Mike receives an email a few hours before his flight out. He blinks and reads it, rereads it. "Huh," he mumbles. "Hey, AJ, look at this." He hands her his phone and waits as she digests what it says.

"Oh." She looks up at him with a slow grin. "Oh."

For the first time ever, Mike's been given the week off just because, and not due to health reasons or an injury. He humphs under his breath, unsure how to feel about that exactly. Yes, time off is good, sometimes, but he has this niggling fear that they now don't need him, and if they don't need him enough to give him a full week off, well. That kind of trashes the years he's spent making himself invaluable, right?

"Hey." AJ leans over him, presses a kiss to his mouth. "I can hear you thinking from here. Relax. It's just one week, you'll be back to kicking ass and taking names next week. I have no doubt."

His hands smooth over her sides, along her back. "Yeah," he mumbles. "I guess so."

"I know so." AJ straddles him, tosses his phone aside to get lost in the sea of blankets surrounding them. "Well, now that we know you get to play hooky this week, I say we make the most of it." Her fingers trail down his chest, a smug little smirk crossing her face when he exhales a shuddering little gasp, "You in?"

"Hell, yeah," he says, gripping her by the hips and reversing their positions, kissing her intently as his fingers tease over the straps of her tank top before finally slipping it off entirely. He leans back and stares down at her, as enamored as he was the day he realized he had feelings for her. "You're so beautiful," he tells her, lazily kissing down her throat, enjoying how she shudders and grips at him as he explores, taking his time with all of her sensitive spots until drawing out soft, shaky exhales and faint moans from her.

"Mike," she breathes out. Then repeats his name until finally he looks up, amazed by the flushed look on her face, how fixed her eyes are. "Please. Please-"

He grins at her, smug and adoring and everything that Mike is wrapped up in this moment. "Your wish is my command," he tells her, hands trailing lower, leaving her arching up into his touch with a desperate gasp.

She shudders and breathes through it, trying to be conscious of the other people in the house- their children- and whimpers as he leans in for another kiss. "Mike..."

"I've got you," he murmurs. "I've got you."

She whimpers and nods, shuddering against him. "I love you," she breathes out against his lips and he smiles.

"I love you too," he whispers back.

-x

Having a day off, especially once he drags himself out of bed, and starts doing things, is weird. He has a few hours to play with George and Sara, which reminds him again of how quickly his children are growing- they're loud, silly children, and he wishes he has more time with them, to get to know them as people when they're still so untouched by the world and pure in their thoughts and feelings. He hoists Sara around and spins her as she squeals and laughs, George watching them with wide eyes until it's his turn.

Once they're all breathless and flushed, he drops them gently into the grass and lays there, staring up at the drifting clouds overhead, until AJ wanders around with lemonade for all of them, and things... yeah, things are pretty damned perfect.

It only gets better when Alicia comes by with Andre and Sara pokes gently at his cheeks, trails her fingers down his little hands and asks questions about babies while George solemnly plays patty cake with him, Andre clapping and squealing every few minutes.

"Our kids are pretty damn great," Mike mumbles into AJ's hair, smiling when she nods and grins.

"They really are," she agrees, leaning into him.

-x

For the first time in a long time, Mike gets to start his week off eating dinner with his family. They set everything up outside on the patio and invite Alicia and Sofia over, and it's a nice time, spent with laughter and joy, even as Alicia talks a bit about Ricardo's rehab and perhaps moving to Pennsylvania in the future. "He has a lot of ideas," she says softly, feeding Andre a spoonful of pears. "I hope eventually he finds something that sticks, that makes him happy. Not that I mind moving, of course not. It's as much fun for me as it is him, but we have Andre to think about now, and, well, this little one sooner rather than later." She smooths a hand over her stomach and shrugs. "I'd like some stability at some point."

"Of course you would," AJ says. "We've moved once outside of when we moved in together, and I'm pretty sure I'm still recovering. I'm not sure how you've done it, moving from Florida to Texas to California, mixed in with Ricardo's various ventures around the world."

"Can't forget almost moving permanently to Egypt too," Alicia says. "That would've... I don't know. I was looking forward to it, it would've been quite the adventure, but in some ways, I'm really glad that fell through. Especially now that I'm pregnant again."

AJ smiles at her. "It's selfish but I'm glad it fell through too. I would've missed you too much. Admittedly, Pennsylvania is pretty far away too, but at least we can still talk easier if you're still state side."

Alicia grins back at her. "Yeah, absolutely. You know that's mostly Amish country over there? I have no idea how I'm going to fit in, but... well, I'll definitely give it my best effort."

AJ sniffs. "Ah, you're a beautiful person inside and out, Alicia. I'm sure you could fit in anywhere."

Alicia smiles. "I sure hope so. Ricardo seems really excited about it." She hesitates. "You both have been so great about letting us stay, I hope you know we'll never be able to repay you for this kindness."

"Don't worry about it," Mike tells her. "It's been really nice having you guys close by, even if we couldn't really interact that much due to the pandemic."

"I'm glad we could do this much, sometimes," AJ says, waving a hand at the patio, their mostly finished meals. "It definitely helped make things more bearable."

"Absolutely," Alicia says with a small smile. "I love you guys."

"We love you too," AJ tells her, smiling as well.

-x

Mike ends the night with a slow walk along the neighborhood, reorienting himself with areas he usually doesn't get to explore between his busy schedule. He's still not a fan of having time off, but sometimes... after days like today... maybe, he thinks, they're not so bad.

Just as long as it doesn't happen too often.