A/N: So this is more like a prologue just to set things up and introduce Tara before the next chapter, which should be triple the length of this one. This story is a kind of sister-story to The Good, the Bad, and the Undead, my Paul/OC story, so it will feature my OC from that, but it shouldn't be necessary to read that to understand this. I'm hoping to have the next part up by the end of the week!
"I don't want you to go."
Tara could barely bring herself to look at her little sister, Emma, who stood in the doorway with tears in her big blue eyes.
"…I know, Em," Tara sighed eventually "I know. But you saw what happened last week. I can't stay here. Nobody's happy."
Tara had called 'world war 3' in her head, but she doubted her sister would get the joke. Things between Tara and their dad had been going south for a while (ever since the event she referred to as 'the event which must not be discussed with anybody, ever') and it reached a boiling point, inevitably. This was the result. She was leaving home in New York to live with her aunt, their mom's sister, in Santa Carla and help her run her café there.
"I won't be happy when you're gone!"
Slowly, Tara lowered the dress she'd been folding before she approached the five year old, dropping down to one knee in front of her.
"I'm gonna stay with aunt Carolina in California for a while, but that doesn't mean we'll be separated, okay?" she spoke conspiratorially, standing and gesturing for Emma to follow "Close the door behind you."
The girl did so and Tara smiled at the anticipation on her face. She just hoped she could keep the mood light-hearted – the last thing she wanted to do was get emotional and upset Emma even more.
Tara moved towards her desk, the one she did all of her crafts on, and picked up the two trinkets that sat there. Emma had found small unoccupied space on Tara's bed, and Tara carefully moved some clothes to the floor before joining her sister and producing the first object. In the palm of it rested an earring, with a small silver butterfly with vibrant green wings dangling from it.
"Do you know who this belonged to?" Tara asked gently.
Emma's face told her all she needed to know, as she stared at the earring in awe "Mommy?"
"Uh-huh," she made a display of putting the earring in one of her ears "And now she'll always be with me, see?"
Emma was enthralled by this idea, and Tara smiled despite the lump in her throat, taking a deep breath in before she could continue.
"And this butterfly," she gestured to her ear "Has a twin. You don't have your ears pierced, but I guess they realised that because look what happened…"
She'd spend the previous night removed the butterfly from the other earring and attaching it to a hair clip. Carefully, Tara took it from her pocket and almost breathed a sigh of relief when Emma's face lit up with joy.
"And now," she put the clip into her sister's hair "Because we both have one, not only will we always be with mom, but we'll always be together too."
"Does dad have one?" Emma asked innocently.
"No, it only works for girls, so we need to keep it a secret or he'll get jealous…Don't tell Alison either, okay?" she whispered, holding out her pinkie.
Emma entwined it with hers, a wide toothy grin on her face that made Tara's heart melt. She quickly pulled the girl in for a hug so that she wouldn't see the tears in her eyes.
"Now these butterflies aren't like phones, okay? I won't be able to talk to you, but I will know when you're sad and I'll be sending you big hugs through them, okay?"
"Can I send you hugs when you're sad?" Emma asked very seriously.
"Of course you can, kid."