It had been ten days since Misaki was released from the hospital. She had stayed there for a week after she woke up, and the doctors insisted that she stay even longer but Misaki was adamant on going home, saying that she didn't want to be cooped up in those white beds any longer.

Since they had their conversation that day when Misaki woke up in the hospital, Takumi had spent every moment he possibly could by her side. He was still working of course: he was doing everything remote just as he had done that week when he was staying in the apartment. Minako, Suzuna, Sakura, and other family/friends visited the house often.

Misaki felt guilty that Takumi was centering so much of his time around her - she even found it overbearing at times. The blond had always been overprotective of her (especially when it concerned her health) so it wasn't anything new, but that didn't change the annoyance she felt when he wouldn't even let her wash the dishes or do their laundry. She could already hear him: "Just leave it to me honey, don't stress yourself."

But she understood that perhaps, this was just Takumi's way of trying to make up for his shortcomings and most importantly, his emotional distance, since Sara's death. If pampering her was creating even the tiniest state of peace in him, then she didn't mind.

Damn, she thought. If she had known having a heart attack was all it took to get things between her and her husband back to somewhat normal, she would've had one a lot sooner. She was kidding of course, but still.

While she was in the hospital, her and Takumi did a lot more talking the day after she woke up, and they decided that grief therapy and even marriage counseling were steps in the right direction. Takumi did his research and used his abundance of resources to find the best counselors for them. They had already visited a session for each issue, and they still had plenty more sessions to visit and goals to accomplish.

Misaki dried her hands with a tissue and looked at the empty sink with triumph. Takumi would probably throw a fit if he knew she washed all of the dishes, but she did it anyway because they were starting to pile up (which drove her crazy).

Where was that alien anyways? Oh right, she thought, he was probably reading over reports in his office. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't really seen much of him today compared to the previous days. Deciding that she missed her husband, she made her way to the guest room that they repurposed as his office. She peeped her head in and was puzzled when he wasn't in there.

She left that room and made her way up the stairs. Maybe he was in their bedroom. She grew even more puzzled when he wasn't in there. She didn't hear any water running in the house so that meant he wasn't using any of the bathrooms either.

She stepped out of their bedroom and shut the door. She was about to take a step down the stairs until the door ajar at the very end of the hallway caught her attention.

Misaki felt her stomach drop. She hadn't stepped foot into that bedroom in so long. Misaki could've just pretended like she didn't know Usui was in there and kept going with her day, but she didn't. She knew she and Takumi would have to deal with this together sooner or later, she just didn't realize 'soon' meant 'today'.

She took a deep breath and made her way to the end of the hall. She slightly pushed the door open and stepped into Sara's bedroom. She was met with the sight of pink walls, dusty bookshelves, and her husband sitting quietly off the edge of their daughter's cold bed.

"Takumi…" Misaki said quietly. At the sound of his wife's voice, Takumi looked up from the storybook and teddy bear he held, the one he had found in Misaki's and his bedroom. His eyes were wet.

The blond did his best to muster a smile. He patted the bed, indicating for Misaki to come sit next to him. She nodded, taking ginger steps toward him and she was now sitting by his side.

The both of them felt a rush of emotions by being in their daughter's bedroom. The room was once a happy place, the place where they read their baby girl stories and tucked her in for sleep, the place where the family even held their pretend tea parties. Now it was cold, nothing more than a collection of items and furniture collecting dust.

They hadn't stepped into the room for months, the last time being when Misaki and Usui had to clean it after her funeral. Along with actually losing their daughter, the act of them cleaning, locking up toys and memories, and stripping away life from the room was one of the most painful experiences. They never had the will to repurpose the room, so it was left abandoned at the end of the hallway until today.

Takumi broke the silence.

"We can't keep avoiding that this happened," Takumi finally said, borrowing words from their grief counselor. They had spent a considerable amount of time working on the rough patches of their relationship, but they had procrastinated on addressing the roots. But it was time: because they just couldn't run from the hurt anymore. Frankly, it was a losing race.

The raven head nodded. "I know," she whispered.

"I miss our Sara. I miss her so much..." Takumi said out loud for the first time, his voice breaking as tears streamed down his face.

