When Michael awoke he felt a soft weight on his shoulder and without opening his eyes he moved his head slightly. His chin brushed against something soft and silky. It took him a moment to realise that it was Sara's hair but when he did, he quickly opened his eyes for confirmation. Light flooded into the cabin and entangled itself in her hair. It seemed to shimmer in the morning light even though she wasn't moving and Michael was sure that he could make out different shades of reddish brown. He smiled to himself as he tried to count them, taking care not to move a muscle in the process. Then he shook his head slightly as if to rid himself of the sentimentality but not forcefully enough to wake Sara up. He looked around for Lincoln. They needed to get moving as soon as possible.

Lincoln had been up for a good hour but he hadn't had the heart to disturb Michael and Sara. They'd looked so peaceful where they were; Michael with a slight smile on his face and Sara with her head comfortably resting on his shoulder. So instead of waking them, he went outside and looked for two things; any sign that they had been followed and some sort of food that they could eat. As good as the hot dogs had tasted last night, they hadn't been very filling and Lincoln had awoken to a growling stomach. Luckily, the woods were full of berries and he ate his fill before heading back to the cottage with a shirt full for Michael and Sara. He had seen or heard no sign of anyone else in the woods but he didn't think that they could take that for granted so they really would have to get going soon. As he walked back into the cabin, he saw that Michael was awake. He motioned for him to wake Sara up and Michael nodded in understanding. Lincoln moved into the kitchen and put the berries down before walking into the bathroom to wash up.

Michael looked down at Sara again. Then he carefully held her head up as he moved to face her.

"Sara," he called softly. She stirred and slowly opened her eyes. Once they focused she realised that she was staring right into a pair of startling blue pools. For a moment she just gazed right into Michael's eyes completely forgetting where she was. Then, realising what she was doing she quickly straightened up, broke eye contact, cleared her throat and said,

"Morning Michael."

He smiled and removed the hand that had been holding her head up.

"Good morning."

Lincoln emerged from the bathroom and smiled when he saw Sara was awake and groggily rubbing her eyes.

"Morning doc – sleep well?"

"Surprisingly, yes."

Lincoln smiled and said "There are some berries in the kitchen – sorry there isn't anything else but it's all I could find. No pancakes in the woods I'm afraid."

Sara chuckled and replied, "The berries are just fine, thank you."

Lincoln turned to look at Michael.

"We should probably head out as soon as possible. It's not night anymore so it'll be a lot easier for the cops to pick up our trail now."

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing," Michael said, a solemn look replacing the smile on his face.

Ten minutes later, they were once again heading out the door. Sara looked back at the cottage one last time. Even though they had only been there one night, she'd grown strangely fond of the place and she was grateful for the shelter and temporary relief it had provided. She'd even seen a change in Michael last night. It seemed as though a burden had been lifted from his shoulders but this morning it was back once again.

"Ready to get going again?" Michael asked Sara.

"Yeah but when this whole thing is over – I'm never exercising again!"

Michael chuckled as they headed past the small cottage and to the outskirts of the woods. They'd been walking in the same direction for almost two hours when they finally saw it. Light seemed to flood in though the trees directly in front of them. It was the edge of the woods. Sara wondered where they would be going next but Michael had a look of intense concentration on his face and she thought it best not to disturb him. He realised, of course, that the minute they stepped out of those woods they would have no cover. There was nowhere for them to hide for a good three miles and then of course, they would need transportation. The next few hours were crucial and potentially very dangerous but there was no other possible way to proceed so they kept walking. Finally, they emerged into the sunlight, leaving the shelter of the trees behind and they winced for a moment as their eyes got used to the light. Michael took a step forward and his heart pounded in his chest as someone he couldn't quite make out yelled,

"FREEZE!"

His eyes focused and that's when he saw them. There were policemen running right at them from every direction. Michael put a protective hand behind Sara's back and started backing into the woods.

