Hello again! It was a long day with the kiddies at work- swimming, gross meat loaf for lunch and lots and lots of overtired tears- so I don't have much to say. Other than another thank you for reading and reviewing, that is. Enjoy!


Seven

The car ride back to the hotel is so silent Michael is sure he can hear the other occupants' thoughts. It's no small feat, winning over Lisa Tabak and gaining all the names in The Company's registry, but still, they are all wary to feel that this is a sort of victory. They've come pretty far already, but they still have a long way to go. Alex is brandishing the Halliburton case staring at it and running his hands over the cool metal as if he's having some sort of manic episode. Sucre's staring out the window beside him, most likely thinking of his family and longing to get back to them. Michael knows the feeling; he's been distracted, too. The fact that he cannot reach his family is not helping the situation at all.

They congregate in the common room and Alex opens the Halliburton case like a treasure chest. Files and manila folders and glossy photos fall onto the table and floor, information and classifications pouring into Alex's grasp. Kellerman once again pulls out his systemic database, explaining how he'll be able to run the names through the system to learn who's already deceased, who's been incarcerated and who they still need to catch. He and Alex get to work, the dream team, while Sucre pulls out the information, sorting case files from photographs and ignoring Company notes and orders. Lincoln and Michael watch from afar, close enough to get in on the action if necessary, but far enough away that they're able to have a moment alone.

Lincoln broaches the elephant in the room in an air of anxiety. "Still no word from Sofia or Sara?"

"I've got nothing, Linc," Michael sighs. "I've called five, maybe six, times. Still nothing."

"And you left messages, right?"

"Every time," Michael confirms. "They haven't returned any of them."

"That's strange," Lincoln frowns. "What do you think's going on?"

"I want to think they must be busy," Michael states. "It's what I told C-Note to do- keep them busy. I thought if they always had things to do, they wouldn't worry about us too much. And there's plenty to do in Raleigh. He's lived there since this all went down the first time, so he'll know what to do with them."

"I looked it up before we left," Lincoln says. "They have that place full of bouncy houses, BounceU, you know? Plus laser tag, go-karts, bowling and a Chuck E. Cheese. That's enough excitement for a week."

"Exactly my point," Michael nods. "I wanted them to always have something to do, to keep their minds off us."

"It sounds logical," Lincoln agrees. "But you said you 'want' to think that. What are you really thinking?"

"I'm afraid something happened," Michael admits. "I don't want to think about it. But if they could find us in that unknown warehouse in the backstreets of L.A., then they can certainly find C-Note's house in Raleigh."

"I see where you're coming from," Lincoln replies. "But they don't know we're coming after them, do they? The Company, I mean. If they don't know about us, why would they need to go after our families?"

"They never needed a reason before," Michael states and Lincoln has to give him that. "The bottom line is, there are only a handful of people who know that The Company exists. We're some of them and they tried to send a hit man to my apartment. Lisa's one of them and they tried to take her out, too. And our families are some of the ones in the know as well."

"But they're innocent!" Lincoln claims in outrage.

"Not to them," Michael frowns. "To them, they're just a few more people in the way of their achievements. They want to eliminate everyone who's ever known about The Company. Either eliminate them or force them to join."

"This is bullshit," Lincoln grumbles. "You don't think anything happened to them, though, right? It's just a fear?"

"For now, yes," Michael answers, glancing at the phone that remains frustratingly silent. "But if I don't hear from Sara or Sofia or any of them within the next few days, then we know we've got a problem."


It had all happened so incredibly fast; one moment, she was slathering jelly on a piece of whole grain bread, intent on making the kids some sandwiches, and the next she was diving to the floor, bullets flying over her head. She's hit with an incredible source of déjà vu, remembering how she and Michael had almost lost their lives this very same way years earlier. Benjamin appears almost out of nowhere, ushering her and the kids into the back bedroom, a gun cocked in his grasp and ready to fire. Noah and Zoe, stuck to her like glue, ask a million questions on their way there, none of which she answers because her only focus is on keeping the two of them safe.

