My Fi

Yesterday I reminisced about my Fi. I call her my Fi since she is very little like the Fi we’ve seen in Burn Notice. Sure she can do the things that Fi does but the reason behind it is different. Fi’s background is different than on TV as well. Even though she dresses similar to Fi her lifestyle is much different.

A number of years ago I awoke from a dream about Fi and started wondering what her life really was like in Ireland. What was her childhood like? What was she like as a teenager? What was it like for her to be an IRA trained gorilla. No matter how I tried to envision her it came out different than what we know about her. I just let my thoughts go without any manipulation to have her fit Matt Nix’s idea of the character. I was so surprised to find out what Fi was really like.

Each day that I thought about her it was almost as if God was telling me her story since I was often surprised about her life just like Michael was.

Even my version of Michael and Fi’s relationship is completely different than Matt Nix’s. For example, Fi was never the trigger happy ex-girlfriend. She was always the girlfriend but not in a traditional way. They have a very complicated relationship, one in which they love each other deeply but neither one of them actually knows the other since they never have taken the time to talk about their past. The only things they know about each other are the rumors and the experiences they have shared. During much of their relationship overseas they were separated spending very little time together, but through it all they knew they were destined to be together.

In my version Fi has never been in Northern Ireland even though there are reports that she set off car bombs there. In fact she never set off a car bomb until one day about six years after they met when they were pinned down under fire in the Czech Republic and they needed it as a distraction to make their escape. Fi had no idea how to blow up the car and had only read about C4 but had never used it. Michael presumed she carried it with her so she was forced to quickly improvise a way to blow it up based on her knowledge of how cars operated so that he wouldn't be disappointed with her since Michael was her hero. It turned out all right and Michael never suspected that she had no clue what she was doing never realizing the potential danger they were in. After that she had to figure out how to obtain C4 (after all you just can't go to your local supermarket for it), use it and make sure she always carried with her. She also decided while she was at it she better obtain a hand gun or maybe even a machine gun. If she could find C4 she was sure she could find illegal firearms. That’s my Fi.

My Fi never ran guns for a profit until she landed in Miami where the opportunity fell into her lap. Her gun running activities overseas where coerced and never voluntary.

Also my Fi is a real hero as well as Michael. They are larger than life which always makes for a wonderful read.

Fi is very funny in my eyes whereas the Fi we see on TV never laughs unless she is making fun of someone. My Fi is smart, very smart and cleaver picking up on things quickly, that’s how she has been able to survive.

She is also fearless. Not that she has never experienced fear, she just doesn't let fear get in the way of what she has or wants to do. As a child she never experienced fear so she was a daredevil attempting things with boldness that no other child would.

She has a huge curiosity about science especially chemistry and technology. She loves to read, loves to learn languages and loves an adventure. She has a knack of running into people that have shared their knowledge which became useful later on in life. All of these events led her and her brother Sean to experience more than any normal child. As it turned out these became vital later for her to survival under the control of the IRA.

Throughout her life people have always misjudged her and gave her far more credit than she deserved. She developed a reputation based on false rumors spread by others and not on actual events that she participated. Later on, to live up to Michael's expectations of her, she had to improvise on the spot to help Michael as an asset based on false information that Michael was told about her.

She is a dynamic woman because she is a survivor. She will do what she has to just to survive or to please Michael as long as it isn’t at the cost of others. She handles each situation that I put her through and manages to get through each one and never looks back at what could have been. She just moves on to the next day. Her life is not all as she dreamed it to be but she makes the best out of each day knowing that she was placed on this earth to help others have a better life and as a result her life is enriched.

I love her since even during the darkest days of her life she never felt sorry for herself even when she had almost lost all hope she had the sense to turn the situation over to God and let Him take control ultimately saving her life.

She’s beautiful, gracious, kind, considerate and doesn’t even know it. She thinks of herself as the everyman; she isn't better than anyone else. She just has used what life threw at her turning it around to her advantage.

The stuff I have put Fi through no one could have ever survived but she did. You name it she’s experienced it. Through my imagination of her I’ve laughed hysterically, cried almost uncontrollably, I felt almost the panic she has and the relief of getting through it. I’ve felt the frustration of her knowing that she and Michael were destined to marry but it never seemed it would happen because of one event after another. I experienced the happiness and dread the day Michael finally proposed and the sadness when he let her go so that she could finally have the life she was meant to lead.

Michael and Fi met in a pub in Dublin, Ireland but not at all like we saw on TV this past season. Their meeting was a dream come true for Fi much like a fairy tale. By dream come true I literally mean a dream that came true because of a vision from God placed in her heart that she refused to give up on.

My version of Fi involves her life growing up in Ireland; the time she spent in New York as a small child, and later as an adult; her time living in France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Germany; her time overseas with Michael and her time in Miami. My story of Fi doesn’t involve specific clients it is a story of the personal lives of Michael and Fi. Of course Sam Axe is an important part of the story as well as all the other characters but on a personal level. The characters and actors in a few other shows have managed to work their way into her life too.

My book contains romance, drama, comedy, tragedy and suspense.

Someday I would love to have it all written down and published for other’s to read. Of course, I will have to change the names of the characters which might take away from the story but maybe it’s just because I am so close to Burn Notice.

Yesterday I recalled an event that I would like to share so you might get a glimpse of my Fi. Do you remember the episode where Fi asked what ever happened to Michael McBride? Well here is my version of it.

When Fi met Michael he introduced himself to her as Michael McBride and the next four years that’s what she thought was his name. However, during those four years they were separated. She desperately wanted him to return back into her life and thought about him constantly. She had no idea he was under a cover id, in other words she had fallen in love with Michael McBride, a technology rep.

After settling in Florida, Michael would put on his Irish accent to amuse Fi. She loved it when he did that for her. But there came a time when the burn notice investigation was draining on all of them and it has been a long time since Michael did his Michael McBride impersonation. As a result of being frustrated that it had been going on for so long interrupting her plans for marriage and having kids she was starting to get a little testy. Not bad but it was noticeable to Michael and causing friction between them which was distracting Michael from his work.

Michael had a job he wanted her to do for him so she stopped by the loft to find out more information. She had been thinking a lot about Michael McBride for the last few days. Michael was sitting on the bed fatigued, trying to come up with an alternative plan when Fi sat down next to him and softly said placing her hand on his. “I’ve been thinking a lot about Michael McBride lately and I miss him terribly.” She looked at Michael who had his head down staring at the floor. “When do you think he will come back?” She added.

Michael slowly raised his eyes and looked at her. She looked as tired as he felt. “I’m not sure.” He started to say. “He’s off looking for that sweet little Irish girl he met years ago in Ireland. I’m sure he will show up as soon as she returns to Miami.”

Fi fought back the tears she knew would appear any minute then got up to leave. She thought for a moment bent down and gently kissed Michael on the cheek. “Michael, I have a feeling she will be returning very soon.” She placed her hand tenderly on his shoulders before leaving to complete her assignment. Fi knew she has better get her mind cleared of the garbage that was preventing her from thinking straight and get her mind focused back on task. She knew when the time was right she and Michael would marry, but for the time being she needed to put those thoughts behind her and just love him. If she didn’t, she could be jeopardizing his life.

You see Michael had also fallen in love with a cover id. When he first fell in love with Fi he thought she was this sweet young Irish peasant girl working in a pub in Dublin, only to find out she was the daughter of the owner of the pub. The next four days he too imagined that sweet, kind Irish girl that one day he would marry and settle down with in Dublin. He had no idea at the time that she really was Ireland’s infamous “Lady of the Night” that he had been sent by the C.I.A. to eliminate.