Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own Prison Break, or any of its characters or plots. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners.

By 5 pm they had practically combed all the hotels, motels, bars and touristic sites in the area around Gila, the town in New Mexico where Michael Scofield and Sarah Tancredi were supposed to meet the following day according to the information that they had been able to obtain during the investigation.

Kate had reluctantly accompanied Mahone all the time, as he would not let her wait in the SUV. "No way I'm letting you stay by yourself," Alex had told her, narrowing his eyes, when she had asked to stay in the car in order to be able to work. She was sure Jack would call her sooner or later if he didn't see any progress on the murder case they were currently working on, and, more importantly, she needed some alone time to cope with the events of the morning. Unexpectedly seeing Linc had really stunned her, bringing back memories she had worked hard to bury deep down, and his hurried fled had torn her apart, not to mention what she had resorted to do in order to distract Mahone and buy him some time. She was starting to realise how far the FBI agent and herself had gone, and she was starting to panic as she was now remembering how she had felt in his arms. Kate had been still too focused on Linc to realize it while it was happening, but now it was finally hitting her: she had liked it. Definitely, she was in urgent need in some time alone to process all this on top of the Burrows case and Vee's death.

But completely oblivious to the way she was feeling, Mahone had thought otherwise. He felt he should keep a close eye on her, like he had been doing for the last few days, even more now that he was so close to finally achieving his goal and apprehend Scofield, and apparently the Company was still following him to make sure he complied with the orders. So Kate had been with him all day long while he kept showing a photograph of Sarah Tancredi around and asking about her in a full FBI fashion.

Still nervous and worried by Linc's unexpected appearance and what had followed suit, she had spent most of the time trying to hide her conflicting emotions, which resulted in a talkative mood that did not go unnoticed by Mahone, but once more he attributed it to the Company scare. He himself was high on Veratril to cope with the stress of the situation he had been in for the last weeks, so he found it understandable if a civilian like O'Hare was not comfortable being aware that she was being followed after one of her best friends had allegedly been murdered.

Due to that talkative mood of hers, during their tour around Gila Kate had gotten to learn some more details about Michael and Sarah, and even about Mahone, who, no doubt in a moment of weakness, had shared with her that he had wanted to be a doctor as a kid. He seemed to be more relaxed and the comment had clearly slipped off his mind, so when Kate, avid for a distraction, had inquired what had changed when he grew up, he completely clammed up again, grunting "Real life," and suddenly grumpy and cranky Mahone was back.

After a short drive into town again, he looked at his watch, his tired blue eyes behind his shades. "Would you like to grab a bite?" he asked in a low voice. The effects of the strong tranquilizer he was addicted to were starting to wear off and he was doing his best to try and hide his shaking hands, failing miserably.

"That'd be great," Kate responded, noticing his trembling hands and wondering if she should say anything. The truth was that she was starving; they had skipped lunch but too distracted by her thoughts she had not complained at the time. Better not to inferire now with a comment regarding his trembling hands that Mahone would probably dislike. After all, his addiction was none of her business, was it?

He stopped the vehicle in the parking lot of a cozy diner in the end of the main street of Gila. Kate did not recall having been there during the day and she chuckled thinking that it must be the only place around they had not canvassed, and felt grateful for having her sneakers on. She had been right when she had only packed tennis shoes, sneakers, jeans and tshirts back at home, as her fancy suits, dresses and stilettos wouldn't be of much use in this setting. In fact, she was glad to be able to forego her usual work attire for a few days; sometimes it all felt like a costume.

Once inside the diner, Mahone chose a booth at the end of the joint, and he sat facing the door, as usual. A young waitress came along and asked for their drinks. She was very good looking, and immediately got a shine to Alex. She kept looking at him, a bright smile on her face, practically ignoring Kate, but he didn't even register her. As a matter of fact, he was almost rude, answering with monosyllables without even looking at her.

"You should be nice to her, she obviously likes you," Kate said, amused, when she finally went to get their drinks.

"Who?" Alex asked, keeping his eyes on his cell phone as he scrolled it searching for any missed calls. The Company had not called today yet, and that was certainly strange, especially taking into account that they were still following him and no actual progress had been made on the case for the last few days.

Kate chuckled. "Men..." she thought. "The waitress, Cindy, according to her name tag. You should be at least polite. Didn't your parents raise you to be polite, Mahone?" she amusedly inquired without thinking.

Kate regretted her words the moment she noticed his reaction to them: he stopped scrolling on his cell for a moment, his body clearly tensing under his perfectly ironed suit, his glare fixed on his phone.

"I'm sorry I said that,' she quickly apologised, sensing that she'd hit a nerve, and hoping she could backpedal. She was tired, worried sick about Linc and her parents and the fact that she had lied to the FBI agent under whose custody she was currently in. Not to mention that she was also trying to forget the idea that she had liked being in that agent's arms. So the last thing she wanted was to turn him into his unpredictable grumpy, moody self.

Alex slowly placed his cell on the table, took off his reading glasses and pinched his nose as he closed his eyes for a second. "No, it's not your fault. My mom did teach me manners before she left..." he explained, keeping his gaze down.

At that exact moment Cindy came with their drinks and took their food order, and Mahone did thank her when she left, which prompted a huge smile on her face.

Encouraged by his change of attitude, Kate started talking again to make time until the food arrived. "I didn't mean to pry..." she shyly trailed off.

