Author's Notes: Oh what can be said I haven't said before. I love writing these characters. I hope you all don't get frustrated with me and stop reading. I swear someday I will prove why this story is rated M, and I appreciate Reviews. :)
"Hey Prince Charming. You ready for your big night? Do we need to stop on the way home and pick up some flowers or condoms or something?" Johnny asks, bouncing up beside Mike like a puppy as the two leave headquarters together.
"Yeah, I've thought of it, and I'm not going to say anything to her tonight. You're right, things are so fresh for her, and I want to wait until she goes back to work before I throw another curve ball at her." Mike says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"You can't think of what to say can you?" Johnny asks bluntly.
"Not a clue." Mike laughs as Johnny sees right through his rationalizations.
"Dude, you're such a chicken." Johnny laughs.
"Hey, I'm gonna do it. I just think maybe she needs a little more time. I don't want to rush things, you know? I need to wait for the right moment."
"So you've seriously been sleeping beside her for a month, and you haven't done anything? Like you've never accidentally copped a feel or something?"
"No! We just sleep. Drop it."
"How do you deal with boners? Don't you worry you'll have wet dreams or something?"
"Johnny! I'm not thirteen anymore. Maybe you can't, but I can control myself."
"Hey man, I had more sex at thirteen than you've had in your life. So seriously? You're not gonna tell P you want to give her the D?"
"No! Christ Johnny! Besides aren't you happy? I thought you didn't want us getting together."
"Well that was before you told me you were going to get together and I made a bet with Briggs! Come on man! I got a lot riding on this."
"Johnny, believe it or not, I'm not going to let my love life be dictated by your gambling. And not a word of it to Paige, alright?"
"Fine."
"Johnny, seriously. Not a word. Promise?"
"Atravesar mi corazón." Johnny promises.
As it turns out, it's not a problem that Mike doesn't know what to say to Paige, because when he gets home she's not there.
It is exactly six hours and eighteen minutes from the moment Mike gets home to when he hears the door slam as Paige walks through the doors of Graceland.
He knows this because for the first hour he searched the house, took a shower and changed clothes.
The second hour he called Paige on her phone.
Repeatedly.
In the third hour, he called everyone he knew who also knew Paige asking if anyone had seen her.
Hours four, five, and six were spent freaking out, internet searching, calling up every contact he had, getting himself armed, filling out a missing persons report and imagining different ways she might have died.
He is just about to go marching to the prison that holds the last of Paige's attackers and torture the bastard for information when he hears the door close and like a miracle there is Paige. Beautiful, tired, uninjured, still breathing Paige.
"Oh thank God." Mike rushes forward and grabs Paige, crushing her to his chest. "Where have you been? Do you know how worried I've been? I was about to put in a missing persons report Paige!"
She pulls away from him, walking across the kitchen to get a glass of water. "I got home late. Sorry."
"I sent Johnny and Charlie out in search of you hours ago!" Mike yells after her, following her into the kitchen.
"Yeah, you realize they probably ignored you and just went to the bar right?" Paige says cooley, leaning against the counter facing away from him sipping her water.
"Why didn't you answer my calls? Did you lose your phone? I didn't know where you were!" Mike's still upset, and the fact that Paige is so calm in comparison, is pissing him off even more. He thought she'd at least feel a little guilty for how much worry she'd caused him.
"I turned my phone off for a while. I'm a big girl Mike. It's not the end of the world." She shrugs.
"Jesus, Paige! You know what happened the last time I couldn't reach you on your phone! I was worried you were dead in a gutter somewhere."
"Nope, not this time." Paige laughs dryly. Rubbing her sore arm as she picks up some advil from the counter and starts to open the lid.
"Have you been drinking?" Mike grabs her hand before she can access the pills.
He stares at her intensely, analyzing her. She's acting closed off and he can't read her. If she's in pain, she has stronger pain medication she could use, unless she was out drinking. Mike hopes she learned her lesson about mixing the two, but at the same time he can't believe she was out at the bars after what happened last night.
"Do you know how much you sound like my mother right now?" Paige rolls her eyes as she pulls her hand away from his, popping the pills in her mouth and chasing them with her water.
"Well you're acting like a child! Why didn't you call me to tell me you were staying out? What if something happened to you again?" Mike demands, he cannot believe she's being so cold to him.
"Well it didn't! I'm a grown up Mike. I can do whatever I damn well please, and I don't need to call and ask you for permission." She says harshly, finally starting to show some emotion.
"I wasn't saying you needed to ask for permission, just let me know so I don't worry about you!" Mike yells.
"It's not your job to worry about me!"
"Well I do anyways! Especially when you just turn your phone off and disappear. Fuck Paige, you almost died! Do you even care?"
"Don't ask stupid questions." Paige rolls her eyes like a sullen teenager as she goes to refill her water glass.
"It's not a stupid question! Do you care? Do you care you almost died? Do you care what that did to me?"
"Well I'm sorry you almost lost your career ok? But it all worked out so…"
"I'm not talking about my career! Do you care about what it did to me? Because I have been pacing around this entire house for the past six hours, losing my mind, all because you couldn't answer your damn phone!" Mike screams at her, holding out his phone to show her the call history before slamming it down on the counter.
"Where is Jakes right now, huh?" Paige asks out of the blue.
"What?" Mike asks, confused. "Who cares? I'm trying to talk to you."
"Where's Jakes, or Charlie, or Briggs?" Paige challenges him and now it's Mike's turn to roll his eyes. "Have you called to check on them in the past 24 hours? I'm not a child Mike, and I'm not your responsibility. Give it a rest. This whole savior thing is getting kind of old."
Mike just stands and glares at her, his anger softening and being replaced by disappointment. She's only standing a few feet away, casually sipping her water, and he's never felt further from her. She'd was giving him the cold shoulder, not even bothering to to yell back at him. Normally when him and Paige fought, she would get fired up, screaming back at him passionately until she revoked the same from him. It's true they had fought before but not like this. Not with her just not caring. It's unsettling to Mike.
"Whatever. The important thing is you're home safe now. It's late. Let's just go to bed." Mike finally says, giving up. He turns to head up the stairs to Paige's room. Now that she's home, they can just go to sleep as normal and talk about this in the morning when they're both rested.
"I slept with someone."