LWLU – More Skeletons

Sara watched the look of momentary truce fly between Michael, Veronica and Lincoln before Lincoln said, “It doesn’t matter.” Then the truce died. “What matters is that you tried to have sex with my girlfriend!”

“We were drunk. It doesn’t count.” He met Sara’s gaze for a split second and quickly averted his eyes. “Besides, we didn’t actually sleep together and you weren’t together at the time. For once, Nika’s right. You’re both making a big deal about nothing. I was only trying to help by mentioning it in the first place.”

For the first time since posing the original question, Paul chimed in. “Jesus Christ, Michael. If you don’t know how to keep it in your pants, you’ve really got to learn how to keep your mouth shut about it.”

“Yeah, you’re really one to be giving me advice on that, Kellerman.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Michael pushed away from the counter, but didn’t try to move Nika out of his way. “It means I know all about your dirty little secret. So you can spare me your hypocritical bullshit.”

“This again? Really, Michael?” Paul released Lincoln – who’d stopped struggling at the new turn in the conversation – to run his hand through his still damp hair. “The difference between you and me is that you’ve used some ridiculous story to hate me for years, while I can’t stand you because of the way you’ve been trying to hold this over Veronica’s head for years.” His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides a few times. “The only blemish on my conscious is that I didn’t step in to stop you a long time ago.”

“Then you must be able to repress memories like a champ because…”

“Wait. What the fuck?” Lincoln cut off Michael in mid-sentence and turned on Paul. “Are you actually saying that you’ve known about this…thing…with Mike and V the whole time and you never thought to tell me about it?”

Paul gestured to everyone. “Yes, because I really thought it would be a good idea to set this fun little scene into motion.” He glared over Lincoln’s shoulder at Michael. “But I would’ve said something a lot sooner if I’d known your brother wasn’t smart enough to leave his own skeletons in the closet.”

Sara struggled to keep up with all the information flying at her, information about her friends she never wanted to know. Michael trying to sleep with Veronica then basically blackmailing her with it to get back at her…Paul knowing about it.

And now the fact that whatever it was Michael was so desperate to tell her about Paul was apparently something he’d already confronted Paul with…

Veronica seemed to be struggling with everything as much as Sara was. “Paul…how did you know about all this?”

“Once I knew about what almost happened, it was easy to see what he’s been pulling on you ever since.” He shook his head in disgust. “To be honest, part of my reason for never stepping in was that I thought it would embarrass you to know that anyone knew about it.”

“Well…yeah. Thanks, I guess. But how did you know?”

“Nika told me.”

All eyes went to Nika and Lincoln murmured, “So everyone knew about this but me. Nice.”

“I didn’t know,” Jane said, still standing just off to the side of the group with the saucepan in her hand. Apparently, her viewing angle wasn’t as good from the stove so she’d never returned to it to heat the sauce she held.

Nika’s gaze flicked to her for an instant before she let out a loud sigh of aggravation. “It’s not like this big conspiracy, Linc. Mike confessed the whole thing to me right away and I called Paul for his take on it. In all fairness, I did ask him not to saying anything to anyone about it.”

“Why would you call Paul about this?” Veronica’s frustrated tone seemed to mirror the look on Lincoln’s face.

“Because he wasn’t in town at the time. I always talk to him about stuff when I’m trying to decide if it’s really a big deal.” She shrugged. “You know, just guys and job stuff…mainly.”

“Is this supposed to mean that you’ve been talking about us to the one person I detest the entire time we’ve been together?”

“Well…I don’t think I realized how much you disliked him until now…even though I still don’t understand what your deal is.” She seemed to notice that questioning glances were coming from everyone, not just Michael. “What? Paul’s my best friend. Of course I’m going to talk to him about stuff that might matter to me.” She bit her lip and trained her attention in Sara and Veronica’s direction. “I love the two of you like sisters, but neither of you ever really got me the way Paul gets me.”

“Gee, babe, maybe that’s because you didn’t fuck them, just Kellerman.”

Sara caught the movement of Paul’s hands in her peripheral vision. This time, they stayed in tight fists at his side when he clenched them. “That’s enough. You and me outside, Scofield. I’m done watching you lash out at everyone when it’s clear you’re pissed at me because of this fantasy world you seem to be living in.”

Uh-oh. How much did Paul know about Michael’s advances on her since last night?

A smile played at Michael’s lips. “What? You really think you can beat me into submission so I don’t shout your little secret from the rooftops?”

“You’re a fool who’s too stupid to realize you don’t know what you’re talking about, so I’m going to sit back and wait for you to make an ass of yourself about that. No, I’ve got plenty of reasons to want to hurt you. There’s watching you try to keep Linc and Veronica away from each other for years. There’s the fact you’re treating Nika like trash because she slept with me first when all she’s ever done was love you.” He paused, clearly fighting for some measure of calm. “Those things are plenty to make me want to hurt you, Michael, but I’m capable of dealing with. What I refuse to put up with is the way you’ve treated Sara since you first got here yesterday afternoon.”

“Sara…really. How have I been treating Sara?”

This wasn’t happening. Now Michael was actually baiting Paul, and possibly on the verge of telling him what he’d really been trying to do since yesterday? Bad. So bad.

“Well, for someone who claims to be her friend, you’ve basically done everything in your power to ensure her birthday is shit. If that’s really the way you treat friends…”

“Is that so?” Michael shoved up the sleeves of his sweater and pushed past Nika. “How about I show you the way I treat low-life scum who give sanctimonious lectures?”

“Bro…I think you need to cool it. This just got out of hand.”

When Lincoln Burrows was the lone voice of reason, there was a problem. Why couldn’t Sara find her voice to stop this?

Nika jumped between Michael and Paul. “Guys, how about you beat the hell out of each other next weekend? This is a party…sort of.” She spun around to face Michael when he tried to move around her. “Seriously, back off. I don’t know what you two were talking about before, but Paul’s definitely right about one thing. You will make an ass of yourself if you take another step and try to fight him.”

“Quit playing peacemaker.”

Nika made a move to shove Michael back at the same time he made his move towards Paul. Like a pinball, she bounced off him, Veronica and the counter before stumbling to regain her footing behind Jane. Her arm hit Jane in the back, knocking her and the contents of the saucepan forward.

The momentum ended with marinara sauce covering Sara, dripping from her hair in red droplets to the kitchen floor.

Without a word, Sara turned to leave the room. Nika’s voice made her pause at the doorway.

“Sare?”

She didn’t turn. “All of you can rip each other apart while Jane plays chef like nothing happened this morning.” Sara cast a fleeting glance over her shoulder, catching Michael frozen in mid-punch. “I don’t give a fuck anymore.”

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