11th Hour: Jail Cell

Although it seemed like a questionable idea, Sara decided to talk to Erika before they left. She didn't know what she was going to say to the woman. She wanted to threaten her and tell her to stay away from her family, but Sara knew that Erika would probably laugh at her. Erika would laugh and she would be right in doing so because she was well aware that it was Sara who needed Erika, and not the other way around.

Even putting Erika in a cell didn't threaten her. She had gone willingly and smiled all the while. She thought herself to be untouchable, and maybe at the moment she was. Somehow it seemed that Erika had the ability to be dealt the best hand all the time.

"What do you want to know?" Erika said with a smile as soon as she saw her visitor. "What do you want me to tell you that will make everything better?"

Sara walked right up to the cell bars, unwilling to show her fear in the other woman's presence. "You being dead would make me feel a lot better."

Erika's eyes grew darker but she still kept her smile planted firmly on her face. "Do you want to hear a story?"

Sara took a good long look at the woman across from her. Erika didn't seem any less threatening in a cage. "No."

"Okay then," Erika's smile faded, "but let me tell you something very important." She took a step closer to Sara. "I could have made it all go away."

Sara gripped the bars in her hands. "What does that mean?"

Erika shrugged and turned her back on Sara.

"What do you mean?" Sara's grip tightened on the bars. Erika wasn't going to give an answer. Sara knew that. She probably should have listened to the story. It was too late now. "Stay away from Lindsey or I'll kill you."

Sara turned to walk away but Erika's voice stopped her. "She told you about our conversation earlier?"

No, Lindsey hadn't told her. "Yes." Lindsey hadn't even been given a chance to tell her.

Erika turned around. "Liar," she said softly. "It must be so frustrating to you that I can reach Lindsey so easily."

"Stay away from her," Sara's voice was even and firm, but her eyes were hard and threatening.

"I can never be ignored."

A Car

"So how did talking with Erika go?" Sara had been silent ever since she had come back from seeing Erika. She looked angry and Catherine was becoming increasingly concerned.

Sara took a quick look to the back seat where Lindsey was. The girl seemed as interested in the answer to Catherine's question as Catherine did. "Why didn't you tell us that Erika talked to you?" She asked Lindsey.

"She talked to you?" Catherine turned around to face her daughter.

"I wasn't ready to talk yet," Lindsey admitted quietly, choosing to ignore her mother's question. "It's not really that big of a deal."

Catherine's eyes went wide. "Wasn't a big deal? Lindsey Erika is a very dangerous person."

"Mom, she's my friend," Lindsey defended.

"Friend?" Catherine was completely lost. Since when was her daughter friends with a psychopath.

Sara hadn't told her anything about Lindsey's previous encounters with the psychopath. It wasn't an intentional oversight, just a result from exhaustion.

"She told me to talk to Sara about what happened," Lindsey explained quickly. "She wants what's best for me. She doesn't want you dead."

Catherine began rubbing her forehead and released a long breath. "You knew about this?" she asked Sara.

Sara gripped the steering wheel tighter and nodded; preparing herself for the attack Catherine would most certainly give.

"When did you find out?" Exhaustion colored Catherine's tone. There was no anger.

Sara kept her eyes focused on the road ahead of her. "At the house."

Catherine nodded. "I think this is something we should talk about later."

"But Mom," Lindsey tried to explain. "Erika doesn't want you hurt."

"Later Lindsey," Catherine's voice wasn't strong anymore. "Please, later."

Sara removed her right hand from the steering wheel and placed it on Catherine's thigh. Catherine covered Sara's hand with her own for a moment but then quickly removed it. Sara accepted the rejection without any show of hurt. She hadn't really expected their one moment of complete honesty and communication to change everything.

Somehow, they were really good at laying down a foundation for a bridge but always fell apart before it was built. Sara couldn't even count the number of times they had talked or shared something that would make her think that everything was okay or that they may actually be able to move on from the pain, but then something would come up and everything would just fall apart again.

They never were quite strong enough to hold everything together.

