Sara had never seen her father happier then the moment she told him Michael had broke up with her. Frank tried to hide his joy but it shone from his being like a lighthouse illuminated in the night. At that moment, when he had what he had wanted for weeks, Frank Tancredi felt broken inside. The hurt and pain on his daughter's beautiful face tore him open. He had only ever seen it once before, when he had done the exact same thing to a beautiful young woman not dissimilar to Sara, and he had married her and they were happy.

Frank reached out a hand to Sara's juddering shoulders as she cried, his short stubby fingers stroking the soft material of her clothes slowly. There was an uncomfortable silence between them, neither knowing what to say to the other to make it right. Frank refused to give in and offer her what she wanted. He would not approve of a man loving his baby, as much as he tried. I just couldn't.

The age-old saying crossed Frank's mind and slipped through his lips as he comforted Sara. "I told you this would happen," he soothed pulling her into him in a protective hug. Sara grabbed at his jacket, burying her face into the expensive tailored material.

"I love him Dad," she sobbed, her tears soaking the material she clutched between her shaking hands. Frank tucked her head under his chin and gave her squeeze. Support was what she needed right now, even if Frank's anger threatened to erupt at her words. The fact that she still referred to Michael in the present tense didn't help him suppress it much either.

"Sara," he pulled back to look into her watery hazel eyes. "You can't keep pining for a guy who will never be good enough for you," he offered her a small smile. She sniffed and licked some salty tears from her lips, her breath hitching. "You'll meet someone else, your own age…" he emphasised with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

Sara stared at him silently, his obvious attempts at subtlety wasted on her. "Thanks Dad," she flashed him a forced smile and wiped her face with her sleeve. "I think I'll go do some homework," she told him, moving out of his embrace and towards the vast staircase. Frank lowered his head as she went, silently congratulating himself for a victory that felt more like a defeat. He had won but Sara was miserable.

"Sara," he called softly as the ground beneath her feet changed from soft to hard on the lobby floor. Sara spun around slowly to face him with an expression of question. Frank gave her a smile and a nod. "Why don't you and your friend go out tonight? I'm sure there is a nice get together somewhere," he waved an unknowing hand and his face frowned him thought.

"A party?" Sara laughed weakly. Frank's eyes lit up and he pointed a crooked finger her way with a grin.

"Yes! A party," he said jokingly. "Go to a party, meet some new friends from school. You never know, you might meet a boy," he wigged an eyebrow and gave her a wink. Sara puffed out a short giggle.

"You're letting me go to a party?" she asked once more in a suspicious tone. Frank nodded and placed his hands in his pockets. His face was bright albeit weathered and he could hardly believe himself for what he had just said. Reluctantly he nodded again when Sara eyes narrowed and she scanned his face for an sign of a trap.

"Just get it organised, before I change my mind," he told her sternly. Sara turned and pounded up the stairs as fast as she could, bursting into her room and booting up her laptop. The climb had left her out of breath and for a small second she forgot all about Michael. She warmed inside and the numbness was gone. She plopped into her chair, wiping her hair from her eyes as she focused on the screen.

"OMG…" was her friend's reply as Sara told her what had just happened between her father and her. Sara smiled as she imagined her friend sitting, open mouthed in shock.

"I know," Sara typed back with a smile.

"So like, do you have a curfew?" Sara read when her message box flashed with an orangey glow. Sara's mouth twisted into a crooked line and her brow wrinkled as she thought.

"BRB," she typed quickly before pushing herself from her seat and yanking her bedroom door open.

"Midnight!" Frank called up the stairs anticipating her question. His voice was deep and business like and it bounced off the walls with an echo. Sara sighed and returned to the laptop as it sat buzzing on her messy desktop.

"Midnight…bleh…" she typed.

"That sucks LOL. BRB," her friend typed back before disappearing and leaving Sara waiting on her return. A small square box flashed up in the corner of Sara's screen and her skin prickled with joy, suppressing her earlier anger. The plain black text was easily distinguishable on the pale cream background. Sara gulped as she read its message. "Loyola Scofield has just signed on".

