"Death leaves behind a heartache no one can heal, and a memory no one can steal."
She stood in front of the full length mirror in her room looking at her reflection. This girl looking back at her she did not recognize. This girl was a stranger in her own eyes. She wore a simple black dress that came down to her knees, her hair was down and fell in lose waves over her shoulders, but that was not the unfamiliar part about this girl. This little girls eyes were blood shot red from tears of a life taken way to soon. This little girl's hands trembled with fear ,as she tried her hardest to put her heart locket her father had given her around her neck. She kept looking for something in the mirror, she kept expecting to turn and any second see her father by her side offering his assistants with her necklace. That wouldn't happened today, or tomorrow, or any other day for the rest of her life, she thought sadly. A gentle knock on the door pulled Kensi from her thoughts.
"It's time." Jake said.
Kensi turned one last time to her strange reflection in the mirror. She ran her hands over her dress, making sure everything was neat and in place for the funeral. Once she was satisfied things were as good as they were going to get, she followed Jake out of the room.
"If you need me I will be close by." Jake said.
"I don't know if I can do this." Kensi admitted.
"Yes, you can. You're Donald Blye's daughter you can do anything."
"How do you know that?" Kensi questioned.
"Because, that is how your father raised you." Jake explained. The two of them paused when they reached the back door. Kensi took in the people that were now pilling in to morn the loss of her father. Most of the men she was seeing here today were former Marines. Then, one person in particular caught her eye.
"What the hell is she doing here?" Kensi asked, letting go of Jake's arms she had currently been holding on to.
"She got here last night. She said she wanted to be here."
"She only came because she had to." Kensi said bitterly.
"She wanted to see you last night, but you were already asleep, and I refused to let her wake you." Jake explained.
"Thank you for that. I have nothing to say to her, and I don't wish to see her ever. If I could avoid her for the rest of my life that would be fantastic." Kensi said.
Kensi exhaled and made her way out into the crowd. One by one people came up to her offering their sympathies, and their willingness to do whatever it was she might need to get her through this dark time. Kensi just smiled and politely thanked each of them, when inside she was ready to snap and erupt at any give second. Why did they find the need to say sorry, what would that change? Why must they all tell her what a good man her father was? She knew this better then anyone. Things like this were what were driving her closer and closer to her breaking point. She did not break though, no she refused to fall weak in front of these Marines. Instead she smiled, when inside she was dying, she turned her feelings off and let herself become a vacant shell of emptiness.
"Kensi." A woman's voice called from behind her. Kensi turned her attention to see the woman in question. "You are so grown up." The woman said.
"Amazing how much three years can change someone." She said bitterly.
"Kensi, I am so sorry baby."
"You have never been sorry for anything a day in your life. Why start now mother?" Kensi explained.
"Kensi, don't be like that I am here for you." Julia said.
"You're here because you have to be, no other reason."
"That is not true and you know it."
"If it wasn't true then where have you been the past three years? You moved on with your new life and your new family in Boston, and forgot all about me, about dad. So don't you dare tell me how sorry you are." Kensi shouted at Julia.
"Kensi, I came because you need me. I came to take you home with me." Julie explained.
"Home? You mean your home. This is my home. These men here, these Marines, this is my family, not you. Not him. Not Boston." Kensi explained.
"I am sorry you feel that way. But regardless of what you want or how you feel, you are under 18 so you have no choice in the matter Kensi. I am the only family you have left, you will come with me. So we can either make the best of it or you can continue to be angry, either way you don't have a choice." Julia explained.
"You always have a choice mother. Now, if you will excuse me I am going to say goodbye to my father. Incase you forgot he is the man you betrayed." Kensi said as she turned and walked away from Julia.
Kensi sat in the front row by herself as the memorial to her father carried on. She listened in a daze as kind words and memories of her father were shared. Her mind drifted away from here to a happier place, to a place where she was not fatherless, to a place where her entire world was not falling apart. She vaguely recalled bits and pieces of the service. It wasn't until her father's commanding officer had presented her with her father's medallion and the flag that she was brought back to the harsh reality she was currently living in.
"We cherished your father as much as he cherished you." He said.
"Thank you sir this is a honor." Kensi responded as she accepted the items that had been presented to her.
"The honor is all ours Miss Blye." The Marine said as he saluted Kensi.
After the service was over Kensi sat in her same position, as she watched the people pay their respects and leave. She sat their waiting until their was no one left but her. Gathering all the courage she had left, she removed the items she had sitting in her lap, placed them on the chair next to her, and made her way over to the place she feared most in the world. When Julia saw Kensi approach her father's coffin she stated out after her, "No." Jake said grabbing Julia's arm. "This is something she has to do alone." He explained to Julia.
Kensi reached out and ran her fingers over the wood, that held her most valuable possession in this life. For a moment she just stood there, unsure of what to say or what to do. "I am sorry." She whispered. She reached up and snatched the heart necklace from around her neck, "Keep me with you wherever you go." She said as she lifted the side of the coffin and slipped the necklace to her father.
Kensi turned walking off with tears in her eyes. Just before she left the room she turned, "I will never let go." She said as she took off running out the room.
A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Things after this chapter will start picking up a little bit as Kensi will make a decision in the upcoming chapters that will send her life on a new path, and find someone she never expected to find.