Hello again everyone. I will say again that I don't own these characters...just Jorden so far. Here, finally is chapter 6 so please enjoy!

Chapter 6: An Interesting Encounter

Lincoln startled awake from a disturbing nightmare. It was not the first time Lincoln had this particular dream, either. His dream took him back to Fox River and the day of his execution. Everything played out has it had occurred. Blueberry pancakes and playing cards with Michael, seeing Veronica and talking to LJ on the phone, and his walk to the chair where he said good bye to his brother and Veronica. Only in the dream there was one slight difference, the switch was flipped. It was always at this point in the dream that Lincoln snapped awake in a panic.

Lincoln picked himself up off the bed a little, careful not to wake Jorden. He cautiously slipped his arm out from under her shoulders and placed her head on the pillow. He stopped and just looked down at her. She looked so peaceful to Lincoln. He had never noticed how pretty she was.

"What are you thinking?" he asked himself. "You can't be thinking this."

"There's nothing wrong with it," he argued back.

"But it's Jorden. Too much to lose."

"But that's just it, it's Jorden."

"This is a bad idea, you could get hurt. Or even worse she could get hurt. You've been there already."

"Right, this is a bad idea. I could lose her altogether. I've gotta shake this."

Lincoln resigned himself in that moment to leave Jorden's eternal happiness to some other incredibly lucky and unworthy guy. With that he left Jorden to sleep and shut the door quietly behind him.

"Morning, lover boy," Michael teased.

"Have fun last night?" Sara asked.

"What are you guys talking about?" Lincoln's brain wasn't fully functional yet. "Oh, you mean…no that is so not what you think."

"And how do you know what we think?" Michael asked.

"I don't even need a high school diploma to know what you think."

"So…you're gonna tell us what it is then?" Michael asked again. Sara was just giggling under her breath behind the kitchen counter.

"I was having a hard time with that air mattress and she offered the empty space on her bed," Lincoln answered his brother being very careful in the words he chose.

"Doesn't look like you used it," Michael interjected.

"Don't even start, you know it wasn't like that at all."

"We know Linc, but we just couldn't resist," Sara said.

"Couldn't resist what?"

"Teasing you about it," Michael got in before Sara could tell him about the picture.

"I bet Jorden won't get it this bad," Lincoln joked.

"Probably not," Michael replied as Lincoln shot him a look.

In her room, Jorden was starting to wake up. She rolled over and the light hit her eyes through the window. She squinted at the brightness but soon adjusted. She looked around briefly for Lincoln but assumed he was up already. She could smell the coffee from the kitchen.

"I could use some of that right now," she thought to herself.

She walked over to her closet to find some clothes, but bumped her desk on the way, knocking over the camera.

"I wonder if they'd let me take some pictures today?" she thought. "I haven't gotten a picture of either of them in forever."

She found some clothes in her closet and threw her clothes from last night in the general direction of her hamper. When she grabbed for her camera, she noticed the paper crane sitting on her desk. Having totally forgotten about the message inside, she picked it up and thought over the code..

"Hey, sleepy head. Are you okay in here?" Sara's voice came from behind the door. "The guys wanted me to come and check on you."

"Yeah, I'm up. I was just gonna try and figure out what this crane says before I come out there."

"Oh, that's right. You have no idea what that thing says yet?"

"You wanna help me?" Jorden asked.

"Sure, I've had enough experience with Michael's codes."

Sara came in Jorden's room and closed the door. They took a seat on Jorden's bed with the crane, a pen, and a notepad. Jorden carefully unfolded the paper crane which revealed a series of numbers and dots.

"I know this code. Michael uses it all the time. At least with me," Sara told Jorden.

"So you can help, cuz I have no clue what this means."

"It's actually really easy when you know the code."

"Let's get to it then," and with that Sara explained the code to Jorden and they were well on their way to figuring out the message.

"Do you want some privacy while you do this?" Sara asked after a short silence.

