Fallen #27
"You take care of him, okay?" Veronica said referring to L.J. as she gave me a hug. "You know I will. I'll keep in touch. Stay safe." I said returning the gesture. We parted and made our way to our cars. "Hey, Cal?" Veronica said as she opened her car door. "Yeah?" I asked turning to her. "I love you!" She said with a smile. I hesitated "I love you too, V!" I said with a smile. That was the first time in almost five years that I had told my sister that I loved her, and it was a long time coming. L.J. and I got into my car and watched Veronica and Nick drive away before we too headed for our new home.
"Are we really gonna see Dad?" L.J. asked excitedly. I gave him a quick smile before turning my eyes back to the road and answering his question. "We are. Your Dad, Uncle, and the others… Hey, Jr. I need you to promise me something." I said. "Okay?" He said wondering what I was going to ask of him. "I need you to promise me that you will go out of your way to never be alone with T-Bag." I said in a serious tone. "T-Bag? What kind of name is that?" He asked incredulously with a slight chuckle. "It's a nickname, duh! Stupid as it may sound he is not a guy to be messed with okay? There won't be any problems with the others but when it comes to T-Bag I want you to be on guard!" I explained. "What did he do?" He inquired. I didn't want to say; not because I didn't want L.J. to know, but because I didn't want to think about the things T-Bag had done. "He kidnapped, raped, and murdered at least six people. Mostly children. I know it's going to be impossible to ignore him completely, but I never want you alone with him. I know it sucks that you gotta watch your back in your house but it will only be for a couple of days, okay?" I asked. "Okay. What happens after a couple of days?" He asked. I paused, "He won't be our problem anymore."
Lincoln was still upstairs; everyone figured that it was probably best to let him cool off, so they made their way to the basement. Cali was right when she said that the basement would be their favorite part of the house. There was a big screen T.V., a pool table, a fooze ball table, a couch, and a couple of recliners. It was late at night, or early in the morning. Depends on how you look at it. They had been free men for almost four hours and were all tired, but none of them wanted to sleep. Michael, Sucre, and Westmoreland sat on the couch while T-Bag and C-Note occupied the recliners. They all sat watching the first Men in Black…Hey it beat watching the news! The only one who seemed to be paying any real attention to the movie was T-bag. Probably because he was the only one who had no specific plans for the future. They were all so engrossed in either the television or their thoughts that they didn't hear the car pull up, or the door that connected the kitchen and garage open.
L.J. and I had just arrived at the house; the only sound was coming from the basement. "Stay here." I said to L.J. before making my way toward the sound. As I got closer to the basement I could hear the T.V. better and had to smile and shake my head upon realizing what they were watching. I entered the room unnoticed. Something was missing or someone rather. It was Lincoln. I wasn't worried though, I figured that he was spending some alone time somewhere. Plus, I knew that Scofield wouldn't let him do something stupid and if Lincoln had tried to he was outnumbered anyway. Slowly, I made my way toward where Scofield sat on the couch, seemingly immersed in thought. "Your nephew is in the kitchen. Go make yourself useful." I whispered in his ear, causing him to jump so high he nearly landed on Sucre who was sitting next to him. "Jesus, Cali!" Scofield exclaimed grabbing his chest. I just smirked and rose and eyebrow. "Kitchen." I said. He nodded and got off the couch, allowing Sucre to take his spot. I walked around the couch and plopped down between Sucre and Westmoreland with a sigh.
Soon the credits were rolling, an occasional snore coming from T-Bag as he slept in the chair. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Westmoreland looking at me. "Yes?" I asked as I turned toward him. "Nothing." He said shaking his head. I decided not to press the matter and turned toward Sucre with the intent of starting a conversation with him. However, the voice from behind me halted that plan. "Thank you." Westmoreland said. I was taken a back; I had never expected any of them to thank me. I guess I never really thought of what I was doing as a favor, it always seemed as something I had no choice but to do. My eyes focused on the carpet, which had suddenly become quite interesting. "You don't have to thank me." I said quietly. "Yes I do… We all do." He replied. "He's right." Sucre added. "Yeah, we all know you got involved because of Michael and Lincoln, but if you hadn't taken that C.O. out, none of us would be here. We'd all either be dead or have lead in us." C-Note said. I laughed "Naw. Darius and James coulda handled it. And you're wrong; I got involved because of Lincoln." "Okay, so let me rephrase that. If you hadn't been there to take the C.O. out, he'd be dead… What do you have against Scofield anyway?" C-Note asked. I scoffed "I don't have anything against him!" "Yeah, and Charlie's not D.B. Cooper!" Sucre exclaimed. I turned to Westmoreland "You're D.B. Cooper!" I asked in astonishment. He just smiled and said "Don't change the subject." "I didn't. Sucre did." I countered receiving an "I can't believe you're blaming that on me." Look from Sucre. "What?" I asked him. He chuckled and shook his head "You and Mike. What's the deal?" he asked. "There is no deal!" I exclaimed looking away from him. "There was," Sucre started "I saw the picture!" By now T-Bag was awake and aching to get involved in the conversation. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tell us more about this picture!" His southern voice crawled. I smacked Sucre "There is no picture." I said defensively. "Sure there is." Sucre said smirking "You know that one. Michael carrying you on that dock like a couple of newlyweds!" My mouth dropped as the room erupted with laughter. I could feel my cheeks begin to burn and I blushed furiously. "We did not look like newlyweds! And for your information, he threw me off of that dock!" I exclaimed over their laughter and teasing. "If you say so, sweetheart." T-Bag teased. I glared at him "I say so! Now, hopefully you lot chose bedrooms because it is 6 in the morning and we have a lot of work ahead of us. So off to bed!" I ordered in a tone that sounded eerily like my estranged mother. "You sound like my mother." C-Note joked as he made his way upstairs along with the others. I laughed, hopefully he listened to his mother as well as he listened to me right then.
Sucre and I were the last ones out of the basement. Once we reached the kitchen and I was sure that the others were on their way upstairs I pulled him aside. "Hey, I need you to do me a favor." I said "I'll ask them to lay off the you and Michael stuff, but I'm not promising anything." He said thinking that I was going to ask him to lay off. "That's not what I'm talking about." I informed him. "Oh… What is it?" he asked. "Lincolns son, L.J., he's here. I brought him back with me earlier. I already talked to him about T-Bag; I don't want T-Bag anywhere near L.J. if he's alone. So I was hoping that maybe you could keep an eye on him and let the other guys know as well?" I asked. He nodded "Goes without asking. Hell, I don't even like being alone with that creep." He said. "Thanks, Fernando." I said as I gave him a hug. It was weird; I was never much for hugging until now. I guess it was a result of almost losing all the people I love.
I let go and took a couple of steps back, receiving an odd look from him. "What?" I asked with a laugh. "You called me Fernando!" He said. "Yes, well that is your name." I answered shaking my head. "So, when are you going to start calling Scofield Michael?" He asked with a smirk. I shook my head and gave a frustrated sigh before punching him in the arm and I headed out of the kitchen to find an empty bedroom. "Ow!" I heard him say quietly from behind me. This only caused me to laugh harder as I entered the first door to the left of the bottom of the staircase to luckily find it empty.