Michael 2.0

Part 19 (The End)

Five years later.

 

“How are you feeling, Charlie?”

“I am fine, Walter. Don’t worry,” she smiled, rolling her eyes. “You are always so tense, you make me nervous!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he laughed, kissing her. “I just want everything to go well.”

“Walter, I’m having a baby, not having a heart transplant,” she said, before another violent contraction.

Life was full of surprises; five years earlier, Charlie had thought her life to be over, and she was condemned to die alone. For long months, she was unable to smile, to go out and to allow herself any form of happiness. Of course, she quit her job at W.I.S.E.R.; there were more important things in life than money and profit, and she could not see herself working there anymore, where everything reminded her of Michael.

Walter Gregory, when he heard about Charlie leaving her job, became very close to her, making sure she was alright and visiting her regularly. With anyone else, Charlie had no wish to talk about Michael, but with Walter, it was nice, almost therapeutic. He’d make her laugh with random memories of him, showing her that she was not the only one who would remember him.

After nearly a year after Michael’s full termination, Walter finally gathered enough courage to ask Charlie out. Surprisingly, she found herself saying “yes.” There was some sort of mutual understanding between them that was comfortable for her. Walter knew how much Michael meant to Charlie, and he did not condemn her. Instead, he encouraged her to talk about it, releasing the great pain she held.

The first dates were awkward, but then Charlie felt closer and closer to him. Their relationship developed at a nice, tender pace. It was no surprise to anyone but Charlie when Walter proposed to her after 2 years of dating. And Charlie, who had once thought she’d never be happy in her life, looked at Walter’s kind eyes, so full of love, and said the loudest “yes!” she had ever said.

“Walter!” Charlie screamed. “Call the nurse! Call the doctors! I think it’s time!”

Poor Walter, was caught between happy and lost. He ran from the room, screaming “Nurse! Doctor! Firemen! Anyone! My wife is having a baby!”

“Oh, Walter!” Charlie shook her head.

The labor was quick and easy, and after only two hours, a baby’s cry filled the room. Charlie, exhausted, smiled at the wonderful sound.

“It’s a boy!” the nurse announced. “A handsome healthy boy!”

The baby was cleaned and quickly examined; then they put him near his mother’s face so she could see him for the first time. In the back of her mind, Charlie remembered a day when she was seeing pictures in a room, and a man looking amused at the picture of a mother and her newborn baby.

“He’ll be named Michael,” she decided, kissing his forehead.