After dinner, they headed home. Conversation had been light enough, they'd talked mostly about her day and Matt and Vicki's agreement to come for New Year Eve, but she could see the worry behind his eyes and didn't think it had anything to do with their guests.

Tomorrow he went before a judge to put another part of his past behind him. It was one more obstacle they had to overcome in order to be together how they wanted. They hadn't seen or heard from Nika over the past two months except through Frank. Everything seemed to be fine for tomorrow but she knew Michael and, if truth be told, she wouldn't be completely happy until the judge signed on the dotted line herself.

As soon as they walked through the door, they heard the phone ringing. Looking at the caller ID, Michael saw it was Linc's. "Hello?"

"Hi Uncle Mike." LJ answered. But before Michael could say anything else, LJ asked, "Is Sara there?"

Maybe he should have been hurt by this, but he wasn't. Sara and LJ had formed a special bond since being held captive together. "Yea sure. Just a minute, I'll get her."

Handing the phone to Sara, he excused himself and went into the bedroom deciding this was a good time to find a hiding place for her gift.

Sara took the phone from Michael and sat down on the couch. "Hey LJ. How are you?"

"I'm ok." He said, sounding anything but ok to Sara.

"You sure? You sound a little down." Then it hit her. "Jessica left today."

She heard LJ let out a sigh from the other end of the line, "Yea. How did you remember that? Dad didn't even remember."

Sara gave a small chuckle, "Comes with being a girl I guess." Knowing she was stating the obvious, she said it anyway, "She'll be back LJ."

LJ knew she was right, although there was a part of him based on his past experiences that told him otherwise. "I know. That's not…well that's not what's bothering me, Sara. She's going to tell her parents about me. What if…what if they try to come between us? Stop her from seeing me?"

Ahhh. So this was what was bothering him. It made sense given Jessica's initial reaction to the family history. "I'm sure everything will be fine LJ. You just have to have a little faith, remember? Besides, once they get to know you they're going to love you." Sara let the smile she had on her face fill her voice, "You're a Burrows. Charm tends to run in your family."

Sara heard a small laugh escape him and then he became serious again. "Thanks."

"Your welcome." Shifting in her seat Sara settled in to take his mind off missing Jess. "Did you and your dad finish the decorating?…"

Their phone conversation lasted for over an hour. By the time she'd hung up the phone it was almost eight thirty. Michael hadn't rejoined her in the living room, so pulling herself off the couch she went to find him.

He'd removed his tie and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his dress shirt. He was lounging against the headboard reading. Appearing to be fully engrossing in his book, she turned to leave. "How's LJ?" His voice brought her up short.

Turning back around, she answered him, "He's fine. Just missing Jessica."

He nodded in agreement. "That's understandable. They've been inseparable for months."

Closing the book, he met her eyes. They were more troubled than before she noticed. Pushing herself off the doorframe, she made her way over to sit beside him on the edge of the bed. Reaching out, she softly brushed her fingers against his and entwined their hands, her eyes never leaving his.

Realizing she'd read his mood, his eyes drifted shut, "I'm ok Sara."

She didn't say anything. With her free hand she removed the book from his lap and placed in on the bed. Standing, she brought her leg to rest on the other side of his hip straddling him.

Michael brought his other hand to rest on her hip. For the longest time, she did nothing as he waited for her to make the next move. After what seemed like endless minutes, Sara reached down and brought his hand up and placed it over her heart. With her own free hand, she leaned forward and placed her hand over his heart.

Still she is silent. Waiting for him, he knows. Closing his eyes again, he takes in the feel of her so close to him. The love she is clearly expressing. In that moment, he has a strong desire to kiss her. Reacting, he crunches his stomach muscles and sits up quickly making contact with her willing lips.

He wants to lose himself in those lips as he's done so many times over the last few months. But although she is responding to him, he knows she wants more. She wants him to share. He's reluctant to pull away from her and takes his time, leaving feather light kisses at both sides of her mouth before sitting back against the headrest.

Hand now caressing her beautiful red tresses, he tries to focus for her. Finally he speaks, "I'm a little worried about tomorrow."

The raising of her left eyebrow tells him what she thinks of his answer. With a smile tugging at his lips, "Ok. I'm more than a little worried about tomorrow. I want everything to go perfect. For it to be done. I'm just afraid something will go wrong and it won't."

Instead of responding with words, Sara leaned in and gave him a small kiss. "Thank you," she whispered. Instead of sitting back up, she moved slightly and settled in beside him laying her head on his shoulder. Wrapping her in his arms, he held her body as close to his as their clothing would allow.

When Sara spoke again it was to ask how his day had been. A simple question, she thought until she'd felt the tension in his body. "What happened?"

Hearing him take a breath, she was prepared for him to tell her "nothing". Instead he surprised her by recapping his phone call with Mr. Davis and his meeting with his parole officer. "Oh Michael I'm sorry. Everything's alright with your parole right? I mean he isn't going to do anything because you were late one time is he?"

Michael's fingers were aimlessly running through her curls again. "I don't think so. He said he believed me as to why I was late. I think if something was wrong, I would be back in prison by now."

Sara sat up at this. "Michael don't even joke about something like that."

Seeing her distress, he immediately sobered again. Pulling her back down against him, he placed a kiss in her hair. "I'm sorry Sara. I'm not going anywhere if I can help it."

"You'd better not. I have plans for you, you know."

"Hmmm. And what kind of plans would those be?" taking the opportunity to lighten the mood.

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see." He heard a small giggle escape from her and knew she was alright. His breath came a little easier now and holding her close he enjoyed the comfort that only Sara could give.