[center][color=teal][h2]Jessamyn "Jess" Bailey[/h2][/color][/center]

The journey took around half an hour, the gates of the cemetery coming into sight. Once the car had stopped outside, Jess braced herself before climbing out. To think that her father lay somewhere among those rows of gravestones... She cupped the figurine, hands clenching around it.

[color=aqua]"He'd love that,"[/color] her mother commented, looking over her shoulder as she led both girls. She spoke as if he were still alive, and Jess were simply about to give him a gift.

The empath gave a weak smile in response as she trudged along the path. Roses wavered in the wind, their petals curled at the edges from too much sun, giving off a faint scent. As if pretty flowers could ease people's grief, Jess thought bitterly.

She flinched, a raw ache welling through her as an old man walked past, shoulders stooped, footsteps heavy. He had to have recently lost a loved one. Jess chewed the inside of her lip, less than comfortable at her intrusion into people's feelings.

Trying to compose herself, she took a deep breath of the floral-smelling air. Her dad would want her to be strong, not a twitching shell of who she'd once been. She continued onwards, hoping Roxy would be ok with all this. It obviously wouldn't be the most uplifting experience for the anchor in the best of cases, but hopefully nothing she or her mother said would set Roxy off again.