Natalie dropped Lucy and Andrew off at the elementary school, and then drove back home to work. She spent a lot of her time working out of the house nowadays, because most of her work was organizing meetings. She met with people outside, of course, but this way worked out best. She could be with the kids and still keep her job full-time.

The house phone rang at eleven, and she got up to pick it up. The caller id said it was her dad, which was strange, because he never called during the day.

"Hi, dad," Natalie said. "Is everything ok?"

"No," he said. "No... it's not. It's your mom. She's..."

She heard his voice break then, and heard the tears behind it. "She's gone," Natalie finished, remembering when she'd said those words eighteen years ago after the high school dance.

"Yes."

"How?"

"Apparently she had a stroke. Uncommon, because she wasn't that old, but she's been unbalanced ever since she'd been put on so many heavy drugs, and her blood wasn't quite right... She died this morning, suddenly."

"I'll come over. Let me just call Henry and sort out the kids- when is the funeral?"

"Probably this weekend sometime... I haven't thought about it yet."

"Just give me a couple hours and I'll be there. And dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?"

He was silent for a long time. "Sure, Nat."

When she hung up, she called Henry right away. It was only eleven o'clock, and he was still teaching and knew he would be for another hour. She smiled when she heard his voice mail:

"Hey, it's Henry. Not here right now, leave a message and I'll call you back-" the ending was cut off, because while he'd been recording it, he and Lucy were in the kitchen together. She was about to pull a cake in a big metal pan right off the counter, and he'd hung up his phone right away to stop her.

"Hi, Henry. It's me. So... God I don't want to say this in a voice mail, but I don't know when you'll be able to call me back so I'll just tell you. My mom died today, and I need to go to my dad's... There's a lot of stuff to talk about, so please just call, ok?"

When she hung up, she didn't know how long she had to wait. She called her boss and told her that she'd be taking the rest of the day off and the next two days because of a death in the family. She packed a suitcase and laid out some clothes for Andrew and Lucy, their nice clothes and clothes to wear during the rest of the weekend. She couldn't leave until Henry was back from work, and he usually got home around 5, depending on how many private lessons he taught after school.

But at noon, the door opened.

"Hey," he said, walking right up to her and wrapping her in his arms. "Are you ok?"

She nodded into his chest, glad that he was there. "Thanks for coming home."

"What else could I do? How are you doing?"

She looked up. "I'm... strangely ok. I haven't cried yet. Is that bad? Is something wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong with you, honey," he said, and hugged her again. "What can I do?"

"The funeral's over the weekend... I was going to my dad's now, actually. Can you pick Andrew and Lucy up from school? Andrew was going to have a play date with Katie Schmid, so can you call her mom? The number's on the refrigerator. I left some clothes out for them on their beds, but you still need to pack their toothbrushes and things like that. Oh, and can you call the hotel near my dad's, and get us a room for the weekend? Right, I forgot to tell you to bring them up to my dad's... well can you meet me with them as soon as you can? And-"

"Nat," Henry said. "Don't worry about it. I've got it. School's out at 2:30, so we'll leave from there. Are you ok going by yourself? Do you want to wait and come with us?"

She thought about it- being with her five year old daughter and seven year old son sounded at first therapeutic... until she remembered they'd be on a car trip, and they'd be grumpy and nightmarish. They would be better behaved with Henry, anyway, who was the 'fun one.'

"No, I'll be ok. I need some time to think."

He nodded, and kissed her. "Well, call me when you get there, ok? We'll probably be there around five."

"Ok. I love you," she said. "And thanks."

"Don't thank me- it's our job to be here for each other. Have a safe trip, and I love you."

"Tell Andrew and Lucy to behave themselves, and that I can't wait to see them tonight."

And, once they loaded her suitcase in the car and she'd kissed Henry one more time, she was on her way. Her eyes felt dry, and she felt abnormally calm about the entire experience. All the way to her dad's, she was in control.

It was bound to happen sometime, she thought. You knew she wouldn't be around forever. Maybe that's why you're not too upset. Or maybe you're just an ungrateful bitch of a daughter.

