Steve pushed the door opened to find Mike seemingly asleep. As he approached the bed, his partner's eyes fluttered open and he smiled. "Hey, I was wondering when you were gonna get here. You promised dinner," he said with a chuckle.

"I did and I have. It's in the sunroom. Feel like going for a walk?"

"Yeah," Mike said with a faint moan as he sat up, a hand to his chest, "I've just been lying here all afternoon and I'm a little stiff." With Steve's hand on his elbow, he slid carefully off the bed, and Steve helped putting on his robe.

Mike slipped his arm through Steve's and they slowly moved across the room and out the door, turning in the direction of the sunroom. "What did you do today?"

"Oh, just went into the office for a few minutes to talk to Rudy, tell him about my surgery and see if anything new was going on."

"And?"

"Not too much, nothing we have to worry about anyway. By the way, he said Marie is thrilled that you're going to be spending more time with them," Steve chuckled.

"Oh great," Mike said dryly then added with a smile. "But she's a damn good cook. I better watch myself or I'll gain 'those unwanted pounds'," he chuckled. Then his face turned solemn and he said ponderously, "Then again, I'll be leaving their place and going to yours…hmmm, I might need those extra pounds after all, the way you cook," he finished with a smirk and another chuckle.

"Har-dee-har-har," Steve intoned sarcastically, but his face with alight with a warm and affectionate grin. Life was slowly coming back to normal, he felt.

They had reached to entrance to the sunroom, and Mike sniffed the air. "Chinese food, you got us Chinese food, am I right?"

Shaking his head in amused admiration, Steve led them around the corner and stopped. He felt Mike stiffen beside him. "Wow," the older man gasped breathlessly. Standing before them, behind a table full of Chinese food containers, napkins, chopsticks, forks and cans of soda, stood Haseejian, Tanner and Lessing sporting broad grins.

"There he is," announced Haseejian with a belly laugh, as he crossed around the table and approached the older man. He held out his arms. "Boss," he said warmly and, as Steve backed away, very carefully enveloped Mike in a gentle embrace. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he took a step back.

Grinning, Mike nodded. "Getting better every day, though it's gonna be awhile till I'm back." Haseejian stepped away as Tanner and Lessing came forward, each of them giving him a gentle hug as well. Mike had always been a tactile boss, and his staff had quickly learned that the occasional hug was not out of the question, a trait that took awhile to get used to for some.

"Sit down," said Haseejian, gesturing at the large armchair that had been moved near the table, and Steve once more put his hand on Mike's elbow and helped him to sit. Mike couldn't disguise his discomfort and the others frowned in worry; they had all noticed the slowly fading but still highly visible deep purple bruise on their boss's chest above the blue gown, and the dark circles under his eyes.

Noticing their concern, Mike smiled as he beheld the table. "This looks great," he said, "thanks, guys, I appreciate this, you have no idea."

The others took their seats and began to pass around the food cartons. Steve, sitting beside his partner, looked after filling Mike's plate. "Where's Dan?" Mike asked to no one in particular, and Haseejian, who was reaching for an egg roll, hesitated only a fraction before saying brightly, "Oh, he had something to do back at the office that he couldn't get out of – but he said to say hi and get well soon."

"Something to do with that robbery-homicide thing?" Mike asked, as he watched Steve putting garlic spareribs on his plate.

Haseejian's eyes widened marginally and he shot a quick glance at Steve, who nodded slightly but sharply. "Ah, yeah, that's right. He's the one that got caught up in all that and they're making him stay late tonight." He rolled his eyes, hoping Mike hadn't noticed the hesitation.

"Well, his loss," Mike chuckled as he looked up from his plate at his sergeant and grinned.

Tanner opened a can of ginger ale and put it on the table in front of his boss. "Here you go, Mike," he said with a smile and a quick look towards Haseejian. "So, how are you doing really?" he asked, and from the corner of his eye he saw the Armenian detective sigh silently and lean back.

# # # # #

Mike stood still while Steve undid his robe and slipped it off, then he sat on the side of the bed. With the younger man holding his right forearm and the other hand on his back, he leaned back against the pillows and raised his legs onto the bed, holding his breath.

Sighing painfully, he watched as Steve started to pull the sheet up. Looking at the top of his partner's head, he asked quietly, "So what is it that you don't want to tell me?"

Steve froze for a split second then continued to reposition the sheet. "What makes you think I've been keeping something from you?"

"I may not be at the top of my game right now, but I'm still a detective, Steve. I've known for a long time that you haven't been telling me everything, and tonight just confirmed it. Norm did a good job of trying to cover but, hey, he's no Marlon Brando."

