Ok folks, read the following hints at your own risk:

Ok folks, read the following hints at your own risk:

1) If you're not a Sarah/Jake person read the funeral then skim lightly over the rest.

2) If you are a Jake and Sarah fan then I hope you can sit through the funeral and get to the bold, then if you decide you want more review this!!! Or I'll stop writing.

3) If you hate it when I give these hints PLEASE TELL ME.

7 – Pranks, Parties, and Memories

Sarah removed her sunglasses as she stepped out of the car she had rented and onto Capitola state beach. Jake's family had gotten special permission to hold the funeral here they had cremated his body so his ashes could be let out over the water. Glancing around at the people already there, Sarah walked towards a group of people by the minister. One of the woman, her arm rested heavily on a man beside here was being comforted by the minister, it was this woman that she addressed "Mrs. McCarty?"

The woman turned to Sarah, her face heavily veiled, but even so the tears that streaked it were easily seen. When she looked up, recognition lighted her tear filled eyes. "Sarah!" She nodded, surprised that Jake's mother recognized her so easily. "It's so good of you to fly all the way out here from New York. Jake would've been glad." She stopped speaking for a moment, over come with emotion, Sarah too suddenly felt a stab of pain, wishing she hadn't placed her sun glasses in the car. "Come, I insist that you sit with the family. He would've liked that."

Sarah followed the woman, too startled to say much. She wondered just how close his family thought they were, how close Jake had thought they were. Moments later the service started.

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:10 These are the words of our lord, words of comfort and wisdom. As we gather here today to bid farewell to a friend, a beloved son, and relative. It is important that we keep gods words close to heart…" The minister spoke and all listened, and as they did, Sarah hoped he was right. Hoped that unlike those he had left behind, Jake was in a truly better place, a place of peace, and a place of rest.

When all the words had been spoken, and all the farewells said, someone handed Jake's mother the urn containing his remains, Sarah had expected her to stumble, to cry. Instead she stood rigid. Opening the urn and letting the wind catch drift of what lay inside. When she spoke, her voice was strangely calm. "Dear father, may your son rest amongst the clouds of heaven, and may he always look down upon those who will miss him most."

"Amen."

***

Several hours later Sarah sat alone on the beach, clutching a white box to her as if by doing so she could bring him back to life. It was a box of effects Jake had left her, something for which his brother had personally flown out to New York to retrieve. Finally she gathered enough courage together and opened it. Everything inside of wrapped. Something in a manila envelope, a white box in bubble wrap, and an elongated objet in brown wrapping paper.

Picking up one lumpy shape she unwrapped it to find one of Jake's Surfing trophies, on the bottom was a post it: "I know they aren't the Vanderbilt jewels, but I hope you like it anyway." Sarah remembered his reaction to said jewels, then gave the trophy a hug before putting it down and picking up the manila envelope.

Reaching her hand in she pulled out a slim white album of about thirty photos with the name 'Sarah'

Engraved on front in gold. As tears threatened to break through she opened it; the first was a picture of herself holding a pool stick with one hand and pocketing something with the other, a slight expression of amusement on her face. Looking closer she saw that the Witchblade was not on her wrist, so the photo must have been taken prior to Danny's death. Flipping the page she found a picture of Jake surfing. In the picture his long blond hair shown in the sun, making him look entirely too goofy for Sarah's tastes. Opposite of it was one of her sleeping on his couch, her hair was tousled and her legs were hung over the back of the sofa. If McCarty weren't dead, he would've been for taking that photo. As she flipped through the Album a ghost of a smile began to play across her face. Most of the pictures were taken without her knowledge but each one held a memory. They had been taken over the course of months and stored with the utmost care. There was even a photo of her in the guise she wore to badlands on the Isaac Sullivan case.

In the entire Album there were only three pictures of Jake, one of him surfing, one she'd taken of him cooking, and one which she mentally dubbed the 'Too much Table Wine and Mistletoe Toe Christmas Prank' in bold. At the sight of it she couldn't help but think back to the night it'd been taken.

