"Thank you very much Liam," The young woman says to the beaming seven year old next to her. "And thank you too Liam's dad, too." The classroom applauds politely as the boy and his dad take their seats again. "Next, we have McKenzie Fallon."
He smiles slightly as he watches the little girl stand and stride confidently up to the front of the room, the familiar bounce in her step making her ponytail swing from side to side. She turns around and flashes him her biggest smile, showing off her missing front tooth and hugging a large poster to her chest. He smiles and give her a thumbs up. Impossibly, her smile grows even wider.
The girl turns and places the poster on the chalkboard easel in the front of the room. He feels tears prickle at his eyes as he looks at the portrait of the woman, but he manages to keep his smile in place. His attention is split in two; half on the picture of her and half on their daughter, who looks so much like her that it almost hurts.
"This is my mom," Kenzie says, pointing to the portrait. It's one taken during her early days with the Bureau. "She used to be a superhero, and she put a lot of bad guys in jail. My daddy says that she made the world a lot safer for me, but really she was making it safe for everyone else too. And not only was she a superhero, but she was a super mom too. She used to sing me to sleep every night, and she would take care of me when I got sick."
He watches as the girl suddenly turns, her skirt flaring out slightly. She grabs a piece of chalk, and he draws in a breath as she watches her draw angel wings and a halo around the portrait. The girl turns back to the class, her smile still strong as ever. He wishes he could do that; smile when he thought or talked about her that is. He wished he could talk about her, period. In a way he's jealous of his Kenzie, because she seems to have already come to terms with her mother's death.
"Now my mom has another job," Kenzie continues. "She's still a superhero, but we just can't see her. My Aunt Neha says that my mom finished her job here on earth, and that's why she had to go to Heaven. She had to help the people up there instead." The girl flashes another smile at her father before continuing. "My daddy says that God needed someone special to take care of all the angels, so He made her an angel too and now she protects them."
He looks down briefly, trying not to let the people around him see him cry. He tries to be strong for McKenzie, because he knows that she misses her mother and she doesn't need to see her dad cry too. When he looks up, the little girl has her hands clasped in front of her and she's looking down at the ground as she shifts from foot to foot.
"Sometimes I miss her a lot, and a lot of the time I wonder why God had to take my mom," she says, still with that strong voice despite her posture. "But sometimes I'm glad I have an angel looking out for me. I mean, not a lot of people can say their mom is a superhero angel who kicks bad guys' butts. Some day I wanna be just like her." She turns and takes the poster down, leaving behind the halo and the angel wings, and skips back to her table and into her dad's waiting arms. Mal smiles as his daughter's dark hair tickles his cheek.
