The tree looked small, it's branches soft and bendy and the leaves looked delicate as the breeze made them sway. It was small compared to the towering gums that surrounded it. The wind rustled above them, the sky was clear and blue and dust swirled around their feet. In the background, the hustle and bustle of the zoo was filling the air. They had come out early, before the crowds because they didn't want the attention. It was a perfect as it could be, quiet, warm and the smell of the bush filled the air.

Four sets of small feet stood at the base of the tree, the feet of children. The last time they were here they were smaller, much smaller, but a year was a long time, a long time in the life of a child. And for one of them it had been a quarter of her life already.

This was Alfie's dream, his idea and from that little idea grew the plan to be here today. He wanted to come; he had begged them to come and his Pops had helped him write the letters; they included him in all the emails and talked to him about the plans and even today they let Alfie take the lead. It was his day, a day he wanted for himself and his sisters.

Exactly a year ago their lives were torn apart, their future as shattered as the twisted metal of their parent's car. They had picked up the pieces and like someone painstakingly trying to glue a priceless antique back together; it was slow and relentless. Sometimes you had to just apply the glue and sit and hold it for as long as it took to dry and hope it would hold.

It was never going to be as strong as it once was, even if it looked almost exactly the same.

Coming back here was never going to be easy and the closer they got the quieter it became in the car. Kim stared out the window at the landscape, dry and harsh as it whizzed by. But there was something about it, it felt familiar, it felt comforting and she felt close to them.

They had loved it here. The kids loved it here and they had thrived and were desperate to come back although now they were here it wasn't so exciting. They had been happy here with their parents. Perhaps in the back of Alfie's mind he thought that they weren't really gone, that maybe they were back here living life without them.

His reality was different. They weren't here, they weren't waiting for them and when that hit him, in that moment a hopeful little boy finally learned about the finality of death and his heart broke all over again.

But he planted his tree.

Crossing his legs Alfie sat under the sapling. "I love you Mom and Dad. I promise I will always come back to you. One day I'm going to come back here and live here and work at this zoo. I know I told you I was going to be a Cop like Pops but I think I want to be like Dad. This is my favourite place in the whole world. I always remember coming here with you. I'll make you proud of me Dad and one day I will marry someone like Mom, because she was the best."

Alfie told them about Lola going to her first party that included boys and how Pops freaked out and gave her a long lecture about how to behave and what boys are like and what they want. How he went on and on about when his Dad started sniffing around his Mom. He told them about Mae getting into trouble for being a little too descriptive in her oral presentation about animals at school, she'd slipped in some information about reproduction that the teacher wasn't expecting. His conversation about Iris and her insistence that she needed to teach Charlie how to crawl was cute. She was frustrated with him because he couldn't crawl despite them telling her that he was too young. It didn't matter, she kept trying. It was going to be a big day when Charlie actually did learn how to crawl.

He had done so well, he was brave and strong and then he fell apart. "I really miss you. I wish you were here. I am trying not to miss you too much but it's too hard. Please come back."

Lola sat down beside him and made Alfie sit in her lap, she cuddled him and whispered something in his ear and he smiled, a smile that lit up his face. Mae joined them and Iris soon followed, she wrapped her arms around Mae's neck and giggled before sitting down next to her sister and Mae held her hand. Everyone took a step back and let them have their moment. They were beautiful together, they had scrapped and fought some days but they knew that whatever the future bought for them they would always have each other's back. It was how they were raised. They had to rely on each other, there was no-one else that was going to love them as much as their parents taught them to love each other.

Adam wrapped his arms around Kim and they watched them. Despite Polly and Sam leaving guardianship to his sister they had decided that they were better off with Adam and Kim for now. They were all doing so well and uprooting them again seemed cruel when they were all happy to continue. Heidi and Hudson did however buy a house closer to Adam and Kim, just a few houses further up the street so that they were close by to help out. Everything they did now was for them, they had made it through the first year, barely and some days early on it seemed like it would never happen. It was rough, it challenged them, there were days when the grief overwhelmed them, when they never thought they'd crawl out of the hole. Birthdays came and went, anniversaries, Christmas and all those firsts but everyday they inched closer to living again.

They heard them laugh, they saw them smile and they watched them cry.

They watched them start to live again.

I don't know about you, but I cried so many times as I wrote this story. It was a challenge to write because I loved that couple and this family. I know they are fictional people but I am attached to them nonetheless.

Thank you for reading, I am not sure it's right to say I hope you enjoyed it, but I do hope I at least did justice to a story of what happens when you are a child and your world is shattered.