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"Michael?" Sara asked softly. "Are you awake?" After a long, silent moment, Michael confirmed that he was. "I'm sorry for how I treated you earlier. For the things I said."

"It's all right." Michael replied, after a brief hesitation. "Try and get some sleep."

Sara ignored him, and sat up. "You asked me if my father gave me anything. He didn't. But I found this, in my purse a couple days before we met up. I think it might be what you're looking for." She said, pulling a portable USB computer chip out of her jeans pocket. Sara handed it to Michael, who was laying on the couch. Michael examined it briefly, before setting it on a small table.

"We'll look at it in the morning." He decided. Sara nodded, and laid back down on the bed. A few minutes later, Michael spoke again.

"Sara?"

"Hmm?"

"What happened in Gila?"

Sara shut her eyes against the memories that had suddenly come flooding back. Images of what Lance had done to her-electrocuting her, nearly drowning her, jumping out of the window, stitching her arm herself-flashed quickly before her eyes. Suddenly all the scrapes and bruises she'd accumulated then hurt again, as though they were still fresh.

"Sara?"

"His name wasn't Lance. Not Lance. And he wasn't an addict." Sara said, voice dull.

"Who wasn't?"

"He said he was, after the breakout. I had to go to N.A., and he was there. I guess I thought he was sort of my friend. But he wasn't. He was a federal agent. I ran away, because I knew my father hadn't committed suicide: he'd been murdered. And then they were after me."

"Your father died?"

"Yeah."

"Sara, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks." There was a pause. "They were trying to kill me too, so I ran. I ran to Gila, to you. Like I said in the bar, your plan wasn't what I had in mind, so I was leaving. And then I realized... I realized that I couldn't leave you." Sara paused to rub her eyes. "When I got out of the car, he was there. Not Lance." She stopped again. As she told this all to Michael, it seemed to become more real again.

Michael perceived this, and stood up. He strode slowly over to the bed and sat down next to Sara. As she started to speak again, Michael rubbed small circles on the palm of her hand with his thumb.

Sara was talking faster now. "He had a gun, so I did what he said. He took me inside a hotel room, said he wanted something my father had given me. I didn't know what he meant, but he didn't believe me. So he brought me into the bathroom, filled the tub, and-" She broke off as her voice became too full of emotion to continue.

Michael pulled Sara gently into his arms, and rubbed her back supportively. "What happened then, Sara?" He asked gently.

Sara took a deep, shaky breath. "He tried to drown me. He electrocuted me." She said. Her eyes were scrunched shut, but several tears leaked out anyway. She didn't bother to wipe them away. Michael's arms tightened around her. "A man came to the door; I don't know what he wanted, but Not Lance went to talk to him. While he was gone, I escaped. I jumped out the window, and landed on a car windshield." Michael inhaled sharply at this. "Oh, no, really, if you're falling a long ways, you want to land on a windshield. It breaks your fall." She assured him. "I read it somewhere once. The windshield shatters, but it keeps you alive. And then I ran."

"That's what the stitches are from?" Sara nodded. "You didn't do them yourself, did you?"

"I'm a doctor, Michael."

"Still..." Michael paused, trying to absorb all of this. "Sara?"

"Hmm?"

"Last night... you said to ignore the bruises."

"Yeah." Sara answered after hesitating.

"Let me see." Michael ordered, now concerned. Sara glanced up at him. He nodded reassuringly. She straightened, and removed her t-shirt, leaving her white wifebeater on. This exposed a variety of half-healed cuts and bruises. After a brief hesitation, Sara lifted the tank top to her ribs, exposing dark bruises on her abdomen. "Damn!" Michael swore furiously. He stood up and began to pace angrily. "Son of a bitch..."

"Michael..."

"Sara, I'm so sorry this happened."

"I know, Michael. I know."

"Sara..." He breathed her name desperately.

"It's all right. It's all in the past." She insisted.

"Sara."

"Michael."

Michael came back over to her, and kissed her softly on the lips. He kissed her gently for several minutes, not wanting to hurt her. Michael rolled, and laid down next to her. Michael was almost asleep when Sara spoke again. "Mike?"

"Hmm?"

"I was a bitch today. I'm sorry."

Michael smiled faintly. "You've been through a lot. You're allowed to act like a bitch every now and then."

"Ay, is a little sleep too much to ask for?" Sucre asked, from several feet away in another bed. "What're you talking about that can't wait until morning?"

"We'll stop talking." Michael promised.

"I don't wanna hear nothin' else, neither." Sucre added, shuddering at the memories from the night before.

"Good night, Sucre." Sara said in an attempt to get them to stop arguing. She was suddenly exhausted. It had taken a lot out of her to explain everything to Michael.

"G'night Doc, Papi." Sucre replied. Michael shook his head at the sheer weirdness of the situation, before saying goodnight also.

"Make sure you get a-"

"Pair of sunglasses and a hat, yes, I know." Kate finished, smirking. They had gone over this plan at least half a dozen times since Lincoln had first suggested it.

"Oh, and don't try anything on. It'll take too long and it'll draw too much attention."

"Linc, it'll draw less attention if I do try some stuff on. I won't take forever, I promise."

Lincoln frowned, mulling this over before shrugging. "Okay. Remember. In five minutes, you go in. We'll meet back up in shoes." He said, opening his door. Kate nodded, and Lincoln got out of the car. He quickly made his way across the parking lot and into the store. They had decided that they needed a change of clothes. For one thing, Lincoln didn't have a shirt, only a jacket, since Kate was still wearing his, but also because their clothes would identify them. So Lincoln had located a store in a small, out-of-the-way town, and they had made their plan.

