"It's a pleasure to meet you, Michael!"

Mike opened his eyes and took a minute to situate himself. He lifted his head from the pillow and stared at his parents in the other bed. It was a strange concept, his parents, but one that he was more than ready to get used to. His mother was lying against his father with her head in the crook of his neck and her left hand on his chest. He rarely got the chance to see his mother in bed. She was usually up before him and on the rare instances when he went to her room and she was still in bed, she was always sleeping on her side of the bed, a safe distance between her and Jacob. He smiled to himself and realized that his father was looking at him with a smile of his own. Michael put the index finger of his right hand on his lips to show him to remain silent and slowly extricated himself from Sara's embrace without waking her up. He joined Mike near the door leading to Lincoln's room and heard the muffled sound of a television. He gently pushed the door separating the two rooms and they entered the room. Mike jumped on his uncle's bed and took the remote in his hand until he found a channel with cartoons.

Michael sat down on the other bed with his back against the headboard, allowing himself to reflect on the night before. Sara and him talked most of the night. They disclosed details of their respective "missions", holding each other close the whole time. Sara shared with him the relief of finding Mike exactly where Poseidon's dying henchman had indicated. Michael revealed what had happened at the old shipyard, including Whip's passing and T-Bag's arrest. They let sorrow invade them and, even if they didn't verbalize it, their hearts also ached for T-Bag who had lost his son shortly after finding him. They had seen how he had reacted when Michael had laid out his plan to take Poseidon down, his willingness to do everything in his power to free his son from Jacob's tight grip. They talked about the meeting with the CIA director hours before and the follow-up meeting they both had in the morning. They also talked about the future, their future together. In the end, Michael probably slept for two hours, having fallen asleep after Sara. He had been woken up by Mike's movements in bed, seeing his son as soon as he opened his eyes. He had dreamt of that so many times. It was still surreal to be there with him, with Sara, and with his brother. Before getting too emotional, Michael got up and searched the menu for room service to order breakfast for the four of them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sara entered the room an hour later to find Lincoln eating breakfast on his bed and watching tv with a distracted eye. Her gaze then fell on the two persons sitting on the couch and her heart almost burst out of her chest at the sight in front of her. Michael and Mike were sitting next to each other, eating their breakfast in comfortable silence while watching the cartoons on the screen.

"I never heard you leave the room", Sara said with a warm smile.

"We were quiet like ninjas, right, Mike?" Mike confirmed with a nod of the head. "You're just in time for another episode of Mike the Knight", declared Michael in lieu of greeting.

"Mike the Knight, huh?" Sara sat down with them, grabbed the plate that was for her and started to eat with appetite.

"Yeah, although Mikey is not the biggest fan", Lincoln replied. "Apparently, he prefers Greek heroes to Middle Ages knights!"

Sara smiled. Of course, he does, she thought. "Mike, you know when I left to go to your father and uncle?" Mike looked at her with anticipation. "Well, I joined them in Greece."

Mike's mouth opened in disbelief. Her mother had gone to Greece to meet his father and his uncle just after they had talked about Greek heroes?! He had so many questions! He hoped that one day he would get answers to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they arrived at the CIA headquarters, Michael and Sara were separated. Michael was directed towards an office while Sara was ushered in a small conference room by a female agent. The agent was tasked with taking her statement from the moment when she came back from Crete to the moment when Mike was rescued on campus. The CIA director observed from another room, thanks to the cameras that were installed inside. He could only admire Sara's courage and determination in the face of so much adversity. When everything was on the line, she didn't shy away from danger and ended up saving her son's life, her husband's and her own. As for Michael, installed in the CIA director's large office, he signed his statement from the day before and received from a forty-something male agent a brand-new passport as well as a driver's licence for the State of New York and other official papers that proved his true identity. Since he didn't have a home in his name, it had been decided that Sara's address would be used. Oh, the irony, he thought. Sara was relieved to join him as soon as she was done. With all that had happened, she had a hard time trusting government agencies completely. She nervously squeezed Michael's shoulder before sitting down on the chair next to him. The CIA director entered the room shortly after and introduced himself to Sara.

"Mrs. Scofield, thank you for coming this morning. I can't tell you how sorry I am about what your family has been through. We know that nothing will be able to compensate for the last seven years but we hope that you will accept our sincere apologies and the money that we're offering you. Of course, we would appreciate your discretion in exchange… Mr. Scofield, we've taken the liberty to set up a bank account for you and have deposited the amount of seven million dollars on it." Michael and Sara's eyes widened when they heard the number. "You've been away for seven years, it seemed fitting", he offered. "Mrs. Scofield, for your son and yourself, here is a check for two million dollars." He handed her an envelope. "We have an additional check for Mr. Lincoln Burrows for the amount of one million dollars. Can I count on you to deliver it in person?"