Sara felt her warmth dissipate into nothing as she recalled their earlier interaction. Her cursor hovered over the message, the text on it turning blue and underlined, but she froze. She had no business talking to Michael anymore, he had made that clear. All she wanted was to forget about him because if she stopped, even for just a second, and thought about Michael Scofield, she would die.

A box popped up on her screen and "I'm sorry" was the message, emotionless in its blue sans font. The minimized box flashed amber at the bottom of her screen as she contemplated answering. Sara's fingers hovered above the keyboard, quivering when she sudden emotion rushed her body. "Sara?" appeared next, the font rolling into the conversation on a black background.

"I'm here," was all she could think of typing. She couldn't think of anything else to say and for all Michael had done today she didn't want him to leave her again. As much as she tried, she couldn't hate him. "You ok?" she kept the conversation casual.

"No. Crappy…" Michael answered quickly, his entire sea of emotions summed up in one word. He didn't even ask Sara how she was. He didn't think he had any right and Sara was glad he didn't ask.

"Michael I don't hate you," she typed hurriedly, her words per minute much more then that of anyone she knew. "I can't hate you…" she paused, awaiting his reply.

"I do," was his simply reply. "I hate me". Sara didn't know what to say back and was glad the box indicated he was still typing. "I can't even make it right," he said with a sad face emoticon.

"You were right," Sara typed as her eyes burned with tears, blurring her vision. "I was being selfish and wasn't thinking of the bigger picture because I didn't want to lose you," She sighed and rested her hands to her lap. The Internet made it so much easier for Sara to speak her mind and Michael couldn't interrupt her. "I know I was wrong to lie to you and you could have lost so much," she typed with worry when he didn't reply, urging a response.

"I've lost you…" he tapped back, another sad yellow face appearing at the end of his words. A second flashing box on her screen signified Sara's friend's return.

"Back. What did I miss?" the reply jumped on the screen as quickly as the box flashed.

"Michael IM'd me," Sara typed to her, already having told her about their car incident.

"AND!" her friend said, capitalisation a sign of shouting.

"He thinks he has lost me," Sara told her. "What do I say?" she asked her friend for a valued response.

"Go to town on him!" Sara's friend joked with a cheesy grin emoticon which made Sara chuckle lightly. "And then tell him what you want," she added seriously. Sara thought about what she wanted and the likely hood of it ever happening. She knew neither her nor Michael could wait another year or so for her to come of age and the last thing she wanted was trouble for him.

Sara moved her cursor over Michael's message box and clicked it to open. He was still online but was not talking, obviously waiting for her to speak next. Sara took her friends advice and began typing.

"Michael I want you so badly and I know it is so wrong, and yet it feels so right. I dream about you all the time and I thought I could fool you into liking me, maybe even loving me. I didn't tell you how old I was because I wanted you to get to know me before you discarded me as some high school kid with a crush. I was wrong, I know that, but so were you," Sara pressed return, sending him the message when she ran out of typing room but immediately carried on in the new space.

"You thought I was stupid enough to get you into trouble when I cared for you so much I would never have been so immature. I wished I was older but I didn't think you would be so shallow and see me as a number rather then a person. If I was your age and you were twenty four, you wouldn't have rejected me like this," she pressed return again.

"I feel rejected Michael and I try to hate you for it but I can't. I want us to be friends and who knows what will happen in the future. All I want now is for you to say you'll still talk to me, go out with me to places and love me as a friend. I can't lose you as a friend," she hit return one last time and felt a weight lift from her shoulders.

Michael's reply was never right as he continually typed and deleted what he wanted to say. Sara waited in anticipation, hoping his reply was understanding and not something she couldn't take. "I will always love you Sara," he finally sent over the message box and Sara's heart jumped in her chest. Her friend flashed back on the screen, giving her a time and a place to meet her for the party.

"Michael I have to go," she typed sadly. "We are ok, right?" she typed quickly before he could reply.

"We are ok," he sent back with a smiley face at the end, which made Sara smile and her warmth return. "Bye Sara," he typed and the same tiny pale cream box rolled into view in the corner of her screen once more.

"Loyola Scofield has signed off".