Word Count: 1153
Summary: Guardian angel.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Big Bang Theory or the characters.
A smile as sweet as her mother's was in her face as the rain fell. She was wearing a bright yellow rain jacket and with that smile and her big brown eyes, she stood out from the crowds. If there were any.
Alone in that street, she stood in the rain, looking up with her eyes opened, her smile growing bigger and bigger. She wasn't alone, though, I was with her. But my presence was barely noticed by her, more interested in the cold water the fell from the skies. Her laughter startled me, and she came running with her arms wide open in my direction. I kneel so that we are the same height, and she accepts my open arms with her big, gorgeous smile.
"Daddy, do you think there are people up there?" My little girl asks, and I immediately know she doesn't mean people in planes. She's talking about heaven.
"Yes." I lie. I can't tell her that there are none, she'll be sad. "They are our guardian angels." Her eyes grow when I say this, and I realized she's interested in hearing what I have to say. I continue. "When people we love leave to go to a better place, they become little angels. And at night, they are stars. They're there watching over us, and then sleep as we sleep. When we wake up, they're there to see what the world will do to us."
She seems to think for a little while, and then sits down on the pavement. It's all wet, but she's drenched, so it doesn't matter.
"Guardian angels, huh?" She's curious, like most children her age. But unlike every child her age, she has a dad whose friends – and himself – have a PhD. That usually means they are very smart, which makes her know a lot of things others usually don't learn, ever.
"Yep. They stay there until we no longer need them." It stopped raining now, and she looks at the sky a little disappointed.
"Do you have a guardian angel?"
"Of course."
"Why? Do you need one?"
"I need all the help I can get. It's not easy to take care of a little girl like you, ya know?" I smile at her, and her smile matches mine. She gets up and we start walking, hand in hand, still we get to a gravestone.
"Guardian angel?" She points at the tombstone, and I just nod. It's so recently that she can't even say the name, and neither can I. It's still too fresh in everyone's mind.
The rain starts again, and a little smile forms on my own face because my daughter is smiling. Despite everything that has happened lately, she can still smile.
"I miss him." My wife says, and I look at her. With our youngest, Ryan, in her arms, she gives me a kiss and puts me under the umbrella.
"I know, sweetie. But he's looking after you." I put my arm around her as my son tries to take my glasses and I just think that despite everything, I have my family with me.
"He's our guardian angel, mommy. It's okay."
"What?" My wife looks at me, and I just shrug. "Okay, bunny. Grandpa is looking after all of us, isn't he?" Maya just nods. Penny looks at me and whispers. "It's to make sure we don't screw anything up."
"We won't. We have an amazing family, Penny. I'll make sure nothing bad ever happens to either of us. They'll be okay, and they will both grow up to do amazing things. We got this."
"Good. I know we got this. And when the next one comes along, we already know what to do."
I nod. It's another girl, we found out about a few days ago, before Wyatt's heart attack and subsequently, his death. Penny took it hard, we both did, and so did Maya. Ryan doesn't know what's going on. I mean, he's almost two years old. He understands, but doesn't know what is going to change. Maya, on the other hand, was her grandfather's little girl. Because being daddy's little girl wasn't enough for her apparently.
"It'll be okay." I hug her as she starts to cry, and I just hold her tight.
"I miss him already."
I don't say a thing, because I know that nothing I can say will change things. Of course she misses him. We all do. Maya is hugging me too, but I can't tell if it is to make me feel better, or because she's sad. Either way, I have my family with me.
Later, much later, maybe even a month later, I return to that very same spot, this time without my family. I sit down next to the grave, and I put my hand in the cold stone.
"I sincerely hope, Wyatt, that wherever you are, you look after the ones you left behind. We all miss you and I can't tell you how much my daughter talks about you to the new baby. She's not born yet, but it's getting closer. I just hoped you were here with us. Not somewhere else. Here, next to your daughter, your grandchildren. Next to me, so that Penny had her three man next to her. I hope you know how much we all loved you. And now, I'll do something I didn't get the chance to do before. Say goodbye.
So, to you, Wyatt, an amazing father, grandfather, husband and father-in-law, I wish for you to be my daughter's guardian angel, my son's inspiration and to always be in my younger daughter's memory. She'll know who you are, even if you aren't here. I can promise you that." I leave after that, the tears being too much for me to be able to talk more. I might be leaving this cemetery, but I will make sure that he never leaves my memory. He's the reason for me to have my family. I owe him everything.
The End