Just a drabble, really, because I was particularly touched by the children in this episode - and by Emily, and I just opened Word and this came out...

I don't own any of it! Please enjoy, and tell me what you think. God knows I need the advice!


Jodie's face was pressed into her shoulder, and for a moment, despite the movements and chaos, she felt at peace. This, with a child in her arms, a child to comfort and love, this was where she belonged.

Then she heard the shot, even from inside, and life came back to her, and with it came the chaos; and the pain.

Another girl without a father. A girl who'd lost her mother, and who had now lost her father to blind pain and fear.

She kept Jodie pressed into her, but the peace wasn't there anymore; instead, she saw the truck, which had just a minute ago contained this girl's living father; this girl's pass to one trauma less, the chance for a semblance of a family, no matter how slight.

And now it had all left her.

Jodie did not realize it, not yet, but now she was alone: no parents, no siblings, not even the only other woman who'd been a relative constant in her life. Nobody.

All alone – at seven.

What utter cruelties was this world capable of?

--

Later, in the plane, she is both pained and relieved. Jodie isn't truly alone – not forever, at least.

She was happy for the girl, but pained for the world.