Chapter 4: Remembering the Past

LJ has a wonderful day at school and meets up with Jake Sienel right outside at 3:30 P.M. Together, they both walk to Veronica's house.

They pass by the trailer park. "When did they add a trailer park?" LJ takes a look at all the trailers.

"Let's go." Jake rushes ahead, forcing LJ to hurry up.

"What's the matter?" LJ asks as he catches up.

"Let's just go and hurry to your place." Jake looks straight ahead. LJ starts to wonder what is up with him and why did he force him to rush.

"Hey, I never caught that much information about you except for what you do. How old are you?

"I'm 14, just two years younger than you."

"How do you know how old I am?"

"The news. Your whole family is famous for what they went through."

"And you're in 11th grade, like me?"

"They bumped me up because they thought I would be better challenged. It wasn't much of a difference than my freshman year."

After about half an hour of walking, they finally reach Veronica's house. LJ walks in the door first and Jake waits outside.

"Hey, I'm home!"

"Hey LJ! How was your first day at school?" Veronica asks from her position beside Lincoln on the sofa.

"School was great. But it was kind of weird at first because everyone was staring at me."

"I knew that would happen." Lincoln remarked quietly to himself.

"But I did make one new friend."

"Who is he?"

LJ signals Jake to come in.

"His name is Jake Sienel. He's a running-back on the football team. Also, he's 14 and he's in the same grade as me. They decided to bump him up a couple of years because they think he could've used the challenge. But he sort of screwed himself over-"

"I'll cover that." Jake quickly interrupts.

"I screwed myself over last school year when I got myself sent to Juvie."

"Why did you get sent to Juvie?" Michael asks.

"For hacking in places where I'm not supposed to hack; I was looking at yours and Mr. Burrows' case."

Michael remembers those exact words. It came directly out of Raikel's mouth when he asked him that, except he wasn't sent to Juvenile Hall or prison. Michael flashes back to when he first runs into Raikel.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because I looked into your brother's case and immediately knew he was innocent. Once I heard about how Paul Kellerman, or Owen Kravecki, came out with information about the Company, I knew I had to find you to help you. I want to take the Company down as well and help fix everything wrong that's happened to you and your brother."

"Why are you going to such lengths to help me and my brother?"

"Because I'm part of the Anti-Company group, and if I help you take them down, I'm keeping a promise to a friend who died from the Company."

Michael snaps back into reality after remembering his encounter with Raikel.

"So you believed that Michael and Lincoln were innocent?" Sara asks.

"Yes. I'm here now because I wanted to hear about your stories on the run."

So the five of them tell Jake their stories about what happened in the past four months. Veronica pointed out how the Company captured her and held her captive until they could figure out how to use her against Michael and Lincoln. Sara points out how she stayed alive in Panama. Michael and Lincoln tell their stories about Fox River and Sona. Jake was rather intrigued by all of the stories and what each of them went through. He completely avoids telling his story though.

He had listened intently as each told their version of events, the time completely bypassing him. When they'd finished and he realized it was already 6.30, he stood up in a panic.

"Oh my god, I got to go!"

"Why don't you stay for dinner?" Sara asks as she and Veronica begin to cook dinner.

"I can't. I have to get home."

"Where do you have to go?" Lincoln offers as he puts his cup of water down. "I'll drop you off."

"It's ok, I don't live far; I'll just run." Jake grabs his stuff and hurries towards the door. "It was great to meet all of you!" The moment he steps outside he begins running full speed toward the trailer park, praying his father's too drunk to realize how late he is.

"He's really nice LJ." Michael remarks as he sits down on the couch. "I mean to be sent to Juvie for looking at my case and not being killed by the Company makes him lucky to be alive." Thunder claps as a storm brews in the heavens. A moment later, rain falls thick and heavy from the skies and Linc stands by the window, deep in thought.

"A thunderstorm…" Lincoln whispers to himself; growing more worried as the sky becomes a darker shade of black.

"I hope he makes it home safely." He sighs then moves away from the window and takes a seat next to his brother, his thoughts never straying far from his son's new found friend.

Jake ran as quickly as he could from the Veronica's house, ignoring the rain slapping across his face. He's drenched to the core by the time he makes it to the caravan park. Rushing through to the van in the far corner, he pulls the door open, and practically throws himself inside, closing the door quickly behind him. He doesn't notice his father leaning against the wall parallel to the door until he hears his low, malicious voice.

