He knew the day would suck before he even opened his eyes. His alarm hadn't gone off yet, but instead he was rudely awakened by the feeling of his thigh muscles twitching and preparing to cramp.

He had known this would happen, but that didn't make it anywhere close to less annoying.

It happened whenever the weather underwent a big change and with summer turning into fall that was exactly what was happening. Within 48h the weather had gone from hot sunshine and chilly air, to stuffy air and an overcast sky with high pressure and humidity. It was going to be the picture perfect pre-thunderstorm day. He knew it before he even opened the curtains of his bedroom. He left them closed on purpose. His body told him enough, he didn't have to see it as well.

Getting up already had him grit his teeth. He put his weight more on his right than left leg, but it helped little to prevent the angry throbbing in the joint or the tension settling in his thigh muscles. He looked like his grandfather trying to push himself up into a standing position.

„Every goddamn time..fuck…," he cursed to himself through gritted teeth and tried to smooth the tension from the muscle. He rubbed the palm of his hand up and down his thigh with pressure and circular motions, with the little victory of at least preventing the cramp that was brewing. The first steps towards the bathroom gave him a feeling as if the knee was busted all over again. He knew it would get better as soon as the rain hit and the air pressure went down. It was nothing new to happen, but it sucked every goddamn time. Especially when he knew he wouldn't have any time to take it slow or even rest throughout the day.

Looking at himself in the mirror after limping his way into the bathroom, he cursed again. He even looked like shit. Awesome. Because being looked at strangely by Ethan, Benji and Jane was exactly what he needed.

He was already done with the day before it had fully started.

„Will! He's right off to your left! Second floor!"

Benji's voice sounded not at all annoyed over the com unit in Brandt's ear, while he made it up the fire escape stairs as fast as he could. His knee was killing him, every step he had to take with his left leg felt like a stab to the joint. Chasing a guy across several rooftops and backyard fences by Benji's instruction had left him soaked with sweat and nauseous from the pain. Still he didn't slow down, taking two stairs at a time before pushing the door of the second floor open with his shoulder the moment the guy tried to leave through the same door.

A punch to his face and the guy staggered back, reaching for his weapon. Will reacted out of training rather than conscious decision. He charged at the guy, gained some momentum by turning on his right leg and kicked him off his feet with a hard impact of his heel against the guy's knee. Howling in pain, the guy went down under Benji's cheering in Brandt's ear.

His happiness ended abruptly when Will, instead of steadying himself by bringing his foot back to the floor, went down himself as his knee buckled. William managed to bite back the noise of pain last second when landing on his other knee to prevent the impact of the already hurting one with the floor. Another wave of sweat broke out all over his body with the pain that triggered the cramp in his thigh that he had been fighting off all day. In a last movement he he slammed the edges of his hands against the sides of the guy's neck, when he got up on his not fucked knee to go at Brandt again. He dropped down unconscious and Will was done, tilting over and rolling onto his back to catch his breath

„Brandt is down! Ethan, where are you?"

Benji, positioned high on a nearby company building, had watched the short fight and had, of course, seen him go down. Fuck. He blinked away the tears of pain that had formed in his eyes and tried to steady his voice in an attempt to sound as offended as possible while resisting the urge to rub at his cramping thigh.

„I'm not down" Yeah, didn't sound the least bit pathetic.

„On your back and not getting up, looks very down to me"

„Damn it Benji, I am not.."

„Will?"

Hu? Where had Ethan come from all of a sudden? Will turned his head slowly and sure enough there was Ethan, standing in the frame of the door and jogging towards him the next second. He sat up with a groan and faked a smile towards their team leader, then nodded towards the unconscious guy.

„Got him, all good"

Ethan went down on one knee next to him, giving him that scrutinizing look that left no doubt in Will's mind that he wouldn't buy it. The older man surprised him, just got up and held his hand out to him. Will gladly accepted it and allowed him to pull him to his feet. It wasn't part of his plan that Ethan had to catch him the next second, when his knee decided to give out again, sending him falling forward.

