Gone

It was sunny and warm that day. An occasional soft gust of wind would blow, rustling the leaves of the tall crowded trees. Below their great canopies a small group of people gathered. Some were sobbing quietly while others dabbed at their eyes carefully, not wanting to mess up their makeup. The faces of the people varied from young to old, some battleworn and in uniform with sad eyes as they gazed at the dark mahogany casket.

He was an amazing soldier.

And an even better agent.

Four people stepped apart from the rest of the crowd to say their last goodbyes to their lost teammate. They were all led by a short woman with dark hair. As they approached, a young blonde stepped away from the rest of his team and crossed to the casket. Tears were streaming down his face when he laid a gentle hand down on the smooth wooden surface.

"I don't know why you did it, Jack." He sniffled and smiled sadly. "But, even though I wanna blame myself for this, I won't because I know that's not what you would want, big guy. I could already hear your voice now actually." Mac chuckled tearfully.

Mac paused and bowed his head. Riley came forward and gently squeezed his shoulder in comfort.

"Jack, I just….I want to say thank you for always being there for me even when I felt like I didn't deserve it, or didn't need it. You helped me become who I'm meant to be….and there's not a word out there to describe how grateful I am for that." The agent took a steady breath. "I love you, brother and I'll see you soon."

Mac allowed a shaky sigh to slip past his lips when he stood. A part of him just wanted to succumb to the overwhelming feeling of sadness and defeat boiling over inside him. Throw in the flag while he still had the chance to do so. There really wasn't a point to doing this anymore if he didn't have Jack there to watch his back. There really wasn't a point to any of this anymore. But that's not what his partner would want.

That's not what Jack would want.

His brother may be gone due to a freak miscalculation of the trajectory of a simple bullet. But he would follow Jack's example to finish what was started.

And he would be sure to make his partner damned well proud from his spot in the clouds.