::I just needed this before tonight::
He glanced at that picture a lot. Usually Mia pretended not to notice the way his eyes lingered, or the way he occasionally ran his fingers over the glass. She knew without asking where the photo had been taken. Whenever her mom told the story, she would quote Mamma Mia (an obvious favorite at their cabin in the woods). “Life was short and the world was wide and we wanted to make some memories. I didn’t know I was a ‘drive off into the sunset’ kind of girl until that summer. Maybe we all have a little bit of that in us somewhere... a desire to run away and leave all our troubles behind for awhile. All I know is, when it came to your dad, I would go anywhere with him.” Mia smiled softly thinking about it.
“Mom talked about you all the time.”
Oliver’s gaze shifted from the picture of him and Felicity to his daughter.
He still couldn’t believe he was being given this time with her. She was so strong, and clever, and stubborn and beautiful. One second he’d see so much of himself in her and the next she’d be all Felicity. He couldn’t believe this incredible young women sitting in front of him was the same baby girl he’d held in his arms just a few months ago. He thought he might never see her again.......
Felicity would pinch herself when things seemed too good to be true and he was tempted to do that now. But instead he lifted his eyebrows slightly, inviting her to continue. If he was being honest, he had been afraid to ask about Felicity. Terrified actually. His kids had offered up very little information about their mother and where she was in this bleak future they came from. What if—
He couldn’t ever finish the thought.
He didn’t dare trust his voice in this moment, but hoped with his whole heart she’d tell him more. More about the time they’d spent together as mother and daughter. More about the moments he’d missed. He wanted to hear it all.
That’s something she said everyday... how much she loved you and how much you both loved me.”
Hearing this didn’t surprise him, he knew she’d keep her promise to tell Mia he loved her everyday. While Oliver’s heart clenched painfully at her use of the past tense, he didn’t interrupt.
“She used to sit out on the back porch and stare up into the night sky. Like it held the answers to the universe or something. She told me once when I joined her about how the two of you would sit out there under the stars.”
Mia paused and looked down at her hands. “Did you know that all the starlight we see has so far to travel that the stars might not even exist anymore? Eventually they all just fade to black, erased.”
She took a deep, shuddering breath.
“She told me that once. She’d been really off all day that day.
You know mom, she’s usually passionate and bubbly and soft... all at the same time somehow.”
She paused. “ I miss her.”
Oliver reached out and put his hand over hers. “Me too.” His voice sounded gravelly and strained, but his words got Mia to raise her gaze and they stared at each other with sad, understanding eyes for a few poignant heartbeats. She shifted her gaze to what had held Oliver’s earlier—the picture of her parents, so happy and carefree and in love, and she tried to discreetly wipe away an errant tear.
“She just seemed sad the night she told me about the starlight. Defeated, I guess, would be a better word. I wasn’t used to seeing her like that. But I think... I think you were her star. She’d tell me about how you were a hero and even though you were far from us, your light was still shining. I think that light, that hope... it was what kept her spirits bright and her path illuminated.”
Oliver’s own tears found an escape path down his cheeks. Felicity had always seen his light. Maybe it was because it grew stronger when she was near. When he told her he was a better human being because he’d loved her and that she’d brought him out of darkness, he’d meant it.
Oliver was pulled from his thoughts when Mia continued on shaky breath. “But that night... i think for the first time she wondered... I think she was scared that maybe you... maybe you were a black star.” She looked back at him. “And if you were really gone than someday your light would be too. And I don’t think she knew how to survive without it.”
She shook her head vehemently. “So that’s why you have to keep fighting, dad. You can’t be erased in this crisis. She needs your light. Please. Promise me you’ll fight to live.”
Don’t fight to die. Fight to live. He could almost feel Felicity’s hand over his heart. See her pleading eyes in those of their daughter. If it was them asking, he’d do it—
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