"Easy son…"
Spike clenched his eyes shut and continued to wail, despite the arms wrapped around him. It was a matter of minutes before he forced himself to turn around, only the arms wouldn't let him.
"Nothing to see Spike."
He wasn't sure if he just couldn't hear or if he didn't want to. All that he could feel was pain…mind numbing pain. Spike lifted himself to his feet and fought to move towards the explosion site, it was then that Greg motioned for Eddie to help him.
"No…" came from Spike's mouth, it was muffled but both of them heard it.
Greg continued his attempt at consoling when he was shoved away, only to watch Spike race towards the site. Both he and Eddie were able to grab him but not without a struggle.
"I have to…" he was breathing hard and fast. "He could still…I have to see him."
Greg was fighting back his own tears now, as he took a quick glance around him. "No you don't."
Spike finally met Greg's eyes and in an instant he returned to his cries. Eddie placed a soft hand on the back of his neck as he settled back into Greg's embrace. Wordy and Jules stayed at a distance while Sam remained out of sight to everyone. It was only a matter of minutes before uniforms stormed the area and Spike was led away slowly but surely.
Eddie embraced Jules as he passed and let his expression speak for itself. He watched as the boss placed Spike in the passenger side of the SUV, and met him at the driver side door.
"Want some company?"
Greg shook his head. "Someone needs to do the notification."
"I'll take care of it."
"My team, I should…"
Eddie motioned inside the car. "You should be with Spike. We'll handle it." And with a brief embrace, he did just that.
Greg let out a deep sigh as he stepped into the car, and removed his cap slowly.
"It's good to let it out son. No shame in that."
Spike was doing all he could to compose himself. "Should have been me boss."
"Don't…don't you go there. I won't let you go there."
"He was…" he forced himself to look outside the window at the scene. "He was my friend…and I… I let him die…" he cried softly for a few moments.
"Louis made a choice."
"The wrong one!" He didn't yell, but in the confines of the car it seemed that way. "I should have told him to wait…"
Greg placed a hand on his chin and pulled him away from the window. "Spike look at me…look at me…."
Reluctantly he did.
"It hurts…hell I know it hurts…but I promise you that what happened here today is no one's fault but that bastard who planted that bomb, you understand that..."
He simply shook his head.
"I know son, but I'll make you another promise, and that's that no matter how long it takes to walk through the pain…I'll be here…"
Spike went silent for a while and examined the long expression on his Greg's face.
"I'm gonna miss him…"
It was then Greg pulled him into a familiar embrace. "I know, I know…"