Author's Notes: Sorry this one took so long to get out. I had a busy week.

I tend to write chapters out of order, so I would sit down to write this and end up writing Chapter 7 instead. Plus Graceland keeps giving me such good Paige scenes each week, her joking with Johnny last week, Mike and her double date this week. Loving it. I keep writing new Chapters based off those scenes.

If it seems like Paige doesn't really care about Mike... she doesn't. At least not yet. He's still kind of a stranger to her, and an awkward nervous one at that. In my head Mike kind of had a love at first sight reaction, but Paige really doesn't work like that. She has other things on her mind.

Thanks: Thanks for all the love! It really does make me write faster when I feel like people are reading it.

Skinny Double Dirty Chai

Chapter 3

"BAM!"

"What's going on?"

Paige looks at the scene in front of her. Her roommates were all strewn about the campfire, laying in various recumbent positions and Johnny is looking very disappointed that she did not react better to his odd greeting.

"You're a bear." Mike says in a soft gentle voice, as if that was supposed to clear things up.

"Mike just shot you." Charlie clarifies.

"Oh, ok."

Now that Paige knows the game, she is more than happy to play along. She is going to give a death scene worthy of an Oscar win.

"Take two?" Johnny suggests.

"Hold this." Paige hands Briggs her drink. There was no reason to sacrifice a perfectly good beer for her performance.

"BAM!"

On cue, Paige dramatically falls to the ground, splaying herself out over a rock. Thank you, middle school theater camp.

"Wow, that was good." Paige grins into her arm, taking back her beer from Briggs. Mike was so easy to impress.

"And that, my friends, is the legend of..." Johnny pauses for dramatic effect. "Merciless Mike and the bullet proof bears."

Johnny's announcement brings out applause from the gang. Paige isn't sure if she's clapping for Mike, or for Johnny's storytelling skills. She had been late to join, due to her taking a much needed shower, and had missed most of the story.

"Seriously, some of the best marksmanship I've ever seen in my entire life, Mike. Real talk. So I'm glad you're one of us." Briggs compliments Mike with admiration.

Praise like that from Briggs is rare, and Paige gives Mike an impressed glance. Apparently the kid could handle a piece. Which is good, because if what she had seen at the bar was any indication, he was no good at playing it cool and would definitely need it.

"Speaking of which, how did your little shrink session go?" Briggs wasn't asking Paige, but she still feels suddenly wary.

"...That's private..."

Today has been a bad day, but Paige knows that bad days happen. Complaining about it won't change anything. She just has to tough it out. She knows that the worst is almost over and trusts that Briggs is going to fix this. She doesn't know exactly what his plan is, but she's just glad to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

"...Normal shrink BS..."

Paige hasn't been to the shrinks office in a while. She avoids it whenever possible. She doesn't like talking about her feelings, and whenever she does talk, the shrinks accuses her of deflecting or using humor as a defense mechanism. Paige thinks the shrink just needs to get laid, so she would relax and leave her alone. Then maybe she would realize Paige does not have a psychological condition. Paige is simply hilarious.

"...They wanted to know if I felt guilty..."

Today, Bobby had caught her off guard in an empty hallway. He had barely lasted five minutes, but they were five minutes too long for Paige. Her knees are bruised from where he had shoved her roughly to the ground, and her throat is sore from where he had violated her mouth. He had roughly forced himself onto her, but she knew that if she finished him off quickly with her mouth she wouldn't have to fuck him. So she had become an active participant, because it was either blow him or her cover.

"...Whether I could operate my firearm..."

Paige has always been skilled with her mouth and hands, and thankfully she had managed to keep Bobby satisfied for now. The bastard didn't even care that when he finished she had thrown up almost instantly in the hallway.

"...So I take it you're all healed and what not..."

It wasn't the first time something like this had happened. It was an occupational hazard. Paige is less disturbed by the actual event than she is by how easy it is getting to put it into a box and forget about it.

Here by the fire, surrounded by her laughing housemates, she feels normal. Like today has just been a bad dream, fading from her memory.

She has decided not to tell anyone about today's events. It happened. It was horrible. It's time to move on. The only thing bitching about it would do, is have everyone else pity her, and earn her another trip to the psychiatrist.

