What Makes You Tick

[Sara Tancredi]

Sara Tancredi had been in dangerous situations before. Her life had been threatened more times that she cared to remember, not to mention the torture sessions that took place not too long ago. But this time . . . it was somehow different. Well, she knew how it was; it was because she was alone in a place with a rapist and murderer. T-Bag. Theodore Bagwell, one of the other men she had helped escape from prison, and the main one that she felt so guilty for releasing. He was a murderer, and that had never changed. He was just as vile as he once had been in prison, and that was what scared her.

She was not only concerned for her own life. She would have accepted death if it meant that Michael was safe, and he that he did not give the company what they wanted. Of course, Scylla seemed to be the main focus for everyone now, and they were battling two fronts instead of just one massive company. But now . . . Sara had her baby's life to worry about. If anything happened to her . . . the baby would suffer, and she could not let that happen. Of course, her options were very limited as she was handcuffed to a sliding door, and seeing that the general and anyone else who may be sympathetic towards a convicted pedophile and rapist, seemed to have left.

Now, she was alone with him, and there were no boundaries. She did not know what he was going to do. She did not want to ask. She was just avoiding eye contact with him, feeling the fear build inside of her, hoping that it would not overwhelm her and therefore, force her to lose her composed nature. She did not want to give him the pleasure, and she certainly did not want to beg for his life . . . though she had a feeling, that if it came to that, she would have to say something. But for now, she was looking away, praying that Michael was safe, that he did not give Scylla, and that she would somehow miraculously find a way out of this.

---- Tag T-Bag! ----

[Theodore Bagwell]

» - - - - - - he's as blind as he can be
JUST SEES WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE - - - - - - - - - - «

Things hadn’t been going very well for T-Bag lately, as could obviously be seen by all of the bandages and cuts on his face. The one thing he had going for him (besides the fact that he was out of jail) was that he had been able to get in with the General. But what good had that really done him? He still had to deal with Scofield and all of those other guys to try to get Scylla for the General, and they were all being far from cooperative. For example, it hadn’t been too long ago that they had asked T-Bag to provide a distraction at the front gate so they could get into the Indian embassy, and then they had left him hanging, and now his once beautiful face wasn’t so beautiful anymore.

But then some good luck seemed to have finally hit him—and hit him hard. They had managed to get their hands on Dr. Sara Tancredi and, better yet, while the General was off with his men running whatever errand they had to run, he had left T-Bag in charge of watching over the good doctor, and even better, the General had given him permission to do whatever he wanted to with her. T-Bag still couldn’t quite believe that he had heard those words come out of that man’s mouth. He wasn’t the only inmate in Fox River who had ever fantasized about doing some naughty things with Sara, and here he finally had the chance to do them—as a free man, not a locked up convict.

He had handcuffed her to the sliding door without so much as uttering a syllable because he was too busy imagining all of the things he could do with her. And now that she was safely secured and he had a gun stuck in the back of his pants in case anything should go wrong, he could stop imagining and start doing. Standing a comfortable few feet away from her, T-Bag took a long moment looking her up and down. He could certainly understand why Michael fell for the gorgeous lady standing in front of him. She certainly was easy on the eyes. Once his eyes were satisfied with what they saw, T-Bag closed the gap between them to a foot. “You know, Doc,” he said, knowing full well that Sara was going to have to start looking at him sooner rather than later because it was dangerous not too look at someone as violent as him when they were standing so close, “I always thought the only way I could ever hurt Scofield was by actually physically hurtin’ the man. But now I know that that ain’t true.”

tagged » - - - - - - Sara
words - - - - - - « 453
lyrics » - - - - - - Beatles
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[Sara Tancredi]

Personal space meant nothing to a rapist, but to Sara, it was only drastically increasing her discomfort. She felt awkward and fearful enough with him just looking at her, but now he was directly in front of her and she had no way to turn her back on him. She had to remind herself to take deep breathes, and to control herself. She was using her energy to fight back any tears of trepidation. She still did not look at him. She knew he was unpredictable, and everything that she may do to alleviate the situation could only potentially make it worse. He was aggressive, and she was trapped. She was experiencing very much the same fear that she had during the riot . . . when all hope had seemed lost and she thought about what her become of her once the inmates got their hands on her. And now, that fear was dominant in her once again. She could not always hope that Michael was going to rescue . . . he had done it far too many times, and there had to come a point where it was just merely impossible.

