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Take the shot, Kellerman tells himself. But then she moves and blocks it. Shit. Sara...a little to the left, sweetheart. If he misses, if anything happens to her, Frank Tancredi will never forgive him. That man's like a father to him. He was almost a son-in-law until Sara started using and everything fell apart. For the longest time, Kellerman thought that was his fault.
As soon as she's out the door, he takes out the con. He doesn't miss. He never misses.
Kellerman finds her, later, at the back of the EMS truck. She's pretty badly shaken. Like her father, he never understood why she chose to take a job at Fox River after she got her shit together. He wanted her to stay in Chicago, pick up where they left off. She wanted a clean break. Hey, it's a free country and she's a big girl.
But Sara Tancredi's an old flame he can't quite put out.
"You okay?"
She looks up, surprised to see him there in the SWAT black. It's been, what? Six months – a year – since she saw him? He was a soldier in Army brown when they first met. Her father really wanted them to get married.
"Served his country, voted for me. Nice guy."
Too bad she stopped being a nice girl.
"Paul?" And then she realizes: "It was you on the roof."
"Kind of a strange coincidence." He sits beside her. In her lap, she wrings her trembling hands. "How's the arm?" he asks, taking Sara's left hand and squeezing comfortingly.
"It's not bad."
"Look, I know your father probably gave you a lecture on working here so I'm gonna skip that and ask you if you wanna go grab a cup of coffee – decaf." He smiles. He always did have a charming smile.
She feels calmer already. Now that she's not thinking about almost being killed, she's thinking about the man who saved her life (and it's not Paul). She doesn't want to think about the way Michael Scofield looked at her after he helped her down from the ceiling. That moment, what she felt, what she feels for him.
Maybe coffee with her ex is just what she needs to clear her head. "You're off duty?"
"Standard procedure. I shoot some asshole who had it coming anyway, save an innocent life, they take my statement and my gun and I'm on paid leave until they're done with their little investigation."
Michael saved her life. She wonders if he found Lincoln and made it back to his cell.
"C'mon." Kellerman tugs encouragingly on her hand. "It's just coffee."
"Okay. Yeah, sure."
As Kellerman is leading Sara away, he catches her father's eye. Governor Tancredi nods his approval. The sharpshooter simply smiles his charming, knowing smile.
"Take the shot, Paul."
"I can't, sir. Sara's in the way."
"Just get it over with. I want her out of there."
Out from behind Fox River's walls forever.
In the end, the rioting inmates were never really Kellerman's target. So much for strange coincidences. Tancredi wants his daughter working in a safe environment, Kellerman wants the woman he lost and still loves. It's a win-win situation, if they play it right.
Kellerman doesn't know about Michael Scofield. He's seen him through his scope – trained a red bead on him – but doesn't know who he is. Not yet.
And maybe Kellerman has a more charming smile, but his eyes aren't as blue and he's never looked at Sara the way Michael did. The way Michael does.
This story also appears on FFN and the Kellerman/Sara FanFiction Archive.