Bonnie woke with a start, almost knocking Mike's magazine out of his hand.

"Whoa, hey there. You back already? That wasn't much of a nap."

She tried to sit up, but he reached an arm across her to keep her where she was, lying across the seats with her head in his lap.

"What time is it?" she asked in a fuzzy voice.

He glanced at his watch. "Beats the hell outta me, I'm still on L.A. time. Pilot said we just flew over Labrador. Got another five hours yet." She looked disoriented and a little upset, so he stroked a hand over her forehead and asked, "What slapped you awake like that? Bad dream?"

It took a minute or two to re-form in her head. "No, a nice one, actually. We were in a club in the Village, just listening. You got up and jammed with somebody…" She reached up to touch Mike's face and added a little wistfully, "You looked so happy."

He smiled down at her, and ran his thumb back and forth between her eyebrows. "Did I get to jam with Benny?"

"He wasn't there. Just you and me and the usual crowd, and Ari." She stopped suddenly, looking guilty. "How was Ari when you saw him? He was so good to Benny and me… I never even asked you."

"Hey, had other things on your mind, as I remember. He was great, he's a good guy. Gave me his number for when you're ready to call. He was in kind of a daddy-worried groove but I told him you're fine."

Her face warmed with a sleepy smile, and it was all he could do to hold himself back from tasting it. But she was feeling like talking, so he didn't want to stop her.

"I'll call him from Paris, that'll maybe make up for some things." she said, still smiling. "Oh, I think Peter was there too, in the dream. You guys just played whatever you wanted, and stopped when you felt like it, and all I had to do was sit and listen… somebody else was handling everything."

"Tell me who," Mike laughed softly, "we'll get Bob to hire her to help you."

"Really, it was so great, even if it was just a dream," her expression turned mischievous, "I even sat in your lap, in public. Flashbulbs everywhere, but nobody had a camera, which was weird. Anyway we didn't give a shit. I think Genie was sitting in Peter's lap too, don't know where I came up with that."

Mike could swear she was about to giggle, but then her smile disappeared as if a plug had been pulled. He tapped the corner of her mouth with one finger.

"It sounds like a really groovy dream, why the sad face?"

"I woke up to the real world... nobody's happy here." She stared up at the sweet face and serious brown eyes, struggling to keep tears out of her own. Why am I always on the verge of tears lately?

He answered her unasked question. "C'mon now... you're just burnt out, everything is a drag when you feel like that. Some good food, some good sleep, some good lovin' from yours truly, you'll be as good as new."

She reached up to hug around his neck. "I know. I do this to myself, I'm so afraid of falling behind." Mike didn't answer, just hugged her tightly in return and kissed her head. She pulled back a little and confided, wide-eyed, in an uncertain voice, "Sometimes I just want to quit, y'know? I know I can't, none of us can. That'd be stupid. But times like this, I wanna quit so bad."

"Me too." He gave her another kiss and she lay down again on the pillow in his lap. This time when she looked up, her eyes were brimming with tears.

"I'm so tired, Michael, I don't know what to do." She didn't even notice she'd used his first name, but he did. She closed her eyes as she felt his long fingers tangle in her hair, stroking gently.

"Here's what, go back to sleep, and have one of those nice dreams for both of us." He kept running his fingers back and forth through Bonnie's hair until she drifted off. When he looked up again he saw Genie, who'd paused on her way back to her seat.

"The game's up, Michael," she told him with the hint of a smile.

"Huh?"

"You're not the bastard you try to play." Then she leaned closer and whispered, "It's good she has you."

"Jury's out on that, but I'm tryin'... this time I am tryin'."