REPOST!
A tragedy-like one-shot that's sad but sweet.
As for this oneshot, I'm using my original character, Leigha Jayde Sullivan.
Check out this song! I kind of lengthened the song further to keep going with the story, but other than that, I kept with the same exact time as the song itself.
Title: Will You Stay for All Time
Summary: He promised that he would always stay for her. Would always be there. Whether or not she wanted him to.
Genre: Drama/Angst/Tragedy
Rating: T
Characters: Tim "Sully" Sullivan, Seeley Booth, Angela Montenegro, Jack Hodgins, Zach Addy, Sam Cullen, Dr. Wyatt, and Temperance "Bones" Brennan
OC Characters: Leigha Jayde Sullivan
Characters Mentioned: Camille "Cam" Saroyan
Notes: Leigha's name is pronounced "Leah" and her nickname is "Sulli" with an "i".
Song: I Will Love You
Artist:
'Til my body is dust
Til my soul is no more
I will love you, love you'
Leigha was three when Cam died.
As much as Tim Sullivan hated to say it, he was thankful that she hadn't been in the same car wreck. He was thankful that his baby girl was alive. Then the guilt of saying that would leave. Because he knew that Cam would want him to be glad that their daughter was alive.
The day of the funeral was heavy. It was raining, which fit the agent's mood perfectly. He stared at Cam's casket with blank eyes, holding Leigha on his right arm. He didn't want to bring her, but Temperance Brennan had made a forceful point. If Leigha was to understand further about his job and what he did along with the others his daughter grew up around, she needed to start here. At her mother's funeral.
Sully had disagreed.
Yet here Leigha was, following her father's stare. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore a cute, small black dress. Her brown eyes, which were identical to her father's, darted from the elaborate wooden compartment that held her dead mother's body to her father.
Sully was unswayed throughout the whole ceremony, not allowing himself to break in front of his little girl. He didn't want to stir up confusion for her.
"Daddy," Leigha took her hand and put it under Sully's chin, turning his head to her. "Daddy, don't cry."
Sully forced a smile and wiped aside her bangs. "I'm not going to, Darling."
"Be happy for Mommy. Like yous tolds me. She in Heaven now. 'Member?" Leigha smiled at the thought of it and Sully just couldn't pass it.
"Yeah, Leigha. Mommy's in Heaven. And you know what?" He kissed her cheek. "She's an angel now. Looking down and protecting her Littlest Angel."
"Me?"
"Yes you," Sully put his nose to hers. "Mommy will protect you forever."
Leigha nodded. "And you will, too."
Sully nodded as well and hugged her. "Yeah...I will, too."
Later that same night, Leigha had crawled into Sully's bed having had a nightmare. She laid on the empty space that used to be her mother and let the tears run. She had been a brave girl when they buried her mommy but now, she was going to let it out. She was three. She didn't necessarily understand everything. Even though she was the smartest three-year-old anybody had ever seen.
A small sob escaped her lips without meaning to and Sully stirred, turning over.
"Leigha?"
Leigha looked in his direction, not bothering to dry her eyes. She didn't need to. He'd already heard her. She swallowed hard.
"Honey," Sully sat up and scooped her up in his lap, "what's wrong?"
Leigha shook her head, a sign that told him she didn't want to talk about it at the moment and buried her face in his shirt, hugging him. Sully's heart sank. He knew this was about Cam.
"Darling, is this about Mommy?"
Leigha didn't nod, but her shoulders shook and the agent knew that she was crying.
Sighing, he got out of bed carrying her. "Alright, come here," he walked through the living room and to the back where the spare room was set up as his mini-office. He sat in the desk chair, a framed picture of Cam staring at him on one end and a framed picture of the three of them on the other.
Leigha settled herself on her dad's lap, wiping her eyes. She fit perfectly in the crook of his left arm and she smiled somewhat when she saw Cam's picture.
"Alright, Darling, want to talk to me?" Sully looked down at her.
Leigha reached over the desk and gently toko the picture of the three of them. "Mommy was happy, wasn't she, Daddy?"
Sully smiled. "Yeah, she was."
