WARNING: Reference to important action in Ep 13! Please review! Thanks for reading!
Fallen #25
The dining room table was littered with food… Junk food to be exact; it was enough to give any health nut a heart attack. I had noticed that Scofield and Lincoln had made their way downstairs a few minutes after everyone else had, although I tired not to think about it.
I was sitting between C-Note and T-Bag, eating a barbecue hot pocket listening to various stories about their time in prison, as well as some of their future plans; Sucre's mostly. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any Tabasco, would ya?" Westmoreland asked. "No. But I'm pretty sure that we have some in the kitchen though." I replied, emphasizing the word "we". I wanted them to feel at home, I mean this was as much their house as it was mine. "I'll grab it for you. Anyone else want anything? I'm only making this trip once!" I said standing as I made my way toward the kitchen slow enough to catch any requests. There was a collective "No" as I made my way around the corner.
I was kneeling on one of the counters, rummaging through them in my search for Westmoreland's requested hot sauce, when a voice said from behind me, "Do we have any popcorn?" I had to laugh, Lincoln always loved his popcorn. I didn't know why, I hated the stuff. "It's on the third shelf, in the cabinet next to the fridge." I said as I finally located my target. I could hear him digging for the popcorn and then placing it in the microwave. I hopped off of the counter and turned around to find Lincoln leaning against the wall next to the microwave staring at me; wearing that all too familiar smirk that he had once been famous for. "What?" I asked tartly, head tilted to the side. He smiled and laughed before walking over to me. "It's really good to see you. After you left I didn't think that I would ever see you again." He said sadly while he hugged me. "Yeah, well you were wrong!" I said, hugging him back. "Thanks to Michael." He replied. There was a pause and then the microwave beeped. I unlatched myself from Lincoln and made my way over to the microwave. "I always thought of you more as an extra butter kind of guy; not Kettle Corn." I joked lamely, trying to ignore his comment about his brother, as I opened the bag of popcorn. He let out a sigh of frustration as he made his way to my side.
"Cal, I don't know what happened between you too, and I'm not asking you to explain it to me; but if this thing that you have against Michael is a result of my case and me being sent to Fox River…. Well, I don't want to be the reason you hate him!" he exclaimed. "I don't hate him." I replied in offense. "You called him Scofield." He said. "Well, that is his name!" I pointed out handing him the bag of popcorn. "You haven't called him that for over ten years, Cal; and when you used to you were at each others throats 24/7. I don't want to see you two like that again!" He said pleading in an exhausted tone. As luck would have it, my cell began ringing in the dining room before I was forced to respond.
"SHH!" Westmoreland ordered as I swatted T-Bags hand away from my phone. "Hello?... Veronica?... Slow down!... What?... Put Nick on the phone!" I ordered "Nick?... What the hell is going on?" I asked. "Oh my God!" I exclaimed, eyes wide as saucers. "I'll be right there!" I said frantically then hung up. The room was silent, all eyes on me. "What's going on?" Lincoln asked. I didn't answer him. Instead I brushed past him, rushing over to the desk that sat in the corner of the living room. I quickly dug a small key out of my pocket and unlocked the top drawer. Inside were my car keys and the gun I had stolen from the C.O. I stuck the gun in the back of jeans, and turned around, face to face with an angry Lincoln. "What's going on?" He asked slowly, well more like he demanded. I sighed "I have to go. I'll be back soon." I replied trying to get around him. No such luck. "What happened to Veronica? Where's my son?" He asked his voice rising. "They are fine. They are some place safe; no one knows that they are there except for me. You'll see them both soon okay?" I asked finally making my way past him. Just when I thought I was home free, I was jerked back. "I'm going with you!" Lincoln said letting go of my arm. "No you're not! You think I'm going to risk that? There's no way. You're staying here!" I ordered angrily. There were shocked looks on the faces of the men. They had seen few men in prison speak to Lincoln the way that I just had. Lincoln turned angrily toward me, "You think that one gun is going to save you from guys like Kellerman and Hale?" He asked incredulously. "These guys aren't like you, Cali. They can handle themselves!" He exclaimed throwing his hands in the air. As soon as he realized what he had said a look of regret crossed his face. I was beyond pissed. How could he say that? I risked my life to save his ass and he tells me that I'm weak? Okay, so he didn't actually use that word, but he might as well have. "Cal, I didn't mean…" He began to apologize as he stepped closer to me. "You know what? I don't have time for your shit!" I said angrily as I grabbed a nearby jacket and headed out the door, slamming it shut.
"Veronica?" I yelled as I entered the basement. "In hear!" I heard Nick yell back from the kitchen. I strode into the kitchen to find Nick, L.J., and Veronica all sitting at the kitchen table, a cup of seemingly untouched coffee sitting in front of my big sister. I made my way to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She snapped out of the trance she had been in and turned her raw, red eyes to me. She was still in shock; you could tell that just be looking at her. She stared blankly at me for a moment before it seemed to sink in that I was standing right in front of her. She hugged me tightly around the middle and began to sob. "Right in front of me…He died right in front of me… There was nothing I could do. He would have killed me too if I hadn't…" She trailed off distantly as more tears fell. Before I could speak any words of comfort she released my middle and began to speak again. "I let him die, Cal. I should have done something! I should have saved him!" She nearly screamed as the tears began to flow like a river from her eyes. I knelt down so that I could look her in the eyes. It had become too much for L.J. to handle, resulting in him leaving the room. He hated to see people hurt, especially when he knew that he could do nothing to comfort them. "Veronica, look at me. I want you to listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you, okay? You did nothing wrong! Kellerman killed him; he pulled the trigger not you! He did it because he is heartless! Hale knew what the dangers of the job were, that's why he wanted out. He died because he was a good man. He died doing the right thing, and if you blame yourself for that, then he died in vane. There was nothing you could have done to save him!" I finished in a confident yet sympathetic voice.
She nodded slowly, before hugging me once again. After a couple minutes we separated. "Where have you been?" she asked wiping her eyes. Just as I opened my mouth to reply when L.J. yelled from the living room. "You guys! You've got to see this!" Veronica, Nick, and I exchanged confused looks before heading to the other room. "What is it?" I asked upon seeing L.J.'s pale face. He said nothing, just pointed to the T.V. It was an emergency alert, the headline reading, "Six Inmates Escape Fox River State Penitentiary."