Jessica is sitting on the couch beside her sister.
She sneaks a peek at Veronica and she sees the look of hurt and betrayal and she wants to beat the hell out of Nick for putting that look on her baby sister.
"So you lied about everything this entire time." Veronica accuses, glaring at Nick.
He shakes his head.
"No. I never quit fighting for Lincoln, that's the truth. Everything I said and felt for you is the truth. They approached me after I took the case." he explains.
"Who approached you?" Jessica asks curiously.
He looks back and forth from Jessica to Veronica.
"John Abruzzi." he tells them.
Jessica becomes confused.
"Abruzzi? The mob boss John Abruzzi?" Jessica asks, completely confused as to why he would approach Nick of all people.
"How much did he pay you?" Veronica questions.
"My father's life." he states.
"Wait a minute, I thought your father was already exonerated." Jessica questions.
Nick shakes his head.
"I lied. He wanted me to keep tabs on the two of you and exchange, he had someone who was already doing life for the crime." he tells them.
"So that's how you got your father out." Jessica assesses.
Veronica looks at Nick, glaring.
"So my life in exchange for his." Nick shakes his head.
"Nobody has to get hurt. You two just have to make sure that Michael gives him Fibanocchi." Nick informs them.
"Hold on, why does Michael need to give him anybody?" Jessica asks, trying to piece together the pieces, but just keeps getting confused.
"Look, I don't know full details, only that I'm supposed to deliver you two to the meeting spot." he tells them.
"Meeting spot? That means he's breaking out with Michael." Jessica exclaims.
Veronica turns her head. "What do you mean by breaking out?" she asks, confused.
Before Jessica can answer, Nick's phone starts ringing.
Jessica can feel Veronica tense up beside her.
He answers the phone, looking at them.
Jessica reaches her hand across to grab a hold of Veronica's.
She squeezes her hand reassuringly, that everything was going to be alright.
Nick hangs up the phone and stands up.
"Alright its time to go stand up." he commands them.
When Jessica doesn't stand up right away, he cocks the gun and grabs her by her arm, pulling her up.
She glares and yanks her arm out of his grasp.
"Don't touch me again." she warns and starts walking ahead of him to the door with Veronica behind her.
******************
Trish uses her contacts to find out where Caroline is going to be.
She walks into the building where she knows the meeting is being held.
She walks through the hall and stops when she sees Caroline pacing back and forth.
Trish walks up to Caroline.
"We have to go now. They are planning to get rid of you. We need to figure out a way to make sure that doesn't happen." she rushes out.
"What are you talking about?" she asks.
"I don't have time to explain. We have to get out of here now." Trish exclaims, grabbing her arm and pulling her down the hall.
*************************
Nick has Jessica tied up in the front seat and Veronica in the back seat.
"You're making a big mistake." Jessica remarks to him glaring at him.
"I don't know what John Abruzzi has to do with this mess, but you made a big mistake working for him." she tells him.
She looks behind her when she hears Veronica crying.
"Nick, please, you don't have to do this." Veronica whispers softly.
Jessica becomes angry.
Her baby sister is crying and scared, and there isn't anything that she can do about it.
She watches as he pulls up to the side of the road.
He gets out and goes to Veronica's side.
He pulls her out and unties her hands.
Jessica watches him, glaring.
"If you hurt her, I will kill you." she threatens him.
He opens her door and unties her hands.
"I believe you." he tells her, helping her out of the car.
Jessica watches with narrowed eyes as he flags down a taxi.
"I made a big mistake and I'm sorry. You two need to go to Montana and figure this whole mess out."
He grabs Veronica's hand and leads her to the taxi.
"I never meant to hurt you. I'm so sorry. I just want you to know that everything I felt for you was real." he tells Veronica.
She stays silent and lets a single tear come down her cheek.
He leans in and kisses her softly before pulling away and pushing her into the car.
He walks over to Jessica.
"I'm sorry." he whispers to her.
He reaches into his jacket and pulls out her gun.
"You find out what's going on and free your ex-husband." he tells her while handing her the gun.
He nods at her and walks around her back to his car.
She rolls her eyes and turns in his direction.
"Hey Nick!" she shouts at him.
"Be careful." she warns him.
He nods in acceptance, and she watches him get in his car and drive off.
She turns and gets in the taxi next to Veronica.
"Chicago airport please." she tells the taxi driver.
Jessica is heading to her apartment when she gets a phone call.
She looks at the caller ID and sees that it is the police station.
"Donovan." she answers.
"Jessica, hey, it's Katie from tech. I have that thing that you've been wanting." she informs Jessica.
Jessica sighs into the phone.
"I know that I told you this was important, but I changed my mind. You can forget about that project." she tells Katie over the phone.
"Look I don't know what's going on completely, but you really want to take a look at what I found out seriously." Katie informs Jessica.
She sighs into the phone.
"OK I'll be in in about a half hour." she informs Katie and hangs up the phone.
She quickly turns back around and gets back in her car.
******************
Once she arrives at the station, she heads straight for the tech room.
She doesn't bother knocking and walks straight in.
She makes her way over to Katie's desk.
"Alright, I'm here. What do you have for me?" she questions, getting right to the point.
Katie spins around in her chair to acknowledge Jessica.
"Great, you're here, but you don't sound like you're in such a great mood." Katie observes.
"Yeah, it's been a long day. What do you have?" she asks, getting impatient.
"Alright."
Katie murmurs to herself and spins back around, pulling up a different file on the computer.
"OK, so you remember when I narrowed the address down to Chicago?"
When Jessica nods, Katie continues.
"Well I was able to narrow it down some more to a small area. A nice suburb area."
She pulls up the map of the area.
Jessica looks, and she realizes she knows the area.
"I know that area." Jessica comments.
"So I took a good look at the numbers again and I realized that the last three numbers are street numbers so when I put them in the system this address and name came up."
She tells Jessica as she prints out the information.
Once it prints, she hands it to Jessica.
"I know it's none of my business, but I knew you would be interested in seeing that." she says as Jessica looks at the paper.
Her breath catches in her throat.
She can't believe this to be true.
"Are...are you sure this is right?" Jessica asks desperately.
"Yes. I am the best, that's why you came to me, isn't it?" Katie imputs.
Jessica looks up from the paper.
"Thank you. No one can find out about this." she warns as she turns around and makes her way out the door.
Trish is sitting at her desk at the prison.
She hasn't been there for about a week.
With the mess that her sisters caused with the execution, she hasn't had the time to work with her patients.
She looks up when she hears a knock on her door.
"Come in." she shouts at the door.
The door opens, and a man in a suit walks in.
"Can I help you?" she questions him.
"I work with the company. I've come to you with a message, Ms. Donovan, since you're the one who recommended Christina Reynolds. The General wanted you to be the first to know. He's going to pull the plug on her support." he backs up to the door.
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this. Her termination is effective immediately." the man tells her before he nods and leaves the room.
She stares at the space the man was just in in shock.
She has to call Christina and warn her.
She pulls out her phone and dials the number.
She starts to panic when the phone goes straight to voicemail.
She quickly grabs her things and rushes out of her office.
She has to find her old friend and fix this mess.
********************
Jessica stops at her desk to check her email.
She boots up her computer and puts her head in her hands.
She looks at the paper that has a big chunk of the puzzle on it.
She feels tears well in her eyes.
When did things become so complicated?
She looks up when she hears someone stop at her desk.
She quickly wipes her eyes when she sees it is Jason.
"Are you OK?" he asks her when he sees her tears.
She nods and clears her throat.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just have a lot going on."
She grabs her files and stands up to put them away.
"Look, Jess, I want to apologize for how I acted yesterday. I was just really worried about you." he tells her.
She looks at him after putting the files away.
"I appreciate that I really do."
She starts to head back, but she stops and turns back.
"Jason, I just want you to know that even though things ended shitty for us, I just want you to know that I do care about you a lot." she confesses to him.
He gives her a sad smile before walking back to his desk.
She rushes back to hers when she hears her desk phone ringing.
"Detective Donovan." she answers.
"Hi, this is Doctor Tancredi from Fox River. I'm sorry to bother you, but is there any way we can talk? It's important." she hears over the phone.
"Yeah, sure, there's a diner on Marshall Street we can meet there." Jessica tells Sara over the phone.
"Great. I'll be there soon."
Jessica hangs up the phone, grabs her jacket, and leaves the building.
Jessica was probably hurt now because he told Kellerman where the transfer van was going to be.
He breaks from his thoughts when his phone rings.
He doesn't recognize the number but answers it anyway.
"Clarke." he answers into the phone.
"Jason? This is Trisha calling." he hears on the other end.
He takes a deep breath; he doesn't want to deal with Jess's sister right now.
"What can I do for you?" he asks, opening the car door and sitting down.
"Do you know anything about what is going on? I've been worried, and nobody will tell me anything." she tells him with fake worry in her voice.
" I don't know much, just that Burrows escaped and took Jessica hostage."
Her eyebrows knot in confusion.
"Hostage? Are you sure?" she second-guesses him, not understanding the story.
"Yes, ma'am. Look, I'm sorry, but I have to go." he hangs up the phone.
Trisha closes the phone in anger.
This was not supposed to happen.
Now Lincoln and Jessica are out there, and they could be discovering secrets, secrets that Trish doesn't want revealed.
She has to find them and fast.
******************
Jessica is standing beside Lincoln with her arms crossed.
She still doesn't understand what is going on.