There's shouting and screaming and gunshots being fired; Sara holds both children's heads close to her in an effort to block this out. She tells them it's all a game, that everything's okay, that it'll all be over soon and she doesn't believe a damn thing she's saying. Moments earlier, everything had been serenely normal; they'd just gotten back from the park and Sofia had suggested making an authentic Latin American dinner and had dragged LJ with her to the grocery store. Now, Sara prays they don't make it back until later; she hopes and begs that they'll take a while, because the last thing she wants is for them to be exposed to this kind of violence.

There's a scream heard from the living room and a thud on the hard floor. Noah and Zoe ask, again, what's happening and Sara again deflects their question. She tells them they have to be quiet and uses this newfound silence to listen to the occurrences in the other room. The gunshots have stopped; no longer does she hear the crashing of glass and the ammunition being fired into the air. Everything's quiet. Well, not everything; a moment later, there are footsteps, slow at first, then quicker and quicker, until they reach the back bedroom door. Sara ushers the children under the bed in an attempt to hide them and tells them to be as quiet as they can.

"Where are you going, Mommy?" Noah asks fearfully and Sara wants scream and cry and hug and hold him all at once.

"I'm not going anywhere, Noah, I promise," She whispers back. "Just stay right here, okay? Stay with Zoe and be super, super quiet. Can you do that?"

He nods and Zoe has tears in her eyes and it's all she can do to tear herself away from them. They climb under the bed and Sara takes a deep breath before searching the room for anything she can use as a weapon. The footsteps are coming closer, now, and still the only thing she's found is a handful of candlesticks and a few thumbtacks. She finds a letter opener on the desk and it's the best thing she's got, so she's brandishing it like a knife as the doorknob slowly twists open. A tall man, dark-haired and tattooed down his neck, stares back at her, his gun pointed low and immediately raising as he comes face to face with her.

"Whoa whoa whoa," The man says, motioning towards her letter opener. "Now you really don't think you can bring a knife to a gun fight and still win, do you?"

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Sara asks, undeterred.

"You don't actually think I'm going to answer that, do you?" The man chuckles. "Come on; you're coming home with us."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Sara sneers.

He steps forward and cocks the gun against her temple, the letter opener falling from her grasp. "Either you come with us now or so help me God, I will kill you right here."

Sara inhales and exhales evenly, despite her hammering heart, and manages to utter, "Fine."

He leads her down the hallway, into the living room and through the scene of the crime. An unidentified man- one of them, Sara thinks angrily- is lying broken over the coffee table, a headshot, or so it looks like. In the corner of the room lies Benjamin, blood flowing freely from his stomach. Sara gasps and asks, "Is he dead?"

"No, but he will be," The guy chuckles. "Norton got him good."

Once outside, Sara is about to ask where she's being taken- as if they'd answer her, anyway- but instead, another man, this one sandy-haired and wearing Harry Potter-like glasses, leans over her and says, "Sorry, Doc."

And then everything goes black.


It's been only a few minutes, but it seems like an hour since they'd last seen their mother. Noah reaches out and grabs the letter opener she'd held only moments before and prepares to defend himself and his sister. It's just like when he and his friends play pirates at school; they have to duel in a swordfight and use sticks to joust with one another until one of them wins. Except this time, it's real. This time, he's not pretend saving Ava Brenner, the cute second-grader. He has to really save his mommy and he's not ready and anxious to get it over with all the same. He waits for her to come back a few minutes more, but all he hears are footsteps too heavy to be hers and voices that belong to males.

Beside him, Zoe grows impatient. "Mommy! Mommy, come back!"

"Zoe, be quiet!" Noah hisses. "Mommy said to be quiet!"

"Mommy!" Zoe yells, her voice growing hysterical. "Mommy!"

Noah claps his free hand over his sister's mouth as a pair of footsteps inches closer to the bedroom door. He watches as the doorknob slowly turns and sees a pair of black boots step into the room. A man's voice asks, "Hello? Anybody in here?"

Noah sends Zoe a look, urging her not to speak, and this time, she obeys. But it's too late; in the next moment, the man is bending down and picking up the dust ruffle, exposing the two children. He looks incredibly surprised and Noah's eyes narrow. "Oh, hey there, little guys! What are you doing under the bed?"