"You're late! And you didn't cook my dinner!"His voice was like a cold knife slicing through Jake's guts.

"I –I –I'm s-sorry, dad." Jake stammers, more from fear than the blistering cold he feels. "I-I lost track of the t-time and…"

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" With reflexes as fast as a cheetah, his father has lunged off the wall, revealing the bat he had obviously been holding behind his back, and grabs a hold of Jake. "You know the rules, boy!" He hears the voice of poison a second before the bat comes crashing down over his body. Jake can only cover his head from the relentless beating.

He doesn't know how long it lasts, but afterwards, his father roughly pulls him up and throws him out of the trailer.

"Don't come back until tomorrow afternoon to cook dinner!" The door slams, visibly shaking the trailer on impact.

Jake grabs his bag and heads for the nearby homeless shelter, hobbling along, his pain making him oblivious to the rain. He tries to walk in but someone stops him from entering.

"I'm sorry kid, the shelter's full for the night. You may want to try the one over at St Fernando's." The man smiles warmly at Jake and apologizes then goes back in to the shelter.

Jake walks away, holding his arm, fearing it may be fractured or worse, broken. "What am I going to do?" he thought to himself as he stares blankly at the ground, knowing that Saint Fernando's is too far from school for him. He quickly remembers LJ and heads for Veronica's house.

Back at Veronica's house, Veronica and Sara finish cooking when they hear the thunder roar. "Do you think Jake made it back alright?" She asks, concern creeping over her features. "It's pouring really badly right now, worse than before." Veronica puts the food on the table and notices Lincoln completely distracted and worried as he stares out the window once more.

"I think he'll be fine." Sara says as she puts the plates and silverware on the table. Michael takes a look at Lincoln and notices that he's completely out of it.

"What's bothering you?"

Lincoln snaps out of it. "What?"

"Are you worried about Jake?"

"No, I'm not. It's just that-" The doorbell rings.

"I'll get it!" LJ heads for the door and opens it. Jake is standing right outside.

"Jake, what are you doing? Come in!"

Jake walks in, bracing his arm with his hand.

"Jake are you alright?" Sara asks.

"I'm fine. I just lost my keys so I can't go home. Is it okay if I stay here for tonight?"

"Where are your parents?" Lincoln asks.

"My dad's not going to be back for awhile so I'm home alone. But I don't have my keys anymore. I was going to sleep in the homeless shelter for tonight but I was too late and they filled up. This was my last resort."

Michael begins to take a look and sees that Jake is embracing his arm as if he was in pain.

"Did you run into trouble on the way home?"

"What?"

"You're bracing your arm as if you were hurt. Did you get hurt?"

"Oh, uh, I just tripped on the way here. It was raining and I lost my footing."

Michael knows that Jake is lying but decides to not push the truth out of him.

"We're about to eat dinner care to join us?" Veronica asks.

"Sure." Jake sits down at the table and everyone else joins in. Jake takes a lot of food and eats it fast. Everyone just stares at him. Jake realizes that everyone is staring at him after awhile. "What did I do?"

"Do you even eat when you're at home?" Lincoln asks as he finally takes a bite off his plate.

"I usually don't get food as delicious as this."

"I hardly get food at all to begin with." Jake mutters to himself.

"What was that?" asked Sara who was sitting right next to Jake.

"I think I'm done so I'll just put my plate in the sink and wash it." Jake takes his plate and washes it in the sink in an attempt to avoid answering Sara's question. "If anyone else is finished, I'll do their dishes as well."

Everyone finishes their dinner and they put their plates in the sink. Lincoln walks up to Jake as he was washing the dishes. "I'll do the dishes. You don't have to. You're a guest."

"Even if I'm the guest, I shouldn't just knock on your door late at night, even in this kind of emergency." As he washes the plate, he feels a sparking pain in his left shoulder. He drops the plate in the sink he was washing. Luckily, the plate didn't break. He braces his left shoulder a lot more, hoping to reduce the pain.

"I'll take over. There is no need for you to hurt yourself." Lincoln walks over and finishes off the rest of the dishes. Jake goes and sits on the couch, and watches TV. He keeps his jacket on to avoid showing all of the bruises from the beatings he'd just received from his dad, Jurell Sienel.