"Is she really an angel now?"
"Of course," Sully smiled and held the photo in his hands in front of her. "She's your angel."
"She's yours, too," Leigha looked up at him. Her face was almost a spitting image of Cam's, but his eyes and nose were just so purely his. Her hair was that smooth, straight black that Cam had and she had the gusto of the both of them. Her smarts, though, were Cam's. Without a doubt.
Sully smiled and kissed her nose, making her giggle slightly. "She sure is, Sulli Girl."
Leigha was eight when she started going to the Jeffersonian to help out with the team and Sully.
She was street-smart, a growing tomboy, becoming more and more like her father with each day with her mother's smarts and bossy disposition, and not a day went by when she didn't forget about her mother.
She was everywhere. Everywhere in the Jeffersonian. Her memories, her life, everything she was was in that building. And Leigha could feel it. She even acquired Cam's office and used it for herself.
Though not smart in the ways of the body and bone measures, she was very intelligent in the ways of justice, homicide investigations and everything her father was in. She was to recieve training from both Sully and Booth when she turned ten and would recieve her gun liscence by the time she was sixteen.
Not a day went by when Sully didn't have his eye on her. When he made sure that she didn't do anything to harm herself or anything. Brennan would say he was being overprotective. Booth would say that he was doing just as much as he would with Parker. Sully would say that he was being a father. Leigha would try to force the issue that long ago, he was believing that Cam was her guardian angel and that was all the protection she needed. Brennan and Booth would state how mature she was.
"Yeah," Sully would always tell them. "She certainly has her mother's personality."
"She would be proud," Brennan would tell him. "You've done so well with her."
"Better than I could have ever dared to dream with Parker if Rebecca wasn't around," Booth always told him.
Sully would smirk. "Isn't she already not around?"
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah...but at least you have her to watch your son grow up. Cam won't get the chance to see that."
It was always at night that Sully would go into Leigha's room before bed. They would talk for hours or just be in silence. Leigha always enjoyed his company. When she needed comfort, he would give it. When he needed comfort, she would give it. When the situation presented itself, they would hug each other and cry. Other times, they would fight and not talk for the rest of the night, only to get up the next morning and apologize.
It was on one particular rainy, stormy night that two of those mixed. And it came as a surprise for both of them, yet they knew that Cam was there.
Leigha poked her fork into the chicken, sitting at the table across from Sully. He noted this and watched her.
"You okay, Darling?"
"Yeah," she took a bite and continued then to poke around her plate. "Just not very hungry."
Sully sighed. "I know I've been smothering you, Leigha."
Leigha rolled her eyes and snorted.
"Understand why before you make a criticism about it," Sully said sternly, but gently.
"Shoot."
Sully gave her a look, then shook his head. "I just don't want the same thing to happen to you."
"It won't. Why don't you get that?"
"You never know, Leigha. Do you think your mother knew that she was going to get into that accident? I don't think so and I beg to differ."
Leigha huffed. "Look, I play basketball, I'm on a team, I'm healthy, I help you guys with your cases, what more could you want? I'm only eight, Dad!"
"That may be so, Leigha, but you don't know everything. Even I don't know everything. That's why I watch you. That's why I won't register you a gun until you're sixteen," Sully forced.
Leigha dropped her fork on her plate. "That's it," she said in a tone that painfully reminded Sully of Cam, "I can't even have a civilized conversation with you anymore and quite frankly, that's sad. I'm only eight and I'm already fighting with my dad."
"Leigha--"
"No, I'm done! I can't take the stress anymore! I'm only eight! Mom died, I get it. I was there! You don't have to go on about it every single day!" She got up, shoved her chair back and stormed out of the kitchen.
"Leigha Jayde," Sully got up and followed her. "Leigha, listen to me."
Turning around, she looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I thought you knew me, Daddy. I thought you--you understood where I'm coming from. But when I'm older, a teenager, and you don't see me around, you'll probably wish this fight never happened." She turned back around and stalked up the stairs, slamming her door when she reached her room.
Sully sighed, closed his eyes and followed his daughter's suite, going into his office and slamming the door. Once inside he let his frustrated tears out and sat at his desk. He looked at Cam's picture and sighed.
