It was so good to sleep! Michael let all of his worries, fears and pain drift away as he slept solidly for six hours until lights out at ten pm. While he lay there surrounded by the sounds of the prison he dreamed of happier times; of his eighth birthday when his mom had made him a birthday cake and Veronica and Lincoln had been there with him. He dreamed about his first kiss with Kate Lewis and of his night out after graduating from Layola; alcohol, women, and friends. Warm memories that made him feel a little less like finding the nearest shank and falling upon the blade.
That was until he was rudely awoken at approximately ten-fifteen by the feeling of a hard male body pressing down upon his own. Michael was panicked knowing it must be T-Bag and he screamed on instinct however T-Bag's hand quickly covered his mouth while he made 'shushing' sounds to calm Michael down.
Using techniques taught to him by his therapist Michael calmed himself and tried to block out the uncomfortable hardness of T-Bag's arousal as it pressed into Michael's abdomen. Instead he looked around the room, noticing how dark it was and that the sheet was hung up. Eventually he had no choice but to look at T-Bag again and now he saw a shank in the older man's hands. Michael's panic returned and he tried bucking to get the man of him and twisting away from him but T-Bag's grip held.
"Now, now, Pretty. Don't want you to hurt yourself. Just calm on right down and this will go easy for you. But if you keep struggling like that I'm just gonna be forced to take violent measures to ensure your co-operation. See while your big brother was in here and when you were the mastermind of our escape you were guaranteed some protection, now the Sink's gone and gotten himself exonerated you are left here all alone at my mercy. And you had better pray that I be feeling merciful, Pretty, because you have led me on a merry chase and I'm not in the mood for no more running around. Y'hear me?" T-Bag asked, his Alabama accent even more pronounced as he whispered in the night.
Michael nodded against the rough palm and T-Bag grinned. "Now shut the hell up so we can get on with this. Besides, I'm gone tomorrow this is my last chance and I'm gonna make it worth every bit of pain and frustration you have caused me, Michael Scofield."
Michael held on to those words 'gone tomorrow' as he felt the paedophile violate and take his disgusting pleasure from his body. By morning Michael was bruised and bloody but not visibly wounded anywhere that couldn't be covered up by his long sleeved tee and trousers. T-Bag left the cell with a smile that let the whole prison know what he had been up to last night – as if they hadn't already hard Michael's soft pleases for him to 'stop' and T-Bag's satisfied groans and grunts. Michael limped his way to the Mess after Bellick had threatened to take him to see Sara if he was so 'ill' he couldn't leave his cell, and Sucre wouldn't meet his eyes when they found themselves in the cue together.
But Michael made sure to stop in front of Cell 40 after breakfast to say "no hard feelings, Sucre. I really do wish you the best." Before making his way over to cell 29. Thankfully T-Bag was having a shower that morning so Michael knew he had about half an hour before he would have to face the man Then there was visitation and Veronica and Lincoln had promised to come see him – a sort of 'we won't forget you even though you are stuck rotting in jail' kind of visit. But at least the two hours would give him a break from Gen Pop. After that it would be an hour to wait before a visit to see Sara – Dr Tancredi – for insulin (even though he didn't need it he could hardly stop now she believed he had diabetes) and then only a few hours until PI and he would be rid of T-Bag and C-Note and Abruzzi forever. Unless they got caught.
When Michael arrived in the visitation room he saw only Veronica sitting there with no sign of Lincoln. Michael squashed his disappointment and went to sit down next to V. He gave her a hug and they parted, V sitting with legs crossed and her palms flat on the table as a sign of her determination not to exhibit any body language but just by looking into her emotive eyes Michael could tell she had bad news, news which she knew he would no react well to.
"Hey, Veronica, you look good." He said despite the fact he had seen her yesterday – albeit from afar as she picked up Lincoln after he had been released.
"Well Linc's been looking after me." She said, a genuine smile graced her face. "How are you holding up?" She asked, concern wiping the dreaming smile away.
"Fine. Good. I actually slept yesterday. It's been a while since I've slept that well. Now my… plans have changed." Michael said, gently letting her know he had called off the escape. He knew that she had had an inkling of his plans and he figured Lincoln must have filled her in on the rest when relief swept through her eyes.
"That's' good, Michael, really good. I'm glad." She reached out and took his hand in hers, squeezing tight.
"V… where…. Where is my brother?" Michael asked, looking at their hands instead of in her eyes.
Veronica blinked away the moisture in her eyes. "Um, he couldn't make it today. He's with LJ. You know because his hearing is in a few days and he wanted some time together before to prepare him. Uh, he said to say hi for him and he sends his love. He might be by next week after LJ's hearing." Veronica had spent almost two hours arguing with Lincoln and trying to persuade him to come and see his brother. After everything Michael had put himself through; all in the name of brotherly love, he surely deserved that. But Lincoln wouldn't come and Veronica wasn't sure if it was out of a genuine desire to spend as much time with his son as possible (not that V was doubting Linc's love for LJ just that he was already devoting every waking hour to LJ, it would hardly kill him to spend an hour with Michael!) or fear because of all the pain and suffering that he associated with Fox River. But whatever the reason she knew it wasn't because of Michael, Lincoln still loved his brother and Veronica just wished she could make Michael believe that but when she looked into his blue eyes all she saw reflecting back at her was a boy who had been abandoned by loved ones too often to have any self-worth or faith left. Having Lincoln exonerated must feel like being abandoned all over again.
"I understand," Michael said softly, "it can't be an easy task to walk back into the prison that almost took your life just the day before. I'll see him next week. Tell LJ 'good luck' and I love him, will you?" Michael asked and Veronica nodded. He left no message for Lincoln.
