A/N: Meowser was having a bad day and wanted something family related... Oh, boy. I bet this was not what you wanted. And I'm sorry (at least a little), but it seemed like such a good thing to write and test my boundaries again.
Ned - 58
Katie - 55
Aaron - 51
Scott - 50
Mackenzie - 45
Lana - 36
Emma - 34
Asher - 29
Macy - 30
Willow - 24
Levi - 24
Emily- 18
David - 15
Enjoy xx Mariah
Ned's green eyes stared at the sky, following the path the sun made. Katie's head was in his lap; the wind kissed her cheeks as the sky turned his favorite color of orange and he found himself wishing they really could have frozen the moment. It was the first time in days they'd had a second to be alone.
The tears fell quickly and she wiped them away as quickly as they came. It had been a long day for both of them, an emotional one too.
"Katie," Ned brushed the hair from his wife's face and wiped a falling tear from her cheek. "Is there anything I can do?"
"No. There isn't. I can't do this. I just can't," Katie sat up and stood, looking at him. "Can you take care of dinner?"
"Of course," he loosened his tie and relaxed into the lawn chair. "Don't worry about a thing."
"Thank you," Katie whispered, hugging him before she walked into the house. "I love you. It's just too hard."
"I know," he sighed, rubbing his forehead and then pinching the bridge of his nose. "I love you too."0
"Dad?" Emily poked her head out from the house and walked out to him, her grey sweater clung to her with static as she sat beside him. "Is mom gonna be okay? I saw her duck upstairs pretty quickly."
"I'm not sure. She's probably not going to be alright for a while. This is hard for her. Losing grandpa was hard, but your grandma? That's... different," he sighed and laid his hand on her shoulder softly. "You look nice, honey. How are you doing with all this?"
"Grandma got it for me for my birthday last year. I've been going through all the things she gave me lately," Emily whispered, tapping her fingers on her leg. It was a tick he'd noticed Katie doing "I found an old gift she gave me... a book with a little inscription in her handwriting. I was thinking about getting it tattooed. Willow wants to do it too. Something small."
"That's a nice idea. Your mom might want to do something like that too if you ask her," he said as he smiled at her and then looked forward. Ned couldn't imagine a time without Melinda. "I'm gonna miss her too Ems."
"I wish she would've said goodbye, you know...? Grandpa did, but she didn't. At least not to me." Emily was very quiet when she spoke, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. He slid his hand into hers, squeezing it like he did when she was little. "I really miss her. Her hugs and laughs the most, but dad I miss her."
"It's okay to miss the ones we've lost," he whispered, pulling her in for a hug and laying her head on her father's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him. "We'll see her again one day. We'll see them all again."
Emily nodded, wiping away a tear from her cheek. "I never thought I'd see the chink in mom's armor again," she said idly, fingers brushing through her hair as they watch the sun drop slowly to the horizon and when she looked up at the sky it was a bright, natural pink that made her smile. "Not since grandpa..."
"I know sweetheart," he pulled her to his chest as she wept, finally letting her tough side go. "I know," she let him rub her sadness away and press a kiss to her head. "There have only been a few times when your mother has lost her fight inside her, but we just need to be there for her. She'll get through this just like the rest of us."
Emily sat up and wiped her tear-stained cheeks with a smile. "Grandma wouldn't want us to be sad," she said simply. "And there's a saying you know when one goes... another beginning comes. Macy being pregnant could be our beginning."
"That's a beautiful thing to say," he smiled at her, nodding to her. "Let's go get out of these sad clothes now. Where's Dave?"
"Inside with everybody else," she said as she stood, looking just like her mother for a second as she fidgeted with her skirt and messed with her hair once more. "What? Is there something on my face?"
"No, you just look like your mom. That's all," he said, smiling at her. He gave her another hug and pressed a kiss to her forehead as he stepped back and they walked back into the house. "Do you wanna help me out with dinner? I told your mom I'd take care of it."
"Sure. We can make some homemade pizza. That way we can get the little ones distracted with helping us," Emily smiled, going toward the stairs. "I'll be quick with changing."
It was as if every surface was covered in flowers or some sort of condolence card. Ned looked at all of them, it reminded him of when his mom had passed, and when Jim had too. There were so many flowers and so many people who came passing through, but who truly did they have left now?
"Where's mom? Wasn't she with you?" Asher stood tall in his suit with his sleeping daughter on his shoulder. His hair had faded from the bright blonde of his youth into a light brown like his mother and had a clean-shaven face. He was dependable and smart, in the ways they had wanted him to be. He was a GP and had a small practice in town with Lana. They have been trying to get Mackenzie to come to be their nurse and receptionist, but she didn't want to leave the ER quite yet. She still liked the adrenaline buzz a fast-paced night gave her. "I was thinking about dinner plans and stuff, and wanted to know what she was thinking."
"She's taking some time to herself upstairs. Emily and I are gonna make some homemade pizzas. I thought it would be " Ned explained as he stood in front of his family and the rest of the Clancy siblings and their families. "I think we can handle it on our own."
Willow was tucked into her boyfriend's arms and seated on the couch next to her brother David who was talking to Asher's son about some video on his phone. Mackenzie and Emma were in the corner with the little kids, occupying them while Scott and Freya were missing along with Aaron for some reason.
