This is Prompt No. 60-Old

It was late at night, under the cover of darkness and the confusion of blowing snow, that Mitchie made her escape. She had left Shania with Caitlyn and Nate, who had promised to look after her until Mitchie could come back for her, and had bundled up against the cold. She made her way almost silently down the tunnel leading to the buggy tunnel, not wanting anyone to see her.

"Ready, Miss?" the driver of the buggy asked when Mitchie had climbed into the buggy.

She nodded. "Yes," she said softly.

The horse started off, and Mitchie sat back to relax. She knew that she had two hours ahead of her before she could do anything, so she might as well relax. She cringed; two hours to think about what she was doing. "Don't think like that," she hissed at herself.

For the next one hundred and twenty minutes, Mitchie tried to focus on anything she could think of, as long as it didn't have any relevancy to her actions from now until tomorrow night. She tried to focus on Shane, but the pain was too sharp, so she stored away the memories until she reached her destination. When she had planned this escape, she had thought that she would have plenty of topics to think on that would not remind her off the life she was suddenly leaving behind, but that did not turn out to be the case. Everything she thought about somehow returned to life at the base in some way or another.

Finally, feeling like she was going to explode, Mitchie slid to the front of her seat and leaned over so that she could speak into the driver's ear. "Excuse me," she began.

Not having to guide the horse while it was on the tracks, the driver turned around to face her. "Yes, Miss?" he asked politely.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Mitchie prefaced, "but would you mind talking to me? I feel rather confined and lonely in the back seat."

The driver looked surprised. Mitchie guessed that not many people asked him to speak to them very often. "Uh, I-I suppose," he stuttered, unsure.

Suddenly, Mitchie felt horrible for putting him on the spot like that. She knew that if anyone suddenly asked her to start speaking, she wouldn't be able to think of a single thing. "I'm terribly sorry," she said sincerely, knowing that the driver, from the angle he was seated at, could see the blush creeping over her cheeks. "That was unfair of me. Forgive me."

She started to sit back, resigned to trying to think of abstract things such as clocks and clouds, when the driver waved her back. "It's no problem," he assured her. "You just caught me by surprise. I'd love to keep you company, but I don't know what to say." He shrugged and looked sheepish. "It gets rather lonely up here too."

Mitchie smiled, and she was surprised at how genuine the smile felt. "It seems that we can help each other out," she remarked.

The driver nodded, but when he saw Mitchie waiting on him expectantly, he cleared his throat and asked, "What should I talk about?"

"Anything you'd like," Mitchie told him openly. "Would you tell me about yourself?"

The driver blushed. "Aw, Miss, that isn't something you'd be interested in."

Mitchie rolled her eyes comically, surprised once again by how happy she felt at the moment. "Well, I highly doubt you lived under a rock, so I'm sure you have some interesting stories to tell."

The driver smiled. "I suppose you have a point there," he conceded and began to speak. He told Mitchie all about his childhood home in Alabama, his teenaged stunts, and some of his adult adventures, making her laugh in places and groan at his stupidity in others. The time flew by for the two of them, and before Mitchie knew it, they had pulled up to the end of the line.

"Thank you so much," she told the driver. "I enjoyed listening to you."

The driver tipped his hat in her direction. "You're most welcome," he told her. "Thanks for listening. Most people wouldn't do that."

He helped Mitchie step down from the buggy and she gave him a small curtsy. "It was my pleasure," she told him and raised a hand in farewell as she began to walk away.

"Miss?" the driver called when she got to the top of the staircase leading into the theater.

Mitchie turned to face him. "Yes?"

The driver wrung his cap nervously between his hands, and Mitchie began to worry that his brim would lose its shape if he kept that motion up. "Please be careful, wherever you're going. Washington is a dangerous place these days."

Mitchie, touched by his concern, thanked him again and promised, "I'll be very careful."

She turned and opened the door, finding herself once again in the prop room. Even though Mitchie knew that the theater was safe, the shadows and deep corners of the establishment played havoc with her imagination. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found herself outside in the crisp, cold air. Pulling her coat tightly around her, Mitchie began to make her way to the section of town she wanted. The streets were relatively quiet, and Mitchie only ducked behind a stack of crates once to let a party of friends stumble down the street without noticing her.

Soon, her feet and her heart were leading her right to where she wanted to be: The old bench where she and Shane had sat those long months ago. Mitchie sat down, feeling the old wood groan in protest, and leaned back against the frame, ignoring the snow that she displaced in the meantime. As she gazed out into the night, the only light on the street coming from the street lanterns, the world she found herself in seemed to shift.

No longer did she feel alone and hurt, away from her daughter and the husband she loved, she felt safe. No longer did she feel like her heart was torn in half, she felt whole. Being here, she could close her eyes and imagine that her life was different, and less hazardous. She could imagine that she was perfectly normal, with her husband home, and her baby in her arms, free from a job that could bring an untimely death at any given moment.

A fresh gust of cold air blew snow into Mitchie's face, effectively bringing her out of her wishful thinking. She shivered, shaking her head so that some of the snow would fall out of her hair. She glanced around and realized that the sky had dimmed even more, making the night difficult to see through. She hadn't realized how long she had been out in the downtown section of Washington. She stood up quickly, realizing that she must be going. Someone would figure out soon enough that she was gone.

Mitchie began the long trip to her destination, closing her eyes as she waited to arrive. When her mode of transportation stopped, Mitchie opened her eyes and nodded to the driver. Someone was there to meet her, and held out his hand to help her down. "Feeling better?" he asked.

Mitchie nodded and smiled, opening her arms so that he could place a precious bundle into her hands. "I feel much better," she told him as she rocked her daughter. "And I'm ready to go. Tonight has helped me a lot."

Nate nodded and led the way back into the base, Mitchie following closely behind him, ready for the mission she was to embark on in a few hours.

A/N: Thought she was going to run away?? :D Hope you liked it! Thank you so much for all your reviews and comments. Love you guys! :D