Clara perched in the sitting area, watching as Alex paced back and forth on his phone. He was trying to get through to someone who had a pilot's licence, but so far no one had picked up the phone. Lincoln was pouring over the images in front of him, trying to find a weak spot in the prison. They knew that time was of the essence. Sara had been beaten up in prison and she was pregnant. She was vulnerable and they had to get her out. Michael had survived prison, but it had been his choice to go to prison. None of this had been Sara's choice.

"Is there a way to set off the fire alarm?"

Lincoln's question echoed through the room. Sucre moved over to him with the cup of coffee that he had been carrying. Clara looked over and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know," she said. "It would look too convenient if Sara pulled it."

"But there is someone else," Lincoln responded.

"Who?" Sucre questioned.

Alex placed his phone into the pocket of his jeans and he nodded his head. His gaze caught Lincoln's and he had a feeling he knew what he was thinking. Moving over to the table, Alex looked down onto the photographs. "Set the alarm off in the men's prison instead," he responded.

Clara moved off the sofa and went to join the rest of them. Standing next to Alex, she peered down onto the images and did her best to understand what was going through their minds. Sometimes she thought that she knew Alex, but his mind was complex.

"We need T-Bag," Michael's voice entered the room and Clara groaned at the piece of information and Lincoln nodded. He had looked over his brother's notes about Sara needing to be in the chapel and waiting for them. They needed a distraction and the setting off of a fire alarm was enough of a distraction.

"Do we have to?" Clara complained and Michael's lips quirked at hearing her.

"He will want something in return," Alex commented.

"And we can promise him something," Michael replied.

"Promise…but not give?" Sucre checked and Michael patted him on the back and stuffed his other hand into his pocket.

"Got it in one," Michael said. "What we need is for me to land here," he pointed to the sheet of paper on the table. "Sara should have got my message about meeting her in the chapel."

"Why the chapel?" Lincoln was the one to ask.

"There was a riot and employees escaped from the administration building and they found themselves here, right outside the fence," he pointed again to a different drawing. "The administration building is connected to the chapel and so somewhere in that compound there is an exit. If we can get through it then we can find a way out and this all needs to happen at seven p.m. tomorrow night."

"So what do we need to do?" Alex asked.

"I need you to get onto that plane," Michael informed him and then looked to Sucre and Lincoln. "And I need you two to find out how we can get T-Bag on our side."

"On it," Lincoln said and grabbed the car keys, Sucre following behind him.

"I keep trying the guy I know, but I will go down there and see him instead."

"I'll come with you," Clara said and Alex nodded.

"Michael," Alex said before the young man could rush off and away from them. "Tell me you have a backup plan because this…if this does not come off then we both know the General won't rest."

"This has to work," Michael said, "because I am out of ideas."

Alex wondered if that was true, but he didn't bother pushing Michael. Instead he simply nodded and exchanged a cautious glance with Clara. She bit down on her bottom lip and shrugged her shoulders to him before running a hand down his arm and stepping towards the door, grabbing the car keys with Alex on her heel.

Alex had refused to allow Clara with him while he spoke to the guy he knew. Instead he had kissed her briefly and fled from the car to go towards the airbase. Clara leaned back in her chair in the car and placed her sunglasses on the top of her head. Closing her eyes, she pinched the bridge of her nose. She watched Alex in the distance as he spoke to a man and Clara wondered what was going on. She didn't move, however, knowing that Alex was right. She didn't want to get caught up in this, but she did want to help. She had to help. She owed Sara that much.

Returning to the car, Alex was on his phone and she knew who he was talking to. It had to be Wheatley. He was the only man who could make Alex look so miserable at that moment in time. Clara watched him approach the car and climb back into the driver's side.

"Will he do it?" she questioned from him.

"Yeah," he said. "That was Wheatley. He wanted more information."

"What did you tell him?" Clara wondered as he tossed his cell into the empty cup holder down the side of the seat.

"That he would get it when I have it," Alex shrugged. "But if this thing is going down tomorrow at seven then I think that it might be best if you were away from us for tonight and tomorrow…you know, stay in town, but head to a restaurant or shops. You need to be somewhere you can be seen so that you are not associated with us."

"You're really determined to keep me away, huh?"

"I'm really determined to keep you out of jail so that we can go back home together," Alex clarified and placed the car into drive. "I am serious, Clara. Wheatley threatened you and I don't take that lightly. When he finds out that Michael and Sara escaped…well…he will be pissed off with me and I don't need that. I just need you to be away from here."

Clara sighed a deep breath and Alex reached out, hand moving to her thigh and stroking it lightly as he turned back onto the interstate.

"For me," Alex continued to urge her and she shrugged.

"Fine," she agreed with him. "But only if they don't need my help."

….

Clara had gone up to change as Alex spoke to Michael. The two men were discussing what it was like jumping out of planes when Michael had told Alex about his plan to get out.

"The prison was built in the mid-80s and so the administration building is probably protected by a powered lock which doesn't have protection," Michael said as he held the credit card he had wired up in his hand. "That means you can override them."

"You can't just blow out the power?" Alex asked.

"No, the surge will just set off the other alarms," he said.

"And kill you," Alex added on.

