blondexhurricane:

teddyaltmcn:

“So  do  I,  baby,” Teddy said sadly,
kissing her daughter’s blonde curls.
As  they stood  on the other side of
the  glass,  Henry had never felt so
far away.

Teddy’s words might not have been the
ones she  w a n t e d  to hear, but they
were definitely what she  n e e d e d to
hear. Delia wasn’t fully aware of it right
then, but she would come to appreciate
always being told the truth instead of a
sugarcoated lie as she grew up and got
older.

                “I know what happens,” Delia sniffled, no longer able to
                dream up any other ways that Henry could possibly be
                saved. It felt like they were running out of options. It felt
                like the hippos were winning, and there was absolutely
                nothing she could do about it. Focusing her attention on
                a nearby wall instead of either one of her parents, Delia
                hesitated for a minute before voicing the last question
                she ever wanted to be forced to ask. “Daddy isn’t ever
                coming home again, is he?”

Hearing  the  cynicism in a voice that should long
have  been  innocent,  Teddy’s heart broke for the
daughter she hadn’t been able to save.  And when
she  couldn’t  deny  the  question  Delia  had  only
ever  asked her once upon a nightmare, her heart
hardened  against  a  w o r l d  that  had  given her
nothing but  g r i e f . 

                “We don’t know that,” Teddy said quietly, not wanting
                to  give  her daughter unfounded hope but hoping just
                the same. It couldn’t be over  —  they’d been fighting 
                this for so long,  and  it  couldn’t  have  a l l   been for 
                n o t h i n g .