A/N: Thanks for reading...let me know what you think :)


Paige slowly walked out of the bathroom, her eyes traveling down the hall to Mike's closed door. Briggs must have said something to Silvo, because the Bureau hadn't tried to move anyone into Mike's room. This wasn't like when Donny got shot and Mike moved in the next day.

It had been three days since everything happened. She still had trouble wrapping her mind around the fact that Mike was really gone. Her face flushed with guilt as she realized she wouldn't need to avoid Mike in the mornings anymore.

Catching sight of Mike at the stove, Paige hesitated before entering the kitchen and turned to Jakes. "Hey, do me a favor. Start a pot of coffee for me. I forgot my phone."

"You're holding your phone."

Paige looked at her phone in her hand, "Well, I should grab my phone charger. It's gonna be a long day."

"There's one in the car."

"Coffee, now." She couldn't avoid Mike forever. But the last thing she wanted to do was make small talk with him right now.

But right now she would give anything to have him wake her up at 6am to go running. She would even join him without complaining.

"You're joking right?" Paige groaned, rolling away from Mike, burying her face in his pillow. Sunrise was meant for sleeping. Meant to be viewed before going to bed. Not meant as a backdrop for running.

Mike pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, "Come on, it'll be fun."

"Fun? Running at 6am isn't fun. It's torture, pure torture. Why do you hate me?"

"I'll take you to breakfast."

Her interest piqued, Paige rolled back over, tenderly smiling at Mike. His hair was going in at least five different directions, which made her want to keep him in bed longer, not let him drag her out of bed. "Keep talking."

"Coffee." Mike lightly ran his fingers across her arm and she followed the path of his fingers with her eyes, then narrowed them as she realized he was trying to distract her.

"We have coffee here," Paige pointed out. "Come on, Agent Warren, wow me with those top notch negotiating skills they taught you at Quantico."

Mike laughed, "So this is like a hostage situation then?"

Holding the sheet against her chest, she shrugged. "Something like that. I'm the hostage, but I have to approve your unreasonable demands."

"Unreasonable? Okay, if running is unreasonable, I'll counter with..." Mike's voice trailed off for a few seconds, thinking. "If you go running with me, I'll let you handcuff me when we get back."

Heat rushed to her face and she pulled Mike closer for a kiss, "Then I should stay here and conserve my energy, if I'm going to have my way with you. Trust me, it'll be worth it. Wake me up when you get back."

Mike shook his head, playfully yanking at the sheet. Paige swatted him, laughing as he climbed out of bed.

Paige heard someone walking upstairs and she hurried to her room, wanting to avoid whoever was coming to check on her. Not that everyone didn't have a legitimate reason for coming upstairs, but she didn't need someone checking on her every five minutes. Everyone had stuck close to home the past few days. There had been a lot of drinking and tears. Laughter as they told stories about Mike.

"Remember that time Mikey was outnumbered, five to one?" Johnny asked.

"Hey - I was there too," Briggs said.

Paige tensed, not really wanting to hear about all the times Mike cheated death when all she could think about was the one time he didn't.

Johnny shook his head slightly, slinging his arm over her shoulders, "Merciless Mike," Johnny quietly whispered. "Sorry." Paige relaxed, leaning into Johnny's embrace. "But you weren't armed. Not that the bears were armed either. But they never stood a chance against Merciless Mike. Because..."

Johnny and Mike were close. But she was surprised that Johnny had been around as much as he had, considering that the case against Carlito Solano was technically still open. She wasn't sure what was going on with Carlito. She only knew that Johnny was getting a lot of texts and wouldn't answer calls in front of her. Maybe it had nothing to do with Carlito. Maybe it was all personal stuff involving Lucia.

"I'm in love with Lucia."

She admired Johnny for that. Even though it screwed things up. Compromised his judgment. At least Johnny had the guts to admit what he loved her. It made things messier and more complicated, considering his job and Lucia's last name, but at least he had the guts to admit it. Unlike her and Mike who made a huge mess out of their personal life by not dealing with anything. By letting the case get in between them. Letting their residual feelings and resentments affect the case.

