A/N - With Special Thanks to Constance M Burge for creating this sandbox that I get to play in.

The Cemetery

Paige Matthews arrived at the cemetery, like she did every Saturday morning since the death of her parents, with a bunch of white roses. This morning seemed different somehow, though. The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze, but there was something different in the air. Something not quite tangible, it just felt weird. Weird, but not necessarily in a bad way, or a good way for that matter.

At the far end she noticed a burial service in progress. From what she could gather, it was the funeral of police officer. She'd noticed many funerals in the past, but this one felt different. Then she noticed them. The three women. They looked somewhat familiar. Although, from this distance she could be fooling herself.

Since her parents' deaths, she could not shake this feeling that she's missing something. She even fooled herself into believing she might have other family out there. Every time she noticed people whose features resembles hers, she wondered whether they could be related to her. She was about to make her way over there when she noticed something from the corner of her eye.

She looked across to the other end of the cemetery and saw a man digging. He had an urn which he seemed to be watching very closely. He did not seem to be dressed like an undertaker, in fact, he was dressed more like a priest.

"Curious isn't it" Said a voice behind her. She turned around quickly and spotted an elderly couple. "For him to be burying the ashes himself, I mean."

Paige felt a stab of relief seeing the familiar couple. "Whatever floats his boat" she replied. Then almost as an after thought she said "I'm Paige". The weird feeling was still there but it was definitely a good feeling now. "It's funny" she continued "we've seen each other here every week for so long and we do not even know each other's names"

"I'm Mario" the man replied, "and this is my wife, Louise." For the first time, Paige took a good look at the couple. She could tell they were immigrants from somewhere south of the border. They looked to be in their forties, probably the same age as her parents. "And we know who you are, dear."

Paige was surprised at the softness of the woman's voice, it was almost a contradiction to her weathered appearance. "How are you doing, querida?"

"I'm fine," Paige answered automatically. The weird feeling seemed to rise again "How do you know who I am?" she asked.

"I was the driver of the truck" he answered.

Paige froze for a moment and then replied, "But the reports said that the young woman in the truck was killed." She was almost sure that's what the reports said, although she couldn't be certain. She had only got snippets from what others had told her. Even now, she couldn't bring herself to read the reports of that fateful accident.

"That was our daughter," Louise said. "She was in the passenger's seat. Mario here, he was behind the wheel."

"She was stranded," Mario said. "Her car broke down, and I went to pick her up." His face weathered as he told the story. "It was on my route and I thought...", his voice trailed off.

"I am so sorry," Paige said. She had taken up residence on a nearby bench, and Louise was sitting next to her. "I've been so caught up in my own grief, it never even occurred to me that she had a grieving family as well."

"That's alright," Louise placed a tanned hand over Paige's pale one. "Besides I know she's in a better place now."

"How do you know that?" Paige asked, almost vehemently. "How do we know that the afterlife is better than this one."

"We don't" Mario said "We need to have faith."

"What if you have lost your faith?" Paige asked, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

"Then," Mario said, clearing his throat, "your daughter appears to you in a dream and tells you she is at peace. She says she can still make a difference in people's lives." Then he paused. Paige could see he was struggling with what he was about to say.

"What?" Paige asked.

"She said I needed to reach out to the girl. You, I imagine." He had a smile on his face. "Then she said something about how it would make things easier for her, um, you."

Paige sat in silence for a few minutes. Mario and Louise got up and left. A few minutes later, after processing all this information, she got up to leave too. She placed the flowers at her parents' grave. She glanced over at the man who was now closing up the hole he had dug. "Curious," she said to herself. Then she turned around to leave as well.
Before she left she stopped at another grave. She wanted to know the name of the girl. She looked down at the grave. The girl was only 24. Then she saw the girl's name. A name that will haunt her forever.