"What am I doing, Cammie? I don't even know who Leigha is anymore. I'm not doing my job right I know it. She's right...when she's a teenager, it's just going to get worse."
'Til the sun starts to cry
And the moon turns to rust
I will love you, love you'
At eleven that same night, Sully walked up the stairs to Leigha's bedroom door. He took a heavy breath and opened it slowly, walking in.
His daughter was sleeping soundly, the light on her side table by her bed on. He grabbed a nearby chair and rounded the bed. He sat on the right side of her bed so he could see her face and sat in the chair backwards. Smiling, he gently stroked her cheek. He hated fighting with her. She had been right, she was only eight. She shouldn't have to deal with this. Not all of it at least.
"Oh, Leigha. Daddy's sorry. I didn't mean for all this to happen." He stroked her hair and smiled. "You were right. You are only eight. I shouldn't expect so much from you."
Leigha stirred and opened her eyes. "Daddy?"
"Hey," Sully kissed her forehead. "Sorry about waking you up."
Rubbing her eyes, Leigha stretched and yawned, laying on her back. "It's okay."
Silence followed and Sully swallowed. "Darling, I'm sorry. You were right. You shouldn't have to put up with all of this. You are only eight. Daddy shouldn't expect so much from you."
Leigha sat up. "It's okay. I was mad. I was just thinking about Mommy and--I'm sorry, too."
Sully nodded. "Hey, listen. You go to school, come to the Jeffersonian when you feel like you want to and I'll still help you train and stuff if you want."
Leigha nodded. "I like that."
Smiling, Sully hugged her tightly. She hugged back much to his surprise. "I love you, Lei," he kissed the side of her head. "I love you so much."
"I know," she smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. "I love you, too, Dad."
Sully sighed and swallowed the tears down.
"Daddy?"
"Hmm?"
"Can I ask you something?" Leigha pulled back and looked at him.
"Anything, Darling," Sully put his forehead to hers.
Leigha cocked her head to one side. "You won't leave me, will you?"
Shocked by the question and slightly confused, Sully tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "What do you mean, Leigha? I don't exactly get it."
"Like...not like Mommy, but...I need to know if you will stay with me. Forever and a day at a time."
Sully smiled and laughed at her logic. For an eight-year-old, she had the intelligence of a teenager already. He shook his head and held her hands in his. "Leigha, I want you to know something."
"I'm listening."
"I will stay with you forever. For as long as you need me and even when you don't need me. When you grow up to be a beautiful young lady, you and I may not be as close as we are now, but I want you to rpomise me that if you ever need anything...anything at all...that you can come talk to me. And I will listen. No matter how bad, silly, or outrageous. Okay?"
Leigha nodded. "I'll always be close to you, Dad."
"You say that now, but you'll be caught up in your own businesses and want to have time away from me. There will be things that you won't want to talk to me about. That's why I told you that if you ever needed to talk about anything that I would listen," Sully said.
"I will."
"Promise?"
Leigha looked down at their joined hands and then back up. "I promise, Dad."
Sully smiled. "That's my Sulli Girl."
"Always, Daddy," Leigha grinned and hugged his neck tightly.
Planting a raspberry kiss on her cheek, Sully stood up and swung her around, making her squeal in laughter all the while. This was how it should have been.
Only...Cam was supposed to be there.
Laughing, Sully crash landed her back down in bed and kissed her forehead, covering her up.
"Night, Darling. I'll see you in the morning."
Leigha nodded. "Night Daddy."
"Night," Sully turned off her light and went to close the door before she turned to him again.
"Dad?"
"Hmmn?"
"Do you think that we didn't fight as bad this time and wait until morning because Mommy didn't want us to?"
Sully thought, then nodded with a smile. "Yeah. I do."
"And you promise me that you'll always stay with me?"
"Yes, Leigha. I promise. 'Night now."
Leigha nodded. "'Night."
Sully closed the door and stood in the hallway with his hand on the doorknob for the longest time, thinking about everything that had just happened.
He would always be there.
And now she knew it.
