"Excuse me, but could one of you help me?"
A timid sounding voice came far to Jimmy's right and the young man turned around to see a young boy, maybe eight or nine, holding a brown shoe box in his hands. The boy's gold flecked eyes darted around nervously as he tried to study everything except the Agents and M.E assistant in front of him. Suddenly the child swallowed hard and thrust the box into the arms of the first available person, which just happened to be Jimmy Palmer. The young M.E gasped sharply and stared at the box.
"Please take it! I don't want it! M-My dog found it in our backyard! I-It's haunted!"
The boy whimpered, clutching at the sides of his coat as he did so. Jimmy dimly realized that Tony was trying to talk with the child, to reassure him. McGee and Ziva were doing the same. But nobody looked at Jimmy...or the box. The young M.E was frozen and felt ill at the same time...the box held a part of his body, Jimmy just knew it. It brought back memories, memories of a young Irish boy who's life was too short and another boy, a scottish boy with red hair and green eyes that matched Asa's. He was the first person that Asa had ever really loved, the boy's name was Crowley.
-Flashback-
He had been in love only once in his seventeen years and that love was returned by eighteen year old, Crowley McCastor. If you've ever been in love, you know how he felt. But Asa had never felt that kind of feeling before, it was new, it was euphoric, it was amazing. So he had no qualms about opening up his chest, about opening up his heart for Crowley to slip inside. He didn't understand why Crowley had made him feel so different, so loved and special, even when his shoulders were shaking with pure effort and sweat pooled on his brow. He honestly loved the young scottish boy, they would lay together on the same mat and muse about what their lives would be like when they could finally go home. And Asa would talk about his family.
How he would come close to collapsing and the only thing able to keep him upright were thoughts of his family. He imaged his little brothers with child-chubby bodies, stuffing their mouths with grapes and heavy potato and carrot broth. Food he had never truly tasted. But he imaged that it must've tasted heavenly, like the food of the gods. He imaged Katie, bright eyed, rosy cheeked and happy as she played with their brothers in the fields surrounding their home. He had never shared his day dreams with anyone and he had half-expected Crowley to laugh at him, at his idiocy. But the Scot just leaned over and pulled Asa into his chest.
"I'm so sorry, Asa."
Asa was sorry as well, he felt as if his soul had been painfully wrenched out of his chest as he watched Crowley fall sick with cholera. He was one of the firsts. Asa was there as he watched the only boy he had ever truly loved, turn blue-gray from extreme dehydration before he died. Love is a painful thing, it eats it way inside of you, seemingly harmless until you lose the one you love. Then it turns into a sharp, glass splinter, raking its way through your heart. It hurts much more than it should. Love was pure pain and nothing else.
Crowley was half the reason that Asa had tried to leave the bordered sickness area. He hadn't wanted Crowley to have died in vain. He wanted to save others in Crowley's name...but they just killed him, like he was nothing.
-End Flashback-
Jimmy Palmer was on his knees, gagging and retching as he clutched at his stomach...the place where his stomach would've been. The box had slipped from his hands and was now laying on it's side, the yellowing and crusted upper arm bone was half falling out of it. It had a tiny crack in the middle where it must had sustained some damage in the beating, but other than that, it was his arm. Did this mean...that they were going to solve his murder? Too many overbearing thoughts were swamping Jimmy's mind, calling him to clutch his head as he doubled over. That image of the yellowing bone was burned into his retinas as he stared at it.
Tony's concerned face swam in front of his vision, he waved his hands frantically in front of Jimmy's face to gauge a reaction from the prone assistant M.E. But all Jimmy did was lunge to his feet and hurry away, leaving McGee to scoop up the bone and deposit it in its box once again. The younger Agent looked at Tony, a question in his eyes, but all the Senior Agent did was shrug and motion for McGee to follow him towards the elevator. Leaving Ziva to comfort the young boy who looked as if he was near to wetting himself in his pants.
"We should probably give that to Ducky."
Tony explained, gesturing to the bone clasped in McGee hands. The younger Agent nodded and looked at the box with wide eyes. As both Agents filed into the elevator, Tony pressing the button for Autopsy as he entered.
-PlaceSkip-
Jimmy gagged roughly as he looked at his calloused hands, he couldn't stop the tears from gushing down his cheeks as he thought of Crowley. How his breathing had gotten thick and raspy where it used to be powerful and strong, how he used to be muscled and toned but in the days impending his death, he was like a skeleton. It hurt immensely for Asa to have seen him that way, but he stayed with him, through everything, Asa stayed. Because of his love for the dying boy. Once more, it was love
