The two weeks before the wedding flew. In fact, Sara was looking back at them now and wondering where the time had went. The only problem was, she was beginning to encounter some nerves.

Her nerves weren't exactly due to the impending wedding, but rather because of her fiancé. To be more specific, her fiancé's moodiness. Over the same two weeks, he'd been acting well…the only word she could think of was weird. Sometimes he was distant and other times he well…wasn't. Every time she'd asked him if he was ok, he'd assure her he was fine. She knew he was keeping something from her, she just didn't know what.

It was Wednesday, her normal day off, and she'd just gotten back from dropping her dress off at Lincoln's. It wasn't an ideal place, she knew, but she didn't really have a choice. Not wanting Michael to see it ahead of time she'd needed some place to stash it. Originally she'd been planning on leaving it at Mary's, but her friend had had to make an unexpected move last week and was still trying to settle into her new apartment. So Lincoln's it was. When she'd called her soon to be brother-in-law this morning, he'd been more than amused but thankfully willing.

Michael wasn't due home from work until after five so the rest of her day was to going to be dedicated to packing what she could for their two weeks away. He was working only until noon on Friday and she'd taken the entire day off. Once he got home they were driving to the bed and breakfast. The plan was to stay there through the weekend. Monday, they were driving back into the city so that Michael could have his final meeting with his parole officer before they got on a plane.

Digging out the pieces luggage from the back of the closet, she set each one on the bed. Between the two of them, they had more than enough suitcases so Sara picked the ones she thought would work best and put the others away. Sara began with her clothes since that would be easiest. The temperature should be warm, but the nights might be cool if they wanted to go for a walk on the beach so she retrieved a light hooded jacket and tucked it inside.

She moved through her closet and her drawers and selected items she thought she would need for their week and a half away. By three, she'd managed to fill her suitcase. Zipping it closed she picked it up and put it off to the side and started on Michael suitcase. This was a little more difficult of a process but she figured she'd give it a shot. The only thing that could happen would be he'd insist on repacking it himself she though.

At five twenty, Michael made his way though the door. "I'm in here." Sara called from the bedroom.

Laying his keys down he made his way towards her voice. But when he came in the bedroom, he stopped short. Three suitcases lay open on the bed and two were on the floor nearer the door. The two on the floor appeared to be full while the ones on the bed were at varying levels. She smiled up at him as he watched her zip the fullest suitcase closed and proceed to lift it from the bed. "What are you doing?!" he shouted.

Sara jumped. Michael never talked to her like that. But before she could respond he was beside her taking the suitcase off the bed himself and placing it against the wall with the others. He was still facing away from her and she could see the muscles in his shoulders tense. She waited for him to move, respond, something but he just stood there. Just as she was about to say something he turned and walked back to stand a foot in front of her. She could still see the tension clearly in his face but there was something else as well she couldn't quite place. "I'm sorry." He finally said. "I shouldn't have yelled at you but…" He sighed. "Please, next time you need to move something heavy could you let me do it?"

Michael's voice was controlled and even like it was taking a lot of concentration for him to keep from yelling again. What was going on?! She searched his face but still couldn't find the answers she was seeking and she knew from the many times she'd asked him before that he wouldn't tell her even if she asked. Taking a deep breath, "Ok."

"Thank you." He whispered, letting out a breath he'd been holding. Cupping her face in his hands, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Pulling back he searched her face as if HE were searching for something. After a minute it seemed he didn't find what he was looking for and dropped his hands. "I'll go pick up dinner." He said and headed for the door.

Watching as his form retreated, she sat down on the edge of the bed. What just happened? What was she missing? Michael had never raised his voice to her like that. It was almost like she'd…scared him. But why? How? By lifting a slightly heavy suitcase? That didn't make any sense.

~

As soon as Michael closed the apartment door behind him, he leaned back against it and closed his eyes his hands balling into fists. Bringing his hands up to rub against his shorn head, he heard his harsh words again and mentally berated himself. He'd been trying to convince himself over the last two weeks that the fact Sara was keeping this from him wasn't a big deal. That she would tell him when she was ready, but he was fooling himself. It did matter. The pain in his chest was growing every day. But that didn't excuse what he'd just done. To yell at her like that was inexcusable but when he'd seen what she was doing…

Michael's head thumped back against the closed door when he remembered feeling his heart dropped to his stomach as he'd seen her try to lift the suitcase. He knew he'd overreacted but he couldn't help it. Why…?

Hearing movement behind the door, he quickly pushed himself away and walked swiftly down the hall to the elevator. Lincoln, LJ, and Sam would be here in a half hour. He had that much time to try and pull himself together. As the doors opened in front of him, he stepped inside and pushed the button for the first floor.

~

Lincoln, LJ, and Sam arrived twenty minutes after Michael had disappeared out the front door. Sara was not in a good emotional state by the time they'd arrived and apparently Lincoln had taken notice. She wasn't feeling entirely sociable tonight and had taken the first reason she could find to excuse herself and went into the kitchen.

By the time she reached down to open the dishwasher, Lincoln was by her side. "You gonna tell me what's wrong?"

