Title: Almost Normal
Author: SneetchesToo
Pairing: Michael/Fiona
Rating: General
Summary: Prompt #18: "It's late. Shouldn't you be asleep."
Author's Note: Thanks anon for the request! I've never written Michael/Fi in this capacity so I hope it doesn't suck too much. Set in modern day Ireland, seven years post-finale.

Michael knew what it felt like to wake up to an empty bed.

In fact, it was a feeling he was used to.

But after spending the past seven years sleeping next to someone, he had almost forgotten that once familiar feeling.

Almost.

"Fi?" He could hear the sound of the waves outside the bedroom window, the wind blowing through the collection of wind chimes in the backyard making an almost eerie song play.

It wasn't like her to get up the middle of the night and not return to bed immediately.

Something was up.

"Fiona." He pushed himself up, groaning at the ache in his bones caused by no longer being thirty five and in the best shape of his life. "Fiona…"

Instinctively he grabbed his gun from the false bottomed drawer of the nightstand and began tiptoeing through the upstairs of the house.

He checked Charlie's room first, a breath of relief leaving his lips at the sight of the now ten year old boy face down on the bed, one foot sticking out from under the quilt, a habit he had gotten from Nate of course.

Fin's room was next, but the toddler was out like a light as well, her stuffed bear clutched tightly to her chest, a soft snore leaving her little lips as she slept peacefully.

Michael was relieved to see the kids were okay, meaning whatever had caused Fi to leave the bed wasn't a matter of their safety being compromised.

As he made his way downstairs he heard it, the sound of the swing he had installed on the back deck last summer creaking in the evening air.

He couldn't help but let his finger fall to the trigger of the 9mm as he poked his head around the open back door.

But it was just Fi, sitting by herself on the wooden bench of the swing, her bare legs dangling over the edge as she pushed herself back and forth quietly.

"Took you long enough to find me." She whispered her words with a smile, raising an eyebrow in his direction when she noticed the gun in his hands.

"It's late." In fact, it was almost morning, so maybe 'early' would have been a better word to use. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Do you not know what day it is Michael?" He watched as she let out a sigh, her face falling at whatever occasion was taking place today.

"Um, Wednesday?" At least he thought it was Wednesday.

But he could never be to certain anymore.

Ever since they had moved to Ireland and settled down on the coast he had started worrying less about those kinds of things.

And then when the pandemic happened and the whole world shut down and his kids were now under his roof 24/7.

He suddenly went from just being 'dad' to teacher and coach and cafeteria monitor.

And all that chaos was weighing a lot on his mind.

Which was saying something for someone who used to be an international spy.

"It's been seven years since we left Miami." They never talked about it really.

At least not in the last few years.

In fact, the last time had been when they had found out Fi was pregnant and when the doctor had asked if they had a name picked out they had both said 'Finley' before either one of them could blink.

They had never even discussed it, it had just been a given.

Sam had been their best-friend but using any part of his name was still risky.

So they had used Finley instead.

Michael liked to think it was fitting given that the little girl was as sneaky as she was.

"Seven years?" It certainly didn't feel like that long ago. "Has it been that long?

But then again, somedays it felt like it had been decades.

They had left in such a hurry and hidden themselves away for so long that it almost felt normal.

When Fin had come along they had decided that normal was exactly what they had needed though, so they had bought a house on the coast and they enrolled Charlie in school and they both got jobs.

Michael used to think that normal was boring, but now, normal was something they very much missed.

"You ever think we'd be able to go back?" He let out a sigh as he dropped to sit beside Fi, his hand going out to hold hers as he let his eyes settle on the waves crashing against the shore.

"Maybe." He would never feel safe living in the 'public eye' again, especially not now that they had kids who could easily be targets. "Doubtful."

He wouldn't put their lives at risk, or Fi's, it wasn't worth it.

"I miss them." She whispered, her fingers squeezing his as her head fell to his chest. "I was telling Charlie a story the other night and he asked about Jesse, just like that, out of nowhere. It hurt."

"I know it does Fi." He couldn't stop himself from pressing a kiss to her head, his heart racing at the thought of the two friends they had left behind in Miami.

They had had zero contact with them since they had left other than an anonymous letter they sent via Barry to let Sam and Jesse know of Finley's birth.

But other than that, nothing.

And it was hard.

"Maybe when this is all over," He knew she was referring to the virus that was slowly wreaking havoc on the world rather than on them being wanted, "we could arrange something."

"Maybe." He would give anything to be able to see his two best-friends again.

They had gotten to know Charlie before they had had to leave and he knew the boy missed them even though he barely knew who they were.

And he'd love for them to meet his daughter, a girl who was equal parts him and equal parts Fiona, a girl who scared him every day of his life.

"It would be nice." He nodded his head in agreement even though he knew she wasn't looking at him.

It would be nice.

It would be more than nice.

It would be, almost normal.