Sarah stepped out into the cold night air and took a big breath in. She hadn't thought that she'd be outside again for a long time. The elevator ride down had taken forever. Sarah had held her breath just waiting for someone to stop them.
"Mommy?" The little hand holding hers tightened and Sarah jerked her head down to look at her daughter.
"Yea, Monkey?" she whispered, leaning towards Kira and at the same time steering them around a corner. The little girl didn't answer accept to tighten her grip again.
Sarah waited until the building was out of sight to slow down. With each step they took away, it felt like another pound of pressure was being released from her shoulders.
With a quick glance around, she stopped beside a bench and had Kira sit down. Kneeling in front of her, Sarah took Kira's face in her hands. "You alright? Yea?" she asked, trying to keep the worry from her voice.
When Kira smiled and nodded her head, Sarah felt her façade threaten to crack. She looked away and busied herself by patting out Kira's shirt and straightening one of her pant legs that had started to roll up. "You're amazing, do you know that?" Sarah whispered, twirling a finger through Kira's curls.
Kira wordlessly reached out a hand to brush against her mother's face.
It was then that Sarah realized she was crying as Kira's tiny fingers gently brushed away the escaping tears. Sarah quickly brought up her own hand and dried her eyes with a muffled laugh.
Suddenly, Kira jumped off the bench. Sarah grabbed onto her arms, on alert. "What is it?" Kira's attention was on something behind her though.
Sarah stiffened, all of her previous anxiety returning in full force. She knew it had been too good to be true. What had she been thinking? They would never just let them leave. It was stupid to have gotten her hopes up.
She waited half a beat and stood up, quickly spinning around. She splayed her arms in front of her blocking Kira and preparing herself for the worst.
Instead, there was Cal. His moppy brown hair and plaid flannel a startling, yet familiar, sight after all that had happened that night. His eyes spoke volumes and Sarah glanced away, focusing on his hands instead, hanging loose at his sides. Until that moment, she had completely forgotten what Marian had said - that Cal was waiting for them downstairs.
"Daddy!" Kira cried out, running out from behind Sarah and jumping into Cal's arms. He grinned and lifted Kira into the air for a big hug.
"Hey there… Leopard?" he guessed, putting Kira back down.
She immediately grabbed his hands and swung them back and forth playfully. "No," she replied, shaking her head, "It's Monkey again."
Cal nodded solemnly, as if this were the most important fact in the world.
Sarah realized that right then and there, it probably was. When she had first brought Kira to Cal's cabin, she had been desperate and running out of options. Back then she would never have imagined that it could have turned out like this. Cal had barely questioned it, just accepting Kira as his own, protecting her and watching over her when Sarah couldn't.
Cal focused again on Sarah, who was still standing by the bench, watching her daughter. "Why don't you hop in," Cal said, gesturing about ten feet away to the familiar camper. Sarah hadn't even realized that it was parked there. She had had a one track mind since exiting the building, only focusing on getting away and nothing else.
Kira looked back at Sarah for the go-ahead. Sarah nodded. "I'll be right behind you in just a minute."
With that, Kira raced over to the camper and popped open the door before going inside.
Sarah watched as she went, and then took a few steps towards Cal. "Thanks." She felt like she had been saying that a lot lately. "I know this is more than you bargained for…" she trailed off. She had been saying that a lot lately as well.
Cal held up a hand. "Stop. I chose to do this." He took a step closer and peered down at Sarah.
She shook a hand through her hair, looking off to the side in exasperation. "You don't know what you chose. I can't involve you in this anymore. It's not going away anytime soon." She turned back to Cal and looked straight into his eyes, pausing before diving in with one of the most difficult things she would ever have to say. "I need you to take Kira and leave. Leave and get out of here. It's not safe."
The eyes that met her back widened in surprise, before squinting in concern. "It's not safe for anyone," he argued.
"No," Sarah corrected, "It's not safe for me." She jabbed a finger into her chest. "If we're not together… if Kira goes away, they won't look for her as hard if I'm not with her."
The man in front of her began to object, but she cut him off, shouting, "I thought we could work this out! I thought we could find a way, you know?" An image of the mirrored room flashed back into her mind. The hard table and the contract waiting to be signed. "Kira…" She paused. That one-sided window – Rachel with her daughter – the image was making her feel sick to her stomach. The anger and fear seeped back into her. "Kira will be safer far away from here. Far away from me."
Having said that, she turned away from Cal and made a step towards the camper. An arm stopped her though. "Sarah," Cal started, voice rising, "What happened in there? What did they do to you?"
She had come so close. She could still feel the restraints around her wrists and ankles, tying her to that hospital bed and surely sealing her fate.
Sarah shook off Cal's arm, walking away again. "Nothing Cal. They didn't do anything to me."
I haven't decided yet if this is just going to remain a one-shot or if I will continue it. Let me know what you think!
Also, I just basically binge-watched all of the episodes in the past few days, so not everything will be completely accurate or canon in the story. I'm trying to keep everyone in-character and follow the natural progression of events, but some details may be wrong or out of place.
Anyways, I've been kind of having writer's block with another story I've been working on for The 100, so I dove into this instead!