So Far Away

Brian had sworn he would never fall in love.

Synyster Gates didn't fall in love.

But she had changed that.

She had changed him.

"So, whats your name?" she smiled, tucking a piece of her dark auburn hair behind her ear.

"Molly," she said softly holding out a hand, "what about you?"

"My names Brian..."

And that was all it took. From their first date to their trip down the aisle was almost six months to the day. Everyone said they were crazy, but they didn't care.

"Oh my God," Molly mumbled softly, staring down at the pregnancy test laying on the counter. The two pink lines staring back at her brought tears to her big blue eyes. Molly walked out of the bathroom clutching the test in her hand. "Brian," she whispered, he looked up from the stack of papers laying in his lap.

"Baby..." he mumbled softly, setting them aside. She just nodded as he took her into his arms.

"we did it." she cried as they shared a celebratory kiss.

They had been married for nearly three years, and had been trying to get pregnant for the past two, after suffering a miscarriage. They had almost given up hope...almost.

"Congratulations..." the doctor said sweetly, "its a girl," Brian's heart melted. A girl? He was going to have a baby girl...

Brian had kept track, he had taken a picture every day since they found out Molly was pregnant. It was eight months, one week and six days.

Brian heard a cry, and his eyes clouded over with tears. The doctor held up a baby. She was covered in God knows what, she had a head full of dark hair just like her mothers. They placed the baby on Molly's chest, she stroked gently at the newborns pudgy cheek.

"And what will we be naming this little lady?" the nurse asked sweetly.

"Emily," Molly mumbled softly, unable to take her eyes off the brand new baby. "Emily Grace,"

"Mr. Haner?" the deep voice shook him from his thoughts. "the court is ready to see you," the officer said as Brian stood up, adjusting his suit and fixing his tie one last time. Brian walked through the doors, and he felt all eyes on him.

"Mr. Haner, please take the stand," the judge spoke to him, reading over the papers he held in his hands.

"Mr. Haner will be presenting as a material witness," the middle-aged woman spoke, commanding attention as her voice carried though the court room. Brian was sworn in, and then instructed to take a seat, where he came face-to-face to everyone in the court room, his friends all had tears in their eyes, helplessly holding onto each other as if their lives depended on it.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Haner," Brian nodded at the judge, fighting his every urge to cry.

"Brian, if I may?" the woman asked, pacing in front of him, he just nodded. "Okay Brian, were just going to start with some basic questions to warm up," again he nodded, "Is it true that Molly Ann Haner was your wife?" Brian nodded.

"That's true," he said simply, fidgeting with his wedding ring.

"And its true you two have a daughter, Emily Grace, who is four?" again Brian nodded. "Good, your honor if I may?" she said simply, he waived her on. "Brian can you tell me exactly what happened on the afternoon of December 4th, 2009?" Brian swallowed hard, he could already feel the tears welling.

"I was at home, my band was off for a few months, so Molly wanted to go out and do some Christmas shopping, I told her I would stay home and watch Emily," he swallowed hard as he reached up wiping at his tears. "and what time did Molly leave the house?"

"Around 9:30," he stated simply.

"At what time did you start to worry about Molly?" the woman asked.

"well, Molly has always been a woman on a mission when it comes to a mall, so when I had gone a few hours without hearing from her I didn't think anything of it. But around 4:15 the doorbell rang, it was the police,"

"And what exactly did they want?"

"They had found Molly's Mercedes abandoned in the mall parking lot, a security camera caught a man hitting Molly," he stopped, wiping at his eyes again, "over the back of her head...and an hour after that..."

"What happened then Brian?" she pushed.

"They found Molly's body, she had been r-...ra-..." he looked up, glaring at the son of a bitch in the orange jumpsuit in handcuffs, "she had been raped, and he slit her throat..."

The jury spent less than two hours deliberating. It was on that day, May 8th 2010 in a rush trial, they found Gregory Marcus Neil guilty.

"Daddy!" Emily screamed, dragging Brian by his fingers, "Go faster! I wanna see mommy!" she wailed excitedly as Brian followed her down the row. "Mommy!" Emily shouted excitedly falling down in front of the black marble tombstone. "I've missed you!" Brian fought the tears as he knelt down beside Emily.

"Hey baby," he mumbled softly, this was Molly's resting place. "they caught him, the bastard will never, ever see the light of day again...and that's because you fought..." he took in a deep breath, he didn't want Emily to see him cry. "I miss you so much..." he brushed some of Emily's hair out of her porcelain face. "you're so fucking far away..." Emily looked up at her father wide eyed.

"Mama's right here," Emily mumbled.

"No baby, Mama's in heaven," he said softly, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"No Daddy, Mama's soul is in heaven. Mama's body is here," she said touching the stone which was engraved with Molly's picture, "but Mama," she pointed to her chest, "Mama's always here..." she mumbled. Brian began to sob, taking Emily into his arms.

"You're right Em, as long as we have each other, Mommy's not so far away after all..." he knew that Molly had fought so hard to give him a child for a reason, because Molly may have been gone, but she had left Emily for Brian.

"Bye Mommy," Emily whispered softly, pushing a kiss to her tiny hand, then pushing it up into the sky. "I love you..." Brian scooped up the little girl. Gently running his hand over her hair.

"Good bye Molly," he cried, "thank you," he mumbled glancing at Emily, "I love you so much Mol, and I can't wait to see you. But until then," he placed a soft kiss on Emily's cheek, "you will always be in our hearts..."