A/N: I'm not sure what happened, this chapter was only half as long two days ago. Upfronts are today...so there should be some new pictures and hopefully some interviews surfacing. As for other candid photos that surfaced today, I'm going with people were just goofing around on set until I see something else on air. 6 weeks until the Season 3 premiere!

Thanks for reading, let me know what you think.

"You okay?" Charlie asked, tightly hugging Paige outside of Mike's hospital room. She quickly let Paige go once Paige groaned. "What the hell did Sid do to you?" Charlie started examining her before she could get a word in edgewise.

"I look worse than I feel." For the most part she was okay. Mostly bruises and a few cuts. No concussion, but her head was sore. Her arm would probably hurt for a few days. But she was fine. She was well aware of the fact that things could've turned out much worse, but she didn't want to think about any of that right now. Sid was in custody and would most likely never be a free man. Mike's name was officially cleared and she hoped they could all start moving forward. Paige motioned to Mike's room. "Is Mike awake?"

"He started dozing off, so I decided to head home. Briggs was here earlier, he updated Mike already and filed a report. Are you going to wait around here or do you want a ride home?"

Charlie continued fussing over her and Paige had learned that it was easier to let Charlie play caretaker than to fight her. She had been able to placate Johnny and Jakes earlier, and it wouldn't matter that a real doctor said she didn't need to be admitted to the hospital, Charlie wasn't going to back off until she was convinced she was okay.

"I'm going to stay for a little while. I talked to Jakes, he said he'd pick me up later," Paige said, keeping her voice casual.

"Johnny said you were cleared to go home and rest."

"Johnny has a big mouth." She wasn't mad that Johnny updated Charlie about her injuries. In fact, she expected it. She was just sick of everyone treating her like she was going to break. Although, she supposed that was her own fault. She had been all over the place emotionally the past two weeks and she wouldn't have gotten through any of it without her roommates. Even though Briggs was part of the reason why she had been such a mess.

"Speaking of Johnny, he also told me something about you and Mike having sex at Disneyland? When did that happen?"

Paige nervously laughed, running her hand through her hair. "Wow, that didn't take him long to share did it?" And this was how rumors got started. She wasn't sure if she should give Mike a heads up that everyone thought they had sex at Disneyland or hope that no one would mention it to him. "I'm not sure if I should be flattered - "

"Don't even go there, the two of you made a bet on if Briggs and I would sleep together last summer. Paul and I got you a free week's worth of drinks. I need to hear all about Disneyland."

"Believe me, it's not as exciting as it sounds." Charlie knew about the tape. Knew Mike had it. Or potentially had it. Now that Sid was taken care of, she could go check that warehouse where Mike was after he got shot to and retrieve it for him. But what Charlie didn't know was that Mike told her about the tape.

Charlie looked at her skeptically, "I'm not buying it. I'm going to need very explicit details. You've been holding out about you and Mike. Did they give you anything for pain?"

"Not really. Just some extra strength ibuprofen."

"So tomorrow, me and you and some zombie virus for you and a virgin daiquiri for me?" Charlie gently nudged her with her hip, "Because one way or another, I'm getting that Disneyland story out of you. Don't make me ask Mike, he'll be mortified that you told everyone you two were having sex at Disneyland."

"He definitely will be." Paige closed her eyes for a few seconds, leaning against the wall.

Charlie lightly rested her hand over her forehead, "You sure you're feeling okay?"

"Just a little tired," Paige confessed. The adrenaline she had been running on for the past week had finally worn off and as much as she would love to crawl into bed, she needed to see Mike first. She wasn't looking for his praise or gratitude. She wasn't trying to show off her battle wounds, but she just wanted to see him now that it was over.

"Maybe you should go home for a little while. Get some sleep and - "

"We both know that's not happening until I see Mike. It's just - it's over, you know? Mike's name will be cleared. He got his big win. When he gets out of the hospital, he can come home. He won't have to hide."

"What about you?" Charlie gently asked. "Are you hiding from Mike?"

"I'm standing right here, aren't I?" Paige asked, even though she knew that wasn't what Charlie was talking about.

"You messed up, I know that. You know that. Mike knows that, but you owned up to what you did. You messed up, trusted the wrong person, but you - "

"Don't make excuses for me," Paige whispered. "Don't." She had gone over what happened so many times, wondering how things would've turned out differently if she had done something differently. But it all boiled down to her not trusting Mike when she should have. It didn't matter why or how, she hadn't trusted him and her mistake nearly cost MIke his life. She apologized and tried to make things right as best she could. Now it was up to Mike if he chose to forgive her.

"All I'm trying to say, is that you have to be patient. Give Mike some time. If you want to fight for him, don't give up."

"I'm trying."

Charlie hugged her, "I'll see you at home. Don't forget, we have a date tomorrow."

Paige stared at her blankly for a few seconds before laughing, "Zombie virus, right." She watched Charlie leave and took a deep breath before entering Mike's hospital room.