She wasn't even distracted. In fact, she found herself turning on the radio at one point, and turning the music up too loud like she couldn't do when the kids were in the car. But when she pulled up in front of her dad's apartment complex, she instantly felt guilty. She hadn't even seen him yet. She got out of the car and went up to his floor, taking out the key. When she came in, she knocked on the door frame.

Dan was seated in a chair, his shoulders slumped, with a handful of pictures in his hands. When he looked up, Nat saw her dad's face was streaked with tears.

"Oh, dad," she said, and went over to give him a hug. He embraced her and sobbed into her shoulder like he'd never done before. She'd never been good at comforting people- Henry was always better at it (though she didn't think that her dad wanted Henry to comfort him).

"She was so fantastic," Dan said. "She really was the smartest woman I ever knew- until you came along, Nat," he said with a smile. He picked up a photograph Natalie had never seen before. It was obviously her dad and her mom, but they were younger than she'd ever seen them. "This was in college, right when we started dating. God..." he didn't finish, just kept looking through the pictures, flipping from ones she knew to numerous ones she didn't. She saw a couple of her mom holding a bundle in a blue blanket. She looked away, on principal. It seemed private, somehow. That part of their life was one she was never part of, or welcome in.

Her phone rang then, from Henry. She realized she'd forgotten to call and tell him she arrived.

"Hey," she said. "Sorry- I just got here."

"It's ok. I was just calling to tell you that we might not be able to make it up tonight."

"What? Why?"

"Luc just threw up," he said, sounding tired. "In the car. So I took her home, and I took her temperature... she's got a little bit of a fever."

"Is she ok?" Natalie hated when her kids were sick. She wanted to be home with her daughter, but knew she couldn't leave her dad either.

"She should be ok. I gave her a ginger ale and she's on the couch now- I think she'll be fine. She's just overwhelmed because you're not here and grandma's dead and she was going to have to spend two and a half hours being good in the car-"

Grandma's dead. Grandma's dead, she heard over and over. Lucy and Andrew's grandma was dead. Different perspective, and one that hurt more.

"Ok," Nat said, thoughtful.

"If she feels better we might leave a little later- around four or so. Otherwise, tomorrow morning. She's going to feel better though- she's not that sick."

"K. I'll see you guys tomorrow then- don't worry about getting up here right away, let her sleep in her own bed."

"How's your dad?"

"Not great," Nat said. "But I'll call you tonight, ok?"

"Oh, he's right there with you, isn't he," Henry inferred. "I'll talk to you tonight. I love you."

"Love you too. 'Bye."

"'Bye."

She didn't feel like calling the hotel, so she put up the sheets on the foldout couch in the living room of her dad's apartment and stayed there. After she made her dad take a shower and she cooked him dinner, then forced him to sit down and eat it, he seemed to be doing a little better.

"I hadn't seen her in over a year," Dan said sadly. "We just didn't keep up- didn't have a reason to, once you were out on your own and you didn't need us anymore... I wish I had... I never stopped missing her, not for one day. Then the hospital called this morning... and all I could think about was how much time I've wasted."

"Maybe she needed to be on her own. She never really was, except for these last few years- she probably liked being independent."

"I would have known something was wrong. If there was something wrong with her, I was always the first one who could tell. As soon as she left, she started having medical problems again- stuff I could have prevented. I would have brought her to the hospital! I've been good at seeing when there's something wrong, ever since... Other people ignore it, but I always know. Since he died... I always... knew," he said, breaking down into sobs. Natalie didn't know what to do.

"I still loved her, for eighteen years after she left, Natalie. I still love her now," he said, crying. "What am I going to do?"

Henry arrived the next day during mid-morning, and it actually helped Dan a lot to have the kids around him. Gave him something to do, something to distract himself from the pain. She and Henry went to her mom's place and started going through her things. They boxed up old books and bedding, and Natalie was going through a closet when she stumbled upon a taped-up cardboard box.

"Help me with this," she called, because the box was really heavy. Once they got it out of the closet, they opened it to find it stuffed with baby blue things. A blanket, numerous stuffed toys, and lots of framed pictures (which added to the weight). On the top was an old music box.

"Oh," Nat said, tears pricking her eyes for the first time. "It's him. This is his box." She slid to the ground, and looked through the things inside of it. Tears slid from her eyes unconciously, and she finally allowed herself to miss her mom. "She's back with him again, where she always wanted to be. I guess that's a good thing, for her. She never was happy here anyway."

