9/11 Remembrance Day
Mac looked up at the memorial in front of him. It was seven years ago today that he had lost his wife Claire in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. The love of his life had been cruelly snatched away.
"Mac, is this it?" The young man next to him was unnerved. This was the place that his mother had been killed. He'd wanted to know her so much, but he'd never got the chance.
"Yes, Reed. It is." Both men stood in silence. They wished and wished for one more opportunity to see Claire, hear her voice. Her death had touched both of them. It hurt them both so much that she was gone and would never be coming back.
Mac and Reed stayed there for another hour, thinking of their lost love and the terrible way she had died.
"Reed?"
"Yeah, Mac?"
"Wanna grab a bite to eat?" Reed was Claire's son. He was a part of her and Mac was never going to let go of that fact.
"Sure." 9/11 had destroyed Mac's life and had almost drove him to suicide. It was only his friends, family and his job that had saved him. Also there was the fact that Claire would want him to live on and he'd never dare betray her memory by killing himself.
She was a wonderful woman, who always put those around her before her own wellbeing. Her blonde hair shone and made her the imitation of an angel, his angel. The angel he had been married to for 12 years. All the way through those years, he'd never imagined being with another woman. Now he had Peyton.
Claire would want him to be happy. He knew that, but it still didn't stop the niggling feelings of guilt at the back of his mind.
Mac and Reed strolled to a nearby diner and sat down at a booth. Each man's silence was the other's salvation. Neither wanted to talk but just wanted to sit and reflect, on what could have been and what was.
Since Reed's abduction by the cab killer, he and Mac had grown close, almost like father and son. Reed's parents didn't really pay much attention him after he'd decided to track down his birth mother. They'd thought it was a kick in the teeth after all they'd done by adopting him as a baby. Mac was as close to a father as he was ever gonna get.
They both sat there and ate their food in total silence. Mac carried on thinking about the women in his life. Claire would never be completely removed from his life, she'd been the love of his. Now that he was with Peyton, he could finally begin to think about the future. There was one thing he knew for sure. He wasn't letting this one go easily, at least not without a fight.