Chapter Text
“Got your lunch?” Wolfgang asked as he and Alex walked down the sidewalk towards the school.
“Uh huh,” Alex said, swinging the lunch bag in one hand while he held Wolfgang’s hand with the other.
“And your book?”
“Uh huh. Hey, Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Can we get ice cream after school?”
Wolfgang paused to consider it. “Any particular reason?”
Alex grinned up at him, showing off the gap where he’d lost his two front teeth. “I love ice cream.”
Wolfgang laughed. “Can’t argue with that. How about I make you a deal.”
“What is it?”
“Learn something cool in class today,” Wolfgang told him. “Then we’ll go get ice cream afterwards. Deal?”
“Deal,” Alex agreed seriously. They paused on the sidewalk outside the front entrance to the school, just outside the flow of children heading inside.
“Have a good day,” Wolfgang said, ruffling Alex’s hair. “See you later.”
“Bye, Dad,” Alex said, waving before running off to join his friends on their way into the building. Wolfgang watched until the group of boys were safely inside, then paused, sensing someone next to him. He turned to look, expecting one of the cluster, and instead found Kala standing beside him. She was watching Alex, love and pride in her eyes.
It had been a long time since Wolfgang saw her, long enough that he couldn’t quite remember exactly when her last visit had been. There was a time when that would have frightened him, but now all he did was smile and reach out to take her hand. It felt so real and solid that it was hard to believe she wasn’t really there. That thought hurt, but not quite the way it used to.
“I love you,” he told her, because he could and because there would not be another chance. She looked up at him and smiled, fond and content and perfectly at peace. Then she was gone. His hand closed around empty air, the warmth of her skin still lingering on his palm, and he knew he would not see her again.
Tears stung his eyes and squeezed his throat, and for just a moment the grief was as raw and as terrible as the day she died. But he forced himself to take a breath, then another, and another, and the moment passed. He wiped his eyes and turned away from the school, walking away down the sidewalk. Felix was expecting him in the shop soon, and Wolfgang had promised Lito a visit today, and after that there was grocery shopping to do and Alex to pick up from school and an ice cream cone to buy for his son. He would miss Kala until the day he died. There was no escaping that. But until then… he had his life, and he planned on living it.