She sat by the old man's bed and cried but she shed these tears for another.
How was he? What would it be like when he died, old and frail and all alone? They were never to leave the other; they had said, they had promised that they would be there for each other always.
They would never leave a man behind (never mind one so beloved) but duty calls and work always came first. And here she was, separated by time and space, at the deathbed of her commanding officer, weeping for a man she hadn't seen or spoke to in so many, many years (or was it just yesterday).
She hadn't only left him herself but took his best friends with her. He was the one left adrift as had happened so many times before.
Growing old without him she shed some of these bitter tears for herself.