"That's why we have to find another way."

But there was something in Michael's voice that told Alex there was no other way. Alex had a suspicion what it was that Michael intended to do, but he wanted to be wrong. He wanted to be wrong and not think that Michael was suggesting what he was. Alex took a deep breath and Michael looked to him. The two men were smart. They had spent weeks playing cat and mouse and Michael had to admit that Alex was one of the few men who he knew could best him. He was as smart as he was.

"And is there another way?" Alex broached.

Michael shook his head once. "It doesn't matter."

"Michael, of course it matters. What you are suggesting is basically a suicide mission."

"I am dying," Michael said to Alex and the former FBI agent did blink profusely at hearing that. He watched on as Michael pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am ill, Mahone, and that is all there is to it. I don't have much time and so this is what I have to do. If I cannot find another way before the plan comes together then this is what will have to happen and…I am content with that because Sara is worth it. She is carrying our baby and I will do anything for that child."

Alex felt his throat dry and clench at Michael's sudden declaration and he nodded his head, a small sweat breaking out on his forehead as he remembered his son. He took a moment to make sure he could speak before he did so.

"I know that feeling," he assured him. He would have given his own life for his son. Not a day went by where he didn't think about him. He could completely understand what Michael was saying.

"And Sara is in there because of me," Michael said. "And I think you know that this is the right thing for me to do because you would do the exact same…because…really…we're not that different, are we? I know how you are trying to protect Clara."

"Yeah, but the woman is sometimes too stubborn to stay away."

Michael's lips quirked at hearing that. "I know," he admitted, "but you do it because you love her and you want to keep her safe. You do it because right now, she is your everything."

"Yeah," Alex agreed, unable to do anything else but as he thought about that stubborn, intelligent, emotional woman. He did love her. He had spent months with her and had thought so many different things about her. He had gone from pitying her to being angry with her to realising that he was slowly falling in love with her. And now he was completely in love with her. It was as simple as that.

"And I feel that way about Sara," Michael said. "So that is why this plan has to work and if we cannot find another way then so be it."

"I'll help you as much as I can."

"I know you will."

Alex stood with Clara on the sidewalk the following evening, hands holding her shoulders as he watched her.

"Pouting and sulking won't make me change my mind," he informed her and she groaned in a low voice at hearing him say that. He ran his hands along her shoulders that were covered in a denim jacket. She wore her long, blue dress and had her hair behind her shoulders, sunglasses sitting on top of her head. "Besides, you have a pretty solid alibi with Lisa. Where are you meeting her?"

"At the restaurant," Clara said. "I still don't like the fact that I am not coming with you. What happens if Wheatley catches you?"

"We have done everything we can think of to make sure that doesn't happen. Besides, I can claim ignorance and say that Michael didn't tell me the complete plan," Alex said to her. "And if you are nowhere near this then he cannot drag you into anything."

"And Lincoln?" she asked him. "Sucre? Michael?"

"They all have a getaway plan. They know that they will need to vanish off the radar, but…they know that I don't want that life for us now, not when we don't need to have it. If you came with us and Wheatley found out then we would have to go. I don't want that for us."

"It just feels selfish."

"And maybe it is," Alex confirmed to her. "But for once we are going to be selfish, Clara. We have done what we can to help Sara and there is nothing more that we can do. Once they are away from here then we will go back home."

Clara nodded and moved her hands to take hold of Alex's cheeks, slipping them down to his neck as she stepped closer to him. "And you know what this means, don't you?" she checked with him. "You know that they will never let you back into the bureau now, right?"

Alex looked slightly uncomfortable, but he nodded. "I know," he confirmed to her. "But there are some things that are more important than a job."

"I love you," Clara said to him, kissing him swiftly as Michael, Sucre and Lincoln appeared from the apartment exit.

"Alright, alright, save that for later when this is over," Lincoln was the one to comment and Clara pulled back from Alex, rolling her eyes and swatting Lincoln on the arm. He chuckled at her weak effort and Sucre smirked. "You heading off, Clara?"

"Unless you want me to come?" she tried again.

"Good try," he responded, "but Mahone here warned us that you would try your luck."

"Know you too well," Alex said and gave her a small smile.

Clara rolled her eyes and nodded. "I should say goodbye then," she commented and moved to hug each of them individually. She tried not to cry and think about how she might not see any of them again. As she hugged Michael, she whispered to him: "Send Sara my love."

"And I am sure she would want to send you hers," Michael promised her.

Clara pulled back and Alex watched them pack the car for a moment before she grabbed his hand and drew his gaze to her. He forced a smile onto his face and Clara leaned up to kiss him, a hand going to the back of his head. He kept a hand in hers and moved his other hand to brush his thumb along her cheekbone.

"Call me when it is done," she said once they had parted.

"Of course," he replied. "I'll come pick you up when I can."

"Sounds good," Clara confirmed. "Be safe."

"Do my best," Alex promised her.

He dropped her from his grip and she folded her arms over her chest, feeling the cold without him next to her despite the warm summer evening air. She watched them clamber into the car and she gave them one final wave as Alex drove off. She closed her eyes for a second and prayed that everything went to plan for once in their life.

….

A/N: Do let me know what you think!