Author: Microdotty
Time Setting: Post season 4
Synopsis: Working for the Agency demands a huge sacrifice
Rated PG-13
Don't own them, just want to have fun with them
Part 1: The Funeral
The vivid colors of the red, white and blue draping the coffin contrasted sharply with the green Astroturf covering the mound of dirt excavated from the grave site, and with the stark white of the snow blanketing the surrounding area. William Melrose stood solemnly in front of the casket, his head bowed and uncovered. He hated this part of his job and although it didn't happen frequently, once was too many times. Next to him, Francine Desmond stood, weeping silent tears, her slender body shaking in the bitter cold. She glanced to her left at the profile of her best friend, a friend in a job that didn't afford many. Lee Stetson showed no emotion as he stared blankly ahead. He was aware of nothing but the flag-draped box in front of him. A box that contained the body of the only person he had ever loved, the woman who had come into his life a little over four years ago and saved him from himself. What would he ever do without her?
The muffled sound of a sob to his left triggered a response in Lee and he tightened his hold around the shoulders of his mother-in-law, Dotty West. As he did his best to comfort her, the honor guard moved into position around the coffin and grasped the edges of the flag. With crisp movements they snapped and folded it into a perfect triangle while the mournful notes of Taps played by a lone bugler pierced the winter silence. They passed the flag from man to man until it reached Dr. Smyth, director of the Agency. With great solemnity, he presented it to Mrs. West, in honor and gratitude for the great service her daughter had rendered the country.
Dotty hugged the flag to herself and sobbed. Her two grandsons, Philip and Jamie wrapped their arms around her, crying. Lee stepped back to allow them a chance to grieve together, thinking how unfair it was that the two boys would now have to grow up without a mother, for Lee knew exactly what that was like. He knew their grandmother would always be there for them, as would he, if they could ever forgive him for taking their mother away. He had been their stepfather for a little less than a year, but they had had known it for only two days, when he had broken the news to them that Amanda had been killed in the line of duty.
To Be Continued