„Shit," he pressed out and tried to steady himself, tentatively putting weight on his left leg and pushing away from Ethan- who wasn't having it. Instead he followed his motion and took his arm to place it around his shoulders. He gave Will no space to pull away, but instead supported him around his back.

„I can walk!"

„No you can't. Get moving. Our guy will get picked up before he has a chance to wake up. Good job there"

Will wanted to protest, calling bullshit on needing help to walk, but as Ethan nudged him forward to move, his protest went down in a tight grit of his teeth.

„Jane? What's your ETA?" Ethan gave Will no choice to move away or stop walking, even his knee buckled each time he put weight on it.

„Already here, we pick Benji up on the way. Is Will okay, do we need to.."

„Yes, he is okay," Will cut in, but his voice already called him out as a liar.

„He'll be. We're coming down now"

„You better move your asses before I get a parking ticket here"

Ethan Hunt still knew very little about the newest addition to their team. What he did know though was, that despite him denying it all the way back to their safehouse, William Brandt was not fine.

Not only was he still limping when insisting to walk into the place alone, but his face was almost grey, his shirt visibly sticking to his skin with sweat. He had avoided their looks, had not said anything else besides I'm fine during the fourteen minutes drive, and stubbornly staring out of the window. His eyes were glassy still, when he dropped down onto the couch and let his head drop back with a deep but soundless sigh.

„Eh..I'll be.. in the back. You know..doing stuff and.."

„Yeah, thanks Benji. Good job out there"

Benji seemed relieved to have an excuse to leave the room. Will had snapped at him more than once for his concern on the way. Jane exchanged a look with Ethan before nodding towards Will and then the kitchen. Receiving a nod in return she walked off, leaving the two men to talk out whatever it was that was going on.

Will remained sitting with his eyes closed, his face still pale and his left leg visible twitching in sync with the muscles around his jaw. He considered asking him again about what the issue was, but then opted for another way of approaching the topic.

He met Jane in the kitchen as he went for some ice.

"Has he said anything?" She talked in a hushed tone, obviously trying to avoid Will hearing them. Ethan shook his head.

"No. He's in pain, can barely walk and I'm not sure if he's about to fall asleep or pass out" He took a ziplock bag from the cabinet and dumped some ice into it before closing it.

"He didn't seem sick in any way yesterday and according to Benji he wasn't even hit in the short fight."

Ethan stopped in motion and leaned his head back, mentally counting to three and then letting out a sigh. He looked at Jane, keeping a calm tone, because she was not the reason for the issue.

"Yeah, so he either was hurt coming in this morning, which is a risk for the whole team, or something happened before the fight and then he should have let us know, too"

Jane gave something between a frown and a smirk. "You got it?"

"Yeah, he can pick the easy or hard way and I have a feeling it's gonna be the second option."

"There's Advil and some stronger things in the bathroom cabinet."

That made Ethan smile the slightest bit. He gave her back a grateful pat and then left the kitchen again, made a trip to the bathroom and then returned to Will, who hadn't moved an inch.

"Are you still awake?," was all he said to announce his presence.

"Hard to fall asleep when I am constantly pestered with-... what the fuck, Hunt!"

As soon as the analyst had answered, Ethan had grabbed his legs and lifted them to turn him around and prop them up on the couch. Will's reaction of instinctively grabbing at his left leg confirmed his suspicion about the source of his pain. The younger man was panting and Ethan almost felt sorry for him. Kneeling in front of the couch, he took the makeshift ice pack and placed it on his knee, making sure it was properly moulded around the joint.

"Fuck! Was that necessary?" Brandt's voice was shaky.

"You've been saying you're fine, so see it as an act of good will to get you more comfortable" Ethan did his best to keep his tone cold and serious despite having sympathy. Brandt sank against the backseat of the couch and Ethan saw his body literally deflate. "If you decide you want Advil or something stronger for the pain you are obviously not in.." He shook the bottle and placed it within his line of sight.

