Carlos reluctantly was escorted back to his cell, only having the next week's call to look forward to, and his prospective release in 58 days. The next seven weeks went by a little faster for Carlos, with the end in sight. Four phone calls with Elsa all went reasonably well, although one of them degenerated into another argument about the merits of the ghetto. The three visits also weren't bad. One of them didn't involve any sex at all. Elsa was barely able to move she was having such a bad day, so Carlos took pity on her. A second time, they had a nice encounter, with Elsa riding Carlos to a nice orgasm. The third time (actually the middle, chronologically), though, wasn't all roses. Carlos asked her to spread on the table for him, after which he gave her oral sex and then fucked her. He got a little carried away that time, and called Elsa some hurtful names, which she didn't take very well in her hormonal state, resulting in her leaving in tears.
Brendan, meanwhile, had settled into a routine. Work and socializing. The first week had been spent wallowing at home in his misery after work. Eventually, he realized that he needed to do something. So, he swallowed his pride, and admitted to everyone that he'd broken up with Elsa. He accepted any invitation to anything after that. Bowling league (which he was horrible at), drinks after work, hockey tickets, whatever. None of it drowned out the empty feeling inside him, but it made the time pass quicker that at first. What he wanted time to pass quickly for, he didn't exactly know. He had no idea where his life was going. Once, about a month after the breakup, he thought of calling Elsa after work, but changed his mind after dialing the first few numbers. That was the closest during the two months that he came to contact with the woman who he still thought was his soulmate.
On that long-awaited 58th day, Carlos was finally a free man. He'd served his fifteen year sentence in fourteen months at the Center. All his worldy belongings in a backpack, he had one of his lackeys pick him up and drive him to Elsa's before going anywhere else. He instructed the driver to wait outside, no matter how long he was up there. Looking at the address scrawled on a piece of paper, he entered Elsa's building and went up to her door. Dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a white, casual buttoned shirt, he knocked at the door, anxious to see his eight-month pregnant baby-mama for the first time outside the Center.