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A/N: This fic takes place completely outside my PR universe. It�s a stand-alone, one shot deal. I hope you enjoy it.
It wasn�t so much the snow that was bothering him, it was the wind. He pulled his hat over his ears a little lower, trying to keep the cold out as he stood there. There were a few flakes falling, but not many.
He leaned down, gently brushing away the new fallen snow from the nameplate. Although it had become a family tradition, and for the last ten years he�d been coming to the same spot, it always seemed so unsettling. His father offered to come along, but truthfully, he wanted to be alone with her.
It bothered him that the only image he still had of her was a picture of the two of them when he was nine years old. The picture itself was cracked, the edges were peeling, and it had been bent in half a few times, but it was still a beautiful picture of her. She had short, black hair that hung just over her ears, and a smile that was bright enough to light up an entire room.
There were so many memories of her, but they were all from his childhood. Maybe when he was nine or ten. He wanted to remember more, but there wasn�t anything more to remember. He recalled clearly all the mornings she had gotten up to make him breakfast before school, and the times she was there to tend to his wounds when he hurt himself outside. He could remember the songs she used to sing to him before he drifted off to sleep, but that�s where it ended. He hadn�t been that little boy for years, he was much different now. �I wish you could see me now,� he thought to himself.
�It�s your life, make your own decisions,� she used to tell him. His father was determined that he would follow in his footsteps in their family�s company, but he had other plans for himself. She would always defend him, telling his father that he had to make choices for his own life, not accept the ones forced on him. �You�d be so proud of me now, I really have made my own destiny,� he thought.
Some of his decisions hadn�t been wise ones, but he�d done everything he could to make the best of his situation. He�d fallen in love with a woman he could never have, but he had also been a hero; doing his part to protect the city and save lives. Now, he was part of a much bigger team, the Silver Guardians, and they were doing all they could to protect the city as well. Though there were a few things he wished he could have done differently, he stood behind each decision he had made.
�Dad and I are much closer now because of that,� he reminded himself. �I only wish you could have been here to see it.� Even as a child, he and his father never saw eye to eye. His father was much too serious, always into his work, and at that age, he couldn�t understand why. That�s why he turned to her for comfort and support. Now he understood why his father was the way he was, and now he understood why he put in the long hours every day. �He was building the business so that one day, I could take over for him,� he thought. �He must have been furious when I didn�t show any interest in it.�
After she passed away, his father began to bury himself in his work even more. There were days when he didn�t see his father at all, and without her around, it just made things worse.
Years had gone by. He wasn�t the same nine-year-old boy who wanted his mother to tuck him in and read him a story. He was a man now, with a career ahead of him. He�d done well for himself, and he�d done it on his own. By refusing to follow in his father�s footsteps, he�d made his own destiny.
�I wish you could be here, to see how much I�ve grown, to see the man I�ve become. I know you�d be proud of me. Dad and I are finally as close as you wanted us to be, we even talk about you sometimes. I miss you, and I love you...� he wiped the tears away from his eyes. �Mom,� he sighed as he dropped a single white rose on her grave, then walked away.
R.I.P.
Ardie Elaine Livingston
January 26th, 1954 � October 23rd, 2002
I love you mom