Epilogue

(Michael once had a dream that looked very similar to his current reality. Just... not as good. The dream, he means.)

Michael dives from the pontoon of the scuba diving shop, and it's perfect. The trajectory, the way he splits into water with hardly a splash, swims down, down, brushes over the sand and kicks to the surface coming up for air. It's graceful and effortless, a little show he displays every now and then for the customers, and today for Sara, Mike, and Lincoln.

Maybe his obsession with the scuba shop when he was planning to break Lincoln out of Fox River wasn't so random. He loves the water for so many reasons. He's weightless when he moves into the surf, and yes he means this both physically and mentally. His limp becomes irrelevant under there and his many sins are washed away, even if temporarily.

He looks up. Mike is hopping up and down, waiting for the go, the permission to join his father; he's not allowed to jump as long as Michael isn't close enough to catch him if needed.

It's way less graceful and effortless, a lot more belly-flop-y and scream-y when he jumps, and Sara laughs and shakes her head.

Her hand over her eyes to shade them from the sun, she checks on her husband and son. Lincoln is standing next to her in his work suit — aka tee-shirt and baggy colored bathing shorts — his arm casually leaning around her shoulders.

She turns her head to look at him. She's back from volunteering at the orphanage, and her work suit does not involve a bathing suit. She's fully dressed, even though around here it means a light dress and sandals most of the year.

"Don't you dare," she tells Lincoln.

She knows what he's up to. LJ and Sofia at the front desk of the scuba shop know what he's up to. He's not exactly subtle about it.

His arm tighter and heavier around her, Linc shrugs — it's not in his power to make such a decision — and consults with his brother and his nephew. "What do you think, guys?"

Sara rolls her eyes. Like they're going to save her from—

At least, she manages to bring Lincoln down with her.

(It's totally graceless, but Mikey's laugh makes it worth everything.)

o-o-o

It's a matter of faith.

Kellerman has faith that one day, Sara will forgive him and maybe even like him. He's not delusional: after all, the last time they were in the same room, she didn't try to kill or iron him, and she took care of one of his appendages.

Jane's not big on the faith stuff. She knows that she did the right thing, and Sara already forgave her; if Sara was ever actually mad at her in the first place. Hopefully, Lincoln will get there someday too. Fuck every-single-one-else who would judge her.

Sofia's not sure she can have faith they will have a quieter life, now, but she prays. And she keeps Lincoln in line.

LJ has faith that sooner or later, he will manage to complete his master's thesis in oceanography. For now, the master's thesis in oceanography thing seems to impress the very, very pretty (and by pretty, LJ means damn hot) Italian tourist standing in the scuba shop.

Mikey has faith that first thing tomorrow, his daddy is going to help him build the bestest Lego medieval castle ever.

There still are bumps on the roads and more monsters in the closet that one could imagine, but Sara has faith that they're all right anyway. She also has faith that Michael, both the senior and the junior versions, are going to take care of the Lego situation in the living room, like, at dawn first thing tomorrow.

Lincoln has faith; he just has faith because if you don't have it after what he's seen, you're a lost cause. Lincoln has no intention of being a lost cause ever again.

Michael lets Lincoln deal with the account books of the shop (most of the time) and sometimes shows up late at work; it's always because of Sara since it's not like they actually had a honeymoon the first time, and well...

He has faith that things are the way they're supposed to be.

THE END

Bonus: Draft for the initial ending

I wrote the draft for the initial ending when I started writing Story of Faith. It was supposed to be way shorter than it turned out (the whole fic was supposed to be way shorter than it turned out), mostly because the point of the story wasn't — and still is not — to tell how Michael reunited with his family per se, but to tell how he survived Miami Dade and what happened to Sara, Lincoln and Michael Jr. in the meantime. (Reuniting with his family was Michael's goal. Mine was merely to cram the reunion into my story, and to cram my story into the show's canon :-p)
For various reasons, this short ending didn't work anymore when I got mid-story. I wrote something longer, with Michael, Sara and Lincoln actually reuniting "on screen" because even though it wasn't the point of the story... it does make sense to tell about it ;)

A man in cargo pants and white shirt is walking on the beach; limping towards the bungalow. Sara wants to run down the stairs and can't move. She holds onto the door frame with one hand and squeezes Mikey's fingers so hard that the little boy gasps and protests, "Mama, you hurting me."

She apologizes and loosens her grip, then looks up at Lincoln. She would ask her brother-in-law how the hell they're going to do that, but he seems as lost as she is.

It's oddly comforting, his blue eyes going from her face to the man in the cargo pants and white shirt limping towards them; back and forth, back and forth, back...

"How the fuck are we supposed to do that?" Lincoln grumbles. She doesn't even bother protesting about his language in Mikey's presence because, he's right... who the fuck fucking cares?

She opens the door and steps outside, throwing a look and a smile over her shoulder.

"Just have a little faith."

End note: This story was a nightmare for me to write — albeit a nice one, if that makes any sense — so if you finished it and read this little end note, I would reaaaally love to hear about what you thought of it and liked about it (and did not like, although I won't twist your arm to know about that *g*). Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the trip!