Here's the new and improved Chapter Two, which is actually the old versions Chapter Three and Four put together. I also wanted to clarify that all the flashbacks in the story are not chronological. They all take places at different times in their relationship, some in the beginning, some in the later days and I have a couple before their relationship started at all. I originally wanted this whole story to be half flashbacks and half present, so there's a lot of them. All flashbacks will be in italics.

The next day was Thursday, my only full day off during the week. I usually took Grayson out to the park or to a museum, but with the weather being near freezing and him probably lurking outside, I decided to spend the day inside with my son.

Grayson is my only reason for living, the only thing that's helped me stay on the straight and narrow. He is only a couple months away from turning two and he is the most gorgeous baby I've had the chance to lay eyes on. His hair was jet black and curling down past his ears and he had the most beautiful bright blue eyes.

We stayed in the house together all day. In the morning I fixed him pancakes and we colored a birthday card for my baby-sitter, Mrs. Peters, for the following week. After lunch, he laid down in his bed for a nap. I kissed his soft hand and whispered how much I loved him. I would die to protect him.

After he fell asleep, I was sitting on the couch trying to work on my English homework when the phone range. Without thinking, I absentmindedly picked it up, "Hello?"

"Abbie?" my eyes widened as I realized who had called me and I mentally slapped myself for not thinking of it quicker. "Please don't hang up on me." The voice continued.

"What do you want, Mike? I'm a little busy right now."

"I'm sorry, I just… I just wanted to hear your voice again. Will you please talk to me now?" He asked, nervously. "Please." He repeated, plaintively.

I knew that in person I would turn into a quivering bowl of jelly if he were near me, but on the phone, I could exhibit a little more self-control.

"You have five minutes. What do you want to talk about? I asked, coolly.

"I wanted to know why you never tried to contact me. I know that things ended… badly… the last time we saw each other, but I just can't wrap my head around why you wouldn't even let me know if you were ok. Or to even tell Lincoln to pass it along."

I closed my eyes, trying to summon the courage to speak, "I wanted you out of my life, Michael. Simple as that."

There was silence on the other end as I let him absorb that. "Tell me that to my face, Abigail."

My eyes widened in surprise, "No! I told you I want you out of my life! Please respect that."

"I will. If you can tell me that to my face. Tell me you feel nothing for me and that you never want to see me again and I'll leave and never look back." He promised.

Did I have the strength to do that? I don't know, but I was willing to wager the answer was no.

"Fine. There's a parking garage about two miles from my house. It's called Eastman's. Meet me on the bottom level at eight tonight." Well, I was going to have to try, apparently.

"Why so late?"

I looked over at the picture of Grayson on the wall. I couldn't tell him that I had a son to put to bed, "I have… prior commitments. Take it or leave it, Scofield."

I heard him laugh into the phone, "I'll take it, Houston. See you at eight."

And with that, the line went dead.

flashback

I beat on the door as hard as I could, "Come on, Mike, open the damn door!"

He finally opened it, wide-eyed, "Abbie? What's wrong?" he asked as I pushed him out of the way and slammed the door shut, locking and dead bolting it.

I leaned over, my hands on my knees, "Looking… Lincoln… Cops… Chase…" I panted out.

"They were chasing you? Are you in trouble?"

I managed to shake my head, "Lincoln robbed a gas station… I wasn't there, but the clerk recognized him and said told him where we lived."

He put his hand out to help me up, "So you had nothing to do with it?" he asked.

I glared up at him, "You say that like you don't believe it. I may snatch some purses, but I don't rob people at gunpoint. I didn't even know he was going to do it. He called and warned me after it went south so I took off running."

"And what made you decide to come here?" he asked, warily.

I smiled and strolled past him to his refrigerator, "Where else would I get free ice cream and lodging at, Mr. Scofield?"

He rolled his eyes and followed me into the kitchen. "Your boyfriend just robbed a gas station and now you're running from the cops and all you care about is ice cream?"

I smiled and handed him a spoon, "I'm willing to share." I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the couch with me, "I'm not going to be able to go home for a little while, so what's our viewing pleasure tonight?"

He laughed and sat beside me, scooping a spoonful of ice cream to his mouth. "Whatever you want, Abbie. You're happy, I'm happy."

