Alfred collapsed into his bed, clutching the photo to his chest with a hand while his other hand grasped the other side of the bed, in the sheets that Caroline would never touch, as he finally let go of his emotions, to grieve on his own without worrying that the staff would overhear, and his family knew that he needed it, uneasily falling asleep.
Alfred woke up fairly early before he left the bedroom to find that Martha was already waiting for him; having taken care of much of the travel details several hours before. She argued she didn't truly need much sleep at the moment and rather could do it on the flight down south. Alfred nodded and gave his thanks as he went to get himself cleaned up and ready along with the rest of the family.
They took a cab since it didn't make sense to drive the limo and leave it at the airport, to get a fee or something for having it there to be stolen, and they made it to the airport, flawlessly using a private plane, to head down south to Louisiana.
Bruce and Poppy kept themselves distracted with card games or breakfast as Alfred made a phone call with the plane phone to the hospital to warn them of their arrival within a few hours while Martha slept in another section of the plane.
With the time difference, it was becoming dawn as the plane touched in the small airport of Eunice, and they got off, taking a rental car to the hospital after asking a resident for directions to the hospital.
They saw a funeral home on the way, and as soon as Alfred parked in the lot besides the hospital, he was so still. Martha rubbed his back, "Alfred?", and he whispered, "Master Bruce?".
"Yeah?", Bruce spoke gently, and Alfred whispered, "C-can you keep Miss Poppy with you and drive to the funeral home, to see about the coffins?...I..I can't have you two down there...It's not...just her...", knowing that the hospital morgue isn't exactly cheerful, and he knew there are other families to claim their deceased loved ones by identifying and all...
"I know. I can handle all that for you.", Bruce nodded as Alfred gave a small smile. "Thank you, sir... you truly are your father these days...", Alfred said.
Bruce gave a small smile back at him, "Not all of me, though. I got part of Mom, and I'm myself too...", and Alfred gave a small chuckle before turning to Martha, taking a deep breath, "I know I'm probably asking a lot of you, but...", clutching his numb hands on the wheel.
Martha rubbed his back some more, "Nonsense, Alfred. Poppy might not be here today if not for her and Waylon...Caroline was one of my best friends, something I would never take for granted...Don't think you're asking much...I'll accompany you, I know this is one of the hardest things you'll do...I'll give you a moment, but we can't afford to stay here forever...She's waiting...", carefully turning off the ignition of the keys, and took them to Bruce across the seat back behind her before opening her door, and closing it, holding her purse close as she waited patiently with a sad, small smile.
Poppy whispered softly, "We promise we will find her perfect coffin, Alfred...One of us will call Mom when we find it...", trying to cheer up Alfred a bit with a sweet thought.
"Thank you.", Alfred nodded as he took a deep breath before getting out, and he watched Bruce moving to the front seat, get it adjusted and started it back up before they would drive away, leaving Alfred and Martha. "You need some time?", Martha asked him. "We can stand here for as long as you need to before we head inside.".
Alfred exhaled deeply, "Not in the parking lot itself, but the sidewalk would be safer...", trudging his legs, feeling like he's walking in the deepest mud as Martha kept an eye on him, watching for any other cars as they walked to the sidewalk, in the shadow of the hospital.
"She...she didn't deserve to be in a place like this when it's a place of healing...I...I wish we recovered her faster than a plane trip and all...It was a miracle that we managed to get...get Master Thomas home within a few hours of...", Alfred spoke quietly.
Martha sighed, "Money sure made it faster with the pull and cleaning of the bullet in Thomas' situation...but yeah, it isn't fair as I thought she would...want to die at home, but perhaps Waylon got past her stubbornness and hoped that the doctors would...they didn't just know how far she...she was...", as Alfred managed to explain everything what the doctor said on the first call while in the private plane.
They stood there for a few minutes before Alfred mustered up the courage to start walking towards the doors. Martha kept close, making sure to wrap her arm around his as a bit of a crutch. They walked inside before Alfred quickly explained that he was there to see to Caroline.
A few quick internal calls before one of the nurses came by. "This way... we have her in the morgue.", the nurse explained. "Have you already made arrangements?", she asked.
"Not yet; they're happening at this moment.", Alfred told her. "It shouldn't be much longer...", he whispered as she nodded.
"Of course. I'm... I'm truly sorry we couldn't reach you sooner; it was mostly out of our hands at that point. All we could do was try to ease her pain in her last hours.", the nurse said.
Alfred gave a small nod, "I know...Dr. Samuel Einburg told me...I really am glad you eased her pain...She didn't deserve to be in pain in her last hours...My sister here made the travel arrangements for us to get to Eunice as I...I didn't have the energy...".