"Is that okay?" Jorden didn't want to be rude after the help Sara gave her.

"The message is for you. It's none of my business. Go right ahead, I'll tell the guys you're up and will be out in a few."

"Thanks Sara," Jorden said. "And I'll be sure to let you know what it says later."

"Good," Sara replied with a smile and left Jorden alone with her paper crane.

Jorden got on cracking the code. Sara was right, it was really easy to decipher when you knew what the dots meant. When she was done, she wasn't sure what to think.

"Jorden,

I've been thinking about you for a long time, so when Michael suggested coming to you for help I was so happy at the thought of seeing you again. I can't believe it's been so long. Can't wait to see you and catch up. Thank you so much for helping us, you have no idea what this means.

Love,

Lincoln"

He had thought about her? Why? It was really sweet what he wrote, but she wasn't really sure what she was supposed to do or how she was supposed to act now that she knew. What was she gonna say to him now? She almost wished she didn't know what that message said. This was gonna make things awkward now. Jorden hated awkwardness.

Jorden took the paper crane and folded it back up, placing it in her dresser drawer. Jorden turned to leave her room then remembered her camera on her desk. She went back for it, and turned it on to check the memory available and the battery life that was left. She noticed that there was one more stored picture on the camera than there was when she last turned it off. She navigated her way to the stored pictures, and found the one Michael had taken that very morning of her and Lincoln sleeping.

"Michael!" was all they heard as Jorden came walking out of her room.

"What'd you do this time, bro?" Lincoln asked Michael in an interrogating tone.

"I can't believe you were in there! Why did you take this picture?"

"What picture?" Lincoln asked as Jorden showed him the picture. "Dude, I can't believe you."

"You guys just looked so cute. It was a true Kodak moment," Sara chimed in.

"You were in on it too!" Lincoln accused. "I thought I knew you, but I guess I don't know you at all," he said with a look of betrayal.

"You guys did look really…" Michael didn't dare repeat what Sara said when Lincoln was giving him that look, "…comfortable," he chose quickly.

"Nice save," Jorden said, "but that doesn't answer my question."

"I don't know what the big deal is. You can delete the picture, you know?"

"I can…and I will," Jorden said sternly as she walked back toward her room to put her camera away, pretending to delete the picture but saving it instead. As soon as she got in her room, she quickly hooked the camera up to the digital printer and printed the picture, placed it in her desk drawer to dry, and then deleted the picture from the camera.

Just then, a girl came busting through the front door making everyone jump.

"What is up, gangsta…z?"

"Madison, what are you doing here?" Jorden's voice came from her doorway.

"Thought I'd just drop in to see my BFF," Madison replied, "but it looks like I came at a bad time so I'll just…"

"And am I invisible or something?" Michael asked Madison much to Sara's confusion.

"Oh yeah! I didn't even see ya there! What's up!" Madison said as she walked toward Michael and threw her arm over his shoulder. "Who's the pretty lady?" she teased in the Sara's direction.

"I'm Sara," Sara said still trying to figure out were this woman came from.

"I'm Madison," Madison said as she offered Sara her hand.

"Nice to meet you," Sara said accepting Madison's hand.

"Ditto," Madison replied.

"And what am I, chopped liver?" Lincoln interjected.

"Yeah," Madison replied sarcastically.

"Nice to see you too, Madison," Lincoln turned his attention to Jorden. "Where did you find this one again?"

"I'm not really sure. She just followed me home one day." Jorden answered.

"Ouch," Madison emphasized punching her heart with her fist, "stab, twist, and take it out."

"You were always such a drama queen," Lincoln teased as Madison walked over and threw her arm over his shoulders.

"I just can't help it."

"Did you need something, Madison?" Jorden asked as she came into the kitchen.

"Not really just wanted to hang out, but I can see that you have company and are probably very busy. So as much as I love you people, I've really got to jet."

"Always a pleasure," Lincoln said as Madison made her way to the door.

"Nice meeting you," Sara repeated.

