A/N: Another chapter that escaped from me, I almost split it into two parts but that would've messed up ending perfectly on twenty chapters. Don't be shocked, but there's actually light moments in this chapter. Let me know what you think :)

Paige was positive she shouldn't be this nervous about seeing Mike, only she was. He was coming home from the hospital today and she wasn't sure where they stood. It had been a few days since everything happened with Sid and he actually asked her to stay and watch a movie with him.

Paige glanced at her watch, knowing that Jakes and Mike would be home any minute. Earlier she planned to go with Jakes to pick up Mike, but changed her mind at the last minute, because she didn't want to risk fighting with him. She had seen him everyday since then, but everything was so fragile with them. She was still afraid of saying the wrong thing and she hated that. Hated that she turned into someone that second guessed her instincts and questioned her impulses. But she was willing to do whatever it took to prove to Mike that he could trust her again. Pushing him into something he wasn't ready for would only push him away. She wasn't sure Mike could forgive her and even if he did forgive her, that didn't mean he wanted to get involved with her again. The only thing she was sure of was that crowding him or telling him she loved him right now would be a disaster.

She needed to give Mike time. Be patient like he had been with her over the summer. She knew exactly how he felt about her, but despite Mike wanting to tell their roommates about them, he hadn't pressured her into defining what they were. Although, she more than suspected that if she had told him she was officially his girlfriend, he would've run to the nearest florist for long stemmed roses. Even if he was open to exploring a relationship again, they couldn't rush right into things. They had been through so much and both of them, mainly her, had done unspeakable things and they couldn't pick things up where they left off. Not that she would want to, because how they ended was a perfect storm of lies and betrayal.

Mike was part of the reason she was leaving Graceland. Not the whole reason, but her disastrous relationship with Mike definitely factored into her decision. She wasn't even sure she'd stay if he asked her to, because for her own sanity she needed to leave. Now that Mike was officially alive, she finally met with a therapist despite it no longer being mandatory. She couldn't get into the specifics about any of their cases, but she had talked a lot about her inability to trust herself in the field. Just the thought of going undercover was enough to send her into a full blown panic attack and there was only so much time she could take off from field work while being allowed to stay in Graceland.

Her plan was to work a desk job for a few months and consult on cases. After she trusted her judgment again, she'd start working with TAC teams and would eventually reevaluate her decision about staying in the field. Depending on how long that took and if there was an opening in Graceland, she'd love to return. But for now, she needed to leave.

Paige took a deep breath, she was getting ahead of herself.

She looked around Mike's room, making sure that everything was exactly how he had it before Briggs packed everything up and put it in storage. She smoothed out his comforter and glanced at the note she placed on Mike's pillow. She was second guessing herself, trying to decide if leaving him a note about him cashing in his movie rain check was lame or cowardly, because she couldn't bring herself to offer in person.

IOU one movie, it doesn't have to even be an old one. One movie, your choice :)

Her hand hovered over the note, debating on whether she should grab it or not when she heard the front door open.

"Anybody home?" Jakes called.

Paige rushed out of Mike's room, the note forgotten the second she learned Mike was home. She slipped out of his room, leaving the door open and resisted the urge to run downstairs, but settled for quickly walking. Paige hung back near the doorway of the kitchen as she watched Charlie greet Mike.

"Welcome home," Charlie said, hugging him. "I missed you."

"You're making sauce?" Mike asked, reaching for the pan lid only to have his hand slapped away.

"You just got out of the hospital, but you have to wait like the rest of these degenerates. Dinner is at 7:25."

Mike nodded solemnly. "You have the whole house to yourself? Probably easier to guard the sauce if no one is home."

"Johnny and Briggs are outside. If you're feeling up to it, we were going to have a bonfire after dinner."

"Sounds good. So..." Mike's voice trailed off as he looked around the kitchen and Paige froze when Mike noticed her.

Charlie gave her an encouraging nod, and Paige offered Mike a small wave in return. "Hi."

"Hey," Mike said.

Two words. Not exactly the reunion she imagined, but things were going as well as they could. He was talking to her. If one word counted as talking. They awkwardly stood there for a few minutes, neither sure what to say, making it clear that they had no idea how to act around each other.

"Paige, I'm going to go take a quick shower, watch that for me. Make sure no one touches it, that includes Mike."

Paige quickly nodded, grateful for the distraction.

"You're trusting her with that?" Mike asked, making a not so subtle reference to her lack of cooking skills.