"There's something I don't get. How can killing me stop you?" Lincoln asks beside Jessica.
He grabs her hand and plays with her fingers with his.
Aldo looks at them and smiles briefly at the sight.
"Because I'm the one who leaked the news about Eco Field. They could've covered up the scandal a million ways, instead they decided to fake Terrance Steadman's death. They chose you, Lincoln, because they knew it would flush me out. They knew any man with a son on death row would come forward." he steps closer to them.
"The thing that doesn't make any sense is why someone else in the company would want you dead personally." he thinks out loud to them.
"A contact on the inside said that a very scorned woman chose you personally. I don't know who, and I don't know why." he informs them.
Jessica seems to be deep in thought.
"Do you know what you've done?" Lincoln accuses, spinning around to face Aldo.
"The mother of my child is dead! The love of my life is constantly in danger now!" he bent over in pain.
"Lincoln!" Jessica instantly moves to his side.
She glares at Aldo.
"Do you know Michael is in Fox River, or that LJ is going to end up rotting in juvie!"
Jessica helps Lincoln stand up.
"All of this is on you." he accuses, glaring at his dad.
******************
Jason gets the call on the radio as soon as everyone else does.
"All units respond that the mustang is at an auto junk shop called Scotty's. Burrows was spotted."
Jason tears out of the parking lot and calls up Kellerman on his phone.
"Did you get that?" he asks over the phone.
"Yeah, heading there now."
Jason hangs up the phone and speeds down the street.
******************
Aldo hands Jessica and Lincoln a map.
"Are you two ready to travel?" he asks, moving over to the car.
Jessica looks hesitant.
Lincoln catches the look and stands in front of her.
"You don't have to do this, Jess. Your whole life is here. I don't want to ruin that for you." he tells her.
She smiles up at him.
"I love you Linc. If I have to go on the run with you to be with you then that's what I'm doing."
She leans forward and kisses him on the lips.
She pulls away before he gets a chance to respond.
Lincoln looks over at his dad.
"You know the area is going to be swarming with cops, right?" he asks as they start to get settled in the car.
"There's an old access road by the river, hopefully they don't have it blocked off yet." he informs them.
Jessica turns when she hears a car pull up.
"Guys, we have a problem." she informs them when she spots Kellerman.
"Come on out this way." Aldo tells them.
Jessica starts to follow them, but stops and grabs a gun.
She checks to see if it is loaded and rushes behind them.
She follows behind through the maze of junk cars.
With the gun tucked behind her, she follows as Aldo continues to lead them away.
They stop when they see the police cars drive past them.
"Shit, Jason." Jessica whispers to herself.
She catches movement out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey."
She grabs Lincoln's shoulder lightly.
"We're being followed." she whispers to them.
"I'll head him off, you just get out of here." she tells them.
Lincoln looks her way.
"I love you, Jess." he confesses.
"I love you too. Now go."
She watches as they continue on ahead.
Jessica moves around to get behind Kellerman.
She spots him as he puts a silencer on his gun.
She moves so she is right behind him.
"Drop it right now." she commands, pointing the gun into the back of his head.
Jason follows the directions that Paul gave him.
Soon, he is right behind where Burrows is standing.
He aims his gun right at Lincoln.
For a second, he forgets that he is a cop.
All he sees is the man who took the woman he is in love with away from him.
He wants to kill him so bad.
"Hey, turn around." he hears himself commanding.
He watches as Lincoln slowly turns around.
*********************
"Stand up slowly." Jessica demands.
She watches as Paul drops his gun and raises his hands in the air as he stands up.
She glares at him.
"I told you that I would stop you." she whispers to him.
"Jessica, you don't know who you're dealing with. You don't want to do this." Kellerman warns her.
"Yeah, I think I do." she tells him before hitting him in the head with the gun, knocking him unconscious.
******************
Jason is ready to pull the trigger when Lincoln shouts out.
"Bellick! Don't shoot!" he exclaims, catching the attention of Bellick and the other cops.
Jason grunts in anger and moves into view.
"Where's Jessica Donovan?" Jason questions Lincoln as he is shoved to the ground and handcuffed.
"I'm right here." Jessica shouts, coming into view of everyone.
She raises her hands as the cops train their guns on her.
"Lower your guns." Jason demands as he engulfs Jessica in a hug.
Jessica looks at Lincoln as he is being led into a cop car.
"Are you alright?" Jason asks her as the medics check out her wounds.
"I'm fine, just a couple scrapes." she tells him after the medics give her the OK.
"Good, I was worried about you." he confesses to her.
He leads her to his car and puts her in the passenger seat.
He gives Lincoln one last glare as the cop car drives past him.
Jessica slowly walks into the warden's office.
He watches her with weary eyes.
"I know what this looks like-" he cuts her off.
"It is exactly what it looks like!" he angrily exclaims.
"I trusted you, Jessica. I trusted you to uphold the law and transfer a prisoner without trouble." he continues.
"I know you did, but somebody really did try to kill us-"
He doesn't let her continue.
"I don't believe either one of you. You will be removed from this building and your visitation will be revoked." he informs her.
Jessica scoffs at him.
"I'm sorry that you don't believe me, but I'm telling you the truth." she turns and leaves the room.
She makes it out of the parking lot before she lets the tears flow.
She looks around and doesn't see Lincoln anywhere.
She kicks a window out and crawls out.
She lies on the side of the road trying to catch her breath.
She crawls til she is on the other side of the van.
She sees Lincoln lying there as a man leans over him.
Her vision starts to blur as she stands up.
The man doesn't know that she is there.
She sees that the man is starting to smother Lincoln.
"Hey!" she calls out, her voice is hoarse due to the smoke.
The man looks up, and she sees through her blurry vision that it is Paul Kellerman.
She stumbles to try to push him off Lincoln.
He pushes her back, and she lands on the ground beside Lincoln.
"Stop...Don't..." she mumbles out as she is losing consciousness.
She reaches behind her to feel for her gun.
She feels it still in her pants.
She grabs it and stands up.
She aims the gun at him.
"I said stop." she demands.
He sighs, standing up, and marches toward her.
Her vision is still blurry, and her reaction time is slow.
He quickly grabs the gun from her and pushes her down beside Lincoln.
"You have made my job very difficult." he says to her.
As he is bending down to finish the job with Lincoln, a car pulls up.
While Kellerman is distracted, Jessica leans over to check Lincoln.
"Is everything OK?" the man shouts, getting out of the car.
Jessica tries to get his attention, but fails when she starts fading out.
"Everything is fine." she hears Kellerman say to the guy.
The next thing she knows, the man knocks Kellerman out with an object.
Her vision is fading quickly.
She looks up at the man, and even his blurry figure looks familiar.
"You."
She tries to get up but falls on top of Lincoln, unconscious.
**********************
Jason gets out of the car and assesses the scene.
He is surprised when he gets a call from Kellerman telling him to back him up.
He looks and sees a CO from the prison talking to Paul.
"Thank you, officer, I'll take it from here." Jason interrupts Bellick, asking Paul questions.
Bellick turns to Jason.
"No offense, detective, but that's my prisoner that's missing. I have a right to ask questions when I see fit." Bellick argues.
Jason narrows his eyes at him.
"I also have a person out there as well. I will be talking to the witness." Jason states, dismissing Bellick.
Jason motions for a local cop.
"Hey, the witness is free to go." he informs the cop before walking away with Paul beside him.
"What the hell is going on? You were supposed to kill Burrows and leave Jessica unharmed." Jason lectures Paul.
"Things didn't go according to plan. Someone else showed up and took both of them both." Paul informs Jason before leaning closer to him.
"And don't you ever raise your voice to me again." Paul whispers harshly to him before getting in his car and taking off.
Jason stomps back over to the local cops.
"I want checkpoints at each end of the county lines. The witness said that the suspect was driving an 06 black Mustang." Jason commands the men.
"It appears the suspect might have taken a hostage. So we're going to assume he's armed and very dangerous." Jason states lying to them to cover up Jessica's involvement.
*******************
Jessica wakes up feeling warm and familiar.
She opens her eyes to see that she is lying beside Lincoln.
She looked around without moving, so whoever took them doesn't know she is awake.
Lincoln senses she is awake because he opens his eyes and moves his head to look at her.
"Do you know where we are?" she whispers quietly to him.
He shakes his head.
"No. All I can tell is we're in a garage of some sort." he says to her.
"I don't know if I was seeing things or not, but I think I saw your dad." she whispers to him.
"I think you're right." he agrees.
They turn their heads when they see him walking towards them.
Lincoln moves slightly so he's in front of Jessica.
The man comes closer and stands in front of them.
Jessica's vision becomes more clear and the man is the same man she ran into at the prison and the same man who dropped off that evidence to the judge.
Jessica feels Lincoln tense beside her, and she puts a supportive hand on his shoulder.
"Hi, Dad." he says calmly to the man.
"What are you doing here?" Lincoln asked him.
Jessica keeps a supportive hand on his shoulder.
She knows the whole situation with Lincoln and Michael's father.
She knows that no matter the situation, it is hard for him.
"When I heard you got approved to go see your son, I knew they would make a move on you." Aldo informs them.
"I mean, what are you doing here?" Lincoln asks again with a more agitated voice.
Aldo sighs, looking between the two of them.
"I got a car about 20 miles out, we're going to switch out there. Then I have to make sure you disappear." he leans against the car.
"I'm surprised they were even allowed to touch you." he states, looking at Jessica.
