"Daddy! Wake up!"
Spencer groaned, turning over in bed and facing his daughter. "Wendy, what have I told you about waking me up before-" he glanced over at the bedside clock. "Seven in the morning!"
The little girl frowned. "But Daaaad! It's the first day of school! I don't wanna be late!"
The director blinked, taking a minute to fully process the answer. His eyes widened as he realized what she had just said. "Shit!"
Wendy gasped and covered her ears.
"I-I mean poopy!" He threw off the covers, dashing over to his dresser and looking through his shirt drawer for something halfway decent to wear and randomly tossing clothes he deemed to be unsatisfactory onto the floor. In his haste, he grabbed something from the bottom of the drawer and, without looking at it, threw it on the ground. Wendy frowned, walking over and picking it up off the floor.
She'd never seen this necklace before.
"Daddy, what's this?"
"Not now, princess, Daddy's busy." Spencer replied absently as he pulled a good shirt out of the drawer and put it on, buttoning it up clumsily and then pulling a pair of pants out of another drawer.
Wendy held the pendant up to the light curiously, inspecting it with as much scrutiny as a five-year-old could muster. After a moment, she pulled it over her head.
"Can I have this necklace?"
"Necklace?" Confused, Spencer looked over at his daughter, eyes widening when he saw her model the pendant. "Oh, hey, I remember that thing!"
"What is it?"
Spencer grinned as he put on his sport jacket, walking over to his child and kneeling down, grasping the tiny blue charm between his thumb and forefinger. "It's an old necklace. Someone very important gave to me."
"Really?" She gave him a very serious look. "Was it the president?"
Spencer laughed. "No, baby, it wasn't the president. It was..." Spencer frowned, trying to remember who it was that gave him this necklace.
He could remember wearing it. He remembered being fourteen and finding it, he remembered the days spent doing such stupid things, he remembered the years spent with Shanilla and Rajeev and... someone else?
Who was it?
He remembered the last time he wore it. He remembered feeling like his heart was being torn out of his chest, he remembered tears running down his face, he remembered begging someone not to leave him behind, he remembered a sad smile, and then... gone.
Who was it? Who had he been begging not to go?
He remembered the years filled with joy, the years filled with laughter and music, the years filled with a consuming, passionate love, and then...
And then, a moment full of dread, and another moment filled such a great pain, one that made Spencer's chest ache...
Who was it that he'd loved in those years?
He looked back, combing through his memories for a face, a voice, a name, something to remind him, but he came back with nothing.
"Daddy?"
Spencer snapped back to the present, back to Wendy, who was looking at him with the utmost concern in her green eyes.
"It... It doesn't matter." He took the necklace off of her, placing it back on the dresser. "Let's leave it at home, okay?"
Wendy pouted. "Dad-dy..."
"Hey, now, who's in charge?"
She rolled her eyes. "You are."
"Exactly! Now, how about a special breakfast? I'm thinking pancakes, what about you?"
The tiny girl's eyes lit up. "Yeah!"
Spencer chuckled, allowing himself to be led into the kitchen by hand, the pendant all but forgotten on the dresser.
A/N: Right, so... this is why I shouldn't be left alone with ectofeature and the soundtrack to Next to Normal. I get ideas.
This fic comes from the idea "What if Billy moved on and Spencer eventually forgot about him?"
I apologize for this. *goes back to writing I'm Alive*
