"Uncle Nate?"
"Yes, sweetie?"
"When's Daddy coming here to bring me home?"
Nathaniel Grey stopped typing on his computer to look at his five-year-old niece. He gave a sympathetic smile before he gestured her to sit on his lap. Used to the kind of affectionate treatment from her uncle Nate, Mikayla Connie Grey sat on her uncle's lap, anxiously awaiting her Uncle Nate's answer.
"You miss him, huh?" he asked her softly. The pre-schooler nodded her small head. Nate sighed before answering her. "Honey, your Daddy's confused right now. And he doesn't want you to see him upset because… well, because he knows that then you'll get upset. He just misses your Mommy a lot."
"But when is he coming to get me? Faith keeps saying he'll come get us when he's ready and I want him to be ready now! I miss Mommy too but I know she's happy in heaven. I don't like it when Daddy's not happy," the young girl said. Something about the way she had said the last sentence, be it innocently or truthfully, it made Nate Grey close his eyes to stop his tears from flowing.
"Me too, honey. Me too."
Camp Rock – P.S. I Love You
"SHANE CORNELIUS GREY!"
Shane groaned as he opened the door of his apartment to let in his worst nightmare. Tess Tyler-Grey without her usual morning coffee. Beside the grouchy blonde singer, Jason Grey smiled sheepishly at his brother, silently telling him that he had done his best to try to keep Tess out of the apartment. Shane stuck out his tongue childishly at his brother, an action that was usually claimed by Jason.
"Oh, very mature."
Tess rolled her eyes in annoyance and dragged her brother-in-law to the kitchen by his ear, ignoring his outbursts of protests. Jason laughed as he followed the two, glad that he had married the blonde. After all, other than Mitchie, Tess was the only one who had the gift to get through to his brother.
Mitchie. Jason sighed as he thought about the sister he had lost less than a month ago to cancer. She hadn't deserved to live through the painful treatments that had not even worked in the first place, considering she was dead. She hadn't deserved to have left beind her beloved husband and daughter and everyone else who cared about her. She hadn't deserved to die.
"Shane, you have to stop doing this to yourself," Tess sighed, bringing Jason out of his thoughts of Mitchie as she handed Shane a glass of milk. The Connect Three rock star looked a complete mess. His hair was immaculate, making it perfectly clear that he hadn't been to his hair stylist in weeks, his facial hair unshaven and pajamas gave off an awful smell, almost as though they hadn't been washed in weeks.
Shane stopped sipping his milk and turned to glare at his sister-in-law, ignoring how she had taken a step back towards Jason. "What do you want me to do, Tess? Continue writing love songs when the person they're all written for is gone? Continue my life as though Mitchie had never left? Well, I'm sorry I cannot do that, okay?"
"I know you can't, Shane. And I know Mitchie is gone," her voice had started to quiver, "but it does not mean that you have to stop living your life. You have two daughters with Nate and Caitlyn who think you've abandoned them for Pete's sake!"
Shane winced at the mention of his daughters.
"They need you, Shane! Mikayla misses her mother so much that you being away from her is affecting her so bad she actually cries herself to sleep now! And she's only five! Faith's trying to be strong for the both of you but how much can a ten-year-old handle, Shane? So, please, for your two daughters, get off your ass and GO GET THEM!"
"I CAN'T!"
"Why the hell not?"
"Cause I can't raise them by myself! A child needs her mother the most and Mitchie's gone! Even when she was alive, the girls were closer to her and I was fine with that but now… I wish I knew more about them. Like she did." He put his head into his hands and fell on his knees, unwilling to let Tess and Jason out of all people see him cry. The only one who had ever seen him done it was Mitchie.
Jason watched as Shane's shoulders shook and silent sobs wrecked his body. He stopped Tess from saying anything else when he held up his hand at her, silently telling her to wait outside while he talked to his brother. Nodding her head slowly, she left the house. Jason picked his brother up from the ground and slowly guided Shane to the couch.
