Title: Once More

Summary: A series of drabble-like vignettes based on the film Once.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Shock.


She wakes up one morning and knows, even without opening her eyes, that her husband is gone. The room feels lighter somehow and she can hear only Ivana's light breathing.

Her mother rails for days, chiding her for letting him go, for denying Ivana her father. She smiles at her mother sadly, cuddles Ivana tightly, and says nothing.

It is easier this way.

In the mornings she cleans. In the afternoons she walks through Dublin, clutching The Big Issue or sometimes wilting roses. In the evenings she plays her (his) piano.

Sometimes she plays Mendelssohn, sometimes Dvořák. Mostly, she plays her songs. The ones she has written in the past year, since he left. She wonders what he would think if she played them for him. She can't help but hear guitar chords accompany her as she plays.