April 24th

"Thanks for coming with me again Jessica. I really do appreciate it." They'd decided to try some of the shops on the other side of town.

"I don't mind really. Besides, it gives me something to do. Gets me out of the dorm."

Sara heard the depressed note in Jessica's voice, "Everything ok with your roommate?"

"Tonya?" Jessica questioned. "Yea of course. Why…" She paused. "Oh. You thought..." Shaking her head. "No. Everything's fine with Tonya. My roommate and I get alone great."

"So what is it then?"

Jessica was quite for a long while. So long in fact, Sara didn't think she was going to answer. They rounded the corner and were just getting ready to go into the next shop when she said, "It's my parents. They called last night with their travel information. They'll be here on May 19th. That's less than four weeks!"

They walked in the store and began looking around a bit before Sara said, "And your worried." It wasn't a question.

Jessica just nodded. Sara waited her out. She knew eventually Jessica would say more and she wasn't disappointed. "What if they don't like you guys Sara? What if they don't let me come back? It's one thing to be away from LJ for an entire summer but for three years!"

Sara came over and placed her arms around the young girl. "It'll be ok."

Jessica was crying now against Sara's shoulder. "And…and it's not just LJ. I'd miss all you guys."

Sara saw a sales woman approaching looking concerned and mouthed "no" to her, and the woman turned away leaving them alone again. "Jess?" Sara said. "We would miss you too. But don't you think your getting ahead of yourself." Sara pulled back so she could look at Jessica. "I mean your parents haven't even met us yet. Have a little faith."

Jessica laughed. "You sound like LJ."

Sara laughed too. "Actually I sound like Michael and Lincoln. It's kind of the family motto." Jessica seemed to be calming down so Sara stepped back. Looking around the store she spotted the bathrooms. "Why don't we go get you cleaned up and then see if we can find me a dress?"

"Ok." Jessica nodded.

After cleaning Jessica up, they looked through the store for another twenty minutes before calling it quits. The next shop was a block away and across the street. As they stood waiting for the cross walk to change, Sara and Jessica were chatting about shoes of all things when Sara's eyes caught something on the other side of the street. Jessica noticed Sara had stopped talking and tried to follow her eyes but she wasn't sure exactly what she was supposed to be looking at.

Sara had to look twice to make sure she wasn't seeing things, but she was no longer in doubt. Nika had just stepped out of one of the stores directly across from them. Just as Sara thought they might get by without being noticed, Nika's eyes locked on hers. It was obvious when recognition was clear; the eyes looking at her from across the street were shooting daggers.

Sara continued to stare and failed to respond. "Sara?" Jessica prompted. When she got no response she took a step closer and followed Sara's eyes. Then she saw her. These two obviously weren't friends. Jessica reached her hand out to get Sara's attention. "Sara?" This time she got a slight grunt out of her friend. "Sara who is that?"

Finally Sara seemed to snap out of it and turned to the concerned face beside her. "It's…" Sara looked back across the street and saw Nika walking the other way. "It's nobody."

"Sara…"

Sara took Jessica's arm, "No really. It was nobody. Nobody important anyway. Now come on we've got a dress to buy." Just then the cross walk changed and Sara hurried Jessica across the street before she could ask more questions.

~

It was a nice night so after dinner was finished, everyone piled into Lincoln's back yard and lounged on his patio enjoying the warm spring night. Sara, LJ, and Lincoln had struck up a conversation and were completely engrossed, not paying any attention to what was going on outside of their conversation.

Michael walked into the house to get refill on his drink. This was her chance. Grabbing her own glass, she followed him. As she walked into the kitchen, Michael had his hand in the icebox. Hearing her come in, he turned and smiled at her. "Hey."

"Hey." She said. Jessica really couldn't believe she was doing this. She could still remember when she'd been afraid of Michael, although now that seemed kind of silly. She was still nervous though. "Uh, Michael?" He turned to face her. "Can I…can I talk to you a minute?"

"Sure." Setting his glass down, he leaned back against the counter and casually folded his arms.

"Look I don't know if I should say anything or not, but…" she sighed. "but you all have become so important to me." She looked up and now saw a concerned look on Michael's face. She took a deep breath. "Today when Sara and I were shopping. We were about to cross the street and Sara just stopped. When I saw what she was looking at…there was a woman across the street and they were staring at each other. And the look wasn't friendly. I don't know who it was, she wouldn't tell me. But Sara wasn't the same after that." Jessica had been looking down at the glass she had in her hands the whole time and finally looked up. "I just thought maybe you should know."

Michael didn't say anything for a minute. He was thinking, she could tell. Then he walked over to her and pulled her in for a hug. "Thanks." She didn't say anything more, just hugged him back.

~

On the ride home, Michael had looked over at her more than once and noticed her staring blankly out the window. Once on the short ride when he'd seen her hands fidgeting nervously together he'd even asked her if she was alright. She'd given him a weak smile, said she was fine and turned back to what was going on outside the glass.