Her lips curved into a slight smile as she watched him peacefully sleeping. He looked so much stronger than he had the week before. He was still pale, reminding her of when he first arrived from DC last summer. Like he hadn't seen the sun in ages. He looked peaceful, like he could wake up at any moment and smile at her.

"There's those blue eyes."

What she wouldn't give for him to be happy to see her. The animosity between them had definitely lessened since their last blow up. They weren't always fighting but Mike was sending her so many mixed signals she wasn't sure what was going on between them. One minute they were getting closer and the next it seemed like they would never work things out.

There had been so many times where it would have been easier to cut her losses and she was running out of ways to say she was sorry, but she wasn't going to give up on him. Even if he moved back to DC. Even if she moved out of Graceland.

Paige settled into the chair next to Mike's bed and hesitantly reached for his hand, carefully watching Mike to see if she was disturbing him. "It's over," Paige quietly said. "Sid - he's gonna pay for everything he did. Your name is clear. You got the win."

Her neck was killing her. She hadn't meant to fall asleep in Mike's hospital room, but apparently the stress from the past few weeks, especially today, had taken its toll. Paige opened her eyes slowly, surprised to see Mike watching her. She was even more surprised to see that her hand was still resting over his. Paige guiltily pulled her hand away, her fingers lingering over his for a few extra seconds, "Sorry," she apologized, wondering how long he had been watching her.

"You should be home, resting," Mike said, sitting up.

"I'm fine. Not even a concussion. I didn't even need stitches." Jakes and Johnny were wrong about Mike's reaction. Mike wasn't freaking out. She could tell by the way he was clenching his jaw that he wasn't happy, but he wasn't freaking out.

Mike took a deep breath and he stared at her for a few seconds before continuing. "Does your head hurt?"

"A little," Paige admitted, unsure what to make of Mike's concern, reaching up to touch the bandage on her head. She wasn't even sure the bandage was necessary.

"You should go home. Get some real sleep."

"I can take care of myself. I don't need you to manage me," Paige said, her voice more hostile than she intended. What the hell was wrong with her? They were having a semi-civilized conversation, but it was driving her crazy that their interaction seemed so normal. She was so fed up with Mike's mixed signals. One minute he wanted her to leave. The next they were colleagues and talking about the tape. Now he was concerned about her health. She was sick of this. SIck of not knowing what they were to each other. If they were anything.

"I'm not trying..." Mike's voice trailed off and he met her gaze. "I know you've been spending part of your nights here."

"Save the lecture, Mike," Paige bitterly said, too annoyed to feel embarrassed for being caught. This conversation seemed so normal when they were anything but. "You're mad at me, I get that. If I knew how to fix things, I would. But I care about you and you're going to have to deal with that."

"I care about you too," Mike quietly confessed. "As hard as it was to see you, if you were here - I knew you were safe. I knew that Sid hadn't gotten to you. Paige, I..." Mike's voice trailed off for a few moments and she held her breath, waiting for him to continue. "You scared me today."

Paige started picking at her nails, uncomfortable with how personal this conversation was getting. Even though this was what she wanted. She wanted to know where she stood with Mike. The entire time they were together, she spent weeks not trying to define what they meant to each other. Then things blew up between them before they even began. Only to have her wreck things. She wasn't sure if their relationship could be salvaged. If they could find a way to start over. If Mike even wanted that. But the past few days they had been working together. Figuring out how to trust each other again.

Then she lied about her plan to catch Sid.

Technically.

A lie of omission was still a lie. She hadn't wanted Mike to know that she was planning to use herself as bait to catch Sid. He never would've wanted her to do it. Even with how strained things had been between them, he wouldn't have wanted her to take an unnecessary risk. She hated and loved that about him. That he was overprotective of her to a fault. She wasn't sure if it was because she was female. Because they were roommates. Coworkers. Or because it was her. Their past made it impossible for her to know why he was overprotective.

"I didn't mean to."

"You used yourself as bait? He could've killed you! What the hell? You know how dangerous he is! He almost killed me! I flatlined!" Mike yelled, his voice getting louder with each word.

"I know how dangerous he is! But I was fine."

"You're safe now, but you weren't fine! He held a GUN to your head! He smacked you around and threw you across the room! You're lucky all you got was a concussion and a few bruises. What the hell were you thinking?"

Ignoring his question she continued, downplaying the danger she had been in, "I made sure I had backup and - "

"The last time you thought you had backup, you didn't. You were out there all alone. Sid threatened to kill you. He told me he was going to kill you," Mike said, his voice softening slightly but she could see how agitated he was.

"He offered me condolences! Did Briggs tell you that? Did he tell you that he must've been following me for days? Because Sid was waiting for me at my favorite coffee shop with a newspaper that had a fake article about your death and all your alleged crimes." Now that she had started talking, she couldn't stop. She didn't care if she was upsetting Mike. He didn't dictate her life.

