A/N~Thanks for reading...still in that dark place with Michael.
Michael is perched upon a rooftop with his rifle awaiting orders from Burke. These days, he is either reporting to either Burke or Strong. It doesn't matter to him anymore because he hates both men. While awaiting his orders, he decides to just get through this mission and wait for his eventual release from the CIA. Burke gives the order for Michael to shoot. He hits his target and runs off into the setting sun, meeting up with Burke for further instructions about the next day's work.
As Michael enters his home, he goes to the cabinet and grabs a bottle of whiskey, quickly drinking as much as possible in one swig. He slams his hands on the counter when he hears Strong talking to him.
"Westen, I thought you stopped drinking."
Michael turns and faces Strong. "I don't drink before a mission, so I can be sober. Even if I do drink, Burke gives me lead time before a job so he will have no idea. He thinks I'm preparing. Don't worry. He'll never know and I'm not going to jeopardize this mission."
Strong is quiet for a moment. "You need to get yourself together. If you ruin this mission for me, I will make sure you and your friends will never see the light of day. Do you understand?"
He stands and stares at Strong. "I understand because you keep throwing that in my face. I understand the deal I made, I understand the consequences if this fails." Michael growls. He grabs Strong and pushes him out the door. "Leave me alone, I will find you tomorrow after the job. I love how you are so worried about me blowing this job and you come to my apartment where he could easily see you. Get out."
Strong leaves without a word. Michael grabs his bottle and reaches for the sleeping pills that Strong gave him. Sitting on the bed, he hears the door knob jiggle and grabs his gun. Aiming the gun, he waits to see who walks through the door before he fires.
"Damn it Mikey! You could have blown my head right off! Is that anyway to great your best friend?" Sam says.
Michael looks around the room, feeling confused. "When did you get here?" he asks.
Sam sits down at the table and replies "Just now. I opened the door and you nearly killed me. I need to talk to you."
Walking past Sam, Michael mumbles "Not now Sam. I need to get ready for a job."
"That's exactly what I need to talk to you about. Brother, you are going down a dark road and if you keep heading down it, I don't think you'll come back. You need to stop this, leave here and come home. I can help you." Sam is begging. Michael's back is to Sam but knows the elder man is watching his every move.
Michael shakes his head. "Sam, I can't leave. If I leave, the whole entire deal I made to keep all of you safe will be shot to hell. We'll all go to jail and face trials. Fi will be sent back to Ireland or handed over to MI6. Mom is too old for jail and I couldn't see my brothers spending the rest of their days paying for my sins."
"Mikey when will you understand that we all decided to help you. We all had your back. I know I could have left the team at any moment, but I didn't. I almost did, but I didn't. That was my choice. No one was tied into helping you."
He still doesn't believe Sam. Michael runs a shaky hand through his hair as he paces the room and says "There was no way we would have been found innocent."
Sam interrupts Michael and yells "We should have taken our chances Michael. Elsa would have gotten the best lawyers for all of us and if we were found guilty, we would have found a way out of jail." Noticing that Michael has stopped pacing, he adds "I know what happened. They separate all of us. They get the same stories from all of us about what happened, but you are the one they want. After countless hours of questioning and Lord knows what else they did to you in there, you broke. You gave them what they wanted."
Michael doesn't want to hear what Sam has to say, but he doesn't know how to stop him. "What do you think I gave them Sam?"
"Your soul. You sold your soul to the damn CIA." Sam says.
He notices Sam's voice is cracking. Michael turns to Sam, hoping he doesn't notice the tears in his eyes and asks "What was I supposed to do?"
Sam raises his voice and shouts "You weren't supposed to give up! You were supposed to fight! With all that time we spent together fighting your burn notice and even before that, you didn't think not one time to try and send us a signal that you needed help? We were a team. We stand together, we fight together and we fall down together. If anything happened, it should have happened to all of us, not just you Mike. You disappoint me."
Michael tries to grab onto Sam, but he too slips away from him. Sam begins to pace. "You know the worst part of this? I am stuck taking care of EVERYONE." Sam's tone softens but Michael notices his voice is now faltering. "Jesse works too hard. He's exhausted but he won't stop. Its like he's punishing himself for being free. Your Mom is depressed. She cries everyday for you and I can't make her stop. Nothing makes her happy. She won't see a doctor to get help and she just sits with her photo albums of you and Nate, trying to find some consolation in them but she ends up crying more. Then there's Elsa, I'm trying to have a relationship with her and its hard because I'm now the one who takes care of everything and everyone."
Looking at the floor, Michael asks meekly "What about Fiona?"
Michael watches Sam walk around Michael's small room and says "Fi? She's hurt Mike. What do you expect me to say? You saw her when we got released from our cells. You hurt her badly. She's either hiding away crying or cracking skulls because she is so angry and takes it out on the rest of the world. Fiona keeps taking risky bounty hunting jobs and she doesn't want back up." Sam lets a stray tear fall from his eye. "You broke us Mike. You broke the whole damn team."
