**Side Chapter: Goodbye (Primrose and Parker)**

A/N WARNING This chapter depicts illness and death. Please read with discretion.

"Grandma," Willow said quietly as she pushed the door to my room open.

I squinted to make her out. My vision most definitely what it used to be. They don't really understand how, since the cancer hasn't gone to my eyes or occipital lobe. Of course, Willow and I know.

"Hey Willy," I said softly, "Who's coming today?"

Willow is my own living angel. More than a wretch like me deserves. Every day, she brings people to see me, and say goodbye. The end is near, we both know it, but I refuse to let go. Not yet, someone's missing. She never says goodbye, just that she'll see me later.

"Primrose?" a rough, deep, voice spoke. My breath caught; I knew that voice, it whispered soft words in my dreams and screamed in my nightmares.

The light haired man next to her, I had assumed it was a new nurse for me. Usually, her first visit of the day is alone. I hadn't been expecting the one and only love of my life to be with her.

"Parker," I said, letting out a small cry, "You...you came."

 He walked into the room, Willow closing the door and leaving us alone. As he stood next to me, his warm fingers brushed against my own.

"I couldn't let you leave without a goodbye."

"But...you're married. You have a real life, you don't need me."

He stared at my with his sad blue eye for a few seconds before slowly walking around my bed, to the window. He was turned away from me, looking at all the flowers outside, "I am happily married to my soul mate, and I do have a family that needs me. But...you," he took a deep breath and sighed, staring out the window just a moment longer.

I waited patiently as he sat. For a man a decade older than me, he seemed so much younger, so much more alive, I noticed.

"You hold a special place in my heart, and very few people do. I can't tell you that I'm in love with you, but I can honestly say...I care deeply about you."

"Then why did you leave me?" I asked, blinking away the tears that obstructed my already fuzzy vision.

 He leaned forward and folded his arms over his legs, resting his head above them, "I wasn't supposed to go back. After you saved me and the SIA took me, I wasn't supposed to come back at all. But...I wanted to say goodbye."

"And then you found out I was pregnant," I whispered as the realization hit, my voice quiet enough that a dropped pin could be heard.

"And...I had already been forced to leave my own toddler son behind. I had no plans to do that to another child, so I planned on staying. At least until she was five."

I let the obvious fact that he had left long before she was five hang in the air between us. He lifted his face so I could see the regret, mixed with tears, that streaked his face..

"I saw her, and something in my just snapped. I am...I'm so sorry for the things I said. I don't..."

I waved it off, "Don't worry about explaining that. It was years ago, and you know that my family is strange."

After a moment of confusion, his eyes widened and I knew he understood.

"After I left...what happened? Did Poppy grow up well? Where is she?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "Poppy's dead. She...she was killed."

He didn't say a word, but when I opened my eyes again, he was staring out the window again. He looked...haunted.

"Damn it," he cried, punching the plush chair hard enough that it wobbled on his back feet before landing upright again, "I'm an idiot for leaving you. I could've helped, if I had stayed in contact with you."

"That would've hardly helped. I left her, too."

He turned around and stared at me with a harsh anger, unlike anything I had ever seen before, even on the night he left.

"You..." He said loudly. He took a breath and started again when he realized he had spoken too loudly, "You abandoned our daughter? How could you leave her with no one? At least when I left, I  thought she had you! How could you?"

His hands were balled into fists, and I was genuinely afraid that he would lose control of his anger and hurt me. I cowered as deeply as I could into the bed, staring at his fists as I answered.

"I...I couldn't." I blinked as tears again overtook my eyes, "She...I...I couldn't handle her. She made me so angry, the way she ruined our relationship. I thought she had ruined my life."

His fists loosened slightly, maybe because he realized how afraid I had been. I continued to explain, "I couldn't raise her. She made me so angry...so depressed...it was almost as thought I was a teenager again. I was heading down the same path I had been on before, and it would've ended up with me in a mental facility, again. I couldn't handle it."

I wiped the tear that had escaped down my cheek with my frail hand. He stared at me, his eye meeting mine and holding them until he was sure I was being completely honest. He turned around and sat down again, head back in his arms.

"I left her, and I...I'm the reason she's dead, but I never intended that to happen. I left her with my brother and parents. Briar was always so much better than I, right up to the day he died. He...I knew he could handle her," I finished as he sat.

"What happened?" He asked, after a moment of silence, "Why was she killed?"

"A man...a bad man broke into their home and killed Briar, Poppy, and her husband, Tristan. And their dog, Theia. Willow and Lilac were at school.

I couldn't tell him that the murderer claimed to be Willow's father. If she wanted him to know, she could tell him. That's much too personal for me to share with him.

Silence blanketed the room for a few minutes. A nurse came in and checked on me, and Willow came to inform him that he'd have to leave, soon. When they left, Parker looked up at me again.

"Did you ever wonder about her, when you were gone?" He asked.

"No. I was always in her life. I talked to Briar about her all the time, I have some pictures at my house if you want to find them later. Feel free to use your spy kit to get in, but check if Lilac is home first," I winked at him.

"I will most definitely go see them, right after this," he smiled, "Thank you."

"Take them if you want. I won't have much use to them, once I'm with her again."

"Thanks. I just wish...I wish I could have been there for all of it."

"Me too," I smiled sadly, "But it's too late. Regret won't do anything. I just...I wish I had told her how much I loved her, before she died."

"Whoever gets there first can relay the message from both of us," Parker smirked.

He stood and moved to my bed side, kissing my softly on the forehead. When he turned away, I stopped him.

"I still love you," I whispered, expecting no response, "I love you with all my life, and I know you can't love me back. Thank you for coming to say goodbye, though."

He turned back to me, kissed me softly on the forehead once again, and walked out. He had finally come back to me, and he was already gone.

As he and Willow walked away, I realized why I hadn't died yet. I needed that, he was what was missing. I was at peace with the rest of the world, now.

Slowly and surely, I felt myself fall asleep. The pain of my life, pain I hadn't even known I carried, disappeared. The life drained out of me and yet, at the same time, I felt more alive than I had felt for a long time.

I closed my eyes as the sounds around me faded to nothing. The beeping of the heart monitor slowed, until the short beeps were replaced with one long one, that I heard for only a second before I faded completely away.

I was happy.

The cool breeze tickled my wild hair, the scent of an array of flowers awoke my nose, and happy birds chirped near my eyes. I opened my eyes, the colors that assaulted me were brighter than any I had experienced on Earth, and the mossy stone path leading to the small home showed me the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.

My daughter stood there, waiting.

"Momma," she smiled.

I smiled back, and with a little giggle, I walked into my new home, with my daughter.

Finally, things were right.

A/N Parker Rain is of Different Rain, by OrangePlumbob. If you wish to know more about Delta Nine and his lovely family, I urge you to read it! It's fantastic!