The smell of pumpkin soup wafted through the air, meeting Sara's nose as she slowly opened her eyes. The stars were no longer above her but a wooden roof that looked to belong to a cabin. Sara lay there disoriented and confused as she stared at the roof trying to remember how she got here. Slowly the memories of the night came back to her, no it had to be a dream. As if she would reuse again, knockout a police officer and go on the run aiding and abetting a criminal. Sara convinced herself that it was a dream, telling herself that she would never in her right mind do all that. She was in denial unable to believe what had happened to be reality. Then how had she ended up here? Now that she thought of it where was here?

Sara turned her head slowly and looked across the small room. The walls were made of old pine, cobwebs settled into the corners of the room where the walls met the roof. Another single bed lay on the other side of the room; the blankets messed up from its previous occupant. A window was located in the middle of the wall behind the two beds, the Venetian blinds closed so that the outside world was blocked from view. Sara was suddenly very worried, had she been drugged by someone and not remembered any of it. Had some creep dragged her into this cabin to do unspeakable things to her? Kicking the warm, comfortable bed sheets of her, Sara made to get up. Her whole body ached, straining at the slightest movement. Gritting her teeth she lowered her bare feet to the cold floor and pulled herself up into a sitting position. Sara felt a searing pain at the back of her head and slowly raised her hand to the area feeling a small gash that had already began the process of scabbing over. She lowered her hands back down and noticed that they also look a bit roughed up with scratches and grazes all over both hands. None were too serious but it was still unpleasant none the less. Sara wobbly rose off the bed, trying to steady herself, her body just wanting to collapse. She gently peeked through the blind hoping to get an idea of where she was. Outside it was pitch black; obviously it was late night/early morning. The outline of trees were visible through the engulfing darkness, a plummeting feeling hitting Sara as she realised she wasn't in Chicago.

Sara cautiously approached the door leading out of the room nearly losing her balance as her legs trembled underneath her weight. Pressing her ear against the door she listened for any movement on the outside but it was quiet. Taking a deep breath Sara grasped the handle and slowly turned it releasing it from the latch. The door creaked as Sara carefully pushed it open her eyes alert for any movement. The room she had just been in was located at the end of the cabin, a hallway stretched before her, the front door at the other end of it. There was a room to the right that looked deserted but ahead on the left side before the front a door was open spilling out the light from a lit fire into the hall. Sara didn't know what to do, maybe she could slip past without who ever it was keeping her here noticing. Well she wasn't going to wait around for him to find her. Sara snuck very quietly towards the door her heart beating heavily against her chest. She reached the edge of the open door and stood there for a moment as she tried to steady herself. Quietly stepping out she peered into the room. There was a lounge and a master chair sitting in front of a merrily burning fire in a large fireplace. Sara continued creeping past but froze in dread as the floorboard creaked loudly. Deciding to just run for it Sara ran towards the door but next second was on her back as she slipped on a puddle of water on the floor. She heard two pairs of footsteps approaching and slowly in fear opened her eyes as she looked up at the 2 men looking down at her. Standing above her both smirking she immediately recognised Michael's smug face looking back down at her. The other man she had never seen before but he was at least 60 and reminded her of her kind grandfather, Tony. Closing her eyes again Sara let out all the air she had been holding as she had been awaiting her apparent doom. Sara hadn't dreamt the events of the night. She was on the run with Michael. How the hell had she gotten herself into this situation?

"Where were you off to in such a rush" Michael asked smiling back at her enjoying this moment immensely.

"Bathroom" She spat back out at Michael not in the mood for jokes.

"It looks like you didn't make it" Michael said back, pointing out Sara lying in the puddle.

Sara threw Michael a dirty look before he lifted his hand out for her to grab as he hoisted her off the ground wincing in pain from her weight.

"Sorry about that" The old man said in a calm voice that still held a sense of power and authority. "Been meaning to fix that roof for a while now. It may be hard to tell but I'm not as active as I was 30 years ago."

Sara smiled politely at the man. "Sorry who are you?" She asked wondering who the hell this man was.

"Oh how rude of me!" the old man barked out "I'm John Carter. I have had the pleasure of talking to your fiancé " Sara shot her eyes to Michael who suddenly found a blemish on the wall extremely interesting, dedicating all his attention to it "but I didn't actually catch your name" he said.

"Oh…umm I'm Sar-" Sara caught Michael's eyes quickly flick to her pointedly "Samantha… my name's Samantha" Sara said quickly recovering.

"Well it is a pleasure to meet you Samantha" John said stretching his hand out which Sara shook unenthusiastically. "Your hands are so cold my dear!" John exclaimed "Come in here in front of the fire before you get pneumonia."

