Not much to say about this story, as its just another one of my rewritings of earlier episodes from the show as if the main characters were already married.
The story in question, is the rewriting of episode 1 from season 3 - Murdoch ID, with a few changes to acomodate the new scenario.
Have a nice reading.
Ruth Green, thanks for the fixes.
WHEN YOU AREN´T HERE
It was late, she supposed to be home at this time, but instead, Dr. Julia Ogden-Murdoch decided to be at her morgue, working here and there, archiving old postmortem files, organizing products and mixtures and cleaning her tools, just to keep her mind busy at work and prevent her wandering someplace else. When she got beyond tired, Julia took a deep breath, picked up her black hat and gloves and went home, without any desire to go there in any way.
It happened one week before - Detective William Murdoch went to Sunday services at the church and never come back. Sure, being married to a police officer, Julia knew that duty sometimes caught him by surprise even in the middle of the night, however this time, when William didn't show up and had not even called her, she started to get worried and notified the Station. Still, as the day passed and no trace of William was found, Julia´s mind started to wander through dark places, making her have nightmares.
Next day, early in the morning, Julia rushed back to the morgue, not wishing to stay at home. As she arrived, she started working again, avoiding looking at the now clean slab. As the city coroner, she used to follow her superior´s motto: 'follow the money'. He told her and it works well, since this way she avoided being too sentimental while working, especially when it comes from women and children, as she pretended to see the dead bodies as the form of her payment in the end of the month.
However, this time, she was afraid of even thinking who the next body on the slab would be, so, this way, she preferred to ignore it.
_/_
At her lunch time, Julia sat at her desk to write a few notes, just to have her mind filled with memories - memories of her husband, her old man, their good and not so good moments together, how much she missed him.
''Love you, old Doctor. We will see each other at lunch.'' These were his last words to her on that Sunday and she even paid attention. As she cleaned the dishes, it made her want to cry.
Suddenly, she heard the door open, pulling her away from her thoughts. However, upon seeing Constable Crabtree approaching, she felt like her blood had run cold.
''Constable Crabtree?'' she smiled bravely at him. ''What can I do for you?''
''Doctor…'' he started quietly, part of him, wished there was another coroner to find now. ''A body was found in the field, near Detective Murdoch´s church…'' he said, and Julia saw that he was trying to regain his composure at all costs.
''Lead the way, please, Constable.'' Julia´s voice came above a whisper as George lead her to the carriage, where they travel silently to the church. Once there of course, the young constable got a scold from his Inspector, as he demanded to know why he didn't call for another coroner.
''If its Murdoch, you just brought his wife to the scene of the crime!'' the Inspector yelled and in response George just lowered his head.
To Julia´s relief, as soon they turn the body, she could see it wasn´t her husband. She smiled nervously before passing out when all the fear she was holding in, washed over her.
_/_
Very far away from Toronto, under the lovely Bristol sky, Anna Fulford was working at her bar when a man a bit older than her entered pleading for help. Out of her kindness then, young Anna decided to help him, even when two men came after him, saying he was a murderer. Sure, after that Anna lost a bit of her trust in the man, but when he said he didn´t have any memories from himself, she pitied him and decided to help him find out who he was.
With time, of course, Anna and the man became friends. She nicknamed him Harry just for fun, not knowing his real name was William and he was a policeman from Toronto, Canada.
Of course, in her defense, since William didn´t remember his own name, Anna couldn´t know about his past and therefore couldn´t help but falling in love with him. She kissed the man she affectionately called Harry that afternoon while they hid at the church, all with his permission.
On the other hand, as their lips touched, a wave of flashbacks washed over William: suddenly he saw himself in his office in Toronto, his Inspector yelling his name: ''Murdoch, my office!'', a young constable calling him ''Sir, you are the best one in Canada…'' and more important, a redhead woman smiling at him. He could see them in bed, at the park, at his office, dancing a waltz and even at the morgue, kissing while she finished a postmortem. ''I love you William''; ''Stop complaining, old man''; ''I do William…'' In the last image, the redhead woman was dressing in a beautiful wedding gown as they smiled at each other. ''I do, Julia…''
''Julia? Who is Julia?'' Anna Fulford asked confused, as they parted the kiss.
''Miss Fulford…'' William started worried. ''I´m afraid we can´t have any romantic relationship, I suppose I'm a married man.''
''With this Julia?'' Anna Fulford tried to appear angry.
''Yes, I… I think… I remember now, my name is William Murdoch, I'm a policeman from Canada. I apologize'' He explained, and Anna Fulford seemed surprised.
''So, you remember who you are?'' she asked.
''Yes,'' he started when they heard bangs at the door. ''I think I got most of my memories back, I will tell you everything, but now we need to run.''
''All right, I promise I will help get you back home,' she said as they left before the same guy who was after William could hurt them.
_/_
Back in Toronto, two days after the body incident, Julia was starting to lose hope of ever find her husband again in this life and decided to start embracing herself as a widow of a missing husband. Sure, after taking her to the crime scene, George apologized to her and trying to be friendly, said they will find the detective, however, in response, Julia just hugged him and thanked him for his kindness.
This day then, she was making her way toward the station, in order to tell the Inspector she wanted to a small ceremony in William´s memory, when Constable Higgins appeared, saying that Detective Murdoch was alive.
''What? Where?'' Julia asked, desperate for news.
''In Bristol, England, the ship captain said a man with his description embarked on his ship a week ago,'' Henry laughed. ''He´s alive Sir, Doctor! And the best news is, he saved the prime minister from been killed!'' he exclaimed and in response, Julia almost kissed him with happiness.
_/_
The day of William´s arrival, Julia couldn't hold herself with such happiness, despite of still wearing black clothes. Earlier that morning, the Inspector called her, saying they would throw a small surprise welcome for the detective when he arrived. She agreed to join them for the surprise, only suggesting that they should do it at their home, since she knew it was the first place her husband would like to go once back in Toronto.
This way, as soon as William Murdoch crossed the door of his house, he came face with face with all his colleagues, all dressed in their uniforms and yelling 'SURPRISE' to him. Obviously, he greeted everyone, with hugs and hand shaking, specially from George Crabtree, who seemed quite happy to have his superior back.
Then, all of a sudden, his eyes fall on the woman dressed in black, standing by the door. He opened up a big smile and reached his arms toward her. ''Julia…'' he smiled lovingly and in response she ran to him with tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms tight around him.
''William… welcome home, you old man!'' she exclaimed after kissing him.
''Thank you, my dearest old doctor,'' he said, kissing her again, ignoring the applause and cheers from the other guests.
Later that same night, when everyone left and the couple were alone in bed, William told Julia everything he went trough the last couple of weeks, except of course the kiss he shared with Anna Fulford. To Julia´s knowledge, he went to church that day, followed a suspect after the Mass and the next thing he remembered, he was on a steamship to London, where a young woman helped him escape two men who were trying to kill the prime minister.
''I´m glad you are home, William. For a moment I thought you would never come back,'' Julia breathed getting close to him. ''But now, all these weeks seemed like a horrible dream. Now I just want to tell you how much I love you.''
''I love you too and I'm glad to be here with you again,'' he said wrapping her in a hug. ''You know Julia, when I first got my memories back, the first thing I knew was that I needed to be back with you, I needed to return to your side,'' he said. ''I just have one question though.''
''What is it?''
''Why were you wearing that mourning cloth?''
''It was a promise, as I promised myself to just wear black, till my husband come back to me.''
''Oh… good thing I did then…'' he laughed. ''I love much more when you wear colors,'' he said and with a laugh, they lay there into each other´s arms, hoping to never be apart again.
END