Pairing: Darren/Debbie
Note(s): I'm so, so, so sorry for this being updated so late! I've been getting into other fandoms lately but know I'll always return to the DSS… this whole drabble doesn't include the word lonely in it so I hope that's okay… Anyways, enjoy. Oh and sort of AU.

lonely
she just hoped that her daughter would still believe in happily-ever-after's.

The day was lovely, filled with smiles and kisses, hopes and dreams, but to her, it was anything but. Perhaps it was the pink clouds that dusted the sky that reminded her that fairytales didn't really exist. That they are only the figments of idyllic imaginations of the harrowed children that littered the green world. They weren't really supposed to matter to her – she was a teacher, not a Romanist – but, that day, that sunset, reminded her so much of Snow White taking a bite into a poisoned apple, dripping with cyan lies.

"Ma," a little girl tugged on her sleeve. "why are we here?"

Debbie glanced down at her daughter, her world, her sun, her everything, and offered a withered smile. She was forty and she still thought about him – but he was dead. Freaking dead. She thought she was smarter than that… smart enough not to dwell on the past.

"I don't know."

The answer was truthful, resolute, and the wind blew, picking up leafs and drifting souls. Debbie's hair, black with graying lines, flew in the air, tangling behind her and the sun beamed. Marnie, her daughter, held on tightly to her mother's skirt.

She knew, even though she was ten that something was going on… that there was a reason why there were tears trailing down her ma's cheeks, so flustered, so sad. It made her heart swell with something she didn't understand… something she didn't want to understand. So she started crying too.

Debbie stared down at the gravestone, watching as the lines blurred. She hoped that the words would twist into another name, another date, another person, though she wouldn't wish death on anyone.

But, Steve… she wanted to hurt him. She wanted to make him pay but that would be, in a way, paying Destiny a show. It would be like fighting for hate instead of love… besides, it was so long ago.

And, yet, the tears kept falling.

Debbie realized that the past was such a strong thing, that it could keep a person from going on with their life, but she didn't want to… she just hoped that her daughter would still believe in happily-ever-afters after what she was going to do.

end.