Sara ran out of Fox River Penitentiary as quickly as she could without drawing too much attention to herself. She couldn't believe what she had just done. The sky visibly darkened as she hastened to the car park and she could almost smell the rain that was about to fall. An eerie stillness suddenly engulfed the evening like the calm before a storm - a sure warning of things to come. In Sara's mind a storm was already raging. A torrent of questions echoed loudly inside her, tormenting her painfully and making sure that she was fully aware of the fact that she had no answers at all. One loaded question that kept unapologetically rearing its ugly head was "Why?" Yes that was the break-out question of the evening. Why ? Why had she just risked everything for a man she'd known for such a short amount of time? Why had she helped him break the law just because he'd asked her to? Why had he felt like he could ask her such a thing in the first place? And why the hell did she feel like she couldn't let him down?
Sara finally reached her car and fumbled in her bag for her keys. She paused when she located them, her fingers grasping them tightly. Keys were supposed to be so simple really but they were anything but. They were powerful entities filled with loaded messages and possessing the ability to close the world out or let it in. These particular keys had been the cause of much aggravation. She was sure Michael had stayed up on countless nights wondering how to get a hold of them and now that she had them, she herself had become Michael's key and she had let him use her. The events of the past couple of days suddenly all came rushing back to her so quickly that she felt faint. She closed her eyes and leaned heavily on her car. Images flashed through her mind – images of things that she had almost allowed herself to forget . . . her meeting with Michael's wife, Nikka – how Michael had taken advantage of her willingness to help – how Nikka had stolen her keys from right under her nose – and after all that she was going to break the law for a man who had manipulated her from the very first time they met. She shook her head, annoyed at herself and at Michael. She had made her share of mistakes in her life but she was finally past that now. She was finally back on the right track and she couldn't let herself jeopardize that – not like this.
"I can't do this. . .damn-it. . . . "
She backed away from the car slowly at first and then she turned and walked swiftly back to the prison.
"Hey doc. Back again already?"
The guard's voice startled her so much, that she visibly jumped but she recovered quickly enough for him not to notice.
"Yeah – I um – I left my umbrella in my office."
"Yeah you're right to want to go for it – they were saying it's really gonna pour down later tonight."
"Right. Thanks."
Sara walked past the guard and swiftly rounded the corner to the infirmary. She knew she couldn't just lock the door and then walk out again. That would look far too suspicious. She fiddled with her key in the doorway pretending to open the lock and that done, she walked quickly into her office. Glancing around, she eyed an old umbrella in the corner and felt a small wave of relief. Thank goodness she always kept a spare one at work. Reaching down to pick it up her eyes fell on the shelves directly in front of her and lying proudly in the midst of all the junk she kept there was a beautiful paper rose. The little relief that she had just felt swiftly vanished and was replaced by an emotion she couldn't quite distinguish. Perhaps it was remorse, perhaps it was something else. Grabbing the umbrella she turned and quickly left the room, this time locking the door firmly behind her.
As she walked down the hall she started to feel a little better - she thought she had done the right thing now and just as she was about to turn the corner and head for the exit an arm reached out of nowhere and roughly pulled her back while covering her mouth simultaneously. Another hand grabbed the umbrella roughly from her. Her eyes widened in shock but before she could even attempt to make some kind of move or sound, she felt a breath on her neck that made the hairs there stand on end. A coarse voice whispered threateningly in her ear.
"You goin' somewhere sunshine?"
"Hey - let go of her. What are you doing?"
That was a voice she couldn't miss. It was soft but oozing confidence. It was a voice of hope in what had appeared to be a hopeless situation a few seconds ago. It was Michael's voice.
"Well see here pretty, you know we need to get out through that room and your lil' girlfriend here just made that mighty impossible - unless you plan on tellin' us your real name is Houdini!"
"Let her go T-Bag"
He spoke slightly louder this time and with more intensity. Sara could almost feel his anger increasing even though she had her back to him. She felt T-Bag's grip loosen slightly but he didn't remove it completely.
"Hey man. I hate to break it to you bro, but we really need that key man – you know we do other wise we're screwed."
"I know Sucre – I know."
Michael slowly walked around to face Sara. He felt terrible. He'd never wanted it to come to this. She should never have been involved at all. It was the one part of his plan where he felt as though something else could have been done even though he knew that he had racked his brain for nights on end for another solution. She looked so fragile there now with T-Bag holding her in place but her eyes showed more than just fear. There was anger there too and a lot of it. He knew a lot of that was directed at him and he knew he deserved it yet he longed to see it gone. He longed for a chance to explain everything a bit more but there was no time and he knew that.
"Sara, I'm so sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you for your keys."
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him but she made no formal reply. He slowly reached for her bag, never taking his eyes off her. Sara thought she saw them water slightly and she almost believed that it was hurting him to have do what he was doing but she had been tricked by Michael too many times before.
Michael found the keys and slowly walked to the infirmary door. He knew he had a huge problem now because they couldn't just let her go. The guard was right down the hall and Sara would have every right to inform him of what they were doing in the infirmary. Then he'd pull the alarm before they could even say 'escape' and it would all be over. He hesitated at the door knob still thinking of what he could do. The last thing he wanted to do was physically hurt her or tie her up so those options were just out of the question. Once he opened the door he walked back to Sara and took her arm, not quite looking her in the eye this time. To T-Bag he repeated,
"Let her go."
"You sure 'bout that, pretty?"
"I'm sure. Now let her go."
Once she was out of T-Bag's grasp Sara struggled to get her arm away from Michael. She opened her mouth as if to shout at him or cry out for help but Michael raised his arm and let three of his fingers linger over her lips. They stared directly into each other's eyes and silently reached an understanding.
