Sara

I've known Michael for nineteen years and I still can't figure out why he tries to give up everything for everyone else. He's a good man who will readily give up his own happiness for anything anyone else needs.

Sometimes it's a good thing, but sometimes he puts too much on the line for other people.

Take today for example.

Don't get me wrong, I know that most parents would sacrifice anything for their children, but Michael has taken it beyond family in the past.

See Sucre and I for examples.

Still, to this day, people ask me what I was thinking nineteen years ago when I decided to run off with some random prison inmate whose brother was convicted of killing the Vice President of the United States. I, to this day, couldn't tell you. But look at how it turned out.

As I was watching Michael lay in the hospital bed, unmoving and unconscious, I gained even more admiration for the nearly perfect man before me.

Don't tell him I said that.

He can give you a hundred reasons why he isn't perfect, but that doesn't affect what he is in my eyes. He's a man that has given up his entire world for just the amount of people you can count on two hands.

As he lays there perfectly still, I almost cry for the first time since he's come back from Yemen. Not for me, but for him. For all that he's suffered for all of us.

Linc comes in and sits beside me, just like he did the day we thought he had died. He tells me that Michael will be okay, just like he always has been.

Linc and I got much closer during the seven years without Michael. He was like a brother to me, making sure that Mike and I had what we needed, helping me take care of him while I was at work before I married- you know what, let's leave him out of this.

As I sit there waiting with Linc, watching Michael as he sleeps, I start to think. Not aggressive overthinking as Michael does, rather a more grateful kind of thinking. Grateful for all the things that I have, that I may never have had if I wouldn't have answered that call nineteen years ago.

Michael wakes up, his eyes slowly opening and scanning the room in the careful way they always do. His eyes find me and Linc sitting in a corner of the room, and I think I find a small smile spread across his face.

A few minutes later, he comes out of the bathroom after he looks at the scar. He looks like he dipped his face into a container of powdered sugar and then walked through a haunted house.

"Michael, are you okay?" He just nods bleakly. He walks back into the bathroom and seems like he's about to get sick, so I follow him and take a look at the scar. "Michael," I say, ever so gently running my fingers over the skin around the ugly line of staples. He sucks in a breath when my fingertips touch the line of staples and swollen skin, and I can't tell if it hurts or if he's afraid that it will hurt. "Sara, I'm okay," he says, and I gently let the hospital gown fall back down from where I was holding it at his chest. "Michael, take it easy, please, okay?" He forces a small smile and pulls me into him, careful to avoid the incision. "Yes, doctor." I wrap my arms around his shoulders, carefully avoiding the area around the incision on the lower left part of his body. "Michael, I'm serious," I say with a chuckle. "I know," he says, giving me a quick kiss and walking out of the bathroom. He walks completely normally, which isn't something you normally see from someone that just got shot.

I sit back down next to Linc in a chair as Michael lays back down on the hospital bed. It's been only an hour since he's been up, and he shows no signs of being even close to tired. "You guys should get to be by yourselves for a while," Linc whispers to me. "I'll take the kids back to our house for a night so you can do whatever you want." I smile at him and whisper back, "Thanks, Linc."

Sucre, LJ, Linc, and Vee leave to go home around 6:30, leaving Michael and I by ourselves. "Are you hungry?" Michael thinks for a second and then nods. "What do you want?" He ponders this for a minute. "Maybe a cheeseburger or something."

I grab the keys and get ready to walk out of the room. "Love you," Michael says after me. I lean back into the room to see him lying on the bed grinning. "Love you too, Michael."

As I walk out into the hallway, I smile.

I drive down the road and turn onto the highway when I see the most disturbing billboard that I've ever seen.

WANTED

JACOB ANTON NESS

REWARD 500,000

A mugshot follows, and I almost run the car off the highway.

When I pull into the Burger King, I walk in and almost immediately become paranoid. Just the thought of that name is enough to send a shiver down my spine.

I order Michael and I a burger each, and then stand off to the side to wait. All of a sudden, a man comes in the door and stands in line to order. As I look closer at the guy with the blond closely cropped hair, I almost stop breathing when I realize who I'm looking at. I pull out my phone and dial the number.

"Hello? Yeah, I'm at Burger King, Miami Avenue, and I think Jacob Ness is here," I say quietly. He moves up another place in line as my name is called and I go to get my order.

"I have an officer half a mile away. Are you sure it's him?" I walk to a table and pretend to wait for someone. "Yes. I can wait here until someone gets here. He has short blond hair and is wearing a red shirt. You can't miss him."