Following behind Michael, Sara slowly entered the lounge room and approached the lounge welcoming her aching body to sit and relax. She settled herself comfortably into the lounge putting a little distance between where Michael now sat down, her stubbornness and resentment stopping her from getting to close. How dare Michael have the nerve to think that he can just make up some lie that she was his fiancé. Sara Scofield it sounded….okay so it didn't sound that bad….but she wouldn't admit it out loud. She sat there a war going on in her head, the tender side that yearned for Michael being pushed down by Sara's stubborn, independent side.

"So, Scott tells me that you both had a dream to go for a trip around USA on motor cycle. You decided to head down my road because you wanted to spend the night together in the country under the stars. Then your headlight temporarily cut out causing you to go straight into the Grand Canyon" John asked, Sara trying to stay as casual as possible as if that it was really the case.

"Uh yeah, that about sums it up." Sara said not knowing what else to say, what else had Michael said to this man.

"Well I was coming back from the nearest town when I spotted you two up ahead on the road. I was worried you might be dead but I investigated and noticed you were both breathing. So after a lot of hard effort I got you both in the car and took you back here. Scott got quite a nasty gash but he tells me you're a doctor. We bandaged it up for you to look at when you awoke." John said re-jolting Sara's memory of Michael's bloody shirt.

"How long have I been out of it?" Sara asked wondering how many hours it had been since the crash. It couldn't have been too long since it was still dark outside.

"Two days" John answered simply.

"Two days?" Sara asked shocked that she had been out of it so long.

"That's right….oh I almost forgot" John got up out of the chair and walked into the kitchen to the right of the lounge room. He knocked some bowls around and a couple of minutes later walked back with two bowls filled with warm pumpkin soup.

"Sorry if you're not a fan of soup but its all I've got till I go back into town"

"Thankyou" Sara said politely as he handed a bowl to her and Michael. She hadn't noticed how hungry she was until the bowl had been placed in her hands.

"Well anyway, I'm off to bed, I've got to get my beauty sleep. I'm sure you two want some time together and you don't need an old man like me intruding." With that John exited the lounge room, shutting the door behind him, leaving Sara and Michael sitting in silence. They both sat there looking into their soup bowls, each waiting for the other to begin. After 2 minutes of awkward silence, Michael finally broke it.

"You better eat it before it gets cold…Samantha" Michael said smirking, completely ignoring his own food.

"You should too…Scott" Sara replied, both of them teasing each other, not really sure whether it was intended to be friendly.

They both dipped their spoons into the bowls and lifted the warm soup to their lips. Sara quietly sipped the soup; Michael however lowered the spoon back into the bowl and looked at Sara. Sara feeling his gaze looked back over to Michael who now looked serious.

"Why did you do it?" he asked looking deep into Sara's eyes.

Sara wasn't sure what Michael meant. Did he mean why she had left the infirmary open for him, why she had supposedly called the cops on him, or why she had come back for him? It didn't really matter because she had the same answer for each one.

"I don't know" she replied truthfully, her voice dropping a notch.

"I guess I ……I mean, I know I shouldn't….I should hate you for all you put me through….but the truth is I can't hate you." Sara said looking back into Michael eyes admitting how she felt.

"What you told me in the infirmary, is all that really the truth. Or were you just saying it so that I would leave the door open."

Michael hesitated before answering.

"It was the truth"

"And now…." Sara asked feeling a little let down at his answer even though she was expecting it.

Pausing again, Michael then mimicked Sara previous response.

"I don't know."

Sighing Sara looked off to the right while Michael turned his direction to the left. Those three words were hurting her a lot inside especially after all she had done for him, everything she had just given up. Tears were pooling in her eyes against her will. A teardrop slid down Sara's warm face and fell into the abandoned soup bowl in her hands. Michael looked back over at Sara. Placing his bowl on the floor he stood up and sat back down right next to Sara and gently took hold of her hand. Sara continued to look away.

"I'm sorry….it is still true…I guess I'm trying to find someone to blame. I am really worried about Lincoln but I had no right to treat you like that especially after all you have done…Sara I'm sorry." Michael said kindly as more tears leaked from her eyes.

"Its not you…… It's me. I've thrown away my whole life, broken the law and gone on the run with a convict who I barely know. I've been ruining my life since I was a child, always taking the wrong step. I guess I am as messed up as my father says." Sara said helplessly.

"Hey, no offence to you but your father seems like a jerk" Michael said smiling towards Sara.

Sara let out a little laugh "Yeah….yeah he is"

Michael looked smiling toward Sara, admiring how beautiful she could always look "Well why don't we get to know each other better"

"What?" Sara asked, finally turning her head back towards his, taking in his equally perfect features.

