A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter, but I figured any update was better than none ;) Happy reading!
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Veronica had made it just in time for pick-up, and she was waiting for Charlotte to come out of school. Another mom was chatting with her while they waited for the bell to ring, and when it did, Charlotte burst out and ran sideways down the steps and over to the playground.
Veronica rolled her eyes and excused herself, heading off to pursue her wild child. As she walked towards the front of the school, she saw Mike standing in the doorway, looking out towards the road with a vacant yet confused look on his face.
"Hey, Mike," she waved towards him, "you okay?"
"My mom isn't here," he stated bluntly, looking out.
Veronica scanned the cars that she could see, and her eyes swept the area looking for Sara. She suddenly got a strange feeling, her eyes landing on a woman she didn't recognize. She was standing off to the side, the side of the school that was opposite the playground, and she was staring in their direction. Her eyes were covered by sunglasses, but it was clear that she was looking their way. She wore a baseball cap and an unusually bulky outfit given the warm weather. Her posture was rigid, almost cop-like, and she had no child running up to her for pick up…no one chatting with her.
"Uh, Mike why don't you come with me, okay? You can hang out with us until your mom gets here."
"Okay," he agreed after a moment, seeming to feel slightly better that his aunt was there, a trusted adult.
Veronica grabbed his hand and led him over to the playground, casting one last glance at the woman before turning her attention to Charlotte. She wrangled her daughter and brought both kids over to her vehicle. With Mike and Charlotte safely buckled, she moved her car out of the way and found a parking space on a side street, not too far from the school.
"I'm gonna call your mom, ok?" she told Mike and dialed Sara's number. It went straight to voicemail.
"Huh," she mumbled.
"What?" Mike answered.
"She didn't answer, let me try your dad," she told him and dialed Michael's cell.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Hey, sorry to bug you I know you're at work, but uh, I was at the school to get Charlotte and Sara wasn't there to get Mike. I picked him up and he's with us, I just didn't know if you'd heard from her or?"
"Did you call her?"
"Yea I just tried, and it went straight to voicemail."
Silence.
"Is everything okay?"
"Listen, Veronica I need you to take Mike home but don't get out of the car. Keep him locked in there with you. I'll leave work now and meet you there."
Concerned now, "Michael, what's going on?"
Slowly, "I don't know."
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Sara had tried knocking on several doors before giving up- no one around seemed to be home. Full blown panic had set in, but it now mingled with a hopelessness. What could she do? The school was miles away, she couldn't just walk over, and she knew she was too late. No matter what, she knew it.
She sat on the front porch and looked out, her forearms resting on her knees. The second Michael got home they'd be blowing every speed record known to man on their way over to the school.
The sound of a car approaching registered, but she tried not to get her hopes up until she saw who it was. It wasn't Michael, she realized when it came into view but was that-? She squinted to see the driver, confirming that it was in fact Veronica.
She felt a mix of relief and concern. Did she have Mike? Was something horribly wrong and she came to deliver the news in person? If nothing else, at least Vee had a working phone that Sara could borrow.
Veronica had no sooner parked when Sara was opening the driver's door to talk to her, and then her eyes landed on Mike, safe and sound in the back seat.
"Oh thank God," she actually bent over at the hips and rested her hands on her knees. The anxiety all crashed at once and her legs became weak.
Veronica got out and hugged her, "Hey, hey, it's okay," she assured, "But what is going on?"
"I don't know," Sara swallowed hard, "I don't know but- he's okay? Everything is okay?"
"Yea, he's fine," Vee broke the hug off to look Sara in the eyes as she wiped a few tears, "he's okay."
Another car approached and Sara saw that it was Michael, "Did you-"
"-I called him," Veronica answered, "after I couldn't get ahold of you and he left work early."
"My phone quit working, it completely froze up," she explained.
Brows furrowed, "That's weird."
"It wasn't a coincidence."
"What do you mean?" she started to ask, but Sara was already on her way towards Michael. He parked next to Veronica and asked, "Is Mike here? Do you have him?"