Later that evening, I put Grayson to bed and left my house, waving good-bye to Mrs. Peters. I started my car and sat for a moment, collecting my thoughts, while I waited for my car to heat up.

Who did he think he was, giving me an ultimatum like that? I didn't owe him anything. My conscience slapped me hard across the face at that thought. You owe him the truth, Abbie, it screamed at me. Michael had done me no wrong. He accepted me without fault, no questions asked, and the one time he did ever ask anything of me, I pushed him away. I made him hate me and I did it without looking back.

Flashback

"Abbie?"

"Hmmm?" I asked, running my hands sleepily over his chest.

He entwined my hand in his, pausing to brush my hair over my shoulder. "I'd like you to do something for me."

I smiled at him, "I'd do anything for you."

He hesitated for a moment, lines etching his forehead. I pulled myself up to face him, "What's wrong, Michael?"

"I want you to tell him," Was his simple reply.

"What?" Immediately, I pushed myself off of him and stood up, gathering my clothes. He had some nerve. "You want me to tell Lincoln that I've been sleeping around on him with his brother? Are you crazy? That's the LAST thing I will ever do!"

He jumped up and wrapped his arms around my waist, trying to pull me in close to him, "Wait, Abbie, please. Just hear me out."

I stopped and crossed my arms over my chest, "Two minutes, Scofield."

"This isn't fair to him and you know it. No matter what ignorant schemes he's done in his lifetime, he doesn't deserve this." I nodded, closing my eyes. Lincoln was, for all his criminal tendencies, a great guy. He was trying to pull himself out of all the problems he had, he loved me endlessly and he adored his son more than anything in the world.

But I didn't want to be the one to break his heart. Not after what all he'd done for me.

"If I tell him that we've been seeing each other, he'll crack, Michael. He's been trying so hard to fix his mistakes and I don't want to hurt him." I managed to say. "He'll never pull his life around."

He rested his head against mine and ran his arms up my sides to my face, "Abbie, I don't want to hurt Lincoln any more than you do, you know that. But I don't want to hurt myself, either. I don't like watching you leave every night and go home to him. I want you to stay here." He softly kissed my lips, "With me."

I looked up at him, breathing painfully at the pain in his eyes. I wanted nothing more than to shout to the world that I belonged to Michael, but what would that accomplish? Lincoln would be devastated and I knew that one day Michael would realize I would never be anything but trash. How he went this long without realizing it was beyond me. One of us had to do the right thing and I guess that had to be me.

"No."

Five minutes later I was pulling my car into the parking garage. The lower level was abandoned save for 2 cars on the opposite end. This late in the evening, only the levels closest to ground level were full. I pulled into the farthest spot from the entrance and nervously made my way out of the car. I looked around for Michael, but he either wasn't there yet or he was hiding.

As I waited, my phone rang. "Hello?"

"Mama?" I smiled, knowing a phone conversation with a 20 month old could only go so far. He had a habit of waking up the second I left and crying until Mrs. Peters called me.

"Hello Grayson."

"Mama gone?" He asked, worriedly.

"I'm sorry. I snuck out while you were sleeping. I didn't even think you would notice. I'll be home in a little bit, ok? I love you."

"Kiss Mama."

I hung up, put my phone back in my pocket, and leaned back against my car, settling in to wait. Obviously, punctuality was something Michael had forgotten.

"Boyfriend?" I heard behind me.

I gasped and spun around. He was standing against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, an angry expression on his face. The amount of rage on his face surprised me. He had never given me that look before. He got angry at me, sure, but never that much. Prison must have changed him more than I realized.

"God, Mike," I sputtered out, "Give a girl a heart attack, why don't you?"

"Well, I'm sure Prince Charming would come rescue you." He said, icily.

"Prince what? What are you talking a-," Then it clicked, "Grayson? You think Grayson is my boyfriend?" I laughed, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

He frowned, "Well then what's his name?"

"My boyfriends name is invisible. Between working and going to school and… other things… I wouldn't have time for a man if he came up and kicked me in the ass." I yelled at him.

His eyes lit up, the anger in them quickly dissolving at my words. "You're going to school? What are you studying?"

I sighed at hearing the pride in his voice. He was to good for me. No matter how many times I messed up or pissed him off, he was still there, standing behind me.

I lowered my eyes, "I'm studying business. They have mainly night classes and I can get a job as soon as I graduate."

