A/N Guys you have no idea how awful I feel after not updating this in so long. I've had no internet for ages and then I've had uni work and job work and it's all kinda piling up, so please excuse the lateness of this. Just remember that I NEVER abandon stories (I've only ever done it with 2 and it's been fandoms I fell out of love with) and this WILL be completed, so don't worry. I've just had a lot to do recently. So, yeah. Saying that - I really hope you enjoy :)

Briggs yawned as he sat up in bed. For once he'd actually set an alarm, knowing he needed to be alert for their bust of Lang's warehouse that afternoon. He felt like something was missing, before realising that Mike was probably still asleep. It had only been just over three days, but it felt weird that he wasn't being woken up by a small boy who just wanted to play with someone.

Although the kid hadn't been well the day before, so he was probably still sleeping it off. Briggs left him for the time being and lit some incense, deciding that he hadn't meditated in quite a long time. He breathed slowly, the smell of the incense finally wafting through his room and felt calmer than he had in what felt like months. He remembered what it had been like when Adam had been under his protection. It was when he was still living at the Estate, and everyone had always been too wrapped up in their own cases to help him. Lisa helped when she could – he often thought about what she would be like as a mother…

But it was hectic, he always had to keep the kid entertained and fed, and made sure he went to sleep at the right time. He was glad everyone in Graceland was helping out with Mike – and it helped that for the majority of the time, Mike was an adult in mind. He had yet to get arguments over bedtime, or to stop playing. And there hadn't been tantrums yet, and Briggs could remember some spectacular ones with Adam.

But that was all over with now. He put it back in the deepest recesses of his mind. Focussing on Mike instead actually took his mind off everything that happened, so he thought about how he would keep the kid entertained until he had to go for the bust that afternoon.

He wondered how he would feel if they found an antidote today, and it was all over that night. He wondered if he would still be able to put Adam out of his mind whilst looking out for Mike. Or if the kid would just shun him – Briggs wouldn't blame him; the whole situation must be as embarrassing as hell for him.

He finally realised he'd been meditating and thinking for close to an hour, and so got up and had a quick shower before quietly opening Mike's door, checking in on the kid. He wasn't in bed, and Briggs quickly checked the bathroom to make sure he hadn't relapsed overnight and choked on his own vomit. Upon finding it empty (and pleasantly not smelling of sick) he headed downstairs, finding Mike surrounded by blocks that he was making into some sort of cityscape.

"Morning, Mike," Briggs said casually, walking over to the kitchen to make some coffee for himself. "How do you feel?"

"Okay," he replied, getting up and pulling Snoopy to himself before walking over, holding his arms out. Briggs frowned slightly but picked the kid up and rested him on one hip. Mike put his cheek on Briggs' shoulder, closing his eyes. He'd woken later than he expected and still felt wobbly from the day before. However, he hadn't wanted to annoy Briggs by climbing into his bed, so had shakily made his way downstairs, trying to distract himself by the all too apparent separation he felt with the toys that were slowly starting to migrate through the house and spilling out of the living area and onto the kitchen floor, the stairs and everywhere else it could be dangerous for them to be.

But even though he'd tried hard not to cling to Briggs, as soon as he saw the man, he couldn't help it. He needed the closeness that made him feel so safe – especially since Briggs was going on a hopefully successful bust of Lang's lab. If that was the case, he wanted to have his affection now – while he still craved it and could still get it.

"You sure you're okay?" Briggs checked, sipping at his coffee.

"Still a bit tired," Mike shrugged, his legs making small movements as if he was trying to climb his way up Briggs' body.

"Have you eaten anything yet?" Briggs asked him, opening the fridge and looking through.

"Can I have French toast?" Mike asked.

"Maybe another time, kiddo," Briggs replied. "How about…" he looked in a few cupboards, realising Charlie had gone shopping for some kid friendly food. He sighed, not having a clue what to give Mike, before the kid just pointed at something, bouncing to get his point across that he really wanted it.

"Pop tarts?" Briggs questioned, raising an eyebrow. He looked down to see Mike nodding eagerly, his eyes wide and pleading, tugging at Briggs' shirt. "Alright, alright," he sighed and grabbed the box, opening it and putting two in the toaster. It didn't take long before they popped up and he put them on a plate, taking Mike back over to his blocks and managing to dislodge the kid from his hip, putting the plate on the coffee table.

"Thanks, Briggs," Mike said, eating them quickly and getting sticky hands all over his blocks.