Upon entering the apartment she busied herself first in the kitchen, which didn't last long, and then made her way into the bedroom. He'd been quietly observing her, although she seemed not to notice. She was in the corner of the room, folding laundry of all things when he stripped down to his boxers and walked into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

He hadn't taken two steps back into the bedroom until she was on him. Pressing her body fully against him, she grabbed his head and pulled his lips roughly to hers. Before he could even react, her hand was trailing down and inside the only piece of clothing he had on. His brain was telling him to stop. That something was wrong. His body just felt a warm, willing Sara. And when her mouth moved to nibble on his neck and her hand began to stroke him, his body won.

~

Lying spent on top of him, she closed her eyes and listened to his heartbeat. His breathing was slowly coming back to normal. He was still inside her and making no move to disengage, and neither was she. His arms were around her, gently making small circles on her back. She loved this. Loved the after just as much as the during.

One of her hands was on his shoulder just above her head. The other was lying on his chest right in front of her, making lazy circles of it's own. Usually they talked afterwards, but tonight he was silent. She knew he'd been watching her earlier. Knew he was waiting for her.

She prolonged the words for as long as she could. Moving off of him, she started to pull away and he pulled her back. She didn't resist, but spread out beside him laying her head back on his chest. Her hand began circling again and then she heard the words come out of her mouth. "I saw Nika today."

He remained silent. If not for the consistent movement of his fingers, she would have thought him asleep. She continued. "We didn't speak. She was just across the street but we saw each other." Sara sighed into his chest. "I don't know why but seeing her again just threw me for some reason."

Leaning down he placed a kiss in her hair but still said nothing.

"I'm sorry I've been distant this evening."

This got a response out of him. "Sara you never have to say sorry to me for something you feel." Wanting to lighten the mood, "Besides…I wouldn't exactly call the last thirty minutes distant."

She heard the smile in his voice and knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to make her feel better, as always. She let herself smile, "I guess not."

After several more long minutes, "Why did you let her rattle you?"

She shook her head against him. "I really don't know. Seeing her again…" She sighed heavily. "It just brought back all the feelings, the memories."

She tried to pull away again, but he held her. "Talk to me."

"Michael this is all in the past. It's not important."

"If it's causing you to distance yourself from me." He paused and then she could feel him smile. "Emotionally at least." Then he sobered again. "Then it's important. What feelings? What memories?"

"You know."

"Humor me."

With a sigh, "Ok." She said weakly. She stilled her hand and closed her eyes. "When I saw her, the first thing that popped into my mind was seeing her in Fox River…with you. How it felt seeing her touch you. You kissing her on the cheek after what had just happened between us." She felt his arm tighten around her. "See I told you you didn't want to hear."

Michael forced himself to relax. "Continue."

After another long pause, she did continue. "Then when I saw her at my car. The day you had her steal my keys. Seeing her again, knowing she was your wife…it tore me up inside more than I would admit." He didn't say anything. Just listened to her. "And even though I didn't see her when she came by…and left her little present. The fact that she tried something with you, knowing we're together…" She took a deep breath. "Seeing her today…all of those feelings, memories just came flooding back. I was hurt and angry all at the same time."

She raised her head to look at him and brought herself up to eye level. "I know it's silly which is why I didn't say anything. I don't even know WHY I let it bother me." But Sara did know. The fact that their wedding was getting closer and closer had brought much excitement and many questions. The first nudge had come when they were sitting with the minister.

It'd made Sara realize they'd never really talked about her. Well they'd talked ABOUT her, but not about her and Michael, their marriage. Well more specifically their wedding night. At the time, Sara had pushed it aside and dismissed it. But today, seeing her again, she remembered the tempting beauty that she was. And although she knew that Michael would never cheat on her with Nika or anyone else, she was also realistic. She hadn't known Michael then. He'd had no loyalty to her when he'd married Nika and would have been perfectly within his rights to be with her.

She must have been silent for too long because she heard him say, "Sara if you have something to say, say it. If you have something to ask me, then ask. You know I'll tell you anything you want to know. No secrets remember."

"I remember." She whispered. The problem was…did she really want to know? What if he said he'd slept with her? It didn't change anything. She still loved him and wanted to marry him more than anything. But he was right. The question was there. And for whatever reason, it wasn't going away.

Her eyes drifted to the pillow beside his head. His free hand came up and cupping her face, brought her eyes back to focus on him. "Ask me." He whispered.

She swallowed. "Did you…on your wedding night…did you sleep with her?"

When she'd started to talk about Nika and him together, he'd half expected this. His thumb massaged her cheek as he waited for her eyes to find his again. "No." he said. "We didn't even sleep in the same room." He knew he was probably giving more information than necessary but he wanted her to have everything she needed. "For appearances, we spent the night in my loft but she was in the spare bedroom. Not my bed. I never slept with her Sara."

He saw something change in her eyes. Felt the muscles in her back relax. He reached up and kissed her softly on her lips and her eyes drifted closed. "Thank you." She whispered. Guiding her head back under the crook of his neck, he rubbed his lips against her silky hair and he felt her lips press against him. "Good night Michael."

"Good night Sara."