Sara replied, going into his arms, "He's okay, he's fine. Veronica picked him up." She felt his chest sigh in relief against her.
"What happened?" he asked, and Veronica was next to them now, wanting an explanation too.
Sara took a deep breath, fidgeting, "I went to leave and when I backed up something popped my tires, both of the back ones. I went to call the school, to let them know to keep Mike inside and it's locked."
"Locked?" Michael asked.
"Yea, as in- completely frozen. Nothing about it works."
She could see the wheels turning behind his eyes.
"I panicked," she continued, "I tried to find someone who's phone I could use but no one was home, and I," she laughed darkly, on the verge of tears again, "I didn't know what to do."
Michael wrapped his arms around her and over her shoulder, he met Veronica's eyes, "What happened at the school?" he asked.
"I was there to pick up Charlotte," she explained, "I saw Mike standing just outside the door. I went up and said hi and he looked upset, said you weren't there yet. I took him with me figuring we could wait for you, but…"
"But what?" Michael asked as Sara sniffled, turning to face Vee.
"I don't know, there was this woman there. She was standing off to the side, kind of a loner, but it looked like she was staring at Mike," Veronica eyed both of them, trying to assess their reaction, "Is that crazy? I don't wanna be paranoid, but based on how you guys are reacting, obviously something is going on."
"What did she look like?" Sara asked, "the woman?"
"Uh, I don't know. A bit taller than me but that doesn't say much. Shorter than you," she nodded to Sara, "she was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. I don't know…she just didn't fit in, you know? She had that government vibe. Law enforcement or something."
Sara, "Did she have blonde hair?"
"Uh," Vee thought back, "I don't remember, like I said she was wearing a hat."
Michael and Sara exchanged a knowing glance. T-bag had warned them; Emily. It had to be her.
"Ok, what is going on?" Veronica asked again.
Michael replied, "We can't be sure, but listen- we really appreciate you picking Mike up. If it happens again just do the same thing, get him out of there and keep him safe until we can meet you."
Veronica sighed and glanced back and forth between both of them, "Whatever is going on, I want to help- and you know Lincoln will beat you six ways to Sunday if you don't tell him what's going on."
"He doesn't need to be involved," Michael started.
"Of course he does! Clearly Mike or you or someone is in danger. He's your brother," she said firmly.
"Look," Michael replied, suddenly looking very tired, "we'll fill you both in as soon as we know more but right now? Right now…I need to think."
Veronica's face fell, "It's Jacob isn't it."
Michael didn't reply, but Sara met her eyes, giving her a silent, confirmatory glance, and a request to drop the subject for now. She caught the hint and sighed, "Alright, well, Mike is all yours, and if you need anything please let us know. We're here to help however we can."
Sara put a hand on her shoulder, "Thank you, really," then proceeded to get Mike from the backseat.
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"What do we do?" Sara whispered to Michael as they stood in the kitchen after dinner. Mike was watching T.V. in the other room, and Sara had pulled Michael aside as soon as the boy had left the room.
"I don't know yet," he admitted, "did T-bag say anything specific to you? About what he might be planning?"
She shook her head, "No, just that he saw Emily at Fox River. He didn't actually hear their conversation."
He pondered for a moment, "You really think it was Emily at the school?"
"Who else would it be?"
He shrugged, "It could be anyone. Just because she's the one we've seen doesn't mean she's the only asset he has left."
"Why would he take Mike?" Sara wondered aloud, "he's in prison, it's not like he can take him away and start a new life."
"To mess with us," Michael stated simply, "to get back at us."
Michael contemplated Jacob's possible motives for a good minute before asking a question he hated to even mutter out loud, but he had to know, "Do you think Jacob would hurt him?"
Her eyes clouded over, darkening. Her answer though, was almost reassuring, "I'm about ninety-five percent sure that he wouldn't."
"And the other five percent?"
