Prices to Pay//Michael Langdon

Papa

"Michael, I can't feel anything," I whimper out to him feeling helpless, he lets go if my wrist completely and runs his fingers through my tangled hair.

"I've uh- when you died your powers went away, I've been growing stronger since, I don't think they're going to be long for gone though," He says to me, feeling ashamed of himself.

"Does that mean that-" I say not being able to finish my sentence. As the tears escape my eyes I turn away from Michael, not bearing to look at him.

"I'm so sorry, Nat," I can tell that it's bittersweet for him to regain my powers, he feels so guilty but yet so powerful.  He's confused on whether or not he's happy that I died, and I can't blame him for that. If I hadn't been so selfish and conceded, none of this would ever have happened.

"I shouldn't be here, Michael," I say to him and he sighs out loud. "You have to let me leave this isn't right," I say still not looking at him, I know I wouldn't be able to take the look on his face.

"Yeah, I was afraid you would say that," He says and covers my mouth and nose with a cloth, I choke on the fumes and try to fight Michael off but he is too strong for me. Staring in his eyes, my lids become heavier and heavier.

Some Time Later...

I wake up in an unfamiliar place, it's dark- too dark for my liking. Looking around the room, I notice that I am in a bed in a purple dress and my stomach is gigantic. What the hell?! There's no way I was sleeping for that long, it's impossible. What did he use on me? All of these thoughts are running throughout my mind, I don't even know where I am quite yet. Layna is actually going to be here, and it seems that it's going to be sometime in the very near future based off of the size of my bump. Turning my head to the right of the bed there is a woman staring straight back at me, she is dressed in clothing made for maids. She has a petite figure and a small bun on her head, her cheeks are rosy and her eyes big, she truly is the essence of beauty. There's something special about her. "Mrs. Langdon! You're awake, I cannot tell you how long I've waited for you to come back to us," She says grabbing my hand and placing it in hers. "I was starting to get worried about your little boy," She says rubbing my stomach, a new feeling to me.

"It's a girl," I say smiling and choke a little bit because I haven't spoke in a while, she gives me a puzzled look.

"How do you know? I've been watching you since the very first trimester of your pregnancy, you haven't even gotten an ultrasound," She says and I keep smiling as I touch my huge bump, it's so weird being pregnant.

"Her name is Layna, Michael made her exactly the way I have dreamt of her my entire life," I sigh thinking about Michael, where is he? "Where's Michael?" I ask and she gives me a confused look.

"I'm sorry I don't know who that is," She says and I roll my eyes, these pregnancy hormones are going to make her wish that I was still asleep.

"Michael Langdon:  The love of my life, the father of my child, the freaking antichrist! Where is he?" I say sounding irritated, she looks a little shocked.

"I'm sorry I really have no idea who that is," She says and I sigh calming down, for whatever reason I start crying. Every emotion that I've held onto for God knows how long is coming out and right now the only person who could make me feel better is the one and only Michael Langdon. "Oh, don't cry! It's normal to feel a lot of emotions, I mean you are thirty-seven weeks pregnant," She says brushing my hair out of my face. Thirty-seven weeks? I guess Layna was coming sooner than I thought! "Everybody will be happy to see that you are awake, Mrs. Langdon," She says and it's weird hearing her say that.

"Please call me Natalie," I say getting tired of hearing his name but not seeing his face. "And you are," I pause holding my finger out indicating for her not to speak. Trying to find her name by reading her mind, hoping to find an ounce of power. "Mallory?" I ask and she nods her head looking amazed.

"You must have heard someone say my name while you were sleeping, but it's incredible that you remember. I think that's a good sign you are going to make a speedy recovery," She smiles to me and I smile back at her.

"Oh!" She says and jumps up from her seat. I give her a questioned look and she explains herself, "I must inform Ms. Venable and Ms. Mead at once, they will be so relieved to hear the news!" She says running out of the room. Ms. Mead! What is she doing here? She was supposed to die with the other seven billion people, not be at one of the outposts. Of course, I'm assuming that the apocalypse happened and that I am at one of the outposts.

Looking around the room, I decide it's finally time to get up. First, I push my arms on the bed to sit upright, I place my feet on the ground and let my legs stretch. I'm not an idiot- it would be stupid to immediately start walking. Feeling the blood flow down my body I start to wiggle my toes, I look down and can't even see the upper half of my thighs. I feel a pain in my back and go to rub it, I guess this is what pregnancy consists of. Regaining power in my legs, I try to pick myself up by pushing myself off of the bed. Almost collapsing, Mallory runs into my room and catches me before I fall. I quickly grab onto my stomach feeling my heart race, I start to feel a little bit dizzy. Walking is harder than I thought it would be, maybe I am an idiot. "Glad to see you are awake, Mrs. Langdon!" Ms. Mead says happily and I sit back down on the bed with the assist of Mallory.

"Let's face it Ms. Mead, you've never been happy to see me in a moment of your god damn length of time," I say and slowly push out harsh breaths, walking literally knocked the wind out of me.

"What are you taking about? This is the first time I've seen you in my life," She says looking concerned.

"What life are you talking about? You're a robot," I say rolling my eyes, still desperately trying to catch my breath.

"How would you know that?" Ms. (I'm assuming) Venable says with a stomp of her cane.

"You should have stayed dead, Ms. Mead," I say and she and everyone else in the room gives me a shocked expression. "I can't believe Michael brought you back, I warned him not to," I say, feeling as though I am talking to myself since no one is responding.

"She keeps mentioning Michael, I have no idea who she is talking about," Mallory says looking towards the other two ladies.

"I didn't know pregnancy caused delusional thoughts," Ms. Venable says in a rude tone, I roll my eyes at her.

"Michael is the reason you are here, ladies. I was supposed to be the leader of this outpost, I did most of the work preparing it! Michael killed all of the warlocks, I cleaned all of the mess," I say standing up, this time not falling. Walking towards my sink and mirror I look at myself, I desperately need a shower.

"Warlocks? I'm sorry Mrs. Langdon-" Mallory begins to say but I cut her off.

"My name is Natalie," I say correcting her. "Continue on please,"

"You're not making any sense, who is Michael?" She asks me and I roll my eyes. How many times do I have to explain myself to her?

"She needs to grab onto her bearings, we should leave her so she can shower and clean herself up in time for dinner," Ms. Venable says and I roll my eyes, I've never been so frustrated in my life. They all walk out of the room and I hear their steps trail off in the distance, where is Michael?!