We walked together to the old familiar apartment building. I knew exactly where I was going, and she was going to kill me for this. Michael was practically carrying Lincoln, and he wouldn't shut up about that car being gone. We had to go up two flights of stairs and her apartment was on the right. Number 216 to be exact. I recognized the door instantly with her pink and green welcome sign on the front. I turned around just short of the door and pointed at Michael to stop.

"Let me talk to her first," I pleaded.

He nodded his head and I slowly approached the door. God, I just hoped that she was home today. I lifted my hand and knocked on the door a couple of times. My heart skipped a beat when I heard shuffling around and I could see her shadow underneath the door. I could see her look through her peep hole and I gave her my best smile. I fought back a giggle when I heard her erratically trying to unlock the door. Finally, the door flew open and Melanie came crashing into my arms.

"Oh. My God. Laney." She cried out.

I wrapped my arms around my best friend and tried to fight back the tears welling in my eyes. I was also laughing at the same time. I thought I might never see her again, yet here I was knocking on her door. She pulled away from me looking me up and down.

"They said you were a hostage. How did you…?" she started but her eyes drifted the other direction and she stopped mid-sentence.

To be honest, I was a little surprised she didn't scream. I probably would have if I looked over and to my left were the dangerous cons Scofield and Burrows, and one of them was bleeding out. Her face completely drained of color and she opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She looked back at me with a shocked face, and I tried to put my hands up to explain but she bolted back into her apartment.

I chased after her and she and I both knew she couldn't try to hide anywhere. I had stayed here so many times that I could find my way around with a blindfold on. She just stopped right in the middle of her living room and was looking at me with terrified eyes. I approached her slowly and Michael and Lincoln were right behind me.

"Melanie I can explain."

"You're not a hostage, are you?" she interrupted.

I closed my mouth unsure of what to say. It was pretty obvious that I wasn't doing anything against my will, but that didn't mean I went along with the entire escape. She was just standing there waiting for my answer and I heard Lincoln grunt in pain.

"Look Melanie, I promise you I will explain everything, but for right now can he sit down?" I said gesturing to Lincoln.

Her eyes widened and she looked past me to Lincoln and Michael.

"They aren't here to hurt you, we just needed a safe place to help Lincoln," I said.

She looked at me and nodded her head. Michael quickly brought Lincoln over and rested him onto the couch. He propped his leg up and started lifting up his pant leg. Michael started rattling off supplies he would need and I hurriedly stepped into the kitchen. Melanie was too afraid to be in the other room alone and followed me. I was busy grabbing towels, pain killers, and some alcohol that I nearly ran her over.

"What the hell is going on?" she hissed.

I didn't answer her, and instead moved past her to hand the stuff to Michael. They had Lincoln's pants rolled up and the bullet wound was pretty nasty and he was bleeding everywhere. I squatted down so I was resting next to Michael.

"How bad is it?" I asked.

"If we don't tend to it now, then we won't make it out of Illinois."

I sucked in my breath. That was not good news. I knew that Michael was no Dr. Tancredi, but hopefully he was smart enough to figure out how to help Lincoln.

"LANEY!" Melanie shouted.

The three of us looked over at her with shocked expressions. Melanie wasn't one to typically raise her voice and be upset about, so when she did I knew that something was seriously wrong. I stood up immediately and took her by the hand leading her into the hallway. I knew that she wanted answers, but now was not the time to spill everything that had happened. She started pulling against me and I let go of her wrist.

"Why are you with them?" she asked.

"It's not like it sounds. I tried to stop them in Fox River I did."

"You should have stopped them the moment you found out about it," she hissed.

I rolled my eyes. Worrying about what I should have done was not going to fix anything now.

"They did take me as a hostage out of the prison originally, but when they all went their separate ways I stayed behind with Michael and Lincoln."

"Why?"

"I felt like I had too. Something is going on and Lincoln's case is so suspicious. I felt like they needed my help in figuring it all out."

"Well you can't do that Laney, you are a federal agent for Christ's sake. What would your father say?"

"I stopped caring what my father would say a while ago. I'm sorry I brought you into this, but please you can't say anything."

She watched me for a moment, I guess she was trying to decide whether to trust me or not. We had been through so much together, and when she finally let out a sigh I knew that she wasn't going to say anything. Hey, we were best friends for a reason.

"You look like shit," she admitted with a smile.

I grinned and gave her a light push. I told her to let me take a shower and she could ask the guys anything she wanted. I could tell that made her nervous, but she agreed. I jumped for joy with the idea of getting to take a decent shower and put on clean clothes. I stepped into her bathroom and shut the door behind me. Instantly, I was hit with the smell of apple blossoms. Melanie loved this scent and had tons of candles spread all over the house. I moved across the bathroom and noticed the light green picture frame sitting on top of the toilet. It was a picture of Melanie and me standing on top of a cliff that we had spent the whole day climbing. I remembered that day fondly because we had just graduated high school and we wanted to take a trip before we started college. I lifted the picture frame and looked at our younger selves briefly. I moved over to the shower and turned the water on. I let the water run under my fingers until I approved of the temperature and turned the shower on. I proceeded to remove my clothing. It proved more difficult than I anticipated because my clothes were caked with mud and blood. I was able to pry my shirt and pants off and was left standing in my undergarments.

I slowly started moving in circles assessing the damage done to my body. I was covered in bruises and scrapes, and there was dried blood everywhere. The sad part was I couldn't even remember what bruises came from where. I slipped off my bra and panties and stepped into the shower. The warm water was like heaven on my body. It was massaging my bruises as I ran my fingers through my hair. I had lost count of the last time I had really washed my hair. The prison shower just never did the job. I looked at her shampoos and soaps and it was all scented of brown sugar and vanilla. All the different scents filled up the bathroom as I finished the rest of my shower. When I turned off the water and lifted back the curtain I noticed a clean towel and fresh clothes resting on the sink.

I was excited to be able to wear something besides a prison uniform. I dried off as best I could and quickly slipped on my black undergarments. I slid the light jeans up onto my hips, and lucky for me Melanie and I were practically the same size. I lifted the soft, cotton white tank top over my head and pulled it down over my torso. I ran a comb through my hair and it was already starting to curl at my shoulder. Finally for the first time in weeks, I was satisfied with my appearance and I walked out the door.