Another one shot! Yeah I know, I'm on a roll. Anyways, this one is not a DARKFIC so yeah… you don't have to worry about that… It's just a little AU thing (yes another one) that I've been thinking about since I finished Burn. So enjoy this, review and favorite for more! Love y'all!

~ShyWrites

I only own the AU and this story!

John stared at the gravestone solemnly.

He placed down a bouquet of flowers close to the stone that had the name 'Martha Manning Laurens' printed on it. The freckled faced man sighed, looking down at the little girl who was next to him and that stared down at the grave as well.

She was small and had dark chocolate hair. She wore a light purple dress and dark violet dress shoes. Her chestnut eyes filled with tears as she hugged onto her father's pants leg.

John wanted to cry to but couldn't in front of his daughter. He smiled solemnly, lifting her up in his arms and kissing her on the cheek. He then whispering.

"There, there Frances… Your mommy wouldn't want to see you sad."

She looked at him with tears in her eyes before hugging her father's neck. He kissed her on the cheek again before rocking her back and forth. For a three year old, she was well aware of the situation at hand. She knew that her mother was gone and when she sensed that her father was sad, she would become sad as well.

"Mommy…" she whimpered as John continued to rock her in his arms, not noticing that tears were falling off of his face now and onto Frances' little dress. The girl looked at him and saw him crying. She kissed him on the cheek. "No crying."

"Heh.." he chuckled, wiping his face with his free hand. "You're right."

Martha was a clever and outgoing girl and John loved her for that. They met at a bar and the two grown attached. Going on dates every weekend, planning trips and even getting married on the shores of Hawaii. Once they had their daughter, they were even more happy.

They started to have family vacations like to Disney World and Hersheypark. The three would even go on cruises and go to waterparks. The group was as close and merry as ever. Martha's health began to decline however due to her having sickle cell disease. While she was dating John, she never really took the treatment or even talked to her doctor about it. She even hid that from him and lost her life due to it. John made sure to get his daughter checked for the disease and sure enough, she had no signs.

The freckled face man looked at his daughter before asking her. "Wanna have lunch with Mommy?"

Frances nodded, running to the nearby car as John smiled meekly at the grave. "Frances made you something for lunch Martha. Her sandwiches are the best."

The three year old came back with a bag of food. She went into the bag and took out the first sandwich which was labeled 'Daddy' in sloppy red marker on the zip lock bag it was inside. She handed it to him, causing him to grin.

"Thank you."

"This one's for Mommy." she said, taking out another sandwich and putting it next to the flowers that were previously placed. She then took out the last sandwich for herself and sat down next to the grave stone. John sat on the ground in front of his daughter before taking out the sandwich and taking a bite.

"Yummy!" he smiled as Frances took out her sandwich and bit into it.

"Yummy yummy!" she giggled before resting her head on the stone.

"Mommy thinks the sandwich is good too." John beamed, ruffling his daughter's hair. "You did a great job making them."

"Thank you Mommy." she said before kissing the stone. She then outstretched her arms to her dad.

"You wanna go home? Okay." he lifted her into his arms before picking up the sandwich off of the ground. "Say bye to Mommy."

"Bye bye."

He put the sandwich back into the plastic bag as they made their way to their car. Once he placed Frances inside, he notice another family staring at a tombstone on the other side of the grave yard. The tomb they were standing over looked new as if they were buried recently. Martha had only been buried for a year but for this family is seemed like their relative were buried a few days ago or so.

Standing over there was a bald man and a little girl. The man had dark skin and was on his knees as the girl hugged him. The girl was his same complexion and had short curly hair like his daughter except it was slightly longer. A green ribbon kept a portion of her hair out of her eyes as she hugged what looked like was her father. John wanted to investigate the situation further but didn't want to leave Frances in the car alone.

Sighing at the sad site, he scooped his daughter out of the car and made his way over to them. He put her down on the ground as John got closer to the duo. He frowned as the bald man had his face covered and the girl looked up at in worry.

"Sorry, if we're taking too long Mister." The girl apologized, sounding about five. "My dad and I just miss my mom. We'll be leaving soon."

"No, no, it's fine." John insisted. "I'm not the grounds keeper. I'm a visitor myself."

"Oh." the girl said as Frances walked closer to the scene. "You're here to see my mom too?"

"No, I-"

"Then why are you bothering us?" asked the bald man who looked up at John with a hint of anger in his tear filled eyes. "Just leave us alone…"

John looked down at the man who continued to cry. The girl looked up at John before saying. "She died a week ago…"

"Theodosia," the man spoke. "You don't have to tell him anything."

Theodosia nodded, hugging her father even tighter as John sighed. He was about to leave when he noticed that Frances came up and hugged the man on the ground. She then spoke.

