Michael

I'll admit; I was a little surprised when Faith said that she could fly us a plane. I vaguely remembered her mentioning that at her arrival, but that was two o'clock this morning.

Her step-by-step plan to get a plane is immaculate, and I don't doubt that. The ingenuity that it takes to be able to forge a signature, fly solo halfway across the country, fly back, pick up an entire family, and find an airport somewhere near Baja that will accept us is insane. That's an enormous task, but she has connections with connections with connections that can make it happen. And, if Kellerman and Gretchen do decide to pursue her, and are just waiting for some reason, there won't be any commercial airline records or...

I'm not going to lead myself down that rabbit hole of thoughts. I'll never get back out.

She's smart, and that's putting it lightly. She's a genius, even though she probably hasn't taken an IQ test. If she can pull that plan off and save us 900 dollars on flight tickets, hats off to her.

Linc makes the comment: "Look, man, do we trust her to fly us on a jet to another country? Like, it's a Company plane. How are we gonna know that it's legit?" She walked up behind him at the wrong moment and heard him. "You can trust me. There's a debugging machine in the overhead compartment above the cockpit, if you know to look there. It's smaller than your fist and can find any trackers, bugs, microphones, and tapped phone lines within fifty feet.And besides; the planes and jets used to be commercial and military, until they were retired and sold to the Company for 'top secret government purposes'," Faith argues. Man. I bet she's difficult to argue with; you have to have an incredibly elite mind to be able to compete with her. Linc turns around and smiles. "Smart kid. I trust you, because you know what you're talking about."

Linc turns back around to face me and I raise my eyebrows with a grin. He looks at me and gives me a stupid smile, then walks away with his hands up in defeat.

I go inside after Linc leaves to put my computer away, and then I realize that Faith and Sara are going to go clothes shopping, school shopping, and getting decorations for her room.

Mike and I are at home, but he's playing NBA 2K on the TV in the living room, so I decide to join him and kick his butt. "Mike, can I play?" He hands me the second controller and we start playing. I've chosen the Lakers; since they dropped LeBron, they've improved and are one of my favorite teams. Mike likes the '90s Bulls (Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr) so that's who he chose for his team. I didn't know that you could choose teams from the past until a few months ago.

We start playing and he's beating me pretty badly, 20-8 at the end of the first quarter. He's really good at this, and it gives me a challenge. Besides, the '90s Bulls are overpowering. They're the best basketball team to ever exist in my opinion. "You know, dad, Faith played this with me last night and she kicked my butt three times. The first game she got the '90s Bulls, she beat me 100-48. The second game, she got the 2019 Rockets, you know, Westbrook, Harden, those guys, and beat me 95-52. And then the last time, I got the '90s Bulls, and she got the '95 Celtics with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, and Danny Ainge. She still mopped the floor with me, 119-73. She knows her stuff; she was arguing with me about what year the Bulls hit their prime. She said '95, I was saying '93. She was right."

I look at him and laugh, because his sister beat him in the game he's convinced he's the best at. "Well, I guess you've gotta revoke your 2K crown, huh," I tell him, and then he keeps staring at the TV and draining 3's. Dinged a nerve there.

It's a great thing, being able to sit with my son and play a video game for as long as I want.

"Mike, you talk about Faith a lot. I take it you think she's pretty cool?" He looks at me for a split second, not long enough for him to miss a basket or get the ball stolen from him. "Yeah, I guess she's pretty cool... I mean, I'm just kinda worried for her though. Like, a kid like Trevor or Noah. They're kids who will ask her out within five minutes of her stepping into school. They're idiots," he says, laughing at the end. I decide to give him some fatherly advice. "You know, Mike, Veronica was my friend when I was a kid before she dated your uncle. But, I brought her over to the park one day after school and Linc was there, and he thought she was hot. So he asked her out, and look where it ended up."

He looks at me like I'm from another planet, then nonchalantly goes back to playing the game. "I never knew that. Well, the next time he's here, I'll have to call him Friend Stealer."

"Good idea! Then we can see what he thinks we're talking about," I reply with a laugh. Sara and Faith have been gone for a few hours now, so they could be back any minute. I wonder what theme Faith went with for her room...

"What theme do you think Faith went with for her room, Mike?" The game ends, and he beat me 101-79. "Probably something with sports. Basketball, specifically. She loves the Bulls, follows all the drafts and superstars. She knows her stuff," he replies.

Another hour passes, and Sara and Faith come in the door with armloads of shopping bags. "Do you need help?" I always make sure to ask. I have nothing better to do, so why not?

I walk out to the car to see a trunk filled with bags. This is going to take a while.

Mike was right; she got some sports posters to go in her room, and she especially likes the Bulls one.