Holding up the letter opener like a sword, Noah growls, "Go away."

Zoe whines, "Where's Mommy?"

"Whoa, whoa, hey buddy," The man defends. "I'm not gonna hurt'cha. My name's Norton, what's yours?"

Neither of the children answer and Norton chuckles. "Alright, your parents taught you good. Don't talk to strangers, right?"

Again, both kids are silent. Norton nods and says, "Okay, come on. Can't just leave you guys here all alone, can I?"

They stare at the man; Noah knows his mommy's coming back. She promised, after all. This house isn't safe, not anymore, but he knows they can't just leave. Not when their mother is coming back and not with this guy, that's for sure. Zoe looks over at her brother and slips her tiny hand into his. He squeezes hers; she squeezes back. It's always been their "I'm scared" code; they'd done this ever since they were tiny so they weren't ever alone in their fright. They climb out from under the bed, hands still entwined, but don't move a muscle more. Norton is now growing impatient, Noah can tell. It's the same face his mommy makes when he and Zoe are misbehaving and it's the same expression his daddy gets when something falls out of place.

"Alright, come on already," Norton says, grabbing a hold of Noah's t-shirt and dragging the children down the hallway. He takes them out the back door to avoid going through the crime scene in the living room.

They approach a van and he straps them in tightly, smirking at their clasped hands. "Nothing to be worried about. When we get there, I'll give you guys some chocolate cake, okay? You like chocolate cake?"

Zoe nods slowly, but asks, "Where's Mommy?"

"Look, I don't know, alright?" Norton sighs, running a hand through his hair. He then looks at Noah, who's still staring at him distrustfully, and snatches the letter opener from his hands. "Won't be needing this, kiddo."

He tosses it over his shoulder and it soars into a sewer grate. Norton then takes his place behind the wheel and tears off down the street, the children watching remorsefully as the house they'd lived in for the past three days turned into a faraway blur behind them. They don't let go of each other's hands; instead, Zoe stares out her window and Noah glances out his, hoping for any sign of his mother or the scary man who'd taken her. It's hard to make out anyone with Norton driving so quickly and when they pull onto the highway, they know all hope is lost. They're driving over the ocean, past green mile markers and other zooming cars, and it seems like ages until Norton pulls off the highway and drives onto the exit marked Durham.

They're driving a moment more before he pulls into a cheap-looking motel that reminds Noah a lot of the one they'd stayed in just days earlier. But this thought makes his eyes burn with tears and he blinks them and the thoughts away as quickly as they'd appeared. He and Zoe are going to be okay; they had to be. He promised his Dad, days ago, that he'd keep his mom and sister safe and that's what he was going to try to do. Another man, this one taller and greyer, greets Norton when he parks the car and Zoe turns to tell Noah that she's scared. Noah tells her everything's going to be okay even though he doesn't know that to be true because it's what their mom and dad would say. He's sure of it.

"Look, we, uh, we ran into a bit of a problem at Franklin's house," Norton begins to explain. "First of all, Lawson's dead."

"I always knew he wouldn't make it," The other man says. "He didn't have the balls to get the job done."

"And second," Norton continues, opening the car door to reveal Noah and Zoe. "Well, you see."

The man peers in and then glances at Norton and asks angrily, "What the fuck is this?"

"Scofield's kids were there, man!" Norton defends. "I didn't know what to do with them!"

"Uh, how about leave them?" The man suggests. "This isn't part of the plan and you know it!"

"Heath, come on, man," Norton pleads, unbuckling the kids and pulling them out of the car semi-forcefully. "You can't just leave kids behind. Especially not there; the place was a fucking mess."

"Okay, well," Heath still looks angry, but he ushers the kids toward the third door from the right. "Let's just get them inside."

They do so and Noah and Zoe grimace at the sight of the place. It's a small room and it isn't very clean; housekeeping obviously had yet to set foot in this room. Heath pushes them out of the way once they're inside and rubs a hand over his face, saying, "Edison's going to be pissed, Norton."

"I wasn't going to leave them there," He states adamantly. "We'll figure it out."

