Chapter 8

Sara woke up the next morning with the sun streaming in her eyes and a warm body pressed under hers. Opening her eyes, she saw the inked chest of Michael and smiled remembering the night that they had shared. Michael shifted in his sleep, and unconsciously brought her naked body closer to his. She eagerly snuggled closer to him. She thought about what would have happened if Michael hadn't gone after her that night. She probably would have been back in Chicago and booking a one way ticket to California. Closing her eyes, she thought about how close she was to losing Michael. The thought scared her. She let herself imagine how it would be without him, or if he ever left her, and that scared her even more. Someone she loved finally loved her the way that she loved them. It wasn't just one sided. So if Michael ever left her…Her heart started beating faster. What if Michael does leave me? What if this was a one time thing? A silent tear slipped out of her closed eye, and landed on Michael chest, waking him up. He glanced down and saw that it had been Sara's tear. Frowning, he stroked her hair.

"Sara…are you alright?" he asked her worriedly. Snapping her red rimmed eyes open, she glanced away from his stare, and said, "Yea, yea…I'm fine. Go back to sleep." She put her head back on his chest, hiding her face from his. Rolling his eyes at her stubbornness, Michael rolled over so that she was on her back and he was half on top of her.

"No, you're not fine. What's wrong?" he asked her again. She brought the sheet up protectively over her chest and looked away from his prying gaze.

"Are you…are you going to leave me?" she asked him in a small voice. She blinked furiously and glanced everywhere but at him. He half smiled. "Sara…look at me." She brought her eyes to his after a minute. "I have wanted you to be mine for so long…there is no way in hell that I'm going to leave you. You have nothing to worry about." He leaned down and kissed the tears that had started falling away, and then kissed her right between the eyes. Raising himself up a little, he looked her in the eyes and stroked her perfect stomach. "I love you…forever." He leaned down and kissed her mouth, and she reached up around his neck and kissed him back fervently. Pulling away slightly, she rested her forehead on his.

"I love you too, Michael…" she started. Michael waited for her to finish, and when she didn't, he prompted "but?" She giggled. "But you really need to brush your teeth." He laughed out loud, and then leaned down and kissed her again.

"But you like my smelly breath." He told her. She rolled her eyes. "Right." She said, before bringing his head down to hers and kissing him passionately. He rolled fully on top of her and ran his hands up her body. She angled herself under him, and then surprised him by flipping him over. She straddled him, and then leaned down and kissed him again, running her hands up his chest. Pulling back slightly for air, he grabbed her waist.

"I thought you didn't like my smelly breath." He said, giving her a charming smile.

"Shut up and kiss me." She told him smirking, before capturing his lips again. They didn't leave the bed for anther hour.

Michael was in the kitchen making coffee when his cell phone rang. Looking around for it, he found it thrown on the floor, and he answered it.

"Hey Veronica." He said after checking the caller id and answering it.

"Hey," she replied. "did Sara come to you?" she asked him.

"Yea…she did." He couldn't keep the smile off of his face, and he glanced towards the shower, where she currently was. "We're together now." He told her happily.

"God, finally." She told him. "Took her long enough to come to her senses." She said laughing. Michael laughed as well. "I'm just glad that she did." He told her. She smiled. Michael sounded so happy. "…Hey V, Sara asked me if I was going to leave her. Did she tell you anything about her past…or…" he didn't know how to finish the question. Veronica sighed.

"Yea…she did. She has this thing where she thinks that no one cares for her, and that no one will ever care for her. Her previous boyfriends used her, and her father abandoned her." She was silent for a minute, letting Michael take it all in. "Michael…just take care of her." Michael half smiled.

"You can bet on that." He said. They said their goodbyes, and Michael hung up his phone. Looking at the coffee pot that was currently brewing their coffee, he glanced towards the shower again. Making a decision, he headed towards the shower. He was going to show Sara just how much she meant to him…again.

Sara's face wore a beaming smile as she walked into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. She had never been happier in her life. Going to the refrigerator, she opened it and grabbed the carton of cream out of it, setting it on the counter. Raising her arms above her head, she stretched luxuriously, and then sighed angrily as a knock sounded on the door. Abandoning her coffee, she went to answer it, silently cursing the maids for coming so early. Pulling her robe tighter around herself and securing it tightly, she opened the door. And frowned even more when she saw who was at it.

"You know, Sara, it really is hard to track you down. It took a bribe for the front desk for them to give me you room number." Mr. Collins told her silkily. Sara rolled her eyes and scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Good. They must have seen how creepy you were." She told him. "What do you want?" she asked tiredly. Mr. Collins stared at her hungrily. Raising his hand, he went to touch her wet hair. Sara moved her head out of the way.

"Oh, you must know what I want." He smiled, and then continued. "I want…"

"To get the hell away from Sara and leave us alone." Said Michael, coming up from behind Sara. He wrapped his arms around her stomach and rested his head on her shoulder. Sara smiled and turned her head to kiss his cheek, wrapping her own arms around Michael's and interlocking their fingers. Mr. Collins looked from Sara to Michael and then back again to Sara.

"You know what this means…" he started to say. Letting go of Sara, Michael stepped in front of her. Raising his arm above him to rest on the door, he stared Mr. Collins down.