"There isn't much to to do the room, just change the sheets and put the chair in," Sara tells me. I smile and put my arm around her. "Two. Just what we always wanted," I tell her as we watch Mike and Faith carry the bags inside. "With the names we wanted," Sara adds. We just stand there for a few moments, admiring our children.

Once we put the new sheets and comforter on the bed, and the chair in the corner, Faith says that she's going to get her stuff for school ready. She walks back into her new room, and Mike soon follows, with what I'm assuming is some tips to help her.

"How did we get so lucky? I mean, athletes, smart kids, and a plus, they look like us," I tell Sara beside the kitchen counter. It's 4:30 in the afternoon, so it's almost time to get dinner ready.

Sometimes I volunteer to make dinner, and I'm a good cook (Mike and Sara's words, not mine) and I enjoy doing it. I've decided tonight's dinner as tacos.

Faith must have gotten her school stuff organized for Monday, because she comes out into the living room on someone's phone. I forgot; it's hers. I'm walking to the couch, still holding the wooden spoon that I was using to cook the taco meat. When I come into Faith's line of sight, she recoils and looks like someone splashed her with hot water. "Are you okay?" She has a memory racing through her mind, I can tell. She's staring at one thing with her perfectly blue eyes, and not losing her focus. "Yeah... just, the last time I saw a wooden spoon, I ended up knocked out and tied to a chair. I thought you were going to hit me," Faith replies, and that really worries me. It's the fact that someone beat her, and part of it is the who too. "Faith, listen. No one in this house- Linc, Veronica, and LJ count too- will ever hit you. Unless it's someone stuffing your shot back in your face in the driveway," I joke. She chuckles and seems to relax a little bit.

I go back to making the tacos, then I hear Mike's footsteps and the crinkling of cellophane in the cabinet. "Mike... what are you eating?" He can't hear me; he's got his earbuds in, or he could possibly just be ignoring me. "Heirs of the Cold War... that's what we've becooome..." Mike just randomly walks around the house, singing words to random songs from his music playlist. That's one of his new things that he does, along with his chocolate milk kick, and the basketball phase.

"Inheriting troubles... I'm mentally numb..." Another voice chimes in from the living room, and Mike turns his head towards the living room and pulls his left earbud out. "You know that too? I thought dad and I were the only ones who liked old music."

"Crazy Train?! Are you kidding? Everyone should know that song! I'm kind of an old soul, because I like all the '80s and '90s. Kellerman thought I was nuts," Faith says, high-fiving Mike and going back into Mike's room to talk music.

For the next ten minutes while I finish dinner, I hear music blasting from Mike's new Bluetooth speaker he got for his birthday. There's also the occasional argument over which songs are better, which I welcome openly because they're my kids. I've never heard my two kids argue over anything ever, so the sound is welcome.

"Dinner's ready!" Mike and Faith come running out of the bedroom, and Sara comes walking from outside, probably doing something in the flowerbeds.

It's odd, sitting down at the table with the empty chair filled. There was always the extra fourth chair that no one sat in, but seeing Faith sitting there tonight puts an indescribable pit in my stomach because of what she's missed.

"What are these?" Mike looks at Faith like she's insane, but then I remember that she's lived in a basement her entire life and ate crappy food that I'd never force upon anyone. Probably tasted like crap too.

"They're called tacos. I bet you'll like them," I explain to Faith. She tentatively shrugs her shoulders and takes a bite out of one. Her eyes open wide and she looks up slowly. "You're telling me that I've been living off of stale bread and lukewarm tap water and you people above ground have been eating these?! So unfair," she says, taking another bite of the taco.

Well. Dinner #1 success.

Faith and Mike go outside to run around in the yard for a while, so Sara and I decide to watch a TV show. It's called Prison Break, the show they made based on our lives. The producers forced us to watch all of it to fact-check it for them before they air the show. Reliving everything isn't my preference, and in fact, I was harshly against it, but the producers don't care what we want. They just want money.

Sure, we get our cut, but it's not much. 15 grand a year per household, which isn't enough to live on. But it helps sometimes.

The episode we just started is one of the worst but the best parts. The train to Indiana while we were on the run.

That was seriously awkward for both of us, but it ended up being one of the best parts of my life.

When it gets to the Sara-strangling-Kellerman part, Sara and I share a look and then bust out laughing. Faith walks in for a glass of water at that moment, and she looks to the TV. "Prison Break? I've seen them all, all 5 seasons 100 times over. That's how I know so much," she says, filling her glass of water from the fridge. I look at Sara, and we decide to ask some questions after we pause the show. "How much, exactly, do you know?" I'm playing it safe, so I ask this starting question to make sure I don't tell her anything she didn't know. "Anything. Even the smallest details, I can answer for you," Faith replies. I start simple.