This came after spending the past two days talking, about anything and everything. Lincoln had continued to be reluctant to discuss Fox River and the circumstances surrounding his charges, and after a little prodding, Kate had given up and talked about something else. As a result of all this discussion, she felt like she'd known Lincoln for years, rather than the week that she actually had. She didn't know if Lincoln felt the same, but she did know that she felt like she'd told him about her entire life in that time.

In the store five minutes later, Kate quickly strode to the women's department, waving off any salespeople. She selected several garments almost immediately, and went into the dressing room, knowing that they were short on time.

"Kate?" Lincoln called a few minutes later.

Kate sighed. "What?"

"Are you almost ready?"

"Yeah, just give me a second." She replied. For a moment, Kate felt like she wasn't shopping for clothes to prevent them from being recognized and captured, but as though she was just at a mall with a man, who was being a typical guy and being impatient.

Outside the fitting room, Lincoln leaned against a wall. "It doesn't have to be perfect, you know." He remarked as the seconds ticked by and Kate didn't come out.

"I know." Kate replied, rolling her eyes. Shortly after, she walked out of the stall carrying a small stack of clothes. Kate set most of it on a rack outside, holding on to a pair of jeans, along with a t-shirt and a tank top. "Okay, let's..." She trailed off. Lincoln turned around to see what the source of her distress was, and saw that a small squad of police had entered the store. After speaking briefly with an employee, they began to fan out across the store, undoubtably searcing for Lincoln and Kate.

Lincoln swore. He grabbed Kate's arm and led her back into the fitting room, past the stalls, to a door labeled "Supplies". He twisted the nob, but quickly saw it was locked and swore again.

"Let me." Kate said, sliding in between Lincoln and the door. There was the sound of a key twisting, and then the door swung open.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked, glancing back over his shoulder to see if anyone was coming.

"I grabbed it off the attendant's desk when I saw the police." Kate answered, shifting guiltily. Lincoln shrugged; after everything he saw in Fox River, this minor thievery didn't even make it unto his radar. Kate returned the keys to the desk, and stepped inside. Lincoln quickly followed.

The room was pitch black, but from what Kate could tell, the small space was already crowded with various things. She made to step a little away from Lincoln, but accidentally knocked into a shelf, so instead she opted to just hold still.

"What's in there?" A voice outside asked a few moments later, muffled by the door.

"Just supplies, officer. Mops, disinfectant, the usual."

"Open it up."

"Sir, there's nobody in there. The keys haven't left this desk all day. See, here they are." There was the sound of keys jingling.

"Hmm. Okay, carry on."

Only now did either Kate or Lincoln dare to breath again. Obviously, they still had to stay in the closet for a few more minutes, until the police had left the building, but it seemed that they were out of danger for the time being. "There's gotta be a damn light switch here somewhere..." Lincoln muttered, feeling along the wall by the door with one hand.

For no particular reason, at this moment, Kate become very aware of how close they were standing to each other, close enough that he could feel his body heat, that she could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck everytime he exhaled, and suddenly that was enough to make her heart speed up. Even though it should have been the last thing on her mind right, all she could do was wonder what it would be like to kiss Lincoln Burrows.

Through this daze, she realized that her right foot had fallen asleep where it was wedged between two boxes. Kate shifted, and turned carefully so she was facing him, but still managed to accidentally slam her forehead into a shelf. She inhaled sharply, which caused Lincoln to turn his attention away from the lights to her.

"You okay?" He asked, unconciously placing a hand on her arm just above her elbow to steady her.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." She replied slowly. His action had an adverse effect: the physical contact was making her rather dizzy, as though she was floating.

"Are you sure?"

"Uh huh." Kate said. "I just hit my head..."

"Oh."

Suddenly the lights flashed on, as Lincoln's other hand had found the switch. Kate's face turned a rather unflattering shade of pink as she realized just how close his mouth was to her own, only about an inch separating them. For a moment, they stood frozen, both too surprised to move away, but neither brave enough to close the gap. Then Lincoln cleared his throat awkwardly. "We should go." He said softly, staring intently at her.

"Go?" Kate echoed.

Lincoln nodded. "Go." He stepped away from her, breaking the spell of the moment, and pulled open the door. After checking to be sure that there were no police or employees around, Lincoln stepped out of the closet. He held the door open while Kate followed more slowly, and then shut it quietly. "If we leave now, we might be able to avoid being spotted."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." She snatched up a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap, and turned to Lincoln. "Here, give me your stuff. You go wait in the car, and I'll pay." She offered. Lincoln considered this for a moment, and then nodded.

"Stupid cops... come in, scare all the customers..." The clerk was muttering angrily under his breath as Kate approached. She gave him a small, sympathetic smile before ducking her head slightly to prevent him from getting a good look at her face. "Sorry 'bout them. They said they'd already checked all the hotels in town, but wouldn't even tell us what they were looking for."

"Mmm. Thanks." Kate said, picking up the bag and walking away.

Lincoln had pulled the car up to the entrance, to prevent Kate from having to walk unprotected across the parking lot. She quickly got in. "So I figure we'll drive for a couple hours tonight before stopping." Lincoln said. Kate glanced out the window, at the setting sun.

"The cashier said the police had already searched the hotels here." She said.

Lincoln thought about this for a moment, before shrugging. "We could find somewhere now, I guess."

"Your call."

"Let's stop, then. I'm tired, you've got to be tired. Let's just stop." Lincoln said, glancing over at her briefly. Kate looked up from sorting their purchases in time to catch him looking at her. They stayed like that for a moment, looking at each other, transfixed. Finally Lincoln cleared his throat and started to drive away.

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