"Which is exactly why you shouldn't have been bait. He's dangerous. He hurt you! Look what he did to your face! He went after you because of me! Because of..." Mike's voice trailed off for a few seconds and he squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds. "He thought I was dead, but targeted you because of me. If something had happened to you.."

She heard the guilt in his voice. Mike initially tried to hide how bothered he was about what happened, he couldn't. This wasn't just about Sid. This was about her. He was upset because she got hurt and arguing with him about it wasn't making it any better. She was supposed to be fixing things with Mike, not fighting with him. They couldn't even celebrate that Sid was behind bars because they had this inescapable need to fight. Because fighting about Sid, about whether or not she was bait, meant they could ignore their problems. Meant they didn't have to work through their issues if they were fighting about Sid.

"It's a good thing I have a hard head," Paige joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Mike leaned back on his bed, signaling that he was done fighting. At least for the moment. "You could've told me. I didn't want to find out from Briggs after the fact."

"Would you have tried to stop me?" There were dozens of reasons why she didn't tell Mike, why she insisted no one tell Mike about her plan. Part of her didn't want him to worry. But if she was being completely honest with herself, she was afraid that he wouldn't worry about her, and it wouldn't be because he was compartmentalizing his emotions from the case, but because she no longer factored into his emotions.

Mike laughed softly, "If there's one thing I've learned about you, it's that when you want to do something, nothing can stop you."

"I have it on good authority that I'm stubborn."

Mike nodded quickly, "You think?" He motioned to the remote, "Hand me that, will you?"

Reaching for the remote on the end of the bed, she gave it to him, watching him curiously as he flipped on the TV. "I should probably get going." She had never called Jakes, but she had a feeling he was probably waiting in the hall. Their fight was over, but Mike was clearly more interested in watching TV than talking to her. She wanted to talk about the tape, but tonight probably wasn't a good time.

"I get the old movie channel, I watched a few of the movies you told me about. I finally watched Rear Window. They show black and white movies after midnight. Do you want to watch one?"

"I can't believe you've never seen it," Paige exclaimed, grabbing Mike's laptop from him. "Rear Window is a classic."

"Hey! I was working on - "

Paige silenced him with a kiss. "It's a report that doesn't need to be filed until next week, it can wait a few hours." She pulled up the movie and settled in next to Mike, relaxing when he slipped his arm around her shoulders.

Mike started kissing her neck, "This is nice," he murmured as his fingers inched their way underneath her shirt.

Paige moaned softly, tilting her neck to give him better access. The volume from the movie startled her and she jumped. "Popcorn!" Pulling away from Mike, she swung her legs over the side of the bed but didn't even take one step before he was tugging her back towards him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"We're watching a movie, we need popcorn."

"You're not eating popcorn in my bed."

Paige laughed then shook her head in disbelief, "Seriously?" Of course he was serious. This was the same guy that not only made his bed every morning, but started making hers too. Not that she didn't make her bed, but never first thing in the morning. She was surprised no one had commented about her bed being made before dinner. Because if that wasn't an obvious clue she was sleeping with Mike, she didn't know what else was. "Fine, we can go to my room." She didn't mind eating in her bed, but apparently it upset something in Mike's neat freak world.

Mike shook his head.

Paige pouted and climbed back in bed, pushing his laptop aside as she crawled in his lap. "Please?"

Mike's hands rested on her hips briefly before pulling her closer for a kiss. "Rain check?"

This was the first time that Mike actually seemed glad to see her. He wasn't talking with her because she was stubborn and kept showing up even though he claimed he didn't want to see her. It wasn't because of necessity because there was no one else for him to talk to about the tape. He actually wanted to spend time with her.

She was tempted. So tempted. But she was exhausted and as much as she would love to stay here and watch an old movie with him, the events from the day were starting to catch up with her. Falling asleep in a chair hadn't done anything to alleviate the soreness in her body. What she wanted to do was crawl into bed next to him, but that probably wouldn't go over so well. And she didn't want to mess up what little progress she made by asking.

Mike watched her, patiently waiting for her answer and she could see the doubt start to creep into those impossibly blue eyes of his as he second guessed his invitation. What she wanted to do was kiss him in order to reassure him before letting him down easy. But if crawling into bed next to him to watch a movie was a bad idea, kissing him would probably be a disaster.

"Rain check?" Paige asked, hoping this wasn't some one time offer. Things were progressing slowly with Mike, but at least they were progressing. She had to keep reminding herself of that. It had barely been a week since she found out he was alive. She was lucky he was even talking to her after what she did. "I feel like I want to sleep for a week. I'm not sure how much longer I can stay awake."

Mike shut off the TV, "Right. Yeah, of course. I wasn't thinking. You had a long day and with everything that happened, I'm sure you want to take a hot shower and crawl into bed," Mike rambled.

Paige sighed happily at the thought of hot water soothing her aching muscles, "That sounds amazing." She slowly stood up, already second guessing her decision to leave, but she was pretty sure she would fall asleep the second she closed her eyes.

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