Memories

Brook hung up her phone as she finished talking with Kenny, quickly returning to washing off her and Ellie's plates. "So Ellie, what should we do to celebrate your daddy getting a new job?" Brook asked with a big smile,

"I don't know," Ellie replied while lowering her head and thinking, "Give him a hug!" She suddenly exclaimed, "Daddy always gives me a hug when I do good things!"

Brook let out a small murmuring laugh, "I'm sure he does," She replied while drying off her hands, "But, you know what we could do for your daddy?" Ellie tilted her head and shook it, "We could get upstairs and get you all unpacked in your new bedroom! That way when he gets back you can show him how happy you are being here. Right?"

"Yeah!" Ellie readily agreed. Brook followed as the small redheaded girl ran towards the stairs and sprinted to the top, "Do you think mommy would be upset if I put things up in her room though?" The girl suddenly asked with a small pout,

"Of course not!" Brook quickly replied, "Your mom would be upset if you didn't!" She continued while reaching the top of the stairs, "In fact, I'm sure if she was here now, she'd be helping you do this instead of me," Ellie flashed Brook a wide grin and continued her run into Zoey's old room, "God, knows she would," Brook softly said under her breath before letting out a soft exhale, "I'm trying, Zoey, I'm not you but, I promise, I'll try to do everything you would," The girl continued to whisper out with a slightly shaky voice,

"Aunt Brook?!" Ellie called out, "Come on!"

Brook let out a short breathy laugh and wiped her eyes, "Coming, sweetie!" Brook called back as she walked into her niece's bedroom, seeing Ellie tugging open the top of one of her boxes, "Oh, oh, oh, be careful, Ellie," Brook quickly said while rushing over and pulling the box open herself, "Mommy wouldn't want you getting hurt while doing this," Ellie let out a quick nod and looked around the room, it was mostly bare with only an end table, a bed, one long dresser, a small closet and a corner desk with a chair. What was catching Ellie's eye, however, was the string of shelves at the tops of the far wall, "What is it, honey?"

"Why are the shelves all the way up there?" The girl asked while pointing up, "I couldn't reach any of my toys if I put them there,"

"Oh, well, that's because your mommy didn't put toys up there," Brook replied with a small smile, "She put all her trophies up there,"

"My mom was a racecar driver?!" Ellie exclaimed in awe,

"No, goofball," Brook giggled back while standing up and moving towards the closet, "Come here for a second," Ellie followed walked over to her aunt in curiosity while the woman dug around the closet, pulling out a few boxes before letting out a loud, "Ah-ha!" Ellie watched as she emerged with a photo album with a picture of a young Zoey resting a baseball bat on her shoulder on the front. Brook reached down and scooped Ellie up, walking over to the bed and sitting down with the girl on her lap, "Your mommy didn't drive cars, she played softball,"

"Softball?" Ellie slowly repeated, "What's that?"

"You know what baseball is?"Brook asked getting a small nod in return, "Well softball is like baseball but just a little smaller and faster," Brook explained while opening the album, "And your mommy was very good at it," Ellie rested against Brook's chest as she began to go through each photo, "Your grandpa got Zoey her first softball bat and ball when she was eight, right on her birthday, see?" Ellie smiled as she looked at a picture of Zoey holding up a bat on her birthday,

"Where's daddy?" Ellie asked as she scanned the pages curiously,

"Daddy didn't meet your mommy until they were both much older," Brook smiled back, Brook then began to turn through a few more pages, "You mom played a lot when she was a kid and when she turned twelve, she joined a team at school, and she played all the way until she graduated,"

"Gabutatted," Ellie repeated,

"No, no, Gra-du-ated," Brook softly corrected,

"Graduated...what's that?" Ellie sweetly asked,

"It means she finished going to school," Brook replied, quickly flipping towards the back of the book, finding a few photos of Zoey in her cap and gown, "See, that was her last day of school,"

"There's daddy!" Ellie exclaimed while pointing to a picture of Kenny planting a small kiss on Zoey's cheek as he lifted her up in his arms while Zoey proudly help up her diploma,

"Yeah...there's daddy," Brook whispered back with a small nod, "Now..." Brook smiled while flipping back towards the center of the book, "Your mommy was so good at the game that every year she got trophies, see?" Ellie's eyes were wide as she looked at dozens of photos with Brook of Zoey holding up her softball trophies with pride, seeing a few with Kenny, JJ, Juliet, and even Anna for after game pizza in the background. "And so you mommy put them all up on those shelves,"

"Can I play softball too?!" Ellie asked with a hopeful look,

"Of course you can," Brook warmly replied as she planted a small kiss on the top of the girls head, "I'll talk to your dad about getting you everything you need to play as soon as possible,"

Ellie tilted her head and silently began to turn the pages of the album, looking at the pictures of her mother in almost confusion before finally looking up at her aunt, "Aunt Brook?"

"Yes, sweetie?" Brook replied with a smile,

"How did my mommy die?" The small girl asked with a look of pure confusion leaving the younger Irons sister utterly speechless.

