It takes Chuck three days to wake up.

And as soon as he does he looks around, his hair pushed out of his face, and promptly falls unconscious again. At least it's something.

A week and a half later, and he still hasn't made another turnaround. Jacob had told Mike that his body had to recover and produce more blood, and even with the technology they have that speeds up the process tenfold, it still takes a while. Mike remembered reading an ancient piece of literature saying something about once replacing what was lost with the blood of similar people, but he was again told that that process was replaced years ago by the newer, safer process. Newer and safer, maybe, but it took much longer.

So when he's not fighting whatever Kane decides to throw at them, he's there, sitting beside Chuck's bed and waiting for him to regain consciousness once more. And it rips Mike's heart apart, knowing that he's the one that did this to him.

"You really shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Julie tells him one day, catching him by surprise. He hadn't heard her enter, and her voice over his shoulder was unexpected.

"No, I really should." With a sigh, Mike rests his head on his hands once more as he leans over the arm of his chair. "I did this, remember?"

Then Julie is in front of him, scowling in his direction with her hands on her hips. "It was an accident," she argues. "Have you heard of the word? It means an unfortunate and unintentional incident. You didn't plan for that to happen. How could you have?"

"I could have listened to him!" With a huff Mike stands, his hands in fists at his sides. "I could have just put aside my own selfish need to put ourselves in danger to get kicks, and actually listened to Chuck. Taken that curve slower, kept control of Mutt, and saved them both from paying for my mistake!"

"Don't you dare go there," Julie growls, stepping up so that she's less than a foot away. She glares up at Mike; fire in her eyes as silently challenges him to fight back.

"I will, and you know it," Mike snarls back, getting up in her face as well.

"I thought better of you."

"You thought wrong."

Julie's face is twisting in the beginning of a nasty remark when they hear a rustle behind them, and they turn to see Chuck looking at them with heavy-lidded eyes.

He manages a weak smile, looking between the two with sad amusement. "Quite th' scene t' wake up to," he drawls, his voice raspy and slurred. No wonder—he hasn't used it now for almost two weeks.

"Chuck!" Julie and Mike shout in unison, and immediately they're both by his side.

"Are you okay?" Mike asks, grabbing the glass of water for him from beside the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Julie inquires, running her fingers over the machine as she checks his body's various levels.

It isn't quite a laugh that makes its way out of Chuck's lips, but it's close. "Like shit," he sighs, flexing a hand. Though he's mostly healed, he's been out for so long even the stuff Jacob put him on can't block out all the side effects. At least his speech is improving. "Like I got hit by a tonna bricks."

Julie smiles, tears in her eyes, while Mike freezes up. "How much do you remember?" he asks, a touch of hesitation to his voice.

Closing his eyes, Chuck shakes his head. "I don't wanna remember," he says, bringing a hand to brush a stray piece of hair from his face. "Maybe in a day 'r two. Just…do y'got anything to eat?"

That makes Mike chuckle. "Sure thing, bud. I'll get you something."

Julie gives him another look as he hurries out, and he can hear her making conversation with Chuck back in the room without him. Mike just needs a breather, a second to catch himself and think a course of action through that won't cause more bad than good again.

As he assembles a sandwich for him, taking his time to gather his thoughts. What if Chuck has amnesia and doesn't remember anything? What if the horrible blood loss he suffered did something to his brain, and he won't be able to program anymore? What if he doesn't remember what went on between him and Mike the last couple of months? Mike shakes the thoughts from his head, taking a deep breath before grabbing the plate and walking back.

A smile makes its way onto his face when he reenters the room, despite his fears. Chuck keeps subconsciously trying to push his hair back in his face, and Julie's got her elbows propped up on his bed. She's poised like a cat, alert and upright in a way that only Julie can pull off.

"Here's some grub," Mike says, announcing his reappearance. Chuck's looking a little better now, and with their help, he actually sits up to dig into the monster of a sandwich Mike's brought back for him.

Mike can't ignore how Julie's eyes flicker between him and Chuck. He thinks it might be that she has something to settle with him that she can't quite get off her mind.

Actually, he knows it.

But instead of causing a scene and causing Chuck to regress, Mike holds his tongue and carries on merry conversation with them. Chuck wants to do a safety check on the new Mutt before they take her out, and Julie's got some new war tech that he might be interested in. Things that Chuck wants to talk about, not them. And by the time he wants to rest again and Mike and Julie leave, he's almost smiling again.

"Don't think I've forgotten our little 'talk,' Mike," Julie growls as Mike heads in the opposite direction of her.

Mike just waves a hand in the air in farewell, doesn't give her a glance back, and ignores her sharp gaze following him down the hallway.

Everything goes downhill from there.

Chuck begins to remember things, from the first time he and Mike kissed to being under the influence of that booster to all the way back living in Deluxe. And he tells Mike as he remembers, until he really thinks hard and remembers the accident.

Mike was terrified this would happen. Chuck grows quiet around him, not sharing as much and smiling significantly less. And as much as Mike tries to coax him into laughing or just being joyful, or remembering the fun time's they've had, he can't seem to break past this…barrier that seems to have sprouted out of nowhere between them.

When Chuck shies away from a kiss goodbye as Mike leaves to go saddle up in Mutt and take on some Kanebots, he knows that something is very wrong. But he doesn't have time to stop and ask, and instead, he just leaves and tries not to notice the despairing look in Chuck's eyes.

"I told you, I'm worried," Mike explains to Julie, her little boxy head looking temporarily murderous as she takes down a couple of bots on her tail. Dutch and Texas aren't part of this little chat, and since she already knows about the two of them, Mike can go to her for help.

"Just give him some time." Julie turns her attention back to him now that she's bot-less, and gives him half a smile. "He almost died, and he hit his head pretty hard. What if it's like one of those cases where he feels like a different person and you need to start from square one again?"