Misaki was fighting the urge to cry the moment she had stepped into the bedroom, but hearing Sara's name and seeing her husband in this broken state was too much for her. She started crying too.

"I know, honey, I know," she tried to comfort through her tears. Takumi had placed the teddy bear and storybook on the bed earlier, so Misaki slipped her hands into his free ones and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Our baby, our beautiful girl," Takumi choked, his shoulders rising up and down from the intense crying. He shut his eyes to cease the tears, but it was no use.

"She was only six years old," Misaki sobbed. "She was supposed to grow up. A-and graduate. And fall in love, get married, find true happiness."

The two parents held each other tightly as they continued to grieve for the life that was stolen from their young daughter.

"Remember when she would hold both of us hostage during her bedtime? And make us take turns reading her a page from this book?" Takumi asked with a weak smile as he held the storybook in the air.

Misaki let out a bittersweet smile. "Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful fairy…" Misaki began.

"...who's hair was golden, her name was Mary," Takumi completed.

Misaki laughed through her tears. "She made us read it to her so often we have it memorized."

Takumi and Misaki continued to reminisce, finally bringing the memories of their little girl back to life with their words. It was bittersweet, and it stung, but sharing the memories provided comfort - and reassurance that those blissful moments were ever even real.

Takumi then released the thoughts that had been killing him slowly ever since the car accident happened.

"This is my fault," he said, his voice cold and his eyes lifeless. Misaki pulled her head away from his shoulder to look him in the eye.

"What?" she asked.

"This is all my fault," he repeated.

And then he let it all out. He explained everything to her: every single thought that kept him up at night, every "what-if", every regret, how maybe this could've all been avoided had he just been more cautious that day with Sara.

And Misaki revealed something to him too: while Takumi had been blaming himself for being the person driving the vehicle, Misaki had been blaming herself this entire time too.

"Did you know Sara didn't feel well that day? She told me she wanted to stay home. But I made her go to school anyway," Misaki said, her eyes tearing up. She buried her face in her palms. "What kind of sick mother am I? What if I had just listened to her?"

Takumi listened with shock. He didn't know any of that. All this time he had been drowning in his own pain and self-blame, but he didn't know MIsaki was blaming herself too. All this time he was afraid of her blaming him.

"Misaki, how could you have known this would've happened? You weren't being a bad mother by making Sara go to school that day - do you know how many times that little girl tried to play hookie?" Takumi said, trying to be light-hearted. "None of this is your fault."

Misaki removed her face from her palms. She wiped away her tears before staring at Takumi with a determined look.

"And neither is it yours. Takumi, you two were hit by a drunk driver," Misaki emphasized.

"Our daughter's death had nothing to do with what you did or didn't do, the same way it had nothing to do with you being a bad father," Misaki comforted.

Hearing those words come out of Misaki's mouth lifted invisible weight off of Takumi's shoulders.

"This was none of our faults," he said out loud. Perhaps it would take them time to fully believe the statement, but at least saying it out loud was a step.

Misaki brushed away her husband's golden brangs from his face and placed a loving kiss on his forehead. Takumi closed his eyes, appreciating the warmth. When Misaki pulled away, Sara's teddy bear that was placed near Takumi caught her attention. It was facing down. She already knew it was there, but what caught her eye was a tiny fold of paper sticking out from the back.

Misaki reached for the bear and Takumi looked at her with curiosity.

Misaki literally went to sleep every night with the teddy bear by her side - how did this not already catch her eye? Misaki could've swore that the small fold of paper was never there. Or maybe she was wrong and it was there all along.

The raven head gently tugged the zipper on the back of the teddy bear down, careful to not rip the piece of paper. She stuck her fingers inside the white stuffing of the bed and pulled out the full sheet. Takumi and her shared a confused look with each other. They uncrumpled the sheet of paper and noticed the date displayed on the bottom corner of the paper - it was the date Takumi that had first given Sara the teddy bear, which was years ago.

Sara jumped up and down on Takumi and Misaki's bed, squealing as she held her teddy in her hands. She plopped onto her body over her parents who were laying down. They groaned from being woken up. Takumi had surprised her with the toy while Sara was sleeping last night. She had woken up and found the gift, which explained her attack of affection.