'But I need to know
Will you stay for all time
Forever and a day
Then I'll give you my heart
'Til the end of all time
Forever and a day
And I need to know
Will you stay for all time
Forever and a day
Then I'll give you my heart
Til the end of all time
Forever and a day'
Leigha was twelve when she won her first basketball game.
Tim Sullivan had never felt pride like he had that day when she turned to him in the stands and grinned with the intensity of a thousand games won already. She had waved, so happy and he swore that he saw her thanking Cam.
It was on the way home that they talked without arguing for once.
"I still can't believe it," Leigha grinned, readjusting her ponytail.
"Yeah look at you, Miss All Star now, huh?" Sully grinned.
"Actually everybody calls me 'Agent All Star'," Leigha smiled.
"Speaking of which," Sully pulled something small and black out of his pocket. "This is for you. I had Booth get it today."
Leigha took it from his hand. It was small, light and looked like a wallet. "What is this?" She grinned at him.
"Open it, Lei, come on now."
Leigha grinned and opened it, revealing her photo. Actually more than that, it was her own FBI identification card. "Oh my God. You didn't!"
"Sure I did."
"Wow," she breathed. "Booth did this?"
"This morning. I told him you had a big game today."
"But you didn't know I was going to win," Leigha looked at him with slight confusion.
Sully smiled at her. "Sure I did. You're a Sullivan. And more than that, you have the guts of your mother."
"Mom," Leigha smiled somewhat sadly. "I thanked her for the win. I couldn't have done it without her." She fingered her ID. "Thanks, Dad."
Sully smiled and leaned her head over towards him, kissing her head. "Anything for my Sulli Girl."
Leigha smiled, then paused. "Dad remember when I was eight and you came into my room and told me that I could tell you anything at all?"
"Sure," Sully looked at her and made a right. "Why? What's up?"
Taking a big breath, Leigha sighed deeply. "I think--I think I might be a tad bit..." she paused, "...depressed."
Sully looked at her in almost shock. "Are you sure?"
"I'm not completely sure, but you said that I could talk to you about anything and if I had something to talk about to tell you and that it didn't matter how silly, or serious..." she started to count off on her fingers.
"Woah, woah, Leigha, slow down," he took her hand. "Slow down."
Leigha sighed. "Sorry I just got nervous."
"Now...about this...do you think it has to do with your mother dying? I mean you looked so happy today."
"I know...but I do it to cover up. Dad...I have no friends in school."
Sully looked at her. "I find that hard to believe. You're a very likable person. You're the best on the basketball team and that--that nickname..."
"Dad I lied, okay?" Leigha started to tear up. "I have no friends, I'm harrassed in school, I'm the only girl in my class without a mother and the basketball team is the only way I get noticed!"
Sighing, Sully pulled over and killed the engine. "If you're sure about this, I can take you to someone who can help."
Leigha nodded. "I am, Dad. I really am."
"Okay," Sully smiled and kissed her forehead. "I believe you."
Leigha sighed. "Really?"
"I'm your dad. Anything you think is wrong, I'll go behind you all the way. I told you that when you were eight and you understood that."
"This is different."
Sully lifted her head. "No it's not," he smiled and hugged her, allowing her to cry in his shoulder. "It's not different at all."
'Til the storms fill my eyes
And we touch the last time
I will love you, love you'
Leigha was sixteen when she got her gun with full license.
After several counseling sessions with Booth's therapist, Dr. Wyatt and help with medication, Sully had saw improvement in Leigha's attitude and moods. She'd had bumps along the way with cutting herself, but he'd been there. Just like he said he would.
Now she was joining regularly on FBI cases along with Brennan and her team. She had an awesome tigger finger and a sharp eye. She was definitely an asset to the team.
She was graduating this year from high school and Sully could feel the pride beginning to swell as the date came nearer and nearer. Brennan, Booth, and the Jeffersonian team were going to be there as well.
Leigha just didn't know it yet.
The day of her graduation, Sully made sure he got a seat right where she would be able to see them all. Ten minutes before it started, Booth and Brennan walked in, Angela Montenegro, Jack Hodgins, and Zach Addy right behind. In the corner, Sully spotted out his boss, Deputy Director Sam Cullen and Dr. Gordon Wyatt. He grinned. Leigha would be estatic.