Afterwards, LJ says goodnight and heads up to bed early, tired from his first day back at school. Sara, Veronica, Michael, and Lincoln make coffee, but they drink it in the kitchen, deciding to leave Jake in the lounge room in case he wanted to sleep.

"So, what'd the lovebirds get up to after we ditched you this afternoon?" Lincoln asks with laughter in his voice.

"Definitely nothing as exciting as you two horny teenagers, that's for sure." Michael's comment causes the four adults to laugh and Veronica's cheek to turn a slightly darker shade of red.

"But, seriously, how was your day with Michael?" Veronica asks again, genuinely interested in knowing what the pair did after Linc's sex-driven behavior.

"I loved it. But he almost lost it when everything wasn't going as planned. You should've seen his face. It started turning red like that airhead commercial." They both look at Michael.

"What? That guy was really messing everything up with the plan."

"You never use the toilet without a plan." Lincoln walks over. "It's one of your weaknesses. Once the pieces of your plan start to fall apart, you fall apart."

"Is today attack the engineer day or what?" Everyone laughs again at his comment.

Veronica tries to stifle a yawn but it's to no avail. "Wow I'm tired." She gets up and stretches, failing to conceal yet another yawn. "Coming, Linc?"

"I'll be there soon, babe."He smiles at her and she leans down, planting a soft kiss on his lips. They don't let themselves deepen it for fear of not being able to stop. She pulls away, says her goodnights to all and heads to their bedroom.

"Come on Michael," Sara stands and takes the empty cups to the sink, "let's go to sleep. You have to prepare to get your new firm ready so you can finally have a job." Michael gets up and she comes to stand beside him, leaning in to him, they share a small smile.

"Goodnight Linc, goodnight Jake." They call out softly to the boy.

"Goodnight." They both reply as Michael and Sara head towards their room.

Making his way over to the lounge room, Lincoln takes a seat on the only other chair in the room. "So, how long are you going to stay up?"

"Not long. I'll probably go to sleep once you head in."

"Do you need anything before I go?"

"No, not really. I'm already lucky that I have somewhere to sleep where it doesn't smell like someone died. Homeless Shelters suck, but they were my only choices."

"So you really did get yourself sent to Juvie for looking into my case?"

"Yeah, and according to your story about the Company, I'm lucky they didn't come after me. Maybe it was because I was… never mind."

"Because you were what?" Lincoln asks, his curiosity piqued by the sudden confession.

"It's nothing. I was… stupid back then."

"You can trust me, I was sent to Juvie a lot when I was growing up."

"I bet it wasn't for my kind of reason."

"No it wasn't, but they were for the wrong reasons. But if you don't want to tell me, that's fine."

They were silent for a minute, just looking around. Jake stared blankly at the floor, as if he was examining the square patterns on Veronica's carpet. They were brown and plaid.

Sensing he isn't going to open up to him tonight, Lincoln decides not to push him any further and stands up. He goes to the linen closet and grabs a pillow and blanket for Jake then helps him set up the futon. "Well, good night, Jake."

"Good night, Mr. Burrows; and thanks again for letting me crash here tonight"

"Anytime, Jake, sleep well." With that Lincoln walks into the room Veronica was sleeping and turned off the lights. The only lights in the room were the small lamps Veronica had around. He climbs in to the bed beside her and she instinctively sidles in closer to him, embracing the warmth his body has provided. He drapes his arm around her body and kisses the top of her head. His mind is still on the boy asleep in their lounge room, wondering what his story is. He doesn't fall asleep.

Jake settles in to the sofa bed and turns to face the window. The blinds have been pulled back and he watches the buildings, thinking about his life and these kind people he met.

"Should I tell them? Should I get them involved in my problems at home?" He thought to himself. "No, I shouldn't ruin their new found freedom and happiness. Last person I told about my problems got in way too deep and was found dead in an alley near the trailer park. The stupid mafia my dad is in is protecting him. And as long as he's protected, anyone I involve will be screwed. I just have to wait until I can finally get away from him completely without the mafia to tail me."

He feels his arm as he looks outside. He rolls up his sleeve to check it, already knowing there will be bruising all over it. "Damn it this hurts. So do my stupid ribs. I better avoid showing them these. I don't want to cause trouble for anyone. They've been good to me and I don't want to hurt them." He falls asleep, dreaming of a life that would have been had his mother still been around.