"DON'T MOVE OR WE'LL SHOOT!" The voice bellowed.

Michael swallowed hard and looked over at Lincoln who was slowly backing away as well. Sara's eyes darted all around her from the armed police officers running in their direction to the bewildered brothers who were beginning to realise that they were trapped. Lincoln tripped suddenly and quickly stepped backwards to regain his balance. A shot rang out and a bullet slammed right into a tree directly to Sara's left. Startled, she gasped and stumbled backwards. Disturbed birds shrieked angrily and flew up into the sky.

"Don't shoot!" Sara said quietly at first. Then, harnessing the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins she shouted,

"DON'T SHOOT! We're unarmed!"

Sergeant O'Brien registered the female voice and replied,

"Don't worry ma'am, this will all be over soon."

Sara looked at Michael. He had a forlorn look on his face and the panic was evident. Lincoln knew it was hopeless and he looked over at Michael as if to say, "Thanks for trying, bro." Then he slowly raised his hands to surrender and Michael hung his head in defeat before doing the same. Looking at the beaten brothers Sara felt a sharp pang of sadness. The little time that she had spent with Lincoln was enough to convince her that he was no murderer. There was no way he could be. There was just no way - but it was too late now. There was nothing that could be done. Everything happened as if in slow motion. Sara was dazed and barely noticed a police officer leading her to a car. She watched, helplessly as Michael and Lincoln were roughly pushed to their knees and cuffed. Sergeant O'Brien frogmarched them to the back of his car and then addressed his officers.

"I want you to do full sweep of the woods. There might still be some cons in there somewhere. I'll take these guys down to the station."

After seeing his officers set off confidently into the woods, O'Brien walked over to Sara who was gazing at Michael and Lincoln in the back seat of the car behind her.

"Doctor Tancredi?" he asked as he stooped down in front of her trying to establish eye contact. Sara pulled her eyes away from Michael and looked at the policeman in front of her. His face was kind but he had a proud look about him, as though he felt that he had just done something spectacular and was merely waiting for someone to pat him on the back and congratulate him. When Sara said nothing, he continued to speak.

"I'm Sergeant O'Brien. I know you've been through a terrible ordeal but I'd like you to come down to the station with me to make a statement. Do you think you could do that?"

Sara looked at him again her head tilted to the side slightly. She nodded once in confirmation.

"Ok that's great. Would you mind riding in the same car as those two or would you like me to get another officer to escort you to the station?"

She cleared her throat and spoke up quickly,

"No that's fine. I don't mind."

O'Brien nodded and stood to lead the way to the other vehicle. Sara got into the passenger seat and looked back at Michael quickly through the metallic divider that separated her from him. He was whispering something under his breath that she couldn't quite make out and shaking his head with a sense of disbelief. Sara couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with concern. She remembered what had happened to Michael back at the prison when they'd needed to move him to the psych ward and she sincerely hoped that he was not going to suffer another psychotic break. She looked over at Sergeant O'Brien who was settling into the seat next to her and he gave her a small smile. They drove off in silence; defeated silence for the cons and an awkward silence for Sara and the Sergeant. After a good twenty five minutes of driving the Sergeant suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

"What the . . ."

Sara looked up when she heard this and saw that a huge lorry carrying a pile of large logs had overturned spilling its contents and completely blocking the road in front of them. O'Brien got out of the car and ran over to check if anyone had been hurt.

"Michael," Lincoln said, pushing his brother with his shoulder. He immediately saw that this could be their only chance to get away. "Michael come on we can get out of this."

"It's too late. Even if we make it out of the car, he'll shoot us before we can run two steps."

Sara turned and looked at Michael. He looked so lost that she had a sudden urge to get out of the car, head around to where he sat and shake the defeat right out of him! This feeling was replaced by mounds of sympathy and an irresistible urge to help him. Before she knew what had happened, it all became quite clear to her. She knew exactly what she had to do. The only question was – was she prepared to do it?