A few days later, they had the funeral. Dan still couldn't get through an hour without tearing up, and many people at the funeral home kept talking about what a tragedy this was. In truth, it was bogging Natalie down. She excused herself from being a hostess for a minute, and went into a private room.

Why does that upset me? she wondered. Because I think she might actually be happier up there? Away from all the pain? So I think anyone who thinks this is a tragedy is wrong?

"Does that make me cruel?" she wondered aloud, and then jumped. She realized she actually wasn't alone. A good-looking blond man around her age, who was starting to lose his hair, was in the room as well.

"Oh, sorry," she said, "I'll just-"

"No, no, no," he said, smiling charmingly at her. "You're really not intruding. I just came in here for some quiet."

"Oh," Natalie said. "Are you sure I'm not...?"

"No, you're fine," he said, leaning back against the wall lazily. "She was a great lady, wasn't she?"

"She really was," Natalie said. "I mean, she really had a tough life. But she was a fighter, all the way through. She never gave up."

"Not once."

"I wish I could be that strong," Nat said. "I didn't always see her as a strong woman, but thinking back, she was the strongest person I ever knew."

"I bet you're pretty strong," the man said, smiling. "To have grown up the way you did."

"Sometimes, when I was a kid, I used to really resent her illness and how much energy it took. But now I realize all that energy was what kept her alive- there really wasn't any other way." She didn't know why she felt so comfortable with this person, who she had never seen before. She wodered if it was betrayal, to say she was resentful of her mom. But she got the feeling that, had Di been there, she wouldn't have minded. She didn't even bother to wonder why this person, whom she had never met, knew how she grew up.

"I just needed a minute back here," Natalie said. "All those people were overwhelming."

"I had to get away from it all myself," he agreed, nodding.

"Away from... what all?" Natalie asked.

"The funeral, everyone crying, talking about the tragedy of it all..."

"Yes," Natalie agreed.

"I used to be selfish, when I was younger. I always treated my mom like she had no one else to care about but me... I thought she always wanted to be around me. I grew out of it, though, once I got older. I let you spend some time with my mom... I think it really helped their relationship."

Natalie looked at him carefully.

"And honestly," he continued. "I think that after all the fighting mom did, she's still happier to be up there. She can rest now, you know, Nat?"

Natalie took a step back, looking into his blue eyes that were so familiar...

"Sorry. I forgot... you haven't exactly met me. I know we haven't had the best track record in the past... but I wanted to pass on that mom loves you. She always did."

Natalie's eyes widened, but she couldn't make herself answer.

"And no, you're not going crazy. I just like to look out for you, is all. I still do watch over you, in fact. Hey, I wanted to pass something on- that flute teacher at Henry's school? Yes, she's flirting with him, like you thought, but you don't have to worry about anything. He's just as in love with you as ever. Doesn't give her the time of day. I can tell- as a guy, I know when a guy is interested or not. And he is not interested- I'd kill him if he was. Pardon the pun," he said, winking.

"How did you know I was worried...?" she asked, fearful.

He shrugged. "I'm just good at reading you, is all. Had a lot of practice back when you refused to talk to me. Can't tell you how long I've waited for this- though I get the feeling that you're going to start ignoring me again after tonight. But I wanted to say that I do love you, Nat, and I'm sorry I made things difficult for you. I just... wanted my mom back."

"Gabe," Nat whispered.

He shrugged again, humbly. "Love you too, sis."

She smiled. "And, well, I guess I'm sorry for hating you. Sort of. You did kind of ruin my life, so I do have something of an excuse."

"Yeah, goes with the territory of being your older brother. I have to make adolescence hard for you."

She gave him a strange look- this really was too weird to be true.

"Anyways," he said, taking a sip of the champagne in his hand, "I should get back to the party. Lots of condolences to accept. See you later," he said, and excused himself.

A minute later, after collecting herself, Natalie left the room and went back into the party, thoroughly expecting to find the tall blond man she'd been conversing with in the room. But he was nowhere to be found.

I hope you like this, guys... I thought it would be funny to have Gabe losing his hair... haha, small victories. :)

Reviews, please!