Will sighed. "I'll need water for those. Can't swallow them dry." While he had done his best to sound annoyed until this point, all that he sounded like at that point was defeat and exhaustion.

"I'll get you some. Anything else?"

"Nah, ice and painkillers. Unless you can make it rain"

"Make it…what? Jesus, Brandt, talk to me! What happened? You can't go into an OP injured, that endangers the whole team and the operation on top of it! That's rookie mistake that gets people ki-"

Will cut him off with a look that may have been intended as annoyed, but was only tired and pleading.

"It's the weather, okay?"

He reached for the ice pack that Ethan hadn't realised he was still holding in place with his left hand. Ethan raised a brow and was about to tell him that being under the weather hardly ever made anyone unable to walk. Will was faster, finally explaining what was going on.

"I busted my knee in college during a Basketball game. A guy knocked me down mid-air and we landed tangled into each other. Dislocated my kneecap and ruptured a ligament, hairline fracture to the tibia. I had surgery, it healed well, but it flares up with big weather changes or before thunderstorms." He kept his head resting against the couch, eyes closing again. "Sometimes I can walk it off with some Advil, sometimes it gets bad and swells and the muscle in my thigh cramps."

Ethan sat on the low coffee table, let out a sigh. "Exactly what kept you from telling us? We could have managed this with you being our eyes. Damn it, William, there was no need for you to be the one chasing the guy today!"

Will looked at him and raised a brow. „You would have sent Benji to chase the guy?"

Ethan inhaled audibly. „No. We would have found a different way"

„It worked out this way"

Ethan got up, gave him a warning glare. „Yeah, it did. Now you're down. Benji is avoiding you and we have unnecessary tension in a team that needs to be able to trust each other to ensure everyone's safety. What for? Your pride?"

„I didn't.."

„What? Expect it to get that bad? Don't fuck with me, Brandt. You were already in pain when we met this morning. If I have reason to doubt your honesty about things like that, how am I supposed to trust you with bigger things?"

For seconds they just stared at each other and Ethan hoped that the analyst would think his action over and realize that everything could have also gone south easily.

„Stay where you are. I get you your water"

Will just gave a huff and sank back into the cushioned back of the couch, still holding the ice pack in place. In the kitchen, Ethan filled him a glass of water like promised. He did it slower than necessary, explaining the problem to Jane who was leaning against the counter next to the running coffee machine.

„He said it healed well, but can hardly walk?"

„I don't know Jane. Every agent has regular check ups. He wouldn't have gotten in with an injury in the first place. He claims it will pass if it rains."

„I used to have an aunt who could predict rain and snow by the way the scar on her forehead itched."

That made Ethan laugh briefly, but he shook his head. „He can't do that in the field. Who knows what.."

„Hey.." She approached him and touched his shoulder. „It didn't, okay? You can only make sure he learns from this."

„He better does." He said it with more of a sigh than anger.

„Get him comfortable, I'll bring coffee and drag Benji from his hiding spot."

He thanked her and returned to William, handing him the water.

„How bad is it? Advil or the bigger pills?"

„Bigger ones as long as they aren't morphine. If they are I take two Advil"

Ethan took one of the bigger pills and handed it over to Will. At least he wasn't denying the pain anymore, or giving snappy answers. Little victories.

„What happens with morphine?"

Brandt washed the pill down by draining half of the glass in one go and then sank back. „It knocks me out, gives me a hangover and makes me sick."

Ethan nodded and filed that away as important information. He left the pills on the table and took one of the sofa pillows, rolled it up tightly and placed it under Will's knee. The slight bending of the joint already caused the man to tense and hiss in pain. He pressed his hand to his thigh and bit his lip.

„Cramp…moving..sucks.. I swear it hasn't been… that bad in years."

Ethan thought about packing him up to take him to the nearest available physician, but with their faces known to too many people around the area, he dropped that plan as fast as it had formed in his head.

"Hey…you okay?" Jane had joined them and was aware of Will's pain without any further explanation.

