"No, it shouldn't. I need to hear you say it."

"Then to be clear, I love you, Sara. Don't ever doubt it." He gave her an exquisitely tender kiss. "I love you." His eyes filled with tears as he stroked her hair.

He slowly pulled out of her and then drew her close to him again. "I hope it was... okay?"

"Seriously, Michael? That was way better than okay!"

He touched her cheek. "What I meant was ..." he glanced down at himself "...without a condom."

"When did we ever use those?" she asked him pointedly. "Forget it. I would not have allowed you to wear a condom!"

"I just thought... " he paused, as if he were loathe to bring it up "...uh, birth control?"

Sara heard a question that lay unspoken between them: Why hadn't she had another baby?

"I'm sorry, Sara. I guess I should have said something earlier."

"Michael..."

He watched her face, waiting.

She continued softly, "You and I never practiced, or discussed, contraception. Have you ever wondered about that?"

"Well, we were... under extreme duress. It seemed like you got pregnant before we even had time to think about it."

"I thought about it," she confessed. "I could have said something, or done something. But I didn't..." she shrugged, "because, I guess... I wanted it to happen?"

Michael stroked her hair and closed his eyes.

"Not that I was consciously aware of it."

He remained silent, letting her tell him.

"Taking that pregnancy test," she grimaced, "...waiting for the result, that was harder than waiting for any grade in medical school!"

He looked at her and smiled, his eyes full of tears.

"It was absolutely terrifying! But...your baby? I prayed for it to come out positive!" She paused. "I wasn't trying to trap you into anything..."

"Of course you weren't. You don't have to tell me that."

"Maybe it was because I was afraid I'd lose you? Because very damn day felt like it might be our last? Getting pregnant then was euphoric and frightening. All I know is, that Mike," she drew in a deep breath, "he ...is the most incredible gift you could ever have given me!" Her lips quivered. "He's so like you it's uncanny!"

Michael's own eyes were overflowing. "I don't even know him, and I love him."

Sara laid her palm against Michael's cheek. "Mike saved my life. I mean that literally. After you were gone, I..." Her voice trailed off. "Conceiving our baby was the luckiest 'accident' I've ever had, and if we...if it happens again, nothing would make me happier."

Michael sighed with relief. "More than anything, I want to make you happy, Sara! And Mike too, when we get to know each other."

"You will! We'll get our boy back, together." She squeezed his bicep and grinned at him. "Being with you makes me feel stronger."

"Being with you makes me feel like my bones are melting. I'm still shaking! I wonder if I'll be able to stand up!"

Sara laughed. "It restores me, somehow, being together with you like this." She stroked his bare chest. "You know?"

"Can I get back to you on that in the morning? I'm all done in." He gave her a slow kiss and then said earnestly, "I didn't mean to rush this, tonight... I just wanted to make you feel better."

"And you did," she responded with a contented sigh. "You have no idea!"

"I think, maybe I do," he told her softly.

"Aside from the fact that you're kind of cute..." she smiled at him, and then her voice turned serious, "I won't take a single day for granted, Michael. When I think of all the times I wanted you and couldn't have you..."

"I'll make it up to you. You know I'm putty in your hands when you play your doctor card on me." He stroked her arm with his fingertips. "So, were you planning to seduce me when you started with the coconut oil?"

Sara feigned an indignant tone. "Seduce you? Michael, I'll have you know I am a trained professional."

"Uh huh. Where did you say you went to medical school, again?" he teased her.

Sara patted his cheek. "Enough! My patient needs to rest now."

"Whatever you say, Dr. Scofield. Treat me with any therapy you find necessary. My life is in your hands."

Sara pulled the sheet and comforter up over them and settled herself, satisfied and grateful, against Michael's warm, naked body. "I will, as long as you promise me this: now that you're home, you will stay home."

Michael wrapped his arms around Sara and kissed her. "I'm almost home," he corrected her. "Tomorrow, when we have our son back, then I will be home."

As the morning light seeped faintly through the loft window, Sara opened her eyes, wondering for a split second where she was. Then she felt Michael's solid warmth pressed up against her. Last night hadn't been a dream. A tear rolled down her cheek. She inched away from Michael slowly so as not to wake him, but he reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Don't go! Lie here with me, just a minute longer."

