Epilogue

"Well, good morning, sleepyhead" Gloria's voice was what Monica first heard in the morning. She blinked several times before she could open her eyes, still feeling weak after so many days in bed.

"G'morning," she mumbled.

"You have a visitor," Robert's voice made her turn and see the man with Mike in his arms.

"Hello, Mike," Monica said now fully awake.

"Hi! Are you feeling better?" the boy asked.

"Yes, honey, thank you," the angel told the boy. "I see your dad went to see you."

"This morning, first hour!" Robert said kissing the boy's cheek. "He's had a good breakfast and, if he behaves, I promised him a cake for tonight. Will you like a piece, Monica?"

"Sure!" the little angel smiled at the image of her assignment with his son in arms.

"Senator Grimsley, you've gotta come!" a nurse got into the room almost shouting. "It's your wife!"

"Oh, no, Father, please!" Monica and Gloria heard Robert praying before he left his son on Monica's bed and ran out of the room with Gloria behind him.

"Mommy!" Mike cried and he tried to follow his father but the little angel stopped him.

"Wait, Mike, I'll go with you," Monica said and slowly she got out of bed and put her robe on.

When Monica and Mike finally arrived to Alice's room, Gloria was standing at the door frame looking at the scene behind her with tears in her eyes. "She woke up!" the young angel informed them. "She's going to be alright!"

"Thanks, Father!" Monica said looking at Mike and at Robert, who was tenderly stroking Alice's hair and kissing her hand.

"When am I going to see my mommy?" Mike asked about two hours later. Gloria had taken the boy and Monica back to the angel's room so Robert could have a time alone with his wife.

"It won't be long, sweetheart," Monica said taking her turn in the game of checkers she was sharing with the boy. "Your mommy will be moved to a normal room soon and your daddy had some things to talk to her."

"He won't leave the house, will he?" the boy asked with sad eyes.

"I don't think so, Mike. Your daddy loves you and your mom a lot!"

At that moment, a knock at the door made them turn. "Come in," Monica said.

"Dad!" Mike exclaimed jumping to his father's neck immediately. "How's mommy?"

"She's sleeping now, big boy, but as soon as she wakes up, we'll go to see her, ok? Now I need a word with your friend here..." Robert said smiling at the curious look in Monica's eyes. "Do you think you'll be able to travel like in five days?"

"Travel? Where?"

"What would you say about Brazzaville?"

The sparkle of happiness in the angel's hazel brown eyes was undeniable: Brazzaville... The Congo... Andrew! "Are you saying that...?"

Robert nodded. "Ten doctors, three full hospital units leaving in three days. We're going two days after 'cause I want to be sure Mike, Alice and you are feeling better. Of course they are not going, but I guess nothing will keep you here..."

Monica smiled and shook her head enthusiastically, her eyes bright with tears. "No, I will go!"

"I knew it," Robert said. "I've already talked to a Sam... something. He said he knew you and Andrew and that nurse that was here... Tess. They are all waiting for you!"

"Robert... how did you get all that? Gloria told me you had had problems..."

"I learned my lesson in the hardest way, Monica. But yesterday, after I talked to you, I called the President directly. It took me a while but he accepted and gave a direct order to the Ministry of Health... I must admit your words made the difference," the man told her.

"My words?" the little angel asked.

"I saw the letter you're writing for Andrew... And that made me remember I have someone to fight so hard for too, two 'someone's' actually," he said kissing his son's cheek. "Andrew is a very lucky guy, Monica. You are a real angel."

Monica blushed at his words, half for the compliment, half for the happiness to know she'd be seeing Andrew soon. "Thank you, Robert."

"Thanks to you!" the man smiled. "I'm leaving now. I have many things to do and you have to get as strong as possible in five days, ok?"

Five days seemed a very short time for Gloria and the remaining medical team that would join the first ten doctors that had already gone to Brazzaville. Once there, they had called Washington to give a full list of what they needed the most so the second team would take all that with them. Nearly a ton of medical supplies was already waiting in the special plane that would take Senator Grimsley and his team to The Congo to personally supervise the operations in the city.

Nevertheless, five days seemed eternal for one little angel that wanted nothing more but to be already in Brazzaville's hospital and see her dearest friend. The news about going to meet Andrew had made Monica to recover quickly, eat better and be able to take longer walks along the hospital. She had gone to visit Alice and the woman had noticed the unmistakable spark of joy in her brown eyes. Finally the day of the departure had come and both Monica and Alice had said good bye, reassuring each other that the nightmare was really coming to an end.

It was late in the night when the noises of a big agitation made Andrew and Jack wake up. Two days before they had known that the so wanted international help had arrived and now apparently some more people had come.

"What's all that?" Jack asked weakly. The man was now having some periods of lucidity mixed with longer ones of hallucinations due to the fever and the constant loss of blood.

