A/N: Random little mushy pointless drabble-oneshot thing, just 'cause I felt like writing.
I was on the edge, to say the least. I had been fighting a valiant battle against my tears, trying hard to keep them hidden so long as the flock was around. A few times I had to just let a couple tears slip out, but the wind took care of them for me as we flew to my mom's house.
Fang was gone. He'd left us. Boom, just like that he had blown the proverbial popsicle stand. And while I was so unbelievably, maddeningly pissed at him, to the point where I may or may not have thrown our laptop across the room (it was the only thing in sight, okay?), I still missed him. Of course I still missed him. He's Fang.
"All right guys, let's land," I called in a dull voice. The flock obeyed without a word; even Nudge was silent, which was surprising.
As my feet touched the ground, a montage of memories flooded my brain. Images of Fang and I, and all the times we'd spent on the roof counting stars, or just sitting in the backyard, enjoying one another's company. I swallowed and tried to keep myself together.
We came fully out of the trees and were startled to find Jeb, just chillin', sitting in the backyard. He, however, did not seem quite as surprised to see us.
Of course not. He'd probably implanted trackers in our eyeballs or something.
But I was too busy being angry at Fang to be angry at Jeb at the same time. Too much effort, you know?
Jeb was, however, surprised to find a certain someone missing from our group. "Where's Fang?" he asked. "Is he all right?"
That's when I lost it completely. My shoulders hunched with the force of the heartbreak crushing me, and I choked. "H-he left. He's not coming back."
His arms were suddenly around me and he seemed more fatherly than I'd ever seen him. His face held true sympathy and sadness. He'd known how close Fang and I were.
"I just d-don't understand. Did I-did I do something wrong?"
"Of course not, kiddo. Fang had his reasons for leaving; that's not one of them."
It was weird, how uncharacteristically understanding Jeb was being. He was usually all about the "mission" and the "bigger picture".
Maybe he'd finally gotten the bigger picture and realized that I was still just a kid.
Either way I didn't care; I was going to seize this moment, this chance to finally be my daddy's little girl.
No matter how weenie-ish that makes me sound.