Sara took a tighter grip of her son Michael in her arms. They were in the cemetery at her father's grave. They had just been visiting Michael's grave together with Lincoln and Fernando. They were gonna hit a bar to have some beers, so they said their goodbyes. Sara thought she would visit her father's grave while she was here anyway.
After her mother died, she and her father never had a good relationship. They never found the balance to get along, just the two of them. Her addiction to both alcohol and drugs draw them further apart to their frosty relationship they had before he died. He didn't deserve to die like that, they said it was a suicide. But she knew it wasn't true, he was murdered and then arranged to look like a suicide.
It was so sad, not only will Michael grow up without his father, but no grandparents on either side. Maybe a grandson would have helped them get closer. His only relatives is Lincoln and LJ. Maybe she should put herself out there and try to find a man to give her son siblings, but it still feels too soon. Michael was the love of her life, the pain of losing him is still present, so moving on isn't anywhere near easy and maybe never a possibility.
.
"Sara? Sara Tancredi, is that you?"
Sara got startled in her thoughts by a voice calling her name. She turned around to locate the person belonging to the voice.
"Katie! I thought I recognized that voice." Sara put Michael down and hugged Katie.
"What a surprise to run into you here. What has it been, four...five years now?"
"Almost six years I believe."
"What are you doing here?"
"We are passing through town and stopped to put some flowers down on the graves. Katie, this is my son Michael." Sara had her hands on Michael's shoulder. "Michael, this is an old friend that I worked with before."
Katie looked down at Michael with a smile and immediately noticed his bright blue eyes. "Hi Michael. Nice to meet you."
"Hi." Michael answered a bit shyly.
"Are you done here? Are you free to take a cup of coffee with me and talk some more?" Sara asked.
"Yes, I can do that."
.
They found a cafe with a nearby park where they sat down with their coffee and talked while Michael used the swing set.
"So Michael...as in Michael Scofield?"
"Yes, we got married in the end."
"I know it, I was right then, you had a thing for Scofield?"
"Yeah, you was right. I fell in love with Michael while he was in prison."
"Isn't he here with you?"
Sara's eyes shadowed with sadness. "He died when Michael was little. We only did get one year together after everything was all over. After his exoneration, after all the crazy stuff we had to do to survive."
"I'm so sorry to hear that. I haven't heard anything about that, how could I have missed that in the news? It should been all over the news considering how much they wrote on the escape and on the manhunt."
"Yes, that's why Lincoln and I did everything we could to keep it out of the news, keep it down and low key. Michael got too many headlines and media time as it is. His death didn't need to be another headline."
"How did he die?"
"Some sort of brain tumor. He was treated for it, but it came back. Or maybe those that treated him just said they did as it wasn't in an ordinary hospital. The general that arrange it wasn't exactly friendly and he did try to kill all of us at several times. So I will never know if they really did try or it just was part of their plan when they needed Michael's help."
"It's so sad to think that the thing that makes Michael so brilliant also was what caused his death."
"Yes it is. How about you? Do you still work at Fox River?"
"No, I quitted a year after the escape for several reasons. One was the replacement doctor for you, me and him didn't get along. Then I didn't like the replacement warden they took in after Pope either. The climate got tighter and harder after the escape. The rumour said you left the door open for Scofield because he seduced you to fall for him, so he could use you in his plan. They said pretty ugly things about you and women in general. Then they started betting on when I would do something for an inmate and on who it would be. It was enough for me, so I quitted. Now I work with children at a local clinic, much better and far away from any violent inmates."
"That's nice. I'm so sorry that my action affected you. I only thought it was my conscience between helping Michael save Lincoln from the chair, an innocent man versus committing a small neglecting in not locking the door, although I know it would lead to an escape. But I didn't know it was that many inmates that were escaping or who it was. I honestly thought it was only Michael and Lincoln."
"Do you regret it, leaving the door open?"
"Considering everything that happened after I should, but the end results I will never regret. That Michael and I finally could be together. That we got married and we got a son together. I will never regret loving Michael. He was the love of my life and now I am so happy we were blessed with a son, a part of Michael that will live on."
"He certainly inherent his blue eyes."
"Yes, he is so like him in so many ways already. I do wish that a lot of things never happened or that we would have met under different circumstances, but never regret falling in love with Michael."
"What happened after the escape? Last time I saw you was in the hospital."
