Because you loved me

13

Princess Floyd was not above such things as being afraid or worried, but she also wasn't thought to have a quick sense of those around her.

However others thought of her, she had a keen sense of reading people. She could tell with a single glance whether someone was lying to her, upset, sad, angry. She didn't always know the cause of the emotion, but she was pretty quick to know what emotion that other person was feeling.

Zoey sat patiently in the back seat of the car as Mark drove toward Meredith's apartment. Lunch had gone fairly well, with Mark refusing to say anything more to Meredith on the subject of Derek. The only time that his name was mentioned was when Zoey would joyfully utter his name in the context of a story. She didn't notice the sadness in her mother's eyes, or the intense look in Mister Mark's eyes as he addressed Meredith each time his friend was mentioned. Both adults were fairly quiet, with the exception of regarding the little girl, whom they spoke with inflection and happiness.

Zoey wasn't blind.

She could see something was going on inside the heads of the adults. She could see the tenseness in their body language, and the uneasiness of their conversations. She knew Derek was upset, and she could tell that her mother was upset, and now Mister Mark. She had a nervous tummy, and right now her lunch wasn't settling well and the quiet argument in the front seat wasn't helping. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but neither adult looked happy.

"Mark, stop it." She muttered quietly as she glared at the driver's seat occupant.

"I'm just saying, Meredith..."

"And I'm saying stop it... stop prying into our personal lives."

"This isn't just your personal life, Meredith." Mark argued. "This has to do with my best friend's life... your daughter's life... this is a lot more than just you."

"I understand that."

"I don't think that you do." Mark growled. "He's done everything for you, Meredith."

"I'm not asking him to do everything for me, Mark. That has been his choice."

"And you're not willing to give him anything back... I get it... I get it..."

"Shut up... okay? Just... shut up." Meredith growled as they pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building. As soon as the car was in park, Meredith swung open her door.

"Meredith, stay!" Mark exclaimed as she had already unbuckled her seatbelt and swung her legs around.

She ignored him and tried to get out, as Zoey unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her own door, hopping out.

And for all of the love that she felt, and the fear that princess Floyd had in her belly... that some day someone would steal her from her dragon... she never found that her mother was a threat, even when her words said the complete opposite.

"Mama...be careful, please..." She said as she watched Meredith's face soften once she saw the little girl before her.

"What are you doing out of the car, little one."

"To walk you in..." She said with a smile, leaning on the car as Mark came running around the side.

"Stay right there..." Mark said as Meredith gave him a challenging look.

"What am I doing to do, run off?" She asked with a sly smile to her little girl, who giggled at her mother for her silliness.

"No running on the sidewalk." She said as she recited what Derek had told her every time she let her energy get the best of her and run toward her mother's apartment.