*stumbles back onto Fanfiction after a seven-month absence* Gahh, YES, it really has been seven months. I really have no legitimate explanation, other than the fact that I've been busy and lacking inspiration to write beyond school papers. I haven't played CoD much recently, either; in fact, I missed the entirety of Volume 15. So if anyone wants to fill me in, please go for it, haha! Also, I was planning on wrapping up Beginning Again, but I've honestly lost interest in that story line. I'm just completely blocked for what to write next, and at this point, I'm not even sure if it would be worth it to continue. Do you guys remember that story? Would you want me to finish it, or should I just leave the ending up to your imaginations? Let me know, honestly.
Anyways, this is a one-shot songfic I've been planning for a while. I actually started writing it months ago, and I just found the partially-written document a few days ago, buried deep within my folders of mostly-crap. I'm just starting to get back into writing, so here is a little one-shot to kick off my fanfiction life again, haha. This is based off of Carrie Underwood's song, "Good In Goodbye," and I really love the lyrics to this. When I first heard it, it instantly made me think of Natara and Oscar, and the idea came from there.
Please let me know what you think, and if you remember me/my Beginning Again fanfiction, please let me know your thoughts on that, too! Enjoy!
It was a beautiful September day in San Francisco. There was a fresh, autumn breeze, and newly-fallen leaves danced through the air in colorful flurries of red, orange, and yellow. The sun was shining brightly, and birds chirped merrily, singing their pretty soprano songs to whoever would listen. Despite the cool breeze, it was the perfect temperature for sweaters and long-sleeved shirts. Finding the brisk-but-not-too-cold air a wonderful break from the sweltering heat we'd had all summer, Mal and I decided to take the weekend off from work for a nice day out as a family.
We strolled through Golden Gate Park, walking hand-in-hand with our two children, Halia and Asher. The latter––Asher, our youngest––soon got tired of walking, so Mal carried him. Meanwhile, Halia was busy telling Mal and I about the new friends she'd made at school the past week and the fun things they had done at recess.
"And then we played soccer," Halia continued excitedly, "And guess what?"
"What?" Mal and I both asked simultaneously, smiling down at her as she skipped in between us.
"I scored a goal!" she concluded with a proud grin.
"Wow, that's awesome!" I exclaimed, squeezing her hand as I returned the smile.
"That's my girl!" Mal laughed, playfully ruffling her long, brown hair.
We continued our walk, and Halia continued her stories. Asher had fallen asleep on Mal's shoulder shortly after being picked up, and was now out like a light. I figured the hour of playing on the playground prior had worn him out.
When Halia seemed to have run out of stories to tell, she resolved to jumping around in the leaves instead. Mal and I sat down on a bench near the large pile of leaves she was playing in to give our legs––and Mal's arms––a break. Asher woke up a few minutes after we sat down and quickly scampered off to go play with his older sister. They tossed leaves at each other and giggled loudly, frolicking around a large tree and rolling in the fallen leaves. Mal and I talked about anything and everything as we happily watched our two children have fun.
About a half an hour later, they both scurried up to us.
"Mommy, Daddy," Halia stated, "we're hungry!"
We both laughed, though I just then noticed that I was pretty hungry, too.
"Actually, so am I," Mal chuckled. "Whad'ya say we get something to eat?"
"Yeah!" they both cheered. Together, we started walking towards downtown. Once we got near the street, cars and buses buzzed around, so Halia grabbed Mal's hand, Mal took Asher's, and Asher grabbed mine.
"What do you wanna eat?" Mal asked me as we carefully walked down the busy street.
"I don't care," I shrugged, rather impartial. Anything edible would've sounded appetizing at that point.
"I've always admired your decisiveness," Mal joked, smirking at me. His blue eyes sparkled with humor.
"Funny," I laughed, tossing him a 'shut up' look since I couldn't punch him in the arm at the moment.
