Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Done for the January LJ challenge (weddings). I was listening to "Butterfly Kisses" while thinking of this challenge, and came out with this. Enjoy!
"Daddy, I'm scared," she said, her blonde pigtails swaying in the summer breeze. She balanced precariously on the bike that had only recently lost it's training wheels. "I don't want to fall."
"I won't let you fall," he promised. He took hold of the handlebars in one hand and the back of the seat in the other. "You just keep pedaling."
"Okay," she took a deep breath and tentatively put her feet on the pedals. She pushed off, and flashed him a big smile. "I'm doing it!"
"Yeah!" he encouraged her, struggling to keep up and hang on to the bike at the same time.
"Let go!" she said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! Let go!"
"Alright, I'm letting go," he released his grip on the bike and stood back. She was wobbling, but kept pedaling as she made it down the street. He stood at the end of their street and felt as though h e would burst with pride. But behind his happiness was a twinge of pain. Letting go was the hardest part.
"Dad?" Robert Brookes was brought back to reality by his daughter, who smiled at him a bit nervously. He smiled back, but she was no longer six years old. She was a vibrant, successful adult, and he was about to take the longest walk a father would ever have to. "You ready?"
"You bet," he said, offering her his arm. "Are you ready?"
"I've been ready, Dad," her cheeks blushed red for a moment as the doors opened and the wedding march began. "Just don't let me fall."
"Of course not," he promised, as they started down the aisle. Family and friends turned to look at them, most beaming and some (like his wife) in tears. He struggled to keep his composure as they reached the altar, a familiar bushy-haired boy—no, man—waiting for them. As the reality and significance of this moment hit him, he felt tears fill his eyes and run down his face. He desperately wished for a time machine….to go back to when he could pick her up and toss her over his head…when he read her bedtime stories of dragons and knights…when he….
"Daddy?" his reverie was broken for the second time that day by his daughter, who was sounding a little teary herself. "You can let go now." He looked down to find that he was still holding fast to her hand, when he should have put it in Chase's.
"Oh, right," he obliged as the crowd watched him with confusion. The couple gave him matching grins before becoming lost in themselves. As he went to sit next to his wife in the front row, he once again felt that twinge of pain. After all, letting go was always the hardest part.