"With cooking? Not a chance, but she'll guard it," Charlie said, walking out of the kitchen. "You can supervise if you think she needs it."

Paige hesitantly walked into the kitchen towards the stove and Mike reached out to touch her arm as she walked past him. Overcome with emotion, she closed her eyes as tears started streaming down her face. Her eyes opened when she felt Mike's hand on her face.

"Your bruises are fading," Mike quietly said, lightly tracing his fingers along her discolored skin, before brushing away her tears.

"Time heals all wounds, right?" She wasn't talking about her bruises and they both knew it. She couldn't bring herself to ask him if he could forgive her because she was afraid he'd say no. Maybe she was being delusional, but at least she could cling to the hope that he might one day forgive her.

Mike held her gaze for a few moments longer before dropping his hand and shoving it in his pocket. "Eventually."

Paige nodded, quickly pulling away from him and reaching for the spoon. "I should probably stir that. If the sauce burns in the half hour or so that I'm watching it, I'll never hear the end of it. Are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich or something before Charlie gets back downstairs." Lifting the lid, she took a deep breath, savoring the aroma before stirring it for a few seconds.

"I'm good, thanks. We hit up the drive thru on the way back. I'm going to head outside for a little bit, it feels like I haven't seen the sun in forever. I don't even remember the last time I went running."

Paige finished stirring the sauce and set the spoon back down again. She couldn't even begin to imagine how stir crazy Mike must've been in the hospital. He probably went crazy from being in his room, not even having the freedom to move around the hospital. "Enjoy, it's nice out. It was supposed to rain earlier, but it didn't...," Paige rambled on for a few minutes more minutes about the weather forecast, wondering when they became the type of people that had nothing to discuss but the weather.

Mike nodded, "I'll catch up with you later."

"You sure you're up to this?" Paige asked, placing the giant bowl of popcorn on the corner of the L-shaped sofa. Mike was stretched out on one side. "Are you sure you're comfortable?" She fussed over him for a few minutes, making sure he was propped up by enough pillows.

"I'm fine, let's start the movie and eat this before Charlie changes her mind and takes away our popcorn," Mike said.

"Good point," Paige said, settling herself on the other side of the sofa, stretching her legs out so her feet rested on the coffee table. They were lucky that Charlie even let them have popcorn, on sauce night she never let anyone in the kitchen eight hours before it was ready, insisting that everyone had to have a healthy appetite for dinner. She was positive that the only reason they got popcorn was because Mike asked and he made sure to mention he wasn't sure he could wait until dinner to eat, but that he would try. Naturally, Charlie caved, because the only thing that could make her bend her rules about sauce night was someone being sick and no way was Charlie immune to Mike's exasperated sighing and puppy dog eyes.

Mike hit play and she laughed when she recognized the opening credits. "Stowaway? Really? Paige asked, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice.

"You've got to s-m-i-l-e to be h-a-double-p-y..." her voice trailed off when she noticed Mike looking at her strangely. So maybe her singing was better suited to bar karaoke when the bar was filled with people drinking or drunk. But her singing wasn't that bad.

"What was that?"

"Shirley Temple. You've never heard that song before?"

"Nope."

"Seriously?" What cave had Mike grown up in that he didn't watch Shirley Temple movies? So maybe it was geared more towards girls, but certainly he had to have a cousin or a sister or someone that made him watch. Did he even have a sister?

"No."

"My mom used to make me watch old movies," Paige defensively said, but started laughing once Mike did. "Don't laugh at me. Don't you laugh at me."

"Still haven't seen it."

Paige smiled brightly, not wanting to overanalyze his movie choice, but it wasn't lost on her that he had not only chosen a movie he knew she liked as a child, but had chosen one reminded both of them how things had been before everything started to go wrong.

They settled into a comfortable silence watching the movie, but Paige swore she felt like a teenager on a first date every time her fingers brushed against his if they reached for popcorn at the same time. She knew she needed to tell him about her decision to leave Graceland, but it could wait until after dinner. She wasn't even sure what his plans were. If he was planning to leave or stay. Not that it mattered, she had already made her decision to leave. Paige pushed all thought about the future from her mind, wanting to focus on enjoying whatever time she had left with Mike before either of them left.

