Background
The only spoilers are that Jane exists in S2 as an anti-company agent, Aldo is Lincoln's father, Sara has access to important information that could exonerate Lincoln, and that Lincoln & Aldo pick up Michael at Belshoi Booze.
Lincoln & Aldo meet up with Michael. Aldo gets killed in the process and Michael gets shot, but it's not life threatening. The brothers find Sara. The 3 of them meet up with Jane & LJ in Texas. Lincoln tells Sara that her father has information that could exonerate him. Sara gives Lincoln the key to a box that holds this information. The box is in Chicago. Jane agrees to go to Chicago to get the information & Lincoln decides to go with her. Michael's gunshot wound prevents him from going and therefore, Lincoln leaves LJ with Michael & Sara in the safe house.
Story begins
Lincoln rested his right arm on the window as he drove. There was an eerie silence that hung over them before he spoke.
"Listen Jane…I just want to say thank you for helping out with my son. I really appreciate it," Lincoln said. His voice sounded tired and filled with regret.
"He's a good kid," she said, looking over at him.
"Yeah he is," Lincoln said and a proud grin replaced the somber expression that had found a home on Lincoln's face over the past 3 years. "He got that from his mom," he added. Then Lincoln just shook his head in despair with the realization that the mother of his son was dead.
"I see a lot of you in him," Jane said with a tender smile.
Lincoln turned to her and gave a half smile. The kind of smile that told her he didn't believe that, but he desperately wanted to. Jane started to see a sorrowful quality in him. Lincoln came across as tough and strong. But there was a vulnerability to him, an underlying softness forged with a sense of self-deprecation. As if he didn't deem himself worthy somehow. And she couldn't help but wonder what made him that way. Was it a result of his incarceration and what the company had done or was he like this before?
Lincoln turned on the radio. He needed to clear his mind somehow. For the past hour he had been thinking about his son and the guilt he felt for leaving him behind once again. He kept remembering the last look in his son's eye. A look that said I'm angry that you're leaving me, but I love you and I'm scared this will be the last time we'll ever see each other again.A look that pleaded with him to stay, to not abandon him once more. And it broke his heart.
Lincoln rubbed the inner corners of his eyes, holding back the pain. He sat up and took a deep breath, shifting in his seat. He needed to stay focus, retrieve the data and come back to his son alive.
He turned to Jane. "So how come you never had a family of your own? Is it because of the company?"
Lincoln turned the conversation to her. Partly because he wanted to temporarily free himself of his own demons and partly because he wanted to know why his father had abandoned him, hoping Jane's answers could provide some insight.
"I started working for the company a long time ago. Of course I didn't realize the sacrifices I had to make."
"Like not having a family?"
"Yes. That's one of them. I saw other agents who had families and I saw what it did to them. I saw families torn apart," her voice trailed off.
Jane looked out the window. She watched the road and how the trees disappeared in the distance. If only her memories could get lost so easily. She answered Lincoln's question. She never had a husband and a child of her own, but she held back the whole truth. As if speaking of the past would bring it back up again and make it come alive. How many nights had she spent crying in her pillow? How many days had she spent wishing it were her last?
She looked over at Lincoln, studying his face. She recalled the way he was with his son in Colorado. How LJ followed Lincoln around proudly, imitating his father. The deep love they shared with one another. The pained look when he said good bye both times and look of relief when he saw his son when he arrived in Texas with his brother and Sara.
Lincoln focused on the road, but he couldn't hide what was in his heart. The lost look, the deep regret, but mostly the love. And she felt envy for this man. A man who spend 3 years in isolation. A man who lost the love of his life. A man who just lost his father after re-discovering him. A man who had to leave his son.
Lincoln Burrows had something to fight for, something to live for—his son, his brother. But Jane had nobody, living a life so lonely to bear that walking into the lion's den had its appeal. Her fight against the company was solely a mission of revenge. It was a mission to die for.
Some time had passed by and Lincoln looked over at her. He could see she was lost in thought, her head resting on the window and she had this sad look on her face, as if remembering a distant memory. His first impression of her was a tough no-nonsense kind of woman. But suddenly he was seeing something more. Life with the company had taken its emotional toll on her. She had no husband, no child. She was no longer working for the company but yet still imprisoned by them. The company had robbed her of her life. And he started to think that maybe they both had something in common.