Michael nodded and took the envelope with the check. Before he could place it with his papers, Sara put a hand on his forearm. "Excuse me, Sir, but could I have a word with my husband, please?" Michael's attention was stuck on one word, "husband". Sara had just called him her husband and it felt so good. The man exited the room and Sara explained what was on her mind. "Listen, Michael, when I was exonerated and came back to the States, I was able to access my bank accounts as well as my father's inheritance. What I'm trying to say is that between my money and yours now, we have more than we need. Why don't we ask them to give some to the persons who helped us?"

Michael looked at Sara with adoring eyes and smiled. "I was about to ask you the same thing", he simply replied. "Would one million each to C-Note, Sucre and Sheba be okay, you think?"

"Yeah."

Michael went to the door to let the director back in. He explained what Sara and him had just discussed. The director acquiesced to their request and opened another folder.

"Mrs. Scofield, with regards to your marriage to Mr. Ness", he started, seeing both Sara and Michael tense at the name, "since your first husband, Mr. Scofield, was actually not dead, it became void and was erased from all records." He gave them a moment to process the information and continued: "We have also re-issued your son's birth certificate. The new version, Mr. Scofield, doesn't have "deceased" next to your name as the father."

Sara was too choked up to articulate a simple "thank you". Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt overwhelmed. First, he received official papers with his real name on them, then Sara's marriage to Jacob had been declared null and now he was listed as Mike's father, not as Mike's deceased father. Sara grabbed his hand and held it tight. It wasn't even noon and she was already exhausted. Before they left the CIA offices, Sara signed her statement and they wrote notes to their friends to go with the checks.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Michael told me you risked your job, your life savings and ultimately your life to help him get back home.

THANK YOU, Fernando.

Love,

Sara

XXXXXXXXXXXX

No amount of money will erase the fact that I owe you my life, Benjamin.

Take care of yourself and your family,

Michael

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank you so much for your help, Sheba.

We couldn't have done it without you.

I hope we can stay in touch,

Michael

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Michael and Sara quickly drove away, eager to reunite with Mike and Lincoln. After a long silence, Sara was the first one to speak. "You're really considering keeping the tattoos this time?"

"Except for the ones on the back on my hands, yeah, maybe. What do you think?"
"I think that you shouldn't get rid of them on my account. What's on the back of your hands anyway?" She wanted to take his right hand in hers and examine it but Michael kept it firmly on the wheel.

"I'm not sure you want to know", he responded enigmatically.

"Why? Is it related to Jacob?" she asked without skipping a beat.

Michael kept his eyes on the road and nodded. "It's what allowed me access to his lair at the university", he provided, avoiding to tell her how exactly he had managed that feat.

Sara pondered his answer for a few seconds, then said bluntly: "You're right, I don't want to know!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Lunch was taken at a diner near the hotel. It was Michael's first meal in public in years and he was going to need time to get used to it but there was no way that he was going to hide again, unless it was his decision. Besides, Mike and Lincoln were happy to be outside the hotel after having spent a couple of hours at the hotel pool and some more time in their hotel room, waiting for them to come back. It was decided that Sara and Mike would go and visit Heather in the afternoon, while Michael and Lincoln would go to Syracuse's best tattoo parlour. Once there, Michael simply asked the tattoo artist to alter the tattoos on the back of his hands. He gave her free reign as to what she could do. Michael only wanted to mask Poseidon's face, a face that he would gladly forget. He knew that it was more symbolic than anything but it felt good regardless to see the end result. It was a collection of multiple abstract forms that neatly covered the face's most prominent features and that were connected to each other with straight or curved lines. He really liked it, his brother too. No secret message behind it, just remarkable artwork.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Michael! I'll be honest, I never thought I would get the chance to. Sara told me everything. Well, I'm sure it's far from being everything, but you know what I mean."

Michael smiled. "Yeah. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Heather. Thank you for being such a good friend to Sara all these years. And thank you for the clothes."

Heather smiled too. "I'm glad I could help. What a crazy story, huh?"

Michael scoffed. "You can say that…"

"Do you really think you're going to leave New York?"

"Probably", Sara responded. They were still unsure where they wanted to live but they were certain that staying in Ithaca, or even the state of New York, was not an option. Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami were also out of the question. Too many bad memories in those cities. They wanted to find a place where they could really start fresh. Sara would miss her friend but she had to do that for herself and her family. She hoped that Heather would visit her one day in their new home because when she would leave, she had no intentions of setting foot in Ithaca ever again.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Michael, Sara, Mike and Lincoln left Heather shortly before six and returned to the hotel where a surprise guest was waiting for them in the lobby. Mike was the first one to notice the man's presence. "LJ", he shouted, then went to hug him when his cousin kneeled in front of him.

