It's Time to Go, Michael!
Time to go ( chapter # 15/16)

Disclaimer: Prison Break doesn't belong to me but it is a lot of fun to take the characters out for a spin.

It only took a few hours to reach San Diego, but sitting in the back-seat of the car, nothing to see but the blackness of the night desert through the windows, my mind raced out of control every mile of the way.

How long would it be before they discovered the body?

Would it be housekeeping in the morning or would they find it sooner?

My stomach rolled over every time my thoughts drifted to the bag of blood soaked clothing in the trunk. Hands trembling in my lap thinking of what would happen if we were stopped for some reason and it was discovered.

For a while I thought it might prove more than I could stand but an hour or so into the journey, feeling as if I may scream or bolt from the moving car, I happened to look over at LJ, just a kid really, seating next to me slumping over then jerking himself upright in an attempt to stay awake, and found a small measure of peace, sanity, in taking care of someone else.

Without saying a word I slipped off the sweat-jacket I was wearing, folded it tightly and placed it on my knee while tapping his shoulder, motioning for him to lie down. He resisted a bit but finding his eyes kept sliding shut on him as he mumbled his ' No, I'm okay 's he eventually gave up and curled up on the back-seat feet pressing against the door with his head resting in my lap.

While he falls asleep quickly; even in sleep the tension and fear still plagues him.

His rest is disturbed, twitching and squirming to get comfortable, so I attempt to calm him by putting my hand on his arm, firmly, reassuring, holding him in place while brushing the hair from his eyes and stroking his sleeping head.

Slowly, fighting occasional bouts of shutters, he eventually stills under my hands and falls into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Relieved to have found something to occupy myself , my own tension eased by taking care of him I look up to see him there, turned around in his seat, watching me, his son, smiling softly at me as he whispers a sincere and grateful " Thank You. "

As the miles roll past the regular rhythm of his breathing and occasional soft snore of the boy in my lap serves to calm all three of us making the run from T Bag, to safety, pass quickly and become somehow easier to bare.

As we moved through the night Michael ran through all that had happened quietly and calmly for his brother's benefit.

While I'm forced to sit still, unable to lean up and better hear, the quiet in the car, of the night all around us, makes it possible for me, even thought they speak in little more than a whisper, to hear enough to understand what had happened in that room.

Watching the hopelessness of what lies ahead settling itself firmly on Michael's shoulders, I spend the remainder of the trip dipping my head low, making them believe I'm checking on the boy asleep in my lap, to hide the tears of fear and worry I refuse to allow either of them to see if they should happen to look in my direction.

Sometime before dawn I'm awaken with a start, shocked to find I'd fallen asleep, the side of my head resting against the cool glass of the window, rocking forward abruptly as the car comes to a stop in front a yet another motel.

Orientating myself, rubbing my eyes, shaking off the less than peaceful slumber I'd slipped into; I'm relieved to see the stop has awaken LJ as well causing him to pull himself upright staring at me with a hint of confusion before letting his eyes fall shut again as he his head falls back to the seat behind him.

Understanding my role, least likely recognized, well practiced at it over time, I don't bother to look at either of them as I go about fishing crumpled bills from my pant pockets and exit the car to secure a room...

Most of the day that follows is spent in silence.

The four of us watching each other carefully but hardly saying a word.

A handful of discussions about waiting until night to leave... how much money is left.
how long it will hold out... take place but other than that little else is said by anyone.

As the day wears on I'm treated too numerous pleas to ' lie down, try and get some sleep' coming from both of them at regular intervals.

While I brush them off explaining, I'm not tired, that I'd slept in the car, the truth is there is something in their behavior pushing me not to close me eyes for fear of waking alone after being left behind.

By late afternoon thoroughly tired of the badgering I do what they want, I lie down on the bed and close my eyes.

Intending only to make them believe I'd fallen asleep, startled by a sound outside somewhere, I open my eyes, searching for the digital clock on the nightstand, certainly minutes had passed only to discover three hours had passed me by.

Looking around, searching the dark room with tired, terrified, eyes, certain I'll find the room empty, find myself alone, my eyes finally catch sight of him nearby seated in a chair resting his feet on the end of his son's bed.