Grasping Sam, he pulls away. Sam looks so tired and sad. "Sam, you have to help me get out of here. I can't do this anymore. I want to go home. I'm not the same lone wolf I was before I was burned. I need you all. Please help me."
Shaking his head, Sam says sadly "No. You made your choice now you live with it. I have to go Mike. Elsa needs me." Sam walks to the door.
Chasing after Sam, Michael cries out "I want to go home. I want this to end." Michael can't move and Sam quickly exits the room, slamming the door behind him.
Sitting up, Michael realizes he passed out in his bed. He screams in frustration. Getting out of bed, he makes his way to the bathroom and cleans up before his meeting with Burke. He looks in the mirror and reaches out to touch the figure staring back at him. He doesn't recognize the man with graying hair and facial hair. The man looking back at him has dark circles under his eyes and maybe more wrinkles than he had before. Even though his body looks like its in top condition, he knows he is slowly dying on the inside. He wonders how he can speed up the process.
Michael drinks quickly from his whiskey bottle. Since he hasn't eaten in some time, the alcohol affects him quicker than usual. Michael pauses and decides what he must do to get out of his hell. Michael stumbles across the room and gets down on the floor. He grabs the bottle of pills. Opening the bottle, Michael begins to breathe deeply. He empties the contents into his mouth and quickly chases them with the last of his whiskey. While looking at a picture of Fiona wrapped in his arms, he apologizes to everyone silently. The pills are affecting him as he feels sick to his stomach but too exhausted to move to the bathroom. It isn't long before he quickly loses consciousness.
Back in Miami, Sam is inside the penthouse. His cell rings for the ninth time that day. Each time he sees the caller ID come up as 'Unknown' he sends the call directly to voicemail. Finally on the tenth call that day, Sam answers the phone.
"WHAT?" He shouts into the phone.
The caller on the other line stammers "Umm...Commander Axe?"
Sam softens his tone and sits up. "Yes. Who is this?"
The male caller clears his throat and says "I am Doctor Suarez at Hospital Metropolitano de Santiago in the Dominican Republic. I'm reaching out to you because I have someone here who has you listed as next of kin."
Sam's eyes widen and he take a deep breath. "Who might that be?"
"Do you know the man named Michael Westen? He a patient here."
"Christ! What the hell happened? I haven't seen him in almost a year." Sam says.
The doctor sighs and says "I hate to be so blunt but you and any loved ones must get down to our facility. Mr Westen's condition is not good."
"What happened? Did he get shot?" Sam asks.
"Commander Axe, Mr Westen tried to kill himself. I expect to see you soon. I'm going to transfer you to a nurse who will give you directions from the airport." Doctor Suarez says.
Sam feels tears falling from his eyes. Elsa rushes over to his side and asks "Sam, what's wrong?"
He croaks "Michael tried to kill himself. He's in the hospital in the Dominican Republic. It's not good." He can't speak anymore. When he hears the nurse greet him, he hands the phone to Elsa and walks off to the bathroom. As Elsa takes directions, she hears Sam let out an gut wrenching scream followed by what sounds like him punching the wall.
Elsa ends the call and finds Sam in the bathroom running his bloodied fist under cold water. "Let me take care of that." She sits him down on the toilet and pulls out a first aid kid. She bandages his hand as he sits quietly. When she is done, she stands up and tells him "You need to call Jesse and Fiona. Tell Fiona I will help Maddie with anything she needs and we can take turns babysitting. Charlie is finally going to get to know Miss Elsa a bit better. I am going to call my lawyers and send a lawyer down with you guys. I want to make no one ends up in jail like the last time."
Sam, looking at Elsa with sad eyes and doesn't move. Elsa sensing his hesitation, gets tough. "Samuel Axe! You get on that phone and call Fiona and Jesse right now. Then you will pack a bag and you will be ready to go. I'll have my assistant book your flight and hotel. Get moving mister."
Smiling, Sam wipes his eyes and kisses Elsa on the cheek. "Love you babe. Don't know what I'd do without you."
Grabbing his phone, Sam calls Jesse first because he knows that's the easier call. He next calls Fiona. She sounds tired when she answers. "Sam, what is it? I'm busy."
"I know you are. I need to tell you something." Sam feels a heaviness invade his chest. He blurts out "I got a call from a doctor in the Dominican Republic. Mikey is down there." Sam feels himself lose control of his emotions as he says "He's bad Fi."
Fiona is quiet. Sam's tone is desperate, reminding her of the conversation he had when Michael cradled him in his arms as she drove them to the surgeons house to repair Sam's wound. Closing her eyes she asks "Gunshot?"
Sam can't sugarcoat his answer. Simply he says "Suicide attempt. I don't know much more than that. I do know we have to get down there as soon as possible. Are you going with us?"
She is silent again. Finally finding the words to speak she says "Everything is different now. I'm not sure I'm ready for this trip."
Getting angry, Sam yells "Dammit Fi! After all he did for you, you are going with us and supporting him. Right now that's the least you could do."
"Fine. I can't promise a happy reunion with Michael, but I'll go. I'll see you at Maddie's in half an hour." Fiona ends the call and hopes this trip turns out better than their last one.