"Her mommy doesn't want to see you sad."

The bald man's eyes widen as he turned to Frances. She smiled solemnly at him which caused her to hug the child. Theodosia let go of her father and started to visibly shake. Frances' words drew her to tears as well as John held the girl.

The four stayed at the graveyard a bit longer, comforting one another over the loss of their fallen lovers. The two families then parted ways as Frances and John headed to their car and drove home.

~I~I~

"Ready to have lunch with Mommy, Fran-"

He stopped and smiled as he saw Martha's grave stone. It was covered in flowers and stuffed bears. He also smiled as he saw Theodosia and her father, which he now knew was Aaron Burr, standing next to it. Frances ran up to the man and hugged him close as Burr smirked.

"Hey there Frances."

"What's all this?" John asked, walking over to the bald man.

"I'm returning the favor." Aaron insisted. "And also apologizing again for telling you to leave like that."

"It's okay." Frances giggled as Burr ruffled her hair. He then said.

"I also came here to ask if you two would like to come to our place for dinner tonight?"

"Yes!" The Laurens girl cheered as John laughed.

"Well you heard her."

Burr laughed as well. "Let me give you the address."

The two families then got back in their vehicles and made their way to the Burr household. John and Frances marveled at how nice their home looked and quickly parked the car. Out front, were vibrant colors of flowers that were aligned in a pleasant pattern of blues, reds, whites and pinks. Two rose bushes were placed parallel to one another so that they aligned with the small staircase that was out there.

The four made their way indoor and as Burr went to the kitchen, Theodosia sat the two down in the living room. She beamed as Frances jumped on the couch and John sat. She then asked.

"Do you two need anything?"

"Juice please!" The three year old insisted as her father shook his head.

"Nothing for me, thank you."

Theodosia grinned, exiting the living room as John looked around. Their living room had a flat screen over their fireplace, shining wooden floors and a glass coffee table. The couch that they sat on was a cream color and matched the armchair that sat adjacent to them. He wanted to look around the house some more as Theodosia came back with a cup filled with grape juice for Frances. John turned to her.

"Theo, can you tell me where your bathroom is?"

"The last room upstairs." she instructed, causing the freckled face man to nod and leave the living room. As he walked by, he noticed that Burr was no longer in the kitchen. He shrugged before heading to the staircase and walking up it. He looked into Theodosia's room and smiled. It looked just as unorganized as his own daughter's room, with clothes and toys everywhere. He closed her door before passing by Burr's room. He could hear soft sniffing in there as if he were crying.

John looked at the closed door before opening it gently. It made no sound as the man peeked inside to see Aaron on his bed crying. The bald man then looked up at a picture that he had above his bed. There was a family photo of Burr, Theodosia and a woman he had never seen before.

It was probably his wife.

"I can't do this alone…" he cried softly, holding himself in dismay. "I don't know what to do without you…"

John quietly stepped into the room and watched as Aaron continued to weep. "You've only been gone for a week but it already feels like you've been gone forever."

Laurens started to tear up. He felt this pain before. The pain that wounded his heart and brought him to tears. The thought that he was alone and no longer in control. The fear that he would slip away at not even his daughter could bring him back to how he once was. He felt this way after Martha died. He felt like it was his fault for not knowing what was going on with his wife. Like it was his fault for not knowing her condition.

Like it was his fault that she died.

Luckily, John had friends, family and his daughter to help him realize that it wasn't his fault. To help him believe that everything was okay and that he could raise his little girl on his own no matter how hard it may seem. But… Burr looked like he had no one. Only him and his daughter fighting an uphill battle.

With no one to help them through this..

John wiped his tears away before crawling onto the mattress and hugging Burr close. The darker man was stunned by this gesture but quickly wrapped his arms around him in sorrow. Aaron then cried.

"This is all my fault…."

"This was never your fault." John corrected, cuffing the man's face in his hands. Burr sniffled as the freckled faced man continued. "You couldn't control what happened to her and blaming it on yourself won't help. I should know. I loss my wife too… Heck, I loss my mother when I was twelve and while my father was in misery, I did my best to cheer him up. For Theodosia's sake, don't become depressed because it won't benefit her in the slightest…."

He wiped Burr's tears away as he smiled at him. Aaron smiled back, his tears still forming as he hugged the man once more. John then spoke.

"We can do this together if you want Aaron…"

The bald man stared at John with widen eyes before saying. "You mean it?"

"Yeah… I can help you through this and we can have a contest to see which one of our daughters is the true princess fanatic."

Aaron laughed. "I'm sure mine is."

John laughed as well as the two men wiped their faces and left the room to go start on dinner.

Fin.

Hope you enjoy this and see you in the next update whether that may be!