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.
Alex smirked and fixed his eyes on her behind his sunglasses, wondering what could be that important all of a sudden. He was surprised to realize that he was in a good mood, which did not happen very often lately, and wondered if it was because of the young woman that was in front of him. To his subconscious, she had stopped being 'a key witness' to be 'a young woman'; more likely 'a smart, educated, attractive young woman' if he had to be honest with himself.
"I lied to you," Kate simply stated as she looked down, clearly embarrassed, bursting his buble.
Mahone had been at war with himself all day long, trying to fight back the attraction he was starting to feel for O'Hare. Not only was it highly unprofessional, but also very dangerous as he was on a mission, possibly the most important mission in his life, and nothing should distract him from it. Even less a brilliant defendant lawyer who seemed to be warming up her way into his heart. He had succeeded to shield himself since the Shales case and the timing couldn't be more unappropriate for a matter of the heart. Besides, didn't he want his family back? Didn't he love Pam, his ex-wife, and would do anything to have her back in his life and his bed? So, what was he doing letting his attraction for a key witness in the most important case of his life grow while his wife and son's lives, even his own, were at stake?
And now that very same key witness was admitting that she'd lied to him, plain and simple. "Great, just great Alex," he thought and slowly took off his shades.
"What do you mean?" he inquired in an interrogation mode, getting closer and narrowing the gap between their bodies. Mahone was taller than her and he really looked menacing, his piercing blue eyes focused on hers.
Kate gulped. Far from seeing him as a threat, his physical proximity was only confusing her, and she almost lost track of what she was about to say. "Linc," was all she managed to mumble.
"What about Burrows?" Alex asked, immediately tensing at the mere mention of the name. Could O'Hare actually have any information about Lincoln? How? And if she did, had she been hiding it from him all along?
"He… he came this morning..." she finally confessed, biting her lower lip as she waited for his reaction, her back glued to the passenger door of the car. His physical proximity mixed with the attraction she was starting to feel was making it even harder to gather the words to let him know she had lied to him.
Alex looked at her in disbelief. This was not only information; it was much more. "You saw Burrows?" he asked, still quite not believing her words and what they meant.
Kate nodded. "Yeah, he came through the balcony and..." she tried to explain, but Mahone's mind was already in alert mode despite all the Veratril he had in his system.
"What did he say?" he bluntly inquired, taking a step back and placing his hands on his hips. Something was telling him O'Hare was not going to run from him and he was afraid that being too close could cloud his judgement.
Kate shrugged and shook her head. "Nothing..." she whispered. She was beginning to regret telling Mahone about Lincoln's brief visit. When they had exited the diner it suddenly didn't seem fair to keep it from him, given the bond she was starting to notice developing between them, but now that it was out in the open she thought it had been a mistake. 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. But Linc had not had any time to tell her anything, really, so there was no way she could answer Mahone's question but by saying 'Nothing'.
Alex grabbed her arm impatiently and asked again, doing his best to keep a neutral tone in his voice and stepping closer to her. "What did he say?"
"Hey, let go of me..." she complained as she pushed his hand away, now fully regretting the honesty 'attack' that had led to her confession.
"Not yet…" Alex mumbled grabbing her arm again, this time paying special attention not to do it too tightly. "What'd he say, O'Hare?" he repeated, trying not to lose his patience. At some point during the last days she had stopped becoming collateral damage to him, and realizing that, the last thing he wanted to do was to scare her. BUt he still needed to know about Burrows as the Company's clock was ticking.
"Nothing, really. I'd just opened the drapes and seen him there when you barged into the room..." she finally elaborated, locking eyes with him.
Mahone then let go of her arm and put his shades on again. "So, you were just trying to give him time..." he quietly mumbled as realization hit him.
Kate nodded, feeling a lump in her throat. "Yeah..." Once he had his sunglasses on again, she had no way of knowing if that disappointed him or not, and she found herself wanting him to be disappointed, which both surprised and enerved her. Vee was dead and Linc was on the run, with a death sentence hanging on his head, and she was developing feelings for the man in charge of his manhunt? When did it all get so crazy?
"And I assume there was nobody watching us from across the street..." Alex added, now placing his hands on the car, at both sides of her head, his face just inches from hers.
