Disclaimer: I don't own Prison Break or Wentworth Miller, sad but true.
Spoilers until "Sona", after that, just my sick imagination.
Pairing: Michael / Sara.
Rating: PG-17
Summary: And Sara thought then that it was her time to say "Thank you".
Dedicated to my lovely Maria, thank you for making it possible.
Title: Thank you
Chapter title: The morning after.
By Lylou
Feedback is always like sex and coffee combined.
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-"...Was it all an act?"
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Sara opened her eyes slowly and felt the humid and hot air stick to her skin and to her hair immediately.
She was naked and face down, near the edge of the bed, Sara felt the warm and heavy air sneaking slowly into her lungs and announcing a new day of heat and sunlight.
Actually, the orangey sun of the midday was slipping past the rectangular gaps of the closed blinds, bathing the bed, her naked back and everything else in the room in small and rectangular golden sparkles.
It was beautiful, but Sara hadn't discovered that until now; since she had never woken up that late in all the lonely mornings she had been there; she usually woke up around 6 AM, her skin feeling clammy and covered with the cold sweat that only appears when you have just woken up from a horrible nightmare.
She heard the soft whisper of the fan in the ceiling above the big bed, turning the hot air slowly in the still half-dark and golden bedroom.
Sara moved lazily under the white silk sheet and felt all her muscles aching deliciously in places that she couldn't even recall hurting ever before; she could still feel Michael's hot and intoxicating taste in her mouth and on her tongue.
Sara closed her eyes slowly and smelled Michael's warm scent trapped on the expensive and tangled sheets and even with everything that was weighing heavily on her shoulders, Sara couldn't help but smile delightfully against the pillow.
She lazily stretched her arm to the other side of the bed.
Michael wasn't there.
Sara's heart accelerated instantly.
"You can still sense him and his scent is still lingering on the sheets… You didn't dream it."
Distractedly she pushed a chunk of her uncombed hair from her face and then she heard the faint noise of water running in the shower; she smiled lightly and immediately felt relieved. A moment later the water stopped running.
Sara saw the bathroom door opening slowly and felt all the hot vapour and the scent of the shampoo flooding the room and her senses.
Michael walked into the bedroom, wearing only a white towel that hung loosely on his waist. Soaked from the shower he had just taken, he walked stealthily with his catlike steps until he saw that she was already awake.
And then Michael smiled like she never had seen him smile before, and suddenly, all the years that he had seemed to have aged in those two months he had been apart from her, had disappeared.
And Sara saw something that she wasn't used to seeing in his eyes: Happiness.
"What have you done Sara? Did you even consider before sleeping with him, how all this was going to affect him when you…"
Her thought was at once interrupted by Michael's voice, surprisingly shy; in spite of all the delicious things he had done to her last night:
-"…Sorry…
I didn't mean to wake you up."
"So… Now you know that Michael Scofield is even sweeter and more shy the morning after."
Sara couldn't help but smile softly and spoke with a still sleepy voice:
-"… You didn't.
I was already awake."
Slowly Michael sat down on the edge of the bed, just a few centimetres from her, which gave Sara a clear view of the small beads of water trickling down his skin, running over the dark ink.
He looked at her in silence for a few seconds, as if he still wasn't sure if he was dreaming everything and when he seemed to be fully convinced of it all being real, he spoke in a warm and cheerful tone:
-"That has been my first shower in months - without a lot of guys around."
Michael chuckled softly and Sara could feel his hand gently pushing her uncombed hair from her face and in the process leaving small drops of water on her cheeks inadvertently.
The touch with the water woke her completely and she looked at him; Michael was looking at her again with that dangerous shine of hope in his warm eyes.
"You should have known that having sex with him would only make him even more irresistible in your eyes."
Michael was slowly running his familiar and still wets fingers over the curve of her spine, bathed in orangey and rectangular sparkles, as if he was trying to keep every small detail of her body in his beautiful mind.
Hell… Sara definitely wasn't ready for that; for that hopeful look in his eyes, for his shy tone spoken close to her on the bed, for his naked body - that is except for that towel around his waist, the sun peeping through the gaps creating a beautiful lighting, the scent of the shampoo floating in the room and upon his skin…
"What were you thinking Sara…? Did you ever stop to think of the possibility that the morning after the spell would just break?