Jail Cell

Erika was resting on the bed in the cell. Her back was even with the wall. Her left leg was off the bed and her foot resting on the floor. "So how did you get guard duty Sanchez?" She asked the Hispanic woman who was outside of her cage reading a newspaper.

"James wanted someone he trusts watching over you," Agent Sanchez answered without taking her eyes from the paper.

"I'm a psychopath not a super villain," Erika shifted her position on the bed so that she was looking at Sanchez through the split between her legs. "I can't break through bars."

"I suppose you'd need a key for that," Sanchez lowered her reading material. "I don't have one."

"They didn't give you a key?"

Sanchez shook her head. "They wanted it to be as far away from you as possible."

Erika tilted her head to the side. "What if there's a fire. Without a key, I'll burn to death."

"I don't think they care." Sanchez raised the paper again and started reading.

Erika smiled. "Do you want to hear a story?"

"Not really," the other woman answered from behind the paper.

"It's a really good story," Erika said slowly. "If you don't like it, I promise to kill myself."

Sanchez chuckled and lowered her paper. "That's an offer I can't refuse. So talk."

Willow's Residence

Sara pulled into the driveway and watched the two cars that had followed them from the FBI's office move past the house. The plan was for them to spread out and wait for Marisa's appearance.

The plan was for them to spot Marisa and stop her before she even got into the house. They didn't want anyone put at risk, and there was no way they were going to follow Erika's plan. Her plans always involved too much of a chance that Marisa could actually succeed.

Catherine got out of the car and softly shut the door. She walked to the other side of the car and pulled Lindsey into her arms as soon as the girl had exited the vehicle. Lindsey hugged her back, not quite sure why her mom was doing what she was, but wasn't going to question her.

Sara stood staring at them awkwardly feeling a little left out. She couldn't do what Catherine was doing because… she just couldn't. Catherine would probably push her away.

"Let's get this over with," Catherine said as she released her daughter. She took Lindsey's hand and motioned for Sara to lead the way.

Sara had the keys in her hand and opened the front door. The FBI had promised them that the house was safe.

Sara opened the door and stepped into the dark room. Catherine and Lindsey followed her shutting and locking the door behind them.

Sara reached over and turned on the nearest light.

"Welcome home," Marisa stepped from the shadows a gun raised and pointing directly at Sara. "I was hoping you'd all show up."

Jail Cell

"Once upon a time," Erika began but was interrupted by Sanchez.

"Are you serious?"

"All good stories start with once upon a time'," Erika replied.

Sanchez shrugged. "Go ahead."

Erika nodded. "Once upon a time there lived a beautiful girl named Marisa Clays. She lived in a wonderfully normal home with a terribly normal family. No one understood her there. They never listened to her when she told them she had unusual feelings and thoughts. They didn't want to think that Marisa could be different.

"So Marisa grew up to be a beautiful woman, except she didn't grow up to be normal. She took drugs to calm her urges and mostly kept to herself. Somehow, unfortunately, she ended up dancing on a stage for adult entertainment. She liked that job, something about it called to her."

"What's the point of this story?" Sanchez asked impatiently. "You're not telling me anything I don't already know."

"Fine," Erika swung both her feet to the floor and stood up. "I'll skip to the ending." She walked up to the bars and leaned into them. "The brilliant psychopath for hire did end up getting directly involved. She said something that changed the rules. She told Marisa the truth."

"What does that mean?" Sanchez asked slowly.

"It means that Marisa is looking for revenge. It means her motive has changed."

Sanchez stood. "Why didn't you say any of this before?"

Erika sighed. "I didn't think about it before. She called me a failure. I got a little emotional"

"What does that matter?"

"It means everything," Erika narrowed her eyes. "Don't you understand? I don't fail."

"So what is Marisa going to do now?" Sanchez stepped away from the bars, afraid Erika might grab for her.

"She's going to kill them all. It means she's waiting for them. It means that while all of you brilliant agents were searching for us in Arizona we had already escaped and came back and let ourselves into Ms. Willow's house."

"You knew this when Ms. Sidle came and talked to you, why didn't you tell her then?"

Erika smiled. "She didn't want to hear my story."