Jessica gives him a confused look and sits up slowly.
"What are you talking about?" she questions, confused.
"Things are going on that you are not aware of, Jessica, and I'm sorry that both of you got put in the middle of this. Once I have you disappear, it'll be about them and me," he cryptically tells them.
Jessica tries to move around Lincoln to stand up.
She just ends up lying back down again in pain.
"Wait a minute, they're after me, not you." Lincoln states.
Jessica is so confused, her head is pounding, and by now she figures that they are wanted by the police.
"I worked for them." he informs them.
Both Jessica and Lincoln look at him in shock.
"I also worked with your biological father, Jessica." Jessica snaps her gaze at him with disbelief.
Her biological father?
"What the hell are you talking about?" she questions, sitting up and succeeding in standing.
"My father was a lawyer, just like my sister is. My biological father died from cancer two years ago." she exclaims at him.
"The lawyer that your mother married is not your father. I'm sorry that you had to hear it like this, but-"
She cuts him off with a raised hand.
"I can't listen to this." she tells him.
Lincoln sits up and wraps his arm around her.
Lincoln glares at him.
"You left. You were an alcoholic." he accuses, still holding Jessica.
"Is that what you remember or what you were told?" Aldo rhetorically asks.
"Who I worked for was higher than the government. They controlled what happened in the world, which wars to fight. If you wanted to get ahead like I did, you leave your family behind." he states to them.
"I'm familiar with the government, how come I never heard of the company before?" Jessica questions with narrowed eyes.
"Because your father wanted it that way. Someone very close to you, involved in the company, wanted Lincoln framed just as badly as using him to get to me." he informs them.
"When I left the company, I took all that knowledge with me. They're using you to get to me." he tells Lincoln.
Jessica's head is spinning with all this new information she has just received.
Jessica walks into her apartment to catch Nick and Veronica kissing on her couch.
She clears her throat, making them separate.
"Hey, guys." she states, closing the door with a raised eyebrow at them.
"Sorry, Jess." Veronica stands up instantly.
Jessica smiles at her sister.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for." she assures her.
"Nick got the right charger. The phone is charging right now." Veronica informs her.
Jessica heads toward the desk where the phone is sitting.
She picks it up and turns it on.
"Good. That's really good." she looks through the phone.
"OK, there's a bunch of contacts here. Do you think you two can handle it?" she questions them.
"Yeah, we can handle it, but why will it be just us?" Nick asks her.
"Do you know that petition you had filed?" Jess asks Veronica.
"Yeah, I had it filed with the court, but I didn't hear anything back." Veronica states, a bit confused.
"Yeah, they got a hold of me first since I was already at the station. But the petition went through." Jessica informs them.
Veronica and Nick both look surprised.
"Wow, I can't believe that actually worked." Veronica exclaims with disbelief.
"Yeah, I was just as surprised as you are. But after I found out about this, I went to the warden personally to try to get him to approve the petition." Jessica informs them.
"What did the warden decide?" Nick asks.
"He granted the petition..... on one condition, I get to be the one who transports him." she finally tells them.
Veronica looks at her with narrowed eyes.
"Are you OK with that?" she asks her sister.
"Yeah. It's the only way that the warden would approve it." Jessica states.
Veronica looks unconvinced.
"Alright. Well, Nick and I will get started on these contacts. I'll give you the papers for LJ tomorrow." Veronica says, grabbing the phone.
"Alright. Let me know if you guys need anything." she says to them before heading back to her bedroom to go to bed.
The next morning, Jessica finds herself outside the prison, standing beside the transport van, waiting for them to bring out Lincoln.
She knows that a guard will be accompanying them on the trip, but she still feels nervous.
She watches as they bring him out, led by the warden.
"Good morning, Ms. Donovan." Pope greets them as they come up to stand beside her.
The guard hands her a clipboard with papers to sign.
While she is signing the papers, the guard puts Lincoln in the van.
She hands the clipboard back to Pope.
"Thank you. I gave him one hour of visiting time and two hours for the van ride. I'll see you soon. Have a safe trip." he tells her before turning and walking back into the prison.
Jessica takes a deep breath before heading up into the van.
She keeps her sunglasses on and sits across from Lincoln.
"You want a drink?" She offers her coffee to him.
Lincoln looks over at her and smiles slightly.
"Thanks, Jess." he holds out his hand for the cup.
Jessica stares out the window and is thinking about being in the same room with both the Burrows boys.
It has been years since all three of them have been in the same room together, and she is excited about that.
Lincoln watches her as she looks out the window.
"I can't wait to see LJ." he says to her.
She looks from the window over in his direction.
"I was just thinking that too. Even though I was just with him, it'll be good to see him together. Maybe then he'll take things seriously." she says back to him.
He is silent for a moment while looking back out the window.
"What are you looking at?" the guard questions Lincoln, giving him a slight attitude.
Jessica gives the guard a sideways glare.
"I'm just looking at the scenery." Lincoln tells the guard.
Lincoln looks back at Jessica as she looks at him.
Before they know what is happening, a semi truck comes out from the intersection, hitting them head-on.
The van flips over, causing Jessica to go flying and hit the roof of the van.
Once the van stops moving, Jessica is lying over the seats, knocked out with a bad head wound.
The next day, Jessica accompanies Veronica to the Juvenile Detention Center to visit LJ.
Jessica shows her badge, and they get through without a pass.
Jessica is standing by the window with her arms crossed when LJ walks in.
"What the hell were you thinking?" she starts on him angrily.
"I told you I was looking into it. Now look at you...just like your dad." she angrily exclaims to him out of spite.
She sees the hurt in his eyes and turns to face the window as Veronica takes out her phone to call Lincoln.
Once she can get through to him, she passes the phone to LJ to talk to him as both sisters stay silent.
"You and Jessica both! You know what, I don't care what happens to me anymore! OK, they won! I just wanted to take one of them down with me!" LJ exclaims into the phone.
A minute later, he huffs and passes the phone to Jessica.
"Lincoln?" she asks through the phone.
"What are the charges?" he asks her right away.
Jessica sighs to calm herself.
"Attempted murder, he's already being arraigned for the death of Lisa and his stepfather." she informs him.
She hears him sigh on the other end.
"I guess bail is out of the question. Is there any pull at all you have?" he asks, hoping for anything.
"No, I tried. Because we're no longer married, I have no legal guardianship over him. Right now, Veronica is trying everything she can to have him tried as a minor. He needs to show some remorse." she says, the last part looking straight at LJ as she says it.
"He needs to try to sell to the court that he was a scared kid. But where he's at right now, he's not listening to me." She lowers her voice so only he would hear her.
"He's acting like his father." she tells him truthfully.
"I know that Jess, he'll listen to me. I need to see him." he pleads with her.
"Linc, I don't see how that's going to happen." she tells him.
"If he gets tried as an adult, he may as well sit on my lap in the chair!" he exclaims, upset.
"You have to do something, Jess, you or Veronica." he pleads with her.
"OK, Veronica is working on something right now. I might be able to petition with the warden to let you see him." she informs him.
"I can't promise anything, but I can try, OK. Just be patient and let us do our jobs." she tells him before she hangs up the phone.
**********************
Trish follows Paul in her car.
As soon as he makes a turn onto a deserted street, a black van pulls in front of him, making him stop.
Trish gets out of her car and makes her way over to him.
He gets out to meet her.
"You are pathetic." she tells him.
"The company wants you gone! LJ, a sixteen-year-old pothead, managed to track you down and shoot you!" she exclaims angrily.
"Hey, my best bet is he had help from your sister! The one you were supposed to get off the case! So don't come hounding me when you're as much to blame as me." he retorts.
"Do you realize you are the main witness in his murder case now?" she asks him sarcastically.
"I can still do my job." he tells her.
"The company wants you gone. You're lucky I got you this." she hisses at him.
"From this point on, you are no longer Paul Kellerman, just good ol' Owen Kravecki." She leans closer to him.
"You wait until you hear from me." she turns and gets back in her car, backing up and driving away, leaving him standing there.
******************
Jessica walks to the warden's office to petition him.
Since Veronica got the petition to go through the court, it was now her turn to talk to the warden.
She walks up to the secretary's desk.
"Hi, is Warden Pope busy?" Jessica asks Becky.
"Let me check one moment." she nicely states and picks up the phone.
She hangs the phone back up.
"Warden is free, you may go inside." she says with a smile.
"Thank you."
Jessica walks into the warden's office and shuts the door.
"Ms. Donovan, what can I do for you today?" he asks her, standing to shake her hand.
She pulls the petition paper out of a folder.
"I have a court-mandated petition here to have Lincoln Burrows transported to see his son. I just need your sign off on it." she informs him, handing him the paper.
He glances at it with a shocked expression.
"Ms. Donovan, may I ask you a personal question? For someone who is divorced, you certainly go through a lot of trouble to help your ex-husband." he looks at her.
"So what's your question?" she asks him.
"Why do you do it?" he asks her.
She sighs and looks him dead in the eye.
"We may be divorced, but I still love him, and off the record, I think Lincoln deserves to have one more time with his son." she firmly states.
He looks as if he is thinking about her request.
"I will honor your request on one condition." he states.
"I want you and another officer to escort him." She looks at him, speechless.
"Why do you want me to be the one to escort him?" she asks him curiously.
"Think of this as a test. I believe that Lincoln is a good person. If he can be escorted without an incident, then I will consider giving Lincoln more rights during his final days here." he bargains with her.