God. He's fucking Michael I-went-to-prison-for-you Scofield.
…That kind of spell can't be broken."
-"So… Now what?"
Michael spoke barely above a whisper and looked at her, knowing intuitively that he had caught her off-guard with his soft question, and then he couldn't help but feel the fear he was oh so familiar with rising again deep inside his body, gradually and painfully.
He observed how Sara sat on the bed, her bare back against the headrest, her knees bent and her long legs pressed against her chest. Sara slowly and unconsciously embraced her legs with her arms in a self-protective gesture.
All the alarms in Michael's head sounded off: "There is something that scares her. You just made her jump with your question."
"-Sara…"
He was now seated on the bed in front of her, but she was distractedly looking at the closed blinds, in the opposite direction. Michael gently touched her interlaced hands hoping to get her attention, and when she turned to him, she looked at him as if she didn't recognize him anymore, as if he hadn't whispered a needy "-I love you." against her mouth only a few hours ago.
-"Are you okay, Sara?"
He smiled a frail smile, but Michael perfectly felt the fear draining any small trace of hope left inside him.
-"Yes…
Sorry, I guess I'm still asleep."
"You're a liar Sara, you were thinking about very dangerous things… And he knows it; he intuitively knows something is wrong."
Sara looked at him hoping that her dirty not-that-little secret was still safe.
-"Have you seen Lincoln today?"
-"No."
Michael smiled sadly and looked to the floor, painfully aware that Sara was desperately trying to get rid of him.
She spoke again and this time her voice sounded a bit nervous:
-"There are some clothes for you in the walk-in closet; Lincoln picked them out, so in case you don't like them…"
Sara chuckled softly yet seemed distant, but in that moment all Michael could think of was the fact that she was beautiful, naked and bathed by the midday sun, with her knees bent and her legs pressed against her chest, with her hair uncombed falling on her shoulders… But Michael also felt something dark silently waiting for them. As if they hadn't paid enough as it is.
As if he hadn't lost her enough times to fill up two lifetimes.
Michael looked at her again and smiled weakly, then he got up slowly from the bed; He walked over to the big walk-in closet in dusk and disappeared momentarily of Sara's distracted sight.
Sara got up from the bed slowly and put on the white satin robe covering her naked body; She took a few steps and then she saw Michael's bare back reflected in the big mirror. He was putting on a pair of beige trousers that he hadn't buttoned yet, but then Sara saw something that made her whisper scared and move quickly toward him:
-"Oh my…
What is that?"
Michael quickly turned around to look at her when he sensed Sara walking toward him worried, her eyes pinned to his back, and he could clearly hear the fear in her faltering voice.
Sara was only a few inches from his bare back, and Michael knew then what had scared her so much.
Slowly and indecisively she ran her fingers across the not yet closed and irregular long wound in the left side of his back, a wound that she didn't know Michael had acquired.
Michael closed his eyes slowly, half in pain and half in relieve, when he felt her soft touch and her breath against his skin, just before he turned around to look at her.
He saw her eyes turning, and he felt a million different feelings flood him when he saw her bottom lip quivering slowly: love, pain… sorrow.
Michael gently took her hand in his and pressed her open palm against his lips, kissing it with eyes closed; Sara sobbed softly and pressed herself so close to him that she could feel the heat radiating off of his body, slipping through the white silk she was wearing.
He made soft calming noises and kissed her palm again before releasing it only to embrace Sara as tight as he could.
-"I'm okay Sara.
It's nothing."
His words were laced with sadness and guilt. She pressed her forehead to his chest and Michael felt her warm tears slipping over his ink covered skin.
"Now these dark lines are going to be even more permanent."
Michael pushed that thought away and tightened his grip on Sara; he felt her sobbing beginning to subside slowly as he held her in his arms and he felt her lips moving slightly against his skin when she whispered:
-"It's all my fault…"
"You were too preoccupied with the feel of his mouth leaving trails of kisses on your skin and his warm promises whispered into your ear to notice that ugly wound on his back."
Sara's voice sounded broken and guilt-ridden against his chest and Michael closed his eyes hurt, sad and a thousand things more; he slowly ran his fingers through her hair but she didn't look at him.
