First Flower

Where do you wanna go?

Zulema's Pov

Once the helicopter starts flying, I can't help but to get lost on my thoughts about how my future will look like. Am I even worthy of a proper future? I obviously know the answer to that question, but I'm too afraid to admit it. Maca will become a mother in a few months and I can't blame her if she wants me to disappear from her life, because what type of mother would want her child to be near someone as awful as me?

"Zulema, are you okay?" Maca asks me, lightly grabbing my arm.

"What are we going to do now? I mean, I suppose you want as to separate but-"

"What do you mean by "separate"?" She looks at me with an expression of confusion.

"Well, I just thought that you wouldn't want me near your baby, given what happened with... you know.... with the other one."

"Zulema, I hated you for a long time because of that and also everything you did to my family, but I've done you a lot of harm too, and the only thing we can do right now is make our peace with the past and simply move on. Nevertheless, you did kill my baby, so the very least you can do right now is stay with me and help me raise this one." Maca says, with a very genuine smile. I smile back.

I can't believe she trusted me for something that important. I played her words over and over in my head, before coming up with a coherent answer.

"I'll gladly help you. But do keep in mind that I know nothing about babies, so it might take awhile for me to be actually useful."

"Your company is enough for me." Reluctant she takes my hand and squeezes it. I freeze. Demonstrations of affect between us, although are more common now than back in prison, but they still scared me a bit, but at the same time they made me happy.

The times we had sex in the van or even the fact that we had to sleep in the same bed due to the lack of space allowed me to realize that I do crave affect, and to feel desired, and that was something that I never thought I needed. But Maca, she helped me realize that, and having now this opportunity to help her with the child will perhaps show me that that's all I wanted for my entire life.

"Zulema, where do you wanna go?" Ekram, the man driving the helicopter and a long time contact of Hanbal and myself, asks.

"We haven't really decided that, just gets us out of Spain and we'll get back to you in a minute."
He shakes his head in agreement.

"No Zule, we don't want to leave Spain, let's just go to the periphery" Goya says, with a tone of despair.

"You two can stay here if that's what you wish, but the police is looking for us and we have a baby to protect. Things have changed." I give a small, but honest smile to Maca, which she responds with a bigger one.

"Okay then. Mehdi, can you leave Goya and I in La Coruña? We might as well stay in a small place and near the ocean if we ever need to leave." Mehdi, the other man, nods with his head, but affirms that it will take a couple of hours to get there.

"And you blondie, where do you want to go? You can choose anywhere in the world."

"You know what, I've always wanted to go to France. To stay in a nice little cottage with no one around, and just enjoy the sounds of nature." As she talks, I notice her eyes have little sparks, and that for some reason makes me smile.

"If that's what you want then that's what will do. You heard her Ekram? Take us to Normandy, in France after you take the happy couple. I've heard it's beautiful there."

Once we get to La Coruña the helicopter lands on the floor, in a open and empty place, near the sea.

"Well then. I think this is a definite goodbye." Triana says, with teary eyes.

"You look like you're saying goodbye to your childhood friends. We had one heist together. Get over it and stop being dramatic."

"Zulema, don't. We did all share some happy moments, despite how it all went down." Maca says facing the two women.

"We could've had a lot more of those happy moments if someone didn't try to betrays us more than once." Triana talks back, with a tone of disdain in her words.

"Come on girls let's not argue right now. At least the goodbye should be peaceful." Goya says, wrapping her arm around Triana's waist. "Thank you both for everything, and Maca take care of that baby, I'm sure you'll be an amazing mother." Goya hugs Maca.

She then faces me and hugs me as well. I freeze for a bit, but then hug her back.

"Even though you carved a weapon of wood on my stomach, I respect you a lot Zule, and I consider you a friend, take care of you, as well as Maca and the baby". I let go of the hug and absorb her words.

"I feel the same thing, but I'm still really proud of that weapon to be honest. I let out a small giggle.

"I understand, you are a genius"

"Well we should go now before it gets too dark" Triana faces me and Maca and myself and smiles. They both give us a small wave before they start to walk away.

Once again, the helicopter takes flight, and we are on our way to Normandy.