He pulled up to the driveway, listening to Grace go on and on about what had happened at daycare that care; there was never a dull moment with her.
Mike parked the car and looked up at the rear view mirror to watch Grace unbuckle herself from her car seat and climb out of the car. Mike smiled as he opened his car door and exited the car as well, following Grace to the front door.
"So, you had a good day then?" Mike asked, unlocking the door before letting Grace open it and watch her rush into the living room.
Grace nodded as Mike caught up, looking at the growing EiffelTower that was occupying the majority of his living room.
"Can we have Quiche for dinner?" Grace asked him.
Mike grumbled "No, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow." He told her.
"Can I play with your badge?" Grace asked him again.
Mike scuffed "That would be a hell, no!" he remarked, walking into the kitchen and rummaging through the pantry and find a single box of mac and cheese "It'll do." He thought to himself as he walked back into the kitchen.
He put the box down and walked around Grace and her half made Lego tower and climbed up the stairs to his bedroom to detach his gun from his hip and take his badge off of his belt.
Mike looked himself over in the mirror, seeing the tired look in his eyes and his paler than normal skin; the first half of this week had been rough especially with the news that a certain individual was getting out of prison soon. In two days to be precise.
He wasn't going to let that get to him, he was going to go downstairs, fix dinner, and enjoy the rest of his evening before going to bed and starting everything all over again.
It was agreed that if Grace finished all of her dinner, then she and Mike could work on continuing to build the EifelTower in the living room.
Grace stood on a dining room chair while Mike stood next to her, the both of them carefully placing Legos on top of each other and going by the picture that Mike had printed out when they decided to do the project.
"Hey, daddy?" Grace asked him, trying to force a Lego into a certain spot.
"Yeah?" Mike asked, organizing all his Legos once again before placing a few on the tower.
Grace turned to Mike, a few Legos in her hand "What was mommy like?" she asked.
Mike stopped and turned to Grace "Why do you ask?"
"Because, um, today while I was waiting for you to pick me up, I watched a few of the other kids mommies come and get them…and then I thought about how I don't know anything about my mommy." Grace remarked, looking down at her feet in almost shame.
Mike sighed, throwing the Legos in his hands back into the giant bucket before reaching out and taking Graces' tiny hand "Well, what do you want to know about her?" he asked.
"What does she look like?" Grace asked.
Mike sighed "She is very pretty, and she has brown hair and brown eyes and…I mean, she looked like an angel." He told her.
"Do you have a picture of her?" Grace asked.
Mike thought for a moment, letting a gentle shrug out "I…don't know…" he admitted.
"Why not?" Grace asked.
Mike choked on his words, he knew that Grace was too young to hear the story of her mother and what she had done and where she was at that exact moment in time; in fact, he dreaded the day he would tell her.
"Grace," was all Mike could manage out as he looked at his daughter who was looking at him with her bright blue eyes, almost silently convincing him to be honest with her.
Mike huffed, picking her up off her chair and sitting down with her on the couch "…Grace, your mom, she…" he tried to find the words to explain it the best way possible.
"Is she dead?" Grace asked.
He shook his head "Oh, no. She's alive." He remarked.
"Ok, c'mon! You can do this. No conversation will ever be as traumatic for the both of you after the death discussion." Mike thought to himself.
He had had to have that conversation earlier than expected with Grace after he brought a case file home and Grace began to rummage through it while his back was turned.
"You see, Grace, um, your mom was a bad person." Mike said, trying to break it to her gently.
Grace looked at Mike, trying to think his words over "A bad guy?" she asked.
Mike nodded "Yeah. She was a bad guy, and she hung out with a very, very bad man." He continued.
"…is mommy in jail?" Grace asked bluntly.
Mike was taken aback, he was surprised how quickly Grace had caught on to where this conversation was headed, he nodded again "Yeah, sweetie, mommy's in jail." He told her.
"…you put the bad guys in jail, right?" she asked him.
Mike sighed "Yeah, baby."
"So did you put mommy in jail?" Grace asked.
Mike nodded, tucking a strand of her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear "Yeah, I did." He admitted.
"But why?" Grace asked, leaning against her father.
Mike sighed "Because…" he trailed off "Look, Grace, when you're a little older, I will tell you everything about it, okay?" he asked.
Grace nodded, no questions asked as she agreed to let it go for the time being; Mike smiled as he looked up at the clock on the wall.
"Alright, time for bed." Mike announced, getting up off the couch with Grace who darted up the stairs and left Mike straggling along.
Mike finally caught up to Grace, who was already in her pajamas and holding her favorite doll before crawling into bed; Mike figured that it was be a simple tuck in and kiss goodnight, but he was blind sided by the book Grace was hiding with her.
"Daddy, please!" she begged, trying to hand him the Madeline book.
Mike sighed "Ok. But just this one, and then it's bedtime, and I'm serious!" he insisted before sitting down on the bed and opened the book.