Paige mindlessly flipped through one of Charlie's celebrity gossip magazines. She glanced at the clock, annoyed to see it was barely 10am. She had a meeting scheduled in the late afternoon with her supervisor to finalize her plans for leaving Graceland. Even with Mike being alive and Sid being in custody, that hadn't changed. She really needed a break from being in the field. She wasn't sure how she would hold up on a long term undercover assignment. The bus case and the aftermath surrounding it, made her question everything about herself, both personally and professionally. She couldn't be in the field if she was second guessing herself. Her plan was to find an apartment and work a desk job for the foreseeable future.

She looked up when she heard a light knock on her door. "Come in."

Charlie entered her room and sat down on the edge of the bed. "What time is your meeting?"

"Not until 4, why?"

"My doctor's appointment got moved to today, I'm about to head out now. Mike's downstairs. He'll probably need some help changing his bandages. Do you think you can handle it? Because if not, I - "

"It's fine." Charlie wasn't questioning her ability to change Mike's bandages. She wanted to know if she and Mike could stand to be in the same room with each other for more than five minutes without fighting. They had one day of things being somewhat normal between them before things got tense again.

She thought things were getting better between them, but after sauce night it seemed that the only thing Mike wanted to talk to her about was work. After retrieving it from the warehouse, she handed it over to him. Mike still wasn't sure what he wanted to do about the tape. He felt that Briggs' part in Badillo's death was accidental and she agreed with him. While Briggs deserved to punished for being Odin Rossi, he didn't deserve to go to jail for what happened with Badillo.

Maybe this was how things were meant to be with her and Mike. They were meant to be coworkers and nothing more. Otherwise, why would he have asked her to keep her distance when he came home from the hospital?

"I know you're still recovering, but I was hoping we could talk after dinner." Despite the last sauce night ending in disaster, she was able to convince Charlie to make another batch. With everything they had been through, they really needed a sauce night.

Mike leaned against the counter and closed his eyes for a few seconds. "I need some space from - everything."

His unspoken words hung in the air. From her. He needed space from her. He was the one that suggested they watch a movie today and suddenly it was too much for him?

Paige blinked back tears as she took a step back from him. She was so sick of crying over Mike. Sick of begging for his forgiveness. She desperately wanted to fix things between them, but she couldn't do it alone. Couldn't do it if he hated her.

"We need - "

"I don't want to fight with you," Mike quietly admitted. "I'm trying to sort through all of this. I need some time. I just got out of the hospital. Can we put this on hold for now?"

It wasn't what she wanted. But she'd deal with it. Her distrust practically got him killed. He had every right to hold a grudge.

"If you're not sure, I can check with Johnny to see what time he'll be back."

"It'll be fine," Paige insisted.

"There are leftovers in the fridge."

"You don't want me cooking?" Paige asked, pretending to be offended.

"Mike just got home from the hospital, let's not send him back."

"I'm almost done," Paige quietly said, as she pressed down the last bandage. "Then you can go back to ignoring me. Or do you hate me so much that you can't even accept help from me?" Mike could barely look at her and he flinched every time she touched him. Maybe it was pain. But she was convinced it was because it was her. "Despite what you think, I don't want you to get an infection and I'm the only one home. But don't worry, I'm leaving Graceland next week."

"You're leaving?" Mike asked, meeting her eyes for the first time since she had come downstairs to change his bandages.

"Yes, I've been thinking about this a lot over the past few weeks. Things are settling down now and it's safe now, you know?" If Mike hadn't insisted on coming clean about Briggs faking his death, she wasn't sure how long it would've gone on. Part of her understood why Briggs did it, but part of her was always going to hate him for it.

"I didn't realize you were thinking about leaving."

"You said you wanted space. It's hard to talk to someone if they don't want to talk to you."

"You love your job," Mike pointed out, clearly ignoring her comment about him not wanting to talk to her.

"I also don't trust myself in the field and that hesitation could cost someone their life. I'm not willing to take that risk."

"You're an incredible agent, the DEA needs you."

"I'm not leaving the DEA, I'll just be working behind a desk for a little while. Besides, it's not like I'm moving across the country."

"But you won't be down the hall. You shouldn't have to leave your home. Graceland is your home. If you can't be around me, I'll leave."

Paige sadly smiled at him, "It's your home now too and I don't want you leaving because of me."

"But you can leave because of me?"

"You're part of the reason, but I need to do this for me."

"Paige..."

Feeling suffocated, suddenly she was the one that needed space. She grabbed the trash from his bandages and jumped up to throw them away. She stepped into the kitchen to wash her hands, not entirely surprised that Mike followed her. "Are you still going back to DC? Because I'm leaving now, so if you stay you won't have to see me. I'll keep my distance from you if that's what you want." Mike didn't answer her, so she continued, "Do you think this is easy for me? Because it's not. I have to live with what I did, but if I can make things easier for you, it's the least I can do."

