A/N: UPDATED UPDATED UPDATED (does happy dance). This chapter is told from Flack's point of view. For those who may be confused later in this chapter, Stella is not with Mac as may have been implied in an earlier chapter, she was just the first to respond to the scene. I have paired her with someone who may surprise you, but keep in mind this is a small part of the story. In this chapter you get to see how difficult its gotten for the Flack family.

Don't own them, never will, original characters are mine, song belongs to 3 Doors Down, haven't we been through this already?

Reviews always welcome.

And now again I've found myself
So far down, away from the sun
That shines into the darkest place
I'm so far down, away from the sun
That shines to light the way for me
To find my way back into the arms
That care about the ones like me
I'm so far down, away from the sun again

Away from the Sun- 3 Doors Down

I'm going downright bonkers here. Charlotte doesn't sleep at night, I'm up with her singing lullabies and rocking her to sleep; so far her favourite seems to be "Mr. Sandman". I swear I've sung that song over twenty times in the past three days.

I don't know what to do. It's funny, I find myself asking Danny for help more and more. He and Stella got engaged last year, and they have a little boy named Edward Nicholas Messer, who's about two now. I find that I'm asking him whether or not Edward had the same sleeping problems that Charlotte's having, and whether or not it's normal.

"Well, Flack, buddy, think about it…" he sat with me and Stella at my kitchen table while Edward and Charlotte sat under a blanket on the floor in front of the TV, watching Finding Nemo. "You and Angela are going through a… D-I-V-O-R-C-E… and she doesn't understand what that means."

"I know, I know that, Danno…" I exhaled sharply. "I know what this is doing to my girl, but I gotta know if this not sleeping at night is normal…"

"At three? Course it is… little girl nightmares are setting in, she gets scared… lotta kids do."

"Okay, alright…" I ran my hands through my hair. My eyes were itching, probably because I haven't slept in a while, maybe 3, 4 days? I love my girl, but this is getting to be too much. I gotta work 15 hours a day and come home to a little girl who's having sleeping troubles. Poor soul, she shouldn't have to deal with this.

"Daddy!" Charlotte tugged on my sleeve. "Nemo is over…"

"It is?" I asked, feigning amazement.

"Yeah…" Edward came over and stood beside her. "The whale almost eated them again, but then he blew them out through his head!"

I chuckled as Danny picked up his son and sat him on his lap. "That's called a blowhole, Eddie," he placed to cups of juice on the table. "Here, have some apple juice, you two."

"Thank you, Uncle Danny," Charlotte reached over and drank it down. Soon, I had to get Charlotte home… she had to go to Angela's the next day.

We tried, Angela and I, we really did. We tried so hard to make it work, but in the end, we couldn't. As I said before we've tried to remain friends for Charlotte's sake, but of course we're going to have our disagreements. We're parents, we're going to disagree on certain things no matter what it pertains to.

When I packed her overnight bag and poured her into bed, she opened one eye and said "Don't forget to pack Ellie."

She meant her stuffed blue elephant, Ellie. I'd won that for her at the NYPD police fundraising fair last fall. Guess whose idea it was to make the fundraiser a fair?

Angela's.

"I won't forget," I went to the toy box in the corner and fished out the stuffed animal. "See, I'm putting her right into the side pocket." I zipped it up, and leaned in. I kissed my daughter's forehead and smiled. "See? Now you won't forget her."

I saw her smile.

"I love you Daddy."

"I love you too, baby." I closed her bedroom door behind me. "Sleep tight."

I think that night she slept the whole night through.

I dropped her off at Angela's the next night, and immediately she ran into the living room and pushed the play button on the DVD player. What else would be in that machine besides… you guessed it… Finding Nemo. Angela stood at the door, her eyes fixated on me.

"Does she have Ellie?" she signed to me.

"She's got Ellie," I signed in conformation.

"Okay," she leaned in and gently kissed my cheek. "See you on Sunday Don," she signed and closed the door.

As I drove away from Angela's apartment building, I found myself drifting off into my own thoughts. I thought about Angela, and Charlotte, and the toll that this was taking on all of us.

No one said it was going to be easy. We both knew that going into our marriage we were different, and we were going to have to work at it. But somehow, it all fell apart, and we couldn't make it work.

If we hadn't had Charlotte to think about I'm sure we both would have split our assets down the middle and said goodbye, never to lay eyes on each other again.

But we can't do that, we don't have that option.

We have to think about Charlotte.

But right now, I just want to forget.

And I suddenly find myself standing in front of Ground Zero, holding tight to the chain link fence that separates the debris from the city, from me.

I close my eyes and feel myself stiffen.

I know the tears are coming, and I let them fall.

And I don't care who sees it.