"Well, since Mommy doesn't care," Mal continued, looking down at Halia and Asher, "what do you guys want?"
"I want a cheeseburger!" Halia chimed, grinning up at us.
"Me too!" Asher agreed excitedly. "And a milkshake!"
Mal chuckled. "Alright, sport, you can have a milkshake."
"There's a café down the street that has really good burgers," I said, more to Mal than the kids. "Their milkshakes aren't bad, either."
"Sounds good to me," he concurred. "Lead the way."
We continued to make our way through the busy street, careful to keep a firm hold on the kids' hands. If let loose, Halia loved to run, and Asher would undoubtedly follow his older sister––most likely into the bustling oncoming traffic. As we rounded the corner that the café was on, Halia was again busy telling us a story; this time, it was of the game her and Asher had played with the neighbor's kids, both similar in age to ours.
Suddenly, I heard a laugh. Of course, there was much laughter on the busy streets during the day; but this one was extremely familiar. I glanced over in the direction of the noise, and involuntarily stopped in my tracks. There, less than twenty feet in front of me, was my ex-fiancé Oscar Santos. He was just sitting down at a table outside of the same café we were going to––the same café we had gone to together on countless occasions. Perched on his shoulders was a little girl with curly brown hair, no older than three or four. She was giggling at something said and held tight to Oscar's neck. Across from him sat a pretty woman with strawberry-blonde hair, who was very obviously pregnant. From the looks of it, she wasn't far from her due date. They looked happy; they were both smiling broadly and laughing, and I found myself smiling, too. It was a bittersweet smile to a bittersweet sight––one that I knew I would probably see, but never fully expected. It had been over five years since I'd last seen him, though time seemed to have been rather sweet.
Mal, noticing that I stopped abruptly, turned and asked me what was wrong. Still smiling, I wordlessly motioned to where Oscar and the woman––whom I assumed to be his wife––were seated. Mal looked over and smiled, too. For a few moments, I was unsure of whether to say hi, or silently pass them by. When Oscar happened to glance up, though, we made eye contact. We stared at each other for a split-second before we both broke out into grins. We walked over, and Oscar stood to meet us. The woman watched us approach with a questioning look, though she smiled politely.
"Hi, Natara," Oscar greeted once we were a few feet away. His tone was even and amiable, though a slight hint of nostalgia glinted in his eyes. "Hey, Mal." he added. Mal returned the greeting.
"Hey, Oscar," I replied, returning the friendly smile he offered. I could feel and hear the bittersweet tone in my voice, though I couldn't seem to keep it out. "It's been a while. How've you been?"
"I've been great," he answered with a jovial smile. I looked into his eyes, and I smiled back; not out of politeness, but because of what I saw within them. Unlike the countless 'Hi, how are you?' exchanges we'd had before, I could tell he wasn't lying this time. He was completely happy; and for that, I was happy, too. "How about yourself?"
I couldn't help but smile as I glanced over at Mal, then down at our two beautiful children. "I've been great, too," I replied. The little girl on Oscar's shoulders looked up at us with big, green eyes. "And who's this little one?" I asked, feeling a little awkward that we'd been standing in front of their table without going through introductions.
"This is Ciara," Oscar replied, hoisting her off his shoulders and into his lap. He smiled as she perked at the mention of her name.
"I'm four!" Ciara chirped proudly, holding out four fingers. We all laughed.
"And this is my wife, Heather," he added, smiling at her.
"Nice to meet you," she greeted, shaking my hand politely.
"Nice to meet you, too," I replied. "I'm Natara, and this is my husband, Mal." They shook each other's hand.
"This is Halia," I continued, glancing down at her. Suddenly shy, she hid behind my leg. "And this is Asher."
"I'm four, too!" Asher proclaimed, holding up four fingers like Ciara had.
"We're both four!" Ciara replied excitedly, beaming at Asher. Everyone laughed at this.
