I own Nothing.

This fic is based on the song Walking Her Home by Mark Shultz. If you've never heard it, it's a fantastic song. I know you can get it on iTunes, if you want to hear it.

Walking Her Home

Eighty-five-year-old Link Larkin lay next to his wife, staring into space. Oh, how well he remembered…

Looking back
He sees it all
It was her first date the night he came to call

Link knocked on the Turnblads' door. He straightened his tie nervously. Not only was it Tracy's first date, it was his first real date. This would be the first time that he had dated a girl whom he actually enjoyed being around. And one who's parents constantly worried over her.

Her dad said son
Have her home on time
And promise me you'll never leave her side

It took them almost a half an hour to get out of Wilbur Turnblad's clutches. He asked Link a million questions and ended by telling him to take good care of his baby doll. For a moment, as he kissed his girl goodbye, Link thought there were tears in the man's eyes. But then it was all back to business. "Mr. Larkin," he said sternly. "I want her back here by eleven and not a second later."

He took her to a show in town
And he was ten feet off the ground

Link could not remember a happier night. Tracy was so easy to talk to, not like Amber or Shelley or the other council girls. Tracy said what she thought and ate what she wanted, and she was absolutely perfect.

And he was walking her home
Holding her hand
Oh the way she smiled it stole the breath right out of him
Down that old road
With the stars up above
He remembers where he was the night he fell in love
He was walking her home

Walking home from the theatre was the best part of all. They talked softly of school, segregation, anything that occurred to them. Link said something that made Tracy smile. That smile caused a whooshing sensation to go through his stomach. And he knew, right there, that he was in love. In the middle Maple Street at quarter to eleven, Link Larkin kissed Tracy Turnblad, with all the stars for witnesses. And that was the single greatest moment of his life.

Ten more years and a waiting room
At half past one

Link paced back and forth, his clammy hands behind his back and his normally sculpted hair unkempt. His heart beat wildly as he waited outside the closed hospital ward. Finally, a doctor emerged with a smile on his face.

And when the doctor said come in and meet your son
His knees went weak
When he saw his wife
She was smiling as she said he's got your eyes

Link entered the ward to see Tracy, sweaty, exhausted, but grinning broadly. She was holding a tiny, shivering bundle of fabric, with a tuft of velvety brown hair sticking out.

"He's got your eyes!" she said ecstatically. And sure enough, when he got close enough, he saw a tiny nose and mouth, and two beautiful, bright, cerulean orbs. He had the tiny being, and decided that this was the second happiest moment of his life.

And as she slept he held her tight
His mind went back to that first night

As Tracy slept, he watched the basinet with his little son in it, and thought how far they'd come in ten years. All TV programs were integrated, big hair was no longer 'in,' and The Corny Collins Show had gone off the air six years ago. And yet, he could still remember as though it were yesterday how it had felt to see Tracy smile on Maple Street.

He was walking her home
And holding her hand
Oh the way she smiled it stole the breath right out of him
Down that old road
With the stars up above
He remembers where he was the night he fell in love
He was walking her home

He relived that day, savoring the whooshing in his stomach and holding Tracy closer. He wanted to stay like this forever: content and complete.

He walked her through the best days of her life
Sixty years together and he never left her side

The next sixty years passed in a blur of happiness. Although Tracy and him had had their share of hardships, their love never faltered and they always found the good in everything. Link could not believe how lucky he was. He had the most precious thing in the world: pure, true love.

A nursing home
At eighty-five

At age eighty-two, Link finally gave in and checked the two of them into a nursing home. Tracy had developed mild Alzheimer's, and he could hardly walk from hip problems. They couldn't take care of themselves anymore.

And the doctor said it could be her last night
And the nurse said Oh
Should we tell him now
Or should he wait until the morning to find out

Link knew that Tracy's life was almost at an end. He would miss her, be he knew she'd go to heaven and be happy. And someday, he would join her.

But when they checked her room that night
He was laying by her side

He snuck into Tracy's room and lay down with her. He wasn't going to let her go without saying goodbye.

Oh he was walking her home
And holding her hand
Oh the way she smiled when he said this is not the end
And just for a while they were eighteen
And she was still more beautiful to him than anything
He was walking her home

He talked to her quietly, reassuring her. She didn't understand it, because of the Alzheimer's, but she smiled when he promised they'd see each other again. And the whooshing sensation that Link so loved was undiminished by the sixty years of love that had passed between them.

He was walking her home

He watched as her breathing slowed, then stopped. He was gone, but he knew that he would see her again. He allowed one tear to roll down his cheek as he stroked her cold one.

"Goodbye for now, Little Darlin',"

Looking back
He sees it all

Well, tell me how you liked it in a review!!!!