Of course, that did not mean she was going to give up. Her baby. She still had her baby to think of but mentioning it to T-bag may only make his sick and twisted mind do something worse to her, and that one revelation may endanger her unborn baby even more. So she would do what she could to defend herself . . . even though she was utterly helpless right now. His words were upsetting to her as well, though she tried to control her emotions. Any way to hurt Michael was something she hated hearing, and here T-Bag was . . . suggesting such a thing, and Sara was left fretting that if something happened to her -- and the baby -- that Michael would blame himself, something she could not stand the thought of.

She averted her eyes, avoiding eye contact and looking at the ground, lowering a head a little so that she did not have to stare deep into his eyes. They say that your eyes is the window to your soul and she did not want to look into Theodore Bagwell's, so she would ignore his words . . . swallow her tears . . . and focus on finding an impossible way to get out of here.

[Theodore Bagwell]

» - - - - - - he's as blind as he can be
JUST SEES WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE - - - - - - - - - - «

Even now she was still trying to avoid eye contact with him. If he wasn’t so ticked off by this little sign of, in T-Bag’s mind at least, disrespect, he would have laughed out loud at her trying to be brave or whatever the heck she was trying to do or whatever point she was trying to prove. But T-Bag wasn’t in the mood to let her be stoic. No, sir, he wasn’t in the mood at all, and that wasn’t good for Sara, seeing as he was the one with the gun and a free hand. He roughly grabbed her by the chin with his one functioning hand and forced her to finally make eye contact with him. “When I’m talkin’ to you, you look at me. Do…you…understand?” He spaced out his last words, acting as if she were a misbehaving student in school who wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box. “Now that we’ve got that all cleared up…” He trailed off, letting go of her chin, trusting that she wouldn’t be so disrespectful to him ever again.

Now that that was cleared up, what did that mean? It meant he could get down to the meats and potatoes. He could almost feel the fear emanating off of Sara, as much as she tried to hide it. Oh, if only Michael were here to see all of this. Then Teddy could have a grand, ole time having his way with the doctor, and then maybe he could have given Michael the same exact treatment. But why think about what could be when what actually was was just as good? But T-Bag couldn’t stop the small grin that crossed his face at the thoughts of some freaky threesome that would have been possible if Scofield had also been captured.

“Now that we’ve got that all cleared up,” he repeated, “We can get down to business.” T-Bag took a step back to take stock of the situation. Things would have been so much easier if he had been able to take of the handcuffs but he couldn’t trust Sara at all. “I don’t believe that chivalry is dead, so I’m gonna give you a choice: the front entrance or the rear exit…How do you and Scofield prefer it?” T-Bag knew how deeply it cut Sara every time he mentioned her boyfriend’s name. “Or have you two even done it yet? I have serious doubts about Scofield’s manliness,” he chuckled.

tagged » - - - - - - Sara
words - - - - - - « 409
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[Sara Tancredi]

Sara wanted to pull her head away, but she couldn't. She was stuck, and he was forcing her to look at him . . . so she did. She did not keep her gaze steady or focused. Her eyes were constantly moving, waiting for him to take his hands off of her. If she could not stand this . . . she did not want to ever dare imagine how much further he was going to take things. She felt like throwing up at his comments . . . and it was not the morning sickness that was the cause of her nausea. Breathe . . . Breathe . . . She gave him an emotionless look. She did not want to encourage his talking . . . but could she really just stand here silently and listen to him talk like this?

"If . . . if you let me go, I'll tell the courts that you saved my life. I still have connections from my father." She was grasping at straws, but she had to try. She had to try. "Please . . . " This time she looked directly at him, locking eyes with him. Her voice sincere and pleading, without reaching the point of begging. "Please," she said, an underlying, desperate urgency in her voice. "You don't have to do this." She had no idea if her words would make a difference, but she also had to change the subject and go on what little hope she had of convincing him to let her go.

[Theodore Bagwell]

» - - - - - - he's as blind as he can be
JUST SEES WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE - - - - - - - - - - «

Did she seriously just say any of that? T-Bag highly doubted that saving one person’s life was going to make some old judge think that he should be given some kind of leniency. How many people had he killed since he escaped from Fox River? Too many to count. How many of those deaths were eventually going to be connected back to him? Who knew? The only thing T-Bag was sure of was that he couldn’t take the risk of thinking that just because Sara had connections he shouldn’t do anything to her. Besides, for all T-Bag knew she was lying to him right now. Leaving her alone or helping her escape wasn’t going to do anything for him. The General would come after him. The General would kill him for letting her go.