Noticing me he lifts a thick finger to his lips shhhh's me without saying a word.

Lying there watching him I shift my gaze to his son, sleeping on other bed, then look back, nodding my understanding, my own finger to my lips, mimicking the shhh after pointing in LJ's direction.

Barely able to see him in the darkness I see well enough to get a look at a big smile spreading across his face as he shakes his head, laughing softly as he points to something behind me.

Curious and a little afraid I lean up slowly, just enough to turn my head and see him lying, asleep, on the bed next to me.

Relieved to see him there, almost forgetting all that happened in the last twenty four hours, it all comes rushing back and I take in how he is.

On top of the blanket he'd covered me with, fully clothed, shoes and all, he lies in an awkward position, barely on the bed, one foot still on the floor as if he had to be ready to move at a moments notice and falling asleep was the last thing he felt safe in or intended to do.

I watch him only a moment, comforted by his nearness yet terrified for him before turning away, lying back down and bringing my head to rest on the pillow. While the urge to look to Linc for reassurance is strong I close my eyes tight knowing deep inside if I look to him, meet his eye, I'll see nothing but the same fear, and worry, for Michael I feel in every inch of my body.

Eyes closed pushing my head down into the pillow as far as it will go searching for a way to hide, for a way to make it all slip away, if only for that moment, I hear something, soft at first, then louder and clearer, getting nearer outside the door with each passing second.

Opening my eyes slowly looking to him I'm treated to another shhhhh as he slip off the chair silently moving quickly to the door with an easy grace unusual and somehow unsettling in a man his side.

Standing to the side of the door, the footsteps stopping suddenly just outside,
he pokes at Michael's leg with the tip of his boot slowly, waking him, holding his hand out to stop him in just case he dares to speak as he wakes, pointing to the closed door mouthing the words 'someone's out there'.

Nodding his understanding Michael slips off the bed without a sound and takes up a position on the other side of the door.

Watching them, nothing happening, everything quiet, all of us frozen, no more than a minute or two, even thought it feels as if it goes on forever, I, at the sound of a soft knock at the door, move from one bed to the other wrapping my arm around LJ's shoulder, awake and nervous, pulling him near me doing what I can to orient and calm him, calm both of us.

With no response to the knock, not one of us moving a muscle, barely daring to breath we hear a faint voice pleading on the other side of the door.
"Lincoln?"

The two of them still set strategically on either side of the closed door stare at one another, their mouths dropping open in disbelief. " Linc, it's me. I know you're there. Open the door and let me in."

With a nod of acknowledgment after a glance through the peep-hole he opens the door just enough for her to slip through it before closing it again as quickly as possible.

As if the two of them are alone, the only one's in the room she throws herself into his arms kissing his stubbled cheek several times, whispering.
" You're safe... thank God you're safe... I can't believe I finally caught up with you!" between each kiss before possessively moving to his lips.

Still shocked to see what appears to be a friendly face I can't help smiling watching the two of them together as he pulls her into a fierce hug mumbling..." What the Hell are you doing here? You shouldn't be here, V! "
against the top of her head.

Reluctant to let go she buries her head in his shoulder for a moment sighing deeply before releasing her hold, taking several steps back, watching his face, all of our faces, carefully as she explains what it is she is doing in San Diego.
" I'm here to bring you home...

"...I've been looking for of you. We put a tracking device in the sole of LJ's shoe to safeguard him, find him if someone tries to take him, in the end it led us to you."

Not a one of us saying a word we watch one another all staring wide-eyed in disbelief before looking to her, bewildered, as if she's speaking a foreign language.
" I almost caught up to you in Vegas but you were gone before I could stop you. You can come back. I'm here to take you home"

" Home?" Like its more than he comprehend, too good to be believed, he stumbles backward shaking his head confident it's all a lie. " That's not possible. What do you mean home... how! "

" It's possible. It's real! They had two Secret Service Agents in custody when I left. I got word yesterday afternoon they recovered the body of a third just where they'd been told by the two already in custody."

Sidestepping Lincoln smiling she crosses the room to takes a seat on the bed next to LJ. "They've cleared you in your parent's murders, LJ. Both men have given statements, and while they are doing all they can to pin the deaths on one another, both have made it abundantly clear, in separate interviews, that you had nothing to do with it and would have been a victim yourself if you hadn't of run away."

