FLASHBACK 1990

Fourteen year old Michael Scofield sat in silence at the dinner table and watched as his older brother shoveled lasagna into his mouth and downed his second bottle of beer as though it were the last food and drink he would ever receive. At the other end of the table, Lisa acted as though she didn't notice Lincoln's unusual behavior as she fed Michael's infant nephew some nasty looking slop she insisted was cereal.

"So…" Michael finally spoke up as he pushed his food own food around aimlessly on his plate. "What did they want?"

Lincoln had arrived home about an hour earlier, after a late afternoon meeting with Michael's guidance counselor and Michael could tell he was upset. But rather than the yelling and screaming Michael had expected, Lincoln had disappeared into the bedroom with Lisa and locked the door. The two had emerged about 45 minutes later…just in time to get the lasagna out of the oven and sit down to a silent supper.

"What did they say?" Michael repeated when Lincoln ignored his first question. "What did I do?"

"Nothing. Eat you dinner." Lincoln replied without even bothering to look up at him.

"Am I trouble?" Michael continued to press.

"Did I say you were in trouble?" Lincoln snapped back, getting up from the table to get himself another beer.

"You haven't said anything." Michael replied, twisting in his chair to face his brother. "That's the problem."

"Michael sweety…just eat your dinner. OK?" Lisa said calmly.

"I'm not hungry." Michael replied sullenly, pushing his plate forward.

"Eat your dinner Michael." Lincoln said, walking over and sliding Michael's plate back in front of him. "We're not going to tell you again."

"I said I don't want it!" Michael barked back defiantly, shoving the plate forward once again.

"God dammit Michael!" Lincoln hollered, slamming his fist down onto the table beside Michael with such force that the entire table shook and Lisa and Michael both simultaneously jumped in their seats. "I said eat your dinner!"

"Lincoln." Lisa admonished him without raising her voice, but giving him a stern glare. "You need to calm down."

Michael sat stiffly in his chair, his fists clenched in his lap as he tried to fight back the tears that were welling up in his eyes.

"Michael. You don't have to eat if you don't want to. It's OK." Lisa said, getting up from the table and taking his plate.

"Thanks for the fuckin' support Lisa. As usual!" Lincoln fumed. Then, grabbing his cigarettes from the top of the refrigerator, he stormed out the front door.

When he was gone, Lisa sighed and walked over to Michael and placed her hand gently on his shoulder. Michael took a deep breath and brushed the tears from his eyes with the back of his sleeve, before looking up at her.

"I'm going to go talk to him. Keep an eye on LJ. OK?" She instructed.

Michael nodded, then watched as Lisa grabbed her apartment key off a hook by the front door and walked out.

Michael could feel himself still trembling. A combination of both anger and fear. He was used to being yelled at by Lincoln. That didn't bother him so much. It was the fact the Lincoln wouldn't tell him what he was upset about. That wasn't like him. Usually, Lincoln was more than willing to tell Michael when he had done something wrong.

He got up from the table and walked over to LJ, who was still seated in his high chair. Despite Lincoln's hollering, the baby seemed unfazed as he playfully slapped his hands on the tray of the chair and smiled up at his Uncle. Michael smiled back and tweeked the small boys cheek with his fingers.

"Here." Michael said, handing LJ some plastic teething toys. "Play with these. I'll take you out in a minute."

With LJ happily distracted with his toys, Michael made his way over to the window at the front of the room. Kneeling on the couch, he looked out the window and could see Lincoln and Lisa talking on the sidewalk below. They didn't appear to be fighting, although it was hard to tell. He was dying to know what they were talking about…but he knew he couldn't leave LJ alone to go down and find out. He briefly considered taking LJ with him, but quickly discarded that idea, realizing that they would only stop talking if Michael showed up.

He had all but given up when he suddenly remembered the intercom on the wall. Jumping off the couch Michael raced to the opposite wall with the intercom panel and pressed the "listen" button.

"Lincoln you need to calm down. We don't even know if they're right." Lisa's voice echoed through the speaker.

"What if they are? Huh? I mean…what the fuck? How can he…? How can anyone live like that?"

"I don't know." Lisa said softly. "But listen…if they are right, and Michael does have this…this…"

"Low latent inhibition."

"Whatever! If he does have it…it's not like this is something Michael woke up with yesterday. He was born with it Lincoln. And you and I may not understand it, but to Michael…it's normal."

"There's nothing normal about your brain running on fucking overdrive 24/7 Lisa!"