"Right, my overdose. I do regret that. That didn't help at all. What happened...where should I start. I was angry and sad, I thought Michael played me to help him escape. You see, we had our first kiss in the infirmary."
"Oh." Katie's eyes lit up.
"Yeah, it was a great kiss. Ever since he rescued me from the riot, I had felt something was between us. The feelings grew stronger and stronger. I know it was wrong, but I felt attracted to him from the start. Even you pointed it out he was cute that very first day."
"Yes, I remember. He was."
"Well, I thought so too, even though I denied it."
"Now when I think back, you did seem happier after Michael's appointments, smiled more than usually."
"Yes, but sometimes he just made me angry and frustrating, when he lied or refused to talk. Now I know why, but one day he could be funny and flirted with me, next day he could be cold and had a wall up. Anyway, back to the kiss. He was planning to steal the keys from me. You remember I thought I lost my keys?"
"Yes I do. I helped you search and they were on your desk underneath some files."
"That's because he left them there. I searched all over that desk already and they weren't there before Michael came for his appointment. He told me he tried to steal them and the kiss was at first a distracting maneuver, but he thought how disappointed I would be at him, so he didn't do it. Instead he got his wife to steal them for him, she approached me at lunch and we got talking a bit. When she was leaving, she bumped into my chair and my bag fell to the floor. When she helped me pick up all the things that fell out, she must have taken my keys."
"Wow. That sounds like something you see in the movies."
"Yes, the entire plan of Michael is like a movie. You haven't heard anything yet, this is just a small part of the plan. Somebody should do a movie or something about it, because really...Michael's plan on escaping is really a geniously one. So where was I ...yes the keys. So when we found them I traced my way back and a hunch made me look in the visitors log. When I saw Michael got a visit from his wife, I know that's how he did it and why we found the keys on my desk. I had already phoned the locksmith and the look Michael gave me when the lock got changed made me confront him about it. He told me then that he never wanted to get me involve or use me, but now he had no choice left. He risked everything by asking me to leave the door to the infirmary unlocked when I was gonna leave for that day. I know about the keys and could go to Pope and report him. So his last chance was to beg and plead that Lincoln was innocent and didn't deserve to die for a crime he never committed. He did all this for Lincoln. There and then I could have told Pope and it would been all over for Michael."
"But you didn't. How long before the escape did he tell you what he was planning?"
"It was the same day. I left abruptly, to go away to think. It wasn't an easy decision. To do something that was wrong, something that was a crime, but to save an innocent man's life. I did it knowing it was wrong, that's why I needed to dull my feelings with drugs. If I hadn't changed the lock on the door, they would have escaped without me getting involved and I hadn't overdosed. Everything else that happened after maybe hadn't happened either, but if I still had met up with Michael somewhere...there are so many things that could still have happened. It only hurts more to speculate what could have happened or not happened, so many what if."
"So how did you meet up with Michael and where?"
"The first contact we had is that he called me, somehow he had my number and found out I overdosed. He was so sorry that he got me involved, that I got hurt in all of this. It wasn't his intention to hurt me. He asked if I would meet up with him. The smart move would have been to not say yes, but with my father dead, I felt all alone and wanted desperately to see him, see a friendly face."
"I'm so sorry to hear your father died, that I read in the papers."
"Yeah, but it wasn't suicide. They killed him, I don't know who or why, but it wasn't suicide. Anyway, Michael asked me to go with him. I followed him to a motel room, but I chicken out and ran out on him. Then I changed my mind and went back, but I got caught before I could reach him. And then...too many bad things happened, I don't want to think about again. We met several times in a six month period, brief moments of joy to see him. One time was long enough to have our second kiss."
Katie smiled.
"I know it's sounds crazy to wanna be with a guy you only kissed twice. Then add that he was one of the most wanted men in America. But I already loved him and he was the only one I felt I could trust. Our second kiss told me his feelings were same as mine, that we loved each other, even if we didn't speak of our feelings out loud."
"I have been in love too, I know the feeling."
"When we reunited for the last time we finally found some time to be alone long enough to make love. We conceived Michael the first time we were together."
"That's unusual. My sister and her husband are still trying to get pregnant, they are on their third year now."