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you, Daddy! I love this teddy bear so much!" Sara said gleefully as she peppered her dad with kisses. Takumi yawned, still tired from being woken up. He lifted the blanket that covered him and Misaki, and Sara took the opportunity to slip underneath the covers in between her parents.

"Thank your Mommy, she's the one who picked it out," Takumi smiled. When he was at the toy store, he had texted Misaki images of the options and she decided that she liked the brown teddy bear the best.

Sara flipped her body to face her mom and hugged her tightly. Misaki giggled and placed a kiss on top of her daughter's head. Takumi smiled at the sight before pulling the both of them closer to him. He had an arm slung over the both of them.

"You two are my favorite girls in the entire world," Takumi grinned.

Misaki smirked. "Duh alien, who else would it be?" Sara burst into a fit of laughter at her mother's sassy response. The little girl then sat up as if she remembered something. She hopped over Usui's body and climbed down the bed and ran out of the room. She returned about five seconds later with a sheet of paper in her hand.

She climbed into the bed again, going back to her spot between her parents. Since she was in the middle, she stretched her arms out so both Misaki and Takumi could look at the paper.

"Look at what I drew!" she said.

The colorful drawing consisted of three stick figures holding hands, standing on top of green zig-zags that represented grass. The tallest stick figure had yellow spikes for hair and two green dots for eyes. The shorter female stick figure had long strokes of black for her hair and two yellow dots for eyes that were accompanied by long eyelashes. The shortest stick figure was in the middle, and had short yellow hair with two yellow dots for eyes.

Misaki gasped with enthusiasm at the drawing. "Sara baby, you drew this all by yourself!? This is so good!" Misaki encouraged. "I love the details and how colorful it is," Misaki complimented. Sara was happy with the praise.

Takumi pointed to the tallest stick figure and grinned. "I like this one the best. He looks extremely handsome," the blond gloated. Misaki held back a giggle and Sara laughed at her father's cheekiness.

"That's supposed to be you, Dad!" Sara laughed.

Takumi feigned shock. "You did such a good job, princess."

"Mom, Dad," Sara said. "Yes, sweetie?" Misaki answered.

"How much do you guys love each other?" Sara asked curiously. Both parents were surprised at the question.

"We love each other very much," Takumi answered.

Sara nodded. "I know, but like- how much? And why?" she inquired more.

"You're quite curious today, aren't you?" Takumi said as he playfully squeezed his daughter's nose between his knuckles.

He hummed before answering. "Your mother," he said, "is the core reason for my happiness. Along with you of course, she's the reason I smile." Misaki blushed at his words.

"What about you Mommy?" Sara asked.

Misaki blushed harder. "Ermm… your father is…" she said, embarrassed to form the words.

"Is?" Takumi pressed, amused.

Misaki sighed, still blushing. "Your father is the best man I've ever known. He drives me crazy, but I love him very much because he is kind, thoughtful, and caring," Misaki explained to her daughter.

"You're forgetting good-looking," Takumi added, laughing when Misaki hit him with a pillow. He was grinning ear-from-ear though, more than pleased with Misaki's answer. Sara was pleased with both of her parents' answers too.

"I like that you guys love each other a lot," the six year old expressed. "It makes me happy because I love both of you a lot too."

Misaki and Takumi shared a smile, feeling their hearts warm up.

"And we love you too," Misaki whispered, kissing Sara's hair.

"So much," Takumi added, before he also dropped a kiss.

"All those times she was playing with this teddy bear, she was carrying around this picture too?" Misaki asked, her eyes blurry from tears. Takumi felt his throat get dry. He nodded his head.

The two parents collapsed into more tears as they held each other tightly.

This wound was so deep, they weren't quite sure if time's medicine was strong enough to heal it. Sara's death left a gaping hole in their life, but as they held each other in their arms and whispered comforting words to the other, they silently made the promise to do their best to fill that hole with love and more memories.

They made a resolve to stop trying to squeeze themselves back into "the good old days", and instead grow and readjust with whatever situation life threw at them. Because at the end of the day, no matter what happened and how much changed, their love for each other would always remain a constant.

After all, it's what their sweet Sara would've wanted


Alright, thats it! I really hope you guys enjoyed. This was fun writing. Please review and give me your thoughts! :)