There was one other big reason that he couldn’t let her go, and he just had to let Sara know what that was. Once he was sure that she was done with her desperate attempt at getting out of this situation, T-Bag shook his head. “No can do, Doc. Even if you could somehow set me free, I couldn’t do it ‘cause once the General has Scylla he’s gonna give me a job. I’m gonna be someone. I’m gonna have a real life.” The General had promised him so much, and the General was a man of his word. So far, T-Bag hadn’t had any reason to doubt his word.

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words - - - - - - « 244
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[Sara Tancredi]

She knew it was a stretch, and so could not be surprised by him denying her offer. Truth be told, she had no intention of helping him. He was a criminal, one that deserved to be in prison. He just kept killing people, and she was partly responsible for that. She would be very satisfied to see him behind bars again . . . she just hoped that he would get there soon. But right now, she was focusing on the present. Focusing on what to get out of here. While she was not surprised by him saying no, she was surprised to hear the 'job offer' that the general had given him. She had to fight back a bit of laughter. If he got agitated at her not looking at him, she did not even want to think about how he would react if she started laughing at his idea of getting a job with the company.

It was at that moment that she noticed the handle one of her hand cuffs was attached to was a little lose. This, unfortunately, made her a little bold. She looked at him, with an expression of disbelief as a hint of a smirk was on her face. "You really think he's going to give you a job after all this? You really think he's a man of his word? The general hires professional assassins, not convicted rapists. You're an amateur Theodore. The only thing you're getting when all this is over is a bullet in the head and an unmarked grave." Her voice was soft, and not taunting, but she did believed what she was telling him. The general was never honest in his offers to get people to do what he wanted them to do. She had known that he was never going to bring her on the exchange. And knew . . . or at least desperately hoped . . . that he knew that too and would make sure Scylla stayed out of the hands of Krantz.

[Theodore Bagwell]

» - - - - - - he's as blind as he can be
JUST SEES WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE - - - - - - - - - - «

He hated hearing those words come out of Sara’s mouth. He hated hearing them because a part of him knew that they were true. For all that T-Bag had done for the General…For all the orders he had obeyed (mostly) without question. And the reward for all of that was going to be death. But knowing all of that just made hearing the words all the harder. T-Bag wished he could have continued living in his little fantasy world where everything was going to turn out all right for him because the General said so. Now here Sara was spewing out the truth that he didn’t want to hear. It took all of his self-restraint to not pull out his gun now, shoot her in the head, and then tell her to shut up. Killing her wouldn’t solve anything. T-Bag had to be smarter than that. What if the General came back and needed Sara for something? T-Bag needed to keep Sara alive and in as much as one piece as he could.

“You…You don’t know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout, Doc,” he admonished, waving his prosthetic left hand in her face. “The only person who’s getting’ an unmarked grave in any of this is Michael!” T-Bag exclaimed, keeping his voice down as much as he could, which wasn’t much at all. Two could play the game of trying to get under each other’s skin. “Your boyfriend is in way over his head, and the sooner he realizes it the better for us all.” Okay, so maybe Michael did know what he was doing but that wasn’t going to stop T-Bag from insulting him. For all intents and purposes, he was working for the General just to spite Michael and the other escapees who weren’t too keen on having a murdering rapist join their group. T-Bag took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming himself down. “Now, enough chitchat. I’m gonna ask you one more time: how do you like it done?”

tagged » - - - - - - Sara
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[Sara Tancredi]

Sara knew she was making him angrier and angrier, and he was making her more and more afraid. But this one lose handle may be the solution she was looking for. It may be her way out, and so now, she needed to distract him so that he would not notice. She tried her best to maintain her composure, though he question of 'how wanted it done' forced her to take a deep, shaky breath and try not to think about what he was planning to do to her. She would focus back on his previous comments . . . as she hated hearing Michael's name come out of his lips. It affected her, it disturbed her. And she could not just stand there and let this fugitive talk about him like that. She moved her head to the side when he waved his artificial hand right in front of her.