"Later, Tink," Michael said as Madison opened the door.

"I bet you'll have to explain that one to the pretty lady," Madison replied.

"I'll call you later, Maddie," Jorden said as she walked toward the door to close it behind Madison.

"Just don't do anything I wouldn't do," Madison teased Jorden.

"I won't do anything you would do," Jorden called down the hall as Madison rounded the corner and headed down the stairs.

"Well that was an interesting encounter," Sara claimed as Jorden shut and locked the door.

"Are we under house arrest now?" Michael teased.

"No, I just don't want that to occur again," Jorden replied. "Old Lady Finster is too nosey and would hear Maddie coming from a mile away."

"You got a point there," Lincoln agreed.

"So what's your plan for today? You do have a plan, don't you?" Jorden directed her question toward Michael.

"Of course I have a plan," Michael replied with an insulted tone. "I'm not going to tell you where we are going or what we're doing, though. That way if you do end up being questioned you really will have no idea."

"Okay but can I at least have a number or something to reach you at in case something goes wrong here, like men with guns show up to kill me?"

"This is my cell," Sara started to write on the notepad by the phone. "Michael will be with me pretty much all day so you can reach both of us here."

"And you?" Jorden redirected to Lincoln.

"We only have the one phone," Lincoln replied somberly.

"Take mine, then. I don't have anything to do today so I'll be around here. The number here is programmed as 'Home'," Jorden dug her phone out of her pocket. "If anyone calls it, just let voicemail get it and I'll return the call when you get back."

"Are you sure about this?" Lincoln asked reluctantly taking Jorden's phone.

"Please take it. It would make me feel better if you had it," Jorden pleaded.

"Take it, Linc. You never know, you might actually need it," Michael told his brother.

"You're right. Give me that paper with Sara's number. Let me put it in here," Lincoln said as he programmed the new number into Jorden's phone.

"Here's that number, Sara," Jorden took another sheet off the notepad, wrote her cell on it, and gave it to Sara. "You can put that in your phone. Oh, and here's the house number just in case you need it."

"Yeah, that'll be good to have," Sara said as she put both numbers in her phonebook.

"Everyone good, then?" Michael asked heading toward the door. "We won't be too late, but cooking dinner probably won't be necessary. Linc may be back by then, though depending on how long it takes."

"It shouldn't be too terribly long," Lincoln assured everyone. "Hey Jorden, would it be okay if I made a personal call while I'm out today? I don't want eat up your minutes or anything."

"Do you wanna call LJ?" Jorden asked knowing full well the answer she was going to get.

"If you don't mind," Lincoln replied.

"Go right ahead, I get free weekends anyway so talk as long as you need," Jorden said.

"Thanks," Lincoln said as he made his way to the door behind Michael and Sara. He hung back a little and turned back to Jorden, "Really, thank you"

"Don't worry about. Just say 'hi' to him for me," Jorden smiled back.

"Will do," Lincoln smiled back and shut the door behind him.

Jorden took advantage of the free day to tidy up around the apartment. Her room was a disaster area by itself. She took the air mattress Lincoln was having such a hard time with and folded it back up and put it in her closet. Her hamper was overflowing so she did some laundry. She took Michael, Sara, and Lincoln's too. After all that was done, she did some catch-up work on her computer. She was really hungry after the several hours of cleaning and work, so she grabbed some money and her key to walk downstairs to the corner shop and grab a snack. She closed the apartment door behind her, locked it, and headed down the hall. She turned the corner at the end and literally ran into Lincoln.

"Oh my God, you scared the crap out of me!" Jorden said putting her hands on his shoulders in relief.

"I was looking for a lesser effect but okay," Lincoln replied sarcastically.

They heard a door open down the hallway. When Jorden peeked around the corner, Old Lady Finster was leaving her apartment and was walking towards them.

"Shhh, Old Lady Finster is coming. We don't want her to see you."

"Why, I'm not one of America's most wanted anymore?"

