Burden of Knowledge - a Bones ficlet
Max turns. “What was that, honey?”
“My mother. When you left…did she miss me?” Her eyes are bright, her voice small, and he’s suddenly transported 29 years into the past, watching his baby girl hovering in the doorway on her first day of kindergarten. She had the same look on her face as she asked him if he was absolutely sure he’d come back to get her at two o’clock.
The words stick in his throat as he reaches out to take her hand. “Tempe, we both missed you more than you’ll ever know.”
*************
But weeks later, as she sits on her bed and watches tiny Charlotte sleep, she realizes that he was wrong. Just the thought of her daughter being taken from her sends an icy, helpless panic crawling up her chest, and her fists clench as she imagines living the rest of her life without ever seeing her baby again. It’s too painful, too horrible, too much to even contemplate.
She doesn’t realize she’s crying until a lone tear falls onto Charlotte’s yellow blanket, and she stares in horror at the mark it leaves. Nothing of her own childhood can ever touch her daughter. She will remain pure and untainted by fear and sorrow and anger. She will not be contaminated by her mother’s past.
As she rubs frantically at the small stain on the blanket, she vows that nothing on this earth will separate her family.
Max was wrong. When she watches her baby’s dark eyelashes flutter and her tiny hands curl around her blanket…she does know.
Thoughts are very much loved! ♥
“My mother. When you left…did she miss me?” Her eyes are bright, her voice small, and he’s suddenly transported 29 years into the past, watching his baby girl hovering in the doorway on her first day of kindergarten. She had the same look on her face as she asked him if he was absolutely sure he’d come back to get her at two o’clock.
The words stick in his throat as he reaches out to take her hand. “Tempe, we both missed you more than you’ll ever know.”
*************
But weeks later, as she sits on her bed and watches tiny Charlotte sleep, she realizes that he was wrong. Just the thought of her daughter being taken from her sends an icy, helpless panic crawling up her chest, and her fists clench as she imagines living the rest of her life without ever seeing her baby again. It’s too painful, too horrible, too much to even contemplate.
She doesn’t realize she’s crying until a lone tear falls onto Charlotte’s yellow blanket, and she stares in horror at the mark it leaves. Nothing of her own childhood can ever touch her daughter. She will remain pure and untainted by fear and sorrow and anger. She will not be contaminated by her mother’s past.
As she rubs frantically at the small stain on the blanket, she vows that nothing on this earth will separate her family.
Max was wrong. When she watches her baby’s dark eyelashes flutter and her tiny hands curl around her blanket…she does know.
Thoughts are very much loved! ♥