"Promise me you won't get high off the sugar and wreck the joint," Briggs said, only half joking. Mike gave him an innocent smile that made him snort and he watched as the kid stacked more blocks before sitting back, bored. Briggs was about to suggest that he go get dressed and they could go to the beach for a while, but Mike had other plans.

He went to the bottom of the box that had mostly been emptied and had it's contents spread everywhere, and pulled out a few books, toddling back to where Briggs was lounging before sorting through them and putting a handful down on the floor, finally putting one on the man's lap, before climbing onto the couch to sit with him.

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Mike opened the book, looking up at Briggs significantly.

"You want me to read to you?" Paul asked, frowning. Mike nodded slightly shyly but put a finger on the first word, glancing up at Paul. "Why?"

"Cause…" Mike mumbled, glancing down at his lap.

"You're not getting away with it that easily, kid – spill," Briggs demanded, genuinely curious to find out why Mike was so insistent on having him read out loud.

"Cause," Mike said in an incredibly quiet voice. "I wanna read it."

"Well how about you read it and I'll listen?" Briggs said, not really sold on the idea of reading a kid's book aloud.

"I can't," Mike whispered, flushing. "I can't… I can't read it."

"Wait like… at all?"

Mike turned back to the front page and put his small index finger on the first word of the title. "That's… that's a 'g', right?" He asked, sounding as if he was desperate to be told he was right. "And… and that's an 'r' but I… I can't figure out what the rest of it says."

Briggs put a hand on Mike's head, as he could tell that the small boy was getting frustrated and upset with himself. "It's okay, kiddo. It's no big deal. It's pretty obvious you could read before all this," Mike gave a small giggle. "It's just because you're a kid."

"What does…?" Mike swallowed slightly. "What does it say?"

"Sound it out with me, kiddo," Briggs said, moving Mike's finger along the letters. "If you know that this so far is a 'g' and an 'r'…" He waited patiently as Mike sounded it out slowly. "And if I told you this one was an 'e'?"

Mike followed along the rest of the word. "So's that one," he stabbed at the next letter. "You know what this one is?" Briggs asked, showing him the last letter.

"Uh…" Mike was thinking hard but flushed. "No."

"That's okay," Briggs soothed. "If I told you it was an 'n'?" He could see Mike mouthing the letters, his brain working overtime before it finally clicked.

"Green!" Mike said excitedly. "It's 'Green Eggs and Ham'!" He looked delighted, and Paul's heart ached for just how proud he was of himself.

"You picked that up fast," Briggs grinned, turning to the first page again. He had thought he'd have to painstakingly go through each letter of the title with the toddler.

Mike shrugged. "I guessed from the picture it was Dr. Seuss," he explained.

"Well you did good," Briggs reassured him. "You want me to start?"

Mike nodded and slowly started to follow the story with his index finger, stopping Briggs to ask questions and announce what the picture on that particular page was. Briggs grinned as he read, feeling privately proud that the kid seemed to be immersed in the story.

After a while, and they had moved on from Dr Seuss to Winnie the Pooh, Briggs froze, hearing movement and chatter at the top of the stairs. Mike glanced up at him, wondering why he had stopped reading.

Get it together, Briggs forced himself. You're just entertaining the kid.

He continued, and Mike relaxed, again tracing the words with his finger. Johnny and Paige were coming downstairs, arguing playfully before stopping as they saw Briggs and Mike. After a few seconds, Paige pulled herself together and sat next to them.

"What're you doing?" She asked, looking genuinely interested.

"Reading," Mike said. "And we've already read Green Eggs and Ham, and… and Where the Wild Things Are, and now we're reading Winnie the Pooh and Briggs is doing the voices," he announced, looking very pleased with himself.

"You're doing the voices?" Johnny asked, sitting cross-legged in front of him and staring at the man intently.

"Well I wouldn't say I was doing voices, but the kid needs to know which character said what," Briggs shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

"What, like he's not reading along as you're doing it?" Paige smirked. Mike shuffled slightly closer to Briggs and put his thumb in his mouth, causing Paul to look down and start reading again.

It wasn't too long before Charlie found them in this position, and after quickly laughing she settled down to listen as well, shortly followed by Jakes. Briggs tried to put it in his head as it being just like a sit-rep of a case. Although it was hard when Mike kept begging him to 'make the gopher sound' after each page. When he finished, Mike was already crawling down to find another book.

"Let's leave it for now, Mike," Briggs told him, stretching. "I'm sending myself to sleep and I need to be awake for this afternoon."