Andrew climbed down his bed and walked to the plastic curtain that keep them isolated. As much as he tried, he couldn't see but a slim part of the corridor and he couldn't guess where the voices and the noises came from. "I don't know..." the blond angel muttered standing on his tippy toes to try to see more. "Seems like there are more people coming..."

"What time is it, Andrew?"

"Almost eleven," he replied checking his golden pocket watch.

"If they are new doctors, don't you think they'd wait until tomorrow?" the doctor reasoned.

"Unless..." the angel said, but suddenly a distant voice made his heart jump.

"Over the corner, that way, angel girl..." Tess' voice indicated in the distance.

"Unless...?" Jack asked his friend when he noticed the state of expectation of the angel.

"Andrew!"

"Monica!"

Jack made a superior effort to sit up on his bed and looked at the blond angel with a bittersweet feeling of joy and sadness.

Monica had all but ran to the area where her beloved angel was and tears were now rolling down her pale cheeks, her small hand trying to touch Andrew's over the thick plastic.

Her tears, her small hands, her trembling lips and especially her closeness were a physical ache for the blond angel that had tried to hold her even through the plastic but had found it frustratingly impossible. "Angel..." Andrew murmured tracing Monica's cheek.

The little angel rested her head over the curtain to feel Andrew's warm touch through it. "I'm here..." she repeated once and again. "I love you..."

"Don't cry, baby," he whispered.

"I'm here, Andrew. I came to you..."

"Monica... if I only could hold you..."

It was almost one in the morning when Tess managed to convince her charge to go to the hotel and rest properly after the long trip.

Two days more passed with the same ritual: Monica spending long hours outside the curtain, so close and yet so far from Andrew. Jack observed them almost every time, sometimes seeing Louise and himself sharing that sweet unending chatting of the people in love. Doctors had refused to let Monica in the isolated area and it had broken Andrew's heart to have to refuse to get out and leave Jack alone, but he knew his assignment still needed him there.

Finally, one afternoon, Jack surprised Andrew with his question. "Does God know I was so angry and hurting when I doubted Him, Andrew?"

"Yes, Jack, He did," the blond angel answered coming closer to him.

"He understands your heart just as He understands the heart of all His children..." Monica's voice surprised both the man and the angel.

"You are an angel too!" the doctor whispered seeing her glowing.

"Yes, I am. And I'm here to tell you you've done something great with your life, Jack, you've done what many people wouldn't be willing to do."

"I couldn't help as many people as I wanted. Many died!"

"You helped as may people as you could. And you'll still help them even if you're not in this Earth anymore. Your example will be followed by many not only here but all around the world, and many people will live thanks to that," the little angel said.

"But I couldn't make Louise happy..."

"You did make her happy. She met love with you. She found illusion for her life when even her closer relatives thought she was supposed to die soon because of the diabetes. She saw in you a honest and very devoted man who gladly offered her and every patient his very life. She still loves you and she's waiting for the moment you'll be together again."

"She still loves me?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Oh, yes!" Andrew answered blinking back the tears he had in her eyes after hearing Monica's words. "When two people share a love as yours, death cannot separate them forever. Distance doesn't mean separation... It's just a way to make love grow stronger." He then took Monica's hand and both released a sigh of contentment at the long awaited contact.

"Then I'm ready, Andrew..." Jack murmured and at that moment, the heart monitor that had been attached to him a couple of days ago started to beep frantically.

"Let's go Home, Jack," the blond angel now all dressed in white told his friend offering him a hand. They still turned after a couple of steps and they saw Monica closing the eyes of the man's body and nodding in agreement...

The big full moon seemed bigger than ever before with the mixed shadows of blue and yellow in contrast with the deep black sky of the desert and the dark golden of the sand that seemed to become one with the sky at the end. After seeing Andrew taking Jack to Heaven, Monica had gone to where her heart was calling her: the big Sahara. She was standing at the top of a high dune, the sand feeling still warm under her bare feet, the wind making her hair float over her shoulders like a delicate veil.

Andrew's heart felt full of love at her sight, knowing she was finding renewed energies after the hard, faith-proving assignment they had just finished.

"I dreamed night after night with this moment," she said feeling him coming closer. "It was driving me crazy."

He wasted no time in holding her closer and leaned down to kiss her long. She sighed in relief when he finally allowed her to come for air, her hungry hands seeming not to have enough of running all the length of his back. "You can't possibly know what this has been for me either," the blond angel said kissing every inch of her face. "I need you to live, angel. My heart is empty without you."

"But we were supposed to meet again, Andrew," she murmured against his lips, breathing in his warm breath.

"We are meant to be together forever, baby," he whispered closing his eyes and kissing her again. "Nothing's gonna change that."

THE END