"When I found out I was pregnant, we were still in the middle of being chased by killers and trying to survive, trying to get everybody involved exonerated. Not a great time to having a baby. But we managed to take down those that wanted to kill us and we got our exoneration. We could enjoy the bigger part of my pregnancy in peace and quiet. Michael was so sweet to me. He planned four, five steps ahead on every little thing he could. So now I am happy I got pregnant so early, so Michael got to see his son before he died. It's not fair, after everything Michael did to keep Lincoln safe, then to keep all of us safe and he wasn't able to live on and enjoy it." Sara stroked away some tears.
Katie gave her a hug. "Life is never fair, it sucks that those that deserves it the most isn't always the lucky ones. I know, I have had my share of that too."
"I'm sorry I couldn't keep in touch with you during all these years, it wasn't safe."
"It's okay."
"You think we can now? I don't have that many friends."
"Yes, I would love to." Katie watched Michael at the swings. "How much does he know of his father?" And everything that happened?"
Sara looked at Michael too and as usual, she got overwhelmed with love. Her son, their son, her whole world. "Very little, only the good stuff. How we met and that Michael saved both me and Lincoln. That he is a hero, not a criminal and a fugitive. Since he is still little I have been able to keep him away from the news and the internet, but sooner or later he will hear and read things about the name Scofield. It's probably no that good to keep the name Scofield if I want to keep a low profile, but I want to honor Michael by still using it and keep it alive."
"No, I would say you are not making it easy. The name Scofield isn't easy to forget, if ever, especially here in Chicago."
"Yes, that's why I moved away from here. We live down in Virgina now. I figure I have two years to talk to him before he starts school. To make sure he knows the truth and whatever anyone else says, his father was a good man, a hero, a father he can be proud of. That Michael loved both of us very much. We knew Michael was dying, it wasn't out of the blue. We made some videotapes, to play to Michael on his birthdays. So he could see and hear his father. The last tape we made is one that we tell him the truth, explain everything to him. Hopefully hearing it from us, he will not listen to what other people will say, know the truth and not believe all the lies and fake news he will encounter later in life."
"That's sounds like a very good plan to me."
"As you know, Michael liked to plan ahead."
"He certainly did that. I only heard the rumors. Can you tell me how Michael managed to get to the infirmary from his cell? Did he really dug a hole in the wall?"
Sara smiled. "Yes, he did. As I said before, his plan was geniously. Now when I don't work at a prison anymore, I can admit it was a perfect plan. He sharpened a bolt from the bleachers out in the yard to a tool that both unscrewed the toilet and was used as a digging tool. He and the rest of the PI crew dug another hole in the guards new break room they were fixing. With that hole he got access to all the tunnels that runs beneath Fox River. He found his way through all the tunnels and crawl spaces because he hid the blueprints in his tattoo. He was gonna escape earlier then he did, but that failed because someone apparently exchange the drain pipe in the infirmary. That was his entry, so he had to come up with an alternative route. He had to go through the psych ward, they bleached their blue uniforms to white to blend in with the others to sneak past. The psych ward and our building are linked through tunnels. That's why he had to steal my key, to get into the infirmary. As you know it's different from the guard's keys."
"It sounds so impossible. What about the bars at the window? It looked like it had been yanked out of the wall. How did they manage that?"
"They used the fire hose and the elevator provided the power and strength to rip the bars out of the wall. Then they climbed the wire to their freedom."
"So truly unbelievably. It's really geniously planned."
"The escape worked, but the get out of the country didn't go accordingly to his plan. If it did, we never had met again. He would been safe and I would still been in trouble, but some of the really bad stuff would never have happened. Which also means I would never have our son, I can't imagine my life without him. That's why I never can't regret opening the door for Michael."
"Where was he going?"
"His plan was to settle down in Panama, it's a non-extradition country, so he would been safe down there. He had a yacht ready just waiting for him."
"Don't you think that he would have contacted you once he had settled in and breathed out for a while?" If he felt as strongly as you did back in Fox River, I'm sure he would reach out."
"I would like to think he would. Our love was strong and it feels like it was meant to be, but we didn't get the fairy tale ending. We didn't get forever. I will treasure our moments and time together forever, I will always love him. Enough about me. What's going on in your life?"
"Compare to all of that, my life is boring as hell."
"I will be happy if I never have to experience anything exciting again. Tell me, I want to know."
"Okay. As I was saying before, I work in a small children's clinic. I am dating a football coach."
"Is he cute?"
"He isn't Michael Scofield cute, but he is good enough for me. I don't think I can handle a man of Scofield's caliber, it sounds too dangerous for me." Katie smiled.
Sara returned the smile.