Chapter Thirty Seven

Fifteen Years Later

The gravestone was white marble and predominant. The words engraved into it were italic, and fine chiseled. The grave before the stone was well kept. Whenever Daniel came here there were always fresh flowers in the holder. He'd never seen any dead ones. He knew his father came as regularly as he could but he didn't know who else it was that put the flowers down. Sometimes he'd bend down and touch the cards, check out the messages.

Jose and Reggie, he didn't know who they were but there was always lilies from them at least once every year. As there yellow roses from someone called Gabe. He knew his aunts and uncles came occasionally, when time allowed.

He bent down on his hunches and began to make space for his own flowers. Today was his mom's birthday and now just like he did every year he came and put flowers on her grave. His fingers reached out and smoothed over the edges of the writing on the gravestone.

Kate Callahan.

The only mother he'd ever known, the woman who'd showed him a mother's love. She'd fought for him, she'd protected him, and when he'd needed her, she had comforted him. His memories of her were vague. He had been young when she had died. He remembered the smell of jasmine as she cradled him close. He remembered the dumb books she used to read with him in bed. He remembered her love, her warmth, her comfort.

His father had told him that her death had been sudden. One minute she was in the hospital demanding he go back home and get her fuzzy, warm pajamas and the next she was gone. His father had never told him all the details. Daniel thought they were too painful for him to actually relive.

His father had told him that his mother had been brave, and stubborn. She had stood up for her values and she had never been afraid to show her feelings. She had never backed down.

Daniel had looked his mother up when he was sixteen, he'd gone on the web and googled Kate Callahan, and been overwhelmed by responses. Most of them were newspaper articles. He'd started with the earliest and worked his way forward. And at the end what he had seen...

He had confronted his father about the reality of his mom's death, he'd never seen his father cry before as he told the story. Daniel had felt sick afterwards, knowing what had happened to his mother had given him a new edge. Knowing that she had killed her murderer had helped him. All the bravery his father had talked about had been real and it lived on inside of Daniel, day in and day out.

Her final cause of death was a massive internal hemorrhage. Doctors had managed to stop the bleeding during surgery but the stitches had not been enough and her womb had ruptured after his father had left, he'd returned to an empty bed and sheets that were still glistening with vibrant red blood.

His father missed his mom badly. He still carried her photograph in his wallet. Although he'd buried the engagement ring with her, he had never married since. There had been few casual dates that Daniel could remember but nothing that stuck. As far as his father and himself were concerned, Kate had been his wife.

"Hi mom it's me. Happy Birthday." Daniel murmured with a small smile, as he rearranged his flowers. "Dad will be coming later, he's trying to fix up a few things at the lab. Wolfe's got some sort of problem again..."

Daniel rolled his eyes, since his father took over the Crime Lab he'd been dealing with issues left right or center. Sometimes it was the Fed's trying to muscle in on a case, other times it was personal issues with the newbies. Ryan Wolfe was one of the older CSI's, along with Natalia Boa Vista, they'd been having problems with their oldest child recently.

"I'm back at the U, and I'm being fast tracked for NASA." Daniel told her excitedly. "Dad says I should finish my education for now, I've only got another year left. I think he's right. It would be pointless dropping out now and NASA can wait."

He wondered what she thought of that. Would she have agreed with his father? Or would she have pushed for NASA? Daniel thought probably university. Both his father and her had gone to Columbia. It was where they had met.

"Uh, I kinda... I kinda have something else to tell you mom." Danie was sitting down on he grass now, playing with elastic that had held the flowers together.

He'd grown tall and broad like his father. His dark hair was longer than his dad's, but it sill had th same thick and unruly curls. There was no mistaking that he was Tim Speedle's son.

"Something I haven't been able to tell Dad yet."

He knew his mom would probably be all ears if she was sitting up there listening to him in heaven right now. She was the one he would have gone to with this sort of stuff. The one who would help him understand what he was feeling.

"I'm gonna ask Jill to marry me." he hesitated. "I know we're both young but I love her mom. There's no one else I wanna be with. It's like when dad met you, he said he just knew. There was none else he should have been with after that. It's like that only I wanna tell dad but you know how he is."

He knew his mom was probably up there nodding her head in agreement over his father's stubborn streak.

"Maybe he'd say you need to wait a few years before you think about getting married." A gruff voice said from behind him.

Daniel didn't need to turn around to know that his father was standing right behind him, a bouquet of flowers resting in his hand. Daniel knew he'd heard everything.

Daniel tilted his head up skywards, his mom always had a way of making sure him and his dad talked.

Thanks mom.

So despite the voting I think this was an adequate ending for FK. The story as I reminded in one review, was never about happy endings. It was about two people's struggles to love each other again.

If people prefer I can do some happy ending one shots if you want. Let me know through your reviews.

Thanks to everyone whose reviewed and loved this story. It's been hard work, but I fell I love with Kate as a char from the beginning. Just like Speed did.