Second Chances

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Prison Break, and I'm not making any money from this fic. I guess the plot of this sort of belongs to me, though

Summary: After Nika turns on him and his brother, Michael doesn't just leave her like that, instead choosing to punish her

Warning(s): Spanking (of course); possible ooc:ness; spoilers; AU; some possible mistakes in the canon; mentions of 'seduction' – but no description

Characters: Lincoln; Michael; Nika

Nika felt her heart sink as Lincoln held up the bullets he had removed from the gun. Unlike his younger brother, Lincoln seemed to be much more suspicious. And obviously not without good reason…

Slowly, Nika lowered the useless gun. She hadn't wanted to shoot anyway – but she felt betrayed by the fact that Michael obviously cared about that doctor, and Nika loved him – she'd done more than that doctor; helped him much more. Where was that woman when Nika had sheltered them when Lincoln was shot? Nika had given them the car, and seduced the bounty hunter in order to betray him.

All for Michael.

Nika glanced at him, but didn't dare look into his eyes. Still, she could see the faint look of hurt betrayal on his face before Michael quickly pushed it away.

Lincoln stepped up to Nika, and took the gun from her unresisting hands. He then turned to his brother. "Come on." With that, he moved off, without a backwards glance at Nika – clearly expecting Michael to follow.

His brother didn't move, though. Michael kept his eyes on Nika. "If you want to call it in… go ahead," he told her.

Nika slowly shook her head, and put the cell phone away. "I'm sorry…" she whispered – knowing that it would be of no use, but unable to help apologising anyway. I really did love you, she thought. Well, she still did. But now, she definitely had no chance with him. She could see now that she'd made a mistake…

Michael cast a glance back over his shoulder at his brother, then turned back to Nika. "How much is my trust worth to you?"

Nika frowned, taken aback by that. "Huh?"

Lincoln came back to his brother's side. "Michael… This is a really bad idea," he told him.

"How many times have I ever let you down?" Michael asked Lincoln, not taking his eyes off Nika. "I think we can safely say that – so far – the decisions I've made have been the right ones, and I've even been able to cope with the majority of the setbacks with very few major problems."

Lincoln nodded towards Nika. "Trusting her was a mistake."

"Hey, I did what you told me to with Bellick!" Nika protested.

"Trust me," Michael said to his brother. "This won't take very long – and then we can move on. Still with a contact here."

What won't take very long? Nika wondered.

"Fine." Lincoln threw his hands up in apparent defeat. "You go ahead – do whatever you want. But I don't want to get involved. And if anyone comes, you're on your own. All right?" Without waiting for a response, Lincoln stalked off a few metres, tucking the gun back into his belt – but not putting the bullets back in just yet.

"What are you going to do?" Nika asked quietly, having already made the decision that she'd submit to anything to make up for that stupid decision.

Instead of answering with words, Michael stepped up so that he was right in front of Nika. He looked into her eyes for a moment, and then lowered his hands to the fastenings on her jeans, wordlessly unsnapping the button, and then pulling down the zip. He then pulled her belt through the loops, and pushed Nika against one of the trees. "Turn around," he told her in a low voice.

Nika hesitated, but remembered the look of hurt disappointment on Michael's face. She was aware of what he was going to do, but couldn't argue that she didn't deserve this. So, slowly, she turned round, and leaned her hands against the trunk of the tree.

"Brace yourself," Michael warned, resting his hand against the small of Nika's back. He doubled the belt over in his other hand, and rested the leather against the woman's backside for a moment, gauging the angle.

Nika flinched a little, and couldn't help tensing up slightly, even though she knew that would make it hurt more. Michael seemed to be taking his own sweet time with beginning the thrashing, and it was unnerving her. She just wanted it over and done with so that she could nurse her pain in private.

"If you tense up, it'll hurt more."

I thought that the pain was the whole point. "Just get on with it," Nika said through gritted teeth. She might know that she deserved this, but it was still difficult for her to keep in position. If Michael wasn't holding her, she'd probably have tried to get away from him – deserving or not. Not to mention the fact that this was happening in public, in full view of anyone passing.

"All right; suit yourself." Without another word, Michael brought the belt down in a hard strike.

Nika gasped, taken aback by the sudden line of fire. It took all of her willpower to keep her hands against the trunk of the tree and not reach back to rub, especially when the second and third strikes fell, directly beneath the first.

Michael still said nothing as he delivered the next two – the fifth across the tops of Nika's thighs. When he brought the sixth down directly across the previous five, a sob caught in Nika's throat.

The second half fell mostly on Nika's 'sit spots', ensuring that the woman would feel the thrashing every time she sat down for at least the rest of the day, and probably most of the next. Michael was careful, though – although Nika's bottom was probably quite sore, there was unlikely to be any blisters.

Nika was sobbing hard by the time Michael had finished. Without giving her a chance to register that the thrashing was over, Michael pulled her into a hard embrace, rocking her gently as she cried and choked out apologies.

"It's all right," Michael said over and over again. When the crying had finally died down, Michael put his hands on Nika's shoulders, and pushed her back slightly so that he could look into her eyes. "Nika… I do care about you. Not in the way you want – but I trust you, and consider you my friend."

Nika nodded slowly, and Michael squeezed her shoulders gently before leaning over to gently touch his lips against her forehead. Then, he released her. "Be careful. If the Feds even suspect you've helped us, you'll be in trouble."

"I know." Nika lowered her head to pull up her trousers and do her belt up again. When she looked up again, Michael and his brother were gone.