Her Time

Summary: A father has to tell his daughter the truth sometime. This is what a particular father told a remarkable girl one early morning. Could it have been better? Perhaps. But this is what it was.

A/N: Hey! This is a lovely little drabble I found lurking around in my files from more than two years ago. We never found out what really happened to the Mrs. Shay… so here's to her.

Glints of dust on the sunrise sparkle in the waxing light. If only Mommy was here to see this, I thought, a small tear coming to my eye. The pressure on my shoulder tells me that Dad placed his hand there.

"I know, Carly. It was her time to go, but she would have loved to see this," His voice attempted to comfort me, but I wasn't to be comforted.

I turned to look into his warm, damp, brown eyes with tears in my own. "She's not coming back, is she?"

He hesitated. "No, Carly, she's not, I'm afraid." He grabbed me into a tight hug. I began to sob.

She's not coming back, I told myself, pressing my face into his shirt.

"Why couldn't it be me, Dad, why did it have to be Mommy?" I wept.

"It was her time, not yours. Just think, Carly, Mommy's in a better place now. She'll be all right," Dad soothed, rubbing my back.

We wept till we could weep no more.