A/N: As promised,here is my second update before the week is over :). I cranked this chapter out for you guys as an apology for not updating for a month!

Chapter 15: Moving On

Sara sighed as she walked through the halls of Miami Pres. She was exhausted: mentally, physically, and emotionally. It was only 10:15 in the morning, and Sara felt like she had already been awake for far longer than just five hours. Her day had been more than hectic to say the least.

To start off, she was awoken this morning at 5:00 to a screaming Mikey. He was inconsolable. Sara tried for an hour to calm him down, but Mikey was a mess. She tried everything: rocking him, a pacifier, showing him a picture of Michael, showing him the video of Michael, but nothing worked. Mikey would not stop crying. Sara was beginning to get worried. She then realized that he was burning up, and she concluded that he must be sick. She quickly dressed herself and Mikey, and headed to the hospital. It looked like she was going to get a few extra hours in at the hospital today.

After what seemed like an endless car ride full of Mikey's screams and wails, Sara finally arrived at the hospital at 6:30—an hour and a half before her shift started. She gathered Mikey from his car seat and headed inside. His face was beet red, and his cheeks were damp from the continuous stream of tears that rolled down his cheeks. Once inside, Sara took Mikey to a room and paged Dr. Angie Simmons—the other pediatrician of Miami Pres.

When Angie arrived to the examining room where she had been paged, she was greeted by a frazzled looking Sara and a distraught Mikey. She couldn't help but feel bad for the young mother. Since Sara had begun her residency at Miami Pres a few months ago, Angie had taken her under her wing—showed her the ropes. She liked Sara. Angie could tell Sara had a kind heart and truly cared for her patients. She knew that one day, Sara would be a great partner to her once she finished her residency and became an attending.

Twenty minutes later Mikey was calm and diagnosed. As it turned out, Mikey had an ear infection. Sara didn't know what to do. She couldn't leave him in daycare since he was sick and she couldn't take the day off because she had an important consult with a six year old cancer patient. And since the universe hated her, Lincoln and Sophia couldn't watch him because they were on a plane back from Tahiti from a weekend getaway. It was times like this that she cursed the universe for taking Michael from her and leaving her alone in this.

And then she remembered. Sara had almost forgotten that Sucre and Maricruz were in town. She left the room where Mikey was sleeping soundly to make a quick phone call. She dialed Sucre's number and he answered after two rings.

"Hey Mami, what's up?"

Sara smiled at his greeting. "Good morning to you too Fernando. How are you?"

"I can't complain. What's up with you?"

"Well actually I need a favor," Sara conceded.

"Anything for you Sara. What's up?"

"Can you and Maricruz watch Mikey for the day? He has an ear infection, and daycare won't watch him until he's been fever free for 24 hours. I got him some antibiotics, so he should be better in a couple of days, but I need someone to watch him and Lincoln and Sophia are out of town and-"

"Of course." Sucre interrupted. "We would love to spend time with the little guy. Where are you? I can be there in 15 minutes." Sara smiled. She could tell he was excited.

"I'm at the hospital. Have them page me when you get here. Thank you so much. I owe you one," Sara finished thankfully.

15 minutes later, Sara received a page and she sighed thankfully. She was happy to know that Mikey was going to be able to be in a homey environment to recuperate. After thanking Sucre again, she sent them on their way.

That was only the first hour of her exhausting day. Next, Sara discovered that her six year old's cancer had spread from her leg to her bone marrow and she knew that without a transplant, she wouldn't survive for much longer. Sara's heart broke for her patient and her patient's family. She was so young.

Sara sluggishly walked to the nurse's station. She saw John walking toward her and quickly turned around to avoid any interaction with him. Luck for her though, John saw her and quickened his pace to catch up to her.

"John," Sara greeted. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Now, now Sara. In my eyes, sarcasm is the greatest form of flattery." John smirked.

Sara rolled her eyes. She really wasn't in the mood for this. Her day had been far too hectic and far too stressful for her to even have the patience to give John the time of day.

"Listen, John," she began, "as much as I love our…joyous banter, I have had a really crappy day and am not in the mood for this so if you'll excuse me…" she trailed off as she began to walk away.

"Wait!" John yelled after her. "I can help you take your mind off of things. Let me take you out on a date tonight."

Sara opened her mouth to turn him down, but stopped herself. What was the use? She was just thinking a few hours ago how much she needed somebody's help. Maybe John was the guy. No, she couldn't do that to Michael. Her heart still belonged to her late husband: totally, painfully, completely. She couldn't betray him.

But then she started thinking about what Michael would want for her. He would want her to be happy—to find her safe haven. Because the fact of the matter was that Michael wasn't coming back, and she knew that. As much as it pained her, it was a fact that she had come to accept. And maybe it was time for her to move on. Michael had been gone for almost two years. Mikey was getting bigger every day and could really use a strong male figure in his life. She smiled at the thought of her almost one year old son. And that is when she knew what her answer to John had to be.

"No," Sara turned him down for what seemed like the thousandth time.

John looked crushed, and in that moment Sara felt bad for him, but she knew that she made the right choice. She was nowhere near ready to let go of Michael. They truly had an unforgettable love. And while she did recognize that Mikey does need a male role model, she knew that she had Lincoln for that. She couldn't replace Michael in her of Mikey's life, and she cursed herself for even considering it. No matter how hard her life may seem, she knew she couldn't go on a date simply because she was tired of being alone. When it's right, it's right, as it was with Michael. Sara didn't know if it would ever be "right" again, but she wasn't going to settle simply so she would have someone to share her life with.

"Look John," Sara finally conceded, "you seem like a great guy, and I'm sure one day you're going to make some girl very happy. But I am not that girl. Because truth be told, my heart still belongs to my husband. And honestly, I don't know if there will be a day where it doesn't. So I'm sorry."

John smiled and told her that he understood. His dad had died when he was really young, and it had taken his mom years to get over him and start dating again. And for the first time in almost two years, Sara felt like she had found someone that understood what she was going through. And for the first time since she had met him, Sara saw that John had a heart. She saw through the pompous ass routine he normally put on and saw something deeper. She saw something she liked. She may not be ready to date yet, but she definitely had enough room in her life for a friend.

And that's when she told John the whole story: how she and Michael fell in love, how they were on the run from a government conspiracy, how she made a romantic gesture by showing up on the boat to sail off into the sunset with him, how he sacrificed himself and went to prison so she wouldn't have to, how he thought she was dead, but they were reunited months later, how he almost died trying to clear all of their names, how they were supposed to live happily ever after, but she was sent to prison, how he risked everything to break her out, how he sacrificed his life to save hers and their child's, how she missed a little bit more every day, and how she didn't know if she was ever going to get over him. It felt good to finally get everything out on the table to someone who wasn't Lincoln. And after she was finished, she somehow felt lighter, freer. She didn't even realize how much time had passed until she looked down at her watch and saw it was nearing 3:00 signaling that she needed to head to the airport to pick Lincoln and Sophia up.

"Thank you," Sara said as John walked her to her car.

"For what?" he questioned with a smile.

"For letting me vent. I feel like I've been holding everything in for so long, and it felt so good to just get it out. I really hope we can be friends. Turns out you aren't horrible company," Sara smirked.

"Well thank you," John laughed. "I'm glad I could be of some comfort. Anyway, I'll let you get going. Hopefully we can do this again sometime soon. See ya," he finished he opened her car door for her.

"Bye," she smiled before closing the door and driving away.

A/N: So there you have my apology chapter :) Hope this partially makes up for my long hiatus. Let me know you're still out there and review. Reviews make me want to update! Much love.