This is part of a series I'll be posting for any canon characters that send them to me of drabbles from my roleplay blog. They're from this meme:
"Send me 'I miss you' to know what my muse will say after 1 year, 5 years, then to 10 years after your muse's death."
Explanations for references at the bottom, contains spoilers up through Cold Days if you're still behind on that.
1 year
"Hey, boy." It was a gentle greeting as Thomas sat down at the small gravestone in the Carpenters back yard. He set the small box of steak down in front of him, settled up against the stone. He fished around for a moment and produced a small package from his pocket, unwrapping the sucker and placing it on the grave. "Found something else for you at the store today."
It still hurt, not to see the wagging tail and grinning doggy face ready to cover him in slobber and fur every time he showed up, though in the later years he'd had to crouch down because Mouse could no longer jump up.
His gift was lined up with the rest of them that had been left there that day. No doubt they'd end up going to the squirrels eventually. "Dunno if Maggie's been out to see you yet. She's been pretty sad, she misses you a lot, but she tries to stay optimistic. It's what you would've wanted for her. I wish I'd gotten to spend more time with you, but I know your job was important and you did it wonderfully."
Mouse had been surprisingly long-lived, even for a temple dog, but he was still a dog and they'd all watched him slow down, watched the fur on his muzzle turn silver and his fluff thin out. Watched as he slept more and more until one day he'd curled up on the couch with them, laid his head down on Maggie's lap with a sigh, and never gotten back up.
5 years
"Justine sent something too." He folded his legs over the patch of grass in front of the weather worn stone that still stood in the corner of the Carpenter's yard. "Maggie's off visiting friends but she said she'd stop by later. God knows where Harry is but he'll try his best to manage it. I think it's just me for now, though."
Thomas deposited the usual gifts in front of the grave. Steak and a sucker. There was also a dog treat from Justine, from the new 'natural' bakery that had opened down the street. He knew Mouse would have appreciated it. "Everyone still misses you. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that."
He sat there in silence for a few minutes, leaning his shoulder against the stone like he would to Mouse when the dog sat next to him. There wasn't much else to say, there never had been between them. He'd never needed words with Mouse.
10 years
"It's just me this year, I'm afraid. Maggie went off to college, moved right across the country to do it. Guess she couldn't bring you with her this time. I think she's happy there, though. She's having fun, she sends me postcards, I'll bring them to read to you sometime." He glanced back around at the windows of the house and caught a flash of movement. Charity had been watching him again. She did that a lot, lately.
Turning back to the grave he deposited his usual gifts. "They stopped making that kind of sucker you like so I had to substitute with another brand. Nothing from Justine this time, I'm afraid."
A few moments of silence. "I fucking miss you, you big fur-ball. Even when you were slobbering all over me and when I'd just woken up, or crushing me because that was how you decided nightmares needed to be solved. I… have those a lot lately. Don't really know what to do about them anymore."
He stood up, finally, fingers brushing the gravestone. "Sorry Harry couldn't make it this year, but if he could he'd tell you you're a good dog."
With that he turned and walked away. As long as he was out, he had a couple other graves to visit and a short stack of pancakes waiting for him.
The sucker reference is a reference to a thread I've had with Mouse and the pancakes reference is a reference to an ongoing idea between me and a Molly blog that Molly and Thomas are friends and they get pancakes all the time and the fact that my Thomas has promised Molly that he'd stick around for her even after Harry and Justine were gone, though he wasn't exactly planning on it until he realized that she'd be alone for a long time and as long as nothing killed them they were both functionally immortal. He promised Charity he'd take care of her.
And if you thought I was implying both Justine and Harry were dead there at the end you're right I was yaaay.