A/N: Written for a Mother's Day challenge at LJ's leverageland.
I'll probably publish a bunch of other ficlets I've written for various challenges in the next couple of days - they're all rather short, but I hope you'll enjoy them anyway.
Glancing warily from the box of chocolates to the greeting card in his hands, Nate sighed. The sigh had almost become part of the routine he went through every year and yet – despite knowing the eventual outcome all too well – he always found himself in the same spot again. Mother's Day, some flowers or sweets and a greeting card, carefully chosen, that said "Dear Maggie," but not much else.
This year was no exception. Nate had sat on his desk, his fountainpen hovering inches above the paper - sometimes the tip was very nearly touching the pristine white of the card, other times it had found its place in its lid again while Nate had burried his face in his hands. The words... the words just wouldn't come out, despite the 12 months he gave himself every year to think of isomething/i that would express his feelings. Words were a very delicate matter. His only true objective was telling his ex-wife what a wonderful mother she had been, and thanking her for raising their son to be such an extraordinary boy; but Nate knew very well that one wrong word would make it seem as if he was just reminding her of their shared loss.
"Dear Maggie." Ten letters stared back at him, and as he stared they seemed to start dancing. With a frustrated groan, he ripped the card in two and repeated the move on the remaining bits before letting them tumblr slowly into his waste basket. Just like the carefully picked present, the dancing pieces of paper were part of his routine - and this year wasn't any different.