A/N: This update came out a little bit slower than I wanted it to, but alas it is here! Enjoy!
Chapter 11: The Park
"Ten cuidado, amor," Maricruz called after her daughter and son who had recently dropped their mother's hands to run to meet their cousins who were waiting by the slides.
Sara laughed at Maricruz's mannerisms. She knew that over-protective-mama-bear feeling all too well, and smiled at the fact that she wasn't the only one who could get a little bit crazy sometimes.
"I swear, she's trying to give me a heart attack at the age of 34," Maricruz said as she took a seat next to Sara on the park bench. "Hello, angel," she cooed at Emily who was settled in Sara's lap.
"Easy there, sister. If you think now is bad, wait until she's a teenager and discovers that boys don't actually have cooties," Sara said laughing.
"Don't even go there," Maricruz said warily.
Their laughter slowly died out and Sara looked down at her feet.
"Hey," Maricruz started, "what's wrong?"
"What?" Sara said jumpily. "Oh, nothing," she added before looking back down at her feet. "I'm gonna go check on the kids," Sara said moving to stand.
"Uh uh, you are not going to get out of this that quickly," Maricruz said, pulling Sara back down to the seated position.
"What's up?" she asked again.
"I just haven't been sleeping much lately. Probably just stress or something," Sara said, not meeting Maricruz's eyes.
"No there has to be more to it than that. You look physically weak. Like you're just drained and exhausted," Maricruz scolded. "I'm worried. What's going on?"
Sara was saved from having to respond when Mikey, Jake, Eduardo, and Lila made their way to where their moms were sitting.
"Can we get some ice cream, Mama?" Jake asked, tugging on Sara's hand.
"Hmm...ice cream? I don't know, baby, it's kinda early, don't you think?" she said ruffling her son's hair.
"Pleeeaaasssee, Mama," he said, looking at her with his sparkling blue eyes that by this point, he knew she couldn't resist.
"Tell you what," Maricruz interrupted before Sara could answer. "How about you guys go back and play for a little bit longer and then after we all eat lunch, we can go out for ice cream, sound good?"
Sara looked over at Maricruz with an expression of gratitude evident on her face.
"Okay, Mama!" Eduardo cheered.
"Alright, sounds like a plan!" Sara said excitedly. "Now you guys go back and play for a little bit, okay?"
"Okay, Mama," Jake said, echoing his older cousin. She smiled at the sentiment. She loved knowing that the Scofield and Sucre children were as close as their parents were.
"Well?" Maricruz said, looking expectantly as Sara.
"Well, what?" Sara answered.
"You were about to tell me why you look like if I blew on you, you would fall over. Come on, Sara, it's just me. What's up?"
Sara sighed. She didn't really want to get into all of the little details right now.
"I don't know...I just...I've got a lot on my mind, lately, and I can never seem to shut my brain off and fall asleep..." Sara trailed off, hoping that would be enough to satisfy her friend.
"Is there anything I can do to help? Is it about Michael?" Maricruz asked.
"God, no. He's been a godsend, per usual. It almost makes it harder, you know? Like all he wants is to be there for me and for me to be okay, but I just don't think there's anything he or anyone else can do?" Sara rambled.
Maricruz furrowed her brow. "I don't think I'm following you. What's going on?"
Sara thought long and hard about what she should say. She knew Maricruz deserved to know. Sucre was just a big a part of this as Michael and she were. She just didn't have the heart to tell her the truth, and God forbid Lincoln found out from anyone that wasn't Michael or herself.
Just as Sara was about to tell her some BS excuse about how the bus crash case at the hospital had her stressed out, Maricruz's voice interrupted her.
"Who is Mikey talking to?"
"What?" Sara asked as her blood ran cold. She looked around the park for her sons.
"Look," Maricruz pointed. "Over there."
Sara's eyes followed Maricruz's gesture and she found her son, talking to what appeared to be a bush.
Sara handed Emily off to Maricruz, shot up, and ran over to where her son was standing. When she arrived, she found no one to be standing behind the bush. Was she losing her mind? No. Maricruz saw it too. There had to be another explanation for this. Maybe Mikey was talking to himself, or an imaginary friend, or maybe even another kid on the playground. It was a big, public park after all. Surely, there was a logical reason for all of this.
Mikey's voice broke Sara from her thoughts.
"Mama!" Mikey cried. "I just met one of your friends!"
Sara's brow furrowed at her son's statement. One of her friends? What the heck did that mean? Was this exactly what she hoped it wasn't? Had he really found them this quickly? There was no way.
And then she remembered that she had a very intelligent five-year-old boy who could give her exactly what she needed to ease her mind. Then again, it could also be the very information that sent her over the edge. Sara decided in that moment that she had a choice: find out what happened, or remain in the dark for just a while longer. For a moment she considered the latter. Ignorance was bliss after all.
No. She told herself. Ignorance couldn't be bliss if it meant putting her children at risk. She just had to approach this from the right angle. The last thing Sara needed was Mikey to catch on that his dream may very well become a reality.
"Sweetheart," Sara started as she came down to her knees to be at eye level with her son. "What do you mean you met one of my friends?"
"I didn't want to tell you because I know I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," he added as he guiltily looked down at his shoes.
"It's okay, baby. Thank you for telling me. How did you meet this friend?" Sara pressed him a little bit further.
"Well, Jakey kicked the ball really far away. But it went into a bush and I didn't want him to get hurt trying to get it, so I told him I would go get it for him," Mikey reasoned.
Sara smiled. She loved how protective Mikey was of Jake.
"That was very nice of you, buddy," Sara said, rubbing her son's arm.
"So I went over to get the ball out of the bush, except when I got there, a man was there and he handed it to me."
"That was nice of him. Can you tell me a little bit more about this man?" Sara asked.
"Well, he was very nice," Mikey started. "And he told me that I needed to be more careful because I could have lost my ball. But he was also kind of weird. He was wearing gloves, and it's not even cold outside."
Sara froze at his description of "the man." This could not be happening. How could he risk going to a public park when he was now very near to the top of the FBI's Most Wanted List?
"And he said that he was my friend?" Sara asked her son.
"Yup! He said you guys knew each other from a long time ago. And then he asked me what my name was and I told him and he said he knew Daddy too! He said that he you guys used to hang out all of the time. He even knew about how Daddy wasn't with us for a little while," Mikey continued.
Sara was speechless. How was it possible that he had already found them?
"Mama?" Mikey called, recapturing Sara's attention.
"Yes, baby," she answered.
"I just remembered the most important thing!" Mikey said.
"What's that?"
"He wanted me to tell you that he said hi and that he can't wait until you guys get to see each other again to catch up. He said you guys were going to meet again really soon," Mikey said.
It took everything in her not to cry out. Sara felt her whole world crumbling around her. How could this be happening? Things were so good.
"Oh, Mama. There's one more thing. He said his name is Teddy."
A/N: So there you have chapter 11! Things are starting to pick up a little bit and will be in full swing over the next few chapters. I hope you enjoyed this installment and I will get an update out as soon as I can! Thanks for those who continue to leave me reviews. It really means so much. I'd love to hear from more of you though! Let me know your thoughts and where you think this story is going! XOXO