As the ceremony rolled on, it took a while to get to the 'S''s. Sully's heart lept when he heard, "Sukira, Keyla", and knew that Leigha would be next. After the blonde who was Keyla Sukira walked off the stage, Leigha's name was called. Booth, Brennan, himself, Angela, Zach, and Hodgins stood up. Leigha grinned when she saw all of them and as she took her diploma, she looked up and mouthed, "thank you, Mom."
Sully was beyond estatic.
Near the end of the ceremony, Principal Melanie Johns stepped up to the podium. "This is the part of the ceremony when we award scholarships to our students. This is, since I've been here, the first time that we've only had three people going on in scholarship awards. The first of which I would like to present to Miss Leigha Sullivan for a basketball scholarship that she can fulfill right here in DC."
All heads snapped to Sully. "I knew nothing about this," he shrugged and grinned.
Leigha was just as surprised as he had been. Fighting back tears she made it the point to look at Sully and grin. She accepted the framed scholarship and grinned. She had never expected to make it to where she was before.
Yet, she knew that she had to thank her parents.
Sully had always been there...just like he'd promised her.
Cam was her guardian angel...just like she always knew.
That was enough for her to live by.
'And I need to know
Will you stay for all time
Forever and a day
Then I'll give you my heart
Til the end of all time
Forever and a day'
Leigha was eighteen when she joined the FBI apart from graduating with honors from college for Homicide and Investigations. She fulfilled her basketball scholarship, but wasn't quite in it to go professional. Her real heart was in the FBI. Just like her father.
The day of her joining, Sully had the gret privilege of naming her Special Agent. Apart from her graduation, it had been the happiest day in his life that he could ever remember.
The speech she gave, though, was more overwhelming than her graduation speech. And TIm Sullivan really hadn't expected it.
"I, uhm, I don't know where to start. My dad, my father Agent Tim Sullivan," she grinned, "I couldn't have asked for a better person to be my father. He's stuck it out for me. Through everything. Good, bad, ugly, funny...just like he said. Just like I always knew he would." She paused. "A majority of you know that my mother, Doctor Camille Saroyan, died when I was three in a fatal car crash. I don't remember her well, but I remember her enough to live on her memories. As Special Agent, I will do just as my father and Special Agent Booth have done. I will work with forensic anthropologists after Doctor Temperance Brennan and re-live the job my mother knew and loved. And the privilege in that is that I get to do my job that I love." She grinned. "So I guess I get a twofer."
Laughs resounded throughout and Sully tried to swallow down the lump in his throat.
"But in all seriousness, I never expected to get this far. I never thought I would be where I am today. Heck, I dreamed about ti. I had a gun by the time I was sixteen and knew everything that there was about being an FBI agent since I was eight. I guess my mother had always planned for me to do this. She knew I loved it as much as I loved basketball and to turn it down for this. I know my father did both, but my heart is here. I want to focus on this. This is my baby, my home as much as the Jeffersonian was and is going to be." She paused. "So," she held up her badge, "with this I say thanks to all the people in my life. Thank you for getting me to where I am today." She smiled directly at Sully. "And thank you, Dad. For all those nights. You really, truly did stick with me for all time forever and a day."
'And I need to know
Will you stay for all time
Forever and a day
Then I'll give you my heart
Til the end of all time
Forever and a day'
That night of Leigha's FBI initiation found Sully in the hospital with severe chest pains. Leigha was right there by his bedside throughout the whole time.
She gently took his IV hand and smiled. "Hey."
"Hi," he smiled.
"You feeling okay?"
"Better than before."
Leigha sighed deeply and Sully knew that she was thinking.
"What's wrong, Darling?"
"You said you wouldn't leave me. Remember?" Leigha managed to play a small smile on her lips.
Sully lifted his hand and stroked her face. "Oh, Leigha. I'm not going anywhere."
"You almost did," Liegha bit her lip.
Sully sighed. "Do you need a hug?"