Steve couldn't repress a chuckle, and he turned to meet his partner's upraised eyebrows. He sighed loudly and shook his head. "Norm'll be devastated," he said with a smile.

"Come on, spill," Mike said, gesturing at the nearby chair and Steve sunk into it reluctantly.

"You really want me to tell you?"

Mike looked at him evenly then asked quietly. "Why is it that you don't want to?"

Even though he knew he was putting the young man on the spot, Mike continued to stare, not moving.

Steve shifted uneasily then smiled, shook his head again and looked away. He sighed heavily then turned to meet Mike's eyes directly. "All right, you want me to tell you, I'll tell you," he snapped. "Garrity's dead."

He watched Mike's head recoil slightly but his expression didn't change. "How?"

"He was beaten to death in a cell on the seventh floor."

A pause. "When?"

"Two days ago, while I was getting my jaw unwired and you were in the OR."

Another pause. "Do they know who did it?"

"Ah, no, not yet… but IA is investigating Dan and Bill."

"What?" Finally Mike's detective demeanour showed a crack. "Why?"

"Because they were between here and the office when it went down. They got stuck in traffic and then stopped for a bite to eat but so far they haven't been able to prove that to the satisfaction of IA."

"What do you think?"

Steve looked at him, brow furrowed, then looked away. "I don't have to think, I know - they didn't do it."

"Okay…that's good. But why do you think IA suspects them?"

Steve took a deep breath. "Not them - Dan. He, ah, he took what happened to you pretty hard… Everybody did."

Mike swallowed and looked down. "Ah, so where was Dan tonight?"

"I have no idea, but I do know he's working on the Garrity case on his own, while everyone else has been hand-cuffed. He's going out on a limb here, Mike – he could lose his job over what's he's doing right now."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Mike said quietly, the iron back in his voice. "Who knows what he's doing?"

"Norm, Bill, Lee, Rudy, me – and now you."

Mike nodded. "Let's keep it that way. And, ah, don't tell them I know, not yet."

"Okay," Steve said softly, as he began to rise.

"Hey, hey, hey," Mike caught his attention and he stopped midway to standing.

"What?"

"Sit down," the older man ordered, pointing at the chair, "you're not done yet."

Warily, Steve sat back down.

"I asked you earlier why you didn't want to tell me and you didn't answer. I think I kinda figured that out, so you're off the hook for that one…" Steve shot him a relieved look "… but what else haven't you told me?"

Steve froze, brow furrowed once more. "What do you mean?"

"Steve…"

The younger man grinned, shaking his head in confusion. "I really don't know what you're talking about."

"When Dr. Nugent walked into my room after I woke up, that wasn't the first time you two had met, was it?"

Steve's eyes widened slightly and Mike smiled.

"You talked to him while I was sedated, didn't you, and he told you what really happened, didn't he?"

Steve hesitated then dropped his eyes. "Yeah."

"What happened?"

Steve took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "What I told you was what he had initially told me. But when I talked to him a second time, to find out how you were doing from his perspective, he told me what really happened. He said he didn't want to make it sound worse than it really was so he put a good face on it when he saw us in the waiting room right after the procedure."

Mike waited, knowing Steve needed to gather his thoughts before going on.

"Mike, you were clinically dead for almost two minutes before they got your heart started again. They didn't have time to get you to the OR – Dr. Nugent had to insert the needle into your heart right in your room with nothing except his skill and experience. You really were incredibly lucky – Nugent's the only guy in this hospital that could've done that and he was visiting a patient just down the hall." He paused to let his words and their implications sink in. "They got you into the OR after your heart started again, and that's when they put the catheter in."

Mike had looked away, and Steve was staring at the floor. Neither spoke for several long moments. Then Steve cleared his throat. "When Dr. Nugent told me it scared the hell out of me … it still does." He reached out and put his hand in Mike's, smiling at the strength of the returned squeeze.

They sat in silence for awhile, then Steve pulled his hand away and stood. "Listen, ah, I better get out of here, let you get some sleep."

"That sounds like a good idea," Mike said softly, neither making eye contact.

As he crossed to the door, keeping his back to the room, Steve said, "I'll come by tomorrow morning, bring breakfast. I'll see you then." He opened the door and was just about to leave when Mike's voice stopped him.

"Steve."

The younger man hesitated before he turned, almost reluctantly meeting his partner's stare.

"Thank you," Mike said simply, his expression a heartwarming blend of understanding and affection.

Steve smiled slowly. "Sleep well. I'll see you in the morning."