I can't see the tears, only hear hushed sniffles of relief and sadness as he bows his head leaning hard into her as she wraps her arm around his shoulders cradling him against her chest as she speaks. " These men, Lincoln, have given us enough to establish reasonable doubt in your case."

She looks up to him meeting his eye. " Both men, trying to cut a deal by implicating others ' far more important than themselves', claim to have something, hard evidence exonerating you of the crime, to be had for the right price."

While I can't see the boys, I can see tears of happiness stream down her cheeks.
" Its over. Really over, Linc! Let me take you home."

" Sara, I spoke with your father, took all of this to him, before I left and he said if you come back home, now, he'll do everything in his power to keep things on track and move the case along." While I'm grateful to hear the words they fall short of the desired response as I notice Michael, slipping away, separating himself, moving away unnoticed by the others to sit on the edge of the bed his back to the rest of us.

Searching for a way to say it, to ask, I'm saved the trouble as he does it for me.
" What about Michael, V? "

It all becomes surreal, like a twisted, warped, version of the ending in the Wizard of Oz. All of us magically getting what we need most with nothing left in the bag for Michael.

Both of them, Michael and Veronica, shaking their heads almost in unison Linc turns on his heel slamming his first into the wall as he speaks. " T Bag... Fucking T bag?
After everything he's done he's gonna be the one to fry in all this because of fucking T Bag! "

Still refusing to turn around, Michael, his voice steady, he tells his brother the last thing he wants to hear. " Nevada's a death penalty state ... fry's not the right word though ... lethal injection is the method of choice."

I watch horror play across his face, his knuckles raw and bleeding from contact with the wall clearly visible as he scrubs his head and face in thought with his injured hand. " It was suicide, Michael didn't do it. For the life of me I can't imagine what would bring a man like that to wanna kill himself, but it was suicide just the same."

" T Bag was wanted for Murder, Linc." Appearing not to understand what she said she repeats herself while crossing the floor and taking his bleeding hand into hers examining it carefully while making herself clear. " On the way back to get LJ he shot and killed two state troopers in Missouri. All of it was recorded on the in patrol car dash-cam. He was a wanted man, murder, perhaps that would make killing himself seem reasonable?"

Linc too angry to think, considers what she is saying then shakes off what he hears. " That doesn't make sense. T Bag may not have liked it but he wouldn't have killed himself to avoid going back to prison."

" Missouri ... also a death penalty state." The way he speaks flat, lacking emotion refusing to turn and look at us scares me to he point I can focus on nothing else but watching the back of his head and slumped shoulders as the others continue to talk around me.

" Sorry, Michael. Prison life was what T Bag knew. Death penalty or not going back shouldn't have scared him into something so extreme."

With his back to us, swiveling his head around slowly until it cracks twice he explains with ease what the rest of us fail to see. " No it makes sense, Linc.
It wasn't prison. You're right, prison is what he knew best... his social structure.
He'd be just fine spending a lifetime behind bars, but death row..."

Understanding what Michael is telling us better than any one person can he buries he face in his hands muffling his voice as he finishes his younger brothers thought. "... Jesus, you're right. The rest of his life separated from the gen pop, always alone, isolated..."

" Exactly! Prison, even dying wouldn't do the trick, but if you think about it you know better than anyone, Linc, living out the rest of his life basically alone would be more than T Bag could take."

All of us at a loss for words she gets to her feet crossing the room slowly until she comes to rest in front of Michael forcing him to look at her as she hands him a keycard. " I'm taking them somewhere where were less likely to be spotted, a nice hotel on the ocean, this is a key to Sara's room. You can't come right now, it's too dangerous for all of us. Take this key, wait until your least likely to be seen and make your way to the Hotel Del Coronado, the newer section on the beach, room 414.

She looks over to Linc then to me doing what she can to reassure us all.
" We'll all get a good nights sleep and find a way out of this for Michael first thing in the morning."

As we gather our things to leave, unable to take my eyes off him, I watch as he slips the card into his pocket while taking a seat in the frayed upholstered chair on the other side of the room, farthest from the door, never saying a word or meeting any of our eyes as we walk out leaving him behind.