"That's not going to happen," she said in reference to his remark about Michael getting an unmarked grave. The thought of Michael being in a grave at all . . . no. The thought alone was just unbearable to Sara. "You know why? Because there are people out there who care about him . . . who love him. And who will do anything to protect him." She paused for a moment, locking eyes with him. Her expression turned to a fake, almost overly curious expression as her next question was asked in a sarcastic tone. "Tell me Teddy, who's there for you?" She was scared enough asking the question, but never the less, it came out.

[Theodore Bagwell]

» - - - - - - he's as blind as he can be
JUST SEES WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE - - - - - - - - - - «

She just had to bring up the fact that there was nobody out there who cared about him. He wished that he could say his mother cared about him because he cared about her but she had always been in her own la la land. The only thing T-Bag knew about Down’s Syndrome was that people with it weren’t very good parents. But all of that was beside the point right now. He needed to make one thing very clear to the doctor. “The only people who ever gave a damn about me are dead because of your boyfriend!” he shouted right in her face. That was exaggerating things. Abruzzi’s men had pulled the trigger that killed T-Bag’s cousin and cousin’s son. But their deaths’ had been a direct result of Michael’s escape plan. If Michael had been a good boy and content with watching his older brother fry in the electric chair, T-Bag would have never had to make that insurance call to them.

It was then that T-Bag remembered he had a handy weapon tucked into the back of his pants. He took it out and in a flash had it up against Sara’s temple. “You’re going to stop with all of this shrink talk, Doc, because it’s so unbecoming of a woman like you and because if you don’t I will not hesitate to pull this trigger. Do you comprehend me?” Sara’s plan was almost working because the thought of raping her was moving further and further into the back of his brain and more harmful and tortuous alternatives were coming up to the forefront.

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[Sara Tancredi]

Sara looked down as he yelled in her face. He was getting angry, and that was when he pulled out the gun and held it to her head. That was when she knew he could not keep provoking him, because . . . because of her baby. Because she was putting it's life at risk right now, and he could not afford that. Her poor, innocent baby who had nothing to do with any of this and should not have to pay for her mistakes. She closed her eyes as he held the gun against her. "Please . . ." She had to keep her voice from quivering, but she knew she was not doing a good job. She could not constantly put on a brave face. Her eyes began to slightly moisten as she opened them again and looked at him.

"Just . . . you don't want to do this." She was not handling this well, and was slowly breaking. She needed to get out of this. The handle needed to move, but with him so close, holding a gun right to her head with his finger on the trigger, should could not afford any quick movements. "If you want to do the right thing, for once in your life Theodore . . . do the right thing. The General is not going to help you. When he's done with you, he's going to dispose of you. If you let me go, we can leave right now, and he won't stop you or threaten you."

[Theodore Bagwell]

» - - - - - - he's as blind as he can be
JUST SEES WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE - - - - - - - - - - «

Was she ever going to stop begging for her life? It was really pathetic. Besides, the only thing she really needed to do to survive was cooperate with him. Let him have his ten to fifteen minutes of fun, and she would be returned to her precious boyfriend in one piece—one piece that was a bit used but it’s not like she had been a virgin when Michael first met her. She had already been used, so was one more time really going to hurt anyone? No. Why couldn’t the doctor see that? T-Bag would have uttered those sentiments to her but he knew there was no point. She wasn’t going to listen to him. She was stubborn. If he needed to use more violence to achieve a means to the end then so be it.

“I can’t just leave the General, Doc. If I leave him, he’s just gonna come hunt me down ‘til he finds me and then does really kill me.” T-Bag was just as much the victim as Sara was in all of this. “I…I can’t do the right thing, so just stop talkin’ and start doin’ as you’re told. It’ll make things a whole hell of a lot easier for the both of us.” He wasn’t shouting anymore and his words didn’t hold as much conviction as they once held. But nobody could jump to the conclusion that that was because Sara’s words were getting to him. Maybe he was just growing weary of all of her ‘please don’t do this’ pleas.

tagged » - - - - - - Sara
words - - - - - - « 258
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[Sara Tancredi]

"The longer you stay here, the more likely he is to kill you. If you leave now, you can get as far away as possible." Sara knew that saying please to him was not going to make a difference. She would have to find another way to convince him. Even if he just left . . . it would eliminate the immediate threat on her life right now. Sara was not sympathetic towards Theodore . . . she just wanted him to release her. Then again, if he was dead, he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else. No. Right now, Sara had her baby to worry about.