Michael whispered, worried and gently into her ear:
-"Look at me… look at me, Sara…"
Sara raised her head slowly but avoided looking at him and he spoke low and faltering, near her mouth:
-"…It's not your fault."
He leaned his forehead softly against hers and closed his eyes before he whispered, in a warm and sure tone:
-"There are many things I would do differently Sara… But not that.
Not that."
Michael felt the hot tears behind his closed eyelids and kissed her temple and her hair, trying desperately to make her believe in something again; just one more time.
Sara finally looked at him and she saw the fear and the concern in his wet eyes.
"You have lost a part of him in that place, and now you are going to lose the rest, Sara."
Michael carefully touched her face and he felt Sara's hot tears flowing down her cheeks; Michael closed his eyes and kissed her, feverish and needy, as if they were again in that dark cabin, surrounded by the Panamanian police and saying the most painful goodbye of his life.
As if he had understood suddenly that he was going to lose her.
And this time, maybe forever there wasn't going to be more fate related turns and tricks for them.
That scared him more than anything, even more than the first night he spent in Sona, eyes wide open in a dark corner and surrounded only by hot air and pain.
Michael had never surrendered in his whole life and he wasn't ready to start now, just when he could still feel her flavour in his mouth.
So Michael whispered against her lips between hot and rushed kisses, and even with her eyes closed, Sara heard the determination and the love in his voice, breaking both of them:
"-I would do it again Sara.
I would go there again, for you."
Sara looked at him, she wasn't sobbing any more but her voice still sounded fragile and guilty, as if she was about to break again:
-"I'm sorry Michael…
…I'm so sorry."
He tightened his grip on her body and kissed her repeatedly; Michael could smell her wonderful strawberry scent even through her tears and brushed his lips softly against hers, whispering warm and faltering words into her mouth:
"-Don't…
I would do anything for you Sara…
…Anything."
She kissed Michael, feverish and guilty, tasting the salt of her tears mixed with his hot saliva.
Her words sounded choked and broken by his intense kisses and by their breathing in that walk-in closet faintly lit by the midday sun:
-"I know.
I would do anything for you too, Michael…"
Then he broke away from the kiss and stepped back slowly, but he didn't release Sara; Michael looked at her, thinking about what she had just said.
He licked his lips in an automatic reaction and he felt Sara's flavor intoxicating him; But Michael had heard something in her faltering voice that had made him shiver, even with all the hot and wet air surrounding them.
It sounded a lot like a confession to him… Or like a goodbye.
"No more goodbyes, Sara .Please.
Not now that I can still taste you."
Michael caressed her face lightly and closed his eyes a bit, as if he was gathering strength for what he was going to say:
-"…I know that there's something wrong here, Sara. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I…"
Michael closed his eyes and kissed her hair before continuing in a whisper, close to her:
-"… I want you to know; that there's no way I would ever leave you or blame you, Sara.
For anything…"
Michael tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and looked at her wet eyes before whispering into her ear with his eyes closed:
-"…I bled for my brother…
Did you think I wouldn't do the same for you?"
Sara crushed her lips against his and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging Michael as tight as she could, separating from his mouth only enough to whisper between desperate kisses:
-"I'm okay...
…I'm okay."
He saw her lips trembling, as if she wanted to say something else to him, but she didn't.
Michael drew up his hand and cupped her face softly:
-"If you're in some kind of trouble Sara, or if someone hurt you … I can fix it.
Let me help you, please."
She kissed him slowly and passionately and smiled:
-"Everything's okay, Michael.
I promise."
"Liar. You are broken and you are going to break him too.
And he has an open wound for you in his back.
One more scar for both Sara, and you have already lost the count."
She kissed him on the lips quickly and smiled again, leaving the walk-in closet slowly.
Michael heard the shower running in the bathroom and leant desolate against the wall, still feeling the moisture of her tears on his chest and her warm and sweet taste in his mouth.
A million of horrible ideas and possibilities crossed Michael's mind, fast and painfully.
He had lost her.
Michael had felt the desperation and the need in Sara since she had hugged him tightly yesterday on that dusty and hot path, but now, everything, every word she said seemed more and more like a goodbye to him.
And they knew a lot about goodbyes.
Michael distractedly caught a black shirt from the hanger and finished off dressing himself; then he walked slowly to the terrace door and opened the blinds.