"If she sees you I'll never hear the end of it for one, and for two she pays very close attention to those things like she wants to find those people. She will know that Michael is your brother and that he is probably close by. We want her as least suspecting as possible," Jorden said peeking around the corner once more. "Okay, she got delayed by the Baxter kid on the other side of the hall. That'll give us a little more time to figure out what we're gonna do to hide your face."

"Jeez, Jorden I didn't know you thought I was that ugly. I think I'm kinda pretty."

"You know that's not what I meant and you know I think you're pretty. You're very pretty," Jorden replied in a whisper hearing footsteps coming down the hall. "She's coming, what do we do?" Jorden asked frantically.

"I don't know. Michael is always the one with the plans, I just follow them," Lincoln replied just as frantically.

Old Lady Finster's shadow was moving closer by the second. Jorden was quickly running out of time. She needed a plan, and fast. There was only one thing she could think of. As their lips met all the memories came flooding back. All the late night walks in the park, the first time their lips met. She was brought back to reality when Lincoln turned her around with her back against the wall as Old Lady Finster passed them and disappeared down the stairs.

They parted and Jorden peeked around the corner to check that the coast was clear. Seeing that it was, she moved down the hallway pulling Lincoln out behind her, and headed to her apartment. She flung open her door and pulled Lincoln in behind her. As Lincoln closed the door he pulled Jorden back to him and wrapped her in another passionate kiss. They stumbled their way across the living room in dance like movements. Jorden fell onto the couch, Lincoln falling on top of her. As Lincoln moved his lips to her neck, Jorden ran her hands up his back to his shoulders and locked her wrists around the back of his neck.

Just then Michael and Sara came through the front door, interrupting Jorden and Lincoln. Coming up with a plan almost immediately, Jorden pretended to be asleep.

"Shh," Lincoln whispered catching on to Jorden's plan quicker than she expected.

"What happened?" Michael asked concerned.

"Nothing, she's fine. I found her asleep at the kitchen counter so I brought her over to the couch. I thought it would be more comfortable for her."

"Here, put this under her head," Sara gave Lincoln a pillow from the other end of the couch.

"Thanks, can I get that blanket over there?" Lincoln asked pointing at the chair across the room.

"Here you go," Michael helped Lincoln lay it over Jorden.

"Guys, can you watch her for a while? I need to get some fresh air."

"No problem. Everything okay?" Michael asked his brother.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just need to clear my head for a little bit. No worries," Lincoln assured his concerned brother and headed out the door.

"Is he okay?" Sara asked.

"He will be," Michael assured her.

A few hours had passed when Jorden woke up. To her surprise she really had fallen asleep. She pushed the blanket off her and got up off the couch, folded up the blanket, and laid it over the back of the chair where it had been.

"Oh hey, you're up," Sara said noticing Jorden from the kitchen. "Michael is in the shower and Lincoln is out. Are you hungry? We saved you a little something," Sara offered some Chinese.

"No I'm fine, thanks. Did you say Lincoln is out? Where'd he go? Do you know?"

"He didn't say where he was going. Just said he needed to clear his head. As a matter of fact, he has been gone for a few hours now," Sara said looking back at the clock.

"Lincoln not back yet?" Michael asked from the bathroom door.

"No," Jorden answered with panic in her eyes. "You don't think he got caught or got into some kind of trouble, do you?"

"I'm sure he's fine, Jorden. He still has your phone doesn't he?"

"I don't know. Do you see it here anywhere?"

"No. I don't see it anywhere."

"It doesn't matter. He won't answer," Michael started putting his shoes on. "I know where he is," Michael headed toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Jorden asked nervously? It was hard enough to keep track of one. She didn't need both of them to go missing.

"I'm gonna get Lincoln. I'll be back in a little bit," Michael closed the door behind him with no indication of where he was going.

"Lincoln would call if he was in trouble, right?"

"Of course he would," Sara tried to sound as reassuring as possible.

Just then, Jorden's house phone rang.