Mike frowned, trying to remember what was happening that day, when his eyes suddenly lit up, a beam on his face. "Yeah! Do you think you'll find the antidote?"

Briggs shrugged nonchalantly. "Should do. But he did also say that about 50% of his test subjects reverted back normally."

Mike grinned and hugged Snoopy, climbing back onto the couch, the sugar from the pop tarts not helping in the face of the slight shakiness he still felt from his illness.

"Can we watch a movie?" He asked. "It doesn't matter which one."

"I don't think we have many," Briggs said – knowing that everyone had their own movie collection, but he'd rather let the kid watch something that was more suited to his physical age. And why was he thinking that? It didn't matter, Mike would probably turn back today, he wouldn't want to watch some crappy animated movie, would he?

"I have some," Paige announced, getting up from the couch and going upstairs to her room.

"What time are you leaving?" Charlie asked Briggs, leaning back on the cushions.

"4," Briggs replied, holding his hand out loosely as Mike played with his fingers gently, content to just do that rather than get off the couch and find other toys. "It should be a really simple bust, there's not much of a threat from this guy, trust me." He kept a neutral face on, but inside he was turbulent. The site of the lab alone was making him think twice about the whole thing; maybe they should leave it a while? It would be entirely possible that Mike would snap out of it without the antidote, right? He felt Mike yank on one of his fingers and winced, gently taking his hand out of Mike's playful ones.

He saw the reason for Mike's sudden excitement in the form of Paige walking in, a stack of dvd's with her. "So, I don't know exactly what you want, but I've got a selection, and I took some of Johnny's stuff too if you wanted less Disney princess."

"You went in my room?" Johnny asked, frowned. "That's not cool, P."

"You have Disney movies?" Mike asked, finding them suddenly plonked onto his lap and started eagerly shifting through them. "I wouldn't have thought you'd have any," he remarked, seeing Brave, Lilo and Stitch, Tangled and The Fox and the Hound in the mix.

"Johnny has Cars," she told him, throwing him a glare when he tried to weakly protest. "It's one of his favourite movies," she added.

"Can we watch that?" Mike asked semi-shyly, putting the rest on the floor and climbing onto Briggs' lap. Briggs tried to protest, and even started to move Mike off his lap so that he himself could start getting ready for that afternoon, but Mike clutched onto him. "Please?" He asked quietly. "Just one?"

Briggs sighed but kept Mike on his lap, bouncing his knee slowly. Close to halfway through, Mike started giggling at Johnny's reactions to his apparent favourite movie, and Briggs found himself wondering if they'd have many more days like this. When they were between cases and content to just sit and watch movies together. Charlie would love it; she was the one who would believe with every fibre of her being that they were a family. Jakes was the one most vehemently against it, but even he was struggling to keep a contented smile off his face – even whilst watching the childish movie.

When it finished, Mike turned the puppy eyes on Briggs and he rolled his own, shaking his head. "Feel free to watch another one, kid, but I have things to do." Everyone else – although with an air of regret – admitted that they too, should be doing work, and so Mike found himself abandoned on the couch, a pick of DVD's to choose from, but with no one to watch them with. He had been left to his own devices in the living area and although he found that slightly neglectful, supposed they had entertained him for as long as they could. So he slotted another DVD in and part-watched it, the rest of the time trying to build a large castle with blocks, partly inspired by the movie he was watching.

"Whatcha doing, Mikey?" Johnny asked as he bounced over, clearly having done whatever it was he had been doing. He had even had time to go to Hector's, and the smell of the taco in his hand was making Mike start to drool slightly, and he couldn't even answer the question – instead he just stared at the food.

Johnny noticed this and chuckled. "You hungry, bro?" Upon Mike's nod, he went to the kitchen. "I'll make you something, what do you want?"

"Um…" Mike shrugged, having no idea what to eat – he just knew he was hungry, anything would have done at that point. "I don't know."

"Okay, we can work with that," Johnny said, pulling out one of his disgusting fruits. At Mike's horrified face he laughed. "Don't worry, man, this isn't for you. What do you say to mac and cheese instead?"

Mike nodded and as soon as he had confirmation that Johnny was indeed making it and not just building up his hopes only to destroy them, he went back to his castle, trying to make it look as grand and as Scottish as possible.

"Johnny?" He called out. "Does my castle look Scottish to you?"

The agent took a break from heating up Mike's food and glanced over. "Yeah, dude. It like, radiates Scotland. Throw some tartan in there and it'll be like we're there."