She turned back to him and kissed the top of his head. "Good morning, cupcake," she murmured. "That was quite a wedding night... delayed by a few years."

"It was worth waiting for," he told her.

"How did you sleep?"

"Like a dead man," he answered in a groggy voice. "Did you drug me?"

Sara smiled. "The antidote is coffee. There's a bag in the kitchen. Would you like me to make us some?"

"I can make it. Come here." Michael wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "We have a busy day ahead of us. Today I confront Jacob face-to-face, and we get our son back. It's bound to be intense. Are you ready for this?"

Sara nodded. "I can't wait to see Mike. My patience is all gone!" Then she asked him, "When are we meeting Whip and T-Bag?"

"What time is it now?"

Sara glanced at her watch. "Nearly six-thirty."

"I arranged for us to meet them at eight o'clock. It's early, but there's still a lot of planning left to do." He kissed her then and got up. As Michael dressed, Sara stood and gazed out the loft window at the morning sunlight filtering low through the trees, mentally steeling herself for what lay ahead. Trying not to worry, anxious to have Mike safe in her arms again.

"What a beautiful sight!" Michael exclaimed in awe.

She glanced over her shoulder at him and then returned to looking at the woods outside the cabin. "It looks like it's going to be a nice spring day, here in upstate New York..." she replied, her thoughts on Mike.

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her still-naked body, planting a tender kiss on the back of her neck. "I'm looking at you, Sara. You're...very distracting. Be a good girl for me now and put your clothes on," he said in a soft voice, "while I go make you a cup of coffee."

As Michael descended the ladder to the kitchen, Sara dressed and made the bed, hoping Mike was safe, mentally sending him her love, anticipating the moment when she would see him again.

They sat close together on the sofa and looked out the windows at the beautiful spring morning, nervously sipping coffee. When it was time to go, they stood and wrapped their arms around each other, holding on tight. "Are you ready, sweetheart?" he asked her. "Let's do this!" she exclaimed.

They arrived at the warehouse and while they waited for Whip and T-Bag, Michael promised an anxious Sara that they would soon have Mike back. They didn't have to wait long before Whip and T-Bag strolled in, speaking to each other in loud profanities, looking as restless as racehorses in the starting blocks. Whip embraced Michael with what looked to Sara like real affection and she imagined him as the younger brother Michael had never had. What, she wondered, had they endured together in prison? T-Bag paced back and forth, smiling nervously.

Just then, Lincoln appeared in the doorway, looking only a little the worse for wear for having been shot and then walking out of the hospital against medical advice. "Linc! Where have you been?" Michael asked him. Sara hugged him and exclaimed, "You amaze me, Lincoln! I hope Mike inherited your stamina!"

Michael briefed them all on his plans for the day, discussing their individual assignments, and then he got behind the wheel. Whip and T-Bag would be going with him to meet with someone Michael called "Blue Hawaii," and then on to his rendezvous with Jacob. Michael carried the hard drives he had taken from Jacob's office, his bargaining chip to exchange for Mike. Sara's job was to go with Lincoln to the university, find Mike and get him back. Suddenly, Sara jumped from Lincoln's car. "Michael, wait!" she yelled as she ran to his SUV.

He stopped and turned his head toward the window. Sara leaned in and told him, "I have a message I want you to deliver." She spoke quietly into his ear, then said aloud, "Please be careful." She kissed him. "I love you."

Michael raised his eyebrows and smiled back at her. "I love you too, Sara."

Finally, after four years of hell, Michael's moment of confrontation with his nemesis had arrived. He stood across from Jacob, ready to put an end to their rivalry. As they stared each other down, Michael said casually, "Oh, before I forget, Sara asked me to deliver a message to you."

Jacob seemed taken aback but he raised his chin defiantly, a smug look on his face. Michael smiled sardonically back at him and spoke in an icy voice. "She wants you to know... she slept with her husband last night."

Jacob glared at Michael and clenched his teeth in fury. For an instant, a glimmer of indignation flashed in his eyes, a sign that he had been unsettled. Michael understood that Sara had given him a way to throw Jacob off his game. And now, he was going to beat him.