The midday sun dazzled him for a second "You are still not used to the light after all." Michael went out to the big and sunbathed terrace; he put his hands on the white banister, feeling the warmth of the sun on his skin and looked around; he could see the Pacific Ocean and half of Panamá City from where he was.
In the last months Michael thought that he was never going to see the ocean again.
Or anything else apart from blood, dust and pain.
"But it's worth the while… Because you saved her.
You did, didn't you?"
Michael looked away from the ocean and lowered his gaze to the white tiles on the floor; he breathed deeply, worried and scared.
"How the hell did she get you out of there, Michael…?
Does it have something to do with what she's hiding?"
Those two where the most painful and hard questions of all, but then Michael heard the terrace sliding door open behind him and Sara appeared, wearing a long, green dress, which made a nice contrast to her pale skin and her loose red hair.
"She's beautiful; but not as beautiful as she was last night, when she was naked underneath you and moaning your name."
Sara smiled weakly and spoke to him:
-"I didn't remember, but today I have a lunch meeting with my lawyers.
Sorry."
Michael looked at her disappointed and spoke worried:
-"Is there something wrong?"
-"No.
No it's just something concerning my dad's will…"
Sara looked to the floor a moment before continuing:
"… They have finally sold his estate in Chicago and … I only have to sign some papers and all of that will be over. Forever."
She looked at him again and added in a sad and distant tone:
-"And then I'll be the only remaining Tancredi."
Michael covered the distance to Sara in a few strides and embraced her; he kissed her forehead lightly and whispered:
-"I'll go with you."
Sara smiled weakly while shaking her head:
-"You don't have to; the last thing I want in this heat especially is to struggle to get a cab only to drag you to a boring meeting on your first day as a free man."
Sara separated from him and walked slowly to the terrace sliding door. She opened it and looked at Michael, disappointed and worried outside.
-"I'll pay you back, Michael.
I promise."
Sara's voice sounded suggestive and warm and she smiled to him from the door. Michael looked at her in silence, with the tone of her last words still floating in his mind.
Already in the room Sara caught her purse from the big sofa and both walked to the door.
Michael opened it slowly and held it for Sara, but when she was going to leave the room he caught her gently by the arm and kissed her thoroughly, running his free hand through her hair and whispering against her lips:
-"Are you trying to get away from me, Sara?"
She stepped back slowly and went out to the corridor followed by Michael who closed the room door behind him. Sara looked at him and smiled a bit confused, then she walked to the elevator doors and pressed the button before speaking:
-"No.
But Lincoln needs you too."
Michael looked at her in silence for a few moments, trying desperately to figure out what she was hiding.
The elevator made a sound and then the metallic doors opened slowly behind her.
He ran his fingers slowly through her hair and kissed her one more time, resisting to let her go, as if he was sure that she wasn't going to come back again.
-"I'll be here when you come back, Sara."
She walked into the empty elevator and smiled at him before she spoke:
-"I know…
…That's why I'm going to come back."
Michael smiled weakly at her and put his hands in his trouser pockets in a typical Michael Scofield gesture before he said in a warm tone:
-"Thank you, Sara.
For getting me out of there."
She looked at him, confused, scared and about to cry standing inside that elevator, and before the metallic doors closed between them, she whispered, broken and weak:
-"…You're welcome."
Sara disappeared behind the metallic doors and Michael took a deep breath in that empty and sunny corridor.
He didn't even knock at Lincoln's room door, just behind him; Michael ran to the stairs and walked down, quickly and determined, to the big and elegant vestibule.
He saw Sara was outside; she was already leaving having closed the big glass door behind her.
Michael crossed the reception area and walked to the door, but he stooped suddenly when he saw a middle aged man in the street, he was smiling at Sara and kissed her lovingly on the cheek, slipping his arm around her waist.
Through the big glass door, with all the coherent thoughts leaving his mind, Michael saw how Sara, beautiful with her intense green dress, climbed into the back seat of an official looking black car, which was parked in the hotel entrance, while the mysterious man was politely holding the car door open for her.
And then Michael felt jealousy, hatred and panic seizing him, at once and painfully.
To be continued…
Tomatoes, death threats, insults, comments… Everything is love.