"Why haven't you given up on me?"

"Because I love you. You can hate me all you want, but you don't get to tell me how to feel," Paige snapped before she could stop herself. This really wasn't how she wanted to tell Mike she loved him. She hadn't realized it until he died and there hadn't really been a good chance to tell him. Every time they started to get closer and work things out, he would push her away. Naturally the first time she told him she loved him they were fighting.

Paige froze when Mike moved to stand behind her, his hands were on her hips and she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. If she closed her eyes, it was as if she was reliving a memory. Countless times Mike had stepped behind her and kissed her neck. But this wasn't one of those times. This wasn't going to be an affectionate kiss that led to more.

Mike placed his hands on her hips, brushing his lips over the back of her neck. Paige sighed as she leaned back into his embrace. "You're going to find them," Mike said.

"I have to. They're out there and they're scared and - "

"And they have you. You're not gonna stop until you find them. I'm going to make sure you get them out."

"I want a timeout. From the case. From reality." Mike's belief in her gave her the strength she desperately needed to keep pushing forward with this case when she kept hitting dead ends. But she needed a break from all this before she lost her mind.

Mike kissed her neck a few times, as he slid his arms around her waist. "That can be arranged."

Paige turned slightly to kiss him, wishing this moment of just them being could last forever. No interferences from work or reality. She didn't want to take the time to figure out what they were to each other. Was this just a summer romance or the start of something more?

Mike mattered to her. She didn't need to label what they were to prove that he was important to her. Mike anchored her. WIth all the craziness and uncertainty, she had Mike. Without him, she'd lose her mind.

"I don't hate you," Mike murmured, rubbing his thumbs in small circles over her hips. "I hate that despite everything, I still love you."

Paige held her breath. Afraid to move. Afraid she was hallucinating. Afraid to hope.

He loved her. But he hated that he loved her.

Paige turned her head slightly and Mike was watching her intensely, waiting to see her reaction. Mike was close enough to kiss, but if anything happened, it had to be his move. She wasn't sure she could take him pushing her away.

Time stood still as they stared at each other. She remembered first time they kissed. It happened so suddenly but there was nothing sudden about it. Honestly, she was surprised it had taken them that long to kiss. The second time they kissed, they had been flirting all day and she decided to seduce him because she wasn't going to wait until the day before he left to kiss him. So she dropped her towel in front of him, wanting to erase any doubt in his mind, she let him know she wanted him. She would never forget how desired she felt as Mike wantonly stared at her. That night when he kissed her, they combusted. She wasn't sure it could ever be like that again. Easy. Carefree. Playful. Free from emotional baggage. But even after everything she did, he still wanted her.

Paige licked her lips in anticipation, drawing Mike's attention to her mouth. He was no doubt remembering all the times they kissed. she could see the desire in his eyes. She could also see him fighting with himself. She wondered what would win out. Lust or logic.

The days where a kiss or them being able to work out their frustrations with each other in the bedroom were long gone. But if Mike kissed her, it could be the start of something. He wasn't cruel. He wouldn't kiss her to show her she couldn't have him. He loved her. And she loved him. But things would never be that simple for them. There were too many lies and betrayals between them.

How in the world did she turn into a woman that waited for a man to throw a scrap of affection her way? She used to pride herself on not needing a man in her life. If she was lonely for the night, she had no problem keeping things casual. But then she met Mike. She knew from the moment they met that things would never be casual between them. But she hadn't expected to fall in love. That was what happened. She let him in. Made herself vulnerable. It would be so easy to put up walls. Move away from Graceland and forget that Mike ever existed. In fact, she was starting to think that was how things would play out between them.

They heard a door slam and Mike quickly stepped away from her out of habit, just like he used to when they were sneaking around. Paige nervously laughed, running her fingers through her hair as Mike leaned against the counter across from her as Johnny walked in the kitchen.

Paige glanced at Johnny before meeting Mike's gaze. "I have to get going."

"I brought Hector's," Johnny said, setting a bag on the table.

"Tempting, but I have that meeting and I really can't be late."

"Your loss," Johnny said as he grabbed a few plates and headed over to the table.

Mike grabbed her wrist as she walked past him. She tensed as she slowly pulled away. "I can't do this right now." Not right before she met with her supervisor and definitely not in front of Johnny.

Mike nodded, "Find me later, okay?"

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