A/N: Hey! Here's another chapter :). If you're enjoying this, you should go check out my stories "Crumble", "Crash", and "Burn", which are about pediatric brain cancer. Yes, Crumble is Intelligence and Burn is CM/Intelligence crossover, but you don't have to have watched Intelligence in order to read the stories and like them. Plus Crash is all JJ and Crumble is half JJ SO GO READ THEM PLEASE? I LOVE YOU GUYS K IM DONE
Xx
"Daddy, can we go for a walk?"
Will looked up from his newspaper to see his little girl practically bouncing as she stood in front of him. If she wasn't bald, losing weight, and white as a ghost, she would have been seen as the image of perfect health.
"Sure princess, same way?"
Isabel nodded.
"Alright, you go get Lucy, I'll go get Lucy's leash, and meet me at the front door."
"Yay!"
Isabel practically ran off, her light blue scarf swaying out behind her.
Will and Bell stepped out into the warm summer air, the sun reflecting off their matching blue eyes, Lucy running out in front of them. They turned left out of their driveway, crossed the street, and headed for their favorite path. Isabel played with the tennis ball she'd grabbed for Lucy, tossing it back and forth between her hands, her long, bony fingers catching it each time.
'At least she still has her coordination' Will thought.
"Daddy, why is mom so sad all the time? Is it because of me, or what happened to Henry last week?"
"No sweetie, mom is just worried about work and not being here all the time, which is why I volunteered to stay home this week." He put his free arm around his daughter as he explained JJ's feelings, not wanting her to stress out even more.
"Alright. At least I'll be back in the hospital soon, and you guys won't have to worry so much, because there'll be doctors everywhere, right?"
Will nodded and gave Isabel a squeeze, his arm immediately feeling her sharp shoulders.
They headed into the woods and down a large hill, their path starting to switch from asphalt, to grass, to sand.
"Daddy we're here!"
Will chuckled, let Lucy off her leash, and watched and Isabel dashed onto the beach, the little dog following close behind. The waves of the Potomac River crashed every few moments, and as the breeze stirred Will remembered how his daughter would let her hair down and stand with her back to the woods, her arms down at her side as she felt the water run over her bare feet. Now, she simply focused on Lucy, throwing the small ball as far as she could as the pup chased it with all her might, and brought it back every time.
Will slowly made his way over to them, relishing in the bliss of the moment. He prayed this wasn't the last time he would ever make this walk with his daughter, and that they would continue to make memories on this very beach as the next years passed. He prayed they would play with Lucy until her time came, and that Lucy's time would be well before Isabel's. He prayed Isabel would beat her cancer, and that she would spent the next eighty years of her life happy and healthy. Most of all, Will prayed that she would continue to experience the bliss they were enjoying in that very moment.
"Mind if I give it a go?" Will asked as Lucy bounded back to them and dropped the ball at Isabel's feet for the upteenth time.
"Sure!" Isabel chuckled and handed the tennis ball to Will, standing back and watching as he threw it nearly three times as far away from them as she did. Still, Lucy ran for it, gathered it into her mouth, and came back to them.
"Let's sit."
Will and Isabel found a spot where they were shaded yet still warm, and where their feet would still soak in the waves without their whole bodies being splashed.
"Isabel, we've come here ever since we moved here, and I want to continue to come here with you even after we move someplace else. This place is our place-it's where you and I come to have bliss, to get away. I love this place, I love Lucy, but most of all, I love you. You're my strong little girl and my princess, and I always try to protect you, and one of the ways I protect you is taking you here. But darling, I can't protect you from your sickness, you have to protect yourself. You have to be strong, and let the medicines work so you and I can keep coming here, understand?"
Isabel looked up at him with tear-filled eyes,
"Yes daddy, I understand. I'll fight, I promise."
Will kissed her on the cheek,
"I love you, so much."
"I love you too daddy."
Lucy buried herself in a small nest of warm sand next to them, and as Isabel slowly leaned deeper and deeper into Will's chest, he watched the sun set in front of them, the sky going from blue to orange to pale pink and purple. He tapped Isabel's small arm,
"Look princess, the sky is your favorite color."
She sighed happily,
"It's so pretty, like mommy."
Will smiled,
"Yes, it is very pretty like mommy, very very pretty indeed."
This chapter is dedicated to the wonderful man that is my hero, my best friend, and my number one fan- my dad. My dad gave 28 years of his life serving our country, the United States of America, in the army. We lived at Fort Belvoir ourselves, and one of our favorite things to do together was take our dog, Madeline, down for walks on the Potomac River. I love you daddy