She shrugged, "He's insane. Amoral. If you'd asked me a year ago if he'd hurt Mike I'd say, "absolutely not," but clearly I don't know him at all. You know him just as well as I do-"
"-not about this," he argued, "not with Mike. I wasn't here to see how they acted around each other. Maybe Jacob really does care for him- not that that excuses his actions or gives him any right to try to take him…"
"I know, I know," she assured, conveying her understanding, "but where does that leave us? We can't watch him twenty-four/seven, and if they, she, whoever, pulls another stunt like they did today…I mean, if Veronica hadn't been there…" her eyes drifted towards their son in the other room.
Michael's hand reached for hers, a sigh, "I wish I could protect you both, to guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen but-"
"-no, no, this isn't on you," she squeezed his hand, "we need to figure this out together…and keep a really close eye on him until we do."
A silent nod, "I think I might go up to our room…I need to think."
"Okay," she agreed, "I'll hang out with Mike until it's time for bed."
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Sara did as promised, and watched the remainder of the movie she'd started for Mike, with him. When the movie ended they did their bedtime routine, and then she went to check on Michael- she opened the bedroom door silently, just a crack, and saw him on the far side of the bed, sitting but leaning forward, clearly lost in thought. She didn't want to disturb him, so when she went into Mike's room to tuck him in, she decided to snuggle in with him for a while instead of going back to her own bed.
She lay next to him with her arm wrapped tight around his middle, her fingers playing with his hair.
Mike had been quiet most of the evening but now, facing away from her, he asked quietly, "Mom, what happened today?"
She'd been so lost in her own worry, in her own duties as a parent to protect him, that she'd neglected the parental duties of explaining things. She'd always tried to be honest with Mike; she didn't want to make him grow up too fast, burdening him with the full weight of an adult explanation, but she didn't want to lie either. She settled somewhere in the middle.
"Well," she sighed, "when I left to come get you, someone left something in the driveway that popped the tires on the car. That's why I couldn't drive to come get you."
"On purpose?" he wondered.
"Yea…yea we think so."
"Why would someone do that?"
"We aren't sure just yet, but that's why we were so worried about you," she added, "I'm sorry if it was scary for you when we all got home, we just love you so much and don't want anything bad to happen to you, ever," she kissed the back of his head.
"I didn't know what to do," he admitted, "but I figured I should go with Aunt Veronica."
"Yes," she confirmed quickly, "yes, you absolutely did the right thing. If that ever happens again and I'm not there, look for her or Lincoln. If you don't see any of us I want you to go straight back inside and find a teacher, okay? And you stay with them until one of us is there."
"Okay," he agreed, a yawn taking over as he snuggled in deeper.
She listened as his breathing became shallow, and he surrendered to sleep. The weight of the day mingled with her own fatigue and left her feeling very susceptible to her own emotions. It came in waves, and her chest would constrict, the fear of losing him hitting her all over again despite the fact that he was safely in her arms.
She drifted in and out, but didn't sleep soundly at all. In what she guessed was the middle of the night, she slowly got up and left his room, closing the door quietly behind him. When she entered the master, she was surprised to see Michael still awake, sitting cross-legged on the floor now and staring vacantly in front of him. The digital clock on her night stand read 2:27am.
"Michael," she asked gently as she approached him.
He stared up as if noticing her for the first time, "Hmm?"
"It's like…two in the morning what are you still doing up?"
His head slowly turned, "Is it?"
"Yea…you need to get some rest, you've got work tomorrow."
"Oh…m-hmm," he replied with his still vacant stare, but allowed her to help him up. He was still wearing his work clothes, which he didn't seem to notice until she tugged at the waistband of his pants, indicating that he should maybe take them off before getting into bed.
"Right," he mumbled and worked his way out of his clothes, crawling into bed.
He laid on his back, and she rolled over to her stomach, placing a hand on his chest and forcing him to meet her eyes, "Hey."
"Hmm?" he wondered again, as if surprised to see her there.
"We'll figure it out."
She wasn't as sure as she sounded, but he clearly needed a vote of confidence…and to be brought back to reality.
He sighed, "Yea."
She scooted up and kissed him, "I love you," she settled next to him and draped her arm across his chest.
"Love you, too."
