Author's Note: Finishing this one too! Only White Flag left. (That one probably won't get finished before the premiere)
The sun beats down on the windows of the car, and Mike squints at the glare. He looks down and finds himself alone and shirtless in the backseat of his car, covered by a sandy blanket. Looking around Paige is nowhere to be found, but he sees Graceland looming next to the parked car. Mike gets up and stretches, cracking his neck to the side trying to recover from the uncomfortably small backseat and the ache of his muscles. Seeing a small note in the front seat in Paige's handwriting, he sleepily grabs the pills and water accompanying it and heads into the house.
Walking up the stares he doesn't go to his room, he heads straight to Paige's room instead. He knocks on the door and leans against the doorframe, waiting for her response. Running his hand through his hair which is sticking out in every direction, he nods at Jakes who is staring at him strangely as he passes by on his way to the stairs.
"Morning." Mike mutters, his voice sounding hoarse to his own ears.
"Not again..." Jakes grumbles as he shakes his head and continues down the stairs.
"Come in!" He hears Paige's voice call out from inside and walks into her room, upon being invited.
"What's this?" Mike grumbles, holding up the pill she left for him with the note on the seat of the car.
"5-HTP. It'll help with the hangover symptoms." Paige says defensively from where she lies in bed. She has the sheets pulled up over her, and is eyeing him nervously.
"Cool." Mike says simply, popping the pill and finishing off the rest of his water. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he tosses the empty water bottle in the trash and sets down his jacket and oxford on the back of her desk chair.
"That's it?" Paige asks in surprise to Mike's casual reaction.
When he came to her door she was prepared for the world's biggest lecture. About how she was irresponsible and reckless on the case last night. About how she took and gave him illegal drugs and endangered the mission and how he should report her. About how what happened between them last night was stupid and how it didn't mean anything. About how she took all of that intimacy from them when she sent Sid to his hospital bed. She was not prepared for Mike's casual greeting and casual acceptance of her help.
"Is what it?" Mike asks, as he reaches down to begin taking off his flip flops.
"You're just going to take it?" Paige asks, wondering when he was going to launch into lecture mode.
"The note said 'take this'." Mike shrugs at her.
"And you trust me?" Paige asks, because she can't remember the last time that she asked Mike to do anything and it didn't start some massive world war three type argument.
Mike thinks this over for a moment, before shrugging in a nonchalant fashion. "Yeah… Scoot over." Mike says, pulling up her sheets and climbing in under the covers next to her.
"Are you still high?" Paige is confused as to what's happening here. He seems sober, albeit sleepy she looks at his eyes and they don't seem dilated, just relaxed.
"No. You got anything planned today?" Mike asks her as he adjusts in the bed.
Paige considers lying. It's her one day off and she's feeling drained from coming down from the X and her muscles are sore from overuse from all the hours of sex the night before. She was exhausted, yet still unable to sleep deeply. She was planning on laying around all day. She hopes Mike isn't planning on sticking her on a case or anything.
"No…" She finally answers cautiously.
"Good." Mike says simply, rolling over to face her, propping his head on his arm. "I just want to lay around and do nothing today."
"And you want to lay around… here?" Paige asks, incredulously.
"Is that a problem?" Mike asks, like he's realizing for the first time it might be.
"Are you sure you're not still high?" Paige does not recognize this Mike in her bed. She expected once the drugs wore off he would be pissed as hell, back to judging her, fighting her every move. Rejecting her apologies.
"Look at my pupils. I'm not high." Mike says with a sigh, adjusting so he lays even closer. Paige can see, that indeed his eyes look the same shade of blue she always loved. They narrow in concern at her, "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. I just... look I'm sorry. I know what I did last night was stupid and reckless. If you want to report me, or kick me out of Graceland fine, but just know that things have been-"
"Paige, stop! Look, I'm not going to report you. It's fine. No one got hurt. We can regroup on how we're going to write our reports to match up, but our cover wasn't blown. If anything, it might have helped. Jesus, after everything you know about what I've left off the books with Briggs and the Solano's, you really think I'm going to report you for a little E?" Mike says, flopping on his back and staring up at the ceiling.
