Legacy

Back Then...(Chapter 14)

The medical appointments continued as usual. Sam and Michelle said nothing of their pregnancy, and Raul scanned the minds of the facility workers to make sure no one was the wiser. They all did their best to wait out the week with their usual cheerfulness, and to treat Michael with the same enthusiasm they'd always treated him. Michael, on the other hand, had been withdrawn. His eyes were sunken in, and he didn't touch his lab, which was lucky, considering Oliver had pretty much destroyed all the notes, the hidden notes, the hard drives, and the serums. All that was left in the tubes was saline. By Wednesday, Clara approached Michael and asked him what was wrong; she had to maintain normalcy, and normally, she was the closest one to him.

"Michael?"

He was sitting on a bench, overlooking the garden between the labs and the condominium. He didn't respond, and she touched his shoulder; he flinched in surprise, then looked at her and gave a small smile.

"I'm... sorry, Clara. I'm so out of it. I... Oliver... well, I moved out to my old apartment this past weekend."

Clara did her best to sound concerned. "Oh, Michael, I'm so sorry. Was it bad? Is there no chance of—"

"He made his bed." He interrupted. He then shook his head and smiled at her. "I'd never take him back. He made a fool of me, in more ways than one and he won't get to try to make up for it."

"As long as you're happy, Michael, whatever he does doesn't matter."

Michael pursed his brow, then nodded. "You're right. Whatever he does doesn't matter. I have you. All of you. You're all that matter." He hugged Clara. "Thank you so much for being you, Clara. All of you are the best miracle in this world."

Clara smiled what she hoped was an encouraging smile, thanking the gods he got up at that moment to do whatever else. We matter, as long as we remain as your lab rats so you can replicate whatever the fuck you did to us. And of course, after we've outlived our usefulness, you will throw us away. Fucking bastard.

"Be careful what you think, honey." Sam walked from behind her and sat by her. She put her arm on Clara's shoulder. "You'll be fine; we'll be fine. Just a little longer."

Clara looked in the direction of the ocean. Between here and there was a lot of vegetation that would shelter them, but also a lot of nature that could hurt them. Not worse than if Michael found out, though.

"Yeah," she said. "Just a little longer."