"Nineteen years ago, where was I?" Faith looks like this is an incredibly easy question. "Fox River, Chicago, Illinois."

"My birthday?"

"September 8, 1972. Your registration paper." Man. If she can notice my birthday on the registration paper, then she's smarter and more observant than I thought she was.

"Every prison I've gotten out of. Go."

"Fox River, Sona, I don't know if Miami Dade counts, but I guess it does, and Ogygia."

"What did I use to get out of Fox River?"

"The sleeves."

She's incredible. If she can rattle everything off as fast as she did, then I'm pretty sure she knows more about us than we know about ourselves.

"Well, I was just coming inside for a drink of water anyway, so I'm going back out." She walks back out as nonchalantly as she walked in. "Sara, I'm a little bit worried about her. There's no way that she's okay as she pretends to be. And, too, when she goes to school, all the guys will be after her. She's the kind of girl that I would've dated," I tell Sara as we're sitting on the couch under a blanket. "But see, I'm much better," Sara jabs, and I have no choice but to smile. "Fair, fair. But I'm just saying," I tell her, giving her a kiss.

I push play on the remote after a moment, and now we're to the train bathroom scene. One of my personal favorites.

Sara gives me a knowing look, then goes back to watching the TV. But she can't go undisturbed for long, because I snake my arm around her, right under her arm, and pull her closer to me on the couch. She gives up, and eventually she's laying down mostly on top of me, while my head is in the corner of the sectional couch. I reach for her hand, which was resting right on her stomach, and she takes mine and squeezes it as we watch the kissing scene on the TV. "I was less nervous talking to the murderers and robbers- heck, T-Bag-in Fox River than I was right there. And, while we're at it, throw in the Ogygia terrorists," I confess to her. "Really?" Sara seems genuinely surprised by this. "Oh, absolutely! You were the best part of my life, I just wasn't sure what to say or do. That was the awkward thing," I say, as if I'm trying to spill my guts on the examination slides.

•••

I must have fallen asleep with Sara on my lap, because the next thing I know I'm looking out the window and it's dark out. I check my new watch that Sara got me for my birthday last year; 10:30. Well, crap.

Mike comes out from the hallway, and I almost get up, but then I realize that Sara is still asleep with her head on my chest, which means that I'm probably not going to get up anytime soon. Mike walks through the kitchen, probably grabbing a snack, when he looks to the couch. "Eww." This is another one of his new things; whenever I show any type of affection to Sara in front of him, he thinks it's gross. So lately, I've been making it a point to gross him out. One time, while we were eating burgers for dinner, Sara was sitting beside me, and, for no reason at all, I decided to kiss her. Not just a peck on the lips, either. Almost like a teenage couple, and Mike was completely grossed out. He walked away from the table, leaving his burger and Sara and I laughing.

"What? Your mom and dad love each other and that's gross?" Mike laughs, grabbing the Cheez-It's from the cabinet and walking back to his room.

I decide to stay on the couch, and, thankfully, the chest of extra blankets is right by my head. I grab a few, and shift so I can lay them on top of Sara and I. I kiss the top of Sara's head, and she starts to stir, waking up. "What time is it?" I grin, and I'm pretty sure that she thinks it's early. "10:30," I reply, and her eyes widen. "You're the best, being my pillow. And, I've kind of been wondering where that extra muscle came from. It makes sleeping so much more comfortable," she chuckles, playfully punching me in the chest. I've been working out a little bit, and apparently she's noticed. "Well, good. My job is done," I say, getting up and pretending to walk away. "Oh, can you not walk to bed? How horrible that must be," I laugh, and Sara sees that I'm joking. "Okay, Scofield, I guess I'm not coming. But that's your fault," she taunts back.

"Fine," I say, walking back toward her and picking her up. I throw her over my shoulder and start walking back to bed. She's laughing and trying to get out of my grip, but I'm obviously not going to let her. I drop her on the bed and lay down next to her. She's still laughing, and I wrap my arms around her and pull the duvet over my shoulder. "Ha. Now you don't have anything to keep you warm. You know, it feels really nice under the blankets," I taunt. Sara tries to rip the blankets out of my grip, but she isn't successful. So she just forces herself into my side, where my arms were over the blankets. So now my arms are around her, and she's won. Again.

"Now I do. And besides, if there aren't any blankets, then I still have you to keep me warm," she laughs. "You win," I whisper, walking over to the door and closing it. I walk back to bed and wrap my arms around Sara again, kissing the crook of her neck and slowly falling asleep.

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I updated chapter 5 and added a scene that I felt like it needed, so you can go back and read that and it may help you understand some of the chapters to come.