"I'll go talk to her," Asher went to his wife Macy, whom he met with a kiss as he passed their sleeping daughter into her arms. "Should we let her keep sleeping?"
"A little while longer," Macy replied, rubbing the girls back as she smiled at her husband. "I'll wake her when you come back."
"Okay, that's probably for the best," Asher said and then walked over to meet where Ned was standing in the foyer. "Are you gonna come up with me?"
"No, I think she needs some space Ash. Just give her some time," he cleared his throat, looking at his son. "I'm gonna get dinner started. Do any of you guys wanna take some flowers home tonight? I think the sheer amount of them all is not only overwhelming but upsetting your mother."
"Yeah, we can definitely take some. I know how it goes, dad. Just let me go talk to her," Asher replied and scratched the back of his neck, but still took the stairs quickly as he'd done as a child. "I'll be back in a minute if the door is locked."
"Asher," he called, sighing as he followed him to the stairs.
"Oh, let him." Willow smiled, rolling her eyes as she stood and came into the foyer. "Making sure mom is okay has always been Asher's thing ever since we were little. Are you sure pizzas are the best idea? That's a lot of pizzas for everyone here. Can you grill?"
Ned hugged his eldest daughter and kissed her forehead. "I guess I could grill," he shrugged. "We have some steaks in the freezer. There was a meat raffle the other day in the square."
"Yum, but anyways to lighten the mood... Derek proposed last night," Willow said suddenly, flashing her hand which Emily immediately took into hers to gawk at as she came down the last few stairs in comfier clothes.
"Oh my god! It's so pretty," Emily swooned, hugging her sister so tight. "It has a diamond and your birthstones around it! Ugh yes, please. I love it."
"You finally asked her!" Ned cheered and hugged Derek as he came into the foyer. "How'd you end up doing it?"
"You told my dad?" Willow looked up at Derek, wrapping her arm around him. "He made it kind of a scavenger hunt almost. I was cleaning up the apartment and found sticky notes about different anniversaries. The last one I found was on the box. I found it in his sock drawer when I was putting laundry away."
"I asked for his blessing a while ago," Derek said as he grinned at her. "Plus I wanted a second opinion on the ring to make sure you would have liked it."
"Well I love it," she blushed, looking to her dad. "I hope you gave him your blessing."
"I obviously did. He asked you, didn't he?" Ned hugged Willow a moment later. "I'm happy for you both."
"And to think you had Uncle Scott follow us on our first date," Willow laughed as she pulled back and smiled at him. "Well, you had him follow during all of my first dates so I guess I shouldn't say that."
"Does mom know?" He asked, shaking Derek's hand a moment later.
"I called her last night after I said yes," Willow nodded and guided her dad toward the kitchen. "Can we start dinner soon? I'm starving."
Katie had laid down on her bed, not caring about the damn dress she'd ironed this morning and most certainly not caring about the chance of covering herself in cat fur as she snuggled with Stitches Jr close to her chest.
It was the kids' decision after they'd gotten a new cat when their old furry friend passed to honor him in the name. Her tears spilled into the soft fur of the cat as she pet and held him to her chest.
She couldn't live without her mom. She just couldn't.
It would be too hard to drive past that house, knowing that no one would be living there. That they'd probably sell their parents bed, the bed that survived everything, that every Clancy child had slept on at least a million times before they graduated high school. Same As It Never Was would never see its first owner again, only Emma, who'd taken on most responsibilities since their mother had gotten older.
There were a few quiet knocks that made Katie sink further into the blankets, hiding from whoever it was. The cat jumped away and onto the window sill, his usual sleeping place unless one of the kids snatched him.
"Please Ned. I'm fine," she muttered, her face pressing into a pillow. "Just leave me be. I can't deal with this right now."
"It's me, mom," Asher said as he closed the door behind him. She heard him start pulling his shoes off. "I wanted to check-in." She sighed, moving to sit up and look at her son. She didn't want to talk, even to Asher. Not right now. The nearly thirty-year-old came to sit on the bed with her, sitting on the opposite side. "Are you okay mom?"
He was so handsome in a suit, just like his father.
"Oh, Ash," she whispered, looking at him. "I'm okay."
"No, you're not. Mom, please," he whispered and wiped away a falling tear off her cheek. "You don't have to act like you're a superhero. We all know you need us right now and we're all here for you. Grandma helped so many people, and so have you. Just let us help you now. All of us know how much she meant to you. If I ever lost you…"
She sat up and hugged her son, letting his strong arms hold her tightly. "Thank you, Asher." She whispered, kissing his cheek. "What did I do to deserve such a devoted and loving son?"
"You have gone through a lot while making everything perfect for all of us, and it's time we gave you back some of that..." He told her and then pressed his kiss to her cheek before he pulled back and smiled at her. "Now come on, grandpa Jim would've called for a group hug."
"He would've," she laughed as she wiped away the last of her tears. "I love you so much, Asher."
"Not as much as I love you mom," he smiled and stood up, holding out his hand. He helped her up, hugging her again tightly. "We'll get through this. What haven't we so far?"
"Very true. Now come on, we've got a group hug to initiate." Katie said as she pulled him out of the room, and the cat even came with too.