# You Raised Her Well

Title: You Raised Her Well
Status: Complete
Characters: Anon, Amber, Naser, Ripley
Rating: SFW
Classification: One Shot
Author: Anonymous
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>Given the day's occasion, you couldn't help but look back at the pictures your daughter took on prom night with the young man she's been with ever since.
>His size and brawn almost reminded you of Spears. He even had that look of calm intelligence duelling explosive fury, albeit still nascent. And Lucy in her mother's dress, the night as a whole, was a bittersweet memory.
>Grug didn't make you feel like you had to pull pages from Ripley's playbook to keep him in line. Polite, respectful, sharp, and so sweet on your daughter that you could see the love between them from a mile off even then.
>That's why news of him proposing after they both graduated college didn't shock you in the slightest. Your daughter was ecstatic, and you had to hold back the lone tear of pride that she was doing so well for herself after overcoming that transitionary phase of young adulthood, flourishing just as Fang, sweet Fang, did.
>That's why you were sitting in the car outside the wedding venue, getting everything out now so you wouldn't ruin your little girl's special day.
>You had already gone over all those pictures of Fang even before Lucy was just a twinkle in your eye. You would have given Grug your old tuxedo but retailoring it wouldn't taken too much, so now those wine-stained sleeves were coated over in drying tears.
>Tears of sorrow when you went over the part of the book where Fang dropped off and Lucy picked up. The only pictures you had of the funeral were in your head, and even those were almost too much to bear.
>But even why you wept changed as you watched all of those birthday photos and life's firsts start to roll in. Her first steps, her first violin, bass, and guitar, the first time she stepped out of your hands and into school. All those pictures with grandma and grandpa. Raptor Jesus bless Ripley and Sam.
>Highschool, prom, and then the pictures she had mailed you from college. And now that blank page that was going to be filled with wedding photos.
>You wish she could be here to have seen all of that. To see this.
>Later on the ceremony starts up and you walk her down the isle, keeping it all together for her when you see her in her mother's old dress, wearing that amulet of amber.
>You're strong for her when you think it's time to step away, one last time, for her to be wed to her man.
>And you almost falter when Naser, somehow looking barely aged, taps you on the shoulder and hands forward a guitar.
>Her guitar
>Lucy turns to you and gives a smile that tells you this was her idea.
>"Dad, before we start, could you play something for us? I know she would want you to."
>You almost break down but smile through the freshly welling tears as you take it and place the strap over your neck.
>There's no question on what to play.
>It's her song. It's the one she guided your hands on and wrote out in her head, passing it on to you. It's what you would play whenever Lucy couldn't sleep as a child and needed something to her lull her to sleep, and what you would sit and play when it felt like you couldn't go on any further.
>You can only shut your eyes and go through it all. The dam breaks and you swear for one last time you can feel her hands guiding your's again.
>All of it comes tumbling down as you finish the song off, all that's left to do is fling your arms around your daughter a final time, tell her how much you love her, how much her mother would've loved her, and step away after she squeezes you tight and lets go.
>A few hours later while she and Grug are entertaining guests you can't help but sit off to the side, trying to recompose yourself.
>You're so wrapped up in thought that you hardly notice when your side of the bench practically raises and a meaty, claw-tipped hand settles on your shoulder.
>You swear this is the only time Ripley has done this without meaning for it to hurt.
>He's still a grizzled stone of a pteropatriarch, somehow keeping muscle and an imposing stature on into old age. But there are some warn-out features to match; a milky eye and a few missing teeth. There's a fatigue behind the one he can still see out of that took up lodging when Samantha died and never left.
>Everything passes for a while before he speaks.
>"I wanted to tell you something, before we both go off and probably drink ourselves blind. You did it, son. You're one of the biggest reasons why my granddaughter is getting the happiest day of her life. You succeeded as a man and, more importantly as, a father. You didn't break even when it felt like everything was falling apart, and you did what a father is supposed to do. You kept everything together even in the face of total despair, all for her. You're a man I'm proud to call my son, and you can golf with me anytime."
>You can only inhale deeply and say thank you before you get one of the ptero's rare pats on the back along with a smile as he gets up.
>He was right. Just like you're the reason why she's here, she's the reason why you're still here. All of it, all of it for her
>For her