A/N: Some times you just have to write something cathartic. This one-shot isn't fluffy or sexy, it's just...well, what it is...a way for me to get back into writing and deal with real life happenings. There's character death, so if you don't want to read that - don't go any further.

Standing in front of the fireplace, his gaze settled on the picture that held prominence there. He smiled as he tenderly caressed over the face staring back at him from the picture that had sat on the mantel from their very first day living in this cottage. His beautiful Elsie on their wedding day.

She had been so young, only seventeen, and he had been tall, dark, and quite striking as his beloved had put it.

Truth was, he'd felt like an oaf that day. He'd felt much too old to be marrying someone so young and vibrant, but she'd set him straight with a flash of those stunning blue eyes and the Scottish fire that went along with the auburn of her hair.

"Eight years, Charlie, hardly makes you an old man in comparison to me," she told him, a gentle scolding tone to her voice before a smirk appeared on her lips. "Besides, I like older men."

He laughed aloud at the memory. He loved that smirk, that gentle way she had about her that got him to do whatever she wanted.

He'd often been razed by his mates about being wrapped around a woman's fingers, some of them going so far as to be crude in their remarks about just why he seemed to always defer to his wife's wishes.

They didn't understand that there was no real deference. She was his partner in everything, not just a wife to satisfy baser needs. She kept his more rigid nature under control and tempered it with her more practical, softer demeanor.

She'd been his better half, though she'd argued with him every time she'd heard him say it.

His beloved Elsie May had given him four children. Two strong sons, both of whom looked just like him. Tall, dark, distinguished men who sadly had inherited his nose, but who were both well established in their chosen career paths. A doctor and a barrister, both occupations that Charles Carson had never dreamed would be options available to anyone in his family.

His eyes turned to the picture sitting beside Charles Jr. and James' pictures. Bess, the daughter that had come along after James. She had her mother's softer features, though her hair and eyes were dark like her father. Her skin was fair like her mother's which had always been a problem for the lass as she loved spending time at the seaside as much as her mother did.

Moving along to the remaining picture, he sighed as his gaze came to rest on their baby. The surprise child that had come along when the boys had already begun their studies for their chosen careers and Bess was nearly ready to finish school and move on to her own studies to become a teacher.

God had truly given them a gift when Masie Anne had joined their family. War had come to their country just three months after the sweet baby had made her appearance, and all of their older children had gone off to do their duty for King and Country. The boys had both left their studies and joined the Army while Bess had left her own classes to become a nurse.

He'd had his work at the Abbey to help him cope, but for Elsie all there was, was Masie Anne. While having the little ray of sunshine in his life had helped him, what having her had done for Elsie had been nothing short of helping his wife keep her sanity as concentrating on Masie Anne had kept the worry at bay.

Masie Anne had grown into a beautiful young woman that looked exactly like her mother – auburn hair, stunning blue eyes, and all. She'd been their hope in a world that shook beneath their feet.

Being the baby of the family, she was still relatively young, and the course she'd set for herself was a tough one, but he had no doubt that she would accomplish what she wanted for herself. She was after all Elsie Hughes Carson's daughter.

Taking a deep breath, he sighed it out then made his way to his chair. He was tired, so very tired. Tired of not being able to go and do the things he used to do. Tired of missing his beloved.

It was time.

CnE

Masie Anne called out as she came into the cottage, shocked to find it so cold and the smell of breakfast absent.

"Papa?" she called out. "Papa?" she called again, then gasped and dropped her things as she rushed to his chair. Touching him, she knew he was gone. Her eyes filled with tears as she knelt beside the chair, her sobs flowing out of her as she rested her head against his knee. "Oh Papa," she whispered through her cries.

Wiping at her eyes, she pushed herself up from the floor, bending over to place a soft kiss to his forehead, a small gasp escaping at how cold he felt. Gathering herself as much as possible, she slowly made her way over to the telephone, dreading the call she had to make.

Frowning, her hand pausing before she lifted the phone from its cradle, she swore to herself that she heard laughter. Walking in the direction she thought she heard the sound, her eyebrows rose when it came again and loud enough that she was positive that she wasn't hearing things.

Reaching the backdoor, she heard her mother's voice calling out to her father.

"Come on, Charlie!"

Feeling her heart race, Masie Anne yanked the door open and raced outside, sure that she would see her parents among the leafless trees. Looking all around, her eyes found nothing but the winter dead things where once green and colorful trees and flowers had blossomed.

"Charlie! What is it?"

"I've missed you, Elsie May."

"Oh, Charlie. I've missed ye, too! Ye're here now and we have forever."

Wiping the tears from her face, Masie realized what she was hearing. Her father had always said there was a bit of Highland witch in her mother, and Elsie had never denied it. Knowing what she knew of her mother's heritage, Masie Anne would never question that she'd just heard her mother greeting her father as he found her in the afterlife.

"I love you," she whispered, knowing instinctively that both parents had heard her.

Turning back into the house, Masie Anne knew that it would be easier to do what she had to do knowing that her father was with his beloved Elsie May.

Knowing that he was…home again.