She thinks for a minute whether that will be a good idea or not before agreeing.
"OK, I will escort him." she accepts.
Warden Pope stands and shakes her hand.
"Good. I will set it up. I'll be in touch on when the transport will be set." he informs her.
Veronica and Jessica watch as Nick lowers LJ down into the well.
"Lower!" LJ shouts as Nick continues to lower the rope.
Jessica watches him grab the phone and look at the wall.
"Did you get it?" Veronica shouts down to him.
"Yeah, pull me up!" he shouts up to them.
Nick pulls the rope, lifting him up.
Once he's up, LJ hands the phone to Jessica.
"I need to go wash my hands now." he states with a disgusted face and walks back toward the cabin.
Jessica looks at the phone and tries to turn it on.
"It's dead. Maybe we have a charger somewhere that could charge the phone." Jessica suggests as they walk back to the cabin.
"Yeah, I might have one in the car." Nick says, looking at the phone.
They make it back to the cars.
"I'm going to grab LJ." Jessica states as she heads for the cabin.
When she walks in, she instantly spots him in the kitchen looking at the cabinets with the stashed guns.
"Hey, kid, we're getting ready to leave." She eyes him suspiciously.
"OK, I'll be there in a minute." she nods and turns to leave.
"Hey Jess, can I ride back with you? There's something that I have to talk to you about." he calls out to her.
"Alright, I'll let them know." she says as she walks back out of the cabin.
Jessica walks back over to Veronica and Nick, who are huddled close together.
She smiles briefly at them before coming to stand beside them.
"Hey, LJ is going to ride back with me." she informs them.
"Did you guys find a charger for that phone?" she asks them.
"No, we couldn't find one that fit." Veronica states sadly.
"OK. You two go down to the phone store and see if they have a charger, then we can meet back at my apartment." she lays out the plan to them.
"OK, what's going on, LJ?" Jessica asks once they get in the car, heading back.
"I think I found out something." he tells her.
She glances at him quickly.
"What did you find out?" she asks him.
"Quinn left a clue written on the wall of the well. The first one was Kellerman, then the one under it said O. Kravecki." he informs her.
"You think Kellerman is going by a different name?" Jessica questions.
"There's only one way we can find out." he suggests.
****************
Once they get back to her apartment, Jessica instantly gets on her search.
With LJ standing over her, she searches in her downloaded police search database on her computer.
She types in the name only one hit comes up.
It belongs to an Owen Kravecki.
She quickly writes down the address.
"Alright, I'm going to go check this out. I need you to stay here. I'll be back." she tells him as she grabs her keys and leaves the apartment.
Jessica walks through the station and heads to her desk.
She looks up Owen Kravecki in the photo recognition, but nothing comes up.
She calls the listed number and listens to the voicemail.
She freezes when she realizes the voice belongs to Paul Kellerman.
She puts the phone back and makes her way up to the tech room.
She is checking the status of that bank account she found in that car.
She knocks on the door and walks in, and spots the woman she tasked with the job.
"Hey." she greets.
"Any progress?" she questions her.
The tech woman turns around in her chair.
"Oh, hey!" she greets, pulling up a different site.
"This account is super tricky. Even with today's technology, it's still hard."
Jessica starts to say something, but the tech continues.
"But I'm super better. I've narrowed it down to Chicago. So whoever the account belongs to is here in the city. The bad news is I haven't gotten any farther than that." she informs Jessica.
"OK, that's good, keep me posted." she states before leaving the room.
When she turns around, she bumps right into Jason.
She moves back slightly.
"Hi." she greets awkwardly.
"Hey." he replies shortly.
"How have you been?" she asks him.
"I've been really good. How's the case with Lincoln going?" he asks her.
"We've hit a dead end right now, but I think I might have come up with a lead." she informs him.
"Do you remember the agent who came to see me about a month ago?" she questions.
He glances at her in thought.
"Yeah, I do actually. What about him?" he asks as they walk back to their desks.
"He's going under another name. I'm going to check out the address. Do you want to tag along?" she asks.
"Sure, why not. We are partners after all." he states as they grab their stuff to go.
When they get to the address, there is a cop car, and LJ is being led out in handcuffs.
Jessica quickly gets out of the car and runs toward the cop who had LJ.
"What is going on here?" she demands harshly.
"We got a call from the neighbor saying she saw a break-in." the cop informs her.
"If you want to talk to the owner, he's right inside. This kid had a gun pointed at Mr. Kravecki and shot him, grazing his ear." the cop informs her, putting LJ in the back of the car.
Jessica leans down.
"Don't say anything until Veronica is present." she warns him.
She turns and storms into the house, not knowing that Jason is following behind her.
She stops and glares when she sees Kellerman talking to another cop holding his ear.
"Can I have a word with Mr. Kravecki in private, please?" Jessica asks, not taking her eyes off of Kellerman.
"Hey Jessica, yeah sure, I got everything I need." the cop closes his notebook and walks past Jessica.
"He's all yours." he states, making Jessica give him a fake smile.
Once she knows no one is listening, she walks closer to Kellerman, crossing her arms.
"I don't know who you are, but you'd better bet I will figure your game out." she warned him.
"Jessica, I tried to get him to put the gun down. I can help you." he offers.
"The only help you can offer is telling me who you're working for and why." she demands of him.
He shakes his head.
"I can't tell you that." he tells her.
She glares more at him.
"I will find out everything...one way or another." she warns and storms out of the room.
Jason appears from behind the corner and walks into the room.
"Is she onto you?" Kellerman questions instantly.
Jason sighs.
"No, she doesn't know a thing about me." he confirms.
"Good, keep it that way, I'll be in touch." Kellerman dismisses Jason.
Jason rolls his eyes and makes his way back out to the car.
"You ready to go?" he asks Jessica as he slides into the passenger seat.
Trisha carries a picture of the man responsible for stopping Lincoln's execution.
Right now, she is sitting in a cafe waiting for Paul to show up.
He keeps bugging her about the identity of this man, so she is finally going to give it to him.
She sighs when she sees Paul walk in.
He spots her instantly and makes his way over to her.
As soon as he sits down, she throws the picture his way.
"You have questions. I understand that, so ask them." she commands him.
He looks at the photo before asking his first question.
"Who is he?" straight to the point.
"Alright, he used to work for the company and had eventually gone rogue." she informs him.
"How the hell is he even involved in this?" he asks, confused.
She hesitates briefly.
"He's Lincoln's father." Trish confesses to him.
"So wait a minute, you picked the son of a company man to take the fall for all this? Did the company even know?" he continues to ask her.
"The company did know that was the whole point. Plus, it's also personal for me as well, so I killed two birds with one stone. So enough with the questions. All you need to know is that this is being handled."
She tells him before throwing a couple of bills on the table and walking away from the table, ending their conversation.
Jessica wakes up in bed with the biggest headache she has ever had.
She makes her way out to the kitchen.
LJ is sitting at the island, eating eggs and bacon.
"Want some?" he asks, pushing his plate toward her.
She takes a look at his breakfast and feels her stomach coming up.
She pushes herself away from the table and rushes to the bathroom.
She empties her stomach and falls to the floor.
She looks up when she sees LJ standing by the door, looking concerned.
"Are you OK, Jess?" he asks, concerned.
She stands up slowly.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just too much to drink last night, that's all." she explains, grabbing a cup and rinsing out her mouth.
"I need to get ready for work. Veronica and Nick are coming to do some more paperwork." she tells him.
"Why do you have to go in? I thought you had some time off." he asks her, wondering why she was going to work.
"I have a meeting today with some very important people, so I have to go in." she explains to him, walking back to her room to change her clothes.
Jessica walks into the meeting room.
She is greeted by two agents.
"Good morning, Ms. Donovan. Thank you for meeting with us. We have a few questions." The woman agent states, holding out her hand for Jessica to shake.
"I am Agent Baxter. This is Agent Miller. We have questions concerning the investigation of Lincoln Burrows." Agent Baxter states.
Agent Miller takes out a photo from a folder and slides it across the table to her.
"Do you know this man?" Jessica glances at the picture.
It is the picture of the man she ran into at the prison.
The man that she thinks is Lincoln's father.
"I don't know who he is. I did, however, run into him at the prison one day." Jessica informs the agents.
The agents nod at her statement.
"So you have no idea who he is at all?" Agent Miller asks suspiciously. Jessica narrows her eyes at him.
"No, I don't know who is he?" she questions harshly.
Agent Baxter smirks at Jessica.
"What is your relationship now to Lincoln Burrows?" she asks her, ignoring Jessica's question.
"What do you mean?" Jessica narrows her eyes in suspicion.
Agent Miller takes another photo out of the folder and slides it across the table at her.
She glances, and it is a picture of Jessica and Lincoln kissing in his cell.
She takes a sharp intake of breath.
"By the look on your face, you didn't think that the prison had cameras in their cells." Agent Baxter taunts.
"What do you want?" Jessica questions again, throwing the photo back toward them.
Agent Baxter leans forward on the table.
"We know that you're looking into the Steadman case, and we are here to tell you to back off."
Miller takes another picture out and slides it to her.
In the picture is an image of LJ and Veronica.
"We know that those two mean the world to you, right?" Baxter states. Jessica remains silent.
"If you don't want them to get hurt, I suggest you forget all about Burrows and move on. One man isn't worth the life of two innocent lives." Baxter threatens.
"This is the last warning that the company is going to give you. Give up and move on before something tragic happens."
