On the night of the courthouse shooting, Sharon Raydor arrived back at her condo very late. It was well after 1am when she opened the front door and closed it behind her. She went to put her keys on the side table and that's when she saw the light of the tablet screen shining in the relative darkness of the space. Crossing over to the right side of the couch, Sharon turned on the lamp to reveal a little girl of about 7 with strawberry blonde hair watching TV on a tablet with pink earbuds in her ears. The child sat up and removed them the second the light came on. Sharon could see she had pink pajamas on with a cupcake pattern printed on the fabric.

"Madeline what are you doing up? It's the middle of the night," Sharon said as she came around the couch. For a split second, the events of the day seemed to vanish as she focused on her daughter.

"I couldn't sleep," Madeline replied as she looked up at her mother and set the tablet on the coffee table.

"I see. Sharon kicked off her shoes and joined Madeline on the couch. "You weren't waiting up for me were you?" She asked holding up one end of a white knit throw that usually resided in her bedroom.

"Maybe…"

Sharon wrapped an arm around her daughter and pulled the throw over them with her free hand. Madeline snuggled into her almost immediately. They sat in silence like that for a long moment. The events of the day played through her mind for the upteenth time. But they took on new meaning with a concerned child sitting beside her. As far as children went, Madeline was easier going than her siblings in many ways. She always went to bed on time, did her homework, and her chores. The disagreements between them were fairly standard involving vegetables, screen time, and wanting a dog most of the time. But Madeline seemed to endure a lot more stress and anxiety than her brother and sister. Rusty also had his own set of challenges; though having been faced with raising another child of Jack's alone certainly prepared her for them. The coping methods Sharon used with her other children didn't have the same impact in part because of Madeline's reserved nature however. Consequently, she found herself relying on her powers of observation more than anything else to connect with her daughter.

"What's on your mind?" Sharon asked kissing the top of Madeline's head and inhaling the scent of her floral shampoo.

"Stuff," Madeline replied fiddling with the edge of the throw. "Rusty made me go to bed even though I wasn't that tired. I tried to sleep but too much is going on in my head. So I waited until Rusty went to bed and I came out here to watch tv."

"It's hard to sleep with stuff on your mind," Sharon agreed.

She watched Madeline bite her lower lip and waited for her daughter to speak. Given the lateness of the hour, Sharon knew that the events of today were probably weighing on her mind. This was not the first time they were up together at this time of the night.

"Rusty told me what happened to you at work today," Madeline finally admitted. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you sweetheart. I'm sorry too," She said as her mind flashed on the incident again and all of the lives lost.

Slowly Madeline sat up and crawled onto Sharon's lap before hugging her mother tightly, "But I'm also really glad you're okay," the little girl whispered over Sharon's shoulder.

Sharon felt the emotion she had suppressed all day begin to well up. She had not given one thought to her own safety today. But she wasn't surprised that her daughter had. She held Madeline tightly and kissed her face several times. After a few minutes, Sharon stood up with Madeline in her arms and lifted the excess of the throw behind her child before carrying her down the hall past Rusty's room and the former den that was now Madeline's room before reaching her own. She knew Madeline was too old to be carried but tonight she did it anyway. She set Madeline down on the bed before going around the bed and turning on the bedside lamp.

"Where's Andy?" She asked watching her mother get ready for bed.

"He's still at work."

"Oh," Madeline replied.

"He told me that I should come home and see you."

A smile touched Sharon's lips as she said this. Madeline adjusted to Andy and Sharon's relationship and living situation far better than anticipated. It wasn't completely free of conflict with a move of some kind in the not too distant future not to mention what would happen when Jack decided to drop by. Sharon let Madeline participate in an exchange program at with her school's sister institution in New York last year so that she could spend some much needed time with Emily. Since then, Jack confined the majority of contact to his children so Sharon's relationship with Andy never came up.

After she finished her nighttime ablutions, Sharon climbed into bed and Madeline crawled up the center of the bed before getting under the covers. She snuggled into her mother and Sharon hugged her close.

"I love you," Madeline whispered.

"I love you too sweetheart," Sharon replied feeling her daughter relax and her breathing begin to slow.

Sharon reached over and turned off her bedside lamp after Madeline drifted back into an assured sleep. Sharon's own rest would not come so easily tonight. But the burden she now carried for killing Dwight seemed marginally less than it was upon entering the condo. Sharon knew she would bear the guilt of taking a life for a long time to come but she was able to walk away unharmed and tonight that's all that really mattered.

The End