A slight knock on the door of the hotel room. A slight knock that would change everything he felt right now. Every emotion, every regret. Everything would change by this knock. He heard it, but he was too deep down in his misery to even think about opening the door. Whoever was behind that door didn't matter. All that mattered at this moment was that Sara wasn't with him. She was dead, murdered by the company. He would never see her again. He would never be able to touch her hand, to hold her close or to kiss her tender lips again. He would never hear her laugh, never see that perfect smile play on her lips.
-.-.-
A slight knock on the door of the hotel room. That was what woke Lincoln up. He sat up in his bed and rubbed his tired eyes. By a look at the other end of the room he could see that LJ had woken up too. A quick glance at his watch: 4.13 am.
"What the hell can be so important 4.13 in the morning?" Lincoln muttered to himself before he swung his legs over the bedside. He walked out of the bedroom and towards the door.
There it was again. That slight knock. Lincoln sighed and carefully locked the door up. He opened the door just enough to see who was standing outside in the corridor.
It was her. It was really her! She looked skinnier than the last time he had seen her and her hair was dirty and messy. She had a big hole in her jeans and her shirt looked like something she had grabbed out of a garbage can. But it was her!
When she saw Lincoln behind the door she sighed and her whole face turned into relief. She blinked her eyes and put her hand to the mouth. Then she began to sob, and tears started to fall down on her cheeks.
"Sara…" Lincoln said and grabbed her arms to get her inside. He closed the door behind her and looked at the woman who was standing in front of him.
"Oh my God, Sara!" He said quietly and put his arms around her shaking body. "Michael!" He shouted. "Michael!"
He could feel Sara's body react by the sound of Michael's name and he slowly stroke his hand over her back.
"It'll be alright", he whispered. "It'll be alright."
They could now hear footsteps that were approaching them and Sara opened her eyes to look over Lincoln's shoulder. There he was, looking at them with a shocking expression on his face. Sara let go of Lincoln and moved over to Michael with quick steps, walking into his arms. He was still so shocked that he didn't know what to do or what to say. He just stood there with his arms around her, holding her as close as he could. He didn't even notice the tears that were streaming down his face.
"Sara…" he whispered into her hair, inhaling the scent of her. She smelled just as he remembered.
Sara moved away from his body a little bit and placed her hands on his cheeks. Still she hadn't said even one word since she walked in through the door.
"You're alive…" Michael breathed out and looked at her with his most intense look while the tears still were falling from his eyes.
"I am", Sara whispered and tried to wipe away his tears with her thumbs. "I am."
"God, I love you!" Michael breathed out and put his hands to her face. "I love you so much."
"I love you too", Sara said and buried her face in the curve of his neck.
Lincoln stood watching them, although he knew he should probably give them some time alone with each other. But the shock that Sara was alive made him unable to move.
"Sara?!" It was LJ who had just entered the room. His eyes were big and he had his mouth open in confusion.
"LJ", Sara said and walked out of Michael touch and over to the sixteen year old boy. She gave him a long hug and then backed away a little bit to look at him.
"Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" she asked.
"I'm fine", LJ answered. "But… I thought you were dead. They told me…"
"I got away", Sara said. "I tried to get to you but I…"
"Sara", Lincoln said loudly from the other end of the room.
Sara looked in his direction and could see that Michael was standing against the wall trying to catch his breath while he was sobbing really hard.
"He's having problems breathing", Lincoln said with his arm on Michael's shoulder.
"Michael", Sara said and rushed to where he was standing. "Michael, just take it easy."
She placed her hands on his shoulders and turned him to face her.
"LJ, go get your uncle a chair, will you?" she said to LJ who hurried to do as he was told.
Sara and Lincoln helped Michael to sit down on the chair and Sara told Lincoln to hold Michael's hands up in the air. She then sat down with her knees on the floor in front of Michael. She put her hands to his knees and looked at him. He was still sobbing and still having problems breathing.
"Michael, look at me", she said softly but firmly. "Breathe. Inhale, exhale."
Michael looked at her and began to breathe the way she showed him; slowly and deep. Behind him stood Lincoln holding up his hands and LJ was standing next to him.
"Breathe…" Sara said and took a tighter grip on Michael's knees.
After a while his breathing had settled down a little bit.
"Sara… I'm…" Michael was trying to talk but his lack of breathing didn't make it easy for him.
"Sch, Michael", Sara said. "No talking, just breathe. We'll have plenty of time to talk later."
"Whatever you say, doc", Michael breathed out with a smile tugging on his lips.
Sara chuckled a little bit and knew that he was going to be fine. They were both alive and they had found their way back to each other. That was all that mattered.