"You managed to stay away from every federal officer in the country for the past few weeks. I'm sure you'll find a way to hide from the general. But you're better off finding a place to hide, than just waiting here for him to kill you. And the more time you stand here, the more time you're wasting at your opportunity to get away from all of this." She needed to get out of here before the general came back and just put a bullet in her head anyway.

[Theodore Bagwell]

» - - - - - - he's as blind as he can be
JUST SEES WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE - - - - - - - - - - «

Was she ever going to stop it? She couldn’t know how tempting to just drop this all and run away was to T-Bag. Of course he wouldn’t let Sara go, though, because he could trust her even less than he could trust the General. And then if the General came back sooner than expected and gave his flunky a call, T-Bag could come up with some excuse that he had gone out to buy something to better accomplish what he had in mind to do to Sara. So letting Sara go made absolutely no sense. Getting as far away as possible…Leaving now…It was starting to sound better and better.

T-Bag couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at her next words. “Federal officers are amateurs compared to the General’s men when it comes to trackin’ down people,” he replied, and that was the honest to God truth. He removed the gun from Sara’s temple, visibly relaxing up a bit. “You don’t know anything about the situation I’m in right now. If I thought I could run away from all of it, I would.” He didn’t know how many different ways he could tell Sara that he couldn’t do what she wanted him to do.

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[Sara Tancredi]

"Exactly, amateurs. If Federal Agents are amateurs compared to Company Agents . . . then what does that make you?" She was still trying to make him realize that the General was just going to kill him. It wasn't because she valued his life, or that she cared about his well being. It was because if he left, even if he did not take her with him, she may be able to find a way out of here without someone holding a gun against her head. She was not going to stop there.

"Would you, run if you had the chance? Because you're still here . . . you have a chance and your still standing here. The general's proved he doesn't keep his word. He told Michael he would release me, and even you believed that he would. What does that tell you?" She paused for a moment before continuing. "I know the situation you're in, believe me. I've been running from these people for months." She wasn't trying to open up to him, she was still trying to convince him to get out of here.

[Theodore Bagwell]

» - - - - - - he's as blind as he can be
JUST SEES WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE - - - - - - - - - - «

If Federal Agents were amateurs to the General’s men, that made T-Bag just a little bit above an amateur but obviously nowhere near as skilled as the General’s men if he was so afraid of them hunting him down and finishing him off if he let Sara go. The doctor sure had a good point there. T-Bag stuck the gun back into the back of his pants. Maybe Sara would stop begging for her life if the gun was out of sight—maybe Sara would stop saying all this stuff about how the General was going to kill him.

T-Bag let out a long chuckle as he ran his hand through his hair. “I’ll tell you what it tells me. It tells me that Pretty ain’t as smart as he thinks he is. He should know better than to try and make a deal with the General.” T-Bag didn’t know if Michael was growing dumber as the days went by or if he had some ulterior motive for agreeing to a deal he knew wouldn’t really be happening. Sara’s next words brought another chuckle out of T-Bag. “You have no idea what kind of situation I’m in, Doc. Now, we’re both pretty high-strung right now, wouldn’t you say?” he inquired, moving around so he was standing behind Sara now. “So, let’s just both relax, and it’ll all be over before you know it.” T-Bag let the fingertips of his prosthetic hand lightly graze Sara’s back.

tagged » - - - - - - Sara
words - - - - - - « 245
lyrics » - - - - - - Beatles
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[Sara Tancredi]

Not that she was underestimating Michael's intelligence, she just hoped he didn't give the General what he wanted; and that he was safe. At least this was diverting the conversation to . . . well, never mind then. The only thing worse than looking at T-Bag face to face, was not being able to see him and therefore, be unsure as to what he was doing. She felt him run his hand down her back, knowing that the hardness of the touch meant he was using his fake hand. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She had to stay in control of herself. She needed to. He took advantage of vulnerability. She could not look as vulnerable as she currently felt.

She tried to move herself so that he back was against the door, putting her in a very awkward uncomfortable stance, but at least now she could see him, even if she had to turn her head to the side. "We're in the same situation Theodore because as soon as the General comes back, all he's going to do is shoot both of us and be done with it. Why would you stick around for your inevitable death? Unless you leave now, you won't be leaving in anything but a body bag. You gotta know that. How can you be so blind to the way the General really works. He doesn't need us. He doesn't need you." Repeating herself was all she could do.