Baxter warns before gathering up the pictures and putting them back in the folder.
"You have made it up in the world, don't let a low life like Lincoln ruin your life and career. Be smart." Baxter tells her before she stands up to leave.
Miller follows his partner out of the room, leaving Jessica sitting there in a state of anger.
**********************
Jessica rushes out of the room and storms off toward the bathroom.
She pushes the door open and storms angrily inside.
She breathes heavily, and she hits the paper towel dispenser harshly with the palm of her hand.
She grabs her sore hand in pain and rubs it.
She turns to face the mirror and puts her hands down on the sink.
She is trying to calm down.
Company men have come to visit her before, and she has never been this upset.
She feels her stomach get upset, and she quickly pushes away from the sink and rushes to the stall.
She pukes up everything she ate for breakfast.
She quickly wipes her mouth and leaves to grab a cup of water.
She goes back to her desk and starts to boot up her computer when she gets a call.
She looks at the caller ID and sees that it is LJ calling.
She answers the call.
"Hey, what's up?" she asks into the phone.
"Hey, we need to go back to the cabin. That guy may have left something behind, or it may still be there. Can you meet us up there?" he asks her.
Jessica looks at her watch.
"Yeah, I'll meet you up there." she tells him before hanging up.
She grabs her bag and quickly leaves the station.
*******************
Jessica pulls up to the cabin just in time to see the other three come out.
She gets out of the car and makes her way over to them.
"So I got a visit from friends of ours this morning." Jessica states as they walk through the woods to get to the well.
"I thought Internal Affairs were talking to you today?" Veronica asks, confused.
"Yeah, I thought so too, but they weren't, they were company." Jessica explains.
"Well, what did they say?" Nick asks her.
"They wanted to know if I knew who the man was who gave the judge that new evidence." Jessica informs them.
"Did you know him?" LJ questions as they come to the well.
Jessica glances at him briefly, debating whether or not to tell them who she thinks he is.
"No. I have no idea who he is, but I'm running a face recognition on him at the police station. I should find out something soon." she lies to them.
They look at the well.
"Someone covered it up." Veronica notices.
"Someone came for him?" LJ asks.
"Or someone else left him here." Jessica implies as Nick lifts the wood slate.
They all cover their noses when they get a smell of the rotting corpse that was Quinn.
Jessica quickly runs toward the trees and pukes from the smell.
Veronica rushes over to her.
"Are you OK?" she asks her, rubbing her back lightly.
"Yeah, I'm OK that smell just really got to me for some reason." she reassures her.
"LJ says you've been getting sick regularly. Is there something you need to tell us?" Veronica asks suspiciously.
Jessica made a face at her.
"What?! No! It's all this stress. I'll be feeling better here in a couple of days." she stated to her.
Veronica looks unsure, but lets it go.
"Hey, guys, he still has his cell phone!" LJ shouts to them.
Jessica and Veronica walk back over.
Jessica kneels down to inspect the hole.
She looks back up at them and gives them a sheepish look.
"There's only one of us that will fit down there." she observes, looking to LJ.
She agreed to meet Jason instead of him picking her up.
She is very nervous.
She hasn't been on a date with anyone since Lincoln and that scares her.
With a confident stare, she walks in and looks around for Jason.
She spots him over by the bar.
He doesn't notice her yet, so she takes the opportunity and looks him over.
He is dressed in a simple button-down shirt and black dress pants.
She would be called a liar if she said she didn't find him attractive.
He turns and spots her, smiling at her, making her blush slightly.
***********
After dinner, they make their way out to the parking lot.
"I had a really good time tonight." he says, smiling down at her.
"I had a good time too. I'm glad we did this." she confesses to him.
He leans down slightly to kiss her, but her phone starts ringing, making her jump back.
She digs into her purse, pulls out her phone, and sees that it is Lincoln calling her.
She tenses up as she watches the phone ring, debating whether to answer it or not.
"Are you going to answer that?" she hears Jason ask, making her look up at him.
"No." she breathes out.
"He'll leave a voicemail." she informs him, shoving her phone back into her purse.
***LINCOLN'S POV***
Lincoln is in a tough spot.
He has the opportunity to square his debt, but he has to kill someone.
He has never killed anyone before.
Yeah he's a low life who steals and sells drugs on the side but he isn't a murderer.
He needs to hear her voice.
The only voice in the world that can make him feel better.
It was a long shot, he knows that, but he has to at least try.
He pulls out his phone and dials her house number.
It rings and rings, but there is no answer.
He hangs up and dials her cell phone.
He listens to it ring as he stands in the winter night, wanting to hear her voice.
He sighs sadly when he gets her voicemail.
"Hey Jess, it's Linc. I need your help. I'm into something really bad that I can't get out of. I need to hear your voice, you always straightened me out. My head is all messed up, I need to talk to you, I'm in big trouble, please. Call me now." he hangs up the phone, and for once in his life, he is really scared.
*** END POV***
Jessica looks up into Jason's eyes.
"Are you sure you didn't need to get that?" he asks as her voicemail alert dings.
"I'm sure it was no one important." she says to herself out loud, but her heart is telling her to call him back.
She leans forward this time and presses her lips to Jason's softly at first.
He kisses her back and pulls her into him.
She wraps her hands around his neck and kisses him harder.
***LINCOLN'S POV***
Lincoln stands in that same spot for about 15 minutes waiting for Jessica to call him back.
He sighs sadly when he realizes that she isn't going to call him back and that she doesn't care about him anymore.
He doesn't blame her for hating him.
He messed up really bad and he hates himself for it every day.
He takes a deep breath and walks forward down the alley toward the garage where he was told the guy is going to be.
He takes the gun out of his pants, and with a determined step, he continues forward.
***END POV***
Jessica gets the call in the middle of the night.
She rushes out of bed and drives down to the crime scene.
"Hey. It's about time you showed up." Jason says walking toward her.
"What do we got?" she asks, walking closer to the scene.
" Police got an anonymous call saying they saw some guy running from the parking lot after hearing shots fired." he informs her.
"The body has been identified as Terrance Steadman." a forensic analyst states, walking up to them.
"Steadman? Isn't he the brother of that woman running for vice president?" Jason asks curiously.
"That's the one. The guy was such a saint I don't know who would want to kill him." The analyst says before walking back to the scene.
Jessica is looking up around at the ceiling.
She slaps Jason's arm when she finds what she is looking for.
"Security camera." Jessica shows Jason.
"We need to get that tape and find out who did this." she says, walking toward the garage office to get the tape off the security guard.
She finally manages to get the tape and she and Jason go to watch it.
She presses play and fast forwards to an hour before the call was placed.
They watch as Steadman's car pulls up to the spot and stops.
Her heart stops when she sees who the shooter is.
She pauses the tape without another word and rushes out of the room.
Jason follows after her.
"Hey, are you OK? Did you know that guy?" Jason asks her.
She tries to stop the tears of shock from coming down.
She nods her head.
"He's my husband." she quickly corrects herself, seeing the look on his face.
"My ex-husband any day now." she assures him.
He sighs heavily.
"This is big. This is very big. We have to turn this evidence in." he warns her.
"I know we do. I just don't want to be there when they arrest him." she says to him before walking out of the room and letting him do what he needs to do.
**********
Jessica walks into the holding cell where Lincoln is being brought in.
He looks up and sees her.
"I can only give you a few minutes." the cop states, cuffing Lincoln to the bar before walking out.
Jessica stays silent and just looks at him.
"I didn't do it, Jess, I swear." he pleads with her.
"Of all the stupid things you have done, this has got to be the worst of it all." she says to him angrily.
"I mean, Terrance Steadman, really Lincoln?!" she shouts at him.
"It was a setup. I didn't do it." he argues with her.
"You knew him." she says to him.
"What?" he asks.
"Steadman. Records say you worked for his company before getting fired a few weeks ago." she says, throwing down the papers on the table.
"OK, yeah, I carried barrels into warehouses, so what? What the hell, Jessica, you sound like you believe them!" he exclaims angrily.
"I was called on the scene. I saw the videotape. I saw you pull your gun up and fire at Steadman. What other possibility is there?" she exclaims, getting upset.
"I was there, I did have a gun, but Jess, please, you have to believe me I did not shoot him." he pleads.
She looks down at all the paper.
"Do you think I did it?" he asks her.
She looks up at him.
"It doesn't matter what I think. The evidence is all there, Lincoln, I saw it with my own eyes!" she exclaims, raising her voice.
She sighs, trying to calm down.
"I'm not here to grill you, in fact, I'm not even on the case." she tells him pulling out an envelope and sliding it over to him.
"The final papers came in today, it's finalized." she informs him, trying not to cry.
He looks at the envelope with a heartbroken face.
She stands up.
"They need me there for the trial. After that, you won't see me anymore." she says, her voice breaking before turning away and walking to the door.
"Jessica."
She stops in her tracks at his voice.
"I love you. I always have and I always will."
She wipes the tear that rolls down her cheek and continues to walk out of the room.
************
Trish stands next to Paul Kellerman as they supervise the reconstruction of the video.
She smirks as she watches as the evidence is getting finished.
"It's almost done. Then my sister will be free from this poor excuse of a man." she spits out, and walks out of the room.
**********
Jessica is sitting in the middle row of the courtroom as Lincoln's final trial is coming to an end.
The more the evidence goes over in her head, the more it isn't adding up.
All the evidence is perfect, almost too perfect.
