"My parents didn't discuss a damn thing my entire childhood- worked fine for them. Of course, when my mom died she hadn't told my dad where the coupon drawer was. Took him ten years to find it. Used a coffee can the whole time..."

"Ok."

"I don't care what anybody says, coupon can is not as good as a coupon drawer."

Season 2.1- Sadie, Sadie.

1976- One year later.

William stood and looked at himself in the bedroom mirror. He looked the same. A little more tired, perhaps, but no more than when the children were newborn. Images of himself and Lottie curled up in bed with baby Luke crashed into his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, trying to shake them out. He didn't want those memories anymore. There was no one to share them with now.

"I'm ready, dad," Luke said, appearing from nowhere at the bedroom door.

"Oh, great." William turned to look at him. "You want help putting your tie on?" he asked, noticing Luke's bare neck.

"No."

"You wanna do it yourself then?"

"No."

"Bud, I know it's uncomfortable but it's your mother's funeral. You have to wear a tie."

"No!" Luke shouted, on the verge of tears. "No!"

"Luke, I don't know what to tell you..."

"No, Dad! You told me that when you wear a tie you're saying to the world, 'Hey, I feel good today.'" Luke said, crying now, and falling over his words. "And I don't, dad. I don't feel good today!"

"Buddy..."

"Please don't make me put one on."

"I won't, I won't, it's ok buddy." William patted his son's shoulder, desperately trying to come up with a solution. "Hey what if there was a piece of clothing that let everyone know that you weren't feeling good today? Then you could tell me, without having to tell me. Make sense?"

Luke sniffed and nodded. "What would it be?"

William looked around and grabbed the thing nearest to him, a black baseball cap. He put it on his son's head.

"This cap," William said, softly. "Will remind me that you're not doing so good. It's black, like funeral clothes, so it matches your outfit too."

"It's too big."

"That's ok. It doesn't matter. You just wear this when you wanna let me know you're not doing too good. Nobody else needs to know about it. Just you and me."

Luke nodded his agreement, about to say something else when he heard little footsteps behind them.

"Daddy, I don't want to go," Liz mumbled, shuffling into the room. "My stomach hurts."

For the first of what would be many times, William asked himself what Lottie would do. He pressed his hand to Liz's forehead.

"You feel just fine, sweetheart."

"No, I feel really sick." Liz persisted, tears rolling down her cheeks.

William put an arm around her, and pulled her onto his lap, and sat Luke down next to him. "I feel really sick too," he told them honestly. "And, you know, if you really don't want to come, you don't have to. That's ok. No one will think any less of you, I promise. But see, I think going to this funeral might help me feel a bit less sick. And it might help you, too. And it would really mean a lot to me if you guys would join me, because I want us to be a team now, and help each other. You know what the strongest shape in construction is?"

The kids shook their heads. "A circle?" Liz guessed.

William laughed. "No. It's a triangle. And we need all three points of the triangle to make it work. So, are you in?"

Luke nodded and looked at Liz. She nodded too.

"I'm proud of you guys," William whispered to them.

Luke thought about that triangle metaphor a lot. It did make sense. But, he decided, he and his father were the bottom two points of the triangle. They supported the top point, Liz. And if any one of them wasn't there, it didn't work. The triangle became a line, and the line would fall over.

"Dad!" Luke yelled, clattering down the stairs. One week after the funeral and Luke had decided that they should try to get back to normal. He and Liz were back in school and his dad was back at work, although it felt like he had never really stopped working. It was strange that the world had kept moving without them, without Lottie.

William had his head in the kitchen cabinets and jumped when Luke yelled his name, banging his head hard.

"Geez, Luke! What the hell?! What do you want?"

"We have no food."

"We have loads of food."

"No breakfast food. It's all other people's weird casserole and lasagne. We hate lasagne."

"I know but that's what people make for you when someone dies."

"That's dumb. What are we supposed to give Liz for breakfast?"

"Listen, I'm about to go grocery shopping now, I just... I can't find..."

"What?"

"The coupon drawer." William heaved himself up and surveyed the room.

"You can't find the coupon drawer?"

"Your mom was always the one who dealt with all that stuff."

"Seriously? You never asked her where the coupon drawer was? Did you guys tell each other anything?"

"Hey!" William growled, turning to face his son. "You might be mad at the world but you cannot talk to me like that. I knew your mom better than anyone. I loved her more than anyone, with the exception of you and your sister. I know exactly how she wants me to raise the two of you from now on. I know she loved you more than anything. I know she wanted us to keep this house and I know she wanted you to have the greatest life I could possibly give you. She didn't have to tell me these things, because I knew. I knew." William took a deep breath, on the verge of tears. "The coupon drawer was not high on her list of priorities."

William looked around the kitchen and picked up an empty coffee can. He ripped the label off the front, and set it down firmly on the counter.

"You see this?"

Luke nodded.

"This is the coupon can. This is how we're going to do things now. It's different. Maybe it's not as good as it was before. But we don't have a choice. Because I can't find the coupon drawer." He sighed and sunk down into the kitchen chair.

Luke didn't know what to say. The sight of his father, sat there with his head in his hands in front of an empty coffee can, looking old and tired, rivaled his memory of his mother's grey face in the doctor's office that day. The day you see your parents as old is the day you grow up.

"Dad..."

"Go watch the store," William mumbled. "We've been closed for two days. We can't afford to lose business."

"Ok," Luke turned to leave. "I've got your back, dad. Y'know, if you ever need it."

"Thanks, son."

Thanks for reading! Leave a review and let me know what you think Luke and Liz's teenage years are going to be like! That can be a wild ride! x