This is set about fifteen years in the future. It could relate (very slightly) to chapter 20 Secrets, but it doesn't really matter. Michael and Fiona are married and have kids. Nate is married. Major character death warning, but this takes place at the end of the funeral.

I believe…that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

Michael stood there in the front row, shaking hands and nodding his thanks, hugging the occasional person, and waiting for it all to be over with. They would leave and the family would have their time. As the line of mourners dwindled and finished, he felt Fiona slip her hand into his, squeezing as reassuringly as she could given the circumstances. He knew Nate and his wife were on Fi's other side and that was reassuring, too. He had gone through enough of his life alone and this was, thankfully, not one of those things he had to do on his own.

Glancing down to his left, he could see his twelve year old son Connor wrap an arm around his eight year old daughter Kasey's shoulders and let her bury her tears in his suit jacket. They were all stifling in their funeral clothes, but no one really minded as much as they thought they would. It was a small sacrifice for someone they loved. The eulogy Sam had given was beautiful and mostly without tears. Michael and Fiona thanked him about a million times for doing it because neither of them could. Just then, Fiona wrapped her arm more fully around his and leaned into him, trying to get the comfort she had never been good at asking for. Michael obliged without hesitation as he had for the past week or so, during which the family had supported each other more than ever.

A small hand tugged on the side of Fiona's dress and the hem of Michael's jacket. "Why did Grandma have to go?" Kasey asked in a tiny voice that was so unlike her. She was much more like her mother and that had always amused Madeline, especially since it made Michael dread her high school years.

Letting go of his wife and kneeling down in front of his daughter, he replied, "Because it was her time and it may have been too soon for us, but it's best for her this way. She's safe and comfortable up in heaven and she is always watching over you. Ok?" Kasey gave a tearful nod as Michael lifted her up into his arms.

"But I don't want her to leave me."

"I know, baby. Me neither," he told his daughter as Fiona soothingly rubbed her back and he ruffled Connor's hair. "Come on. Grandma would have wanted us to have a party and celebrate her life, all the good times and stories about her." Connor nodded and straightened up. His parents were impressed with how strong he had been through it all.

"Connor, it's okay to cry you know," Fi said as they walked away from the grave toward their (now larger) car.

"I know, Mom," he replied, becoming lost in thought once more.

Worried by his silence, Fiona persisted. "What are you thinking about?"

He looked up to her quickly. "I think, the people we love the most are taken from us too soon so they can watch over us and let us grow on our own." Fiona looked over to Michael from the passenger seat with an expression that conveyed their mutual pride and amazement with their children.

"Yeah, baby, I think that's exactly why. What do you think Kasey?" Fiona replied.

The little girl nodded. "I think so, too," she replied and looked back out the window.

It was hard and emotional, but they got through it because they were family and when the going got tough, the tough got tougher. Michael let Nate have their mom's house on the condition that he could use the garage as a multipurpose safe house/interrogation room/general use secure facility. They stayed close as they still worked together often and Nate's wife picked up Kasey and Connor from school and watched them afterwards most days of the week. Everything was different, but yet it was still so much the same. It didn't matter; she was still gone far too soon.

In light of the promo for Shot in the Dark that shocked me for a few minutes, I thought I might do this for Fiona instead of Madeline. Of course that thought disappeared about three milliseconds after it formed. This was what I had in mind originally for it, I just hadn't sat down to write it until now. Please review and let me know what you think. One more chapter to go. Very much considering continuing this story with other quotes and snippets from different places. Let me know if you'd be interested in that.