He pulled me into his arms and laid his head on mine, "I'm proud of you, Abbie. I told you there was more to life than what you had. You deserved better. I'm so incredibly proud of you."

I pushed him away, "How can you say that? How can you be so nice to me after what I did to you? Aren't you angry at me, aren't you furious?"

He cupped my face in his hand, "No matter what you did in our past, doesn't change how I see you. You're an amazing woman. Everything you had to go through brought you to here and I know you appreciate what you have more than other people would."

"I told you I hated you. I turned around and never looked back. How can that not hurt?" I asked, my eyes filling up with tears.

He smiled, sadly, "Of course it hurt. But if you had stayed in Chicago, nothing would have changed. I'm glad you left because you started living your life and I'm happy for that."

"How did you know I'd be in Buffalo?" I asked, confused.

"I asked Lincoln where you was a few days after you left and he said you'd gone to stay with a relative here. I figured you would still be living here."

"Oh," I answered. Of course I had to tell Lincoln where I was going, I didn't want him to worry about me. I just never told him why I was leaving. I gave him a partial truth- that I wanted to start over and make a life for myself.

"Abbie?" He asked, slowly. "I've been wondering something for a long time now… That night when I asked you to tell Lincoln about us, why did you say no if you were going to leave a few months later anyway? Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I wasn't planning on leaving at that time." I answered truthfully. "I left on a spur of the moment. My grandmother happened to call me when I was having a really hard time and she offered me a place to stay in exchange for my promise to turn things around."

He moved closer, "Why were you having a hard time? What happened to make you want to leave everything behind?" He brushed my cheek with his fingers, "To leave me behind."

He looked at me with such longing in his eyes that I almost didn't tell him the truth. But he deserved to hear it and I wasn't one to sugarcoat. "You deserved better." I said simply.

He grabbed my arms, squeezing them roughly. I winced at how strong he'd became. "How do you know what I deserve, what I want? I wanted you, only you!" He jerked my body towards his so that I was molded against him. "I've missed you so much, Abigail." He grabbed my hair and pulled my head back so he could lower his lips to my neck. He slowly kissed his way up, over my jaw and up to my earlobe.

My eyes widened in shock. He remembered. Oh sweet god, he remembered how much that drove me crazy. I silently prayed that I would have self-control if he tortured me with it. Please lord, do not let me throw him down and have my way with him right here.

He breathed warm air into the side of my neck, "Tell me you don't love me, Abbie. Tell me to stop."

"S…St…" I tried to say, but as soon as I started talking, he let his teeth graze over the lobe.

I shuddered and tried to convince my brain to stay one step ahead of my libido. "Jesus, stop…" I finally got out.

I felt him chuckle against me, "No. I want you to say- Stop, Michael. I don't love you."

I closed my eyes and tried to think of something other than his warm body pressed against mine. Something besides his hands tangled in my hair.

God, it wasn't working. My whole body was tingling, yearning for his touch. Damn you, body. You betrayed me.

I thought of Terry and the first time he'd ever hit on me. I was working late one night and he asked me out, running his fingers down my arm, winking at me. It completely horrified me and I couldn't think about it without gagging for weeks. "Stop it, Michael." I said in a strong voice.

He paused for a moment. Obviously he wasn't aware I had developed that much self control. Then he changed tactics. He took his other hand, that was holding my arm tight to my side, and wrapped it around my waist, moving my coat up so he could rest his hand on my skin.

I gasped and tried to push myself away. He stayed firm against me, obtaining the upper hand once again. He continued kissing his way over my jaw, down to my neck, up to my ear, and over again. "Now, say the rest."

I thought of all the other disgusting stuff Terry had tried to do to me, but it was ruined when I turned it around and imagined Michael doing it instead. Terry grabbing my ass in the walk-in freezer turned into Michael grabbing my ass. Terry dropping stuff on the floor so he could look up my skirt became Michael looking at me. Ugh, I'm so pathetic. I can't even spit out a simple sentence. I took a deep breath, "I don't-" But that was all I got out because at that instant, he moved his mouth back to my ear and bit down hard.

"Oh, shit," I forgot all my thoughts and instantly jerked my body towards his. I heard him groan under his breath as he tightened his hold on me.

"God, I love you, Abbie." He said slamming his lips on mine.