Hello all! Here is yet another bittersweet L/S angst fic to sink your teeth into!
Was going to make it one long chap but got lazy---it was late N' i was nodding off in front of the screen. Enjoy n plz R&R!
A small flash jolted through the room, jerking him awake.
Eyes snapped open.
His head shifted slightly.
Thunder rumbled softly a moment later, solidifying his guess of what had woken him.
Lincoln's freshly shaven head lifted to peer over to the window beside the couch, watching as a second flash of lightning illuminated the view of the Panama landscape outside, rain pouring in sheets.
The hotel creaked against the wind, and he briefly considered turning on the television to make sure a hurricane wasn't going to blow it away.
Reassuring himself that it was merely a thunderstorm, his eyes grew heavy and he sighed in frustration of having to ignore the sounds outside in order to go back to sleep.
It had taken him long enough the first time…his thoughts occupied by his brother's current incarceration in the prison on the other side of town.
Another soft clap of thunder sounded, closer than the previous and signaling the heaviest part of the storm. The wind grew wild, the rain came down even harder, and Lincoln gritted his teeth against all the noise.
Then, during a quick moment in which the wind died, rebuilding no doubt for another blast at the brittle building, his ears picked up a different sound.
At first he thought it was the mewl of kitten, scurrying down the hallway or begging to come in from the rain outside the window.
But as the storm began surging and calming in second-long shifts, he realized it was coming from inside the room.
And he knew immediately what--who it was.
The brunette lying in the twin bed across the room….Sara.
Her sobs caused a slight tremor to wrack his own emotions.
Amidst the howls building in the wind, Lincoln could hear her, crying softly, her back turned away from his direction.
The storm outside no longer held his attention.
No amount of thunder or wind could drown out the horribly pained sounds of a woman sobbing.
He knew the cause, of course. The same cause of his distressed sleep.
Michael.
He knew, with all certainty, that she loved his little brother.
Just as he knew that Michael loved her in return.
With a sigh he watched her shaking form within the sheets.
He felt her pain, in more ways than one.
He missed his brother, worried for him, felt hopeless and helpless to save him.
And he also knew the pain of being without the one he loved.
But despite his empathy, Lincoln resolved to turn away from the sight before him.
He could not, should not, make it known that he was watching her cry.
She would be embarrassed, more than likely, and then he would be faced with the dilemma of comforting her.
After everything that had happened to him, to THEM, he was unsure that he, of all people, could comfort anyone about anything.
He would not try.
She would stop eventually…she would fall asleep.
Lincoln told himself this, and closed his eyes tight against the lightning coming through the window.
But as he tried desperately to ignore both the storm and the woman who wept across the room, he knew he would not find sleep.
He sighed in frustration, and then pity as Sara's cries grew more prominent.
And then his heart clenched tight at the sound of her voice cutting through the storm.
"God…please help him."
Lincoln sat up and felt heat burning his own eyes.
He could not lay quiet any longer.