"Hey Mike! How are you doing?"

"Great", the boy exclaimed. "You're here to see your uncle?" Mike loved having an uncle and he was happy that LJ would have an uncle too, an uncle that was alive, just like his.

"And you, and your mother, and my father", LJ enumerated, making Mike chuckle. LJ's presence wasn't a surprise for his father since he was the one who had called him the night before to inform him that his uncle was alive and in New York. LJ had immediately planned his visit from Boston where he was living, asking for a short leave, citing a family emergency, which was the truth. His boss hadn't expected that instead of a death in the family it was because his supposedly dead uncle was actually alive that he needed to leave town. LJ had promised him and his colleagues details of the whole story when he would get back. But for now, all he wanted to do was hug his uncle, the man that he had always looked up to and that, like everyone else in the family, he had missed terribly. "Uncle Mike", he said with emotion before he was hugged by Michael. The embrace was short yet full of love. With LJ, Michael's family was finally complete.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After a nice supper at an Italian restaurant (Mike's favorite), they went back to the hotel. Sara wanted to put Mike to bed a little early. He had woken up once the night before, haunted by a nightmare whose content she could only imagine. He had refused to talk about it but his behavior made it evident: he was still frightened that she would disappear on him and he had kept an eye on her as soon as they had come back from their meeting with the CIA. Sara knew the feeling too well, she had been scared to death when Jacob had taken him. He was her boy and the idea of losing him was unfathomable. He had gone to bed without protest and an hour later, Michael and Sara were in bed too. They had spent a little bit of time with Lincoln and LJ but, despite the door connecting both rooms being open, they were reluctant to leave him for too long.

"Do you think I answered Mike's questions correctly?" Michael was lying on his back and looking at Sara who was mirroring his position next to him.

"I believe you did. He would have asked more questions if he hadn't been satisfied with your answers."

"Okay", he simply replied, turning his head and staring at the ceiling in the dark room.

Lincoln and LJ had wished Mike a good night and Michael had been about to do the same and leave him with Sara when his son's voice had stopped him: "How did you go from Yemen to Greece and then back here?" Sara had not told him about Yemen. He had probably heard some exchanges between her and Lincoln. Michael had given him a simplified version of their escape from Sana'a to Phaecia, Crete, Marseilles and finally New York. He had deliberately omitted the parts where their lives had been in terrible danger and where people had died, notably when they had gone across the desert or when they had to jump off a cargo ship about to be sunk down by a missile. He was maybe new to fatherhood but he knew that some details were better left out when you had a seven-year-old boy whose imagination was already in overdrive. Mike's reaction to Michael's account had left them speechless. Their son's exact words had been: "Wow, almost as epic as Odysseus' journey!" Yeah, Mike was definitely too wise for his own age…

Sara was silent for a moment, hoping that Michael wouldn't start second-guessing himself as a parent. Once again, she decided to redirect the conversation: "I didn't get the chance to have a proper look at your new ink. Are you happy with it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I am. Speaking of tattoos, are you going to tell me about yours or not? I'm dying to know here!"

Sara chuckled nervously. If she had to be honest, she was feeling shy. Talking about her tattoos with Michael had never been a possibility. His loss was what had prompted her to have them in the first place. She cleared her throat. "Well, you know that I have one on my shoulder. It's on my right shoulder."

"A crane", he provided and Sara was able to see a small smile on his lips.

"An origami crane to be more precise. It's the first one I got. I was about six months pregnant with Mike." Sara swallowed the lump in her throat. It had been an extremely difficult moment in her life. She had to get ready for her child's arrival, while still mourning the love of her life. "I wanted something that would help me during the last months of my pregnancy", she offered as an explanation.

Michael felt tears coming up and he was glad for the obscurity of the room. He put his right hand on Sara's arm in a futile attempt at comforting her. He had not been there when Sara had needed him the most. That would be an indelible scar for the rest of their lives but there was nothing to do about it. They could only move forward.

"How many more do you have?" Michael inquired with curiosity.

"Only one", she replied, smiling.

"What is it?"

"If you can be patient a little bit more, I'll show you tomorrow."

"Are you at least going to tell me where it is?"

"Patience, Scofield."
"So mysterious…"

Sara grinned and kissed him softly on the lips. "We should sleep. I don't know about you but I'm exhausted."

"Yeah, me too. It feels like I haven't had a decent night of sleep in years."

"Good night, Michael."

"Good night, Sara."