AN: I was hoping to have a new story posted around this time, but sadly I'm always about 3 ½ chapters into it, so I don't have much hope in getting it up in the next month. In addition, it's the last month of school (18 days left!) so with doing all the 'last minute' work my teachers are deciding to pile upon me and studying for finals, I'm going to very busy. This will most likely be the last thing I post until the middle of June (I get out of school May 31st, and on June 5th I leave for Hawaii for about a week), although maybe a one-shot or two in between. And my birthday is in 11 days so yay for that!

This one-shot was inspired by a subplot in Spider-Man 3 (great movie, but really sad at the end!).

Also, if you want to see what Jackie looks like, I will shortly be posting a picture of her on the Original Characters page on my freewebs (link in my profile).

Title: The Rhythmic Rain
Rating: K+
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: Sometimes when you give all you have, it still isn't enough. OneShot.
Genre: Drama
Chapter: OneShot

The heavy rain was beating rhythmically down onto the small house, hitting the roof and splattering the windows. The steady patter of rain drops provided a type of solace for the woman sitting at the table in her kitchen. A mug of coffee sat near her fingers, which were tapping repeatedly upon the wood. She glanced over at the digital clock on the oven and let out a tiny, almost inaudible, sigh.

She stood up slowly, pushing her chair out from under her, and walked out of the kitchen. She tip-toed down the dingy hallway and peeked into a dark room, seeing a small girl sleeping. She was clutching tightly onto a brown, worn-out teddy bear, and her chest rose and fell evenly.

A sudden racket in her living room seemed to come as no surprise to the woman. She shut the little girl's door quietly and crept into the room, flicking on the light. A man was standing on the ground, the window behind him open. His hair was sopping wet, and his clothes were dripping water onto the off-white carpet blow him. A brown bag sat at his feet, soaked inside-out. He shook his head and drops of rain splattered the walls.

The woman folded her arms disapprovingly at the man. "You're four hours late."

"Is Jackie already sleeping?" whispered the man.

"Yes. Troy, it's midnight." She shook her head. "I put her to bed three hours ago."

The man, Troy, lowered his head. "I tried to get here on time, Gabriella, I really did. But the cops --"

"Troy, this is getting to be too much," Gabriella interjected. "You're a felon. You can't keep leading the police here."

"But... Jackie needs --"

"Don't try to pretend you know what Jackie wants," growled Gabriella warningly. "In five years, you've barely been a part of her life."

Troy took a step forward. "I love her," he said. "And I've only been on the run so I could get us money."

Gabriella leaned against the peeling wall of their house. "A normal man would have gotten a job to help us, not rob every bank in New Mexico and getting on America's Most Wanted."

"Gabi, you know I did it because I love you," said Troy softly.

Gabriella tensed up. "Don't call me that," she demanded. "We're divorced now. What makes you think you can give me a pet name?"

"I'm sorry," said Troy. "It's just... I try so hard, and..."

"You try hard?" sneered Gabriella. "You try hard!? You're never here, Troy!" She strode over to him and poked him hard in the chest, her face red with anger. "You're always on the run from the police. You're never here when Jackie is going through another round of chemotherapy, are you? Or when she wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming from the pain?"

Troy swallowed down a lump in his throat as he saw fire raging in his ex-wife's eyes. "I know I haven't been the best father, Gabriella. I know it – God, do I know it." He rubbed his hands over his face in frustration. "But how was I going to support you? I don't have a college degree and I couldn't get a job. You know I had no other choice."

"You always had a choice," said Gabriella quietly. "And you chose to go the easy way. While you're robbing banks and hiding from the police, I'm here working three jobs and still finding time to visit Jackie in the hospital and take her to school. That's dedication."

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I really am. But... can I see her? Please?"

"I don't know," she started, but a small voice interrupted her.

"Daddy?"

Gabriella turned around and saw her daughter leaning against the door frame to her room, clutching her teddy bear. Her short, dark brown only reached her shoulders, and her blue eyes twinkled excitedly.

"Sweetie, you should be in bed," said Gabriella, but her words were ignored.

"Jackie!" Troy side stepped Gabriella and rushed towards his daughter, sweeping her up in a hug.

"Daddy!" squealed Jackie happily. "Daddy, you're all wet!"

"Not too tight, Troy!" Gabriella scolded.

Troy set Jackie down and gripped her arms to help keep her upright. "How's my favorite girl in the whole world?"

Jackie giggled. "I'm good, Daddy. I'm not hurting right now."

"Good. Because, when you hurt, I hurt. Did you know that?"

Frowning, Jackie said, "But Daddy, I don't want you to hurt."

"I don't want you to hurt," said Troy.

Face suddenly turning serious, Jackie questioned, "Daddy, are you going to stay with us this time?"

Troy turned to face Gabriella, whose arms were crossed again. He cleared his throat and said, "Um, I can't, honey."

Jackie's face fell. "Please? I miss you."

"I miss you too," said Troy, his voice breaking. "And I really wish I could stay, but I can't."

"Why not?"

Troy glanced at Gabriella again, but she kept her lips sealed. Letting out a small sigh, he said, "Well, I'm getting money for you and Mommy so you can get better."

Her face immediately lit up. "You're gonna make me better!?"

"Of course!" said Troy enthusiastically.

"And then will you come home?"

"I'm going to try my best."

Jackie smiled toothily and threw her arms around her father's neck. "I love you, Daddy."