In Michael and Sara's room, Michael can't sleep.

"What's wrong?" Sara asks, unable to sleep with Michael shifting beside her.

"It's Jake. He lied to us. He dropped the plate when he was washing it. That doesn't happen from a simple fall."

"I thought I was the doctor in the family. I guess I could take a look at his arm tomorrow."

"There's something up with Jake and he doesn't want to tell us. Veronica is heading back to work tomorrow and I'm going to ask her to look into Jake's file. If he did get sent to Juvenile Hall for looking at my case so it should be there, maybe."

Sara cuddles up closer to Michael. "I can't wait until we have our own place. Just you and me, one house, lots of room to do things."

"All we need is time Sara. But I want to watch over Jake, so we're going to take him with us when we pick up LJ from school tomorrow."

"Are you sure he'll want to come with us? Even though he lost his keys, he may just head to the homeless shelter instead."

"Jake is LJ's newest friend. Especially with all that's happened, I know that some kids and people think that LJ really did kill his parents. So it's already hard enough for him to be out in the public again." Sara and Michael kiss and turn around. "But for now, you're mine."

The two of them kissed passionately, his lips touching hers softly. A moan is heard through the room but who it belongs to doesn't matter as they lose themselves in their love.

LJ wakes up in the room next to theirs. "Damn it Uncle Mike. Why do you have to do that again tonight?" LJ says to himself. He takes a pillow and covers his head to block out the moaning noise.

Lying down next to Veronica, Lincoln is lost in his thoughts about Jake, thinking what a nice guy he really is and what courage he must possess to have done something that may have cost him his life. The fact that he believed in Lincoln's innocence touches Lincoln's heart. Only one other person outside his family, not including Veronica who was practically in the family, had believed in him enough to do something so extreme it nearly cost her life, and he would always feel indebted to Sara for leaving that door open for them.

He shifts, moving his arm from around Veronica's waist to rub the bridge of his nose, as he wonders about Jake's arm and if the boy really did fall or if there is something more behind it. He senses it's the latter, seeing as the boy had been cautious not to reveal anything to them. Beside him, Veronica awakes at the loss of his arm around her. Finding him awake, she shifts closer and plants a kiss on his lips.

"What's bothering you, Linc?" She asks, her arms wrapping around his waist. "Why aren't you sleeping?" When he doesn't answer immediately she looks into his eyes and sees the worry, knowing immediately what's on his mind. "Oh, I understand, you're worried about Jake. Don't worry; he's strong like you, Linc. Also, he's just as smart as Michael. He's like LJ."

"He was sent to Juvenile Hall on our account. And I'm actually touched that someone else cared about us."

"Is my Lincoln getting soft?" Veronica teases.

"No." Lincoln answers fast. Veronica chuckles. "It's just, well, I'm worried. You saw how fast he ate the food at the table and I also noticed him drop the plate he was cleaning in the sink and he started to hold his arm, like it was in a greater pain. There's no way he fell that hard."

"He probably just skipped breakfast." Veronica kisses Lincoln on the lips. "I'm glad that you're not as tough as before Lincoln. Why don't you go check on Jake and see if he's still asleep. Tomorrow, when I head back to work, I think I'll take a look at Jake's file."

Lincoln gets up. As he walks for the door, he turns around and looks at Veronica. "Veronica, I'm glad you're still alive. I love you."

"I love you too Linc."

Lincoln walks out to check on Jake. He sees that Jake has managed to kick the covers off of his body. As he walks towards the sofa to fix this slight problem, he notices tiny beads of sweat on the boy's forehead. His brows furrow and he wonders what a fourteen year old could be dreaming that was so bad and terrifying. He tucks the covers back around Jake. Jake moves around slightly and grabs his arm again. "Don't hurt me…" Jake mutters out in his sleep. He grips his arm even more.

Jake's words send shivers up Lincoln's spine, praying that the boy was only dreaming and not referring to some real life experience. "No one is going to hurt you Jake. Now sleep tight."

Jake hears the comforting words of Lincoln in his dream. He loosens the grip on his arm and sleeps peacefully. Lincoln turns off the lamps and heads back into Veronica's room, but not before leaving Jake an origami paper crane on the table in front of the sofa.