Mike giggled happily but soon become bored with his tower building. "Where's Briggs?" Mike asked, getting up and attaching himself to Johnny's leg, feeling himself getting more and more impatient for his food.

"He'll be drawing up plans and getting updates from the TAC team," Johnny replied, pouring the mac and cheese into a bowl and putting it on the table, Mike hastily clambering after it. "Why?"

Mike shrugged, already dropping food down his pyjamas, and down Snoopy. He scowled at the mess – he usually abhorred mess but right now he wanted food as fast as possible. Plus, the quicker he was finished, the quicker he could find Briggs. With this in mind, he ate fast, and what must have been 10 minutes passed before Johnny came over to him – apparently having left the room without Mike even realising.

"So uh, I just went to see if Briggs was finished yet cause I can't really leave you completely on your own and I really wanna catch some waves while they're good," he confided. "But he's in a bad mood in the phone room right now, so I'd advise against you going up there right now."

Mike frowned. "But I want to see him," he whined.

"I know, dude, but Briggs gets like this sometimes," Johnny told him.

"Maybe I can cheer him up," Mike negotiated, pulling at the man's elbow.

Johnny snorted. "Good luck, I haven't managed to cheer him out of one of his funks in the 2 years I've lived here."

Mike frowned but continued to eat his food in silence, thinking it all over. He could make Briggs feel better, he knew he could. Maybe if he couldn't do something that would make the man happy, then maybe making him proud would have the same effect.

With this in mind, he jumped down from his chair, leaving Johnny to grumble about doing the dishes, and rifled through what he was now pretty sure was his toy box. He found a large pad of paper and some pens and crayons. Torn between the two, he decided to just take both to the coffee table and chewed on the tip of one if the pens as he thought. He was worried that Briggs was angry at him because he couldn't read anymore. So maybe if he wrote a letter or something, then that would make it better.

"Dude, are you going to get changed at some point?" Johnny asked. "Cause those pj's probably need to go in the laundry."

Mike shrugged and put the pen to the paper, before drawing back. Even something as simple as writing his own name, or Briggs' name was just eluding him. And he didn't want to tell Johnny what was wrong, because then everyone would know that he couldn't read. He found himself growing more and more frustrated and slammed the pen down, resting his chin on his arms moodily.

"What's up?" Johnny asked, coming to sit by him.

"I wanna write Briggs something," Mike grumbled. "But I can't."

"Why not?" Johnny asked. When he didn't get a reply, he shrugged. "Why don't you draw something instead?"

Mike sat up and beamed delightedly. He pulled all of the different pens and crayons out, leaving large piles of them in front of him on the coffee table. After thinking carefully, he picked up the blue and drew some squiggly lines, before adding black figures on bright orange boards. To him, it made perfect sense, but Johnny was squinting slightly.

"It's surfing," Mike explained dourly, picking it up and looking at it, worrying. "Is it bad?"

"No, it's awesome," Johnny hastily enthused. "It just took me a while. You gunna draw anything else?"

Mike nodded and added things that definitely had Johnny lost. He was sure that Mike knew perfectly what he was drawing, but it was just squiggles, lines and shapes to him. He just hoped Briggs wouldn't disappoint the kid too much when he inevitably snapped at him for interrupting him with childish drawings.

"That's awesome," Johnny told him when he put a crayon down. "You gunna sign it?" Mike bit his lip, shrugging. "C'mon, if not then people are gunna think it's Jakes', and he'll get all the credit for drawing Briggs a picture."

Mike nodded and slowly picked up a pen. "Johnny…" he said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"How do… how do I…"

"How do you what?"

"How do I spell my name?"

"You… You don't know?" Johnny asked, looking shocked. It hadn't come up in conversation, but he had assumed that Mike still knew how to read and write. At the kid's small head shake, he pulled himself together. "That's cool. So uh… sound your name out?" He guessed, having no idea how to teach someone to read or write. Mike did so and after a long time – with Johnny's guidance – had a very shaky looking 'Mike' written on the bottom.

"I wanna write Briggs at the top," Mike said.

"Okay," Johnny said, exhausted from the effort of helping Mike and deciding to have some fun instead. "How about we do this one quickly, so you can give him it faster?" Mike nodded eagerly, and had Johnny carefully put his hand over Mike's so they wrote out the name together. "Okay, you're all set," Johnny said, grinning at him. "Go give it to him. I'm gunna go surf."

