A place to start ...

Michael, Sara and Linc are still on the run and sharing a motel-room for the night. The brothers have a much needed conversation. Linc has a few words with Sara and finally Sara and Michael have a little heart to heart. Answers are exchanged. Mostly Sara POV.

Spoilers for 2x16 Chicago and goes AU after that...The story assumes their day ends after Michael and Sara go into the Cigar Club. Then they head towards their motel...

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from 'prison break' are properties of Paul Scheuring in association with 20th Century Fox Television. No copyright infringement intended.

PART 2

'Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.' – Martin Luther King

I tried my best to look very nonchalant but I couldn't help myself stealing a glance at Michael to see how he had taken the conversation with Linc. He looked very tired indeed and had his very intense look on his face which could only mean he was thinking about something, contemplating or making another one of his plans. I was guessing it was the second. When he saw me enter the bedroom again, he looked straight at me and couldn't conceal a very appreciative look going up and down my body which made my whole spine shiver with excitement. I was holding the cuts on my arm loosely with the old bandage trying to get a new one from my handbag. Michael, of course, didn't need any encouragement and stepped up to the rescue.

'Here, let me help you with that' He took the new bandage out of my hand and positioned himself on the bedcovers. 'Why don't you sit down and let me do it?'

I gave him a bit of a smile and sat down next to him.

'Need anything on those wounds or some more cleaning?' He asked while holding my arm and examining it up close.

'No, it should be fine with the bandage covering the wound'

'Ok, then talk me through it, Doc' He said almost teasingly. He set to the task with as much vigour as a three-year old drawing their favourite hero. To me, it felt like I had been given an indulgance: seeing Michael so free and so unconcerned was quite the change from the man with a plan. I gave him the instructions and he managed to bandage my arm like a fully trained doctor. He looked quite proud of it actually. As I followed every one of his movements and observed him taking care of me, I felt like this man was more dangerous for me than the whole of the company. He looked up at me when he was done with a real smile on his face as he started rubbing the lower part of my arm with his fingers. As I felt his eyes bore into mine, I looked back at him... no barriers. Happy that our intermezzo in the train didn't leave any uneasiness lingering between us. I was mesmerized by his look and felt each and every part of me relax into his touch as I lowered my head to touch his with mine. He breathed in the smell of me and closed his eyes.

'Sara' he murmered and I could feel his hot breath on my face, feel the vibrations of his deep voice ripple through me. What this man could do to me... Could it be that I could do as much to him? Could it be that this complicated, beautiful, passionate man was really in love with me? My mind drifted back to the afternoon...

"Sara, about before..." I didn't see it coming of course, fidgeting with my hair trying to look descent and not get caught and look casual and then "Me too." He said it. Said he was in love with me as I had admitted to him earlier in the train.

I felt a smile creep up my face, trying to let him know without words how much this moment meant to me. He chuckled back, touching my cheek with his fingers, so lightly.

'Me too' he said again, looking me straight in the eye. That gaze could undo me. In fact, I have come undone because of it. In more ways than one. Just as he had had the power to tear me apart, he was slowly but deliberatly and so carefully putting back the pieces of my heart one by one that I knew it had all been real.

I reached out to touch his cheek, felt the stubble there. I felt more than heard him swallow very deep before he took another deep breath and opened his eyes again to look at me.

'I should probably go take a shower and let you get some rest...'

It was more of a statement than a question. While everything in my body screamed at him to stay in this moment, I knew he was right. This wasn't the place, or the time...but it was a beginning, a reaffirmation, a closeness however short lasted that we both needed so desperatly.

Suddenly Lincoln stepped out of the bathroom, freshly showered. I hadn't even noticed him going in the bathroom. How long had we been sitting here like this together? Linc swung a towel at Michael.

'Better go take a shower before this dump runs out of hot water.' With his bare chest revealed, he rummaged through their duffle bag to dig up a 'fresh' t-shirt. 'Maybe Sara can take a look at your scrapes and bruizes afterwards' He said rather mischieviously, I thought.

Michael just smiled a broad smile at me and slowly let go of my arm as he got up to go to the bathroom. I followed him with my eyes and noticed the tiredness in his posture. Still in his eyes there had also been lightness. I wondered if my presence had comforted him, soothed his pain as his presence had mine. The door closed and the sound of the water tab did reach my ears this time. I exhaled loudly, finally feeling the fatigue seep back into my tense muscles.

'Urhm, Sara' Lincoln quitly interrupted my reverie.

'Yeah?' I quickly answered turning my face to him. He was leaning against the window frame in a very nonchalant way. Despite his posture, his look was quite tense.

'I don't want to come off like the big brother protecting the little one. This whole thing has been proof enough that the little one outweighs me in more ways than one but euh... I wanted to talk to you about Michael.' He gave me a shy look which for a moment made me feel very uncomfortable, just like being questioned by the 'big brother' actually.

But then he continued determined 'I don't know what exactly happened between you and him...Michael and I, well we don't often talk in that way...and under the circumstances...' He made a gesture in the air with his hands and got stuck on his words. He stared at the ground and then looked up, straight into my eyes. 'But I do know Michael...' He pauzed, looking in the direction of the bathroom which still expelled noises of water running. '...as well as you can get to know Michael at least'. He sighed, returning his gaze to the floor, looking for his next words. 'You know about his LLI?' He asked, looking up. 'A bit' I answered truthfully, still nervous, wondering where he was going with this.

'It makes Michael the extraordinary person that he is. He doens't see, feel or do things like normal people do, like you and I do.' He looked at me again.