Mike almost loses control of Mutt at that. "What? Go back to square one?" He's incredulous and frankly a little afraid, but then his rational mind takes over again. "No, that's not it. You saw how he was at the beginning; it was like nothing changed. It was just after he remembered the accident that he started acting weird."

"Well, I'm going to need to think about it some more if you want an answer," Julie sighs, her box-head turning to the side before looking suddenly surprised. "Watch out!" she shouts, and with a blast of her canon, another bot falls to the ground beside Mutt.

"Thanks for that." Mike scowls, turning his attention back to the incoming attack. "Try talking to him or something. He won't say much with me anymore." It hurts, but Mike's not about to acknowledge it here and now.

Julie nods, her icon doing a little bow-like gesture. "Will do. Anyways, you should pay more attention to saving your own butt than saving your ego." She smirks and disappears before Mike can argue back.

Talking to her always puts him in a good mood, and by the time he gets back he feels more confident in himself. He notices that Chuck sticks to Julie as Texas relays his own version of what happened to him and Jacob, though, and dampens Mike's mood a bit.

"Texas thinks we should go get pizza," he ends with, and looks around, nodding at the team.

Mike nods. "That sounds great. I think we can all agree that getting some food is the right way to go right now."

"Yeah," Julie agrees, walking towards her car. "I think so too. Antonio's it is."

Texas starts badgering Dutch about something, and Mike begins to walk over to Mutt. He's about to open the passenger door when he notices that Chuck isn't with him, and turns around.

"Hey, Chuck—"

His voice doesn't carry very far—or at least not far enough to reach Julie's car, which Chuck is currently climbing into.

It's like a slap to the face, and though Mike knows he shouldn't take it seriously, he does. He can't even lie to himself about Chuck 'always catching rides with the other Burners,' because he's only ever ridden with someone else if Mutt was out for the count or Mike was off doing something that Chuck couldn't tag along during. Because really, Mutt is almost as much Chuck's car as she is Mike's (though he'd never, ever admit that.)

But it's the first time Chuck's really been out in weeks, and Mike won't pressure him to tell him what's up and ruin it. Instead he sits on the other side of the table, unable to resist glancing at the other boy every once and a while, and counts the minutes to when they're going home again.

"Hey man, you're awfully quiet," Dutch says beside him, gently knocking him on the arm.

"Yeah, Texas thinks you should stop moping and help him convince Miss Lamepants here why Kung-Fu is way more awesome than science." Texas karate-chops the air to emphasize his point, sending a smirk back at Julie to gauge her reaction.

Julie just frowned at him—and it wasn't the usual unamused frown. It was the stop-it-you're-being-insensitive frown, even if Texas couldn't tell the difference.

With a smile, Mike leans back. "Hey, I'm just thinking. Nothin' serious."

Chuck doesn't look at him. Mike doesn't look at him back. Because as long as neither look at the other, then nothing will have to go on between them.

It's a long dinner, and though Mike tries to laugh and chat and just act normal again, his heart isn't quite in it. There's something about the way that Chuck almost clings to Julie that has Mike edgy, and on the ride home, he keeps his comm off so none of them can contact him.

Dutch, of course, chastises him as soon as he gets back, but Mike just listens with half an ear and then leaves as soon as he's done.

Afterwards, while he's lying above his covers still in his jacket, Julie comes in. She knocks first, of course, and after Mike gives her the okay to enter, she slips in and closes the door behind her.

"I talked to him the whole ride there and the whole ride back," she tells him, sitting on the bed next to him.

"Uh-huh."

"Well…don't you want to hear about it?"

"Of course I do," Mike snaps, his temper temporarily flaring before he takes a deep breath and calms it back down. "Sorry. I just…yes, I do. Continue."

Julie frowns, and rests a hand over his. "I'm sorry, Mike," she starts, and immediately his stomach leaps up into his mouth. That's never a good way to start a sentence. "I wish I could lie and tell you what you want to hear, but I know that you won't believe me, and you'll make me tell you the truth."

"Yes, that's all nice and well," Mike cuts in, waving his hand in the air. "Cut to the chase. Tell me what he said."

"He's afraid."

"He's always afraid."

"He's afraid of you."

That shuts Mike up real quick.

Julie shakes her head, running a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry. He remembers everything, and he's just afraid that the same thing's going to happen again and he'll end up hurting us. And you. He's just…unsure."

"What's there to be unsure of?" Mike yells, jumping up before catching himself and sitting back down. "Things are back to normal! I've learned my lesson!" He sinks back down onto his bed, his head in his hands. "What do I have to do?"

"Give him time," Julie explains, running a hand over his back in a soothing motion. "Time's what he needs. Because in his eyes, even though he knows you weren't directly responsible for that crash, you were still a part of it and he needs time to move on."

Mike sighs and falls backwards, his head hitting the bed with a whump. "I can't believe this."

"I can." Julie shrugs, an apologetic look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mike, but you can't just nearly kill Chuck and expect there to be no consequences at all. You learned from your mistake and you regret it, I know; but that doesn't give you a free pass."

"Thanks, you're a real help," Mike growls, his voice like acid.

Julie scowls again, but she rests her hand over his briefly before standing. "It's not as much your fault as you think it is. You just need to be patient, and then maybe things'll go back to the way they were."

He can't miss the 'maybe' in that sentence, and Mike lets out another sigh and closes his eyes. When he opens them again, Julie is gone.

And Chuck's gone, too. Just over three weeks ago Mike would flip over in bed and come face-to-face with freckles and blonde eyelashes, whereas now there's nothing but a cold, empty spot next to him.

Mike scowls, trying to ignore the feeling of something clutching his chest and not letting go, and turns back the other way.