A/N: Just a little forewarning, this one is not happy. It's not dark or scary or mean or anything like that, it's just kind of depressing. But hey, it's a depressing prompt. I don't think I could've made a happier story out of it. It was kind of hard for me to write this one, because I had a couple of other ideas bouncing around in my head, but I wanted to get another oneshot for the challenge out, so here it is. I don't think it's too bad, but hey, you're the reader, so you tell me!

Also, I have to point out, this is the tenth oneshot, thus putting me one-third of the way through the challenge! Whoo-hoo! Feel free to do a happy dance for me.

Disclaimer-I don't own Life with Derek, nor was any copyright infringement intended.

When I go to heaven, I'm going to meet...

Erika Venturi sat at her desk working on her college entrance essays. "These are so ridiculous," she mumbled as she looked them over. "'If you could be an animal, what animal would you be?' 'In your opinion, what's the greatest novel ever written?' These are so dumb. Who cares?" She sighed and lay her head down on the desk.

"Honey, are you okay?" Casey Venturi walked in carrying a tray that had a sandwich, some potato chips, and a glass of milk on it. She looked at her daughter. "College entrance essays, huh? Yeah, I remember how much those sucked. Let's see your prompts." She picked up the pages and read them. "Wow, I can't believe that they still use the exact same prompts. You'd have thought that in the almost 30 years since I went they would've gotten better prompts. Wow, wait is that right?" She quickly did the math in her head. Left for college at 18, got my bachelor's at 22, finished grad school at 26, married Derek at 27, had Erika at 28, she's 18, that's 10 years after college, plus her 18 years, that makes 28 years. "Wow, doesn't feel like that long." She sighed and pushed Erika's hair out of her face.

"It's hard to believe you're that old, mom."

"It's hard for me to believe I'm that old. I still feel like I'm seventeen. It still feels like your dad's going to walk through that door and start an argument with me about getting better grades, or hanging out with his friends, or something equally dumb." She had a small smile on her face, and she looked back down at the paper. "Hmm, this is a new prompt. 'When I go to heaven, I'm going to meet…'. The possibilities are endless."

Erika sighed. She had seen that one, and was unsure about taking it. "Yeah, right. You know who I would write about, and I wasn't sure if you could take it. I would probably have to ask you some stuff, and you never seem all that eager to talk about it."

Casey looked at her daughter with tears in her eyes. "You know that you can ask me whatever you want. Just because it's not something I enjoy reliving doesn't mean I won't tell you about it. You deserve to know. Besides, all the years before it were wonderful."

"Okay. Well, maybe I can get started on my own, and if I need some help I'll come find you, okay?"

Casey nodded and squeezed her daughter's shoulder as she walked out of the room.

"Great, now I have a topic. Now the hard part, actually writing it.

Most little girls look up to their fathers. They believe that their daddies can do anything in the world, make anything feel better, fix any broken toy. As a child, I never had that feeling, that sense of security. My father died a short while before I was born. So, when I go to heaven, I'm going to meet my father. I'll find out what he was like as a child, what brought him and my mother together, and I'll tell him about myself. I'm looking forward to meeting him.

I'm interested in what my father was really like when he was growing up. My grandfather always says things like, "high spirited" and "quite the handful" but I get the impression that there's more there than he's letting on. I feel that maybe my father was a bit of a trouble maker, or maybe even a BIG trouble maker, but no one wants to talk about him like that. To me, that seems unfair. Everyone else has these memories of him stirring things up, and I get nothing. If he caused problems, he probably had fun doing it. Just tell me, please! When I meet him, I'll finally learn the truth.

My mother has told me her side of the story, but I would like to hear what attracted my father to my mother. Like I mentioned, it sounds like my father liked to cause problems, and my mother is the exact opposite. She's very calm and collected, and she prefers to fix things rather than stir them up. I just wonder how the two of them got together. My mother says that it was mostly just being in close quarters during their adolescence, as a result of her mother and my father's father marrying when they were fifteen, but there must have been more than that. She's told me that opposites attract, but surely not that opposite? What about my mother made my father fall in love with her? I want to know these things, but I can't know them until I meet the only person who has the answers.

I can't wait to meet my father, so that I can tell him all about me. I know that they say that he's watching down from heaven, and I'm sure that he is, but I don't know for sure because there's never been any proof. I want to tell him what I've done, what I've accomplished. I want to let him know these things so that I can see that look on his face, the look I see at awards ceremonies and at graduation, that look of, "Yep, that's my daughter, and I couldn't be prouder." I miss that look, and I've never even seen it.

I want to see the look of pride on his face, find out what he loved about my mother, and discover the truth about him when he was growing up. When I go to heaven, I'm going to meet my father, for the first time. And it will be one of the happiest moments of my life.

Erika brushed the tears that had fallen away from her face, and she brought the paper down to her mother. "Hey, mom, I'm finished. I think it's good, but I'd like you to read it, just in case there's anything you'd like to add."

Casey nodded and took the paper from her daughter. When she finished reading it, tears were streaming down her face. "He's so proud of you, honey. I know he is, because I am, and there's no way he couldn't be." Erika hugged her mother, while both of them cried over a man who had been gone for 18 years, but was still missed.

------------

Derek looked down at the two of them on the couch, crying, and he thought about them. He wouldn't have left them if he had been given the choice. He would have gladly come out of that accident and lived his life as a paraplegic, or even a quadriplegic, just to stay with that amazing, caring woman, and to watch his daughter win awards, then say, "Yep, that's my daughter, and I couldn't be prouder."

A/N-See, sad. But kinda happy too, I mean, he is proud of her, so...I dunno where I was going with that. Review!