"She's not usually this shy," Mal laughed, referring to Halia, who still clung to my leg. "She was just gabbing up a storm earlier."
"She's adorable!" Heather commented. "We have a little girl on the way," she continued, placing a hand on her stomach.
"Congratulations!" I smiled. "Any name ideas?"
"I think we're choosing Skylar Olivia," Anna replied.
"That's really pretty," I commented as another bittersweet smile crossed my face. Oscar and I had talked about kids at one point. Skylar had been among the top of our choices for a child's name, whether female or male. Oscar caught my gaze and smiled back, the same look in his eyes.
"Thanks," Heather chimed, then asked, "Would you four like to sit down?"
Caught a little off-guard, I replied, "Oh, well, sure. As long as we're not intruding on your family time."
"Not a problem," she assured us. "And us with yours."
"Likewise," I said as Mal slid up a few extra chairs and a second table. Mal hoisted Asher up into a chair while I helped Halia. She was big enough to get into one on her own, but she, for whatever reason, was feeling shy and apparently did not want to perform the function herself.
We paused conversation of a moment as a waiter approached us and asked for our orders.
"Your name sounds familiar," Heather commented to me once we had ordered. "I think Oscar's mentioned you before."
"Oh, really?" I said, a little surprised. I glanced up at Oscar and briefly met his gaze. "Yeah, we're... old friends."
"Uh, yeah," Oscar interjected, looking at his wife. "We dated for a time. Remember that story I told you about when I almost got married, and some guy crashed through the roof in the middle of the ceremony? Yeah, well, that was her," he continued, motioning towards me, "and that was the guy," he added, tilting his head towards Mal.
Heather glanced at both of us then laughed. "You're going to have to explain that one," she chuckled.
Mal laughed sheepishly. "Well, you see..."
Over an hour later, we had all finished our food. In the grass a few feet from our tables, Halia, Asher, and Ciara were playing in a pile of leaves. Meanwhile, adult conversation was beginning to die down, and Mal and I sensed we should go––we still had some thing we wanted to do with the rest of the day.
"It was really nice meeting you two," Heather smiled, extending her hand to first Mal then me. "Your children are adorable!"
"Thank you!" I replied. "It was nice meeting you, too. And congratulations again."
Oscar and I then simultaneously turned to each other.
"Good seeing you again, Natara," he said with a smile, hesitating a moment before giving me a friendly side-hug.
"You too, Oscar. Glad we got to catch up."
"Halia, Asher!" Mal called as we walked over to gather our children.
"Hey, Ciara!" Oscar beckoned, following suit.
Halia and Asher scampered up to Mal and me, and Ciara bounded over to her parents.
"Stay in touch," Heather said as she took Ciara by the hand. "Maybe we can get the kids together some day. They seem to like playing together."
"Of course," I returned with a smile. "I'm sure they'd love that."
"Say bye to Ciara," Mal urged Halia and Asher.
"Bye!" they beamed simultaneously, each offering an enthusiastic wave.
"Bye!" Ciara returned with a wide smile.
As both parties parted ways, I couldn't help but smile at the events of the day. Running into Oscar was a bit of a surprise, and it was definitely bittersweet; but it was a pleasant surprise. Putting our past behind us, I was glad to see that he had found a woman who was devoted to him and could make him happy. I did love him while we were dating, and I had no doubt he would make a great husband and father for someone; but I knew that someone wasn't me. I felt pretty bad about essentially abandoning him at the altar, and I shed more than a few tears about it, and it was a hard goodbye, even though I knew I loved Mal. All of that aside, though, I truly was glad he found someone else. As much as the goodbye sucked at the time, and I couldn't imagine what long-term good could come out of that situation, it really did work out for the better of us both. Mal and I got married and began raising a beautiful family, and Oscar and Heather are undeniably happy together.
I guess sometimes, even when a situation seems hopeless or futile, there really is some "good" in "goodbye."