Pairing: Zoethian - fun fact! I originally set out to write a Rythna and it turned into this thing xD

TW: Referenced Character Death, Angst

Being a single dad can be hard. Being a single dad and knowing that your daughter will never know her mother, never know how much she cared about anything and everything, how she could always find the good in people, always had a reason to smile, could-

"Daddy, why are you crying?"

It's really hard.

I look away from the photo of the woman with bright red hair and dazzling green eyes to the girl with bright red hair and dazzling blue eyes. I sigh, try to smile. Open my arms as the little girl runs over to me and throws her arms around my neck. Hold her close as she crawls up into my lap.

"Were you thinking about Mommy again?"

I laugh, bring a hand up to wipe my face. "How are you so smart?"

"Cause I have you for a daddy!" The girl's face lights up, she throws her hands in the air.

"Aw, you're so sweet," I smile, a genuine smile. I pull her close to my chest, look over at the picture of Zoeya and I sitting on the mantle.

"Daddy?"

"Yes honey?" I don't turn away from the picture of us, tears forming in my eyes.

"Daddy!" The small child places her hands on my cheeks and makes me look at her. "Don't be sad, Daddy. You have me!"

She smiles, a smile that reminds me so much of her that I wonder what she got from me, besides my blue eyes. "That's right! Is Uncle Tee teaching you stuff while I'm at work that you guys aren't telling me?"

"Uncle Tee doesn't talk Daddy, 'member?" She curls up against my chest once more.

"He doesn't, does he? Do you know why Uncle Tee doesn't talk?"

"Rassy," Her nickname for Ravs, a good friend of mine who owns the bar where Zoeya and I first met. "Says he can't talk 'cause if he does, he loses. I don't want Tee to lose, but he does sometimes when he and Rassy plays the, the - what game do they play Daddy?"

"The Lever Game?"

"Yea, Lever Game! They get mad when they play that game. Daddy, why do they play it if it makes them mad?"

I shrug, looking around the room for an answer. "Uh, well, it's like when after I cry because I miss Mommy, I feel better."

"Oh, okay." I can tell she doesn't understand. "Daddy, can you tell me a story?"

"Sure, about what?" We settle into the couch, Daisy sticking a thumb in her mouth.

"A princess."

My eyes wander to the picture of Zoeya. "Once upon a time in a realm far, far away there was a beautiful and wonderful kingdom..."

~>.~.>

Losing your spouse can be hard, and at the time you wonder if you can go on. I know I did. I went through the stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression.. Acceptance is easily the hardest step to overcome, knowing that you'll never see them again. Sometimes you think you've come to terms with it, but then you see something as small as a crack or as large as their photo and you burst into tears.

Maybe you never really do accept it. Maybe, in ten or eleven years when I watch my baby girl graduate high school, or in fifteen or twenty when I'm walking her down the aisle, maybe I'll stop and think about how proud her mother would be, how she should be here to see her get her diploma, watch as she tries not to cry as she says 'I do' and kisses the person of her dreams.

Yes, the love for a spouse may stay forever, the pain may never leave, but it becomes tolerable. Liveable. They will always be there, now not as a sad thought, but as a happy one.