Disclaimer: Prison Break and its characters are not mine. I'm just taking them out for a little spin.
Last Time in: " Time to go"
Michael, trying to protect Sara, tells her she
has to go. Sara, trying to protect Michael, refuses
to leave. They argue the point until they find something
to do that doesn't require words.
" Tell Her She Has to Leave"
- An empty coffee shop later that same morning.
Perhaps in another time, another life, paging through the Sunday paper while sipping steaming hot black coffee with my older brother would seem a normal, even pleasant way to spend a morning.
Unfortunately, for now my life is anything but normal.
He folds the paper slapping it down on the empty chair beside him. " Nothing today. "
He looks back over his shoulder checking to see if she's at a safe distance. " Quiet nearly a week now."
Checking yet again to see her still across the room
standing at the counter drumming her fingers
impatiently, like the last time he checked,
he settles his silent but questioning gaze on me.
He doesn't say anything. He's never had to.
Ever since we were kids all he had to do was look me straight in the eye long enough and before I knew what was happening I'd spill whatever it was he wanted to know, without his having to utter a single word.
This time is no different. " I told her it was time for her to go."
" I heard."
My confusion, written all over my face prompts
him to go on; obviously amused at my inability to
shut him out even now.
" That wasn't exactly a four star hotel, Michael.
The thin walls made it real easy to hear the two
of you arguing about it this morning"
He glances back to be sure she isn't
right standing behind him before going on.
" And...after that... I heard something else,
decidedly not arguing, coming through the wall?"
He has a slight smile, almost smirk on his
face as he strokes his heavily stubbled chin in thought.
" Sounded a lot like the not arguing sort
of thing I heard coming through the wall about 2 am
the night before."
It seems ridiculous after everything we've been though but somehow, even now, sitting there, having my older brother question me about my sex life makes me start to squirm in my seat.
Suddenly I'm unsure how to go about stating my case and enlisting his help but then a quick glance at her ties a knot of worry in the pit of my stomach, seals the deal, and chases away all discomfort.
" Listen, we find LJ and cross the border into Mexico as quick as possible. The three of us, Lincoln! She has to go back and you have to help me convince her."
No matter how complex our lives have become
is seems as if our relationship stays the same.
Feeling confident I've forcefully made my point and that
he has no choice but to see it my way I'm thoroughly annoyed
to see indecision written all over his face forcing me
to continue.
" Seriously! She thinks her father...the fact she is with us,
is protecting all of us. You have to help me ... tell her it's
not true."
" I'm not sure how to do that, Michael"
He shoots me a genuine smile that makes me see,
under any other circumstances, how pleased he'd
be to be discussing a woman like her as part of my life.
"She's tough and she's stubborn. Although, I can't
image why she seems determined to stay with you and I doubt
there's much I can say to change her mind"
"Just tell her I'm right!"
The smile on his face fades quickly with the sound of her
approaching footsteps and a sudden louder tone in my voice
designed to allow her to hear my plea effectively
dragging him into the debate whether he likes it of not.
" She has to leave ... tell her Lincoln."
Confident of his agreement she sit down and settles those betrayed brown eyes on me instead of him.
"Actually, Michael, she's the one that's right"
Taken completely by surprise she shifts her gaze
back to him as do I.
Fearing what he may say and believing I can somehow over power him with sheer will, I offer up one of those defiant stares he's so adept at using on me, hoping to silence him.
He tosses it right back at me, impervious, and
turns to her effectively cutting me out of the debate.
" Your father watching our backs may help but I hope you
understand that's not worth putting yourself in danger."
Knowing that I'm right and he's, without realizing it, making
my point; I offer my two cents even if neither of them
seems interested in hearing it.
" Wait! If that's the case then I'm right and she
SHOULD go."
" Sorry Michael, you're wrong.
The long arm of the law isn't the worry here"
Sara, eager for what he has to say watches him carefully
as he shift his gaze to me. " Its the others..."
He looks me straight in the eyes driving
home the cold hard truth of what he's saying.
"They're the real danger to her and you know it"
Even if I'm pounding my fist against the table and screaming in frustration on the inside I can only stare silent first at him and then her as the weight of what I've done settles squarely on my own shoulders.
" Others?... What others"
I'm looking right at her but it's as if I can barely hear
her words until she reaches out to touch my hand.
" Michael? What others?"
Out of the corner of my eye I see him pick up his cup, settle back in his chair, and leave me to explain to her the depth of the danger she's really in.
Guilt making me unable to bare her touch I take her hand, still covering my own, and lift it gently away from my own; as if severing that small bit of contact can somehow remove me and this danger from her life.
She stares at me only a moment before wrapping both hands around the rapidly cooling cup of coffee in front for her and resting her eyes there as if all the answers she needs are hidden in the nondescript chipped mug.
Her voice is even and flat as she asks to hear what I have no choice but to tell her. " Tell me... the others? "
Knowing she's not willing look at me and not real eager
to look her in the eye myself, at the moment, I follow
her lead and speak to my own third rate
cup of coffee. " The people that framed Lincoln.
they know you've been with us, Sara, if you go back
they'll..."
I lift the mug and gulp the bitter
liquid that stings my suddenly dry throat.
" They'll use you to get to us."
Both of us left sitting there waiting, for what I'm not
sure, I watch her reach over, take a donut from the plate
she'd placed on the table, breaking it in two, setting half
carefully on the saucer while dunking the other half
methodically as she speaks.
" And if I can't help them... they'll?"
She looks up at me her eyes pleading for the
answer I don't want to hear myself say.
" Michael?"
"They'd probably kill you"
The voice is strong, certain, and to both our surprise
not mine.
I look over just in time to see my brother nonchalantly
licking jelly, from the donut he'd recently
claimed, off his finger as he steps in and saves me
from finding a way to tell her what I've really done to her.
" She can't go back, Michael. They won't think twice
about killing her if she refuses to lead them to us."
Keeping my eye on him, mostly because I can't face her, I can see her watching him, scared by the truth, but grateful that he has the nerve to be honest with her when I've refused too.
She looks to both of us, " Guess that settles it"
with warmth and understanding in his direction while
I'm treated to a defiant glare.
" ...I stay with you two, then!"
TBC...