Michael logged off his computer and shut it down for the weekend. Making sure everything was where it should be he grabbed his jacket and left his desk. He was almost to the door when he heard his boss yell for him. As much as he wanted to ignore it, he knew he owed John for giving him this job.

After his release, he had put his resume together and sent it off to every engineering firm in Chicago. Only a handful had called him in for an interview and most of those had only wanted to meet the notorious Michael Scofield in person. Only one had been serious. Willing to give him a chance. It was nothing like his old job. The firm was small and he was having to start all over, but he loved being able to mole over the details of a building again. So instead of walking out the door he turned around and headed toward his boss' voice.

He rounded the corner and entered John's office. His boss looked up from behind his desk and motioned for Michael to take a seat. Michael gave a quick glance at his watch, trying to figure out how much he would have to alter his schedule once he made it out of the office in order to make it to Sara's on time, and made his way to the chair in front of John's desk.

This had not escaped John's notice. Michael was a good worker. He had made a good decision to bring him into their growing firm. "Got some place you need to be?"

Michael, who had been glancing down at his watch again, looked up at John. "I do." When it became evident that John was waiting for more, "I am taking my girl out tonight and I don't want to be late."

John gave Michael a reassuring smile and relaxed a little. "Would this be the girl whose picture is on your desk?"

"Yes."

Michael was a very private person. This John had figured out pretty quickly. He was great at what he did, figuring out buildings, but share he did not. The only thing John had learned about him thus far was what he had read in the papers, which he didn't give much credence to, and what was on his resume. Michael had only two personal items on his desk and both were pictures. The first was of him, his brother, and a young man. He assumed the younger one was Michael's nephew, his brother's son who had been mentioned in the papers, but he wasn't sure. The other was of an auburn haired woman. "What's her name?"

"Sara. Her name is Sara."

John could tell Michael didn't want to talk about this so he decided to jump to the chase and address why he had called him into his office at five o'clock on a Friday evening. "I received a call from your parole officer today."

This brought Michael's head up in a hurry. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. I don't think so anyway." It was now time for John to be out of his comfort zone. This was not something he was used to dealing with. He had never hired a felon before and wasn't used to dealing with parole officers, so he had been caught a little off guard by the call. "He said he just wanted to make sure you were doing well here at the firm." John saw the relief on Michael's face and realized how hard this must be for him. Although he now had a good job and was trying to get his life back on track, he still had to answer to someone who could take his new freedom away from him at a moments notice.
"Look, I don't want to keep you from your date but when I got off the call I realized I had never sat down with you to ask how it really was going. I have no complaints about your work. We are a growing firm and you can have a great future here." From the look on Michael's face he decided to come to the point. "How are you getting along with your co-workers, Michael?"

Michael didn't know how to answer at first. Should he lie and say that everyone had been great or be honest and say things were tense at times but they were getting better. How could he complain? He was a convicted felon and that made people nervous. He couldn't blame them. In the end, he decided honesty was best. "Things are ok. I make some of them nervous, but we get the work done."

John had been expecting a brush off and was surprised to get such an open answer from this private man. "Is there anything I can do to help with that?"

Although John was his boss, he was also the first person since Sucre to offer friendship. "I think time will be the best thing. The more they get to know me the easier things will be."

"Well if there is anything I can do, you'll let me know?" Michael nodded. John knew he had gotten more out of Michael than expected so he wasn't going to press it. "I won't keep you any longer. I know you have a hot date tonight." He smiled and Michael got up from his chair and moved toward the door. "Oh Michael, one more thing?" Michael paused at the door and turned his head back toward his boss. "Why don't you bring Sara by next week. I would like to meet her."

Michael hadn't been expecting a request like this. Why did he want to meet Sara? But instead of asking he just said, "Sure," turned back around and hurried to his car.