"Everything changed right then...' he mumbled, as if he had been waiting for her cue to take a weight off his shoulders. By the time Cindy came back with their plates, Kate was no longer hungry. Mahome had shared with her everything: how his mother left right before he started High school, how she fought for his custody but he finally stayed with his father who, with his mother gone, began to beat the crap out of him; how he navigated those teen years with only one goal in mind, leave home, and how the Army gave him the chance and the purpose he needed in his life. How he had attended college after years in the Army, and how he had met Pam there but was never able, not even after years of marriage, to tell her about his background. "She just knows bits and pieces; I never told her and she never dared asking..."

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that..." Kate said after a moment of silence, not knowing very well what had prompted the-usually-silent-Mahone-during-the-day to turn into this different self out of the blue.

Then a new message chimed in his cell phone. It was a succinct "We found Ms Donovan's body" from Agent Lang. "I have to make a call," he said, abruptly standing up and walking to the door.

As Kate started eating her sandwich, Cindy came by to ask her if they needed anything else. "Sorry if the way I talked to your boyfriend made you uncomfortable, but he's the hottest customer we've had in ages and I..." she explained when Kate replied in a friendly mood.

She nearly choked with the food. "No worries, he's not my boyfriend..." she managed to say after taking a sip of water.

"Oh, I totally thought you two were together," Cindy exclaimed.

"No, we aren't..." Kate chuckled. "Why would I want to be with someone who's grumpy, bossy, cranky, insists on calling me by my last name no matter how close we literally have been and has probably done unforgivable things in his line of work?" she asked herself. He wasn't a catch, exactly.

"But you know he likes you, right?" Cindy had found in Kate her dreamt customer; not only was she nice and polite but she even seemed to like to be chatting with her. In a small town in the middle of nowhere, like she usually called her hometown, that was certainly a rarity and a welcomed change of pace.

"No, he doesn"t..." Kate chuckled again.

"Oh, trust me, he does," Cindy almost giggled. "The way he looks at you when you're not looking..." she added, winking and leaving for the kitchen as she noticed Mahone reentering the joint.

Kate's cell started ringing when he sat down. She looked at the ID on the screen and sighed.

"Get it," he almost barked, his eyes dancing around the diner. What if it was Scofield or Burrows?

"No," she firmly said. "It's Jack and, frankly, I'm not in the mood right now..."

"Sorry if I upset you by spilling on you all that..." he mumbled, locking eyes with her for the first time since he had come back from making the call to Felicia. Veronica's body had been found by chance semi buried in a remote location in Colorado, with three close range shots to her head. He had no doubt the news would hit O'Hare hard; her friend's death would now be a reality, and he wished he didn't have to be the one to tell her.

She half smiled and shook her head. "No, it's not you. Sometimes I just hate my job... Not just my actual job, I mean my profession..." Kate trailed off.

Mahone shrugged, his attention focused on his plate and his mind spinning, considering the possibility of keeping the finding to himself for the time being. "Then change it," he simply stated. Since he had killed Oscar Shales and buried him in his backyard he found that people tended to worry too much about things that should not be that worrisome. And, apparently, O'Hare was one of those people.

"What? Change careers at twenty nine, after how I've worked my ass off, pardon my expression, to be where I am?" she chuckled.

Alex raised his gaze from his plate and shrugged again, locking eyes with her. "You just said you hate it..."

Kate frowned. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I should throw it all overboard..." The truth was that thought had crossed her mind a few times over the years, but she had never dared to take a step forward in that regard.

"Then, why are you complaining?" Mahone bluntly inquired, now fully disregarding the food in front of him.

His attitude was beginning to annoy her. She had just shared something very personal with him, but he just seemed to think that she was a spoiled little brat who had no reason to complain. Definitely, he was not taking her seriously, and she could feel anger washing over her. "Let me guess, you have everything figured out in your life. Well, good for you, Mahone. I wish you could use that clairvoyance of yours to close this case for once and for all and let me go home..."

She was expecting a sharp remark, but It didn't come. Instead, he quietly looked at her, narrowing his eyes.

"What'd you do?" he finally asked in a very soft tone. He had sensed she had misunderstood him and somehow he did not like the thought that he had hurt her feelings. Much to his surprise, he was just trying to help her.

"What?" His gentle question took her off-guard after her harsh comment.

"If you had the chance to change careers, what'd you do?" he softly inquired. "I never did it because I couldn't think of anything I could be good at like I am at what I do..." he unexpectedly shared.

And then Kate told him how she had thought about teaching in college. "Law studies are so different from actual law practice... I'd really like to give the students an overview of that..." she finished saying.

Alex shrugged again. "So what's stopping you? As far as I know, you've done damn well for yourself since you started working. Apart from maintaining that German car of yours..."

"Hey, that was a very good deal, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford it..." Of course he had noticed her car that night at her firm parking garage.

He ignored her interruption. "... I don't see any major investments in your foreseeable future, nor any college tuition to be paid in a few years... Life's short, O'Hare..." he explained, his eyes darting around the diner.

Moved by his words, Kate just nodded and continued eating. She had just shared with him something she had kept for herself since she had started practicing law five years ago. As time passed by, she had learnt that she found it difficult to identify herself with some of the aspects of her job and the way the legal system worked, but somehow she had ended up going with the flow and being an active part of that system. And she thought it was too late of a change after all the energy and hard work she had invested in her career.

Definitely something had shifted between the two of them during the time they had spent at that diner in Gila. The way Mahone opened the door for her as they left and softly placed his other hand on the small of her back to walk after her was the first sign that alerted Kate of the change in the status of the relationship.

Overwhelmed by the events of the day, she closed the passenger door he had just opened for her, a gesture he had never shown before, and leant her back on the door of the SUV, tuning to face him.

Not being able to read his expression behind his sunglasses, Kate blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "Mahone, there's something important I have to tell you."