Laughing lightly, she nodded and gently hugged him, allowing her tears to fall and shoulders shake with slight crying. Sully rubbed her back with one hand.
"Shh, Leigha. It's okay," he laid his head against hers. "Mom won't take me yet." He grinned at the joke as Leigha puled away. She laughed, too, and wiped her eyes.
"Sulli Girl, today was the proudest day of my life for you," Sully smiled and held her hand.
"And you were right. I think your mother always knew that you would end up joining the FBI."
Leigha nodded. "I guess I always did, too. Basketball was just a side distraction for high school."
"But you did it and loved playing."
"Until I hurt my knee and could do my star jump-shot anymore," she grinned.
Sully shook his head. "Nyeah. You did good, though. I'm proud of you, Leigha. And so is your mother."
"I know, Daddy."
"Now there's something I haven't heard in a while," Sully grinned.
"For as long as you're still around and kicking, you will be daddy to me," Leigha smiled.
An hour later, Leigha was dressed in her dad's Ballistics basketball jersey, shorts, sneakers, and her hair was held up in a high ponytail. She stood in the dark gymnasium, the moonlight shining through the windows, providing good enough light. A black brace was wrapped around her left knee.
She bounced the basketball a few times and stood ten feet away from the hoop. This was where she always stood to do her most famous shots. Ten feet exactly. She always counted.
Her brown eyes focused on the hoop and she bounced the ball a couple of times again, visualizing the goal she wanted to accomplish. She imagined Sully there with a grin on his face watching her like he had the first time she won a game when she was twelve. She smiled, opening her eyes again.
Bouncing the ball twice more, Leigha fixed her FBI eyes on the hoop, got her stance perfectly right and took a breath. With full force in her arms, she took the shot and watched in an almost slow motion mode as the ball tipped and whirled around the hoop, giving the impression of not going through the net.
She held her breath and kept her eyes fixed on the ball as it slowly revolved, tilted, then went through the net. Grinning, Leigha pumped her fist in the air and jumped. "Yes!" She twirled in the jump and landed on her feet, her knee not even recognizing what she'd just done.
Then, in the darkness of that familiar gymnasium, she stood exactly ten feet away from the hoop, smiling still, and just stared at the net.
Agent All Star Leigha Jayde Sullivan was back. And where she had been before, Leigha didn't know. Yet, Tim Sullivan had. He'd seen her all along. And so had Camille Saroyan.
Only Leigha Jayde herself couldn't see who she truly was. Not until that night. Not until she heard that ball swish in the net and felt no pain in her knee in the jump.
She grabbed her cell phone and dialed Sully's hospital number. He picked up on the second ring.
"Hello?"
"Dad," Leigha said in breathless excitement, smiling.
"Hey, Darling. Where are you?"
"At the old gym."
Sully was surprised. "What are you doing there?"
Smiling and still looking at the net, she swished her ponytail out of the way. "Dad, I did it. I made abasket. Exactly ten feet away."
Sully was shocked. Since she had her operation on her knee, they had told them that she would more than likely never be able to make a straight shot again. "I don't...wow."
"I know," Leigha smiled. "I know."
Sully smiled, drying his eyes hastily. So much had happened with her. So much in what seemed like so little time. He thanked Cam. "Great job, Sulli Girl."
Leigha smiled. "Thanks, Dad. I knew I could do it."
"So did I, Leigha. So did I."
Leigha paused, keeping her tears down. "Dad?" Her voice broke.
"Yeah, Sweetheart?"
Leigha let her tears run. "I love you."
Sully heard her voice crack and he couldn't reduce the tears anymore. "Daddy loves you, Lei."
Leigha smiled, standing straight now, still keeping her eyes on the hoop. "Forever and a day?"
Sully grinned. "Forever and a day, Baby. Forever and a day."
'I will love you, love you
OMG, I almost cried writing this. I wasn't going to be heartless and kill Sully off. That woulda been too mean for Leigha. Come to think of it, this is almost like my Bren/Booth oneshot when Brennan died and Booth continued her work. I love doing stories that go in sequences. They're long, but I enjoy doing them.
Jay