'I guess normal people don't break their brothers out of prison huh?' I tried, not really knowing what he wanted me to say.

'It's hard for him to find a balance in just everyday life, he's only found some way of dealing with the LLI the last few years and that took him a lot of hard work. He's had a lousy childhood, he's used to dealing with a lot of crap and hardships... But what he's been going through lately... I can't begin to imagine what prize he's having to pay for it.'

I was getting worried. I realized after talking to Dr. ... how difficult Michael's condition must be to live with. How heavy the burden he had to carry must be. Had seen him after his breaking point; had seen how bad he could hurt himself. I'd been so caught up in my own misery that I hadn't really stopped to think about what all this must have been like for Michael. He made his choices in breaking out, yes...but he wasn't responsible for all the collateral damage. Even I understood that, even in my angriest moments. But Michael must feel responsible for every single bit of it. Jeezus...

'What are you saying Lincoln?' I asked. 'He's doing ok, right?' I added, scared that he might not be. I still needed him to be ok.

'I don't know Sara.' He looked at his feet. 'He's trying to hang in there, but how much pressure can one man really take? I don't know.'

He pauzed again, twisting with his hands. 'You know, before I got in...he had his life on the right track, did everything the way he was supposed to do it, the way he thought he was expected to. But I always felt like he wasn't happy. Like something was missing. Lost in his organized world that had no meaning, no purpose...'

His words surprized me, showed me an image of Michael I'd never considered before. I was shocked that Lincoln would be so open with me. Why was he telling me this?

'When I was convicted, Michael was so angry at me. He couldn't understand me. He had wanted to help me but we'd drifted apart. He took the good road up and I took the bad road down.' Lincoln smiled wryly. 'I don't know if you know this, but the reason Michael started this whole insane plan to break me out was guilt. Plane, simple, all consuming, never ending guilt.'

'Why?' I asked. I didn't understand.

'I had a lot of debt to pay off to some very wrong people. Money I loaned off of them to get Michael through school and college. I had always told him the money came from a life insurance our mother left both of us. He took his money and as you know put it to good use, whereas I made him believe I took mine just to drink and do drugs. I didn't though, I didn't have any money. The night I was supposedly caught for killing Steadman, I was doing a job for one of the guys I owed. They'd leave me alone if I did it cause there was no way I was ever going to be able to pay back the loan. I never wanted Michael to find out but eventually when I went to prison, Veronica told him the truth.'

'Oh my god' was all I could say...

'Yeah' Lincoln slowly added. 'For Michael, the need to make things right again, to save me from a fate I didn't deserve...in a very strange way, it gave him focus...made him able to put all his energy and genius at work. Ever since, I saw him changing as a person, you know? Like he'd somehow found his passion, his goal. Like he finally figured out how to make it all work. At first, I thought he might have found a girl or a promotion or whatever. I was happy for him. It only dawned on me what he was doing once I saw him on the inside of Fox River. By then, obviously, it was too late to stop him.'

I stared at him, at a loss for words.

'The reason I'm telling you this, Sara, is not because I want to defend what he did to you. He'll tell his story eventually. He'll give you the answers you need. Wether or not you can live with that and forgive him is up to you to decide. I'm telling you this because I want to help you understand him. I know that's hard. He's such a complex person. But you need to understand him.'

I was overwhelmed, like pieces of the puzzle were slowly starting to shift around. Lincoln sounded pleading...he sounded honest..

'Sara, it took me a while this time to figure it out but...what's keeping him going this time, now that we're out...it's not me.'

I looked up at him, surprized. He smiled.

'What he's dealing with now, especially with his LLI, it should have destroyed him weeks ago. I've seen it happen before... He doesn't sleep, he barely eats, has horrible nightmares when he does sleep...because of all the stress and the strain, he can't control his mind as good anymore. So the LLI kicks in and distorts everything. Like I said, he doens't see things or do things like normal people do...' He started walking towards me and sat down next to me on my bed, all the while observing me.

'He also doesn't love like normal people do. He's had girls, he dated of course. He was in it with his head, never his heart...But this time ...he's fallen in love with you. My guess would be for a while now. Despite his meticulate planning, in spite of what his head must have told him. From what I can tell, he's risked a lot for you, both on the inside and out, ...a lot. The passion I see in him now ...he's found that in knowing you and loving you. I think it's the only thing keeping him going now, keeping him sane. The only thing that's strong enough to fight his inner demons.'

I was stunned, my cheeks started to blush and I didn't know what to say. Lincoln was watching me again, wrinkling his hands.

'Do you love him?' He asked straightforward. In a heartbeat I looked up at him, into his eyes... The words tumbled out of my mind before I had time to think them through...

'I...I think I do. And it's the only thing that makes sense in any of this.' I was staring at my hands again, briefly thinking of how odd this conversation had turned out to be.

'Good' Lincoln said, looking very relieved at me with that half smile again that reminded me a bit of Michael. 'You'll both be fine then.'

The water had stopped running, signaling the end of Michael's shower and the end of this conversation ...

'Lincoln, thank you...for sharing this with me.' I softly said, looking away a bit embarrassed and still overwhelmed with everything that was said.

'You know, this is probably the most I've talked in years...' He laughed sincerely and then he hesitated, searching for words. 'Just wanted you to know that you're special to Michael. And I can't begin to tell you what that means to me. If you don't believe anything else, believe that he cares about you..like no other man can.' He added softly, giving me an encouraging smile.

I sat back on the bed. My mind was trying to process the conversation.