The police officer walks in and I sit in there as Jacob and I are the only ones in here, other than the officer. "Are you Jacob Anton Ness?"

"Who is asking?"

"Law enforcement."

"No."

"Who are you?"

"Michael Blake." I know that's not true. He's using the last name of that one blond henchman he had, and then- heaven forbid- Michael's name. The officer looks over to me, a questioning look on his face. "Were you the one who called?" Jacob looks over to me and his eyes get a scared look behind them. "Yes."

"How are you sure this is our man?" Jacob's eyes go from fear to anger to pleading. "He's my ex-husband from about five years ago." The officer looks back to him with questioning eyes.

"So if this really is Jacob Ness, then you're-" I finish his thought for him.

"Sara Scofield." The officer grabs Jacob by the shoulder and pulls him out of the booth. "Short run, buddy. I'm glad it was you that caught him, after everything he did to you guys. Thank you." I give Jacob and the officer a smile, and then look at Jacob. "Why?" I just smile at his stupid question, hiding all the fear and uneasiness that's going through my head. "Because you destroyed my family. After you were out of the picture, Mike got scared anytime the name Jacob was mentioned, even if we weren't talking about you."

"So? The kid's like, what, nine now?" I just laugh at him.

"He's thirteen."

"Bye, Jacob. Have a good life in jail."

The cop hauls him away in handcuffs as I walk back to my car. "Thank you again, ma'am." I smile at him and get in the driver's seat.

As I drive the short distance back to the hospital, I think about what I could've just done.

I could've just sent the entire part of the CIA that approved of Jacob's actions after our family. That thought alone is enough to almost scare me out of my mind.

But then I remember that everyone involved with that man is sitting right beside him in prison.

That's not enough to console me, though. When I pull into the hospital parking lot, I decide to tell Michael about the encounter but make light of it with jokes.

I walk into the room with the bag of food and put it down on the small table in the corner. "You'll never guess who I ran into," I say in a way that probably makes him think that it was a friend or someone I wanted to see. "Who?"

"Jacob Ness. He's back in prison now, and all because you wanted a cheeseburger." Michael's eyes darken and he zones out for a minute, then looks back to me. "And you're okay?"

I force a smile.

"Yeah. It was a crazy coincidence, because I saw a wanted poster on a highway billboard on the way. And then he's standing in line, bleached blond hair. I call the cops, they come and take him away. Your cheeseburger saved some lives today," I say jokingly. He looks at me and holds up his hand, signaling for me to come sit on his bed. I sit down on the end and he puts his hand on my knee. "Are you sure it was okay?" I smile at him and put my hand over his. "Yes, Michael, I actually enjoyed it. He's where he deserves to be now."

Michael's eyes come up from his hospital bed and he looks at me.

"Sara Scofield," he nearly whispers. "You are one of the strongest people I have ever met. And I mean it." I smile back at him and he gives me that grin, the same one he's had for almost twenty years.

"And guess who just got half a million dollars for turning him in?"

Michael just looks at me for a second, and I assume that he's studying my face to see if I'm lying or not.

"It's your money, not mine. Get something for yourself." I just stare at him with a smile. What in the world am I supposed to do with 500,000?

"Michael, what do you want me to do with that much money?" He shrugs and moves his hand over mine. "You could get that car you always wanted, just a suggestion," he says, smiling and looking down at his hand. "Or, we could save it for Mike and Faith for college."

Michael just stares at me, playfully pretending to be astonished at what I just brought up. "You are not going to get half a million dollars and not do anything for yourself. That's not fair to you."

I just smile at him and squeeze his hand. "I think that you should eat and not worry about this yet," I say with a smile. He doesn't argue and takes his burger out of the bag.

After we eat, a nurse comes in and takes Michael's vitals.

"You're all good for the night," she says warmly, closing the door behind her.

"The past month has been so crazy," I say, biting into my burger. He chuckles and then sucks in a breath. That probably hurt pretty bad.

"Yeah. No joke," he says.

Another nurse knocks on the door and comes in.

"Someone's here to see you," she says. "They told me that they're an old friend." Michael worriedly squeezes my hand, because when you have a past like we have, "old friends" can't ever be a good thing.

When the door opens to reveal our "old friend", Michael goes sheet white.

Without even saying it, we both know that we're scared for our lives.

This is the end of this story, but there will definitely be a sequel that I may post later. I hope you enjoyed this!