The hours sitting alone waiting for him to come, or not to come, went slowly.

Linc, came in and sat with me for the better part of an hour somewhere in the middle. He did his best to convince me that Michael was safe, that he would come, but eventually it was I that convinced him the best we could hope for is that he'd never come at all.

Sitting there together wishing it could be different both of us agreed no matter how hard it may be the one thing we wanted most, more than seeing,
him walk through the door, was to know he'd walked out of that cheap seedy motel,
turned the opposite direction from where we sat and ran away as fast as his feet could carry him.

" Michael? "
Hearing my voice startles him.

I can't blame him as neither one of us had said a single word since he walked through the door and a word, any word, even the sound of his name after such a long painful silence shakes me as well.

He's standing there, back to me, shirtless, barefoot, only having taken the time to pull on jeans as he crawled from the bed believing me to be asleep, staring out at the night the door open just enough to allow the sounds and smell of the ocean to filter into the room.

Waiting for him to say anything, watching his back, I begin to think he may never speak again. " Please ... say something."

As I say it, pleading with him, my mind drifts back to the moment he arrived, to how I wrapped my arms, my entire self, around his stiff ridged body, to how I had not been silent at all, how in reality I'd spoken often and urgently, begging him to touch me while removing first mine and then his clothing while pulling him, resisting, toward to the nearest bed.

Slipping from the bed, not bothering to dress, cover myself in anyway, I pull his shirt from the floor at the foot of the bed holding it out in one hand while snatching up his shoes in the other as I cross the dark room moving in to stand right behind him.

Dropping the shirt and shoes in a heap at his feet I lean in, pressing my naked body to his, my arms slipping around his waist holding him to me while I lay my head on the warm skin of his back with a heavy sigh.

I stand there unmoving for minutes feeling the warmth of his body against mine reminding myself over and over of what has to be done and how I have to force myself to keep from doing anything that will make it more difficult for either of us.

I tell myself all of that but as his hands move in cupping mine against his stomach I lose the ability to hear my better judgment and I say, for the first time, the one thing I most need to say which also happens to be the last thing he needs to hear. " I love you, Michael."

Squeezing my hands hard in his pulling me closer to him he says nothing for a good long stretch and then without warning he loosens his hold on me,
pulling his hands away from mine leaning forward, away from my embrace quickly and efficiently distancing himself as much as possible as he speaks. " I'll get you both home tomorrow. Get you both back safe."

Realizing the time has come I let go altogether stepping away from him moving through the darkness finding and pulling on my clothes on as I grab the bag we'd packed from the corner of the room.

Moving back I'm careful not to touch him as I pick up his things from the floor,
hand them to him and tell him ... " Put them on, Michael."

While he does as I say I drop the bag on the floor next to him.
" We'll go back, be safe, but only if you don't."

My words stop him in his tracks leaving him frozen in place his shirt half on half off covering his head. " This is both of us. We both agree, the only way Linc and I go back tomorrow is if you run tonight."

Able to move again, clearly angry, likely believing he might, scare me, weaken my resolve he jerks his shirt down over his head, nearly hard enough to rip the thick material, while growling ' No! I won't do it ' through gritted teeth.

Pushing the bag next to him in front of his body with my foot I make myself, what will happen whether he likes it or not, as clear I can. " There's clothing and all the money we had in there. You will do this!
I know you will because if you don't we won't go back, we'll run ourselves, and everything you've done will be meaningless..."

Refusing to give him time to respond, or continue to put up a fight, I throw the sliding door open wide holding out his shoes and the bag.

" You have no choice. It's time to go, Michael. "

Standing there, silent, not moving, the ocean's air brisk and biting in the wee hours hitting us both like a slap in the face I begin to think he'll refuse until suddenly without warning he takes his things from my hand and disappears, through the open door.

TBC...

"Time to Go " Trivia... Writing 1st person all the time I, when writing a long fic, find one song with the right emotion and listen to that song 2-3 times a day thru the whole writing process. Sixteen weeks of this fic means I've listened to " Twilight Zone " By: Golden Earring WAY TOO MANY TIMES!