"Uh pretty – I hate to interrupt this 'lil Titanic moment you got happening but in case you forgot – we're in the middle of a breakout here!"
Sara's expression hardened once again and Michael shot an angry look at T-Bag. He walked Sara into the infirmary and sat her down on her own chair. Standing next to her he relayed the next steps of his plan to his team and they got to work on prying the bars off the window. The plan was well executed and sooner than Michael could have hoped, Lincoln started to make his way across the wire. Still standing at Sara's side, his hand lightly resting on her shoulder now and acting as something of an understated restraint, Michael looked on. So far everything was going quite perfectly but he still had no idea what to do with Sara. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed someone fall heavily to the ground. It was Charles Westmorland. Michael ran over immediately to check if he was all right and Sara rose to run out of the room. She glanced back just as she reached the door and saw Michael stooped low over the older man, supporting the latter's head with his hand. They needed help. Medical help and that was something that she couldn't turn her back on. Not again. She crossed the room to where they were and leaned over the bleeding convict. Michael turned to gaze at her, a silent 'thank you' in his piercing eyes. She nodded slightly in acknowledgement and then turned her attention back to the injured man. A huge gash in his side became apparent as he lifted his shirt to show the wound.
"You've lost a lot of blood here – can you tell me your name?"
Charles was barely able to keep eye contact and was tottering dangerously close to unconsciousness.
"His name is Charles – Charles Westmoreland. Is there anything you can do for him?"
Sara looked up at Michael then got up and walked silently to the cupboard where she held the morphine. She gazed at it for a moment, images of her past flashing before her eyes and then shaking her head to clear them she quickly grabbed the bottle and a hypodermic needle. She brought it back to Charles and rolled his sleeve up to inject the drug.
"I can make him more comfortable and I can stitch him up but he's lost a lot of blood. He needs a transfusion more than anything else and I can't do that here."
"Michael . . ."
Charles whispered and Michael moved closer to hear him better. Noticing that they needed a moment Sara stepped away and went in search of the materials she needed to stitch up the gash in Westmorland's side. While concentrating on his wound she had hardly noticed the cons moving swiftly down the wire and to the wall on the other side but she saw them now. A boy, younger than the rest of them was stepping onto the ledge. She looked back at Michael and heard him promise something, though she wasn't close enough to hear what. The man that had grabbed her before was carefully watching her now as if he suspected that she might try to escape at any moment. He crossed the room to the door and made sure it was locked from the inside. Grabbing the keys from where they lay on the desk he picked a random one and jammed it in the door all the while leering in Sara's direction. With that he moved towards the window and grabbed the wire that would lead to his freedom.
Michael stood up slowly and turned towards Sara.
"Thank you for helping him - and for helping me."
Sara stared at him and he stared right back. As he gazed at her with his powerful eyes she felt a tingle rush down her spine and she held her breath as he stepped closer. She opened her mouth to say something but she never got the chance. At that moment the guard from down the hall appeared at the door. He stared at Michael in Bellick's uniform for a long moment trying to see if he could recognise him and then he looked around and saw two other cons in the room, one bleeding on the floor and the other sweating profusely in a state of high panic.
"What the hell is going on here?"
He pulled at the door and discovered that it was locked. Of course only the infirmary staff had the keys to that room (a fact that Michael had been painfully aware of for a long time now). Michael moved quickly and grabbed Sara around the waist. He whispered in her ear,
"I'm so sorry Sara, but you're going have to come with us."
It was then that the guard finally noticed the lack of bars on the window. He fumbled nervously for his walkie-talkie while banging on the door. Michael glared menacingly in his direction and shouted, "Stay back!" before half dragging Sara to the window. He could hear the guard shouting into his walkie talkie while continuing to attempt to break down the door. Michael caught snippets of the conversation but a state of panic had set in that prevented him from hearing it fully.
"Sound . . . alarm . . . escaping . . . hostage . . . doctor. . .out. . . .wall . . . infirmary . . . alarm!"
And then he heard it. That piercing noise that he had been dreading since the escape began earlier that night. Floodlights snapped on and almost blinded him for a moment. Squinting while his eyes adjusted, he pulled Sara up onto the window and got her to hold on to the wire. She hesitated.
"Its ok. I'll be right behind you – I won't let you fall. Just put one arm in front of the other to pull you along and use your legs as anchors."
Sara turned to look at him and she saw a streak of crazed desperation in his eyes that she'd never seen there before. She hated to admit it but it scared her a little bit. Even though she was almost certain that Michael would never hurt her she decided that now was clearly not the best time to put that theory to the test so she took a deep breath and started across the wire. She could see Lincoln beckoning her closer from the other side and she willed herself not to look down. Michael was right behind her paying close attention to make sure she didn't slip. In the distance he saw the guards running towards them and he edged Sara on.
"You're doing really great. Not much further now."
Sara made it across and Lincoln reached to pull her to safety. Michael himself was almost there when the wire suddenly gave way and he crashed painfully into the wall. Lincoln desperately tried to grasp his hands and finally managed to pull him up. Just in time too as Michael knew that right below them, the guards were closing in on Sucre's cousin. He slid down the pipe attached to the wall and felt his feet hit solid ground a few seconds later. He couldn't help but smile slightly – he was a free man. Phase one of the escape had gone perfectly. He turned and saw Sara staring at him from where Abruzzi held her in place near the trees. His smile slowly faded as he walked towards the escapees and the hostage. "Almost perfectly," he mentally corrected.