The hour passed away with news about LJ and his trial, about the agent working on exposing the Company and about Veronica who admitted she had big hopes for her and Lincoln now he was a free man. Soon enough Veronica was gone leaving Michael feeling hollow. The time between visitation and his visit to see Dr Tancredi passed without Michael noticing and suddenly he was sat on a 'bed' face to face with Sara who was dabbing at his arm in preparation for an insulin shot.
"Michael? Michael?" Her voice sounded like it was coming from far away but it broke him out of his head where he seemed to have withdrawn from the world.
"Yeah?" He asked and allowed his eyes to be drawn to what Sara was looking at. It seemed that T-Bag hadn't been as careful as Michael had though he had and had cut his arm in a jagged shape that kind of resembled a 'P'. P for Pretty. P for prison. P for Property.
Michael looked away from the mark. It wasn't a deep wound and Michael didn't know why Sara was looking so concerned.
She got up and brought more cotton wool over and cleaned the wound. "You're gonna get yourself killed in here if you aren't more careful." She said – almost tearfully.
Michael looked away from her. "I know." He said, his voice flat.
The hours passed in a daze for Michael until the call fro PI came and he refused to answer. Bellick started to drag him out telling him he couldn't pick and chose when he felt like working or not, so he did went. He followed the others out into the shed and watched with guilt making his heart heavy as they uncovered the hole and prepared to leave. One more time he tried to stop them, appealing to their better nature. But if they had had a 'better nature' before prison, it was certainly gone by now.
"I told you long time ago, Fish, what would happen to you if you tried to get between me and me getting out of here." Abruzzi said.
"Hey – wait a sec, I mean –" Sucre babbled as Abruzzi closed in on Michael, who opened his mouth to shout for the guards. Unfortunately he hadn't seen C-Note sneaking up behind him and this gave the black man a chance to gag him with his hand.
"Go and keep watch, Sucre." Abruzzi ordered and threw the Puerto Rican man out. T-Bag swaggered back inside and all three of the men started in on Michael – however reluctantly C-Note joined in – punching and kicking until Michael spat blood onto the floor and fell down, unconscious.
"""
When he woke up it was to Sara's voice telling him he was going to be alright and blinding pain in his side where one of them had cracked his rib. The alarm was blaring making his head feel as if it was going to split open. He threw-up on the floor near Sara's feet and lay back down, welcoming the darkness and oblivion.
"""
"You have got to understand how bad this looks, Dr Tancredi!" The sound of the Warden's voice lured Michael back into the realm of the living. It must have been hours after the attack. It was dark outside and the alarm – which he was eighty percent sure hadn't been a hallucination – had stopped. The pain in his side, in his head, and elsewhere had quieted to a throbbing thanks to a variety of drugs that Sara had pumped him full of. For that he was truly grateful. However the side effect was that he felt drowsy and numb, unable to move or talk yet.
"Warden, with all due respect he was beaten bloody until he was unconscious. He obviously was planning on stopping the others from escaping, not joining them!" Sara argued on his behalf.
"Well, that really isn't for you to say now is it, Sara? Just let the CO's and the FBI do the investigating and you patch him up." Warden Pope told Sara.
"""
Twenty-four hours later Michael – who could now stand on his own two feet by himself – was stood in front of Pope's desk hearing the outcome of the initial investigation.
"Now obviously this is just the preliminary findings but at the moment it looks like you knew about the escape and probably helped if not orchestrated it yourself. After all the hole was found in your old cell and in the room where you were working PI so you must have known about it. And if you want my opinion then you are the only one with any intelligence to pull this off in the first place! Which is not praise, believe me. After all, I trusted you Michael, and not only have you made me look a fool but you have also allowed three prisoners to walk free!" Pope finished, his volume had risen so he had practically yelled the last sentence. His face was red and his eyes cold.
"Three?" Michael questioned, hoping Sucre had had the sense to back out before it had been too late.
"Yes. John Abruzzi, Benjamin Christopher Franklin, and Fernando Sucre made it passed the boarder of Illinois. Theodore Bagwell was apprehended just a mile out of Joliet after having been beaten himself. But they aren't important right now. They are the FBI's problem now. You are my problem. You must realise how serious the situation is, Michael. The best you can hope for in this case is that they don't add more than ten years to your sentence. And even if that is all that the judge sees fit to add then there is still the fact you will have to serve fifteen years. Fifteen years for a man like you in a place like this will not be easy. I understand from Dr Tancredi's report that you have already suffered at the hands of other prisoners; beaten and raped, and they were the ones you thought you could trust! You may even jet transferred to another facility. After all you tries to escape once, nothing to say you won't do it again! But until your trial is called I am sending you to the SHU. I have to tell you Michael I am really disappointed in you."
Once Michael had been literally dragged off to solitary and shut away inside that dark cell the true meaning of the last forty-eight hours sunk in.
Escapees… raped… Sara knew… beaten… Linc free… fifteen years… unable to get visitors… Linc hadn't wanted to see him… T-Bag was still in Fox River… Sucre on the run… Abruzzi free to terrorise more individuals… Linc hadn't wanted to see him… LJ on trial for murder… Veronica with Lincoln now… Michael still in Fox River… Possible transfer… Transfer away from Lincoln, giving him even more of an excuse to forget Michael…
"I put my blood into this."
He reached to his arm – the P shape burned his flesh – he reopened the wound making it deeper.
"I put my blood into this."
He felt around and finally found his way deep enough into his skin to reach at the black pill he had hidden in his skin. He took it out and swallowed it quickly. It wouldn't kill him but added to asphyxiation and the Pugnac he had been taking to fake Diabetes, it would do the trick. He ripped his shirt of and tied it around his neck pulling tight as he started to jerk with the affects of the pill.
"I put my blood into this." He said, before the pain receded and he slipped away.