"Thanks, Johnny!" Mike said happily, grabbing his picture and running up the stairs.

"Maybe you should change your clothes first!" Johnny suggested before he grabbed his board. As he heard Mike running up, he started chuckling. He couldn't wait to hear about Briggs' reaction to the card.

After quickly changing, Mike hurried to the phone room, knocking politely before bursting in, unable to contain his excitement.

"I said not now, Johnny!" Briggs growled, before turning to throw something. He paused as he saw Mike stood there, a piece of paper badly hidden behind his back. "Mike. What are you doing?"

"Johnny said you were in a bad mood," Mike explained, walking over and bouncing excitedly. "So I've got something to make you feel better."

"Yeah?" Briggs couldn't help but give a small smile. He was in a bad mood, but this was a welcome distraction. "What is it?"

"I made you this!" Mike announced, passing the paper to him, grinning happily. "Do you like it?"

Briggs smiled at the childish drawings and scribbles. "This me?" He asked, pointing to the figure on the board. Mike nodded, ecstatic that Briggs understood. "And… what's that?" He asked, feeling bad that he didn't see whatever it was that Mike could.

"That's B.D," Mike explained, pointing to the black circle with sticks coming out of it, an orange ball next to it. "And he has Lannister in his mouth. And there's me," he pointed to some colour with a yellow squiggle on top of it. "I'm making a sand castle. And I signed it!" Mike said. "Look, see? I wrote my name! And yours!"

He pointed to them and Briggs felt his breath catch in his throat. The wiggly 'Mike' made him want to chuckle, but then the equally wiggly 'Daddy' made him pause. "You uh… you had any help with this, kiddo?" Briggs asked in an almost strangled voice.

"Well, Johnny helped me with spelling, but I wrote my name," Mike said, sounding disappointed that Briggs knew he didn't do it all by himself. "And he hurried yours. But now I'll remember how to spell it," he suggested, looking up at Briggs with puppy eyes.

"That's true," Briggs said lightly, already planning on how he would get back at Johnny. He decided to just let the kid believe he'd written 'Briggs' and just warn people not to mention it. "Thanks, Mikey."

"Do you like it?"

"I love it," Briggs assured him. "You wanna put it on the fridge?" Mike's resulting blush meant that he did, and Briggs laughed. "We'll go do that now, huh?" He stood up and took Mike's hand, walking him down the stairs.

"I don't want you to go," Mike mumbled as he was placed on the counter, swinging his legs and watching Briggs attach his drawing to the fridge with some magnets.

"Why not?" Briggs asked, opening the fridge once he was done and grabbing Jakes' OJ, swigging from it and offering it to the toddler.

Mike took a small sip. "'Cause…" he said softly. "I just don't want you to."

"That doesn't really explain much," Briggs told him, putting the OJ back in the fridge and grabbing Mike, tickling him slightly to make him laugh as he rested him back on his hip, wandering slightly aimlessly as they spoke.

"I don't know, I just get… I get these weird feelings where I miss you. Like… a lot. And I don't know why, and it even happens when you've just gone into a different room. But I get really paranoid and I panic and just wanna be able to see you again," Mike's lips had started wobbling. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Relax, Mike," Briggs said soothingly. "Lang told me that this happens with the serum. As soon as you're back to normal, everything'll be the way it was."

Mike snorted. "No it won't be. You'll probably still want to do something stupid like tuck me in."

"And you'll probably beg me to," Briggs teased, hitching him slightly higher up his hip. "But seriously, don't worry. After a while we can just forget all about this."

"I hope you're right," Mike said, slightly moodily, his thumb in his mouth.

"C'mon, Mike – this is me. Of course I am."

Mike drowsily came round from where he had fallen asleep on the couch. He remembered being told to nap and refusing, not wanting to miss Briggs leaving. But his body clearly argued and it wasn't long before he had collapsed where he was, drooling all over the cushions. Briggs had gone by the time he woke up, and he rubbed at his eyes, sitting up and wishing he'd been able to at least say goodbye.

"Hey, Mikey," Charlie said from the kitchen where she was pouring over a magazine. "You okay?"

"When's Briggs gunna be back?" He asked, fidgeting.

"Later, sweetie," Charlie replied, glancing up at him. "He said to tell you to be good."

Mike scowled at her. "I'm not a little kid," he muttered, getting off the couch and intentionally leaving Snoopy behind, and making it five steps before rushing back to grab the toy, holding it close to him. It felt better knowing he had something of Briggs' with him.