Kate's conflicted feelings took over her and she fought hard the urge to kiss him. There was no need to keep playing that game, and, she sadly thought, it was not a game anymore, so she'd better keep him at arm's length. An unrequited love was the last thing she needed now. "No, I... I made that up to stop you from..." she began to say, lowering her head, ashamed.
To his and her surprise, her words irritated him. "You think you're very clever, uh?" he hissed on her ear as she felt his breath on her neck and goosebumps all over her body.
Kate slightly tilted her head to make eye contact with him in an attempt to disregard the way his body close to hers was making her feel, hoping she was not blushing. "I'm just learning from the best..." she replied, trying to convince him that she was not going to bend down with that sort of trick.
"Was that a compliment?" he asked, apparently amused by her response.
"I… I don't know, Mahone… I just want to go home…" she quickly said, looking for a way out of a conversation she now wished she had not initiated.
"You're not going home yet…" Alex said as he quickly held her wrists and grabbed them with his left hand and took out a pair of cuffs from his suit jacket. His touch sent chills through her nerves making Kate look down and her eyes opened wide at the realization that he was going to cuff her.
"What… what are you doing, Mahone?" she asked, looking up at him again as she tried to lose free from his hold.
"You're under arrest, Ms O'Hare, for obstruction of justice. I warned you, remember? At your law firm garage, beside that fancy German car of yours..." he explained, his head still very close to hers, his piercing blue eyes behind his shades locked on hers.
"Mahone, there's no need to…" Kate panicked, thinking that if she were arrested that meant that they no longer had a deal, so there would be no one to watch for her parents until she could get home. Her hands behind her back did not allow her to touch him to have his full attention, and she shifted to gently bump his shoulder with hers when she noticed he was removing his hands from the cuffs once he had made sure they were secure and not too tight on her wrists.
"What? Are you gonna kiss me now?" Alex angrily asked. He had been fighting with himself for hours while she had just been playing him all along, and the feeling didn't sit well.
"No," she said. "Not like this…" Kate added as he hurriedly opened the passenger door, sat her on the seat and buckled her, pretending that he was no longer paying any attention to her words. Little did he know by then that those last words would haunt him for the years to come, no matter how far away he would be.
Alex got in the car and started driving, updating Lang and the rest of the team of Burrow's last whereabouts on his cell until he parked in front of the sheriff office on the main street in Gila. Without a word, he hopped out of the vehicle, rounded it to get to the passenger door, opened it and helped Kate out of the car while she looked at him stunned. He took her by her arm and entered the office, flashing his FBI badge to the sheriff. "She's under arrest for obstruction of justice. Someone from the FBI will be here shortly to take care of the case; in the meanwhile keep her in lockup," Alex instructed him.
He quickly turned around, not bothering to look or address O'Hare, and left the office, leaving a perplexed Kate behind, with her hands cuffed behind her back and her mind reeling. What had just happened? They had been eating at the diner only a while ago, a bond clearly developing between the two of them, and now she was arrested, probably her parents and herself were in danger and there was no way she could help Linc or Michael if they ever reached out to her again. How had her life become such a mess in the last few days? Not to mention her growing feelings for Mahone. "I don't wanna go there… Let's just think about him like the bossy, grumpy, moody FBI agent that came to turn my life upside-down," she thought as she sat on the cold steel bench inside the small cell she had been assigned, wiping her tears off her face.
Alex practically ran to his car and rested his hands on the hood, lowering his head and closing his eyes. He had just done what he thought was best for the case, because it was obvious to him that with O'Hare around it was no longer possible for him to concentrate on the task at hand. She had played him and he was furious at her, so there was no way he could make the right decisions if she were near him, and there were too many and too precious lives at stake. But he had to admit that somewhere along the way she had become so much more than collateral damage to him, and he feared for her safety even in lockup. If the Company were after her, a small town sheriff was not going to stop Mr Lin and his crew. And he was astonished to find out that that worried him nearly as much as Pam and Cameron's situation. After running his hand through his thick hair, he took a deep breath, wishing he could wash away the events of the last days, even years, and dialed Felicia's number; someone from the FBI headquarters should take care of O'Hare while they chased the escapees. There was no way he could have known it back then, but that call would change the course of Kate's life.