Paige quickly changed, throwing her hair into a messy bun and went back in the hall. Her eyes drifted towards Mike's door again and before she knew what she was doing she was standing in front of his room. Her hand was on the knob and she froze. She had only been in Mike's room once since Johnny found her that first night. But she needed to do this. Someone needed to pack up Mike's things and ship them to his family. She had chickened out in calling his mom to offer her condolences, the least she could do was pack up this things. She needed to finish the letter she started to write his mom, but she wasn't sure what to say. Sorry for your loss seemed too impersonal and she didn't want to put all her feelings of regret and grief onto his mom, but at the same time she wanted her to know how special Mike was. That he had people out here that cared about him. She wasn't sure if Mike's mom even knew about her. Why would he have told his parents about her? It's not like she had mentioned Mike to her parents before this week.

Mike's funeral was in three days. His body was being shipped home at his mother's request, but they were having a memorial service here too. She hadn't decided if she was going to New York for the other service. She hadn't talked about it with anyone, wasn't sure if anyone else was going, but if not, she was sure she could convince someone to go with her. If nothing else, she needed to get out of this house for a few days. Graceland was suffocating her. She couldn't sleep. She kept having nightmares of Mike getting shot. She kept hearing him call out for her and she couldn't get to him. The worst dreams were the ones where he bled out in her arms. She started sleeping in Johnny's room because she couldn't sleep alone. Or maybe he just thought it was easier, because then he wouldn't have to wander down the hall to wake her up when he heard her screaming.

"Paige," Mike groaned, clutching his side.

Panicked, she rushed over to Mike and pushed aside his shirt. "You're gonna be okay," Paige whispered, trying to remain calm despite being freaked out by how much blood there was. Pressing his shirt over the bullet wound, she brushed back his hair with her other hand, trying to comfort him as his shirt became saturated with blood. Shouldn't the bleeding be slowing down? Not speeding up? "Everything's gonna be fine."

"I - "

"Shh, don't talk," Paige said. "Help's on the way."

Mike closed his eyes, "Ti - tired. Too la - late."

"Mike? Stay with me, okay? Just stay with me," Paige cried as his head rolled to the side. She touched his face, her heart stopping when he didn't respond. "Mike?" Her hands were shaking, but she pressed her fingers to his neck as she searched for a pulse. "No. Don't you dare, Mike Warren. Don't you dare die on me!" Tears spilled down her face and she cried out for him when she couldn't find one.

To his credit, Johnny hadn't made a single joke. Hadn't joked about her crawling from Mike's bed to his. About the possibility of them hooking up now that they were sharing a bed. He had been great about everything. Comforting her when she woke up in the middle of the night when she woke up crying. Holding her when she cried, which seemed to be most of the time. Letting her vent and not tell her that things would be fine. Getting shitfaced drunk with her when she didn't want to feel anything at all.

If she went to the service in New York, she was going to stay with her parents when she returned. Or if she didn't go to the funeral, she would go after the memorial held here. Her supervisor had given her some time off. She was pretty sure she would go insane if she stayed in this house any longer. She felt like she was drowning in her grief. Choking on regrets. Mike was everywhere in this house.

She needed to do this. For Mike. For her own sanity.

Trembling, Paige took a deep breath and opened the door. She looked around, confused at the bare room. Everything but the furniture was gone. Mike didn't have much, but he had things. Clothes. Books. Where were all his things? Paige turned around and came face to face with Charlie. "What happened? Who did this?" Paige angrily demanded.

"Paul packed up his things. He's going to send everything to his family. If there's something you want..."

Paige could hear the pity in Charlie's voice. As if some stupid knickknack was going to make it better. Not that Mike really had personal things in his room. Just like last summer, he showed up with a suitcase and hadn't planned on staying. His idea of decorating was a bag of golf clubs and a few random photos. Besides, all of that was just stuff. She had the one thing that mattered. She still had the letter he gave her last summer, the one he wrote to the FBI when he was a kid. Part of her wanted to ask for his St. Christopher's necklace, but she didn't deserve to have it. His mother should have it.

Paige shook her head, "No, it's fine. It's good. I was - I was actually dreading having to do this. I'm glad he took care of it."

Charlie rested her hand on Paige's arm, "Talk to me."

"What is there to say? Mike's gone. He's not coming back. I'm trying to deal with it, okay?"

"We all miss him," Charlie gently said.

She didn't doubt that. Everyone had their own relationship with Mike and the last thing she wanted to do was minimize anyone's grief, but it wasn't the same. "I know. It's just - I miss him. I can't believe he's really gone."


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