![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Mercy mercy baby...
"Sorry I'm late," Mandy called as she unlocked the front door, keys in one hand and a pizza precariously balanced in the other.
"Traffic was terrible. I brought din-" she stopped mid sentence as she stepped into the house and saw Curt sitting in front of the tv. There was a half-emtpy beer on the table to his right, and Kimberly was curled up asleep at his left, his fingers gently resting on her hair. If she wouldn't have dropped the pizza onto the floor in doing so, Mandy probably would have burst out into tears at the sight.
As she moved to set her things down, Curt's head tilted up and he smiled at her, blue eyes smiling gently.
"Hey," he rasped.
"Hey..." she said as she walked closer, gazing down at her daughter, blinking rapidly as she felt all the love she felt for these two wonderful, wild creatures fill her heart.
Curt quickly pulled his hand away from Kimberly's hair as Mandy moved closer, raking his fingers through his own bleach-blonde tresses.
"I, uh, made dinner. You don't mind, right?"
"You think I'd mind that you fed our daughter?" Mandy said, laughing a little.
Curt grinned sheepishly.
"You said ours."
Mandy shrugged, perching on the armrest so she was seated by Kimberly's head.
"Well, yeah. I mean, hell, she wouldn't be anything like she is without you, Curt. She..." she bit her lip, shaking her head.
"She's the best thing you ever gave me."
Curt's breath left him in a woosh as she said this, like someone had hit him in the chest. He forced a cough, nodding.
"Yeah, uh...well, gotta say she's the best thing I've ever done, too."
Mandy nodded, stroking her fingers all along her sleeping daughter's face, brow wrinkliing when she came to her neck and felt something wrapped around it. She hooked her fingers under the pendant to get it out from under Kimberly's shirt, gasping when she saw it.
"Oh, Curt..." she whispered as she fingered the silver paw print. She looked up at him, tears finally filing her eyes and spilling freely down her face. She didn't bother with any other words, knowing that whatever she said wouldn't come close to expressing how she felt.
Curt reached over the body of his sleeping daughter to wipe away Mandy's tears with his thumb, stroking her hair.
"You like it?"
Mandy laughed, catching his hand.
"Yes. But it doesn't matter what I think. Did Kim?"
"Yeah," he whispered, "she...she hugged me. Said it was the nicest thing anyone had ever given her." His voice was shaking now, tears threatening to fall down his face as well.
Mandy shook her head, leaning as close as she could to him, sobbing a little.
"Oh God. You've never met her and you managed to get her the perfect gift and I...I can hardly give her three meals a day sometimes, for Chrissakes!" she whispered hysterically, breath catching on her tears.
At this, Curt stood up and walked around to Mandy's side, locking his arms across her chest and kissing her hair while he rocked her.
"Shh...it's okay Mand. You did the best you could. You're a wonderful mother, shh..."
She shook her head, turning into his chest, still crying.
"If I hadn't been so stubborn she could've had you...she could've had the life she deserved..."
Curt stiffened at this and pulled back slightly, but lowered his mouth to her ear.
"No Mand. Believe me. I wasn't good enough for her back then. Either of you. I'm still not," and as he said that last word, he let go of her, turning to the door.
Mandy turned as she realized where he was going, eyes brimming again.
"Curt?"
Curt sighed heavily, standing with his back turned, hand on the doorframe, as he spoke.
"...Tell Kim I'm sorry, and give her my love, okay?"
"Curt, don't, she needs you-"
Curt turned to her, eyes green now and full of a strange mixture of pain and love.
"I'll just hurt her Mand. Like I hurt you," and with that, he walked out.
Kimberly's necklace
no subject
I LOVE the paw-print necklace. A perfect, symbolic gift from father to daughter. And to think Mandy might be up to forgiving him and he's gone again. *CRI*
no subject
no subject