A/N: All I can say is when I told TPTB to bring back Burn, I didn't mean bring her back burnt!
Summary: Lindsay watches as all her friends mourn a woman she never got the chance to know. She doesn't know exactly how she should deal with the events, but she knows there is one last favor she can do for the woman she replaced. The woman who was would always be a cop at heart.
Disclaimer: If I owned CSI:NY They wouldn't have killed Aiden, let alone fire her. IF I owned CSI:NY Aiden wouldn't have been fired and Lindsay still would have joined the team or something. Anyway I own nothing!
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Lindsay walked up to the closed coffin after everyone had left, it had been awkward to watch everyone else mourn someone she'd never known. Danny had been close to tears, but not quite, she heard they'd been close and it was obvious it was true. Mac seemed reserved, calm, per usual, but there was grief beneath his green eyes, there was no hiding it.
Stella wept openly, dabbing at her tears with a tissue, there was no sobs, just tears she couldn't hold back. Sheldon had simply stood by Flack, not saying or doing anything, just staring during the whole funeral. Flack had been there, in his suit, the sadness etched in his face, but showing no where else.
When they were leaving Danny had offered a ride home, but she'd declined, "I'll catch a cab later," and gave him a half smile.
"Ok," he replied quietly and left, after taking one last look towards where Aiden's coffin lay.
Lindsay took the object she had in her pocket and gently ran a finger over Aiden's badge. With a deep breath she placed it on the very top of the coffin.
"You got him Aiden," she whispered, the woman she never knew would become her mentor. Aiden never gave up on trying to get D.J. Pratt, she had given up her job trying, but it hadn't worked. In the end it had taken her life to catch him. Even when she knew she was going to die, she thought fast enough to leave a clue, anything to put him away. That was how a true cop thought, that their life didn't matter as long as the bad guy went away. Aiden was a cop at heart, a detective, a CSI, but most of all, Aiden was a hero.
It surprised Lindsay to feel warm tears sliding down her cheeks, crying for someone she'd never met. She realized though, that was the reason she was crying, she'd never had the chance to meet such a wonderful person.
Aiden's father stood behind the young woman and startled her as she turned around, "Mr. Burn? I'm sorry, I was just leaving," she sputtered.
"No, that's all right," he stopped her with a raised hand and a weak smile, "Did you know my Aiden?"
"I would have liked too, everyone goes on and on about what a great person she was," Lindsay told him sincerely.
"She was a stubborn girl. I always told her it would be the end of her...guess I was right," he reminicsed sadly. He just noticed the badge that Lindsay had placed there, "My baby's badge...you brought it here?"
"She deserves it, if anyone deserved a badge, it was Aiden," she explained quietly. She didn't tell him that if she couldn't have gotten Aiden's badge, she'd have given up her own. In her mind, Aiden deserved it more than she did.
"Thank you..." he trailed off, leaving her space to tell him her name.
"Lindsay," she answered softly and wiped away the few tears remaining on her cheeks.
Aiden's father let loose a couple tears of his own and they traveled sadly down his aged face, "Thank you Lindsay. It hurt Aiden deeply when she lost her job, it would have meant so much to her."
Lindsay nodded and held back a tear before saying, "I'm sorry, but I really have to go now."
"Thats alright Miss, and again...thanks," he took her hand and squeezed it for a moment before dropping it.
Lindsay turned and left the church, to find Danny waiting at the door, "I thought you left?"
"I knew you'd need a ride, but I didn't expect you to do what you did," Danny told her quietly, "You never knew her, but you gave her the one thing back that made her happy."
"A cop at heart is always a cop, no matter where they work, or where they are, even after they die, they're still a cop," Lindsay told him her thinking, "She was a cop at heart, the badge was hers, she earned it. And not because she died, because she did what it took to put Pratt away."
"I wish you could have met her," Danny thought out loud as he led her to his car. He'd observed that she'd been crying, but decided against mentioning it.
"I know, me too," she replied, and never had she spoken truer words in her life.
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A/N: Just had to write this, hope you liked it. Review please.