AN: Hey guys! I'm insanely busy, but I couldn't let today pass without paying respect to it somehow. Regardless of how you feel about making Remembrance Day a national holiday or military combat in general, the actual day does have a meaning. This was just a little ficlet on how I think Emily might interpret Remembrance Day, having a dad in the army. I myself have had family in the army, and my dad doesn't talk about my grandpa's time in the service that much. But for me, it's a source of pride, and Remembrance Day is one small way that we as a people can make sure that the losses aren't forgotten or trivialized over time. Something I'm absolutely terrified of is there being a day when the World Wars are forgotten, and the loss of life slipping between the pages of history to be lost. I hope I never see that day.
This ficlet is just a small way of mine to say: Thank you, to the ones who have fought, the ones who are fighting, and the ones who never made it home.
In the town of Rosewood, villains are a dime a dozen. Alison, Ben, Courtney, Mellisa, Sean, Wren. Heroes were hard to come by for most, but unlike them, Emily Fields already had one. Since she'd been a baby, her dad had been her hero. Living in an army family, Emily had watched men and women salute her father since before she could walk. People had always respected her dad, but Emily had never seen someone who saw him as a hero like she did.
Her dad was a lieutenant colonel to the army, and a decorated war hero to Rosewood. People stopped she and her parents when they were out around town, and would welcome her dad back home. To them, he was a public figure, larger than life. To Emily, he was Dad. When he'd been gone during high school, she hadn't known how much she would miss him. He was the one parent she could talk to without feeling like she was being put on trial, and the one she wanted to meet her at the bottom of the stairs at Homecoming. She missed him so much, missed having someone around who was strong enough to chase the monsters out from under her bed.
For years, her dad had been away when Remembrance Day came around, and her mom always got touchy. Poppies would be made a common feature around the Fields house. After her dad came back from Afghanistan, her mom had needed to work on Remembrance Day, but Emily hadn't been feeling well so she'd stayed home.
As she and her dad observed a moment of silence at 11am, Emily considered the actual meaning of Remembrance Day. It was a day set to honor, appreciate and respect the sacrifices of those who'd fought before, those currently fighting, and those who'd made the ultimate sacrifice and hadn't made it home. There were no words to describe how much she appreciated those sacrifices; without them, who knew where the world would have been? But to her, Remembrance Day meant something different.
To her, Remembrance Day was associated with sitting on her dad's shoulders as a kid. It meant going Trick or Treating with him when she was nine, before he'd had to go for a stay overseas. It made her remember dancing on his feet at her cousin's wedding. It was watching him fix the family car, and helping him when she was old enough. But on that particular Remembrance Day, it meant being curled up on the couch with her dad watching movies, and laughing until her sides ached at the stories he told her from base.
Remembrance Day was about respect, remembering those who were no longer around to be honored, and appreciating and honoring those who fought and died for their country, and more importantly, their families and their way of life. Emily understood that, and always made sure to appreciate it.
But, in her own world, Remembrance Day meant appreciating having her dad home safe, and taking a moment to thank whoever or whatever would listen for still having him in her life. To the army and the world, Lt. Colonel Fields was a soldier, a man to honor and respect for what he'd done and what he'd had to give up for his service. To Emily, he was Dad, her hero.
AN: Enjoy your Remembrance Day, everyone. Clearly, I own nothing.