Clara had gone to the restaurant with Lisa, but her mind had been elsewhere. She knew that her cousin wasn't exactly in a good frame of mind either. She knew what her father had done and she knew that he was intending on ruining Sara and Michael's life, but Clara had done her best to stop him. Lisa knew that. She knew that there would be an attempt to break Sara out, but she said nothing and she didn't even ask Clara.

Finally, Alex had called her and asked her to meet him at the docks, giving her an address. She bid goodbye to Lisa and hugged her tightly before hailing a cab. She gave the driver the address and he told her there would be no problem. He had taken her to the location and she had climbed out, wondering where they were. She didn't see anyone around.

Moving to the railing, she looked over the water, seeing it glimmer in the setting sunlight. She looked down onto the dock, spotting the boat bobbing around in the water and she couldn't help but think how nice it might be to get away for a little while. She had her life with Alex now and she knew that, but a part of her did wonder what would become of them.

She waited patiently, her eyes looking over the water before she heard the screeching of tyres. Turning her head over her shoulder, her hair flew behind her as she adjusted the strap of the jumpsuit she wore, the plain blue colour of it contrasting with her black hair. Alex was the first one to climb out of the car, followed by Lincoln and then Sara from the backseat.

Sara was dressed in a white top with red trousers, her hair in a ponytail at the back of her head. She had a bruise on her cheek and a split lip. Clara could only imagine what she had seen. The horrors that she had seen must have been horrendous. Moving towards them slowly, she saw Alex look to her as she shot him a confused look. Where was Michael? Shaking his head, he hoped that she understood what he was silently telling her.

And she did when she looked to Sara, seeing the tears falling down her cheeks. Alex moved to stand in front of Clara, holding his hand out towards her. She took it automatically, not once thinking about it. She felt his fingers wrap into hers as she stood by his side and looked to Sara and Lincoln.

"Sara…" Clara could only say her name.

Sara began crying again and Clara dropped Alex's hand, moving to wrap her arms around Sara and hold her tightly as she looked to Lincoln and he nodded, blinking back his tears and sniffing loudly. Sara said nothing as Clara ran her hand up and down her back.

"He risked everything for me," Sara said, her voice cracking. "And he…he won't even see his child…"

"He did it because he loves you," Lincoln declared, knowing that much was true. He would never doubt his brother's love for Sara because he had travelled to the ends of the earth for her. Lincoln had never seen love quite like it. "And he would want you to get away from here and start a new life."

Sara nodded her head, pulling back from Clara. Reaching into her bag, Clara pulled out a packet of tissues and handed them to her. Sara took them, dabbing her eyes slowly until they were just sore and red. Sucre finally climbed from the car, his own eyes red as well.

"He gave me his blood work," Sara said to Clara. "He…he had a brain tumour…but he…"

"Sh," Clara urged her, shaking her head. "You don't need to explain. You just need to take care of that baby, okay, like Michael would have wanted."

Sara nodded her head and Clara hugged her once more before Sucre came forwards with a case.

"He never said anything to me," Lincoln declared. "Why did he never say anything to me?"

"Because he knew that you would stop him," Alex said as Sara began to walk forwards, Clara going with her and keeping a hand on her back. Sucre followed them as Alex looked directly at Lincoln, watching him with an intense look. "He knew that you would stop him because family means everything to you, just as it did to him…and Sara…his baby…that's his family too."

Lincoln said nothing, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back against the bonnet of the car as he watched the three of them by the water's edge.

"And my family," Lincoln said with a nod of his head. "And I'll protect them."

"I don't doubt it," Alex said with a nod.

"And Clara might not be my family, Mahone…but I care very deeply for her after everything we've been through," Lincoln said. "So take care for her, alright? Because I don't know when I'll see her again…if I'll see her again."

"That, I can promise you," Alex said with a firm nod.

He called over to Clara, knowing that they had to go because Sara and Lincoln needed to leave. She nodded and embraced Sara tightly once more before hugging Sucre. She walked back to the car, Sara by her side as they all stood in a huddle together.

"Promise that you'll look after yourself," Clara said to Sara.

"I promise."

"And you better look after her too," Clara said pointedly to Lincoln and he smiled despite everything that had happened. Nodding his head, he held his arms around towards her.

"Wouldn't dare do anything else," he told her and she hugged him tightly. "And you stay out of trouble. I won't be there to have your back."

"Don't worry, you taught me how to fight well," she promised him and pecked his cheek.

