Author's Notes: Seven episodes down, still completely in canon. Only downside is it's making Paige's story longer than Mike's, which is fine by me because Mike's fairly static in coffee with cream, and Paige gets to go through these subtle changes.

I'm playing around with the idea of doing two follow up stories to these pieces, titled "Ms. Atomic Bomb" and "Mr. Brightside" based off Killer's songs. In it, Paige would be more static, and Mike would get to go through the changes. Lots of jealousy. Lots of miscommunication. Lots of sex. I think I need to wait until the season's done though to see what they do with the characters on the show. Thoughts?

I'm sure when those two kids finally get together on the show, I'm going to be like "screw it. I can't improve on that" and then burn my pages (print it off just to burn it).

- J

Skinny Double Dirty Chai

Chapter 8

"Why am I here again?" Paige asks Mike, and herself, as she chases Mike down the beach towards the Drop.

"I told you. She's getting suspicious that I'm not letting her meet my roommates."

Mike is about ten strides in front of her and not slowing down. She doesn't know what his problem is. Recently he's been so pissy around her all the time. When he had asked her to come out tonight, she thought maybe he'd finally gotten over whatever it was.

"So?" Paige yells ahead at him.

She does not understand what the big deal is. This girl isn't an integral part to any case. Who cares what she thinks as long as she doesn't find out their cover. Why is she still in the picture?

Frustrated with her slow pace, Mike grabs Paige's hand and pulls her along the beach behind him. They are running late, which is typical for Paige, but Mike is punctual and this is clearly stressing him out.

"So, she asked to hang out with you specifically. She's really sweet. Just give her a chance." Mike grumbles.

"Why? I'm not trying to sleep with her." Paige is not happy with this situation. Not happy at all.

"Look. Just be nice, ok?" Mike turns around to give her a last minute pep talk as they get to the door.

"I'm always nice!" Paige declares, offended at his implication. "I'm the one doing you a massive favor here, Levi."

"Paige, you only agreed to come because I promised to do your next three turns on the chore wheel. I did less work to get a thousand rounds of cop killers from Jakes."

"That is nice! You got off easy. Johnny's paying my bar tab for the whole week."

"Why is Johnny paying your bar tab for the week?" Mike asks, temporarily distracted from their lateness.

"I won a bet." Paige grins. Apparently Mike hadn't heard about Briggs and Charlie.

"Do I want to know?" Mike asks hesitantly.

"Oh, trust me. You wanna know. It's good. Most exciting thing to happen since you showed up." Paige grins conspiratorially.

He leans in. The glee in her voice obviously has him intrigued. At the last minute he decides better, shaking his head and pulling away.

"Ok, tell me later. Right now, let's go in. I see her waiting." Mike says, pointing through the glass to where Abby is sitting at the bar. "Remember. Be nice. I told the girl I'm a pilot and I live with you clowns. No work talk. No drug talk. No flirtatious talk. Maybe it's best if you just don't talk much."

Paige realizes Mike is really nervous about this. She isn't sure if it is him rubbing off on her, or something else, but she is nervous too. She really doesn't want to do this. She shakes it off. How bad could it be? She deals with the scum of humanity every day for a living. She isn't afraid of some sorority girl.

"Got it. Pilot. Smile. No talking. Lead the way, Levi." Paige says trying to sound more upbeat than she feels.

Time to get this disaster over with.

"Oh, and one more thing." Mike stops at the door and Paige runs straight into his back.

He turns around to face her. He is so close she can smell his cologne. Does he normally wear cologne, or is that just for Abby?

"Stop calling me Levi." Mike says firmly, turning around and walking through the door ahead of her to greet Abby.

Normally Mike would hold the door open for her. Not that Paige needs the door held open, but she thought Mike had better manners than that.

"Hey sexy lady." Paige turns to see Vance waiting for her.

Thank God he got here on time.

Paige may have forgotten to mentioned to Mike that she had invited a date of her own.

Paige Arkin is no third wheel. The fact that she happened to choose the best looking man she had in her black book, really had just been a coincidence.

"Hey yourself!" Paige puts on her most flirtatious smile, and stands on her tiptoes to greet Vance with a kiss. "Thanks for meeting me here."

As she pulls away she is relieved that Vance is every bit as attractive as she remembered. He was tall, taller than Mike, with great hair and a great body to match. Now if only he could keep his mouth shut for the night and just look pretty.

She doesn't have to look over her shoulder to know that Mike is glaring in her direction. This simply makes her smile even wider at Vance.

"Come on, my friend's buying the first round." She takes his hand and leads him over to a scowling Mike and his doe-eyed date.

Awkward introductions are made. Abby pulls Paige into an uncomfortable hug, and Mike looks like he is trying to crush Vance's hand when he shakes it.

Paige can't help but notice the invisible line that seems to be drawn between the couples. She has to admit, Mike and Abby look good together. Very clean cut and Kennedyesque. She's certain her and Vance look good together too, they're beautiful people, but they probably look severely underdressed in comparison.

It was clear who was on a date with whom, and it was a stark reminder just how different her and Mike really were. She rarely noticed it at Graceland, because he was just Mike there. They got along really well, and every time they were around each other it was comfortable and easy.

Tonight everything felt weird. She realizes maybe her and Mike's friendship is just one of convenience because they work and live together. If they had met under any other circumstance, they probably would not like each other much. She certainly isn't liking who he is right now.