"It's all he knows Lincoln!" Lisa insisted. "To him it is normal. It's who he is!"

"But they said…they fuckin' said it could lead to…"

Michael could hear the anguish in his older brother's voice and he could feel his own heart racing as he waited for Lincoln to complete his thought. But it was Lisa's voice he heard next.

"It won't Lincoln. Michael is smart. He can deal with this. I know he can."

"What if he can't!"

"Stop saying that!"

"They're going to take him away from me." Lincoln sobbed.

"No."

"Yes…yes they are. They're going to take him from me and he's going to end up in some mental hospital. I know it!"

Michael struggled to keep his finger firmly pressed on the button as his hands started to shake uncontrollably. He was terrified by what he was hearing…what they were saying…about him.

"Listen…" Lisa's voice was firm yet compassionate. "Listen! You need to pull it together Lincoln."

"I can't." Lincoln insisted between sobs. "What if something happens to him? I promised my mother on he deathbed…I promised her I would take care of him. He's my responsibility!"

"And you are taking care of him. Listen…Nothing bad is going to happen to Michael. Not while he's with you. Do you hear me? You're going to do what the school suggests and take Michael for those tests. And if it turns out they are right, then they'll tell us how to deal with it and we will. End of story."

Michael could hear his brother sigh and the sound of his feet scuffing along the pavement as he paced nervously outside the door.

"I just want…" Lincoln began, his voice cracking as he tried to maintain some composure. "I just wish I could be his brother again…just his brother not his father. It's too fuckin' hard!"

"I know." Lisa replied sympathetically.

"I miss him. I miss the way we used to be."

"I know." Lisa repeated. "I know."

PRESENT

"Dude! Are you fuckin' listening to me?"

LJ's voice broke Michael from his daze and he quickly turned his head.

"Huh?"

LJ laughed.

"I said those girls back in the store were totally checking you out."

Michael scoffed and turned his attention back out the passenger side window of LJ's car. He was pretending to be interested in the passing landscape, but really he just didn't want his nephew to see him blush. It didn't work.

"Look at how red your getting!"

"LJ…they were not checking me out." Michael insisted.

"Yeah…they totally were."

"No, they were merely staring because I'm Michael Scoffield."

"Yes…and you're fuckin' hot!" LJ replied. Then added quickly…"I can't believe I just said that about my own uncle."

"Oh please." Michael rolled his eyes. "I'm a freak show LJ. I'm like a bad accident on the side of the road. People can't help but stare. It has nothing to do with what I look like."

"If you say so." LJ conceded. "But I've been hearing it since I was fourteen years old. I know what I'm talking about."

"What are talking about?" Michael asked incredulously.

"Oh LJ! You're uncle is so….cute!" LJ mimicked, doing his best teenage girl impression. "How does he feel about younger women?"

"Shut up!" Michael laughed.

"Hey! It's what I had to deal with all through High School!" LJ informed him.

"That is just wrong on so many levels." Michael replied, shaking his head.

"You're telling me." LJ replied. "Welcome to my world!"

Michael shook his head once again.

"Damn it's hot in here." He said, changing the subject. "Doesn't this car have air conditioning?"

"You're blushing again." LJ teased.

"OK enough!" Michael begged.

"Fine! Fine!" LJ conceded.

"Thank you."

"But this was fun though. Huh?" LJ added as an afterthought. "I mean…I know we just went to the store but…you and me…hanging out. It's kinda like old times. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, it was kind of nice to get out of the house." Michael agreed.

"Dad is never going to believe it. You actually left the house. He's either going to be extremely happy or mad as hell at me."

"Why would he be mad you?" Michael asked him.

LJ shrugged.

" I dunno. I mean…he's been trying so hard."

"Too hard." Michael replied.

"Yeah maybe." LJ agreed. "But he's only been pushing so hard because he loves you. You know that. Right?"

Michael sighed.

"Yeah. I know. I just wish he could stop looking at me as his responsibility and start treating me like his brother. That's all I want."

"That's going to be tough Mike. I mean…you've always been his responsibility. It would be like me asking him to stop treating me like a son."

Michael smiled at LJ and turned to stare out the window once again. LJ was too young to remember. In fact, he hadn't even been born yet. But there was a time when Michael and Lincoln were merely brothers. It was a long time ago, when Michael was small and sometimes it was tough for him to remember. But when he did…he was happy. Even if it was just for a short while.

To be continued…