"Yea. We know exactly what this means. I sue you for all your worth, you lose your business, your company, yada yada yada, the whole nine yards." Michael told him, laughing silently to himself as Mr. Collins face turned paler and paler. He hadn't thought about that. Sara spoke up from behind Michael. "Why the hell did I not think of that?" she wondered aloud. Michael laughed and turned his head to face her.

"Because you loooove me." He said, drawing out the love to last longer than it was supposed to. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him from behind again. "You got that damn right." She said against his back. Turning back to Mr. Collins, his face hardened.

"You have two options: either you fire me and I sue you from here to Timbuktu…"he trailed off. Mr. Collins looked at him expectantly. "Or, I continue working here, until I make enough money to start my own firm, I don't sue you…and this whole big month long business trip you have planned…yea how 'bout that's finished. We all know that it was planned so that you would keep me away from Sara" He finished. Mr. Collins looked annoyed. He knew what he had to do, but it pissed him off that he had to do it. "What'll it be, Mr. Collins. Option one or option two?" Michael probed, inwardly smirking because he knew what option he was going to choose.

"Pack your bags…we're going home." Mr. Collins said angrily. He stalked off, Michael watching him leave, and when the elevator doors had shut behind him, Michael burst into laughter, Sara quickly following suite. Turning around, he shut the door with his foot, and grabbed Sara and held her.

"Love you." He told her against her hair. She smiled against his chest and tightened her grip around his neck.

"Love you too." She told him, kissing his shoulder. Pulling back slightly, she got lost in his eyes. "Come on," she said finally, "lets pack up and go home."

The plane ride home seemed very short; maybe because they had both fallen asleep. Sara had found Michaels shoulder to be very comfortable, and the moment she had sat down and rested her head against it, she had fallen asleep. Michael had had his arm around Sara, and try as he might, he couldn't stay awake either. He had rested his head on her hair, and inhaling the scent of her shampoo, had fallen asleep. Another passenger had found the little scene of them adorable, and so she had taken a picture of them. When she showed the picture to Sara and Michael when the plane had landed and they had woken up, they immediately wanted it, and the lady promised to email it to them. Making their way to their car, they drove to their apartment building, holding each others hands the entire time.

Frank Tancredi walked over to his daughters apartment room number. His sources had told him that she had moved, and that this is where she was staying now. Fixing his tie, he knocked on her door, and sighed angrily when she didn't answer. Putting his ear to the door, he heard no noise whatsoever. Sitting at the strategically placed sitting bench located next to her apartment, he waited. It was time to make amends with his one and only daughter. Hearing a man and a woman walking down the hallway, he looked up, and

Was surprised to see Sara walking with another man.

Sara laughed at something Michael had said, and he grinned at her stupidly. He gazed at her.

"You know what?" he asked.

"What?" she replied.

"You're beautiful." Sara blushed. "Oh, Michael, stop it."

"What?" he questioned, and then he burst out into song. "You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're beautiful, it's true." He sang to her. Sara blushed even more, and then laughed.

"Don't go all James Blunt on me." She told him, her cheeks still rosy.

"Well, James Blunt happens to sing some songs that go very well with this situation." He told her, grinning like an idiot.

"Oh really?" she questioned. "Like what?" Walking a bit slower than Sara, he walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, slipping his hands under her shirt to rest on her stomach.

"Like 'I love you, I swear that's true…I cannot live without you.'" He sang quietly in her ear, but nevertheless, it bounced around the empty hallways. Sara immediately tensed, and grabbed Michaels hands and took them out of her shirt. Michael was confused.

"Sara?" he questioned, scared that what he had sang to her had scared her in some way. Seeing that Sara was staring at something, he followed her gaze, and gulped when he noticed Mr. Tancredi.

"Hi…Dad." She said quietly.

"Sara…who's that?" he asked her. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew who this man was.

"That's…my boyfriend. Michael." She said even more quietly. Frank closed his eyes and counted to ten. Upon opening them, he looked at Michael again.

"Michael, as in Michael Scofield?" Michael nodded, and moved to stand next to Sara, placing his hand on the small of her back and rubbing slow circles.

"You mean to tell me…that you are going out with an ex-convict. The one that robbed a bank, and then broke out of prison and was on the run for five months?" he asked, anger dripping off of every word. Sara slowly nodded. Frank was angry. Very angry. He walked up to her, and Sara watched him scared. Raising his hand, he slapped her on the cheek. Sara's face turned to the side, and stayed that way, her hair blanketing her face. Michael instantly became angry. Stepping in front of Sara, he faced down her father.

"I can't allow you to do that." He told him, with as much respect as he could muster for being so angry. Frank moved closer to him.

"Stay away from my daughter." He told him, and then left the hallway. Before stepping into the elevator, he threw one last menacing glance towards Michael, and then the elevator doors shut behind him. Immediately turning to Sara, he turned her face to face him, and upon seeing the angry red slap mark and the hurt tears in her eyes, he didn't know which emotion to feel first. Angry, or heartbroken. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her, kissing her hair and whispering countless "I'm sorry's" in her ear. Grabbing her hand, and letting go of her, he brought them to his apartment, letting go of her hand to shut the door.

"Michael…" she started quietly. He turned to face her. She looked scared and hurt.

"…don't leave me." She pleaded. Feeling tears in his own eyes starting to well up, he went up to her and took her in his arms.

"Never."