"He shouldn't have sent you." Mike mumbles to himself.

Paige realizes he's doing that thing. That thinking thing Mike does, where he gets so wrapped up in his head that he starts mumbling to himself, and it's only in fragments because his brain is working faster than his mouth ever could. Which means Paige can't quite follow is stream of thought ramblings. "He was supposed to come. Briggs should have been here. If Briggs doesn't do it then Sid will still-"

"Mike what are you talking about? I brought you the IDs. Mike, you need to go to the hospital, let me drive you there…" Paige reaches forward to touch his shoulder, trying to get him to focus.

"NO!" Mike says harshly, jerking hard away from her. "It has to be Briggs!"

"Mike, I know things have been tense between us recently, but I'm still on your side. You can trust me. What do you need?" Mike is getting agitated, and she's worried he's going to hurt himself even further. If he would just let her see his side, maybe she could help, but apparently she is the last person on earth who Mike wants help from.

"I need you to go. Pretend you never saw me." Mike groans. His plans never work. It should have never been her here. He has to keep her safe.

"Mike, I'm not leaving you. Not like this." Paige says stubbornly.

"You want to help me? Then get in your damn car and drive away, Paige. Call Briggs, and tell him to get his ass down here, I can still-" Mike yells the words at her in a harsh tone that would make any other person shrink back from the venom behind them, but Paige knows Mike too well to let his anger distract her.

"What do you need Briggs to do Mike? Tell me!" Paige is sick of the lies. Sick of him trying to protect her from the truth. He's hiding something from her.

He bites him lip and stares stubbornly up at the ceiling.

"What aren't you telling me Mike? Tell me the truth! After all we've been through, you owe me that. For once! Tell me." She gets up on her knees and leans in so she is right up next to his face. She is about two seconds away from reaching down and pressing his injury, torturing him for the information, when he finally relents.

After a long moment passes, he finally says, "I need Briggs to go to Sid and give him my location."

"What?" Paige isn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't that. She feels like the breath has left her body. She falls back suddenly needing the wall for support.

"It's the only way."

She almost slaps him again.

She would slap him if he didn't look so pathetic leaning against the wall holding his side. What was he thinking? Was he suicidal?

"Paige, he's told everyone I shot those guy's at Solanos. It's my word against his. I need to get more proof. I need time. Time to figure this all out. I was wrong before. I tried to face everything head on and it just blows up in my face." Mike tries to make her see this is the only way, "This time, Sid can't see me coming."

"So run!" Paige's voice echos in the empty warehouse.

"Paige, I need to get the upper hand on this guy. He knows I'm on the run. He won't stop until he hunts me down. He won't stop until I'm dead."

"Well then we'll fake your death. We'll put you in witness protection and post an obituary-" Paige says practically, already finding a million plans she feels more comfortable with then having Mike face Sid in this condition.

"No, Sid's too smart for that. Besides, the bureus against me. No the only way Sid believes I'm dead is if he does it himself."

"So just turn yourself in to the authorities! We'll get you an attorney. We'll prove you didn't do this." Paige tries to make Mike see reason.

"I'm not going to get a fair trial. Not right now. He's too good. He's stacked the deck. I need a chance to clear my name." Mike insists. "It's ok. I have a plan, but none of it works unless Briggs tips him off about my location. Sid needs to come find me in the hospital."

"How do you know Sid won't just tell the authorities where you are?" Paige asks, seeing a hundred different ways this plan could go wrong. This was suicidal.

"He won't. He's got too much pride. He'll come after me himself." Mike says confidently.

"And then what happens when he does! You can't do anything if you're dead Mike!" Paige yells.

"Well I can't do anything while Sid thinks I'm alive either! I have a plan, I can beat this guy Paige. Trust me."

"What if he just shoots you in the face?!" Paige asks, "What then Mike?"

"He won't." Mike answers simply.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know how I would do it." Mike's voice takes on a dark tone, and it's moments like this that remind Paige and dark and dangerous Mike can actually be under that clean cut golden boy exterior.

"Mike this plan is insane." Paige tries to talk some reason into Mike. "There's too many things that could go wrong."

"Paige, it's my best shot." Mike groans "I have no other choice. I'm not going to just let him win."

"Why would Sid trust Briggs now? He slaughtered his own team Mike. People he's worked with for years. If Briggs just conveniently comes forward with your location Sid will know it's a trap. Why would Sid believe Briggs wanted you dead? If Briggs knew why wouldn't he just go to the proper authorities? Why would he go to Sid?" Paige starts to point out the millions of holes she sees in this plan.

"Because I have this." Mike reaches into his bag slowly, his injury making the movements jerky and as he pulls out the tape.

"Is that-" Paige stares wide eyed. It couldn't be what she thinks it is.

"The missing tape from Juan's car? Yeah." Mike groans.

"And did he-" Paige can barely get the words out. So much had been happening with Solano, and the tinkerbells, that Paige had forgotten the original reason Mike came to Graceland. Had completely forgot about Jangles, and the tape.

"Paige everything we suspected was true. Briggs killed Juan and lied about it. Which means… he's probably Odin Rossey." Mike says weakly.

"Does Briggs know you have the tape?"

"No." Mike groans, his side is really starting to hurt. He needs medical attention. "He doesn't yet."

"And you were just going to hand this over to him?" Paige asks, unbelieving Mike would be that stupid to think Briggs would do the right thing after all this.

"Well the original plan was we arrest both Sid and Briggs down at Solano's and then I turn the tape over to the police while they were holding Briggs. That plan clearly went to hell." Mike says wryly, "So what choice do I have? If Briggs needs motive to have Sid kill me, this is it."

