O2 18/18

Epilogue:

Charlie tossed the newspaper article on the sofa next to Don as he watched the ball game.

"Did you see? BCL is for sale. Olivia's selling Brian's company."

Don didn't look up. "Really?" he said, not surprised at all.

"Yeah, the article says she's moving to England with her daughter."

"Yeah," Don replied, not wanting to talk to Charlie about the last time he saw her.

"Don," Charlie began nervously. "There's something I want to tell you. I don't want there to be secrets between us, especially about Olivia."

Don perked up at this. "What sort of secrets about Olivia?"

"Well, it's just that..." Charlie looked nervous and didn't continue.

"Charlie, whatever it is, spit it out."

"Okay, okay," Charlie protested. "It's just that when we were in High School, I... I kissed Olivia before you did. There, I've confessed."

Don couldn't decide whether he was amused or annoyed. "You kissed Olivia before me? What were you like eight?"

"Okay, so I was a lot younger than her but I had a crush on her long before you even noticed she was alive," Charlie defended himself. "We were in AP Chem together and we used to study together in the library. One day... well I'm not even sure how it came to pass but she ended up kissing me."

Don smiled. That was so like O, to be that sweet to little Charlie. He put two and two together. "So that's why you always liked Olivia so much. Not just because she was smart like you but she was your first kiss, am I right?"

Charlie nodded.

"Don... There's more. The morning she left the hospital, she wrote me a note."

Charlie pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and showed it to him.

"I still wonder, after all these years... One more? Just to see?"

Don read the note and didn't look back up at Charlie. "So you kissed her this time."

"Yeah," Charlie admitted, taking the paper back from Don and staring at it again. "And it was every bit as incredible as I thought it would be. But unfortunately some things haven't changed." Charlie stuffed the paper back into his pocket with a sigh. "She's still your O. Not mine."

"My O," Don echoed, letting a wistful tone seep into his voice.

He'd lost her twice now to the U.K. but this time he wasn't going to dwell on it.

Olivia had told him to live and that's what he was going to do.

That and save up his frequent flyer miles. He wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time and let her disappear again.

"My O2," Don smiled.

After all, a man needed oxygen to survive.