Her mind goes back to the trial as the jury is giving its verdict.
Jason is beside her holding her hand.
He has been supportive through this whole thing.
"In the matter of the people of the state versus Lincoln Burrows of murder in the first degree we find the defendant guilty."
Jessica sees her sister sitting with Michael and glares.
She is planning to go say goodbye but changes her mind.
She stands to leave and catches his glance.
Just then flashes of when they first met flash through her mind.
She snaps out of it when she feels a hand on her lower back.
She breaks eye contact and walks out of the room with Jason.
***********
Jessica is walking down the street on her day off when she bumps into LJ.
"Hey!" she greets, giving him a big hug.
"How are you doing?" she asks as they walk into a Starbucks to get an iced coffee.
"I've been better. Everyone at school is talking about it." he says to her shamefully.
"It'll all blow over soon. You just have to hang in there. You have to be strong and just let it roll off your shoulder. People are going to be talking a lot, but you can't let it affect you." she says to him as they get their drinks.
"I care about you LJ, I always have and I am always here if you need to talk." she tells him before he leaves.
************
"Michael, hey, what are you doing here?" Jessica asks, surprised to see him at her door.
"I'm sorry to interrupt anything, but I was wondering if there was any way I could get some information from you?" he asks her.
"Yeah sure come on in." she holds the door open for him.
She leads him to the kitchen and pulls out a couple of drinks.
"What sort of info are you looking for?" she asks him.
"I need to know what you think about everything." he states to her. She sighs.
"I'm trying to put this all behind me, I don't want to think about it anymore." she tells him.
"Please just one more time, then I won't bother you anymore." he pleads with her.
"OK. What do you want to know?" she asks him.
This is going to be a long night for her, not knowing that she unknowingly helps him formulate a plan to break his brother, her ex-husband, out of prison.
It is from her lawyer, just a few more days, and her divorce will be finalized.
She takes a deep breath after listening to it.
She loves Lincoln, but she is not going to be one of those women that gets cheated on.
She has another message.
It is a drunk message from Lincoln saying that he loves her and wants another chance.
She deletes the message and gets ready to head to the station.
She gets dressed and heads out the door.
********
Her phone starts ringing, and she looks at the caller ID and sees that it is her best friend, Alyssa.
"Hey, long time no hear from what's up?" she asks into the phone.
"Hey. So guess who I saw last night." she hears Alyssa say through the phone.
Jessica rolls her eyes.
Alyssa may be her best friend, but she does love to gossip.
"Who could you have possibly seen while you were in town?" Jessica asks teasingly.
"Your husband. He was pretty trashed when we showed up. Lucky for him, I was off duty." she states to Jessica.
"I don't care what Lincoln does besides, in just a couple more days, he'll be my ex-husband." Jessica says to Alyssa.
"I know that. Hey, do you think you can meet me for lunch before I have to leave?" Alyssa asks her.
"Yeah, I think I can make some time." she laughs teasingly.
"Great, I'll call you later." she says before hanging up the phone.
Jessica walks into the station and heads right for her desk.
She looks over and sees her new partner, Jason, already there working at his desk.
She sits down and looks him over discretely.
He is attractive and he makes it known that he is interested, but with them being partners it was a bad idea, plus she technically was still married.
She looks away and boots up her computer to check her email before her captain needs them for anything.
Jason sees her, so he stands up from his desk and makes his way over to her.
"Hey." he greets, sitting down across from her.
She looks up from her computer at him.
"Hey, by the looks of things, we might have a slow day." she comments.
"Yeah, maybe if we're lucky, all we will have to do is patrol." he states with a smile.
She smiles back at him.
"Yeah, hopefully." she says, looking back at the computer to stop herself from blushing.
"I was wondering what you're doing tonight. Maybe we can grab a bite to eat after our shift." he suggests nervously.
She looks up in surprise.
"Are you asking me out on a date?" she asks him.
Jason smiles nervously.
"Yeah, I am." he confirms softly before continuing.
"I understand if you don't want to, not only are we partners but you're going through a divorce. But I think if you let yourself you will have a good time." he states to her.
Jessica looks at him before answering.
"OK." she agrees.
"But just one date. If it's too awkward, we forget this ever happened." she warns.
He nods quickly.
"Agreed." he stands back up and walks back to his desk.
She smiles as she feels butterflies in her stomach, which she hasn't felt in a long time.
Jessica looks as she sees Alyssa wave from the table she is sitting at.
She smiles and rushes to engulf her best friend in a hug.
"I'm so glad you're here." she whispers into her ear.
She pulls back and takes a seat.
"I know I wish I could be around more, but they always have us on different cases, like I just came back from California." she excitedly states.
Jessica scoffs in mock jealousy.
"Lucky, I would love to go to California." she comments.
They are silent before Alyssa speaks again.
"So what's really going on? The last I had heard, you were happy and married, then the next, you filed for a divorce." she says, very confused.
Jessica rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I thought I was happy, hell I thought he was happy, but I guess I wasn't as right as I thought I was." she said to her friend.
"I refuse to be one of those girls. I saw what it did to Liz. And the worst part was it was with my own sister."
She feels tears threatening to appear.
"I thought I was pregnant." she whispers to Alyssa, making her eyes go wide in surprise.
"I was coming home early with tests to see if I was."
She stops and scoffs.
"I'm so glad I wasn't." she confesses with a hateful tone in her voice.
Alyssa sighs, going over all the news that she has.
"I understand that you don't want to be cheated on hell, I wouldn't want to be, but don't you think you should have given him a chance to explain." Alyssa asks, trying to get Jessica to see reason.
"I don't want to hear anything he has to say ever." Jessica says before the waiter comes over to take their orders.
She sneaks a peek inside the living room and sees LJ sleeping on the couch.
She smiles lightly at the sight and covers him up with a blanket.
She rushes to the bathroom when she feels her stomach churning.
She empties out her stomach again.
She finishes and steps to the sink to rinse her mouth out.
She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror.
She looks horrible.
She changes her clothes and makes her way to her room.
She stops in her tracks when she sees LJ lying in her bed, already back asleep.
She smiles at the scene before crawling under the covers and lying down.
Before she falls asleep, she feels LJ cuddle up to her.
She wakes up hours later to the smell of breakfast.
She crawls out of bed and makes her way to the kitchen where LJ is making pancakes.
He turns when he hears her coming toward him.
"I didn't know how long you wanted to sleep. You came in pretty early in the morning." he says to her, pushing a plate of blueberry pancakes in her direction.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, it's been a really long night." she says to him, checking her phone for messages.
"Veronica came by earlier she said that they're going to be doing the examination later this evening." he informs her.
"Great. That gives me time to go into the station before I head over there."
She says, finishing off her pancakes before standing and putting her plate in the sink.
"Thank you for breakfast." she kisses LJ's forehead before heading to her bedroom to get dressed.
Jessica walks into the police station and walks over to her desk.
She doesn't see Jason anywhere so she sits and checks her email.
There is one from a blocked address.
There are attachments.
She clicks on them, and there are the lab reports from the body that is supposed to be Terrance Steadman.
She prints them out before heading downstairs to the tech office.
She doesn't bother knocking and just opens the door.
She spots a female tech worker playing on a laptop.
The tech turns when she hears the door open.
"Hey, Jessica, right?" the techie greets as Jessica walks farther into the room.
"Yes, that's me. I need a favor." she says, pulling out the paper that had that bank account number and email address on it.
"I need you to work your magic and find out all you can about this bank account." she says, handing the piece of paper to the tech.
She looks it over with raised eyebrows.
"I can already tell you now that it's not going to be easy. Just by looking at these numbers, whoever created it designed the numbers to be hard to trace." she warns Jessica.
"But you can do it right?" she asked her.
"Oh yeah, definitely." she quickly answers.
"Great. I need this to be as quiet as possible, no one else can know about this." Jessica warns the tech.
"I got it. I will call you when I find out something." Jessica nods, heading to the door.
"Thank you." she says, walking out the door.
She starts walking down the hallway when she bumps into Jason.
"Hey." she greets hesitantly.
He glances down at her.
"Hey." he responds simply.
"Look, I know that I'm the last person that you want to see, and if you want to put in for a new partner, I completely understand. But we still have to be professional. Can we do that?" she asks him.
He looks down at her indifferently before nodding.
"Yeah, whatever you want." he retorts before walking away from her, leaving her there to stare after him.
Jessica finally makes it to the city morgue, where they have to meet up with the examiner so he can tell them his findings.
"Since the decomposition is this extensive, the only thing that we could use for identification was dental records. We made an indent of the deceased's teeth, and we compared them to the dental records of Terrance Steadman." The examiner explains to them.
"And what did you find out?" Jessica asks, wanting to know.
"They were a perfect match." he informs them.
Jessica's heart sinks as she looks confused about the teeth being Steadman's.
"Thank you doctor." the prosecuting lawyer says smugly.
Jessica shakes her head.
"No, there is no way that that can be Terrance Steadman." Jessica argues.
"You can get a forensic examiner of your own choosing to examine the body, and they would tell you the same thing." he warns them.
Jessica sighs before turning and walking out of the room.
She starts walking down the hall but stops when she sees Caroline Reynolds walking toward her.
She stops when she sees Jessica standing there.
"I hope you are proud of all of this." she glares at her.
"You have gotten your pound of flesh. Are you done, or would you like to hurt my family some more?" she insults her.
Jessica glares and walks close enough so she can whisper to her.
