Shadows (part 8/8)
Title: Shadows (Part 8)
Author: angel_1013
Rating: R for language & violence
Characters: Michael POV with others thrown in for flavor.
Summary: This is the third and last installment of my Regret/Pieces series. You should probably read Regret and Pieces first as this won’t make much sense otherwise. Shadows takes us back to Michael’s POV and runs parallel time-wise to Sara’s POV in Pieces. So this basically covers Michael’s time back at Fox River. Crossposted to angelsredshoes
Author's Note: I'm done! Finally! I'm so sorry it took me so long to finish this but I like to think it was my heart's way of saying it didn't want this story to end quite yet. But it's time. The telling of it is done and I'm happy with how it all turned out. Thank you for going along on the ride with me. Your encouragement and feedback has meant the world to me.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
I wasn’t prepared for this. The shock of seeing her in my hallway has me frozen in place. I call her name but she doesn’t turn around.
Her purse drops to the ground and she covers her face with her hands. Her shoulders shake slightly as water drips from her hair and coat onto the hallway floor. Feeling like I’m spying on a private moment, I hesitate in approaching her.
Before I can decide what to do, though, she turns around and wipes at her face in futility with the sleeve of her coat. She looks so vulnerable right at this moment and I struggle with the knowledge that I know why.
“Are you ok?” I ask her when she laughs nervously. Even from this distance I can see the blue tint of her lips and the way she’s trying to keep her teeth from chattering. Since she’s not making a move to come this way, I make my way toward her.
“No, not really. No,” she answers just as I reach her and see that she’s a mess. Her entire body is shivering, her hair is soaking wet and she looks almost ready to bolt at any sudden moves.
I reach down to pick her purse up off the floor and ask, “What happened?” It must have been something serious. I try to see if she’s injured in some way. But if she were, why would she come here? No, I’m lying to myself. Trying to protect myself from what I already know. In case I’m wrong. In case my heart is wrong.
“I ran into your brother,” she says through clenching teeth, not really telling me anything useful to understand what’s going on here. “Nothing happened. Everything happened,” she adds. Not helping.
I start to wonder if she and Lincoln got into an argument. He wouldn’t do that. Would he?
“Actually, Michael, can you wait for an explanation?” she asks, and in that instant I know. I know why she’s here and my heart skips a beat. The look on her face tells me everything I need to know. She’s here for me.
She says something about kissing her, and honestly I don’t get it all because I’m already there. I wrap her up in me to still her shivering and taste her tears and breathe her in. I almost can’t believe she’s here. But then, I don’t want to question it too much.
She’s still shivering so I peel off her coat and pick her up. Carrying her back to my apartment, I feel relieved. She’s here. And it’s about time.
~~~~~
I shield my eyes from the setting sun and take another sip of my beer. It’s not my first sip, and it certainly won’t be my last. About fifty feet in front of me, I see the crashing surf of the Pacific Ocean and seagulls dipping down to catch their dinner. Is there a more perfect place on Earth?
Thinking of dinner, I glance at the clock on the wall behind the bar next to me and think about going back to the room.
“Got somewhere important you need to be?” I hear behind me and turn to Sara with a smirk on her face and two beers in her hand.
“No where but here,” I tell her as she joins me in my hammock. We sway slightly on the deck of our resort, feeling the warm breeze dance in from the ocean.
“So, you never told me. Is this the place?” She dangles her leg over the side and pushes us off with her bare toes. I do the same as I finish off my beer.
“Yep,” I say. I never imagined that when I was trapped in the ceiling of Fox River with her and trying to calm her nerves with a story of cheap beer that I would actually come here with her.
You never know what life will bring you. It’s a struggle for me to accept this every day, but she helps me. I have no regrets anymore. Because it all led me here. And I couldn’t ask for any better place to be.
THE END
Author: angel_1013
Rating: R for language & violence
Characters: Michael POV with others thrown in for flavor.
Summary: This is the third and last installment of my Regret/Pieces series. You should probably read Regret and Pieces first as this won’t make much sense otherwise. Shadows takes us back to Michael’s POV and runs parallel time-wise to Sara’s POV in Pieces. So this basically covers Michael’s time back at Fox River. Crossposted to angelsredshoes
Author's Note: I'm done! Finally! I'm so sorry it took me so long to finish this but I like to think it was my heart's way of saying it didn't want this story to end quite yet. But it's time. The telling of it is done and I'm happy with how it all turned out. Thank you for going along on the ride with me. Your encouragement and feedback has meant the world to me.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
I wasn’t prepared for this. The shock of seeing her in my hallway has me frozen in place. I call her name but she doesn’t turn around.
Her purse drops to the ground and she covers her face with her hands. Her shoulders shake slightly as water drips from her hair and coat onto the hallway floor. Feeling like I’m spying on a private moment, I hesitate in approaching her.
Before I can decide what to do, though, she turns around and wipes at her face in futility with the sleeve of her coat. She looks so vulnerable right at this moment and I struggle with the knowledge that I know why.
“Are you ok?” I ask her when she laughs nervously. Even from this distance I can see the blue tint of her lips and the way she’s trying to keep her teeth from chattering. Since she’s not making a move to come this way, I make my way toward her.
“No, not really. No,” she answers just as I reach her and see that she’s a mess. Her entire body is shivering, her hair is soaking wet and she looks almost ready to bolt at any sudden moves.
I reach down to pick her purse up off the floor and ask, “What happened?” It must have been something serious. I try to see if she’s injured in some way. But if she were, why would she come here? No, I’m lying to myself. Trying to protect myself from what I already know. In case I’m wrong. In case my heart is wrong.
“I ran into your brother,” she says through clenching teeth, not really telling me anything useful to understand what’s going on here. “Nothing happened. Everything happened,” she adds. Not helping.
I start to wonder if she and Lincoln got into an argument. He wouldn’t do that. Would he?
“Actually, Michael, can you wait for an explanation?” she asks, and in that instant I know. I know why she’s here and my heart skips a beat. The look on her face tells me everything I need to know. She’s here for me.
She says something about kissing her, and honestly I don’t get it all because I’m already there. I wrap her up in me to still her shivering and taste her tears and breathe her in. I almost can’t believe she’s here. But then, I don’t want to question it too much.
She’s still shivering so I peel off her coat and pick her up. Carrying her back to my apartment, I feel relieved. She’s here. And it’s about time.
~~~~~
I shield my eyes from the setting sun and take another sip of my beer. It’s not my first sip, and it certainly won’t be my last. About fifty feet in front of me, I see the crashing surf of the Pacific Ocean and seagulls dipping down to catch their dinner. Is there a more perfect place on Earth?
Thinking of dinner, I glance at the clock on the wall behind the bar next to me and think about going back to the room.
“Got somewhere important you need to be?” I hear behind me and turn to Sara with a smirk on her face and two beers in her hand.
“No where but here,” I tell her as she joins me in my hammock. We sway slightly on the deck of our resort, feeling the warm breeze dance in from the ocean.
“So, you never told me. Is this the place?” She dangles her leg over the side and pushes us off with her bare toes. I do the same as I finish off my beer.
“Yep,” I say. I never imagined that when I was trapped in the ceiling of Fox River with her and trying to calm her nerves with a story of cheap beer that I would actually come here with her.
You never know what life will bring you. It’s a struggle for me to accept this every day, but she helps me. I have no regrets anymore. Because it all led me here. And I couldn’t ask for any better place to be.
THE END