"Peachy," He pressed out and Ethan was a second away from smacking him upside the head.

"His muscles are cramping. I'll check the stock to see if we got any muscle relaxants left" With that Ethan was up and out of the room. Back in the bathroom he searched through the cabinet once more, and to his big relief, found some muscle relaxants and a wide ace bandage that he took back to Will.

He did not at all expect him to have lost his pants, but the second before Jane placed the ice back on Brandt's knee, he knew why the pants were gone. Their partner had probably insisted on him taking it off to have a look at his knee, and he understood that second why Will couldn't walk properly. His knee was swollen and Ethan could see the muscles of his thigh twitch and tense.

"Should we have that seen by someone?" His tone was serious and all nonsense by that point.

"No. It'll be gone by morning, once it starts fucking raining" He spoke through gritted teeth while Jane helped him to lay down properly, his knee propped up and the blanket from the nearby chair draped over him. Ethan was surprised Brandt didn't complain when Jane touched his forehead.

"I'm not sick. It's just a pain reaction." He sounded dead tired, head dropping back on a pillow. Ethan wondered how much pain their partner was really in to break into sweat like that, but he didn't ask, instead he handed Jane the pills who made sure Will took them with some water. He was almost sure to hear him mumble a thank you when he sank back with a sigh. Jane sat on the armrest by his head for a few seconds, looking like a concerned girlfriend, before she got up and went into the kitchen. Minutes later she brought back a tray with mugs and a full coffee pot and called for Benji to join them.

He entered the living room and frowned when seeing Will on the couch.

"Is he practicing for sleeping beauty now?" He took a mug and started to pour himself some coffee

"Only if that makes you Grumpy the dwarf," Will gave back without bothering to open his eyes. Ethan took a deep breath, but Jane handled it before he could go between them.

"If you want to keep going with that behavior, I suggest you join the Kindergarten down the road"

Brandt opened his eyes and looked at Benji, who sipped from his coffee with a deep frown into the analyst's direction. His stubbornness and ego fought his team spirit for a moment, but finally he gave in.

"Sorry, it's been a day. Old college injury. I hate it"

Benji, obviously surprised to get an apology let his coffee sink down.

"Oh wow, look at that, and Analyst has a weak spot who would have known!" His tone indicated it wasn't more than teasing and to his relief Will smirked in return.

"Be happy I can't run right now, or I'd chase you down for that!"

"Oooh, look at me, so afraid and shaking!"

Jane shook her head and mumbled something that sounded like children, while Ethan poured coffee for himself with a smirk and sat down in a nearby chair.

"Wait till the morning and I'll kick your ass, Benji!"

"Might even welcome that, that would mean you're up and about again"

"Yeah, you'll see." He shifted in his position and cursed again. "Someone hand me some coffee. Let's see if caffeine really does help pills to kick in faster!"

It did help. Will had just finished his coffee, when Ethan took the mug from his hand before he could drop it. His eyes were barely open by that point. He helped him to lay down again, feeling sympathy for the younger agent when the little shuffling caused him pain again. He sat with him for several minutes after he fell asleep. At least his face was more relaxed and had regained some color finally.

"He'll be fine, Ethan. Trust him"

He looked up at Jane and then towards the windows when the sound of rolling thunder in the distance caught his attention. Will had been right. There was a thunderstorm coming. With a heavy sigh he sank back into the chair and nodded at their partner.

"Job's done. We can lay low till morning."

"Yeap, and someone had to sleep on the couch anyway. Place only has three beds." Benji grinned, knowing he would have probably been the one to sleep on the couch under different circumstances.

"You're talking about Brandt here, Benji. He might kick you out of the bed at dawn, just because he can."

He shrugged "At least that means he can walk again. I'll take the risk."

"Fearless Agent, wonder what took them so long to approve you for field missions."

"Hahaha, Agent Hunt. I will remind you next time I save your ass!"

Trying to not get too loud and wake Will again, all three of them laughed. They might have been a bit of a chaotic team, but neither of the would have traded their partners for anyone else.