"So you're letting one monster go to catch a bigger monster." Paige says, understanding that if Mike gave up the tape, Briggs would get away with everything. She doesn't know how to process all this. Her relationship with Briggs had never quite been the same since Mike came to Graceland. Before she would have trusted him with her life. After the whole tape incident, even though he put on a good face, things never quite had been the same. She tried to forgive, but she was always second guessing things.

"Paige, the tape sounds like it's an accident." Mike defends.

"What about Odin? You don't just accidentally become a drug dealer!" The DEA agent side of Paige is furious. If Briggs was Odin that means he was everything she fought against professionally and she'd been living with him!

"Paige… Sid is dangerous. Sometimes sacrifices…" Mike tries to justify his reasoning to her. They had to get Sid. Everything else came second.

"Fuck you and your sacrifices! What wouldn't you give to catch this guy Mike? You kept Sulla open to try to get him. You lied to me. You ruined your career. You broke the law. Now you're giving up the one piece of evidence we have on Briggs? After all we went through last year trying to find the truth. You're even willing to die to get Sid! What won't you sacrifice? Where does it stop?" Paige yells at him angrily her voice getting louder and louder. Sid was destroying Mike. He was like a drug that was poisoning Mike's system, blurring his judgement, and addiction he was obsessed with. Whatever harm Sid was doing out in the world seemed to pale in comparison to the torture he was inflicting on Mike.

"I HAVE ALREADY GIVEN UP EVERYTHING!" Mike yells back, his side feels like it rips open at the exertion and he gasps in pain, forcing himself to calm down, "I need to get this guy, Paige. I have to."

He needs her to understand. He knows he's obsessed, but at this point he has lost so much, done such terrible things. If he doesn't catch Sid, what was it all for? He needs there to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Some victory to balance the scales.

"Why does it need to be Briggs?" Paige finally asks.

"Any other way would look too suspicious. Briggs has already established contact with Sid. It can't come from a stranger." Mike has is eyes closed breathing through the pain.

"What if it were me?" She asks quietly.

"No." Mike shoots this idea down without a thought. "I don't want him to know you exist. He knows Briggs. Briggs can-"

"He knows me too." Paige admits. "I met him when Briggs and I set up the bust at Silmar."

"No." Mike shoots down the idea again.

He refuses to even consider it. He knew both Paige and Briggs had been involved with the bust at Sulla's, but he had hoped that it had only been Briggs dealing with Sid. The idea of getting Paige more involved is out of the question. This is one of Mike's worse fears. That Sid will somehow find out about his relationship with Paige, and that she'll be hurt in an attempt to get to Mike. She's already been hurt one too many times because of Mike.

"It makes sense Mike. I was the one who sent him to Silmar. I can send him to you too. It buys us time with Briggs. Briggs is a wild card, if we give up the tape now who knows-" Paige is laying out the plan logically. She still doesn't approve of Mike using himself as bait, but if he's going to insist on going through with this plan, he needs to do it well. Briggs makes things even riskier. Plus Paige doesn't want to give up the tape over Briggs.

"NO! I will not risk losing you!" Mike yells, and suddenly Paige realizes she's found the one thing Mike won't sacrifice. Her safety.

"Well I won't risk losing you! So let me get you to the hospital and then we'll regroup from there. We'll find another way-" Paige finds herself yelling back at him.

"This is the only way. Tell Briggs." Mike insists. Placing the tape in her palm, he closes her hand around it. This is his last hope.

"I won't do it, Mike. It's too dangerous." Paige says stubbornly.

"I know a lot has happened between us. I know I've lost you, lost your trust, but please Paige trust me this one last time." Mike begs.

Paige sits quietly staring down at the tape.

"Look, you once told me you were on my side. I need you on my side Paige. Look all I need you to do is to get Briggs to go give me up to Sid. Just tell Briggs, Paige. Make sure that Briggs tells Sid that I'm under the name Mike Richards."

"What if he kills you?" Paige's voice trembles, and she doesn't want to cry in front of him again. "Mike, it's too dangerous."

"Look, it will all work out. You just have to trust me. I'll find you afterwards, ok? I'll contact you once I have a better plan, but this will buy us time. Paige it's the only way." Mike tries to comfort her.

"I have a contact in Croatia. They're a non extradition country. I'll get you cash, I'll find a way for you to travel there, you can just disappear." Paige tries desperately to get Mike to change his mind.

"And never come back? Disappear a disgrace? With that filth still walking free? No. I'd rather-" Mike's hand tightens in anger at the thought of it, but Paige finishes his sentence.

"-Rather die." She says sadly, and the words have a harsh biting ring of truth to them.

"I promise things will be ok. Paige, I give you my-" He can't finish the sentence because he's broken his promises to her before. "Ok, look, I can't make any promises, but I know this is my best shot..."

"I won't do it Mike." She says stubbornly, "We'll find another way."

"Look, I can't make you. But I'm going to that hospital, and I'm going to go ahead and prepare on my end for Sid to show. All you have to do is tell Briggs, Paige. If you can't... Please. Promise me you'll consider it? Paige if this doesn't work, I'm out of options." Mike begs her, his voice calm and soothing. He needs her to believe it will all be ok. He needs to believe it. "Just take the tape. Think about it. "

"I won't do it, Mike. Just take the passports and run. Make a new life for yourself and don't fuck it up like you did this one."

Paige stands up on shaky legs and walks back towards the door tape in hand. She pauses at the door, straightening herself up, steeling herself against the outside world.

Not letting herself look back at the man behind her, she simply says, "Goodbye Mike."

Then the door closes and she's gone.

"Bye Paige." Mike whispers quietly.