~ "Pezzini! McCarty! You made it!" Detective Tommy Burgess' heavily slurred words were the first thing besides the light to assault the two as they walked through the door of Mackenzie's pub, both had just come off of a 15 hour shift two days before Christmas. "Now look up!" Jake and Sarah did so as the Camera shutters snapped then simultaneously groaned. Over the doorway hung mistletoe galore.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Was the calmest most non-violent reaction she could manage. Besides her Jake looked down and avoided her eyes. It had been at his insistence that Sarah had come to the precinct's annul Christmas party. Normally Sarah made sure to have other plans, sometimes with Danny, sometimes with fictional family members, this time however Jake had ambushed her and dragged her kicking and screaming. Up until the second they arrived she'd prayed for someone to call in a murder so she could get out of this.

"They aren't Pezzini," At the bar Dante turned towards them. "They forced me to kiss Orlinsky when we got here. Even after I threatened to break them down to traffic cops. Now it's your turn." Dante had purposely spoken loudly so that most of the people around him heard. Quite suddenly Sarah and Jake found themselves at the receiving end of far too many stares. Sarah could only glare at Dante as Jake felt himself turn more then a little red.

"Oh just kiss her already McCarty!" This time it was Vikki's heavily intoxicated shouting that came from across the room. As the two in the doorway felt more eyes turn o them they faced each other. Sarah lifted her eyebrows and shrugged, it wasn't as if she'd never kissed him before, but that was to help a case. Besides, this time they had an audience. Leaning forward she placed a very chaste closed mouth kiss on Jake's lips. Then turned, bowed, and walked away as catcalls of "you call that a kiss?" flew at her from all directions.

For the rest of the evening Sarah chatted, drank slightly, and hustled pool. She noticed at one point that in her pleather pants, black turtleneck, and leather jacket she was the only woman in non-festive clothing. Ten minutes after she made that observation she confiscated the keys of a certain detective on his sixth glass of wine, glad that she'd left her bike at home today.

At the end of the evening she drove Jake home, helping him upstairs when he seemed too intoxicated to remember how to stick a key in a lock. "You know Sarah, I think Tommy was right." Jake said as she unlocked the door to his apartment and deposited him on his couch."

"About what?" Barely paying attention to the words Sarah hunted for a free spot on the coat rack. After all, he'd been sputtering nonsensical sentences all evening.

"That really wasn't a kiss." Sarah turned around to find him suddenly very, very close. Suddenly he seized her arms and kissed her, prying her mouth open with his tongue. For a few seconds she felt pure shock, thinking only that for someone who was drunk he sure was stealthy – and coordinated. (He's not a bad kisser.) Also came to mind, but where from she didn't know, as he pulled away he leaned towards ear, "That was a kiss."

Finally regaining her composure Sarah pushed him away. Only the amount of alcohol in his system kept her from punching him. Turning bright red Sarah only muttered "Get to bed." Before disappearing into the guestroom. The next morning Jake had been at first too hung over to remember much when he did however, he had gone out of his way to apologize to her - for fourteen days straight. For two weeks she hadn't had to cook or open a door outside of her apt, even her paperwork got suspiciously low. Finally she considered aggravated assault just to get him to stop, luckily however he was one step ahead of her and stopped just on time.

On Christmas morning Sarah had woken up thinking someone had broken into her apartment, only rather then stealing things, they had apparently chosen to leave things, namely Christmas tree's of various sizes, (all under three feet,) tinsels, decorations, and presents. Even the stairs had apparently been decorated. In her living room Sarah found a limp form on her couch, turning it around, she found Jake sound asleep. Just as she had been about to wake him a gentle 'meow' had caught her attention, and under the largest Christmas tree, Sarah had found a snow-white kitten. ~

Over time Sarah had gotten fonder of Snowflake then she'd thought possible, Jake too had grown attached to the kitten and sometimes came over just to see her. Ever since he'd gone on vacation though the kitten, or rather cat, had spent more and more time at Gabriel's apartment. Putting down the photo album, Sarah picked up the white box wrapped in bubble wrap. She wondered for a second if she ought to open it. Then noticed that it was almost one thirty, the time she and Irons had decided was best to meet at the hotel. It had at first troubled Sarah that Irons actually bothered to ask her opinion, at first she had thought he was mocking but his tone had been completely serious. Not for the first time that day she wondered just what kind of game he thought he was playing, and just how far entwined had she unwittingly gotten herself into.

***

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