That Next Place

by spockswoman

Opie was so tired, death was his only way out. What if his death wasn't the end? What if there was an after life with his wife waiting for him? Could Opie Winston have his happily every after? Warning: canon typical language that was outside of authors comfort zone but was in line with characters personalities.

2. Chapter 2

Opie slowly came to consciousness, aware of a weight on his chest. "Dammit," he thought, "Last night was a fucking dream and I'm stuck in the damn prison hospital. God I can't even plan my suicide well." Before he could continue berating himself his nose was filled with his wife's scent, vanilla and lavender, as she began drowsily kissing him. He opened his eyes to find Donna on top of him. As he ran his fingers through her hair, his eyes filled with tears as he whispered, "I'm not dreaming am I?"

Donna murmured back, "No, Opie. Let's shower then I'll explain everything." A quick, chaste shower and dressing saw the couple sitting at the table drinking coffee. Opie waited expectantly, as Donna seemed to gather her thoughts. She then began to speak, "I woke up in this cabin right after I was shot in our truck. At first I was confused and terrified as to where I was, like you I thought I was in a coma. However, as I began to explore the area around the cabin I came across Death, the Grim Reaper, whatever you want to call him. He surprisingly looked like Brad Pitt," here Opie laughed and Donna gave him the look…he quickly stopped.

"Anyway," she continued, "by talking with Death I came to discover that I am in some sort of purgatory between physical death and that next place. Is the next place heaven? Hell? Who knows. I also discovered that I could watch you and the kids from here, although I had absolutely zero influence on the decisions you all made, which let me tell you right now mister I was not pleased. A fucking porn star for a wife? Really?" Opie had the decency to look chagrined before his wife continued. "Death said that before we could move on our whole family had to be together before we could continue our journey. So, here we will wait until sometime in the far future, our children join us."

Opie sat back, and just thought for several minutes, weighing his options. If this were true what did he have to lose? He was back with his wife and happy beyond words. If he was in a coma, who cared? He was with Donna.

He leaned forward and grabbed his wife's hand, "Alright, Mrs. Winston lets enjoy the time we have together before the kids ruin everything."