Chapter Text
"Hey", Sara heard a voice beside her as she got a cup of coffee after a particularly draining session of group.
"Hi", she replied with a confused look, "Lance right?"
"That's right", Lance/ Kellerman replied with a smile.
"Listen, I don't mean to pry, but didn't you say it was a Prison that you used to work at?"
"Yes", Sara stated, then walked away, grabbed her purse and left the building. She was just out the exit when Lance caught up to her. He fell into step beside her as they walked to their cars.
"Well, see, my baby sister was offered a job in a prison local to her, and I'm extremely worried about it. I was hoping I could talk to you and perhaps you could ease my nerves a bit", he stated with a smile.
Sara stopped at her car, ready to unlock it when she turned to Lance.
"I don't think I'm the best person to ask. I'm sorry", she stated and then unlocked her car.
"Why not? You're the only person I know who has ever worked in a prison. If I knew others, believe me I'd go to someone else. Please?" he asked with a cute smile and puppy dog look.
Sara looked at the man and his expression holding his hands in a mock begging simulation. She couldn't help but smile.
"What do you want to know?" Sara asked finally.
"Well, how about I take you out for a real cup of coffee and we can just sit and chat. I'll ask, you can answer. There's a Starbucks right around the corner. We could walk", he stated.
Sara pondered over this and figured 'what the hell, I could use a good cup of coffee and maybe it would be therapeutic to talk about everything'. "Okay", she finally said out loud, shutting her car door.
Kellerman wasted no time and started talking as they walked. "So how long did you work in the prison?"
"Two years".
"Why'd you quit?"
"I didn't quit. I was fired", she stated.
Lance continued to look at her like he was waiting for more.
"The morphine I overdosed on, I stole it from the prison and on doing so I was careless and left a door unlocked and some prisoners escaped that night", she finally finished, looking at her feet while walking.
Lance listened with interest. "You're not talking about Fox River, are you?"
Sara's silence was enough to confirm his question.
"I read about that in the paper and it was on the news...eight of 'em right? WOW!"
They entered the Starbucks and conversation halted while they ordered. Sara and Lance walked towards the back of the store with their coffees, and sat in some cushy armchairs.
"Wasn't one of them that guy that killed the Vice President's brother?" he asked.
"Supposedly, yes".
"Supposedly? You think he didn't do it?" Lance prodded.
Sara thought and then smiled.
"What I think doesn't matter", she answered.
"It does to me", Lance replied sympathetically, hoping to get Sara to talk.
Sara just smiled nervously.
"His brother was with him, wasn't he? Oh...what was his name?" Lance looked to the ceiling as though trying to remember.
"Michael Scofield", Sara blurted out, not even thinking about it.
"That's it", Lance snapped his fingers in mock recognition.
"Did you know them? The brothers I mean?" Lance asked.
"I did. I saw Mr. Scofield every day for insulin shots and I saw Link once a week for check-ups".
"So, what's it like when you're near them? I mean do they talk to you about stuff? Are they crude and make advances on you? What's it like to talk to hard time criminals?"
Sara chuckled. "They weren't hardened criminals. They acted like you're regular, easy going run of the mill people. Someone you'd meet on the street and say 'Hi' too."
"You weren't afraid? Not even a little bit?" he asked, pretending to be really interested and amazed.
"Not of them, no. I don't believe for a second either one of them would hurt me", then upon further thinking Sara continued.
"Michael actually saved me once, risked his own life to come get me during a riot. I was trapped in this little sickbay room. The phone lines had been cut and the deputy was chained to a pipe being beaten. I had locked myself in the room, but there were windows everywhere and the inmates could see my every move. They were trying really hard to bust down the door or break the glass. God, I was so afraid at that moment. I was certain they were going to rape me and kill me.... I'm sorry...I can't be really easing your worries with all this talk."
"No, it's okay. Please... tell me what happened", Lance prodded her, seemingly genuinely interested in her and her story.