"What do you want to know about on ask me anything" Michael pushed.

"You're joking, right?" Sara said unable to believe that someone who had been so secretive was suddenly willing to share there whole life with her. Although Sara now realised that this may have been due to the fact that he was breaking out.

"I'm serious….you wanted to know about me so go ahead, fire away with the questions"

"Okay" Sara said smiling trying to think of a question.

"What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you?

Michael smiled "When I was in High School I did something to really tick Lincoln off. Anyway I was learning to play the guitar at that time and I wasn't the best musician. So for revenge Lincoln filmed me while I was practising, jumping around the room in my boxers, pretending I was a Rock God. It sure was a nasty surprise when I turned up to school the next day with every student having viewed the tape. I still don't know how Lincoln managed to get everyone to view it in the short time but I swore I'd get my revenge."

Sara couldn't help but laugh, imagining a teenage Michael jumping around his room in boxers while playing the guitar "Did.…did you get it?" Sara asked a few giggles escaping while she said it.

"I still owe him" Michael said looking ever so slightly red in the cheeks since he divulged one of his less flattering secrets.

"What is your favourite food?" Sara asked saving him from more embarrassment.

"After being in Fox River, I'm really not too picky."

"I'm sure the food wasn't that bad" Sara argued. Michael just lifted her eyebrows questioning if she really believed it.

"Okay….what-" Sara began but Michael cut her off

"I think its my turn" he said wanting his turn at getting questions answered

"That wasn't part of the deal" Sara replied playfully

"Hey I'm a con….I don't play by the rules...so Dr Tancredi, what is your most embarrassing moment."

"If you have to know, when I was 24 I got stuck behind this really bad driver. You know the ones that go 20 miles under the speed limit. I couldn't overtake him and I was in a rush. So I began beeping my horn at him getting a little road raged. I finally got into another lane as we both pulled up by a set of traffic lights. So I begin yelling at the other car, saying how he should be taken off the streets and making less then flattering comments to him. It wasn't until then that I actually noticed the person behind the wheel as my boss at the hospital. As soon as the lights changed to green I was gone." Sara said remembering that awkward moment.

"Did he find out it was you" Michael said, now the one laughing, picturing Sara in road rage form.

"Yeah, I tried to cover it up as a joke but I'm not too sure he bought it."

They both sat there smiling at each other, enjoying the fun they were having at learning trivial things about each other. There were however more important things to be discussed and Sara decided to jump right in.

"Nika. Do you have any feelings for her?" She asked seriously, "After all she is your wife."

The mood in the room changed suddenly "I like Nika and consider her a friend. She needed me and I needed her. But we would never be anything more then friends, I don't feel anything for her…. the way I feel about you." Michael said sincerely.

Sara smiled back at Michael "When did it stop being an act then?" She asked needing to know the answer.

Michael looked down at the floor trying to find the moment when he had realised that Sara was more than just a pawn in his escape plan. The memory of looking deeply into Sara's eyes flashed before him "During the riots, when I helped you down from the crawlspace. Helping you I realised I wanted to always be there to protect you from any harm. The visits to the infirmary were one of the few things I looked forward too in that place." Michael said in a soft tenderly voice coming from his heart.

Sara smiled realising that it was also the same moment when she began having feelings for him without even realising it.

"When did you begin using?" Michael asked, knowing that it may be sore subject for Sara but not stepping down.

She was reluctant to answer. Sara didn't like bringing up the part of her life she was most ashamed of. However Michael had been answering all her questions and with every new thing they told each other, Sara was feeling closer and more comfortable around Michael.

"A year after I got my first job as a doctor in a local hospital"

"Why?" Michael asked curious as to why she would do it to herself.

"Like I told you before, I'm messed up. I didn't have the most perfect childhood. My mother barely qualified as a mom and my dad cared more about his job then me. I hung around with wrong crowds and everything just felt wrong. The morphine seemed like an easy way out of it." Sara said feeling a great weight lift off her and relief that she gotten it over with.

"You're not messed up" Michael said firmly "You're one of the few sane people I can have a decent conversation with. You turned down one wrong road, everybody does it."

They sat there looking deep into each other eyes a new connection being built between them. One that eliminated any past wrong they may have done to each other bringing them closer then they had ever been.

"So did you have any pets growing up" Sara asked Michael. They continued answering each other questions deep into the night, the tension that had been between them was gone. When John woke in the morning and entered the lounge room, he smiled as he found Sara lying snuggled into Michaels shoulder both of them fast asleep.

Authors Notes: Thank to everyone who has been reviewing it is really helpful :) I may not be able to update as fast I would like too because I'm in my final year of school which is taking up a lot of my time :(