"No, you'll figure it out," Heath shakes his head. "I am not getting involved in this bullshit. You're going to call him and tell him we have Scofield's kids and he can decide what we do with them. And then, believe me, he'll decide what to do with you."

"When do we get our chocolate cake?" Zoe asks, her voice small.

Heath looks at her as if she has three heads. "Your what?!"

"I promised them chocolate cake when we got here," Norton says sheepishly. "You don't happen to have any, do you?"

"Yeah, let me just pull it out of my ass," Heath replies sarcastically. "Why would you promise them that?"

"I don't know! They were scared! I panicked! Kids love cake!"

Heath sighs heavily and says, "I don't know what to fucking do with you."

He rummages through the small collection of food they have and offers Noah and Zoe a bag of stale pretzels from the vending machine. "This is all I got, kid."

"I don't want pretzels," Zoe pouts, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Well, it's pretzels or nothing, so I'd take them!" Heath tells her and Zoe sticks her tongue out at him, refusing his snack. Noah is still silent.

"So…" Norton starts a moment later. "What do we do with them?"

Heath shrugs and shakes his head. "I don't know. You're the genius who decided to bring them here. You decide."

Norton stumbles and stammers a few moments before Heath decides, "You know what? No. It's about time I take the reigns around here. I knew I should've gone to Franklin's today. I knew it was a stupid idea to let you go as cover."

His partner looks genuinely hurt and Heath sighs. "Just put them in the closet, Norton."

"The closet? But-"

"Just fucking do it before I put you in there, too."

Norton glares at him, but does as he's told, harshly directing the kids towards the closet on the other side of the room. He yanks the door open, says, "It'll be alright," and then shoves them inside.

Darkness engulfs them the moment the door is shut behind him. The closet smells musty and damp, like a collection of pool-soaked towels left on a shelf too long. Noah's not too sure what else is possibly in this closet; he gropes around aimlessly in the dark for a moment before coming into contact with the wall in front, beside, and behind him. There's an ironing board, a blanket, an extra pillow and a couple of hangers. But otherwise, the closet is empty. He can hear Zoe's shallow breathing beside him and he reaches over to grasp her hand again. She's afraid, he can tell by the hard squeeze she gives his hand, and he's scared too, so he squeezes back.

He has no idea what is going on. He doesn't know who those men are; the ones who took his mom or the ones who took them. He doesn't know why he and Zoe and his mom are even on this stupid vacation or why his dad couldn't have come with them. He does know, however, that vacations are supposed to be fun and this is anything but. He doesn't know where is mom and dad are, but he wants to find them. He wants to be with them and he wants to go home, because this little trip is not exactly his idea of a good time. He wonders what Sofia and LJ will think when they get back to Benjamin's house. He wonders if they'll come looking for him and Zoe. He wonders if anyone will ever find them, stuck here in a closet in a city called Durham.

Just then, Zoe breaks down. She bursts into tears, hot and wet and trailing down her face. She sits upon the grimy carpet and Noah sits beside her, still holding her hand. "Don't cry, Zoe."

"I want to go home!" She wails. "I want Mommy and I want Daddy and I want to go home!"

"I want to go home too," Noah agrees and sighs. "We're going to go home soon. You'll see."

"Hello? Is there someone there?"

Zoe immediately ceases her tears and Noah's head snaps in the direction of a female voice. They remain quiet and watch the darkness as something- or someone- moves on the other end of the closet. When they don't respond, she speaks again, "It's okay. I'm not like those men. I'm not going to hurt you."

At the mention of the men and adding to her fear, Zoe begins to cry again. The voice says, "It'll be okay. Don't cry. Did they take you away from your mommy and daddy?"

Noah nods, even though he's sure she can't see him. Zoe, tears subsiding, sniffles a little and replies, "Uh-huh."

"Yeah, they took me away from my mom, too," The voice sighs. "What're your names?"

"I'm Noah," Noah answers quietly and his eyes are just starting to adjust to the lack of light. "And this is my sister, Zoe."

"Nice to meet you, Noah and Zoe," The girl leans forward to see them better, her face framed by jet black hair, her piercing blue eyes shining. "I'm Emily."