"Here's hoping that it won't come to that," he said to her. "And if it does, I think you have someone else looking out for you now."

He looked to Alex and the two men exchanged knowing nods. Clara rolled her eyes, but her lips turned upwards. She stood next to Alex as he draped his arm over her shoulders and walked with her away from the three of them, waving sadly and not really wanting to say goodbye. But they knew that they had to.

…

Agent Wheatley had demanded to see Mahone as soon as possible. He had been called back to D.C. and was due to be interviewed. There were suspicions about what he knew about Sara's escape, but he had an airtight story and he knew that they wouldn't be able to pin anything on him. He was used to dealing with stress, but Clara never adapted to being stressed.

She had fretted all morning for him and had told him that she would wait for him after the meeting. She was sat in the car on the side of the street, tapping her foot nervously on the floor as her fingers drummed against the wheel. She let out a low, shaky breath as she waited for Alex to come back out to her.

It was an hour before he appeared, dressed in a smart grey suit with a blue tie against a white shirt. He flattened the tie down as it blew in the wind and he made his way to the car. Climbing in, he barely had time to say anything before Clara was talking.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing," Alex said. "I told them what I knew and that I had no idea what Michael had planned. They had no other choice but to believe me because there was no evidence otherwise. Wheatley had also checked up on your whereabouts, but thankfully Lisa provided a solid alibi."

"Sneaky of him," Clara drawled and Alex chuckled, nodding his head. "So that's it? You're not going to be arrested or taken away? Locked in some dark room and tortured?"

"Your imagination worries me sometimes," Alex said, "but no, there's going to be no arrests and most certainly no being dragged into a dark room and tortured. The only thing is that I'm not going to be re-joining the Bureau anytime soon so it's maybe time I start thinking about another career."

"I'm sorry," she said to him and he shrugged.

"If it came down to helping our friends or betraying them to re-join then there is no other option," he said to her and she smiled sadly, leaning over and kissing him chastely, a hand going to his cheek and her thumb running along his cheekbone. She closed her eyes as he brushed his fingers through her hair softly and hummed against her lips.

"Besides," he said when he pulled back from her, "there's only one thing that I care about right now."

"Oh?" she asked. "And what's that?"

"Picking up that pizza on the way home that you promised me," he teased her and she rolled her eyes as she hit his chest and he laughed, grabbing hold of her wrist before she could retract it and he moved his other hand to the back of her head, guiding her forwards again until her lips were inches from his. "Only teasing," he promised her.

"Good," Clara retorted. "Because I bought new underwear that I had hoped wouldn't go wasted today."

Alex smirked and kissed her again for a few moments before he knew they had to go. She drove them through the streets of D.C. and headed to the pizzeria to pick up the pizza on the way home. Walking into the house, Alex carried the box and placed it on the coffee table in the living room as Clara kicked off her sneakers and tugged at the collar of the long green dress she wore with three quarter sleeves. She grabbed a bottle of white wine with two glasses, heading into the living room to find Alex pulling his tie off from around his neck, throwing it onto the arm of the sofa. Settling down next to him, Clara poured him a glass of wine and he took it as she poured her own and then set the bottle down.

"What should we toast?" she questioned him.

He hummed to himself. "You want to toast?"

"I feel like we should celebrate," she said.

"Well, in that case, how about we toast Michael?" Alex suggested to her. "Ironically, without Michael, we'd never have been brought back together and we'd never be here…planning a life together."

"That's true," Clara said, "even though he did make our life a living hell for a while."

"Oh, no denying that," Alex chuckled, clinking his glass against hers and then taking a sip of the wine. He sat back on the seat and Clara leant against his side, his free arm going around her shoulders as he rested his chin in her ear. "But we made it here…now there's only us and what we want…"

"I don't know, that depends if you get fed up of me, Mr Mahone," she teased and Alex smirked and shook his head.

She peered up to him and he kissed her once more before she grabbed a slice of pizza. He thought about the ring that he was hiding in his sock drawer, waiting for the right time to ask her if she really did want to spend the rest of her life with him. He hadn't contemplate getting married again, but now it was all he could think of. But he didn't want to rush into things. He would take his time. He only hoped that she would say yes.

"I could never be fed up of you, Clara Reynolds," he promised her. The smile remained on his face as she sat back against his side. "Just you wait and see…"

...

A/N: And that wraps the story up again! Not sure if anyone has been reading or is interested in the conclusion - but always love to know your thoughts!