Brook's lips parted, and she let out a small broken exhale, blinking a few quick times while Ellie stared back at her in curiosity. "E-Ellie...um, your daddy didn't tell you?" Brook finally stammered back,

"No," Ellie lowly replied as she turned her attention back to Zoey's pictures, "He told me that she died when I was three, but that's all...why did my mommy die?" The girl sadly asked,

"I...I don't know, Ellie," Brook asked as she felt her eyes start to well up, losing her sister was hard but she couldn't imagine how tough it was going to be for Ellie to grow up without a mother. Worse yet, Ellie didn't understand it yet, and she clearly didn't know what to think about the situation, "But you always remember that she loved you very much, and so does your father, they both love you more than anything in the world,"

"Then why did she go?" Ellie replied with a trembling lip,

"She didn't choose to, Ellie," Brook sniffed back, "She was-" She began to say only to stop, swallowing the words back down, "You know, I think this is something you should ask your dad when he comes home," Brook softly said while giving the girl a small pat on the back. Ellie nodded back and looked back at the pictures, "You look like her," Ellie smiled as she found a picture of both the sisters,

"She didn't like that when people told her that," Brook lightly laughed while wiping her eyes, "But I always did, so thank you,"

"Aunt Brook?" Ellie asked once more,

"Yes, baby?" Brook quickly asked back,

"Can you help me with something?" Brook tilted her head and watched as Ellie slid off her aunt's lap, taking the photo album with her. Brook curiously got to her feet and fall the red-haired girl towards the desk at the other side of the room.

Nearly an hour later, Kenny pulled back into the driveway and quickly got from Brook's car, lightly jogging towards the front door. The man hadn't been away from Ellie for this long in years, and it was making him panic, even though he trusted Brook, he couldn't help but feel like he should always be around. As he stepped inside, he immediately froze, staring at the bare wall in front of him which held up pictures the last time he was inside the home. He curiously began to walk around the first floor, noticing many picture frames were missing from around the walls, and end tables, "Uh...Hello?" Kenny called out, "Ellie?! Brook?!"

"Up here, daddy!" Ellie called out with a chipper tone,

Kenny immediately let out a long breath of relief and headed towards the stairs, making his way up only to be stopped by Brook as soon as he reached the top step. The redhead's face was bright red, her nose almost glowing while her puffy eyes continued to drip with an occasional tear, "Kenny...you need to see what your daughter did," Brook joyfully said while spinning around, leading him towards Ellie's room,

"Is everything alright?" Kenny asked in some concern,

"Yes," Brook rapidly nodded, "She just...it was all her idea," Brook sniffed as she pushed the door open letting Kenny step inside. Kenny's eyes went soft, and he rolled his lips in as he quickly spotted Zoey's trophy shelves now each with a different picture of her slowly being filled up. Ellie sat on the bed, removing the photos from the missing frames on the first floor and replacing them from the photos in Zoey's album, "She-She couldn't reach up there, so I had to..." Brook tried to explain before her voice cracked and she simply stopped, unable to do anything else but smile as she watched her niece,

"H-Hey, kiddo," Kenny softly said while approaching his daughter who turned and leaped off the bed, rushing over and throwing her arms around Kenny who was just able to kneel down in time. "Whatcha doing?" He asked with a small gulp,

Ellie smiled as she looked up at the photos, "I wanted her to be in here with me," She explained before letting out a small gasp, "Oh, daddy, here!" The girl exclaimed while rushing over to a small frame on the desk, handing it to her father with glee, "This one's for your room,"

Kenny shakily took the photo and felt a teardrop as he saw it was the picture of Zoey's graduation. He could still remember that day, and the moment when he lifted her up for this photo, Zoey was so happy to be done with high school, and Kenny couldn't have been more proud to be there with her. "T-Thank you, sweetie," Kenny sniffed before pulling his daughter into another tight hug, "Thank you so much,"

"Go put it up!" Ellie smiled,

"Right," Kenny nodded as he took a slow calming breath, "I'll do that right now," He assured her before giving the girl a small kiss on the cheek and standing up. Brook wet her lips and followed Kenny out of the room while Ellie went back to her bed, ready to finish getting her mother's pictures ready to be put up on the shelves,

"She, um," Brook's nervous voice pipped up the second Kenny entered his room, "Kenny, Ellie asked me something earlier,"

"What?" Kenny asked as he carefully set the photo down on his end table,

"She...Ellie wants to know how her mother died," Kenny completely stopped moving, his blood ran cold, and he could barely take in a breath, "She asked me but I...I didn't think it was my place to tell her if you hadn't done it yet,"

"Fuck...I, I" Kenny whispered out, "She's too young, isn't she?"

"She understands her mom's gone, Kenny, she just wants to know how it happened," Brook weakly argued, "I'm not telling you to go into detail, but she wants to understand, she needs to! S-She thinks Zoey chose to leave her right now; you can't let that thought fester, Kenny!" Kenny brought a hand up to his eyes and slid it down his face, wiping his cheeks as he shook his head,

"Ellie thinks Zoey just...left her on purpose?" Kenny's broken voice replied, "Oh god," He was barely able to squeak out before a few streams of tears rolled down his cheeks,

"You need to talk with her," Brook said as firmly as she could, "Make sure Ellie knows that Zoey would never have left her if it was her choice," Kenny let out a few quick nods, "I'll give you two some privacy, alright?" Kenny nodded again and sat down on his bed to gather his thoughts and gain control of himself, "Oh yeah," Brook weakly smiled, "We need to get her a softball kit,"

"We do?" Kenny asked back with a small chuckle, "Why?"

"She wants to be like her mom," Brook simply replied before leaving the room, giving Kenny a minute alone.

Kenny let out a long shaky breath and leaned forward, staring at the floor with pursed lips. He always knew he would have to talk to Ellie about what happened, but he knew he'd never be ready for the conversation. It felt too soon; she was still so young and Kenny ...Kenny could still remember that night like it only happened yesterday...