It is early in the morning when Meredith calls her father, asking him to watch Ginny for the day so she could go to work. Mike eagerly jumps at the opportunity, leaps out of his chair and rushing to get ready and go over to see his granddaughter. While in the car he can hardly contain his excitement. He loves watching Ginny whenever he has the chance which, to his disappointment, isn’t a lot lately, not since the cancer came back. The cancer is really starting to take it’s toll on him and, even though he tries his best to hide it, he fears that Merideth can see the pain he’s in. She was with him in the doctors office the horrible day when they were told it had come back, only giving him a few months to live, maybe three, hopefully more. He puts on a brave face though. He acts like he’s fine, and if he didn’t look so frail you wouldn’t be able to tell he was sick from his happy attitude. He starts to cry a bit in the car but stops himself; he doesn’t want her to see he was crying. He doesn’t want to hurt her.

Pulling into her driveway and walking up to the house, his excitement almost makes him explode. Little Ginny is crawling to the front door with a huge smile spread across her face, waiting for her grandpa to come and love on her. He opens the door and swings her up into his arms, spinning her around in the air while little; cute squeals come from her as they spin.

“Well, hello there, my little guinea pig,” he says to her her, making her smile at him even more, “How’s my baby girl?

“Hi dad,” Meredith says from the kitchen, “Sorry for calling so early, I have got to go to work today.” He waves her off, telling her he’ll always watch her no matter the time. After a little more conversation, she packs up her things for work and heads out, leaving Mike with Ginny for the whole day.



It is late and he is sitting on the couch after a long day of playing. The tv is on, quietly, and Ginny is curled up in his arms, sleeping soundlessly. He is alone. Alone with his thoughts, not something he liked lately because he said it gave him time to think about his future. He’s dying, he knows it. The scariest thing about that for him is knowing he’s going to be leaving people he loves behind. He looks down at Ginny, with a sad frown on his face. He’s trying hard not to cry thinking about leaving her so early into her life.

“I love you so much, Gin. I want you to know that,” he says to her, placing a kiss to her temple, “I’m so sorry that I won’t be here to see you grow up like I want to. If I had a choice I would want to spend the rest of my time here with you, but I can’t. You're my perfect little girl and it kills me even more to think about never getting to see you again. No matter what though, I’ll always cherish the moments I had with since you’ve been given to us and I’ll always be watching over my little guinea pig. I love you, sweetheart.” The tears are coming now. He places another kiss to her head and she cuddles even deeper into his arms. He looks at her, taking a mental picture of this moment, always wanting to remember this precious girl wherever he is. He promises her that no matter where he is he would forever be with her, in her heart and watching over her. He swears to her then, the sleeping baby in his arms, that, from that day on, he would be her guardian angel.