"Thanks," his brother smiled softly. Jason nodded and took out a piece of pink envelope before he handed it to Shane. He kissed the top of his brother's head before he left the house, leaving a very shocked Shane with a pink envelope in his hand.
Shane barely heard the door close behind him. All his mind was on was the pink envelope with Mitchie's handwriting on it. He traced his fingers along his name on the front of the envelope, knowing that it was his Mitchie who had last touched the paper before Jason.
He opened the envelope with shaky hands and felt tears sting his eyes as the familiar neat handwriting of Mitchie Elizabeth Torres-Grey came into view. Slowly and unblinkingly, he read the letter, hearing and seeing only Mitchie.
My Dear Shane,
If you are reading this letter then it means that I am no longer around. I am so sorry Shane. Sorry that I won't be able to tell you how much I love you anymore. Sorry that I won't be able to tell the girls that they're my little angels. Sorry that I'm not there for any of you anymore.
Shane, the point of this letter is to tell you to move on. Baby, I know you're terrified at the idea of raising our angels alone but I know you'll do just fine. I know you think that you're not enough for them but you are so very wrong, Shane. Yes, a child needs her mother the most but she also needs her father. You're just going to have to take on both roles now, I guess. And leaving them with Nate and Caitlyn is not the way to do it! Yes, Shane, I know you that well.
And you won't be alone. You'll be with Nate, Caitlyn, Jason and Tess and I am proud to say that they would be the perfect people to help you. Uncle Nate will be the sensible uncle, Jason would be the fun one, Caitlyn would be the smart aunt and Tess would be the aunt who brings them shopping. Of course, the aunts will be the sensible ones calming you, Nate and Jason down when boys start dating your daughters. And no, Shane, you are not to lock them in until they're 50.
You promised me, Shane Grey, that you would take care of Faith and Mikayla and you better do! They're my little angels and nothing better happen to any of them. They love and adore you, Shane. And yes, you're going to make mistakes as a father but honey, isn't that what life's about? You make mistakes but the key is to learn from them. Love them, Shane, like you always have and be their friend. Give them so much love that they never feel the absence of their mother. Please remember that I will always love you and that I'm watching over you.
Love,
Mitchie Grey
P.S. I love you, Shane. Never forget that.
P.P.S. Get out the door and fetch your daughters home! They miss you! Or I will personally come down there to kick your ass!
Shane laughed as he bolted to the front door and smiled when he saw his brother and sister-in-law waiting for him to get into the car.
Camp Rock – P.S. I Love You
"Mikayla? Are you okay?" Faith Grey walked into the room to sit on her sister's temporary bed, wishing that she was back at home with her father. Don't get her wrong, it's not that she hated being with Nate. It's just that she hated being away from her father.
"I'm fine, Faith. I just want Daddy," the five-year-old sighed. Faith smiled sympathetically and hugged her sister closer to her.
"Daddy'll be back. He just needs to clean up the house first," she tried to say it cheerfully. Mikayla, knowing her sister too well, raised her eyebrows.
"You don't have to lie to me, Faith. I know he's not coming back for a while. And you know what? Aunt Caitlyn said he's being very irrepossible!"
"You mean irresponsible?" A new, yet very familiar voice piped up from behind. Mikayla took no notice as she carried on with her rant while Faith stood rooted to the ground at the straight-haired ex-lead singer of Connect Three. In other words, her father.
"Yes! That's the word! Mommy would be very angry with him now and so am I!" the young child stomped her foot and sat on the bed with her arms crossed. From the doorway, Shane held out his hands and grinned when Faith came rushing at him and hugged him so tight he was almost gasping. But he didn't care. He had missed the small arms around his neck. Kissing Faith on her forehead, he knelt down in front of Mikayla, flinching when she frowned at him, reminding him so much of the woman he loved and lost.
"I'm sorry?" he held out his arms again. Mikayla rolled her eyes and hugged her father.
"I forgive you, daddy but don't do it again!"
"I won't, baby girl," he promised as he hugged both Faith and Mikayla. God, how could he have stayed away from them for so long? "I won't."
A/N: I'm quite proud of how this turned out! Please review!