Charlie raised an eyebrow at him and he looked down at the floor, blushing. He shouldn't have snapped at her – she had a right to tell him to be good, there had been times where he'd acted awfully. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I'll be good."

"I know," she replied, before casually saying; "I saw the drawing you made for Briggs."

"He liked it!" Mike said happily, glad they were off the subject. "And I even wrote my name! And his! Well, Johnny helped me with it, but I did it!" He bounced slightly, grinning. Charlie nodded, a small smile on her face. Briggs had told her what Johnny had done, and she had agreed not to tell Mike. He would be too embarrassed, and had been so proud of having his picture put up – she didn't want to spoil that.

"I saw," she told him, putting a hand on his head to calm him down. "Is there anything you want to do today?"

"Beach?" He asked. "I promise I'll be really good, I won't run away and I'll stay right where you can see me!" He begged. He just needed some time out of the house to take his mind off everything.

"I'll see who wants to go," Charlie told him, placing a gentle hand on his head to calm him. She shouted up the stairs and to her surprise, Johnny, Paige and Jakes all came down to see what she wanted. She was surprised even further when they all agreed to go to the beach. She thought it could be to do with the fact they all knew that Mike could be changed back that night – they would never admit it to anyone or themselves; Charlie wouldn't even admit it – but she knew it was partly because they would miss the toddler, as much as they all missed normal Mike, she had to admit younger Mike was more adorable – and watching him cling to Briggs was both hilarious and endearing.

They got down to the beach and immediately, Charlie and Paige set up some blankets that they could sunbathe on, leaving Jakes and Johnny to once more entertain the kid. Thus, Mike was grabbed and set upon Johnny's shoulders, his piercing squeals and giggles causing Paige and Charlie to glance over a second before rolling their eyes and lying back down. It could almost be equated to lionesses napping before hearing a scrap and seeing their cubs fighting, before simply ignoring it and leaving them to their own stupidity.

After a while Johnny collapsed next to Charlie in the sand in exhaustion, and Jakes too quickly sat down in case Mike would try to climb on him next and expect a ride. Paige huffed and stood up, seeing Mike fidgeting in the sand, wanting to do something just not sure what.

"C'mon, Levi," she said, grabbing his hand and walking to the shoreline. "You wanna jump some waves?" Mike nodded quickly in agreement and together they leapt over the water when it rolled in – Paige having to often lift Mike by his arm to stop him getting soaked as he nearly fell over more than once.

Just as Paige was about to say that maybe they should go and rest for a while, a bark sounded down the beach.

"B.D!" Mike gasped, looking at Paige. "Can I go play with him? Please?"

Paige looked over at everyone else. Charlie was pretty much asleep, and Johnny was just winding Jakes up. "Okay," she sighed. "Just don't go very far, alright?" Mike flung himself around her in a hug and dashed off, leaving her to fret about the seat water that had been pasted around her in the hug.

"B.D!" Mike yelled as he ran. "C'mere boy!" He followed the barking and stumbled to a very sudden halt as he saw that the dog was in the middle of a circle of men, prodding him to make him scared and angry. "Hey!" He shouted, forgetting for the moment he was just a little kid and there were three brutish men in front of him. "Leave him alone!"

They turned and his blood ran cold as he saw the ring leader.

"Hello, Michael."

After they secured the warehouse, Briggs wandered up and down the different lab stations as FBI scientists examined every single agent in a bottle. It would take them days to actually find the antidote if there was one, but thankfully Briggs found he didn't mind being here. However, all he could think of were two things – the first being Mike, and wondering if he would be back before the kid went to bed, and the second being Lang. He needed to find that son of a bitch. The location of the warehouse wasn't just coincidence – it can't have been.

"Agent Briggs!" He turned as someone called his name and frowned; one of the TAC team ran to him, holding a phone and being swamped by different agents.

"What?"

"A call came through on this cell – we just found it here. The guy on the other line, he wants to talk to you."

Briggs quirked an eyebrow but nodded, taking the phone. "This is Special Agent Paul Briggs."

"Hello, Paul."

"Bello," Briggs breathed out. "What do you want?"

"It's more of a question of what do you want, my friend," Bello told him, and Briggs found his legs wobbling and threatening to crash him to the floor when he heard Mike crying on the other end.

A/N Yayyy plot :D Again, I'm SO sorry for the wait, like - a thousand sorrys, I just hope this chapter makes up for it, and I hope I can get round to writing the next one soon :)