"The old Mike would have."
"Which Mike are you remembering? The one who took you knocked up to a church to shakedown a woman for her son's address? The one who robbed a bank? The Mike who made up the undercover mission to get a minute alone with you when Johnny wanted you for backup for Carlos, and Jakes begged for help watching his tapes?" Mike grins over at her listing a mere handful of things he left off the books.
"That was back when you liked me." Paige says sadly.
"Do you not remember last night?" Mike asks sarcastically, "It was pretty obvious I liked you."
Paige blushes at the memory, but is still unsettled, waiting for the other shoe to drop. This seems so unreal. Almost more so than last night. At least then she knew why he was acting that way, he was tripping on E. This morning though, he should be back to hating her and yet, this Mike was almost... loving and sweet. Like when they first started hooking up. Sensing her hesitation, Mike pulls her into a hug, looking down at her comfortingly when she doesn't relax in his arms.
"Look, I know things between us have been rough recently, but last night… Last night was amazing. Come on. Admit it. That was incredible." He whispers to her.
"So you had a good trip and realized now you love the Molly. Why are you in my bed?" Paige says, knowing as she says the words she is picking another fight. She can't stop herself. She doesn't know why she can't stop fighting with Mike. She doesn't want it to be like this. The two of them always at each other's throats. She's tired of the fights, of the guilt.
"Because it's not just that. Last night, I felt like something changed. Something changed with us." Mike insists, "Look, I had fun being with you. I always do. Even when we're fighting I can't stay away from you. Yes, the drugs helped me get out of my own way, but I don't need to be high to know I want to be with you, Paige."
"Mike, what are you even saying?"
"I'm saying I want to be with you, and I'm sorry."
"Look I'm not going to lie. I miss that. I miss you, but Mike we just keep hurting each other. How can you forgive me after all I've done? We can't be high all the time."
"I know. But today, let's just hang out. Be together. I'm tired of pretending like I don't care about you Paige. I shouldn't have to." Mike insists, trying to choose his words to be as clear as possible as what he wants. She can kick him out if she doesn't want the same thing, but if they're not together, it won't be of his choosing. Not anymore. Mike knows what he wants.
"It's just the drugs-" Paige starts to argue, wanting to believe him, but scared to.
"It's not." He cuts her off before she can finish. "Come on. One day at a time."
"And you're sure... You... You want to get back together? After all that?" Paige asks shyly. Mike smiles warmly down at her, knowing now that everything is going to be alright.
"Paige, I am so miserably sober right now and I still feel closer to you than to anyone else." He says honestly. It was true. Everything hurt, he feels the sharp contrast of coming down from the elation of the Ecstacy painfully in every fiber of his body. Yet at the same time for the first time in months he feels at peace. There's no where else he would rather be right now than in her bed.
"Ok." She finally says, accepting his earnestness and snuggling up against his side.
"Ok." He whispers back, kissing her hair. A moment of silence passes as the two just soak in the gravity of what those little words imply. Somehow, just like that, they're Mike and Paige again instead of the two lost warring souls they'd been on their own for months. His hand strokes her hair and she tilts her face up to kiss his lips and the two lazily kiss in the sunlight from the window. The kisses become more heated, and Paige's hand drifts down Mike's abdomen in a familiar path.
"Seriously. Everything hurts. My muscles feel like I ran a marathon." Mike groans, pulling away from her lips and hand with a laugh. Part of him wants to seal what they just decided by making love to her, but his body is just not up to the task.
"Well you kind of did." Paige smirks up at him, finally settling into the crook of his arm with a grin.
He grins cockily down at her. "By the way, Jakes saw me coming in here this morning. It won't be long until the whole house is talking."
"When they ask what got us back together, let's not mention the drug use, ok?" Paige laughs.
"Agreed." Mike says quickly, "But if you want to mention the amazing sexual stamina I exhibited last night, I'd be ok with that."
"I'll see what I can do Rockstar." Paige laughs, kissing him again, the two of them sharing a whole different moment of ecstasy.