Sara smiled a small smile and continued. "Well, the inmates outside the door had managed to get a pretty decent sized hole in the glass... it's that glass that splinters away, it doesn't all break at once...anyway... I don't know where they got a lighter, but they lit a phone book on fire and tossed it in to the room hoping to smoke me out. The only thing I could find was a plastic trashcan, so I put that over it hoping to contain the fire. But the smoke...it still came...and I knew I was going to die. There was no way I was leaving that room with what awaited me outside of it. I was close enough to the door, that one of the inmates had stuck his hand through the glass and grabbed me by my hair. He told me "it wouldn't hurt "Real bad"" and I just lost it. I struck out and stabbed him with a piece of glass I had and he let go. I went further into the room and turned to look at what they were doing, but it was getting too smoky and then suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and looked up, and there was Michael...up in the ceiling, offering me his hand".
Sara stopped her story there to take a big drink of her coffee.
"So here's this violent criminal in the ceiling offering his hand to you and you took it?" Lance asked with disbelief.
"He's not violent", Sara stated annoyed that this guy kept referring to Link and Michael as terrible criminals.
They were nothing like the other creeps she dealt with. Neither one seemed to belong there.
"But yes, I took his hand and he pulled me up into the rafters of the ceiling. I figured if nothing else it'd be easier to fight off one rather than a bunch of them".
"Then what happened?" Lance asked seeming a little too interested in Sara's tale.
She figured he probably didn't know anyone else who worked in a prison and was just plain curious. So Sara continued. It felt good talking about it. Talking about him. Remembering the good times, rather than the fact that he used her.
"He told me where the pipes led and said we'd stay on them and be safe. So I followed him and he led me to an auxiliary door. I didn't want to leave him after he saved my life and then I saw sharp shooters had a fix on him. When he heard the other prisoner's coming after us, he yelled at me to "go" and pushed me out the door. He risked his life to save mine" Sara stated drained from all the emotions that were running through her.
"Did he ever tell you why? Why would someone like that come and help you?"
"I asked him that once, and he told me he had seen me on the monitors in the guard station and came to find me. He said he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something had happened to me and he could have stopped it", Sara stated.
"Sounds like he liked you", Lance answered.
Sara blushed, "I doubt that. I was just a means to an end".
At that moment Sara's cell phone rang. She gave a polite smile and answered her phone.
On the phone
"Sara", she heard an anguished voice on the other end.
"What do you want?" she replied angrily and moved to stand in the corner with her back to Lance, somehow thinking that would prevent him from hearing the conversation.
"I'm sorry. I need you to know how sorry I am. I never meant to hurt you".
"Sorry doesn't exactly help me right now, not with what I'm up against."
"I know and I'm sorry for that too".
"You used me".
"I didn't want to. I had to save my brother. He's innocent Sara. I couldn't let him die."
"Everything you told me was a lie wasn't it?"
"No, you and me, Sara, it's real. My feelings for you are very real and I need you to know that."
Sara was getting misty and started to whisper.
"What more do you want from me?"
Michael could hear the pain in her voice.
"You're in danger. I can protect you, but I need you to come to me. What you need to find me, you already have."
"I can't do this. Please don't call me again", and Sara closed her phone.
She took a deep breath and then turned back to Lance.
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah", she said unconvincingly and then continued, "Thank you for the coffee and the chat, but I have to get home now" Sara stated. Lance stood and said he'd walk her back to her car.
Along the way Lance continued to talk. "Do you think either one of them would ever try to contact you now?"
"No...they are way too smart for that", Sara said without a moment's hesitation. The duo arrived at her car and again Sara went through the motions of unlocking it.
"Thanks for the chat. You think I can pick you up for tomorrows meeting? I just hate going alone", Lance said politely.
"Sure" Sara stated and got in her car. Lance held the top of the door.
"Good night, Sara", he said and closed it, smiling at her.
She smiled back and then started her car and drove home.
Right after her car pulled out, Kellerman took out his cell and dialed.
"I want 24-hour video surveillance of her apartment and wire taps on her phone...oh and add a tracking device to her car. I want to know where she is at all times. I have a feeling the doctor will lead us right to them".
He turned the phone off with a satisfying smile.