Disclaimer:: I think that just typing the word "disclaimer" is a pretty good indication that I don't own Prison Break...
"Okay. The good news is that I can ensure that a lot of people hear this." Bobby Rain said, entering the room. Sara lifted her head off of Michael's shoulder as he leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. Sucre stopped pacing, and turned to face the rest of the people in the room. Seeing Kellerman's body disappear had made him very reluctant to stay in the apartment.
"How?"
"I hack into major news databases-Fox, for one. I'll write an article explaining the clips, and put that and the clips on the website, for everybody to hear. Plus, I can make sure that these make the evening news reports on television across the nation." Bobby outlined his plan.
Michael nodded. "What's the bad news?"
"It won't be ready for at least a week."
"A week?" Michael repeated, surprised. Bobby nodded. Michael stood. "What's going to take so long?"
"Well, see, I'm not going to have time."
"Time? What happened to being so enthusiastic? You were all for going after them immediately when Kellerman attacked you."
"How long has it been since you had to show up for your job?" Bobby countered wryly.
"What?"
"I gotta work, Mike." Rain said, shifting his feet. "Today's Sunday, and I work Monday through Friday." Michael sighed.
Several days had passed, but the "Do Not Disturb" sign was still on the door of room 123. The only people who noticed had been the maids, and even they hadn't remarked on it much, except to express relief at one fewer rooms to clean. Inside 123, both Lincoln and Kate were fully dressed (for a change), laying on the bed and staring at a scrap of paper. "Maybe if you read it backwards...?" Kate suggested, writing the letters in reverse order on a notepad. It was still meaningless. "Gah. I've never been good at these types of things."
"That's Michael for you. Tends to forget that not everybody is so good at decoding things." Lincoln grumbled. They were trying to solve the clue Michael had given them for where they were meeting next before Mahone had found them in Berino, but they'd been working on it for several hours now, with no success.
"Is there any way for us to contact him?" She asked, tossing the pen down in frustration.
Lincoln shrugged. "His cell, but they probably are listening in on any calls he gets. Plus, we'd have to go somewhere away from here to find a payphone so they don't trace it back to here." They both considered their options for a moment. "You up for a road trip?" Lincoln asked her, grinning slightly.
"Have you ever been to Chicago?" Lincoln asked a little while later in the car."Nope." Kate replied. "Do you want me to go left or right up here?" She asked, as they passed a sign that indicated that the road split up ahead.
"Go right. You should come to Chicago sometime." She glanced doubtfully at him. "When this is all over, you should come. It's nice there."
"I"ll keep that in mind." Kate said, smiling slightly.
"You'd say we know a lot about each other, right?" Lincoln said, a moment later. She nodded in agreement. "I have to tell you something else about myself. I probably should have told you sooner, but we were doing the "live for today" thing, and by telling you this, I'm sort of allowing for a tomorrow. Promise me you won't panic?" Lincoln asked, watching her face carefully to see her reaction.
"What could be worse than finding out you were convicted of murder?"
"Fair point." He paused. "I have a son."
Kate raised her eyebrows. "A son." She repeated. "You're right, you should have told me sooner."
"His name's LJ." Lincoln offered, breaking the brief, tense silence.
"LJ?"
"Lincoln Junior."
"Oh. How old is he?"
"Sixteen." He answered immediately. Kate thought he sounded proud, as though managing to get his son all the way to sixteen was a major accomplishment. "You seemed surprised."
Kate shrugged. "I thought he'd be a little younger, that's all. Where is he now?"
"In Colorado. Somewhere safe."
"With his mother?" She asked. Lincoln shook his head. "Are you and his mother-"
"No. We haven't been together in years. I mean, we tried to make it work, for LJ, but we just weren't right." Lincoln hesitated. "She's dead now, anyway. They killed her."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Kate said, sincerely. Lincoln waved off her sympathy.
"I wanted you to know about him." He said, staring straight ahead at the road again. Kate gazed over at him, and realized that he wanted more than that. He didn't just want her to know of LJ, he wanted her to accept his son, to like LJ. This wasn't just another conversation topic, or an inconveniant fact of his life; not to him anyway. No, this was important to him, she realized, for some reason that she couldn't understand. Probably has something to do with being a parent, Kate reasoned. And as difficult as this was for her to swallow, it had to be harder to have to be the one to explain it.
"I'm glad you told me." Kate commented, forcing a smile for Lincoln's sake. "What is he like?" The relief that spread over Lincoln's face as he began to describe his son proved that she had hit the nail on the head.
After driving for a little more than two hours, Kate and Lincoln stopped at a rest station, one with a pay phone. Kate stood nearby while Lincoln dialed. "Hey, it's me." Lincoln said, when Michael answered his cell phone.
"How's it going?" Michael asked, careful not to reveal any information that he didn't have to. He knew that this call was likely being listened to by people besides him and his brother.
"Not too bad." Lincoln replied, sending a grin Kate's way. She returned it, and moved towards him. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her even closer.
"What's up then?"
"Your clue. We've only got three days to figure it out and get there. We're both stuck." Lincoln answered.
"Forget about the clue. Something's come up. The plan has changed. Remember where we met Dad last?" Michael asked.
"Yeah."
"We'll meet there. Next Wednesday."
"All right. See you then."
"Linc?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry it'll take so long."
Lincoln glanced down at Kate, smiling. "I'm sure we'll find something to do until then." He replied.
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"We're going to meet them at a place called Bolshoi Booze, next Wednesday." Lincoln explained, as they began the two hour drive back to the hotel.
"9 days?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm... what could we do for nine days?" Kate asked, a mischievious grin on her face.
"I'm sure we'll thing of something." Lincoln teased back. Kate laughed. A pleasant silence descended on them, not at all like the awkward quiet of the first day they'd been driving together. Now, they were enough at ease in each other's presence that it was okay to not talk constantly.
After nearly half an hour of this silence, Kate spoke. "We're not just messing around anymore, are we?"
Lincoln looked over at her. "No, we're not." He replied, quietly. "This feels... I don't know, I hate to say it feels right, because this whole situation is so messed up, but it does. It feels right."
Kate smiled. "It does feel right."
"I have to know, though, what about Adam?" Kate didn't immediately reply, but her smile slowly faded. "What happens when this is over?"
"I don't know." She answered honestly. "What do you want to happen?"
"I want to give us a chance. I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't be too devastated if you left him."
"There's so much that has to happen before this is all resolved, though." Kate pointed out. "I need to think about this."
"Okay. Just think about it." Lincoln encouraged.
"I will." She vowed.
"I think this could be something."
"Yeah, me too."
Alexander Mahone was reviewing the court transcript for Michael Scofield's trial when his cell phone rang. "Mahone." He answered, not permitting any of the exhaustion he'd accumulated in the past couple of days to enter his voice.
"When you encountered Scofield, Burrows, and Sucre before the airplane fiasco, were they alone?" Bill Kim asked immediately, without preamble.
Alex frowned. "No, there was another man with him."
"Older?"
"Yes."
"Could you find it again?"
The agent straightened. "Of course. Why?"
"I need you to be there in nine days."
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