"Understandable, sir...She was brave, I can tell you, and the look of love when she had your face's photo in her wallet was apparent when she was having blood samples and such for us to check the situation.", the nurse said.
Martha spoke quietly, "Did you find out what was it?", and the nurse exhaled, "West Nile Virus. We had quite a few cases of it recently, and I suppose she caught it while she was shopping in town or something after a rainstorm...".
Alfred spoke, "She lived outside town quite some ways, with the river not far off...Could that have been a part of it too?", and the nurse nodded, "Mosquitoes multiply a lot during the summers...Of course, she might have forgotten to put up citronella candles or such to ward off those mosquitoes this time...".
Alfred narrowed his eyes, "She never forgets, ever! Or she did never forget anything...", with a sob, and Martha rubbed his back, looking at the nurse, "Please consider your words...".
"I'm sorry...Dr. Einburg had told me that you didn't know she was very sick...Does that mean she didn't tell you that...that she had a miscarriage too?", the nurse looked ashamed and confused. Alfred suddenly felt like he was shot as the nurse realized her mistake, "Oh... I'm... I'm so sorry... I thought...".
"We were unaware.", Martha said as Alfred just let the dam burst and was now crying so hard. "How long was she?", Martha asked. "We're fairly confident it was just after the first trimester, perhaps almost 4 months.", the nurse spoke.
Alfred closed his eyes in angst as he realized that it was Spring Break, the last time they saw each other...Caroline must have purely forgotten to keep into birth control, especially since she was focused on comforting Alfred through the remembrance anniversary of Thomas' death.
"W-when?", Alfred barely choked out, and the nurse replied, "From the barely found traces, it must have happened last month, probably during the transition of the first stage to the second stage of the virus as it must have been too much on the young fetus...Caroline certainly must have been determined like she really tried to keep the fetus healthy and all from the traces of development, but...it wasn't enough...", with a small sigh.
Alfred put his hands to his face once more and continued to sob as Martha continued to rub his back and comfort him. "I do apologize...", the nurse confessed as Martha gave her a sympathetic look.
"We understand, nurse, I guess the doctor left out that information on purpose as not to already... well, it was already a terrible blow of news, he probably didn't want to make it any worse.", Martha said.
"Ma'am, would you like to see her to confirm for us?", the nurse then asked. "If it's already too much to take for Mister...?" Alfred shook his head, "No! I...I need to see her too...I need to know...", and Martha replied, "We're going in together, nurse...Caroline was family to us.".
The nurse nodded gently, "Of course...Here we are, the private elevator which is one of two, the other one is on the other side of the building in the other part of the hospital reserved for children and maternity...", pulling out a key, unlocking the elevator, "Considering the curious kids sometimes in this part of the hospital and all, it's better to have it secured and forbidden from those curious kids and the occasional event during a hurricane or such if someone is a grave robber...After all, we can't let the grieving families down if something happens, so hence the security.".
The nurse walked in, with Martha keeping a hold on Alfred as they followed her in, and the nurse locked the key as she pushed the only button, and they headed down to the morgue.
After a long minute that seemed forever, the elevator dinged and stopped on the morgue floor, and the nurse double locked the elevator before leading the way, and then stopped before the doors, "Give me a moment to check that she's on the table as sometimes the mortician is checking things over, okay?", with a sympathetic look.
Alfred gave a small nod. It was a few moments before the nurse returned, "Alright, you can come in...". The trio then walked into the cold room as the mortician stood out of the way before Alfred's eyes practically locked onto Caroline's body. She was obviously covered from the neck down, but her face was unmistakable even though it looked so much different than since he last saw her.
She looked more tired, thinner, and her hair was limp, yet despite all, she had a peaceful look with a tiny almost unnoticeable smile.
He choked out, "It's her...", as his shaking hands clenched into the edge of the table, "Caroline...", whispering with tears as his heart broke, realizing that her voice would never be heard again, her eyes never opening again here on Earth.
Martha spoke softly, "She's our Caroline Jones, alright...Do...do you have her clothes mended and washed? ", tears falling as her heart lurched and ached for Alfred while grieving for Caroline, feeling like things are repeating again.
"Yes, we took care of those if you're wishing to bury her with them.", the nurse nodded as Martha gave one of her own, "Please... bring them and put them back on her, we should have the burial details ready soon.".
The nurse replied, "Of course...If you would please wait outside the doors on the bench while I go get them.", and Martha nodded, "Yes, of course...Alfred?".
Alfred exhaled shakily, and whispered, "Do you have her note too?", and the nurse replied, "We made sure to have all her belongings including the note in one of the morgue lockers. I will bring the rest to you while I and my comrade see to put her clothes back on, okay, Mister?".