"I know the truth. I may not be able to prove it now, but you will slip up. And when you do, I will be right there bringing you down." she threatens before getting pulled away by Nick and Veronica.
***********
Jessica walks into the private visitor's room to meet Lincoln.
She has papers that Veronica wants her to go over with him.
She sits down across from him and takes his hand in hers.
"How are you doing?" he asks her, seeing the bags under her eyes.
"I am very tired. I haven't gotten much sleep, but that's nothing unusual." she assures him.
"Have you heard anything yet?" he asks as she pulls out some papers.
"No, we haven't heard anything yet. Testing usually takes a few days." she lies, not wanting him to get upset until she can find more answers.
He looks deep in thought before looking at her.
"What do you remember of my dad?" he asks her out of the blue.
"I don't know much. I only met him once. It was when I was picking Veronica up from a study date with Michael. I know that your mom said some horrible stuff about him to my mom a lot." she tells him.
He looks at her.
"I think I saw him." he confides to her.
She looks unsure. "Lincoln..."
She doesn't want to put him down.
"How would you even know it was him. You haven't seen his face in 30 years." she says, trying to be realistic.
"There is a name that was used, William Purell. The name of this guy, he used to play for Chicago baseball. Dad was really into him, but I had forgotten all about him til now." Jessica squeezes his hand.
"OK. I can probably pull up surveillance tapes from the viewing room. What was he wearing so I know what to look for?" she asks him.
"He was wearing a flannel jacket and a blue baseball cap." he informs her.
She instantly narrows her eyes in surprise.
"Are you sure he was wearing that?" she asks, making sure.
He catches the tone in her voice.
"Yeah. I'm absolutely sure why?" he asks her, wondering what she knows.
"When I was leaving here yesterday, I bumped into a man matching the description you gave me. I felt like he looked familiar." she informs him.
He looks at her with surprise.
They both wonder if that was really Lincoln's dad.
**********
Trish and Paul are going over the video of the courthouse in front of Judge Kessler's office.
"That guy that came in slid the envelope under the judge's door." Trish notes to Paul, who is watching over her shoulder.
"This man knows what he's doing. He moves slowly to avoid suspicion."
She pauses the video.
"See how he hides his face from the camera, he knew where the cameras were at." she says to Paul before resuming the video.
Paul watches closely as the video continues.
"Whoa, pause that." he demands as he finds something.
"Look right there." he pointed at the reflection from the glass window in front of him.
"Can you blow up that image?" he asked her.
She pushes a few buttons on the keypad before the image enlarges.
She zooms in on the reflection.
She looks closer before her eyes widen.
"Son of a bitch!" she exclaims.
"What?" Paul asked confused.
"I know that guy." she informed him.
******
Jessica walks hesitantly inside the bar.
She hasn't had a drink in over three years.
But tonight she is going to break that streak.
She sits down at the bar, and the bartender walks over to her.
"What can I get for you doll?" he asks her.
She looks hesitant before answering.
"I'll take a shot of Jack and a Bud Light." she orders.
She takes a deep breath.
Her emotions are getting the better of her.
The bartender places her drinks down and she slams her shot back.
"Another."
She waves and points to her shot glass, taking a swig of her beer.
Jessica stares at Jason, not knowing what to say to him.
She starts to answer him when her phone starts ringing.
She looks at the caller ID and sees it is the prison calling.
"I have to answer this." she tells him and walks over to the hallway window to answer the phone.
"Hello?" she answers the phone.
"Ms. Donovan, there has been a situation at the prison, and you are required to return." she hears the guard say.
"Look, it's been a long day, I just want to go home and go to sleep." she complains over the phone.
"It's Lincoln, ma'am, his execution has been delayed." he says to her.
"OK. I'll be right in." she says before hanging up.
She turns back to face Jason.
"I have to go." she informs him.
She turns to head to the elevator but stops when she feels him pull on her arm.
He pulls her back to face him.
"Wait a minute, we need to talk about this. Where could you possibly be going at this time of night?" he questions her, knowing that Lincoln's execution should have been done by now.
"It's Lincoln." she confirms his suspicions.
"His execution has been delayed I need to get back over there as soon as possible," she tells him, pulling her arm from his grasp.
"No, you have been running to his side for a couple of months now. I just asked you to move in with me, and you blew me off to be at the side of a death row inmate. You need to choose between me and him. I can't keep doing this with you." he says to her angrily.
Jessica looks up at him and sighs.
"You're right. I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you. You're a good guy who deserves better. I love Lincoln. I always have. He has my heart, my whole heart and he never gave it back. I'm sorry."
She says before turning and rushing down the steps, leaving a crushed Jason behind.
He takes a jewelry box out of his pocket and lifts the lid.
Inside is a beautiful necklace with matching earrings.
He throws the box into the trash angrily and storms off, heartbroken.
**********
Jessica gets escorted into the visitor's room.
She spots Michael sitting at the table, rushes over, and engulfs him in a big hug.
"Do you have any idea what is going on?" she asks him as they sit down at the table.
"No, I have no idea." he tells her.
Jessica turns her head when the warden walks into the room.
"I can't tell you enough how sorry I am that you had to go through this" he says to them.
Jessica turns her head when she hears chains clanking together.
She stands up instantly when Lincoln walks in.
Jessica walks over and engulfs him in a hug.
It feels good to have him in her arms again.
She can feel the tension leave his body as she runs her hands lightly down his chest.
She pulls back and helps the guard place Lincoln in a chair.
She instantly grabs onto his hand so he knows that she is still there with him.
"Do we know what happened?" Jessica asks, not taking her eyes off Lincoln.
"Judge Kessler called the execution has been delayed." he informs them.
"What do you mean, been delayed?" Michael asks worryingly.
"Apparently some new evidence has come to light." he tells them.
"What new evidence?" Jessica questions, not remembering Veronica saying anything to her.
"I don't understand, how long do we have? One day? Two days?" Michael asks, looking like he is going to have a panic attack.
"I'm sorry, that's all the information I have to offer." he says to them regrettably.
"I will give you three a minute." the warden grants before walking out the door.
Jessica sighs and leans forward and gives Lincoln a peck on the lips.
"I need to know how much time we have left." he whispers to himself, but Jessica hears.
"I'll call Veronica, I'm sure she knows more than we do." she says, standing up and leaning down to give Lincoln one more kiss on the lips.
"I will be back as soon as I can." she whispers to him and reluctantly leaves the room.
Jessica pulls her phone out of her pocket and goes to call her sister when she bumps into someone.
"I'm sorry about that." She apologizes, looking at him for the first time.
"The apologies are all mine I wasn't watching where I was going." the man states, looking at her.
For some reason, the man looks familiar to her.
"Do I know you?" she asks him suddenly.
If he seems surprised by her question, he hides it well.
He shakes his head.
"No, I don't think so." he informs her before walking away suddenly.
She watches him walk away before shrugging and pulling out her phone again to call Veronica.
*********
"How is he still alive?" Caroline asks angrily at Paul and Trisha.
"It appears that some new information was somehow slipped to the judge." Paul informs her.
Caroline scoffs.
"It was your fat little friend Hale. If you had taken care of him sooner-" he cuts her off.
"It wasn't Hale." he sounds positive.
"How could you possibly know that he didn't give any evidence to my sister?" Trisha asks him, glaring.
"If Hale had given Jessica any information, I'm sure that she would have used that evidence in court by now." he states, glaring at her.
"Well then who else on your end knows?" Trisha asks harshly.
Paul rolls his eyes.
"Who on your end knows the company side?" she glares at him.
"Why is there finger-pointing when it could have clearly come from your end." Trisha opens her mouth to defend herself.
"Hey that is enough." Caroline hisses at them.
"We are on the same team." she states.
"Of course we are." Trisha said smiling slightly.
"You both just find the leak and destroy it." she commanded.
Paul nods.
"Absolutely. I will get right on that." he says before walking out of the room.
Trish stays planted in her seat as Caroline opens her drawer and pulls out a bottle of rum.
She pours it in two glasses and hands one to Trisha.
"So who do you really think did it?" Caroline asks Trish.
"I have no idea. But I want this thing squashed just as much as you do." she says as they clank glasses and each takes a drink.
**********
Jessica paces back and forth in front of the judge's office.
She is not allowed inside so she has to wait outside the room until they are finished.
Jessica all of a sudden feels her stomach churn and she quickly rushes to the bathroom.
She quickly makes it and pukes up all of her stomach contents.
She chalks all the sickness and being tired to too much stress and not enough sleep.
She goes back out in the hall and finally meets up with Veronica.
She slowly walks up to her, catching her attention.
"Oh my god! You look horrible!" Veronica exclaims to her worryingly.
"You are so pale. When was the last time you slept?" Veronica asks her.
"I've been at the prison all night. I don't know what's wrong. I've been getting sick and I'm always tired." she informs her.
"Is there a chance you could be pregnant?" Veronica looks at her suspiciously.
"No, I am not pregnant." she states with a glare.
"What did you find out in the judge's office?" she asks her sister to change the subject.
"The judge received an envelope placed on his desk. It was an autopsy report from the dead body. The person had his appendix. The other paper was a procedure done on Terrance Steadman when he was 12 years old. The procedure was an appendectomy." Veronica informs Jessica.
Her eyes go wide with surprise.
"Wow! No shit! So what is going to happen now?" she asks Veronica.
"Judge Kessler gave the extension for two weeks. That's enough time to do an autopsy of the body." Veronica says to her.
