This is the last chapter, and it went a little ranty from where I was trying to get it, but nonetheless I think it ended up in a nice place.

Alison: My sounding board. You are one of my best friends, I swear, and this would never have been posted if you hadn't told me you thought it was any good.

Chrysti: -Pats- I didn't mean to make you cry hun...hell, didn't mean to make anyone cry, but I guess when you're writing it and crying...

Nyos: I know you wanted Nigel in this, but it was just supposed to be a short fic about what would happen if Renee and Garret had a daughter and then Renee died, but I'll throw in some Nigel in my other fic for yah.

Itsonlyme: I had to add some humor in for a chapter that angsty.

Looking up from the letter with tears in her eyes, Natalie collapsed into Eric, fighting sobs.

"That bad baby?" he smiled, only to wince slightly when she punched his arm.

"Shut up! It's not funny!" She showed him the letter. "Read it. How the hell would you react?"

After reading it he looked up, putting it on the coffee table before pulling her into a tight hug.

"I don't know what to do." She whispered, sounding choked up. "She's my mom but...I hate her, and I hate that I hate her, but I do."

She could feel his hand stroking her hair and found comfort in it, knowing he'd always be there for her. Natalie curled into him slightly, tears slipping down her cheeks.

"I-I should go talk to dad."

"Want me to drive you?" He asked softly.

"Yeah. I don't think I could drive myself right now."

"Okay."

Half an hour later he pulled up in front of the Commonwealth and let her out. "Call me when you want me to pick you up?"

"I think I'll just stick around till Dad goes home, but I'll see you in psych tomorrow?"

"Yeah, okay. Bye baby."

"Bye." She shut the door and went into the building.

"Dad?" She spoke softly, as she knocked on his door.

Garret sat up with a start. "Hey. What it is honey?"

"I read it." She said with a small smile, walking into his office. "What's up with you? You looked all deep in thought."

He blinked hard. "I was just thinking about your mom." He shook his head slightly. "I loved that woman till the day she died. And I still do. It's really too bad you don't remember her. But anyway, what did you need?"

"She wrote something to you at the end. Figured I should show you." She chewed her lip and handed him the letter.

He took it from his daughter's outstretched hand and opened it, reading the last paragraph, feeling tears in his eyes and holding them back.

"That last sentence is so undeniably her." He smiled, remembering the good times they'd shared. "God I miss her."

"At least you got to know her for a while Dad. All I got was the letter."

"But at least you didn't have to see the pain she was in at the end Nat. It was so hard to watch. You know, I was almost happy when she finally died? Just because she was out of the pain she'd been in for so long. I didn't know how I was going to survive without her honey. The only thing that kept me going at the time was you."

"You have NO idea how hard it was Dad. Not knowing anything about her. I mean, you'd never talk about her. No one else had anything good to say about her."

"It's hard, so hard, for me to talk about her. When she died, it was like my world had dropped out from under me."

"And what? Every time you saw me it made you think of her? Is that why you were so damn distant? I mean, I never really had a mother, and you can barely say I had a father."

"Natalie!"

"What? It's true. You were hardly ever around. Just like with Abby."

"Natalie Claire!"

"Stop it! Stop saying my name! Talk to me goddammit! I wanna know what she was like, I always have! Would you fucking tell me!?"

He stood up. "Natalie Claire Macy! Watch your mouth!"

"TELL ME."

He sighed. "Sit." He waited until she complied before sitting back down. "First of all, do you know why I never remarried?"

"Because you couldn't find anyone to love someone as prickly as you?"

"No Natalie. Because I love your mother so much. I couldn't bear the thought of ever being with another woman"

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"Tell me what she was like. Please."

"I'm getting there."

"Then get there faster."

He sighed, leaning back in his chair, running one hand over his head before he started talking.

"Your mother was...the most amazing woman I've ever met. Strong willed and a bitch too, but she was also the sweetest person I've ever known. I mean, when it was just her and I, she was so different from when she was in court, and hell, in public. She was so cold, but at home changed." Garret sniffed softly, trying not to break down. "And she was beautiful. So beautiful. I still hear her laugh like she's here. I mean, I know that sounds weird, but I do. You look just like her you know, except for your nose. That was all me."

She just sat there, watching him, listening to him describe Renee Walcott, her mother.

"And...God, I loved her. So much more than I thought I could ever love anyone after Maggie left me. I was the first one to accept her as she was, or so she said." He had to close his eyes for a moment, all the memories of the two of them flooding back, happy moments, and painful as all hell-kill me now moments. He remembered their first kiss, the first time they made love, their first date (Which came after the other two) and everything since then.

"Dad?" The eighteen year olds voice broke through his thoughts. "You still here?"

He opened his eyes again and looked at her, before pulling out the picture of his wife from under a file, having been looking at it after she left.

"Yeah. I'm still here. Just...thinking about all the things that happened between her and I." He sighed and got up, walking over to the couch and sitting beside her, smiling softly as she leaned into him.

"You miss her?"

"Yeah." He sniffed again. "Every day. Every single day. Hell, not a minute goes by when I don't think about her. So you wanna know why I was always so distant? Because you look more and more like her as grow up, and it always reminds me of how much I love her, and how much I miss her. And I always will. I mean, I know that there's no way I'll ever be over her...but...I think it's time for me to move on. Especially now that I've given you the letter, and read it myself. What do you think?"

"Yeah. Me too. But..." She dissolved into tears again. "I miss her Daddy."

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "I know." It was when he was sitting there holding her that he finally allowed his tears to flow, tears he'd been holding in for almost eighteen years.

Renee watched them with a smile, happy that he'd said that it was time for him to move on. Like she'd said in the letter, she'd watched them. Every day since she'd died, and she knew it was time to stop, time to move on herself. She just wished he'd been able to say it sooner, and maybe remarry (again) but she knew it was too hard.

But she'd watched, seen every milestone, and helped them anyway she could when they needed the help. But it had to end. She knew now that she was just a voice on the wind.

This is actually my first completed fic, and I'd have to say I've done a pretty good job...but let me know what you think by using that little purple button down there, okay?