Sara only paused for a moment and then continued to unload and put away the clean dishes. "I don't know what your talking about Lincoln."

"Cut the bull Sara. Something's wrong." She was silent. Just as he was getting ready to jump in again he heard it. She was crying? "Sara?" She still didn't move. Reaching out, Lincoln turned her to face him.

"Oh Lincoln." She cried. And the next thing he knew, she had her arms wrapped around him and her face buried in his chest.

He was quite for as long as he could stand, "Sara will you please tell me what's wrong?"

It took a few minutes, but finally her crying started to ebb and he pulled back wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry." She said, reaching for a towel.

He was just staring at her now, waiting for her to say something to make what had just happened make some sense. Finally she spoke but instead of answering his question, she asked one of her own. "Has Michael said anything to you?"

With a perplexed look he answered, "No. Why?"

Shaking her head, "I don't know. He's just been acting…strange."

Lincoln raised one eyebrow, "Strange?"

Sara sighed and turned away from him busying herself with the dishes again. "For the last two weeks he's been acting like something isn't quite right. Like something's bothering him. But he won't talk to me. Every time I ask him…he tells me he's fine, nothing's wrong." She turned to face him now. "He's not fine Lincoln. I know Michael well enough to know that." She paused again debating if she should mention what had happened less than an hour ago or not. In the end, she decided at this point she just needed someone else who knew and loved Michael to see if they could make heads or tails out of what was going on with him. "When he came home tonight I was packing for our trip. He came into the bedroom and…well he lost his temper when I lifted a suitcase off the bed." She paused to look up at Lincoln's face. "He's never talked to me that way before." She whispered. "Afterward he apologized, of course, but I could tell he was still upset." Shaking her head, "It doesn't make sense to me, does it to you? Why would he lose it over a suitcase?"

"I have no idea Sara."

She asked the question she didn't want to ask. "Do you think it's the wedding? That he doesn't want to get married anymore?"

Lincoln started shaking his head before she was even done with her question. "No. Michael wants to marry you more than anything Sara. I do know that much."

"So why?" she almost started crying again.

Lincoln pulled her back into his arms but before he could say anymore he heard the front door and knew that had to be Michael with the food. Giving her one last squeeze, he stepped back and looked into her face holding her by the shoulders. "You gonna be ok?"

She nodded. "Yea, yea. I'll be fine."

"Ok. I'll keep everyone out and give you a few minutes." She nodded again and he left her standing alone in the kitchen.

By the time Michael arrived back at the apartment their guests had already arrived. LJ and Sam were sitting on the couch talking about a new thriller that was due to come out next month LJ wanted to go see. He greeted them both and glanced around the room, "Where's Linc?"

Just as LJ was about to answer Lincoln walked into the room. "Michael." He acknowledged.

"Where's Sara?" He asked his brother, glancing towards the door Lincoln had just exited.

"She's putting some dishes away. Said she'd be out in a minute." Lincoln walked over and took one of the bags of food out of Michael's arms and walked over to the table. Michael stood for a moment debating if he should follow his brother or go to Sara. He decided to follow his brother. There was too much of an audience at the moment so he would wait until later when they were alone to talk to her. He needed to apologize again. He needed her to forgive him. Who was he kidding, there was only one thing he needed from Sara and for some reason she was unwilling to give that to him.

As Michael put the last of the food out on the table, he let a deep sigh escape his lips. "You ok man?" Linc asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

Michael and Lincoln had just finished setting every thing out on the table when Sara emerged from the kitchen. Lincoln could still see the evidence of her breakdown in the redness of her eyes and he was sure if his detail obsessed brother was paying even the slightest bit of attention he'd notice too. Sara had brought a stack of plates with her. Everyone grabbed a chair and dug in.

After his conversation with Sara, Lincoln had paid a little more attention than normal to his brother's responses and reactions. Sara was right. Something was off with Michael. It was subtle, Michael was pretty good at hiding things, but it was still there. He was keeping to himself more than usual, not contributing as much to the conversation and Lincoln didn't think he'd seen his brother crack a smile the entire evening.

And then there was the way his brother was looking at Sara. It was almost like he was in pain, which didn't make any sense. The other thing he noticed was it seemed like Michael was keeping track of every bite of food Sara put into her mouth, every drink she took.

By the end of the evening he was convinced that Sara had not been exaggerating. Something was wrong with this brother.

~

Once everyone left, Michael had encouraged Sara to leave everything and go relax. It was getting late and she had to work a full day tomorrow so she didn't argue. She'd headed into the bedroom leaving him putting the empty to go cartons in the trash. Cleaning up went fairly quickly but by the time he'd made his way into the bedroom, he found her curled up in bed asleep.

He stood watching her for a long while. They needed to talk. He'd seen the redness in her eyes tonight when he'd gotten home and he knew she'd been crying. He also knew, he was the one who had caused her tears. Knowing he was the cause of her distress tore him up even more.

This had to end. One way or another they had to face this. On his way back to the apartment he'd finally decided he couldn't remain silent anymore. Tomorrow night they would sit down and talk.