"You need to go home and get some sleep." Veronica states to Jessica as they start walking out to the parking lot.
Jessica unlocks her door and gets in the driver's seat.
" Call Michael and inform him what's going on." Jessica tells her before backing up and driving away.
Jessica is being led to the visitor's room, where Lincoln and Michael are waiting.
She walks in and smiles when she sees the blueberry pancakes.
Lincoln stands up and engulfs her in a hug.
She pulls back and looks between Lincoln and Michael.
"We uh, we lost the appeal." she says sadly as she watches the look on Michael's face change.
"Dr Tancredi stopped by and talked to us." she says to Michael.
He looks up at her in surprise.
"She did? Did she hear you out? Is she going to talk to her father?" he keeps spitting out questions.
Jessica sees the look in his eyes when she mentions the doctor.
He likes her a lot.
"She did listen to what we had to say and I sure hope she speaks to her father." she stops when Lincoln speaks up.
"It doesn't matter anymore, guys. You did more than enough for me." he says, looking at Jessica with so much love in his eyes.
She feels her stomach twist.
"I couldn't bring LJ. I wish that I could." she says, walking closer to him.
" I know." he whispers to her as she lays her head on his chest.
She feels him loosely wrap his arm around her.
She runs her hand up and down his chest in a comforting manner.
She takes out her phone.
"What do I even say to him?" he asks her.
She just hands him her phone.
***Lincoln's POV***
He waits for the phone to ring.
Veronica answers.
She puts LJ on.
"Dad?"
He hears his son's voice through the phone.
"LJ?" he whispers knowing he could hear him.
He tries not to let LJ know he is upset.
"So this is it, huh?" he tries to joke.
"Yeah, I guess so." he says back.
"I wish I was there with you."
Lincoln has to close his eyes to stop the tears from coming.
"Me too, more than anything." he whispers back to him.
He hears LJ's voice, he is also trying not to cry.
"I have to tell you something, Dad." LJ tells him.
"What's that?" he asks, wondering what it could be.
"I had a dream last night, and we were working on a house together, you know, pounding nails, and Jessica, she came out with a couple glasses of sweet tea, and she had a big baby belly on her. And in that dream, it felt like we were older, you know."
Lincoln listens to his son's dream.
He has to grip the phone to stop himself from completely breaking down.
He sneaks a glance at Jessica who is quietly talking to Michael.
He imagines what she would look like, pregnant with his baby.
He wishes that dream could be real so badly.
"When I woke up, I knew that today wasn't going to be the end and that we'll see each other again." he pauses, and Lincoln feels tears coming down his face.
"I love you, Dad." he whispers to him.
Lincoln has to pull the phone back so LJ doesn't hear him silently cry.
"I love you too, LJ, so much." he whispers back to him.
***END POV***
Jessica is sitting at the table with Michael as Lincoln is pacing around the room.
" I never gave a damn about what people thought of me, but these last couple of days though" he scoffs as he sits down.
Jessica takes his hand in hers.
He glances at her.
"Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wilkins Booth, Lincoln Burrows. I'm going to go down in history with those freaks." he whispers angrily.
"The bitch thing is I didn't do it." he whispers before pounding his fist into the table.
Jessica jumps up as Lincoln pushes everything off the table before lifting it and knocking it over.
"I didn't do it!" he angrily exclaims before walking over to the window.
Jessica follows him and lays her hand on his arm.
They look up when the guards walk in and the warden walks in behind them.
Jessica feels Lincoln tense up under her hand.
"It's time." the warden informs them.
Jessica backs away as the guard hands him clothes to change into.
Jessica pushes back the tears that wanted to fall.
*******
Jessica walks beside Michael as they follow behind the warden as he leads the way to the execution room.
Jessica grabs onto Michael's hand as they walk.
"Warden!"
They turn and see one of the guards with a phone.
"It's the Governor." he says as he passes the phone.
Jessica looks to Michael with hopeful eyes.
Her eyes meet Lincoln's and she prays that this is a good call.
She watches as the warden talks on the phone.
He hangs up and she takes a deep breath and squeezes Michael's hand.
The warden looks over at them.
"The Governor has reviewed your case, and he's not granting clemency." he informs them, looking at Lincoln.
Jessica's heart breaks.
The love of her life is minutes away from being executed.
"Let's proceed." he demanded as they continued down the hallway.
******
Trish stands beside the Vice President as they meet with the Governor.
"You have done your country and your party a great service today."
Trish watches as the Governor shakes the Vice President's hand.
"Thank you both." he smiles half heartedly as Trish shakes his hand.
He looks at her.
"Isn't Burrows your brother-in-law?" he asks her, remembering reading that in the file.
"Ex-brother-in-law. We're both doing my sister a favor by removing that terrorist from society. So thank you, Governor Tancredi."
She shakes his hand and walks to where Carolyn is.
Trish only feels half bad by what she has done.
She knows Jessica will get over the loss eventually and everything will be back to normal again.
********
They stop when they come to a yellow line.
Bellick stops them from going farther.
"You can't go past this point. You will be escorted to the viewing room." he informs Jessica and Michael.
She looks up and sees that Lincoln is looking at her.
She tries to hold herself together.
"Can I?" she asks, pointing to Lincoln.
Bellick moves out of the way as Jessica moves to stand in front of Lincoln.
She lets a couple tears fall down her cheek.
She moves to give him one last hug.
"I have loved you since the first time I saw you." she whispers in his ear.
She pulls back and grabs his face with her hands.
"The happiest I have ever been was being your wife." she confesses to him.
He leans in and gives him one last kiss.
She tries to express how much she loves him in that one kiss.
She finally pulls back.
"I'm not staying for the viewing. So this is goodbye Lincoln Burrows."
She gives him one last look before turning and making her way back down the hall, not looking back.
***********
Jessica makes her way to her apartment.
She stops when she sees someone standing in front of the door.
She steps closer and wraps her hand around her gun.
She relaxes her hand when she realizes that it is Jason standing there.
"What are you doing here?" she questions, unlocking her door.
"I heard about what happened, plus I need to ask you an important question." he informs her.
She sighs and turns to face him.
"Now is not a good time. I have had a long day, I am tired and I just want to go to sleep." she says to him.
He shakes his head.
"This will only take a minute. Can I come inside?" he asks her.
She pauses, remembering LJ inside.
"No. Like I said, now is not a good time." she states.
"Fine, I'll do this here." he says, taking a deep breath.
"I think we should move in together." he says to her.
She stands in her doorway, and her eyes get wide in shock.
"What did you just say?" she asks confused.
"Move in with me." he says to her, making her shocked.
"Would you like to explain to me what the hell is going on?" he shouts at her.
She flinches and has the sudden urge to cry but holds it in.
"I know I granted you the time off you needed. I figured that had something to do with your ex-husband. But what I did not grant is for you to just walk right in here and try to take security footage. Even worse, now, someone who nobody saw now has a tape of the place." he leans forward on his desk.
"Do I have to suspend you?" he asks her.
She shakes her head.
"No sir." she whispers.
He nods at her.
"I need you back here in a couple of days, Internal Affairs wants to have a word with you."
She tries to say something, but he holds his hand up to warn her not to.
"I don't want to hear about it being a conspiracy." She sighs and nods in defeat.
"Go on, get out of here. I need you here in a couple of days, alright." he informs her as she stands up to leave.
"Yes, sir." she says as she leaves the office.
***********
She walks to her desk and grabs her phone.
She hears a beep on the other end.
Her phone is being tapped.
She quickly slams it back down.
She pulls out a spare burner phone she keeps for emergencies.
She quickly dials Veronica's number as she makes her way outside.
"Hey, bad news, they got to the tape before I could." she informs her sister.
"What are we going to do now?" she asks Jessica.
"I'm going to need you to head to my apartment and watch after LJ while I'm at Fox River." Jessica tells her sister.
She feels like she is going to throw up again.
"OK, we can do that, we'll see you back at your apartment." Veronica hangs up the phone.
Jessica feels like she is going to break down.
She rushes over to the bushes and pukes again.
She keeps heaving until there is nothing left in her stomach.
*******
"You're not going LJ." Jessica exclaims as she follows LJ through her apartment.
"I don't care, I have to see him!" he argues back.
"Don't be stupid, you would never make it past the front gates, there are cops everywhere." Nick comments to him.
Jessica makes LJ look at her.
"Look, you can't go until we get all of your stuff cleared up, OK?" she assures him.
Veronica's phone rings.
She looks at it.
"It's the judge's clerk." she informs them, answering the call.
"Hello. What do you have for us?" she asks into the phone.
Jessica can see the defeated look on her sister's face.
"Thank you." she says and hangs up the phone.
"They ruled against us, didn't they?" Nick asks already knowing.
Veronica nods.
Jessica starts grabbing her stuff.
"I have to go see him." she informs them, trying to hide her tears.
"Are you OK going alone?" Nick asks her.
She nods her head.
"Yeah, I'll be OK." she reassures.
"Tell Lincoln that I'm sorry and that we all tried."
She nods, not trusting her voice.
Veronica gives her a hug.
There is a knock on the door.
"LJ, get in the bedroom now." Jessica demands, making her way to answer the door.
She opens the door, and her eyes narrow in confusion, standing there on the other side of the door is Dr Sarah Tancredi.
"What are you doing here?" she asks her.
"I came here to speak with Lincoln's attorneys." she informs Jessica.
