Survival

#7 About soul mates

When Luther and Five explained the situation with Sloane to Lila, she joined them. She didn't want to miss this meeting. Among other things, it came in handy because her car had quit and had to be serviced. She arranged with a mechanic to stop and pick it up on the way back.

On the way, they talked about all the news from the last few days, it was mostly Lila and Luther talking, Five rather listened to them and took turns driving.

It was already around midnight, Lila was driving, Luther was in the passenger seat and Five was in the back. His eyes were closed, but he wasn't asleep.

Lila watched him in the rearview mirror for a few moments and then looked at Luther, who hadn't said a word in a while, staring absently ahead, his good mood gone.

"You okay?"

Luther looked at her and it was obvious he was definitely not and shook his head as well. "I'm... I'm scared."

"That we won't find her?"

"That we'll find her."

"Why?"

"I'm scared that she won't remember me... that it might not even be her and I really have lost her forever. But also that... she'll remember me and she'll be... she'll be somewhere else, you know? Six years is a long time. A lot could have changed."

Lila nodded her head, she knew what he meant. Of course, more than enough had changed for her, too. Seven years had turned her life upside down, but the years before that had changed a lot of things too.

"You're proof of that yourself. When you and Diego..." he didn't even finish.

"Luther... me and Diego are a completely different case than you and Sloane."

"In what way?"

Five didn't move, didn't open his eyes, but he felt considerable unease about this topic.

"Well, probably in everything."

There was silence for a moment, Lila hesitating to add anything, and finally she continued.

"Everyone thinks I've changed just because of getting lost on the subway, but that's not the case... of course it plays a huge part, but it wasn't what didn't change what was between Diego and me. It had happened a long time before that, slowly... gradually... but long before that, we'd gone our separate ways and only met in between. And as time went on, those paths got further and further apart..."

She looked in the rearview mirror and met Five's gaze.

"Tell me, why exactly do you want to find Sloane?" She asked Luther.

"Why do I want to find her?" The question took him by surprise.

"Yes."

"Because I love her."

"And why do you love her?"

"Because she's unique... everything makes sense with her... she's like my... soul mate."

Lila smiled at that answer, "and that's exactly what's different about you... if you asked Diego that, he'd tell you that I'm his wife and the mother of his children... that should be the end result, not the only thing you have in common... he'd never refer to me as his soulmate. He probably wouldn't find any other reason why he still wants me..."

"But Diego... loves you..." he said carefully.

"Yeah, I know... in a way... but he'd rather I was someone else entirely."

"What do you mean?"

Lila shook her head, "well... it doesn't matter now... what I meant to say is that you two have a much deeper relationship than Diego and I ever had. If I hadn't been pregnant then, things probably would have ended between us a long time ago..."