"To our merry band of misfits!" Briggs's announcement brings Paige back to the present, and she clinks glasses with the others.

Everyone goes back to chatting merrily, and Paige sits pensively by the fire, her knees curled up to her chest. She isn't talking much tonight and isn't paying much attention to what anyone is actually saying. She's just enjoying the warmth of the fire and the company. She feels safe here.

"Hey, you ok?" Mike asks, bringing her out of her head, as he sits down next to her.

Apparently she doesn't look as peaceful as she thought.

Paige is surprised it is the new kid who notices something wrong with her, instead of one of her older roommates. Maybe she was damaged enough that it took fresh eyes to see a new ding.

"He talks." She grins, looking over at him with a bright smile.

Based on his behavior when she first met him at the club, Paige had assumed Mike was really shy. She's glad he's coming out of his shell.

"How you doing, Levi?" She asks, clinking her beer glass against his.

"It's Mike." He corrects her, "I'm doing ok. It all still seems a little unreal."

"Yeah, I heard they kind of sprung this all on you. Where were you supposed to be again?" Paige asks.

She really should have paid more attention when Charlie was briefing her on Mike. She knows very little about the guy.

"DC." He seems unperturbed that she remembers nothing about him.

That pale skin and love of the rules? She should have guessed he'd go to DC. He'd probably find some overeducated stepford wife and run for Congress some day.

"Ah. Makes sense." She grins to herself.

"What?"

"DC seems like a good fit for you." She says simply. He would fit in well in DC with the thousand other young, straightlaced, overachievers.

"What makes you say that?"

"Oh well, you just seem a little..." Paige struggles for a polite way to put it.

Not able to think of one, she comes right out with the blunt answer, "Uptight."

"I'm not uptight." He looks offended. He doesn't seem to realize the irony in that his defensive response is only proving her point.

"I'm sorry, weren't you the one who had to borrow that hoodie from Johnny?" Paige grins.

She is deeply amused that he did not think of himself as uptight. Did he think he was tan as well?

"What's your point?"

"My point is, you tried to wear an ironed oxford button up to a midnight beachside campfire." She teases, expecting another stuttering defense. The kid just takes everything so seriously.

"Oh, whatever," Mike laughs, "I must have forgotten my ridiculous oversized hat in Virginia." He reaches up and flicks the brim of her hat teasingly. She laughs. Good he was catching on.

"So, what's a girl like you doing with the DEA?" Mike asks. Paige briefly wonders what kind of girl Mike thinks she is exactly.

"Sex, drugs and rock n' roll. Just living the dream." She answers lightly, "Why FBI?"

"My love of Oxford shirts." He fires back quickly. He keeps his face very serious as he says it, but instantly breaks into a smile when Paige chokes on her beer with laughter.

So the kid was funny.

He is just full of surprises.

"So I thought you were deep undercover. Why are you here tonight? Did you finish your case?" Mike asks, looking concerned.

"Why? Do you not want me here?" Paige teases. Mike turns bright red.

"No! I mean, of course I want you." Mike stutters, apparently thinking he'd offended her. "Want you here! I was just- I thought-"

Paige laughs at his reaction. He was sooo easy to mess with. This would be fun.

"Relax Levi. You take things way too seriously." She giggles.

"I just, was wondering how things are going. With your case." Mike finally states shyly. He takes another sip from his bottle that has to be empty by now.

"God, I'll be so glad when that bastard's in jail." Paige rolled her eyes and tugged her knees closer to her chest. "You're right, I probably shouldn't be here. I just needed a night off I guess." Paige answered.

"Well, I'm glad you're here." Mike said quietly.

"Thanks. You too." She said, nudging him with her shoulder.

He looked like he might say something else for a moment, but then shook his head smiling to himself, turning back to look at the fire. A comfortable moment of silence passed as Paige stared over at her friends laughing and teasing each other.

"Well, I should probably go to sleep. Big day tomorrow." Mike said after a moment of silence. Of course he would be the first one to go to bed. He was probably an early riser too.

"Yeah, don't screw it up!" She said cheerfully.

Tomorrow was a big day. If everything went according to Briggs's plan, by this time tomorrow she would be free and that bastard Bobby Moy would be behind bars.