Troy held Jackie tightly in his arms, burying his face in her neck, wishing he never had to let go. "I love you more, pumpkin."

Giggling, Jackie pulled away. "Pumpkin? But I'm not orange! That's silly."

He smacked his hand against his forehead. "Duh! That sure was silly of me, huh?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, Jackie, sweetie, I think you need to go to bed," Gabriella spoke up. "Say good-night to Daddy."

"Good-night, Daddy," said Jackie. "Can you visit me sooner?"

Throat tight, Troy nodded. "I promise." He bent over and kissed her on the top of her head.

Gabriella took Jackie's hand and helped lead her into the bedroom, tucking her in tightly and shutting off the light. She walked quietly out of the room and shut the door, giving Troy a reproachful look. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Troy."

"I can keep it!" proclaimed Troy. "I swear, Gabriella, I won't let Jackie down again."

"But you will, Troy," said Gabriella gravely. "You know you will. You always do."

Troy gaped. "Okay, I know today I was a little late, but --"

"It's not just that, Troy," Gabriella reminded him. "You were supposed to visit last week, but never showed, remember? And before that, it was two months ago, but that never happened either. The last time Jackie saw you was six months ago, although there were about thirty scheduled visits between then that never happened."

"I'm sorry!" Troy burst out. "I'm sorry that it's hard to manipulate the cops so I can come and --"

"You just don't get it, do you?" asked Gabriella softly. "This whole situation is a problem. The fact that you're running circles around the police is why I don't think you should see Jackie anymore!"

"Well, I --" Troy stopped talking abruptly, staring at Gabriella as if he were a deer caught in headlights. "What?" he asked in a low, shaky voice.

Gabriella swallowed. "I don't think you should visit Jackie anymore."

His legs started shaking. He slowly walked over to their forest green, tarnished sofa and sat down, running his hands through his hair. "How could you do this to me?" he asked, his voice quivering.

"I'm sorry, Troy," said Gabriella, sitting down next to him. "But, think of her for a minute. Instead of thinking about yourself, think about your daughter."

Troy started at his ex-wife incredulously. "Stop thinking about myself? Gabriella, do you think I'm doing this for fun? For my own pleasure? Yeah, I rob banks all over the state just for the thrill!" he spat sarcastically.

"Yes, you are selfish!" Gabriella cried impetuously, jumping up. "You made me sit at home for a year with my two year old, cancerous daughter, without knowing where the hell you were, until one day I saw you on the news! You did the exact same thing to me that you're doing to Jackie now. 'Oh, I'll stop by today, sweetie.' 'Sorry, honey, the cops were on my tail. I promise I'll visit next month.' 'Sorry again, but I got arrested. Don't worry, I've escaped.' How do you think all that made me feel!?"

"Gabriella --"

"When we got divorced I thought maybe everything would be solved, but boy was I wrong. Then you started promising Jackie all these nice, long visits where you would come home for a whole week and take her horse-back riding, and miniature golfing, and out to her favorite ice cream store. And while you kept cancelling the visits, Jackie would get more and more heart broken each time! You weren't the one holding her in your arms as she sobbed to sleep, or the one having to constantly assure her that Daddy loved her, or make up excuses to cover for you sorry, pathetic ass!"

Troy stared at Gabriella, towering above him. "Are you done?" he asked thinly.

Breathing deeply, she nodded. She folded her arms across her chest and stared at him, waiting for his response.

"I'm so sorry. You know that I feel horrible," he started. "I shouldn't keep getting Jackie's hopes up, because it isn't fair to her. But please, don't take her away from me. She's all I have." His eyes filled with tears, and he ducked his head to shield them from Gabriella.

He expected sympathy. He thought she would show compassion for him, that she would kneel down and saw that they could discuss it. But what he didn't bargain for was for Gabriella to repeat, "I'm sorry."

Troy looked up at her, no longer bothering to hide his tear-filled eyes. "Wait, you're still taking her?"

Gabriella closed her eyes. "I told you. You can't keep doing this to her anymore." A couple tears leaked out of her eyelids. "You can't keep doing it to me..."

"Gabriella, no." Troy stood up and gripped her shoulders. "Please, we can talk about this. Gabriella, we can --"

But she just shook her head. "No amount of talking could change my mind." She kept her eyes averted from Troy's. "The house already sold, and we're moving into an apartment across town in a couple of days. Please, don't try to find us."

Troy opened his mouth to speak again, to try and convince Gabriella to reconsider, but the lump in his throat was too tight. He simply gaped at her until she turned away. He swallowed, and said as casually as he could. "I have some money for you," he said, motioning towards the bag he'd brought with him.

She looked at him impassively. "That's stolen money, Troy. I don't want it."

"But --" he stuttered. "I travelled halfway across the state to get this to you!" he said angrily. "You never had a problem taking my 'stolen money' before!"

"I'm not depending on you to get Jackie through this anymore," she snarled. "You can find your own way out," she added, flicking off the light in the living room before striding down the hall. Troy only knew she was gone when he heard the closing of her bedroom door.

Troy stood in the dark of the room, listening to the storm raging outside. His fists clenched and unclenched. He heard the branches of the trees outside hitting the walls of the house, the rain pounding from every direction. It felt as if everything in his world were crashing down. He slowly dropped down onto his knees, cupping his face in his hands. He squeezed his palms into his closed eyes, so hard that he saw stars. A couple tears prickled behind his closed eyes as he listened to the heavy rain beat rhythmically down onto the small house.