"Pennyworth...Alfred Pennyworth...", Alfred replied before taking a deep breath and reached shakily to touch her temple tenderly, "You have been in good hands, Caroline...Home is waiting...We will bring you home, my dear...", leaning down to ghost a kiss gently on her temple as tears fell, and then took a deep breath again, and then nodded as he turned around, almost leaning into Martha's arms as she guided him outside to the bench a little way from the doors.
"Alfred...", Martha whispered when they finally sat back down. "I'm so sorry...", she sniffled as well; obviously giving her deepest condolences on the other tragic news they had gotten. "Why... why did this have to happen?", Alfred sobbed.
Martha spoke softly, "I...I wish I knew...but you heard the nurse...She clearly tried so hard to keep...the baby healthy and safe...", and Alfred choked out, "She should have told me...God, she once told me that she wanted to have a daughter, you know, to teach how to cook like her and all, and I occasionally thought we'd adopt a girl, you know, without risking complications of Caroline's age and such, but she proved to be strong, proving me wrong, that maybe it'd be a miracle to have one from ourselves...until now...A damn tiny mosquito with a horrible virus disease...", still crying.
"Waylon didn't know...I mean, if he knew that he had a sibling, and seeing his mother grieve with the loss, he would've called you...", Martha frowned, and Alfred blinked, "You mean...she might have...", horrified to realize the thought that Caroline might've miscarried alone while Waylon was out hunting or something.
Martha shrugged, about to say something when the doors opened with the nurse carrying a bag, gently offering it, "All of her belongings including her note, Mr. Pennyworth...We're halfway done in dressing her.", with a small nod.
"T-Thank you...", Alfred whispered as he took it with most reverence as the nurse left, heading back through the doors, and Alfred took a deep breath before opening the bag, seeing Caroline's wallet, a few humble pieces of jewelry, and the note, and he pulled out the note, opening it and reading it, with Martha looking over his shoulder.
"What's that?", Martha asked. "It's a note... it's from her... the handwriting, it's almost hard to read at times, she must have written it in the last few days... and I think she may have got the nurses to write the last part.", Alfred explained as he tried reading it aloud.
'This note is for Alfred Pennyworth. First, I want to write, saying to you, Alfred... that I am so very sorry. I'm sure now it's probably too late for me, I've been feeling awfully horrible since June. Feels much longer than that...
It hurts so much...even more after...I realized that I should have asked for your help earlier...I regret my habit of being so stubborn...I really thought I'd beat it...then something happened last month...God, I don't know if the doctors would have found out with their fancy lab tech and all...I tried so hard...I am confusing you, I know...There's...there's a letter for you at home...when I wrote last month...maybe the writing would be clearer then, even with my tears...but please don't be mad at me...I love you so much, Alfred...
Doctors, please call Alfred, here's his number...It's Wayne Manor, in New Jersey..,It might be a bit hard to connect via landline and such, but please try...I can't believe I am desperate, but I just want to be at least eased away from the pain...something, anything...
Waylon, I can't hold on much longer...I never thought this would happen...Please believe that I love you so much and that you were the most wonderful joy of my life before Alfred came into the picture along with his family...I keep thinking of all those content, beautiful days with all of us...I know you hate secrets from me, but I didn't want to see your heart breaking more when you find out...There's a letter for you too at home, but don't open Alfred's letter as that's private...This isn't goodbye forever, son...Alfred, please be there for my son...And to Martha, Bruce, and Poppy, thank you for being part of my world all those few years through they felt like longer...At least I can meet Thomas, and I can't wait to hear his stories...And I pray...I pray that they are there too, yet I couldn't blame them if they wanted a start again somewhere else on Earth... Love, Caroline Jones.'
Alfred sobbed once more as he finished reading, crumpling the note a bit in his hands as he let loose another round of sorrow as Martha was tearing up and rubbing his back, trying her best to comfort him.
"Do... do you think maybe... what happened that night with Thomas...?", Alfred whispered. "I don't know... at least saying goodbye properly did help that time after he died... but... I don't know.", Martha admitted.
Alfred sighed heavily, "At least she died in peace...Not that I am not intuiting that Thomas had something worse because he didn't...It was instant for him too...", and Martha replied, "I'm not upset, Alfred...I think Thomas would understand...especially when I was so frighteningly close to death too in the same situation...through it was a different disease, of course, but to know it was somewhat worse for her...with losing the baby...I couldn't truly imagine...".
Alfred gave a small nod as Martha's cellphone rang almost loud in the quiet hallway, and Martha pulled it out of her purse, opening it to see that Bruce is calling her, accepting it as Bruce's voice replied, "Mom?".